Why the western media doesn't seem to care

These past two weeks have been somewhat difficult for me as I have been watching the political situation escalate between the IDF and Hamas.

Recently there was a terrorist bombing near the central bus station in Jerusalem, at a specific bus stop that I am at more than anyone else I know. Thank G!d I wasn't there but I heard the explosion from my house because it is only a 20 minute walk from my front door.

Then on Thursday a Hamas splinter group fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus, seriously injuring a 16 year old boy. That one bothered me all weekend long as it was hard for me to process such intentional evil. Shooting a katyusha, as terrible as it is, can't be aimed directly at anyone in particular. It shoots in a general direction and they hope it lands somewhere where it causes damage. But firing a short range missile directly at a school bus is a level of immorality that I can't possibly comprehend. Similar to the Fogel murders - I can't imagine someone making the moral calculation to take out a weapon and kill a child.

As I was trying to wrap my head around that kind of evil, I spent Shabbos with my girlfriend's brother in Beer Sheva and I had my first experience with a Red Alert. At around 11:00 a siren went off and we had to run into the bomb shelter because a rocket was being fired towards Beer Sheva. Thank G!d the Iron Dome is online - it shot the rocket down while it was en route, but we heard the explosion. What an awful and unique sound it is to hear an explosion from a weapon that was violently directed towards you. I heard two this month.

In order to help me absorb these questions I have been having as of late, I spent some time perusing different news websites to see who posted about the rocket fired at the school bus last week and to see how it was interpreted by the western media. I found that some had no mention of it whatsoever (the Guardian) and others mentioned it only in the context of Hamas responding to it by calling a ceasefire (the BBC, the New York Times), where the actual event of shooting the school bus was a minor part of the article. This made me pretty upset because in contrast, whenever the IDF strikes a target in Gaza or when the Israeli government permits more housing units to be built in the West Bank, it is heard all over the world. (Disclosure: I am also against building in the West Bank, but I think it should be clear to anyone with rational facilities that firing an anti-tank missile at a school bus is far more morally reprehensible than unilaterally building on contested land).

My difficulty with the one-sidedness of western media led me to a conclusion about why they choose to report only one side of the conflict: it is a way of trying to reconcile their own regrettable history by projecting their guilt into blame on another western nation.

All of the news stations that the western world relies on comes from countries with colonial pasts - USA, England, France, etc. Now that we live in the seemingly post-colonial age, the progressives of those countries do their best to fight what they see as colonial paradigms around the world (a powerful western nation beating on a developing non-western nation) - the best example of which is Israel and Palestine. In their eyes, Western nations are held responsible for their actions because they are enlightened nations that represent democracy, human rights, free speech, etc. but an Arab nation cannot really be held accountable as they are not western and don't hold by the same values as us. Thus when a Palestinian does an act of terror that is deemed immoral by western values, it can be brushed off as not news since we cannot assume that Arabs hold humanistic ethics similar to us and therefore it is not important to cry out to the world about that act. But if a democratic, educated, western nation does an act that even slightly goes against the morals of western society, they can be blamed for it as we hold them to the same standard as every other western nation. So when the IDF kills Palestinian civilians as collateral damage who are being used as human shields to defend terrorist targets, the western world can supposedly rightfully blame Israel for not holding the highest standards of human rights and doing everything they possibly could to avoid those casualties as a technologically advanced western nation who is morally accountable for their actions.

But in fact what is actually going on in the minds of these western nations is aderaba. The reality as I see it is that this mentality of western nations claiming to be post-colonial are in fact guilty of the exact colonialist mindset that they are claiming to be fighting.

A true postmodern political scientist would claim that value for human life can be found in all nations and does not necessarily come from western intellectualism. In fact it can even be argued that there are some situations where the west was ethically less concerned with human rights than other non-western nations. By claiming that one nation is a beacon of intellectual ethics and the other is uncivilized is a textbook definition of colonialism.

So when the western media does not report on a moral attrocity caused by an Arab, they are basically saying: "These animals can't be expected to understand our moral and intellectual tradition, they are just barbarians who can't be blamed for their amoral tribalist ways." If we were living in a different era, the next step would be to baptize them or to occupy them in order to force democracy on them. I guess nowadays we support them by assuming their "barbaric nature" and by condemning militaristic responses to it.

