Sceptical president invites Netanyahu to form next Israeli government

By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) -A sceptical president invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday to form a new government, after another inconclusive election deepened political stalemate in Israel. The country’s longest-serving leader, in power without interruption since 2009, now faces the tough challenge of enlisting enough allies for a governing coalition. Under law, Netanyahu […]

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Middle East

Taking a pen as her sword and challenging the patriarchy: Nawal El Saadawi’s phenomenal legacy

In her 89 years, Dr Nawal El Saadawi was relentless in her fight against the persecution of women. She passed away on March 21, but her legacy as an advocate and writer lives on. Her multifaceted approach to feminism, pulling from her experience as a writer, physician and psychiatrist ensured her advocacy reverberated transnationally, overwhelming

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Middle East

‘Responsibility’ of rich countries to continue poverty fight: Yellen

Washington (AFP) – Rich countries have an obligation to ensure the Covid-19 pandemic does not undermine efforts to fight poverty worldwide, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday. “It’s the responsibility of the developed countries to make sure that decades of progress in fighting poverty globally and trying to close income gaps between rich and

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USA

The Tower of Babel ‘Trial’

Virtually the entire Bible is either obscure or ambiguous. This not a criticism. Some scholars and I have noted that all very good literature is obscure or ambiguous. This enhances what is written. It gives the reader an opportunity to interpret what is being read. It is as if there are two writers of what is written both the original author and the reader. As a result, the reader gets more out of the writing than the writer composed. In addition, in regard to biblical law, it gives the religious leaders of the Jews an opportunity to reinterpret the obscurity to correspond to modern times [Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin]

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Israel Drazin-Rabbi Dr., Jewish Religion

Don’t listen to the prophets of doom

It’s our responsibility as citizens of the world to continuously hope for a better future. Our world is filled with prophets of doom and they are especially to be found in the Jewish world where many who should know better see a dark cloud for the future of American Jewry, European Jewry and the Jews of Israel. The danger is that all of these can turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. [Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg]

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Bernhard H. Rosenberg-Rabbi, Lifestyles

The Sage Hillel Guides Our Choice of Stories

With antisemitism on the rise, it is tempting to stay laser focused on stories that impact our community, but we must resist the temptation.  Those who complain how few people helped Jews during the Holocaust (although the Righteous Among the Nations surely did), need to follow the same moral high road that we wish others would have followed during our time of peril.  [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison, International, Jewish History, Middle East, USA

Israeli president starts post-election talks with party leaders

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has begun consultations with party leaders two weeks after Israel’s deadlocked elections. He met representatives of Likud on Monday, the first of a series of meetings planned with the 13 groups represented in parliament in the course of the day. Each group is to recommend a candidate to form the government

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Travel and Food

A Republican’s deleted 9/11 tweet about Ilhan Omar slammed as ‘Islamophobic’ by Muslim group

A Republican’s deleted “9/11 tweet” about Ilhan Omar is “disrespectful” to the victims of the terror attacks and is an example of anti-Muslim bigotry, a leading Muslim rights group has said. Republican representative for North Carolina, Greg Murphy, is at the centre of criticism after he directed a now-deleted tweet about the 11 September 2001

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USA

Police, communities across U.S. fight back against anti-Asian hate crimes

By Brittany Hosea-Small, Nathan Layne and Rich McKay SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) – More than a dozen San Jose, California, police officers walked through the white arches of the Grand Century Mall in “Little Saigon” to reassure a Vietnamese-American community fearful over the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States. The officers walked

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USA

Ghanaian digital activist pushes for more online visibility for the Dagbani language

Ghanian digital activist, Sadik Shahadu. Photo provided by Sadik Shahadu and used with permission. Editor’s note: From April 6-13, 2021, Sadik Shahadu will be hosting the @DigiAfricanLang rotating Twitter account which explores the ways in which technology can be used to revitalize African languages. In early 2021, over 4,000 Dagbani words were recorded and uploaded

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International