By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
INTERNATIONAL
American negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland, said they had narrowed a 28-point peace plan to 19 points but didn’t give any information about what provisions had been dropped or which remained.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Sweden on Monday to attend an international conference, seemed more pessimistic. “Right now, we are at a critical moment, and we are working closely with the United States, with European partners, and many others, to define steps that can end Russia’s war against us, against Ukraine, and bring real security,” he said.
“Putin wants legal recognition for what he has stolen, to break the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty. And that’s the main problem. … Of course, we all continue working with partners, especially the United States, and look for compromises that strengthen but not weaken us. And we will continue explaining how dangerous it is to pretend that aggression is something that one can simply overlook and move on …
“And it is crucial to support the principles on which Europe stands, that borders cannot be changed by force, that war criminals must not escape justice, and that the aggressor must pay fully for the war he started.”
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented after his nation’s Air Force killed Hezbollah’s chief of staff Haytham Tabatabai in a bombing raid over suburban Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday: “Tabatabai is a mass murderer. His hands are soaked in the blood of many Israelis and Americans, and it is not for nothing that the U.S. put a bounty of five million dollars on his head.”
Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “We will continue to act forcefully to prevent any threats to the residents of the north and the state of Israel.” Lebanon’s health ministry said the bombing killed 5 people and wounded 25 others. The bombing was part of Israel’s campaign to prevent Hezbollah’s resurgence.
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Moshe Phillips, national chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel, opposes the sale of American F-35s to Saudi Arabia, pointing out in a column written for Jewish News Syndicate, “F-35 stealth fighter jets can reach Israel in mere minutes from Saudi Arabia—a country that still has no formal relations with Israel and a royal government that continues to boycott Israeli products.”
NATIONAL
U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he will soon designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, Jewish Insider reports.
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Mil Dranoff, senior development director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, has announced the JDCA PAC has endorsed congressional challengers Janelle Stelson and Christina Bohannan, running respectively in Pennsylvania’s 10th District and in Iowa’s 1st District; Aaron Ford in Nevada’s governor’s race, and Kris Mayes, running for reelection as Arizona’s attorney general.
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STATE AND LOCAL
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) was added earlier this month to the list of public officials endorsing Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat, for the congressional seat now held by Republican Darrell Issa. Her picture joins those of 14 other members of Congress on the endorsement page on Campa-Najjar’s website.
Jacobs and Campa-Najjar live together in a house in San Diego, and now they want to work together in the House in Washington D.C.
Campa-Najjar’s leading competitor on the Democratic side is San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert, whose campaign manager is Dan Rottenstreich.
A good overview of the race in California’s 48th Congressional District was prepared by CalMatters and republished by Times of San Diego.
The same reapportionment that makes the Republican 48th Congressional District competitive for Democrats siphons some traditionally Democratic precincts from Jacobs’ 51st Congressional District, “making my reelection race slightly more competitive,” Jacobs wrote to constituents in a campaign mailer. “So I’ll be coming to you for support at key moments in my race, when it matters most.”
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Donald H. Harrison is the publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World