By Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals of Judaism. In ancient times, during the seven days of the holiday, Jews came to the Holy Temple to make sacrifices. Today, there is no Holy Temple, but Israelis and Jews from the Diaspora fill the city with thousands of […]
Fighting organized anti- Semitism on campuses Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer, USAObama condemns anti-Semitism on Holocaust Remembrance Day (JNS.org) U.S. President Barack Obama condemned anti-Semitism in a message on Thursday to mark Israel’s Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) as well as the international commemorations of the end of the Holocaust and the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. “It is incumbent upon us to make real
Jewish news briefs: April 17, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USAOn Yom HaShoah, Netanyahu compares Iran to Nazi Germany (JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the current Iranian regime to Nazi Germany in his Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) speech on Wednesday night in Jerusalem. “Just as the Nazis aspired to crush civilization and to establish a ‘master race’ to replace it in controlling
Jewish news briefs: April 16, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — The two countries I know best are both immersed in political frenzy. In the United States it is the onset of the 2016 presidential campaign. In Israel it is sorting out the goodies and the claimants after last month’s election. Both are marked by hyperbolic claims and promises, which are not
Political promises vs. realities in U.S., Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USAU.S. Senate committee unanimously passes modified Iran oversight bill (JNS.org) The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday unanimously passed a modified version of a bill that would give Congress oversight of a final nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran. Earlier on Tuesday, a bipartisan deal to amend the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act
Jewish news briefs: April 15, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USALincoln and the Jews: A History by Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell, St. Martin Press, New York; ISBN 978-1-250-05935-6 ©2015, $40.00, p. 227, plus appendices and index By Fred Reiss, Ed.D. WINCHESTER, California — Abraham Lincoln died on Saturday, April 15, 1865. Most Northerners and many Southerners, particularly those who understood the ramifications of having a new,
‘Lincoln and the Jews,’ scholarly and displayable Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdD, Jewish History, USAIsraeli authorities arrest Hamas terror cell that planned Purim attack (Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) A gag order lifted on Tuesday revealed that a Hamas terror cell had planned to carry out a shooting attack against Israeli soldiers last month during the holiday of Purim. The investigation, conducted jointly by the Shin Bet security agency, the
Jewish news briefs: April 14, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO–Following are some nursery rhymes for Campaign 2016 Hillary, Billary, Doc This time there’s no Barack. You’ll take the heat But not defeat. Unless Warren joins the flock. * Sing a song of Ted Cruz His campaign has begun. One of many schnorrers From Sheldon Adelson. Bibi’s right, Barack’s wrong. Protect
Humoring the headlines: Campaign Nursery Rhymes Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USAHillary Clinton announces presidential candidacy (JNS.org) Former U.S. senator, secretary of state, and first lady Hillary Clinton on Sunday announced that she will run for president in 2016. She lost to President Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. The National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) welcomed Clinton’s candidacy, saying in a statement that she
Jewish news briefs: April 13, 2015 Read More »
International, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Barack Obama is not a bad man, or a stupid man. It’s hard to say that he’s a bad president for the United States. He has made a mark for himself in bringing US health care into the 20th century, and it may even make it into the 21th century,
In defense, with a large caveat, of Barack Obama Read More »
International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Experts in negotiation techniques tell us that the only viable deals are those that create win-win conditions. Judging by reactions from all sides, the outline of the deal with Iran doesn’t qualify. Not only are Prime Minister Netanyahu and his political colleagues against what’s being proposed, but so are many
Iran deal seems more win-lose than win-win Read More »
Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Barack Obama isn’t looking as good as he did when he had the interviewers all to himself in the first few days after negotiators left Lausanne with smiles and handshakes, but nothing more than oral reports about what had been agreed to date. Commentators have poked around the details and
Iran speculation prompts numerous scenarios Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USAIDF praises soldier’s ‘composure’ during Samaria stabbing attack (JNS.org) Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Staff Sgt. Tomer Lan, who was stabbed in the back by a Palestinian terrorist on Wednesday in Samaria, “prevented a larger terrorist attack” when he “acted with composure and as required by a combat soldier,” the IDF said. Lan was able to
Jewish news briefs: April 9, 2015 Read More »
Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — It seems like a head to head competition, verbal and political combat, with one of the participants vastly outweighing the other in the resources that usually determine such outcomes. Nobody in the world has been more powerful than the President of the United States since the end of World War
Netanyahu, Obama in head- to- head competition Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA