JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Covenant Foundation 18th Anniversary Celebration Live!

By Daniel Sieradski · October 27, 2008

Tomorrow, the Convent Foundation, one of this country’s preeminent supporters of Jewish education initiatives, will celebrate their 18th anniversary with a conference at the UJA-Federation of New York.  The event’s overarching themes are described as “Dissolving Boundaries” and “Seizing the Future: Promoting Jewish Learning, Community Building and Civic Engagement.” I will be joining a panel on the latter subject.

Watch this space for a live broadcast from the conference beginning at 10:30AM on Tuesday, October 27.  The speaker schedule follows.

10:30AM
Welcome – Harlene Appelman
Dissolving Boundaries: An Introduction – Martha Minow and Liz Lerman
Small Dances about Big Ideas: Excerpts – Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

12:15-1:00PM
Potential of New Media and Film – Carlton Evans, Barry Joseph, Rafi Santo, Daniel Sieradski
Making The Case for Uncommon Connections – Liz Lerman and Martha Minow

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Rosenberg on Goldberg

By Uriel Heilman · August 25, 2008

In his latest column, M.J. Rosenberg of the Israel Policy Forum mischaracterizes The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg on the threat posed to Diaspora Jews by a potential Israeli strike on Iran.

In an Aug. 11 blogpost, Goldberg writes of the retaliatory terrorist attacks American Jews should expect – “blowback” – if Israel strikes Iran:

The leaders of American Jewish organizations are generally hesitant to bring up the subject of Diaspora blowback when they talk to Israeli officials, and not without justifiable reason: Israel is a sovereign state, and makes decisions based on the needs of its national security. And Israeli officials bridle at the thought of Diaspora Jews telling them what to do. They also bridle at the idea that the existence of Israel actually endangers Jews in the Diaspora, rather than strengthens them. I would never argue that Israel hasn’t strengthened, in particular, the American Jewish community, giving it both backbone and meaning. And I wouldn’t argue that Israel should refrain from acting as a rescuer of persecuted Jews worldwide simply because it blurs the line between the interests of the Diaspora and the interests of the Jewish state.

Here’s how Rosenberg interprets Goldberg:

Goldberg writes that the reason we don’t hear much about this issue of “blowback” is that just raising it challenges the fundamental premise underlying Zionism. The existence of the state of Israel supposedly makes Jews in the Diaspora safer. If, on the other hand, actions taken by Israel jeopardize Jews outside of Israel then the Zionist concept looks flawed.

Rosenberg then goes to explain why an Israeli strike on Iran would be a terrible idea.

That may be the case, but Rosenberg misconstrues Goldberg, who speaks not at all about Zionism or flaws in the Zionist concept.

If this whole exercise in parsing blogposts with Talmudic scrutiny seems a bit pedantic to you, well then you’re right on target.

5 Comments | Share This | Iran, Israel, Jewish Orgs

The g-word was so 2007—now it’s the b-word

By Ami Eden · May 1, 2008

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.

April 30, 2008

A Yom Hashoah Declaration:
The China Olympics Are Not Kosher

We are deeply troubled by China’s support for the genocidal government of Sudan; its mistreatment of the people of Tibet; its denial of basic rights to its own citizens; and its provision of missiles to Iran and Syria, and friendship for Hamas.

Having endured the bitter experience of abandonment by our presumed allies during the Holocaust, we feel a particular obligation to speak out against injustice and persecution today.

We remember all too well that the road to Nazi genocide began in the 1930s, with Hitler’s efforts to improve the public image of his evil regime.  Nazi Germany sought to attract visitors to the 1936 Olympics in order to distract attention from its persecution of the Jews.  Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, called the 1936 games “a victory for the German cause.” We dare not permit today’s totalitarian regimes to achieve such victories.

Beijing’s authorization of the creation of a kosher kitchen at the Olympics village is apparently intended to help attract Jewish tourists to the games, as part of its broader strategy of improving its image and deflecting attention from its complicity in severe human rights abuses at home and abroad.

Jews should not be party to the whitewashing of such a regime, kosher kitchen or no kosher kitchen.  Regimes that practice or enable oppression, terrorism, or genocide are not kosher.  Therefore on this occasion of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day on which we remember the Nazi genocide, we call upon world Jewry to refrain from attending the Beijing Olympics.

Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg
Past President, Jewish Life Network
Past Chairman, United States Holocaust Memorial Council (2000-2002)

Rabbi Dr. Haskel Lookstein
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun / Ramaz School
Author of Were We Our Brothers’ Keepers? The Public
Response of American Jews to the Holocaust

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie
President
Union for Reform Judaism

Richard Gordon, President and Neil Goldstein, Executive Director
on behalf of the American Jewish Congress
New York, NY

Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz
President
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson
President
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm
Chancellor, Yeshiva University
Head of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Rabbi Dr. David Golinkin
President, Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies
Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Joel H. Meyers
Executive Vice President
Rabbinical Assembly

Rabbi Peter Knobel
President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Steven A. Fox
Executive Vice President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Charles A. Kroloff
Vice President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Daniel Hillel Freelander
Vice President
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Deborah Prinz
Director of Program and Member Services,
Central Conference of American Rabbis

Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman
The Jewish Center of the Hamptons
Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis
Past President, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dr. David A. Teutsch
Director, Center for Jewish Ethics
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Rabbi Steven M. Brown, EdD
Dean, William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education
Director, Melton Research Center for Jewish Education
Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Hon. Edward I. Koch
Mayor of New York City, 1978-1989
Member, United States Holocaust Memorial Council

Seymour D. Reich
President, Israel Policy Forum; Past President, B’nai B’rith International
Past Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

Rabbi Norman J. Cohen
Provost
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Saul J. Berman
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School

Rabbi Dr. Eugene B. Borowitz
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Past President, American Theological Society
Past National Director, Union of American Hebrew Congregations

Rabbi Joshua Gutoff
William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education
Jewish Theological Seminary of America

David I. Bernstein, Ph.D.
Dean, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner
Director, Just Congregations
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer
Director, Religious Studies Department
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Past President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Prof. Steven Fine
Professor of Jewish History, Yeshiva University
Director, Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies

Lawrence M. Katz
President, Jewish Educators Assembly

Rabbi Deborah A. Hirsch
Director of Regions
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Kenneth Brander
Dean, Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future

Nancy Hersh
Co-Chair, Reconstructionist Educators of North America
Education Director, Congregation Beth Hatikvah, Summit, NJ

Dr. Joe Freedman
Director, Ramah Programs in Israel

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda MD
President, Washington Board of Rabbis

Rabbi Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D.
The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education
Bar-Ilan University

Mindy B. Davids, RJE
First Vice President, National Association of Temple Educators
Director of Education, Temple Shaaray Tefila, New York, NY

Rabbi Dov Linzer
Rosh HaYeshiva and Dean
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School

Rabbi Marc D. Angel
Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Shearith Israel, New York, NY

Rabbi Moshe Waldoks
Temple Beth Zion , Brookline MA
Chair, Holocaust Commemoration Committee,
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston

Rabbi Reuben J. Poupko
Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron, Montreal
Past President, Montreal Board of Rabbis

Rabbi Stanley T. Schickler, RJE
Executive Director
National Association of Temple Educators

Rabbi Dr. Gail Labovitz
Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literature
Chair, Department of Rabbinics, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
American Jewish University

Dr. Shulamit J. Laderman
Assistant Dean, Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies;
Lecturer, Art History, Bar Ilan University

Dr. Walter Reich
Past Executive Director, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum;
Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs, Ethics,
and Human Behavior - George Washington University

Rabbi Joshua Boettiger
Congregation Beth El; Bennington, VT

Rabbi Alan Goldman
Masgiach Ruhani Tochnit Shalem
Young Judaea Year Course

Rabbi Paul S. Laderman
Past Director of Jewish Programming
Israel Associaton of Community Centers

Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon
Congregation Bnai Jeshurun, New York, NY

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann
Kolot Chayeinu / Voices of Our Lives, Brooklyn NY

Rabbi Daniel Polish
Congregation Shir Hadash
Poughkeepsie, NY

Dr. Gary P. Zola
Executive Director, American Jewish Archives;
Associate Professor of the American Jewish Experience
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dov Fischer
Rabbi, Young Israel of Orange County
Adjunct Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

Lisa Lieberman Barzilai, RJE
Regional Educator, Union for Reform Judaism, Greater New York Council
Vice President – National Association of Temple Educators

Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman
Director
Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism

Rabbi Scot A. Berman
Executive Director
Seryl & Charles Kushner Family Foundation

Rabbi Sara Sapadin
Assistant Rabbi
Temple Beth-El of Great Neck, NY

Rabbi Avis D. Miller
Adas Israel Congregation
Washington, DC

Rabbi Evan Shore
Young Israel Shaarei Torah of Syracuse
Dewitt, NY

Rabbi Daniel M. Bronstein
Congregational Scholar, Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn, NY,
Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Rabbi Dr. Lewis M. Barth
Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles
Past Dean and Professor Emeritus of Midrash and Related Literature

Rabbi Leonard B. Troupp
Rabbi Emeritus
Temple Beth David of Commack, NY

Rabbi Jeffrey A. Wohlberg
Adas Israel Congregation
Washington DC

Rabbi Adam D. Fisher
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Isaiah
Stony Brook, NY

Rabbi Richard J. Shapiro
Temple Beth-El
Great Neck, NY

Rabbi Amy Schwartzman
Temple Rodef Shalom
Falls Church, VA

Rabbi Stephanie D. Kolin
Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Rabbi Ethan Seidel
Tifereth Israel Congregation
Washington, DC

Rabbi Jeremy S. Morrison
Temple Israel
Boston, MA

Rabbi Shalom Carmy
Yeshiva University
Editor, Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Thought

Rabbi Jonathan A. Schnitzer
Senior Rabbi
B’nai Israel Congregation, Rockville, MD

Rabbi Pesach Sommer
Rebbe, Yeshiva University High School for Boys
New York, NY

Rabbi David Leibtag
Head of School
Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns & Rockaway
Lawrence, NY

Rabbi Sue Ann Wasserman
Director, Department of Worship, Music and Religious Living
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Bernard H. Mehlman
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Rabbi Avi Weiss
Founder and President, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
Senior Rabbi, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale

Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin
Headmaster, Ramaz Middle School

Dr. Racelle R. Weiman
Executive Director, The Dialogue Institute, Temple University;
Foundating Director, Center for Holocaust and Humanity
Education, Hebrew Union College

Rabbi Alan Berkowitz
Ramaz School

Rabbi Dr. Steve Glazer
Congregation Beth Emeth, Herndon, VA

Rabbi Dr. Gershon C. Gewirtz
Young Israel of Brookline

Cantor Alane S. Katzew
Director of Music Programming
Union for Reform Judaism

Rabbi Ronne Friedman
Temple Israel, Boston, MA

Nathan Lewin, Esq.
Honorary President, American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists

Cantor Roy B. Einhorn
Temple Israel, Boston MA

Rabbi Benjamin Blech
Professor of Talmud, Yeshiva University

Rabbi Marci N. Bellows
Temple Shaaray Tefila
New York, NY

Rabbi Andy Bachman
Congregation Beth Elohim
Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Elie Weinstock
Associate Rabbi, Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
New York, NY

Reb Mimi Feigelson
Mashpiah Ruchanit, Lecturer of Rabbinics and Chassidic Thought
Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, The American Jewish University
Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Dan Shevitz
Congregation Mishkon Tephilo
Venice, CA

Rabbi Joseph Polak
Chairman, Halacha Committee,
Bet Din of Boston

Rabbi Deborah Schuldenfrei
Assistant Rabbi, Congregation Shir Ha-Ma’a lot
Irvine, CA

Rabbi Stephen A. Klein
Scarsdale, NY

Rabbi Leah Lewis
Leo Baeck Temple, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Mordechai Y. Scher
Kol BeRamah/Santa Fe Torah Learning Coop
Santa Fe, NM

Rabbi Joshua Lookstein
New York, NY

Rabbi Jeffrey Gale
Rabbi of The Suburban Temple of Wantagh

Rabbi David Adelson
East End Temple
New York, New York

Rabbi Dr. Avi Berkowitz
Rabbi Emeritus, Community Synagogue Max D. Raiskin Center, New York City
Member of Faculty Young Judaea Year Course, Jerusalem

Dr. Yaakov Elman
Yeshiva University

Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein
Director of Youth and Family Education
Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn NY

Rabbi Arthur F. Starr
Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas
Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Adath Yeshurun, Manchester, NH

Cantor Dana Anesi
Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester
Chappaqua, NY

Cantor Chanin Becker
Scarsdale Synagogue-Temples Tremont and Emanu-El
Scarsdale, NY

Rabbi Mordechai Rackover
Assistant Rabbi and Director of Education
Beth Sholom Congregation, Potomac, MD

Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson
Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester
Chappaqua, NY

Rabbi Ira Ebbin
Beth Zion Congregation, Montreal, Quebec

Rabbi Mayer Waxman
Associate Director
Yachad/The National Jewish Council for Disabilities

Rabbi Alysa Mendelson Graf
Temple Israel, Westport, CT

Rabbi David Wirtschafter
Temple Beth Sholom
Irvine, CA

Rabbi Chava Koster
The Village Temple
New York, NY

Rabbi Scott Corngold
Temple Emanu-El of Lynbrook
Lynbrook, NY

Prof. Michael Chernick
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
New York, NY

Rabbi Scott B. Weiner
The Hebrew Tabernacle
New York, NY

Rabbi Jocee Hudson
Director of Education
Temple Beth Sholom, Santa Ana CA

Cantor Arianne Brown
Sinai Temple
Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Brian Schuldenfrei
Sinai Temple
Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Carey Brown
Temple Isaiah
Lexington, MA

Rabbi David J. Gelfand
Temple Israel of the City of New York

Rabbi Stephen Wise
Shaarei-Beth El Congregation
Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Rabbi Daniel Friedman
Beth Israel Synagogue
Edmonton, Canada

Rabbi Allen Krause
Temple Beth El
Mission Viejo, CA

Rabbi Randy Sheinberg
Temple Emanuel/Temple Israel
New Hyde Park, NY

Rabbi Dennis Linson
Temple Judea
Laguna Hills, CA

Rabbi Susan Conforti
Board-Certified Chaplain, VITAS Innovative Hospice

Rabbi Dov Gartenberg
Temple Beth Shalom
Long Beach, CA

Rabbi Dr. Meir Sendor
Young Israel of Sharon, MA

Rabbi Ari Segal
Head of School, Robert M. Beren Academy
Houston, TX

Rabbi Mayer Schiller
Mashgiach Ruchani
Yeshiva University High School for Boys

Rabbi Yitzchok Feldman
Congregation Emek Beracha, Palo Alto, CA

Rabbi Peter Levi
Temple Beth El South Orange County, Aliso Viejo, CA

Rabbi Douglas B. Sagal
Senior Rabbi
Temple Emanu-El, Westfield NJ

Rabbi Norman Koch
Temple Sholom, New Milford, CT

Rabbi Judith Schindler
Temple Beth El, Charlotte, NC

Rabbi Phil Cohen
Temple B’rith Shalom, Prescott, AZ

Rabbi Barry Gelman
United Orthodox Synagogues, Houston, TX

Rabbi Amy Joy Small
Congregation Beth Hatikvah, Summit, NJ

Rabbi Richard Litvak
Temple Beth El, Aptos, CA

Rabbi Michael Zedek
Emanuel Congregation, Chicago, IL
Past President, Hebrew Union College Alunmi Association

Rabbi Paul Kipnes
Congregation Or Ami, Calabasas, CA

Rabbi Melanie Aron
Congregation Shir Hadash, Los Gatos, CA

Rabbi Allen B. Bennett
Temple Israel, Alameda, CA

Rabbi Joel R. Schwartzman
Congregation B’nai Chaim, Morrison, CO

Rabbi Andrew Straus
Temple Emanuel, Tempe, AZ

Rabbi Adam M. Morris
Temple Micah, Denver, CO

Rabbi Aaron Frank
Principal, Lower School
Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, Baltimore, MD

Rabbi Paula Marcus
Temple Beth El, Aptos, CA

Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Congregation Emanu El, San Bernardino, CA

Rabbi Michael Pincus
Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, CT

Rabbi Hesch Sommer
Temple Beth Tikvah, Madison, CT

Rabbi Stephen Fuchs
Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, CT

Rabbi Kenneth Chasen
Leo Baeck Temple, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Anne Persin
North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation, Tahoe Vista, CA

Rabbi Rena H. Kieval
Congregation Ohav Shalom, Albany NY

Rabbi Leonard Zukrow
Temple Beth El, Pensacola, FL

Rabbi Scott Looper
Congregation Or Shalom, Vernon Hills, IL

Rabbi Dr. Pinchas Giller
American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Mark N. Goldman
Temple Bet Yam, St. Augustine, FL
Rabbi Emeritus, Rockdale Temple/KK Bene Israel, Cincinnati, OH

Rabbi Richard D. Agler
Congregation B’nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL

Rabbi David Fox Sandmel, Ph.D.
KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago, IL

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz
Congregation B’nai Israel, Bridgeport, CT and CLAL Associate

Rabbi David Oler
Congregation Beth Or, Deerfield, IL

Rabbi Peter B. Schaktman
Temple Emanu-El, Honolulu, HI

Rabbi Leon Wiener Dow
Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Steven Bob
Congregation Etz Chaim, Lombard, IL

Rabbi Brian Strauss
Congregation Beth Yeshurun, Houston, TX

Rabbi Carie Carter
Park Slope Jewish Center, Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Aaron M. Petuchowski
Temple Sholom, Chicago, IL

Rabbi Perry Netter
Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Gideon Shloush
Congregation Adereth El, New York, NY

Rabbi Joel L. Levine
Temple Judea, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Rabbi C. Michelle Greenberg
Temple Jeremiah, Northfield, IL

Rabbi Stephen F. Moch
Congregation B’nai Emmunah, Tarpon Springs, FL

Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh
Temple Israel of Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Mimi Weisel
Jewish Community High School of the Bay, San Francisco, CA

Rabbi Harry Brechner
Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria BC, Canada

Rabbi Uri Topolosky
Congregation Beth Israel, New Orleans, LA

Rabbi Daniel Cohen
Agudath Sholom Stamford, CT

Rabbi Yossi Pollak
Congregation Bnai Jacob Anschei Brzezan-The Stanton Street Shul
Lower East Side, New York City

Rabbi Yitzchok Adler
Beth David Synagogue, West Hartford, CT

Rabbi Dov R. Katz
Baltimore, MD

Rabbi Yaffa-Shira Sultan
Congregation Dor Hadash, San Diego, CA

(Institutions listed for identification purposes only.)

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J Street Project: Doves launch AIPAC alternative

By Ami Eden · March 27, 2008

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.

Besser:

Dubbed the J-Street Project — “K Street” has become a cipher for Washington’s lobbying establishment and “J Street,” missing from Washington’s downtown grid, has become a local “in” joke — the new project kicks off with a hush-hush fundraiser next Monday hosted by former Clinton administration official Jeremy Ben Ami and Daniel Levy, director of the Prospects for Peace Initiative of the Century Foundation. The group will be publicly launched around the middle of April; organizers said they will not speak publicly about the group until then.

“For too long, the loudest American voices in political and policy debates have been those on the far right — often Republican neoconservatives or extreme Christian Zionists,” according to the invitation. “J Street aims to change that. We are the first and only lobby and PAC (political action committee) dedicated to ensuring Israel’s security, changing the direction of American policy in the Middle East and opening up American political debate about Israel and the Middle East.”

While sources say the structure and initial goals of the new group are still in flux, it is expected to raise money for congressional candidates who advocate a stronger U.S. leadership role in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and multilateral solutions to the region’s problems.

The group will be headed by Ben-Ami, who served as deputy domestic policy adviser in the Clinton administration and later as a media consultant.  Ben-Ami has worked with several Jewish peace groups, including the Center for Middle East Peace and the Geneva Initiative-North America.

Gorenberg:

So the first priority of a real pro-Israel lobby should be pushing for the most active possible US role in brokering a two-state solution. As Israeli strategic analyst Yossi Alpher has pointed out, the US has succeeded in advancing Arab-Israeli peace only when an emissary representing “the full prestige of the American president” has come to the region for extended negotiations, as Henry Kissinger, secretary of state, did after the 1973 war.

The negotiator has to propose compromises and then push hard for them. The US must also provide incentives. It should offer funds to resettle Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian state and to relocate Israeli settlers within Israel. But the offers should have tough conditions: for the Palestinians, giving up on resettling refugees within Israel; for Israel, evacuating settlements that it has heretofore insisted it has to keep. The liberal Israel lobby should work on Capitol Hill to support such funding for peace.

Diplomacy also means effective pressure on both sides and on the relevant Arab states. The US should insist that the Palestinian authority in the West Bank disarm all armed factions that remain in its territory. But the US will need to lean on Israel too. Right now, the Israeli public has no idea how much the state spends on settlement. American insistence on financial transparency as a condition for current aid levels would serve Israeli democracy and increase domestic backing for a settlement freeze. AB Yehoshua is right that the US should finally show real displeasure that outposts have not been taken down. That’s an example of how Washington can help an Israeli government do what it knows it should, helping to beat domestic pressures.

Realistically, even a liberal Israel lobby will be more timid than progressive Israelis. Few US Jews will feel comfortable asking for American pressure on Israel. Publicly, the lobby’s task will be to increase support for diplomacy and a two-state solution. But it will also allow more politicians—particularly liberal ones—to say what they really think about Israel/Palestine, safe in the knowledge that there is an alternative lobby to back them with money and votes. Quietly, it should counterbalance lobbying by Aipac for congress to tie the president’s hands in negotiations. If a peace process really does get moving, expect an Aipac-backed congressional resolution on the need to keep Jerusalem united as the capital of Israel—an American position that would undermine the talks. The liberal lobby’s task would be to push the pragmatic stance that the future of the Holy City must be agreed by both sides.

But a real pro-Israel policy extends beyond the Palestinian issue. Renewed peace talks between Israel and Syria are in both Israeli and American interests. If the talks succeed, they would lead to a cold peace—which is much better than the current cold war, in which Damascus uses Hamas and Hizbullah as proxies to bleed Israel. Alon Liel—the ex-director general of Israel’s foreign ministry, who last year revealed that he had conducted unofficial back-channel talks with Syria—says that part of any peace deal would be Syria realigning itself with the west. That would weaken Iran’s position in the region, and be a clear American victory. A liberal lobby would promote US backing for such negotiations.

Even on Iran, a liberal lobby could encourage a shift. An Iranian bomb is certainly a serious danger to Israel. But US refusal to negotiate with Tehran means giving up in advance on means to reduce the threat. There are hard-nosed strategic analysts in Israel who advocate a quid pro quo: US acceptance of the Iranian regime in return for an end to uranium enrichment and support for terror groups.

Ultimately, Israel’s goal is to be part of the middle east, not to be a garrison state in conflict with it. To support the most bellicose possible Israeli or US policies is to damage both countries. A liberal voice is needed in Washington to press that message. Perhaps this is another form of hope for a deus ex machina. If so, the winged figure is long overdue.

7 Comments | Share This | Community, Iran, Israel, Jewish Orgs, Politics

Speaking out on Breaking the Silence

By Ami Eden · March 10, 2008

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.”

1 Comment | Share This | Education, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Jewish Orgs

Dobbs calls ADL a joke, Olbermann calls Dobbs worst person in the world

By Ami Eden · February 7, 2008

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.

8 Comments | Share This | Hate, Immigration, Jewish Orgs, video

Lou Dobbs calls ADL “a joke”

By Daniel Sieradski · February 6, 2008

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.)

6 Comments | Share This | Hate, Immigration, Jewish Orgs

Follow the Money

By Ami Eden · January 15, 2008

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

4 Comments | Share This | Jewish Orgs, video

Hadassah: A better world, one foreskin at a time

By Ami Eden · October 23, 2007

Hadassah, the largest Jewish women’s organization, wants you to know: it has launched a campaign to circumcise men.

That must be one engrossing pamphlet.

UPDATE: Just to be clear, the campaign (aimed at reducing AIDS in Africa) is a good thing. It was the photo that made us smile (and cringe).

3 Comments | Share This | Jewish Orgs, Ritual

Turkey will greet us with flowers

By Ami Eden · October 15, 2007

Big vote tonight in Lexington, Massachusetts, as Armenian-American activists and their Jewish allies press ahead with their campaign to get municipalities to sever ties with the Anti-Defamation League.

Much more on this later (both a JTA story and some blog posts).

At this point, however, I’d like to focus on the wider geo-strategic fallout if Nancy Pelosi acts on her vow to bring a resolution to the floor that would use the term genocide to describe the World War I-era massacres of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire.

Jewish groups have been warning that the resolution could damage U.S.-Turkish relations, Turkish-Israeli relations and endanger the Turkish Jewish community. Armenian activists and their Democratic allies in Congress have scoffed at or essentially ignored these concerns.

Now that the resolution has been approved by the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, Turkish officials are bouncing off the walls. Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the U.S.  for “consultations” and is seeking parliamentary approval for raids into northern Iraq against Kurdish forces accused of carrying out terrorist attacks.

But Pelosi and the resolution’s other Democratic backers are standing firm.

The irony here is that usually it has been many of these very same Democrats criticizing President Bush for failing to let practical concerns temper his ideologically driven foreign policy. The Bush administration, critics love to say, was naïve and blind when it came to the realities of Iraq, thinking American forces would be greeted by flowers rather than an insurgency and a sectarian civil war.

Well, now, even as Turkish officials ratchet up their threats, Democrats are still taking a “what me worry” approach.

Pelosi: ”This isn’t about the Erdogan government. This is about the Ottoman Empire.”

Tom Lantos: ”The Turkish government will not act against the United States because that would be against their own interests.”

For my taste, it sounds a bit too much like “The Iraqis will greet us with flowers and let all use their oil money to pay for everything.”

Is it too much to ask that lawmakers supporting the measure at least say something like: “We are supporting this measure even though it could damage ties with Turkey and spark some sort of military action in northern Iraq.”

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