From Amazon.com: Multinational corporations have many enemies but few as creative and funny as the Yes Men. In 1993, Mike Bonanno made news by switching the voice boxes of Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls and returning them to store shelves. In 1996, Andy Bichlbaum made a splash by programming kissing, swimsuit-clad men into 80,000 copies of an action video game. When the two met, a collaboration was born. In 1999, they created a Web site parodying that of the World Trade Organization (WTO).Though the WTO denounced the spoof site, and though its creators felt the satire was self-evident, legitimate speaking invitations began arriving by e-mail. Undaunted, the Yes Men donned thrift-store suits and went where they’d been asked, posing as WTO spokemen and making outrageously callous statements. Their audiences were unfazed, prompting the Yes Men to raise the stakes again and again.

In 2008, the Yes Men premiered The Yes Men Fix the World at Sundance, a movie which follows the two as they infiltrate the world of big business and pull off outrageous pranks that highlight the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet. Invited to present their film at the Jerusalem Film Festival, they originally agreed and then pulled out, citing their adherence to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. Asked why they don’t boycott the Congo or the US, Andy Bichlbaum said that “we haven’t been invited to the Kinshasa Film Festival (and we wouldn’t have been able to afford the private security force if we had been). More importantly, changing U.S. policy (and the direct and indirect results of that policy, e.g. in the Congo) is going to take a lot more than a boycott—whereas in Israel, a boycott could actually work.” Given that the bulk of their revenue comes from the US, one can’t help note that that sure is a convenient answer.

The duo then wrote an open letter to the organizers of the Jerusalem Film Festival articulating the reasons for their decision not to present their film there. I in turn decided to write an open letter to Andy and Mike expressing why I will no longer pay to see their films or buy their books. Read it after the bump!

(more…)

Our own Vicki Boykis has written an immigrant’s paean to the beauty of America for immigrants.

…What I’m saying is that, for immigrants, America is a godsend. And I am grateful.

Happy 4th of July!!

Public service announcement

Auto Club Offers Tipsy Tow Service For Fourth Of July
(LOS ANGELES, June 30, 2009)

The Automobile Club of Southern California is offering its free Tipsy Tow service to drinking drivers during the 4th of July holiday for the 11th consecutive year. The service is available from 6 p.m. on Friday, July 3, to midnight on Saturday, July 4. Tipsy Tow is available in the 13 Southern California counties served by the Auto Club.

Motorists, bartenders, restaurant managers, party hosts or passengers of a drinking driver may call 1-800-400-4AAA for a free tow home of up to seven miles. Callers simply tell the Auto Club operators, “I need a Tipsy Tow,” to receive the free tow and ride home. A regular Auto Club-contracted roadside service truck will be dispatched.

(more…)

Big phat congrats to “La Jewminicana,” winner of the Cool Jew 4th of July Giveaway!

The Cool Jew 4th of July Gift Box contains $100 in prizes:

* Diversity t-shirt that reads, “It takes all of us to make the land bloom,” from Jean Roth of Rotem Gear
* Alan Orich’s latest Jewish Hero Corps comic book
* We Can Rise CD by Chana Rothman
* Cool Jew book by Lisa Alcalay Klug
* “No Limit Texas Dreidel” game invented by Jennie Rivlin Roberts and Webb Roberts
* “Salud!” Dreidel Drinking Game from ModernTribe.com

In response to the contest question, “Are you an American Jew or a Jewish American,” Aliza “La Jewminicana” Hausman answered:

What do you mean are you a Jewish American or an American Jew? Of course, I am both. My identities are not mutually exclusive. On Shabbat, I am always a Jew at rest. But when, like this year, the 4th of July falls on Shabbat, I don’t want kugel or gefilte fish. I demand already-been-barbecued-before-Shabbat hamburgers, fries and chicken wings. It is here in America with its astounding religious freedom that I can be both fully Jewish and fully American. I can be a child of immigrants, strolling towards my kosher stores on every corner listening to Michael Jackson classics from the IPod earbuds in my ear.

Thanks so much to everyone who entered! Read all the thoughtful awesome answers here.

In other headlines, if you missed Wednesday’s chat on XM Oprah Radio, in which Lisa Alcalay Klug and a certain poet laureate discuss Lisa’s identity as an American, a Jew and the daughter of immigrants, as well as the tragedies and triumphs of all people in honor of the 4th of July, please drop a line to lisa (at) cooljewbook (dot) com for the link.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for our next big giveaway on Tu B’Av, August 5th. Tu B’Av can be loosely translated to Jewish sweetheart’s day and we have a real sweetheart of a gift package coming your way!

Shabbat Shalom, happy 3rd and happy 4th!

It’s clear that even after three years in captivity, it’s unlikely that Hamas is going to let Gilad Shalit go any time soon. Some of the reasons for this, beyond the fact that Hamas are heartless motherfuckers, were succinctly elucidated by Guy Bechor in an opinion piece in YNet titled Hamas fears a swap. Bechor outlines 10 reasons why including the fact that Shalit is the only asset currently possessed by Hamas; Hamas’ Damascus based leadership doesn’t really want to release prisoners like the domestic Hamas leaders currently in prisons as well as Fatah’s Marwan Barghoutti, both of whom will challenge their control etc. etc. The bottom line is that Hamas needs an Israeli prisoner. But does it have to be Gilad Shalit?

I suggest that they let Gilad Shalit go. Three years without even a visit from the Red Cross is enough already. Instead, they can take me. By letting Gilad rejoin his friends and family, they can show what awesome humanitarians they are and by taking me, they can retain the advantages they have secured from kidnapping an Israeli. I think I’d be a pretty good hostage too! Like Shalit I hold dual citizenship, my Mom and sisters are sure to go batshit - crying for the camera and begging for my release while my Dad can present the stoic figure of a simple man thrust into the limelight, begging Israeli and world leaders to do what they can to secure my release. Unlike Shalit I can bide my time preparing excellent Tahini and Shakshuka for my captors and if Hamas wants to get really creative, they can allow me Internet access which will enable me to blog and tweet about how awful or awesome my captors are. But that’s entirely up to them. I’m willing to go with absolutely no preconditions. I’ll even bring a few cartons of Marlboro cigarettes as a humanitarian gift to my future captors who must be getting seriously raspy throats from all those nasty Egyptian Cleopatra cigarettes they’re forced to smoke because of Israel’s blockade. I’d really be an awesome hostage. Really. My lease expires September 15th and doing the swap by then would allow Shalit to rejoin his family in time for the holidays. I don’t have much going on right now, I’m not dating anyone and it might not be a bad idea to ride out the bad economic times in a Gaza prison as a guest of Hamas.

Now it’s entirely possible that some other reader of Jewlicious would make for a better hostage. If you think you’d be a superior replacement to Gilad Shalit, let me know! Send me a photo of you holding a “Dear Hamas, Take me!” sign and let me know why you’d make a better hostage and we’ll repost it here. If you convince me that you’re tougher and more congenial than me, I may even send you a free “I Love Hashem” t-shirt which I am sure would serve you really well in Gaza… REALLY well… Send all entries to jewlicious at gmail dot com and enter “Dear Hamas Take Me!” into the subject line.

Cross posted from The New York Daily News, Thursday, July 2nd 2009 by James Kirchick:

President Barack Obama has made it clear that he does not want the United States to be seen as “meddling” in Iran’s internal politics. Never mind that the Islamic Republic has been “meddling” in our affairs for the past three decades, if such a bland word can be used to characterize the seizure of our embassy in 1979, the killing of 229 American servicemen in 1983 and the planting of roadside bombs to kill our soldiers in Iraq. The Obama administration apparently believes that words and actions in support for the Iranian people in their struggle against religious fascism will hurt their cause, even though the mullahs have never needed a pretext for blaming their self-inflicted wounds on the West.

The administration’s response to the events in Iran was predictable given its obsession with “engaging” a regime that shows no interest in returning the favor.

Yet while distancing ourselves from democratic forces in Iran under the guise of respect for that government’s sovereignty, we have been quite eager to “meddle” in the domestic politics of Honduras. Worse, we have wound up on the wrong side.

Last Sunday, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was awakened by soldiers who gave him a one-way ticket to exile in Costa Rica. What seemed like a prototypical Latin American military coup, however, was belied by the events leading to Zelaya’s departure. Like his chief backer, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Zelaya was intent on rewriting his country’s constitution to abolish term limits.

(more…)

Roya Hakakian emigrated from Iran to the United States in 1985, seeking political asylum. An author, activist and filmmaker, Hakakian discussed the recent political upheaval in Iran on public radio today. Her interview is available online at WHYY’s “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross.


Hakakian grew up Jewish in Tehran, an experience she recounts in her memoir Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran.
Hakakian will return to “Fresh Air” next week to discuss her book with Terry Gross.

Hakakian recently published a piece at CNN.com entitled, “Pray for Neda,” in which she reflects on the significance of the recent fatal tragedy in Iran’s political upheaval as an example of the Iranian people’s 30-year quest for freedom. Hakakian calls for a memorial campaign that spans all religions to remember Neda.

Pray for Neda
by Raya Hakakian

With Neda’s death, the Iran I know finally has a face. The sequence of her death is the sequence of our nation’s struggle in the past 30 years: The democratic future that 1979 was to deliver collapsing, then trails of blood — that of so many executed or assassinated — streaming across its bright promise. The film of Neda’s death is the abbreviated history of contemporary Iran.

If history is a contest among competing narratives and icons, let the image of a young woman lying on the ground endure as that of Iran today. Let it loom so large to wipe away the memory of the thugs marching American hostages out of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Let the scarf that loosens and falls off her head to expose her dark hair be emblazoned in our memories as the metaphor for the plight of Iran’s women. More at Tolerant Nation.

Are you a Jewish American or an American Jew?

Tell us why @ http://tinyurl.com/cool4th and enter to win the
Cool Jew 4th of July Gift Box.

This prize package–valued at $100–contains:

* A Rotem Gear diversity t-shirt that reads, “It takes all of us to make the land bloom,” from Jean Roth
* Alan Orich’s latest Jewish Hero Corps comic book
* “We Can Rise” music CD by Chana Rothman
* Cool Jew book by Lisa Alcalay Klug
* “No Limit Texas Dreidel” game invented by Jennie Rivlin Roberts and Webb Roberts
* “Salud!” Dreidel Drinking Game from ModernTribe.com

A winner will be chosen from the answers and announced on Friday, July 3rd.

No purchase is required to enter. Sorry froylein, ck, themiddle and everyone else outside North America, this contest is only open to residents of the U.S. and Canada.

Take a Moment for Fun and Enter Now

If you’ve never listened to XM/Sirius Radio, you can get a free trial here. Why would you bother? Because they have awesome programming, including a certain segment tomorrow you may find worth your time. It’s a conversation between a poet laureate and a daughter of Jewish immigrants who also happens to be a three-time presenter at Jewlicious Festivals. The topic? American Jewish identity… just in time for the 4th of July.

The show airs tomorrow, Wednesday, July 1st, at 1 pm or 7 pm EST at XMRadio.com. Tune in to Channel 156, Oprah Radio, and hear Dr. Maya Angelou discuss how she appreciates and identifies with the tragedies and triumphs of the Jewish people in her own inimitable way.

FYI: The show lasts about an hour and this Jewie segment comes on about 20 minutes before the close.

If you’d like to hear a sample or have only five minutes to spare, check out this snippet of the program online. There’s no XM subscription required for this sample.

Again, if you want a free trial, you can sign up here. Best of all, it’s economic downturn-worthy. No credit card required.

Last September in the LA Times, James Marcus interviewed 75 year-old author Philip Roth about his new book, “Indignatgion.” During the conversation, Marcus and Roth discussed movie adaptations of his novels:

Indignation will be the fifth of Roth’s novels to be made into a film. I ask what he thought of the earlier adaptations, and he gives high marks to Jack Klugman and Ali MacGraw in Goodbye, Columbus, while ruefully acknowledging the cartoonish tone: “A little vulgarity goes a long way, and they did lay it on pretty heavily.” And what about Ernest Lehman’s version of Portnoy’s Complaint, which brought back Richard Benjamin for a second turn as the author’s cinematic proxy? “Unspeakable,” Roth declares. “It’s a movie about shouting. Jewish shouting.” (He proceeds to give a brief, comical example, which strikes me as a specimen of literary history, like Thoreau demonstrating how to peel the bark off a birch tree.)

Marcus seems to have been very impressed by Roth’s subsequent sound bite because he then remixed it into a short dance number that has been described by the Guardian as “the ringtone of choice among hip literary types this summer.” The mix been posted online by US independent publisher Melville House, which as Marcus describes, is always “on the alert for booty-shaking literary artefacts”. Marcus promises that should the mp3 file become popular enough, he will turn it into a 15-minute dance track and soon we will be entertained by the image of David Kelsey, Muffti and Eli Valley body rockin’ to the insane ululations of a 76 year old Jew writer. So yeah, listen to and download the track here!

The annual ROI Summit is set to begin today. One hundred and twenty young Jewish innovators from Israel and around the world will get together near Tel-Aviv for 5 days of brainstorming, networking and skill building sessions. There’s much talk in the organized Jewish community about fostering innovation, but gosh darn it, for the past 4 years the Schusterman Foundation has put its money where it’s mouth is. The Jewlicious Festival has received funding from the Schusterman Foundation for the last 2 years and Jewlicious.ru, our Russian language site, is itself a project that evolved out of and was partly funded by ROI. Thanks to ROI, we managed to see innovative projects get implemented and succeed, like Jerusalem.com, Oleh Records, G_dCast etc. and we look forward to seeing that process continue to have an impact on all our daily lives.

So yeah, I hope that didn’t sound like I was brown nosing too much, but we’ve really been enriched on so many levels by ROI that I can’t overstate the point enough. I know a number of the new crop going into the summit this year and I can’t hardly wait to see what awesomeness transpires. Stay tuned I suppose, we’ll be keeping you updated on that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Sasha Perry’s first ROI related video above. Sasha is part of this year’s ROI video team and she is also a Jewlicious Festival veteran and a frequent resident of Beit Jewlicious here in Jerusalem. Yay!

Oh and the twitter hash tag for ROI is #roicom. I was shooting for #ILoveBeto but cooler heads prevailed I guess…

So began my little speech at Friday night dinner. There were 17 of us assembled and it was quite the diverse crew. We had Leah, Kate, Sasha and Talya who were getting ready for the upcoming ROI Summit. We had some local Nachlaot spiritual hippy types, denominations from Orthodox to Reform represented, the unaffiliated, Orthodox lesbian activists, right wingers, peace activists including one woman who came on Birthright Israel last summer and then joined Birthright Unplugged in the West Bank - suffice it to say we were a diverse group that came together Friday night, after an eventful week, to enjoy a peaceful and yummy Shabbat dinner. Some of us had just marched in Jerusalem’s Pride Parade on Thursday, and all of us were mindful of the heating up Shabbat Wars related to the municipality’s opening of a parking lot on the Sabbath, much to the consternation (to say the least) of members of the Haredi community.

Our Shabbat dinner table however, was lively but peaceful. Sarah and Leah helped make Matbuchah which we will turn into Shakshuka come Sunday morning. In doing so they learned first hand of the perils of cleaning hot peppers by hand (sorry ladies!) and there was tons of yummy food for all. We went around the table and made introductions and when it was my turn, I quoted the first line of Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of our Fathers). Rashi commented on the line and wondered if it meant that all of Israel, by mere virtue of being Jewish, had a share in the world to come (or whatever the penultimate goal of Judaism is). That kind of didn’t make sense - why follow the laws then? What’s the incentive to be righteous? The answer was that the sentence isn’t meant to be taken literally. What it means is that when all the Jews are united, only then are they worthy of a portion in the world to come.

Gazing around our table, far from the anger and hatred on the streets of Jerusalem that only further divisiveness, I knew that we were, in some small measure, doing our part to merit inclusion in the world to come. As we sang our Shabbat songs, even those who didn’t know the words joined by tapping a beat on the table and I knew that we had managed to carve out our own slice of Olam Haba around our modest table.

Desert

Abandoned Syrian base, View of a minefield, Golan Heights, 2007

Shai Kremer is the photographer. A true and gifted artist.

Shabbat shalom!

In a little more than two months, Gilad Shalit will turn 23 — if he is still alive.

Yesterday marked the three-year anniversary of Shalit’s abduction by Hamas. An Israeli soldier captured during a border raid on Gaza, Hamas is holding Shalit captive. He became the first soldier captured by Palestinian terrorists since Nachson Wachsman was abducted in 1994; tragically Wachsman, z’l, was ultimately murdered. Shalit served in the IDF’s Armor Corps, and at the time of his abduction, held the rank of corporal. The IDF has subsequently promoted him to staff sergeant.

Hamas has barred the International Red Cross from seeing Shalit, demanding that Israel free 1,000 terrorists in exchange for his release. Israel has agreed but negotiations have deadlocked on the number of so-called “heavyweight” prisoners. Shalit holds French citizenship, but both France and the European Union have also been unable to secure his release.

When he was 11, Shalit, wrote a story about two enemies, a shark and a fish, who become friends.

A new YouTube project shows people all of all ages reading his story, in a multi-lingual campaign initiated by the Consulate General of Israel in New York that stresses the universality of this issue.

In 2008, the French town of Raincy and the city of Paris named Gilad an honorary citizen. Rome did so in April, 2009, when Mayor Gianni Alemanno said that the Shalit affair does not concern the state of Israel alone, but the whole of humanity. This week, both Miami and New Orleans followed suit and claimed Gilad as their citizen as well. At a recent rally in Tel Aviv, Israeli singer/songwriter Aviv Geffen called him “everyone’s child.” As Geffen sings, Gilad belongs to all of us.

Please join efforts to appeal for Gilad Shalit’s release. Express your support to President Obama. Write your representatives in Congress. Ask your city to embrace Gilad as its own citizen. Spread the word and share the message. Pray for the release of Gilad ben Aviva and keep this issue alive. Release Gilad Shalit!

An unbelievable exchange and demonstration of how the Obama policy towards Israel and towards Iran differs from Hillary’s as a Presidential candidate. The shift is definitely not in Israel’s favor and shows that the “bonds with the US” are shakeable and have been shaken, stirred and spit out.

This interview was given on June 12th and was part of the ongoing US Administration’s push after Obama’s Cairo speech. Of course, since then many things have happened to point out that Obama’s approach with Iran is entirely off the mark, but I don’t think Hillary’s hedging about US support for Israel as the new policy is going to change.

By the way, Dennis Ross has been removed from his position as envoy to Iran. Some say that it was his own request, some say it’s because the Iranians refused to engage a Jewish envoy, but I wonder whether the following exchange is related.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Your own envoy, Dennis Ross, has said one way to strengthen the position of the United States going into these negotiations is to make it very clear that, if Iran used nuclear weapons against Israel or any U.S. ally, that would be met as an attack on the United States, full response. Now, that was your position during the campaign, as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I would make it clear to the Iranians that an attack on Israel would incur massive retaliation from the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it U.S. policy now?

CLINTON: I think it is U.S. policy to the extent that we have alliances and understandings with a number of nations. They may not be formal, as it is with NATO, but I don’t think there is any doubt in anyone’s mind that, were Israel to suffer a nuclear attack by Iran, there would be retaliation.

STEPHANOPOULOS: By the United States?

CLINTON: Well, I think there would be retaliation. And I think part of what is clear is, we want to avoid a — a Middle East arms race which leads to nuclear weapons being in the possession of other countries in the Middle East, and we want to make clear that there are consequences and costs.

The video of this exchange is available here and is worth watching.

(Hat tip: Jewish Newswire)

I’m one of those people who believes very powerful sanctions are needed against Iran lest it gain control of a nuclear arsenal. They already have serious delivery systems, have sponsored proxy armies in Hizbullah and Hamas, and have voiced aggressive intentions against Israel. If sanctions are not brought about soon and as severe as possible, Israel may have to bomb Iran and face some harsh consequences. Iran may be distant, but it has 10 times the population of Israel, can develop sophisticated arms capabilities, is still ahead of Israel in the missile vs. anti-missile contest, controls two dangerous proxy armies that sit on Israel’s borders, and has shown in the past that it will execute terrorist activities against large Jewish targets in other countries as they did in Argentina.

The consequences of an attack have consistently left me apprehensive about the great risk involved for Israel. With Obama coming to power in the US, the notion of an attack became remote because he was clear that he intended to talk the Iranians down. The events of the past two weeks, with the probable theft of the election by the present Iranian government as backed by the imams and the mini-revolt that has followed, change the dynamic regarding the US.

First of all, Obama looks weak, indecisive and unsupportive of natural democratic rights of Iranian citizens. Second, as the current government proceeds to squash opponents and eventually to retain power, his assertions about talking to them being a sufficient method of achieving a compromise on the nuclear arms program appears weaker and weaker as a strategy. If anything, it preempts any such talks because it makes clear that there is nobody with whom to talk.

This, in some strange way, re-opens the door for a possible Israeli attack. After all, it will be hard to contest the Israeli claim that the current government is dangerous and cannot be approached diplomatically. Still, the dangers are so great that I cannot imagine such an attack and the implications for Israel. I cannot imagine any Israeli leader actually approving such an attack since it would surely be a suicide mission for many of Israel’s pilots.

To make the situation even more complicated, I saw an article in MEForum that truly captures the dangerous intentions emanating from Iran. The article effectively highlights how the language coming from Iran’s leadership over time addresses Israel from a genocidal perspective. Looking at this list, one can only imagine how the world viewed Hitler as somebody who could be talked down even as he was outlining precisely what he intended to do.

Timeline of Statements by Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders (2000-2008)

Dec. 15, 2000 Khamane’i
Iran’s position, first expressed by the imam, and stated several times by those responsible, is that the cancerous tumor called Israel must be uprooted from the region

Jan. 15, 2001 Khamane’i
“the perpetual subject of Iran is the elimination of Israel from the region” translated by journalist Kasra Naji: “mission of IRI is to erase Israel from the map of the region.”

Dec. 14, 2001 Rafsanjani
“If one day … the Islamic world will be equipped with weapons available to Israel now … the employment of even one atomic bomb inside Israel will wipe it off the face of the earth but would only do damage to the Islamic world.”

Sept. 22, 2003 Banner on Shihab 3 missile (photo)
“Israel must be uprooted and wiped from history.”

Oct. 2005 Iranian regime
Iranian publishers display English edition of Protocols of Zion at a Frankfurt book fair

Apr. 2005 Ayatollah Nouri-Hamedani
“One should fight the Jews and vanquish them so that the conditions for the advent of the Hidden Imam will be met.”

Oct. 26, 2005 Ahmadinejad
“Our dear Imam [Khomeini] ordered that this Jerusalem occupying regime must be erased from the page of time. This was a very wise statement.” “Soon this stain of disgrace will be cleaned from the garment of the world of Islam, and this is attainable.”

Oct. 27, 2005 Ahmadinejad
“Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.” Any Islamic leader “who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world.”

Oct. 30, 2005 Hossein Shariatmadari
“We will be satisfied with nothing less than the complete obliteration of the Zionist regime from the political map of the world.”

Apr. 14, 2006 Ahmadinejad
“Israel heading towards annihilation.” “a dried, rotten tree that will collapse with a single storm.”

June 9, 2006 Mohammad Ali Ramin
“Among the Jews, there have always been those who killed God’s prophets. … it was said that they were the source for such deadly diseases as the plague and typhus. This is because the Jews are very filthy people. For a time, people also said that they poisoned water wells belonging to the Christians and thus killed them.”

Oct. 22, 2006 Resalat (Tehran)
“Great war is ahead of us, perhaps tomorrow, or in a few months, or even a few years. The nation of Muslims must prepare for the great war, so as to completely wipe out the Zionist dream, and remove this cancerous growth.”

Nov. 2006 Banner on bus at military rally
“Israel should be wiped off the face of the world!”

Dec. 2006 Ahmadinejad
“the Zionist regime will be wiped out, and humanity will be liberated” — freed, that is, from the “acquisitive and invasive” minority.

Sept. 2007 Ahmadinejad
“brutal Zionists”
“Zionist regime”
“Palestine and Iraq will be liberated from the domination of the occupiers, and the people of America and Europe will be free of the pressure exerted by the Zionists.”

Oct. 4, 2007 Shariatmadari
“Death to America and death to Israel are not only words written on paper, but … a symbolic approach that reflects the desire of all the Muslim nations.”

Feb. 5, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“A people falsified, invented. [Israel] will not last, they must leave the territory.”

Feb. 12, 2008 Ahmad Jannati
“[We have] bigger crowds, slogans more enthusiastic, ‘Islamic Republic of Iran’ regime getting better and better.”
“The blind enemies should see that the wish of these people is the death and destruction of America and Israel.”

Feb. 18, 2008 Mohammad Ali Jaafari
“In the near future, we will witness the destruction of the cancerous microbe Israel by the strong and capable hands of … Hezbollah.”

Feb. 18, 2008 Manoucher Mottaki
“even after 60 years, the Zionist regime has neither gained any legitimacy nor played any role in this region.”

Feb. 23, 2008 Yahya Rahim Safavi
“with God’s help, the time has come for the Zionist’s regime death sentence. … the death of this unclean regime will arrive soon following the revolt of the Muslims.”

Feb. 23, 2008 Haddad Adel
“The countdown has begun for the destruction of the Zionist regime.”

Feb. 20, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“they [the global powers] have created a black and filthy microbe called the Zionist regime.”

Mar. 14, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“the Zionist regime is on its way out [destructible].”

Apr. 17, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“The region and the world are prepared for great changes and for being cleansed of Satanic enemies” [referring to the Great Satan (USA) and Little Satan (Israel)]

May 13, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“global arrogance established the Zionist regime.” “[which is] a stinking corpse”

May 13, 2008 Mohammad-Reza Khabbaz, member of the central committee of National Trust reformist party
“Creation of Israel only served the purpose of creating a cancerous tumor in the body of Islamic society.”

June 13, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“terrorist and criminal state … backed by foreign powers … regime to be swept away by Palestinians.”

June 14, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Israel’s days are numbered … peoples of region know there is the narrowest opportunity to annihilate this false regime.”

July 2, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Thanks to God, your wish will soon be realized, and this germ of corruption will be wiped off the face of the world.”

July 24, 2008 Esfandiar Rahim Masha’i
“Israel is a cancerous tumor.”
“Israel will soon disappear.”

Sept. 23, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“The Zionists are the eternal enemy of ‘the dignity, integrity, and rights of the American and European people.”

“Although they are few in number, the Zionists have been dominating an important portion of the financial and monetary centers as well as the political decision-making centers of some European countries and the United States in a deceitful, complex and furtive manner.”

“Even some presidential or premier nominees in some big countries have to visit these people, take part in their gatherings, swear allegiance and commitment to their interests in order to attain financial or media support.”

Even “the great people of America and various nations of Europe” are caught in the clutches of Jewish power.

They “need to obey the demands and wishes of a small number of acquisitive and invasive people. These nations are spending their dignity and resources on the crimes and occupations and the threats of the Zionist network against their will.”

“Today … the Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse. There is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters.”

Sept. 25, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Zionism … is the root cause of insecurity and wars. … What commitment forces the U.S. government to victimize itself in support of a regime that is basically a criminal one?”

Nov. 26, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“Iran will support Hamas until the destruction of Israel.”

Dec. 25, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“If Christ was on Earth today, undoubtedly he would hoist the banner of justice and love for humanity to oppose warmongers, occupiers, terrorists, and bullies the world over.” [Iran hangs nine individuals before 12/24/08 bringing the yearly total to 244.]

Dec. 30, 2008 Ahmadinejad
“the real Holocaust is now taking place in Gaza Strip and Palestine.”

Source: Genocide Prevention Now World Situation Room of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem, and Genocide Prevention Program of the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Published with the permission of Genocide Prevention Now website. An expanded version of this paper and timeline will be posted on the Genocide Prevention Now website.

This is a complex situation, but one that nobody should take lightly.

Some news to browse while avoiding the television tonight…

Is a Jewish school in London Racist? If admission is barred based on religion, is that racist? From The Independent, news that Jewish schools in Britain may need to revise their admission’s policies. A Court of Appeal ruled that the widely used criteria for selecting pupils for a school breached the Race Discrimination Act. Three judges found that the JFS in Brent area of London racially discriminated against a 12-year-old boy, known as “M,” by denying him a place at the school because his mother was not a recognized Jew. She was born Catholic. The JFS is a very well known school in London; it’s President is Lord Levy. The ruling was criticized by UK Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sachs. The boy’s father is Jewish by birth, but his mother is Jewish by a conversion process that was conducted at a Progressive rather than an Orthodox synagogue and therefore not recognized by the Chief Rabbi’s office. The parents are divorced, and “M” lives with his officially recognized Jewish father.

Michael Jackson had a lot of hangers-on. And they are coming out of the woodwork to leverage the publicity of his death. And I don’t mean Rabbis Boteach or Sharpton. Or do I? The Los Angeles Jewish Journal comments on the death of Michael Jackson from a Jewish perspective. It reports that Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, considered herself Jewish (although Chief Rabbi Sacks would not consider her Jewish). Would that make her kids, Paris and Prince, Jewish as well? But, more importantly, the LA Jewish Journal reveals 5 Jewish tidbits from the upcoming film, BRUNO.

Should you profit off the news of Jackson’s demise? If yes, then perhaps you should short the stocks TKTM (Ticketmaster) which will need to return commissions (I assume) on the European tour tickets sold, and short the stock of whoever manufactures the brand Demerol.

Additional hours of Nixon’s tapes were released this week, and some Jewish groups, or the leaders of these groups, were startled to hear Richard Nixon and Billy Graham speak about Jews, pornographers, the synagogue of Satan, and how the anti-evangelical behavior of Jewish leaders might rile up anti-Semitism in America. On the other hand, Yale Professor David Greenberg, writing in The Forward, offered the idea that this is not news to anyone who knew Nixon. Come one guys, Nixon is the President who used to refer to the US Attorney’s Office as the “Jew boys” and “those Jews down there.”

Haaretz reported that a Manhattan synagogue, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, that was targeted by the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, raised $10,000 in response to the demonstration. The church members protested outside the synagogue’s rented space while the synagogue asked its members and friends to donate a dollar or more for every minute that the demonstration lasted. Mitchell Gold, a furniture retailer, pledged $, as did many others. The protest lasted nearly an hour.

In reviewing the new Transformers film, which was released last week in the U.S., The critic for the New York Times is miffed by the minstrel-like racism that permeates the film, as well as the crack about the Jewish character, Simmons, and a pubic-fro head. The credited script writers are Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

The Sun Sentinel in Florida reported on the reunion of former students of Centro Israelita de Cuba, a Jewish school in Havana that Fidel Castro shut down around 1961. The Class of 1959 had their 50-year reunion at Temple Beth Shmuel-Cuban Hebrew Congregation’s Shabbat service in Miami Beach.

Reuters reported that 16 Jews have left Yemen for Israel after a Jewish man was murdered. Three Jewish families left Amran via the city of Sanaa in Yemen after a Yemeni court handed a death sentence to Abdul-Aziz al-Abdi for shooting dead Mashaa Yaeesh al-Nahari.

The White House reports that Attorney Samuel L. Kaplan, 72, has been nominated for the rank of Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco. He is a founding member of Kaplan, Strangis and Kaplan, P.A. established in 1978. Early supporters of the late Senator Wellstone, The Center for Responsive Politics lists Sam and Sylvia Kaplan as among the major “bundlers” of campaign contributions for the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, in the range of $100,000 to $200,000. Note to File: Geez, a score high on the FSOT exam but failed my all day State Dept oral interview by half a point. I must remember to bundle some donations in the future so I can be appointed to an ambassadorial position somewhere fun, like Cyprus or Bahrain.

The Jerusalem Post reports that an agreement has been reached in which inmates from over 6 dozen Polish prisons will work to restore Jewish cemeteries and sites in Poland. I guess this is a form of punishment? Or rehabilitation? I jest. I like the works of Rabbi Schudrich in Warsaw. Note to file: Can you send some prisoners over to the cemetery in Rymanow (next to Zarszyn) to check on the headstones for my great great grandfather?

The Shemspeed Summer Music Festival is underway! They are still choosing a few special guest bands, so feel free to get in touch with ideas and to get involved. So far the line up is amazing with shows lined up in LA, NJ, NYC, Philly & Chicago.

Info at http://shemspeed.com/fest

Check out the schedule below:

(more…)

Pres. Obama claimed that ended the crisis in Darfur was a priority - but he has dropped the ball on this campaign promise, to the detriment of fragile lives in Darfur.

As Mark Lotwis writes from the Save Darfur Coalition:

This new phase of the crisis in Darfur might not make as many headlines, but the suffering continues.

The daily attacks of years past have been replaced by constant suffering in refugee camps. Every day, 2.7 million people face hunger, disease, fear that the next food shipment may not arrive—and the constant threat of violence.

Hilary’s State Department, General Paternalus, and Obama are espousing a myopic view that Jews living in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Mount Scopus, in Efrat and Hebron are the most serious impediment to world peace.

Send a postcard to the White House to remind them that Darfur’s suffering is a gaping moral shortcoming of his first 6 months in office.

So, Mr. B and I were buying challah at Wegmans the other day.  If you’ve never been to a Wegmans, it’s exactly like any other grocery store.  In the same way that Turandot is exactly like High School Musical.  We buy challah there as one would buy crack. On the downlow.  I never know if you’re only supposed to eat it on Shabbat, so I sneak up to the bread aisle, look around to make sure no other Jew is coming.  “Cover for me, Vasya,” I yell at Mr. B like Russian pilots did in World War II and run into the fray.  Even though we are nowhere near Stalingrad.  Also, Mr. B’s name is not Vasya.  I grab it and run.  When I get home we eat handfuls of it.

So, the other day, when we surreptitiously bought our Jewbread and were munching at home, I came across the following article in my Rachael Ray magazine.  Yes, I read Rachael Ray, and if you say anything snide about it, I will most likely punch you.  My feelings are still raw from the beating my Hebrew name got the other day.  This is what I came across there.

That’s right.  It’s a Pork Roast Panini.  ON CHALLAH ROLLS.  My version of keeping kosher is to at least boil and peel the shrimp, but even I was kind of offended by this.  Is it ok to have non-kosher products on challah rolls? Is this taboo, even for non-observant Jews?  I think it’s crazy.  So does Vasya.

Win Cool Jew, Yom Kippur A Go-Go, a schlep tote and $100 worth of loot in this Summer Reading Giveaway!

PopJudaica.com is celebrating summer with a Summer Reading Giveaway and a prize package valued at over $100.00, all tucked into a “Schlep” tote bag! To enter to win, tell us your favorite Jewish author or Jewish themed book. Leave your answer in the comments section at http://popjudaica.blogspot.com by midnight Pacific time by this Thursday, June 25th. Be sure to also leave your email or twitter handle so Pop Judaica can contact you if you are the winner! Note: This contest is open to residents of the U.S. and Canada. Sorry ck!

Cool Jew by Lisa Alcalay Klug — a must read for every member of the Tribe! The book covers everything Hebraic from womb to tomb, finally putting an end to Christmas tree envy. Short essays, lists, instructional guides, photographs, and original illustrations celebrate Jewish cultural pride with love, enthusiasm, and irreverence.

Bar Mitzvah Disco Remember the year when you turned Lucky 13? The authors of Bar Mitzvah Disco take you on a journey to a parallel universe, where tall girls slow-danced with short boys at arm’s length, suburban break-dance pioneers vied with Lionel Richie fanatics for dance-floor space, and Aunt Edna came ready to mount an assault on the dessert buffet.

Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat by Meredith Jacobs.
Written in conversational style from one modern Jewish mom to another, the MJM’s Guide is funny and warm, brightly colored and easy to read book, filled with delicious, easy recipes and family art projects, suggested family discussion topics. No matter your level of religious observance, this book appeals to all.

Yom Kippur A Go-Go by Matthue Roth. Yom Kippur A Go-Go is a mind-blowing meeting of pop culture, Orthodox faith, and hipster poetics. With humor and insight, Roth describes the tension between contemporary life and the demands of his Orthodox faith.

My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen. Raised as an Orthodox Jew and the son of a rabbi, Benyamin Cohen grew up fascinated by the church across the street from his childhood home. Struck by a crisis of faith, and not long after marrying the converted daughter of a Baptist minister, he decided to see if Jesus could lead him back to Judaism by embarking on an Oz-like journey on which he visited a myriad of denominational churches. In the end, Cohen found that his yarmulke had similar powers as Dorothy’s red shoes.

Enter to win here!

We like a bit of good mischief here at Jewlicious, especially when racist hate mongers are at the receiving end of it. Who can forget that time we “defaced” a Nazi Web site, or that other time me and Muffti joined the Delaware Klan? So I couldn’t help but chuckle when I read the other day in the New York Times, about what the Missouri Department of Transportation did after the Missouri chapter of a neo-Nazi group called the “National Socialist Movement” volunteered to clean a Missouri highway, and get official recognition for it in the form of an Adopt-a-Highway sign. See, freedom-of-speech laws prevent state officials from refusing to allow anyone from participating in an Adopt-a-Highway program where groups adopt a stretch of road and keep it clean thus saving the state money and getting a highway sign in return. So what Missouri State officials decided to do was to rename the highway after Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who fled Nazi Germany, became a prominent Jewish theologian and civil rights advocate in the United States and marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Needless to say, the Nazis are not amused:

“I think it’s childish,” said Cynthia Keene, 38, a sergeant in the group’s Springfield unit. “If they want to have Nazis out there stomping on a Jewish-named highway, that’s their choice.”

Well, childish or not, as long as they’re not goosestepping while cleaning their half mile stretch of highway, the whole thing is pretty funny. And that’s really what’s most intriguing about this story. Who knew Missourians were funny? Who knew?

Last week, I had an enlightening discussion with some colleagues about dating - and it was inevitable that we ended up talking about Jdate. While I do know a handful of people who married someone they met through the site, I can’t help but note that for the majority of current and past Jdaters (at least those I know), it hasn’t been so successful - but not by the fault of the site.

First of all, Jdate success seems to depend on your geographic location. In this small town, Jewish dating options are extremely limited, so it’s not such a surprise that Jdate options here are even more so. In addition, it’s hard to weed out the sketchy and skeevy ones when you’re communicating online and judging people through a few pictures and a profile they’ve surely spent hours perfecting.

Then there are those non-J-daters. They come in two varieties: those who have no qualms about telling you outright or describing themselves in their profile as non-Jews and  those who “will tell you later”. It makes very little sense to me why they’re on Jdate - I guess it stems back to those stereotypes. Maybe the female non-Js are looking for a nice Jewish lawyer or doctor and the male non-Js are looking for their own Monica Lewinsky? I highly doubt you’d find a Jewish person on a Catholic dating website…but maybe I’m wrong.

And when you look at the education level requirements for one’s ideal match, it’s shocking to me that any man with a bachelors or masters degree, even some with a JD, PhD or MD are OK with dating women with just a high school diploma…really? REALLY? Something about that seriously bothers me and should bother you as well.

As a final point - I joined Jdate for a short time after my last relationship. It was only to make my mother happy. Just three weeks after the breakup, she was pestering me to “get on Jdate and meet someone” already. Why do (some) Jewish moms think that by joining Jdate, their recently single or even perpetually single son or daughter will miraculously find love? Let me say that I didn’t find anything through Jdate other than some seriously awkward first dates and hundreds of profile views from creepy older men. But if any other moms have reacted to a child’s breakup in the same way, one has to wonder how many miserable sons or daughters are on Jdate just to make her stop bothering them.

I’m not anti Jdate, or any online dating site. I just think that everything and everyone warrants a second look, especially when it comes to dating.

The use of Medical Marijuana in Israel has been technically legal since 1999. But in a country known for its bureaucratic labyrinths and where much of the populace seems to have formed its understanding of Marijuana from repeated viewings of Reefer Madness, how does “technically legal” play itself out?

Haaretz Correspondent, Haim Shadmi, has written a great, in depth article about the confusing situation faced by patients who use Medical Marijuana to treat a host of ailments from Tourettes’ Syndrome to Cancer. It has a great cast of characters including the one Doctor in Israel authorized to prescribe Marijuana, the former pill popping raver authorized by the Ministry of Health to grow Medical Marijuana, Yossi Bozaglo, one of the first patients to be prescribed marijuana, who was tried in 2001 for buying marijuana from a drug dealer (!), a guy called “Angel face” who provides marijuana to patients for free and the Doctors of course:

When Cannabis was approved for medicinal purposes in 1999, it was originally intended for terminal cancer and AIDS patients. Today it is being used in earlier stages of illness and for a wider array of diseases, including Parkinson’s, Tourette Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, chronic pain and shell shock. The medical establishment is also increasingly recognizing Cannabis’ effectiveness in treating illness.

At the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital’s Bone Marrow Transplantation department, patients including children and babies are treated using drops of oil derived from Cannabis. “It has no side effects and is largely effective in treating patients,” said department chief, Professor Reuven Or. “I would say it is effective in 80 percent of patients, which is a lot.”

Professor Or continued, “It stimulates the appetite and minimizes nausea and vomiting, which is of great importance in Oncology. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, which helps in cases of infection or inflammation caused by radiation. Along with this, Cannabis eases the coping process for patients - it improves their morale and lowers depression, and these are important parameters for patients battling disease.”

Half of the patients being treated with Cannabis are Oncology patients, while about a quarter suffer from chronic pain.

But Medical Marijuana, while legal and effective and used by about 2000 patients, is not covered by Israel’s HMOs. Angel face provides it for free but the current situation is not tenable. The Health Ministry is planning on opening 5-6 new grow houses, but in the meantime “grass” roots organizations are providing patients with the weed they need. The article discusses the potential profits that operators of these grow houses might make and is a fascinating look at how things in Israe work despite everything.