- NEWS & COMMENTARY
Kerry says Israelis, Palestinians must make tough decisions
Israeli and Palestinian leaders must decide soon on whether to revive long-dormant peace negotiations to end their decades-old conflict, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday.
Industry is best bet for peace, Israeli billionaire says
On a new industrial park in Israel's largest Arab town, a software plant belonging to a multibillion-dollar U.S.-listed firm sits cheek-by-jowl with two small Arab-owned businesses: a metal factory and one producing tools for brain surgery.
Adelsons donate $40 million to Birthright
Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, donated $40 million to the Birthright Israel Foundation.
- HOLLYWOOD
Billy Crystal to star in Larry Charles’ FX series
Looks like FX is going to be injecting some humor into their lineup. Not a bad idea, we think, after many seasons of the awesome yet dark series “Justified” or…
Civility replaces violence in ‘Last White Night’
In June 1965, during the most violent days of the civil rights movement, 21-year-old Paul Saltzman drove from Toronto to Mississippi to become a freedom fighter with the Student Nonviolent…
Spielberg to produce ‘Halo’ television series, plus other news from the Xbox One announcement
Microsoft Corp gave the world a first look at its new Xbox One on Tuesday, announcing that its first gaming console in eight years will come with exclusive video and…
- LIFE & CULTURE
A talent agent turns yogurt maven
Amy Salko Robertson — producer of such films as “The Oh in Ohio,” “Lab Rats” and “When Do We Eat?” a comedy set at a Passover seder —realized that she…
Maccabi Tel Aviv back on top but coach future uncertain
Champions Maccabi Tel Aviv have reasserted their dominance of Israeli soccer but media reports on Tuesday suggested they might have to continue their revival without coach Oscar Garcia.
Angelina’s breast cancer victory isn’t for celebrities only
Actress Angelina Jolie just announced that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy after learning that she was genetically predisposed to cancer. Her disclosure was a powerful show of solidarity with…
- BLOGS
Propaganda lies in a disguise
Muhammad al-Durrah, the little boy who became the symbol of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, is returning to the headlines after a decade. A photo of him, crying, leaning against a wall…
Male Eating Disorders: A Real Thing
Recently, People Magazine came out with an article about Ashley Hamilton talking openly about his struggles with an eating disorder. I applaud Ashley for coming out about having an eating…
Religion at the End of The Big C
Last night, Showtime’s The Big C aired its final episode. After three seasons of half-hour installments, this comedy returned for a shortened final season consisting of four hour-long episodes. Subtitled…
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Romney: Israeli-Palestinian conflict ‘unsolvable’ [VIDEO]
Mitt Romney told fundraisers in a private meeting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "unsolvable" and that his strategy would be to "kick the ball down the field."
At What Cost?
It has been suggested that the purpose of a college education is to ease the transition into adulthood. After several decades teaching college-age students, I would agree, only substituting delay and prevent for ease.
Opinion: The case for bombing Iran Is quickly collapsing
One critical element leads me to the conclusion that the United States will not go to war with Iran, nor allow Israel to do so. It is this: common sense.
Iran policy reveals split between U.S. Jewish and Israeli left
Israel's highest-ranking female soldier, Brig. Gen. Yisraela Oron, was sounding all the right notes for her J Street hosts.
Analysis: Gaza crisis is opportunity for Obama
Does the mini-war underway between Israel and Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip present President-elect Barack Obama's incoming administration with a crisis or an opportunity?
LAST LOOK: Where do McCain and Obama stand on the issues?
High roads, low roads, potatoes, potahtoes, change,real change,mavericks, you betcha.
ANALYSIS: Who advises McCain and Obama?
It's easy to read too much into whom a candidate chooses to advise him before an election, but it is risky to avoid the tea leaves
McCain advisors:
No to Syria talks, little interest in Middle East peace process
Two McCain advisers told participants in a weekend retreat that his administration would discourage Israeli-Syrian peace talks and refrain from actively engaging in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
John McCain is in big trouble
James Baker says Bush’s Syria policy is ‘ridiculous’; Sobell finally gives it up
The Bush administration's refusal to deal with Syria is "ridiculous," said James Baker, a former U.S. secretary of state.
Ehud Olmert should be indicted, Israeli police tell prosecutors
Ehud Olmert should be indicted on corruption charges, Israel police recommended Sunday. Bribery is the most serious of the charges that police recommended against the prime minister to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. Others include fraud, breach of trust and money laundering.
McCain accepts nomination, offers little new on Israel, Iran
John McCain closed out the Republican convention Thursday night with a speech in which he defended traditional GOP policy points, while criticizing his party's recent performance and pledging to work with lawmakers across the aisle.
Biden, Palin lead campaign clash on Mideast
The two vice-presidential candidates led the way Wednesday as the Obama and McCain campaigns worked to draw clear battle lines on Iran and Israel.
GOP platform offers strong support for Israel, veers right domestically
The Republican Party platform endorses positions at odds with those of most Jewish voters -- but not when it comes to Israel.
Beyond sicko
Beyond sicko
Because this was happening a short taxi ride from the White House, I half expected someone from Dick Cheney's office to burst in at any moment, grab the
microphone and proclaim the conference kaput, dissolved like an inconvenient parliament.
Reversal of fortune: The Mexican immigrant shift
The immigration-reform debate has gripped the country and enflamed passions. Hate groups, along with mainstream media, have engaged in facile assumptions about Mexican immigration, often leading to racist stereotypes and opening the door to extremist ideology.
In economy-focused State of the Union speech, Bush offers no new Mideast ideas
Just weeks after his first presidential visit to Israel, President Bush made clear his priority for his final year in office: the economy, stupid.
If the president has a Middle East breakthrough up his sleeve, he was not ready to reveal it Monday in the State of the Union address that precedes his last year in office.
It’s time to act on Saudis’ support of terror
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was stunned at the hostile reception he received during a recent visit to London. It seems our British friends are much more attuned than we are to the nefarious role the Saudis continue to play in financing and fomenting terror.
Bush’s environmental legacy
Q & A with investigative journalist Seymour Hersh
Bibi Netanyahu ranks high ... as racist demagogue
Imagine if any non-Jewish government official in the world cited the lowering of the Jewish birthrate in his country as an accomplishment, then recommended that his country's founding institution raise money to help poor non-Jewish families but not poor Jewish families.
Democrats have no beitzim
The most engaging, hard-hitting liberals in this country right now are Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher. But they're not leaders, they're jesters. They tell funny bedtime stories so that about 2 million New York Times readers can fall asleep believing the world hasn't really gone to hell.
Israeli Strategy Under Fire
Beyond the immediate escalation, the recent Palestinian attack on an Israeli army outpost near the Gaza border raises serious questions about Israel's security and foreign policies.
NGOs Feel Sting of Hamas Ban
A variety of officials from nonprofits operating in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip discussed the challenges of operating in Hamas-run territory at a conference last week on nonprofits, human rights and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
School Risked Fiscal Peril for Its Students
Etz Jacob prides itself on accepting children who would not otherwise get a Jewish education. Rabbi Rubin Huttler of Congregation Etz Jacob founded the school in 1989 as a haven for new immigrants flooding into Los Angeles from Russia and Iran.
Middle-Class Squeeze
Families are feeling the squeeze of the upward crawl of day school tuition over the last several years, which has brought the average tuition for elementary and middle school to about $12,600 and for high school to as much as $20,000. Those numbers are about 30 percent above what a year of schooling cost four years ago and nearly double 10 years ago.
Gay Marriage Ban Could Alienate Jews
Proponents of gay marriage were "pursuing a deliberate plan of litigation and political pressure which will not only redefine marriage, but will follow from that to threaten the first freedom enshrined in the First Amendment -- religious liberty," said Nathan Diament, the director of the Washington office of the Orthodox Union.
Marriage Conversion Rate Proves Low
Fewer than one-fifth of non-Jews who marry Jews convert to Judaism, according to a new study distributed by the American Jewish Committee.
This Week - Mission Impossible
They say the people with the highest Q ratings on television are those who are most themselves in front of the camera. That explains the success Meir has had as the face of Israel on CNN, BBC, even al-Jazeera.
U.S. Immigration Issue Hits Israelis
These days, so much depends upon language. One person's "civil war" is another's "random violence." Someone's "unlawful wiretapping" is someone else's "terrorist surveillance."
In that sense, whether you use "illegal aliens" or "undocumented residents" partly depends on how you view immigration. But whatever your political attitude, if you think that every illegal/undocumented came into the United States guided by a coyote, then think again.
Tehran Jews Talk of Future in Iran
The trip was a rare group visit abroad by Iranian Jews, who live in an Islamic community whose government is virulently opposed to the State of Israel. The Iranians -- ages 14 to 30 -- came to Russia thanks to diplomatic efforts by Arkady Gaidamak, a Russian Jewish leader and businessman, who helped obtain a special permit from Iranian authorities.
Singles - Operation: Picky
In the life of every single girl, there comes a point where she has to look herself in the mirror and ask one very important question: "Do I look fat?" No, just kidding. That one we ask every day. The other miasma hanging over our heads like impending gray hair is this question: "Am I too picky?"
Jewish Groups Take Pro-Immigrant Stand
You didn't see many Jews amid the sea of Mexican and American flags during the recent pro-immigrant rallies that filled city streets, but Jews and Jewish groups, in largely liberal Los Angeles, have been advocating on behalf of immigrants, mostly outside the view of television cameras.
Tortured Logic
In 1470, five corpses were found in the charnel of a church in Endingen on the Rhine. Eight years earlier, a Jewish man named Elias had sheltered a family of five beggars in his home during the Passover/Easter season. Assuming that Endingen's Jews had murdered the family in order to use their blood for ritual purposes, the governor ordered that Elias and his brothers, Eberlin and Mercklin, be arrested and interrogated.
Lift The Ban on Gay Blood Donors
When students arrived at Milken Community High School on the morning of Jan. 10, they were confronted by a large banner reading: "Did you know homosexual males cannot give blood?" That was the start of a student-led Equal Blood Campaign to press the FDA to lift its blanket ban on all gay blood donors.
A Timid Pro-Israel Lobby Doesn’t Work
Ever since news emerged that officials at Washington's powerful pro-Israel lobby were suspected of violating national security laws, speculation has raged over how this would affect its legendary clout. Now, two years down the line, after unceasing crises of investigations, subpoenas, surveillance, wire taps, grand juries and indictments, the consequence is clear: Unhappily, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is in peril of becoming a modern-day version of the ancient court Jew. In this case, that means bowing to the prerogatives of the Bush administration rather than using its avowed clout actually to influence government policy.
Negev + Galilee = Israel’s Future
"Real Zionism is to encourage all to move to the Negev and the Galilee," said Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit, adding that the key to developing the peripheries lies in improving transportation to the center of the country. Efficient transportation, he said, will change the periphery into suburbia.
IRS Errs on Endorsing Candidate Charge
I bring this matter to your attention in the wake of an investigation begun by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena and its emeritus pastor, the Rev. George Regas. The IRS began its query subsequent to a sermon the Rev. Regas delivered two days before the 2004 presidential election.
Taking Winter Break on Jewish Time
The current schedule was adopted by Orthodox schools in the last two decades, when the Orthodox community made a collective decision to follow a halachic ruling by the great contemporary sage, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, according to Rabbi Avrohom Stulberger, dean of Valley Torah High School in Valley Village and president of the Bureau of Jewish Education's Yeshiva Principal's Council.
78 and 79: A Matter of Life and Death
The question before voters is whether the drug companies should regulate themselves, as laid out in Proposition 78, or whether the state should be granted authority to pressure drug companies into providing discounts, as specified in Proposition 79. If both initiatives pass, whichever receives the most votes becomes law.
Our Faux Democracy
This is not democracy. The California legislature stole our democracy while we slept. All districts in California are now rigged this way. That's why, in California in the fall of 2004, not a single state legislative or Congressional seat changed party hands.
What’s So Special About the Special Election?
On Nov. 8, the voters of California will have the chance to vote in a special election most of them did not want. That's no reason to stay home. After all, whether we like it or not, the election will take place, and all of California residents will have to live with the consequences.
Tax Cuts Bring Shameful Silence
This month House Republicans will try to wrap up work on proposals aimed at slowing the hemorrhage of red ink from federal budget ledgers while finding a way to pay for hundreds of billions of dollars of hurricane relief and for two wars that don't seem about to end anytime soon.
Shake-Up!
Proposition 77, the redistricting measure on next week's special elections ballot, is likely to shift considerably more Latino voters into Berman's district -- and perhaps give rise to a viable Latino challenger.
How to Polish a Tarnished Image
For decades, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has successfully worked behind the scenes to influence U.S. policymakers to pass pro-Israel legislation.
Nation & World Briefs
Nation and World Briefs
Faith-Based Hurricane Relief
Last week the Washington Post reported that the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is funneling money to religious groups, including churches and other houses of worship, that are providing a variety of services to displaced Gulf Coast residents.
Jordan King Courts U.S. Jews on Future
More than any other Arab leader -- and even more than his father, the late King Hussein -- Abdullah has attached his fate to the West.
Will Warmer View of Israel at U.N. Last?
For Sharon, long snubbed by many U.N. member states, it was a reception that would have been unthinkable just two or three years ago, according to those who follow Israel's treatment at the United Nations.
Katrina Touches Off School Voucher War
Nation
Letters
Letters to the Editor
Iranian Leader Nixes Israel Ties
Few people in Israel expected a positive turnaround in Iran, but the election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the Islamic republic has raised eyebrows among even the more pessimistic pundits.
Even before giving his first media conference, the fundamentalist mayor of Tehran made clear there would be no new tack toward Israel.
"I will strive to expand relations with everyone, with the exception of Israel," he told the Saudi newspaper, Okaz, Sunday.
That was no surprise in itself, as political leaders in Iran must parrot the policies of the religious clerics.
U.S. Acts Cautiously on Mideast Issues
It may be the most ideological presidency in recent memory, but on at least one issue, the Bush administration is pure pragmatism.
Entrapment, Surrender and Silence
Both of these men have made important contributions to the U.S.-Israel relationship -- Weissman, an expert on Iran, and Rosen, a principal architect of the U.S.-Israel strategic cooperative relationship for more than 20 years.
AIPAC—Let the Sun Shine In
By most measures, last week's policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was a success.
AIPAC and Sharon Get What They Need
A troubled but still potent American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) got a boost this week from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who addressed its largest-ever policy conference in Washington, with a record 4,500 delegates gathered for three days of speeches, workshops, schmoozing and lobbying.
Hezbollah Faces Identity Crisis
On the eve of elections, scheduled to begin May 29, Hezbollah is trying to retain its pose as the ultimate guardian of Lebanese interests vis-á-vis Israel, stoking a flare-up along the border with Israel last week.
AIPAC Will Focus on Policy at Gathering
AIPAC will be tasked with keeping its members focused on the important issues facing Israel and maintaining support in Congress if the Gaza pullout, planned for this summer, goes awry. The effort to keep attention focused on Iran's presumed drive for nuclear weapons is also high on its agenda.
Briefs
President Bush is expected to sign legislation that gives $200 million in aid to support the Palestinians.
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