Ethiopian-Israeli wins Miss Israel Contest for First Time

Summary of Article: This week, an Ethiopian-Israeli woman, Yityish Aynaw, won the title of Miss Israel. Aynaw is 21 years old and a former Israeli army officer. It is the first time an Ethiopian has won the contest. Aynaw came to Israel with her family when she was 12. She said it was hard to acclimate to Israel at first, but she picked up Hebrew quickly by total immersion in an Israeli school. A friend entered her into the contest; she had never modeled before. She currently works at a clothing store.

Picture of Yityish being crowned

Discussion Outline:

• Every year in many countries in the world, there is a contest to see who is the most beautiful woman. When did we recently learn about a similar contest? (Answer: story of Purim. Who won the contest? Queen Esther.) 
• Israel had a beauty contest this week. The winner was an Ethiopian Jewish girl. Tell her bio (see above). This girl is special because she is not only beautiful, she is also a talented soldier. She was an officer in the Israeli army! 
• She is also a special winner because it is the first time an Ethiopian woman has won the contest in Israel. 
• What is an Ethiopian Jew? Where is Ethiopia?
• Some believe that Ethiopian Jews are descendants of the Tribe in Dan (son of Jacob), one of lost tribes of Israel; some say they are descendants of the son of King Solomon and Queen Sheba; some say they fled to Ethiopia after the destruction of the First Temple. 
• How did Ethiopian Jews get to Israel? 
• In the 1990s, a civil war broke out in Ethiopia and Israel feared for the Jews living there. The Israeli government decided to try to help all the Jews leave but they had to do it as quickly as possible, before the Ethiopian government tried to stop them. The Israeli government gave permission for the Israeli airline, El Al, to fly on Shabbat. For 36 hours, on 34 non-stop jumbo jets, Israeli planes brought out all the Jews of Ethiopia. They removed all the seats from the planes to get the max number of people on board. Some women even had babies on the planes to Israel. A total of 14,324 Ethiopian Jews were rescued and brought to Israel in less than 2 days.  

Bonus: A fantastic children's book about the story of Ethiopian Jews is The Return, by Sonja Levitin 

 

May a Judge Also Be an Actor?

Note: If you tried to subscribe for emails last week, please do so again. I have posted a new email subscription box which actually works (as opposed to the one I posted last week.) Thanks!

Summary of Article: A case this week before the New Jersey Supreme Court is whether a municipal judge may keep his other paying job as an actor and stand-up comic. The judge, Vince Sicari, performs as a longtime comedian under the separate name of Vince August. He argues that he can keep the two jobs separate. The State ethics committee argued that it is an impermissible conflict. 

Discussion Outline with Kids:

• What is a judge? A judge is someone who interprets the law for people. For instance, if a policeman gives you a ticket for driving too fast and you believe were driving fine, a  judge will decide who is right. A municipal judge is a particular type of judge who sees the most common problems (e.g., traffic fines, disorderly conduct, as opposed to corporate law suits).
• What is an actor and comedian? What types of jokes do they make or types of characters do they play? (Sometimes jokes that make fun of people; sometimes they play bad guy characters)
• In New Jersey, there is a man who has two jobs: he is a judge and he is an actor/comedian. Who does an actor/comedian perform for? Who does a judge decide cases for? What could be a potential conflict here?  
• If you were trying to get the Judge to stop his other job, what would you argue?Some people say that since this judge is also an actor who makes bad jokes or plays bad guys, the people who come to him as a judge may be confused as to who he really is. They may feel he is not impartial. (Explain what this word means and why it is important for a judge to be impartial).
• If you were Judge Sicari what would you argue? He argues that he doesn't make enough money and doesn't get health benefits as a judge. He needs his other jobs. 
• Who do you think should win?

Meteorite in Siberia

Summary of Article: Last week, a meteor exploded in Siberia, injuring more than 1000 people and blowing out windows. The meteor was space rock about 50 feet wide and was a rare occurrence. The last time a meteor exploded over habited land was in 1908, when it also exploded over Siberia and flattened 825 square miles of forest. Click here for article.  


