International

Shoshana Bryen: U.S. Encourages Palestinian Intransigence

In a meeting in May with then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the Biden administration priority “to continue to rebuild our relationship with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority.” Now, after announcing it wants to open a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem for the Palestinians, come reports that the administration is working on a plan for a Palestinian “unity government” of Hamas and Fatah to negotiate the “two-state solution” with Israel. [Shoshana Bryen]

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA

StandWithUs Seeks Formal Investigation of Antisemitism at UC Santa Cruz

StandWithUs called for a formal investigation by the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) leadership into a case where the Muslim Students Association (MSA) likely denied a Jewish student their constitutional rights during a Zoom public meeting, as outlined in a legal letter to the administration sent by StandWithUs and the Jewish student. For the student’s safety, their identity is being kept anonymous. An independent source provided StandWithUs with a captured video of the MSA’s egregious effort to marginalize and stigmatize this Jewish student through discriminatory action. [StandWithUs]

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

‘She The People’ Comedy Heads West to San Diego

This cutting-edge comedy has been delighting audiences in Toronto, Boston, Washington DC, and Chicago over the past three years, and now the Lyceum will host this group of world-famous comedic stars.  The Washington Post described this show as a “funny, fiercely political comedy-sketch show.” This script is written and performed by an all-female troupe and pokes fun at the female experience, attendant stereotypes, and common experiences. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Lizerbram: Israeli Technology Can Help the World Solve Climate Change

People often ask me how Israel copes with climate change. Yet Israelis don’t look to cope; they look to solve. When Israelis wanted faster computers, they invented the Intel microchip. When they were tired of missing phone messages, they invented voicemail. And when they were fed up with peak-hour traffic, they invented Waze. As the world faces the behemothic challenge of climate change, tiny Israel—a country the size of New Jersey—could serve as a light unto the nations to solve this macro-environmental crisis. [JNS.org]

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Middle East, The World We Share, USA

Israeli Shekel Increasing in Value Against Other Currencies

The shekel is strong. The dollar is weak. What does that mean? Commentary here puts the blame on high investments from overseas in Israel, especially in high-tech. It also means that Israeli purchases in the US, or in dollar-linked countries–including Israeli travel overseas, are cheap. But Israel exports to the same places aren’t as profitable as usual. There are fewer dollars coming into the country in exchange for what’s exported.  [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Business & Finance, International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Eye Surgeon Works Nearly Non-Stop in Ethiopia

It comes as no surprise that we inhabit an unequal world. We have only to look around us to see that there are those blessed with material goods, living in areas where services are accessible and abundant, contrasted with those who lack even the essentials such as food and shelter. Here in America, as in most developed nations, we seldom consider what it means to have no constant clean source of water or minimal medical services. In Ethiopia, this is the norm. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, International, Science, Medicine, & Education

No Time to Dress: Lifesaving Rescue Made in Pajamas

Just after 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, a 92-year-old woman was riding in a car with her daughter and granddaughter near the train station in Modi’in when she suddenly lost consciousness. Her conscientious daughter and granddaughter pulled the car over and called emergency services for help while attempting to perform CPR on the elderly matriarch in the car.  United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Noemie Dray was at her home in Modi’in when the emergency took place. Noemie was asleep after a late-night shift in the Pediatric Ward of Sheba Hospital where she works when she isn’t attending classes. Noemie heard the alert from her emergency communications device, got up, and ran out of the house, without even having time to change clothes.  [United Hatzalah]

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Psychologist Advocates for Recognition of The Ghost Army

Bert Edelstein elevated his hand one foot above the table at which he was sitting.  “My correspondence file is almost this thick,” he commented. He sent letters to the House of Representatives and the Senate.  After the House adopted legislation to recognize the Ghost Army with a Congressional Gold Medal, the focus turned to the U.S. Senate.  Under the rules, for the measure even to be considered in committee, it must have at least 67 co-sponsors — two-thirds of the full Senate.  The count is getting closer and closer. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA

Kansas Republican leaders condemn comparisons of COVID-19 mandates and Holocaust

Published by The Kansas City Star TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Republican leaders rejected comparisons of COVID-19 vaccine requirements to the Holocaust Friday after a former Kansas City, Kansas, mayoral candidate donned a yellow star to testify on the Legislature’s plans to resist federal rules. Two statements, posted to social media by Senate President Ty Masterson

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USA

Jewish Veterans Swap Favorite Stories of Military Times

After raising the flag and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, military veterans at  Tifereth Israel Synagogue on Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11, shared some of the happier stories about their time in the military or just afterwards. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food, USA

In Australia, Veterans Day is Remembrance Day

The annual Remembrance Day commemoration on 11th November, not only marks the day when World War One officially ended, commemorating those who served and made the ultimate scarify in a war over a century ago, but is an continuing tribute to all who served in subsequent wars and conflicts in which Australian personal were involved. [Garry Fabian]

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International, Jewish History