Your daily spiel for Monday, Feb. 8

Burned Torah scrolls KARMEI TZUR SECURITY DEPARTMENT PHOTO

Your Daily Spiel is The CJN‘s daily roundup of trending stories in the Jewish world


Canada/U.S.: During a news conference in Ottawa today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated today that Canada will be pulling its fighter jets out of Syria and Iraq by Feb. 22. At York University, JDL members staged a counter-protest against a student-led rally calling on the school to divest from “weapons companies.” While the rally itself wasn’t anti-Israel, the groups who staged it are.

Former Jewish MP Irwin Cotler met with Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion to discuss issues important to the former’s new organization, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, including Iran, human rights, and terrorism in Israel.

While giving a speech on Holocaust remembrance at a New York synagogue, UN chief Ban Ki-moon was heckled by attendees accusing him of justifying terrorism, referring to a recent speech where he said it was “human nature” to respond to occupation; Ted Cruz used the term ‘chutzpah’ to attack Donald Trump’s audacity (and now some are wondering if he’s anti-Semitic); and Twitter has removed some 125,000 profiles (most of them belonging to members of ISIS) in a bid to strengthen its anti-terror policies. What took them so long?

Donald Trump and Ted Cruz

Israel: An eleven-year-old Israeli boy was stabbed by a teenage Arab-Israeli in Ramle, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to bring to justice the Palestinian arsonists suspected of burning Torah scrolls at a West Bank synagogue; Israel’s Labor Party has approved leader Isaac Herzog’s plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank; some 30,000 Palestinians will be granted work permits in Israel, which the IDF says will reduce terror; a new poll shows that support for intifadah terror attacks among Palestinians has sharply declined from 63 per cent to 42 per cent, and a new music video released by Hamas – aptly titled Blow Off the Roofencourages suicide bombings on Israeli buses, because, of course, Hamas appreciates and cherishes life.

According to Israellycool (and reposted by advocacy organization StandWithUs), Facebook removed a photo that clearly read “Am Yisrael Chai” (“The nation of Israel lives”). As controversial as Facebook has been regarding the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this is still rather hard to fathom. It is believable, however, that the social media giant renamed Tel Aviv as Al Mas’Udiya over the weekend, referring to an abandoned Arab town.

Facebook photo ISRAELLYCOOL PHOTO
Facebook photo ISRAELLYCOOL PHOTO

This piece by Honest Reporting, which looks at UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s comments on Palestinians and human nature, is worth a read.

World: After letting in hundreds of thousands of migrants, Europe is reportedly planning on deporting some hundreds of thousands of migrants following “mass sexual assaults in European cities.” Even support for Angela Merkel is at its lowest in over four years.

A new report claims anti-Semitism has become a real problem at high schools across the Netherlands, especially among Muslim students, a member of the so-called ISIS Beatles execution squad has been identified as a British national who in the past took part in a flotilla to Gaza, Jews across Europe gathered in Germany to compete in the annual “Jewrovision” song/dance competition, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has slammed Croatian and Hungarian officials for “downplaying” the Holocaust, King’s College in London has condemned anti-Israel students who became violent during a protest (finally), and, following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan Saturday, IsraAID has sent a team to help out the victims.

WATCH: When devastation strikes, Israel is there to help! Israeli relief organization IsraAid is sending search and rescue personnel to Taiwan after a massive earthquake claimed at least 14 lives, while 100 more people are still missing. We pray for the people of Taiwan, and pray for the safe rescue of those who are missing.

Posted by The Israel Project on Monday, February 8, 2016

 

Health: A study presented in Jerusalem today cited fictional characters like Homer Simpson and George Costanza as giving researchers a “better grip on how memories are created,” Israeli and Swedish researchers have found a link between climate change in Brazil and the country’s Zika epidemic, a new Israeli study claims that winning creates an “enhanced sense of entitlement“ and eventually leads to dishonesty, and a Tel Aviv-based device gave hundreds of women in Kenya their first screening for cervical cancer.

Culture: As part of swag bags handed out to Academy Award nominees, this year’s bag will reportedly include a 10-day trip to Israel valued at $55,000 (US). Speaking of the Oscars, the Coen Brothers spoke about the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, explaining, at least for them, that they write about what they know: Jews and Minnesotans.

Saturday Night Live had a huge viewership this weekend, thanks to comedy great Larry David and his doppelganger Bernie Sanders. Ben Stiller also reprised his role as Derek Zoolander.

Bern Your EnthusiasmLarry David stars as Bernie Sanders in “Bern Your Enthusiasm.”

Posted by Saturday Night Live on Sunday, February 7, 2016

The hashtag #CancelTelAviv is gaining speed on Twitter, calling on Jennifer Lopez to cancel her forthcoming show in Israel. Of course, this provides yet another opportunity to post photos of havoc and genocide taking place in other countries, while claiming it’s Gaza. Anti-Israel propaganda at its finest.

Heavy metal band Anthrax is being sued over its Chanukah sweater for $1 million (US). Apparently, the band ripped off a design by a Detroit artist and businessman.

e state. Sanders and David later appear together on stage to throw over to the night’s musical guest. Asked by David about his lead in New Hampshire, Sanders replies with his version of the famous Curb Your Enthusiasm line: “It’s pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.”
Anthrax Chanukah sweater

In Toronto, a new show re-imagining the songs of Leonard Cohen starts this month, Friends is (again) following in Seinfeld’s footsteps, with a Friends pop-up bar set to open up this summer, and two Toronto natives are promoting their new movie, Let’s Rap, which features a cameo from noted Canadian actor Jason Priestley.


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