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September 30, 2008
Yad Vashem Gets Shoah Foundation Videos
Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
Yad Vashem has taken possession of copies of nearly 52,000 Holocaust video testimonies, giving it the world’s largest collection. The USC Shoah Foundation for Visual History and Education, which was started by famed director Steven Spielberg, provided the latest testimonies to Israel’s national Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem. The videos from the foundation at the University of Southern California supplement Yad Vashem’s existing archive of 10,000 filmed testimonies. The cumulative 200,000 hours of video are publicly accessible. “The testimony of the survivors who personally experienced the horrors of the Shoah are the legacy that they impart to us,” said Avner Shalev, Yad Vashem’s chairman. “Their testimony has crucial educational and moral importance. It allows us to have meaningful Holocaust remembrance for generations to come, and represents an essential vehicle for imparting the memory of the Shoah.” The Shoah Foundation videotaped testimonies of Holocaust survivors from 56 countries in 32 languages from 1994 to 2000.
Bomb Scare on Paris-Tel Aviv Flight
Fighter planes from three countries escorted a Paris passenger flight to Tel Aviv suspected of carrying a bomb. Israeli officials later said there was no bomb on the El Al Boeing 767. The plane and passengers landed safely in Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday evening, and the aircraft was searched after those on board were evacuated. Officials ultimately concluded there was no bomb, reported the Israeli Channel Two television network. “Nothing was found there,” Israeli police spokesman, Mickey Rosenfeld, told reporters after the search. Reports said a threat supposedly linked to al-Qaeda was passed on to authorities after the flight took off from Paris. During intervals of its trajectory, which included Greek territory, the El Al was escorted by fighter jets from Greece, Israel, and France, said Reuters, citing Israel’s Channel 2 report.
Settlers Killed Shepherd, Palestinians Say
Palestinians are blaming settlers for the death of a Palestinian shepherd found in the West Bank. The body of the 19-year-old was found late Saturday near Nablus. Palestinians say the murder is part of ongoing harassment by settlers against Palestinians. A statement from the Homesh First settler organization expressed anger that the settlers would be blamed before an investigation took place. “There’s no doubt that all settlers are responsible for the murder in the Valley. There is also no doubt that all settlers planted the pipe bomb which exploded on Prof. Sternhell’s front door,” the statement said, referring to an incident last week involving an Israel Prize-winning professor who has taken a stand against the settlement movement. “We will also take responsibility for all the Christian children who disappeared last Passover,” the statement goes on. “There is no need to believe every ridiculous accusation of the Palestinians.” On Sunday, the Jerusalem Post reported that Jewish visits to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus have been suspended indefinitely to punish settlers for not forcefully condemning recent attacks on Palestinians and soldiers. Jews were permitted only recently to make monthly visits accompanied by the Israeli army to the holy site, which had been destroyed by rampaging Palestinians at the beginning of the second intifada in 2000.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.