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nation / world
French Prosecutors Indict Two Men for Assaulting
a Jew Who Died While Fleeing
French prosecutors indicted two men for assaulting a Jewish man seconds before
he ran under the wheels of a tram and was fatally wounded, JTA reported.

One of the suspects, 27, is accused of “intentional violence in public.” The other,
23, is being charged with “intentional violence which led to involuntary man-
slaughter,” according to a statement issued April 15 by the prosecutor’s office of
Bobigny, a Paris suburb where the incident occurred.

The indictment does not mention any antisemitic motive, according to the
CNews television channel. The family of Jérémie Cohen, 31, has said it does
not know whether he had been targeted because he was Jewish. Cohen’s father,
Gerald, has said that his son often wore a kippah on the street though the family
does not know whether he was wearing one when he was assaulted on Feb. 16.

The media initially reported the incident as a straightforward vehicular acci-
dent until the victim’s family found footage of the assault following a two-week
investigation they conducted on their own.

Jewish Approval of Biden Drops to 63% from 80% Last Year
The good news for President Joe Biden is that a majority of U.S. Jews approve of
the job he is doing, JTA reported. The bad news is that the number in a new poll,
63%, is a sharp drop from a year ago.

A poll released April 13 by the Jewish Electorate Institute, a group led by prom-
inent Jewish Democrats, showed Biden’s approval rating down from 80%.

The institute put a positive spin on the numbers.

“Jewish Americans continue to support President Biden and the Democratic Party
at levels higher than the general American voting population, a trend that appears on
track to continue in this year’s midterm elections and in the future,” said the group’s
chairman, Martin Frost, a former Jewish Democratic congressman from Texas.

Biden’s approval numbers generally have dropped in the last year, a result of a
botched exit from Afghanistan, a persistent pandemic and inflation that his gov-
ernment can’t stem, JTA said.

German-Israeli Singer Charged With Lying About Alleged
Antisemitic Incident
A public prosecutor’s office charged the German-Israeli singer who said he was
denied service at a hotel in Leipzig for wearing a Star of David pendant with false
accusation and slander, JTA said.

Ofarim, 39, was indicted on March 31 by the Leipzig public prosecutor’s office. It
is now up to the Leipzig Regional Court to decide whether to proceed with a trial.

At issue are Ofarim’s claims that an employee of Leipzig’s Westin Hotel insulted him
on Oct. 4, 2021, refusing to give him a room because he was wearing a visibly Jewish
symbol. Ofarim posted video footage to social media purporting to show the incident.

The accusation went viral, and Jews and others protested outside the hotel on
his behalf. The employee was temporarily suspended.

It wasn’t long before doubts were raised about Ofarim’s account. The hotel
shared its security camera footage with German news media: In it, there was no
Star of David pendant to be seen around Ofarim’s neck.

Israeli Universities to Offer Returning Academics Up to $186K
Israel will enable its universities to offer lecturers in high-demand disciplines
benefits worth up to the equivalent of $186,272 to return to the country to teach
after completing post-doctoral work overseas, Globes reported.

Israeli academic institutions suffer from a shortage of hundreds of senior
faculty members in computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and physics.

While there are enough Israeli professors and Ph.D. holders to fill those positions,
about 1,600 of the best Israeli lecturers work at universities in the United States,
Globes reported.

Globes noted that an Israeli lecturer at a top academic institution overseas
can earn as much as four times more than what they would earn in Israel and
command larger research budgets — making returning to Israel an unattractive
prospect. JE
— Compiled by Andy Gotlieb



Three Rabbis
Help Ukrainian Refugees
in Poland
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of Rabbi Gregory Marx
T hree Philadelphia-area rabbis, Gregory Marx, David Levin and Jon Cutler, traveled to Poland from April 10-14 to help refugees from the
war in Ukraine.

Marx, of Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen, and Levin, who runs the Jewish Relationships Initiative, a nonprofi t organization
in Wynnewood, said they went to off er practical support and “to bear witness.”
That fi rst reason included bringing bags of supplies, like clothes and toiletries, and more than $500,000 from their congregations.

Such practical support was important for Ukrainians, both Jews and non-Jews, who were forced to leave their homes.

But it was the second reason that drove the rabbis to leave the relative safety of their own homes.

“Bearing witness is key,” Levin said.

It’s key because it’s their responsibility as faith leaders, according to Marx and Levin. Rabbis need to see the tragedy of war up close,
bring the reality home to congregants and help them make sense of it.

Marx and Cutler are also co-presidents of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia, while Levin is on the executive committee.

(Cutler leads Beth Israel Congregation of Chester County.) So they all felt that they had a wider obligation to bear witness for all area
Jews and rabbis, too.

“We take our teaching seriously,” Marx said. “We had to do something.”
The trip came together after an invitation from the Jewish Community Centre of Krakow, which is organizing relief eff orts there. The
JCC reached out to Rabbi Jeff rey Salkin of Temple Solel in Hollywood, Florida, who spread the word to other American rabbis.

Marx, Cutler and Levin each decided to go on their own. But when they realized they all wanted to make the journey, they said let’s
take it together.

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