Posts by iainlrabbak

Fight fundamentalists' fundimg

iainlrabbak — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:42:49 +0000

Members of ProZion got this letter from Anat Hoffman.

Dear Friends of IRAC,

One of the first Hebrew words immigrants to Israel learn is savlanut - patience. They'll need it; it's a word they won't easily forget. But it will take them some time longer to understand its root, sevel, as the source of all Hebrew words for suffering.

I've always liked the direct connection Hebrew makes between patience and suffering, and have grown especially fond of it over my years here at IRAC, where so much of our work is an exercise in patient suffering. We've had Reform conversion cases that have dragged on for eight years, and campaigns against religious councils that have lasted almost two decades. So often we find ourselves in opposition to the State. We send you stories about suing the government, or petitioning the Supreme Court against the government for the umpteenth time - which is why it's heartening to report that recently the office of the Attorney General has joined our side. In a petition of ours against the Jerusalem Municipality's decision to provide full and exclusive funding for Haredi schools, the Attorney General has joined IRAC in arguing that such funding is illegal in its blatant discrimination and disregard for other schools in Jerusalem.

Especially troubling is the automatic preference for Haredi schools at the expense of all others in Jerusalem. According to Tali Aviv, a member of IRAC's very capable legal team, the best illustration of the Jerusalem Municipality's discriminatory allocation of educational funds can be found in East Jerusalem, where public schools are overcrowded, and many children are forced to attend private schools for lack of any other option. These schools aren't given any additional funds at all, so it would seem logical to provide these private schools with money rather than give it exclusively to Haredi ones. But this is a classic example of how the Jerusalem Municipality works: it caters to Haredi political power, and to their coalition within the municipality.

Today IRAC submits a written summation of our arguments to the Court, and then in two weeks' time the Jerusalem Municipality and Haredi networks will present their own before the Court can reach a verdict. “It will be an important moment,” Tali says, “because municipalities across Israel look to the Jerusalem District Court for guidance in handling similar cases of their own.”

And it's quite clear that discriminatory funding, especially when it comes to Haredi communities, is a relevant and prevalent issue that won't go away any time soon.We hope the addition of the Attorney General's name to our petition will strengthen our case and draw attention to the issue at hand. And we want the case decided this year, not a decade hence.

L'shalom,

Anat Hoffman

Breaking more silence on Israeli abuses

iainlrabbak — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:30:01 +0000

Breaking the Silence is an organisation of Israeli reserve combat soldiers which has compiled reports about the abuse of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
Its latest report focuses on the testimony of female soldiers in the occupied territories and at checkpoints.

Here is an extract:

Another female soldier's testimony, who served at the Erez checkpoint, indicates how violence was deeply rooted in the daily routine: "There was a procedure in which before you release a Palestinian back into the Strip – you take him inside the tent and beat him."

That was a procedure?

"Yes, together with the commanders."

How long did it last?

"Not very long; within 20 minutes they would be back in the base, but the soldiers would stop at the post to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes while the guys from the command post would beat them up."

This happened with every illegal alien?

"There weren't that many...it's not something you do everyday, but sort of a procedure. I don't know if they strictly enforced it each and every time...it took me a while to realize that if I release an illegal alien on my end, by the time he gets back to Gaza he will go through hell... two or three hours can pass by the time he gets into the Strip. In the case of the kid, it was a whole night. That's insane, since it's a ten minute walk. They would stop them on their way; each soldier would give them a 'pet', including the commanders."

'Child's hand broken on the chair'

A female soldier in Sachlav Military Police unit, stationed in Hebron, recalled a Palestinian child that would systematically provoke the soldiers by hurling stones at them and other such actions. One time he even managed to scare a soldier who fell from his post and broke his leg.

Retaliation came soon after: "I don't know who or how, but I know that two of our soldiers put him in a jeep, and that two weeks later the kid was walking around with casts on both arms and legs…they talked about it in the unit quite a lot – about how they sat him down and put his hand on the chair and simply broke it right there on the chair."

Even small children did not escape arbitrary acts of violence, said a Border Guard female officer serving near the separation fence: "We caught a five-year-old…can't remember what he did…we were taking him back to the territories or something, and the officers just picked him up, slapped him around and put him in the jeep. The kid was crying and the officer next to me said 'don't cry' and started laughing at him. Finally the kid cracked a smile – and suddenly the officer gave him a punch in the stomach. Why? 'Don't laugh in my face' he said."

Was there also abuse of women?

"Yes" the same soldier replied. "Slaps, that kind of thing. Mainly slaps."

From men?

"Also. From whoever. It was mainly the female combat soldiers who beat people. There were two who really liked to beat people up. But also men, they had no problem slapping a woman around. If she screamed, they'd say, 'Shut it,' with another slap. A routine of violence. There were also those who didn't take part, but everyone knew it happened."

Sometimes an entire "production" was necessary to satisfy the violent urges. "There's a sense of violence," a border policewoman in the Jenin area said. "And yes, it's boring, so we'd create some action. We'd get on the radio, and say they threw stones at us, then someone would be arrested, they'd start investigating him… There was a policewoman, she was bored, so okay, she said they threw stones at her. They asked her who threw them. 'I don't know, two in grey shirts, I didn't manage to see them.' They catch two guys with grey shirts… beat them. Is it them? 'No, I don't think so.' Okay, a whole incident, people get beaten up. Nothing happened that day."

An education noncommissioned officer from the Border Guard took her officers for a Sunday of culture – a show in Tel Aviv. When they got back to their base in the Gaza Strip, they were appalled by the dissonance – one moment they're clapping in a theater, the next moment they're acting like beasts.

"Crossing the checkpoint, it's like another world… Palestinians walk with trolleys on the side of the road, with wagons, donkeys… so the Border Guards take a truck with the remains of food and start throwing it at them… cottage cheese, rotten vegetables… it was the most appalling thing I experienced in the territories."

The soldier said she tried to protest, but was silenced by the commanding officers. When she tried to go around them to higher authorities, she found a solution. "Almost immediately I got into an officers' course."

'You don't know which side you're on'

Some of the testimonies document incidents of vandalism of Palestinian property, and even theft. The same female soldier who recounted her time at the Erez checkpoint said, "Many times the soldiers would open the Palestinians' food."

And would they take it as well?

"Yes. They take things all the time at checkpoints in the territories. You'll never see a soldier without musabaha (chickpea past similar to hummus). And that is something they give many times… They are so desperate to pass that they even sort of bribe the soldiers a little…"

A female Border Guard officer spoke of how Palestinian children would arrive at checkpoints with bags of toys for sale – and how the Border Guard would deal with them: "'Okay, throw the bag away. Oh, I need some batteries,', and they would take, they would take whatever they wanted."

What would they take?

"Toys, batteries, anything… cigarettes. I'm sure they took money as well, but I don't remember that specifically." She also spoke of one incident in which the looting was caught by a television camera, and the affair blew up. "Then, the company commander gathered us and reprimanded us: 'How did you not think they might see you?'" No one was punished: "Really, it was an atmosphere in which we were allowed to hit and humiliate."

Some of the gravest stories come from Hebron. A Sachlav female soldier spoke of one of the company's hobbies: Toy guns. "Those plastic pellets really hurt… we had a bunch of those… you're sitting on guard and 'tak' you fire at a kid, 'tak' – you fire at another kid."

She recounted an incident in which a Palestinian reporter took a picture of one of the soldiers aiming a gun at a boy's head. She said a "special patrol" went into Hebron, and came back with the pictures. The soldier said they either paid the reporter, or threatened her.

And the pictures were circulated in the company?

"No, they were destroyed the same day."

What did the company commander say about it?

"He said it's a good thing they didn't reach the IDF Spokesperson's Unit."

