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‘We’re listening,’ Israel’s new Diaspora minister says in first public comments in the US
AUSTIN, Texas (JTA) — The new Israeli government is listening to the concerns of more liberal Jews, Israel’s new minister of Diaspora affairs said on Thursday.
But Amichai Chikli said that while some proposed changes that worry Americans — including an overhaul to the country’s Law of Return — would happen slowly, any criticism is largely misplaced.
“There is a large alarm on the left, it’s obvious, and it affects dramatically most of the Jews who live here in America,” Chikli said at the summit of the Israeli American Council, which aims to keep Israelis in America connected to Israel, often through business.
“We had an election. The result was crystal clear. We were very honest with our agenda, and it is our responsibility to form this agenda,” he said. “And it does not mean that we are not listening. We do listen, and I spent hours today, yesterday, to listen to Jewish leaders and what they have to say about the Law of Return, about the judicial changes, and everything. We’re listening to the criticism. We’re listening to the concerns. We care about it.”
Chikli was making his first public comments outside of Israel since being appointed minister of Diaspora affairs late last month in Israel’s new right-wing government, helmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s decision to ally with extremist parties, including ones that advocate for curbing rights to Arab Israelis, LGBTQ Israelis and non-Orthodox Jews, has drawn concern from across the Diaspora, as has the government’s effort to weaken Israel’s judiciary, which historically has acted to protect the country’s minorities.
Diaspora Jewish leaders have raised particular concern about the coalition’s agreement to amend Israel’s hallmark Law of Return, which permits anyone with a Jewish grandparent to claim citizenship. The eligibility rules were crafted to reflect the Nazis’ criteria for whom to kill during the Holocaust, but Israel’s religious parties say that has left the door open to immigrants who are not invested in building a strong Jewish state.
Speaking in a live interview with Israeli journalist and TV presenter Miri Michaeli, Chikli said he believed it was a problem for Israel’s identity that a decreasing percentage of immigrants from the former Soviet Union are connected to Judaism and many of them don’t stay in Israel for very long.
But the new minister said any changes to Israel’s Law of Return would happen slowly and through a process that includes consultation with others.
“No one, no one is going to cancel the Law of Return, which is fundamental for the state of Israel,” Chikli said.
“We’re not saying we’re about to cancel Chapter Four tomorrow morning,” he said, referring to a technical name for the law. “That’s not what’s going to happen. What’s going to happen is there’s going to be a committee to determine how can we deal with this serious challenge. And as you see when you go into the details, that’s a challenge. We need Israel to be a strong Jewish state, and we need to tackle this challenge, and we’re going to do it slow. We’re going to do it by listening to all.”
Chikli, who has previously made disparaging remarks about Reform Judaism and who has said the LGBTQ Pride flag is an antisemitic symbol, grew up and lives on a kibbutz founded by the Conservative movement of Judaism where three-quarters of voters backed left-wing parties in the most recent election. He said his government’s critics would do well to change how they form their opinions about the government.
“I think that maybe one tip is less Haaretz and New York Times, and more common sense and tachlis, what the government is actually doing,” Chikli said, referring to newspapers perceived as liberal and using the Hebrew word meaning details. “That’s it. We are proud to be Zionists. Me, myself, I’m proud to represent this government.”
Nearly 3,000 people, many of them Israelis living in America, are expected to attend the IAC’s summit in Austin this week. Chikli’s comments came during the opening day, when Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke to the summit via video message and acknowledged concerns around the new administration.
“It’s no secret that, since Israel’s most recent election, questions were raised by many of our friends around the world and in the United States,” Herzog said. “Our friends want to know that Israel will continue to carry the rich, ethical heritage on which our country was founded, that it will continue to stand for those values of democracy, liberty and equality, which are the animating force behind the United States and Israel alliance. So allow me to reassure you that Israeli democracy is strong.”
Many of the events during the conference’s first day did not address the month-old government, its turmoil or the concern ricocheting across the world, including among many of Israel’s allies.
Ofer Krichman, an Israeli expat who works in finance and lives in New Jersey, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he had expected the new Israeli administration to be a bigger topic of conversation.
Instead, he said, he had conversations about “ideology, but based not on politics, based on Jews all around the world, antisemitism, how to cope with that, which is not business, but that’s a valid topic to discuss, and it’s a concerning topic.”
One of Chikli’s first acts was to extend his title to include a mandate to fight antisemitism. He says the movement to boycott Israel, known as BDS, is of particular concern to him. Noa Tishby, Israel’s first special envoy for combating antisemitism and delegitimization of Israel, also spoke during the summit’s first day.
The turmoil was on the minds of some attendees. Grinstein, the founder of the Reut Group, a nonpartisan Israeli policy think tank, told JTA that the relationship between Israel and world Jewry is at a pivotal moment.
“The new government represents a massive challenge to world Jewry on a number of counts,” Grinstein said. “First of all, the government handed responsibility over key touchpoints to world Jewry in Israel to the most radical factions of the government. … These things really make it structurally challenging for world Jewry to be as involved in Israel as they used to be.”
Those concerns offered an undercurrent during the first day of the conference. But the dominant vibe was simply on making business connections and meeting people.
Shani Gil, who works in real estate in the Los Angeles area, said she spent her first day at the conference going through the booths, mingling and handing out business cards.
“It’s an electric vibe in the air,” she said. “Everyone’s very excited.”
—
The post ‘We’re listening,’ Israel’s new Diaspora minister says in first public comments in the US appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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French Court Cuts Sentence for Teen in Antisemitic Gang Rape of 12-Year-Old Jewish Girl
France, Paris, 20/06/2024. Gathering at place de la Bastille after the anti Semitic rape of a 12 year old girl in Courbevoie. Photography by Myriam Tirler / Hans Lucas.
More than a year after the brutal gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl, a French court has dramatically reduced the sentence of one of the two teenagers convicted in the attack, citing his “need to prepare for future reintegration.”
On Tuesday, the Versailles Court of Appeal retried one of the convicted boys — the only one to challenge his sentence — behind closed doors, ultimately reducing his term from nine to seven years and imposing an educational measure, the French news outlet Le Parisien reported.
“The court took into account the entire case as provided for by law: the facts, their seriousness, but also the personality of the minor and the need to prepare for future reintegration,” the boy’s lawyer Melody Blanc said in a statement.
The original sentences, handed down in June, gave the two boys — who were 13 years old at the time of the incident — seven and nine years in prison, respectively, after they were convicted on charges of group rape, physical violence, and death threats aggravated by antisemitic hatred.
The third boy involved in the attack, the girl’s ex-boyfriend, was accused of threatening her and orchestrating the attack, also motivated by racist prejudice.
Because the girl’s ex-boyfriend was under 13 at the time of the attack, he did not face prison and was instead sentenced to five years in an educational facility.
The lawyers of the victim, Muriel Ouaknine-Melki and Oudy Bloch, praised “the courage of [their] client” for confronting her attackers and ensuring that two of them were imprisoned.
According to police reports from the time, the two French boys cornered the girl on June 15, 2024, inside an empty building in Courbevoie, a northwestern suburb of Paris, questioned her about her Jewish identity, and then physically assaulted and raped her.
The assailants who were Muslim also allegedly called the victim a “dirty Jew” and uttered other antisemitic remarks during the brutal gang-rape.
Under threat of death, she was forced to perform penetrative and oral sex on two of the boys, while her ex-boyfriend threatened to burn her cheek with a lighter and attempted to make her sit on her handbag, which he had set ablaze.
Local reports indicate that part of the assault was recorded, and at least one assailant allegedly demanded 200 euros from the girl to withhold the footage, which was eventually circulated.
The ex-boyfriend sent footage of the assault to a boy the girl had gone out with that afternoon, with the message “Look at your chick,” according to law enforcement. After receiving such a message, the boy informed the girl’s family, who found her an hour after the attack.
“Before letting her leave, they made her swear on Allah not to say anything and that she should not tell anyone, neither her parents nor the police,” the girl’s mother told Le Parisien at the time.
The three-day trial, held behind closed doors, took place in a regional juvenile court in Nanterre, a suburb west of Paris.
During the proceedings, the judge explained that the severity of the sentence came “in view of their concerning personality traits and the immense social disturbance.”
“There is no doubt that [the victim] would not have been assaulted or raped if she had not been Jewish,” the judge said at the time.
The brutal crime sparked outrage throughout France and among the Jewish community, unfolding against the backdrop of a disturbing surge in antisemitism that has gripped the country since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
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Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa says he wants to play an NFL game in Jerusalem
(JTA) — The phrase “Next year in Jerusalem” is customarily spoken at the end of the Passover seder. But this past weekend its sentiment was conveyed at the end of a different kind of gathering: a low-scoring NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders.
“Shoot, it’d be pretty cool to go play in Jerusalem,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said postgame.
The game — which the Dolphins won 16-13 in overtime — was the NFL’s first in Spain, as part of a growing international series that’s seen contests played in England, Germany, Brazil, Ireland and Mexico.
Tagovailoa, a Christian, was asked where else he’d like to play after experiencing Madrid and previously Frankfurt, Germany. And his answer caught the eye of a high-ranking diplomat: Mike Huckabee, the United States Ambassador to Israel.
“Tua is right,” Huckabee wrote on X. “Bringing an NFL game to Israel is a great idea. Next year in Jerusalem…I like the sound of that.”
The suggestion comes amid an increasingly contested role for Israel as a host in global sporting events. EuroLeague basketball is supposed to return next month, and officials from the league are in Israel now to assess conditions before finalizing the plan.
Soccer, too, has been a fraught space for Israeli participation. The Union of European Football Associations had been set to vote on suspending Israel but paused the process after the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that began last month. Some want the organization to return to the deliberations, with Ireland’s soccer federation submitting a motion earlier this month to ban Israel from all UEFA competition for “organising clubs in occupied Palestinian territories without the consent of the Palestinian FA” and “the alleged failure of the IFA [Israel Football Association] to enforce an effective anti-racism policy.”
Tagovailoa’s comments on playing in Israel did not mark the first time speaking about the country during a postgame media availability. Following a home game on Oct. 15, 2023, Tagovailoa paused the press conference to talk about Hamas’ attack on Israel, which had taken place just over a week earlier.
“I didn’t really realize how bad things were in Israel,” Tagovailoa said. “And just wanted to bring to the attention for those who don’t necessarily understand things that are going on, that it really is bad.”
He added, “I don’t know what we’ve come to, but just my thoughts, my prayers are out with those people in Israel,” continuing on to note that there is “also the Ukraine and Russia war still going on as well.”
There has been no indication from the NFL about a potential game in Israel, though Robert Kraft — the American billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, who is Jewish and founded the Blue Square Alliance against Hate, formerly called the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism — sponsored the construction of the Kraft Family Sports Campus in Jerusalem, which includes an American football field. The adjacent park, Gan Sacher, is routinely home to informal football and flag football games.
Meanwhile, the capacity of Jerusalem’s largest stadium, Teddy Stadium, is just 31,000. Attendance at the NFL’s international games have ranged from upwards of 86,000 to, at their lowest, 47,000.
The post Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa says he wants to play an NFL game in Jerusalem appeared first on The Forward.
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‘Pure Astonishment’ and other new Yiddish poems
דער פּאָעט באָריס קאַרלאָוו (פּעננאָמען פֿונעם ייִדיש־פּראָפֿעסאָר דובֿ־בער קערלער) ברענגט דאָ אַ קראַנץ נײַ־געשאַפֿענע לידער אויף פֿאַרשידענע טעמעס — די נאַטור, ארץ־ישׂראל, אַפֿילו „איי־אײַ“. לייענט און האָט הנאה! [רעד׳]
הוילער וווּנדער
ס׳איז אַוודאי שווער צו זאָגן
וועמען האָסטו מערער ליב:
צי דעם פֿרילינג ערבֿ טאָגן,
צי דעם אָסיען שאַרלעך טריב?
און אַפֿילו גרינעם זומער
האָסט אַוודאי גאָרניט פֿײַנט,
און מיט ווינטערדיקן קומער
גרייט ביסט אויכעט ווערן פֿרײַנד…
ס׳איז אוודאי שווער באַשליסן:
וועמען האָסטו מערער האָלט
צי דעם רעגן וואָס טוט גיסן
צי די זון מיט איר ריין גאָלד?
איינס איז קלאָר אַז אַלץ – באַזונדער,
צי אינאיינעם – הוילער וווּנדער!
