PM says Israel will help find the perpetrators of Toulous attack

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Diplomatic Circles Report

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would help France find those responsible for Monday's assault on a Jewish school in Toulouse in which one adult and three children were killed and several other people were wounded.

"A despicable murder of Jews occurred in France. Among those murdered were small children. It is too early to determine what the background was for that murderous attack, but we can certainly not rule out the possibility of it being a violent act of anti-Semitism." Netanyahu said.

He added that he was certain that French President Nicolas Sarkozy would so all he could to find those responsible. "I promise that the Israeli government will help the French government in this task. We would have done so in any case as we are talking about victims who were Israeli citizens as well." Netanyahu said.

Israel's Ambassador to France, Yossi Gal, visited the Ozar Hatorah school where the incident occurred and said that Jews had clearly been the target. "One has to see the place to understand who they were targeting and the brutality of it," he said. "I am sure that France will do all it can to apprehend this criminal."

At least 9,000 Nazis escaped to South America after WWII

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Newly revealed documents show former Argentinean President Juan Peron sold some 10,000 passports to ODESSA, an organization that helped SS members avoid capture. German prosecutors hope documents will help apprehend some of the few escaped Nazis still alive.

German prosecutors received special permission to examine the confidential documents which reveal for the first time the number of Nazis who fled to South America. Some 5,000 escaped to Argentina, between 1,500 and 2,000 escaped to Brazil, some 500-1000 made their way to Chile and the rest went to Uruguay and Paraguay.

The documents also exposed the fact that former Argentinean President Person sold no fewer than 10,000 blank Argentinean passports to ODESSA an organization that helped establish and facilitate secret escape routes to allow SS members to avoid capture and prosecution as war criminals.

Speaking to the British Daily Mail newspaper Kurt Schrimm, 62, had of the central war criminal authority in Germany said, "These documents provide the hottest leads we have had for years."

The German prosecution teams hopes the stack of documents may lead them to the capture of some of the few escaped Nazis still alive.

"Every day that passes makes this less likely to happen," said Shrimm, "but I don't want people in the future to say that we didn't try."

Vienna's Jewish Museum shows Andy Warhol's geniuses

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A controversial exhibition featuring ten portraits of "Jewish geniuses" by Andy Warhol opened yesterday at the Jewish Museum in Vienna.

The Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century by Andy Warhol first went on show in 1980 at the Jewish Museum in New York--the portraits are brightly colored silk-screen prints Warhol created using famous photos of historical Jewish figures.

The portraits include many Jewish thinkers, politicians, performers, musicians and writers such as Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein. Other people they considered who didn't make the final list for the Ten Portraits were Ben Gurion, Jonas Salk, Dorothy Parker, Felix Mendelssohn, Bob Dylan and Anne Frank.

The idea for the portraits came from art dealer Ronald Feldman whose family come from Graz, Austria. He had been asked by an Israeli dealer for a series of portraits.

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots, A Memoir

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Book Review

The Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism is as mysterious as it is intriguing to outsiders. In this arresting memoir, Deborah Feldman reveals what life is like trapped within a religious tradition that values silence and suffering over individual freedoms.

The child of a mentally disabled father and a mother who abandoned the community while her daughter was still a toddler, Deborah was raised by her strictly religious grandparents, Bubby and Zeidy. Along with a rotating case of aunts and uncles, they enforced customs with a relentless emphasis on rules that governed everything from what Deborah could wear and to whom she could speak, to what she was allowed to read.

As she grew from an inquisitive little girl to an independent-minded young woman stolen moments reading about the empowered literary characters of Jane Austen and Louisa May Aloctt helped her to imagine an alternative way of life. She had no idea how to seize this dream that seemed to beckon to her from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, but she was determined to find a way.

