Sheldon Kirshner's Latest Posts
A Hollywood Memoir
Robert Riskin and his wife, Fay Wray, were a Hollywood celebrity couple in the 1940s, when the popularity of movies in American culture reached record heights. Riskin was a master screenwriter, cranking out scripts for classic films that helped define the United States to itself and the world: It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes To […]
“Foggy Weather” In Turkey’s Ties With the U.S.
Prior to his meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on November 13, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained that the purpose of his visit was to “start a new era over common security issues” with the United States. “We are in agreement with Trump to solve problems and develop our ties despite the […]
A Fair And Judicious Ruling
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg issued a fair and judicious ruling on November 12, which, predictably enough, was immediately denounced by annexationists in Israel who equate sovereign Israeli territory with Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights. In a decision upholding a 2015 ruling by the European Commission, the court’s […]
Don Cherry’s Divisive Comments
Don Cherry’s abrupt dismissal as host of Coach’s Corner, a popular six-minute segment on Hockey Night in Canada, was drastic but unavoidable. Sportsnet, the cable television channel which broadcasts this Canada-wide program, fired Cherry — the wildly opinionated 85-year-old former hockey player and coach known for his loud clothes and inappropriate comments — on November 11 […]
Israel Bracing For An Attack From Iran
In recent weeks, Israel has issued a slew of warnings concerning the possibility of an attack from Iran, its arch enemy. Iran, which once had diplomatic relations with Israel, turned against the Jewish state in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution. In the past couple of years, Iran’s hostility has spiked under the impact […]
American Neo-Nazi Terror — A Serious Threat
FBI agents recently arrested a neo-Nazi terrorist accused of threatening to blow up Temple Emanuel, a synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States. Richard Holzer, the 27-year-old suspect, is a skinhead and former member of the Ku Klux Klan. In messages posted on Facebook, he likened […]
U.S. Aid To Israel Could Be In Jeopardy
Israel is facing a sobering reality in its bilateral relations with the United States, its most important ally. Several of the candidates running for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination have expressed a willingness to withhold U.S. military aid to Israel should circumstances warrant such a drastic decision. For the past three years, Israel has received $3.8 […]
The Devil Next Door
Nazi war criminals have been brought to justice in a succession of trials since the Holocaust. The trial of John Demjanjuk — a naturalized American citizen of Ukrainian descent accused of being the notorious Ivan the Terrible — still resonates three decades later. An infamously brutal guard who worked at the Treblinka and Sobibor extermination camps […]
Modern Spain And The Sephardim
Spain’s complex, convoluted and tragic relationship with Jews is the theme of Maite Ojeda-Mata’s comprehensive and nuanced work, Modern Spain and the Sephardim, published by Lexington Books. Beginning her inquiry in the 12th century, when Spain launched its campaign of persecution and expulsion against its Jewish citizens, she then focuses on the 19th and 20th […]
An Unsettling Incident In Germany
Germany has taken the high road to democracy since the 12-year Nazi interregnum, yet some Germans have not learned the lessons of the past. Stephan Brandner, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany Party, is one such person, a bigot who rejects tolerance, mutual understanding, pluralism and diversity. Until very recently, this fellow was […]
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