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Former Jewish first lady of Peru flees to Israel after extradition request
LIMA, Peru (JTA) — Eliane Karp, Peru’s former Jewish first lady, has flown from the United States to Israel in an attempt to avoid extradition to Peru in a money laundering case.
Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola announced the news on Wednesday at a press conference in Lima.
“The United States Department of Justice has informed the Peruvian embassy in the U.S. that Mrs. Eliane Karp has taken a flight to Israel using her Israeli passport,” he said.
Peru does not have an extradition treaty with Israel.
Karp was first lady of Peru from 2001 to 2006. Born to Jewish parents in France, she is an anthropologist who met her husband, former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, while the two were students at Stanford University. Before getting her PhD from the California university, Karp got her bachelor’s degree at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In April, Toledo was extradited from the United States to Lima, where he is now in prison. He is accused of accepting tens of millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for public works contracts. Toledo denies all wrongdoing.
Peruvian authorities also attempted to extradite Karp from the United States for a separate embezzlement case involving Karp, her mother and her husband.
In 2013, a Peruvian prosecutor discovered that Ecoteva Consulting Group, an offshore company in Costa Rica founded by Toledo, was used to pay the mortgages of expensive real estate for Karp’s mother, Eva Fernenburg. Initially, Toledo claimed the money from this company came from reparations paid by Germany to Fernenburg, a Holocaust survivor. Later he said that the money came from Israeli businessman Yossi Maiman.
Prosecutors believe that money used to create Ecoteva came from bribes and are therefore seeking a sentence of 16 years and 8 months for both Toledo and Karp. On April 20, a California judge ordered the return of Karp’s passport.
While first lady, Karp was known for her ability to speak Quechua, one of the indigenous languages of Peru, and for her tendency to explosively call out those who disagreed with her. In 2004, at an event at the Israeli embassy in Lima, Karp began yelling at a Israeli-Peruvian media tycoon (in Hebrew and Spanish) whose TV channel had criticized her. She later apologized to the Israeli ambassador.
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The post Former Jewish first lady of Peru flees to Israel after extradition request appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran to Boycott World Cup Draw Over Visa Restrictions
Soccer Football – World Cup Playoff Tournament and European Playoff draws – FIFA Headquarters, Zurich, Switzerland- November 20, 2025 The original FIFA World Cup trophy is kept on display during the draws. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Iran intends to boycott next week’s World Cup draw due to the limited number of visas allocated to the country’s football federation.
According to the Tehran Times, the United States issued visas to only four members of Iran‘s delegation, with requests for three additional visas denied, including one for Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) President Mehdi Taj.
“We have informed FIFA that the decisions taken are unrelated to sport and that the members of the Iranian delegation will not participate in the World Cup draw,” FFIRI spokesman Mehdi Alavi said on Friday, per the report.
Alavi said the federation has been in contact with FIFA in an effort to resolve the situation.
The World Cup draw will take place on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The expanded 48-team World Cup is being hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026. Matches will be played at 16 venues, including three in Mexico and two in Canada.
The draw will sort the teams into 12 groups of four. The top two teams from each group and the eight best third-place teams will advance to the knockout stage.
Iran has secured a spot in its fourth consecutive World Cup and seventh appearance overall.
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Dublin to Rename Chaim Herzog Park in a Move Slammed as Attempt to Erase Jewish History
Anti-Israel demonstrators stand outside the Israeli embassy after Ireland has announced it will recognize a Palestinian state, in Dublin, Ireland, May 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Molly Darlington
i24 News – Citing the Gaza war, Dublin city council voted to rename a park honoring Israel’s sixth president, the Irish-born Chaim Herzog, in further manifestation of anti-Israel sentiment in the country.
While a new name is yet to be chosen, reports cite efforts by pro-Palestinian activists to change it to the “Free Palestine Park.”
Former Irish justice minister Alan Shatter harshly criticized the vote, charging that “Dublin City Council has now gone full on Nazi & a committee of the Council has determined it should erase Jewish/Irish history. Herzog Park in Rathgar is named after Chaim Herzog, Israel’s 6th President, brought up in Dublin by his father, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, a friend of Eamon De Valera, who was Chief Rabbi of Ireland & Israel’s first Chief Rabbi… Some councillors want the Park renamed ‘Free Palestine Park.”
The Jewish Representative Council of Ireland issued a statement regarding the renaming of Herzog Park.
“It sends a hurtful and isolating message to a small minority community that has contributed to Ireland for centuries. We call on Dublin City Councillors to reject this motion. The removal of the Herzog name from this park would be widely understood as an attempt to erase our Irish Jewish history.”
A virtuoso diplomat and an intellectual giant, Herzog had served in a variety of roles throughout his storied career, including a memorable stint as the ambassador to the United Nations, where in 1975 he delivered a speech condemning the Soviet-engineered resolution to brand Zionism as a form of racism. The address is now regarded as a classic, along with the oration from the same session by the US Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar slammed the decision, saying that Ireland’s “antisemitic and anti-Israel obsession is sickening.”
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Qatar’s Al Thani to Visit Beirut Wednesday to Meet with Lebanon’s Leaders
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani makes statements to the media with then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Doha, Qatar, Oct. 13, 2023. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al Thani will visit Beirut on Wednesday to meet with Lebanon’s leaders, Al-Jadeed reported Saturday.
The visit comes “as part of an effort inseparable from the efforts by Egypt in coordination with Arab countries, foremost among them Saudi Arabia.”
The trip coincides with a sensitive period for the country, ravaged by war and deep economic crisis.
Lebanon is under growing pressure from both Israel and the United States to more swiftly disarm Hezbollah and other Islamist groups across the country, with Israel increasingly inclined to stop the Shiite militia from rearming and rebuilding its infrastructure.
Hezbollah was left devastated in the aftermath of a nine-day war last year, that saw Israel take out its command structure and lay waste to a significant proportion of its missile arsenal.