By Steve Kramer GOLAN HEIGHTS, Israel — With four friends, over the Shavuot holiday we got away to the Golan Heights for a long weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect: vivid blue skies, fluffy clouds, temperature just about 80 degrees F, and the clearest air I’ve ever seen in that area. On the way up […]
Touring the Golan and the Galilee Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — It is a lot to process. Omar Mateen, the American-born son of Afghan parents, murdered 50 people and wounded scores of others in a gay nightclub Sunday. The first surprise is that it was not a surprise, especially to the FBI. Mateen was the subject of investigations in 2013 and
Orlando: An attack on all Americans Read More »
International, USATerrorism on American soil is not new. Nor are crimes of hate. Since at least the 19th Century, politically motivated citizens have used violence to kill for a purpose. What makes the horrible massacre in Orlando stand out is its connection to a more recent phenomenon: the murder of large numbers by a single attacker.
Jeremi Suri: Targeting Muslims diverts attention and creates more terrorists Read More »
International, USAUNITED NATIONS, New York (WJC) — The World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Tuesday welcomed the election of Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon to the chair the United Nations Sixth Committee, which deals with legal issues and terrorism among other things. It was the first time Israel was elected for the presidency of a permanent UN
For first time, Israeli will head U.N. committee Read More »
International, Middle East
By Chris and Ken Stone SAN DIEGO — Amid repeated cheers, Todd Gloria urged hundreds of fellow gays and lesbians Monday night to speak up on gun laws in the wake of the Orlando shooting, blasting the FBI for inaction. “This is not about a religion,” the San Diego councilman told a packed Hillcrest auditorium.
Gloria leads San Diego in Orlando mourning Read More »
Ken Stone, San Diego County, USAIsraeli lawmakers seek to institute limited public transportation on Shabbat (JNS.org) Members of Knesset Yael German, Karin Elharrar, and Yoel Razvozov (all from the Yesh Atid party) intend to put forth a bill that would allow local authorities to operate public transportation on Saturday in Israel. The bill would permit minibuses to run within each
Middle East Roundup: June 14, 2016 Read More »
Middle EastBy Hillary Clinton On Sunday, Americans woke up to a nightmare: Another act of terrorism in a place no one expected it, a man with a gun in his hands and hate in his heart, apparently consumed by rage against LGBT Americans — and, by extension, against the openness and diversity that define our way
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — We’ve known for some time that American society looks as much like a Third World country as a First. Sure, it has a GDP that is still larger than China’s, and it is viewed, especially by Americans, as a world leader in just about everything good. However, its social gap
Terrorism: None so blind as those who won’t see Read More »
USABy Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — Fiddler on the Roof was one of the nominees, though not the winner, of the Best Revival of a Musical category at this year’s Tony Awards ceremony. When Fiddler on the Roof was first being developed, the opening song, “Tradition,” was the last to be written. What song
Jewish trivia quiz: ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Read More »
Mark D. Zimmerman, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & SatireWASHINGTON—Even the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history is not likely to convince Congress to change the nation’s gun laws. Democrats in the Senate said Monday that they would renew efforts to ban gun sales to terrorism suspects in the aftermath of the Orlando attack. But the bill is likely to find the same fate
Congress remains unlikely to change US gun laws after Orlando shooting Read More »
USAORLANDO, Fla. — The gunman who attacked a Florida gay nightclub had attended the club before the attack and had used a gay dating and chat app, witnesses said. Kevin West, a regular at Pulse nightclub, said Omar Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and
Orlando gunman had used gay dating app, visited nightclub, witnesses say Read More »
USAPoliticians called for national unity Monday, a day after 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub by an attacker in Orlando, Florida, the worst mass shooting in the country’s history. “Today is not a day for politics,” presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton declared in a speech in Cleveland Monday afternoon. “This is a
Politics Don’t Stop After Orlando Read More »
USAWASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from American Samoans who said they should be considered U.S. citizens at birth. The court’s action leaves in place a law adopted in 1900 that says persons born in American Samoa will be considered “nationals” who owe allegiance to the United States, but not citizens
Supreme Court rejects citizenship for American Samoans Read More »
International, USAThe four men beat Daniel Zamudio, a 24-year-old gay man, with bottles and rocks in a Santiago, Chile, park. They reportedly tortured him by burning him with cigarettes, cut off part of his ear and used broken glass to carve swastikas into his body. Zamudio died from his injuries 25 days after the March 2012
The Worldwide War Against LGBT Read More »
International, USA