SAN DIEGO (SDJW) –President Joe Biden announced he would commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row prisoners to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Among the three whose death sentences remain is Robert Bowers, who was convicted of murdering 11 people in 2018 at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue.
Victims of that mass shooting were Joyce Fienberg, 75, a retired University of Pittsburgh research specialist; Richard Gottfried, 65, a dentist; Rose Mallinger, 97, an active congregant at the synagogue for more than 60 years; Jerry Rabinowitz, 65, a family physician; Cecil, 59 & David Rosenthal, 54, brothers who lived together at a community home for people with disabilities; Bernice, 84 & Sylvan Simon, 86, retired couple; Daniel Stein, 71, retired salesman and substitute school teacher; Melvin Wax, 87, retired accountant who was leading services at the time of the shooting; and Irving Younger, 69, retired real estate company owner, who served as a greeter at the synagogue.
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President-elect Donald Trump has designated Stephen Feinberg to serve as the next Deputy Defense Secretary. Feinberg is the co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management, which four years ago sold the private military contract DynCorp to Amentum. In the first Trump administration, Feinberg served as leader of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) told Fox News on Sunday that he agrees with President Biden’s Middle East decisions. “We are on the verge, I hope, of a ceasefire and the return of the hostages … We have real promise in Lebanon with new leadership to be able to make that a safer country. … [I]n Syria, with the downfall of the Assad regime, there are real opportunities.”
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Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday, in response to a Houthi missile strike in the Tel Aviv area: “We defeated Hamas and Hezbollah, we blinded Iran’s defense systems and damaged the [missile] production systems, we collapsed the Assad regime in Syria, we have dealt heavy blows to the’ axis of evil’ and we will also severely strike the Houthi terror organization in Yemen, which remains the last one standing.”
“The Jews are no longer in Syria,” said Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie, M.D., a co-president of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) whose own family had to flee Syria for their lives decades ago. “But today, the Christians might not have much time left either, he warned in a press release.
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Israel’s Major Gen. (Res.) Doron Almog, Chairman of The Jewish Agency, has announced a “Global Glow” campaign whereby Chanukah candles will be illuminated digitally around the world. “When lighting these virtual candles, we will demonstrate global Jewish solidarity together, in hope and longing for unity, to build an exemplary society here in Israel — a society striving for excellence in every sector, but which does not leave the vulnerable behind,” he said. “Together we will amplify the shared light emerging from the diverse human mosaic of the Jewish people. That is our source of strength.” To join in lighting the global menorah please visit here.
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Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, reported on Monday that between July and August of last year, at least 25 synagogues across 13 states received bomb threats or were victims of swatting. He said because ADL patrols the dark web, it was able to identify the perpetrators, who were arrested and sentenced for their crimes.
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Idan Markovich, senior emergency programs officer for IsraAID, said in response to the 160-mile-per-hour Tropical Cyclone Chido that tore through northern Mozambique on Sunday, Dec. 15, killing 94 people and causing losses or injuries to nearly 200,000 others, that IsraAID will distribute fresh water to the cyclone’s victims and rebuild sanitation facilities in the province of Cabo Delgado.
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Gary Weitzman, CEO of the San Diego Humane Society, authorized the following statement after a Superior Court judge ruled against returning community cats to the neighborhoods they were found on the assumption they have no human owners: “San Diego Humane Society is deeply committed to the welfare of animals and our community, and we stand firmly behind the science and the expertise of animal welfare professionals that demonstrate the effectiveness of our Community Cat Program.”
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Compiled by San Diego Jewish World staff.
I usually have mixed feelings about capital punishment. However, in the case of the Tree of Life terrorist, they are not complicated at all.