World ROUNDUP ogrfreoWarinrein fereiriiW iror0 Oren Rips J Street Special Family Night Performances (1/29, 2/4, 2/11): All Seats $10 (excl. Premium) Family 4 - Packs starting at $48* 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 bags of chips, and 4 soft drink (*For select performances. Tickets must be purchased in groups of four. No double discounts. Some restrictions may apply.) Regular Prices: $12, $17, $22 & $32 (Premium) Additional fees may apply. Groups 15+ Save! Call (313) 471-3099 Tickets: --*-:::-OlympiaEntertainment.com Box Office • ticketmaster 800-745-3000 Detroit Public TV Benefit Performance on Friday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m. For more information, call 248-305-3900 or log onto dptv.org . Support The Advertisers Who Support Your JN She is the most important thing in my world. I want her to grow up kind and caring. Each week we read in our JN what we can do to help those in our community. We have chosen to support the Jewish To be a part of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit community effort, please visit jewishdetroit.org or call 888-902-HOPE. When you give, you give hope. Federation of Metro Detroit to ensure DETROIT JEWISH NEWS that No Family Stands Alone L we get it in our community. " JN theJEWISHNEWS,com 1466990 28 December 17 • 2009 iN Washington/JTA — The Israeli ambassador to the United States blasted J Street, saying the organization was Michael Oren "fooling around with the lives of 7 million people' Michael Oren, responding to a ques- tion during a Dec. 7 appearance before the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's biennial convention, described the left-wing pro-Israel group as "a unique problem in that it not only opposes one policy of one Israeli government, it also opposes all policies of all Israeli governments. It's significantly out of the mainstream," the Forward reported. "This is not a matter of settlements here [or] there," said Oren. "We under- stand that there are differences of opinion. But when it comes to the sur- vival of the Jewish state, there should be no differences of opinion. You are fooling around with the lives of 7 mil- lion people. This is no joke." Among the policies Oren pointed to as problematic were J Street's criticism of Israel's attack on Gaza last winter, its refusal to reject the Goldstone report and its failure to support addi- tional sanctions on Iran. The same morning Oren spoke, J Street released a statement announcing that it now backed passage of Iran sanctions leg- islation in Congress. Oren's remarks were much more critical than a statement from an Israeli Embassy spokesman in October, when Oren declined an invi- tation to address J Street's inaugural conference. At that time, the embassy said it would be "privately commu- nicating its concerns over certain policies of the organization that may impair the interests of Israel:' J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami told the Forward that Oren was misrepresenting J Street's position. "I don't quite understand how it is in the State of Israel's interest to look at J Street as a problem — to write off an organization that represents a large number of American Jews," he said. J Street On Iran Washington/JTA J Street has endorsed congressional legislation imposing sanctions on Iran's energy industry. On Dec. 7, the left-wing pro-Israel group announced its backing for the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions — Act of 2009, which U.S. House of Representatives leaders said lwill be brought to a vote before the end of the year. J Street had diverged previously from the wide Jewish community con- sensus on the legislation, not actually opposing the measure but saying it did not support additional sanctions while President Obama was trying to engage the Iranian regime. "In the face of Iran's continued defi- ance of the international community and its rejection of the most recent diplomatic offer on nuclear enrich- ment, we believe the time has come to pass the Iran sanctions legislation currently pending in the House of Representatives," said J Street execu- tive director Jeremy Ben-Ami. "Passage of this bill by Congress will highlight for the Iranian government the choice they must make between one path that leads to further isolation and another that leads to full integra- tion in the international community and the ability to develop their econo- my to its full potential." The only major pro-Israel group that is not backing the sanctions leg- islation is Americans for Peace Now. The legislation would strengthen the president's authority to sanction corn- panies that help Iran import or pro- duce refined petroleum, which is seen as potentially having a large impact on Iran's economy because the coun- try imports 40 percent of its refined petroleum. Hasmoneans Ruled Negev Jerusalem/JTA The rule of the Hasmonean dynasty extended south to the Negev, new archaeological exca- vations have found. "The Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus, great-grandson of Matityahu, conquered Gaza and the Negev and for decades prevented the Nabateans from using the Incense Road:' said Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini of the Israel Antiquities Authority in a Dec. 10 statement. The Nabateans were an ancient Semitic people from southern Jordan, Canaan and the northern part of Arabia. "We are talking about a revolution- ary discovery that will redraw the maps of the region, which describe that era and greatly increase the terri- tory governed by the Hasmoneans into the heart of the Negev Highlands as we know it:' said Erickson-Gini, scien- tific editor of the excavation at Horvat Ma'agurah, near Sde Boker in the —