The Times of London examines challenge of tastefully examining and displaying Hitler’s vision of Berlin as a city full of bloated marble architecture, capital of the Nazi-run world:

For decades his plans were regarded as so crazed that they were confined to specialist books and institutes.

Yesterday the taboo was broken. Peer Steinbrück, the German Finance Minister, unveiled a scale model of Germania, the Führer’s supersized city. Centrepiece of the display was the domed Great Hall, planned by Albert Speer, Hitler’s master architect, to accommodate a crowd of 150,000. …

The positioning of the exhibition, in a pavilion next to the Holocaust Memorial and two minutes’ walk from Hitler’s bunker, has made it easier to open it to the public without seeming to glorify the Nazi’s aesthetic vision. …

Richard A. Serrano of the Los Angeles Times reports on the post-9/11 decline of white anti-government terrorist groups in the United States: (more…)

Two different writers take the temperature of the yeshiva attacked last week — and offer different takes on the state of its founder’s vision of a partnership between secular and religious Zionists. (more…)

Uri Orbach warns on YNet that the Israeli public is unwilling to tolerate the notion of Israeli Arabs joining in violence against the Jewish state:

Matan Vilnai was not being nice recently when he said that the Arabs could bring a holocaust upon themselves if they keep on shooting at us. It would have been better had he chosen the word “disaster.” Effie Eitam was also not being nice when he threatened that we will expel Arab citizens of Israel who have been out of control at protest rallies and in the Knesset. The citizenship rights of Israeli Arabs are not conditioned on anything.

However, it should be noted that the words uttered by both Vilnai and Eitam did not cause great shock around here. This is not because most of the Jewish public thinks we should expel the Arabs, bur rather, because most Jews are simply fed up with the conduct of the Palestinians in Gaza, and most Jews are unwilling to tolerate Arab Israelis joining the waves of hate on occasion. …

The fact that Vilnai’s and Eitam’s recent statements were received with relative quiet is a very bad sign for the Palestinians, both within and beyond the Green Line. Those who think that Jewish citizens have no national feelings towards their state may one day discover that we have nationalistic feelings. Those who think that the Jews don’t care about their honor, and flag, and sovereignty, will not bring a holocaust or expulsion upon themselves, but they will discover that Israel’s Jewish citizens are not suckers, and that we know how to enlist for a cause.

I hope that this question will never face a test, but if it gets to that, heaven forbid, it will suddenly turn out that grave danger overrides tolerance.

Goldie Hawn is heckled in Glasgow by pro-Palestinian protesters at a fund-raising appearance for KKL Scotland (the JNF equivalent).

My favorite headline from the ADL’s recent press release touting its annual audit of anti-Semitic acts: “Swastika Symbol of Choice for Anti-Semites.”

Shmuley Boteach wonders in the Jerusalem Post why Muslims aren’t speaking out against last week’s shooting attack at a yeshiva in Jerusalem: (more…)

The Harvard Crimson reports on the controversy stirred up by a multi-media exhibition at the Harvard Hillel featuring testimonials from Israeli soldiers about their time in Gaza and the West Bank:

“Breaking the Silence” — a traveling exhibit of over 100 photographs and videos testimonials curated by former Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers — drew a crowd of nearly 200 on its opening night on March 1. Critics have said the exhibit portrays only the extremes of military life — such as a picture of an IDF soldier smiling in front of several corpses — and offers little context.

“By hosting this exhibit, Harvard Hillel only promotes enmity and hatred towards Israel and gives legitimacy to these sentiments by stamping its approval on the biased, distorted collage of pictures,” said [ZOA's Mort Klein].

But Franklin M. Fisher — an MIT economics professor and chair of Americans for Peace Now, which advocates for peace in the Middle East and sponsors “Breaking the Silence” — said he disagreed with Klein’s view. Fisher said the exhibit does not constitute criticism of Israel, adding that “not all criticism of Israel is hostile.”

Ha’aretz peeks behind the curtain of a beauty salon where Haredi women come to indulge (modestly) in a guilty pleasure:

The Ye’elat Chen beauty salon, managed by Larrie, has been operating for 24 years in Jerusalem, not far from Mea Shearim and Kikar Shabbat. The side entrance on the main street is suited to women who want to steal in without being seen. Behind the simple door a surprise awaits. A pleasant and aesthetic space divided into cubicles. Several rooms have a secret exit to the salon’s backyard. They are meant for the wives of leading Hasidic rabbis, women from extremist Hasidic sects, along with several female MKs who have heard about Larrie. In other words, all those who have to maintain their privacy.

There is nobody more expert than Larrie when it comes to social sensitivities. “Sometimes a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law come to us, or a sister and her sister-in-law,” says Larrie. “Neither of them knows that the other is being treated at the same time. It’s not legitimate to talk about it. We understand that the name of the game is discretion.” …

There’s been plenty of Jewish news the past few days over at the New York Times (and that’s before you even get to the Israel coverage) … (more…)