I like the way J Street operates. Unlike other progressive Jewish groups which seem to sit back and wait for events to come to them, J Street takes it to the leadership of the American Jewry when they’re deserving of castigation. The group sets the agenda and does it in activist fashion.
Today’s target is Malcolm Hoenlein, director of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. Hoenlein, a former Soviet Jewish émigré with strong Likudist views, has run the group with a tight fist for decades, despite the fact that it’s supposed to be a partnership of all of the major national Jewish groups. Recently, the Forward and I noted that the Conference of Presidents was one of the few major groups which remained silent on the Hebron settler violence.
Now, J Street is taking the Conference and Hoenlein to task for this moral failure:
Despite public calls for a statement on the settlers’ actions, the Conference, and its leader Malcolm Hoenlein, have refused. It’s time to make our voices heard, particularly with other provocative settler actions and marches in the works.
Click here to demand that the Conference of Presidents condemn the violent settler riots in Hebron.
Even more important, J Street is not restricting its critique to the Hebron assault. It is broadening its vision to encompass right-wing American Jewish financial support for the entire settlement movement as well:
American Jews have a[n]…obligation to speak out on settler extremism. Because…a large part of the money supporting the settlers’ presence in Hebron is coming from right here in America. The Brooklyn-based Hebron Fund, for instance, has raised at least $6.6 million since 2002 to support the extremist Jewish community in Hebron – and is actively undermining the possibility of a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
…The settler movement and settlement construction poses an existential threat to Israel’s survival as a Jewish and democratic state.
Too often, the American Jewish community turns a blind eye to the damage being done with funds and support raised here that propel the settlers and their destructive agenda.
That’s why the American Jewish community must send a strong and unified message on settler violence in the West Bank. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations should be silent no longer.
In other words, J Street is not just concerned about a single incident of settler violence, it is concerned with the very fabric of support for the settlers that is woven into the core of the American Jewish community.
While J Street mentions the Hebron Fund, the best known of the pro-settler funders, Phil Weiss has been doing terrific research on another right-oriented umbrella funder, the Central Fund of Israel, which funds all manner of settlement projects to the tune of $8 million in 2005 alone. While the Fund supports other Jewish philanthropy than settlements, that is where it places a strong emphasis. Among the things it does is funding settlement security programs, what Phil rightly calls the “settler militias” which terrorize neigboring Palestinian residents. It also funds Women in Green, one of the main extremist groups behind the Hebron riots.
Among the funders of CFI are a veritable Who’s Who of American Jewish philathrophy: Hollywood celebrity Kirk Douglas, telecom entrepreneur Howard Jonas, Forbes 400 member Neil Kadisha, James Tisch, Michael Milken, Ace Greenberg, and Hillary Clinton funder Alan Slifka among others.
The importance of J Street’s project is to put all these funders and Malcolm Hoenlein on notice that supporting settlements has now become treif. The latter have gone from being a project within the communal consensus to one that is, or should be, outside it. I hope you’ll add your name to the campaign against Jewish leadership silence in the face of settler terror.
According to Haaretz:
“The population growth among West Bank settlers was three times higher than that of the rest of Israel during the past 12 years, according to a report by the Ariel College Center of Samaria. The statistical annual report shows that the Jewish population in the West Bank more than
doubled during that time, with a growth of 107 percent. The report also shows that the settler population has surged from 130,000 in 2005 to 270,000 by the end of 2007. Meanwhile, the entire population of Israel grew by 29 percent over the same period. This population trend has continued over the past three years, with the West Bank settler population growing by 5 percent annually, compared to a 1.7 percentage growth in the entire
country.”
It seems like the territories have taken a life of their own. Perhaps Jews in the diaspora could learn from this Jewish growth-spirt!
