JTS Deals With Cuts
NEW YORK — The Jewish Theological Seminary says it still has a $5.5-million budget gap even after a round of cuts due to a drop in investment and fundraising revenue. In an open letter April 27, Chancellor Arnold Eisen detailed the cuts, describing them as “challenging and painful,” and said more steps must be taken. Cuts already made include eliminating 10 faculty positions, suspending some employee benefits and an unspecified reduction in salary for employees earning more than $60,000.
Specter Switches
WASHINGTON — Arlen Specter, the only Jewish Republican in the U.S. Senate, is becoming a Democrat. The moderate Specter, 79, a longtime Pennsylvania lawmaker, said April 28 that he switched his affiliation and will run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary. His switch would give Democrats a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority if Al Franken eventually prevails in Minnesota’s contested Senate race over Republican Norm Coleman. Specter’s switch, assuming Franken wins, means Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia would be the only Jewish Republican in the U.S. Congress.
NYU Cancels Event
NEW YORK — New York University cancelled an anti-Israel event disguised as an event about climate change. The event, slated for May 4, was titled “The Hidden History of Zionism: The Road to Gaza’s Killing Fields.” Organizers promoted it with flyers that some called anti-Semitic, Ynet reported. University officials confirmed the cancellation of the event, but stressed it was because the student who booked the event said it was going to be about climate change.
Charges Dropped
WELLINGTON — Charges against the Catholic priest in New Zealand who smeared blood on a memorial to former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin will be dropped. Father Gerard Burns led a Jan. 6 protest of several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators through the streets of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, during the offensive against Hamas. At the monument, Burns sprinkled droplets of red paint mixed with his own blood on the plaque. Pictured wearing a black and white keffiyah at the rally, Father Burns called it a “symbolic action.” He was charged with wilful damage after David Zwartz, ex-honorary Israeli consul in New Zealand, reported him.
Actress Played Maude
LOSANGELES — Actress Bea Arthur, who won Emmy Awards for her roles in the television sitcoms Maude and The Golden Girls, died April 25 at her Los Angeles home of cancer at age 86. Arthur, born Bernice Frankel in New York, also played Yenta the matchmaker in the original Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.
Ties With PA Set Up
CARACAS — The Palestinian Authority and Venezuela established diplomatic relations. PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki met Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro on April 27 to set up bilateral relations and open an office in Caracas. Venezuela cut ties with Israel in January to protest the Gaza incursion, calling it a “massacre.” Israel responded by ousting Venezuela’s envoys in Israel and to the Palestinian Authority. President Hugo Chavez then said at a summit with Arab nations that he had no plans to re-establish ties with the “genocidal” state.
Prisoners Messages Found Near Auschwitz
WARSAW — A message written by Nazi prisoners and placed in a bottle was discovered by builders working near the site of the Auschwitz death camp.
The bottle was discovered April 20 hidden in a concrete wall in a school that prisoners had been forced to reinforce, according to an Auschwitz museum official.
The official said the message was written in pencil, dated Sept. 9, 1944, and signed by seven inmates from Poland and France. At least two survived the Holocaust. “They were young people who were trying to leave some trace of their existence behind them,” the official said.
The note’s authenticity has been verified and the museum will receive the note this month.
Meanwhile, the Czech government on April 28 voted to contribute about $100,000 toward the repair and upkeep of the former death camp. It’s the second country after Germany to promise funds following a Polish plea for help.