We all knew that Biden had a serious life-long case of foot-mouth disease. The man cannot help but make guffaws. But this trip to Israel was to be a make nice party, a chance for the US and Israel to rekindle their strong friendship and worry about BIG PROBLEMS like Iran.

Israel announced on the eve of his visit that it was halting the project that was causing so much fuss in East Jerusalem – Sheik Jarrah hood. (Remember that fake Purim video purporting to be Jews celebrating with songs in praise of Baruch Goldstein?)

UPDATE – Apparently the remarks were in response to 1600 homes in Ramat Shlomo, Wiki writes :Ramat Shlomo was founded in 1995. As of 2000, it had a population of 18,000, mostly Haredi Jews. Ramat Shlomo borders Ramot to the west, Har Hotzvim to the south, and Shuafat to the east.

Apparently, that is the “provocation” that was needed for Biden to dump a ton of rotten shwarma on Israel.

Leave it to Joe. This from the JTA:

Biden says Israeli housing starts ‘undermining’ trust

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Vice President Joe Biden denounced a decision to authorize new Jerusalem housing starts as “undermining the trust” that he needs to advance peace while in Israel.

“I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem,” Biden said in a statement issued Tuesday, the second day of a visit that had been aimed at underscoring the closeness of the U.S.-Israel relationship. “The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I’ve had here in Israel.”

In the long-standing Russian/Soviet/socialist tradition, don’t forget to wish your woman a Happy March 8th today-International Women’s Day.  The best way to celebrate this holiday is by cleaning the house in order to surprise her.

My favorite Jewish women?  Rachel Ben-Zvi. And Dr. Ruth, who was a Haganah sniper. And Samuelson. And, obviously, Rebecca Rubin.

Your favorite Jewesses?

If I have to explain to you what SXSW (South By South West) is, then, really, you need to bone up on… well, stuff. Suffice it to say this 9 day festival of independent music as well as film and technology will have plenty of representation from Israel.

Here’s the list of Israeli acts that will perform:

Wed March 17th
Carusella: Barbarella (615 Red River St) (21+) 8 pm
Onili: Club 115 (115 San Jacinto St) (21+) 11 pm
Orphaned Land: Red 7 (611 E 7th St) (All Ages) 1 am

Fri March 19th
Boom Pam: Copa (217 Congress Ave) (21+) 10 pm
Terry Poison: Spill (212 E. 6th St) (21+ ) 11 pm
Balkan Beat Box: Spill (212 E. 6th St) (21+ ) 12 am
Useless ID: Valhalla (710 Red River St) (21+) 7 pm

Saturday March 20th
Soulico: Beauty Bar/Palm Door (401 Sabine St) (21+) 10 pm
Boom Pam: Beauty Bar/Palm Door (401 Sabine St) (21+) 11 pm
Balkan Beat Box: Beauty Bar/Palm Door (401 Sabine St) (21+) 1 am

I’ve linked to the band Web sites so that you can check them out yourselves. These are all awesome acts, spanning genres from drunken gypsy to slutty electronica and I’ve seen most of them live here in Israel. Honorable mention goes to Jewlicious Festival alum Kosha Dillz who is performing on Wed. March 17th at The Independent (501 N IH 35) (21+) at 9:15 pm and for those more tech inclined, check out Judaism 2.0 with Chavi Edwards and some Lubavitcher. Also not to be missed is Jewlicious Festival alum Leah Jones who will be talking about Social Networking ruining your love life!

I’m pretty sure I have Israel’s presence down pat. Did I miss any notable Jews? Will the BDS assholes try to ruin everyone’s fun with their hypocritical, bullshit? We’ll see!

This is a bit old, courtesy of Canada:

It’s a bit like a bad Troma joke but with better production.

Purim and Activism from Eli Joseph – Taken from my living room in Maaleh Adumim

Some thoughts..

When I was growing up, I had a very minimal relationship with Purim. For me, it felt like the Jewish version of Halloween with everyone dressing up in crazy costumes, masquerading around Shul and acting in bizarre ways. I knew there was a story to it with a bad guy and a hero, but I still found the whole thing boring because I couldn’t find a way to connect with it and the parties at shul were pretty lame.

Until the day came when I moved to Israel and Purim came alive.

I learned the Megillah for the first time, and realized there was so much more to it then just another story of the Jewish people nearly being slaughtered and then saved. According to our tradition, the story in Megillat Esther takes place after the Jews had been exiled to Babylon and the First Temple was destroyed. Rulership eventually passed over to the Persians, and 52 years after the destruction, Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to the Land and rebuild the temple… But only 42,000 Jews out of millions actually went! Soon after, Achashverosh became king and things yet again took a turn for the worse; construction was halted, and in this context, the story of Purim takes place.

One of the key parts of the Purim story and the one that speaks to me the most, was the Fast of Esther. The Jews were living in a foreign land, assimilating, comfortable, and relatively at peace until Haman came to power and convinced king Achashverosh to murder them because they posed a potential threat. And how did Haman describe the Jews to Ahashverosh? He said, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your realm.”  Hmm… Sounds eerily familiar. Mordechai picked up on this and immediately went out in tears until Esther found him and asked what in the world was the matter. He told her of the decree to murder the Jews and that she had an obligation to go to the king and face him – to speak up and try to save the millions who were threatened! She resisted.. And her excuse? “Everyone knows that if anyone approaches the king without being summoned, they’ll be put to death.” Mordechai then told her that she could not keep silent and that her fate would not be separate from all those who would be slaughtered. He told her that perhaps the entire reason why she had become Queen was to plead on behalf of the Jews. She finally woke up and told Mordechai to assemble all the Jewish people, and together, they would fast for three days. Only then would she go and confront the king.

In Judaism, there is the idea of Tikkun, of ‘fixing.’ The three day fast was a tikkun for the Jewish people who up to that point had avoided standing together and sharing the burden of responsibility for each other as a whole. Once they fasted, the Tikkun was made and Esther was able to go to the king and plea on behalf of the people successfully.

There is a deep lesson here.. Purim is actually considered spiritually to be on a higher level than Yom Ha Kippurim, our day of atonement (if you look at the words, the first part ‘Ki’ means ‘as’, and we are left with Purim, so that Yom Kippur is striving to reach a level of spiritual depth that Purim achieves). And why? Nowhere in the entire Megillah of Purim is God mentioned, and yet, the greatest Tikkun of standing together was still able to happen without any visible Godly hand telling us what to do. This teaches us the power we have within ourselves to shape our reality, to positively affect our present and future if we are able to stop judging each other and unite through a place of love.

And why do we drink on Purim? Our venerable Rabbis taught that on Purim, we’re supposed to reach a level of “Nahafochu,” where everything is reversed or flipped, to get to the point were you’re so drunk, you can’t even tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman.  So we drink to go even deeper, beyond all boundaries, to a place where walls melt and we see the oneness in us all.

The Rabbis also said “Mi she nichnass Adar, Marbim be Simcha!” He who brings in the month of Adar is full of Joy!” From a place of brokeness, we are able to rise, through loving each other, growing, taking responsibility for one another, and bringing goodness, joy and light to the world.

May we all have a Purim Sameach!!

Wellp, my Purim costume is all set.

As Purim approaches, a new poll found that the political figure whom the most Jewish Israelis want to dress up as is—drum roll, please—Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman! Over 40 percent of respondents picked the Yisrael Beiteinu leader.

Although it will be trickier than last year’s Moshe Dayan attempt.

With all the buzz in LA this week about the Oscar voting – here is my vote— Inglorious Basterds should win Best Picture, and many other accolades for Quentin Tarantino and his brilliant cast. Basterds is the most intriguing movie about WWII and the Holocaust to be made in decades.

Writing about the film this week, a few days before the holiday of Purim, I am drawn to a parallel between Basterds and Purim. In the Purim story, Jewish salvation came not at the hands of politicians and power-brokers, but through a Jewish woman who had hidden her identity from everyone including her husband. In Basterds, it is also a Jewish woman, whose past and Jewish identity a secret, and is being romanced by a Nazi poster-boy, who is the heroine.

Basterds is a film about WWII and the “face of Jewish revenge” portrayed by a band of American Jews scalping Nazi behind enemy lines. There is also the Jewish woman who plots to murder the entire Nazi leadership as revenge for her murdered. None of these things actually happened, Basterds is a fairy tale.

The film is brilliant from every angle. It has drama, humor, romance, and suspense. The plot twists are compelling. The story, the photography, the script, the acting, and the drama all are detailed, textured, nuanced, colorful, and captivating.

I was apprehensive. I had never seen a Tarantino film, and heard there is a lot of violence. While Basterds has some pretty graphic violence, it is a WWII movie after- all. The scalping made everyone cringe. Yet the violence pales in comparison to portrayals of mass murder by Nazi death squads or gas chambers.

The Jews are tough in this film. More James Bond than Woody Allen, more Mossad, that Seinfeld. There are no sheep being led to the slaughter. The Nazis are brutal, interesting, grotesque – not unlike the real Nazis. The leader of the Basterds played by Brad Pitt brands Nazis with Swastikas on their foreheads so they cannot escape into regular life afterward. They cannot escape what they have done.

It is clear that Tarantino did a ton of research on his subject matter. He read up on the Nazi film industry, and the war, and real life WWII spy stuff. He digested all the previously exulted WWII movies and hints of them appear in the film

I enjoyed many parts of the film for their poetic justice, suspense, and dialogue – but this one I love to retell.

Winston Churchill, when hearing of the Germans plans to replace Jewish cinema with Nazi cinema, says “You say [Goebbels] wants to take on the Jews at their own game?”

If we cannot laugh we cannot heal. If we cannot dream we cannot move on. Tarantino’s film helps us heal, and move on, but that is not why he made it – he made it because it needed to be made.

If they would have murdered Hitler – millions would have been saved, but it was not the priority of the Allied forces. In fact, the only ones that made a serious attempt at it late in the war were fellow Germans.

The Allies tried to win the war the old-fashioned way, with infantry, tanks, planes and bombs, with propaganda, cloaks, daggers and brute force. I don’t know if this was Tarantino’s goal, but Basterds shows that redemption can come from average people doing extraordinary things. To stop an evil tyrant we cannot depend solely on conventional means, and conventional players, we need to act and hope that we are helped by the hand of God.

Gallup survey has us on top, Iran and PA on bottom

A recent Gallup poll ranked Israel 5th among countries viewed most favorably by Americans. Canada ranked in 1st place, followed by Britain, Germany and Japan. In last place was Iran with only 10% of Americans viewing it favorably, preceded by Afghanistan (18%) and the Palestine Authority (21%). The poll is interesting given that many Jewish opponents of US President Obama claimed that his Presidency would fuel anti-Israel sentiment, yet “Most countries’ favorability ratings … were essentially unchanged during the first year of the Obama administration, Gallup said.” So the question is, what does this mean? Does it mean that having Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli on the cover of Sports Illustrated is the best PR Israel can ever have? Does it mean that there are many Americans who will continue to view Israel favorably regardless of the situation? Keep in mind, this survey, conducted in February, happened after the Gaza war and after the Goldstone Report. I don’t have the answers but I think that it’s obvious that the image of Israel in the US is clearly not as bad as some would have you believe and that I welcome any opportunity to post photos of Bar Refaeli.

EV had the idea, and I somewhat like it. (Admittely, I love travelling and Jewish European history, so I’d be, ehmm, terribly qualified to staff an enterprise like this.)

What if there weren’t only a “Birthright Israel” for Jewish young adults from the Diaspora but also a chance for young Israeli adults to get more hands-on knowledge of Diaspora Jewry than school and media education could ever provide? What if there were exchanges for young people from and between Jewish Diaspora communities? With some thorough preparation and guidance throughout the trips, such exchanges could further mutual understanding and acceptance.

Here are a few lines from EV’s original post:

Birthright Diaspora will make Jews proud again.

It’s a strange thing to say, isn’t it? For one thing, despite the insistent proclamations of Jewish fund-raising letters and Israeli political and cultural leaders, most Jews in the Diaspora are not living on the brink of physical, spiritual or cultural devastation. In fact, by and large they’re pretty proud of who they are already. Secondly, to associate Diaspora experiences with “pride” is to break one of the major taboos of modern Jewish education. Israel is the pinnacle of pride; Diaspora the domain of destruction. That’s why education about the Diaspora designed for fifteen-year olds has meant role-playing “discrimination, persecution, forced conversion, outmarriage, assimilation, [and] (im)migration” so that “the message of a diminishing Jewish world and Israel as the only country with a growing Jewish population should be apparent.”

Yay, let’s role-play some more! [Read the complete post here.]

To explain why I’m particularly fond of EV’s idea, here’s some personal experience with, well, Israelis that could have needed more intercultural education: when I was in Israel, I went on a school exchange to a city in the Negev. Out of the entire group of German students, I was the only one staying with a family of Russian background. My exchange student wouldn’t mingle with the Sefardi exchange students of my friends. There wasn’t any apparent hostility between those youths from Russia and the Sefardi majority, but neither group cared to socialise with the other one. (When asked, neither side deemed the other side eligible to be in Israel.) To highlight the mutual indifference, I’d like to share one incident: one of the girls of Moroccan background asked me why my exchange student spoke such good Ivrit – she’d mistaken her for a member of our group from Germany even though they were classmates at school.
During the Israeli return visit, many host parents complained about the often lack of manners, lack of consideration (even though all host parents went out on a limb to accomodate their guests’ wishes) and plain lack of understanding that things work differently in different countries, e.g. minors don’t get admitted to clubs or bars past 10pm, there’s no overabundance of security forces out on the streets at any given time during the night that will ensure your safe return home if you’ve gone out clubbing dressed as if you wanted to be a background dancer in a late 1990s’ hiphop video etc. It was a nerve-wrecking experience as the host families had no idea what difficulties to expect and the guest group largely had problems grappling with the idea that the freedom we enjoy in Germany did not coincide with their idea of liberality. The result was that neither side really enjoyed the stay as much as it could have been enjoyable, better preparation provided.

So I’m supportive of EV’s idea. Set this up professionally. Hire staff that know what they’re doing (and not just people that are friends with somebody “on the inside”). Make it a part work / part travel-experience, so both the participants as well as the host communities will benefit from the trips. It’ll be a win-win situation.

We had a visit from one of the authors, Calev Ben Dor, of the Reut Institute’s paper on the strategic threat to Israel of the foreign anti-Israel activism that has grown in impact and frequency over the past years. Our readers know we’ve been covering many of these activities on Jewlicious, and when the article about this Reut report came out, I took the liberty of trying to break down some of what we’ve been covering, putting it into broader context and offering a somewhat different prescription than suggested by Reut.

In broad terms, there are two differences in my approach. The first is identification of the culprits. I don’t believe they are operating entirely independently. I believe they have a modicum of assistance from the PA and perhaps some Arab or Muslim government. It is “hands off” assistance and may even be indirect, but it is there.

The second difference is that I strongly resist the involvement of Israeli officialdom in fighting this fight. That is the road to losing the war. The way to win is to make this a grass roots fight where if Israel plays any role at all, it is merely as a repository of information that can be tapped by the local supporters of Israel when they need sources for their advocacy.

I have now read the Executive Summary of Reut’s report. First, I want to congratulate them for writing a cogent and important report that touches on many issues that Israel truly needs to address immediately. Second, the report is far more detailed and nuanced than the Ha’aretz article indicated, which leads me to believe that Reut’s vision and my vision are not so far apart. Third, there remain some differences and in this post, I will try to review them. Fourth, I do this with no hubris. Reut has an impressive group of people working for them and they have obviously invested a great deal of time and energy in analyzing the situation and coming up with solutions. My voice is nothing more that of a single individual who wishes to offer his own opinion.

The blocked sections below come from the Reut report.

16. On the other hand, Israel must cultivate its own network on the basis of the diplomacy establishment and a network of ‘informal Ambassadors,’ comprised of individuals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Israel must empower these catalysts and harness NGOs in order to act against those NGO that advance delegitimization. In addition, the Histadrut’s international department should be invigorated.

All of these are fine ideas and certainly in line with the notion of a grass roots fight. However, as I noted, some of these organizations, like CAMERA and Stand With Us, while doing excellent work, can serve as resources but should not be on the front lines of this fight. It is precisely their success and size that undermine their involvement because they appear to be professionals and in fighting with the “regular people” on the other side, they come off looking like bullies. They should serve as resources and nothing more in this particular aspect of the fight.

17. Brand Israel – The perception of Israel as a violent country that violates international law enables delegitimizing forces to portray the country as an apartheid, pariah state. Israel’s re-branding can yield strategic implications which will improve its ability to communicate its message and reduce the Delegitimization Network’s ability to achieve its goals. In this context, the importance of international aid should be emphasized (in addition, of course, to its clear moral value).

This brings up some seriously bad memories of how the Toronto anti-Israel campaign operated. It used as a battle-cry the idea that ANY cultural activity that appeared to make Israel look good was part of the “Brand Israel” campaign that a former Israeli general (Gissin) bragged about to some newspapers. We could not find a scintilla of evidence that Israel, its Foreign Ministry, Gissin or any official body had anything to do with the Israeli activities in Toronto last year that became the center of deligitimization attacks on Israel, although we were able to find PA connections to the attacks. Not only didn’t we find any evidence of a Brand Israel campaign, even after the attacks became internationally known, Israel and its overseas offices had no solutions.

The point being that, once again, any such campaign, if run by Israelis, will be a meaningless waste of money and could potentially undermine Israel by providing an easy target that conveniently taints all Israeli and pro-Israeli activities, cultural, scientific, economic and otherwise.

18. Relationship-based diplomacy with elites and ‘influentials’ – An effective barrier against delegitimization is a network of personal relationships. Working within identified hubs, Israel should aspire to maintain thousands of personal relationships with political, financial, cultural, media, and security-related elites and influentials.

Sure, good idea.

19. Harnessing the Jewish and Israeli Diaspora communities – There are a significant number of Israelis abroad, such as academics, business people, and students. These communities should be harnessed to Israel’s cause before they embark on their international interactions. Additionally, Israel should make a concerted investment in Jewish communities, without taking their commitment for granted.

There is harnessing and there is harnessing. Again, any Israeli involvement will only undermine the efforts of these people. Let them form their own groups and their own means of doing good for Israel. Any canned or pre-planned efforts, guided by some Israeli ministry, will not be as effective as letting people do things themselves. Where a ministry might be helpful is, again, by providing a website as a resource with much of the relevant information that these people could draw upon.

I would like to see more about what is meant by the suggestion to make a “concerted investment in Jewish communities” and will wait for the detailed report to comment. This is something we’ve been talking about for years on Jewlicious.

20. Responding to the delegitimization challenge requires a reorganization of the foreign policy establishment. It is clear that the current budget demands dramatic increases on the basis of newly emerging needs (Wishes to Budget). It is also crucial to initiate comprehensive reform within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as within leading bodies in the foreign policy establishment in terms of recruitment, management, and the cultivation and deployment of human resources.

If I have a major disagreement with the Reut report’s suggestions, it is with this idea and the idea that the Israeli government can and should tackle this problem directly. They are simply not competent enough to do it and will muck it up. Does anybody really think that some action by the Israeli Foreign Ministry will garner the favorable press, or the amount of press, that Naomi Klein can generate in Canada? Does anybody believe that the Ministry has the ability to identify, recruit, cultivate and deploy someone equivalent to Naomi Klein and do so in a way that wouldn’t undermine that person’s credibility in the first place?

Wouldn’t it be better to let a local group form and have them use their own resources, creativity and contacts to attract and deploy people who could fight that fight? Maybe Israel could ensure that there’s some money for them if they need it, and a repository of information that they can draw on? Maybe Israel could have the Ministry serve as a catalyst by requesting that the local Jewish community identify an appropriate person and let them run with the program? That’s about all Israel should do.

That would be my approach.

Mr. B enjoys tennis immensely.  I do not, because just watching tennis is exhausting and I am alarmed if I burn calories just sitting on the couch.  In any case, today he tried, again, subversively, to get me interested in tennis by sending me an article about homegirl Shahar Pe’er, who continues to be awesome, despite the fact that Dubai (or Death-bai, as I like to call it, har-har) kind of hates her and maybe wants to kill her.

Shahar Peer, with the winds of poetic justice firmly at her back, is on a run at the women’s event in Dubai. Today the Israeli, who was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates last year to play this tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals by upending No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.

To have an athlete from Israel, whose diplomatic existence the UAE doesn’t recognize, competing in that country is a political victory that resonates far beyond the lines of a tennis court.

I hate how we have to make this all about politics.  Can’t Shahar just play without incident?  No, because, as an Israeli, Shahari is totes responsible for the death of Arab babies, not to mention HIV.  Come to think of it, Shahar probably served in the IDF and killed Hamas terrorists and civilians alike with her racket, because that’s how murderous and Israeli she is.   Although Shahar Peer, Tennis Annihilator is a great idea for a TV show.  Keshet, are you listening?

They asked for it. And now they have it. So many Israelis, and lovers of the State of Israel, have been saddened in the past several decades by the perception of Israel and Israelis among non-Israelis. Whether Israelis were traveling through India, Thailand, Europe, South and North America, or even Dubai’s al-Bustan Rotana hotel, they were confronted with awful perceptions of Israel.

The Israeli government’s solution is… well first of all, they decided to have Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon snub the visiting delegation of U.S. Members of Congress this week. That will boost Israel’s perception in the minds of U.S. lawmakers and appropriation leaders. The second solution is to direct Israelis to a comical webpage which instructs Israelis how best to represent Israel and Israel’s mission and cause to the world. Unfortunately, at first glance, it seems as if the Masbirim Ministry is under the false perception that the world thinks Israel is backwards and everyone rides a camel. They should have spent some shekels on outside polling. They might have found that the world thinks Israel is technicaly advanced, but just an oppressor.

The Ministry of Information and Diaspora Affairs and its information minister, Yuli Edelstein, is even offering a course. The slogan is “Together we will change the picture.” It is catchier than saying, “Together we will vote an administration into office, we will make certain policy decisions which affect the world perception of the country its people and leaders, and then the elected administration will help you, the citizen-tourist and isra-phile, not change the picture but at least help to essplain this decision and correct the world’s perception.. 2gether.”

As I tweeted,

The Olympic Committee of Israel announced yesterday that the sibling ice dancing pair of Roman and Alexandra Zaretsky would represent the country at next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Alpine skier Mikahil Ranzin will round out Israel’s delegation to the Games, the committee said.

The Zaretskys put on an impressive show at this week’s European Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, finishing 7th among 26 teams with 174.91 points after three days. The Olympic Committee requires candidate athletes to finish in the top 10 in order to qualify.

Source of the image and some more bio on them.

The only potential tzavarit, Tamar Katz, was disqualified by the IOC. But more likely by Avigdor Lieberman.

Kol hakavod and b’atzlecha to both Israeli and American athletes.  Oh yeah, also Canada. Oh, and P.S. The Zaretskys train in Jersey.  Just like The Situation and Pauly D do.

I have to say that I initially was very skeptical of the idea of building adjacent to the Mamilla Cemetery. I know that area very well, and thought that the project was going to damage Mamilla Cemetery. Then I went and saw for myself last year the area of excavation and building, and saw that a lot was being done to improve the Mamilla Cemetery. The Mamilla Cemetery has been abandoned for years. Although Jerusalem has a large Muslim community, Mamilla Cemetery was never kept up . It became a place for drug dealing and prostitution, a place you don’t want to be at dark. Where were the Muslim religious authorities when drugs and prostitutes made their home in the place?

But what is MORE amazing is: 1) the efforts the SWC made to reach agreements with parties that were against their project 2) the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem wanted to biuld there himself 3) the amount of money that the SWC is spending to rebury remains from the site of the parking lot, restore parts of the cemetery, and create a needed revival of an unsafe part of the city in need of rehab.

Please be open minded — the SWC has been the latest victim of the deligitimization of Israel and Jewish claims to Jerusalem. LA TIMES –

February 12, 2010
Opinion

A Proper Site for a Museum of Tolerance
The Wiesenthal Center’s project has been approved by the government and the courts, and will be built on property that is not a cemetery but a parking lot.

By Marvin Hier

Listening to the few vocal opponents of our Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem project — among them the notorious Sheik Raed Salah, leader of the extremist Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel — you would never know that the Israeli Supreme Court deliberated for almost three years before unanimously rejecting all their claims and authorizing the Wiesenthal Center to begin construction. Just six weeks ago, Chief Justice Dorit Beinish also rebuked those who re-petitioned the Supreme Court for an “abuse of court proceedings,” ordering them to pay professional costs.

Still, our opponents would have you believe that in the name of tolerance, our bulldozers actually have invaded the adjacent Mamilla Cemetery, desecrating ancient Muslim tombstones and historic markers.

They don’t want you to know the real facts. The museum is not being built on what can rightfully be called the Mamilla Cemetery, but on a three-acre site in the heart of West Jerusalem that, for more than half a century, served as the city’s municipal car park. Each day, hundreds of people of all faiths parked in the three-level underground structure without any protest from Muslim religious or academic leaders or interest groups. Additionally, telephone and electrical cables and sewer lines were laid deep below ground in the early 1960s, again without any protest.

As the Supreme Court noted in its ruling, “for almost 50 years the compound has not been a part of the cemetery, both in the normative sense and in the practical sense, and it was used for various public purposes.” It also noted: “During all those years no one raised any claim, on even one occasion, that the planning procedures violated the sanctity of the site, or that they were contrary to the law as a result of the historical and religious uniqueness of the site. . . . For decades this area was not regarded as a cemetery by the general public or by the Muslim community. . . . No one denied this position.”

In fact, the entire area of the Mamilla Cemetery had long been regarded by Muslim religious leaders as mundras — abandoned. A cemetery not in use for 37 years is considered mundras and without sanctity. That explains why in 1946 the most prominent Islamic religious figure of the day, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, presented plans to build a Muslim university on a large portion of the Mamilla Cemetery itself (a rendering of which we presented to the court). Today, the concept of mundras is widely accepted and practiced in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian territories and throughout the Arab world.

Though Judaism does not have a mundras concept, the Supreme Court noted in its decision that “despite the Jewish religious law prohibitions . . . to prevent the removal of graves or building on top of them, in practice, in cases where public needs required this, an agreed Jewish law solution has usually been found, and this allowed the building to be carried out in a way that minimized . . . the violation of the graves. . . . Jewish religious law also allows, as we have said, the removal of graves in a dignified manner. Balanced solutions of this kind were also proposed by the respondents [Simon Wiesenthal Center], and they even agreed to pay all the expenses involved in them.”

Recent critics such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Americans for Peace Now and the Center for Constitutional Rights argue that the Museum of Tolerance should abide by a higher standard than the letter of the law. We do, as the above quote from the court confirms. When we first heard of protests against our plan, in January 2006, our lawyers attempted to meet with Salah but were rebuffed. Once a legal case was filed, the Supreme Court’s mediator tried, but fared no better. We offered solutions to build without disturbing the bones — also rejected. We offered to restore the neglected and virtually abandoned nearby Mamilla Cemetery — not interested.
(more…)

…. “Bus” is an Israeli short documentary directed by Yasmine Novak. It is an examination of those who live amidst the complex rules, walls, checkpoints, soldiers, and entry permits that make up the Israeli and Palestinian bus systems. The pictures are overlaid with the voices of people figuring out how to get to locations in the Palestinian Territories. At first, we listen to a nun getting directions from Ben Gurion Airport to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, where she needs to catch a bus to the Damascus gate, and the her need to leave the Egged system and find a Palestinian mini bus to her destination. As the 11 minute film progresses, we listen as more people try to figure out the system with humor and anxiety.

Yasmine graduated from Tel Aviv University’s film studies program. Her previous films include “Zohar,” a short about a tomboy, adolescence and her teenage suiters. She is working on a documentary, The Lost Love Diaries, about a mother and daughter, as they translate old diaries written between Ellis, the mother, and her former lover, Bernie, while in hiding during WWII. As they make progress in their work, uncovering fascinating historic details, they set out on a journey to find out what ever happened to Bernie.

“Chicken Heads” is a short from Deir Bzee’ in the Palestinian Territories and directed by Bassam Jarbawi. In it, a young boy is charged with taking care of the goats and a horned gazelle. In an effort to protect the reputation of the gazelle, he incriminates his pet dog in the death of a goat, which spells bad news for the dog’s future. In “My Mom Smokes Weed,” a humorous short by Clay Liford, a nervous uptight young man, played by Nate Rubin (think Michael Cerra, but cooler), must help his mother score some weed to satisfy her cravings for pot. Liford, a Dallas, TX filmmaker was inspired by his mother, who at age 77, still has a hunger for herb. In 2002, he actually had to go with her to score some from a new South Florida distributor.

One of the hottest tickets at the festival, which consistently had waiting list lines in the hundreds was “Catfish,” directed by Ariel Schulman. The documentary follows the director’s brother, Yaniv “Nev” Schulman, 24, a photographer, who decides to meet 8 year old Abby Pierce and her family in rural Michagan, with whom he has had an online email relationship. Many attendees thought it was the best film of the festival, and passionately pleaded that no one tell anyone anything about the film or its premise, for fear of ruining its impact. Others felt that the film was just too perfect and so far-fetched, that they could not believe that it was a factual documentary, and thought that it was staged and a deception.

But one can say the same thing about “Fix ME,” a documentary film from Palestine by Raed Andoni. It’s tagline is “Life in Ramallah… sure keeps us occupied.” It is a humor filled documentary about 20 psychotherapy sessions with the filmmaker and his therapist, in an effort to heal him of his year long headache. Andoni is best known in the US as one of the producers of Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s 2001 documentary, “The Inner Tour,” in which nearly two dozen Palestinians go on a three day sightseeing tour of Israel. Andoni, who spent a year in an Israeli prison after high school graduation, tells his therapist that he is not very sociable, is impatient, prefers boredom to engagement, and desires to be apart and separate at group gatherings. Andoni wants to have absolute freedom, but societal obligations exert intense pressure. Driving through the streets of Ramallah in his BMW, he passes a billboard from Canadian Club that implores “Be Yourself.” In this scene as in other humorous one, such as driving backwards or with flour spilling from his truck, he blurs that which is documentary, and that which is staged for humorous effect.

With regards to staging (see Warsaw Ghetto film below), one of the highlights of the Fest was the third annual “Shabbot at Sundance” party sponsored by the Sundance Institute. What started as a Friday evening dinner for twenty a few years ago has grown into a buffet, outreach, and mingling event for ten times that number. It was held high above the town of Park City, at the vacation home of Nancy and Mark Gilbert, Sundance Institute patrons. A glow of a Shabbat Shirah full moon illuminated the winding, steep, and at points, slippery, road up to their warm home. Attendees included leaders and programmers of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, members of the regional Jewish community, philanthropists, political leaders, Park City’s rabbi, friends, and filmmakers. The Gilberts are active in their Boca Raton, FL Jewish community. Nancy leads a local Israel travel advisory service.

After a quick drash, and blessings over the wine and high altitude challot (it’s the water that make them great), Kevin Asch, the director of “Holy Rollers,” was invited to say a few words. He was followed by leaders of the Sundance Institute who discussed their upcoming Sundance Lab workshops for high potential filmmakers in Israel. This news was followed by a few words from Yael Herzonski, the Israeli director of “A Film Unfinished,“ a Germany/Israel co-produced documentary about found, Nazi-directed film footage from the Warsaw Ghetto.

“A Film Unfinished” is Herzonski’s documentary on a film that was never completed. It was a film that was made to serve as propaganda for the Nazi Third Reich, an empire that was in love with the camera and documented its own atrocities like no other nation before or after. The Warsaw Ghetto, before its destruction in 1942, was the squalid home for half a million Jews living in three square miles. Poverty and typhus were rampant, and captured escapees were executed.

A decade after the end of WWII, East German archivists discovered a secret vault in the forest; it was filled with film canisters. Among the canisters was a nearly one hour film titled, “Das Ghetto 1942.” It was a rough first draft cut of a film about The Warsaw Ghetto. There were no notes or soundtrack. The SS filmmakers’ intentions are no longer known. It is a film unfinished.

The found footage, in four small reels, was used by archivists and documentary filmmakers over the past several decades to show what life was like in the Warsaw Ghetto. The images were used in various documentaries and accepted as documentary reality. But there was just one small problem with that. It was a cinematic deception. The Nazis had STAGED nearly all the scenes.

Hersonski’s documentary shows this Nazi film in its entirety for the first time. Remarkably, a reel of outtakes was found. It shows staged takes from various angles, and accidentally catches glimpses of SS cameramen in some scenes. The Nazi footage shows “wealthy Jews” as well as dead bodies and beggars. A scene that I thought was a crowded street scene turned out to be a staged scene in which hundreds of ghetto residents were placed on a street and then Jewish policemen were ordered to disperse the crowds. The chaos was captured on film, take after take after take. All staged.

In another scene, three rabbis arrive at the office of Adam Czerniakov, the head of the Ghetto’s appointed Judenrat council, to petition him on an issue. A peculiar, lit menorah sits on his desk, as if Jews use menorahs for reading lights. But it was a staged scene; an actor played Adam Czerniakov. How did Hersonski know the scene was a total fabrication? Because Czerniakov’s actual diaries, which were found after the war, detail how the SS filmmakers arrived, took over his offices and his apartment, and filmed throughout the Ghetto in May 1942. Three month’s later, Adam Czerniakov committed suicide after hiding the diaries; the Nazis had started the Ghetto’s final liquidation. Many were sent to Treblinka.

The documentary is produced by Noemi Schory and Itay Ken-Tor. Schory is a celebrated Israeli film producer and head of film studies at the Beit Berl College of Arts in Kfar Sava, outside Tel-Aviv. Her husband directs the Israeli Film Fund.

In the film, Hersonski screened the film to survivors of the Ghetto. We watch them as they watch the film. But, breaking away from Holocaust film tradition, Hersonski does not ask them for their testimonies, rather she wants them to see if they recognize anyone in the footage that they know. Many of them recall seeing the Nazi film crews, and comment on the staged scenes.

Hersonski’s grandmother was a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto. After her grandmother’s death four years ago, Hersonski searched for materials that could tell her grandmother’s story. She heard of the archived footage and was stunned by its images. This began her project to illuminate the fraudulent footage and explore its value as a testimony. Although the subjects in the film are being forced to act out the scenes, their eyes tell a different story to the camera. Hersonski said, “The images speak their own testimony. We are learning about the victims mainly through the images taken by the perpetrators. This was not an easy journey to make this fim and to watch these images every day for a year. I wanted to present it as a powerful documentation. Even though it is staged, the gaze and eyes of the people being filmed express the truth that cannot be denied by the cinematic manipulation. The ‘frame’ of the footage is limited, but we use the survivors, the diaries, the transcripts of the interrogations of the former SS cameramen from the 1970s, and we were able to make the frame of this film wider.”

“A Film Unfinished” received the World Cinema Documentary Editing Award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival’s awards ceremony.

Finally, I find that it has been my lucky habit to find the best film on my last day in Park City. In years past, these have included seeing “Hamlet II” and “Napoleon Dyanmite.” This year was no different. I saw “Boy,” a bittersweet New Zealand comedy starring, written, and directed by Taika Waititi. Mr. Waititi, a prominent Maori comedian in his native New Zealand, and the filmmaker of “Eagle vs. Shark,” sets the tale in his hometown of Waihu Bay in the Maori tribal areas. It is a story akin to a kiwi “Napoleon Dyamite,” in which an 11 year old boy is left to fend for his younger brother and even younger cousins, when his grandmother is called away from town. His mother died seven years ago, and his father is in prison. When his father shows up with his awkward criminal gang of two, his son, “Boy,” tries to reconnect with humorous results. An added insight? The director, Taiki Waititi, also has the surname of “Cohen,” for he is … yes, you guessed it, half Maori and half Jewish.

This afternoon an Israeli was stabbed to death in his jeep while waiting at the Tapuach Junction (in Judea and Samaria). Who was this terrorist? He was a PA police officer. This, while the PA is calling to increase their security forces (see last week’s speech by Fayad). So, what are we to conclude? That the PA is using its security forces to perpetrate state-sanctioned terrorist activity?

We are surprised!

Last Wednesday night, delivering the keynote address at the Herzliya Conference, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, gave a surprisingly brilliant speech. He spoke of security, saying that Israel “must continue and strengthen its military might,” elaborating that the “weak do not survive in this region [the Middle East], and the weak do not make peace.” Yet, he noted that defending against terrorism is costly. Every state need (including security, health care, education, etc.) requires a strong economy. Israel has a strong economy, with a GDP per capita of around $30,000 a year. But to allow the economy to continue growing, Netanyahu stated that economic impediments must be removed. Israel, he expressed, should become a leading technological power. Mostly, he spoke of education. Education, he said, “is the melting pot for national resilience.” He discussed the need for greater Jewish and Zionist education in Israel, and the opening of two new national trails; one to be the historic Jewish trail of Israel and the second to be the historical Zionist trail of Israel.

I will admit, as I stood there listening to his speech, I was in shock. How could he have wasted this opportunity to address the international community? Yet, upon reflection, I came to see that his speech was ingenious. He was not merely addressing Israel, saying that our youth must be more connected to their Jewish and Zionist past. Rather, he addressed the world. To the international community, he subtly said, enough is enough. Enough with attacking the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel. Enough with disparaging the Jewish connection to the land. The land of Israel has been ours from time immemorial; from Jerusalem to Be’er Sheva, Tzfat to Tel Lachish, Tzipori to Massada. Enough with the narrative that the existence of Israel is only the result of the Holocaust. The Zionist enterprise is behind the modern State of Israel; the pioneers and waves of aliyah who built the kibbutzim, raised the modern city in Tel Aviv, established a de facto government in the Yishuv, protected their settlements through organizations such as the Shomer HaTzair and the Hagannah, garnered international aid and support, such as through the World Zionist Congress, and fought a war of independence against five invading armies. Netanyahu said that “the survival of the Jewish people is tied to the State of Israel.” Yet this is no new fact. Judaism has always inherently been tied to the land, and the land is a part of the people and culture. Enough, said Netanyahu. And I say, kudos.

No. Really.

Well, they for sure like this woman. And not only will AEPI be at the Jewlicious Festival, but they are sponsors as well! Visit their Web site, their Wikipedia page or their blog. Also, AEPi is no longer just for Americans or Canadians, they are invading Israel too! Better watch out ck!

World Boxing Association super welterweight champion!

A native of Belarus, winner of 3 national Israeli boxing championships and the current WBA super welterweight champion of the world, Yuri Foreman may not have his own grill like George but so what? He’s the 1st Israeli World Boxing Champion and the only Boxing champion ever to be studying to be a Rabbi. What’s next for Yuri? He tried to get a fight with Manny Pacquiao, the WBO World welterweight champion, but Pacquiao opted instead to fight someone he was more likely to beat. Oh well. I guess we don’t know what’s next for Foreman professionally, but we DO know what’s next for him in terms of FUN!

Yes, because we like to be surrounded by tough guys who are also spiritual, we reached out and invited Foreman to the Jewlicious Festival, and he in turn accepted. What should Jewlicious Festival goers expect? Well, a general increase in both testosterone and spirituality and a talk from Yuri about Jewish identity. Or aa seminar on how to kick ass. We’re not sure yet. We don’t really care, we’re just thrilled to have him and we all look forward to meeting him.

Pity the JewLicious readers who have aged out of BirthRight Israel; Cry for those for whom the first season episodes of Srugim don’t float their boat.

But wait… now there is a tour of and introduction to Israel for them. Michael Lucas, 37, (aka Andrei Treivas), CEO and founder of Lucas Entertainment, is sponsoring his own tour of Israel. You get beaches, such as the clothing optional Gaash Beach, Masada, Hagoshrim (kibbutz hotel), Haifa, Tzfat, the Galilee, the Kotel, and even an optional photo shoot with Israeli soldiers.

Lucas, a leader in the entertainment industry, writes, “I am thrilled to announce that I am making my first group trip to Israel this Spring, and I want you to come with me on this exciting, fun, and action-packed journey! I will not take you nor will I send you to any tourist restaurants! We will eat only the finest authentic Israeli cuisine preferred by the locals, and I will organize a dinner for whomever is interested with some of the top Lucas Entertainment [talent]… In addition to the friends you meet out and around, there are many close friends of mine I can’t wait to introduce you to! They will help make sure you get the best locals’ experience of Israel possible, with no time wasted at frivolous or sub-par tourist sites.”

The nine day trip is under $2800, double occupancy, not including airfare. Thanks to Mr Lucas for helping the Israeli tourism industry. Click the link above for the itinerary. Those who sign up witha deposit get some sort of free DVD’s! I think for another $50 you get a week’s supply of penicillin.

Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Threats Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, spoke yesterday, on the last day of the Herzliya Conference. Addressing a panel on the strategic implications of a nuclear threshold Iran, he spoke of the threat Iran poses to the world, and Israel, in particular.

If Iran were to obtain nuclear weapons, Ya’alon said, it would threaten the free world, the Middle East, and Israel. ”As a threshold country, Iran would be able, in a short period of time, to acquire nuclear weapons and, undoubtedly, it is on its way to do so.” Moreover, he argued, this would destabilize the region, as, should Iran obtain nuclear weapons, there would be a domino-like effect, in which many other nations in the region would follow.

Ya’alon explained that Iranian nuclear goals are essentially two fold. According to Ya’alon, first, Iran wants to change the world order, allowing Islam to, once again, become a great power. Second, Iran wants to become a regional hegemony; a regional great power. This goal, he noted, will only increase as American presence decreases. With nuclear capabilities, “the extreme regime in Tehran would be able to promote its very extreme targets.” Proof of this is that Iran has not waited for nuclear capabilities to export terrorism and threaten the West, and particularly Israel. ”It is, already, active today, in many ways, to promote this, and it is the one to supply arms and weapons, including very advanced missiles, to the Hezbollah, Hamas, [and] to the Islamic Jihad. It [Iran] trains their [Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad] people, [and] it provides [them a] financial and political umbrella, at the expense of its own population, which is in a dire economic state.” A further threat, raised by Ya’alon, is that Iran could provide nuclear material to its proxies. This could, according to Ya’alon, pose an existential threat to Israel.

Ya’alon remarked that to prevent a nuclear Iran, Iran needs to be brought to the point in which it must make the choice between the bomb and state survival. Iran is a rational state, he argued, and will choose survival. As an example, he brought the period of 2003, prior to the US invasion of Iraq, in which Iran temporarily stopped its nuclear program, for fear that the United States would attack them, instead/as well. Action, however, will need to be taken to bring Iran to that point. ”We expect the world to be determined in its resolution to prevent this threat from becoming a reality, and to make it clear to the Iranian regime that it is in their own interests to forgo their plan to attain nuclear capabilities.” Concluding, Ya’alon explained that “we, in Israel, will not content ourselves with waiting for others to do our work. However, we have to prepare ourselves as well, because, in the words of our sages “Im ain ani li, mi li,” “if I am not for myself, who will be for me?”

For highlights of the speech, watch this:

The Herzliya Conference is winding down, with only one speaker left this evening. (I’ll have two more posts on the conference later this evening; one on General Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon’s speech, and one on the conference’s keynote address, given by Prime Minister Netanyahu, once I can get video of them).

Nonetheless, before the conference has come to a close, I wanted to thank the IDC’s Asper Institute New Media Team, led by David Saranga, here for there hard work and hospitality. They have been nothing if busy, in getting videos edited and up on You Tube, Facebook statuses updated, blogs posted, tweets twittered (or twitters tweeted?), etc. It has been a pleasure to watch them at work.

I’ve, also, had a great time hanging out with Margot and Tomer from Leadel. They’re pretty awesome. (Check out their site, by the way).

The conference, itself, has gone off without a hitch (at least, other than the rain, which was out of their control, none to my semi-trained eye). I highly recommend everyone to check out their You Tube page and if something interests you, share it with your friends. Let’s keep the dialogue going. As the people here believe, only together can we solve the world’s problems. So here’s to the 2010 Herzliya Conference.

Last night, Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, spoke at the Herzliya Conference, speaking about peace with the Palestinians.

Israel, at the moment, has deterrence against terrorist elements, based on the Second Lebanon War, strengthen by Operation Cast Lead, and upheld by intelligence services.

The United States, Barak noted, is entrenched in many problems. Internally, the US is attempting to content with both the economic crisis, as well as the raging health care debate. Externally, the United States is involved with or pressured by Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea, Russia, China, Iraq, Iran, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Syrian-Israeli relations, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

The Middle East, Barak explained, is a “tough neighborhood,” where there is “no benevolence for the weak,” nor “mercy for those who can’t defend themselves.” National security, therefore, is a number one priority for Israel. Regarding Israel’s neighbors, Israel must be able to deal with them from a point of “strength, self security, and sobriety.” A two-state solution is necessary to ensure a Jewish, Zionist, democratic state. Barak explicated that 12.5 million people live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. 7.1 million of those live in Israel, but the remaining 5.4 million live in the so-called “Palestinian territories.” A one-state solution will result in either a non-Jewish state, or else a non-democratic Israel. There is no other option; there must be two states for Israel to survive.

Barak brought up challenges with the Palestinians. Hamas, he noted, is in control of Gaza. Israel cannot allow for the West Bank to become like south Lebanon and Gaza, after Israel withdrew from every square meter of them, respectively, became a hotbed of terrorism. The Palestinian forces, therefore, need to take more control over their people. In addition, Barak quoted Robert Frost, stating that “good fences make good neighbors.”

On a positive note, Barak mentioned the change in Arab-Israeli relations through the years, from the “Three ‘No’s” of Khartoum to the Saudi Peace Initiative.

In response to the religious right who are unwilling to give up Judea and Samaria, Barak quoted Gitin 6. He, also, noted that even in the time of David and in the time of the Hasmoneans, borders change, and that they, too, must be willing to accept that borders change. To the left, who believe that peace is necessary at any cost, Barak responded that “peace is not a religion,” and that it must be achieved with “open eyes” and without naivety. In response to politicians who drag their feet, Barak stated, “enough with ‘WCDIB’ – ‘we can do it better.’” The two sides are not homogeneous, he said, but the political process can overcome such differences. Abu Mazen and Netanyahu, ultimately, will have to have their decisions received by their own people; not the other.

Last night, Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, spoke at the Herzliya Conference about the need for Palestinian statehood and the current situation with peace negotiations.

Fayyad stated that Oslo recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace and security. However, he argued that the problem with Oslo was that Israel did not recognize Palestine’s right to exist, and that Israel still doesn’t. Oslo “suggested” Palestinian statehood, but was not seen as a necessary outcome. In 2002, U.S. President Bush made Palestinian statehood a matter of international consensus. The “rough neighborhood” that is the Middle East, as Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak put it, would become less rough if, according to Fayad, the “international consensus” became “facts on the ground.” He stated that a Palestinian state must be established based on “justice,” “peace,” “stability,” “fairness,” and “security.”
Here, Fayad seems to miss a major point. “Justice” does not necessarily mean “fairness.” That which is just may not be fair. Therefore, it would appear that Fayyad and his friends must determine whether they are looking for a “just” solution, or a “fair” solution.

Fayyad explained that, under the Road Map, Palestinians must increase their ability to govern, which includes a security force. Security, he explained, as of mid-2007, is important to Palestinians, as well. Israel, he said, must be willing to “unequivocally” accept a two-state solution. That, he explained, called for a settlement-freeze. Israel must, “stop military incursions into our [Palestinian] territory.” “Occupation,” he said, “is being brought back on its way to end.” Palestinians are “sensitive to Israeli security needs,” but “incursions must completely stop.” Today, he argued, the situation is “at an impasse,” and that “occupation” is at the heart of the impasse. Further, he stated, Palestinian police must have “security forces present in population centers outside of Area A.” This, he explained, would bring hope to the Palestinians.
Yet, while referring to the Road Map, drafted by the United States, he, also, stated that peace would only be achieved through the Arab Peace Initiative. Seems kind of contradictory, doesn’t it?

Fayyad, also, brought up the topic of Jerusalem. East Jerusalem, he argued, is Palestinian territory occupied in 1967. Fayyad loudly stated that it is, “historical fact that East Jerusalem is an integral part of Palestine occupied in 1967.” Palestinians are willing to have a state on “22% of historic Palestine,” which, he claimed, was “agreed to in 1988” by the PLO.

This, clearly, is based upon fiction. I am not arguing that the Palestinians shouldn’t have their own state; to the contrary. However, it is purely fiction to claim that there was a “historic Palestinian state” or that Israel conquered Palestinian territory in 1967. The West Bank (Judea and Sumeria), including East Jerusalem, was, from 1948 to 1967, controlled by Jordan, and the Gaza Strip was controlled by Egypt. Previously, the land was controlled by the British, who took it over from the Ottomans. Let’s get our facts strait; Jerusalem is not now, nor was it ever, an “integral part of Palestine.” Whether the political powers that be ought to decide to make East Jerusalem the capitol of Palestine is not within the scope of this article. Yet, the clear changing of facts being iterated by Fayyad and the Palestinian Authority for years, here, I felt must be addressed.

Discussing settlement building, Fayyad explained the political dimension of protest to settlement building. If Israel cannot refrain from that, “how confidant can we all [Palestinians] be that” Israel would be willing to deliver on the final status issues?

Though to that, Israel might respond, if the Palestinian Authority cannot keep their people from attempting attacks on Israel in the interim period, how can we [Israel] be confident that the Palestinian government, when a state is established, will be capable or willing to do so?

According to Fayyad, the goal is to establish a sovereign Palestinian state by mid-2011, preceded by a full Israeli withdrawal by the end of 2010. Fayad proudly remarked that over 100 completed development programs have been implemented, and they are “ready for the next batch.” He expressed that a combination of “bottom-up” and “top-down” processes are needed.

Last, he turned to Gaza. There are many problems with Gaza, he said. Mentioning two, he stated that first, Palestinians have a constitutional right to national elections, which are being prevented by forces in Gaza. Second, referring to the Israeli blockade, he said that “siege must be lifted” to allow for accomplishments in Gaza to be made.

Interestingly, the fact the PA doesn’t control Gaza, and that Hamas is on the rise in the West Bank, as well, was not mentioned at all, throughout his 30-something minute speech.

Fayyad was warmly received and even received one or two standing ovations. Reaction from those attending the conference seem to fall into camps. Some greatly enjoyed Fayyad’s speech and found it to be “right on the mark.” Others, however, were greatly dismayed by the “flagrant propaganda spewed” throughout the speech.

Speaking, last night, at the Herzliya Conference, Israeli President Shimon Peres spoke about many different topics.

Speaking briefly of the Palestinians, Peres discussed the Palestinians’ state-building enterprises, and the efforts they are making to build a state and achieve peace. Peres emphasized that the enemy of the Palestinians is Hamas; not Israel.

Discussing the topic of globalization and technology, he said, “Globalization is not an ideology. Globalization is a new situation, almost without any borders, without any distance… [Today] the source of income is not land; it’s science. Science is not conquered by an army. Science is not being stopped in the customs.” Today’s leaders must focus on “innovations not accrued assets.”

Peres spoke about the morality of the Israeli Defense Force. “The IDF,” he said, “is an army of values.” Speaking of Israel’s recent rescue mission to Haiti, he said, “I believe that if there had been an earthquake in Mauritania, where there’s no TV, I’m sure that the IDF would have been there. It is our wish to serve life, serve the living.” He spoke of the military as a tzva ha’am, a military of the people. He described the IDF as a “wonderful school,” and stated his dream that every soldier should complete their army service with a B.A.

Peres spoke of the chutzpah of the Jews. The Jews are 0.2% of the world population, yet 52% of chess champions and 54% of Nobel Prize winners are Jewish. Jews are 2% of the U.S. population, yet 34% of large business owners are Jewish. Jews are never satisfied. Using events from the story of the Exodus from Egypt as an anecdote, Peres explained that it is this eternal “dis-satisfaction” that is the source of Jewish creativity.

In discussing the way Israel is viewed in the world, he joked that Israel, “is the most popular country in the world.” India likes Israel because they, too, suffer from terrorism. China admires Israel, not because of Moses, Abraham, or Marx, but because of Israel’s agricultural achievements and agricultural technology. 62% of the American population supports Israel. Much of Russia supports Israel, as well, after 1.2 million Russians emigrated to Israel, leaving family and friends in the “old country” with ties to Israel.

Peres, also, addressed Iran. Israel, he said, is not the biggest danger in the Middle East; Iran is. Iran, he explained, has two main problems. The first problem is that of the enriched uranium. The second, is the “oppressive regime.” Commenting on the two problems, he said, “I don’t know which one of the two is the most dangerous.” Ahmadinejad acts like a “king,” when in fact he is no more than a “dictator.” The regime, governed by a dictatorship, fires upon unarmed protesters, threatens Israel, denies the Holocaust, finances terrorism, and impoverishes its own country. The regime is “a climax of moral corruption.” Therefore, Peres exclaimed, the world should oppose Iran on moral grounds. Iran, he said is “the source of evil for the peace- and freedom-loving world.”

Peres ended his with a call for social justice and tikun olam.