A Lebanese military court sentenced three of the country’s citizens to death for spying for Israel.
Two of the alleged spies had fled the country, reportedly for Israel, and were sentenced in absentia. The third man, Jawdat el-Hakim, admitted to working for Israel for 10 years beginning in 1999, Ynet reported.
The men can appeal the sentence to a higher court.
Lebanon sentences Israel spies to death Read More »
Readers Respond to Dennis Prager
Dennis Prager’s Oct. 22 column, “Are People Basically Good?” provoked many critical letters. Some are below. Prager’s response is here.
The word to watch for in this quote from Dennis Prager’s last column is “everything.”
“… If Jews are familiar with anything from the diary of Anne Frank, the most widely read book to come out of the Holocaust, it is her comment that ‘in spite of everything I still believe that people are basically good at heart.’
“Unfortunately — and I mean unfortunately with all my heart because I wish people were basically good — this teenage girl was wrong. She engaged in wishful thinking, as young people are often wont to do. What we have here is an example — one of many — of Jews and Judaism differing.”
How fortunate is the ghost of Anne Frank to be lectured by Dennis Prager, to have her particular soul robbed of her particular experience, and reduced to “this teenage girl,” to be thrown into the ash heap generalization of “young people,” as though her choice to see good under the shadow of torture, in the middle of war, is the “wishful thinking” of just another spoiled product of progressive education.
Seriously, could we assemble a beit din, or at least a rabbinic panel, on Anne Frank’s theological errors? Am I alone in wanting to scream at this desecration? Am I alone in wanting to scream that even to call her “this teenage girl” robs Anne Frank of her name, and in erasing her name, Prager erases what she meant by “everything”? For Anne Frank, everything meant that she’d been hiding with her family in an attic for two years, and that the discovery of her hiding place assured the agonized death she had no power to avoid, and in spite of all that, in spite of the sound of Nazis on the street outside, she believed in goodness.
She didn’t engage in “wishful thinking,” she engaged in the hardest work of all, finding good where there’s no reason for anything but bitterness. This is the real meaning of the Jewish admonition to choose life and the reason that “most Jews,” to support Prager’s assessment of our collective liberal heresy, make Anne Frank’s mistake. In Prager’s world, is “The Diary of Anne Frank” hidden from our children or do we draft a new preface, with a warning to parents, “CAUTION: THIS BOOK MAY KEEP YOUR DAUGHTER FROM BEING A GOTH.” He’s writing like the shamash who blows out the ner tamid when he closes up the shul at night.
Give Anne Frank the last word, written two years into her captivity, in all the clarity of her particular genius and truth. Where Dennis Prager sees wishful thinking, I see prayer. If what she’s thanking God for is another example of Anne Frank getting Judaism wrong, would any rabbis reading this care to tell her that? Failing that, would Dennis tell God?:
“And if I don’t have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can’t imagine living like Mother, Mrs. van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! … I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I’m so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s inside me!”
Michael Tolkin
Los Angeles
This column once again demonstrates the simplicity of Mr. Prager’s thinking. Our “id” develops first and in essence represents our raw impulses and lack of self-control. Consequently, we need to develop a strong super-ego to counter balance these forces. However, innumerable factors, many of which are mentioned by Mr. Prager, also affect our development as human beings. I am a liberal and believe that nature and nurture are both determinative of one’s behavior. Sadly, Mr. Prager does not engage in any level of complex thinking.
Martin H. Kodish
Woodland Hills
While I don’t share the hubris of Dennis Prager to speak for all liberal Jews on the question “Are people basically good?” I can say that liberal Jews believe that everyone comes into this world b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God, and therefore possesses a potential for good. And the concepts of yetzer hatov and yetzer hara ( the inclinations to do good or to do bad ) are firmly entrenched in Jewish thought and are fully accepted by liberals.Last month [in September], conservatives and liberals alike attended synagogue not patting their backs for jobs well done but instead were found beating their hearts over the sins they committed in the past year.
What can be said is that in their zeal to perform tikkun olam, liberals can sometimes be accused of turning a blind eye to what is legitimately bad in a person. But alternatively, conservatives can sometimes be accused of being so mono-focused on the bad in people that they never do uncover that spark of goodness that everyone has been endowed with.
Elliot Semmelman
Huntington Beach
“He tells us to judge one and all so generously, so much on the good side. Even if we think they’re as sinful as can be. By looking for that ‘little bit,’ the place, however small, within them where there is no sin (and everyone, after all, has such a place).” — Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (Hasidic master, 1772-1810)
Mr. Prager, in my opinion, the belief in humanity by liberals and others has less to do with “original goodness” and more to do with the confidence that people have the capacity to be good. Further, what is “goodness”? We do teach our children how to be what we consider “good,” but my own daughters express untaught kindness, compassion and empathy all the time that often causes me to check my own conditioned behavior. You are correct, human history is wrought with evil, but I fail to see how that is evidence of original sin. Rather, it could serve just as significantly as evidence of learned behavior and corruption of inherent goodness. I do not know if people are born good or evil or a mix of the two, and I agree in the imperative to develop loving kindness and a definite sense of moral accountability, be it through a sense of responsibility to a god or not, as there are many very moral nonbelievers. However, this in no way negates the overwhelming evidence that socioeconomic factors like racism, cycles of poverty, desperation, slavery and all manner of “evil” and injustice play significant roles in levels of crime, violent and not. Just dismissing them out of hand as liberal political excuses is irresponsible, prejudicial and, to use your word, “irrational.” Nobody is trying to suggest that criminals are blameless for their behavior or that lack of morals does not play a part. But simplifying the problem to one reason — people are just naturally bad — is doing what you criticize in your article, avoiding many of the causes of the problem. You may be right that controlling human nature is the root. However, the problem is much more complex, and only by understanding it in all its complexity can it be properly treated.
Joshua Berg
Burbank
Thank you, Dennis Prager, for your article “Are People Basically Good?” You substantiated my belief that there is no God of Abraham nor any God that has a personal relationship with people. You cite Genesis 8:21 as God declaring that the “will of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” What you fail to cite in Genesis is that “God created man in His own image.” Ergo you are worshiping an evil God if your God says man’s heart is evil from his youth and that man is created in the image of God. I consider myself as basically a good person, hence why should I read or listen to anything you write or say knowing that you worship an evil God?
Leon M. Salter
Los Angeles
What a sad world it would be if we all believed as Dennis Prager that mankind is inherently evil. Fortunately, I am convinced he is wrong on this issue as he is on so many other of his opinions. He says he is “unaware of a single mainstream Jewish text that posits that people are basically good.” But he fails to observe and learn from the many incidences in Torah where our forefathers and mothers have expressed their inherent goodness. What was it that motivated Abraham to interrupt his dialogue with God in order to offer aid to the strangers that passed by his tent? What was it that guided Joseph to forgive his brothers who sold him into slavery? What was that pushed Ruth to be faithful to her mother-in-law? Yes, Torah does contain many wicked and immoral acts by people — because it is true that mankind is far from perfect. But in the end, the Torah shows us that the goodness of individuals overcomes adversity and inequities and thereby gives us all hope for the future. At the risk of being overly simplistic, I ask, if Judaism teaches that man was created in God’s image and that God is inherently good, how can Mr. Prager’s views be based on Jewish teaching?
John Beckmann
Sherman Oaks
Women & ‘The Social Network’
I am writing to say how baffled I was by Danielle Berrin’s takedown of “The Social Network” (“Who Does Aaron Sorkin Really Hate?” Oct. 22). The notion that Aaron Sorkin hates Jewish women because this story does not have a Jewish woman at the center is half-baked and bizarre. And far from being shrewish, I found the Erica Albright character to be smart, empowered and one of the script’s many pleasures. I should also offer that, within the Hollywood community, I have had no greater supporter of my screenplays (all of which have empowered Jewish woman as protagonists) than Mr. Sorkin.
Emma Forrest
via e-mail
Loyalty Oath
I believe you err when you express concern with the idea that new citizens have a requirement for a loyalty oath (“Debasing a Foundational Idea,” Oct. 22). I became a citizen of the United States 43 years ago and still remember that, under penalties of the law, I had to swear allegiance to the United States and the values by which it existed. I also had to resign allegiance to other “Princes.” Why would Israel not be considered democratic if it did the same? We must continue and reaffirm our support while allowing democracy to exist in Israel. When we disagree, we must be careful that our voice does not give comfort and support to our and Israel enemies.
Jose Reines
Los Angeles
Poland … Then and Now
I read The Jewish Journal every week. I just got back from New Jersey, where we celebrated my dad’s 95th birthday, resulting in my reading last week’s issue this morning (“The New Life,” Oct. 22). (Hence, the late response.)
My father fought as a Jewish partisan in Poland and was liberated by the Russians, who made him an officer (due to his heroic exploits). My parents are from Chodel, Poland, a small village outside of Lublin. They will be the first to tell you as to how evil the Poles were to the Jews. Too many wanted to turn in Jews. The reward was a kilo of sugar or a liter of kerosene for every Jew turned in. Many could not wait to turn in as many as possible. There were Poles actively killing Jews during the war. This does not even include the pogrom of Kielce in 1946 in which Poles killed Jews who survived the war.
When I was back East, I also read the book “Rather Die Fighting” written by Frank (“Franek”) Blaichman, who was also a Jewish partisan in Poland and who is responsible for the memorial to the Jewish partisans at Yad Vashem. He is also a family friend. He outlines what the Poles did vividly in his book.
This does not mean that there were no good Poles. However, the bad seem to have outnumbered the good.
You should not be whitewashing actual history. Your article was unfortunately inaccurate at best.
Jacob E. Tauber
Beverly Hills
JewishJournal.com welcomes letters from all readers. Letters should be no more than 200 words and must include a valid name, address and phone number. Letters sent via e-mail must not contain attachments. We reserve the right to edit all letters. Mail: The Jewish Journal, Letters, 3580 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1510, Los Angeles, CA 90010; e-mail: {encode=”letters@jewishjournal.com” title=”letters@jewishjournal.com”}; or fax: (213) 368-1684.
Letters to the Editor: Prager, Aaron Sorkin and Hollywood Jew Read More »
THU | NOV 4
(FILM)
AFI Fest 2010 screens nearly 100 features and shorts, including “Casino Jack,” featuring Kevin Spacey in the role of jailed Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff; “Black Swan,” director Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis; Israeli director Eran Riklis’ “The Human Resources Manager”; and “Precious Life,” a documentary about a Palestinian boy who needs a bone marrow transplant and the Israeli and Palestinian doctors who treat him. Thu. Through Nov. 11. Free. Various times and locations. (866) 234-3378. afi.com.
(MUSIC)
Grammy-nominated Jewish rapper Drake brings his top-selling Light Dreams and Nightmares Tour to the Southland. His first studio album, “Thank Me Later,” debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in June and was certified platinum one month later. Thu. 8:15 p.m. $57.35-$83.20. Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City. livenation.com.
FRI | NOV 5
(SHABBAT)
Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills hosts Synaplex, featuring Columbia University journalism professor Todd Gitlin discussing his book “The Chosen Peoples: America, Israel and the Ordeals of Divine Election”; a musical Shabbat Unplugged service; Shabbat Uncorked, an opportunity for young professionals to mingle; a family dinner; youth mitzvah projects; Tot Shabbat; and babysitting. Fri. 6-9:30 p.m. Free. Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, 8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills. (310) 288-3737, ext. 235. tebh.org.
SAT | NOV 6
(THEATER)
Set in the Warsaw Ghetto, “The Survivor” follows a gang of teenagers who learn about love and the value of friendship while smuggling food to their families and arming themselves for the impending uprising. The play stars the descendants of Jewish partisans — Jordan Bielsky, grandson of Tuvia Bielski (portrayed by Daniel Craig in the film “Defiance”), and Gilli Messer, whose grandparents were part of Bielski’s Polish Jewish resistance group, which saved more than more than 1,200 Jews by hiding them in a Belarusian forest. Based on the memoir “Survivor of the Holocaust” by Jack Eisner, the play is written by Susan Nanus and produced by the Santa Monica Synagogue Genesis Arts Council. Sat. Through Nov. 14. 8 p.m. (Nov. 6, 11, 12, 13) and 2 p.m. (Nov. 7, 14). $20. Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave., Venice. (310) 453-4276. thesms.org.
(COMEDY)
Comedians Betsy Salkind and Monica Piper will have you laughing with their sarcastic wit and political humor during Tickling Adam’s Rib, a night of comedy at Temple Akiba. Sat. 7:30 p.m. $25. 5249 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City. (310) 398-5783. templeakiba.net.
SUN | NOV 7
(THEATER)
Today is your last chance to see Ed Asner in “FDR,” a one-man show that follows the iconic president as he reflects on his years in office, from inauguration to World War II. Sun. 2 and 7 p.m. $39-$100. Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. (626) 356-7529. pasadenaplayhouse.org.
(LECTURE)
Daniel Mendelsohn, author of “The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million,” delivers the 30th annual Jerome Nemer Lecture, “Finding the Lost: History, Narrative, Memory.” A discussion with Stephen Smith, executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, and Sharon Gillerman, associate professor of Jewish history at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, follows. Sun. 4:45-7 p.m. Free. University of Southern California, Davidson Conference Center, EmbassyRoom, Los Angeles. (213) 740-1744. college.usc.edu/events.
MON | NOV 8
(BOOKS)
A Q-and-A with comedian Sarah Silverman, author of the memoir, “The Bedwetter,” kicks off the fourth annual Celebration of Jewish Books. Other events include a program with Israeli novelist Naomi Ragen, author of “The Tenth Song” (Nov. 9); a 30th anniversary celebration of “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” featuring author Rabbi Harold Kushner, Rabbi David Wolpe, Rabbi Naomi Levy and Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson (Nov. 10); and author Judith Viorst (“Unexpectedly Eighty”) appears in conversation with Jewish Journal Managing Editor Susan Freudenheim (Nov. 11). Sarah Silverman: Mon. 7:30 p.m. Through Nov. 14. Program times vary. $20-$45. American Jewish University, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 440-1548. wcce.ajula.edu.
(DISCUSSION)
Legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim (“West Side Story,” “Sweeney Todd”) takes to the stage to discuss his storied career with KCRW’s Michael Silverblatt. UCLA Live’s “Stephen Sondheim: A Life in the Theatre” celebrates the American master, who turned 80 this year. Mon. 8 p.m. $15 (UCLA students), $43-$88 (general). UCLA Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles. (310) 825-2101. uclalive.org.
THU | NOV 11
(SYMPOSIUM)
The 34th annual Catholic-Jewish Women’s Conference, a day of dialogue, music and group discussions, addresses the topic “Who is My Neighbor? Do We Practice What We Preach?” Guest speakers include Rabbi Denise L. Eger, president of Southern California Board of Rabbis, and Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, an assistant professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University. Thu. 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. $25 (students), $40 (general). Costs include breakfast, box lunch and beverages. Wilshire Blvd Temple, 3664 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. (818) 884-5532. sites.google.com/site/cjwcla/Home.
(POLITICS)
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami and other pro-Israel, pro-peace leaders gather tonight for the J Street Los Angeles Kickoff Celebration. Schmooze with J Street L.A. leaders and enjoy a cocktail hour. Thu. 7-9 p.m. Free. Taglyan Cultural Center, 1201 N. Vine St., Hollywood. jstreet.org/losangeles.
(DISCUSSION)
Writer-director Nora Ephron (“I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections”) appears in conversation with screenwriter Robin Swicord (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”). Thu. 7:30 p.m. $20. Writers Guild Theater, 135 S. Doheny Drive, Beverly Hills. writersblocpresents.com.
Calendar Picks and Clicks: Nov. 4-12, 2010 Read More »
Jewish institutions throughout the United States are reassessing their security following last Friday’s mail bombing attempt of two Jewish institutions in Chicago.
On Tuesday, some 200 representatives of Jewish community institutions took part in a conference call with FBI experts on security measures.
“The situation with bombs this weekend certainly reminded us that all our institutions can be vulnerable to threats of this type,” said Bonnie Michelman, the community security chairwoman of the Anti-Defamation League, which organized the call.
Michelman, the security director at Massachusetts General Hospital, went on to outline specific signs that people should look for to identify suspicious packages.
The FBI announced Tuesday that no synagogues exist at the addresses on the two bomb packages but urged the need for continued community vigilance.
“Terrorists will continue and diversify their attacks,” a representative from the FBI’s Washington field office said during the conference call.
Senior leadership from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were set to begin holding teleconferences on the same topic with senior Jewish organizational leaders across the country beginning Wednesday afternoon.
Security experts are still trying to determine the actual targets of the two explosive-packed printer cartridges intercepted last Friday. It was unclear whether they were meant for the planes carrying the packages or the Jewish institutions to which the packages were addressed. U.S. authorities have refused to confirm the identities of the institutions targeted.
One of the packages was intercepted in Dubai and another in London. Al-Qaida is believed to be behind the two bombs.
After the bombs were discovered, a Homeland Security team arrived Sunday in Chicago, according to Paul Goldenberg, national director of the Secure Community Network, the national agency for Jewish communal security. SCN operates under the auspices of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
The Homeland Security representatives are contacting Chicago Jewish institutions for security training in conjunction with the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. SCN will notify other communities in advance of the Homeland Security calls, which will extend through the week.
“They’re providing training and resources to ensure the community feels safe and has the tools it needs,” Goldenberg said.
Of particular concern in this case, Goldenberg noted, is that the package bombs were addressed to American Jewish institutions, indicating that terrorists are treating them as proxies for Israel and thus legitimate targets.
“We don’t know when the bombs were intended to go off, but the fact remains they were going after American Jews, not Israeli consulates,” he said. “They targeted American synagogues. That was the message.”
Last Friday, SCN sent out two e-mail notifications to its national network outlining how to handle suspicious packages and alerting people to key addresses and other signs of a potential terrorist mail threat. The Orthodox Union and Union for Reform Judaism, both members of the SCN network, also sent out security alerts to their member congregations.
The SCN notification advised Jewish organizations to watch for large packages, particularly coming from abroad.
“Organizations that believe they have received a suspicious package should not open it, [should] evacuate the area and call 911 immediately,” it said.
Steve Sheinberg, who oversees the ADL’s Jewish community security program, said now that the first wave of emergency information has gone out, it’s time to regroup and engage in a careful, ongoing reassessment of each institution’s security measures.
“Our security messages are very measured,” he said. “Our goal is to inform, not panic. There is no need for panic. This is an occasion to look at security measures in place, make adjustments as necessary and move forward.”
In Chicago, Jews are calm but wary following the bomb threat.
“The schools are all being very vigilant, without getting everyone nervous,” said Rolly Cohen, education director of the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago. “They’re stepping things up a bit, making sure doors are locked, checking to see who’s there before opening them, putting security measures back in places they might have become more lax about.”
“The need to take security precautions is not new,” said JUF Executive Vice President Michael Kotzin, who praised national and local security agencies for their professionalism and alacrity in responding to this incident. “This was a very traumatic example of that. There’s generally been a sense of calm, not fear and panic but a kind of resignation that we need to be alert—as Americans, and as Jews in particular.”
The Chicago federation and the ADL scheduled a security conference for Thursday in Chicago bringing together heads of local Jewish institutions with representatives of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Service and local law enforcement.
Comparing this week’s efforts to those following the shooting of six people at the Seattle Jewish federation three years ago, Goldenberg distinguished between the actions of “a lone wolf” like the Seattle shooter and the current situation.
“Now we are dealing with the potential of one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world targeting Jewish institutions,” he said.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel Congregation, an Orthodox synagogue in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, said operations at his synagogue “continued as usual” last Shabbat, although security was enhanced and worshipers were instructed to be extra vigilant.
“We had a bar mitzvah and no one was afraid to come to shul. I think it even drummed up business—one man told me his wife said, ‘You have to go to shul,’ ” Lopatin said.
“You think Chicago is under the radar screen, then you realize no one is immune if you are a part of a community,” the rabbi added.
(For detailed information on recommended security precautions, visit http://www.scnus.org or http://www.adl.org/security. The Chicago Jewish News contributed to this report.)
Jewish institutions reassess security following bomb attempt Read More »
Mazel Tov to The New York Times for lending credence to a Jewish Journal report on French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s alleged anti-Semitism. (Nevermind that it took them a month to pay attention – we’re not counting.)
Godard, a seminal and brilliant auteur filmmaker was selected to receive an honorary Oscar for his prolific body of work, which includes more than 70 films—but the decision to honor him sparked controversy in some circles, raising questions about Godard’s personal and artistic politics.
Times Hollywood correspondent Michael Cieply writes:
Over the last month, articles in the Jewish press — including a cover story titled “Is Jean-Luc Godard an Anti-Semite?” in The Jewish Journal — have revived a simmering debate over whether Mr. Godard, an avowed anti-Zionist and advocate for Palestinian rights, is also anti-Jewish. And this close examination of his posture toward Jews has put a shadow over plans by the academy to honor him at the Nov. 13 banquet
Spokespeople for the 79-year-old Godard recently announced he would not show for the ceremony. Whether his decline to participate is related to charges of anti-Semitism is inconclusive, but there has been speculation since the announcement that he would not attend. After all, the reigning King of French New Wave couldn’t be caught dead near the likes of Hollywood.
As Journal contributing editor Tom Tugend noted in his story, “[Godard] and his cohorts, among them Francois Truffaut and Eric Rohmer, rebelled against the traditional French movie, and later against all things Hollywood.”
Whether or not Godard is a verifiable anti-Semite is still in question. In a recent post, I suggested that Godard’s anti-Jewish sentiments may not be hardcore Jew-hatred, but a kind of casual anti-Semitism that is pervasive in French culture.
“There is a casual anti-Semitism in French culture that is quite different than that of the virulent anti-Semitism of the extreme French right, and that is very much connected to a kind of antagonism towards Jews in power,” Maureen Turim, professor of English at the University of Florida, explained.
Film critic Bill Krohn, the Hollywood correspondent for the iconic French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema, may have picked up on this in his defense of Godard. He excused Godard for calling Braunberger a “sale Juif ” (filthy Jew), by dismissing the remark as banter between friends, insisting it was a reference to Jean Renoir’s indictment of French anti-Semitism “La grande illusion.”
Turim, who is at work on a book about Jews, Anti-Semitism, and Resistance in the French Cinema, thinks Krohn is missing the point.
“No amount of reference to ‘La grande illusion’ allows you to make that kind of comment,” Turim said by phone from Gainesville, Florida where she is teaching a graduate seminar on Godard. “It’s not a joke; it’s not a joke in ‘La grande illusion,’ which is one of the strongest statements in the history of French film that anti-Semitism exists in France, and that it’s a horrible thing, and you can’t just turn it into a joke.”
“Godard should just say ‘I’m sorry, I spoke terribly.’ But there’s a whole way that people find to excuse such unconscious anti Semitism that runs through [French] culture.”
Jewish Journal story on Godard’s anti-Semitism inspires New York Times Read More »
The visit of a prime minister to a high school is enough to excite most students and faculty. The esteemed guest signs the visitors’ book, cuts a ribbon and politely watches a show about the school.
Only in this case the visit by Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, was highly symbolic because this high school happens to be located on parts of eastern Jerusalem claimed by Israel, and the Israeli government was not happy about it.
“The Israeli prime minister defined these suburbs as suburbs of Jerusalem, the united capital. And we say, yes, these are suburbs, but suburbs of our occupied capital, which will always be the capital of our independent state,” Fayyad told the dedication ceremony.
In a show of muscle, Israel’s Minister for Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch issued a ban prohibiting Fayyad and other PA officials from participating in political activities within Israel territory. Fayyad chose not to defy the ban, saying he wouldn’t put on a “publicity stunt” by forcing a confrontation with Israeli police.
Instead, he chose to go to a school in the Dahiyat al-Barid neighborhood that is within the municipal boundaries but on the Palestinian side of the security wall Israel has erected.
The al-Umah Secondary School was renovated in part with Palestinian funds, one of 15 schools and several roads in eastern Jerusalem upgraded in the program. His visit was conducted under heavy security, and he was accompanied by dozens of media crews.
As far as the Palestinians are concerned, Israel was living by a double standard, claiming sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem, but not spending money on the schools and other public services there. Mohammad Abdulqader Husseini, CEO Faisal Husseini Foundation, said international donors also chipped funding in to help renovate schools.
“We lack 1,500 classrooms. Many of our students are winding up in the streets rather than in school. Israel isn’t building new schools. They are putting obstacles in front of us to building new schools. So we have to do something,” Husseini told The Media Line. “We decided to help the current schools to renovate, to restructure and try to add more structures and we succeeded to some extent. Yet it is not enough.”
An official from Israel Public Security Ministry said Fayyad did not violate the ban since it only covered the Arab neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah, the Christian Quarter of the Old City, Shuafat and Anata. Ibrahim al-Rifa’i, the head of the Anata neighborhood council, told The Media Line he was disappointed Israel didn’t let Fayyad into Anata.
“What Salam Fayyad did in Anata, the Jerusalem municipality should have done since 1967,” al-Rifa’i said, refereeing to the year Israel acquired the area in a war with Jordan. “Israel considers Anata part of Jerusalem, but gave it nothing— no streets, no water, no electricity, no clinics and no clearing of garbage. So I turned to Salam Fayyad and received a promise, which he realized, and that’s what we came to celebrate today.”
Asked why he didn’t disregard the Israeli ban Fayyad said that the location of the celebrations was secondary.
“There was a clear ban from Israel on celebrating these events and we have celebrated them anyway,” Fayyad said. “What is really important is the substance. We are not here on a publicity stunt. We are here to send a clear message—that we are determined to stick around until the day comes when our people enjoy what is an absolute right for all peoples around the world; to live as free people in a country of our own. That’s what this is about.”
Fayyad Attends High School Ceremony in Jerusalem, Despite Ban Read More »
“Are you telling me that you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?” Twenty-five years ago Back to the Future was released. As a kid I wore out the trilogy’s videotapes (surely one of the greatest Hanukkah presents ever) and watched the town square of Hill Valley take shape and change through the years, from the Old West to the 1950s, 1980s, and the “future” year of 2015.
This weekend I found myself in my own déjà vu experience, minus the flux capacitor. Back on the national mall for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, I stood just a few hundred feet from where I stood less than two years before at the Inauguration of President Obama. Not much time had gone by, but the world around the events couldn’t be much more different.
In case you’re wondering, I’m not addicted to joining large crowds or attending rallies on the mall. The first trip, for the inauguration, was the product of a dare made by me and my cousin while breaking the Yom Kippur fast. In a haze of bagels, lox, and a rapid rise in blood sugar, we decided that if Candidate Obama won we would drive across the country to watch him become President Obama. The second journey was, appropriately, much more reasonable and sane: an excuse to see my friends and girlfriend on the East Coast. Oh, and the opportunity to see Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert didn’t hurt.
In hindsight, both trips seem equally improbable, and both events equally profound.
At the inauguration, I felt inspired. It was amazing to feel anything considering the below-freezing weather I’d been standing in since before dawn. Our journey there had taken us on a hasty road trip through the South, through Memphis and Alabama and Mississippi, before turning to DC. A last-minute idea, I could have sworn we’d hopped into a DeLorean instead of a rental car.
Watching our 44th President, and first African-American President, be sworn in to office, felt like a conclusion to the story of images we’d seen in the South. A car parked outside the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, with “DC or Bust” written on its window. The beautiful administration building at Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, where bullets aimed at James Meredith, the first African American student to enroll, missed and left holes in the marble columns. An empty room in a hotel in Crawford left as a shrine to the blues singer Bessie Smith, who died there after being refused admission to the nearby hospital following a car crash. Strangely enough, our room in that hotel had been rented in a previous age to Sam Cooke, whose old song became an anthem of the 2008 election: “It’s been a long, a long time coming, but change is gonna come.”
People cheer in Washington, DC as President Obama is sworn in. Photo by Cory Fischer
As I listened to President Obama’s speech that day, history felt real and alive in way I’d never experienced before. The country had chosen hope, and the President’s call to service, “A willingness to find meaning in something greater than [ourselves],” resonated strongly with me. Just a few months later I responded to that call by applying to work at the Progressive Jewish Alliance, following in the footsteps of my great-grandparents who came to this country seeking progress and from whom I trace my values.
But the rancor and anger that arose after the inauguration was a surprise to me, like getting in your bed only to realize you’re in the wrong house in an alternate reality you weren’t expecting at all. As far as I know, no one has messed with the space-time continuum to cause this shift, but it seems that over the past two years many people have, well, rejected sanity. It’s impossible for me to see the unrest of the past two years, the marches, the rallies, the fear, the screaming, without recalling my trip through the South, without recalling the images of what a torn country looks like. It’s not the same, I know, and things are very different, but I also know now what it means to live in a confusing and polarizing time.
If there’s a moral to the story of Back to the Future that I can draw from — and I’m going to ask you to humor this just a little bit longer — it’s that our future hasn’t been written yet. As Doc would say, “Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one.” And as best I can explain, that’s what the Rally to Restore Sanity was all about: choosing a better future.
People of every creed and color gathered, mainly just to stand and laugh together. Judging from those around me at the rally, every imaginable demographic was represented. On our right was an older mustachioed gentleman in a tweed suit; on our left, two Muslim moms with their baby. There were strange and surreal moments, all very funny and very, very, reasonable (except for Kid Rock, what was THAT about?). The crowd, too, was reasonable, even when passing through the narrow exits at the end.
My first time on the mall I was surprised to feel called to service. My second time I was surprised to feel proud and patriotic.
Some might see Stewart’s rally as an endorsement of apathy, as an invitation for everyone to exchange their beliefs for cooperation. This was not so. “We can have animus,” Stewart reminded the crowd, “and not be enemies.” At the end of the day, the rally was a celebration of our differences and a call for civility during hard times.
In a sincere turn (the whole thing though, was sincere beneath the satire), Stewart said, “Our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done – not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.” I couldn’t agree more. In my work at PJA I am sustained by the values of a Jewish story that came to America and — over and over again, across many social movements — animated the basic principle of treating others well.
At the rally, I felt proud to be working for progress. I felt humble to be engaged, in my tiny role, in carrying forward the idea that all are created equal. In times like these we have to choose and proclaim our density. I mean… our destiny. Let’s make it a good one.
Cory Fischer is the Communications Director of the Progressive Jewish Alliance.
Several Jewish Democratic incumbents are fighting for their political survival as Americans head to the polls.
Lawmakers under threat Tuesday in a midterm election cycle that has seen a conservative/Republican resurgence include U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Reps. Ron Klein (D-Fla.), Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz), Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), John Adler (D-N.J.) and Steve Kagen (D-Wis.).
Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) appears set to lose his bid to win New Hampshire’s open U.S. Senate seat, as does Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher , a Democrat.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) looks like she has beaten back a challenge from Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard.
The results may open up new leadership opportunities in both houses.
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the minority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, is poised to become majority leader should Republicans retake the House, as is anticipated.
If Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) loses a hotly contested battle to conservative Tea Party-backed Republican Sharron Angle, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is likely to run for party leader in the Senate, where Democrats are expected to maintain their majority.
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Even before the bombs mailed from Yemen dominated the non-election news, talk around the coffee table was inevitably coming around to the Middle East. The phenomenon united news-savvy citizens sitting in a souk in Turkey; a hotel in Bethlehem or east Jerusalem; and even a trendy LA restaurant.
Initially phrased in terms like, “Is there going to be peace in the Middle East…in my lifetime?,” the parameters quickly narrow and more often than not “the Middle East” becomes rightly defined as “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Typically, the questions then become more in-line with, “Will there be a Palestinian state in a year?” or “Will the Palestinians bolt the U.S.-brokered talks and take their chances at the U.N.?” or for the better-informed, “Can Israel maintain its security if it swaps land?” or even “Are the Palestinians sure they want statehood now given all it implies?” Yet, most recently, we’re hearing conversations beginning with Israel and Palestine quickly turn to Iran, its region and finally global threat.
While Iran holds the world hostage with its advancing nuclear proliferation and its savvy, methodical wooing of super powers Russia and China; vulnerable Islamic nations including Syria, Lebanon and even Turkey, are sufficiently concerned that each is doing its best to hedge their bets – making noises pleasing to the hardliners while taking advantage of the Obama administration’s determination to leave the diplomatic door open even as sabers are rattled and oratory turns nasty. Witness the warm and fuzzy Al-Asad visit to Ahmadinejad replete with vicious anti-American diatribes that came exactly while pressure on the president to disengage from Damascus was growing perceptibly.
Western interests, led by the U.S., are focusing on those Muslim nations that have earned the appellation “moderate” – a code-word meaning if nothing else, they share with the West the fear of a nuclear Iran. Or at least enough of a fear to signal Western policy planners that it’s not out of the realm of reality to count the subject nation on the right side of the “Iran or the Rest” line-in-the-sand. All while keeping mind that none of this is black-and-white. Arab nations will not easily cast a pro-American shadow absent an adequate return; and last year, China replaced the European Union as Iran’s largest trading partner because of its ability to supply it with oil and petroleum. Russia’s relations, too, are based on economic exchanges with Iran.
Far from being a one-way street, both China and Russia seek to maintain their respective positions as super powers in part through access to Iran’s rich and abundant natural resources. The recent signing of an energy collaboration between Iran and Russia spanning a 30-year period illustrates the point, while on the China front, Beijing is selling oil to Iran to the tune of 12% of the fuel it uses and has opened a missile plant in the Islamic Republic. Natural gas deals lie in the future. Such tangible ties render the U.S. more vulnerable in these strategic power plays – particularly in its attempt to slap sanctions on Iran with the necessary approval of both China and Russia increasingly difficult to come by.
Meanwhile, back at teatime in Ramallah and Jerusalem, officials from both sides opine that a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians would strengthen the moderate Arab alliance so badly needed as a regional block to the conflict Iran poses – the real mother-of-all-Mideast-conflicts. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf countries fear the doomsday combination of Iran’s military strength and fanatical political brain trust – arguably even more so than either Israel or the United States. It’s a perspective shared with me by dozens of Mideast sources, albeit most invoking anonymity although not a factor mitigating the veracity of the belief in a region where significant policy forms behind closed doors.
An old standard among Israel-Palestine arguing points suggests that Palestinians will not provoke or support Iran because Palestinians, too, reside within the bulls-eye of Iranian missile batteries. Today’s realities include mock drills in Jordan centering around the aftermath of a fictitious nuclear attack in the area of the Dead Sea, complete with participating experts assembled by the Prepatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Ban Treaty Organization The stated goal: that no nuclear explosion goes undetected.
Short of nuclear involvement, Iran continues to foment hostilities in the Middle East through massive deliveries of conventional weapons to terror proxies HIzbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Iranian- treachery prepares the environment to support Al-Qa’ida – both in presence and in philosophy – replicating the clear field the world terrorist network enjoys in Yemen. Extend to its logical conclusion where Prime Minister Erdogan’s blatant courting of Islamist hardliners threatens to take Turkey, and references to the world’s most dangerous region take on new meaning.
Fatah-Hamas reconciliation used to be an open-and-shut argument for supporters of Israel. But Iran’s unstoppable nuclear ambitions; Ahmadinejad’s incessant belligerence; and the abject fear the Islamic Republic is spreading throughout the Middle East is rapidly simplifying the equation, making choices and repercussions clear. In doing so, Iran appears to be more effective in illustrating the upside of an Israeli-Palestinian rapprochement than the American interlocutors have so far been able to do.
Felice Friedson is President and CEO of The Media Line Ltd., an American news agency specializing in coverage of the Middle East. She is founder of The Mideast Press Club. Felice Friedson can be reached at {encode=”felice_friedson@yahoo.com” title=”felice_friedson@yahoo.com”}.
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