International

Migrant Minors to be Housed at SD Convention Center

City and county officials announced Monday that the San Diego Convention Center will be used for three months to temporarily house unaccompanied immigrant minors amid a surge along the border. At the same time, local nonprofit organizations have stepped up to house families and individual adults in hotel rooms. [Chris Jennewein]

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Chris Jennewein, International, San Diego County, USA

Good News from Israel (March 21, 2021)

The March 21, 2021 edition of Israel’s good news includes the following highlihts:

• With half the population fully vaccinated, Israel’s Covid-19 infection rates have plummeted.
• The UK benefits from two more Israeli medical innovations.
• Many Israeli activities for Good Deeds Day – the country where it began 14 years ago.
• Israeli-designed Instagram Lite is rolled out to 170 countries.
• Israelis enjoy newly opened parks, restaurants, entertainment and sporting events.
• Kosovo opens its Jerusalem embassy.
• 1900-year-old Jewish relics discovered in Dead Sea cave. [Michael Ordman]

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Business & Finance, International, Jewish History, Michael Ordman, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Israel’s Envoy Seen as ‘Modern Moses’ in Ethiopia

Ambassador Raphael Morav did not plan to move to Israel; his parents brought him there when he was still in primary school. He did not plan to become a diplomat, he simply saw a listing for jobs, took a test, and got in. He never planned on becoming the Ambassador of Israel to Ethiopia, but that is the position that opened up at the time and he applied. Lastly, Ambassador Morav never planned on completely changing Ethiopian Jewish life nor perceptions of Jews in Addis Ababa. But that is what he did, with calm and persistence and his usual  kind demeanor. [Sam Litvin]

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International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East, Sam Litvin

A Pilot’s Love Affair With a Beautiful Israeli

I ordered this book from Bibliophile because the blurb proclaimed that its main character was a pilot who fell in love with an Israeli woman and fought for his adopted country. That, in essence, is the nub of the story, but around it surges and swells a series of events and adventures involving love and enmity, joy and sorrow, and a veritable roller-coaster of emotions for the reader, who cannot help but be drawn into this gripping tale of romance, adventure and action. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle East

Refugees will become hard-working Americans

With the wave of immigrants arriving at the border clamoring to be let in, I have been thinking a lot about immigration.  When Trump was in power, the border was basically closed, refugees and asylees had to wait in Mexico until their case was heard and that was a very long, inhumane process. In addition, many mothers were separated from their children. It seems like now the pendulum has swung from one extreme to another.  Do I agree with all the adults and unaccompanied minor rushing the border? It is creating unmanageable chaos and confusion.  However, I do understand why this is happening.  America is viewed as a safe haven for so many whose own countries or lives are in conflict, and they are desperate. [Mimi Pollack]

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International, Mimi Pollack, USA

Israel’s Leading Parties’ Economic Plans

In Israel, much of the evening news swirls around the gossip about who will sit with who in a new government coalition after the upcoming election on March 23. What has been singularly missing from the chatterbox TV news programs has been the vitally important plans of each party over the future of the Israeli economy. This brief summary will give you an idea of how each party intends to tackle the economy if it should gain power. [Barry Shaw]

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Barry Shaw, Business & Finance, Middle East