Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 30, 2024

Jewish holidays are often turned into a mask by anti-Zionist progressive Jews. Hiding behind Jewish aesthetics, they feel they have the freedom to attack Israel and the majority of Jews who are Zionist. Yet while these actors are comfortable wearing the costume of well-known Hanukkah and respectable Passover, they seem to be embarrassed by Purim.

This year there hasnt been much of a megillah of Purim-themed social media posts advocating on behalf of Palestinians and attacking Israel, likely because the holiday enshrines the right of self-defense, a tenet of Zionism that radical left wing Jews would like to deny to the Jewish state.

For this reason, Purim 2024 has seen Jews who have taken a more antagonistic position on Israel, creating content attacking the holiday, revising it, and even downplaying how we should perceive the enemies of the Jews.

National Public Radio on Saturday published an article about the darker chapter in the Book of Esther, in which the Persian Jews fought back against Hamans pogromists and killed 75,000 of them.

The Washington Post also published on Purim eve a similar article about how some American Jews were rethinking Purim celebrations because this chapter was particularly uncomfortable in light of the war.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency also explored radicals bemoaning the bloodiest chapter. Some of the subjects in the articles, such as The Shalom Centers Chapter 9 Project, even sought to rewrite the over 2000-year-old religious text with new fan fiction endings.

This year the resonances of Israel-Gaza are too strong to ignore, rabbi Arthur Waskow wrote in the introduction of the Chapter 9 Project.

In the Purim narrative, Persian vizier Haman hated prominent Jew Mordechai and his people because they did not bow before him, and had laws different from those of any other people. Haman obtained permission from king Ahasuerus to perform a genocide of the Jewish people, to destroy, massacre, and exterminate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, on a single day, as he put it, and cast a lot for the fateful date of the mass pogrom.

The command went out across the land, and Hamans men prepared themselves for this dirty deed.

Meanwhile, Mordechai told his niece and crypto-Jew queen Esther, who curried favor with Ahasuerus, to execute Haman and to give permission to the Jews to fight back.

On October 7, backed by a Persian regime, Hamas launched a massive pogrom in Israel, murdering, raping, and torturing 1200 people, most of them civilians. Hundreds more were taken into captivity. Israel fought and pushed the pogromists back, and then almost a month later launched a ground invasion to destroy the terrorist organization an endeavor still ongoing as the 2024 Purim celebrations were held.

In the articles, fringe elements of diaspora Jewry conflated both the Jewish military action against Haman and the one against Hamas forces as vengeance.

Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie and rabbi Rachel Timoner, for example, published a March 7 opinion piece in The Forward in which they described the killing of 75,000 civilians, the ultimate collective punishment. As with the often regurgitated number of Hamas Health Ministry figures of 30,000, non-combatants and combatants are lumped together to obscure the truth.

In the Purim story, the Persian Jews were still in danger after Hamans execution; Ahasueruss orders could not be rescinded. It was fight or die. Since October 7, rockets have continued to fall on Israel, most captives have not been freed, and Hamas has repeatedly said that it would attempt to cast the lots for other October 7s in the future.

The Israel-Hamas war, like Purim, is not about vengeance, but preventing impending attacks and justice. Because Hamas and Haman are destroyed ascribable to their own plots as they justly deserve.

Let the evil plot, which he devised against the Jews, recoil on his own head, Ahasuerus said, a statement summed up in modern parlance when social media commentators said Hamas and its supporters f**ked around, and found out what the ramifications were for doing so.

Using an advertisement for its interfaith iftar and breaking of the Fast of Esther to call for a Permanent ceasefire, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice claimed that We know unequivocally that responding to violence with massive violence is not the solution and does not make anyone safer, yet tellingly, they dont make any arguments tying the protest to Purim.

Military action in the face of a genocidal force saved the Jewish people during the Purim story, and it is within Jewish tradition to follow accordingly.

What would Esther do? asked the Shalom Institute, writing new Purim endings in which the war was just Mordechais dream, or that Esther magically achieved peace with those that sought to kill her.

IfNotNow asked the same question, with the name of their Sunday Purim for Liberation and Peace, in which they also imagined alternate endings and called for a ceasefire.

Yet reality cannot just be wished away, and as Esther knew, men like Hamas cannot easily be reasoned with. Esther was not in favor of a ceasefire. After 500 pogromists and Hamans 10 sons were killed on the first day of the war, Ahasuerus indicated that their deaths may be enough, but Esther pushed the king to allow her people to continue the battle for another day to put an end to the threat permanently.

Revisionists seek to deny this message of self-defense by claiming that Jewish extremists could use this message to murder innocent civilians. The articles and Shalom Institute essayists invariably cite terrorist Baruch Goldstein, who reportedly justified his murder of Palestinians with the Purim story. Yet Baruch was a unique Purim-inspired radical, acting in the same way that Hamas and its supporters do, targeting civilians.

The Persian Jews and Israel specifically targeted those who raised arms against them. While Ahasuerus gave the Jews license to kill women and children and take their enemies belongings, the megillah doesnt say they did, and explicitly stated they didnt plunder.

A reasonable message of self-defense should not be tainted by the one example that revisionists all muster. It is doubtful that they would judge an Islamic holiday or principle as forever marred, as Lau-Lavi and Timoner called Purim, because of the many riots of Ramadan in Israel, or the 2021 ISIS Eid al-Adha suicide bombing.

