Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on April 9, 2022

Nuh Ibrahim's grave in the town of Tamrah in the Galilee. (Photos: Left by Ilan Papp. Right: File)

By Ilan Pappe

[ Do not Panic Palestine, your star in the sky is a Pearl (Nuh Ibrahim, 1913-1938) Referring also to Abu Dura, the legendary Commander of the 1936 revolt.]

April, in the historic calendar of Palestine, is a very loaded month. As a historian I recall, in particular, two past Aprils in Palestines history. In this month in 1936, the first Palestinian uprising in the 20th century erupted and, in April 1948, the Zionist forces demolished most of the Palestinian towns and neighborhoods, including in my hometown, Haifa.

Indeed, Haifa was an important location in both dramatic periods. This year, in particular, I want to evoke the memory of one Haifawi, Nuh Ibrahim, a son of Haifa, whose work is as relevant today as it was many years ago. In fact, this month I went to visit his grave in the town of Tamrah in the Galilee.

Ibrahim was born in Haifa in 1913, in Wadi Nisnas, the only Palestinian neighborhood left intact by the Zionist forces that stormed the city in April 1948 and demolished most of its other Palestinian quarters. The remaining Palestinians were pushed into this neighborhood from the rest of Haifa in a quick ethnic cleansing operation in the early days of June 1948.

Ibrahim was the son of the Abu al-Hijja clan, now present in places such as Tamra, Kawkab al-Hijja and other small communities, and once dwelled in the destroyed villages of Ruwais, Damun and, most notable of all, the panoramic village of Ayn Hawd, whose elegant houses were spared because the liberal Zionist bohemians of Tel-Aviv wished to possess them as their new abodes and persuaded the army not to demolish them.

Ibrahim, the master of the printing houses and machines, an artisanship that brought him first to Baghdad and then to Manama, Bahrain, opened the first-ever printing house there. But April 1936 called him back to Palestine. He was already impressed by the teaching of Izz al-Din al-Qassam, whom he knew personally, and found poetry as the best medium to express his love for his homeland and his determination to struggle for its liberation.

He took an active part in the revolt on the ground and through his poetry. One such poem, Plan it, Mr Dill cost him a prison term in the notorious British Acre jail (a location of detention, torture and executions). General Dill was the Commander in Chief of the British troops in Palestine and the architect of the barbaric measures the British army employed to suppress the revolt: house demolitions, (sometimes with the people inside), walking people over minefields, closures and curfews. All under a legal system bereft of any rights for the detainees or the prisoners. A manual book of oppressive occupation, fully implemented with the cutting-edge technology of the 20th and the 21stcentury by Israel since 1948.

Plan it, Mr Dill actually impressed the General, despite the fact that it accused him of the oppression of the Palestinians, and he released the prisoner. However, other poets and writers remained in jail:

The best men in the country who were working and well-known scholars. The charges against us were fabricated and very bizarre, it suffices to prove one of them to push us to the gallows, according to the new laws.

Thus wrote Ibrahim in his diary. The new laws are now 76 years old and still intact this Ramadan, employed extensively in a desperate Israeli attempt to prevent a third Intifada.

On the first day of Ramadan 1938, Ibrahim and two Syrian volunteers, who were part of a movement of young Syrians coming to Palestines aid in the revolt, were tracked, ambushed, and killed with the help of an RAF squadron. Another historical lesson the Israeli army adopted the use of massive forces to capture one Palestinian freedom fighter equipped with old pistols or guns.

Ibrahim was 25 years old when he was killed and yet managed to leave us a huge cultural legacy. In a famous Mawal poem of his (the folkloristic colloquial poetry), Do not Panic Palestine, he paid tribute to Abu Dura, one of the leaders of the Palestinian revolt. Praising his command over Christians and Muslims alike, a crucial message for our time, which he repeated in other poems such as A Homeland for All, written as an antidote to the British attempt to sow division between Christians and Muslims in the national liberation movement:

Christian and Muslim, their unity strong and resilient

Creed or religion is for God, while a homeland is for us all

Do not say Christian and Muslim,

We all are brothers of blood

Whatever you say or do, Adam is our father and Eve our mother

Every one of us understands, our unity is strong and resilient

During this Ramadan, Easter, and Passover, in this April of 2022, unity is not an empty slogan. In this April, Haifa is still a Palestinian city as much as it is inside Israel and the Haifawis are all around, not forgetting and not giving up on their struggle for justice and liberation.

One that will only be achieved by unity. Whether we are Christians, Jews or Muslims, we live in a century where one democratic state for all, all over historical Palestine, is the only solution, where revolutions and revolutionaries are commemorated, catastrophes are remembered and visions of liberation are still imagined. These visions will, one day for the benefit of us all, colonizers and colonized alike turn into a new reality on the ground. Do not panic Palestine, your star in the sky will shine and your time will come.

- Ilan Papp is a professor at the University of Exeter. He was formerly a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa. He is the author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, The Modern Middle East, A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, and Ten Myths about Israel. Papp is described as one of Israels 'New Historians' who, since the release of pertinent British and Israeli government documents in the early 1980s, have been rewriting the history of Israels creation in 1948. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.

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Do Not Panic Palestine: Your Star in the Sky Will Shine - Palestine Chronicle

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Posted By admin on April 9, 2022

On episode 54, we are joined by representatives of major Palestinian civil society organizations Sahar Francis and Ahmed Abofoul to talk about current progress in bringing an investigation into Israels crimes to the International Criminal Court, even as Israel and the US and Canada have tried to stifle progress.

Francis is the director of Addameer, the Prisoners support and Human Rights Association, and Abofoul is a legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, a group that documents Israels human rights violations.

Addameer and Al-Haq are among six Palestinian civil society groups that Israels defense minister Benny Gantz designated last fall as terrorist organizations an attempt to disrupt and destroy the work of these groups and especially their gathering of evidence for the ICC investigation.

As a matter of fact, Palestinian organizations are in a way the only access the court has to do the requisite documentation of the human rights violations and the alleged crimes committed in Palestine, since Israel does not allow any investigative body to access the occupied territory not only the ICC, [but] even the special rapporteurs of the UN and the commissions of inquiry, Abofoul says.

Last year, Al-Haq and Addameer and other human rights organizations helped move the United Nations to establish a commission of inquiry in order to look at the root causes of Israels systematic discrimination on both sides of the 1967 boundary.

Francis says that she hopes this commissions investigations will find that the situation for Palestinians is beyond occupation.

For us, its not about the specific cases of the prisoners and the detainees. Its about the phenomena of inventing a military control system, designed with the military orders and the military courts in order to obtain the control and persecution and oppression over the whole Palestinian community all these decades, she says.

What are the responsibilities of third countries and how are we going to force Israel to end the whole system of control and not just occupation? she asks.

Al-Haq and Addameer have also recently issued a joint submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council during Israels fifth review of compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The Palestinian groups stated that Israels apartheid system is in direct violation of the ICCPR, and that the indisputable reality on the ground is that Israel has been imposing a regime of racial discrimination against the Palestinians, who are rendered fragmented, vulnerable and unable to effectively challenge this regime.

Video production by Tamara Nassar

Theme music by Sharif Zakout

Subscribe to The Electronic Intifada Podcast on Apple Podcasts (search for The Electronic Intifada) and on Spotify. Support our podcast by rating us, sharing and leaving a review, and you can also donate to fund our work.

Lightly edited for clarity.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: And welcome back to The Electronic Intifada Podcast. Im Nora Barrows-Friedman, Asa Winstanley is off this week. Were delighted today to be joined by Sahar Francis, director of Addameer, the prisoners support and human rights association. And Ahmed Abofoul, legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq.

Both Sahar and Ahmeds organizations are two of the six Palestinian civil society groups that Israels defense minister Benny Gantz designated last fall as terrorist organizations, a clear attempt to disrupt and destroy the work of these groups, and especially their ongoing gathering of evidence to take Israel to the International Court, to the International Criminal Court for its violations of Palestinian human rights. In one moment, well go to our guests and talk about updates in the ICC investigations. But first, here are some excerpts of a February panel organized by the Carter Center, called Palestinian civil society under threat, featuring Sahar Francis and Shawan Jabarin of Al-Haq, along with many other representatives of Palestinian organizations, lets go to that.

Sahar Francis: We were facing attacks much, much before this designation. And theres other forms of harassment and intimidation and tools that they were trying to use in order to silence us like several colleagues were arrested, whether under administrative detention or a charged and convicted and raiding the office of Addameer several times in 2002, in 2012, in 2019, stealing computers, cameras, and missing the files and stealing material from the offices and putting restrictions of movement against the the staff members, board members and general assembly members. And all these smear campaigns that were led by NGO Monitor and other Israeli right-wing organizations over the last couple of years, and trying really to distribute false information against us in order to affect mainly our donors and our supporters on the international level. So we were kind of aware how much our work is bothering them, that they are worried and they know that we are succeeding at some point in the legal work and accountability in the international level, especially with the UN and the ICC. And we are expecting that we will pay a price for such work that we are doing.

Shawan Jabarin: They want to close the door before the peaceful and legal way to defend rights. Which way they want to leave for people to defend their rights, this is an issue. Another thing is is this an action of a democratic society or a democratic government or a democratic action? This is also another one. The third one is we are speaking about the most incredible organizations. Also, these organizations received awards for their work, one of their awards is the Carter Award for Al-Haq, for instance, in 89. This is an issue. Another thing is, even just a few weeks ago, two weeks ago, organizations were nominated for the Nobel Prize for their work. And I think this is an issue and this is the reason. If you want to uproot and to close the door before this kind of work, which work you want to stay to fight against oppression, to fight against injustice, to fight against apartheid regime, to fight against all of these horrible crimes taking place on a daily basis in Palestine? Thats the big thing. Another thing is also, what about, you know, just secret files, and there is no evidence. And you can ask the American officials, do they have evidence that they received really credible evidence from the Israeli side? If they want something they can send also a mission from Congress, for instance, to Palestine to investigate the situation here. And we accept that. Please do.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Sahar Francis and Ahmed Abofoul, thank you so much for being with us today on The Electronic Intifada Podcast.

Sahar Francis: Thank you.

Ahmed Abofoul: Thank you for having us.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Of course. Ahmed, lets start with you. Can you talk about any updates in the process of bringing an investigation into Israels crimes to the ICC even as Israel and of course the US and Canada have tried to stifle any progress? Are you still compiling evidence for investigators?

Ahmed Abofoul: Yes, sure. Well, maybe the short answer would be that to indicate that on the 3rd of March 2021, the ICC former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda officially announced the initiation of its investigation into the situation in Palestine. The investigation currently focused on possible war crimes related to three areas. First is related to the 2014 military offensive on Gaza, second, to the 2018-2019 Gaza protests known as the Great March of Return, and third, on the Israeli illegal settlements in the West Bank. Now, supposedly the next step, the next step should be moving from a situation stage to a case-building stage. So in other words, building specific cases identifying perpetrators and subsequently requesting summons to appear or arrest warrants. This is in short where were at right now but perhaps its useful to give a brief procedure history of how we got here.

As a matter of fact, Palestines journey into pursuing justice at the ICC started long before that date, before last year, 2021. Perhaps to start with the situation of Palestine was initially brought, initially brought to the ICC in 2009, after the offensive on Gaza when Palestine lodged a declaration under Article 12 paragraph three, recognizing the court jurisdiction, which is on a voluntary basis, a state that is not a party to the court can accept the court jurisdiction, and then in 2012, the event prosecutor concluded that the status of Palestine at the UN as an observer entity was determinative, since the accession to the Rome Statute usually takes place by launching the accession to the UN Secretary General as the acting depository, and therefore Palestine could not this was the conclusion of the persecutor could not accede to the Rome Statute and could not lodge the declaration in accordance with Article 12 paragraph three.

After that, in November 2012 Palestines status at the UN was elevated to a non-member observer status and therefore, subsequently in January 2015, Palestine could accede to the Rome Statute. Two weeks later, the officer persecutor started permitting an examination in the case. Notably here, since you asked me about states that tried to obstruct the investigation, Canada was the only state party, the only ICC state party at that time to lodge an objection to the UNs secretary general claiming that Palestine does not meet the criteria of a state under international law, and that Palestine is not recognized by Canada as a state, and therefore, its not able to accede the Rome Statute. And, of course, this did not have an effect, although, arguably, if this would have the effect It could only be on the treaty relations between the two states not on Palestines ability to join the Rome Statute.

In May 2018, apparently, because the preliminary examination was taking very long, Palestine submitted to the persecutor a referral, pursuant to Article 13, paragraph A and article 14, which is known as a self-refer, in this case when a state party refers the situation in his territory to the court, and this was a novel situation to the ICC. As a matter of fact, that was the first reference in a sense of complaint, since it was against nationals to a third state in this case of an occupying power. In December 2019, the prosecutor announced that the preliminary examination was completed and that all the statutory criteria for opening an investigation have been met. On the same day the prosecutor requested from the pre-Trial Chamber jurisdictional ruling on the scope of its territory jurisdiction. And some have argued that this was not necessary. Indeed, it was not necessary, the prosecutor did not need an authorization from the court.

But at that time, the prosecutor deemed that this was important for her to proceed in the investigation. In its request, the Fatou Bensouda, the then-prosecutor noted that there is reasonably this is important to note, since 2019, before even starting an investigation, she noted that there was reasonable basis to believe that war crimes have been or are being committed in the occupied Palestiniasn territory, and therefore, it has already identified potential cases. And Im quoting what she said identified potential cases arising from the situation which would be admissible. So due to, its clear that the then-prosecutor had already identified cases and could start with building the case and identifying perpetrators now, and in January 2020 the ICC started the procedure and invited experts known as amicus curiae briefs, friends of the courts, to submit their opinion on the case. And its granted 34 amicus curiae requests to submit observations to the court and nine requests from international organizations and states. The League of Arab States and their Organization of Islamic Cooperations were the two organizations in favor of the courts jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territory, and seven states submitted against the the ICC jurisdiction and these were the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Australia, Brazil and Uganda.

And as you can see, many of them now are very enthusiastic about the investigation in Ukraine. On the fifth of February 2021, the pre-Trial Chamber issued this decision that the ICC territorial jurisdiction extends to the Palestinian to the occupied Palestinian territory in its entirety in other words, the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and in March 2021, the prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, the former prosecutor, announced that she initiated her investigation on the situation in Palestine. Thats thats where were at right now as to, to providing evidence to the court, Palestinian organizations have not stopped providing evidence to the court and continue to do so as a matter of fact, Palestinian organizations are in a way the only access the court has to do the requisite documentation of the human rights violations and the alleged crimes committed in Palestine since Israel does not allow any investigative body to access the occupied territory, not only the ICC, even the special rapporteurs of the UN and the Commission of Inquiries.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: So where does that leave the investigation now? Like what is the youre still compiling evidence, but where is it going? And what is the next step, especially as theres a new director of the ICC, lead investigator, I mean.

Ahmed Abofoul: As I mentioned now, this situation should move from a situation under investigation to the stage of building cases, identifying specific cases and identifying perpetrators and therefore after that, we hope to see requests for arrest warrants and summons that appear, but this has not yet happened. So were at that stage.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Thanks, Ahmed. Sahar and Ahmed, can you talk about the double standard you alluded to it a little bit, Ahmed, being applied to Russia at the moment when Western countries, many of those who have, you know, stood in the way of the ICC launching these investigations into Israeli war crimes, saying that they you know, it was fast-tracked. The US was saying that they had, you know, started a process to push the ICC to investigate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while at the same time these countries are as you, as you mentioned, trying to shield Israel from accountability. Sahar, what are your thoughts on how you see these, you know, Western countries rushing to the ICC right now, while you know, trying to trying to discredit Palestines investigations.

Sahar Francis: Honestly, I wasnt surprised by this double-standard, hypocritical position because we are so familiar with this double standard behavior, especially from the United States, Canada, European countries, that they are, for decades now, putting all their efforts in order to ban us from reaching accountability via other platforms, whether internally in the UN Human Rights mechanisms by objecting and putting obstacles and abstaining from the Chapter Seven discussion in item seven sorry, discussion in the Human Rights Council session or blocking any efforts in local domestic justice systems in Europe and in other places.

So actually, it was expected that in the ICC level, they would put all the efforts they have in order to block the Palestinians from reaching this opportunity, and especially now with the position of the United States that they were punishing the ICC, and the office, the prosecutors office over the decision on the Palestinian case, now that they are supporting that the same body will investigate Russia on the Ukraine war. This just discloses how serious the politicization for the international human rights standards and the international law. And I think all human rights defenders and human rights organizations have responsibilities to be much vocal over this hypocritical behavior and political interference in the work of the ICC and such double standards should end because with such behavior, there is no justice going to come for any victim, or no real accountability for any perpetrator in our world.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Ahmed, did you want to add to that?

Ahmed Abofoul: Yes, I think one needs to differentiate. Like if were talking about double standards of states, its not really surprising, because this has always been the case when it comes to Israel, theres always this special treatment, its not being held to the same standards of any other states. But when it comes to the court, professionally and personally speaking, I would be reluctant to say that theres double standards. I think, so far the prosecutor is navigating his way through a very, in my view, very difficult dynamic. And it could be that hes using the opportunity, for example, we heard the prosecutor announcing a request for voluntary contribution.

The ICC has had this financial budgetary problem for years. And you can see the difference between what the prosecutor is asking for and what the states are responding to. So for example, he says, voluntary contribution for the support of his office across situations, meaning that no state can actually contribute financially for a specific investigation. Thats not how international justice works, while at the same time the way states are responding theyre declaring that theyre contributing to the system that supports the investigation in Ukraine. Sometimes they dont even say but the whole statement is crafted to say this, and in some cases, I will even name one: the French ambassador to the Hague retweeted something and then the persecutor retweeted it and reaffirmed across situations but states dont apparently understand that. So I think I understand that the prosecutor has to find innovative ways to get support for the court, but its also also a sensitive area one has to be careful of how international justice works. I would be very reluctant to say so far that there are any double standards from the court.

But to be honest, I can conveniently claim that there are double standards if, for example, we would say, we would see a case being presented in the situation in Ukraine before the situation in Palestine, simply because the timeline of both situations is almost similar. Of course, Im not comparing two situations, one cannot compare two situations before the International Criminal Court, every situation has its own considerations. But it would be very strange if we see, at least in my view, if we see a case being presented to the court on the situation in Ukraine, before a case presented on the situation in Palestine, especially as we just mentioned that, since the former prosecutor submitted her request to the pre-Trial Chamber, it declared that it had already identified cases, and they should be presented soon.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Thanks for that. Lets talk about the kind of work that both of your organizations are involved in, including the establishment last year of an ongoing Commission of Inquiry to look at the root causes of Israels systematic discrimination on both sides of the Green Line. Sahar, can you take us through what this Commission of Inquiry is, and how Addameer fits into that?

Sahar Francis: Yes, actually, this is the first time that the UN is appointing such an investigative group to dig into the root causes and not to investigate in a specific action of war crimes, or crimes against humanity, like, for example, the Goldstone investigating committee after the war on Gaza, and other investigating inquiries, or, lets say the kind of work that special rapporteurs are able to do. So this is very important and a very powerful body that we, as Palestinians, for the first time, would be able to discuss, really the root causes of the Palestinian situation going even before 1948 when the Zionist movement started their ideology and project planned for Palestine, and colonization over Palestine for decades.

So for example, in our work as Addameer, how its connected as an organization thats specified on the work with Palestinian prisoners, in front of the Israeli occupation, whether military courts or civil courts, and so on. So for us, its not about the specific cases of the prisoners and the detainees. Its about the phenomena of inventing a military control system, designed with the military orders and the military courts in order to obtain the control and persecution and oppression over the whole Palestinian community all these decades.

So its very important that in our meeting with the committee a couple of days ago, we highlighted highlighted the practices and the policies of torture of arbitrary detention over decades in a widespread manner, and how actually the low was manipulated in the military courts and the legal procedures, criminal procedures, pretend to present the system as an objective system that offers fair trial standards while in the reality. Its designed in a way that no matter how much you put efforts, legal efforts, you cannot succeed, you cannot reach any success in this system, because its designed in order to maintain the control over the Palestinian society. So I hope that this committee would conclude that its beyond occupation. Its not just occupation, its illegal occupation, its a colonial settler regime that cannot And the response, the most important thing here is, what would be the responsibilities of the third-state parties and the international society, not just the responsibility of the state of Israel, but how we are going to force Israel to end the whole system of control and not just occupation?

Nora Barrows-Friedman: What can you say about the work that Al-Haq is doing with this inquiry?

Ahmed Abofoul: First, like about the Commission of Inquiry itself, its unique in every sense of the word and very important for us. This is the first commission of inquiry that does not have a limited timeframe or scope. Its an ongoing commission of inquiry. And its mandated to investigate the root causes of the conflict or of the human rights violations that take place in against Palestinian people. And most importantly, it has the features of an investigative body. So in addition to underlying the root causes of the conflict, it has the mandate to collect, consolidate and analyze evidence of such relations.

So in that sense, I think its a very important commission of inquiry. And this is the first time that perhaps an official body would look at the situation as a whole on both sides of the Green Line. And lately, we see, for example, the fragmentation of the past and people is not only geographically its even in the way this question is being perceived. So for example, we have special rapporteurs on the situation in the occupied Palestine territory, who a few days ago concluded that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid, but because of his mandate, that is only limited to the occupied Palestinian territory, he cannot address apartheid laws, practices and policies that take place inside the Green Line, he cannot address the denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees outside the territory. So in that sense, I think it has a very important role, and addressing the root causes, as Sahar mentioned, would necessitate that this commission of inquiry touch upon the settler colonial nature of this occupation.

Israel does not have an ordinary occupation, there is no occupation in modern history that lasted for 55 years. This is not a temporary occupation. And this is an intent to maintain this regime. As a matter of fact, in my personal view, I think Israel needed this occupation. Its not like a situation that Israel had to deal with and working to end the occupation, but it needed the occupation to prolong or to even establish an apartheid regime that can last forever. It has instrumentalized the international humanitarian law and the law, the laws of armed conflict framework to pursue its colonial objectives. And this is clear from Israels settlement policy. We have a state that claims to want peace, but at the same time, keeps stealing basically, stealing land and the settler colonial objective of having acquiring more land by force with less Palestinian people, I think is clear.

As for Al-Haqs work, our mandate is very clear. We document human rights violations that take place in the occupied Palestinian territory and against the individual and collective rights of the Palestinian people, regardless of the perpetrator, so we document everything. So whatever the Commission of Inquiry asks for we provide. And I have to say, perhaps, this is one of the reasons that our organization as Al-Haq and Addameer and others have been designated as terrorist organizations its because our work hurts our work basically exposes this apartheid regime that attempts to portray itself to the world as the only democracy in the Middle East, which in my view, this is the only regime in the world that is self-proclaimed and West-promoted as only democracy while in fact, its an apartheid racist regime. So I think in short, I cannot give details, but in short, I can assure you that in accordance with our mandate, we do everything in our power to provide the commission of inquiry or any investigative body that is seeking to investigate international crimes or human rights violations, and will be useful in providing justice for the victims affected by those violations. We will provide them with anything they need, well do everything in our power.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: You mentioned the mounting declarations by UN envoys, by human rights organizations, you know, in addition to the decades of analysis by Palestinian organizations that Israel is practicing apartheid. What do you think about whether the ICC, bringing it back to the to the international court for a minute, whether the ICC could investigate Israels apartheid system as a whole, even though its territorial jurisdiction is limited to the West Bank and Gaza, just as you pointed out, but the UN rapporteurs jurisdiction? Could the Commission of Inquiry tapped by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate Israels system of oppression as a whole contribute to that? I mean, is there, is there a chance that this jurisdiction can be applied to the entire, you know, breadth of Historic Palestine geographically?

Ahmed Abofoul: As for the ICC, I think the jurisdictional limitations are clear. Thats the occupied Palestinian territory, namely, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Now the Commission of Inquiry can address the situation as a whole on both sides and the green line, the ICC cannot, but the Commission of Inquiry can actually provide its conclusions. The evidence is collected or consolidated, the reports that it has conducted or investigations that it has conducted, it can transmit this to the office of prosecutor, theres an open, I would assume, normally speaking, there is an open channel of communication.

But this information can for the ICC can only be used when it comes to the occupied Palestinian territory and when it comes to the crimes against humanity of apartheid, in my view, when it comes to the ICC, it doesnt really make a difference whether the ICC addresses the situation as a whole or in the past century contributes to crimes against humanity of apartheid is a crime that requires high level individuals to be taking this decision of institutionalizing this regime of racial discrimination with the intent to maintain this regime. So either way, it could, the ICC could identify the same perpetrators for the scope of the occupied Palestinian territory, but the actions will have been committed for against the Palestinian people as a whole. So for the considerations of international justice, the ICC doesnt actually need to address those situations when it comes to the crime of apartheid, it can only look at the occupied Palestinian territory and persecute individual perpetrators.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Sahar, if you could touch upon Palestine being a litmus test of the legitimacy of the ICC and why it has global implications for the international legal system and human rights framework. What is the significance of Palestine at the ICC?

Sahar Francis: I think its a very important case, because we are the only state under occupation if you want, lasting, as Ahmed said, for decades, this is a unique occupation case. And this is why we claim its beyond occupation. Its more than the occupation, according to the international humanitarian law standards. But I also wanted to highlight that I think this commission of inquiry that was founded last year, for me personally, as a lawyer working in the field for the last 25 years, with all the efforts to reach accountability via the UN mechanisms is much more important than the ICC, because I think there is a potential in this committee because as Ahmed described, its not limited on the timeframe and its scope is to go and investigate for the root causes. Its very important that they can include in their recommendations and conclusions specific actions, that its the responsibility of the General Assembly and state parties, which means they should ask for sanctions on Israel, in order to dismantle this colonial regime.

Whereas in the ICC, the maximum that we can seek is individual criminalization, and accountability for individual Israeli perpetrators, and not for the state and the whole system. The ICC is not going to prosecute Israel as a state and the system of this state. So this is a very important difference. And this is, its not contradicting, its not undermining each others work. Its complimentary, as Ahmed said, the report of this commission could be used by the ICC. And this is why This is also why the Palestinian case is very unique and very important, because I dont think we can ignore these long decades of violating, systematic violation for every almost every aspect of the international humanitarian law. And all the way trying to avoid accountability.

Israel was the only state almost in the UN that kept violating systematically and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, all these more than [seven] decades, without at least once being accountable for what they are doing. And added on top, they are always trying to undermine the international humanitarian standards bar, switching the definitions or the explanation or what it means to implement and unfortunately, were totally supported by politically-motivated decision makers from the different countries, especially the European countries and the United States.

At the end of the day, it totally affected the international system, I mean, on the legal level, and the criminal, the international criminal system and what it means if we developed all these concepts of universal jurisdiction procedures, in order to enable states to prosecute perpetrators on very serious crimes that affect the whole humanity like torture. How come you when it comes to an Israeli perpetrator of a crime of torture, you block your internal system in front of the Palestinians in order to protect the Israelis? So I think this should end and international humanitarian law and international human rights law should be really implemented equally. And in the same way, all over in any conflict, in any war, in any for the protection of any victim in the world. This is why the Palestinian case actually is the test case for this system. If it could be really a just system and a system that respects all victims no matter what, whats their ethnicity, or color or belonging or whatever or not. Or it would be always bound by the political interests of this state or that state.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Absolutely. Ahmed, did you want to add anything?

Ahmed Abofoul: Well, yeah, I just I would echo what Sahar said, Palestine is indeed a test for the whole world order, the whole post-Second World War order, the world has, has now a world order that established on or based on international law, and you have this country, Israel, that is, in fact altering and jeopardizing this whole system by violating international law and refusing to abide by its rules. Israel is the only country in the world that is still committing colonization and apartheid at the same time, as well. Like theres only almost no violation that Israel has not committed the situation in Palestine is one of the most documented situations in the whole world, one of the most protracted situations in the whole world and yet, a climate of impunity prevails, no justice is being provided.

So I think this is just to the whole world order, the whole international law system and to the ICC itself, the ICC has been criticized for a very long time that it only targets African states, criticism, that person I do not agree, because similarly, these states, actually they asked the court to intervene. But in other situations where we have Palestine, a state party, made their referral, this is supposed to be stronger than any case because you have a state party that is meeting its financial contribution, meeting all of its obligations by the statute, but then the situation is not being prosecuted. Now, its over 13 years, and no justice is being served. So I think this is a test for the ICC itself, and I think it would be a determinative factor for its future as an institution. Maybe I would like to also add something.

When we talk about the situation in Palestine and occupied Palestine territory, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, this is only 22 percent of historic Palestine. But the this is the historic compromise that the Palestinians have made for peace. And yet, Israel finds it 22 percent very much so it wants to colonize and build settlements and acquire territory by force from those 22 percent. From my very little experience in this field and interacting with Palestinians, I think that Palestinians are only asking for their rights, nothing more. And I can assure you that they would never settle for nothing less, and they should not be asked to compromise their human rights. And I think, again, Palestinians are not asking for more than human rights. As a matter of fact, theyre not even asking I think the word misunderstood, the Palestinians theyre demanding their human rights, theyre entitled to those rights, no one would be doing them a favor when they achieve their collective and individual rights.

And I think one way or another, this will be inevitable as any case of colonization has ended. Colonization, apartheid should not have a place in this world, whether committed by a European country, or African country or wherever in the world, even if committed by Israel, which always has special treatment in the West.

Nora Barrows-Friedman: Thank you so much, Ahmed Abofoul, legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, and Sahar Francis, Director of Addameer. We will have links to both of your organizations and some of the recent investigations that youre involved in and the Commission of course, up on The Electronic Intifada Podcast posts that accompanies this episode. Sahar and Ahmed, thank you so much for all that you do, all of your work. And thanks for coming on with us at The Electronic Intifada Podcast.

Ahmed Abofoul: Thank you for having us.

Sahar Francis: Thank you.

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Podcast Ep 54: Palestine is the litmus test for international law - The Electronic Intifada

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Posted By admin on April 9, 2022

Executive Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered the daily lives of countless individuals across the globe, threatening their health and livelihoods and impacting businesses, supply chains, and government revenues. Jordan and Palestine were not spared from these effects, leading their governments and populations to struggle to gain footing as the resulting health and economic crises ensued. Young job seekers, particularly women, refugees, and youth with disabilities, have been disproportionately affected by the crisis through job losses and heightened barriers to entering the workforce.

The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Jordan was detected on March 2, 2020. Just days later on March 5, the first confirmed case was detected in Palestine. Since this initial outbreak, nearly 1.5 million cases have been confirmed in Jordan, as have more than 600,000 in Palestine.1 Despite early successes in limiting the spread of COVID-19,Jordan and Palestine faced significant waves of infections beginning in the latter part of 2020 and continue to grapple with an ever-changing landscape of new variants.

Following the initial outbreaks, the Government of Jordan (GoJ) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) reacted quickly to curb the spread of the virus, instituting movement restrictions, curfews, and limits on public gatherings that varied in severity.These critical measures implemented to protect public health led to shrinking private sector revenue and significant job losses, affecting vulnerable populations the most acutely. Both the GoJ and the PA made efforts to quickly respond to the resulting economic crisis, with varying levels of success.

Jordan and Palestine faced substantial challenges connecting youth to the workplace prior to the pandemic, with youth unemployment rates reaching 36.8% in Jordan and 40% in Palestine in 2019.2

During the COVID-19 economic recovery period, it will be critical to support the integration of youth, particularly the most vulnerable, into the labor market and prepare them with the needed skills and experience to seize new opportunities in the transformed global economy.

Efforts to integrate youth into the labor market may entail varying forms of training in fields ranging from vocational trades to ICT and virtual freelancing. They may also involve the provision of mentoring and job or apprenticeship placement services. Importantly, these efforts will require a focus on guiding youth toward opportunities in sectors most likely to grow during the COVID-19 recovery. Equipping youth with the competencies needed to adapt and demonstrate resilience in a rapidly evolving job market will greatly facilitate this process.

Initiatives aimed at integrating youth into the labor market during the COVID-19 recovery will also benefit from collective action among government, the private sector, and civil society to advance creative approaches to connect the most vulnerable youth with sustainable economic opportunities.

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COVID-19 and Youth Employment in Jordan and Palestine: Impacts, Opportunities, and a Way Forward - occupied Palestinian territory - ReliefWeb

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This column is an opinion by Idris Elbakri, a Canadian Palestinian who calls Winnipeg his home.For more information aboutCBC's Opinion section,please see theFAQ.

When war broke out in Ukraine, our family sat mesmerized and shocked in front of the TV. I think like many, we had hoped or naively assumed that the military buildup was a form of brinkmanship and would not end up in war. Here we are, more thana month later, and the war rages on.

My kids immediately identified with Ukraine. One of them changed her profile picture online to the Ukrainian flag. They immediately drew similarities with what they had seen and what they had learned about our struggle as Palestinians under occupation.

The vocabulary used to refer to Ukraine and its people's heroic efforts to defend it resistance, sanctions, Molotov cocktails, sacrificing oneself for country were all familiar to us. They form part of the vocabulary of a people long steeped in resistance and protest.

In these reflections, I want to keep Ukrainians front and centre. They deserve all the attention and solidarity action that we can muster. Siding with them in this war is a matter of taking a clear moral position. One country invading the other, destroying its culture and infrastructure and turning its people into refugees is just wrong and we should stand against it.

I ask God to be with the people of Ukraine in their hour of need and to guide us to find ways to alleviate their suffering and help reverse their misfortune.

The Western world's response showed that when it could muster the will, it could take decisive positions and actions in the face of wrong.

But this response was painful to witness, because so many times before, this decisiveness was not there when other people were subjected to invasion and occupation. For example, the Americans seem to have completely forgotten that they,a superpower, invaded Iraq in 2003under false pretextsand completely decimated that country.

When Israel shelled Gaza last year, and many times before, Canadaaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself, not the right of the Palestinians to resist their occupation and colonization, or even to defend themselves.

One could expect duplicity and double standards from politicians. However, the double standard goes much deeper.

Sports associations penalized expressions of political solidarity in the past (for example, Palestine). Someare now all for expressing solidarity with Ukraine. In the initial shock of the invasion, some media commentators drew distinction between the "civilized"Christianand Europeanrefugees and otherkinds of refugees.

This goes beyond the natural empathy one feels to people who are like us. These comments and positions smack of racism. It shows that deep down we are still very tribal, and all our talk about universal rights has not overcome that.

This tribalismis not exclusive to the West or those of us sympathetic to Ukraine.

In my own community, I have come across those who have responded to discussions on Ukraine with whataboutism, lamenting the lack of attention to other legitimate causes.Others applaud Russia for challenging the Western hegemony that has wreaked havoc on their peoples and countries.

These are responses shaped by suffering and collective trauma. Tribalism, however, is more damaging when it comes from those whodominate global politics and claim to uphold universal human rights.

So, to the Ukrainians I say God be with you, and we will stand with you.I hope that your struggle is not a long one, for with longevity of struggle comes the risk of us all becoming desensitized to it, as we have been to many other struggles.

I also thank you. We will remember the vocabulary and concepts you have invigorated for us: resistance, welcoming refugees, sacrifice, sanctions against transgressors, and we will use this vocabulary, to support you, and to stand up for others who need a voice, regardless of their tribe.

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Palestinian Winnipegger grateful for world's response to Ukraine, though it's been painful to witness - CBC.ca

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Through her love of cycling, 79-year-old Judith Hammond has found inspiration for her fundraising in The Big Ride (TBR).

This year at the end of July, TBR will go from Derby to Manchester, via Stoke, and Judiths challenge will be to get to Derby by cycling with her friend Michael Weltike.

They will be going from Bradford-on-Avon, to meet up with the start of TBR, which will end with a grand tour of Manchester.

Her bike ride will amount to 250 -300 miles in total that week, and this time she will be raising funds to help equip a language lab at a secondary school in Tubas.

Judith took on this years TBR Spring warmup challenge and all participants were asked to arrange a Spring Solidarity Ride of 22 miles.

Locally, seven committed friends joined her on Saturday, March 26.

To follow Judiths journey and donate to her cause, you can do so by visiting her Just Giving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/boafop.

