London court finds killings unlawful

london (jta) | A London court censured the Israeli army over the killing of a Briton in the Gaza Strip.

St. Pancras Coroner’s Court ruled Monday, April 10 that the 2003 shooting of Tom Hurndall in the Gaza town of Rafah was “unlawful.”

Last week, St. Pancras Coroner’s Court similarly rapped the Israeli army for the killing of British camerman James Miller, also in Rafah in 2003. Britain’s attorney general may request that Israeli authorities re-examine both the Hurndall and Miller killings

kiev (jta) | The editor in chief of a Kiev newspaper was severely beaten in what may have been retaliation for articles against anti-Semitism.

Vladimir Katzman of the Stolichnye Novosti newspaper was attacked Saturday, April 8, when two unidentified young men beat him with bats in the entrance of his apartment building in Kiev. Katzman suffered head injuries and a broken hand.

moscow (jta) | Jewish leaders here are criticizing a lawmaker’s motion aimed at investigating how one of Russia’s chief rabbis received Russian citizenship.

The development concerns Berel Lazar, the chief Lubavitch emissary in the former Soviet Union and head of the Chabad-led Federation of Jewish Communities, the region’s largest Jewish group.

Last week, Russia’s lower house of Parliament authorized a committee to file an inquiry with the authorities to clarify why Lazar, an Italian-born U.S. citizen, was made a Russian citizen without undergoing required naturalization procedures.