World news roundup: Jewish leaders call for Le Pen’s arrest
Calls to arrest Jean-Marie le Pen, help for Ukrainian Jews and award for Rabbi’s album: the latest Jewish news from around the globe.
- France
Jewish leaders have called for the former leader of a French far-right party to be stripped of his immunity as a Member of the European Parliament. Jean-Marie le Pen, the 85-year old founder of the Front National and father of its current leader, is accused of inciting racial hatred. Mr Le Pen insulted a string of celebrities who had criticised the FN’s success in recent elections, saying of the popular French Jewish singer Patrick Bruel, “We will organise an oven for him next time”.
- Ukraine
The Jewish Agency may provide grants of up to £2,500 to Jews from ‘high-risk’ areas of the Diaspora to immigrate to Israel. According to Yediot Aharonot, the ‘emergency plan’ will coax European Jews from Ukraine and elsewhere to leave in light of rising anti-Semitism on the continent.
- United States
A Manhattan banker is suing his former employer, claiming he was fired for complaining about a training video featuring Nazi imagery. Jean-Marc Orlando, an Orthodox Jew, says French bank BNP Paribas created a video parodying ‘Downfall,’ a film about the last days of the Nazi regime.
- Uganda
A compilation of Ugandan songs produced by Rabbi Jeffrey Summit has won Best World Traditional Album at the Independent Music Awards. ‘Delicious Peace’ was put together to help foster economic development and peaceful relations among Jewish, Christian and Muslim Ugandans.
- Poland
Only weeks after JW3 won a prestigious award for innovative architecture, Warsaw’s Museum of the History of Polish Jews was scooped a similar prize in Poland. The glass-clad structure, which includes curved corridors, opened in April 2013 after being designed by Finnish architects.
- Morocco
A group of Moroccan Berbers has launched an organisation dedicated to fighting anti-Semitism and to strengthening cultural ties with Israel. It comes after five political parties supported two bills last year to make it illegal to trade with Israeli entities and for Israelis to enter Morocco.
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