SAN DIEGO (SDJW ) — U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) delivered a farewell address in the U.S. Senate, in which he has served for 18 years, which included his current role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said tikkun olam and tzedakah collectively have been his North Star of public service.
Following his election to the House of Representatives in 1987, his first venture into foreign policy was to become an advocate for Soviet Jews who were routinely denied the ability to emigrate.
“My wife, Myrna, was the leader of the Maryland Committee for Soviet Jewry. My close friend Representative Steny Hoyer chaired the US Helsinki Commission that took up the cause of Soviet Jews and gave me the opportunity to become involved. Steny and I traveled together to several countries behind the Iron Curtain to give hope to those who were living in countries where their leaders denied their citizens basic human rights.”
Cardin said this led to bringing worldwide attention to the case of Russian auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who was killed in prison in 2009 after speaking out against corruption and misconduct by Russian officials. “It was clear to me that those who violated his basic rights needed to be held accountable, even if the Russian government refused to act,” he said. “The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act targeted those individuals who were complicit in his jailing and murder. Block these individuals from traveling to our country or using our banking system. It put their reputation, ability to travel, and access to their assets at risk.”
Reflecting further in his valedictory in the Senate chamber, Cardin recalled that “these policies were influenced by Senator Scoop Jackson’s legislation, the Jackson-Vanik Law, that denied trade privileges to countries that blocked their citizens from emigrating. When Jackson-Vanik was repealed because its purpose had been accomplished, it was appropriate that that legislation was used as the vehicle to replace Jackson-Vanik with Magnitsky. The original Magnitsky law focused on human rights abuses in Russia.
“In 2016,” Cardin continued, “I authored the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which expanded the legislation around the world. These laws have given birth to a whole new legal framework for upholding human rights and deterring corrupt actors. The European Union and other governments around the world have replicated the Magnitsky system. As of this year, the US program has sanctioned more than 650 foreign persons and entities.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a meeting of Arab and Turkish foreign ministers in Aqaba, Jordan on Saturday that the U.S. and regional partners hope that the incoming government of Syria will reject terrorism, respect women and minority rights, and destroy chemical weapon stockpiles. The meeting also was attended by officials from the United Nations and the European Union.
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Joel Seidemann has been appointed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as prosecutor of Luigi Mangione, who faces trial for the murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthCare. Mangioni will be defended by a former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office, Karen Friedman Agnifilo.
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Isak Andic, founder of the Mango clothing retail chain with nearly 2,800 stores globally, died Saturday following an accident in the Salnitre de Collbató caves near Barcelona, Spain. He was 71.
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Steve Witkoff, President-elect Trump’s designee as his Middle East envoy, met in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and discussed the Gaza War, the possibility of Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, and bilateral U.S.-Saudi relationships, it was reported by Axios.
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Daniil Brodsky has resigned as chairman of Amnesty Israel, saying Palestinians had no input into a recent report written by Israeli Jews condemning Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide.” Brodsky stated that “a common pattern in progressive Israeli spaces is that Palestinians can provide labor, translation, lived experience and trauma to feed the analysis of Israeli Jews, but cannot be equal partners who get to do the analysis side by side and set the agenda together.”
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Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum in a meeting with governors of Mexican states last week promised, “Rest assured that we are going to bring crime rates down.” She has promulgated a four-point plan including diversion of youth to educational or vocational opportunities; strengthening police and military forces; investigation and prosecution of high-profile criminal suspects; and more closely coordinating efforts among federal and state officials. “When I am asked if the strategy is going to work, I am convinced that it will.”
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In the San Diego City Council reorganization, Sean Elo-Rivera switched places with Joe LaCava, who became the Council’s President. Elo-Rivera will chair the Council’s Environment Committee. He also will serve as chair of a Select Committee Addressing Cost of Living. The 9-member Council’s other Jewish member, Jennifer Campbell, will continue to chair the Community and Neighborhood Services Committee.
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Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff