By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
A City Council decision to sell the City Administration Building and the adjoining Civic Center and the troubled 101 Ash Street complex to make way for a new City Hall building that will rise on First Street downtown has been praised by San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera. “It is not hyperbolic or cliché to say that this is more than a once-in-a-generation opportunity, more than once in a lifetime. This is a decision that is going to impact multiple generations of San Diegans and in many ways could shape the future of the city and the region,” he said. Anyone who purchases the property would have to include some low-cost housing in its replacement.
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Randy Grossman, U.S. Attorney in San Diego, had this comment Tuesday following the sentencing of bank robber Akil Saeed Daniels to 110 months in prison. “Employees who have been through a robbery are impacted for the rest of their lives. This defendant made the decision to terrorize the same people not once, but twice. And now, not once, but twice, he will pay for his crime with a lengthy prison term.” Daniels robbed California Coast Credit Union the first time in 2011 and served 11 years of a 13-year sentence. In September 2022, he decided to rob the same credit union again, as well as the Mission Federal Credit Union in Poway the next day.
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Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak “YY” Jacobson, a former editor-in-chief of the Algemeiner Journal, discusses how to fight new-age antisemitism at 7 p.m., Sunday, April 30, at the Chabad Educational Center, 10785 Pomerado Road, San Diego. Required registration for a $10 ticket may be accomplished by clicking here. Rabbi Yeruchem Eilfort of Chabad at La Costa calls Jacobson “one of the greatest speakers in the Jewish world of our generation, bar none. He is an absolute powerhouse!”
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Rabbi Jason Nevarez, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel, will tell a 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 17, meeting sponsored by the congregation’s Men’s Club about Jewish concepts of the afterlife. “What happens when we die? Do we see our loved ones? Do we know them? Do they know us? The questions are endless,” advertises a flyer for the event at the Reform congregation. Rabbi Nevarez will “take a deep dive into Jewish understanding behind these critical questions.”
CALIFORNIA
Oakland A’s owner John J. Fisher has been defended by Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred against criticism that he manipulated the City of Oakland as a negotiating strategy to get a better deal from Las Vegas, where the team will move in the future. Said Manfred: “I feel really sorry for the fans in Oakland. I really do. But for the City of Oakland to point fingers at John Fisher, it’s not fair. We have shown an unbelievable commitment to the fans in Oakland by exhausting every possible opportunity to try to get something done in Oakland. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t seem to have the will to get it done.”
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The late Jewish comedian and movie star Gene Wilder is the subject of a documentary that will premiere May 18 at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills as part of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. Among interviewees: Carol Kane and Ben Mankiewicz.
NATIONAL
Singer/ Civil Rights Activist Harry Belafonte died Tuesday at 96. The Forward reported that he had a Dutch Jewish paternal grandfather and a second wife, Julie Robinson, who was Jewish. With Zero Mostel, he starred as Levine in The Angel Levine. In that Bernard Malamud story, Levine has to persuade Mostel’s character, Morris Mishkin, that he was both Jewish and an angel trying to earn his wings. To prove he was Jewish, Belafonte as Levine perfectly recites the Ha Motzi prayer. Many people remember Belafonte singing and popularizing Hava Nagila.
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Entertainment attorney Bryan Freedman has been separately retained by cable news hosts Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, who on Monday were both dismissed from their respective positions at Fox News and Cable News Network. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, welcomed Carlson’s departure saying in a Tweet: “It’s about time. For far too long, Tucker Carlson has used his primetime show to spew antisemitic racist, xenophobic & anti-LGBTQ hate to millions.” Meanwhile Ken Stone of Times of San Diego has reported that San Diego-based One America News’s CEO and Founder Robert Herring Sr. said, “It would be great if we could get Tucker! I might give him around $25 million. And he would be well worth that!” U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) tweeted: “Now that Fox has fired Carlson, who blundered by speaking off-camera truth about lies Fox told on air, will Fox recant Trump’s Big Lie, Carlson’s ‘Patriot Purge’ Jan. 6 false-flag disinformation & the toxic Great Replacement Theory? Or was he just fired for saying he hated Trump?”
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Elliot Grainge, owner of an independent music label, married Sofia Richie, daughter of singer Lionel Richie on Saturday evening, several weeks after she completed conversion to Judaism.
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Greenberg Traurig, the multinational law firm with 45 offices and more than 2,650 attorneys—headed by its executive chairman Richard A. Rosenbaum and its CEO Brian Duffy—has been mentioned in a report by Politico detailing Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s financial reporting or lack of it. Politico said that Gorsuch had been trying unsuccessfully to sell a Colorado vacation property for two years. However, nine days after Gorsuch became a Supreme Court justice, the property was purchased by Duffy and his wife, Kari, but Gorsuch did not list the name of the purchaser—nor was he required to—on his financial disclosure forms. Since that time, according to The New York Times more than four dozen cases handled by Greenberg Traurig attorneys have been argued before the Supreme Court.
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Bob Iger, The CEO of Walt Disney Co., has announced the second wave of layoffs in an effort to save $5.5 billion for the company. Nationwide the company anticipates eliminating 7,000 jobs.
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Supreme Court Justices Elana Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Sonia Sotomayor dissented in a 6-3 ruling refusing an appeal of the death sentence for Kevin B. Burns, who was convicted in the 1992 fatal shootings of Damon Dawson and Tracy Johnson. Sotomayor called the ruling an egregious error, noting that Burns was not the person who fired the shots – which she said should have been considered by the jury determining whether to apply the death penalty.
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U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, at the beginning of former President Donald Trump’s civil trial Tuesday in which he is accused by Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll of rape and defamation, commented: “It is the job of the jury to decide what, if anything, happened.” He promised to protect the 6-man, 3-woman jury by granting them total anonymity. “God willing, nobody will ever know your names,” he said. U.S. Marshals will drive the jurors to a secure court house garage and take them up to the courtroom via a private elevator.
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Mattel toys, whose chairman and CEO is Israel-born Ynon Kreiz, has announced that it is bringing out a new Barbie Doll, one with Down Syndrome. Its model Ellie Goldstein shared her excitement on Instagram on Tuesday: “It means a lot to me that children will be able to play with the doll and learn that everyone is different,” she said. Lisa McNight, who heads Mattel’s Barbie Division said: “Our goal is to enable all children to see themselves in Barbie, while also encouraging children to play with dolls who do not look like themselves.”
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Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich points to Section Three of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as reason why former President Donald Trump should be disqualified from running again for office. It reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may be a vote of two-thirds of each House , remove such disability.” In an opinion piece for The Guardian, Reich cited Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, his attempt to persuade state election officials to change their tallies, and his effort to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to not certify the 2020 electoral college results. “This, my friends, is treason,” Reich declared. “Secretaries of state—who in most cases are in charge of deciding who gets on the ballot—must refuse to place Donald Trump’s name on the 2024 ballot, based on the clear meaning of section three of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
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Russell “Rusty” Rosenthal has been appointed as vice president of security and law enforcement of the Anti-Defamation League. He is a veteran of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He commented: “ADL’s work and its close relationships with law enforcement agencies have never been more important or more necessary. Having served the American people in the FBI for 25 years, I understand the importance of maintaining strong relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. I look forward to continuing to partner with allies at the state, local, and federal levels in advancing this timely and critical mission.”
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Halie Sofer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, to no one’s surprise, has announced the JDCA’s endorsement of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for reelection as President and Vice President of the United States. She praised the President for “defending democracy, combating antisemitism and hate, advancing gun safety reform, protecting our planet, health, and communities, and supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship.” Just as predictably, Norm Coleman and Matt Brooks, respectively chair and CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition issued a statement opposing Biden’s reelection. Among RJC’s objections: “Joe Biden has been derelict in his duty to keep Jewish Americans safe, kowtowing to the most radical elements of his party and legitimizing ascendent far left voices. On Biden’s watch, antisemitic hate crimes have skyrocketed, while every single Democrat in the House of Representatives voted to keep antisemite Ilhan Omar on the critically-important Foreign Affairs Committee.”
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Director Steven Spielberg came out against revising movies from their original forms to address modern-day standards. In an interview with TIME magazine, he said he regretted having edited E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial to replace guns in the hands of FBI agents with walkie talkies. “I should never have done that,” he told TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal. He explained: “Our movies are a kind of signpost of where we were when we made them, what the world was like, and what the world was receiving when we got those stories out there. So, I really regret having that out there.”
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INTERNATIONAL
Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, walked out of a Security Council meeting Tuesday in protest of that body holding an inquiry into Israeli and Palestinian issues on Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Day of Mourning for soldiers killed in combat and victims of terror. “Today’s debate has crossed all lines. While Israelis mourn, this council, as usual, will hear more blatant lies condemning the State of Israel and falsely painting it as the root of all the region’s problems,” he said.
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U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) was among a 12-member House delegation that traveled to Israel for Yom HaZikaron observances in Jerusalem sponsored by MASA Jewish Journeys. Led by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the 12-member delegation also included Reps. Debbi Wasserman Schultz of Florida; Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, and Dean Phillips of Minnesota. Restoring America’s reputation around the world starts by leading with our values. I was honored to join Leader Hakeem Jeffries on his historic first trip as Democratic Leader, and was grateful for the opportunity to build on the Biden Administration’s renewed engagement on the African continent by visiting Ghana, one of our closest partners in West Africa. In meetings with President Nana Akufo-Addo and civil society, we discussed recent progress to prevent further conflict and instability in Ghana through a whole-of-government approach, and America’s renewed commitment to our strong bilateral relationship. I was also honored to commemorate Yom HaZikaron and Israel’s 75th anniversary. While in Israel, I had many productive conversations with the Israeli government, opposition, and Palestinian civil society. In particular, I pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the concerns I had around his judicial reform plan, Israeli state excessive force, the demolition of Palestinian homes, settlement expansion, and his lack of commitment to a two-state solution. I firmly believe Israel will only be safe and secure once there is a viable, sovereign Palestinian state.”
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com