Middle East

Coronavirus curtailing normal life in Israel

The Coronavirus, also known as COVID 19, is spreading steadily throughout the world. At first it seemed to be confined to one region of China, then to other places in the Far East, but now it’s getting closer every day, appearing first in Italy and then in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and now even Israel. The unfortunate Israelis who happened to be on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, commonly known in Israel as the coronaship, were first confined to their cabins for a fortnight, then isolated in Japan, and when finally allowed to return to Israel (not all of them though, as a few were found to be carriers before being able to board the plane bringing them to Israel, so had to remain behind), only to be subjected to another two weeks of isolation in a hospital in Israel. One sad result of this was that one couple had to be separated, the wife returning to Israel and the husband remaining in isolation in Japan. Those two happen to live quite near to me in Mevasseret, though I do not know them personally, I’ve read about them in the local paper, and my sympathies certainly go out to them. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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

OpEd: U.S., Israel benefit under Trump, Netanyahu

A strong link exists between Israel and the US, personified by Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump. Therefore there is linkage between the two ongoing leadership contests. Although Israel had enjoyed non-partisan support in the US for decades, that diminished rapidly under the Obama administration. In fact, as a last parting shot, President Obama ordered his ambassador to the United Nations to refrain from vetoing a particularly nasty Security Council Resolution (2344), which basically declares that Jerusalem and Israel’s heritage is Muslim/Palestinian, not Jewish. [Steve Kramer]

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Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA

After the Israeli election

Though all the results aren’t in yet, it’s very unlikely that Netanyahu and his right-wing allies will muster 61 out of the 120 votes in the Knesset to form a majority government. But it’s also clear that his rival Benny Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White party, won’t be able to form a government either. Yet, politicians close to both assure us that there won’t be a fourth round, following the three elections within the last twelve months. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]

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Middle East

Only more questions in wake of Israel’s election

The days before Monday’s balloting were as sleazy as any I recall, from watching Israeli elections since 1977. Bibi led the negative campaigning, bringing up issues against all the major figures in Blue and White that had been settled years ago, and charging Benny Gantz with faults up to incipient senility. Blue and White’s campaign pictured Turkey’s President Erdogan, speaking Bibi’s mantra against the charges of corruption, “There won’t be anything because there is nothing.” However, Blue and White’s campaign seemed mostly mild, repeating charges against Bibi, but not getting the air time that Bibi did. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D.}

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

SDJW correspondent publishes sixth novel

Our correspondent in Mevasseret Zion, Israel, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, has written a sixth novel, this one called A Ruffled Calm.  As with her previous five novels, Shefer-Vanson has illustrated the cover of her book with one of her own art pieces, seen to the right of this story. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USA

Two Arab viewpoints compete over life in Israel

A book called  Israelophobia and the West just published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, includes an essay by Khaled Abu-Toameh, a respected Arab-Israeli journalist about the Arabs in Israel. The author draws readers’ attention to “two contradictory Palestinian discourses.” One is driven by radical Palestinian academics and activists, often teaching in universities abroad, who advocate radical measures against Israel. The other wants “a far more pragmatic, cooperative Israeli Arab and West Bank Palestinian dialogue with Israel.” [Rabbi Dow Marmur]

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Middle East

347 rabbis denounce Sanders’ comment about AIPAC

Two Reform rabbis from San Diego – Devorah Marcus of Temple Emanu-El and Jeremy Gimbel of Congregation Beth Israel – are among 347 rabbis who have signed a letter rejecting the “outrageous comments” made by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders about the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In announcing he would not attend the AIPAC Policy Conference in March, Sanders, who like the rabbis is Jewish, said “I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason, I will not attend their conference.”  In a press release, AIPAC subsequently described that comment as “truly shameful.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Sanders has short coattails, if any at all

Possibly our first Jewish president, and already Americans are panicking. This sigh of relief: Democratic leaders and others are raising concerns about an overreaching agenda and a misguided approach to Israel, not over his religion or ethnicity. It looks like that, anyway. We must face it – the election of a President Bernie Sanders could become a reality. It is yet too soon to predict the outcome, but this one result is foreseeable: Sanders will confront an adversarial Congress, if not a hostile Congress. [Bruce S. Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

Palestinian commentator: BDS hurts us

Bassam Eid is a Palestinian author and commentator, who may be seen frequently on Israeli television.  While he is critical of various Israeli policies, he also speaks out frequently against corruption in both the Palestinian Authority and Gaza Strip.  On Tuesday evening, at the Fairbanks Country Club, in this affluent community wedged between northern San Diego and Rancho Santa Fe, Eid condemned the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement as being harmful to ordinary Palestinians. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

As Hamas negotiates, PIJ fires rocket at kindergarten

Some of us have snow days; Israeli children have “rocket days” – if you need an explanation, you haven’t been paying attention. Children in southern Israel had a rocket day Monday, which was fortuitous because a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket slammed into a kindergarten playground. It was only one of dozens launched from Gaza this week. The fact that the rockets are PIJ, not Hamas, is, in fact, an important point. [Shoshana Bryen]

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen

Stalemate continues among Netanyahu, Gantz, Lieberman

Power and paranoia seem to go together. The more you have of the former, the more are you likely to be burdened by the latter. Biographers of Stalin, for example, when describing his ruthless rule also tell of his relentless persecution mania.

Binyamin Netanyahu is, mercifully, no Stalin, but as the longest serving prime minister of Israel with many impressive achievements in his portfolio, he has enough power to be plagued by paranoia. As two weeks after the elections on March 2, his trial on three serious charges is about to begin, it gives him cause to feel persecuted. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]

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Middle East

Liberator and POW fast friends 75 years later

The liberation of a prisoner-of-war camp in Manila, Philippines, in 1945 forged a bond many years later between a Jewish band leader and a Coronado civil servant. Lou Berger, a drummer and leader of the “Berger Kings,” was playing a Saturday night gig at the Town & Country Hotel in San Diego about 15 years ago for an ex-prisoners of war organization when he was introduced to Tom Crosby, a longtime purchasing agent and risk manager for the City of Coronado, who also was known as a  successful volunteer springboard diving coach. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

The complex relationship between Poles and Jews

Occasional upticks in animosity between Jews and Poles has produced a correspondence between a Polish friend and my colleague Shlomo Avineri. It’s been an open and friendly exchange, pondering the memories of both people and one land. And it has reminded me of an instance in my youth, in Fall River, Massachusetts. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D}

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International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA