After Israel released convicted Lebanese murderer, Samir Kuntar, from prison last week, immediately Hamas began extortionist demands, citing that they would “stick to its demands, which includes the release of 1,000 prisoners, many of whom were sentenced to life in prison for their role in suicide bomb attacks,” Ha’aretz previously reported.
A Gulf newspaper reported Monday that Israel is willing to include jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in a list of 300 Palestinian prisoners to be freed in exchange for abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Marwan Barghouti is a very important member of Fatah who was implicated in dozens of terrorist attacks and is considered responsible for the deaths of scores of innocent Israeli civilians. Mr. Barghouti is a the source of a very famous quote regarding Palestinian tactic; “We have spent seven years of intifada without negotiation, then we spent seven years of negotiation without intifada. Maybe it is time we try both.” While Mr. Barghouti has never denounced violence or terrorism, many hope that upon leaving prison he will join legitimate, moderate politics. There were inklings of this following Yasser Arafat’s death in 2004 when Barghouti considered a presidential bid from within prison, but dropped out at the last minute.
It should come as little surprise that Marwan Barghouti will be included in the deal to release captive soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas in the summer of 2006.
In a heated interrogation of Morris (Moshe) Talansky, American business man and bankroller of Olmert’s campaigns and general lavish lifestyle, contradicts his earlier testimony. A link of the video, courtesy of ynet.com, can be seen here, in English with Hebrew subtitles. One of the interrogators asks the poignant question: “If nothing was done wrong why are you so angry?”
Talansky was quizzed about contributions he had passed on to Olmert during his Jerusalem mayoral campaigns in 1993 and 1998. Eli Zohar, Olmert’s attorney, presented Talansky with a letter from an accountant which alludes to Olmert’s ‘93 campaign. The letter states that the source of NIS 80,000 which were donated remains unaccounted for. The witness was asked if it was possible that the sum of money was befitting the amounts he had procured for Olmert.
The American businessman was then presented a list of donors to Olmert’s 1998 campaign. Earlier, Talansky claimed that none of the donors had contributed money by way of Talansky. Zohar then produced a statement Talansky gave to police in which he confirmed that some of the donors on the list had in fact contributed money through him.
When asked about the discrepancy, Talansky said that he thought he was being asked about donors who had contributed in cash, and not donors who had sent checks.
Further into questioning, Talansky was shown a list of donors, each of whom had contributed $1,200 to Olmert’s 1998 campaign. Talansky said that the names that appear on the list were people who did not attend fundraising events, and that Uri Messer, Olmert’s former law partner, told him that the amount was the maximum contribution that was permissible.
Olmert’s lawyers then showed Talansky a video of the testimony he gave to the prosecution on May 21 in which he stated that the donors indeed attended fundraisers and that it was Olmert who issued the directive about the maximum amount that donors could contribute.
The king of the world’s most repressive theocracy is holding an interfaith conference, and everyone from Jesse Jackson to the Kabbalah Center’s Yehudah Berg is in attendance. Given that Jews and non-Muslim scriptures are banned from Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah is hosting the event in Madrid.
Over on Mixed Multitudes, Ari Alexander, co-founder and co-Executive Director of Children of Abraham, an international organization dedicated to the promotion of dialogue between Jewish and Muslim teenagers around the world, is blogging from Madrid via his Blackberry. Well worth reading.
“woe to the nation that at this time celebrates the release of an animal who crushed the skull of a four-year-old child.”-Ehud Olmert
May our hearts and prayers be with the Regev and Goldwasser families, and the Israeli people. And may peace be upon the souls of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
This was not a victory for anybody. Not for Hezbollah. Not for Lebanon. Not for Israel. Not for Nasrallah. Not for Olmert. Not for the families of the captive soldiers. Not for the families of the released prisoners. Not for Samir Kuntar. Not for the Haran family. Nobody is a victor.
[Pictured is Swift Boat Veterans for Truth backer, Ambassador to Belgium and RJC Chairman Sam Fox]
According to the Huffington Post, Suzanne Kurtz, communications director for the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), is making up news–and not the funny kind that Jon Stewart and the Onion are so good at putting together. And it’s also not funny who is paying for it.
A press release was issued Monday calling on Barack Obama “to drop Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) from his upcoming trip to Israel.”
Mr. Hagel is not, however, joining Mr. Obama to Israel; Afghanistan and Iraq, yes; Israel, not-so-much. It seems that the folks at the RJC are trying to manipulate the news to make it appear that Senator Hagel is a close adviser on Israel to Senator Obama. The press release lists a resume of ‘anti-Israel highlights’ from Hagel’s recent career.
In August 2006, Hagel was one of only 12 senators who refused to write the EU asking them to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
In December 2005, Hagel was one of only 27 who refused to sign a letter to President Bush to pressure the Palestinian Authority to ban terrorist groups from participating in Palestinian legislative elections.
In June 2004, Hagel refused to sign a letter urging President Bush to highlight Iran’s nuclear program at the G-8 summit.
In November 2001, Hagel was one of only 11 senators who refused to sign a letter urging President Bush not to meet with the late Yassir Arafat until his forces ended the violence against Israel.
In October 2000, Hagel was one of only four senators who refused to sign a Senate letter in support of Israel.
after the jump is a transcript of the phone call from Monday afternoon between The Huffington Post and the RJC, sad and entertaining–like fake news ought to be.
The New York Times has issued a searing (ha! pun not-so-much intended) editorial on the Postville affair, titled, “The Shame of Postville, Iowa”
In my opinion, skip the editorial and go straight to the source, an eye-witness essay of the handling of the workers. It is pretty disgusting and it’s too early in the morning to share any reactions; it’s really awful enough to stand on its own, no reflection necessary. Read for yourself at your own risk of queasiness and rage.
inside the essay you’ll find joyful reports, such as:
Driven single-file in groups of 10, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles, chains dragging as they shuffled through, the slaughterhouse workers were brought in for arraignment, sat and listened through headsets to the interpreted initial appearance, before marching out again to be bused to different county jails, only to make room for the next row of 10. They appeared to be uniformly no more than 5 ft. tall, mostly illiterate Guatemalan peasants with Mayan last names, some being relatives (various Tajtaj, Xicay, Sajché, Sologüí…), some in tears; others with faces of worry, fear, and embarrassment. They all spoke Spanish, a few rather laboriously. It dawned on me that, aside from their Guatemalan or Mexican nationality, which was imposed on their people after Independence, they too were Native Americans, in shackles
On a prior post this week, commenter balabusta linked us to a video from the NYT that I’m sorry to say I had missed. The video is disheartening in that it reveals quite a bit that generally has been missing from the whole Agri commentary on the Jewish side of the question. It’s not only our outrage at the workers being treated unfairly by Agri at this point (not to mention being abused, as is clear from the variety of investigations) but the very fact that the racial component is being ignored, but even more clearly that the illegal immigrants are actually being railroaded into pleading guilty for crimes which are almost certainly Agri’s.
While everyone following this story along with us here at Jewschool from the beginning, now years ago, can see that we nearly qualify at apoplectic at the combination of injustice and chillul hashem that’s being done, listening to the words of this translator, who in all his years has not been moved to speak out -until now- makes me sad and angry all over again.
It’s too early for the boycott to be called off. The workers are being charged with social security fraud and aggravated identity theft, the court is using the greater charge to browbeat the workers into pleading guilty for the lesser charge. If they refuse to plead guilty, they are told, instead of five months in prison and then deportation (forever, with no chance to return legally) they will have 6-8months in prison, with the possibility of two years more if they lose. Most of them are the sole economic support for their families and thus are choosing to plead guilty, despite the fact that many of them - according to the translator- clearly have no idea what a social security number is or what it’s used for (and are apparently ashamed of looking ignorant about it, most cannot read or write, and when asked what the number is say they don’t know, the factory people put it there.
In other words, of the crimes of social security fraud and aggravatedidentity theft, it is Agri who should be on trial, not the workers. If Agri wants their boycott lifted, some signs of tshuvah are in order. Confession (to God and to the victim(s), Apology, Restitution and Failure to Repeat the offense when given another chance. In order for us to even think about taking them seriously, they need to admit publicly that it is they, Agri, who are behind these offenses and not allow people who are innocent of these crimes to be tried and deported for them. The workers may be guilty of illegally entering the country, but they are almost certainly not guilty of what they are being accused. There are no signs of tshuvah yet from Rubashkin. Thus we should not be revoking the boycott.
I can’t even begin to say how disgusted I remain with this whole episode, how much harm the American Jewish community’s consumption of excess amounts of meat has done to other people, and that Agri will allow their workers to take the fall for them… well, it’s despicable.
This man has every reason to look this worried. In the latest news in the corruption scandal clouding Ehud Olmert’s questionable stint as PM, according to the Israeli Police, Olmert funded personal and family vacations on the dime of non-profits and charities.
Responding to accusations he stole money from charities such as Yad Vashem and the AKIM association for the mentally disabled, Olmert said “these are institutions that I worked to advance and I invested immense energy into raising funds and I believe I made a significant contribution to them. Therefore, precisely against this backdrop, the exploitation in this way was particularly hurtful.”
Failed Messiah and Gawker report on the latest (what? Not over yet?) scandal in the kashrut world. After the last round of scandals, Agriprocessors hired a PR firm - because as we all know, Public Relations is far preferable to tshuvah when a corporation sins- to restore its image. The firm, 5WPR, who has also represented the charming so-called “pro-Israel” pastor, John Hagee, (who hates homosexuals and Muslims and has had to apologize for sliming Catholics, oh, yeah and also blamed Jews for the death of Jesus, called liberal Jews “poisoned” and “spiritually blind,” and been relatively unconcerned that he hopes for a preemptive nuclear attack on Iran even though he believes it will lead to the deaths of most Jews in Israel) apparently has engaged in some antics of its own.
It seems that 5WPR has left multiple comments on several blogs, including JTA and Failed Messiah’s, under a variety of aliases, and also posing as Rabbi Morris Allen of the Hekhsher Tzedek, as well as JVNA officer John Diamond and another frequent FailedMessiah commenter (all, as FM points out, federal crimes). The comments were designed to support Agri, bolster one another and discredit Hekhsher Tzedek, the Conservative Movement and Rabbi Allen. Failed Messiah posts screen shots of the comments - well worth looking at, if only for their utter ridiculousness. More »
Obama and McCain might not have been there to give bellicose speeches, but just a couple of weeks ago, over 140 Jewish activists from across the country took part in Brit Tzedek v’Shalom’s largest-ever DC conference, bringing the real pro-Israel, pro-peace message to the nation’s capital.
The conference included 115 Congressional visits, presentations by MK Yossi Beilin and Mideast analyst Daniel Levy, interactive activist trainings, and speeches by U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA), Charles Boustany (R-LA), and Mike Capuano (D-MA).
Check out this six-minute highlight reel for a taste of what an American Jewish grassroots peace movement can look like.
Some new developments in the prisoner swap with Hezbollah:
Yesterday, Ha’aretz reported that Israel is exhuming the bodies of Hezbollah guerillas fulfilling part of their end of the prisoner swap for the captured soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, captured June 2006. In that article, the remains of 200 Lebanese will be transferred at the border crossing at Rosh HaNikra.
In today’s news Israel’s High Court rejected an appeal against releasing Samir Kuntar, the Lebanese convicted murderer imprisoned in Israel since 1979. In that article, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, is quoted as saying that reports that Regev and Goldwasser are dead are simply “speculation.”
Let us all hope and pray that he is not being a dickwad being truthful.
One of the perks of lurking around the Jewish publishing world is that sometimes you get to read stuff before it’s out. One of the best things that I’ve read recently is Ariel Sabar’s forthcoming My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq. Sabar’s father, Yona, grew up speaking Aramaic in a small town in the mountains of Northern Iraq, and left for Israel as part of the mass exodus of Iraqi Jews in the early 1950’s. Yona Sabar eventually became a prominent linguist of Neo-Aramaic; he’s a professor at UCLA now.
The book is primarily Yona’s story, and offers a valuable look at life as it was in Sabar senior’s small town of Zakho for his and his parents’ generation, and of how things were for Mizrahi Jews just after the founding of the State of Israel (hint: not easy.) More than biography, though, the author weaves together history, folklore, third-party recollections and the occasional juicy linguistic nugget to paint a compelling portrait of small-town Iraqi Jews (and their transformation from small-town Iraqi living) over the last 100 years. There’s a lot of important stuff here, and it makes for yummy and worthwhile reading.
My Father’s Paradise isn’t out yet, but you can pre-order it.
From The Independent, also in JTA and Reuters, Britain’s first Muslim minister Shahid Malik has said that many Muslims feel like “the Jews of Europe”:
“I think most people would agree that if you ask Muslims today what do they feel like, they feel like the Jews of Europe,” he said. “I don’t mean to equate that with the Holocaust but in the way that it was legitimate almost – and still is in some parts – to target Jews, many Muslims would say that we feel the exact same way.
“Somehow there’s a message out there that it’s OK to target people as long as it’s Muslims. And you don’t have to worry about the facts, and people will turn a blind eye.”
MP Malik speaks to a big truth – a plus ca change truth. Let’s play with this for a sec:
No, Muslims are not having their rights to property or occupation taken away (even if their rights to wear hijabs are under constant threat), even if people do eye them suspiciously. The animosity towards the Islamic bloc countries is rooted also in a fear of East vs. West geopolitical conflict — something the Jews never could claim to have. Further, terrorist acts on a grand scale are also missing from the early 1900s history of Jews and Europe. One might more accurately say that Muslims might be the new Russians. Or the new Communists.
All that being said, does it matter if Islam actually can declare war on the West — or if we just think it has? Jews were accused of running the world, manipulating finances, and so on, which were exaggerations and lies. The “Islam against the West” line is also a bit hazy in the facts area, yes? Islamophobia is a tiny hop, skip and jump away from anti-Semitism, in its pervasive nature, it’s reliance on cultural myths, and appropriation of populist fears. It is a disease of the logic, backed up by credibility and “research.” The target people is different and the trappings are green-tinted not blue, but the portrayal and useage of it is the same.
This statement is more than interesting to Jewschool because it happens to have “Jews” in the article. And this issue is more important than an exercise in backing up or debunking the similarities between Jews and Muslims in Europe. MP Malik’s statement is a hot poker in the butt of the Jewish people asking us if we (and our societies) have not fallen into the same mental traps as our predecessors’ oppressors. And what, other than decrying or debunking the comparison, we’re going to do to prevent the accusation from going any further.
The Ethiopian holiday of Sigd has been formally added to the list of Israeli state holidays. Sigd falls on the 29th of Cheshvan and is observed by fasting, reciting psalms, and “prayers for the rebuilding of the Temple and giving thanks for the right to return to the Holy Land.” The fast is broken midday with dancing, food and celebration and a “seder of sorts.” It commemorates the acceptance of Torah and parallels the holiday of Shavuot, falling on the 50th day after Yom Kippur as Shavuot does after Pesach. According to Wikipedia,
however the Kessim have also maintained a tradition of the holiday arising some time in the 15th Century CE as a result of the persecution of Christian Amhara kings. The Kessim retreated into the wilderness in order to appeal to God for His mercy. Additionally they sought to unify the Beta-Israel and prevent them from abandoning the Haymanot (laws and traditions of Beta Israel) under persecution. So they looked toward the Book of Nehemiah and were inspired by Ezra’s bringing of the “book of the law of Moses” before the assembly of Israel after it had been lost to them due to Babylonian exile. Traditionally in commemoration of the appeals made by the Kessim and consequent mass gathering, the Beta Israel would make pilgrimages to Midraro, Hoharoa, or Wusta Tsegai (possibly marking locations of resting places from Christian persecution) every year to reaffirm themselves as a religious community.
According to YNet, all sorts of folks backed the motion - maybe they were all relieved to vote for something pleasant and positive for a change, or perhaps just to find something they could agree abuot- brought before the House by Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union-National Religious Party) and widely backed by Shas, Meretz, Labor and Likud. Whee!
The motion passed its Knesset readings, effectively becoming a holiday by law. Its main ceremony will be funded by the Prime Minister’s Office; the holiday’s history, traditions and ceremonies will be included in the educational system’s curriculum and going to work during the holiday will be optional.
So, can someone give me a tutorial? I think this sounds like a great new holiday, and it’s about time that the Beta Israel got to contribute a holiday to the rest of the Jewish community.
Nice photo exhibit from Arutz Sheva (image above taken from there) and to balance it, a little article from NACOEJ, with a nice image of Beta Israel women at the Sigd
Drifting around Manhattan a week ago, out of my usual haunts, I decided to ghost my way into Brooklyn to hang out with Matthue at the first Jewish Open Mic at the Tea Lounge. As promised, there were celebrity guests and a good time was had by all.
The Tea Lounge was very cozy, and comfortably fit far more people than you could be given to expect, and lots of locals popped in, apparently astounded by the odd mix of frummies, and hippies - not to mention babies being prepped for a life of rebellion - with tzitzit.
It was very cool to see quite a few of our favorite folks in person (not least our very own Matthue Roth and Y-Love)! Thanks to Shemspeed and Mimaamakim for putting out. Er, sponsoring.
BY the way, we now have evidence that at least two frummies are funny. We already knew that Yisrael Campbell is funny (he was funny even before he was Yisrael) and now we know that Frum Satire is, too. BTW, what’s with all the guys channeling Henny Youngman? Is that the new retro-chic? And when’s the next one?
Editor’s note: The next open mic will be July 23rd at 7:30pm tea lounge. Get there early to sign up on the list to perform!
Seems there’s no level too low to which certain groups can sink. Ynet reports that certain rabbis Hadana and Tsadok are scamming Ethiopian couples by finding their conversions problematic, at the last minute so that they can’t get married, offering to do a “fake” wedding for them since they can’t cancel at the last minute… of course, not forgetting to charge them an arm and a leg for the favor… and then after the “fake” wedding and the “proper” conversion are over, Hadana will then do a “real” wedding for them in his office… for another fee, of course.
A Yedioth Ahronoth reporter approached Rabbi Shalom Tsadok with a “similar case,” in a bid to verify the couples’ complaints.
“Rabbi Shilo is introduced when it’s necessary and conducts the wedding; he is popular but must be paid what he asks for,” Rabbi Shalom Tsadok told him, adding he was “not involved with setting the price.”
When asked by the reporter whether he could ask Rabbi Hadana about Rabbi Shilo, or tell him that the wedding was not a real one, Rabbi Tsadok said: “You can, but no one should know it was make-believe… Rabbi Hadana probably knows everything…it’s for your own good.”
The Rabbinate, added Rabbi Tsadok, will not recognize the marriage. “It’s not binding. It’s just a little ceremony.”
The reporter than asked the rabbi whether NIS 3,000 ($900) would be enough. “He will only want cash,” said Rabbi Tsadok. “When you get to the wedding hall, you meet him before you go in, give it to him personally and then enter the hall with him.”
The wedding, explained the rabbi, is invalid: “It doesn’t count, just a make-believe… It’s artistry. There will be a wedding and everything, a ring too.”
Unsurprisingly, the couples mentioned in the article decided not to continue the conversion process, and did not get legally married. SO: in sum: chillul hashem, in making these people - who opted to go jump through every hareidi hoop so that they could be married, had someone deliberately screw them over for money (I wonder whether in fact there really was a problem with their conversion, given that halachically, it doesn’t actually take much to convert someone and have it stick) offer to fix it for more money, and then try to get - what, yes more money out of them… and they don’t want to consider continuing their journey towards joining the Jewish people? Astonishing.
[Pictured is Swift Boat Veterans for Truth backer, Ambassador to Belgium and RJC Chairman Sam Fox]
