Blog

My running commentary on events: local, national, and international. Areas of special interest include Israel, Iraq, and dissidents in the Muslim world.

Write On For Israel program prepares teens to stand up for Israel on campus: Local student recognized for pro-Israel advocacy

June 27, 2011

From The Jewish Standard

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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Over the past year, as anti-Israel events on campus surged in what one professor characterized as an anti-Israel “drumbeat,” pro-Israel students at Rutgers University refused to sit quietly and be drowned out.

Among those...

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Herman Cain Provides Teachable Moment

June 27, 2011

From The Huffington Post

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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A couple thoughts on last week’s controversy in which Jon Stewart mocked Herman Cain, a black conservative candidate for the GOP nomination. The Los Angeles Times incorrectly claims in this blog post that Cain, in reaction...

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Flag Day honors what is basic and beautiful

June 27, 2011

From The Jewish Standard

by HEATHER ROBINSON

Tuesday was Flag Day. Is it our imagination, or does it seem as if fewer American flags were flying?

With controversy raging in recent decades over whether burning the flag should be legal and whether it is patriotic to wear a flag pin,...

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Herman Cain, Jon Stewart controversy revisited

June 25, 2011

A couple thoughts on last week’s controversy in which Jon Stewart mocked Herman Cain, a black conservative candidate for the GOP nomination. The Los Angeles Times incorrectly claims in this blog post that Cain, in reaction to...

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Liberal hypocrisy

June 23, 2011

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Presidential candidate Herman Cain this week responded to Jon Stewart’s allegedly racially-tinged mockery of him by noting, “I’ve been called every name in the book because I’m a conservative and because I’m...

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Ramapo College to offer new minor in human rights and genocide studies: Program to promote student internships with New York City-based organizations

June 11, 2011

From The Jewish Standard

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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Starting this fall, Ramapo College of New Jersey will offer its students a minor in human rights and genocide studies. It will be the first program of its kind in New Jersey’s state college system, according to Michael A. Riff, director of the...

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N.J. lawmakers laud decision to boycott ‘Durban III’

June 11, 2011

From The Jewish Standard

by HEATHER ROBINSON

The Obama administration announced last week that the United States would not participate in the Durban III World Conference Against Racism, scheduled to take place in New York City in September, during the U.N. General Assembly...

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Great point, David Brooks

June 5, 2011

This terrific editorial, which ran last week in The New York Times, should be required reading for anyone who thinks he or she can make peace in the mideast by putting the squeeze on Israel and/or employing high-level diplomacy. I would...

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Ari Fleischer comes to New Jersey: Former White House press secretary dishes on Bush, Obama, Israel

June 3, 2011

From The Jewish Standard

by HEATHER ROBINSON

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Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, is coming to speak June 12 as part of an effort by the Republican Jewish Coalition to ramp up its outreach in New Jersey in advance of the 2012 election (see sidebar). The event, “A...

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Do not give up on commitment to human rights and press freedom

June 3, 2011

From The Jewish Standard

by HEATHER ROBONSON

Last winter Elaph.com, the Arab world’s most popular online newspaper, argued that upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia demonstrated the people’s ability to break “the fear barrier,” and observers across the world held their breaths...

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