February 2022
Federation Star
7
Award-winning journalist to address Greater Naples community By Jeff Margolis, IAC Committee Member
T
he Israel Advocacy Committee of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples is pleased to present Khaled Abu Toameh on Wednesday, Feb. 9 at 12 noon (ET). He will be speaking live from Israel via Zoom. Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist and TV producer and is currently the Palestinian and Arab Affairs Correspondent for The Jerusalem Post. He also writes for the Gatestone Institute think tank in New York. Abu Toameh previously served as a senior producer for NBC in the Middle East. His articles have been published in newspapers around the world. He will discuss the Israeli-Arab conflict, with a focus on relations between Palestinians and Jews and the future of the peace process. What’s happening with the Palestinian Authority and Hamas? What are the major obstacles to peace? Will the Palestinians join the Abraham Accords? He will
also discuss relations between Jews and Arabs inside Israel, the problems and challenges facing the Arab minority in Israel and the role of the international media toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of Abu Toameh’s recent articles for the Gatestone Institute focused on the topic of “The Palestinian Authority Campaign Against Palestinian NGOs.” The IAC is quite fortunate to be able to have him as its February speaker. Registration for this free special event is required. To register, go to www.jewish naples.org.
Coming in March On Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m., Avi Malamed makes a return visit to Naples with a program at Beth Tikvah synagogue (also available via Zoom). An expert on current affairs in the Arab and Muslim world, Malamed is a former senior official on Arab affairs and an Israeli intelligence official. He
expectations and planning...continued from previous page Near the end of the book, Jay writes, acts are now searchable in seconds on You“We live in the age of answers. I grew Tube. But magic is one of the few things up in a time when too many conversathat invokes a question, not an answer…. tions ended with unanswered questions. We hit the button on the microwave and (‘How old is the current president?’ 30 seconds later, abracadabra, our food is ‘What’s the capital of Paraguay?’) Nobody hot. But most of us never pause to consider knew, and the nearest encyclopedia the microwave.” was in the basement. But, thanks to our As I write this, the expectation is that phones, answers to questions like these are each book event has gone well, that technolat our fingertips, and videos of unknowable ogy has been kind and that you have been
is also an expert on current East” and “Separate and affairs in the Muslim and Arab Unequal: The Inside society and their effect on the Story of Israel Rule in Middle East and Israel, and he East Jerusalem.” His serves as founder and the Fellatest book, “Inside the low of Intelligence and Middle Middle East Entering East Affairs for the Eisenhower a New Era,” was pubInstitute. lished in January 2022. Malamed has been His program will focus involved in several intelligence on this latest book. field positions on behalf of Seating is limited Khaled Abu Toameh Israeli government agencies for his event and reserand the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). He vations are required. The cost to attend is also known as the founder of Feenjan – is $18. Please register at www.jewish Israel Speaks Arabic, an online medium for naples.org. Arabs and Israelis to engage in various issues Please note: Due to changing advisories and discussions. He is fluent in Arabic, from the CDC and Jewish Federation English and Hebrew. of Greater Naples, this program may be The topics and discussions are cenpresented on Zoom only. Please check with tered on the latest trends of the Israeli the Federation website and weekly emails culture and the Arab world in the Arabic for program updates. Contact IAC Chair language. Melamed is the author of sevHarvey Cohen at hwcohen@gmail.com with eral books, including “Inside the Middle any questions.
staying well and attending these events that we have tried so hard to plan and present for your enjoyment and edification. I have tried my best to call upon my alter ego, Gloriana the Great – the Greatest Fortune Teller in all the land, to predict the future and make sure all goes well. I hope you are like me, anxious to hear the next author and learn more. I know G-d has a great sense of humor
and I hope He hasn’t been laughing too much at the Jewish Book Festival!
Postscript As you may have heard, due to the COVID omicron variant, our February events are going virtual. This includes the book festival events on Feb. 2, 10, 16 and 25. Maybe G-d was laughing as I wrote after all!
