Israel Matzav

Monday, the Rabbi demonized Israel

A devastating letter written to the board of directors of a Raleigh, North Carolina conservative synagogue was shared with me yesterday by Richard A.

Devastating Letter sent to Synagogue board.  This Rabbi partners with terror organizations and BDS organizations to indoctrinate Jews against Israel.

Susan sugar  director@bethmeyer.org    

Rabbi Solomon rabbi@bethmeyer.org   

Amy Ripps school@bethmeyer.org

Esteemed Board of Beth Meyer,

Good morning.  We are a young Jewish family here in the Triangle and recently learned of Rabbi Solomon's Behind the Scenes Tour of Israel.  The rabbi says his goal with the trip is to raise the awareness American Jews to the realities on the ground in Israel so they can form their “own positions that are based on fuller, more complex information.” However, according to the online trip guide,  most of the sources of information during Rabbi Solomon’s  trip, will come from the most radical proponents of BDS, and even pro-Islamic terror sources.

I hope that Rabbi Solomon is being honest about his intentions with this tour and it’s objectives.  As you will see below, it will appear to most that the Rabbi intends to stir hatred for Israeli Jews and fro the IDF, who is sole guarantor of the Jewish State.  

To begin, the most troubling aspect of MEDJI Tours is that they partner with the Holy Land Fund, a designated terror group who has provided funding and support to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood according to the U.S. Justice Department. That a Rabbi from Raleigh is partnering with a Hamas terror financier is alarming and it must be investigated by the community and others.  

(See itinerary:  https://www.mejditours.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Beth-Meyer-Synagogue-Israel-West-Bank-Itinerary.pdf?45f58c )

The other partners and teachers of this trip include a sundry list of the most vile haters of the Israeli Jewish people and avid promoters of BDS.    

Examples:

•  YMCA Jerusalem - Promotes demonizing rhetoric, BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) campaigns, and the Kairos Palestine document, which denies Jewish historical connections to the land of Israel.  During tours, perhaps this one as well, representatives of  the YMCA Jerusalem accuse Israeli Jews of committing “genocide funded by the U.S,” and of routine confiscation of Palestinian property. http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/ymca_ywca_east_jerusalem_/

• Parents’ Circle Families Forum - An active and vocal supporter of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-terror group that recruits American students to pose as peace activists while they abet terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza, the center routinely launches rhetorical attacks on Israel and denigrates the American presence in Iraq.  Many bereaved families in Israel have spoken out against PCFF for its demands of an acceptance of the Palestinian narrative of exclusive Israeli guilt, a corresponding rejection of the legitimacy of Israeli narratives, and the political messages that are transmitted, explicitly and implicitly, through PCFF activities.  http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/parents_circle_families_forum/

• All that’s Left - They report to be a collective unequivocally opposed to the occupation and committed to building the diaspora angle of resistance.  taking to the streets with visual and educational strategies to reshape how visitors think about Israel, which includes total, one-sided demonization of the IDF.  http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.528285

• Tent of Nations -  notorious for lying about the IDF supposedly ruthlessly confiscating the property of innocent Palestinians, never mind these lies disproven in court.  The libelous narratives of Tent of Nations has fueled the Presbyterian Church USA’s boycott of Israel.   This organization  raises money by claiming “Israeli Military Destroys Orchards at Tent of Nations – Please Act Now!" https://rabbibrant.com/2014/05/21/israeli-military-destroys-orchards-at-tent-of-nations-please-act-now/

• Mahmoud Darwish Museum -  who partners with BDS group IACHD to sponsor anti-Israel propaganda tours to gin up hatred of Israeli Jews.  http://www.summerinpalestine.org/2015/blog.html  In fact, Mahmoud Darwish was a poet who not only called for all living Jews to leave "Palestine" , but to take with them also their dead ones!!!

• Yassar Arafat's Tomb - the father of modern terrorism deserves respect with a visit to his gravesite?  Arafat is directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Israeli citizens, the deaths of untold numbers of Arabs and the killing of more than 100 U.S. citizens and the Rabbi pays his respects thereby validating his muderous acts??

• Palestinian Circus School - Currently, one of these "clowns" is being held in Israel for involvement in Islamic terror, which is controversial to begin with.  This organization calls for a support for the BDS movement and accuses Israeli Jews of perpetrating a "massacre of the Palestinian people."  They claim "For over six decades Palestinians have been systematically bereaved of their lands, their water and their freedom of movement. "  http://www.algemeiner.com/2016/03/08/uk-paper-reveals-israels-secret-war-on-palestinian-clown/   http://muftah.org/statement-gaza-palestinian-performing-arts-organizations/#.V4xJtGPuClI

• Combatants for Peace – partner of pro-BDS movement, anti-IDF activists who utilizes highly demonizing language, accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing,” “genocide,” “collective punishment,” and “apartheid”; promotes BDS campaigns against Israel; and explicitly advocates for the end of the state of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people.
  

          http://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/combatants_for_peace/    

• Even the Bait al Karama Culinary School and the Birzeit Brewery company travelers will visit for pleasure are known anti-Israel BDS activists whose companies were created for this purpose

         http://mondoweiss.net/2016/01/palestinian-cooking-occupation/

         http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/08/palestine-new-beer-brewery-birzeit.html

• Rabbi Solomon’s ittenerary also includes a stop where travelers will “Learn the story of Open House Ramle where the non-fiction story Lemon Tree took place.”  According to Stand With us, “Lemmon Tree” is pure fiction and it’s a propaganda piece that  presents the extremist Palestinian case against Israel and says we should be “deeply concerned” that some secondary schools are using the book.  https://www.standwithus.com/news/article.asp?id=256

These are but a sampling of the details of this trip, which promotes hatred towards Israeli Jews from beginning to end.    This tour should be led by either the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, or the Muslim Brotherhood; not by the Rabbi of a Conservative synagogue in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I am asking today that you look into this trip further and to ensure that all consumers understand clearly the pro-BDS and anti-IDF education this trip will offer.  And above all, consumers should be well informed of the Islamic  terror-supporting partners of this trip.  Many are now researching whether it's legal to financially partner with foreign terror sponsors and with companies who organizes boycotts against Israeli Jewish citizens.

Thank you for your consideration in this troubling matter.

J. Sloan Rachmuth

Writer's contact information was redacted.

Labels: BDS, Islamic terrorism, Jewish anti-Semitism, Palestinian terrorism, Yasser Arafat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:58 PM