Sanders Says AIPAC is Platform to “Express Bigotry” – Shuns Confab; Group Calls Move ‘Shameful’

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02/26/2020

Book Review - The World Needs article — As we observe the 14th anniversary of Ilan Halimi’s death this week, “24 Days” is, as of today, available for the first time in bookstores in the US, in a new translation authorized by Ms. Halimi and co-published by ADL and Behrman House.

By: Jonathan A. Greenblatt

Fourteen long years have passed since the murder of Ilan Halimi, the young French cell phone salesman who was kidnapped and held for ransom in a basement in a Paris suburb where he was starved, tortured and beaten for 24 days before his captors gave up their depraved plan to cash in on a young Jewish life.

The memory of this horrific event – seared for a time on the consciousness of France – has been fading in the wake of the murders of 10 more French Jews in anti-Semitic attacks in the intervening years. But we cannot let the world forget the tale of Ilan Halimi, both for the warning it provides about the lethality of anti-Semitism, and for the message his torture and death sends about the twisted allure, power and endurance of anti-Semitic canards.

In Ilan’s case, his undoing wasn’t the beautiful woman who lured him into a deathtrap. It was a single stereotype: Jews are wealthy and horde their money. Ilan’s kidnappers, a self-proclaimed “Gang of Barbarians,” believed that Ilan’s family and the Jewish community would turn over these untold riches in exchange for their son.

But Ilan’s working-class family had nowhere near the fortune demanded by the “Gang of Barbarians.” Through ignorance and anti-Semitism, the kidnappers found themselves in a position of having committed a terrible crime but without any chance of reward, and they took out that frustration on him. Ilan’s family found themselves victims of the age-old stereotype of Jews and money, but without the means to ransom their son.

I remember reading about this terrible crime when it happened, long before I entered Jewish communal life. Reading about Ilan’s horrific fate felt like a dagger plunged into my soul. When I started at ADL, I intentionally prioritized France. It was the first country that I visited outside the US and Israel. With the help of CRIF, French Jewry’s representative organization, I was able to meet Ilan’s mother, Ruth Halimi.

It was a wrenching and emotional conversation, but Ruth’s courage and strength were inspiring. As a parent, it is hard to imagine losing a child, let alone in such an unspeakable manner. And yet, Ruth’s quiet fortitude was palpable. She had suffered so much, grieved for so long, and yet she carried her painful burden with solemnity and strength.

We spoke for several hours. At the end of our conversation, when I asked her if there was anything that ADL could do to help her, she handed me a large manila envelope. It contained her manuscript. She looked me straight in the eye and squeezed my hand. Ruth asked me to share her story. I couldn’t look away. I promised that I would do so.

Three years later, it is truly a privilege to be able to make good on that promise and honor Ruth’s request.

The story of Ilan’s kidnapping and the harrowing weeks that followed is recounted by Ruth in her gripping memoir “24 Days,” which was published in France nearly three years after her son’s death and was later turned into a French-language film of the same title. As we observe the 14th anniversary of his death this week, “24 Days” is, as of today, available for the first time in bookstores in the US, in a new translation authorized by Ms. Halimi and co-published by ADL and Behrman House.

Why is the retelling of his story important for American audiences? Because we recently have seen in America what can happen when anti-Semitic tropes about wealth, secret control of governments, and treacherousness are taken by anti-Semites to their seemingly logical conclusion – if the Jews are so powerful and malignant, then something must be done to stop them.

During the past three years we have seen this conclusion lead to violence against Jews in America, where we had thought, perhaps wrongly, that we were immune to the disease of violent anti-Semitism that had plagued France.

The Pittsburgh synagogue shooter was a white supremacist who believed that Jews were plotting to flood America with immigrants, thus diluting what he perceived as its dominant white culture. The Poway synagogue shooting, six months to the day after the Pittsburgh attack, was committed by another hateful gunman who fulminated online about his hatred for Jews and all non-Christians. The shooting in Jersey City was committed by a homicidal maniac who claimed that Jews were not authentic but instead somehow related to a “synagogue of Satan,” a vile slur used by Louis Farrakhan for years.

As she recounts her son’s ordeal in “24 Days,” Ruth Halimi points to these and other events in America, showing the line from her son’s death to these episodes. She writes, “This is not only my son Ilan’s story. I want it to be published to remind people of what hatred and intolerance can do, hatred for the other, intolerance of what we see as different. Given the world we live in today, we have to remember that we are all people, regardless of our beliefs. Otherwise, there will be very dark times ahead.”

Today, I’m proud to say that we have delivered on my commitment to Ruth. I hope this new English-language edition of her book will help keep Ilan’s memory alive, and also serve as a warning to us all. Ilan’s story is more than a tragic episode in Jewish or French history. His fate shows the deadly consequences that can occur anywhere, or to anyone, when hatred is left unchecked.

(Aish.com)

Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.

What Everyone Needs to Know About the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

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02/26/2020

By: Brian Grodman

A shocking new book reveals facts that every American – and every citizen of the free world – should know, but few do. In The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process, historian and Islam expert Robert Spencer shows how from the instant it came into being, and even before that, the State of Israel, far from being the aggressive violator of human rights of UN myth, has been the target of gratuitous and unprovoked violence by Arab Muslims – the “Palestinians,” who, as Spencer demonstrates in this book, have no actual existence as a people with a distinct ethnicity, language or culture.

These and other facts Spencer marshals in The Palestinian Delusion will surprise many, especially the young Americans who are involved in the BDS movement, in the mistaken belief that it is a justified and righteous response to Israeli wrongdoing. Spencer explains that the “Palestinians” were invented in the 1960s to distract from the fact that the Jewish State was a tiny sliver of land surrounded by huge and hostile Arab states. Before that, it was the name of a region, not of a people, like Staten Island or Compton. The name “Palestine” is ancient, but had never been attached to anything but a region: it was given to the land of Judea (i.e., land of the Jews) by the Romans in 134 AD, when they expelled the Jews from their ancient homeland. To rub salt in the wound, they renamed the land after the Jews’ Biblical enemies, the Philistines.

