By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
INTERNATIONAL
Efrat Sopher, head of the World Jewish Congress’s International Task Force on Iran and Islamic Extremism, said Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi may have the experience and the experience of the team around him, as well as widespread support in Iran, to lead the country which overthrew his father, the Shah, in 1979.
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Tel Aviv University has inaugurated an International MA degree in Jewish Studies. Professor Scott Ury, academic director of the program, says, “Through a wide range of courses on various aspects of Jewish studies, TAU’s MA program in Jewish Studies offers students the opportunity to study with leading scholars from TAU and Goethe University Frankfurt alongside a dynamic cohort of international students from Israel, Germany, and a number of other countries.”
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NATIONAL
The American Jewish Committee has written to the executive committee of the Modern Language Association, urging its members to veto a resolution adopted Jan. 11 by the MLA’s Delegate Assembly. That resolution said that allegations of antisemitism have been used to “silence protests against the U.S.-sponsored Israeli genocide in Gaza.” Sara Coodin, AJC’s Director of Academic Affairs, called for the “veto of this ill-founded resolution and [to] make it clear to your members that the MLA will not be led into politically divisive activism.”
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Democratic Senators Michael Bennet of Colorado and Ron Wyden of Oregon are among a dozen Senators protesting the National Park Service’s acquiescence to President Trump’s self-aggrandizing replacement of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and Juneteenth as fee-free days with Trump’s own birthday. Likewise, they protested the design of passes to the parks, which instead of beautiful park scenes, now bear Trump’s likeness.
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STATE & LOCAL
StandWithUs has called on state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) to resign from his position as the co-chair of California’s Jewish Legislative Caucus after he accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
“Wiener’s statement does not represent California’s Jewish community, or the truth. He should have stepped down as LJC co-chair long before taking such positions, and we urge him to resign immediately,” the StandWithUs statement said.
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Real estate investor Alon Abady transferred all his equity in a 16-story building in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood in Los Angeles to Chabad of California. Rabbi Chaim Cunin, CEO of Chabad of California, said the 300,000 square foot property will henceforth be known as the Chad Campus for Jewish Life and will be among the largest Jewish centers in the world, according to eJewishPhilanthropy.
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The man who broke into a Hillel building adjacent to San Diego State University last week “continues to be in custody,” Karen Parry, CEO of Hillel of San Diego, stated in the organization’s newsletter. “Since Oct. 8th, 2003, Hillel of San Diego has retained armed guards at both our properties. It is because of this contract that we had a security team at the location within minutes and law enforcement there rapidly … Real talk — it costs $250,000 annually to fund our security. Between adding hours to our security guard contract and committing $15,000 to an unplanned security system upgrade, we are taking on significant unbudgeted costs. We’re moving forward with both, because, when it comes to keeping our students safe, it is simply the right thing to do…. Unfortunately, this is our reality. There is a ‘Jewish tax’ we must bear in order to simply exist, and it is our community’s obligation to pay it forward for our young people. Thank you for helping keep students safe so that they don’t have to live in fear — you give them the opportunity to live in strength, pride, and joy.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World