Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, the head of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), issued a warning that the militant group Hezbollah is trying to attack Israeli targets overseas. He singled out attempted attacks in Thailand and Azerbaijan. Last week, three men were detained after planning to attack two Israelis employed by a Jewish school in Baku, the Azerbaijani capital.

And two weeks ago a Lebanese-Swedish man was arrested in Thailand on suspicion of being involved in a Hezbollah plot to carry out attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in Bangkok. Hezbollah is believed to have significantly upgraded its overseas infrastructure and spreading to Africa, Europe, and South America. The group is regarded as a proxy of Iran.

Duration : 0:0:53

A clip produced by President Obama’s reelection campaign targeting
Jewish voters, features a long line of Israeli senior officials seen
praising him. The video’s “stars” may be surprised to find themselves
included in the clip, as they never gave interviews for the campaign.
The video, titled “America and Israel — an Unbreakable Bond” shows
Netanyahu thanking the president for his commitment to Israel and
peace. It also shows Obama putting his hand on Netanyahu’s shoulder
and the two walking outside the White House. The seven-minute clip
presents Obama as a president unshakably committed to Israel’s
security and features footage from Obama’s single visit to Israel as
part of his previous presidential campaign in 2008. He is seen at the
Western Wall, Yad Vashem and flying in a helicopter with Defense
minister Ehud Barak and Kadima’s Tzipi Livni.

Duration : 0:1:19

Thousands of Ethiopians protested in the streets of Jerusalem against discrimination after a recent report in Israeli media that more than 100 families in Kiryat Malakhi had agreed not to sell or rent real estate to Ethiopian Jews. Hate graffiti with the words “Ethiopian price tag” — a reference to right-wing attacks against Palestinians — was spray-painted on walls and vehicles in the town. Ethiopians at the rally waved banners and chanted as crowds gathered near the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to demand an end to the recent wave of racially motivated attacks.

Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni came to the demonstration to show support, but was booed by the protesters. She had this to say, “It’s a legitimate protest, it’s an outcry from the bottom of their hearts. And even if along the way someone gets hurt, it’s absolutely fine. It’s their right. It’s their right to shout.”

Israel’s 110,000-strong Ethiopian community has long complained of prejudice against them in Israel. Israel’s chief rabbis determined formally in 1973 that Ethiopian Jews were descendants of the Jewish biblical tribe of Dan and were entitled to immigrate to Israel. Tens of thousands arrived from Ethiopia in airlifts in the 1980s and 1990s.

Duration : 0:1:56

Written and Performed By: Andrew Lustig

Filmed/Edited By: Tracie Karasik

Produced By: Harold Messinger, Raffael Lomas, Andrew Lustig, Tracie Karasik

Camera Equipment Provided By: Jacci Chanon, Harold Messinger

Filmed At: Brandeis-Bardin Campus of the American Jewish University in Simi Valley, CA

Music Selections:
“Theme from Schindler’s List”
Artist: Itzhak Perlman, John Williams, & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
AlbumL Cinema Serenade
Composed By: John Williams

“Watermark”
Artist: Enya
Album: Watermark
Composed By: Enya/Roma Ryan

Special Thanks To The Staff and Participants of BCI Aliyah 2011

©2012 Andrew Lustig All Rights Reserved.
©2012 Tracie Karasik Media. All Rights Reserved.

Duration : 0:5:42

The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation chose young singer Can
Bonomo as the country’s representative in the 2012 Eurovision Song
Contest, which will be held in May in Baku, Azerbaijan. What many
people do not know is that Bonomo comes from a Jewish family — making
this selection somewhat surprising in light of the tense relations
between Turkey and Israel. This year Turkey decided not to hold a
pre-Eurovision competition and have a professional committee select
the Turkish entry instead. The names of quite a few critically
acclaimed local singers were mentioned, but the winner was a young and
promising singer who is just at the start of his career.

Duration : 0:0:54

Award-winning Jewish-American screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, is writing a new Broadway musical based on famed magician Harry Houdini’s sensational efforts to discredit “spiritualists,” psychics and mediums who rose to prominence in the widespread spiritualist movement in the 1920s. A Jewish immigrant from Hungary, Houdini’s birth name was Erik Weisz. He devoted the last years of his life towards debunking spiritualists, and with his knowledge, Houdini was very successful. So much so that renowned believers such as Arthur Conan Doyle thought that Houdini used his own psychic powers to discredit others.

Aaron Sorkin won awards and praise for writing screenplays in The Social Network and Moneyball, and joining him for the musical are director Jack O’Brien, composer Stephen Schwartz, and actor Hugh Jackman. Only a few days earlier, Jackman finished a ten-week run of sold-out Broadway performances, grossing over $14 million and breaking records. As for playing Houdini, many will remember that Hugh Jackman had a very similar role in 2006 film The Prestige. The musical is on schedule to open in 2013 or 14, and it will be Sorkin’s debut libretto, the script for a stage musical.

Duration : 0:1:15

Polish Holocaust survivor Jerzy Kluger, a lifetime friend of the late Pope John Paul II, died in Rome on New Year’s Eve. Kluger was a classmate of Pope John Paul and taught him a lot about Judaism. The two lost contact when World War Two broke out but were finally reunited in 1965. Kluger was present in Rome’s synagogue in 1986 when Pope John Paul made his historic visit, during which he called Jews “our beloved elder brothers.” Their friendship is regarded as a major influence on Catholic-Jewish relations. Jerzy Kluger’s burial was in Rome’s Jewish cemetery.

Duration : 0:0:48

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor explains why so many of his fellow Jews shun the GOP.

Duration : 0:2:41

Israel’s government is taking sides against extremist Orthodox Jews. Allen Pizzey reports the demonstrations were sparked by a documentary on an 8-year-old girl terrified to walk to school in an Israeli town.

Duration : 0:1:56

An 8-year-old American girl has unwittingly found herself on the front line of Israel’s latest religious row. Naama Margolese is afraid of walking to her religious Jewish girls’ school for fear of being harassed by ultra-Orthodox extremists. (Dec. 26)

Duration : 0:2:6