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QUESTION: Yes. Mr. Fred Hoff, who works with Senator Mitchell, is visiting Israel, and there are reports that he’s going to Syria also to promote starting the talks between Israel and the Syrians. And can you tell us anything about the – his mission? And also, is Senator Mitchell still planning to go to the Middle East?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Frederick Hoff works in Senator Mitchell’s office. He’s Special Coordinator for Regional Affairs in the Office of the Special Envoy. He’s currently in Israel meeting with senior officials, and after Israel, he does plan to visit Damascus. The visit is part of ongoing efforts by Senator, or Special Envoy, Mitchell and his team to secure a lasting comprehensive peace in the region.
Senator – I keep calling him Senator, I guess I can call him Senator – Special Envoy Mitchell does plan to go to the region soon, but we don’t have the details of that trip. I know he’s going to Israel, but I don’t have other details on it.
QUESTION: Thank you.
Jewish groups represented at Saudi-sponsored interfaith parlay
VIENNA, Austria (WJC)--Leaders of major world religions gathered here to discuss better mutual understanding. The forum is a follow-up meeting to the 2008 World Conference on Dialogue in Madrid hosted by the Muslim World League under the auspices of the government of Saudi Arabia. It was convened to prepare a larger inter-faith conference in Geneva, Switzerland later this year.
The gathering of about 50 Muslim and Christian leaders included senior representatives of two Jewish organizations, including the World Jewish Congress (WJC), which was represented in Vienna by its Vice-President Rabbi Marc Schneier. Three other rabbis were also present.
"It is very significant that we are here... and is recognition on the part of the Saudis of the importance of the Jewish community being present in the process," Schneier told the ‘Jerusalem Post’. He added that the issues of Israel and Iran did not come up on the first day of the conference, which included general topics on religion as well as a reaffirmation of Saudi King Abdullah's commitment to inter-faith dialogue.
Cyber-Referrals
Various readers and our editor have spotted stories of interest on other websites to which we would like to draw our readers' attention.
Matthew Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington D.C. recommends a review by Jonathan Schanzer of former President Jimmy Carter's latest book, We Can Have
Go to the top of right column
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Peace in the Holy Land. It appeared originally in the Jerusalem Post. Here's the link
Donald H. Harrison, SDJW editor, thought an article in the Los Angeles Times, quoting ADL's Abraham Foxman on the Jewish leadership's meeting with President Barack Obama, was worth passing on. In essence, Obama said controversy between the U.S. and Israel improves American credibility in the Arab world. Here's the link
Jay Jacobson of Minneapolis forwarded a commentary in Canadian Jewish News about the one-sidedness of a report written by Amnesty International about Israeli operations in Gaza. Here is the link
Netanyahu urges Maccabi athletes
to make aliyah from 64 countries
TEL AVIV (WJC) —The 18th Maccabiah Games, popularly known as the ‘Jewish Olympics’, were opened on Monday in Tel Aviv. The 12-day event is the biggest ever, with 7,300 competitors coming from 65 countries. The games are held every four years and always in Israel. "You represent 65 countries but one united people," Prime Minister Netanyahu said in his welcoming remarks at the National Stadium in Tel Aviv.
"You have come from all corners of the world and it is thrilling that you are here ... I thank you for coming, for your participation but I ask you to do one more thing: immigrate to Israel, your place is here, come and be a part of us," said Netanyahu.
The largest delegation, with 2,000 athletes, comes from Israel. The United States sent over 900 athletes. The Olympic-style opening ceremony saw the delegations march into the stadium behind their national flags. The festivities included hundreds of flamboyantly costumed dancers, singers, drummers and riders on lit-up bicycles. They also featured a children's chorus, an orchestra and some of Israel's top pop acts.
Demjanjuk accused of helping to murder 27,900 Jews at Sobibor
MUNICH (WJC)—Germany Prosecutors in Germany have formally charged the alleged Nazi war criminal Ivan Demjanjuk with helping to murder 27,900 Jews in the Sobibor death camp during World War II. The prosecutors' office in Munich said the charges had been filed on Monday. The trial of the 89-year-old retired car worker, who was deported from the United States in May, is expected to begin in the fall.
The formal filing of charges came ten days after medical experts at Munich's Stadelheim prison declared that the accused was fit to stand trial, provided that his questioning in court was limited to two 90-minute sessions per day.
Demjanjuk denies the accusations that he was a guard at the Sobibor death camp and helped murder Jews. He says he was captured by Germans in his native Ukraine while fighting for the Red Army and kept as a prisoner of war.
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