Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

The Iranian speaker made the remarks in a webinar entitled Gaza, Symbol of Resistance which was held on Monday with the participation of the parliamentary representatives of the countries supporting the Palestinian cause.

With the motto 'Al-Quds is Our Axis of Unity Together Against the Normalization of Relations with the Zionist Regime', we have gathered today to reaffirm our support to the first qibla of Muslims and the Holy Quds as part of the common religious identity of Muslims, Ghalibaf said.

Referring to the enemies efforts to target the unity of the Islamic Ummah through sanctions and arbitrary actions, as well as threats and bribery, Ghalibaf said that undoubtedly, in such a situation, the importance of the Palestinian issue gains a stronger momentum.

The Iranian parliament speaker emphasized that the continuous crimes of the terrorist Zionist regime against the oppressed people of Palestine, especially the Gaza Strip, will never be forgotten.

"As you know, the occupation of Palestine and the displacement of Palestinians living in this land is the worst tragedy that the deviant regime of Israel has created in the heart of the Islamic world after World War II," Ghalibaf noted.

"Despite the fact that 72 years have passed since this tragic event, more than four million Palestinians are still living in camps and in the worst living conditions; more than a thousand people are being held, imprisoned and tortured in Israeli prisons. Zionist settlements continue to develop, and Palestinian women and children are being killed every day, and Palestinian homes in the occupied territories are being destroyed every day under various pretexts.

He further said, "More than two million Palestinians have been under complete humanitarian siege in Gaza for the past 14 years.

Ghalibaf also deplored the international communitys silence toward such horrible crimes.

"Today, we are not only witnessing the lack of support by the international community to the oppressed people of Palestine, but unfortunately, we can see a few of the regional rulers contribute to the Zionist settlement projects by ignoring the rights of the Palestinians and establishing political, economic, trade and even military-security and investment ties with the Zionist entity.

He highlighted that it is the responsibility of all freedom seekers of the world to be the voice of Palestinians and support them.

Addressing the participants of the webinar, the Iranian Speaker said, "We believe that the parliaments are a clear image and language of the people and can use their capacity to support the oppressed Palestinian people and express these tragedies in parliamentary speeches."

This is the least that can be done for Palestine, he stressed.

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US-Zionist axis trying to disintegrate Islamic nations - Mehr News Agency - English Version

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami addressing the 2019 J Street National Conference. Photo: J Street via Flickr.

On January 12, 2021, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations published a letter to President-elect Joe Biden, imploring his incoming administration to maintain and build upon the precedent of honoring the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)s working definition of antisemitism.

The IHRAs definition specifies classical tropes as antisemitic, such as accusations of dual loyalty; marking Jews as cheap or greedy; or insisting Jews control global institutions. It also notes that the demonization and delegitimization of Israel, such as suggesting the state has no right to exist, should be considered intolerant towards Jews.

The IHRAs definition of antisemitism is so overwhelmingly benign and agreed upon in mainstream Jewish circles that this letter would not have been cause for concern if not for the shameful behavior of a variety of Jewish organizations and their activists.

The controversy in question centers around Jewish college students, who are routinely harassed, bullied, and shunned by their peers and professors for the egregious offense of objecting to anti-Zionism. In their letter, the Conference of Presidents simply asked the incoming Biden administration to extend support for Jewish students facing discrimination in the classroom, citing the IHRAs clear roadmap for when anti-Zionism trespasses into antisemitic territory.

January 18, 2021 1:37 pm

As a 15-year-old I made my peace with the reality that I would not follow my cousin Hank Greenberg to...

But to The Progressive Israel Network, a hodgepodge of organizations including J Street and Truah, this was intolerable. These organizations insisted that the IHRA definition of antisemitism silences criticism of Israel on college campuses, and is therefore inappropriate.

That is false. The definition specifically states:Criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.

When we discuss adopting IHRA on campus, we are not promoting a McCarthyist program that cracks down on anybody who speaks ill of Israel. We are promoting a resource for student organizations and faculty to help them understand that forcing a Jewish student to resign from student government because of her or his Zionism, or holding a BDS resolution vote in which pro-Israel students are called Nazis and racists, are acts of antisemitism.

We are talking about vilification and discrimination, not criticism. The objectors know this to be true. They are aware that Jewish students are not crying foul because a professor said that the occupation of the West Bank is immoral. So why mischaracterize the IHRA definition and condescend to Jewish students?

Sadly, this was just the latest development in the Jewish lefts campaign to frame antisemitism as only a right-wing issue. In this struggle, trivializing the experiences of Jewish students is essential. Despite a British Labour Party so embroiled in antisemitic incidents that, in one poll, 40 percent of British Jews said they would consider leaving the country should the party see 10 Downing Street, and despite acts of hatred in the United States motivated by both antisemitism and anti-Zionism, such as the stabbing of a rabbi in Monsey, New York (though the attacker appeared to have no political affiliation), or the defacing of an Israeli restaurant in Portland this week, the Jewish left is insistent that the antisemitism in their camp is only advocacy for Palestinian human rights.

This stems from a childish compulsion to deny that anything could be wrong with ones own political movement. The fact of the matter is that antisemitism exists everywhere, across the political spectrum, in every community, and in every country. To deny its existence somewhere in order to draw greater attention to it elsewhere makes all American Jews less safe.

Its important to note that nearly every American Jewish organization, including those who signed on to the letter, realizes that antisemitism comes from both the right and the left, and that every instance of antisemitism is connected. When a Jewish person feels threatened, regardless of if theyre on a college campus or under rocket fire in Tel Aviv or subject to an army of white nationalists on the Internet, their first thought is not to investigate the politics of the antisemite; their first thought is to recognize that they are experiencing hatred on account of their Judaism.

We have a new president now, and a new Congress. We must recognize that antisemitism is a parasite that infects any viable host and does not discriminate based on partisan ideology. To insist otherwise is to facilitate the ominous rise of this age-old hatred.

Blake Flayton is a senior at George Washington University, with bylines in the New York Times, Tablet Magazine, and Haaretz.

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The Battle Over Jewish Students and the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

The allegations of US officials against Iran oversupport for al-Qaeda has done solely for the sake of pleasing the Zionist Regime, said Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, stressing that such accusations are baseless and unreliable.

These actions are aimed at attracting the Zionist regimes approval and satisfaction, and no one in the world believes this, he told Bol News.

The deadline of the current US government and Pompeo has been expired, but these statements and actions are dangerous, he also said, adding that perhaps such claims by Pompeo are in line with his candidacy for the 2024 US elections, through which he aims to gain the support of the Zionist lobby.

Zionist Regime has always sought to weaken Iran and put pressure on it, while no country like Iran is at the forefront of resistance and self-reliance, he said.All terrorists of 11 September were Mike Pompeo's favorites states in the Middle East, Not Iran, Imran Khan added.

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Pompeo accused Iran to gain Zionists support in 2024 election - Mehr News Agency - English Version

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

Donald Trump has used his four years as US president to demonstrate his deep commitment to the Zionist state of Israel. He has striven to enable Israel to take control of occupied Palestine with an iron grip, and given it the upper hand in the region. No other US president has given Israel as much as Trump: none dared to recognise Jerusalem as the unified capital of the colonial state; none dared to move the US Embassy to the holy city; none dared to acknowledge Israel's annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights; none dared to give legitimacy to Israel's settlements on occupied land; and none dared to accept Israeli annexation, including Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to impose sovereignty on the occupied Jordan Valley. For good measure Trump also stopped US donations to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in an effort to annul the whole refugee issue.

Trump's most recent gift to the Israelis was the so-called Abraham Accords. Under his patronage, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco normalised relations with Israel last year.

His parting gift to the occupation state, however, is the integration of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) alongside Arab troops within US Central Command (CENCOM), which has a base at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. This is something Israel has been waiting and hoping for. From this we can deduce that Gulf reconciliation between Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain on one side, and Qatar on the other, was achieved on direct orders from the Trump White House.

American Jewish organisations have been pressing Washington to include the IDF in CENTCOM in order to link Israeli national security to America's, but previous administrations have always refused this, given the sensitivity between the Arab countries and the occupation state. The latest decision seems a bit academic, however, given that the IDF has had a strong presence at the heart of US military decision-making for a number of years, and the fact that America's wars in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, have been fought in defence of the occupation state and to maintain its hegemony.

This was actually confirmed after the second Gulf War, when General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the US Central Command between 1988 and 1991, proudly told Israeli leaders that he had destroyed the Iraqi army on their behalf in Operation Desert Storm.

READ: No need for new proposals, says former US envoy to Mid-East peace process

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), the members of which include former US and Israeli military leaders, has finally succeeded in pressuring Trump to make this dangerous decision. It will allow the occupation state to officially and effectively participate under the umbrella of CENTCOM in any military operation alongside Arab forces.

Before this move, Israel was within the scope of the US leadership in Europe but not the Middle East, to avoid any problems about coordination between Israel and Arab troops. With the exception of Egypt and Jordan, no Arab countries had peace treaties with Israel. That has all changed.

The Trump administration has thus put the other Arab countries on the spot as they are facing a fait accompli of having to coordinate military activities with Israel. This affects Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in particular, as they already coordinate militarily with the US forces based in their countries which are subject to the authority of CENCOM. Qatar too, of course, which hosts the command structure, under General Frank Mackenzie. With Israel now also under CENCOM, Arab countries will be under more pressure to accept normalisation after the occupation state has basically become a protector of them and their regimes.

The US Central Command is the most powerful military force in the Middle East. It was established in 1983 to enhance American capabilities in confronting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and in light of the escalation of the Iran-Iraq war. This imposed US domination over the Middle East. Having achieved its target in that respect, the new target became Islam.

Under the banner of the so-called "war on terror", sparking a low level third world war, CENTCOM became responsible for managing it, with operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and the Gulf. It has specific strategic goals set by the Pentagon, as it supervises coordination with the countries that "host" not that they have much choice US forces operating from military bases in the Gulf. Strategies drawn up include all Arab armies in the Middle East, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan, in addition to the security mission against Iran. Adding Israel to these forces makes it an active element in US military operations in the Middle East.

This necessarily means coordination, planning and military cooperation between the occupation army and the Arab armies; they are now arms of the same body, as we will see in any war in the region, with Iran for example; or another crisis in Gaza against which war will be waged under the pretext of fighting "terrorism". What will the Arab position be in such scenarios if their forces are allied with Israel? Who will they stand with?

This "Arab-Israeli NATO" is supported by the US and I predicted that it would happen in the wake of the Abraham Accords, because political, economic and cultural normalisation falls short unless it is crowned with military normalisation. The latter is the whole point of these normalisation deals, which were pushed through solely to serve the interests of the Zionist entity.

READ: Trump orders US Central Command to include Israel for more effective anti-Iran efforts

Arab issues are now surrounded completely by America, all within the broader project known as the deal of the century. General Frank MacKenzie can go anywhere in the region without being controlled or monitored, and can collect intelligence about any and all Arab countries. Of course, this will be shared with Israel, which will expose Arab security even more in the next phase of the colonial re-conquest of the Middle East. Indeed, what we call Arab national security may disappear from the political lexicon, becoming "Israel-Arab national security" instead.

