International

Jesse Gabriel new chair of Legislative Jewish Caucus

The California Legislative Jewish Caucus announced today that Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) has been elected by members of the caucus to serve as Chair for the 2021-2022 legislative session. Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has been elected Vice Chair. In recent years, the Jewish Caucus has grown into an influential voice in the State Legislature, and will expand to at least 17 legislators following the election of Senators-Elect Josh Newman (D-Diamond Bar) and Josh Becker (D-San Mateo). [California Legislative Jewish Caucus]

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USA

GOP Has Become a Danger to U.S. Democracy

While I cheer Biden’s victory in the presidential election, I lament the state of the union Trump is leaving behind. Sadly, Biden’s victory has not been a repudiation of Trump, as he received more votes than any Republican candidate before him, which shocked millions of Americans. Why? Trump is a creature of our own making. He may be seen as an aberration, but he is not. Unless we pay more attention to the tens of millions who voted for him, among many other despairing Americans, and address their grievances and frustration, a hypocrite just like Trump will rise and feed on the public discontent—another rebel in Trump’s image who appeals to the masses sickened by being ignored, another demagogue who personifies Trump and thrives on hatred, division, and contempt. [Alon Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

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Alon Ben-Meir, USA

‘The Occupation Made Me Beat My Wife’

That medieval blood libel, largely abandoned in the contemporary West, does, however, still appear as part of Arab world’s vilification of Jews—now transmogrified into a slander against Israel, the Jew of nations. But in the regular chorus of defamation against Israel by a world infected with Palestinianism, a new, more odious trend has begun to show itself: the blood libel has been revivified; however, to position Israel (and by extension Jews) as demonic agents in the community of nations, the primitive fantasies of the blood libel are now masked with a veneer of academic scholarship and published as politicized scientific study. [Richard L. Cravatts, Ph.D]

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International, Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, Science, Medicine, & Education

Biden speaks to Trump allies Netanyahu, Modi

US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday held his first talks since his victory with the prime ministers of Israel and India, allies of Donald Trump, who has not conceded defeat.Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had a notoriously rocky relationship with the last Democratic president, Barack Obama, that he was determined “to ensure

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International, Middle East, USA

Trump fires US election security official who rejected fraud claims

Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump on Tuesday fired the government’s top election security official, who had rejected the president’s unsubstantiated claims of “massive” fraud in the vote he lost to Joe Biden. Trump announced on Twitter the termination “effective immediately” of Chris Krebs, who leads the agency that jointly declared “the November 3rd election was the

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USA

Victory for the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant

With sewage increasingly able to be recycled into potable water that can be integrated with the city’s water supply, less treated water will need to undergo secondary treatment before it is returned via the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant (PLWTP) to the Pacific Ocean, according to U.S. Reps. Scott Peters and Susan Davis, both San Diego Democrats. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, The World We Share, USA

With Senate on the line, Georgia leaders tell out-of-state supporters to stay home

ATLANTA — Democrats and Republicans feuding over the integrity of the state’s vote have found common cause this week over another prickly issue: uniting to urge out-of-state residents not to move into Georgia for the sole purpose of voting in the Jan. 5 runoffs.With party control of the U.S. Senate hanging in the balance, some

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USA

Palestinians say restoring cooperation with Israel

The Palestinian Authority of president Mahmoud Abbas will restore coordination with Israel after severing it in May, a PA minister said Tuesday evening.”In the light of Mahmud Abbas’s international contacts… and given the written and verbal commitments we have received from the Israelis, we will resume relations where they were before May 19, 2020″, Hussein

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Middle East, USA

Coronavirus Politics in U.S., Israel

Along with, or perhaps behind the quarrels over the presidential transition, is the global pandemic.It’s the worst case since the flu that accompanied World War I more than a century ago.The US President should take considerable credit for his country’s leading indicators of illness and death. His various claims about cures and vaccines, plus his reluctance to wear a mask have contributed to the widespread disregard, and the increasing incidence of infections. [Ira Sharkansky]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Israeli settlers disrupt EU visit to sensitive East Jerusalem area

Israeli settlers disrupted a visit on Monday by a European Union (EU) delegation to a neighbourhood in East Jerusalem where Israel plans to build more than 1,200 housing units.A video published in Israeli media shows activists shouting “anti-Semites go home,” “anti-Semites go back to Europe” as EU representatives attempted to speak.Two Jerusalem city council members

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International, Middle East