WIZO exhibit olive tree paintings stolen in Brazil

Stolen olive tree paintings, a Polish official facing jail for ordering the demolition of a Jewish school, an Israeli man arrested in Colombia for ‘joking’ about blowing up a plane, and a klezmer opera opening in Cuba based on a Yiddish poem from 1931 – it’s all in a day’s work for the Jewish world round-up

Brazil

Jewish women’s group WIZO has cancelled an exhibition in Rio de Janeiro after 35 paintings of Israeli women with olive trees were stolen in transit from Sao Paulo. The head of WIZO in Brazil said it was ‘shameful to all Brazilians,’ adding that the art had ‘no commercial value, but inestimable sentimental value’.

Colombia

An Israeli passenger was removed from a domestic flight in Colombia after reportedly ‘joking’ about detonating a bomb due to a long delay. Yossef Bronfen, 49, was delayed for seven hours before telling fellow passengers at the rear of the plane that he was going to blow it up. He was removed and arrested.

Poland

An official charging with preserving historic monuments could be jailed for three years for allowing the demolition of a former Talmudic school in Konin. The Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland sold it in 2010, but a minister said it was a ‘special witness to the presence of Konin Jews’.

Cuba

A new opera based on an 86-year-old Yiddish poem about an indigenous chief who resisted the Spanish invaders will premier in Havana next month. Composed by Frank London of the Klezmatics, ‘Hatuey: Memory of Fire’ is based on the 1931 prose of Oscar Pinis, a Ukrainian refugee who fled to Cuba.