June 23, 2019

Best-selling novelist Judith Krantz, whose first novel “Scruples” was published the year that she turned 50, has died.

Krantz died on Saturday at her home in Bel Air, California at the age 91, Deadline reported.

According to the Jewish Women’s Archives, Krantz is the third-largest-selling female novelist in history. “Although her goal is for her books to provide escape and entertainment, she does try to make some serious points and has woven such issues as antisemitism and the German occupation into her novels. All of her heroines are working women, and she has said that the subtext of all her books is women’s opportunities,” according to the archives.

She graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in 1948. She moved to Paris after graduation and worked as a fashion publicist, returning after a year to New York to work for Good Housekeeping magazine, where she became fashion editor. She spent more than a quarter decade as a magazine journalist, writing for Macleans, McCalls, Ladies Home Journal and Cosmopolitan.

She met her husband Steven Krantz, a producer and writer, in 1953 at a party hosted by her high school friend Barbara Walters. They were married for 53 years until he died in 2007.

Over 80 million copies of her 10 novels are in print in over 50 languages. Seven of her novels have also been adapted for television as either films or mini-series, with her husband serving as executive producer for many of them.

Her novels were historically accurate due to her hours of research, according to Deadline. “Krantz’s novels had a rare combination for commercial fiction: intelligence, complex characters, intricate plots and a wicked sense of humor. But it was the strong women she wrote about that captivated her audience in a whole new way,” the Deadline obituary said.

A local judge in Chicago has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the decision by Cook County prosecutors to drop charges against actor Jussie Smollett for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack.

Cook County Judge Michael Toomin on Friday said in his decision to appoint a special prosecutor that the county’s state’s attorney, Kim Foxx, mishandled the Smollett case by appointing a top aide to oversee it after she recused herself, The Associated Press reported.

The ruling leaves open the possibility that Smollett, who is Jewish, black and gay, could be charged again, according to the report.

Foxx recused herself after a relative of the actor interceded with her on the actor’s behalf, and she was approached by Michelle Obama’s one-time chief of staff on behalf of Smollett’s family. She said she was recusing herself to avoid “even the perception of a conflict.”

Toomin ruled that Foxx should have called for a special prosecutor instead of appointing someone from her office.

“The unprecedented irregularities identified in this case warrant the appointment of independent counsel to restore the public’s confidence in the integrity of our criminal justice system,” Toomin said.

Smollett was charged with 16 counts of disorderly conduct after police concluded that Smollett had staged the early-morning Jan. 29 attack on himself and had paid two Nigerian brothers, one who appears on “Empire,” to carry it out.

Smollett told police after the attack that two men “gained his attention by yelling out racial and homophobic slurs towards him” before attacking, pouring an “unknown chemical substance” on him and wrapping a rope around his neck.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton arrived in Israel and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid tension between the United States and Iran.

Bolton told reporters prior to a meeting Sunday with Netanyahu that Iran should not view as weakness President Donald Trump’s decision to not strike Iranian targets in the gulf in retaliation for Iran’s downing of an American drone late last week.

“Neither Iran nor any other hostile actor should mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness. No one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East,” Bolton said.

Trump said in a tweet that he cancelled the retaliatory attacks a half hour before they were set to begin after learning that some 150 Iranian civilians could be killed in the airstrikes.

Bolton arrived in Israel over the weekend, ahead of a tripartite meeting scheduled for Tuesday of the national security advisers of the United States, Israel and Russia.

“As we meet, threats to international peace and security in the Middle East and around the world are on the rise,” Bolton said.

Netanyahu called the upcoming three-way meeting “historic.”

“The mere fact that such a high-level meeting is taking place between the great powers – the United States of America and Russia – here in Israel I think is unprecedented. … I hope and expect that this dialogue will be fruitful. I’m confident that it’s possible to both find common ground and chart a path forward that will help promote security and stability in the region, particularly in Syria.”

Netanyahu also spoke about the threat from Iran. “We in Israel saw Iran’s aggression in their increased efforts to establish Iranian military bases in Syria, in their increased efforts to provide sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah, in their increased financial support for terror proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This increased right after the (Iran nuclear deal) deal, right after the deal. With the removal of sanctions, we in Israel could see an explosion of terror and aggression. Likewise, our Arab neighbors saw exactly the same thing. They saw Iran’s aggression in Iran’s increased support for terror groups that threaten them, from the Shiite militias in Iraq to the Houthis in Yemen,” Netanyahu said.

Additional U.S. sanctions on Iran are expected to be announced on Monday, Bolton said.

The United States withdrew from the nuclear deal signed in 2015 among Iran and the world powers.

Israel’s National Security Adviser and National Security Council Chairman Meir Ben-Shabbat also met in Jerusalem with Bolton.

Later on Sunday, Netanyahu and Bolton toured the Jordan Valley and took a helicopter tour of the Jerusalem district, the security fence and the Jordan Valley.

Netanyahu said that an Israeli presence must be able to remain in the Jordan Valley under any peace agreement “for Israel’s security and for the security of all.”

“As you can see, the Jordan Valley offers Israel the minimal strategic depth and strategic height for the defense of our country. Our presence here also guarantees stability and security for the entire region,” he said.

“I just think it’s too bad, Prime Minister, that more Americans can’t come to locations like this, see the geography, understand its significance, understand how it affects Israel’s critical security position, and explain why Israel has taken the view that it has,” Bolton said.

He added: “I can assure you that President Trump will take the concerns that you have voiced so clearly over the years very much into account as we go forward on this.”

Netanyahu slammed the Palestinians for rejecting the Trump administration’s peace plan before it is even made public.

“In general, I would say that we’ll hear the American proposition, hear it fairly and with openness. I cannot understand how the Palestinians, before they even heard the plan rejected it outright. That’s not the way to proceed,” he said.

The white supremacist who rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters at a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer, has asked a judge for mercy.

Attorneys for James Alex Fields Jr., 22, blamed his behavior in part on the “trauma” he suffered by growing up knowing that his Jewish grandfather had murdered his grandmother before committing suicide, The Associated Press reported.

Fields’ attorneys made the claim in a sentencing memo submitted to the United States District Court in Richmond, Virginia on Friday. Fields is scheduled to be sentenced on June 28 after pleading guilty in March to 29 federal hate crime charges and admitting that he intentionally drove his speeding car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters at the rally on Aug. 12, 2017, killing Heyer and injuring dozens.

Under the plea deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against Fields. He could face life in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

In addition to the trauma caused by Fields’ Jewish grandfather, his attorneys noted his history of mental illness and difficult upbringing by a paraplegic single mother.

Prosecutors in their sentencing memo noted years of documented racist and anti-Semitic behavior by Fields, which they said included keeping a picture of Adolf Hitler on his bedside table. They also report that he has shown no remorse for his actions and that a life sentence would deter others from similar actions.

A jury in Fields’ state trial in December 2018 found him guilty of first-degree murder and nine lesser counts. The jury in the state conviction recommended life in prison plus 419 years. Sentencing on the state charges is scheduled for next month.

BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — Argentina will host the 15th Pan American Maccabi games in its capital city Buenos Aires.

Every four years, the Maccabi World Union organizes the Pan American Maccabi Games held in South America, that gathers Jewish delegations from the continent and other invited countries.

The announcement that Buenos Aires would host the games in 2023 was made on Friday at the ceremony to present Argentina’s athletes and coaches for next month’s edition of the games, in Mexico. Mexican President Mauricio Macri recorded a greeting to the Argentinean delegation of 480 people heading to the games in Mexico.

The government of Argentina also published in its official bulletin that the games have been declared of “national interest,” which means symbolic support at the top governmental level, but without any budget to go with it.

Peru was also interested in organizing holding the 2023 games but the Argentina´s capital was chosen by World Maccabi.

Monica Sucari, president of FACCMA, the Federation of Argentine Jewish centers, told JTA that the Buenos Aires games will be “huge” and include sports and cultural activities throughout the country. “It is a sport event, but also a Jewish, Zionist, event to celebrate our heritage with pride,“ she said.

FACCMA, the largest member of the Latin American branch of the Maccabi World Union, has 55 affiliates and a network of 50,000 members. The 2023 host city, Buenos Aires, has some 159,000 Jewish inhabitants according to a 2018 report by demographer Sergio Della Pergola, making it the 16th largest Jewish populated city in the world.

Athletes from 19 countries -15 from the continent, plus Australia, Hungary, Israel and the United Kingdom, will participate in the games in Mexico City July 5-14. It is the third time that Mexico has hosted the games, including in 1979 and 1999.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, said in Columbia, South Carolina that he would continue to meet with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite.

“I have met – I live in Newark so we have famous Mosque 25, we have Nation of Islam there,” Booker said Saturday at a faith breakfast campaign event. “As mayor I met with lots of folks talking to him. I have heard Minister Farrakhan’s speeches for a lot of my life, so I don’t feel like I need to do that, but I’m not one of these people that says I wouldn’t sit down with anybody to hear what they have to say. But, I live on a neighborhood where I’m getting guys on the streets offering and selling his works. I am very familiar with Minister Louis Farrakhan and his beliefs and his values.”

He was responding to a question from an audience member about whether he would avoid Farrakhan over his anti-Semitism.

In recent months Farrakhan has called Jews “satanic” and compared them to “termites.” He has accused Jews of controlling the government and Hollywood, and has called Hitler a “great man.”

Booker’s remarks come days after he slammed former Vice President Joe Biden, another 2020 candidate, for working with segregationist Democrats in the 1970s and calling two former senators the definition of “civility” despite being known as segregationists, Townhall columnist Beth Baumann noted.

“Vice President Biden’s relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for black people, and for everyone,” Booker said following the remarks.

Farrakhan expressed support for Barack Obama’s candidacy in 2008, and Obama’s pastor at the time, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, had praised Farrakhan on multiple occasions. That made Farrakhan an issue during the primaries campaign that year. Obama repudiated Farrakhan during a primaries debate.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — McDonald’s Israel won a tender to operate its fast-food restaurants at Ben-Gurion Airport, despite a protest by settler leaders because the chain will not open branches in West Bank settlements.

The seven-year concession period, which can be extended by up to 24 months, was announced Sunday by the Israel Airports Authority, the Israeli business daily Globes reported. The restaurants – in the departure hall and Sky Hall in Terminal 3 and stands in the departure hall in Terminal 1 – currently are operated by the Israeli franchise Burger Ranch.

The unwillingness to open McDonald’s franchises in the West Bank is a boycott and therefore illegal under Israel’s Boycott Law, Samarian Regional Council Mayor Yossi Dagan had charged earlier this month, later echoed by other settler leaders

McDonald’s Israel is headed by Omri Padan, a founder of Peace Now, which regards settlements as one of the largest obstacles to the two-state solution. In 2013, Padan said he would not open a branch in a new mall in Ariel because it is located in the West Bank.

McDonald’s Israel said the international McDonald’s office has not approved branches in the West Bank.

Leaders of the Limmud Jewish learning program from Latin America and North America met in Mexico City for a leadership and learning retreat.

The first Limmud Elements Americas retreat included leaders from Buenos Aires, Caracas, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Sao Paulo, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Limmud FSU Canada and, from the United States, the West Coast, Atlanta, the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York, and Seattle.

The four-day program, which ended on Sunday, included parallel tracks and training in Spanish, Portuguese, and English.

“Our goal for Elements Americas is to enhance Jewish life and equip volunteer-led communities for growth,” said Renato Huarte Cuellar, a founder of Limmud Mexico and Elements steering committee chair. “We explored partnering with Jewish organizations and institutions who share our commitment to Jewish learning and diversity. We discussed how we will ensure Limmud is a year-round movement.”

“A top priority is how to make communities more inclusive and welcoming for people of all backgrounds, which is a challenge throughout the Jewish world,” Cuellar added.

Limmud Elements Americas was sponsored by an anonymous philanthropic foundation, The Morris and Rosalind Goodman Family Foundation, The Pincus Fund for Jewish Education, the American Joint Distribution Committee, Fundacion Metta Saade, and the Natan Fund.