Weekly News Items from the Israeli Press, June 9, 2011

JFNA in the Israeli Press

The Jewish leaders of the future?

(JPost) The rising Jewish stars will be better educated, fluent in English and Hebrew and include more women, according to the following list.

JFNA Partners in the Israeli Press

Birthright Israel Launches Summer Fellowship for Future Leaders in Business and Technology

(e-Jewish Philanthropy) Twenty juniors and seniors from top U.S. universities are taking part in an exclusive summer fellowship, mentored by CEOs of leading companies in Israel, as part of an initiative to create a cadre of future Jewish business and technology leaders who are closely connected to Israel and the Israeli private sector.

Conversions

IDF conversions and the Book of Ruth

(JPost) Who may become a Jew? What should the criteria be for proper Jewish conversion? Which rabbis should the Jewish people trust? Israel is in constant conflict over these questions, as thousands of technically non-Jewish Soviet émigrés risk their lives for the Jewish state.

Welfare and Social Issues

Foster families wait in a legal limbo, says child advocate

(Haaretz) Legal vacuum lets foster families wait up to a year without receiving a penny from the Social Affairs Ministry for the children in their care.

Seculars: Religious education intolerant

(YNet News) The state religious education is perceived as segregating itself from the Israeli public, although it "teaches tolerance towards fellowmen," a Ynet-Yesodot survey reveals.

U.S. Jewish group pulls out of Israel office to protest treatment of asylum seekers

(Haaretz) Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society says it will no longer cooperate with Immigration Authority's registration unit for asylum-seekers due to reported policy of summary rejection of cases.

Ethiopian-Israeli Community

An Ethiopian who delights in proving everyone wrong

(JPost) Danny Adino Abebe remembers clearly the day he knew for sure he wanted to be a journalist.

Israel-US Relations/Trade

The anthropology of AIPAC

(JPost) Few events in contemporary American Jewish life generate as much passion as the annual policy conference of the "Israel lobby."

Over 30,000 take part in NY's Celebrate Israel Parade

(JPost) Empire State building lit up in blue, white as city commemorates Israel's 63rd independence with a march up 5th Avenue from 57th to 74th Streets.

Israeli foods get top billing on global Food Channel

(JPost) Thanks to a group of evangelical Christians in the United States, Israeli food companies are being given exposure to the world through an online food network that boasts around 11 million visitors per year.

Israeli Periphery

Arava Power launches Israel's first solar field

(JPost) Arava Power Company launched Israel’s first solar field on Sunday evening – World Environment Day – and meanwhile announced a pipeline of over 400 megawatts worth of solar development in Israel’s South.

Israeli-Arab Co-Existence

A World Cup in Tel Aviv

(Haaretz) Palestinian and African refugee teams join cosmopolitan mix of immigrants.

BGU students awarded by Abuelaish in memory of family

(JPost) Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, the Gaza physician who lost three of his daughters in January 2009 when two IDF tank shells accidentally hit their home near Beit Lahiya during Operation Cast Lead, is giving for the future. From his current residence in Canada, Abuelaish has established the Daughters for Life Foundation in memory of his daughters.

Israel Philanthropy

Siberian boy with cerebral palsy learns to walk in 4 days

(JPost) First-ever group of Russian children with CP have come to Jerusalem’s Alyn Hospital for physical rehabilitation.

Arts and Culture

5th Creative Special Needs Festival to kick off

(JPost) For fifth year in a row, actors and musicians with special needs will be center stage in Jerusalem for five days in June.

A touch of Morocco in the heart of Jerusalem

(Haaretz) A newly restored center for North African Jewish heritage promises to become one of the capital's most colorful tourist sites. But not everyone is thrilled with the ambitious renovation project.

Jewish World

US anti-circumcision comic is 'grotesque,' ADL says

(JPost) A graphic comic book distributed by the US group Male Genital Mutilation Bill, in an effort to drum up support for San Francisco's anti-circumcision measure, has been called "grotesque" and "anti-Semitic" by the ADL.

Study offers snapshot of new European Jewish identity

(JPost) BUDAPEST, Hungary - A generation after the fall of communism, Jews in Central Europe feel comfortable where they live but are concerned about anti-Semitism.

Metzger: I won’t seek 2nd term, unless rabbis tell me to

(JPost) Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger has confirmed that he would not seek a second term as chief rabbi, unless ordered to do so by senior rabbis.

Thousands visit Krakow’s seven synagogues

(JPost) Thousands visited Krakow's seven historic synagogues in an unprecedented event aimed to foster Jewish identity among Krakow's small Jewish community. The event was also designed to educate non-Jewish Poles about contemporary Jewish culture.

Jews decry Yale closing anti-Semitism study center

(JPost) Leaders of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism (YIISA) at Yale University were notified last week that the center was to be closed at the end of July, sparking a fierce round of objections, suspicions and conjectures in the US Jewish community, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The erosion of European Jewry

(JPost) In many communities, Jewish leaders are in a state of denial, insisting that the level of anti-Semitism is exaggerated.

Op-Eds from the Hebrew Press

Yediot Ahronot asserts that, "The Syrians' cynical use of the Palestinians on Naksa Day on the Golan Heights has boomeranged in President Assad's face," and adds that, "In the Palestinian arena, the ground is shaking beneath his feet.  Following Naksa Day, a rift has become apparent between him and the Palestinians in the refugee camps in Syria, which up until now, had been one of the President's most loyal populations."  The author reminds his readers that when the coffins of the young people who were killed on Naksa Day were returned to the Yarmuk refugee camp, the camp erupted in riots, the anger of which, "was not directed against Israel, but against those who dispatched these young Palestinians to the Israeli border," and notes that members of Ahmed Jibrils's PFLP, which is closely identified with the Syrian regime, bore the brunt of the popular outrage.  The paper points out that, "On the day that the riots broke out in the Yarmuk refugee camp, the Syrian regime cancelled the permits admitting Palestinians to the Golan Heights.  Syrian army checkpoints, which are usually 15-20 kilometers from the border, prevented Palestinians from reaching the area," and contends that, "Somebody in the Syrian leadership apparently grasped the size of their anger and the potential danger in using them against Israel."

Ma'ariv refers to Education Minister Gideon Saar's decision to backtrack on his previous decision to shorten summer vacation.  While the author commends the Minister's record up until now, he avers that, "Shortening the summer vacation, which changes a tradition that has been untouched since the foundation of the state, should have been done differently, gradually, while taking into account other sectors affected by the change, and at the start – not the end – of the year."  The author calls for a thorough discussion of the structure and schedule of the school year.

Yediot Ahronot remarks that, "Two or three sentences uttered by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan last week at Tel Aviv University won my heart: Not what he said about the Iranian nuclear program, not his sharp words regarding Israel's present political leadership. Two or three solitary sentences made my day...  Dagan talked about the 'Dan Test'.  Dagan said that Dan is his son and that every time that he, as Mossad Director, had to decide whether or not to approve an operation that would endanger operatives' lives, he pondered to himself: Would you send your son Dan on such an operation? Only if the answer to himself, between him and himself, was positive, would Mossad agents embark upon the mission."