Therefore, when the western media covers immoral actions by Israel and ignores even worse actions by the other side, they are projecting their own guilt at failing to be post-colonialist onto another western nation. Why deal with your own problems when you can place them on someone else? They claim to be post-colonialist because they are supporting the underdog, but the rationale for their support is grounded in colonialist rhetoric. If they held both sides equally accountable for human rights abuses and breaking international laws of war, then they would be acting philosophically consistent with the political ideology that they claim to uphold. But unfortunately, it seems that colonialism has shifted from trying to save the barbaric nations to assuming their barbarism and only holding other western nations accountable.

One Quick Blog About Israel

I know this is supposed to be a travel blog now, but I can't resist talking about Israeli politics a little bit.

Here are two really interesting articles about Arab Israelis protesting against anti-Arab politics in the Knesset (specifically Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beitenu). The first is here on Ynet and the other is a video from the Guardian.

It is disturbing for me when I see people who hold racist policies in high regard in Israeli politics (or any politics for that matter). Lieberman has shamelessly said on many occasions that he wants to forcefully transfer all Arabs outside of Israel. He is also trying to get all Arab political parties banned from running in the upcoming elections on accounts that they are racist. This is pure Kahanism at its best, and that scares me. It's that type of anger that fuels violence and close-mindedness.

If Baruch Goldstein were still alive, he would vote for Yisrael Beitenu, and wherever Baruch Goldstein's politics lie, I stay far far away. How about instead of ousting an entire ethnicity from your country, warmongering in the process, why don't you actually address the issues and figure out how to improve your current situation? How about working with Israeli Arabs instead of ostracizing them? Seeing how much media attention Lieberman's been getting, I'm a bit nervous about the upcoming Israeli elections.

But I am excited to see how the Holocaust Survivors & Grown Up Green Leaf Party does. Yeah, that's right, its the name of a coalition formed by two parties that could not be any more different from each other. If they get even one seat, I will be the happiest man alive. Their platform is so random that I first thought it was a joke. Why don't all parties start combining in order to get more seats? How about the Communist party and the National Religious party? Or Shas and the environmentalist Party?


UPDATE: I spoke too soon... click here.

Proposition 8 - The Musical!

What a cast!

After Win, Obama Supporters Find They Have No Other Reason to Live

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Fear of B.B.

B.B. ready to give a knockout to negotiations

I just read in the JTA today that Benjamin Netanyahu made a statement that if he were to be elected in Israel's upcoming election, he would "halt" negotiations with the Palestinians.
Personally, I was scared enough of B.B. already with his hawkish views and his not so great legacy as prime minister, but now I have proof that electing him will result in more of the same: warmongering, close-mindedness, and occupation.

When Tzipi Livni failed to build a coalition two weeks ago, Netanyahu was ahead in the polls, and I was worried that he had a good chance of taking office. Now it seems that the Livni is actually pushing ahead, although the race is still tight.

If we can see change actuallized in Washington, hopefully we can see it in Jerusalem as well.

CHANGE for next 4 years! Or 8 years! Or infinity!

WOOOOO! We did it! We won!
Any by a landslide. Not only did Obama win a large majority of the national vote, he won 78% of the Jewish vote, and 95% of the black vote! (Watch this great video of Cornel West's personal take on Obama's win)

And on another totally awesome level, today Obama announced that he is choosing Rahm Emanuel to be Chief of Staff. How cool is that?
He was senior adviser to Bill Clinton, he has a lot of experience in congress, he is very focused on having peace and stability in Israel and Palestine, holds a liberal arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College, he served in the IDF, he belongs to an Orthodox synagogue in Chicago, he was a gifted ballet dancer in his youth, his father was in the Irgun, and his brother is a talent agent in LA and inspiration for Jeremy Piven's character on Entourage.
Also, he's fucking crazy and I love it.
Some examples: He once mailed a rotting fish to a former coworker after the two "parted ways"; at the celebratory dinner after Clinton won the '96 election, he threatened all of Bill's enemies with a steak knife; when Clinton was dealing with the Lewinsky affair, Rahm apparently dropped an f-bomb on Tony Blair; ending a phone call to a candidate, he's quoted saying, "Don’t fuck it up or I’ll fuck you. I’ll kill you. All right, I love you. Bye."
Sounds like Ari Gold to me.
And he justifies it as well: “In my house, when you say ‘fuck you,’ it’s a sign of endearment.” “You guys are enamored by my language. That’s not all that I do.” He's also a proven Congressional leader and powerful political strategist.

This next term is gonna be sweet.

I Love You J-Street

Of all of the J-Street endorsed candidates, my favorite is Rabbi Dr. Dennis Shulman. He's running for congress in New Jersey's 5th district (the northern border) and he's up against a tough conservative. He's an amazing fellow: blind since childhood, Reform rabbi, clinical psychologist, graduate of Brandeis, and originally from Worcester, MA (represent!). Could he get any cooler?
He also has amazing views on Israel as well as Iran that are about tough diplomacy and peace resolutions.
J-Street just did a fabulous interview with him and it got me really pumped up. Here it is:





Now he would be the right person to SCHLEP down to Florida and convince all the bubbes and zaydies to vote for the shvartze

Ahmadinejad on the Jews

Don't get me wrong, this guy is a very dangerous man and I worry for the lives of Israelis with him in power. But it seems like he isn't the lunatic everyone thinks he is. He's making some good points and while some of them I strongly disagree with, others make sense.

As Rabbi Lerner puts it beautifully in Healing Israel/Palestine, the creation of the State of Israel in response to the Holocaust was like Jews jumping out of a burning building and landing in another building that already had occupants. Of course the first reaction of both parties would be to play the "I'm the victim!" game (and we all know how good Jews are at that).

Ahmadinejad has the standard Arab view of Zionism: that it is incompatible with Arab countries, but that doesn't mean that he hates Jews. Unfortunately the two often go hand in hand, but it seems that Ahmadinejad can make that distinction and I respect him at least for that.

The Return of Yigal Amir

Or did he ever leave?

(I saw this poster in Netanya, Yigal Amir's hometown. It shows a picture of Marwan Barghouti on top and says, "If terrorist murderers can be freed, then why not Yigal and Hagai Amir?")

In case you hadn't heard, anti-occupation professor Ze'ev Sternhell was targeted with a pipe bomb last week by right wing extremist settlers and sustained light injuries (B"H). It has been a while since right wing Israelis have targeted left wing Israelis and it seems to be the return of the Jewish terrorist. Right wing rabbis also also using the same rhetoric to demonize left wing leaders that was being used in '95 which eventually led to Yitzchak Rabin's assassination.
This is a very scary time to be a peacemonger in Israel. Yariv Oppenheimer, general secratary of Peace Now also was sent death threats and was assigned a whole security crew by the police since he might be next.
But something good may come out of it. Today, 150 left wing protesters appeared outside professor Sternhell's house to stand in solidarity against settler violence targeting other Jews. It was a rallying call for everyone who opposes this deterioration of morality and hopefully it was the beginning of a new movement to end settler violence.
Sternhell spoke to the crowd:

"Your presence here demonstrates clearly that we can do this, that we will not live in fear, that we will not be intimidated,"

Professor Naomi Chazin, former Meretz MK and president of the New Israel Fund also said some inspirational words:

"This is the beginning of a civilian uprising, of those who understand that if violence has become the norm – we have become lost. We must fight for the rules of the democratic game because if there is violence within us we can close up shop. This is what happened in other democracies in the past, which fell for this reason, and we must not allow it to happen here."

Also, the connection was made between the current events and the Jewish calender (which seems to be rare at leftist events). Today is the Fast of Gedalia, a date where we mourn for the righteous Jewish governor of Judea who was assassinated by other Jews because of infighting. We fast because this event culminated in the final exile of the rest of the Jews from the Land of Israel because of lack of Ahavat Yisrael. So as Rabbi Gilad Kariv pointed out, the connection between these two events is somewhat eerie.

Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

Obamamannerisms

Today Michelle Obama came and spoke at the University of Wisconsin so I was able to skip class and hear her speak.
She's a fabulous speaker, maybe even better than Barack himself (he says "um" a lot) and she really rallied me up. She loves to talk about how Barack is someone we can relate to, he understands the issues we face because he at one point has had to face them himself. They both come from a working middleclass background and they are living the American dream. That's not really something McCain or his wife (especially) can say. This is exemplified in every aspect of her speech, but I even noticed it in my favorite part of her oratory skills: That her grammar could use a little work.
I think that it's wonderful that she makes some grammatical mistakes (something only my father and I would pick up on, because we're anal like that) because it says a lot about her image. By speaking like a normal American with less-than-perfect English, she is showing us that she is a normal person like anyone else, taking care of her children and paying back her student loans, and that was indeed a talking point in her speech.
Americans are obsessed with having a perfect leader. Why is it that every time something minuscule shows up in a politician's past, it gets exploited by the media? We forget that leaders are people too who make mistakes and feel guilty about them. I remember when people were freaking out that Barack did cocaine. Would it really change your vote if you found out that your nominee experimented in college a little bit? Apparently for some people yes.
Actually, Obama defended it well on 60 Minutes when this whole balagan started. He didn't deny it, he just exclaimed, “It’s not something that I’m proud of, but that’s part of the journey that I’ve taken. I like to think that by letting people know the mistakes I’ve made that maybe young people behind me are looking and saying ‘You know what? This is a guy who made mistakes and he was able to write his life and get on track.’ And that’s I think an important message.”
So Michelle (whether conscious or unconscious of it) has the same message in her speech mannerisms. By choosing not to have a speech coach who encourages flawless grammar, she is in effect saying, "I am a human just as much as everyone else in this country. I am proud of who I am and I will not create a false image of myself."

I also just wanted to post this picture of Barack because he looks badass:

Antisemitism in the Arab World

I found this picture in an article on the ADL website about antisemitism in the Arab World in regards to the presidential elections. This one on top was from Al Bayan, a newspaper from the United Arab Emirates.
I understand the criticism over Obama and McCain's relationship to the Jewish lobby: they both made trips to Israel and they are both targeting Jews for their campaigns. Considering the small size of the Jewish population in America, it is a bit striking how much attention we get (and how much pull we have). But to characterize the stereotypical Jew as a haredi shtetl Jew is not only extremely offensive and demeaning, it's also completely untrue, historically inaccurate, and shows the ignorance, hatred, and antisemitism behind the cartoons. The vast majority of Jews are not ultra-orthodox, or even outwardly religious at all, and only a couple of the cartoons in the article depicted Jews as normal looking Americans (possibly because the ones that did were not deemed antisemitic, if they even exist).
I don't understand the reasoning for using such an outdated and ignorant stereotype except for baseless hatred. When American political cartoonists represent the Chinese, for example, they definitely don't show them with buck teeth, wearing a coolie hat, doing dry cleaning, and building a railroad.
Here's another one from Bahrain:
They remind me of when I went to Egypt last summer and had a long conversation with my tour guide about world politics. He explained to me that he liked Americans but he didn't like American foreign policy because it was controlled by the Jews. I couldn't believe that those words actually came out of his mouth and for a second I tried to convince myself that I heard him wrong. I knew that ideas like that existed but I didn't realize they were so widespread that I would encounter them from the only Egyptian I would meet in my week in an Arab country. I told him that I couldn't believe that he believed that and he replied that he couldn't believe that I didn't believe it. I've tried to contact him a couple times through email to hear more about his perspective but he never responds. I think once he realized that I was going back to Tabah to cross the Israeli border he put two and two together and didn't feel like communicating with the enemy.
It's also interesting how this cartoon is of the exact same caliber but comes from a totally different source: American white supremacy.