It sounds like what J-Street is calling for is a civil war inside the Jewish community. Target some large group in Israel (in this case the Judea/Samaria settlers), define them as “the enemy” and then go on the attack. Do you really think the Jewish community in the US has the stomach for this onslaught? Richard, your opinions about the “settlers” and their supporters are well known, but I don’t believe most American Jews, particularly those who are actively involved with Israel look on this the same way you do. What is Mr Joe Congressman supposed to think? Do you think he wants to get involved in such a civil war in the Jewish community? Don’t forget the large majority of supporters of Israel in the US are non-Jews and most of them don’t have this visceral rage we hear on this matter from some “progressives”. Using J-Street to release one’s rage against one’s political enemies is self-defeating and will only turn people against J-Street. Now, as I understand, this is called “concern trolling”, i.e. since I am not a fan of J-Street I should not be pointing out things that would damage their own standing, but it is a fact. I don’t see how dividing the Jewish community is going to advance the interests of those who are doing it. Instead of coming to Israel and participating in the fight there, where the issue will be decided (e.g. in the upcoming elections), J-Street goes outside and tries to bring in outside forces into the battle in what seems to be a way of releasing this rage that some feel about the matter in order to “feel good” but not a serious attempt to determine policy. Jewish history is all too full of stories like this and it would be tragic to repeat it now.
B”H
The settler population in the West Bank is growing three times as fast as the population in the rest of the country and has doubled over the past 12 years, according to an extensive demographic study published Monday by the Ariel University Center in Samaria (the College of Judea and Samaria).
West Bank settlements shown to have 3 times the growth rate of the rest of Israel
Settlement residents tend to be healthier, have a higher income and are more likely to be employed than other Israelis, and their children are more likely to do well on the matriculation exams than their counterparts who live within the Green Line, according to the 240-page study.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728202944&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
This is what you want to destroy?
To throw all these Jews out and lock Israel into “Aushwitz borders” ( to quote Abba Eban) ?
@NILI: I’m having trouble making your (Haaretz’) numbers add up. 130k -> 270k is already a 107% growth in the last 3 years, but the 107% is said to be the growth of the last 12 years. There certainly has been more than zero growth in 1995-2004. The 5% and 1.7% average figures (last 3 years) seem to make sense, but what to make of the 29%? Last I checked, 1.017 to the power of 12 was 1.224, i.e. 22.4%. That means the population growth of the whole country has actually declined in the last 12 years.
@Ariel: what you didn’t quote was this:
“Overall the settler population is younger than elsewhere. The average age is 20 compared to 28 outside of Judea and Samaria. Residents who are 65 and over make up only 2.9% of the population compared with 10% elsewhere.”
No wonder employment is higher and health status is better, not to speak of the govt subsidies going to the settlements, which also won’t hurt the statistics.
If the West Bank is such a Garden Eden for Jewish Israelis to live in, in contrast to the high unemployment, bad health and education of Israel proper, then why don’t you propose moving all the Jews into the West Bank and give the coastal plain, which isn’t the historical Jewish heartland anyway, to the Palestinians?
Eban obviously felt the need to provide evidence for his own assertion, that there’s no business like Shoah business.
Oops, no. 1.05 ^ 3 = 1.16. 16%, not 107%. 107% over 3 years is 27.4% p/a.
Don’t they have pocket calculators at JPost?
This might be considered off-topic but in my opinion is very related to the subject of this post. In one of the other threads Richard asked me if a Jew murdered a Moslem, would American Jews condemn him. Well in actuality the opposite happened. In Yemen, a Jewish father of eight and a teacher was murdered because he was a Jew because this way the murderer apparently felt closer to Allah (according to Arab sources). There were some reports that he may have been mentally ill, but since eight people were arrested in connection with this murder, this is unlikely. What makes this murder especially abhorrent is the murderer should have been in jail because two years before he murdered his wife. But the murderer paid his wife’s family compensation and was let free. Yemen law is based on Sharia law (according to wikipedia) so it’s not surprising that if he got away with murdering his wife he thought he could get away with murdering a Jew. Apparently the tiny Jewish community of Yemen has been under a lot of persecution lately from extremist Islamic groups. Now, keep in mind that Yemen is a nation of 20 million people. So you would think that if a guy murdered a Jew for the sake of Allah after being let free by a Sharia based court after murdering his wife, Moslems who find this to be contradictory to Islam might speak up. But I couldn’t find anything on CAIR’s website for example. If anybody knows of ANY Moslem groups which condemned this murder or Yemen anti-woman legal system (based on this example) I’d appreciate a link.
@fiddler
-The figure “130,000 in 2005” is probably not correct! You have a good eye!
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1046766.html
Here is some more info:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1200572498691&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFul
l
270,000 Israelis live in theWest Bank
Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST
Jan. 20, 2008
More than 280,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, Interior Ministry statistics released Sunday showed.
The 2008 figures show that the number of residents has increased by about 10,000 from a year ago.
-Most likely, it was well above 200,000 3 years ago-in fact I remember that it was. Also, many Anglos live in the territories. English speaking people make more money in Israel, statistically speaking.
@Ariel: This is an entirely misleading characterization of the results. The only reason settlers score so highly is that there are no Israeli Arabs or poor Haredi Meah Shearim Jews living there. The settlements are a highly stratified, self-selected population that in no reflects the population or trends among Israelis living within the Green Line. Besides, all these “positive” results in no way benefit Jews living within the Green Line. And finally, all of these so called positive results can only be achieved because the settlers rely on jobs that are NOT in the Territories, but within the Green Line. In other words, you can’t distinguish between settlements & Israel proper. Without what Israel proper provides the settlers they would dry up in a heartbeat.
“Auschwitz borders??” Really come off it. Dragging out Alan Dershowitz’s propaganda lines. That’s pathetic. Israel is MORE vulnerable because of the settlements. Not less.
@bar_kochba132:
Oh, please. Criticizing Malcolm Hoenlein equals advocating a civil war? And if you’re claiming that J Street advocates a civil war within Israel then I’m afraid the settlers have already beaten J Street to it. It is THEY who are fomenting civil war with their claims that the state of Israel is bogus, an enemy of the Jewish people, etc.
Do I think the American Jewish community has the stomach to take on the settlers? You betcha. I have the stomach for it. And the louder and more broadly my voice is heard the more likely others will join me. And not just me. Virtually all the Israel lobby groups except the Conference & Aipac took on the settlers in this instance. They didn’t do so vociferously. But they did it nonetheless. And as the settler violence & outrageous behavior grows more & more aberrant & pathological, resolve will stiffen among Jews.
Find me any survey of American Jewish opinion that supports settlements. Go ahead. I dare you. In fact, the majority of American Jews acc. to the AJC annual survey support a settlement freeze & withdrawal fr. most W Bank settlements. So much for yr claims.
As for turning people against J Street, it is very kind of you to be so solicitous of J Street’s well being. But I think J Street’s staff is quite capable of knowing where its best interests lie. And I’m pleased to say that they lie in “outing” the settlers for the brazen, lawless, Jewish klansmen they are (I didn’t make that one up–it came from Benjamin Hartman in Haaretz).
Contrary to yr claim though, J Street, as a domestic Jewish group, is concerned with American Jewish support for settlements. It is entirely within its mission to attempt to tarnish the reputation of American Jewish groups which finance settlements & settler violence against Palestinian civilians.
B”H
Dragging out Alan Dershowitz’s propaganda lines. That’s pathetic. Israel is MORE vulnerable because of the settlements. Not less.
Dear Richard
I don’t care for Dershowitz’s opinions too much.
While he is a brilliant lawyer and has accomplished alot of good for humanity, Jewish people and Chabad in particular his opinions on Eretz Yisrael are closer to yours than mine, like you he supports the creation of a second Palestinian state as Jordan is not enough anymore so your dislike of him
is hard to understand and reminds me of a cherem by Satmar against Naturei Karta:-)
I care about what the Torah says on the topic. I care what our history shows are the results of giving away land The story of Ben Hadad is one example of the same exact sickness a leader of Israel being too kind when it is uncalled for signing a peace agreement that includes giving away land and all of us (including himself) having to suffer for it later:
[comment edited for violation of comment rules]
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/15904/jewish/Chapter-20.htm
(If you read further in the book of kings you’ll see that like the foes in our time Ben Hadad was not true to his promise and attacked Israel again killing the king of Israel in battle.)
