The report was completed on Nov. 23 and
delivered in recent days to the European
Union in Brussels, according to Ha'aretz.
It charged that the Israeli government
and Jerusalem municipality are working
to change the demographic balance of
Jerusalem and to cut off eastern Jerusalem
from the West Bank. It also accuses the
municipality of discriminating against the
Palestinian residents of Jerusalem in areas
such as building permits and education.
The report, according to Ha'aretz, also
criticizes archeological excavations near the
Temple Mount of focusing exclusively on
Jewish history and of being "an ideologi-
cally motivated tool of national and religious
struggle."
Foreign Ministry officials told Ha'aretz
that the report will help Sweden promote a
draft plan to divide Jerusalem and have the
European Union formally recognize east
Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.
Czech Menorah Kindled
Washington/JTA A rare menorah on
loan from the Jewish Museum in Prague
will be lit during a special White House
ceremony.
The museum handed over the rare
menorah to Mary Thompson-Jones,
charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in
the Czech Republic.
It is set to be lit on the sixth night of
Chanukah, Dec. 16, during a Chanukah
event at the White House that is expected
to draw about 500 guests.
First Lady Michelle Obama requested
the loan, according to the museum, when
she visited Jewish Town and the museum
during an official visit to Prague by
President Obama in April.
The menorah was created in 1873 by
Viennese silversmith Cyril Schillberger
and originally was dedicated most likely to
—
the congregation in Prost joy, according to
the museum.
Survivor, Savior Reunite
Washington/JTA A Holocaust survivor
and the man whose family hid him from the
Nazis in Poland reunited for the first time in
64 years.
Joseph Bonder, 81, and Bronislaw Firuta,
82, met Nov. 25 in New York. They were
honored by the Jewish Foundation for the
Righteous in New York.
From 1942 to 1944, Firuta's family hid
Bonder and his older sister in their unlocked
barn, where the two teenagers lived among
the animals and subsisted on whatever food
the Firutas could sneak out to them.
The foundation, which honors non-Jews
who risked their lives to help Jews during
the Holocaust, funded Firuta's trip from
Faszczowka, Poland, to New York. Bonder has
lived in the United States since 1944, when
he fled Poland.
Bonder, who believes his parents were
murdered at the Bergen-Belsen concentra-
tion camp, and Firuta first made contact
after the war in the 1960s. In 2006, with
Bonder's help, Firuta and Firuta's parents
were designated Righteous Among the
Nations by Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust
authority. The designation entitles the rescu-
ers to financial aid.
—
Curbing Draft Evasion
Jerusalem/JTA Some 25 percent of mili-
tary-age men do not join the Israeli army,
Israel's Cabinet was told during a discussion
on curbing draft evasion.
In addition, 40 percent of women do not
serve — 30 percent for religious reasons and
10 percent who are married, abroad or have
a medical condition.
Many religiously observant women do
national service, but those figures were not
included in the discussion, according to the
Jerusalem Post.
Of the men who evade service, 13
percent receive deferments to study in
yeshivah, 5 percent receive a deferment
for a medical issue or because they are
abroad and 7 percent are turned down by
the army.
The Cabinet established a committee to
find ways to reduce the number of women
falsely claiming a religious lifestyle to
evade army service.
Jerusalem/JTA El Al is no longer the
Jewish Agency's exclusive carrier to fly new
immigrants to Israel. The agency signed a
deal on Nov. 29 with Israel's Arkia airlines
to bring immigrants on its newly opened
Ukraine-Israel line. Arkia does not fly to the
United States.
Ha'aretz reported that the agency's $2.5
billion contract with El Al expired earlier
in November. The agency also is looking to
contract with other airlines, including U.S.
Airways, according to the newspaper. El Al
No Longer Just El Al
Roundup on page 34
LACE Lls.OL LECTION
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Monday 12J14 - Thursday 12/17
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—
Women Helping Women
Hadassah National President Nancy
Falchuk and Princess Keisha Omilana
of Nigeria became fast friends at the
recent launch of Same Sky, an organi-
zation that enables Rwandan women to
earn money through the sale of their
handmade beaded bracelets. Francine
Lefrak hosted the launch event at the
Ana Tzarev Gallery along with Somers
Farkas, Donna Karan, Patricia Duff
and others. 2008 Africa Prize laure-
ate spoke to the assembly about the
women of Rwanda. Falchuk told the
princess about the Hadassah Medical
Center's outreach in Africa. Rwandan
general physician Charles Muhizi, M.D.,
was trained by Hadassah as an oph-
thalmologist. His Butare Eye Clinic,
equipped through the generosity of Hadassah Luxembourg, is the only such
facility for hundreds of miles around.
—
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