By 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, USABy 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, USA