By Rabbi Ben Kamin MONROVIA, California — It was a quiet, routine morning at the buffet breakfast at an agreeable family hotel in this Los Angeles suburb. People politely waited in turn for their jolt of coffee drawn from large standing thermoses; some were still half-asleep but all generally content with this modern American ritual […]
Sound of explosion united restaurant patrons Read More »
USA
SACRAMENTO (Press Release)– Assemblyman Brian Jones (Republican-Santee) led the effort on Friday, Aug. 30, to secure passage of a resolution urging President Obama to expedite visa processing for Iraq’s minority groups and to lift the refugee quota cap for Iraqi-Christians during a time of religious persecution. Authored by Senator Joel Anderson, SJR 17 passed with
Legislature seeks higher quota for Chaldean refugees Read More »
Middle East, USA
By Dmitriy Shapiro/JNS.org/Washington Jewish Week WASHINGTON, D.C. — After at least 11 failed attempts at achieving a lasting cease-fire between the Hamas terrorist group and Israel, negotiators in Cairo on Tuesday announced that they reached an indefinite cease-fire deal. But will the agreement, whose parameters are not yet fully apparent, hold up this time
The anatomy of the latest Israel-Gaza cease fire Read More »
Middle East, USA
LOS ANGELES (Press Release)-A coalition of groups concerned about civil rights and Jewish affairs has issued a statement protesting the assault and battery against a Jewish student at Temple University in Philadelphia by members of Students for Justice in Palestine. The statement from the coalition follows: “We are deeply troubled by the physical assault against
Coalition protests assault by SJP at Temple U Read More »
Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is a reason the American military asks of its civilian commanders, “Don’t tell us what to do, tell us what you want done.” Giving the military an executable military mission to accomplish is the most important responsibility of civilian command. A strategic plan helps the military respond
U.S. entered war against ISIS without a strategic plan Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USAWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)– U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry issued the following statement Wednesday on the videotaped beheading of American journalist James Foley by an ISIL terrorist. James Foley went to the darkest of places to shine the light of truth. Nothing could stop him from sharing with the world the reality of what
Kerry: ISIL will be held accountable for Foley murder Read More »
Middle East, USAWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — The Department of State announced on Tuesday, August 19, the designation of the Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity under section 1(b) of Executive
U.S. State Dept.: Mujahidin Shura Council is terrorist Read More »
Middle East, USABy Joe Gandelman SAN DIEGO — Just as World War I didn’t prove to be “the war to end all wars,” the 20th century didn’t turn out to be when the nearly unimaginable brutality and indescribable evil represented by German dictator Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime was definitively laid to rest The evil is back. Big-time.
ISIS is evil incarnate and leaving a trail of horrors Read More »
Joe Gandelman, Middle East, USA
-Last of a 23-part series- By Donald H. Harrison LAKEHEAD, California – Melelani Correa, a high school senior working at Lake Shasta Caverns, and her fellow guides like to fantasize about the shapes made by mineral-laden water dripping onto cave walls. Somewhat food-focused, she sees the shape of chili peppers here, strips of bacon there,
Caves, caverns appeal to story tellers Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Travel and Food, USA
OAKLAND, California (Press Release) — The Jewish Community Relations Council issued a statement condemning anti-Israel demonstrations conducted by Palestinian sympathizers at the Port of Oakland against the Israeli owned Zim ship Piraeus. The Council statement said: “This past weekend, demonstrators turned out at the Port of Oakland with the offensive and polarizing message that “Zionism
JCRC condemns anti-Israel demonstration in Oakland Read More »
Middle East, USA
Twenty-Second in a Series By Donald H. Harrison WINSTON, Oregon – There’s an oft-told joke that in order to illustrate Isaiah’s well known prophecy (Isaiah 11: 6-9), a zoo exhibited a lion and a lamb together in the same cage. “That’s fantastic!” said one amazed visitor, “Who’d have dared to do such a thing! How
Wildlife Safari: Isaiah’s prophecy not quite realized Read More »
Travel and Food, USABy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — I have been on vacation for the greater part of this past week. While I was away, I listened carefully to the news about a variety of social and international problems I will be addressing within the next several days. As details of the Michael Brown
How Talmudists would assess Ferguson Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, USABy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — Ferguson, Missouri, and the inexplicable shooting of teenager Michael Brown, represents not only the latest episode of America’s urban war against black men—it will be far from the last. Still unresolved is another horrifying racial incident in Miami Beach, Florida. Police there have still failed, ignominiously, to clear
Emmitt, Trayvon, Rodney, Raymond, and now Michael Read More »
USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) — Google “president disengaged” and 1,290,000 entries pop up. Okay, fair enough. Google is not the best way to take the measure of President Obama’s active engagement in the workings of the world. So note that today, Friday, Aug. 15, is the funeral of Maj. Gen. Harold Greene,
Perhaps it’s better when Obama is not engaged Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA