Briefs

ISRAEL IGNORED US WARNINGS THAT ATTACKS ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR PROGRAM WERE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

American officials have warned Israeli officials that their country’s repeated attacks on Iran’s nuclear program have been counterproductive, arguing that Iran has continually rebuilt the destroyed facilities to be more effective, according to a report in The New York Times.

Israeli officials have ignored the warnings, according to the report.

The report comes ahead of a planned meeting in Vienna between Iranian officials and the countries still remaining in the 2015 Iran deal to discuss the country’s nuclear program. Despite President Joe Biden’s interest in negotiating a new deal, U.S. leaders will not be part of the meetings as Iranian officials have refused to meet with them since Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to pull out of the agreement.

It also follows a period in which Israel is believed to have been behind a number of attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, as well as the assassination last year of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, one of the country’s top nuclear scientists.

But even with Israel’s frequent attacks on the nuclear program, American officials say Iran has quickly recovered from them, sometimes with new machines that can enrich uranium at a faster pace. (JTA)

IN A BIG YEAR FOR HIS FAMILY, DOUG EMHOFF PICKS PUTTING MEZUZAH ON VP HOUSE AS A TOP MEMORY

When Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, picked a favorite memory from the last year for a reflective Thanksgiving-themed tweet, he didn’t turn to the day in January when his wife was sworn in or mention their first diplomatic trip together.

Instead, he shared pictures from the day his family affixed a mezuzah on the doorframe of the vice president’s mansion.

Mezuzahs are tubes containing the text of the Shema prayer that Jews traditionally attach to their doorposts. Emhoff is the first Jew to reside in the vice president’s house.

One picture shows him in the process of affixing the family’s mezuzah, which is narrow, white and mounted against what appears to be a pink hamsa. Another offers a close-up.

“For us, and for everyone, Thanksgiving is a time for reflection on the past year,” Emhoff wrote. “One of my favorite memories was when our family visited and together we hung a mezuzah on the front door of the Vice President’s Residence.”

That event took place Oct. 7, nine months after Emhoff and Harris moved into the residence and after it had undergone renovations, the Forward reported. Rabbi Peter Berg of The Temple, a Reform synagogue in Atlanta, was present at the event. (Rabbis are not required to put up a mezuzah, which traditionally observant Jews mount inside their homes as well as on the front doors.)

The Temple has made other political appearances this year. Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff borrowed a book of Jewish scripture from the synagogue, where he celebrated his bar mitzvah, for his swearing-in ceremony in January. The Bible had been used by the synagogue’s former rabbi who played an active role in forging relationships between Jews and Blacks in Georgia. (JTA)

AFTER PATRICK LEAHY’S RETIREMENT, DIANNE FEINSTEIN COULD BECOME THE FIRST JEW TO BE 3RD IN LINE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who is the longest-serving member of his party in the U.S. Senate, announced this month that he will not run for reelection next year, setting the stage for Dianne Feinstein of California to be the first woman and first Jew to be the Senate’s president pro tempore, the third in line to the U.S. presidency.

The president pro tempore presides over the Senate when the vice president is absent, and also has the power to name people to administrative positions and commissions. The Senate elects the president pro tempore, which means that the position is always filled by a member of the majority party.

Since the mid-20th century, both parties have named their longest-serving senator to the job. Leahy has served in the chamber since 1975 and Feinstein has since 1992.

There is no guarantee that Feinstein, who was elected to serve until January 2025, will get the job. Republicans hope to regain the evenly divided Senate in next year’s midterm elections. Additionally, Feinstein, who is 88, is believed to be in ill health, and Democrats are not under any obligation to maintain the relatively recent tradition of nominating the longest-serving member of their caucus.

Feinstein stepped down last year from the chairmanship of the powerful Judiciary Committee and did not seek a leadership position on any other committee.

Should Feinstein assume the job, and should Democrats keep the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterms, there would be three California women lined up to succeed President Joe Biden should he leave office before the next election: In order, Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Feinstein. (JTA)

DANNY FENSTER, JEWISH JOURNALIST JAILED IN MYANMAR, IS RELEASED DAYS AFTER BEING HANDED PRISON SENTENCE

Danny Fenster, a Jewish American journalist who had been imprisoned in Myanmar since May and was sentenced to 11 years in prison earlier this month, was released just days later.

Former New Mexico governor and former diplomat Bill Richardson, who was in the country on a humanitarian visit, told reporters that Fenster would travel back to the United States “through Qatar, over the next day and a half,” CNN reported.

Fenster’s brother Bryan celebrated the news in a tweet. “We are overjoyed that Danny has been released and is on his way home—we cannot wait to hold him in our arms,” he wrote.

Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for Myanmar’s military, told CNN that Fenster “has been released and deported. We will release details why he was released later.”

Fenster, who had lived and worked in Myanmar since 2019 as a managing editor at the magazine Frontier Myanmar, had been detained at the airport while trying to leave the country to visit the United States in May. Fenster had been held without bail on various charges by Myanmar’s military, all having to do with his journalism.

Fenster’s imprisonment had become a rallying cry in his hometown of Detroit, where many lawns display “Free Fenster” signs on their front lawns, and his family has organized rallies attended by local Congressman Andy Levin. A recent post in a “Bring Danny Home” Facebook group, which has more than 6,000 members, reads, “We wish more than anything that Danny would be brought home to this community that loves him so.” (JTA)

PROJECTION: NEARLY 1 IN 3 ISRAELI JEWS WILL BE HAREDI ORTHODOX BY 2050

Nearly one third of Israel’s Jewish population will be haredi Orthodox by the year 2050, according to projections by Israel’s National Economic Council.

Israel’s current population of 9.2 million is expected to grow to 16 million by 2050. Of those 16 million, about a quarter are projected by Israel’s National Economic Council to be haredi Orthodox, Haaretz reported.

The new population figures point to a future in which Israel’s Jewish population continues to make up about 80% of its population, but in which that Jewish population skews far more heavily Orthodox than ever before. Currently, Israel’s Orthodox population makes up 12.6% of the population. By 2050, that figure will rise to 24% of the total population, the council claims.

Most of that growth will result from the Orthodox community’s birth rate of 6.7 children per woman, far higher than the rate of 3.01 among the general population. Across all sectors of the population, Israelis ages 19 and younger will make up over a third of the population.

Most of Israel’s Orthodox Jews are expected to remain concentrated in Jerusalem and its surrounding area as well as in the city of Beit Shemesh. But the Orthodox population is also projected to grow in Israel’s south, where a new Orthodox city is being planned, as well as to a smaller degree in the north. (JTA)