Within days of President Obama’s framework agreement on the Iran nuclear program polls showed that the American public supported the framework by almost 2-to-1, but the support weakened as opposition to the deal emerged from the Israeli government, AIPAC, other members of the Israel lobby. Jeff Warner and Dick Platkin deconstruct a column by Jewish Journal of Los Angeles publisher David Suissa which parrots the Israel lobby opposition to the deal.
In the face of growing intimidation from the Harper government, Independent Jewish Voices – Canada (IJV) issued a statement identifying the tangible threat to criminalize criticism of the state of Israel in Canada. The positive response to this IJV initiative has been inspiring. At last count, 81 organizations from across English-speaking Canada and Québec – including major trade unions, labour councils, civil liberties, anti-war, faith-based, student and other groups — have endorsed the statement.
Rabbi Daniel Dahan, chief rabbi of Aix-en- Provence, speaking in Berkeley, said that French Jews should not emigrate to Israel out of fear but stand up for their rights in France.
Wadi Qana is Palestinian agricultural land surrounded by Jewish settlements in the northern West Bank. Israeli authorities have issued evacuation orders to villagers and lately religious settlers from Immanuel uprooted 450 olive trees
Top Hollywood bosses enjoy a strong relationship with the Israeli government and various pro-Israel lobbying groups across the United States, according to a cache of Sony internal emails leaked to Wikileaks and published for the first time last week.
NYT reporter Jodi Rudoren publishes unadulaterated hasbara glorifying Israeli army, and soldier killed in 1973, defending occupied Sinai, though the Times never tells you that
“It’s a shame [ISIS] doesn’t catch them before they reach Israel” was one of many racist responses in Israel to news that 3 asylum seekers who left Israel so as not to be detained were killed by ISIS in Libya
Bill Clinton came out four-square for the Iran deal today: “I hope and pray that we will leave behind a system where we can say with some confidence that we can keep really big, bad things from happening. That’s why this negotiation with Iran is so important.” A good sign for Hillary Clinton’s position.
Sami Sulaiman writes that if Armenian-American college students felt betrayed in the past day, he would not blame them. Yesterday the umbrella organization United States Council of Muslim Organizations released a statement on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide that said President Obama should not refer to the “events of 1915” as a genocide without further investigation. They call for a more “balanced” approach through academic consensus based on Turkish archives that Turkey refuses to open to establish a “just memory.” Sulaiman says that USCMO member American Muslims for Palestine should know better.
Leading Rabbi David Ellenson and Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt first publicly criticized Israel last December in the Wall Street Journal, after a member of the Israeli Knesset urged them to come forward. Where will young American Jews go for leadership?