Ties strained over issues including purchase of Russian air defense system
Updated 32 min 54 sec ago
Arab News
April 25, 2021 23:13
ANKARA: Turkey has shown unexpected restraint after US President Joe Biden formally recognized the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide by so far avoiding the deployment of rebellious or bellicose rhetoric against its NATO ally.
Turkey maintains that the killing of Armenians was not systematically orchestrated and that they died in wartime conditions, leaving the government with two options after Biden’s Saturday statement.
Either it can continue to be cautious and dodge a diplomatic crisis with the US at a time when the Turkish lira is depreciating against the dollar, or it can move further into Russia’s orbit and risk seriously damaging relations.
Meet the Holocaust Survivor Who Wants to Create a New Jewish Holiday
Commentary
She sits as erect as an English school head mistress. She can be just as articulate, as English is her third language and she’s conscious and careful of every word and sentence that she utters.
Yet when she speaks, she sounds like that glamorous celebrity of years past, the Hungarian Jewish actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, who came to America and conquered Hollywood. But what makes Goldi Steiner, Hungarian immigrant, and long-term Canadian citizen, different from Gabor is her mission.
“I want to create a new Jewish holiday,” she says as she makes me a cup of coffee and plies me with the kind of pastries that one would expect at a Viennese patisserie in Budapest. “What?” I ask her in total surprise, “Are there not enough Jewish holidays? Why do we need a new one?”
Palestinians in Jerusalem are reeling from a night of racist, anti-Arab violence that left over a hundred Palestinians wounded and dozens detained, following an ultra-right wing Israeli demonstration in the city.
On Thursday evening hundreds of Israelis marched from the Zion Gate outside the Old City to the Damascus Gate area the entrance to the Muslim Quarter of the Old City as part of demonstration organized by the far-right, anti-Palestinian group Lehava.
During the march, which was advertised as a demonstration to “restore Jewish dignity” to the city, crowds of Israelis chanted various anti-Palestinian slogans, including “Death to Arabs” and “may your village burn.”
Well, here’s my take on this. I’d also like your views and opinions.
Before I begin I’d like to day something important. There is a new law the so-called “Hate Speech” law, that just passed the House and is expected to pass the Senate and become law very soon. It was originally designed to guard against discrimination of oppressed minorities but was soon recognized as a way for Israel to forever end any criticism of the state of Israel and Zionism. When it is law, this page, and many like it will be deleted from the internet as yet another mile marker of the infringement of truth and free speech by certain dual-nationals at the expense of true and patriotic Americans. Enough said.
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Last week, in honor of Israel’s 73
rd birthday, my colleagues asked each other where they would go first when they next visit Israel. As a longtime religion reporter who has never been to the Jewish state, the first image that came to mind was the iconic and sacred Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites.