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BRUNDIBAR
Letters Jewish Christian Relations
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Dear Joe,
What a year it's been! New Israeli-Palestinian peace
talks are about to be launched... U.S.-Israel relations were in crisis mode in March when the Netanyahu government announced
plans to build 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem... Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit nears his fifth consecutive Rosh Hashanah
in captivity... More than a million Israelis live under threat of rockets coming from Gaza... West Bank settlers repeatedly
carried out "Price Tag" attacks against Palestinians...
And, I was booed at a pro-Israel
rally.
I can take care of myself in the face of some public hazing. But as Rosh Hashanah approaches, I'd
like to share with you why I believe you should be concerned by my reception at the Los Angeles community rally for Israel.
I was there to voice my support for Israel as a representative of Americans for Peace Now (APN). As I made my remarks
the booing continued, despite the entreaties of the representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and the
Consul General of Israel, who had organized the rally in the wake of the Gaza flotilla debacle.
Three times they
appealed to the crowd to be civil, but to no avail. Someone yelled “traitor” at me. People called out “enemy.”
It was like what so many politicians encountered a year ago at those town hall meetings: They came to talk about health
care and other concerns, only to find themselves confronted by a sea of hostile faces and jeering, angry voices. As
I finished my remarks, there was no doubt: I had been Tea Partied – or perhaps I should say, “Wissotzky Tea Partied,”
using the name of Israel’s leading tea company.
“It was not that they were booing his message,
but his very presence,” Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center wrote in The Huffington
Post a few days later. “They were only interested in drowning out a fellow Jew.”
This is what
the crowd tried to drown out: that our support for the people of Israel is iron-clad, and that our highest hope is that Israel
will one day live at peace with all its neighbors. And I reminded anyone who could hear me above the catcalls that Israel’s
future as a secure, Jewish and democratic state can only be ensured through a two-state solution.
That’s
the message Americans for Peace Now is spreading across the country. As the aggressive opposition to us at the L.A. rally
for Israel made clear, it is imperative that we strengthen our presence throughout the U.S., amplify our voice and be heard
above the booing of this Wissotzky Tea Party.
But in booing me, let’s
look at who else they were booing:
• They were booing former Prime Minister Ehud
Barak (the most decorated IDF soldier in history), who recently told a conference in Tel Aviv that Israel's failure to strike
a peace deal with the Palestinians is a greater threat to the country than a nuclear Iran.
•
They were booing former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (former Mossad official and head of the centrist Kadima Party), who said
that “the price of no [peace] agreement is greater than the price of an agreement – the risks of on-going conflict
are greater than the risks of peace.”
• They were even booing the sitting prime minister,
Binyamin Netanyahu, who now accepts the two-state solution as a way to resolve Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians.
He said it and we hope he means it.
Booing is a knee-jerk reaction,
a way of saying “my way or the highway,” which is another way of saying “no.” By contrast, APN says
“yes,” and offers a rational, civil, solution-oriented approach to support for Israel.
At first blush, the incivility at the L.A. rally may appear to be about right versus left, hawk versus dove. But there is
something much deeper, and very troubling, that the heckling exposed: For too many American Jews, there can be no debate on
Israel. Israel’s policies must be supported whether or not they are sensible, whether or not they actually work. They
are the self-appointed enforcers of political orthodoxy.
For them, there is no room for divergent opinions on what
is best for Israel. For them, when it comes to this issue, the fundamental Jewish tradition of debate and dissent, which is
so elevated as to be a core element of the Talmud, can be ignored.
We
can’t let them succeed.
APN has made an impact in opening up the discussion for the sake of Israel.
In Southern California, where I am regional director, APN participates actively in Israel-related communal efforts, always
speaking up for the pro-Israel, pro-peace perspective. We have addressed groups in synagogues, churches, schools, universities
and parlor parties, and will continue to do so.
Across the country, APN programs feature an array of important
voices ranging from Israeli and Palestinian political leaders, to U.S. ambassadors and other senior voices from our country,
to key international players.
So yes, some may disagree with us. But don’t attempt to silence our message.
Doing so is a precursor to an ugly form of Jewish zealotry, and it’s something Israel cannot afford.
What zealotry, you ask?
• The
kind of zealotry you see when Jewish settlers vandalize Palestinian property
for wood to build bonfires for the Jewish Lag B’omer festival. This happens in Hebron, year after year. Not a peep from
those booing me.
• The zealotry settlers
and their political supporters show when they defy an Israeli Supreme Court order to shutter Beit Yonatan, an illegal six-story
apartment house built for Jews in the middle of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem. Not a peep from those booing
me.
• The zealotry that drives settlers
to systemically cut down or burn Palestinian olive trees or desecrate West Bank mosques. When Israeli settlers allow
their children to beat up Palestinian kids, this is zealotry on which Israel cannot stand. For goodness sakes, boo this!
There are points on which we can agree with even the most hawkish of hawks. We can agree that Hamas’ rocket
attacks on southern Israel cannot be tolerated. Incitement and chronic efforts to delegitimize Israel are insufferable and
need to be exposed and stopped.
We should be able to agree that
the Gaza blockade enforced from 2006 to this summer had not met any of its aims. Hamas has a tighter grip
on the territory than ever. The blockade has not ended arms smuggling into Gaza. But it has intensified a humanitarian crisis.
And it has not secured the release of Gilad Shalit.
Maybe you have been convinced for a long time; maybe
you’ve come to see value in this perspective more recently. No matter when it happened, now is the time
you can join with us to educate others.
While remaining vigilant, and never minimizing the reality of security
threats and risks, Israel must take every advantage of the opportunities to move forward toward a peaceful resolution.
We need to talk about the West Bank, where the Palestinians are busy
building shopping malls and a new city, not blowing up Tel Aviv cafes. Last year the West Bank experienced an estimated
GDP growth rate of 5.5 percent.
Much of the credit for this peaceful growth goes to the Palestinian leadership.
Like the pre-state Zionist leaders, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are pragmatists
who are busy building institutions and infrastructure. They are the “someone to talk to” that Israel needs on
the Palestinian side, an opportunity that Israel cannot afford to miss.
This moment is so auspicious that even
former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz told Bloomberg News that Israel should let the Palestinians establish
a state and hand over most of the West Bank as soon as possible.
That’s
what “Peace Now” means – constantly searching for opportunities for agreement that will end Israel’s
disastrous rule over another people, and leave the Jewish state secure, democratic and Jewish.
APN
voices this imperative every day. We project it through our website and our blog, in print and online articles and editorial
pieces, and through social-networking media like Facebook and Twitter.
In Israel, APN provides half of the funding
for our sister organization, Peace Now (Shalom Achshav). Peace Now’s Settlement Watch is the premier civilian
source of impartial information about Israel’s settlements in the territories. And Peace Now’s legal advocacy
gets results. Because of a Shalom Achshav lawsuit, the Israeli government opened a criminal investigation this summer
against a group of settlers who built houses in violation of Israeli law.
With your support, we can do more.
We identify with and take pride in Israel when we hear the
sermons and read the opinion pieces with the good news: that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East; that Israel
has more Nobel laureates per capita than any other country; and that Israel is in the forefront of developing green and medical
technologies.
We all share naches from these successes. Yet this pride doesn’t paint the entire,
complex picture. We love Israel, and that means warts and all. Booing won’t make unpleasant truths disappear,
and that’s something the hecklers don’t want to face.
But if we allow the people who dominate pro-Israel
activity to circle the wagons so tight that differences, healthy debate and loyal dissent are not allowed, then Israel and
the cause of peace will suffer. Instead of booing, this New Year let’s
have a slice of honey cake and a cup of tea together, Wissotzky or otherwise.
Thank you for your
support. Click here to make a tax-deductible contribution.
L’shanah Tovah,
David Pine
David Pine is Americans for Peace Now's West Coast Regional
Director.
Please join me by making a tax-deductible
contribution today.
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| | Legislative Action Message: July 27, 2010 | |  | | | | | Iran: Help Prevent A WarSee the printer-friendly version of this alert A new House resolution could lead to a U.S. war with Iran--even if the bill never becomes law. Please urge your representative to oppose and denounce this resolution. The resolution, H. Res. 1553, claims to assert Israel's right to defend its sovereignty but actually signals to Israel
that the United States will unconditionally back Israeli "use of military force" against Iran. It's a green light
to war. Similar extreme resolutions have been introduced before, but this one already has the support of a significant
number of representatives-nearly one-third of the Republican caucus. Whatever the conflict between Israel and Iran,
war is not the answer. Why could this resolution lead to war? - If enough members of
Congress cosponsor the resolution, Israel could perceive that it has a "green light" to attack Iran in the months
ahead.
- If Israel attacks Iran, the United States will almost certainly be drawn in, either because Iran retaliates
against U.S. forces in the region, or because the United States feels pressure to help Israel if its assault falls short.
H. Res. 1553 is, in effect, a U.S. declaration of war on Iran. Peace between Iran and the United States
is still possible through peaceful means, and, today, contrary to this bill's premise, Iran does not pose a nuclear threat
to Israel. Another Middle East war would have catastrophic consequences on the people of the region and on U.S. interests.
The Iranian government says that it is not developing nuclear weapons. The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad says that ,even
if Iran is secretly developing such weapons, it will not have a deliverable nuclear weapon for four years. Time is on
the side of a peacefully negotiated outcome.
Take Action
Urge your representative to denounce H. Res. 1553 as a flagrantly irresponsible encouragement of a catastrophic war with Iran. Ask five friends to write as well. Background The operative part of the resolution states Resolved,
That the House of Representatives--
(1) condemns the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
for its threats of `annihilating' the United States and the State of Israel, for its continued support of international terrorism,
and for its incitement of genocide of the Israeli people;
(2) supports using all means of persuading
the Government of Iran to stop building and acquiring nuclear weapons;
(3) reaffirms the United States
bond with Israel and pledges to continue to work with the Government of Israel and the people of Israel to ensure that their
sovereign nation continues to receive critical economic and military assistance, including missile defense capabilities, needed
to address the threat of Iran; and
(4) expresses support for Israel's right to use all means necessary
to confront and eliminate nuclear threats posed by Iran, defend Israeli sovereignty, and protect the lives and safety of the
Israeli people, including the use of military force if no other peaceful solution can be found within a reasonable time.
Read
the full bill text. On the 2C blog, FCNL's Jim Fine talks more about how the U.S. could indirectly declare war on Iran. Contacting LegislatorsContact your members of Congress through FCNL's web site. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 Sen. ________
U.S.
Senate Washington, DC 20510 Rep. ________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515 | | | |
2010 Advocacy Conference Report Attendees, click here to give feedback! Return
to conference homepage Church advocates and clergy from around the country gathered in Washington June 13-15 for fellowship,
study, prayer and advocacy on behalf of peace for Israelis and Palestinians. "Pursuing Peace Together: Working for Reconciliation in the Holy Land" was the theme of CMEP's 2010 advocacy conference that sought to build urgent bi-partisan support in Congress for
the President’s efforts to achieve a two-state solution as part of a comprehensive Middle East peace. The
conference was a unique ecumenical gathering of 180 Christians from 18 denominations, including Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant
traditions, committed to a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ensuring security,
human rights and religious freedom for all the people of the region. (CMEP advocates asking questions
during the lobby day prep session where they learned about best practices for holding meetings with Members of Congress and
their staff and a review of CMEP’s talking points and asks of Congress.) During the gathering
and opening worship session on Sunday, June 13, Warren Clark, CMEP Executive Director, issued opening remarks for the prayer
service. Rev. John H. Thomas, past General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ and current Chair of CMEP’s Leadership
Council, provided witness to the Word with an inspiring and heart-felt sermon focusing on the "vocation of prayer"
and the "vocation of attentiveness," reminding all of us of our responsibility to stand courageously with those
who are overlooked or forgotten. During the offering conference attendees articulated what gifts they offer for peacemaking,
including "Diligence in continuing to raise and keep raised my voice of hope." The following
day, Warren Clark offered opening remarks. During the regional perspectives on peace plenary, Brian Katulis from Center for
American Progress, Joel Rubin from National Security Network and Trita Parsi from the National Iranian American Council talked
about important regional dynamics related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the role of key state actors like Iran,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and Qatar. |
Speaking out against anti-Semitism in Edison October 05, 2009, 3:29PM
 Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesBy David Bossman and Paul
Gibbons/ NJ Voices Guest Bloggers During the Jewish High
Holydays a number of anti-Semitic incidents took place in Edison. Whether they
were a planned series or merely coincidental, they should not be happening here, they should not be happening now. We speak
out to condemn such activities and affirm our solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters. We do not want only to deplore
these actions, but also to show why they have no place in our world. They are un-American, unchristian,
unhistorical. We point this out in the slight hope of reaching the small minded bigots but in the much greater hope of alerting
men and women of good will of the necessity of standing against this evil. It
seems to us that anti-Semitism is first of all un-American. Our country is founded on the principle that we are all free to
practice whatever religion we choose, or none at all if that is our preference. The practical outcome of this principle is
that all religions have an equal right to the public square and are to be treated justly. There is nothing American about
anti-Semitism. Secondly anti-Semitism, in spite of its convoluted history, is clearly unchristian.
Jesus Christ was born a Jew to a Jewish mother and foster-father. All of his apostles and many of his disciples were
also Jewish. Jesus himself celebrated the feasts and holydays of his Jewish religion, worshipped and taught in the Temple
in Jerusalem, which he called his Father’s House. Jesus also attended synagogue and listened and read aloud the same
readings from the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings that Jews are reading and listening to today, as in fact are many of
the Christian churches. For a Christian to be anti-Semitic he must first of all hate his own Savior Jesus of Nazareth, as
well as many of Jesus’ disciples. No one who loves Jesus or calls him Savior can be an anti-Semite. No one who hates
Jews can be called a Christian. Thirdly anti-Semitism is unhistorical. As we learn more
about how to understand the Gospels in their own context, a very different picture of Jesus and His time emerges. Based on
the clearer grasp of the historical situation, the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church issued the document Nostra
Aetate which states, “neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time nor Jews today
can be charged with the crimes committed during his passion”. The Romans certainly were part of the story. The Romans
held to themselves the death penalty and it was Pontius Pilate who had inscribed on the cross the political, not religious
(at least to him), charge: Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews. The Church also affirms in this same document, with St. Paul,
that the Jews remain very dear to God who will never take back the gifts he bestowed on the Jews or the choices
He made. We thus stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters in denouncing acts of
vandalism and symbols of hatred. It is the least we can do to express our shared beliefs and moral outrage at those who belittle
anyone’s identity or religious faith. David Bossman is executive director of the S. Rose Thering Endowment .
Paul
Gibbons is chairman of the board.
Learning from LunaSep. 3, 2009
RON KRONISH , THE JERUSALEM POST Luna's Life
A Journey of Forgiveness
and Triumph
By Luna Kaufman
Comteq Publishing
326 pp., $19.95 Luna's Life is a poignant memoir of a strong and determined Holocaust survivor who makes remarkably significant
contributions to the Jewish and Christian communities - and to Jewish-Christian dialogue and mutual understanding - in the
postwar period and until this very day. Subtitled "a journey of forgiveness and triumph," this is the story of Luna
Kaufman, who returns to Poland, lives briefly in Israel and then moves to the United States, a story of her zest for life
which is undoubtedly what enabled her to survive the concentration camps. This beautiful book was published in May marking Kaufman's receipt of an honorary
degree at Seton Hall University in New Jersey for her work benefiting the Sister Rose Thering Endowment for Jewish-Christian
Studies at this university. In the preface to the book, Msgr. Robert Sheeran, the president of the university, pays tribute
to Kaufman: "The strength of character that enabled her to survive imprisonment during the darkest time of the 20th century
shines through even today."
About one-third of the book is based on Kaufman's memories of growing
up in Krakow and surviving the war "after being enslaved for four years in the depths of hell called concentration camps."
Her story of how she survived,
with her mother, is rivetingly told from her own point of view, mixed with much passion and even some humor. It is a gripping,
moving, personal story - complete with detailed descriptions of unbelievable cruelty, accompanied by threads of hope amid
terrifying despair. Most of the
book, however, is her post-Holocaust journey, which takes her back to Krakow for five difficult years, then to Israel in the
early 1950s, followed by her marriage and emigration to the US in 1952. The thrust of this book is how this Holocaust survivor remains an eternal optimist
and devotes her life to making the world a better place for all human beings, not just members of her tribe. Rather than remain bitter, Kaufman felt that
her wartime experiences sparked a need to teach tolerance and mutual respect. She places herself among a group of Holocaust
survivors who feel that they must use their lives constructively "as a debt to the non-Jews whose help on our behalf
threatened their own existence and to the liberators who sacrificed their lives to free us."
Indeed
one of the most remarkable aspects of this book - and of Luna's life - is the friendship that she established with Sister
Rose Thering, a Dominican nun, who paved the way in the 1950s and 1960s toward the Roman Catholic Church's formal repudiation
of anti-Semitism and who was instrumental in establishing the teaching of the Holocaust as a permanent feature of Catholic
education in the United States. In addition, Sister Rose was a great lover of Israel. Not only did she create and lead the
National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel for many years, but she brought over 50 groups of Christian leaders from
the US to Israel, to put them in touch directly with the challenges and dilemmas of the Jewish state. I had the privilege of knowing Sister Rose Thering through my work
in Jewish-Christian relations, and I have the pleasure of knowing Luna Kaufman through my work as a Jewish educator at her
synagogue in Plainfield New Jersey in 1972-73, when I was a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion in New York. I was also fortunate to reconnect with her and Sister Rose when they came together on a solidarity mission
from New Jersey at the beginning of the second intifada in October 2000 and again in January 2002, this time with the National
Christian Leadership Conference for Israel, when almost no one was coming. They were full of energy, commitment and hope,
which was infectious to everyone who traveled with them.
Kaufman continues to possess great energy for life, even at 82. She always
looks forward, while maintaining and cherishing her memories of a very difficult past (she lost her sister and father and
many other relatives during the Holocaust). Indeed, in the final chapter of the book, she tells a wonderful story of how she celebrated her bat mitzva at 80, using
a tallit given to her that had belonged to Sister Rose (she had been given this tallit by a synagogue where she once spoke).
Reflecting on the fact that Sister Rose devoted her life to fighting anti-Semitism and this did not make her any less of a
Christian, Kaufman writes: "That is why I decided to reaffirm my Judaism by having my bat mitzva, to prove that working
with the Christian world did not make me any less a Jew. It is my hope to become the Jewish counterpart of Sister Rose, and
that all my grandchildren will become a bar or bat mitzva in this tallit and pledge to perpetuate the values fostered by Sister
Rose." What a remarkable
statement by a loving mother and grandmother, who not only survived the Holocaust, but raised a wonderful family in America
and continues to devote her life to the causes in which she believes deeply.
The writer, a rabbi and educator, serves as
director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel. www.icci.org.il
Americans for Peace in Israel Link
Mid East Summer Peace Opportunities
Churches for Mid-East Peace
Jewish//Muslim Dialogue
Peace Now.org
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