News – Diaspora
For the first time in seventy years, Adolf Hitler’s deranged manifesto, Mein Kampf, is back on sale in Germany now that the copyright has expired. Germany’s education minister, Johanna Wanka, said that the newly annotated version of the text will allow students to ask the right questions about Hitler’s polices, so that his “comments do not remain unchallenged”.
An Israeli-born teen living in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, has been accused of bullying after posting a series of anti-Israel tweets. According to Gothamist, it was one tweet in particular that got her in trouble with school administrators, when she claimed that she would share a pro-Israel student’s name with others after the student unfollowed her. “I’m so glad that pro-Israel girl from my school unfollowed me! I’m so FREE now like….. F**K ISRAEL F**K ISRAEL F**K ISRAEL F*K ISRAEL,” she wrote on Twitter. She sounds charming. And open to compromise, too.
In more Hitler-related news, in London, anti-Semites threw gas canisters at Orthodox Jews as they yelled ‘Heil Hitler’ and ‘Hitler is on the way to you.’ The victims (two men and one woman) were reportedly shaken up, but not injured. According to reports, the canisters contained laughing gas.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for attacks on Israeli tourists in Cairo, saying it was a response to a call from the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to target Jews “everywhere.” There were no casualties. According to Egypt’s Interior Ministry, the attack was directed at security forces.
News – Israel
The Tel Aviv gunman who killed three on New Years day in Tel Aviv was shot and killed today, after police discovered him in a mosque in northern Israel. Good riddance.
Two Hamas-linked terrorists have been arrested after an alleged plot to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it was revealed today. The two planned to detonate homemade explosives underneath a stage while the Israeli PM was speaking.
According to Israel’s national food bank, Leket Israel, Israel throws away a third of its food, costing the Israeli economy NIS 18 billion ($6.5 billion CAD) every year. “There are things that we can do with very minimal effort to rescue food, but we need to have policies that will direct this, policies that come from a government level,” said Gidi Kroch, the NGO’s CEO.
Following the EU’s introduction of guidelines specifying that all Israeli products made in settlements will no longer be labelled as “Made in Israel,” a member of the Knesset has proposed a resolution labelling goods from those European countries participating. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, it appears. However, as Tevye warns us, this could leave us all blind and toothless. The proposed legislation indicates that the new labels would read, “Please note, this product was manufactured by a country that has chosen to label products from Israel.”
Technology
Israel’s Urban Aeronautics’ unmanned aerial vehicle – a truck-sized flying machine, some are calling it – performed its first untethered flight this week. Dubbed the AirMule, it’s essentially the closest thing to a flying car in existence. Futurama, here we come.
Health
You’ll recall reports circulating about the world’s first kosher-certified pot being marketed by a New York company. Now, it seems that Canada wants in, with the Kasruth Council of Canada holding a meeting to discuss a similar application from licensed producer of medical pot, MedReleaf.
The Kashruth council decided, however, that medicine doesn’t need to be kosher in order to be consumed. “Something that is medicine, that’s prescribed from your doctor, that you need to take for your health, that doesn’t need kosher certification,” said the council’s managing director Richard Rabkin. “We don’t really want to get into the business of providing kosher certification for something that is doctor-prescribed. We’re not going to go down that path.” Toke up, my kosher friends. Toke up.
Culture
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s adaptation of DC Comics’ Preacher series will make its debut at SXSW festival, it was revealed yesterday. Let’s hope it’s absolutely nothing like Rogen’s last foray into comicbooks, The Green Hornet.
Despite poor reviews (alongside everything else Adam Sandler has done recently), Netflix film The Ridiculous Six has actually broken a record for the streaming service, being watched more times in 30 days than any other movie in its history. “The Ridiculous Six, by way of example, in the first 30 days on Netflix it’s been the most-watched movie in the history of Netflix,” announced Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. AND, now that Netflix is in Israel, your friends and relatives in the Holy Land can enjoy watch it too. Not me, however. I would watch a You Don’t Mess with the Zohan sequel though! Can somebody start a petition for that?
According to Hamas’ daily newspaper, Palestine, which is published in Gaza, Woody Allen, in addition to being an iconic director, writer and actor, is also an Israeli journalist? On Thursday, the paper published an article by journalist Alex Fishman of Yedioth Ahronoth, but used a photo of Allen instead. Maybe their names sound similar in Arabic? Mind you, in Hamas’ defence, we probably all look exactly the same to them.
Rashida Jones – yes, she’s Jewish, and on her mother’s side, too – is bringing the 90s back via a new music video for the R&B jam Flip and Rewind by her nephew, who’s working under the moniker Boss Selection. Jones joins in as a singer (what CAN’T she do?) and also co-directed the clip.
Weather
It is 3 C in Toronto!!!!