Israel held it’s largest ever war drill today. Maybe the Israelis would like to give an account of how it went, what happened?
In other news, Muffti became aware recently of a strange bill making it’s way through the knesset known as the ‘Nakba’ law will aim to stifle any anti-celebrations on Yom Haatzmaut, punishable by up to 3 years in prison. You can probably guess which party the bill’s originator, Alex Miller, is a member of if you think hard. As a dyed in the wool free speecher, Muffti hopes this fails and that such nonsense is left out of the political sphere so real problems can be focused on.
Not much to report this week. The Israelis removed some outposts to show Obama they respect him. Abbas came to visit Obama and proceeded to admit to a reporter that he planned to do nothing any time soon, and by the way, he had passed on an amazing offer of a state when Olmert was prime minister just because.
The economy is improving a little but still very sluggish. We are about to witness the formerly largest auto manufacturer in the world, an American mainstay for several decades, finally go bankrupt after sucking up a few tens of billions in taxpayer money. And don’t fret Matilda, there’s going to be more money poured into that sinkhole before we’re done.
Paul Krugman believes that inflationary pressures are minimal right now and has essentially called the Republicans a party of clowns for their extremist obstructionism in the House and in California. It is reported that Republicans weren’t too offended, they were busy sifting through everything Judge Sonia Sotomayor has ever said or written. For some reason, they don’t mind when ideologues of the Right like Alito get appointed to the Supreme Court, but heaven help America if it’s a middle of the road Democrat or liberal. Before her appointment, the bets were on some other female jurists including a couple of Jewish ones. Ruth Bader Ginsburg will probably have to leave the bench soon because of her reported medical condition.
In other news, I was reading an article in Fortune Magazine about Intel. They were discussing two key projects that Intel is developing with substantial budgets (billion dollar+) and is betting the company on these technologies. The two names that were mentioned as leaders in this endeavor were Israeli or Jewish or both. Yoeli and Singer, female and male respectively. She helped develop the Pentium 4 in Israel’s Intel operation and was apparently plucked out to lead a large team out here. It’s impressive, but it’s also reflective of the brain drain plaguing Israel.
Then again, it’s quite amazing how many people of this quality Israel produces and continues to produce. Now if they could just get rid of some of those former generals and soldiers and let the geniuses run the place for a while…
Neither my husband ( henceforth Mr. B) or I are particularly religious. Because of the Great Soviet Educational Anti-Semitic and Atheist Experiment, we both know close to nothing about Judaism and sheitls, shiduchim, shlichim, shalom, etc. I’ve become slightly more nuanced in everything Jewish since being hyperactive in Hillel during my golden college years (2004-2007), and as a result, am constantly trying to impart Jewish wisdom upon him.
Since I realized that Shavuot’s going on right about now (or maybe it’s more of a December holiday?), I signed us up for The Ten: An Alternative Experience at the Sixth and I Synagogue in downtown Washington, D.C. Not only was it free, but Jonathan Safran Foer was going to speak. As someone who loved the movie Everything is Illuminated (but shamefully never read the book, mainly due to chronic laziness,) because of its skillful tackling of USSR/Jewish issues, I was highly excited.
Here's me taking pics of JSF from the balcony like a psycho.
Anyway, the event was great. We learned a lot and met some great people. But, the best part was the lead-up:
Me: *excitely and knowingly* So, Shavuot is coming up.
Mr. B: What’s Shavuot?
Me: It’s a Jewish holiday. And you eat cheesecake.
Mr. B: What’s the holiday about?
Me: I don’t really know for sure. *stalling at this point to retain the upper hand in my Jewish knowledge authority* I think it has something to do with weeks. Also, you eat cheescake.
Mr. B: Why? What’s the point?
Me: *getting annoyed at this point with his unenlightened Jewish holiday state* Just look it up on Wikipedia. And then tell me about it.
The Washington Post reports that Mahmoud Abbas, the man who is president of the Palestinian National Authority and who once wrote a doctoral dissertation denying the Holocaust, received an exceedingly generous peace offer from Ehud Olmert, Israel’s previous PM, last year.
He passed.
Why did he pass on a chance for peace and for a Palestinian state?
Nonchalantly he answered that the gaps remained too wide.
What did Olmert offer?
97% of the West Bank
Right of Return for Palestinian refugees
East Jerusalem though it’s unclear in what form
So what happened?
Abbas says the gaps were too wide. Saeb Erakat explained what gaps were too wide as reported on Al Jazeera and then on Jerusalem Post:
Erekat acknowledged that Israel had presented the Palestinians with a proposal in November 2008 which “talked about Jerusalem and almost 100% of the West Bank,” and he noted that Mahmoud Abbas could have accepted this proposal, just as the “Palestinian negotiators could have given in in 1994, 1998, or 2000.” Intriguingly, Erekat then proceeded to reveal what he considered a “secret”: he explained why the Palestinians had rejected the recent proposals just like the ones offered in 2000/01 during the negotiations in Camp David and Taba. What prevented an agreement every time – at least according to Erekat – was the Israeli request that the Palestinians acknowledge the central importance of the Temple Mount for Jewish history and religion.
It is worthwhile to quote Erekat’s description of a scene at Camp David, when Bill Clinton tried to convince Yassir Arafat to come to an agreement: “You will be the first president of a Palestinian state, within the 1967 borders – give or take, considering the land swap – and East Jerusalem will be the capital of the Palestinian state, but we want you, as a religious man, to acknowledge that the Temple of Solomon is located underneath the Haram Al-Sharif.” According to Erekat, Arafat responded “defiantly” to Clinton: “I will not be a traitor. Someone will come to liberate it after 10, 50, or 100 years. Jerusalem will be nothing but the capital of the Palestinian state, and there is nothing underneath or above the Haram Al-Sharif except for Allah.”
Okay, so when Abbas says cryptically that “the gaps were too wide,” what he means is that if the Palestinians don’t get to be sovereign over the Temple Mount, they are not going to sign a deal.
This is called “lying.”
Lying, for those of you who forget, is what a person does when he denies a Jewish connection to the Land of Israel. Lying is what a person does when he claims the Jews do not have historical, religious or cultural ties to Jerusalem or to the Land of Israel. Of course, these ideas can be found in the Hamas and Fatah charters, and of course they are lies.
Where is the lie here? Well, there is more than one but the big one is that the Palestinians seek a two state solution.
If they sought one, they would already have their own state. As both Camp David and Taba already showed, and now we have the Olmert offer to prove that the first two were not accidental rejections of Israel’s offers, the Palestinians are willing to forego peace in order to make impossible demands. One of the impossible demands is the Right of Return. Yet it appears that Olmert actually signed off on that. My guess is that he offered something similar to the Taba offer Israel made where original refugees (’1948 refugees”) are permitted to return to Israel.
He offered as much land as he could without cutting into the massive settlement blocs, and its probable that he offered an exchange of land inside Israel for the extra land, as did Barak at Taba and even at Camp David although there the ratio wasn’t 1:1.
But the Palestinians said no. They say no. Even Jerusalem wasn’t enough and even 100% of Gaza and 97% of the West Bank weren’t enough. Of course they’re not enough if you’re seeking to maintain a belligerent position against Israel.
In our meeting Wednesday, Abbas acknowledged that Olmert had shown him a map proposing a Palestinian state on 97 percent of the West Bank — though he complained that the Israeli leader refused to give him a copy of the plan. He confirmed that Olmert “accepted the principle” of the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees — something no previous Israeli prime minister had done — and offered to resettle thousands in Israel. In all, Olmert’s peace offer was more generous to the Palestinians than either that of Bush or Bill Clinton; it’s almost impossible to imagine Obama, or any Israeli government, going further.
Abbas turned it down. “The gaps were wide,” he said.
The Washington Post article lists the smugness of their leadership which is expecting Obama and Netanyahu to clash, ultimately leading to Netanyahu’s fall from power. The Washington Post article also suggests that with Obama in power, the Palestinians believe they can wait.
This is an error in the reporting. The Palestinians have believed for at least the past decade that they can wait. It is their strategy. As in, their long term strategy. If they wait, they believe, they get stronger and Israel gets weaker. Demographics play to their favor and so does a “frustrated” international community.
It’s a very good thing that this article and interview was published. It will hopefully provide some lessons to this administration about who is doing what to whom. it’s one thing to press Israel on certain things, but it’s another to give the Palestinians support when what they seek to do is torpedo any deals in the hopes they can wait things out. The Administration should also demand from the Palestinians that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
The lesson for Israel is exactly what Sharon had already figured out: unilateral actions are the only way Israel can move forward. The enemy wants Israel to stay in its current status because it serves their long-term strategy.
There used to be a video on Youtube, now gone, of Jesse Zimmerman and a mob of supporters outside the Hillel offices chanting against Zionists by accusing them of racism and demanding the racists leave campus. Zimmerman is heard saying, “Zionism does not speak for Jews. Zionism is an embarrassment. Shame on the Zionists.”
Jesse Zimmerman has a blog and on that blog he claims that the accusations against him and others are untrue and unfair. He denies any wrongdoing on the part of the other students as well as himself.
He writes about the reported coverage of that day:
No specific allegations of anti-Semitism appear in the YU Free Press report (Feb. 12), the Globe and Mail report (Feb. 13), or the Excalibur report (Feb. 18). Chants including “Shame on Hillel,” “Zionism is racism,” and “Racists off campus” are reported. (Not messaging everyone can get behind, but hardly anti-Semitic.)
Um, this is called “deflection.”
The press conference which drew the mob led by Zimmerman and incoming student federation president, Krisna Saravanamuttu, was a Drop YFS press conference. Drop YFS was a group formed in December of the previous year in response to what was perceived to be poor management by the leadership of the YFS – the York Federation of Students – during a strike held by contract instructors and teaching assistants.
In other words, this event had nothing to do with Zionism, Judaism, Palestinians or even with racism. It is true that many of the vociferous members of Drop YFS are Jewish and many were active members of Hillel and Hasbara at York, two Jewish groups on the York University campus. However, the Drop YFS students did not bring in their religion, their religious views, or any other biases into their campaign against the YFS leadership. This campaign to remove that leadership was focused on the YFS’s mistakes in the previous months.
And yet, even though this press conference was about the YFS, and even though Drop YFS focused on the YFS and did so before the YFS passed a motion attacking Israel for the Gaza incursion, Jesse Zimmerman is suggesting that it is not anti-Semitism to focus on Jewish factors (yes, even if you just use the word Zionism) instead of battling Drop YFS on the basis of their accusations against the YFS.
He doesn’t seem to realize that in doing so, he is treading on anti-Semitic ground. Why single out Jewish students? There were Jews and non-Jews in Drop YFS and Zionism was not part of their platform. Why chase these students back to an office identified as a Jewish organization’s office and attack people who call for the impeachment of a student government for its missteps “racists” and “Zionists” and demand they leave the campus? Why evoke deep hostility outside their door not on the basis of their claims but on the basis that they are supporters of Israel? How does one conclude that a person on Drop YFS must be a Zionist or a racist. Why bring up Zionism in any context, much less one of racism, when the discussion is about the YFS and their work?
Such actions can only be interpreted as an attempt to single out a particular group and use their heritage as a cudgel with which to attack them publicly – or worse. Since the focus here was upon Jews (and please don’t play semantic games here that only the word “Zionists” was used since there was no way to know whether these individuals were Zionists or not other than the fact that SOME were Jewish and openly supportive of Israel), how can these actions not be considered anti-Semitic?
Alysa Stanton will be ordained in June by Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati as the first female African-American Rabbi. Yay! On being the first? She says: “If I were the 50,000th, I’d still be doing what I do, trying to live my life with kavanah and kedusha…Me being first was just the luck of the draw.”
Not only all that – but she’s found her first pulpit – Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, North Carolina. Bayt Shalom is a predominately white congregation that is affiliated with both United Synagogue and the Union for Reform Judaism.
Soon to be Rabbi Emeritus of Bayt Shalom wrote to the congregation in his last newsletter article – “I know that you will welcome Rabbi Stanton with open arms, and I hope that she will be a dynamic force in the growth and spiritual development of the CBS community for many years to come.” In the same vein, Bayt Shalom’s President noted “a level of excitement in [the] congregation that is energizing” surrounding the start of Rabbi Stanton’s time in North Carolina.
I think that her success stands not only as an example for all, but also as proof that in some ways, we’re really moving foward.
Mazel Tov to Rabbi Stanton and her new congregation!
What does it take to win the Eurovision Song Contest? Apparently, the most important ingredients for success are cosmopolitanism (covering the voting-bases in most countries participating in the contest), not being afraid of having fun rather than only just running for the “fame” of a top-ranking score, and, of course, a charming stage persona.
Have I got the perfect contestant for you!
I’ve mentioned Yuriy Gurzhy before in a short post about Russendisko. Yuriy’s international + MOT roots, his loveable personality, and the music he creates together with his even more mixed-background band RotFront would make him a certain winner in Oslo – if only just for creating the best party atmosphere. Oh, and Yuriy has already agreed to run in the ESC if I can arrange this for him.
Rotfront are celebrating their CD release in Berlin with a concert/party marathon from 30th May till 5th June. (The CD – Emigrantski Raggamuffin – is also going to be available in the US from 9th June on.) I might even make it to Berlin for a night next week to join the party. The place is going to be packed, so hurry up & don’t miss out if you live in the vicinity.
All those that won’t be able to make it to Prussia may get an idea of what they’re missing:
If you live in the Middle East or Eastern Europe, that’s a question that you should answer, and in the affirmative. Last Wednesday, 20 May 2009, Iran launchedthe Sejil 2, its “longest-range solid-propellant missile yet.” The rangeof this missile is approximately 1,200 to 1,500 miles. This places Israel, the Middle East (including American bases), and Eastern Europe, well within range of Iranian missiles. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has claimedthat the missile “landed exactly on the target.” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has confirmed that the launch was a success, but is unsure as to whether the missile actually hit its target. According to experts, while this is not new technology, it does, however, prove that the technology that the Iranians have claimed to have had for around a year does, in fact, work. In addition to the threat of the range of the missiles is that of the potential warning. One of the problems with solid fuels is that they can be pre-fueled and hidden, which makes detection prior to launch far more difficult. Of course, this is good news if you’re an Iranian who wants to “send to hell,” as Ahmadinejad so eloquently put it, your enemies.
Iran, however, like any good nation, is not sitting on its laurels! They are quite busy, in fact. Iran has been buying uranium from Bolivia and Venezuela, for its nuclear program. At the same time, on Monday, 25 May 2009, Iran sent 6 warships into international waters. These ships even went into the Gulf of Aden, which is an important passageway for Middle Eastern oil.
This is all occurring while it seems that the Obama administration may be willing to accept a nuclear Iran, according to intelligence experts and academics who have analyzed statements released by the administration. At the same time, the Israeli government is trying, perhaps unsuccessfully, to cause the American government to understand that there is no connection between the dismemberment of illegal outposts in the West Bank/Judea and Samaria, and Iran. As Minister of Defense Ehud Barak put it, “It’s not as if the moment the last outpost is dismantled, for reasons of the rule of law and the country’s authority over its citizens, the Iranians will abandon their nuclear ambitions. This is why these things need not be [presented as] directly interdependent.” So, in the meantime, if you haven’t already, locate your bomb shelter.
So far we have a number of posts about the incident in Feb., 2009 when identifiably Jewish students were blocked inside the university’s Hillel office while a crowd outside chanted hysterically and intimidatingly at them. The chants, “Racists off campus” focused on the theme that the Zionists were racists and racists should leave campus. By focusing on Zionists and conducting the sudden rally outside the identifiably Jewish Hillel offices, the angry mob made their intentions clear.
A York University investigation concluded that Jesse Zimmerman and the incoming student federation president, Krisna Saravanamuttu, should both be reprimanded by York for this event. You can see the two leading chants at 1:20 of this video. Then keep watching as Saravanamuttu blames Jewish groups, Hillel, Hasbara and campus Zionists for keeping him and others out of a press conference because of ulterior motives.
Later that day, after protesters were finally removed by police, Saravanamuttu denied any culpability or any bigotry. He told a reporter that charges of anti-Semitism were “categorically false” and that he “heard nothing of that nature at all.” Demonstrators, according to his version merely chanted, “Racism off campus” and “Students united will never be defeated.”
After being reprimanded and fined for his actions on May 22, Saravanamuttu remained unrepentant. In that report he is quoted as saying:
“Several formal complaints were made to the University about students making racist comments on campus, yet the University did nothing. I decided to stand up against racism and I think it’s absurd that I was fined by the University for saying “racists off campus,” said Saravanamuttu. “When racist incidents happened on campus and nothing was done about it students took a stand, and for that we were punished.”
Hmmmm…
So he was standing up to racism?
Let’s check the facts.
There used to be a video on Youtube, now gone, of Jesse Zimmerman and a mob of supporters outside the Hillel offices chanting against Zionists by accusing them of racism and demanding the racists leave campus. Zimmerman is heard saying, “Zionism does not speak for Jews. Zionism is an embarrassment. Shame on the Zionists.” Had Zimmerman not said anything about Zionists, we might think this was just about a bunch of racists, but between the diatribe against Zionists and the fact they were yelling outside the Hillel office, it’s clear who they meant.
In interviews with members of Hillel, they state that on that day, as they were moving to their office because of the fear they felt at an earlier press conference, they were called dirty Jews and other abhorrent language.
Now, it’s possible to say that since these nasty comments don’t exist on tape, they aren’t provable. However, I believe that the context of what Zimmerman was leading with this mob that was blocking the Hillel room where students were cowering in fear clarifies exactly what this was.
Here is the backstory:
The students hiding in the Hillel office included Jews and non-Jews. They were all members of a group called Drop YFS which was focused on removing the York Student Federation from office because they felt the YFS completely mismanaged the CUPE strike by supporting CUPE to the detriment of the York student body. CUPE is the union representing contract faculty and teaching assistants. They wanted improvements in their pay and employment conditions and ended up striking for nearly 3 months. York students were severely affected as a result and it cost some their academic year or delayed graduation for others. This made many students angry and the support of their own government in this infuriated them. That’s why the impeachment drive with Drop YFS was launched.
It so happened that many of the organizers of Drop YFS were Jews, some of whom belonged to Hillel. They had been planning these protests since December of 2008. The CUPE strike began in November and the YFS’s support was already in place.
Then, at the end of December, Israel attacked Gaza. On January 21, the YFS condemned Israel for the Gaza offensive, making no mention of Hamas and its actions. To put this in context, this vote happened after Drop YFS began its campaign.
But the YFS soon changed the subject of the impeachment drive and began blaming the DROP YFS campaign on pro-Israel interests that were opposed to their vote on Gaza. There is only one way to view this in my opinion: the YFS lied to gain favor and avoid impeachment.
On the day that Drop YFS held the press conference to announce their feat of gaining the 5000 votes (out of 50,000 students on the York campus) needed to impeach the standing YFS council, the room was closed because it could only hold 30 people legally and after 40 people entered the hosts – the leaders of Drop YFS – were ordered by police to stop letting people in.
It was then that Krisna Saravanamuttu stood outside the room and led a large group of supporters through accusatory chants, supposedly for being excluded from the press conference.
Did he accuse the non-Jews of Drop YFS for this exclusion? Nope.
Did he blame the police which prevented the organizers of the news conference from letting more people into the room? Nope.
He, a member of the YFS, blamed Hillel and Hasbara, two Jewish campus groups, along with campus Zionists, for trying to bring the YFS down because of the Gaza vote. This can be seen in the video above at around 1:35.
As he and the others around him disrupted the news conference, they created a very uncomfortable barrier for the students seeking to leave the room. They left the press conference room and moved to the Hillel offices. Reportedly, it was then that members of the mob gathered around Krisna called some of the Drop YFS members nasty anti-Semitic things – and went on to shout about Zionists being racists and down with racism outside the Hillel office. There is no evidence that Krisna did any of these things. The video shows him at an earlier point in time as a leader, but not visible later.
Since there was no racism here on the part of Drop YFS, and since the members of Drop YFS came from different parts of the university and included non-Jews and people of color, and since the campaign began in December before the YFS Gaza vote, it is very difficult to read what happened here and conclude that this was anything but an anti-Semitic incident. It may have been cynical in its nature and meant to buttress the standing of the YFS, but the targeting of Jewish groups with unfounded accusations is anti-Semitism.
So when Krisna is quoted as saying “When racist incidents happened on campus and nothing was done about it students took a stand, and for that we were punished” to absolve himself of the reprimand he received from York, his reconstruction of the event just doesn’t fit with the video where he makes the statement at 1:35 in which he accuses Jewish groups of trying to knock off the YFS because of the Gaza vote. I don’t see any connection between these statements.
Congratulations to the York student body on electing Krisna Saravanamuttu to lead their student federation.
On May 22, the York University Osgoode Hall’s associate dean, Janer Mosher, issued two reprimands , one to the incoming president of the York Federation of Students, Krisna Saravanamuttu, who also received $150 fine for chanting “racists off campus” at Jewish students from York Hillel. Another student, who can be seen in the videos in the link below, Jesse Zimmerman, was reprimanded but not fined.
Essentially, a hostile environment for Jewish students combined with intense anti-Israel lobbying have become pervasive parts of life on campus at York University. The President is aware of the problem but punishes two Jewish organizations although they did nothing wrong.
The university then offers the world an academic conference, that clearly has a substantial budget by the way, focusing on resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict with a binational state of Israel which eliminates its Jewish identity.
They have apparently now completed their investigation, acknowledged the wrongdoing on the part of two people that weren’t connected with the Jewish groups but other than an official reprimand and a small fine to one of them, did nothing more. The individual who was fined, Krisna Saravanamuttu, is the incoming student body president. Shouldn’t that title be stripped away? How can a person who essentially targeted Jewish students with unabashed hostility and lies be permitted to lead the student body? Well, apparently York U. permits it.
Here’s a letter from a York graduate to their administration:
Dear Dr. Shoukri,
(President and Vice Chancellor, York University)
I am Shalom Lappin Professor of Computational Linguistics at King’s College, London, and I am currently a visiting professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, where I am on sabbatical for the semester.
I was recently invited to give a talk on my research on computational modeling of grammar induction in the Colloquium of the Cognitive Science Program of the Philosophy Department at York, on March 25. I accepted the invitation with great pleasure. I received my BA in Philosophy from York in May 1970, and I welcomed this opportunity to return to my first academic home. It is therefore with considerable regret that I must now withdraw from this engagement in light of the York administration’s handling of the attack on Jewish students that took place on the afternoon of February 11.
The reports of this attack that I have read in both the Canadian and the foreign press (confirmed by eyewitness accounts that I have received) converge on a disturbing sequence of events. A group of approximately 100 students supporting the York Student Federation broke up a press conference organized by other students campaigning to impeach the YSF. This group then pursued approximately 40 of the students from the press conference, most of them Jewish, to the offices of the campus Hillel, where the latter locked themselves in for fear of physical assault. The YSF supporters banged on the door and the windows of the offices, shouting threatening comments at the students trapped inside. The students in the Hillel headquarters appealed to campus security for assistance but received none. They then called the Toronto Police, who eventually arrived to escort them out of the offices, through lines of hostile YSF supporters chanting angry slogans and hurling insults at them.
To date I have seen no public statement by any University official on this incident, beyond the expression of an intention to investigate it. I called your office on Monday, February 23 to seek clarification of the administration’s view of the attack. A member of your staff called me back today and graciously listened to my concerns. However, she was unable to do more than reiterate the University’s official position that the matter is still under investigation. Given that the incident took place two weeks ago, I find it odd that the administration has been unable to come to any conclusions on what took place. It is particularly remarkable that it felt no need to release at least a general statement specifying that violence and abuse of any kind will not be tolerated on campus, and confirming that all students have the right to express their views without fear of intimidation.
The fact that the University has not taken up this assault with the students who launched it, nor acted to reassure the students who they targeted indicates a severe failure on the part of the administration to fulfill its responsibility to sustain a campus free of physical violence and harassment. Several of the Jewish students at York claim that the assault was not an aberration, but part of a general atmosphere of extreme hostility that they have been forced to contend with over an extended period of time. I am in no position to evaluate this assertion. But it seems to me that the administration is obliged to address the grievances of students who feel that they are being victimized, particularly in light of a significant incident which lends some credence to their charge.
I do not regard the ethnic identities or the political views of any of the participants in this event as of relevant concern. All sides to a controversial question have an equal right to be heard in a civil environment of tolerance and mutual respect. Nor do I see criticism of Israel as the problem here. I have frequently spoken out publicly against the policies of the Israeli government, most recently in a joint letter and comments critical of Israel’s operation in Gaza, published in the Observer in January.
If one group of students is permitted to engage in violent harassment of another without the decisive intervention of the University’s administration, then the conditions for a free and unfettered exchange of ideas are completely undermined, and the primary purpose of university life is betrayed.
When I was an undergraduate at York in the late 1960s the University was home to lively political activity on a variety of issues. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was one of these, and discussion was intense, occasionally heated. However, at no time did this discussion degenerate into systematic bullying, intimidation, or expressions of bigotry. Nor would the administration of that period have allowed it to do so. It is a source of great sadness to me that the current administration is either incapable or unwilling to insure the existence of a basic culture of decency, civility, and free speech on its campus. This culture is a necessary feature of any serious institution of higher learning.
Sincerely,
Shalom Lappin
Professor of Computational Linguistics
King’s College, London
There are many excellent universities in Canada other than York.
When I first saw this press release below from B’nai Brith in Canada, “‘York University conference questioning Israel’s right to exist an exercise in anti-Zionist propaganda,’” I was sure they were exaggerating.
Well I checked out the speakers list and the website and it clearly is one of the most absurd, sham, reprehensible anti-Israel conferences of the last few years. Check out the website and see for yourself. This line on the website is telling: The conference seeks to systematically measure the two state model against the promise of alternatives; very specifically the potential in the model of a single bi-national state.
Bi-national, my friends is a sanitized way of saying – no more Israel. As even Uri Averny wrote (a far-left wing Israeli writer and activist):
A bi-national state means the abandonment of this aim, and, in practice, the dismantling of Israel itself. The Jews would return to the traumatic experience of a people without a state throughout the world, with all that that implies. And not as a result of a crushing military defeat, but as a free choice. Not very likely
So what does York hope to achieve? To further and further isolate Israel as a pariah and illegitimate state. No Bi-National state exists in the world that has succeeded.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
‘York University conference questioning Israel’s right to exist an exercise in anti-Zionist propaganda,’ says B’nai Brith Canada
TORONTO, May 22, 2009 – B’nai Brith Canada has characterized as a “blatant exercise in anti-Zionist propaganda” the upcoming June conference at York University titled, Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace. The Jewish human rights organization also expressed particular concern over a recent statement by York University President Mamdouh Shoukri who insisted that the conference will continue to form part of the University’s publicly advertised 50th anniversary celebrations.
“This sham of a conference, which questions the Jewish State’s very right to exist, promises to be a veritable ‘who’s who’ of anti-Israel propagandists,” said Frank Dimant, B’nai Brith Canada’s Executive Vice President. “This is not an issue of academic freedom, despite the great lengths the University
is going to try to paint it in that light. It is purely and simply about delegitimizing the Jewish State and its supporters here at home – an exercise that runs far afield of so-called legitimate academic discourse.
“We question why an event that promotes hatred and encourages the destruction of the Jewish State would connect in any way to York University’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
“We call on York University professors, students, benefactors, alumni and members of the public at large to demand that York cease becoming a breeding ground for encouraging anti-Jewish hatred. Instead, it ought to use the opportunity of its 50th anniversary to return to its roots and celebrate the
diversity and multiculturalism of its student body, and ensure the tolerance and respect for all that should accompany it.”
[update] York U President had issued this statement defending academic freedom and against academic boycotts.
The freedom of independent scholars to organize events such as conferences on matters of legitimate academic inquiry goes to the very heart of academic freedom. It would be entirely inappropriate for the university administration to intervene in or to take responsibility for the academic content of such events, provided that they do not offend Canadian law, are consistent with the obligations cited above and deal with issues that are appropriate for academic debate.
You know legitimate things can be discussed like: Do the Jews control the media? Did the Jews cause the recent economic collapse? Are African Americans better at sports because of nature or nurture? Or like we have here in Long Beach – Can Kevin McDonald host a conference on his subject matter?
Judaism is a group evolutionary strategy to enhance the ability of Jews to out-compete non-Jews for resources. Using the term Jewish ethnocentrism, he argues that Judaism fosters in Jews a series of marked genetic traits, including above-average verbal intelligence and a strong tendency toward collectivist behavior.
American Girl, those dolls that real-life Russian Jewish immigrants from the Pale of Settlement (Odessa) could never afford when I was growing up, has added a Russian Jewish doll to its collection, no doubt plagued by guilt and the opportunity to sell to Jewish girls disenfranchised in a Bratz world.
Here she is, Rebecca Rubin (nee Rivkaleh Rabinovich, probs.) , straight outta the tenements in 1914.
Apparently the tenements in 1914 had meticulous hairdressers and Jews that were easily distinguishable from their goy brethren by the Ethnic Shawl. She will also be tap dancing in Porgy and Bess shortly. Little Rivka retails for $95 with one book, or $118 for the whole set. It’s chai if you buy everything. Genius.
Ms. Rubin, all of 18 inches tall, is the newest historical character doll to be released by American Girl, the company in Middleton, Wis., whose products have a rabidly devoted following among the female 7- to 12-year-old set. She is a 9-year-old girl living on the Lower East Side in 1914 with her Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, siblings and a grandmother known only as Bubbie.
As Ms. Greene worked on the books, company designers set about figuring out what Rebecca should look like. The company’s research had found that Rebecca’s Russian-Jewish descent allowed a range of physical characteristics, creating a wide palette of choices, said Megan Boswell, the director of design and development. Facial structure is not typically an issue because the company generally chooses from an existing set of molds.
Guess they didn’t research what Russian Jewish girls looked like back then.
Yeah, that would be my homegirl, Golda. Retailing for $95 for just her plus her autobiography. $118 for her to administer an ass-kicking.
Yup. No speeches. No pitches. Just a great opportunity (starting at 8 pm) to meet cool and interesting people in an appropriate setting conducive to friendly networking. Free wine (while supplies last) and yummy snacks to boot ought to guarantee a good time for all! But who are these sponsors that are helping to make things happen? Well, they are a very diverse lot and include high tech startups, non-profits and partners just helping to get the word out. So by all means please RSVP on our Facebook event page and keep reading to find out more about our sponsors!
The Jewish Agency in Israel is in an uproar. The agency, responsible for furthering Zionism’s goal by bringing Jewish immigrants to Israel, is outraged by the decision of the American UJC to bring 113 Yemenites to the US.
Now you could say what business is it of the Jewish Agency? What’s wrong with bringing Yemenite Jews to the US instead of Israel?
On the face of it, nothing. People can choose to live where they like and if the US is willing to accept them, why should Israel receive preference?
Except that the UJC is moving these Yemenite Jews to Monsey, NY, where they will live among Satmar Jews. Satmars are ultra-Orthodox Jews who happen to also be anti-Zionist in their world view. Their version of Judaism is a strict and demanding one and they have spent many years sending emissaries to Yemen in what can probably be called missionizing. The result has been that some Yemenite Jews have taken on this form of Judaism and some attempt to move to Monsey to join the broader community there.
Those of us who have seen the movie “In Satmar Custody” have a different view, perhaps, of what happens to Yemenite Jews when they reach Monsey. Here is part of the NY Times review of the movie:
Mr. Jaradi and his wife, Lauza, tell their story in Nitzan Gilady’s modest, disturbing documentary “In Satmar Custody.” The tragedy began to take shape after the Jaradis had been in the United States for several years. One day in 1998, at home in Monsey, N.Y., their daughter, Hadiyah, fell from her chair and lost consciousness. A neighbor tried to rouse the child by shaking her, Mrs. Jaradi says in the film, but to no avail. When Hadiyah was taken to a hospital, comatose, bruises were found on her, the Jaradis were charged with child abuse, and their other children were soon taken from them and placed with Satmar families. Hadiyah died in 2001.
The same thing has happened to native-born American parents, of course, some guilty and some completely innocent. But the Jaradis’ ordeal was intensified by the constraints of the life they had been able to make in the United States. The Satmars, who are ultra-Orthodox and also fervent anti-Zionists, took away Mr. Jaradi’s passport, he says, and forced him to work for them, fund-raising door to door. The children were not allowed to learn English, which, as the film notes, effectively made them even more isolated in their new home and dependent on the religious leaders.
A good bit of the documentary follows the Jaradis through the almost unbearably frustrating process of trying just to see their daughter and, when she dies, to be able to claim her body and bury her. But the message of “In Satmar Custody” is much more ominous than a lament about red tape.
When Shlomo Grafi, a Long Island man identified as chief executive of the Yemenite Heritage Fund, is asked in the film what the Satmar sect does, he says, “Mostly they like to take children.” One man says of Mr. Jaradi, “He was offered $20,000 for one of his twins.” Another tells of having lost all six of his children to Satmar leaders. Mr. Jaradi replies, “God help us.”
It is a horrifying film. Using the law to their advantage, the Satmars take advantage of this poor, young, ignorant couple who have come to America from Yemen and really know very little of America other than what they see in Monsey. Their struggle to regain their children is heartbreaking and the roadblocks put up by the Satmars are infuriating. The couple never does get their children back unless something has changed in the past couple of years since I first saw the film.
None of this is discussed in the debate between the Jewish Agency and the UJC, but it should be front and center.
The names of three UJC leaders are mentioned in the J Post article about this:
UJC leaders, including Board of Trustees chair Joe Kanfer, Executive Committee chair Kathy Manning and president Howard Rieger.
Dear Joe, Kathy and Howard, please rent a copy of “In Satmar Custody” before you take this step of bringing more Yemenite families into the Monsey Satmar community. I have to think that anybody who watches that movie can only conclude that sending Yemenite Jews to Mongolia or Dubai would be a smarter and more positive move than to Monsey. Or heck, even Israel would be a good place.
Today I was asked who the third person on our planet was. “You mean ever?” “I mean, after the first two.” “Adam and Eve?” “Yes.” “The third person was Cain, their son.” “But was there a girl?” “I don’t know, I think so.” “Because, even if there was a girl, was she Cain’s sister?” “I don’t know, son.” “No, seriously Dad, if you only have one woman and one man, and then they have a son, how did other people get here? Did God make other people?” “It doesn’t say so in the Torah, son, so I don’t know.”
Massive look of disappointment at his father who can’t answer the question behind the question.
Moritz, 2, a breed realist, lying on the lookout for intruders.
Moritz is a tomcat. He pretty obviously is. As a good tomcat, he’s aware of the things going on around him, has got a sound grasp of his role in the universe and also is somewhat pensive, yet opinionated. Today he’s giving us the chance of taking a peek into his microcosm.
Me: Hi Moritz, what’s going on?
Moritz: What should be going on? Do you see that one over there?
Me: You mean…?
Moritz: Indeed, that furry, orange nuisance you oh so affectionately call Garf!
Me: Nu, Moritz, what about him?
Moritz: I. See. Him.
Me: Ahh…
Moritz: He shouldn’t be there.
Me: Why not?
Moritz: Taking sides again, eh?
Me: Not so much, but why would it bother you that he’s in some neighbour’s garden?
Moritz: He’ll be coming here soon, you’ll see.
Me: So what?
Moritz: “So what”, you ask? He’s orange!
Me: Moritz, no offence meant, but you’re partly orange yourself.
Moritz: No way!
Me: Way.
Moritz [looks at his tummy]: White like a snowflake! (more…)
Yair took this photo of nighttime Jerusalem as seen from Armon Hanatziv where the beautiful Jerusalem promenade overlooks the city (I lost the link and don’t know Yair’s last name, so if you happen to know Yair, please send me the link).
This week has been a nothing week. Nothing to report because we don’t really know what happened between Israel’s PM and the President of the US.
On other fronts, however, the news is somber. Jewish day schools are closing or in serious trouble, Jewish overnight and day camps are seeing drop-offs in campers, a variety of Jewish charities of all sizes are experiencing severe difficulties and are either closing, laying off staffers, teachers, principals and even their clients who are receiving fewer services if at all. Decades of infrastructure that has provided services to the Jewish community in the USA, Canada and to some degree Israel are coming apart before our eyes.
The problems are many. Wealthy individuals who have been living off their investments and trust funds have found their assets halved and sometimes worse. They aren’t able to live the same way or give as they have in the past. Charities with funds that were directly or indirectly invested with Madoff are essentially broke or bereft of funds. Active businesspeople are wondering whether their businesses can survive and have had to curtail charitable contributions and other forms of support they may have provided in the past.
It is already hurting and will hurt even more.
But there’s a silver lining, in my opinion.
There is going to be some pain for a while, but out of this we will evolve into a much leaner community that can do as much with less. There have been numerous redundancies in the Jewish charitable world as every Sam, Adam and Harry decided to fund their pet charity. As a result, charities were fighting over scarce resources and frequently stepping into each other’s domains. That has enabled an entire cadre of professionals to work as employees and has bloated organizations to a degree that may have been unnecessary.
Now, as some of the weaker charities die and the survivors learn to provide the same services with fewer dollars and fewer employees, Jewish benefactors will also become much more prudent and choosy about their giving. As a result, the best and most important charities will survive and those whose mission may be peripheral will not.
However, what I really hope for is that all of this turmoil will lead to one result: more giving to education.
The most important charities today in the Jewish world are not Holocaust museums and they are not Darfur missions. The most important charities are the Jewish day schools, the Jewish afternoon/Sunday schools and the Jewish summer camp network. In reality, short of those charities that care for the poor and the elderly, nothing in the Jewish world comes close to the importance of providing HIGH QUALITY, AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE JEWISH EDUCATION TO OUR CHILDREN and STUDENTS. Nothing comes even close. Nothing.
If you are a benefactor to charities, an officer of a key Jewish organization (i.e. Federation) or someone who operates a charity, consider the importance of this issue. Instead of supporting some Jewish professionals, funding another university building that carries your name, supporting some Jewish political or social movement, giving money to Israel which last I heard had a government that was far richer than our Jewish community, or giving money to an organization that ultimately only benefits a small number of recipients, consider an alternative.
Consider that this money could and should go to a Jewish Day School, afternoon/Sunday school or summer camp. In doing so, you will be providing the lifeblood this community needs to survive well into the future. You will be ensuring that Jewish traditions, values, history and our shared heritage are passed on to our youth and college students. You will make a truly relevant contribution so that your children and grandchildren will have a sizable and vibrant community to live in and with. You will be ensuring the future.
Really, it’s insane that they’re asking Jewish families to pay $15,000-$20,000/year to send children to school, $5000/month for summer camp and providing few services to campus students. Everybody except for the richest and the poorest members of the Jewish community are forced to make impossibly difficult choices if they can find the funds to pay. This is where funds are needed. Your local museum needs a new wing? Give the money to a Jewish school. Your local classical symphony needs a few million? Listen to CDs and give your money to a summer camp with a demand they subsidize their programming. That university president keeps bugging you about that new building program he’s developing? Fund a chair that will benefit Jewish students and use the remaining money to ensure the sunday/afternoon schools can offer excellent classes for free to their students.
There is nothing more important as far as the needs of our community are concerned.
The United States is one of the few countries that permits the life sentencing of juveniles without the possibility of parole (JLWOP). According to Human Rights Watch, 2,380 people in this country are serving life sentences for crimes they committed before they turned 18. In the rest of the world, there are a total of 12.
On May 4th, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the reasoning that led it to strike down the death penalty for juvenile offenders four years ago should also apply to sentences of life without the possibility of parole. As Adam Liptak reported in the New York Times, “The court accepted two cases on the issue, both from Florida and neither involving a killing… In the majority opinion in the death penalty case, Roper v. Simmons, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote that teenagers were immature, unformed, irresponsible and susceptible to negative influences, including peer pressure.
“Even a heinous crime committed by a juvenile,” Justice Kennedy concluded, is not “evidence of irretrievably depraved character.” (More)
The sentencing of juvenile life without the possibility of parole is considered “cruel and unusual” punishment, often inflicted against children by federal judges because of the use of racial profiling in identifying and charging suspects. JLWOP also violates international standards for the protection of children from institutionalized abuse.
An organization entitled Faith Communities for Families and Children has released a video entitled, “God Cries When We Sentence Children to Die in Prison.” Five religious leaders from diverse faith traditions unite in their shared conviction to end life without parole sentences for children.
On May 26th, 2009, a bloggers live webcast event will be held at www.mogulus.com/ricothomasrico (Check the website for live-chat and a call-in number to participate via telephone). The program will feature Efren Paredes, Jr., 36, who was incarcerated at age 15 and is currently serving a life sentence in Michigan. This is part of a national campaign urging bloggers to post their opposition to juvenile life sentences without parole (JLWOP) on May 27th.
If you’re wondering what I’ve been up to while I’ve been not posting stories about life from Ze Mother Country, I’ve been scheming.
There are no Jews in DC. Or, at least, none that my Jewdar picked up on. My Jewdar is pretty weak, much like a lower-end GPS model. I should really get that thing upgraded.
Frustrated by the sense of isolation from the Jewish community in Washington DC and also because I was jealous of the Tel Aviv Beer TweetUp, I decided to see if there was interest in having a Jewish tweetup around here. At first, I thought it was pretty gimmicky, because social media in general seems pretty gimmicky to me. However, at the risk of sounding like I’ve been drinking the Twitter Kool-Aid, I really think that it’s the only thing that’s been helpful for me in connecting directly to Jews.
@Awapy felt exactly the same, and, being in marketing, went to work. While I had the vision, she created a bunch of press releases and tirelessly reached out to Jewish organizations. She was the Weizmann to my Herzl. Also, ck created a fabulous poster for us to promote it.
@Awapy decided to put the hashtag on her back…in case anyone got lost.
And then, @BuberZionist showed up. He’s a pretty nice guy. We didn’t talk a lot about politics, surprisingly. Also, by this time, I was well into my first drink.
We look like we’re having a pretty ok time.
Oh yeah, then there was that. It says We Love Jewlicious. But not because we’re suckups or anything.
The Jewish guy did not win American Idol. The Israelis did not win at Eurovision. And the Norwegian Eurovision winner, although born in Minsk, and though he starred in Fiddler on the Roof in Norway, is most likely not MOT. Yet, I had the honor of attending the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature awards ceremony in New York City’s Battery Park City last night, under the auspices of the Jewish Book Council. Celebration was everywhere, and maybe some microscopic envy. The 2009 Prize was conferred upon Sana Krasikov. In addition to the honor of receiving the award, and becoming a member of the community of past winners, Ms Krasikov received a nice glass plaque, …oh, and a check for $100,000 (US$) for her debut short story collection, “One More Year.”
Growing up in Iran
Dalia Sofer, author of “The Septembers of Shiraz,” received the 2009 Sami Rohr Prize Choice Award. It also came with a plaque, and $25,000.
Sana Krasikov was born in Ukraine and was raised in the FSU Republic of Georgia, as well as the United States. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. “One More Year”, her debut collection, consists of stories about people who hold out hope, despite the odds, that life will be kind to them. Most of the characters are women, some newly arrived immigrants to America, some in Russia, and others in Georgia. There are stories in which mothers decide to leave children behind, and children abandon their parents. The characters seek love, or something that can substitute or look like love.
Probably because the Krasikov’s background, the event was filled with many immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. In addition to them, there were doctors (Dr. Ruth Westheimer), Rabbis (Lookstein, Buchwald, and Telushkin, to name just three), reviewers (Brawarsky), philanthropists (the Rohr family, Ms. Everett), and dozens of Jewish authors. There was also some great kosher sushi, great views, and itty bitty brownies.
If any pattern can be gleaned from the fictional works that were among the five finalists, it would be that four of the five the authors are immigrants (Maybe because one of the judges read many of the nominees while vacationing from Jerusalem in another walled city: Rhodes, or maybe because some of the best works are driven by the stress of immigration and outsiderness).
The 2009 FICTION FINALISTS were: Elisa Albert for “The Book of Dahlia” (Free Press); Sana Krasikov for “One More Year” (Spiegel & Grau); Anne Landsman for “The Rowing Lesson” (Soho Press); Dalia Sofer for “The Septembers of Shiraz” (Ecco); and Anya Ulinich for “Petropolis “(Viking Penguin). Oh wait. And all five finalists were Jewish women. Complain about that, Portnoy!
Elisa Albert’s (Jewcy.com) “The Book of Dahlia” is about Dahlia, a sarcastic, 29 year old, self-absorbed Jewish American Princess living in a Los Angeles area beach bungalow, smoking pot, and dealing with a brain tumor. In Anne Landsman’s semi autobiographical “The Rowing Lesson,” Betsy Klein is pregnant, empathetic and exasperated, when she is called to return to South Africa to her comatose father’s bedside. Sofer’s “The Septembers of Shiraz,” recreates Jewish life in her native Iran. (Sadly, the author’s father, who inspired so much of the novel, passed away in the past two weeks). And Russian-born Anya Ulinich’s funny story “Petropolis” is about a Russian mail-order bride, Sasha Goldberg, trying to find her place in America. (Which is worse and what is home? Phoenix or Siberia?)
Sami Rohr, for whom the prize is named, resides in Miami, where he is a philanthropist. For over 30 years, he was a leading real estate developer in Bogota, Colombia.
Best wishes to the finalists and winners. Now “Go and Read.”
At least these guys make it looks hard. Four men from Newburgh, New York attempted to bomb a jewish community centre, a synagogue and had the rather more ambitious plan of knocking military air craft out of the sky with a rocket launcher. It’s hard to do that in Grand Theft Auto so Muffti can only imagine how difficult it would be for a bunch of rank amateurs to attempt such a thing in real life. Then again, it’s not clear the GTA missiles were guided stinger missiles. For a year they had been dealing with an informant controlled by the FBI and were dealing with fake C-4 and missiles. If their intentions weren’t so nefarious in content, one would have to feel bad for these guys: planning something serious, dedicating all their time and energy to it only to have been dealing with props the whole time (Surely there is some existentialist literature that deals with this theme). See Bloomberg for a nice report on the matter.
Jerusalem Day Parade enters Old City from Dmascus Gate
Well, in case you thought Bibi Netanyahu reads Jewlicious and was convinced by my suggestion that Jerusalem can be divided with the Old City becoming an international protectorate, think again.
Today he announced, as have all previous Israeli PMs since 1967, that Jerusalem is indivisible and shall never be divided again. Never ever. Not even a little bit.
Jerusalem was always ours and will always be ours. It will never again be partitioned and divided.
…
Only under Israeli sovereignty will united Jerusalem ensure the freedom of religion and freedom of access for the three religions to the holy places.
Of course, Ehud Barak made similar assertions and he ended up offering half of Jerusalem to the Palestinians (although there is some question as to whether at Camp David he actually offered sovereignty over the eastern part of the city).
Still, Netanyahu’s statement does give us a clear status check. Now let’s see whether he has the balls to build out E1, the area that connects Jerusalem to Ma’aleh Adumim.
I’ve just discovered the abovementioned blog over at JC. What by its name at first glance just appeared to be yet another single’s e-column quickly proved to be some of the funniest I’ve read since Muffti and I outlined a conspiracy to form a hiphop act that will stage at the Jewlicious Festival in a little while.
Suddenly Single appears to be a new blog, but already looks delightfully promising, set with gems like these:
And then the rains came. Turns out that Rebecca/Sandra was into swinging, and knew a place in Radlett where they held regular parties for couples that way inclined. Was I interested? Don’t worry, she said, a lot of them would be Jewish. That’s a relief, I replied, I’m sure my rabbi would be impressed. Is there a prayer for consensual licentiousness?
and
I glanced over at Dave’s black boots, tight jeans and T-shirt emblazoned with an oriental dragon and realised how butch he looked — as though he’d stepped out of a remake of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy called Queer Eye For The Even Queerer Guy. Basically, he had about him the air of a gentleman who prefers the company of other gentlemen. And I was that other gentleman. Not that there’s anything wrong with it.
