Friday, May 09, 2014
Caroline Glick: A sad Independence
Israel is the most extraordinary collective achievement of the Jewish people in thousands of years. It is the embodiment of the dreams, faith, blood, sweat and tears of the Jewish people today and throughout time in both spiritual and physical terms.Imam Pushing to Sanitize 9/11 Museum Slurs Jews
Israel is something that every Jew should celebrate and be thankful not only on Yom Ha’atzma’ut, but every day of the year.
Israelis know this and that is why we are so content and optimistic.
It is J Street’s purpose to hide this truth from the American Jewish community. So it is the task of the American Jews to build on the decision of the Conference of Presidents and ensure through education, travel to Israel and aliya that J Street goes down in time as the great failure it deserves to be. Doing so will ensure that next year, instead of being reduced to the sad spectacle of “a bunch of kids eating cake,” Yom Ha’atzma’ut celebrations worldwide will be the unbridled expressions of joy that they are in Israel.
A Muslim religious leader who helped spearhead a push to get the National September 11 Memorial Museum to censor references to Islam in a short film about al-Qaeda has said Jews “killed the Prophets and Messengers” and are a “cancer … in every generation as they get in power.”Isi Leibler: J Street's false martyrdom
Mustafa Elazabawy, imam at Masjid Manhattan, made the remarks in a December 2008 khutbah, or sermon, called “Children of Israel.” A recording of the sermon remains on the mosque’s website.
Elazabawy wrote a letter to museum leadership last month, complaining that the 6-minute film about al-Qaeda’s rise “would greatly offend our local Muslim believers as well as any foreign Muslim visitor to the museum,” if it is not changed. “Unsophisticated visitors who do not understand the difference between Al Qaeda and Muslims may come away with a prejudiced view of Islam, leading to antagonism and even confrontation toward Muslim believers near the site.”
It is surely undeniable that J Street is in fact canvassing and promoting anti-Israeli initiatives while castigating and seeking to undermine the policies of the democratically elected government of Israel. The idea of accepting J Street's self-description as "pro-Israel" seems to be taken directly from the pages of "Alice in Wonderland."
Jacobs says that there should be "no litmus test of ideological orientation" applied to candidates for the Conference of Presidents. Under such terms, Jews for Jesus and Neturei Karta would presumably also qualify for membership.
Rather than sanctimoniously castigating the majority of organizations that voted to reject J Street, Jacobs and Schonfeld should consider reviewing their own educational programs, which seem to lead many of their rabbis towards supporting anti-Zionist leftists who demonize the Jewish state. They should concentrate on educating youngsters about the values and achievements of the Jewish state and its central role for the future of the Jewish people.
BDS Movement: Barbarians Inside the Gates - Part I
Every time an Israeli theater or dance troupe sets out on a world tour, it is pursued by bigots -- not merely bigots, but bigots who portray themselves as the epitome of enlightenment, fairness, and love among men. Except when that love concerns Jews. Then the smiles drop and the sparkle goes out of the eyes. BDS campaigners impose a cultural boycott on Israeli performers, yet their preferred style of protest -- interrupting events, shouting and screaming to drown out music, accosting fans as they try to enter a hall or committing acts of violence on European and American campuses, or at Canada's Concordia University, in a display of outright fascism not seen since the 1930s in Germany -- show deep contempt for Enlightenment fairness and culture in any form. They burn books and boycott artists perhaps to satisfy some adolescent fantasy of perfection: Aryan beauty against Jewish brains, the Workers' Paradise against successful economies, the law of God against all manner of heretics and infidels. And behind it all lies an ignorance so deep it is unreachable.BDS Movement: Barbarians Inside the Gates - Part II
Today it sometimes seems as if there are two Israels. One is a Jewish state under the rule of law, a democracy that venerates human rights, a compassionate country that gives new hearts to Palestinian children and sends aid to other countries in times of crisis. The other is the deliberate opposite, in which everything is evil: the people (by which is meant the Jewish people, regarded as innately evil) and their actions. Israel allegedly practises apartheid, it is a Nazi state, it kills and maims without compunction, it is a terrorist state, it commits genocide because that is the Jewish way, it is the single evil country in the world, even when set beside all the rogue states. For pure evil not even the greatest dictatorships can be compared to it.
Far from it. Many performers have chosen to play in Israel and have done so in great numbers. Artists who have voiced opposition to the BDS campaign include the outstanding Italian writer Umberto Eco, the film makers Joel and Ethan Coen, and musicians such as Elton John, Leonard Cohen, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Madonna, and Sir Paul McCartney. And one of the world's oldest and biggest bands, the Rolling Stones, plans to play in Tel Aviv this summer.Activist Says Climate for Spread of Anti-Semitism Worse Now Than During Holocaust
Not everyone is meek in the face of BDS pressure. The British musician John Lydon (the notorious Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, an anti-establishment figure who actually might have been expected to join in the boycott), responded to criticism by saying: "If Elvis-f#*&ing-Costello wants to pull out of a gig in Israel because he's suddenly got this compassion for Palestinians, then good on him. But I have absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they are treated."
Eze, who is president and founder of the Eng Aja Eze Foundation, made the remarks at a special United Nations event in honor of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as Yom HaShoa. The forum featured five panelists, with Eze serving as moderator, addressing the topics of human rights and anti-Semitism.Hijacking the Holocaust
Eze, a London native who now lives in New York , said anti-Semitism is growing at “such an alarming state level” in the United Kingdom and Europe, but is not being addressed sufficiently by the media or government officials.
“[It] is something I particularly feel which has been constantly swept under the carpet,” she said. “There’s a need to confront intolerance where it exists and to prevent it from spreading. It is imperative for all wishing to live in societies that are free from hatred. Diversity is a source of immense economic value. If not managed effectively, it may bring the world to its knees.”
Other panelists at the event asserted a religious imperative to support Jews in the fight against anti-Semitism. Laurie Cardoza Moore, NGO special envoy to the UN for the World Council of Independent Christian Churches, said Christian nations have an “obligation” to tackle the issue.
The document claims there is a “pathology inherent in Zionism.” It discerns all manner of sins in Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank, an occupation as legitimate as that of the Allies in Germany after World War II. And it urges rejection of theologies that uphold Zionism.Obama’s Favorite v. BDS Presbyterians
Zionism is nothing more than the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, influenced by 19th-century Greek and Italian national movements. The theology that upholds Zionism is Judaism. The movement took its name from Zion, which appears scores of times in the Hebrew Bible as a synonym for Jerusalem, the political and religious heart of Judaism.
Ultimately, “Zionism Unsettled” rejects Jews as a people. It does so as part of a bid to hijack the Holocaust. The guide urges an “expanded, inclusive” understanding of the Nazi genocide that would shift its lessons from persecution of Jews to Israel’s purported oppression of Palestinian Arabs.
The Mission Network means to subsume the Holocaust into an anodyne “man’s inhumanity to man,” while painting Israelis as new Nazis. If successful, one effect would be to distract from today’s genocidal threats, like that against Israel from a nuclear-armed Iran.
Among the targets of Zionism Unsettled is an unlikely figure: the distinguished Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who is, as is well known, President Obama’s favorite philosopher. According to the new Presbyterian guide to the Middle East, Niebuhr and other liberal figures that supported the establishment of a Jewish state are guilty of “moral blindness” for embracing Zionism. But his daughter and his grandnephew have now come forward both to defend Niebuhr and to place Zionism Unsettled in the proper context of the war on Israel. Writing in the Huffington Post, Elisabeth Sifton and Gustav Niebuhr state clearly that by trashing the great theologian in this manner, the BDS crowd is not only distorting the record but also placing the Presbyterians on the wrong side of history.Obama’s Holocaust Hypocrisy
During his speech, the president spoke both of the hate that still stalks the globe and the challenges this creates:Heaven help humanity
"We only need to look at today’s headlines — the devastation of Syria, the murders and kidnappings in Nigeria, sectarian conflict, the tribal conflicts —to see that we have not yet extinguished man’s darkest impulses. There are some bad stories out there that are being told to children, and they’re learning to hate early. They’re learning to fear those who are not like them early.
And none of the tragedies that we see today may rise to the full horror of the Holocaust — the individuals who are the victims of such unspeakable cruelty, they make a claim on our conscience. They demand our attention, that we not turn away, that we choose empathy over indifference and that our empathy leads to action. And that’s not always easy. One of the powerful things about Schindler’s story was recognizing that we have to act even where there is sometimes ambiguity; even when the path is not always clearly lit, we have to try."
That’s all quite true. But coming from the mouth of the man who has stood by impotently as the Syrian tragedy escalated into a conflict that has taken up to 150,000 lives including perhaps as many as 11,000 children, Obama’s pieties about remembering the Holocaust ring hollow.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama received an "Ambassador for Humanity" award from movie director Steven Spielberg, the founder of the University of Southern California Shoah Foundation.Spielberg Praises Obama's Failed 'Atrocities Prevention Board'
"Standing up to anti-Semitism is not simply about protecting one community or one religious group," Obama said in his acceptance speech at the gala, which was held in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Holocaust museum that Spielberg established after making the film "Schindler's List."
The president also urged Americans to "speak out against the rhetoric that threatens the existence of the Jewish homeland," and assured that he would "sustain America's unshakable commitment to Israel's security."
Due to Obama's appalling treatment of Israel in particular and his disastrous foreign policy in general -- both of which have empowered human-rights abusers across the globe -- these words ring as hollow as the distinction bestowed upon him by Spielberg.
