January 2011

Principal of Child Foundation pleads guilty to violating U.S. embargo of Iran

  PORTLAND, Oregon (Press Release)– A charity headquartered in Portland and its founder and former CEO entered pleas of guilty to federal conspiracy charges today in District Court. Mehrdad Yasrebi, 53, of Clackamas, founded the tax-exempt charity Child Foundation in 1994 and served as its Chief Executive Officer until his resignation last year. The Information […]

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Travel and Food

A bissel this, a bissel that—San Diego Jewish news and chatter

(Column 7, January 10, 2011) By Donald H.Harrison Tributes to Debbie Friedman, z”l San Diego’s Agency for Jewish Education, commenting on the death of Jewish composer Debbie Friedman on Sunday, commented that “Debbie was a great friend of the AJE, having performed many concerts during the years of Jewish Education Week, and at other numerous

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Donald H. Harrison

‘The Invisible Bridge’ tells of those Jews had to cross in Europe

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2010. 603 pages By David Strom SAN DIEGO–All of us have faced and crossed some invisible bridges in our lives. Did you notice the bridge you crossed from childhood into adulthood? Did you feel it? We often feel the “rocky and sometimes stormy bridge”

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Travel and Food

ZOA applauds formation of Knesset investigative committee

NEW YORK (Press Release)–The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) supports the Israeli government’s formation of a Knesset committee to investigate the funding of Israeli groups that condemn the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and assist foreign campaigns seeking to delegitimize and demonize Israel. The parliamentary committee will be charged with determining if the groups in question

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Middle East

Society of Professional Journalists’ executive committee suggests ‘retiring’ Helen Thomas Award

NEW YORK (Press Release)– The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuyesday welcomed the recommendation of the Executive Committee of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) to “retire” the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement.  The recommendation, approved in a vote Saturday at a meeting in Nashville, Tenn., will be sent to the full board of directors within the

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USA

What’s happening at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival?

  SAN DIEGO (Press Release)– The 21st Anniversary San Diego Jewish Film Festival, sponsored by the Leichtag Family Foundation, and presented by the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center,  Jacobs Family Campus, will run February 10-20, 2011.    The San Diego Jewish Film Festival showcases more than 45

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Travel and Food

Giffords’ Jewish religion may have caused her to be targeted for assassination

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WJC)–The US Department of Homeland Security has listed Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords’ Jewish faith as being a possible factor in her shooting. An department memo says that her assailant, Jared Lee Loughner, mentioned American Renaissance, an extremist anti-immigrant group, in some of his own postings. “The group’s ideology is anti-government, anti-immigration, anti-ZOG (Zionist Occupational

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USA

J Street condemns demolition of Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement in response to the demolition of the Shepherd’s Hotel in East Jerusalem, aimed at clearing land for the construction of new Jewish housing in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood: “The demolition of the Shepherd’s Hotel in East Jerusalem is a deeply provocative action,

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Middle East

Israeli professor has gloomy forecast for current proposals to increase efficiency of solar technology

TEL AVIV (Press Release) ― In recent years, developers have been investigating light-harvesting thin film solar panels made from nanotechnology –– and promoting efficiency metrics to make the technology marketable. Now a Tel Aviv University researcher is providing new evidence to challenge recent “charge” measurements for increasing solar panel efficiency. Offering a less expensive, smaller solution than

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Science, Medicine, & Education

Israel to spend $100 million over three years for Birthright/Taglit

JERUSALEM (Press Release)– Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Government of Israel approved $100 million in funding for Taglit-Birthright Israel over the next three years, speaking Thursday (Jan. 6) to three thousand young adults at the winter Mega Event in Jerusalem. The goal of the funding increase is to enable Taglit-Birthright Israel to bring

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Middle East

U.N. envoy puts onus on Israel, not Hamas, in rocket attacks from Gaza

By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –A new tactic in the war against Israel is “delegitimization,” the effort to say that Israel is different from, and less than, other countries. It is, for example, the only member of the United Nations that has to insist upon its “right to exist.” And what other countries do as

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Middle East