Jewish Life Digital Edition September 2015 | Page 10

ROUND-UP

NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BREAKTHROUGH IN HIV RESEARCH,

T E X T C OM PIL E D BY L IZ S A MUE L S

BRAZIL TO REMOVE ISRAELI
NATIONALITY FROM PASSPORTS
OF JERUSALEM-BORN CITIZENS
Brazilian citizens who were born in Jerusalem will no longer have Israel
listed as their country of birth on their passports, the Foreign Ministry
in Brasilia has decided. The Embassy of Brazil told the Folha de Sao Paulo
newspaper that the decision to remove Israel from such documents was
made last year, but was only recently brought to the attention of the
media in Brazil, after being informed by Brazilian Israelis affected by the
change in policy.
Other countries which also omit Israel as the country of birth from their
citizens who were born in Jerusalem include the United States, Canada
and France. The Folha de Sa o Paulo Daily reported approximately 60 of
about 15 000 Brazilian Israelis have been affected by the decision.
Floriano Passero, a Brazilian-Jewish opposition lawmaker, condemned
the decision as “arbitrary” and explained that the move “will only reinforce the Brazilian government’s biased views of Israel”.
He said: “Regardless of the path to peace between the two peoples, Jerusalem certainly will remain an inseparable part of Israel, and a citizen born
in Jerusalem has every right to display their country of birth, Israel.”
Passero serves in the country’s federal lower house and is the social affairs minister for the state of Sao Paulo.

6 JEWISH LIFE ■ ISSUE 88

A Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researcher has
found similarities between leukaemia and HIV, the
virus that causes Aids. Dr Ran Taube of the department of microbiology, immunology and genetics
at the university, maintains his team’s discovery will
lead to a “revolutionary diagnosis” and will be the
key to the clinical solution that will prevent infection
with HIV and destroy the deadly virus. Taube found
similarities between the two diseases, and his studies aim to eradicate Aids and impede the development of leukaemia. Until the research was carried
out, medical researchers had only limited information on the existence of a connection between
Aids and a rare blood cancer called mixed-lineage
leukaemia (MLL), which hinders the development
of cells in the blood system and occurs mostly in
children. Even though Aids has become a chronic
disease that can be treated with anti-retroviral
therapy medications, there has been no treatment
that can prevent the spread of the HIV virus, and the
number of individuals who are infected rises every
year, said Dr Taube. The reasons for this are varied,
and some derive from the fact that no vaccine has
been developed against the virus to prevent future
infection. According to Dr Taube, anti-retrovirals that
are currently administered do not prevent infection,
thus limiting their potency.

FRONT PAGE AD CONDEMNING VIOLENCE

PUBLISHED BY ISRAELI CHIEF RABBIS

The chief rabbis of Israel recently took out a front page
advertisement in the Jerusalem Post condemning the
recent violence in Israel. The advert, which condemns
violence against both Jews and non-Jews, was also
published in Hebrew in Israel’s other major papers. The
move came after almost a week of unrest following
the recent killing of a Palestinian child, and a fatal
stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride. The chief
rabbis used the advert to call for peace and pray “for
unity and harmony in our nation”. It is highly unusual
for the chief rabbis to make a public statement like this,
with one Twitter user commenting: “I cannot recall the
chief rabbis ever placing an ad in a major newspaper,
let alone a massive one on the front page. This is a big
deal.” In the advert, the rabbinate said: “We condemn
any act of violence whatsoever against any person who
is created in the image of the Almighty, whether Jew
or non-Jew, soldier or citizen. Violence is not the way of
our holy Torah…With prayers for unity and harmony in
our nation.”

PHOTOGRAPHS: BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM; WIKIPEDIA.ORG

CLAIMS ISRAELI SCIENTIST