J Street Poll Proves Orthodox Jews Are Mostly Idiots

J Street just came out with a really interesting and thorough poll of American Jewish voting patterns and their thoughts on the upcoming elections. Most of the survey was taken to show that Jews who support a peaceful solution in the Middle East and a two state solution in Israel and Palestine are in the majority, something that was brought up multiple times during the Brit Tzedek conference that I attended (you can see me in the video/conference report a bunch of times). This is a point that is very important to pro-Israel pro-peace groups like J Street and Brit Tzedek because by showing that they are the majority in Jewish political discourse, they have better leverage in trying to a build a movement among the national Jewish community.
Some interesting findings:

• 90% of American Jews are dissatisfied with the Bush administration as opposed to 76% nationally.
• 61% of American Jews believe Bush's Middle East policy has made Israel less secure.
• 81% trust that Israel would not agree to a peace deal that endangers its security and support any agreement Israel makers with its Arab neighbors.
• Compared with previous elections, the Jewish vote for Obama as the democratic nominee is the lowest it's been in a long time. According to the poll, 58% said they were definitely voting for Obama, in contrast to approximately 80% for Gore and Clinton and 76% for Kerry.
• 51% have a negative impression of Rev. John Hagee and CUFI while only 19% wouldn't mind burning in Christian hell while all the Evangelicals float up to heaven during the Rapture as long as they can build their settlements in the West Bank had a positive impression.
• And my favorite statistic - presidential vote by religious denomination: Reform is 70% Obama, Conservative is 56% Obama, Unaffiliated/other is 67% Obama, and Orthodox is 77% McCain.

GRRRR!! Why is Orthodoxy so overwhelmingly conservative?! Where does it say in the halacha that you have to be trigger happy and hate Arabs?
It is really difficult trying to be observant but always running into this polarization: You are either unorthodox and liberal or you are observant and right-wing, with few exceptions. I don't understand why it has to be this way. Tikkun and the NSP are supposed to be the exception, the "spiritual left". But that's exactly what they are - spiritual. There are no Orthodox Jews in the NSP (and I wouldn't blame them. It's tough to take your observance seriously when everyone else is singing Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu as a spiritual mantra, shaking a tambourine, and reading Kabbalah self-help books). I pray that one day I'll find a community to live in where I can be strengthened by both their faith in Torah (albeit a critical one) and activity in liberal politics.



By the way, I am thinking about changing the name of my blog to Bein Hashmashot. Jerusalén is just my nom de guerre in capoeira, it doesn't really have anything to do with my blog except for being the Portuguese pronunciation of Jerusalem (I got that name because, of cooas, I'm the token religious Jew in the class). If I do make the change, I'll explain the significance of bein hashmashot (twilight) when it happens.

Why I'm Voting Republican

Update: Thanks Jason J. Baker for visiting my site and for creating this hilarious video (which I just sent to my mom who doesn't believe in global warming). If anyone wants more information about the actual issues that they're talking about in the movie, visit this page from their website. Every segment is broken down and explained in order to make people realize that it's not just funny, its true.

Bishara Act: Racist or Precautious?

Ynet reports on the controversial bill that the Knesset passed yesterday:

The Knesset passed a bill on Monday determining that any Israeli citizen who visits enemy territory without a proper permit will not be able to serve in the Knesset for seven years.
The bill was initiated by MKs Zevulun Orlev (National Union-NRP) and Esterina Tartman (Yisrael Beiteinu), following the affair of MK Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly). The bill was approved by a majority of 52 to 24 MKs. Among those opposed were Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and Education Minister Yuli Tamir.

This was put into action after the situation with Azmi Bishara who was a Knesset member who frequently visited Syria and openly supported Hizbollah. After a police investigation, he was charged with high treason and forced to resign from the government. This gave the Arab Israeli party he represented, Balad, a bad name, and many people on the right started blacklisting them and saying that they couldn't be trusted.
I don't think that just because one man was trying to play both hands it means that the whole party is corrupt. The right is being reactionary, as they always are, and when it comes to making life harder for Israeli Arabs they jump on the ball.
So now we come to this very fishy bill. Why is it that the two MKs that initiated this bill about Israeli Arabs both come from the far right of Israeli politics? The NRP openly supports forced transfer of Palestinians into Jordan and Avigdor Lieberman, head of Yisrael Beitenu, was quoted advocating for the execution of any Arab MKs who meet with Hamas leaders. I have my doubts trusting the legitimacy of a bill affecting Israeli Arabs by right wingers who have extremely negative attitudes towards them. Yet I'm sure they used their scare tactics to convince the rest of the Knesset (who isn't that far from the views of the right) that without this bill the evil enemy will take over the Israeli government and push all the Jews to the sea. As Tartman exemplifies in the standard right wing language of us versus them:

The Bishara affair and the defiance carried out by many of the Arab MKs, such as their visits to Syria and their meetings with Hamas leaders, are not within the scope of freedom of speech, but rather a blatant encouragement of the armed struggle in Israel and the encouragement of terror against its civilians.
From now on the citizens of Israel can relax – enemies will no longer sit in the house of legislation.

If she considers "enemies" as "Arabs and peacemakers" then I'm sure she's right. I believe this bill is going to make it much harder for there to be negotiations with Hamas and other terrorist organizations (note that these right wingers consider any form of negotiations an act of treason) and if they get their way by making a couple more similar bills, it will rid the Knesset of anyone who shows dissent from their worldview. Luckily, the Arab Knesset members are protesting this bill and urging for reconsideration because of its infringement on minority rights and it's disregard for normal people who have family in the "enemy" countries. Let's hope that the right wing's scare tactics don't overrule the Arab parties' appeals as well.

A Fascist Against Islamo-Fascism

Earlier this week this cartoon appeared in the student newspaper at the University of Madison - Milwaukee. It is a depiction of David Horowitz, a Jewish neocon who associates with that constituency for Jews who support Islamophobia. He's been traveling around the US, going to different universities and doing this Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week which is all about scaring people about the evils of political Islam and how it threatens the US. He's the kind of guy who would show Obsession every hour on the hour on Tisha B'Av (An Aish tactic) and call upon moderate Muslims to save their religion.
When David Horowitz came here, he caused a bit of a commotion (as was his plan, I'm sure). His donors paid for a page add in the Badger Herald calling out the MSA of being a Jihadist organization and coercing them to support him or else he would have them blacklisted. Of course, the MSA didn't support him and, in fact, they went to his talk and wore all green in solidarity. They didn't speak out in order to protest the event like the ISO did which I'm glad because I think disruption of free speech is a cowardly tactic. But anyways, Horowitz is exactly the kind of AIPAC-loving Jew that is screwing things up for American Judaism as well as Israel's image in America.
So he decided to come over to UW-M to have an Islamo-Fascism Week There, and this cartoon was distributed by the MSA. Apparently, the person who drew it is not part of the MSA, they just distributed it. But I think the cartoon is great, it's a great representation of David Horowitz. He loves to call out organizations as being fascist but his methods are so medieval: He blacklists, he promotes hate, and he's just an overall unpleasant guy. So when I saw this cartoon in the Badger Herald I thought it was so funny and I was in immediate support.
And, to make things even better, Horowitz's reaction to the cartoon perfectly exemplified his character. He flipped out and called it antisemitic, arguing that they gave him a hooknose so its obviously slander and wildly inappropriate. Couldn't have been more spot on, right? Of course he pulls the antisemitism card, making him the victim and the MSA the badguys. It's perfect. And his arguments are so funny too:

“Sure, it’s free speech. It’s just inappropriate for a campus. I don’t think the university should have banned it from being posted, but had that been a cartoon on blacks or gays, there would have been hell to pay — there should be one standard rule.”

What? I don't know if Horowitz has a hooknose or not, and in fact, I don't think it really matters. I just don't see how a critique over his political views has anything to do with being black or gay. No one said anything about his Judaism, and if we accept his argument by imagining the same cartoon where he is black or wearing a pink scarf, would that change anything about his caveman attitude?
Mohamad Elsayed, president of the MSA of UW-M summarizes Horowitz's whole demeanor very eloquently:

“In typical demagogic form, Horowitz tries to characterize the very legitimate and very justifiable attack against him as an attack on all Jews. How ludicrous.”

The Jewish community in Milwaukee really freaked out too and is in full support behind Horowitz, speaking out against antisemitism. I hate how the conservative Jewish communities go along with this propaganda, it's a chillul Hashem. Hopefully, my generation of progressive Jews and Muslims can work to get rid of this nonsense. Enshallah.

Bittersweetness - Is That Even A Word?

Happy Birthday Israel!