The tension between Deborah's desires and her responsibilities as a good Satmar girl grew more explosive until at the age of 17, she found herself trapped in a sexually and emotionally dysfunctional marriage to a man she had met for only 30 minutes before they became engaged. As a result, she experienced debilitating anxiety that was exacerbated by the public shame of having failed to immediately consummate her marriage and thus serve her husband. But it wasn't until she had a child at 19 that Deborah realized more than just her own future was at stake and that, regardless of the obstacles, she would have to forge a path--for herself and her son--to happiness and freedom.

MOBDAUGHTER: "The Mafia, Sammy "The Bull Gravano, and Me!"

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Book Review

Karen Gravano is the daughter of Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, once one of the Mafia's most feared hit men. With 19 confessed murders, the former Gambino crime family underboss--and John Gotti's right-hand man -- is the highest ranking gangster ever to turn state's evidence and testify against members of his high-profile crime family.

But to Karen, Sammy Gravano was a sometimes elusive but always loving father figure. He was ever-present at the head of the dinner table. He made a living running a construction firm and several nightclubs. He stayed out late and sometimes he didn't come home at all. He hosted "secret" meetings at their house and had countless whispered conversations with "business associates."

By the age of 12, Karen knew he was a gangster. And as she grew up, while her peers worried about clothes and schoolwork, she was coming face-to-face with crime and murder. Gravano was 19-years-old when her father turned his back on the mob and cooperated with the feds. The fabric of her family was ripped apart, and they were instantly rejected by the communities they grew up in.

This is the story of a daughter's struggle to reconcile the image of her loving father with that of a murdering Mafiaso, and how, in healing the rift between the two, she was able to forge a new life.

Charles Dickens, A Life

By: Vickie J. Rubinson
Book Review

When Charles Dickens died in 1870, The Times of London successfully campaigned for his burial in Westminster Abbey, where thousands flocked to mourn the best recognized and loved man of 19th century England. His books had made them laugh, shown them the squalor and greed of English life and also the power of personal virtue and the strength of ordinary people--through the likes of David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Little Nell and many more. In hist last years Dickens drew adoring crowds to his public appearances, had met presidents and princes and he had amassed a fortune.

Like a hero from his novels, Dickens trod a hard path to greatness. His young life was overturned when his profligate father was sent to debtors' prison and Dickens was forced into harsh and humiliating factory work. Yet through these early setbacks he developed his remarkable eye for all that was absurd, tragic and redemptive in London life. He set out to succeed and with extraordinary speed and energy made himself into the greatest English novelist of the century.

Years later Dicken's daughter wrote to the author Bernard Shaw, "If you could make the public understand that my father was not a joyous, jocose gentleman walking about the world with a plum pudding and a bowl of punch, you would greatly oblige me." Seen as the public champion of household harmony, Dickens tore his own life apart, betraying, deceiving, breaking with friends and family while he pursued an obsessive love affair.

Charles Dickens: A Life gives a full measure to Dicken's heroic stature--his huge virtues both as a writer and as a human being--while observing his failings in both respects with an unblinking eye. The man who emerges is one of extraordinary contradictions whose vices and virtues were intertwined as surely as his life and his art.

Madame Tussauds Unveils Anne Frank Figure

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Madame Tussauds in Berlin has opened a new exhibit featuring a wax figure of Anne Frank, based on the last photos taken of the famous diarist before she went into hiding in Amsterdam. The young girl who is depicted surrounded by her finest things, should be a figure of hope, not despair, says the museum.

Since it opened in 2008, the Berlin branch of the famous wax museum, located on the city's famous Unter den Linden Blvd. has been home to an eclectic collection of past and present culture, from President Barack Obama to German super model Heidi Klum. But it's latest addition, the figure of a young girl looking up expectantly from her desk is quite unique.

As well as the wax figure of Anne Frank herself, the exhibit includes a simulation of her room in the secret annex of the house, where the family hid during the German occupation of the Netherlands.

"For us, the most important thing was to paint a complete picture," museum spokeswoman Nina Zerbe told Der Spiegel in an interview. "We wanted to show Anne Frank in the context in which she lived."

German retailer opens Neo-Nazi named store

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

A German retailer popular with neo-Nazis has opened a new store apparently named after right-wing Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Brevik. Thor Steinar last week opened a clothing shop in Chermnitz named "Brevik," sparking cries of outrage. "It is out of the question for a store to have a name like that," city spokeswoman Katja Uhlemann told Die Welt. "We have already contacted the landlord and will plan every step necessary to shut down this business as quickly as possible." A Thor Steiner spokesman said the shop was simply named after a Norwegian town--Brevik--and pointed out that all shops are named after towns in Norway.

Norway has long sought to distance itself from the brand, which has used the Norwegian flag on its products, reports Der Spiegel. "We consider it very regrettable that Thor Steinar use3d Norwegian place names in order to associate Norway with Thor Steinar and the extreme right-wing scene," said a spokeswoman for the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin. "We have asked that Norwegian names not be used."

Moviegoer Sues AMC Over Crazy Snack Prices

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

After paying almost three times the drugstore price for a Coke and candy, a Michigan man has had it. He's suing his local AMC cinema in an attempt to lower snack prices statewide.

"He got tired of being taken advantage of," Joshua Thompson's lawyer tells the Detroit Free Press. "It's hard to justify prices that are three or four times higher than anywhere else."

Thompson paid $8 for a Coke and a pack of Goobers, compared to $2.73 at a local drugstore. The suit says AMC is violating the Michigan Consumer Protection Act with absurdly high prices. Thompson hopes to win refunds for overcharged customers as well as a civil penalty for AMC. But consumer lawyer predict the case will be dropped. "The lawsuit won't go anywhere," says one.

Lorax Busts out Massive $70.7 Million Open

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

The tree-loving fury thing in Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax," helped set a 2012 box office record by opening with $70.7 million this weekend, trouncing The Vow's $41 million open last month, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In second place was raunchy party flick "Project X" with a solid $20.8 million debut. Filling out the top five were holdovers "Act of Valor," ($13.7 million), "Safe House," ($7.2 million) and "Good Deeds" ($7.2 million). "The Artist" made its best showing so far with $3.9 million after winning the Best Picture Oscar last Sunday.

Arab-American group slams Baron Cohen's Dictator as 'damaging lunacy'

By: Vickie J. Rubinson

Though he would probably consider himself an equal opportunity offender, the National Network for Arab American Communities is particularly offended by Cohen's latest character, buffoonish despot Admiral General Aladeen from the fictional Republic of Wadiya.

What about this Saddam Hussein-Moammar Gadhafi hybrid doesn't sit right?

"There was plenty of buzz that he made a mess of Seacrest's Burberry tuxedo but not much of an outcry about the blatant Arab stereotype," NNAAC director Nadia Tonova wrote in an op-ed for the Huffington Post, referring to the other big moment at the Oscars, when Cohen-as-Aladeen spilled powder (supposedly Kim Jong Ill's ashes) all over Seacrest's tux on the red carpet.

"Arabs are among the few cultures that Hollywood still exploits with impunity," Tonova continued. "Routinely, we are profiled as unsavory or sultry characters--generally terrorists, dictators, sheiks, oil tycoons or Bedouins. But it's not jut Hollywood that perpetuates this imagery. These stereotypes are promoted through the media, law enforcement, our courts, legislatures, Congress and our political candidates. They become an ugly message that trickles down to the general public: Arabs and Muslims are untrustworthy; they are un-American; they are...fill in the blank."

Cohen's camp and Paramount Pictures have remained silent since word first got out that the method-to-his-madness actor wanted to walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards in the guise of his character.

Tonova argues that it's stereotypes such as the ones perpetuated by Cohen that lead to racial profiling, violence against Arabs and Arab-Americans in the United States, unfair immigration practices and other political issues.