fbpx

GET HOME DELIVERY! CLICK HERE »

ADVERTISE
pick up locations
HOME DELIVERY
donate

Jewish Journal

Connect. Inform. Inspire.

June 16, 2020

House Democrats Push New Letter Aimed at Unifying the Party Behind an Anti-West Bank Annexation Message to Israel

Leave a Comment / News, United States /

House Democrats have put together a letter that they hope will unite their entire caucus in warning Israel against annexation of part of the West Bank.

The letter, now circulating among the party’s House caucus and obtained exclusively by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, warns Israel about the dangers annexation would pose to Israelis and to the region. But it does not hint at any danger to the U.S.-Israel relationship and restates the signers’ commitment to the relationship.

The House formulation comes just weeks after a letter with much tougher language failed to garner a majority of the Democratic caucus in the Senate. It seeks to reconcile two competing interests for Democrats: sounding off about a looming annexation that the party believes would be disastrous for the Middle East, and not alienating the centrist pro-Israel movement, still seen as a critical component of support for Democrats in an election year.

RELATED: Read the full text of the letter here

“Unilateral annexation would likely jeopardize Israel’s significant progress on normalization with Arab states at a time when closer cooperation can contribute to countering shared threats,” reads the letter, sent Monday afternoon to every Democratic member in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Unilateral annexation risks insecurity in Jordan, with serious ancillary risks to Israel,” it says. “Finally, unilateral annexation could create serious problems for Israel with its European friends and other partners around the world. We do not see how any of these acute risks serve the long-term interest of a strong, secure Israel.”

The letter concludes: “As committed partners in supporting and protecting the special U.S.-Israel relationship, we express our deep concern with the stated intention to move ahead with any unilateral annexation of West Bank territory, and we urge your government to reconsider plans to do so.”

Talks within Israel’s new government about how best to go about annexation have set off alarm bells among Democrats in Congress.

Last month, 18 Democrats in the Senate signed a letter to Israel’s government warning that annexation would “fray” ties with the United States. That letter was toned down from a version that effectively warned Israel that its relationship with the party would be over if annexation went ahead. The Senate letter was spearheaded by Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Even toned down, the Senate Democrats’ letter was unable to attract a majority of the caucus. That failure, according to sources, led House Democrats closest to the Israel issue to consider a letter that would not include any warnings about endangering the U.S.-Israel relationship.

The question is whether lawmakers on the margins of both sides of the House caucus will loudly protest. On the left, there are progressive members — including allies of the so-called “squad” of four freshman congresswomen, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — who might want an explicit threat of a diminishment of aid to Israel written into the letter. On the right, there are a number of lawmakers led by Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey who generally resist any criticism of Israel.

Unusually for an initiative of this sort, the House letter was not spurred by any outside Middle East policy group or lobby. Instead, four Congress members who are frequently involved in Israel policy — two seen as aligned with the centrist American Israel Public Affairs Committee and two seen as aligned with J Street, the liberal Middle East policy group — worked together to draft a letter that would be seen as acceptable to the entire caucus.

The four are Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., the party’s senior chief deputy whip, who is close to J Street; Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East subcommittee, who is close to AIPAC; Rep. David Price, N.C., a longtime J Street stalwart who is on the influential foreign operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee; and Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., who prior to his congressional career held leadership positions with AIPAC and the American Jewish Committee. Schakowsky, Deutch, and Schneider are Jewish.

Deutch may also be poised to assume the chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Committee, should its incumbent, Eliot Engel of New York, lose a June 23 primary. Getting the vast majority of the caucus to back the letter would help propel him to that coveted job.

The letter emphasizes support for a two-state outcome, a key Democratic plank that is no longer sacrosanct for Israel’s government or Republicans and the Trump administration.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set a July 1 deadline to launch the process that would annex parts of the West Bank, after getting what he sees is a green light from the Trump administration peace plan unveiled earlier this year. Whether the Trump administration backs Netanyahu on annexation now is an open question: David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, is pressing Israel’s government to go ahead with the annexation, while Trump administration officials in Washington are signaling they want Israel to hold off until there is some Palestinian buy-in to the plan.

The Blue and White Party, the coalition partner to Netanyahu’s Likud Party, has resisted annexation absent a peace process that would keep the international community at bay. The party appears to be coming under pressure from Friedman, who on Sunday convened a meeting between its leader, Benny Gantz, the defense minister, and Netanyahu to press the issue.

A source familiar with the letter said one purpose would be to give Gantz a lifeline to resist pressure to green light annexation. The letter is addressed to Netanyahu, Gantz, and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, who is also a Blue and White leader.

Organizers are aiming to garner signatures from almost all 235 Democratic members of the caucus, which controls the House. Netanyahu and Gantz are closely watching the 2020 election and would be wary of increasing tensions with a party that will likely continue to control the House and has a strong shot at taking the Senate and the White House.

AIPAC, a key player and the largest pro-Israel lobby in the U.S., said it could not back the letter.

“We do not support this letter for these reasons,” a spokesman told JTA. “It publicly criticizes Israel for potentially adopting a policy that would only be implemented in consultation and coordination with the U.S. government, it does not reaffirm the full U.S. commitment to Israel’s security assistance and it fails to provide the proper context that the critical problem in advancing the peace process is that for over a decade the Palestinian leadership has refused to come to the table to negotiate directly with Israel.”

Last week, the influential group signaled to Democrats that it would not push back against criticism of the annexation, as long as the criticism does not touch the fundamentals of the U.S.-Israel relationship — a condition that this letter meets.

But the letter does not principally blame the Palestinians for any impasse, which is a key theme in AIPAC’s treatments of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; it barely blames them at all.

“Our fear is that unilateral actions, taken by either side, will push the parties further from negotiations and the possibility of a final, negotiated agreement,” is its only allusion to malfeasance by the Palestinians.

AIPAC in its statements reflexively notes past Palestinian rejection of peace initiatives; Palestinian Authority payments to those imprisoned for killing Israelis and Americans; and Palestinian efforts to achieve statehood recognition absent a peace process as obstacles to peace more serious than anything Israel poses.

The letter comes at a time that right-wing pro-Israel groups, including the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America, have said they will lobby for annexation of parts of the West Bank.

House Democrats Push New Letter Aimed at Unifying the Party Behind an Anti-West Bank Annexation Message to Israel Read More »

Rocket Fired From Gaza Into Israel for First Time in More Than a Month

Leave a Comment / Israel, News /

A rocket was fired from Gaza into southern Israel for the first time since early May, spurring Israeli airstrikes and tank fire on Hamas posts and infrastructure in retaliation, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The rocket fired on Monday night landed in an open area and only triggered a local alarm. No group in Gaza has claimed responsibility.

But earlier Monday, Hamas deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri told the al-Resalah TV channel, which is linked to the terror organization, that Hamas is planning both political and diplomatic actions to prevent Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank. He also threatened a military response.

“We cannot exclude the possibility that in the wake of Israeli aggression, matters may reach a point of escalation in the confrontation, which might lead to military escalation,” al-Arouri said, according to reports.

Rocket Fired From Gaza Into Israel for First Time in More Than a Month Read More »

Reckoning with Race

Leave a Comment / Columnists, Opinion /

I am a British-born Protestant who became an American citizen and runs an institute that keeps alive the truth of the greatest crime against the Jewish people in modern history. My wife is Jewish and I have Jewish step-children. My ex-wife is Asian and we have Asian-British-American children. My brother, also a scholar of genocide, also an Englishman, was married to a Rwandan woman, and my niece is a second-generation survivor of the Rwandan genocide. Currently, my daughter’s best friend, a young black woman, is living with us. My family right now is two Brits, five Jews, four Asian-Americans, four white Christians and two black people of African descent.

I don’t just talk about difference, diversity and acceptance as part of my job; it is what we live at home.

Yet, watching America convulse over these past few weeks, watching George Floyd die with a white police officer’s knee on his neck, learning the names of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade and now Rayshard Brooks, we realized that, for all our multicultural living, our family has never really reckoned with race.

And so, these past few Sundays, my family has gathered for our “Family Learning Zoom on Race,” instigated by our children (ranging in age from 15 to 28). We watch a movie and then we discuss it. The first was “13th,” Ava DuVernay’s harrowing documentary examining racial inequality in the American prison system. We talked about what we learned, then we made an action plan. We are now on DuVernay’s drama, “When They See Us.”

We’ve never had conversations like this before. Usually, we come together as a family for celebrations. My Christian kids have learned the Passover Haggadah, my Jewish step-kids get to throw snowballs at Christmas. Now our task is to learn, to grow and to better understand each other. That family connection is foundational to anything we can do to help society.

Now our task is to learn, to grow and to better understand each other. That family connection is foundational to anything we can do to help society.

We’re building empathy and in doing so, I am learning about my own unconscious biases.

At the USC Shoah Foundation, where we work with 55,000 testimonies of genocide survivors, the bulk of whom are Jewish Holocaust witnesses, I lead regular online meetings on topics of the day. We recently held one to discuss our organization’s response to George Floyd’s death and the protests in the aftermath. Questions whirled about slavery and genocide, police brutality and racism. Was it even within our mission to address these issues?

Racism is a precondition to genocide, but genocide is not always the end point of racism. There is a legitimate fear that making comparisons can lead to the trivialization of the Holocaust. That said, there is no hierarchy of suffering. Every life lost to racial violence has equal value. I had lunch last week with Joshua Kaufman, a 92 year-old Holocaust survivor, and we discussed historical violence against black people in the United States. He said, “I am happy that people of different backgrounds are walking with the black community because we have to stop this hate together.”

Stephen Smith with Holocaust survivor Joshua Kaufman (photo courtesy of Stephen Smith)

I also grappled with an uncomfortable position: some members of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement support the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to punish Israel and is anti-Semitic to its core. Does supporting BLM equate to supporting anti-Semitism? In the past, I chose not to support BLM — not because I do not believe in fighting racism — but because I did not want to be a proxy to anti-Semitism. Which meant in the end I was silent.

Why was I willing to avoid dealing with issues in American society because of some peoples’ views on the Middle East? I love Israel and will defend it to my dying day. But am I so fearful of what people will think? I know that BDS is anti-Semitic, and I fight such views fearlessly. I also know that view has nothing to do with racism in the United States. The BLM movement is made up of many organizations, the vast majority fighting for justice at home.

I also learned about my own political biases. In our online meeting, I heard conservative voices presenting their cases in good faith. As a progressive, my bias was to hear conservative views on the recent crisis as being too narrow. As an academic and a fair-minded person, I pride myself on following the data and listening to many points of view. One participant wisely said, “If we preserve the memory of our own Jewish suffering and are true to the values it represents, we win the right to speak to our own society.” Another participant said “fighting racism in the United States isn’t part of the mission of USC Shoah Foundation.” This viewpoint sparked a strong reaction. I don’t agree with that view, but as one participant thoughtfully reminded us, learning to respect views you don’t share is the first step to finding solutions.

Through these tough weeks and challenging conversations, I’ve relearned the fundamental truth that the basic unit of change is the individual. Things are not going to change unless people are prepared to change and listen to one another. Far from these conversations dividing my family or my community, we are coming closer together, learning from one another.

Stephen D. Smith is Finci-Viterbi executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation. 

Reckoning with Race Read More »

American Lawmakers Have Just Weeks to Take a Stand Against Annexation

Leave a Comment / Israel, Opinion /

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, massive demonstrations against systemic racism in America’s criminal justice system, historic unemployment and economic hardship of millions of Americans, it is difficult to focus on important global problems. Unfortunately, reckless leaders like President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are hoping to take advantage of our distraction to enact an extreme agenda with disastrous long-term consequences for the security, democracy and Jewish character of the State of Israel. 

In forming a new Israeli government in late April, Netanyahu officially set July 1 as the date to begin his long-promised plan to illegally and unilaterally annex large portions of occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank. Israel’s “unity government” was supposed to focus on enabling an effective response to the pandemic crisis and avoid a fourth election in 18 months. Instead, the new government has become a vehicle for the Prime Minister to push ahead with annexation against the overwhelming warnings of the Israeli security establishment, opposition of the European Union, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, opposition of the House of Representatives in HR 326 passed last year, and with the encouragement and green light of the Trump administration. 

All American lovers and supporters of the State of Israel who believe that only through a negotiated two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians can true peace and security be achieved, must oppose this disastrous path forward. The Trump-Netanyahu annexation plan is designed to prevent a peaceful two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and would relegate millions of Palestinians to disconnected enclaves surrounded by Israeli territory. They would be subject to indefinite military rule without civil or political rights or any hope of self-determination. Theirs is a plan that not only makes a mockery of the shared democratic values underpinning the US-Israel relationship, but imperils Israel’s long-term security as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people. As 25 former high-level Israeli security officials wrote in a letter to Congress last year, “Any unilateral annexation of territory or extension of sovereignty to the West Bank will put Israel’s security and safety along with the well-being of its citizens at risk.”

Now is the time for responsible American lawmakers to make clear that annexation is a reckless and destructive step that would have serious long-term ramifications for the region and for the American-Israeli relationship.

The clock is ticking. Now is the time for responsible American lawmakers to make clear that annexation is a reckless and destructive step that would have serious long-term ramifications for the region and for the American-Israeli relationship. Now is the time to speak out and send a signal to Israeli leaders that annexation does not have bipartisan support and cannot be pursued without lasting consequences.

Democrats must ensure that their 2020 party platform includes clear recognition of Palestinian rights alongside Israeli security, and explicit opposition to annexation, settlement expansion and indefinite occupation. 

As early as next year, the Trump era may be behind us, but we need now to begin laying the groundwork for a better future and prevent Trump from wreaking damage that could linger for decades. For those who care about Israel as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people, who care about Palestinian rights and dignity, and who care about a healthy US-Israel relationship rooted in shared interests and values, now is the time to make a stand.

American Lawmakers Have Just Weeks to Take a Stand Against Annexation Read More »

As Historic Jewish Neighborhoods Were Looted, This Group Sprang into Action

Leave a Comment / California /

A Jewish security group in Los Angeles sprang into action in the wake of the protests that led to looting after the death of George Floyd in police custody.  

Magen Am (Hebrew for “nation’s shield”) was launched in 2015 because it saw a need for better security and self-defense in the Orthodox community, its director, Rabbi Yossi Eilfort, told the Journal. The organization comprises 38 volunteers and is licensed to provide professional security. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Magen Am provided security primarily to synagogues.

Eilfort said Magen Am’s volunteers are trained to use communication skills to deescalate a situation, and use force only as a last resort. “Most of avoiding fights has to do with what message you are communicating to other people,” Eilfort said. “There’s the message of, ‘We are not a soft target. We are a hard place to get into,’ which will deter the majority of people. There are times that people might come looking for trouble, and you can work your way out of that by having a conversation with them and engaging with them in a different way.”

An example of when use of force is acceptable is when someone “is pulling up at the curb, already shooting,” Eilfort explained. 

“There’s the message of, ‘We are not a soft target. We are a hard place to get into,’ which will deter the majority of people.” — Rabbi Yossi Eilfort

Magen Am volunteers are trained in communication and body language as well as in hand-to-hand combat and use of firearms. Eilfort said that volunteers are required to receive firearms training akin to “advanced [Los Angeles Police Department] qualifications.”

In the wake of the Floyd protests on May 30, Eilfort said Magen Am received requests to provide security in front of a specific person’s home. Because of its limited resources, Magen Am decided it would be better to patrol Jewish neighborhoods, and primarily focused on Hancock Park, with active patrols in North Hollywood and the Pico-Robertson area.

“We saw a lot of craziness,” Eilfort said. “We saw people lighting things on fire … and breaking into stores. Our rule was we protect people, not property. If we were there, we would tell people the legal ramifications of breaking into stores. We would shout at them to try and convince them [to stop],  but we weren’t willing to put our members’ health at risk to protect a random paint supply store.”

Instead, they focused on preventing people from breaking into houses. “Most of the time we were able to just deter by showing up,” Eilfort said. “There were a few times that there was someone clearly looking for trouble and our standard was any time we saw someone, we would say, ‘God bless. Stay safe,’ and smile and wave. As soon as you smile and wave at them and you’re in uniform, they’re less likely to start a fight with you.”

Additionally, Magen Am provided security for Hatzalah’s volunteer ambulances when needed, along with cold drinks to the National Guard and law enforcement as a sign of support from the Jewish community.

“It’s been helpful for them to know there are people out there who see their hard work and support them,” Eilfort said.

As Historic Jewish Neighborhoods Were Looted, This Group Sprang into Action Read More »

Out of Work from COVID-19, Hollywood Cameraman Uses Hiatus to Feed Over 400 Seniors

Leave a Comment / Entertainment /

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the motion picture and television industry, camera operator Scott Browner found himself — like hundreds of thousands of people in Hollywood — out of work.

The Hollywood blackout interrupted the seventh season of the hit ABC comedy “The Goldbergs,” on which Browner had worked for the past five seasons. But even with a highly contagious virus sweeping the state and the nation, Browner wasn’t content to stay home — not when he could find ways to be of use.

“I’ve always prepared myself for slow periods, and I’m in better shape than some,” Browner told the Journal. “Sometimes I have volunteered during my hiatuses. It’s very rewarding to feel like you’re being useful.”

Browner registered with IATSE CARES, the assistance initiative of his union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). Keeping things local, Browner has worked with the Thousand Oaks-based affordable-housing nonprofit Many Mansions.

When the call went out for volunteers from the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging (VCAAA), Browner stepped up. Since March, Browner, a Thousand Oaks resident, has been driving out to the VCAAA’s food pantry in Ventura, loading up his car with groceries, and turning back around to deliver the food to housebound area seniors. He also puts in regular shifts at the pantry, packing up boxes, assembly-line style for delivery to the more than 400 people whom the VCAA serves.

“Sometimes I have volunteered during my hiatuses. It’s very rewarding to feel like you’re being useful.” — Scott Browner

In addition to driving, and the physical demands of hauling and toting, the work involves coordinating with the seniors and making sure they are at home, awake and available to receive the food when it arrives. Many of the agency’s regular volunteers are themselves seniors, and several were not available in the early days of the COVID-9 outbreak for fear of putting their own health at risk.

The new crew of about 60 volunteers who have signed on since March has been invaluable, said Audrey Darrett, manager of the VCAAA’s Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program and overseer of the COVID-19 meal services delivery.

“He has been an amazing team player and really stepped up to help us out,” Darrett said of Browner. “I know his relationship with the agency has been strengthened. I don’t think he knew we existed before.”

A native of New York, Browner has worked on multiple TV and film projects since the late 1980s, including “Jurassic Park III” and “My Cousin Vinny.” He had steady work for multiple seasons on the show “Without a Trace.” In 2004, while he was still working on the show, his wife died of cancer, leaving Browner the sole parent of son Seth (age 9 at the time) and daughter Michaela (age 6 1/2.)

Scott Browner

Although both his parents were Jewish, Browner describes his upbringing as not being strongly religious beyond celebrating various holidays. But the traditions have come back with the next generation. “My wife … her mother was very traditionally Jewish and she was sort of my son’s Jewish mentor,” Scott said. “He has definitely reconnected with his Jewish heritage, and I’ve been going with him to some of the temples for various high holidays.”

Seth Browner now works at the Hillel house at UC Davis and his sister works at the New York nonprofit Global Citizen. Both have been able to work remotely and recently came back to Thousand Oaks for an extended visit, where their empty-nester father was happy to receive them.

As Hollywood starts to map out its reopening, Browner said the tentative plan is for “The Goldbergs” to resume production around Aug. 4. He expects to continue his work with the VCAAA until then.

“There is still a need. They’re still short of people,” Browner said. “I would encourage people to look into it.”

For more information and to volunteer, visit the website.

Out of Work from COVID-19, Hollywood Cameraman Uses Hiatus to Feed Over 400 Seniors Read More »