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Israel Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 10, 2014 9 Comments
From Adam Kredo at The Free Beacon, Top [U.S.] diplomats planted anti-Israel reports in lead up to peace talk collapse:
The Obama administration has been waging a secret media war in capitals across two continents blaming Israel for the recent collapse of peace talks with the Palestinians, according to former Israeli diplomats and Washington, D.C. insiders familiar with the peace process. Multiple sources told the Washington Free Beacon that top Obama administration officials have worked for the past several days to manufacture a crisis over the reissuing of housing permits in a Jerusalem neighborhood widely acknowledged as Israeli territory. Senior State Department officials based in Israel have sought to lay the groundwork for Israel to take the blame for talks collapsing by peddling a narrative to the Israeli press claiming that the Palestinians were outraged over Israeli settlements, the Free Beacon has learned. These administration officials have planted several stories in Israeli and U.S. newspapers blaming Israel for the collapse of peace talks and have additionally provided reporters with anonymous quotes slamming the Israeli government. The primary source of these multiple reports has been identified as Middle East envoy Martin Indyk and his staff, according to these insiders, who said that the secret media campaign against Israel paved the way for Secretary of State John Kerry to go before Congress on Tuesday and publicly blame Israel for tanking the talks.
It makes sense. The John Kerry clown show has so mangled things, talking out both sides of the clown car, that the end result of Israel taking the blame was a foregone conclusion. John Podhoretz writes, Contemptible John Kerry blames Israel for his own mess:

Posted by 0387erp on April 10, 2014 4 Comments
Despite the torrential downpour that unleashed itself over downtown Manhattan Monday evening, nearly 100 students and members of the general public gathered at New York University for an inspiring event that brought together business experts, disruptive artists, media revolutionaries, journalists and jazz musicians. Innovation Israel, a project spearheaded by TorchPAC at NYU and the Stern Political Economy Exchange (SPEX), proved to be a tremendous opportunity for those in attendance unfamiliar with Israel to experience the incredible spirit and passion of a tiny country in the Middle East, but was also a chance for pro-Israel activists to engage in conversation face-to-face about the challenges facing the pro-Israel community today. The Innovation Israel showcase was one of the more visible efforts of NYU’s Pro-Israel community this year, but readily visible relationship building and showcasing of Israeli innovation is only one small, small part of the important work being done to defend Israel on US campuses. Far too often in recent times, extreme voices have made a presence for themselves in the intellectual (or often, pseudo-intellectual) arena; earlier this year, NYU faced strongly anti-semitic activities from NYU professor Lisa Duggan culminating in the form of an Anti-Israel Conference. Much has been written, most notably by Forbes Contributing Editor of Investigations Richard Behar, that more than adequately elucidates the troubling event and hijacking of the American Studies Association by Duggan and her extreme colleagues in painstaking detail. Notable Israel detractors Max Blumenthal and Ali Abunimah also spoke at NYU earlier this year, at an event brimming with hatred and rife with factual inaccuracy, including repulsive allusions to the Holocaust.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 07, 2014 16 Comments
Opposing the anti-Israel Boycott Divest and Sanction movement is serious business, so it's natural that we tend to be serious about it. But I also think we need to be happy in the fight as well. Contrary to boycott mythology, Israel is thriving economically, with investment and new trade deals being announced almost daily. Israel is a sea of happiness in a region filled with horrors inflicted by Arabs upon Arabs. The anger of the BDS movement doesn't need to be replicated by us -- at least not to the exclusion of humor and happiness.  (Happy Tel Aviv - Yafo here) It's one of the reasons I start my lectures opposing the academic boycott at colleges with statistics showing how Israel has a higher favorability rating in the U.S. than kittens. It always gets a laugh, but a laugh which keeps things in perspective. There is a template for being happy warriors against BDS, the Sussex (England) Friends of Israel (SFI).  We previously featured SFI's video of the Brighton Israeli Apartheid Week March that attracted only a few people, #BDSfail – 8 people show up for Sussex “Israeli Apartheid Week” march. The SFI brings mockery and good humor to the humorless Israel haters, with miraculous results:

Posted by David Gerstman on April 07, 2014 7 Comments
Last month, Jeffrey Goldberg published an interview with President Barack Obama, ahead of Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to the United States to attend the AIPAC conference. The President wasn't at all friendly in the interview, warning (in Goldberg's words) that "time is running out." Roughly four weeks later, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority refused to continue negotiations with Israel. Is there a connection between the two? Put a different way, in the words of Neo-Neocon Did Obama Sabotage Kerry on Peace Talks? The answer is "yes," and here's how. There are two points that Obama made in his interview worth recalling. Answering a question from Goldberg about Abbas, President Obama said:
We don’t know exactly what would happen. What we know is that it gets harder by the day. What we also know is that Israel has become more isolated internationally. We had to stand up in the Security Council in ways that 20 years ago would have involved far more European support, far more support from other parts of the world when it comes to Israel’s position. And that’s a reflection of a genuine sense on the part of a lot of countries out there that this issue continues to fester, is not getting resolved, and that nobody is willing to take the leap to bring it to closure.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 07, 2014 10 Comments
We previously covered the UCLA anti-Israel divestment resolution, which was voted down 7-7 by the student council after an intense and contentious all-night session. One of the co-sponsors and a strong supporter of the resolution was Community Service Commissioner Omar Arce, as reported by The Daily Bruin (emphasis added):
Facilities Commissioner Armen Hadjimanoukian of the Bruins United slate, Community Service Commissioner Omar Arce, an independent councilmember, and General Representative Lizzy Naameh of the LET’S ACT! slate sponsored the resolution.... In a second straw vote later in the meeting, no councilmembers changed their vote. Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich, Naameh, External Vice President Maryssa Hall, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Jessica Trumble and Arce still said they would support the resolution.
Arce not only sponsored the resolution, he also endorsed a letter claiming "Islamophobic commentary" in opposition to the divestment resolution necessitated a "Diversity Requirement." The Daily Bruin reports that Arce has been arrested on charges of false imprisonment related to alleged sexual batteries:
An undergraduate student council member was arrested by university police Wednesday on a charge of false imprisonment. On Wednesday, a female student reported a series of sexual batteries between October and March. The report led to 21-year-old Omar Arce’s arrest, according to a police report released Thursday afternoon. UCPD arrested Arce, the Undergraduate Students Association Council Community service commissioner and a fourth-year international development studies student, at 10:47 a.m. Wednesday and transported him to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in West Hollywood. Arce was booked about 11:30 a.m. on $50,000 bail. He is currently being held at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
The local Fox affiliate further reports on the arrest:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 28, 2014 10 Comments
So said an Israeli-American young woman in the video below. There were many great speakers on March 25, 2014, in opposition to the University of Michigan anti-Israel divestment resolution, but hers stood out to me. The resolution ultimately was defeated 25-9. Bobby Dishell also gave a good speech, which was typical of the approach by those opposing the resolution, taking a reasonable approach taking into account process and the campus good:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 26, 2014 8 Comments
The University of Michigan student assembly rejected the anti-Israel divestment resolution pushed by a coalition of student groups. The greatest contrast during the night was that while the pro-divestment speakers lashed out at Israel with great vitriol, the anti-divestment speakers -- many of whom were critical of some Israeli policies -- were even-tempered and rational. This student rejected attempts to pigeonhole black students into an anti-Israel vote: But the stars of the night were the opening guest speakers. The pro-divestment group picked Max Blumenthal, who gave a predictably flame-throwing anti-Israel speech. While anti-Israel advocates on Twitter and in the room were excited by Blumenthal's tongue lashing of Israel, that excitement dimmed when two real professors took to the stage, one in opposition to the resolution and one selected to give a historical overview. First up was Michigan State - James Madison College Associate Professor Yael Aronoff, who responded directly to Blumenthal. She spoke somewhat quickly so as to leave time for other guest speakers against the resolution, but basically destroyed Blumenthal by pointing out the one sided presentation and the resolution:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 25, 2014 9 Comments

We previously reported how Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd, is spearheading the movement to prevent musicians from appearing in Israel, even using a fake Gandhi quote as justification. One of the groups subject to boycott pressure is the Rolling Stones. In a blow to the boycott...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 23, 2014 9 Comments
This has been a mixed, but mostly bad, year for the BDS student movement on campuses in the United States. While a BDS motion did pass at Loyola Chicago because it was brought up with little or no notice, major BDS pushes were rejected at UCLA (down vote), U. Michigan (vote to table) and Arizona State (vote to table). For the most part, when pro-Israel students have time to organize, they win. At Northeastern University, the administration suspended Students for Justice in Palestine after a long series of incidents culminating in service of mock eviction notices in dormatories, in violation of school policy. Expected mass protests did not materialize -- instead Northeastern SJP and its allies could muster only 150-200 marchers, many if not most of whom were not even students. The tension is boiling among student BDS supporters who claim that they are being denied a chance to speak. That, of course, is nonsense. They hold their defamatory "Israeli Apartheid" weeks (in which interest is waning) and otherwise can advocate their cause. What they can't do is things like invading personal dorm rooms to leaflet.  You may have a right to speak, but not in my living room on my couch. When they lose a motion to table a resolution, they claim it's a denial of their free speech rights -- but no one stops them from speaking; a motion to table a resolution is a legitimate procedural device (just ask Democrats in the Senate). Nonetheless, these pro-BDS students now are taking "direct action." Anti-Israel students at U. Michigan have taken over the student government offices, renaming it the Edward Said Lounge. A leader of Northeastern SJP, Max Geller (see more about him here) writes in The Nation to expect more "direct action":

Posted by William A. Jacobson on March 21, 2014 32 Comments
Roger Waters, formerly of Pink Floyd, endorsed the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement in 2011. Since then, his rhetoric has gotten more and more extreme, including comparing Israelis to Nazis. He uses a giant balloon of a pig at his concerts, featuring a Jewish Star of David on its side. Waters has lashed out at Scarlott Johansson, among others, and actively seeks to lobby other musicians and artists not to visit Israel. On March 17, 2014, Waters wrote an "exlusive" column for Salon.com, Why I must speak out on Israel, Palestine and BDS.

Roger Waters Salon.com BDS

In the Salon.com "exclusive," Waters details the routine justifications, but then pulls out a supposed quote from Mahatma Gandhi to prove that Waters is on the right side of history (emphasis added):
In the furor that exists in the U.S. today about BDS and the right and wrong of a cultural boycott of Israel, a quote from one of my heroes, Mahatma Gandhi, has been on my mind. He prophetically said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” The BDS movement is fulfilling its promise and fits Gandhi’s description. Once dismissed by many as a futile strategy that would “never work,” BDS has gained much ground in recent weeks, bringing with it the expected backlash. ....  I think it’s safe to say BDS is in the “then they fight you” stage.
This is a common quote used by the BDS movement. The anti-Israel Mondoweiss website used it, as has a Northeastern Students for Justice in Palestine Facebook commenter and a commenter at the anti-Israel Electronic Intifada. This student at the recent Northeastern University anti-Israel protest used it to fire up the crowd: The only problem is that it's a fake quote. All available evidence is that Gandhi never said it, as The Christian Science Monitor noted in 2011, Political misquotes: The 10 most famous things never actually said:
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