By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It is hard to imagine a better show than two heads of state, both fluent, and capable of pushing the buttons that bring forth waves of applause. Barack Obama and Benyamin Netanyahu know how to do it. The immediate commentary in Israel was either partisan or skeptical. Party colleagues […]
Mixed reviews for ‘Mr. Netanyahu Goes to Washington’ Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–President Barack Obama spoke on Monday to the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The White House later released the text of his speech as delivered: THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Good morning. Thank you. Thank you so much. Please, have a seat. Thank you. What a remarkable, remarkable
Obama reassures AIPAC on U.S. support for Israel Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — We’re in the midst of a competitive talkathon. Barack has spoken twice, once to clarify things after Bibi spoke out against his first speech. Bibi has spoken to AIPAC and his bigger one will be to Congress. What came through Israel Radio’s coverage of the AIPAC speech was less intense
Israel, U.S., now negotiating in public Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO — On the way out of the Old Globe Theatre during the second intermission of Tracy Letts’s 3 1/2 hour family drama, August: Osage County, the woman sitting next to me remarked that the Weston family of Letts’s drama made her family look good! My guess is, many in the
‘August: Osage County’ an emotional odyssey of Grand Canyon proportions Read More »
Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–At an outdoor party sponsored by the House of Israel on Sunday afternoon, many Americans in the audience learned that “The Star Spangled Banner” actually has more than one stanza. Kol HaKavod, the San Diego Jewish Men’s choir, dressed in blue jeans, dress white shirts and white kippot, sang both the
House of Israel puts on a show in Balboa Park Read More »
San Diego County
By Dov Hartuv KIBBUTZ NAHAL OZ, Israel –Knowing our past makes our future significant I think most of us missed out on learning about our roots and family history when we never grasped the chance of speaking to our grandparents or great grandparents when we had the opportunity. It seems that we all
Keeping the kibbutz archives Read More »
Travel and Food
Editor’s Note: This story focusing on Guatemala is the third in the World-at-Home series, in which we are attempting to “travel” around the world without ever leaving San Diego County. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Jessica O’Dwyer flew down to Guatemala to adopt a daughter. She also found a country to love. The difficulties
American tells of love for daughter and Guatemala Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Isaac Yetiv, Ph.D LA JOLLA, California — In his speech “to the Arab World,” delivered at the State Department (5-19-11), President Obama said that the boundaries between Israel and the future Palestinian state should be based “on the 1967 lines with agreed land swaps by both sides.” This shift of policy has stunned Israel
Call for ’67 boundaries wrong in so many ways Read More »
Middle East
By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — There is a small detail at the end of Obama’s big Middle East speech that everyone has overlooked up until now but which shows how inept this administration is at understanding the Israel-Palestinian issue and why it continually makes Israel mistrustful. In doing his balancing act on Israeli and
A mistake in Obama’s speech betraying his bias Read More »
Middle East, USABy Audrey Jacobs and Michael Lurie SAN DIEGO — The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues to intensify. This past Sunday, protesters from Palestine and surrounding Arab nations marched on Israel’s borders on all sides and Israeli troops fired in response when the boundaries were breached. Locally, last week pro-Palestinian student groups such as the Muslim Student Union and Students for Justice in Palestine held their annual
How local universities can spur healthy debate Read More »
San Diego CalendarBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–The Germans call it in zwischen zwei Welten: between two worlds. The image of participating in both, without being an intimate of either came to me as I pondered Barack Obama’s speech on the Middle East and North Africa, Bibi’s response, and the post-speech meeting between them. There will be other speeches
American-Israeli sees both points of view Read More »
Middle East
By Rabbi Dow Marmur TORONTO, Canada–As hard as I try, I can’t really get out of the ghetto. This means that I evaluate world events according to the criterion, “Is it good or bad for the Jews?” But the present situation in the Middle East doesn’t seem to lend itself to it. That’s why I
Is Arab ‘spring’ coiled to strike Israel? Read More »
Middle East
By Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. –Most of the aggravated commentary about President Obama’s digression from the stirring winds of change in the Arab world into the details of Palestinian statehood have to do with the 1949 Armistice Line, or 1967 line – the western line of Palestine – and whether the President changed U.S. policy.
Obama’s ’67 formula hurts Jordan as well as Israel Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — As a child living in Israel, I used to look out onto the horizon from my grandmother’s simple porch. I vividly remember the dusty little village of Kfar-Saba, some fifteen miles east of Tel Aviv, nestled against a thick patch of orange groves and in the shadow of
Obama trying to get Mideast past visceral hatreds Read More »
Middle East