Mes: septiembre 2019

(AP) JERUSALEM – An Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday denounced a ruling in Germany banning ritual circumcision, saying the decision infringes upon religious freedom and evokes memories of the worst chapter in German history, the Holocaust. A regional court in Cologne recently ruled that circumcising young boys for religious reasons amounts to bodily harm, even if parents agree to it. Circumcision of baby boys is a fundamental Jewish religious ritual. German court rules circumcision goes against “fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity” The ruling was particularly sensitive, given German history and the Holocaust of World War II, when 6 million Jews were killed by German Nazis and their collaborators. Committee chairman Danny Danon invited the German ambassador to Israel to parliament, seeking clarifications to the court ruling. “Circumcision is one of the pillars of Judaism, and the last time it was restricted was in Germany during its darkest hour,” Danon said at the meeting with the ambassador, which was open to reporters. Danon said that Israel would not tolerate restrictions on the practice of Judaism anywhere in the world, “and certainly not in Germany.” The German ambassador, Andreas Michaelis, told the Israeli lawmakers his country was working to resolve the issue and that the ruling doesn’t apply at the national level. “It’s clear that the ruling prohibiting circumcision is more sensitive in Germany because of the Holocaust,”...

(AP) ROME – The captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he was distracted by a phone conversation shortly before the cruise liner crashed into a reef off an Italian island and capsized, killing 32 people. Francesco Schettino described the collision to private Italian TV channel Canale 5 as a “banal accident” in which “destiny” played a role. More in Concordia Cruise Disaster An Italian judge last week lifted Schettino’s house arrest order, but said he must remain in his hometown near Naples during a criminal investigation in which he is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the liner while many passengers and crew were still aboard. Prosecutors have alleged that the Concordia cruised too close to the island in a publicity stunt, and shortly before it rammed the reef Schettino was on the phone with a retired sea captain on Giglio. Costa Concordia captain free from house arrestSalvage company: Cruise ship will be gone by 2013Costa Concordia to be salvaged in 1 piece “I blame myself for being distracted,” Schettino said when asked about the phone call. Schettino on Tuesday appeared to want to lessen his role, insisting that another official, and not he, was at the helm of the ship at the moment it rammed the reef. “At that moment, I went up to the bridge. I ordered the...

(AP) JERUSALEM – Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s acquittal of the most serious charges in a high-profile corruption case on Tuesday set off a fierce debate about how the peace process might have proceeded differently had the former leader not been driven from office three years ago. Olmert has claimed he was on the brink of a historic agreement with the Palestinians when he was forced to resign in early 2009. His departure cleared the way for hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu’s election, and peace efforts have been at a standstill ever since. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Olmert on Tuesday afternoon to congratulate him on the acquittal, said Nimr Hamad, an Abbas adviser. “There is no doubt that a great opportunity was wasted with the absence of Olmert. There had been huge progress on all core issues … and the Palestinian and Israeli positions were getting very close on all issues. Unfortunately, that’s all gone now,” Hamad said. Olmert, who headed the centrist Kadima Party, stepped down after he was charged with a series of crimes that included accepting cash-stuffed envelopes from an American supporter and double billing Jewish organizations to cover overseas travel. The alleged crimes took place while Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and a Cabinet minister, before he became prime minister. On Tuesday, a Jerusalem court dismissed most of the allegations, convicting him only on a lesser...