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TEL AVIV (Press Release)—Two hundred twenty new immigrants from France arrived Tuesday in Israel, July 21, 9and received their new Israeli ID cards at a special ceremony at the Western Wall hosted by Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and the Ministers of Interior and Immigrant Absorption. Among the new immigrants are a group of realtors who already received training and certification in France to work as real estate agents in Israel.
Last week, 150 new immigrants arrived from South America on a first-ever chartered flight for olim, with some 50 new immigrants from Brazil, 50 from Argentina and the rest from Uruguay and Peru.
Over the summer some 5,000 new immigrants are expected to arrive in Israel, many of them on 20 special olim flights, run in partnership with Nefesh B’Nefesh in North America and the AMI organization in France.
The Jewish Agency anticipates an increase of 15% in the number of immigrants compared with 2008.
Mumbai terror suspect confesses, but Indian judge continues trial
MUMBAI (WJC)—An Indian judge has accepted the guilty plea of the lone surviving gunman in the attacks in Mumbai but ordered the trial to continue because all the charges had not been addressed.
The Pakistani gunman, Ajmal Kasab, unexpectedly confessed on Monday, July 20, to taking part in the November 2008 terrorist attack that killed 166 people, but the court delayed a decision on whether to accept his confession. Prosecutors argued that his statement was incomplete and accused Kasab of seeking clemency. In response, Kasab said he was willing to hang for his actions.
The judge, ML Tahiliyani, on Thursday decided to accept Kasab's confession, but refused to deliver a judgment based on it. He ordered the trial to continue because Kasab did not address all 86 charges against him.
Kasab's confession linked the attack to a shadowy but well-organised group in Pakistan. India has said that terrorist groups across the border were behind the attack, and that Pakistan is not doing enough to clamp down on them. The special public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, argued that the prosecution should be allowed to submit further evidence as Kasab had not made a full disclosure about his role in the terror attacks. "The prosecution has to establish before the court why Mumbai was targeted, why foreigners were attacked and has to also expose the infrastructure and operations of terror group LeT."
"If the Pakistan government is serious about combating
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terrorism then it can use this evidence in a court there, as there is a provision for the same in Pakistan's criminal procedure code," Nikam said outside court.
Lieberman asks Brazil for help in stopping Iran's nuclear program
BRASILIA (WJC)—
On his ten-day tour of Latin America, Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman has met with Brazil's President Lula da Silva. Brazil was Lieberman's first stop on his trip to the region. He will also travel to Argentina, Colombia and Peru. The trip will tackle a series of diplomatic issues ranging from economic cooperation to the Iranian nuclear threat. Lula da Silva's support has been openly sought after by both Israel and Iran. Lieberman declared that Israel wishes to gather the support of Brazil and other countries in Latin America against Iran.
"I believe that Brazil, more than other countries, could try to convince the Iranians to stop their nuclear program," Lieberman said after meeting with the Brazilian president. Lieberman added that Brazil's friendly relations with the Arab world and the Palestinians could give the country an important role in the dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians.
Brazil's foreign minister Celso Amorim declared that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be welcomed to Brazil in August. He defended Iran's goal for nuclear development for "exclusively non-military" use within a "verifiable" framework.
Last May, a visit by Ahmadinejad to Brasilia was canceled at the last minute after protests from members of the Jewish community. Instead of joining international criticism of the recent Iranian elections, President Lula was fast to recognize Ahmadinejad's victory.
The Israeli foreign minister has also held meetings with other Brazilian officials and leaders of the country’s Jewish community. Lieberman said Israel's President Shimon Peres would visit Brazil next November.
Italians hold journalism seminar, plan national Jewish newspaper
TRIESTE, Italy (WJC)-- Italy's Jewish community is running a first-of-its-kind seminar to train young journalists for work in Jewish media. The workshop is the latest move in a concerted program by Jewish leaders in Italy to upgrade Jewish information, for the community and the general public.
During the two-week seminar, which began Sunday near Trieste, five young journalists are holding hands-on training sessions with professionals from the Jewish and mainstream media. The participants are from Florence, Venice, Turin and Milan.
Other recent initiatives have been the launch of a Jewish information portal, http://www.moked.it, and the publication in May of the first edition of what is planned as a periodic national Jewish newspaper. Renzo Gattegna, president of the umbrella Union of Italian Jewish Communities, told JTA that he hoped the seminar would "be useful in reinforcing structures that are weak and sometimes not very efficient."
Meanwhile, the community will also organize a Festival of Jewish Culture in the southern region of Puglia, to take place in early September.
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