San Diego Jewish World
Volume 2, Number 30
 
Volume 2, Number 52
 
'There's a Jewish story everywhere'

Fri-Sat, Feb 29-Mar 1,, 2008

 
 
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Today's Postings


Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.: Hamas rocket attacks getting deadlier

Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: Skeptically evaluating news from Gaza

Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: The Farrakhan and Wright wedge issue

Gary Rotto in San Diego: Big business, baseball don't faze Doshay—
but accepting praise is another matter


The Week in Review
This week's stories from San Diego Jewish World


 




 

 






 



   




THE VIEW FROM JINSA



Hamas rocket attacks getting deadlier

By Shoshana Bryen

WASHINGTON, D.C— Qassam rockets launched by Hamas (but initiated by Fatah when it controlled Gaza) into Israel are portable and relatively unsophisticated (certainly when compared to Scuds, Zelzals and other ballistic missiles with which Israel has been threatened over time). And since the Negev region near Gaza is not a major population center, it has been possible for the media to portray the rocket attacks as more of a nuisance than a threat - in fact, it has even been said that they are fairly harmless unless one actually hits you.

On Wednesday, shrapnel wounds to the chest killed Roni Yechiah, a 47-year-old father of four when a Qassam rocket hit his car on the outskirts of Sderot. On Monday, 10-year-old Yossi Haimov suffered severe injuries from a Qassam. On February 11, 8-year-old Osher Twito had his legs amputated after being hit by shrapnel from a Qassam. On Wednesday, too, a Katyusha rocket exploded on the helipad of a hospital in Ashkelon while the hospital was treating casualties from Sderot. Two more Katyusha rockets hit Ashkelon, one in an industrial zone and another in the middle of a residential area.

The rise in serious and fatal injuries corresponds to a rise in the number and increasing precision of the rockets. More than 800 rockets and mortar shells have been fired into Israel from Gaza this year, an increase in the tempo from 2007, when 2,300 rockets hit. Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, the number is more than 4,500.

This is not a nuisance; this is an attack on the State of Israel by an organization backed by a state dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews.

Hamas said the shelling Wednesday was in retaliation for an Israeli air strike in Gaza that killed three children. Indeed, because Abdullah Edwan and Mohammed Abu Aker were hiding behind them. Edwan was a Hamas rocket engineer and Abu Aker a Hamas rocket squad commander, targets of the Israeli strike. Locals told The New York Times the two had returned from Iran a few weeks ago.

Secretary of State Rice's response was the usual mixed bag. Asked if she advised against what a reporter called a "disproportionate" IDF response, she said, "I think that's not a good way to address this issue. The issue is that the rocket attacks need to stop." She added humanitarian concerns for the "innocent people in Gaza who are being hurt," even as she agreed that "Hamas activities there are responsible."

Rockets do not launch themselves; they cannot stop themselves.

The better formulation, Mme. Secretary, is "Hamas has to stop launching rockets." Then, Mme. Secretary, put a little muscle behind it. The way to "address this issue" and free "innocent people" - Palestinian and Israeli - from the depredations of Hamas, is to rid Gaza of Hamas and its Iranian support.

U.S. policy should be unwavering support of Israeli actions to protect the Israeli people. Perhaps American clarity would encourage the Palestinian people to rise up against their jailors, much like the Iraqis did against al Qaeda in Anbar, but if not, it might at least have the effect of removing concern about an American reaction from the Israeli government.

Bryen is special projects director for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)






PETE'S PLACE

Skeptically evaluating news from Gaza

By Peter Garas

CANBERRA, Australia —"Sixteen Palestinians - the four boys, three adult civilians and nine militants - were killed in missile strikes on Thursday, the medical workers said.

The father of two of the youths wept in a Gaza hospital, unable to speak.
Medical workers said the boys were playing soccer when an Israeli missile struck. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the missile targeted militants who had fired rockets at southern Israel."

This is the story I read from the ABC News here in Australia.

The question now is what to believe from this simple set of statements?

I suspect that those who are hostile to Israel and its actions will focus on the statement from the medical workers.

The words "the boys were playing soccer when an Israeli missile struck" will of course convey the message that the Israelis are brutal, immoral, non-caring people who attack and kill innocent children just being children, out innocently playing soccer.

Those whose point of view is a little more aligned to the Israeli cause might suggest that targeting militants who had fired rockets at Southern Israel is not incompatible with the story of the medics.

Think about it from a time frame perspective:

  1. rockets are fired and take some time to hit their targets

  2. Israeli authorities take time to check the sites where the rockets have landed. They take more time to see if their systems can trace where these rockets had come from and then take more time to organise a missile strike in response.

What I am getting at is that quite a deal of time is likely to have passed before the Israelis respond to the rocket attacks.

If Shakespeare was right and people undertake multiple roles and wear 'manifold garb' in life then it's possible for young people to be firing rockets at one time frame and playing soccer at another time.

If you can understand and believe that many of the militants in Gaza (as elsewhere) are youths (indeed many soldiers in all wars, insurrections, rebellions, terrorist actions are young people). If you can understand that often in Gaza it is difficult if not impossible to distinguish between the multiple roles that people have to play in life. Then, here is no doubt that at some point young people will play a sport or play the role of a child or a son. This does not prevent or preclude them from playing another role at another point in time including that of a militant who sets up and fires rockets into Israel.

One the one hand it's possible that the Israelis struck at militants and mistakenly killed some innocent children who were doing nothing more heinous than playing soccer. On the other hand it's also possible that these youths who are described as children were in reality militants.

There is no doubt that another part of the news— which refers to the death of a six-month-old child when a missile hit a militant's house while he was there with members of his family— is regrettable, but the Israelis will target militant commanders whenever they can find out where they are. If these militant commanders put their families at risk, that's just too bad.

Consider the response of one Hamas leader who suggested that their women will continue to bear children whose fathers will mourn them as martyrs when they are killed. This suggests that perhaps at least some of the propaganda that hopes to horrify the world, with stories of nasty Israelis killing innocent civilian children in Gaza, needs to be taken with several grains of disbelief.

Garas is a freelance writer and commentator in Australia's capital city






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THE JEWISH CITIZEN

The Farrakhan and Wright wedge issue

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO—The dust-up between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is worth mulling.  Obama was questioned in their televised debate earlier this week about an endorsement he received from Louis Farrakhan, the anti-Semitic leader of the Nation of Islam.  Obama responded that he has denounced Farrakhan for his anti-Semitism, and that he counts members of Illinois’ Jewish community among his strongest supporters.

Furthermore, he said that he has spoken in Black churches about the need to restore the historic, Civil Rights-era partnership among Blacks and Jews, and that he is a strong supporter of Israel.

Clinton didn’t dispute Obama on any of this, but said when she was running for the U.S. Senate in New York, she rejected an endorsement from a small political party that was tinged with anti-Semitism.   She said that Obama ought to reject Farrakhan.

To this Obama responded that he didn’t see much difference between denouncing Farrakhan and rejecting him, but that he would concede the point, and he would both denounce and reject him.  That seemed to settle the matter for the applauding audience at Cleveland State University.

At our household, we wished that NBC Network interviewers Brian Williams and Tim Russert had followed up their question to also ask Obama about his feelings toward his own minister, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Wright has honored Farrakhan and has called the NOI leader’s perspective on African American affairs “helpful and honest.”   It has been reported that Obama’s relationship with Wright is so close that he privately prayed with him before deciding to campaign for President.

Political candidates don’t want to alienate any block of voters, be they Jewish or Black and so such “wedge” questions make them cringe.  Obama, in particular, has been campaigning on the contention that he can unite people across racial and religious boundaries.   One can understand why denouncing or rejecting his own minister would be an anathema to him. 

Nevertheless, for those who have seen too many candidates say one thing, then do another, Obama’s rejection of Farrakhan but continued embrace of Wright raises an  unsettling question.  How much of what he says about Jews and Israel is simply election rhetoric—a recognition that Jews live in key Electoral College states and that we vote?  In private, how deep are his and Wright’s ideological bonds?

I raise the question because I honestly don’t know the answer, and I’m hoping that someone from our community with personal knowledge of Obama will share his or her experiences.  If you ever want to get a case of heartburn read old newspaper clippings, as I have had occasion to do, about Jimmy Carter when he was campaigning for President in 1975 and 1976.  Back then, you’d have thought he was a Zionist, but we all know today what his real feelings about Jews and Israel are.

I’m troubled that Obama has chosen Zbigniew Brzezinski as one of his top campaign advisors on foreign policy.  While Brzezinski was Carter’s national security advisor, he never impressed me as a friend of Israel.

Although the Clintons also  have disappointed me over the years—for example, Bill Clinton never fulfilled his promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and who can forget Hillary’s embrace of Suha Arafat?—I nevertheless felt that they have a certain chemistry with us Jews.  In particular, I shall always remember how deep a connection—almost like son to father—that Bill Clinton seemed to feel for Yitzhak Rabin.  I still get choked up remembering his “Shalom chaver” eulogy at Rabin’s funeral.  I sincerely believe that Hillary shares her husband love for Israel.

As the elections keep rolling up Obama victories, I have a foreboding that the choice will come down to two people whose true feelings about Jews are equally vague.  John McCain has stated the belief that the United States was created as a “Christian nation,” but I can’t imagine how he got such an idea, except perhaps by listening to right-wing  talk radio.  The genius of the American Constitution is that it requires the government to be religiously neutral.

It appears that there will be the following dichotomy in the general election:  McCain will come out strong on Israel, whereas Obama’s support will be stated in more equivocal terms.   On the other hand, Obama will stand up for the constitutional principle precluding the establishment of a state religion, thereby drawing a contrast with McCain. 

In a theoretical matchup between Obama and  McCain, where is a Jew to go?  Do we vote for someone who seems to disagree with most of us on a major domestic issue—maintaining a religiously neutral government—or do we vote for someone who may be persuaded by his advisors (both the religious ones and the political ones)  to make U.S. policy less supportive  of  Israel in its struggle against terrorism—or, as these advisors will put it, more “even-handed” in its Mideast diplomacy toward the Arabs.

Somehow, the stakes in this election seem higher than those that of many previous elections.

Harrison is editor and publisher of San Diego Jewish World


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POLITICAL GROTTO


Big business, baseball don't faze Doshay—
but accepting praise is another matter

By Gary Rotto

SAN DIEGO—“Congratulations, Coach!”  That was my greeting on Saturday evening, Feb. 23, to Glenn Doshay, who along with his wife Karen, was honored by the San Diego Jewish Academy’s Every Child Campaign.  It’s one thing to be honored at an event on behalf of a worthy organization.  It’s another thing to be involved not only as a parent and contributor, but also as an integral part of the faculty and staff. 

Although Glenn and I have both been active in politics, I met him through San Diego Jewish Academy when I chaired the Athletic Booster Club of the SDJA.  He’s been coaching baseball at the Academy for three years.  Add to that two years of teaching Advanced-Placement Economics and Public Speaking and you have an honoree who is immersed in the success of the school at many levels.

“In studying economics with Glenn Doshay, San Diego Jewish Academy students have had the benefit of learning from an instructor that would be equivalent to college students studying with an ex-president or prime minister in a political science class," noted Larry Acheatel, SDJA executive director, who is pictured between Karen and Glenn below.

Larry was referring to the fact that Glenn is known around the country as a savvy investor.  He is the president of Palantir Capital, a Rancho Santa Fe hedge fund that as early as 2000 was drawing appreciative press coverage for its management of more than $3 billion in assets.

Moses K. Lee, a writer for a University of Michigan business school publication, suggested  the key to Glenn’s success “comes from his ability to figure how the market is ‘going to change and how I’m going to get there before it happens.’  That’s why he pays his (financial) analysts so well.”

Glenn also has an insider’s view of baseball.  He is the vice chairman of the San Diego Padres, so knows the front office view of things quite well.  But he also has been a devotee of the adult baseball camp run by the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and regularly has flown himself and friends to the Dodgers adult baseball camp to himself be coached by such well known former baseball players as Carl Erskine, Reggie Smith and Maurie Wills.

Glenn and Karen did not wish for all the attention that came their way the other night, including praise by Bev Pamensky, president of the SDJA Board of Trustees.  Glenn probably violated many of the principles of good public speaking that he imparts to his students.  He swayed uncomfortably while receiving glowing compliments.  He did not look at the crowd as he responded to all the plaudits. The Doshays tend to shun public recognition and have responded anonymously  to many SDJA needs.  But truly, the SDJA would not be as successful as it is without their generosity of time and philanthropy.   

The eighth annual edition of the Every Child Dinner raised over $700,000 for school scholarships.  Nearly one of every four students benefits from the scholarship program. 

The vast majority of those in attendance of course came for the honorees and for the cause.  But I wonered how many also came to take in the atmosphere of Anthology, the very hip jazz club that played host to this event.  Anthology is clearly a labor of love for Marsha and Howie Berkson, also SDJA parents.  The music of the house band permeated the three floors of the club while glatt kosher fare was served to the guests from food stations spread throughout the club including the 2nd floor balcony overlooking Little Italy. 

It was a great evening. Thanks coach!

Rotto is a longtime activist in both Democratic politics and Jewish communal affairs"









SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Thursday, February 28, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 51)

Carol Davis in Solana Beach, California: A Shayna Maidel: a post-Holocaust story
Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: Friendship between Muslims and the West would be beneficial for humanity, globe
Yvonne Greenberg in San Diego: Personality in the News—Why San Diego Jewish filmgoers re-Joyce

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 50)

Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.: 'Human chain' dissolves in rain
Garry Fabian in Melbourne, Australia: Dreyfus gives first speech in Parliament ... Prime Minister to honour Israel ... Woollahra honors Jewish volunteer ... Police take race crime seriously ... Prime Minister reaffirms school pledge ... Concern on extremism ... Claims of harrassment in prison ... Melbourne Jewish girl meets Oscar .
Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: Daily news discourages potential olim
Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem: Gazans' protest on Israel border fizzles

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 49)

Judy Lash Balint in Jerusalem: Aliya fails to keep up with out-migration
J. Zel Lurie in Delray Beach, Florida: Hadassah celebrates Israel’s 60th birthday with new stem cell research and therapy
Dorothea Shefer-Vanson in Mevasseret Zion, Israel: Turning a rubbish dump into parkland


Monday, February 25, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 48)

Peter Garas in Canberra, Australia: An Aussie's take on U.S. election
Donald H. Harrison in San Diego: A puzzling toast on a 40th anniversary
Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: Reaching and keeping nationhood
Plus, an invitation from the editor to join San Diego Jewish World

Sunday, February 24, 2008 (Vol. 2, No. 47)

Shoshana Bryen in Washington, D.C.: Satellite shot proves Reagan's wisdom
Rabbi Baruch Lederman in San Diego: A scream in the dark, a knock on the door
Sheila Orysiek in San Diego: Cousin Barry—Another shimmering soul
Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal in San Diego: Why Moses was angered by Golden Calf
Gary Rotto in San Diego: Free at last, free at last ... to write a column
Ira Sharkansky in Jerusalem: Shas minister blames quakes on gays



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