Published by Al-Araby Israel is gearing up to take part in Expo 2020 Dubai when the world fair opens Friday, a spokesman said, a year after the UAE and the Jewish state normalised ties. “We’re very happy to be here,” Menachem Gantz told AFP, the spokesman of Israel’s Pavilion at the six-month world fair. “This […]
Israel ‘happy’ to take part in Expo 2020 Dubai fair Read More »
Middle East
Published by Al-Araby The Czech defence ministry will buy a short- and medium-range air defence system made by Israeli state-owned supplier Rafael, the Defence Ministry said on Monday. The ministry said it had informed the cabinet it would conclude a government-to-government deal to buy Rafael’s SPYDER Short Range Air Defence/Medium Range Surface to Air Missile
Prague to buy Israeli air defence system Read More »
International
Published by Reuters By Michelle Nichols, Matt Spetalnick and Stephen Farrell NEW YORK (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday that Iran had crossed “all red lines” in its nuclear program and vowed that Israel would not allow Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon. In his first speech to the United Nations General
Israeli PM says Iran has crossed nuclear ‘red lines’; Tehran calls it ‘full of lies’ Read More »
Middle East
In response to the rise of antisemitism and other forms of discrimination in the United States, ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) and L’Oréal USA are partnering on an education initiative designed to raise awareness and promote understanding about the Holocaust among thousands of students in American classrooms. [ADL News Release]
ADL, L’Oreal Partner in Holocaust Education Program Read More »
International, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
Thousands of Californians on Monday petitioned Governor Gavin Newsom to veto AB 101, a bill mandating an ethnic studies high school graduation requirement. The California legislature recently voted to advance AB 101, and the bill now heads to Newsom, who has until Oct. 10 to act. [AMCHA Initiative news release]
Growing Opposition to Ethnic Studies in California Read More »
Science, Medicine, & Education, USA
A political candidate in Virginia, a television game show host, and a Washington, D.C. historian seem to think that jokes about “Jewish noses” are funny. They’re not. In fact, they’re dangerous. [Moshe Phillips]
‘Jewish Nose’ Jokes Aren’t Funny; They’re Dangerous Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA
Do you worry that Jew-hatred might affect your comfortable American life? Do you think that Jew-haters will ignore you because your “Jewishness” is unimportant for you? If not, why not? Does this worry – if you feel it – fall below your concern for abortion legislation, diversity and gender issues, climate change policies, etc.? With this in mind, it’s time to wake up to the “new” West. [Steve Kramer]
Antisemitism in the ‘New West’ Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA
Do you want to think big? Focus on what Mahmoud Abbas said in a recorded speech delivered to the United Nations in New York. If Israel doesn’t withdraw completely from the West Bank and East Jerusalem (he also said Gaza, but Israel has already withdrawn from there) within a year, Palestine will charge Israel with heinous crimes before the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile, he’s volunteering to negotiate final borders. The 1967 lines, wherever they are, figure in his threat. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]
Big and Small Controversies in Israel Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Lifestyles, Middle East
During the 1870’s, the population of Nevada’s legendary Comstock Lode, then at the height of mining fever, surged to nearly 25,000. In the canyons and down the slopes, housing was scarce, the noise was unceasing, the air nearly unbreathable and the violence endemic.1 Between them, the towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill were a crowded jumble of miners’ cabins, stamp mills, luxury mansions, hotels, restaurants, saloons, stores and stables, all built over an underground city of mining tunnels, adits and shafts. These underground works ultimately produced over 300 million dollars’ worth of precious ore that built the city of San Francisco and made fabulous fortunes for the fortunate. Among this crowd of fortune-seekers lived a Jewish community of about 500, and one of its most influential members was a butcher from Germany named Mark Strouse (1845-1898). [Susan E. James, Ph.D]
Jewish Tales of the Old West: A Butcher on the Comstock Read More »
Business & Finance, Jewish History, Travel and Food, USA
This journalistic tour-de-force tells the story of October 27, 2018, the day an antisemitic gunman snuffed the lives of 11 congregants at the three small congregations that occupied the Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is not simply a depiction of the carnage, but also a portrait of the community in which it happened. Author Oppenheimer, a former religion columnist for The New York Times, methodically tells us the stories of the victims, including those who barely escaped with their lives, and of the diverse reactions in the community to the shooting. There were those who organized vigils; those who protested a photo-op visit to the synagogue by then President Donald Trump with his wife, Melania, daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Additionally, there were trauma tourists, compelled perhaps like moths to a flame, who wanted to see the site. There were also presumptuous would-be helpers, who felt they knew better than Squirrel Hill’s residents how the victims should be mourned. And there were fundraisers, who through various appeals including a Go-Fund-Me effort, raised millions of dollars for the families of the victims and for the congregations themselves. [Donald H. Harrison]
‘Squirrel Hill’ Portrays Pittsburgh Community Where Tree of Life Massacre Occurred Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Travel and Food, USA
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Under the title “Early Birds: Soaring with the Ancients,” the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem has put together an exhibition of archaeological items from the Land of Israel and the Ancient Near East depicting birds of various kinds. Upon entering the exhibition area and before inspecting even one
Birds of a Feather Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education
Published by Reuters By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – At least 350,209 people have been killed in the decade-old war in Syria, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday in its first report since 2014 on the death toll, adding that the tally was an “undercount”. The figure includes civilians and combatants and
UN Issues New Syria War Death Toll, Says 350,000 is an ‘Undercount’ Read More »
Middle East
Published by Reuters By Ali Sawafta and Rami Ayyub RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel on Friday of destroying the two-state solution with actions he said could lead Palestinians to demand equal rights within one binational state comprising Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Addressing the U.N. General Assembly via
Abbas Tells UN Israeli Actions Could Lead to ‘One State’ Read More »
Middle East
By Orit Arfa (JNS) Rafael Korenzecher, publisher of the conservative Germany Jewish monthly, Jüdische Rundschau, does not spare any nicety in his parting words to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose successor will be determined after the German federal elections on Sept. 26. “It is a real pity you haven’t been dismissed from office much sooner,”
‘Good Riddance, Merkel,’ Says Jewish-German Newspaper Publisher Read More »
International