Dec. 4 Holocaust survivor and author to speak at Temple B'nai Jeshurun 6:30 pm

 Come hear Marion Blumenthal Lazan,  Holocaust survivor and author of  Four Perfect Pebbles,

 

Tuesday,  December 4    6:30 pm – 7:30 pm at Temple B’nai Jeshurun,  51^st Street and Grand Avenue in Des Moines.

 

Marion’s Holocaust story is one of perseverance, determination, faith and hope!

          

 

 

Sponsored by Bankers Trust, the JCRC of the Jewish Federation, and Temple B’nai Jeshurun.

JCRC/Federation condemn terrorist bombing today in Tel Aviv

JCRC and the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines unequivocally condemn today’s horrific public bus bombing in Tel Aviv.   We stand in solidarity with Israel and her people and reiterate Israel’s right and moral obligation to defend its citizens even as she pursues peace with her Palestinian neighbors.   

Picture: Emergency workers assist victims of today’s bus bombing in Tel Aviv.  <The Israel Project>

 

JCRC Statement: In support of Israel's self defense

Statement from the Jewish Community Relations Commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines    11/14/2012

 

In support of Israel’s self defense

 

After repeated warnings to Hamas and its allied terrorist organizations in Gaza that additional rocket attacks on Israeli citizens would no longer be met by half measures, Israel today began a military operation to stop the rocket attacks and to destroy the stock of Iranian-supplied weapons within Gaza.  This defensive action comes after 200 rockets were launched over the past few days endangering the one million residents of southern Israel.  Since the beginning of 2012, 800 rockets have been fired at Israel.  The situation had been intolerable.  No government would nor should permit its citizens to be terrorized by such attacks.

 

The U.S. State Department today expressed its condemnation of Hamas’s ‘cowardly” rocket attacks on the people of Israel and supported Israel’s right to defend itself.

 

“We strongly condemn the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel, and we regret the death and injury of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence. There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are employing against the people of Israel. We call on those responsible to stop these cowardly acts immediately. We support Israel’s right to defend itself, and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties.

 

Hamas claims to have the best interests of the Palestinian people at heart, yet it continues to engage in violence that is counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. Attacking Israel on a near daily basis does nothing to help Palestinians in Gaza or to move the Palestinian people any closer to achieving self determination.” 

 

Source:  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/11/200551.htm

 

JCRC appreciates the support offered by the U.S. State Department and urges all Iowans to stand with us as we support Israel in its self defense.

 

 

Mark S. Finkelstein

Director of Community Relations

Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines

 

Contact: jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

Follow JCRC on Facebook at http://facebook.com/JewishCurrentEvents

 

 

Abu Toameh: Abbas's Pandora box

“The public [Palestinian] outcry over [Abbas’s] remarks is further proof that no Palestinian leader has a mandate from his people to make any concessions to Israel. – Khaled Abu Toameh

Analysis: Abbas's Pandora box

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH    11/04/2012   http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=290464

 

Photo: REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Even Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not seem to be aware he was opening a Pandora’s box when he said last Thursday that he does not want to return to his home town of Safed and that a Palestinian state would be established only in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

Abbas’s remarks, made during an interview with Channel 2, have since sparked an unprecedented wave of criticism from many Palestinians and Arabs.

He is being accused of “giving up the right of return” for millions of Palestinian refugees and some of his political rivals have gone as far as calling for his execution for “high treason.”

What surprised Abbas was the fact that the strong condemnations were not only from Hamas and radical Palestinian groups, but also from ordinary Palestinians, including some of his political allies in the PLO.

If anything, the widespread denunciations show that the Palestinians remain strongly opposed to any form of concessions to Israel, especially with regards to the “right of return” for refugees to their former homes inside Israel.

But Abbas himself is partially responsible for the fact that Palestinians have been radicalized to a point where they see any talk of compromise with Israel as an act of “high treason.”

Over the years, Abbas has repeatedly declared that the “right of return” is a sacred issue and a “red line” that no Palestinian should ever dare to cross.

On several occasions, he and senior PA officials have reassured the refugees that the Palestinian leadership would never relinquish their “sacred” right.

Despite the reassurances, Abbas’s opponents continued to cast doubt about his true position regarding the “right of return." The PA president has already been criticized for opposing a third intifada and turning his organization into a “subcontractor” for the Israeli security establishment in the West Bank.

His remarks concerning the refugees have now provided his Palestinian and Arab enemies with additional ammunition that will be used against him.

A defiant Abbas has since moved into damage-control mode in face of the growing protests against him and his policies.

In a series of statements over the past three days, Abbas has vehemently denied allegations that he has given up the refugees’ “right of return.”

Judging from his response, one is left with the impression that Abbas regrets having ever given an interview to an Israeli media outlet.

His spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudaineh, tried to explain that the interview with Channel 2 was mainly intended to “affect Israeli public opinion.”

In other words, the spokesman is telling Palestinians and Arabs that Abbas is telling Israelis what they like to hear – namely that Palestinian refugees would not return to their former homes inside Israel.

Abbas is now accusing Hamas of inciting against him over the refugee issue.

He sees himself as a victim of a “conspiracy” concocted jointly by Hamas and the Israeli government to thwart his effort to upgrade the status of a Palestinian state at the UN later this month.

Yet Abbas’s explanations and attempts to clarify his position regarding the refugees so far seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Israeli leaders and politicians who rushed to welcome Abbas’s remarks are probably unaware that they have caused him even more damage among Palestinians and Arabs.

Many Palestinians are now openly saying that Abbas does not have a mandate from his people to make concessions to Israel, particularly on the explosive refugee case.

As one Palestinian editor explained, “Abbas does not speak on behalf of 6,000,000 refugees” when he says he does not want to return to Safed.

The controversy over Abbas’s remarks means that many Palestinians are opposed to Abbas’s statehood bid at the UN at the end of this month. He is seeking UN recognition of a Palestinian state “only” within the pre-1967 lines – an idea that many Palestinians and Arabs are opposed to because they want to “liberate all of Palestine.”

Abbas’s statehood bid could therefore come back as a boomerang and deepen divisions among the Palestinians.

The public outcry over his remarks is further proof that no Palestinian leader has a mandate from his people to make any concessions to Israel.

 

Conservative rabbis dismayed by Protestants’ call for investigation of aid to Israel

For immediate release: October 7, 2012
Contact: Samantha Friedman, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
Office: 202-265-3000 or cell: 202-215-9260 or samantha@rabinowitz-dorf.com

Conservative rabbis dismayed by Protestants' call for Congressional investigation of aid to Israel

NEW YORK – In response to a letter released Friday by a group of representatives of mainline Protestant groups, calling for Congressional investigations into all foreign aid to Israel on the basis that Israel has allegedly used it in violation of U.S. conditions, the Rabbinical Assembly, the international umbrella organization of Conservative rabbis, issued the following statement:

The Rabbinical Assembly unequivocally rejects the call of Protestant Christian leaders for reevaluation of foreign aid to Israel, and recommends that Members of Congress do so as well.

The letter calling for hearings and reassessment was issued without outreach to longtime partners in public advocacy within the Jewish community.  It was released on the eve of Shabbat, just before a long weekend of Jewish and American holidays.  And it was distributed at a time when Congress is out of session, in the midst of the general election campaign. 

We find these tactics to be disrespectful of channels of communication that have been constructed over decades, and an essential declaration of separation from the endeavor of interfaith consultation on matters of deep concern to the Jewish community.  Indeed, we find this breach of trust to be so egregious that we wonder if it may not warrant an examination on the part of the Jewish community at large of these partnerships and relationships that we understood ourselves to be working diligently to preserve and protect.

The substance of the letter demands a point-by-point response.  Our community is currently preparing such a document but will be delayed by the holy season that concludes this week.  Rabbi Jack Moline, Director of Public Policy of the Rabbinical Assembly stated: "At the moment, it is sufficient to say that Israel remains the only outpost of democracy and guaranteed human rights in the entire region, and America's only dependable ally in promoting the rights of free expression, freedom of religious conscience and practice, equal rights for people of either gender and all sexual orientations, and a political system that enables an unfettered exchange of ideas and peaceful transition of government based on the will of the people.  We fail to understand how, under the cloak of concern for human rights, the churches involved have elected to communicate such an unbalanced portrayal of the complex situation which Israel encounters daily, including a constant need to defend itself from attacks on its own people.  It would seem to belie an antagonism that stands in sharp contrast with the theological professions of their outreach to the Jewish community."

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, the Rabbinical Assembly's Director of Israel Advocacy, added, "Israel's readiness to pursue peace is not matched by the Palestinians, yet the document seeks to assign blame only to the Jewish state for the inability to progress in the quest for peace.  Moreover, to selectively invoke the representations of a Jewish organization for their own purposes is reprehensible."

The Rabbinical Assembly expresses its deep disappointment and dismay with the churches involved, who have seen fit to unilaterally release this document in disregard for our longstanding tradition of collaborative discussion on sensitive and complex matters.  We urge our members to express their concern to friends and colleagues who are associated with these denominations in their local communities.
 

The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. Since its founding in 1901, the Assembly has been the creative force shaping the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement, and is committed to building and strengthening the totality of Jewish life. Rabbis of the Assembly serve congregations throughout the world, and also work as educators, officers of communal service organizations, and college, hospital, and military chaplains.  More information is available at www.rabbinicalassembly.org.

# # #

Thurs. Oct. 4 " High Stakes with Iran" 7 pm at Bulldog Auditorium/ Olmsted Ctr, Drake University

In Des Moines. *Please* Come Sunday/ Monday: Help Stop Genocide in Sudan!

[ A full listing of public programs for Sunday Aug. 26 and Monday 27  is included below.]

 

Friends,  please forward this information to all your friends.

Come learn this Sunday and/or  Monday about something most Americans know very little about: the genocide facing the people of Sudan and how the U.S. Administration can do much, much more to help – but is not.*   

“ Nothing moved me more than watching a 6-year-old girl, Israh Jibrael, tenderly feed her starving 2-year-old sister, Nada, leaves from a branch. Israh looked hungrily at the leaves herself, and occasionally she took a few. But, mostly, she put them into her weak sister’s mouth. Both children were barefoot, clad in rags, and had hair that was turning brown from malnutrition.   Their mother, Amal Kua, told me that the family hasn’t had regular food since the Sudanese Army attacked their town five months ago. Since then, she said, the family has lived in caves and subsisted on leaves.”  --*NY Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof   (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/opinion/sunday/kristof-from-peace-prize-to-paralysis.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share)

We have a unique opportunity in Des Moines to help save the Sudanese people of the Nuba Mountains, along with others in the region, from certain death.  Please join our local Help Nuba Coalition, along with Sudanese leaders from around the country, and notable activists in programs open and free to the public on Sunday, August 26 and Monday, August 27. 

 

                  

If nothing else, please come on Sunday,  1 pm – 3pm to the State Historical Society Building, 600 E. Locust for a major program including Hawa Salih, 2012 International Women of Courage Award Winner – then please participate in a March to End Genocide at  3:30 pm.  The March is organized by the Iowa United Nations Association.

 

   Hawa Salih

 

 

 

 Here is a complete schedule for programs open to the public this Sunday ( August 26, 2012)  as well as for Monday, August 27.   For additional information, please contact Kristen.danielle.anderson@gmail.com   http://helpnuba.net