Middle East

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — I learnt the term that heads this page last Tuesday at a meeting in the Knesset. It was coined as a variant of the Hebrew for “money laundering” (halbanat hon) to read halbanat khok. The occasion was a meeting hosted by Zahava Galon, the leader of Meretz, to which

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–To mark the latest heated exchanges about Jerusalem between the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and the Prime Minister of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu, I decided to make my first trip on the city’s new light railway (streetcar). It took me to the Arab villages – now Jerusalem suburbs –

By James Colbert WASHINGTON, D.C. — Israel, the United States, and Europe share grave concern over the Iranian theocracy’s politics and its serial use of violence in pursuit of its goals. The Islamic Republic formally declared war on the west and is the major state sponsor, funder, and trainer of terrorism, including plotting terror in

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–Shimon Peres is one of the greatest presidents Israel has ever had. Even the Israeli public that so mistrusted him in his long career as a politician has come to appreciate the dignity he bestows on the many ceremonial events he attends and the good image of Israel he projects abroad.

By David Bedein JERUSALEM — Flashback to 1976. I was then escorted with a delegation of social work professionals to visit UNRWA facilities in Gaza. There, Dr. Eli Lasch,then the head of the Israel Civil Administration’s Gaza health department, explained that his life’s mission was to eradicate infant mortality in the teeming UNRWA Gaza facilities

By Rabbi Dow Marmur Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM –Unfortunately, it’s not as exciting as it’s being presented in the media.Israel’s Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision may have made an historic ruling when it refused to allow the extension of the law that exempts ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Jews from military service. However, in order not to

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–When the founders of modern Zionism hoped that having a country of their own would make Jews like all other nations, they didn’t think that the Jews would adopt any of the despicable traits of the anti-Semites among whom they lived in dispersion. The aim of Zionism was not only to

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM –The more the pundits write and talk aboutIran, the less do we seem to know what’s really going on. Perhaps this is because the experts are as ignorant as the public, just more articulate. Here’re a few of the many possible scenarios I’ve gleaned of late: 1. A strike onIran’s

By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM –Not being one of them, I find it often quite uncomfortable to walk in ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods inIsrael, e.g., Meah Shearim in Jerusalem, especially in the company of women. And when I read the notices and the graffiti on the walls, I become depressed by their often hysterical anti-Israel tone. It’s