Middle East

 ‘Queens of Jerusalem’ Book Seeks to Rectify Historians’ Neglect of Women

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Author Katherine Pangonis notes in her preface to “Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule” that “this is a book about women and power.” The wives and daughters of crusader kings and princes in the Holy Land sometimes found themselves in the position of default ruler

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Israel, Jewish History, Middle East

What Will Happen to the Refuge That is Israel?

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — It is a cruel irony that Israelis are preparing to move to Germany or Poland where their parents or grandparents survived Hitler. “They’re willing to accept a drop in their standard of living because they’re so worried that their freedom of movement will be curtailed,” Shay Obazanek told The

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Bruce Ticker, Israel, Middle East, Opinion, USA

New Lesson Plans Help Advance White House’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism

(Press Release) To help advance the White House’s recently released U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) has curated a collection of lesson plans and educational units on antisemitism and Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, all of which are available at no cost to state departments of education, school districts, and individual schools.

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California, Middle East, USA

Blinken Says West Bank Unrest an Impediment for Israel’s Normalization Hopes

Published by Reuters By Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Turmoil in the occupied West Bank, where violence between Jewish settlers and Palestinians is spiraling, is making Israel’s goal of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia “a lot tougher, if not impossible,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday. The Biden administration

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Middle East

Federation’s Community-Wide Israel Trip is Filled With Poignant Moments

By Jacob Kamaras LA JOLLA, California — For the 219 community members and professionals who traveled to Israel in May on Jewish Federation of San Diego “CommUNITY” trip, the timing of their visit to San Diego’s longtime partner region of Sha’ar HaNegev was unforgettable. Rocket attacks in the area began just hours after the visitors

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Israel, Jacob Kamaras, Middle East, San Diego County

Prof. Deborah Hertz Researches Liberated Jewish Women

Deborah Hertz, a UC San Diego historian who holds the Herman Wouk Chair in Modern Jewish Studies, has focused in her career on Jewish women who broke free of the bonds of “daughter, wife, and mother” and made their marks in a variety of fields. [Donald H. Harrison]

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California, Donald H. Harrison, International, Israel, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Smoldering Iran Nuclear Crisis Risks Catching Fire

Published by Reuters By Arshad Mohammed, John Irish, Jonathan Landay and Parisa Hafezi WASHINGTON/PARIS/DUBAI (Reuters) – Even as the United States and its European allies grapple with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions with China, the smoldering crisis over Iran’s nuclear program threatens to reignite. In a sign of European concern, Britain, France and

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Middle East

Sharaka Brings Expanded Arab Delegation to March of the Living as Part of Landmark Holocaust Education Program

JERUSALEM (Press Release) — Sharaka, a non-governmental initiative that grows the impact of the Abraham Accords by transforming the vision of people-to-people peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors into a reality, brought 22 Arab participants to this year’s International March of the Living in Poland as part of a first-of-its-kind year-long program that promotes

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Holocaust, International, Israel, Middle East

Israel’s Reaction to Iran’s Plan to Destroy the Jewish State

By Steve Kramer KFAR SABA, Israel — Israel is currently in an interim period of religious and national holidays which will be over by the end of May. The Knesset is on vacation while hopefully intense negotiations are being held in President Herzog’s residence, seeking to compromise on the proposed judicial system legislation. These negotiations

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Israel, Middle East, Opinion, Steve Kramer, USA

US Says it Will Protect Personnel in Syria After Deadly Attack

Published by Reuters By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Friday said it would protect its personnel in Syria after the U.S. military carried out air strikes against Iran-backed forces in retaliation for an attack that killed an American contractor and wounded five U.S. troops. Just a day after the

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Middle East

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Discusses Mideast Assassinations and Diplomacy in Candid Documentary

Israeli Filmmaker Ran Tal has put together a fascinating documentary in which former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak contemplates whether Middle Eastern history would have changed if plans to assassinate Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had been approved during the 1970s by his superiors. At that time, Barak was an up and coming officer in the IDF, not important enough to make policy, but sufficiently well placed to carry it out. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Israel, Jewish History, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Israeli and Arab Scientists Work Together to Solve Regional Water Challenges

By Celia Theller With its origins near the city of Hebron, the Besor Stream winds its way 18 kilometers through the Negev Desert to the city of Beersheva and onward to the Gaza Strip, where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of 16 streams in Israel that are shared between Israel and

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Israel, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education