Middle East

Victoria, what you’ve ‘learned’ in college about Israel is not true

I learned how Israeli forces slaughtered over 30 children in a protest for Palestinian rights. I read about the closure of the Gaza Strip, and how Palestinians have to apply to work or seek specialty medical care in Israel, and oftentimes have their application denied. And in one night of reeducating myself, I became a pro-Palestinian Jew.

S: Congratulations, another self-hating Jew – and in only one night, without ever visiting the area. Israel hasn’t slaughtered over 30 children. The IDF is second to none in restricting its soldiers’ behavior towards non-combatants. It’s the Palestinian Arabs who don’t hesitate to push their children in front of them, instead of putting themselves in front of the kids for their protection. The parents also allow, even encourage, their teenagers to participate in dangerous riots at the border. This is totally immoral. 

Victoria, what you’ve ‘learned’ in college about Israel is not true Read More »

International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Steve Kramer, USA

Did New York Times intentionally whitewash 9-11?

(I)t is with great surprise—as we recall the attacks upon our nation on September 11, 2001— that The New York Times wrote:

18 Years have passed since airplanes took aim and brought down the World Trade Center. Today, families will once again gather and grieve at the site where more than 2000 people died.

Notice the politically correct nomenclature the writer chose, “airplanes took aim,” and not Jihadi terrorists.

Did New York Times intentionally whitewash 9-11? Read More »

International, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USA

Netanyahu maneuvering in run-up to election

the current prime minister of Israel is doing his utmost to show himself to the electorate as a statesman with an international profile. That’s why he went to see the British prime minister Boris Johnson, who could only give the visitor half-an-hour of his time. This doesn’t seem to have been enough for Netanyahu to remember his host’s name. I saw him refer on television to his visit to Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin….

Today, Netanyahu is seeing Russia’s Vladimir Putin who may want Netanyahu re-elected. There’s much to suggest that Putin secretly approves of Israel pounding Iranian positions in Syria because he doesn’t want anybody else than himself to breathe down the neck of President Assad.

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International, Middle East, USA

GI Film Festival Preview: ‘That’s Mine’

Suppose you were a military careerist, one who has risen to the rank of colonel with responsibility as a brigade commander. Suppose also that you were coming up for a promotion that would put an entire armored division under your command.

In the case of Roni (Shimon Mimram), the promotion is conditioned upon him extending the period of his military service – ordinarily a requirement that would cause him no qualms.  But over the last two years, Roni has been replaying in his head a conversation he had with his son Roy. (Or Ben-Melech)

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego Calendar, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Our Shtetl San Diego: September 10, 2019

Subjects in this column:
* Nine Israeli professors join faculties at three area universities
*Traffic will detour during two days of construction at Schwartz Courthouse
* Republican Famela Ramos joins race to succeed Susan Davis
* ADL, Aspen Institute name Nathan Fletcher to Civil Society Fellowship
* San Diego’s New StandWithUs Director Has Roots in the Region
* Preliminary hearing Sept. 19 in Chabad of Poway shootings 

Our Shtetl San Diego: September 10, 2019 Read More »

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

After breast cancer: Time to sing a new song

When you’ve had cancer, your emotional taste buds change everything. A sunset is more brilliant, smells of flowers are magnified, music touches the heart more. So when my daughter sent me a WhatsApp in December, 2017, that she was in the delivery room in a hospital in the Negev, I burst into tears. We have, bli ayin hara, many grandchildren, and I’ve attended some of those births, but I never cried before upon hearing that a daughter was in the delivery room. Yet here I was sobbing uncontrollably.

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Toby Klein Greenwald

Before your next cruise, call Nancy Harrison

(advertisement) Nancy’s Travel Service is a division of The Harrison Enterprises, LLC Affiliated with Avoya Travel, Nancy Harrison is a specialist in cruises.  As part of The Harrison Enterprises, LLC, along with her husband Don, Nancy was involved in the establishment of the San Diego Cruise Industry Consortium, which lured cruise ships to San Diego.

Before your next cruise, call Nancy Harrison Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, International, Middle East, Travel and Food, USA

Wiesenthal Center: Stop Funding UNRWA

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s (SWC’s) associate dean and director of global social action, has called on donor nations to the United Nations Relief and  Works Agency (“UNRWA”) to either pull their funding from the scandal-plagued agency or demand far greater transparency as well as complete restructuring of the UN mechanism for delivering assistance.

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International, Middle East

Qatar must permit Israelis to attend 2022 World Cup finals

-StandWithUs has issued an Action Alert that calls upon FIFA, the international soccer association, to ensure that the Qatari government will issue entry visas to Israeli fans wishing to attend the FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar in 2022. To date, Israel is not included in Qatar’s online list of nearly 250 nationalities an

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Middle East, Sports & Competitions