April 6 – 2016

During the week covered by this review, we received 6 articles on the following subjects:
Israel
The Pope and the Vatican
Christians in Israel
Miscellaneous
Archaeology

Israel

Israel Hayom, March 28; Yediot Ahronot, March 30, 2016
Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, the Sephardic chief rabbi, has drawn controversy over his statement in his weekly lesson that “according to the halacha [Jewish religious law], a Gentile is forbidden from living in Israel, unless he takes upon himself the commands to the sons of Noah. Otherwise he should be sent to Saudi Arabia.”

The Yediot Ahronot article notes that this statement of Yosef’s was received “with almost no reaction from the public,” and takes this as a sign that “secular discussion is gradually disappearing” as a growing number of people are seeing opinions such as Yosef’s as “legitimate.”

The Pope and the Vatican

The Jerusalem Post, March 29, 2016
This article calls upon the Vatican to release the documents in its archives relating to the Holocaust, or to explain the reason for its refusal. The article cites the Vatican’s recent decision to release documents relating to the Argentinean military regime between 1976 and 1983, as well as democratic countries’ general policy of setting a time limit on historical archives, “unless the relevant material might endanger the lives of individuals or the sovereignty of the state.” By its continual refusal to open the archives, “the Vatican exposes itself to the charge that it has something serious to hide.”

Christians in Israel

Israel Hayom, March 29, 2016
This article cites various examples of the lives of Christians under Muslim rule, such as 67 Christians murdered in Lahore, 81 Christians murdered in Peshawar, the fact that it is illegal in Saudi Arabia to build a church and that Christians cannot hold Saudi citizenship, and the fact that in Egypt, 82 Coptic churches were burnt in August 2013, on the pretext that they supported the new regime. The reason for all this is the formal or informal implementation of the dhimma laws, according to which non-Muslims are deprived of civil rights and required to pay a yearly tax as a sign of shame. Even in Palestinian Authority areas, systematic persecution has caused most of the Christian population of Bethlehem and Ramallah to leave, when they had previously been a majority.

However, the fact that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing “does not prevent leaders in the Christian West from holding anti-Israel positions,” since they fear repercussions for Christians in the Islamic world, “and because of a centuries-old tradition of anti-Semitism in the churches.”

Miscellaneous

Yediot Ahronot, March 31, 2016
This Yediot article quotes an article in The Guardian, according to which Harriet Scharnberg, a German historian researching the activities of the Associated Press during World War II, holds that the news agency was able to remain in Germany due to an agreement it had with the Nazi regime. According to Scharnberg, the AP published material chosen by the Nazi propaganda office, and therefore often presented an inaccurate picture of events to US citizens.

The AP has responded by saying that it “rejects any accusations of collaboration with the Nazi regime. The AP resisted the pressure, acting all the while to collect accurate, essential and objective news items during a dark and dangerous time.”

Archaeology

Israel Hayom, April 1, 2016
Inspired by the Israel Museum exhibition on the Egyptian rule of Canaan, the article focuses on the many locations in Israel where the artifacts were found. Of particular note are the reconstruction of the fortress gate at Jaffa; the governor’s house at Afek, also surmised to be one of the only locations in Canaan where papyrus grew; the magnificent remains at Megiddo and Beit She’an, including the only life-size statue of an Egyptian pharaoh discovered to date; and the temple and sphinx discovered at Hazor.

The exhibition will remain at the Israel Museum until October 25 (free admission for children April 23-30, for Passover). The other sites all over Israel are open to the public as well.