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79-year-old to cycle over 250 miles to support causes in Palestine - Wiltshire Times

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Posted By admin on April 9, 2022

In January, Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, said that anyone who chanted the Hamas slogan could be referred to the police and that it was essential for universities to clamp down on the slogan following the outlawing of support for Hamas.

Mr Zahawi told the Jewish Chronicle in January that the rallying cry used by Hamas is the kind of anti-Semitic, intolerant, murderous attitude of the organisation thats proscribed.

The group of pro-Palestine protesters had objected to the choice of speaker for the event made by the universitys Conservative Society, Colonel Richard Kemp, the former head of British forces in Afghanistan, partly because of his support for Israel.

Mr Wigoder, a third-year politics student at the University of Essex, said: It is incredibly disappointing to read this disheartening news and see the university yet again abandoning their promises to Jewish students.

Time after time, the university attempts to sweep anti-Semitism under the rug, and it leaves us feeling completely unsafe on campus. I have been chasing this complaint for months and this is an upsetting conclusion.

As part of the recommendations made to the university following his investigation, Mr Morris said that work should take place in partnership with the student union to increase student awareness and understanding of what constitutes anti-Semitism.

Jonathan Hunter, trustee of the Pinsker Centre, a think tank that works on promoting constructive dialogue in higher education, said: From the River to the Sea, is a line straight from the Hamas playbook it is hard to imagine that such vitriol would be tolerated against any other minority at a British university.

Col Kemp said that the university should reconsider their blindsided denial of anti-Semitism and that the investigation's conclusion does not tally with British law nor our countrys respect for civil debate.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Students (NUS) has become embroiled in an anti-Semitism row of its own after an affiliated student union wrote to them condemning the lack of action their leadership has taken over the issue.

Dom Casoria, vice president of Lancaster University Students Union, wrote to the NUS that his union was deeply disappointed and hurt by the way the Jewish community has been engaged with and treated this year.

He added that the difficult relationship between Jewish students and NUS was highlighted by the controversial decision for the union to choose rapper Lowkey as a performer at their centenary celebrations, which was cancelled after widespread criticism from the Jewish community.

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Protesters who sing slogans used by Hamas 'not anti-Semitic', university decides - The Telegraph

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(RNS) Probably no event is more indelibly marked in U.S. Jewish life this year than the Jan. 15th hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Now two items from that fateful day will be displayed at the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.

On that day less than three months ago, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker welcomed a 44-year-old British national into the Texas synagogue shortly before Shabbat services and offered him a cup of tea. Midway through the service, the visitor pulled out a gun and took Cytron-Walker and three others hostage.

After a nearly 11-hour standoff, Cytron-Walker threw a chair at the hostage-taker, distracting him and allowing for an escape.

Both the teacup and the chair are now at the Philadelphia museum, where they will be exhibited alongside a video recorded with the rabbi and the three other hostages. The exhibit also names the three hostages: Lawrence Schwartz, Shane Woodward and Jeffrey Cohen, in addition to Cytron-Walker.

The standoff galvanized a national conversation about antisemitism. Cytron-Walker became a hero. He testified before Congress and advocated for increased synagogue security funding. Last month, President Joe Biden included $360 million in funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in his 2023 federal budget doubling the amount of money in the program.

RELATED: Colleyville Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker to take new pulpit in North Carolina

Separate from the Colleyville items, the museum is preparing for an exhibit titled The Future Will Follow the Past, guest-curated by New York-based video, sculpture and photography artist Jonathan Horowitz.

A teacup from Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Photo courtesy of Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

Misha Galperin, president and CEO of the museum, said the exhibit will include events that bubbled up over the last two years within the American Jewish community including racism, COVID-19, political polarization and antisemitism. Other items will include a shrouded sculpture of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and a visual rendering of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, site of the massacre of 11 Jews in 2018.

The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History has been closed to the public over the last two years because of the pandemic. It opens with a gala on May 1 and will open to the general public on May 13.

The museum, located in a glass-encased building just off Independence Mall in Philadelphia, has undergone a lot of change since it first opened 12 years ago.

A chair from Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. Photo courtesy of Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

In 2020 it entered bankruptcy proceedings, unable to overcome a debt burden of about $30 million. The following year shoe designer Stuart Weitzman rescued the museum with an undisclosed donation that has allowed the museum to buy back the building and secure an endowment.

The formal reopening will coincide with the annual Jewish American Heritage Month, celebrated each May since President George W. Bush proclaimed it in 2006.

The museums concourse level features a multimedia exhibit, the Only in America Gallery Hall of Fame. The inductees displayed in words and images include Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Louis Brandeis, Albert Einstein, Emma Lazarus, Golda Meir, Jonas Salk, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The U.S. has a plethora of regional Jewish museums. But, said Galperin: Were the only museum focused on national Jewish history. The others are focused on Holocaust or have a local context.

RELATED: Yes, this was about the Jews

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Chair and teacup from Texas synagogue hostage crisis to be displayed in exhibit - Religion News Service

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Posted By admin on April 9, 2022

Welcome to your monthly tour of the Jewish literary landscape! I have four new titles to share and a special announcement we just launched our Bookshop storefront, where you can shop the books recommended in this newsletter. Ill be keeping the page updated with titles Im loving, Forward Book Club picks, and other fun lists of recommended reads. If you click through and shop from our page, the Forward will earn a small commission; you can also use your purchase to support your favorite local bookstore. See you there!

This article originally ran in newsletter form. To sign up for Forward Reads and get book recommendations delivered to your inbox each month, click here.

Image by Brian Jacks Lores

Leigh Stein spends a lot of time on the Internet. She has to, because she writes about it. With the publication of her novel Self-Care, a satire of the kind of girlboss feminism that often predominates online, she became the lampooner-in-chief of the wellness industry and its efforts to sell women a better state of mind.

But, as so many of us have found to our detriment, its pretty difficult to advance ones life work while also constantly refreshing Instagram. I talked to Stein about what a writing life looks like when your subject happens to be the extremely addictive, energy-sapping behemoth that is the online world. Our conversation convinced me to turn off my phone on the weekend maybe Stein will persuade you, too.

Her morning routine: Im a big believer in the eat-the-frog productivity technique meaning, do the thing youre most likely to procrastinate on first. The frog is the thing you dont want to eat, and thats why you have to eat it first. If I dont write in the morning, Im never going to write the rest of the day because Im going to be doing whatever other people want me to do.

The best-case scenario is if I turn off my phone and close all my tabs the night before, so that when I sit down at my computer Im just looking at the document. I write before I check my email, before I check Twitter, before I turn on my phone.

On word counts: Before the pandemic, I spoke at a writing conference about the process of Self Care, which hadnt come out yet. I said that I wrote this novel by setting a goal of 250 words a day, and a woman at the back of the room yelled out, Thats a grocery list! Like, wow, thanks a lot. But you can write a whole book that way. I find it more psychologically healthy to set a low goal and then exceed it than to set a high one and feel like Im failing every day. Im a productivity nerd, and I do track how much time I spend writing and how many words I write, just because it makes me feel good to compete against myself.

On tech breaks: I turn off my phone and my computer from Friday night until Saturday at sundown. It helps me so much, because I get all my ideas on Saturday. I dont have this device to check whenever Im bored or unsure what Im supposed to do next, and it lets my mind wander. I think thats what were really missing, opportunities to let our minds wander.

Then I turn my phone on and get all the notifications and my body freezes. Thats the thing about the internet its on 24/7. Even when Im asleep, people are emailing me, people are responding to my tweets. Theres no way to totally turn it off. You can just set your own breaks.

On real self care:l I believe that true self care doesnt cost money. True self care is drinking water. Its going outside, its getting some light exercise, its getting sleep every night. But companies cant profit off that, so they come up with ways to sell us self-care.

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Theres not even one character to root for in this spare, cutting tale of social inequality and the terrible violence it breeds. The novel is set in a Mexican gated community, where a teenage boy named Polo works a dead-end job as a gardener. When hes not running errands for the developments entitled residents, Polo gets hammered with Franco, a pornography-obsessed boy living in the development with his wealthy grandparents. Polo hates Franco most of the time, he calls him fatboy and hes repulsed by the boys obsessive fantasies about his married neighbor, Marin. But when Franco becomes fixated on breaking into Marins house to seduce her, Polo sees a plan that could benefit them both.

Paradais isnt easy to read even Melchors editor called it a hypnotic, evil little book. Instead of relatable characters or redemptive endings (if you think that break-in is going to go well, think again), the novel offers readers an audience with an author at the top of her craft. Melchor breaks pretty much every rule of conventional storytelling. She changes tense and sometimes perspective within sentences, which often go on for pages without a period. Paragraph breaks? Forget about it. Yet Melchor never let me get lost; instead, her prose whisked me along, keeping me immersed in Polos breathless, claustrophobic monologue.

Sinking readers so deeply into Polos mind, Melchor forces us to understand, if not empathize with, characters whose attitudes are abhorrent. And she makes us see how the boys circumstances for Polo, childhood in an impoverished town controlled by cartels; for Franco, the fear and sterility that comes with a life of iron gates and tinted windows make their actions inevitable. Melchor, who has spoken of how her Jewish ancestors found safe haven in Mexico yet still felt pressure to conceal their heritage, is supremely attuned to the violence and brutality an ostensibly paradisiacal environment can conceal. Its not exactly a pleasure to spend 124 pages in her world; but its an experience I wouldnt give up.

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A photographer and psychologist by training, Mikoaj Grynberg is known for collections that pair studio portraits of Polish Jews with oral histories. In Id Like to Say Sorry, a powerful first foray into fiction, hes adapted those real histories into fictional vignettes, in which Jews and gentiles describe how the unresolved horror of the Holocaust colors daily life in modern Poland. Many of Grynbergs subjects are second-generation survivors, whose parents unspoken trauma defined their upbringings. In An Elegant Purse, for example, a mother waits until shes retired to divulge her Jewish heritage to her daughter, for fear of losing her career. In other stories, gentile families reluctantly confront their buried Jewish connections: When a grandmother in Unnecessary Trouble reveals on her deathbed that shes Jewish, her antisemitic offspring are furious. Grandmas not getting enough oxygen, one granddaughter concludes.

For American Jews, who enjoy comparative safety in wearing their identities publicly, Grynbergs fiction debut is a sobering glimpse into a particularly difficult kind of diaspora life. For Grynberg, the book is a way of asserting belonging in a country that has tried to deny its Jewish history and its complicity in Jewish persecution. Im also a Jew, but Im a Pole, Grynberg said in an interview with Jewish Currents. They say, Go home! and I say, I am home.

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If youre looking for a sunnier March read, I can propose a detective novel set in an alternate universe in which Joe McCarthy becomes president and institutes a system of state-sponsored antisemitic persecution. Was it restful to envision what life would be like if the House Un-American Activities Committee had its own police force? Not exactly. Did I enjoy following Morris Baker Holocaust survivor, homicide detective, and massive over-indulger of peach schnapps as he cruises the smoggy Los Angeles highways and mutters to himself in Yiddish? Absolutely.

Our story begins when Morris arrives at the scene of a double murder with two very interesting victims: screenwriter John Huston and up-and-coming journalist Walter Cronkite, both of whom had risked their careers to speak out against the McCarthy government. The HUAC police warn Morris to leave the case to them. And as the lone Jewish detective on a squad that has embraced the new regime wholeheartedly (the first chapters alone are a primer on fifties-era antisemitic slang), Morris knows hes better off keeping his head down. But when he pries a piece of paper out of Cronkites rigor-mortised hand and finds his own name written on it, he cant resist investigating.

A debut novel from Josh Weiss, Beat the Devils delights in detective story tropes. The saloon shoot-outs, cryptic radio messages, grungy sunrises and ravishingly beautiful secret agents create a noir atmosphere redolent of Dashiell Hammett, only theres a lot more Yiddish and a lot less casual misogyny. Yet the novel also confounds our expectations of a historical thriller, mixing real Hollywood lore with invented storylines. (Huston and Cronkite are far from the only American luminaries to get unceremoniously dispatched mid-career.) The world Weiss creates, in which the fight for Jewish acceptance and safety in America is never lost and never quite won, feels both far away and all too familiar.

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Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1966, German-Jewish writer Nelly Sachs is known chiefly for the poetry she wrote in the immediate wake of the Holocaust especially in Germany, where she has become a symbol of the nations reconciliation with its past. But Joshua Weiner, translator of a new dual-language edition of Sachss collection Flight and Metamorphosis, argues that labeling Sachs a Holocaust poet is a reductive move, one that ignores her later and more complicated work.

By 1959, when this collection was first published, Sachs had matured as a poet, moving away from the blunt Holocaust imagery she used in her earlier work. (One of her most famous poems is titled, O The Chimneys.) At this point in her life, she was reading the Zohar and Martin Bubers collections of Hasidic tales, texts that gave her, in Weiners words, a new vocabulary for a spiritual exile. She was also influenced by a new generation of Swedish modernist poets, whose work she translated to support herself after fleeing Berlin for Sweden. Sachs brings those influences to bear in writing about the many painful changes metamorphoses endured by refugees. The result is a rare collection rooted in one poets experience that seems to address our current reality, decades later. In one poem, Sachs writes, A stranger always has / his homeland in his arms / like an orphan / for whom he may be seeking nothing / but a grave. She could just as easily be speaking today.

Image by Courtesy of Evan Traylor

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A thriller from Mexico and a debut detective novel: The Jewish books you need to know this month - Forward

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Posted By admin on April 9, 2022

In the three months since Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three of his congregants were held at gunpoint in their Texas synagogue, new carpet has been laid in the sanctuary, the walls have been repainted, the entry retiled and new doors installed

By JAMIE STENGLE Associated Press

April 9, 2022, 3:01 AM

4 min read

COLLEYVILLE, Texas -- In the three months since Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three of his congregants were held at gunpoint in their Texas synagogue, new carpet has been laid in the sanctuary, the walls have been repainted, the entry retiled and new doors installed. He said it has been healing to watch.

Each time I came back in, I got to see us moving forward," Cytron-Walker said.

Congregation Beth Israel in the Fort Worth suburb of Colleyville will be rededicated on Friday, and members will celebrate Shabbat in their own building for the first time since the attack.

After the 10-hour standoff on Jan. 15 ended with the escape of the remaining hostages and an FBI tactical team rushing in and killing the gunman, the synagogue was left with broken doors and windows, bullet holes and shattered glass.

Anna Salton Eisen, a founder of the synagogue, said the scene reminded her of abandoned synagogues in Poland still marked with bullets from World War II that she saw while visiting that country in 1998 with her parents both Holocaust survivors.

