By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Being critical of Israeli government policies seems essential to those who fear that complacency with the status quo may bring the country to ruin. However, at no time must this obscure the fact that Israel’s very existence is a miracle and that those of us privileged to live here are
The daily miracle that is Israel Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It isn’t the Caribbean image of paradise made popular by Harry Belafonte, but the Israeli reality of being out of step with its surroundings. And the surroundings extend much farther than its Muslim neighbors. They also include pretty much the whole world as represented by the United Nations, as well
Perceptions of U.S. readers far from Israeli realities Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, says the U.S. will no longer automatically exercise its veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel. In testimony before the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Power specifically declined to rule out support for resolutions on Palestinian
Does Israel’s security ‘matter’ to Obama? Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USABy Michael Ordman NETANYA, Israel — In Israel and in many other countries, the age of 67 is when adults usually leave employment and start receiving their old-age pension. But as the State of Israel celebrates its own 67th birthday it shows no sign of stopping its work to benefit humanity, and is even increasing
Positively Israel ~ April 22, 2015 Read More »
Michael Ordman, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & EducationAt 67th birthday, Israel’s population stands at 8.345 million (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics published new figures ahead of Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) showing that the country’s population stands at 8,345,000, about 10.4 times greater than the population of 806,000 when the Jewish state was founded in 1948. Jewish residents number
Jewish news briefs, April 22, 2015 Read More »
Middle East, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Forty years ago, Saigon fell to communist North Vietnam. Images of terrified South Vietnamese clambering to the roof of the U.S. embassy, and Vietnamese helicopter pilots ferrying them to ships and then pushing the helicopters overboard to make room for more refugees are still heart-wrenching. Vietnam represented a change in
Arming countries, then pulling out, recipe for disaster Read More »
International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USAFormer Egyptian president Morsi gets 20 years in prison (JNS.org) Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted as Egypt’s president in July 2013, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Egyptian court on Tuesday. A leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood—a political party that is now a state-designated terrorist organization in Egypt—Morsi was convicted on
Jewish news briefs: April 21, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–We are seeing yet again the bobbing and feinting, complex maneuvers, and pursuit of partial treatment for problems that have no solution. We find it in relations between Israel and Palestine, with different moves toward Palestine West Bank and Palestine Gaza, between Israel and the US, as well as with Britain, Russia,
Half measures, bobbing, feinting in int’l politics Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastPope Francis meets with leading European rabbis at Vatican (JNS.org) Pope Francis met with a delegation of leading European rabbis at the Vatican on Monday to discuss Jewish-Christian relations and the ongoing surge of European anti-Semitism. The delegation was from the Conference of European Rabbis, which represents more than 700 rabbis from synagogues across Europe.
Jewish news briefs: April 20, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USA
By Anav Silverman JERUSALEM (Tazpit) — Ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day on April 22, the day on which the Jewish state officially remembers its fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, a unique cookbook compiled with recipes by bereaved mothers who have lost their children to war and terror has recently been published. The cookbook, a
Cookbook recalls favorite recipes of fallen IDF soldiers Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle EastBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Jewish and Israeli history is replete with both tragic and joyful events, and in fact the life of a Jew living in Israel is something of a roller-coaster existence, taking us from the depths of sorrow one day to the sublime heights of joy the next, whether it’s
An emotional roller coaster during Israel’s holidays Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Jewish History, Middle EastYes, It’s Possible by Ehud Diskin, Gefen Publishing House, 2015 By Sheila Orysiek SAN DIEGO — On the first page of the Preface – as well as several more times throughout his book – Ehud Diskin makes the following statement: “Long ago I defined the principles by which I would live my life……to try and
From the Jewish library: ‘Yes, It’s Possible’ Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Like some of the readers of these columns, I grew up in the US during the 1940s and 1950s. It was a time of assimilation for Jews and all the rest of the hoi polloi who had streamed from Europe. The US was ascendant as the result of World War II,
Face it, this is not the U.S. of our childhoods Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–The unexpected victory of Netanyahu’s Likud in last month’s elections in Israel was largely at the expense of the two parties ideologically closest to it: Naftali Bennett’s Habayit Hayehud (the heir of the National Religious Party now wedded to the settler movement) and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu with immigrants from the
Coalition building seems to preclude ‘unity gov’t’ Read More »
Middle East