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NCSEJ WEEKLY NEWS BRIEF
Washington, D.C. December 8, 2017
How a march to save Soviet Jews changed America – and the world
By Mikhail Fridman
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 6, 2017
Thirty years ago, Jews in the Soviet Union were not allowed to study Hebrew, eat kosher food, talk about Zionism, go to a synagogue or, most important, leave the country. If they tried to emigrate, they would almost certainly be refused, lose their jobs and be blackballed in their professions. They would then be put on trial and imprisoned for being unemployed.
Thirty years ago, American Jews understood that if Soviet Jews were being silenced, American Jews would have to be loud.
On Dec. 6, 1987, some 250,000 American Jews got very loud. They gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to protest the plight of their Soviet brethren on the eve of a U.S.-Soviet summit. Organizers weren’t sure the demonstrations would work – and there was real worry that a small
demonstration would do more damage than no demonstration at all. But after 25 years of tireless activism, American Jews gathered in huge numbers and used their voices to change history.
Tillerson vows no warming with Russia until it leaves Ukraine
By Carol Morello
Washington Post, December 7, 2017
The gulf between the United States and Russia showed no signs of narrowing Thursday, as top diplomats from the two countries faced off over a proposed U.N. peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vowed that there will be no easing of sanctions on Russia or warming of relations until Moscow stops supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine and abandons the “apparent annexation” of Crimea.
“We can have differences in other areas, but when one country invades another, that is a difference that is hard to look past or to reconcile,” Tillerson told reporters at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a group created during the Cold War to encourage dialogue between East and West.
Read the full article here.
Ukrainian Reform Activists Derail Effort to ‘Destroy’ Anticorruption Body
By Christopher Miller
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, December 7, 2017
Ukrainian activists and reformist lawmakers worked tirelessly overnight to remove a bill from parliamentary consideration that they say would "destroy" the country's only independent investigative body by dismissing its chief.
By the morning of December 7, after hours of frantic calls to Western allies for support, they had won a small victory in a battle that looks set to continue: The legislation was not on the Verkhovna Rada’s agenda for that day.
The highly controversial bill, which would see Artem Sytnyk removed as the head of the National Anticorruption Bureau (NABU) of Ukraine, was authored by lawmakers from the parties of President Petro Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Read the full article here.
Saakashvili Defiant As Police Clash With Supporters at Kyiv Protest Camp
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, December 6, 2017
Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president turned Ukrainian opposition leader, has vowed that he will continue to resist arrest after his supporters dramatically freed him from custody in Kyiv.
Facing a deadline to turn himself in to the authorities on December 6, Saakashvili told supporters at a protest camp near parliament that he would not comply.
"I will not show up at the pseudo Prosecutor-General's Office," he said. "I am ready to talk to investigators here in the camp."
"Our plans are clear. Our main goal is to remove a criminal group from power and impeach it," Saakashvili said, referring to President Petro Poroshenko's administration.
Read the full article here.
Putin Confirms He Is Running for President
By Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times, December 6, 2017
President Vladimir V. Putin announced on Wednesday that he would seek a fourth term as president of Russia in a March election that he is expected to win handily.
A full, six-year term until 2024 would make his 24-year tenure — including his years as prime minister — the longest by a Russian leader since Joseph Stalin sat in the Kremlin for 29 years. It is widely believed that Mr. Putin wants to use what should be his last term, barring further constitutional changes, to cement his place as one of the more important historical figures ever to rule Russia.
It has been a somewhat improbable run for Mr. Putin, 65, who spent the bulk of his early career as a middle-level K.G.B. agent in East Germany.
Calling the collapse of the Soviet Union one of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century, he has built his formidable popularity on the idea that Russia should restore its natural destiny as a superpower, an equal to the United States in military might and global influence.
Read the full article here.
Russia Designates U.S.-Backed Broadcasters as ‘Foreign Agents’
By Ivan Nechepurenko
New York Times, December 5, 2017
The Russian government declared the broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty “foreign agents” on Tuesday, in retaliation for a similar action against Russian state-run news outlets in the United States.
The Kremlin-financed television station RT America complied last month with an order from the Justice Department that they register as foreign agents. This followed a report by American intelligence agencies in January that concluded that the Kremlin was using RT America as a tool “to undermine faith in the U.S. government and fuel political protest.”
Russian lawmakers and government representatives were infuriated by the decision, rushing through the retaliatory legislation within days. President Vladimir V. Putin signed the law at the end of November.
Read the full article here.
Czech Republic recognizes pre-1967 Jerusalem as capital of Israel
Times of Israel, December 7, 2017
The Czech Republic said in a statement Wednesday that it recognizes the pre-1967 west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but that it will only consider moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the city after talks with regional partners.
The announcement came hours after US President Donald Trump declared that his administration was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital and that he had instructed the US State Department to prepare to move its embassy from Tel Aviv. Trump made no distinction between East or West Jerusalem in his declaration.
“The Czech Republic currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Read the full article here.
Why Belarus’s Leader Rejected a Long-Awaited Invitation to Brussels
By Artyom Shraibman
Carnegie Moscow Center, December 5, 2017
At all four previous Eastern Partnership summits from 2009 to 2015, there was a notable absentee. The leaders of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan were all present, but the leader of the sixth member country—Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko—was not.
Ahead of those summits, the organizers either discreetly asked Lukashenko not to come, or made it clear that the man dubbed “Europe’s last dictator” wasn’t invited. The Warsaw summit in 2010 generated a controversy when Minsk sent its ambassador instead of foreign minister, who wasn’t allowed to speak along with the heads of the other delegations.
Now the détente in Minsk-Brussels relations is the new normal, and Lukashenko was finally invited to attend last month’s summit himself. But contrary to expectations, he sent Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei—the country’s traditional negotiating partner with the West—in his place.
Read the full article here.
In Budapest, Hanukkah comes out of the shadows and onto the ice rink
By Cnaan Lipshiz
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 5, 2017
The outdoor ice skating rink — the largest in Central Europe — in Budapest’s city center has been part and parcel of Hungary’s Christmas tradition for nearly 150 years.
Stretching across 3.5 acres between Heroes’ Square and Vajdahunyad Castle, the Budapest City Park Ice Rink draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the country each winter. They come for the Christmas market, the winter festival, and the promise of smooth ice and affordable skate rentals.
It’s an enormous and enormously popular attraction, so City Park Ice Rink is busy nearly every day with the Christmas revelers. Except, however, on the first night of Hanukkah.
Read the full article here.
Senate committee advances restitution bill for Holocaust survivors
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 6, 2017
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced a bill that will help Holocaust survivors and the families of victims obtain restitution or the return of Holocaust-era assets.
On Tuesday, the committee unanimously passed the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today, or JUST Act.
The legislation requires the State Department to report on the progress of certain European countries toward the return of or restitution for wrongfully confiscated or transferred Holocaust-era assets, including property, art and other movable property. It also requires a report specifically on progress on the resolution of claims for U.S. citizen Holocaust survivors and family members.
Romania institutes National Day of the Yiddish Language and Theater
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 5, 2017
Romania’s parliament established a national day celebrating the Yiddish language and theater.
The day, which was declared last week following a unanimous vote, sets aside May 30 as the National Day of the Yiddish Language and Theater in Romania, whose Jewish State Theater is one of Europe’s leading institutions of its kind.
According to the provisions of the new law, each year authorities may organize and take part in cultural, educational, artistic or scientific programs and events dedicated to the promotion of the Yiddish language and theater.
“Yiddish is a living tradition that has transformed over centuries into an exceptional culture for the Jewish people around the world and is an essential part of the identity of Jews in Romania,” Silviu Vexler, a lawmaker in the Parliament of Romania who is Jewish, wrote in a statement about the law he initiated.
Read the full article here.
Human remains dug up during work near Jewish cemetery in eastern Poland
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 7, 2017
Human remains were dug up during construction work near a Jewish cemetery in eastern Poland.
The remains were unearthed on Tuesday during work to modernize the power grid for the city of Siemiatycze. The ground where the remains were uncovered is adjacent to the fence of the Jewish cemetery.
The case is being investigated by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Siemiatycze.
Read the full article here.
Polish PM Beata Szydlo resigns
By Michal Broniatowski
Politico Europe, December 7, 2017
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło submitted her resignation to the Law and Justice (PiS) party leadership Thursday.
PiS leaders decided to replace her with one of her deputies — the minister of finance and economic development, Mateusz Morawiecki — party spokesperson Beata Mazurek told reporters.
“Prime Minister Beata Szydło submitted her resignation to the political committee of the party,” Mazurek said outside PiS headquarters in Warsaw. “The political committee proposed deputy prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki as a candidate to become the prime minister.”
Read the full article here.
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