"The easing of tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbours subsequent to the Abraham Accords has provided a strategic opportunity for the United States to align key partners against shared threats in the Middle East," said the Pentagon. According to JINSA, placing Israel within CENCOM was delayed due to the hostility of the Arab countries towards the state. "But the agreements opened the doors to achieve a strategic goal that was not possible [before]."

Indeed, this military normalisation would not have happened had it not been for the deals struck last year which dealt a blow to the notion of Arab unity; there will be catastrophic consequences. Nevertheless, the ordinary people are optimistic that they will be able to overcome this latest disaster that the dictatorial regimes have created. The regimes may be Zionist, but their people are not.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

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Trump's parting gift to Israel - Middle East Monitor

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

25 years ago: Arafat wins Palestinian vote

On January 20, 1996, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and his al-Fatah party won the election held among residents of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. The electoral triumph confirmed Arafats role as the chief enforcer of Israeli dictates in the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Arafat won 88 percent of the vote for president of the Palestinian Council while his nominees took more than half the seats on the legislative body.

Turnout was heavy except in areas, mainly East Jerusalem and Hebron, where Israeli security measures kept Arab voters away from the polls. Most Arab residents of East Jerusalem, which the state of Israel had formally annexed, were required to travel to polling stations in the West Bank if they wished to vote. In Hebron, Israeli troops and heavily armed Zionist settlers blocked access to the polls through road blockades. The fundamentalist Hamas group, which opposed the Israeli-PLO accord under which the Palestinian Authority was established, called for a boycott but made no attempt to disrupt the vote.

The Israeli government did its best to boost Arafats fortunes at the polls, releasing 800 Palestinian prisoners on the eve of the vote and staging a well-publicized eviction of 100 Zionist settlers who had illegally occupied an apartment complex near Hebron. The imperialist powers gave their seal of approval, with a team of nearly 1,000 international observers headed by former US President Jimmy Carter and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Despite this support and Arafats extensive use of executive power to dictate candidate lists for Fatah, limit campaigning and media access by opponents, and set the election rules, there was opposition to the Israeli-PLO accord expressed in the vote. At least a dozen candidates struck from the Fatah list by Arafat were elected anyway, as independents. The highest vote total among any of the candidates for the legislative counsel went to Haidar Abdel Shafi of Gaza, former head of the PLO negotiating team who opposed the Washington accord.

The elected legislative council had no powers over foreign policy, external security or the ongoing negotiations with Israel, which remained under control of Arafat and the Palestinian National Council, the chief legislative body of the PLO. The PLO leader hailed the result of the vote as another step towards a Palestinian state.

During the week of January 18, 1971, negotiations were held between representatives of the major Western oil companies and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over export taxes on crude oil.

Present in the negotiations on the side of the oil companies were both company executives and government officials from the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, West Germany, Japan, Italy, and Sweden. Member nations of OPEC present included Iran, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. OPEC, formed in 1960, controlled more than half of the global oil supply. While at the time the United States only consumed about 3 percent of its oil from the Middle East, the European countries and Japan were thoroughly dependent on supplies from OPEC. American oil companies nonetheless were, as a group, the dominant player in the global industry.

The main issue under discussion was the price that OPEC would set on oil taxes per barrel exported by the oil foreign oil companies. In recent years demand for oil had risen dramatically, attributable to increased global industrialization as well as the ongoing stalemate war between Israel and Egypt that prevented the shipment of oil though the Suez Canal.

Throughout the week negotiations continually broke down. The OPEC countries were demanding a significant price increase. In an attempt to move the situation forward, US President Richard Nixon sent Under Secretary of State John N. Irwin to visit Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait and convince them to help put forward a settlement.

OPEC threatened an embargo, with some of the more militant member states even warning of the nationalization of their oil wells, cutting the foreign companies out of direct production completely. It was only after these threats that the oil firms largely acceded to OPEC demands. The resulting agreement stipulated a 55 per cent tax on the net income of the oil companies and an immediate increase of 35 cents per barrel of oil exported from OPEC member states.

On January 21, 1946, more than 750,000 steelworkers walked off the job over wages, in one of the largest strikes to that point in American history. The stoppage was the first nationwide steel strike since the strike of 1919, amid the mass labor unrest following the end of World War I and the Russian Revolution.

The 1946 steel strike was part of a wave of industrial unrest that involved up to 25 percent of unionized workers in the space of 12 months. In the steel industry, and other sections of manufacturing, the major corporations reacted to the end of war production contracts by slashing overtime. This effectively amounted to a wage cut, after the trade unions had enforced an effective (inflation-adjusted) pay freeze through most of World War II.

Fearing the emergence of a broader movement, President Harry Truman personally oversaw negotiations at the White House over the steel dispute. At a meeting in early January, Ben Fairless, president of United States Steel, declared that the industry barons would accept no more than a 15 cent an hour wage rise. Philip Murray, president of the United Steelworkers of America union, demanded 19.5 cents. Truman sought to broker a compromise at 18.5.

The strike was called when the owners rejected compromise. The Socialist Workers Party, then the American Trotskyist organization, published an article January 21 that argued: Today at one minute past midnight the battle was joined in the most titanic and crucial labor struggle in American history. Eight hundred thousand CIO steel workersthe flesh and bones and blood of Americas basic industrythrew down the gauntlet before the steel corporations, the most voracious and ruthless monopoly in the world.

