JUPROG Brasil

[juprog]

The following was sent out by the Palestine Football Association earlier today:

Letter to FIFA: Israeli Forces Delay Palestinian National Football Team

May 21, 2015

This evening Israeli Forces delayed the Palestinian National Football Team at the Allenby/Al Karamah Crossing, the only international border for Palestinians living in the Occupied West Bank. The national team was on its route to Tunisia as part of their preparation for its upcoming official matches.

This new Israeli violation occurred less than 24 hours after Mr. Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, left Israel and Palestine, having received a commitment from Israeli PM Mr. Netanyahu about facilitating the travel of Palestinian athletes. The Israeli Football Association, as usual when Palestinian athletes are harassed by Israeli Forces, haven’t issued any condemnation.

Please find below the letter sent by the head of the Palestine Football Association Gen. Jibril Rajoub to FIFA President Mr. Sepp Blatter on this new Israeli violation against Palestinian sports. Attached is a picture of the team at the Israeli Control.

Date: 21/5/2015

Ref: X-Pob/2015/156

Mr. Joseph Blatter President

Fédération Internationale de Football Association

Subject: VIP escort for Palestinian Footballers on the border

Dear President, Dear Brother

I hope you had the time to rest after your trip to our region and the busy schedule of meetings with both the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Israeli Government’s promise to facilitate the movement of our players is having its first test as I am writing this letter. Our National team, which is heading for Tunisia for a training camp, has been delayed at the Allenby crossing point by the Israeli authorities.

Player Sameh Maraabah has been detained by the Israeli authorities for two hours now, and the team has decided it will not leave without him.

The implications of this incident can only confirm the PFA’s position on the promises given by the Israeli Government; that they are only words unless they are included in solution that can only come through, and be guaranteed by the FIFA congress.

Sincerely Yours

Jibril Rajoub

President

Palestine Football Association

[juprog]

We need your help! Please invite your congressperson and senator to this important June 2 Congressional Briefing about Palestinian children in Israeli military detention. The No Way to Treat a Child Campaign has organized this briefing to bring attention to Israel's practice of arresting, detaining and abusing Palestinian children in their military prison system. Read the material from the US Campaign and follow the steps listed. Thank you for calling and emailing urging your lawmakers to attend this briefing. We're hoping for a standing-room-only crowd! US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation : Urge Lawmakers to Attend Briefing on Israel's... http://bit.ly/18Itrz5 Many are taken from their families in night raids, held without charges or due process, and subjected to abuse or poor conditions while in custody.

[juprog]

Shoutouts to SJPs at Northeastern and Brandeis in this flawed but important profile. Northeastern University Students for Justice in Palestine, Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine Students for Justice in Palestine Builds Support With In-Your-Face Push - News forward.com With a shoestring budget and provocative tactics, Students for Justice in Palestine might not sound like a political dynamo. Yet it’s making its voice heard on campuses from coast to coast.

[juprog]

#Israeli authorities are presently evicting Palestinian farmers who own land In the beautiful valley of Wadi Qana, in the northern #WestBank. This seizure of the area by settlers - aided by the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority - are part of systemic Israeli efforts to intensify Israeli presence in Area C while pushing the #Palestinians out. Read more: http://bit.ly/1c80Swp Photo: Shepherds’ home, Wadi Qana. Homes of Yakir settlement seen in background. Credit: Jamil Dweikat Timeline Photos #Israeli authorities are presently evicting Palestinian farmers who own land In the beautiful valley of Wadi Qana, in the northern #WestBank. This seizure of the area by settlers - aided by the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority - are part of systemic Israeli efforts to intensify Israeli presence in Area C while pushing the #Palestinians out. Read more: http://bit.ly/1c80Swp Photo: Shepherds’ home, Wadi Qana. Homes of Yakir settlement seen in background. Credit: Jamil Dweikat

[juprog]

President Obama gave another interview to Jeffrey Goldberg, at the Atlantic. Top billing for the Iran deal. The president says “Jeff” more than he says “Palestinian” (6-4), mentions checkpoints and restrictions on Palestinians travel, exhibits pique toward Goldberg and Israel supporters for suggesting he should keep his differences with Israel private, says he loves Israel because it’s “a genuine democracy” and “a Jewish-majority democracy,” “and I care deeply about preserving that Jewish democracy,” but applauds Mandela for pointing the way to “a multiracial democracy emerging in South Africa.”

And this about anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. If you don’t think Israel has a right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people, you’re anti-Semitic.

Goldberg: I know that you’ve talked about this with Jewish organizations, with some of your Jewish friends—how you define the differences and the similarities between these two concepts.

Obama: You know, I think a good baseline is: Do you think that Israel has a right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people, and are you aware of the particular circumstances of Jewish history that might prompt that need and desire? And if your answer is no, if your notion is somehow that that history doesn’t matter, then that’s a problem, in my mind. If, on the other hand, you acknowledge the justness of the Jewish homeland, you acknowledge the active presence of anti-Semitism—that it’s not just something in the past, but it is current—if you acknowledge that there are people and nations that, if convenient, would do the Jewish people harm because of a warped ideology. If you acknowledge those things, then you should be able to align yourself with Israel where its security is at stake, you should be able to align yourself with Israel when it comes to making sure that it is not held to a double standard in international fora, you should align yourself with Israel when it comes to making sure that it is not isolated.

But you should be able to say to Israel, we disagree with you on this particular policy. We disagree with you on settlements. We think that checkpoints are a genuine problem. We disagree with you on a Jewish-nationalist law that would potentially undermine the rights of Arab citizens. And to me, that is entirely consistent with being supportive of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Now for someone in Israel, including the prime minister, to disagree with those policy positions—that’s OK too. And we can have a debate, and we can have an argument. But you can’t equate people of good will who are concerned about those issues with somebody who is hostile towards Israel. And you know, I actually believe that most American Jews, most Jews around the world, and most Jews in Israel recognize as much. And that’s part of the reason why I do still have broad-based support among American Jews. It’s not because they dislike Israel, it’s not because they aren’t worried about Iran having a nuclear weapon or what Hezbollah is doing in Lebanon. It’s because I think they recognize, having looked at my history and having seen the actions of my administration, that I’ve got Israel’s back, but there are values that I share with them that may be at stake if we’re not able to find a better path forward than what feels like a potential dead-end right now.

The president also equated the foundation of Israel with the civil rights movement in the U.S.

[T]o me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I’ve been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics. There’s a direct line between supporting the right of the Jewish people to have a homeland and to feel safe and free of discrimination and persecution, and the right of African Americans to vote and have equal protection under the law. These things are indivisible in my mind. But what is also true, by extension, is that I have to show that same kind of regard to other peoples. And I think it is true to Israel’s traditions and its values—its founding principles—that it has to care about those Palestinian kids.

Says Donald Johnson, who tipped me to this: “I  understand the long history of antisemitism as an argument for having a Jewish state, but why can’t people be honest about the price paid by the Palestinians? I know the answer.”

[juprog]

(The following was written by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. This piece has my byline because I agree, and I’ll steal anything that isn’t nailed down.)

The Israeli newssite Ynet carried an interesting report last week. The Israelis are preparing to accept the Iran deal the P5+1 have forged, but they will extract some giant favors from the U.S. to do so.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could either continue to fight the deal or he could swallow the deal, asking in return far-reaching benefits from the US, the sources said…

A high-ranking government official told Ynet’s sister publication Yedioth Ahronoth that “The White House is willing to pay a hefty price to get some quiet from the Israelis at this point. We are surprised the demand has not been made.”

… the White House is willing to seriously consider substantial compensation to Israel so long as it does not provoke strong protest against the agreement until the deal is signed in July.

Sheesh. We gotta bribe the Israelis not to fight the deal. What could that mean?

According to these sources, at a meeting between the Pentagon and State Department, various possibilities that could meet Israeli demands were discussed – with the most reasonable option thought to be an increase in the amount of F-35 fighter jets given to Israel.

Much of the criticism of Israel in the west is based on a humanitarian concern for the Palestinians. Any person in the world can legitimately share that concern.

But the Israeli attitude conveyed above is a reason why Americans can be justified in simply disliking Israel, regardless of whatever it does or doesn’t do to the Palestinians. It’s the ingratitude and the sense of entitlement. America has spent a ton of money and diplomatic capital on Israel over the decades. Umpteen UN Security Council vetoes, 10’s of billions, a war or two against its enemies. And this is how it’s going to repay that friendship?

George Lakoff

There is a line of argument here that could really confound U.S. “conservative” support for Israel. According to George Lakoff, the moral frame of the conservative is that a strict father needs to impose discipline on the unruly child:

“The strict father provides nurturance and expresses his devotion to his family by supporting and protecting them, but just as importantly by setting and enforcing strict moral bounds and by inculcating self-discipline and self-reliance through hard work and self-denial. This builds character. For the strict father, strictness is a form of nurturance and love — tough love.”

Israel gets some support from U.S. conservatives because it appears to be tough and strict. Shoot rockets at us and we will give you a walloping. The more folks on the left complain that Israel is too tough on the Palestinians, the more U.S. conservatives think, Hey that is just how you have to deal with those ill-behaved subjects.

But the Ynet article above portrays a different aspect of Israeli behavior: Israel as the spoiled child. It wanted daddy to go to war with Iran and now because it didn’t get its way it’s going to throw a tantrum until daddy gives it some goodies.

Portray Israel this way and you will seriously challenge the worldview of conservative Israel supporters. Every conservative knows that you don’t give in to a child’s tantrum. Daddy should impose a bit of discipline.

[juprog]

Black-tipped sponge bullets: These have already led to the death of one teen, have caused four children to lose their sight, and have led Walla! and Activestills photographer, Tali Mayer, to sustain facial fractures. Jerusalem Police shoot 10-year-old Palestinian boy in the eye | +972 Magazine 972mag.com Over the past several months, Jerusalem Police has been stepping up its use of a new weapon: black-tipped sponge bullets. Israeli Police wounded a 10-year-old Palestinian child in the eye Thursday afternoon while dispersing protesters…

[juprog]

The New York Times published a remarkable discussion yesterday. Alongside an article about Israel canceling a plan to segregate buses going to the West Bank so as to keep Palestinians off settlers’ buses, it published readers’ comments; and in both the editors’ selection and the readers’ selection, the comments were running against Israel.

In fact, the readers’ picks were almost completely one-sided. Here are some of them:

The plan to segregate buses is just one dramatic example of the dynamic at the heart of Israeli society. Israel in its entirety — not just Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem — is an apartheid state.– Tim Joseph of Columbus, Ohio.

Those separate roads for Israeli settlers and Palestinians show what Israel has become. Even in the worst days of the Jim Crow South in the United States, there weren’t separate roads for blacks and whites. –Scrim1, Bowie, Maryland.

As a Jew, I find this action appalling and allows people to question why the persecuted have become the persecutors. The only way Israel can be reigned in is by the U.S. to stop its funding and halt the use of the veto at the UN. –littleninja2356, UK

While it is definitely a very small step in the right direction, Israel has a very long way to go if it ever wishes to be a true democracy. There remain Jewish roads only, millions of CAGED Palestinians who cannot move about freely or have the same rights that Jewish Israeli’s have. –Pickwick45, Endicott, NY

Rosa Parks turning in her grave. Why must U.S. taxpayers be forced, without any vote on the matter, to support Netanyahu’s rigth-wing regression to pre-Enlightenment values?–Nelson Alexander, NY.

And this in a country fully supported by the USA? –James McEntire, Chapel Hill, NC

The Israeli’s need to take a good, hard look at themselves if a policy like this could be introduced in 2015. They will never find peace going in this direction. –swm, Providence

That this is happening with my tax dollars infuriates me. The only reason they scrapped the “pilot” program (nothing pilot about it actually; see South Africa, Jim Crowe USA) was because of international disgust. –C, Brooklyn

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. MLK Jr  — Lucian Roosevelt, Barcelona

sounds incredibly racist. however since they already have highways which prohiibit cars w palestinian license plates, it is no surprise. it is so sad. and our tax dollars subsidize this.–Zieanna B., Wilmington, NC

And there you have it, that beacon of democracy in the Middle East, with segregated transport, stratified citizens and desirable/undesirable voters!  –NM, NY

You have to go very deep in the Readers’ favorite comments to get one that dismisses the apartheid analogy. Though several in the Editors’ picks do that work.

The comment section reflects a change in Israel’s image in the west. Hasbara is being overwhelmed. In spite of the Times editors rigging the comments in their selection colum, there is a change in the popular mood.

I believe this change has taken place in the last year or two, but it’s epitomized here. The momentum has shifted. More and more people, despite mainstream media bias, are becoming more and more aware. Bear in mind, it isn’t entirely a casual thing to comment at the Times.  These writers are energetic, and they are literate.

Ilan Pappe said as much about educated opinion in a recent interview:

the new attitude toward Israel is not marginal or esoteric you suddenly encounter it everywhere– among people who are in the know, among people who have only partial information, and– it sounds simplistic– but almost any decent person you meet in the west has a clear view of Israel/Palestine with varying degrees of knowledge or commitment. There is a sense of a significant shift.

This seems to me an issue of critical mass. At a certain point you get enough fissile material to cause a reaction. Opinion that is critical of Israel has fizzled and fizzled, sputtered and sputtered, but now it’s gotten to an explosive level. We are seeing a change in popular consciousness, and by the way, it would never have taken place before the internet.

Israel and its friends must regard this trend with great concern.

[juprog]

As the Asian qualifying tournament for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup kicked off in Doha in late March, onlookers couldn’t help but wonder, was one of the flags missing? Above the tribune facing the VIP stands were the flapping ensigns with the colors of every participating nation, but between the Kuwaiti and Chinese flags there was a wide gap. It was as if a flag was supposed to be there but wasn’t. This indeed turned out to be the case, as Palestine’s national team did in fact qualify for the tournament, but never made it to Qatar. Although slim, any chances of Palestine qualifying for the Beach Soccer World Cup later this year in Espinho, Portugal were all but dashed.

Only days before the tournament, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) contacted the Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSW), the governing body of beach soccer which falls under FIFA’s umbrella, and released a press release which read: “The Palestinian Football Association officially communicated to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Beach Soccer Worldwide that the team will not be able to take part in the competition, due to administrative issues outside the event.”

The missing Palestinian flag at the Beach Soccer Asian Qualifiers in Doha. (Photo: Raio Costa)

Scratch beneath the surface though, and you will understand that “administrative issues” are the least of the PFA’s problems. In the run-up to the AFC Asian Cup, Palestine jumped 71 spots and reach their highest-ever FIFA ranking, 94th in the world and for a brief stint were in the Asian top ten. Despite losing all their matches, going to Australia in January of this year for the Asian Cup was Palestine’s first ever major tournament since being recognized by FIFA in 1998. Although not a fully recognized state by the United Nations, under FIFA, Palestine is officially and independent country.

Like every other member, Palestine gets funding from FIFA. They also get the bonuses FIFA dishes out, like the Christmas bonus given to all member federations – its sum: $1.3 million.

But not all the players from the Palestinian squad were given the joy of listening to their national anthem play across speakers in Newcastle, Canberra, and Melbourne earlier this year. Australia-based Palestine player Nasr Awad, who was able to play in the tournament, told ABC Australia that “there’s a lot of players that are missing. They’re from the Gaza Strip. They’re good players and they couldn’t come to Australia because they’re in the Gaza Strip.” But most of the team made the 12,000-kilometer trip, why was it so hard to go to Qatar?

Raed Amro, who works with the PFA’s communications and information department, told Mondoweiss that “the Israeli authorities rebuked our request to cross the border. They answered us by refusing to grant any of the players the administrative and technical exit visas to go from Gaza to the West Bank and finally to Jordan, from where we would depart to Doha. Since the Rafah border crossing is closed there was no other means of exiting Gaza. We have reported this incident to FIFA and the AFC but they did not resolve the matter.”

“With sports – especially football – emerging in Palestine, the racist Zionist occupation spares no effort killing and besieging Palestinian sports,” he added.

Attacks on Palestinian Football

Unlike 11-a-side football, whose players play in the West Bank, Gaza, and even abroad, Palestine’s beach soccer team is based in one place – the only sandy coastal area in what is left of Palestine: the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian football league is even broken in two: the West Bank Premier League and the Gaza Strip League. To frequently cross via Israel could cost an arm and a leg – literally.

First, there was the case of Mahmoud Sarsak. Twenty-two at the time, Sarsak was arrested at the Erez Crossing after traveling between the West Bank and Gaza to join his new club. He was accused of being a combatant linked to the Islamic Jihad and spent three years in prison. In 2012, he went on hunger strike after Zakaria Issa, a former Palestine international who was also incarcerated, died shortly after being released. Sarsak admitted that he had been subjected to both physical and mental torture on a regular basis.

In 2014, at another checkpoint, teenagers Jawhar Nasser Jawhar and Adam Abdelraouf Halabiya were stopped by Israeli patrolmen and shot in the legs repeatedly. Both players will never play football again.

David Zirin, sportswriter for The Nation, reported on the previous two cases and also documented the killing of Ahed Zaqqout, a former Palestinian footballer turned sportscaster and TV host. It was the killing of Zaqqout that led the writer to ask whether Israel killed him deliberately or whether he was part the vast civilian collateral damage that comes with every Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. In an article dedicated to the fallen footballer titled His Name Was Ahed Zaqout: Former Palestinian Soccer Star Killed in Gaza, Zirin wrote: “Attacking soccer is about attacking these very national aspirations. It’s the inhumane act targeting a collective expression of humanity.”

Nothing, however, hits closer to home than the story of the story of the Bakr cousins. All aged between 9 and 11, the four boys were playing football on a beach when an Israeli naval ship mistook them for fleeing fighters and fired shells at the beach. The boys died instantly not knowing what hit them. Palestine’s beach soccer team, who the Bakr boys must have at least caught a glimpse of once in the Gaza Strip’s mere 11km spit of coast, had their dreams taken away from them, but Ismail, Ahed, Zakariya, and Mohammad had the lives they wished to realize their dreams taken away. Rich Wiles, a Gaza-based writer and an award-winning photographer and filmmaker, believes that “stories are endless…a book could, or maybe should, be written about the almost impossible development of Palestinian football.”

Racism in Israeli Football

The Israeli war on Palestinian football is ethereal. Whether it’s a raid on the PFA headquarters in Ramallah or a bomb raid on Gaza, football is always targeted. It’s not only in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In 2004, the only Palestinian club in the Israeli Premier League, Bnei Sakhnin, won the Israeli Cup. Only two years later, Abbas Suan, an Arab-Israeli player from Bnei Sakhnin almost booked Israel a place at the FIFA World Cup in Germany with a late equalizer against the Republic of Ireland. When he returned for a league game with Bnei Sakhnin against Beitar Jerusalem a few weeks after international duty for Israel, he was met with a banner that read “Suan, you don’t represent us” from Beitar fans. Rumours had it Beitar’s president tried to sign him after his heroics for Israel, but Beitar fans would not allow their unique tradition of being the only Israeli club to never sign an Arab player to be broken.

Beitar once tried to sidestep their racist practice when former club president Alexandre Gaydamak signed two Chechen Muslim players. The pair, Zaur Sadayev and Dzhabrail Kadiyev, were not welcomed by Beitar’s hard-core supporters group, La Familia. Then Beitar club manager Eli Cohen, tried to quell resentment from his fans by telling them “there’s a difference … between a European Muslim and an Arab Muslim.” Still, when Sadayev scored his first goal for the club against Maccabi Netanya in 2013, hundreds of La Familia fans walked out of the stadium. The two players played less than a combined total of 15 games for the club and had to be accompanied by bodyguards during their time in Jerusalem.

In more recent times, Beitar’s current coach said that he won’t sign an Arab player out of respect for La Familia. Speaking to an Israeli radio station, Guy Levi said: “I don’t think it’s the right time. It would cause tensions and create much greater damage.” Even it when it came to Palestinian citizens of Israel, like the now retired Abbas Suan, Levi claimed that “even if there were a player who fits in professionally, I would not bring him in, because it would create unnecessary tensions.”

Let us not forget, six Israeli men who were arrested last year for abducting and lynching Muhammad Abu Khdeir in Jerusalem were all members of La Familia.

Next Steps with FIFA

Even though beach soccer is nowhere near as important or popular as association football, barring an entire team from participating in a tournament was the final straw for the PFA. Its President, Jibril Rajoub, who has voiced for Israel to be removed from FIFA many times in the past, reiterated his appeals as the beach soccer tournament in Doha came to a close. A week later, FIFA’s longtime president Sepp Blatter, fully aware of Rajoub’s threats to file a complaint against Israel, met with the PFA president in Cairo on the sidelines of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Congress in Cairo.

Following their meeting, FIFA’s official website published a 130-word article that said “the FIFA President recalled that his objective is to find solutions for the benefit of football development in Palestine and that football should connect, not divide.” Articles that picked up FIFA’s official statement were a bit more direct, with one non-Israeli website headlining the story Blatter Rejects Palestine FA Call to Ban Israel.

Despite Blatter’s diplomatic pacification of the PFA’s request, the PFA will still submit its complaint at the FIFA Congress in May, with Raed Amro telling Mondoweiss, “we expect that in the FIFA Congress in May all members assume their legal, moral, and humanitarian responsibilities towards accountability and punish Israel for its crimes.” Still, many pundits suggest that even if Rajoub and the PFA defy Blatter, there will be little chance the request will be approved. With FIFA Executive Committee members needing a majority of 66% to pass such a resolution, the PFA are trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

FIFA is infamously defamed by the Western media on a weekly if not daily basis for a spectrum of different reasons. But if there’s a way FIFA can change its shattered image with one move, it would be by allowing Palestinian footballers the same rights as footballers other footballers around the world and apply pressure on the Israeli FA. Amro, who believes that FIFA are the only ones who can change the footballing climate in Palestine, but also had a message for his Israeli counterparts, saying “we also expect the obligation of the Israeli federation to recognize the entity and national sporting integrity of an independent Palestine and end its restrictions and practices of arbitrary right.”

“We assure you that the occupation and its practices of war against Palestinian sports and Palestinian athletes does not stop us, not for a single day,” he added.

Recently, Palestine were drawn with Saudi Arabia, East Timor, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates in the qualifying rounds for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Their first away match will be away to Malaysia two weeks after the PFA claim to file an official complaint against Israel at the FIFA Congress on May 29. In the coming months football fans around the world will see whether Palestine will be forbidden from attempting to qualify for another World Cup, a slightly more important one.

[juprog]

Two weeks ago I attended a book talk involving the creation of the state of Israel at the Center for Jewish History in New York whose theme as far as I was concerned was: Zionism is anachronistic. For it was the main speaker’s claim that the issues at stake in 1945-1947, of Jewish sovereignty in Palestine and Arab opposition to it, are as relevant today as then. And he was convincing. But the answers the Zionists came up with were white man’s burden arguments.

The main speaker was Norman J.W. Goda, the Norman and Irma Braman professor of Holocaust studies at University of Florida. Norman Braman also funds Senator Marco Rubio in his bid to lead the country, and this didn’t seem all that surprising after hearing Norman Goda’s comments.

The subject of the talk was the third volume of James G. McDonald’s papers. McDonald was a philo-Semite and Christian Zionist and served several official roles for the United States in the runup to Israel’s creation. At every turn, he fought back arguments against Jewish emigration to Palestine and then against Jewish nationalism in Palestine.

There were three other scholars on the panel that night, but Goda had the most to say and the others did little to modulate his views. His main villain was Britain. The British looked on the matter from an imperial strategic perspective. If the Brits gave in to the Jews on Palestine they figured they would have trouble all over the Middle East, but if they gave into the Arabs they would only have trouble in Palestine, from the Jews (here Goda echoed his co-editor Richard Breitman); and so they chose the latter.

But there was a changing of the guard. Roosevelt died, Truman came in, and there was a “Jewish resort to force.” In particular the killing of Lord Moyne in Egypt in 1944. The British “really never get over, and never really forgive” Moyne’s killing, Goda said quizzically, as if they should have forgiven the Zionists that assassination.

This use of force demonstrated “a complete change in the ways that Jews are expected to behave,” Goda said with metal in his voice. I.e., we were helpless during the Holocaust.

So the British gave up on Palestine. And while the U.S. and Britain were allied in two other strategic arenas, Berlin and East Asia, they broke over Palestine.

The historian had many such wise observations, but as he mocked British and Arab attitudes, I found myself agreeing with the British and Arabs. The British argued that there was zero connection between the Holocaust and Palestine. One was a humanitarian problem, the other a strategic issue, Zionists had wrongly conflated the two. Zionists were nationalists and nationalism had been delegitimized by World War II. The Arabs said that anti-Semitism was a calamity for them because the immigrants were coming to Palestine, and they weren’t accepted by any western country. The Arabs said that the Jews had more financial and media influence than they did in western societies. “Please!” Goda said with exasperation, as if the argument had just been advanced– then he described all the legations and interest groups Arabs had in the west.

Norman J.W. Goda

Goda also seemed to deny the Palestinian experience. He pointedly referred to the Nakba, or Palestinian catastrophe of 1948, as a Palestinian “flight.” He said that all the Zionists wanted was a Jewish majority in the new state, because as Moshe Shertok said, “minority status for us hasn’t worked out terribly well.” But they never wanted to expel the Palestinians. The Zionists were going to achieve their majority through immigration, and the Palestinians ought to have accepted the immigration as a good deal. “No one’s expecting Palestinian flight. No one’s expecting expulsions either. As Ben Gurion and others kept saying in 1948, The reason this happened is that we were attacked.” Ben Gurion was repeatedly cited as an authority. It is a complete fallacy to say that the Zionists intended to mistreat Palestinians. The Palestinians would get to be part of a “modern” state with a higher standard of living. The Zionists had “very interesting” ideas for the development of Palestine that the Palestinians and the British ignored. The evil mufti of Jerusalem and the Arab Higher Committee had other ideas, a war the Zionists never wanted —the mufti “completely screwed up” that war, and “was completely discredited,” Goda said.

These are colonialist ideas. The modern Jews were going to bring up Palestine to western standards and the Palestinians would all benefit, but some crazy-ass Palestinian leader who had supported Hitler got them to rebel and so it all came down on the Palestinians’ own head.

There was no sense in any of Goda’s remarks that a great number of Palestinians genuinely were opposed to Zionist immigration for the same reason that so many societies limit immigration: they do not want their societies changed dramatically. This was obviously a reasonable fear on the part of Palestinians, and one that haunts the world to this day.

There were thoughtful people on the panel, but they didn’t pipe up during Goda’s colonialist speeches. Though Ronald Zweig undercut the Jewish-people-crave-Palestine talk with a funny story about a Displaced Person who had applied to go to Uruguay but voted in a poll that the Jewish people should go to Palestine.

The best thing about the talk was that the audience was more enlightened than the panel. The first question was about whether McDonald had any sympathy for the Palestinian refugees. That’s the next volume, said the moderator (but the answer I am told is, Yes, he did). The next question was about Palestinian national identity. The third one was about how much pressure the Zionists put on the U.S. government, to “manipulate” policy. The fourth question was, How did you editors deal with the fact that McDonald was widely seen as being in the Zionist camp? By the way McDonald was paid by the Zionist Organization of America for a while. But they didn’t tell us that at the talk.

The fifth question was the only straight-up Zionist one. So the discussion felt a little like the New York Times comment section. The civilians aren’t eating their rations.

Goda didn’t seem to perceive this. He warned us not to fall into the trap of “Bad Roosevelt, Good Truman,” because Roosevelt was less sympathetic to Zionism than Truman. But I think the sentiment was actually running the other way.

The message of the evening for me was that Zionism is in amber; the same colonialist arguments that were made for Zionism in 1946 are being made today: look at all our amazing achievements, the chip in your telephone, drip irrigation– so why would Palestinians want to resist us, they are terrorists. This tired discourse is under assault a great number of places. Even on 16th street in a Jewish space in New York. Though not from the Norman Braman professor.

[juprog]

Human Rights Watch: "It is a sad day when Israeli Supreme Court decisions provide legal cover for forced evictions..." HRW denounces Israel expulsion of Bedouins, Palestinians news.yahoo.com A rights group on Tuesday condemned Israeli court decisions paving the way for the eviction of Bedouins and Palestinians from their villages, calling on the state to let them stay put. The Supreme Court approved earlier this month the removal of 750-1,000 Bedouin residents from the southern Negev vi…

[juprog]

Yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu axed a plan that would segregate buses between Palestinian and Israeli riders in the West Bank, however, since 2013 Israel has already had in place a segregated line that transports Palestinian workers into Israel. The reason? Settlers did not want to ride with Palestinians. And canceling that route was not debated as high-ranking Israeli officials showed outrage over the Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s three-month pilot plan to add separated routes.

President Reuven Rivlin said the new program caused “unthinkable separation” and opposition leader Issac Herzog said it was “an unnecessary humiliation, and a stain on the face of the state and its citizens.” Leader of the far-left Meretz party Zahava Gal-On posted an image on Facebook of racially segregated restroom signs where one read “whites” and another, “non-whites.”

Screenshot of Zahava Gal-On’s Facebook page.

Yet two years ago Israel’s ministry of transportation and the Afikim company established buses for Palestinian laborers only, even through at the time the Israeli military stated the Palestinian workers posed no threat to Israeli passengers. Segregation for the purpose of security is legal under Israeli law, but discrimination is not. The army referenced that all Palestinian workers with entry permits to Israel undergo stringent background checks. Moreover Palestinians laborers are allowed to ride any bus once inside of Israel.

The segregated buses depart from the Eyal Crossing, a northern West Bank checkpoint where Israelis are not allowed to pass. Once boarded, Palestinian workers zip to a series of mid-size Israeli cities on route to a turnaround point in Tel Aviv.

When the bus launched critics decried it as segregated, yet the ministry of transportation insisted the line was for general use. Even so the boarding area is closed to Israeli citizens. Only Palestinian workers with permits can reach the bus stop.

Within the first month the “workers only” bus launched, I attempted to board it at the first drop off point inside of Israel. Chasing down the green and white vehicle outside of Kfar Saba’s central bus station, the driver told me I could not ride. He said it was for Palestinian workers only. For everyone else it was “forbidden.” At the time I reached Afikim to confirm if Israelis and non-Palestinians are banned. They did provide a comment.

During those first weeks the workers-only route opened Palestinian passengers told me they preferred the new line. This was not because they were keen to ride without Israelis next to them. In informal conversations workers told me the segregated bus was cheaper and around 45 minutes quicker than other forms of transportation departing from the same area. Haaretz calculated the tickets were a fourth of the cost.

Conversely, the settler group that lobbied for the most recent segregated bus progam did so because they said, they did not want to ride with Palestinians. Haaretz discovered a 2013 transcript of the government meeting where they made their request. Settlers cited minor instances such as when a Palestinian refused to give up a seat for an elderly Israeli passenger. Councilmen from the Karnei Shomron settlement Yigal Lahav claimed for Palestinians, riding with Israelis was a “double victory” because:

“[F]or the Arab, first, in terms of the convenience and the cost of the ticket. And second, I think that it’s a kind of victory over the Jewish occupier – that he can just do as he pleases on the bus. As soon as he gets on, he’s won because he controls the bus of the Jews. And the third, and worst, thing is he gets to ride with Jewish girls. I’m telling you, it’s just a matter of time before it ends with someone getting killed.”

When then Justice Minister Tzipi Livni read the meeting minutes published in Haaretz last October, she said the proposal looked as though it was for “apartheid” buses.

“I read the transcripts of what was said in that Knesset committee. It’s intolerable, the claims that they [the settlers] need their own buses, because one [Palestinian] didn’t get up for a woman or an elderly person, and another wasn’t nice to them. This is apartheid!” Livni said.

“[I]f we’re talking about settler pressure, that it’s not convenient or pleasant for them in the very places they sought to live, where there are Palestinians – that’s something I find unacceptable, and I’ll work against it. This is discrimination that’s forbidden by Israeli law,” she added.

Presently Palestinian workers return to Israel by whatever method they want: riding in private cars, taxis, Palestinian owned bus lines, or Israeli bus companies. Although most do not use Israeli buses. There are a myriad of reasons why they are pushed into separate transit systems. In the occupied Palestinian territories, Israelis and Palestinians live in different communities, administered under separate laws; there are no mixed localities in the West Bank. Often settlers reside in gated towns where a Palestinian would need a special permit in order to enter. Likewise it is illegal under Israeli law for Israelis to enter Area A of the West Bank, an Oslo delineated region that encompasses every major Palestinian city, and is under the security and civilian control of the Palestinian Authority.

As a result, a Palestinian using an Israeli bus in the West Bank is faced with many challenges. If a line runs through multiple settlements, unless he were to have entry permits for each of the cities, he could not board. Similarly an Israeli is not allowed not ride a Palestinian bus that makes any stops inside of Area A of the West Bank.

In response there are two bus lines in place for decades in the areas of the West Bank closest to Jerusalem: one Palestinian operated out of East Jerusalem and one Israeli. The Palestinian buses pick up from Palestinian cities in the West Bank and then head into Israel. The Israeli buses pick up from the settlements and then head into Israel. They do not service Palestinian towns in the West Bank or the East Jerusalem neighborhoods on the West Bank side of the separation barrier. And so, even without a blanket law of segregation, the routes that are in place leave little room for intermixing.

[juprog]

A long long time ago in the Wild West (not in the shtetl), if you were big enough to beat people up, you had all the power. Even using a gun* required a lot of brute strength, because they were all shotguns, and apparently shotguns are really unwieldy if you don’t have lots of muscles. Then they invented a little pistol, the Colt 45. The Colt 45 could be used by someone small, but it could still pack a punch. They called it the “great equalizer” because it changed the game entirely; little people could be as powerful as big people. (I have really complicated feelings about guns, but the idea of little people being as powerful as big people is a good one, so just go with me here.)

