J Street Vows Never to Back BDS
At the J Street Confrence in San Francisco last week, Haaretz reports that J Street president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, vowed that J Street will never advocate boycotting Israel, but warned Israelis that “a real and serious threat” of boycotts, divestment and sanctions is headed their way. Right-wing activists accuse J Street of covertly supports BDS, a claim Ben-Ami’s group flatly denies.”That’s not the path for J Street. That’s never going to be the path that we go down,” he continued. “We believe that there’s a better way to talk to friends and family than to wield the big stick and bash people over the head. We have to talk with them (Israelis) out of love and out of concern, and we have to bring our message in a way that will really resonate.” But Americans for Peace Now, members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, does support it. “We spend a lot of time out speaking against BDS against Israel, in synagogues and on campuses and forth,” Americans for Peace Now President Debra DeLee said, “but we joined Peace Now in Israel in a campaign to boycott settlement products.”
Rubi Rivlin Elected President of Israel
Al-Monitor reports that Rubi Rivlin, twice speaker of the Knesset and probably the most loyal member of the Likud party, whose loathing for PM Bibi is well known (as is Bibi’s loathing of Rubi) was elected president of Israel—most likely because he is a social liberal who believes in American-style democracy for all, despite his right-wing political views. At the end of the day, five candidates competed in the final race after Silvan Shalom pulled out after coming under suspicion for sexual offenses, and former Minister Binyamin (Fuad) Ben Eliezer, a member of the Labor Party, left after being questioned by police for alleged financial impropriety. Moshe Sheetrit (member of the Kadima movement and former Jewish Agency head), Dalia Itzik (former Knesset speaker), and two external candidates: 2011 Nobel laureate Dan Shechtman and former Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner, were the others. Rivlin, from a family that settled in Israel generations ago, won by 10 votes (63-53) and immediately announced his resignation from the party and the political movement to become “president of the whole nation.” Rivlin’s victory is seen a resounding political defeat for Netanyahu who has lost a lot of political ground recently, especially inside Likud.
Lapid Blames Bibi for Rift with U.S.
Al-Monitor reports that Finance Minister Yair Lapid broke ties with right-wing coalition members and laid claim to Israel’s center-left. Lapid presented a three-stage plan to separate from the Palestinians, wishing to renounce economic responsibility for the isolated settlements. Right now, Lapid is really the person in control of the Netanyahu government. With his 19 seats, he could topple it single-handedly, and in fact, he is using the power of those seats now, for the first time, in the diplomatic arena. By doing so, he has effectively set up an hourglass to determine how much longer this government will last. He also used this speech to distance himself from HaBayit HaYehudi leader Naftali Bennett and bluntly and called his annexation program a plan designed by far-right elements. And there was even a threat: “I don’t know if it is some PR exercise or a genuine statement of intent, but we will not allow it to happen. If there is a unilateral attempt to annex as much as a single settlement, Yesh Atid will do more than just resign from the government. It will bring the government down.”
Israel’s Newest Cyberwarriors: Haredim
According to the Chrisitian Science Monitor, on a campus in Jerusalem, 16 young ultra-Orthodox men are being prepared for two-year stints as cyber defenders in the Israeli Defense Forces. The men spend their daytime hours poring over religious texts and engaging in vigorous theological debates, but in the evenings, they apply those critical thinking skills to the 1,000 hours of cyber training.
Brits Ask Carter How to Remember the Holocaust
The BBC reports that UK PM David Cameron’s Holocaust Commission took evidence from former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, whose Holocaust Council in 1978 led to the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on how to create a memorial museum. The meeting comes on the final day of the UK public consultation which has now received almost 2,500 written submissions and seen over 1,000 people attend consultation events across the country, including one of the largest gatherings of Holocaust Survivors in British history at Wembley Stadium earlier in May. The British already have a Holocaust Museum inside the Imperial War Museum in London.
Jewish Agency Ukranian Leak Drama
The Forward reports that Israel’s Foreign Ministry has accused the Jewish Agency for Israel of leaking a plan to evacuate Jews from Eastern Ukraine, in the wake of ongoing political crisis and violence. The plans were reported in the Ukrainian media, Israel’s Channel 2 reported. The plans are no longer viable, according to the report. Israel’s ambassador to the Ukraine, Reuven Din El, called the leaks “harmful and dangerous-politically, operationally, and to our image,” and make Ukrainian Jews subject to charges of dual loyalty.
Schneier’s FFEU Memorializes Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner
With the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Freedom Summer, the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding will be in Congress on June 19 to mark the date when three civil rights activists, one African-American and two Jewish-Americans: James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were brutally kidnapped and murdered. A special ceremony and reception will recognize the heroism, sacrifice and commitment of those three activists and countless other civil rights activists who fought to bring political and social equality to the disenfranchised citizens of Mississippi and the South. The reception will also celebrate the historic Black-Jewish alliance of the civil rights movement as well as the 25th anniversary of FFEU by honoring Rabbi Marc Schneier and Russell Simmons.
Jerusalem Gets Gender-Segregated Elevator to Guard Men’s Eyes from Females
Walla reports Armonot Chen, a haredi Jerusalem simcha venue, has installed mechitzahs in their elevators and will be putting them up on staircases as well. Yosef Cohen set up a nylon mechitza, with stickers inside and outside the elevator directing men to one side and women to the other. “There are people who want to guard their eyes on the wedding day,” Cohen explained in an interview with Walla news. “If four men and four women enter the elevator, how will they behave? This way there is a mechitzah and this solves the problem.” If you think that’s extreme, Cohen says, “This separation is not imposed by force. The mechitza can be installed and taken down within 30 seconds. This is not the Berlin Wall,” and added, “If this bothers you, you’re probably corrupt. How is this bothersome? A man wants to protect his eyes—that’s his right.” And the women? Well, that’s another story.
Through A Glass, Darkly: BP Women Warned About the Internet
Hamodia reports that the Echud HaKehillos Le Tohar HaMachaneh (United Congregations for the Purity of Main Camp) called together 10,000 women on short notice in Borough Park to “hear words of chizuk about the appropriate use of technology.” The rabbanim spoke from a dais behind a specially designed mechitzah of one-way glass, allowing the women to clearly see the gedolim. Among them were the Skulener Rebbe, the Rachmastrivka Rebbe and the Novomonsker Rebbe, along with Harav Matisyahu Salamon, Mashgiach of Beis Medrash Govoha; Harav Moshe Wolfson, Mashgiach of Yeshivah Torah Vodaas and numerous other elder Rabbanim. The speakers at the event included Harav Elya Brudny, Rosh Yeshivas Mir, and the Vienna Rav.
Elad Beis Yaakov Rejects Sephardi Girls
Al-Monitor reports that in Elad, a haredi town, registration for Beis Yaakov was over a few weeks ago, and admissions were tough. All 40 Ashkenazi families had their daughters accepted to the school, but out of 100 Sephardi families who wanted their daughters to attend, only five were accepted. Sephardi parents accused the school of segregation against Sephardic Jews and submitted a petition to the Ministry of Education, demanding that the entire registration process be overturned. Meanwhile, the school’s administration insisted that they acted in good faith, and that it was coincidence that all the rejected girlswere Spehardic. (Any past attempts to breach the Ashkenazi haredi divide have failed. The late Rabbi Eliezer Schach described the Spehardim as lacking the same depth in Torah as the Ashkenazi haredim.) In response to all the complaints that it received about the rejection of all but five Sephardi girls, the Ministry of Education has announced that Beis Yaakov will not open in the new school year and that it regards the entire registration process as an affront to education and the spirit of Judaism.
Nanotech Bacteria Detector Will Save Millions
Israel 21C reports a new product can detect bacteria in food-processing plants, hospitals and municipal water supplies—inexpensively and in real time. Thanks to Israeli nanotechnology, that product has the potential to save millions of lives lost to bacterial contamination every year. The Bactusense optical biosensor, still in development, uses silicon-based microchips to trap bacteria from any liquid—such as water, milk or blood—flowing through the system. The optical scanner then identifies the trapped microbes. Bactusense’s technology was invented by Prof. Amir Saar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Ester Segal of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The IP was licensed in May to Capitalnano, Israel’s leading investor and founder of startup companies based on nanotechnologies from Israeli universities. The system could be configured in different versions to identify specific kinds of bacteria in water, food, air, soil and body fluid samples. Each chip in the system will cost less than $1 to manufacture, while the cost of the entire optical setup is estimated to be around $10,000 depending on its intended use.
MIT Partners with Ben-Gurion University, Expanding Israel Tech Ties
The Tower.org reports that last week, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced a partnership with Ben-Gurion University. MIT, one of America’s leading universities, already has a number of programs with other Israeli institutions including a partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University’s MIT Enterprise Forum Israel. The MIT Enterprise Forum Israel is one of 28 such collaborations the university has, and the first that was established outside of North America. The Tower says students from both institutions will work together to develop ideas based on research done at both schools. Ideas will be submitted to a panel for review, and those found worthy of further development will receive seed money. The program is administered by MIT’s International Science and Technology Initiative (MISTI). The group operates an internship program for MIT students in Israel, who work in companies such as Teva, IBM and Intel, said David Dolev, managing director of MISTI MIT-Israel and assistant director of MISTI worldwide.
Palestinian Prof. Who Led Auschwitz Trip Quits
A number of news services have reported that Al-Quds University Professor Mohammed Dajani, who had served as head of the university’s Department of American Studies and the director of its brand-new library, has resigned less than two months after returning from his field trip to Auschwitz with his students. He told Haaretz that he believed he had “no choice” but to do so after the university gave in to fellow faculty members’ “incitement” against him, refused to support him publicly and expelled him from the staff union, to which he said he never belonged. The academic, a former Fatah fighter who was banned from Israel for 25 years, said the university had distanced itself from his decision to lead the student delegation to Poland, and added that he had acted “in a personal capacity” while on leave. …”Some may consider my letter of resignation from Al-Quds University as a kind of ‘surrender’ to those opposed to academic freedom and freedom of action and of expression. I don’t,” Dajani told Haaretz. “In submitting my resignation, I feel I took the battle to a higher level. My letter of resignation from Al-Quds University was a kind of litmus test to see whether the university administration supports academic freedom and freedom of action and of expression as they claim or not.”
Rialto Unified Students Visit Tolerance Museum in LA
Calfornia papers report that the final group of Rialto Unified students visited Los Angeles’ Museum of Tolerance recently, as school official kept their promise to the community. Last month, in an incident that went viral and led to much national outrage, the students were given an 18-page homework assignment to prove or disprove the Holocaust.
“I give high praise to the school district for working diligently to make available to all graduating eighth graders—and that’s well over 1,900 kids—to come to the Museum of Tolerance,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of Tolerance. “This is our busy season for the museum, and we had to make room for these kids, and we were glad to do so. …There was a very small minority of kids who did not see the exhibition, who did not meet the minimum standards of behavior to be allowed into the museum,” Cooper said. One small group of students spit, used obscenities and otherwise behaved in ways unacceptable to museum staff, district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri said. “A couple of these students’ behavior was extremely inappropriate and we are looking into it.”
Mosul Falls to Al Qaeda
TIP—The Iraqi city of Mosul fell on Tuesday to fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)—a jihadist group once affiliated with Al Qaeda that was subsequently disavowed for among other things being too radical and brutal—Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts and some discarded their uniforms as they fled. Hardline Islamist forums broadcast photos of ISIS personnel seizing storehouses and equipment and cruising through the Mosul. Facilities now under ISIS control, include “the provincial government headquarters, two prisons, two television stations, numerous police stations, the central bank and the airport, a major military base that used to serve as a hub for U.S. operations in northern Iraq.” The bank reportedly contained millions of dollars. Richard Berger, an Elliot School scholar who works at the Institute for the Study of War’s Iraq Project, emphasized “the massive amount of ammo, heavy weapons, and [command and control] equipment” acquired by the group. CBS News described Mosul as a “strategic prize” that would serve as “a gateway to Syria.” Retired veteran Naval Intelligence officer Jennifer Dyer focused on the geographical context for ISIS’s moves, assessing that recent gains had put the group “very close” to being able to threaten the region’s water supplies.