Video of meteor exploding

Discussion Outline with Kids: 

• What is a meteor? (A piece of rock flying through space. It is flying at such a fast speed that when it enters earth atmosphere it gets extremely hot, burns up and disintegrates and may explode).
• If a meteor was flying through space and happened to pass the earth, where would it explode? (Answer: anywhere on earth--in the ocean, in the desert, over a city)
• The last time a meteor exploded over a part of the earth where people live was over a hundred years ago in Siberia, a freezing land in Russia (show map). 
• Last week, another meteor came crashing into earth. Guess where on earth it exploded? In the same place, in Siberia! What are the chances of that? 
• The meteor was huge and people caught it exploding on their video cameras. Watch the video (see above). 
• If a meteor exploded in your land, what do you think would happen? In Siberia, over 1000 people got hurt, but not from being hit by the meteor. Instead, when the meteor exploded, the windows of homes and buildings exploded too. The flying glass hurt the people. 
• Now, people are trying to find pieces of the meteor to keep and to sell. You can buy a piece on ebay. 
• Bonus: If there was a chance of glass breaking in your house, like from an earthquake, what would you do? What room would you go to? 

Extending the Purim Story

In honor of yesterday being Purim, today we will look at applying the story to modern times. In discussing modern day Haman, I'm going to also emphasize that we are safe, we are strong, and we have Israel.

Discussion with Kids

• Have the kids recap the Purim story. In particular, who was the bad guy? (Haman) What did he do that was so bad? Why did the Jews fear him and what did they do to save themselves? 
• In every generation, we learn that there are Hamans who want to hurt the Jewish people, but if we are strong and remember God, we are ok. Who are some Haman's today and what do the Jewish people and Israel do to protect ourselves?
• Current Haman: Mahmound Ahmadinejad, the current President of Iran. How is he like Haman? (They both are from Persia; they both call for the destruction of Jews; they both have power). How did the Jews fight Haman? How are we fighting Ahmadinejad today? (The world is trying to take away his weapons, Israel is making sure he doesn't get to build new weapons). 
• For a great song that someone wrote about Ahmadinejad and the story of Purim, I'm going to play my kids this song.

Should anyone be forced to sit in the back of a bus?

Summary of Article: This week in Sefad, Israel, a modestly-dressed woman boarded a bus and sat in the front. Some haredi Orthodox men and boys boarded and yelled at the woman to move to the back of the bus. When she refused, they began praying loudly, making menacing moves toward her and making her feel threatened so that she called the police. The police arrested the main heckler. The Israeli Supreme Court says public buses can be voluntarily segregated but no one may be pressured to sit separately. Click here for article.

Map: Where is Sefad, Israel? Click here.

Discussion Outline with Kids:

• When you go onto a bus, where can you sit? (Answer: anywhere). 
• Tell story of article. 
• Does this story remind you of anyone else that you learned about? (Answer: Rosa Parks). 
• How do you think the Israeli woman and Rosa Parks felt when the boys were yelling at them to move?
• What are the similarities of these two women's stories? (Both are women; both pressured to move in a way that they felt threatened; in both cases, the hecklers were doing something wrong.)
• What are the differences? (In Israel, the woman was protected by the police and by Israeli law. She was in the right. In Rosa Parks case, the law changed because of her actions. The law was unjust.) 

What Are You Actually Eating?

Summary of Article: A recent study has found that fish across the country is being mislabeled. For instance, at a red snapper fish market in New York, 120 samples labeled as red snapper were actually found to be 28 different types of fish, and 17 weren't even in the red snapper family. Click for article.

Outline of Discussion with Kids:

• When you go to the market to buy food, how do you know what it is you are buying? (Answer: packaging, labels). What happens if it is labeled incorrectly? (Answer: you aren't eating what you think you are eating). Why is this a problem? (If you have food restrictions, or keep kosher, this could be a big problem; health concerns.)
• Right now in Europe and America, studies are finding that some foods are not properly labeled. In Europe, they have just found that some non-kosher meats that are labeled as beef (from cows) are actually horse meat! Can you imagine if you found out you were eating a horse by accident!?
• In 12 places in America, a group studied fish and found out that fish were not what they were always labeled as. Red snapper was actually not always red snapper. Some were fish that are cousins to red snapper and some aren't red snapper at all! In New York, 94% of the time, fish marked as tuna was not tuna. Because we aren't fishermen, when we look at a fish, we can't tell the difference. They all look the same to us. And so we trust the labels.
• Where do you think is the worst place for fish mislabeling in the country? Answer: Southern California, such as Los Angeles.
• Who was mislabeling the most? According to the study, the top mis-labeler was sushi bars, next was restaurants, and last was grocery stores.
• What is the crime here? Someone is being dishonest in the labeling and tricking the buyer/consumer. This is called "consumer fraud" and it can be a crime if it is done knowingly. The person doing it could go to jail. Why is this a crime?
• One reason it is a crime is because it could cause some people to get sick. For instance, pregnant women and children should not fish that have high levels of mercury. It could poison them. If people think they are buying fish that is low in mercury but actually it is a high-mercury fish, what could happen? They could get very sick. That is why proper labeling is so important.

$50 Million Jewelry Heist at Brussels Airport

Summary of Article: Organized and highly professional robbers seized an estimated $50-$400 million in diamonds in an airport robbery on Monday. No one was hurt in the heist. Click here for article.

Map: Where is Brussels, Belgium? 

Click here for news video report

Discussion Outline for Kids:

• What are diamonds? What do they look like? Diamonds are a type of stone that comes from the earth. Most are found in Africa, then sent around the world to be polished and cut for jewelry. One of the biggest centers for diamonds is Belgium in Europe (80% of the world's rough diamond trade). 
• On Monday in Belgium, diamonds were being loaded onto an airplane to be sent to Switzerland. There were five minutes between when the truck with the diamonds drove up to the plane and when they were to be put onto the plane. In those 5 minutes, a police car with lights flashing broke through a nearby fence, drove up to the plane, showed guns (but didn't fire them), stole all of the diamonds and drove away. The robbers dressed as policemen and had used a police car. The passengers sitting on the plane never knew what happened. 
• How were the robbers able to steal all of the diamonds? (Talk about insider knowledge, highly prepared, organized, etc.)
• What will happen now to the diamonds? The robbers have to sell it before the police find it. What do you think they will do with it? (It will probably be sold into the general market, a lot of it sent to India. They are basically untraceable and probably lost forever).
• The owners of the diamonds: what can they do to get their diamonds or money back? (Work with police; file insurance claims--talk about what it means to work with insurance companies; how the insurance companies will try to avoid paying the claim, etc.)
• If you were the airport that got robbed, what changes would you now make to the airport? (Stronger security fence, better security at the tarmac, not just where passengers are, etc.)

Anti-Israel Meeting at Public University

Note: Today's discussion is a bit long because the topic is complex. I've broken it down so I think even a 4 year old could follow it and participate. 

Summary of Article: Last week, at Brooklyn College in New York, the Political Science Department, working with Students for Justice in Palestine, organized an event to discuss boycotting, divesting and sanctions (“BDS”) against Israel. According to a statement from the Chancellor, it appears that students “looking” Jewish (presumably wearing kippot) were denied admission even if they had pre-registered, that pro-Israel students who managed to get in were thrown out when they refused to turn over anti-BDS leaflets that they wished to distribute. When the pro-Israel students complained to a college official, they were told that the anti-Israel students were “calling the shots.” Click here for article.

Discussion for Kids

• On any topic, there are people who have different opinions. So too with Israel. Some people love Israel and some people don’t. [Insert here how your family feels about Israel. I will be saying that we love Israel and don’t agree with people who want to hurt Israel, but we believe they have the right to say whatever they want.]
• Last week at a New York college, some professors and students who hate Israel got together to talk about “boycotting and divesting” from Israel. This means they want to encourage people not to go to Israel, not to buy things from Israel, not to give money to companies that do business with Israel. How does this hurt Israel if it happens?
• Some students who love Israel tried to go and give their opinions about why divestment and boycotting is bad. These students weren’t allowed into the meeting; those who did get in and tried to hand out pro-Israel materials were thrown out. What do you think of this and why?
• We have a concept in our constitution called “the first amendment right to free speech.” It means that generally everyone has the right to say what they are thinking, even if they are bad thoughts. (You may recall we did a current event about free speech a few weeks ago). Did the professors and anti-Israel students have the right to say bad things about Israel?  Did the pro-Israel students have the right to say something good about Israel? Who was denied a constitutional right?
• What makes this more complicated is that the college at which this happened is public. What does that mean? It means it is paid for partially through taxpayer dollars. Why does the fact that it is public make it even worse that a constitutional right was violated? 
• Consider this quote by famous law professor Alan Dershowitz about the incident:
• “Had the event been sponsored only by student and outside private groups, their decision to exclude pro-Israel students and to prevent the distribution of anti-BDS leaflets would have been a private matter, that at worst may have violated the rules of the college. But the official co-sponsorship of the event by an academic department may have turned their exclusionary decisions into illegal ‘state action.’ For purposes of the First Amendment, the political science department is Brooklyn College, which is the City University of New York, which is the State of New York. It was the State of New York, therefore, that expelled pro-Israel students who wanted to distribute constitutionally protected leaflets and wanted to pose constitutionally protected political questions. Such state action violates the First Amendment and New York law."
• What do you think is going to happen to the professors and anti-Israel students for what they did? What do you think should happen? 

Becoming a Mother in Vietnam During War

Summary of Article for Parents: Around 30 years ago, due to the Vietnam war, many Vietnamese women found they could not marry for lack of men returning from the war. They decided to take matters into their own hands and have a child as a single mother, breaking with Vietnamese tradition and facing discrimination for their choice. For article, click here.

For slideshow of images: click here. 

Map: Where is Vietnam? Click here.

Discussion with Kids:

• Many years ago, in the land of Vietnam (see map), there was a war. Many of the young men in the country had to go to the war. The young woman, who stayed home, found themselves with no one to marry. 
• In Vietnam, the tradition is for girls to marry at age 16. Age 20 is considered too old to marry. When the men returned from war, they wanted to marry the 16 year-olds. No one wanted to marry the 20 year-olds.
• May of the 20 year-olds were very worried. In Vietnam, the tradition is for your children to take care of you when you get old. If you have no children, no one is there to take care of you. These women wanted children. But another tradition was that you had to have a husband to have a child. What should these women have done? 
• (Feel free to approach this next part however you feel most comfortable. I'm going to see what answer my kids come up with. Otherwise, I'll tell them that the women prayed to God and he put a child in their bellies even though they had no husbands). 
• These women then had children even though they weren't married. Many of them moved to a small village together where they raised their children together. What do you think was the hardest part for them? 
• They say the hardest part was that other people in the village, who had husbands, made fun of them and made them feel bad. After a while, some villagers became nice to them and shared food and helped them. 
• Now, these women are older and have children to take care of them. Some ended up getting married later. Many didn't. It is still not common in Vietnam to have children without getting married but these women had to do an unusual/courageous thing because of the war. 
• What is something unusual/courageous that you once did?

Should everyone be able to go preschool?

Summary of Article: This week, in President Obama's State of the Union address, he proposed to “make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America.” Click here for Article on how he wants to do this.

Discussion Outline:

• When do most kids start going to preschool for the first time in our neighborhood? What do they do at school? (Art projects, songs, playing, etc.)
• While it may seem like this is just playing all day long, actually even kids as young as 2 or 3 in preschool are observing and absorbing information. Studies have found that these kids end up doing better in school when they are older than kids who didn't get to go to school. 
• Right now, only 28% of kids age 4, who come from poor families in America, go to preschool. It is because preschool is not free in most states. President Obama wants to change that and make preschool available for all kids. 
• What are some things that will make this hard? (Need money, good teachers--both hard to get).
• Why is this a good idea for those 4 year old kids? (Give them a leg up, many come from homes where no one reads them books or sings ABCs to them. They will become stronger learners this way). 
• What is the most important thing you learn/learned in school when you are/were 4 years old? 

Jews and Arabs Clean up Hebron Together

Summary of Article for Parents: Starting around 12 years ago (2001), various incidents occurred in Hebron that led to the Cave of the Machpelah (Tomb of the Patriarchs) and the adjacent neighborhood becoming graffiti ridden and dirty. Examples: a sniper shooting of a Jewish baby, IDF closing adjacent Palestinian stores, riots, terrorist attacks, extremists writing graffiti all over the area, including "Death to the Arabs" and "Death to the Jews." Tourists have added graffiti in English. Then, starting 10 months ago, a new Arab police commander was appointed. He decided his first task would be to clean the city. He turned to the leader of the Jewish settlement in Hebron to help him. Palestinians joined in and soon the Jews and Arabs had repainted, polished, and cleaned up the city. Interesting thought from the police commander: he said that a tidy city led to a clear decline in violent incidents. "I definitely believe dirt [adds to] violent impulses [and stimulates] incitement and I hope that [by] cleaning we will produce a quiet town. " Click here for article (only in Hebrew, unfortunately).


Map: Where is Israel? Where is Hebron?

Discussion Outline for Kids:

• Does anyone remember the story in the Torah when Sarah dies and Avraham buys a cave to bury her? Tell/read the story from the Torah in Bereshit/Genesis Chapter 23, 1-20, click here. Who else is later buried here? (Abraham, ISaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah).
• We still know where this cave is and can visit it. It is in the city of Hebron. It is a very important place for Jews and for other religions. Why?
• A few years ago, the city became very dirty. How does a city become dirty? How would you clean a city? 
• Tell story from article. 
• How do you feel when your house is very clean, like for a party, and when it is really really dirty? Does it make you want to act differently? The police commander believes that it does. Explain above quote. 
• What is very special here is how two peoples (Jews and Arabs) who were usually fighting came together to clean the city. How come they were willing to?  What are ways to keep them coming together instead of starting to fight again? 

iPad: Picture of cleaning Hebron. Pictures of Hebron and the Tomb.  

Salt: could eating less save lives?

Summary of Article for Parents: A new study has found that if Americans reduce the amount of salt they consume in foods they make and buy, it could save a half-million Americans it who otherwise would die of premature death. Click here for article.

Discussion Outline:

• The current event today is about something we eat every day that we don't even realize. It is something hidden in every single food we eat. What could it be?
• Sodium, or salt, is added to everything we eat. Why? (Answers, it tastes good, it also helps prevent foods from spoiling). 
• How does salt get into our food? (We add it from salt shakers, or it comes in prepared foods we buy at the market and restaurants)
• A new study has found that if eat even just a little bit less salt every day, we are less likely to get cancers and heart disease. In other words, the things we eat can cause us to get certain diseases. If we don't eat those foods, it can help prevent us from getting those diseases.
• What foods do you think are the highest in salt? Guess 5. 
• Click here for a sample of some of the worst offenders. 
• Why do Americans especially have so much cancers and heart disease? Because we eat a lot of prepared foods (processed foods). 
• If you could reduce your sodium intake, what food would you eat less of? 
• Scavenger hunt post-dinner: Show kids how to read nutritional info on a box of cereal and to find the sodium count. Have kids look in freezer, fridge and pantry for processed foods. Which food in the house has the highest amount of sodium? Which has the least? 

Israel Team Enters Competition to Land on the Moon

Summary of Article for Parents: Google is hosting a competition open to any team in the world. Whoever develops a spacecraft that can land on the moon, take pictures and send those pictures back to earth will win $20 million dollars. So far only Russia and America have ever accomplished this. Israel wants to be the 3rd country ever to land on the moon. Click here for article.


Discussion Outline:

• Have people ever landed on the moon? Yes--America was first in 1969, Russia was second. No one else has ever been there. 
• A computer company, Google, is having a competition right now. Whoever can build a spacecraft that can go to the moon, land there, and take pictures, will win $20 million dollars. A team of people from Israel want to win. 
• Israel's team decided to enter the competition 2 years after everyone else. Why does this matter? (They have to work harder and faster to catch up). 
• If you were assembling a team to build a rocket ship, who would you ask to be on your team? What would you need? Israel asked the smartest scientists and astronauts in Israel to help. Besides materials, they needed money, so they had to find a donor, which they did. Then they started drawing plans. 
• What would you name your team? Israel named their team SpaceIL. What do you think "IL" stands for? (Israel). 
• What would you decorate your spaceship with? Israel's team decorated it with an Israeli flag. 
• What would your spaceship look like? Israel decided to make their's the smallest rocketship ever made. 
• After discussing article, kids can watch 5 minute video about this from Jpost.

Bonus project: after dinner, design a rocket ship that you would enter in the contest.

Tracing a Weapon from Iran to Africa

Summary of Article for Parents: After 6 years of meticulous research, arms-trafficking researchers link untraceable weaons from Africa to Iran. Click here for article.

Map: Where is Iran?

Outline for Discussion with Kids:

·         Start with: What do you want to be when you grow up?

·         Some people want to be scientists. There are many different types of scientists. Can you describe some? Some scientists study weapons and where they come from.

·         Right now, in Africa, there are many wars. Some guns and weapons have ended up there from different parts of the world, bought from different countries. Every weapon has a stamp on it saying where it was made. But certain weapons found in Africa have no stamp. No one knows where they came from. And they are being used to hurt people.  

·         After studying for 6 years, scientists have just found out that the weapons come from a factory in Iran and are secretly being smuggled in Africa. These weapons are dangerous.

·         Iran is right now trying to be an important country in the world by having the most weapons and selling them secretly to other countries. Iran is ruled by men who hate America and Israel. Why would we not like the idea of Iran giving other countries secret weapons?

·         If you were President Obama, what would you do to try to stop Iran from doing this?   

Science Today: Life Found Under Antarctic Ice

Summary of Article: For the first time ever, scientists have found life (bacteria) living in the freezing dark waters under Antarctica's ice. Click here for article.

Map: Where is Antarctica?

Discussion Outline for Kids:

• Antarctica is the coldest place on earth. The land is mostly land and lakes with ice covering the lakes. The ice covers the lake for 10,000 years at a time (the amount of time it takes for the water to renew). Click for Pictures. 
• In fact, no land animals can survive living there. There are some animals that live nearby -- penguins, seals, whales. Click here for pictures. 
• Until now, scientists have believed that perhaps there is life under the ice, but they did not know for sure. Recently they drilled 1/2 a mile into the ice of one of the lakes. It took 12 days just to bring the drill to the lake and 4 days to drill. That is how cold and difficult it is to be in Antarctica!
• They found something amazing. They found tiny bacteria that you can't even see with your eyes -- you need microscopes -- living in the ice. This is an amazing discovery because it means there may also be life on planets, especially freezing cold planets. 
• The reason why is because the bacteria found in Antarctica may not need oxygen to breathe and eat. There is no oxygen where they were found. They find a way to live without it. There is no oxygen in outer space. This means perhaps life in outer space could live without it too. 
• Questions for kids: 
• If you could travel to space, what planet would you go to and why? 
• Do you think there is life in outer space? If so, what do you think life looks like? 
• What do you think is the hardest part of being a scientist in Antarctica? 

Handicapped Parking in Tel Aviv

Summary of Article: A woman parked her car in a regular, legal parking spot in the morning. After work, she found that city workers in Tel Aviv had painted a handicap space around her car and towed it. On top of that, they charged her a fee for the towing and for parking in a handicap spot. Click here.

Map: Where is Israel? Where is Tel Aviv?

iPad: Picture of what the city workers did. See link to article. 

Discussion of Article:

• How do grownups know where to park cars? (Street signs, colored side walks, etc.)
• What does it mean to be handicapped? 
• How come ppl who are handicapped need special parking spots?
• Tell story of article.
• How did the woman catch the city workers?
• What is wrong about what the workers did? How is it dishonest?
• Why is it wrong that they also charged her a fee?
• If you were the mayor of Tel Aviv, what would you do show you were sorry to this woman?

Bonus: go outside and see if the kids can find examples of where it is illegal to park (red), legal (white), handicapped only (blue), read the street signs regarding zoning laws, etc.

Free Speech in Thailand? Monarchy v. Democracy

Summary of Article: In Thailand, it is illegal to say anything negative about the monarchy. A man was recently jailed not for saying anything bad but for acting like he wanted to say something bad. Click here for article.

Map: Where is Thailand?

Outline for Discussing Article with Kids:

• There are different types of countries:
• America is a democracy, which means that we choose who is the President. (Ask kids if they remember voting in November for president). 
• Thailand is a monarchy, which means that a king rules the country. The people do not get to choose who is king.
• What is good/bad about each type of government? Which kind would you prefer to live in? Why?
• In Thailand, they have a law that anyone who says anything bad about the king, the queen or the crown prince, can go to jail for up to 15 years. What do you think of this rule?
• Examples of people in jail in Thailand for breaking this rule: a European man sentenced to 10 years in jail for for drawing on a poster of the king; an American in jail for translating a book that says bad things about the king. 
• This article is about a man who is going to jail for not saying anything bad about the king but for acting like he was. He was making a speech and he said that some people don't like the king. Then he covered his mouth to imply that he was talking about the king. (Have kids act this out).  
• Do you think he should go to jail for doing this? Why or why not? 
• In America, we have a law in our constitution called "Free Speech." This means that you can't go to jail just for saying something. Everyone has a right to say whatever they want. What is good about this rule? What is bad about this rule? (Good: you can speak freely; Bad: people whose views you don't like can speak freely too). 
• There are a few exceptions to this rule. What do you think they should be? 
• Some exceptions are: (1) no threats of imminent violence ("Go kill the President right now!"); (2) no copying someone else's work and pretending its yours (copyright violation). Why have these exceptions? 
• Scenario: a kid wears a shirt to the mall with the words "I hate my teacher." Should he be allowed to wear this shirt at the mall? (Answer: Yes) Should he be allowed to wear it to school?  (Answer: some courts say yes; some courts say no)

Israel Strikes Syrian Weapons Center

Summary of article: Last week, Israeli air force planes struck a Syrian convoy carrying antiaircraft missiles from Syria to Lebanon, presumably for transfer to Hezbollah. It seems that the Israeli air strike also took out a Syrian army facility principally responsible for developing, testing, and upgrading large numbers of weapons. Click here for article. 

Discussion Outline:

• Map: where is Syria, Lebanon and Israel? Where is Iran? These are the "players" in today's current event. 
• Unlike America, which has friendly neighbors -- Mexico and Canada -- Israel does not have friendly neighbors. (Can show map) Some of these neighbors would love to start war with Israel. 
• Last week, Israel got news that Syria was planning to transfer some of its powerful weapons to Lebanon, with the hopes that the bad guys (Hezbollah) would get them and use them against Israel. If you were Israel and got this news, what would you do? 
• Israel decided to send its war planes into Syria and bomb some trucks on their way to Lebanon carrying the weapons. Israel succeeded in destroying all the trucks and possibly the building that makes most of the weapons. 
• In what way was this attack good for Israel's security? 
• In what ways was it risky for Israel? (Soldiers could have been hurt flying the airplanes; Syria could have declared war on Israel for going into its airspace). 
• Israel has heard that another neighbor, Iran, has similar weapons to Syria, and possibly even worse ones. Israel doesn't know what to do. What do you think Israel should do about Iran?