Jewish Pulse Radio Circa 2011 -2012
DISCLAIMER: While it is the goal of all JPR staff to bring you only unbiased facts, it is our belief that no one can truly be 100% objective. Therefore, all opinions expressed by this host/instructor do not necessarily reflect those of fellow hosts, instructors or the JPR senior staff. However, we believe what sets us apart is our cohesive willingness and need to correct ourselves if it is discovered that any of our reports have been anything but 100% accurate.
For a number of years this was the website for Jewish Pulse Radio. Content is from the site's 20011 -2012 archived pages providing a glimpse of what this site offered its readership.
Jewish Pulse Radio (JPR) brings you:
• Judaica classes from top rabbis and teachers for listeners of all levels.
• Daily Israel/Middle East headlines you won't get from mainstream media.
• Show Hosts who are experts on the Middle East "Peace Process" and the worldwide Muslim threat.
HEADLINES FROM 2012
Chile eases restrictions on Rotem Singer (January 18, 2012)
Judges overrules decision prohibiting Israeli suspected of starting massive fire from leaving Patagonia.
Share
IDF Kills Two Terrorists near Gaza Belt Kibbutz
Two terrorists were killed Wednesday when the IDF targeted them as they buried bombs at the Gaza security fence.
Share
Iran's Al Qods cells for Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait to hit oil and US targets
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey have alerted Washington to intelligence reports that Iranian Al Qods Brigades operatives are heading their way to blow up oil installations and American targets. They ask how the US intends to respond. For the second time in a week, a US spokesman Washington disclosed Jan 17 that Al Qods commander [...]
Share
Joint US-Israel drill called off by Netanyahu, to Washington's surprise ()
debkafile's sources disclose exclusively that, contrary to reports in Washington, Jerusalem – and this site too – it was Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, not the Obama administration, who called off the joint US-Israeli military exercise Austere Challenge 12, a step unprecedented in Israel-US relations. Netanyahu acted when he judged the Obama administration's resolve to [...]
Share
Israel Raises Alarm over Sinai-Gaza Security Threat
(AFP) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday: “The security problem which is developing as a result of changes in the Middle East is getting worse, and is expected to continue for years.” “Libyan arms continue to flow into Gaza through Sinai,” he said. There were “more than [...]
Share
IDF Preparing for Major Gaza Action
(Jerusalem Post) Yaakov Katz – The IDF General Staff has ordered the Southern Command to prepare for a possible large Gaza operation in the next few months. Senior officers said such an operation could be significantly larger than Operation Cast Lead, launched in late 2008. “Gaza has changed and the weaponry in Hamas’ and Islamic [...]
Share
U.S. Judge Sentences Three for Plotting Jihadi Attacks
(AP-Washington Post) Three members of a home-grown terror ring who conspired to attack the Quantico U.S. Marine Corps base and foreign targets were sentenced Friday to between 15 and 45 years in federal prison. Hysen Sherifi, 27, Ziyad Yaghi, 23, and Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 24, are among eight men who federal investigators say raised [...]
Share
Report: Pakistani Taliban Chief Killed in U.S. Drone Strike (January 15, 2012)
Pakistani officials say a U.S. drone strike killed Taliban chief, but the group denies this.
Share
US, Israel in open rift over Iran: Big joint military drill cancelled
US-Israeli discord over Iran went into overdrive Sunday, Jan. 15 when the White House called off Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint war game the US and Israel have every staged, in reprisal for a comment by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon in an early morning radio interview. He said the United States was [...]
Share
Ron Paul: Killing of Iranian nuke scientist "an act of terrorism"
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Iranian leaders have repeatedly stated that the demise of Israel is imminent. Iran’s intentions to build a nuclear bomb are now widely acknowledged. This nuclear scientist was aiding in the construction of weapons that could murder millions of innocent people. Iran clearly already considers…
Share
Obama condemns killing of Iranian nuke scientist
Even Hillary Clinton has acknowledged that the Iranians want a bomb. They have already made their genocidal dreams abundantly clear. This nuclear scientist was part of a program that clearly is aspiring to murder of millions. Taking him out could have saved millions of lives. “Santorum: US wrong to condemn…
Share
Kiryat Malachi – a City of Absorption, not of Racism
Despite reports of discrimination against Ethiopians in Kiryat Malachi, its Torah core group shows the opposite is true.
