NEW YORK June 8, 2014 (AP)
Once a unifying cause for generations of American Jews, (click here) Israel is now bitterly dividing Jewish communities.
Jewish organizations are withdrawing invitations to Jewish speakers or performers considered too critical of Israel, in what opponents have denounced as an ideological litmus test meant to squelch debate. Some Jewish activists have formed watchdog groups, such as Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art, or COPMA, and JCC Watch, to monitor programming for perceived anti-Israel bias. They argue Jewish groups that take donations for strengthening the community shouldn't be giving a platform to Israel's critics.
American campuses have become ideological battle zones over Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories, with national Jewish groups sometimes caught up on opposing sides of the internal debate among Jewish students. The "Open Hillel" movement of Jewish students is challenging speaker guidelines developed by Hillel, the major Jewish campus group, which bars speakers who "delegitimize" or "demonize" Israel. Open Hillel is planning its first national conference in October.
And in a vote testing the parameters of Jewish debate over Israel, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, a national coalition that for decades has represented the American Jewish community, denied membership in April to J Street, the 6-year-old lobby group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace and has sometimes criticized the Israeli government. Opponents of J Street have been showing a documentary called "The J Street Challenge," in synagogues and at Jewish gatherings around the country, characterizing the group as a threat from within....
These are major organizations putting an end to open dialogue that actually creates danger for Israel. Lobbying has been an issue with Israelis before, so I am confident they don't want a repeat performance.
The tensions surrounding Israel and Palestine have become so immense any dialogue at all results in huge response with varying degrees of verbal assault. The internal conflict within the Jewish community is the expansionism of Israeli settlements into the Palestinian homeland since 1967. There is intolerance from all sides. Openness in the year 2014 to attempt to settle ideas about Israel's sovereign lands is slowing.
The dialogue surrounding Israel and Palestine also seems ridiculous. This dialogue has gone on for decades and the movement to end conflict and seek peace with a two nation solution is still as mute as ever. If the dialogue achieves nothing but greater tensions; why have it at all?
By David B. Green
Jun. 8, 2014
...Within days of Israeli statehood (click here) – which was declared on May 14, 1948 – the Moroccan sultan, Mohammed V, delivered a speech in which he warned his country’s Jews not to demonstrate “solidarity with the Zionist aggression,” but also reminding Morocco’s Muslim majority that Jews had always been a protected people there. Because the address contained both a statement of support for the Jews and an implied threat against them, the effect of it on anti-Jewish sentiment is difficult to gauge.
What is clear is that on the morning of June 7, rioters descended on Oujda’s Jewish quarter and killed four of its Jewish residents, as well as a Frenchman, and wounded another 30. Late that night, and continuing into the next morning, rioting also began in Jerada, a much smaller mining town some 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the southwest of Oujda. There, 37 Jews were killed – including the town’s rabbi, Moshe Cohen, and four family members – out of a total Jewish population of approximately 120....
By Barak Ravid
Jun. 8, 2014 | 7:15 PM
Finance Minister Yair Lapid (click here) on Sunday blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the crisis in relations with the United States over the comatose peace process. Lapid vowed to bring down Netanyahu's government should there be any attempt to annex West Bank settlements, and called on the premier to instead reveal his "map" of where Israel's future borders with the Palestinians should lie.
In a speech at the high-profile Herzliya Conference, Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, also presented a peace plan that included evacuation of "isolated settlements" during negotiations with the Palestinians.
Lapid told the VIP audience that Israel's international support is waning because it has not launched a peace initiative nor set out a vision for its borders....
By David B. Green
Jun. 8, 2014
...Within days of Israeli statehood (click here) – which was declared on May 14, 1948 – the Moroccan sultan, Mohammed V, delivered a speech in which he warned his country’s Jews not to demonstrate “solidarity with the Zionist aggression,” but also reminding Morocco’s Muslim majority that Jews had always been a protected people there. Because the address contained both a statement of support for the Jews and an implied threat against them, the effect of it on anti-Jewish sentiment is difficult to gauge.
What is clear is that on the morning of June 7, rioters descended on Oujda’s Jewish quarter and killed four of its Jewish residents, as well as a Frenchman, and wounded another 30. Late that night, and continuing into the next morning, rioting also began in Jerada, a much smaller mining town some 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the southwest of Oujda. There, 37 Jews were killed – including the town’s rabbi, Moshe Cohen, and four family members – out of a total Jewish population of approximately 120....
By Barak Ravid
Jun. 8, 2014 | 7:15 PM
Finance Minister Yair Lapid (click here) on Sunday blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the crisis in relations with the United States over the comatose peace process. Lapid vowed to bring down Netanyahu's government should there be any attempt to annex West Bank settlements, and called on the premier to instead reveal his "map" of where Israel's future borders with the Palestinians should lie.
In a speech at the high-profile Herzliya Conference, Lapid, head of Yesh Atid, also presented a peace plan that included evacuation of "isolated settlements" during negotiations with the Palestinians.
Lapid told the VIP audience that Israel's international support is waning because it has not launched a peace initiative nor set out a vision for its borders....
