Other items in this column include:
* Judge issues injunction against states and municipalities refusing refugees
* Political bytes
* Coming our way
* Mazel tov! Mazel tov!
* Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO – Micha “Mitch” Danzig, an attorney who currently serves as advisory board president of the San Diego chapter of StandWithUs, is hoping to return to Israel in October – as one of 152 delegates allocated to the United States at the World Zionist Congress.
A former “Lone Soldier” who went to Israel to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and father of a current Lone Soldier, Danzig is tenth on the Herut Zionists list of nominees for delegate positions. He says if enough members of the Herut Zionists slate are elected, he hopes to push at the Jerusalem meeting for “proper funding for Zionist education in the Diaspora, aid for Lone Soldiers, and fostering better engaging of Jewish young people by youth movements.
“Consistent with my personal objectives and concerns, high up on Herut’s agenda is expanding the Zionist Movement’s commitment to supporting college students as they counter anti-Israel and anti-Semitic extremism,” Danzig said.
“The same way Zionists throughout the world mobilized to struggle for Soviet Jewry we must now mobilize to stand against those who foment Jew-hatred and the corresponding and inter-connected hatred of Israel.”
Herut takes its name from the right-wing political party that was created by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, which in English was known as the “Revisionist party.” Herut later was merged into the Likud coalition. StandWithUs is a Los Angeles-based organization that combats anti-Israel propaganda on college and high school campuses.
Danzig said that his son Jeremy had served as an intern at the World Herut headquarters before he joined the IDF and authored many of the educational materials on Herut’s website. “I was approached by Herut North America’s nominating committee and accepted the nomination.”
The Herut Zionist slate is one of 14 slates that seeks to elect delegates to the 38th World Zionist Congress which will allocate up to $1 billion in funds for such groups as the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Jewish National Fund. At least three other San Diegans have been nominated on other slates. They include Rabbi Jeremy Gimbel on the Vote Reform slate, representing the Reform and Reconstructionist movements; Rabbi Ralph Dalin on the Mercaz USA slate, representing the Conservative movement, and Aaron Raimi on the Vision: Empowering the Next Generation slate.
Another slate is the Kol Yisrael state, with which the StandWithUs organization is formally affiliated. Danzig says he believes the goals of his Herut Zionist slate and that of Kol Yisrael are complimentary. On its website, Kol Yisrael calls for funding of summer camps to create Israel programs, presentation of digital libraries on Israel to bar/bat mitzvah students, creating direct 1:1 friendships between Israelis and Americans; increased support for Birthright programs and StandWithUs, merging the World Jewish Congress and the World Zionist Congress, campaigning for the Olympics to be held in Jerusalem in 2048, and creating better representation in the American Zionist Movement from people from Persian, Israeli, Bukharan, Latino, and Ethiopian communities.
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Judge issues injunction against states and municipalities refusing refugees
While California and San Diego have been welcoming asylum-seekers and other immigrants, other states and cities have put up “Not Welcome” signs for them, pursuant to an executive order signed by President Trump allowing them to do so. On Wednesday, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Peter Jo Messitte in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction blocking that executive order at the request of HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.
Mark J. Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS (which began its existence as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), commented: “This ruling shows the country how this administration was wrong to attempt a state-by-state refugee ban. Jude Messitte found it likely that the executive order is unlawful, and we are grateful for the clarity of this injunction. An overwhelming majority of governors and municipalities have already expressed their desire to continue welcoming refugees. To those few who have not, we say not only is it unkind and un-American to ban refugees from your states and towns, but it is unlawful. HIAS will continue our work resettling refugees who have come to our shores looking to restart their lives in safety.”
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Political bytes
*Retiring Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) has been named honorary chair of the Women’s Museum of California’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the League of Women Voters, which will occur at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 29 at the museum at 2730 Historic Decatur Road in Liberty Station. In addition to Davis, invited guests or the celebration include U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California), Senate President pro tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), and San Diego City Councilmembers Barbara Bry and Jennifer Campbell. Davis was a member of the League of Women Voters who went on to serve on the San Diego Unified School Board, then the state Assembly, and finally in the U.S. Congress. At the same celebration, the museum will also mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Women’s Studies at San Diego State University and the 25th anniversary of the 4th World Conference on Women.
*San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman says he has a poll that shows Assemblyman Todd Gloria in the lead in the San Diego Mayor’s race with 30 percent of the voters and with him and City Councilwoman Barbara Bry tied for second with 12 percent each. However, he said, when voters are told more about his and Bry’s positions, he jumps to 27 percent, while Bry advances only to 15 percent. Bry dismissed the poll as designed to promote Sherman’s candidacy. Gloria and Bry are Democrats and Sherman is a Republican. However, party affiliations are not listed on the non-partisan ballot.
*County Supervisor Greg Cox, who is finishing his final term, will do it as chairman of the Board of Supervisors, succeeding Dianne Jacob in that ceremonial position.
* Republican candidate Carl DeMaio, who is running in the open 50th Congressional District, has denounced Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats on the occasion of their transmitting to the U.S. Senate articles of impeachment of President Trump. Said DeMaio:, a former San Diego City Councilman and radio host: “ Instead of focusing on solving important problems that actually matter to the American people, Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are wasting all their time and energy on a pointless political stunt. Nancy Pelosi knows this absurd impeachment is going to go absolutely nowhere, but she’s content to turning the People’s House into an arm of the Democrats’ campaign to win back the White House. If anyone is abusing power, it is Speaker Pelosi and the House Democrats — and I urge the American People to hold them accountable and return Congress’ focus to the issues that matter to working families by giving the majority back to House Republicans in this next election.”
*Escondido City Councilwoman Olga Diaz, a candidate in the 3rd county supervisorial district, plans to participate with U.S. Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego and Orange Counties) and the San Diego Veterans Democratic Club in the North County Women’s on Saturday, January 18.
Coming our way
* Elise Alloul, campus strategy coordinator for StandWithUs, will tell of her experiences at York University in Toronto, Canada, and outline plans to “support and empower” pro-Israel students on colleges throughout North America, at a lunch and learn session from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 21, at the Jewish Federation of San Diego County, 4950 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego. Lunch cost $18. Required RSVPs may be made via this website.
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Mazal tov! Mazal tov!
Young Israel of San Diego is celebrating the birth of a son to Liz and Lawrence Mudgett.
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Recommended reading
* Eric Rosenman of the Jewish Policy Center has an article in the Algemeiner urging Jewish groups to drop the term “anti-Semitism” in favor of the more precise “Jew-hatred.”
* Stewart Ain of New York Jewish Week reports on student Jonathan Karten’s lawsuit complaining about anti-Semitism at Columbia University.
Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union, provided a text of his testimony to Congress on the impact of anti-Semitism in New York and New Jersey.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com