Middle East

Frightening sectarian violence within Israel

“Here we go again!”  That was the heading of a post I wrote a few weeks ago about the general election, but heck, it works just as well for what I’m writing about today, the escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza.
The first time I realized that things were getting serious was when I was in my German lesson at the community centre near my house in Mevasseret Zion. “What’s that noise?” I asked the lady sitting next to me. “It’s the siren,” she said, whereupon we and the other participants (all elderly ladies like myself) got up and moved to the shelter, which happened also to house the toilets. We heard (and saw) fire trucks and ambulances racing past, and after hanging around for a while, we all packed up our things and went home to watch the news on TV. A rocket fired from Gaza had landed on a nearby hill, causing very little damage and no injuries, thank goodness. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

George W. Bush’s Warm Embrace for Immigrants to U.S.

If this book’s title, Out of the Many, One  sounds familiar, it is the English translation of the Latin expression  E pluribus unum, the unofficial motto of the United States, which can be found on the back of the $1 bill above the wings of the eagle.  Former President George W. Bush decided to include 43 portraits within this book, a number that was not happenstance.  He was the 43rd President of the United States. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Iran’s foreign minister hopes for better ties with Saudi Arabia

Published by DPA Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday that his country was ready to build close relations with its regional rival Saudi Arabia. Zarif was speaking after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. The Syrian state news agency Sana quoted Zarif as saying that Iran had made contacts with Saudi

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Middle East

Russia urges ‘quartet’ meet on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Published by Reuters MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that a meeting of four international mediators for resolving the intensifying Israeli-Palestinian conflict is urgently required. Israel said it killed 16 members of the Hamas armed wing in Gaza in a barrage on Wednesday. At least 56 people have been killed

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International, Middle East

Israeli Right-Wingers Exacerbate Hostilities with Palestinians

Whenever trouble erupted in Israel during the 1980s, “colleagues” in my newsroom in central Pennsylvania would gaze at me suspiciously. At a laundromat in the same small town, a Democratic city councilman complained about Israel’s oppression of the poor Palestinians and an Israeli gunboat raid on the Liberty, an American intelligence vessel discovered off the Egyptian coast during the 1967 war. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East

Israel strikes kill senior Hamas commander, Palestinians fire rockets

JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS, OTHERS, RESPOND (SEE COMMENT SECTION BELOW ARTICLE)   By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel said it killed 16 members of the Hamas armed wing in Gaza in a barrage on Wednesday and Palestinian militants rained rockets into Israel as Washington said it would send an envoy to try to calm

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Middle East

Dozens dead as Israel and Hamas escalate aerial bombardments

Published by Reuters By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group that runs Gaza escalated on Tuesday as each side attacked the other with aerial bombardments that recalled their last major conflict in 2014. A 13-story residential block in Gaza collapsed after one of several dozen

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Middle East

US ship fires warning shots at Iranian boats in Strait of Hormuz: Pentagon

Published by AFP Washington (AFP) – A US vessel fired warning shots at more than a dozen Iranian fast attack boats which buzzed close to a US Navy submarine and escort ships in the narrow Strait of Hormuz on Monday, the Pentagon said. In the second such incident in two weeks, 13 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

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Middle East, USA

Israel airstrikes kill 20 in Gaza, Palestinians say, after militants fire rockets at Jerusalem

Published by Reuters By Jeffrey Heller and Nidal al-Mughrabi JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) – Violent clashes over Jerusalem escalated dramatically on Monday with Gaza health officials saying at least 20 people, including nine children, were killed by Israeli air strikes launched after Palestinian militant groups fired rockets close to Jerusalem Israel’s military said it carried out strikes

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Middle East

Lipinsky Family S.D. Jewish Arts Festival Schedule Announced

The 28th Annual Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival, Jfest 2021, promises to be sparkling with more stars from all corners of the globe than ever before, thanks to the virtual platform for all but one of the 15 offerings. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA