Boteach and Israeli ambassador say everything from BDS to Abbas places Jews under threat

The world’s Jews are under dire threat around the world, and so is Israel. That was the message, in so many words, that emanated last night from Cooper Union’s Great Hall.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor held forth in Manhattan to a crowd of hundreds, though the hall was not filled to the brim and empty rows were visible. It was the latest event put on by Boteach, who has brought people like Elie Wiesel, Samantha Power and Sheldon Adelson to Cooper Union to warn about how Israel is under attack.

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This event was billed as an address by Prosor on how to fight back against the “global demonization of the Jewish state.” The discussion, though, made little distinction between Israel and Jews worldwide, and did not address the occupation of Palestinian territories.

It came just days after a Danish gunman killed a guard outside a Copenhagen synagogue, and weeks after the attack by Islamist extremists on a kosher supermarket in Paris. The message Boteach and Prosor pushed resonated with much of the audience.

Those violent events have prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call on Jews around the world to emigrate to Israel. But the remarks have prompted intense controversy, and Prosor did not reaffirm them last night. Instead, he said Europe has a responsibility to protect Jews.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach’s typical bombast was a stark contrast to the Israeli ambassador’s subdued manner. But they were united in painting a dark picture of Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. as places that are hostile to Jews.

They directed their ire at targets ranging from Iran to radical Islam to the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.

“I heard [Abbas] at the United Nations both in 2012 and 2013, just to hear the speeches, it’s vile, it’s poisonous, there’s no bridging or looking at something,” said Prosor.

Netanyahu’s upcoming address to Congress on Iran did not take center stage, though Boteach did ask Prosor a question about it. The Israeli ambassador stayed away from the politics of it and instead ticked off a litany of Iranian sins–and threw in a racist joke for good measure about the Western-Iranian negotiations over the country’s nuclear program.

“The problem is that the Iranians, until now, have lied consecutively for years. They’ve taken–they’re amazing negotiators. They’re not just carpet makers, they’re carpet weavers. They take every red line, they divide it into pink lines, and they press every pink line,” said Prosor.

Boteach was at his most animated when discussing how college campuses think of Israel.

“Campuses, universities–these are supposed to be higher bastions of learning, supposed to be ivory towers of academia,” said Boteach. “And yet we are seeing such an assault on campus, that it’s shocking.” Boteach’s comments were voiced hours before the student government of Stanford voted to recommend divestment from corporations linked to the Israeli occupation.

The rabbi has been locked into a bizarre dispute with Hillel and other pro-Israel advocates because, he thinks, Hillel does not do enough to fight for Israel on campus. Boteach says that the New York University chapter of Hillel did not promote his event with Prosor.

The dispute with Hillel was not addressed. But the Israeli ambassador responded to Boteach’s alarming message about campuses by attributing the hostility to Israel to youthful politics. He likened the uptick in global criticism of Israel to Chinese water-torture, where every drip of Israel criticism contributes to the larger goal of harming Israel.

“I look at it as maybe the biggest challenge Israel has today, which means that each and every one of the students is on the front line defending Israel,” he said.

Prosor added, at the prodding of Boteach, that Jewish students have an “obligation” to defend Israel, since it’s the nation-state of the Jewish people. That line drew a lot of applause.

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Such a duo.

I don’t know how you could sit through it, Alex. Tip of the hat to you for your intestinal fortitude.

“He likened the uptick in global criticism of Israel to Chinese water-torture, where every drip of Israel criticism contributes to the larger goal of harming Israel.

“I look at it as maybe the biggest challenge Israel has today, which means that each and every one of the students is on the front line defending Israel,” he said.

Prosor added, at the prodding of Boteach, that Jewish students have an “obligation” to defend Israel, since it’s the nation-state of the Jewish people. That line drew a lot of applause.”

They are afraid of BDS~ very afraid! Onward BDS~ seize the momentum! 1S1P1V!

This event was billed as an address by Prosor on how to fight back against the “global demonization of the Jewish state.”

Defenders of the rapist discuss ways of fighting back against demonization of the rapist.

For some reason, none of them ever suggests that one option is to have the rapist stop raping his victims, release them, accept responsibility and accountability for his past and on-going crimes and strive to become a law-abiding citizen.

Instead, they argue that the rapist MUST be permitted to keep doing what he’s doing – it’s his “right” of “self-determination” – and society MUST instead work to overcome its ingrained “anti-Rapist” hatred and to stop “de-legitimizing” the rapist.

Zio-supremacists are a truly hateful and immoral lot.

They’re right. That’s what happens when you’re the Chosen People.

The only threat to Israel is Zionism.

End the zionist project and Jews will have very little to be afraid of.But can these criminals admit that all their decades long efforts have been a huge mistake .I think not , so onwards and downwards.Pull that crapper chain again .We need to be sure the contents of the toilet bowl are completely flushed .

Of course! They love it, relish it, wallow in it, can’t stop talking about it. Everyone and everything is against them, so it justifies every abominable, hateful action their precious state commits – shooting, killing, razing, stealing and repressing another nation. It must feel good for them, they can talk about this stuff forever and never have to address the reality of their manichean state of mind and its dire consequences. And then they can always ask for more money and arms from the US taxpayer. Power without responsibility or accountability – must be great. I don’t get how anybody can take this stale old repetition of hasbara seriously. Maybe that’s why they are so scared of the independent thinking of some students – now that’s really scary for their lifelong dedication to propaganda.