Yehuda Halevi by Hillel Halkin, Nextbook/Schocken, New York; ISBN 978-0-8052-4206-5, ©2010, $25.00, p. 353. By Fred Reiss, Ed.D WINCHESTER, California– Give me the names of three medieval Jewish poets … Okay, I’ll take just two … Can you name just one? If you’re like most people, all you heard was the sound of silence. Our […]
Book places Halevi and his poetry in context Read More »
Fred Reiss, EdDBy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–It may be time for Barack Obama to visit the Knesset. Anwar Sadat’s visit in 1977, and his opening words “In the name of God, Mr. Speaker of the Knesset, ladies and gentlemen . . .I come to you today on solid ground to shape a new life and to establish peace.
Should Obama make a Sadat-like visit to the Knesset? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Cynthia Citron LOS ANGELES – Who knew sex could be so tedious? In David Hare’s The Blue Room 11 acts of intercourse are conducted without heat, or charm, or intimacy, or humor, or foreplay. The acotrs climb all over each other into a black out, and from there, it’s just “wham, bam, thank you, ma’am” and “Where are my shoes?” Moreover, if a cardinal rule of acting
So who knew sex could be so boring? Read More »
Cynthia CitronBy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Okoronkwo Umeham and his wife, Gail Feurzeig Umeham, have heard rumors that the Mexican government may apologize for his wrongful incarceration in a Tijuana Federal Detention Center earlier this month, but so far that is all that the reports have turned out to be – rumors. To my
Schmooze and News for all us Jews Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C.–Sometimes it takes a while for a story to come full circle. Last week, we reported on a ForeignPolicy.com blog that said American military officers in CENTCOM blamed U.S. relations with Israel for American weakness in the region. The ForeignPolicy blog went viral on the web, attracting other “authoritative” statements blaming
General Petraeus sets record straight on Israel Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA
By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California– Potentially difficult conversations are the conversations we put off because we assume they will be unpleasant at best or escalate into acrimony at worst. And yet it must be done. It can be anything from needing to tell an elderly parent he or she should stop driving (my
Preparing for unpleasant but necessary conversations Read More »
Natasha Josefowitz
Broken Birds: The Story of My Momila by Jeanette Katzir, www.brokenbirds.com , 2009, ISBN-10: 978-0-615-27483-6, 375 pages, $17.95 By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – I once had a friend who seemed to take sustenance from hearing about other people’s troubles. She had a bundle of her own problems, and seemed to light up learning,
Family squabbles detract from Holocaust memoir Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
By Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Things are not happy on the US-Israel front. Ha’aretz has taken the unusual step of putting a cartoon in the upper middle of its first page. It shows Bibi pushing a wheelbarrow full of construction material to his meeting with a scowling Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. There were two meetings in
U.S.-Israel relations decline as Jerusalem apartment units climb Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Lloyd Levy LONDON–This week, Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat, because they suspect that Mossad used forged British passports to kill a Hamas terrorist in Dubai. It needs to be pointed out that there is no definite evidence that Israel carried out the attack, and thus the issue was a very public way of attacking
UK's expulsion of Israeli diplomat a domestic election ploy Read More »
Lloyd Levy, Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM–Politics moves by symbols and slogans. Policymaking operates under an umbrella of politics, but gives more weight to the details of reality. Examples of the symbols and slogans that have moved American politics are war on drugs, war on terror, and–in the words of a Washington observer with a fancy title– “the
Is White House moving past symbols? Read More »
Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USABy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—One thing is clear about the operation of U.S. consulates along the U.S.-Mexico border: There needs to be a full-scale review of how well equipped they are to protect the interests of American citizens and their own employees. This is the clear lesson of two incidents occurring within a few
Congressional hearings into role of border consulates needed Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, USA
Once A Marine by Nick Popaditch (with Mike Steere), Savas Beatie LLC, 2008, ISBN 13 978-1-932713-47-0; 293 pages, $25. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—This book has what might be considered an elliptical title: “Once A Marine…. (Always A Marine.)” And even were this book solely a glimpse into the proud Marine Corps and its
Congressional candidate’s ode to Marine Corps reveals his core values Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, USA
By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – Okoronkwo Umeham, 73, has led a distinguished life in his native Nigeria; in the United Kingdom where he worked as a social worker; and finally in the United States, his country of citizenship, where he counsels troubled juveniles. Residents from the Eastern Nigerian village of Arochukwu,
Nigerian-American shackled in Mexico in mistaken drug arrest at border Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, International, USABy Shoshana Bryen WASHINGTON, D.C.– Fairly authoritative sources have noted that Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the U.S. Army general responsible for training Abu Mazen’s Palestinian security force/army, has become increasingly marginalized by the Fatah government. Last summer his staff was reportedly no longer directly involved in training or planning and had been “expelled” from the
The Folly of America Training the Palestinian Army Read More »
Middle East, Shoshana Bryen, USA