Israel Matzav

Our own worst enemy

What prompted these statements?  Several NGOs that lead the boycott against Israel in Europe, including the Israeli organization “Who Profits from the Occupation?” issued a report in France intended to pressure Orange.

Who Profits accused Partner (the Orange Brand partner in Israel), of aiding war efforts during Operation Protective Edge, participating in the Adopt a Soldier project, and offering discounted service rates to IDF soldiers.

"Who Profits from the Occupation?" is a project launched in 2006 by Coalition of Women for Peace, an organization which has received funding from the New Israel Fund.

In 2013, following the growth and establishment of a research center under the auspices of "Who Profits", the project registered as an independent organization, and today they run joint activities as sister organizations. "Who Profits" is one of the leading organizations in the Anti-Israel boycott campaign and manages a website with a database on companies that invest or are involved in projects located over the Green Line or in Israeli security companies.The website encourages international companies and foreign countries to divest themselves of such investments.

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In short, the NIF provided funding to Coalition of Women for Peace during the launch of the "Who Profits" project, one of the leading organizations in the boycott campaign against Israel. The damage caused by the activities of Coalition of Women for Peace continues to have repercussions to this day.

Shamefully, certain American Jewish extremists including The Jewish Communal Fund, Alisa Doctoroff, President of UJA-Federation, the Leichtag Foundation and others donate significantly to The New Israel Fund, thus supporting and encouraging boycotts against Israel.

Shameful is not a strong enough word.

Labels: BDS, boycott divest sanction, Jewish anti-Semitism, Jewish Federations of North America, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Federation, Orange, self-hating Jews, UJA-Federation

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:57 AM 0 comments

Your charitable dollars at work: UJA-Federation (New York) donates $6 million to radical Leftist New Israel Fund

A fully-owned subsidiary of the UJA-Federation has sent $5,836,856 to the New Israel Fund since 2002, according to IRS form 990 filings examined by JCCWatch, with donations of between $258,000 and $802,000, made each year for the past dozen years.

The revelation contradicts the public statements from the UJA-Federation chair Alisa Doctoroff, past CEO John Ruskay and current CEO Eric Goldstein who have misled New Yorkers to believe that the umbrella charity has no financial connection to the New Israel Fund.

The New Israel Fund, in turn, is the financial banker for a network of organizations that demonize the Israeli government and the Israel Defense Forces, promote boycotts of Israeli products and call for international criminal proceedings against our very own Jewish state.

The findings come on the back of a JCCWatch investigation on Tuesday that showed that UJA-Federation leadership have been pressuring former Israeli diplomats, and the office of the current Consul-General in New York, to give cover for their support of the New Israel Fund to participate in this weekend's Israel Day Parade.

In 2014, the UJA-Federation reported on the IRS form 990 that it had assets of $1.382 billion, generating $76 million in investment income, in addition to the $167 million in new donations it received from the Jewish community.

Buried on page 7 of its audited financial statements, under "Additional Notes," the UJA-Federation listed an entity called the Jewish Communal Fund, of which it is the "sole member" and has "controlling financial interest," meaning the UJA-Federation owns the Jewish Communal Fund, "lock, stock, and barrel."

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Jewish Communal Fund has 25 board members drawn mainly from the parent board of the UJA-Federation, including its president, Alisa Doctoroff.  As for supervision of the donations, from their annual report: "All qualified grant recommendations are submitted to the Charitable Distribution Committee of the Jewish Communal Fund’s Board of Trustees for approval."

Reading the detail of their grant-making guidelines, the board has two responsibilities: to be "committed to supporting causes that promote the welfare and security of the Jewish community here and abroad" and to "deny any grant request where the purposes and activities of the recommended charitable organization are deemed to be adverse to the interests of the Jewish community."

Labels: charity, JCC Watch, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Federation

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:34 PM 5 comments

The beginning of the end of Leftist domination of Israel's Foreign Ministry?

First, she’s a novice who has never held any executive branch position before, yet will now exercise de facto control over one of the cabinet’s most important ministries. Technically, she serves under Netanyahu, who retained the foreign affairs portfolio for himself. But since Netanyahu already has a full-time job as prime minister, she will largely run the ministry.

Second, she’s one of the most hawkish members of Netanyahu’s coalition and an outspoken opponent of Palestinian statehood. As The Jerusalem Post’s diplomatic correspondent, Herb Keinon, put it, “Hotovely represents the opposite of everything much of the world...wants to see in Israel.”

Third, in contrast to appointees like Miri Regev or Haim Katz, whose power bases within Likud were simply too strong for Netanyahu to ignore, Hotovely’s support inside the party is tenuous; in the last primary, she barely scraped into the 20th slot. Nor is she known as one of the premier’s own loyalists. Thus he was under no political compulsion to reward her with such a lofty post.

Finally, there were plenty of other candidates who would seemingly have been more suitable, including the one many American Jews undoubtedly hoped to see there: former ambassador to Washington and current Kulanu MK Michael Oren.

Indeed, Hotovely’s main qualification for the post – aside from being pretty, personable and reportedly speaking excellent English – would seem to be that she constitutes no threat to Netanyahu, who notoriously squelches anyone he does consider a potential political threat.

That’s why so many ambitious Likudniks eventually quit the party to run their own parties (see Moshe Kahlon, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman).

 

Gold, a former ambassador to the United Nations and currently head of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, will be working under Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, who was told about the appointment just prior to it being made public. He replaces Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, a veteran ministry employee who started out in its administrative track and then moved to the diplomatic side. 

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[Former Foreign Minister Avigdor] Liberman commented on the appointment, saying that while it was Netanyahu’s prerogative to appoint his own man to this post, appointments at the ministry are not ways to give out favors or settle scores. He also said that “it needs to be clear that new appointments or changes are not a replacement for clear policy.”

In that regard, one government source said, Gold was the perfect candidate because he had a direct line to Netanyahu, and his interlocutors would know that when he speaks, he is speaking for Netanyahu and with authority.

“This will give him power and make him relevant,” the official said, noting that Ben-Sheetrit never enjoyed that status.

The American-born Gold is considered one of Netanyahu’s top foreign policy advisers. He served as one of his foreign policy advisers starting in 1996, during the prime minister’s first term in office, being appointed the following year as ambassador to the UN, where he served until 1999. In 2014, he became an “outside” consultant in the Prime Minister’s Office.

In recent years, Gold has accompanied Netanyahu on many of his trips to Washington and the UN, and over the years has been one of Israel’s foremost unofficial spokesmen, speaking in the media and at conferences around the world on Israeli policy. He is often sought out by journalists and diplomats because of his knowledge of the issues, and because he is considered to be close to Netanyahu, thus reflecting his thinking.

He has also been very active in lobbying policy-makers on behalf of “defensible borders” for Israel.

Hotovely spoke with Gold after the appointment and issued a statement, saying that with his rich experience in the international arena, the former UN ambassador could contribute to furthering Israel’s position in the world.

Dore Gold has done the State of Israel a great service by forcing us to focus on concrete things that we want out of the 'peace process.' Dore is fond of pointing out that when you ask a 'Palestinian' what he wants from the 'peace process,' he will tell you that he wants a 'Palestinian state' in the areas that are outside Israel's '1967 borders' (for now), whose capital is Jerusalem. If you ask an Israeli Jew what he wants from the 'peace process,' he will tell you 'peace.'

Dore is changing that paradigm. One of the things he believes that Israeli Jews can and should be demanding from the 'peace process' is defensible borders. His organization, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, has put together a collection of essays that sets out in concrete terms what defensible borders mean. The collection is called Israel's Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace. It's reviewed by Lee Smith in Tablet Magazine.

The book Israel’s Critical Security Needs for a Viable Peace is a collection published this year under the auspices of the JCPA with essays about security and diplomacy by leading figures in Israel’s security establishment, like Maj.-Gen. Aharon Ze’evi Farkash, former head of IDF intelligence, and Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan, former IDF deputy chief of staff and a former national security adviser to Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. The volume’s findings represent a broad consensus across the Israeli political spectrum, and the fact that Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon—former IDF chief of staff and currently the vice prime minister—wrote the introduction is evidence that the ideas have won approval at the highest political levels.

The book pushes three common ideas, some likely to add to the friction between Washington and Jerusalem: First, Israel, must not withdraw to the 1949 armistice lines; second, Israel needs defensible borders; third, Israel must rely on itself to defend itself and not on foreign forces as proposed by U.S. national security adviser Gen. James Jones, who has talked openly about replacing the IDF with international forces in the West Bank.

The insistence that Israel must retain the ability to defend its own borders—a basic attribute of national sovereignty—is the least controversial element of Gold’s blueprint. The issue is not merely the inglorious record of U.N. peacekeeping forces—from Sinai to Bosnia and Lebanon—but also the fact that the international community rarely sends its blue helmets into the middle of a real shooting war, which is what the West Bank would become if an IDF withdrawal left Hamas and Fatah at each other’s throats and eager to gain credit for launching terror attacks on Israel.

The concept of defensible borders is closely tied to the drawing of 1949 armistice lines, commonly and incorrectly known as the 1967 borders. As Gold explains in his contribution to the volume, successive U.S. administrations since Lyndon Johnson’s have all recognized the danger in Israel withdrawing to those borders. George Shultz, one of President Ronald Reagan’s secretaries of State, explained that “Israel will never negotiate from or return to the 1967 borders,” and the Clinton Administration reaffirmed the Reagan White House’s concept of defensible borders. However, it was during Clinton’s Camp David negotiations that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak abandoned the idea of defensible borders in the hope of a radical breakthrough with Yasser Arafat. With the outbreak of the Second Intifada and peace nowhere in the offing, the George W. Bush Administration pledged not to hold the Israelis to the Clinton parameters and returned to the traditional U.S. position. “It is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949,” reads an April 14, 2004 letter from Bush to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The UJA-Federation’s top brass have been twisting the arms of Israel’s diplomatic corps to provide cover for supporting the New Israel Fund marching in the Israel Day Parade, according to emails obtained by JCCWatch.

The strategy to use the Foreign Ministry as their beard came to an uncomfortable public end last week, when the Spokesman for the Israeli Consulate in New York had to make a statement to deny what UJA-Federation CEO Eric Goldstein had told Talkline Communications radio host Zev Brenner on March 30. In an appearance on the show, Goldstein said, twice actually, that “the government of Israel, the Consul General’s office, very much, emphatically, want us to allow these groups to continue to march.”

The consulate spokesman told Arutz Sheva last week that at “no point did any of the parade’s organizers consult with the Consulate or with someone acting on its behalf regarding the New Israel Fund’s participation.” The newspaper quoted the spokesman directly as saying, “never, ever, did the Consul-General, or someone on his behalf, or any of the Consulate’s employees, say anything favoring the NIF’s participation, either explicitly or implicitly, in a hinted manner or in public, in secret or openly.”

The oddly worded distancing of the Consul-General’s office from the UJA-Federation comes as emails obtained by JCCWatch show Goldstein and former UJA-Federation president Jerry Levin, indeed, reaching out to Israeli ambassadors for exactly that kind of cover.

The email trail leading up to Goldstein’s foot-in-mouth routine, and reproduced below, casts a dark shadow on UJA-Federation leadership who were able to co-opt important Israel diplomats to publicly boost their cause of defending the New Israel Fund.

Labels: Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, defensible borders, Dore Gold, Israel's Foreign Ministry, Israeli Left, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Federation, Salute to Israel Day Parade, Tzipi Hotovely

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:46 PM 0 comments

Celebrate Israel Parade bans BDS groups

Labels: BDS, New York City, New York Jewish Federation, Salute to Israel Day Parade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:00 PM 0 comments

100 shofars to be blown in Manhattan

100 Shofars to be blown in Manhattan 

A Demonstration/Rally

April 29, 2014

UJA-Federation Building

130 East 59 Street (Between Park & Lex)

New York City, 5pm to 7pm : Shofars to be blown at 5:30 pm

The largest number of Shofars ever blown in Unison to take place in Manhattan by  a Coalition of Jewish groups; to protest the inclusion of Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions against Israel in the Israel Day Parade. 

Join Us and Bring Your Shofars!

Labels: B'Tselem, BDS, JCC Watch, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, Manhattan JCC, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Federation, progressives, Salute to Israel Day Parade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:06 AM 1 comments

Caroline Glick: American Jews have forgotten what freedom means

More and more, every day we see American Jews embracing intellectual bondage. We see American Jewish leaders embracing the intolerant, who seek to constrain freedom, and shunning those who fight for freedom and the rights of Jews and other threatened peoples and groups.

To a large degree, this rejection of the lessons of the Exodus among the American Jewish community reflects the growing intolerance and tyranny of the political Left, to which most American Jews pledge their allegiance.

With increasing frequency, leftist groups and leaders in the US are openly acting to deny freedom of expression to their political and ideological foes, and to destroy the lives of people who oppose their dogma.

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In Israel, the public understands that boycotts are about mainstreaming hatred and bigotry just as much as they are about economic strangulation. That is why in 2011 the Knesset passed the anti-boycott law which allows all Israeli entities to sue groups calling for boycotts against them for civil damages, and bars such groups from participating in state tenders.

But in the American Jewish community, these groups are defended and legitimized.

Disgusted at their community leadership’s double standard of tolerance and support for foes of Israel and intolerance for supporters of Israel, a consortium of organizations and synagogues organized a protest against the inclusion of anti-Israel organizations in the Israel Day Parade.

After weeks of protests in the press and on social media sites, on Tuesday some 200 people demonstrated outside the UJA-Federation building in New York and demanded that the boycott supporters and abettors be shunned.

It was an important act of defiance.

The group includes such stalwart organizations as Americans for a Safe Israel, Americans for Peace and Tolerance, the Endowment for Middle East Truth, JCC Watch, the National Conference on Jewish Affairs, and the National Council of Young Israel.

These groups have joined together in the past to protest against UJA-Federation funding of institutions such as the 92nd Street Y and the New York JCC, which have provided platforms for Jew-haters and BDS supporters.

Their protest was vital. It would be a tragedy if the thuggish behavior of the Jewish community leaders went unopposed. But it is hard to see how the protesters can change the situation.
The rot runs deep.

Consider Brandeis University’s craven and intolerant administration.

Brandeis was founded as a traditionally Jewish university in 1948, the year that Israel was established.

But whereas Israel has remained faithful to its sovereign duty to cultivate and defend Jewish freedom and engender a liberal democracy, over the years, Brandeis has largely abandoned its mission of standing up to intolerance, and protecting Jewish rights and those of other threatened groups.

Case in point is its obscene treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Hirsi Ali is a former Muslim who suffered genital mutilation as a child in Somalia and at age 21 fled to Holland to avoid a forced marriage.

After liberating herself, Hirsi Ali could have settled into a quiet European life. Instead, she dedicated her life to championing the rights of women and girls in Islamic societies.

For the past decade, Hirsi Ali has lived under an Islamic death sentence for her work. She can go nowhere without bodyguards. 

In 2006, despite her membership in the Dutch parliament, Hirsi Ali was forced to flee to the US, when the Dutch government refused to continue to protect her. 

In the US, as in Holland, she continues to campaign for the rights of women and girls in Islamic society. 

Most recently, she was the executive producer of a new documentary film called Honor Diaries, which describes the plight of Muslim women and girls living in societies where they risk murder at the hands of their family members if they refuse to live in abject humiliation and submission to the misogyny of Islamic law. 

Several months ago, Brandeis offered to confer an honorary doctorate on Hirsi Ali for her work on behalf of women and girls. 

When the leftist and Muslim thought police in the Brandeis student body and faculty got wind of the university’s plan to honor her, they joined forces with the Council on American-Islamic Relations to force the administration to cancel the honorary degree. 

CAIR claims to be a Muslim civil rights group. And yet, the group that purports to care about the civil rights of Muslims is waging a nationwide campaign to bar screenings of Honor Diaries, at universities around the country. 

When Fox News’s intrepid host Megyn Kelly asked CAIR leaders this week how they can object to a film that seeks to help Muslims, they said they don’t have a problem with its content. They object to the fact that it was produced by Jews (also known as “Islamophobes”). 

Far from being a civil rights group, CAIR is a pro- Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood organization. It was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Hamas financing trial against the Holyland Foundation. 

And yet, on Wednesday, Brandeis sided with CAIR and the thought police, against Hirsi Ali. Brandeis canceled its plan to confer its honorary doctorate on her.

Labels: Ayaan Hirsi Ali, BDS, Brandeis University, New York Jewish Federation, Salute to Israel Day Parade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:25 AM 0 comments

Rally at UJA-Federation headquarters takes BDS issue to the door of the American Jewish establishment

NEW YORK, April 8, 2014 – A rally held today at the headquarters of the UJA-Federation spoke truth to Jewish power in no uncertain terms.

Speaker after speaker called on the UJA and JCRC to disallow three BDS-supporting Jewish organizations to march in the upcoming Celebrate Israel Parade, and brought forth compelling evidence that the three offending organizations deserve not only to be barred from marching in the parade, but also deserve to be kept out of the “big tent” of Jewish communal life.

Organized by JCC Watch, National Conference on Jewish Affairs, and Americans for a Safe Israel, the days leading up to the event sparked discussion and controversy that has spread from New York to Los Angeles, London and Tel Aviv. Helen Freedman of Americans for a Safe Israel introduced many of the speakers.

She spoke about the fact that all of the protesters respect and admire the humanitarian and social service work of the UJA and JCRC, but that it is also vital to Israel's survival and the well-being of the Jewish People that the BDS issue -- including Jewish support for BDS -- be addressed publicly.

Mark Langfan spoke of his respect and admiration for the protesters who came out to the rally. He discussed many of the security concerns of Israel, and how the BDS movement harms the Jewish State and puts Jews in jeopardy.

Rabbi David Algaze spoke at length about the skewed values of those in the Jewish community supporting anti-Israel activities and the Hamas-backed BDS movement, and also strongly took to task those in major Jewish organizations who are not vocal enough to speak out publicly and clearly against the BDS movement. "The decision by the JCRC and UJA is neither democratic nor Jewish. It is not democratic because the organizers in allowing these boycotters to March they are ignoring the feelings of the predominant majority of those who participate and attend the Parade. It is not Jewish because Judaism has many values but suicide and self hatred are not among them."

Beth Gilinsky, president of Jewish Action Alliance and founder of the National Conference on Jewish Affairs, an umbrella of pro-Israel, pro-America Jewish leaders, gave a rousing speech about not just the parade controversy, but also about the BDS movement in general. She addressed the real-life impact of BDS here in the United States and England on college campuses, across Europe where Jews are being targeted in violent attacks, and in Israel.

She asserted that while some people believe BDS is just a grassroots effort of a few Arab activists who desire a Palestinian Arab state, in reality it is linked to and driven by radical Islamist organizations such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood that are bent on Israel’s destruction. After asserting that BDS attempts to denigrate and demonize Israel and is, in fact an anti-Semitic movement aimed at dehumanizing Jews, she addressed establishment accusations that opposition to Jewish BDS groups in the parade was pitting Jew vs. Jew, firing back with: “Jewish participation in the Hamas-backed BDS movement is the epitome of Jew vs. Jew! “

Responding to assertions that criticizing the establishment organizations creates “disunity” in the community and hurts Israel, Gilinsky stated: “In the name of unity, we are being asked to allow destructive forces to threaten our fellow Jews. NO, we are Jews FOR Jews. We are here to proclaim that we stand in solidarity with Israel, and that includes Judea and Samaria, and we are here to fight FOR the victims being targeted by BDS aggression.”

A Member of the Israeli Knesset was present, MK Nissim Zeev, and he spoke with full support for all of Yehuda and Shomron and spoke of the Yehuda and Shomron being the heart of the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael.

Richard Allen, founder of JCC Watch, took on the UJA directly, calling out “DO NOT SUPPORT BDS!” to UJA-Federation employees and leaders as they left the building, and saving particular criticism for John Ruskay. “Under John Ruskay’s leadership of the UJA-Federation, the Celebrate Israel Day Parade has invited groups to march that actively call for a Boycott of Israeli Companies. Under front names like Partners for Progressive Israel, New Israel Fund and B'Tselem these groups organize and work against the Jewish State.

"It is shameful that the UJA Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) are supporting the New Israel Fund in their efforts to delegitimize and fund Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel," continued Allen, an active member of the Pro-Israel Parade Committee. "It's time the UJA Federation stop supporting radical groups that work for BDS against Israel. If the BDS supporting groups are allowed to march, we will call for posters and leaflets on the day of the parade.”

Coalition for Israel founder Howard Weber, spoke eloquently about BDS and the peace process. “For those passers by asking what "BDS" stands for, it means "Blind, Deaf and Stupid’--"Blind to the fact that the reason Mr. Kerry can't obtain a peace agreement has nothing to do with the Jews living on less than 3% of the West Bank, but rather, as Mr. Abbas bluntly put it, the non-recognition of Israel as a Jewish State. "Deaf" to the pleadings of the Palestinian Authority and Mr. Abbas who urge BDS not to boycott Israeli goods since the factories producing them employ West Bank Arabs who enjoy much higher wages and standard of living than their Arab brothers. And finally, "Stupid" because they have decided the best way to put forth their political ideology is by economically crippling Israel.

He continued: “Is this the ‘Celebrate Israel Parade’? or is it the ‘Denigrate Israel Parade’? ”

Dr. Paul Brody of the Great Neck-based Jewish Political Education Foundation (JPEF), said that there is a difference between "opinions and destruction." "Our group is opposed to Israel's relinquishing sovereignty over any of our Biblical Land. But, in terms of marching in the parade, there are individuals and groups who support all sorts of solutions with which we disagree. However, calling for boycotts, divestments and sanctions should be a redline."

Buddy Macy, a founder of Never Again is Now, spoke of his family’s involvement with raising funds for Federation, and stated, “It is called the Celebrate Israel Parade. However, 364 days a year, Partners for Progressive Israel, B’Tselem and the New Israel Fund not only do not celebrate Israel, they lambast and work against her by promoting the boycott of products produced by Israeli companies and/or fund organizations that boycott Israeli products. In other words, these three organizations embrace the narrative created by Israel’s enemies, who are intent on destroying the Jewish State.

What is equally absurd and potentially more dangerous, is that the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, under the watchful eye of the UJA-Federation of New York, provides a platform for those organizations to gain respect and esteem among the hundreds of thousands of parade goers. Make no mistake about it: we will not permit enemies of Israel to become role models for the Jewish people…especially, for our youth.

Julian Rapaport, from the Russian Jewish community, stated: “We are joining the voices of protest against the participation of BDS-connected groups in the Celebrate Israel Parade. We know from history that the Nazi Holocaust began with the boycotting of Jewish stores. Our group sticks tightly to the principle: NEVER AGAIN! We are calling on the UJA to modify and clarify its controversial policy and guidelines to make sure that participation in the Israel Day Parade, as expected, means to strengthen the State of Israel and the Jewish community, not weaken them.”

Rabbi Aryeh Spero, whose two hard-hitting articles in Jewish newspapers created a stir this past week, stated today in response to the rally: “Promoters of BDS do not love Israel, and through their boycotts wish to harm Israel and its people. And the acceptance by the establishment Jewish community of these groups reflects a perverse form of Jewish suicide. “

The rally organizers expressed special thanks to the National Council of Young Israel for their endorsement of the rally. A representative of Endowment for Middle East Truth addressed the crowd, emphasizing the importance of continued activism and pressure on the UJA and JCRC to do the right thing, as well as the importance of bringing the community’s attention to the truths about BDS in America and abroad.

Endorsing organizations of this rally were: JCC Watch, Jewish Action Alliance, AFSI, Z Street, National Conference on Jewish Affairs, Endowment for Middle East Truth, Americans for Peace and Tolerance, Ha-Emet, Coalition for Israel, National Council of Young Israel, International Committee for the Land of Israel, Jewish Political Education Foundation, IsraelLives.org, Amcha Initiative, and Never Again is Now.

Labels: B'Tselem, BDS, JCC Watch, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, Manhattan JCC, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Federation, progressives, Salute to Israel Day Parade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:45 PM 0 comments

Get thee to the Federation building

Labels: Americans for a Safe Israel, BDS, JCC Watch, Manhattan JCC, New York Jewish Federation, Z Street

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:45 PM 1 comments

A chance to make history in New York City on Tuesday, April 8

Labels: Americans for a Safe Israel, BDS, JCC Watch, Manhattan JCC, New York Jewish Federation, Z Street

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:50 PM 4 comments

What if they had a Salute to Israel parade and no supporters of Israel showed up?

Several groups are organizing a protest rally for April 8 as part of a campaign to have the parade sponsors remove their invitations to the controversial groups. Further, unless the groups are pulled, several local rabbis, including day school and yeshiva principals, are considering boycotting the event, thereby significantly reducing the number of participants.

"Partners for Progressive Israel" lists Israeli products to boycott on its website; the New Israel Fund (NIF) has supported BDS and reportedly been encouraging Arab riots; volunteers with B'Tselem have taken part in Arab riots. NIF and B'Tselem have also been implicated in pro-BDS activities, including via subsidiaries, videos and statements. All three are currently set to march in the parade under their own banners.

"Boycotting is an action that far exceeds disagreement. At its core, it is a public venue designed to demonize, ultimately to make something, in this case, the State of Israel, illegitimate. It is a form of anti-Semitism,” the rabbi noted.

“These BDS groups work every day to isolate Israel and make her a global pariah, announcing to the world the names of specific Jewish-owned companies operating in Judea and Samaria that they want punished," charged Rabbi Spero.

Rabbi Spero adds that "these ‘Jewish’ groups are being invited to infiltrate the Parade, either because of agreement with their tactics or as a way of affirming what the UJA-Federation calls ‘an open tent.’ UJA’s desire for an ‘open tent’ should not devolve into the destruction of the tent."

Referring to the BDS claims that they target only areas east of the 1949 Armistice line, the rabbi noted "to the world, a boycott is a boycott, east of the Green Line or west of it. Approving one leads to the other. Boycotting Israel will spur future boycotting of those ‘bad’ Jews, for example, in Brooklyn or London."

The rabbi added that the boycotting groups "never boycott Arab or Muslim businesses, despite the ubiquitous terrorism coming from PA neighborhoods and their violations of human rights. Their outrage is only against the Jewish state and its Jews."

Showing the widespread fallout the groups' opposition to the parade may bring about, Rabbi Elie Abadie has threatened to pull the support and float of his Edmond J. Safra Synagogue. He also represents the Moise Safra Community Synagogue, Congregation Magen David of Manhattan, and the Sephardic Academy of Manhattan.

Rabbi Abadie warned he would be “urging every rabbi and leader of every Sephardic organization—as well as many others—in our community" to boycott the parade if the BDS groups were not pulled.

The rabbi decried the BDS-supporters for harming a fellow Jew's ability to earn a livelihood, citing the Jewish legal precept from the Torah "not to stand idly by the blood of your brother."

Jeff Wiesenfeld, a member of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) which organizes the parade, revealed the decision process that led to the groups' inclusion.

While a majority of JCRC's leadership would have opposed the "detestable" BDS groups, according to Wiesenfeld, "there was no debate. It was a decision handed down from ‘above’ because, I think, it was determined that, financially, the UJA stood to lose more from the left if the BDS groups were excluded than they would gain from the right."

Organizers of the rally against the BDS groups' inclusion call on those who cannot attend the protest rally, which will be held on Tuesday, April 8, between 4:00-7:00 pm, outside the UJA-Federation headquarters at 130 E. 59th St. in Manhattan, to send protest letters to the UJA and JCRC.

Peter Kohlmann, executive producer of the parade can be reached at 212-983-4800 ext 162 (kohlmannp@jcrcny.org), while Michael Mittelman, director of the parade, can be reached at 212-983-4800 ext 487 (mittelmanm@jcrcny.org).

“Let the directors of the UJA and other Jewish organizations know of your concerns," called Rabbi Spero. "Real Jewish leaders should not be indifferent, silent, nor lend support to boycotters and others wishing to tear us down."

The rabbi added "directors of our Jewish organizations proved their fallibility during the 1930s and ‘40s, teaching us that blind obedience is foolish and leaving our destiny and safety to those who claim they ‘know best’ can be devastating. This time in history, we must not make the same mistake."

Labels: B'Tselem, BDS, JCC Watch, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, Manhattan JCC, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Federation, progressives, Salute to Israel Day Parade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:30 AM 8 comments

'Make a l'Chayim to BDS'?

The Seattle Chapter of the radical Israel hating Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)  invites you to a very special Passover Seder.  They will be using their own one of a kind Passover Haggadah.  Highlights of the JVP Haggadah include many helpful tips, like a reminder not to confuse Egypt with “Egypt” or Israel with “Israel”.

You will be especially moved and inspired by the Ten Plagues of the Israeli Occupation (Page 10). With a flair for the original, JVP adds an orange and a bowl of olives to their seder plate.... 

The ADL notes that “the introduction to the JVP Haggadah compares Moses’s famous declaration to Pharoah, “Let My People Go!” to the efforts of the Gaza Flotilla to “free” the Palestinian people by breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza. According to JVP, the third cup of wine, which is traditionally consumed after the meal portion of the Seder, represents the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction  (BDS) of the Jewish state and Seder participants are encouraged to “make a L’Chayim” to BDS.”

“The constant supremacy of the Palestinian cause is also startling. When the text, for example, reaches Yachatz, the breaking of the middle matzah, the text reminds participants to acknowledge the “break that occurred in Palestinian life and culture with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948″.”

Labels: BDS, JCC Watch, Jewish Voice for Peace, Manhattan JCC, New York Jewish Federation, Pesach, Pesach seder, Salute to Israel Day Parade

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:19 PM 0 comments

Protest against New York Jewish federation funding of boycott Israel events

Flash Mob:Protest Sept 12, 6PM,130East 59St NYC Join In Burning our checks to @UJAfedNY Stop Funding Boycott Israel Events @IsraelMatzav
— JCCWatch.org (@JCCWatch) September 12, 2013

Labels: New York Jewish Federation, Yom Kippur

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:23 AM 0 comments

Disgraceful: New York 'Jewish Federation' boycotting Judea and Samaria

Sadly, the European Union's decision to bind the 28 European Union member nations to label Jewish goods and services, and even academic research proposals from institutions and factories that have their offices or manufacturing facilities in Judea and Samaria is relatively recent yet no different than the "Gentleman's Agreement" that has been voluntarily adopted and implemented by the New York Federation for many years. The New York Federation does not cross the green line (known by many as the 1967 borders) unless of course it's to assist Palestinian Arabs, meaning that Jews who can benefit from the many programs that are funded and provided by the New York Federation for the citizens of Israel are effectively barred if they reside in Judea and Samaria.

Jews living beyond the green line have been voluntarily boycotted by the New York Federation despite the fact that there is no legal prohibition to support organizations or communities located in these areas not only according to Israeli law but also in accordance to American tax law. Any American dollar donated is fully tax deductible to the extent provided by law. This has not stopped the New York Federation from voluntarily boycotting 700,000 Jews along with the Europeans and the many enemies of Israel who have been behind the boycott movements throughout the world.

The most blatant example of this voluntary boycott by the New York Federation has to do with the victims of terror.The community of Itamar, located adjacent to the City of Shechem in Judea and Samaria has had no less than 22 of its residents murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorist, they have the highest terror murder rate of any community in Judea and Samaria, in Israel and probably in the world. The Fogel family massacre being the latest tragedy that this community has endured. They obviously would be the ideal community to be inundated with trauma interventions at all levels, community, family, individual, and children but essentially they have been untouched and boycotted by the Israel Trauma Coalition (ITC), an organization that was wholly established by the New York Federation, funded entirely by Federation donations, and operated according to Federation guidelines. The local Regional Council has helped with their limited resources, the very opposite of all other communities within the green line that have received generous trauma assistance by the New York Federation.

Judea and Samaria as a whole is the home of over 100 terror orphans. The New York Federation has invested ten's of millions of dollars in trauma resiliency programs and trauma treatment programs in Israel, and not one cent of direct funding has crossed the green line to assist these very special children. Despite the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria being on the front lines on the "War on Terror", the New York Federation would prefer to use funding to give exposure to those that support Boycott movements and the dismantling of the State of Israel rather than fund programs such as therapeutic horseback riding and music and art therapy for these very special children who have experienced and in many cases have witnessed the deaths of their parents and siblings. If New York Federation funded agencies can so blatantly boycott children who have lost their parents and siblings to terror, why should we be so surprised when the Europeans adopt a similar policy of boycotting Jews.

Labels: BDS, Judea and Samaria, New York Jewish Federation

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:06 PM 3 comments

Why Roger Waters' appearance at the 92nd Street Y was cancelled

The Jewish Press ran a story on March 25 about Waters’ scheduled appearance at the 92nd Street Y, noting that the Y had begun nearly 140 years earlier as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, and how ironic it was that it was going to host one of the biggest haters of Israel west of the Middle East.

And then things became a little strange at the 92nd Street Y website.

On March 26th, the Waters event at the Y was listed on the website as “postponed.”  Then, sometime during the first days of Passover, all mention of the Waters concert was removed from the Y’s website, including from its calendar listing.  However, curious callers to the box office were told that the concert was going on as planned.  By late in the evening of March 28, the event once again was listed on the website.

