This week in power: Syria, Moscow mayor, Egypt, MLK anniversary

A roundup of the most talked about political and global stories in the Jewish world this week:

Syria escalates
“As the United States prepares for a possible military attack against the Syrian government over its alleged use of chemical weapons, Israeli leaders are making it clear that they have no intention of standing down this time if attacked,” ” target=”_blank”>said Nahum Barnea in The New York Times. “In the past, Israel respected the Assad dynasty for its stability and credibility. But events in Syria have made it clear that the man in Damascus is not abiding by the same rules any more. Israel cannot rely on him. But Israel shouldn’t intervene, and it won’t. Nobody expects Israel to, nobody has asked it to, nobody would thank if it did.”

Mayor's miscue
Alexei Navalny, a candidate for Mayor of Moscow in the upcoming election, has drown scowls after he stated that he will “make the first toast for the Holocaust” and ” target=”_blank”>apologized and has said that he was miquoted. This is just the ” target=”_blank”>according to reports. “Israel should wish for the Arabs not bloody military coups, but the same pluralist democracy it has built for itself — in which religious fundamentalists are accommodated and appeased, and certainly not oppressed and massacred by tyrants in uniform,” ” target=”_blank”>said Joseph Puder at Frontpage Mag.

Archive opening
The National Archives is putting together an exhibit of ” target=”_blank”>asked Daniel Greenfield at Frontpage Mag. “The Iraqi government does not need Jewish books it cannot read. It does not need to victimize Iraqi Jewish refugees one last time. It refuses to do the honorable thing and return these items back to the Jewish communities they were stolen from, but that does not stop us from doing the right thing. Property stolen from Iraqi Jewish communities should go back to them.”

MLK memorialized
Wednesday marked the 50th annversary of the March on Washington, and the anniversary brought out some ” target=”_blank”>wrote Rabbi Abraham Cooper at the Jewish Journal. Others agreed with that sentiment. “We have to remember that true freedom can only ever be fully realized when all around us share the same rights and privileges that we now enjoy. Whether they choose to love or hate us afterwards is their problem, not ours. We have to remain true to the basic values of freedom and equality which are at the root of the Jewish experience,”