Dead Sea Scrolls to be digitized in new German-funded Israeli project (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israeli scientists and scholars are set to embark on a new collaborative research partnership to create a dynamic virtual work environment for the study of one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century–the Dead Sea Scrolls. The conservation […]
Middle East Roundup: February 24, 2016 Read More »
Middle EastBank of Israel keeps interest rate at 0.1% (JNS.org) Israel’s benchmark interest rate for March will be left unchanged at 0.1 percent, the Bank of Israel announced Monday. Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug said the Israeli central bank’s quantitative easing and low interest rate will continue for “an extended period.” The bank explained that
Middle East Roundup: February 23, 2016 Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The stabbing intifada began in September, some 32 Israelis have been killed, along with perhaps 150 Palestinians or Israeli Arabs who attacked, with about a third of the attackers young teenagers or pre-teens. What has not happened is any escalation to planned, large scale incidents of terror of the kind that
Abbas can’t control stabbing intifada Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — The shelling of Syrian soldiers by the Turkish military is one more step back into Great Power politics — historic Turkish-Russian enmity played out over Kurds and Syrians. The U.S. appears to believe 21st century wars cannot be won by military force and that battling parties can be induced to set aside
U.S. cedes the lead to Russia in Syrian Civil War Read More »
International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USABy Rabbi Ben Kamin OCEANSIDE, California — When someone dies, it is not always time for ‘a celebration of life’ With the Academy Awards pending, I recall the touching memorial list they presented a few years ago, after the untimely death of Michael Jackson. The touching, if theatrical necrology included Michael Jackson but neglected
The American way of grieving is denial Read More »
USAIsrael intercepts Gaza-bound drone shipment disguised as toys (JNS.org) A shipment of drones disguised as toys that was bound for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was recently intercepted by Israeli security personnel at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced Sunday. The drones were discovered during a search of a truck carrying
Middle East Roundup: February 22, 2016 Read More »
Middle East
JERUSALEM (WJC) — Samuel Willenberg, the last survivor of the Treblinka death camp who died on Friday in Israel at the age of 93, beat the odds.. About 870,000 people, most of them Jews, died in the gas chambers at Treblinka. It was the second largest Nazi German death camp after Auschwitz-Birkenau. “Samuel Willenberg wa a hero
Samuel Willenberg, last survivor of Treblinka Read More »
International, Jewish History, Obituaries & memorialsBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Things to Say to Donald Trump Supporters when they say: “He’s funding his own campaign and is not beholden to any special interest group.” Whether Donald Trump has ten billion dollars as he boasts, or only four billion as Forbes estimates, he is a special interest group.The corollary to the reasoning that he
Things to say to Donald Trump supporters Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – In the matter of replacing the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, we have been witnessing a tactic perhaps best described as Republican senators putting fingers in their ears and saying to President Obama “we know we won’t like what you are going to tell us, so
Politicians who put their fingers in their ears Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — A few days ago the IDF Commander in chief told a group of high school students that he didn’t like a soldier emptying his magazine against a 13 year old girl with a pair of scissors.” The storm was quick in coming. Rightists, accused him of disarming Israel’s capacity to
Arabs’ hatred not largest cause of deaths in Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Let’s imagine that you grew up in a liberal, self-identifying Jewish family. You’re pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro-immigration, pro-diversity, and pro-Israel. On the first four counts, it would seem, you are closely aligned with Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. But on the fifth count, Israel, you find
Election 2016: What’s a Jew to do? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, USABy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — You can have a flock of sheep and a herd of cows, a covey of witches and a murmuration of starlings, so why not a transport of translators? This is one of the thoughts that occurred to me in the course of the recent annual Conference organized by the
Public speaking translates into misery Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Jewish History, Middle EastTop Jewish leader cites ‘collective responsibility’ to fight campus anti-Semitism (JNS.org) Seventy-five percent of American Jewish students say they have witnessed or experienced anti-Semitism on their college campuses, a problem that “we have a collective responsibility to address,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, in an interview
Jewish news briefs: February 19, 2016 Read More »
International, USA150 Israeli companies to be featured in Barcelona telecom expo (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Some 150 Israeli companies will be featured in the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, one of the world’s top telecommunications exhibitions. The Israeli companies make up the conference’s fourth-largest delegation, after the U.S., the U.K., and France. Scheduled
Middle East Roundup: February 19, 2016 Read More »
Middle East