USA

JFS official tells DHS abuses of asylum seekers

Attorney Kate Clark, who serves as the senior director of immigration services for Jewish Family Service, told a congressional panel on Friday that officials of the Department of Homeland Security at the southern border routinely ignore DHS’s own regulations concerning the protection of unaccompanied minors and individuals with significant medical issues. Furthermore, she said, the Remain-in-Mexico program “has caused unnecessary suffering and harm to over 55,000 asylum seekers forced to return to Mexico and has completely overwhelmed the U.S. immigration courts. [Donald H. Harrison]

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

Historian tells of FDR’s anti-Semitism

Vice President Henry Wallace, an eye-witness to the event, recorded in his diary that when President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill met in mid-1943, Churchill raised the “Jewish question” to which Roosevelt replied the Jews should be spread as thinly as possible all over the world, noting that he tried this method where he lived—Meriwether County, Georgia and Hyde Park, New York and his neighbors appreciated it. This anecdote encapsulates the mindset of Franklin Roosevelt. [Fred Reiss, EdD]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Fred Reiss, EdD, International, Jewish History, USA

Flash: Israel is Jewish – duh! 

It’s taken a long time, but finally the US has recognized the obvious fact that Jewish communities everywhere in Israel do not violate international law. The Washington Post, which is one of many media outlets that is unfriendly to Israel, verified this fact in its reporting of Secretary of State Pompeo’s pronouncement on November 18, 2019. To wit: “… the Trump administration had determined that Israel’s West Bank settlements do not violate international law.” [Steve Kramer]

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Middle East, Steve Kramer, USA

Reversing Obama’s Israel policy based on solid law

In reversing the Obama administration’s shameful acceding to the UN Security Council’s 2016 resolution that Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria were illegal under international law,  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finally stated what was obvious to many legal scholars and others who have assessed the facts on the ground; namely, as Pompeo put it, “The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law.” [Richard L. Cravatts, PhD]

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Middle East, Richard L. Cravatts, USA

Thanksgiving, JFK, and a coveted loaf of rye bread

Like anybody old enough, I remember when President John F. Kennedy was slain, 56 years ago, November 22, 1963.  And I also remember Dr. Glanzberg frightfully clutching his loaf of fresh rye bread. Our tiny Hebrew day school suddenly sent us home just before two o’clock—exactly when we would have concluded our day with the weekly, all-classes’ welcoming of Sabbath Eve.  There would be no plastic mini cups of grape juice, thin challah slices, lit candles, and sung blessings that Friday afternoon—even as a fresh Thanksgiving wreath and some Indian corn were displayed. [Rabbi Ben Kamin]

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USA

Americans for Peace Now proposals unrealistic

While Israelis are struggling to form a government as the result of a virtual tie between Blue and White and Likud, Americans for Peace Now has weighed in with a pamphlet that asks what politicians can do to move things forward. But in reality, the perspective of the pamphlet seems out of date, and dreams of what on the ground seems unreasonable. [Ira Sharkansky, PhD]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Walmart’s pharmaceutical mitzvah

A mildly demented and slightly disheveled gray-haired man comes to the window and says “I need to fill this prescription.” His mentally ill girlfriend blurts out he just had a heart attack and needs his blood pressure medicine filled. I overhear the technician at the window explaining to them that he does not have any type of health insurance to cover the cost of the medication.  He asks the cost and is told it $48 for a one-month supply of his potentially life-preserving drug (and this is at a community healthcare facility for the poor and indigent). [Ben Dishman, PharmD]

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San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Religious numerology at a state historic landmark

In Western religions, the numbers 3, 7, and 40 have symbolic significance.  So too are they important to the understanding of the life and works of Baldassare Forestiere, who created the sprawling underground gardens and home that today are recognized as a California Historical Landmark as well as a venue listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, Lifestyles, Travel and Food, USA

Humorous book relates teachers’ anecdotes

Many of our readers may remember Art Linkletter’s television show Kids Say the Darndest Things.  In classrooms throughout the nation, their parents say even darnder things. Just ask Cheryl Kolker and Jan Landau, longtime teachers at the San Diego Jewish Academy who have collected anecdotes from 30 of their colleagues in American public and private schools and put them all into a humorous book Teachers Have You Ever..!!@#*!! [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Poland, other countries, had mixed Holocaust records

From the respondents to my original article, I am also glad to hear that Witold Pilecki is the most revered in Poland and has been for some time. But one respondent claimed, “There is no anti-Semitism in Poland!” I hoped that this might indeed be the case. But this comment piqued my curiosity, so I decided to check out this out for myself. [Rabbi Dr. Michael Leo Samuel]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Middle East, USA

150 reasons to say ‘No’ to a Palestinian state

Over 150 rockets were fired at Israeli civilian targets by the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists from Gaza within hours after the November 12 targeted air strike assassination of Baha Abu al-Ata, a top commander of Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (PIJ). Coming just over two weeks after the U.S. successfully targeted ISIS terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be captured or killed there is a simple question to ask here: What would the U.S. decide to do if after al-Baghdadi killed himself his terrorist soldiers fired 150 rockets as U.S. civilian targets? Would the U.S. then decide to negotiate with ISIS over how large their independent state would be, where its borders would be, and where its capital would be located? [Moshe Phillips]

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Middle East, USA

AJC honors Japan’s PM Abe

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) honored Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday with its Light Unto the Nations Award. It is the global Jewish advocacy organization’s highest honor bestowed on world leaders who exhibit leadership in the defense of democratic values and friendship with the Jewish people. [American Jewish Committee news release]

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International, Middle East, USA