The SWP noted that with the steel walkout, Today no less than l,700,000 workers are on strike at one time. The concurrent stoppages, which involved some 220,000 GM autoworkers, 200,000 electrical and radio workers, 275,000 meatpacking workers, as well as other sections, were directed against the attempts of the ruling elite to return wages and conditions to those that had existed in the 1930s.

The union leaders, including in the steel industry, sought to keep the disputes separate from one another and to strike different wage agreements with each section of industry. This was aimed at preventing the development of a general strike and a mass political movement of the working class directed against the Truman administration and capitalism.

On January 21, 1921, the Communist Party of Italy (PCI) was founded in Livorno, Tuscany, when left-wing delegates walked out of a Socialist Party congress.

The Italian Socialist Party had affiliated with the Communist International in 1919 but retained a substantial national-reformist faction. During the events of September 1920, when Italian workers seized the factories in the north of the country and the development of a revolutionary situation was imminent, leaders of the Socialist Party (which was represented in parliament), especially Filippo Turati, negotiated a criminal deal with the government of Giovanni Giolitti to disarm the workers and return the factories to the capitalists.

It was necessary for genuine revolutionaries to separate themselves from these elements, as the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) noted in a letter to the members of the party in November 1920: We appeal to all members of the Italian Socialist Party and trade unions ... our ranks must be cleansed of the ulcer of reformism. This must be done as quickly as possible, and at whatever cost. With the leaders, if they want to; without the leaders if they hesitate and hold back; against the leaders if they interfere with our carrying out this work.

The ECCI urged the revolutionaries in the party to expel the opportunists, and at the 17th Congress of the Socialist Party in Livorno, a motion was put forward to do so. The opportunists, however, were able to assemble a majority and voted down the resolution. The Communists in the party, including Antonio Gramsci and his group organized around the newspaper LOrdino Nuovo (The New Order), then assembled in their own congress to form the Communist Party.

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This week in history: January 18-24 - WSWS

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

{Originally posted to the authors blogsite, The Lid}

When People Criticize Zionists They Mean Jews, You Are Talking Anti-Semitism,

Truer words were never said, and they were said by the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. However they werent said in a letter as long believed.

Martin Luther King Jr. whose life and dream we celebrate today was a great leader for civil rights. Unlike todays Civil Rights leaders who seek divisiveness and handouts, Dr. King dream was a post racial society where people where judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin.

Also unlike most Civil Rights leaders today Dr. King was a supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. In recognition of MLK day many Jewish will post a letter supposedly penned by Martin Luther King called Letter to a Zionist Friend, but the story of the letter is a hoax.The most famous line from the letter When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism, was uttered by Dr King, just not in any letter. Over the next day or two you will read various posts containing the letter most of the text does not contain the words of the great Civil Rights Leader. The good news however, is it does contain his sentiments.

Over a decade ago CAMERA tried to verify the letter but couldnt find a source document for it anywhere.

We were initially doubtful of the authenticity of the Letter to an anti-Zionist Friend because the language in the first paragraph seemed almost a parody of language used in Dr. Kings I have a dream speech. Additionally, we could find no reference to the letter prior to 1999, which was odd because the text is such a dramatic denunciation of anti-Zionism one that would have been cited widely.

However, we then found the letter in a reputable 1999 book (Shared Dreams, by Rabbi Marc Shneier) whose preface was written by Martin Luther King III. Since the King family is known to be extremely careful with Dr. Kings legacy, we assumed they must have verified the accuracy of the book before endorsing it.

Additionally, we found that quotations from the letter were used on July 31, 2001, by the Anti-Defamation Leagues Michael Salberg in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committees Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights. The same source (Saturday Review, August 1967) for the letter that was mentioned in the Schneier book was also cited in the testimony. Since many in the Anti-Defamation League had actually worked with Martin Luther King, Jr in the civil rights struggle, we assumed again they would be very knowledgeable about Kings work and would have thoroughly checked anything they chose to read before Congress.

However, because we do not ordinarily rely on anyone elses research, we decided to double-check, by searching back issues of Saturday Review (Rabbi Shneiers book had referenced the letter as being published in the August 1967 Saturday Review). Lo and behold, there is no such letter in any of the August issues, nor do the page and volume numbers cited conform to those actually used by that publication. CAMERA also checked with Boston University, where Dr. Kings work is archived. The archivists too were unable to locate any such letter. We can only conclude that no such letter was written by Dr. King.

(Please note we are not implying that the apparently bogus letter originated with Rabbi Schneier.)

However in the same year (2002) Rep John Lewis who worked with Dr. King (but in recent years has become something of a racer-er) wrote an op-ed confirming that the famous quote used in the fake letter came from a speech made by Dr. King,

.During the recent U.N. Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa, we were all shocked by the attacks on Jews, Israel and Zionism. The United States of America stood up against these vicious attacks.

Once again, the words of King ran through my memory, I solemnly pledge to do my utmost to uphold the fair name of the Jews because bigotry in any form is an affront to us all.

During an appearance at Harvard University shortly before his death, a student stood up and asked King to address himself to the issue of Zionism. The question was clearly hostile. King responded, When people criticize Zionists they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism.

As it turns out Rep. Lewis was wrong also. King uttered those words at a dinner which took place at the Cambridge home of MartinPeretz, then a professor at Harvard. As reported by Martin Kramer:

Kings words were first reported by Seymour Martin Lipset, at that time the George D. Markham Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard, in an article he published in the magazine Encounter in December 1969that is, in the year following Kings assassination. Lipset:

Shortly before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Boston on a fund-raising mission, and I had the good fortune to attend a dinner which was given for him in Cambridge. This was an experience which was at once fascinating and moving: one witnessed Dr. King in action in a way one never got to see in public. He wanted to find what the Negro students at Harvard and other parts of the Boston area were thinking about various issues, and he very subtly cross-examined them for well over an hour and a half. He asked questions, and said very little himself. One of the young men present happened to make some remark against the Zionists. Dr. King snapped at him and said, Dont talk like that! When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. Youre talking anti-Semitism!

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man who believed that everyone should be able to live in peace and freedom, no matter how they worshiped God, or the pigment of their skin. He was a fighter for civil rights, and he was a fighter for the Jews.

Dr. Kingfought for the release of Jews in the Soviet Union. He was an early supporter of Israel, who knew how to cut through the phony anti-Zionist memes of many anti-Semites. Many civil rights leaders, heck many political leaders today would serve themselves well to better understand the words of this man of peace.

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Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Was A Zionist - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

Israeli hospital: 98% of staff who got 2nd shot have high-level COVID antibodies

A new serological study conducted at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan has shown 98% of hospital workers who received the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine have developed a high level of antibodies to fight off the virus.

The study of 102 samples, taken a week after Israel began administering the second dose when the vaccine is expected to reach peak effectiveness showed most vaccinees had higher antibody counts than among those who have recovered from COVID-19.

The hospital says that a week after receiving the final dose, antibodies jumped to a level between 6 and 20 times higher than that observed after the first shot.

Hundreds more samples are set to be examined.

Two employees developed only low levels of antibodies, the tests showed one of them known to have a weakened immune system.

Dr. Gili Regev-Yochay, director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit at Sheba, says that the initial results indicate the vaccinees are unlikely to be carriers or infectious a matter that scientists have hitherto not determined as antibody levels are high enough to suppress any virus particles.

Sheba Medical staff members receive the second round of the Covid-19 vaccine, at the Sheba Medical Center outside of Tel Aviv, on January 10, 2021 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

This means the vaccine works wonderfully, Regev-Yochay says. The results are in agreement with Pfizers trials and go even beyond the expected [results]. I expect the tests of the rest of the employees participating to be similar.

She adds: There is definitely cause for optimism.

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Report: New bleak forecast says Israel could see large new COVID wave in March - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

A Conversation on A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North AfricaThursday, 14 January6:30 PM PST | 9:30 PM EST

Join this event via Zoom for a conversation on the recently published book,A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa, featuring the three editors of the series.

Joel Beininis the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History at Stanford University, Emeritus. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1982 and began teaching at Stanford in 1983. From 2006 to 2008 he was Director of Middle East Studies and Professor of History at the American University in Cairo. In 2002 he served as president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America. Beinins research and writing focus on the social and cultural history and political economy of modern Egypt, Palestine, and Israel and US policy in the Middle East. He has written or edited twelve books, most recently,A Critical Political Economy of the Modern MiddleEast(Stanford University Press, forthcoming, 2021); co-edited with Bassam Haddad and Sherene Seikaly andWorkers and Thieves: Labor Movements and Popular Uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt(Stanford University Press, 2016).

Sherene Seikaly is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the editor of theArab Studies Journal,co-founder and co-editor ofJadaliyyae-zine, an editor ofJournal of Palestine Studies, a policy member ofAl-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network,and an advisory member ofR-Shief Online Archive Project.Seikaly'sMen of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine(Stanford University Press, 2016)explores how Palestinian capitalists and British colonial officials used economy to shape territory, nationalism, the home, and the body. She has published in academic journals such asInternational Journal of Middle East StudiesandJournal of Middle East Womens Studiesas well as in online venues includingJadaliyya, Mada Masr,and7iber.

Bassam Haddadis Director of theMiddle East and Islamic Studies Programand Associate Professor at theSchar School of Policy and Governmentat George Mason University.He is the author ofBusiness Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience(Stanford University Press, 2011) andco-editor of the forthcoming book,A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East(Forthcoming, Stanford University Press, 2021).Bassam serves as Founding Editor of theArab Studies Journaland theKnowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film,About Baghdad, and director of the seriesArabs and Terrorism.Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor ofJadaliyyaEzine and Executive Director of theArab Studies Institute. He serves on the Board of theArab Council for the Social Sciencesand is Executive Producer ofStatusAudio Magazine. Bassam is Co-Project Manager for theSalon Syria Projectand Director of theMiddle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI).Hereceived MESA'sJere L. Bacharach Service Awardin 2017 for his service to the profession.Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book tittledUnderstanding The Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders(forthcoming, Stanford University Press).

Hatem Bazian(Moderator) is a co-founder and Professor of Islamic Law and Theology at Zaytuna College, the 1st Accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in the United States. In addition, Prof. Bazian is a lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Bazian between 2002-2007, also served as an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He teaches courses on Islamic Law and Society, Islam in America: Communities and Institutions, De-Constructing Islamophobia and Othering of Islam, Religious Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to Berkeley, Prof. Bazian served as a visiting Professor in Religious Studies at Saint Marys College of California 2001-2007 and adviser to the Religion, Politics and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley.

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A Conversation on A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa (14 Jan) - Jadaliyya

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

Conservative

AGUDATH BNAI ISRAEL: Meister Road at Pole Ave., Lorain. Mark Jaffee, Ritual Director. SAT. Shabbat Morning (Zoom) 10:30 a.m. 440-282-3307. abitemplelorain.com.

BETH EL CONGREGATION: 750 White Pond Dr., Akron. Rabbi Elyssa Austerklein, Hazzan Matthew Austerklein. SAT. Shabbat Service (Facebook) 10 a.m.; SUN. Shacharit (Facebook) 8:45 a.m.; WED./FRI. Shacharit (Zoom) 7:30 a.m. 330-864-2105. bethelakron.com.

BNAI JESHURUN-Temple on the Heights: 27501 Fairmount Blvd., Pepper Pike. Rabbis Stephen Weiss and Hal Rudin-Luria; Stanley J. Schachter, Rabbi Emeritus; Cantor Aaron Shifman. All services held via Zoom or livestream unless otherwise noted. FRI. Shabbat Service 6 p.m.; SAT. Morning service 9 a.m., Evening service 6 p.m.; SUN. Morning service 8 a.m., Evening service 6 p.m.; MON.-THURS. Morning service 7:15 a.m., Evening service 6 p.m.; FRI. Morning service 7:15 a.m. 216-831-6555. bnaijeshurun.org.

PARK SYNAGOGUE-Anshe Emeth Beth Tefilo Cong.: Park MAIN 3300 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights; Park EAST 27500 Shaker Blvd., Pepper Pike. Rabbi Joshua Hoffer Skoff, Rabbi Sharon Y. Marcus, Milton B. Rube, Rabbi-in-Residence, Cantor Misha Pisman. FRI. Erev Shabbat service (Zoom) 6 p.m.; SAT. Shabbat morning service (Zoom) 10:10 a.m., Shabbat evening service (Zoom) 6 p.m.; SUN. Morning service (Zoom) 8:30 a.m., Evening service (Zoom) 5:30 p.m.; MON.-THURS. Morning service (Zoom) 7:30 a.m., Evening service (Zoom) 6 p.m.; FRI. Morning service (Zoom) 7:30 a.m. 216-371-2244; TDD# 216-371-8579. parksynagogue.org.

SHAAREY TIKVAH: 26811 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbi Scott B. Roland; Gary Paller, Cantor Emeritus. Contact the synagogue for livestream and Zoom information. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat (Zoom) 4 p.m.; SAT. Shabbat (livestream or in-person, registration required) 9:30 a.m., Havdalah (Zoom) 6p.m. 216-765-8300. shaareytikvah.org.

BETH EL-The Heights Synagogue, an Independent Minyan: 3246 Desota Ave., Cleveland Heights. Rabbi Michael Ungar; Rabbi Moshe Adler, Rabbi Emeritus. SAT. Shabbat morning service (Zoom) 10 a.m. 216-320-9667. bethelheights.org.

MONTEFIORE: One David N. Myers Parkway., Beachwood. Services in Montefiore Maltz Chapel. Rabbi Akiva Feinstein; Cantor Gary Paller. FRI. 3:30 p.m.; SAT. Service 10:30 a.m. 216-360-9080.

THE SHUL-An Innovative Center for Jewish Outreach: 30799 Pinetree Road, #401, Pepper Pike. Rabbi Eddie Sukol. See website or call for Shabbat and holiday service dates, times and details. 216-509-9969. rabbieddie@theshul.us. theshul.us.

AHAVAS YISROEL: 1700 S. Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights. Rabbi Boruch Hirschfeld. 216-932-6064.

BEACHWOOD KEHILLA: 25400 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbi Ari Spiegler, Rabbi Emeritus David S. Zlatin. FRI. Minchah/Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv 5:03 p.m.; SAT. Shacharit 9 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:10 p.m., Havdalah 6:08 p.m.; SUN. Shacharit 7:30 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:10 p.m.; MON. Shacharit 6:50 a.m., Maariv 7:45 p.m.; TUES.-THURS. Shacharit 7 a.m., Maariv 7:45 p.m.; FRI. Shacharit 7 a.m. 216-556-0010, Beachwoodkehilla.org.

FROMOVITZ CHABAD CENTER: 23711 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbi Moshe Gancz. FRI. 5:15 p.m.; SAT. 10 a.m. followed by kiddush lunch. 216-647-4884, clevelandjewishlearning.com

GREEN ROAD SYNAGOGUE: 2437 S. Green Road, Beachwood. Rabbi Binyamin Blau; Melvin Granatstein, Rabbi Emeritus. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat 5:15 p.m.; SAT. Hashkama Minyan 7:30 a.m., Shacharit 9:15 a.m., Youth Minyan 9:30 a.m., Minchah 5 p.m., Rabbis Talmud Class 5:25 p.m., Havdalah 6:04 p.m., Rabbis Gemara Class (Zoom) 7 p.m.; SUN. Shacharit 8 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:10 p.m.; MON. Shacharit 6:40 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:10 p.m.; TUES.-THURS. Shacharit 6:40 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 5:15 p.m.; FRI. Shacharit 6:40 a.m. 216-381-4757. GreenRoadSynagogue.org.

HEIGHTS JEWISH CENTER SYNAGOGUE: 14270 Cedar Road, University Heights. Rabbi Raphael Davidovich. FRI. 7:15 p.m.; SAT Morning Parsha Class 8:30 a.m., Morning Services 9 a.m., Minchah 30 minutes before sunset; SUN. 8 a.m., 15 minutes before sunset; MON.-THURS. 6:45 a.m., 15 minutes before sunset; FRI. 6:45 a.m. 216-382-1958, hjcs.org.

KHAL YEREIM: 1771 S. Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights. Rabbi Yehuda Blum. 216-321-5855.

MENORAH PARK: 27100 Cedar Road, Beachwood. Associate Rabbi Joseph Kirsch. SAT. 9:30 a.m., 4:15 p.m.; SUN. Minyan & Breakfast 8 a.m. 216-831-6500.

OHEB ZEDEK CEDAR SINAI SYNAGOGUE: 23749 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst. Rabbi Noah Leavitt. FRI. Minchah 5:05 p.m.; SAT. 9:30 a.m., Minchah 4:40 p.m., Maariv 5:55 p.m., Havdalah 6:09 p.m. 216-382-6566. office@oz-cedarsinai.org. oz-cedarsinai.org.

SEMACH SEDEK: 2004 S. Green Road, South Euclid. Rabbi Yossi Marozov. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat at candlelighting; SAT. 9:30 a.m., Minchah at candlelighting. 216-235-6498.

SOLON CHABAD: 5570 Harper Road, Solon. Rabbi Zushe Greenberg. SAT. Services 10 a.m.; SUN. Services 8 a.m.; MON.-FRI. Services 7 a.m. 440-498-9533. office@solonchabad.com. solonchabad.com.

TAYLOR ROAD SYNAGOGUE: 1970 S. Taylor Road, Cleveland Heights. FRI. Minchah and Kabbalat Shabbat 4:45 p.m.; SAT. Shacharit 9:30 a.m., Minchah 4:15 p.m., Maariv 5:55 p.m.; SUN. Shacharit 8:30 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 4:50 p.m.; WEEKDAYS Shacharit 7:30 a.m., Minchah/Maariv 4:50 p.m. 216-321-4875.

WAXMAN CHABAD CENTER: 2479 S. Green Road, Beachwood. Rabbis Shalom Ber Chaikin and Shmuli Friedman. 216-282-0112. Contact the synagogue for service times. info@ChabadofCleveland.com, wccrabbi@gmail.com.

YOUNG ISRAEL OF GREATER CLEVELAND: Hebrew Academy (HAC), 1860 S. Taylor Road; Beachwood (Stone), 2463 Green Road. Rabbis Naphtali Burnstein and Aharon Dovid Lebovics. FRI. Minchah 5:10 p.m.; SAT. Shacharit (Stone) 8/9 a.m., (HAC) 9 a.m., Minchah 5 p.m., Maariv 6:04 p.m., Motzei Shabbat 6:12 p.m.; SUN. Shacharit (Stone) 7:15/8/8:30 a.m., (HAC) 6:45 a.m., Minchah 5:15 p.m.; MON. Shacharit (Stone) 6:40/7:50 a.m., (HAC) 6:40 a.m., Minchah 5:15 p.m.; TUES./WED. Shacharit (Stone) 6:45/7:50 a.m., (HAC) 6:45 a.m., Minchah 5:15 p.m.; THURS. Shacharit (Stone) 6:40/7:50 a.m., (HAC) 6:40 a.m., Minchah 5:15 p.m.; FRI. Shacharit (Stone) 6:45/7:50 a.m., (HAC) 6:45 a.m., Minchah 5:15 p.m. 216-382-5740. office@yigc.org.

ZICHRON CHAIM: 2203 S. Green Road, Beachwood. Rabbi Moshe Garfunkel. DAILY 6 a.m., 6:45 a.m. 216-291-5000.

KOL HALEV (Clevelands Reconstructionist Community): The Ratner School. 27575 Shaker Blvd., Pepper Pike. Rabbi Steve Segar. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat (Zoom) 6 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study (Zoom) 9:30 a.m., Shabbat Service (Zoom) 10:30 a.m.; SUN. Mindful Jewish Practice (Zoom) 11:30 a.m.; WED. Schmooze with the Rabbi 9:15 a.m. 216-320-1498. kolhalev.net.

AM SHALOM of Lake County: 7599 Center St., Mentor. Spiritual Director Renee Blau; Assistant Spiritual Director Elise Aitken. 440-255-1544.

ANSHE CHESED FAIRMOUNT TEMPLE: 23737 Fairmount Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbis Robert Nosanchuk and Joshua Caruso; Cantor Vladimir Lapin; Cantor Laureate Sarah J. Sager. FRI. Shabbat evening service celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (livestream or Zoom) 6:15 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study (Zoom) 9:15 a.m. 216-464-1330. fairmounttemple.org.

BETH ISRAEL-The West Temple: 14308 Triskett Road, Cleveland. Rabbi Enid Lader. Alan Lettofsky, Rabbi Emeritus. FRI. Family Shabbat service (Zoom) 7:30 p.m.; SAT. Torah Study (Zoom) 9:30 a.m., Shabbat service (Zoom) 11 a.m. 216-941-8882. thewesttemple.com.

BETH SHALOM: 50 Division St., Hudson. Rabbi Michael Ross. SAT. Torah Study (Zoom) 9:30 a.m. 330-656-1800. tbshudson.org

BNAI ABRAHAM-The Elyria Temple: 530 Gulf Road, Elyria. Rabbi Lauren Werber. FRI. Shabbat service birthday and anniversary blessings (Zoom) 7:15 p.m. 440-366-1171. tbaelyria.org

SUBURBAN TEMPLE-KOL AMI: 22401 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood. Rabbi Allison Bergman Vann. FRI. Shabbat service (Zoom) 6 p.m. 216-991-0700. suburbantemple.org.

TEMPLE EMANU EL: 4545 Brainard Road, Orange. Rabbi Steven L. Denker; Cantor David R. Malecki; Daniel A. Roberts, Rabbi Emeritus. FRI. Shabbat service (Zoom & Facebook Live) 6:15 p.m.; SAT. Torah study (Zoom) 9 a.m. 216-454-1300. teecleve.org.

TEMPLE ISRAEL: 91 Springside Drive, Akron. Rabbi Josh Brown. Cantor Kathy Fromson. FRI. Online Shabbat Service 6:15 p.m.; SAT. Online Torah Study 9 a.m. 330-665-2000, templeisraelakron.org.

TEMPLE ISRAEL NER TAMID: 1732 Lander Road, Mayfield Heights. Rabbi Matthew J. Eisenberg, D.D.; Frederick A. Eisenberg, D.D., Founding Rabbi Emeritus; Cantorial Soloist Rachel Eisenberg. FRI. Evening service (Facebook and YouTube streaming) 7:30 p.m. 440-473-5120. tintcleveland.org.

THE TEMPLE-TIFERETH ISRAEL: 26000 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood. Senior Rabbi Jonathan Cohen; Rabbis Yael Dadoun, Roger C. Klein and Stacy Schlein; Cantor Kathryn Wolfe Sebo. Contact the synagogue for livestream and Zoom information. FRI. Kabbalat Shabbat service (livestream) 6 p.m.; SAT. Torah study (Zoom) 9:15 a.m., Adult learning (Zoom) 4 p.m. 216-831-3233. ttti.org.

JEWISH SECULAR COMMUNITY: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland, 21600 Shaker Blvd., Shaker Heights. jewishsecularcommunity.org.

THE CHARLOTTE GOLDBERG COMMUNITY MIKVAH: Park Synagogue, 3300 Mayfield Road, Cleveland Heights. By appointment only: 216-371-2244, ext. 135.

THE STANLEY AND ESTHER WAXMAN COMMUNITY MIKVAH: Waxman Chabad House, 2479 South Green Road, Beachwood. 216-381-3170.

This is a paid listing with information provided by congregations.

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Synagogue service times: Week of January 15 | Synagogues - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on January 18, 2021

Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious PracticeRachel B. GrossNYU Press

Rachel B. Gross, a professor of Jewish studies at San Francisco State University, is willing to bet that you dont see your purchase of a scarf from the National Museum of American Jewish History gift shop as religious practice. Ditto for a kosher-style pastrami sandwich scarfed down at Hymies, an afternoon spent on a Jewish genealogical website or a historical tour of Congregation Mikveh Israel.

These activities, as we typically understand them, are Jewish cultural practices, distinct from religious practices that take place in synagogues or around the Shabbos dinner table. They are expressions of nostalgia, in many cases, rather than spiritual exercises.

But Gross argues in her provocative new book that this distinction between religious and cultural is false. The widely shared experience of American Jewish nostalgia is, she says, the expression of understanding between Jews living and dead, i.e., religion, and create networks of sacred meaning. To view nostalgia as merely a wishful affection or sentimental longing for an irrevocable past, Gross writes, is a mistake. It is in a Hymies booth, she argues, digging into that pastrami sandwich, where American Jews practice religion today.

Jewish communal leaders, philanthropists and academics have sounded the alarm at the decline of traditional religious practice, Gross says, giving rise to a fundraising structure that privileges Jewish continuity above nearly all else. But if we reorient where we look for American Jewish religion and reconsider how we define it, she writes, then we start to find a lot more of it.

Gross uses the framework of lived religion, expanding the definition of religious activity beyond what official religion allows. Rather than accepting religion as prescriptively defined by official texts and dictates of traditional institutions, Gross uses a descriptive approach that helps us to take seriously the structures, commitments, and activities that shape everyday life, she writes.

Gross assessment of the way institutional Judaism dismisses activities that arent officially Jewish is well-argued and comprehensive, and her claim that this is partially due to an understanding of nostalgia as feminine and therefore unserious deserves greater study. But its difficult to accept her larger argument.

I write for a Jewish newspaper, and read about Judaism and Jewish people more than any other subject, but I dont understand that to be religious. Likewise, it makes me feel a bit sad to consider that a preference for bagels and ancestry.com could constitute a connection to the infinite.

If powerful sectors of institutional Judaism are not properly valuing cultural practice, as Gross charges, it makes sense to argue for the intrinsic value of such practices rather than argue that they should be recategorized as religious. Non-religious connections to Judaism should be encouraged and nurtured, but we dont need to radically reorient our communal understanding of those connections in order to see their worth.

Whether you buy the larger argument, Gross book challenges prevailing orthodoxies of American Jewish life with respect and purpose.

Tonight is Already TomorrowLia Levi; translated by Clarissa BotsfordEuropa Editions

Tonight is Already Tomorrow is a translated work published by Europa Editions written by a prominent Italian novelist about a mid-century child prodigy. If that sounds a bit like one of Elena Ferrantes Neapolitan novels, Ill admit that my interest in Ferrante led me to this new Europa novel by Lia Levi.

But unlike Ferrantes popular books, Levis Tonight is Already Tomorrow is kind of a drag.

The writers powers of description are impeccable, even in translation, and her sense of the dramatic is on full display in her tale of a Genoan Jewish family caught up in the gears of Italys fascist turn. But confusion reigns in this short novel, which introduces characters and plot lines that are quickly dropped, as if Levi, overflowing with ideas, had trouble deciding which to include. In trying to take a bite out of every cake, Tonight is Already Tomorrow ends up without a distinctive flavor.

At times, Levi appears most interested in the character of Alessandro, the brilliant little boy set to change the fortunes of the Jewish Rimon family. In the chapters about him, you can see the outline of an interesting book, with grand machinations of history and familial strife seen through the eyes of a precocious little boy. But Levi finds so many other characters to inhabit that we dont spend as much time with Alessandro as wed like. In such a short book, far too much real estate is occupied by far-flung cousins and other minor characters.

There are ideas for five interesting novels in Tonight is Already Tomorrow. Unfortunately, Levi didnt end up with one.

[emailprotected]; 215-832-0740

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Book Reviews: 'Beyond the Synagogue' and 'Tonight is Already Tomorrow' - Jewish Exponent

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