Israeli and American Jewish rescue efforts aid Nepal after devastating quake (JNS.org) As an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale continues to claim victims in Nepal—3,600 deaths as of Monday—a 260-member Israeli rescue team headed for Nepal to assist local authorities. The Israeli mission was delayed by 12 hours due to earthquake damage […]
Jewish news briefs: April 27, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – The California state senator who heads the first-in-the-nation Jewish legislative caucus says it’s time for Jews in the U.S. Congress to form a caucus too, and adds that U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the Florida congresswoman who chairs the national Democratic party, agrees with him “100 percent.” State Sen.
California legislator: Congress needs a Jewish caucus Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–A number of individuals from my home town of Fall River have traveled to Ponta Delgada in the Azores to commemorate the refurbishing of a synagogue that they had financed. They also met with the one Jew still living in the islands. The story is long and interesting, and ironic from both
The Jews and Portuguese of Fall River Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Jewish History, USAOn Independence Day, Gaza rocket launched at Israel for first time in 2015 (JNS.org) For the first time in 2015, and on the same day Israel celebrated its 67th Independence Day, a code-red rocket siren sounded Thursday in the southern Israeli town of Sderot and other communities on the border with Gaza. While there
Jewish news briefs: April 24, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USAObama refuses to meet Netanyahu until after Iran nuclear deal deadline (JNS.org) President Barack Obama reportedly said he will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until after the June 30 deadline for a final nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. Citing anonymous sources familiar with a meeting between Obama and Jewish leaders
Jewish news briefs: April 23, 2015 Read More »
International, Jewish Religion, Middle East, USAWASHINGTON, DC (Press Release) – Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (Westchester/Rockland), the Ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on Israeli Independence Day: “Today, I join the Israeli people in celebrating 67 years of independence and more than six decades of steadfast support by the United States. “Israel remains unquestionably our strongest
Rep. Lowey: Stand with Israel in int’l fora Read More »
Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It isn’t the Caribbean image of paradise made popular by Harry Belafonte, but the Israeli reality of being out of step with its surroundings. And the surroundings extend much farther than its Muslim neighbors. They also include pretty much the whole world as represented by the United Nations, as well
Perceptions of U.S. readers far from Israeli realities Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USAWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) – Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-California) has opposed a House bill that would undermine the ability of a key consumer protection agency to protect American consumers. The bill (H.R. 1195) would limit future funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). “If we learned anything from the financial crisis is that there
Rep. Davis rallies for consumer protection Read More »
USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, says the U.S. will no longer automatically exercise its veto in the UN Security Council to protect Israel. In testimony before the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Power specifically declined to rule out support for resolutions on Palestinian
Does Israel’s security ‘matter’ to Obama? Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USAAt 67th birthday, Israel’s population stands at 8.345 million (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics published new figures ahead of Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) showing that the country’s population stands at 8,345,000, about 10.4 times greater than the population of 806,000 when the Jewish state was founded in 1948. Jewish residents number
Jewish news briefs, April 22, 2015 Read More »
Middle East, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C. — Forty years ago, Saigon fell to communist North Vietnam. Images of terrified South Vietnamese clambering to the roof of the U.S. embassy, and Vietnamese helicopter pilots ferrying them to ships and then pushing the helicopters overboard to make room for more refugees are still heart-wrenching. Vietnam represented a change in
Arming countries, then pulling out, recipe for disaster Read More »
International, Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USAFormer Egyptian president Morsi gets 20 years in prison (JNS.org) Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted as Egypt’s president in July 2013, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Egyptian court on Tuesday. A leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood—a political party that is now a state-designated terrorist organization in Egypt—Morsi was convicted on
Jewish news briefs: April 21, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USAPope Francis meets with leading European rabbis at Vatican (JNS.org) Pope Francis met with a delegation of leading European rabbis at the Vatican on Monday to discuss Jewish-Christian relations and the ongoing surge of European anti-Semitism. The delegation was from the Conference of European Rabbis, which represents more than 700 rabbis from synagogues across Europe.
Jewish news briefs: April 20, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Like some of the readers of these columns, I grew up in the US during the 1940s and 1950s. It was a time of assimilation for Jews and all the rest of the hoi polloi who had streamed from Europe. The US was ascendant as the result of World War II,
Face it, this is not the U.S. of our childhoods Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA