Louie Sloven: Get the facts before you judge Israel

Louie Sloven has an excellent piece in Monday's Daily Iowan
http://www.dailyiowan.com/2010/06/14/Opinions/17472.html

Guest column: Mavi Marmara fight illustrates many complexities

BY GUEST OPINION | JUNE 14, 2010 7:30 AM

And even though you might disagree with me, I’m not going to call you an anti-Semite. Really!As a young Jewish American who recently finished an eight-month-long stint in Israel, where I interned for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, I’m writing to explain how I feel about the world’s reaction to the recent flotilla fiasco.

I’m aware that most Americans, indeed most people the world over, are livid with anger at the current Israeli decision-makers. They’re wondering why Israeli forces were ordered to rappel down from a helicopter onto the deck of the Mavi Marmara; they’re wondering why that operation couldn’t have been handled in a manner that didn’t result in nine Turks and one American dead.

Indeed, most analyses of the issue focus on the morality of the existing Gaza blockade that the flotilla was attempting to circumvent. Representatives from every international organization, with barely an acronym to their name, have rushed to blame Israel for the decrepit conditions in Gaza. In light of that, many outside Israel are wont to take the side of these nautical “activists,” as they’ve been popularly labeled.

I am not surprised because, by now, this has become the modus operandi: Disasters and atrocities happen all over the world, yet Israel remains on the front page and in the world’s collective consciousness. The Obama administration’s prudent efforts to remain “neutral” in the war of words between Palestinians and Israelis is depicted as submission to “the Israel lobby.” The Palestinians back a powerful narrative of victimhood and succeed largely in demonizing Israelis, portraying them as determinedly land-hungry oppressors.

The media, too, paint a picture in which it’s easy to pick out the heroes and villains. If only the real story were that simple.

The nature of the events that unfolded became contentious primarily because the Israelis had no way of knowing what sort of cargo was onboard the flotilla. (A ship called the Francop was intercepted on its way to Lebanon last year; as it turned out, it was full of Iranian weaponry headed to Hezbollah. And Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the man assassinated in Dubai earlier this year, was discovered to be working as a Hamas-Iran liaison in the weapons-trafficking business.) It makes intuitive sense to me that Israel wants to keep close tabs on what goes in and out of Gaza.

Second, it’s not simple because Israeli troops probably did meet armed resistance aboard the Mavi Marmara. Even though video accounts of the actual conflict make the order of events difficult to discriminate, there are some YouTube videos of the “activists” aboard one boat chanting about the glory of jihad. I’m sure, like George Galloway’s recent “Viva Palestina” aid convoy, it was a mix of utopian peaceniks and Islamic extremists.

It’s not simple, third, because two ascendant nations — Turkey and Iran — seem to be writing the script behind the scenes and succeeding. It’s not surprising that a Turkish boat was where this scuffle took place; remember the recently aired Turkish TV series that portrays Israel Defense Forces soldiers indiscriminately gunning down unarmed civilians? Not to mention the slew of pictures featuring Turkish Premier Recep Erdogan warmly greeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called this event “the nail in the coffin of the Zionist regime.”

And finally, it’s not that simple for me because I also believe that Israel could have handled the situation more prudently and that there are some fundamental problems with the implementation of the Gaza blockade.

All I want you to understand is this: If you judge Israel before you wade through some of the complexities of the situation, you do us an injustice and you unwittingly serve the agendas of real anti-Semites and anti-Zionists. Don’t believe it’s that simple. We want peace, I swear it.

Louie Sloven
UI graduate

Ghadry: Liberal Muslims allied with Israel based on shared values

http://ghadry.com/why-do-liberal-muslims-see-eye-to-eye-with-israel/

Why Do Liberal Muslims See Eye-to-Eye with Israel?
On June 13, 2010, in Blog, by Farid Ghadry  excerpt

 Some of us liberal Muslims are facing the toughest times in our struggle for common sense and peaceful co-existence as the Middle East rages with extremism and terror. Not unlike Israel suffocating today from exactly the same factors. The fact is that both liberal Muslims and Israel share the same enemies, the same aspirations., and some important common goals.

At the present time, traditional Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt find themselves in agreement with Israel on Iran. But while Israel wants Iran defeated because it is a threat to its own existence, Saudi Arabia wants Iran contained because the country adheres to the Mazhab al-Shi’i. In other words, it is a short-term alliance timed by events very similar to the short-term alliance between extremist Sunnis and extremist Shias that ignores a history of conflicts these Islamists cannot but fight over should they divert their attention away, long enough, from the US and Israel.

But when it comes to liberal Muslims, who have a long-term vision for the region to openly embrace western knowhow and technological advancement aimed at lifting the standards of living of our own people, we find ourselves allied with the State of Israel based on shared values and common interests. Add to this the hope that one day we will open our borders for commerce and you understand why Israel is central to our success. We support Israel not because we are in love with Israelis or because we are taking a stand against our own religion. We support Israel because an alliance with this successful country bears all the hallmarks of protecting [our] interests ...

Top Senators urge Obama to stand by Israel

Top US senators: Obama, stand by Israel

Democratic majority, Republican minority leaders urge president to resist calls for international probe into Turkish ship incident

Yitzhak Benhorin 6/12/10   http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3903955,00.html


WASHINGTON – The top two US senators are urging President Barack Obama to stand by Israel in the face of recent global pressure following the lethal raid on the Gaza-bound Marmara ship.

Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote a letter to the President, urging him to show strong support for Israel in international bodies, insist on the Jewish State's right for self-defense, and look into the terror connections of the Turkish organization that led the violent Gaza sail.

The letter constitutes a clear message to Obama, letting him know that both Democratic and Republican senators are united in their objection to an international probe of the sail, as well as any changes to the Gaza blockade policy.

The top senators will be circulating the letter among the other senators in a move expected to be completed by Wednesday, when the document will be handed over to the president.

The senators wrote that the US traditionally stood by Israel because this is an American security interest, and that this attitude must continue. They also noted that Israel is America's strongest Mideastern ally, a partner to the US on military and intelligence matters, and also a vital democracy.

As to Turkish aid group IHH, which organized the recent Gaza-bound flotilla, the senators recommend that it be included in the US list of terror organizations following a review by the intelligence community, State Department, and Treasury.
 

Syrian blood libel at UN Human Rights Council

On Wednesday at the UN's Human Rights Council meeting, Syrian diplomat Rania Al Rifaiy declared: “ Let me quote a song that a group of children on a school bus in Israel sing merrily as they go to school: ‘With my teeth, I will rip your flesh with my mouth I will suck your blood.’ ”      

 

Are you sure you understand the Middle East? // Mark Finkelstein, jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

 

American Jewish Committee's  UN Watch Testifies Against Syrian Blood Libel at UN Human Rights Council

June 9, 2010 – Geneva – Hillel Neuer, director of UN Watch, AJC’s affiliate in Geneva, testified today before the UN Human Rights Council on Syria’s grotesque accusation against Israel that was presented to the Council yesterday.

The full text of the UN Watch statement follows:

Mr. President, we had prepared a speech on violations the world over.  Instead, I am obliged to address a human rights violation that occurred here, in this chamber.

I am referring to remarks that violate the anti-racism prohibition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I am referring to the Syrian statement falsely accusing Israel of being a state that is not only “built on hatred…and a paranoid feeling of superiority,” but also one that glorifies the “ripping of flesh” and the “sucking of blood.”

Mr. President, this crude and coded language echoes the libel voiced by Syria on 8 February 1991 at the Human Rights Commission, when its delegate accused Jews of killing Christians to use their blood, whereupon she cited the book “Matza of Zion” by former Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas. That speech was condemned at the time by 29 countries.

We remind Syria that the EUMC working definition of Anti-Semitism includes, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic Anti-Semitism, e.g. [the] blood libel, to characterize Israel or Israelis.”

Mr. President, yesterday’s patently false and hateful remarks are historical incitements to prejudice and violence. They have no place in the United Nations, and we call on all stakeholders to condemn them.

Sadly, these words did not arise in a vacuum. For last week, during this council’s urgent debate on the flotilla, we heard similar motifs as Israel was speciously depicted as an attacker of innocent humanitarians—when in truth it was defending itself from violent Jihadists bent on martyrdom.

Once again, Israel was singled out by those seeking to delegitimize it. A resolution was adopted condemning Israel, creating yet another investigation where the guilty verdict was declared in advance.

Tellingly, many accused the Jewish state of being “inhuman,” including Pakistan for the OIC, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua.

Mr. President, word is father to deed. History teaches that when nations turn to dehumanization and demonization, the world remains silent at its peril. 

Thank you, Mr. President.

AJC source:

http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=849241&ct=8431271

 

 

Obama, Israel & American Jews: The Challenge?A Symposium conducted by Commentary

Commentary magazine has released the responses to their survey.

http://www.jidaily.com/I3AITOg/f

Commentary asked 31 prominent American Jews to respond to this
statement:

The open conflict between the Obama administration
and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has created tensions between
the United States and Israel of a kind not seen since the days of the
administration of the first President Bush. And those tensions are
placing unique pressure on American Jews, who voted for Barack Obama by a
margin of nearly 4-to-1 in 2008 after being assured by Obama himself
and by his supporters in the Jewish community that he was a friend and
an ally of the State of Israel despite his long association with, among
others, the unabashedly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic Reverend Jeremiah
Wright.

We argue that American Jews are facing an
unprecedented political challenge, and at a crucial moment, with the
need to address the existential threat to Israel—and by extension to the
future of the Jewish people as a whole—from a potentially nuclear Iran.
How will American Jews handle this challenge? Can Obama’s Jewish
supporters act in a way that will change the unmistakable direction of
current American policy emanating from the White House? Will American
Jews accept Barack Obama’s view that the state of Israel bears some
responsibility for the loss of American “blood and treasure” in the
Middle East? Will they continue to extend their support to the Obama
administration and to Barack Obama’s political party?
Their responses appear on the following pages
in alphabetical order

U.N. Security Council Passes Iran Sanctions

June 9, 2010
U.N. Security Council passes new Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The United Nations Security Council passed new sanctions against Iran, setting the stage for new and tougher U.S. sanctions.

The vote Wednesday expands existing sanctions and creates a basis in international law for nations to target Iran's energy and banking sectors.

Read more: <http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/06/09/2739532/un-security-council-passes-iran-sanctions>

Madrid university: Attempt to lynch two Israelis inside a police car

From Madrid. "An attempt to lynch two Israelis INSIDE A POLICE CAR, after a whole pogrom inside the campus of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. The mob included many who weren't students. They did whatever they wanted for hours, all over the campus, and the police said they "can't do anything" in... private property... They put the Israelis in the car to protect them, and the mob practically destroyed the car before they could drive them away."

http://www.libertaddigital.com/sociedad/raid-antisemita-en-la-autonoma-de-madrid-1276394630/       June 7, 2010