Had my only contact with Palestine Awareness Week been the formulaic reactions offered by Tammy Rubin and USAC President Emily Resnick, I would have tread carefully across Bruinwalk the following Monday, wary of falling into the gaping wounds in our…
J Street Director Comes to UCLA
On Monday, J Street U at UCLA kicked off the quarter with a discussion with Jeremy Ben-Ami — former presidential adviser and president of J Street. The presentation consisted of a summary of J Street’s policies and a Q&A session with students,…
RCA repudiates position on reparative therapy for queer Jews
Rabbinical Council of America president Rabbi Schmuel Goldin issued a statement on Monday dispelling allegations that the RCA has taken a stand on reparative therapy for Jews with unwanted same-sex attraction. The RCA website has previously listed an organization called…
Environmental Christmas Tree Lights and Unites in Haifa
Haifa Last year, on the same day the forest fires began ravaging the Carmel region of northern Israel, the Haifa municipality erected a Christmas tree sculpture comprised of over 5,000 recycled water bottles in honor of the Christian holiday. The tree, designed…
Looking for Christmas in the Holy Land
Gaza Last week, The Guardian told the story of the Qubrsi brothers — two of approximately 1,400 Christians residing in Gaza today. Brothers Karam and Peter are currently the only members of their family still in Gaza. Their sisters Rani…
Rabbinic Authorities Flex Muscles in Response to “Gay Orthodox Wedding”
Last week, over 100 Orthodox rabbis around the world added their signatures to a declaration condemning a recent event that the media identified as an “same-sex Orthodox wedding.” On November 6, Yeshiva University-ordained Rabbi Steven Greenberg, known to many as the…
Bil’in Celebrates “Friday of Loyalty to the Martyrs”
For the past six years, villagers and international activists have convened in the village of Bil’in to protest the presence of Israel’s security barrier. The inhabitants of Bil’in, which lies just west of Ramallah and about ofur kilometers east of…
Walkout at Wayne State: Any Better Than the Irvine 11?
Watch the video. Listen to the audio. The clip displays a civil protest and walkout organized by students at Wayne State University in Detroit during a lecture delivered by Jerusalem Post writer and IDF spokesman Gil Hoffman. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-QqnRj8Ax4] These students…
Tenure Shields Professor From the Consequences of Hate Speech
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY — On Monday evening, KSU students were treated to a presentation by Ishmael Khaldi, a rising star in the Israeli diplomatic corps. Khaldi has served as Israel’s deputy consul general to the Pacific Northwest, and he currently serves…
Re: Speakers, Speeches Deserve Respect
After reading Rohan Viswanathan’s Opinion piece in the Daily Bruin on September 26, I was taken aback by his departure from the sentiments that I thought, based on claims of Islamophobia lobbed by Al-Jazeera and other publications I had been…