*
דין־וחשבון
אַרײַנגעקוקט האָב איך אין מײַן עזבֿון
ווי ס׳קוקט אין סוכּהלע אַמאָל אַרײַן אַ יוון
און ניט געווען בכּוח תּופֿס זײַן גענויער
ווי ס׳הייבט זיך אָן דאָרט הימל
און וווּ ס׳עקט זיך רויערד
אַ הון קוקט אין בני־אָדם מעשׂה־אינדיק
און אויך מײַן קוק איז לעכערלעך און זינדיק
אַקעגן מײַנע שורהלעכס שיריים
וואָס פּיקן קרישקעס ערד
ניט שפּירנדיק שמיים
שמיים — דאָרט איז וואַסער, זאָגט מען,
סאַמע מים־חיים…
צו אַלדי רוחות! הילכט דעם טאַטנס זאָג עד־היום
פֿון יענע וואַסערדיקע הייכן וואָס באַגרינדן
דעם שטילן עכאָדיקן שמייכל
בײַסיק לינדן.
*
למען היושר
ייִדיש, ייִדיש תּרדוף
און ווען טוסט עס דעריאָגן
קריגסטו באַלד אַדעראויף
פֿון טיף ייִדישע יאָגן
און זיי זאָגן אַזוי
ניט אין רו פֿון נירוואַנע
זאָלסט דערגרייכן צום בלוי
וואָס ער טוט דיך מהנה
צו אַנטדעקן אַ וועלט
מיט פֿאַרשידענע וועלטן
נאָר דורך יאָגן צעהעלט
צווישן בענטשן און שעלטן
צווישן ברכה און בראָך
מיט אַ הייסער נשמה
איבער ווידער און נאָך
יעדער טראַף – שם און נאָמען.
*
סוף גאָטס פֿרײַטיק
ווען אומרו זיך צום סוף באַרויִקט
און ס׳ווערן אײַנגעשטילט די ברואים
נעם זינגען הלל קרועה־בלוע
פֿאַר דעם באַשעפֿערלס ישועה
פֿאַר דעם באַשעפֿערס גרויסע חסדים
און פֿאַר דעם שעפֿערס אַלטע בגדים
און ווען דער הלל זיך באַגרעניצט
מיט דעם באַשעפֿערס שטילן געניץ
מיט דעם באַשעפֿערלס אַ שמייכל
גראָד ווען דעם שעפֿער דאַרט דער שׂכל
פֿאַרגעס ניט אָפּבענטשן דעם גומל
באַג(ר)יסנדיק דעם גאַסט מיט בוימל
*
לידער מיט ארץ־ישראל
(Singing with Israel)
א.
ס׳איז אַוודאי זייער פּשוט
זאָגן — אַלץ איז שווער און קשה
אַז די וועלט ווערט באַלד פֿאַרברענט,
אַז מע הייבט שוין אויף די הענט,
אַז די האָפֿענונג שוין גוססט,
לעצטע כּוחות גייען אויסעט…
דאָך פֿונדעסטוועגן, מײַן חבֿר,
אַלע ווייסן דו ביסט בראַווער
פֿון די גרעסטע דרייסטסטע ריזן
אַלץ וואָס דו האָסט ניט באַוויזן
וועסט נאָך ניסימדיק באַווײַזן
ווײַל ביסט שטאַרקער נאָך פֿון אײַזן
און ביסט גיכער פֿון אי־מייל
גבֿורות־ישׂראל־מי־ימלל
ב.
די נשמה זינגט און ווייטיקט
נאָר איר ליד קלינגט אײַזן־שטאָל.
טיף געטראָפֿן, שווער באַליידיקט
זינגט זי דאָך מיט ארץ־ישׂראל –
ווידער פֿעלדער אירע גרינע
שטאַרק צעבלוטיקט נאָך אַמאָל…
נאָר די גרוילן באַלד אַנטרינען
ליכטיק ט׳ווערן באַרג און טאָל,
ווײַל דאָס ליד מיט האַרץ טוט שטימען,
דאָס געזאַנג – מיט ארץ־ישׂראל
*
וווּ לעבט אײַ־אײַ־אײַ?
כ׳האָב געפֿרעגט בײַם איי‐אײַ
וווּ עס לעבט אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ
האָט ער גלײַך מיר געזאָגט
וווּ דער אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ טאָגט
בלויז פֿאַרשוויגן פֿאַרדעכטיק
וווּ דער אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ נעכטיקט
כ׳טו אַ שרײַ: דו, איי‐אײַ,
ביסט אַ שטיק שאַלאַפּײַ,
זאָג מיר גיך, כ׳מאָן מיט רעכט,
וווּ פֿאַרברענגט ער די נעכט?
