By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — The good news about 92 year-old Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef – whom the Shas party describes as its spiritual leader but who acts more like its sole owner – is that he has made a complete recovery from his mini stroke. The bad news about him is that he continues […]
Will Bennet succeed Netanyahu as prime minister? Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — One definition of a hypocrite is an individual who is guilty of faults more serious than those done by others that the hypocrite condemns as intolerable. Evolving events in northwestern Africa invite another look at Barack Obama’s comment that Israelis–and especially Benyamin Netanyahu–do not know what is good for
Hypocrisy in U.S. policy on fighting Muslim terrorists Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USAJewish man who helped Sandy Hook children harassed (JNS.org) Gene Rosen, a Jewish man who found and sheltered six terrified children who had run away from the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14, 2012, is being harassed by phone and email by conspiracy theorists who believe that the Newtown shooting was
JNS news briefs: January 18, 2013 Read More »
Middle EastBy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — As President Obama stood with Afghan President Karzai to announce the “Afghanization” of the war, it seems appropriate to weigh the president’s words on the way out against his words on the way in. We were in Afghanistan, of course, long before he got there, but the president’s 2009
Obama withdraws from Afghanistan; objectives unmet Read More »
Shoshana Bryen, USABy Isaac Yetiv, PhD LA JOLLA, California — They have done it again. Five hundred thirty seven elected officials in Washington and their thousands of aides, staff, lawyers, and lobbyists using tons of expensive modern equipment, could not produce, after months of bickering, mutual blaming and accusing, a just and lasting solution to the financial mess
A power grab by President Obama amid fiscal crisis Read More »
USAIsrael to open exhibit on biblical King Herod (JNS.org) The Jerusalem-based Israel Museum is scheduled in February to open an exhibit on the infamous biblical Jewish king, Herod the Great, the Associated Press reported. King Herod plays a significant role in Christianity, appearing in the Gospel of Matthew as the bloodthirsty tyrant behind the
JNS news briefs: January 17, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM–We were told that Israel’s prime minister tried to interfere in the US presidential elections last year by siding with Mitt Romney against the victorious Barack Obama. The latter has now returned the compliment by seemingly interfering in the Israeli elections. That’s the received and probably correct interpretation of the comments
Obama’s criticism may prove to Netanyahu’s benefit Read More »
USABy Alan Eisner WASHINGTON, D.C. — The furor that has surrounded the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel to be President Obama’s Secretary of Defense has shed a searing light on the way some political lobbies operate these days in Washington. Some seem to take their cue from a classic Monty Python sketch,“Nobody Expects the
Has opposition to Hagel backfired on Israel supporters? Read More »
Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — U.S. President Barack Obama has been quoted as saying that “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are.” This report about the President’s sentiments did not come directly from the President, but has been filtered through a journalist reporting what the President said to him, or what he heard
Obama-Netanyahu gulf widens Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, USALivni: Obama’s remarks on Israel’s best interests ‘need to wake up every Israeli citizen’ (JNS.org) Reacting to the report that President Barack Obama repeatedly said “Israel doesn’t know what its own best interests are,” Tzipi Livni—chairwoman of Israel’s new Hatnuah party—said the remarks “need to wake up every Israeli citizen.” “One can love or not
JNS news briefs: January 16, 2013 Read More »
InternationalPA minister denies Jewish history of Western Wall and all of Jerusalem (JNS.org) The Palestinian Authority (PA) recently said that all of Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, has never been used as a place of worship throughout history by anyone besides Muslims “until the ominous Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917.” This directly contradicts a
JNS news briefs: January 15, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — Martin Luther King Jr. was born 84 years ago today, January 15, 1929. He was 39 years old when shot down at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, 6:01 PM, Thursday, April 4, 1968. In his short lifetime, King collected a cadre of loyal and fervent friends and colleagues.
King’s Jewish advisor Levison all but forgotten Read More »
USABy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — I first met Israeli-born Rabbi Aryeh Azriel in 1983, shortly before he was ordained by the Hebrew Union College. Over the years we’ve encountered each other many times at conferences and on his frequent visits to Israel. For the last quarter-of-a-century he has been the spiritual leader of Temple
Here are some pro-Hagel Jewish voices Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — There is news about another chapter in the Crusade of Western democracies against what they refuse to label as a problem of Islam. The French have taken on the task of attacking–from the air and with ground troops–a northern Mali “army” of assorted Islamic groups that have threatened to overtake
‘Politically correct’ West turns eyes from Islam’s excesses Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East