Congressman Joe Walsh Calls for a Single State

(Cross-Posted at Israel Thrives and Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill.)

Over on the Jerusalem Post, congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois is calling for the creation of a single state between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea. He writes:

It reminds me of that definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By that definition, everyone who continues to cling to the delusion of a two-state solution is insane. There is no such thing as a two-state solution. It cannot work, it has not worked, and it will not work.

It is true that it has not worked and it is probably true that it will not work, but it is utterly false to suggest that it cannot work. Of course it can work. But it can only work if the Arabs allow it to work. It will not work so long as they absolutely refuse to accept Jewish sovereignty on Jewish land. It is Arab intransigence that is killing the two-state solution, nothing else.

As much as progressive-left Jews would like to blame other Jews... Jewish conservatives, the Likud, Avigdor Lieberman, the evil "settlers" (like the Fogels) with blood dripping from their sharpened fangs... for the death of the two-state solution, such blaming is little more than a product of Jewish Stockholm Syndrome. After all, if the problem is really one of "bad" Jews then it can be dealt with. We just need to scold and malign and marginalize and demean those bad Jews until they shut the hell up and move elsewhere and then everything will be A-OK and the Palestinians will, at long last, accept a state for themselves next to the Jewish one.

But, sadly, the problem here is not Likud, nor the evil settlers, nor even that arch-demon Avigdor Lieberman, but the Palestinians, themselves.

The Palestinians have broken their word again and again. They continue to intentionally fire rockets at innocent Israeli families and children, and they have betrayed the fundamental tenet of the two-state solution they tout by cutting Israel out of negotiations and going directly to the United Nations.

Moreover, the Palestinian Authority continues to incite violence against Israelis. It pays the salaries of imprisoned terrorists convicted of killing Israelis and glorifies suicide bombers at public events. The PA’s magazine Zayzafuna recently presented Hitler as a role model for the Palestinian youth on account of all the Jews he had killed.

The Palestinians have proven themselves to be absolutely murderous. What they want is a single Palestinian state from the river to the sea, just as the congressman wants a single Jewish state from the river to the sea. The difference is that the Jews have always been willing to compromise while the Arabs have never been willing to compromise. He is right, of course, that the Palestinians, a people born from the greater Arab world specifically for the purpose of opposing Jewish national rights on Jewish land, continue to incite hatred among their own children toward Israel and toward Jews, in general. It is the very hatred that they whip up among themselves that is the cause of their own misery. And while Arabs in the Muslim Middle East have been hating on Jews for a very, very long time, it is only within living memory that they have had to pay any price for their ongoing persecution of the Jewish people.

This solution is the best one for everyone, especially the Palestinians. They will trade their two corrupt and inept governments and societies for a stable, free and prosperous one. Those Palestinians that wish to may leave their Fatah and Hamas-created slums and move to the original Palestinian state – Jordan. The British Mandate for Palestine created Jordan as the country for the Palestinians. It was the only justification for its creation. Even now, 75 percent of its population is of Palestinian descent. Those Palestinians that remain behind in Israel will maintain limited voting power, but will be awarded all the economic and civil rights of Israeli citizens. They will be free to raise a family, start a business and live in peace, all of which are impossible under Arab rule.

Limited voting power.

That, right there, is the problem. Israel obviously cannot be a democracy if it only offers limited voting power to any groups of people under its sovereignty. Therefore, what Israel needs to do is not take all of Judea and Samaria, but simply declare its final borders, remove the IDF to behind those borders, and wish the Palestinians the very best luck in the world as they create their brave and beautiful new future under their own, surely democratic, government in downtown Ramallah.

And then say "bye-bye."

Good-bye and good luck.

Hollywood Group Takes on Music Industry Anti-Israel Boycotters

The United Nations International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural rights states, in Part three, Article 15 that

The States Parties to the present covenant recognize the right of everyone:

1.To take part in cultural life;
2.To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications';
3. To benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
2. The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for the conservation, the development and the diffusion of science and culture.
3. The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to respect the freedom indispensable for scientific research and creative activity.
4. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the benefits to be derived from the encouragement and development of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific and cultural fields.

In spite of this, anti-Israel activists have proposed an academic and cultural boycott of Israel, conducting an enormous pressure campaign against artists who chose to play for their fans in Israel.


From an article by William Bigelow

"A group called Creative Community for Peace is fighting back against the cultural boycott of Israel in the music industry. Made up of 30 leading music executives, talent agents and entertainment lawyers, the CCFP includes music powerhouses who represent luminaries like Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake...

Some artist have defied the boycott and defended Israel’s right to hear them: among them are Lady Gaga, Elton John, Rihanna, Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, Rufus Wainwright, Herbie Hancock and Lenny Kravitz. Madonna is planning to debut her World Tour in Tel Aviv this summer, and there will be appearances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Cirque du Soleil.

But the pressure on artists continues; the Red Hot Chili Peppers, scheduled to perform in Israel in September, have been targeted by BDS with a a Facebook page demanding the Peppers “Defy Injustice, Cancel Israel.” Will they have the guts to do what Elton John did in 2010, when he walked out on stage in Tel Aviv and said, “They’re not gonna stop me from coming here, baby”? Or have guts like Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber’s 30-year-old manager, who got death threats such as “If Justin Bieber comes to Israel, we’re gonna kill the Jew manager”?

...But in the meantime, CCFP is determined to fight back. As Steve Schnur, worldwide head of music for Electronic Arts (EA) video games, put it: “Musicians that play there don’t have to agree with the current or previous policies of the Israeli government — but they can go there and speak toward it or against it. Where else in the Middle East can an artist do that?”

A quiet month in Israel. Only 70 terrorist attacks

From the IDF website:

Following the escalation in the south in March, the month of April saw a decrease in the number of terrorist attacks against Israel. According to an Israel Security Agency report published on Wednesday (May 2), there were 70 terrorist attacks in April, compared to 229 in March.

The decline was particularly evident in the Gaza Strip region, where only nine attacks occurred in April, compared to 157 in March and 31 in February.

There was also a decline in other regions: 36 attacks in Judea and Samaria, compared to 43 in March; and 24 attacks in Jerusalem, compared to 29 attacks in March.

On the other hand, it should be noted that two rockets were launched from the Sinai Peninsula toward Eilat on the eve of Passover (April 5).

Three Israelis were injured in stabbing attacks in April. There were two stabbing attacks in Jerusalem (April 2 and 19) and one in Kfar Saba (April 24).

During the month of April, 10 rockets were fired at Israel, compared to 173 rockets and 35 mortars in March.

Interstingly, the world media continues to ignore the rocket attacks and acts of terror on Israeli soil. Absent a high profile, multi-casualty attack, the mainstream media is silent.

Jerusalem String Quartet: Making Beautiful Music

One of the main fallacies of the Israeli boycott being directed against companies and organizations that "support the occupation" is simply that anything- and I mean anything- can and will be used by the hate cru as "supporting the occupation".

An American manufactured hummus providing care packages to lone soldiers in Israel? Yep. Sending snacks to 18 year olds far from their home "supports the occupation".

Selling consumer goods over the green line- even if both Palestinians and Israelis buy them- "supports the occupation".

Paying taxes in Israel? That too "supports the occupation"

And some nice young men playing beautiful music? Apparently, that also "supports the occupation".

An anti-Israel group in the UK is planning on protesting the Jerusalem String Quartet. Their screed practically drips with venom.

Protest at the Jerusalem Quartet - In Birmingham
UNWELCOME THE ZIONIST JERUSALEM QUARTET, SUNDAY 6 MAY, 2 p.m.

Please respond to the calls for a protest outside Birmingham Town Hall to urge a boycott of the Zionist-linked Jerusalem String Quartet playing at the Town Hall, Birmingham. The Quartet is officially part of the Israeli Defence forces, performs in the illegal West Bank settlements and for Israeli embassies around the world. They are official cultural ambassadors for Israel - they promote the interests of the state and provide a cultural veneer for its policies against the Palestinians, sanitising the brutality of the Israeli State.
This is why Palestine support groups back the call for the cultural boycott of Pro-Zionist performers and artists. Come and inform people about Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land, its ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem, the apartheid nature of the Israeli state and its attempt to starve the people of Gaza into submission.

The protest is scheduled for Town Hall, Victoria Square, Birmingham, UK

Jews and Methodists and all people of clear conscience realize that boycotts of companies "supporting the occupation" are simply an entry drug into full BDS - and its just another way to demonize the state of the Jewish people.

So, right now- lets show the BDS'ers what we think about the Jerusalem String quartet, playing Alexander Borodin's String Quartet D-Major, N.2 Notturno. Watch and listen and rate it up.

Surprised? The Biggest Obstacle Facing the Middle East is Not Israel

We've heard for years how, "its all Israel's fault". After all, "They wouldn't hate us if we didn't support Israel." We've been told that Israel was the key not only to peace in the region, but peace in the world.
And as many of us realized during the Arab spring, and the disorder that has followed- its simply not true.

From Israel Hayom

"Earning a fair wage and owning a home are now the two highest priorities for young people in the Middle East, displacing "living in a democracy" as the greatest aspiration of regional youth, according to the findings of the latest ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey, the largest study of its kind of the region's largest demographic group.

The survey, which polled 2,500 Arabs aged 18 to 24 in 12 Middle Eastern states one year after the start of the Arab Spring, highlighted how larger political concerns have been superseded by more personal, economic anxieties. Being paid a fair wage was not only the highest collective priority among those surveyed – with 82 per cent of all those surveyed citing it as "very important" – but was also the highest individual priority in each of the 12 countries covered.

Asked "What do you believe is the biggest obstacle facing the Middle East?" very few respondents in almost all surveyed countries, apart from Saudi Arabia, said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the biggest obstacle. The number was lowest in Egypt, with only 10% saying the conflict was the region’s biggest obstacle. The number was also low in most of the Gulf emirates. However, in Saudi Arabia 53% said the conflict was a major obstacle in the region.

The poll showed that civil unrest and lack of democracy far outstripped the Israel-Palestinian conflict as a concern in most Arab countries. While not overly optimistic that the Arab Spring would spread to further Arab countries, many respondents said that if it did, it would spread to Jordan.
The survey also found that the number of respondents who felt that living in a democratic country was "very important" to them had declined from 68% in the 2011 survey to 58% this year.

These findings and others were unveiled Wednesday in Dubai at the launch of the 2012 survey. The survey involved face-to-face interviews, conducted by international polling firm Penn Schoen Berland, with some 2,500 Arabs between the ages of 18 and 24 in the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), as well as in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and, for the first time, Libya and Tunisia. The interviews, which were conducted exclusively with nationals of each of the surveyed countries, took place in December 2011 and January 2012."

The top ten findings:
1. Fair pay and home ownership displace desire for democracy as top priority
Young people in the Middle East say that being paid a fair wage and owning their own home are their two highest priorities – displacing their previous number-one priority, living in a democratic country
2. High cost of living remains the greatest concern among arab youth
One year after the start of the Arab Spring, the rising cost of living is the greatest concern among youth across the Middle East
3. Arab youth say that lack of democracy and civil unrest are the biggest obstacles facing them & the region
4. Regional youth see the arab spring as a positive development and now feel greater optimism about the future.
5. Arab youth feel an increased sense of trust in government but have heightened concerns about corruption
6. The arab spring will not spread further, according to the region's youth
Less than one-quarter of Middle East youth believe that protest movements will spread to new countries; among those who believe that such movements will spread, Jordan, Morocco and Algeria are seen as the most likely sites of protests
7. Traditional values are being increasingly challenged by a modern outlook
A majority of young people in every Middle East state agrees that traditional values are paramount; however, the percentage of youth who say that such values are outdated and need to be replaced continues to increase
8. The UAE is seen as a model nation by middle east youth
9. Arab youth see France most favourably among all foreign countries
10. News consumption skyrockets, TV viewership declines & blogs are booming
After a period of enormous political change, Arab youth are following the news far more keenly than ever before – but less frequently on television and more often on the Internet; they have also developed a passion for the blogosphere

Olympics won't hold minute of silence for 1972 victims

Ankie Spitzer, wife of murdered Israeli Olympian Andrei Spitzer asked for one minute of silence in memory of the eleven Israeli athletes, coaches and referees murdered at the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich. Just one minute - to promote peace.

As of now, 22,291 signed her petition at change.org.

And the London Olympic committee said no.

From the J Post:

“The IOC has paid tribute to the memory of the athletes who tragically died in Munich in 1972 on several occasions and will continue to do so,” Emmanuelle Moreau, IOC head of media relations, told the Post. “However, we do not foresee any commemoration during the opening ceremony of the London Games.”

Moreau insisted that “The memory of the victims is not fading away. One thing is certain, we will never forget.”

New Initiative Formed to Document and Combat Campus Anti-Semitism

From our friends at the AMCHA Initiative

The need to combat harassment and intimidation of Jewish students at American universities is urgent. But the success of those efforts depends on the persistent identification, exposure, and careful documentation of abuses. Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, cofounders of the AMCHA Initiative, are pleased to announce that they have expanded their efforts to include a crucial investigative arm, entitled "The Investigative Taskforce on Campus Antisemitism" (ITCA)

ITCA is a non-profit research project whose investigations underpin AMCHA’s efforts and expand the work to institutions of higher education across the country. ITCA acts to:

* identify, uncover, and investigate incidents of anti-Semitism at American colleges and universities
* serve as a trusted repository of information on manifestations of anti-Jewish bigotry that violate university policy, Title VI of the 1964 Civil Right Act, and other federal or state laws.
* make its research available to legal and advocacy groups, journalists, and legislators, and collaborates with them to address the problem of campus anti-Semitism.
* Student reports of anti-Jewish bigotry are essential to ITCA’s work. The Taskforce’s website contains two options for students to report information about anti-Jewish bigotry they may have experienced or witnessed:

Students are encouraged to fill out the Student Civil Rights Survey, which assesses the campus climate for college and university students, with a particular focus on potential civil rights violations.
Students and other concerned individuals can use the "Report a Concern" page to report an anti-Semitic incident on a college campus.
All information is confidential and no information or submitted materials will be disclosed or disseminated without the consent of the student.
In the coming weeks, members of the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine will be holding anti-Israel rallies, talk, and exhibits on several campuses throughout the state. These events may well be accompanied by expressions of anti-Jewish bigotry which some students find intimidating and harassing.

Please inform and encourage students you know to visit the ITCA website, to answer the Civil Rights Survey, and to report incidents of anti-Jewish bigotry they may have experienced or witnessed.

Your support is vital to the success of the ITCA. Please consider contributing. ITCA is a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All donations are tax deductible. Its Federal Identification Number is 45-3327365. Contributions can be made through the website or by check to P.O. Box 7223, Santa Cruz, CA,95061.

Methodists Reject Anti-Israel Divestment Proposal at 2012 general conference

"Despite an intense lobbying effort by seemingly omnipresent pro-divestment activists, United Methodists have opted to retain the church's existing policy of positive engagement with Israelis and Palestinians.”

Mark Tooley, Institute on Religion and Democracy President

From the IRD website:

"Delegates to the governing body of the global 12-million-member United Methodist Church strongly voted today to reject divestment from three companies doing business with Israel. The move follows a high profile lobbying effort by pro-divestment activists.

Backed by international anti-Israel groups, United Methodist Kairos Response (UMKR) argued that the United Methodist General Conference should instruct the denomination's pension board to sell investments in Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola Solutions. UMKR argued that the three companies profit from Israel's military presence in the West Bank.

IRD President Mark Tooley commented:

"The decision of United Methodists against divestment rejects simplistic one-sided blame that characterizes so much anti-Israel advocacy.
Despite an intense lobbying effort by seemingly omnipresent pro-divestment activists, United Methodists have opted to retain the church's existing policy of positive engagement with Israelis and Palestinians.

Hopefully other churches, like the Presbyterian Church (USA), will follow United Methodists in resisting calls to pressure Israel alone into making concessions."

The official statement from the Divestment team, which spent tens of thousands of dollars on their efforts to push divestment on the conference delegates went something like "Even when we lose we win. So there." (I'm paraphrasing)

The BDS cru are planning on taking their anti-Israel dog and pony show on the road to Pittsburgh where the Presbyterian Church USA will also vote on a divestment measure at its General assembly on June 30.

Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church recently came out against divestment and boycotts, and instead urged Episcopalians to invest in development projects in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination rejected divestment in 2007 and 2011.

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network: Beyond Chutzpah

Like many anti-Israel groups the International Jewish Anti-Zionist network is little more than a website and an email list, providing anonymity and a "Jewish" cover to their actual financiers and handlers. In the case of the IJAN, their primary purpose appears to be "Jew-washing" events that cross the line into anti-Semitism. Yes, as hard to imagine as it might be- there are events that even Jewish voice for Peace won't touch. Locally, the IJAN works closely with the Arab Resource Organizing Center and uses their facilities to host events. The IJAN has co-sponsored a talk accusing Israel of deliberately irradiating Mizrachi refugees. They have hosted notorious anti-Semite and Global march to Jerusalem organizer Feroze Mithaborwala. Most recently the IJAN recently paraded Hajo Meyer, a long time anti-Israel activist and Holocaust survivor on a widely discredited 12 city tour "Never again is for Everyone"

Hajo Meyer carries the endorsement of ex-KKK leader David Duke, and Hatem Bazian, a UC Berkeley faculty member with a lengthy resume of anti-Israel activities. At the IJAN sponsored tour at Rutgers University New Jersey, event organizers led by Sara Kershnar (Shown below, shortly before her arrest for interrupting a talk at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center) suddenly instituted an admission fee (in violation of university policy) to discourage Jewish pro-Israel students from entering the event.



At the IJAN "Never again" talk at DePaul University in Chicago , attendees reported:

"The organizers created an intimidating atmosphere. One attendee likened it to a Ku Klux Klan rally. No audience members were allowed to record, film, or photograph the speakers. Members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which sponsored the event, patrolled the aisles looking for “contraband” recording devices. This created a tense atmosphere, which one audience member described as fascist."

"The speakers vilified current peace efforts and praised the terrorist group Hamas. They repeatedly attacked the moderate Palestinian Authority for “collaborating” with Israel by engaging in peace talks and extolled Hamas as “the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people." They attacked Israel’s peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, with Bazian claiming that the treaties were simply an Israeli plot to “extend its strategic borders all the way up to Iraq.”"

"Hajo Meyer made the Nazi-Israeli equation more explicit. Exploiting his status as a Holocaust survivor, he compared IDF soldiers to Auschwitz guards. He denigrated Jews and Judaism. “The Jewish people are not a civilization,” he charged. The only religion that pro-Israel Jews share is the Holocaust religion. . . . They cannot claim they are Jewish, so therefore they had to invent the Holocaust religion, that is, with its high priest Elie Wiesel,” he said.

From the ADL:
"The tour is the latest effort by anti-Israel activists to exploit the sacred memory of the Holocaust for the purpose of painting its victim, the Jewish people, as the "new" oppressor in the form of Israel. Anti-Israel activists have regularly used Holocaust language to demonize and vilify Israel, including referring to Israeli soldiers as Nazis and comparing Israel's blockade of Gaza to a "concentration camp" or "ghetto."

