Israel news in brief
Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi visits the Jewish Okopowa Cemetery in Warsaw. The cemetery adjoins the former Warsaw Ghetto.
PM Livni?
Should Prime Minister Ehud Olmert be forced to resign – due to the ongoing investigations being conducted on him for past charges of government corruption and questionable personal business practices as well as the recent charge of allegedly receiving a bribe from New York businessman Morris Talansky – Kadima and Shas may back Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to prevent early elections.
Israel’s numbers
On the eve of its 60th anniversary, Israel’s population has reached 7,282,000, 75.5 percent of which is Jewish, and 20.1 percent Arab, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Oldest immigrants
Ya’akov Manlun, 97, and his wife Orah, 88, new immigrants from the Benei Menashe Tribe of India, wed last week.
The couple has nine children (three of which also made aliyah), and nearly 70 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren living in Israel and India.
Conversions issues
The Jewishness of thousands of converts was cast in doubt after the High Rabbinical Court of Israel severely censured the head of the country’s Conversion Authority for performing conversion in a non-kosher way.
In a decision that was published last week, the three-man panel of rabbinic judges upheld a ruling from an Ashdod Rabbinic Court that retroactively annulled the conversion of a woman performed by Rabbi Haim Druckman, head of the Conversion Authority, 15 years ago.
The decision to annul the woman’s conversion was made after it became known that she never adhered to Orthodox Jewish practice after her conversion. As a result, the Jewish status of the woman’s four children was annulled.
Phones send x-rays
Medical images such as MRI and ultrasound scans and x-rays can be sent via cellular phones using a process developed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The new technology is expected to be a boon not only for patients in developed counties, including rural areas with reduced access to medical services, but especially for those in the Third World.
Boycott Olympics
A wide-ranging group of U.S. Jewish leaders released a statement last week urging Jews worldwide to boycott the Summer Olympics in Beijing, citing China’s troubling record on human rights and Tibet.
The statement also notes China’s close relationships with Iran, Syria and the militant group Hamas. So far, 175 rabbis, seminary officials and other prominent Jews have signed the declaration, which came shortly before Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“We are deeply troubled by China’s support for the genocidal government of Sudan; its mistreatment of the people of Tibet; its denial of basic rights to its own citizens; and its provision of missiles to Iran and Syria, and friendship for Hamas,” the statement reads.
Priciest mansion
Russian-Jewish billionaire Roman Abramovich is planning on building a mansion worth an estimated 150 million pounds ($298 million), British media reported.
The house will reportedly include eight bedrooms and will include the renovation of two buildings in the Lowndes Square area of Knightsbridge in London. The two buildings are currently split into nine separate apartment residences that Abramovich bought individually.
Abramowitz, the second richest person in Britain and the owner of the Chelsea football club, is worth an estimated 11.7 billion pounds.
The mansion will join Abramovich already impressive collection of houses, including his other homes in London and Moscow and his summer homes in southern France, Tuscany, and Montenegro.
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Other headlines
- Nationwide drill prepares Israelis - 04/17/08
- Israelis are flocking to specialty guesthouses - 04/10/08
- The big clean-up before the holiday - 04/03/08
- The first signs of spring in Israel - 03/27/08
- Getting all decked out for Purim - 03/20/08
- The collective pain of a nation - 03/13/08
- The westernizing of Israeli teens - 03/06/08
- Reconnecting with a memorable past - 02/28/08
- From dumpy dresser to designer fashionista - 02/21/08
- Exploring nature in our own backyard - 02/14/08
- Good food brings Jews and Arabs to the table - 02/07/08
- Israeli moms start dreading the draft - 01/31/08
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