Monday, September 18, 2017
- Monday, September 18, 2017
- Elder of Ziyon
- Divest This, Opinion
Fair Fight
I’ve talked a number of times about how unfair the fight is
between Israel and her defamers.
Those defamers, after all, have a militant goal: the elimination
of the Jewish state. With that goal as
their North Star, strategies to weaken that state or make its destruction
appear noble and just become clear, as do tactics to achieve those strategic
aims (such as BDS). In addition, the sociopathic
nature of Israel’s enemies gives them the power to manipulate others while
feeling no guilt over their own destructive, ruthless behavior.
In contrast, nearly all Israelis and friends of Israel do
not want to see enemies eliminated. In
fact, our greatest dream (i.e., our
goal) is not to see Palestinians/Arabs/Muslims destroyed, but rather to live at
peace with them (or at least be left in peace by them). With such
non-militant goals driving our enterprise, it’s no surprise that we cannot gin
up the kind of hatred needed to drive decades-long hostile
counter-campaigns. And our unwillingness
to use others as means to an end means we are not ready to manipulate neutrals
in order to use them as weapons in our political campaigns.
While I still hold to this analysis, some recent events also
got me thinking of another way to look at “the fight,” one in which the odds
can seem stacked in Israel’s favor.
The first event was the opening of the Jacobs
Technion-Cornell Institute in New York, a two-billion dollar facility that
anchors Cornell’s Tech education and research initiative. This mammoth joint effort won out in fierce
competition between some of the most prestigious science and engineering
schools in the country. And the success
of Cornell’s bid was largely in recognition of the value of that school’s
partnership with one of the world’s most successful schools of scientific
learning: Israel’s Technion Institute.
Given that decades of harassment by academic boycotters has
led to little more than marginal professors occasionally engaging in cowardly
furtive boycotts and sputtering on Twitter, the opening of Cornell-Technion –
remarkable in itself – sends an important message to the world: that linking
arms with Israel brings success and progress, while shunning the Jewish state
leads nowhere.
Speaking of going nowhere (as well as sputtering on Twitter)
the event I’d like to use as a contrast to the opening of Technion-Cornell took
place in Dublin last week where Israel haters from around that nation gathered
to say the same things they and others have said at Israel-hating events for
more than half a century. And their star
attraction was that failed academic whose Twitter id rivals that of America’s
president: Steven
Salaita.
Mr. Salaita’s been on a roller coaster ride since being
hired to join the faculty of the Native American Studies department at
University of Illinois (despite having no qualifications for the job), followed
by his u n-hiring by school leaders unwilling to give lifelong employment to
someone advocating violence on Twitter, followed by a lawsuit and boycott of
the university (which, among other things, destroyed the department he was
going to join), followed by his decamping to American University of Beirut in
Lebanon, followed by his being let go from that university as well.
And who is to blame for this string of disasters that have
left him academically homeless (although not bereft of speaking gigs, it
appears): the evil Jews (whoops! I mean
“Zionists”) whose power apparently extends to academic institutions in nations
at war with the Jewish state.
For all his attempts to make his story come off like an epic
struggle of right against might, the Salaita tale is ultimately about someone
who never grew out of adolescence now demanding rewards (like tenure) he doesn’t
deserve, someone ready to whine and blame/punish others for his failings.
While there might be a market for such self-pity within
marginal groups (like the lame boycotters of the American
Studies Association – another field Salaita announced himself an expert
in), I can’t imagine that the professors staffing the new Technion-Cornell
Institute got to their positions by behaving in such a manner. In fact, the string of achievements on both
campuses would indicate that they have much better things to do than bitch that
no one is offering them a paid perch to spout politics that can’t be taken away.
Every few years, our Temple is blessed by a visit from young
Israeli soldiers traveling through Boston, and I’ve always been stunned by the
seriousness and maturity of kids not much older than my recent high-school
graduate. And it is these serious young
men and women who then go on to university and from there become the next
generation of Technion professors, business leaders, or successes in a thousand
other fields (all the while continuing to contribute to the defense of their
homeland).
In a contest between such serious people and freaks and
weirdos like Steven Salaita, who has the upper hand?
- Monday, September 18, 2017
- Elder of Ziyon
This article in the Davis (CA) Vanguard describes quite well the arguments made about Imam Ammar Shahin's antisemitic statements last July - as well as his "apology" - at a City Council meeting last week.
Rabbi Yitzhak Haberstein (sic - Alderstein is his name) , representing the Simon Wiesenthal Center, spoke on Tuesday. He said that tomorrow night in Los Angeles they are co-hosting a dinner for the first ruler of an Arab Country who will sign a major declaration on religious tolerance and against religious extremism.More here.
“We’re no stranger to interfaith activity,” he said. “This city is no stranger to social justice issues. It has a well-deserved reputation for being at the forefront of good progressivism. That said, there is something that happened here a number of weeks ago that’s important enough for us to want to come up here and make a statement.”
He said that any other religious leader in America who would get up in front of their congregation and “label another group fifth and call for their annihilation – all hell would break loose. There would be no easy way out.” He said, “There has been an unfortunate kind of double standard that has come from this community. It shouldn’t be.
“When you consider the importance of the preachings of Jihadist movement in mosques across the world, the bloody trail that it’s left behind,” he said. “These are not influences that can be poo-pooed or simply wished away.”
The Rabbi called it “an apology that was no apology. It did not take back the basis for the statement. The call through religious tradition, to call, three times repeated, we ask Allah that we should be part of this in word and in deed.”
Professor Emeritus Alex Groth, a retired Political Science Professor at UC Davis and a Holocaust survivor, spoke as well. He is a 54-year resident of the city of Davis. He said he is one of the few former inmates of the Warsaw Ghetto.
“I have seen words of hate translated into mass murder in World War II Europe,” he said. He said he has spoken about this subject in numerous community forums and in academic publications. “In all of my time here in Davis, I never thought even once that a time would come, when a religious leader in our city would publicly call for the destruction of the Jews with the apparent tacit consent and approval of most if not all of his congregation.
“To the best of my knowledge, the purveyor of the killing message delivered in July is still at the helm of the Davis Mosque and this is happening 72 years after the conclusion of the Second World War and 72 years after the conclusion of the Holocaust,” he said.
Jonathan Zachariou, Pastor at Davis Christian Assembly for the last 26 years, said he is not looking to suppress free speech. And he noted that the freedom of religion is mentioned before even that of speech in the First Amendment.
“I am not looking to suppress anything with regards to the freedom of religio[n], but I am here to call on this city council to formally distance themselves or to categorically say that the message that was brought by this Imam has nothing to do with the Davis community at all,” he said.
Pastor Zachariou said, “I do not doubt the Imam’s credentials.” He noted that he teaches at the university in Medina. He also teaches at UC Davis. “He knows the Quran. He knows what he’s talking about. So when he expresses the things he expressed, he’s talking about what the Quran is talking about. He did not make a mistake in his message. His message is true.
“Some Muslims will disagree with his interpretation,” he said. “But he has credentials which he’s backing up his hate speech.”
Edward Rabin, a longtime resident of Davis, said, “I want to emphasize the enormity of what has happened in the last month or two.” He made the point, “No anti-Semite in the history of this country has ever said anything remotely like what this Imam said twice to his congregation and then posted on the internet.”
He said not David Duke, not the KKK, not Father Caughlin or “any other of the reprehensible bigots that we’ve had to put up with.” In fact, he made the point that even Hitler himself was not so brazen as to openly talk about such plans.
David Kadosh, Executive Director of the Zionist Organization of America in the Western Region, said it was founded by former Supreme Court Justice Luis Brandeis 120 years ago. Much of his work has been to identify anti-Semitism in schools and university.