Some of the testimonies from Hebron deal with the difficult position the soldiers find themselves in, between Palestinians and settlers – who they say are even harder to handle. Some of the female soldiers were shocked with the level of violence the settlers' children used against the Palestinians. "They would throw stones at them, the Jewish kids," a Nahal female soldier said, "and the parents would say anything… you see this every day in Tel Rumeida."

Doesn't it seem strange to you that one child throws a stone at another child?

"Because the one child is Jewish and the other is Palestinians, it's somehow okay… and it was obvious that there would be a mess afterwards. And you also don't really know which side you are on…I have to make a switch in my head and keep hating the Arabs and justify the Jews."

In her frustration, the same female soldier told of how she once spit on a Palestinian in the street: "I don't think he even did anything. But again, it was cool and it was the only thing I could do to… you know, I couldn't take brag that I caught a terrorists… But I could spit on them and degrade them and laugh at them."

Another female Sachlav soldier told the story of the time an eight-year-old settler girl in Hebron decided to bash a stone into the head of a Palestinian adult crossing her passing by her in the street. "Boom! She jumped on him, and gave it to him right here in the head… then she started screaming 'Yuck, yuck, his blood is on me'".

The soldier said the Palestinian then turned in the girl's direction – a move that was interpreted as a threat by one of the soldiers in the area, who added a punch of his own: "And I stood there horrified… an innocent little girl in her Shabbat dress… the Arab covered the wound with his hand and ran." She recalled another incident with the same child: "I remember she had her brother in the stroller, a baby. She was giving him stones and telling him: 'Throw them at the Arab'."

9-year-old shot to death

Other testimonies raise concerns as to the procedures of opening fire in the territories, particularly crowd control weapons. A female Border Guard detailed to protocol she called "dismantling rubber" – the dismantling of rubber bullets from clusters of three to single bullets, and peeling the rubber off of them. She also said that, despite the clear orders to fire in the air or at the demonstrators' feet, it was common procedure to fire at the abdomen.

A female Border Guard officer in Jenin spoke of an incident in which a nine-year-old Palestinian, who tried to climb the fence, failed, and fled – was shot to death: "They fired… when he was already in the territories and posed no danger. The hit was in the abdomen area, they claimed he was on a bicycle and so they were unable to hit him in the legs."

But the soldier was most bewildered by what happened next between the four soldiers present: "They immediately got their stories straight… An investigation was carried out, at first they said it was an unjustified killing… In the end they claimed that he was checking out escape routes for terrorists or something… and they closed the case."

A female intelligence soldier who served near Etzion recounted an incident in which snipers killed a boy suspected of throwing a Molotov cocktail. The soldiers coordinated their stories, and the female soldier was shocked, mainly by the happy atmosphere that surrounding the incident: "It was written in the situation evaluation after the incident that from now on there will be quiet… This is the best kind of deterrence."

'They don't know how to accept the women'

The female soldiers repeatedly mention the particular difficulties they had as women, who had to prove that to were "fighters" in the midst of the goading male soldiers on the one hand, and the Palestinians, who have a hard time handling women in uniform on the other hand. The following story of a female Border Guard officer sums the matter up.

When the interviewer asked her if the Palestinians "suffer even more from the women in the Border Guard", she said: "Yes. Yes. Because they don't know how to accept the women. The moment a girl slaps a man, he is so humiliated, he is so humiliated he doesn't know what to do with himself… I am a strong and well-built girl, and this is even harder for them to handle. So one of their ways of coping is to laugh. They really just started to laugh at me. The commander looks at me and tells me, 'What? Are you going to let that slide? Look how he's laughing at you'.

"And you, as someone who has to salvage your self-respect… I told them to sit down and I told him to come…I told him to come close, I really approached him, as if I was about to kiss him. I told him, 'Come, come, what are you afraid of? Come to me!' And I hit him in the balls. I told him, 'Why aren't you laughing?' He was in shock, and then he realized that… not to laugh. It shouldn't reach such a situation."

You hit him with your knee?

