March 28, 2010

Broadcast Date: 
Mar 28 2010

The Simon Wiesenthal Center rejects demands by human rights groups to abandon plans to build a museum on the site of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem; how health care reform may impact women; plus, at home with cookbook author Joan Nathan as she plans for her Passover seder.

Episode segments
  • Opponents of Wiesenthal Musuem of Tolerance Appeal to the United Nations
    Israeli Politics, Israel/Palestine, Palestinian Politics, Arts & Culture
    Hanna Siniora is the Co-Chief Executive of IPCRI (Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark and Alisa Solomon

    The Simon Wiesenthal Center's plans to construct a Center for Human Dignity-Museum of Tolerance on top of a Muslim Cemetery in Jerusalem recently received a go-ahead from Israel's Supreme Court.   In response, opponents of the project have filed an appeal to the United Nations on behalf of the Palestinian descendants of those buried in the ancient cemetery. 

    We talk with Hanna Siniora of IPCRI (the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information) a long-time opponent of the Wiesenthal Center's plans, about why so many Jews, Palestinians, and Christians, both within and outside Israel, oppose building the Museum on the site of the Mamilla cemetery.

    Additional Resources:

    1) Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean and Founder of the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, justifies the Center's plans in this op-ed in the Los Angeles Times.

    2) Opposing views published in the Los Angeles Times from Saree Makdisi and Hussam Ayloush.

    3) New York Times, February 10, 2010 "Museum Creates New Jerusalem Divide."

    4) To contact the Simon Wiesenthal Center by email, click here.

  • Health Care Reform: It's Passed, Now What?
    National Politics, Domestic Policy
    Lois Uttley is co-founder of Raising Women's Voices and the creator of the MergerWatch Project.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark and Alisa Solomon

    Now that the full health care reform bill has been passed and is ready for President Obama's signature, it's time for progressive health care advocates to take stock of where we are, what's good and what remains to be fixed.  We talk with women's health care advocate Lois Uttely about what the legislation will mean for women and what remains to be done.

  • What Does Joan Nathan Cook for Passover?
    Holidays, Arts & Culture, Food

    Joan Nathan is the author of ten cookbooks and a regular contributor to The New York Times. Click here for a selection of recipes and an opportunity to "test drive" some recipes from her forthcoming book on the foods of the Jews of France.

    Her most recent book,The New American Cooking, won the James Beard and IACP Awards as best American cookbook published in 2005. She earlier won both awards for her much-acclaimed Jewish Cooking in America.   

    Joan hosted the PBS television series, Jewish Cooking in America with Joan Nathan and also produced the award-winning documentary, Passover: Traditions of Freedom.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark and Alisa Solomon

    Beyond the Pale's Alisa Solomon talks with Joan Nathan about what makes some foods (such as quinoa) okay to eat during Passover and others, not; and about what the famed cookbook author is preparing for her own Passover table.