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XX The Jewish Herald • Friday, March 22, 2013 7 YS


the individuals were Jewish was not felt to be especially likely.” However, some historians have noted that


the pell-mell way in which the bodies were dis- posed may indicate that the usual care taken in disposing of the bodies of Christians was not taken in this case, a possible sign that the de- ceased were Jewish, the BBC reported. The bodies’ new grave is to be marked with a


monument indicating that they were probably the victims of an anti-Jewish massacre, such as the one against Norwich’s Jews in 1190, the board announced. According to the Board of Deputy’s chief ex-


ecutive Jon Benjamin, no one can “be sure ex- actly when and in what circumstances these unfortunate victims met their apparently vi- olent deaths, but their interment so soon after the anniversary of the Clifford’s Tower massa- cre in York is fitting.” Some 150 Jews were murdered in the keep


of York Castle in 1190, the same year in which many of Norwich’s Jews were also massacred. “Norwich marked the scene of the first medi-


eval blood libel,” Benjamin recalled. “We may feel that we live in a very different world today, but antiSemitism and blood libels persist and the dangers of bigotry and xenophobia are very much with us today. This gives the coming together of Jewish and Christian friends and clergy in Nor- wich a particular poignancy and importance.” Speaking for this article on Monday, Benja-


min noted that, initially, “The bones were given to the Museum authorities in Norwich, whom we then persuaded to give them up for burial.” The remains were kept in storage by the local


museum for several years until obtained by the Board of Deputies following lobbying by commu- nity representative Clive Roffe and members of the local clergy. “Once a question was raised about the pos-


Pollard, who is in the 26th year of a life sentence for spying for Israel while working as a civil- ian U.S. Navy intelligence ana- lyst. Activities on behalf of Pol- lard have been stepped up in the run-up to Obama’s visit to Isra- el. More than 202,000 people have signed a petition calling on Obama to free Pollard. The petition was to be hand-deliv- ered to Obama during his Isra- el visit. The calls to release Pol- lard have intensified in the last year with pleas from lawmakers and former top officials of both U.S. political parties. •


Rabbi Pinchas Punturello


will begin work in southern Ita- ly and Sicily to reach out to the Bnei Anousim, the descendants of Jews forced to convert to Ca- tholicism centuries ago. Pun- turello’s posting is a joint proj- ect of Shavei Israel, an Israel- based nonprofit that helps


sible Jewish provenance,” Benjamin said, “the community remained interested and involved, with the Board of Deputies assisting Mr. Rof- fe to try to get a resolution of the matter and a dignified interment.” According to Benjamin, even though the ev-


idence is “circumstantial,” the Board of Depu- ties felt that “if there was even a chance of them being Jewish, then interment in a Jewish cem- etery would be acceptable.” Bishop David Gillet, an interfaith advisor in


the Diocese of Norwich, was involved in securing the bodies for the Jewish community. He noted that, “Whatever the DNA research reveals, the discovery of the bones has raised awareness of some of the real injustices inflicted on the Jew- ish community in medieval times.” “I have worked hard for over two years in ask-


ing for the bones to be released for a decent and appropriate burial, with the help of the Board of Deputies. I am honored to be giving the eulogy tomorrow at the local Orthodox cemetery, with the local rabbi conducting the service.” The bishop said that attending the funer-


al was his chance to offer the church’s “repen- tance” for the “pain of the past.” Speaking at the bodies’ internment on Tues-


day, the bishop said that both the Jewish and Christian communities were gathered to hon- or and mourn those of were “were brutally dis- posed of down a well shaft.” Citing massacres carried out by medieval


Christians against their Jewish neighbors and the expulsion of the country’s Jews in 1290, Gil- let said that he and his coreligionists “pledge ourselves to live and work in our generation for supportive and respectful relationships between our two communities.” The bodies will also be commemorated in a me-


morial in the local St. Stephen’s church, he said, with a plaque citing the “Hebrew scriptures.” o


strengthen and recover Jew- ish identity, and the Union of Italian Jewish Communities. It marks the first time a rabbi has been appointed to work specifi- cally with the Bnei Anousim of southern Italy and Sicily. Pun- turello, 36, a Naples native, was the small congregations activ- ities coordinator for the Union of the Italian Jewish Communi- ties, the official umbrella orga- nization of Italian Jewry. In the role, Punturello will collaborate with Rabbi Scialom Bahbout, the chief rabbi of Naples, who has initiated a number of programs aimed at these Jews seeking to recover their identity. •


The Obama administration


refused to participate in a U.N. Human Rights Council meet- ing on Israeli settlements and slammed the body for its “dis- proportionate” focus on Israel. The Geneva-based council de- bated a January special report on the settlements that called for Israel to immediately with- draw from the West Bank and suggested Israel may be lia- ble for war crimes if it does not leave. In separate comments Eileen Donahoe, the U.S. am- bassador to the body, said “the United States remains extreme- ly troubled by this council’s con- tinued biased and disproportion- ate focus on Israel.” The coun- cil repeatedly singles out Isra- el for criticism and has ignored major human rights abusers, some of which are members of the council.


