Donald H. Harrison

Ultra-Orthodox a bloc? Not so far as Ashkenazis and Sephardim are concerned

  By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–This morning I walked to the nearby shopping center of Ramat Eshkol. That is one of the neighborhoods created soon after 1967. It is technically over the “Green Line” marking the armistice of 1948, but no one in their right mind would consider handing it over to the Palestinians. Originally its […]

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Ira Sharkansky

Syria’s Asad a far better political chess player than Obama

By Matthew RJ BrodskyWASHINGTON, D.C. — With the Palestinian-Israeli peace process returning to a deep freeze, the Obama administration is eyeing an opportunity to make headway with Syria. The theory is nothing new: If the regime in Damascus can make peace with Israel, end its sponsorship of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, distance

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Travel and Food

Western media fail to verify atrocity stories from the Palestinians

(Editor’s Note: San Diego Jewish World columnist Ira Sharkansky also has written a column refuting the Palestinian-spawned atrocity story mentioned below) By Barry Rubin   HERZLIYA, Israel — What happens when the New York Times publishes, with no investigation, an atrocity story about Israel that is not only false but ridiculously so, based on the most obvious

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Barry Shaw, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Lautman: Education gap more worrysome for Israel than Iran threat

HAIFA, Israel (Press Release)–An impressive crowd of leading Israeli business executives attended the University of Haifa’s Business Leaders Forum annual gala event on Tuesday, Jan. 4, at which Israeli businessman and industrialist Dov Lautman, founder of Delta Galil Industries, received the University of Haifa’s Business Leaders Forum award. The award was given in recognition of

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Middle East

Reform rabbis call for new rules for filibusters in U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C., (Press Release) — Rabbi Steven Fox, Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis; and Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism on Tuesday released a letter urging Senator Harry Reid and Senator Mitch McConnell

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USA

Oriental hornet, like a plant, can convert sunlight into energy

TEL AVIV (Press Release) ― As every middle-school child knows, in the process of photosynthesis, plants take the sun’s energy and convert it to electrical energy. Now a Tel Aviv University team has demonstrated how a member of the animal kingdom, the Oriental hornet, takes the sun’s energy and converts it into electric power ― in

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Science, Medicine, & Education

Mount Soledad cross ruled unconstitutional by 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Mount Soledad Cross in La Jolla is unconstitutional because its location on public land sends the message of the government favoring one religion over others.   The opinion sends back to the District Court the question of how to remedy this constitutional

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USA

Another Israeli Air Force cadet class graduates from Ben-Gurion University

BEER-SHEVA, Israel (Press Release)– The 161st Flight School graduation ceremony took place last week in which the new Israeli Air Force pilots earned their ‘wings’ and a bachelor’s degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). The IAF Flight School is widely considered to be the most prestigious and challenging path in the Israel Defense

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Middle East

A bissel this, a bissel that–Jewish news and chatter in San Diego

(Column No. 2, January 4, 2011) By Donald H. Harrison MAYORAL SPECULATION — Gary Rotto suggests the possibility of an all-Jewish runoff election for mayor of San Diego, with Congressman Bob Filner, a Democrat, facing District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, a Republican, in the 2012 officially non-partisan race to succeed incumbent Mayor Jerry Sanders. Of the

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Donald H. Harrison, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County

University of Haifa duo wins a world’s debate championship

GABORONE, Botswana (Press Release)– The University of Haifa’s debating team, Meir Yarom and Michael Shapiro, are World Debating Champions for 2011 .  The team took first place in the English-as-a-second language category at the World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) currently being held in Botswana, where more than 300 teams from 150 universities representing about 50

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Travel and Food

U.S., Israel discuss restricting chemicals needed to make I.E.D.’s

  JERUSALEM (Press Release)—U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano on Tuesday met bilaterally with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israeli Finance Minister Dr. Yuval Steinitz, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich, to discuss the ongoing partnership between the United States and Israel, threats from terrorism that both countries face,

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Middle East

Obama condemns terror attacks in Egypt and Nigeria

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–President Barack Obama issued the following statement through the White House press office on Monday: “I strongly condemn the separate and outrageous terrorist bombing attacks in Egypt and Nigeria. The attack on a church in Alexandria, Egypt caused 21 reported deaths and dozens of injured from both the Christian and Muslim communities. 

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Travel and Food