A multifaith service, “Prayers for Peace in the Middle East,” cosponsored by Temple Emanu-El and the Weintraub Israel Center will be held Thursday, Juy 31 at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El. Cosponsors include the Tucson Board of Rabbis. Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and other denominational pryaers and songs will… Read more »
Tagged Israel
Egypt and United States, usual brokers in cease-fires, may not help this time
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Escalations between Hamas and Israel are nothing new. What’s missing this time, analysts say, is the alignment of outside interests that has resolved such fights in the past.Egypt’s government lacks the influence over Hamas of its predecessors and the United States is in hand-washing mode… Read more »
New initiative seeking to improve Hebrew literacy among American Jews
NEW YORK (JTA) — For the first 3 1/2 weeks of the summer, one group of 5-year-olds at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, N.Y., was “very quiet” as the children went about the typical camp activities, according to Amy Skopp Cooper, the camp’s director. But in the fourth week,… Read more »
Ethiopian immigration is over, but integration obstacles persist
LOD, Israel (JTA) — The airplane landed on the tarmac, “Ethiopia” emblazoned in red on its side. A few government officials trickled down the airplane’s steps. They were followed by groups of Ethiopian Jews descending to the runway, some falling to their knees and kissing the ground. Inside the… Read more »
Don’t ruin Robinson’s Arch
NEW YORK (JTA) — I have mixed emotions about Natan Sharansky’s proposed agreement to expand the public space at the Western Wall to include the currently secluded area known as Robinson’s Arch. As a lifelong Conservative Jew, I applaud any plan that seeks to treat egalitarian worshipers and women’s… Read more »
What Boston hospitals learned from Israel
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Minutes after a terrorist attack killed three at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, doctors and nurses at the city’s hospitals faced a harrowing scene — severed limbs, burned bodies, shrapnel buried in skin. For Boston doctors, the challenge presented by last week’s bombing… Read more »
Kotel compromise aside, Israel faces uphill battle over religious pluralism
Natan Sharansky’s proposal last week to expand the space for non-Orthodox prayer at the Western Wall could be historic (see related story, page 10). But for most Israelis, changes at the Western Wall are of only trivial interest. Far more pressing are state restrictions on marriage and conversion, Sabbath… Read more »
President Obama arrives at Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence
Some interesting color in this one on President Obama’s time childhood in Indonesia, plus a couple jokes between leaders. Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met just outside the PM’s residence. When they entered the home, they went in front of flags for a photo-op. Obama invited Sara Netanyahu… Read more »
Obama lands in Israel, praises ‘unbreakable’ U.S.-Israel bond
TEL AVIV (JTA) — President Obama began his first presidential visit to Israel with an airport speech calling the United States the “strongest ally and greatest friend” of Israel. “Why does the U.S. stand with Israel?” Obama asked the crowd at the welcoming ceremony Wednesday afternoon at Ben-Gurion Airport. “We… Read more »
IDF officers to accompany Poland/Israel trip
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is sponsoring a mission to Poland and Israel next month. Fifty IDF officers will accompany supporters of FIDF from the United States and Panama on the 10-day “From Holocaust to Independence” journey, April 8-19. In Poland, the group will travel to historical sites… Read more »
Swarm of 1 million locusts hits Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A swarm of 1 million locusts crossed into Israel from Egypt. The locusts on Tuesday remained concentrated in areas of southern Israel near the border, but sightings were reported throughout the country, including Tel Aviv and the Carmel region of northern Israel. Residents of the Ramat… Read more »
Reports of Israeli attack come amid mounting concerns over Syrian chemical weapons
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israeli planes reportedly struck a Syrian weapons transport on the Lebanese border amid increasing fears that the country’s chemical weapons stockpile could fall into the hands of Hezbollah. The strikes, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday morning, were reported to Reuters by a… Read more »
Report: Syria chemical arsenal within Hezbollah reach
Israel is continuing to warn the world of the potentially devastating outcome if Syria’s chemical arsenal falls into the hands of rebels, or worse, Hezbollah, as Lebanese media outlets reported that the Lebanese terror group had already obtained some chemical weapons and long-range missiles. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who… Read more »
Classes to explore Israel, past and present
The Weintraub Israel Center and Temple Emanu-El will present “Israel: Past and Present,” a five-week adult education series beginning Feb. 4. Classes will meet at Temple Emanu-El on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. The topics are: Feb. 4: “Israel’s Cultures, Past and Present” with Ken Miller, University of Arizona staff… Read more »
Iran fears may be compelling Saudi Arabia to begin to tell the truth about Israel
If there were a prize for the Arab country that has done most to promote Arab-Israeli peace recently, I’d seriously consider nominating Saudi Arabia. Admittedly, that’s a counterintuitive choice: Riyadh doesn’t even recognize Israel and shows no signs of doing so anytime soon; moreover, it finances the spread of… Read more »
Deterrence is the idea behind Israel’s strikes in Gaza, but how far will conflict with Hamas go?
SDEROT, Israel (JTA) — Wage war to make peace. That’s the idea behind Israel’s strikes this week against Hamas targets in Gaza, including Wednesday’s attack that killed Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari. What’s not clear is how far Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense will go, what price Israeli civilians… Read more »
Last pushes for Jewish votes in Ohio, other swing states stir emotions
BEACHWOOD, Ohio (JTA) — The family wedding. The entrance to the local synagogue. The future of Israel. Your precious grandchild. In the final days of what has been a close and bitterly contested election, it’s not so much that nothing is sacred in the fight for the Jewish vote.… Read more »
For Obama campaign, trying to put to rest persistent questions about ‘kishkes’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The moment in the final presidential debate when President Obama described his visit to Israel’s national Holocaust museum and to the rocket-battered town of Sderot seemed to be aimed right for the kishkes. The “kishkes question” — the persistent query about how Obama really feels about… Read more »
Preparing for war, Israel’s north looks to lessons from 2006
When missiles rained down on northern Israel from Lebanon six years ago, surgeons at Rambam Hospital in Haifa worked, terrified, on the building’s eighth floor. That summer, missiles had struck fewer than 20 yards away, endangering the staff and patients of northern Israel’s largest hospital and the central facility… Read more »
First Person: Sometimes our kids make a point we didn’t think of first
SAN FRANCISCO (j weekly) — “You don’t mind me applying to West Point Military Academy, Mom, do you?” “West Point?” I thought, surprised. But it was fall. Graduation seemed like light years away. “Go ahead,” I said, trying to sound casual. “Let me know if you need anything,” I… Read more »