Lau-Lavi and Timoner dont want Jews to drown out the name of Haman, a tradition that follows the Torah commandment to blot out the name of Amalek, which is the name given to those who seek to destroy the Jewish people.

The Post and NPR detail how some are uncomfortable with the references to Amalek, such as when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hamas Amalek in an October 28 speech.

We are expected to accept chants calling for Intifada and Jihad on American campuses and are told that there are many interpretations of these terms. Ironically, however, the same nuance cannot be appreciated for the term Amalek.

While the interpretation of the passage you shall blot out the memory of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:19) is debated to be metaphorical or physical, fighting Amalek is, in fact, a matter of self-defense. The title is often given to those obviously not of the ancient tribe, but rather describes those seeking Israels destruction, such as the Nazis. Like Hamas, Amalek mercilessly ambushed the most vulnerable of the Israelites.

The commandment to blot out Amaleks memory comes when your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that your God is giving you as a hereditary portion. The story of Purim demonstrates the importance of having the political power of Esther to be able to seek out ones self-defense.

It also shows the danger of having to rely on others for permission, be it Persian king Ahasuerus or US President Joe Biden, which is why Zionists argue for a Jewish state to enshrine this right. Jews need a place where they do not bow before the whims of various Hamans and can live according to their own laws, different from those of any other people.

The other commandment regarding Amalek is to Remember what Amalek did to you (Deuteronomy 25:17), but by ignoring the lessons of Purim, and by denying the justness of Israeli military action, many are forgetting not only what Haman tried to do, but what Hamas did.

A hostage of a lustful and petulant king, Esther fasted for three days before seeking salvation for her people. On Thursday, activist Yotvat Fireaizen-Weil called for fasting on behalf of the Jewish women still held in captivity who are being abused.

IfNotNow called instead on Tuesday for a three-day fast in solidarity with Gaza, and for a ceasefire, end of military aid to Israel, and the exchange of terrorists for the hostages. Esther hid her identity to protect Jews while some groups dress themselves up in the costume of a Jewish identity so that they can harm their own.Like Mordechai, groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace should have mourned like he did in sackcloth and ashes when the October 7 massacre unfolded, but on the very same day, they blamed Israel for the pogrom and equated Hamass actions to those of the IDF.

The commandment to drink until one cannot tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman is not to equate the two, but is a celebration of the reversal from grief of a massacre to the joy of surviving it. Some Jews seem keen on missing this and drinking deep from an ideology that compels them to not only confuse Israel and Hamas every day, but to revise Jewish scriptures.

The name of the holiday, Purim, refers to the lots that were cast and their reversed effect. Casting ones lot with Hamas and denying Israel the Jewish right of self-defense will only lead to self-inflicted tragedy. As Haman found out, it is easy to be hung by ones own gallows. Hamas did not care about the political beliefs of the Jews they encountered on October 7, killing them wantonly. Anti-Zionist, radical left wing, and anti-Israel Jews in the United States would do well to heed the warnings that Mordechai gave to Esther about Hamans plot: Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the kings palace.

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Zionism on Purim during the Israel-Hamas war - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on March 30, 2024

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that Israels military will soon launch an invasion of Rafah, the city in the southern Gaza Strip. More than 1 million Palestinians, now on the verge of famine, have sought refuge there from their bombed-out cities farther north. Despite U.S. President Joe Bidens warning against the move, Netanyahu appears, for now, undeterred from his aim to attack Rafah.

The attack is the latest chapter in Israels current battle to eliminate Hamas from Gaza.

But its also a reflection of an ideology, known as the Iron Wall, that has been part of Israeli political history since before the states founding in 1948. The Iron Wall has driven Netanyahu in his career leading Israel for two decades, culminating in the current deadly war that began with a massacre of Israelis and then turned into a humanitarian catastrophe for Gazas Palestinians.

Here is the history of that ideology:

In 1923, Vladimir, later known as Zeev, Jabotinsky, a prominent Zionist activist, published On the Iron Wall, an article in which he laid out his vision for the course that the Zionist movement should follow in order to realize its ultimate goal: the creation of an independent Jewish state in Palestine, at the time governed by the British.

Jabotinsky admonished the Zionist establishment for ignoring the Arab majority in Palestine and their political desires. He asserted the Zionist establishment held a fanciful belief that the technological progress and improved economic conditions that the Jews would supposedly bring to Palestine would endear them to the local Arab population.

Jabotinsky thought that belief was fundamentally wrong.

To Jabotinsky, the Arabs of Palestine, like any native population throughout history, would never accept another peoples national aspirations in their own homeland. Jabotinsky believed that Zionism, as a Jewish national movement, would have to combat the Arab national movement for control of the land.

Every native population in the world resists colonists as long as it has the slightest hope of being able to rid itself of the danger of being colonised, he wrote.

Jabotinsky believed the Zionist movement should not waste its resources on Utopian economic and social dreams. Zionisms sole focus should be on developing Jewish military force, a metaphorical Iron Wall, that would compel the Arabs to accept a Jewish state on their native land.

Zionist colonisation can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach, he wrote.

In 1925, Jabotinsky founded the Revisionist movement, which would become the chief right-wing opposition party to the dominant Labor Party in the Zionist movement. It opposed Labors socialist economic vision and emphasized the focus on cultivating Jewish militarism.

In 1947, David Ben Gurion and the Zionist establishment accepted partition plans devised by the United Nations for Palestine, dividing it into independent Jewish and Palestinian Arab states. The Zionists goal in accepting the plan: to have the Jewish state founded on the basis of such international consensus and support.

Jabotinskys Revisionists opposed any territorial compromise, which meant they opposed any partition plan. They objected to the recognition of a non-Jewish political entity an Arab state within Palestines borders.

The Palestinian Arab state proposed by the U.N. partition plan was rejected by Arab leaders, and it never came into being.

In 1948, Israel declared its independence, which sparked a regional war between Israel and its Arab neighbors. During the war, which began immediately after the U.N. voted for partition and lasted until 1949, more than half the Palestinian residents of the land Israel claimed were expelled or fled.

At the wars end, the historic territory of Palestine was divided, with about 80% claimed and governed by the new country of Israel. Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip.

In the new Israeli parliament, Jabotinskys heirs in a party first called Herut and later Likud were relegated to the opposition benches.

In 1967, another war broke out between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Syria and Jordan. It resulted in Israels occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights. Yitzhak Rabin led Israels military during that war, called the Six-Day War.

From 1948 until 1977, the more leftist-leaning Labor Party governed Israel. In 1977, Menachem Begin led the Likud to victory and established it as the dominant force in Israeli politics.

However in 1992, Rabin, as the leader of Labor, was elected as prime minister. With Israel emerging as both a military and economic force in those years, fueled by the new high-tech sector, he believed the country was no longer facing the threat of destruction from its neighbors. To Rabin, the younger generation of Israelis wanted to integrate into the global economy. Resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, he believed, would help Israel integrate into the global order.

In 1993, Rabin negotiated the Oslo Accords, a peace deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The two men shook hands in a symbol of the reconciliation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The agreement created a Palestinian authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as part of the pathway to the long-term goal of creating two countries, Israel and a Palestinian state, that would peacefully coexist.

That same year, Benjamin Netanyahu had become the leader of the Likud Party. The son of a prominent historian of Spanish Jewry, he viewed Jewish history as facing a repeating cycle of attempted destruction from the Romans to the Spanish Inquisition, the Nazis and the Arab world.

Netanyahu saw the Oslo peace process as the sort of territorial compromise Jabotinsky had warned about. To him, compromise would only invite conflict, and any show of weakness would spell doom.

The only answer to such a significant threat, Netanyahu has repeatedly argued, is a strong Jewish state that refuses any compromises, always identifying the mortal threat to the Jewish people and countering it with an overwhelming show of force.

Since the 1990s, Netanyahus primary focus has not been on the threat of the Palestinians, but rather that of Iran and its nuclear ambitions. But he has continued to say there can be no territorial compromise with the Palestinians. Just as Palestinians refuse to accept Israel as a Jewish state, Netanyahu refuses to accept the idea of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu believed that only through strength would the Palestinians accept Israel, a process that would be aided if more and more Arab states normalized relations with Israel, establishing diplomatic and other ties. That normalization reached new heights with the 2020 Abraham Accords, the bilateral agreements signed between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and between Israel and Bahrain. These agreements were the ultimate vindication of Netanyahus regional vision.

It should not be surprising, then, that Hamas horrific attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, took place just as Saudi Arabia was nearing normalization of relations with Israel. In a twisted manner, when the Saudis subsequently backed off the normalization plans, the attack reaffirmed Netanyahus broader vision: The Palestinian group that vowed to never recognize Israel made sure that Arab recognition of Israel would fail.

The Hamas attack gave Netanyahu an opportunity to reassert Israels and Jabotinskys Iron Wall.

The massive and wantonly destructive war that Netanyahu has led against Hamas and Gaza since that date is the Iron Wall in its most elemental manifestation: unleashing overwhelming force as a signal that no territorial compromise with the Arabs over historical Palestine is possible. Or, as Netanyahu has repeatedly said in recent weeks, there will be no ceasefire until theres a complete Israeli victory.

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Israel's 'Iron Wall': A brief history of the ideology guiding Benjamin Netanyahu - The Conversation Indonesia

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Posted By admin on March 30, 2024

Is it just me, or does it feel like Zionists are reallygoing through it these days?

Everywhere you look, it seems that Israels supporters are being driven slightly mad by the responsibility of defending one of the worst ongoing crimes against humanity we have ever seen in modern times. Its like you can see their wiring shorting out in real time. Its kind of wild.

(Before I go on, let me be specific because a lot of dumb stuff gets thrown around. Zionist is not a stand-in for Jew. It means what it says it meanspeople who support the state of Israel. And not all Jews are supporters of the state of Israel. Two different things. OK! Lets continue.)

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The increasing trouble in the land of Zionism has been apparent for a while, but its really picked up steam in recent weeks. There was the absolutely bananas meltdown over Jonathan Glazers speech at the Oscarsa meltdown that is still going on, weeks later! There are the ever-more-unhinged screeds against anti-Zionist Jews. And now, there is the ongoing fracas over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs decision in the past few days to say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Now, AOC has hardly been on the radical cutting edge when it comes to Gaza. For instance, shes staunchly backing Joe Biden, unlike other Squad members such as Rashida Tlaib.

But, late last week, she said that an unfolding genocide was taking place, and on Sunday, she went on CNN to talk to Jake Tapper about it.

Cue freakout!

Heres how things unfolded.

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The Zionists Are Losing It - by Jack Mirkinson - Discourse Blog

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Posted By admin on March 30, 2024

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Celebrating Gil Scott-Heron's anti-Zionist boycott on 75th birthday - The Philadelphia Tribune

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Posted By admin on March 30, 2024

Anti-Zionist faculty within the University of California (UC) system are doing more than ever before to make Zionism anathema on their campuses, according to a new study published by AMCHA Initiative, an antisemitism watchdog group.

The report titled Academic Agitators: The Role of Anti-Zionist Faculty Activism in Escalating Antisemitism at the University of California After October 7, 2023 found that incidents of faculty engaging in anti-Zionist advocacy increased 1,100 percent between Oct. 7, 2023 and March 15, 2024. Professors, especially those involved in the anti-Zionist group Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), have used their classrooms to indoctrinate students into becoming anti-Zionist and aided student groups in their efforts to alienate and defame Jewish students as privileged and genocide deniers, according to the study.

The report cites numerous examples of faculty-driven anti-Zionism, including a UC Santa Cruz professor writing zionism [sic] is not welcome on our campus, a UC Berkeley graduate student teacher awarding academic benefits for participating in anti-Zionist events, and the UC Merced Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department posting a statement that described Israels response to the Oct. 7 massacre as genocide and denied that Hamas is a terrorist group.

Campus administrators are scared to enforce university policies and state laws that clearly prohibit such faculty abuse. The Regents, who are trying to address one small piece of the problem with a new policy prohibiting political statements on departmental websites, are struggling to do even that, AMCHA executive director and co-founder Tammi Rossman-Benjamin told The Algemeinerin a statement. Unless and until the Regents can take back the reins and govern the university as is their mandate under the California constitution, including by ensuring university policy and state law are enforced, Jewish students will not be safe on UC campuses.

UC faculty transfer their attitudes as well as a vocabulary of anti-Zionism to students, the report adds. Since Hamas Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, anti-Zionist students have used language that can be directly traced to ideas espoused by their professors, and, at other times, students and teachers collaborate. UC Santa Cruzs Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department, for example, said, Skip school and work. Do not look away from the genocide, in a message to students promoting a Students for Justice in Palestines Shut It Down for Palestine demonstration held in November.

Anti-Zionist faculty are out of control at the University of California. They are using their academic positions, departmental infrastructure, and university resources to spread hatred of the Jewish state and its on-campus supporters, and in so doing, are fomenting the harassment and even assault of Jewish students all with impunity, Rossman-Benjamin added.

Some of the problems described in AMCHAs report are now on the radar of federal lawmakers.

Last week, the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce launched an investigation into alleged antisemitism at the University of California, Berkeley, three weeks after a mob of anti-Zionist students stormed a campus building and verbally attacked and spat on Jewish students attending a talk by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier.

UC Berkeley came under scrutiny last month after a mob of hundreds of pro-Palestinian students and non-students shut down an event at its Zellerbach Hall featuring Israeli reservist Ran Bar-Yoshafat, forcing Jewish students to flee to a secret safe room as the protesters overwhelmed campus police.

Footage of the incident showed a frenzied mass of anti-Zionist agitators banging on the doors of Zellerbach. The mob then, according to witnesses, eventually stormed the building breaking windows in the process, according to reports in The Daily Wire and precipitated the decision to evacuate the area. During the infiltration of Zellerbach, one of the mob assembled by Bears for Palestine, which had earlier proclaimed its intention to cancel the event spit on a Jewish student and called him a Jew, pejoratively.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre

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Anti-Zionist Activity Among University of California Faculty Surged Tenfold After Oct. 7, New Report Says - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on March 30, 2024

On February 18, the Rohr Chabad House at the University of WisconsinMadison, a Wisconsin-based branch of the Zionist student network Chabad on Campus, hosted a talk by Oz Bin Nun, an Israeli Fellow for the Jewish Agency for Israel and a special unit commander in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

In a video of the talk posted online, Bin Nun readily admits that the Israeli military is killing Palestinian children in Gaza, which ignited a campus controversy over whether he was bragging about the militarys actions or lamenting them, as reported by student newspaper The Daily Cardinal.

But amid this debate, another startling admission in the talk by Bin Nun was buried: Students from the university had apparently helped purchase drones and body armor for the IDF. During his presentation, between footage of Israeli air strikes, Bin Nun shares a video of training exercises for what he calls a war in Lebanon yet to come. One scene features Israeli soldiers flying a drone.

This, thanks to UWMadison, they bought us some drones, says Bin Nun. Thank you Badgers! [in a reference to the university mascot].

Chabad at UWMadison is just one of many Chabad groups on campuses across the United States that have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the IDF since October 7. The Rohr Chabad House web page for its recent campaign states that $37,660 was raised for this purpose. A website for another similar fundraising campaign in New York City identifies the purchase price of each specialized drone as $7,500.

These contributions are potentially in violation of both campus rules and the groups nonprofit status.

Chabad-Lubavitch is a religious movement of Orthodox Jews, which operates more than 3,500 Chabad houses in eighty-five countries around the world to support educational and outreach activities. Among those are more than 260 Chabad on Campus houses on or near universities and colleges throughout the United States that organize holiday celebrations and activities for Jewish students. Although Orthodox Jews run the gamut from Zionist to non-Zionist to anti-Zionist, Chabad boasts of its leadership being actively involved in settlement of the Holy Land.

Since October 7, Chabad houses on campuses across the United States have also been actively fundraising for the Israeli military. A cross-section of Chabad houses investigated by The Progressive discovered such fundraising activities in disparate parts of the country, at both public and private schools, including: UWMadison, Rutgers University, Pennsylvania State University, Miami University in Ohio, and Princeton University.

None of the Chabad houses contacted by The Progressive responded to multiple requests for commentexcept the one at UWMadison.

We are happy and proud that so many Jewish students and members of the UW community contributed towards the humanitarian aid of helping Hamass victims and their protectors in the IDF, says Mendel Matusof, the director and rabbi of Chabad at UWMadison.

Matusof describes the drone purchased with the funds as intended for a volunteer search and rescue groupbut that description is at odds with Bin Nuns lecture.

Basically what we are doing since [October 7] until almost today is to play a really weird game in which we are hiding, searching for Hezbollah terrorists [referring to the Lebanese political party and militia group], Bin Nun said in his presentation. Theyre hiding, searching for us, and the first one to make a mistake is the first one to die.

Chabad on Campus houses are oriented towards accommodating students, but they are not always formally affiliated with the adjacent college or university. Some houses, like Chabad of Princeton University, are recognized by school administrations as affiliated chaplaincies. Others, like Chabad at the University of WisconsinMadison, serve students without being formally affiliated with any school.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the administration at UWMadison is quick to distance the university from Bin Nuns statements.

Contrary to information shared at a recent event, the university has not provided drones or funding for drones to Israel or the IDF, says John Lucas, assistant vice chancellor of university communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Any such fundraising was conducted privately, without the involvement of UWMadison.

[Rohr Chabad] does not make use of UW branding or marks, Lucas explains, in spite of the Chabads website and logo using the Universitys trademarked W. Lucas emphasizes that UW-Madison did not play a role in selecting the recent speaker, nor does it endorse the views that were shared at that event.

Chabad at UWMadison and other groups fundraising for the Israeli military may be running afoul of nonprofit laws.

Policies at UWMadison generally restrict on-campus fundraising to efforts benefiting registered 501(c)(3) charitable organizations. While Matusof declined to clarify to The Progressive if any of the Chabad at UWMadisons fundraising was done on campus, all of the beneficiaries listed on the campaigns web pageAmerican Friends of Magen David Adom, ZAKA, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and Chabads Terror Victims Projectare registered charities. This means they probably would not run afoul school policy.

But Chabad at UWMadison and other groups fundraising for the Israeli military may be running afoul of nonprofit laws, according to Charlie Swift, head of criminal defense at the Muslim Legal Fund of America. Swift explains that, while there are few legal restrictions on financial or material support from individuals in the United States to Israelincluding unique provisions allowing active duty U.S. military personnel to also serve in the Israeli militarynonprofits in the United States are bound by their charters.

The IRS regulations do not authorize a 501(c)3 to raise military money for these sorts of things, says Swift. My sense would be that that would be outside its mission.

According to its mission statement, Chabad at the University of WisconsinMadison is a Jewish student resource for the education and practice of the religion Judaism. Raising money for the Israeli military likely doesnt fit within that mission.

It doesnt, which is why it was a clearly defined, separate, and specific fundraiser, says Matusof. But, he adds, Encouraging people to give towards humanitarian causesincluding the IDFis absolutely part of the education and practice of Judaism.

Ethan Cohen of Jewish Voice for Peace in Philadelphia strongly disagrees, tellingThe Progressive, "Conflating Judaism with Zionism, linking Jewish student groups with the genocide in Gaza, will make the world less safe for all of us."

Loss of nonprofit status for organizations like Chabad houses would make them less attractive to donors, as well as subjecting the organizations themselves to taxes.

Anti-Zionist student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine see on-campus Chabad houses raising funds for the Israeli military as yet another reason for schools to both academically boycott and financially divest from Israel. The University of Wisconsin, for example, has an endowment valued at nearly $3.5 billion. Faculty and students have been pushing the administration to divest from Israel since at least 2004.

While every single university in Gaza has been destroyed by the Israeli regime, says Carrie Zaremba, spokesperson for the National Students for Justice in Palestine, our universities not only continue to fund these bombs but also allow Zionist extremists to fundraise additional support for the Israel occupation forces ongoing genocide.

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Posted By admin on March 30, 2024

I wake up every morning increasingly anxious about the waning support for Israel in America. Why? Because even though I have not personally experienced it yet, there is a rising tide of Jew-hatred, some of it violent, all of it loud, and much of it fodder for clickbait and front-page headlines.

The rabid anti-Zionism metastasizing on the left and persisting on the right, is already eroding the safety and security of Jews in Haredi neighborhoods and requiring a police presence and armed security in front of synagogues. It is eroding the support of United States for Israel, not so much in the general population, but in Congress and the current Administration.

