WJC News Update – Hungarian Jews vote to stay away from events marking Holocaust Memorial Year

WJC News Update – Hungarian Jews vote to stay away from events marking Holocaust Memorial Year

News updates from the World Jewish Congress website – 10 February 2014

Hungarian Jews vote to stay away from events marking Holocaust Memorial Year

The main Hungarian Jewish umbrella group voted on Sunday to boycott official commemorations this year unless the role of locals in the Nazi deportation and killing of Hungarian Jews is made clear.

Greek party withdraws anti-Semitic candidate after protests

The leftist Greek party Syriza dropped a controversial candidate for the post of regional governor of Western Macedonia after he had made headlines with anti-Semitic statements.

Report: Germany to improve pensions for former Jewish ghetto laborers

10 Feb 2014 Germany’s Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs is planning to amend legislation which would allow thousands of Jews who worked in ghettos during World War II to draw a better pension. READ MORE »

Jewish hospital a fixture in Tehran – New York Times

10 Feb 2014 The Dr. Sapir Hospital and Charity Center on Mostafa Khomeini Street is the only Jewish hospital in Tehran and sits across from a Shiite seminary. READ MORE »

Spanish Jews: Reports of new Sephardic citizenship law, premature – Jerusalem Post

10 Feb 2014 Reports that Spain had passed legislation granting citizenship to Sephardic Jews residing anywhere in the world were premature, representatives of the Spanish Jewish community told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. READ MORE »

Rabbis blast Whats App as No. 1 destroyer of Jewish homes – Haaretz

10 Feb 2014 Satmar Hasidim seek to block filtered phones from sharing video, photos and audio through mobile messaging app. READ MORE »

Michael Goldfarb: What Jews and the Chinese have in common – BBC News

10 Feb 2014 Like most people on their first trip to China, I felt like an ocean swimmer trying to get back to shore pulling against a particularly vicious riptide, overwhelmed and slightly panicked. READ MORE »

World Jewish Congress Applauds Senate Resolution on Iraqi Jewish Archive

07 Feb 2014  READ MORE »

Israel said willing to give up 90 percent of West Bank in peace deal- Times of Israel

07 Feb 2014 Palestinians reportedly insisting on land swaps for no more than 3 percent of territory; either way, most Jewish settlements would remain in place. READ MORE »

Iran delivers surprise, money, to Tehran Jewish hospital – New York Times

07 Feb 2014 The brother of Iran’s president walked into Tehran’s only Jewish hospital on Thursday, delivering a surprise donation along with the message that the Health Ministry would give more attention to hospitals that traditionally serve Christian and Jewish Iranians. READ MORE »