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Arts

Mustang: A Turkish Delight

A remote village, near Turkey’s Black Sea coast, is the venue of a Turkish coming-of-age movie about adolescence, sexuality, tradition, repression and the longing for freedom. These interlocking themes are woven into the fabric of Deniz Gamze Erguven’s skillfully crafted debut feature film, Mustang, which opens in Toronto on January 15. Five playful, close-knit sisters, ranging in […]

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Arts

Pastrami On Rye

The American Jewish-style delicatessen is struggling for survival. In his elegiac book, Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli (New York University Press), Ted Merwin delves into its rise and falling importance and does so with commendable ease and thoroughness. As a seasoned aficionado of Jewish culinary traditions, Merwin — a professor […]

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Middle East

Israel and Turkey Move Toward Normalization

Israel and Turkey, two of the most important powers in the Middle East, appear to be moving closer to a rapprochement that could end five years of mutual recrimination, bitterness and estrangement. But is it another false start? Nearly two years ago, after Israeli negotiator David Meidan appeared to have reached a breakthough reconciliation agreement […]

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Middle East

Advancing Jewish-Arab Equality In Israel

During the waning hours of 2015, the Israeli government made one of its most important decisions of the year, belatedly approving an ambitious development plan to close the lamentable and inexcusable economic gap between Jews and Arabs in Israel. It was long overdue, to say the least. If fully implemented, the five-year plan will upgrade the […]

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Guest Voices

Increasingly Chilly Climate For Jewish Students

  As pro-Palestinian groups proliferate at American colleges, student protesters have taken to shouting down invited Israeli guest lecturers at various campuses and disrupting other events organized by Jewish students. Late last year, Assi Azar, an Israeli television personality and LGBT rights advocate, was interrupted during a discussion of his film, Mom, Dad, I have […]

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Arts

The Crime And The Silence

I did not learn about the July 10, 1941 pogrom in the small town of Jedwabne, in northeast Poland, until I read Jan Tomasz Gross’ explosive and path-breaking book, Neighbors, which was published in the spring of 2000. The Polish American historian’s work, based on a variety of sources, caused an uproar because it went against […]

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Arts

The Transformation Of The Sinai Peninsula

On my last visit to Egypt, in 1999, I spent several days in one of my favorite places, the Sinai Peninsula, a 61,000 square kilometer desert of spectacular Red Sea coast lines, undulating sand dunes, shady oases and craggy mountains. I was truly in my element as I explored this pristine region, which on a […]

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Arts

Netanyahu At War

Michael Kirk’s Frontline documentary on the dysfunctional relationship between U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu at War, will be aired by the PBS network on January 5 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). It’s a timely, hard-hitting and important film about two leaders whose personal philosophies and world views diverge […]

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Guest Voices

Malaysia Unfriendly To Israel and Jews

  On Dec. 25, the Malaysian government announced it had accepted the withdrawal of two Israeli windsurfers from the International Sailing Federation world youth sailing championships, which was due to begin on Dec. 27. Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the Malay Mail Online website that Malaysia, which does not have diplomatic relations […]

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Middle East

Treat Jewish Terrorists Like Terrorists

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon has disclosed that Israel’s security services have adopted stringent measures to ensure that a despicable incident like last summer’s firebombing of a Palestinian family’s home in the West Bank village of Duma will never happen again. “We have taken draconian steps to prevent another terror attack,” he said on December 26 […]