Why is Shaarey Zedek and ZOA Undermining Our Jewish Community?

Metro Jewish Detroit’s Dirty Little Secrets are hurting all of us.

There is a conspiracy of silence, an “omerta” if you will, by our communal “bosses” and organs of power to hide the truth, to deflect our focus away from serious and growing threats to much more pedestrian or newly-hyped issues of the day. To read the Detroit Jewish News of late, one would think that bed bugs and cluttered closets are our biggest worries. If only that were true. Granted, it is much harder to confront difficult and inconvenient truths, but we fail to do so at our own peril.

The sad reality is that not only have our leaders failed to address the accelerating dangers; not only have they reneged on their responsibilities to be the front guard protecting our welfare and security; in too many cases, they are the problem – in bed with the wrong bed partners.

To wit, the Jewish News just weeks ago featured a front-page cover story hailing the 150th anniversary of Congregation Shaarey Zedek. In the glowing review of the synagogue’s and clergy’s vaunted history was, by way of pointing out its ecumenicalism, a brief mention of the synagogue’s commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. No mention of the participating imam or his troubling ties to a “radical anti-Semitic” Pakistan-based Islamist organization whose founder likened Jews to parasites and presaged the “extermination” of the Jews. No mention of ADL’s warnings not to grant the legitimacy the organization craves to mainstream itself in advancing its ‘extremist ideology’. No mention that authorities stated the organization influenced the radicalization of a young American teen to become Al Qaeda’s top English language propagandist and the alleged mastermind of the cargo bomb plot targeting Chicago synagogues who was killed alongside Anwar Al-Awlaki in the recent US drone strike in Yemen. No follow-up analysis or enterprise reporting from the Jewish News. Only one small letter to the editor from a concerned communal activist that had to fight its way into the paper and only after it was gored of much substance.

And in what is perhaps the most painful and dangerous sellout of all, the Zionist Organization of America has thrown our community under the bus. Tonight at its annual Balfour Concert, the ZOA Michigan Chapter, with the backing of the national ZOA, is honoring CSZ Rabbi Joseph Krakoff, despite the fact that the ZOA knows full well about the imam’s associations because the ZOA itself made the rabbi and synagogue aware of them in vain hopes CSZ would preclude the imam’s participation or refuse itself to participate.

Instead of calling out an enabler of dangerous anti-Semitism and radical Islamism; instead of criticizing the appaling derelictions of due diligence that allowed this to transpire, the ZOA is honoring and rewarding the betrayal of our community. Why would the most stalwart of Jewish organizations make a a sham and mockery of their mission?

There is no organization stronger or more principled than the ZOA in defending Israel…in calling out university presidents, diplomats, generals, US Secretaries of State and Presidents and even Israeli Prime Ministers when they undermine Israel’s legitimacy and strength. But isn’t the strength and security of our local community worth speaking out for as well? What good are all the ZOA speakers and programs warning us of the looming threats when they help to enable and empower them in the first place? Just this past week, the ZOA Midwest campus coordinator wrote a crying appeal for communal support after a high-ranking Bedouin Israeli speaking here at the University of Michigan was treated malignly by a group of MSA students. Instead of gala concerts enabling the enablers, why didn’t ZOA, Rabbi Krakoff and his imam colleague go to the university to support the speaker, to insist he be treated civilly and to demand the university ensure the rights of Jewish students are honored and protected?

Bottom line: The rabbi didn’t want to hurt the imam. ZOA didn’t want to hurt the rabbi. Does anyone care that they are hurting our children??

CSZ and ZOA are hardly the only local institutions to have compromised our communal integrity and welfare. They are just the most recent. TT hopes desperately that all our communal organizations will take to heart their avowed obligations to speak and act on behalf of our interests. If ever there was a time for scrupulous vetting, for reassessment of priorities, for reorientation, it is NOW!

Read the report below.

ADL: “Despite its effort to ‘mainstream’ itself, IONA maintains its official ties to Pakistan and remains committed to its goals and extremist ideology.”

Joe Kaufman, Americans Against Hate: "If one wishes to keep away from extremists and caution others to do the same, one would certainly not join up with CAIR or IONA. One would shun them."

The Zionist Organization of America Michigan chapter, with the knowledge of the national organization and despite appeals from supporters and concerned community members, will confer its highest honor upon a rabbi who, along with the decision-makers of his synagogue, recently legitimized the leader of an organization described by the ADL as a “radical anti-Semitic” Pakistan-based organization seeking a global Islamic caliphate and who is also vice chair of a Michigan coalition (CIOMonline.com) which partners with CAIR, ISNA et al.

Tonight, Rabbi Joseph J. Krakoff will be awarded the Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award at the 78th annual Balfour celebration of the ZOA Michigan chapter. Just last month, at an interfaith commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks (www.liftupsouthfield.org) , Rabbi Krakoff yielded his bimah to Imam Mustapha Elturk, the head of IONA, the reconstituted US arm of Tanzeem-e-Islami, an organization described as a "Nazi-style Islamist movement" in a Pajamas Media article by Joe Kaufman of Americans Against Hate. (http://pjmedia.com/blog/cair-leader-tied-to-nazi-style-islamist-mosque/).

Elturk recently penned a whitewashing tribute to Islamic sharia law. He was also quoted last year in the Arab American News mourning the death of Hezbollah spiritual leader and US designated global terrorist Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.

The organization's history of anti-Semitsim has been documented by ADL and many sources. According to a report in Canada’s National Post on Tanzeem-e-Islami founder Israr Ahmad and included in an Investigative Project onTerrorism (IPT) report:

“He compares Jews to parasites, calls the Holocaust "Divine punishment" and foresees the "total extermination" of Jews at the hands of Muslims.”

According to Kaufman, and as documented by many other sources chronicling the organization:

“The movement was founded by Israr Ahmad, a religious fanatic who, according to IONA’s website, had broken away from the Muslim Brotherhood affiliate Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in 1957 because of the group’s “involvement in the electoral politics.”

A couple of Ahmad’s favorite targets are Jews and Christians, whom he chillingly describes as “enemies of Islam...”

Ahmad brought his movement to America in 1993, under the name Tanzeem-e-Islami North America (TINA). In 2003, the organization changed its name to the Islamic Organization of North America (IONA), after Ahmad had appointed Mustapha “Steve” Elturk to be the group’s new leader.

Subsequent to the name change, IONA has made the claim that it is somehow independent from TI. Yet, the web address tanzeem.us is a mirror address of IONA’s official website, ionaonline.org.

As well, the group never relinquished the harsh anti-Western and Nazi-like rhetoric of its Pakistani parent.”

The national ADL profile concurs: “Despite its effort to ‘mainstream’ itself, IONA maintains its official ties to Pakistan and remains committed to its goals and extremist ideology.”

Tanzeem-e-Islami/IONA, according to the ADL, Southern Poverty Law Center and other sources, purportedly influenced Samir Kahn, the online editor of al Qaeda's English language Inspire Magazine, who was taken out alongside American cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, in the Sept. 30 US drone strike in Yemen. According to a Fox News report citing federal authorities, Kahn “admitted he was behind the October 2010 cargo printer bomb plot” which targeted synagogues in Chicago.

The Michigan ZOA Balfour fundraiser will also honor a local Jewish member of the US military. That is certainly noble, except for the fact that the honoree rabbi’s embrace of Imam Elturk degrades the tribute to the Jewish first lieutenant. As noted by the national ADL, Tanzeem’s founder expressed support for the Taliban as it is “based on upholding the supremacy of Islamic shariah.” Last Sunday, 13 Americans were killed in a Taliban bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. The death toll of US soldiers in Afghanistan now tops 1,700.


What is so vexing is that the Detroit ZOA, which made the rabbi and Congregation Shaarey Zedek aware of its objections to the imam's inclusion in the 9/11 commemoration and provided documentation of the the imam’s extremist ties, would honor the rabbi despite his failure to rescind the invitation to the imam, to back out of the event or to issue a public statement disavowing the imam and IONA. Even more curious is the ZOA’s refusal to take up the rabbi on his reported offer to bow out of the ZOA honor in the wake of this controversy.

It is reported that the rabbi turned to the local ADL and AJC to vet the imam, who greenlighted him despite the national ADL's extensive documentation and warnings to the contrary.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/american-jihadi-samir-khan-killed-awlaki/story?id=14640013

http://pjmedia.com/blog/cair-leader-tied-to-nazi-style-islamist-mosque/

http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=article&cat=Community&article=3199

http://www.investigativeproject.org/539/fbis-latest-outreach-outrage

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/american-al-qaeda-proud-traitor/story?id=11855126

http://ciomonline.com/resources/partner-organizations

http://www.islamicity.com/Articles/articles.asp?ref=RS1108-4817

http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/al_qaeda_english_magazine.htm

http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/samir_khan.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_4

http://www.adl.org/mian_Terrorism/samir_khan.htm

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2011/fall/ten-years-after/grown-at-home

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/29/us-public-opinion-afghanistan-war

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=b4e39c78-3eb3-43e8-a418-cc61adc044c5

Boycott/Buycott in Florida

The BDS dopes are at it again, or were in S. Florida. Here are some short articles I received on the goings on down there. But I wonder, do the BDS idiots want to boycott everything Israeli? Can they be that stupid? That remains to be seen.

Friends of ZOA:

ZOA has received many emails and phone calls since informing the community of the BDS Boycott that took place at Publix this past Saturday. It was terrific to see all parts of the pro-Israel community work together in response. By all accounts the “Buycott” that was organized was a success. People all over South Florida purchased Sabra and Tribe hummus at Publix supermarkets and submitted letters of support to the management.

Many people want to know more about Florida’s anti-Israel community and the organizers of the BDS Boycott. The article published in today’s Jewish Journal covering the event offered few details about who these people are and what motivates them. A copy of the article appears below.

ZOA submitted a written interview to the Jewish Journal last week that offered specific details and explanations that we hoped would be passed on to the community. We were let down to see that most of the important points we highlighted were not ultimately included in the article. Specifically, we feel that the article did not accurately portray the anti-Israel activists involved in the boycott. As a consequence the public has been denied important facts and understanding. Excerpts from the written interview are included below as well.

The community needs to know that Florida’s BDS activists are anti-Jewish bigots who seek the destruction of Israel. The organizers of Saturday’s Boycott hosted an event in May called the Third Intifada Rally for Palestine. “Intifada” is a call for a violent uprising aimed at destroying Israel. During the First and Second Intifada thousands of innocent Israeli civilians, including women and children, were brutally murdered by indiscriminate terrorist attacks.

The attached video was captured at an anti-Israel rally hosted last month in front of the Israeli Consulate. It was organized by the same group, and many people on this video were present this past Saturday. Turn up the volume and listen carefully. “Intifada” and “From the River to the Sea” have only one meaning. This type of information is essential to understanding what is taking place in our community. If the pro-Israel community is to defeat these enemies they must be equipped with the facts and information needed to do so.

ZOA feels that the pro-Israel Community should be more concerned about the quality of its own efforts than it is by those of the anti-Israel Community. We urge all of you to consider inviting ZOA to your synagogue/church/group to provide a specific presentation about the status of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish efforts in Florida, and the facts information needed for us to defeat them. We want to share first hand evidence about a situation that many other organizations are unwilling to discuss publicly. ZOA believes that in order for our community to prevail over the threats of our enemies, there must be a detailed understanding of Florida's anti-Israel Community, its leadership, strategies, goals and recent activities.

JOSEPH M. SABAG, ESQ.
Executive Director
Florida Region
Zionist Organization of America


Email: Florida@zoa.org
Phone: (561) 470-1948
Address: 21218 St. Andrews Blvd., #600
Boca Raton, FL 33433
Visit Us: www.zoa.org

And

What does the community need to know about BDS in South Florida?

It is extremely important for the public to know that the leading proponents of the local BDS movement are the same anti-Jewish bigots who lead the anti-Israel community. In fact, the July 23rd boycott event at Publix was organized by the same bigots who organized May’s “Third Intifada Rally” in Miami on Israeli Independence Day. BDS is a form of economic warfare, and is presently one of the favorite tactics of Israel’s enemies. The vulnerability of the BDS movement lies in its being properly recognized as anti-Jewish rather than anti-Israel.

BDS advocates are smart enough to lie about their intentions. They’ll claim that they are simply protesting Israel’s policies, while the media takes them at their word and whitewashes them as simple activists concerned with the so-called Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. But the truth is that their efforts are aimed at seeing Israel wiped off the map – “from the River to the Sea” as their slogan says. The motivation for this stems from powerful traditions of Islamic and European hatred toward Jews. It's extremely important that the connection of BDS to anti-Jewish bigotry be further exposed and highlighted. The vast majority of self-described anti-Israel/anti-Zionist activists and openly anti-Jewish bigots would be hard pressed to explain how their perspectives differ in any meaningful way. This is made clear by the fact that they use the same methodology of demonizing and delegitimizing Israel while constantly holding her to unfair double-standards.

What can individuals in the community do to counteract BDS efforts?

Israel’s supporters generally have nothing to gain by counter-demonstrating and engaging the bigots who support BDS. It’s the retailers being targeted who need to receive the message that the public overwhelmingly supports their decision to sell products made in Israel. In responding to boycott demonstrations, many communities have held ‘buycotts’ as a method to counter, and ZOA is strongly in favor of this approach. Israel’s supporters should go to the retailers being targeted and buy the products being targeted for boycott and other items made in Israel, and they should submit a brief letter to the management at the time of purchase expressing support for the retailer’s decision to carry the products. The efforts of the anti-Israel community are indeed frustrated where they serve to increase sales of a particular Israeli product rather than to prevent them.

Finally

Florida Jewish Journal Boycott Battle

By Sergio Carmona Florida Jewish Journal

July 26, 2011



Israel's local supporters and opponents engaged in debates and arguments outside a North Miami Publix last week.



As South Florida Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions organizers conducted a boycott demonstration calling Publix to end its sales of Sabra and Tribe brand hummus and food products, they were confronted by counter-demonstrators supporting Israel.



Aventura resident and Israeli supporter Liz Becker, who attended with her friends to "buycott" Israeli products and confront BDS, felt the group was being selective when it came to boycotting Israel.



"If they're going to boycott, let them boycott right," Becker said. "Let them throw away all their cell phones right now. They can't text message or go on AIM because any form of instant messaging was created in Israel."



Becker listed items that were created in Israel such as flash drives, voicemail, camera phone chips on cell phones and more.



Weston resident Arthur Barr, who also counter-protested in favor of Israel, was amazed that the group was being selective in certain products they don't use.



"Every time they say they want to boycott Israeli products, they should boycott all the sophisticated electronics that deal with cell phones," Barr said. "Why are they not doing that? Israel makes money every time someone purchases this equipment."



The protest took place during the Sabbath. Becker said that she felt that the group deliberately planned the demonstration during that time.



"They're doing it because they know the Orthodox community cannot attend," she said. "That's exactly why they're doing it."



However, South Florida BDS organizers said that the decision to schedule the demonstration on that date was because it was the easiest day to get everybody together.



"It was easier for people to get together on a Saturday afternoon than any other time," said BDS organizer Len Kaminsky, a Surfside resident. "It has nothing to do with the Sabbath. Some of us are Jewish."



Kaminsky added that the whole idea of the protest was being anti-Zionist and not anti-Jewish.



"We don't agree with the way the Palestinians are being treated by Israel, which is a Zionist state," he added. "I'm Jewish but I'm not a Zionist. There is a difference. We defend the Jews, but we don't defend Zionism and the reason why we're here is because a lot of the products that are sold are made to benefit Israel."



Despite the turnout of Israel supporters coming out to counter-protest, community leaders don't advise that pro-Israel advocates counter demonstrate these groups. Andrew Rosenkranz, the Anti-Defamation League's Florida Regional director in Boca Raton, said "ADL opposes boycotts in policy and has historically advised against counter boycotts or demonstrations. The best support the Jewish community can give to Israel right now is to stop the flow of inaccurate information which serves as the base of the BDS movement."



Joseph Sabag, executive director for Zionist Organization of America's Florida Region in Boca Raton, said that although Israel's supporters generally have nothing to gain by counter-demonstrating and engaging those who support BDS, ZOA is in favor of the "buycott" approach.



"Israel's supporters should go to the retailers being targeted and buy the products being targeted for boycott and other items made in Israel and they should submit a brief letter to the management at the time of purchase expressing support for the retailer's decision to carry the products," he added.

Copyright © 2011, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Me? I'm in favor of the Buycott, and perhaps talking with some of the boycotters about their tactics and their demonization of the only Jewish country on Earth. But I'm obsessive that way.

One more thing: Do you think the young - uh -  lady in the following video is anti-Jewish, or merely anti-Zionist, criticizing the policies of the right-wing Israeli government. Yes, it's from 2008, but it was filmed in S. Florida. I bet she's a BDS supporter.





by Cowznofski

Let's Blame the Jews

Pat Condell videos have been on Youtube and floating around the web for quite some time now. Here is his latest. Blame the Jews indeed! Watch.

Cowznofski

Not a Peace Plan -- Israel is Peace Offering

In a day and age when the racist notion of the “house Negro” has finally, thankfully been laid to rest, it is the height of hypocrisy and anti-Semitism that the media and political pundits berate Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu for not assuming the submissive posture of the “House Jew.”  We at Talking Tachlis are so proud of PM Netanyahu’s rejoinder to President Obama last Friday in the Oval Office after their private meeting (see their exchange here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l28xJitnP78&feature=youtu.be  or click in at 7:10 to hear Bibi:

Bibi’s  stirring defense of the Jewish homeland exemplified what true leadership is.  His extemporaneous appeal for Israel’s survival was so powerful and poignant it was as though G-d Almighty was speaking through Bibi.    Bibi spoke from the heart; he was strong, direct and clear.

That’s why the criticism of his remarks is so out of bounds. We were painfully dismayed to hear Bibi’s commentary blasted as “disrespectful” of President Obama.  The characteristically amnesiac press seems to have forgotten about the humiliation visited upon Netanyahu and his official coterie in March of 2010 when Obama walked out of a meeting and left them hanging while he went for dinner with Michelle. Talking heads fixated on sensationalizing the apparent tension between Obama and Netanyahu and castigated Bibi for “lecturing” and “schooling” the US President.  In a glorious display of Jewish strength, Bibi refused to play the role of the “dhimmi” Jew, the “sha-shtill” obsequious ghetto Jew of yore.  How dare a Jew stand resolute in defense of our homeland and our peoplehood, and in the White House, no less?   This is what elicited the firestorm of controversy that has ensued and been a sorry distraction from the substance of the messages delivered and the gravity of what is at stake.

Bibi could not have been any more compelling in making his case to the President and to the callous world that he bears the same awesome responsibility in protecting the safety and security of his citizens as does President Obama.  Just as the US had the right and responsibility to commit our troops and our nation’s blood and treasure a half a world away in Afghanistan to take out Osama bin Laden to protect our children, Israel too has the same right and responsibility to refuse to negotiate with Hamas terrorists storming their gates killing their children.

Bibi plaintively sought to soften the Pharaoh Obama's heart, but apparently to no avail.  The Israeli PM gently reminded Obama that Hamas recently launched anti-tank missiles at a yellow school bus, killing a 16-year-old boy, and politely pointed out that Hamas is the Palestinian version of al Qaeda.

TT prays that in his address before AIPAC this evening and again in his speech to Congress Tuesday, Bibi holds fast in his insistence that Israel will NOT  negotiate with a PA unity government with Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel and murder of Jews worldwide. It is in America’s interests as well that all further “peace” talks be put on hold until Fatah and Hamas renounce their genocidal charters, stop their incitement to hate and violence, dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism and FINALLY demonstrate a willingness to recognize the Jewish state and to uphold the pledges they have repeatedly made and broken.

To do otherwise is to turn a blind eye to the blood-soaked record of Hamas and to reward terrorism.  This is the Second Coming of Yasser Arafat.  Either the US and rest of the so-called civilized world recognize Hamas et al for what they are and shuns them accordingly, or we continue to embrace them as we did Yasser Arafat and treat them as the victim darlings of the world.  If we betray Israel, we will no doubt unleash the third intifada in Israel and accelerate the carnage of global jihad.

Talk of 1967 borders, land swaps, right of return and and all ancillary issues should remain off the table UNTIL Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Syria and the full constellation of Iran’s proxies and terror threats to Israel have laid down their arms and renounced their evil ways. Instead of pressuring Israel for more and more concessions which only emboldens the  terror masters and their clients,  America should use its full weight and whatever is left of its moral authority to crush terror organizations and punish their sponsors.  If we fail to excise the threat, the “cells” will only metastasize.

After all, if we Talk Tachlis, this conflict is not about the little spittle of land that is Israel.  It certainly is not about resources.  The hard truth is that Israel is the outpost of democracy in the Middle East; the forward base and proxy of the free world.  Hamas and the PA are proxies of Iran, which is racing to nuclear capability in its quest to rid the world of both the Little Satan and the Big Satan. 

Israel is but a speedbump, the first road block to Muslim hegemony of the Mideast and the further conquest of the Western world and establishment of the global caliphate.

This is not about a “peace plan.”  This is about the willingness of this Administration to sacrifice Israel as a peace offering.

--posted by MT Beadle and The Mole

Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter Gets it Right on Obama's MidEast Speech

"Bluntly, a continued destabilization of Israel's security is a strategic sellout of the highest order, and a breaking of our solemn promise to our ally."

Bravo to US Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R), representing Michigan's 9th District! All supporters of Israel and democracy should applaud Rep. McCotter's perspicacious analysis of President Obama's Middle East Speech.  Please call the Congressman (Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121) to thank him for his political courage and stalwart support for Israel.  Make sure to call our other Congressmen and Senators from Michigan to get their read on President Obama's MidEast push.

Washington, D.C. – In response to President Obama’s address on the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. Representative Thaddeus G. McCotter (MI) has issued the following statement:

In his latest lecture to the Middle East, an ideologically purblind President Obama has again failed to acknowledge the facts on the ground, much to the detriment of American and Israeli strategic interests.

First, the President continues to confound "popular uprisings" with America's strategic interests.  This fails to account for the inherent danger that such movements can be usurped - if not instigated and abetted by - radical elements bent upon usurping them for anti-American purposes, as is increasingly evident in Egypt.  Providing the new Egyptian government billions in debt relief and loans without the conditions that the Camp David Accords must remain inviolable both in law and practice, is but the latest manifestation of this administration's Mid-East dumbfoundment.  

Secondly, the President's ill-conceived and incoherent policy and mission creep in Libya has now resulted in the administration's diminished willingness to promptly call for Syria's Assad to exit power; ergo, we witness the Obama Administration being more resolute in precipitously demanding the removal of an ally in Egypt than of an enemy in Syria - let alone in Iran.

While an increase in human intelligence gathering and grass roots support for nascent democratic and free-market institutions and movements within oppressed nations will help ensure these freedom movements are not hijacked by worse tyrants and steered into anti-American regimes, the Obama Administration refuses to accept the reality that these uprisings' beneficent outcomes can best be effectuated by the success of Iran's Green Revolution.  Succinctly, the removal of a murderous terrorist regime that stole a popular uprising in 1979, and its indigenous replacement with a true, free, anti-terrorist republic, will serve as an example and deterrent to the present movements being perverted by would be despots.

Such strategic celerity, though, is lacking in the Obama Administration.  For, as is becoming abundantly clear, its missteps and missed opportunities stem from the President's inconstant commitment to the strategic partnership that founds America's Middle Eastern policies for our national security and regional peace: the American-Israeli alliance.

Israel is a market-based, liberal democracy that protects the lives and property of its people, including its minorities.

Israel is America's key strategic ally in the region.  Israel enhances our defense capabilities; provides us a secure foothold in the strategically important and turbulent Middle East; and has supported our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by sharing its military technology and its intelligence on hostile forces.

Israel is under a constant and increasing threat from terrorist forces, such as Hamas and Hezbollah; instability on its borders; and the hatred of hostile nations, notably Iran and Syria, that seek our ally's demise.  

Already, due to the Obama administration's bungling, radical political forces in Egypt are promising to press for the abrogation of the Camp David accords with Israel, both as a matter of law and a matter of fact.

Inexcusably, the President's opining and overtures have caused America’s and Israel's shared strategic interests to decline in the Arab world - as has, not ironically, America's popularity.

Now must end the Obama Administration's pressure upon our ally to make dangerous strategic concessions, which the President has done since entering office.  Indeed, from day one the President has misunderstood and mangled the peace process, demanding concessions on Israeli settlements that the Palestinians had never made a precondition in negotiations.  In return, all the President has reaped is the Palestinian National Authority pulling out of negotiations and endeavoring to have the United Nations foist a Palestinian state upon Israel without any direct negotiations.  Moreover, the President's "policies" have done nothing to stem the Palestinian national authority allying with the terrorists of Hamas, who are pledged to Israel's destruction. 

Today's speech repeats the injurious canards of forcing unilateral concessions on Israel; and claiming Hamas is becoming "moderate".  This is naïve at best, and, in reality, a foolish and dangerous misreading of a terrorist group that is America’s and Israel's enemy.  Instead, The President should have made clear that, if the Palestinian Authority chooses Hamas, it has turned its back on peace and forfeited American support, aid and assistance.

Bluntly, a continued destabilization of Israel's security is a strategic sellout of the highest order, and a breaking of our solemn promise to our ally.

Mideast peace will not result from arbitrarily and unilaterally imposed solutions that will, in consequence, only further destabilize the region.  Peace will come when the Palestinians and the Arab nations accept Israel as a Jewish state, abandon their dreams of eradicating it; stop demonizing Israel; cease teaching their children to hate it; and, conversely, tolerate and protect the minorities in their midst.  When this happens, the Israelis will have a true partner in peace, one with whom they can mutually work for liberty, prosperity and security in that long troubled land.

Thus, to do otherwise in our strategic partnership with Israel, however unwittingly, would reveal President Obama's failure to acknowledge President Kennedy's sage advice: "The surest path to war is the path of weakness and disunity."

No, in the interests of peace and American and Israeli security, the President must acknowledge the truths underpinning our alliance; recognize those facts on the ground endangering our alliance; and, so doing, commence strengthening the foundations of the American-Israeli alliance; and the very hopes for Middle East peace.

