LEBANESE LEADER BERRI: HOW CAN YOU RECOGNIZE A JEW?

JERUSALEM POST STAFF

“They want to operate and invest [their money] in a calm and stable climate,” Berri said.

nabih berri 224.88. (photo credit: AP [file])

The  Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri apparently had no qualms about using an antisemitic slur in a meeting with Jewish American politician Eliot L. Engel.

The Lebanese daily Al-Jumhouriyya quoted Berri as saying during his meeting Engel, “How to Recognize a Jew? If you see a pregnant woman, get close to her and toss a piece of gold near her or at her feet. If the fetus jumps out from his mother’s womb and grabs the gold, you know he is a Jew.”

The meeting, which took place several days ago, was meant to focus on negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on demarcating the maritime border between the two countries, which would impact oil and gas drilling rights in the Mediterranean.

Al-Jumhouriyya reported in its article on May 29 that Berri made the comment when he as asked what he thinks is motivating Israel to soften its position and agree to demarcate the land and maritime borders simultaneously.

“The Israelis want the oil [in the Mediterranean] and want to produce the oil and gas found in the Palestinian waters,” Berri continued. “If they had companies capable of drilling and producing [the gas and oil themselves], they would have acted immediately, without delay. But they need [the help of] international companies, and the latter are apprehensive.

“They want to operate and invest [their money] in a calm and stable climate,” he said. “They do not dare to take risks and start operating in oil [fields] in the Palestinian waters, or in parts of the sea close to the 860 square kilometers that are disputed between Israel and Lebanon, as long as they feel insecure and believe that the situation can explode at any moment. That is why Israel withdrew [from its previous position].”

The article was originally translated by the Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI).

‘Aladdin’ Star Says He Visited Israel, Wants to Go Back and See Jerusalem

Shiryn Ghermezian

Mena Massoud in an interview with Ynet. Photo: YouTube screenshot.

Egyptian-born actor Mena Massoud, who plays the titular character in the new “Aladdin” remake, revealed in an interview on Sunday that he would love to return to Israel someday and go to Jerusalem.

“I visited Israel when I was in Jordan, I crossed the border just for a few hours,” Massoud, 27, told Ynet. “It was lovely. We only spend a couple of hours there I definitely want to go back and visit Jerusalem. and walk the path of Christ and kind of do all the big stuff.”

Massoud — who was attacked on social media over the weekend for promoting an Israeli vegan restaurant — was born in Cairo, but was raised in Canada. He said on Twitter that he “grew up in Toronto going to Isreali (sic) restaurants that served Middle Eastern food.”

“Aladdin” is currently in theaters.

German government calls on people to wear the kippah

Ben Ariel

Angela Merkel / Reuters

The German government has called on people to wear the kippah ahead of an anti-Israel protest as a demonstration of solidarity and as Jews face a spike in anti-Semitism, AFPreported on Monday, withdrawing an earlier warning against wearing the traditional skullcap.

Felix Klein, Germany’s government commissioner on anti-Semitism, warned Jews over the weekend about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah skullcap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks.

“I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany,” Felix Klein said in an interview published Saturday by the Funke regional press group.

In issuing the warning, he said he had “alas, changed my mind (on the subject) compared to previously.”

The comments caused an uproar, with President Reuven Rivlin voicing shock at Klein’s warning and saying was a “capitulation to anti-Semitism” and evidence that Jews are unsafe in Germany.

Late on Monday, Klein reversed course after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman intervened.

“The state must see to it that the free exercise of religion is possible for all… and that anyone can go anywhere in our country in full security wearing a kippa,” the spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told a press conference.

In his latest statement to Funke, Klein then said, “I call on all citizens of Berlin and across Germany to wear the kippah next Saturday if there are new, intolerable attacks targeting Israel and Jews on the occasion of Al-Quds day in Berlin.”

Al-Quds is the annual Iranian event against Israel and will take place on Saturday. During Al-Quds Day, rallies are held around the world and are used to incite against Israelis and Jews.

Klein also addressed his earlier statements, saying that he “could no longer recommend that Jews wear the kippah everywhere in Germany should be taken as an alarm signal.”

On Monday, in a show of solidarity with Jews, the German daily Bild published a cut-out-and-use kippah.

The newspaper called on readers to “stand in solidarity with (their) Jewish neighbors” by making “their own kippah”, bearing the star of David, to “raise the flag against anti-Semitism”.

Anti-Semitic crimes rose by 20 percent in Germany last year, according to interior ministry data which blamed nine out of 10 cases on the extreme right.

A report released last summer found that Germany had seen an increased number of attacks on Jews during the first half of 2018.

In November, Merkel condemned what she called a “worrying” resurgence of anti-Semitism in Germany.

Several anti-Semitic incidents have taken place in Germany over the past year, including earlier this month when an Israeli musician was attacked by a mob of Arabs at an anti-Israel event in Berlin.

ROTARY ISRAEL PLANTS THE PAUL HARRIS PEACE FOREST IN THE DESERT

KKL-JNF

Israel’s first Rotary club was established in Jerusalem, in 1929. Today, 90 years later, there are 58 Rotary clubs in Israel, with about 1,500 members.

Rotary Israel members unveil the sign for the Paul Harris Peace Forest in the Desert. (photo credit: DENNIS ZINN/KKL-JNF)

Alarge crowd of over two hundred members of Rotary Israel and KKL-JNF attended the dedication of the “Paul Harris Peace Forest in the Desert” near Ofakim in the Negev. 

Paul Harris was the person who founded the Rotary organization 110 years ago in Chicago, USA.  The participants met outside the Eshel Hanasi Youth Village on Friday, February 22, 2019, and, led by a KKL-JNF guide, drove in convoy across several kilometers of dry desert terrain to the spot where the new forest was to be planted.  On-site to greet the visitors was KKL-JNF Fundraising Department Director Michael Ben Abu. He warmly welcomed the guests and told them: “KKL-JNF is proud to partner with the Rotary organization to create a forest for the benefit of the residents of the area and visitors from the rest of Israel and around the world. We hope and believe that the Paul Harris Peace Forest in the Desert will become a special rallying point, not only for the many Rotary members in Israel and abroad, but also for all those visitors from around the world who come to witness the miracle of transforming the desert into a garden. Rotary and its members are part of that miracle.”  

Ben Abu called on Alon Bendet, Governor of Rotary Israel, and other present Rotary officials, to unveil the KKL-JNF plaque marking the establishment of the Rotary Israel’s Paul Harris Peace Forest in the Desert.

The forest’s establishment will have a significant positive ecological impact, and is a meaningful action strongly rooted in the vision of Rotary International, an apolitical organization where laypeople, professionals and business owners engage in social activism on behalf of their local communities and the world at large. Rotary International has been operating already for 114 years.

Founded in Chicago by Paul Harris and three other members in order to help the community, the organization currently has more than 1.2 million members in 36,000 clubs around the world, and promotes significant local and international activism in health, education, water and sanitation, conflict resolution and more under the mottoesService Above Self and One Profits Most Who Serves Best.

Classic Pita Bread

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