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Comments (0)Google removed Nazi-related applications from its Android downloads following protests from Jewish users.
Google removed the apps from search results last Friday, according to PC Magazine. Google said in a statement that the apps were “upsetting” and violated the terms of service.
The apps came up in a search for the word “Jewish” in the Android App Marketplace.
Anyone can post an application in the Google marketplace for download. Google receives a 30 percent cut of any application bought on the marketplace, according to Rachel Liebold writing in JWeekly. The Adolph Hitler theme app was selling for $2.99 a download.
Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, praised Google for its quick action.
“The intent here was clearly malicious and vile,” Steinberg said in a statement, adding that “We must be ever vigilant against those who would promote hate and even seek to profit from it.”
Canada Suspends Gaza Mail Delivery
Canada’s post office has suspended mail delivery to the Gaza Strip.
In a statement on its website, Canada Post said it has been informed by its counterpart in Israel that “due to circumstances beyond their control, mail service to the Gaza Strip is currently unavailable.”
Canada Post says it has been unable to find “alternate routes” to deliver mail to the area.
“Our efforts to get mail through to the Gaza Strip will continue, and we will keep customers updated on developments through our website,” the statement said.
All Gaza-bound mail accepted by Canada Post that is undeliverable will be returned to sender. Once mail service in the Gaza Strip resumes, customers will be able to re-mail their items at no additional charge.
Canada Post did not provide a reason for the interruption, but spokesman John Caines told the QMI news agency that when there is a war or conflict in a foreign destination, domestic postal services are notified through the International Postal Union.
An estimated 24,000 people of Palestinian descent reside in Canada.
Somalia is the only country to which Canada Post does not deliver any mail, according to the Ottawa Citizen. Surface delivery, in which letters and parcels are delivered by sea, also is unavailable in Iraq, Lebanon and East Timor, according to Canada Post.
JDC Helping Elderly During Moscow Heat Wave
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has enlisted a group of volunteers to help elderly Jews in Moscow during a heat wave in Russia.
JDC has created a volunteer base of some 40 young Jewish students and professionals in the Russian capital to check in on the elderly as temperatures in recent days have hit 100 degrees and beyond, the organization said in a news release.
The volunteers are “ready to do everything necessary from check-in calls, in-home visits, revitalizing meal deliveries, and fan purchases,” JDC said in the release.
They have made about 900 phone calls and numerous home visits to the isolated elderly, as well as helped staff an air-conditioned child care program at a JCC.
“By activating our strong network of community centers and social workers with supplemental help from young people who gave up their traditional Russian summer vacations to volunteer, we have helped many people escape the oppressive and exhausting conditions brought on by this environmental crisis,” said Steven Schwager, the CEO of the Joint Distribution Committee.