Middle East

Cracks in Israel’s Government Coalition, Opposition

Some instances from the beginning of Israel’s new government: Likud has picked on a law of family reunification in order to embarrass, and perhaps defeat the Bennett-Lapid government. It’s a law that prevents Palestinians, who marry Israeli Arabs, to acquire citizenship in Israel. It’s been on the books since 2003, but has effect only for a year. Thus, it has to be renewed annually. It is something widely supported by predominantly Jewish political parties. But its current renewal has been opposed by Likud. [Ira Sharkansky, PhD]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East

Israel summons Polish envoy over Holocaust property bill

Published by Reuters By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel summoned Poland’s ambassador on Sunday to express its “deep disappointment” over a Polish bill that critics say will make it harder for Jews to recover property seized by the country’s Nazi occupiers during World War Two and then kept by post-war communist rulers, the foreign

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International, Middle East

Israel’s new FM tells US of Iran concerns but promises to work together

Published by AFP Rome (AFP) – Israel’s foreign minister on Sunday voiced concern over US diplomacy with Iran but promised a less confrontational approach, in the new government’s first high-level talks with the Jewish state’s closest ally. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist who masterminded a coalition that this month unseated veteran right-wing leader Benjamin

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Middle East, USA

Good News from Israel (June 27, 2021)

In the June 27, 2021 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
–UK National Health Service to trial Israeli cancer treatment test.
–Israeli grandmother is honored for fostering 217 babies.
–Israeli anti-malaria system wins top IBM AI prize.
–Israeli software powers Intel’s 5G microprocessors.
–Israeli sensors can detect when plants are unhappy.
–Three more billion-dollar Israeli companies in one week.
–Israel’s team of 81 Olympic athletes is the largest ever.
–Honduras is the fourth country to open an embassy in Jerusalem. [Michael Ordman]

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Business & Finance, International, Lifestyles, Michael Ordman, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Travel and Food, USA

Short Story: Fishbein, the Piano Tuner

Everyone in our family called the tuner of my daughter’s piano, “the piano tuner,” though his name was Fishbein. He was a brusque man, even for a fellow Viennese, stooped, often wore a checkered jacket which contrasted ridiculously with his formal striped pants, as if he had been a jazz saxophonist at one stage of his life and a concert pianist in another; his polka dotted, cabaret comedian’s tie completed the total mismatch. He arrived, tuned the piano, refused tea and cake (not very Viennese), pleaded that he was late for another piano, grabbed his tuning case and hurried away. Always the same ritual. His statement about being late for another piano caused us to chuckle (after he left) because he spoke of the piano that awaited him like it was a person. [Larry Lefkowitz]

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International, Jewish Fiction, Middle East

US, France warn Iran that time running out to revive deal

Published by AFP Paris (AFP) – The United States and France on Friday warned Iran that time was running out to return to a nuclear deal, voicing fear that Tehran’s sensitive atomic activities could advance if talks drag on. On the first high-level visit to Paris by President Joe Biden’s administration, Secretary of State Antony

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International, Middle East, USA

The U.S.’s ”Chutzpadik’ Iran Policy

It is the height of chutzpah to assume that others want what you want or want to help you get what you want when it isn’t what they want. Americans do it often, and the result is always the same: good news for those who take our inducements while having no intention of cooperating and bad news for the United States and for those who trust in it. In the case of Iran, first the Obama administration and now the Biden administration have taken the position that diplomacy and money will produce a constructive player in the region—i.e., what we want. [Shoshana Bryen]

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Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA

Israeli Scientists Develop Tuberculosis-Diagnosing Sticker Patch

HAIFA, Israel (Press Release) — Technion – Israel Institute of Technology scientists have demonstrated a novel means of diagnosing tuberculosis by means of a sticker patch that catches compounds released by the skin. Using an artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of these compounds, the scientists were able to provide a quick, non-invasive diagnosis. In future implementations,

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

National Education Association Representatives Should Oppose Anti-Israel Resolutions

By Yael Steinberg SAN DIEGO — From June 29 to July 3, America’s largest labor union, the National Education Association (NEA) will vote on two motions attacking Israel – New Business Item 29 (NBI 29) and New Business Item 51 (NBI 51). NBIs 29 and 51 are part of a larger pattern. In recent weeks, teacher’s union leaders

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Middle East, USA

PM: Israel takes ‘quick and responsible actions’ to safeguard citizens from COVID-19 Delta variant

JERUSALEM (Press Release) — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday held a discussion on the spread of the coronavirus, with emphasis on the Delta variant. Participating in the discussion were Israel’s health minister, the head of the National Security Council, the attorney general, the national coronavirus project director, the Health Ministry director general, the

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Middle East

Why President Truman’s support for Israel is more relevant than ever

By Dan Elbaum (June 23, 2021 / JNS) It was perhaps the most important meeting in Jewish history, but it was also simply a discussion between two old friends. Harry S. Truman was the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world. Across from him in the Oval Office sat Eddie Jacobson,

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Jewish History, Middle East, USA