world
Chavez's Hatred Of Jews And Israel
Ben Cohen
JNS.org
V
enezuelan President Hugo
Chavez died March 5 following
a two-year fight with cancer.
In his 14 years in power, there is
scarcely a fellow dictator he didn't
befriend — among them anti-Semites
like Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, Belarussian President
Alexander Lukashenko and Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.
With allies like these, it should come
as no surprise that Chavez became an
arch-foe of the State of Israel.
In attacking Israel, though, Chavez
marked Venezuelan Jews out as a fifth
column. Before he came to power in
Ethiopian Israeli
Named Miss Israel
Ynet News
Yityish (Titi) Aynaw,
21, of Netanya, was crowned Miss
Israel 2013 on Feb. 27. She is the first
Ethiopian-born woman to win the
beauty pageant.
She will represent Israel in the Miss
World pageant to be held Sept. 20 in
Indonesia.
In response to a question by one of
the contest's judges, the new beauty
queen said: "It's important to have a
first [beauty] queen from the Ethiopian
community. Israel has many ethnic
groups and many colors, and it's impor-
tant to show it to the world."
Yityish, which means "a look to the
future" in Amharic, a Semitic language
spoken in Ethiopia, served as an officer
in the Israel Defense Forces and now
runs a fashion store. She immigrated to
Israel at age 12.
"My aliyah was pretty tough," she
said.
"A new language, a modern society.
1999, there were 30,000
Jewish target, in the
form of the rival presi-
Jews in Venezuela.
Now, there are fewer
dential candidate to
than 9,000.
Chavez, the youthful
Having experienced vir-
and energetic Henrique
tually no anti-Semitism in
Capriles. While Capriles
their history, the Chavez
is a practicing Catholic,
his mother's family, the
years ushered in a set of
new and frightening expe-
Radonskis, arrived in
riences for Venezuela's
Venezuela after surviv-
Jews, from cartoons in the
ing the Holocaust in
Poland. Other members
press that could have been
lifted from the notori-
of the family perished in
ous Nazi newspaper, Der
the Nazi concentration
Hugo Cha vez
Sturmer, to the vandalism
camps.
of the main synagogue in
There are few reasons
Caracas in 2009.
to believe that antagonism toward Jews
In 2012, Israel was temporarily dis-
will disappear in Venezuela post-Chavez.
placed by the emergence of a domestic
Nicolas Maduro is an orthodox Chavista
who, as foreign minister, has enthusias-
tically pushed for even closer relations
with Israel's enemies. Maduro's main
rival, the National Assembly President
Diosdado Cabello, is viewed as less
ideologically motivated — yet he, too, is
unlikely to mend fences with Israel and
the U.S.
Sammy Eppel, director of the Human
Rights Commission of B'nai B'rith
Venezuela, said, "Chavez will probably
be remembered as the one who made
Venezuelan Jews feel that for the first
time they were not welcome in their
own country, a chilling reminder of past
tragedies?'
For the Venezuelan people, facing eco-
nomic chaos and political meltdown, the
tragedy continues.
❑
—
Yityish Aynaw
I'm lucky to have had a friend, Noa,
who befriended me from the start
and helped me out. I didn't study in
an ulpan. I was thrown into the deep
water and learned the best that way?'
Asked during the competition which
historical character had influenced her
the most, she mentioned Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.
"He fought for justice and equality,
and that's one of the reasons I'm here
— to show that there are also good
things in my community, which are not
presented in the media," she said.
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Jewish Law Students Association (JSLA) treasurer Geoff Brockman, Professor
Alan Gershel, Judge Paul Borman, JSLA President Lauren Rennert, attorney
Robyn Lederman, Cooley Associate Dean John Nussbaumer, JSLA vice
president Ben Lesnick
Cooley Interfaith Dinner
Features Panel Discussion
Students, faculty and legal profession-
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attended the Third-Annual Interfaith
Dinner co-sponsored by the Cooley
Muslim Legal Society (CMLS), the
Christian Legal Society (CLS) and the
Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA).
The dinner was held at the Auburn
Hills Thomas M. Cooley campus on
Feb. 12 and featured a panel discussion
headlining the following speakers: Judge
Paul D. Borman, (U.S. District Court),
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attorneys Tim Attalla (Miller Canfield),
Robyn Lederman (Brooks Kushman)
and John Sier (Kitch, Drutchas, Wagner,
Valitutti and Sherbrook).
Presidents of the respective organiza-
tions — Amy Bhuiyan (CMLS), Brittney
Boston-Jones (CLS) and Lauren Rennert
(JLSA) — co-hosted and moderated
the event. Cooley Associate Dean John
Nussbaumer gave opening remarks
describing the evolution and profession-
alism the religious organizations con-
tribute to the Auburn Hills campus.
The highlight of the event was the
panel discussion, which spotlighted the
judges' and attorneys' relevant viewpoints
on how their faith affects both their per-
sonal and professional lives.
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