University of Michigan Promotes Next Gaza Flotilla

______________________________________________________________________
It is disconcerting that under the official auspices of the University of Michigan funds were being solicited for the next deliberate attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Hamas-governed Gaza and to jeopardize the security of Israelis.
_____________________________________________________________________
The next Gaza-bound flotilla, originally scheduled for late May, will now be postponed until after the upcoming Turkish elections in June, according to international reports.  Talking Tachlis hopes the flotilla never sets sail, but was shocked to recently learn that the University of Michigan is apparently on board.

At a University of Michigan event this past February sponsored by three University departments, a flyer was distributed under the banner “HELP LAUNCH A U.S. BOAT TO GAZA”.

About 70 people – students, faculty and community members – heard former US Deputy Ambassador  and anti-Israel activist Ann Wright inveigh against Israel and make a pitch for the purchase of a U.S. boat to be named The Audacity of Hope (title of President Obama's autobiography) for the next flotilla. Wright’s speaking engagement February 23 at U-M was sponsored by the Barger Leadership Institute of the Department of Organizational Studies and co-sponsored by the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the Program on Intergroup Relations (a partnership of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and the Division of Student Affairs), the Residential College and the Arab Student Association. Wright has been speaking around the country to raise funds for the next  flotilla.


Wright's talks and writings  as a member of the "Gaza-flotilla alumni" are also promoted by such militant activist organizations as Code Pink, whose founder Jodie Evans worked with former Weather Underground leader William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn to organize the Free Gaza Movement, according to a report in Beltway Confidential.  William Ayers,  himself a U-M grad, was invited to speak at University of Michigan's Hatcher Graduate Library in 2009.


On its website, the Ford School promoted this event, noting that Wright was a participant in the last flotilla “that was attacked by the Israeli military and since then has been a leading organizer in raising funds to send additional boats to Gaza.” The release also notes that Wright was “an organizer for the Gaza Freedom March that brought together 1,350 people from 44 countries to Cairo in solidarity with the people of Gaza.”

Wright solicited at the event to help raise money to underwrite the next flotilla, as evidenced by the flyer posted above which was disseminated at the event.


Since the University of Michigan  sponsored this talk, the metro Detroit Jewish community and U-M’s alumni base/donors have a right to know if the university in fact supports the flotilla led by  IHH, an Islamist Turkish group connected to global terror networks, and the outrageous claims published in the flyer. Does the university support the statement of IHH leader Bulent Yildirim, who said last month, “We are not afraid to die as shaheeds [martyrs]” and foreshadowed the use of force and violence again?

A presser prepared by the Israel Project cites reports which demonstrate the links between IHH and global terrorism:

“IHH has provided financial support to Iran-backed Hamas and has ties to global jihadi networks and the Muslim Brotherhood – a global umbrella Islamic organization of which Hamas is a branch – as well as mujahideen groups in Afghanistan"

Both the university publicity and the flyer intimate that Israel provoked the attack. So much for academic integrity. The flyer proclaims that “Israeli commandos attacked the Free Gaza Flotilla, killing nine humanitarian aid workers and kidnapping more than 700 others.”

It is staggering that a talk sponsored by departments of such a prestigious academic institution would disseminate a flyer making such outrageously distorted claims. The record clearly shows that Israel did not instigate the attack. To the contrary, armed pro-Palestinian activists aboard the convoy who were prepared for violence in advance brutally attacked Israeli military personnel who intercepted the vessel. According to findings of the **Turkel Commission,  (conclusions highlighted at bottom of this post) about 40 passengers were IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi) members, who used "firearms and violent tactics".

Each Israeli soldier was attacked as they entered the ship,” Turkel said. Three of the soldiers were dragged into the ship’s hold and were prevented from receiving “humanitarian” medical attention, according to the Israel Project. 

In the interceding months between the flotilla confrontation in June 2010 and Wright’s speaking engagement this February, much has come to light about the flotilla confrontation, clearly showing the incident was premeditated to provoke a response from Israel. 

If the university was genuinely interested in presenting diverse perspectives, fulfilling its mission to give voice to the broad marketplace of ideas,  it would have at least offered a platform for a credible source to set the record straight. It begs the question why would the university invite in an Israel-bashing propagandist raising money for a flotilla destined to support Gaza governed by Hamas, a US-designated terror organization.

The list of well-credentialed speakers who could provide an accurate account of what really happened during the flotilla is long indeed and includes such distinguished experts as former Israeli Ambassador Dore Gold, former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. Perhaps when Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor returns to the University of Michigan to address the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (his appearance this winter was cancelled due to a winter storm), he can be asked to address this issue and why he is a leading champion of Israel in Congress. 

It is disappointing that the university failed to do its homework and exercise its vaunted intellectual rigor before blindly jumping onto the propaganda bandwagon to sponsor Wright and by extension, lending its imprimatur to support the flotilla. It is academically irresponsible that the university didn’t offer on the web pages promoting Wright’s politicized polemics the full context of the lead-up to the flotilla clash, what transpired during the confrontation, commentary on the flow of foodstuffs, medicines and other humanitarian aid Israel provides to Gaza, the history of arms-smuggling through to Gaza and background on Hamas.

Israeli officials have expressed concern that Islamist groups that endanger Israeli national security now have considerable influence within the Free Gaza movement, the group that organized the flotilla. In a bid to stop the flotilla whose “aim is to provoke and cause violence,”Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has appealed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.


It is indeed disconcerting that under the official auspices of the University of Michigan funds were being solicited for the next deliberate attempt to break the Israeli blockade of a terror organization and to jeopardize the security of Israelis.

Before the Ford School lip synced Wright’s claim that the flotilla was attacked by the Israeli military, it might have done its own homework. The Washington Post described the clash:

"Upon touching down, the Israeli commandos, who were equipped with paint guns and pistols, were assaulted with steel poles, knives and pepper spray. Video showed at least one commando being lifted up and dumped from the ship's upper deck to the lower deck. Some commandos later said they

jumped into the water to escape being beaten.”An account in Ha’aretz included footage released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry showing IHH leader Bulent Yildirim aboard the Mavi Marmara prior to the incident, calling for violence against Israeli soldiers. Said Yildirim, "If they board our ship, we will throw them into the sea,, Allah willing!"  The Israel Project reported that the night before the incident, Yildirim said in an interview with Turkish television, "We will definitely resist and we will not allow the Israelis to enter here....If Israel wants to board this ship, it will meet strong resistance."
A 2006 study conducted by the Danish Institute for International Studies showed that the IHH was involved in planning an al-Qaeda attack against Los Angeles International Airport in 1999. IHH reportedly acquired forged documents, enlisted operatives and delivered weapons to al-Qaeda in preparation for the attack, which was ultimately foiled.”

