By Yaakov Lappin WASHINGTON, D.C –At the start of this week, hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists planned to board passenger planes and fly to Israel. Their plan, according to Israeli intelligence assessments, was to join Palestinian demonstrations in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, events that had a high potential to turn violent. The activists, […]
Israel’s organization turned ‘flytilla’ into a non-event Read More »
Middle East
By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — On Tuesday night I shared a fascinating lesson plan from Yad Vashem (Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority) with my Community Jewish High students. The lesson juxtaposed two reports from a transport that carried Jews from Dusseldorf, Germany to Riga, Latvia that left on December 11, 1941.
Let’s be the ‘village’ that supports Israel locally Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East
By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM –The full Hebrew name of Holocaust Memorial Day is yom hasho’a v’hagvurah, the day of catastrophe and heroism. The commemorations in Israel tend to put at least as much stress on the heroism as on the catastrophe. Thus the annual state ceremony at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial complex, in
Yom HaShoah and the Iran threat Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — What was supposed to be a routine ceremony in the official residence of the President of Israel turned out to be a spirited rebuttal in the current debate about the relationship between Israel’s Supreme Court and the Knesset. It has been flamed by a new proposal by Minister of
Peres and Grunis oppose letting Knesset override Supreme Court Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM –I surmise that most of the media in the Diaspora that report on Israel will describe the way the Government of Israel handled the “flytilla” earlier this week to have been not only successful but also prudent. That’s not the only impression I get here. To recap: Several hundred activists
How did Israel handle ‘flytilla?’ Depends on whom you ask Read More »
Middle East
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Only a 15-minute walk from our home in French Hill is Mt Scopus. That is the site of the Social Science Faculty and several other units of the Hebrew University. A half-hour walk around the perimeter of Mt Scopus–outside the campus–is a good way to spend a cool morning.
A walking tour of Jerusalem with Ira Sharkansky Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM– I’ve believed for a long time that the greatest danger that the Jewish state is currently facing doesn’t come from the outer threat of Iranian nukes but from within, particularly from the continued expansion of the settlements. I thought I saw ample evidence of it when my wife and I spent
Palestinian Jew-hatred a major threat to peace Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Even to my untrained eye and deaf ear Gunther Grass’ poem that has created such a furor in Israel and in Germany isn’t great poetry. It reads even in the original like an old man’s rant in search of attention, even though the author who is a distinguished writer
Yishai overreacts to Grass’s poem Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It is hard to know if this is a time to cry, laugh, or more simply to recognize the intractable nature of Israel’s problems in the Middle East. I’m not about to go back to Fall River, and certainly not to my grandparents’ home town of Bialystok. I’ve gotten used
Iran and Palestine follow ‘no-negotiation’ strategies Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
HEBRON, Israel — While many Israelis fly off to various points around the globe for Passover, those of us who stay home and are fortunate enough to have some time off during the week-long holiday use the time to explore and get to know the country better. One group that’s helping make that happen
Israelis pour into Hebron for Passover Read More »
Jewish Religion, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — A recent poll about American Jews’ political inclinations raises once again the issue of how the two largest Jewish communities are developing, each in its own way. Figures are not entirely reliable, especially outside of Israel, but one reasonable compilation shows that the American and Israeli communities comprise about two
Many differences emerge between Israeli and American Jews Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–The fact that the peace process that was to lead to a two-state solution is going nowhere isn’t news, but the fact that Yossi Beilin – the architect of the 1993 Oslo Accord that gave birth to the idea and charted a path for its realization – has now called for
Beilin calls for dismantling the Palestine Authority Read More »
Middle EastBy Samara Greenberg WASHINGTON, D.C. –A delegation from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) made its first official visit to the United States this week, where it has spent time in New York and Washington, DC talking to think tank experts and White House officials about the Brotherhood’s growing role in Cairo.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood launches a PR offensive Read More »
Middle EastBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–Within a very short time after hearing that the eviction of the settlers at Machpelah House had been postponed, they were, in fact, evicted. In a moment of premature enthusiasm I thought: “Three cheers for the Prime Minister.” But those cheers may have been premature. For the Prime Minister may not
Did Netanyahu make a backroom deal with settlers? Read More »
Middle East