Spencer points out that just one hundred years ago, “the word ‘Palestinians’ was more often applied to Jews than to Muslim Arabs.” Not only that, but “some Arabs rejected the term, explaining: ‘We are not Palestinians, we are Arabs. The Palestinians are the Jews.’” The Palestinian Delusion shows that the claim – also false – that Jews stole Palestinian land actually predates the creation of the Palestinian people itself. The Arab Higher Committee called for the Arab Muslims of Palestine to leave the area in 1948, so that the Arab states could crush the Jewish state without hurting Arab civilians. The plan was that they would be able to return home in a matter of weeks. Instead, the Arab states lost the war, and began claiming that Israel existed on stolen land

It wasn’t until a couple of decades later that the Arab Muslims of the region began to refer to themselves as the Palestinian people. As Spencer demonstrates, even some of their central figures – Yasser Arafat, Edward Said – were really from somewhere else. In 1977, a leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) actually admitted it: “The Palestinian people does not exist.” The creation of the Palestinian people is one of the biggest propaganda victories in history, as their existence is now taken for granted.

That is not the only explosive revelation in this book. Spencer provides a brisk recounting of how the vaunted peace process began, with startling accounts of what really happened during the negotiations for the Camp David and Oslo Accords. He shows the bad faith on the Arab Muslim side that characterized these negotiations from the beginning, especially Camp David, where Egyptian President Anwar Sadat took cruel advantage of a naïve and credulous Jimmy Carter, with both men browbeating and manipulating Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin into giving Egypt everything it demanded, in exchange for almost nothing but promises.

Spencer shows that Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama followed in Carter’s footsteps, with no less naivete and credulity toward the Palestinians – and no less thinly veiled animosity toward Israel.

The Palestinian Delusion contains much more as well. He delves into the truly nauseating depth of Palestinian hatred for Jews and Israel, showing how even Palestinian children of the youngest ages are inculcated with venomous and even genocidal Jew-hatred. The book also reveals the duplicity of the Palestinian grievance factory, which fabricates wrongdoing supposedly committed by the Israeli Defense Forces, and has been dismayingly successful in swaying world opinion (and in particular the United Nations) in doing so. And there is much more: the Palestinian Authority’s “Pay for Slay” program giving money to jihad terrorists and their relatives, the pocketing of a great deal of aid money by Palestinian leaders, and how Donald Trump changed the entire game when he moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

Even if you are familiar with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have been following the “peace process” for years, there is a great deal in Robert Spencer’s The Palestinian Delusion that you’ll see in this book for the first time, and will enhance your admiration for Israel in being able to survive against such prohibitive odds. The Palestinian Delusion is a much-needed antidote to the disinformation about the Jewish State that prevails almost everywhere today.

Brian Grodman has written for the Jewish Advocate and the Zionist Organization of America.

Old Manhattan Has Disappeared Before My Eyes

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02/26/2020

Arts & Culture - Old Manhattan article - pic 1 — The Horn and Hardart Automat was the restaurant where portions of food appeared in glass cages—but their liberation could be purchased with as little as five cents. Oh, those baked beans! And those tempting slices of pie! Photo Credit: Pinterest.com

By: Phyllis Chesler

I knew it was all over when they shut down the Horn and Hardart Automat, the restaurant where portions of food appeared in glass cages—but their liberation could be purchased with as little as five cents. Oh, those baked beans! And those tempting slices of pie! They took Chock Full O’ Nuts away along with their nutty, dark raisin bread and cream cheese sandwiches.

They took Chock Full O’ Nuts away along with their nutty, dark raisin bread and cream cheese sandwiches. Photo Credit: Reddit.com

Schraffts, a genteel women-only preserve, which served elegant little sandwiches and dessert (and where I kept to myself and studied while in graduate school)—lost in the mists of memory. The Peacock Cafe, on West 4th St., where they started my cappuccino the moment I entered, and where I also sat, read, and wrote—now closed. The Copa is gone as is the Waldorf Astoria, with its gilded pagan facade and Art Deco magnificence, sold to the Chinese government.

Always new restaurants keep popping up and then closing due to sky-high rents. Increasingly, the Manhattan sky has been pierced by heartless, mirrored skyscrapers, so that the human frame is increasingly diminished; these towering temples of greed put us all in our lowly place.

Nearly sixty years ago, when I visited Europe for the first time, the buildings did not yet dwarf the human frame, one felt grounded, centered, and of consequence.

Schraffts, a genteel women-only preserve, which served elegant little sandwiches and dessert (and where I kept to myself and studied while in graduate school)—lost in the mists of memory. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Both Bemelmen’s Bar and the Carlyle Hotel which houses it are now owned by Katara Hospitality (Qatar); the Plaza Hotel is still standing but the fabled Palm Court is different, the Old World violinist and pianist have been replaced by Muzak, and it is now owned by Rosewood Hospitality (which is Hong-Kong based); the Waldorf Astoria, which I mentioned yesterday, is now owned by China.

Have we sold the Empire State Building—well yes, but only in part to Qatar. Rockefeller Center is owned by a consortium which at one point included Mitsubishi Estates. Kiehl’s Pharmacies are still here but they are now owned by L’Oreal (France). What’s wrong with this picture?

And the movie theaters that once were—are gone, going. I used to go to the Thalia in the late 1950s and early 1960s to see the best foreign films. Long gone. And now, they’ve shut down Lincoln Plaza Cinema, the Beekman on Second Ave, and the cinema that once stood at 210 East 86th St. Are we all now couch potatoes with unlimited access to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Acorn, Britbox, Hulu, Vudu, MHZ, etc.? What’s wrong with this picture?

What’s Popular; What’s Not??

The comments I posted about the two raunchy, pole dancing, crotch-grabbing, half-naked celebrity performances at the Super Bowl at half-time “reached” nearly 6500 people, “engaged” 3089 people, and drew 52 comments. What I posted about Harvey Weinstein’s genitalia “reached” 878 people, “engaged” 328 people, and drew 14 comments. Only what I posted about the Oscars (disagreeing with some of the Chosen) also “reached” 835 people, “engaged” 328, but only drew 14 comments. Perhaps one of the most important articles that I linked to was about Wuhan.

The bar at the Carlyle, the internationally acclaimed luxury hotel and East Side institution. Photo Credit: Pinterest

It was written by a friend, Marion Dreyfus, who once lived there and who described the utterly unhygienic, filthy, frightening, conditions that applied in Wuhan in the early 21st century (no potable water, all manner of fish, fowl, and beast, slaughtered in the open marketplace, etc.). This article “reached” 687 people, “engaged” 328 people, and drew only 3 comments. Far more important than pole dancing at the Super-Bowl, but apparently, of far less interest. Woe!

