Prepared for the Israel on Campus Coalition and the Conference of Presidents
of
Major American Jewish Organizations
by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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March 31, 2003 |
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Inside this issue -
News and Comment:
Israel Remains on High Alert
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the Iraqi threat to Israel have not changed and that Israel will remain on high alert, especially in the Home Front Command, the Air Force and Intelligence branches. He called on the public to maintain their sealed rooms and to take their gas mask kits with them at all times. The IDF continue to maintain that the probability of a missile attack is still low but that one cannot rule out the possibility that the Iraqis have the potential to launch missiles from western Iraq, even though there are special forces working both in the air and on the ground in that region. There are still sites that have not been checked and there are mobile missile launchers that have been well camouflaged, from which Israel could be within range.
(Ha'aretz)
A Contemptible Comparison
- Editorial
The comparison drawn last week by Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, between Iraq and Israel with respect to the violation of UN resolutions was contemptible. From the purely legal standpoint, there is no basis for Straw's charge. Israel, unlike Iraq, is not in violation of any Security Council decision. For all the harsh criticism that can be directed at Israel and its policies, no decent person would ever consider mentioning it in the same breath with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. In doing so, the British minister also demonstrated political stupidity, because his words will merely discomfit those in Israel who seek peace, and strengthen those who reject compromise because "the whole world is against us." (Ha'aretz)
Assad: Syria under Threat as Long as Israel Exists
In an interview with the pro-Syrian As-Safir Lebanese daily, Syrian President Bashar Assad charged that Syria would continue to be under threat as long as Israel existed. He also expressed concern over Syria possibly being America's next target after Iraq. Regarding the Palestinians, Assad said the intifada would continue regardless of any "road map" to peace. In addition, the Mufti of Syria is reportedly calling on Muslims to carry out suicide attacks against American and British forces in Iraq. (Jerusalem Post) See also: Text of Assad Interview (SANA-Syria)
Jewish Actor Portrays Saddam Hussein
Jerry Haleva, Hollywood's favorite Saddam Hussein double, is a pro-Israeli activist who serves on the national executive board of AIPAC and chaired the Jewish Federation of Sacramento, Calif. (JTA)
Issues on Campus:
Student Elections at Concordia. Pro-Israel Students Organize and Win Big
The "Evolution" slate - backed by Hillel activists - overwhelmed the "Clean Slate" slate backed by campus radicals in campus student union elections. Both Hillel Montreal and the Muslim Student Association chose to support candidates in the election. A representative of Hillel Montreal sent a statement saying that the group would support the Evolution slate. The MSA, meanwhile, was more specific. In addition to supporting Clean Slate for the executive, the MSA came out in support of candidates for each of the elections. Pro-Israel activists claimed victories on the student executive, student council, senate, and elections for the student representative post on the university board of governors. The Concordia Alumni Association, in an unprecedented action, sent letters to all students urging a large voter turnout. (The Link) See also: A team promising to put "students first, activism second" will take over the Concordia Student Union in June. (Canada.com)
Anti-Jewish Incidents on Campus Increased in 2002
Anti-Semitic incidents on campus increased for the third straight year to a total of 106 incidents, an increase by 24 percent over 2001, when 85 acts were reported. Many of the 2002 incidents grew out of anti-Israel or "anti-Zionist" demonstrations or other actions in which some participants engaged in overt expression of anti-Jewish sentiments, including name-calling directed at Jewish students, placards comparing the Star of David to the swastika, or vandalism of Jewish property, such as Hillel buildings. (ADL)
See also: Michigan Student: Attack Motivated by Anti-Semitism (Michigan Daily)
Another Campus Paper Suspends Pro-Israel Ads
 Funded by campustruth.org, an advertisement printed last week in The Michigan Daily showed a picture of an Olympic athlete in front of the Israeli flag, accompanied by the words "Israeli school children's hero," while an adjacent picture showed a man and a machine gun next to the words "Palestinian school children's hero." Below the pictures are the words "There are two sides to every story, but only one truth." Arab students said the ads are offensive to the Arab and Muslim communities on campus. The Michigan Daily business staff decided to temporarily suspend running the advertisements. The business staff re-evaluated its decision to run the campustruth.org ads because of the large amount of and wide range of negative feedback received from students. Editors of The Daily Illini - the student newspaper of the University of Illinois - issued a statement deciding to continue running the ads, although there were student protests on campus in December. The Daily Targum, the student newspaper of Rutgers University, adopted a disclaimer policy to place on potentially controversial or advertisements of an offensive nature, according to a statement in November. The University of Chicago's student newspaper, The Chicago Maroon, decided to stop running the ads in November. (Michigan Daily)
Voices from the Campus:
Georgetown: Many Students, Faculty and Alumni Support Israel by Jonathan Aires
The Georgetown Israel Alliance published a full-page ad bearing the signatures of hundreds of members of the academic community who chose to endorse the petition. The petition expresses tremendous support for the strong and mutually beneficial relationship that exists between the United States and the State of Israel. For nearly 55 years, Israel has existed as the United States' most stalwart and reliable ally in the Middle East. (The Hoya)
Kansas: Students Foster U.S.-Israeli Relations
 Three KU Israel Alliance members will travel to Washington, D.C., for a national policy conference sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The month-old group will present a petition at the AIPAC conference. The petition has more than 1,000 signatures from the University and the Lawrence community in support of better United States and Israel relations. The mission of the KU Israel Alliance is to gain community support for the legitimacy of the state of Israel and to raise awareness among the University and Lawrence residents about the ensuing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians. (Kansan.com)
Columbia: Partners in Democracy by Daniel Dorsch
 The Palestinian vote to curtail the powers of its longtime unrestricted chairman Yasser Arafat marks a change in the mentality of the Palestinian leadership. While Arafat and his advisors have become richer, his people have suffered, and the United States and other benefactors have caught on. If the PA continues with these democratic reforms--and Arafat is eventually wiped out of the picture--the Palestinian government will have the funding, support, and opportunity to help enrich the lives of its people. If this assumption of responsibility took place, Israel could no longer be the cruel occupying oppressor (as Europeans and others may claim that it is) because it would no longer share any responsibility for the Palestinians. Israel would be a partner that would have fulfilled its end of the bargain. If "Palestinian citizens" are discontented, they could talk to their government--repeated suicide attacks on Israelis would no longer be the acts of "freedom fighters from an oppressed people" but would have to be accounted for by the Palestinian government. (The Spectator)
Israeli Students in the U.S.:
Penn: International Students Share War Experiences Abroad
"Jerusalem was like any normal city," freshman Hadassa Sigel says. "You went where you wanted to go." And then the bombings started. And all of a sudden, Jerusalem "became a city where... there were soldiers everywhere," she says. One of my classmates died in a bombing...that made me very aware that I am alive....She won't get to grow old, have a life, have a career, have a family. And I will." A lot of Americans don't see the need to go into Iraq, Sigel says, which "comes from ignorance of what terrorism can really do." And what it has done. (Daily Pennsylvanian)
Students in Israel:
Arizona: Talking from Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv Students Prepare for War by David Halperin
I boarded a bus, gas mask in hand, with 17 other overseas students at Tel Aviv University, and headed for the middle of nowhere, indefinitely. We all knew before coming to Israel of the possibility of a war in Iraq, and as the war became imminent, we knew it was only a matter of time before we received the request from the university staff to leave the dormitories. Three days later we returned to Tel Aviv. Though the threat to Israel was never great, and since has been largely diminished, I could still hear the siren at any second. Still, life continues as normal here. It may be that Israelis are used to preparing for the worst, or maybe it's that in this post-9/11 world many Americans have been simply overcome with fear. (Arizona Daily Wildcat)
U.S. Students Put College Plans on Hold to Volunteer for Israeli Army
When Omer Friedman told his parents he was leaving California to join the Israeli army for three years, they offered to buy the 18-year-old a new car if he reconsidered. The bribe didn't work. Friedman joined 19 other Americans in a volunteer program that brings American Jews to Israel for army service. The new recruits spend furloughs on the Kibbutz Iftach, that provides accommodation, food and laundry service. The Americans spent about three months on the kibbutz before their induction, polishing their Hebrew. Yossi Nachemi left his family in Chicago for the Israeli army. For the 21-year-old, coming to Israel was a dream realized. He changed his name from Joe Osgood to the name his grandfather gave up decades ago and signed up for the army. "I feel like I'm fighting not only for Israel, but for the Jewish people," he said. (The Modesto Bee)
Princeton: Summer Trip to Israel Still Scheduled to Proceed
Despite the current military action in the Middle East, plans for a mid-June trip to Israel led by Rabbi Diamond of the Center for Jewish Life are still on. "We won't go until the middle of June, but if it is like this we won't go," Diamond said. "The trip is two and a half months from now. It could be a completely different world by then." "If I were eligible (one can only go on a single Birthright trip), I would sign up for the summer 2003 trip in a heartbeat," Jeff Vinikoor '03 who participated in the 2000 Birthright tour. "To not travel to Israel because of the war or because of the few Palestinian murderers who have strapped bombs onto themselves in the past is to let all those who despise peace and democracy win," he said. "I refuse to do that." (The Princetonian)
Observations:
Power to the New Palestinian Prime Minister
by Dennis Ross
For the first time in its history, the Palestinian Authority has a prime minister - Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazin. We don't yet know if Abbas will have real powers and, if he does, whether he can translate those powers into a genuine capability to transform the situation. Neither side expects to engage in any real negotiation with the U.S. over the road map at this stage because both know we are preoccupied with Iraq. That very preoccupation gives them a reason to do what they can in developing understandings to transform the situation on the ground - stopping the violence and easing controls - over the next several weeks. Yet with real understandings between the two sides, there is probably no need for the road map. (Washington Post)
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The Israel on Campus Coalition is a partnership of the Charles and
Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish
Campus Life, in cooperation with a network of national organizations committed
to promoting Israel education and advocacy on campus.
To contact the Israel on Campus Coalition: info@israeloncampuscoalition.org
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations speaks for organized American Jewry on vital issues of international and national concern. Representing 52 national Jewish organizations, the Conference provides a common voice for affiliated American Jews from across the political and religious spectrum, forging diverse groups into a powerful, unified force for Israel's survival, and for protecting and enhancing the security and dignity of Jews abroad.
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