"I was standing in my synagogue this time and it was just empty and silent and it showed the marks of the violence that had occurred, Eisen said.

Eisen said the return will help the healing process.

We are not defeated and we are not going to live in fear, she said.

Leaders of the congregation made up of about 160 families said that as they return after holding services at a Methodist church during the repairs, they've been struck by the outpouring of love and support they've received. They also want to focus on fighting antisemitism, which led the gunman to their synagogue.

Its my hope and my prayer that theres greater awareness about how damaging hate can be, said Cytron-Walker, who starts a new job in July at Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

He was preparing for a morning service on Jan. 15 at when a stranger came to the synagogue's door. Cytron-Walker welcomed the man who said he'd spent the winter night outside, chatting with him and making him tea.

Then, as Cytron-Walker and three of his congregants prayed and others watched online a click from a gun could be heard. During the standoff, British national Malik Faisal Akram demanded the release of a Pakistani woman serving a lengthy prison sentence in nearby Fort Worth after being convicted of trying to kill U.S. troops.

The hostages have said Akram cited antisemitic stereotypes, believing that Jews wield the kind of power that could get the woman released.

One hostage, 85-year-old Lawrence Schwartz was released after about six hours. At about 9 p.m., the remaining hostages made their escape as Cytron-Walker threw a chair at Akram and the hostages ran out a side door.

Cytron-Walker has credited past security training for getting them out safely, including training he received from the Secure Community Network, founded in 2004 by Jewish organizations.

The hostage-taking in Texas came just over three years after Americas deadliest antisemitic attack, when a gunman killed 11 worshippers from three congregations meeting at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue.

We believe the training is absolutely critical," said Michael Masters, Secure Community Network's national director and CEO. You very rarely rise to an occasion in a critical incident, you fall back to your level of training."

He said that last year they trained over 17,000 people, and that number was surpassed in the first three months of this year.

Congregation Beth Israel President Michael Finfer said Thursday that it will continue to do security training and that going forward it will have "far more police security than weve had in the past.

Jeff Cohen, one of the four hostages, said hes excited about the return.

Thats part of that processing, its to look at where were going to be, said Cohen, the synagogues vice president and security director.

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Repaired Texas synagogue reopens months after hostage crisis - ABC News

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Posted By admin on April 9, 2022

(RNS) When Middle Collegiate Church was devastated by fire in December 2020, the rabbi of a Manhattan Reform synagogue 10 short blocks away responded, along with many others.

I was heartbroken and I reached out to the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis and I said: Anything you need, we will provide it, Rabbi Joshua Stanton of East End Temple recalled in a recent interview. Your loss is felt well beyond your community. Your heartbreak, we share in. And were here for you, however possible.

Lewis remembered those words as she considered the best location for her churchs hybrid worship to continue this spring.

Now, on Easter Sunday, Stanton intends to share a special blessing from his synagogues podium as their congregations embark on a one-year pilot relationship the two faith leaders hope will last until Middle Church is rebuilt. Lewis expects that could occur in about three years and said plans will be shared on Easter, a fitting announcement for the day Christians celebrate their belief in Jesus resurrection.

The multiethnic church met for a few months in late 2020 at the site of an Episcopal parish before a COVID-19 spike put Middle Collegiate back into an all-online mode.

We had a collegial relationship with East End and it just felt like a revolutionary thing to do, to partner with our Jewish colleagues in this way, Lewis said in a Wednesday (April 6) interview.

RELATED: After Middle Church fire, advice from houses of worship that have survived disaster

Stanton said the synagogue dropped two-thirds of its usual rental price for the arrangement and then a donor paid most of the third that was left. Lewis said that amounts to about $16,000 for the first year, so basically its a gift.

It is an incredible act of generosity and trust to make space in their community for us to tabernacle with them, she said, noting their worship services being on different weekend days makes it easier just to share space.

Rabbi Joshua Stanton, left, and the Rev. Jacqui Lewis on Sept. 10, 2017, after Stanton was a guest preacher at Middle Collegiate Church in Manhattan. Photo courtesy of Joshua Stanton

She and Stanton, who have swapped pulpits in the past, are discussing possible ways to share more than a building, including childrens programs, adult education and a racial justice trip to the South with youth from both congregations.

The dreams we have are his community and my community working on an anti-racistjustice agenda together that helps dismantle antisemitism and anti-Asian, anti-Black racism in our nation, she said.

Stanton, likewise, said he looks forward to new opportunities, starting with the unusual sharing of space with a Christian congregation and continuing, perhaps, with cooperating in volunteer programs that pack meals for hungry people in their city.

I think were going to march together, were going to pray together, were going to learn together, were going to do community service together, he predicted. Were going to live out our values together even as communities that have different histories, different paths of belief and different ways of prayer.

Lewis also is looking forward to Stantons offer of his office, where she said she intends to sit on his antique couch and use the space he plans to clear for her on his bookshelf.

The congregations agree on COVID-19 protocols, which require those who attend in person to be masked and to have proof of vaccination.

The pastor said her congregation has received a $21 million insurance payout from the Collegiate Churches of New York and $2 million from her congregation and the community. She said the rebuilding project will likely cost $25 million. Lewis expects fundraising will provide the remaining money needed for the building whose facade is still standing as well as for the churchs Freedom Rising programs focused on justice issues.

The two clergy of the progressive congregations that will soon share the same building have previously been engaged in interfaith efforts and dialogue. Lewis has appeared on TV and at conferences with Muslim and Jewish leaders, and Stantons synagogue hosted the religious school of Cordoba House, a Muslim organization, for five years. Stanton was one of the founding co-editors of the Journal of Interreligious Dialogue, now the Journal of Interreligious Studies.

East End Temple logo. Courtesy image

He has participated in Middle Collegiates annual Revolutionary Love Conference, and Lewis also appeared in East Ends pulpit in what Stanton said demonstrated solidarity with the Jewish community after the 2017 Unite the Rightrally by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia.

There is precedent, if not widespread, for houses of worship to pool resources across faiths during times of crisis or in other circumstances when sharing space allowed congregations to thrive.

Central Synagogue, another Reform synagogue in Manhattan, hosted St. Peters Lutheran Church in the 1970s when the Christian congregation replaced its 1905 building. Later, after the synagogue suffered a fire in 1998, its congregants met in nearby churches until its restored building opened three years later.

A Maryland Reconstructionist synagogue meets in an Episcopal church and a Florida Reform Jewish congregation gathers in a United Church of Christ building, interfaith experts noted.

We see many examples of congregations of two different faiths sharing a space, said Amy Asin, vice president of congregational engagement and leadership experiences for the Union for Reform Judaism, in a statement to Religion News Service. We also find that interfaith partners are among the first to offer assistance in times of difficulty. We saw multiple congregations offer their spaces to other faiths in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the hostage taking in Colleyville TX and other incidents.

Lewis views cooperation with East End as an important new level of connection between their houses of worship, especially at a time when antisemitism has been on the rise.

This community is dancing, dancing with my community, loving on my community, looking for all the ways that we have something in common, despite the fact that the church writ large has too often been unfriendly, unwelcoming, unkind to our Jewish siblings, she said.

I honor that we have a shared base of faith in the one God who loves us all. And Im just thrilled they are not only open to, but delighted to, open their doors for us.

RELATED: Historic Middle Collegiate Church in New York City destroyed in six-alarm fire

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Middle Church to begin meeting in synagogue on Easter as it awaits restored building - Religion News Service

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