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Jewish Journal

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May 4, 2018

Report: Kerry Colluding With Foreign Nations to Save Iran Deal

Leave a Comment / United States /

A new report from The Boston Globe is stating that former Secretary of State John Kerry is colluding with other foreign nations to save the Iran nuclear deal.

According to the report, “Kerry has been on an aggressive yet stealthy mission to preserve” the deal, recently meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to talk about ways to preserve the deal. Kerry is working with a group of former State Department officials under the Obama administration as part of the effort.

“The quiet lobbying campaign — by him and others — is being conducted below the radar because he and his allies believe a high-profile defense of the deal by prominent Democrats would only backfire and provoke Trump, making it more likely the president would pull the United States out of the deal,” the Glonbe reports.

Brookings Institute foreign policy expert Michael O’Hanlon told the Boston Globe that this kind of behavior from Kerry was “unusual.”

“Former secretaries of state often remain quite engaged with foreign leaders, as they should, but it’s rarely so issue-specific, especially when they have just left office,” O’Hanlon said.

The fact that Kerry, a private citizen, is working with foreign government officials to save the deal could present issues with the Logan Act, although there has never been any indictments brought forth under it.

This report comes as President Trump is set to make a decision on the Iran deal on the May 12 deadline, with all indications pointing to the deal being all but dead.

Report: Kerry Colluding With Foreign Nations to Save Iran Deal Read More »

Rabbi Strear to Leave AJU

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles /

After spending 23 years at American Jewish University (AJU), Rabbi Jay Strear is leaving the university to become president and CEO of JEWISHcolorado.

JEWISHcolorado announced the move in a press release on May 4, stating that Strear will be returning to his roots in Denver, the place he grew up.

“Rabbi Strear brings the skills, experience and background we’ve been looking for in JEWISHcolorado’s next CEO,” Diana Zeff Anderson, the board chair of JEWISHcolorado, said in a statement. “He is a dedicated Jewish community professional who is passionate and excited about his work. He leads with kindness, and brings his wealth of Jewish knowledge, as well as his rich experience in fundraising and management, to everything he does.”

Strear wrote in his letter of acceptance, “I take great pride in my long record of loyalty and integrity, an unwavering commitment to ethical leadership, and a deeply felt sense of connection with, and historical ties to, the Denver Jewish Community. I am humbled to partner with you and JEWISHcolorado in honoring its history, while leading the community into its dynamic future.”

Strear had served in various positions at AJU, mainly working of the board of directors to secure gift and work on mergers and acquisitions.

Rabbi Strear to Leave AJU Read More »

5 Most Anti-Semitic Abbas Quotes

Leave a Comment / Israel /

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is currently under fire for blaming the Jews for the Holocaust. Abbas issued a milquetoast apology, but it’s worth noting that his recent Holocaust comments are the latest in a long line of anti-Semitic statements by the PA president.

Here are Abbas’ five most anti-Semitic quotes outside of his recent Holocaust remark.

1. “Certain rabbis in Israel have said very clearly to their government that our water should be poisoned in order to have Palestinians killed.” Abbas stated this anti-Semitic blood libel at a June 2016 speech to the European Union (EU). After facing criticism for this statement, Abbas walked it back, saying that such blood libels were “baseless” and that “he didn’t intend to do harm to Judaism.”

2. “The Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is ours, and they have no right to defile it with their filthy feet. We will not allow them to, and we will do everything in our power to protect Jerusalem.” This quote is part of a speech Abbas made on Palestinian TV in September 2015 during a wave of violence at Temple Mount. His speech only further incited the matter, as he’s essentially stating that Jews and Israelis can’t defile the mosque “with their filthy feet.”

3. “Call yourselves what you want but I will not accept it…the ‘Jewish State’…I will not accept it.” Abbas said this in 2009 and stated it again in 2010, making it clear that no matter how much he claims to prefer a two-state solution, he does not believe the Jews have the right to determine their own homeland.

4. “If they [Jews] say that they made sacrifices in World War II, and we respect what they say, they should not treat us the way they were treated. We must not be a victim of the victim.” According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)’s Itamar Marcus, Abbas told Polish journalists this in August 2015.

“It is striking that in his statement Abbas presents the Holocaust not as historical fact to be acknowledged but as something ‘Jews say’ which he is willing to ‘respect,’” Marcus wrote.

5. “We find that Zionists believe in the purity of the Jewish race, as Hitler believed in the purity of the Aryan race. Zionism calls to find a fundamental final solution to the Jewish question in Europe by immigration to Palestine. Hitler also called for this and implemented it… Anti-Semitism is persecution and oppression, and this is definitely something desirable to the Zionist movement.” This comes from Abbas’ 1984 book, which pushes the Holocaust-denial conspiracy theory that the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust is a fabricated figure.

5 Most Anti-Semitic Abbas Quotes Read More »

Trump Lawyer on New Book: ‘The People Will Be Able to Defend Jerusalem As Their Capital’

Leave a Comment / United States /

Jay Sekulow, who is a part of President Trump’s legal team, discussed his new book “Jerusalem: A Biblical and Historical Case for the Jewish Capital” on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) on May 3, explaining how it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people.

Sekulow told TBN that he approached the book as if he was arguing before the Supreme Court, which he has done 20 times.

“I wrote the book anticipating every question we could think of that would be the other side of the issue,” Sekulow said.

In doing so, he made the legal, historical and Biblical case for Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish people.

“The Jewish people have resided in [and] maintained a residency in Jerusalem even in times of immense persecution and dispersion,” Sekulow said, pointing out throughout the interview that there has always been a “remnant” of the Jewish population in Jerusalem.

Additionally, there is new archaeological evidence everyday tying the history of the Jewish people to Jerusalem.

From a legal standpoint, Israel has a right to Jerusalem under international law since they took it back from Jordan during the Six-Day War.

“The precedent is set… that there is no way that the Jewish people and the state of Israel does not have the right to take that territory,” Sekulow said.

Sekulow expressed his amazement to TBN about Trump’s Jerusalem move, saying that it was something that most people thought wouldn’t happen in their lifetimes and that the move itself didn’t result in World War III that critics warned about. Sekulow believes that is thanks to a higher power that now was the moment to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel when the Arab world’s highest priority is the threat of Iran.

“Human beings cannot orchestrate these moments. The word of God is very clear on this,” Sekulow said, adding that “the prophetic nature of Jerusalem is clear from the very beginning of scripture.”

The reason why Sekulow thinks it’s so important to educate the populace about Jerusalem is because the security of Israel is important to the interests of the United States and “Jerusalem has been the flashpoint in world history.”

“You have to understand the significance of Jerusalem,” Sekulow said. “Why has one city in one place drawn so much world attention?”

By understanding history, people can know how to learn from it, especially as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement seeks to delegitimize Israel and Jerusalem.

The full interview can be seen below:

https://www.facebook.com/TBN/videos/1692441737459015/

Trump Lawyer on New Book: ‘The People Will Be Able to Defend Jerusalem As Their Capital’ Read More »

Abbas Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks

Leave a Comment / Israel /

After facing widespread condemnation for his recent comments, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas issued an apology for blaming the Holocaust on the Jews.

Abbas said in a May 4 statement, “If people were offended by my statement in front of the PNC [Palestinian National Council], especially people of the Jewish faith, I apologize to them.”

“I would like to assure to everyone that it was not my intention to do so, and to reiterate my full respect for the Jewish faith, as well as other monotheistic claims.”

Abbas added that the PA has a “long held condemnation of the Holocaust as the most heinous crime in history” as well as “anti-Semitism in all its forms.” He concluded his statement with a call for a two-state solution.

However, Abbas’ apology has not been warmly received.

“Abbas is a wretched Holocaust denier, who wrote a doctorate of Holocaust denial and later also published a book on Holocaust denial,” Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman tweeted. “That is how he should be treated. His apologies are not accepted.”

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) also excoriated Abbas in a tweet.

“‘If people were offended is not an apology,” the AJC tweeted. “A real apology can include ending Palestinian Authority payments to terrorists who murder Jews.”

On May 2, Abbas said, “The Jewish question that was widespread throughout Europe was not against their religion, but against their social function, which relates to usury (unscrupulous money lending) and banking and such.” The blowback against Abbas has been severe to the point where even The New York Times called on him to step down after he made his anti-Semitic remarks.

Abbas Apologizes for Holocaust Remarks Read More »

I Hear the Third Temple is Hiring - A Poem for Haftarah Emor by Rick Lupert

I Hear the Third Temple is Hiring – A Poem for Haftarah Emor by Rick Lupert

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

I’m going through the list of things required of priests
for jobs in the third temple and realize I’m, probably,
not going to get the job.

I’m okay with not letting my hair go wild, but that
definitely rules out my son who, if you mention
the word haircut is ready to join the other team.

(the team of people who don’t cut their hair.)
I’m okay with not going near a corpse. Honestly
I have so little to talk about with dead people.

But with wine so intertwined with my every
Jewish movement, I don’t think I can roll with
its prohibition during priestly duties.

I’m okay with not eating things that died of
natural causes, but to be fair, I already make
a point of not eating things that were killed.

I’m not sure I’m okay with wearing a linen hat
instead of a wool one. Just feels like we’re getting
awfully picky with the uniform.

I can’t say it’s an issue for me to only marry a
descendent of the House of Israel as I think I’ve
already got that covered. Do they take

married people into the priesthood? I don’t see
anything about that in the job description.
I’m a little concerned about the salary too.

I see the point about not receiving anything but
God. I’m all for God’s presence but I’m not sure
the bank will accept that as a mortgage payment

and, though I’ve never tried to buy a sandwich
using only the Lord as collateral, I’m not sure that
would go well. Is that like a higher level of Apple Pay?

Finally, it seems like it may be a risk taking this job at all.
I don’t have the heart to tell the search committee, there
may never be a third Temple.

And even if there was, if they’re going to put it
where I think they’re going to put it, I’m really not
willing to relocate. Can I telecommute?

My third temple comes when people lift their voices.
It comes when song spills from their breaths.
This is the holy place I will build.

God Wrestler: a poem for every Torah Portion by Rick LupertLos Angeles poet Rick Lupert created the Poetry Super Highway (an online publication and resource for poets), and hosted the Cobalt Cafe weekly poetry reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 22 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler: A Poem for Every Torah Portion“, “I’m a Jew, Are You” (Jewish themed poems) and “Feeding Holy Cats” (Poetry written while a staff member on the first Birthright Israel trip), and most recently “Beautiful Mistakes” (Rothco Press, May 2018) and edited the anthologies “A Poet’s Siddur: Shabbat Evening“,  “Ekphrastia Gone Wild”, “A Poet’s Haggadah”, and “The Night Goes on All Night.” He writes the daily web comic “Cat and Banana” with fellow Los Angeles poet Brendan Constantine. He’s widely published and reads his poetry wherever they let him.

I Hear the Third Temple is Hiring – A Poem for Haftarah Emor by Rick Lupert Read More »