StandWithUs International Blog - Israel Advocacy

Goodbye Blog, Hello www.standwithus.co.il

2008-06-23T20:03:00.000+03:00

This blog is no longer being updated and we invite you to surf to our new website http://www.standwithus.co.il for updates on all the activities of StandWithUs International.

Thanks!

Terrorism on 9/11

2007-09-11T16:35:00.000+03:00

A Kassam rocket fired from Gaza into Israel, bearing the date it was fired - September 11 2007.
2 seperate attacks were launched on the Israeli Western Negev region the same day leaving over 65 people injured.

Ex-President Carters book and the Fallacy of Resolution 242

2007-08-28T11:19:00.000+03:00

by Asaf RomirowskyPhiladelphia Daily NewsDecember 6, 2006

As ex-president Jimmy Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," hits the stores, it's worth looking into the infamous UN resolution 242 that he quotes so frequently.
Reading Carter's words gives no indication that Israel was the party that actually accepted 242 and the Arabs and Palestinians were the ones who rejected it.
In fact, after Resolution 242, the Arabs issued the equally infamous three "no's": No peace, no recognition, no negotiation.
None of this matters to Carter, who's built his post-presidency on practicing foreign affairs without an electoral mandate.
Palestinians and Arabs love to quote 242. It's become the foundation for the land-for-peace formula drafted after the Six Day War, and a superficial reading seemingly places Palestinian/Arab brokers of peace in a position of strength. For Arabs, this "legal" prerequisite emphasizes the give and take: If Israel valued peace, it would return land. If Arabs wanted land, they would give peace.

Arabs also love to quote 242 because it is a deceptively simple equation. On one hand, it talks about the exchange of land for peace with Israel, meaning there is room to negotiate. But although we naively believe it also calls for recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, that's not the case.
The resolution calls for "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict." It deliberately does not call for withdrawal from "all" or "any" because the authors knew that such demands were unreasonable.
As far as "peace" goes, the resolution lays on the bureaucratic boilerplate and calls for "Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force."
The resolution demands that Israel gives up some land in exchange for some, still unspecified, peace. Israel is still waiting.
As historian Michael Oren explains, "Israel accepted the resolution, albeit begrudgingly, as did Jordan. Nasser's response was more equivocal. While endorsing the UN's decision, he reiterated the three no's to his National Assembly... 'that which was taken by force will be regained by force,' and told his generals, 'you don't need to pay attention to anything I may say in public about a peaceful solution.' "
Decades later, in 2000, Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq Al-Shara illustrated the imaginary land-for-peace fantasy in a speech regarding peace with Israel. Al-Shara noted again the return of the Golan Heights as a prerequisites for negotiations with Israel:
"In no way did we agree to discuss any of the elements of peace before the issue of the full withdrawal is settled. In order for the withdrawal to be full, it must be... without leaving any Israelis - either civilian or military, nor any semi-military or semi-civilian; also, no ground station and no Israeli in any ground station. This is what full withdrawal means and we did not give it up."
Any time you raise the notion of "compromise" in the context of an Israel-Palestinians peace agreement it is relative to their fantasy interpretation of 242. To actually abide by the resolution would be anathema.
And, in fact, when it came to implementing 242, Israel did turn over land time and time again: Sinai, the Oslo accords, the withdrawal from Gaza - in exchange for a cold peace at best and open warfare at worst.
During the Oslo years and the al-Aqsa intifada and today under the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, "land-for-peace" really translates into "land-for-talk" because to too many Americans and Europeans, talk - not peace - is all that Israel should expect (and possibly deserve), in exchange for territorial concessions. This is the motivation which drove Hezbollah to attack Israel this summer and what continues to fuel Hamas as it rejects Israel's right to exist.
If the Palestinians really want to talk about Resolution 242 as the basis for anything, they should first get their own territories under control, stop firing rockets at Israeli towns, and start creating a decent civil society.
Until then, Israelis have learned a hard lesson that until the other side stops wanting to wipe Israel off the map, resolutions like 242 really aren't worth the paper they're written on.

Asaf Romirowsky is an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum and manager of Israel & Middle East affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.

Educate Students to Counter Voices of Hate

2007-08-28T11:11:00.000+03:00

by Asaf RomirowskyJewish ExponentMarch 22, 2007

"Israeli Apartheid Weeks" are becoming an accepted norm on many college campuses across the nation, during which a series of events staged by anti-Israel activists are held and the Jewish state is equated with the racist regime of apartheid-era South Africa.
Moreover, awareness weeks devoted to Islam are also held in order to "educate" the campus. The problem is that many times these are skewed presentations that teach an alternate reality.
In an effort to counter examples of the above, the pro-Israel community has similarly initiated "Israel Weeks," as well as daylong seminars, devoted to empowering students with the necessary tools to properly advocate for Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.
In a combined effort of the Center of Israel and Overseas of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Hillel of Greater Philadelphia and the Israeli Consulate in Philadelphia, just such a conference will be taking place at Bryn Mawr College on Sunday, March 25.
It will draw on the six campuses that Hillel of Greater Philadelphia serves, as well as other campuses reaching as far as Lehigh University and the University of Delaware. Keynote speaker will be Charles Krauthammer, winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary and syndicated columnist for The Washington Post.
'Complexities of the Situation'

Andrew Mener, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania and chair of the student committee that helped plan the program, states that the event "will provide students with an understanding of the complexities of Israel's situation from varying perspectives -- all in one day."

The conference will challenge students to think about Israel in a new light and encourage them to ask questions. In fact, the conference agenda has been formulated after careful conversations with student leaders on all the regional campuses, with the explicit goal of providing useful information that speaks to the needs of today's college students.
Unfortunately, opposition is never too far behind and, coincidently or not, three days after this conference wraps up, Norman Finkelstein will be speaking at Bryn Mawr. Finkelstein is a Jew who willingly collaborates with neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites.
In fact, when The New York Times reviewed his book, titled The Holocaust Industry, it described it as "a novel variation on the anti-Semitic forgery, 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.' [The Holocaust Industry] verges on paranoia and would serve anti-Semites around the world."
People like Finkelstein help student campus groups such as "Jews for Justice in Palestine" gain credence as a "Jewish example" of credible criticism of Israel, and so widen the divide within the Jewish community.
Furthermore, such individuals sympathize and support radical Islamist groups like Hezbollah. As Finkelstein has written, "the honorable thing now is to show solidarity with Hezbollah, as the United States and Israel target it for liquidation. Indeed, looking back, my chief regret is that I wasn't even more forceful in publicly defending Hezbollah against terrorist intimidation and attack."
Today, those who are anti-Israel insist that they are not anti-Semitic -- only anti-Zionist. That's the message that Finkelstein helps fuel.
Students must recognize that there is never justice in terrorism. It is unacceptable that some should even speak of eliminating a living and breathing state like Israel.
However, you would be surprised how pervasive such statements have become on campus. These advocates are the ones that should be on the defensive, not those working hard for the good of the Jewish state.

Asaf Romirowsky is the manager of Israel & Middle East Affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and a Campus Watch Associate Fellow

Birthright Blog #1

2007-07-03T11:51:00.000+03:00

Monday July 2, 2007

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the rest of your summer. I am currently still in Israel, volunteering at the StandWithUs office in Jerusalem. Many of you are in the U.S. now, probably reflecting on the time you spent here and the amazing experiences that we shared together. The purpose of this blog is to stay connected, to share our thoughts on the trip and find out what everyone is up to now that they have returned to North America. I can’t wait to tell you about all of the exciting projects that we are working on and read your reactions!

I know that oftentimes it is difficult to go home and re-integrate oneself into one’s own life after a trip like this. Taglit may or may not have changed your outlook completely, but I know that you felt something. Israel is a powerful place that affects each person in a unique way. Maybe you feel a strong connection to the country and would like to come back and visit again soon. You may make lifestyle changes or adopt a new attitude, forming strong opinions and supporting causes you believe in. I know you will share stories and photos from the trip with friends and family back home and encourage other young people to come to Israel. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to travel with such an amazing group of young people and am looking forward to hearing from you in the coming weeks.

Shalom,
Mirelle

Taglit-Birthright Israel Tour with StandWithUs - the Photos!

2007-07-02T11:46:00.000+03:00

Thanks to all the participants of our trip who made the ten days they were in Israel so special.
Here are just some of the many highlights!

If you want to go on one of our unique trips next summer or winter, more information is available at http://www.standwithus.co.il/birthright

Thank You!

2007-06-18T18:42:00.000+03:00

We've had well over 1000 letters, hundreds and hundreds of emails and responses adding your voice to those condemning the UCU boycott in the UK.

Thank you!

For more information on the campaign against the boycott click here

Stop The Boycott!

2007-06-15T18:39:00.000+03:00

StandWithUs is proud to be supporting the anti-boycott moves in the UK. Thousands of SWU supporters have written to the UCU and signed petitions encouraging them to end this policy.
You can find out more about the anti-boycott campaign and what you can do by clicking here:

Campaign Update 1
Thank you for signing up to support the Stop The Boycott campaign.

Who are we?
The “Stop the Boycott” campaign has been launched as the unified response of tens of organisations and hundreds of academics to the Universities College Union pro-boycott policy.

The campaign is led by the Chief Executives of BICOM and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) in partnership with the Fair Play Campaign Group, which was set up by the JLC and the Board of Deputies last year.
We aim to obtain and win a full UCU membership ballot to overturn the boycott policy.

Who are our supporters?

We are delighted at the overwhelming support we have received. UK supporters include The Board of Deputies; Trade Union Friends of Israel, Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, the ‘Friends Of’ the various Israeli Universities, the Union of Jewish Students, and the Zionist Federation.

Beyond the Jewish Community some 300 senior academics have signed newspaper advertisements; 76 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion; and many members of the UCU are involved.

The influential Russell and 1994 university groupings, Universities UK; the National Union of Students, The British Academy; Senior Government Ministers and Opposition Spokespeople have all echoed our campaign messages.

We have received huge support from Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks and Head of the Reform Movement Rabbi Tony Bayfield.

We also proud to have the support of the Israeli Government through the Ambassador in London as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

What are we doing?

Amongst other things:
An advert appeared in The Guardian and The Times on Wednesday 13th June. Click here to see the advert - http://www.stoptheboycott.org/pdf/stoptheboycott_times.pdf
A visit of Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell MP to Israel.
An Early Day Motion in Parliament (number 1603)
Question to the Prime Minister from Andrew Dismore MP on Wednesday 6th June
Question in Education Questions from Andrew Dismore MP.
Letter from all Parliamentary Chairs of Friends of Israel groups in The Guardian.
Letter from some of the most eminent scientists in Britain and the world in The Guardian.
The leaders of all 3 main political parties have come out against this boycott
Statements from Education spokespeople of 3 main political parties.
Editorials have appeared in all the main UK broadsheet newspapers against the boycott.
We have collated quotes from hundreds of academics and prominent members of the Jewish community, which have been press released.
Meetings have taken place with Israel’s Prime Minister’s office and the Foreign Secretary herself.
Work was done around the Higher Education debate in the House of Lords.

Messages

The overall campaign message is that boycotts are bad for academic freedom, bad for the Palestinians and bad for Britain.

For UCU members, the priority message is that of academic freedom.
Our message is simple. Do something today, to support this campaign.
What do we need you to do?There is no magic bullet. To succeed we must be prepared for a series of hard-fought tactical battles over many months. We need your help to:
Find out who your local MP is here: http://www.writetothem.com/?creativeid=605235279
Lobby your MP to sign EDM 1603: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33409&SESSION=885
Ask your MP to meet with local universities/colleges to enlist support and get joint statements denouncing the boycott.
Get UCU branch members in local universities/colleges to propose motions supporting a membership ballot and condemning the motion, before the summer holidays.
If you are a UCU member write to the NEC asking them for a ballot
Sign up to, and get your friends and family to sign up to, regular updates at http://www.stoptheboycott.org/
WebsitePlease visit http://www.stoptheboycott.org/ for more information about this important campaign.

Lorna Fitzsimons and Jeremy Newmark
Stop the Boycott

http://www.stoptheboycott.org/

support@stoptheboycott.org

Shot by their own side, healed by the enemy

2007-06-13T00:03:00.000+03:00

By Charles Levinson in Ashkelon, Sunday Telegraph

In the Gaza Strip's Jab aliya refugee camp, Aref Suleiman was raised on Palestinian struggle against the Jewish state. Today he lies in an Israeli hospital bed, his body riddled with Palestinian bullets, his wounds tended daily by Israeli nurses.

For the 22-year-old Mr Suleiman, who was shot five times point blank by Hamas militants last month during a renewed bout of Palestinian infighting, this is not the Arab-Israeli conflict he learnt about as a child growing up in Gaza's desperate, rubbish-strewn alleys.

"Palestinians shoot me and Jews treat me," he laughs bitterly. "It was supposed to be different."

The Barzilai Hospital sits on a sandy hilltop above the Mediterranean Sea in the southern Israeli port city of Ashkelon. In recent months, five Palestinian rockets have landed in the grassy dunes that encircle it, just six miles from the Gaza Strip.

Barzilai, however, has become a rare bastion of civility in an increasingly hate-filled conflict and a unique meeting ground for two peoples who otherwise have little direct contact.

Wounded Palestinians who get permission from the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli army are allowed into Israel to seek medical treatment that is not available at Gaza's rudimentary clinics. Here, Israelis and Palestinians meet their erstwhile foe, in many cases for the first time in their lives.

Mr Suleiman, who was only 15 when the second intifada erupted in 2000, had never been to Israel or met an Israeli. Suleiman, a guard in the Palestinian security services who was a devoted follower of the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

As he flirts with the Israeli nurses who bring him lunch, check his wounds and blood pressure and empty his bed pan, Suleiman seems, at least for the time being, to have forgotten historical grievances.

"The Jews are like honey, like flowers," he says theatrically. "They wash me, clean me, and change my gown every day. Even in my home, my own family wouldn't change me every day."

"Here, everything is beseder," he adds, using the Hebrew word for "okay".

For the young Israeli nurses, most from nearby communities that live in constant fear of the Palestinian rocket fire, the cultural exchange flows both ways. The Palestinian patients they treat put a human face on the conflict. Nurse and patient can even find a shred of common cause now that the Islamist Hamas movement, which has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings, is locked in a deadly power struggle with the more moderate Fatah movement.

Victims on both sides of the war's de facto frontline are treated side by side here. Five doors down from Mr Suleiman, Ludmilla Visiptzky, 60, awaits her third session of surgery to patch up the shrapnel wounds she suffered when a Palestinian Qassam rocket struck her home in mid-May.

Both confined to their hospital beds, the two patients have had little contact, but each knows the other is within shouting distance. Meanwhile Nurse Kokhava Kohi, says gleefully of her patient, Mr Suleiman: "He's going to go home and shoot Hamas in the head," - as if that alone would justify her daily ministrations.

You Say "Enough": We Say Dayenu!

2007-06-11T12:05:00.000+03:00

London Rally organiser Jonathan Hoffman blogs about a heated day in Trafalgar Square:

What other city but London could host 5 demonstrations in one day? These included 250 naked cyclists who seemed to be protesting not about the price of clothing but about car drivers (whether clothed or ‘in the buff’) and thousands of Orange Loyalists, complete with a massed band, marching to celebrate an anniversary of their Order.

Our demonstration, “Dayenu”, was to counter “Enough!”, a group of some 50 organisations marching to protest about 40 years of occupation of the Territories by Israel. “Enough!” included 5 trade unions including Amicus, GMB, TGWU; Friends of the Earth; War on Want; as well as all the usual suspects. The marchers were marching to Trafalgar Square to listen to such luminaries as George Galloway; the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu El Assal (who “has falsified Jewish history” – Melanie Phillips); Lord Phillips of Sudbury who wrote in the Times on March 26 2004: "If terrorism is 'the systematic use of violence and intimidation', then Israel, too, is guilty of it”; Dr Azzam Tamimi, who has supported suicide bombings against Israelis and was denounced in Parliament for inciting hatred against the Jews (again thanks to Melanie Phillips). Miriam Margolyes apparently made an unscheduled speech as well. There was also a video message from the Palestinian Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The Hamas Covenant urges Muslims to kill Jews.
The purpose of our “Dayenu!” (= “It is Enough”) demonstration was to publicise Israel's willingness to give up territory – as shown by the return of Gaza - but only for a secure peace. We wanted to tell the “Enough!” marchers the truth – how Israel gave back Gaza, only to be rewarded with Kassam rockets raining down on Sderot. Our group included Jews, Christians, people of other faiths and indeed of no faith. We were honoured and deeply moved to have a Holocaust survivor, Freddie Knoller, with us, as well as Liberal Rabbi Sidney Brichto and Tony Pearce who leads The Bridge Christian Fellowship. We also had people there from the Campaign for Vigilant Freedom. http://www.vigilantfreedom.org/ The one thing we had in common was that we loathed the idea of thousands of misinformed and misled marchers on the streets of our capital city with free rein to attack and lie about Israel. Our name – ‘Dayenu’ – was in response to ‘Enough’. “Enough lies, enough Kassams, enough anti-Zionism, enough anti-Semitism, enough boycotts, enough double standards imposed on Israel”.

There were around 150 at our demonstration – a great turnout given that it was Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) – meaning (i) that neither the Jewish communal organisations nor the Embassy could sponsor the event and promote it (though individuals at those organisations were extremely supportive) and (ii) many observant Jews who would not travel on Shabbat were unable to be there. By contrast the “Enough!” marchers – who hoped that they would get 10,000 – got around 3,000 (they began passing us at 2.30pm and by 3.10pm they had all passed by).

Our group was passionate but dignified. We sang “Evenu Shalom Aleichem” and “Hine Ma Tov” and asked the “Enough!” marchers “Where’s Alan Johnson?” We had a special welcome for Neturei Karta and for “Jews for Justice for Palestinians”.

Their numbers included one man who gave us Nazi salutes and pretended to be Hitler (The police were onto him very fast). I was told that two women from “Enough!” came over to apologise to some of our group for the behaviour of their fellow marchers. We had some powerful signs (many thanks to StandWithUs http://www.standwithus.com/ for your support) – in particular one of our group is a sign maker and made a banner “Enough Rockets On Sderot”.

What was the significance of 9 June 2007?:

· Despite Shabbat and the consequent lack of publicity 150 were prepared to come on the streets of London to support Israel. It takes courage to do that, in the face of some very militant people.

· “Enough!” did not get nearly the support they had hoped for. Those that did come were the usual alliance of militant Islamists and ageing SWP throwbacks from the 1960s, joined at the hip to their tired-looking SWP banners, as well as dour young Trotskyites and a sprinkling of self-haters.

The Metropolitan Police provided some truly inspirational policing of an event that could so easily have turned nasty. They even managed to keep the naked cyclists out of the sight of both the devout Muslims and Neturei Karta …….

And the CST must be thanked for standing with us, despite the short notice and despite Shabbat.

Jonathan Hoffman

StandWithUs salutes Jonathan and his associates for the great work in pulling together the counter rally. We are pleased to be working with the UK community to actively engage in the fight against the boycott, anti-Israel movements.

The Kotel - 40 Years On..

2007-06-07T21:55:00.001+03:00

That famous picture, revisited 40 years after the Six Day War:

Benjamin Netanyahu on the academic boycott

2007-06-04T09:43:00.001+03:00

Save Sderot

2007-05-31T20:38:00.001+03:00

A view from the frontline that Sderot has become.

UCU UK Boycott

2007-05-30T20:36:00.000+03:00

Boycott motion passes at UCU conference
UCU conference just passed a motion to support the campaign for an academic boycott of Israel. 158 for, 99 against, 17 abstentions.

1 This is not a decision to institute a boycott. That decision can only be made by the whole membership through a ballot. That was the commitment on which Sally Hunt was elected as General Secretary. Congress also backed a policy which does not allow a boycott of Israeli academic institutions unless it is called for by Israeli campus trade unions.

2 UCU conference has today voted for a roadshow touring colleges and universities drumming up support for an exclusion of Israelis - and only Israelis - from our campuses, our conferences and our journals. UCU can still be rescued by its membership. But this vote demonstrates that we live in dangerous times. The zeitgeist is now such that a representative body of the British intelligentsia is prepared to say, in all seriousness and after due consideration, that criticism of Israel can never be antisemitic.

From http://www.engageonline.org.uk/home/

Alternative Spring Break

2007-04-16T15:36:00.001+03:00

Check out this MTV feature on "Alternative Spring Breaks" - this one in Northern Israel.

Banned UN Speech: UN Watch

2007-03-29T22:23:00.001+02:00

What do you think about the United Nations Human Rights Council?

Bonfire in the Desert!

2007-03-26T11:36:00.000+02:00

A night under the stars in Israel with friends, next to a bonfire, grills smelling of sausages and burgers…… its every young persons dream…... free food and fun. March 17, 2007 in the historic region of Nabi Musa of the Judean wilderness, 100 students from the UK, South Africa and Israel joined together to socialize and to try and understand each others perspectives as it is so crucial to effective long term partnerships. Since its creation, Israeli's have been fighting for its right to exist. So what does this really mean? Can you imagine what it must be like to have not only your childhood, but your entire life surrounded by constant struggle and warfare?

This evening of fun enabled people to hear the stories of Israeli's—first hand—in a setting where brotherhood and possibility prevailed.
While in the UK or South Africa (and many other places in the world), at the age of 18 when young adults are getting ready for "the best times of their life" in university, their Israeli counterparts are getting ready to go to the army, face challenges they have never faced before (defending their country), and being responsible for their own life as well as the lives of other men and women in their units.

Many moving stories were shared this evening—professional and personal alike. The winner of the UK based educational program created by StandWithUs Associate Director Michael Dickson (based on a famous TV show), The Ambassador, Gabby Nejad, shared her compelling story of her struggles and encounters with anti-Israel propaganda throughout her upbringing in the UK and how StandWithUs gave her the tools to effectively counter and conquer it. She was able to show her Israeli counterparts the realities that students abroad have to face, though not with their lives in the army, but rather by constantly having to defend their Judaism to those unfriendly to the entire concept.

Israeli student speaker, Tal Frankfurt, divulged a chilling story of an experience he had in the army that should have left him dead—the day he was supposed to be on id duty. Because there is an obligatory army duty in Israel at age 18, Tal was dealing with this kind of scenario while other 18 year olds around the world were completely oblivious to the harsh reality of being a young person within this nation

The IDF requires all soldiers to hand in their ID tags as they head for a day in the field to protect their country. Upon their return, they pick up their tags. This system serves as a checks and balance system to identify those who do not return in the evening and are considered M.I.A.

Tal's commander volunteered to sit at the post that day and be on ID duty for a change of pace. Little did he know that that would be his last day to ever see his soldiers fight for him and his country. A terrorist came up to his commander and shot him in the head point- blank. It was supposed to have been Tal sitting there; it could have been Tal that died that day. He reflected on the cost that Israeli's pay and the perspective that it builds in the lives of students in this nation.

It is crucial for students to continuously have these "mifgashim" (meetings) between Israeli's and those from abroad because Jews are fighting equally crucial battles daily in every part of the world. Some sacrifice with their lives on the front lines defending this nation, and some defend it with ideology confronting hatred and lies about this nation that we all have come to call HOME.

The evening concluded with more barbequing and roasting of marshmallows over the fire. As students inquisitively asked about one another's lives while heading down to the buses, the latest StandWithUs books, Israel 101, were distributed which cover the conflict and toughest questions about Israel in a concise palatable way appropriate for those in sticky situations on campus. Students left with lifetime friendships and a hope for more strategic partnerships and broader perspective to be able to face "the music" together through different roles in varies areas of the world.

Mark Regev in London with StandWithUs

2007-03-20T12:42:00.000+02:00

Mark Regev spent a busy few days in London and spoke at two events in partnership with StandWithUs and the ZF. Whilst, there he also receorded a very interesting interview with political columnist Iain Dale for 18 Doughty Street.com, a new but increasingly influential online TV station focusing on politics. You can watch the full interview here:

http://doughty.gdbtv.com/player.php?h=7e535c9706487587439b631de6ed34c1#

Zionism Explained

2007-03-16T12:08:00.000+02:00

Know what Zionism is, or only the propoganda?

With Israel's enemies long-using Zionism as an insult, it's time to get eduacted about what Zionism acutally is. Lots of useful information, plus internet links, tips and the lowdown on anti-Zionist hackers at http://www.zionismontheweb.org

Israel 2007

2007-03-15T23:06:00.001+02:00

Livni at AIPAC

2007-03-14T13:27:00.000+02:00

The AIPAC Conference is drawing to a close, with a strong StandWithUs delegation there. Amongst the most important speeches made at AIPAC was that of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, which we reproduce here:

"The American - Israel strategic alliance is a partnership built on common values and not just common interests. This is a unique alliance that transcends politics."

"Dear friends, It is a great honor for me to be here today. I believe that we are defined - as individuals, as leaders and as nations - by our values and by the choices we make to defend them. The American - Israel strategic alliance is a partnership built on common values and not just common interests. In a world where so much is based on narrow interest, an alliance that is founded on shared ideals is unique. This alliance transcends politics.

Here, in the U.S., it enjoys bipartisan support. And in Israel – where we love to argue about almost everything – I can assure you that on the American-Israeli relationship you will hear only one voice.

We, the people of Israel, cherish this friendship. Our governments are partners; our peoples are friends - in good times and in bad. We must never take this for granted and – because of that – we will never take AIPAC for granted. Let me say loudly and clearly on behalf of the government and people of Israel: thank you AIPAC.

The U.S.- Israel relationship is of utmost importance, especially now. We are in the midst of a struggle for the future of the free world. The outcome of this struggle will shape this century and the kind of world we - Americans and Israelis - pass on to our children. The cost has already been painful and our hearts go out to those families who lost their loved ones in this struggle.

Dear friends, There are moments in history where the threats are clear and prevention is possible, but only if we work together. In order to confront threats, we must first identify and understand them. Our world is changing and being divided between moderates and extremists. Extremist forces seek to transform national conflicts, which are resolvable, into an endless religious war. The extremists are not fighting for their own rights – they are fighting to deprive others of their rights.

The extremists use mass media, like Al Jazeera and the Internet, not to promote co-existence but to spread hate.

The extremists want to exploit our values – our desire to resolve conflicts peacefully and our tolerance for others. The Middle East is also changing. Yes, there are threats. We can see the extremists headed by Iran, with its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian Authority. But there are also new opportunities.

We can see the old divisions of the Middle East being replaced. Israelis, moderate Palestinians, and pragmatic Arab and Muslim leaders are moving into the same camp – sharing the same interests for a peaceful and stable Middle East. We need a dual strategy that empowers the moderates while, at the same time, weakening the extremists.
Ladies and gentlemen, to address extremism is to address Iran. This is a regime which calls for the destruction of a State, a member of the United Nations, Israel - my home. This alone should deny it a place in the community of nations. It is a regime which denies the Holocaust, while threatening the world with a new one. It is a regime driven by a radical religious ideology with the goal of dominating the region, exporting terror, and preventing peace.

The Iran threat is clear not just to Israel and the Western world. Many Arab and Gulf States feel it too. They also cannot afford a nuclear Iran and, believe me, love for Israel has nothing to do with it. They know, as we do, that even if the Israel - Palestinian conflict magically disappeared, Iran's radical ideology would remain. And they know, as we do, that there is no path to a stable world, or a peaceful Middle East, that does not involve addressing this threat.

The international community must not close its eyes. It must defeat this danger not for Israel's sake, but for its own – for the sake of its own security and for the sake of the values it claims to hold dear. We know that there is much more that needs to be done and time is of the essence. The initial sanctions on Tehran have had an impact and, as part of our collective effort, they must be strengthened and expanded without delay. And to those States, who know the threat, but still hesitate because of narrow economic or political interests let me say this: History will remember.

The free world is being watched. The Middle East is a tough neighborhood. And when there is a bully in this neighborhood there are only two choices, to beat it or to join it. If States in the region feel that the world will not stop Iran, they may feel the need to appease it.

We live in a region where images matter, and where the perception of weakness can have far-reaching consequences. If we appease the extremists – if they feel that we are backing down - they will sense victory and become more dangerous not only to the region, but to the world. This applies to the decisions made on Iran, it is true for Iraq; and it is true across the Middle East. And it is why it is so important for the international community, with American leadership, to project strength, to demonstrate absolute determination in achieving its objectives and absolute commitment to its values.

The international community is also being tested in Lebanon. The goals are clear: to establish an independent Lebanon, which exercises sovereignty over its territory, dismantles militias and enjoys peaceful relations with its neighbors. But Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are determined to prevent this. Security Council resolutions are clear on the actions that need to be taken. The international forces in Lebanon have brought changes on the ground – but other parts of these resolutions must be implemented fully. The immediate task is to enforce the arms embargo and prevent the ongoing efforts of Syria and Iran to rearm Hezbollah. These illegal weapons destabilize Lebanon, endanger UNIFIL, and threaten Israel. They must not and will not be tolerated.

Most painful for every Israeli is that the hostages Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser remain in captivity. Israel is one family. Eldad and Udi are our sons, and we will do everything, but everything, in our power to bring them home. Our enemies see this desire as our weakness. They are wrong. It is our greatest strength.

Dear friends, when it comes to the Israel - Palestine conflict, our vision for peace is drawn from the ultimate goal of Israel, the reason for its existence – to be a Jewish and democratic State, secure in our ancient homeland. We want to live in peace. We have no desire to control Palestinian lives. We deserve security. Our children deserve a future, free of hate and full of hope. Based on these core principles, the vision of peace is clear: Two States, two homelands, for two peoples – Israel, homeland for the Jewish people wherever they may be. And Palestine, the homeland, the national answer for the Palestinian people, wherever they may be, including the refugees. Two States living in peace and security – the meaning of this is also clear.

The future State of Palestine cannot be a terror State. And that is why President Bush's vision and the Roadmap insist that the road to statehood goes through the elimination of terrorism. This is not a zero sum-game. This vision is not pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian. It is pro-peace. Israel has made its choice. Across Israeli society we have embraced this vision, and accepted the sacrifices that come with it. The disengagement plan proved this. With great pain, we uprooted families from their homes in order to create an opportunity for peace. Sadly, we received terror in return. And yet, we have not stopped hoping that the Palestinians will make their choice for peace.

Unfortunately, in the last elections they chose Hamas, a terrorist organization driven by an extreme religious ideology. Hamas's goal is not to create a Palestinian State, but to destroy the Jewish one. The international community, through the Quartet, has repeatedly insisted that any Palestinian government must fully commit to three core principles: renunciation of terror, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements. These requirements are not obstacles to peace, but fundamental principles for peace. I believe in dialogue - but there are some things that are not up for negotiation. We cannot and we will not negotiate our right to exist.

No-one has the right to do so in our name. We cannot and we will not negotiate about the need to accept former agreements. They are the outcome of tough negotiations and mutual concessions - they are not a menu to choose from. And, of course, we will never negotiate over terror. Israeli lives are not bargaining chips. This is the test for the Palestinian government as a whole, regardless of its members. We expect the international community to defend the requirements for peace. We expect it to stand against terror, not compromise with it.

Ladies and gentleman, stagnation is not in our interest and is not our policy. This is the reason that despite our disappointment from the Mecca agreement, we have not closed the door to dialogue with the moderates. Just yesterday, Israel Prime Minister Olmert met with Chairman Abbas. But we must understand that the chance for peace depends on a clear distinction between the moderates and the extremists. Being a moderate is a title that has to be earned. A moderate is someone who is ready to confront terror; someone who believes in the two State vision and accepts its true meaning. Israel remains willing to work with the moderates, if they are willing to empower themselves and distinguish themselves from the enemies of peace. This includes undertaking genuine efforts to release of Gilad Shalit – who is in our prayers every day.

It includes bringing an end to daily attacks on Israeli homes and the smuggling of weapons across the Gaza-Egypt border. And it includes preparing the Palestinian people for the compromises and historic reconciliation that any true peace will require from both sides.

Dear friends, all of us are eager to see peace in the Middle East. Nobody wants it more than Israel. This is about our lives and the future of our children.

Lasting peace is possible if it is built on solid foundations and shared values. Despite all the challenges, I am optimistic - I can see new opportunities emerging. Moderate and pragmatic leaders are beginning to see Israel not as an enemy of the violent past, but as a partner in a common and peaceful future. The challenge we all face, as leaders in the Middle East, is to say this publicly to our people and to teach it to our children. We are ready to do our part, and we hope our neighbors are ready to do theirs.

And today - from this podium - I call on Arab and Muslim States – those who condition their relations with Israel on the end of the Israel - Palestine conflict – not to wait any more. You have the power to change reality, and to encourage Palestinians to embrace co-existence.

Do not wait for peace to come before you normalize relations with us – normalize now and peace will come.

Ladies and Gentleman, As we say in Hebrew - we have no other homeland. We also have no other values. For 60 years we have fought for our existence without compromising our principles, our vision, or our dream for peace. We are moderates by definition - we are not threatening to turn into extremists. I believe in Israel and am proud to represent it. I am proud of the strength and vitality of our economy. I believe in the courage and innovation of our people. And I believe in the U.S. - Israel partnership and the values on which it is founded. I know that you feel the same. And the future depends on us. Thank you."

Purim Sameach

2007-03-04T14:02:00.000+02:00

Purim Sameach from Israel!!!!!!

Weekend in Tel Aviv

2007-03-03T18:59:00.000+02:00

Israel's home run

2007-02-28T21:03:00.000+02:00

ISRAEL'S HOME RUN

By ZEV CHAFETS

February 28, 2007 -- RON Blomberg is going to Israel. This is good news for Israeli baseball fans. For the Palestinians, it could be a learning experience.

Blomberg, who played first base and outfield for the Yankees back in the '70s, made history in 1973 as baseball's first designated hitter. This summer, he is scheduled to manage the Beit Shemesh Blue Sox of the brand-new Israel Baseball League.

Blomberg isn't exactly a Zionist - the closest he's been to Israel is the Stage Delicatessen. But in Israel you never get too far from the big picture: The Blue Sox's ballpark isn't far from the valley where Joshua once made the sun stand still. Not even Yankee Stadium has that much history.

Managers of other clubs include ex-big leaguers Art Shamsky and Ken Holtzman. The league's commissioner is Dan Kurtzer, the former U.S. ambassador to Tel Aviv. Trustees include Yankee President Randy Levine and the daughter of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Jewish ballplayers will be encouraged to come out for the teams. (Just in case, the league is also holding tryouts in the Dominican Republic.)

Few, if any, Israelis will play the first year: Baseball's never been an Israeli sport. This new league is founded on the "If you build it, they will come" principle. Which, when you think of it, was pretty much how Israel itself got founded.

In 1948, when Israel became independent, the population was 650,000, the biggest industry was orange growing and most people needed government-issued food-ration cards to get by. Today there are more than 6 million Israelis, and the standard of living is similar to the Mediterranean countries of the European Union.

Last spring, Warren Buffet bought Iscar, an Israeli blades and machine-tool company, for $4 billion. About the same time, Donald Trump announced plans to erect a 70-story skyscraper outside Tel Aviv. These were not sentimental gestures. Neither Buffet nor Trump is Jewish - they're simply investors looking for a profit. Like Ron Blomberg, they look at Israel and see opportunity.

Israel is on an economic tear. Last summer's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon slowed things down for a couple of months, but 2006 still saw 5.1 percent economic growth. New figures out this week show growth at an astonishing 8 percent clip in 2006's final quarter.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has posted its own 2006 numbers, and they're astonishing, too - but in the opposite direction.

The economy of the West Bank and Gaza is in free fall. In some places, unemployment is more than a third of the workforce.

Once, Palestinians enjoyed relative prosperity by working in Israel, but those days are gone. The demand for Palestinian employees dried up during the Intifada, once they began displaying an alarming tendency to blow themselves up on the job.

The world community took over for a while, turning the West Bank and Gaza into a giant charity ward. But in 2006, the Palestinian public elected a Hamas government that's dedicated to destroying the Jewish state and refuses to pretend otherwise. Such candor has been more than even European governments can accept; they cut off funds until Hamas changes its words or the voters change the government. Neither is likely.

Of course, the Palestinians could, theoretically, feed themselves. But they have no oil, and their industrial sector produces nothing more sophisticated than car bombs. A brighter future through education? The two rival parties, Fatah and Hamas, recently torched each other's universities in Gaza.

There is a lesson here. For decades, the Palestinians and their Arab allies have tried to invade, isolate, shame, terrorize, demoralize and exhaust Israel. But nothing has worked. In those years Israel built a modern economy, a functioning democracy and an open society. And now it's got Ron Blomberg, at least for next season.

Blomberg would, I imagine, be shocked to see himself as a symbol of the contemporary Middle East. But he is - living proof that, in the real world, the Israeli Baseball League trumps the Arab League.

In the unlikely event that the Palestinians look over the fence and figure this out, there is still time for them to get into the game. It is the only way they'll ever have a league of their own.

Zev Chafets' latest book is "A Match Made in Heaven."

Israel - Apartheid State?

2007-02-26T10:47:00.000+02:00

If Israel was an apartheid state than this would not be the case:

MK Wahabi first Druze to act as Knesset speaker, president

By Haaretz Service

MK Majali Wahabi (Kadima) will be the first Druze to act as both Knesset speaker and president of Israel beginning Tuesday, Israel Radio reported, as Knesset Speaker and Acting President Dalia Itzik goes abroad.

Itzik has been serving as acting president ever since President Moshe Katsav suspended himself from presidential duties after the attorney general announces that he is considering indicting Katsav on charges of rape and abuse of power.

Itzik will continue to replace the president until he either resigns or returns; should he resign, she will replace him until a new president is elected.

Today's Israel

2007-02-23T15:00:00.000+02:00

Israel on Myspace

2007-02-21T17:42:00.000+02:00

Check out the official Myspace page of the State of Israel. I'm friends with Israel. What about you?

Myspace is also a great place to discover new Israeli bands and top culture coming from Israel.

(Majority) Arab Jerusalem?

2007-02-21T10:09:00.000+02:00

From Ynetnews.com

Study: By 2035 equal number of Jews, Arabs in Jerusalem

Growth rate of Arab population is twice that of Jewish population in capital. If there is no change in reproduction rates, by 2035 there will be equal number of Arabs and Jews, according to research by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies
Lilach Shoval

If there is no change in the reproduction rate among Jerusalem residents, by 2035 there will be an equal number of Arabs and Jews residing in the capital, a study by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies has found.

The institute will present the data Thursday at the opening ceremony of a lecture series to mark 40 years to the reunification of Jerusalem.

The data attained by Ynet reveals that the reproductive rate of the capital’s Arab population is double that of the Jewish population.

(read the rest)

My Israel

2007-02-19T13:02:00.001+02:00

What is YOUR ISRAEL?

The 'Israel Apartheid Week' libel

2007-02-15T12:26:00.000+02:00

It is tempting to ignore "Israel Apartheid Week," an anti-Israel hate-fest taking place this week in Canada, England and the US. The organizers of such events, though they claim to be supporting Palestinian rights, will obviously not be satisfied unless the Jewish state ceases to exist.
But there are, no doubt, decent, caring people who may come across these events, or who bought Jimmy Carter's best-selling book branding Israel an apartheid state, who may be taken in by such vitriol.
So let us consider: Is Israel an apartheid state?
In an op-ed last week in The Australian, Muslim author Irshad Manji answers: "Would an apartheid state award its top literary prize to an Arab? ... Would an apartheid state encourage Hebrew-speaking schoolchildren to learn Arabic? Would road signs throughout the land appear in both languages? Even my country, the proudly bilingual Canada, doesn't meet that standard."
She continues: "Would a Hebrew newspaper in an apartheid state run an article by an Arab Israeli about why the Zionist adventure has been a total failure? Would it run that article on Israel's Independence Day? Would an apartheid state ensure conditions for the freest Arabic press in the Middle East?"
We would only add: What other state airlifted thousands of black Africans from Ethiopia to grant them instant and full citizenship?

Read the full editorial in the Jerusalem Post

Jews are “evil souls” in new PA TV video clip

2007-02-14T19:18:00.000+02:00

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Jews are “evil souls” in new PA TV video clip

"The [Jews are] evil souls,
a thousand evil ones [Jews] are in my home!”

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

The lyrics in a new video clip broadcast on official Palestinian Authority Television refer to Jews as "evil souls, a thousand evil ones. . . in my home." The lyrics are sung to images of a religious Jew walking in Jerusalem and Jews praying at the Western Wall of the Temple.

This overtly anti-Semitic message not only defines Jews as “evil souls,” but likewise tells Palestinians to see Jews as outsiders in Jerusalem. Even Jews at the Western Wall are portrayed as intruders.

Click here to view the clip

The following is an excerpt from the song:

“I am Palestinian, and my home is my home.
The evil souls [Visual: Jew walking in Jerusalem],
A thousand evil ones are in my home!” [Visual: Jew walking in Jerusalem]
But I am Palestinian and my home is my home,
The evil souls [Visual: Jews praying at Western Wall],
A thousand evil ones are in my home!” [Visual: Jews praying at Western Wall]
[PA TV, February 13, 2007]

The rest of the video, named “Palestinian Unity,” features a teenage boy singing about Palestinian unity, over background images of dead bodies, funerals and military parades of the rival Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, the Popular Front and the Democratic Front. The background images also include scenes of violence against Israel, including Israeli tanks and jeeps being hit by stones and Molotov cocktails.

The lyrics include:

“We are all Palestinians in blood and identity, Fatah, Hamas, and the Jihad, the Popular [Front] and the Democratic [Front]…
We want to liberate the land through the national unity..."

The words, "We are a sword which is not drawn, except towards the occupier,” are sung to the images of a gun firing, followed by that of falling Israeli soldier.

Spotlight on Sderot

2007-02-13T17:46:00.000+02:00

International students studying in Israel joined StandWithUs to see the Karni crossing into Gaza and also for a tour of Sderot, which has suffered from daily rocket attacks (some of which are pictured above).

One of the students, Lena, blogs here about the experience.

Holy Lies

2007-02-11T21:00:00.000+02:00

Readers of this blog must know that something is going on in Jerusalem. After all, Arab leaders are crying about the "desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque" and the news media is reporting about work "on Jerusalem holy site." But, most people who don't spend an extended time in Jerusalem may not know that the crys of outrage ring hollow.

laya from Jewlicious brings us the true story of what's really going on:

Searching Google News the last while, I have been consistently amazed at what a big story the alleged “Temple Mount dig” has become. It seems that every major (and minor) news outlet is covering it as if it’s the story of the decade.

The claims against Israel are absurd on multiple levels, but for the initiated they may not seem so.

First of all, let’s just understand the basic layout of the area. This map comes courtesy of Lonely Man of Cake.

Green: The Temple Mount and surrounding area under complete control of the Waqf.
Yellow: The Western Wall.
Red: The construction area in question.

Specifically, the red area is the Mugrabi Bridge, the sole access from the Jewish Quarter onto the Temple Mount and the only entrance from which non-Muslims may enter. The bridge was badly damaged in an earthquake a few years ago and a temporary structure was built adjacent to it, cutting into the already cramped women’s section, as you can see here.

Note: the bridge in question is completely outside the area surrounding the Temple Mount.

In 1967 Israel captured the entire Temple Mount area, but ceded control of the day to day affairs on the Mount itself to the Muslim Waqf, keeping control of the area outside, including the Western Wall and the the Mugrabi Bridge.

Now, one reason that this newest instance of “Muslim outrage” is so absurd is that the Waqf itself has been digging ON the Temple Mount since 1996.

Their digging, by contrast, has been using bulldozers to quite literally rip up priceless archaeological artifacts, many of which are from the first and second temple periods, before unceremoniously dumping them outside the area. This digging, unsupervised by the Antiquities Authority, has caused severe structural damage to the area. While this is in complete violation of 1967’s Protection of Holy Places Law, Israel has barely raised a peep about it, let alone used it as an excuse for violence.

The real reason for all this brouhaha is the recent accord signed between Hamas and Fatah which will create a unity government and hopefully end the civil war that’s been raging in Gaza as well as the sanctions that have been imposed on the Palestine Authority. Consequently, Palestinian leaders have two items on their agenda. First they need to get international recognition of the accord. This will be tough to do given that Hamas has not agreed to recognize Israel, end violence against Israel or live up to previous agreements signed with Israel. The next item on the agenda is to end the fighting in Gaza between Hamas ad Fatah militants. That promises to be a lot easier given events on the Temple Mount. With everyone’s focus on the dastardly deeds being done by the Jews, gunmen will hopefully put aside their political differences and focus on the one thing everyone in Gaza can support - sheer hatred of the Jews.

There are a dozen other things that could be mentioned about the Temple Mount and the absurdity of the uproar over digging and construction outside it, but for the sake of space, I’ll leave it here. Whatever else is going on, it is important to remember that the Temple Mount is the most important place in Judaism, being the site of the Binding of Isaac, the home of the First and Second Temples, and the location of a chance encounter which led to the founding of Jewlicious. Tradition tells us on that day ck almost had Laya arrested, but that’s a story for another time.

The truth is simple: A passageway that tourists and security use to get to the Temple Mount (of which the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosques currently stand and which is also considered a holy site by the Muslims, as well as the Jews) was damaged in 2004 due to an earthquake that occurred in Jerusalem. The Israeli government had temporarily stabilized the ramp (resulting in the shrinking of the women's section at the Western Wall/Kotel) but it was not ideal and dangerous. So, the damaged ramp was destroyed and a new ramp was planned to replace the damaged one. Israeli law demands that excavations be carried out prior to new constructions in any place in which their is a potential for archaeological antiquities to be found (this is the case in most of the country, but especially around the Temple Mount, with its thousands of year old history to the three monotheistic faiths). This is what many Arab/Muslim leaders are crying about and rioting. Nothing, however, is touching the Temple Mount itself and area controlled by the Muslim Waqf are not being accessed (as they destroy thousand year old antiquities).

Mobius from Jewschool points more out:

In February 2004, the ramp leading up to the Temple Mount from the Mughrabi Gate collapsed following an earthquake that caused, among other things, severe damage to the Eastern Wall and the further destabilization of the entire Temple Mount.

Shortly thereafter the Mughrabi Path was temporarily replaced with a wooden walkway which takes up about half of the women’s section of the kotel plaza and further leaves an ungodly unaesthetic blight on the Holiest Site in All of Judaism™.

After a couple of years of enduring this ongoing imposition on their prayer experience, religious women who felt they were getting the short-shrift started complaining to the municipality. Truth be told, it does get quite cramped for the ladies at the koysel, rendering their tefillah a rather uncomfortable experience. So last summer, Jerusalem mayor Uri Lupolianski announced that the wooden walkway would be removed and that the original pathway would be rerouted.

“There’s no reason that in the most sacred site for the Jewish people, the men will have a big comfortable plaza while the women will have to be cramped and crowded,” Lupolianski said.

According to the JTA, “The mayor asked for government permission to change the route of the ‘Mugrabi Path,’ which leads from the Western Wall plaza to the Temple Mount, in order to carry out the renovations.”

Excavations were set to begin in June of last year, yet were held off for some reason (I can’t seem to find a source citing why). In any event, the excavations have finally begun, and apparently, they’re going to be responsible for causing World War III. Islamic leaders across the Middle East have called upon Muslims to pour out their wrath upon Israel, from Gaza to Iran. And for God’s sake, for what?

“Israel is now carrying out wide excavations under the mosque and is building a synagogue in front of the Dome of the Rock,” Taysir al-Tamimi told Al Jazeera.

Riiiiiight.

Take a look at the diagram below, provided by the BBC.

You might notice that the Mughrabi Path isn’t even directly connected to the Temple Mount.

Furthermore, all of Uri Ariel’s shittalk about building a shul on the Temple Mount still has yet to amount to actual construction plans. In fact, Israel just authorized the building of a minaret on the exact site Ariel wants his shul. So there goes that idea. (Let alone, WTF–your construction on the Temple Mount is a-okay, but ours will cause it to crumble to the ground? Shyeah, right.)

That would make al-Tamimi a liar. Which would make his remarks incitement, and nothing more.

A recent Ha'aretz editorial points out that the real lesson from this is that the historical connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem is being denied, despite its historical accuracy and fundamental fact.

.... The Mugrabi bridge plan exposes the great Muslim denial - the denial of the Jewish bond to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Temple. Dr. Yitzhak Reiter described the whole story in his study, From Jerusalem to Mecca and Back - a must for anyone wishing to understand the roots of Muslim behavior, even in the Mugrabi bridge affair - but his work remained, regrettably, an academic study, failing to prompt an appropriate public relations campaign on Israel's part. Now the public is receiving another demonstration.

Who among us knows, for example, that the al-Aqsa Mosque, which according to contemporary studies was built some 1,400 years ago, is now claimed to have been built at the time of the world's creation, during the days of Adam or Abraham? And who is aware of the fact that increasing numbers of Muslim academics and religious leaders claim it existed even before Jesus and Moses and that Islam preceded Judaism in Jerusalem?

Today, thousands of Islamic rulings, publications and sources deny the Jewish roots in Jerusalem and its holy places. They claim that the Temple didn't even exist in Jerusalem but was located in Nablus or Yemen. An Islamic legal pronouncement (fatwa) on the Jerusalem Waqf (Muslim religious trust) Web site says King Solomon and King Herod did not build the Temple at all, but merely refurbished an existing structure that had been there from the days of Adam. Today, many Muslims call the Temple "the greatest fraud crime in history" and many Muslim adjudicators attach the world "so-called" to the word "temple."

On the southern Islamic movement's Web site, Mohamed Khalaikah cites Israeli archaeologists in support of his theory that there is no trace of the Jews' Temple. He distorts the writings of these archaeologists, whose studies provided findings from Biblical sources corroborating the Temple's existence.

Muslim religious figures attempt to portray the Jewish presence in Jerusalem as having been short-term. The Western Wall is a Muslim site, they argue, and say Jewish affinity for it was invented for political purposes and dates only to the 19th and 20th centuries. Their aim is to disprove the centrality of Jerusalem to Judaism. Above all they stress the "precedence and supremacy of Islam over Judaism, which contaminates the city's Muslim character."

Muslim religious leaders, with at least partial academic backing, are today rewriting Jerusalem's history and introducing new terms and content into Muslim and Palestinian discourse. These terms are total nonsense, even according to known Muslim historians like al Makdessi (who lived in the 11th century). In recent years, this new terminology has penetrated the discourse of Palestinian and Muslim politicians as well. Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben-Ami and the members of the Israeli delegation were horrified to hear it at the Camp David Summit of 2000 from Yasser Arafat and members of his delegation.

It is therefore easy to understand why the Muslims are so afraid of archaeological digs, not only on the Temple Mount itself but also around it, although these digs also shed light on Jerusalem's Muslim history. Muslims fear these excavations, not because they physically endanger al-Aqsa's foundations, but because they undermine the tissue of lies proclaiming that the Jews have no valid historical roots in the city and its holy sites.

Hillary Clinton & PMW release report on incitement in PA textbooks

2007-02-08T19:59:00.001+02:00

Washington, DC - The new Palestinian Authority (PA) textbooks for Grade 12 encourage students to see Israel, the US and the West as enemies, and portray the PA's territorial disputes with Israel as an existential religious conflict for Islam, according to a report released today by Palestinian Media Watch and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The report, "From Nationalist Battle to Religious Conflict: New 12th Grade Palestinian Textbooks Present a World Without Israel," was written by PMW director Itamar Marcus and associate director Barbara Crook, and analyzes eight textbooks released at the end of 2006.

According to the report, the new books create for students an image, both textual and visual, of a world without Israel. They reject Israel's right to exist, while describing its founding as a "catastrophe that is unprecedented in history." According to the report, the books encourage students to see themselves as victims of Israel's existence, and actively prevent these young people from seeing Israel as a neighbor to live beside in peace. The history books barely acknowledge the peace process. This is compounded by the presentation of the conflict as a religious conflict to defend Islamic land, and leaves no latitude or religious option for students to have positive -- or even neutral -- attitudes towards Israel.

The textbooks likewise portray the US and the West in negative terms, describing the relationship as a "clash of civilizations." The books teach that the US is a human rights abuser and a violator of international humanitarian law. The texts assert that the US is an economic supporter of Israel, while completely ignoring the US aid to the PA and to Palestinian humanitarian projects.

"I believe that education is one of the keys to lasting peace in the Middle East and for this reason I am very concerned with these findings. Ever since we first raised this issue some years ago there still has not been an adequate repudiation of incitement by the Palestinian Authority. It is even more disturbing that the problem appears to have gotten worse. These textbooks don't give Palestinian children an education, they give them an indoctrination," Senator Clinton said.

"Teaching Palestinian children that the conflict is religious and not territorial will leave no possibility for compromise and could guarantee another generation of conflict," said Marcus.

The Grade 12 texts analyzed in the PMW report are the most recent books to be written by the Palestinian Curriculum Development Center. The director of the curriculum committee, Dr. Naim Abu Al-Humos, is a long-time member of the Fatah party and was appointed PA Minister of Higher Education in 2002, under Yasser Arafat, and continued after PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's election.

"It's very significant and disturbing that these new books contain ideology that has been associated mainly with Hamas - especially the unequivocal denial of Israel's right to exist and the portrayal of the conflict with Israel as a religious struggle, not a territorial dispute," says co-author Crook. "But this ideology is being prepared for Palestinian youth by veteran Fatah educators, not by Hamas."

Click to see the report in PDF or in WORD

Israel's quest for peace

2007-02-08T17:00:00.000+02:00

The American Jewish Committee has just released a new report called "Israel's Quest for Peace" which highlight's Israel's attempts to make peace with her neighbors since 1948. It is available here for free download (free registration required).

Cool Facts about Israel

2007-02-08T12:56:00.001+02:00

Useful resources

2007-02-06T14:16:00.000+02:00

Check out these useful resources to better advocate for Israel:

Security - OMedia (roundup of major articles)
Washington Institute for Near East Policy (check out the material on Syria by my friend Seth!)

Life in Israel - Israelity

and the booklist on the StandWithUs website

Ben's Blog

2007-02-04T11:20:00.000+02:00

Ben reached the final of the first season of "The Ambassador" program in the UK and has been studying in Israel for the past 5 months. Here he blogs about his recent experiences:

Last year, after the Ambassador programme finished, my participation in Israel advocacy was limited to writing letters to Israel bashers and newspaper articles. I read the articles and watched the news clips. I was an individual with a voice, a small voice but still tried to be heard by those who I felt were intolerant and unfair. For me, this was a platform for hopefully bigger things.

However, the little I was doing last year has slowly diminished to very little indeed. My only explanation to this is a very busy yeshiva schedule which takes up around 14 hours on average of my day and leaves little for my own free time. The question raised is, what am I giving to society and life in Israel in general except for tuition fee which I pay to be here? Perhaps I should have spent my year going up and down the country and volunteering and giving my support where needed, a much more valuable endeavour? Or perhaps I should have made aliyah straight away and immersed myself in Israeli culture by going straight into university?

When this was a question for me at the beginning of the year I knew that one or two years learning would mean I would gain a wealth of knowledge. With this knowledge I will be able to go back to university in England and share what I’ve gained.

Yes, I can talk about Israel as a free democratic state, with rights for women and freedom of speech. I can argue the Israel is not an apartheid state etc... But what does that mean to me? A figure is a figure and a fact is a fact. All the same there’s nothing that can beat passion, pride and emotion. Yet now there is something I can be passionate about, after staying in Israel for nearly 5 months now I have experienced a part of the beauty and have felt the necessity of the existence of this wonderful country.

I can walk down the street with a yarmulke on my head without fear of harm. I can be anywhere in Jerusalem and know there will be a synagogue nearby if it’s time for Mincha. All these things for me mean so much, not just as a visiting Jew but as a Jew that believes passionately that the land of Israel is meant to be the homeland of every Jew and should be the destination and goal for all Jews.

However, this comes with the knowledge that every Jew that has this passion and belief has a duty to share his knowledge and love to those that are less interested.

Maybe this is why I encourage and implore people who have never been to Israel, to make that step and visit. Without contact you cannot be passionate and without passion you can’t persuade.

L’Shana haba b’Yerushalayim - Next Year in Jerusalem!

More about the groundbreaking Ambassador program here.

The death of divestment?

2007-02-01T16:00:00.000+02:00

An editorial published at the end of August 2006 in the Jerusalem Post posits the end of divestment efforts against Israel. Summarizing recent efforts to divest from Israel (from a US-perspective, he minimizes the impact of some European initiatives), the author argues that divestment is ineffective and concludes with the thought that:

It may be that the Lebanon crisis will breathe new life into the struggling divestment movement. But at the time of this writing, even the most vocal institutional critics of Israel (such as the mainline Protestant churches) show no immediate interest in revisiting the campaign, no interest, that is, in inviting the vampire back across the threshold.

Is he right? Is divestment dead? What are the new tactics against Israel? What should the agenda be for Israel advocacy in 2007?

Israeli film to screen in Iran

2007-02-01T14:42:00.000+02:00

Israeli film to be featured in Iranian festival

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 28, 2007

An Israeli documentary film will be featured in the Teheran Film Festival, Army Radio reported on Sunday.

The documentary "…More Than a Thousand Words (…Yoter Me'Elef Milim)," directed by award winning filmmaker Solo Avital, follows the work of news photographer Ziv Koren in Israeli-Palestinian conflict zones and his struggle to find the balance between his work and his personal life.

In an interview with Army Radio, Koren said that the curator of the Teheran Film Festival requested permission to show the film from the German distribution company which held the rights to the film. Koren said he was not sure whether the curator knew he was requesting to show an Israeli-made film, but added that there was no doubt the curator knew that the subject of the film was an Israeli photographer.

Koren emphasized that the film was not a co-production between Israel and another country but a completely Israeli creation.

Tel Aviv: The Gorgeous City

2007-02-01T11:01:00.000+02:00

Take a ride to the most cool city in Israel ...

This Valentines Day ... send flowers

2007-01-31T15:23:00.000+02:00

The flowers you send this Valentine's Day might come from Israel

From ynetnews.com:

Israel to export 125 million flowers to Europe

Valentine's Day considered one of high seasons for flower exports from Israel
Nurit Felter

Some 125 million flowers and ornaments, weighing more than 5,000 tons, will be flown to Europe ahead of Valentine's Day, the Flower Growers Association reported.

According to the association's secretary-general, Avraham Daniel, the most wanted flower colors are pink and red.

Valentine's Day is considered one of the high seasons for flower exports from Israel , following Easter and Christmas. The price of one Israeli flower is expected to reach 90 agorot (about 21 cents).

The proceeds of the Israeli flower market abroad on Valentine's Day total approximately NIS 115 million (USD 27 million). A rise of 20 percent has been noted in the sale of flowers in Israel, reaching NIS 15 million (USD 3.5 million), an average of 70 agorot (16 cents) per flower.

The proceeds of the Israeli flower market in Israel on Valentine's Day total approximately NIS 10.5 million (USD 2.5 million).

Come to Israel with StandWithUs

2007-01-31T13:13:00.000+02:00

Yad Vashem announces Arab "Righteous Among the Nations"

2007-01-31T10:21:00.000+02:00

Holocaust honour for Arab who saved Jews from Nazis
By David Sharrock
The Times (of London)
January 24, 2007

www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2562887,00.html

An Arab who saved the lives of two dozen Jews during the Holocaust is about to receive an unprecedented honour from Israel. Khaled Abdelwahhab, a wealthy Tunisian landowner, is poised to become the first Arab to be celebrated as a Righteous Gentile.

The award, presented by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance authority, is granted to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust in which six million died.

More than 21,000 people have been granted the title of Righteous Among the Nations since it was established in 1963, with Oskar Schindler probably the best known. But, in spite of stories of heroism and friendship recorded by members of North Africa’s once-large Jewish community, no candidate has emerged from the Arab Muslim world.

The story of Khaled Abdelwahhab was uncovered by an American Jewish expert on Arab and Islamic politics who was researching for a book.

A survivor told Robert Satloff that Abdelwahhab had rescued 23 Jews, including her family, as they sheltered in an olive oil factory after being thrown out of their homes by German soldiers. He feared that the women were going to be put to work in a brothel and gave them sanctuary for the remaining six months of the German occupation.

Interviewed at her home in Los Angeles a few weeks before her death, Anny Boukris said that Abdelwahhab had discovered that German officers were planning to take her mother, Odette, to work in the brothel they had set up in Mahdia, on the east coast of Tunisia.

Abdelwahhab’s father was a good friend of the Boukris family, so he drove straight to the olive oil factory and told all the Jews sheltering there that their lives were in danger and that they must go with him immediately.

He settled them all at his family farm in the village of Tlelsa, 20 miles from Mahdia, and they remained there until British troops ended the German occupation in April 1943.

Abdelwahhab was 32 when the Germans arrived in Tunisia and was described by Dr Satloff as a bon vivant, blessed with Hollywood film-star looks — and an eye for the ladies. His father was a former minister to the court of the Tunisian bey [sovereign].

Abdelwahhab studied art and architecture in New York and lived for a time in Paris. He married a Venezuelan opera singer in Spain and she became the mother of one of his two daughters. He died in 1997 at the age of 86.

Estee Yaari, of Yad Vashem, told The Times that a file on Abdelwahhab had been opened and would be considered by a commission of experts led by a supreme court judge. “It looks as if there is enough material to move this forward and he would be the first Arab to become a Righteous Among the Nations,” she said.

Dr Satloff, executive director of the Institute for Near East studies in Washington, uncovered the story of Abdelwahhab’s heroism while working on a book that he hoped would break “the conspiracy of silence” in the Arab world surrounding the rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

Dr Satloff, who flew to Israel to meet Yad Vashem officials yesterday, said: “These stories are only coming to light now because we haven’t looked too hard before at the Holocaust experience in Arab countries. But another reason is that Arabs who did save Jews didn’t want to be found. They are reluctant to admit that they saved Jews.”

More than 1.5 million Jews lived in northern Africa during the Second World War and were subject to persecution by the Nazis and their allies there, although few were sent to the death camps in Europe.

Photo bias

2007-01-30T14:57:00.000+02:00

The Lightstalkers site has a story about how proper photographs can be rewritten by editors to reflect something that they aren't. This was made clear in the Lebanon war with the Lebanon garbage dump story. This is from the photographer

This Wikipedia article explains the situation.

This is why Israel advocates should learn basic media concepts and how the media operates, from an unbiased/non-advocacy perspective as it will enable better ability to analyze and respond to incidents where the media engages in undisputable falsehood.

Also, for students interested in a career in Israeli public diplomacy, USC has the world's first MA in Public Diplomacy and several visiting Israeli scholars (Eytan Gilboa of Bar-Ilan) and others are frequently affiliated with the center.

Jerusalem registers its first gay couple

2007-01-30T09:49:00.000+02:00

Israel: A Global Leader in Civil Rights

From the Jerusalem Post:

Jerusalem officially registered its first homosexual couple as married Monday, three months after a ruling by the High Court of Justice paved the way for same-sex couples to be listed in the Interior Ministry's Population Registry.
Binyamin and Avi Rose married on June 28 in Toronto, Canada, but immediately returned to Jerusalem to start building their life together.
"We did the civil ceremony in the hopes that we would eventually be able to make legal what we felt inside," said Avi, an informal Jewish educator for the Young Judaea youth movement.
"We wanted the government of Israel to recognize that we are a couple. It was no more of a statement than [coming from] a 'regular' couple, but we are both committed Zionists and are hopeful that our union will bring more progress on this issue."
Binyamin, a social worker and therapist who is currently studying at a Conservative yeshiva in Jerusalem, said the registration process at the Interior Ministry had been fairly straightforward.
"Once we had all the right documentation, the process was pretty positive," said Binyamin, who made aliya from Britain in 2006. The clerks at the office "were a little confused by our application but they made the necessary changes to the forms and they came through beautifully for us."
"It was wonderful to get married at the city hall in Toronto, but it was far more important for the State of Israel to recognize us as a couple," said Avi, adding that his father, a rabbi in the US, facilitated a religious Jewish ceremony for the couple prior to the civil one.
He said Monday's registration sent a strong message to other gay couples that Israel recognizes and accepts them as Jews like anyone else.

Chazak Ameinu - We stand as one

2007-01-29T14:56:00.001+02:00

Despite today's attack in Eilat, the people of Israel stand together and stand strong.

עם ישראל חי
Israel lives!

Israel appoints Arab minister

2007-01-29T13:40:00.000+02:00

This is the best argument against the libelous claim that Israel is an apartheid state.

From the Jerusalem Post (note, too, that that the rare opposition is due to political issues about the number of ministers)

The cabinet approved on Sunday the appointment of Israel's first Arab cabinet minister when it voted by a large majority to name Labor MK Ghaleb Majadle as MK Ophir Paz-Pines's replacement.
The decision to bring the appointment to a vote came after weeks of negotiation by MK Eitan Cabel (Labor), the minister in charge of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, who agreed that for now, Majadle would be a minister-without-portfolio, rather than becoming minister of arts, culture and sports as planned.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that within two weeks, Majadle would be assigned a portfolio.

MK Nadia Hilu (Labor) expressed on Sunday her satisfaction with the appointment of fellow Labor MK Majadle to the cabinet.
"Today, a step forward was made in the integration and equality of the Arab population," Hilu said.

How to Fight Jew-Hatred on College Campuses

2007-01-28T22:30:00.000+02:00

This article, written 17 years ago, still resonates. It poses some interesting thoughts. What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

How to Fight Jew-Hatred on College Campuses

Learn about Israel ... in Israel this summer!

2007-01-28T13:59:00.000+02:00

Academic Israel studies is an emerging and growing field in the U.S., Europe, and around the world, with the possibility now to get degrees in Israel Studies at universities in the U.S., U.K. and Russia, with many more course offerings available elsewhere.

The Hebrew University, Israel's most acclaimed university, is offering a Summer Institute in Israel Studies open to undergraduates and others interested in the academic study of the modern State of Israel. For those who are not eligible for birthright israel (and if you are, check back for forthcoming information about StandWithUs's birthright experience program), this is an excellent opportunity to come to Israel and begin to learn about this wonderful country in an academic environment.

For potential graduate students, the Hebrew University also offers an excellent M.A. degree in Israeli Politics & Society. Both programs are in English. The graduate degree has an intensive Hebrew language immersion component.

http://overseas.huji.ac.il/academics.asp?cat=424&in=23

Israeli film Sweet Mud wins at Sundance

2007-01-28T13:35:00.000+02:00

Israeli film Sweet Mud (Adama Meshugat, in Hebrew) won the top prize for international films at the Sundance Film Festival. This movie is an excellent film about life on kibbutzim in the 1970s. Painting a realistic view of one family's drama about the difficulties of communal living in the old system of kibbutzim, it is part of a new genre of Israeli cinema that paints an accurate, not always upbeat, picture of Israeli life, showcasing Israeli society's comfort and acceptance and ability to withstand self-examination. It also reflects an ability to get beyond the Israeli-Arab conflict, which is only one small part of Israeli life.

Israeli film "Hot House (HaBithoniyim)" also won the documentary category.

From Ha'aretz:

Sundance Film Festival juries on Saturday gave the top International prize to the Israeli movie "Sweet Mud."

Dror Shaul's film, which tells the story of a boy dealing with his mentally ill mother on a kibbutz in the 1970s, won the World Cinema jury prize for best drama.

"Sweet Mud," a co-production of teams from Germany, France, and Japan, was also elected as the Israeli nominee for the best foreign film category of the Oscars, but did not make the list of five finalists for the award.

Kenneth Stein on Jimmy Carter

2007-01-28T11:26:00.000+02:00

Dr. Kenneth Stein, a distinguished professor at Emory University of the Middle East, has a thorough and clear rebuttal of Jimmy Carter and Carter's Palestine Peace Not Apartheid book in the latest Middle East Quarterly.

Professor Stein's remarks are the most responsible, thorough, and credible rebuttal that I have seen.

Carter apologizes for book

2007-01-28T09:51:00.001+02:00

Did you serve in the IDF? Make your feelings known to "Breaking the Silence"!

2007-01-26T10:49:00.000+02:00

“Breaking the Silence,” a small organization of former IDF soldiers, travels abroad to tell foreign audiences that because of IDF policy, Israeli soldiers are callous and unethical, and regularly commit human rights abuses.

IF YOU ARE AN IDF VETERAN, AND YOU DISAGREE WITH THE ORGANIZATION "BREAKING THE SILENCE, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE LETTER BELOW.

An Open Letter to Members of "Breaking the Silence":

We, the soldiers and people of the State of Israel, are deeply pained and outraged by the activities of your group, “Breaking the Silence.” You, a handful of former IDF soldiers, travel abroad to tell foreign audiences we allegedly committed abuses during our IDF service. You claim such abuses are typical. They are not. You claim to speak for us. You do not. You claim we are silenced. But we regularly speak up. No army is perfect and we, too, face difficult issues, but we work through them just as every army in a democratic society does. We will not let you misrepresent us. We have the right and the duty as the majority to testify that your accounts do not reflect what we have seen with our own eyes and what we have experienced.

You say there is need for new self-critical dialogue, but in Israel all voices, including yours, are heard. Yet you deceive foreign audiences by telling them otherwise. You give alleged examples of terrible IDF abuses, but your goal is not to uphold the IDF’s ethic of “purity of arms.” You are aware that there is a chain of command for reporting abuses, and when proven, they are severely punished. Once again you deceive foreign audiences by telling them otherwise.

Your goal apparently is to introduce a debate about Israel’s policy in the Territories. That is a legitimate topic for discussion. But instead of debating the issues, you have chosen to defame the IDF and misrepresent Israel to foreign audiences hoping that you will win support for your political agenda. This is dishonest, sensationalist manipulation. You are simply exploiting foreigners’ ignorance about us and spreading misinformation and hate.

We, the soldiers who served at border patrols, in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza raise our voices in protest. You dishonor yourselves and us, and you demean our sacrifices. We have done everything in our power to uphold the purity of arms and to be true to Jewish ethics during even the most difficult times. We raise our voices to remind you of the tens of thousands of us who have endured physical pain, faced death, been taken hostage and been severely wounded just because we upheld our principles and our core value that all human life is precious. We remind you of the difficult moral dilemmas we face daily because terrorists embed themselves among Palestinian civilians and use them as human shields since terrorists do not abide by the Geneva Convention.

We raise our voices to remind you of the countless times we did not defend ourselves, though it would have been legal to do so, for fear of harming innocent bystanders. We want to remind you of the times we have watched our comrades die or lose limbs or eyesight just because we would not violate the “purity of arms,” as in Jenin where we lost 23 of our young men in face-to-face combat because we would not use aerial bombardment for fear of harming innocent civilians. We remind you of the large and small sacrifices we make to uphold our standards and preserve life. Parched with thirst in Lebanon, we did not use the residents’ water but instead looked for free water sources, dropping in chlorine tablets to make that water drinkable. We remind you of the tension-laden moments at checkpoints. An elderly Palestinian woman is carrying sacks. She looks like our grandmothers. But is she transporting ammunition that will kill our grandmothers? A Palestinian taxi driver doesn’t seem suspicious. Our commanding officer goes to speak to him. The driver takes out a gun and shoots the young officer point blank through the temple. The cab’s trunk is full of ammunition. You are fully aware that everyday at checkpoints, we must make critical decisions that will determine whether we have adequately protected ourselves, our fellow soldiers and our loved ones even while we try to adhere to the humanistic standards included in our credo of purity of arms and try to be respectful and kind to the Palestinians who, like us, dream of peace.
We raise our voices to remind you of the times we have helped Palestinian civilians, of the times we have let ambulances pass and Palestinians enter Israel for medical treatment even though we know there is a risk these people intend to murder Israelis. Yet you are fully aware that we continue to take those risks regularly because of our humanitarian principles.

We have served with our lives to protect our country, the State of Israel, to protect the rights of our people to be safe—the Druze, the Israeli Arabs, the Bedouin, Christians, Muslims and Jews--and to protect the humanistic ethics we learned from our parents and forebears. Yet your movement tries to disgrace us before the world.
So this is our reply to you—our signatures to show that you, a handful of misguided individuals, are not telling the real story, that you magnify the few exceptions to our standard behavior and miss the total picture which is far greater than your collective experiences and imaginations. We are replying to your misguided words with far more than the 140 politically-motivated academics who signed your letter. We, the people of this land, come to you out of the great tapestry that is Israel—young soldiers, reservists in their thirties and forties, who are people of color, Christians, Arabs and Druze—who believe that Israel has a right to live in peace and security. We come from across the political spectrum but all of us care deeply and have lost and wept and yearned for a peace that we have tried to usher in with dignity, respect and honesty.

For us and for our children, we ask you to cease your destructive and misleading activities.

Alan Dershowitz's Question to Jimmy Carter

2007-01-25T17:00:00.001+02:00

The beginning of Alan Dershowitz's "response" to Jimmy Carter's speech at Brandeis. Dershowitz was not allowed to debate Carter by President Carter or the Brandeis administration.

The US imports Israeli show

2007-01-25T10:51:00.000+02:00

It's often thought that the United States is the entertainment capital of the world, but Home Box Office (HBO) is borrowing from Israel on the new TV series - "The Treatment."

From ynetnews.com

HBO enters 'Treatment'

Network orders 40 episodes of drama based on critically-acclaimed Israeli series
Reuters
Published: 01.22.07, 19:20

HBO has ordered 40 episodes of "In Treatment," a half-hour drama starring Gabriel Byrne.

Based on the popular and critically acclaimed Israeli series of the same name ("BeTipul" in Hebrew), "Treatment" centers on a therapist (Byrne) who is calm, smooth, insightful and non-confrontational with his patients but turns into a testy, self-doubting individual full of barely concealed anger when he is a patient seeing his own shrink.

In the pilot stage, HBO ordered five episodes of "Treatment." The series pickup brings the total to 45 half-hours, the same as the original Israeli series.

Carter Speaks Out

2007-01-24T19:46:00.000+02:00

At Brandeis, Carter Responds to Critics - Pam Belluck Former President Jimmy Carter told an audience at Brandeis University on Tuesday that he stood by his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid and that he had been disturbed by accusations that he was anti-Semitic. He said a sentence in which he seemed to suggest that Palestinians would not have to end their suicide bombings and acts of terrorism until Israel withdraws from the territories "was worded in a completely improper and stupid way," adding: "I have written my publisher to change that sentence immediately. I apologize to you personally, to everyone here." He said: "I have never claimed or believed that American Jews control the news media. That is ridiculous to claim." He said "a lot of support for Israel comes from Christians like me who have been taught since they were three years old to honor and protect God's chosen people." After Carter left, Alan M. Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor who has sharply criticized the book, spoke. "There are two different Jimmy Carters," Dershowitz said. "You heard the Brandeis Jimmy Carter today, and he was terrific. I support almost everything he said. But if you listen to the Al Jazeera Jimmy Carter, you'll hear a very different perspective." ( New York Times)

Israeli Arabs are Unpatriotic?

2007-01-24T13:55:00.000+02:00

The following is from Dr. Mitchell Bard

MYTH #249

"Israeli Arabs are unpatriotic."

FACT

While Jimmy Carter and other critics of Israel attempt to paint the country as intolerant and discriminatory toward Arabs based on their ill-informed and distorted views of both the past and present, Israeli Arabs themselves have a very high opinion of their country. According to a new poll released in January 2007 (Uzi Arad and Gal Alon, “Patriotism and Israel's National Security - Herzliya Patriotism Survey 2006,” Herzliya: Institute for Policy and Strategy, 2006), 82 percent of Israeli Arabs said it is “better to be a citizen of my country than others.” By comparison, 90 percent of Americans agreed with the statement and 88 percent of Israeli Jews.

In addition, 77 percent of Israeli Arabs agreed “my country is better than others,” which was only slightly less than the 83 percent of Australians and 79 percent of Canadians and Americans who felt the same way. Interestingly, the figure for Israeli Arabs was 11 points higher than that for Jews.

While almost everyone in the survey from Ireland and the United States said they were proud to be a citizen of their country, 83 percent of Israeli Jews said they were proud and 44 percent of Israeli Arabs. Another 27 percent of Israeli Arabs said they were willing to fight for their country, an increase from 22 percent in 2000. While still well below the overwhelming 94 percent of Israeli Jews who are prepared to fight ( Finland was second with 83 percent and the U.S. third with 63 percent), it is significant that more than one-quarter of Israeli Arabs, who are exempt from military service, are still prepared to defend their nation.

Analyzing the survey data it is clear why Israeli Arabs are adamant about remaining citizens of Israel and express no desire to be part of a Palestinian state. The results also illustrate why Palestinian Arabs in the territories express a high regard for Israel in polls. They see how their fellow Arabs are treated and the type of society Israel has built and wish to emulate it.

It is too bad the Jimmy Carters of the world do not see Israel the way its citizens – Jewish and non-Jewish – view their nation. If they did, they’d recognize that Israeli society can serve as a model, albeit an imperfect one, for the values they espouse.

This article can be found at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths2/exclusives.html#a67

Israel poised for first female (acting) president

2007-01-24T11:49:00.000+02:00

Dalia Itzik poised to become first woman in Israeli presidency

By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent

Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik is now poised to become the first female president, albeit only acting, in Israel's history. Itzik, 54, became Knesset speaker only eight months ago. Now, should Moshe Katsav suspend himself, she will replace him until he either resigns or returns; should he resign, she will replace him until a new president is elected. As acting president, Itzik will have all of the president's powers, including the right to grant pardons, accept new ambassadors' credentials, receive weekly reports on cabinet meetings and be briefed by senior defense officials. Read the rest

News Roundup

2007-01-23T15:12:00.000+02:00

It's important to stay up to date on the news in order to be proactive and based on the facts-on-the-ground:

EU/Europe & Iran:

EU Sets Tough Line on Iran UN Sanctions - Mark John
EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to apply UN sanctions on Iran "in full and without delay" and if necessary go further than a UN list in targeting those linked to Tehran's nuclear work. They say Iran will face harsher sanctions if it ignores a resolution passed on December 23 that gave Iran 60 days to suspend nuclear fuel-enrichment activity. European diplomats say the U.S. is thinking about further steps, one of which may be an oil embargo against Iran. (Reuters)

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new poll of 800 American registered voters, (Word document, Powerpoint) commissioned by The Israel Project (TIP) shows that Americans overwhelmingly support taking action against the Islamic Republic of Iran if it continues to bar International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors from its nuclear facilities.
The poll also points out that Americans remain firmly supportive of Israel! Check out the Powerpoint.

Israel's Continuing Quest for Peace with Its Neighbours:

Analyst: Arabs Want to Talk with Israel - Yaakov Lappin
Israel is in "an enviable position" due to the unprecedented number of Arab states and organizations who wish to speak with it, Dr. Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Herzliya Conference on Monday. "For the first time in which I can recall, all Arabs want to talk to you. Arabs who like you, and those who don't like you, want talk to you," he said. Satloff also said he has surveyed Arab opinion from North Africa to the Persian Gulf, and found that "they are begging us [the U.S.] to stop Iran. To prevent an Iranian nuclear acquisition, and stemming Iranian influence. We remain the most powerful player in region." (Ynet News)
Boycotts (odd, a boycott of Israeli goods led to increased Israeli imports! Buy blue & white)

Norway: Israeli Imports Up After Socialist Boycott (Norway Post)
One year after the Socialist Left Party (SV) launched its boycott of goods from Israel, the import of Israeli goods has increased by 15%, the strongest increase in many years, Statistics Norway reports.

World Jewish Congress: Iran Update

2007-01-23T10:08:00.000+02:00

The World Jewish Congress publishes a periodic update on Iran. It is a useful resource. I can't seem to upload the latest edition, which is not yet on the website, but it will shortly be appearing on the website, where you can sign up to regularly receive the updates.

Arabs, Jews proud to be Israelis

2007-01-22T11:46:00.000+02:00

Arabs, Jews proud to be Israelis
By Frida Ghitis January 22, 2007

Here's something about Israel that will surprise you. After last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah militias in Lebanon, researchers asked Israeli citizens - Arabs and Jews - if they would rather be citizens of another country. As one might expect after a war, patriotism was the order of the day. A huge proportion, almost 88.5 percent of Israeli Jews, said yes, Israel is the one country whose citizenship they preferred. But listen to this: Among Arab citizens of Israel, an astounding 73 percent agreed with the statement that they would rather be citizens of Israel than of any other country in the world.

That number is even more astounding because many Arabs in Israel admit they feel pressure to deny they like being Israelis. That, in fact, was the finding of a different survey. The first results came as part of a highly respected project called the Peace Index at Tel Aviv University. The second survey came from the Joint Israeli-Palestinian Public Opinion Poll. There, a majority - 52 percent - of Israeli Arabs agreed that, "many of the Arab citizens of Israel identify with Israel in private but refrain from expressing it in public due to social pressures."

Read the rest

Advocacy Tip: Listen to Your Mother!

2007-01-22T10:45:00.000+02:00

In today's Washington Post, Heloise, the household maven, started off her Hints from Heloise column with tips on how to complain if someone purchased something that they were dissatisfied with. I'm not going to repeat the whole column here but there were two tips that can be useful when one feels the desire or need to complain about anti-Israel bias.

Heloise says "You should respond in a cool, businesslike way -- don't be emotional in a written (or verbal) complaint." An emotional reaction is often counterproductive and false. Accusing journalists of anti-Semitism or accusing all Palestinians of being terrorists is more likely to turn off potential supporters. Not only that, it's simply false.

Heloise concludes "If a business or employee does a good job, hey, give a compliment!" If a journalist writes a great story about Israel, compliment them too! If a company acts in a respectful and responsible way, thank them. If they invest in Israel, congratulate them and promise to support their business. If a company pulls an offensive product from their shelves, thank them!

… as my mother always taught me "You can win more flies with honey than with vinegar." Often, politeness and good manners goes a long way – especially when advocating for Israel!

Honest Reporting has some tips on how to write a letter to the editor.

The Australian Zionist Council also has some tips on how to complain.

Gaby's Blog #3

2007-01-21T08:38:00.000+02:00

Gabrielle Nejad was the winner of the first 'Ambassador' program in the UK. She is now taking a gap year in Israel and shares a regular blog of her experiences:

When someone says the word ‘Israel’ to you, what is the first word or image that comes to your mind? Is it the beauty of the country, the diverse landscape, the rich variety and amalgam of people and cultures? Or is it the fear and violence, the death and terror, a country tainted by a black cloud? After having passed a survey and speaking to a Knesset member after a recent visit there, the sad truth is that the latter far out-rules the former.

Israel is sometimes portrayed as a military state with soldiers on every corner, checkpoints and security posts interrupting and being integrated within the daily normality of people’s lives. Yet when I went to my friend’s tekes last Thursday, the only emotion evident and concentrated within the boundaries of the Kotel was love. Families and friends had come to see their loved ones swear their oath to each other, their people their country. It almost seemed like a paradox that these were the people going to fight that these are the people portrayed by the media as contributing to ‘Israel: the Military State’. Yet what the media shows and what we see what we know as our Israel are two completely contradictory images and it is our responsibility to stop the images of death, of war, of hate being the first to be conjured up when one thinks of the country Israel and start being of the vibrant beauty and richness that we know Israel to be.

Take Israel’s total diversity in culture. To me, and please excuse the cliché, it’s like a breath of fresh air, a step outside our conscious cosmetic and superficial society, where people just be, just do, just live. The mix of nationalities, backgrounds and experiences come together under the umbrella that is Israel. Of course there are internal differences, how could there not be with such variety (as well as the uninhibited people that make up such a society!), but that doesn’t detract from what it is. When I think of Israel and of its culture, a blur of colour and buzz is evoked that excites me, draws me in and makes me want to be apart of it.

It’s not just the diversity in culture that makes Israel the unique country it is, but also the land itself. Where else could one go and have a snowball fight in Mount Meron in the North, to the ‘metropolis’ that is Tel Aviv, to dry heat in the deserts down south all in 24 hours? Nowhere else is the answer. Purely from a historical point of view one can’t help but be encompassed and surrounded by thousands of years of history, or be awe-struck by the sheer beauty of the Golan or the spirituality of Jerusalem, the city where the three biggest religions’ roots reside.

In Israel, one can’t help but feel part of something inimitable. I’ve sat here trying to describe it for the last twenty minutes until I realised it’s something one cannot put into words, only something that can be felt when one is totally absorbed and enclosed in it’s entirety, when one is in Israel.

Of course Israel has its problems just like any other democracy and country in the world. The fact that it is caught up in the complexity known as the ‘Middle-Eastern Crisis’ shouldn’t stop people from realising it is a country in its own right and not just a country caught up in a war full of delicate intricacies. It is a country with a strong and tough nation. A country where it’s children are actually children, free, running around bare-foot and above all happy, instead of children dressed up in smaller versions of adult clothing, spending their time striving to be older, only to miss out on the best part of their lives, their childhood - a childhood that is like no other and one that I have only witnessed in Israel.

This is the Israel we are familiar with when we go for holidays, when we spend the festivals here, the Israel we know. And now it our duty and our responsibility, it is time for the rest of the world to see the Israel as we know it to be, to finally experience and realise the truth.

FrontPage Mag: Biased is the Peacemaker

2007-01-19T14:01:00.000+02:00

(Please note that portions of this review were added by the editors without the authors permission and not written by the author. For any citations and reproductions, please utilize the original, unedited, review available here)

Biased is the Peacemaker
By Avi Hein
FrontPageMagazine.com | January 19, 2007

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
By Jimmy Carter
Simon & Schuster, $25.00, 288 pp.

If there is one word with which Jimmy Carter would like to be identified, it is “peacemaker.” After all, he helped broker the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel -- the main and, some cynics might add, the only accomplishment of his presidency. In addition, he has long engaged in second-track diplomacy efforts in places such as Haiti and North Korea. The Carter Center, the research and activist institution founded by the president in 1982 to “wage peace,” has monitored elections around the world and provided forums to discuss peacemaking strategies. Peace is his profession.

But the Jimmy Carter that emerges from his latest work, the polemical Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is not so much a peacemaker as an anti-Israel propagandist. Replete with references that recall the painful history of Christian anti-Semitism, this book is clearly intended to convince America's Christian community not to support Israel. In recalling his first visit to Israel, for instance, Carter claims that Samaritan allegations of disrespect by Israeli authorities were “the same complaints heard by Jesus and his disciples almost two thousand years earlier.”

Ironically, while Carter devotes much space to spurious claims of Israeli discrimination against the Christian Palestinian population, he nowhere sees fit to mention the serious -- and well-documented -- charges of abuses of Christians by the Palestinian Authority and Islamic radicals such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Elsewhere in the book, Carter takes a slightly different tack to arrive at the same anti-Israel conclusion. Acknowledging that his views are shaped by his fundamentalist Christianity, Carter blames Israel for its secular character. He recalls a conversation in 1967 with Golda Meir in which he "said that I had long taught lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures and that a common historical pattern was that Israel was punished whenever the leaders turned away from devout worship of God. I asked if she was concerned about the secular nature of her Labor government." Carter’s hypocrisy on this score is stunning. Recall that this is the same Jimmy Carter who in his previous book, Our Endangered Values, bemoaned that the United States had spiraled into “theocracy” and railed against American religious “fundamentalists,” tearing down the separation of church and state. As always with Carter, Israel is held to a different standard.

Apart from its perverse moral judgments, Carter's tome is factually shoddy. For instance, Carter accuses Israel of occupying portions of Lebanon -- seven years after Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Equally false is Carter’s claim that Israel retains "its presence only in Shebaa Farms." Even Kofi Annan, hardly a friend of Israel, noted in 2004 that Israel was not occupying Lebanon. A 2005 report by the UN Security Council similarly noted that the “blue line,” which does not include the Shebaa Farm area, serves as Lebanon's border and recognizes that Israel is in compliance with all United Nations resolutions calling for a withdrawal to Lebanon's international border. Carter's defense of Hezbollah's claims of Lebanese sovereignty over the Shebaa Farms area is thus in direct defiance of international law and numerous statements from the United Nations.

Carter’s grasp of geographical reality does not improve throughout the book. Time and again he refers to the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and, at times, even parts of the pre-1967 borders of Israel as "Arab territories." Yet, there has been a Jewish presence in Jerusalem and the West Bank since Biblical times – for thousands of years. Carter's labeling of the territories as "occupied Arab territories" is unbalanced and misleading. While there is also an Arab claim to the territories, it is no stronger than the Jewish claim. At the same time, Carter seems to accept at face value the Islamic concept of "dar al-Islam" in which any land that was under Muslim rule is always Muslim property.

It only gets worse. In a recollection of Carter's first meeting with Yasser Arafat in France in 1990, Carter claims that he "pushed him [Arafat] to fulfill his Oslo promise to modify the PLO charter to accept Israel's existence.” Yet the Oslo Accords were not signed until September 1993. How could Carter push Arafat to modify commitments that he would not make until three years later? Carter also seems to have the ability to communicate with the dead. In recalling his monitoring of the 1996 Palestinian elections, Carter claims that he "called General Dayan" to report on alleged intimidation of voters in East Jerusalem. Just one problem: Moshe Dayan died in 1981.

If Carter is able to make such blatant errors in his book, one can’t help but wonder how many other false statements he has made. Indeed, Carter himself acknowledges that some of his claims are false, including his inflammatory -- and inaccurate -- use of the term “apartheid.” Since the book’s release, Carter has publicly acknowledged in numerous forums that the term "apartheid" is not an accurate term to describe Israel and its thriving democracy. In a recent letter responding to his critics, Carter noted that "in Israel ... a democracy exists with all the freedoms we enjoy in our country [the United States] and Israeli Jews and Arabs are legally guaranteed the same rights as citizens." If only Carter had shown such concern for the factual record when writing the book, he may have been spared the embarrassment of defending its innumerable falsehoods.

When he isn’t misrepresenting the facts, Carter defends human rights abuses and abusers. Roundly critical of Israel, Carter has little to say about Syria's long history as a dictatorship that represses its own people. Despite Hafez al-Assad's refusal to visit the United States due to an invitation from Carter in a "polite but firm rebuff," Carter describes him as "very intelligent, eloquent, and frank." He often has very positive things to say about dictators, but Israel's democratically elected leadership does not earn his approval. Carter spends several pages defending Saudi Arabia and idealizing it as the real-life incarnation of Arabian Nights. When he mentions that, on one visit, he went off with the men while his wife "was whisked off to visit Saudi women, who were in a different camp entirely, over the sand dunes and out of sight," his charmed account of the Saudi regime's gender segregation leaves the reader wondering whether Carter really is committed to human rights in the Middle East.

The official policy of the State of Israel has always been a two-state solution. As Carter notes, survey after survey shows that Israelis yearn for peace. From the dovish Meretz to the hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu and National Union parties, Israelis have supported territorial compromise in exchange for secure and defensible borders. They look forward to the day when courageous Arab leaders will come forward as partners for peace. As a former president once noted, "the majority of Israelis sincerely want a peaceful existence with their neighbors." As it happens, that president was Jimmy Carter. But one wouldn’t know it from this one-sided, ill-informed and downright malicious book.

Avi Hein is a Legacy Heritage Fellow at StandWithUs International.

Zoe's IDF Diary..

2007-01-18T17:38:00.000+02:00

One of our Ambassador finalists from the UK shares her experiences as a new Olah in the IDF with us on the StandWithUS blog:

I last wrote a while ago, a month or 2, and since then so much has happened. After 4 months of preparations, passing my driving test, last minute army shopping and last minute freedom, I finally became an official soldier of the IDF! I went to the central base in Tel Aviv on December 12th and was sent off to my base for basic training, we spent hours waiting for the bus to leave and it wasnt until the bus set off did we actually find out where we were being sent. We were told we were going to a base specifically for basic training(boot camp) for 3 and a half weeks. Thankfully I went through those 3 and a half weeks with two other girls from my programme, Shelley and Orit, both from America which made the tough times a lot easier.

The training was set to teach us how the army works and to prepare us for our jobs during our service. Although it lacked a lot of sleep in cold tents, bad food, and definatly not the cleanest bathrooms in the world, the lessons were fun, we did a lot of guard duty of the base and tried to enjoy ourselves as much as possible even though sometimes understanding the hebrew was quite tough!Most of all it was a really good to be able to interact 24/7 with Israeli girls my age all going through the exact same process. The majority of them weren't as pleased as I was to be there and often thought I was crazy to leave my "great life in london" and found it really difficult to imagine what actually possed us to leave our homes, however, I think after talking to us and hearing why we loved it here so much they began to understand. One of my main reasons for choosing to join the army, was to meet israelis my age, I felt it was a really important part of integrating, as the army is such a big part of life in Israel.

Our basic training came to a conclusion at our swearing in ceremony, I cant even begin to explain the emotions that I felt during that half an hour. Standing in uniform, infront of the Israeli flag, I was called up to swear infront of my officer, he gave me a tanach which I held against the gun and swore to the IDF and the state of israel...and being the emotional girl that I am, I proceeded to cry, this was the moment that I had waited for, me and the 72 Israeli girls around me were all saying the exact same line and about to start the same two year journey, it was the first time i truly felt Israeli, because I too swore and promised to my country!

So now I have started my job as a madricha for Sarel, I'm still waiting to be sent to the course to be trained for the job specifically but in the mean time I am in the base, although Im not doing too much right now I am still enjoying myself, learning more hebrew everyday and looking forward to each day, despite the bureaucracy it may bring (the downside to being an israeli, especially in the army!!) I just hope things continue to be this positive for the rest of my service.

Carter to al-Jazeera: "Problem with terror is it hurts the Palestinian cause"

2007-01-17T16:13:00.000+02:00

MEMRI TV has translated clips of Jimmy Carter on al-Jazeera. In the clip, Carter says that suicide bombers "create a rejection of the Palestinians among those who care about them. It turns the world away from sympathy and support for the Palestinian people. That’s why I said that acts of terrorism like I just described are suicidal for the popularity and support for the Palestinian cause." Yet, he fails to condemn terror as immoral and murder. Why is this?

Busting Myths

2007-01-16T12:21:00.000+02:00

Busting Arab-Israel peace-making myths

David Makovsky, THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 15, 2007

As Condoleezza Rice visits the region, she should dispel some of the mythology that exists in the Arab world on Middle East peacemaking.

1. If Israel does not go to final status talks, this shows it does not want peace. This is the reductionist, land-driven narrative that sees gradualism as an Israeli plot. It received a boost in the US last year due to contributions by American academics who are not Middle East experts (Walt/Mearsheimer) and by former president Jimmy Carter. This narrative conveniently ignores the fact that some of the biggest obstacles to resolving this conflict in 2000 were not land, but issues of refugees and security. Through land swaps, land seems the most easily resolved of these issues.

The other issues helped doom the talks in 2000 and seem even less resolvable now. Apart from the impasse on refugees, security is a problem as well. From the Israeli side, how could the IDF withdraw from virtually the entire West Bank when 1,000 Kassam rockets have fallen on Israel from Gaza since its 2005 pullout? The distinction that Israel views final status talks as desirable but not feasible is seldom heard in the Arab world, even if the difference is heaven and earth.

2. Everyone knows what the solution is, but the parties just do not know how to get there. This makes it sound as if all that is missing is a book on diplomatic etiquette. In fact, rejectionism and terrorism are not marginal phenomena, as Hamas currently heads the Palestinian Authority government.

3. The Arabs states are for peace. They put forward the Arab Initiative in 2002. It is axiomatic that Arab leaders will urge Rice to press Israel, but it is far from clear that they will do their share. Even though the Arab Initiative is an improvement on the past, there is no doubt that this is a very asymmetrical peace plan.

The initiative requires Israel first to do all the front-loaded work by getting out of the West Bank and Golan Heights, with Arab reciprocation delayed, hence less binding. This process would be far more effective if Arab states were to take parallel steps to reinforce progress on all sides. This would bolster the center among Israel and the Palestinians, providing the latter with key political cover. If the Quartet's road map is to be revived, it should be matched by an Arab road map.

4. The whole problem of the Arab-Israel conflict is that Israel enjoys too much support in Washington. The Walt/Mearsheimer/Carter thesis is a familiar echo of what famed American historian Richard Hofstadter described in his essay, "The Paranoid Strain in American Politics," about the American right's scapegoating of liberals as communists during the McCarthy period.

Perhaps it is not surprising that scapegoating occurs during periods of turmoil like the Iraq War, but it is also unfair. American Jews did not stop Bill Clinton from proposing the partitioning of Jerusalem in 2000, for example.

5. Everything in the Middle East is linked to the Arab-Israel conflict. Since September 11, 2001, the American public has been treated to an endless seminar on the Arab world. Its conclusion has been that Islamism has very deep cultural and political roots, linked to dysfunctionalism in Arab regimes but not driven by the Arab-Israel conflict.

The 2000-2004 intifada did not cause a single Arab regime to fall; al-Qaida prepared its plots at the height of US peacemaking in the Middle East in the 1990s. The Sunni insurgency in Iraq's Anbar province is not driven by the dynamics of Israelis and Palestinians.

The US should be involved in the search for a two-state solution not because of Iraq, but because it wants to find problem-solving solutions that give dignity to both Israelis and Palestinians alike.

An elevated debate that avoids unchallenged slogans as well as a carefully orchestrated policy that avoids the pitfalls ahead could even prove Santayana's Middle East corollary to be wrong.

The writer, a former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, is director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where his latest monograph is "Lessons and Implications of the Lebanon War: A Preliminary Assessment (2006)." The above is excerpted from a piece he wrote for bitterlemons-international.org

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: US in the Middle East

2007-01-16T11:42:00.000+02:00

I received the following from the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research institute, about an op/ed Dr. Michael Oren published yesterday in the Los Angeles Times.

Touching on many of the themes of his new book, Dr. Oren argues that the renewed “realist” camp in American foreign policy misunderstands American history in the Middle East. There can be no “return” to U.S. policies based solely on narrow strategic and economic interests, he writes, since Americans have been deeply involved in the region since the founding of the U.S.—and for reasons that have little or nothing to do with American interests. “In fact,” he writes, “long before the rise of radical Islam and even the discovery of oil, Americans worked to bring liberty and human rights to the Middle East.” Fulfilling a commitment and feeling a connection that goes back to the founding fathers, Americans built schools throughout the region, including the first institutions of higher education; worked for the independence of Middle Eastern peoples and the protection of minority populations; and led the effect to decolonialize the region after World War II. In considering future policies, Oren writes, American leaders need to pursue realistic goals but remain mindful “of their country's long and benevolent record in safeguarding fundamental freedoms in the Middle East and promoting democracy.”

Power, Faith, and Fantasy is now on sale.

Radical Islamism in the UK

2007-01-16T10:56:00.000+02:00

As always, radical Islamism is an ideology, it is not a religion. As Daniel Pipes noted, "radical Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution." (He also has a great article on distinguishing radical Islamism from moderate Islam.) The problem is not Islam but rather a fundamentalist extremist ideology like fascism and communism called Islamism (see Walter Laquer's book on fascism for the similarities in ideology between Islamism and extremist ideologies). The majority of Muslims are not followers of Islamism, but the minority, showcased in this UK special, that are followers are extremely dangerous to the world and the fundamentalist ideology is spreading.

Where in Israel is birthright?

2007-01-16T10:25:00.002+02:00

This summer, you too can dance in Israel (but with much cooler moves) on the StandWithUs birthright experience!

Check out the StandWithUs International website shortly for all the details.

Registration opens in February. Check back soon for all the details!

Daily Carter round up

2007-01-15T14:30:00.000+02:00

Carter Aside, Israel Deserves Total Support - Jim Wooten (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The Carter Board of Councilors Resignation Letter (FOX News)

Jimmy Carter's Own Words - Editorial (Washington Times)

City of Gold

2007-01-15T10:28:00.000+02:00

This Hebrew film showcases much of the beauty and splendor of Jerusalem, Israel's capital. Even if you don't understand Hebrew, it is well worth watching to see the beauty and splendor of the city.

City of Gold by Bob Dylan
----------------------------------------------

There is a city of gold
Far from the rat race
Eat's at you're soul
Far from the confusion
And these bars that hold
There is a city of gold

There is a country of light
Raised up in glory
Angels wear white
Never know darkness
Never know night
There is a country of light

There is a city of love
Far from this world
And the stuff dreams are made of
Beyond the sunset
Stars high above
There is a city of love

There is a city of hope
Don't need no doctor
Don't need no dope
I'm ready and willing
Throw down the rope
There is a city of hope

There is a city of gold
Far from this madness
And the bars that hold
Peace from your spirit
Rest from your soul
     There is a city of gold

Israel Warmth

2007-01-15T10:23:00.000+02:00

Yael of Oleh Girl has a wonderful and heartwarming post about the warmth and honesty of Israeli culture, compared to (at least) other Anglo (English-speaking) cultures. Israel is truly a great country.

People are ruder here but even strangers, complete and utter strangers, are also warmer and more willing to help than is often the case with “friends” in other places. Israel is indeed warm –even when the temperature of the air says otherwise.

News Roundup: Sunday, 14 January

2007-01-14T16:07:00.000+02:00

From The Media Line:

Red Crystal" Debuts On Sunday

The newest symbol of the International Red Cross – the "red crystal" – goes into effect on Sunday. The new emblem, which looks like a square sitting on its side – was created in order to allow Israel to become a member and to allow Israeli relief workers to operate safely under the protection of a recognized symbol. Israel's use of the red star of David had been at the core of controversy for decades while Israel was being denied admission to the International Red Cross.

Foreign Investment In Israel Hits Record High in 2006

Foreign investment in Israel more than doubled between the years 2005 and 2006, according to a report by the Bank of Israel. Spurred on by Warren Buffet's acquisition of Iscar Corporation, foreign investment soared to $21.1 billion from its 2005 level of $9.9 billion. The bank also reported that Israelis invested five times more overseas in 2006 than they did in 2005, setting a record investment of $21 billion.

From Israel Campus Beat

Brandeis: Carter Agrees to Speak
by David Abel

Jimmy Carter, after weeks of controversy, has agreed to speak and field questions on his new book about Israel at a forum at Brandeis University, administrators and a spokesman for Carter said last week. Carter is slated to speak for 15 minutes and answer questions for 45 minutes, campus officials said. The forum is scheduled for Jan. 23, but the date may change, they said. In a phone interview, Prof. Alan Dershowitz, a Carter critic, vowed to attend. "I will be the first person to have my hand up to ask him a question," he said. "I guarantee that they won't stop me from attending." (Boston Globe)

Who's Your First?
by Youssef Ibrahim

A maxim in Middle East affairs to Europeans and many American advocates of convoluted solutions is that settling the 100-year-old dispute between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs is a sine qua non to resolving other Middle East catastrophes. The "advocates" advance the view that once America "pressures" Israel to settle with Palestinian Arabs, enough goodwill will be generated to resolve other matters. Manifestly, this is nonsense. Arab dictators corner the market on power because they want it, not out of compassion for Palestinian Arabs. One has to be a die-hard conspiracy theorist to argue that any of these issues is related to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict. (New York Sun)

Brigham-Young: Mormon University Reopens its Israeli Gates after 6 Years
by Shelly Paz

Six years after Brigham Young University closed its Jerusalem campus because of concerns over terrorism, 44 Mormon students from Salt Lake City, Utah, arrived last week to study for a semester in the capital. The students had been expected in June, but the second Lebanon war compelled the school to postpone its reopening. "Usually the university facilities are capable of absorbing 173 students. However we had to start the current school year with a smaller number of students since the place was closed for six years," said executive director Eran Hayet. (Jerusalem Post)
See also BYU Students Required to Sign Pledge Promising Not to Proselytize in Israel (Deseret News)

Israeli-Palestinian Team Cleaning Up Regional River

2007-01-13T22:22:00.000+02:00

The following is from Israel21c, providing the focus beyond the conflict.

DEMOCRACY

Israeli-Palestinian team cleaning up regional rivers
By Nicky Blackburn January 07, 2007

When Michael Cohen visited the Alexander River estuary in the center of Israel a few weeks ago with other researchers, he was shocked at what he found.

"The river was so unclean, there were dead fish, plastic bottles and other garbage floating downstream and it was a disgusting brown colour," says the director of special projects at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies on Kibbutz Ketura near Eilat.

"The tide was out, so the filthy river just stopped five feet from the Mediterranean. The sea looked so pristine and clear, but at high tide, all the filth from the river washes straight into the sea polluting it for miles around," he told ISRAEL21c.

The miserable state of the Alexander, which runs through both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is one of the reasons why a team of Israeli and Palestinian researchers have joined forces to create a blueprint for action to restore the quality of not only the Alexander, but the 15 rivers that flow through both Israeli and Palestinian areas.

Rivers, as everyone knows, are not confined by borders. Cleaning a river in one location, will not stop it becoming polluted elsewhere, if people continue to dump sewage or industrial waste along the route.

Most of the rivers that flow through PA and Israeli land are heavily polluted with raw sewage, effluent, and industrial waste. This is the first time, however, there has ever been any kind of joint monitoring of water quality or combined action plan to clean the rivers up.

The team of 14 researchers from the Arava Institute on the Israeli side, and the Water and Environment Development Organization (WEDO) in Bethlehem on the Palestinian side, is being funded with a $1 million grant from the Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The three-year Trans Boundary Stream Restoration Project began in October 2004, and after two years of monitoring, team members are now in the final stages of putting together an effective river restoration strategy for Israel and the PA which is tailored to the unique ecological and geographical conditions of local streams. Final recommendations will be available in July this year (2007).

The group, who meet regularly in the field and elsewhere to assess their work, focused on two steams that flow through large population centers in both Israel and the PA - the 25 mile Alexander, which flows from the heavily populated West Bank city of Nablus to its estuary not far from Netanya in Israel; and the River Hebron, which passes Hebron in the West Bank, flows through Beersheva as the River Besor, and then runs on to Gaza and the sea.

The researchers set up 15 monitoring stations along the length of both rivers - six on the Alexander (three on each side), and nine on the Hebron River (four on the PA side) and began monitoring the quality and flow of the water, and the ecological health of the streams.

"This is the first time any monitoring of water quality has been carried out on these two rivers," says Lior Asaf, scientific coordinator of the project on the Israeli side.

So far 300 measurements from these rivers have been analyzed, and a further 100 samples taken during recent storms have now been sent away to be checked. Though the data so far is still raw, the results are clear, says Asaf, a hydrologist from the Arava Institute.

"Both steams are heavily polluted," he says.

There are numerous point pollution sources that originate in both Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to the project's recently published annual report. In the Alexander, untreated sewage is dumped into the stream at Nablus, and the annual report states that there are 70 sources of pollution along the steam's route, including sewage and effluents from refugee camps, towns, the Palestinian city of Tulkarm, stone cutting industries, landfills, and leather factories. In addition, from October to December, waste from surrounding olive press factories is added to the general pollution.

In Israel, pollution sources include treated and untreated sewage, fishpond effluents and industrial effluents. Winter storms and floods bring even more pollution.

Since 1995 some $12 million has been spent on restoration efforts to the Alexander, and Israel has even set up a wastewater treatment facility on the river. In 2003, the river won the international Riverprize award in Australia for this work. Despite this, however, the report states: "Despite considerable restoration efforts, to date, the stream is still severely polluted, unsuitable for human use with unhealthy ecosystems."

Without any kind of wastewater treatment facility, the Hebron stream is inevitably in worse condition than the Alexander, according to Asaf. The major source of pollution is raw sewage discharged from Hebron. Domestic sewage is also pumped into the stream from the Israeli settlement of Qiryat Arba. In addition, according to the report, wastewater from almost 100 industrial facilities flow into the steam, treated effluents are discharged from Dimona, wastewater from Ofakim, and on occasions treated wastewater leaks out of municipal waste facilities in Beersheva.

"Raw sewage flows for over 60 miles from Hebron, through Beersheva to Gaza," says Asaf.
During winter storms pollution also comes from Ramat Hovav, a toxic waste disposal site that contains some of Israel's heaviest chemical industries.

In the past, both the Alexander and the Hebron steams traditionally dried up during the summer months. Now they have become a permanent, year-round conduit for sewage and effluent, says Asaf. "In the last 50 years, many streams have been transformed into sewage canals," he explains.

With the monitoring virtually complete, the Palestinian-Israeli team has now set about the last part of their program, developing the foundations for an effective river restoration strategy for Israel and the PA.

Four team members (two Israeli and two Palestinian) recently took part in a two-week workshop at the University of Maryland, to learn about the clean up of the once heavily polluted Chesapeake Bay.

"We are not simply coming up with a report or a survey, but are developing a real road map to move things forward," says Asaf. "We plan to develop a clear plan of what should be achieved. Many people say we should wait for peace and then we will all have a clear vision of what's going on, but we believe that we can't wait for that. We should address our problems now because natural resources do not know boundaries. We need to come forward with a clear Palestinian and Israeli vision of how to address these problems, what is in our best interests, what should be done, and how much it will cost."

The Palestinian and Israeli researchers, who include Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, Palestinian Moslems and Palestinian Christians, meet regularly and communicate mostly in English. Their most recent meeting took place in Beit Jalla, just outside of Jerusalem.

"We meet in a place that is usually safe for both of us," says Asaf.

The project demands a great of cooperation between the Palestinian and Israeli teams and Asaf says the researchers work extremely well together. "Certainly from the perspective of "peace making" the initiative has exceeded the participants' expectations," the annual report states.

In May the research team plans to hold a joint workshop in Akaba in Jordan where they will invite policy makers from both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. "We have received a positive reaction so far," says Asaf.

In the meantime, the researchers have also approached the Ministry of Environment in Israel to encourage them to continue monitoring water quality in the two rivers using the framework of monitoring stations already set up by the team. "We believe it is easier to encourage people to go forward once we have this framework for information," says Asaf.

Asaf is a firm believer that the only way to solve the problem of the region's polluted rivers is by working together. Israel, for instance, now has plans to build a wastewater facility on the Israeli side of the Hebron river. "In the short term that may prevent pollution down stream, but if we don't deal with the source of the pollution it will not solve the problem forever," Asaf insists. "If we don't take control we won't do the right job.

"Our team includes many people from different religions, but there is no difference between any of us," Asaf continues. "As human beings we need clear water and water resources. We need natural places that we can come and relax and enjoy ourselves, not places fouled by raw sewage and effluents. We can only achieve this if we work together. Only multilateral action will solve these problems."

© 2001-2004 ISRAEL21c.org. All rights reserved.

Polemics Not Peace: Jimmy Carter's New Book

2007-01-13T21:37:00.000+02:00

Polemics: Not Peace
A Book Review of
Palestine Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is committed to the idea of peace. He helped broker the peace treatment between Egypt and Israel after they were unable to come to agreement amongst themselves. He has long engaged in second-track diplomacy efforts in places such as Haiti and North Korea. The Carter Center has monitored elections around the world and provided forums to discuss ways to improve the world and bring peace. His support for the "ecumenical Christian" Habitat for Humanity program has provided homes for people around the world. Yet, in his latest work Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, by defending violence and through an unbalanced, polemical presentation Carter has violated basic principles of conflict resolution and has worked against the basic principles of peace.
His book is intended to convince America's Christian community to not support Israel. It is replete with statements reminiscent of a long and painful history of Christian anti-Semitism. Carter makes spurious claims of Israeli discrimination against the Christian Palestinian population, but totally ignores the serious charges of abuses of Christians by the Palestinian Authority and Islamic radicals such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. In recalling his first visit to Israel, he claims that Samaritan accusations of disrespect by Israeli authorities were "the same complaints heard by Jesus and his disciples almost two thousand years earlier".
Carter acknowledges that his views on Israel are shaped by his fundamentalist Christianity. He recalls a conversation in 1967 with Golda Meir in which he "said that I had long taught lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures and that a common historical pattern was that Israel was punished whenever the leaders turned away from devout worship of God. I asked if she was concerned about the secular nature of her Labor government." It is quite odd that Carter berates Israel for its secular character, as Israeli Jews, just like European Christians, mostly identify as secular. Would he level the same charges against Europe? Probably not.
Carter's tome is surprisingly shoddy. Professor Kenneth Stein of Emory University resigned as a distinguished fellow from the Carter Center in protest of what he referred to as a work "replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments." Professor Stein noted that his recollection of events has "little similarity to points claimed in the book." Dr. Stein noted that "Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information."
Seven years after Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, the author accuses Israel of still occupying portions of Lebanon. Carter claims, on page 98, that Israel retains "its presence only in Shebaa Farms." This attempt to accuse Israel of violating international law is just one of too many false accusations levelled against Israel. In 2004, Kofi Annan noted that Israel was not occupying Lebanon. A 2005 report by the UN Security Council noted that the 'blue line', which does not include the Shebaa Farm area, serves as Lebanon's border and recognizes that Israel is in compliance with all United Nations resolutions calling for a withdrawal to Lebanon's international border. Carter's defence of Hezbollah's claims of Lebanese sovereignty over the Shebaa Farms area is in direct defiance of international law and numerous statements from the United Nations. Not only are Carter's statements false but they also do not lead to peace.
In a recollection of Carter's first meeting with Yasser Arafat in France in 1990, Carter claims that he "pushed him [Arafat] to fulfill his Oslo promise to modify the PLO charter to accept Israel's existence" yet the Oslo Accords were not signed until September 1993! How could Carter push Arafat to modify commitments that he would not make until three years later? Carter also seems to have the ability to communicate with the dead. In recalling his monitoring of the 1996 Palestinian elections, Carter claims that he "called General Dayan" to report on alleged intimidation of voters in East Jerusalem. Yet Moshe Dayan died in 1981! If Carter is able to make such blatant errors in his book, how many other false statements has he made? How can one tell where falsity ends and fact begins? This is not an issue of political disputes or disagreeing with Carter's viewpoints but rather the falsification of fact. As one analyst noted, "facts are bipartisan" but yet Carter seems to not be able to distinguish fact from fantasy.
Carter one-sidedly refers to the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and, at times, even parts of the pre-1967 borders of Israel as "Arab territories." Yet, there has been a Jewish presence in Jerusalem and the West Bank since Biblical times – for thousands of years. Carter's labelling of the territories as "occupied Arab territories" is unbalanced and misleading. While there is also an Arab claim to the territories, it is no stronger than the Jewish claim. Carter seems to accept at face value the Islamic concept of "dar al-Islam" in which any land that was under Muslim rule is always Muslim property. If one accepts this Islamic idea (it is odd that Carter, a religious Christian, seems to accept this Muslim category) than one should also refer to Spain, Portugal and Italy as "occupied Arab territory."
Carter even acknowledges that some of his claims are false, including his inflammatory and false use of the term "apartheid." Despite Carter's use of the term, he has publicly acknowledged in numerous forums that the term "apartheid" is not an accurate term to describe Israel and its thriving democracy. In a recent letter responding to his critics, President Carter noted that "in Israel ... a democracy exists with all the freedoms we enjoy in our country [the United States] and Israeli Jews and Arabs are legally guaranteed the same rights as citizens."
Carter defends noted human rights abuses and abusers. He claims that Syria is unwilling to accommodate with Israel due to Israel's control of the Golan Heights, ignoring Syria's long history as a dictatorship that represses its own people. Despite Hafez al-Assad's refusal to visit the United States due to an invitation from Carter in a "polite but firm rebuff", Carter describes him as "very intelligent, eloquent, and frank." He often has very positive things to say about dictators, but very little positive to say about Israel's democratically elected leadership. He has defended Syria's thirty-year occupation of Lebanon. Carter spends several pages defending Saudi Arabia and idealizing it as coming out of Arabian Nights. While he mentions that on his visit, he went off with the men while his wife "was whisked off to visit Saudi women, who were in a different camp entirely, over the sand dunes and out of sight" his romanticizing of the Saudi regime's segregation and oppression leave the reader to wonder if Carter really is committed to human rights in the Middle East.
The official policy of the State of Israel has always been a two-state solution. As Carter notes, survey after survey shows that Israelis yearn for peace. From the dovish Meretz to the hawkish Yisrael Beiteinu and National Union parties, Israelis yearn for peace and have supported territorial compromise in exchange for peace in secure and defensible borders. While Israel is not perfect, there is a vibrant debate in Israeli society. Israelis understand that the actions implemented to prevent murder and harm to innocent Israelis of all religions prevent hardships to many Palestinians. They look forward to the day when courageous leaders, like Anwar Sadat, will come forward to make peace with Israel. As President Carter himself noted, "the majority of Israelis sincerely want a peaceful existence with their neighbors." It is unfortunate that President Carter has forgotten his own words, and forgotten his own quest for peace, in his screed. Sadly, as all Israelis look forward and hope for the day in which Palestinians and Israelis will live side-by-side in two states for two peoples, one-sided attacks by people like President Carter do not serve the cause of peace and coexistence so desired by Israel. Israel is committed to working with the Palestinians toward a peaceful, diplomatic solution where both sides can have a better future.

AVI HEIN is a Legacy Heritage Fellow at StandWithUs International.

Reform Rabbis Cancel Carter Center Visit

2007-01-13T21:36:00.000+02:00

From the Forward

Reform Rabbis Cancel Carter Center Visit

Jennifer Siegel | Fri. Jan 12, 2007

The rabbis of America’s largest synagogue movement have canceled a planned visit to the Atlanta-based Carter Center in response to the publication of former President Jimmy Carter’s controversial new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Read more

Trends in Israel Advocacy: Brand Israel

2007-01-11T01:42:00.000+02:00

The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a new plan for promoting Israel: Brand Israel. Based on the popular notion of nation branding, this approach aims to showcasethe whole Israel. Nation branding, a new approach, aims to build andmanage the reputation of countries. It has already been used in the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, and numerous other countries. It has the support of top media strategists and public relations professionals.

Brand Israel also hopes to remind people abroad that Israel is a safe place to live, visit, and play. As the intifada has diminished tourism, discouraged investment, and deterred aliya (immigration to Israel), it is important for lovers of Israel to remember the damage that has
done to our vibrant economy through the inaccurate, negative, and fearful images often broadcast on the international media. While the Arab-Israeli conflict is a part of our daily lives, focusing solely on the conflict means that Israel's humanitarian, scientific, and cultural contributions to making the world a better place (tikkun olam) are often ignored or forgotten. Advocating for Israel also means encouraging tourism and investment in Israel.

StandWithUs International is proud to be a part of this initiative!

Israel Appoints first Arab Minister

2007-01-10T22:47:00.000+02:00

Majadle becomes first Arab minister

Gil Hoffman, THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 10, 2007

Labor MK Ghaleb Majadle was appointed Wednesday evening by Labor Chairman Amir Peretz to replace outgoing Science, Culture and Sport minister Ophir Paz-Pines, becoming the first Arab minister in Israel's history.

Israel has already had one Druse minister, Salah Tarif, and one Arab deputy minister, Nawaf Masalha, who was deputy foreign minister.

Peretz said he made the appointment because he hoped it would "improve relations between Jews and Arabs" in the country.

Majadele, 53, is the chairman of the Knesset's environment committee. He lives in the town of Baka al-Gharbiyeh, next to the line with the West Bank in northern Israel.

"It's great news for the Arab public," Majadele told Channel 2. "It's a correct step in the direction of equality. We have many challenges ahead of us."

Dennis Ross - Don't Play With Maps

2007-01-10T14:47:00.000+02:00

Dennis Ross has an op/ed in yesterday's New York Times about Jimmy Carter's misuse of maps which lead to false interpretations in his latest book.

To my mind, Mr. Carter’s presentation badly misrepresents the Middle East proposals advanced by President Bill Clinton in 2000, and in so doing undermines, in a small but important way, efforts to bring peace to the region.
In his book, Mr. Carter juxtaposes two maps labeled the “Palestinian Interpretation of Clinton’s Proposal 2000” and “Israeli Interpretation of Clinton’s Proposal 2000.”
The problem is that the “Palestinian interpretation” is actually taken from an Israeli map presented during the Camp David summit meeting in July 2000, while the “Israeli interpretation” is an approximation of what President Clinton subsequently proposed in December of that year. Without knowing this, the reader is left to conclude that the Clinton proposals must have been so ambiguous and unfair that Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, was justified in rejecting them. But that is simply untrue.
In actuality, President Clinton offered two different proposals at two different times. In July, he offered a partial proposal on territory and control of Jerusalem. Five months later, at the request of Ehud Barak, the Israeli prime minister, and Mr. Arafat, Mr. Clinton presented a comprehensive proposal on borders, Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and security. The December proposals became known as the Clinton ideas or parameters.
Put simply, the Clinton parameters would have produced an independent Palestinian state with 100 percent of Gaza, roughly 97 percent of the West Bank and an elevated train or highway to connect them. Jerusalem’s status would have been guided by the principle that what is currently Jewish will be Israeli and what is currently Arab will be Palestinian, meaning that Jewish Jerusalem — East and West — would be united, while Arab East Jerusalem would become the capital of the Palestinian state.
The Palestinian state would have been “nonmilitarized,” with internal security forces but no army and an international military presence led by the United States to prevent terrorist infiltration and smuggling. Palestinian refugees would have had the right of return to their state, but not to Israel, and a fund of $30 billion would have been created to compensate those refugees who chose not to exercise their right of return to the Palestinian state.

...

Indeed, since the talks fell apart, there has emerged a mythology that seeks to defend Mr. Arafat’s rejection of the Clinton ideas by suggesting they weren’t real or they were too vague or that Palestinians would have received far less than what had been advertised. Mr. Arafat himself tried to defend his rejection of the Clinton proposals by later saying he was not offered even 90 percent of the West Bank or any of East Jerusalem. But that was myth, not reality.
Why is it important to set the record straight? Nothing has done more to perpetuate the conflict between Arabs and Israelis than the mythologies on each side. The mythologies about who is responsible for the conflict (and about its core issues) have taken on a life of their own. They shape perception. They allow each side to blame the other while avoiding the need to face up to its own mistakes. So long as myths are perpetuated, no one will have to face reality.
And yet peace can never be built on these myths. Instead it can come only once the two sides accept and adjust to reality. Perpetuating a myth about what was offered to justify the Arafat rejection serves neither Palestinian interests nor the cause of peace.

Go Away NK

2007-01-10T12:11:00.001+02:00

Yona Metzger, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, is attempting to excommunicate Neteuri Karta. Many Jewish groups, including anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox groups, have already condemned and excommunicated members of Neteuri Karta.

(Jewlicious has a nice post about NK here)

Beautiful Pictures of Israel

2007-01-09T14:00:00.001+02:00

Israel is a beautiful and diverse country, with a multiethnic and diverse population and a vibrant and outspoken democracy. Israel adds value to your life!

New York Times on Carter

2007-01-09T10:49:00.001+02:00

The New York Times has a fascinating review of Jimmy Carter's Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. In short, "In other words, whether or not Carter is right that most Americans have a distorted view of the conflict, his contribution is to offer a distortion of his own."

Israel Denies ‘Sunday Times’ Report on Nuclear Raid Preparation

2007-01-08T15:55:00.001+02:00

The following is from "The Media Line"

Israel Denies ‘Sunday Times’ Report on Nuclear Raid Preparation

Israeli officials have denied the report in yesterday's The Sunday Times detailing preparation of a strike force to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities with low-yield nukes. The newspaper attributed its information to sources inside the government. But when asked about it, the spokeswoman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office would say only that, "We don’t respond to publications in The Sunday Times." The spokesman for the Foreign Ministry was less vague in denying the report. Mark Regev said that Israel's focus is on "diplomatic actions" and that if those are successful, "the problem can be solved peaceably." The Associated Press quoted the head of Israel's Institute for National Strategic Studies as insisting that "no reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to The Sunday Times."

Cool Facts About Israel

2007-01-08T12:00:00.001+02:00

Israel is a thriving and vibrant country!

Visit us and check out all that Israel has to offer!

Perspective: Fire in the Crowded Israeli Theater

2007-01-08T10:03:00.001+02:00

The following article was submitted by a student in the StandWithUs "Ambassador's Club" program. The views expressed are entirely his own.

Fire in the Crowded Israeli Theatre

Today we are at war. Western civilization faces an evil which stands to break down the most basic pillars and tenets of our society. It is a war between Judeo-Christianity and radical extremist branches of Islam. Yet it is important to distinguish that there are no set battle lines; for this war has stretched forth beyond the battlefields of the Middle East and spilled out into schools, campuses, and the world of public opinion.

This part of the war on terror deals with far hazier issues like Freedom of speech and expression versus the Abuse of freedom of speech and expression, and hasbarah versus anti hasbarah. So how can we distinguish between the 1st amendment and the flagrant abuse of it? How do we distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate anti hasbarah? How can we quell the forces of anti- hasbarah? Over the past month there have been four cases of anti hasbarah which each manage to stand out as uniquely appalling. Here are their stories:

Saad Saadi, a student in the University of Pennsylvania went to a Halloween party hosted by the university’s president Dr. Amy Gutman. Instead of throwing the offensively dressed student out of the party the dean’s reaction was to take pictures with him. After this the student and a cohort went on to do “hilarious” Daniel Pearl-style execution skits with friends from the university while still in the home of Dr. Gutman. The student was never thrown out of the party or asked to change out of his costume. Make no mistake this incident was no charade. The following day the Syrian born Saadi described his costume as that of a “”Freedom Martyr”.
The official response of Dr. Gutman: “The student had the right to wear the costume just as I, and others, have a right to criticize his wearing of it”. Did Dr. Gutman pause to ask herself if she is ratifying the humanization of terrorism? Did she pause to ask if the enemy of our society who seeks our destruction and death is really something we should take cavalierly and laugh about? Or did she just say “1…2….3….. cheese”? Maybe it is an issue of under exposure, for I wonder how President Gutman would have felt if she ever saw the aftermath of a real suicide bomber. If Gutman had ever seen limbs and body parts strewn all over a city block. I wonder, if only then the dean would find this charade offensive. Is the unselective murder of innocent civilians something we really want to joke around about as we pass out party favors? Is this freedom of speech?

At this point let us ask ourselves: are we honoring our forefathers and the sanctity of the constitution by allowing people to advocate the indiscriminate mass murder of civilians? Was our constitution created to bring about liberty or our own destruction? Can we allow the haters of our culture to wield the first amendment as their weapon in anti-democratic rhetoric and advocacy? Is this the freedom of expression of Washington, Jefferson, and Adams?
Meanwhile in a New York High school the spirit of Halloween continued to abound in offensive hateful ways. This time 16 year old Walter Petryk decided to dress up as the fuhrer himself, Adolf Hitler. When asked to take off the Nazi uniform the student, Petryk refused. Claiming it was his right under the banner of freedom of expression to wear it saying: “I really do believe that people have a right to express themselves”. The student also admitted to realizing beforehand that it would offend people. When questioned about the activities of her son, Diane Petryk-Bloom rather than apologizing, remonstrated the dean for asking her son to take it off saying “[The dean is] offended by a parody of Hitler - and he's acting like Hitler.” What of course makes the story even more appalling is that Petryk’s stepfather is a Jew who had members of his family murdered in the Holocaust and yet, he still defended his son’s actions. And I ask how: can we expect the world to sympathize for our cause when we ourselves promulgate against it?
So did this student have the democratic right to wear a Nazi uniform in school? I think the best and simplest answer came from classmate Dean Waterlan, 16 who said “Why would you come as something that is supposed to offend people?” Joel Levy, The Anti-Defamation League’s New York regional director explained that “this is not only anti-Semitic, it’s anti-American, and anti the values of Western democracy,” Even Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union remarked that “schools do have broader latitude to restrict speech when it is educationally unsuitable or inappropriate”

On November 23rd right here, in the state of Israel an illegal terrorist Hezbollah flag was brought out into the open in the Herzliyah Inter-Disciplinary Center (Israel’s largest private institution for higher education). The flag in question was bought by an Arab student in a Ramallah shop, with the apparent intention of giving it to a Jewish student who had requested it. When the flag was taken out in the dining room an instant uproar ensued. Present in the same cafeteria were students who had risked their lives over the summer to defeat the terrorist threat, only to return home and see the flag of terror emerge in their own campus.
The student put the flag away and apologized immediately but two critical issues had already emerged from the incident. The first and most obvious problem was that the money used to purchase the flag went, directly or indirectly, to Hezbollah. The second and larger issue to rip through the campus was whether the student had the right to display the flag under the concepts of freedom of expression. Clearly the student didn’t realize the implications and the insensitivity towards those who had fought or lost loved ones, in the defense of Israel from terror. Yet insensitivity aside, can a terrorist organization’s flag legitimately be displayed?
The most recent insult to our survival sensibilities came last month In Haifa University. Mouad Hatib, a member of the Islamic Movement of Um-El Fahim, and a student at the university, handed out calendars which celebrated amongst other things, the birthday of Osama Bin-Laden, the kidnappings of Israeli soldiers, and the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. Are you still not offended? When asked to comment Hatib remarked “I don’t understand the big fuss. It’s a calendar for Arab students at the university… We mention Nasrallah and the date of the kidnapping of the two soldiers and the killing of eight others as a brave operation”. When asked about the purpose of his calendar, Hatib responded “It’s important that the Arab public remembers its leaders.” Here there was no remorse. The enemy was amongst us and was flaunting to the western world that he would use our greatest value, Freedom of Expression as the tool for our own downfall.

So is expressing pro terror or Nazi viewpoints in the academic system legitimate? The answer is a loud, clear, and emphatic NO! Both Nazi and Hezbollah paraphernalia are illegal in many countries throughout the world, for what they promote. In the Supreme Court case of Schenk vs. the United States, It was ruled that when freedom of speech, such as screaming fire in a crowded theatre, creates a “clear and present danger” then we must limit this freedom. When one screams fire on a crowded theatre, the stampede to get out, could very likely result in casualties. The person who uses his voice to yell the word “FIRE” will be indirectly responsible for these casualties. Here in the Academic theatre it is not indirect. For the demonstration of terrorist sympathies and symbols will legitimatize these organizations and make it all the more easy for their spree of terror and murder to ensue. The lesson of Schenk vs. the United States is that freedom of speech was created as the vanguard to protect our lives, not destroy them.
So how can we quell the voices of terror? I believe that there are three approaches: Vigilantism, Apathy, and Positive enforcement. In the case of the Inter-Disciplinary Center the reaction was quick and strong, maybe too strong. Immediately after the flag was displayed the student was physically accosted by offended students. He also later received death threats. I do not feel that this method of vigilantism in any way reflects the values that make democracy the paragon of freedom. The use of violence instead of expression is exactly what terrorism believes in, for us to remain strong we must be steadfast to the values of expression and dialogue, not violence.
Another method of solving these volatile situations has been apathy. In Haifa University, the Inter-Disciplinary Center, and the University of Pennsylvania apathy was used to quell the outrage of the masses. In all three of the schools no disciplinary action was taken by the administration. The strongest action taken was by Haifa, who said they would be more selective about what material they approve for distribution in their university, hardly a critical blow towards pro-terror advocacy. In the University of Pennsylvania members of Hillel met with one of Dr. Gutman’s aides. Following the meeting, the Hillel delegates reported being satisfied because now the administration “understood” what made the pictures so offensive. Wow! What an accomplishment, they actually understand, But what about taking action? What about penalizing the student? G-d forbid our delegates show strength and demand justice. When apathy reigns, you can bet pro terror hasbarah and sympathies will rears its ugly head again, only next time far uglier.

The last method is positive enforcement. When Petryk dressed as the Fuhrer there was a 2 pronged attack, First School Dean Paul Puglia took action requesting that Petryk take off the offensive attire. After his refusal a ten day suspension was the next step considered by the administration. The second action taken was by Penny Lee Berman the president of the parent association, who organized a Walk of Respect and Tolerance to the nearby Holocaust Memorial Park. When faced with the threat of extremist hateful advocacy, Mrs. Berman believed that ““Instead of making negativity the focus, it would be best when faced with hugely disrespectful behavior to respond with dignity and compassion”.

Today we have a choice, we can either scream freedom of speech and turn our backs, or stand up to the threats that advocate our annihilation. I feel that we must use examples set by Dean Puglia and Mrs. Berman to fight the “Hasbarah war on terror”. We must push the administrations to act and discipline the abuse of Freedom of speech and if the administration refuses to stand up to this evil, then the onus is upon us to push even harder. Strong disciplinary action is only part of the answer. The walk of tolerance that Mrs. Berman organized, exemplifies how we can show the supremacy and virtue of the values of freedom.

The battle shall not be easy, but I believe that through strength and virtue, victory is attainable. In Israel and on college campuses around the world we must remain strong, steadfast, and united against the voice of terror. I implore one and I implore all to rise up and make our voices heard until the ideas and flags of terrorism are vanquished from the world we live in.

Ariel grew up in New York. He immigrated to Israel and is a sergeant in the reserves of the Israeli Defense Forces, where he served three years as a hand-to-hand combat instructor. He is currently specializing in diplomacy and strategic studies at The Inter-disciplinary center in Herzliyah.

Carter is No Friend of Israel

2007-01-04T10:20:00.001+02:00

My friend Yariv Nornberg has an op/ed in ynetnews.com about Jimmy Carter. Yariv brings a unique view in that he has worked at the Carter Center and served as an election observer on behalf of the Center.
Carter is no friend

Open letter to former president in wake of his recent anti-Israel book
Yariv Nornberg

Former President Carter Shalom!

Last year I had the privilege to join your conflict resolution task team to assist you in your worthy goal of "waging peace."

The opportunity to facilitate dialogues between warring parties in conflicts outside of the scope of the Israeli-Arab conflict was a tremendous experience. It convinced me that a goodwill ambassador could actually play a constructive role in facilitating the reconciliation of two enemies. Unfortunately, your last publication is a total contradiction to this notion. Not only is the book counter-productive, Mr. President, but it completely contradicts all that I was taught about conflict resolution at the Carter Center.

I find "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid" to be an outrageous one-sided accusation against Israel. It puts all responsibility for the failure of the peace process on Israel and goes as far as insinuating that its presence and control of the disputed territories constitutes a form of Apartheid regime. Throughout the book the reader gets the impression that Israel is the source of all wrongdoings in the region and that if it were just willing to comply with the Arab demands, peace would already be flourishing in the Middle East.

The book pretends to give a descriptive account of the main actors, developments and realities of the region. In actual fact, this work presents a relatively simplistic and distorted view of the conflict. By entirely ignoring the countless examples of Palestinian rejection of Israel, inadmissible involvement in terror, and the culture of hatred promoted by the Palestinian Authority, the reader is expected to see Israel as the key party responsible for the conflict.

Dozens of factual errors throughout the book detract from the knowledge and expertise you claim to have accumulated from your involvement in the region. Your unyielding positions sometimes coincide with those of the most radical actors in the region, like your stance on the Shebaa Farms issue, and are in total opposition to the notion of international law you praise in other parts of your book.

You suggest, Mr. President, that Israel is to blame for the failure of the road map by attaching Reservations to its acceptance while the Palestinians "unequivocally accepted" it. By writing that, you choose to ignore the fact that the Palestinians never even implemented the first point of the agreement, which said that a two-state solution "will only be achieved through an end to violence and terrorism, when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror and willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty."

Ardent advocate of Palestinian cause

The Palestinian Authority has consistently said it has no intention to fulfill its promise to dismantle terrorist organizations or to confiscate illegal weapons. Ironically, we have recently witnessed the use of those weapons in internal Palestinian clashes, which threaten to push the entire Palestinian society into a tragic civil war.

I was especially offended when you equated the "ejection" of Palestinians from their homes to the Indians in Georgia being forced out to make room for "our white ancestors." You deliberately chose to ignore that Jews, unlike your ancestors in the Great Peach State, were always living in their homeland and that the Palestinians were not ejected, but rather, most fled during the battles of the 1947-1949 war provoked by the Arab rejection of UN partition resolution 181.

Prior to that, the Arab population in that area had been growing, as you acknowledge elsewhere when you state that the two populations increased dramatically from 1931 to 1945. You note that the Arab newcomers were attracted by economic opportunity, but neglect to mention that it was the influx of Jews from the Diaspora that created those opportunities.

Sadly, I must reach the conclusion that in writing "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid" you decided to transform yourself from a goodwill player to an ardent advocate of the Palestinian cause. I am not suggesting that it is not your right to do so, but I would have expected a more evenhanded account from a man of your stature.

Unfortunately, instead I see that you have become an obsessively biased critic of Israel, and even worse, due to your perceived credibility, a new hero for those seeking to undermine Israel's very right to exist. This destroys your reputation as an honest broker, a distinction you earned through the years since your great achievement at the first Camp David summit, a reputation that granted you in recent years the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

Today, modern Israel lost a friend, while Israelis and Palestinians remain with no peace.

No Shalom and No Chaver.

The writer, a Legacy Heritage Fellow, recently graduated from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and worked as a graduate assistant in conflict resolution at Jimmy Carter's Center in Atlanta. He recently returned from an electoral observation mission on behalf of former US President Carter in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Israel: Your Best Investment Opportunity

2007-01-03T13:27:00.001+02:00

The Independent's "Palestinian Marys"

2007-01-03T10:05:00.001+02:00

From Honest Reporting UK:

The Independent's "Palestinian Marys"

Johann Hari employs religious symbolism to represent pregnant Palestinian women.

The Independent has made no secret of its one-sided "campaigning journalism". Most recently, the paper failed to retract Robert Fisk's false accusation that Israel had used a "secret uranium bomb" in Lebanon. Now, the Independent's seasonal appeal, featuring a variety of international charities, also focuses on the Palestinians. In a 23 December appeal, Johann Hari employs emotive religious symbolism, asking "What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?"

In a bizarre and false historical parallel, Hari describes the Virgin Mary as a "Palestinian refugee in Bethlehem", and present-day pregnant Palestinian women as "21st century Marys" who "have been giving birth in startlingly similar conditions to those suffered by Mary 2,000 years ago."

Hari paints a picture of Israeli malevolence towards pregnant Palestinian women, despite the very necessary security measures that have limited freedom of Palestinian movement in the West Bank. The 2002 arrest of a Palestinian terrorist recruited to carry out a suicide bombing disguised as a pregnant woman is a graphic reminder of the depths that terror groups will sink to in their efforts to bypass Israeli security.

Equally, the well-documented Palestinian abuse of medical facilities, vehicles and equipment is also a problem that has contributed to the increased searches of ambulances at checkpoints. Hari, however, fails to mention this. While attributing the decline in medical services to the world's denial of funding to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, Hari also omits the Hamas refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and acknowledge existing agreements that has led to financial sanctions.

Charity for improving the lives of expectant Palestinian women is certainly legitimate. Johann Hari and the Independent have, however, politicised this seasonal appeal into a one-sided attack on Israel.

Please send your considered comments to the Independent - letters@independent.co.uk

Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek Dies

2007-01-02T11:18:00.001+02:00

Former Jerusalem Mayor Kollek died today at age 95. He was mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993. He has been heavily involved in coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, the city he was mayor of when Jerusalem was united and liberated in 1967. יחי זכרונו לברכה - May he be remembered for a blessing.

Roundup of Israeli press coverage:

Ha'aretz English - Ha'aretz Hebrew

Yediot Aharonot English - Yediot Aharonot Hebrew

Jerusalem Post

Ma'ariv (Hebrew)

Israeli Film 'Sweet Mud' to Compete at Sundance Festival

2007-01-02T10:22:00.001+02:00

"Sweet Mud is fantastic - it was one of the good surprises at the Jerusalem Film Festival last summer," Brown said. However, she raised questions whether the American Academy would find its subject matter universal enough for an Oscar nod.

"There's a mindset in the international film establishment that doesn't realize that even through war and terror, there are other things going on in Israel that can be focused on in film. The whole issue with the kibbutz, and how it's not the loving parents of people that it used to be is a very relevant subject in Israel, but American viewers may not be able to relate as much," she said.

Read the whole article at Israel21c

Israel's Security Fence

2007-01-01T23:13:00.000+02:00

Why Israel's security fence works

Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East

2007-01-01T16:15:00.001+02:00

"Relentless" is an eye-opening documentary that will forever change the way you view the seemingly endless Arab-Israeli conflict.

You will understand precisely why it is they are still fighting.

Produced in 2003, Relentless is the prequel to the award-winning documentary, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West", www.ObsessionTheMovie.com

You can purchase Relentless at: www.RelentlessTheMovie.com

President Carter's New Book vs. The Facts - Be Informed!

2006-12-31T22:26:00.000+02:00

StandWithUS have created this concise rebuttal of some of the key claims made by President Carter in his new book. Click on the image to see a larger version:

Carter Third Most Admired Man in the USA

2006-12-31T13:00:00.000+02:00

The Gallup polling agency has put out its list of the top most admired men and women in America. Jimmy Carter, author of Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, comes in as the third most admired man. This is important to know if people think that Carter is irrelevant and don't think that people will be influenced by Carter's book. The challenge of Israel advocates is how to convince those people who admire Carter why he is wrong. It's important to know what is going on outside of our little "bubble" in order to advocate to the persuadables.

The most admired men at the end of 2006, according to Gallup, according to the American respondents are:

1. George W. Bush - 13%
2. Bill Clinton - 5%
3. Jimmy Carter - 4%
4. Barack Obama - 3%
5. Billy Graham - 3%
6. Colin Powell - 2%
7. Pope Benedict XVI - 2%
8 (tie). Nelson Mandela - 1%
8 (tie). George H.W. Bush - 1%
10. Bill Gates - 1%

For women the results are:

%

1	Hillary Clinton	13
2	Oprah Winfrey	9
3	Condoleezza Rice	8
4	Laura Bush	4
5	Margaret Thatcher	2
6	Angelina Jolie	2
7t	Nancy Pelosi	1
7t	Madeleine Albright	1
9	Barbara Bush	1
10	Maya Angelou	1

Emory Professor Refuses to Advise Carter Center in protest of Jimmy Carter

2006-12-31T12:51:00.001+02:00

SPME has posted a letter written by Dr. Melvin Konner of Emory University, in which he decided not to advise President Carter or The Carter Center. Dr. Richard Landes of Boston University also has some interesting thoughts about this letter on his blog. The full text follows:

TO: Dr. John Hardman, M.D.
Executive Director
The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom ParkwayAtlanta, GA 30307

Dear Dr. Hardman -

I am sorry to say that after careful and frankly painful reflection, I have decided not to participate in your group advising President Carter and The Carter Center regarding his recent book on the Middle East conflict. During our telephone conversation on December 11 (perhaps not incidentally my late father's birthday) I spoke from my heart when I agreed to participate; it is not easy for me to lose one of my greatest heroes.

In less than a week since then, events have progressed in such a way as to persuade me that I cannot in good conscience participate in such an effort.

First, President Carter has proved capable of distorting the truth about such meetings and consultations in public remarks following them. In particular, he mischaracterized the meeting he had with the executive committee of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix, saying he and they had positive interactions and prayed together, when in fact others present stated that the meeting was highly confrontational and that the prayer was merely a pro form a closing invocation. (See "Letters," The New York Times, Dec. 15, 2006, p. A32.) However modest my reputation may be, I will not jeopardize it by participating in a meeting that might subsequently be so starkly misconstrued.

Second, in television interviews I have seen over the past week, President Carter has revealed himself to be so rigid and inflexible in his views that he seems to me no longer capable of dialogue. In an interview with Soledad O'Brien of CNN he failed to address a single one of the criticisms she quoted from various experts in a very serious tone of voice, pointing out that she was not reading the worst of the criticisms; he began laughing inappropriately while she spoke, and when she asked him how he would respond to the criticisms he stated, "With laughter." In a number of interviews I have seen and heard him respond to highly specific questions merely by stating again and again in one form or another, "My book is completely accurate." This rigidity of thought and complete failure to engage criticisms from much greater experts than me about his numerous and serious errors of commission and omission make it clear to me that an attempt by me to advise him would be pointless and counterproductive. In addition, his repeated public insinuations that the Jews control the media and the Congressâ€"well-worn anti-Semitic slurs that, especially coming from President Carter, present a clear and present danger to American Jews are offensive to me beyond what I can politely say.

Third, I am now carefully rereading parts of this very puzzling and problematic book, having read it through once quickly. I am not going to point out again here all the mistakes and misrepresentations pointed out by others ( to take just one example, his flat contradiction of the accounts by President Clinton and Dennis Ross of events at Camp David at which they were present and he was not)â€"none of which he has answered- nor explain the grotesque distortion caused by his almost completely ignoring Jewish history between ancient times and 1947 (he devotes five lines on page 64 to that millennial tragic story and mentions the Holocaust twice; his "Historical Chronology" at the outset contains nothing nothing between 1939 and 1947). However, I will call your attention to a sentence on p. 213 that had not stood out for me the first time I read it: "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel."

As someone who has lived his life as a professional reader and writer, I cannot find any way to read this sentence that does not condone the murder of Jews until such time as Israel unilaterally follows President Carter's prescription for peace. This sentence, simply put, makes President Carter an apologist for terrorists and places my children, along with all Jews everywhere, in greater danger.

I am sure you will now understand why I cannot participate in your group advising President Carter. However, if I may, I will share this advice If you want The Carter Center to survive and thrive independently in the future, you must take prompt and decisive steps to separate the Center from President Carter's now irrevocably tarnished legacy. You must make it clear on your web site and in appropriately circulated press releases that President Carter does not speak for The Carter Center on the subject of the Middle East conflict or the political role of the American Jewish community. If you do not do this, then President Carter's damage to his own effectiveness as a mediator, not to mention to his reputation and legacy will extend, far more tragically in my view, to The Carter Center and all its activities. Meanwhile, in my own private and modest public capacity as a university professor and writer, I will work very hard in the foreseeable future to help discredit President Carter's biased, intemperate and inflexible mischaracterizations of the reality of Israel, Palestine, terrorism, and the American Jewish community. I will urge all my colleagues and students to do the same. And, most painfully, I will discourage any connection with The Carter Center until such time as you make perfectly and publicly clear your independence from President Carter on this tragically difficult set of questions, which he has chosen so dangerously to distort and oversimplify.

I emphasize that I have been a decades-long supporter of President Carter and of The Carter Center and have defended him, his legacy, and The Center's work at every possible opportunity. It is a grave loss for me to acknowledge that this will no longer be possible.

Sincerely yours,

Melvin Konner, M.D., Ph.D.
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor
Department of Anthropology and Program in
Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology, Emory University Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology (by courtesy), Emory School of Medicine

Cc: Kent Alexander, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Emory University Steve Berman, Member, Carter Center Board of Councilors Rabbi David Blumenthal, Ph.D.,
Cohen Professor of Judaic Studies, Emory University William Branch, M.D., Carter Center Board of
Councilors Marshall Duke, Ph.D., Candler Professor of Psychology, Emory University James W. Flannery,
Ph.D., Winship Professor of Arts & Humanities, Emory University David Hamburg, M.D., Carter Center Board of Trustees Steven H. Hochman, Ph.D., Director, Research, Carter Center Peace Programs The Hon. James T. Laney, Carter Center Board of Trustees
Deborah Lipstadt, Ph.D., Dorot Professor and Chair, Institute of Jewish Studies, Emory University Gordon D. Newby, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Middle Eastern & South Asian Studies, Emory University Laurie Patton, Ph.D., Winship Professor and Chair, Dept. of Religion, Emory UniversityRobert A. Paul, Ph.D., Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Emory University Kenneth Stein, Ph.D., William Shatten Professor of History, Emory University

AP: Palestinians Mourn Saddam

2006-12-31T10:53:00.001+02:00

Though much of the world regarded him as a tyrant, Saddam Hussein was mourned by Palestinians Saturday as a generous patron who remained one of their staunchest allies.

Saddam had rejected peace with Israel, sent money to the families of suicide bombers and welcomed many Palestinian refugees to Iraq.

"We heard of his martyrdom, and I swear to God we were deeply shaken from within," said Khadejeh Ahmad from the Qadora refugee camp in the West Bank. "Nobody was as supportive or stood with the Palestinians as he did."

Palestinians in the West Bank town of Bethlehem opened a "house of condolence," where dozens of people gathered on white chairs to drink black coffee and mourn the executed dictator.

There was at least one parade in his honor in Gaza, where some Palestinians displayed a poster with his image next to that of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Sami al-Askari, a political adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who was present at the hanging, said at about the time the noose was slipped over his head, Saddam shouted: "Palestine is Arab."

Early accounts of the execution indicated those were his final words. But in a videotape that surfaced later in the day, the former dictator was heard reciting a verse from the Quran a moment before his death.

During the first Gulf War in 1991, Saddam attacked Israel in a failed ploy to force his Arab brethren to abandon the U.S.-led coalition arrayed against him and join Iraq in fighting the Jewish state. As Saddam's Scud missiles flew overhead en route to Israel, Palestinians chanted: "Beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv."

He further endeared himself to the Palestinians during the recent uprising against Israel by giving $25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber and $10,000 for each Palestinian killed in fighting. The stipends totaled an estimated $35 million.

Saddam's support for the Palestinians — whose cause is deeply popular with Arabs throughout the Middle East — was at least partially aimed at cultivating grass-roots support for his regime.

Saddam's downfall — his defeat by America, his capture in a filthy hole, his conviction and his execution — dismayed Palestinians. They lionized the former Iraqi leader and praised his willingness to stand up to America and Israel when other Arab leaders would not.

"Saddam was a person who had the ability to say, 'No,' in the face of a great country," said Hosni al Ejel, 46, from the al Amari refugee camp near Ramallah.

Sabha Mohammed, 57, was stunned when her son told her that Saddam had been executed. Saddam had given her $25,000 to rebuild her house after a 2002 Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp.

"I immediately cried, because I felt that we, as Arabs and Muslims, lost a strong leader like Saddam," she said. "I hope the same thing happens to all the Arab and Muslim leaders because they didn't support Saddam and they stood silent, starting with the occupation of Iraq, through the U.S. army's arrest of Saddam, to his execution in the end."

Some Palestinians cited reports that Saddam had remembered them toward the end as evidence of his unshakable support.

But the grief was muted. Many in the West Bank and Gaza gave up on Saddam when he was captured by American soldiers three years ago.

In Bethlehem's "house of condolence," mourners sat beneath Iraqi flags and played Iraqi revolutionary songs, surrounded by pictures of Saddam. Outside, several cars parked outside had black strips of fabric tied to their antennae.

In the central Gaza town of Khan Younis, about 25 men and children marched through the street with pictures of Saddam.

In Gaza City, about 20 people sat in a garage that had been converted into a mourning area for Saddam. A poster on the wall displayed a picture of Saddam next to one of Arafat.

"Saddam Hussein gave Palestinians what no other Arab leader ever gave," said Mahmoud Abu Hasira, whose family organized the mourning area.

"He wanted the Palestinian people to have a state and a government and to be united," said Ghanem Mezel, 72, from the town of Saeer in the southern West Bank. "But God supports us, and we pray to God to punish those who did this."

In Israel, the response to the death of one of the nation's bitterest foes was muted. The government had no official comment on Saddam's execution

Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh expressed concerns about Iraq's path in the post-Saddam era. He told Israel Radio that Israel was concerned about the strengthening of Iranian influence in the Shiite sections of southern Iraq and also in the central government.

Iraq had also become a regional "power station" for terror that could spread chaos throughout the Middle East, he said.

"We have to be worried about what is going to happen now," he said.

JCPA Report: Disproportionate Response

2006-12-31T09:46:00.000+02:00

New report from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Israel

A Disproportionate Response? The Case of Israel and Hizballah
- Joshua L. Gleis

In responding forcefully to Hizballah’s provocation in the summer of 2006, Israel not only restored much of its deterrent capability, but did so against a weapon of the Iranian and Syrian militaries. Israel acted only after exhausting a number of other options over the decades. Israel’s overall response was not disproportionate when considering the enemy Israel was fighting. Appeasement simply does not work when dealing with terrorist organizations.

Invest in Israel in 2007!

2006-12-30T19:56:00.001+02:00

MK Wahabi first Druze to act as Knesset speaker, president

By Haaretz Service

MK Majali Wahabi (Kadima) will be the first Druze to act as both Knesset speaker and president of Israel beginning Tuesday, Israel Radio reported, as Knesset Speaker and Acting President Dalia Itzik goes abroad. Itzik has been serving as acting president ever since President Moshe Katsav suspended himself from presidential duties after the attorney general announces that he is considering indicting Katsav on charges of rape and abuse of power. Itzik will continue to replace the president until he either resigns or returns; should he resign, she will replace him until a new president is elected.

StandWithUs International Blog - Israel Advocacy

Goodbye Blog, Hello www.standwithus.co.il

Terrorism on 9/11

Ex-President Carters book and the Fallacy of Resolution 242

Educate Students to Counter Voices of Hate

Birthright Blog #1

Taglit-Birthright Israel Tour with StandWithUs - the Photos!

Thank You!

Stop The Boycott!

Shot by their own side, healed by the enemy

You Say "Enough": We Say Dayenu!

The Kotel - 40 Years On..

Benjamin Netanyahu on the academic boycott

Save Sderot

UCU UK Boycott

Alternative Spring Break

Banned UN Speech: UN Watch

Bonfire in the Desert!

Mark Regev in London with StandWithUs

Zionism Explained

Israel 2007

Livni at AIPAC

Purim Sameach

Weekend in Tel Aviv

Israel's home run

Israel - Apartheid State?

Today's Israel

Israel on Myspace

(Majority) Arab Jerusalem?

My Israel

The 'Israel Apartheid Week' libel

Jews are “evil souls” in new PA TV video clip

Jews are “evil souls” in new PA TV video clip

Spotlight on Sderot

Holy Lies

Hillary Clinton & PMW release report on incitement in PA textbooks

New PA schoolbooks give children "an indoctrination," not an education, Hillary Clinton says at release of new PMW report New Palestinian schoolbooks present a world without Israel, turn territorial dispute into religious conflict, and reflect an anti-western bias

Israel's quest for peace

Cool Facts about Israel

Useful resources

Ben's Blog

The death of divestment?

Israeli film to screen in Iran

Tel Aviv: The Gorgeous City

This Valentines Day ... send flowers

Come to Israel with StandWithUs

Yad Vashem announces Arab "Righteous Among the Nations"

Photo bias

Jerusalem registers its first gay couple

Chazak Ameinu - We stand as one

Israel appoints Arab minister

How to Fight Jew-Hatred on College Campuses

Learn about Israel ... in Israel this summer!

Israeli film Sweet Mud wins at Sundance

Kenneth Stein on Jimmy Carter

Carter apologizes for book

Did you serve in the IDF? Make your feelings known to "Breaking the Silence"!

Alan Dershowitz's Question to Jimmy Carter

The US imports Israeli show

Carter Speaks Out

Israeli Arabs are Unpatriotic?

Israel poised for first female (acting) president

News Roundup

World Jewish Congress: Iran Update

Arabs, Jews proud to be Israelis

Advocacy Tip: Listen to Your Mother!

Gaby's Blog #3

FrontPage Mag: Biased is the Peacemaker

Zoe's IDF Diary..

Carter to al-Jazeera: "Problem with terror is it hurts the Palestinian cause"

Busting Myths

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: US in the Middle East

Radical Islamism in the UK

Where in Israel is birthright?

Daily Carter round up

City of Gold

Israel Warmth

News Roundup: Sunday, 14 January

Israeli-Palestinian Team Cleaning Up Regional River

Polemics Not Peace: Jimmy Carter's New Book

New PA schoolbooks give children
"an indoctrination," not an education, Hillary Clinton says at release
of new PMW report

New Palestinian schoolbooks present a world without Israel, turn territorial dispute into religious conflict, and
reflect an anti-western bias