Latest news with #WorldJewishCongress
New York Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Israeli opposition leader faces backlash after claiming IDF is killing ‘babies as a hobby' in Gaza
Israel's opposition leader sparked outrage on Tuesday after he accused the Israel Defense Forces of killing babies in the Gaza Strip 'as a hobby.' Yair Golan, a former IDF deputy chief of staff and current head of The Democrats party, said the war in Gaza was transforming Israel into an international 'pariah,' as he called for a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal. 'A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations,' he told the Kan public broadcaster, per a translation by The Times of Israel. 4 Israeli Democrat party leader Yair Golan sparked outrage when he accused the IDF of killing babies in Gaza 'as a hobby.' SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images 4 The comments came after the IDF ramped up its military incursion into Gaza with plans to fully occupy the Strip. Golan's condemnation triggered intense backlash from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and those supporting the war against Hamas, with the premier accusing Golan of 'blood libel.' 'I vehemently condemn the wild incitement from Yair Golan against our heroic soldiers and against the State of Israel,' Netanyahu said in a statement. 'The IDF is the most moral army in the world, and our soldiers are fighting in a war for our existence. 'Golan, who encourages refusal to serve and compared Israel to Nazis while he was still in the military, has now reached a new low when he claimed Israel is 'killing babies as a hobby,'' he added. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir also condemned 'any statement that casts doubt on the ethical integrity of IDF operations and the morality of its soldiers.' 4 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the comments as he touted the IDF's operations in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. POOL/AFP via Getty Images 4 More than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began in 2023, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists. AFP via Getty Images The IDF maintains that its soldiers operate 'with determination and morality, as they always have.' Golan also faced backlash from fellow opposition leader Yair Lapid, who said such statements against the IDF served only as 'a gift to our enemies.' Following the backlash that saw him dropped from speaking at the World Jewish Congress conference in Jerusalem, Golan claimed his comments were taken out of context and were aimed at Netanyahu's far-right coalition members who called for no aid to reach Gaza and for Israel to fully occupy the Strip. 'The meaning of my words was clear: This war is the realization of the fantasies of [far-right minister Itamar] Ben Gvir and [Bezalel] Smotrich and if we allow them to put this into action, we will become a pariah state,' Golan wrote on X. 'It is time for us to have a backbone of hardened steel. We must stand up for our values as a Zionist, Jewish and democratic state.' The opposition leader went on to describe the IDF fighters as 'heroes' who operate in an 'ethical' manner.
Herald Malaysia
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Herald Malaysia
World Jewish Congress official: 'We'll miss Pope's wisdom and friendship'
Pope Francis "never hesitated to condemn anti-Semitism," whose words "were a shield for countless Jewish communities," and "we will miss his wisdom, his friendship, and his unwavering moral clarity," says Viktor Eichner, who represents the World Jewish Congress at the Vatican, in an interview with Vatican News remembering the late Pope. May 07, 2025 File photo of Pope Francis visiting Rome's Great Synagogue in 2016. By Deborah Castellano Lubov"In recent years, as we face the surge of antisemitism around the world, Pope Francis never wavered. He condemned hatred in all forms and urged political and faith leaders to protect the dignity of every human being." This was the perspective offered by Viktor Eichner, the Head of the World Jewish Congress Representative Office to the Holy See in Rome, in an interview with Vatican News. Representing the Congress at the Vatican, he works to foster relations between Jewish communities and the Catholic Church. Eichner, who in 2023 was tasked by the senior leadership of the WJC with opening the World Jewish Congress Representative Office to the Holy See, also serves as the European Manager of the Congress' Jewish Diplomatic Corps. Feel a personal loss When Pope Francis became Pope in 2013, he assured the Jewish community that he's committed to building bridges. From the moment he stepped into that role, he suggested, Pope Francis made it clear that the Catholic Church and the Jewish people would work toward 'a shared responsibility for the future.' 'As we mourn his passing, we at the World Jewish Congress,' he reaffirmed, 'feel a personal loss.' Will miss his friendship and wisdom 'We will miss his wisdom, his friendship, and his unwavering moral clarity,' he said, 'but we will honor his legacy by continuing the work he believed in, dialogue, dignity, and the peace among other peoples of faiths.' In particular, Eichner recalled that Claudio Epelman, WJC Commissioner for Interfaith Dialogue, was a close personal friend of Pope Francis, and that friendship dated back to when Bergoglio had met him as archivist of Buenos Aires. 'His door always open to Jewish community' Calling the late Pope 'a spiritual leader devoted to social justice and human dignity,' Eichner observed that even back in Buenos Aires, 'his door was always open to the Jewish community.' Moreover, Mr. Eichner remembered the times Pope Francis attended Holocaust commemorations and visited Synagogues, stressing, 'he never hesitated to speak out against antisemitism.' Pope Francis, he remembered, 'knew that dialogue between Jews and Catholics was not just a diplomatic formality,' but 'a moral obligation born of history, pain, and hope.' 'I had the privilege to meet him in person where I felt that through his words and deeds,' he said. 'Whether visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem, lighting a Hanukkah candle of his Jewish friends, or denouncing antisemitism as a sin,' the WJC official remembered, 'he showed that this relationship was not just theological, it was deeply human.' 'Shield for countless Jewish communities' Pope Francis, he highlighted, 'reminded the world that to be Antisemitic is to be Antichristian.' Those words, Eichner said, were not just symbolic, but 'were a shield for countless Jewish communities.' "While there were moments of difficulty, particularly in recent months," he said, "I remain deeply appreciative of his warmth, humility, and unwavering dedication to meaningful engagement between faith communities." Trust among religions Eichner concluded by expressing his hope that the late Pope Francis' memory be a blessing, and "may his life continue to serve as an example to all." 'May Pope Francis' life," he said, "continue to serve as an example to all.'--Vatican News
New York Times
20-02-2025
- New York Times
Why Did QR Codes Appear on About 1,000 Graves in Munich?
