British lawmakers want to hear Vanunu

london (jta) | More than 70 British legislators have written to Mordechai Vanunu inviting him to address Parliament in London.

The lawmakers, including members of all three of Britain’s main parties, said they were issuing the invitation to draw attention to the restrictions Israel has placed on the man who revealed the details of its nuclear program.

Vanunu, who was freed from an Israeli prison in April, is not allowed to leave Israel, use a mobile phone or the Internet, or to speak to foreigners.

The legislators said the restrictions “seem to reflect a desire for vengeance rather than genuine concerns about security.”

Cities honor Herzl’s vision

vilnius (jta) | The Vilnius City Council is naming a street or square after Theodor Herzl. A resolution on the matter proposed this week was unanimously adopted by the council.

Herzl reported on the trial of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus from Paris, an event that led him to believe that the only solution for the Jewish people was the creation of a Jewish state. Herzl’s utopian vision of a future Jewish state, “Altneuland,” was written in a Paris hotel. 

Meanwhile, Budapest this week celebrated the 100th anniversary of the death of Herzl. The commemoration took place at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Herzl was born in Budapest on May 2, 1860, across the street from the city’s Great Synagogue.

Moscow eatery touts its kashrut

moscow (jta) | A new restaurant is building its advertising campaign around its adherence to Jewish dietary laws. The idea behind the King David restaurant campaign is to demonstrate that kosher food can be as tasty as non-kosher food and that it is healthy, a manager at the restaurant said.

The King David, which opened this week, is the most recent addition to a family of restaurants in a historical neighborhood that has become known for posh restaurants. There are now at least four kosher restaurants in the Russian capital.

Wiesenthal Center calls for probe

vilnius (jta) | The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling for Lithuania to probe evidence about the participation of the country’s basketball players in a wartime massacre of Jews.

The center protested after the Lithuanian prosecutor dismissed evidence last week that the Perkunas team killed Jews as a prize for defeating a German team in a July 1941 exhibition game.