Middle East

Israel, US vote against UN funds for ‘antisemitic’ Durban Conference

Both Israel and the United States voted Thursday against the United Nations budget to protest the allocation of funds to the World Conference against Racism, historically known for its tolerance of virulent antisemitism.When the conference was first held in Durban, South Africa in 2000, participants sold copies of the antisemitic trope, Protocols of the Elders […]

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International, Middle East, USA

Education for Girls in Britain and Israel

My grandchildren, who have grown up in a secular environment in Israel, find it odd that I, their (hopefully) broad-minded grandmother, should have gone to a secondary school for girls. In Israel, it is only those segments of the population which adhere to ancient tenets of gender identification that maintain gender-segregated schools for their offspring. In England, where I grew up, the situation was similar but the ideas behind it were different. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Guilty plea in Goldstein case raises many questions

Every time there’s a new development in the unfolding fraud cases against disgraced Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein of Chabad of Poway and his associates, even more questions seem to arise.The San Diego Union-Tribune reported this morning that Rotem Cooper, 54, had pleaded guilty in federal court to charges that he made fake contributions to the Friendship Circle, an organization created by Goldstein to reach out to people with developmental disabilities.  But, Goldstein returned 90 percent of the contribution back to Cooper, while certifying the full amount had been donated for tax purposes.  Cooper’s “contribution” triggered a matching contribution from Qualcomm, where he worked as an engineering manager, which Goldstein then split with someone named “Y.H,” who is described as “the director of a religious congregation and community organization located in San Diego.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Eight things to know about the UNGA condemnation of Israel in 2020

The UN General Assembly approved 17 pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli resolutions in December, as part of what has become an annual end of the year ritual by the 193-member body, where the Palestinians have an automatic majority of support.To put this number in perspective, the UNGA approved only six country specific resolutions for human rights situations

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Middle East

In Israeli politics, everyone wants to be top dog – analysis

“Great, just what we need, another political party,” was a thought that many people undoubtedly shared Tuesday when they heard that Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai was setting up a party to compete in the upcoming elections.“Hundreds of thousands of Israelis feel that they don’t have a home in the present political system,” he said,

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Middle East

StandWithUs Calls Out Jew-hating UC Merced Professor

Should faculty at the state-funded University of California at Merced be teaching the following? “The Zionist Brain” is divided into such sections as “Frontal Money Lobe,” “World Domination Lobe,” “Control,” “Land Usurpation,” and “Elitism.” Or how about this? “The Zionists and IsraHell interest have embedded themselves in every component of the American system, media, banking, policy, commerce … just a veneer of serving US interest and population – everyone pretends that is the case.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Moroccan lawyers petition Supreme Court to halt Israel normalisation deal

A group of Moroccan lawyers have demanded a reversal of the country’s normalisation deal with Israel, saying it would contravene the constitution as well as a number of international conventions that Rabat has signed up to, according to media reports. The lawyers filed a case at Morocco’s Supreme Court saying the agreement with Israel would

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Middle East

Owner confronts Israeli team’s racist past in interview with AP

At the age of 39, Moshe Hogeg has made millions of dollars trading in cryptocurrency, bought one of Israel’s most prominent soccer teams and brought in a wealthy Emirati sheikh as his new co-owner. Now comes what may be his biggest challenge. As owner of Beitar Jerusalem, the only major Israeli soccer club never to

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Middle East, Sports & Competitions

Alignments shifting as Israel heads for new elections

Less than three months to the election, there are clear signs that things are changing. New parties; individual activists, some abandonment of Likud; lots of anti-Bibi. The major new players are Gideon Sa’ar, Naftali Bennett, Ofer Shelah, Ron Huldai, and Gadi Eizenkot. Shelah has left the party of Yair Lapid, Huldai is the Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Eizenkot is a former head of the IDF. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

There are museums for so many interests

The Reader’s Digest in July 2019 highlighted one quirky museum per state: the Alaska Hammer Museum;  the Banana Museum in Mecca, in California’s Riverside County; Colorado’s Washing Machine;  Mississippi’s Apron;  Iowa’s Matchstick;  and Ohio’s Pencil Sharpener museum. These are brick and mortar museums with street addresses, not the burgeoning online website museum. The author, Marissa Laliberte, overlooked the venerable Kool-Aid Museum in Hastings, Nebraska, in favor of the Klown Doll Museum in Plainview. I’ve been to the Mustard Museum in Horab, Wisconsin, and Idaho’s Potato Museum in Blackfoot. [Oliver B. Pollak, Ph.D]

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International, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food, USA

Biden says Trump Pentagon stalling transition, posing risks

Wilmington (United States) (AFP) – President-elect Joe Biden said Monday that Donald Trump’s appointees at the Pentagon were stalling on the transition and warned that the United States faces security risks as a result. After he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were briefed by their transition teams on national security, Biden said that political appointees

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International, Middle East, USA

Legendary Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis dies age 98

Ivry Gitlis, arguably the last great 20th-century violinist, died on December 24 in Paris aged 98.Born in 1922 in Haifa into a family of immigrants from Ukraine, he got his first violin at age five.At eight, as a child prodigy, he was introduced to the founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bronislaw Huberman. The latter

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts