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Friday, January 29, 2010

Agriprocessors debacle yields new Orthodox ethical guidelines via RCA

Obey Civil Law, Say New Orthodox Kosher Rules

By Gal Beckerman    Published January 27, 2010, issue of February 05, 2010 of the Forward

The crimes that brought down the Agriprocessors kosher meat company and could put its owner, Sholom Rubashkin, in jail for life, still reverberate. An echo was heard in the Rabbinical Council of America’s January 21 announcement establishing a set of ethical guidelines for how agencies supervising kosher food production should behave beyond ensuring that the laws of kashrut are observed.
The RCA, representing more than 1,000 Orthodox rabbis and closely affiliated with the Orthodox Union, by far the largest certifier of kosher food, is the latest Jewish organization to respond to the Agriprocessors scandal, which exposed widespread violation of immigration laws, child labor laws and financial fraud.
In a three-page memo, the RCA recommended that agencies involved in supervising kosher slaughter now needed to show “fidelity to both ritual practice and the rule of civil law.”

The new guidelines boil down to one added responsibility to the job of the mashgiach, or kosher supervisor: If federal or state law is being broken, the company’s products will be denied certification. As obvious as this rule might seem, observers say it is a departure for the kosher agencies, which previously saw themselves as concerned exclusively with the halachic intricacies of ritual slaughter and food preparation.

“In the wake of the Agriprocessors debacle, it was clear that everyone’s expectations were all out of alignment,” said Rabbi Asher Meir, chairman of the task force charged with drawing up the guidelines. “What the producers felt was expected of them was in one place. What the agencies felt they were expecting of the producers was in another place. And what the consumers were expecting was somewhere else entirely. It was necessary to make some order and align the expectations and decide what standards should be appropriate and that they be transparent to everybody involved.”

The fact that the new standards are United States law has allowed the RCA’s guidelines to gain wide approval. But others who seek more far-reaching change in the conditions under which kosher food is prepared — though they applaud the move — worry that they do not go far enough.
Meir, however, defended the new guidelines as having been written precisely to avoid overreaching.
“Are we undertaking to supervise something beyond that the food is kosher? The answer is no,” he said. “That’s not what we’re asking people. Are we setting specific guidelines for good conduct? The answer is also no. The standard that is being demanded in the RCA guidelines is law-abiding behavior. We are not making a new standard, a new bar above and beyond what the laws and regulations require.”

But there have been attempts at a “new bar,” most notably the Hekhsher Tzedek program, now embraced by the Conservative movement. Launched in 2007, also as a response to the Agriprocessors violations, a commission of rabbis came up with a set of very specific requirements — from wages to working conditions to health insurance and maternity leave policies — that would earn a company a seal of approval, or Magen Tzedek.

The guidelines were laid out in a first draft that began circulating in September for the sake of eliciting comment. They go far beyond simply adhering to the law and are an attempt to infuse social justice principles into the production of kosher food.

Morris Allen, the rabbi who founded the project, sees the RCA principles as an affirmation of a conversation he says he first started.

“I think it’s an endorsement of our work and it’s a result of our work,” Allen said. “It may not be a direct endorsement. There are clearly nuanced and substantive differences. But ultimately it’s a far cry from people saying two years ago that there is nothing about ethics in the production of kosher food. They said kosher food is just about whether it’s prepared according to the ritual law. We have moved far from there.”
Still, Allen said, he has questions about how the RCA is going to enforce its guidelines. Unlike Hekhsher Tzedek, which demands that producers prove they are in compliance in order to receive the hechsher, or approval, the RCA guidelines are reactive, and their effect will be apparent only when supervising agencies decide that certain misconduct demands withholding certification.

Others interested in putting the ethics of workers’ rights on par with food production also worry that the RCA is not going to positively change the current environment.

Shmuly Yanklowitz is the founder and co-director of Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice organization that has focused attention on the condition of workers at kosher restaurants, giving out its own “ethical stamp,” the Tav HaYosher, to those that are free of “abuse and exploitation.” According to Yanklowitz, 30 restaurants have already received the seal.

“I think that the RCA standards help to move the community in the right direction by considering these issues, but we need to move from theory and broad ethical standard to precision and accountability,” Yanklowitz said. “Any standards without accountability and full transparency will carry very little weight.”

Yanklowitz also added that there was a Jewish context for including employee rights as part of the concept of kashrut, pointing out that Jewish law prohibits the oppression of workers.

It is the broadness of the RCA guidelines, though, that has gained it such ringing support from those who had been opposed to more activist efforts like those of Hekhsher Tzedek.

“The Hekhsher Tzedek certification was not about secular law or Halacha at all. It sought to enforce social norms like ‘just wages’ and fair treatment,” said Rabbi Michael Broyde, who wrote critical articles about Hekhsher Tzedek for the Forward and was part of the RCA task force that drew up the new guidelines. “It never focused on American law at all. This proposal is grounded in enforcing American law.”

An even harsher critic of Hekhsher Tzedek was Agudath Israel, the Haredi Jewish communal organization. When the proposed rules for receiving the Magen Tzedek were first discussed in September 2008, the group put out a statement harshly denouncing them as “misguided and misleading” and likely to foster “a distorted understanding of kashrus, and a corruption of the halachic process itself.”

The new RCA ethical principles have been greeted very differently.

Agudath’s view now, according to Avi Shafran, a spokesman for the organization, is, “The guidelines seem a responsible way of addressing nonkashrut-related lapses in the kosher food industry.”

Contact Gal Beckerman at beckerman@forward.com

Senate passes Iran sanctions.



Senate passes Iran sanctions 

By Ron Kampeas · January 28, 2010   Jewish Telegraphic Agency

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive Iran sanctions bill.
The bill passed by voice vote Thursday evening hews closely to a companion bill passed last month in the U.S. House of Representatives; White House requests to roll back some of the harsher provisions were unheeded.

The bills target Iran's energy sector, singling out for sanctions any entity -- individual, company or even country -- that deals in refined petroleum with Iran, a major oil producer, but with a refining sector in disarray.
The Obama administration has preferred to emphasize multilateral sanctions targeting Iran's leadership coupled with diplomatic outreach. Both bills must now be reconciled and the final version is likely be signed by Obama, despite his reservations.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which led lobbying for the bills, urged swift passage and signing.

"Iran's possession of nuclear weapons capability would be a devastating blow to America's national security interests," spokesman Josh Block said. "The U.S. and our allies must impose biting diplomatic and economic pressure to try and peaceably prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and avoid confronting more distressing alternatives.

The bills allow Obama waivers for national security reasons. Obama's predecessors have exercised such waivers with earlier sanctions bills.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

No negotiations because Palestinians shun practical solution, interim agreement

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3840241,00.html

The Palestinians do not wish to negotiate with Netanyahu because they perceive him as a practical politician seeking practical solutions; this is the kind of mess the current Palestinian leadership wishes to stay away from. It doesn’t even want to get close to it
....
“We won’t be signing yet another interim agreement with Israel,” a very senior Palestinian figure says in closed-door sessions. “Ever since the Camp David talks, no agreements have been signed with Israel, and the Abbas government will not breach the Palestinian consensus of refusal. We also don’t wish to get our ‘state in progress’ from Israel. We already have it. We got it on our own.”

“The current situation serves us well. Palestine is growing, the security situation is decent, Hamas is under siege in Gaza, and global public opinion endorses us and opposes the occupation. There is no rush for us. The demographic clock is ticking and the option of a bi-national state is being realized. We have no incentive for entering talks with an Israeli prime minister who wants to get down to business, that is, who wants to show results.”
...
The Palestinians are willing to engage in vague negotiations with the Netanyahu government while knowing in advance that this will not lead to any results, but are unwilling to embark on practical talks as long as there is a chance that this will lead to results on the ground. They fear a situation whereby they will be asked to reject or accept a viable interim agreement, which includes the evacuation of some settlements and the transfer of more land to their control.

-- By Sever Plocker, Ynetnews.com.  1/27/10

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Israel's position on the Hamas government
 
"The Israeli position is that the Hamas government in Gaza does not meet the conditions set forth by the international community and the Quartet. And as long as Hamas continues to attack Israel with missiles and other means, Israel will not open the border crossings. With this, Israel is doing everything possible to ensure that humanitarian aid enters Gaza in a controlled manner so that it is ensured that the population receives what it needs, including medical care in Israel. But Israel will not allow a neighbor that calls for its destruction to enjoy the benefits of an open border."
 
1/26/2010
 
 

Below is the text of the videotaped message from President Barack Obama for the ceremony commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The video of the President’s message will be posted on whitehouse.gov later today. Please share this message with anyone who might be interested.

 

 

 

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 27, 2010

 

 

Text of the videotaped message from President Barack Obama for the ceremony commemorating the

65th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

 

Good morning.  And thank you to everyone who worked to bring us to this day, especially the International Auschwitz Council and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

 

To President Kacynski Prime Minister Tusk and to the people of Poland—thank you for preserving a place of such great pain for the Polish people, but a place of remembrance and learning for the world.

 

Although I can’t be with you in person, I’m proud that the United States is represented there today by a delegation of distinguished Americans, including Ambassador Feinstein; my wife Michelle’s chief of staff, Susan Sher; and my good friend, and the son of Holocaust survivors, Julius Genachowski.

 

And let me commend you for recognizing a woman who has devoted her life to preserving the lessons of the shoah for future generations—Sara Bloomfield of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

 

But most of all, I want to thank those of you who found the strength to come back again, so many years later, despite the horror you saw here, the suffering you endured here, and the loved ones you lost here.  Those of us who did not live through those dark days will never truly understand what it means to have hate literally etched into your arms.  But we understand the message that you carry in your hearts.

 

For you know the truth that Elie Wiesel spoke when I stood with him at Buchenwald last spring.  There, where his father and so many innocent souls left this earth, Elie said that “memory has become the sacred duty of all people of goodwill.”

 

We have a sacred duty to remember the twisted thinking that led here—how a great society of culture and science succumbed to the worst instincts of man and rationalized mass murder and one of the most barbaric acts in history.

 

We have a sacred duty to remember the cruelty that occurred here, as told in the simple objects that speak to us even now.  The suitcases that still bear their names.  The wooden clogs they wore.  The round bowls from which they ate.  Those brick buildings from which there was no escape—where so many Jews died with Sh’ma Israel on their lips.  And the very earth at Auschwitz, which is still hallowed by their ashes—Jews and those who tried to save them, Polish and Hungarian, French and Dutch, Roma and Russian, straight and gay, and so many others.     

 

But even as we recall man’s capacity for evil, Auschwitz also tells another story—of man’s capacity for good.  The small acts of compassion—the sharing of some bread that kept a child alive.  The great acts of resistance that blew up the crematorium and tried to stop the slaughter.  The Polish Rescuers and those who earned their place forever in the Righteous Among the Nations.

 

And you—the survivors.  The perpetrators of that crime tried to annihilate the entire Jewish people.  But they failed.  Because 65 years ago today, when the gates flew open, you were still standing.  And every day that you have lived, every child and grandchild that your families have brought into the world with love, every day the sun rises on the Jewish state of Israel—that is the ultimate rebuke to the ignorance and hatred of this place.

 

So to those of you who have come back today, I say, no, you are not “former prisoners.”  You are living memorials.  Living memorials to the loved ones you left here.  And to the spirit we must strive to uphold in our time—not simply to bear witness, but to bear a burden.  The burden of seeing our common humanity; of resisting anti-Semitism and ignorance in all its forms; of refusing to become bystanders to evil, whenever and wherever it rears its ugly face.

 

Let that be the true meaning of Auschwitz.  Let that be the liberation we celebrate today—a liberation of the spirit that, if embraced, can lead us all—individuals and as nations—to be among the righteous.  

 

May God bless you all, and may God bless the memory of all those who rest here.

 

###

Friday, January 22, 2010

ADL: Rush Limbaugh Reaches New Low With 'Borderline Anti-Semitic' Remarks About Jews

New York, NY, January 21, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said Rush Limbaugh reached a new low with "borderline anti-Semitic comments" on his radio show, in which he raised the possibility that liberal Jews were having "buyer's remorse" with President Obama in light of the outcome of the Senate election in Massachusetts.

 

Limbaugh told his listeners: "To some people, banker is a code word for Jewish; and guess who Obama is assaulting?  He's assaulting bankers.  He's assaulting money people.  And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there's – if there's starting to be some buyer's remorse there."

 

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement: 

Rush Limbaugh reached a new low with his borderline anti-Semitic comments about Jews as bankers, their supposed influence on Wall Street, and how they vote.

 

Limbaugh's references to Jews and money in a discussion of Massachusetts politics were offensive and inappropriate.  While the age-old stereotype about Jews and money has a long and sordid history, it also remains one of the main pillars of anti-Semitism and is widely accepted by many Americans.  His notion that Jews vote based on their religion, rather than on their interests as Americans, plays into the hands of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists.

           

When he comes to understand why his words were so offensive and unacceptable, Limbaugh should apologize.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Netanyahu: "I'm ready to make peace. Are the Palestinians?"

On commencing peace talks: Israel is ready.



[T]he Palestinian [leaders] are piling demand upon demand [they want met, just to start negotiations.] Let’s get on with peace negotiations.  The only way we can finish the peace negotiations with a peace treaty is to begin them.  We’re ready to begin.  I’m ready to begin them.  I’m prepared for peace.  Are the Palestinians ready for peace?  That’s my question to you.

On negotiating with Hamas: 

 
  The principle that is always raised is that you make peace with your enemy.  That is absolutely true – you make peace with an enemy who wants to stop being an enemy and move to peace..... You cannot negotiate peace with an enemy who wants to destroy you [such as]  Hamas and its parent regime, the Iranian tyranny, [who] openly say that their goal is to destroy us.

From an Address and Interview with PM Netanyahu with the Foreign Press Association  1/20/2010

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Evidence: Arab atrocity propaganda triggered Arab flight from Palestine



The video focuses on an interview with Hazem Nusseibeh, a member of one of Jerusalem's most prominent Arab families.  In 1948 he was an editor of the Palestine Broadcasting Service's Arabic news.

In this interview with the BBC he admits that in 1948 he was instructed by Hussein Khalidi, a prominent Palestinian Arab leader, to fabricate claims of atrocities at Deir Yassin in order to encourage Arab regimes to invade the expected Jewish state.  He made this damming admission in explaining why the Arabs failed in the 1948 war.  He said "this was our biggest mistake", because Palestinians fled in terror and left the country in huge numbers after hearing the atrocity claims.

Nusseibeh describes an encounter at the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's Old City with Deir Yassin survivors and Palestinian leaders, including Hussein Khalidi... 'I asked Dr. Khalidi how we should cover the story,'. He said, "We must make the most of this." So we wrote a press release stating that at Deir Yassin children were murdered, pregnant women were raped, all sorts of atrocities,  though these things didn't happen.

In the video clip Abu Mahmud, who was a Dir Yassin resident in 1948, told the BBC that the villagers protested against the atrocity claims: We said, "There was no rape." But Khalidi said, "We have to say this, so the Arab armies will come to liberate Palestine from the Jews."

This false press statement was released to New York Times correspondent, Dana Schmidt leading to an article in the New York Times on April 12, 1948, claiming that a massacre took place at Deir Yassin that was reprinted worldwide and cited even in Israel as proof of Israeli atrocities

Dr. Hazem Nusseibeh was a representative of Jordan at the Mixed Armistice Commission and he was Minister of Foreign Affairs.He was also the Permanent Ambassador of Jordan to the UN and has authored several books, including The Ideas of Arab Nationalism, Palestine and the United Nations and A History of Modern Jordan.

http://www.youtube.com/v/GkhSHiwzaIY&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0


 


Three times as many urban Saudis favor Israeli strike on Iran as accept Israel as Jewish state


Asked about an Israeli military strike against Iran, one-quarter of urban Saudis said that they would support it at least "to some extent."

Interestingly, that figure is three times larger than the number of respondents who said that they would accept Israel "as a Jewish state," even "under the right conditions" -- a mere 9 percent of urban Saudis took that position. But regional differences are relatively significant here: in Jeddah, hypothetical acceptance of a Jewish state was 17 percent, compared to barely 4 percent in Riyadh or Dammam/al-Khobar.

Israel Matzav   1/20/10>

Sunday, January 17, 2010


  Islamic Solidarity Games cancelled over dispute

  
Riyadh, Jan 17 (AP) The Islamic Solidarity Games have been cancelled after a dispute between Arab countries and Iran over the name of the waterway dividing them.

The Saudi-based Islamic Solidarity Games Federation says they cancelled the sporting event, which were meant to be held in Tehran in the spring, after Iran put "Persian Gulf" on the logo.

The five-year-old games were created to strengthen ties among the 57-nations of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

Arab nations call the waterway the Arabian Gulf.

The games were originally scheduled for October 2009 but postponed in attempt to reach a compromise.

Friday, January 15, 2010

ADL Continues to Voice Concern About Anti-Jewish and Anti-Israel Climate in Turkey

New York, NY, January 13, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today renewed its concern that Turkish society is becoming increasingly and openly hostile to Jews and Israel – with harmful statements by government officials and hateful depictions in the mass media.

"We continue to be concerned about a new environment in Turkey which permits and even encourages extreme expressions regarding Jews and Israel," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "We cannot ignore this new atmosphere in which distorted views of Israel and Jews are freely expressed and made to seem acceptable."

ADL wrote a letter to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan citing his government's "harshly critical statements" -- and his own remarks during a recent a visit to Lebanon -- as a case in point.  Mr. Erdogan condemned Israel's actions in Gaza, accused the Jewish State of threatening to undermine "global peace," and called for the U.N. Security Council to consider sanctions against Israel.

The League's letter also pointed to two recent television dramas which portrayed Israelis and the Israeli military as inherently evil and conniving.  The recent television series "Valley of the Wolves" reportedly featured Israeli agents as baby snatchers.

"While we have celebrated Turkey's history of coexistence with Jews and the protection Turkish society provides for its Jewish community, we cannot ignore this new atmosphere and its potential consequences," said Mr. Foxman.  "We respectfully urge the Turkish government to speak out directly to reject anti-Semitism and incendiary demonizing depictions of Israel and Israelis, and to reiterate Turkey's support for its Jewish community."

ADL raised similar concerns in a letter to Mr. Erdogan in October 2009.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

 
The Jewish Federation's affiliate, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is
accepting  contributions to assist victims of the earthquake which has devastated Haiti.

Help JDC Assist Victims of Haiti Earthquake

In the wake of the January 12th earthquake in Haiti, the immense scale of the devastation is only beginning to be understood. News sources are reporting the loss of more than 100,000 lives and massive damage to the island's infrastructure.

JDC is the official humanitarian assistance organization acting on behalf of the Jewish community and The Jewish Federations of North America. In this capacity, JDC has moved swiftly to coordinate relief efforts with its network of Israeli, American, and other local partners on the ground.

JDC is currently supporting Heart to Heart International to provide immediate medical aid, equipment, and services to victims of the earthquake. JDC is also working with the Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces and has purchased critical medical equipment for its field hospital, including infant incubators for its neonatal unit and orthopedic devices. Further partnerships are being explored for the next phase of JDC's support for Haiti's victims.

JDC brings unparalleled experience to this effort through its International Development Program (IDP), which has provided immediate relief and long-term development assistance to victims of natural and manmade disasters in more than 60 countries.

To Make a Contribution:
Online: www.JDC.org
By Phone: 212-687-6200
By Mail: check payable to
JDC-Haiti Earthquake Relief
P.O. Box 530
132 East 43rd St
New York, NY, 10017

www.JDC.org

JDC's Blog: No Passport Required

Since 1914, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has given global expression to the principle that all Jews are responsible for one another. Working today in more than 70 countries, JDC acts on behalf of North America's Jewish communities and others to rescue Jews in danger, provide relief to those in distress, revitalize overseas Jewish communities, and help Israel overcome the social challenges of its most vulnerable citizens. JDC also provides non-sectarian emergency relief and long-term development assistance worldwide.

 

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Israel, Jewish groups sending help to Haiti

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel has sent a delegation of experts to Haiti and U.S. Jewish groups are collecting donations in the aftermath of a massive earthquake.

The Israel group sent to the Caribbean nation includes engineering, medical, logistics and rescue experts from the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command.

The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Tuesday afternoon was the strongest in Haiti in 200 years. The National Palace and United Nations peacekeeper headquarters were among the many buildings that suffered damage.

Israel's ambassador to the Dominican Republic, who also serves Haiti, said Wednesday morning that the embassy had not been able to reach Jewish families in Haiti due to downed telephone lines.

The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid, a coordinating body of Israeli and Jewish organizations and other interested parties based in Israel, also was set to dispatch a 12-man search-and-rescue team, which includes emergency medical staff. IsraAID also was considering sending a field hospital, including doctors and medical equipment, as well as humanitarian aid.

Relatives of Sharona Elsaieh, daughter of the late peace activist Abie Nathan, say she is missing and have turned to Israel's Foreign Ministry for assistance. Two other Israelis, a woman and her 9-year-old son, also have been reported missing.

Several other Israelis also live in Haiti, according to reports.

In the United States, several Jewish groups -- including the American Jewish World Service (www.ajws.org/haitiearthquake), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (www.jdc.org), American Jewish Committee (www.ajc.org/haitifund) and B'nai B'rith International (https://secure.ga1.org/05/web_relief_donations) -- have set up mailboxes for people to make donations. 

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti in the wake of this overwhelming disaster, and as we did following Hurricane Gustav in 2008, JDC will leverage its strong partnerships in the region to respond quickly and compassionately to the needs of those affected," said Steven Schwager, JDC's chief executive officer. "Now and in the months to come, JDC will provide both immediate relief as well as long-term assistance to help the Haitian people rebuild their lives."

 

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Incitement continues: Turkish TV depicts Israelis kidnapping Turkish babies


World leaders, including President Obama, have said a crucial component of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is for Palestinians to stop teaching hate and incitement.

Top Israeli officials voiced strong objections Monday (Jan. 11) to a Turkish TV program depicting Israelis kidnapping and hiding Turkish babies and attacking old men, as well as a scene showing the assassination of the Israeli ambassador.

....


The culture of hate by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank has resurfaced as a significant problem. In recent months, senior officials in the PA, including President Mahmoud Abbas, have glorified terrorism by honoring Palestinians who have killed Israeli civilians. 



C-SPAN said a call-in host should have upbraided an anti-Semitic caller.

"Program hosts, whose role is to facilitate the dialogue between callers and guests, are certainly permitted to step in when a caller makes ad hominem attacks or uses obscenity or obviously racist language," a statement to JTA said. "Given that this involves quick judgment during a live television production, it's an imperfect process that didn't work as well as it should have that day."

The cable network, which covers the U.S. Congress, government hearings, think-tank sessions and news conferences in their entirety as a means of expanding government transparency, has been stung by criticism following a Jan. 4 broadcast of its "Washington Journal" call-in show...

 

via Solomonia.com    1/12/10

Monday, January 11, 2010

ADL_National: ADL calls U.S. Muslim Anti-Radicalization Effort 'A Sham
and a cover for anti-Semitism and extremism' -
http://tinyurl.com/yk4gksd

Muslim-American Organizations' Anti-Radicalization Effort 'A Sham'

New York, NY, January 11, 2010 ... As the number of American Muslim
extremists allegedly involved in terror plots in the U.S. and abroad
continues to grow, major Muslim-American organizations have publicly
acknowledged the existence of a problem in their community and vowed to
tackle it head on.

But the initial effort to root out radicalization - announced by a few
of these groups in the wake of the arrests in Pakistan of five
Muslim-American students from Virginia for allegedly attempting to join
a terrorist group - has proven to be a sham and a cover for
anti-Semitism and extremism, according to the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL).

The Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North
America (ICNA) held a major community convention in Chicago in December
2009 where the convention chair called for an Islam "clean and clear of
all extremism."

But the convention, which had been specifically identified by MAS and
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as the venue to begin
the effort to combat radicalization, failed to seriously address the
problem. In fact, it provided a platform for extremist views, according
to ADL. The Chicago convention, which attracted more than 1,000
participants, served as a forum for religious scholars and political
activists to rail against Jews, call for the eradication of the state of
Israel and accuse the United States government as waging a war against
Muslims at home and abroad.

"It is shocking that this conference, identified by some major
Muslim-American groups as the venue to start the process of reform at a
time of growing attacks and threats by American Muslim extremists, was a
sham and nothing more than a cover for the dissemination of hateful
anti-American and anti-Israel views and anti-Semitism," said Abraham H.
Foxman, ADL National Director. "The fact that it provided a platform
for extremist views calls into question the sincerity of the effort to
serve as a legitimate counterbalance to radicalization. No legitimate
blueprint for change can emerge from a convention permeated by messages
conveying hatred of Jews, the denial of Israel's right to exist and the
idea that the U.S. is at war with Islam."

ADL pointed to numerous troubling speeches and other developments
during the annual convention of the Muslim American Society (MAS) and
the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) held December 23-27:

* Religious scholars and political activists railed against Jews from
both a political and theological standpoint. Rafiq Jaber, former
President of the Islamic Association of Palestine, a Hamas-affiliated
anti-Semitic propaganda organization, described Jews to the audience as
"the worst kind of people," who came to Jerusalem "with false
pretenses."

* Hamed Ghazali, Chairman of the MAS Council of Islamic Schools and
professor at the Islamic American University in Michigan, told the
audience in Arabic that "Allah gave us the Jews" as the primary
historical and religious example of those who "take the wrong path."

* Other speakers argued that the eradication of the state of Israel is
a religious duty. Sheikh Raghib Al Serjani, an author and physician
from Egypt, declared in Arabic, "It is the duty for all Muslims to
liberate all of Palestine from the North to the South, from Al Quds to
the sea, it's a duty for all Muslims to liberate one complete full land
of Palestine... It's not just about liberating Al Quds. It's all
occupied!"

* Materials sold at the convention included books and CDs by radical
anti-Semitic sheikhs such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a leading Muslim
Brotherhood ideologue based in Qatar who is known for his support of
terrorist groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah; and Anwar
al-Awlaki, a U.S. born Muslim cleric based in Yemen who has encouraged
American Muslims to attack non-Muslims and Western targets.

* Another theme repeated throughout the convention was the notion that
the U.S. government is attacking Islam as a religion. According to
several speakers, the American government targets Muslims in the U.S.
through its policies and Muslims abroad through its wars.

Even from the inception of the convention, serious questions arose as
the organizers sought to draw participants by advertising two known
anti-Semitic extremists from abroad as keynote speakers: Zaghloul Al
Najjar, an Egyptian cleric who has described Jews as "devils in human
form," and Ra'ed Salah, leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic
Movement in Israel, who served jail time for financing Hamas. Neither
of the advertised speakers attended the convention.

In 2009 alone, an alarming number of American Muslim extremists were
charged, convicted or sentenced on terrorism charges, including terror
plots in the U.S. and abroad. From the shootings at Fort Hood and at an
Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas to plots in New York,
Chicago, Massachusetts and elsewhere, the suspects were fueled by an
extremist ideology that demonizes America, Israel and Jews.

AJC's David Harris: It's Not About Israel

It's Not About Israel

by David Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee  1/10/10

There are those in the international community who claim that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root cause of the Middle East's problems. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been among the most prominent of these voices.

In his article "A Battle For Global Values" (Foreign Affairs, January/February 2007), Tony Blair reiterated what he has expressed in previous public statements: "How can we bring peace to the Middle East unless we resolve the question of Israel and Palestine?" Achieving peace, he continues, "would not only silence reactionary Islam's most effective rallying call but fatally undermine its basic ideology."

More recently, in a speech at the Istanbul Forum in October, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan named the lack of a Palestinian state as the crux of all problems in the Middle East. In so saying, he echoed a speech by his own Foreign Minister, Ali Babacan, at the Annapolis conference, who declared that “the Palestinian question is at the epicenter of all problems in the Middle East. The resulting climate of despair, hatred and pessimism continues to haunt the region and create a breeding ground for extremism."

Similarly, Aijaz Zaka Syed, a columnist for the Dubai-based, English-language newspaper Khaleej Times, wrote in November that “the key to…world peace lies in Jerusalem."

True, genuine peace between Israel and the Palestinians would remove one of the long-standing conflicts in the Middle East. Moreover, to state the painfully obvious, peace would serve the best interests of those involved.
But the suggestion made by Prime Ministers Blair, Erdogan and others that such a settlement is a necessary precondition for wider peace in the Middle East and would take the wind out of radical Islam's sails is unsupported by the facts.

Let's assume for a moment that Israel did not exist. Would that have changed the basic story line of the bulk of events in the Middle East?
Would Yemen today be fighting a war on three fronts against its own rebel movements and al Qaeda?

Would Iraq and Iran have chosen not to pursue an eight-year war that cost more than a million fatalities? Would Iraq have decided not to invade Kuwait in 1990? Would it have rethought its use of chemical weapons against both its own Kurdish population and Iran?

Would Syria have refrained from slaughtering over 10,000 of its own citizens in Hama in 1982? Would it have withheld its central role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri?
Would Saudi Arabia have stopped exporting its Wahhabi model of Islam, with its narrow, doctrinaire view of the world and rejection of non-Muslims as so-called infidels, across the globe?

Would al Qaeda not have attacked the U.S. in 2001, when, it should be remembered, the Israeli-Palestinian issue was never even mentioned among Osama bin Laden's list of "grievances?"

Would the danger posed by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan magically disappear absent the Israel factor?

Would Iran today abandon its nuclear and hegemonic ambitions in the region?
Would the Shi'ite-Sunni split, with its profound political and strategic ramifications, evaporate into thin air?

Would the Sudanese government have stopped its collusion with the Arab Janjaweed militias to end the massive murder and displacement in Darfur?
Would the desperate poverty and widespread illiteracy that dampen hope and create a fertile recruiting ground for radical Islamic movements suddenly be alleviated?

Would Saudi women instantaneously have the right to drive, would non-Muslims finally enjoy equal rights in all those Arab countries where Islam is the official religion, and would the Baha'i no longer experience persecution at the hands of the Iranian government?

In reality, the destabilizing factors in the Middle East run far deeper than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Strikingly, while most Western political leaders mince their words, the courageous Arab authors of the annual Arab Human Development Report have not. They have spoken of three overarching explanatory factors for the region's unsatisfactory condition: the knowledge deficit, the gender deficit and the freedom deficit.

Unless these three areas are addressed in a sustained manner, the Middle East, which ought to be one of the world's most dynamic regions, is likely to continue suffering from instability, violence and fundamentalism, irrespective of what happens on the Israeli-Palestinian front.

Consider some of the important findings in recent Arab Human Development Reports and related studies:
  • The total number of books translated into Arabic in the last 1,000 years is fewer than those translated in Spain in one year.
  • Greece – with a population of fewer than 11 million – translates five times as many books from abroad into Greek annually as the 22 Arab countries combined – with a total population of more than 300 million – translate into Arabic.
  • According to a Council on Foreign Relations report, "in the 1950s, per-capita income in Egypt was similar to South Korea, whereas Egypt's per-capita income today is less than 20 percent of South Korea's. Saudi Arabia had a higher gross domestic product than Taiwan in the 1950s; today it is about 50 percent of Taiwan's."
As Dr. A.B. Zahlan, a Palestinian physicist, has noted: "A regressive political culture is at the root of the Arab world's failure to fund scientific research or to sustain a vibrant, innovative community of scientists." He further asserted that "Egypt, in 1950, had more engineers than all of China." That is hardly the case today.

A recent UN Human Development Report revealed that only two Egyptians per million people were granted patents (for Syria the figure was zero), compared to 30 in Greece and 35 in Israel.

In the same UN report, the adult literacy rate for women aged 15 and older was 43.6 percent in Egypt and 74 percent in Syria, while for the world's top 20 countries it was nearly 100 percent.

And finally, according to the current Freedom House rankings, no Arab country in the Middle East is listed as "free." Each is described at best as "partly free" or, worse, "not free."

The sad truth is that it is precisely political oppression, intellectual suffocation and gender discrimination that explain, far more than other factors, the chronic difficulties of the Middle East.

To be sure, there exist no overnight or over-the-counter remedies for these maladies that would allow the region to unleash its vast potential, but let’s be clear: they, not the straw man of Israel, are at the heart of the problem.

It would be illusory to think otherwise.
 
To comment on this article, go to the Huffington Post.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Palestinian goals are clear, if one asks the right questions. Is the Administration listening?



More than seven-in-ten Egyptians, Jordanians, Palestinians, and Kuwaitis believe  
“the rights and needs of the Palestinian people cannot be taken care of as long as the state of Israel exists.”  -- p. 56, Pew Global Attitudes Poll, June 2007


"Western publics generally believe that a way can be found for Israel to exist so that the rights and needs of the Palestinians are addressed. The picture is quite different, however, among Muslim publics in the Middle East." -Pew poll.

In 2007, at least 77% of Palestinians believed that their national rights and needs cannot be taken care of as long as Israel exists.  Palestinian public opinion has likely hardened, rather than softened, since mid-2007.  Does U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell understand Palestinian goals? --Mark Finkelstein  jcrc@dmjfed.org


   
Can a Way be Found for Israel and Palestinian Rights to Coexist?
                              Yes No DK
                               %    %   %
United States           67  12   21
Canada                   64   11  25
France                    82   16    2
Germany                 80   11   9
Sweden                   65  12  23
Britain                     60  12  28
Italy                        48  19  33
Spain                      45  27  28

Israel                   61  31    8

Lebanon                49  50    1
  Shia                     16   84    0
  Sunni                    57  43    1
  Christian               70  28    2

Turkey                    30  45  25
Morocco                 23  47  30
Kuwait                    21  73    6
Egypt                      18  80    3
Jordan                     17  78   5
Palestinian ter.       16  77   7
------------------------------------------------

hat tip to FresnoZionism   
Mitchell fails to understand Palestinian goals ,   1/9/2010

Friday, January 8, 2010

ADL Report: American Muslim Extremists: A Growing Threat to Jews

ADL's thorough report adds more recent incidents to on-going compilation.

ADL: American Muslim Extremists: A Growing Threat to Jews Updated: December 9, 2009

....

Well over 100 American Muslim extremists have been arrested on various terror-related charges since 9/11, ranging from bomb plots to providing material support to terrorists. More than half of them are U.S. born and about a third are converts to Islam.

Many of these American Muslim extremists are fueled by hatred of Jews, Israel and America, and have been influenced, to some degree, by the ideologies of extreme intolerance propagated by terrorist movements overseas.

In some cases they are exposed to jihadist materials on the Internet. In other cases, they are radicalized in their communities by a charismatic leader or recruiter. Several cases illustrate a desire to travel oversees to fight with terrorist groups or provide them with material support such as weapons or funding. Most, however, do not belong to any specific terrorist group or organization and seem to be motivated to commit violent or criminal acts by their own radical interpretations of Islam.

Thursday, January 7, 2010


US Police: Man threatening Jews taken off flight


Police say an airline passenger in Miami proclaimed "I want to kill all the Jews" before officers forced him off a Detroit-bound plane.

 Miami-Dade police said in a statement Thursday that 43-year-old Mansor Mohammad Asad of Toledo, Ohio, was arrested. He faces several charges including disorderly conduct. (AP) 1/7/10


Ahmadinejad: Iran and Syria will create a new world order (DPA)[on Haaretz.com]  1/7/10
 

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

You'll love The Barber of Seville at the Caspe Terrace, January 31

Don’t forget to purchase your tickets to The Barber of Seville. OPERA Iowa’s first public performance at The Caspe Terrace, 6:15 pm on Jan. 31. Receive a 10% discount by registering for “Dish It Up.” Call Cathie at 277-6321 ext. 224 for details.



THE BARBER of SEVILLE by Rossini

The Lions and the Pomegranates are hosting an evening at the opera featuring the most performed comic opera of all time, Rossini’s THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.

Performing will be OPERA Iowa, the award-winning touring program of the Des Moines Metro Opera. $15 for adults and $5 for children (5-18). If you call Cathie at 515-277-6321 or email cathie@dmjfed.org to order tickets, you can even ask for a 10% discount when you pre-order. Tickets will be available at the door for regular price.

The performance will be held on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at The Caspe Terrace 6:15pm – 8:15pm in the stunning Bucksbaum Auditorium (Bad weather? The Opera will be rescheduled.)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010







jtanews: As zero hour nears, differences emerge on Iran sanctions http://digg.com/u1JUDk