The iMussolini application had a collection of 100 speeches by the wartime Fascist leader. Livni to Defy UK Arrest Threat
Tzipi Livni has vowed to visit Britain despite an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes committed by the Israeli opposition leader during the Gaza operation in 2009. Livni, who was Foreign Minister at the time of the offensive, has been unable to accept invitations to visit the UK, fearing arrest under the warrant granted by a British court in December after a request by Palestinian plaintiffs. “The British fight terror, too. They do not remain in Britain. They travel,” Livni told the London Jewish Chronicle. Top government figures, including Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Justice Secretary Jack Straw, have pledged to change the law.
Lithuanian Centre in Survivor Probe Claim
Lithuanian prosecutors entered the Jewish community centre in Vilnius on Holocaust Memorial Day to question members about their knowledge of a Shoah survivor and anti-Nazi resistance member, it was claimed this week. Authorities have not disclosed why they are interested in lawyer and author Joseph Melamed, who also fought in the Israeli War of Independence, but other members of the resistance movement have previously been investigated for alleged war crimes against the Lithuanian people during the Nazi era. Melamed told the campaign site holocaustinthebaltics.com that prosecutors were free to question him in his Tel Aviv office rather than disturbing the Vilnius community.
Ukrainians Told: ‘Don’t Vote for a Jew’
Campaign leaflets claiming a Ukrainian presidential candidate is hiding her Jewish ancestry have appeared in patches of the eastern European state ahead of the heated election, which took place on Sunday. The flyers, headed “Don’t Vote for a Jew,” contain an alleged reprint of an admission by current prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s father in which he declares his Jewish background, as well as statements from four sources that purport to corroborate the claim. Two million copies were distributed in western Ukraine, a region with a history of anti-Semitic tension.
Princess ‘Regretted Marrying into German Family’
Diana, Princess of Wales, regretted marrying into a German family and thought Jewish men treated women better than others did, according to her lawyer. Anthony Julius, who represented the Princess during her divorce from Prince Charles, said she had told him she knew little about the faith but wanted to express empathy with him as a Jew, believing his community to be “hostile to everything to which she herself was hostile.” Diana married into the British royal family, steeped in German heritage, in 1981 and was killed in a car accident in Paris in 1997.
Israel Group Scraps ‘Racist’ Historian Talk
The Cambridge University Israeli Society has cancelled a talk by Israeli academic Benny Morris, apologizing for any “unintended offense,” after an anti-Israel campaign labelling him “racist” and “Islamophobic.” A Facebook group and a letter to the student union from students and faculty claimed the historian’s “abhorrent and offensive” views on the Palestinians should bar him from speaking at an event run by an official campus society. Last year, the Cambridge University Palestine Society hosted Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, who has described the terrorist attack on the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem in March 2008 as “justified.”
‘iMussolini’ Axed After Complaints
The developer of an iPhone application that enabled users to download speeches by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini has withdrawn the product following legal threats and complaints from Jewish groups. The collection of 100 speeches by the wartime Fascist leader cost just over a dollar and had become Italy’s second most downloaded app, beating a popular video game based on the film Avatar. The producer of ‘iMussolini’ had planned another program offering a bigger helping of Fascist content, but asked downloaders not to post any comments on its site praising the ideology.
‘Tasteless’ Leaflet Causes Stir
A flyer published by an Austrian dog magazine that depicted a pitbull wearing a Nazi-style yellow star with the inscription “evil” has been altered after Jewish leaders labelled it tasteless. The advertisement by the publication Wuff, which campaigned against a new law requiring owners of certain breeds to possess licences, pictured the puppy next to a Labrador under the heading “What differentiates us?” The star has been replaced with a red badge.
Berlin Leader Finds Cure For Boredom
A Reform minister in Berlin is slowly establishing his name in the music scene thanks to an increasingly successful repertoire of comic songs. Performances by Walter Rothschild and the Minyan Boys have now made their way onto German radio reports and consist of English lyrics set to blues, country and Israeli folk music. Cousin Harold, one of the most popular, recounts the story of a relative who became religiously observant and “wouldn't sit down at our table until he had checked every label.” Rothschild, originally from northern England, told the radio network SWR: “I wrote one of the songs during a boring Bar Mitzvah dinner. You have to do something between the speeches.” | 