He said that we have seen time and again how hatred has fueled atrocities and “this evil is happening here, across the street from the university.” He read from the sermon which called on the destruction of the Jews, one by one, and not sparing a single one. “Notice how Imam Shahin prays for the death of Jews. We Jews have heard this both. The same rhetoric calling for our extermination was used by the Nazis 70 years ago.”
“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it,” Gail Rubin said, quoting Albert Einstein. She said she is a Jew and an 18-year resident of Davis. “A mile away from my house, someone wants me and my family dead.
“Just 16 years after 9/11 we continue to hear the call and see the acts of Jihad,” she said. “Words can kill,” she argued. “Just imagine if ‘kill every Jew’ were replaced by kill every Muslim or kill every black. Would we be so quiescent in talking only about hurt feelings?”
She said that, following the statement, “[t]he Imam said sorry for hurt feelings but he did not retract his radical ideology. Did any Mosque board member or congregant denounce Shahin or walk out? No.”
She argued, “This is not just a local issue. The incitement to Genocide is illegal under state law.” She asked for law enforcement to all take action.
She concluded, “The sorry is simply not enough. I no longer feel safe in Davis. After 18 years here, I am moving away.”
By the way, the dinner that Rabbi Haberstein referred to was for the King of Bahrain, who is now under fire for his statements at that dinner where he denounced the Arab boycott of Israel.
- Monday, September 18, 2017
- Elder of Ziyon
After my story on Friday showing that despite worldwide headlines, Israel sells practically no weapons to Myanmar, I looked at the SIPRI database to learn more about who Israel does sell weapons to.
Here are the top countries to receive Israeli arms since 2000:
Two of the top ten recipients of Israeli arms are Muslim nations.
The full list:
Here is more detailed data on who Israel has sold arms to over the past 6 years:
You can even find out specifically what weapons were sold to whom. The UN leased a drone from Israel for use in Mali; Israel gave Jordan 16 second-hand AH-1F Cobra combat helicopters as a gift in 2015 to help fight ISIS.
Oh, and the weapons Israel did sell to Myanmar? A patrol boat and a second-hand naval gun. Not exactly weapons that are useful to kill the local Muslim population. But that doesn't stop the Independent and Haaretz from pretending that Israel is the major supplier of weapons to enable genocide.
Here is yet another example of how the media simply ignores real facts.
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Here are the top countries to receive Israeli arms since 2000:
Two of the top ten recipients of Israeli arms are Muslim nations.
The full list:
Country | Israeli arms imports, in millions, 2000-2016 |
India | 2800 |
Turkey | 854 |
United States | 840 |
Singapore | 528 |
Azerbaijan | 453 |
Colombia | 362 |
Sri Lanka | 312 |
South Korea | 304 |
United Kingdom | 241 |
Mexico | 235 |
Brazil | 229 |
Italy | 196 |
Romania | 168 |
Germany (FRG) | 154 |
Chile | 153 |
Australia | 152 |
Spain | 143 |
Viet Nam | 134 |
Greece | 120 |
Netherlands | 119 |
Equatorial Guinea | 82 |
Poland | 80 |
Myanmar | 73 |
Unknown recipient(s) | 72 |
China | 55 |
Finland | 51 |
Jordan | 48 |
Venezuela | 44 |
Kazakhstan | 40 |
Morocco | 40 |
Portugal | 34 |
Dominican Republic | 33 |
Ecuador | 33 |
Belgium | 32 |
Uganda | 29 |
Nigeria | 25 |
Thailand | 23 |
Rwanda | 18 |
France | 17 |
Peru | 16 |
South Africa | 16 |
Czech Republic | 15 |
New Zealand | 15 |
Sweden | 14 |
Georgia | 13 |
Honduras | 13 |
Angola | 12 |
Paraguay | 12 |
Cameroon | 11 |
Denmark | 11 |
Philippines | 11 |
Canada | 9 |
Ethiopia | 9 |
United Nations** | 9 |
Austria | 8 |
Taiwan (ROC) | 8 |
