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Comments (0)Iraq’s Tourism Ministry is calling on Israel to return an ancient Torah scroll that it says was illegally smuggled out of the country.
The rare Torah scroll was among several valuable Jewish artifacts that are believed to have been stolen from Iraq following the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the German news agency DPA reported Monday.
The accusation about the Torah scroll came following internal investigations by the ministry.
“A clear admission appeared on Israeli TV that shows there was a copy of the Torah which was smuggled from Iraq to Israel using bribery,” Abd al-Zahra al-Talqani, a spokesman for the Iraqi Tourism Ministry, told the daily al-Sharq al-Awsat, according to DPA.
Iraq has requested that the United States return Jewish artifacts discovered by U.S. soldiers in the basement of Saddam’s secret police headquarters. The artifacts, dating from the 15th century, were becoming ruined in sewage water. Washington says it is holding the artifacts to keep them safe, DPA reported.
Most Iraqi Jews are now living in Israel.
Academics Backing Boycott of West Bank Center
Some 150 academics and authors have thrown their support behind a boycott of a new West Bank cultural center.
In a letter released late Monday, the academics said they would not lecture in settlements and expressed their support for the theater professionals’ refusal to perform in Ariel.
“We will not take part in any kind of cultural activity beyond the Green Line, take part in discussions and seminars, or lecture in any kind of academic setting in these settlements,” the letter read.
“We support the theater artists refusing to play in Ariel, express our appreciation of their public courage and thank them for bringing the debate on settlements back into the headlines.”
More than 50 Israeli theater professionals signed a petition over the weekend saying that they will not perform in the Ariel center when it opens in November. The center, which cost more than $10 million, was built with public funds.
The Habima, Khan, Beersheba and Cameri theaters, all supported with public funds, are scheduled to stage productions in Ariel.
Meanwhile, about 300 protesters gathered Monday night in Tel Aviv outside of Habima, Israel’s national theater, to protest its decision to mount a production in Ariel.
Israeli Soldiers Charged in Picture-Taking Flap
Four Israeli soldiers were indicted after taking pictures of themselves pointing their guns at a Palestinian prisoner.
In the indictment filed Monday by the Military Advocate, the soldiers were charged with abuse and illegal use of weapons. The soldiers, from the Nahal Haredi brigade, also were accused of improper behavior for the incident last January near the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Palestinian was bound and blindfolded.
The indictment comes just weeks after the world outcry over photos published on Facebook by a former soldier, Eden Abergil, posing with a Palestinian prisoner.