Other items in this column include:
*SDJA Pupils choose presidential tickets from among heroes of American history
*Jewish organizational news
SAN DIEGO — Former Vice President Joe Biden compared the U.S. relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un today to America’s “good relationship with Hitler before he, in fact, invaded Europe — the rest of Europe.”
The comparison came during one of many sharp exchanges Thursday night between Biden, the Democratic nominee for President, and President Donald J. Trump, the Republican, in their second and last debate before the Nov. 3 election. The nationally televised debate, expected to be viewed by over 100 million Americans, was held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and was moderated by NBC’s White House correspondent Kristen Welker.
In a discussion about U.S. national security, Trump said when he met with then President Barack Obama during the transition from that administration to his, Obama told him that he considered North Korea to be America’s biggest problem. “He indicated that we would be in a war with North Korea.” However, Trump said, “I have a very good relationship with him (Kim Jung-Un), a different kind of guy but he probably thinks the same thing about me. … We have a very good relationship and there is no war.” He said a war with Korea could have resulted in millions of people being killed given that Seoul, the capital of South Korea, is just 25 miles from the North Korean border.
Biden said when he visited China as vice president, he explained to the Chinese why U.S. relationships with China’s next door neighbor, North Korea, were so tense. He said he told the Chinese leadership, “We are going to make sure that we can control them, and make sure that they cannot hurt us. … What has he (Trump) done? He has legitimized North Korea. He has talked about his good buddy who is a thug, and he talks about how we are better off. They have much more capable missiles, able to reach U.S. territory much more easily than before.”
Asked by Welker if there were any conditions under which he would meet with Kim Jung Un, Biden responded “on the condition that he would agree that he would be drawing down his nuclear capacity The Korean Peninsula should be a nuclear-free zone.”
Trump responded that the North Korean leader didn’t want to meet with Obama because he didn’t like him. “They tried, he wouldn’t do it. … You know what North Korea — we are not in a war, we have a good relationship. Having a good relationship with another country is a good thing.”
At that point, Biden compared a good relationship with North Korea to having a good relationship with Nazi Germany. “Come on!” he added. “The reason he (Kin Jung-un) would not meet with President Obama is because President Obama said we are going to talk about denuclearization. We are not going to legitimize you. We are going to continue to push stronger and stronger sanctions on you. That is why they wouldn’t meet with us.”
The reference to Hitler may or not be reported by other news media, which might be more focused on the debates the two presidential candidates had on a range of issues including the coronavirus pandemic; what influence other countries may have on American elections and democracy; the affordable care act (also known as Obama care); immigration policy and the separation of children from their parents by immigration officials; race in America, climate change, and leadership styles.
Given the sensitivity of our Jewish community to any thing about the Nazis, or by extension the Holocaust, I figured I’d highlight that part of the debate. The rest of it (if you didn’t already see it), no doubt, will be well covered in the metropolitan newspapers.
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SDJA Pupils choose presidential tickets from among heroes of American history
Second graders at San Diego Jewish Academy are holding U.S. presidential debates of their own recently, but the tickets they propose aren’t Donald Trump and Mike Pence nor Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Instead, they’ve been choosing figures they admire from American history and proposing those persons’ candidacies to their classmates. The classmates then voted for the ticket that sounded best.
So who did the second graders propose? Here are three tickets that did particularly well: Rosa Parks for President, Alexander Hamilton for vice president; Ruth Bader Ginsburg for president, Susan B. Anthony for vice president, and Martin Luther King Jr. for President, Rosa Parks for vice president.
““Through this project, our students have been challenged to do things that even us adults find difficult – making a decision between two candidates,” said Kelley King, Head of Lower School and Associate Head of School for Teaching & Learning. “Our second graders and third graders have gracefully and thoughtfully used public speaking, ethical decision making, and sportsmanship through this exercise – which are all essential life skills that will impact them far past this exercise. We are extremely proud of the creativity and effort our students put into their very first election!”
King said the second graders will continue the debates through Nov. 3, when all students will vote for the winning ticket following such election exercises as soliciting donations and making campaign posters.
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Jewish organizational news
* The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement applauded a unanimous vote by the Parliament of Albania to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism. The vote came in advance of the Balkans Forum Against Anti-Semitism, which Albania will host in partnership with the Combat Anti=Semitism Movement and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Sacha Roytman-Dratwa, director of the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement, said the importance of the Muslim majority nation addressing anti-Semitism “makes clear that anti-Semitism has no place in free, democratic and tolerant societies such as Albania. ” Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, commented: “The adoption of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is the most important and effective tool currently in place in the international arena to take practical action against the scourge of anti-Semitism. I congratulate the Prime Minister of Albania, my good friend Edi Rama, on this important decision, which comes after he recently inaugurated an impressive monument in Tirana in memory of the Holocaust and in honor of the Righteous Among the Nations from the Albanian people.”
Gramoz Ruci, Speaker of Albania’s Parliament, stated: “It is good news that we, the Albanians and the peoples of the Western Balkans, a region that has suffered more than any other part of the world, the consequences of ethno-centrist and religious-centrist views and attitudes, join this emancipatory action of contemporary civilization: the fight against anti-Semitism. All nations that throughout history have protected Jews from extermination and support them today against stigma have a right to be proud. But we Albanians have more reasons to be proud because Albania is the only country in Europe where all Jews were taken under protection and rescued during World War II. Our homeland, Albania, in difficult times has served as a substitute soil for Jews.”
*Professors of The University of Haifa and UC Davis have been recognized by the U.S. – israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund for their contributions to combatting food insecurity. Prof. Tzion Fahima of University of Haifa and Prof. Jorge Dubcovsky of UC Davis were cited for “outstanding scientific achievement and excellence” for their successful 20-year project to increase grain protein content and to resist stripe rust, a fungal disease affecting wheat.”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
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