March 12th, 2010 by Shana Goldberg
Add a comment The Holocaust. Economic growth. Hezbollah. Iran. Sanctions. UN. Settlement freeze. These were some of the topics discussed a roundtable event here in Zurich as part of a Keren Hayessod 90th anniversary celebration. The participants included former US ambassador Stuart Eizenstat and Ronen Bergmann, a Cambridge-educated Israeli journalist.
Now Eizenstat is sort of infamous in Switzerland. He’s the guy that in the 1990s took on the case of Holocaust era Jewish-owned Swiss bank accounts and was pivotal in making restitution a reality. He’s also served as domestic policy adviser to Carter, secretary of treasury and under secretary of commerce under Clinton and US ambassador to the EU.
A couple of points stood out from a discussion that included US policy on Iran, the possibility of sanctions, the difficulty of getting China and Russian on board with said sanctions (subsequently proved to be accurate), the settlement freeze
“Never Again”
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March 9th, 2010 by Rocky Mountain Jew
Add a comment Despite three Jewish-themed films being nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, we went home empty-handed.
Oh, but you know who did win? “The Jew Hunter,” or Christopher Waltz for his turn as Nazi officer Hans Landa in Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.
The Israeli contingent was also dissed. Over the years our Israeli brethren have had 9 films nominated. How many took home the Oscar? None.
Should we take it personally?
The answer depends on whether the particular films were worthy of claiming the trophy in their respective categories. While we enjoyed the mix of comedy and sobriety of A Serious Man, was it the year’s Best Picture? Underdeveloped concepts, such as the dybbuk theme, left us wanting more from this Coen Brothers’ movie. An Education, which explores anti-Semitism in 1960s Britain, is well crafted, but probably too small of a picture to catch such a big fish of an award.
Since gratuitous, violence doesn’t turn us on, we stayed away from Inglorious Basterds - despite it being a Jewish wet dream. Readers will have to fill us in on the Oscar-worthiness of Tarantino’s latest efforts.
March 5th, 2010 by Shana Goldberg
1 Comment What’s the biggest difference between a Swiss and American benefit dinner?
Recently I saw an ad for an event honoring the 90th anniversary of Keren Hayesod/United Jewish Appeal. The event boasted a keynote address from Natan Sharansky and a roundtable discussion with participants such as Stuart Eizenstat. Of course I planned to attend, thinking this was a special, education-oriented event.
Question is, why did I not realize this was an annual benefit? The location should have clued me in: the Dolder Grand Hotel. Zurich’s most luxurious (read: expensive) hotel. Oh, and the ad did mention something about food being served.
So here’s the surprising thing about annual dinners in Zurich, and the answer to the question posed above: There is no plate charge. The event was completely donation-based, and there wasn’t even a suggested donation amount at that. Get this, there weren’t even donation forms on the table! These were only handed out later (although that may have been a mistake in organizational planning). [More...]