In a wooded cemetery in Munich, a white sticker with a puzzling QR code appeared on a gravestone late last year. Then, over the next few weeks, more and more stickers mysteriously appeared, until more than 1,000 graves were marked like goods in a supermarket. 'It's really strange,' Bernd Hoerauf, who oversees the management of the city's cemeteries, said in an interview this week. 'We thought, 'What could be the sense of this kind of sticker?'' Each of the white rectangular stickers, measuring about 1 by 2 inches, bore a black QR code, a last name and a combination of letters and numbers, according to images published in the German press. Cemeteries in Munich allow QR codes as memorials on headstones, Mr. Hoerauf said, and for more than a decade, people whose loved ones are buried in cemeteries around the world have uploaded photographs and other digital keepsakes to create online memorials that can be viewed via QR code. But those are usually etched into the gravestone or carved as a metal plate to form a deliberate part of the memorial to the deceased. The recent appearances in Munich also raised eyebrows because in 2004, stickers appeared in a Jewish cemetery in Bochum, a city in western Germany. Those turned out to commemorate Rudolf Hess, a senior Nazi leader who served as Hitler's deputy. The stickers appeared to be linked to a far-right demonstration in the town of Wunsiedel, in southeastern Germany, according to the World Jewish Congress. In this instance, though, the graves were not linked by religion, ethnicity or any other discernible personal characteristic of the deceased, Mr. Hoerauf said. City workers first came across the QR codes in December, and scanning them revealed only the name of the deceased and the grave's location — essentially repeating the information on the sticker, but providing no other useful information, Mr. Hoerauf said. The stickers popped up in Waldfriedhof cemetery, a wooded space with some 60,000 graves, and in the nearby smaller Sendlinger Friedhof and Friedhof Solln cemeteries, Mr. Hoerauf said. They seemed to be posted randomly, he said — on old and new graves, on carved tombstones and wooden crosses. Bewildered municipal workers initially recorded the sightings as they tried to figure out the source of the stickers. They were also looking at a steep price to remove them, Mr. Hoerauf said: anywhere from 100 to 500 euros (about $104 to $523) per sticker to strip the adhesive without damaging the graves, a total potential cost of roughly €500,000, he said. So this week, the municipality turned to the police to investigate a criminal case of property damage. They quickly found that a local business that had been contracted to clean and maintain certain graves was behind the QR codes, the police said on Thursday. The relatives of the deceased whose graves were marked with them would be notified during the inquiry, an investigating officer said in an email. The police would not name the company or share details about how they had found the perpetrators, but the German news media identified a gardening company as being responsible. The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper cited Alfred Zanker, a senior manager at that company, as saying that the stickers were simply a way for employees to keep track of which headstones they had maintained. 'We are a large company,' he told the newspaper. 'Everything has to happen in an orderly manner.' The police declined to comment further, citing the continuing investigation.
The National
17-02-2025
- Politics
- The National
Latest: Israel receives shipment of heavy bombs cleared by Trump
PM says Israel 'will finish the job' against Iran threat with US support Netanyahu says Israel will open 'gates of hell' if hostages not returned Lebanon army urges residents against returning to areas where forces absent Israeli troops kill woman in Lebanese border town, media reports Egypt's El Sisi discusses Middle East peace with World Jewish Congress chief At least 48,271 Palestinians killed and 111,693 wounded since Gaza war began
See - Sada Elbalad
16-02-2025
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
Sisi, World Jewish Congress President Discuss Middle East Stability
Nada Mustafa President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met today with Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, in the presence of General Intelligence Chief Hassan Rashad. The meeting focused on efforts to restore stability in the Middle East. Discussions also covered Egypt's ongoing initiatives to implement the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, including the exchange of hostages and detainees and the facilitation of humanitarian aid into the enclave. In this context, the President of the World Jewish Congress expressed his appreciation for Egypt's serious efforts to bring stability to the region. Moreover, Sisi stressed the importance of all parties acting responsibly to maintain the ceasefire. He warned that prolonging and expanding the conflict would harm all sides without exception. He also reaffirmed that the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, remains the only guarantee for lasting peace. Furthermore, President Sisi emphasized the urgency of commencing Gaza's reconstruction while ensuring that its residents are not displaced. He noted that Egypt is currently developing a comprehensive plan for this purpose.
