Israeli medical chief returns fire on ‘torture’

The Israeli president of the World Medical Association has challenged his main critics to put up or shut up.

He says that if they have a case against Israeli doctors whom they believe to have been complicit in the torture of Palestinians, they should lodge complaints with the police and the state’s Attorney General.

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Professor: diaspora in danger

Diaspora Jews are under increasing threat from assimilation due to a lack of “mission causes”, according to an international expert on Jewish history.

Brandeis University’s Professor Jonathan Sarna made the statement while delivering the first William Frankel memorial lecture last week, in memory of the former JC editor and chairman, who died last April.

Professor Sarna told the 100-strong Institute for Jewish Policy Research audience that the recession would reduce communal expenditure, “which would weaken links to Jewish identity for a generation of youngsters”.

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Sonja Kohn — her bank statement

Sonja Kohn has repeatedly denied receiving payments from Bernie Madoff and denied knowing that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme, telling journalists, “I am his biggest victim”.

A representative of Bank Medici told the JC, “Bank Medici and the Kohn family are victims of Mr Madoff. Both Bank Medici and the Kohn family had substantial investment in the Herald Funds. Bank Medici was active in institutional business and only eight customers of Bank Medici AG were invested in Madoff funds. Their combined total investment is a one digit million Euro sum.

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Madoff's 'Jewish jail' plea denied by judge

Bernie Madoff, the billion-dollar fraudster who will spend the rest of his life in prison after a 150-year sentence has been refused the chance to serve in a ‘Jewish jail’.

His lawyer has asked the judge to recommend he serve his term in the medium-security Otisville Correctional Institute, which has an unusually high percentage of Jewish inmates, but the request was refused.

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Austrian death camp to be ‘filled with trash’

Parts of the Gusen 2 Concentration Camp in Austria, almost forgotten for 64 years, are being turned into a residential development, and a former underground slave-labour factory is being filled in, local residents claim.

Tens of thousands of prisoners toiled and died in the vast underground caverns, building jet planes for the Luftwaffe. The site has remained sealed since the camp’s liberation, but redevelopment work recently began.

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New rights body for survivors

A new body has been set up to oversee the work of the Holocaust Era Assets Conference, which restores Shoah assets to their owners.

The European Shoah Legacy Institute will act as a forum for those representing Holocaust survivors and other victims of the Nazis. It will also be involved in the fight against racism, xenophobia and antisemitism in Europe and worldwide.

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Can Dennis Ross bring Israel and US closer?

Veteran peace negotiator Dennis Ross is back in the US government’s Middle East portfolio in a move many interpret as a shift to the right for the administration.

After serving as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s top adviser on Iran, Mr Ross is moving to the National Security Council (NSC), where he will be special adviser to the president on the Middle East, including Iraq, Iran and the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Mr Ross is considered to have close ties with Israeli officials. He previously chaired the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute.

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