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Passover Tag

Tonight is the first night of Passover. As is written in the Passover Haggadah:
For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!
As if you needed any reminding that nothing has changed, witness today's Hamas-organized attempt to storm the Gaza border, with women and children pushed to the front lines as human shields. The military leader of Hamas was blunt about the objective:

Last night anti-Israel groups, led by Students for Justice in Palestine and "Jewish Voice for Peace," took advantage of the Passover Holiday when many Jewish students already had left for home for the Passover Seders, to bring to the Tufts University student Senate a resolution to divest from certain companies doing business with Israel. The resolution was loaded with defamatory "Whereas" clauses portraying Israel as at the "intersectional" center of worldwide injustice, much as the international Jew has been portrayed in classic antisemitic literature as the source of the world's problems. I discussed the details and how the process was manipulated in my prior post, Another sneak Passover Divestment attack, this time at Tufts University. That resolution will not change any facts on the ground but it reflects the continuing reality of the passage from the traditional Passover Haggadah:
For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!

I have seen this movie before. In early April 2014, anti-Israel students at Cornell University, led by Students for Justice in Palestine, brought a last minute resolution before the student assembly to divest from certain companies doing business with Israel. The resolution was managed in such a way as to provide the bare minimum notice and, most important, just before the Jewish Holiday of Passover, when many Jewish students travel home. These student divestment resolutions have no power, because student governments do not control university investments. Rather, these are symbolic resolutions meant to demonize Israel. I reported on April 8, 2014, ALERT: Sneak Passover Anti-Israel Divestment attack at Cornell:

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a non-Jewish organization that undermines the fight against, and enables, antisemitism by legitimizing and mainstreaming the anti-Israel movement’s assault on Jewish identity. JVP presents itself as a social justice organization committed to non-violence and peace. But as we’ve documented in dozens of posts, its tactics and affiliations tell a different story. JVP masquerades as merely devoted to ending Israel’s ‘occupation’ of Judea and Samaria/the West Bank when what it really wants is to end Israel. Its leadership and activists frequently promote and partner with extremist individuals and groups that demonize the Jewish state and delegitimize Zionism, while trafficking in negative stereotypes of Jews.

This past week, during the intermediate days of Passover (Chol Hamoed), nearly 900 Israeli Jews, roughly 100 to 300 per day, ascended Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Thousands of tourists also visited the sacred place over the course of the week. The site is the place of the two Jewish Temples in antiquity. It’s considered Judaism’s “holiest of holies” and is treasured by Jews across the planet. [caption id="attachment_136001" align="alignnone" width="600"]The Jewish Temple, replica The Jewish Temple, replica[/caption]

Tonight is the First Night of Passover, in which we celebrate the Exodus from Egypt. My favorite passage from the traditional Passover Haggadah is one that is evergreen:
"For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!"
If you have been reading Legal Insurrection the past years, you understand that this passage remains as true today as ever before. Fourteen years ago, during the 2nd Intifada, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a Passover seder at the Park Hotel in the seaside town of Netanya, Israel:
The suicide bomber, Abd El-Basset Oudeh (resident of Tulkarm, born in 1977), arrived at the hotel disguised as a woman after shaving off his beard and moustache, putting on makeup, and wearing a straight hair wig. He wore women's shoes, blue feminine-cut jeans, a brown shirt, and a brown leather jacket with a leopard-print collar. A fake Israeli ID card in a woman's name completed the disguise. The explosive belt worn by the suicide bomber was designed as a vest with pockets that hid approximately 10kg of explosives.

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a non-Jewish organization that gives cover to the anti-Israel boycott movement (BDS) and its political war on Israel by washing away the stains of anti-Semitism that are central to the BDS movement’s founding, actions and identity. As we noted in a prior post, JVP operates in multiple arenas to exploit Jewish culture and traditions, putting them into service for a vehemently anti-Israel propaganda campaign:
In its written materials and presentations, JVP reinforces that its anti-Israel positions are consistent with Jewish values. Toward this end, it usurps the Jewish life cycle and religious holidays by incorporating anti-Israel themes into traditional celebratory and commemorative events”.
This JVP identity theft of Jewish heritage and narrative is particularly visible at Passover, which begins April 22 this year.

In 1983, President Reagan recorded a radio address to the country on the observance of Easter and Passover. "This is a time of hope and peace, when our spirits are filled and lifted. It's a time when we give thanks for our blessings-chief among them, freedom, peace, and the promise of eternal life," he said.

It's the holiday season, one of those rare years when Passover and Easter come close together, as they did during the original Easter. So I get a twofer when I wish my readers "Happy Holidays!" In recent years whenever I've attended a Seder I've been impressed...

By the time you read this, I'll be deep into the first Passover seder, wondering when we're finally going to get to eat thinking about the meaning of the Exodus from Egypt:
For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!
These quotes are getting to be a tradition:
Short all-purpose "Jewish History in One Sentence":
“Quick synopsis of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us; we won; let’s eat.”
Particularly timely now, Passover Is No Time To Wish For The End Of Christian America:
Nothing has changed in thousands of years. They still rise up in every generation to destroy us, but this time the names are not Haman or Adolf, but Mahmoud and Osama. And on this earth, it will be Christian Americans almost alone who will stand with us. I’m reminded of the bumper sticker from the 1960′s: “If you hate cops, next time you are in trouble call a hippie. ” Jews, of all people, should not wish too hard for The End of Christian America. There is no one else to call. So particularly at this Passover time, we should not wish too hard for the End of Christian America. We might just get it.
This seems unfortunately timely: Does it get any better than this?

In a move reminiscent of the exploitation of the Yom Kippur Jewish holiday in 1973 to launch an attack on Israel, Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine has launched a last minute, sneak Divestment Resolution which is to come up for initial discussion on less than 48 hours notice this Thursday afternoon, April 10, at 4:30 p.m. The notice was just posted on the Cornell Assembly website, although I heard rumors earlier today it might be coming. Cornell Assembly Divestment Proposed April 8 The full Resolution linked on the Assembly website is embedded at the bottom of this post. Here's the operative part:
(22) Be it resolved, that Cornell University will further examine its assets for investments in companies that a) provide military support for, or weaponry to, the occupation of Palestinian territory or b) facilitate the building or maintenance of the illegal separation wall or the demolition of Palestinian homes, or c) facilitate the building, maintenance or economic development of illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, (23) Be it further resolved, that Cornell University will make information about all of its assets public, pertaining especially to its investments, (24) And be it finally resolved, that Cornell University will end its complicity with the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and divest its holdings from the aforementioned companies and any other companies that profit directly from Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Moreover, Cornell University will not make further investments in companies that materially support or profit from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
Passover starts Monday night, April 14, and many Jewish students at Cornell leave on Thursday to head home for the holidays. If the Resolution is not tabled on Thursday, the Resolution will come to a formal vote on the following Thursday, April 17, in the middle of Passover, just a day after Jewish students return to campus after Passover Seders. By so scheduling the Resolution, SJP and its supporters in the Student Assembly have sought to put Jewish students and campus groups at a disadvantage, literally forcing them to choose between celebrating the Jewish People's Exodus from slavery in Egypt or organizing to fight the Divestment Resolution.

Via The Times of Israel: Precisely 10 years ago Tuesday evening, a 25-year-old man walked up a short flight of stairs and crossed through the lobby of a modest hotel near the beach in Netanya, a city on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. It was the first night of...

starts tonight.  I'll repeat my post from 2009:Passover Is No Time To Wish For The End Of Christian America ...

Posted April 8, 2009 Newsweek magazine's cover proclaims The Decline and Fall of Christian America, while the article inside the cover proclaims The End of Christian America. The substance of the article doesn't really prove the headline, but the goal of whichever editor wrote the headline...