In April 2012, Obama chose controversial foreign policy adviser Samantha Power to head the Atrocities Prevention Board. Though Power had written extensively about the problem of genocide, she had also stirred controversy by calling for the U.S. to impose peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by deploying troops there, calling Israel a "major human rights" abuser protected by American Jews, who would have to be "alienated."On A US Campus, BDS Meets Quenelle
As head of the Atrocities Prevention Board, Power did little to push for action in Syria as the slaughter of civilians continued. When President Obama famously issued his "red line" warning in 2012 that he would act in Syria if the regime used chemical weapons against his opponents, then failed to act in 2013 when evidence of chemical weapons was found, Power and the Atrocities Prevention Board were mute.
Meanwhile, boasts the so-called Students for Justice in Palestine group at the University of South Florida regarding a BDS initiative there last month:BDS fails of the Week: the local edition.
"They collected 10,000 student signatures demanding that their university end investments and involvement with those companies. They chose human rights over profit. By collecting 10,000 student signatures, which is 25% of the entire student body at USF, they made history as the largest student petition ever in the state of Florida."
But as the above photo shows, at least one of the victors celebrated by giving the antisemitic quenelle salute.
Sure is ethical, eh?
First, courtesy of Rebecca Armstrong Pierce, a local anti-Israel activist and occasional Mondoweiss writer, via TwitterAn app to fight BDS
Apparently BDS attempts to intimate a local store-manager into de-shelving Israeli products failed miserably. Aldea is at 20th and Mission, folks. A buycott and a round of thanks are in order.
Thanks for sharing, Rebecca.
The campus divestment movement suffered yet another setback at UC Davis as the Aggies for Israel fought back against the BDS bullies, and prevailed. The vote was 5-5, with 3 abstentions. The resolution ultimately failed when the Senate Vice President declined to break the tie.
And finally, Sonoma county has renewed its contract with transportation giant Veolia, in spite of a massive pressure campaign led by the North Coast Coalition for Palestine. Interestingly enough, the coalition declared "victory' in their campaign last November. They even had a party. Oops.
The “Fight BDS” app is a 21st-century PR tool. In the battle to win hearts and minds for the Jewish state, it is designed to revamp Zionism, build a worldwide online activism network and empower lovers of Israel with the technological tools and knowledge to reclaim the just cause of Jewish self-determinism and sovereignty.CUNY Panel Tonight on Israel
Rabbi Avi Schwartz, son of the legendary Palmah fighter and commander Mordechai Schwartz, and founder of teknerd.info, a software and app design company, together with his team of designers have created a PR app enabling users to have instant access to a wide array of interface capabilities.
Compatible with android devices and the iPhone, the app provides the resources to present Israel’s case in a well-informed, comprehensive and entertaining manner against its detractors and to those sitting on the fence.
American universities have been at the forefront of the attack on Israel’s legitimacy, most notoriously through the BDS campaign to boycott, divest, and sanction the State of Israel. While supporters of Israel’s right to exist have utilized a variety of forums to push back on the anti-Semitic attacks on the Jewish state, it is essential that university campuses find room for such voices as well.UCLA Muslim Newsmag Targets Jewish Student
So it’s heartening to see the City University of New York (CUNY) doing just that. In response to a recent anti-Israel panel event held at the CUNY Graduate Center, tonight a group of experts will discuss “Israel in the Middle East.”
The editorial board of Al-Talib, the Muslim Newsmagazine at UCLA, called on Jewish student Avinoam Baral to disassociate himself from the pro-Israel program Hasbara Fellowships due to the group's alleged Islamophobia. Al-Talib alleged that the Jewish program "actively (contributes) to violence against Muslims" and asked that Baral, who is a candidate for Internal Vice President in upcoming UCLA student elections, separate himself from the program.Olive Tree Initiative Absent From 'Ethics Statement' Israel Trip Ban
The newsmagazine asked that Baral "publicly distance himself from the organization Hasbara Fellowships because of its association with the production and dissemination of Islamophobic documentaries across the United States. Unless Baral distances himself from an organization that disseminates Islamophobia, ties to anti-Muslim networks will remain accepted in campus life and politics."
Absent from the "ethics statement" was any mention of the anti-Israel trip the Olive Tree Initiative. According to a report from the AMCHA Initiative, there is even a case of a UCLA student traveling to the Middle East and returning with anti-Israel sentiment. According to the report, "The basic premise of OTI is that experiential learning through “living the conflict” provides students with a unique mix of tangibles and intangibles to best understand the Arab/Israeli conflict. Whereas each campus brings speakers and events, the central event for all campuses is an extensive trip focused on Israel and the West Bank, which purports to be without ideological bias and to give students a fact-based “360 degree learning experience.”NGO Monitor: Australian Funding in the West Bank and Gaza
The report also alleges that "The overarching themes of the trip, painting Israel as an illicit state and precluding judgment against its Arab neighbors, are woven together and reinforced by a skewed itinerary as well as activist facilitators who show no deference to OTI’s rules for academic dialogue. The ideological shift observed across participants has been overwhelmingly in a direction against Israel.
AMENCA channels funds to APHEDA, ActionAid Australia,3 Care Australia, and World Vision Australia – which in turn fund local NGOs. In contrast to Australian policy and the stated goals of AMENCA, some of the funded Palestinian NGOs are active in BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns and other forms of anti-Israel demonization (see details of activities below):Honor Diaries Star Blasts CAIR: 'Obviously They Do Not Support Human Rights'
World Vision Australia works in partnership with Union of Agricultural Works Committee (UAWC),4 an organization that explicitly endorses BDS campaigns;
APHEDA works in partnership with Ma’an Development Center;
Care Australia works in partnership with Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem (ARIJ) and the Economic and Social Development Centre (ESDC).
Prior to the April 30th screening of the film Honor Diaries at Brandeis University, human rights activist Raheel Raza, who is featured in the film, sat with TruthRevolt to discuss the film and the university's decision to withdraw the honorary degree offer from Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Hirsi Ali served as an executive producer of the project and is both a women's rights activist and an outspoken critic of Islam. Raza herself is a practicing Muslim.Of Course All Humans Have Rights – But Jews Are Not Human By Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch (satire)
TruthRevolt: What was your first reaction when you heard that Ayaan Hirsi Ali's honorary degree had been revoked?
Raheel Raza: I was very disappointed and shocked. The idea that in the world's largest liberal democracy, a country in which we came so that we could embrace gender equality and freedom of expression, which to me is one of the most important factors of a liberal democracy, and in this a liberal institution that caves into pressure from groups who have agendas, it's very frightening.
It all starts from an attitude of religious tolerance. A prominent portion of Palestinian and Muslim rhetoric describes Jews as the offspring of apes and pigs. To judge such statements as offensive would be to display gross intolerance for Islamic culture, and would betray a Eurocentric attitude. Who are we to judge that they are in error?Israeli trash-to-gas tech to make power for NC
Since we must respect the beliefs of those who espouse such views, it is only natural that our activities involving Jews similarly respect the notion that Jews are not included in the group that enjoys “human” rights. To include them would be to judge those Islamists as in error, but who are we to make that determination? Therefore the principles of tolerance dictate that we honor the definition of Jew as non-human.
Bluesphere, an Even Yehuda-based waste-to-energy company, announced Wednesday that it was in the final stages of planning for the construction of a 5.2 megawatt (MW) Israeli-designed waste-to-energy project in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the fuel for the plant coming from the dump, among other places.UK Mirror: Israel's mixture of ancient and modern is the perfect recipe for a great sunshine trip
Bluesphere develops, builds and manages waste-to-energy plants, generating electricity and selling it to local utilities. The anaerobic digestion technology that Bluesphere plants are based on uses organic waste, such as food and farm waste that would normally go into landfills, as fuel.
Israel is a country packed with surprises.Top 10 apps for touring Israel
During a visit, it’s easy to believe you’ve just entered a time machine, often going forward in time then sharply backwards.
Fast-forward through the notoriously rigorous immigration security process at Tel Aviv and you arrive in a 21st-century city full of glass tower blocks and gourmet restaurants. Plus enough trendy all-night bars and clubs to rival a night out anywhere in the world.
And although Tel Aviv has a relatively small population of around 400,000, the locals certainly know how to throw a big party.
And when they start they don’t stop until long after the sun shines bright in the sky – which it does at least 300 days a year here.
Now is the time to jump on the bandwagon as record-breaking numbers of tourists are entering Israel — 776,000 people in the first three months of 2014, three percent more than the same period in 2013.Book Authors Highlight Jews as Only Immigrant Group Whose Success Exceeds Three Generations (VIDEO)
Touring Israel on a budget? Download some of these awesome applications to your smartphone to get the most out of your trip.
Co-authors Amy Chua, of Tiger Mother fame, and her husband Jed Rubenfeld discussed their controversial new book in a recent interview, highlighting their assertion that Jews are the only cultural group in America that have demonstrated a higher ratio of success beyond the third generation.
“[Jews] are the only group we look at where you don’t see decline, or you haven’t seen decline yet, set in in that third generation,” Chua said during an appearance with Rubenfeld on The Jewish Channel’s UP Close. “Every other immigrant group you have this pattern: you get a little bit comfortable, you’re two generations away from the immigration population and… standards go down, success goes down. But the Jews have not demonstrated this pattern.”