Sadly, the pernicious drum beat of anti-Zionism especially from the left, is influencing the political decisions of President Biden and even Senator Schumer. I am of the opinion that Israel must militarily destroy the capacity of Hamas in Gaza. I am dismayed by the wavering of support for this goal. Just yesterday, in what feels like a betrayal, the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield abstained rather than vetoing a U. N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire not conditioned by the release of the hostages or any security guarantees for Israel.

This anxiety is leading me to be angry with my fellow American Jews if they are not fully supportive of Israels military objectives. Or if they still speak in the language of the progressive left that fosters anti-Zionism in its most virulent form. For example, I attended a panel discussion in a reform, non-traditional synagogue last week. The panel was moderated by a young rabbi.

During the evening the discussion turned to the Israeli war in Gaza and the violent and frequent assaults, physical and verbal of Haredi Jews here in America. During a pause in the discussion, the rabbi took the opportunity to share with the audience his interpretation of the meaning of the upcoming holiday of Passover. His Passover message is that Jews are called to welcome the stranger since we were once strangers in Egypt. In his mind, this imperative requires Israel to cease fire in Gaza and for American Jews to refrain from centering their own oppression in response to the tidal wave of antisemitism.

Once I got over my anger at his lack of empathy and understanding for either the situation of Israelis or his fellow American Jews, I realized that he and I were now living in different worlds. Our realities had bifurcated on October 7th. Having seen the burnt rubble, blood-stained floors and destruction of Kibbutz Beeri and Nir Oz, I take very different lessons from Passover. It was the Israelis living in those Kibbutzes who welcomed Gazans into their homes and communities, only to have those very same Gazans come back the next day to burn, murder, rape and kidnap.

Because of this bifurcation of realities, my Passover lessons are very different from the young rabbis. My first Passover lesson is that just as pharaohs army was utterly destroyed so Hamas must be destroyed. My second lesson is that we Jews in America are vulnerable to the increasingly weaponized Jew-hatred on the left disguised as anti-Zionism. Passover occurred twelve generations after Joseph served the Pharaoh. Over those generations his influence that had shielded and sheltered the Jews in Egypt waned.

It is now approximately twelve generations since the establishment of this country. A country whose founding documents established the ideal of religious freedom. Over the two and half centuries since its founding, Jews have overcome much and flourished in this country. However, the civil society norms against antisemitism are waning. Dismissing cavalierly what Haredi Jews experience daily increases the danger that this country will continue on this dangerous path. The need to support and protect those who are experiencing antisemitism in all its forms is not inappropriately centering Jewish oppression. It is caring for ones own community and fighting against the permissive attitude of the progressive left, in particular, towards Jew-hatred.

Natan Sharanksy recently said in an interview after the death of Alexei Navalny that the main struggle in America is not between Republicans and Democratsthe main struggle is between the liberals and progressives. I see and fear the growing acceptance of the poisonous progressive ideology that delegitimizes Israel and dismisses the fight against antisemitism in all its forms as inappropriately centering Jewish oppression.

This is not the time for the United States to abstain from votes that reinforce that delegitimization in the continuously and persistently anti-Israel environment of the UN. This is not the time for any of us to abstain from fighting Jew-hatred as hard as any other injustice and hatred that may exist. I see and fear these dangers. Perhaps the rabbi did not. Two different realities, two different meanings attached to Passover. At our respective Seders in a few weeks, I expect his Passover lessons and mine will be very different this year.

Jolie Bain Pillsbury, Ph D. Retired, residing in Arlington, Virginia. Public and private sector career focused on producing measurable results through the development of cross-sector collaborative leadership skills. Author of The Theory of Aligned Contributions and Results Based Facilitation: Books 1 & 2.

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No Time to Abstain | Jolie Bain Pillsbury | The Blogs - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on March 21, 2024

Teresa Sprowls, center, accepts a plaque in recognition of her continued employment of Columbiana County Board of Developmental Disabilities client John Conkle at Sprinklz on Top restaurant in East Palestine. Pictured are CCBDD Support and Service Administrator Caitlin Cole, CCBDD Reach 4 More Engagement Specialist Paul Anthony, Sprowls, Conkle, and CCBDD Assistant Superintendent Josh Martin. (Submitted photo)

EAST PALESTINE The admiration in his voice is quite evident as Josh Martin, assistant superintendent of the Columbiana County Board of Developmental Disabilities, talks about East Palestine resident John Conkle.

John is probably just one of a handful of developmental disabilities clients throughout the state of Ohio who was able to purchase his own home, said Martin. There are a number of clients who have become homeowners through bequests and legacies, but very seldom do you hear of one who actually earns the money to purchase his own home.

Conkle and his roommate of 30 years Gary Needham, who is also a CCBDD client, were able to purchase their East Palestine home in 2008, after years and years of hard work and working extra shifts.

I have known John since I first started with CCBDD as a service and Sspport administrator 21 years ago, Martin noted. He was one of my very first clients. When we were operating the sheltered workshops, John was one of the top earning employees. He would work five days each week at the workshop. Then, John would look to pick up a couple of extra days at local businesses.

Conkle has been working as a dishwasher at the Sprinklz on Top restaurant for almost four years. Prior to that he worked at a local car detailing business.

I came here so that I could make more money, said Conkle, who turned 62 last month. I like to work and to be around people. Everyone is very nice to me here.

Sprinklz on Top owner Teresa Sprowls appreciates Conkles hard work and his upbeat attitude.

John is truly a ray of sunshine. He is extremely helpful, willing to do anything that is asked of him. If he sees that something needs done, he goes ahead and does it. He doesnt have to be told, said Sprowls. John works five days a week. He loves working the early shift. He is super- duper fantastic.

Sprinklz on Top is located at 78 N. Market St. in East Palestine.

Caitlin Cole, Conkles SSA from the CCBDD echoed Sprowls comments, saying, John is such a hard worker. His positivity shines through into his work and his interaction with the other staff members and the customers. He is a person who truly loves coming to work.

For many years, Conkle was a stalwart on the Columbiana County Special Olympics basketball team.

John was a pretty good hoopster, said Martin. He could rebound and put the ball in the basket.

It was due to Conkles intense work program that the CCBDD initiated a remote support program for their clients.

John was working so many hours at various businesses, that whenever anyone from our office tried to stop by to check on him, he wouldnt be at home. Many times, he wouldnt be home when the SSAs came to visit. We had no idea when he would be home, said Martin. That became our impetus to utilize a remote support system that made it possible for John to let us know whenever he needed something. It also allows us to check in with him on a regular basis.

Martin summed up John Conkle quite succinctly when he said, John is a perfect example of what hard work can achieve, if you have a goal, and are willing to work toward it.

Conkle originally worked with Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities and Blue Sky Employment LLC for placement at Sprinklz on Top.

Teresa is a caring person, who truly considers her employees here at Sprinklz on Top to be part of her family, said CCBDD Reach 4 More Employment Engagement Specialist Paul Anthony. Coupled with Johns diligence and work ethic, this makes a fantastic situation for one of our clients.

Businesses or individuals desiring more information on Reach 4 More can contact Anthony via email at p.anthony@ccbdd.net. Their website is http://www.reach4more.org.

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Posted By admin on March 21, 2024

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left) poses with Mohammad Mustafa, the former deputy prime minister and the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, after the latter was appointed as new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, in Ramallah, West Bank, on Thursday. Palestinian Presidency/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left) poses with Mohammad Mustafa, the former deputy prime minister and the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, after the latter was appointed as new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, in Ramallah, West Bank, on Thursday.

TEL AVIV, Israel Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appointed his longtime economic adviser to be the next prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and has tasked him with forming a new government.

Mohammad Mustafa is taking over the role in a move seen as an attempt to appease U.S. demands for reform so that the Palestinian Authority could govern Gaza in a postwar era.

The development is unlikely to please Palestinians, however, who have long expressed discontent with the Palestinian Authority's leadership, especially as the 88-year-old Abbas remains president.

"Overall, it's pretty meaningless. Because it's not going to change anything, for Palestinians internally or with regard to the relationship between the Palestinian Authority and Israel," said Joel Beinin, the Donald J. McLachlan professor of history and professor of Middle East history, emeritus, at Stanford University.

The almost 70-year-old Mustafa has been a senior economic affairs adviser to Abbas since 2005.

He previously served as the national economy minister and the deputy prime minister for the Palestinian Authority. He has been the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund since 2009.

Mustafa also has ties to the United States. He received a master's degree and a Ph.D. at Washington, D.C.'s George Washington University. He previously worked for the World Bank as well.

Given Mustafa's longtime connection to Abbas, he is widely seen as a loyalist to the president.

"Mohammad Mustafa is a person who has been part of the authority in his capacity as an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas for years. So this is not injecting new blood, not injecting younger blood, because he's 70 years old. It's not gonna fix the reputation of the authority among Palestinians," Beinin said.

The White House's National Security Council said it welcomed the appointment of Mustafa as prime minister, according to spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

"We urge the formation of a reform cabinet as soon as possible," Watson said in a statement. "The United States will be looking for this new government to deliver on policies and implementation of credible and far-reaching reforms. A reformed Palestinian Authority is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people and establishing the conditions for stability in both the West Bank and Gaza."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands prior to a meeting at the presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Nov. 30, 2023. Saul Loeb/AP hide caption

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands prior to a meeting at the presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Nov. 30, 2023.

The Palestinian Authority was created as part of the Oslo Accords, a set of agreements signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s.

It was given control over pieces of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority went on to lose control of Gaza to Hamas after fighting in 2007 and now controls only about 40% of the occupied West Bank. The rest of the West Bank is in Israeli hands.

A majority of Palestinians are still not supportive of this governmental body. A recent study from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research found that nearly 60% of Palestinians want the Palestinian Authority dissolved and that 88% want Abbas to resign.

"People are generally disgusted with the Palestinian Authority. It has very little respectability in the West Bank and even less in the Gaza Strip, among other reasons, because they have done absolutely nothing in response to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip after Oct. 7. But even long before that, they had lost credibility," Beinin said.

Palestinians spoke to NPR about their discontent with their leadership in the West Bank in late February. Citizens there said the Palestinian Authority needs to make changes to care for its citizens in Palestinian territories something that they say the government has failed to do, including not even addressing the basic needs of the population.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat shake hands, marking the signing of the peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, as U.S. President Bill Clinton looks on, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13, 1993. Ron Edmonds/AP hide caption

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat shake hands, marking the signing of the peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, as U.S. President Bill Clinton looks on, in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13, 1993.

Now-former Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who announced that he was tendering the resignation of his cabinet last month, has remained on hand to serve as a caretaker to the government.

In his announcement of the appointment, Abbas asked Mustafa to create plans to reunite the administration of the West Bank and Gaza, reform the government and address corruption.

While the White House has expressed support for Mustafa's appointment, Beinin noted it's unlikely to be enough to ever get Israel's current government on board to support a Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza.

"I'm sorry to say this, but President Biden is delusional in imagining that that can happen under the current Israeli government," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected Palestinian Authority control of Gaza after the war, saying that civilian governance should be given to local leaders.

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Posted By admin on March 21, 2024

More Feelings is out March 23 on HBO. Listen to the full conversation on Vultures Good One podcast on April 2.

Illustration: Agns Ricart

Ramy Youssef has been writing comedy about Israel and Palestine for years. Before October 7, he was touring an hourlong set that included a story about going home with a woman and finding she had an Israeli flag on the wall. Im horny, so Im trying to justify it, he says. This is the Star of David. Thats their logo. Its just Jewish Big. PostOctober 7, he didnt have to throw everything out and start over, but he knew hed need to write about it after friends started reaching out.

October 10th, I get a call from a guy I know, starts a joke ten minutes into Youssefs new special, More Feelings. Yo, bro, where you at with Hamas? Youssef is defiant: Where Im at? Are we fucking? His tone turns serious. You think any of us like what happened? he says. We hate seeing people die. It made me cry. The audience interrupts him, breaking into applause. Youssef returns to the conversation with his friend: You know me. You think Im Hamas? Bro, Im a Taliban guy.

Was this the first joke you came up with after October 7?That joke was the first thing that came out of a set soon after. I would start by saying, Im not sure were supposed to be here. Ive been depressed. This has been really hard. I would address the Jewish folks in the room, too: Listen, I know you also have had a really hard time. Theres so much generational trauma. Were all sorting through a lot of feelings. Its why my stand-up has always been called Feelings, because this is a space to do that. And then Id talk about this phone call I had with a friend and get into that joke.

At a certain point, it became clear that I could just get into the joke part of it. Part of that too was because I started to use the proceeds of the show to donate to humanitarian aid that was going into Gaza, so people understood that context coming into the show. Then very quickly I would get into the joke.

What can you tell me about the October 10 phone call?The truth is that call is many calls. Its a few people who were close to me and people who werent. I had to have a little bit of grace for people who, whatever their backstory is, all of a sudden on October 7 went, Huh? Whats going on over there? And then they asked these questions that were shocking. It made me feel like when I was a kid and I had to explain to people that I wasnt a terrorist, as if my faith and where I come from meant I have this proximate agreement to violence.

I know a lot of people in my life who would say, Man, I dont need to deal with that. I fully understand that point of view. But I had that little extra thing in me thats probably from my parents, who are really gracious. My dad was a hotel manager, and his whole thing was You got to make people feel good. You have to take care of people. So I just say, Okay, Im feeling upset. Im feeling wild that I even have to explain this to you. But also, I have the space to talk about it. And with the hope that that could be an offering.

How do you make those feelings funny? It just made me laugh because its a hilarious position to be in. Its like, Ive known you my whole life And lets be real: Whats really the bottom of the question? The bottom of the question is You think I might like this? You think theres a chance I think terrorisms cool? And then it becomes a really funny setup for a joke where theres this idea that Im going to tell you, Hey, no. Im super-peaceful. The joke is set up that way and then takes the other turn, which is just classic comedy.

How did you approach the non-joke part of the joke, when you allow yourself to get claps? Did you think, This is worth it because then it really sets up the joke? Or, This is worth it because I want to say this?Its both. Its funny because its sincere in my mind. I have room for all these feelings, and I want to talk to you about it. But also, Fuck you, you know? There is nothing on earth that isnt sitting in some crazy duality. And thats my relationship with my friends. Its my relationship with my audience. Its what makes it funny.

Was the punch line always Taliban?We piloted other groups. We tried Boko Haram, but their brand isnt strong enough to really get the pop or the laugh you want.

Wait, really?No, no, no. It was always Taliban.

I wouldnt put it past any comedian.Yeah, youre sitting with six guys and being like, Well, yeah, what group should it be? Thats not the kind of joke you can workshop with a bunch of Arabs, though, because at a certain point someone non-Arab shows up and goes, What are you guys talking about? The joke in and of itself creates the problem youre trying to avoid.

What do you think the role of the comedian is in a situation like this?Jon Stewart came to one of the tapings. When I first met him, I told him I remembered when I was in high school feeling that the only voice that cared about me on TV was this Jewish comedian from New Jersey. We present incredibly differently in so many ways, but I feel a kinship to the idea that theres something worthy in processing absurdity by sitting in it. And Jon did that so well.

That said, as traditional media continues to disintegrate into being so unfocused, so biased, so disingenuous in describing what is happening, theres this weird thing of Well, maybe I can get my truth from the comedians because theyre the real philosophers. Part of the design of the joke were talking about is I go out of my way to say, Yeah, no. Im also not going to do that.

Thank you for subscribing and supporting our journalism. If you prefer to read in print, you can also find this article in the March 25, 2024, issue of New YorkMagazine.

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Ramy Youssef on the First Israel-Palestine Joke He Wrote After 10/7 - Vulture

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