In the words of UPZ's official educational campaign, this day is bittersweet for me. For many reasons.
First of all, I'm sitting in College Library, procrastinating on my research paper on how Shabtai Tzvi's main theologians like Nathan of Gaza reinterpreted Lurianic Kabbalah in order to justify his conversion to Islam. It's a really fascinating topic and I thoroughly enjoyed doing the research for it, but writing it is getting fairly tedious and I plan on pulling an all-nighter which is not so money.
I'm also a little nervous for Hillel's Israel@60 celebration at Library Mall tomorrow. Originally, Kavanah: A Progressive Jewish Voice, my rockin' political student group, was planning on setting up a table to promote the "bittersweetness" of the day by handing out pamphlets on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the problem with settlements, information on peace organizations and the peace process in Israel, and bittersweet chocolates. That's all still happening, but now there's an added complication. Madison-Rafah, my favorite anti-Israel buddies, who I've blogged about before, are going to be protesting the event and it's really pissing me off. They just have such chutzpah, they're so inconsistent in their views, and they're just trying to be confrontational. Although they say on their site that it's going to be "educational rather than confrontational," I don't see how it could be anything other. They're going to a student event (by the way they are all adults) so that they can picket, chant, and disrupt the celebration. What are they trying to accomplish? If they were protesting Israel's policies or its right to exist, then they could go somewhere where they would actually be productive, like the Israeli consulate. If they didn't want any pro-Israel celebrations, then they would have protested the Jewish community's Israel@60 celebration the other day. Maybe they're just lazy.
Either way, they're coming and they are handing out flyers that are just ridiculous. One of them asks if a normal person would celebrate racial segregation in the U.S., South African apartheid, or the decimation and conquest of Native Americans, and the other is a list of all the Palestinian villages that were destroyed in Al-Nakba. Whatever. They can back any statistics they want even if they are skewed and deceptive, in fact, I think the plight of the Palestinians should absolutely be recognized on Yom Ha'atzmaut, I just don't see why they have to be such bullies about it. Have your own event. At least get students to protest this event. I think they just need their mommies.
This constituency in Madison really upsets me. They have a voice but they have no feet. They'll protest anything and march anywhere but when it comes to education and political advocacy, they do nothing. And knowing Hillel and the "I love Israel" crowd, it's going to be ugly. Only Kavanah can save this celebration and I hate this burden. Without Kavanah there would just be yelling. But the fact that we have a table and we're passing out critical information totally undermines Madison-Rafah's stance. They're coming in thinking that Hillel is blind to Israel's problems, but our presence proves them wrong. Therefore, since they can't argue that Hillel is painting a biased picture of Israel, their only argument that would differ from us is that Israel has no right to exist or that all Palestinians should have the right to return to Israel, and I think that most normal people see that as outrageous and uncompromisingly extremist.

On a different note, earlier tonight I went to an amazing lecture by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, an Orthodox rabbi, president of CLAL, the National Jewish Center For Learning and Leadership, and a leading figure in interfaith dialogue who is promoting his book, You Don't Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right, about avoiding fanaticism. He's a great speaker with a ton of charisma, and he also has a really interesting story. When he became religious he did it through a yeshiva that promoted right wing politics as part of its theology. He didn't specify which one but I can assume it was Aish or Ohr Sameach. So he decided to move to Hebron to help support the fanatic settlers there - the worst of the worst. But after people from his community murdered two Palestinian students at the Islamic University of Hebron (in retaliation to people who had been killed in his own community) he began to question his choices and it eventually led him to move back to America and work in religious dialogue. It was a very powerful lecture and part of the LISAR conference. Unfortunately I was one of three students there. It's a shame that they scheduled this conference for the worst week of the semester. I shouldn't have even been there. I shouldn't even be writing this post right now, I still have nine pages left on this paper. Damn you, procrastination/distraction.

Water - The Stuff of Life

"They call it 'Enhanced Interrogation.' We call it torture." -Amnesty International

I just had a beer and a cookie and I'm feeling great

מימונה שמחה
Happy Mimuna

A big religious-zionist rabbi in Israel is hoping to get rid of "gentiles striving to undermine the country" by coming out with a bill that will revoke non-Jews of their citizenship. They are also trying to give citizenship to Jews who are not even living in Israel.
The ultra-orthodox religious-zionist agenda has become to clear to me now. Just as Mea-She'arim is a community that tries to close itself off from the rest of the world, so too do the leaders want to close off Israel from the rest of the world, making it a national shtetl. What nudnikim.