Julio Acevedo, the driv-


er of car in an accident that killed a young chasidic couple in Brooklyn, was charged with manslaughter. Brooklyn pros- ecutors announced a second- degree manslaughter charge against Acevedo, 44. If convict- ed, he faces life imprisonment. Acevedo earlier had been in- dicted on charges of leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Prose- cutors say Acevedo was speed- ing through the streets of Wil- liamsburg, Brooklyn, at near- ly 70 miles per hour when the BMW he was driving plowed into a livery cab that was transport- ing Nachman and Raizy Glaub- er, both 21, to the hospital early on March 3. Raizy Glauber was pregnant with the couple’s first child, which briefly survived an emergency C-section. The Glau- bers were killed instantly. Aceve- do fled the scene of the accident and was apprehended several days later in Pennsylvania. •


France’s Ministry of Cul-


ture returned seven valuable paintings looted by the Nazis during the Holocaust from two Jewish families. Six of the paint- ings were given to Boston-area resident Thomas Selldorff, 84, who came to Paris to collect the works during a ceremony at the ministry in Paris, according to Le Parisien. Another painting was returned the same day to a lawyer representing the rel- atives of Josef Weiner, a bank- er from Prague who was mur- dered by the Nazis in 1942. The


BRIEFS


paintings were part of various collections in France, including the Louvre in Paris and the mu- seums of Tours, Saint-Etienne and Agen, but they belonged to Selldorff’s grandfather, Richard Neumann, an Austrian indus- trialist who escaped the exter- mination of Jews by fleeing to Cuba with his wife and daugh- ter, Le Monde reported. Follow- ing a lengthy process, the French CIVS Holocaust restitution com- mittee determined in Decem- ber that Selldorff was the legal owner of the paintings. •


The filming schedule of


“The Amazing Spider Man 2” was changed in response to a request made by a charedi Or- thodox community in Brooklyn. Producers of the Hollywood fran- chise being shot at the Marcy Av- enue Armory, a building located in the mostly Yiddish-speaking part of Williamsburg, agreed to reduce the presence of their ve- hicles in the neighborhood for the duration of Passover. Plans to close a local intersection were canceled and most vehicles re- lated to the production will be directed to private parking lots instead of taking up space on the street. “We expressed the impor- tance for ‘Spider-Man’ to ‘pass- over’ filming during Passover, and they have answered our call,” the New York Post quot- ed Councilman Stephen Levin (D-B’klyn) as saying. “Thank you for letting my people park.” •


At least four rockets were


fired from Gaza at southern Is- rael on the second day of Pres- ident Obama’s visit to the re- gion. Two of the rockets landed in Sderot, damaging one home. The other two rockets are be- lieved to have landed in Gaza. The attack occurred hours be- fore Obama traveled to Ramal- lah in the West Bank to meet with P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Obama condemned the attack. It was not believed that Israel would retaliate during Obama’s visit, according to re- ports. “The Israeli response will come at the right place and the right time,” an unnamed Israe- li official was quoted as telling several Israeli newspapers. •


The Union of Jewish French


Students sued Twitter for about $50 million for failing to honor a court ruling to identify users who posted antiSemitic hate speech. The union, or UEJF, filed the lawsuit with a Paris correctional tribunal, according to the French news agency AFP. UEJF President Jonathan Hay- oun said his organization filed the lawsuit because the Califor- nia-based website has “ignored” a civil court ruling in late Jan- uary that Twitter must iden- tify people who broke France’s laws against hate speech. The ruling came following an earli- er UEJF lawsuit. As an Amer-


ican company, Twitter argued in court that it adheres to U.S. laws and is protected by the First Amendment and its broad free- speech liberties. But the French judge said that comments by In- ternet users in France are sub- ject to France’s stricter legisla- tion against racist and hateful expression.


• The magnolia tree gifted


from President Obama to Israeli President Peres will not have to be uprooted for approval by Is- rael’s Agriculture Ministry. The ministry said it would conduct the necessary tests in the garden of the president’s residence in Je- rusalem rather than removing


the tree from where it was plant- ed a day earlier by Obama and Peres, according to a statement from Peres’ office. Following the planting, reports surfaced that the ministry would require the tree to be dug up and brought in for quarantine and inspection, which is the protocol for bring- ing plants into the country in or- der to prevent the spread of new bugs and diseases. Obama said he brought the tree with him on Air Force One.


• President Obama reaf-


firmed his commitment to Is- rael and called for a renewed peace process in a speech to thousands of Israelis in Jeru- salem. In the centerpoint of his first presidential visit to Israel, Obama stressed America’s “un- breakable” alliance with Isra- el and support for Israel in the face of mounting regional un- certainty, notably the threat of Iran’s suspected nuclear weap- ons program and the instabili- ty sparked by the Arab Spring. But Obama also made an as- sertive call for Israelis to pur- sue peace with the Palestinians, urging his audience to pressure their leaders to take the neces- sary risks that would ensure a two-State solution and Israel’s long-term security. “Peace is possible,” Obama said. “I know it doesn’t seem that way. There will always be a reason to avoid risk, and there’s a cost for fail- ure.” But, he continued, while negotiations will be necessary to get there, “there is little secret about where they must lead — two States for two peoples.” 


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