Talkin’ ‘Bout My Occupation

from isreaellycool.com April 2, 2014 by Varda Epstein

NOTE: Fairly strong point of view from someone living in Israel for the past 34 years. Thoughts?

I have lived in Israel for 34 years and in Judea for the past 24 years. When I first moved out to a hilltop settlement in Judea, I was a political infant. I had no idea I was doing something controversial.

Living on that hilltop there was not much to do but raise my many children, keep my house clean, and read. I read a lot. I read the history of the place where I now lived.

The more I read, the more confused I felt. Why would anyone call me an “occupier?” I could not find any justification for the application of the term. There was no legal, moral, or historic reason for using this term. According to Judeo-Christian tenets, there was also no religiousjustification for the claim that I occupied land not my own. PLEASE KEEP READING

Pro-Israel Activitists Must Go on the Offensive and Reach Out

By: Rachel Avraham

Published: April 2nd, 2014 Jewish Press jewishpress.com 

NOTE: Interesting point of view. One of my biggest concerns is that the extreme diversity of opinions within the overal pro-Israel camp might derail our best efforts. We do need to learn to park extreme ideological differences at the door and work together. 

If there is one thing that pro-Israel activists can learn from their adversaries, it is how to effectively convey their message and engage in outreach to other groups within American society. Unfortunately, as we speak, too often pro-Israel activists are too much on the defensive, not enough on the offensive, and fail to reach out to potential allies. They prefer to respond to the accusations made by the other side, rather than make claims of their own.

For example, when I worked as content manager for United With Israel, a hasbara organization with over two million followers on facebook, the organization decided to take a stance against the nomination of Chuck Hagel to the position of US Secretary of Defense. At that time, I proposed that the organization should try to reach out to feminists due to his opposition to abortion even in cases of rape, Democrats that opposed his nomination because he is a Republican, and gay rights activists who were disturbed that he opposed the appointment of an ambassador to Luxemberg merely because of his sexual orientation.

Naturally, pro-Israel activists had their own reasons for being opposed to his nomination. Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defemation League stated, “Chuck Hagel would not be the first, second, or third choice for the American Jewish community’s friends of Israel.  His record relating to Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship is, at best, disturbing, and at worst, very troubling.   The sentiments he’s expressed about the Jewish lobby border on anti-Semitism in the genre of Professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt and former President Jimmy Carter.”

However, United With Israel decided not to reach out to disenchanted Democrats, gay rights activists, and enraged feminists, preferring instead to stick only to their own pro-Israel interests. Their behavior was systematic of failed Israeli hasbara tactics, which in the end resulted in Hagel’s nomination to be US Secretary of Defense. The pro-Israel interests were not sufficient to defeat Hagel’s nomination. For such a campaign to be successful, pro-Israel activists needed to reach out to the gay rights community, feminists, and the outraged Democrats.

Pro-Israel activists need to understand that they don’t have to have their interests always coincide with other interest groups in order to collaborate with them to achieve a common purpose.  CONTINUE READING HERE

from the article: 

A Suggestion to Pro-Israel Activists

Therefore, I would like to suggest that pro-Israel activists should attack the legitimacy of their opponents and reach out to potential allies. In pro-Israel events, pro-Israel Muslim speakers, such as Mudar Zahran, Qanta Ahmed, Kasim Hafeez, or a pro-Israel Arab IDF soldier should be brought in. Pro-Israel Muslims can get away with saying things Jews can’t and are often more persuasive. Pro-Israel activists should bring in speakers to discuss gay rights and women’s rights in Israel compared to the Palestinian Authority. Special emphasis should be put on human rights abuses within the Palestinian Authority and the greater Arab world. We ourselves from our own initiative should call countries like Lebanon apartheid states for their treatment of the Palestinians.

Perhaps pro-Israel students can also hold a joint event with African American students on Jewish contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. AIPAC should continue doing more to reach out to the African American and Hispanic communities. Other Jewish American Zionist groups should do likewise and perhaps special pro-Israel tours can be organized for the gay rights, feminist, labor union, and significant American minority groups’ communities. These are the types of events that could successfully make people sitting on the fence support the State of Israel, as they are both on the offensive and engage in outreach.

Open letter to the Presbyterian Church USA from an Iraqi Jew Read more: Open letter to the Presbyterian Church USA from an Iraqi Jew | Joe Samuels |

MARCH 12, 2014, 9:01 PM by Joe SAMUELS TIMES OF ISRAEL 


note: oF THE 850,000 jews LIVING IN arab LANDS BEFORE 1948 NOT ONE IS LIVING IN A REFUGE CAMP TODAY. rEAD ON: 

Some of your members, under the banner of human rights, have demonized one country. According to them, the one country that destabilizes the Middle East and creates much pain and suffering to the Arab world, is not Iran, Syria, or Lebanon. It is Israel

They believe the root of the problem is Zionism and the return of the Jews to Israel.

Your group has just published a booklet entitled “Zionism Unsettled”. The booklet claims that if it weren’t for the Zionist movement that established Israel, the Jews from Arab lands would still be living in peace and harmony among the Arab nations.

I quote from your from Page 48 of “Zionism Unsettled”:

Middle eastern Jews, also called Mizrahi Jews, share a history of largely harmonious integration and acculturation in their host countries. Sadly, this model of coexistence was destabilized by the regional penetration of Zionism beginning in the late 19th century.

My Arabic name is Yusuf. I was born in the Jewish quarter of the old city of Baghdad known as “Taht El Takia” in December of 1930. I am now 83 years old. My mother tongue is Arabic and I am one those Jews who was integrated in the Arabic Islamic culture of Iraq.

Here are some examples of how us Arab Jews lived in harmony with our hosts: I survived the Farhud of 1941 — a violent “pogrom” when Iraqi Muslims, incited by Nazi Germany, took to the streets, destroyed the Jewish quarter and killed 180 Jewish men, women and children.  I was 11 years old. Google Farhud or read Edwin Black’s book “The Farhud”. The cause of the Farhud, wasn’t  Zionism. The Farhud was purely an anti-Jewish act. At 14, I was chased by two Muslim youths with a knife for stopping them from molesting my neighbor’s teenage daughter in broad daylight. At 18, after graduation from Al A’Adadiah High School, I was refused an exit visa to leave Iraq to study in America because I was Jewish. My story is not unique. I am one of 150,000 Iraqi Jews who was discriminated against, oppressed, and forced to escape religious persecution because of my faith. CLICK THIS TO KEEP READING

Read more: Open letter to the Presbyterian Church USA from an Iraqi Jew | Joe Samuels | Ops & Blogs | The Times of Israel http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/open-letter-to-the-presbyterian-church-from-an-iraqi-jew/#ixzz2xOX7j1Ys
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'Despising' Judith Butler and the future of Zionism

Mark LeVine is a professor of Middle Eastern History at University of California, Irvine, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Lund University. His new book is One Land, Two States: Israel and Palestine as Parallel States, co-edited with Ambassador Mathias Mossberg.  From AlJazeera.com  NOTE: I find this article deeply disturbing.  Maybe its me, but I sense a snarky undertone.  There is no doubt that stifling debate is ultimately morally and intellectually dangerous, but that's based on the assumption that the debate will consist of folks who are being intellectually and morally honest.  Read this closely and feel free to comment below. The New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier clearly believes himself to be a good man. One of those who put principles before emotions and politics. One who will fight for the right of even the most bigoted people and views to have a public hearing. Say, Nazis marching in Slokie, Illinois in the 1970s. Or rabidly anti-gay Christians protesting outside soldiers' funerals during the Iraq war. Or an anti-Zionist Jewish scholar lecturing about Franz Kafka's literary work at a Jewish museum. Okay, perhaps the last example isn't quite on the order of the first two, is it? Apparently, for Wieseltier, and for much of the American Jewish establishment, it is. So much so that even the thought of allowing a Jewish academic who believes in a democratic Israeli state in which Palestinians and Jews have the same political, economic and civil rights is cause for existential angst and anger. The scholar in question is Judith Butler, the literary critic and philosopher whose criticism of Israel and support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement have recently defined her in the public eye far more than her seminal research on feminist, queer, literary theory and political philosophy. The pressure on Butler and the Jewish Museum of New York, where she was scheduled to deliver a talk on March 6, was so great that Butler cancelled it. Too critical of Israel? CLICK THIS TO KEEP READING

Zionist Federation Film 2014 NEW!

Please SIGN the Creative Community for Peace Petition - And pass it along!

Sign the Petition

There are hundreds of artists who perform in Israel every year and almost all of them are being inundated by false accusations about Israel, particularly that it is an apartheid state. They are being pressured to cancel their tours and visits via petitions, open letters, emails and often thousands of tweets and Facebook posts. Presently, legendary music artist, Neil Young, is being targeted with a petition drive urging him to cancel his July 16, 2014 concert in Tel Aviv. It is critical that Neil and other artists and their fans hear from voices that support liberal, open democracies and the independence of artists.

Join the 25395 people who have already signed this petition. 

KEEP READING and SIGN

The Way Forward

The Arab population around Israel is not going to go away. The question is how will Israel and its neighbors learn to get along? Borders, walls, fences, skirmishes are not the answer. Diplomacy barely keeps some degree of peace, minimizing all out war but even in the face of aggressive diplomatic maneuvers attacks and counter attacks continue. And, when all is said and done, there remains severe hatred on both sides.

It seems to me that the hatred is greater on the Arab side. Propaganda, misinformation and venom are on display for all to see. On television, the streets, the web. But there is equal hatred on the Israeli side, particularly among the political right wingers and the more Orthodox among the religious. Both groups show little interest in modifying their hatred. In fact, they seem to get a life out of it all. And in my opinion here lies the problem.

If diplomacy is successful in settling some border issues and hands are shaken, nothing will have been done to stanch this river of hatred. As long as both sides vilify each other, tension will simmer. Where in history can we turn for a guide? Where have two diametrically opposed groups worked out their differences and learned to co-exist?

In America after the Civil War, slavery was abolished but over 100 years later much animosity between whites and blacks exist. China and Japan don't get along. Myriad tribes in Africa butcher each other over minor ethnic differences. Europe? The former Soviet Empire? Ireland and Britain? Is there anyone anywhere who gets along? Is the best we can hope for is a border to separate us?

Maybe. Before the last intifada Jews and Palestinians were starting to get along. Folks were crossing borders to work, to shop and to gamble. Children were going to Maine summer camps, Seeds of Peace, Jews and Palestinians, and realizing they could get along. It all ended with Arafat's refusal to sign. Is it irreparable?

We can build bigger walls. Make smarter Iron Domes. The Palestinians can create more propaganda, smuggle in more missiles, live in the misguided hope that Israel will disappear and all will be theirs. Common sense says this approach will fail. Where to change direction? Its not going to be some ceremonial handshake. Its going to take people coming out from behind their xenophobia, their hate and their fears and begin working towards the common goal of peace and good neighbors. How to start?

Whitewashing BDS and antisemitism in the New York Times

NOTE: Worth a re-read. Thanks again, Warped! From the Warped Mirror Blog 

READ HERE

BDS and the Oscars: How Screenwriter Ben Hecht Defied an Anti-Israel Boycott

Hollywood has a model of a principled political stand in the writer of ‘Gone With the Wind’ and the Broadway hit ‘The Front Page’

Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht said he “beamed with pride” when he heard the news on that autumn afternoon in 1948: The British had declared a boycott against him. By day, Hecht was the highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood, but by night his typewriter had been cranking out fiery newspaper ads denouncing England’s Palestine policy. Now he was going to pay a price for his unbridled opinions.

NOTE: THIS IS A FABULOUS ARTICLE, a REAL WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE. 
PLEASE READ: Read Here in Tablet Magazine

Vassar Jewish Students Break With Hillel on Israel

Published February 20, 2014 on line for February 28 Edition
The FORWARD at forward.com

The Vassar Jewish Union has declared itself an “Open Hillel,” becoming the second organization to break from Hillel International over the parent group’s pro-Israel guidelines.

“We believe that Hillel International’s goal to ‘inspire every Jewish college student to develop a meaningful and enduring relationship to Israel’ does not represent the diverse opinions of young American Jews,” the VJU said in a February 18 statement announcing that it would no longer abide by the Hillel guidelines. “We believe that fostering a pluralistic community and supporting all Jewish life on campus cannot be achieved with Hillel International’s Israel guidelines in place.”

The “Open Hillel” movement joined by the VJU describes itself as “a student-run campaign to encourage inclusivity and open discourse at campus Hillels.” The movement encourages Hillel chapters to reject Hillel International’s Israel guidelines, which prohibit campus Hillels from sponsoring programs, partnering with clubs and hosting speakers who “delegitimize, demonize or apply a double standard to Israel,” or deny its right to exist. The guidelines also bar cooperation with anyone supporting boycotts, divestments or sanctions against the Jewish state.

Last December Swarthmore Hillel became the first school to publicly reject the guidelines.

Continues Here
NOTE: This and the next article deal with the same topic. What is it that actually creates a "tipping point" in history? Only time will tell, but I'll bet my max bet, a nickel, that for some reason, the "Open Hillel" movement may be the pivot. Students have been hearing about BDS and "Apartheid week" for some time and most probably rolled their eyes, assuming yet another "cute" liberal bandwagon would pass by. After all, there was always Hillel to go back to in case you needed a shabbot candle, a bagel or someplace calm to go and decompress. 

But now "Open Hillel" will allow those calm spaces to be crashed by Anti semitic speakers, BDS organizers, Nazi Sympathizers  and others who seek the end of the State of Israel. And this will not go down well with those Jewish kids who need a little shelter from the storm. 

Presbyterian Org Says Agenda of Group Within Church is ‘End of the Jewish State of Israel’

The battle over Israel within the Presbyterian church turned a corner on Thursday, when a pro-Israel faction, called Presbyterians for Middle East Peace, said it would fight the church agenda, as described in its ‘Zionism Unsettled’ monograph. The document on Zionism, praised this week by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Iranian media, was described by PFMEP as seeking the “end of the Jewish State of Israel.”

Read the Entire Visit Here: