Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

The debacle with regards to the Iron Dome funding was a wake-up call for Israel that things in Congress, and especially in the House of Representatives, arent what they used to be.

Ultimately, the aid was approved in the House, even by an impressive majority (the second holdup, in the Senate, had reasons which were not related to Israel), but the episode showed that there are some new realities in the generations-long relationship between Israel and Congress, and American politics in general.

Not because President Joe Biden or the Center in the Democratic Party have changed their pro-Israel attitudes, but because the small overall majorities of the Democrats in both houses, and particularly in the House of Representatives, have given the so-called progressives lopsided clout in influencing the decisions and policies of the administration.

The relative advantage the left-wing of the party has in the House and partly in the Senate, enables it to hold the majority hostage also in other matters on the administrations agenda. And the Democrats and Biden himself are now, perhaps unwittingly, paying the price of their Anyone but Trump election campaign, instead of formulating a coherent policy on the really important issues.

But returning to the issue of US-Israel relations, the de facto leader of the Squad, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has already announced she intends to make all aid to Israel, including on security, conditional on Israeli moves in favor of the Palestinians.

Another group of about 20 members of Congress, headed by Rep. Andy Levin, Jewish scion of a proudly pro-Israel political family, has proposed a bill that calls for immediate American recognition of a Palestinian state, even short of negotiations with Israel, which in practice would mean establishing another Hamas-ruled terrorist state, in addition to Gaza, facing most of Israels population and economic centers. (By the way, as reported by the press, Hamas has just announced its plan on how to destroy Israel and its people.)

Lest there be any misunderstandings, most of these initiatives, as the attempted canceling of the Iron Dome missile aid underlined, are not aimed at a particular Israeli government or political party but at Israel per se the object being to bring about the annihilation of the Jewish state.

Though at this stage, such initiatives are hardly likely to gain a majority, they point to a budding anti-liberal atmosphere in parts of American society and culture, including such phenomena as Cancel Culture and limiting freedom of expression to anyone whose views are not in sync with progressive ideology or the agenda of identity politics.

The late Democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the most prominent liberal (and pro-Israel) thinkers of his time in America, warned years ago about the increasingly authoritarian character of the far liberal Left, in parallel to the reactionary trends on the extreme Right, both undermining the foundations of American democracy.

The Economist recently devoted a large part of its weekly issue to the anti-liberal trends in the US, comparing it to Europe in the Middle Ages under the control of the Church, both Catholic and Protestant. These trends are also one of the main reasons now for the rise of antisemitism in America.

Maybe this is just temporary, given that American history has more than once experienced periods of extremism and intolerance, to disappear following internal and external political or economic developments. Still, Israeli policy and diplomacy cannot ignore reality with partisan blindness, mostly based on domestic political considerations and exacerbated by a lack of diplomatic experience.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid praise themselves for their closeness to the Biden administration, missing no opportunity to blame Israels previous government for the damaged relations with the Democratic Party, conveniently choosing to forget that it was the Netanyahu government that had reached an unprecedented agreement on security aid with the Democratic Obama administration.

By taking this line, they also risk driving a wedge between Israel and the Republican Party, i.e. almost half of Congress, and possibly the majority next year. Bipartisan should mean bipartisan. Nor does this obscure the fact, public posturing notwithstanding, that there is a basic disagreement between Jerusalem and Washington on how to deal with Iran as well as on such issues as opening a US consulate in Jerusalem, in fact an embassy, for the Palestinians, in the heart of Israels capital, contrary to international law.

Perhaps Benjamin Netanyahu was not the most popular Israeli leader with all ranks of American politics, but he had gravitas with the American public, which the present leadership lacks, and his views couldnt be overlooked.

Over the past year, the Israeli Embassy in Washington has suffered from the absence of a full-time ambassador, and perhaps that was also one of the reasons for the Israeli government being surprised when the Iron Dome funding was almost aborted.

In a few weeks, the new ambassador, Mike Herzog will leave for Washington. One of his main tasks will be to brief his superiors as to the actual US reality, and not the one they imagine or misrepresent to the public.

The writer, also a former MK, served as Israels ambassador to the US from 1990-1993 and 1998-2000.

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Israel relations in Congress aren't what they used to be - opinion - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

From the halls of power in Washington, D.C. to the American heartland, Israel, for decades, has enjoyed a warm friendship with American conservatives who view the country, quite correctly, as an oasis of tranquility and a robust democracy amid a sea of autocracy, religious strife and tribalism. However, Israel's heavy-handed response to COVID-19 is sure to cause concern and raise eyebrows among American conservatives, potentially leading to a sea change in attitudes that could have far-reaching policy implications.

Perhaps indicative of a brewing shift in attitudes, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently proclaimed that Australiaone of America's closest allieswas no longer a free country and, as such, diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Australia should be reviewed.

"That's not a free country. It's not a free country at all. In fact, I wonder why we would still have the same diplomatic relations when they're doing that. Is Australia freer than Communist China right now? I don't know. The fact that it is even a question tells you something has gone dramatically off the rails with some of this stuff," he said during a recent event in Tampa.

Although DeSantis was targeting Australia, Israel, which at the outset of the pandemic fully embraced coercive lockdowns and mask mandates, could very well come into the crosshairs of many conservatives. This isn't to suggest that anyone in Republican leadership would, or should, seriously consider a policy shift vis--vis Israel as it comes to national security. But DeSantis' statement reveals what many are undoubtedly thinking: How do we contend with the fact that a liberal democracy has so quickly morphed into a mandate-wielding semi-autocracy?

Indeed, since enthusiastic support for Israel in the U.S. predominantly emanates from conservative circleswith DeSantis having emerged as a grassroots favoriteIsrael's COVID response could have a meaningful impact on how the Jewish state is viewed by its most vocal and trustworthy American supporters.

Fawning Over Fauci

DeSantis draws much of his popularity from opposition to vaccine and mask mandates, as well as attacks against Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose alarmism and flip-flopping over masking and mandates culminated in DeSantis declaring that Florida chose freedom over "Faucism."

While U.S. conservatives perceive Fauci as a threat to freedom, much of Israel sees him as the high priest of modern science. Israel awarded Fauci the prestigious Dan David Prize for "courageously defending science in the face of uninformed opposition during the challenging COVID crisis."

While Israelis are fawning over Fauci, in other words, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) is celebrated across conservative media for standing up against Faucism.

As such, attitudes towards Fauci, masks, lockdowns and other coercive government measures have become a litmus test for many. From a conservative point of view, if you mask young children and mandate vaccines, you no longer belong to the club.

While Israel has not descended to a level of violent authoritarianism seen in Australia, the country, in many ways, is indistinguishable from a U.S. blue state when it comes to COVID-related policies. Unlike DeSantis' Florida, Israel's political and health leadership chose Faucism over freedom.

Israel imposed a de facto vaccine mandate by restricting the access of the unvaccinated to venues and malls, instituted a year-long outdoor mask mandate, implemented seven- to 14-day quarantines for travelers and those exposed to a verified COVID carrier, closed schools and kindergartens for months on end and shut down its borders to international tourism. Students over six years old are masked, and remote learning is ever-present due to incessant testing and subsequent quarantines.

Israeli government officials sound eerily similar to Democratic governors like Gavin Newsom, or health officials like Fauci and CDC director Rochelle Walensky. Over the past two years, Israeli health officials and political leaders flouted rules while wagging their fingers on TV, dining in lavish restaurants while asking others not to do so. Israel even closed its airport for reasons of equality, not for reasons of epidemiology.

Polling Slump

Most polls have consistently shown that Israel can no longer rely on bipartisan U.S. support. Even evangelical Christian support for Israel, which usually transcends current events, is trending downward. A pre-COVID poll exposed a dramatic shift in attitudes: Support for Israel among young evangelicals declined from 75 percent to 34 percent. (Note that some have cast doubt upon the reliability of the underlying polling.) At the same, the Democratic Party is drifting further away, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her "Squad" members leading the progressive grassroots toward a staunchly anti-Israel platform.

Israel's harsh COVID policies could very well tip the scales and have a direct impact on electoral politics. After all, vociferously pro-Israel polticians are elected by pro-Israel voters. If the enthusiastic pro-Israel sentiment among U.S. conservatives begins to wane while the growing anti-Israel voices on the American Left strengthen, the implications are potentially dire.

Israel is showing no signs of changing course by even considering an alternative to vaccine passports and mask mandates. It is only a matter of time until American conservative outlets and grassroots organizations start asking questions about Israel and its deeply misguided approach to fighting COVID.

Brace for impact

The opposition to restrictions and the so-called "new normal" have created many seemingly strange bedfellows, with progressive Sweden and conservative-leaning Florida showing an alternative to China-style restrictions or "zero-COVID" policies seen in places like New Zealand and Australia.

It remains to be seen how damaging Israel's chosen path of government overreach will be for the country's support among U.S. conservatives. We may very well see a situation in which the global political map is redrawn into "free" and "unfree" countries based on a particular country's COVID policies, with many longtime allies finding themselves on opposing sideseven when it comes to the best of friends.

Dennis Mitzner is a writer in Tel Aviv. You can subscribe to his newsletter and follow him on Twitter.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

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Are Israel's COVID Policies Hurting Its Standing With U.S. Conservatives? | Opinion - Newsweek

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

It was an unusual sight Oct. 9 at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaisms holiest place. A group of tourists from Bahrain, wearing long robes and keffiyehs, stood alongside Jewish worshippers, and some even prayed to Allah themselves. One of the tourists pulled out an Islamic prayer rug, spread it out on the ground and knelt for the traditional prayer.

The worshippers, including several social media influencers, were part of one of the first groups of tourists to come to Israel. Fatima al-Harabi entered the womens section at the Western Wall and inserted a note in between the ancient stones, as is customary. In an interview with a reporter from the public broadcasting corporation Kan she said that the site has great spiritual power and that in her note she asked for peace to arrive soon.

Harabi came as part of a group brought by the Sharaka organization, which aims to strengthen ties between Israel and Gulf states. Another member of the group, Salman al-Aoudi, told Al-Monitorthat he had met Israelis on his travels elsewhere and his visit to Israel proved what he knew that the country and people are beautiful and there could be a good relationship with them.

The tourists from Bahrain encountered at the places they visited many Israelis who were a bit surprised to see them, but they felt welcome. The locals asked to take photos with the Bahrainis, who wore their nations traditional garb. Aoudi said with a smile that an elderly woman had blown an air-kiss to him at the open-air Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. The tour organizers took the group all over the country, including the mandatory stop for any tourist who wishes to understand Israel, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center. In interviews and tweets, members of the group said that this was one of the most meaningful experiences of the trip to Israel.

However, not everyone reacted positively to the visit. Photos of the tourists at the Western Wall angered opponents of the normalization agreements with Israel, which they expressed in sharp criticism and insults quoted in the Arab press. They were called the new settlers and some of the vendors at the Arab market in East Jerusalem treated them with hostility. In the past year, since the agreements were signed, a few incidents occurred where tourists from the Gulf were cursed, spat at or physically assaulted on visits to Haram al-Sharif.

The first tourists from Bahrain did not visit Haram al-Sharif, likely to avoid such conflicts. They arrived a few days after the direct flight from Manama to Tel Aviv was launched and after Foreign MinisterYair Lapid inaugurated the Israeli Embassy in ManamaSept. 30. Protests were held against normalization during his stay in Bahrain, which were covered by the Arab press in nations opposed to normalization with Israel.

Will the Abraham Accords, opening of embassies and launch of direct flights bring a wave of tourists from the Gulf to Israel? Its not clear. Flights in the opposite direction are very crowded. According to sources from both Israeli and Emirati administrations, more than 200,000 Israelis have visited the Emirates over the last year, many of them tourists and the rest businessmen. Bahrain, which is smaller, is also expected to receive many Israeli tourists.

Still, Israel is getting ready. A year ago, the Haaretz newspaper published a sort ofguide for the Islamic tourist in Israel. It recommended visiting Haram al-Sharif, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque, considered one of the holiest sites in the Muslim world. Other recommendations were the Islam Museum in Jerusalem, which contains rare Islamic art collections, the cities of Acre and Ramle, which have a rich Muslim past, and other sites.

