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Israel Tag

Posted by Miriam Elman on December 17, 2017 11 Comments
Last week the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee concluded its hearings regarding the confirmation of Kenneth L. Marcus, President Trump’s pick for the position of Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. We noted in a post back in October, when the White House first announced the nomination, that Marcus is extraordinarily qualified for the job and is an excellent pick for heading the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Trump appoints attorney who combats antisemitism to key civil rights post.

Posted by Miriam Elman on December 12, 2017 32 Comments
For some years we’ve been reporting about how Jews are being ostracized, intimidated and even physically assaulted based on their identification with Israel. As we’ve documented, on some college and university campuses, the harassing conduct of anti-Israel and pro-BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) groups is so severe and persistent that it’s starting to interfere with the ability of Jewish and Zionist students to benefit from the educational and extra-curricular activities and opportunities offered at their schools.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 11, 2017 9 Comments
The reaction to Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and plans to move the Embassy has not generated nearly the heat and fury as predicted. There have been protests and rock throwing, but the numbers of people involved have been surprisingly small in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The most serious incidence was the stabbing of a bus terminal security guard by a Palestinian.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on December 10, 2017 24 Comments
Antisemitic demonstrations erupted over the weekend in major European cities, with Muslim groups staging violent and angry protests under the pretext of the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A gang of 20 masked-men fire-bombed a synagogue late Saturday in the Swedish city of Goteborg. The assailants threw several molotov cocktails at the synagogue while a youth event was underway. Jewish children were forced to take shelter in a cellar during the attack, German broadcaster DW News reported.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 09, 2017 12 Comments
Nikki Haley certainly has raised her public profile as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and with good reason. Haley has become a very effective public face of Trump's U.S. diplomacy, in many ways overshadowing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at least in terms of public exposure. What this means in terms of Haley's political future is uncertain. But with Governor and UN Ambassador on her resume, and being in front of the cameras as much as she is, it has to make her a contender for either higher national office (Secretary of State?) or VP nominee at some point in the future. I don't think she yet has what it would take politically to mount a presidential campaign, but who knows in 2024. From the beginning of her service, Haley has attacked the UN's profound bias against Israel.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on December 07, 2017 9 Comments
While Arab and Muslim leaders were calling for blood on the streets with 'new Intifada' and 'days of rage', and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other EU leaders were lining up to join the chorus to condemn President Donald Trump for daring to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, leading Indian politicians such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist BJP party called the government follow US President's example and move the country's embassy to Jerusalem.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 06, 2017 31 Comments
Donald Trump is set to give a speech later today recognizing that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, which of course it is. According to reports based on news pool briefings by the White House, Trump will not declare Jerusalem the "united and undivided" capital of Israel, which is how Israelis refer to it. Rather, Trump will leave open that the parties could, as part of a final peace settlement, provide for some part of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state or political entity.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 01, 2017 8 Comments
During the campaign and transition, Donald Trump was clear in his promise to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, Israel's capital. As with prior administrations, there was walk-back in reality, and the Embassy still is in Tel Aviv. In the past week there has been much speculation that an announcement about moving the Embassy was near, but that speculation was denied by the administration.

Posted by Miriam Elman on November 30, 2017 6 Comments
Today Israel marks a national day to remember the departure and expulsion of Jews from Arab countries and Iran. The commemorative day, which was designated by Israel’s legislative body three years ago, comes as a belated recognition of the collective traumas experienced by between 850,000 to 1 million Jews who were expelled or who fled from their homes in the Middle East and North Africa over a span of three decades (from the 1940s until the 1970s).

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 27, 2017 11 Comments
German public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) withdrew its sponsorship of a Roger Waters concert in Cologne, after local activists objected to the allocation of public funds to former Pink Floyd frontman known for his support for the anti-Israel boycott campaign, German newspapers report.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 25, 2017 18 Comments
If history proves one thing, it's that giving in to Palestinian threats only leads to intransigence and more threats. Unfortunately, for the second time the Trump administration has walked back an announced policy in just such a circumstance. The first walk back had to do with moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which is Israel's capital. That was a core Trump campaign promise, reiterated during the transition. As Prof. Miriam Elman explained in a prior post, locating the Embassy in Jerusalem would have a profoundly positive impact on the prospects for peace, since it would signal that Arab and Muslim threats of violence against the Jewish presence in Jerusalem would be futile, Move U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, for peace sake:

Posted by Miriam Elman on November 21, 2017 9 Comments
The New School, a liberal Manhattan-based university, has garnered considerable controversy over a program on antisemitism that’s currently scheduled for Tuesday, November 28. The program is titled Antisemitism and the Struggle for Justice and it is designed to promote a book by Jewish Voice for Peace of a similar name. Criticism of the event has been almost entirely focused on the university’s “misguided invitation” to Linda Sarsour and the “absurdity” of this self-identified anti-Israel firebrand and boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement “poster girl” being asked to discuss the nature of contemporary anti-Jewish hatred and how best to tackle it.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 19, 2017 5 Comments
This week, Israel welcomed 162 members of a Jewish community from India who regard themselves as one of the lost Israelite tribes. The new immigrants from the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram will be joining 1700 members of their community already living in the Jewish State. The Bnei Menashe, as this Jewish community from India is called, traces its ancestry to Menasseh, the son of the biblical Prophet Joseph.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 16, 2017 0 Comments
In what amounts to a significant policy shift, Indian public sector companies are bidding for Israeli offshore oil and gas fields. A consortium led by India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is seeking drilling rights in 24 offshore blocks in Israel’s Mediterranean waters, Indian and Israeli newspapers reported on Wednesday. Last month, India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan indicated his country's intention to bid for Israeli oil-and-gas blocks. According to Israeli media reports, a high-ranking Indian delegation visited Israel in September "to discuss taking part in the tender for blocks in the Mediterranean Sea and Israeli officials said they were pleased with the visit."
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