As to the wild allegation that Israel “kidnapped” more than 700 activists, the Washington Post piece accounts for the flotilla passengers, who were detained for questioning and released.

And since when do “humanitarian aid workers” wield knives, metal bars, clubs and other weaponry to viciously attack Israelis who boarded the ship after the Mavi Marmara failed to heed Israeli warnings not to break the blockade. All of the vessels in the flotilla defied Israeli Naval warnings to dock and unload in the nearby port city of Ashdod and not to violate Israeli law by landing in Gaza. Violence broke out only on the Mavi Marmara.

Israel has imposed the maritime blockade on Gaza because of security risks to its citizenry. Hamas continues to smuggle Iranian rockets and other weaponry since the Iran-backed terror organization overthrew the PA in a bloody 2007 coup. Just two months ago, Israel stopped the Victoria, carrying 50 tons of advanced shore-to-sea missiles and mortar shells to Hamas.

There are several other such examples of Gaza-bound ships concealing massive weapons caches, including the highly publicized case of the Karin A, intercepted by Israel in the Red Sea in 2002. The ship’s cargo comprised 50 tons of advanced weaponry including Katysha rockets, mines and anti-tank missiles bound for the Palestinian Authority.

“The appropriate way to meet needs in Gaza was through legitimate crossings,” said U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East,  Robert Serry in a  briefing to the Security Council in September 2010.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also defended Israel’s right to search vessels entering Gaza and defense of its citizens: "When rockets are being launched at Israeli citizens, and when children are in danger, Israel is within its rights to protect its people. When over 100 rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza in one year, Israel is within its rights to search vessels bringing cargo into Gaza," Cameron said.

Israel delivers more than a ton of aid per person to Gaza. About 50,000 tons of goods and humanitarian aid are transferred to Gaza biweekly. Currently, 250 trucks cross from Israel into Gaza daily and by the end of 2011 there will be capacity for 400 trucks.

In addition to accelerating the flow of construction materials to Gaza, Israel has received 1,500 applications from Gazans for health care in Israel since the start of 2011, representing a 63 percent increase from 2010. Also, 423 tons of medicine and medical supplies were shipped into Gaza, via 538 trucks, in 2010.

It is interesting to note that the “humanitarian” supplies brought into Gaza by the flotilla included expired medicines and such outdated, inferior “aid inventory” that it was rendered useless.

The Turkel Commission earlier this year released its findings confirming that Israel abided by international law in trying to prevent the flotilla from reaching Iran-backed Hamas and Gaza’s waters. Participating in the investigation were international observers Lord David Trimble, a Noble Peace Laureate and a Northern Ireland political leader, and Brigadier General Kenneth Watkin (Ret.), Judge Advocate General for the Canadian forces.


To express your indignation as a Michigan taxpayer funding this state university or as an alumni or parent of a U-M student, please contact U-M President Mary Sue Coleman or the Board of Regents.

Here is the contact information for President Coleman:

President, University of Michigan
2074 Fleming Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1340
(734) 764-6270marysuec@umich.edu

To reach the Regents, consult this link:

Talking Tachlis readers, NY alum and parents of NY students attending U-M may also want to contact Dave Barger, CEO of JetBlue, who funded the Barger Institute within the Department of Organizational Studies, which sponsored the program. Email him at david.barger@jetblue.com

Inexcusable as this is on its face, this is part of a larger, troubling pattern of anti-Israel bias on campus and in the classroom. Talking Tachlis will highlight some of the more disturbing examples in upcoming posts.


**Main Conclusions of the Turkel Commission which led independent inquiry into Flotilla incident
• The conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip is an international armed conflict.
• Israel’s ‘effective control’ of the Gaza Strip ended when the disengagement was completed.
• The purpose of the naval blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip was primarily a military-security one.
• The naval blockade was imposed on the Gaza Strip lawfully, with Israel complying with the conditions for imposing it.
• Israel is complying with the humanitarian obligations imposed on the blockading party, including the prohibition of starving the civilian population or preventing the supply of objects essential for the survival of the civilian population and medical supplies, and the requirement that the damage to the civilian population is not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the blockade.
• The imposition and enforcement of the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip does not constitute ‘collective punishment’ of the population of the Gaza Strip.
• International law does not give individuals or groups the freedom to ignore the imposition of a naval blockade that satisfies the conditions for imposing it and that is enforced accordingly, especially where a blockade satisfies obligations to neutral parties, merely because in the opinion of those individuals or groups it violates the duties of the party imposing the blockade vis-à-vis the entity subject to the blockade.
• A vessel that attempts to breach a blockade is subject to international law governing the conduct of hostilities: international humanitarian law, including the rules governing use of force.
• The Israeli armed forces' interception and capture of the Gaza Flotilla vessels in international waters - seaward of the blockaded area - was in conformity with customary international humanitarian law.
• The tactics chosen to intercept and capture the Flotilla vessels -including having Shayetet 13 naval commandoes board from Morena speedboats and fast-rope from helicopter onto the roof of the vessels - was consistent with established international naval practice.
• The participants in the Flotilla were predominantly an international group of civilians whose main goal was to bring publicity to the humanitarian situation in Gaza by attempting to breach the blockade imposed by Israel.
• On board the Mavi Marmara and the other flotilla vessels was a group of IHH and affiliated activists (the “IHH activists”) that violently opposed the Israeli boarding. The IHH activists who participated in that violence were civilians taking a direct part in hostilities.
• The force used against civilians on board the flotilla was governed by the principles of "necessity" and use of "proportionate force" associated with human rights based law enforcement norms. However, the IHH activists lost the protection of their civilian status for such time as they directly participated in the hostilities. The use of force against these direct participants in hostilities is governed by the applicable rules of international humanitarian law.
• The Rules of Engagement for the operation provided an authority to use force that reflected the nature of a law enforcement operation.
• The IHH activists carried out the violence on board the Mavi Marmara by arming themselves with a wide array of weapons, including iron bars, axes, clubs, slingshots, knives, and metal objects. These were weapons capable of causing death or serious injury. Further, the hostilities were conducted in an organized manner with IHH activists, inter alia, operating in groups when violently assaulting the IDF soldiers.
• The IHH activists used firearms against the IDF soldiers during the hostilities.
• The Commission has examined 133 incidents in which force was used. The majority of the uses of force involved warning or deterring fire and less-lethal weapons.
• Overall, the IDF personnel acted professionally in the face of extensive and unanticipated violence. This included continuing to switch back and forth between less-lethal and lethal weapons in order to address the nature of the violence directed at them.
• The Commission has concluded that in 127 cases, the use of force appeared to be in conformity with international law.
• In six cases, the Commission has concluded that it has insufficient information to be able to make a determination.
• Three out of those six cases involved the use of live fire and three cases involved physical force; two incidents of kicking and one strike with the butt of a gun.
• In five out of the 127 incidents that appeared to be in conformity with international law, there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the use of force was also in accordance with law enforcement norms. However, in these cases, force appeared to be used against persons taking a direct part in hostilities and, as a consequence, was in conformity with international law.
• The planning and organization of the IDF mission to enforce the blockade did not include anticipation that there would be a violent opposition to the boarding, which had a direct impact on the operational tactics, Rules of Engagement, and training before the operation. However, the focus of the planning and organization of the operation on a lower level of resistance did not lead to a breach of international law.


--posted by AK45 and CC (campus correspondent)

Congressman Levin: What Were You Thinking? Levin Bros Split on US Aid for PA-Hamas

Against the backdrop of escalating threats to Israel’s very existence, one could only wonder if the (D) which appears after Sander Levin’s name stands for “disappointing” or “distressing” or “disgraceful.” It is mighty troubling that Sander Levin,  our only Jewish US Congressman from Michigan, would find himself siding with the likes of Representatives John Conyers and John Dingell – certainly no friends of Israel – in signing a letter supporting US aid to the Palestinian Authority in a unity government with Hamas. 

Hamas, our Jewish Congressman representing Jewish communities surely knows, is a terrorist organization whose stated mission is the murder of Jews and destruction of Israel.  Hamas, lest we forget, also condemned the United States for killing Osama Bin Laden, glorified by Hamas as a “holy warrior.”

The US has been pumping billions of dollars of aid to the PA over the years, with more than $500 million directed to the PA last  year alone.  The wisdom of that notwithstanding, there is no question now that American tax dollars cannot be appropriated to support for a Hamas-PA partnership government.  Our message should be unequivocal:  if the PA doesn’t reject Hamas, we no longer bankroll them. 

We must raise our voices in deafening roar to stop international legitimization of the Islamic Resistance Movement, a murderous terror group responsible for the death and injury of innocent Americans as well as the targeting of Jews and subjugation and persecution of Christians. Think about it.  The world is demonizing and delegitimizing Israel, an outpost of democracy in a roiling sea of tyranny, while it is looking to legitimize a terror organization and welcome it into the world of nations.  

Funding a PA-Hamas coalition is an obscene repudiation of everything America represents and would set the stage for the inexorable delisting of Hamas as a terror organization. The existential danger to Israel is palpable; few stop to realize however the threat an emboldened, internationally recognized Hamas would present to us here in America, where the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial demonstrated operates an extensive Hamas-support network.

And given the declaration last week by a senior Palestinian legislator and member of Abbas’ ruling Fatah party, the consummation of the Hamas-PA union is sure to imperil Israel. 

“No one in Fatah and Hamas movements recognizes Israel,” the official said. He added, “Palestinians who are a nation under occupation have and will resist against the occupiers and we witness Palestinian resistance and conflicts with the Zionist regime in most regions.”

But that didn’t stop the toxically anti-Israel J Street from vigorously lobbying Congress to support the letter to the President urging continued aid to a PA-Hamas unit government.  The letter is signed by nearly 60 percent of the Democratic caucus and also includes the endorsements of Rep. Hansen Clarke, the Detroit freshman, and longtime Flint Congressman Dale Kildee.  Kudos to Rep. Gary Peters,  the lone Democratic Michigan Congressman, who DID NOT sign onto the letter backed by the Soros- and Arab-funded J Street whose anti-Israel initiatives have been widely reported and criticized by the likes of Rabbi Eric Yoffie , head of the Reform Movement, Kadima party member Otniel Schneller and Israeli Deputy Knesset Speaker Danny Danon who described J Street as a pro-Palelstinian organization.

Even liberal Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-NY) recently cut ties with J Street, saying,

“I’ve come to the conclusion that J-Street is not an organization with which I wish to be associated,” an organization he characterized as “so open-minded about what constitutes support for Israel that its brains have fallen out.”

Why then would Sander Levin, a perennial favorite among Michigan Jewish voters, sign on to a letter that not only endangers Israel, but as a result of empowering Hamas, all Jews targeted by Hamas’ genocidal charter? The ZOA notes that “J Street has funded some of Israel’s harshest Congressional critics” and “also been found to have been significantly funded by pro-Saudi activists, Arab-American leaders, Muslim activists and State Department anti-Israel Arabists,” well known to have deep pockets when it comes to political giving.

Levin’s signature on the J-Street letter is all the more puzzling given that it stands in polar opposition to brother Carl Levin’s signature on a letter of 29 US Democratic Senators  to the President objecting to US aid for a PA-Hamas collaboration.  The letter, also signed by Michigan’s other US Senator Debbie Stabenow, notes that American law precludes aid to Hamas.  

"It is imperative for you to make clear to [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas that Palestinian Authority participation in a unity government with an unreformed Hamas will jeopardize its relationship with the United States, including its receipt of U.S. aid,"  states the letter initiated by Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey.

"Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups in Gaza have also stepped up their smuggling of Iranian arms and increased their mortar and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, firing more than 130 during the past month alone and nearly 300 this year. Hamas’ response to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, condemning “the assassination and killing of an Arab holy warrior” is emblematic of Hamas’ ideology and underscores Hamas’ continued support for terrorism. The United States should stand by its refusal to work with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas …"

Republicans have also weighed in to challenge funding to a PA-Hamas unity government. Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) issued a memo on April 29 outlining that the legal implications of the Fatah/Hamas unity government meant that no U.S. funds may be provided for salaries for personnel of the PA located in Gaza, or to Hamas or entity it controls, nor may funding go to any government of which Hamas is a member unless the President certifies they have publicly accepted and complied with core requirements of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006

The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has called attention to a 2006 law, P.L. No: 109-446, ‘Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act,’ that conditions U.S. aid on a “requirement that Palestinian recipients must renounce violence and acknowledge Israel's right to exist” conditions which Hamas openly repudiates. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen said, “No taxpayer funds should go, they must not go, to the new Palestinian unity government.

Given the reassessment now going on inside the Beltway regarding US aid to Pakistan in the wake of concerns about alleged Pakistani complicity in harboring Bin Laden,  it is shocking that the US would knowingly funnel money to a Palestinian government headed in part by Hamas, a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The ZOA’s Mort Klein makes it clear:

"That the PA now has formally joined forces with Hamas, which calls in its Charter for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews, should automatically render it ineligible and illegal for any form of U.S. aid or diplomatic support.”

However, as has been noted by several pundits, including Sarah Stern of EMET (Endowment for Middle East Truth): “It appears however that the Administration intends to buck congressional pressure and proceed with business as usual…

According to a report by Israel National News,  Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and eight other Democratic lawmakers traveled to Israel last week and met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, “who told the delegation that the United States should shun the Fatah-Hamas government.Pelosi was non-committal.”

Exhorts Stern:  As Jews, supporters of Israel, Americans and clear-thinking citizens who abhor terrorism in all its guises, we must insist that the United States and the United Nations refuse to recognize any government that includes Hamas.

 "The Hamas-Fatah unity agreement must be understood as a line crossed in the sand. The time has come to end funding for the duplicitous Palestinian Authority, which has repeatedly ignored U.S. concerns, preferring terrorists to American aid."

Here are immediate action items you can take to help halt this madness:

1.   Call the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to any and all US Representatives and US Senators you have the time to call. Make it a priority to call the offices of Rep. Gary Peters and Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow to thank them for speaking out against US aid to PA-Hamas. And make sure to call Rep. Sander Levin to let him know how despicable it was for him to sign the letter encouraging US funding of the PA-Hamas terror steamroller. Please weigh in with our Republican lawmakers (Miller, McCotter, Rogers, Wahlberg, Huizenga, Amash, Benishek, Upton, Camp)

2.  Call the White House at 202-456-1414 and let them know the hypocrisy of its double standards. We hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden and have committed our nation's blood and treasure to take out Al Qaeda, but we fund terrorists dedicated to Jew-killing. 

3.   Sign this Petition to Reject Terrorists in “Unity Government.”  You can also print it out and use it as the basis for an email to lawmakers.

--posted by MT Beadle

Allan Gale and the Hypocrisy of the JCRC

What does Pastor Terry Jones have to do with The Walk for Israel?  Personally, he has nothing to do with it and probably has no idea that the Walk even took place this Sunday.  However, there is a connection, and a somewhat unsavory one at that - not, certainly, on the part of Pastor Jones, but rather on the part of our very own Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).

Readers may remember a previous post on Richard Nodel, the volunteer president of Detroit’s (JCRC), and his unsavory alliance with Imam Al-Qazwini from the Islamic Center of America, the mega mosque in Dearborn.  We exposed how Nodel stood in solidarity with the imam against Reverend Jones’ right to free speech, a right that Jews in particular should hold dear considering how many times throughout history we have had that right denied to us.

As is seen in this video taken at the Pastor Jones' rally, those who Nodel stood in solidarity with, are Israel haters - jeering and booing at the Israeli AND American flag.

Now, Allan Gale the Associate Director of the JCRC, wrote a commentary this past Thursday for the Jewish News titled, Let The World See: We Walk For Israel. Gale espouses the merits of standing up for Israel and attending the Walk for Israel.  Unfortunately, what should be words of wisdom, end up only showing the duplicity that permeates the JCRC.

In his commentary Gale says:

There are threats that Israel and world Jewry need to remain vigilant against. Although Osama bin Laden is now gone, the Al Qaida terrorists are still out there, with their "soldiers" and sleeper cells, targeting Israel and Jews. The Hamas rulers in Gaza, the Hezbollah power brokers in Lebanon, the Holocaust-denying, Israel-threatening and nuclear bomb-pursuing Iranians, the Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad and the Palestinian terror organizations of Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -these are enemies of Israel that continue to operate daily and that celebrate the deaths of Jews. 

Wise words…but disingenuous at best.  After all, Gale works for and is in a position of importance at the JCRC as its associate director.  When Richard Nodel, the president of the organization, stood in solidarity with al-Qazwini, in Dearborn less than a month ago, did Gale speak out against this affront to the Detroit Jewish community, Israel, and Jews around the world?  After all,
al-Qazwini has made his opinions clear about Jews and Israel, and according to many articles is a Hamas supporter.

In an article in FrontPageMagazine.com in 2005, Joe Kaufman wrote about Qazwini:  

In an October 2004 speech to mark the beginning of Ramadhan, Al-Qazwini described how Judaism and Christianity are lower forms of humanity than Islam, Judaism being the lowest. He stated: “Generally, human being [sic] goes through his or her life through certain stages -- infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood -- as when you start your education, you go to an elementary school, then you move to high school, then you go to university, get your degree and find a job. This is how the entire humanity did. It was, in the beginning, preventive teachings. And then there was Judaism. And then, when the humanity advanced, there was Christianity. And now, when the humanity had advanced one more step, Islam came to be the universal, the university.”

In a news article that came out in The Boston Globe, dated October 23, 2000, it was reported that, during a lecture he was giving inside a university classroom, Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini had “expressed...hostility towards Jews.”

Provided all of the above statements, this hostility seems evident in much of the Al-Qazwini family. It exhibits a pattern of prejudice and bigotry aimed at those that are not of the Islamic faith, primarily those that are Jewish.

Why didn’t Gale take exception to Nodel discrediting the entire Detroit Jewish community let alone the organization that he has worked at for decades (28 years according to the JCRC website) by shilling for the local muslim imam who has no affinity, and in what it appears from his actions and words great disdain for Israel and Jews?  Why didn’t Gale stand up for freedom of speech, a deeply held liberty by both Americans and Israelis when Nodel stood in solidarity with Qazwini against Pastor Jones. Now he requests that all of us - the Jewish community -  stand up for Israel?

Gale goes onto say:

Media relations also are of key importance. Israel has English speaking, well-trained spokesmen and spokeswomen in its armed forces and government. They cater to the largest foreign media contingent in the world.


Now it is our turn to help Israel's public image by walking on May 15.

Seriously?

Just wondering, did you plan on inviting Imam al-Qazwini to be there standing in solidarity with the rest of the Jewish community, like your boss did with him?


Mr. Gale, the President of your organization has made our Jewish community look like a bunch of fools in the eyes of the rest of the world.  And you have the audacity to talk about public image, and helping Israel?

But perhaps most offensive was the final statement:

This Sunday, we can provide Israel with our personal solidarity and commitment by walking, gathering, singing and praying. Please come, to stand up, to pick up a banner and to shout it out -we love and support Israel.   

You see, you can’t have it both ways. Either live by your words or live by your actions. But choose one. Your organization, and by extension you, can’t cozy up to those who wish both our demise and the demise of Israel, and then expect us to believe the drivel that you write comes from your heart, telling the rest of us to stand up for Israel. That Mr. Gale, is the mark of a hypocrite.

And Pastor Jones’ connection? It’s as simple as this - thanks to his appearance here in Michigan, we were given an up front and personal depiction, once again, of the betrayal that the JCRC has perpetrated on the Detroit Jewish community. We owe him a debt of gratitude for exposing the truth about this two-faced organization and its leaders, and the dangers they present to us all.

-posted by Aerie