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"60 MINUTES" OUTRAGE -- YOU CAN HELP
ACTION ALERT!! UNACCEPTABLE DISTORTIONS IN "60 MINUTES" EPISODE "CHRISTIANS OF THE HOLY LAND" ON APRIL 22ND WRITE TO HEADS OF CBS AND "60 MINUTES" TO DEMAND CORRECTIONS AND EQUAL TIME On Sunday, April 22, CBS` "60 Minutes" ran a shockingly biased episode, "Christians of the Holy Land" by Bob Simon. Even the always diplomatic Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren called the show a "hatchet job" on Israel. You can watch the program here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57417408/Christians-of-the-holy-land/?tag=strip. Ambassador Oren was right. Simon only paid lip service to the violent persecution and flight of ancient Christian communities throughout the region which is the real historical tragedy unfolding in the Middle East. Instead, incomprehensibly, he chose to bash Israel, the only Middle Eastern country that protects Christians. The program scapegoated and demonized Israel, distorting reality to blame Israel`s security measures -- the fence and checkpoints -- for the suffering of Palestinian Christians. Simon interviewed biased and sometimes anti-Semitic sources, treating them as legitimate. He asked leading questions. He dismissed the real reasons for the plight and flight of Palestinian Christians: persecution by Palestinian Islamists and the Palestinian Authority. His shoddy, irresponsible research produced propaganda, not journalism. This dangerous misinformation stokes anti-Israel prejudice and bigotry, shifting public attention away from the forces that are imperiling the survival of Christian communities in the Palestinian Authority and throughout the region. Write to CBS executives. Demand that CBS offer an apology, and give equal time to correct the misinformation and anti-Semitic innuendos. WRITE, E-MAIL, OR PHONE THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS, AND BE SURE TO BLIND COPY INFO@STANDWITHUS.COM IN YOUR E-MAILS.
"60 Minutes"
Jeffrey Fager - Chairman of CBS News, Executive Producer of 60 Minutes 524 West 57th Street, 9th Floor New York, NY 10019-2930 E-mail:60m@cbsnews.com Phone: 212.975.2006 Bill Owens - Executive Editor of "60 Minutes" E-mail:bowens@cbsnews.com Phone: 212.975.7685 CBS News 524 W. 57th Street New York, New York 10019 Feedback E-mail: weekend@cbsnews.com Phone: (212) 975-3247 (Leave a message at the tone.) SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear _______,
We were shocked by the shoddy journalism in your April 22nd "60 Minutes" piece, "Christians of the Holy Land." We urge you to run a corrective piece and publicly apologize for the piece`s irresponsible inaccuracies, misrepresentations, and bias. Bob Simon either unwittingly or intentionally promoted hostility toward Israel and anti-Semitic views. In a pattern that he has repeated in the past, Simon interviewed biased sources and treated them as legitimate. He asked leading questions. More disturbing, he ignored and effectively belittled the real threats to beleaguered Christians, which come from rising Islamist persecution throughout the region and in Gaza and the West Bank. Instead, he focused on the one country in the Middle East that firmly protects the rights of Christians. If allowed to stand uncorrected, this program will have misinformed the public and irreparably damaged the reputation of "60 Minutes," which will no longer be considered a reliable news source. Sincerely, Your Name SELECTED DETAILS ON MISLEADING AND ANTI-SEMITIC INNUENDOS IN "CHRISTIANS OF THE HOLY LAND" Despite the program`s claims, Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians` rights are fully protected and where the Christian population has grown instead of declined in the last 64 years.
FACT SHEET -- Read more about the persecution of Christians by the Palestinian Authority at:WWW.STANDWITHUS.COM/FactSheets/PDFs/PPCPA.pdf. | |
| LUSH Cosmetics Now Giving
"Charity" to Anti-Israel Fanatics: |
| Anti-Israel LUSH Cosmetics is now giving your hard-earned wages to a "charity" called Bustan Qaraaqa which actively advocates against Israel and the "brutality of the military occupation, the Wall and the Settlements". See the latest at |
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Follow Join the Boycott on Twitter @JointheBoycott to get the latest updates. http://twitter.com/#!/jointheboycott
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Yale's latest gift to anti-semitism
By ABBY WISSE SCHACHTER
Last Updated: 12:37 AM, June 7, 2011
Posted: 10:05 PM, June 6, 2011
More Print
Yale University last week killed the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplin ary Study of Antisemitism -- the only program of its kind in the country, an academically stellar one-stop anti-Semitism research shop. Worse, it almost certainly did so because YIISA refused to ignore the most virulent, genocidal and common form of Jew-hatred today: Muslim anti-Semitism.
Citing an official review by a faculty committee that it refuses to identify, Yale will shut down the program at the end of next month. The university's top flack, Director of Strategic Communications Charles "Robin" Hogen, wrote an e-mail claiming that YIISA had failed a key test: It was supposed to "serve the research and teaching interests of some significant group of Yale faculty and . . . be sustained by the creative energy of a critical mass of Yale faculty."
Funny, last year, at YIISA's hugely successful inaugural conference on global anti-Semitism, Yale Deputy Provost Frances Rosenbluth said just the opposite, noting that YIISA was "guided by an outstanding group of scholars from all over the university representing many different disciplines," including professors of history, sociology, comparative languages, psychiatry, economics and political science.
Actually, Hogen's e-mail itself contradicts Yale's stated excuse: He notes that "the steering committee did express continued support for the faculty reading group on anti-Semitism." Plus, "institutional support will remain for the group of faculty who wish to continue their scholarly exploration of this important subject."
Which is it -- no faculty interested in studying anti-Semitism, or lots of faculty interest in studying anti-Semitism?
It apparently depends on which anti-Semitism. Christian anti-Semitism is fine; political Jew-hatred, like communist or fascist anti-Semitism, no problem. But get anywhere near Muslim or Middle Eastern anti-Semitism, as presenters at YIISA's conference did last year, and you've crossed the line.
Yale certainly got an earful after the conference. The PLO representative in America scolded the school's president, Richard Levin, complaining of the
attention paid to anti-Semitism among Palestinians and Muslims.
"It's shocking that a respected institution like Yale would give a platform to these right-wing extremists and their odious views," PLO "Ambassador" Maen Rashid Areikat wrote. "I urge you to publicly dissociate yourself and Yale University from the anti-Arab extremism and hate-mongering that were on display during this conference."
Other attacks came from left-wing bloggers and anti-Israel bigots, as well as one Yale law student who complained about the conference's potential dangers.
Citing the supposed "dangerous landscape on which American Muslims now dwell" to complain about alleged "anti-Muslim bigotry disseminated under Yale's banner of credibility," Yaman Saleh insisted that "the university cannot preach tolerance and inclusion while simultaneously also providing a haven for bigoted ideas about Muslims and Arabs that often form the basis for Islamophobic sentiment in this country."
Funny, there wasn't a peep about bigoted ideas presented under "Yale's banner of credibility" a year earlier, when a lecturer at Yale's new Jackson Center for Global Affairs took her graduate students to New York to visit with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad explained to the students that there is no hard scientific proof that the Holocaust happened.
Neither the lecturer nor the center faced much criticism about meeting with a dictator just a few months after he'd murdered, tortured and terrorized his own citizens to hijack an election.
Yale says that every new research center is reviewed within five years of inception, though wouldn't (couldn't?) name one it had closed. Nor can YIISA appeal the university's decision.
Some suggest that Yale feels it can act with impunity because, earlier this spring, one of YIISA's most powerful backers died; without his money and influence, the school can rid itself of a politically inconvenient nuisance. Alumni might want to keep this in mind the next time Yale hits them up for a donation.
Abby Wisse Schachter authors The Post's politics blog Capitol Punishment (nypost.com/blogs/capitol). awschachter@nypost.com
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/yale_latest_gift_to_anti_semitism_MVRL7G363U30EcMrxe15UM#ixzz1PICRNIjc
In response to an alarming rise in anti-Semitic statements, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has released its “Top Ten Anti-Semitic Slurs of 2010.” The list emphasizes the anti-Jewish statements publicly made by prominent figures from all over the world.
“Never before, in recent memory, has the Simon Wiesenthal Center seen such a proliferation of anti-Semitism going mainstream,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Center adding that “Our list of top ten anti-Semitic slurs runs the gamut of well-known personalities including journalists, government officials, celebrities, a prominent film director, and academics.”
Many of the quotes are classic Jewish conspiracy theories updated to reflect current anxieties, blaming the control of the media and banking sectors on Jews. “Unfortunately, our list shows that anti-Semitic canards normally thought to belong to the lunatic fringe have, in fact, been bought into by major elements of Western society,” Rabbi Hier concluded.
1) Helen Thomas, former UPI Senior White House correspondent
“Jews should get the hell out of Palestine. They should go home to Germany, Poland, America and everywhere else.” -May 2010 “Congress, the White House, Hollywood and Wall Street are owned by Zionists. They put their money where their mouth is.” -December 2010
2) Oliver Stone, film director
“Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it’s been used cheaply. He’s the product of a series of actions. It’s cause and effect.” -January 2010
“Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people,” [there is a greater focus on the Holocaust than on Russian suffering because of] “the Jewish domination of the media.” “There’s a major lobby in the United States,” “They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up U.S. foreign policy for years.” -July 2010
3) Former Malaysian Premier Mahatir Mohammad
“Jews “had always been a problem in European countries. They had to be confined to ghettoes and periodically massacred.” ... “Even after the massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world.” –January 2010
4) Al-Mutawakil Taha, Deputy Minister of Information for the Palestinian Authority
“The Jews have no historical or religious ties to theTemple Mount or the Western Wall. There is no archeological evidence that theTemple Mount was built during the period of King Solomon….” -November 2010
5) Thilo Sarrazin, Central Bank Executive for the German Government
“All Jews have a certain gene ... that makes them different from other people.” -August 2010
6) Karel de Gucht - European Union’s Chief Trade Negotiator
“...Don’t underestimate the power of the Jewish Lobby on Capitol Hill. ... You shouldn’t underestimate the grip it has on American politics, no matter whether it’s Republicans or Democrats.” – September 2010
7) Rick Sanchez, former CNN correspondent
“He’s [Jon Stewart] upset that someone of my ilk is almost at his level… I’m telling you that everyone who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish are an oppressed minority? [sarcastically] Yeah.” – October 2010
8) Dr Petras Stankeras, historian and Interior Ministry advisor, Lithuania
“The [Nuremberg Trial was] the biggest legal farce in history… the legend about six million supposedly murdered Jews acquired a legal basis, even though the court did not have a single document signed by A. Hitler concerning the extermination of Jews….” –2010
9) Christina Patterson journalist, The Independent newspaper, UK
“I would like to teach some of my neighbors some manners… I don’t care if they wear frock coats and funny suits and hats covered in plastic bags and insist on wearing their hair in ringlets (if they’re male) or covered up by wigs (if they’re female), but I do think they could treat their neighbors with a bit more courtesy and respect. I didn’t realize that goyim were about as welcome in the Hasidic Jewish shops as Martin Luther King, Jr. at a Ku Klux Klan convention. I didn’t realize that a purchase by a goy was a crime to be punished with monosyllabic terseness or that bus seats were a potential source of contamination or that road signs and parking restrictions were for people who hadn’t been chosen by G-d.” – 2010
10) Social Networks and Anti-Semitism:
Yahoo Finance, Goldman Sachs Message Boards, 2010:
“da-m jew-s; bernanke and geithner’s free money scheme to the banks destroyed the value of the rational americans savings, and of the chinese economic development of asia.” “And what do ya know, Golden Slacks the leading jewry criminal organization!!! Where`s the Gestapo when you reall need them???” “I never hated people before.Today I hate the guts of JEWS. The JEWS have poisoned America. They have poisoned good people.
I never would have thought that I would hate the JEWS. For what teh JEWS have done to Americans, it is unforgiving…[sic].” “Irony how US always bail out the jews & jews end up screwing USA!!! [sic].”
“Stinking Jews finally getting what they deserve Burn all the jews up [sic]”
FACEBOOK 2010 sites include:
“Kill a Jew Year” and “Kill a Jew Day.”
TWITTER:
“Droppin bows on jew nose, throwin cracks at wetbacks and pullin triggers on filthy…. well you get it.” “mrs. clinton runs scared of wars crimes by isreal the jewish vote rules the usa, usa is not a free minded places a control lap dog of isreal.”
Wiesenthal Center tells Jews not to travel to Sweden
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL AND GIL SHEFLER
12/16/2010 03:34
Human rights organization issues travel advisory because Jews in Sweden "have been subject to anti-Semitic taunts and harassment."
Talkbacks (4)
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Los Angeles-based human rights organization, has taken the unusual step of issuing a travel advisory about security concerns in Sweden because of growing anti-Jewish discrimination.
During a meeting on Tuesday with Sweden’s Justice Minister Beatrice Ask in Stockholm, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, and Dr. Shimon Samuels, who oversees the center’s International Relations department, outlined the reasons for the travel advisory.
RELATED:
WZO launches global effort to fight anti-Semitism
'I see no future for Jews in the Netherlands'
“We reluctantly are issuing this advisory because religious Jews and other members of the Jewish community there have been subject to anti-Semitic taunts and harassment. There have been dozens of incidents reported to the authorities but have not resulted in arrests or convictions for hate crimes”, said the two Wiesenthal Center representatives in a statement.
Cooper and Samuels added that “a contributing factor to this decision has been the outrageous remarks of Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu, who blames the Jewish community for failing to denounce Israel.
The advisory aimed at Jewish travelers urges extreme caution when visiting southern Sweden.
It is not connected to this week’s terrorist bombing in the heart of Stockholm. Critics have accused Reepalu of failing to protect Malmö’s tiny Jewish population from anti-Semitic violence and stoking hatred of Israel.
Writing earlier this year in The Wall Street Journal Europe, Daniel Schwammenthal , an editorial writer for paper, noted that “faced with these attacks on the city’s Jewish population, Malmö’s mayor, Ilmar Reepalu, seems curiously unperturbed by, if not sympathetic to, the attackers.”
While screaming “Sieg Heil” and “Hitler, Hitler” in 2009, a violent mob of Swedish Muslims launched bottles and stones at a pro-Israel demonstration attended by a small number of Jews in the central square of Malmö. Media reports have documented widespread harassment of Jews and Jewish children have routinely been called “dirty Jews.”
Reepalu, a Social Democrat, blamed the city’s Jews for holding the pro-Israel demonstration, saying they refused to “distance” themselves from Israel’s Operation Cast Lead.
“The community chose to hold a pro-Israel demonstration” and that “may convey the wrong message,” said Reepalu.
He also termed Israel’s right to self-determination as a form of extremism by equating Zionism with anti-Semitism. “We accept neither Zionism nor anti-Semitism.
They are extremes that place themselves above other groups they think are less important,” said Reepalu.
Malmö attracted criticism during last year’s Davis Cup tennis match against Israel. The city authorities decided to segregate Israeli players from the competition because of a mass demonstration of roughly 6,000 leftwing and Muslim protesters against Israel. Amir Haddad and Andy Ram, Israel’s top tennis players, had to compete against their Swedish opponents in an empty stadium. Commentators said the authorities capitulated to anti-Israeli mob violence rather than defend the right of bias-free sport events.
It is unclear how long the travel advisory will apply to Sweden.
The Wiesenthal Center reviews its travel advisory every three months.
Many of Malmö’s Jews have fled the city because of the ubiquitous anti-Semitism. In 2009, there was a 50% increase of anti-Semitic attacks when compared to 2008. Approximately 20% of Malmö’s 290,000 residents are Muslims, most of whom are Swedish Arabs.
The Jewish community registered under 700 Jews earlier this year but the number has steadily decreased due to anti-Jewish hostility and a local government, which, according to critics, foments modern anti-Semitism.
Dr. Samuels, from the Wiesenthal Center, said “ It is unacceptable in a democracy committed to protecting its citizens, that the Swedish Jewish community is forced to pay for necessary upgraded security measures to safeguard their lives and property.”
Rabbi Schneur Kesselson, Chabad’s emissary to Malmö, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that he had been harassed dozens of times by locals since he moved there six years ago.
“The vast majority of the attacks have been verbal, usually carried out by people from the Middle Eastern background,” the Chabad rabbi said. “They say not nice things. Usually in Swedish, in English it would be translated as bad Jews. Not anything I’d like to repeat.”
Kesselson recalled one occasion which could have caused him serious injury when he had to dodge a vehicle driven by an individual he said would have run him over. At the same time, the rabbi urged moderation in how the Jewish community should respond to such events.
“I think when we in the Jewish community exaggerate it doesn’t play in our favor,” he said. “If a travel advisory says it’s dangerous for a Jew to travel to Malmö, then it’s an exaggeration.
But if it’s saying hate crime could happen here then it could, and that’s a sad reality.”
Dutch pol: Muslims driving Jews out of the Netherlands
"Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews..." --
Qur'an 5:82
"No future for Dutch Orthodox Jews,'" from Radio Netherlands Worldwide, December
6 thanks to Fjordman:
Prominent VVD politician Frits Bolkestein believes there is no future for
'active' Jews in the Netherlands. The conservative politician made his remarks
in an interview with freesheet De Pers.
>In the interview, Mr Bolkestein says that when he talks about active Jews he
>means those who are recognisable as such, for instance Orthodox Jews. The former
>EU Commissioner says there is no future for this group in the Netherlands
>because of "the anti-Semitism among Dutchmen of Moroccan descent, whose numbers
>keep growing''.
>He feels that this group of Jews should encourage their children to emigrate to
>either the United States or Israel, because he has little confidence in the
>effectiveness of the government's proposals for fighting anti-Semitism....
Helen Thomas again
Helen Thomas Stands by Her Previous Israel Criticisms, Makes New Ones
3 days ago
Six months after the uproar that led to her forced retirement, Helen Thomas once again courted controversy, standing by her earlier comments on Israel and going further to claim that Zionists control U.S. policy, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday.
Thomas, a member of the White House press corps for 50 years, doubled down on her criticisms of Israel during a speech Thursday in Dearborn, Mich., on the topic of money in politics.
"Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists. No question, in my opinion," Thomas, 90, told an audience of about 300 during a workshop on anti-Arab bias. "They put their money where their mouth is . . . We're being pushed into a wrong direction in every way."
In June, Hearst Newspapers announced Thomas, an Arab-American, would be retiring immediately after she told an interviewer on camera that Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home" to Germany, Poland or the U.S.
As they did last summer, Jewish groups once again condemned her remarks.
"Ms. Thomas repeated the anti-Semitic stereotypes that have been used for more than a century to incite hatred of Jews. Her comments should be condemned by all people who oppose bigotry," Robert Cohen, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit, told the Free Press Friday.
ADL fighting the wrong thing
Abe Foxman get a big fat salary for heading the ADL, a group supposedly committed to fighting anti-Semtism. In the last 15 years, there have been near 4,000 comments or press releases from ADL on anti-Semitism. 1.4% dealt with Islamic radicalism, 1.3% with Arabs, and over 43% with Christians and right wingers . Do you think this distribution reflects the threat to Jews today in the U.S or abroad?
http://tinyurl.com/27sp3p3
It turns out that there are 9 times as many anti Semitic hate crimes ,as those directed against Muslims.http://tinyurl.com/23496wb
Mr Foxman this is the issue
British Muslim Schools Teach Saudi Hatred of Jews and Israelis
by Chana Ya'ar
Follow Israel news on Twitter and Facebook.
A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news program, Panorama, reported Monday night that children in Britain are being taught in a Saudi national curriculum on the weekends to hate Jews, Israelis and homosexuals.
The textbooks being used to teach some 5,000 Muslim children Shari'a law in 40 weekend schools are reportedly using the Saudi Arabia national curriculum. According to the segment "British Schools Muslim Rules," children as young as six years old are being taught that those who do not believe in Islam die in “hellfire.”
Students are asked by one of the textbooks to list the “reprehensible” qualities of Jews, the program reports...
The textbooks include content claiming that some Jews are transformed into pigs and apes, and that Zionists want to establish world domination by Jews.
Palestinian terrorism=Nazism
Giulio Meotti's book about Palestinian terrorism tells a truth many =
Westerners don't want to hear.
=20
By =
"A New Shoa: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism," is a =
hard read. Not because it is badly written; it is clear, precise, and =
eloquent. It is a hard read because it is deeply moving=E2=80=94many =
times, I had to stop reading and catch my breath, wipe away the tears. =
Giulio Meotti, an Italian author and journalist, has written a =
monumental study of pain and grief, of mourning and remembrance, of =
hatred and love.
The book's title is well-chosen. From the very first pages, Mr. Meotti =
makes clear that he considers Palestinian terrorism and Arab hatred of =
Israel and the Jews the continuation of Nazi anti-Semitism. He shows =
that Palestinian and Arab rhetoric is focused on Jews=E2=80=94not just =
Israelis. The dream of the Islamists is to destroy the Jewish people, =
not just the sliver of land called Israel.
This is not a matter of opinion but of facts, which Mr. Meotti's =
well-researched book provides in abundance. Take just this recent =
example from a public speech by Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, aired on =
Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV on November 5, 2010:=20
"Allah willing, their [the Jews'] expulsion from Palestine in its =
entirety is certain to come. We are no weaker or less honorable than the =
peoples that expelled and annihilated the Jews. The day we expel them is =
drawing near. . . .=20
"There is no place for you [Jews] among us, and you have no future among =
the nations of the world. You are headed to annihilation."
These words move far beyond a conflict about territory=E2=80=94the =
underlying emotion is genocidal rage. Mr. Meotti's list of murderous =
anti-Semitism by Palestinian leaders and media is exhausting. But it is =
a list the Western media ignore as it would destroy the prevailing =
narrative that the Mideast conflict is about land and Palestinian =
suffering. It isn't. It is about that old sickness, Jew-hatred.=20
Mr. Meotti's other great achievement is to record the stories of the =
Jews who died as a result of this hatred and preserve their memories. He =
recalls victims who were trying to lead an ordinary life in a unique =
country. They were on their way to work, to the market, to see friends =
when the murderers crossed their paths, themselves dying in the fires =
they unleashed.
The roll of victims is long. "This is the Ground Zero of Israel, the =
first country ever to experience suicide terrorism on a mass scale," Mr. =
Meotti writes, "more than 150 suicide attacks carried out, plus more =
than 500 prevented. It's a black hole that in 15 years swallowed up =
1,557 people and left 17,000 injured."=20
It must have been almost unbearable to write this book. Mr. Meotti gave =
the Jewish victims names and faces and, amid all that horror, packed his =
book also with descriptions of hundreds of acts of human kindness and =
dignity.
"There is a long, heartbreaking list of teenage Jewish girls whose lives =
were cut off in a moment by a suicide bomber," Mr. Meotti writes. =
"Rachel Teller's mother decided to donate her daughter's heart and =
kidneys: 'That is my answer to the hyena who took my daughter's life. =
With her death, she will give life to two other people.' Rachel wore her =
hair very short and had a wistful smile. Her friends remembered the last =
time they saw her. 'We said bye-bye, a little bit bored, like it was =
nothing. Instead, it was the last time we said goodbye to Rachel.'"
The book is filled with these moments of intense pain, but this 400-page =
study of Jewish love of life is indispensable for anybody who wants to =
understand Israel's position in the world and the tragic position of the =
Jews in history.=20
There is the story of Massoud Mahlouf Allon, who was an observant Jewish =
immigrant from Morocco. "He was mutilated, bludgeoned and beaten to =
death while giving poor Palestinians the blankets he had collected from =
Israelis," Mr. Meotti recounts.=20
Or the disabled Arnad, who was blown up in the seat of his motorized =
wheelchair in Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda market.=20
Or Nissan Cohen, who was a teenager when he fled from Afghanistan. =
"During the day he helped handicapped children, and at night he studied =
the Gemarra, the commentary on the Law. A bomb killed him at the =
entrance to the Mahane Yehuda market."
This book doesn't dumb down evil. It doesn't try to understand =
terrorists as victims of their socio-economic circumstances, doesn't =
miscategorize them as poor or uneducated (they are often middle class) =
or driven allegedly to despair by the very same people they murdered. =
No, in "A New Shoah," the terrorists remain what they are, the executors =
of a hate-filled religious ideology. This is a truth too many Westerners =
still don't want to hear.
My own Dutch publishing house, the distinguished De Bezige Bij, born out =
of the Dutch resistance against the Nazis, refused to publish this =
amazing book. It had no qualms, however, about publishing a book of =
anti-Zionist rants by Dries van Agt, the former Dutch prime minister and =
Hamas apologist.=20
In a Continent stuck in denial about both Palestinian anti-Semitism and =
Europe's own resurgent Jew-hatred, hidden behind the label of =
anti-Zionism, Mr. Meotti's hard read is a breath of fresh air.
Mr. de Winter is a Dutch novelist. His latest book is "The Right of =
Return" (De Bezige Bij ,2008).=20
Murdoch on Anti-Semitism
The Press Magnate Warns of a War Against the Jews
Editorial of The New York Sun | October 14, 2010
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/murdoch-on-anti-semitism/87113/
It will be some time before a major public figure confronts the question of anti-Semitism in a speech as to the point as that delivered last night by Rupert Murdoch to the annual banquet of the Anti-Defamation League in New York. The honoree of the evening, he noted that the League has been so successful that a few years ago some people were beginning to say, “Maybe we don’t need an ADL any more.” That, he said, “is a much harder argument to make these days” when, as he put it, “we live in a world where there is an ongoing war against the Jews.”
The war has, moreover, entered what the world’s most successful newspaper magnate called a new phase. The first phase had been “conventional in nature,” with the goal “to use military force to overrun Israel.” He described the approach as having failed, even before the Berlin Wall came down. Phase two was terrorism, targeting Israelis both home and abroad — “from the massacre of Israeli athletes at Munich to the second intifada.” He noted that the terrorists “continue to target Jews across the world” but observed that they haven’t succeeded in bringing down the government of Israel or weakening Israel’s resolve
The new phase of the war is what Mr. Murdoch called “the soft war that seeks to isolate Israel by delegitimizing it.” It’s a war in which, he said, “[t]he battleground is everywhere,” such as the press and broadcasting, multinational organizations and non-governmental organizations. The aim is the same, “to make Israel a pariah.” The result, Mr. Murdoch said, “is the curious situation we have today: Israel becomes increasingly ostracized, while Iran – a nation that has made no secret of wishing Israel’s destruction – pursues nuclear weapons loudly, proudly, and without apparent fear of rebuke.”
What worries Mr. Murdoch most is what he called “the disturbing new home that anti-Semitism has found in polite society — especially in Europe” and the way “violence and extremism are encouraged when the world sees Israel’s greatest ally” — America — “distancing herself from the Jewish state.” He asserted today it seems that the “most virulent strains” of anti-Semitism “come from the left,” often dressed up “as legitimate disagreement with Israel.”
He quoted Lawrence Summers’ warning, back when he was president of Harvard: “Where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israeli have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists, profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities. Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent.”
Mr. Murdoch, however, did not reserve his warning merely for the university elites. He warned that anti-Semitism today “enjoys support at both the highest and lowest reaches of European society — from its most elite politicians to its largely Muslim ghettoes. European Jews find themselves caught in this pincer.” He quoted a European Commission trade minister who declared that peace in the Middle East is impossible because of the Jewish lobby in America — and, savvy editor that he is, went on to deconstruct the minister’s language, which was:
“There is indeed a belief — it’s difficult to describe it otherwise — among most Jews that they are right. And it’s not so much whether these are religious Jews or not. Lay Jews also share the same belief that they are right. So it is not easy to have, even with moderate Jews, a rational discussion about what is actually happening in the Middle East.” Quoth Mr. Murdoch: “This minister did not suggest the problem was any specific Israeli policy. The problem, as he defined it, is the nature of the Jews.”
Mr. Murdoch took on the Swedish mayor who responded to riots against a visiting Israeli tennis team by equating Zionism with anti-Semitism “and suggesting,” as Mr. Murdoch put it, “that Swedish Jews would be safer in his town if they distanced themselves from Israeli actions in Gaza.” He noted that the Norwegian government “forbids a Norwegian-based, German shipbuilder from using its waters to test a submarine being built for the Israeli navy.” He also noted that Britain and Spain are boycotting an OECD tourism meeting in Jerusalem and that in the Low Lands, police are reporting a 50% increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents.
For Mr. Murdoch, what this underlines is the importance of good relations between Israel and America. “Some believe that if America wants to gain credibility in the Muslim world and advance the cause of peace, Washington needs to put some distance between itself and Israel,” he said. “My view is the opposite. Far from making peace more possible, we are making hostilities more certain. Far from making things better for the Palestinian people, sour relations between the United States and Israel guarantees that ordinary Palestinians will continue to suffer. The peace we all want will come when Israel feels secure — not when Washington feels distant.”
The most significant part of Mr. Murdoch’s speech, by our lights, came toward the end, when the man who owns the biggest newspaper in Britain reached down deep and spoke of the testimony presented to a British commission back in 1937 by the Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky, who urged Britain to open up what Mr. Murdoch called “an escape route for Jews fleeing Europe.” He quoted Jabotinsky, who went on to write a famous book called “The Jewish War Front” and emerged as one of the Founding Fathers of Israel, as saying that only a Jewish homeland could protect European Jews from the coming calamity. Then, calling Jabotinsky’s words “prophetic,” he quoted one his most famous formulations: “It is not the anti-Semitism of men. It is, above all, the anti-Semitism of things, the inherent xenophobia of the body social or the body economic under which we suffer.”
* * *
It is still the anti-Semitism of things, and it is a radical, a newsworthy speech to say so. And it is something — we would even say inspiring — to think that the most powerful press lord on the planet can take the stage on this head and reach deep into history and conclude that Jabotinsky is a prophet for our times. Mr. Murdoch was not saying that we are on the brink of another Holocaust. “The world of 2010 is not the world of the 1930s. The threats Jews face today are different,” he said. But he was marking that we are in a serious moment. “These threats are real,” he concluded. “These threats are soaked in an ugly language familiar to anyone old enough to remember World War II. And these threats cannot be addressed until we see them for what they are: part of an ongoing war against the Jews.
When ‘Bigotry’ Backfires: The Rick Sanchez Affair
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Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Abraham H. Foxman
Special To The Jewish Week
So now CNN host Rick Sanchez has added his name to the long list of public figures, here and abroad, who accuse the Jews of control, in this case of control of the television news business. Others gear the accusation to the media in general or the entertainment world or government or the international economy.
For those of you who may have missed his remarks, which nearly overnight turned the popular, pugnacious host of CNN’s “Rick’s List” into the ranks of the unemployed, here’s a quick recap: In a Sept. 30 interview with the comedian Pete Dominick on satellite radio, Sanchez suggested that as a Cuban-American, he had experienced subtle forms of discrimination in his career as a television reporter and anchor. He then accused Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show” of being “a bigot.”
When pressed on that characterization by one of the show’s hosts, who pointed out that Stewart was Jewish and like Sanchez a member of a minority group, Sanchez’s response was to suggest that, “Everybody that runs CNN is a lot like Stewart. And a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart. And to imply that somehow they — the people in this country who are Jewish — are an oppressed minority? Yeah.” CNN fired Sanchez on Friday, a day after the interview.
As often is the case with these situations, it took an unguarded moment for Sanchez to reveal his own bigotry, ironically, in awkwardly fashioning the same accusation against another media type. And there it was again: the age-old conspiracy theory about Jewish control of the news media, this time brought to the fore by a well-known television personality with a loyal audience following on CNN.
What’s interesting about a person like Sanchez making this claim is that he is not an extremist, not a religious fanatic and not an ideologue.
Jewish conspiracy theories coming from extreme anti-Semites are par for the course and a recurring theme in the history of the Jewish people. In the Middle Ages it took the form of blood libel charges or accusations that Jews were responsible for the Black Plague because it was said that they were poisoning the wells. In modern times, the infamous phony document “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,” allegedly the secret plan of Jewish leaders to take over the world, resonated and still resonates with millions.
It is true that there are many Jewish executives and owners of news outlets and entertainment vehicles. There is nothing wrong with saying that — indeed, Jewish accomplishments in these areas are something to be proud of. But to say that Jews control these areas is a whole other thing. That reflects the age-old canard because it doesn’t focus on individual Jews who may have a talent for these fields (like non-Jewish Americans who have talents in their fields), but suggests Jews working in conspiracy to serve their narrow interests. Anti-Semites never sees Jews as individuals but rather as a coordinated group to serve Jewish interests against the interests of others.
The fact that individuals who are not usually associated with extremism feel comfortable making similar charges shows how deeply embedded such ideas are in Western civilization, even in America, where by any standard anti-Semitism is not as powerful a force as it has been historically and as it continues to be in other parts of the world.
Some of the more well-known examples of this kind of thing include filmmaker Oliver Stone’s recent reference to “Jewish domination of the media;” Mel Gibson’s notorious comment in 2006 that “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world;” and Ralph Nader’s statement in 2004 that the “Israeli puppeteer travels to Washington, meets with the puppet in the White House and goes down Pennsylvania Avenue and meets with the puppets in Congress.”
Others in the mainstream who have voiced similar themes were Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia, who in 2003 suggested that we are at war in Iraq because of American Jews, and country singer and entertainer Dolly Parton, who in a 1994 Vogue interview blamed Jews in Hollywood for not getting her pet project produced.
There is a tendency to want to shrug off these sad cases as not typical of what America is about. And surely, we should keep such statements, no matter how disturbing, in perspective. However, they do speak to what is unique about anti-Semitism and what urges all of us not to be complacent about the subject even when and where things are a lot better than they used to be.
Anti-Semitism shares with other forms of hatred a number of well-documented elements such as stereotyping, discrimination and fear of difference.
What has been the special characteristic of anti-Semitism and what goes a long way to explain why it has lasted so long, why it has been so lethal and why it exists in so many contradictory settings is the idea that Jews are not what they appear to be, that they are, in fact, secretive, poisonous, all-powerful and acting as a cabal.
As a result, since according to this view, reality is not what it seems to be, Jews can be and frequently are conjured up for all kinds of ills of mankind.
Is the Rick Sanchez episode important? Yes — not because of his influence, which I would hope will be in decline, but because this dangerous notion has shown a resiliency and life of its own, even in very surprising places. n
Abraham H. Foxman is the national director of the Anti-Defamation League. His books include “The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and the Myth of Jewish Control” and the forthcoming “Jews and Money: The Story of a Stereotype” (Palgrave Macmillan, November 2010).
UN Poisons Its Human Rights Mission - Irwin Cotler
The UN Human Rights Council is the mandated UN body responsible for the promotion and protection of international human rights. But the council has turned its mandate on its head. It has turned a blind eye to the world's most serious human rights violators, failing to adopt any resolution or investigative mandate for such human rights violator countries as China, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Russia or Iran, to name but a few - all being listed on Freedom House's list of the 20 worst human rights abusers. While the UN General Assembly calls for countries to be elected to the council based on their human rights records, 24 out of 47 present members (51%) fail to meet fundamental standards of democracy and human rights.
Since its 2006 creation, 80% of the council's resolutions have singled out one member state - Israel - for differential and discriminatory treatment, thereby breaching the UN charter's foundational principle of "equality for all nations, large and small." The tragedy in all this is that a UN body, established for the protection of human rights, has become a human rights violator. In particular, these violations now take place under the protective cover of the UN, invoking the imprimatur of international law and marching under the banner of human rights. The writer is a former minister of justice and attorney-general of Canada. (The Australian)
No the Jews did not kill Jesus.. from one of my students Andy in Scotland
The stories in the christian teachings are so full of holes that it wouldn't even make a good script for a low budget detective show.
The account were written between the years 65 and 100, at least 30 years after the events by people who did not witness the events.
Jesus was arrest, tired, convicted, and executed by Romans authorities, in the Roman manner, as he was a political threat to Roman authority having be proclaimed king of the Jews.
The trial before the Sanhedrin, as described in the writings, could not have happened for several reasons, these are just a few of them -
1. The Sanhedrin only sat during the day and not at night, on the sabbath, on the night preceding the sabbath or on Jewish holidays.
2. Meeting on the night before a Jewish holiday, the reaching of a guilty verdict on the first sitting of a trial, or execution by crucifixion, would have all been violations of Jewish law.
3. The safeguards put in place by Jewish law make it very difficult to set a death sentence. A Sanhedrin that bought such a verdict more than once in seven years was considered a 'bloody Sanhedrin' according to the Mishna.
4. It is highly unlikely that a Jewish court would have handed a prisoner over to the Romans for execution.
5. If such a court had met it would not have been a regular Sanhedrin. It would have been a kangaroo court run, possibly, by a group of wealthy individual anxious to cooperate with the Romans, but it would not have been any established Jewish authority.
6. Pontis Pilot is know to have been a slaughterer of many peoples such as the Sumerians and the Galileans as evidenced in contemporary writings and chronicles. Since he was known for his cruel and violent treatment of people his portrayal in the writings is unrealistic and incompatible with the facts. It is most likely that the responsibility was shifted from Pilot for political reasons and to allay the Roman's suspicions regarding christianity.
7. Placing the blame for 'deiocide' on the Jews also served the christians as their focus was now on gaining converts from the pagan world.
The catholic church, through the vatican, has made it a sin to talk about it such a way or to use it as a basis for antisemitism.
Even if a few Jews were involved what has that got to do with Jews living today?
This story, and all of it's inaccuracies and falsehoods, has been used as a reason and an excuse for antisemitism and murder of millions of Jews for centuries - it is time for it to stop.
British prime minister comes out of closet
_____
Posted: August 02, 2010
1:00 am Eastern
By Joel Richardson
C 2010
When Ellen DeGeneres publicly came out of the closet as a lesbian, she did
so with a cover spread on People magazine and a large caption proclaiming,
"Yep, I'm gay." But coming out as gay is so '90s. Today's trendsetters have
a much bolder message to proclaim: "We hate Jews, and we're proud of it!"
Last week, the latest anti-Semite to come out of the closet was British
Prime Minister David Cameron.
In particularly flamboyant fashion, Cameron made his coming-out proclamation
via a press conference in Ankara standing side by side with his partner, the
Islamic world's latest anti-Semitic hero, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan.
Due to his blossoming-Hitler persona, Erdogan has recently emerged in the
Islamic world as more popular than even Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad or Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah. And while the perennial scene
of angry Islamists burning Israeli flags rarely changes, there has emerged a
new element to these hate-fests. The latest and hottest trend combines
burning Israeli flags with hoisting placards of Erdogan high in the air.
"Itbah Al-Yahood! Ya Erdogan!" "Slaughter the Jews! Yeah Erdogan!"
Ever since Prime Minister Erdogan's lunatic anti-Semitic rant at Davos last
year (shouting at Shimon Peres, Erdogan spewed, "You know very well how to
kill babies!"), many Turks, including the ruling Justice and Development
Party, have been celebrating an extended Jew-hating coming-out party with
some gatherings drawing thousands. And lest anyone claim that the exploding
Jew-hatred in Turkey has been limited to peaceful anti-Zionist political
sentiment, then I would point out the "We will kill you!" slogan painted on
the doors of one of the largest synagogues in Izmir, or the "Do not buy from
this business; it is owned by a Jew!" poster glued onto a storefront in
Istanbul. Neither of these hate crimes had anything to do with Israelis or
"Zionists".
Indeed, the world has watched Turkey all but abandon its Westward push for
EU membership and turn its affinities both East and South to the radical
nations of Syria, Sudan, Libya and Iran.
So no doubt, this was no mistake on Prime Minister Cameron's part.
By standing before the cameras with Erdogan at his side and lashing out at
Israel, the British prime minister has made it clear where his affections
lie - and where they do not.
But not only did Cameron choose to make his coming-out appearance next to
Prime Minister Erdogan, he also carefully chose highly loaded terms. "The
Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable," Cameron
said, adding "Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp."
Let's see, when I hear the term "prison camps," what immediately springs to
mind?
That's right. The British prime minister has equated the State of Israel,
"Democracy's outpost in the Middle East", to a modern reincarnation of
Hitler's Third Reich. If he denies this was his intention, then he would
have to admit that he is a blithering moron. But I have yet to see any
public apology. Not at all. Instead he has stood firmly by his choice of
words.
Even the BBC had to admit that no British prime minister has ever made such
overtly harsh comments regarding Israel.
Erdogan, no doubt, was thrilled to have England hopping on board the
Turkish/Iranian-led anti-Israel propaganda campaign. After the fallout of
the flotilla incident, it has emerged that Erdogan was closely connected to
the owner of the Mavi Marmara boat that carried the martyrdom-seeking
Jew-haters chanting their Islamist songs:
"Remember (the slaughter of) Khaibar oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will
return!"
Then in classic tag-team fashion, Erdogan slapped Cameron's hand, jumped in
front of the microphone and compared Israel to Somalian pirates.
I suppose those would be Nazi pirates then.
(Column continues below)
http://view.atdmt.com/INV/view/249561002/direct/01/
In considering Erdogan's absurd and irrational babblings, one has to wonder
how sane he even is:
"[T]his attack . can only be termed as piracy. There is no other way to
describe it. . The pirates are there in Somalia and we take our measures."
Ironically, last month, Erdogan even called Israel an "adolescent, rootless
state."
I know you are, but what am I?
This is the depth to which the diplomatic and personal maturity level of
international leaders has fallen.
Thankfully there have been a few voices of reason that have responded to
such folly. The former Israeli deputy minister of defense, Ephraim Sneh,
lashed back:
Cameron is right - Gaza is a prison camp, but those who control the prison
are Hamas. I'm totally against the double standards of a nation which fights
the Taliban but is showing its solidarity with their brothers, Hamas . It's
very regrettable that the British PM doesn't understand that. It reflects a
lack of understanding and is a very bad sign. Cameron doesn't understand
that 1.5 million people live in Gaza under the repressive regime of Hamas -
and yet he blames Israel.
One would also have to ask if Cameron is aware that within the very charter
of Hamas, the group that he has chosen to side with, is the Islamic
apocalyptic tradition that makes Hitler's "Mein Kampf" seem mild:
[T]he Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to realize the promise of Allah,
no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon
him, says: "The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the
Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each
tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew
behind me, come and kill him'" (Hamas Charter, Article 7)
Wherever Israel looks these days, she finds her former friends coming out of
the closet as Jew-haters. Several years ago, few would have believed that
Turkey would be among the new anti-Semites. Two years ago, few would have
believed that the British prime minister would join the Jew-hater's ranks.
Shame on you, Mr. Cameron!
Thankfully here in the United States, there still remains a strong base of
support for Israel. But as so many have mourned of late, "elections have
consequences." If we the people of the United States continue to allow
ourselves to be governed by reckless leftists who refuse to represent us,
there is little question that the United States will be the next in line to
come join the Jew-hating nations of the earth.
We cannot allow this to happen.
_____
Joel Richardson is the author of
co-author with Walid Shoebat of
Oliver Stone's antisemitism
to Showtime send your individual protest to
Showtime, Chairman's email address:
Matthew.Blank@showtime.net
boycott all Stone's
"Does Showtime really need an irresponsible ideologue creating a series that
purports to "understand" Hitler in context? I deeply resent Stone's ignorant
and uninformed assertion that Jewish control of the media is preventing an
open discussion of the Holocaust. There has been open discussion of the
Holocaust for decades. Honest Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic scholars from
the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland,
the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia, and Israel have worked diligently to
understand and make publically available knowledge of the Holocaust,
National Socialism, and Hitler. Stone's cheap attempt to get media attention
cannot compare to the enormous amount of honest work that has been done on
these subjects. Speaking personally, I have devoted more than half a century
to this endeavor. Moreover, I have lectured on the Holocaust in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Israel and France, including
lectures at Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, and major German universities.
I understand that Stone has "apologized," a cheap and costless gesture after
the damage has been done. He has impugned the honesty and integrity of
hundreds of scholars who have devoted their careers to this study. When HBO
and some of the other major studios produced films on the Holocaust and
National Socialism, they have at least used internationally recognized
consultants like Dr. Michael Berenbaum to get their facts straight.
Stone has demonstrated that he is incapable of producing an honest
historical work on Hitler, Stalin, and the Holocaust. If Showtime must
proceed, it can retrieve its reputation by replacing Stone with a
knowledgeable producer who is untainted by the demons that appear to plague
Stone.
Richard L. Rubenstein, STM (Harvard Divinity School); PhD (Harvard);
Post-doctoral Fellow (Yale)"
"
Explosion Outside Swedish Synagogue (World Jewish Congress)
A firecracker exploded on the steps of the synagogue in the Swedish city of Malmo on Friday, a day after a bomb threat was taped to the building. Three windows were shattered.
See also Suburban Washington Synagogue Vandalized - Maria Glod (Washington Post)
Vandals struck an Olney, Md., synagogue early Monday, spray-painting swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on the outside walls, parking lot and light posts
Boycott all Oliver Stone productions-clear antisemitism
Oliver Stone says that Hitler caused more damage to the Russian people than to Jewish people, but that the American focus on the Holocaust stems from the "Jewish domination of the media."
"Hitler was a Frankenstein but there was also a Dr Frankenstein," Stone said (via The Telegraph). "German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support...
"Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than [to] the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed]." ( difference Stone does not get was he wanted to exterminate the jews, but the Russians, who suffered grievously was causalities of war.)
The reason few people know this, according to Stone?
"The Jewish domination of the media," he said. "There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States "
Will the Presbyterians side with the murderers, suicide bombers, terrorists, /
Presbyterians Debate Anti-Israel Measures
July 8, 2010
Dear Friend of Israel,
The Presbyterian Church (USA) -- one of the “mainline” Protestant denominations that used to make up the religious establishment in this country -- is once again embroiled in controversy for its stance on Israel. In the past, the denomination was at the forefront of the anti-Israel divestment movement. At its biennial General Assembly the group has considered an array of resolutions and statements harshly critical of Israel.
As I write this, the PCUSA is again holding its General Assembly, and is again considering adopting controversial statements against Israel. On the agenda this year is a report titled “Breaking Down the Walls” by the church’s Middle East Study Committee (MESC). Critics have lambasted the report for legitimizing doubts about Israel’s right to exist, for endorsing a notorious document authored by virulently anti-Israel Palestinian leaders , and for calling on both Iran and Israel to “refrain from nuclear arms proliferation” -- as if peaceful, democratic Israel and bellicose, authoritarian, Israel-hating Iran pose a similar threat to the Middle East.
But the tide may be turning against the anti-Israel faction in the PCUSA. It is significant and heartening to note that more and more people, including Presbyterians, are speaking out against the MESC report. One pastoral letter signed by a number of prominent Presbyterians called the report “unbalanced, historically inaccurate, theologically flawed, and politically damaging.” Guastav Niebuhr, a prominent religion writer and great-nephew of Reinhold Niebuhr, perhaps the preeminent Protestant theologian of the 20th century, said in a blog post co-written with Katharine Henderson that the report “strays from this path to peace-building and instead deals in neatly-assigned roles Israel as oppressor, Palestinians as victims.”
Still, the fact that such resolutions are even considered for approval at all is a sign that the anti-Israel sentiment in mainline Protestant denominations like the PCUSA runs deep. Despite their lessening influence, the decisions made by these denominations do have an effect on public opinion, and can help influence policy. That is why we must continue to hope and pray that their influence diminishes and that the influence of the majority of Christians who love and support Israel continues to rise.
The PCUSA likely won’t make a decision on “Breaking Down the Walls” until their General Assembly ends later this week. But there is much you can do as this denominational debate continues. First, you can stay abreast of these developments on our Stand for Israel blog. If you are a member of a PCUSA congregation, ask your pastor to speak out against this anti-Israel document. Voice your support for Israel in the political realm. And, of course, pray that the world will come to a truer understanding of the dynamics in the Middle East and stand united in support of God’s chosen people.
With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President
Obama's anti-semitism czar is doing nothing about anti-semitism
Our Confused Special Envoy on Anti-Semitism
Gregg Rickman July 5th 2010
Cutting Edge human rights analyst
Jewish Topics - Hannan Rosenthal
Hannah Rosenthal
Last December, the Obama Administration's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat anti-Semitism Hannah Rosenthal attacked Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren for not toeing the J-Street line regarding his own country thereby taking J-Street's soft approach to terrorism against Israel. In March, in London at the Community Security Trust Dinner, while ostensibly discussing her work on anti-Semitism, she called for more effort in the fight against Islamaphobia. And most recently, in Kazakhstan at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), she again called for increased work to fight the problem. I am confused. Is she the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism or Islamaphobia?
In Kazakhstan for the OSCE's Conference on Intolerance, our envoy Hannah Rosenthal said the following, according to JTA, “In the OSCE region, for example, the free practice of Islam is severely constrained in different ways—from overt prejudices to non-support for structures that allow religious observance. In some participating States, Muslim communities have great difficulty operating mosques not controlled or sanctioned by the state, sometimes resulting in problematic penalties for this activity. In some states, in fact, one can't even build a mosque. In some states, registration systems often disproportionately burden small Muslim religious communities, and some countries' legal systems ban personal religious expression—restrictions which inevitably limit freedoms we all hold dear.”
In a compliment to Rosenthal's speech, Farah Pandith, the State Deparment's talented emissary to Muslim communities delivered the speech Rosenthal should have. Again according to JTA, Pandith said, “In addition to an increased number of violent attacks against Jews and synagogues in Europe and elsewhere, 2009 saw growing incidents of harassment of Jewish children in their schools; desecration of Jewish institutions; and increasingly violent and virulent rhetoric in graffiti, as well as in various media. In recent weeks, we have seen legitimate criticism of Israeli government policies cross the line into anti-Semitism. Natan Sharansky teaches us that anti-Israel sentiment crosses the line into anti-Semitism if Israel is demonized, delegitimized or held to a different standard than any other country.”
Now, its obvious they devised a clever way to show the inclusiveness of the fight against intolerance. Pandith, a capable smart diplomat has worked hard to bring the argument of tolerance to Muslim communities in Europe and elsewhere and should be commended for her work. Yet, Rosenthal seems to continue her stray from her main job fighting anti-Semitism. Her consistent attention to Islamaphobia suggests a real sympathy for those very people who lead the way in attacking Jews in Europe. The meeting she addressed in Kazakhstan was part of the work of a number of European institutions' efforts at combating intolerance. Yet, like Rosenthal, Europeans have been almost as reluctant to label the origins of the massive increase in anti-Semitism there as coming from the continents' Muslim immigrants.
In 2003, a leaked version of a report from the European Union's Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia explained that “Physical attacks on Jews and the desecration and destruction of synagogues were acts often committed by young Muslim perpetrators in the monitoring period.” The EUMC was afraid to release the report lest Muslim reactions be too great. Moreover, the EUMC reported that there was a shift in public perception of the perpetrators of anti-Semitic events. Their report noted that the French Human Rights Commission (CNCDH) suggested that the increase in anti-Semitic attacks arose from “youth from neighborhoods sensitive to the conflict.” During the years 2001–2002, Danish Jewish victims as well as witnesses routinely reported attacks from “Arabic/Palestinian/Muslim background as being the main perpetrators.” In a June 2002 statement, a French government spokesman suggested that anti-Semitic incidents were carried out by “poorly integrated youths of Muslim origin who would like to bring the Mideast conflict to France.” Finally, in a European Union's Agency for Fundamental Rights report of February 2009, it was reported that “Anti-Semitic activity after 2000 is increasingly attributed to a “new anti-Semitism”, characterized [sic] primarily by the vilification of Israel as the “Jewish collective” and perpetrated primarily by members of Europe's Muslim population.”
In Summer 2004, Timothy M. Savage, a career Foreign Service officer wrote in the Washington Quarterly, “The Muslim factor is adding contours to Europe's domestic and foreign policy landscape in more than just demographic and geographical terms. The European-Islamic nexus is spinning off a variety of new phenomena, including the rise of terrorism; the emergence of a new anti-Semitism; the shift of established European political parties to the right; the recalibration of European national political calculations; additional complications for achieving an ever closer EU; and a refocusing, if not a reformulation, of European foreign policy.”
The points in Savage's article, cleared for publication by the State Department, are echoed in part, by Pandith's remarks in Kazakhstan. Rosenthal, however, is afraid to say what the Department let another of its employees say in print a few years ago, what Pandith said in Kazakhstan, and institutions and private citizens in Europe have been saying in one way or the other for most of this decade.
Our Special Envoy seems to be interested in fighting intolerance of many sorts, which is admirable if her job was to do that. Yet as her responsibilities are by her title limited to anti-Semitism, it is curious that she cannot find enough anti-Semitism to fight around the world so she has to migrate to other issues. According to the Roth Institute at Tel Aviv, anti-Semitic incidents doubled in 2009. Incidents in Canada, Great Britain, France and other European countries are on the same pace and steadily mounting with no end in sight. Is Rosenthal not seeing these numbers?
At the end of the day, it seems that our country's point person on anti-Semitism is highly confused and has spent the past seven or so months fighting the wrong fight. As such, I believe it is time for the Administration to reappoint her to the new title of “Special Envoy to Monitor Islamaphobia” and appoint someone else who cares more about the fate and welfare of Jews persecuted through anti-Semitism around the world than the Muslims that persecute them. Our Special Envoy is not doing her job.
Cutting Edge human rights analyst Gregg J. Rickman served as the first U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism from 2006–2009.
Remember Obama attended Farrakhan’s Million Man March
OBAMA SHOULD CONDEMN FARRAKHAN’S NEW ANTI-SEMITIC LETTER/THREATS TO ZOA, AIPAC, ADL & OTHERS
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has urged President Barack Obama to condemn veteran Jew-hater, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, for his latest outburst and threats against Jews in letters he sent to 14 American Jewish organizational leaders, including ZOA’s Morton Klein, ADL’s Abe Foxman, Conference of Presidents’ Alan Solow, AIPAC’s Lee Rosenberg, Jewish Federation’s Jerry Silverman, American Jewish Congress’ Richard Gordon and Hillel’s Wayne Firestone. The letter came enclosed with two volumes of hateful new works published by the Nation of Islam, The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, volume two; and Jews Selling Blacks: Slave Trade by American Jews. Farrakhan has also said that he has sent copies of the volumes to various media outlets and members of the Obama Administration.
In his letter to American Jewish leaders, Farrakhan accused Jewish leaders of using accusations of anti-Semitism as a means to hide the truth and to silence criticism “of what I and many others feel is Jewish behavior that has ill-affected Black people and others.”
Farrakhan’s letter claimed “… an undeniable record of Jewish anti-Black behavior, starting with the horror of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, plantation slavery, Jim Crow, sharecropping, the labor movement of the North and South, the unions and the misuse of our people that continues to this very moment … Armed with this knowledge from the pens of Jewish scholars, Rabbis and historians, we could now charge you with the most vehement anti-Black behavior in the annals of our history in America and the world. We could charge you with being the most deceitful so-called friend, while your history with us shows you have been our worst enemy.”
Farrakhan’s letter ended with a threat: “should you choose to make our struggle to civilize our people more difficult, then I respectfully warn you … that the more you fight and oppose me rather than help me lift my people from their degraded state, Allah (G-d) and his Messiah will bring you and your people to disgrace and ruin and destroy your power and influence here and in the world.”
Also, in a speech some weeks ago entitled ‘Who are the Real Children of Israel?,’ in which he said that he would be sending copies of the books to Jewish leaders, Farrakhan accused Jews of exploiting the talent and artistry of blacks. He said, “Today the Jewish people have developed a new strategy … They have always tied themselves to Black people. They attach themselves to our talent. They are the managers, the agents and they are the accountants and that’s why our black artists loved fame and got fame but died poor because somebody else got their money. No black man or woman becomes a multimillionaire without friendship in the Jewish community.”
President Obama’s former church in Chicago, Trinity United, which he, his wife and daughters attended for 20 years and whose former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, he called a “friend” and “mentor,” in 2007 awarded Farrakhan a Lifetime Achievement Award. Wright said of Farrakhan in the church’s magazine, Trumpet: “His depth on analysis [sic] when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye-opening … He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest” (Quoted in Ronald Kessler, ‘Obama and the Minister,’ Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2008). When this award came to the fore during the 2008 presidential campaign, the-Senator Obama falsely claimed that this award was given to Farrakhan for his work with black prisoners. President Obama helped organize and attended Farrakhan’s Million Man March. During the 2008 presidential election campaign, Obama denounced Farrakhan and, under public pressure from Hillary Clinton in a live TV interview, rejected statements Farrakhan made supporting his White House bid.
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “Louis Farrakhan’s letter is not only vicious anti-Semitic nonsense but deliberately threatening. Basically, he is saying that unless American Jews cooperate with whatever scheme of ‘helping’ his movement that he may have in mind, Jews everywhere will be endangered. This is a veiled call for violence against Jews. As such, it deserves to be repudiated and condemned. Who better than to do that than a black president who has spoken about healing racial divides, including that between Jews and African-Americans, and reducing the anti-Semitism that comes from some sectors of the African-American community? As noted historian Paul Johnson wrote in A History of the Jews, ‘One of the principal lessons of Jewish history has been that repeated verbal slanders are sooner or later followed by violent physical deeds. Time and again over the centuries, anti-Semitic writings created their own fearful momentum which climaxed in an effusion of Jewish blood.’
and Wright slanders Jews and defends Farrakhan
h Wright: Jews Control Flow of Info
Wednesday, 30 Jun 2010 12:38 PM
Article Font Size
By: Ronald Kessler
As might be expected, the mainstream media have ignored the latest rant from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., President Obama’s minister, friend, sounding board, and mentor for 20 years.
As reported recently by the New York Post, Wright told a seminar he taught at the University of Chicago that Jews control the flow of worldwide information and oppress blacks in Israel and in the United States.
“White folk done took this country,” Wright said. “You’re in their home, and they’re gonna let you know it.” Addressing blacks in his class, Wright said, “You are not now, nor have you ever been, nor will you ever be, a brother to white folk. And if you do not realize that, you are in serious trouble.”
Wright said the educational system in America is designed by whites to mis-educate blacks “not by benign neglect but by malignant intent.”
The civil-rights movement was never about racial equality, Wright said. Instead, “It was always about becoming white . . . to master what [they] do.” He added, “We probably have more African-Americans who’ve been brainwashed than we have South Africans who’ve been brainwashed.”
Finally, Wright stood up for Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan, who has made serial anti-Semitic and anti-white comments, documented on the Anti-Defamation League’s website. Wright criticized black leaders for “cuttin’ and duckin’” at the mention of Farrakhan’s name.
During the 20 years Obama sat in his pews, hate speech was Wright’s specialty. In sermons, he claimed America created the AIDS virus to kill off blacks. His church’s website and newsletters were replete with screeds against Israel.
Yet Obama, in his speech disavowing Wright in Philadelphia, said of his self-described longtime friend and adviser, “Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect.”
That is as believable as a friend and mentor of Adolf Hitler saying he never heard him disparage Jews.
Canary in the Coalmine: Europe’s “Decoy Jews”
From the desk of Paul Belien on Thu, 2010-06-24 10:50
“Decoy Jew” is a new phrase in the Netherlands. Jews are no longer safe in major Dutch cities such as Amsterdam. Since 1999, Jewish organizations in the Netherlands have been complaining that Jews who walk the Dutch streets wearing skullcaps risk verbal and physical attacks by young Muslims. Being insulted, spat at or attacked are some of the risks associated with being recognizable as a Jew in contemporary Western Europe.
Last week, a television broadcast showed how three Jews with skullcaps, two adolescents and an adult, were harassed within thirty minutes of being out in the streets of Amsterdam. Young Muslims spat at them, mocked them, shouted insults and made Nazi salutes. “Dirty Jew, go back to your own country,” a group of Moroccan youths shouted at a young indigenous Dutch Jew. “It is rather ironic,” the young man commented, adding that if one goes out in a burka one encounters less hostility than if one wears a skullcap.
In an effort to arrest the culprits who terrorize Jews, the Amsterdam authorities have ordered police officers to walk the streets disguised as Jews. The Dutch police already disguise officers as “decoy prostitutes, decoy gays and decoy grannies” to deter muggings and attacks on prostitutes, homosexuals and the elderly. Apparently sending out the decoys has helped reduce street crime. The “decoy Jew” has now been added to the police attributes.
The deployment of “decoy Jews”, however, is being criticized by leftist parties such as the Dutch Greens. Evelien van Roemburg, an Amsterdam counselor of the Green Left Party, says that using a decoy by the police amounts to provoking a crime, which is itself a criminal offence under Dutch law.
Unfortunately, the situation in Amsterdam is not unique. Jews in other Dutch cities also regularly complain about harassment. So do Jews in neighboring countries.
On Monday, the Belgian newspaper De Standaard reported that large numbers of Jews are leaving Antwerp for America, Britain or Israel. Antwerp – nicknamed the “Jerusalem of the North” – is one of the major centers of Jewish culture in the Low Countries. “In London, you are not harassed if you wear a skullcap, but here you are,” a young Antwerp Jew told the paper.
Kleinblatt, a famous Jewish Antwerp bakery, which has been handed down from father to son since 1903, will soon break with that tradition because the baker’s son has emigrated to the U.S. “We no longer feel safe and welcome here,” a young Jew who is leaving for London told De Standaard. “Muslim immigrants blame us for what is happening in Israel.” Another young Jew, who is leaving for New York, says: “New York is a paradise for Jews. Unlike Belgium, non-Jews in America are pro-Israel.”
Ultra-orthodox Jews remain in Antwerp, but the less orthodox are leaving in droves. Even Jacques Wenger, the director of Shomre Hadas, the Jewish community center in Antwerp, is emigrating to Israel. If the current trend continues, he predicts, in fifty years’ time there will be no Jews left in Antwerp except for the ultra-orthodox.
It is often said that the Jews are the canary in the coalmine. When the Jews feel compelled to leave, the light of freedom is being extinguished. Something is badly wrong when the police need to deploy “decoy Jews.” Once again, the specter of anti-Semitism is haunting Europe. If the Europeans do not stand with the Jews, they deserve no freedom themselves and cities such as Amsterdam and Antwerp will soon be Islamic cities.
Pat Buchanan suggests: Too many Jews on U.S. Supreme Court bench
American conservative political commentator decries Obama nomination of Elena Kagan, laments absence of Protestants in Supreme Court.
By Haaretz Service
Tags: US Jews Israel US
American conservative political commentator Pat Buchanan wrote a column titled 'Are liberals anti-WASP' last week, in which he suggested that if Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan is confirmed, there will be a disproportionately large number of Jews on the Supreme Court bench.
U.S. political commentator Pat Buchanan on the campaign trail in 1999.
Photo by: Elise Amendola
In his column for World Net Daily, Buchanan lamented the fact that since 1965, no Democratic president has nominated a black Supreme Court justice, but that "if Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats."
Buchanan decried the lack of Protestants on the bench, saying that "If Kagan is confirmed, the Court will consist of three Jews and six Catholics (who represent not quite a fourth of the country), but not a single Protestant, though Protestants remain half the nation and our founding faith."
"Indeed, of the last seven justices nominated by Democrats JFK, LBJ, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, one was black, [Thurgood] Marshall; one was Puerto Rican, Sonia Sotomayor. The other five were Jews: Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan," Buchanan added, accusing the Democrats of neglecting to maintain diversity, and being clearly in favor of Jews.
The column elicited numerous angry responses. Anti-Defamation League Director Abe Foxman issued a statement saying that "Pat Buchanan is a recidivist anti-Semite who never misses an opportunity to show his fangs. His remarks about the Jewish background of Elena Kagan and the religious makeup of the Supreme Court are bigoted and unacceptable in a pluralistic society such as ours."
Fearing Iran's bomb
Iran, Hezbollah, and the Bomb
BY William Harris
May 7, 2010 12:00 AM
When Iran gets the bomb, the nuclear club will have a crucial new feature. Without an Iranian bomb and barring regime change in Pakistan, we know that no nuclear power will transfer a device to a private army of the religious elect like Hezbollah in Lebanon. With an Iranian bomb, such assurance instantly ends. This is a looming, tangible state of affairs--in contrast to the hype about loose nuclear materials at the April 2010 Washington nuclear security summit.
Proponents of containing a nuclear Iran in and around the Obama administration conceive of deterring Iran in standard realist style. The Islamic Republic of Iran, however, has become a hybrid of the government of God and ruthless militarized mafias. It is well practiced in long-range subversion, intimidation, and weapons smuggling. It may be confidently expected to shred so-called containment, especially when equipped with a nuclear aura and facing the quivering potentates of Arabia.
In any case, Iran has a strategic extension across the Middle East to the Mediterranean that puts it beyond containment. On February 25, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah met in Damascus to celebrate their alignment and its achievements. The Syrian-Iranian partnership has enabled the Syrian ruling clique to go from strength to strength in dealing with the West and the Arabs. Syria only looks forward to more gains from the partnership as Iran moves toward the bomb. At the tripartite summit, Assad mocked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's call for Syria to steer away from Iran.
What of Hezbollah? Thanks to Western promoted demoralization of the West's own friends in Lebanon, Hezbollah has advanced from commanding a large part of Lebanon to effectively commanding the Lebanese state. This is the fruit of the West's courting of Bashar al-Assad, and pressing "consensus" with absolutists on the Lebanese. As a result, Lebanon is more than ever the business end of Iran's Middle Eastern operations.
Hezbollah is integral to the ruling clerical and military establishment in Iran. It has pledged itself to supreme guide Ali Khamenei, and from the perspective of Iran's leaders it is a wing of their apparatus. The party's formidable armory, fortified territory, and intelligence capability give it credibility as a base for Iranian strategic weaponry bordering Israel, in the heart of the Arab world, and half way to Europe.
It would be entirely within character for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to establish a clandestine strategic unit in Lebanon, with nuclear devices. There are considerable temptations: targeting Israel without needing to use ballistic missiles; deniability (at least in the mind of Tehran); and a secret reserve outside Iran. If a speedboat brought a ten-kiloton surprise early one morning to the Tel Aviv shore, with all evidence vaporized who could say for sure who was responsible? The mere prospect that Iran might implement a nuclear transfer to its base in Lebanon after crossing the weapons threshold would drastically change calculations on the Israel/Hezbollah front.
When Ahmadinejad speaks of Nasrallah's uprooting Israel in the "grand victory," it is difficult to think of a mechanism other than nuclear. Perhaps Ahmadinejad actually means what he says. He tells us that he has seen the light of the Twelfth Imam while speaking at the U.N. General Assembly. While he may not command Iran, his mode of thinking is widespread in ruling circles.
Hezbollah having any link to nuclear devices is terrifying, not least for Lebanese Shiites. The party combines technical sophistication, global reach, and delusional demagogy. For Nasrallah, Israel is nothing more than "a spider's web," to be swept away at a blow. Hezbollah restrains itself for the present, but its impetus and soaring ambition after Iran acquires the bomb will be another matter.
The future is bleak; the Lebanese mountain communities sport a history of disastrous miscalculations. The Druze lord Fakhr al-Din Ma'n invited and received an Ottoman avalanche after he expanded east to Palmyra and north toward Aleppo in the early 1630s. Within the mountain, the Maronites came to grief in 1845 and 1860 in overestimating themselves against the Druze. Hezbollah's journey to wherever its insouciance and hubris take it, with the Shiite community and all Lebanon along for the ride, is an escalated version of an old story, now with stratospheric stakes.
In the meantime, U.S. engagement of Syria's ruling clique only encourages Bashar al-Assad's provision of missiles and munitions of diverse descriptions to Hezbollah. One of the Syrian regime's sub-plots is to blackmail acceptance of its return to Beirut. The arsonist is selling himself to the credulous as a fire fighter, but he remains an incorrigible arsonist—not to mention a murder suspect, fingered in the 2005 reports of the U.N. investigation into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
What to do? Suspending the policy of engaging Syria and Iran, of repeatedly proven futility, would be a start. Indeed, the principal utility of engagement may be the impact of publicly acknowledging it as unproductive and stepping back from it. Given the near certain provenance of the 2005 political murder in Lebanon, insistence on pursuing international justice to the end of the trail would also not go amiss. Despite the sclerotic condition of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, international justice might still pull down Iran's friends in the Levant. To the east, Iraq should not be considered hostage to engagement; the determination of the Syrian and Iranian regimes to wreck a pluralist Iraq has never wavered. As for Iran's rulers, the trick is to integrate whatever can be squeezed out of the U.N. Security Council with a new level of Euro-American sanctions. Only rigor with the regime might affect Iran's domestic environment in the couple of years that are probably all that are left. President Obama has spoken of proceeding "boldly and quickly." So far this is just hot air.
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Friday, March 5, 2010
Apartheid week? Palestinian terrorism week
Prof Alan Dershowitz
*http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |* Every year at about this time, radical
Islamic students -- aided by radical anti-Israel professors -- hold an even=
t
they call "Israel Apartheid Week." During this week, they try to persuade
students on campuses around the world to demonize Israel as an apartheid
regime. Most students seem to ignore the rantings of these extremists, but
some naive students seem to take them seriously. Some pro-Israel and Jewish
students claim that they are intimidated when they try to respond to these
untruths. As one who strongly opposes any censorship, my solution is to
fight bad speech with good speech, lies with truth and educational
malpractice with real education.
Accordingly, I support a "Middle East Apartheid Education Week" to be held
at universities throughout the world. It would be based on the universally
accepted human rights principle of "the worst first." In other words, the
worst forms of apartheid being practiced by Middle East nations and entitie=
s
would be studied and exposed first. Then the apartheid practices of other
countries would be studied in order of their seriousness and impact on
vulnerable minorities.
Under this principle, the first country studied would be Saudi Arabia. That
tyrannical kingdom practices gender apartheid to an extreme, relegating
women to an extremely low status. Indeed, a prominent Saudi Imam recently
issued a fatwa declaring that anyone who advocates women working alongside
men or otherwise compromises with absolute gender apartheid is subject to
execution. The Saudis also practice apartheid based on sexual orientation,
executing and imprisoning gay and lesbian Saudis. Finally, Saudi Arabia
openly practices religious apartheid. It has special roads for "Muslims
only." It discriminates against Christians, refusing them the right to
practice their religion openly. And needless to say, it doesn't allow Jews
the right to live in Saudi Arabia, to own property or even (with limited
exceptions) to enter the country. Now that's apartheid with a vengeance.
The second entity on any apartheid list would be Hamas, which is the de
facto government of the Gaza Strip. Hamas too discriminates openly against
women, gays, Christians. It permits no dissent, no free speech, and no
freedom of religion.
Every single Middle East country practices these forms of apartheid to one
degree or another. Consider the most "liberal" and pro-American nation in
the area, namely Jordan. The Kingdom of Jordan, which the King himself
admits is not a democracy, has a law on its books forbidding Jews from
becoming citizens or owning land. Despite the efforts of its progressive
Queen, women are still de facto subordinate in virtually all aspects of
Jordanian life.
Iran, of course, practices no discrimination against gays, because its
President has assured us that there are no gays in Iran. In Pakistan, Sikhs
have been executed for refusing to convert to Islam, and throughout the
Middle East, honor killings of women are practiced, often with a wink and a
nod from the religious and secular authorities.
Every Muslim country in the Middle East has a single, established religion,
namely Islam, and makes no pretense of affording religious equality to
members of other faiths. That is a brief review of some, but certainly not
all, apartheid practices in the Middle East.
Now let's turn to Israel. The secular Jewish state of Israel recognizes
fully the rights of Christians and Muslims and prohibits any discrimination
based on religion (except against Conservative and Reform Jews, but that's
another story!) Muslim and Christian citizens of Israel (of which there are
more than a million) have the right to vote and have elected members of the
Knesset, some of whom even oppose Israel's right to exist. There is an Arab
member of the Supreme Court, an Arab member of the Cabinet and numerous
Israeli Arabs in important positions in businesses, universities and the
cultural life of the nation. A couple of years ago I attended a concert at
the Jerusalem YMCA at which Daniel Barrenboim conducted a mixed orchestra o=
f
Israeli and Palestinian musicians. There was a mixed audience of Israelis
and Palestinians, and the man sitting next to me was an Israeli Arab, who i=
s
the culture minister of the State of Israel. Can anyone imagine that kind o=
f
concert having taking place in apartheid South Africa, or in apartheid Saud=
i
Arabia?
There is complete freedom of dissent in Israel and it is practiced
vigorously by Muslims, Christians and Jews alike. And Israel is a vibrant
democracy.
What is true of Israel proper, including Israeli Arab areas, is not true of
the occupied territories. Israel ended its occupation of the Gaza several
years ago, only to be attacked by Hamas rockets. Israel maintains its
occupation of the West Bank only because the Palestinians walked away from =
a
generous offer of statehood on 97% of the West Bank, with its capital in
Jerusalem and with a $35 billion compensation package for refugees. Had it
accepted that offer by President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Ehud Barak=
,
there would be a Palestinian state in the West Bank. There would be no
separation barrier. There would be no roads restricted to Israeli citizens
(Jews, Arabs and Christians.) And there would be no civilian settlements. I
have long opposed civilian settlements in the West Bank, as many, perhaps
most Israelis, do. But to call an occupation, which continues because of th=
e
refusal of the Palestinians to accept the two-state solution, "Apartheid" i=
s
to misuse that word. As those of us who fought in the actual struggle of
apartheid well understand, there is no comparison between what happened in
South Africa and what is now taking place on the West Bank. As Congressman
John Conyers, who helped found the congressional Black caucus, well put it:
"[Applying the word "Apartheid" to Israel] does not serve the cause of
peace, and the use of it against the Jewish people in particular, who have
been victims of the worst kind of discrimination, discrimination resulting
in death, is offensive and wrong."
The current "Israel Apartheid Week" on universities around the world, by
focusing only on the imperfections of the Middle East's sole democracy, is
carefully designed to cover up far more serious problems of real apartheid
in Arab and Muslim nations. The question is why do so many students identif=
y
with regimes that denigrate women, gays, non-Muslims, dissenters,
environmentalists and human rights advocates, while demonizing a democratic
regime that grants equal rights to women (the chief justice and speaker of
the Parliament of Israel are women), gays (there are openly gay generals in
the Israeli Army), non-Jews (Muslims and Christians serve in high positions
in Israel) and dissenters, (virtually all Israelis dissent about something)=
.
Israel has the best environmental record in the Middle East, it exports mor=
e
life saving medical technology than any country in the region and it has
sacrificed more for peace than any country in the Middle East. Yet on many
college campuses democratic, egalitarian Israel is a pariah, while sexist,
homophobic, anti-Semitic, terrorist Hamas is a champion. There is something
very wrong with this picture.
Posted by Rabbi Jonathan Ginsburg
