Rabbis tell Five Towns to end silence in drug war: P3
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Devarim • Tisha B’Av fast begins motzei Shabbat • July 20, 2018 • 8 Av, 5778 • Torah columns pages 18 –19 • Luach page 18 • Vol 17, No 28
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President Donald Trump suggested after his summit on Monday with Vladimir Putin that he envisions a U.S.-Russian-Israel troika in support of the Jewish state’s interests in Syria. Trump praised the Russian Federation strongman for his approach toward Israel. “I think that working with Israel is a great thing,” Trump said during a press conference with Putin that followed their private meeting in Helsinki, Finland. “And creating safety for Israel is something that both President Putin and I would like to see very much.” While most reaction to Trump’s performance on Monday — especially his siding with Putin against American intelligence officials — was negative, the notion of a mutuality of interests involving war-ravaged Syria offered some positive spin. “The south of Syria should be brought to the full compliance with the treaty of 1974 about the separation of forces — about separation of forces of Israel and Syria,” Putin said through a translator, speaking with some detail on the subject. “This will bring peace to Golan Heights, and bring a more peaceful relation-
ship between Syria and Israel, and also to provide security of the State of Israel.” The disengagement Putin referred to allowed Israel and Syria to coexist more or less without incident from 1974 until the 2011 civil war that wracked the country and brought in U.S. and Russian involvement. Trump in his remarks said Israel’s security was preeminent both in American and Russian considerations of Syria. “We’ve worked with Israel long and hard for many years, many decades. I think we’ve never — never has anyone, any country been closer than we are,” Trump said. “President Putin also is helping Israel. And we both spoke with Bibi Netanyahu, and they would like to do certain things with respect to Syria, having to do with the safety of Israel. So in that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help Israel. And Israel would be working with us. So both countries would work jointly.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in turn, welcomed the attention. In a statement, he commended “the abiding commitment of the U.S. and President Donald Trump to the security of Israel.” Netanyahu also “very much” appreciated “the clear position expressed by President Putin regarding the need to uphold the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria.” Implicit in Putin’s emphasis on ensuring Israel’s security in the “south” is that Iran, Russia’s de facto ally in assisting the Assad regime’s bid for survival, will be absent from that region, as will its proxy, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. But Netanyahu wants Iran out of Syria, period. Prior to meeting with Putin last week in See Protect on page 16
Trump trusts Putin to protect Israel
President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation on Monday.
White House
Know-nothing Ocasio-Cortez rips ‘occupation’ Left-wing Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upped her anti-Israel rhetoric last week, decrying “the occupation of Palestine” by Israel. After inserting this reference into an interview on the PBS program “Firing Line,” she
sought to backtrack, claiming ignorance. “I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue,” she said. “I just look at things through a human rights lens and I may not use the right words.” “Middle Eastern politics is not exactly at my kitchen table every night,” she said.
Although foreign affairs was not a significant issue in her upset of veteran Rep. Joe Crowley in a June Democratic primary in the Queens-Bronx district, in May she had referred to the killing in May of Gazan protesters by IsSee Ocasio-Cortez on page 7
Tehilla, back home, sends ‘View from Jerusalem’ Tehilla r. goldberg
J
ERUSALEM — Hello from Jerusalem! I am thrilled to take up the original dateline of my column, a continuation of my father’s View From Jerusalem from the 1970s and 1980s. The last time I was in Israel was during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. I came to visit wounded IDF
soldiers and show solidarity with residents of the South. There were no beach days, Jerusalem meanderings, café tastings, book hunts or side trips. It’s been a while since I spent time with Israel, the country and particularly Jerusalem, the sacred city. Just pulling out of the airport and onto the new highways was amazing. Getting money from the ATM yielded bills bearing new faces — the purple 50-shekel bill with the face and words of Shai Agnon was gone, but the new batch of banknotes continued to highlight literary personalities. And now women have been added.
The 20-shekel bill features “Rachel The Poetess,” as she is known in Israel, with a brief quote from one of her famous poems, Kinneret. Leah Goldberg, an acclaimed poet, writer and children’s book author, graces the
new 100 shekel bill. Dira Lehaskir, “An Apartment For Rent,” is a famous children’s book. Not only is her sophisticated poetry known and studied in university, but every child knows her work. The bill highlights her poem
“White Days,” replete with an image of two graceful Judean Desert deer. Shaul Tchernichovsky has replaced Agnon on the 50-shekel bill. And Natan Alterman is the face of the new See Returning on page 21
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View from Central Park