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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

September 10, 2019

Palestinian Authority Blames Israel for Death of Terrorist with Cancer Serving Jail Sentence

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online /

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority blamed Israel for the death of a Palestinian terrorist held in an Israeli jail for a shooting attack on a West Bank road that killed a Jewish couple in front of their four children.

Bassam al-Sayeh, 47, who had cancer, died Sunday in an Israeli hospital.

Sayeh planned and funded the October 2015 shooting attack near Itamar that killed Rabbi Eitam Henkin, an American citizen, and his wife, Naama. Four of their six young children were in the car at the time of the attack. Sayeh, who was affiliated with the terrorist group Hamas, was arrested and jailed days after the attack.

Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization and chief peace negotiator with Israel, .was one of several Palestinian Authority officials to take to social media to blame Israel for the death. He called Sayeh a martyr

“We hold the Israeli government fully responsible and call upon the International Criminal Court to begin an immediate investigation,” he said in a tweet. “Israeli officials must be held accountable.”

Sayeh has had cancer since 2011 and also was diagnosed with leukemia in 2013, according to the Wafa Palestinian news agency.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Authorities’ Prisoners’ Commission, Hasan Abed Rabbo, told Wafa that other Palestinian prisoners refused to accept their meals on Monday morning and that they would observe three days of mourning for Sayeh.

The commission reportedly will demand that Israel release Sayeh’s body for burial in his hometown of Nablus in the West Bank.

Palestinian Authority Blames Israel for Death of Terrorist with Cancer Serving Jail Sentence Read More »

Swastikas Found at Bay Area High School

Leave a Comment / California, Online /

Several instances of anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic graffiti were found at a high school in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sept. 5.

The approximate dozen instances of graffiti spanned across multiple buildings throughout Burlingame High School, according to the Burlingame B school newspaper. The Burlingame B described the graffiti as featuring “swastikas, anarchist symbols and racial slurs.”

Principal Paul Belzer wrote in an email to parents that he was “outraged” at the vandalism and the school discussed the matter during a forum later in the day, according to the Jewish News of Northern California.

“I feel our students and school, and our school’s values of integrity and community have been attacked,” Belzer wrote.

Police are investigating the vandalism; Anti-Defamation League Central Pacific Region Associate Director Vlad Khaykin told the Journal in a phone interview that the ADL is working with law enforcement and the school on the matter.

The Sept. 5 graffiti at Burlingame High School occurred during a string of similar anti-Semitic graffiti occurring around the country; several swastikas were found spray-painted on at least nine homes in San Pedro over Labor Day weekend. Additionally, swastika graffiti was also found at a University of Nevada Reno residence hall on Aug. 23 and at Needham High School in Boston on Sept. 4.

Khaykin told the Journal that the recent incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti are illustrative of an increase in white nationalist activity worldwide.

“We’re seeing increasingly that white nationalist organizations are working together, collaborating, taking inspiration from one another, sharing ‘best practices’ if you can call them that, and really egging one another on, encouraging one another,” Khaykin said. “We’ve seen with the attacks in Christchurch that white nationalism has become a global threat, and part of the reason why that’s the case is because of the new technologies that have allowed these people to connect with one another across borders, across oceans, and to coordinate their activities in real time to stream their propaganda efforts in real time.”

He added that when acts of vandalism occur like the Sept. 5 graffiti in Burlingame High, community leaders need to speak out against it.

“Schools should be no place for hate, they should be a place where students go for a safe and nurturing environment,” Khaykin said. “Students should be challenged by their school assignments, not by the nature of their identity.”

Swastikas Found at Bay Area High School Read More »

Netanyahu Removed from Campaign Rally After Rocket Fired from Gaza

Leave a Comment / Online /

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be removed from the stage during a campaign speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod after rockets were fired from Gaza.

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a rocket heading toward Ashdod and another heading toward Ashkelon on Tuesday evening, according to the Israeli military. As many as five rockets were fired, the military said.

Security removed Netanyahu from the stage, but he returned 20 minutes later to finish his speech.

The speech was being carried live on the Likud party Facebook page but reportedly was removed after the sirens sounded.

The rockets were fired two hours after Netanyahu announced that if he is re-elected, he will annex the Jordan Valley and West Bank Jewish settlements.

Netanyahu Removed from Campaign Rally After Rocket Fired from Gaza Read More »

Netanyahu Pledges Annexation of the Jordan Valley

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online /

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to annex myriad settlements in the Jordan Valley if he is re-elected as prime minister in a Sept. 10 speech.

Netanyahu called his annexation plan a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to protect Israel’s borders. 

“This will ensure that Judea and Samaria do not become Gaza, and that Kfar Saba, Netanya and Tel Aviv will not become like communities along the border of Gaza,” Netanyahu said. He added this proposal could be carried out with annexing any Palestinians.

His plan involves annexing 30 settlements where approximately 8,000 people reside, according to the Times of Israel. 

A Trump administration official told the Times of Israel that Netanyahu’s pledge doesn’t conflict with the administration’s proposed peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, which will be unveiled after Israel’s elections on Sept. 17.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called Netanyahu “the chief destroyer of the peace process,” adding “if [Netanyahu] believes that annexing settlement blocs will bring him more votes in the short term, then he and Israel will be the losers in the long term.”

The Israel Policy Forum condemned Netanyahu’s announcement in a statement, warning that “unilaterally annexing the territory risks destroying any possibility of future security cooperation with the Palestinians and puts security cooperation with the Jordanians at risk. This is not a security measure, but political electioneering designed to use security for campaign ends.”

The Yesha Council, the umbrella organization for West Bank Jewish settlement councils, praised Netanyahu’s announcement as “historic,” saying that it “places the settlements as integral parts of the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu Pledges Annexation of the Jordan Valley Read More »

Bolton Fired from Trump Administration

Leave a Comment / Online, United States /

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton was fired from his position on Sept. 9. President Donald Trump made the announcement in a couple of Sept 10 tweets.

Trump’s tweets read, “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore…. I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.”

Bolton contradicted Trump in a tweet that read, “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.’”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in a Sept. 10 press conference, “When the president of the United States makes a decision like this, he’s well within his rights to do so.” He added that “Bolton and I had different views about how we should proceed” on various aspects of foreign policy.

Prior to working for the Trump administration, Bolton served as ambassador to the United Nations from 2005-6 as a recess appointment under President George W. Bush.

Bolton Fired from Trump Administration Read More »

Robert Frank, Influential Photographer Best Known for His Book ‘The Americans,’ Dies at 94

Leave a Comment / Online /

(JTA) — Robert Frank, a documentary photographer best known for his book “The Americans,” has died.

Frank, a resident of Manhattan, died Monday in Inverness, Nova Scotia, where he had a summer home. He was 94.

He grew up in Switzerland during World War II, the son of a Swiss mother and a father who was a Jewish refugee from Germany, and remained safe there. The threat of Nazism, however, affected his understanding of oppression, according to The New York Times.

Frank immigrated to New York at the age of 23 in 1947. He landed a job as a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar and later worked for Fortune, Life, Look, McCall’s, Vogue and Ladies Home Journal. His work has been exhibited around the world.

His groundbreaking photos for “The Americans,” some purposely out of focus and grainy and in poor lighting, were taken during road trips across the United States in the mid-1950s funded by a Guggenheim Fellowship. The book was published in 1959. Some 83 of the black-and- white photos were used in the book, selected from the 28,000 that he had taken.

Frank later became a filmmaker, with his 1972 documentary of the Rolling Stones, “Cocksucker Blues,” the most well known. The Stones sued to prevent the film’s release, with a court ultimately restricting the film to being shown no more than five times per year and only in the presence of Frank.

He was a lifelong friend of Beat poet Allen Ginsburg and writer Jack Kerouac.

His daughter Andrea was killed in a plane crash in 1974 and his son, Pablo, diagnosed with schizophrenia, died in a hospital in 1994. In 1995, he founded the Andrea Frank Foundation, which provides grants to artists.

Robert Frank, Influential Photographer Best Known for His Book ‘The Americans,’ Dies at 94 Read More »

Mayim Bialik to Write and Direct Her First Feature Film

Leave a Comment / Entertainment /

(JTA) — Popular Jewish actress Mayim Bialik will write and direct a feature film based on her own experiences.

The comedy-drama titled “As Sick As They Made Us,” which will deal with mental illness, will be Bialik’s screenwriting and directing debut. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

The film tells the story of a divorced mother who struggles to help her estranged brother visit their father on his deathbed. His death throws the family into disarray as she finds new love while dealing with her difficult mother and brother, according to the website.

“Growing up surrounded by mental illness is not something that is easy to write about, nor is it easy to live through,” Bialik told Deadline Hollywood. “The challenges ripple out into the lives of children immersed in these families even as they try to make their own lives apart from the challenges they grew up with. After my father’s passing four and a half years ago, I decided to explore the complexity of mental illness and familial responsibility — especially as it falls on women — as well as to highlight the redemptive nature of a family’s love as they navigate death and continue to live life on their own terms.”

Bialik is best known as Dr. Amy Farrah Fawler from the hit show “The Big Bang Theory,” which concluded in May. She was first launched into stardom at the age of 15 as the title character in the television series “Blossom.”

Bialik, a divorced mother of two, has a doctorate in neuroscience, runs her own website, Groknation, and is a best-selling author.

Mayim Bialik to Write and Direct Her First Feature Film Read More »

Family Seeks Bone Marrow Donor for 10-Year-Old Son

Leave a Comment / Online /
Ten-year-old Elan Shademan and his family received devastating news five months ago. Elan was diagnosed with MDS, a rare severe blood disorder where his only chance for survival is a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. His family is now searching for a bone marrow match for Elan. They have been searching for four months with no luck.
To keep his disease under control, Elan has started chemotherapy so it doesn’t progress toward leukemia specifically AML.
Elan is a complicated case as he has other genetic abnormalities including GATA 2, monosomy 7, and MSH6 deficiency further enhancing the dire need for stem cells. His background is European and Iranian Ancestry. Although ethnic background and ancestry play a role in DNA matching, anyone who is 18 to 44 years old can help particularly those with Elans background. His family asks to help Elan by joining the largest bone marrow registry “Be The Match.” Testing is so easy, it just takes a cheek swab and you could save his life or the life of another child in need.
For more information, contact healthelan@gmail.com
To join the bone marrow registry

Family Seeks Bone Marrow Donor for 10-Year-Old Son Read More »