Finally I care what Torah law says on this subject and no-one has made a clear case based on Torah law as well as common sense than the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Part I: The Halachah – Jewish Law
The Camp David accords, which so many Jews hoped would bring the peace so long awaited, are in reality the exact opposite. They constitute a grave danger to the security of Eretz Yisroel, and on the grounds of pikuach nefesh Halachah forbids the surrender of any territory necessary for security.
http://www.truepeace.org/ihalachah.htm
When you give away Gush Katif the Quasams are shot at Sderot and Ashkelon if the bastards will give away the old city of Jerusalem the rockets will land in the western part of the city.
Best defense is offense. The word of G-d will stand forever the Eretz Yisrael will encompass all the territory G-d Almighty promised us in the Torah and in the end you Richard Silverstein will spend many days in regret for having uncalled for compassion for our foes and helping to destroy Jewish lives in Eretz Yisrael .
The honor your get for this “peacemaking” will end up as a badge of shame, the donations and ad money you get from this as well as your Brass Crescent will burn holes in your pockets and other moneys you get will fall out thru those holes.
Stop advocating policies that are causing defeat and destruction in Eretz Yisrael for if you continue to do so “relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere, and you and your father’s household will perish”!
The reason why the territories are not built up is that people keep trying to harm their growth. Kind of like Jewish settlements throughout history.
I don’t have any polls at hand, but since the Israeli gov’t does not consider the settlements illegal, I am CERTAIN that most American Jews do not either (I am not entering the question about whether they are “helpful” or not, that is another matter). I would add the majority of the 70% of non-Jewish Americans who support Israel to this as well. Regarding the attack on Hoenlein, I can now demand that J-Street publicly and unequivocally condemn the violent anarchist demonstrations against the security fence in which more people have been injured than by what the hooligans in Hevron did, and these anarchists are no less hooliganish than them. So should I and those who think like me in the American Jewish community run to our Congressman and tell him that we want Congress to express itself on these matters? Do you think he wants to have different groups of Jews coming into him demanding that he takes sides against the other groups? You see that there will be no end to it and all groups of Jews will end up being politically discredited.
You say:
———————————————————
Do I think the American Jewish community has the stomach to take on the settlers? You betcha. I have the stomach for it. And the louder and more broadly my voice is heard the more likely others will join me. And not just me. Virtually all the Israel lobby groups except the Conference & Aipac took on the settlers in this instance
—————————————————-
Well, the main settler groups and their Rabbis also denounced it. I personally witnessed a shouting match between veteran Hevron leader Elyakim HaEtzni who vociferously denounced the hooliganism with someone who tried to justify it.
@Ariel:
I find it simply astonishing that the Jewish right deludes itself into believing that Dershowitz is a “leftist” whose views agree with mine. Dershowitz’s views are far closer to yours than mine. There will never be a Palestinian state if people like Dershowitz were allowed to run Israeli policy. So you should be pleased to be in his company. Both of you will lead ultimately to the destruction of the state of Israel.
My comment rules strongly urge brevity. Pls. do not write over-long comments nor quote long passages fr. other sources. You may find them interesting or useful but I assure you neither I nor almost all other readers will find them so. A link to the source in yr comment is quite sufficient.
The Bible does not determine the policy of the State of Israel (thank God–or at least thank God YOUR interpretation of the Bible isn’t determining policy). Human beings determine that policy. That irks you. It pleases me. Israel is not a theocracy. It is a democracy. So quote the Bible all you like. It isn’t a determining factor for anyone but the religious right.
My comment threads are not meant to be a promotional advertisement for the hateful, bellicose, nationalistic theocratic views of Chabad on this subject.
In addition calling for me and my family to perish, even via Biblical quotation is a gross violation of my comment rules. You will be banned the next time any comment of yrs violates any of my comment rules. Consider yrself warned.
@bar_kochba132:
You’re changing the terms of yr argument. You said American Jews SUPPORTED the settlements, not that they viewed them as LEGAL. If American Jews supported settlements they would be opposed to withdrawing fr. them & opposed to a settlement freeze. But the contrary is the case.
I don’t think American Jews have any feeling about whether settlements are legal or illegal. It’s not on their radar. But if international law was explained to them I’m confident that many would view them as illegal. Again, that’s not the determining factor. THAT is the fact that American Jews would be perfectly content with Israel withdrawing fr. all but the major settlment blocs in return for real peace.
That leaves you & yr fellow settlers out in the cold I’m afraid.
The separation wall is a violation of international law and even the Israeli Supreme Court has rejected some aspects of the wall. Demonstrating against the wall is a courageous act which deserves the support of all right thinking people & Jews. No anti Wall demonstrator ever shot any Israeli nor attempted to immolate anyone. No anti-wall protestor ever appropriated a home that wasn’t its own & went on a rampage when evicted fr. it. These demonstrators have international law & morality on their side, which no settler can say about their cause.
Unless you remain a U.S. citizen you can’t go to your Congressmember & demand they act against the anti Wall demonstrators. Besides Congress has no standing with them since they receive no support fr. the American gov’t or fr. American Jews. But other than that, be my guest. See if a Congress member doesn’t laugh you out of his or her office for demanding that they act against the wall protestors.
I am glad if some settler leaders are denouncing the violence. They should. It shows that some Jews in the Territories are not raving, brutish lunatics.
B”H
The Bible does not determine the policy of the State of Israel (thank God–or at least thank God YOUR interpretation of the Bible isn’t determining policy). Human beings determine that policy. That irks you. It pleases me. Israel is not a theocracy. It is a democracy. So quote the Bible all you like. It isn’t a determining factor for anyone but the religious right.
The national Jewish will to reestablish Jewish government in the Land of Israel came from the Torah.
Without the belief in the truth of the Torah among those who worked to establish it there would be no State of Israel.
Testifying before the Peel Commission, the British royal commission sent to Palestine in 1936 in the wake of Arab violence, David Ben-Gurion, head of the de facto Zionist government in Palestine, was asked to identify the basis of the Jewish claim. He replied: ”The Bible is our mandate.”
The solutions that you propose that take it as a sacred that
Israel must remain a democratic state giving gentiles the same rights to elect and be elected as Jews can only lead to the demise of the Jewish state in the Land of Israel in the long term.
Like your beloved president Ahmadinajad said he envisions Israeli Arabs simply multiplying to the point that they will vote Israel out of existece.
Perhaps you and your friends in Seatle are ok with that at least more so than with other alternatives but many Jews as well as other believers of the Bible are not willing to allow this to happen.
The Oslo process that lead to the current situation passed only with help of by Arab votes so while they are still the minority they with the help of their representatives in the Labor , Meretz as well as their own parties already constitute a security threat to the existence of the Jewish State in the Land of Israel.
PS. Check out :
Bible club founded by Ben-Gurion gets revived with a Peres twist
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: David Ben Gurion, Israel
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/968877.html
PPS. Can you please explain to me how do your politics flow from your interpretation of the Torah- the will of G-d for as you point out that you thank G-d that it is not my interpretation of the Torah that is determining policy so I’d like to know how do you manage to support the current policies of the state of Israel and in fact want them to be even more suicidal and yet feel that you are doing the will of G-d which is expressed in the Bible.
I’m genuinely curious where in the Bible is there a mandate for a Jewish government to for example continue to give money and weapons to people killing Jews.
It seems to contradict the laws of war described in Deuteronomy or any historical precedent found in the Bible.
Where does the Bible endorse giving equal rights to people whose sincere beliefs envision us as dhimis or dead if possible?
I honestly would like to know that.
@Ariel:
That’s not completely true. The national will to reestablish Israel came from many sources, of which the Torah was only one. It also came from atheists like Theodore Herzl and even David ben Gurion. It came largely from non-religious Zionists in fact.
If you want to quote ben Gurion as claiming the Bible was the basis for the Jewish claim you should also acknowledge he was an atheist & a confirmed secularist. That can’t make you very comfortable can it? Ben Gurion would NEVER have allowed a Biblical claim to territory to prevent Israel from attaining peace.
I’ve got news for you: Muslim & Christian citizens of Israel CAN vote and have almost all the rights of Jewish citizens. I know that eats at yr guts. But that’s just too bad. Israel is not going to become a Torah-true state anytime soon. ANd thank GOD for that.
I will simply not allow any commenter at this blog to claim that Labor or Meretz are security threats to Israel as you have done. This is a scurrilous lie and calumny. In fact, I can easily construe YOUR views as a security threat to Israel.
I am sorely tempted to ban you right now since I gave you a warning about yr last comment. But I will not do so. Do look over my comment rules and note the type of right & left-wing arguments I find treif.
Regarding how Torah informs my views of the Israeli-Arab conflict, this is not a pertinent question for me as it is for you. I do not, as you do, take the word of the Torah literally. If the Torah tells me Abraham wandered through a piece of land that now lies in the Territories, it does not make me want to own or control that piece of land forever. It makes me feel great love and affinity for the entire territory in which Jews lives thousands of years ago. But it does not make me feel that I have to own this land or that I have a right to subjugate or expel others who now live there. As long as I know that my people will be able to exercise their inalienable national rights in the land of Israel, I am satisfied that the Bible is being realized in a modern context.
B”H
My comment threads are not meant to be a promotional advertisement for the hateful, bellicose, nationalistic theocratic views of Chabad on this subject.
Do you mean to say that your comment threads are reserved only for the quire boys and girls eager to sing along with your latest preaching?
I thought you want to do tikun olam – to fix and transform the whole world to enlightined Silversteinism.
How can that be achieved without convincing skeptics like myself? It’s not just Chabad there is a substantial number of people worldwide Jews and non Jews who are investing money , time and effort to make sure that your plans don’t come to fruition.
In addition calling for me and my family to perish, even via Biblical quotation is a gross violation of my comment rules. You will be banned the next time any comment of yrs violates any of my comment rules. Consider yrself warned.
I am sorry. It is unfortunate that while communicating thru impersonal medium like blog comments we often say hurtful things to each other that would have been expressed much more kindly and respectfully in a face to face conversation.
PS. I didn’t really mean to be understood in the way you understood my words. I meant to say that the things that you advocate place Jews in Eretz Yisrael (and worldwide) in increased danger and this is bound to inqure Divine wrath sooner or later as described in the quotation of Mordechai’s warning to his beloved niece queen Esther.
It would defy common sense to say that by saying those words he was calling for her and her family to perish, but rather trying to urge her to listen to her Jewish heart and soul and do teshuvah and obey the will of G-d and help to save her people so this fate wouldn’t befall her.
@Ariel:
Do you think that this blog exists to convince you of anything? You’re deluded enough about politics. You surely don’t need me to be as deluded as you are. No. Political events will develop in Israel against yr will & you will never be convinced of anything except the views you currently hold. When there is peace you will benefit fr. the result if you are smart. But you will still be bitter about them. But that’s OK. Israel only needs to convince a majority of what’s in its best interests. You certainly won’t be in that majority.
Thank you for apologizing about the quotation you chose which implied you wished me to perish. There IS one thing I would like to believe you might understand about me: I do not wish the Jewish people to perish & my ideas will not lead to this happening. If you could come to accept that you might not treat me and those sharing my views with such disdain.
You may disagree w. my views. But if you could somehow see it in yr heart to accept that I want the same thing as you do: a safe, secure Jewish people. Then perhaps you wouldn’t need to see me or my views as evil or whatever word you wish to use.
Richard, the research I’ve done is principally by Adam Horowitz. But thanks, Phil
FROM ABOVE: “The national Jewish WILL to reestablish Jewish government in the Land of Israel came from the Torah.”
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) is a propaganda film made by Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg. The film contains excerpts from speeches given by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including portions of speeches by Adolf Hitler, interspersed with footage of massed party members. Hitler commissioned the film and served as an unofficial executive producer; his name appears in the opening titles. The overriding theme of the film is the return of Germany as a great power, with Hitler as the True German Leader who will bring glory to the nation…..
ENTIRE ARTICLE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_of_the_Will