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