Olmert queried by police
Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over allegations of bid rigging in a bank sale. Police investigators met the prime minister at his Jerusalem residence Tuesday, Oct. 9 for a daylong interrogation. The probe centers on the 2005 privatization of Bank Leumi and whether then-Finance Minister Olmert tried to help a friend, an Australian investor, make a bid. Olmert has denied any wrongdoing in the case. — jta
Mubarak vows to free Shalit
Egypt’s president reportedly will make a personal pledge to secure the release of an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza.
Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday, Oct. 9 hosted Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai, who was in Cairo to sign an export deal. Yishai brought a letter from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a top Sephardi sage, appealing to Mubarak to help end Sgt. Gilad Shalit’s 16-month captivity in Gaza.“I will make a tremendous effort on the issue of Gilad Shalit,” Mubarak told Yishai, according to Wednesday’s Ma’ariv. “In the end only we can deliver Gilad, and you know that. He’ll return home, I promise.” — jta
Israel confirms road construction
Israel confirmed Tuesday, Oct. 9 that it is building a new road for Palestinians in the West Bank, prompting complaints that an increasingly separate road system is meant to seal Israeli control over a large chunk of land near Jerusalem, even as the sides are trying to revive peace talks.
Israel said the 16-kilometer road will help connect Palestinian communities that would otherwise be cut off by a loop of Israel’s separation barrier that is to reach deep into the West Bank.
Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia called on Israel to rescind its decision, and urged the U.S. to intervene. “Such measures will eliminate the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state and thus the possibility of a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said. — ap
Victoria’s Secret coming to Israel
Israeli women, and their men, will no longer have to travel abroad in search of Victoria’s Secret garments.
The internationally known lingerie retailer will soon make its products available to Israeli consumers through franchises in the New Hamashbir Lazarchan, Israel’s largest chain of department stores.— ynetnews.com
Israelis weigh holiday gains
Israeli Jews gain as much as 13 pounds over the High Holy Days.
Citing leading dieticians, Army Radio reported that High Holy Day feasting adds between four and a half pounds and 13 pounds to the average Israeli. The problem lies in the close succession of high calorie holiday meals, experts say.
Israel’s Arab minority likely feels more svelte after this year’s High Holy Days, which coincided with the Muslim fast month of Ramadan. — jta
No ‘unbecoming attire’ in Israeli parliament
Israel’s parliament unleashed the fashion police ahead of the opening of its annual winter session Monday, Oct. 8 saying visitors wearing “unbecoming attire” would be barred from entering.
The order appeared to be aimed specifically at the local media and parliamentary staffers. Shelly Yachimovich, a lawmaker, told Army Radio that one of her male staffers was barred from entering the Knesset because he was wearing jeans.
“Entrance to the Knesset will be barred to anyone wearing unbecoming attire, such as sleeveless T-shirts, short pants, jeans and, for women, short T-shirts that expose the midriff,” Avi Balashnikov, director general of the Knesset said in a statement. — ap
Money offered for better manners
A wealthy Israeli businessman is offering a cash prize for initiatives that instill manners in his native land.
Ronny Maman, who recently returned to Israel after 18 prosperous years in San Diego, announced this week that he will give $60,000 to anyone who comes up with a way to make the Jewish state more considerate. The winner will be selected next year, and Maman said he may also publish a book with the best 100 ideas. “The intention is to create awareness, which in turn will create action, and then everything will change,” he said. — jta
Israelis want a united Jerusalem
Most Israelis would oppose partitioning Jerusalem under a peace deal with the Palestinians, a poll found.
According to a survey in Yediot Achronot, 61 percent of Israelis would not agree to any compromise on the status of the capital within the framework of a peace accord. — jta
Israeli single-parent families increasing
The number of single-parent families in Israel doubled over the last 13 years, a National Insurance Institute report found.
Some 122,000 single-parent families are currently living in Israel. According to the family advocacy group New Family Organization, 90 percent of single-parent families are headed by women; 56 percent are headed by a divorced parent, 13 percent are widowed, 15 percent are separated from their spouse, and 13 percent are single.
No ‘unbecoming attire’ in Israeli parliament
Israel’s parliament unleashed the fashion police ahead of the opening of its annual winter session Monday, Oct. 8 saying visitors wearing “unbecoming attire” would be barred from entering.
The order appeared to be aimed specifically at the local media and parliamentary staffers. Shelly Yachimovich, a lawmaker, told Army Radio that one of her male staffers was barred from entering the Knesset because he was wearing jeans.
“Entrance to the Knesset will be barred to anyone wearing unbecoming attire, such as sleeveless T-shirts, short pants, jeans and, for women, short T-shirts that expose the midriff,” Avi Balashnikov, director general of the Knesset said in a statement. — ap
Anne Frank tree granted reprieve
The diseased chestnut tree in Amsterdam that comforted Anne Frank while she hid from the Nazis during World War II has been granted a reprieve. The 150-year-old tree was due to be chopped down after experts determined it could not be rescued from the fungus and moths that caused more than half its trunk to rot.
The tree is familiar to millions of readers of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” It stands behind the “secret annex” atop the canal-side warehouse where her family hid during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, and its crown was just visible through the attic skylight — the only window that was not blacked out.
An appeals panel made two separate decisions last week: one upholding the right of the tree’s owner to have it cut down any time in the next two years, and another granting a request by the country’s Trees Institute to investigate the possibility of saving it, said Ton Boon, a spokesman for Amsterdam’s Central borough. — ap
No German camp shoot for Kidman film
A Holocaust film starring Nicole Kidman will not be shot at a former German concentration camp, its trustees said.
Curators of the Holocaust memorial at the site of Sachsenhausen camp said last weekend that they had been approached by the producers of “The Reader” about filming on location, but turned down the request. “Former concentration camps are cemeteries,” said Horst Seferens, a memorial spokesman. “It’s just not appropriate to use them as movie sets.”
“The Reader” is based on a novel of the same name and involves a man who discovers the woman he loves is a former Nazi camp guard. The film, which is slated for release in 2010, will star Kidman and British actor Ralph Fiennes. — ap
Secret Wallenberg files released
Secret files containing sensitive information about the life and death of Raul Wallenberg were transferred from Moscow’s Federal Security Service’s archives to the Museum of Tolerance. The director of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, personally handed over the 16 files to Rabbi Berl Lazar.
Wallenberg, who aided Jews fleeing the Nazis, was arrested in Budapest in 1945 by Soviet secret service agents. According to the Soviet Union’s official version, the Swede died of heart attack in July 1947 in his prison cell in Lubyanka Secret Service Headquarters. But it is widely believed he was poisoned by his wardens after refusing to work as a Soviet agent.
Moscow officially declined to disclose any documents related to Wallenberg’s fate or even to recognize such files existed until September 1991, when a Soviet-Swedish joint investigative commission was founded. — jps
Chelsea fans told to stop anti-Semitic slurs
The chairman of the Chelsea soccer club has denounced fans’ anti-Semitic abuse of the new Israeli coach. Avram Grant was named Chelsea’s coach last month, replacing the popular Jose Mourinho, who guided the London team for three years.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck wrote in the Sept. 29 match program, “It unfairly smears the reputation of the vast majority of Chelsea fans who rightly do not want to be associated with such activity.” Grant is a close friend of Chelsea’s Russian Jewish billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich, and is a former coach of Israel’s national team. — jps
WJC officials meet Pope Benedict
Top officials from the World Jewish Congress met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
WJC President Ronald Lauder and new Secretary-General Michael Schneider focused on inter-religious dialogue and anti-Semitism in their talks with the pope. Benedict emphasized that the issue of Catholic-Jewish relations was close to his heart. Lauder and Schneider were scheduled to meet later with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. — jta
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California