Frontlines

The targeted assassination of Major General Qassim Soleimani was one of President Trump’s boldest and bravest moves to date. It outdoes his elimination of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (See my article “Trump’s Middle East Shakeup Led to Killing of Al-Baghdadi,” 11/4/19). 

It is not mere coincidence that as President Trump’s impeachment inquiry was raging in the Intelligence Congressional Committee, across the ocean, in Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu was indicted on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. Mr. Mandelblit happened to be an old friend and appointee of Prime Minister Netanyahu. The latter fact made the story even harder to swallow. Unfortunately, this is the state of politics in 2019.

I had the honor and privilege of speaking to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this past week. I thanked him for all of his accomplishments, and especially for advancing the Jewish People and the State of Israel beyond belief. As the longest acting prime minister in Israel’s history, he has reached a pinnacle very few - if any - will ever achieve. He has done it with brilliance and flair. He has a lot more to accomplish and he is the right prime minister to pull it off. In medicine and in other fields as well, we live by the principle that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

In the Democratic Primary for Queens District Attorney, I helped Melinda Katz win by 20 votes over her Socialist opponent Tiffany Cabán.

The impeachment inquiry has inadvertently identified one of the main problems facing America today. It is our educational system. The enterprise has been broken for many years, but the testimony of three out of four professors at the House Judicial Committee meeting this past week highlighted just how bad the situation has become.

There were 16,112,566 members of the United States Armed Forces during World War II. It is estimated that 389,292 American veterans from the war were still alive in 2019. On November 8, my beloved father-in-law, Louis Goldstein, passed away, making only 389,291 vets still alive. He was buried with full US Navy honors at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens.