European leaders are considering a proposal to introduce a common EU-wide Coronavirus vaccination passport. The so-called Covid passports would permit those who have been vaccinated to travel freely within the European Union without the need for quarantining and testing.

The leaders of several European countries heavily dependent on tourism are pushing for Covid passports to be implemented with immediate effect. Others say that it is far too early to consider such a move, especially because the EU's Coronavirus vaccine rollout has been dogged by delays and questions about the efficacy of certain vaccines, particularly in light of the virus's new mutant strains.

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What holds a nation together? In some cases, it's blood, soil, and language (think Japan). In some cases, it a police state (think Iran). But countries that are democratic and diverse, what we might call e pluribus unum countries, are apt to balkanize if their citizens don't share values and interests. French President Emmanuel Macron has grasped that and, for the past few months, he's been taking steps intended to reinforce a common identity, to unite the French nation.

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Just weeks into its tenure, the Biden administration is already executing a profound pivot in the Middle East. Its new approach—diplomatic overtures toward Iran, a harsher line toward the Gulf Arab monarchies and a more distant relationship with Israel—represents a marked shift away from the priorities of the Trump era, which emphasized cooperation with Jerusalem and Riyadh, and the containment of Tehran. As policy scholar Michael Doran has noted, this is deeply abnormal. For one thing, it elevates the region's Shi'a minority over its Sunni majority—precisely the same dynamic that contributed to a sidelining of the U.S. in regional affairs during the Obama years. But it is worrisome for another reason as well: it unwittingly confers a major strategic advantage to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

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Countless news outlets have portrayed the nascent Biden administration's foreign policy as rapidly pivoting away from President Donald Trump's much-maligned "America First" approach toward "Americans together" or "America is back," to name just a few. The implication is that the United States will no longer prioritize its narrowly defined self-interest or pursue merely transactional deals at the expense of the greater good.

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It's a new day in the Middle East and in Washington. While the contours of President Joe Biden's Mideast policies are still being formulated, his administration took two important actions in as many days that highlight not only his goals for the region but also his red lines.

On Friday, the administration implemented a law passed by Congress which former President Trump had ignored requiring the declassification of an intelligence report on the brutal killing and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

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As Israel takes its first tentative steps back toward normalcy in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, this weekend's festival of Purim could not be more fortuitous.

After the death and despair, the lows and the lockdowns of the past year, when our lives were upended in ways we could not previously have imagined, this holiday of redemption resonates with an added sense of meaning. Indeed, maybe, just maybe, it will prove to be a turning point, as Purim so often does, signaling a turnabout in our own personal and collective fortunes.

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Rush Limbaugh's conservative radio talk show debuted on August 1, 1988, at the tail end of Ronald Reagan's years in the White House. Limbaugh was little noticed initially and arrived too late to have much impact on the Reagan presidency. Still, the broadcaster and the president did have a post-presidential mutual admiration society. Limbaugh called Reagan on air "Ronaldus Magnus": Ronald the Great. And by 1992, Reagan had already dubbed Limbaugh "the voice of conservatism." Limbaugh would have a more tangible and direct impact on every subsequent presidency of his life, which ended yesterday at 70.

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Even as the amazingly fast development of new high-tech COVID-19 vaccines enthralls the world, a simple piece of fabric has become the surprise emblem of the fight against one of the worst health crises in the nation's history. The ordinary facemask has brought home a basic truth about public and personal health: simple and smart works.

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The deadly Wuhan Coronavirus, dubbed "2019-nCoV" by the World Health Organization (WHO), is spreading farther and faster than the SARS virus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) did at a similar point in its outbreak, although this corona virus' lethality rate is still lower than for SARS at around 4% so far. The pathogens are the same — both are corona viruses — but something has changed with the Wuhan variant that has allowed the rate of transmission to increase significantly over SARS.

Despite the rapid spread of cases both within China and globally over the last weeks, however, the WHO so far has not declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: As we observed during the US presidential election of 2020, the presumption that tolerance and pluralism connote openness and acceptance is false. American Jews in particular have once again been forced to choose between their "pluralistic" tolerance and their Jewish identity.

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Matthew RJ Brodsky joins Executive Director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Halie Soifer on i24News special coverage of Joe Biden's inauguration.

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