Everything else I posted about Honor Killing Escapees, Islamist Death Threats to “Blasphemers” in France, sacred music, divine ballet, the scourge of Anti-Semitism in the UK, and Old Manhattan (to name only a few entries) drew far less interest.

People: Must I write about entertainers, celebrities, reality show stars such as Kim Kardashian—or worse yet, about electoral politics, in order to command reader attention at Facebook? If so, what have we become? A nation of sex- and star-crazed voyeurs, oblivious to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse thundering our way?

All-Star Sephardi Musical to Open the NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival: Feb 23 to March 2

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02/26/2020

Arts & Culture - All-Star Sephardi article - pic 1 — The Wolf of Baghdad

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival (NYSJFF) announces its action-packed 2020 program of 19 films. Showcasing 11 première films, including two world premières (THE WOLF OF BAGHDAD and THE HUG OF DESTINY), the NYSJFF specializes in bringing to NY audiences compelling, Greater Sephardi narratives and documentaries, comedies and critical perspectives that celebrate the beauty, diversity, and vitality of the Jewish experience. 10 filmmakers will be joining the NYSJFF for post-screening Q&As and several stars will be honored with the Pomegranate Award for Sephardi Excellence in the Arts. The Pomegranate Awards are hand-sculpted by world-renowned Baghdad-born artist Oded Halahmy of the Pomegranate Gallery in Soho and Jaffa.

“We are exceptionally proud to present the NY première of RED FIELDS for Opening Night on February 23rd. Keren Yedaya is a Cannes Film Festival favorite and her latest, award-winning cinematic gem features an all-star Sephardi cast, including Neta Elkayam and Dudu Tassa,” said Sara Nodjoumi, Artistic Director of the NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.

Preliminary estimates indicate that the first wave of Jews who settled in Albania were survivors of a shipwreck containing Jewish slaves on their way to Rome as early as 70 CE. Based on original documents and eyewitnesses, HUG OF DESTINY is an illuminating documentary about the history of Jewish people in Albania and Kosovo, including the largely unknown story of Jewish lives saved by Muslims during the Holocaust. Special appearances are made by Edi Rama (Albania’s Prime Minister), Kadri Veseli (President of Kosovo’s Parliament), and Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel’s Prime Minister).

Nodjoumi produced REGGAE BOYZ (Audience Award, Brooklyn Film Festival 2019), WHEN GOD SLEEPS (PBS 2018, Passion for Freedom Gold Award Winner, 2018) and THE IRAN JOB (Shortlisted German Academy Award, 2014) and is a programming alumna of the Tribeca Film Festival.

“New York audiences will be pleased to know that we have films spanning the Greater Sephardi world. These are stories steeped in history, community, and traditions,” said Nodjoumi.

“The 23rd NYSJFF prides itself on providing our patrons with premières, such as THE WOMEN’S BALCONY and LETTERS FROM BAGHDAD, exceptional films that went on to win international awards and have strong theatrical runs,” said Jason Guberman, Executive Director of the American Sephardi Federation.

“The NYSJFF challenges audiences to think outside the shtetel with programs dedicated to exploring Ladino (including a classic film starring Tom Hanks); Greek, Italian, and Balkan Jews in the Holocaust; Portuguese conversos (Crypto-Jews); the Syrian Sephardic community coming to America; and Jewish life in Azerbaijan, Israel, Iraq, Mexico, and Morocco,” Guberman added.

“This year’s edition will bring great films, Q&As, and celebrations. I’m deeply proud to have iconic French film director Elie Chouraqui, popular Syrian Sephardi actor Dan Hedaya, and poetic Israeli storyteller Karen Yedaya joining us to be honored. We will also present a special Moroccan Night After Party and Iraqi Closing Night with many surprises! The NYSJFF is full of wonderful memories and important cultural exchange,” said David Serero, the NYSJFF’s Producer and a Moroccan-French Sephardi opera singer.

Serero, who previously created and starred in the ASF’s successful theatrical seasons (Merchant of Venice, Nabucco, Don Giovanni, Cyrano de Bergerac, Othello, Romeo and Juliet), staged a critical, well-received reading of The Jew of Malta, performed at the ASF for world leaders, including the President of Portugal Marcel Rebelo de Sousa and Mr. André Azoulay, Senior Counsellor to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, and is the co-founder, producer, and artistic director of the ASF’s American Sephardi Music Festival, which has featured such international talents as Yemen Blues, Francoise Atlan, Gerard Edery, and Itamar Borochov. He recently received an Award for Diversity at the UNESCO in Paris.

All films and events are taking place at the Center for Jewish History located at 15 West 16th Street. The special screening of LEONA for Mexican Night will occur at Instituto Cervantes (211 East 49th Street, New York, NY, 10017).

The complete list of selected NYSJFF films with dates, times, pass, and ticket information can be found at www.nysephardifilmfestival.org

Passes or special night tickets may be purchased at https://23rdnysjfilmfestival.bpt.me or by calling the box office at 1.800.838.3006

Sunday, 23 February

1:00PM: Levantine (U.S. Première)

3:00PM: Ma’abarot

6:00PM: Opening Night – Red Fields (NY Première)

Monday, 24 February

1:00PM: Stockholm

5:00PM: Say Amen (NY Première)

7:00PM: Greek Night – Life Will Smile (NY Première); Romaniotes: The Greek Jews of Ioannina

Tuesday, 25 February

12:00PM: Shalom Italia

2:00PM: The Hug of Destiny (World Première)

6:00PM: The Last Jew in the Village (U.S. Première)

8:00PM: Portuguese Night – The Nun’s Kaddish (NY Première); Sefarad (NY Première)

Wednesday, 26 February

1:00PM: Everytime We Say Goodbye

4:00PM: The Final Hour (U.S. Première)

7:00PM – Moroccan Night – Where Are You Going Moshé?

Thursday, 27 February

2:00PM: Wanderings: A Journey to Connect

7:00PM: Iraqi Closing Night – The Wolf of Baghdad (U.S. Première)

Saturday, 29 February

8:00PM: The Syrian Jewish Community: Coming to America (1900-1919)

Monday, 2 March

7:00PM: Mexican Night – Leona

*At Instituto Cervantes

Announcing the 2020 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival’s Pomegranate Award Winners

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02/26/2020

Arts & Culture - Announcing the 2020 article - pic 1 — On opening Night (February 23rd at 6pm), Elie Tahari will receive the Pomegranate Lifetime Achievement Award for Fashion Designer and filmmaker Keren Yedaya (winner of the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival) will receive the Pomegranate Award for Director. Photo Credit : Getty Images

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The American Sephardi Federation’s New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival (NYSJFF) will honor iconic fashion designer Elie Tahari, film directors Elie Chouraqui and Keren Yedaya, and actor Dan Yedaya with Pomegranate Awards for Sepahrdi Excellence in the Arts, each sculpted by world-renowned artist Oded Halahmy.

On Opening Night (February 23rd at 6pm), Elie Tahari will receive the Pomegranate Lifetime Achievement Award for Fashion Designer and filmmaker Keren Yedaya (winner of the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival) will receive the Pomegranate Award for Director. The evening will feature the New York première of her film RED FIELDS, starting Sephardi stars Neta Elkayam and Dudu Tassa, followed by a Moroccan After Party.

On the NYSJFF’s Moroccan Night, February 27th at 7pm, French-Sephardi filmmaker and stage director Elie Chouraqui (THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, O JERUSALEM) will receive the Ronit Elkabetz A”H Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement on Stage and Screen. The evening will feature the NY première of WHERE ARE YOU GOING MOSHÉ?.

Dan Hedaya (ADAMS FAMILY VALUES, CHEERS), a member of the Syrian Sephardic commuinty, will receive the Pomegranate Lifetime Achievement Award for Actor on the Festival’s Iraqi Closing Night, which will also feature the world première of THE WOLF OF BAGHDAD.

This 23rd edition of the NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival delivers an action-packed program of 19 films. Showcasing 11 première films, including two world premières (THE WOLF OF BAGHDAD and THE HUG OF DESTINY). The NYSJFF specializes in bringing to NY audiences compelling, Greater Sephardi narratives and documentaries, comedies and critical perspectives that celebrate the beauty, diversity, and vitality of the Jewish experience. 10 filmmakers will be joining the NYSJFF for post-screening Q&As and several stars will be honored with the Pomegranate Award for Sephardi Excellence in the Arts. The Pomegranate Awards are hand-sculpted by world-renowned Baghdad-born artist Oded Halahmy of the Pomegranate Gallery in Soho and Jaffa.

All films and events are taking place at the Center for Jewish History located at 15 West 16th Street except the special screening of LEONA for Mexican Night, which will occur at Instituto Cervantes (211 East 49th Street, New York, NY, 10017).

The complete list of selected NYSJFF films with dates, times, pass and ticket information can be found at www.nysephardifilmfestival.org

Passes or special night tickets may be purchased at https://23rdnysjfilmfestival.bpt.me or by calling the box office at 1.800.838.3006

About ELIE TAHARI

Elie Tahari is the founder, designer, and chairman of Elie Tahari, Ltd. His passion for dressing sexy, sophisticated, feminine, and powerful women over the last four decades has evolved into a $300 million enduring and privately held fashion brand, with a global presence in 40 countries, and more than 800 points of distribution worldwide. Elie Tahari began his self-taught fashion career in 1973 after immigrating to the US from Israel, where he had grown up in an orphanage. Arriving with empty pockets, his desire to work hard translated into selling clothing from a boutique in Greenwich Village.

His determination to learn, and his attraction to the energy of New York’s famous Studio 54 club scene in the 1970’s, inspired the initial designs that propelled him into the world of fashion. Less than one year later, he was one of the first fashion designers to open a boutique on Madison Avenue in 1974 at the young age of 22. Elie Tahari’s collections can be found in every major department store around the world such as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Harrods, Tsum, and Harvey Nichols Dubai. His designs have been worn by celebrities — Angelina Jolie, Bradley Cooper, Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Elizabeth Hurley, Gwyneth Paltrow, and have been featured globally in every major fashion publication such as Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, W, and Elle.

About ELIE CHOURAQUI

Elie Chouraqui is a director, screenwriter, producer, actor and writer, born in Paris to a Sephardi immigrant family. He is one of the most celebrated filmmakers of France. In 1974, his encounter with Anouk Aimée was decisive. For her, he wrote MON PREMIER AMOUR, his first film, which was nominated four times at the French César Award. After directing for French television an adaptation of Emile Zola’s novel Une page d’amour, he wrote and directed QU’EST-CE QUI FAIT COURIR DAVID?, which he also produced, as he produced or co-produced all his films. In 1984, his movie PAROLES ET MUSIQUE, starting Catherine Deneuve, Christophe Lambert, Richard Anconina, and Charlotte Gainsbourg received three César Award nominations. His film HARRISON’S FLOWERS, starting Andie McDowell, Adrien Brody, David Strathairn, Brendan Gleeson, and Elias Koteas was shown at the San Sebastian Festival.

Chouraqui wrote, produced, and directed THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, a musical that was seen by more than 1.8 million people in France before touring in Italy, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, South Korea (where its theatrical trope celebrated surpassing 800 performances in 2007), and the United States. His next musical was SPARTACUS THE GLADIATOR, featuring the music of Maxime Leforestier, which was followed by the film O JERUSALEM, adapted from the best-selling book by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, and starring Saïd Taghmaoui. He staged “Le Prénom” and then “Miroirs,” a play he co-wrote, in Tel Aviv, where he has lived since 2016. In Israel, an Israeli-American-French television channel, I24NEWS asked Elie Chouraqui to do a live show every Sunday evening “Elie sans interdit.” In this show he interviews international personalities from the political, intellectual, and artistic worlds.

