International

San Diego gears up for 2020 JCC Maccabi Experience

The Lawrence Family JCC has been sending flyers to people throughout the county looking for athletes, artists, volunteers and donors for the 2020 JCC Maccabi Experience, in which over 400 San Diego County teen athletes and artists will become part of a competition among 2,200 teens from throughout the world from Sunday August 2 through Friday, August 7. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Bruce F. Lowitt, Donald H. Harrison, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Sports & Competitions, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Did Netanyahu purposely precipitate a Gaza crisis?

My mistrust of politicians made me fear that a war would get them out of the impasse. I’ve, therefore, in ignorance asked myself if the spectacular assassination in Gaza of the commander of Islamic Jihad Baha Abu al-Ata and his wife, and injuring his four children, was an attempt to initiate a military conflict. Some commentators seem to suggest it, notably the editor of +972 Magazine Edo Konrad. [Rabbi Dow Marmur]

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Middle East

Poland, other countries, had mixed Holocaust records

From the respondents to my original article, I am also glad to hear that Witold Pilecki is the most revered in Poland and has been for some time. But one respondent claimed, “There is no anti-Semitism in Poland!” I hoped that this might indeed be the case. But this comment piqued my curiosity, so I decided to check out this out for myself. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USA

150 reasons to say ‘No’ to a Palestinian state

Over 150 rockets were fired at Israeli civilian targets by the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists from Gaza within hours after the November 12 targeted air strike assassination of Baha Abu al-Ata, a top commander of Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (PIJ). Coming just over two weeks after the U.S. successfully targeted ISIS terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be captured or killed there is a simple question to ask here: What would the U.S. decide to do if after al-Baghdadi killed himself his terrorist soldiers fired 150 rockets as U.S. civilian targets? Would the U.S. then decide to negotiate with ISIS over how large their independent state would be, where its borders would be, and where its capital would be located? [Moshe Phillips]

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Middle East, USA

AJC honors Japan’s PM Abe

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) honored Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday with its Light Unto the Nations Award. It is the global Jewish advocacy organization’s highest honor bestowed on world leaders who exhibit leadership in the defense of democratic values and friendship with the Jewish people. [American Jewish Committee news release]

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International, Middle East, USA

EU court mandates labeling of Israeli products

The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a decision Tuesday that Israeli-made products from East Jerusalem and other disputed Israeli territories be labeled with the designation “colonies israéliennes” (“Israeli colony or settlement”). The controversial regulation was driven by foreign policy concerns, and contributes in no demonstrable way to food safety or consumer protection. The Lawfare Project and Cabinet Briard initiated legal action in 2017 on behalf of Israeli winemaker Psâgot, challenging the regulation before France’s administrative supreme court (Conseil d’État), which asked for guidance from the CJEU. [Lawfare Project press release]

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Business & Finance, International, Middle East, USA

ADL calls for legal action against hate crimes

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday called on lawmakers and law enforcement authorities to take action to address the deeply disturbing climate of hate in the United States after newly released FBI data showed that Jews and Jewish institutions were the overwhelming target of religion-based hate crimes last year – as they have been every year since 1991. [Anti-Defamation League press release]

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USA

Tzipi Livni remains optimistic about Mideast peace

The former foreign minister said that it was during the Second Lebanon War that she realized that there could be no military solution to Israel’s troubles with its neighbors, only a political one.  She said when the terrorist group Hezbollah attacked settlements in the north of Israel, she was urged by then U.S. Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice to prevent her country’s military forces from destroying the duly constituted Lebanese government while retaliating against Hezbollah. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Survivors’ descendants, youth, to carry on Holocaust education

There is a continuing focus on Holocaust education in the county, with the Lawrence Family JCC and the J Company Youth Theatre announcing a planned “Remembrance Reading” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the JCC, and second-generation Holocaust educators Sandy Scheller and Sonia Fox-Ohlbaum pledging to take to schools the concentration camp uniforms their family members had been forced to wear. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Technion president favors isolating campus from politics while solving global problems

In a telephone interview, Sivan described what on the surface might be viewed as two conflicting goals, but which in fact are complementary.On the one hand, he said, Technion strives to isolate itself from politics. On the other hand, Technion intends to become more involved in solving some of the world’s overarching problems such as environmental issues, energy, human health, and ethics. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Business & Finance, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Veterans come in all shapes, colors, walks of life

There are many heroes walking among us, unassuming barbers, plumbers, doctors, doormen, who may not have stormed the beaches of Normandy, but who have served the causes of freedom and democracy in in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan here in the United States and Canada, proudly wearing the uniform of our armed forces. It is they whom we
honor on Veterans Day. [Rabbi Irving Elson, Capt. USN ret.]

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USA

Middle East was politically unstable in biblical times

I Kings covered the history of ancient Judah and Israel from the coronation of King Solomon in 967 BCE through the split of ancient Israel into two nations, Judah and Israel, because King Solomon’s son overtaxed the people as his father did, though the reign of King Jehoshaphat who died in 846 BCE. II Kings resumes the story and tells readers about the twelve kings of the northern kingdom of Israel from 846 BCE, ending in 721/722 BCE when the kingdom was destroyed, and the sixteen kings of the southern kingdom of Judah from 846 BCE until it was destroyed in 587/6 BCE. It describes the kings of the two nations, Judah and Israel, the politics, wars, and a significant problem of the era in both kingdoms, idolatry. [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Middle East