"I hit him in the balls. I took my foot, with my military show, and hit him in the balls. I don't know if you've ever been hit in the balls, but it looks like it hurts. He stopped laughing in my face because it hurt him. We then took him to a police station and I said to myself, 'Wow, I'm really going to get in trouble now.' He could complain about me and I could receive a complaint at the Military police's criminal investigation division.

"He didn’t say a word. I was afraid and I said. I was afraid about myself, not about him. But he didn't say a word. 'What should I say, that a girl hit me?' And he could have said, but thank God, three years later I didn’t get anything and no one knows about it."

What did it feel like that moment?

"Power, strength that I should not have achieved this way. But I didn't brag about it. That's why I did it that way, one on one. I told them to sit on the side, I saw that he wasn't looking. I said to myself that it doesn't make sense that as a girl who gives above and beyond and is worth more than some boys – they should laugh at me like that because I am a girl. Because you think I can't do it…"

Today, when you look at it three years later, would you have done things differently?

"I would change the system. It's seriously defective."

What does that mean?

"The system is deeply flawed. The entire administration, the way things are run, it's not right. I don't know how I would… I don't think I did the right thing in this incident but it was what I had to do. It's inevitable under these circumstances."

You're saying the small soldiers on the ground are not the problem, but the whole situation surrounding them?

"Yes, this entire situation is problematic."

For freedom of religion for all Jews in Israel

iainlrabbak — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:54:10 +0000

In the wake of the disgraceful arrest and interrogation of Anat Hoffman and another member of the Reform Movement activist for praying at the Western Wall, please sign this petition to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
It reads
To: Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu

Petition to
The Prime Minister of Israel
Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu

As a concerned Jew I wish to bring to your attention my very deep distress about recent events in Israel regarding religious pluralism. I am very proud to support Israel as the religious homeland for all Jews and feel strongly that I have the right and responsibility to voice my concern when something touches the very heart of my beliefs as a Jew.

Recent events in Israel point to a continuing bias towards the rights and wishes of the ultra-Orthodox minority at the expense of the majority. Whether through government legislation or through decisions by the courts or tribunals, it appears that Israeli democracy is being eroded.

The most recent cause of concern is the interrogation of Anat Hoffman, Chair of the Women of the Wall, by Jerusalem police. She was threatened with arrest for violating the rules of conduct at what many consider to be Judaism’s most sacred site. This was a pure act of intimidation and comes on the heels of the arrest of Nofrat Frankel at the Wall for wearing a tallit and for holding a sefer Torah. These actions are repugnant to me as one who believes that Israel must be a religious pluralistic society.

These events are the continuation of a trend favoring ultra-Orthodoxy over other streams of Judaism, exemplified in incidents regarding the validity of conversions, rights of marriage and burial, segregated buses and other public spaces, and the use of parking garages on Shabbat. These issues constitute a growing religious crisis in Israel, which is as much a threat to Israel’s survival as are the external threats and perhaps more so. Protecting Israel from religious extremism may be the nation’s biggest challenge.

I urge you to take the necessary steps within your government to insure equality for all streams of Judaism. There must be an end to laws and practices that legitimize abuse and discrimination against Jews who desire to express their Judaism or just want to live their lives in a manner contrary to the ultra-Orthodox minority.

Sincerely,

Exposing Israel's bluff on settlements

iainlrabbak — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:21:59 +0000

This is how it works: construction in East Jerusalem isn't frozen, in fact it is boosted; construction already under way—that is, the foundations of which have already been laid—isn't frozen, including more than 3,000 apartments currently being built; construction of schools, synagogues and other public buildings isn't frozen (so they build boarding schools, where each student's bedroom will be quite large and equipped with a kitchen, a lounge, and one or two "auxiliary rooms"; and exceptions are granted under special conditions.
Basically, colony building continues unabated. No new permits will be granted, but there's no clause in the freeze stating that the construction rate in the buildings already under way can't be stepped up.
Netanyahu has called on the Palestinians to negotiate under outrageous conditions: 1) that they recognise the state religion of Israel (never in history has this been demanded of a party to a negotiation); 2) that they accept a state without an army; 3) that they accept Israeli control of all their borders, including that with Jordan; 4) that they accept wedges of settlements cutting deep into the West Bank, etc. What a tragic joke.
And come 10 months and a day, Netanyahu will declare, in faux exasperation, that he made a painful concession and got nothing from the Palestinians, and the megaphones and lobbyists will quote Golda Meir as to how they hate more than they love and they never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. On that precise day, thousands of new permits will be asked for—and granted.
Shame this paper doesn't expose this.
Who are the Israelis trying to kid?

Israel recognises the real cause of "new antisemitism" -- itself

iainlrabbak — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:29:55 +0000

An Israeli/Jewish Agency report has found that 2009 was the worst year since the Holocaust for antisemitism.

The report does recognise, however, Israel's own part in the rise.

The report found that more anti-Semitic incidents were recorded during the first three months of 2009 than during the entire previous year. Israel's Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip was cited as the cause for the dramatic rise.

I suppose it is too much to ask that Israel do us no favours in future.

The settlements are illegal. Even the Israelis know that.

iainlrabbak — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:24:11 +0000

Israeli journalist and historian Gershom Gorenberg — whose history of the settlements “The Accidental Empire” is well worth reading — has recounted that in 1967, “the legal counsel of the Foreign Ministry, Theodor Meron, was asked whether international law allowed settlement in the newly conquered land.”

In a memo marked “Top Secret,” Mr. Meron wrote unequivocally, “My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
In the detailed opinion that accompanied that note, Mr. Meron explained that the Convention — to which Israel was a signatory — forbade an occupying power from moving part of its population to occupied territory. [...]
Mr. Meron took note of Israel’s diplomatic argument that the West Bank was not “normal” occupied territory, because the land’s status was uncertain. The prewar border with Jordan had been a mere armistice line, and Jordan had annexed the West Bank unilaterally.
But he rejected that argument for two reasons. The first was diplomatic: the international community would not accept it and would regard settlement as showing “intent to annex the West Bank to Israel.” The second was legal, he wrote: “In truth, certain Israeli actions are inconsistent with the claim that the West Bank is not occupied territory.” For instance, he noted, a military decree issued on the third day of the war in June said that military courts must apply the Geneva Conventions in the West Bank.

Unfortunately, the Israeli government ignored Meron’s legal advice, and developed a series of shifting legal rationales to justify the annexation and colonisation of the occupied land, which has helped to create the exceedingly difficult and volatile situation we have today.

It was what?

iainlrabbak — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:56:05 +0000

Dmitry Salita and it appears the JC believe that the boxer was floored in 76 seconds by alleged antisemitic abuse as he walked into the Newcastle arena.
And there was me and several thousand others who watched the fight -- if it can be called that -- thinking that it was several fantastic right-left combinations.

A little local difficulty

iainlrabbak — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:59:01 +0000

The Board of Deputies treasurer Laurence Brass has told BBC Manchester Radio that he is not just the person who looks after the purse but is able to influence and steer the direction of the board.
"I want to steer the board in a particular direction, although you might think the treasurer is the man that just looks after the purse, he does have the opportunity to influence the politicaldirection the board is taking and that is something I feel quite strongly about," Brass said.
Brass was asked in the BBC interview about the recent settlement freeze announced by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
"That was good news," Brass said. "I would like to have seen it extended to Jerusalem."
Brass said he wanted to make sure the board is not seen as a wing of the Israeli Embassy, accusing previous incumbents of the board of being so. "I'd be quite keen to underline with my colleagues that we should not be seen as an extension of the Israeli Embassy, which I think previously regimes have been, and I think we would be more appreciated by our community if we are shown to be quite objective in what we stand for in that sense," he said. About time someone had the gumption to say that.
But what's this? The diaspora cavalry is coming over the hill in the shape of he chairman of the far right Likud-Herut UK, Zalmi Unsdorfer, who wrote to the Board of Deputies President Vivian Wineman, accusing Brass of abusing his position.
"Laurence Brass continues to abuse his position and the trust of the Jewish community which the Board claims to represent," he said.
This is an outrage, and totally incompatible with the Board's role and constitution, he said.
"The board was never intended to be a political organization [except, of course, when it sides with Israel] and its officers should not be pontificating in this way when representing the board and presuming to 'deputize' for Jews in this country," he wrote.
Unsdorfer said that Brass should be dismissed if he cannot be prevented from making statements outside his remit as treasurer.
"Your rules expressly state that no board member is authorized to make statements to the media without your approval. Having been so effusive with his opinions in the few short months since his election, Mr.Brass should have rung alarm bells with you and your colleagues before this.
"He must be instructed to desist from making statements outside his remit as treasurer. If he will not undertake to do this, he must be dismissed. Your role and duty is to ensure that does not happen - either in our community's name or the Board's," he said.
Responding to his critics, Brass said, "It's clear to me that there are some deputies who are seeking to encourage the idea of a 'siege mentality' as part of their own right-wing agenda to persuade the Board to be less sympathetic to constructive criticism of some aspects of Israeli policy. This attempt to steer the Board towards a more hawkish approach has to be resisted."
Hang on, now the tanks of the Jewish National Fund [now a wing of British Herut, apparently] have just invaded the Board's lawn. Samuel Hayek, chairman of the Jewish National Fund UK, said that "Laurence Brass is entitled to his views, which clearly do not represent the views of the Jewish community, which stands firm behind Israel. He is not entitled, however, to espouse his views when representing the Board of Deputies
"Mr. Brass should not making public statements that are unrepresentative and are not within the policies of the Board of Deputies."
Responding to the accusations, the board issued a statement that said: "The Board of Deputies of British Jews stands full square behind the State of Israel and in particular in its quest for security [damn right it does]. The Board does not formulate positions on particular aspects of Israeli government policy, including, in this case, on the issue of a settlement freeze [not if it knows which side its bread is buttered, it doesn't]. These are matters for the democratically elected government of Israel, and for the citizens of Israel who elected it.
"As an organization representing the breadth of the British Jewish community, each of our 260 Deputies, themselves elected by their constituencies, will have their own particular views on Israel , and on all manner of other issues. However, unless and until such individual views are discussed and endorsed by the entire Board, they cannot be taken as constituting the policy of the Board."
Quick, everyone to the shelters, here comes the ZF infantry. Andrew Balcombe, chairman of the UK Zionist Federation, said: "The ZF made representations on this matter to the board and is pleased to see the board's statement. The ZF hopes that in future officers of the board will keep their personal opinions private, if they conflict with their constitutional obligation to "advanceIsrael's security, welfare and standing"
Responding to the board's statement Unsdorfer said: "If the freeze needs to be extended anywhere, it is to Mr. Brass's abuse of his position on the board. By the board's meek statement, it seems clear that Mr. Wineman is not in control of his board and that its long-standing principle of supporting the government ofIsrael, in good times and bad, is not safe in his hands."

Representative? I don't think so

iainlrabbak — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:03:36 +0000

According to a report on this website, about 60 people (their own guesstimation) turned up to demonstrate against a very silly, student-politics-like anti-Israel choir singing at St Paul's in Covent Garden (The Luvvies' Church, for those who know).
A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies said that: “Organisations such as Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network no more represent the authentic voice of our community than do these mutilated carols represent the true spirit of Christmas for Christians.”
Yes but only the 60 usual suspects turned up to protest? That's hardly representative of the community, is it?

A reason for losing in 76 seconds

iainlrabbak — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:06:38 +0000

As an excuse for losing a boxing bout in 76 seconds, Rabbi Dovid Lewis of Newcastle United (Championship leaders, mngr: Chris Hughton) has come with one to rival "the dog ate my homework." There was, he claims, shocking anti-Semitic abuse, and the JC website leads with it.
I'm no great fan of JustPeaceUK, but one of its supporters has hit the proverbial on the head when s/he writes:

I am beginning to think those people are right who say the amount of
antisemitism in Britain is exaggerated. I always used to suspect them of
...
This week I see the JC headlined an "attack" on a Hapoel Tel Aviv supporter in
Glasgow for the Celtic match. I was relieved to then read that police said a man
was arrested for brandishing a weapon during a confrontation between two groups
of men in a Glasgow pub, and said no one had been hurt. All the same, I am sure
violence and threats are exceedingly rare in Glasgow pubs, and rival football
fans normally embrace in friendship and sing each other's songs,so perhaps this
was an antisemitic incident, and may, as the JC seems to suggest, have had
something to do with people waving Palestinian flags at the game. The JC quotes
outraged Celtic fans, who of course have never waved flags at football matches
before. Still, it is reassuring to know this was the nearest thing the JC could
find to a serious incident.
Worse, perhaps, was the evidence the JC was able to report of antisemitism at a
pro-Palestinian carol concert. I thought they must have heard a speech or
interpreted the words of the alternative carols carefully, but no, it seems that
another anonymous person in the street (did he arrive on a bike?), confronted by
those charming people from the Zionist Federation outside, made some anti-Jewish
remarks.
You may say that is an obvious news story, but it takes a keen ear and
journalistic instinct or skills to spot things like that. I mean, how many times
have you heard people coming out of a Zionist event or Israel property fair
giving you their opinion on Palestinians and Arabs, and what should be done to
them, or tell you that "you should have died in Auschwitz"? OK, you may have
told your friends about it, but I bet you didn't rush to write it up as a news
story, let alone manage to get it on the JC front-page.
I once stood on a picket across the road from an Ilford shul where an obnoxious
Israeli general was speaking for Jerusalem Day. An Asian woman in shalwar and
khemis crossed the road, nothing to do with our demonstration, and one of the
shul security people jeered "She must be one of your lot!", as though this was
the most insulting wit he could think of. I remarked about his ignorance, but it
never occurred to me to write up the incident as showing what sort of people
were at the shul event
....

Making the point

iainlrabbak — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:01:08 +0000

Jonathan Margolis in The Guardian's G2 makes the point about being Jewish in the UK today much better than a million watch sites.
For a taster:

So has being merely Jew-ish rather than a proper Jew, marrying a woman who was half-Jewish, half-Methodist, and eating non-kosher food these five decades thwarted my children's option to be Jews, and by doing so played its part in the slow decline of Britain's Jewish population? In an odd way, it hasn't entirely.

Our elder daughter was several months into her relationship with her long-term Cornish boyfriend when she (and he) discovered he was, through his mother's line, more Jewish than she is. Their children, then, will be Jew-ish-ish, at least by birth. I continue to find it almost spooky that these two found each other. Our son a few weeks ago looked seriously into starting a website for the Jew-ish: working title, The Bacon Bagel. And our younger daughter has this last month been leading a campaign at Sussex University against a new campus ban on Israeli goods – theme of the campaign: it's all very well, but why Israel alone? Shouldn't the students also ban Chinese, American, Sri Lankan and dozens of other countries' goods?

The last she heard from the union hierarchy on this score was that to ban American or Chinese products would be, get this, "inconvenient". She is more enraged than I have ever known her about this frank and alarming admission that campus anti-Zionism is, at least for the students who aren't actually Palestinian, a fashion accessory like those chainstore black-and-white keffiyeh scarves.

It's called Isra-bluff

iainlrabbak — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:15:23 +0000

In Israel, the alleged freeze in settlement building would be termed "Isra-bluff" (a phrase invented by that great Israeli trio, Hagashash Hachiver, to denote official lying).
There is no real freeze. Building will continue in those parts of the West Bank Israel deems to be Jerusalem -- Givat Shlomo, Atarot, Givat and Pisgat Zeev etc -- but were never part of Jerusalem. There is also the question of 3,000 odd buildings being built in the occupied territories and there is no freeze on the construction of public buildings, such as synagogues and schools. Expect a massive increase in the number of building permits for such buildings which will suddenly metamorphose into houses and flats in 10 months' time.
No wonder no one apart from the usual suspects is taking this Israeli declaration seriously.

