German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Support for Israeli security part of national ethos (JNS.org) German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced one week before her country’s upcoming federal elections that “Germany’s support for Israel’s security is part of our national ethos, our raison d’etre.” Although Merkel acknowledged that she has often made critical comments about construction in Judea,
JNS news briefs: September 16, 2013 Read More »
InternationalATLANTA (Press Release) — Fighting hereditary disease among Jews is the aim of a multi-state public health initiative launched Monday, Sept. 16, called JScreen. The JScreen program (www.jscreen.org), managed by Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Human Genetics, provides at-home genetic screening and private counseling for people with Jewish lineage to determine their risk
Jewish genetic screening program to begin in the South Read More »
Science, Medicine, & EducationJERUSALEM (Press Release) — Here is a text of a joint appearance on Sunday by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry: PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Mr. Secretary, John, a pleasure to welcome you again in Jerusalem. I very much appreciate the fact that you’re here today. You’ve got a lot
Kerry, Netanyahu tell importance of Syria chemical pact Read More »
Middle EastBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–There are times I believe we Jews should begin a Society for New Israel. The objectives for this society would be to find some place on Earth where we Jews can begin a nation anew, a place where our traditions, customs, inventiveness, drive and values would be welcomed, not rejected.
A Society for New Israel Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish ReligionBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO — The San Diego State University school year opened with a blatant politicization of an Arabic class. An Arabic instructor handed out a map of the Middle East which omitted Israel and labeled it Palestine. After a protest by an Israel advocacy group, the instructor apologized and penciled in
Humoring the Headlines: September 15, 2013 Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Trivia, Humor & SatireBy Anav Silverman In what UNHCR officials have described as the worst refugee crisis in 20 years, over a million Syrians, half of whom are children, have fled the country in the past six months. Since the outbreak of the Syrian war in March 2011, the total number of Syrian refugees is now up to
Israelis aiding Syrian refugees in Jordan Read More »
Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — A white card with black lettering fell out of a book as I took it down from its shelf. This turned out to be an invitation sent in 1963 to members of the Society for Jewish Study and the B’nai Brith Leo Baeck (London) Lodges to attend a
Insights into Israel-UK relations from Society for Jewish Study Read More »
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Middle EastBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — There has been a new development in the difficult history of French Hill and Isaweea. A trench has been dug, and its dirt piled in the field separating the neighborhoods, alongside a French Hill street that abuts the field, and has suffered more than its share of the difficulties. We
On the border between French Hill and Isaweea Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Between Friends, a collection of short stories by Amos Oz; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013, 179 pages, ISBN 978-0-547-98558-9, $24. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — In “Eleanor Rigby,” the Beatles’ songwriting duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney asked “All the lonely people, where do they all come from?” and if you should happen
Loneliness and the kibbutz ideal Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Aryeh Savir The Hollywood film industry maintained close ties with the Third Reich and collaborated with the regime, this according to a new book. The book, written by Harvard University doctoral student Ben Urwand, posits that Hollywood’s major studios not only passively accepted Nazi censorship, but further actively collaborated with Hitler’s propaganda machine to
Did Hollywood cooperate with the Nazis? Read More »
Travel and FoodSAN DIEGO (Press Release) — Beth Israel of San Diego has named Jeff Silberman recipient of the Carl M. Esenoff Memorial Award for Extraordinary Community Service. The Esenoff Award recognizes outstanding Jewish individuals for their service to Beth Israel and to the Jewish and general communities. The award is named for its first recipient who
Silberman honored with Carl M. Esenoff Memorial Award Read More »
San Diego CountyObama’s handling of Syria means he won’t successfully deal with Iran, Israelis say in poll (JNS.org) In a new Israel Hayom poll, a majority of Israeli Jews—66.7 percent—characterized U.S. President Barack Obama’s handling of the Syria crisis as “not successful.” Meanwhile, 65.3 percent said that given Obama’s conduct regarding Syria, he would not be able
JNS news briefs: September 13, 2013 Read More »
InternationalBy Alex Traiman/JNS.org Twenty years after the signing of the fateful Oslo Accords between Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, Knesset Members are heavily debating the merits of the peace process and the two-state solution paradigm. Parliamentarians from both Israel’s left and the right agree that the process has
Oslo Accords debated, rather than celebrated, on 20th anniversary Read More »
Jewish History
By Isaac Yetiv , Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — Let me say at the outset that I am one of the 71% who are strongly opposed to a military action against Syria, and that I have expressed my opinion to the White House and to my elected representatives in the Congress (House and Senate). The president’s handling
Putin saved face for the amateur Obama Read More »
International, Middle East, USA