Exploiting the holocaust? Why would anything from the IJAN surprise us?

From their website:

We pledge to: Oppose Zionism and the State of Israel

Zionism is racist. It demands political, legal and economic power for Jews and European people and cultures over indigenous people and cultures. Zionism is not just racist but anti-Semitic. It endorses the sexist European anti-Semitic imagery of the effeminate and weak “diaspora Jew” and counters it with a violent and militarist “new Jew,” one who is a perpetrator rather than a victim of racialized violence. Zionism thus seeks to make Jews white through the adopting of white racism against Palestinian people…

And now in an act of staggering and mind-blowing hubris, those nefarious holocaust exploiters at the International Jewish Anti-Zionist network, are, wait for it... accusing The Horowitz Freedom center of exploiting the Holocaust.

The story:

The David Horowitz Freedom Center paid for a full page advertisement in the New York Times on April 24 of this year



The ad begins:

"The Holocaust began with Boycotts of Jewish stores and ended with death camps. The calls for a new Holocaust can be heard throughout the Middle east and in Europe as well. In the wake of the murders of a rabbi and three Jewish children in Toulouse, it is time for supporters of the boycott, divestment and Sanction Israel Movement (BDS) to ask themselves what they did to contribute to the atmosphere of hate that spawned these and the murder of Jews"

And the IJAN responds (accompanied by a ubiquitous petition and request for money):
Take Action against Slander and Misuse of the Nazi Holocaust

"On April 24th, the New York Times published a dangerous and slanderous ad paid for by the David Horowitz Freedom Foundation. The ad invokes the Nazi holocaust in order to attack supporters of BDS including several professors (see William Thompson’s powerful response here). It is incumbent upon Jews of conscience and others who share our commitment to justice to speak out in defense of those who bravely promote justice for Palestinians and against the egregious misuse of the legacy of the holocaust."

The IJAN - a group that paraded a decrepit anti-Israel activist though 12 cities to exploit his status as a holocaust survivor is complaining about the "misuse of the Holocaust" It is, to paraphrase Norman Finklestein "Beyond Chutzpah"

Why Do They Capitalize the "East" in East Jerusalem?

(Cross-Posted at Israel Thrives and Geoffff's Joint, Bar and Grill..)

One of the things that I am most interested in within "I-P" discourse is how prevalent language influences our ways of thinking on the subject. For example, I gave up on the usage of "West Bank" when I learned that the term was invented by the Jordanians in the middle of the last century.

Those of us who care about the Jewish people, and therefore care about the Jewish state, need to be much more cognizant of how the language that we use predetermines conclusions. If speaking of the "Occupation" with a capital "O" condemns the Jews of the Middle East before the conversation even gets started, and if so much of the language that we use was created by those who hate the Jewish presence in the Middle East, then why should we use that language?

There is no such place as East Jerusalem. There is the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, like every other city on the planet, has an eastern part and a western part and a northern part and a southern part. But the eastern part of the city, which is to say, the Old City and adjacent neighborhoods, is not a separate and distinct entity. That being the case, why is it that I constantly see the term "East Jerusalem" in the western press?

I would suggest to you that it is due to the common notion that "East Jerusalem" is "Arab East Jerusalem" and, therefore, the Jews have no real claim on the foundational city of the Jewish people where we have had a presence for over 3,500 years. Just as calling Judea and Samaria "the West Bank" tends to erase the fact that it is historically Jewish land dating back millenia before Arabs turned up as conquerors, so referring to the Old City and adjacent neighborhoods as "East Jerusalem" tends to suggest that it is separate from the rest of the city, which it is not.

This being the case, I would very much recommend deleting that usage. If you care about the well-being of the Jewish people you should not use terminology that automatically puts us back on our heals. If you understand that we have been subject to 14 centuries of ongoing Arab-Muslim persecution in that part of the world, and that they portray our self-defense to that persecution as their oppression, then we must not use the language of our enemies to describe our own circumstance.

Doing so not only misrepresents Jewish history in the Middle East, but helps continue Jewish persecution there.

Pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel?

Pro-Palestinian groups and individuals in the US and Europe are doing Palestinians injustice by devoting all their energies only against Israel, writes Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh

He continues:
"There is a feeling in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that most of these groups and individuals are more interested in campaigning against Israel than helping the Palestinians.

Being pro-Palestinian does not necessarily mean that one also has to be anti-Israel.

The pro-Palestinian camp in the West should raise its voice against violations of human rights and media freedoms under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

In the past few weeks, six Palestinian journalists, bloggers and cartoonists were arrested by security forces belonging to the Palestinian government in the West Bank.

The pro-Palestinian activists around the world chose to turn a blind eye to the ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression in the West Bank.

They also failed --- even refused -- to condemn the Palestinian Authority government's decision to block web sites that are critical of Palestinian leaders in the West Bank.

The pro-Palestinian activists in the West also refuse to examine what is happening under Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They apparently do not care, or do not want to see, that there are executions, arbitrary arrests, and assaults against women and torture in Hamas prisons.

The pro-Palestinian activists and organizations also do not seem to care if the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are brainwashing Palestinian children and filling their minds and hearts with hatred.

Those who care about the Palestinians should come to the Gaza Strip and work toward promoting human rights under Hamas -- of children, women, and journalists.

It would help immensely if hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists came to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to teach Palestinian children English and expose them to the benefits of democracy and Western values, such as equal justice under law, free speech and a free press, and financial transparency and accountability

It would also help immensely if these activists came to the West Bank and Gaza Strip to offer advice on, and help in building, proper government institutions, and in combatting administrative and financial corruption.

But as far as many of the pro-Palestinian activists in the West are concerned, the interests of the Palestinians are not as important as hating Israel."

Our friend at Elder of Ziyon points out the newest manifestation of this phenomenon- with "peace activists" celebrating a decision that ultimately could hurt the Palestinian economy.

The Co-operative Group, Britain’s fifth-largest food retailer has announced that it will stop doing business with four Israeli companies, over the companies’ activities in the West Bank. The Co-op's decision will immediately affect four suppliers, Agrexco, Arava Export Growers, Adafresh and Mehadrin. The BDS cru are practically besides themselves in the flush of this "victory"

Elder of Ziyon has pointed out that Agrexco also exports Palestinian produce from Gaza marketed under the company’s Coral brand, and that the boycott was likely to affect Palestinian farmers who use the company to export their produce to Europe.

From the Elder:
"the Co-op is now boycotting Palestinianhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Arab farmers who have no other means of distributing their goods to the West, and directly hurting them - and the Palestinian Arab economy as a whole. Tomatoes and other produce grown in Gaza will be affected as well."

Why is a decision that will ultimately hurt Palestinian people and the Palestinian economy being heralded as a victory? In the skewered world of "peace activism" its increasingly clear that hurting Israel is more important to these than helping the Palestinians.

Examining Jewish Voice for Peace. No ten foot pole needed.

JVP sign " Jewish community: Israel Demeans Your Religion" from Zombie

Can a Blog Supposedly Dedicated to Free Speech — But Supports Muzzling Its Opponents — Be Taken Seriously?

Our friends at "Engaging Zion" have written an excellent expose on the tactics of the anti-Zionist group, Jewish Voice for Peace, chronicling the actions of the group to stiffle dissent in the community.

Jewish Voice for Peace has a blog, MuzzleWatch (which incidently does not permit comments) With characteristic hypocrisy and hubris, JVP claims that Muzzlewatch tracks "efforts to stifle open debate about US-Israeli foreign policy.” Stiffling open debate is JVP's raison d'être. After succeeding in shutting out Israeli LGBT voices in Seattle Stefanie Fox, Director of Grassroots Organizing Jewish Voice for Peace virtually chortled in a mass email "I will never forget the feeling of jumping up and down and shouting for joy outside Seattle City Hall."

Yep. Jewish Voice for peace is that kind of organization.

From Engaing Zion "Muzzle puzzle"

MuzzleWatch, a project of the Jewish Voice for Peace, states its mission as, “Tracking efforts to stifle open debate about US-Israeli foreign policy.” With such a slogan one would expect the editors to be First Amendment purists. Yet, JVP recently (and again) gave a hollow ring to their stated values. Here is what happened.

Last month, JVP’s Seattle chapter participated in a successful effort to pressure the Seattle LGBT Commission, a sub-committee of the Seattle City Council, to cancel a planned program at Seattle City Hall that would have hosted a visiting delegation of Israeli LGBT activists. Here is the headline on the JVP website:



In part, the letter stated:

“LGBTQ Palestinians and Jews and their allies will deliver a thank you letter signed by 3461 people to the Seattle LGBTQ Commission in appreciation for the brave decision they made to cancel a meeting with a one-sided, government-sponsored propaganda tour of LGBT Israelis. Local activists took issue with the rightwing sponsorship and cooptation of LGBTQ issues to divert attention from Israel’s abuses of human rights and violations of international law.” (emphasis added)

The letter’s reductionist pigeon-holing language worked: Israeli LGBT civil rights activists were effectively muzzled in Seattle’s most public space, and JVP was quite proud of this achievement. (For further reading on what anti-Israel activists call “pinkwashing,” see Scott Piro’s critique of this accusation in his ‘Pinkwashing’ Deconstructed at the HuffPost Gay Voices site.)

Fortunately, the story didn’t end there. After the Greater Seattle Business Association, the largest LGBT chamber of commerce in the US, issued a statement expressing its “outrage” over the decision to “silence LGBT voices by cancelling the City Hall event with a delegation of Israeli LGBT civil rights leaders”, the Seattle LGBT Commission (to its belated credit) issued an apology that included this sharp rebuff to the organizers of the muzzling campaign:

“We also have heard from many who celebrate the cancellation of this event. We flatly reject the suggestion that there could be any joy or celebration in this outcome.”


Disrupting dissent is a time honored tradition at Jewish voice for Peace. Do read it all, here.

Jon at Divest this! sums up JVP nicely:

"You see, Jewish Voice for Peace (or JVP - an organization we have seen before) is committed first and foremost to being the Jewish face of the BDS movement. The trouble is, the Jewish Community (notably the Jewish Federations), in addition to running the Heroes campaign, have unanimously decided that BDS advocates are one of the few groups of people who have placed themselves outside of the “big tent.”

Now to most of us, the obvious answer is for JVP to continue to feel free to do what it wants (including advocating for BDS, for a cutoff of US aid to Israel, for interrupting Israelis at speaking events, and other things the wider community finds noxious) with an understand that in doing so they represent themselves and not the Jewish community as a whole. Ah, but you see JVP desperately wants to claim they represent more than a small minority. And thus they endlessly rail against Jewish organizations which they claim conspire to exclude them."

The Jews have a future because the Jews have a state.

Another beauty by Daniel Gordis

"Imagine it's January 1946. Imagine, too, that you are exactly who you are now: thoughtful, educated, worldly, rational. And then, someone says to you, "Tell me about the future of the Jews." .... The Jews have a future because the Jews have a state. There are moments when a People has earned a celebration. Yom Ha'atzmaut is, without question, one of those moments. "

Rabbi Gordis again reminds us of the importance of Israel in the lives of Jews throughout the world, how we went from a position of despair and hopelessness after World War II to where we are today:

"The simple but often overlooked truth is that what has made this difference for Jews world over is the State of Israel.

It was Israel's victory in 1967 that injected energy into Soviet Jewry and led them to rattle their cage, demanding their freedom. Post-1967, the world saw the Jews as people who would shape their own destiny. Unlike the Tibetans (or Chechnyans or Basques, to name just a few), Jews were no longer tiptoeing around the world, waiting to see what the world had in store for them.

The re-creation of the Jewish state has changed not only how the world sees the Jews, but how the Jews see themselves. The days of "We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we appeared to them" (Num. 13:33) are gone, and the reason is the State of Israel.

We are a people sometimes over-inclined to indulge in hand-wringing (and at others, unwilling to do the hand-wringing we ought to). And we face our challenges. Iran is worrisome, Egyptian peace is tenuous. Hila Bezaleli's tragic death was a metaphor for the lack of accountability that plagues this country. The behavior of Lt.-Col. Shalom Eisner, as well as the reactions to what he did, is also deeply unsettling.

But let us remember this, nevertheless: it is far too easy to lose sight of what we have accomplished. Sixty-six years ago, no sane, level-headed person could have imagined that we would have what we have. A language brought back to life, and bookstores filled with hundreds of linear feet of books in a language that just a century ago almost no one spoke. More people studying Torah now than there were in Europe at its height. An economic engine that is the envy of many supposedly more established countries. A democracy fashioned by immigrants, most of whom had never lived in a functioning democracy. Cutting-edge health care. An army that keeps us so safe, we go days on end without even thinking about our enemies.

That's worth remembering in the midst of the attacks on us, from the international community as well as from Jews. There's much to repair, and too often, we fail to meet the standards we've set for ourselves. All true, and they demand our continued attention, but at the same time, we dare not lose sight of what we've built. To borrow the phrase from Virginia Slims, "we've come a long way, baby." "

The Divestment Lobby turns its Attention to the United Methodist Conference

Anti-Israel lobbyists, led by Jewish Voice for Peace and the US campaign to end the Occupation have spent thousands on efforts to pressure the United Methodist Church to divest from holdings of companies that do business in Israel.

Andrea Whitmore introduces the key players:

"Sydney Levy of Jewish Voice for Peace is a new friend, Anna Baltzer from the US Campaign is a long-time friend, Rabbi Brant Rosen, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Rae Abileah (the young woman who got assaulted for speaking out at an AIPAC gathering, Bishop Swenson, Rev. Alex Awad (whom many of you know), Daoud Nassar from Tent of Nations near Bethlehem, Frances Remillard representing the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and United Methodists and others from around the country whose names you wouldn't know ..."

Andrea- Rae was not "assaulted at an AIPAC gathering". Rae deliberately interrupted the US Congress in a much publicized temper tantrum. But Rae Abileah is well known for her near hysterical theatrics. Does she look like a rational voice for peace and tolerance?

Thanks to the Houston press for this photo of Rae Abileah at a local protest:



Andrea continues:
"Yesterday we (UMKR) held a luncheon for voting delegates to let them hear Israeli Jew Dalit Baum explain the cost of the occupation."

Andrea- "Israeli Jew" Dalit Baum has come out publicly calling for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish State.

The anti-Israel divestment crew has sent out frantic emails asking for additional funding- having vastly underestimated the cost of propagandizing the United Methodist delegates. The costs of hotels, transportation and food for the anti-Israel team is also escalating. But its all for a good cause- the demonization and destruction of the only democracy in the Middle east. With techniques that might have been cribbed from "Mad Men", the divestment lobbyists are keeping up the pressure.

Stay tuned. The United Methodists will be voting on Divestment very soon.

Israel at 64

And thank you, Google for the wonderful tribute. Notice the beautiful diversity of the children on the logo- its reflective of the diversity of Israel's population. Google should know, after all. Google has research and development centers in both Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Is it even necessarity to add "BDS fail" any more?

UPDATE
From Zionsquare

"How does the BDS Movement stand Israel’s Independence Day being celebrated on Google? Obviously they need to boycott Google immediately – stop searching using Google, delete their gmail accounts, stop using YouTube, stop blogging on Blogger, stop using Google Reader, stop using Google Translate, stop using the Chrome browser, and stop using Android phones.

For search they can switch to Bing. Wait, no, Microsoft built their first overseas research center in Israel more than two decades ago. Scratch Bing. BDSers should also stop using Windows, Windows Phone, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Skype (bought by Microsoft last year), Hotmail and all other Microsoft products.

Maybe for search they can use Yahoo? Not if they mind that Yahoo has an R&D office in Haifa. That means also dropping Yahoo Mail, Flickr (Yahoo bought Flickr in 2005), Yahoo Messenger and all other Yahoo products.

Are there other major search engines? We’re not sure. However, there are a few other IT products BDSer should also boycott. PHP, probably the most popular web scripting language used worldwide, is developed in Israel. There are many BDSers who write blogs. We already determined they can’t use Google’s Blogger service (all blogs on blogger.com and blogspot.com), but WordPress is written using PHP, so BDSers will need to drop WordPress as well. The Moveable Type blogging platform uses a combination of Perl and PHP, so that’s out too.

Of course, they can’t write those blogs using Windows computers anyways, so what computer can they use? They can’t use Apple computers, due to Apple’s recent major purchase of a company in Israel, and the subsequent setting up of their first overseas R&D facility. Interesting that both Microsoft and Apple both opened their first overseas R&D facilities in Israel. That also means no more iPhones, iPods, iPads, Macbook Pros (a BDSer favorite), etc.

Perhaps they can use Linux, the open-source operating system (sure many contributors to Linux live in Israel, but we’ll leave that out). Possibly, but they can’t run Linux on any computer that utilizes an Intel processor, since Intel also opened their first overseas R&D facility in Israel in 1974. They also manufacturer processors at a multi-billion dollar foundry in Kiryat Gat. A huge number of Internet servers also use Intel processors, so BDSers should make sure to check with their hosting companies and make sure their web sites are not running on Intel-based machines.

If not Intel, maybe AMD. That was an option until AMD bought a company in Israel in 2010 and opened an R&D center in Israel last year. AMD processors also run almost all the other servers that host web sites around the world, so BDSers will need to search hard to find places to run their web sites. Getting back to what computer BDSers can use themselves, if they can’t use Intel processors and they can’t use AMD processors, what’s left? There are some computers that run on ARM-based processors. ARM is a processor core developed by ARM Holdings in the UK. Most cell phones, tablets and some low-end computers use ARM-based processors. Wait, no, ARM Holdings has an R&D facility in Kfar Saba. Scratch all ARM-based products.

There is the graphics-processor company NVIDIA. They also have a line of processors that can power devices like cell phones and tabets which they call Tegra. Tegra processors power a number of cell phones and tablets, although we’re not sure if any of them are running operating systems other than Android or Windows Phone. NVIDIA did invest in an Israeli company a couple of years back, but they don’t own any companies or have facilities in Israel as far as we know. Perhaps then, if BDSers can overlook the minor connection to Israel, they can buy NVIDIA-based tablets and work hard to make a version of Linux with no contributions from Israelis to run on it. Palblets? Hopefully NVIDIA won’t start an R&D center in Israel before the work is done.

Sure, BDSers won’t be able to run Angry Birds on their device, but at least they’ll be able to access the Internet. We won’t tell them that Cisco, which builds many of the switches and routers that make up the Internet infrastructure has a major presence in Israel, including the recent purchase for $5 Billion of NDS which secures cable and satellite set-top boxes (including those operated by DIRECTV, Comcast, Cox, Charter and Cablevision in the US). Of course they also own Scientific Atlanta which manufactures the set-top boxes for many other companies. Maybe they can get more done if they stop using the Internet and stop watching TV?"

Happy Birthday, Israel. May you continue to go from strength to strength.

"Expectations are pretty high for Caterpillar right now"

How is the market dealing with the news that Lynn Gottleib, Sydney Levy, Anna Baltzer and friends are trolling the United Methodist Conference, attempting to pressure the group to divest from companies, including Caterpillar that do business in Israel?

Sure looks like they haven't made the tiniest little blip on the Radar screen. In 2012 Caterpillar's first-quarter profit jumped 29 percent. Caterpillar boosted its outlook for the year as U.S. builders replaced and upgraded old equipment and global demand for mining equipment boomed. Caterpillar generated $1.59 billion net income, or $2.37 per share, during the quarter. That's an increase from last year's $1.23 billion net income. Caterpillar said it now expects to generate earnings per share of $9.50 in 2012, up from a previous prediction of $9.25,

So, JVP - hows that boycott coming, btw? And how does it feel to be irrelevant?

Jewish Voice for Peace: Stacking the Deck

Sydney Levy of "Jewish" Voice for Peace just sent out this email:

"I'm on my way to Tampa. I'm going in support of our allies in the United Methodist church who are pushing for divestment from Israel's Occupation. But I'm not going alone. I'm taking the strong letter of support from members of Jewish Voice for Peace's rabbinical council and other Jewish clergy.

I'd like to take you with me too, or at least your name. I hope you'll go to RabbisLetter.org right now and add your name in support of divestment. The United Methodists are considering divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, and Motorla—all companies we have identified as profiting from the violation of Palestinians' human rights.

The struggle to stop these companies has been a long one. But we don't have much time left—the conference starts this week, and we will deliver our names Tuesday morning, in less than 24 hours, so please add your name now. You don't have to be a rabbi to sign, but you do need to sign now if we are going to bring you with us. And to keep you connected, we will be updating RabbisLetter.org throughout the week with all the latest developments in this historic push for divestment."

Why is JVP "Stacking the deck"? Why are they filling up a "rabbis" letter with signatures, of Jews and non-Jews alike?

Maybe its because after weeks of searching for signatures, the signatories on their own letter are few and far between. As of now, the current signators are

Rabbi Margaret Holub
Rabbi Brant Rosen
Rabbi Alissa Wise
Rabbi Julie Greenberg
Rabbi Michael Feinberg
Cantor Michael Davis
Rabbi Rachel Barenblatt
Rabbi Lynn Gottleib
Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman
Rabbi Rebecca Alpert
Rabbi Joseph Berman
Rabbi David Mivasair
Rabbi Brian Walt
Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom
David Basior, Rabbinical Student
Alana Alpert, Rabbinical Student
Ari Lev Fornari, Rabbinical Student
Rabbi Borukh Goldberg
Rabbi Meryl Crean
Rabbi Howard A Cohen
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling
Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton
Rabbi Everett Gendler
Rabbi Michael Lerner

Contrast that extremely limited group with the 1200 rabbis from across the religious and cultural spectrum who have formally expressed their concern about the Methodist divestment referendum. Orthodox, Conservative, reform- religious leaders from across the Jewish spectrum have signed a "Letter from American Rabbis to Our Christian Neighbors Regarding Divestment Proposals" . If your rabbi hasn't already signed, its not too late.

From the Jewish Council for Public Affairs:

“A letter signed by so many Rabbis demonstrates the breadth and depth of the American Rabbinate’s commitment to the finding a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; something which cannot be achieved through divestment,” said Gutow. “I am privileged to join my colleagues from all fifty states, leaders from the Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Orthodox movements, rabbinic groups and seminaries, and some of the most influential Jewish thinkers and theologians of our time. There is a clear rabbinic consensus - divestment efforts will tear the fabric of our interfaith relationships and undermine ongoing efforts for peace.”

The Rabbinic letter spells out the profound concern of the signatories about the one-sided nature of the divestment proposals, which "shamefully" paint Israel as a pariah nation. "For Jews, the use of economic leverages against the Jewish state is fraught with inescapable associations,” the letter states. “They resonate in the Jewish consciousness with historic boycotts against Jewish companies and the State of Israel…policies that knowingly tap into the deepest fears and pain of another is, in our tradition, a serious failure of relationship."

It also spells out a commitment to a negotiated two-state solution, which includes Palestinian state building and economic development, programs of reconciliation, understanding of multiple narratives, humanitarian aid and other areas where collective action is needed to help foster peace. Divestment, the note explains, runs in opposition to these goals and "is more likely to encourage those with extreme aims” - and is so contentious that it "drowns out the real conversation about how to end the conflict.”

“At a time when politics in general have become so divisive, here and abroad, our efforts should be aimed toward reconciliation,” the letter continues. “Together and independently, Christians, Jews, and Muslims must give the parties to the conflict the confidence they need to move toward peace.”

Oh yes, the reality challenged bloggers at Mondoweiss (no, i'm not going to link there- you can find it your self) characterized the heart-felt plea for mutual respect and cooperation as "1200 rabbis threaten an end to interfaith harmony if Methodists support divestment"

The Methodist General Conference is being held in Tampa, Florida over the next week. If you have any friends or family attending, remind them of the words of our own community leaders:

"when politics in general have become so divisive, here and abroad, our efforts should be aimed toward reconciliation. Together and independently, Christians, Jews, and Muslims must give the parties to the conflict the confidence they need to move toward peace. There are many meaningful coexistence programs that are necessary to foster a generation of Israelis and Palestinians that will work and live side-by-side – moving past the teaching of hate and the resort to violence. As leaders of the Jewish and Protestant communities we need to deepen our understandings of the multiple narratives in the region. "

Tell the International Olympic Committee: 40 Years is Enough!

From Ankie Spitzer:

At the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, eleven members of the Israeli team were murdered. For forty years their families have asked the International Olympic Committee to observe a minute of silence, in their memory. Please help us by signing our petition.

I am the wife of Andrei Spitzer. My husband was killed at those Olympic Games in 1972I am asking for one minute of silence for the memory of the eleven Israeli athletes, coaches and referees murdered at the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich. Just one minute — at the 2012 London Summer Olympics and at every Olympic Game, to promote peace.

These men were sons; fathers; uncles; brothers; friends; teammates; athletes. They came to Munich in 1972 to play as athletes in the Olympics; they came in peace and went home in coffins, killed in the Olympic Village and during hostage negotiations.

The families of the Munich 11 have worked for four decades to obtain recognition of the Munich massacre from the International Olympic Committee. We have requested a minute of silence during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics starting with the ’76 Montreal Games. Repeatedly, these requests have been turned down. The 11 murdered athletes were members of the Olympic family; we feel they should be remembered within the framework of the Olympic Games.

We are asking again to be heard in time for the 2012 London Summer Olympics. In 2010 JCC Rockland, New York contacted me and offered their help and made it their mission for their 2012 JCC Maccabi Games to honor the Munich 11 through multiple events as well as spearheading this petition.

Silence is a fitting tribute for athletes who lost their lives on the Olympic stage. Silence contains no statements, assumptions or beliefs and requires no understanding of language to interpret.

I have no political or religious agenda. Just the hope that my husband and the other men who went to the Olympics in peace, friendship and sportsmanship are given what they deserve. One minute of silence will clearly say to the world that what happened in 1972 can never happen again. Please do not let history repeat itself.
For my husband Andrei and the others killed, we must remember the doctrine of the Olympic Spirit, “to build a peaceful and better world which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play," is more powerful than politics.

40 years is long enough to wait.

Go to www.munich11.org to learn more about how the JCC Rockland, in New York took up our fight to remedy injustice with the support & gratitude of the families of the Munich 11 and to learn the history of a day we should never forget.



************

Please sign the petition asking for one minute of silence at the 2012 Olympics at www.change.org and pass this on to your friends, your synagogues and your favorite bloggers. Lets make this happen.

Another BDS Fail : Veolia in the running for Woodland-Davis Water Project

Thanks to our friends at Israelstreet for the information.

It looks like its another BDS fail, this time from the central valley of California. The Davis-Woodland Clean Water Agency has voted unanimously–4 to 0 –to ignore the BDS’ers and to include Veolia in a bid. for a multimillion dollar project to bring water to the arid communities of Central California.

The Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency (WDCWA) WDCWA is in the early stages of a project to bring surface water to Woodland and Davis. Project objectives – which include improving water quality, water supply reliability, and the quality of treated wastewater discharge – were developed in response to challenges posed by aging water systems, more stringent drinking water regulations, and stricter wastewater discharge permitting standards, among other things. As part of that process, the WDCWA opened the project to bidders. Only three companies responded, including Veolia Water North America.

Veolia is large multinational French company which has different transportation and environmental subsidiaries worldwide, including Israel and the disputed territories. The primary target for BDS activists is the Veolia connection with the Jerusalem Light Rail system and Veolia’s ownership of Connex, a local bus company. Because of this, Veolia is in the cross-hairs of the BDS’ers (note to self: They are targeting Veolia contracts in the North Bay as well)

Last year the BDS cru demanded that the WDCWA exclude Veolia from bidding because of its “human rights violations”. The WDCWA wisely decided that international affairs were beyond its scope yet agreed to a “compromise”. They required the proposed bidders to respond to an “ethics questionnaire”. The companies responses are here

The BDS’ers sent around frantic emails, requesting

“Send emails to the members of the Board... before April 16, urging them to consider 1) Veolia Environnements international and domestic violations of its published code of corporate conduct, which Veolia has stated applies to all the subsidiaries of its corporate family; 2) its violations of the principles of the UN Global Compact Guidance on Responsible Business in Conflict-Affected and High Risk Areas, which it participated in developing; 3) and point out that local government agencies around the U.S. have been unhappy with Veolia’s business practices, operational short-cuts, cost-exceedances, environmental permit violations, and unfair labor practices. Make the emails brief...”

The Water Board made its decision on Thursday, April 19 to allow Veolia to bid on the project, in spite of 12 , count em 12 anti-Israel letters (Why does a British or a Dutch activist feel they have the right to tell the Central Valley Water Board how to vote on this decidedly local issue? Why does a Jewish Voice for Peace member in Boston feel she has the right to tell our local community how to conduct its affairs? ) Local ISM Head Paul Larudee also weighed in- at least he’s only an hour ago from the proposed project.



WDCWA staff gave its report–aand concluded that Veolia Water North America is a wholly different subsidiary from the Veolia subsidiaries in Israel. Oops. Looks like the BDS cru were so busy demonizing Israel, they forgot to do their research.

The Conclusion of the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency:

"We evaluated the Veolia ethics policy against the CEICI Blueprint recommendations and determined that the policy and related procedures substantially meet the recommendations.

The Agency also is aware of criticisms by a pro-Palestinian group against Veolia relating to the operation of bus and light rail systems in Israel. Those operations are not by Veolia Water West Operating Services, Inc. or Veolia Water North America Operating Services, LLC or any of their subsidiaries and therefore the charges fall outside the scope of the Agency’s Request.
From staff’s perspective, business operations in Israel by a Veolia company other than the companies that the Agency would be transacting with are not sufficient reason to disqualify the entire Veolia-Kiewit-MWH team. The companies in the team are highly qualified and generally practice good business ethics."

Or, to make it easier for you. BDS fail. Again.

Read about the hearing here

Berkeley Jews Unite in Support of Israel

In a speech given to Arab diplomats in Stockholm on January 30, 1996. Yasser Arafat revealed his true intentions: "We of the PLO will now concentrate all our efforts on splitting Israel psychologically into two camps...We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; Jews won't want to live among us Arabs."

He failed.

Has life become unbearable in Israel?
Maybe not.

The United Nation’s first World Happiness Report ranked Israel as the 14th happiest country in the world. Conducted by Columbia University’s Earth Institute, the report notes:

"it is not just wealth that makes people happy: Political freedom, strong social networks and an absence of corruption are together more important than income in explaining well-being differences between the top and bottom countries. At the individual level, good mental and physical health, someone to count on, job security and stable families are crucial."

To many, the mere existence of an organization such as "Jewish voice for Peace" shows that Arafat tried. But again, he failed. The Jewish community is not split into "two camps"- and the size of JVP's mailing list ( I'm on it, for example) is simply irrelevant.

To "Jewish" Voice for peace: What we have here is the Jewish community in action. What you are seeing is called unity.



This is in Berkeley, remember. Berkeley. Berkeley- the town with its own foreign policy. Check it out, JVP

The local Orthodox, Conservative and Reform synagogues have joined together in unity to celebrate our ties with Israel. A community commemoration of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Hatzmaut - Israel Memorial Day and Israeli Independence day is planned- and Berkeley Jews will unite in prayer and in song.

This is done because we honor and respect Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. And whimper and cry all you want, JVP. Talk about "oppression" and "privilege" and the 99%. But know this. This topic unites us- unifies us and gives us strength. Your theatrics are meaningless and irrelevant. And remember this- when a dozen of you aging misfits protest Israel in the Gardens, supplementing your ranks with angry Arab youth - there will be 20,000 people inside the Gardens- all in support of Israel.

The people united can never be defeated.