Trick Or Treat
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(up)Roar Lion (up)Roar
Not to detract from Asaf’s post on the film about professors harassing pro-Israel students at Columbia University (below), but I had planned on posting about this situation. From 1998-2001 I led Columbia’s pro-Israel political activism group and my successor is featured in the film (which I have not yet seen). I just have a few comments about Israel and Columbia.
1. Some professors at Columbia are vehemently anti-Israel. Edward Said is gone, true, but I will never forget the masses of professors (particularly from the Middle East Languages and Cultures Dept, which is featured in the film, and its chair Prof. Van de Mieroop) who rallied around Said after he was caught red-handed engaging in violence against Israel. There were other professors who condemned Said. In classes, I believe there were a range of opinions (at least in the political science department where I hung out).
2. There is a lot of good pro-Israel activism on campus at Columbia. When I was there, we brought congressmen, academics, diplomats and more to speak about Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship. When the intifada broke out (again) the passion and commitment of the Jewish community was in full display with rallies, demonstrations, educational programs and more.
3. There is also a lot of anti-Israel student activity at Columbia. In addition to arguing major policy points and writing letters to the editor, the Arab students’ group at one time even fought to change the name of a sandwich sold on campus from the “Israel wrap” to the “Middle Eastern wrap.” They blamed the campus cafe for engaging in “cultural dispossession,” but in reality they were out to eliminate any positive mention of Israel and nothing more. Sadly, they staged their fight behind closed doors and the name was changed before I could do anything– I did have a conversation with the cafe administrators afterwards who insisted they just didn’t want to upset anyone. As ridiculous as that episode was, it illustrated the lengths to which some Columbians would stretch in order to denigrate Israel.
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Thought Shrek 2 Was Controversial? Wait Til’ You See This
The Middle East dept. at Columbia University is once again at the spot light since the Boston based David Project came out with a movie that supposedly exposes its anti-Israeli bias. The Sun was the first to report on the film:
In the film, a former Columbia undergraduate, Tomy Schoenfeld, recalls attending a lecture about the Middle East conflict given by Mr. Massad in spring 2001. At the end of the lecture, Mr. Schoenfeld prefaced a question to the professor by informing Mr. Massad that he was Israeli, Mr. Schoenfeld told The New York Sun. “Before I could continue, he stopped me and said, ‘Did you serve in the military?’” Mr. Schoenfeld, who served in the Israeli Air Force between 1996 and 1999, recalled. He said that he told Mr. Massad he had served in the military and that Mr. Massad asked him how many Palestinians he had killed. When Mr. Schoenfeld refused to answer, Mr. Massad said he wouldn’t allow him to ask his question.
What is this, a Btselem testimony?
Mr. Schoenfeld told the Sun that his encounter with Mr. Massad was not representative of his dealings with Columbia professors and that the Middle East-Asian department is “usually balanced.”
Considering the fact that the Sun claims that the movie focuses a lot on Massad, I really hope it is not all about not representative, three-year old anecdotes.
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Refusenik In Town: Last Chance Tonight!
Noam Bahat, the 21-year-old refusenik who sat almost 2 years in prison for obeying his conscience, gave yesterday an excellent talk at Columbia University. Tonight, 7:00 PM, is your last chance to hear him speak before he moves on to his next national speaking tour destination.
Event’s location: St. Bartholomew Church, 109 E. 50th St. (on Park Avenue between 50th and 51st St.)
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I’m On Vacation
Er, if posting is a bit slow for the next couple of weeks, blame the other writers for being lazy. I’m on vacation.
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Isa We’sa Gonna Die?
Joint US-Israel strike against Iran imminent? Please don’t tell me they’re that stupid. I really don’t feel like dying.
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Bird’s Eye View
From the latest New Scientist:
The Israeli ornithologist Yossi Leshem is no ordinary twitcher. An expert in bird migration patterns across the Middle East, he has turned his passion into a small industry responsible for saving the Israeli air force more than half a billion dollars in hardware – and, no doubt, the lives of several pilots. Fred Pearce hears how he has even turned migrating birds into unlikely emissaries for peace.
Full story. (c/o BoingBoing)
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Under The Radar: Sanhedrin Launches In Tiberias
The ancient Jewish legal tribunal, the Sanhedrin, has recently been relaunched in Tiberias by the same people who brought you the reconstituted Temple menorah and the red heifer, The Temple Institue.
Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, who heads the Temple institute in Jerusalem, is one of the participating rabbis. He told Arutz-7 today, “Whether this will be the actual Sanhedrin that we await, is a question of time – just like the establishment of the State; we rejoiced in it, but we are still awaiting something much more ideal. It’s a process. Today’s ceremony is really the continuation of the renewal of the Ordination process in Israel, which we marked several months ago. Our Talmudic Sages describe the ten stages of exile of the Sanhedrin from Jerusalem to other locations, until it ended in Tiberias – and this is the place where it was foretold that it would be renewed, and from here it will be relocated to Jerusalem.”
I hope y’all are ready for the reinstitution of capital punishment and temple sacrifice! Mmm, barbarism: It’s the wave of the future!
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Sharon’s Binationalism
Meron Benvenisti (who will be speaking in NYC on Nov. 10) has a great op-ed in Ha’aretz, that should be read in the context of the re-emerging (ôòà ùìéùéú âìéãä) public discussion in the States and Israel regarding the binational and the one-state solution. As usual, Benvenisti offers a unique perspective on the topic:
[I]n effect, the fence and the evacuation create total dependence by defenseless Palestinian cantons. Thus a de facto binational state is being established, which contains many deceptive indicators that enable us to nurture the illusion that it is not such a state, and even to make us feel that the worst of all evils – a binational state – has been prevented. The Palestinians, who correctly understand the significance of the processes – and who are unable to enjoy the luxury of fooling themselves – sense that Israeli activity has in fact made the two-state option impossible, and therefore there must be a return to a one-state strategy.
It must be mentioned repeatedly that a binational regime is not a prescription, but a description of the existing situation. The trouble is that the binational danger is being treated only as a possible future problem… Just as a “Palestinian state” is the vessel into which the Israelis throw all the injustices of the past, so a “binational state” is a refuge for all those who fear the future, an empty threat whose purpose is to present undefined dilemmas and theoretical constitutional constructs. In the conditions prevailing today, what difference does it make whether a person supports two states or one? This preoccupation is only an escape from genuine and immediate problems that stem from the injustices of oppression, from the damage to basic human rights and from racism. How easy it is to fall into the trap of slogans.
The expanding settlements in the west bank together with Dov Weisglass’s remark that “[t]he significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process” make it obvious that not only isn’t the disengagement a progress towards a two-state solution, but it is a dangerous illusion created by a political genious. The right wing is playing its role enthusiasticly; the declarations of refusal and violent resistance among the religious right wing is beginning much earlier than expected, and the message is clear: If this is the fuss we are doing for the sake of a few settlements in Gaza, wait and see what will happen when its time to evacuate the west bank. Sharon needs this pressure from the right in order to show that “at least he is trying.” It is evident then that either Sharon is willing to give up Gaza for the sake of a greater Israel in the west bank, or he is relying on the right wing in order to avoid even letting go of the strip.
In any case Sharon is gaining (or at least wants to gain) the image of a second Rabin; a General who has transformed from a “bone-breaking” militarist to a peace-seaking wise leader. If he fails, Sharon can blaim the right wing; if he succeeds, he knows he has done what every right wing pragmatist would have done – give up a few settlements in the most densely populated place in the world for the sake of the west bank.
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Kol Zimrah Comes to J-Town
NYC’s favorite musical chavurah, Kol Zimrah, is launching a Jerusalem satellite, which kicks off next Friday night (Oct 29, 5pm) in a place soon to be determined. The group will provide “egalitarian services that follow the full kabbalat shabbat and ma’ariv liturgy, accompanied by exuberant melodies and percussive instruments.” Sign up for the mailing list here to keep informed about service times and locations. (c/o SY)
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Bush Cronies Push For American Theocracy
The Moscow Times wants you to
wipe that smile off your face. For even now, the ignorant barbarians in Washington are pushing a law through Congress that would “acknowledge God as the sovereign source of law, liberty [and] government” in the United States. What’s more, it would forbid all legal challenges to government officials who use the power of the state to enforce their own view of “God’s sovereign authority.” Any judge who dared even hear such a challenge could be removed from office.The “Constitution Restoration Act of 2004″ is no joke; it was introduced last month by some of the Bush Regime’s most powerful Congressional sycophants. If enacted, it will effectively transform the American republic into a theocracy, where the arbitrary dictates of a “higher power” — as interpreted by a judge, policeman, bureaucrat or president — can override the rule of law.
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Do they know not everyone’s Christian?
According to Rolling Stone, Coldplay, Travis, Darkness and others are planning to record a new version of 1984′s famine-relief hit, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
Now, I’m as big a fan of raising money for hunger relief as the next girl–I think it’s a great idea and I laud all those who might be doing this for free (??) to help people get food to eat. That is good. But the song itself (lyrics here) has always creeped me out with its funky colonialist overtones. Let’s not only feed the starving children of Africa, let’s make sure they practice our religion!
A lot of people in Africa may or may not know that it’s Christmas, but they certainly know that it’s Ramadan. And there may even be some folks left who still know when it’s the holidays in their ancestral traditions. I’m giving Bob Geldof the benefit of the doubt and assuming he was just being naive about how this whole universalism thing works, but really. For pete’s sake, Bob.
Somebody want to send these guys a couple of Chinua Achebe novels?
(Reposted from Jerusalem Syndrome.)
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Helga Deen – A New Ann Frank
A diary kept by Jewish 18 year old Helga Deen for several months in 1943 was recently revealed by Dutch Archivists. The priceless historic record along with several “love letters” written to her dutch boyfriend was donated to the Dutch Archives in Tilburg by family.
“She kept the secret diary for her boyfriend in order to help him understand what she was experiencing,” said Yvonne Weling of the Tilburg Regional Archive.
Deen recorded some of her day-to-day experiences for her boyfriend Kees van den Berg, but even more of her emotions, Weling said.
“Maybe this diary will be a disappointment to you because it doesn’t contain facts,” Deen wrote to Van den Berg. “But maybe you’ll be glad that you find me in it: conflict, doubt, desperation, shyness, emptiness.”
“If my will dies, I’ll die too,” she wrote in another entry.
“We are homeless, countryless and we have to adjust ourselves to that way of life. What we have seen in these last months is indescribable, and for someone who hasn’t been there, unimaginable,” she wrote.
Deen was sent with her family to the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland where she later died.
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Jesus Endorses Bush
Heavenly star of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ,” Jim Caviezel is being used in new evangelical propaganda attempting to persuade people to vote George W. Bush for president. I wonder what Avi Weiss and Abe Foxman have to say about that.
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Mikvah night for Maria
When asked how his wife Maria Shriver, a lifetime Democrat, responded to his speech supporting President Bush at the Republican National Convention, Arnold Schwarzenegger had this to say: “Well, there was no sex for 14 days.” Proof positive that the Schwarzenegger household observes the laws of family purity.
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KOTJs Bronfman says Banning Intermarriage is “Nazi-like”, “racist”
You can’t make this stuff up…
It is time to abandon “racist” ideas and encourage intermarried couples to raise their children as Jews, according to World Jewish Congress leader Edgar Bronfman.In an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, to be published in London on Friday, he said he believed “the whole concept of Jewish peoplehood, and the lines being pure, begins to sound a bit like Nazism, meaning racism.”
As the chairman of Hillel, which seeks to “maximize the number of Jews doing Jewish with other Jews” — itself a statement against intermarriage one suspects — we will see who will rap his knuckles.
(Considering that he himself has wed three different non-Jewish women by now, he must consider himself an expert on the topic.)
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“Madonna Taught Me There’s Life Outside Yeshiva”
Gay.com interview with Ari Gold. And a profile on Ari and his new album. You might remember Ari from such blogposts as Solid Gold.
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