Netanyahu’s wall tweet angers Mexico’s Jewish community…Read full details

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu / AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZ

In kosher stores, synagogues and intellectual circles, Mexico’s small Jewish community condemned the Israeli prime minister’s support for US President Donald Trump’s border wall as disappointing and shameful.

The Mexican government demanded an apology from Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, but the Israeli leader insisted that he was not referring to Mexico in his weekend message on Twitter.

“Netanyahu must apologize to the Mexican people for his disgusting statement,” the prominent historian Enrique Krauze wrote on Twitter.

Calling Netanyahu a “lackey of Trump,” Krauze said he “condemned, deplored and rejected” the prime minister’s tweet.

More than 67,000 people practiced Judaism in Mexico during the last national census in 2010, compared to 92 million Roman Catholics, the country’s main religion.

Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism during the inquisition first arrived in Mexico with the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century, but many continued to suffer persecution in their new homeland.

Jews from other parts of Europe migrated to Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th century. Others came from the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Damascus.

Mexico City’s economic development secretary, Salomon Chertorivsky, a descendent of Ukrainian and Polish Jewish immigrants, recalled that the Latin American nation embraced his ancestors by giving their new opportunities.

“For the thousands of stories like family’s story … the prime minister’s tweet is condemnable to me,” Chertorivsky wrote on Twitter.

“I don’t understand how somehow who today governs people who suffered the worst persecution can celebrate the persecution of another population, ours, the Mexicans,” he said.

Another city official, Simon Levy, directed a tweet at Netanyahu, saying “Mexicans seek peace and prosperity. As a Mexican Jew I regret your position. I doesn’t bring peace.”

– Netanyahu’s own wall –
Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said the Israeli government should apologize and “correct” its position, adding that his government has supported Israel in the international arena.

US-Mexican relations plunged into the worst crisis in decades last week after Trump ordered the construction of the wall to stop illegal immigration and insisted that Mexico will pay for it.

Israel built a more than 150-mile (240-kilometer) barrier along its border with Egypt, a route previously taken by many African illegal migrants and traffickers.

Trump hailed the Israeli wall as an example last week, prompting Netanyahu to express his support for the new US president’s plans to build a wall.

“President Trump is right. I built a wall along Israel’s southern border. It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea,” Netanyahu tweeted in English, adding the Israeli and American flags.

The Central Committee of the Jewish Community of Mexico said in a weekend statement: “We strongly reject (Netanyahu’s) position.”

On Monday, the Israeli leader denied he was referring to Mexico and he accused “the left-wing media” of attacking him.

– Stay silent –
Netanyahu’s tweet was met with disapproval in the streets of Mexico City’s wealthy Polanco district, home to a vibrant Jewish community, synagogues and kosher shops.

One shop manager, who refused to give his name like many in the Jewish community interviewed by AFP, said Mexican Jews “have nothing to do with the opinion of this man (Netanyahu).”

A 53-year-old Jewish man who headed to a synagogue said: “What Netanyahu said was not very sensitive. It was very unfortunate given what is going on in the world. He lost a great opportunity to stay silent.”

Creative Industry to witness turn around in months, says Lai Mohammed (Read full details)

Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, PHOTO: GABRIEL IKHAHON

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that the nation’s creative industry will witness dramatic turn-around in few months.

He stated this on Sunday evening in Lagos at the stage performance of a play “Itan’’ (Story) at the National Theatre by the Thespian Family Theatre and Production.

The minister disclosed that between Feb. 28 and March 6, the British Council in collaboration with the Ministry will be running a capacity building workshop for festival managers all over Nigeria.

“We believe that what our creative people need today is to see the creative industry as creative economy.

“It is not enough to see a fantastic performance like we see here today, but the actors must be able to translate their talent to money.

“There is no reason why while a creative artist should die poor because in other parts of the world, the richest people are the people whose products are based on intellectual creativity,’’

The minister also said that he would be presenting the amended National Endowment for the Arts Act to the Federal Executive Council for consideration and subsequent forwarding to the National Assembly.

He said the amended Act will make it possible for young artists to have access to grants and funds to finance their works.

The minister appealed to the rich and philanthropist to invest more in the creative industry, noting that everywhere in the world, the industry is sustained by philanthropists.

Mohammed said that the Lagos State has offered to assist to renovate the main bowl of the National Theatre, two cinema halls, the exhibition lobby and the banquet hall.

He said the renovation which would be completed for use at the grand finale of the “Lagos at 50 celebration’’ in two months was a fall out of the collaboration between the Federal Government and states.

The minister thanked the state governor, Akinwumi Ambode for his cooperation, stressing that the partnership will breathe life into the National theatre.

He appealed to other governors to look at the creative industry as a local industry which they can annex to create more jobs for the people.

“It may be slow, but I want to assure you that this government will move the creative industry from the margin to the main stay of the economy.

“We are going to strengthen our law enforcement and ensure that illegal reproduction of your works by pirates become a thing of the past,’’ he said.

Mohammed commended the Director of the play, Mrs Ayodele Jaiyesinmi for bringing talents to bear in the production of the world class stage performance.

He said the play is a demonstration of the artificial disconnect among the old, the new and the incoming generations.

“I am so impressed with what I saw today, you can see the diversity, the complexity. We were here and went 60 years back and 60 years forward

“What that means is that no matter the level of technology or modernity we attain, we must never lose our humanity.

“I keep telling the world that Nigeria has a lot to show and tell the world.

“I have watched performances all over the world, this qualifies as an A class performance anywhere in the world,’’ he said.

Jaiyesinmi said that the inspiration for “Itan’’ was based on youth restiveness and tensions in the country caused by generational divide.

She explained that the play captured the challenges of generational divide vividly, its effects on the society and proffered solutions.

If you noticed we have four generations in the play which demonstrated that every generation has its uniqueness, however, each has a feeling of divide.

The older ones feel frustrated and they right off the younger ones thinking that they are too nonchalant and too fluid in their ways.

At the same time, the younger ones just don’t like the older ones because they are very procedural.

“However, the play concludes that we are all important and we all have our characteristics and we need to understand the different features so that we can work together for the progress of the society,” she said.

Jaiyesinmi said the old generation must understand the ways of the young ones and involve them in planning, strategy in order to have a harmonious society.

Creative Industry to witness turn around in months, says Lai Mohammed