SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — Danny Danon, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, told Fox Business News that “those guys who are taking over Syria are not peace loving. You know they are terrorists, most of them, so we are now neutralizing the threat. We are taking care of the assets that Syria received from Russia and from Iran. I’m talking about billions of dollars for air-to-air missiles, SCUD missiles, Navy, Air Force. We are neutralizing everything because we don’t know who will be in charge of Syria and maybe it will not be a central government, maybe it would be gangland. They are in control of cities and we are afraid they will come to our border exactly like Hezbollah came to our border from Lebanon.”
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State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Jordan and Turkey in response to the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. “He will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance, prevent Syria from being used as a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensure that chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” Miller said.
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Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin by telephone that “there is now a chance for a new deal that will allow the return of all the hostages, including those with American citizenship,” Katz’s office reported from Jerusalem.
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Israel’s President Isaac Herzog told Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña at a reception at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, “We are very excited that you will inaugurate the Paraguayan embassy in Jerusalem, our holy city, united city, the eternal capital of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.” In his reply, Peña called the decision “a testament of who we are. This is important for us coming here and opening the embassy as a symbol, because this represents something that is much larger, which is our friendship and the faith that we have in a brighter future.”
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President-elect Trump met former Israeli-American hostage Judith Ranaan at the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where Chabad of Palm Beach Gardens held its 13th annual fundraising golf tournament. Chabad Rabbi Dovid and Chana Vigler arranged the meeting at which Trump was heard asking about Hamas, “They’re monsters, aren’t they?” He told Ranaan, whom Hamas released last year in a prisoner swap with Israel. ‘We’re working very hard to get the hostage back and as you know, January 20th is a very big day,” Trump told her.
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Jacob Helberg, a leading voice calling for China’s divestment of TikTok or banning that social media platform in the U.S., was named by President-elect Trump as his choice for undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment.
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B’nai B’rith, remembering 12 Druze children murdered by a Hezbollah missile on July 27 while they were playing soccer, will provide football (soccer) coaching scholarships to three young coaches – relatives of the slain children –from the Golan Druze villages of Mas’ada and Majdal Shams. Alan Schneider, director of B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem, commented, “Upon completing their training, the coaches will return to their villages to train local children, fostering resilience and healing in the wake of unimaginable loss and a year marked by conflict. It is our distinct honor to partner with the Association and the Municipality in realizing this flagship program.”
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Ziporah Reich, Litigation Director at the Lawfare Project, is helping to represent 36 victims of the anti-Jewish riots that broke out in Amsterdam after a soccer game between an Israeli team and a local club. At a news conference, she said, ““From the streets of Europe to university campuses in the United States, pro-Hamas agitators are targeting the Jewish community with increasing aggression. Our clients, who were simply enjoying a soccer game, were violently attacked by individuals who saw them as targets because of their identity.” Dutch authorities are prosecuting a criminal case against the alleged attackers, and the Lawfare Project would like the victims to be financially compensated for their injuries.
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Antisemitism in Australia continues unabated. Last Friday, a synagogue was torched in Melbourne. On Wednesday in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra, arsonists set a car afire and daubed two buildings, another vehicle with antisemitic graffiti. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) said between Oct 1, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024, there were more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents across Australia.
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Tyler Gregory, CEO of San Francisco’s Jewish Community Relations Council, responded to vandals painting “Khaybar” on the building of San Francisco’s Hillel, saying “It is imperative that our local elected officials and education leaders dramatically curb the antisemitic rhetoric at campus protests and in college classrooms that inevitably leads to attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions.” “Khaybar” refers to an Arabian fight between Muslims and Jews in medieval times in which the Jews were slaughtered.
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Carol Ann Schwartz, national president of Hadassah, reported that two thirds of American Jewish women surveyed “feel unsafe because being Jewish makes them a target and nearly half have taken steps to hid who they are. Every day, Jewish women are suffering in silence, isolation, and fear as they live in the shadows of hate.”
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Dr. Alexandra Fishman, Founding Director of the StandWithUs Data & Analytics department, described a pilot study aimed to understand the prevalence and impact of bigotry against Jews in healthcare. The study questioned 645 health care professionals. She said, “It is deeply troubling when nearly 40% of respondents indicate that they have personally experienced or witnessed antisemitism in their places of work. This resurgence of hatred and discrimination requires both further study and immediate action by leaders in the medical field.”
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Now that he is a Democratic U.S. Senator from California, Adam Schiff expressed a desire to be appointed to the Senate Intelligence Committee. He served eight years on House Intelligence Committee, four of them as its chairman.
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Andrea Goren succeeds Gary DeBode as chair of Americans for Ben-Gurion University. He is a New York-based finance executive.
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Joe LaCava was sworn in this week as the new president of the San Diego City Council, succeeding Sean Elo-Rivera.
Councilwoman Jennifer Campbell said about LaCava: “This gentleman has been a friend of mine for about 20 years, and I just think the world of him.” The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert had previously criticized Elo-Rivera as divisive, but she complimented him Tuesday for unifying the council during his final year of a three-year term. Councilmembers Vivian Moreno and Raul Campillo also praised Elo-Rivera. Moreno said, “You have fought for underserved communities to get their fair share at City Hall.” Campillo said, “Over the last year, you’ve gone out of your way to — in good faith — find good solutions to the problems we have as a city.”
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San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer described as a “very important step in the right direction” an ordinance giving the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board power to investigate any employee or contractor including health care providers, who may have been involved in the death of a prisoner while in custody. The ordinance was introduced and steered through passage by Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe.
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Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff