World news-roundup: Brazilian Jews remember Argentina’s Alberto Nisman

Country: Slovenia

The largest supermarket chain in Slovenia has backed down from its decision to stop selling Israeli produce after a meeting in Jerusalem. Mercator said it would not place any new orders, but has now bought pomelos and avocados from Israel. A large chain in Luxembourg stopped selling Israeli goods in September.

Country: Brazil

A trans-Atlantic row is growing after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to offer Brazil another ambassador other than settler leader Dani Dayan. A senior Brazilian figure said this was a ‘mistake’ and that Israel broke with diplomatic protocol by announcing Dayan before consulting Brazil.

Country: El Salvador

Officials in the Central American state of El Salvador denied that they were moving the country’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Ramallah. It comes after Israel closed its embassy in El Salvador as part of budget cuts. El Salvador’s ambassador said Israel had ‘bitten the friendly hand that feeds it’.

Country: Argentina

Jews in Buenos Aires have joined hundreds of others in remembering special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, a year after his untimely and mysterious death. The respected law man died after investigating Iran’s involvement in the bombing of a Jewish centre in 1994. He had been due to expose a government cover-up.

Country: Czech Republic

More than a year after renovation work began, the Jewish community of Brno in the Czech Republic inaugurated a new Torah scroll in the city’s only surviving synagogue. Almost all of Brno’s 300 Jewish residents attended Sunday’s dedication ceremony. The cost was met by the European Union and Norway. 

Country: Switzerland

Swiss Jews have said they ‘do not share the concerns’ of Orthodox rabbis in New York who protested construction work in Zurich on a site bordering an old Jewish cemetery. The rabbis said it was ‘desecration’ but the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities said it was not even clear if there were any remains.