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May 22, 2005
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Spielberg Internet Archive Now Has Over 300 Films (Jerusalem Post)
Cinema fans and researchers can now view more than 300 films on the Hebrew University's Internet site containing the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive.
Visit the ICC Website
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Laura Bush Visits Jerusalem by Aluf Benn
Laura Bush arrived in Israel on Sunday as part of a Mideast tour meant to promote women's issues and help defuse growing anti-American sentiment in the region. Bush was to meet with President Katsav's wife, Gila, and visit the Western Wall before heading to the West Bank town of Jericho for talks with eight prominent Palestinian women. (Ha'aretz)
Prime Minister Sharon Arrives in U.S. by Herb Keinon
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon arrived Sunday in the U.S. for a three-day trip aimed largely at winning the support of American Jewry for his disengagement plan. Sharon is scheduled to deliver a speech in New York on Sunday to more than 1,000 people expected at a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. On Monday he is to meet with the Israel Bonds leadership and with heads of the UJA-Federation of New York, before flying to Washington Tuesday for the annual AIPAC policy conference. (Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Mortar Crew Caught in the Act by Hanan Greenberg
The IDF has released a video documenting Hamas members caught in the act of firing mortar shells at Israeli settlements, moments before a missile fired by the Air Force hit the terror cell. The video (click on title above) features several small explosions, marking the mortar shells fired by the terrorists, followed by a large blast, marking the impact of the missile fired at the terror cell. (Ynet News)
PA Security Chief Exasperated Over Hamas Truce Violations
The Palestinian commander tasked with preventing rocket attacks on Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip expressed exasperation Thursday at Hamas's continued violations of a truce agreement but insisted he will not be forced into a direct confrontation. "All the factions, all these people have agreed to stop (attacks), to keep things calm. They gave their word; they should keep their word," said, General Jamal al-Qayed, the Palestinian head of Gaza's southern command. However, Qayed insisted, "I'm not going to make a fight with the factions. I have to stop them, not kill them. I have orders to prevent them, not to fight them," he said. (AFP/Yahoo)
100 Israelis to Testify in Florida Trial of Alleged Jihad Fundraisers by Roni Singer and Nathan Guttman
Some 100 survivors of terror attacks, relatives of those killed, police investigators, Magen David Adom paramedics, and ZAKA volunteers will testify in what American authorities regard as the most important terrorist trial in the U.S. since 9/11. The group will be flown to Tampa, FL, early next month to serve as prosecution witnesses in the trial of Sami al-Arian, a University of South Florida computer engineering professor and three other Arab-Americans accused of belonging to Islamic Jihad and raising funds to finance terror attacks. (Ha'aretz)
End to Boycott of Israeli Universities Is Urged by Alan Cowell
Two university presidents joined on Thursday to urge an end to an academic boycott of Israeli universities by Britain's leading higher education union. Menachem Magidor, president of Hebrew University, and Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al Quds University in eastern Jerusalem, made a joint declaration in London at an international gathering of scholars debating human rights. "Our position is based upon the belief that it is through cooperation based on mutual respect, rather than boycotts or discrimination, that our common goals can be achieved," the declaration said. (New York Times)
Ceasefire Pushes Israel Over Tourism Hump by Marl MacKinnon
Suddenly, there are Americans, Europeans, Japanese, and other tourists aplenty in Israel. The number of tourists entering the country in the first three months of 2005 was up 25% from the same period last year. The Israeli government is forecasting that 1.8 million will visit this year. Tour operators have started offering Israel as a destination again, and cruise ships are calling at the ports of Haifa, Ashdod, and Eilat, bringing thousands of extra visitors. (Globe and Mail-Canada)
 Return Address by Efraim Karsh
To insist on the full implementation of the right of return indicates that, in the Palestinian perception, peace is not a matter of adjusting borders and territory but rather a euphemism for the annihilation of the Jewish state. One therefore hopes that in his upcoming meeting with Abbas (slated for the end of May), George W. Bush will inform the Palestinian leader in no uncertain terms of his unequivocal and non-negotiable rejection of the right of return - which, after all, negates the vision of two states, one Israeli and one Palestinian, living side by side. (The New Republic)
57 Reasons Why I Love Israel by Barbara Sofer
When the tsunami struck, we sent medical assistance the same day. Thousands of free loan societies flourish; you can borrow wedding dresses and pacifiers. Fourteen years after Operation Solomon, the first plane's pilot still volunteers to teach Ethiopian youth. Kindergarteners stand for memorial sirens, and know what they mean. Throughout four years of war, we refused to give up essentials like outdoor book fairs. After four years of war, we still feel safest here. (Jerusalem Post)