After six years of Suzie’s classes and many thousands of dollars, I have learned a thing or two about rabbinical school. I have learned that private smicha (ordination) seems a lot faster and cheaper than rabbinical school, and I’ve learned that private smicha apparently confers the same degree upon the individual as rabbinical schools do. It seems very convenient.

I have also learned that rabbinical school seems to accept a lot more women than private smicha does. Also, rabbinical school seems to accept a lot more queer people and Jews by choice. I don’t know why this is, but most people I know who have gotten private smicha are white cismen.

So, rabbinical school is changing the game. The people who have been historically disenfranchised are getting their chance, and they are becoming powerful themselves. Now that women and trans folks and queer people and Jews by choice are rabbis too, the world will never go back to the way it was–and that’s a good thing. So long as there are enough scholarships out there, rabbinical school will succeed in changing the world just as much as the Colt 45 did. Rabbinical school–the great equalizer.

*Guns are bad. Please don’t ever use them. We don’t live in the Wild West or the Shtetl anymore. If you are mad at someone, you should just tell them why you’re mad and then patch things up. Don’t use pistols, don’t use shotguns, don’t use any of those other horrible weapons they have out there. Thus concludes my complicated feelings on guns.

TheGlitteryRebbetzin lived in Nevada for ten years and once touched a gun by accident. It's a long story.

The post Bet: Private Smicha, or, Why Rabbi School is like a Colt 45 appeared first on Jewschool.

[juprog]

Support our friends with All That's Left for two days of action in South Hebron Hills. Watch the video, learn more and donate: http://bit.ly/1Lfy3tJ Solidarity in the South Hebron Hills: A Weekend of Work www.youcaring.com Through the initiative of Palestinian communities, and in partnership with Ta'ayush, The Center for Jewish Nonviolence and others, All That's Left will be bringing volunteers to the South Hebron Hills to assist local residents in building projects and learn with Palestinian non-violent activists...

[juprog]

Watch the Jews and Muslims of Kolkata living harmoniously for decades. A city where a Jewish school has mostly Muslim students and synagogues with Muslim caretakers. The last Jews of Kolkata For generations, Kolkata's Jews have counted the city's Muslims as friends, neighbours and even family. Today, only 20 Jews remain in Kolkata. The Jewish Girls's school has mostly Muslim students. The last remaining synagogues have had generations of Muslim caretakers.Filmmakers Audrey Gordon and Ben Hoffman ask how and why conflicts around the world have failed to break these bonds.More on Kolkata's Jews: http://bit.ly/1vq6Lg0Photos of India's Jewish heritage: http://bit.ly/1loxEqk

[juprog]

"If it looks like a man, shoot. It was simple: You’re in a motherfucking combat zone. A few hours before you went in the whole area was bombed, if there’s anyone there who doesn’t clearly look innocent, you apparently need to shoot that person". (First Sergeant, Infantry, Northern Gaza Strip) The rules of engagement given to the soldiers During Operation Protective Edge were vague and permissive. The soldiers were given instructions to shoot every figure sighted in the area, without needing to verify that they were involved in combat. The soldiers were briefed that innocent civilians weren’t supposed to be in the area, but in reality, civilians -including women and children - remained in the areas in which the IDF was fighting. Read the full testimony here>> http://bit.ly/1IQVoTI

[juprog]

This past Jerusalem Day (May 17 2015), Tag Meir distributed  flowers in the Old City of Jerusalem as a way to counteract the racism and intimidation that often occurs as ultra-nationalistic Jews march through the Muslim Quarter of the city, waving flags and shouting racist slogans.

RHR is an active member of Tag Meir,  a coalition of over 40 organizations now, which organizes events of solidarity with victims of racism and extremism. Tag Meir acts as a voice of tolerance, compassion and respect for victims and communities while showing the world a different, kinder face of Judaism and Israel. 

        Photos by Tag Meir Coalition

More photos

Video (Hebrew) from Israel Social TV on the event:

// <![CDATA[ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); // ]]>

So yesterday was a tough day. Every year on “Jerusalem Day” the Arab residents of the Old City suffer a slew of curses,…

Posted by Tag Meir on Monday, May 18, 2015

Additional Information:

The Times of Israel, May 17th: Anti-racism group holds counterprotest

Haaretz, Ilene Prusher, May 17th: On Jerusalem Day, is there anything to celebrate?

Jerusalem Post, Jeremy Sharon, May 17th: Clashes erupt amid “Jerusalem Day” march through Old City

Times of Israel, Ilan Ben Zion,  May 18th: Jerusalem Day dust up, breakdown of communication

More on Tag Meir events and actions

The post Tag Meir distributes flowers on Jerusalem Day to counteract racism & intimidation appeared first on Rabbis for Human Rights.