Michelle Obama’s Cousin Has Family Link to Most Prominent Black Rabbi in U.S.
A cousin of the wife of Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, is a cousin of this country’s most prominent black rabbi, according to a report in The Forward.
Rabbi Capers Funnye is chief rabbi at the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in southwest Chicago.
He is well-known in Jewish circles for acting as a bridge between mainstream Jewry and the much smaller, and largely separate world of black Jewish congregations, sometimes known as black Hebrews or Israelites.
Funnye described himself as an independent in an interview with The Forward and said he has not been involved with the Obama campaign, but that he has donated money and was cheering it on.
Freed Terrorist Reports Meeting With Abbas
Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar said he met Mahmoud Abbas at the Palestinian Authority president’s request. Kuntar said in a statement that Abbas asked for the meeting, for which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rebuked Abbas, when the two leaders met Sunday.
Kuntar, who was responsible for the murder of three members of one Israeli family and an Israeli police officer in a 1979 attack, was released from an Israeli prison in July as part of a prisoner swap that repatriated the bodies of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Abbas told Olmert that Kuntar initiated the unplanned meeting.
Israel Foils Hezbollah Kidnapping Attempts
Israel has stopped at least two attempts to kidnap its citizens abroad. Defense Minister Ehud Barak confirmed Tuesday that Israel recently foiled attempts to abduct Israelis abroad, Yediot Achranot reported. The newspaper reported that five attempted kidnappings by Hezbollah operatives had been foiled; other Israeli publications put the number at two.
The attempted kidnappings were prevented with assistance from foreign intelligence services. Israel’s military censor has banned publication of details of the attempts. The plots were stopped at advanced stages, the newspaper Ha’aretz reported.
The attempted kidnappings are reportedly being planned as revenge for the killing of Hezbollah’s operations chief, Imad Mughniyeh, killed in February in a car bombing in Damascus. Hezbollah blames Israel for the attack, although Israel has denied involvement in the bombing.
The revelation of the foiled kidnappings came two weeks after Israel’s counterterrorism bureau issued a travel advisory warning Israelis traveling abroad of the danger of being kidnapped by Hezbollah and asked travelers to take certain precautions.
Israel Can Enforce U.S. Decision Ordering PA to Pay Terror Victims, Judge Rules
Israel can enforce a U.S. court ruling ordering the Palestinian Authority to compensate terror victims, an Israeli court ruled. Jerusalem District Court Judge Aharon Farkash on Monday rejected a petition filed by the Palestinian Authority (PA), which said that Israel could not enforce a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court ruling awarding $116 million to the family of terror victims Yaron and Efrat Ungar.
The Ungars, who were American citizens, were killed in 1996 when they were attacked in their car by Palestinian terrorists. The family sued the Palestinian Authority and, following the Supreme Court ruling, petitioned the Jerusalem court to ensure that the ruling was enforceable in Israel. The Palestinian Authority argued that enforcing the lawsuit in Israel and requiring it to pay the compensation could lead to other lawsuits against the organization and bankrupt the PA.
Peace Activist Abie Nathan Dies
Abie Nathan, whose Voice of Peace pirate radio station broadcast from a ship in the Mediterranean Sea, has died. The peace activist died in Tel Aviv last week after a long illness. He was 81.
Abraham Jacob Nathan was born in Iran and grew up in India. He immigrated to Israel in 1948 during the War for Independence, in which he served in Israel’s air force, building on his experience as a fighter pilot in Britain’s Royal Air Force.
Nathan tried to accelerate peace between Israel and the Arab world by making a solo flight to Egypt in 1966. He was unsuccessful then in meeting with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. He was again unsuccessful in 1967 and was jailed in Israel for the attempt, because Egypt and Israel did not have diplomatic ties at the time.
The activist went on several hunger strikes in the 1970s to press Israel and the Arab world to make peace, and he met with leaders such as Pope John Paul VI and Robert Kennedy in his quest. Nathan’s Peace Ship, which broadcast pop music and messages of peace, was partially funded by John Lennon. After Israel and the Palestinians signed an interim peace agreement, Nathan sank the ship in 1994.
He was jailed for meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat when it was illegal for an Israeli citizen to do so. He later met with Arafat again in 1993 after the law was repealed. He is survived by his daughter, Sharona.
Briefs courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
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