One of the people working to speed up incoming tourism from the Gulf is David Friedman, who served as the American ambassador to Israel in the Trump era and was instrumental in achieving the Abraham Accords. Friedman established an organization called The Friedman Center for Peace through Strength, one of whose goals is advancing the Abraham Accords and expanding them to more nations, among other ways, by bringing Muslim tourists to visit Israel.

Participants in the centers inaugural event in Jerusalem Oct. 11 were former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who received a prize for his contribution to advancing ties between Israel and Arab countries, former US Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and even the famous quarterback Peyton Manning.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Friedman said that the goal is to bring masses of Muslim tourists to Jerusalem, Israels capital, so that they could see that the reports they receive are biased, that Israel maintains and upholds the freedom of religion of all faiths, including Islam, and that it is possible to hold close ties with it despite differences in opinion. According to him, it is commonly thought that religion is one of the sources of conflicts, wars and violence, and that the time has come to change this and show that it is the opposite that religion brings people of different faiths together, and that Jerusalem is the place to prove it.

The road to peace passes through Jerusalem. The key to the Abraham Accords was the trust between a small group of people. When theres trust there are no limits; when theres trust, we can change the world. The role of Jerusalem is to unite the religions, and our vision is to bring tourism from the Arab world to the holy city so that all religions could visit and experience the uniqueness of this city, Friedman said.

How would Israel overcome the opposition of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, for instance? We will need security, thats clear but in the longer term when the Palestinians see how the agreements help them live better, with greater security and advancement in all fields, I hope they will end their opposition and join the process, he answered.

Friedman expressed hope that the current American administration will not abandon its leading role in the peace processes between Israel and Arab countries, and will continue mediating and advancing additional agreements. Without a steadfast United States, it wont go forward, he said.

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Little by little, tourists from Emirates, Bahrain arrive to Israel - Al-Monitor

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Israel will start offering the option of receiving a coronavirus AstraZeneca vaccine starting from Thursday, the Health Ministry announced Monday.

The vaccine by AstraZeneca is based on a different technology than Pfizers and Modernas, which are both messenger RNA vaccines. AstraZeneca uses a weakened animal virus as a viral vector. It contains the coronavirus spike protein so that the bodys cells will be able to recognize it and produce antibodies.

Moderna has received emergency approval from the European Medicines Agency and other health bodies, but not from the US Food and Drug Administration.

As in the case of the mRNA Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, AstraZeneca also requires two doses.

Individuals who receive a booster shot of AstraZeneca will also be considered inoculated after two weeks (for Pfizer it is after seven days).

As of Monday, 6.2 million Israelis have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, 5.7 million at least two and 3.8 million have been inoculated also with a booster.

The successful booster drive has been credited by health officials and experts as the decisive factor allowing the country to leave the fourth wave behind without imposing any major restrictions.

Some 1,199 new cases were registered on Sunday. A month earlier there were more than 6,500.

The number of serious patients also continued to decrease, dropping to 372 on Monday, around 350 less than four weeks earlier.

On Monday Israel was expected to pass 8,000 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. In the morning, the death toll stood at 7,999.

In the past month, on average, 15 people succumbed to the virus every day. Since the beginning of October, 213 people have died of COVID.

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COVID: Israel to give AstraZeneca vaccine to those affected by Pfizer - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

For the Arab community, the amount of olive oil produced has always been the acid test of how successful the olive harvest was. Now, its applying the same standard to the war on rampaging crime the acid test will be how much, if at all, the number of victims declines.

The government has recently issued a flood of statements, plans and decisions on this issue, including some that have been submitted to the Knesset for approval and some that are awaiting the Finance Ministrys okay. The prime minister, public security minister and senior police officers have been spouting cliches like Were at war, Were losing the country and We have to restore governability.

LISTEN: The offshore accounts bankrolling Israeli settlements

But so far, the Arab community isnt impressed. On Monday, the number of Arab murder victims so far this year climbed to 100with the killing of Salim Hasarma of Baana, and there are still more than two months left in 2021. Shootings have become routine, and organized crime is operating without hindrance.

Last week, members of the National Council of Arab Mayors were invited to meet with Deputy Public Security Minister Yoav Segalovitz so that he could explain the governments crime fighting plan.

On paper, its a detailed plan that specifies what every ministry has to do. The stated goals include dismantling criminal organizations, reducing crime and violence in the Arab community, boosting feelings of personal security, increasing public trust in law enforcement agencies, more cooperation with Arab community leaders, empowering the Arab community, bolstering its resilience, reducing the number of murder victims and the number of violent crimes in general, boosting feelings of safety at school by reducing the number of violent incidents there, and reducing the number of Arabs aged 18 to 24 who arent in any fixed job or educational program.

Segalovitz told the mayors that the government has budgeted 2.4 billion shekels ($750 million) for this program, and the cabinet is supposed to approve it by mid-November. Mayors who attended the meeting said the plan sounded good. Nevertheless, its hard for them to get enthusiastic over promises, because they know that plans on paper often remain there.

Promises to fight violence in the Arab community have been heard from every possible platform over the last two years and the issue has been discussed nonstop. Yet so far, the situation hasnt improved. In fact, the Arab communitys feelings of personal security are at an all-time low.

Government officials can argue that fighting violence is a complex process, and that allocating funds, passing legislation, preparing operational plans and gathering evidence all take time. But none of this will make the Arab community willing to extend the governments grace period. On the contrary, time is pressing.

Initial preparations for local elections are already beginning in Arab towns, and local political battles combined with organized crime have always been fertile ground for increased violence. Consequently, the government would do well to move quickly from the slogan phase to the action phase. Because just like the olive harvest, it will be judged by the results.

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Israel's Arabs are unimpressed by politicians' promises to halt crime - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Israel Aerospace Industries will lead the Israeli Space Exhibit at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress to be held in Dubai from Oct. 25 to Oct. 29.

In a statement on Monday, IAI said that as the only Israeli pavilion to present, it will exhibit a range of cutting-edge space solutions, including two types of spy satellites; a new mini-communications satellite concept; and Beersheet, Israels lunar lander.

The field of space is a global growth engine that crosses technological, educational, business and political borders, said the company. IAI is leading Israels space industry from development and manufacturing to launching satellites and launchers, to ground stations for satellite control and operation, among other complementary services.

The event, it continued, provides IAI with the opportunity to build new relationships with local companies in the United Arab Emirates and in Gulf countries, and to develop new ventures with partners in the local defense industry, government agencies and academic institutions.

Following the Abraham Accords, IAI has entered business ventures in the UAE and other Gulf states, creating partnerships to promote the transfer of knowledge, advancement of investments, and development and commercialization of joint defense and civilian technologies.

The post Israel to showcase space tech at International Astronautical Congress in Dubai appeared first on JNS.org.

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Israel to showcase space tech at International Astronautical Congress in Dubai - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

I hail from the so-called Ashkenazi branch of Jews, who account for the great majority of all Jews in the world today. Ashkenazis are distinguished by the historical fact that, over the last couple of thousand years or so, they propagated throughout Europe, generating and maintaining tens of thousands of distinctly Jewish communities in diverse countries spanning the entire continent. My dad was born in Lithuania; my mom's mom came from an Eastern European region that has belonged to any one of about a half-dozen countries, depending on what particular year you happen to be talking about; and my mom's dad grew up in Russia, near the Black Sea.

Tradition holds, though, that Ashkenazi Jews ultimately trace their origins straight back to ancient Israel, whence most Jews were expelled en masse in 70 CE by their Roman conquerors and sent skittering to all parts of the globe. (Jews who initially fled to Spain and Portugal are referred to as Sephardic. Those who took up residence in Iran, Iraq and Northern Africa are designated as Mizrahi.)

But in the late 1970s I read what was then a recent book titled The Thirteenth Tribe, written by polymath Arthur Koestler, advancing a theory that today's Ashkenazis descend not from the Holy Land but, rather, from Khazaria, a medieval Turkic empire in the Causasus region whose royals, caught between the rock of Islam and the hard place of Christendom, chose the politically expedient course of converting to Judaism. That hypothesis has become highly politicized, with some groups holding that Ashkenazis, who constitute half of Israel's current population, are colonialist interlopers with zero historical claim to the land of Israel.