On March 29, the box office staff told curious callers that they should keep their tickets and they would be called with information about a new date, but later that same day a new date for the Waters’ concert – June 19th – was posted on a British website.

The turmoil continued for the 92nd Street Y management, scheduling office, and webmaster, as the public outcry continued, reaching a crescendo on April 3.

Emails were sent to Adler at the Y and to John Ruskay, the chair of New York City’s United Jewish Appeal – Federation, asking how they could provide a forum at the Y to someone with such a visceral hatred for Israel, someone who has publicly stated his commitment to do everything within his power to destroy Israel’s efforts to protect its citizens from terrorism.

Labels: anti-Semitism, BDS, JCC Watch, Manhattan JCC, Nazis, New York Jewish Federation, Roger Waters

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:40 PM 2 comments

Anti-Israel groups to March in the Salute to Israel parade

March 16, 2012

EXTREMIST ANTI-ISRAEL GROUPS TO MARCH ON JUNE 3 IN CELEBRATE ISRAEL PARADE

UJA-FEDERATION IS PERMITTING ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROMOTE BOYCOTTS, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL TO PARTICIPATE.

A coalition of community Jewish organizations urgently calls on all friends of Israel to make their voices heard. The UJA-Federation and Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) have granted permission to extremist anti-Israel organizations to march in the Celebrate Israel Parade on June 3^rd in New York. These groups encourage Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, seeking to delegitimize and economically weaken the Jewish State.

We call on all supporters of Israel to contact the UJA-Federation and JCRC and ask them to reverse their misguided decision.

THESE ARE THE FACTS:

• Last year, the New Israel Fund (NIF) was allowed to march in the parade. Other groups marched with the New Israel Fund, displaying their individual banners, including B'Tselem, Partners for Progressive Israel and Rabbis for Human Rights.

• This year, New Israel fund is slated to march again, and we expect B'Tselem and the other groups will once again join NIF, displaying their banners.

• New Israel Fund finances numerous Israeli NGOs (non-governmental organizations), some of which promote Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

• For instance, five grantees of the New Israel fund (Machsom Watch, Coalition of Women for Peace, Women Against Violence, Social TV, and Mossawa) signed a letter to the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, urging it to divest from Israel.

• Partners for Progressive Israel (also known as Meretz USA) prominently displays on its website, under the heading "boycott these Settlement products sold in the US, "a list of Israeli products that it wants Jews to boycott. These products include Ahava cosmetics, SodaStream products, and wine from nine Israeli vineyards.

• The chair of B'Tselem's board, Oren Yiftachel, has publicly called for "effective sanctions" against Israel. B'Tselem is a major grantee of the New Israel Fund.

• B'Tselem produced the Video that was shown at the infamous "Israel Apartheid 2012" events held at Universities and Colleges worldwide.

• Despite New Israel Funds stated opposition to Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), their continued funding of these groups shows their actions are not in line with their statements.

ACT NOW

We urge everyone to raise your voices and call the UJA-Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). Urge them to stop these groups from marching in the Israel Day Parade and hijacking a pro-Israel event for their anti-Israel purposes. While the JCRC runs the Parade, the UJA-Federation has effective control over the JCRC, as they appoint Board members as a right and contribute the major portion of JCRC funding.

Richard Allen, a member of the Committee for a Pro-Israel Parade and founder of JCCWatch.org stated: "It is not surprising that the UJA-Federation is pushing these bash Israel groups to march in the June 3, 2012 Israel Parade. Published reports show that the UJA-Federation's Chief Executive Officer, John Ruskay, worked with Noam Chomsky in one of the first political bash Israel groups; CONAME (Committee On New Alternatives in The Middle East). The reports stated the group CONAME specialized in attacking Israel. John Ruskay also gave over 1 million ($1,000,000) of UJA-Federation Jewish Charity Dollars to the political George Soros funded group, Jewish Funds for Justice. The community must make its voice heard by calling and writing The UJA-Federation and demand that Jewish community charity funds not be used for these divisive purposes."

PUBLIC CAMPAIGN

CALL OR WRITE TODAY

Tell John Ruskay and Jerry Levin of the UJA-Federation of New York:

NOT ONE DIME to Legitimize the De-Legitimizers of Israel!

STOP groups that work to Delegitimize Israel from Hijacking the Israel Parade!

Call and write the Board of the UJA-Federation of New York

Tell the UJA Federation you do NOT want your Jewish Charity Dollars Going to Support John Ruskay's Political Agenda

Phone: 212-980-1000

Email the UJA-Federation CEO John Ruskay: ruskayJ@ujafedny.org

Email the UJA-Federation Board: President Jerry W. Levin: jwlevin@jwlevinpartners.com

Email the Jewish Community Relations Council board:

Rabbi Michael Miller, millerm@jcrcny.org or call 212-983-4084

Labels: JCC Watch, Jewish Community Relations Council, Manhattan JCC, New York Jewish Federation

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:48 AM 0 comments