Tobin: JStreet backs effort to condemn Israel at UN

@Daroff: #JStreet Backs Effort to Condemn #Israel at the UN by Jonathan Tobin http://goo.gl/fb/KIm43


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Hunegs: Concern for Christians in the ME also needed

Concern for Christians in the Mideast also needed   By Steve Hunegs [Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas]   It is hard to argue with the [ Minneapolis] Star Tribune's balanced and fair-minded editorial of Jan. 15 ("Redouble efforts on Mideast peace talks").   Indeed, Israel is a "stalwart ally," and the threat of a nuclear Iran is the "real Mideast crisis." No disagreement exists, either, with the proposition that the United States should broach potential practical solutions to final status issues such as refugees, Jerusalem and water rights.   The intensive efforts of the Carter administration, including Vice President Walter Mondale, resulted in the landmark agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1979.   The Clinton administration followed this approach in 2000 at Camp David and Taba. Much progress was made until Yasser Arafat scuttled this historic opportunity for peace and launched the second intifada.   Thinking positively about "redoubled" American efforts, public opinion polling consistently confirms that a majority of Israelis favor a two-state solution with the Palestinians.   Polls in the Palestinian community reflect smaller but significant levels of support for an accord with Israel.   Nevertheless, significant doubt permeates the Israeli psyche about the possibility of peace.   The Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon resulted in Iran, in conjunction with Syria, establishing a Hezbollah armed camp in southern Lebanon, leading to the Second Lebanon War in August 2006.   Hezbollah has now recovered and reportedly has 40,000 missiles aimed at Israel, many with the range to reach Tel Aviv.   Similarly, the Israeli evacuation of Gaza resulted, ultimately, in the creation of Hamastan in Gaza firing more than 8,000 missiles into Israel from 2001 to 2009.   The common denominator is Iran, which -- with all due respect to Michelle Dunne of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace -- endangers American troops in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, as the commentary of Arab diplomats and military officials found in WikiLeaks documents aptly illustrates.   Missing from the Star Tribune editorial is solicitude toward Christians who are suffering throughout the Middle East -- the cradle of Christianity. Deadly church bombings in Iraq last October and in Egypt last month are aimed at driving Christians from lands where they have lived since antiquity.   Iran supplements this terrorism with ongoing persecution of its Christian minority. In the early morning of Christmas Day, 25 Christians were arrested -- 14 remain in prison. The governor of Tehran has labeled these evangelical believers as "missionaries" and is threatening more arrests in the future.   As was noted in the New York Times on Dec. 13, Nassir Sharhoom, 47, an Iraqi Christian who fled Baghdad last month with his family for the Kurdish capital of Erbil, said: "It's exactly what happened to the Jews; they want us all to go."   While much of the world remains silent on the plight of Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Syria, the Jewish people cannot ignore the situation.   Christianity has traveled a remarkable distance in the aftermath of the Holocaust in coming to terms with Judaism.   The teachings of the Nostra Aetate, the rejection of supercessionism and recognition of the Jewish roots of Christianity have built a foundation of increased theological trust between Jews and Christians.   In Israel, according to Rabbi Eugene Korn, North American director of the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation, the number of Christians in Israel has risen from approximately 40,000 in 1948 to 155,000 today.   By contrast, approximately 2 million Christians have left Muslim countries in the Middle East in the last 20 years.   This greater sense of kinship between Jews and Christians must include the taking of joint steps, when possible, to protect the Christians of the Middle East.   As Pope Benedict prayed in his Christmas message from St. Peter's Basilica: "May the comforting message of the coming of Emmanuel ease the pain and bring consolation amid their trials to the beloved Christian communities in Iraq and throughout the Middle East."

Source: http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/114318894.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUvDEhiaE3miUsZ

Clinton: Arab resolution on Israeli settlements submitted to UN not helpful

Ha'aretz: Clinton: Arab resolution on Israeli settlements submitted to UN not helpful http://bit.ly/fO4BjW

Map of political freedom in the Middle East

A map of political freedom in the Middle East for dummies: A primer for Guardian readers

January 20, 2011  by Adam Levick   For map, see  http://networkedblogs.com/dge5h

Freedom House recently released its 2010 survey of freedom in the world, and the results are relatively intuitive, unless of course, you’re someone who actually takes the Guardian’s coverage of the Middle East seriously.

Here’s Freedom House’s categories:

A Free country, according to Freedom House, is one where there is broad scope for open political competition, a climate of respect for civil liberties, significant independent civic life, and independent media. (Green: That tiny patch of land next to Egypt, which you can hardly see)

Partly Free countries are characterized by some restrictions on political rights and civil liberties, often in a context of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic strife, or civil war. (Yellow: Lebanon, Morocco, and Kuwait)

A Not Free country is one where basic political rights are absent, and basic civil liberties are widely and systematically denied. (Lavender: Every other country)

South Sudan's majority votes for independence!

 Through JCRC, our community has conveyed our congratulations to the people of South Sudan, who, through referendum, have voted for independence from Sudan.  //Mark Finkelstein

 

 From: GOANAR CHOL  

 

 Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 11:05 AM
Subject: RE: South Sudan's majority votes for independence!

Thank you for the message for Congratulating the People of South Sudan.
 
It is very exciting for us and I personally thank God and all the People who support us to be able to see this day.
 
Khartoum Arabs have treated the People of South Sudan in a way indescribable in human language.  I saw teachers murdered as a child in 1967 and many of us began bearing dead People at 11 years old because the Khartoum Government. 
 
I personally give great appreciation for the People and Government of Israel for the support given to us in 1970s and the People of the United States for supporting the Sudanese in many ways.
 
I would like these realtions to continue and I am aware that Khartoum will turn their brutal attention to Darfur, Jubal En Nuba from which My wife Batul come and other marjinalized areas.
 
Please continue to pray
 
Rev. Goanar J. Chol
 
Sudanese Ministry Resource Person.
 
Presbytery of Des Moines
 
Presbyterian Church USA.
 

---

 

S. Sudan hits majority needed for independence

Bishop Paul blows into a vuvuzela (trumpet) after casting his vote on South Sudanese independence at a polling station in Juba. South Sudan has achieved the majority needed to break away in an independence vote, partial preliminary results collated by AFP show, with many counties still to report.  

 

AFP - South Sudan has achieved the majority needed to break away in an independence vote, partial preliminary results collated by AFP showed on Wednesday, with many counties still to report. 

 
The figures gathered from state and county referendum commission chairmen showed that 2,198,422 votes for independence have already been returned, comfortably exceeding the simple majority of 1.89 million votes needed for secession on the 96 percent turnout of the 3,932,588 registered voters.

What's happening in Tunisia?

http://blogs.jpost.com/content/whats-happening-tunisia

"Tunisia’s population of 10m and reduced risk of Islamic takeover means that the possibility of a new, more progressive government may actually make America’s case for Arab reform easier."

Jewish school, 5 synagogues vandalized in Montreal

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Attacks+synagogues+Jewish+school+condemned/4121888/story.html