Dorothea Shefer-Vanson

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel —  Anyone who is at all familiar with the procedure customary in the various Houses of Representatives around the civilized world knows that these are governed by rules and regulations that are often very old, their roots lost in tradition. For instance, the Speaker of England’s parliament (the House of

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –The results of Israel’s general election were not as depressing as expected, although not as good as might have been hoped. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is still firmly in the saddle, but the composition of his coalition government may be radically different from the outgoing one. At this stage,

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –As election time in Israel draws near (the date set is 22nd January 2013), the plethora of parties and personalities vying for the Israeli voter’s attention is becoming ever more frenetic. On the one side is the massive combined weight of two right-wing parties, led by Avigdor Lieberman and

By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson MEVASSERET ZION, Israel –How we got onto the topic of education about the Holocaust I don’t quite know, but in a recent conversation with some friends I happened to say that I didn’t think it appropriate or beneficial for Israeli high-school students to go on school trips to Poland to visit concentration