Steve Kramer grew up in Atlantic City, graduated from Johns Hopkins in 1967, adopted the hippie lifestyle until 1973, then joined the family business for 15 years. Steve moved to Israel from Margate, NJ in 1991 with his family. He has written more than 1100 articles about Israel and Jews since making Aliyah. Steve and his wife Michal live in Kfar Saba.
By Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — The BDS movement is a matter of great concern for Israelis. It grew from the misnamed and UN-sponsored “World Conference against Racism,” held in Durban, South Africa in 2001. This NGO hatefest against Israel developed the strategy to use “soft power” against Israel, perhaps because numerous military actions […]
IS the BDS movement winning? Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — Pauline Kael, a renowned, late film critic for the liberal, weekly New Yorker, once said, “How could Nixon have won? Nobody I know voted for him,” referring to George McGovern’s loss to Richard Nixon in the 1972 presidential election. Many people in the United Kingdom (UK) and throughout the
Maybe EU will focus now on its own problems Read More »
International, Middle East, Steve Kramer
By Steve Kramer GOLAN HEIGHTS, Israel — With four friends, over the Shavuot holiday we got away to the Golan Heights for a long weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect: vivid blue skies, fluffy clouds, temperature just about 80 degrees F, and the clearest air I’ve ever seen in that area. On the way up
Touring the Golan and the Galilee Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — At a special ceremony in Jerusalem to mark the unification of the city 49 years ago during the Six Day War, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared: “The idea of a divided, split, wounded city is one we will never return to.” That statement mirrors the Israeli consensus on the
Peace makers don’t understand Mideast conflict Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer“[Netanyahu] knows that the Palestinians will always refuse to make peace no matter how much the U.S. tilts the diplomatic playing field in their direction.” “…everyone in Israel (though no one in the Obama administration) knows that the goal of the Palestinian Authority is to avoid being pushed into talks where they would be forced
Mideast peace process lacks an Arab partner Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer
By Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, IsraelPassover is probably the most celebrated holiday in Israel, with many families vacationing all over Israel. Less than a week later Israelis commemorate Yom Hashoah, the day to remember the victims and heroes of the Holocaust, many of whom live in Israel. A week later, we commemorate the victims of
Two vacation tours in Israel Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer, Travel and FoodBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — A functioning State of Palestine is the aspiration of most members of the United Nations. They’ve been dreaming about it ever since 1967, when Israel took control of Judea and Samaria from Jordan, which had occupied the region since Israel’s War of Independence in 1948. It sounds great
The P.A. does not want a two- state solution Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer
By Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE — The ESRA organization for English speakers (esra.org.il) had a beautiful hike in Ramat (hills of) Menashe during the intermediate days of Passover. This is one of the two regions of the Land of Israel in which the ancient tribe of Menashe resided. (The other area is located in the
Hiking in Ramat Menashe Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — To facilitate the current round of Syrian peace talks, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to support the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. The two presidents gave their top diplomats, Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the green light to
The case for the Israeli Golan Heights Read More »
Middle East, Steve Kramer
By Steve Kramer NETANYA, Israel — We recently attended a lecture sponsored by AACI Netanya. The lecturer was American-Israeli Hank Citron, who divides his time between Manhattan and Netanya. A former history professor in New Jersey, Hank is a colorful character who, among other things, grew up in a Zionist household, the son of European
Jabotinsky left an impressive legacy Read More »
International, Jewish History, Middle East, Steve KramerSAN DIEGO — San Diego Jewish World expresses its appreciation to the byliners and staff photographers whose works appeared in March 2016 editions. They included: David Amos Eitan Arom Judy Lash Balint Kenneth Bandler Laurie Baron Amber Bartlett Jeremy Ben-Ami Boaz Bismuth Ronnie Blair Dan Bloom Shoshana Bryen Stephen Bryen Cynthia Citron Richard L. Cravatts Jack Forman
SDJW thanks its March 2016 contributors Read More »
Barry Shaw, Cynthia Citron, Donald H. Harrison, Dorothea Shefer-Vanson, Eileen Wingard, Eric George Tauber, Eva Trieger, Fred Reiss, EdD, Ira Sharkansky, Lawrence Baron, Mark D. Zimmerman, Melanie Rubin, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi, Michael Ordman, Natasha Josefowitz, Sheryl Rowling, Shor M. Masori, Shoshana Bryen, Steve KramerBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — “You will never hear me say, ‘The IDF is the most moral army in the world,’” declares Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Danny Efroni. “I think that our army has good values, but some of this has to do with the fact that it investigates and examines suspected
Prone terrorist’s killing may be justified Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Steve Kramer HERZLIYA, Israel –I recently attended an excellent lecture by Dr. Mordechai Kedar on the history of Jerusalem, presented by “The Jewish Narrative” Thursday English Lecture series in Herzliya. In many ways this lecture was similar to another I had attended several years ago by Emeritus Professor Moshe Sharon of Hebrew University. Both
Religious doctrine shapes contest for Jerusalem Read More »
Middle East, Steve KramerBy Steve Kramer ALFE MENASHE, Israel — The words we use are important, especially when explaining a situation or making an argument. Evidently, Israelis haven’t read Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass.” It was Humpty Dumpty who said, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor
Why the world should say ‘Judea’ and ‘Samaria’ Read More »
Jewish History, Middle East, Steve Kramer