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American U.'s Israel Studies Gets Minor, New Director
by Paula Amann
 Students at American University can now make courses in Israeli identity and Jewish culture the building blocks of a new minor in Israel studies. "I've always been interested in formalizing the Israel curriculum," said Russell Stone, who became director of A.U.'s Center for Israel Studies this semester. A.U. senior Ariel Boxman counts herself "very excited" by the new option. "As a freshman, I looked for an Israeli studies major or minor," but didn't find one, said Boxman, 21, who is majoring in international relations with a focus on Israel. "I had to go all the way to Israel to do Israeli studies." (Washington Jewish Week)
Buffalo: From Metullah Bomb Shelters to Buffalo Blizzard
by Ruth Eglash
 Stranded without electricity in the worst snowstorm to hit Buffalo, NY for 130 years, Israeli-born Daphna Zilber said that she wished she could crawl back into the bomb shelter near her home in Metulla, where she spent this past summer. The 23-year-old student of Economic and Judaic Studies said she had spent five nights sleeping on friends' floors and even one night at her own digs. She said, however, that what has surprised her most about this natural disaster is that unlike what happened in Israel during the war with Hizballah, "people here do not seem willing to help each other. I have been shocked by that," she continued. "In Israel, people hosted complete strangers in their homes." (Jerusalem Post)
Georgetown: Professor Says King’s Peace Process Efforts Left Unrealized
by Laura Brienza
 King Hussein of Jordan was instrumental in establishing a formal peace between the Jordan and Israel, but peace between the those nations has yet to be achieved, Haifa Professor Yossi Nevo said in a speech last week. Nevo said that a state of war existed between Jordan and Israel between 1948, when Jordan annexed the West Bank, until 1994, when the nations signed the Washington Declaration, which officially ended the nations’ hostility and made peace negotiations possible. Nevo said that Hussein became one of the first Arab leaders to cooperate with Israel in the pursuit of regaining lost territories and securing Palestinian rights, especially political self-determination. According to Nevo, Hussein argued that if Arab states seek to regain territories form Israel, they must be willing to make concessions of their own. (Hoya)
Hebrew U: Iran Is No Existential Threat to Israel, says ex-Mossad Chief
by Melissa Singer
 Despite Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s declaration this week that Iran poses “an existential threat to Israel”, a former Mossad chief who is visiting Australia said Tehran lacks the military and strategic capability to destroy the Jewish State. “Israel is indestructible today. It’s not so simple just to think you can have a device on your hand and you will able to hurl it on to a certain location and wipe out a nation,” Efraim Halevy told Australian Friends of the Hebrew University last week. Halevy, who ran the spy agency from 1998-2003, rejected assertions that Israel faced an “existential threat” during its recent war with Hizballah. (Australian Jewish News)
Syracuse: Leaders Discuss World Peace
by Katherine Paster
 The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has challenged the international community for decades. Prominent figures in international politics and academia gathered at Syracuse University Wednesday to discuss possible causes and solutions to these challenges. Three panelists opened the discussion about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict: Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, Tel Aviv University President Itamar Rabinovich and U.S. government negotiator Dennis Ross. (Daily Orange)
Yale: Israeli Knesset Member Talks at Slifka
by Samuel Yellen
 Right-wing Israeli politician Effie Eitam joined a group of students for dinner in Slifka Center last week to discuss his political and personal experiences. Eitam, a member of the National Religious Party, addressed a group of approximately 30 students. Eitam said he thinks it is critical for the United States to back Israeli calls for halting Iran's nuclear program. Many students who attended the dinner said discussing these issues with Eitam gave them a better understanding of the right-wing politics in Israel. (Yale Daily News)
York: Where Is the Love? "Stop the Hate" Campaign Turns Hateful
by Nicole Teixeira
