PM Blames Jews

ISTANBUL — Turkish leaders, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, blamed Israel and its supporters for what they said was international media hostility to the country’s ruling party. “This international media, as they are supported by Israel, would not be happy with the continuation of the AKP government,” Erdogan said last week. “Of course, they have their hands on Turkey nowadays.” Erdogan was responding to the Economist’s endorsement of the opposition party ahead of this week’s elections. Another minister, Egemen Bagis, described “international dark elites who control the international media.”

Letter Detailed Hate

LOS ANGELES — A 1919 letter written by Adolf Hitler that is said to be the first time he outlined his idea to eradicate Germany’s Jews will be exhibited publicly at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles starting next month. It had been accessible only to historians. Hitler wrote the letter well before his rise to power in Germany, but he had already outlined the government’s role in the extermination of the Jews.

Actor Tweets Against Circumcision

SYDNEY, Australia — Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe railed against circumcision in a string of Twitter posts, denouncing it as “barbaric,” before apologizing the next day.
The stream of tweets began June 9, in response to a query from an Australian follower. The tweets have since been deleted, but news outlets reported that the actor wrote, “Circumcision is barbaric and stupid. Who are you to correct nature? Is it real that God requires a donation of foreskin? Babies are perfect.”
Crowe, who won an Oscar for his role in the 2000 film Gladiator, went on to address Jews directly. “Many Jewish friends, I love my Jewish friends, I love the apples and the honey and the funny little hats but stop cutting yr babies,” (sic) he tweeted.
On June 10, after newspapers and news sites reported on his posts, he apologized over Twitter. “I have a deep and abiding love for all people of all nationalities, I’m very sorry that I have said things on here that have caused distress,” he tweeted.
The flap began when Crowe responded to a follower on Twitter who asked if he should get his son circumcised. His comments came amidst a heated debate on a controversial San Francisco ballot initiative that would ban childhood circumcision if approved by the California city’s voters in November.