Syrian Army soldiers advancing in an area on the eastern outskirts of Douma, April 8, 2018. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

Towson crime, Syrian attack, Holocaust Remembrance Day and more

Two men found dead in Towson apartment

Early April 9, tenants of the 20 Lambourne apartment complex in Towson knew that police cars had arrived outside in numbers, but no one appeared to know why, according to ABC 2 News. Police say a maintenance worker called 911 after entering a fifth-floor apartment and making a gruesome discovery. “We have identified there are two adult males inside suffering trauma to their bodies,” said Cpl. Shawn Vinson of the Baltimore County Police Department. “Right now, we’re waiting for the medical examiner to arrive to examine the bodies and also to conduct an autopsy.” Early on in the investigation, police hadn’t determined who rented the apartment, whose name was on the lease, and whether the victims even lived in the building.  No one reported hearing gunshots or people arguing in the unit. Police say the maintenance worker who discovered the bodies had entered that unit to perform his regular duties.  If you have any information, which could help in this case, you’re asked to call the Baltimore County Police Department.

Read more: Two men found dead inside Towson apartment

Israel accused of attack on Syrian military base that killed 14

Russia accused Israel of striking an air base in central Syria that killed 14, and two unnamed U.S. officials reportedly confirmed that it was Israel that carried out the attack. Iranian nationals were among those killed in the early April 9 missile strikes, according to reports. The strikes came less than two days after a chemical weapons attack in the rebel-held Syrian town of Douma, for which both the United States and France threatened to retaliate. At least 40 people have died in the chemical weapons attack. NBC on April 9 quoted the U.S. officials as saying that Israel had carried out the attack, and that Washington had been notified in advance. Syria first blamed the United States for the attack on the air base, which the U.S. denied. After Russia accused Israel, Syrian state media quoted the military saying that it was Israeli F-15 war planes that had carried out the strikes. “The Israeli aggression on the T4 airport was carried out with F-15 planes that fired several missiles from above Lebanese land,” state news agency SANA said. The Tiyas, or T4, military air base reportedly has been in use most recently by Iran-backed forces. Israel, as is its standing policy, has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attack. Moscow reportedly has called on Israel to clarify its involvement.—JTA

Virginia Thomas
Virginia Thomas, left, with Jeff Myers. (Facebook)

Clarence Thomas’ wife says Jews ‘gave up their firearms to Hitler’

The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas shared a Facebook post blaming the Holocaust in part on gun control and attacking survivors of the high school shooting in Parkland, Fla. The post was one of several identified by The Hill on April 9 as posted by Virginia Thomas. They registered strong disagreement with gun control while criticizing the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting in February that killed 17 students and faculty members. “To all the kids that walked out of school to protest guns,” said the post, which featured a photograph of a pile of shoes of Holocaust victims. “These are the shoes of Jews that gave up their firearms to Hitler. They were led into gas chambers, murdered and buried in mass graves. Pick up a history book and you’ll realize what happens when u give up freedoms and why we have them.” The notion that Jews may have prevented the Holocaust had they been armed, popular in some pro-gun circles, has been debunked by historians, who have noted how outnumbered Jews were in countries in which they were slaughtered. —JTA

Funding for Holocaust education

A bipartisan slate of House members is set to introduce a bill that would grant money to Holocaust education in schools. The Never Again Education Act would establish the Holocaust Education Assistance Program Fund in the U.S. Treasury. A 12-member board would disburse the money to schools. A draft of the bill, which is to be introduced April 10 in the U.S. House of Representatives, does not designate how much money should go to the fund. However, it says the fund may accept private donations. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., is the lead sponsor of the measure. Maloney will launch the bill at the Olga Lengyel Institute for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights in New York City, accompanied by representatives of Hadassah, B’nai B’rith International and the Association of Holocaust Organizations.  Also sponsoring the bill are Reps. Peter Roskam, R-Ill.; Ted Deutch, D-Fla.; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.; Kay Granger, R-Texas; Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.; and Dan Donovan, R-N.Y. Lowey and Granger are top House appropriators, which suggests the bill likely will pass and receive funding.–JTA

Holocaust Remembrance Day
Holocaust Remembrance Day (File photo)

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Yom HaShoah begins at sundown on April 11. The annual observance commemorates the lives and heroism of all the people who died in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945. Conservative estimates say that by the year 2020, the number of Jewish survivors in the United States will sit at roughly 67,000. Documentarian Rich Polt helps families preserve their legacies and encourages anyone who knows a survivor to invite them to have a conversation.

 

Here are 10 questions to help frame your discussion:

  1. What was your family life like before the Holocaust?
  2. How did life change when the Nazis came to power (or invaded your country)?
  3. Did your family try to emigrate in the 1930s? (If so, tell the story. If not, why?)
  4. How did you cope emotionally with your day-to-day Holocaust experiences (in the ghetto, camp or other place you lived)?
  5. How did the Holocaust influence your faith?
  6. Did you encounter Nazis, Germans or other people who tried to help you?
  7. Were you with your family throughout the Holocaust or were you separated?
  8. How did you start your life again after the Holocaust?
  9. Did your Holocaust experience change your view of humanity? (If so, how? If not, why?)
  10. Why is it important to record the stories and learn the lessons of the Holocaust?

Read more: How to Talk to Holocaust Survivors About Their Lives

Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 14, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Mark Zuckerberg on Capitol Hill

Zuckerberg will spend two days answering lawmakers’ questions about Facebook, the powerful social network he helped create more than a decade ago, and whether the company is doing enough to protect users’ privacy.

It’s the first time Zuckerberg will personally sit for questions from Congress, instead of sending a deputy. His testimony marks a pivotal moment for Facebook and the tech industry. According to CNN Tech, he’ll appear at a joint hearing conducted by the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees on April 10, starting at 2:15 p.m. The Facebook CEO will then testify in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, beginning at 10 a.m. The hearings were scheduled to address Facebook’s use and protection of user data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. On April 9, Facebook began rolling out a “see how you’re affected” tool at the top of people’s News Feeds. It will let users know if they’re among the tens of millions who had their data improperly accessed by Cambridge Analytica. The roll out is happening incrementally, so not everyone who was affected will know immediately. Both hearings will air on C-SPAN.

Read more: Mark Zuckerberg testimony: Everything to know before you watch

Israeli scientist who is growing meat in a lab medium gets rare honor

The Israeli biomedical engineer who created cultured meat technology was inducted as a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Yaakov Nahmias of Hebrew University was honored in a ceremony April 8 in Washington, D.C. The top 2 percent of biomedical engineers are accepted to the institute. Nahmias, director of the university’s Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering, is the fourth Israeli to be so honored. He invented Future Meat, the process for growing meat in a cultured medium that could reduce the need for slaughterhouses and which already has become a topic of conversation in the world of kashrut. Nahmias, 43, also founded Tissue Dynamics, which has created a platform that mimics human biology to provide toxicity and efficacy screening services. The technology will enable thousands of laboratories to study fatty liver disease, viral hepatitis, drug toxicity and liver cancer at a much lower cost. —JTA

Go to facebook.com/JMORELiving every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. to watch Need to Know with Editor-in-Chief Alan Feiler. Join the discussion on the week’s news and current events.

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