 Students attending an event to promote understanding and tolerance on campus were shocked to hear a member of a participating group spewing hateful comments. Hammam Farah, a member of the Arab Student Collective, made a speech regarding Israel apartheid and the function of Hillel at York University. "The devil has arrived at York," said Farah, with regards to the Israeli support at York, according to Adam Hummel, president of Hillel at York. York's Federation of Students issued an apology to Hummel, calling the comments made by Farah "a horrible shock to all executive members who organized Stop the Hate." (Excalibur)
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Bradley: 1972 Olympic Massacre Survivor to Speak
  A fencer who survived the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich will speak on Nov. 6 in Bradley University's Student Center. Dan Alon survived the kidnapping and murder of 11 Israeli hostages by members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. Alon has been speaking about his experiences since the release of the Steven Spielberg movie "Munich." (PJStar)
Columbia: Who’s Silencing Whom? Debate Heats Up After Speeches Cancelled
by Ben Harris
 Columbia University’s recent decision to limit attendance at a controversial lecture on the Arab-Israeli conflict is the latest in a string of flaps concerning free  speech and the Middle East that have led to claims that debate is being stifled. The university chaplain’s office revoked as many as 115 invitations hours before a speech by Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist turned evangelical Christian and author of the book, Why I Left Jihad. (JTA News)
Goucher: Volatile Middle East Panel Raises Questions and Emotions
by Ethan Aronson and Bree Katz
 A speakers' panel on the recent events in the Middle East called "Lessons and Legacies From a Season of Turmoil: Israel and Her Neighbors" turned from a sedate discussion of the consequences of the recent Israeli-Lebanon War into a highly charged series of exchanges between the various members of the panel and the audience. The panel members were Ziad Asali, President of the American Task Force on Palestine; Judith Kipper, of the Council on Foreign Relations; and Yossi Olmert, an Israeli journalist and the brother of the current Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. Though all three speakers commanded attention during their opening remarks, Yossi Olmert captured and held the audience throughout the discussion. (Quindecim)
Redlands: Ex-Israeli Politician Advocates Dialogue for Peace
by Darcie Falnsburg
  Former Israeli politician Avraham Burg spoke at the University of Redlands last week. "All of my life I have been an activist of the peace camp. (But) I'm not a realist, I'm a dreamer," Burg said in his own introduction. The real issue Burg wished to illuminate was that the war between Israel and the militant Islamic resistance movement conducted by Hizballah was the first faith conflict in Israel. Burg later explained that the Israeli/Palestinian war has an underlying tone of religious conflict, but that the true conflict is political. (Daily Facts)
Toronto: Jewish and Arab Students Launch a Journal
by Lindsay Soberano-Wilson
 Yalla, a journal of creative expression that promotes dialogue and communication among Jewish and Arab youths, is being launched next week in Toronto and Montreal. The contributors and editors are mainly Jews and Arabs aged 18 to 30. Yalla’s editors are homegrown, with connections to McGill University  and the University of Toronto. They include senior Jewish editor Rachel Davidson, senior Arab editor Dina Awad, Jewish editors Lisa Anthony and Ran Goel (pictured left), and Arab editors Rasha Srouji and Adam Allouba. Meena Rafie (pictured right), an Afghan Muslim, is the producer. (Canadian Jewish News)
Yale: Jewish Leader Decries Anti-Semitism
by Justin Stone
Charles Jacobs, founder and President of the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership, spoke last week at the Slifka Center on "Strategy for a New Time: Israel, World Jewry, and the New Anti-Semitism." Jacobs' talk focused on two main issues: Islamic anti-Semitism and the rise of Palestinian sympathizers in the political landscape. Jacobs said the Islamic anti-Semitism represented by the photos is a more pervasive threat than most people, even Jewish leaders, fully realize. (Yale Daily News)
Academics against ‘Post-Zionist’ Professors
Many history and sociology professors and researchers with the common goal of showing “the other” less popular side of Zionism, earned the handle “post-Zionists” for their participation in Palestinian propaganda against government policies and efforts against Israel’s definition as a Jewish state. Israel’s senior professors do not approve of this growing trend of younger professors politicizing academia by inserting anti-Israel agendas into Israeli institutions. Consequently, the Israeli Academia Monitor website was launched in order to warn student of such professors. (Ynet News)
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