In one of the most surprising sections of their new book, “Lincoln and the Jews,” historians Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell discuss the possibility that the president’s assassin belonged to a family of Spanish Jewish ancestry. Asia Booth Clarke, the sister of acclaimed actor John Wilkes Booth who shot Lincoln, stated in her 1882…
● Lincoln and the Jews: A History By Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell Thomas Dunne Books, 288 pages, $40 As far as we know, Abraham Lincoln never said, “Some of my best friends are Jewish.” But he certainly could have. Lincoln did chide his anti-Semitic Civil War generals and others who expressed the prejudices…
A rocket fired in Syria as part of its civil war struck Israel near the Quneitra crossing in the Golan Heights. No injuries or damage were reported from the rocket, which stuck Israel on Monday morning. On Friday night a mortar shell struck Israel on the Golan, where a number of rockets and mortar shells…
A Jew arrives at Israel’s Haifa port, trying to smuggle two bags of coffee. “What do you have in the bag?” the customs officers ask him. “Bird feed,” he replies. “Since when do birds eat coffee?” “They’ll eat it if they want; if they don’t, they won’t.” Jewish bootlegging has not only provided material for…
UNITED NATIONS- Syria became a full member of the global anti-chemical weapons treaty on Thursday, the country’s U.N. envoy said, a move that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had promised as part of a Russian plan to avoid U.S. air strikes. The United States reacted cautiously. Several U.N. diplomats and a U.N. official…
LONDON – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could avoid a U.S. military strike by surrendering all his chemical weapons within a week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday, but immediately made clear he was not making a serious offer. President Barack Obama is seeking support from Congress for punitive military action against Syria…
In an attempt to show that dictators too, can bask in the glow of the Earlybird filter, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has joined Instagram. The account, which goes under the name “syrianpresidency” shows Assad’s softer, friendlier side — smiling, waving and shaking hands with laughing children. Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad, who grew up in…
On his second to last day as executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, Jonathan Karp is patrolling the galleries of the Center for Jewish History. “Passages through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War” is on exhibit here until August 11, at which point the majority of it will move to the Jewish…
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