(NEWS) Yad Vashem Has Identified 4 Million Holocaust Victims

"Yad Vashem says it has identified two-thirds of the Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in the last decade has added about 1.4 million names to its central database of Shoah victims’ names, bringing the total number of names registered to about 4 million, according to a statement released Tuesday.

“One of Yad Vashem’s central missions since its foundation, the recovery of each and every victim’s name and personal story, has resulted in relentless efforts to restore the names and identities of as many of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices as possible,” said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. “We will continue our efforts to recover the unknown names, and by harnessing technology in the service of memory, we are able to share their names with the world.”



In 2004, Yad Vashem launched the central database of Shoah victims’ names onto its website with 3 million names. Names are recovered via Pages of Testimony, special forms filled out in memory of the victims by those who remember them, and by combing archival lists and documentation for names.

Of the 4 million names now known, some 2.2 million come from Pages of Testimony and the remainder from various archival sources and postwar commemoration projects.

Israel Protests Gaza Rockets to U.N.

Israel has filed a complaint in the United Nations over rocket attacks from Gaza.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Security Council President Susan Rice, Meron Reuben, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called on the body to “send a clear and resolute message that these attacks are unacceptable.”

The letter, dated Tuesday, was sent several hours after a rocket fired from Gaza landed several yards from a kindergarten in session in a western Negev kibbutz, wounding a 14-year-old girl on her way to school. Israel responded to the attack later in the day with an airstrike on what it called a Hamas terror center in Gaza.

At least 13 rockets from Gaza have been fired on southern Israel since Sunday.

“The incidents of the past several days are part of an escalation of terrorist attacks emanating from Gaza that target Israeli civilians, towns, and military personnel,” the letter said.



Later it said, “In response to such attacks, Israel has exercised and will continue to exercise its right to self-defense.”

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Wednesday told Israel Radio that the Palestinian Authority fears a full-blown Israeli attack on Gaza, saying that “Military solutions such as these won’t accomplish a thing and would only complicate the situation.”

Israeli Panel Approves Heritage Site Renovations

An Israeli government committee approved the $25 million renovation of 16 national heritage projects and sites.

The Ministerial Committee on the National Heritage, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday approved the renovation of the sites—among the 150 sites and initiatives included in the “Plan for Renovating and Strengthening National Heritage Sites and Assets” approved in February—at a cost of $25 million. The plan caused some controversy when two West Bank biblical sites, Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs, were added to the list.

Included on the list of the approved renovations is Independence Hall in Tel Aviv.

The committee meeting Tuesday was held at the Ben Tzvi Institute in Jerusalem, home to the wooden cabin used by the second president of the State of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Tzvi, another site on the list.

“The heritage project is one that we owe ourselves, our children and future generations,” Netanyahu said." (source)

(NEWS) New US Security Chief Has Solid Pro-Israel Ties

"President Obama replaced his national security adviser with a longtime political operative who has close ties to the Jewish community.

Gen. Jim Jones will be succeeded by his deputy, Thomas Donilon, the White House announced last Friday.

Donilon, a former chief of staff for Clinton administration Secretary of State Warren Christopher, has solid ties with the pro-Israel community.



'Tom Donilon understand it’s a dangerous world,' Josh Block, the spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, said in a statement. 'In every position he has held throughout his career in government, he has been a strong friend of the U.S.-Israel relationship.'

Donilon has been especially close to Vice President Joe Biden, considered the White House official with the warmest Jewish community ties. Donilon’s wife, Cathy Russell, is chief of staff to Biden’s wife, Jill, and his brother, Michael, is a senior adviser to Biden.

'Tom Donilon has been my friend and adviser for nearly 25 years,' Biden said in a statement.

'These past two years, he has been at the heart of our foreign and national security policies. He brings to his new responsibilities a remarkable depth of knowledge about the challenges and opportunities our country faces around the world.'

Donilon also has served as a business lawyer. Among his clients was Penny Pritzker, the hotel magnate who is one of Obama’s longest-standing Jewish backers.

According to The New York Times, the decision to push out Jones was accelerated by White House anger at his apparent leaks to journalist Bob Woodward describing his disagreements with Obama’s political advisers.

Jones also was believed to be of the camp that set out Arab-Israeli peace as a necessary component to securing broader U.S. interests in the region.

Before assuming the job heading the National Security Council, Jones had led efforts under President Bush to bolster the Palestinian Authority through military training and economic assistance.

Obama and Jones reportedly clashed over a number of issues, including Jones’ more leisurely work pace.

Obama Waives Aid Restrictions for PA

President Obama issued a waiver allowing the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority.

Obama’s waiver, published Oct. 7, sets aside recent laws requiring strict reporting requirements for any transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority.

Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, in the final years of his presidency raised funding for the Palestinians from occasional spurts of $20 million to $400 million annually.

Obama has budgeted $500 million in assistance for the Palestinians. About half goes directly to the Palestinian Authority, with the rest directed to nonprofit groups.

Direct funding is usually required to undergo strict congressional oversight, according to the 2006 Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act.



Obama cited national security concerns in announcing the waiver, which did not reveal the amount or its purpose.

The Obama administration is pressing forward with direct Palestinian-Israeli talks, in part as a means toward containing Iran and radical groups in the region.

The waiver comes as the Palestinian Authority suspended the talks, demanding that Israel

Survivors’ Group, Cantor Repudiate GOP SS Re-Enactor

A Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group and a Republican leader rebuked a GOP congressional candidate for participating in Nazi re-enactments.

Rich Iott, a Toledo-area, Tea Party-backed candidate who is challenging incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur, belonged to Wiking from 2003 to 2007, The Atlantic reported last Friday. The group staged full-dress re-enactments of Nazi SS maneuvers.

The American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants said in a statement Sunday that donning the SS uniform was 'profoundly disgraceful' and that Iott’s failure to apologize 'desecrates the memory of all victims of the Nazis, Jew and non-Jew.'

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the minority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, said he would 'absolutely repudiate that' when he was challenged on the issue by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), a majority deputy whip. Cantor and Wasserman Schultz are Jewish.

In a statement on his website, Iott said he enjoyed a broad range of re-enactments, including playing U.S. soldiers from World War I and II.

'Never, in any of my re-enacting of military history, have I meant any disrespect to anyone who served in our military or anyone who has been affected by the tragedy of war, especially the Jewish community,' Iott said.

He would not apologize, instead blaming Kaptur for the revelations without showing evidence that her campaign had leaked the information.

The waiver comes as the Palestinian Authority suspended the talks, demanding that Israel extend a partial moratorium on West Bank settlement building.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has suggested that the Obama administration is offering the Palestinians incentives for staying in the talks, even if Israel does not extend the freeze." (source)

(BLOG) Let’s Encourage Arab Support For Peace With Israel

"One of the most ubiquitous myths used to dismiss efforts to achieve Middle East peace is that Arabs simply don’t want peace with Israel, that all they want is to kill Jews, to destroy Israel and to turn it into a 23rd Arab state.

This assertion, often made reflexively by peace skeptics, does not pass the test of reality. Most Arab governments, if not all of them – and significant majorities of the Arab publics – support a peace agreement with Israel.

Considering the Arab governments individually, Jordan and Egypt have already signed peace agreements with Israel, which they have carefully maintained. Both countries have leveraged their diplomatic relations with Israel to help Israel advance toward peace and stability with the Palestinians and with other Arab neighbors.



The League of Arab States in 2002 adopted a peace plan, popularly known as the Arab Peace Initiative. The plan calls for a diplomatic resolution to the Arab Israeli conflict, in which all the League’s 22 Arab states would commit to full peace and normalization with Israel in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders and an 'agreed upon' solution to the Palestinian refugee problem. This willingness to negotiate over the refugee issue – a sensitive point in the Arab world – shows how far the Arab League has travelled since it adopted a policy of no negotiations with Israel back in 1967. Simply put, this is not your father’s Arab League.

President Bashar Assad of Syria – one of the two Arab states neighboring Israel that have not yet signed peace with it – has for years been calling for direct negotiations without preconditions. Assad says he is committed to peace and normalization in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from land it captured from Syria in 1967.

At prior times of progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace some Arab governments established limited diplomatic and trade relations with Israel. For example, following the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman and Qatar established trade relations and limited diplomatic relations. This is a clear indication that Arab governments would be willing to fully accept Israel once the Palestinian problem was resolved, or at least to live in peace with Israel, whether warmly or coolly.

In several countries, Arab public support for peace with Israel leads their own governments. A University of Maryland survey conducted in July 2010 among samplings comprising almost 4,000 Arabs in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates shows that a large majority - 86 percent - were 'prepared for peace, if Israel is willing to return all 1967 territories.' Only 12 percent said that even if Israel withdrew to the 1967 borders, the Arabs should continue to fight against it.

Furthermore, a plurality of respondents (39 percent) said that ending the Israeli- Palestinian conflict would only be possible through negotiations. Fewer (33 percent) said that a solution will only be possible if it is imposed (either by the U.S. or by the U.N.) and only 16 percent said that it is only possible through war.



Prof. Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland and the Brookings Institute, who conducted the poll, concluded that the Arab public solidly backs a viable resolution of the Israeli- Palestinian dispute and is seeking closure for the conflict with Israel. 'If there is a plan, you will be shocked to see how many [Arabs] will support it,' he said.

This public support in the Arab world is mirrored in the Palestinian public. A consistent large majority of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – between two thirds and three quarters in most polls throughout the past several years – supports a two-state peace deal with Israel on the basis of the 1967 borders.

There is little doubt about the continued ardent support for militants among Palestinians and in the Arab world. And, of course, those who advocate fighting Israel even if, and even after, a Palestinian state is established in the West Bank and Gaza enjoy a solid following among extremists. These radicals often dominate the discourse and attract media attention because they are vociferous and sometimes violent. Their message is particularly appealing when the peace process is stagnant.

But there is good news: The facts show that most Palestinians and Arabs are pragmatists. They know that Israel is here to stay. They are willing to make peace with it. And they want to move on, away from the conflict.

We, who support peace and security for Israel and who are concerned about U.S. interests in the region, have an important role to play in encouraging the moderates. We must show the pragmatists that there is hope for peace with Israel, that their support for reconciliation is not in vain. The more we support Israeli policies that are conducive for peace, the more we strengthen Arab moderates and the safer and stronger we make Israel. The more we support Israeli peace policies, the more we contribute to achieving our own nation’s objective of fighting violent ideologies in the Middle East.

This message is from Americans for Peace Now, America’s leading Jewish organization advocating for Israeli security through peace. It has been financed by a grant from Alan Kligerman." (source)