May 5: Federation's Parents & Kids Group for Jewish and Interfaith Familes

A new program! Contact: Fannie@dmjfed.org

 

Holocaust Remembrance Day programming in Des Moines

Tonight, April 4 at Drake University:   Comparison Project: Innovative Jewish Theological Responses to the Holocaust [Academics]

07:00 PM - 08:30 PM @ Olin 101 - Steven Katz, Alvin J. and Shirley Slater, Chair of Jewish and Holocaust Studies, Boston University

 

Two programs on Sunday, April 7

 

 

 

 

Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration
Sunday, April 7th, 5:30pm @ Tifereth Israel
Join us for a short memorial service for the victims of the Holocaust, followed by a presentation on Gays and Lesbians in the Holocaust, by guest speaker Dr. Warren Blumenfeld, professor of Multicultural and International Curriculum Studies at Iowa State University. The program is free of charge, but seating is limited, so reserve your spot by calling us at 515-255-1137 or emailing us atoffice@tifereth.org. This event is co-sponsored by One Iowa, Des Moines University, and the First Friday Breakfast Club.

Sen. Robert Menendez: Supporting Israel means fighting back on the efforts to delegitimize the Israeli state

jComments may be sent to crc@dmjfed.org

JCPA: Turkish Leader's Comments on Zionism Cross the Line of Acceptable Discourse.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs described Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s comments at a UN event in Vienna, that Zionism is a “crime against humanity” and akin to anti-Semitism and fascism, as “outrageous.” The organization called on world leaders to condemn it clearly and unequivocally and urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to raise it during his visit in Turkey later this week.

“These comments from one of the Middle East’s most important leaders, who has deep ties with the United States and the West, are outrageous,” said JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow. “Calling Zionism -- the Jewish people’s movement for national self determination -- a ‘crime against humanity’ crosses the line between acceptable discourse and anti-Semitism. It should be condemned clearly and unequivocally by world leaders.”

“Erdogan’s hate speech, in essence, is a deeply unfortunate return to the vile UN Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism, which was revoked in 1992. Rather than delegitimizing Israel’s existence as a Jewish and democratic state, the Turkish leader instead should use his influence to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” asserted JCPA Chair Larry Gold. “We hope Secretary of State John Kerry will take advantage of his upcoming visit to Turkey to convey U.S. concerns about this disturbing development.”

Source:  http://engage.jewishpublicaffairs.org/c/627/p/salsa/web/blog/public/?blog_entry_KEY=6835

 

Distributed by jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

Abu Toameh: What is really blocking the peace process?

by Khaled Abu Toameh
February 19, 2013    http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3593/blocking-peace-process

It is clear is that neither Hamas nor Fatah is interested in achieving unity -- each for its own reasons. Then there are radicals in the Arab and Islamic countries -- such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis -- who will never accept Israel's right to exist.

Hamas and Fatah are lying not only to their people, but also to the rest of the world -- something the international community should take into consideration when dealing with the two parties.

Hamas is now holding US President Barack Obama responsible for the failure of the latest attempt to achieve reconciliation between the Islamist movement and Fatah.

Hamas's accusation came shortly after another round of talks with Fatah in Cairo last week failed to produce agreement on the formation of a new Palestinian unity government and holding presidential and parliamentary elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesman claimed that Fatah was afraid of reaching any agreement weeks before Obama's planned visit to the region. Obama is scheduled to visit the Middle East in late March.

Hamas claims that the US Administration has been exerting pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also head of Fatah, to refrain from signing any deal with Hamas.

"Obama's planned visit has had a negative impact on the Palestinian reconciliation discussions," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

Fatah, for its part, has denied the charges, insisting that Obama's planned visit had nothing to do with the the failure of the talks with Hamas.

Before making the allegation against Obama, Hamas had also accused Israel of seeking to foil "Palestinian unity" by arresting scores of Hamas supporters and officials in the West Bank.

This was not the first time that Israel had arrested Hamas members -- the arrests are, in fact, part of an ongoing effort by the IDF to prevent Hamas from taking control over the West Bank.

So the latest arrests are being used by Hamas as a justification to blame Israel for the failure of the unity talks.

The charges against the US and Israel are seen by many Palestinians as yet another attempt by Hamas to blame everyone but itself for the failure of the reconciliation talks.

Hamas has had many opportunities to end the dispute with Fatah -- long before Washington announced Obama's plan to visit the region and the IDF arrest of Hamas members.

But instead of accepting responsibility for the failure of the reconciliation talks, Hamas prefers to blame the Americans and Israelis.

Hamas should admit that it is not interested in making peace with Fatah largely because it does not want to be accused of endorsing the Oslo Accords and the two-state solution.

Fatah also has been trying to avoid responsibility for the failure of the talks, with its leaders claiming that "outside forces" have been putting pressure on Hamas to refrain from reaching any agreement between the two rival parties.

When Fatah leaders talk about "outside forces," they are referring to Iran, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, which back Hamas politically, financially and militarily.

Najat Abu Baker, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said this week that both Hamas and Fatah are lying to the Palestinians. She said that neither party was interested in ending the ongoing dispute and achieving unity.

Many Palestinians seem to share Abu Baker's view about the lies of Hamas and Fatah. Today, it is clearer than ever that neither Hamas nor Fatah is interested in achieving unity -- each for its own reasons.

For Hamas, ending the dispute means the Islamist movement would have to cede exclusive control over the Gaza Strip -- an area that has been turned into a semi-independent Islamic emirate over the past five years.

As for Fatah, unity with Hamas means paving the way for the Islamist movement to extend its control to the West Bank -- something Abbas and his supporters are afraid of and cannot afford.

Unity with Hamas also means that the Islamist movement would gain even more legitimacy among Palestinians and the international community. Again, this is something Fatah can never allow to happen.

What Obama and the rest of the international community need to understand is that the Palestinians already have two separate entities -- with social, political and religious observance and ideologies that totally conflict.

The "moderate" entity, led by Fatah, says it wants 100% of all the lands captured by Israel in 1967; Hamas and the radicals continue to insist on 100% of "all Palestine, from the river to the sea." Why should Hamas give way?

By the way, Fatah's public endorsement of the two-state solution does not necessarily mean it has abandoned the phased plan -- namely, take whatever you can now and fight in the future to get the rest.

Even if Mahmoud Abbas agrees to return to the negotiating table with Israel, it is obvious that any agreement he reaches will be automatically rejected by the radicals.

The radicals in this instance are not only Hamas and Islamic Jihad. There are also radicals within Abbas's Fatah faction -- in addition to non-Islamist terror groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Then there are the radicals in the Arab and Islamic countries, such as Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis, who will never accept Israel's right to exist.

The best Obama and Israel can hope for is some kind of an interim agreement with Abbas, who knows that he does not even have a mandate from his people to make concessions to Israel: his term in office expired in 2009.

 

Feb. 7: "Pre-Occupied: Myths About Israel & International Law" with Law Professor Eugene Kontorovich

News of an upcoming program, on Thursday, February 7.  Hope you will plan to attend!  Question & Answer session to be included.

 

 

 

Distributed by jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

 

Amb. Oren: Jewish apartment complexes aren't preventing peace - Palestinians' refusal to negotiate is

Back in 2005, Israel uprooted all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza, evicting their 9,000 residents, in order to advance peace. But in the seven years since, Israel has been targeted by nearly 9,000 terrorist rockets from Gaza. Clearly, settlements are not the reason. Rather, it is our enemy’s determination to deny the Jewish people the right to independence in our ancestral homeland. – Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Oren

Stop scapegoating Israeli settlements 

Jewish apartment complexes aren't preventing peace — Palestinians' refusal to negotiate is

By Michael Oren / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 4:15 AM

RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS

Apartments are seen in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim near Jerusalem.

Back in 2005, Israel uprooted all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza, evicting their 9,000 residents, in order to advance peace. But in the seven years since, Israel has been targeted by nearly 9,000 terrorist rockets from Gaza. Clearly, settlements are not the reason. Rather, it is our enemy’s determination to deny the Jewish people the right to independence in our ancestral homeland.

That is why Palestinian Arabs fought for decades to prevent the establishment of Israel in 1948 and why, over the next 20 years, Arab armies tried to destroy us — before there was a single settlement. That, and not the settlement issue, was why the Palestinians turned down Israeli offers of statehood in the West Bank and Gaza in 2000 and 2008.

And that is why last month, Hamas in Gaza launched yet more rockets at Israel, and why the West Bank’s Palestinian Authority refused to negotiate with us for the past four years. Instead, it unilaterally declared sovereignty in a UN General Assembly resolution that denied any security for Israel or recognition of it as a Jewish state.

Israel, for its part, recognizes the Palestinians as a people who could have a state if their leaders agreed to sit with ours and work out the complex issues between us. One of those issues is borders, and it includes the settlements, which have created — to use President Obama’s words — “new demographic realities on the ground.”

Those realities include Jerusalem neighborhoods built after 1967, home to more than half of the city’s Jewish residents and only a few minutes’ drive from downtown. Successive Israeli governments have insisted that Jerusalem remain Israel’s united capital. “I know that this is a difficult issue for Palestinians,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a joint meeting of Congress in 2011. “But I believe with creativity and goodwill, a solution can be found.”

Then there are the West Bank settlements. These communities provide strategic depth to our borders which, before 1967, were as narrow as 8 miles across. But the West Bank — Judea and Samaria — is also the birthplace of our people, our tribal lands. The West Bank cities of Bethlehem, Hebron and Jericho appear in the Bible, but Haifa in modern Israel does not.

The settlements reflect the right of a people to live in its homeland. We are willing to qualify that right — painfully — if the Palestinians agree to live with us in peace.

Still, all of the settlements account for a very small percentage of the West Bank. Most of them are concentrated in blocs that have become suburbs of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Everyone — Americans, Israelis and Palestinians — understands that these blocs will always remain part of Israel, even if a Palestinian state is negotiated.

All of the building recently approved by the Israeli government was in Jerusalem and these blocs. So, too, were the preliminary plans for construction in the area known as E1, which were approved last week.

E1 is a stretch of desert, less than 2 miles long, connecting Jerusalem to its suburb of Maaleh Adumim, home to 40,000 Israelis. Every Israeli prime minister in the past 40 years, including Ehud Olmert and Yitzhak Rabin, has planned to build in E1 in order to prevent Maaleh Adumim’s isolation.

That construction will not, as the Palestinians claim, divide the West Bank. Just look at a map: E1 in no way obstructs Palestinian Ramallah’s access to Jericho and Bethlehem. In a negotiated two-state solution, short tunnels under E1 can also connect Ramallah with the Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

In his congressional address, Netanyahu acknowledged that “some settlements will end up beyond Israel’s borders” after a genuine peace agreement. Israel is committed to achieving that goal, and settlements will not be an obstacle. Together with Obama, whose support for Israel’s right to defend itself and demand for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks has been unswerving, we stand ready to do the difficult work of peacemaking.

Even today, after all the terrorist rockets and denial of our rights, we remain at the negotiating table, waiting for the Palestinians to join us.

Oren is Israel’s ambassador to the United States.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/stop-scapegoating-israeli-settlements-article-1.1217232#ixzz2Em8XZyvz