The Jewish Canary by Asaf Romirowsky
Academia has made Jews the canary in the coal mine in the sense that if universities are indicators of social trends, and anti-Semitism is becoming more acceptable there in the guise of anti-Zionism, then there is a problem society-wide. Our students must recognize that there is never justice in terrorism. It is unacceptable that some should even speak of eliminating a living and breathing state like Israel. But you'd be surprised how common such statements are on campus. (Middle East Forum)
At War With Themselves by Haim Watzman
I can sympathize with both these groups of conscientious objectors in the Israeli army. Like the left-wing reservists, I oppose the occupation. Like the religious soldiers, I am an Orthodox Jew who believes that God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people. Like the soldiers on the left, I know that military service in the territories can involve difficult moral choices and actions that cause great suffering to Palestinian civilians. Like the soldiers on the right, I know that evicting the settlers from their homes will be horribly traumatic. But both sides ought to serve despite their profound objections to the policies they will be called on to enforce. (New York Times)
American Jewish Committee Launches Fund to Fight Anti-Israel Boycott
The American Jewish Committee, in partnership with the American Society of the University of Haifa, has established an Anti-Boycott Fund to combat such actions against Israeli institutions. This fund will allow Israeli institutions injured by a boycott to use legal means not only to overturn such decisions, but to extract an apology. It is unfair for any Israeli entity so defamed to have to wage this fight on its own. Nor should an Israeli university have to divert funds from its academic programs for this purpose. (US Newswire)
Rutgers: A Wahhabi War by Stephen Schwartz
Young Muslims at Rutgers University are unhappy that Islamic activities on campus are dominated by adherents of the Wahhabi lobby, the American Muslim establishment. The Islamic Society of Rutgers University (ISRU) has established a little Saudi Arabia on the Rutgers campuses. ISRU leaders ostracize Muslim women students if they attend its meetings without wearing a headscarf, frequently sponsor lecturers who attack the beliefs of Shia and other pluralistic traditions in Islam, and engage in hate speech against non-Wahhabi believers. (FrontPageMagazine)
UK Welcomes Israel Boycott Review
UK Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells has welcomed a move by the Association of University Teachers to reconsider a boycott of two Israeli universities. The association voted last month to boycott Haifa and Bar-Ilan universities over alleged complicity in Israeli "suppression of the Palestinians." Its council is reconvening next week to reconsider the controversial decision. Dr. Howells said Britain believed "close engagement" was the best course. (BBC News)
See also American Federation of Teachers Opposes British Boycott
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the largest union of college and university faculty in the United States, passed a resolution at its executive council meeting last week calling on its counterparts in the United Kingdom to reverse their vote in favor of a boycott of Haifa University and Bar-Ilan University. "Boycotting universities and their faculty is anathema to academic freedom," notes the AFT resolution, which calls upon the Association of University Teachers (AUT) "to reverse its position espousing a boycott of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University." The American Federation of Teachers represents 150,000 college and university faculty and staff across the United States. (PR Newswire)
Missouri: Israeli, Palestinian Share Hopes by Jason Rosenbaum
Nadwa Sarandah and Robi Damelin (left) are members of Parents Circles/Families Forum, an organization that seeks to create dialogue among Palestinians and Israelis who have lost a family member in the long-standing conflict. They spoke to an audience of about 100 in the Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "We're spreading the message that we can only resolve conflict through reconciliation," Sarandah said. (Columbia Daily Tribune)
'Teach Kids Peace' Tours American Campuses by Paula Amann
"Teach Kids Peace" offers information, largely on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for young people in the United States and Canada ranging from grade school through college. The group held International Peace Day activities on more than 30 North American college and university campuses in April, says one of its four campus coordinators, David Datny. These included American University and George Washington University. (Washington Jewish Week)
Washington U in St. Louis: Israel's Lessons by Joysa Winter
For Becca Weaver, spending a year studying at the Arava Institute of Environmental Studies in Israel was a rare opportunity to combine her dual passions for ecology and Judaism. "Since I was very young, I remember being an environmentalist," says Weaver, 20, now a junior at Washington University in St. Louis. "I went off to college and started hearing all these awful things in the news, but all the Jewish kids were like: 'Israel is great! Israel is great!' Something didn't match up. What is really going on? I needed to come back, and what better way to study about the environment than on a kibbutz in Israel with Arab students?"
College of Santa Fe: Schotland Farrar, a 21-year-old from the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico, is on the Arava program. "I've also always loved nature, and this program gave me the chance to study both political and environmental sciences. The biggest draw, however, was studying with Israelis and Arabs. I didn't know how I'd feel when I got here because I had never left North America," she says. "What I found is that I feel connected to this land, and I feel its holiness." (Daily Camera)
UCLA: The West Must Support Islamic Moderates to Fight Jihadist Terrorism by Leslie Evans
How seriously should we take Islamic terrorism? And how can it be combated? For Israeli security expert Boaz Ganor the answer to the first question is very seriously. The answer to the second is a little more complicated but essentially requires weighing terrorists' level of motivation contrasted to their operational capability and going beyond military responses alone to offer educational and social services to the Islamic poor that have been left to the jihadists for decades. (UCLA International Institute)
Penn State: Hatred, Anti-Semitism Alive on Campus by Tuvia Abramson
Hatred for the Jews is like a "gentleman's agreement." It finds a way to manifest itself by using words that seemingly come across as intellectual, like "Zionism equals racism" and "I'm not anti-Semite, I am just anti-Zionist." The climate of hatred, camouflaged by "freedom of speech" and "academic freedom" generated the new way of anti-Semitism. It is enlightening that across America and Europe, we do not find student activists or elite professors who will take on the murder, slavery and deportation of many Christians of Sudan despite the death toll and the destruction. (Centre Daily Times)
Stanford: Nakba Commemoration Lacked Civility by Professor John Felstiner
Organizers of the Israeli Independence Day event last week had approached the Muslim Student Awareness Network, offering to display a sign opposing the occupation if they would show one affirming Israel's right to exist. But this gesture of respect and dialogue was rejected. (Stanford Daily letter to the editor)
Yeshiva: The Importance of Being Active by Rebecca Stone
As an Orthodox Jew who has spent much time fighting for the welfare of non-Jewish people, I am constantly asked why I am spending so much of my time and energy on non-Jews and non-Israel causes. First of all, I do not owe anyone a justification for choosing to spend my energy on saving Darfur. The Talmud talks about the importance of doing chessed for Jews and Non-Jews alike. How can we as a Jewish community say the words "Never Again" if we allow others to suffer the atrocities that we once did? Rebecca Stone, a graduating senior, is the program director for Not Now, Not Ever (Commentator)
Higher Edu-Caution - Anti-Semitism on Australian Campuses by Joseph Solomon
The University of Sydney, for so long a bastion of left-wing political sentiment, has played host to significant "new" anti-Semitism with anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic motives often working in tandem. Certain anti-Semites who have littered the campus of the University of Sydney with spray-painted stencils which decree "Jews - The New Nazis." The stencils first appeared in Sydney in mid-2003, and quickly spread to both the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney. (Austalia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council Review)
The British Academic Rabble and the Boycott of Israel by Shmuley Boteach
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck. When British academics talk like anti-Semites and demonstrate a visceral hatred for a law-abiding and virtuous democracy that happens to be a Jewish state - while showing an affection or an indifference to brutal Arab regimes - then it's a fair guess they're anti-Semites. Israel is the Jewish homeland, and unfounded hatred of Israel is motivated mostly by hatred of Jews. (World Net Daily)
Mr. Spock's Alter Ego by Goel Pinto
This is Leonard Nimoy's fourth visit to Israel, this time as a guest of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles. He has already visited the Tel Aviv Arts School, the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Herzliya Museum of Art, and held master classes in the Beit Zvi drama school. Not many of the millions of "Star Trek" fans know that Spock's special gesture - splitting his fingers, two on each side - is taken from Jewish tradition of the priestly benediction. (Ha'aretz)
Natalie Portman Promotes Her Israeli Film at Cannes
Natalie Portman drew attention upon her arrival at the Cannes Film Festival this week mainly for her new hairdo and for her appearance in the final Star Wars film, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith But the Jerusalem-born actress is also there to promote her first feature film in Hebrew, Free Zone, which is in the competition for the prestigious Palme D'Or award. Portman agreed to do the film, directed by Amos Gitai, during the semester she spent last year studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem following her graduation from Harvard. (Israel21c)
York: Jewish Left Focus of Documentary by Aliza Libman
This year's Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF) is not the lox-and-bagels of Jewish cinema. One movie that has generated particular buzz this year. Not in My Name, a film by Chutzpa Productions' Igal Hecht and co-produced by Talia Klein, looks at the Jewish left and its relationship with Israel. The filmmakers ask the question, "Who today speaks for the Jewish left?" The answer from the producers is clear: The extremists do. (Excalibur)
Don't Say Intel Inside, Say Israel Inside by Oded Hermoni
If you bought a laptop computer in the past 18 months, chances are the sticker by the keyboard says Intel Centrino. Like the sticker on Jaffa oranges, the Intel Centrino sticker is a source of national pride. The most popular mobile computer processors in the world today were designed at Intel's Haifa development center. (Ha'aretz)
Grammy Winning Hip-Hop Violinist Rocks Newark by Genevieve Long
In a high school auditorium in Newark last week, the finale of a little-known play called Gemini Rising exploded with the amazing sounds of the hip-hop violin. Known as the "Hip-Hop Violinist," Grammy award-winning Miri Ben-Ari grew from her reputation and talent as a classical and jazz virtuoso to gain access to the urban mainstream of R&B and hip-hop. "I had to fly all the way from Israel to the States to study jazz because I wanted to know how to improvise. I came here with no money, no family, no language....And this year I won my first Grammy," said Ben-Ari. (Epoch Times)
Berlin Museum Exhibits "New Hebrew" Art by Talya Halkin
"The New Hebrews," the largest exhibition of Israeli art ever to take place outside Israel, opened in Berlin to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the formal ties established between the Federal Republic of Germany and Israel. The exhibition displays works by 127 Israeli artists. According to Israeli curator Doreet LeVitte Harten, "I wanted people to understand that when you talk about Israeli art, you are not talking about a painting of a woman blessing the candles." (Jerusalem Post)
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 - What's Wrong with the British Boycott of Israeli Universities? | Repugnant by Yossi Alpher
- Unlike the International Court of Justice, some of the new advocates of pressure question Israel's very legitimacy. The ideological roots of others appear to be even more troublesome.
- The boycott seemingly singles out Arab citizens of Israel for punishment: fully half the student body at the University of Haifa is Arab, and the student body at the Ariel College includes many Arabs from villages just across the green line in Israel.
- In general, the boycott aims at the most liberal sector in Israeli society: Israeli academics, almost as one, reacted with disgust at the antics of their British colleagues, which in any case have little immediate effect on much of anything.
- Anyone who has studied the history of boycotting Israel--I'm referring primarily to the so-called "Arab boycott" that began after 1948 and dissipated around the 1980s--knows that nothing creates more solidarity among Israelis and Israel's supporters than the impression that we are being singled out unfairly for our transgressions, such as they are.
- Why Israel? Why not boycott China over its human rights abuses? Or the US over Guantanamo? Or, for that matter, why not protest Arab human rights abuses?
- In contrast, Israeli universities, including Bar Ilan and Haifa, made strenuous efforts over the past four and a half years to welcome their Palestinian colleagues and offer them a forum for presenting their views.
- The notion of boycotting Israel's universities, where freedom of expression and freedom of inquiry are enshrined in a democratic country, is repugnant.
- Inevitably, like it or not, this boycott brings us into the tenuous twilight zone between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. It certainly has nothing to do with advocacy of a just two-state solution. (Bitterlemons)
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The Problems with Boycotts
by Daoud Kuttab
- Boycotts often have a life of their own. At times they are effective nonviolent instruments of protest and at other times they produce the opposite effect.
- To be sure, one can think of many good reasons for the idea of an academic boycott of Israeli institutions of higher learning.
- It shifts emphasis from a violent struggle to that of a nonviolent one. International boycotts remove the strong moral component of international acceptability that has allowed Israel to carry out its injustices against Palestinians for so long.
- On the other hand, one can make the argument that open-ended boycotts without any clear and realizable goals can become a double-edged sword and serve to remove the possibility of influencing those who are wavering while weakening those who might be on the side of justice for Palestinians.
- Palestinians who live in close proximity to Israel, and especially those who believe that change will only happen if there is constant interaction in order to change attitudes, have often advocated cooperation rather than confrontation.
- The issue becomes even more difficult when by boycotting Israelis one tends to lump the entire population into one basket, including those who are publicly supportive of Palestinians.
- Professor Sari Nusseibeh, the president of Al Quds University, has always argued in favor of full Palestinian-Israeli cooperation because of the many benefits to Palestinians such cooperation can produce.
- The academic boycott tool is a very powerful nonviolent method of protest. But if it is not used cleverly and with a clear and realizable goal it can easily boomerang, making it even more difficult for others to use this tool. (Bitterlemons)
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