Rabbi Yitz Greenberg (AKA Professor X) being interviewed by beliefnet about his book on Jewish-Christian relations. I love pluralism and I love Yitzy for loving pluralism too, especially when it involves meeting the Dali Lhama. He's one of my favorite (living) Orthodox rabbis. I should make a list of them one day.
Ok, fine... I'll start now:
Yitz Greenberg
Avi Weiss
Shaul Judelman
Aryeh Trugman
I'll add more later.

About two years ago, a Jewish 23 year old boy from France was captured, tortured, and held ransom by a group of anti-semetic animals, most of whom were Muslim. Now this is obviously a terrible act, and it should be known that I'm not posting this to be a right wing conservative, Kahanist, Honest Reporting, Islamophobic asshole, but because I stumbled upon a blog written by "an unapologetic liberal and a proud American Muslim" named Akram's Razor who covered this story and does a great job. It's really interesting to read this post from an eloquent, liberal, Western Muslim's point of view. He touches on the issue of anti-semetism in the Muslim world and I think its a topic that isn't dealt with enough from the inside. I get annoyed by Jews who call on "moderate Muslims" to take back the true message of Islam blah blah blah, but its reassuring to see it actually happening without some asshole like David Horowitz telling them what to do.

I also wanted to post this great article by the Forward about how progressives who are into social justice love Passover, even if they do go a little overboard with the seder plate sometimes.

Reflections on yesterday's events

Yesterday, an Israeli-Arab walked into the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem armed with a Kalashnikov and open fired in the dining hall where around 80 people were eating lunch. 8 students, most under the age of 20, were killed and many more were injured. Once the news got out, there was a huge victory celebration in Gaza. And the twist? The terrorist was an Israeli citizen, most likely from East Jerusalem.
I'm not sure how to feel. Obviously, I'm horrified considering that this is the second attack of the year whereas last year there were no piguim. I'm a little concerned that this could be the start of the third intifada, and I've been praying that it's not and that things will get better.
I do feel a little... selfish? Spoiled? I'm not sure how to phrase it. This event has really bothered me and I've been thinking about it a lot, and it's made me really confused. But I can't say that I feel the same way about the IDF operations in Gaza last weekend. Around 70 Palestinians were killed and hundreds were injured in "the highest number of casualties recorded over such a short period of time since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002." Many of the people killed and injured were civilians, unaffiliated with the rockets being fired on Sderot and now Ashkelon.
My response to the reports in Gaza was not sadness, fear, or discouragement as it was for Jerusalem, rather I felt anger.
I think this is a significant, if not favoritist, reaction, and it bothers me. Of course, there are major differences between both attacks. The attacks in Gaza were not targeting civilians, and the yeshiva students in Jerusalem were my brothers; I have an inherent, unexplainable connection to them because of our shared ethnicity so it is understandable for me to feel a bias towards them. But I think that having that connection is troublesome. Every life is holy and valuable, whether it be Jewish or other, and my uncontrollable tendency to take sides makes me feel like an asshole. How can I feel sorry for these Israelis when less than 100 miles away Palestinians are in a constant state of fear as they try to live in conditions that are a constant violation of their human rights and dignity?
I read an article on BBC news where two women, an Israeli from Sderot and a Palestinian from Gaza City, are exchanging letters and allowing the BBC to post them on their website. Anav, the Israeli, starts by writing about how she feels like she's living in a war-zone. She talks about the terrible conditions in Sderot as she is constantly afraid of getting hit by a Kassam rocket. Mona, the Palestinian, writes back in a very stern tone, seemingly offended by Anav's words.

Is life in Sderot a war-zone?! Then what words should I use to describe Gaza?
Life in Gaza is like Hell.

Can an Israeli in Sderot really say that he or she is living in worse conditions than a Palestinian in Gaza? Obviously not. So then why do I feel compassion for the families of the 8 Israelis killed in Jerusalem, yet I have trouble mourning for the families of Gazans?

Obama City

Obama City, Japan
This is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. I especially love the borderline racist Asian stereotypes that these people are flaunting.

Toshi Maeda reports. He also apparently does not speak English. He's my favorite person in the video.