Donald H. Harrison

Life on the boundary of a Jewish neighborhood and an Arab one

 By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Living alongside the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya has its moments. Items from the weekend’s news: Israelis accompanying an Australian tourist made a wrong turn into the neighborhood, and narrowly escaped a lynching. In another incident, neighborhood folks stoned an ambulance that entered the area to tend a resident who had been injured […]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

San Diego Jewish Book Fair: Nazarian tells of a childhood caught between two cultures

By Yvonne Greenberg LA JOLLA, California– In her new book, Life As A Visitor, Angella Nazarian, a Jew, recounts leaving her native land of Iran at age eleven with her mother and older sister to visit her two brothers in Los Angeles for presumably a two-week visit because of the violent 1979 Iranian Revolution. Because

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Travel and Food

Hoffinger shines in ‘Anita Bryant Died For Your Sins at Diversionary

By Carol Davis SAN DIEGO- -It isn’t often that we get a chance to see a young, up and coming actor who is still in school and has time to perform, and perform well. How fortunate for us then that Dylan Hoffinger, a freshman at the School of Creative and Performing Arts (as a musical

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Carol Davis, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

Attack on Baghdad Church part of pattern of Muslim hostility towards Christians

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel — Christians in Iraq have been, and not for the first time, deliberately targeted in a major terrorist attack. Indeed, from Indonesia to Pakistan to Iraq, from the Gaza Strip to Egypt to Sudan to Nigeria, Christians are being assaulted, intimidated, and murdered by militant Muslims. Yet virtually never do

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Middle East

Israel may be in for a period of international calm

By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — We have had worse days. The not so friendly United Nations published its Human Development Index, ranking  Israel number 15 among 169 countries. Norway is number 1 and the United States number 4. Israel scores higher than such decent places as Finland, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Austria, and the United

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

San Diego Jewish Academy fifth graders send protest letters to TIME

SAN DIEGO – When fifth grade teacher Shani Abed of San Diego Jewish Academy (SDJA) shared with her two fifth grade classes the September 14 cover of Time Magazine displaying a daisy chain Star of David and the headline “Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace,” it caused some strong reactions among her students.  “Many students

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Science, Medicine, & Education

Gracia Pick, Marjory Kaplan, Ellen Beck among 12 ‘Local Heroes’

SAN DIEGO (Nov. 4, 2010) — As part of its ongoing commitment to cultural diversity and to celebrate Hispanic Heritage and American Indian  Heritage months, Union Bank has partnered  with KPBS to honor four extraordinary San Diegans during its 13th Annual Local Heroes Awards program.  Recognized for exemplary leadership and dedication to serving their communities, these

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San Diego Calendar, San Diego County

Will Obama be pragmatic or an idealogue in second half of term?

By Barry Rubin HERZLIYA, Israel (Press Release)–What effect will the congressional elections have on U.S. foreign policy generally and Middle East policy in particular? It isn’t a matter of the individual candidates, since nobody lost or won who will have some big influence on U.S. policy in the next couple of years. The important factor

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Middle East, USA

Italian Jewish leaders denounce ‘revisionist’ film on Pope Pius XII

ROME (WJC)–Jewish leaders in Italy have criticized a TV series that portrayed wartime Pope Pius XII as working forcefully to save Jews from the Nazi onslaught as “unacceptable revisionism.” The feature ‘Under the Roman Sky’ was aired Sunday and Monday on the state-owned ‘RAI Television’. Set in 1943, it shows Pius remaining in Rome despite

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Travel and Food

Muslim travel bag company cancels order from South African Zionists

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (WJC)– A Muslim-owned company in Johannesburg has canceled an order placed by the South African Zionist Federation with comments saying: “Please don’t pay! Don’t contaminate our account with your blood money!” JTA reports that the organization had ordered conference bags from Saleys Travel Goods for a conference in March and had dealt with

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Travel and Food

Iran cancels stoning of woman, but may still hang her for adultery

TEHRAN (WJC)–Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for allegedly having committed adultery, escaped her execution on Wednesday after strong international protests, but still faces the death penalty. Ashtiani, whose case has captivated the world, might be hanged instead of stoned to death, human rights advocates said. The 43-year-old mother, was

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Travel and Food