November 24, 2019

(JTA) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to a hospital on Friday night.

Ginsburg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore after a bout of chills and fever earlier on Friday, a Supreme Court spokesman said on Saturday, according to the New York Times. She was being evaluated and treated for possible infection.

She received intravenous antibiotics and fluids, and could be released as early as Sunday morning, spokeswoman, Kathleen Arberg, said.

Ginsburg returned to the bench on Monday, after missing courtroom arguments on Nov. 13 for what a court spokesperson said was a stomach virus.

On Friday, Ginsburg participated in the regular closed-door conference with other justices, Arberg said. She then stayed at the court until midday before she went to a meeting outside the court where she started feeling ill.

Ginsburg, 86, underwent treatment in August for “a localized malignant tumor” on her pancreas. She had surgery last year to remove a cancerous growth from her left lung, her third bout with cancer.

She is one of three Jewish justices on the court and leads its liberal minority. She is the high court’s oldest justice.

(JTA) — A new group of Arab thinkers is urging its countries to engage with Israel.

The Arab Council for Regional Integration group held its first conference in London this week, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Anwar Sadat, the nephew of the late Egyptian president of the same name, was among those who attended the private event, which also included journalists, artists, politicians, diplomats and Quranic scholars.

The participants say that bad ties with Israel have hurt Arab nations’ economically and Palestinian efforts to build infrastructure.

“Arabs are the boycott’s first — and only — victims,” said Egyptian-British lawyer Eglal Gheita, according to The Times.

Former British prime minister Tony Blair addressed the conference video message. The conference was funded by American donors, according to The Times.

Organizer Mustafa el-Dessouki, the Egyptian managing editor of the Saudi-owned journal Majalla, said that Arab media and political leaders were encouraging hostility toward Jews and Israel.

But many Arabs, including in Lebanon, which is an enemy state of Israel, “actually want to connect with Israelis,” he said, according to The Times.

Arab states have long shunned Israel and it is common for leaders and mainstream media outlets to promote anti-Semitic rhetoric.

A coalition of Arab countries attacked Israel after it established its independence in 1948, and then again in 1967 and 1973. However, in recent years, Israel has been growing closer with the Gulf States, which share a goal of countering Iranian influence in the Middle East, though those closer relations have not yet translated into formal ties.

But the Palestinian representative in London slammed the meeting.

“They are playing into the hands of Netanyahu,” said Husam Zomlot, who previously served as the envoy to Washington.