Young, Jewish and Proud's "Go & Learn: BDS Education in Jewish Communities" event taking place outside the 14th Street Y. (Photo: Young, Jewish and Proud)
Catching up on news from the long weekend. On Saturday, Young, Jewish and Proud sent out a press release saying the 14th Street Y, a Jewish community space in New York City, had cancelled a room they reserved for an educational event on BDS.
From the press release:
Dr. Stephen Hazan ArnoffWith less than two full days until a Jewish educational workshop on Palestinian nonviolent movements planned for May 27th at 3pm, the 14th Street Y, a Jewish community space, has pulled the plug. In a phone call made to Liza Behrendt of Young, Jewish, and Proud (YJP) on Friday night, Executive Director Steven Hazan Arnoff cancelled the event and refused to reschedule, although YJP had signed a contract and rented space months before. Event organizers have chosen to move forward with the event and plan to meet as scheduled, in front of the 14th Street Y.
Arnoff cited concerns of high attendance as the Y’s reason for cancellation, although the rented space holds 75 and only 40 have RSVP’d. . .
“What is the 14th Street Y afraid of?” asked Behrendt. “We want to sit together, eat blintzes, and share our thoughts on what it means to be Jewish and grapple with Palestinian nonviolent movements.” Organizers had encouraged BDS opponents to attend and take part in conversation.
The 14th Street Y’s last minute cancellation is emblematic of a larger trend of silencing discussion on Palestinian nonviolent movements within the Jewish community. In March, YJP organizers were excluded from Tribefest, a youth conference of the Jewish Federations of North America. Last year Brandeis University Hillel excluded a campus chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. Before that, a Boston-area synagogue cancelled a talk by J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. Jewish institutions nationwide have instituted guidelines that silence discussion of the BDS movement and intimidate Jewish leaders who wish to engage publicly with criticism of Israel.
The event was part of the new JVP initiative Go & Learn: BDS Education in Jewish Communities, and similar events have taken place in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Despite the cancellation the event did happen . . . on the sidewalk in front of the 14th Street Y. A perfect metaphor for a Jewish communal leadership that refuses to acknowledge the conversation knocking at its door.
YJP let down by OJS
Old Jewish and Scared
The boycotters complain that they are being boycotted.
Irony…
“The boycotters complain that they are being boycotted.”
Stupid comment. No equivalency. The boycotters are boycotting the occupation. A just movement. The boycotted are boycotting non-violent resistance. A vile action.
Thank you for your valuable opinion.
Thank you for your lame equivocation, OlegR.
TGIA nailed it.
RE: “Beyond the pale: NYC Jewish community center cancels workshop on Palestinian nonviolent movements”
SPEAKING OF BEING “BEYOND THE PALE”: Nakba porn kingpin Michael Lucas bullies LGBT center against Anti-Apartheid Party, by Max Blumental, Mondoweiss, 2/24/11
ENTIRE ARTICLE – link to mondoweiss.net
P.S. PETITION: “Save New York’s LGBT Center! Don’t Let Wealthy Bigots Shut Down Free Speech ”
TO READ/SIGN THE PETITION – link to ipetitions.com
“eat blintzes”
A further Yiddish word I learnt. In the eastern part of Germany, pancakes are called “Plinsen”, too.
YJP, keep up the good work!
@ German Lefty
side note; is that why you ate ['Ik bin ein Burrrliner'] JFK?
a jelly donut, why not!
“is that why you ate ['Ik bin ein Burrrliner'] JFK?”
German terms for pancakes and jelly donuts vary from region to region. It’s complicated.
most of West Germany:
Berliner = jelly donut; Pfannkuchen = pancake
most of East Germany:
Pfannkuchen = jelly donut; Eierkuchen = pancake
Saxony (East Germany):
Pfannkuchen = jelly donut; Plinse = pancake
Thuringia (East Germany):
Kräppel = jelly donut; Eierkuchen = pancake
They won’t hear talk about Palestinian non-violence, but they constantly decry Palestinian violence (and, I imagine, greatly exaggerate the amount of such violence). They want to live with their wicked dreams, to justify Israeli violence.
I would like to argue that the [US] Jewish community at large [minus the exceptions] should start to worry about all those stories being printed about the unprecedented influence attributed to said various [US] Jewish communities.
Example 1: The prospects for agreement are not likely to improve before that meeting, however, mainly because of an inflexible US diplomatic posture that reflects President Barack Obama’s need to bow to the demands of Israel and the US Congress on Iran policy. Link @ link to atimes.com
Example 2: The American media are frightened to death of CAMERA, which wields inordinate influence on news coverage in this country – a situation mirrored at the governmental level, where the Israel lobby [AIPAC - DR] exercises a virtual veto over US policy in the Middle East. Link @ link to original.antiwar.com
Example 3: CAMERA [Committee for Accuracy in Media] Link @ link to camera.org
Example 4: DEBKA Files “Vladimir Putin, after taking stock of the early days of his third presidency, concludes that Moscow’s handling of the al-Houla massacre and Syria’s ongoing collapse into civil war will go down as a Russian foreign policy failure. He personally comes out of it as the patron of a bloodthirsty tyrant. He has quietly ordered the Russian arms ship Professor Katsman to leave the Syrian port before unloading its cargo. Putin is now taxed with determining his next steps on Syria.” Putin told us personally! Link @ link to debka.com
“Despite the cancellation the event did happen . . . on the sidewalk in front of the 14th Street Y. A perfect metaphor for a Jewish communal leadership that refuses to acknowledge the conversation knocking at its door.”
Yes. Thanks, Adam.
The young who are the future versus the old past. Thanks for all that you do. We will surely be seeing more of you and less of the old.