Share
Investigators ID all Marines in desecration video (January 14, 2012)
Investigators have identified all four Marines seen in a video urinating on what appear to be the bodies of dead Taliban in Afghanistan, and have interviewed two, the Associated Press reports. The men, whose names have not been made public, were members of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which fought in the southern Afghan province [...]
Share
US acts to hold Israel back from striking Iran. Their intel agencies at odds
The unattributed killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan last Wednesday, Jan. 11, was the subject of an angry phone call from US President Barack Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next day, debkafile reports. Washington is concerned, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, that Israel may strike Iran's nuclear sites and has [...]
Share
Two US aircraft carriers opposite Iran, 15,000 troops in Kuwait
US President Barack Obama is busy aligning Middle East allies with the next US steps on Iran. Contributing to the mounting sense in Washington of an approaching US-Iranian confrontation, the Pentagon is substantially building up its combat power around Iran, stationing nearly 15,000 troops in Kuwait – two Army infantry brigades and a helicopter unit [...]
The Pulse fundraiser was an outstanding success, marked by exciting, non-controversial events that captivated the audience both live and online. The live event featured a silent auction and a sweepstakes drawing, showcasing some exquisite Batman sweatshirts adorned with high-tech sublimated prints. These items, among others, drew considerable attention and enthusiasm.
In addition to these attractions, the fundraiser incorporated an innovative and tasteful element by partnering with SterlingForever.com. This collaboration introduced an exclusive collection of sterling silver rings, available for both online bidding and direct purchase. The rings, known for their elegance and quality, resonated with the attendees' desire for meaningful and lasting memorabilia from the event. This addition not only diversified the fundraiser's offerings but also added a touch of sophistication and style.
The online engagement was particularly notable. A specially curated selection of games was made available, focusing on simplicity and universal appeal to ensure that everyone could participate effortlessly. The most popular attraction turned out to be these online games, drawing in a large number of participants. The enthusiasm was so high that some attendees were engrossed until the early hours of the morning, creating humorous anecdotes about family members being mildly inconvenienced due to their prolonged involvement.
Overall, the Pulse fundraiser set a benchmark for successfully blending entertainment, style, and philanthropy, all while ensuring a fun, engaging, and memorable experience for everyone involved.
2012 & 2011 POSTS
Former U.S. Army Muslim Soldier Charged with Trying to Join Jihad Terror Group
Posted on: Jan9 2012
Military jihad continues …….. is Obama still withholding evidence in the trial of the Fort Hood jihadi who slaughtered 13 of our soldiers??
Former U.S. Army soldier and Misunderstander of Islam charged with trying to join jihad terror group Jihadwatch
Baxam converted to Islam while in the Army and ended up trying to join a jihad terror group. Here again, the mainstream media would ignore this. Yet if even a half, or a third, or a tenth as many converts to Christianity ended up trying to join violent terror groups in accordance with what they believed to be the dictates of their faith, the New York Times and NBC News and Christiane Amanpour would be running banner-headline, prime time, breathless investigations of what it was about Christianity that caused converts to go mad. But for this? Nothing. "Former U.S. Army Soldier Charged With Trying to Provide Material Support to Terror Group Al-Shabaab," from Fox News, January 9 (thanks to Anne Crockett):
GREENBELT, Md. – A former U.S. Army soldier has been charged with attempting to provide material support to terror group al Shabaab, the Department of Justice announced Monday.
Craig Benedict Baxam was arrested Friday upon return to his home state of Maryland after he was captured in Africa during an alleged attempt to reach Somalia, where the terror group is based.
Baxam, 24, joined the Army in 2007 and served in Baghdad and Korea. During his enlistment, he completed eight months of advanced intelligence and cryptology training, the Justice Department said in a press release.
According to court papers, Baxam secretly converted to Islam days before leaving the Army, one month ahead of completing his deployment in Korea. He returned to Maryland in July 2011 and reportedly sought to move to Somalia to join al Shabaab.
Baxam allegedly flew to Kenya using money from his retirement savings account, and carried several hundred dollars in cash to give al Shabaab as an offering after crossing the border into Somalia, the Justice Department said.
"The complaint alleges that Craig Baxam intended to travel to Somalia and join the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab," U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. "Mr. Baxam was caught in Kenya before he reached Somalia, and there is no allegation that anyone assisted him."
He was arrested by Kenyan police for attempting to travel to Somalia to join the terror group as he was traveling on a bus near Mombasa. He was held at the Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Police Unit and questioned by the FBI, officials said….
The Case for Military Action Against Iran
Posted on: Jan9 2012
Iran’s 30-year war against the United States may be reaching its decisive moment. Signs of the worsening crisis abound. Iran just announced it has begun enriching uranium at the Fordo underground nuclear site, a key step to producing more quickly fissile material for a nuclear warhead. As Europe moves closer to embargoing Iranian oil, deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard Ali Ashraf Nouri threatens, “ If enemies block the export of our oil, we won’t allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passes. In support of this threat, the regime continues to stage war games in the area and to warn American warships from passing through the strait into the Persian Gulf. Meanwhile the U.S. and Israel have announced a joint missile defense exercise, as Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits America’s enemies in Latin America, bearding the U.S. lion in its own hemisphere of influence.
Iran may be just indulging bluster and bluff. Perhaps the mullahs recall the severe punishment inflicted on its navy in 1988 during the Tanker War, an earlier attempt to disrupt oil shipments transiting the Persian Gulf. That effort ended when Ronald Reagan retaliated for a missile attack on an American warship by eventually destroying two Iranian oil platforms, two Iranian ships, and six Iranian gunboats. Yet our current president has not shown as yet any of Ronald Reagan’s guts and nerve, and the mullahs may be calculating that the bluff will work.
And why wouldn’t they? Iran has been killing Americans for 30 years with impunity, from the 241 military personnel killed in Beirut by a suicide bomber, to the hundreds more soldiers murdered in Iraq and Afghanistan by Iranian proxy terrorist outfits trained and armed by Tehran. Repeated rounds of sanctions, threats, U.N. Security Council resolutions, and deadlines for cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have been contemptuously ignored. Our citizens are arrested and held on trumped-up charges, our ally Israel is threatened with genocide, and incessant anti-American “Great Satan” rhetoric daily pours from Tehran. Just this week a former American Marine was condemned to death by an Iranian court for allegedly being a spy and a “mohareb,” or “fighter against God.” Yet Obama has answered this aggression against our security and interests with appeasing diplomatic “outreach” offered “without preconditions,” and pleas for “mutual respect” that the regime correctly interprets as a sign of weakness and failure of nerve.
Given that Iranian aggression has so far provoked appeasement and empty threats, the mullahs very well could believe that since they are the “best of nations,” as the Koran has it, in any conflict Allah will protect the Islamic Republic and render insignificant America’s overwhelming military superiority. After all, Muslims for centuries have believed in their superiority based on Allah’s special regard for them, as aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry noted in 1939: “Their [Muslims] pride was born of the illusion of their power. Allah renders a believer invincible.” The mullahs today will remember what the Ayatollah Khomeini said in 1980, after America’s ill-planned and half-hearted mission to rescue the embassy hostages was ignominiously thwarted by a sandstorm that caused two helicopters to crash and burn: “Those sand particles were divinely commissioned. . . . [President] Carter still has not comprehended what kind of people he is facing. . . . Our people is the people of blood and our school is the school of Jihad.”
Thirty years later, we still have not “comprehended” the nature of the Iranian enemy. We have continuously operated with a materialist calculus that ignores the spiritual motives that account for much of Iranian aggression. More depressing still, this is the same mistake the Carter administration made in 1979, when it ignored the religious roots of the Iranian Revolution, dismissed Khomeini as “nutty” and “a crazy man,” as Carter did, and assumed that the secular political parties and technical elites would eventually rule Iran and marginalize the mullahs, virulent Iranian hostility would wane, and “after a transition period common interests could provide a basis for future cooperation,” as an assistant to the Secretary of State reported. Similarly the West today has assumed that economic punishment, or the desire for “greater international integration,” as Obama put it, can change Iranian behavior. We still don’t believe what a member of the Revolutionary Council said a few months after the seizure of our embassy: “No individual, no official and no Muslim has the right to show forbearance or compromise toward an enemy who is not defeated and is not overthrown.”
The land-for-peace hoax
Posted on: Jan6 2012
The rise of the forces of jihadist Islam in Egypt places the US and other Western powers in an uncomfortable position. The US is the guarantor of Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. That treaty is based on the proposition of land for peace. Israel gave Egypt the Sinai in 1982 and in exchange it received a peace treaty with Egypt. Now that the Islamists are poised to take power, the treaty is effectively null and void.
The question naturally arises: Will the US act in accordance with its role as guarantor of the peace and demand that the new Egyptian government give Sinai back to Israel? Because if the Obama administration or whatever administration is in power when Egypt abrogates the treaty does not issue such a demand, and stand behind it, and if the EU does not support the demand, the entire concept of land-for-peace will be exposed as a hoax.
Indeed the land-for-peace formula will be exposed as a twofold fiction. First, it is based on the false proposition that the peace process is a two-way street. Israel gives land, the Arabs give peace. But the inevitable death of the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord under an Egyptian jihadist regime makes clear that the land-for-peace formula is a one-way street. Israeli land giveaways are permanent. Arab commitments to peace can be revoked at any time.
Then there are the supposedly iron-clad US and European security guarantees that accompany signed treaties. All the American and European promises to Israel – that they will stand by the Jewish state when it takes risks for peace – will be exposed as worthless lies. As we are already seeing today, no one will stand up for Israel’s rights. No one will insist that the Egyptians honor their bargain.
As it has become more apparent that the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist parties will hold an absolute majority in Egypt’s democratically elected parliament, Western governments and media outlets have insistently argued that these anti-Western, and anti-Jewish, movements have become moderate and pragmatic. Leading the charge to make the case has been the Obama administration. Its senior officials have eagerly embraced the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, the spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood Yusuf Qaradawi is reportedly mediating negotiations between the US and the Taliban.
Qaradawi, an Egyptian who has been based in Qatar since 1961, when he was forced to flee Egypt due to his jihadist politics, made a triumphant return to his native land last February following the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak. Speaking to a crowd of an estimated two million people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Qaradawi led them in a chant calling for them to invade Jerusalem.
Over the years, Qaradawi has issued numerous religious ruling permitting, indeed requiring, the massacre of Jews. In 2009, he called for the Muslim world to complete Hitler’s goal of eradicating the Jewish people.
As for the US, in 2003, Qaradawi issued a religious ruling calling for the killing of US forces in Iraq.
BOTH THE Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists are happy to cater to the propaganda needs of Western journalists and politicians and pretend that they are willing to continue to uphold the peace treaty with Israel. But even as they make conditional statements to eager Americans and Europeans, they consistently tell their own people that they seek the destruction of Israel and the abrogation of the peace deal between Egypt and Israel.
As the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs’ Jonathan D. Halevi documented last week in a report on Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist positions on the future of the peace between Egypt and Israel, while speaking to Westerners in general terms about their willingness to respect the treaty, both groups place numerous conditions on their willingness to maintain it. These conditions make clear that there is no way that they will continue to respect the peace treaty. Indeed, they will use any excuse to justify its abrogation and blame it on Israel. And they will do so at the earliest available opportunity.
It is possible, and perhaps likely, that the US will cut off military aid to Egypt in the wake of Cairo’s abrogation of the peace treaty. But it is impossible to imagine that the Obama administration will abide by the US’s commitment as the guarantor of the deal and demand that Egypt return Sinai to Israel. Indeed, it is only slightly more likely that a Republican administration would fulfill the US’s commitment as guarantor of the peace and demand the return of Sinai to Israel after Egypt’s democratically elected Islamist regime finds an excuse to abrogate the peace treaty.
It is important to keep this sorry state of affairs in mind when we assess the prospects for a land-for-peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This week, following months of intense pressure from the US and the EU, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met face to face for the first time in 16 months. According to Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who hosted the meeting, the Palestinians submitted their proposal on security and border issues to Israel. The sides are supposed to meet again next week and Israel is expected to present its proposals on these issues.
There are several reasons that these talks are doomed to failure. The most important reason they will fail is that even if they lead to an agreement, no agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is sustainable. Assuming for a moment that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas goes against everything he has said for the past three years and signs a peace deal with Israel in which he promises Israel peace in exchange for Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, this agreement will have little impact on the Palestinians’ view of Israel. Abbas today represents no one. His term of office ended three years ago. Hamas won the last Palestinian elections in 2006.
And Hamas’s leaders – like their counterparts in the Muslim Brotherhood – make no bones about their intention to destroy Israel. Two weeks ago at a speech in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh proclaimed, “We say today explicitly so it cannot be explained otherwise, that the armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel]… We won’t relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine.”
In his visit with his Muslim Brotherhood counterpart, Mohammad Badie, in Cairo this week Haniyeh said, “The Islamic resistance movement of Hamas by definition is a jihadist movement by the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian on the surface, Islamic at its core, and its goal is liberation.”
WITH HAMAS’S Brotherhood colleagues taking power from Cairo to Casablanca, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which supposedly peaceseeking Fatah will win Palestinian elections. It is in recognition of this fact that Abbas has signed a series of unity agreements with Hamas since May.
So the best case scenario for a peace deal with the Palestinians is that Abbas will sign a deal that Israel will implement by withdrawing from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and expelling up to a half a million Israeli citizens from their homes. Hamas will then take power and abrogate the treaty, just as its brethren in Cairo are planning to do with their country’s peace treaty.
This leads us to the question of what the diplomatic forces from the US, the EU, and the UN who have worked so hard to get the present negotiations started are really after. What are they trying to achieve by pressuring Israel to negotiate a deal that they know will not be respected by the Palestinians?
In the case of some of the parties involved it is fairly obvious that they want to weaken Israel. Take the UN for example. In 2005, Israel withdrew all of its military forces and civilians from Gaza. Rather than reward Israel for giving up land with peace, the Palestinians transformed Gaza into a launching pad for missile attacks against Israel. And in June 2007, Hamas took over the territory.
Despite the fact that Israel is wholly absent from Gaza, and indeed is being attacked from Gaza, no one has called for the Palestinians to give the territory back to Israel. The UN doesn’t even recognize that Israel left.
Last September, the UN published yet another report labeling Israel as the occupier of Gaza. And in accordance with this fiction, the UN – along with the EU and the US – continues to hold Israel responsible for Gaza’s welfare.
Ironically, Hamas itself denies that Gaza is under Israeli occupation. In an interview with the Ma’an news agency on Tuesday, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar openly admitted that Gaza is not under occupation. Speaking of Fatah’s plan to launch massive demonstrations against Israel, Zahar said, “Against whom could we demonstrate in the Gaza Strip? When Gaza was occupied, that model was applicable.”
Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and Fatah can all freely tell the truth about Israel and their commitment to its destruction without fear of any repercussions. They know that the Western powers will not listen to them. They know that they will never have to pay a price for their actions. Indeed, they know they will be rewarded for them.
Since the inauguration of the land-for-peace process between Israel and the PLO 19 years ago, the Palestinians have repeatedly demonstrated their bad faith. Israeli land giveaways have consistently been met with increased Palestinian terrorism. Since 1996, US- and European- trained Palestinian security forces have repeatedly used their guns to kill Israelis. Since 1994, the PA has made it standard practice to enlist terrorists in its US- and European-funded and trained security forces.
The US and Europe have continued to train and arm them despite their bad faith. Despite their continued commitment to Israel’s destruction and involvement in terrorism, the US and the EU have continued to demand that Israel fork over more territory. At no point have either the US or the EU seriously considered ending their support for the Palestinians or the demonstrably fictitious land-for-peace formula.
As Israel bows now to still more US and EU pressure and conducts land-for-peace talks with Fatah, our leadership may be seduced by the faint praise they receive from the likes of The Washington Post or even from the Obama administration. But this praise should not turn their heads.
To understand its feckless emptiness, all they need to do is direct their attention to what happened this week in Cairo, as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists secured their absolute control over Egypt’s parliament. Specifically, our leaders should note the absence of any voices demanding that Egypt respect the peace treaty with Israel or return Sinai.
The time has come for Israel to admit the truth. Land-for-peace is a confidence game and we are the mark.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
Norway’s “Boycott” of Pro-Israel Speakers
Posted on: Mar31 2011
I recently completed a “speaking tour” of Norwegian Universities on the topic of “international law as applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The sponsors of the tour—a Norwegian pro-Israel group—offered to have me lecture without any charge to the three major universities in Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim. Norwegian universities, especially those outside of Oslo, tend to feel somewhat isolated from the more mainstream academic world, and they generally jump at any opportunity to invite lecturers from leading universities. Thus, when Professor Stephen Walt, co-author of The Israel Lobby—a much maligned critique of American support for Israel—came to Norway, he was immediately invited to present a lecture. Likewise, with Ilan Pappe—a strident demonizer of Israel—from Oxford. Many professors from less well-known universities have also been invited to present their anti-Israel perspectives.
My hosts expected, therefore, that their offer to have me present a somewhat different academic perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be eagerly accepted, since I have written half a dozen books on the subject presenting a centrist view in support of the two-state solution and against civilian settlements on the West Bank. Indeed, one of my books is entitled The Case For Peace, and former President Bill Clinton praised my blueprint for peace as “among the best in recent years.” But each of the three universities categorically refused to invite me to give a lecture on that subject. The dean of the law faculty at Bergen University said he would be “honored” to have me present a lecture “on the O.J. Simpson case,” as long as I was willing to promise not to mention Israel. The head of the Trondheim school was more direct:
“Israel and international law is a controversial and inflamed theme, which cannot be regarded as isolated and purely professional. Too much politics is invited in this.”
But is it less “controversial” and “inflamed” when rabidly anti-Israel professors are invited to express their “politics?”
Apparently, a pro-Israel perspective is more controversial, inflamed and political than an anti-Israel perspective—at least at Trondheim. The University of Oslo simply said no without offering an excuse, leading one journalist to wonder whether the Norwegian universities believed that I am “not entirely house-trained.”
Only once before have I been prevented from lecturing at universities in a country. The other country was Apartheid South Africa where the government insisted on “approving” the text of my proposed talks on human rights. I declined.
But despite the refusal of the faculties of Norway’s three major universities to invite me to deliver lectures on Israel and international law, I delivered three lectures to packed auditoriums at each university. It turns out that the students wanted to hear me, despite their professors’ efforts to keep my views from them. Student groups invited me. I came. And I received sustained applause both before and after my talks. Faculty members boycotted my talks and declined even to meet with me. I was recently told that free copies of the Norwegian translation of my book, The Case For Israel, were offered to several university libraries in Norway and that they declined to accept them.
How Not to Defend Yourself as a Jew at Yale
Posted on: Apr28 2011
At Yale the other week, Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the most aggressive and vicious supporters of Palestinian terrorism, conducted a stunt to dramatize their anti-Israel agenda. Members of the SJP put “Eviction Notices” under the dorm room doors of Yale students, which warned them that their rooms were going to be “demolished in three days” for no reason. According to a report of the action in the Yale Daily News, the Eviction Notices were designed “to raise awareness about the plight of Palestinians whose homes are being demolished by the Israeli government.” In a sane world such a claim would have zero credibility. Why would any government, let alone one as humane and democratic as the government of Israel, go around randomly demolishing people’s homes? What agenda would be served by that?
In fact the homes that Israel has demolished belong to terrorists who blow up Pizza parlors and buses and Passover services, hoping to kill as many innocent Jews as possible. It is all part of a 60-year unrelenting war Arabs and Muslims have waged against the existence of a non-Arab, non-Muslim state in the Middle East. This is a fact overlooked not only by terrorist support groups like Students for Justice in Palestine but by the editors of the Yale Daily News. Naturally, Yale students ignorant of this 60-year history and bombarded by Palestinian lies spread by left-wing faculty and student organizations to the effect that Israel is “occupying” a mythical entity called “Palestine,” Palestinians are oppressed by Israelis (rather than the Palestinian Authority and Hamas), Israel is an “apartheid state” and so forth – are unable to distinguish reality from fiction.
“I was really confused at first,” a Yale sophomore named Helen McCreary told the Yale Daily News, “but I think I understand why [Students for Justice in Palestine] did it. None of us have had our house randomly destroyed by the government.”
The SJP Eviction Notices explained to the credulous that they “were not meant to be an attack on Israel or Israelis, but rather on the actions of the Israeli state.” But as everyone knows, Israel is a democracy and its government reflects the sentiments and will of its people – including a million Muslim Arabs who are Israeli citizens with more rights than the citizens of Gaza or the West Bank under Palestinian rule. In short, this a distinction without a difference: the attack on Israel is an attack on Israelis and Jews. By the same token, 100% of the Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza vote for terrorist organizations – either Fatah or Hamas. But if one were to draw the conclusion that Palestinians as a people support terrorism – that opinion would be banned from the pages of the Yale Daily News and every other college newspaper as giving “offense” to an ethnic group — although there is no ethnic group “Palestinian.”
And how did Yale’s Jewish organizations respond to this malicious attack from a Hamas-supporting, Israel-hating campus group? According to the Daily News reporter, “a member of the Yale Hillel board and the co-president of Yale Friends of Israel criticized the fliers for being ‘counterproductive’ and disrespectful,” and also “hyperbolic” – as though the Israelis were only demolishing the doors on Palestinian houses for sport and not their entire dwellings.
The rationale for responding in such generalities which did not come close to identifying the outrage that had been committed was that Hillel did not want to even think of upsetting the Students for Justice in Palestine who, in fact, would like to see Israel destroyed and the Jews pushed into the sea. Too harsh? That is precisely what the SJP slogan, chanted on campuses across the country, promises: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” One glance at a map of the Middle East will show that the eastern border of Israel is the Jordan River and the western border is the Mediterranean sea. In other words, “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” means for the campus Nazis who chant it: the obliteration of Israel. As it happens, this is the explicit and formal goal of their favorite Palestinian party, Hamas, which has enshrined it in its charter: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam obliterates it.”
Hillel’s Coalition with the Enemies of Israel Becomes Increasingly Unseemly
Posted on: Mar 30 2011
On Monday, March 28, the Daily
On Monday, March 28, the Daily Pennsylvania printed our ad “Wall of Lies.” We removed the word “Palestinian” from the original “Palestinian Wall of Lies” as a concession to the reigning political orthodoxy on campus which forbids putting the words “Palestinian” or “Muslim” with the words “lies” or “terrorism” in the same factual sentence but has no problem with putting “Israel” and “Apartheid” in dyad thus spreading an actual lie about a militarily threatened democratic state. In response to our ad the sinister coalition of campus Hillels with groups that seek to destroy the Jewish state took another step forward. Below is the “response” to our ad in the Daily Pennsylvanian, followed by the letter I have submitted to the editor. This, in turn, is followed by my letter to one of the signers of the attack on our ad, a former Hillel education chairman.
On Monday, the David Horowitz Freedom Center took out a full-page advertisement in The Daily Pennsylvanian and college newspapers around the country. It was an ad full of dehumanizing hate speech about the Palestinian people particularly and the Muslim, Arab and pro-Palestinian communities generally. We, as leaders of the Jewish and Muslim communities and as leaders of the pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups on campus, are joining together to collectively condemn such hateful and inflammatory rhetoric and those who espouse it.
We believe that the publication of this horrifying and divisive document is an opportunity to come together as one community and address the status quo that has gone unchallenged for too long. We are exasperated by the oversimplification of an issue that deeply affects millions of human lives. We reject the idea that there is no alternative to this fruitless, polarizing antagonism. We are deeply disappointed by the fact that both sides have convinced themselves that they have nothing to learn from the other and nothing to say that the other will respect. We reject the extension of this attitude to our campus.
We are no longer satisfied with a world in which Muslims, Jews and Christians, as well as those who identify as pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, are compelled to suffer silently every time extremists perpetrate hate in the name of the convictions we hold most dear. We recognize that these attacks and libels de-humanize not only those they target but also those in whose name they claim to speak — the individuals whose peaceful voices and opinions are drowned out in a sea of discrimination and hatred. We refuse to be complicit in destructive ignorance.
We propose that we, as Israeli and Palestinian advocates, bring the same level of open-mindedness and intellectual rigor to our advocacy as we do to our studies. When discussing this issue, we resolve not to check our inquisitiveness or our tolerance at the door. We should be able to view each other’s efforts not as incitements that require either response or dismissal but as invitations to expand our understanding of the issues and each other.
Today and going forward, we stand united in our suffering and against our suffering. We are united in the conviction that this moment of hate will serve as the catalyst for us to come together and learn from each other. These conversations will not be easy, but they are essential in the process of reconciliation between our communities and the development of a shared vision for the future.
We all dream of peace, but we also recognize that in our dreaming we must not fall into complacent slumber. We must remain alert to the hatred and intolerance that surround us and guard ourselves — and each other — against them. Our generation has not inherited an easy task, but we resolve that those who see enmity as inevitable, or hatred as natural, will never go unchallenged. By our unity, commitment, action and friendship we vow to build and defend a new framework of respect, humility and constructive creativity.
This guest column was written by:
Besan Abu-Joudah, College and Wharton junior, former Penn Arab Student Society vice president
Logan Bayroff, College sophomore, Forum for New Israel Dialogue president
Ariel Fisher, College senior, former Hillel Education chairman
Elisheva Goldberg, College senior, Kedma editor-in-chief
Sarah Shihadah, College freshman, Penn for Palestine, Penn Arab Student Society
The following people are signatories:
Maryam Alireza, Penn Arab Student Society president
Humna Bhojani, Penn for Palestine president
Sarah Ijaz, Muslim Students Association president
Tamar Karpuj, Hillel Israel Sector chairwoman
Elisheva Goldberg can be contacted at nelis@sas.upenn.edu.
To the editor:
On Wednesday, the Daily Pennsylvanian printed a response to our Wall of Lies ad signed by a coalition of Jewish and Muslim campus leaders. In several rhetoric heavy paragraphs they called our ad “dehumanizing hate speech” and “hateful and inflammatory.” It would have been nice to see one citation from the ad that was alleged to be hate speech or one argument that the claims made in our ad were not true. There was no such citation and no such argument, only hate speech against us for writing the ad. It seems reasonable to conclude that this resort to emotion is because there is no argument to be made for the slanders that Israel is an “apartheid state” or that Israel “occupies” Arab land. Or perhaps these students were not up to the task. Shame on those who signed the article, and shame on their teachers for not providing them with the ability and good manners to actually answer arguments they disagree with instead of demonizing those who make them.
Sincerely,
David Horowitz
Dear Elisheva Goldberg (former Hillel Chairman and signer of the Daily Pennsylvanian article)
I don’t pretend to understand what would motivate you to attack a statement of facts defending Israel with such hate-filled vitriol as you do in the article you have jointly signed with Palestinian groups. I would like to see any statement you personally, or Hillel generally, has made condemning the Israel Apartheid Weeks and Walls organized by the Muslim Students Association, undoubtedly with support from the Palestinian groups you have embraced. If you do not respond to this email I will conclude that you made no such statements, and prefer to attack Jews defending themselves against slanders whose intent is clearly genocidal.
The purpose of this email is to formally offer to debate you or anyone you may propose as to the veracity of the claims our ad makes in defense of Israel or, alternatively, any of the claims made by the Palestinian groups you have aligned yourself with against Israel.
Sincerely,
David Horowitz