By Yaakov Lappin WASHINGTON, D.C. — Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was one of the first to sound the alarm over Iran’s nuclear armament program, identifying the threat it posed to global security in the early 1990s. The last time he spoke openly about his views on the Iranian threat was when he was head […]
Behind Israel’s debate over an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities Read More »
Middle East
Why be Jewish? by Doron Kornbluth, Mosaica Press, 2011, ISBN 0-9814974-7-0; 312 pages, price not listed. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–As a reader I found myself reacting both negatively and positively to this book. Why negatively? Because after reading the first paragraph of the acknowledgements, I knew that much of what I would read
Why tell made-up stories about being Jewish? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES — It’s been a pretty good year for Irish plays. There was War and The Field, both set in an Irish pub, and Lucia Mad, a domestic drama about James Joyce’s family, Sean O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, and the Druid Company of Ireland’s rendition of The Cripple of Inishman.
‘Forgotten’ maybe should have been Read More »
Cynthia Citron
By Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — Forty-eight years ago today, Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy, 46, was slain while riding in a motorcade in Dealey Plaza, Dallas. The world stopped; the kinetic, violent, transformational 1960s truly sprung, at 12:30 PM CST, when the shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository
JFK now longer dead than alive Read More »
USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Many of us have seen the previews– or in some cases the actual television episodes — of The Biggest Loser in which very heavy people, through diet and exercise, compete to shed the most weight. The TV show–complete with tears and hugs of those who have transformed their
Comedy explores serious subject of body image Read More »
Donald H. Harrison-Staff Report- SAN DIEGO — Nimpentoad, a book co-written by 12- and 10-year-old brothers Josh and Harrison Herz and their father, Henry, will make its debut at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, with a book signing at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. The father, Henry Herz, said he did most of the writing,
‘Nimpentoad’ to debut Dec. 4 at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore Read More »
Travel and Food
By Mara Hochberg-Miller LA JOLLA, California — I decided to study in Israel because it is the place where my Judaism, interest in politics and the Middle East, love for eretz yisrael, and career path in international relations meet. Back home in California, I could study Middle Eastern history and international diplomacy all I wanted, but
There’s learning about Israel, and then there’s experiencing it! Read More »
Middle East
By Bruce Kesler ENCINITAS, California — University of California President Mark Yudof on Sunday issued a press release that “ I am appalled by images of University of California students being doused with pepper spray and jabbed with police batons on our campuses.” President Yudof went on: “I intend to convene all 10
U.C. President Yudof not so vigilant when violence is against pro-Israel Jews Read More »
USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — There is good news and other news on the issue of peace and harmony between Jews and Arabs within Israel. Note “within Israel.” This is not primarily about the Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but of simple decency and accommodation between Jews and Arabs on the streets, in neighborhoods,
On inter-ethnic relations within Israel Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East
Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto: The Untold Story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by Moshe Arens, Geffen Publishing House, 406 pages including index and appendices, ISBN 9652295279978, price not listed. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO–Given Moshe Arens’ credentials as a serious student of world affairs, who had served both as defense minister and as
Has history been fair to ALL the Warsaw Ghetto defenders? Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Rabbi Dow Marmur TORONTO, Canada–Women are reviving Judaism. I’ve been part of the Reform Jewish movement since 1957 when I enrolled in a rabbinic college in England. Though in theory Reform Judaism was fully committed to gender equality, there was still little of it in practice other than that, unlike in Orthodox synagogues, women
Women reviving Judaism Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — A rainy weekend leads me to thoughts about climate. This is a note about my locality, not about the fate of the world. Perhaps some of you thought I was living in the desert. Not true. Jerusalem has almost as much rain on an annual basis as
Rain in Jerusalem? Almost as much as London Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Science, Medicine, & EducationBy Dr. Ehud Eilam WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sinai Peninsula has been the main battlefield in most of the wars between Egypt and Israel. The latter seized a small part of Sinai during the 1948-1949 war, and then most of it in the 1956 war. All of Sinai was soon after returned to Egypt without
Protecting Sinai from terrorists could lead to its remilitarization Read More »
Middle EastWASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)–While the Obama administration has pursued Middle East policies that could be characterized as being sometimes indifferent to Israel’s precarious security situation, relations between our Department of Defense and the Israel Defense Forces are as good today, if not better, than they have ever been. Both countries reap the benefits that flow
Payoffs for U.S. from Israeli alliance Read More »
Middle East