Plausible at the time, the Khazar-origin premise has crumbled under the onslaught of modern molecular genetics. The latest volley: a study published this week in Nature Communications. The study's senior author, Stanford geneticist Peter Underhill, PhD, works in the lab of Carlos Bustamante, PhD, whose high-resolution techniques have highlighted the historical hopscotch of other migratory peoples.

Underhill, Bustamante and their co-authors analyzed the Y chromosome - a piece of the human genome invariably handed down father-to-son - of a set of Ashkenazi men claiming descent from Levi, the founder of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. (Names such as Levy, Levine and Levitt, for example, bespeak a Levite heritage.)

If Ashkenazis were the spawn of Khazar royals, their DNA would show it. But those Y chromosomes were as Levantine as a levant sandwich. The same genetic "signature" popped up on every Levite sampled (as well as a significant number of non-Levite Ashkenazis), strongly implying descent from a single common ancestor who lived in the Fertile Crescent between 1,500 and 2,500 years ago. That signature is absent in the Y chromosomes of modern European non-Jewish men, and in male inhabitants of what was once Khazaria.

Yes, 2,000 years is a long time, and a fellow gets lonely. Genetic studies of mitochrondria - tiny intracellular power packs that have their own dollop of DNA and are always inherited matrilineally - have conflicted (contrast this with this) but, in combination with broader studies of entire genomes, suggest that a bit of canoodling transpired between Ashkenazi men and local European women, in particular Italian women, early in that two-millenia European sojourn.

I can relate. My wife is 100 percent Italian by heritage, and my daughter by my first marriage is half-Italian.

Previously: Caribbean genetic diversity explored by Stanford/University of Miami researchers, Stanford study investigates our most-recent common ancestors and Stanford study identifies molecular mechanism that triggers Parkinson'sPhoto by GidonPico

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New genetic study: More evidence for modern Ashkenazi Jews' ancient Hebrew patrimony - Scope

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

Ashkenazi Jews are people who are descended from the Jewish population of Central and Eastern Europe. Judaism can be both a cultural and a religious identity, and in the case of Ashkenazi Jews, it is possible for someone to be culturally or ethnically descended from the Ashkenazim without practicing Judaism, or for someone to adopt Ashkenazic traditions without being ethnically related to the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. Around 80% of the Jewish people around the world are Ashkenazim, including most American Jews.

The history of the Ashkenazi Jews began with migration from the Middle and Near East to Central Europe. The term Ashkenazi actually comes from the Hebrew word for Germany, reflecting the fact that many of them settled in Germany and along the Rhine Valley. Over time, the Ashkenazim were pushed back into Eastern Europe, developing close-knit communities and a rich cultural and religious tradition. They have historically been persecuted, banned from working in many professions and sometimes prevented from living in specific regions.

Genetically, the Ashkenazi Jews are clearly descended from people of Middle Eastern ancestry who intermarried with Central and Eastern Europeans, as ample studies on the Ashkenazim have demonstrated. Many Ashkenazim in Europe spoke Slavic languages, but they also developed their own language, Yiddish. They also developed a unique approach to the Jewish liturgy and to Jewish religious traditions. While Ashkenazim follow the same religious texts that other Jews do, there are a few distinctive variations in the Ashkenazic tradition which distinguish Ashkenazi Judaism from Sephardi Judaism and Mizhrahi Judaism.

The Ashkenazim population in Europe was devastated by the Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s, when an estimated six million Jews were slaughtered under the regime of Adolf Hitler. Fortunately, many Ashkenazim had settled outside Europe, primarily in the United States, and kept their traditions and history alive. With the foundation of Israel in 1948, many Ashkenazi Jews relocated to the Middle East, and they make up a sizable proportion of the Jewish population of Israel today.

Because Ashkenazi Jews make up such a huge percentage of the Jews around the world today, many people who are unfamiliar with Judaism think specifically of Ashkenazi traditions when they hear the word Jewish, and they also assume that most Jews are of Central and Eastern European descent. In fact, Judaism is practiced in a variety of ways, and the ethnic heritage of the Jewish people is also quite diverse, with distinct lineages from the Mediterranean and Middle East.

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Who are the Ashkenazi Jews? (with pictures) - Info Bloom

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

What Are Ashkenazi Jewish Genetic Diseases?

Ashkenazi Jewish genetic diseases are a group of rare disorders that occur more often in people of Eastern European (Ashkenazi) Jewish heritage than in the general population. Even though most of these diseases are severe and can cause early death, some can be treated to reduce symptoms and prolong life. Some of these diseases can be found during pregnancy through chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis. This testing is done usually if one or both parents are carriers of a genetic disease.

Diseases in this group include:

About 1 out of 4 people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage is a carrier of one of these genetic conditions, most commonly of Gaucher disease, cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease, familial dysautonomia, or Canavan disease.footnote 1

An Ashkenazi Jewish genetic panel (AJGP) is a blood test that checks to see if a person is a carrier of a genetic disease that occurs more often in people of Eastern European (Ashkenazi) Jewish heritage. These diseases do not just affect people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage but are more common in this group of people. Other racial and ethnic groups have genetic diseases that are more common in their groups.

An AJGP test tells parents if they have an increased chance of having a child with certain genetic diseases. Anyone who is interested in knowing his or her carrier status can ask for the test, but a doctor must order the test. Different labs may have different tests in the panel.

Talk to your doctor about which diseases are important for your family. Genetic counseling can help you understand the test and possible results so you can make the best decision for you.

A carrier is a person who can pass a genetic disease on to his or her children but does not have the disease. Carrier identification is a type of genetic test that can help show whether people of high-risk groups (certain ethnic groups or a family history of a disease) for a specific disease are likely to pass that disease to their children. This type of test can guide a couple's decision about having children and making choices about diagnostic tests during a pregnancy.

An Ashkenazi Jewish genetic panel (AJGP), done on a blood sample, can see whether you or your partner is a carrier of gene changes that cause certain genetic diseases. If positive, the test can help show whether you and your partner have an increased chance of having a child born with one of these diseases.

Genetic tests can be done for anyone who wants to know whether he or she is a carrier of certain diseases. The Ashkenazi Jewish genetic panel (AJGP) shows the chance of having a child with a disease that is more common among people of Eastern European Jewish heritage. Anyone who is interested in knowing his or her carrier status can ask for the test, but a doctor must order it.

Genetic test results often raise ethical, religious, or legal concerns. You should have genetic counseling before making a decision about testing. Genetic counselors are trained to explain the test and its possible results clearly. A genetic counselor can help you make well-informed decisions.

An AJGP may be recommended for people of Eastern European Jewish heritage, including:

If only one member of a couple has Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, that person is tested first. If test results show that the person is a carrier of a genetic disease, then his or her partner also should be tested.

It is more common to be a carrier of a genetic disease, such as cystic fibrosis (CF), than to have the disease. If tests show that you are a carrier of a disease, your partner also should be tested. Both parents must be carriers of a disease for a child to get the disease.

The tests are not 100% accurate, so a person may test negative and yet be a carrier. If you are a carrier and your partner tests negative, there is still a very small chance that you will have a child with the disease.footnote 2

If you and your partner are both carriers of the same genetic disease, there is a 1-in-4 (25%) chance that your child will have the disease.

About 90% of the time, the test accurately shows whether or not a person is a carrier of an Ashkenazi Jewish genetic disease. So there is a small chance that you may be a carrier of one of these diseases even if the test results are negative.footnote 2

The decision to be tested is a personal one. You may wish to be tested if you are concerned that you or your partner might be a carrier of a disease that is on the test panel. Being a carrier is more likely if you have a family member with the disease.

Some people decide to be tested to know their chances for having a child with a disease or for passing an abnormal gene to their child.

Carrier tests are expensive. Another factor that may guide the decision to have the tests is whether the cost of the tests is covered by your insurance company.

You may decide to have carrier tests if you are already pregnant and the test results will affect your decision to continue your pregnancy or help you make decisions about caring for your baby.

If you find out you are a carrier of one of these genetic disorders, other members of your family (such as your brothers and sisters) may want to get tested, too.

There may be reasons you would choose not to have the carrier tests.

