Tagged Iraq War

Here’s what it’s like to grow up as a Jew in Iraq

Ceen Gabbai was born and raised as a Jew in Iraq, and received asylum in the United States in 2015. She now lives in Brooklyn. (Courtesy of Gabbai)
October 5, 2019 / Ben Sales, JTA

NEW YORK (JTA) — When Ceen Gabbai argued with her first-grade teacher about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, she didn’t realize how big of a risk she was taking. The year was 2000 and students across the world held strong opinions about the Second Intifada, an outbreak of violence that claimed… Read more »

Six years on, the parents of a Jewish Army veteran who committed suicide are still fighting for change

Howard and Jean Somers testify about their son Daniel's suicide before a U.S. House Committee hearing about the Veterans Affairs' mental health care procedures, July 10, 2014. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
July 26, 2019 / Josefin Dolsten, JTA

(JTA) — In 2007, Sgt. Daniel Somers returned home after two tours in Iraq, where he worked in intelligence and special operations. For years he struggled to get on with his life, but his Army service had left him with deep scars, including post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury… Read more »

Is Iran the new Iraq? Here are the similarities — and big differences

Two Navy men attach cargo to a Sea Hawk helicopter from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Red Sea, May 10, 2019. The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group has been deployed to the area as tensions with Iran have escalated. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amber Smalley/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
May 15, 2019 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — An American administration is issuing dire warnings about a Persian Gulf nation, there’s talk of war and questions about the quality of intelligence. And those who back confronting Iran and those who don’t are citing Israel as a factor. If the Iran war talk sounds familiar,… Read more »

Ted Cruz aims to liberate GOP from ‘crazy’ neoconservatives

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 2015. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
December 30, 2015 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Ted Cruz wants to make sure you understand: “Republican” and “neoconservative” are no longer synonymous. The Texas senator, inching up to second place behind front-runner Donald Trump in the polls just weeks before the Iowa caucuses, has launched a broadside against the “crazy” movement that not… Read more »

News analysis: Lieberman’s legacy: bridge builder or burner?
January 25, 2011 / Ron Kampeas, JTA
Sen. Joe Lieberman, right, talks to Gen. David Petraeus at the International Security Assistance Force Headquarters in Afghanistan during a congressional delegation tour, Nov. 10, 2010. (Joshua Treadwell)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Joe Lieberman ascended to national prominence by building one bridge at a time. Then, having reached the pinnacle by becoming the Democratic nominee for  vice president in 2000, he spent 10 years burning bridges. Ultimately, Lieberman’s most celebrated bridge — between America’s non-Christian, non-establishment minorities and… Read more »