By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — One of the great failures of my professional life is an inability to convince Israeli Arabs (or Palestinians with Israeli citizenship) to adopt the model of African-Americans as a way of political and social advancement. Arab intellectuals and political activists are well schooled in good reasons to reject the comparison. […]
Israeli Arabs could be more politically powerful Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — One can enjoy eating sausage without feeling an obligation to visit the slaughterhouse or the sausage maker. One can also enjoy the benefits of government without worrying about all the details about how the community is kept safe from crime, polluted air, water, and food, or any other disturbance. Some
Illegal migration to Israel a growing concern Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Aaron Adler EFRAT, Israel — I am 25 years old, was born in Brooklyn NY, and raised in Efrat Israel. Though very busy, I don’t view my life as unusual. Most of the time, I am just another Israeli citizen. During the day I work as a paramedic in Magen David Adom, Israel’s national
Another reason to be thankful: Israel’s humanitarianism Read More »
Middle East
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO–What must God think of all the arguing about religion? Thanksgiving is a day when heaven may get some relief from this concern, when Americans of all faiths sit at one spiritual table with many of the same trimmings and family customs. Thanksgiving liberates us from specific theological claims and
A holiday that includes all religions Read More »
USA
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Once upon a time, some American tourists went to Mexico on a vacation; they toured some hot springs, where they saw the natives washing their clothes! One tourist said to his guide, “My, isn’t it wonderful how Mother Nature provides her children with hot water to wash
Mindfulness and the Art of Thanksgiving Read More »
Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USABy Yaakov Lappin WASHINGTON, D.C. — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was one of the first to sound the alarm over Iran’s nuclear armament program, identifying the threat it posed to global security in the early 1990s. The last time he spoke openly about his views on the Iranian threat was when he was head
Behind Israel’s debate over an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — Forty-eight years ago today, Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy, 46, was slain while riding in a motorcade in Dealey Plaza, Dallas. The world stopped; the kinetic, violent, transformational 1960s truly sprung, at 12:30 PM CST, when the shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository
JFK now longer dead than alive Read More »
USA
By Mara Hochberg-Miller LA JOLLA, California — I decided to study in Israel because it is the place where my Judaism, interest in politics and the Middle East, love for eretz yisrael, and career path in international relations meet. Back home in California, I could study Middle Eastern history and international diplomacy all I wanted, but
There’s learning about Israel, and then there’s experiencing it! Read More »
Middle East
By Bruce Kesler ENCINITAS, California — University of California President Mark Yudof on Sunday issued a press release that “ I am appalled by images of University of California students being doused with pepper spray and jabbed with police batons on our campuses.” President Yudof went on: “I intend to convene all 10
U.C. President Yudof not so vigilant when violence is against pro-Israel Jews Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — There is good news and other news on the issue of peace and harmony between Jews and Arabs within Israel. Note “within Israel.” This is not primarily about the Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but of simple decency and accommodation between Jews and Arabs on the streets, in neighborhoods,
On inter-ethnic relations within Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Dr. Ehud Eilam WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sinai Peninsula has been the main battlefield in most of the wars between Egypt and Israel. The latter seized a small part of Sinai during the 1948-1949 war, and then most of it in the 1956 war. All of Sinai was soon after returned to Egypt without
Protecting Sinai from terrorists could lead to its remilitarization Read More »
Middle EastWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–While the Obama administration has pursued Middle East policies that could be characterized as being sometimes indifferent to Israel’s precarious security situation, relations between our Department of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces are as good today, if not better, than they have ever been. Both countries reap the benefits that flow
Payoffs for U.S. from Israeli alliance Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO –Sometime in the blistering heat of 1965, while Martin Luther King, Jr. and his allies were marching for the nation’s first inclusive voting rights bill, a wiry, feisty, articulate Baptist minister stood up to the condescending white sheriff of Dallas County—which encompasses Selma, Ala. Rev. Cordy Tindell Vivian, better
C.T. Vivian is a very human civil rights icon Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Politics has been the curse of this corner in the Middle East. Proclamations and grand intentions coming from those claiming to be leaders of Palestine, Israel, the United States and other great powers who say they are pursuing peace are actually paving the road to nowhere. Neither Palestinian nor Israeli
More so than politicians, technocrats get things done in Middle East Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East