By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
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INTERNATIONAL
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog observed the 8th night of Chanukah on Sunday at a solidarity ceremony with the Jews of Australia. Yaakov Hagoel, president of the World Zionist Organization, also attended along with philanthropist Frank Lowy; the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Jeremy Liebler; and present and past ambassadors of both countries.
The ceremony was carried by live video hookup to an estimated 15,000 mourners at Bondi Beach, site of the murder of 15 people attending a gathering at first night of Chanukah, according to the World Zionist Organization.
Herzog commented: “The rise in Jew hatred across the world is a global emergency. The battle against antisemitism, must be everyone’s battle against antisemitism. This is an urgent call to action to prevent the next catastrophe.”
Hagoel said: “The responsibility to protect Jewish communities everywhere is a moral test for the governments of the free world…” Liebler stated: “This ceremony reflects the unbreakable bond between Jewish communities around the world. When Jews in Australia were attacked on the first night of Hanukkah, Israel stood by their side—just as Australia has stood by Israel in its most difficult moments.”
Australian Jewish News quoted a comment made by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday, Dec. 17, three days after the massacre: “Australia is a country that Holocaust survivors came to as a place of safety, and it shatters my heart that today, the generations that have followed them now consider fleeing this place of safety for another. It breaks my heart.”
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NATIONAL
A grand jury probe, covering 119 pages, into the Epstein affair was blacked out by the Department of Justice before it was published online. Additionally, 16 documents from the Epstein files that had been posted on Friday, Dec. 19, on the DOJ website were subsequently deleted without explanation. The Associated Press reported that one missing document included drawings of nude women; another showed a younger Donald Trump and his wife Melania in a group photo with Jeffrey Epstein and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.
By late Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the photo of Trump that was seen in an open drawer with other photos was restored to the website after a check of those other photos did not find any pictures of the underage victims of sex trafficking, Fox News reported.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” program, Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) was asked by Kasie Hunt whether the DOJ’s actions were part of a cover-up. Raskin responded, “Well sure. I mean if you read the statute, the only things they’re allowed to be redacting are related to child sex abuse, physical abuse, ongoing investigations which they say there are none, and national security. So, how can you block out an entire document? It makes no sense.” Raskin is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Khanna said he and Massie are working up a resolution to find Bondi in contempt of Congress and to allow a congressional committee to go through the redactions to make sure they are justified.
STATE & LOCAL
The San Diego City Council’s special cost-of-living committee chaired by Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera ends its existence with a mixed record, according to Times of San Diego. On the one hand, it was successful persuading the full City Council to set the minimum pay for tourism workers at $25 an hour starting next July., At the same time, fees were increased for some city services, home trash pick-up, parking spots in Balboa Park and streets in highly trafficked areas. Elo-Rivera said such increases avoided or mitigated cuts in libraries, recreation centers, and park hours.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World