About DAN HEDAYA

Dan Hedaya, a member of the Syrian Sephardic community, has been enjoying a fulfilling career as an actor for many years. He has appeared in some sixty feature films, including BLOOD SIMPLE, THE FIRST WIVES CLUB, CLUELESS, THE USUAL SUSPECTS, HURRICANE, ADAMS FAMILY VALUES, and DICK, in which he portrayed Richard Nixon. On TV he guest starred numerous times on Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue (for which he received an Emmy nomination), Family Ties, and Law & Order. His most notable character was the eccentric Nick Tortelli in Cheers. His stage work includes appearing with Al Pacino in THE BASIC TRAINING OF PAVLO HUMMEL on Broadway, as well as numerous Off-Broadway productions, including many at the New York Shakespeare Festival.

About KEREN YEDAYA

Keren Yedaya is an award-winning Israeli director. She has directed the features OR (Caméra d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, 2004), JAFFA (Cannes Film Festival, 2009), and THAT LOVE- LY GIRL (Un Certain Regard, Cannes Film Festival, 2014), as well as the shorts ELINOR (1994), LULU (1999), and UNDERWEAR (2001). RED FIELDS (2019), her latest feature film, premièred at the Toronto International Film Festival and has won the Israeli Ophir Awards for Best Original Soundtrack and Best Sound Mixing. Yedaya is known as a feminist and activist for women’s rights. Yedaya trained at the Camera Obscura School of Art in Tel Aviv.

Auschwitz Museum Upset at Scene in Amazon Series ‘Hunters’

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02/26/2020

2601 — Jordan Peele, center, executive producer of the Amazon Prime Video series "Hunters," poses with cast members Logan Lerman, left, and Al Pacino at the premiere of the show at the Directors Guild of America, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

By: Monica Scislowska

The museum of the Nazi German Auschwitz death camp is objecting to a scene in a new Amazon TV series that shows a murderous game of human chess being played there, insisting that no such thing took place at the camp.

The museum and memorial that guard the Auschwitz-Birkenau site in southern Poland, its historic facts and the memory of the victims tweeted about the scene in Amazon’s series “Hunters.” It said inventing fake scenes is “dangerous foolishness and caricature,” encourages Holocaust deniers and is disrespectful of the camp’s some 1.1 million victims, including women and children.

The series’ creator, David Weil stressed in a statement it was not a documentary but a narrative with largely fictional characters. As a grandson of Holocaust survivors, Weil said he was careful not to “misrepresent a real person or borrow from a specific moment in an actual person’s life.”

Most of the victims were Jews, but there were also Poles, Roma, Russian prisoners of war and others. They died in the camp’s gas chambers or from starvation, disease and forced labor, or shot by the guards.

Museum spokesman Pawel Sawicki said Monday that authors and artists have a special obligation to tell the truth about Auschwitz, and that the “Hunters” authors did not contact the museum for facts.

“If anyone wants to show human tragedy in Auschwitz it is enough to reach for the thousands of sources (survivors’ testimonies) that are deeply shocking, but creating fiction that distorts the history of this real place is disrespectful of the people who suffered here,” Sawicki told The Associated Press.

He said the museum is always willing to provide factual advice to anyone studying or working on Auschwitz history. More than 2 million people a year visit the site with its historic barracks, the ruins of the gas chambers and a monument to the victims.

“Hunters” is about a postwar hunt in New York for Nazi war criminals. It includes a scene where Auschwitz inmates are figures in a chess game and are killed when they are taken off the chessboard.

“This is false. There was no such thing,” Sawicki said.

Weil, who is also the “Hunters” executive producer, said he used this “fictionalized event” to showcase the “most extreme … sadism and violence that the Nazis perpetrated against the Jews and other victims.”

In his statement he thanked the Auschwitz Memorial for “keeping the memory of victims and survivors like my grandmother, Sara Weil, alive,” and expressed hope for a further dialogue to that purpose.

Nazi Germany operated Auschwitz-Birkenau between 1940 and 1945 when it occupied Poland. Emotional, international observances with the participation of survivors were held last month in Oswiecim to mark 75 years since the Soviet army liberated the camp.

(AP)

Is 3 Times a “Charm” for the Israeli Elections?

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02/26/2020

Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu — President Donald Trump, right, looks over to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, to announce the Trump administration's much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

If you are shaking your head and complaining about our own election process, try being an Israeli and shlepping to the polls on March 2nd, for the third time within a 12 month period, to vote yet again in another general election. The prior ones last April 9th and September 17th both failed to form a majority coalition. Good luck this time!

Likud, under current Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Blue and White party, with Benny Gantz at its helm, will fight this one out again in order to form a majority coalition. Israelis don’t vote, as we do, for a specific candidate. They vote for a party, of which they have many and with proportional representation, a coalition is formed with like minded ones banding together. The battle is to form a majority coalition and to stick together when it comes time to pass legislation in the Knesset. That’s when they start to wheel and deal. Bibi, being interviewed this past weekend by Mark Levin, put it very succinctly, that the Blue and White is, “a leftist party in disguise….they pretend to be a center-right party.” He warned that the Blue and White would junk Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan which is highly supportive of Israel’s interests and cave in to the Palestinians who have turned down the plan.

Consider then, that Trump looks like he’ll be spending another 4 years in the White House. And without a doubt, Israel has never prospered more than they have under this friendly administration. However, Gantz has Ronen Tzur, his senior Israeli adviser, who recently referred to Trump as another Hitler and claimed that our president colluded with Putin. Throw in another Gantz consultant, this one an American, Joel Benenson, formerly working under Obama, Hillary and Mario Cuomo, and we’ve got to then anticipate that his Blue and White party and their coalition with the Leftist ones would attempt to destroy the positive relationship that Israel now has with the United States. That would be a disaster. Israelis and their American supporters have got to finally come to the conclusion that no matter what faults Netanyahu may have, his positive performance as Israel’s leader over the years indicates that he must remain as Prime Minister to keep Israel as the light to all nations.

Amazon Considers Buying WeWork’s Lord & Taylor Bldg in NYC

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02/26/2020

By: Veronica Kordmany

There have been recent reports of Amazon consuming the Fifth Avenue Lord and Taylor building, which is currently owned by WeWork, an American real estate company that caters to technology companies. The e-commerce titan has been in talks of securing this acquisition, which sources say is a deal worth almost $1 billion. However, the deal is still in the preliminary stages, and is long away from solidifying.

Neither Amazon nor WeWork gave the press a comment on the news.

Amazon’s success on this acquisition would result in significant implications, not just for the online-shopping mogul, but for both parties. It would be Amazon’s largest real estate purchase, which is what WeWork’s purpose is.

Just last summer, the pair were planning for Amazon to lease the Lord and Taylor business. The deal apparently fell through, after Amazon leased both office and warehouse spaces in another part of New York City. In December, it was a 335,000-square-foot lease at SL Green Realty, located at 410 10th Avenue on the Far West Side of Manhattan. The tech giant is also negotiating the possibility of leasing RXR Realty, and LBA Logistic’s 770,000-square-foot center in Maspeth, Queens.

This purchase would make up for Amazon’s famous failure in February 2019, when it was forcibly revoked from New York after its Long Island City headquarters fell apart.

While Amazon is throwing money in every direction, this building proves to be sentimental for WeWork, as it commemorates one of the last big-spends orchestrated by former CEO Adam Neumann. They need this sale to generate some much-needed capital, after WeWork was taken over by SoftBank, the company’s biggest backer.

WeWork is currently shelling out $200 million to renovate the 10-story, 106-year-old building. The renovation would be another gesture for Amazon’s potential purchase, according to some sources. Despite it’s best efforts, several employees of WeWork went public with their concern over the deal’s astronomical price and the perceived conflicts of interest, one of which being that a board member held interests interests in the buyer, seller, and tenant.

Furthermore, the negotiations became more difficult to close when WeWork was forced to agree to lease the entire building, in order to satisfy the wants of its lenders, after its everlasting occupant Lord and Taylor ditched their space. The disruption raised eyebrows at spectators, who watched as WeWork’s real estate team went head-to-head with ARK over the leasing price, many of which believed to be too high.

City Council Proposes Tearing Down BQE to Replace it With a Tunnel

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02/26/2020

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

On Monday February 24th, the City Council released a report divulging its solution to the crumbling state of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. The proposed bid is an $11 billion plan which would tear down the BQE and replace it with a 3 mile underground tunnel. The proposal is being back by Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who told The New York Times that the effort marks “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build the city we deserve and need in the future.”

The city deserves better than the “poor air quality, divided communities, traffic violence, visual blight, and noise pollution” the highway delivers its neighborhoods, reads the report’s opening statements. Urban design firm ARUP, was commissioned by the council to report on the topic, and came up with the tunnel as one of two options. As reported by Crain’s NY, the second option proposed in the report, would be to reconstruct the three-tiered structure of the highway with a single level, then deck over that level with an expansion of Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Currently, the 1.5 mile stretch built more than 70-years-ago in the Robert-Moses-era is traveled by more than 153,000 cars every day. Most of those are private vehicles, with only about 10 to 13 percent of the traffic being trucks. Johnson, a 2021 Mayoral hopeful, argues that vehicles on highways contribute to roughly 30 percent of NYC’s total carbon emissions, and that 83 percent of that is from private cars. “That should keep you up at night. If you believe in science — and you believe that climate change is real — join me in this fight. Let’s get people out of private cars,” said Johnson. “The Lexington Avenue subway line carries more passengers than [the BQE] in a morning rush hour,” he added. “The city should study alternatives … including the removal of the BQE in its entirety.”

The proposal detailed in the engineering report includes a 57-foot tunnel that would run from Gowanus to Bedford Avenue in South Williamsburg. Arup says the tunnel’s construction would probably take about 7 to 10 years. The study suggests the tunnel be built using automated tunnel boring machines, which would both reduce costs and limit above-ground disturbances. Those same machines were utilized for the delayed 7-line expansion and the upcoming East Side Access project.

As reported by Crain’s NY, the idea to replace the roadway with a tunnel has already been suggested and simultaneously rejected. “DOT studied digging a tunnel in 2016 finding many routes were impossible due to infrastructure including subways & water tunnels,” tweeted De Blasio’s Department of Transportation in September 2018. “Huge risks when building underneath some of the most historic neighborhoods in the city,” the DOT added in another previous tweet. The Arup report too concedes the plan may be imperfect, “beyond the issues of governance and cost, the potential largest hurdle to this plan would be the possible need for taking of private property at the tunnel portals and emergency egress shafts.”

The plan would need approval from Mayor de Blasio’s administration. At the end of 2018, his office decided to go with a $3.6 billion plan to rebuild the highway while diverting traffic to a temporary roadway built above the BQE. In April, following opposition, the Mayor said that an “expert panel” would further review the issue. Last month, that panel suggested reducing the size of the highway from six lanes to four lanes. Also, the Mayor had said the NYPD would do more to curb overweight trucks from using the highway.

The City Council will hold an oversight hearing on the BQE Tuesday at 10 A.M. on “The Future of the BQE”. “We still have a fight on our hands over the future of the highway and how to transform our neighborhood and the entire corridor for the better,” wrote the Brooklyn Heights Association who will provide testimony, along with other community groups, at the public hearing.

Netanyahu Mourns ‘Personal Friend’ Egypt’s Fmr. President Mubarak

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02/26/2020

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conveyed his condolences to Egypt following the death of his “personal friend” former President Hosni Mubarak, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91.

“On behalf of the citizens and Government of Israel, I would like to express deep sorrow on the passing of President Hosni Mubarak,” Netanyahu stated.

Mubarak, “my personal friend, was a leader who led his people to peace and security, to peace with Israel. I met with him many times. I was impressed by his commitment; we will continue to follow this common path,” the statement read.

He sent his condolences to Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah A-Sisi, to the Mubarak family and to the Egyptian people.

During his 30 years in office, Mubarak maintained a cordial relationship with Israel, which upheld the peace between the two countries but did not develop into a closer and more productive association.

On occasion, Mubarak hosted meetings relating to the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process and served as a broker between them.

The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu added that he sends condolences to Egypt’s current president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, as well as to Mubarak’s family and to the Egyptian people.

The Israeli prime minister was one of the first international leaders to comment on Mubarak’s passing, according to the TOI report.

Israel’s embassy in Cairo took to Twitter to express “great sadness” at the former president’s death.

Mubarak was born on May 4, 1928, in the village of Kafr el-Moseilha in the Nile delta province of Menoufia. His family, like that of Sadat, and Gamal Abdel Nasser before him, was lower middle class.

After joining the air force in 1950, Mubarak moved up the ranks as a bomber pilot and instructor and rose to leadership positions.

TOI reported that the former Egyptian president maintained close ties with all Israeli leaders. His last meeting with Netanyahu, in the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, took place in January 2011 — about a month before he was deposed.

Mubarak rose to power after Islamic extremists assassinated his predecessor Anwar Sadat, then steered the nation through the turmoil that buffeted the Middle East with wars, terrorism and religious extremism.

TOI reported that Mubarak, who served as president 1981-2011, maintained a cool peace with Israel and kept Egypt relatively free of the grip of Islamic extremism. He engineered Egypt’s return to the Arab fold after nearly a decade in the cold over its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas mourned Mubarak’s passing “with great sorrow.” He lauded the former Egyptian leader’s “support of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people in achieving their rights to freedom and independence.” (TPS & TOI)

Burqa Wearing Thief Steals $1M in Jewels from Piaget in Hudson Yards

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02/26/2020

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Katie Jones/WWD/Shutterstock (8434786u) Atmosphere Piaget party, Los Angeles, USA - 24 Feb 2017

By Ilana Siyance

On Sunday, February 24th, a thief wearing a burqa and armed only with a spray bottle, stole almost $1 million in necklaces and watches from an upscale jewelry store in Hudson Yards. As reported by the NY Post, a man who had most of his face covered, entered the Piaget Jewelry store at about 3:55 p.m., asking to look at a necklace, as per police officials. The store’s sales clerk took out the necklace from the display, and suddenly he noticed the man was holding one of the store’s watches, as per sources. When the employee grilled the man about the watch, he took out a spray bottle and squirted an unidentified liquid towards the clerk and ran out of the store. The bandit stole the necklace, priced at around $21,000, as well as two watches. One of the watches was priced at a whopping $715,000, and the other at $64,000. Piaget valued the total loss at about $800,600. The Piaget store, in Manhattan’s West side at 200 Hudson Yards, is one of its flagship boutiques.

Later on Sunday evening, management at the Hudson Yard Shops sent an email to its tenants warning them to be vigilant. “Maybe they’ll want to hit another time,” said Peter Young, a senior sales consultant for nearby Watches of Switzerland. “I heard from a sales associate it was a man dressed as a woman, dressed in a burqa,” he added, and that he may have altered his voice to sound like the “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader.

Personnel from the other multiple jewelry stores also on the ground floor of the Hudson Yards shops were shaken to hear of the burglary. “It’s awful,” said an employee at Cartier, situated just across the hall. An administrator at nearby Van Cleef & Arpels who declined to give provide name, noted it was all part of the business. “I heard about it. It’s crazy, but that’s the jewelry world. Hopefully they’ll catch him,” he told the Post.

The suspect is still at large, as of Monday, and could not be accurately identified because of the burqa head covering he donned. The garb is typically worn by women in some Muslim cultures, and succeeded to conceal most of the bandit’s face, police sources say.

Workers at the Piaget store said they have no comment.

Quentin Tarantino & Israeli Model Wife Have Baby Boy; First Child for Couple

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02/26/2020

Special Features - Quentin Tarantino article — Director Quentin Tarantino and with his wife, Israeli model Daniella Pick, are now the proud parents of a baby boy. Their son was born on Saturday in Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. Photo Credit: Instagram

By Ellen Cans

Director Quentin Tarantino and with his wife, Israeli model Daniella Pick, are now the proud parents of a baby boy. Their son was born on Saturday in Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The 56-year-old Oscar-winning filmmaker became a father for the first time, as reported by People. “Daniella and Quentin Tarantino are happy to announce the birth of their first child,” his rep announced in a statement.

As per The Jerusalem Post, Tarantino had previously referred to the baby as “she” in an interview. Seemingly, he either was unaware of the fetus’s gender or he was pranking his fans. The baby, who is officially an Israeli citizen, has yet to be named, as it awaits its brit-mila, or ritual circumcision on the eighth day. The couple, who is not orthodox, will be performing this tradition as well as waiting to name the baby at the religious ceremony.

The couple had announced back in August 2019 that they were expecting a child. Tarantino and Daniella, 36, the daughter of Israeli pop singer and songwriter Tzvika Pick, were married in 2018. They had met in 2009, when Tarantino had visited Israel to promote his movie, Inglourious Basterds.

There are rumors that the couple might be permanently moving to Israel from their current home in Beverly Hills. Since November, they have been renting an apartment in a posh neighborhood in northern Tel Aviv. “I have some short trips (back to the US) planned for the (Oscar) awards ceremony. And of course we’ll be here for the birth and after” he told Yediot Aharonot last month. “I love the country and the people are really nice, very nice to me, and they seem excited that I’m here.”

As per People, the baby’s arrival coincides with a time when Tarantino may be looking to slow down his career. The Hollywood veteran hinted that he may just have plans to do one last movie. “I think when it comes to theatrical movies, I’ve come to the end of the road,” he said in a July GQ Australia interview. “I just think I’ve given all I have to give to movies.”

His most recent film, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, had him nominated for Best Director as well as Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards. The film won the prizes for best motion picture – musical or comedy and best screenplay at the 2020 Golden Globes. “Overjoyed and so proud of my husband ️ (also for his Hebrew!) @onceinhollywood,” Daniella, had shared on social media, with a photo of Tarantino accepting one of his awards in January.

Barneys NY Finally Shutters its Doors After Prolonged Liquidation

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02/26/2020

By Ilana Siyance

The once iconic high-end fashion retailer has shuttered its doors for the final time.

Barneys New York, established in 1923, has officially closed operations on Sunday, February 23rd at its flagship store on Madison Avenue, its Chelsea location and its outlet at Woodbury Common in Central Valley. As reported by NBC NY, throughout the three locations , over 700 employees were slated to lose their jobs. Barney’s other remaining locations outside of NY were also closed simultaneously, including the stores in San Francisco and Beverly Hills, California. Barneys has undergone a slow and agonizing months-long going-out-of-business sale, but it is finally over.

Last November, amid bankruptcy woes, the 97-year-old luxury brand was purchased by fashion licensing company Authentic Brands Group and financial firm B. Riley for $271.4 million. Last year, Authentic Brands had announced that it planned to convert the Madison Avenue store into a centralized spot for pop-up businesses, fusing together a collection of boutiques as well as art and cultural exhibits and entertainment. Authentic Brands, which holds a massive portfolio of more than 50 brands, said it will license the Barney’s New York name to Saks Fifth Avenue with plans for “preserving the legacy of Barneys New York while positioning it for long term growth through key partnerships that will expand its global presence as a lifestyle brand and luxury retail experience”, as per a company press release.

ABG will recreate the Barneys New York brand on Saks Fifth Avenue’s fifth floor in Saks’ newly renovated flagship store. Saks will in the future also unveil Barneys New York shops in several other stores in well-preforming markets across the United States and Canada, as per the Associated Press. Saks, which has been owned since 2013 by the oldest commercial corporation in North America, the Hudson’s Bay Company, will also have exclusive rights to the Barneys NY name as an ecommerce partner on both Barneys.com and BarneysWarehouse.com. Already, the Barney’s websites are redirecting to Saks webpages entitled Barneys-at-Saks, offering high-end brand names for sale.

ABG had said it is excited to partner with the Saks Fifth Avenue management team to learn what clients of the legendary trend-setting store had loved about Barneys, and to give new life to that evolving it into something truly relevant to today’s luxury shoppers.

The acquisition of Barneys still maintains the licensing agreement between Barneys New York and Seven & i Holdings, which will continue to operate 12 Barneys New York retail stores in Japan without interruption or change of ownership.

Harvey Weinstein Found Guilty in Landmark #MeToo Moment

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02/26/2020

New York - Harvey Weinstein Found article — Harvey Weinstein

By: AP

Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday at his sexual assault trial, sealing his dizzying fall from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement.

He was found guilty of criminal sex act for assaulting production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006 and third-degree rape of a woman in 2013. The jury found him not guilty on the most serious charge, predatory sexual assault, that could have resulted in a life sentence.

The verdict followed weeks of often harrowing and excruciatingly graphic testimony from a string of accusers who told of rapes, forced oral sex, groping, masturbation, lewd propositions and that’s-Hollywood excuses from Weinstein about how the casting couch works.

The conviction was seen as a long-overdue reckoning for Weinstein after years of whispers about his behavior turned into a torrent of accusations in 2017 that destroyed his career and gave rise to #MeToo, the global movement to encourage women to come forward and hold powerful men accountable for their sexual misconduct.

The jury of seven men and five women took five days to find him guilty.

The case against the once-feared producer was essentially built on three allegations: that he raped an aspiring actress in a New York City hotel room in 2013, that he forcibly performed oral sex on Haleyi and that he raped and forcibly performed oral sex on “Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra in her apartment in the mid-1990s.

Three additional women who said they, too, were attacked by Weinstein also testified as part of an effort by prosecutors to show a pattern of brutish behavior on his part.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sex crimes unless they grant permission, as Haleyi and Sciorra did.

Jurors signaled their struggles with the Sciorra charges four days into deliberations. On Friday, after reviewing sections of her testimony and related evidence, they sent a note to the judge indicating they were deadlocked on the counts but had reached a unanimous verdict on the others. After some debate in the courtroom, the judge ordered jurors to keep deliberating.

While Weinstein did not testify, his lawyers contended that any sexual contact was consensual and that his accusers went to bed with him to advance their careers.

The defense seized on the fact that two of the women central to the case stayed in contact with Weinstein through warm and even flirty emails — and had sex with him — well after he supposedly attacked them.

The hard-charging and phenomenally successful movie executive helped bring to the screen such Oscar winners as “Good Will Hunting,” “Pulp Fiction,” “The King’s Speech” and “Shakespeare in Love” and nurtured the careers of celebrated filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith.

Weinstein now faces charges in Los Angeles. In that case, announced just as the New York trial was getting under way on Jan. 6, authorities allege Weinstein raped one woman and sexually assaulted another on back-to-back nights during Oscars week in 2013. One of those women testified as a supporting witness at the New York trial.

The trial was the first criminal case to arise from a barrage of allegations against Weinstein from more than 90 women, including actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek and Uma Thurman. Most of those cases were too old to prosecute.

During the trial, Weinstein regularly trudged into the courthouse stooped and unshaven, using a walker after recently undergoing back surgery — a far cry from the way he was depicted in court as a burly, intimidating figure whose eyes seemed to turn black with menace when his anger flared.

Many of Weinstein’s accusers described him as a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who could be incredibly charming at first, making jokes and showing interest in using his immense power to help their careers.

But that was an act, they said, meant to gain their trust and get them to a place — often a hotel room or an apartment — where he could violate them.

“If he heard the word ‘no,’ it was like a trigger for him,” his rape accuser testified.

Several women testified that Weinstein excused his behavior as the price for getting ahead in Hollywood. One said that when she laughed off his advances, he sneered, “You’ll never make it in this business. This is how this industry works.”

The jury heard lurid testimony that Weinstein injected himself with a needle to get an erection, that his genitals appeared disfigured, that he sent Sciorra a box of chocolate penises and that he once showed up uninvited at her hotel room door in his underwear with a bottle of baby oil in one hand and a video in the other.

The prosecution’s task was made more complicated because two of the women at the very center of the case didn’t just abandon Weinstein after the alleged encounters: Haleyi testified that she had sex with him two weeks later, while the rape accuser whose name was withheld said she had a sexual encounter with him more than three years afterward.

Like Haleyi, she sent Weinstein friendly and sometimes flirtatious emails, such as “Miss you big guy” and “I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call.”

During a cross-examination from Weinstein’s lawyers so exhaustive that she broke down in tears on the stand, the woman said she sent him flattering emails and kept seeing him because she was afraid of his unpredictable anger and “I wanted him to believe I wasn’t a threat.”

To blunt that line of questioning, prosecutors called to the witness stand a forensic psychiatrist who said that most sexual assault victims continue to have contact with their attackers and that they hope what happened to them “is just an aberration.”

Rumors about Weinstein’s behavior swirled in Hollywood circles for a long time, but he managed to silence many accusers with payoffs, nondisclosure agreements and the constant fear that he could crush their careers if they spoke out.

Weinstein was finally arrested and led away in handcuffs in May 2018, seven months after The New York Times and The New Yorker exposed his alleged misconduct in stories that would win the Pulitzer Prize. (AP)

NYC’s Frick Museum Renovation Sparks Tension Btwn Namesake’s Descendants

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02/26/2020