By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Take your pick: which national leader has spoken his way to more damage than benefit? First consider the Palestinians. By all apparent measures, they have been both clumsy intellectually, and damaging to their people. To be sure, we must be wary of explaining Palestinian actions. The cultural divide between us […]
Foolish statements? Netanyahu and Abbas compete Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastMahmoud Abbas’s brother-in-law undergoes life-saving surgery in Israel (JNS.org) Amid ongoing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, a brother-in-law of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas underwent life-saving cardiac surgery at the Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv on Thursday, Israel Hayom reported. The Palestinian leader’s relative is still hospitalized and is under heavy guard. An
Middle East Roundup: October 23, 2015 Read More »
Middle East
JERUSALEM (WJC) — A delegation of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the Israel Council on Foreign Relations (ICFR) met with Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė in Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, Oct. 21, to discuss a number of issues. The meeting was also attended by the Baltic country’s foreign minister, Linas Linkevičius. Grybauskaitė told the WJC-ICFR
Never Again: Holocaust news for October 22, 2015 Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — No end of composers have been inspired by nature, and have gone on to inspire countless audiences in turn. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, and the French nineteenth century composers are just a few examples of this. But the composer whose music is above all the embodiment of
Mahler’s love of nature inspires Jerusalem Symphony Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual ArtsIsraeli hurt in Beit Shemesh stabbing; 1 perpetrator a known Hamas operative (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An Israeli man was lightly to moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in Beit Shemesh on Thursday morning—an attack that could have been worse had it not been for the quick response of the Israeli security forces and vigilant
Middle East Roundup: October 22, 2015 Read More »
Middle East
By Jennie Starr SAN DIEGO — I am an Israeli-American, raised in the US, but I didn’t learn to speak Hebrew until I was an adult. Speaking Hebrew strengthened my connection to Israel, family, Israelis and even Jewish life. It helped me relate, made me more passionate about Israel’s vitality, and increased my sense of
The importance of teaching children Hebrew Read More »
Middle East, USAP.M. Netanyahu distorts Holocaust history By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Binyamin Netanyahu, the son of a respected historian, should know better than to distort history for his political purposes. Addressing the Zionist Congress currently in session in Jerusalem he said that Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews, only to expel them from
Never again: Holocaust news for October 21, 2015 Read More »
Jewish History, Middle EastIsrael’s first computerized sign language lexicon goes online (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s first online sign language lexicon launches Wednesday. In the lexicon—which is the fruit of two years of work by the Institute for the Advancement of Deaf Persons in Israel (IADPI)—users enter a word in Hebrew, English, Arabic, or Russian, and immediately, a
Middle East Roundup: October 21, 2015 Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The alleged division of Jerusalem.has brought forth a prolonged singing of our national anthem, oy gevalt. In order to deal with the recent wave of violence coming from the most restive of the Arab neighborhoods, exit roads have been staffed with police who search those leaving. Large concrete blocks have
Some divisions in Jerusalem are economic Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — West Bank Palestinians are — and are known to be — the most privileged refugees in the world. They are not running; they do not have to. Unlike Syrians, no one is dropping barrel bombs on them, starving them, or refusing them entry — as Jordan does with Palestinians
New ‘peace talks’ in Middle East now pointless Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana BryenIsraeli transportation minister floats ‘Jerusalem guard’ plan to secure city (JNS.org) A proposal to create a “Jerusalem guard”—a special police force comprising several thousand officers permanently deployed in Israel’s capital—is being considered by the Israeli Diplomatic-Security Cabinet, according to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz. Katz said Monday that he presented the plan to the cabinet and
Middle East Roundup: October 20, 2015 Read More »
Middle EastIsraelis on yacht rescue drowning Mideast refugees (JNS.org) On Sunday, a yacht from an Israeli civilian navigation school conducting training near the Turkish coast encountered and rescued 11 Syrian and Iraqi migrants whose boat had capsized, in addition to a 6-month-old baby who did not survive. The group of Israelis from the Ashdod-based Poseidon school
Middle East Roundup: October 19, 2015 Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The New York Times should do better than Jodi Rudoren. Her screed, presented as a lead article, deals with the suffering of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. It meets the elemental demands of balance by virtue of noting the violence directed by Palestinians at Israeli Jews, but its tilt is heavily
The anti-Israel bias of the New York Times Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–Israelis usually distinguish between security and politics. Even political foes will support those in power when it comes to defending the country and its citizens. If they disagree, it may be because they believe that the measures aren’t harsh enough. Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu now in opposition, has
Political settlement needed to end terror Read More »
Middle East