FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)The Obama administration expressed “strong concerns” to Israel about building plans in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood.
“We have seen reports that plans for 600 housing units in Pisgat Ze’ev in East Jerusalem, originally deposited in 2008, have advanced in the approval process, although we understand that the total number of units has been reduced from the original plan,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. “We also understand that this is not a final approval for the project, but it is a step in that direction. We have relayed our strong concerns to the Government of Israel that this kind of activity, particularly as we try to relaunch meaningful negotiations, is counterproductive and undermines trust between the parties.”
The Obama administration is endeavoring to get Palestinians and Israelis back to peace talks. It has praised Israel’s current government for a partial freeze in the West Bank, but tensions remain over eastern Jerusalem, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to extend the freeze.
“We continue to urge both parties to refrain from unilateral actions that, whether intended to or not, undermine trust and efforts to resume negotiations that will bring an end to the conflict and result in a two-state solution,” Crowley said. “We believe it is of great importance that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians resume as soon as possible.”
Envoy Who Tipped Off Lieberman is Suspended
The former Israeli envoy suspected of leaking information to Avigdor Lieberman regarding the investigation against him has been suspended.
Ze’ev Ben Aryeh, now the legal adviser to the Foreign Minister’s Office, was placed on an indefinite leave of absence without pay, according to reports.
Disciplinary action reportedly will be taken against him.
Police had asked the former ambassador to Belarus to help in the Lieberman corruption probe by questioning Belarus banks and government officials. Ben Aryeh is accused of turning a copy of the request over to Lieberman in October 2008.
Police say Ben Aryeh confessed to the allegations against him during questioning, according to Ynet.
The suspension came after the police turned over a report of criminal misconduct to the Civil Service Commission.
Lieberman is under suspicion of advancing Ben Aryeh’s position in the Foreign Ministry in exchange for the information.
Also Wednesday, Lieberman filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court to order the attorney general, the state attorney and the Police Investigations Division to explain why an internal investigation of leaks in his alleged corruption case had been closed.
The foreign minister called the leaks the “mother and father of all investigation disruptions.”
David Bankier, Holocaust Scholar, Dies
David Bankier, whose Holocaust research studies dealt with persecutors and bystanders, has died.
Bankier, the head of the International Institute for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, died over the weekend following a long illness, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem announced. He was 63.
Among Bankier’s major topics of interest was how anti-Semitism became the most central and efficient tool used by the Nazi regime to spread its ideology, both in its internal regime struggles and its efforts to recruit the masses.
“Professor Bankier was one of the most important and most cited scholars in the research of Nazi Germany, ” Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said. “His publications in this field constitute a cornerstone of modern academic research.”
In 2000, he was appointed head of the International Institute for Holocaust Research at Yad Vashem, and incumbent of the John Najmann Chair of Holocaust Studies.
Bankier, a native of Germany, was the Solomon and Victoria Cohen Professor at the Hebrew University and headed the section for Studies in Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust at the university’s Institute for Contemporary Jewry. He served as visiting professor at universities in London, the United States, South Africa and South America.
Bankier was involved in developing centers of Jewish studies in Latin America, and promoted academic publications in Spanish.