By Donald H. Harrison in San Diego
INTERNATIONAL
Agence France Presse reported that several former and present aides in Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office are persons of interest in a pair of criminal investigations.
— Tzachi Braverman, Netanyahu’s chief of staff and designee to be Israel’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was told not to leave Israel for the next 30 days and have zero contact with the Prime Minister’s office for 15 days. Another aide, Eli Feldstein, said in a televised interview that Braverman had offered to shut down the IDF’s investigation into the so-called “Bild affair” in which documents leaked to the German newspaper Bild asserted that Israeli hostages in Gaza could only be freed by military means, rather than through negotiations.
–Feldstein himself is on trial for his role in the Bild affair and the so-called Qatargate, in which he and other associates of Netanyahu are accused of being hired by Qatar to lobby the government of Israel in Qatar’s behalf.
—Israel Einhorn, a former aide to Netanyahu now on an extended visit to Serbia, was the subject of an arrest warrant issued Monday accusing him of involvement in both the Bild affair and Qatargate.
Netanyahu, in a video address, said the allegations were designed by his political enemies to target him.
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday warned that Russia is planning another major attack on his country in the next few days. He said Ukrainian intelligence services reported that the purpose of the attack was to destroy power grids that provide heat for Ukrainians already suffering below-freezing temperatures.
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Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke by telephone Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump and described the discission as a good conversation. She said she reiterated her refusal to cooperate with any U.S. military action against the drug cartels on Mexican soil. In a parallel discussion with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente discussed stronger cooperation to address cartels in Mexico.
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Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday he was calling Australia’s Parliament back into session a week early to address stiffening of his nation’s laws against antisemitism. Four days ago, he announced that he will form a Royal Commission to investigate antisemitism.
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NATIONAL
Stephen Spencer Pittman confessed to the Jackson city fire department that he torched Beth Israel Congregation in Mississippi’s capital city early Saturday morning because of the Reform congregation’s “Jewish ties.”
The FBI said in an affidavit filed Monday in federal court that Pittman, 19, also referred to Beth Israel as the “synagogue of Satan.’ Pittman was charged with arson, specifically with “damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive.” The FBI additionally was exploring bringing “hate crime” charges against the teenager.
According to the affidavit, the alleged arsonist filled up a container with gasoline he purchased at a service station on his way to the synagogue Once there, he used an ax to beak a window, and spread the gasoline over the synagogue’s library, the Associated Press reported
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Fourteen Democratic U.S. Senators led by Alex Padilla of California and Ron Wyden of Oregon have filed a friends-of-the-court brief in the mail ballot case of Watson vs. Republican National Committee. That dispute involves the Republican party trying to invalidate a Mississippi law stating that so long as a mail-in ballot is postmarked on Election Day or before, it may be counted for up to five days beyond the election. Among the 14 senators are four who are Jewish: Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut; Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Adam Schiff of California and Wyden.
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David Weisberg, CEO of the Federation for Jewish Philanthropy of Upper Fairfield County [Connecticut] has been appointed Executive Director of World Jewish Relief-USA. He said, “For more than 90 years, World Jewish Relief has shown what it means to live Jewish values in action – helping people in crisis, regardless of who they are or where they live. I am deeply aligned with that vision and enormously enthusiastic about introducing World Jewish Relief’s work to the US Jewish community and beyond.”
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Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-California) has been named by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries as parliamentarian of the Steering and Policy Committee. The San Diego representative, in this role, will interpret and apply Democratic Caucus rules and help create, shape, and push caucus goals and strategy.
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Former Boston Red Sox All-Star infielder Alex Bregman has signed a $175 million, five-year contract with the Chicago Cubs, which features a Bregman veto on any team the Cubs may in the future decide to trade him to.
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STATE & LOCAL
California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), running to succeed Nancy Pelosi in Congress, has issued a statement: “For years, I’ve condemned Netanyahu and his extremist government and the devastation they’ve inflicted on Gaza. “It’s why I’ve been clear I won’t support U.S. funding for the destruction of Palestinian communities. I’ve stopped short of calling it ‘genocide,’ but I can’t anymore.” In a video, he elaborated: “As a Jew, I am deeply aware that the word ‘genocide’ was created in the wake of the Holocaust which was the industrial extermination of 6 million Jews. For many Jews, associating the word genocide with the Jewish state of Israel is deeply painful and frankly traumatic. But despite that pain and that trauma, we all have eyes, and we see the absolute devastation and catastrophic death toll in Gaza inflicted by the Israeli government. And we all have ears, and we hear the genocidal statements by certain senior members of the Israeli government. And to me, the Israeli government has tried to destroy Gaza and to push Palestinians out, and that qualifies as genocide.”
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Terra Lawson-Remer, chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, and District Attorney Summer Stephan have their eyes on the same pot of money, according to an article in Monday’s edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune. The object of their affection is a multi-million dollar cache of cash won by attorneys in the DA’s office in consumer protection lawsuits. DA Stephan says the collection of fines should be used to expand the consumer protection office in her department. No, says Lawson-Remer, it should be used to build a separate consumer protection department under the county counsel. San Diego Union Tribune
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Primary elections for four even-numbered San Diego City Council seats take place June 2 with one Jewish member of the Council retiring because of term limits. Dr. Jennifer Campbell will retire from the District 2 council seat in the month following the Nov. 3 general election. Vying to be her successor are Democrats Josh Coyne, Campbell’s former field representative in Point Loma, the Midway District, and Mission Bay Park who later joined the staff of the Downtown San Diego Partnership; Deputy City Attorney Nicole Crosby and Mandy Havlik, a neighborhood leader who battled against increasing height limits in the District 2’s Midway District. Former Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, a Republican, has crossed the bay to live in Point Loma, and is weighing a decision on whether to jump into the race. Candidate filing closes March 5.
Other candidates in District 2 so far are Sandra Kay, Linda Lukacs, Jacob Mitchell, Nicole Quillin, Michael Rickey, and Dan Smiechowski. Campbell defeated Lukacs in a runoff for the seat in 2022. Lukacs reportedly doesn’t plan to fundraise this election cycle.
Venus Molina, Campbell’s chief of staff, is one of three experienced candidates in the race to succeed termed-out District 8 Councilwoman Vivian Moreno. Another is Moreno’s own chief of staff, Gerardo Ramirez. The two San Diego City Hall staffers face a challenge from Antonio Martinez, a member of the San Ysidro School Board who made unsuccessful runoff bids against Moreno in 2018 and 2022. Other candidates so far are Francisco Mayoral Munoz, Miguel Ochoa, and Kenia Peraza, also a San Ysidro School Board member.
Incumbents Henry L. Foster III in District 4 and Council President pro tem Kent Lee in District 6 are running for reelection.
Foster has drawn opposition from Martha Abraham, Mykel Gadson, and Tylisa Suseberry, who ran against Foster in the special election to succeed (now County Supervisor) Monica Montgomery Steppe.
Lee’s opponents so far are Isaiah Cruz, Jane Glasson, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor against Todd Gloria in 2024; and Mark Powell, a former trustee of the San Diego County Board of Education.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World