Weekly News Items from Israeli Press, May 26, 2011

Federation Projects in the Israeli Press

American scholar to lecture on lack of Jewish vision

(JPost) Ahead of her lecture on Jewish leadership at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem next Thursday, the scholar-in-residence at the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, DC, explained to The Jerusalem Post over the phone this week what went wrong.

Welfare and Social Issues

Controversial bill seeks to keep chief rabbis in office

(JPost) Legislation would change law limiting rabbi’s term to 10 years; MK calls bill "personal legislation totally against constitutional norms.”

Filipina mother of Israeli toddler to be deported, despite ministry promises

(Haaretz) Evelyn Belseng had a son with her Israeli husband, who passed away shortly after; she is set to be deported despite declarations by Interior Minister Eli Yishai that she would be allowed to stay.

Study: Daily contact with migrant workers does not reduce prejudice

(Haaretz) A survey of Israeli women who employed migrant workers reveals that day-to-day contacts did little to change stereotypical attitudes and beliefs and that these views continued to feed the desire of Israelis to maintain distance from their visiting employees.

Bill giving job preference to IDF veterans slammed as discriminatory

(Haaretz) At preliminary reading, Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approves bill that gives preference to applicants for government jobs who are veterans of Israel Defense Forces service or national service.

Ethiopian leaders call for affirmative action

(JPost) 20 years after Operation Solomon, leaders of Israel's Ethiopian community, which numbers 116,000, called for anti-discrimination laws.

AG aims to crack down on animal cruelty

(YNet News) Yehuda Weinstein appoints special committee to explore harsher punitive measure against those who abuse animals.

Arab-Israeli Co-Existence

Israelis, Palestinians play Aussie football for peace

(JPost) A different form of football was on display at Tel Aviv’s Park Hayarkon on Friday morning, when a combined Israeli-Palestinian team took on a group of Aussie expats in a game of Australian Rules.

'62.5% of Israeli Arabs see Jews as foreign imprint'

(JPost) University of Haifa study shows deepening Jewish-Arab divide over past decade; 37% of Arabs don’t believe millions died in Holocaust.

Demographics

Israel has high life expectancy, birthrate, also poverty

(JPost) OECD's Better Life Index puts Israel near member states' average, shows strengths in education, weakness in workforce participation.

Israel-Diaspora Relations

Poll shows American Jews still staunchly back Israel

(JPost) NEW YORK – A new poll of the American Jewish community finds deep and ongoing support for Israel, contradicting recent speculation that American Jews were becoming disaffected with the Jewish state.

All gone to look for America, part III

(JPost) Our supporters must be reminded time and again why we are here, while our detractors must understand why we’re not going anywhere.

Diaspora Jews desperately need a good, hard dose of Hebrew

(Haaretz/Huffington Post) There is much hand-wringing over Jewish continuity, but less attention is paid to cultivating serious Jewish literacy. One factor that is especially neglected -- to our peril -- is the centrality of Hebrew language knowledge.

A sacred commitment

(Haaretz) The sheer volume of press coverage in recent weeks, in both the United States and Israel, about the views on Israel of Rabbi Richard Jacobs, who has been selected to succeed Rabbi Eric Yoffie as president of the Union for Reform Judaism, is a measure of how important the Reform movement's support is to that country.

Jewish World

What will become of the unique German Holocaust archive?

(Haaretz) 11-state commission that oversees the International Tracing Service archive, housed in this Germany, is debating how to keep the unique Holocaust archive open to all.

UC Debates Free Speech Vs. Federal Protection

(Haaretz/Forward) It was Justice in Palestine Week, and Dubnov, a musicologist and self-described secular Jew, was monitoring the activities as head of the local chapter of the pro-Israel group Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. He felt offended by much of what he saw and heard. He was especially disturbed by advertising for the event and by publicity on the MSA’s website listing the school as a co-sponsor. But should Jews make a federal case out of it?

Israel Economy

Israel 17th most competitive economy

(YNet News) Israel remains in the 17th place among the world's 59 leading economies in terms of competitiveness, according to the 2011 World Competitiveness Yearbook of the International Institute Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Israel International Cooperation/Aid

Israeli NGO recommended for special status on ECOSOC

(JPost) An Israeli NGO that strives to save children with heart conditions in developing countries across the world has been recommended for special consultative status by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Japan thanks ZAKA for rescue efforts

(YNet News) Japan's ambassador to Israel hosts members of Jewish rescue organization, thanks them for their help following tsunami disaster.

Just for Fun

Israeli song becomes Syrian opposition’s soundtrack

(JPost) Bashar Assad has blamed his country’s turmoil on Israel, but it’s doubtful the Syrian autocrat had this in mind.