07 Aug
Arts & Culture, Latest

This Week's Links

By Michelle Albert A new children's book tells the story of how Max Yasgur, a Jewish dairy farmer in Bethel, NY, allowed half a million people to camp out in his backyard for Woodstock, which would become a defining moment in rock and roll history. Jewish summer camps upload thousands of pictures to their websites each day for anxious parents to appreciate. Is this digital link smothering the camp experience? Comedian Richard Herring defends his show "Hitler Mustache" in the Guardian. Tablet takes an in-depth look at the lives of Israel's mafia. Though Iran has been working on creating enriched uranium since 2007, the US State Department registered their doubt that scientists in Tehran could create "weapon-grade material" before 2013. Kristen Davis, of "Sex and the City" fame, was dropped from her position as spokesperson for...

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28 Jul
Latest

Washington Post Reports On Arab States' Unfulfilled Aid

Despite the controversial prisoner swap two weeks ago and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's ongoing trial, this has been a relatively quiet summer of Israeli news coverage in American papers. Surely this is because of the ongoing, if shaky, cease-fire. Although we all have our own opinions of Israeli politics (and it isn't for us at Moment to editorialize), certainly we can all agree that it is nice to see articles about anything other than acts of violence. Without having to run around the scenes of bombings or shootouts, reporters have time to write more in-depth, wide-lensed stories. For example, the Post ran diplomatic correspondent Glenn Kessler's article about Arab states' unfulfilled aid to Palestinians. (Also see the graphic that ran alongside.) Says Kessler: Out of 22 Arab nations that made pledges, only three—Algeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab...

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President Obama
15 Jul
Latest

President Obama and His Inner Circle

Yesterday's Washington Post featured a front-page article on President Obama and his inner circle of advisors and friends. Although the article focused on the Chicago-based commonality in Obama's circles, we couldn't help but notice another fascinating attribute they all had in common: The innermost circle that the Post assembled (which can easily be viewed in the accompanying graphic) is comprised of seven people, all of whom are minorities. Four of the seven—John W. Rogers Jr., Valerie B. Jarrett, Eric Whitaker and Martin Nesbitt—are African American. The other three—David Axelrod, James Crown and Penny S. Pritzker—are Jewish. Axelrod, Obama's senior political strategist, is a former writer for the Chicago Tribune and political consultant. He is in large part responsible for the hope rhetoric and focus on an outsider image that has driven Obama's success thus far. Crown and national...

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