Jewish NYU students targeted by pro-Palestine activists

A pro-Palestinian NYU group targeted Jewish classmates with threatening “eviction” notices that were slid under dorm-room doors in the dead of night, students said Thursday.

“If you do not vacate the premise by midnight on 25 April, 2014 we reserve the right to destroy all remaining belongings. We cannot be held responsible for property or persons remaining inside the premises,” read the notices, which were delivered by members of the Students for Justice in Palestine.

NYU sophomore Hunter Goet, whose room got one of the threatening notices overnight Wednesday, said, “A lot of people felt transgressed upon because they felt threatened by it.”

“They felt like their housing was being threatened. It was a massive source of panic.”

The activist student group targeted Palladium Hall on East 14th Street because it is widely believed to house the most Jewish residents — and even has a special elevator that works without pressing buttons on the Sabbath, reported the Times of Israel. 

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Northeastern Univ allows probationary reinstatement of anti-Israel group

Posted by William A. Jacobson    Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at 9:20pm

Students for Justice in Palestine reinstated on probation for the fall semester, after agreeing to modify its conduct

In early March, Northeastern University temporarily suspended Students for Justice in Palestine after SJP did a “dorm storming” in which it slid anti-Israeli mock eviction notices under 600 dorm room doors in the middle of the night.   SJP already was on probation, and the dorm storming resulted in temporary suspension.

SJP then launched a protest march at which students chanted anti-Israel slogans, including Long Live the Intifada (the bloody Palestinian attacks that killed thousands).  CLICK TO KEEP READING

FIghting BDS Slideshow

Slideshow Fighting BDS

The World According to Anti Semites

Happy Passover from Gaza

I interviewed the accused Kansas gunman 33 years ago. He was hateful then, too.

By Robert Satloff, Published: April 14

Robert Satloff is executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

When I learned that the man accused of shooting innocent bystanders Sunday at a Jewish community center and Jewish retirement home in Overland Park, Kan., was a former Klansman named Glenn Miller, I shuddered.

Thirty-three years ago, when I was an undergraduate at Duke University, I read a small item in the Raleigh News & Observer that mentioned Miller, then the grand dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Miller, it turns out, ran a paramilitary training campin rural North Carolina.

I couldn’t understand how, in late-20th-century America, the KKK could operate in the open less than an hour from our elite, ivory-tower campus. I was an editor of Duke’s daily newspaper, the Chronicle, so I did what any reporter would do: I called Miller and asked for an interview. Always looking for publicity, Miller readily said yes, but he had one condition. “We ain’t no equal-opportunity employer, you know,” he said. “So don’t bring down no blacks and no Jews.”

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Why aren’t mainstream Israel critics defending Max Blumenthal?

Legal Insurrection April 15, 2014

And some lessons for the campus BDS movements, which worship Blumenthal

Max Blumenthal is experiencing what goes around coming around.

Having blamed various critics of radical Islam as well as international Zionism for the 2011 mass murder in Norway, unfairly, Blumenthal now is in focus because the Overland Park shooter was a big fan of Blumenthal’s Jewish money and Israel Lobby conspiracy theories.  The shooter was a Neo-Nazi and KKK leader for whom Jewish control of the media and international money was a core belief motivating hatred of Jews.  That’s a shared space for anti-Zionists of multiple political ideologies and religions.

Specifically, the shooter focused on Blumenthal’s theory that Jewish campaign donors were trying to buy the 2012 U.S. presidential election for Bibi Netanyahu, as expressed by Blumenthal in a lengthy article and a Russia Today television interview, to which the shooter linked.  It’s ugly stuff, but the type of ugly stuff for which Blumenthal has become known.

I’ve been less harsh on Blumenthal than others, The Overland Park murders, anti-Zionist conspiracy theories, and the blame game:  Click to Keep Reading

Anti-Israel resolution fails - in Dearborn!

from Elder of Zyon Wednesday April 16, 2014

Dearborn is the epicenter of the Arab community in the US - it was 30% Arab in 2000 and estimated to have a  much higher percentage today -  so this is pretty impressive. And completely ignored by the Israel-haters.

From The Arab-American News:

The University of Michigan-Dearborn Faculty Congress voted on Monday, March 7 [sic, should be April 7] against a resolution that calls for forming a divestment committee to look into the human rights records of companies that do business with the Israeli military.

After a 30-minute debate, the faculty struck down the resolution in a 23-17 vote with two abstentions. Present faculty members voted via ballot box. The faculty also voted 32-7 against a resolution calling for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The yearly meeting, which was open to the public, was almost exclusively attended by UMD faculty.

The Student Government (SG) had passed the divestment proposal last week. [Actually, the student proposal was to create a committee to look at the topic, there was no call to divestment in the SG resolution, much to the consternation of SJP. - EoZ] According to campus newspaper, the divestment initiative was proposed by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and endorsed by eight student organizations. SG has called for divestment on four previous occasions in 2005, 2006, 2010, and 2012, according to campus newspaper The Michigan Journal.

Dr. John Poster, the chair of the Faculty Senate told The Arab American News that the resolution approved by SG is not reflective of the opinion of the student body because most students are not involved in the student government.

"It is difficult for us to focus on this, while [Syrian President Bashar] Assad has killed more than 100,000 of his own people, while the military in Egypt overthrew a democratically elected government," Poster said. "There is a number of problems in the world, and it is hard for us to focus on Israel only."

The tide has decisively turned against BDS on college campuses, venues that were considered lost causes only a year ago. It is clear that the Israel-haters are noisy and know how to get publicity, but their stunts have no substance behind them.  LINK

Behind the Scenes at the Obama Seder

NOTE: we live in a time of much hatred, name calling and "my side" versus "your side". Sad. That said, if I'm not wrong, Barack and Michelle Obama were the first President and First Lady to host Seder at the White House and they do it every year. In fact, the tradition started on the Obama campaign trail. You may have an opinion or two, but it sure is nice to see the President at the seder table. 

Why this night was different from all others:  A hyper-contemporary menu of gourmet holiday foods and a #Passover #selfie tweeted from inside the seder by former presidential aide Arun Chaudhary... 
Washington, DC - With rain pouring down and high winds ripping the newly opened magnolia blooms off the historic trees surrounding the White House, President Barack Obama andFirst Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday evening welcomed 21 guests--friends and current and former staffers--for their sixth annual Passover seder.
  
The closed-to-press dinner made with beloved family recipes offered by the guests and some elaborate specialties created by the White House chefs--beef brisket, seared salmon, Tuscan kale, wilted spinach, and quinoa were part of the mix--began at 6:30 PM in the Old Family Dining Room, an intimate, yellow-walled dining room on the State Floor. 

"On Tuesday, just as we have every year of my presidency, my family will join the millions taking part in the ancient tradition of the Seder," Mr. Obama said in his Passover message.  

"We will enjoy the company of friends and loved ones, retell a timeless story, and give thanks for the freedom we are so blessed to enjoy."

Mr. Obama is the first President to mark Passover at the White House, and most of his guests on Tuesday--including former Senior Advisor David Axelrod, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Chicago friend Dr. Eric Whitaker, and former bodyman Reggie Love--have previously attended his seders.  Jarrett and Whitaker sat side by side at the head of the table.

Wearing a dark suit and no yarmulke, Mr. Obama sat in the center of his guests, across the antique mahogany table from Mrs. Obama, who wore a black and white jersey print dress, her hair pulled into a bun.  Click to Keep Reading

Israel's Biggest Threat On Campus

by Gary Rosenblatt
Jewish Week
March 19, 2004

http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editcolcontent.php3

It took a long time for the American Jewish community to focus on the Israel-Palestinian battles that have been playing out at universities around the country the last three years. But now that a number of communal organizations are working to bolster advocacy for Israel by helping students counteract pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrations, rallies and petitions, the most serious threat to the Zionist cause is coming from another corner of the campus: the faculty.

There is no question that the impact of a respected professor teaching a history or political science course and framing the Mideast conflict in ways hostile to Israel is far more lasting, and insidious, than students holding an "End the Occupation" protest on the Quad. Students come and go, but professors remain, shaping the views of their charges year after year. And the sad truth is that a disproportionate number of university faculty members, including Jews, are more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and often hostile to Israel.

There are numerous reports of professors questioning the legitimacy of the State of Israel, in class, and students feeling too intimidated to challenge them, for fear of ridicule or reduced grades. Academic freedom goes a long way, particularly on traditionally liberal college campuses, where Israel has gone from David to Goliath since the Six-Day War of 1967. The Jewish state is commonly perceived as a brutal occupier of the Palestinian people and stumbling block to Palestinian freedom and statehood. Too few students have the knowledge, or courage, to offer a counter view.

Ed Beck, president of the Susquehanna Institute in Harrisburg, Pa., notes that a history professor at Ohio State University proclaims that the State of Israel is based on "historical mythology." A professor at Vassar turned down a request to join a pro-Israel organization, saying he would not support any group that promotes a "low-grade war of genocide against the Palestinian people." And both of these men are Jews. 

In an effort to address the increasing number of anti-Israel incidents and teachings on college campuses, Beck helped found a group in June 2002 called Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. The organization claims 600 members, from a wide range of academic disciplines and from some 200 universities across the U.S. and in other countries. The goal, Beck says, is to "educate, network and empower" faculty members to be "knowledgeable mentors and authoritative resources" for colleagues, students and others on campus. Click to Keep Reading

More Matzah, Please

Not the Same Old, Same Old

NY Times Thomas Friedman April 15, 2014

At first, the article in The Jerusalem Post last week seemed like the same old, same old: A picture of a ransacked Israel Defense Forces post in the West Bank. Then a quote from Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon: “The State of Israel will not tolerate such criminal activity, which is terrorism in all respects.” Those Palestinians will never quit.

 Oh, wait a minute. Yaalon wasn’t talking about Palestinian terrorists. He was talking about Jewish terrorists, renegade settlers, who slashed the tires of an I.D.F. jeep parked in the settlement of Yitzhar, after Israeli soldiers came to demolish illegal buildings. “Settlers clashed with security forces during Monday night’s demolition and lightly injured six officers,” The Post reported. “A group of 50 to 60 settlers then raided an army post located to the west of the settlement, destroying generators, army equipment, heaters and diesel fuel tanks.” Israel’s justice minister, Tzipi Livni, warned that extremist settlers had crossed a line: “An ideology has flourished that does not recognize the rule of law, that does not recognize us or what we represent.”

These small stories tell a bigger one: We’re not dealing anymore with your grandfather’s Israel, and they’re not dealing anymore with your grandmother’s America either. Time matters, and the near half-century since the 1967 war has changed both of us in ways neither wants to acknowledge — but which the latest impasse in talks only underscores.   PLEASE KEEP READING

IDF Chief Rabbi: Passover is the People of Israel’s Gift of Freedom to the World

Brig. Gen. Rabbi Rafi Peretz, Chief Rabbi of the IDF, shares his thoughts for Passover.

This week, we will all sit at the Seder table –  some of us in our homes with our families, some of us on IDF bases, and some of us in the field, protecting the people of Israel so that we can celebrate the Festival of Freedom in peace.

3,326 years ago, our nation celebrated its miraculous release from slavery in Egypt, an event which marked the beginning of the journey to the land of Israel. The journey was long and arduous, and full of ups and downs, but in the end an entire nation walked to freedom.

There are those who see the exodus from Egypt as something much more than the salvation of a people from cruel oppressors. This event sent a message of hope that echoed across the world, because for the first time in history, the idea of living as a free people in our land became a possibility.

Brig. Gen. Rabbi Rafi Peretz, Chief Rabbi of the IDF

Egypt did not accept our legitimate claim to freedom, out of a concern that the Egyptian economy, which was based on slavery, would collapse. For many generations afterwards, slavery was perpetuated by regimes and cultures around the globe. But the people of Israel’s cry continued to be heard throughout the world, and turned the world into a better place. It wasn’t for nothing that the leaders of the anti-slavery movement in the United States chose as their rallying cry the eternal words of Moses: “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1). The torch of freedom that was carried by the people of Israel is to this day still the source of inspiration for enslaved nations, who aspire to freedom and liberty.  CLICK TO KEEP READING

Passover, Anti-Semitism, and Rising Above Hate

the Algemeiner April 11, 2014

NOTE: Another thoughtful peace on understanding our place in the world. 

In 419 BCE, the Persian king Darius issued a decree concerning the Jewish garrison at Elephantine on the Nile Delta (near the cataracts of what is now called Aswan). It was directed towards the governor, Arsames, and instructed him to make sure that the Egyptian priests of Khnum did not attack the Jews or try to stop the Passover celebrations at the Jewish temple there. You may well wonder at the prospect both of a Jewish military garrison in Egypt two-and-a-half thousand years ago, and at a Jewish temple where sacrifices were made outside of Jerusalem. But that’s for another time.

Tension between the Egyptian priests and Jews was exacerbated by the Jewish tradition of slaughtering sheep, something the Egyptian religion forbade; this Egyptian antipathy is explicitly stated in the Torah (Genesis 46 and Exodus 8:22). Sadly, nine years later, with Arsames no longer there, the priests of Elephantine destroyed the Jewish temple and its population.

Alternative versions of the Exodus have existed for a long time. Just as alternative narratives about the Middle East proliferate nowadays. Each has its own agenda, some constructive and some destructive. Hecataeus, an Egyptian historian who lived around 320 BCE, talks about bands of exiles coming to Egypt, being driven out, and then taking over an uninhabited Judea. They were led by a man called Moses who founded a new religion that Hecataeus described as unsocial and intolerant!  CLICK TO KEEP READING

What We Can’t Learn From the Passover Story

The incompatibility of Manichean moralizing and the modern Middle East

By Yair Rosenberg|April 11, 2014 9:02 AM

NOTE: Obviously we'll be posting a lot of Passover Themed articles. This one is wonderful! 

There are many distinctive colors which Jews encounter at the Passover seder. There is red for wine and blood, green for the plague of frogs, and black for that of darkness. But there are no shades of grey. Nuance is a scarce commodity in the Passover account. In fact, the story of the Exodus is the prototypical black-and-white moral narrative. There are the innocent and enslaved Israelites, and then there are the cruel and literally baby-killing Egyptians.

There are not two sides to this story. There is no “Egyptian narrative.” Though Jews do briefly note the tragedy of the loss of human life during the seder, pouring out drops of wine for each plague inflicted on their tormenters, this commemoration in no way excuses or sympathizes with the biblical Egyptians themselves. We are presented with an oppressed and an oppressor—a right and a wrong.

The inadequacy of this foundational Jewish narrative to address certain fundamental Jewish questions today was brought home to me as a college student several years ago. Mere hours before the onset of Passover, an email was sent to my school’s Progressive Jewish Alliance listserv with a link to the news that the Israeli government would be closing off the West Bank border for the duration of the holiday. The author of the email appended one question: “What does it mean if on Passover, the celebration of freedom, we lock in the people living under our control?”  CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING