International

Hardline cleric Raisi sworn in as Iran president amid tensions with West

Published by Reuters By Parisa Hafezi DUBAI (Reuters) -Hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took the oath of office before parliament on Thursday, with the Islamic Republic’s clerical rulers facing growing crises at home and abroad. The mid-ranking Shi’ite cleric formally started his four-year term on Tuesday when supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei endorsed his victory […]

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Middle East

Telling the Truth About the Palestinians

By Bruce S. Ticker PHILADELPHIA — “If the Republicans will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them.” — Adlai Stevenson “During the 1948 war,” says letter-writer Bob Holden of Los Angeles, “the Israelis expelled more than half the Palestinian population (some 700,000) and seized their land and businesses

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

New report slams social media giants for ‘failing to act on antisemitism’

(JNS) A new report by the Center to Counter Digital Hate (CCDH) revealed that five major social media companies failed to act upon 84 percent of antisemitic posts on their websites, despite promising to double down on antisemitism. Researchers from the non-governmental organization examined 714 racist anti-Jewish posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok that

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International

How three Israeli filmmakers wound up becoming the story in Africa

By Josh Hasten (JNS) Three Israeli documentary filmmakers arrived home safely from Nigeria at the end of last week, after what they described as 20 “hellish days” detained under inhumane conditions by the government’s Department of State Services (DSS) security agency. Rudy Rochman, David Benaym and Noam Leibman had set off for the African country

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Middle East

Mexico seeks $10 billion in damages from gun makers in U.S. lawsuit

Published by Reuters By Dave Graham and Laura Gottesdiener MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico sued several gun makers in a U.S. federal court on Wednesday, accusing them of negligent business practices that generated illegal arms trafficking which led to deaths in Mexico. The lawsuit alleges that units of Smith & Wesson; Barrett Firearms; Colt’s Manufacturing

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USA

Israel: Iran weeks away from weapons-grade nuclear material

Published by DPA Israel warned on Wednesday that its arch-enemy Iran is weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade nuclear material. “Iran has violated all of the guidelines set in the JCPOA and is only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon,” Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said, using the acronym

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Middle East

Israel Adopts Tighter Rules in Response to COVID-19 Resurgence

Israel’s ministerial committee approved new restrictions on fighting the spread of COVID-19, announced the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday. They are set to be instituted on Aug. 8 as a result of the uptick in Delta-variant infection rates in the country, according to the PMO. [jns.org]

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, Travel and Food

German government funds research into anti-Semitism and extremism

Published by DPA The German government is to put 35 million euros (42 million dollars) into research into anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, Research Minister Anja Karliczek said in Berlin on Wednesday. “Jewish life – unfortunately one has to say this – is threatened in Germany to an extent not seen for a long time,” she

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International

Satire: Hamlet’s Soliloquy in the Age of Covid

To mask or not to mask, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The coughs and dangers of contagious Covid,
Rather than cover nose and mouth, suffocating.    
Or by opposing mandates to die—to infect,  
Tethered to ventilators, bereft of breath,   
The long haul and virulent spikes
That flesh succumbs to, like consumption. … {Laurie Baron, Ph.D]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Israel Ambassador calls for Firing UNWRA Workers Who Promoted Violence

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, is urging the United Nations and world leaders to take action against the U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNWRA) after a watchdog report found more than 100 UNRWA educators and staff have publicly promoted violence and anti-Semitism on social media. [JNS.org]

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International, Middle East, USA

Billboard Questions NY Times Minimal Coverage of Antisemitism

A billboard with the photo of New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger has been erected outside the newspaper’s headquarters at 620 Eighth Ave. in New York, denouncing the paper’s failure to cover the “full truth” about surging anti-Semitism. It was placed by the media watchdog group CAMERA, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, which has used the platform before to raise awareness of Jewish issues. [JNS.org]

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USA

Team Israel Out of Running for Olympics Baseball Medal

Team Israel baseball’s hopes of an Olympic medal ended on Tuesday after it lost a game in dramatic fashion to the Dominican Republic. It lost 7-6 to the Dominicans after former MLB All-Star José Bautista drove in a walk-off, RBI single off Israeli pitcher DJ Sharabi in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the game. [JNS.org]

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International, Middle East, Sports & Competitions

Thousands of migrant kids stuck in U.S. border patrol custody, again

Published by Reuters By Mica Rosenberg and Go Nakamura ROMA, Texas (Reuters) -The number of migrant children in Border Patrol facilities has been steadily rising, an analysis of U.S. government data shows, as record numbers crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in July, renewing a politically sensitive issue for President Joe Biden. On Aug. 1 there were

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USA