Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

Palestinian police officers loyal to Hamas march during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City, April 29, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa.

A year before his confirmation to the US Supreme Court in 1916, Louis D. Brandeis affirmed the compatibility of Zionism with American patriotism for every American Jew who aids in advancing the Jewish settlement in Palestine, though he feels that neither he nor his descendants will ever live there.

Brandeis fusion of Zionism with Americanism was critical in building US support for the creation of the new Jewish state that he did not live to see. Zionists in both Israel and the US easily adopted the American idiom of both countries as new nations rooted in Biblical values. After all, the New England Puritans had described their colony as a New Canaan or a New Zion. And Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, tasked to recommend a national symbol for the nascent American republic, had initially suggested not a bald eagle but Moses leading the Israelites through the Red Sea.

Less well known is how the US unintentionally helped spawn hostile Palestinian nationalism. The year was 1948, the same as President Harry Trumans recognition of Israels independence. But the event was Sayyid Qutbs hejira from Egypt to the US.

A then unknown, middle-aged Egyptian school teacher who was still ambivalent about the tensions between secularism and religion, Qutb enrolled in a Colorado teachers college for professional training. There, he experienced a culture shock that completed his transformation into a Muslim fundamentalist.

November 22, 2019 12:23 am

There are two possible solutions to the violence emanating from the Gaza Strip.First, either embark on a massive fourth round...

Qutb blamed the influence of the Americans primitive artistic taste and Jazz music the music that Negroes invented to satisfy their primitive inclinations, for corrupting religious values and social norms.

Qutbs infusion of his newly acquired anti-American cultural aversions with his militant doctrine of offensive jihad reinvigorated the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, though the regime eventually executed him for subversion. Of course, Qutb also hated Israel.

Not surprisingly, the Muslim Brotherhoods hatred of Israel found receptive soil in Gaza, where Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was born in a refugee camp. Hamas co-founder was Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi (Jaffa-born but growing up in Gaza). Both were assassinated by Israel in 2004 during the bloody Second Intifada.

Hamas mouthpiece Al Risala celebrated the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center: Every time Dick Cheney and his girlfriend Condoleezza Rice admonish us they incite more violence. America, you planted in the hearts of all men the seedling of hatred of you! You never considered that the day would come when the saplings would grow and put out your eyes at the top of the World Trade Center.

Thus, radical Palestinians hatred for America isnt just about Israel. Its about culture, values, and our shared future.

Historian Harold Brackman is coauthor with Ephraim Isaac of From Abraham to Obama: A History of Jews, Africans, and African Americans (Africa World Press, 2015).

Original post:
Palestinian Extremists Hate the United States and Not Just Because of Israel - Algemeiner

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Palestinian Extremists Hate the United States and Not Just Because of Israel – Algemeiner
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

I recognized that look in their eyes. It was the same look I received several times throughout my service with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Judea and Samaria. A look that showed the trauma of years of anti-Semitic indoctrination. When I was a soldier, I understood that look. After all, these Palestinian teens in Judea and Samaria had been, throughout their entire lives, led to believe that Jews were European colonialists who had no connection to the land and had orchestrated the displacement of the Palestinian people in 1948. I could at least understand the logic behind that look.

Receiving it by nearly one hundred students in the University of Florida on November 19thcompletely disoriented me. A similar look, with the only difference being that it was driven by the adoption of false information about the conflict and not necessarily blatant anti-Semitism.

These students did not know me. They did not know my story, and they were definitely not interested in dialogue. Had they been interested in a discussion filled with opportunities to challenge my premises, perhaps they would have stayed and listen to my ultimate message:

We need to humanize Palestinians. The way we will humanize Palestinians is by making a very clear distinction between the people and the leadership. Then we can hold the leadership accountable for repressing its own population for decades and refusing to abandon the rejectionist attitudes towards peace with a Jewish state. An attitude that, if abandoned, could have granted the Palestinian people a state as far back as 1937 with the Peel Commission. That is what my presentation, Why There is No Palestinian State,sought to discuss.

As the majority of students participated in the protest and walked out of the room, nearly thirty students stayed behind, eager to find out more. Among the students who stayed were two reporters for the schools newspaper, The Independent Alligator, and I rejoiced. I thought perhaps those who decided to walk out of the room because the content of the presentation would challenge their preconceived notions would discover that my intentions were to use objective historical truths to engage in meaningful dialogue.

The protestors decided to hold a vigil for Palestinians who had died in Gaza after Israeli air attacks during armed escalation that was recently ended by a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Had the protestors stayed for the Q&A session, they would have learned about how civilians in Gaza are used as human shields. They would have learned that Israeli airstrikes only served as a form of retaliation against a terrorist organization that was targeting Israeli civilians indiscriminately with a barrage of over 350 rockets.

But the role of the Palestinian leadership as an obstacle to peace is an inconvenient truth.

I offered the reporters a full interview after my speaking engagement. I answered all their questions with the outmost transparency; after all, they were professional enough to stay throughout my entire presentation and listen to what I had come to say. I was questioned about my experience in the army and the message I sought to leave the audience with my presentation. After a long night, I returned to my hotel and woke up early the next morning to see the article: Hundreds protest Israel Defense Forces speaker at Little Hall Tuesday night, published. The title, blatantly inaccurate, set the tone for a piece of writing that violated basic journalistic ethical norms. Not only were my quotes largely ignored or cut in half, but the article was dedicated to quoting the students who decided to storm out of the room without hearing a word out of my mouth.

Twelve thousand dollars.That is the average amount paid by students at the University of Florida for tuition after financial aid is applied. Nearing $50,000 per bachelors degree, one has to wonder what type of education are the students who walked out interested in receiving? Do they want to remain in a social bubble that will continue to serve as an echo chamber for all their preconceived notions even if they are erroneous?

More importantly, did the newspaper achieve its purpose of shedding light unto a story or did it perpetuate darkness and ignorance by refusing to publish the content of the presentation they had come to hear? The authors of this horrendous article not only failed to uphold journalistic ethics, but they also failed their own student body.

Towards the end of my interview with The Independent Alligator, I was asked:

What message would you like to give to all those students who walked out in the protest?

Despite the clear attempts to silence my message, I will answer that question now.

My message to the nearly one hundred students not hundreds, as it was inaccurately described by the paper who walked outis simple:

If you are planning to go into debt for at least five to ten years after you complete your undergraduate education, at least have the courage to challenge your own positions. Your conviction was not proven by your decision to preemptively exit the room before I began speaking; rather, it would have been proven if your positions would have remained the same after hearing everything I came to say.

I would hope that the schools administration might consider the negative implications of this protest and take this as an opportunity to encourage its students to accept the principal factor guiding all of academia: Open-mindedness.

Yoni Michanie is a former IDF Paratrooper and has a MA in Diplomacy and International Security from IDC Hertzeliya. He is an Israel advocate, public speaker, Middle East analyst, and is campus advisor and strategic planner for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).

Read more:
MICHANIE: I Was Just Protested At The University Of Florida For Being A Zionist - The Daily Wire

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on MICHANIE: I Was Just Protested At The University Of Florida For Being A Zionist – The Daily Wire
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

With great fanfare and amid a festive atmosphere, the grand rabbi of the Satmar hassidic dynasty, Rebbe Zalman Teitelbaum, distributed some $5 million on Wednesday night to approximately 150 institutions in Israel that do not receive funding from the state due to their anti-Zionist ideology.The rabbi was lauded by hundreds of his Hassidim as he entered the celebration hall to the sounds of rapturous music. He made his way up to the central platform to sit at the center of the ranks of leading rabbis from the Satmar community.A special new melody was composed for the occasion and put to the words of a song sung by a boys choir as the rabbi entered the hall.The Yiddish words of the song were taken from those of Satmars founding grand rabbi, explaining that when the messiah comes, he will point to the children who studied in institutions that did not take money from the State of Israel and say, These children helped bring the messiah.Teitelbaum is in Israel on a 10-day visit to meet and be greeted by his Hassidim, tour parts of the country, and to visit the Satmar communities in Israel, principally Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh.And of course, to distribute money.Teitelbaum distributed checks made out in shekels during the ceremony on Wednesday night called the Pure Shekel to the heads of the institutions selected to receive funding, who came up to the platform one by one to receive the money from the grand rabbi.The money, The Jerusalem Post was told, is wired from New York to Israel, and the checks are then made out individually to the receiving institutions, which include schools, yeshivas and kollels (talmudic seminaries for married men).The Satmar rebbe gives funds both to institutions belonging to the Satmar community, as well as those connected to the radical Eda Haredit association of various types of ultra-Orthodox and hassidic communities that have a similar anti-Zionist, isolationist ideology to that of Satmar.Of late, money is also given to the Jerusalem Faction, a radical splinter group from the mainstream, non-hassidic Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community.SPEAKING TO the Post at the Pure Shekel event, Rabbi Moshe Friedman, a senior and highly trusted secretary to the visiting grand rabbi, said that the Satmar community believes that if you take money from the State of Israel then the community will inevitably be influenced by the state, and therefore Satmar declines any funding.So this is why we come to give support to the people here who are needy and dont take money from the state, he said.Asked whether the messiah can come as long as the State of Israel exists, Friedman said no, and that the Zionist state must end in some way before the messiah can come.We hope of course that it should not come about through war or suffering this is, of course, not something we want, he said. But somehow, the messiah will come.Bentzi Weiss, an informal coordinator in Israels Satmar community, also spoke about the ban on accepting money from the state due to the possibility that this support would eventually have an impact on the community.The [mainstream] ultra-Orthodox here know the state is making them more Israeli its clear, Weiss said. Over the years, it has becoming stronger, and Satmar is struggling against this.Asked whether Satmar Hassidim living in Israel nevertheless benefit from the basic infrastructure the state provides, such as public transportation, roads, municipal services, health care, and police, Weiss said that this was unavoidable.When I breathe the air I know its polluted, but I have no choice, he said.Asked if he believed the state to be polluted, Weiss said its not humane to call it polluted. It has a lot of blemishes, it has bad values and a bad culture.Weiss added that Satmar does not boycott Israel or Israeli goods in the manner of pro-Palestinian, anti-Zionist groups.Satmar is not part of a boycott; this is not what we are about.The grand rabbi, who is in Israel until next Thursday, will spend Shabbat in Jerusalem with the local Satmar community, and visit holy sites in northern Israel. He will also visit Bnei Brak and spend two days in Beit Shemesh, where he will lay the cornerstone for a new Satmar center in the city.THE SATMAR community in the US has always provided money to its branch in Israel, although the current grand rabbi set up the Pure Shekel fund seven years ago during his first visit to Israel after inheriting the leadership of the community.He last visited Israel three-and-a-half years ago following the birth of a grandson.At the mass gathering of Satmar Hassidim on Tuesday night, Teitelbaum spoke out harshly against the state and against the mainstream ultra-Orthodox community, which does accept government funding.They are strengthening the heretics and giving honor to the prime minister, and saying you are our brother. And they are breaking the walls of isolation [between the ultra-Orthodox world and the outside]... they want to uproot the Torah and the practice of commandments.As for the ultra-Orthodox political parties, he said they are selling the entire holy Torah to be part of the government.Satmar, which originated in Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century, is considered to be one of, if not the biggest and wealthiest of all hassidic communities, with the large majority of the community based in the US.The dynasty has split into two branches, each led by a son of the previous grand rabbi, Moshe Teitelbaum. His second son, Rabbi Zalman, leads Brooklyns Williamsburg-based community, while his eldest son, Rabbi Aaron, leads the community based in Kiryas Yoel in upstate New York. Both communities claim their rebbe to be his fathers successor.In Israel, there are some 700 Williamsburg Satmar families in Jerusalem and 250 in Beit Shemesh, as well as a community in Bnei Brak.The anti-Zionist ideology of the Satmar hassidic community was formulated by its first leader, Grand Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, Moshes uncle, based on an esoteric section of the Talmud that says God made the Jewish people swear not to return to the Land of Israel until he sends the messiah.Yoel Teitelbaum saw the Zionist movement and the State of Israel as an illegitimate attempt to force Gods hand into bringing the messiah, and so rejected it, urging his followers to have nothing to do with Zionism or the state.Satmar and its institutions in Israel do not take money from the state for their educational institutions and other communal organizations, unlike the majority of the mainstream ultra-Orthodox community, nor do they vote in elections or run for Knesset.

See the rest here:
Satmar grand rabbi gives $5 million to institutions refusing state money - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Satmar grand rabbi gives $5 million to institutions refusing state money – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

Two of the Prime Ministers grandchildren were spotted at the procession that welcomed the Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg to Jerusalem earlier this week.

The young boys are the children of Noah Roth, Netanyahus daughter, and her husband Rabbi Daniel Roth. The couple is Chareidi and lives in the Sanhedria neighborhood of Yerushalayim. They attend the Darchei Shmuel cheder, which teaches in Yiddish.

The irony wasnt lost on the followers of the Satmar Rebbe who saw in the attendance of the young boys a victory over the Zionist entity whose leaders own grandchildren attended the welcoming ceremony of one of the staunchest critics of Zionism in the world.

The Roth family has two boys and two girls.

It should be noted that relations between the prime minister and his daughter are reportedly cold. Journalist Ben Caspit writes in his book Netanyahu Biography that from the moment (his 2nd wife) Sara entered Bibis life, his interest in Noa has dropped drastically The death of Tzilla, Noas mother and grandmother, stuck the last nail in the coffin of the relationship between Netanyahu and his daughter.

When Noa had a baby boy in 2011, YWN reportedthat the Prime Minister attended the Bris which was held at Aish Hatorah in Jerusalem.

NOTE: The faces in the attached image have been blurred due to security concerns.

(YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem)

Go here to read the rest:
CHECK THIS OUT: Bibi's Chareidi Grandchildren With Long Peyos Spotted At Event Welcoming the Satmar Rebbe - Yeshiva World News

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on CHECK THIS OUT: Bibi’s Chareidi Grandchildren With Long Peyos Spotted At Event Welcoming the Satmar Rebbe – Yeshiva World News
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

By Lawrence DavidsonA local legal hero: Meir Shamgar

On 19 October 2019 Meir Shamgar died. He was 94 years old. Shamgar is not exactly a household name here in the West, but he was renowned in Israel. He was given a state funeral that was attended by most of Israels top Zionist leaders. Binyamin Netanyahu eulogised Shamgar as the man responsible for strengthening the foundational principles of justice and the law, and guaranteeing individual and national freedoms. Others described him as a great man of towering intellect and deeply held ethical values.

Shamgar reached this status and accomplished these tasks in his roles as Israels military advocate-general, attorney-general, Supreme Court member and then finally as the president of Israels Supreme Court. He was obviously a capable legal mind with real administrative talents. Yet, as he went about shaping Israels liberal-for-Jews national legal environment, he simultaneously undermined international law and human rights for non-Jews. He therefore can be seen as threatening civilised legal standards both at home and in the international arena.

Here is how Michael Sfard, an Israeli attorney who specialises in international and human rights law, describes Shamgars legal treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories:

As a judge, he handed down rulings that legalised almost every draconian measure taken by the defence establishment to crush Palestinian political and military organisations, and to establish Israeli control over the occupied people and their land for generations. Demolition of suspects houses (rendering their families homeless); wholesale use of administrative detentions against Palestinian activists; expropriation of lands and the establishment of settlements; undemocratic appointments of mayors; and the imposition of curfews and taxes Shamgarsanctionedthem all.

Sfard is accurate in this description. However, he also thinks that Shamgar personifies a paradox that lies at the heart of Zionism Israels national ideology. He tells us that this is the paradox of a movement that is based on the moral ideal that every nation has the right to political freedom And yet, has denied those same freedoms to millions of people who belong to another nation.

I am afraid Sfard has this part wrong, at least as far as the Zionist belief in a moral ideal that every nation has a right to freedom. There is no historical evidence that the Zionist movement ever asserted such an ideal except as a brief bit of useful post-World War I propaganda. Quite the contrary, Zionist nationalism was pursued as an extension of European colonialism. Early on Zionist leaders hitched their national ambitions (via the Balfour Declaration) to British imperialism which, under no circumstances, espoused the national rights of the peoples they ruled. Thus, the Zionists turned on the British when they no longer needed their patronage, in order to force them out of Palestine. Just so, according to the latest biography of David Ben Gurion (Tom Segevs A State at Any Cost), modern Israels founding father always understood the movement of European Jews into Palestine as one of conquest.

Thus, it is much more accurate to say that Zionists reserved, and still reserve, the ideal of national freedom in Palestine solely to themselves. And they do so without the dissonance Sfard claims is engendered by a simultaneous belief in a universal right of national freedom. Indeed, any such ideal that might support rights of any kind for the Palestinians on an equal basis with Israeli Jews is anathema to most Zionists. It is within this context that Meir Shamgar could at once be the nations legal hero and simultaneously deny the application of universal human rights and international law in Israels occupied territories.

We can understand this disparity more broadly once we realise that ethics, or value-systems generally, are locally generated. This means that while, in principle, each value-system might have concepts such as fairness, honesty, humaneness, that have universal character, they have traditionally, that is historically, been put into practice in a more narrow way for the benefit of particular in-groups. Over time these in-groups have gotten larger until today the largest of them is now the nation state. However, the nation state has also been a source of world wars and large scale atrocities. After World War II, and the experience of a number of genocides, efforts were made to establish a set of transnational values laid out in international law and in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was hoped that nation-states could be persuaded (by the memory of the horrors of World War II, if nothing else) to adhere to humane international laws that transcended national in-groups.

Despite the historically proven fact that an in-group approach to ethics has encouraged racism and other forms of bigotry as well as horrific war, there still continues a struggle between those who would apply ethical standards universally and those who would hold to the traditional in-group exceptionalism. Meir Shamgard and the Zionists followed this latter approach.

The road they have chosen has certainly generated exclusive ethics and values reserved for just their in-group. Inevitably, this has resulted in a highly discriminatory Israeli environment which many (including some Israelis) see as creating an apartheid society. Apartheid is a form of racism recognised under international law as a crime against humanity.

The cost here is not just the injustice done to the Palestinians. There is also a serious undermining of both international law and the moral integrity of the Jewish people. One wonders if Meir Shamgard ever thought of his legal rulings and administrative reforms in this way? Or, for him, was there nothing beyond a narrow version of the ethnic nation-state, where the rule of law was a sole possession of a sub-group of citizens. Of course, great men of towering intellect and deeply held ethical values should not think and act in such exclusionary ways. However, those who would readily sacrifice the well-being of millions do.

Go here to see the original:
The story of Israeli apartheid stalwart Meir Shamgar - Redress Information & Analysis

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on The story of Israeli apartheid stalwart Meir Shamgar – Redress Information & Analysis
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

Around 25-30 Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)-led protesters chanted from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free during pro-Israel activist Hen Mazzigs Nov. 14 speech at Vassar College.

Vassar Organizing Israel Conversations Effectively (VOICE) hosted the Mazzig event, titled: The Indigenous Jews of the Middle East: Forgotten Refugees. The chanting can be heard on video from the event.

Mazzig told the Journal in a phone interview that the chanting went on for 15 minutes outside of the auditorium and it was so loud he couldnt speak until the protesters left.

I was so disturbed, Mazzig said. It was probably the worst talk I gave. Just to hear those chants from the river to the sea Palestine will be free which means death to Israel just so horrible to me.

Prior to the event, Mazzig pointed out that the protesters were handing out flyers accusing Mazzig of pinkwashing, the allegation that Israel provides the LGBTQ+ community with rights to distract from the Israeli governments treatment of Palestinians and stating that Mazzigs queerness will never make up for the violence underlying his advocacy for a settler-colonial occupying state.

It had nothing to do with the talk, Mazzig said. My talk was about Mizrahi Jews. I had to talk about being gay because in the flyers they mentioned it.

Photo courtesy of Hen Mazzig.

Photo courtesy of Hen Mazzig.

He speculated that the protesters had dissuaded people from entering the event because their chants and the music they were blasting were loud.

Vassar College President Elizabeth Bradley addressed the incident in a statement.

A group of students disrupted the speaker by chanting outside the lecture hall for some time, Bradley said. People who were in the lecture expressed that the chanting was intimidating and hard to listen to. The words have been associated by some people with anti-Semitism.

She added that while the university allows for peaceful protest, the students protesting Mazzigs speech violated university protocol with the chanting and the university would address the matter internally.

Vassar aspires to a culture where people feel they belong, where diverse views are welcomed, and where respect for persons is paramount, Bradley said. Today, we let ourselves down in the pursuit of these values. Despite this, I believe in our ability to learn from this event. Given the strong voices on this campus, and the commitment of faculty, administrators, staff and students to education, I remain confident that multiple ideas, even opposing ideas, will continue to flourish.

Mazzig told the Journal that he thought Bradleys statement was weak and that the university should have apologized to him for the incident.

The fact that the [Vassar College] president mentioned that the calls for the destruction of the Jewish state might be considered as anti-Semitic or considered by some as anti-Semitic, no its considered by 97% of Jews as anti-Semitic, Mazzig said. Its just ridiculous and tokenizing to say that it isnt, and no other minority would be treated this way on campus.

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) New York and New Jersey tweeted, This is wrong. Preventing others from speaking is not free speech. We are appalled that some students at #Vassar repeatedly interrupted @henmazzig as he was telling his story to the students that invited him.

In a subsequent tweet, ADL New York and New Jersey praised Bradleys as strong.

StandWithUs CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein said in a statement to the Journal, Anti-Israel activists at Vassar are not seeking to change Israeli policy, but to end Israels very existence. When someone like Hen cant speak without facing hateful chants because of his national identity, our very core values, including the right to free speech, are at risk. We appreciate Vassars president for recognizing that this violated the universitys commitment to the free exchange of ideas, and urge the administration to follow through by holding the disruptors accountable.

Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) tweeted, Jews in Arab countries were ethnically cleansed just a few years after the genocide of European Jews. Anti-Semites continue to make clear our existence isnt accepted anywhere not even in our indigenous land.

Vassars SJP chapter wrote in a Nov. 15 Facebook post that they had chanted Stop the killing stop the hate, Israel as an apartheid state! and How do you spell justice? BDS! in addition to the from the river to sea chant and then left after 15 minutes.

Although we do not believe that Zionism should have a platform, especially not one funded by our student government, we did not prevent anyone from attending the talk or stop Mazzig from speaking, they wrote.

SJP at Vassar also argued that the from the river to the sea chant is not calling for the destruction of Israel.

The phrase is a popular slogan among a wide range of Palestinian resistance and nationalist groups. It was used by the Palestine Liberation Organization in its 1964 founding and served as a rallying cry during the intifadas and other popular uprisings, they wrote. However, the inception of the slogan comes directly from early Zionists under British Mandatory rule as they were imagining the boundaries of their future state. This conception was later cemented in the 1973 founding charter of Likud, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahus political party, which states between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty. Subverting this rhetoric with their own use of the phrase, Palestinian activists have articulated their right to live freely in the entirety of their homeland.

They added that saying that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism obfuscates legitimate criticism of the Israeli government is an anti-Semitic tactic, as it falsely represents the Jewish community and tells them what they ought to believe. SJP at Vassar also called Bradleys statement reckless.

By not providing any detail, or even taking a concrete stance in the statement, Bradleys response plays into Mazzigs tactic of fear-mongering, they wrote. Bradley refers to the chant as potentially anti-Semitic, thereby conveying to Jewish students that they have something to fear without specifying anything that actually happened.

Read the rest here:
SJP Protesters Chant From the River to the Sea Palestine Will Be Free During Hen Mazzig Speech - Jewish Journal

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on SJP Protesters Chant From the River to the Sea Palestine Will Be Free During Hen Mazzig Speech – Jewish Journal
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

The scene where a man was stabbed whilewalking to synagogue in Monsey Peter Carr, pcarr@lohud.com

Fear gripped the greater Monsey area after Wednesday morning's stabbing of a man walking to synagogue. Shock, they said, should not be mistaken for surprise that such an attack would occur in an area that is home tothousands of Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox Jewish families.

Many pointed to growing tensions between a generally secular Rockland and Ramapo's ultra-Orthodox community, an issue that bubbled up duringthe recent elections.

"The bigotry has been allowed, it has grown, it has involved political parties, Facebook pages," saidRabbi Yisroel Kahan of Monsey.

Ramapo police are continuing the investigation and seeking any information on the incident.Police Chief Brad Weidel said during aearly afternoon news conference on Wednesdaythatthe incident is not currently classified as a hate crime. He said that doesn't mean it won't be classified assuch at some point, but he must follow the statute.

People walk by the scene of a stabbing on Howard Dr. In Monsey Nov. 20, 2019.(Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)

MONSEY: Man walking to synagogue is stabbed

The attack took place around 5:49 a.m. along Howard Drive. Ramapo police say the victimwas stabbed and slashed by assailants as he walked to morning prayers at a nearby synagogue. The victim was in critical condition at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, the Trauma I facility for the region.

"A stabbing attack is horrific especially for people within a community who know the victim and in a neighborhood that has otherwise a very low crime rate," said Yossi Gestetner, a founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, known as OJPAC, and resident of Spring Valley. "If it turns out to be motivated by hate, it sure takes us all in Rockland into unchartered territory."

A representative of the Anti-Defamation League attended the Ramapo Police Department's news conference, and cited a growing number of hate crimes in the New York metropolitan area.

The NYPD continues investigating a string of possible hate crimes inBrooklyn's Hasidic neighborhoods, and has reported a swell of such incidents in 2019. Rockland County has been home to Hasidim for decades.Anti-Semitic graffiti incidents have spread, but law enforcement has reportedfew violent hate crimes.

Meanwhile, rhetoric tinged with negative connotations against Orthodox Jewish voting power has gained steam on social media and elsewhere.

During local elections in November, key races, including for a Rockland Legislature seat that represents an area nearly devoid of ultra-Orthodox residents, the Jewish community's perceived political power served as a focal point.

In the contest for Legislative District 17, which includes Orangetown's riverfront villages, to Blauvelt and Orangeburg, and a bit of West Nyack, incumbent Nancy Low-Hogan, a Democrat, lost her seat toRepublican challenger James Foley of Grand View-on-Hudson.

Attorney Michael Diederich, an independent candidate for Rockland district attorney, speaks to Ramapo Town Board on proposals for zoning update on Aug. 19, 2019.(Photo: Steve Lieberman)

Foley once ran a blog called "Block the bloc," in reference to the strong and often unified bloc vote seen in the ultra-Orthodox community. His campaign signs and literature focused on neutralizing power of what he had called the"Ramapo Mafia."

When asked about the Monsey incident, Foley said, "We do not yet know what motivated these men, so any discussion on their motivation at this point is premature." That said, he added, "no person should ever be the victim of violence or a hate crime. This assault should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

The recent Rockland District Attorney's race included a minor-party candidate who attempted to make the election a mandate on the quality on Hasidic yeshiva education and intra-community safety of children and families.

Michael Diederich, who ran for Rockland DA on the Serve Rockland line, said law enforcement must investigate to uncover the motivation for the attack. "Ifthis was in fact a hate crime, it is all the more reason for encouraging more interaction between the ultra-Orthodoxand the larger society," the Stony Point resident said."The more both learn about each other, the more understanding will result, and this will help reduce the 'us versus them' thinking that is so destructive in human affairs."

Prior to the September primaries, the Rockland County Republican Committee released a video, "A Storm is Brewing In Rockland," that singled out Aron Wieder, the only Hasidic member of the Rockland County Legislature, andwarns residents of a "takeover" by the Hasidic Jewish community while dramatic music plays and storm clouds roll past. The video, posted on social media, was removed after backlash.

Rockland Legislator Phil Soskin has represented that area of Monsey for the past 17 years. "With all the negative language going on, this act could be imminent," said Soskin, who likened the current rise to the anti-Semitism he saw in 1950s Europe when he served in the Army."The whole climate in the country seems to be changing. Anti-Semitism is on the rise all over." That includes Rockland, the Monsey resident said."So many negative things have been said that stirthe pot. You want to be very careful.

"All of us are very infuriated as to what's going on in our area," Soskin said Wednesday afternoon during a news conference at Ramapo Town Hall.

Reflecting on the tenor in the county, Wieder pointed out that"regular folks in Rockland County put out lawn signs that said 'Beat the bloc.'Those signs are probably still out there."

Ramapo's large and growing ultra-Orthodox community lives amid a diverse community, but in many ways separate from it.

Most in the ultra-Orthodox community send their children to yeshivas, so there is little of the community interaction that often takes place in a public-school setting. Close proximity, yet cultural distance, can been seen in theEast Ramapo district, where families of public-school students, mostly children of color, cite repeated cuts to their schools at the hands of a school board dominated by white men elected by the Orthodox Jewish community.

Sen. David Carlucci, who represents Ramapo, as well as Orangetown, Clarkstown and Ossining, saidhe was awaiting more details on the Monsey assault. "This act of violence is horrific and not reflective of our peaceful community," he said in a statement."Violence or hate of any kind is never tolerated."

Twitter: @nancyrockland

Read or Share this story: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2019/11/20/orthodox-jewish-community-monsey-stabbing/4248112002/

Read more:

Ultra-Orthodox community fears what could be behind attack on Monsey man heading to synagogue - Lohud

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on Ultra-Orthodox community fears what could be behind attack on Monsey man heading to synagogue – Lohud
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

NEW YORK (JTA) On our first date nearly nine years ago, my (now) husband resolved to improve Hasidic education. He had grown up in the Belz Hasidic community in Brooklyn, attending Belz schools from nursery through post-high school. But in all those years, he never learned science, geography, history, how to write an essay or how to calculate a tip. Instead, he and his peers devoted as many as 14 hours a day to the study of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic religious texts.

Despite his ambition and vision, he felt handicapped by his inadequate education, which is why I took on a serious role in helping him start Yaffed, an organization that advocates to improve Hasidic education. I have since met dozens more individuals who, like my husband, continue to suffer from their deficient education and want to see change.

Eight years after we started Yaffed, in response to the organizations efforts, New York States Education Department proposed regulations in June that would ensure Hasidic yeshivas provide a decent secular education to their students.

In the next two weeks, the New York City Department of Education is expected to release an updated report on the state of secular education in city yeshivas.

Between now and April, the New York State Education Department will be deciding on whether or not to enforce the proposed regulations of private schools, and the enforcement would begin soon thereafter.

The regulations outline a mechanism by which education officials can uphold the states century-old education law in private schools. The regulations articulate the local school districts role in reviewing all private schools once within the next three years and regularly thereafter to assess whether they are complying with education law and delineate the required subjects and hours of instruction, as well as protocols for schools that are not in compliance.

But two Orthodox lobbying groups, Agudath Israel and Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, led a massive campaign this summer in protest. Their campaign rallied over 140,000 individuals to write letters to the state Education Department nearly 90 percent of them coming from the Orthodox community. They claimed that yeshiva education is responsible for producing successful individuals like themselves and yeshivas offer a kind of moral education that cannot be measured by the state. Thus, they argued, the Education Department should not regulate any private schools, but instead should defer to leaders and professionals like themselves within the Orthodox community to self-regulate.

Their assertions, however, are highly misleading and fly in the face of established data.

Reports clearly demonstrate that Hasidic communities have some of the highest rates of poverty and dependence on government assistance in the state and in the country. Though this should seem intuitive, defenders of yeshiva education are claiming the opposite to be the case. Dr. Moshe Krakowski, director of the masters program of Jewish education at the Azrieli School of Yeshiva University, has gone so far as to claim that the religious studies taking place in Hasidic schools might better prepare students for future success than a secular curriculum a claim that finds no support in the data.

A letter to the New York State Education Department signed by 230 Orthodox mental health professionals claims that their own professional achievements are sufficient to refute misguided claims that yeshivas provide inadequate academic preparation for professional success. A letter signed by nearly 600 educators argues that the trope of yeshivas education inferiority is belied by our own academic and professional achievement. And a letter signed by a handful of Harvard Law School graduates allegedly claims that their yeshiva education positioned them for academic success before asserting that the state Education Department should refrain from regulating private schools.

But it is a classic bait and switch: These signatories fail to mention that most of them attended non-Hasidic yeshivas or girls schools, both of which typically provide a copious secular education in addition to a religious studies curriculum.

In non-Hasidic yeshivas, students typically receive an education that includes required subjects such as English, math, history and science for three to five hours each day in contrast to Hasidic boys schools, some offering no secular instruction an all, and others offering a mere hour and a half of instruction in some cases by teachers who are themselves disfluent in the English language.

Another letter to the state Education Department signed by more than 200 rabbis claims that yeshiva education produces prominent leaders in almost every field and provides students with a moral framework for life. But this moral framework argument is a red herring. Plenty of ultra-Orthodox schools manage to teach secular studies in compliance with state requirements without compromising on moral or religious instruction.

Many non-Hasidic yeshivas provide a model that Hasidic schools would do well to follow, prioritizing religious studies while still offering a sound secular education precisely what the states regulations are aiming to ensure.

But without regulations, we have begun to see the opposite trend. Lately, some non-Hasidic yeshivas have been regressing, cutting corners on secular education and coming closer to a Hasidic education model. Without intervention, we will likely see more schools following the Hasidic model and, as a result, poorer economic outcomes in the future among other Orthodox sectors.

It is unconscionable that Orthodox professionals who attended non-Hasidic yeshivas would leverage narratives of their own success to deny Hasidic boys the very educational opportunities that allowed them to thrive. By deliberately obfuscating the issue, Orthodox leaders and professionals demonstrate that they cannot be relied upon to ensure Hasidic children receive a proper education. It is imperative that the New York State Education Department intervene and ensure Hasidic children receive a basic education.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Read this article:

I have been fighting for ultra-Orthodox students for nearly a decade. New York's new regulations are vital for them. - JTA News

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on I have been fighting for ultra-Orthodox students for nearly a decade. New York’s new regulations are vital for them. – JTA News
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

NEW YORK (JTA) Although it hasnt yet been determined whether the brutal stabbing of a young father on his way to morning prayers in Ramapo, New York, was a an anti-Jewish hate crime, it was described by the local police chief as a vicious, violent attack and would certainly fit the ugly pattern of violence against identifiably Jewish Jews over recent months.

Like the 64-year-old rabbi who was hit in the head with a brick while on his daily morning walk in Crown Heights. He was hospitalized with a broken nose, missing teeth, stitches on his head and lacerations on his body.

In another case, a pair of men knocked down a Hasidic man walking peacefully along another Crown Heights street and, along with a third assailant, punched the stunned victim mercilessly.

In Borough Park, surveillance video shows a young man on a bicycle riding up from behind and knocking off the victims traditional fur hat.

In another recorded attack, a Jewish boy of 12 or 13 is surrounded and taunted by much older teens. Incredibly, as they menace their target, the boy just continues walking at the same measured pace. One of the group members violently swings at the boys hat, which flies off.

Another man is shown throwing a brick through the window of a Hasidic girls school in Crown Heights. That same night in Borough Park, at least three identifiably Orthodox men were punched repeatedly by assailants.

A woman and her children were attacked on Rosh Hashanah; the assailant ripped off her wig. Many other attacks were endured where no camera caught them.

To watch the surveillance videos that exist is to be painfully transported to another place and time. But the place on the screen isnt a Polish town and the time isnt the 1930s. The place is usually Brooklyn and the time is now.

What strikes a viewer of the videos is the sheer ferociousness of the attackers. Their victims dont provoke them in any way, but they attack with sheer brutality, striking out with maximum force and gusto.

Some, understandably, see in such crimes the most serious example of raw anti-Semitism in our days.

Anti-Semitic crimes have undergone a dramatic increase in the five boroughs this year, with 163 incidents reported though September, compared to 108 last year during the same time period, according to the New York City Police Department. Anti-Semitic incidents comprise 52 percent of reported hate crimes in New York City.

There is no doubt that many of the crimes are vicious, and no doubt that law enforcement authorities need to give greater protection to residents of Jewish neighborhoods. Increased real-time surveillance and undercover operations are undeniably in order.

But the ugliness of the attacks should not distract us Jews from a greater threat to our well-being and lives.

Because the hoodlums attacking innocent Jews in Brooklyn neighborhoods are, all said, just that: hoodlums.

They arent organized in any way, at least not beyond emulating one another for bragging rights. They are just punks and cowards. What great courage it takes to attack an unarmed and unsuspecting person from behind.

To be sure, no effort should be spared to catch and punish them.

Or to educate them. The ADL is spending $250,000 on No Place for Hate in Brooklyn, which will allow the program to be implemented in up to 40 schools across the borough this academic year, up from 22 at present.

Such efforts are worthwhile, although one wonders whether the sort of young people committing violent crimes are terribly attentive students.

Laudable human energy has been invested, too, in fostering good will among different communities living side by side in Brooklyn neighborhoods.

But the greater threat to Jews and not just Orthodox ones is less visible and thus even more dangerous than street brutes. It is organized, ideology-driven Jew-hatred.

Anti-Semitic ideologies come in a variety of noxious flavors. There is radical Islamist animus and the loathsome demagoguery of Louis Farrakhan, who compares Jews to termites. But when it comes to bombing or shooting up shuls or Jewish community centers, the predominant poison, it cant be denied, is white supremacy.

It is well documented how white supremacists use the web to bond, share advice and make plans. Using the web and social media, neo-Nazis promote wild conspiracy theories about Jews. One white power podcast, Strike and Mike, recently exposed the Impossible Burger, a meatless patty, as a Jewish plot to poison goys and, somehow, to make it impossible for working people to be able to afford meat, make it impossible for working people to drive automobiles, make it impossible for average people to live in an industrial society. It would be hilarious were it not that such fantasies are swallowed whole by intellect-challenged haters.

All anti-Semitism is mindless and evil. And all of it needs to be confronted and countered in every possible way. But we must not allow images of muggings, no matter how horrific and heart-wrenching, to obscure the more malignant machinations humming away day and night, largely undetectable, across cyberspace.

In the end, while no effort should be spared in fostering good relations among neighbors and in fighting hardened haters, we Jews do well to beseech the Creator to protect us from all evil.

RELATED:

Jewish man repeatedly stabbed outside New York synagogue

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

See the rest here:

Violence against Jews is reprehensible. But isolated attacks distract us from the bigger threats. - JTA News

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on Violence against Jews is reprehensible. But isolated attacks distract us from the bigger threats. – JTA News
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 22, 2019

NEW YORK Although it hasnt yet been determined whether the brutal stabbing of a young father on his way to morning prayers in Ramapo, New York, was a an anti-Jewish hate crime, it was described by the local police chief as a vicious, violent attack and would certainly fit the ugly pattern of violence against identifiably Jewish Jews over recent months.Like the 64-year-old rabbi who was hit in the head with a brick while on his daily morning walk in Crown Heights. He was hospitalized with a broken nose, missing teeth, stitches on his head and lacerations on his body. In another case, a pair of men knocked down a Hasidic man walking peacefully along another Crown Heights street and, along with a third assailant, punched the stunned victim mercilessly. In Borough Park, surveillance video shows a young man on a bicycle riding up from behind and knocking off the victims traditional fur hat. In another recorded attack, a Jewish boy of 12 or 13 is surrounded and taunted by much older teens. Incredibly, as they menace their target, the boy just continues walking at the same measured pace. One of the group members violently swings at the boys hat, which flies off. Another man is shown throwing a brick through the window of a Hasidic girls school in Crown Heights. That same night in Borough Park, at least three identifiably Orthodox men were punched repeatedly by assailants. A woman and her children were attacked on Rosh Hashanah; the assailant ripped off her wig. Many other attacks were endured where no camera caught them. To watch the surveillance videos that exist is to be painfully transported to another place and time. But the place on the screen isnt a Polish town and the time isnt the 1930s. The place is usually Brooklyn and the time is now.What strikes a viewer of the videos is the sheer ferociousness of the attackers. Their victims dont provoke them in any way, but they attack with sheer brutality, striking out with maximum force and gusto. Some, understandably, see in such crimes the most serious example of raw antisemitism in our days. Antisemitic crimes have undergone a dramatic increase in the five boroughs this year, with 163 incidents reported though September, compared to 108 last year during the same time period, according to the New York City Police Department. Antisemitic incidents comprise 52 percent of reported hate crimes in New York City.There is no doubt that many of the crimes are vicious, and no doubt that law enforcement authorities need to give greater protection to residents of Jewish neighborhoods. Increased real-time surveillance and undercover operations are undeniably in order. But the ugliness of the attacks should not distract us Jews from a greater threat to our well-being and lives.Because the hoodlums attacking innocent Jews in Brooklyn neighborhoods are, all said, just that: hoodlums. They arent organized in any way, at least not beyond emulating one another for bragging rights. They are just punks and cowards. What great courage it takes to attack an unarmed and unsuspecting person from behind.To be sure, no effort should be spared to catch and punish them.Or to educate them. The ADL is spending $250,000 on No Place for Hate in Brooklyn, which will allow the program to be implemented in up to 40 schools across the borough this academic year, up from 22 at present.Such efforts are worthwhile, although one wonders whether the sort of young people committing violent crimes are terribly attentive students.Laudable human energy has been invested, too, in fostering good will among different communities living side by side in Brooklyn neighborhoods. But the greater threat to Jews and not just Orthodox ones is less visible and thus even more dangerous than street brutes. It is organized, ideology-driven Jew-hatred.Antisemitic ideologies come in a variety of noxious flavors. There is radical Islamist animus and the loathsome demagoguery of Louis Farrakhan, who compares Jews to termites. But when it comes to bombing or shooting up shuls or Jewish community centers, the predominant poison, it cant be denied, is white supremacy.It is well documented how white supremacists use the web to bond, share advice and make plans. Using the web and social media, neo-Nazis promote wild conspiracy theories about Jews. One white power podcast, Strike and Mike, recently exposed the Impossible Burger, a meatless patty, as a Jewish plot to poison goys and, somehow, to make it impossible for working people to be able to afford meat, make it impossible for working people to drive automobiles, make it impossible for average people to live in an industrial society. It would be hilarious were it not that such fantasies are swallowed whole by intellect-challenged haters. All antisemitism is mindless and evil. And all of it needs to be confronted and countered in every possible way. But we must not allow images of muggings, no matter how horrific and heart-wrenching, to obscure the more malignant machinations humming away day and night, largely undetectable, across cyberspace. In the end, while no effort should be spared in fostering good relations among neighbors and in fighting hardened haters, we Jews do well to beseech the Creator to protect us from all evil.RELATED:Jewish man stabbed repeatedly outside New York synagogueThe views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

Continued here:

Isolated attacks on Jews distract us from the bigger threats - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Hasidic | Comments Off on Isolated attacks on Jews distract us from the bigger threats – The Jerusalem Post
Tags: