Looks like we could have a replay of the whether-to-call-it-a-genocide debate.

Yesterday we had a brief about a statement from 185 rabbis and other communal figures calling on Jewish tourists to skip the Beijing Olympics. Well, today the ADL is out with a statement coming out against a Jewish boycott. It appears to be meant as a rebuttal.

Read the ADL statement here.

Below is the full statement calling for a tourist boycott, along with the list of signatories.

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James Besser reports in the New York Jewish Week about the launch of a new political action committee aimed at supporting dovish congressional candidates — and, in Britain’s Prospect magazine, Gershom Gorenberg says that’s a good thing. (more…)

The Harvard Crimson reports on the controversy stirred up by a multi-media exhibition at the Harvard Hillel featuring testimonials from Israeli soldiers about their time in Gaza and the West Bank:

“Breaking the Silence” — a traveling exhibit of over 100 photographs and videos testimonials curated by former Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers — drew a crowd of nearly 200 on its opening night on March 1. Critics have said the exhibit portrays only the extremes of military life — such as a picture of an IDF soldier smiling in front of several corpses — and offers little context.

“By hosting this exhibit, Harvard Hillel only promotes enmity and hatred towards Israel and gives legitimacy to these sentiments by stamping its approval on the biased, distorted collage of pictures,” said [ZOA's Mort Klein].

But Franklin M. Fisher — an MIT economics professor and chair of Americans for Peace Now, which advocates for peace in the Middle East and sponsors “Breaking the Silence” — said he disagreed with Klein’s view. Fisher said the exhibit does not constitute criticism of Israel, adding that “not all criticism of Israel is hostile.”

Just to recap: On Monday night, in a debate with Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza, Lou Dobbs accused the ADL of being an “absolute advocate group for open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens.” Then he took another shot:

Well, on Thursday night, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann fired back, giving his daily “Worst Person in the World” award to Dobbs.

In the midst of an on-air debate Monday night with Janet Murguia, an immigrants’ rights activist from the National Council of La Raza (which recently launched a campaign to combat hate speech against immigrants), CNN’s Lou Dobbs called the Anti-Defamation League “a joke” and an “absolute advocate group for open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens.”

The ADL, which was cited by Murguia as “an outstanding organization,” has previously chided Dobbs for “spread[ing] false propaganda about how immigrants are harming the United States.”

The ADL has yet to comment on Dobbs’ remarks.

Video here. Transcript here.

(Hat tip to Greg Siskind.)

Clever fund-raising video from the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley. Wonder if it will work.

A few final tidbits on the G.A. (unless I think of some more)…

* All those people busting on Sarah Chasin need to get off of their high horse. Several G.A. attendees told me they found her honesty refreshing.

* Suddenly I don’t feel so bad for not knowing the names of all of the country singers that we saw down in Tennessee (Jimmy Dickens — a country singin’ dirty-joke-tellin’ version of Henny Youngman — Hal Ketchum, The Grascals, T Graham Brown, Mandy Barnett, Jason D Williams?????). The guest MC at the G.A.’s night out to the Grand Ole Opry — Andy Groveman, the former chairman of the Memphis federation — made reference to hip hop artist Caine West (I think he met Kanye).

* As I milled around the airport waiting to go home, a man comes up and asks what I thought of the food at the G.A. Turns out it was the mashgiach, Dovid Lapin, from Baltimore. I asked him if he knew about the “Wasabi” at the Sushi bar during the big Monday night bash (it was actually Jewish-style horseradish dyed green with food coloring). He says: “Not only do I know about it — it was my idea!” Lapin, a former caterer, came up with the plan after the caterers told him at the last minute that they didn’t have any Wasabi.

Condi and me at the Opryland! (Her idea, I swear!)

Click the play button below to listen (or read the transcript).

To subscribe to JTA’s Behind the News podcast, click here.

The UJC made something of a daring move Monday morning, opening up its only plenary of the day to seven young Jewish innovators and activists — leaders that stray from the typical mold of the federation “leader,” who is much older and much wealthier than those on display this morning.

They included a young up and coming film producer, Ari Sandel, who won an Academy Award for his short film, “West Bank Story,” a farsical musical about a love that springs between the scions of two warring fast food joints — one kosher and one Hallal — in Israel. There was also our own Dan Sieradski, a Jewish Web-maven who in his other life outside JTA is known as Mobius, the Orthodox Anarchist, and is prone to post-Zionist outbursts.

Despite Sandel’s admission to JTA after his speaking engagement that he knew little to nothing about the federation system, and despite Sieradski giving the UJC elders on hand some serious mussar — generally that the federation system needs to drop more cash into helping the young develop their own initiatives — the plenary was well received by the federation stalwarts on hand.

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