Back from summer hiatus …..

I will very soon again be posting to my blog.

Come back in a week.

Rabbi Art

Brit Tzedek: We stand with the president | Capital J | JTA – Jewish & Israel News

Brit Tzedek: We stand with the president | Capital J | JTA – Jewish & Israel News.

Can we in the Jewish community finally realize that is in our self-interest, as Jews and as Americans, to encourage the current Israeli government to move forward in peacemaking with the Palestinians?  The settlements in Occupied Territory continue to be an obstacle to real progress, for example.  President Obama and his team understand that the US has NOT been an honest broker and by refusing to do so we have put Israel in jeopardy.  Its time for us to stand with the President.

By Eric Fingerhut · June 4, 2009

Brit Tzedek v’Shalom said the president made a “persuasive case for the common interest in resolving” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Thursday, and said it stands with the president.

“The usual suspects will likely rush to characterize the President’s insistence that both Israelis and Palestinians uphold preexisting commitments — including a complete freeze on all Israeli settlement expansion and a concerted effort by the Palestinians to end all violence and incitement — as indicative of an historic realignment that threatens Israel’s alliance with the United States,” said Brit Tzedek executive director Diane Balser. “In truth, the single most pro-Israel thing an American President can do is to actively pursue a negotiated, two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as Israel’s very future as a democracy and a Jewish homeland depends on it.”

The group’s full statement:

Diane Balser, executive director of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, the country’s largest Jewish grassroots peace movement, released the following statement in response to President Obama’s speech today from Cairo.

“Today in his historic address to the Muslim world from Cairo, President Obama made clear his commitment to renew US leadership in negotiating a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The current stalemate is not only unspeakably tragic for Israelis and Palestinians alike, but fans the flame of extremism across the region and thus threatens the United States’ national security interests in the region.

The usual suspects will likely rush to characterize the President’s insistence that both Israelis and Palestinians uphold preexisting commitments –including a complete freeze on all Israeli settlement expansion and a concerted effort by the Palestinians to end all violence and incitement — as indicative of an historic realignment that threatens Israel’s alliance with the United States. In truth, the single most pro-Israel thing an American President can do is to actively pursue a negotiated, two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as Israel’s very future as a democracy and a Jewish homeland depends on it.

The President made persuasive case for the common interest in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which extends beyond the two parties,to include the Arab countries, the United States and its allies around the world. As Americans, as Jews and as people deeply committed to ensuring Israel’s prospects for long-term peace and security, we stand with the President and with all those willing to work in pursuit of a resolution to the conflict.”

Clinton: Israel Must Halt West Bank Settlements

Clinton: Israel Must Halt West Bank Settlements.

Thank you Secretary of State Clinton!!!!  Perhaps the only language that the leadership of the Israeli government understands is blunt, straightforward and upfront.  Abbas is right in demanding a halt to the settlements. Don’t forget that previous Israeli goverments have pledged to stop building on Palestinian lands and yet they have continued to do so.

What am I missing? What is the logic behind Bibi and his buddies continued refusal to “deal justly”.  Ah, is it “facts on the ground?” Do they think that the Palestinians will just go away?

All the more reason for us to support Brit Tzedek v’Shalom’s “We’ve Got Your Back, Mr. President” campaign.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Israel in unusually blunt terms Wednesday to completely halt settlements on land that Palestinians claim as part of a future state of their own.

In remarks to reporters at the State Department, Clinton said President Barack Obama had made clear last week during talks at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that stopping settlements is a key part of moving toward a deal establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“He wants to see a stop to settlements _ not some settlements, not outposts, not ‘natural growth’ exceptions,” Clinton said, referring in the last case to population growth on existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank from births and from allowances for adult offspring of settlers to buy homes near their parents.

Study: Israeli Jews also blame Israel for conflict | JTA – Jewish & Israel News

Major apologies for not blogging during the past couple of weeks.  Meanwhile, much has occurred including Bibi’s visit with Obama and his attempts to appeal to the right both here and in Israel.  My kishkas are still in knots that my Jewish state’s leader still refuses to act justly.  More and more I am coming to believe that Israel’s leadership needs to be saved from itself.

Here’s some hopeful news. At least the Israeli and Palestinian people get it.

May 7, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Many Israeli Jews reject the idea that the Palestinians are primarily responsible for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a new study finds.

The study, funded by a grant from the International Peace Research Association Foundation, found that the collective memory of Israeli Jews in general is significantly critical of Israel’s role in the conflict, and that they have somewhat rejected the “Zionist narrative” of the conflict which holds the Arabs/Palestinians primarily responsible for the conflict.

A total of 47 percent of Israeli Jews believe that Palestinians were expelled from Israel during the 1948 war, with 39 percent saying that “The refugees left due to fear, calls of leaders and expulsion by the Jews,” and another 8 percent saying the refugees left due only to expulsion by the Jews. Another 41 percent said that the refugees left “due to fear and calls of leaders to leave,” the traditional “Zionist narrative.”

Some 46 percent believe that Israel and the Palestinians are equally responsible for the outbreak and continuation of the conflict, while 4 percent blame only the Jews. Some 43 percent primarily blame the Palestinians.

……..

“The fact that we found this memory of the conflict to be somewhat critical, even though the conflict is still going on, is encouraging,” Nets-Zehngut said. “It suggests that the Israeli-Jewish society has changed to become more critical, open and self-reflective, allowing it to adopt less biased narratives.”

“Holding such a Zionist narrative serves as an obstacle to peace,” Bar-Tal said, “since it promotes negative emotions, mistrust, de-legitimization and negative stereotypes of Arabs and Palestinians.”

Palestinian Doctor, Peace Advocate Recounts Israeli Attack on Home that Killed 3 Daughters, Niec

Palestinian Doctor, Peace Advocate Recounts Israeli Attack on Home that Killed 3 Daughters, Niece.

Palestinian Doctor, Peace Advocate Recounts Israeli Attack on Home that Killed 3 Daughters, Niece

Palestinian gynecologist and peace advocate Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish in his home in Jabaliya, Gaza, where Israeli shells killed three of his daughters and a niece two months ago. Walking through his daughters’ room, he points out the remnants from the attack: blood-stained walls, books, clothes, hand-drawn pictures, gaping holes that were once windows, burned-out bits of computers, twisted pieces of metal, destroyed cupboards, shattered glass, and shrapnel.

Dr. Abuelaish is a mensch.  Izzeldin was just here in Pittsburgh thanks Dr. Naftali Kaminski, a close personal friend. And he spoke to over 300 people at our local Jewish Community Center in an event sponsored by our local Brit Tzedek vShalom chapter and the Ad Hoc Committee for Alternatives on Gaza.. He also spoke to a variety of groups within the Jewish and general community.

He touched many hearts and opened many minds – he spoke about “dignity, respect and understanding” three critical aspects of any significant relationship, three things that are in short supply when it comes to such relationships betweens Jews and Arabs in general and Israelis and Palestinians in particular.

In the local Jewish Chronicle here is a link to the story, “Gaza Meets Pittsburgh” :

And here is an important Opinion piece by Dr. Naftali Kaminski that was published on the front page of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today.

In NY synagogue, Israeli settler leader calls for assassination of Abbas– and tax-deductible contributions | The American Task Force on Palestine

In NY synagogue, Israeli settler leader calls for assassination of Abbas– and tax-deductible contributions

Philip Weiss

Mondoweiss

March 19, 2009 – 12:00am

http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/in-ny-synagogue-settler-leader-calls-for-assassination-of-abbas-and-taxdeductible-contributions-to-s.html

We Jews pride ourselves on our desire for peace, shalom.  We call God shalom.  We pray for shalom at everyone service. We sing about shalom – “sim shalom, tova u’vracha” or “shalom rav….”  Yet, sometimes we get a dose of reality that not all Jews understand shalom as we American Jews do.  Case in point, Nadia Matar, leader of an Israeli setters’ group, “Women in Green.”  She and her supporters called for the assassination of PA president, Mahmoud Abbas.  How would we in the Jewish community react if someone if the from the Palestinian Authority, our primary partner for peace, offered a similar call for PM Olmert’s death?

Its a sad day when the likes of Matar and others are the face of the Jewish people.  My bubbe and zayde, great lovers of Zion, are rolling over in their graves. What a shanda!!!

Exclusive report from Mondoweiss: In a speech at a New York synagogue Wednesday night, Nadia Matar, a leader of the Israeli settlers’ group “Women in Green,” called for the assassination of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, as a way of bringing peace to Israel.

Just as Churchill understood that in order to bring peace to Europe, “he had to destroy the Nazi beast,” Matar explained, “today we must destroy all the terrorist organizations. We must kill all the terrorist leaders, starting with Mahmoud Abbas and all others…Nobody had any moral qualms at destroying the Nazi regime. We have to abolish the Oslo Agreements, there’s no difference between the PA, the Islamic Jihad, the Hamas, whatever names you have, they’re all terrorists and we cannot have peace with them.”

Matar then urged the crowd at the Safra Synagogue on the Upper East Side to make tax-deductible donations to Women in Green by writing checks to the Central Fund of Israel.

As our site has reported, the Central Fund is a U.S. charity group that supports Jewish settler militias. It has received donations from leading figures in the American Jewish community, including James Tisch, the ceo of Loews, Michael Milken the banker/philanthropist, Alan C. (Ace) Greenberg, the former ceo of Bear Stearns, and actor Kirk Douglas. The Fund is housed at a fabric store on Sixth Avenue called Marcus Fabrics and administered by Arthur and Hadassah Marcus, who live in New York, and their son Jay, who lives in Efrat, the West Bank settlement where Nadia Matar also lives.

via In NY synagogue, Israeli settler leader calls for assassination of Abbas– and tax-deductible contributions | The American Task Force on Palestine.

Netanyahu’s Catch-22 | Israel Policy Forum

Israel Election and the Future of the Peace Process

So what do you do when you have 33 parties to choose from on your ballot?  Can you imagine if we Americans had 3 or 4 competent choices not to mention 33 political choices during our elections.  Of course, the constant downside of Israel’s election process is the “tyranny of minority.” Small parties holding 4 or 5 or even 10 seats typically gain influence well beyond their numbers.  Now Israel’s latest elections have once again denied any political party even 30% percent of the vote. Likud, let by former Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu, is getting ready to sign on the dotted line with Avigdor Lieberman’s Israel Beitenu party, which favors a controversial “loyalty oath” for Israeli Arabs and is not a fan of the current peace process, while at the same time favors civil marriage and is opposed to the power that the right-wing Orthodox wield.  Good luck, Bibi!

As the excerpts of the article below from the Israel Policy Forum point out, Netanyahu now finds himself in the proverbial Catch-22.  A right-wing coalition of 61 or 65 seats which may or may not contain extreme elements doesn’t bode well for the past and future Prime Minister, especially if he wishes to relate in a positive way with President Obama and the new administration.  Thank you, Kadima and Labor for sitting this one out, and not giving Likud cover in the Knesset.  Let’s see how long his coalition lasts!

Netanyahu’s Catch-22 | Israel Policy Forum.

By Sadie Goldman with IPF Staff

Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu may be discovering the meaning of “Catch-22.”

Here it is. He cannot last as prime minister if he begins his tenure battling President Obama over negotiations with the Palestinians and settlement expansion. But, at least one of the parties he needs in his coalition to form a government opposes negotiations, favors settlement expansion, and will walk out of any government that plays ball with Obama.

To form a government, Netanyahu has to convince at least 61 of the 120 Knesset members to join his coalition. But, abandoned by the mainstream parties-Kadima and Labor-Netanyahu is left with five peripheral groups that together offer a meager 38 seats. Netanyahu’s choice is between a government of 65 that includes the National Union Party (4 seats), which rejects past Israeli-Palestinian agreements and calls for a “decisive military victory” over Arabs, or one with the minimum of 61 seats, which excludes the National Union. This is a miserable choice because either government would be at constant risk of falling, unstable any way you slice it.

The Shas/Yisrael Beiteinu Shuffle

The parties Netanyahu must deal with are playing an Israeli version of Let’s Make a Deal. Netanyahu courts party leaders by offering appointments and promising to promote their policies.

Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu Party (15 seats) is the most powerful of the Likud’s potential partners (it will have the most seats in the government after the Likud). Lieberman is slated to become Israel’s foreign minister and to handpick its justice minister, a position with major influence over Israel’s Supreme Court.

Yisrael Beitenu is also Netanyahu’s greatest threat. It could alienate world governments by pushing its “no loyalty, no citizenship” plan for withholding Arab-Israeli rights. It could try to topple the government by leaving the coalition. Or it could provoke its foe, the Shas Party (11 seats), to walk out.

Shas leader Ovadia Yosef has called Avigdor Lieberman “Satan,” but he might also see him as Lenin. That is because along with its “Israel for the Jews” policy, Yisrael Beitenu is adamantly secularist. It opposes clerical authority over Israeli lives-precisely the authority that Shas is trying to protect.

Shas may be willing to compromise somewhat to be in the government; for example, it proposed an easing of Israel’s marriage law to allow non-Jews to marry in civil ceremonies (although not Jews!). But it will risk bringing down a government over what it views as core principles. It torpedoed Tzipi Livni’s attempt to form a government coalition last year after she refused to increase welfare benefits for large families.

Netanyahu is believed to have already made a backroom deal with Shas. But its asking price includes leadership of the interior ministry (which controls religious authority in Israel), and the housing ministry (which decides on settlement construction), as well as increased funding for child allowances and religious schools.

This puts Netanyahu on a tightrope between Yisrael Beitenu and Shas. He needs them both, but is at risk of losing them if he appears to favor one over the other. But even that, to turn the Passover song on its head, will not be enough. Added to his party’s 27 seats, both Yisrael Beitenu and Shas together bring his total to only 53 seats. For 61, Netanyahu needs the religious United Torah Judaism Party (5 seats) and either the Jewish Home Party (3 seats) or the National Union Party (4 seats).

The Day After

With only a few seats to bargain with, these parties do not have the power to demand major government positions like Yisrael Beitenu and Shas can. But they can work to block any diplomatic initiative that Netanyahu takes.

Joining a small government will give them a loud voice and the power to at least threaten to walk. They already have the ideology.

The Jewish Home and the National Union, in particular, promise to uphold their beliefs and reject Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land or any freeze on settlement construction. The Jewish Home’s platform promises that, “only the State of Israel will be established between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. A Palestinian state will not be established there . . . any political agreement must guarantee to not uproot a single Jewish settlement.”

The National Union took a step further by hinging its government membership on a demand for increased settlement expansion. If a compromise is not found, they may be out of a government coalition. Additionally, Netanyahu could still face detractors from within the Likud. His own party members might revolt against him if they feel that he handed out all the favors and left none for them. (Some of his deputies’ ideologies are not so different from the other right-wing parties. They could combine their efforts to stop peace initiatives.)

But those worries will be there the day after a coalition is formed. On that day, the United States will have to begin examining whether Netanyahu is able to make good on his promise to be a partner for peace.

But first, Netanyahu has to form his government. Then it’s Obama’s turn.

The Jewish Chronicle

North Hills rabbi advocates two-state solution with his own blog

by Lee Chottiner
Executive Editor

March 5, 2009

Okay, this is a little self-serving, but I can’t resist!

Here’s a piece of the story. To read the whole story click on the link above.

As a rabbi, Art Donsky finds that blogging offers the best of two worlds.

“One thing a rabbi does is talk a lot,” the spiritual leader of Temple Ohav Shalom in the North Hills said. “We also write a lot.”

So why not keep a blog? (That’s an online journal for those of you who are not Internet savvy.)

Donsky is into the third week of his new blog, “Know Justice Know Peace” (ravart.wordpress.com), a blog devoted to supporting a two-state solution for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The blog contains Donsky’s own writings, thoughts from other like-minded people, links to a broad array of Jewish Web sites, including some that may not agree with his point of view and excerpts for those Web sites.

Donsky is one of a growing number of rabbis who have taken to blogging as a way to express their thoughts and viewpoints to a wider audience than just their congregations.

“I wanted to educate people about this long-term ongoing conflict,” he said of the Israeli-Palestinian standoff. “I felt one reason for supporting [President Barack] Obama was he was one of the first presidents in many years who would be an honest broker and put pressure on both sides to come to the table and listen to each other’s narrative and sit down and put an end to this conflict that has cost too many lives.”

Click the link below for the entire story.

The Jewish Chronicle – Classifieds, News, Business, and Events.

Arab/Jewish Unity Walk Brings to Life Dual Emotional Narratives of Jaffa’s History

My colleagues in Israel for the annual CCAR Convention report the following experience.  How wonderful that the rabbinic leadership of North America walked step by step alongside Israeli Arabs through the town of Jaffa!  Perhaps Avigdor Lieberman and his fellow party members might do the same; one can only hope.

JERUSALEM – (February 27, 2008) – On the second full day of the Convention, CCAR members broke into groups to connect directly with rabbis, students, academics activists and lay congregation members in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Then, in addition to a lunchtime welcome by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who has done much to facilitate the Reform Movement’s growth in Tel Aviv, and a moving theatrical performance by the Nalaga’at Deaf-Blind Theatre Company, members hit the streets for new, on-the-ground perspectives of Tel Aviv.

One of eight walking tours was an Arab/Jewish Unity Walk through Jaffa, where Tel Aviv began. Native Jewish and Arab guides collaborated on a heartfelt presentation of beautiful Jaffa’s complicated history since the last years of the Ottoman Empire.  The collegial dialogue between the guides reinforced the importance of remembering that there are (at least) two divergent emotional narratives of Jaffa’s history since Jews arrived in Jaffa in the late 19th Century: One narrative is that of one of the world’s great, hard-won triumphs, and the other is of a terrible catastrophe.

The tour ended on a hopeful – perhaps tentatively hopeful – note. The guides pointed out that while Arab-Jewish relations appear to be freezing on a political and institutional level, the grassroots dimension is improving: Feelings are being shared, and collaborative projects are on the rise.

Here are some highlights of the conversation, particularly from the often less-heard Arab perspective:

When Jews first came to Jaffa in the late 19th Century, there were good relations.  The Jews were from North Africa, so culture and customs were similar. (One CCAR member pointed out that there’s potentially a third narrative in Jaffa, that of Jews from Arab countries.)
In the early 1920s, during the initial periods of violence between Jews and Arabs, there was still cooperation – in business and in unions. Then, sadly, fear among the Arabs grew strong.
Between 1920 and 1940, the Jaffa population went from 15,000 to 165,000, and Jews became the majority. During this period, Arab fear mounted.
In 1948, all but 3,500 of the 60,000 Arab residents left Jaffa. They thought they’d be able to come back; they simply locked their houses.
Even though the houses and property were taken, the notion and hope that they could return to and reclaim their homes remained, and still does today, to some extent, among older people whose families fled.
The mindset progression of the Arabs in Jaffa, went from “traumatized” before 1948 to “fearful and angry” once they became Israeli citizens overseen by a “military regime.”
Right now, our Arab guide told us, the main psychological issue and challenge among Arabs is “self-definition:  It’s related to how the State feels about you. You can’t feel totally Israeli. You’re on a lower list.”
Both of our guides expressed the hope that a growing comfort with talking will lead to Arabs’ not just accepting, but also feeling comfortable with, their Israeli citizenship

FORA.tv – What We Talk About When We Talk About Israel

FORA.tv – What We Talk About When We Talk About Israel.

Israeli Jewish journalist, Gershon Gorenberg, insightfully discusses the difference about how American Jews view criticism of Israeli policies and how Israeli citizens do the same.  He is right on when he argues that America Jewish groups like CAMERA perceive ALL criticism of Israeli government policies as anti-Israel by American or Israeli  journalists while the same criticism goes on in Israel everyday and is part of the process of an open democracy.  Too many America Jews refuse to hear any criticism of Israeli policies and too quickly pull out the anti-Israel and anti-Semite label.