Roundup of worthwhile articles
Posted on March 1 2007 by Cecilie Surasky under ADL.Dissenting Jews in Australia now have their own media initiative like the one in the UK. The Forward Forum continues to discuss Jewish dissent in Is Community Open to Critics of Zionism? and Why Not Let Moderates Engage Far Left? Richard Silverstein writes Former American Jewish Congress Board Member Baits Liberal Jews, which has original research on Rachel Neuwirth, the woman to whom UCLA’s Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller recently apologized for physically attacking her during a political dispute.
Ben Murane at Ameinu writes How the Internet Made Impossible an Internal Debate (And Why it’s a Bad Idea Even if We Could) abut the wisdom of airing Jewish “dirty laundry” in public.
The ADL is calling yet again for the ouster of the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict John Dugard for what they call a “vicious screed” that says “Israel’s laws and practices in the (Palestinian territories) certainly resemble aspects of apartheid.”
Download Dugard’s report here and judge for yourself.
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March 1st, 2007 at 6:02 pm
The only baiter here is Richard Silverstein, pardon me!!!!!!!!!!
He can’t take it that his hero, the creep, ‘rabbi’ lost and that the truth came out finally after 4 years..so he looks for dirt and inhances it..
Richard is rotten to the core!
March 1st, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Read more about the facts here: http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/searchview.php?id=17231
March 1st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
And more read about this here:
http://www.israelforum.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=12157
March 1st, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Once again, JVP misses the point (and the boat)entirely when referring to Dan Fleshler’s article in the Forward. The key paragraph is this one:
“At the same time, they proudly say they are pro-Israel. They want to change the atmosphere on campuses and on the Internet, where so-called “progressives” often see nothing wrong with comparing Israeli Jews to Nazis, praising suicide bombers as freedom fighters or proclaiming that the very idea of the Jewish people is an illusion — what is known in leftist parlance as “Jewish particularism.” And these moderate leftists insist that Palestinians and other Arabs not be absolved of responsibility for the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
Don’t flatter yourselves that he’s talking about YOU, Ceclie, when he talks about the moderate leftists who are reaching out. You can prove me wrong by simply posting that you, and the organization you represent, ARE “proudly pro-Israel”; and by condemning in clear language those of your fellow travelers who compare Israelis to Nazis, who declare in Arabic their support for Hamas and Hezbollah while chanting “The Jews Are Our Dogs” (or simply say, as the head of MECA does, that “Hezbollah are just ordinary schleps liek the rest of us”.
Your failure to do that indicates that you can’t claim the moral high ground that Flescher, and other supporters of Israel, reserve for those who ARE pro-Israel and are willing to do the hard work of reaching out to those in the wrong– like you.
March 3rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Just an interesting observation about Foxman’s screed against John Dugard’s recent report…
Despite claiming many of the accusations in the report are “unfounded,” no actual examples are provided nor are any of the particular’s contested. It appears rather obvious that Foxman’s opposition isn’t factual in basis, but just against the “tone” of Dugard’s report. However, after reading the report itself, there really isn’t any “nice” way to present the actual facts on the ground, ergo any reporting on the facts must be - at least according to Foxman - “a vicious screed” against Israel. So, instead of demanding that Israel behave like a civilized modern state, the problem is that these “biased” investigators have the chutzpah to report on what is happening.
Only one actual quote from the report is the concluding statement: “to establish and maintain domination by one racial group (Jews) over another racial group (Palestinians) and systematically oppressing them.”
For the record, it should be noted that according to international law, specifically the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (to which Israel is a signatory) defines “racial discrimination” thusly: “In this Convention, the term ‘racial discrimination’ shall mean any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.” So by the standards of international law - agreed to by Israel - Dugard’s charge of Israeli policies as being racist in nature are in fact so - all in the name of the “Jewish State” that is defined on the basis of “descent, or national or ethnic origin.”
March 12th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
Funny, Mike - I haven’t seen your praise of R’ Michael Lerner for doing exactly that: condemning “Anti-Semitism on the Left” while maintaining a pro-peace, pro-human rights, and in the end pro-Palestinian policy. But I have not seen your body of work, so I am not exactly in a position to say you’re just another leftie-basher. So it goes to show, you aren’t exactly in a position to claim JVP is in league with anti-Semites, left-wing or otherwise.
March 12th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
PS The Australian article just may be a bit too slanted, covering views from the (rather ravenous) opposition more than what the group actually represents. Perhaps a link to their website is in order.
March 21st, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I hereby publicly praise Rabbi Lerner in his denunciations of the anti-Semitism of the left; the fact that he and the Tikkun community will no longer march with International ANSWER’s anti-war demonstrations is a step that should be emulated by other groups. My position is way closer to Lerner’s than is JVP’s; after all, Lerner and I support Israel’s fundamental right to exist as a Jewish state, and that there should be a Palestinian state established once the Palestinian leadership decides they also accept the two-state solution. We may disagree on the best way to get to that point, but we agree on the goals.
I hate to disappointyou, BarNavi, but I am somewhere in the “moderate leftist” stream politically. The only lefties I bash are the extreme fringe that practice modern anti-Semitism; I’m happy to equally bash the extreme right wing that does the same. Actually, the National Socialist Movement seems to be finding a welcome home in ANSWER as well, so I guess if you go far enough in one direction you actually do end up on the other– space really IS curved!
And why am I not in a position to claim that JVP is in league with anti-Semites when I see that they stand with them at public events?
March 24th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
and by the way, read another critique of Dugard at http://www.bluetruth.net/2007/02/john-dugards-latest-tract.html