Current as of: July 17, 2020

Author: Healthwise StaffMedical Review: Patrice Burgess MD - Family Medicine Martin J. Gabica MD - Family Medicine Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine Siobhan M. Dolan MD, MPH - Reproductive Genetics

Current as of: July 17, 2020

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review:Patrice Burgess MD - Family Medicine & Martin J. Gabica MD - Family Medicine & Adam Husney MD - Family Medicine & Siobhan M. Dolan MD, MPH - Reproductive Genetics

Committee on Genetics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2009). Preconception and prenatal carrier screening for genetic diseases in individuals of Eastern European Jewish descent. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 114(4): 950-953.

Committee on Genetics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2009). Preconception and prenatal carrier screening for genetic diseases in individuals of Eastern European Jewish descent. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 114(4): 950-953.

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Ashkenazi Jewish Genetic Panel (AJGP) | Michigan Medicine - uofmhealth

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Posted By admin on October 18, 2021

According to top investigative psychologists and criminologists, while there are murder typologies or profiles, there are no general signs that this or that person is going to become a murderer, said Dr. Dar Peleg, an expert in psychological profiling, credibility assessment and behavioral-pattern analysis who spent from 2009 until 2015 as a member of the Israel Police.

Or, put another way, A murderer is like an earthquake or a volcano, there can be certain signs, like a propensity to violence, but you rarely can know in advance when someone will erupt, said criminologist Commander (ret.) Abraham Dawidowicz.

He cited as an example of an unexpected attempted murder the case of Erez Efrati, who attacked a young woman at the culmination of a bachelor party in 2009. He pulled her out of her car, dragged her into the bushes and beat her, tearing her clothes and attempting to sodomize her acts he admitted to in court a few years later.

Dawidowicz said that Efrati was considered a model young man. He had worked as a bodyguard for former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi and was at the prime of his life. As such, no one could have predicted such a scenario.

An assassin can be linked to one of these typologies or a combination of them or others.

In the case of assassins, some of them believe they are really redeeming the people, helping others, so their deed is not bad in its core but even good, Peleg explained. They think they are delivering the people from darkness to light, that they are sacrificing themselves in order to achieve this very ideal goal because the person they are killing is doing something very bad and taking people in the wrong direction.

He said that in the mind of an assassin, sometimes they are led to believe that the only thing left to do is to kill this person.

Sometimes the assassins believe they are carrying out murder on behalf of a charismatic or ideological leader, but usually this is misplaced, he said. These people convince themselves that if they murder, they will be more accepted by the leader or group, that if they behave in this extreme way then they will prove that they belong and are loyal. These are people who are very easily persuaded.

OTHER ASSASSINS, of course, are just psychopaths whose motivations are selfish, he added.

These people are pathological, Peleg said.

By definition, a person who is pathological is someone obsessive or someone who does something obsessively. It can also mean that a person has an extreme personality.

Peleg and Dawidowicz said most murderers have at least some aspects of a pathological personality, but not all pathological people become murderers. Moreover, someone with an extreme personality disorder is not the same as someone who suffers from a general mental illness, such as depression or anxiety.

Murder is a choice, Dawidowicz stressed. Murder is not something that happens to the murderer, it is an act that he commits.

He said that people make dozens of choices every day. And just like one person who wants to be rich can make the choice to get a job and work hard to earn a living and another person with the same aspiration could choose to rob a bank, so too could someone who becomes irate choose to walk away while another person could take out a knife and murder his spouse.

I truly believe that murderers are mentally ill, American defense attorney Elaine Whitfield Sharp told The Atlantic in 2010. Their brains dont work like the rest of ours do. To deliberately kill someone requires crossing a profound boundary. Most of us couldnt do it. We couldnt even think about it. But they can. They do. Why? Because theyre mentally ill.

Dawidowicz added that people who are capable of murder generally lack conscience, seeing other people as objects for their own gratification rather than as human beings.

Understanding what was in the head of a murderer can help police to solve crimes. Peleg said that in his work with the police he would look at not what the person did but how they chose to do it to understand the motivation.

Sometimes, you do not know who did it, he said. You only have the crime scene and you have to help law enforcement minimize the options. Then, profiling is very operative because it is not only a description of the personality but also provides law enforcement tools to optimize their strategy.

If you do have a suspect, you can help investigate his motivation and strategy, he said, which could help you predict, solve and even prevent some future crimes.

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In the mind of a murderer: Can you eye an assassin? - The Jerusalem Post

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