Religious Freedom in Israel…Yeah…right.

iainlrabbak — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:36:14 +0000

Israel has always maintained that only it can maintain religious freedom in Jerusalem. Well, I wonder what the "Israel, right-or-wrong" and hasbara merchants would make of this little nugget from the Jerusalem Post. I always thought that arresting women for praying as they wanted was reserved for places such as Sudan, Iran and Pakistan, not "the only democracy in the Middle East".

Police and Western Wall officials expelled a female prayer group from the Kotel area and arrested one of the women after they attempted Wednesday morning to read from a Torah scroll.
"We debated amongst ourselves whether or not to read from the Torah at the Kotel itself or to take the Torah to the Robinson's Arch," said Nofrat Frenkel, who was arrested and later released by police.
"In the end we decided that because nobody seemed to mind we would go ahead and read the Torah at the Kotel."
According to a compromise reached two decades ago under Supreme Court mediation, it was agreed that women who wished to wear talitot [prayer shawls] and kippot and read from the Torah would be allowed to do so at the Robinson's Arch adjacent to the Kotel and not directly in front of the Kotel so as not to offend Orthodox visitors.
On every Rosh Hodesh (beginning of the Jewish month) the Women of the Wall conduct prayers at the Kotel and at the Robinson's Arch. On Wednesday's visit there was a contingent of women from North America who are in Israel to take part in a rabbinical ordination ceremony to take place at the Reform Movement's Hebrew Union College.
Frenkel said that as the women unrolled the Torah scroll and began to prepare to read, officials from the Kotel Foundation arrived and demanded that they leave the premises.
Frenkel said that the women agreed to roll up the Torah scroll and take it to the Robinson's Arch. But on their way out Frenkel, who was wearing a talit and was carrying the Torah, was seized by police.
"I was pushed into a nearby police station and transferred to the main police station at Yaffo Gate."
About 40 women who attended the prayer formed a procession and followed the police and Frenkel through the Old City to the Yaffo Gate where they congregated and sang songs until Frenkel was released.
Rabbi Felicia Sol of the post-denominational Bnei Jeshrun Synagogue on Manhattan's Upper West Side, said that the attempt to read from the Torah was an experiment with "pushing the boundaries".
"It is ridiculous that in a Jewish state that is supposedly democratic women cannot pray the way they want to and only one definition of Judaism is accepted," said Sol.
"It is sad that many secular Israelis are distanced from Judaism because in Israel religion is seen as a negative, divisive force instead of being compelling and meaningful."
Anat Hoffman, Chair of the Women of the Wall, said that the two-decade-old compromise that prevents women from reading from the Torah at the Kotel was outdated.
"Times have changed and women should be allowed to have a more central role in Jewish expression," said Hoffman.
Kotel Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitz said in response that the women's actions were "a desecration of the sacred."
"They brought dissent and infighting to a place that is supposed to symbolize unity," said Rabinovitz. "And that is a desecration. They behaved like [biblical] Korah and his assembly."
Rabinovitz added that the women were motivated by a political agenda and did not want to simply pray.
However, Frenkel, who belongs to a Conservative congregation in Israel, said that her sole intention was to pray to God.
"We were not trying to cause a provocation," said Frenkel.
"I am not a political person. I come to pray and perform what is written in the Torah 'Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make tzitzit on the corners of their garments'", said Frenkel referring the biblical verse that teaches the commandment to wear a talit.
Jerusalem Police said that they arrested a woman from after she donned a talit, while praying at the Western Wall.
According to a police spokesman, the woman was approached by officers after putting the prayer shawl on, which police said caused an outcry from other worshippers.
"Police calmed the situation down, and took the woman in for questioning," a statement from the spokesman said.

Beware Gerrymandering Polls

iainlrabbak — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:58:47 +0000

May I be the first to suggest that a poll such as today's on the Zionist Central Council's bid to ban Physicians for Human Rights will be knobbled by those who support this censorious bunch of fascists.