La Jolla family immigrates to Israel

“I saw Uriel deplane his Nefesh B’Nefesh flight, I looked at Orin, and I said, ‘Let’s make Aliyah.’ And that was it,” recalls Liora Green regarding her son’s immigration to Israel in August 2019. Indeed, the Green family did not need any further convincing. A year later — and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic — Liora and Orin Green as well as their children Merav, 14, and Dalia, 11, made Aliyah from La Jolla to join Uriel, 20. Another sibling, Eyal, 17, is completing his studies at Southern California Yeshiva (SCY) High and plans to make Aliyah in June 2021. [Jacob Kamaras]

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Jacob Kamaras, Lifestyles, Middle East, San Diego County, USA

Trump Asks Supreme Court To Overturn Biden’s Pennsylvania Election Victory

Despite multiple failures, President Donald Trump and his campaign team are continuing in their efforts to overturn the results of the November election – and they are now seeking help from the Supreme Court with a new petition. The petition, which seeks an overturn of Pennsylvania Supreme Court decisions that denied requests to allow the

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USA

Seems like old times: Coalition squabbles

We’re up against a deadline. Presumably, if the Israeli government does not pass a budget today, the Knesset goes home and there’ll be an election, perhaps within three months. There have been several options, including a postponing of the deadline, and lots of discussion.  Perhaps an enactment of a 2020 budget, that’ll serve the country for the next week! [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Joseph was wise enough to be vulnerable

This week’s parasha reveals a great deal about human nature. Indeed, “reveal” is the key word. As the parasha opens, Joseph continues to hide his true identity until his brother, Judah, touchingly entreats Joseph to enslave him instead of their innocent, framed brother, Benjamin. Judah poignantly tells Joseph about their elderly bereaved father, which adds to Joseph’s decision to tell his brothers that he is their brother. {Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

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Jewish Religion, Michael Mantell

Senate approves bill on American hostages named for Robert Levinson

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chris Coons (D-De.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)  on Monday released the following statements on securing passage of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (S.712) as part of the end-of-year funding legislation approved by the Senate today. (Senate Foreign Relations Committee Press Release)

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International, Middle East, USA

Month of January exciting for political junkies, journalists

For political junkies and journalists (two groups that sometimes merge), the month of January will be exciting. The U.S. Constitution sets January 3rd as the date for the new Congress to convene.  As January 3rd falls this year on a Sunday, there has been some talk about delaying the opening of Congress until either Monday, the 4th, or Tuesday, the 5th, but it would take a bill approved by both Houses and signed by the President to bring that about.  So, while it’s not impossible that the date still could be delayed, Sunday, the 3rd, looks like the day when the House of Representatives convenes to swear in such new members as Democrat Sara Jacobs of San Diego, and to elect the leadership of both parties.  Two Californians — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarty of Bakersfield — will run for reelection respectively as the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House.  With a narrower majority, and some disgruntled Democrats, especially in the Progressive wing of the party that includes U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Pelosi’s reelection, though favored, is not a sure thing. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Donald H. Harrison

The artist as ‘hooligan’ on exhibit at NYC’s Pace Gallery

The Hooligans is Ghenie’s fourth solo exhibition at Pace Gallery, comprised of nine paintings and three drawings, all produced during this last year. It is a sustained engagement with European painting, including J.M.W. Turner, the Impressionists, and post-Impressionists, particularly Van Gogh and Gaugin. Ghenie remarks in a statement about this new body of work: “When I look at the Impressionists, I have the strange feeling that I am looking at something very schizophrenic. Behind those harmless colorful landscapes there is an incredible, destructive force; camouflaged. It is an act of hooliganism.” [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA

German synagogue attacker handed life sentence for 2019 incident

A 28-year-old man who confessed to carrying out a 2019 terrorist attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, has been handed a life sentence by a German court. A regional court in Naumburg determined that, once Stephan Balliet had served out the 15-year sentence, he would be subject to preventive detention. This is the maximum

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International

US charges Libyan ‘bombmaker’ over 1988 Lockerbie attack

Washington (AFP) – The US Justice Department announced charges Monday against a Libyan former intelligence agent who allegedly built the bomb that exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland exactly 32 years ago. Attorney General Bill Barr said that “Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi” helped build the device that blew up the aircraft

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International, Middle East, USA