Israeli Elections Come and Go, But Israel Remains an Outlaw State
A Palestinian family reacts after Israeli bulldozers demolished their home in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Feb. 5, 2013. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Two Views: Israel’s Parliamentary Elections
Newly elected Israeli Knesset member Yair Lapid (l), leader of the Yesh Atid party, speaks to Naftali Bennett, head of the hard-line national religious party the Jewish Home, during a Feb. 5 reception in Jerusalem marking the opening of the 19th Knesset. (URIEL SINAI/GETTY IMAGES)
Richard H. Curtiss (1927-2013) Devoted His Life to Telling People Stories
Richard Curtiss at work in his Washington Report office. (STAFF PHOTO D. HANLEY)
Israeli License to Cheney-Linked Energy Firm on Golan Heights Raises Eyebrows
Then-Vice President Dick Cheney (l) and Likud chairman Benyamin Netanyahu, out of office at the time and serving as the official Israeli opposition leader, at a March 23, 2008 breakfast meeting at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Peace at Last in the Southern Philippines?
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III (r) shares candies with Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chief Murad Ebrahim during a Feb. 11 visit to the rebels’ stronghold in Sultan Kudarat on the island of Mindanao. (KARLOS MANLUPIG/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Two Palestinian, Israeli Documentaries Depict Evils of Military Occupation
Emad Burnat views his five broken cameras in his documentary of the same name. (PHOTO COURTESY KINO LORBER)
Zakat Feeds Striking Teamsters
Zakat Foundation provided food on Aug. 26 for Teamsters on strike against unjust denial of healthcare coverage. Photo Courtesy Syazwan Yusoff
Zakat Foundation, a Muslim-run relief and development charitable organization based in Bridgeview, IL, decided to provide daily lunches to Teamsters Local 743 at SK Hand Tools in Chicago and McCook while they are on strike against the company’s decision to unilaterally and without warning withdraw employee health coverage.
“President Obama is leading a national debate about how to protect hard-working Americans from callous employers like SK Hand Tools,” said Teamsters Local 743 president Richard Berg. “This French-owned company has left us no choice but to strike for our basic needs, including health care,” he continued. The National Labor Relations Board filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the company prior to the strike, alleging illegal bargaining over management’s stoppage of health care coverage with no advance notice.
David Biedrzycki, a union steward at the plant who has worked as a welder/grinder/polisher for 25 years, earned only $8,000 this past year. He has not worked in six months and noted the irony that Claude Fuger, the company’s wealthy French owner, recently returned to France—which has national health care—for treatment when he became ill. Claude makes $280,000 a year, Biedrzycki said, “and he wants us to pay for our own health insurance because the company can’t afford it!”
“In this economic crisis, many hard-working American men and women deserve our sympathy and respect,” said Zakat Foundation executive director Khalil Demir. “While they strike against this unjust decision, it is our duty as a humanitarian organization to provide them with food.”
During the holy month of Ramadan, Zakat Foundation provides food for poor and needy communities in the Chicago area and abroad. Since 2001, it has fostered charitable giving to those in need through immediate relief and long-term development projects in over 30 countries. For more information, please visit <www.zakat.org>.
—Carolina Pfister
