“There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. But the pauper had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him. When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit h... Read Full Story
One never knows what to say about the on again, off again negotiations to free Gilad Shalit and the seemingly unending media stories announcing an imminent deal. So one approaches this subject with some trepidation. But there are enough serious signals that haven’t been seen before that a deal is close, that it’s worthwhile considering what could happen and its possible impact on Israeli-Palestinian relations. The outline of the proposal is that in return for releasing kidnapp... Read Full Story
Nofrat Frenkel, arrested for seeking religious equality (Dudi Vaaknin)
My last post spoke to the inequity of Israel society’s treatment of its Palestinian minority, specifically Arab women. Let it not be said though that Israel treats only Palestinian Arab women this way. It treats observant Jewish women similarly. A few days ago Nofrat Frenkel was davening with a group of women at the Kotel under the auspices of Women of the Wall. She was wearing a tallit, a prayer shawl, accordin... Read Full Story
So says Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s so-called finance minister who has no previous experience with finance. Steinitz had this to say about why so many Palestinian Israeli women are unemployed:
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz…said at a recent conference on discrimination that Arab society in Israel is partially responsible for the low levels of employment for Arab women.
…The finance minister added that the low rate of participation of Arab women in the labor market was charac... Read Full Story
If you’re giving gifts for during the holiday season, I urge you to order them by visiting the Amazon website through the Tikun Olam store displayed in the sidebar below. For any Amazon item you buy, I’ll receive a modest referral fee (5-1o%) which supports the important work on this blog. Don’t just think books, CDs, mp3s, and DVDs, which are the standard items one thinks of when one thinks of Amazon. In addition, it offers electronics and all manner of consumer product... Read Full Story
In a N.Y. Times op-ed, Robert Wright, portrays the Ft. Hood attack from quite an interesting perspective that is different from what mine has been. I’ve argued that while Hassan clearly had Islamist sympathies, his crime was more the fruit of deep mental illness. Wright argues that even if we accept that Nidal Hassan’s assault was motivated more by motives of Islamist terror than by mental illness, that is all the more reason to declare the current U.S. approach to fighting ter... Read Full Story
There has been a speaker change and new sponsors for the conference which are reflected below:
Speakers:
♦ Reza Firouzbakht, national board chair, National Iranian American Council
♦ Dr. Ian Lustick, political science professor, University of Pennsylvania
♦ Dr. Keith Weissman, former director of Aipac’s Iran desk
♦ Moderator: Dr. Ellis Goldberg, University of Washington
December 16th at 7 PM
Town Hall, Seattle
Information: 206.632.0662 x 30
Tickets: $10 suggested donation
Purchase thr... Read Full Story
I was just looking at the Technorati website yesterday and I noticed something that knocked my socks off. Next to my blog I saw the graphic you see here: Top 100 World Politics, which means this blog is ranked in the top 100 of all world politics blogs that Technorati tracks (which presumably is tens, if not hundreds of thousands of blogs). The specific ranking is 38th.
Tikun Olam’s authority ranking is 754, which is determined by the number of blogs that link to me and their respec... Read Full Story
“Hang on Sloopy,
Sloopy hang on”
–Hang On Sloopy, The McCoys
Obama’s desperate. Even certain unnamed Israeli officials are desperate. Mahmoud Abbas has had it with U.S. wimpitude and Israeli nyetitude and threatened to resign. He raises the specter of the dismantlement of the PA, which might force Israel to resume adminstration of the West Bank–something Israel devoutly wishes to avoid. Alternatively, Abbas raises the possibility of a unilateral declaration... Read Full Story
