By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
INTERNATIONAL
The Jerusalem Post reports that a committee of the City Council in Dublin, Ireland, has approved a resolution to drop the name Herzog from a park in the Rathgar neighborhood and to debate in the future how the park should be renamed. The issue goes to the full City Council on Monday, Dec. 1.
The park, across from a Jewish parochial school, was named for Chaim Herzog, who grew up in Ireland as the son of Rabbi Isaac Herzog, who served as Ireland’s first chief rabbi and who later was appointed chief (Ashkenazic) rabbi of Israel. Chaim Herzog eventually became Israel’s 6th President. His son, Isaac Herzog, is the current president of Israel, the 11th man to hold that office.
“Beyond being an Israeli leader, Chaim Herzog was also a hero of the campaign to liberate Europe from the Nazis and a figure who dedicated his life to establishing the values of freedom, tolerance, the pursuit of peace, and the fight against antisemitism,” President Herzog said in a statement.
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The Associated Press quoted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy comment on the resignation of his top aide Andriy Yermak on Friday amid an investigation into a corruption controversy: “To preserve our internal strength, there must be no reasons to be distracted at anything else except for defense of Ukraine. I don’t want anybody to be questioning Ukraine, and that’s why we have today’s decisions.”
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Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that earlier this month, Sarah Hurwitz, a former speechwriter for U.S. President Barack and Michelle Obama, told the Jewish Federations of North America that Holocaust education had failed as a vaccine to antisemitism. ‘(W)hen on Tiktok, all day long, they see powerful Israelis hurting weak, skinny Palestinians. It’s not surprising they think, ‘oh, I know the lesson of the Holocaust is you fight Israel. You fight the big, powerful people hurting the weak people.”
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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has carried a feature story about the late Jeffrey Epstein’s trove of 20,000 documents released by his estate. It reported that Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce in Trump’s second administration, toured Epstein’s large residence in 2005. Seeing a massage table in Epstein’s dining room, Lutnick asked how often he used it. “Every day,” Epstein replied. He then sidled up to Lutnick and added: “And the right kind of massage.” Exchanging glances with his wife Allison, the Lutnicks promptly excused themselves and left. Said Lutnick: I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”
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NATIONAL
Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) reports Congressman Brad Sherman (D-California) divides antisemitism into three different streams: old-fashioned Nazis, extreme Islamic antisemitism, and left-wing Jew-hatred.
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Rabbi Micah Buck, the Director of Education and Training for the Jewish LGBTQ+ organization Keshet, told The Forward that “We are living in a time in which LGBTQ+ identities, especially transgender and non-binary and gender expansive identities, have become inappropriately politicized. … For so many LGBTQ+ Jews, safety and belonging in our Jewish communities feels more urgent and needed than ever before.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World