ס׳טוט אָ זאָג דער איי‐אײַ:
אײַ‐אײַ‐אײַ פֿליט פֿאַרבײַ
איבער קלאַנג וואָס ווערט שטום
דאָרט וווּ ס׳דרעמלט די זון.
*
נײַע קלאַנגען
ס׳נעמען קלינגען העראַקליטיש
און היברידיש — נײַע קלאַנגען
און מע זאָגט: ס׳האָט מאַמע ייִדיש
יונגע הערצער שטאַרק געפֿאַנגען
און דו פֿרעגסט זיך: טאַקע ייִדיש?!
פֿרעגסט זיך אָן אַ שמץ באַנג און
ווערסט געפּלעפֿטערהייט פֿאַרחידושט
פֿון דעם קלעזמערישן טאַנגאָ –
כּלל ניט פֿאָטעריש, ניט מאַמיש,
ניט קיין היימיש לשון־קודש
אויך ניט חוצפּהדיק דינאַמיש
צו דער וועלט אַ פֿרעכער ״הודו״?!
מילא, זאָל דאָס אויך זײַן ייִדיש
צי מיט גראַמען, צי אָן גראַמען
בעת אין טײַך קלינגט העראַקליטיש:
אוי, אַ וויי איז צו דער מאַמען!
*
אַ לידל פֿונעם אַלטן גולם
כ’האָב אַרײַנגעקוקט אין סוואַרבע
און דורך תּיבות דאָרט דערזען
אַז דו וועסט צו מיר נאָך קומען,
ממש קומען ווען־ניט־ווען!
כ’האָב אַרויסגעכאַפּט אַ גמרא,
ברייט צעעפֿנט און וואָדען? –
וועסט צו מיר, שטייט דאָרט אַ סבֿרא,
ווידער קומען ווען־ניט־ווען!
כ’האָב גענומען הערן תּורה
פֿון דעם הייליקן בעל־שם
איז ער אויכעט מיך מעורר:
אַז אָט קומסטו ווען־ניט־ווען!
שטיי איך, שוין אַן אַלטער גולם,
שטאַרק צעטומלט און פֿאַרקלעמט:
זאָג, אויף דעם, צי יענעם עולם
וועסטו קומען ווען־ניט־ווען?
*
אַצינדערט
אַצינדערט מעג מען זינגען שיר־השירים
אַזוי פֿיל מילדע לאַסקע רינט אין ווערטער
וואָס שטייען אויפֿעט שטײַף צו מילדקייט אירער
דער געטלעך פרײַער שכינה אויסגעקלערטער
פֿון מינדסטן פּגם און פֿלעקיקן חיסרון
אין ריינקייט אויסגעוואַשן, אויסגעבאָדן
ווען אַלץ וואָס מ׳מעג, וועלן די ווערטער טאָרן
מיט שבֿח צום איינציק לעבעדיקן אָדון
און ער, דער שבֿח, וועט שפּאַלטן שווערע הימלען
צום סאַמע האַרץ פֿון דופֿקדיקן לעבן
און וואַסערדיקער הייליקייטס געווימל
וועט צו דער ערד־און־באָדן פֿלײַסיק שטרעבן
געדענק און בענטש דאָס ליד פֿון אַלע לידער
און קוק אַוועק פֿון נישט וואָס אייביק נישטיקט
און ווען דײַן ווערטערגאַנג ווערט לויזער, מידער
און ס׳רינט אַוועק דער אַפּעטיט צום פֿרישטיק
דערמאָן זיך אין דעם חן פֿון גרויסן חסד
דערקוויק זיך מיט דערוואַכונג וואָס שטײַגט איבער
די אותיות צוויי פּיי נון טיף אויסגעטעסעט
אויף לוחות פֿון דײַן האַרץ ווי שאָטנס טריבע
און זינג און זאָג מיט האָפֿערדיקע קלאַנגען
צעוואַקלדיק דעם מיזמורס שטײַפֿע כּללים
מיט שטורעמדיקע דראַנגען און פאַֿרלאַנגען
צעשטערנדיק דער וועלטס הבֿל־הבֿלים
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