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Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

March 11, 2019

Petition Calls for Pitzer to Keep Israel Study Abroad Program

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, Online /

A petition was started on March 6 calling for Pitzer College to maintain its study abroad program at the University of Haifa when the Pitzer College Council convenes on March 14.

The petition, which was initiated by Students for Academic Freedom, states that they are “deeply troubled by the recent vote by members of the Pitzer faculty calling for an end to the College’s study abroad program at the University of Haifa.”

“That the faculty motioned to end a major academic partnership without considering any student input is not only a breach of academic freedom, but a blatant disregard for the shared governance system that Pitzer students and faculty have enjoyed for decades,” the petition states.

The petition adds that the study abroad program “encourages collaboration and broadening horizons for participants rather than advancing a political agenda.”

“Ending this academic opportunity for students violates the College’s own stance that ‘Pitzer College celebrates cultural diversity and intercultural understanding,” the petition states. “Limiting student participation in any study abroad program makes it more challenging for students to deepen their ‘appreciation of global diversity’ and severely restricts academic freedom for the Pitzer College community.”

At least 420 people have signed the petition as of publication time.

Zev Hurwitz, the director of campus affairs for the American Jewish Committee, wrote in the Journal that if the Pitzer College Council votes on March 14 to end the program, it would be “a dangerous precedent.”

“At issue in the Pitzer vote is not only the study abroad program in Haifa, but the idea that a student should not have his or her academic pursuits hindered by outside political influences,” Hurwitz wrote. “Proponents of BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) have attempted to define academic freedom as a principle that forces students to adhere to a boycott, potentially against their will. True academic freedom allows the free exchange of ideas regardless on circumstances in the host country.”

Petition Calls for Pitzer to Keep Israel Study Abroad Program Read More »

Report: Qatar Offered FIFA Nearly $900 Million to Host 2022 World Cup

Leave a Comment / Online, Worldwide /

A new report from The Sunday Times alleges that Qatar offered FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) with nearly $900 million to host the 2022 World Cup.

According to the report, Qatar funneled $400 million through an Al Jazeera broadcasting contract to FIFA just before FIFA announced in 2010 that Qatar would be hosting the 2022 World Cup, which included a $100 million bonus if Qatar hosted the World Cup. Qatar then offered FIFA with another payment of $480 million three years later, per the report.

The Times report also states that these alleged payments are part of a bribery investigation by Switzerland’s law enforcement authorities. FIFA said in a statement to the BBC that they “will continue to co-operate with the authorities” on the matter.

Al Jazeera is funded by the Qatari government; Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt called Al Jazeera “a major exporter hate against the Jewish people, Israel, and the United States” in an August op-ed in The Hill.

“Al Jazeera also routinely glorifies violence against Israeli Jews, regularly calling Palestinians killed in the act of trying to murder Israelis as ‘martyrs,’” Greenblatt wrote.

The Qatari government itself has provided financial support for terror groups like Hamas and al-Qaeda.

Report: Qatar Offered FIFA Nearly $900 Million to Host 2022 World Cup Read More »

Gadot, Rivlin, Sela Fire Back Against Netanyahu’s Instagram Remarks

Online /

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin joined Gal Gadot March 11 in pushing back at remarks made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu wrote on social media March 10 that “Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the nation-state law we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people — and not anyone else.”

The Times of Israel reported Rivlin rebuking Netanyahu at a Jerusalem conference about Egyptian-Israel peace March 11 by saying, “We must get to the point where we are truly able to say: No more war and bloodshed between Israelis and Arabs. Between Israel and all Arabs.”

“I refused and refuse to believe that there are political parties that have surrendered the character of Israel as a Jewish and democratic, democratic and Jewish, state,” Rivlin continued. “Those who believe that the State of Israel must be Jewish and democratic in the full sense of the word must remember that the State of Israel has complete equality of rights for all its citizens.”

Netanyahu’s response came from an Instagram post made on March 9 by model and actor Rotem Sela, who wrote, “Dear God, there are also Arab citizens in this country. When the hell will someone in this government convey to the public that Israel is a state of all its citizens and that all people were created equal, and that even the Arabs and the Druze and the LGBTs and — shock — the leftists are human.”

Actress Gal Gadot who is most well known for playing DC superhero Wonder Woman, backed Sela in an Instagram story (which has since expired) March 10 writing “Love your neighbor as yourself …  The responsibility to sow hope and light for a better future for our children is on us. Rotem, sister, you are the inspiration for us all.”

Gadot, Rivlin, Sela Fire Back Against Netanyahu’s Instagram Remarks Read More »

Columbia University BDS Referendum Fails

Leave a Comment / Online, United States /

A boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) referendum at Columbia University failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed to pass.

According to the Columbia Daily Spectator, 20 members of the Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) voted against the March 10 referendum, 17 voted in favor of it and one, CCSC President Jordan Singer, abstained.

Nineteen students watched the four-hour long session inside the Jed D. Statow room, while at least 130 other students followed the live stream in an overflow room. The session was also streamed on Facebook, via the Students Supporting Israel (SSI) Columbia’s Facebook page.

The referendum, spearheaded by Columbia’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), would have allowed students to vote on whether or not to support the university divesting from companies that conduct business with Israel. A similar referendum was overwhelmingly approved in April 2018 by students of Barnard College (an independent private liberal arts women’s college that partners with Columbia).

During the CCSC session, a student who identified herself as Marla, argued on behalf of JVP that passing the referendum was necessary to help foster a dialogue on campus on whether divestment was necessary to support Palestinian rights.

“If [universities] pulling money out of corporations that are profiting off crimes and profiting off illegal activity that Israel is doing, that, in turn, can pressure Israel to end some of those activities,” Marla said. She argued that ending Israel’s “occupation and colonization of Arab land” is among the BDS movement’s goals.

Orit Gugenheim, president of Aryeh: Columbia Students Association for Israel argued before the CCSC that the referendum is “bigoted” toward Jewish students and oversimplifies the complex nature of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“Last time I stood before you, after the [October 2018 Tree of Life] Pittsburgh shooting, you voted to support the Jewish community,” Gugenheim said. “Jewish students felt safe because CCSC stood with them. I beg of you to do the same tonight.”

Ofir Dayan, president of Columbia’s Student Supporting Israel (SSI) chapter, said the university doesn’t make its investments publicly available, so there is no way to know if Columbia is actually investing in companies that conduct business with Israel.

“This proposition seems to be another way of targeting some students on this campus and not simply a suggestion to change Columbia’s investment portfolio,” Dayan said. “And when I say pro-Israel students, I don’t mean people who support a certain government or policy, I mean people who just support the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their homeland.”

She added that SJP and JVP’s mantra of “from the river to the sea (Palestine will be set free)” is an example of how the student groups engage in “the complete de-legitimization of the state of Israel. The existence of the Jewish people in Israel, maintained with such tenacity for thousands of years, is not something to apologize for,” Dayan said.

Student Sarah Senkor said that when the BDS referendum passed at Barnard, she “did not feel safe walking around wearing my Jewish star like I had for the past 2.5 years.”

Council members CCSC Vice President for Finance Adam Resheff and Representative for Disabilities Services Aaron Liberman, threatened to resign from the council if the CCSC approved the referendum.

“If, in this room we recognize the divisiveness of posing this question, why would we then, as a council… put a question that we know will cause students to feel attacked?” Resheff said, adding that the referendum would cause irreparable damage to the climate on campus.

The council decided to vote on the referendum via a secret ballot, after several council members said they were concerned they would face personal attacks over the matter. Singer announced she would abstain from voting to maintain her impartiality.

After the referendum failed, pro-Palestinian students chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” outside the room.

“We defeated the bigoted and anti-Semitic BDS proposition in Columbia College Student Council last night,” SSI Columbia said in a Facebook post. “Thank you for all those who worked hard to make it happen and for those of you who supported us along the way.
Justice won. Truth won. Israel won.”

Columbia University BDS Referendum Fails Read More »

Two Israelis Dead Following Ethiopian Plane Crash

Leave a Comment / Online /

Two Israelis were among the passengers of the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash March 10 that killed all 157 people onboard (149 passengers and eight crew members). The plane crashed six minutes after takeoff.

Israel has offered its assistance to the Ethiopian government following the crash of the Boeing 737 which was en route to Kenya from Ethiopia. Passengers were from 33 different nationalities, according to The Jerusalem Post.

During his morning briefing March 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered his condolences to the families of the victims.  

“I would like to send condolences to the government and people of Ethiopia, and to the families of the victims who perished in the plane crash. If there is anything we can do, we are – of course – ready to do it. We have also said this to the Ethiopian government.”

The cause of the crash has not been identified. The Boeing 737-8 MAX plane was new and had been delivered to the airline in November. Airline CEO Tewolde GebreMariam visited the crash site and told reporters that the pilot sent out a distress call and was given clearance to return.

The aircraft is the same model as the Lion Air flight that crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from Jakarta on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people on board. That crash is still being investigated.

According to Kan, the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines is regarded as the best-managed airline in Africa. 100,000 Israelis traveled on Ethiopian Airlines in 2018, mostly to India and the Far East.  

According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), there are approximately 350 Boeing 737 Max 8 aircrafts in operation worldwide, flown by 54 operators– which include Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Norwegian Airlines and WestJet. To view the complete list of carriers of the aircraft, click here.

Two Israelis Dead Following Ethiopian Plane Crash Read More »