World news-roundup: Justin Trudeau criticised for not mentioning Jews in HMD message

Country: South Africa

Followers of an Israeli rabbi on the run in South Africa have threatened to kill the country’s chief rabbi after police raided a hotel in search of the fugitive. Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 78, is accused of rape and sexual harassment against several female followers. He has been sought since 2012. 

Country: Canada

Jewish groups have attacked Canada’s new liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for not mentioning ‘Jews’ in his Holocaust Memorial Day message, which paid tribute to ‘the victims.’ It came only days after his government denounced violence in Israel but said Jewish settlements were ‘unhelpful’. 

Country: Hong Kong

Anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala said ‘pressure by Israel’ was behind his expulsion from Hong Kong, where he was due to perform two stand-up shows. He is known as having invented the ‘quenelle,’ an inverted Nazi salute, and has been convicted for inciting racial hatred seven times.

Country: Poland

Poland’s president has honoured 17 actors of the Jewish Theater in Warsaw with medals, up to and including the Golden Cross of Merit, a high civilian distinction conferred on those whose actions have benefited the state. Formed in 1950, the theatre aims to continue pre-war Jewish theatrical traditions.

Country: Brazil

A film about Moses is set to break all Brazilian TV viewing records. Pre-sales for ‘Os Dez Mandamentos’ (The Ten Commandments) alone reached 2.4 million. The film is backed by the country’s second biggest TV channel, which is owned by the founder of one of Brazil’s main Pentecostal churches. 

Country: Russia

The Chief Rabbi of Moscow has called on Western governments to close the mosques ‘of known radicals’ and ban the imams from preaching and social media. Pinchas Goldschmidt, who is also the president of a European group of rabbis, said that mosques in Europe were being taken over ‘by radicals’.