US
Joshua Keating writes about why the UN Security Council is no longer a factor in the US campaign against ISIS –
It’s possible to imagine a scenario under which the U.S. would promise to limit its airstrikes to ISIS, rather than Syrian government targets—as it is actually doing in practice—and get the Russian government’s buy-in. (China already seems quietly on board.) However, this would involve admitting that the U.S. and Assad governments are increasingly becoming—if not allies—at least partners against a common enemy, something the administration maintains is not the case. It would also allow Russia to gloat that it knew all along that Assad wasn’t the real danger in the region.
Given that option, it’s not much surprise that Obama seems to be moving closer to his predecessor’s view on the necessity of working within the international system.
J.J. Goldberg believes it’s odd that Netanyahu can tie between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ISIS but the American Secretary of State is not allowed to –
In other words, Hamas and ISIS might be fighting on different fronts, but they pursue the same goals, feed off each other and presumably draw from the same pool of potential extremist recruits. If Israel’s prime minister expects opponents of ISIS to see the two fronts as parts of a single war against radical Islam, why wouldn’t disgruntled Arab teens, outraged by televised images of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, draw the same conclusion? For that matter, why wouldn’t an American secretary of state assume that Israelis see the connection? After all, they brought it up.
Israel
Ben-Dror Yemini does not understand the Israelis who support the controversial UK vote in favor of Palestinian statehood –
On the face of it, this appears to be a case of common interests. After all, most Israelis are in favor of a solution of separation, and even two states. So where's the problem? Well, the Palestinian move is not aimed at achieving a peace settlement, and the British initiative falls entirely into the realm of hatred and incitement against Israel. It's a move aimed at bypassing any chance of achieving a settlement.
Popular Israeli singer Achinoam Nini is amazed at how anyone would criticize her participation in an event for the children of Gaza –
I am asking myself why it is so difficult for some people here in Israel to support a simple act of charity and compassion towards children — our neighbors’ children — who are suffering. If, for example, I were raising money for the children of Africa, would that be ok? Or orphans in Russia or neonates in Naples? (I have raised money and volunteered extensively for all three…as goodwill ambassador of the UN organization FAO, Amnesty International Special Ambassador, Cavalliera de la Republica Italian, etc). I imagine nobody would find it offensive, on the contrary.
But the children of Gaza?? “Shame on you,” I am told…
Middle East
Three curious polls examine what the citizens of Arab countries think about ISIS (analysis by David Pollock) –
The most striking as well as encouraging finding is that ISIS has almost no popular support in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Lebanon—even among Sunnis. Among Egyptians, a mere 3 percent express a favorable opinion of ISIS. In Saudi Arabia, the figure is slightly higher: 5 percent rate ISIS positively. In Lebanon, not a single Christian, Shiite, or Druze respondent viewed ISIS favorably; and even among Lebanon's Sunnis, that figure is almost equally low at 1 percent.
Norwegian Terrorism expert Thomas Hegghammer discusses the possibility that ISIS will continue on to terror attacks in the West –
Ultimately, though, ISIS is unlikely to go all in on global operations the way al Qaeda Central has. The organization is not designed for that, and such a strategy is not compatible with its state-building ambitions. Besides, ISIS' threats have so far differed in tone from those of al Qaeda Central. Where the latter says, in effect, that “we're coming at you regardless,” ISIS has basically been saying, “We'll come at you if you attack us.” It's a somewhat more reluctant declaration of war.
Jewish World
Tablet’s Laura Geller explores the growing interest in Regina Jonas, the world’s first ordained woman Rabbi, who died at Auschwitz 70 years ago yesterday –
Judaism acknowledges the day of one’s death and not one’s birthday. It makes a certain kind of sense: You can only really measure the impact of a person’s life after it is over. But what if we don’t know the date of a yahrzeit? That is what happened to the first woman rabbi, Regina Jonas, who was deported from Terezin on October 12, 1944, and arrived at Auschwitz on October 14. It was Shabbat, Shabbat Bereshit, which this year falls on Oct. 18. After that there is no record of her.
It is time to honor her memory. That’s why a growing number of rabbis and Jewish leaders have designated this Shabbat, Oct. 18, as her yahrzeit and will say kaddish for her.
Former Torah-Talk guest Rabbi Elyse Goldestein believes that the recent rabbinical voyeurism scandal is not an isolated incident –
Rabbi Barry Freundal, a once-highly respected Orthodox Rabbi, is accused of peeping at women through hidden cameras in the mikvah. Much has been said and written already about all this. Let me add my voice in this direction: we must continue to see this travesty not as an isolated incident but as a result of a system which continues to both sexualize and desexualize women concurrently, and all within the name of Jewish law.
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