Homeless Holocaust survive wills $100k to Hebrew University

JPost

A homeless, anonymous Holocaust survivor from New York who passed away recently at the age of 92 left $100,000 to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, even though she had no known connection to the institution.

She left another $100,000 to her last employer.

According to a Hebrew University spokesman, the Jewish woman, who had been living out of a shopping cart in Manhattan, apparently had no surviving relatives. [..]

Modern Democracy:Halacha vs Islamic Law

JPost Daniel PIpes

Those of us who argue against Shari'a are sometimes asked why Islamic law poses a problem when modern Western societies long ago accommodated Halacha, Jewish law.

The answer is easy: Islam is a missionizing religion, Judaism is not. Islamists aspire to apply Islamic law to everyone, while observant Jews seek only to live by Jewish law themselves.

Two very recent examples from the United Kingdom demonstrate the innate imperialism of Islamic law. The first concerns Queens Care Centre, an old-age home in the coal town of Maltby, 40 miles east of Manchester. At present, according to the Daily Telegraph, not one of its 37 staff or 40 residents is Muslim. Although the home's management asserts a respect for its residents' "religious and cultural beliefs," QCC's owner since 1994, Zulfikar Ali Khan, on his own decided this year to switch the home's meat purchases to a halal butcher.

His stealthy decision meant pensioners at QCC could no longer eat bacon and eggs, bangers and mash, ham sandwiches, bacon sandwiches, pork pies, bacon butties or sausage rolls. The switch prompted widespread anger. The relative of one resident called it "a disgrace. The old people who are in the home and in their final years deserve better... it's shocking that they should be deprived of the food they like on the whim of this man."[...]

Deporting illegal immigrants

Arutz Sheva

(Israelnationalnews.com) Col. (res.) Yitzhak 'Tziki' Sela, Commander of the Interior Ministry's 'Oz' Unit which arrests illegal immigrants and deports them, gave an interview to Ma'ariv Wednesday in which he slammed the organizations that have been protesting against the government's intention to crack down on illegal foreign labor.

"These groups, those who protest against us, the ones that call me 'Goebbels' and a Nazi, are anarchists who want the destruction of the state of Israel, with three exclamation marks," Sela said. "They should be condemned. This is criminal behavior, pure and simple."[...]

46% of Israelis thinks gays are deviants

Haaretz

Almost half of the Israeli population believes that homosexuality is a perversion. A Haaretz-Dialog poll, conducted under Prof. Camil Fuchs finds that 46 percent of the people surveyed answered the question "Do you see homosexuality as a perversion?" in the affirmative, while 42 percent answered that it was not a perversion. Twelve percent said they did not know.

The survey also finds that 71 percent of the ultra-Orthodox population believe homosexuality is a perversion. So do 67 percent of the religious (Orthodox), 64 percent of the Arabs, 57 percent of the Russian-speaking immigrants, 44 percent of the observant (traditional) Jews and 24 percent of the secular population. [...]

American Psychological Assoc. rejects Gay Therapy

NYTimes Wall Street Journal

The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.

In a resolution adopted by the association’s governing council, and in an accompanying report, the association issued its most comprehensive repudiation of so-called reparative therapy, a concept espoused by a small but persistent group of therapists, often allied with religious conservatives, who maintain that gay men and lesbians can change.

No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the resolution, adopted by a 125-to-4 vote. The association said some research suggested that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.

Instead of seeking such change, the association urged therapists to consider multiple options, which could include celibacy and switching churches, for helping clients live spiritually rewarding lives in instances where their sexual orientation and religious faith conflict. [...]

Sheikh Jarrah Jews are restoring Jewish character to neighborhood

JPost

As condemnations over the eviction of two Arab families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah continued to pour in from around the world this week, renovations at a second disputed home on the other side of the east Jerusalem neighborhood were humming along unabated.

The home, which was the scene of multiple protests last week, is another tender nerve in east Jerusalem, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's statements that Jews may build anywhere in the capital have increasingly rubbed up against statements to the contrary from the United Nations, the United States and others in the international community.

While Palestinians view the increasing Jewish presence in east Jerusalem as a process of "Judaization" intended to jeopardize Palestinian claims, Jewish activists said that they see their work as a "re-Judaization" of an area that was once home to a vibrant Jewish community and has extensive Jewish roots.

"This used to be a Jewish neighborhood and this house belonged to Jews," right-wing activist Aryeh King said, as he sat outside the work site. King heads the Israel Land Fund (ILF), an organization that purchases land for Jews in east Jerusalem and is overseeing the renovations at the property.

"Before 1948, there was a Jewish community living in this section of Sheikh Jarrah, and we want to restore that," King said. "The Arabs that live here know the truth."

But Sheikh Jarrah residents last week told The Jerusalem Post that the home in question had belonged to an elderly woman, Mrs. Hijazi, who had recently passed away, and that the Jewish claimants had falsified ownership papers for the house.[...]

France asks clemency for Palestinian who plotted assassination of Rav O Yosef

Haaretz

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner appealed to Israel for clemency for a French-Palestinian who was jailed for his role in plotting the assassination of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Sarkozy's letter was delivered to the prime minister's bureau in Jerusalem on July 30 by way of the Israeli embassy in Paris just a few days after a similar letter was sent by Kouchner to Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The unusual request was made after pro-Palestinian groups in France lobbied for the release of the Palestinian, whose imprisonment has been likened there to the captivity of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. [...]

See Middle East Post a Palestinian blog that explains their position