International

Arab countries should pay for humanitarian relief in Gaza

The senator’s scheme to relieve their pain collapses when he proposes that funds for humanitarian aid there be diverted from the $3.8 million that America sends to Israel each year for military aid. Why Israel? Why not all the oil-rich Arab countries that spend their money on royal palaces and extravagant vacations? They launched the war of 1948 that sent Palestinians fleeing Israel in all directions or living mainly in Gaza and the West Bank. What is their responsibility? [Bruce Ticker]

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Bruce Ticker, Middle East, USA

The World War II bravery of remote French villages

The largely rural Vivarais-Lignon plateau enjoys a climate considered to be healthy during the summer months, resulting in the existence there of several hotels, children’s homes and convalescent centres for visiting tourists. In the winter, however, it was more or less cut off from the rest of the country by deep, long-lasting snow and its mountainous terrain. These conditions enabled the villagers to provide sanctuary for people – and especially children – seeking to evade capture and deportation to concentration camps. [Dorothea Shefer-Vanson]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, International

Noah is one of the world’s many flood stories

Scholars think that a deluge of such cataclysmic proportions was unlikely in the setting of the Land of Israel, given its topography.  It is believed that relatively nearby Mesopotamia was a natural locale for the story.  In fact, cuneiform documents and archaeology provide testimony for periodic inundation of the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Torrential rains, tornadoes, and the melting of snows in the mountains of Anatolia, in combination, have periodically flooded the valley and turned it into a huge lake.  This area produced a number of flood stories in ancient times, including the Gilgamesh Epic. [Irv Jacobs, M.D.]

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International, Irv Jacobs, MD, Jewish Religion

An opening in Israel for hope

Benny Gantz will have his chance at this task. Much hangs in the balance. It’s the first time in over a decade that an Israeli politician other than Netanyahu has had such an opportunity. While it is far from clear that Gantz will be successful – the odds aren’t great, and Israelis may well find themselves returning to the polls for an unprecedented third election in a year – one thing is increasingly clear: something is changing in Israel. [Daniel Sokatch]

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Middle East

StandWithUs, Poway salute shooting victims

SAN DIEGO – The Jewish and general communities are honoring the memory of Lori Gilbert Kaye, who was murdered April 27 by a gunman who barged into Chabad of Poway and wounded three other people before running away and later being apprehended. Exactly six months after the shooting attack that wounded Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 8-year-old Noya Dahan, and her uncle Almog Peretz from Sderot, Israel, StandWithUs San Diego focused on the victims at a gala which was themed “Standing Together Against Anti-Semitism.” [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, USA

Can the new government change Kosovo’s fortunes?

Notwithstanding their lack of experience in governing, the new leaders, Mr. Kurti and Ms. Osmani, are young, visionary, and understand the plight and the needs of their people. Even though they may not have, as of now, a fully articulated socio-political and economic development plan, they have the potential to serve their country’s interests best. They are not tainted with corruption and are committed to change the fortunes of their country, which faces multiple and profound domestic and foreign problems. [Alon Ben-Meir and Arbana Xharra]

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Alon Ben-Meir, International

What minds might do in prison

David Tabatsky had been working as a street performer in Japan when he received news that his father, a cantor, was gravely ill.  He flew home but arrived too late.  The experience, perhaps the guilt, sent him into a tailspin, and he did something very stupid: he mailed a small supply of marijuana to his address in Japan, figuring the weed would help him feel better. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, International

Orthodox romance at Sea World

Dr. Ben Dishman, PharmD, who is retired as a psychiatric pharmacist from the Veterans Administration Hospital, enjoys visiting Sea World on the average of once a month. Besides seeing the animals, he likes to see love bloom among Orthodox Jewish couples who apparently consider Sea World to be a perfect meeting place for their arranged dates. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish Religion, Lifestyles, Middle East, Obituaries & memorials, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

With friends like J Street …

Why is it that some Jewish Americans, including J Streeters, think they know better than Israelis what will bring peace between Jews and Palestinian Arabs? It’s some sort of hubris. Israelis, by a wide margin, recognize that leaving Gaza was a huge mistake, resulting in thousands of attacks on Israelis in the south of our country (primarily but not exclusively) by terrorists allied with Iran. Why then should Israelis even contemplate allowing a similar but more existential situation in the center of Israel adjacent to our major population centers? [Steve Kramer]

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Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA

Sanders, Warren mount anti-Israel campaigns

As Democratic candidates for the presidency continue to move further to the left in an effort to distance themselves from the policies and politics of President Trump, the two frontrunners, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have increased the rhetoric against what is normally an untouchable topic for Democrats and Republicans alike: the United States’ relationship with the sole democracy in the Middle East, Israel. [Richard L. Cravatts, PhD]

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Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, USA

The legacy of Dr. Jonas Salk

Had he lived, today, Monday October 28th, would have been Jonas Salk’s 105th birthday.  Last night, an audience of mostly senior citizens remembered and appreciated the enormity of the contribution that he made to world health by developing the polio vaccine.  And, indirectly, the man who was the speaker at Tifereth Israel Synagogue—Salk’s son, Dr. Peter Salk—played an important role in that drama while he was still a child.[Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, San Diego Calendar, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA