Middle East

Hadassah Magazine article prompted OH! San Diego

The March 6-8 Open House San Diego in which 93 venues will open their doors to visitors can trace its origin to an article in the Winter 2012 edition of Hadassah Magazine, which featured an article about the Open House programs in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Susanne Friestedt said the article so resonated with her that she traveled to London, headquarters for the Open House architectural movement, to learn what she would need to do to add San Diego (and environs) to the list of cities in the Open House program. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Travel and Food, USA

OpEd: Why critics argue Israel acts immorally

I have long maintained that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank defies the moral principle behind the creation of the state. Contrary to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s assertion, the occupation erodes rather than buttresses Israel’s national security and cannot be justified on either security or moral grounds. Trump’s “deal of the century” is tantamount to perpetuating the occupation, which will be to Israel’s detriment. Unless Israel embraces a new moral path and ends the occupation, no one can prevent it from unraveling from within only to become a pariah state that has lost its soul, wantonly abandoning the cherished dreams of its founding fathers to have an independent democratic Jewish state. [Alon Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

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Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East, USA

Identifying Israeli political parties’ supporters

Recent election ties, the likelihood of another one in two weeks, and the prospects of a fourth election raise the issue of who are we, and why do we cluster as we do. We can begin with several, more or less fixed, clusters of Israelis: *Ultra-Orthodox, Ashkenazim, very likely to vote United Torah Judaism *Perhaps a bit less fixed ultra-Orthodox Sephardim, likely to vote SHAS *Israeli Arabs, most of whom vote for the United Arab List *West Bank settlers, many of them Orthodox Jews, who vote for one of the right of center parties *Jews of Middle Eastern origin, traditional in their religious practices, who tend to vote Likud, especially, perhaps, those with lower education and income levels *Russians, a large and complex group, many of whom form the basic support of Avigdor Lieberman and go along with his right of center opposition to allying with Arabs or perhaps left wing Jews [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D.]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Haifa, San Diego scientists to probe Israeli coastal waters

Before long the historic port city of Akko, Israel, will become headquarters for a search for sunken treasures of the academic kind in a project that brings together scientists from UC San Diego and the University of Haifa.

“Along the coast of Israel, submerged settlements, ancient harbors and sunken ships tell a unique story of 11,000 years of human resilience and adaptation,” explains Assaf Yasur-Landau, director of the Leon Racanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa.  “I am very excited for this tremendous opportunity in which both partners – the University of Haifa and UC San Diego – join forces to create pathbreaking underwater and coastal research as well as a joint training program on the Carmel Coast.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Lawfare Project threatens to sue UC Berkeley to ensure safety of Jewish students

Following a set of distressing events at the University of California, Berkeley, The Lawfare Project has sent a letter to Chancellor Carol Christ calling on the university to act to ensure Jewish students feel safe and welcome on campus. [Press release from the Lawfare Project]

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Book tells of kibbutz movement’s rise and fall

A kibbutz, an Israeli collective settlement, originally agricultural, operates on the principles of shared ownership, equality among the sexes, and collaboration. In Hakibbutz Ha’Artzi, Mapam, and the Demise of the Israel Labor Movement, Tal Elmaliach, a postdoctoral fellow at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, tells the history of the collapse of Soviet socialism in the late twentieth century and the concomitant death of the kibbutz movement (Hakibbutz Ha’Artzi) and Mapam, its political arm. He tells how the collapse of Hakibbutz Ha’Artzi accompanied the downfall of Histadrut, Israel’s federation of labor movements, which included both kibbutzim (plural of kibbutz) and industry, and Mapai, its political wing, whose power lay in the institutions it created through Marxist socialism. [Fred Riess, Ed.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Business & Finance, Fred Reiss, EdD, Middle East

Dita Kraus’ memoir tells of Shoah, early Israel

Antonio Iturbe, a Spanish author, wrote a fictional account of Dita (Polachova) Kraus’s life titled The Librarian of Auschwitz, in which Dita was cast as a heroine who risked her life to expose children at the notorious Nazi death camp to a few books on diverse subjects.  The point of the story, for many, was that in spite of the inhumanity all around them, there were people for whom kindness, literature, learning, and knowledge remained paramount objectives. Now comes Kraus’s own memoir of her remarkable life, which gives us a fuller picture of who she is, and the experiences she had pre- and post-Auschwitz. [Donald H. Harison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East

Calls mount for Stephen Miller’s resignation

Three San Diego County representatives – Democrats Susan Davis, Mike Levin, and Scott Peters – are among 108 members of the House and 24 Democratic Senators who thus far have called for the dismissal or resignation of Stephen Miller as a White House senior adviser, according to national news reports. Their call, reinforced by commentary from Jewish organizations disavowing the white nationalist sentiments of Miller, who is Jewish, came in the wake of leaked emails indicating that Miller has been pushing a xenophobic agenda. The emails were leaked to the Southern Poverty Law Center by a former Breitbard News reporter last November. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, USA

Climate change meets tradition in High Atlas Mountains

By Nicolas Pantelick MARRAKECH, Morocco — Two weeks ago, I set out with three of my colleagues from the High Atlas Foundation (HAF, Marrakech) to the village of Gourrama in the Moroccan Middle Atlas Mountains. Our journey, from sunrise to sunset, took us across rugged terrains and through communities of all sizes. I reveled in

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International, Middle East, The World We Share

Trump’s ‘Travesty of the Century’

After three years in office, one can hardly be surprised at what Trump is capable of saying, doing, or scheming. In the middle of his impeachment trial, Trump finally released his “deal of the century”—a deal that completely ignored several United Nations resolutions, accords that were sponsored by the European community and the United States, and bilateral agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. [Alon Ben-Meir, Ph.D.]

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Alon Ben-Meir, Middle East, USA

Hadassah Hospital treats San Diegan wounded in terror attack

  JERUSALEM (Press Release) — Ori Hamo’s father, Kobi, was planning a big surprise. He flew from San Diego to Israel on February 5 to attend his lone-soldier son’s swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall hours later. Ori joined the army in December. Ori and a group of soldiers were heading to the event in

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Middle East, San Diego County, USA

‘Deal of Century’ prompts split in Israeli right wing

It’s been a while since Bibi pressed Trump to release his Deal of the Century. As we’ve heard from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner, it’s more a vision than a concrete plan. Somewhere at its heart are several basic ideas, such as Israeli expansion and the creation of a Palestinian state. However, there is a lot of detail to work through, most likely by negotiations before anything major can occur. However, Bibi’s base, more than Bibi himself, has seized on the elements favorable to them and are urging unilateral Israeli expansion. Depending on who’s talking, it’s a formal acquisition of the Jordan Valley, Maale Adumim, Gush Etzion, Ariel, and other settlements. Bibi has wavered between encouraging this kind of talk, saying that he’d do it this week or next, and saying that he needs the support of the Americans to do it. [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Tu B’Shevat celebrated throughout S.D. County

Notwithstanding Sunday’s rain, various celebrations in honor of Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees, were held throughout San Diego County, kicking off a week of observances of what some call “Jewish Arbor Day.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

JAFI’s Isaac Herzog brings unity message to SDJA

Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and once Opposition Leader in the Knesset, met on Friday with small groups at Leichtag Commons, the San Diego Jewish Academy, and the Jewish Federation of San Diego, as part of his mission to build stronger bridges between Jews of Israel and the Diaspora. I caught up with him at the San Diego Jewish Academy, where he was welcomed by Charles Wax, the chairman of Waxie Sanitary Supply, who was the first president of the 40-year-old Academy, and also is a donor to JAFI’s “Wings” program which supports “Lone Soldiers” from abroad who are injured or wounded during their service with the Israel Defense Forces. [Donald H. Harrison]

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