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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Ahmadinejad: "Zionist regime seeks world control."

    It would be a mistake to believe this guy is nuts. //Mark Finkelstein   jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

'Zionist regime seeks world control'

   

In a rant that reeked of old-fashioned anti-Semitism, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that the "Zionist regime" was seeking to control the world.

Addressing the International Conference on National and Islamic Solidarity for Future of Palestine, Ahmadinejad said that the existence of the "Zionist regime" is an insult to all of humanity, asserting that it had lost its raison d'être.

He said it was "well-known for all that the Zionist regime’s mission is threat, violence and beating drums of war," according to an IRNA translation.

Ontario legislature condemns Israel Apartheid Week






TORONTO (JTA.org) 2/28/2010 -- The legislature in the Canadian province of Ontario has condemned Israeli Apartheid Week.

All 30 members of the 107-seat provincial legislature who were present on Feb. 25 voted for the resolution that denounced the campus event that kicks off March 1 at universities and colleges in 35 cities around the world.

IAW events and speakers are scheduled at several university campuses across Ontario.

The term Israeli Apartheid Week incites "hatred against Israel, a democratic state that respects the rule of law and human rights, and the use of the word 'apartheid' in this context diminishes the suffering of those who were victims of a true apartheid regime in South Africa," Conservative legislator Peter Shurman told Shalom Life, a Toronto-based Jewish Web site.

"If you're going to label Israel as apartheid, then you are also calling Canada apartheid and you are attacking Canadian values," he continued. "The use of the phrase 'Israeli Apartheid Week' is about as close to hate speech as one can get without being arrested, and I'm not certain it doesn't actually cross over that line."

Jewish students across Canada have adopted several campaigns to counter IAW.




 

Friday, February 26, 2010

The "3D Test" of Anti-Semitism

"3D Test" of Anti-Semitism

Israeli politician Natan Sharansky uses the “3D Test” to help distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism. Sharansky identifies three categories: de-legitimization, double standard and demonization.

De-legitimize

This refers to the argument made that Israel doesn’t meet the requirements of a legitimate state and therefore should not exist. Rather than addressing the particular issues at hand, there is a call for a destruction of the State of Israel.

Double standard

This is when criticism of Israel is applied selectively. Although other countries can be criticized for human rights violations during times of war, the finger is continuously pointed at Israel and often exaggerated. Little attention is given to the atrocities committed by other countries.

Demonize

Israel is accused of behaving like a demon and its actions are blown out of proportion. For example, comparisons are made between Israelis and Nazis and between Palestinian refugee camps and Auschwitz.  

 

Source: http://campusintifada.com/widget/LP_V_W.html

Khaldi: anti-Israel campus programs betraying moderate Muslims

Ishmael Khaldi, deputy consul general of Israel for the Pacific Northwest, blasts anti-Israel bashing on campus. Says, Let's be honest. "By any yardstick you choose - educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly,legislative representation - Israel's minorities fare far better than in any other country in the Middle East."

Lost in the blur of slogans

Last year, at UC Berkeley, I had the opportunity to "dialogue" with some of the organizers of these events. My perspective is unique, both as the vice consul for Israel in San Francisco, and as a Bedouin and the highest-ranking Muslim representing the Israel in the United States. I was born into a Bedouin tribe in Northern Israel, one of 11 children, and began life as shepherd living in our family tent. I went on to serve in the Israeli border police, and later earned a master's degree in political science from Tel Aviv University before joining the Israel Foreign Ministry.

I am a proud Israeli - along with many other non-Jewish Israelis such as Druze, Bahai, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims, who live in one of the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in the Middle East. Like America, Israeli society is far from perfect, but let us deals honestly. By any yardstick you choose - educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly, legislative representation - Israel's minorities fare far better than any other country in the Middle East

So, I would like to share the following with organizers of Israel Apartheid week, for those of them who are open to dialogue and not blinded by a hateful ideology:

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution: If you are really idealistic and committed to a better world, stop with the false rhetoric. We need moderate people to come together in good faith to help find the path to relieve the human suffering on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Vilification and false labeling is a blind alley that is unjust and takes us nowhere.

You deny Israel the fundamental right of every society to defend itself: You condemn Israel for building a security barrier to protect its citizens from suicide bombers and for striking at buildings from which missiles are launched at its cities - but you never offer an alternative. Aren't you practicing yourself a deep form of racism by denying an entire society the right to defend itself?

Your criticism is willfully hypocritical: Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage - you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available.

You are betraying the moderate Muslims and Jews who are working to achieve peace: Your radicalism is undermining the forces for peace in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We are working hard to move toward a peace agreement that recognizes the legitimate rights of both Israel and the Palestinian people, and you are tearing down by falsely vilifying one side.

To the organizers of Israel Apartheid Week I would like to say:

If Israel were an apartheid state, I would not have been appointed here, nor would I have chosen to take upon myself this duty. There are many Arabs, both within Israel and in the Palestinian territories who have taken great courage to walk the path of peace. You should stand with us, rather than against us.

Ishmael Khaldi is deputy consul general of Israel for the Pacific Northwest.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/04/EDRP168GMT.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 11 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Hebron rioting moves into fifth day

JERUSALEM (JTA.org) 2/25/2010  -- Palestinian riots continued in Hebron five days after the city's Cave of the Patriarchs was designated an Israeli national heritage site.

As Palestinian schoolchildren demonstrated Thursday near the site, other Palestinian protesters set tires on fire and threw stones at Israeli soldiers and police.

More than 300 Palestinians in Hebron clashed with Israelis soldiers while commemorating the anniversary of the murder of 29 Muslims by Jewish radical Baruch Goldstein at the cave's Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994. Goldstein was beaten to death at the scene of the attack, which also injured about 150.

Israeli security forces responded with tear gas and stun grenades Thursday, according to reports.

Israeli Arab politicians who joined in the protest, including  Hebron Mayor Khaled Esseleh, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of "lighting a fire" by declaring the cave a national heritage site.

Hebron's Jewish community was set to hold a prayer service at the cave Thursday to mark the Fast of Esther.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

JCPA: anti-Israel movement needs to be confronted

JCPA Taking Direct Aim at Anti-Israel Boycotters

By Gal Beckerman

Published February 24, 2010, issue of March 05, 2010.  Excerpt

With anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts gaining visibility, the Jewish community’s main public-policy coordinating body is for the first time confronting the BDS movement as a specific and stated priority.

At its recent annual plenum, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs passed a resolution stating that BDS should now “be regarded with the utmost seriousness and urgency.”

“This is a very serious matter,” JCPA’s executive director, Rabbi Steve Gutow, told the Forward. “We need to wake up, whether we are on the right, left or center.”

The JCPA, an umbrella body representing Jewish community relations councils across the country and more than a dozen leading national Jewish groups, adopted the anti-BDS resolution at its plenum in Dallas on February 23. Gutow said that JCPA member groups are planning to create a permanent body that would respond to the activities of the BDS movement.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Ahmadinejad: US staged 9-11, delaying the Mahdi

Ahmadinejad addresses rally

In the [ 2/23/10] speech, broadcast live on state television and circulated in several media outlets, Ahmadinejad reiterated his accusations that the United States was hindering the return of the redeemer of Islam, the Mahdi, local media reported.

“If the Mahdi does not come, this will mean that the battle of Karbala could be repeated. The Mahdi will face what the prophets faced and his life will be in danger,” he told the rally.

While pointing out that the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which ousted the Shah and installed the current religious regime, is a prelude to the appearance of the Mahdi, Ahmadinejad argued that the arrogance of the United States is one the main obstacles to the Mahdi’s coming.

“The United States is an arrogant country that plunders the wealth of nations by invading them. It is also a criminal state because it supports Israel.”

Ahmadinejad accused the United States of planning and carrying out the September 11 attacks in order to gain the sympathy of the world.

“These attacks fed its propaganda and became an excuse for attacking Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism.”

This is not the first time Ahmadinejad refers to the Mahdi, which has earned him much criticism from Iran’s senior clerics and politicians.

In an earlier speech he gave in Esfahan in December, Ahmadinejad claimed he had documented evidence that the United States invaded Iraq in order to prevent the coming of the Mahdi and stressed that the Iranian people would prepare the ground for his coming forming the Mahdi Army.

In a meeting he held with cleric Ayatollah Jawadi Amuli, Ahmadinejad claimed a halo of light surrounded him while he gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, attributing this to the Mahdi’s support.

In Shiite faith, the Mahdi, an Arabic term for guided, is believed to be the redeemer of Islam who will come to earth before the Day of Judgment and, together with Jesus, rid the world of all tyranny and injustice. 
--
h/t Elder of Ziyon
عودة للأعلى

Myth: "Advocates for Israel try to silence critics by labeling them anti-Semitic"

As addressed by Mitchell Bard.  2/24/2010

MYTH
“Advocates for Israel try to silence critics by labeling them anti-Semitic.”

FACT
Criticizing Israel does not necessarily make someone anti-Semitic. The determining factor is the intent of the commentator. Legitimate critics accept Israel’s right to exist, whereas anti-Semites do not. Anti-Semites use double standards when they criticize Israel, for example, denying Israelis the right to pursue their legitimate claims while encouraging the Palestinians to do so. Anti-Semites deny Israel the right to defend itself, and ignore Jewish victims, while blaming Israel for pursuing their murderers. Anti-Semites rarely, if ever, make positive statements about Israel. Anti-Semites describe Israelis using pejorative terms and hate-speech, suggesting, for example, that they are “racists” or “Nazis.” 

Natan Sharansky has suggested a “3-D” test for differentiating legitimate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism

The first “D” is the test of whether Israel or its leaders are being demonized or their actions blown out of proportion. Equating Israel with Nazi Germany is one example of demonization. 

The second “D” is the test of double standards. An example is when Israel is singled out for condemnation at the United Nations for perceived human rights abuses while nations that violate human rights on a massive scale, such as Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, are not even mentioned. 

The third “D” is the test of delegitimization. Questioning Israel’s legitimacy, that is, its right to exist is always anti-Semitic.41

No campaign exists to prevent people from expressing negative opinions about Israeli policy. In fact, the most vociferous critics of Israel are Israelis themselves who use their freedom of speech to express their concerns every day. A glance at any Israeli newspaper will reveal a surfeit of articles questioning particular government policies. Anti-Semites, however, do not share Israelis’ interest in improving the society; their goal is to delegitimize the state in the short-run, and destroy it in the long-run. There is nothing Israel could do to satisfy these critics.
-----
footnote 41: Natan Sharansky, “Antisemitism in 3-D,”, Forward, (January 21, 2005), p. 9.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Arabs are important to Israel

Allan G. Ross | Posted: Tuesday, February 23, 2010

the quad-city times

Sgt. Major Ihab Khatib, an Israeli Arab Druze soldier, was murdered on Feb. 10 in a terrorist attack by a senior Palestinian policeman. Yes,  an Israeli… Arab …  Druze …  soldier.

Sometimes it takes a tragedy like this to remind us that Israel is replete with loyal Muslim, Christian and other minority citizens who make contributions and sacrifices for their country.

Besides serving in the military (some as generals), Israeli Arabs—including women— have the right to vote, their own

political parties, religious freedom and serve as doctors, lawyers, judges (even on the Supreme Court), ambassadors and members of parliament.

While this integration is not perfect yet and much work needs to be done, surveys reveal that most Israeli Arabs want to remain Israelis instead of becoming citizens of any future Palestinian state and 77 percent would prefer to live in Israel than in any country of the world.

As we mourn Sgt. Khatib, let us be proud of all citizens of Israel who protect and support the only democratic country in the Middle East and a strategic ally of the United States.

Allan G. Ross

Jewish Federation  of  the Quad-Cities

Rock Island

Saturday, February 20, 2010



Israel's National Ballet Company's show in Vermont interrupted by pro-Palestinian protestors who force their way into theater


Pro-Palestinian groups headed by Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, staged a protest rally outside an Israeli Ballet performance in the Flynn Theater in Burlington, Vermont, on Friday.  According to an Israel Radio report, four demonstrators eventually forced their way into the theater, waving signs.  Local police, who promptly arrived at the scene and escorted the demonstrators outside. The show resumed after a short intermission.


The Israel Ballet Company is currently touring the US as part of an official state campaign, and is scheduled to perform in [Brooklyn at Brooklyn College on Sunday ]Buffalo, Brookline and Washington.

-Adapted from a Ynetnews.com  report
 

Dallas Islamic Leader Deported

Dallas Islamic Leader, Former CAIR National Board Member,  Deported

Government links him to terror groups

By SCOTT GORDON
Updated 6:04 PM CST, Fri, Feb 19, 2010

An immigration judge in Dallas on Friday ordered an outspoken Islamic leader deported after the U.S. government alleged he had ties to terrorist groups in the Middle East.
Nabil Sadoun, a Dallas resident and former board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, was deported to his native Jordan after he failed to appear at his immigration hearing. He entered the U.S. in August 1993.
Sadoun's attorney, Kimberly Kinser, said he was already in Jordan and was unable to return to Texas because the government had taken his permanent resident card, or green card.
She denied he was tied to any terrorist groups.
In the hearing, Judge Anthony Rogers of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, said Sadoun "made a decision to leave the U.S." and forfeited his right to fight his deportation. He said the decision was final and could not be appealed.
In court, the judge made vague references to the government's voluminous motion to deport him, including alleged involvement with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The judge concluded Sadoun lied on government forms when he denied he was a member.
The judge also indicated there was evidence Sadoun contributed to the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. Prosecutors convicted the group of funneling money to terrorist groups and several of its leaders were sent to prison. In the case, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator.
The judge's comments in court provided the only window into the allegations against Sadoun. The documents detailing charges made by the Department of Homeland Security were not publicly available.
Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman, said Sadoun left the organization several months ago.
Asked the reason for his departure, Hooper said, "Board members come on, (and) they leave."
Over the years, Sadoun made public comments critical of Israel, but Rogers said he considered the remarks free speech and gave them no weight in the decision to deport him, "no matter how distasteful they are to this court."

Friday, February 19, 2010

CAMERA: "What Often Happens to Israel's Critics" ?

From CAMERA,  2/19/2010

Andrew Sullivan, in a series of recent posts his blog The Daily Dish, purports to describe "What often happens to Israel's critics."

What happens, we're meant to believe, is that these critics are met by little more than "smears and character assassinations."

Of course we've heard this all before from the likes of former president Jimmy Carter, Gaza investigator Richard Goldstone, and Independent columnist Johann Hari. And of course, in each of these cases, the cry of "character assassination" was intended to denigrate and distract from the many serious, substantive critiques of their work. Put another way, the smears were not targeted at Israel's critics, but rather employed by them and directed at the critics' critics (including CAMERA).

But what about the latest charge by Sullivan?

Well, his exhibit one is nothing other than a repeat of a May 2008 column by Johann Hari. Apparently Sullivan hadn't seen the Hari column until now. And apparently he didn't realize, or didn't care to reveal to his readers, that Hari's accusation has long been debunked.

Discussing the reaction to a column he wrote blaming Jewish settlements for poisoning Palestinian land and water with untreated sewage, Hari claimed, and Sullivan echoed nearly a year later,
There was little attempt to dispute the facts I offered. Instead, some of the most high profile "pro-Israel" writers and media monitoring groups – including Honest Reporting and Camera – said I an anti-Jewish bigot akin to Joseph Goebbels and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ...
Which might be very convincing, were it not yet another distortion by Hari. CAMERA has, in fact, never compared Hari to Goebbels or Ahmadinejad, and very much did dispute the substance of his piece (including inter alia by pointing out the key fact that Hari concealed: that Palestinians are by far the major source of untreated sewage in the West Bank. See rebuttals of Hari's column, e.g., here and here.)

So, understood with all the relevant facts, here is "what often happens to Israel's critics": They sometimes falsify or otherwise distort the facts in relentless attacks on Israel. When that's the case (and also when people disagree with their logic for other reasons) they are often criticized by others, who fact-check, add context and debate ideas. When that happens, Israel's critics often pretend that the criticism amounts to little more than ad hominem smears, and fail to reply to the substance of the challenges.

Plus ca change.

Disclaimer [by CAMERA]: This blog post is in no way charging Andrew Sullivan with being an antisemite. That's left for others to debate.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Iranian President: End of US Supremacy Imminent

TEHRAN (FNA, 2/18/2010) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed that the US would soon have to face the end of its supremacy due to the country's wrong approaches towards international issues.


"The US supremacy is melting away just like snow in front of the sun," Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with the Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov in Tehran on Wednesday.

This means that in the near future the political trend of the world will change and a great transformation will take place.

"Mr. Obama and its friends or even his rivals cannot change the trend, so we should become ready for the changes in the future," the Iranian president stated.
----
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8811290671 

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Judea Pearl: Roger Cohen's Game with Israel


Roger Cohen’s Game With Israel

By Judea Pearl    February 16, 2010

http://www.jewishjournal.com/ judea_pearl/article/roger_cohens_game_with_israel_20100216/

For the life of me, I wish I could be a professional analyst — someone who makes a living telling people what world leaders think, why they think the way they do,
why what they think is not what they say and how we ought to act knowing what they truly have in mind.

The nice thing about being an analyst is that no one cares if you are right or wrong; it is the sound of your conclusions that count, not the veracity of your premises.

Take Roger Cohen, for example, and his recent New York Times column “Hard Mideast Truths” (Feb. 11), which a friend sent me with a grim comment: “Only Peres is left of the founding leaders of Israel…. Israel needs peace to survive in the long run.”

Cohen is the Times columnist who spent months, perhaps years, on a tireless campaign to convince the West that the Iranian regime does not deserve our suspicion, that it can be reasoned with like any other regime and that it does not suffer from an irrational form of fanaticism. Cohen’s campaign was shattered last June by the reality of the Iranian election, its brutal aftermath and the deceptive progress of Iran’s nuclear capability.

One would think that an analyst who fails so miserably in reading the minds of the ayatollah would acquire some measure of humility or introspection before reclaiming an authoritative posture as a mind reader. A prudent analyst would take a year or two to examine one’s premises, scrutinize one’s inference-making processes or reboot one’s ideology and logical machinery.

Not Cohen. The ink is still wet on his “I erred in underestimating the brutality and cynicism of a regime that understands the uses of ruthlessness” (New York Times, June 14, 2009), and Cohen is back with the same style of logic, same underestimating premises, same conclusion-driven inferences, to offer a brilliant solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

His solution is predictable: “It does not make sense for America to bankroll Israeli policies that undermine U.S. strategic objectives,” therefore, the United States should punish Israel into action on all fronts; settlements, negotiation with Hammas, security compromises and more. But Cohen’s motive has a new twist: It is all for Israel’s own good, otherwise, “what then will become of the Zionist dream?” Israelis are too dumb, so the message reads, to understand that they need peace to survive in a long run, and only New York analysts understand the urgency of this need, and only they can come up with original and innovative solutions to Israel’s future. Israelis, with all their experts, historians, statesmen, peace activists, visionaries, philosophers and, yes, analysts are incapable of thinking out of the box; Cohen can, as he did on Iran.

I lament the day I chose to become a scientist. If any of my theories ever turn out to be wrong, God forbid, no journal would dare print my articles again, and all my theories would forever be suspect of dubious intentions. Not Cohen. He can twist reality at will, and readers continue to swallow his logic, axiom after an axiom, lemma after lemma, as long as the conclusion harmonizes with what they wish to hear: We can fix everything — just push whatever moves.

Take Cohen’s reasons for negotiating with Hammas. “The Hamas charter is vile,” Cohen admits, “but the breakthrough Oslo accords were negotiated in 1993, three years before the Palestine Liberation Organization revoked the annihilationist clauses in its charter. When Arafat and Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn, that destroy-Israel charter was intact. Things change through negotiation, not otherwise. If there are Taliban elements worth engaging, are there really no such elements in the broad movements that are Hamas and Hezbollah?”

If only I were an analyst, I would be exonerated from checking the facts, and I would be spared the embarrassment of finding that the Oslo accords were negotiated only after Arafat proclaimed, three years earlier, before the U.N. General Assembly in Geneva (Dec. 13, 1988) that the Palestinian National Council renounced “all types of terrorism” and had accepted resolutions 242 and 338 as a basis for negotiations (in truth, it did not, but the world heard what it yearned to hear).

As an analyst, I would not need to find out that things did not exactly change through those negotiations in the 1990s — the PLO, to this very day, has not amended the annihilationist clauses in its charter, as openly admitted by Farouq Kadoumi in an interview with a Jordanian newspaper (Al-Arab, April 22, 2004; see Benny Morris’ book “One State, Two States” for a detailed chronology).

On the contrary, an intractable Gordian knot has been created: Every Westerner now believes the charter is amended; every Palestinian says it is amended but believes it is not, and every Israeli knows what Palestinians believe. Not a healthy mindset for peace negotiations.

Most importantly, as a scientist, I would be obliged to acknowledge competing theories. For example, that the blood-soaked Second Intifada erupted precisely because Clinton and Rabin did not insist on seeing an Arabic text of an amended PLO charter on the White House lawn. Their naiveté, so the theory goes, gave Arafat the illusion that as long as the West buys into his double-talk, Palestinians are exempt from doing any homework toward peace. It subsequently made Israelis doubly suspicious of Palestinian proclamations and reinforced Palestinians’ delusion that they can achieve sovereignty without internalizing Israel’s permanency. Cohen now hands them another reinforcement and, once again, all in the name of peace.

Competing theories are cherished by scientists and abhorred by analysts. For a scientist, such theories pinpoint experiments one must conduct and questions one needs to ask; for an analyst, they just spoil the music of the wished-for punch line. Cohen, for example, simply “knows” that “the ‘existential threat’ to Israel is overplayed” — competing theories, elaborating on Israel precarious position do not deserve his attention. The dreadful sight of 40,000 unstoppable Hezbollah rockets aimed at civilian population centers in Israel does not deserve the attention of omniscient analysts. And I purposely do not mention the Iranian nuclear threat, Cohen’s specialty, or whether Israeli society can survive the dead, wounded, maimed and orphaned victims of any massive modern-day assault, because the consequences of competing David-Goliath theories are not on the moral screen of astute analysts like Cohen.

Or take Cohen’s manifesto of morality: “... past persecution of the Jews cannot be a license to subjugate another people, the Palestinians.” The competing theory, according to which Israel relentlessly seeks ways to extricate itself from an unwanted occupation, while Palestinians reject the very notion of end-of-conflict, will forever remain the province of scientists; analysts have a license to ignore the hard evidence that pours out of Palestinian media, schools and public discourse, which spoils the music of a wished-for theory.

Oh, that I might become an analyst someday — mesmerized by wished conclusions, falling for my own conjectures and liberated from the bonds of truth.

Judea Pearl is a professor at UCLA and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation (danielpearl.org), named after his son. He is a co-editor of “I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl” (Jewish Lights, 2004), winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wiesel: Goldstone Gaza Report "a crime against the Jewish people."

[Elie] Wiesel blasted Judge Richard Goldstone, saying his report on the Israeli offensive in Gaza was "a crime against the Jewish people."

"One thing is clear, that document was unnecessary, and that man [Goldstone] who has a good reputation, who I have known for many years, should have declined the offer to head the committee, because of the anti-Israel mandate which called for it's establishment," Wiesel said. 

-- Ha'aretz  2/9/2010

Disruption of Israeli speakers on campus is denial of free speech

Freedom of speech on college campuses *must* be protected. The public needs to be aware of the orchestrated disruption of Israeli speakers on campuses.   "There is no right to a 'heckler's veto.' "   

If you are concerned about this growing tactic and would like further information, contact JCRC of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines at jcrc@dmjfed.org

Dean: UCI protesters violated free speech   February 10th, 2010

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law and an internationally-renowned expert on the Constitution, says that the students who yelled at Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren during a campus lecture Monday were suppressing free speech. (Coverage of protest.)


Eleven students — eight from UCI, three from UC Riverside — were arrested by campus police and cited for disrupting a public event. The arrests occurred while Oren was trying to discuss U.S.-Israel relations before an audience of 500 people in the UCI Student Center.
“They shouted him down,” Chemerinsky said. “Imagine if they had brought their own speaker and that person had been shouted down. There would be no free speech. There is no right to a ‘heckler’s veto’ “.

University officials announced before the lecture that Oren would answer questions from the audience at the end of his talk, a plan that was canceled after the ambassador was interrupted on 10 separate occasions by protesters. Police escorted each protester from the auditorium, which Chemerinsky says the police were entitled to do.

ADL Dismayed At Confrontational Tactics Aimed At Israeli Speakers On Campus


New York, NY, February 9, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed concern over the increasing use of undemocratic, bullying, confrontational tactics intended to silence Israeli officials and the expression of pro-Israel views on campus.

"America's college campuses are the cradle of our democracy, where the marketplace of ideas thrives and young people – often for the first time – are exposed to new and different ideas," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.   

"Unfortunately, anti-Israel activists on our campuses are increasingly resorting to undemocratic, bullying, confrontational tactics in order to silence Israeli officials and the expression of pro-Israel views.  Such mean-spirited efforts to stifle speech have no place in an academic environment where speakers need to be free to express their ideas – and interested audiences have a right to hear those ideas – without fear or intimidation."

Continuing on a trend that began in earnest last year by anti-Israel activists, Israeli officials have been shouted down, heckled and otherwise intimidated by students and other protesters.  These disruptions have resulted in the arrests of some students and the removal of others, and required security to escort the pro-Israel speakers out of the venues as a protective measure.

"While students and community members certainly have the right to engage in peaceable protest, the tactics employed by anti-Israel activists have significantly disrupted the speakers and prevented the free flow of information and ideas that are so critical in a democracy," said Mr. Foxman.

The most recent incidents, other than at UC-Irvine:

·  University of California, Los Angeles: Anti-Israel activists disrupted a talk at the law school by Daniel Taub, Senior Deputy Legal Adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, on February 8. Audience members wearing t-shirts with anti-Israel messages and duct tape covering their mouths, stood up and blocked views of the stage. They were asked to leave by the faculty members multiple times before being escorted out by campus police.

·   University of Pittsburgh: Anti-Israel activists disrupted a talk by former Israeli Knesset member Effie Eitam on February 3.  Interruptions occurred throughout the speech. Some of the protesters were asked to leave the building by campus Hillel, which organized the event. Approximately 25 individuals participated in a protest outside of the venue, organized by the university's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and a local peace and justice center.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Israeli Conservative synagogue burned

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A Conservative synagogue in southern Israel was burned.

The fire set Monday night to the Shira Hadasha synagogue in Arad in the Negev scorched the outside of the building, but was extinguished before it damaged the inside, the Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

The fire was started when a flammable liquid was poured into a hole drilled in a wall, the Post reported. 

The attack comes a year after another attempt to burn down the synagogue and days after an attempted break-in there, according to the Post.

Shira Hadasha is the only non-Orthodox synagogue in Arad, the Post reported. Israel has 60 Conservative synagogues.

Police have no suspects in the attack, according to the newspaper.
 

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Obama: Iran pursuing nuclear weaponization

US president says Tehran pursuing nuclear weapons,

Reuters  February 9, 2010

In an impromptu news conference, President Obama provided his most extensive comments about Iran in weeks, saying that despite Tehran's denials it is clear to him that Iran is pursuing a path toward "nuclear weaponization."  

 

Monday, February 8, 2010


Iran uranium plan concerns IAEA



International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano said he was concerned over Iran's plan to produce higher enriched uranium. (AFP) February 8, 2010
A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism Then and Now 
 
 
Hebrew University of Jerusalem professor Robert Wistrich and University of Maryland, College Park professor Jeffrey Herf trace the history of anti-Semitism from its earliest recorded roots through the present.  Furthermore, they discuss the potential impacts of its modern-day resurgence. 

Herf reviews Wistrich's "A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad."

From Jeffrey Herf's book review of Robert Wistrich's "A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad." 

 "Wistrich is certainly aware that not all criticism of Israeli policy is inspired by hatred of the Jews and Judaism, but the “logic” and the structure of influential arguments attacking Israel have been ominously identical to the imputations of vast power and enormous evil attributed to “world Jewry” by European anti-Semites of old. 

"The “lethal obsession” of the recent past, according to Wistrich, has been a melange of the old conspiracy theories of that infamous forgery, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,with Marxism-Leninism, secular third worldism, and Islamism. In this period, the center of gravity of anti-Semitism has shifted from Europe to the Middle East and Iran."

Jeffrey Herf teaches Modern European History at the University of Maryland, College Park. His most recent book is Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World (Yale University Press, 2009).

An additional review of Wistrich's book by Walter Laquer.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Dr. Koslow to describe his experiences in Haiti on internet radio show, 2/8


Dr. Alan Koslow from Des Moines  just returned from Haiti Earthquake medical relief Mission.   Contact: koslow@mchsi.com 


Koslow:   I will be talking about this on my internet Radio show 'The Doctor Is
In' on DesMoinesLocallive.com  at 2-4PM Monday afternoon. You can only
listen to this either on your computer, internet radio
station,I-Phone,Blackberry at http://macsworldlive.com/  then click
'watch full video experience' or 'listen to show'. 




I just returned from Haiti Earthquake medical relief Mission:

First I apologize.  I know SOME of YOU RECEIVED MULTIPLE COPIES OF
THIS.  PLEASE FORGIVE ME.  THIS IS NOT SPAM IT IS TRYING TO GET
AWARENESS OF HAITI UP.

I just returned from the greatest urban disaster in the history of the
world.

    * 200,000 bodies already found
    * 150,000 bodies estimated to still be unfound under rubble
    * 400,000-600,000 orphans
    * 300,000 amputations
    * 300,000-400,000 with treated fractures that are still at risk of
limb loss from infection.
    * 400,000-600,000 new orphans
    * 800,000-1,000,000 homeless
    * 3,000,000-4,000,000 that died, lost limb, are orphans, lost an
immediate family member or are homeless.
    * Almost everyone of the 8,000,000 population is dehydrated and
malnourished.

THIS ALL HAPPENED IN 30 SECONDS

Hiroshima and Nagasaki 225,000 died.
More people were affected then almost any two years of WW2

Aid was already slowing down during the week I was there.  WE CANNOT LET
THIS HAPPEN!!!!

I will be talking about this on my internet Radio show 'The Doctor Is
In' on DesMoinesLocallive.com  at 2-4PM Monday afternoon. You can only
listen to this either on your computer, internet radio
station,I-Phone,Blackberry at http://macsworldlive.com/  then click
'watch full video experience' or 'listen to show'.

Also go to http://www.facebook.com/alan.koslow?ref=name and ask to be my
friend, to see my facebook posts while I was down there and all the
pictures(some are very graphic.  I will be doing many more posts of my
thoughts and experiences.

Go to  http://www.youtube.com  to see video ssome are very graphic so
wait a few days till I label them.

I will be organizing a team to go in March and try to start the third
phase of care and rehab.  I will post details on my facebook page and
best ways to contribute.

Iran moves closer to confrontation with West over uranium   February 7, 2010  Telegraph.co.UK

[Ahmadinejad call for uranium enrichment at the 20 % level, ostensibly for medical use. --MF  ]  "Once enriched to 20 per cent, uranium needs to be further processed to 90 per cent for weapons purposes, but analysts believe Iran now has or is close to having the technical means to achieve that enhancement. "

Iran moves closer to confrontation with West

Mr Ahmadinejad's order was the culmination of a series of confusing statements by the regime in the last week. If it is carried out, it will scupper what was hoped to be a looming deal to transfer most of Iran's uranium abroad for further processing. Many in the West want uranium processing to take place outside the country so that fears over a weapons programme are allayed and the country's nuclear plans are better monitored.

European nations and America were already leading calls for more sanctions to be applied to Iran in the absence of a deal. Now if further enrichment starts, they are likely to put proposals to the United Nations security council soon.

Friday, February 5, 2010


Group says anti-Semitic acts soar in France in '09
       
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 3, 2010; 3:35 PM

PARIS -- A group founded to protect France's Jewish community says anti-Semitic acts in France soared 75 percent last year - many coming as Israel pressed an offensive against Hamas in the Middle East in January.

The Jewish Community Protection Service tallied 832 anti-Semitic acts in 2009, up from 474 a year earlier. Most involved graffiti and threatening gestures; about 17 percent involved vandalism and violence.

The group said Wednesday that 354 took place in January 2009 alone, when Israel ended a three-week offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas in response to rocket attacks from Gaza.

France is home to western Europe's largest communities of Muslims and Jews. Flare-ups of anti-Semitic acts have often coincided with Mideast violence.

Sen. Grassley: Trials of terrorists do not belong in civilian courts or on U.S. soil


In his weekly address of February 5, 2010, Senator Grassley  talks about holding the trials of terrorists on U.S. soil in civilian courts.

"Representative government worked and the people were heard at the grassroots of America when public pressure forced the Obama administration to move the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed out of New York City.  While New York City is off the hook, this administration appears to remain committed to a civilian trial.  This means the man who plotted the 9/11 attacks that killed more than 3000 Americans will receive more constitutional rights than our own military men and women will receive if they are court marshaled.

This to me is a ridiculous proposition.  A civilian trial on U.S. soil not only gives these terrorists the same constitutional rights as American citizens, but also risks releasing valuable intelligence information, creates an increased security risk, causes undue financial constraints on an already busted budget, and provides a large microphone for people to spew their hateful rhetoric.

These terrorists should not be brought to the United States for trial even though others may be tried in military commission.

I recently co-sponsored a bill with Senator Lindsey Graham and a group of bipartisan Senators that would prohibit the use of any federal funds for civilian trials of the September 11 terrorists.  If I get a chance to vote on legislation, either appropriating money to not bring the terrorists here, or that these folks not be tried in civilian courts, but be tried in military commission, I’ll be very inclined to support that legislation."
      
-30-               Comment to: Grassley_Press@grassley.senate.gov


ADL National Director rates Obama's First Year re: Middle East Diplomacy

Foxman:  White House Gets "A" for Effort, "F" for Results

ADL Issues Report Card On President Obama's First Year In Middle East Diplomacy


Palm Beach, FL, February 5, 2010 … Saying that "the one-year anniversary of a presidency is always an occasion to assess how a new president is doing," the head of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today rated the Obama Administration's first year in Middle East diplomacy, with suggestions for areas of improvement and possible next steps.

In a speech to the League's National Executive Committee, meeting today in Palm Beach, Florida, Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, gave the following grades to President Obama and his foreign policy staff for their efforts thus far on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
"A" for Effort, with good intentions and efforts to create the conditions necessary for bringing together the Palestinians and Israelis for negotiations;
• "C-minus" for Strategy, pointing to the administration's "unrealistic expectations" and heavy-handed focus on Israeli settlement policy;
"F" for Failure to achieve results, with little movement achieved thus far, with few prospects for talks on the horizon, and for what was essentially, "…a wasted year without any negotiations."
"I believe that it's fair to say that the president fits nicely into a long tradition of American presidents on the Middle East and Israel, and he tried very hard in his first year to bring the parties together with good intentions," said Mr. Foxman in his address to ADL leaders from across the country. "So, I sincerely believe President Obama deserves a solid 'A' for his efforts."

However, "The administration … focused on trying to speed up the process toward peace, and is now questioning its own strategy," said Mr. Foxman. "So in my estimation, the Obama administration earned a 'C-minus' for strategy."

"Since there are no prospects of talks on the horizon, and in many ways what their efforts wrought was a wasted year without any negotiations, I believe the administration deserves an 'F' for its failure to deliver on results."
Mr. Foxman said that while the conditions for a comprehensive peace -- including issues of Jerusalem, refugees and a demilitarized Palestinian state -- are "not yet ripe," he holds out hope that improved economic and security cooperation between the sides could lead to an eventual return to negotiations.

"I'd like to see the president focus on what is truly achievable in a region where the Palestinians continue to be divided between Palestinian Authority control of the West Bank and Hamas control of Gaza and where it remains unclear if the Palestinians truly accept a Jewish state," said Mr. Foxman.

The National Executive Committee, the League's highest policymaking body, meets annually in Palm Beach.

Thursday, February 4, 2010


 Venezuelan Jews Start Immigrating To Bogota

AJN.- Estimates show that about 30 Jewish Venezuelan families will immigrate during 2010 to Colombia.  Marcos Peckel, Chairman of Bogota’s Israeli Center, said to the Jewish News Agency* that a Special Committee has been established to receive Venezuelan Jews. Peckel confirmed that the Colombian Jewish community is worried about the worsening of relations with Venezuela.

Dozens of Venezuelan Jewish families started to immigrate to Colombia for conflicts with the policies of the President Hugo Chavez, but also because of the energetic and economic crisis which affects the country.


*Agencia Judía de Noticias, in Spanish -AJN   ajnnews@gmail.com

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

CAMERA: C-Span's call-in show accepting of vilification of Jews and Israel

“I'd like to make a call about the Census. It's a waste of time taking a census when what you've got is this AIPAC lobby that reflects a small percentage of the population, the Jewish line of voters, who are pushing us into these wars for Israel.”


C-SPAN's Washington Journal Caller Problem

C-SPAN hosts are typically overly respectful and too patient as a handful of frequent callers spew invective and falsehoods against Jews and Israel. No other ethnic or religious group or nation is repeatedly vilified on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal 3-hour daily broadcasts. This vilification is enabled if not positively encouraged by C-SPAN‘s receptivity especially the feckless performance of the hosts. Many C-SPAN viewers, perhaps not knowing the facts and not hearing them from network hosts or, often, from guests, are at risk of being influenced by those callers seemingly driven by an obsessive pathological desire to falsely blame major world problems on the Jews and Israel.

more
Seven Myths About Iran           How long will it take for the lesson to stick?
By BRET STEPHENS    Wall Street Journal,  February 1, 2010  
 Columnist's name
 
'We have been trying to negotiate [with the Iranians] for five, six years. We've tried everything. We have met every Iranian. We have tried to open every possible channel. We've had new ideas and the result is this: nothing."

Thus did a senior Western diplomat recently describe to me his country's efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with Tehran over its nuclear programs. In doing so, he also finally disposed of the myth, nearly a decade in the making, that Iran was ready to abandon those programs in exchange for a "grand bargain" with the West.

Let's dispose of a few other myths—and hope it doesn't take years for the lesson to stick:

(1) Military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities would accomplish nothing.

That's the argument made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who last year told a Senate Committee that "a military attack will only buy us time and send the program deeper and more covert."

Maybe so, but what's wrong with buying time? Israel's 1981 attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor also bought time while driving Saddam's nuclear programs underground. But it ensured that it was a non-nuclear Iraq that invaded Kuwait and threatened Saudi Arabia nine years later, a point recognized by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney when he thanked the Israeli commander of the Osirak operation for making "our job much easier in Desert Storm."

(2) A strike would rally Iranians to the side of the regime.

The case would be more persuasive if the regime had any remaining claims on Iranian patriotism. It no longer does, if it ever did. It also would be more persuasive if the nuclear program were as broadly popular as some of the regime's apologists claim. On the contrary, one of the more popular chants of the demonstrators goes, "Iran is green and fertile, it doesn't need nukes."

Yet even if the nuclear program enjoyed widespread support, it isn't clear how Iranians would react in the event of military strikes. Argentine dictator Leopoldo Galtieri whooped up a nationalist fervor when he invaded the Falklands in 1982, but was ousted from office just a week after Port Stanley fell to the British. When a regime gambles its prestige on a single controversial enterprise, it cannot afford to lose it.

(3) Sanctions don't work, and usually wind up strengthening the regime at the expense of its own people.

That's only true when the sanctioned regimes have strong internal controls, relatively pliant populations, and zero interest in international respectability. It's also true that sanctions alone are never a silver bullet. But as Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies points out, they can be "silver shrapnel," particularly when the target country is as politically vulnerable as Iran is now, and when it is also critically reliant on the consumption of imported gasoline.

That's why the House was right when it overwhelmingly approved the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act in December, and when the Senate unanimously passed a similar bill (against the administration's objections) last Thursday. Over time, the regime will surely find ways to skirt the sanctions, which prohibit companies that do business in Iran's energy sector from also doing business in the U.S. But in the critical short term, these sanctions might provoke the kind of mass unrest that could tip the scales against the regime.

(4) The world can live with a nuclear Iran, just as we live with other nasty nuclear powers.

Assume that's true. (I don't.) Can we also live with nuclear Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey? The problem with the "realist" view is that it fails to take account of the fears a nuclear Iran inspires among the status quo regimes in its neighborhood. Containment was complicated enough during the Cold War. Now imagine a four- or five-way standoff among Arabs, Persians, Turks and Israelis, some religiously fanatic, in the world's most volatile neighborhood.

(5) The Iranian regime is headed for the ash heap of history. The best policy is to do as little as possible until it crumbles from within.

Communist regimes were also destined for the ash heap. Unfortunately, it took them decades to get there, during which they murdered tens of millions of people. It matters a great deal to Iran's people, and its neighbors, that the regime go quietly. But it also matters that it go quickly, and waiting on events is not a policy.

(6) The more support we show Iran's demonstrators, the more we hurt their cause.

This was the administration's view after the June 12 election, as it walked on tiptoes to avoid the perception of "meddling." The regime accused the U.S. of meddling all the same.

But protest movements like Iran's (or Poland's, or South Africa's) are sustained by a sense of moral legitimacy that global support uniquely conveys. When will American liberals get behind Iranian rights, as they have, say, Tibetan ones? Maybe when President Obama tells them to.

(7) Israel will ultimately dispose of Iran's nuclear facilities.

The more policy makers fall for the first six myths, the less mythical the seventh one becomes.

Write to bstephens@wsj.com

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Palestinian poll: 
 
 Palestinians favor 1 state solution (62.5%) over 2 state solution (36.8)
 
Palestinian Center for Public Opinion (PCPO) Poll No. 169      Date: February 1, 2010
 

Q 39. There are lot of strategic concepts for the resolution of the conflict
in the region and the self-determination of the Palestinian people. What is
your evaluation to each of the following?


1. One democratic state on the soil of the whole historical Palestine, in
which all its citizens should enjoy the same rights without religious,
ethnic, racial or gender discrimination. 62.5

2. Two states, one Palestinian, the other Israeli, live in peaceful
coexistence side by side as good neighbors (in conformity with the
resolution of the Palestinian National Council of 1988
and the UN-Resolution
no. 242). 36.8

3. I don't know 0.7

The most recent poll drafted by Dr. Nabil Kukali and published by the
Palestinian Center for Public Opinion on February 1st, 2010 included a
random sample of (1450) respondents representing all the demographic
spectrum of the residents of Gaza Strip at the age of (18) years and older.

Access via  http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=47112

JFNA: Pres. Budget Embraces Many Jewish Federation Priorities


The Jewish Federations of North America
 
For Immediate Release:                   
February 2, 2010
 
Contact:        
Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
(202) 265-3000; (202) 641-6216 (c)
 
Presidential Budget Embraces Many Jewish Federation Priorities, but Undermines Critical Charitable Deductions
 
WASHINGTON – The FY 2011 budget recommendations issued by the President this week embraces many Jewish Federation priorities, but could reduce charitable contributions vital to Federation support, said a leading Jewish advocacy organization.
 
The Jewish Federations of North America is currently reviewing the nearly 2500 pages of the FY 2011 budget and finds numerous provisions that support the work of The Jewish Federations as well as some provisions The Jewish Federations hope Congress will reconsider prior to  passage of the final budget resolution.
 
The FY 2011 budget provides essential funding for programs managed by the Jewish Federation movement to support the older adults, disabled, unemployed, sick and homeless.  Included in this year’s recommendations, among others, are extended funding for the enhanced Federal Medicare Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rate that was set to expire at the end of this year and funding for the Administration on Aging’s Caregivers Initiative.  FMAP is the funding formula used to determine the amount of federal aid states will receive to support their Medicaid program.   The Caregiver Initiative, which recognizes the essential role of family members as caregivers, is among the Jewish Federations’ major priorities. The FY 2011 Budget proposal also enables charities, regardless of size, to qualify for a $5,000 tax credit for every net new employee hired in 2010.
 
“Jewish Federations and our affiliated social service agencies are continuing to respond to the devastation of the current economic crisis, and look to Congress and the Obama Administration for a fiscal lifeline to counter the enormous demand for our social programs,” said William C. Daroff, vice president for public policy and director of The Jewish Federations of North America’s Washington office.  “We look forward to working with Congress as it reviews the President’s budget recommendations and tackle these challenges to ensure our nation’s charities have the resources and tools needed to help the most vulnerable.”
 
The Jewish Federations was disappointed that the Budget includes a proposal limiting the value of itemized deductions, including charitable deductions.  Led by The Jewish Federations, charities across the country actively encouraged Congress to reject a similar proposal last year, because of the disincentive it will have on charitable giving at a time when charities are serving as a vital component of the nation's social safety net. The Jewish Federations of North America remains committed to ensuring that the nation’s network of charities and social services has access to the funding and resources it needs to continue to help those most affected by the economic downturn.
 
“More Americans today are facing unprecedented financial pressures at a time when many of them are unable to find work, and for many, the initiatives and programs managed by our nation’s charitable network are life-saving,” said Daroff.  “Anything that undercuts these vital programs is simply unacceptable.   The Jewish Federations of North America remains committed to working with Congress and the Administration to ensure that charities have the resources to help our society's most vulnerable.”
 
The Jewish Federations of North America represents 157 Jewish Federations and 400 Network communities, which raise and distribute more than $3 billion annually for social welfare, social services and educational needs. The Federation movement, collectively among the top 10 charities on the continent, protects and enhances the well-being of Jews worldwide through the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world), tzedakah (charity and social justice) and Torah (Jewish learning).
 
-END-
 

Theologian's "Jihad and Genocide" previewed by Christian media analyst

CAMERA.com's Christian Media Analyst, Dexter Van Zile, sat down to record some informal video notes for an upcoming review of noted Holocaust theologian Richard L. Rubenstein's book, "Jihad and Genocide".

 
 
Source:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP38bHFQiJ0


Informal comment by Dexter Van Zile:

I think the issue of the dhimma is of central importance to the current conflict. The dhimma is the treaty of protection offered to non-Muslims in Muslim ruled countries. In return for accepting their subject status, non-Muslims are allowed to maintain their religious identity. The underlying assumption is that Islam is supposed to be the dominant force in any society where it exists.

The notion of Jewish sovereignty, especially on land previously governed by Muslim rulers, is anathema to this understanding. It is an inversion of the way things are supposed to be.

The forces that contribute to the terrible treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East are the same forces that contribute to violence against non-Muslims outside the region by Islamists. 


Note:  We are referring here only to Radical or Revolutionary Islamism.  The average Muslim, even those who practice conservative traditional Islam, is not a Radical Islamist. As Prof. Barry Rubin puts it: "We should understand  [that]  Islamism is not [ and hasn't been] the only possible interpretation of Islam."   http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2010/01/radical-islamism-introductory-primer.html