Briefs

UKRAINE HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS LAND IN ISRAEL ON EVE OF HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

Multiple planes carrying Holocaust survivors fleeing the violence in Ukraine landed in Israel on Wednesday, April 27, the eve of Yom Hashoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day marked by Jewish communities worldwide.

An estimated 300 to 500 Holocaust survivors have now taken refuge in Israel since the start of the war in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“I never thought that this is what would happen again—that at my age I would have to again flee a war and again hear the sounds of bombs going off around me,” said Ninel Zhilinska, an 88-year-old survivor on the flight, according to The Times of Israel. “I was a refugee in 1941 and now I’ve become a refugee again.”

The flights, reportedly carrying 21 survivors in total, were organized by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Previous flights bringing survivors to Israel have been organized by organizations including the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental nonprofit that facilitates immigration to Israel, and Zaka, an Israeli NGO that rescues people from emergency zones.

Multiple survivors of Nazi atrocities during World War II have died amid Russia’s onslaught, including Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova, who died on April 4 while sheltering in a basement near her home in Mariupol.

The final plane carrying survivors on April 27 departed from Moldova, and the passengers were greeted by Israel’s Immigration Minister Pnina TamanoShata at Ben Gurion Airport.

“It is symbolic. During the Holocaust, they didn’t have a place to run. Today, there is a strong Jewish home,” she said. (JTA)

IN ANTWERP, HAREDI ORTHODOX JEW OVERPOWERS AND TACKLES HIS ATTACKER

It began like countless other antisemitic incidents in Antwerp: A man shouted insults and made threatening gestures at members of the Belgian city’s large Orthodox Jewish community.

But the incident on Sunday, May 1 near the city’s central railway station took an unexpected turn.

After the alleged perpetrator appeared to swing his arm to hit a Jewish man in haredi Orthodox garb, the would-be victim lunged back and overpowered his attacker, holding him down on the ground until police took the suspect into custody.

The attack, which the Shomrim Jewish community security unit said was antisemitic in nature, was filmed from a nearby balcony by a group of men, one of whom is heard saying excitedly: “They’re going to fight.”

Police arrived at the scene while the suspect was pinned down and arrested him, a spokesperson for Shomrim said.

The spokesperson, who declined to state his name, also declined to provide any information on the men shown in the video.

He did say that at least 20 antisemitic incidents of a similar nature have occurred this year, “and this has made Antwerp’s Jewish community much more vigilant to these occurrences.”

Antwerp has about 18,000 Jews, most of them haredi Orthodox. (JTA)

RUSSIAN JEWISH BILLIONAIRE YURI MILNER PLEDGES $100 MILLION FOR UKRAINIAN REFUGEE RELIEF

Yuri Milner, a Russian Jewish philanthropist who made billions in Silicon Valley with early support from the Kremlin, is pledging to donate $100 million for new efforts to aid Ukrainian refugees.

Unlike other billionaires whose wealth is linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Milner has managed to avoid Western sanctions meant to punish Russia for waging war on its neighbor, and his latest donation serves to further distance him from the Kremlin.

A dual Russian and Israeli citizen who lives in California, Milner, and his wife Julia, are best known in the world of philanthropy for establishing the Breakthrough Prize to recognize and promote scientific achievement. But they have also become significant donors to various causes in Israel.

Among the beneficiaries of the Milners in Israel are the emergency response agency Magen David Adom, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and the Peres Center for Peace.

The new Ukrainian relief efforts, called Tech for Refugees, involve a partnership between the Milner’s Breakthrough Prize Foundation and private companies, including short-term housing from Airbnb, hospital beds and emergency medical equipment from Flexport and, from music streaming service Spotify.

Fellow Russian Jewish philanthropists like Roman Abramovich and the trio of billionaires behind the Genesis Prize were slapped with Western sanctions in recent weeks, even after announcing donations for relief efforts in Ukraine. But their ties to Putin are seen as far more immediate and recent than those of Milner, who says he broke off ties with the Kremlin years ago. (JTA)

DISPROPORTIONATE INFERTILITY RATES AMONG JEWS CAUSES JEWISH DENOMINATIONS TO BACK CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION

All four major streams of Judaism are among an array of Jewish groups backing a bipartisan congressional resolution that calls on the U.S. government to raise awareness about infertility.

Organizations affiliated with Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements signed a letter spearheaded by Hadassah sent Wednesday, April 27 to members of Congress asking them to back a bipartisan resolution sponsored by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Jewish Democrat from Florida, and Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican.

The nonbinding resolution declares “that the United States Government has a responsibility to help examine, create, and implement solutions to address and alleviate the problems associated with the disease.”

It lists Ashkenazi Jews and people of Middle Eastern ancestry as among a number of groups that “suffer from disproportionately higher rates of certain diseases and gynecological, endocrine, and autoimmune disorders, that may contribute to higher rates of infertility among these populations.”

Hadassah has been lobbying for years to classify infertility as a disease and to raise awareness. “For too long, infertility and the struggle toward parenthood have been topics of quiet suffering, particularly in the Jewish community,” Rhoda Smolow, Hadassah’s president, said in a release. “By asking policymakers to expand access to infertility care and reduce the financial burden of treatments, we are empowering all of the patients, families, and communities infertility affects.”

The resolution has garnered a number of cosponsors, including Jewish Democrats Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, Brad Sherman of California, John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and Jerry Nadler of New York. (JTA)

Israel’s national anthem played at Dutch military cemetery as both nations honor fallen troops

ISRAEL’S NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYED AT DUTCH MILITARY CEMETERY AS BOTH NATIONS HONOR FALLEN TROOPS

For the first time ever, a national commemoration ceremony for fallen soldiers in the Netherlands included the playing of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah.

The unusual gesture Wednesday, May 4 at the Field of Honor cemetery in Loenen, about 60 miles east of Amsterdam, happened as both the Netherlands and Israel were observing a national day of mourning for soldiers and some civilians killed in the nation’s military conflicts.

The playing of Hatikvah was intended to honor not the Jewish state, but the multiple Jewish resistance fighters and soldiers buried in Loenen, home to the Netherlands’ largest military cemetery of over 4,000 graves, according to Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, who this year attended the ceremony.

“The organizers thought that playing Hatikvah during an intermezzo between two parts of the official ceremony was the best way to honor the Jewish resistance fighters and troops buried there,” Jacobs said.

“The result was truly moving,” he added. “The fact that this year, the Dutch May 4 memorial day fell on Israel’s memorial day, Yom Hazikaron, added to the symbolism of the event, though the organizers did not design the ceremony based on that.” (JTA)