Shorts: World

Alleged British bomber visited Israel

london (jta) | Mohammad Sidique Khan, the suspected ringleader of the July 7 London suicide bombers, visited Israel for a day in 2003.

The revelation gave weight to speculation that Khan may have helped to plan an April 30, 2003, suicide bombing by two fellow British Muslims at a Tel Aviv beachfront bar, which killed three Israelis.

Citing an Israeli official, Reuters reported that Khan arrived in Israel on Feb. 19, 2003, and left the next day.

British police believe Khan blew himself up aboard an underground train in London on July 7, one in a series of deadly attacks that killed 55 people and injured 700.




Film fest cancels terror movie

london (jta) | A British film festival canceled a movie about Palestinian suicide bombers after the recent terror attacks in London.

"Because of the recent tragic events and the sensitivities involved, the Cambridge Film Festival has regretfully decided to cancel the screenings of 'Paradise Now,'" the festival said in a statement, according to a Jerusalem Post report. The movie, directed by a Palestinian, details the events of one day leading up to a planned suicide bombing, which is thwarted by an Israeli border patrol.

The film, which was financed in part by an Israeli production company, was voted Best European Film at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Some critics complained that it failed to show the suffering that results from such attacks.




London mayor blasts Israel — again

london (jps) | London Mayor Ken Livingstone lashed out against Israeli policies this week, saying they were actions that border with crimes against humanity.

Asked by a reporter at a London press conference how he compared terrorism in the Middle East to the London bombings, Livingstone replied that he believed the media was applying a double standard. Both Israelis and Palestinians had "done terrible things to each other", he said, but there was still a tendency to view the Palestinian side as the one that does all the harm.

Livingstone, who has a record of diatribes against Israel, also compared Likud to Hamas, saying, "I think the Israeli hardliners around Likud and Hamas are two sides of the same coin, they need each other to drum up support."




AMIA bombing is marked

buenos aires (jta) | Hundreds of people gathered this week in front of the main Jewish institution in Buenos Aires to mark the 11th anniversary of the 1994 terrorist attack on the center.

At 9:53 a.m., the moment of the bombing, a siren was sounded at the AMIA Jewish community center. The names of the 85 people killed in the attack were read aloud and 85 candles were lit. A candle then was lit by the British ambassador to Argentina, in memory of the victims of this month's London terror attacks. Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and his wife, Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, attended, as did government ministers.

Kirchner recently said the state must take responsibility for the failure to solve the case, adding that previous Argentine governments had covered up evidence. But AMIA's new president, Luis Grynwald, told Kirchner at the memorial, "It's not enough that the Argentine state says it's guilty of not solving the case." Grynwald said he couldn't face the victims' relatives, or even his own sons, as long as he couldn't offer an explanation of what exactly happened on that day.




$1 billion paid in Shoah restitution

berlin (jta) | The Claims Conference distributed more than $1 billion in 2004, the largest single-year payout in its history.

The figure was announced this week at the annual meeting of the group's board of directors. Of the sum, more than 70 percent, or $778 million, went to Shoah survivors. An additional $121 million went to heirs of property, and $45 million went to account holders or their heirs through the Swiss banks settlement.

More than 10 percent of the funds went to organizations in 41 countries that care for Jewish Holocaust victims or do Holocaust research and education. The direct payments to survivors and heirs came from eight different restitution programs run by the Claims Conference.




'Hitler hotel' officially opens

berlin (jta) | A luxury hotel near the site of Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" getaway had its grand opening. In ceremonies last week at the new Intercontinental Resort Berchtesgaden, Bavarian Finance Minister Kurt Faltlhauser noted that it was "a place burdened by history."

But he added that the area "traditionally has always been a place of stunning natural splendor and health and recreation. It is in that tradition that this new hotel opens."

The choice of the site had drawn criticism from Jewish groups. In response, the state of Bavaria opened a museum there in 1999 dealing with the location's Nazi past. In addition, it was determined that the hotel would cater to high-income guests, in hopes of making it inhospitable for neo-Nazis.

The German government destroyed the remaining original buildings in 1952 to discourage pro-Hitler pilgrimages to the site. Berchtesgaden later was used by the U.S. military as a resort. The hotel has been open to guests since March.