International

Bahrain to allow occupied West Bank goods to be labeled as ‘Made in Israel’

Goods coming to Bahrain from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights will be labeled as “Made in Israel”, the country’s Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani said on Thursday. “Without going into details and border lines, Israeli products or services… will be treated like Israeli,” Al-Zayani said according […]

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Middle East

How to fight Holocaust denial in social media – with the evidence of what really happened

Holocaust survivor Shalom Stamberg holds a book with a photo of himself in Auschwitz, alongside a copy of his concentration camp record. AP Photo/Ariel Schalit One in four American millennials believe the Holocaust was exaggerated or entirely made up, according to a recent national survey that sought to find out what young adults know about

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International, Jewish History, USA

Facebook changing ‘race-blind’ hate speech policy

San Francisco (AFP) – Facebook on Thursday said it is revising its systems to prioritize blocking slurs against Black people, gays and other groups historically targeted by vitriol, no longer automatically filtering out barbs aimed broadly at whites, men or Americans. The change in Facebook’s algorithm is a shift from the social network’s ethnicity and

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USA

Free Exercise of Religion vs. Promoting the General Welfare

It all comes down to “promote the general welfare” vs. “the free exercise…of religion.”

On Nov. 8,  Satmar Grand Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum more than freely exercised his religious traditions by hosting a family wedding in Brooklyn reportedly attended by 7,000 guests at a time when coronavirus cases persisted at high levels of infection. On Nov. 23. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio promoted the general welfare by socking the organizers with a laughable $15,000 fine. On Nov. 26,  our dysfunctional Supreme Court stamped a final judgment on a synagogue attendance case – rooted in Brooklyn – prioritizing “the free exercise…of religion” over “the general welfare.” [Bruce S. Ticcker]

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Bruce Ticker, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, USA

316 Ethiopian Jews Arrive in Israel to Official Welcome

Three hundred sixteen olim (immigrants) arrived in Israel Thursday morning from Ethiopia, with another 100 landing tomorrow, as part one of “Operation Zur Israel.” The operation follows the Government of Israel’s decision in October of this year to approve the Aliyah (immigration) of 2,000 members of the Ethiopian community, many of whom have been waiting for decades to move to Israel and reunite with their families. Minister of Aliyah and Integration Pnina Tamano-Shata and Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Isaac Herzog, along with the Ministry of Interior, are overseeing the operation. [Jewish Agency for Israel]

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International, Middle East

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, ‘modernist’ French president, dies at 94

France’s former president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who brought about rapid social change and was a leading force in founding the European Union, died Wednesday at the age of 94 from complications linked to Covid-19, his family said. Giscard d’Estaing “died on Wednesday 02/12/20 in his family home in the Loir-et-Cher”, his foundation said on Twitter.

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International

Czech Republic to open ‘diplomatic office’ in Jerusalem

The Czech Republic plans to boost the status of its mission in Jerusalem without moving its embassy, Prague announced on Wednesday.The Czech Foreign Ministry said the new office will be part of “efforts to further strengthen Czech-Israeli relations,” but emphasized that “this is not about opening a new embassy.”The diplomatic office is slated to be

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International, Middle East

Groups sue Georgia over voter purges

ATLANTA — Voting rights groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday claiming the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office improperly removed nearly 200,000 people from the state’s voter registration list last year. The lawsuit says the secretary removed tens of thousands of voters from the list because it believed they had moved away when, in fact, they

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USA

US Jewish doctor tweets on treating Covid patient with Nazi tattoos

Los Angeles (AFP) – A Jewish doctor working with coronavirus patients in California shared his shock about the moment he saw neo-Nazi tattoos on the body of a severely ill man he was treating. As his team – which included a Black nurse and a respiratory specialist of Asian descent — prepared the man to

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Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Sometimes, we Jews can be oversensitive

Jews are now examining every Biden appointee with an eye towards rooting out anyone who is anti-Israel. The prickliest among us attack people if their views are simply different, as in those unhappy with the choice of Tony Blinken as Secretary of State because he supports a two-state solution (as does his boss), opposed sanctioning Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and spoke at the J Street conference. Of greater concern are appointees who appear genuinely anti-Israel. One who has already drawn attention is Reema Dodin, a Palestinian American appointed as Biden’s deputy director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. In 2002, she said that Palestinian “suicide bombers were the last resort of a desperate people” and was involved in protests calling on the California University system to divest from Israel. She also complained that Palestinians were portrayed as “villains in the media” when they were “suffering” and “oppressed.” [Mitchell Bard]

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Middle East, USA

Mimi’s Ark: Icelandic Horses in Encinitas

Did you know there are horses in San Diego County with roots that can be traced back directly back to the Vikings?  They are Icelandic horses and their ancestors were perfect for crossing the oceans on Viking boats as the horses were short–about 12-14 hands-, calm, and sure-footed.  Icelandic horses today are not very different from their predecessors and Iceland has been careful to keep it that way. [Mimi Pollack]

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International, Lifestyles, Mimi Pollack, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA