SAN DIEGO — Jewish items of local, national and international interest
SAN DIEGO — Laurie Black, former San Diego port commissioner and one time chief of staff to former U.S. Rep. Lynn Schenk, will host a kickoff fundraising event at 5 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 19, for the mayoral campaign of City Councilman David Alvarez, a fellow Democrat. In a letter inviting people to the event at Black’s home, Barbara Bry wrote that “voters want a mayor who is authentic” and added: “Kevin Faulconer (Alvarez’s opponent) has had a walk on his record, and that is about to end.” Does this mean that the campaign, which up to now has been civil, is about to become negative and divisive?
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Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post was assigned as a pool reporter for two White House Chanukah events, each featuring a different menorah. One, designed by Manfred Anson, who was part of a kindertransport in 1939 from Germany to Australia, uses repetitions of the Statue of Liberty as branches of the menorah, “transforming Lady Liberty’s torch of freedom into the candleholder for each night of Hanukkah and for the service candle,” Goldfarb reported. The hannukiah was loaned for the occasion by the National Museum of American Jewish History. The second menorah was borrowed from the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Prague. Donated to the synagogue by Abraham and Hayyah Ettinger, it was once used in a synagogue in Hrušov that was later destroyed by the Nazis. The Ettinger family was deported to Poland, where they were murdered during the Holocaust.
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In Tel Aviv, Ann Gearan of the Washington Post asked John Kerry a question which seemed disrespectful of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But it prompted a newsworthy answer from Kerry about what the United States believes was achieved in its nuclear negotiations with Iran. Here is the exchange, as transcribed by the U.S. State Department:
QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Secretary, do you leave here today with any assurances from the Israeli prime minister that he will be quieter or more cooperative on the Iran talks front? And also, did you discuss with him directly the role of Congress and possible new sanctions and anything that he might do to influence against that? Thank you.”
SECRETARY KERRY: “No. I did not have any conversation with the prime minister regarding Congress or Congress’s role. But of course, we did discuss the substance of the issue of Iran and the negotiation. And look, the prime minister has every right in the world to make his views known with respect to his concerns about the security of his country, and we would expect him to do that. But the prime minister has also been extremely constructive in working with us on the next steps and where we need to go now. He understands that we are now in the real negotiation.
“And as I pointed out in my earlier comments, and I’ll say this again – I have said this to the prime minister, and I think it’s – and I’ll say this again now to the people of Israel and to any interested parties: I am personally convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that Israel is safer today after we have reached this first-step agreement than it was before we did that. Why do I say that? I say that because we are now engaged in the major comprehensive discussion that the prime minister wanted us to be engaged in, but guess what? We have stopped their program where it is.
They are destroying – under requirements, they will have to destroy the 20 percent enriched uranium in its entirety. They will not be able to grow their 3.5 percent enriched to stock at all. They will not be allowed to put new centrifuges in place. They will have to submit to inspections of the Fordow facility, of Natanz facility, of Arak facility. The Arak facility cannot progress at all with the installation of components or the testing of additional fuel or the installation of any of the nuclear components. And therefore, we have expanded the amount of time during which Iran could actually break out. That makes Israel safer in our judgment.
“And the fear of the prime minister with respect to the sanctions is certainly an appropriate concern, but it is one that the Treasury Department and the Obama Administration are absolutely determined to prevent from becoming a problem, because we have the ability to control what happens with respect to those sanctions. And we will continue to enforce them. There is no change in the fundamental sanctions regime. A very small amount of money is released, but those sanctions will continue over the course of these negotiations. And we are free at any time, if Iran is not complying, or we do not move forward, to ratchet up those sanctions and even to go back to Congress and ask for additional sanctions.
“So I am convinced that we have put forward a strong proposal, and now what we are doing with Israel is working very closely on what the final comprehensive agreement ought to look like. Israel and the United States are absolutely in sync, not an ounce of daylight between us, with respect to the need to make sure that Iran cannot achieve a nuclear weapon, will not in the future be able to achieve it, and certainly cannot move towards it without the United States of America and Israel knowing that and therefore being able to take steps to deal with it. I believe Israel is safer today and we will approach this final negotiation with an absolute view about Israel’s security, Israel’s safety, the region’s safety, and our ability to stand up afterwards and say, this was an agreement that was good for the region, good for Israel, good for the United States, good for the world. That’s our objective.”
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Looking ahead — John Kerry will be a featured speaker at the 100th anniversary celebration of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee on Dec. 9 at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. … Alan Bersin, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, will testify Dec. 10 in a field hearing entitled “Improving Security and Facilitating Commerce with Mexico at America’s Southern Border” before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, at the Tucson City Hall.
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Jewish Citizen was compiled by Donald H. Harrison from various email and web sources.