By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — “If you want a friend in this town, buy a dog.” That was Harry Truman’s way of saying that politics is a matter of pursuing interests, not friends. Another expression meaning about the same thing: If “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” prevails in heaven, […]
Don’t look for ‘friends’ in Middle Eastern politics Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Reading about a conference on genocide held in Frankfurt, Germany, in March 2011 which appeared in Second Generation Voices, a journal for and by the descendants of Holocaust survivors which is published in England, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. Admittedly, the title of the conference
Palestinians: victims or persecutors? Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Ilan Grapel is not Gilad Shalit. Grapel is an immigrant from the United States who served in the IDF, and was wounded during the Second Lebanese War of 2006. Egyptian authorities seized him in June of this year during the protests in Tahrir Square, and accused him of spying for Israel. Descriptions
Ilan Grapel no Gilad Shalit Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
By J. Zel Lurie DELRAY BEACH, Florida — November 29, 1947 is the name of an important street in Jerusalem. In Hebrew it is called Kaf Tet November. It marks the date when the General Assembly of the United Nations voted by a two-thirds majority to partition the small state of Palestine into two smaller
Siege of Jerusalem 1947-48. A memoir. Read More »
Jewish History, Middle EastBy Yaakov Lappin WASHINGTON, D.C. –It is not often that scenes of joy wash over Israel and the Gaza Strip simultaneously. Israelis were celebrating the freedom of a soldier who was abducted five years ago while guarding his country’s borders. He was seized in an unprovoked cross-border raid and held by Hamas in violation of
Hamas a winner in Shalit deal, but so was Israel Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Amid the public news dealing with the grand issues of Muammar Qaddafi and Gilad Shalit, our personal weekend brought me to recall my various experiences with the Russians of Israel. It began at an Absorption Center outside of Jerusalem in the Summer of 1975. It was the tail end of
The assimilation of Russian Israelis Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Gabriel M. Scheinmann WASHINGTON, D.C. — This year, in a major breakthrough, Israeli Iron Dome batteries successfully intercepted scores of rockets and missiles fired from Gaza. Its 85% success rate has been a major deterrent of Gazan rocket fire and has propelled heated interest in the system by NATO countries and South Korea. These
Turkey balks at U.S.-led regional missile defense against Iran if Israel is involved Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — You’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words. You’ve seen the pictures of Muammar Qaddifi’s death. Given the comments of Barack Obama and the analysis that appeared in the New York Times, I’m not at that sure that enough American understand what they have seen. Recall George W.
Libyan dictator’s violent death depicts neighborhood in which Israel lives Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Morton A. Klein and Dr. Daniel Mandel NEW YORK– Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped in 2006 and held captive in Hamas-controlled Gaza, has been freed. This is a joyous day for him, his family and world Jewry. However, is the price Israel paid – the freeing 1,027 Palestinians prisoners, including hundreds of convicted,
ZOA: Israel paid too high a price for Gilad Shalit Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It’s hard to believe after a week of Gilad Shalit, but there are other happenings in this world that we share with the goyim. Today it was only necessary to reach page 12 in Ha’aretz to find something happening outside of Israel and its immediate neighbors. News from over the
Secular Jews fret over Haredim and Arabs in neighborhood Read More »
Middle EastSAN DIEGO — The following offer from Jewish National Fund to plant for free a tree in Israel in honor of Galid Shalit’s release was received Tuesday morning, October 18, at San Diego Jewish World, and verified by telephone with the public relations department of JNF in New York City: Plant a tree for FREE
Plant a Tree for free for Gilad Shalit Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–As I am beginning this column, it is 6 AM and the radio is reporting the many details of the transfer of prisoners toward their exchange for Gilad Shalit. It is not the excitement that put me to work this early. Generally my old bones achieve the rest they need earlier than
Questions remain as prisoner transfer begins Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle EastBy Lillian Faderman and Roz Rothstein LOS ANGELES -Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas formally asked the United Nations on September 23 to recognize a Palestinian state. And on September 28 the application was passed to a standing committee that must now review whether to return to the pre-1967 borders. Abbas’s bid doesn’t just violate past
New Palestinian state would be anti-Semitic and homophobic Read More »
Middle East
By Rabbi Dow Marmur TORONTO, Canada — The most cited call for Jewish survival after the Holocaust came from Canada. The late Emil Fackenheim, University of Toronto philosophy professor, argued that the tragedy the Nazis inflicted on the Jewish people had given rise to a new commandment to be added to the biblical 10: in
Jewish survival depends on Israel’s Read More »
Middle East