Senegal | 7 |
Argentina | 5 |
Hungary | 5 |
Mauritius | 5 |
Bulgaria | 4 |
Chad | 4 |
Croatia | 4 |
El Salvador | 4 |
Russia | 4 |
Seychelles | 3 |
Switzerland | 3 |
Cyprus | 1 |
Guinea | 1 |
Indonesia | 1 |
Lesotho | 1 |
Cote d'Ivoire | 0 |
Lithuania | 0 |
Turkmenistan | 0 |
Here is more detailed data on who Israel has sold arms to over the past 6 years:
TIV of arms exports from Israel, 2011-2016 | ||||||||
Figures are SIPRI Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) expressed in millions. | ||||||||
Figures may not add up due to the conventions of rounding. | ||||||||
A '0' indicates that the value of deliveries is less than 0.5m | ||||||||
For more information, see http://www.sipri.org/databases/armstransfers/sources-and-methods/ | ||||||||
Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database | ||||||||
Generated: 18 September 2017 | ||||||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Total | ||
Austria | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||||
Azerbaijan | 5 | 9 | 25 | 21 | 121 | 248 | 428 | |
Belgium | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 19 | ||
Brazil | 19 | 18 | 21 | 27 | 17 | 16 | 118 | |
Cameroon | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||
Chile | 18 | 3 | 9 | 30 | ||||
Colombia | 55 | 8 | 19 | 24 | 106 | |||
Czech Republic | 8 | 8 | 15 | |||||
Denmark | 10 | 10 | ||||||
Dominican Republic | 12 | 12 | ||||||
Equatorial Guinea | 70 | 70 | ||||||
Ethiopia | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | |||
Germany (FRG) | 6 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 24 | 90 | |
Honduras | 13 | 13 | ||||||
India | 156 | 161 | 119 | 157 | 276 | 599 | 1466 | |
Indonesia | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Italy | 21 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 20 | 37 | 122 | |
Jordan | 48 | 48 | ||||||
Lithuania | 0 | 0 | ||||||
Mauritius | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Mexico | 4 | 25 | 29 | |||||
Myanmar | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Netherlands | 12 | 12 | ||||||
New Zealand | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 15 | |||
Nigeria | 6 | 12 | 18 | |||||
Paraguay | 6 | 6 | 12 | |||||
Peru | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Philippines | 6 | 4 | 10 | |||||
Poland | 11 | 11 | 9 | 30 | ||||
Portugal | 9 | 3 | 11 | |||||
Russia | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||
Rwanda | 13 | 13 | ||||||
Senegal | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 | ||||
Seychelles | 3 | 3 | ||||||
Singapore | 74 | 57 | 15 | 13 | 43 | 201 | ||
South Africa | 3 | 5 | 8 | |||||
South Korea | 35 | 28 | 24 | 40 | 58 | 185 | ||
Spain | 18 | 27 | 23 | 4 | 71 | |||
Sri Lanka | 11 | 11 | ||||||
Thailand | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | ||||
Turkey | 22 | 9 | 17 | 15 | 63 | |||
Turkmenistan | 0 | 0 | ||||||
United Kingdom | 11 | 31 | 20 | 20 | 24 | 34 | 141 | |
United Nations** | 9 | 9 | ||||||
United States | 15 | 25 | 35 | 35 | 40 | 55 | 205 | |
Unknown recipient(s) | 5 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 31 | 54 | ||
Viet Nam | 26 | 14 | 7 | 68 | 116 | |||
Total | 572 | 449 | 432 | 399 | 694 | 1260 | 3805 |
You can even find out specifically what weapons were sold to whom. The UN leased a drone from Israel for use in Mali; Israel gave Jordan 16 second-hand AH-1F Cobra combat helicopters as a gift in 2015 to help fight ISIS.
Oh, and the weapons Israel did sell to Myanmar? A patrol boat and a second-hand naval gun. Not exactly weapons that are useful to kill the local Muslim population. But that doesn't stop the Independent and Haaretz from pretending that Israel is the major supplier of weapons to enable genocide.
Here is yet another example of how the media simply ignores real facts.
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