Yori's News Clips

Residents of Du-Pia Street in Rehovot, Israel, recently petitioned City Hall to change the name of their street, which they believe is not respectable.

Today's cartoon is from Al-Watan (Qatar), from way back in May 13, 2003. The U.S. and Israel are shown eating from two sides of an apple that represents “the Arab states.” According to the middle-east-info.org, where we found it, this cartoon is noteworthy because it was published in Qatar, home to the Al Jazeera TV network. Qatar is considered by many in the U.S. State Department to be a U.S. ally and a relatively moderate state.

The Asifa was a sober and responsible approach to a real problem, and I was impressed by the quickness with which the organizers responded to the potential pitfalls of being portrayed as Luddites, which does not befit a nation of scholars and questioners.

My family and I were certain it was going to be a tasteful, Jerusalem version of some of the better Disneyland rides, like Pirates of the Caribbean: dark, with stunning images and light displays and haunting music.

Samuel Wurzelbacher aka “Joe the Plumber” is in hot water (which, professionally speaking, he should be able to repair) over his comments blaming the Holocaust on gun control.

Malcolm Hedding, an associate pastor of the World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was executive director of International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, which has a constituency of 14 million in 110 countries, according to Hedding. “Its main mission is to repair bridges opened up between Christians and Jews because of historical anti-Semitism.”

Bea Abrams Cohen, who turned 102 in February, believes in mitzvahs. "Pay back. It works," she told the LA Times. Bea enlisted during World War II and worked for more than seventy years supporting the U.S. military and charity organizations.

"Most people have probably never heard of Y-Love," writes Jerry Portwood in Out Magazine this week, explaining that "for a dedicated fan base, however, Y-Love, aka Yitz Jordan, is a popular Hassidic hip-hop artist who raps in a mix of English, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Latin. That’s right: Jordan is an African-American rapping Jew. And now he wants the world to know he’s gay."

Miriam Goderich – remember that name, it will go down in history as the woman who brought down a president. But poor Miriam never did anything bad, in fact, what she did happened decades ago and now it could topple President Barack Hussein Obama.

Sharansky told Israel Radio on Sunday that potential immigrants who had finalized their plans to move to Israel have delayed their arrival by several months because they are afraid of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities and an Iranian response.

Mario Balotelli, who scored two amazing goals against Germany June 28, to take Italy into the Euro 12 soccer championship final against Spain on Sunday (which they lost 4-0, and were totally outclassed by the world champion) – grew up as the foster son of a Jewish mother. Balotelli talked about his adoptive Jewish mother when the Italian national squad visited Auschwitz ahead of the start of the games.

"I'm very happy in my present life," Weiner, 47, told People Magazine. But the WSJ is asking: if he's so stay-at-homish, what will he do with his election bucks?

On Saturday, Mitt Romney introduced his running mate, Paul Ryan, as "the next president of the United States."

Anti-Semitism in some parts is apparently so rampant, it's enough to have a Jewish sounding name for your life to be in danger. A couple of rampaging murderers who are up for several murders in Oregon and California, said in a jailhouse interview after their arrest that one of their victims, Cody Myers, was killed because he had a "Jewish sounding" last name. Myers happened to be a devout but extremely unlucky Christian.

Believe it or not, the birther effort to de-legitimize the Barack Obama presidency may be officially over. The Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Obama's U.S. citizenship and, consequently, to his eligibility to be the country's commander in chief.

The selection of Paul Ryan, with his proposals for a trimmed-down federal budget, may not bode well for the Republican ticket among Jewish voters. And since Florida is the largest of the swing states, its Jewish voters will have a huge impact on the presidential election. On the other hand, the "Israel first" Jewish voters, after three years of constant conflict between Obama and Netanyahu, are not likely to stick with the president. Finally, what does it mean when Romney concedes the independents at the center and pick a VP to the right of him politically?

We went out to watch the Purim Parade in our sweet town of Netanya, and for a few hours were transported to a care-free world, somewhere between Disneyland and New Orleans. Our daughter Yarden said, Purim is like Halloween but without dead people. Everyone was distinctly alive in Netanya this Purim. And everyone seemed to take very seriously the idea of the Purim happy noise. Even the babies.

Instead of stressing his friendship and loyalty to a country which, despite its own economic woes is generously helping to feed his 80 million plus citizens, Morsi is actually lecturing the United States, saying it needs to "fundamentally change its approach to the Arab world, showing greater respect for its values and helping build a Palestinian state, if it hoped to overcome decades of pent-up anger." For the record, since 1979, an annual contribution which totals, give or take, $30 billion has yielded the United States "decades of pent-up anger."

Let's talk about motherhood and babies, and why some young girls start planning their weddings at age 7 and have the albums to show for it.

Every educated American has had to explain to a foreigner, at one point or another, our election system, or, more specifically, the Electoral College.

Al-Qaradawi said he opposes any discourse with Jews in principle.

The world is not a safe place, is the bottom line of what our State Dept. wants you to know. But if you insist—heaven knows why—on leaving your safe bedroom and risk setting foot in one of those awful places you hear about in the news, there's a lot you need to know. Travelers can become victims of crime and violence, or experience unexpected difficulties, says the special page titled "A Safe Trip Abroad" on the DOS website.

It appears that Romney is not playing for the Jews. He has much more serious worries.

The Fountainheads are a group of young Israeli singers, dancers, and artists, all graduates and students of the Ein Prat Academy for Leadership, who "have joined forces to create new Jewish artistic content for today's Jewish world." So far, this could be an intro to some really boring stuff, but in this case it ain't so. In my search for great, new Passover content, I landed on their YidVid Breakin' Free, and will definitely be using it while running on my treadmill.

The entire story of the Migron outpost explained in 3 entertaining minutes, including the missing link, the one component the High Court is yet to offer in this sad trampling over justice and lives: proof of Arab ownership.

My good friend Jonathan Mark posted this video clip on his website on the same day some mad mega-Haredim sprayed Yad Va'Shem with graffiti accusing Zionism of causing the Holocaust. It occurred to me that blues man Leadbelly, who recorded his Hitler tune in 1942, could teach those crazy folks a thing or two about history.

Zahran predicted that by the end of 2013 King Abdullah, whom he calls "the only non-Palestinian in Jordan," will be toppled, and at long last the Palestinians will be free to conduct their lives in their own country.

Rahimi's remarks came at an international anti-drug conference in Tehran, attended by many foreign diplomats, and AFP says it was "a rare diatribe by an Iranian official targeting the Jewish faith, rather than the state of Israel."

What's a good Jewish Press Story for the Irish national day of beer and more beer? We've got one for you! It's about Drew Lovejoy, 17, from Greenville, Ohio, who is the son of a black Baptist from Georgia and a white Jewish mother from Iowa. But his fame is international, after winning the all-Ireland dancing championship in Dublin for a third straight year.

Former pro-Soviet Jewry activist and local Upper West Side all around tzadik Glenn Richter has been collecting food from the Ohav Zedek synagogue and similar institutions and bringing it to homeless shelters for more than 20 years, but recently, when he attempted to bring a traditional Shabbat cholent leftovers from a shul kiddush, he was refused on account of the Bloomberg administration's decree against giving too much salt, fat and fiber to the homeless.