International

Film Review: The Last Vermeer

The Last Vermeer – producer Dan Friedkin’s directorial debut – is a well-paced and thoroughly engaging World War II drama. Joseph Piller (played by Claes Bang), is a Dutch Jew who fought with the Resistance during the war; and is now commissioned with uncovering and redistributing art stolen by the Nazis. Enter the flamboyant painter and art dealer, Han van Meegeren (masterfully played by Guy Pearce) who is suspected of selling Dutch art treasures to Field-Marshal Hermann Goering and other top Nazi officials. Piller’s story is complicated by a fraught relationship with his wife (played by Marie Bach Henson), who remained in Holland during the occupation; and while she provided intelligence to the Resistance, the implication is that she was only able to acquire such intelligence by carrying on a romantic dalliance with Nazi officers. [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

Film Review: The Last Vermeer Read More »

International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir

Biden: Latest Republican challenge to Obamacare is ‘simply cruel’

US President-elect Joe Biden has said the Republican challenge in the Supreme Court to Obamacare – which greatly expanded health-care access and protections – is “simply cruel and needlessly divisive.””This case represents the latest attempt by the far-right ideologues to do what they have repeatedly failed to do for a long time,” he said in

Biden: Latest Republican challenge to Obamacare is ‘simply cruel’ Read More »

International, USA

White Supremacist Tom Metzger dead at 82

Tom Metzger, one of the nation’s most notorious white supremacists and anti-Semites, has died, according to a post on his White Aryan Resistance website. He was 82. The post said: “Thomas Linton Metzger, born April 9th, 1938 in Warsaw, Indiana, passed away in Hemet, California, on November 4th, 2020.” [Ken Stone, Times of San Diego]

White Supremacist Tom Metzger dead at 82 Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Ken Stone, San Diego County, USA

Trump’s defeat means dicey times for U.S., Israel

The refusal of the top man to accept the decision of the voters may have its parallel here in Israel. Bibi, like Trump, wants to hold on to his power. Among other reasons, to protect himself from the judicial process. Bibi’s style is far more polished than Trump’s But he’s a liar. He accepted the suspension of any annexation of the West Bank, and the sale of advanced planes and other military equipment to the UAE in dealings with the United States, but he acted in both cases as those were temporary matters agreed to by others, without a role for himself. [Ira Sharkansky]

Trump’s defeat means dicey times for U.S., Israel Read More »

Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Jewish ideas and belief in Western modernity set Rabbi Sacks apart

The untimely death of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on Saturday generated a wave of sorrow throughout large sectors of the Jewish world and beyond, with an outpouring of tributes from across the Jewish religious spectrum as well as from the highest pinnacles of the British establishment, including the prime minister, Charles Prince of Wales, and

Jewish ideas and belief in Western modernity set Rabbi Sacks apart Read More »

International, Jewish Religion, Obituaries & memorials

Trump Fires Third Defense Secretary Mark Esper After Clashes

President Donald Trump shared with the country on Monday morning over Twitter that he had fired Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper. This is the third defense secretary who Trump has fired in his term as president.Trump wrote that Esper would be temporarily replaced with the “highly respected” director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Christopher C.

Trump Fires Third Defense Secretary Mark Esper After Clashes Read More »

USA

First direct tourist flight from Israel to UAE touches down in Dubai

The first flight carrying Israeli tourists to the United Arab Emirates landed on Sunday in the city-state of Dubai, the latest sign of the normalisation deal reached between the two nations.FlyDubai flight No. FZ8194 landed at Dubai International Airport just after 5:40pm, bringing the tourists to the skyscraper-studded city after a nearly three-hour trip.The low-cost

First direct tourist flight from Israel to UAE touches down in Dubai Read More »

Middle East, Travel and Food

Hebrew Day alumna Tova Winick briefs 2 Defense Ministers

Sooner or later, many schools will learn of an  alumna who made it big.  For example, Patrick Henry High School in San Diego boasts as one of its graduates the actress Annette Bening.  Westmount High School in Westmount, Quebec, claims  U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as a 1981 graduate.  And Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School now can brag about Tova Winick, Class of 2013. Okay, Tova isn’t a household name yet, but there has been quite a buzz about her ever since she was pictured in late October in the uniform of an officer of the Israel Defense Forces giving a briefing on the workings of the Iron Dome missile defense system to U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper accompanied by Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz. [Donald H. Harrison]

Hebrew Day alumna Tova Winick briefs 2 Defense Ministers Read More »

Donald H. Harrison, Middle East

Palestinian president congratulates Biden

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday congratulated Joe Biden, the projected winner of the US presidential election, on his victory, as well as Kamala Harris, projected to serve as the first woman vice president in US history.Abbas said he hoped Biden’s election would improve “Palestinian-American relations and achieve freedom, independence, justice and dignity for our

Palestinian president congratulates Biden Read More »

Middle East, USA

Israel needs to watch out for Joe Biden’s UN ambassador pick – opinion

US President-elect Joe Biden reflects the orthodoxy of the “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. He is a committed, enthusiastic proponent of this idea as a way forward in the Middle East.There is a competing political paradigm – “racial-justice politics” – that has gained, if not dominance, at the very least great influence with liberal

Israel needs to watch out for Joe Biden’s UN ambassador pick – opinion Read More »

Middle East, USA

Mohammed bin Salman congratulates Biden over US election

Saudi Arabia’s king and its powerful crown prince Sunday congratulated Joe Biden on winning the US presidential election, state media said, a day after TV networks declared him the victor.King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent congratulatory messages to US president-elect Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.It added

Mohammed bin Salman congratulates Biden over US election Read More »

Middle East, USA