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NYPD surveillance; Anne Frank baptized (again); Shabbat buses; and more. [Required Reading]

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

Courtesy. Professionalism. Respect. | Photo by Flickr user Giacomo Barbaro (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

NYPD tracked Muslim students, organizations [Columbia]

Recent news that the New York Police Department willfully performed surveillance on Muslim student organizations in the name of anti-terrorism measures has been met with harsh criticism by many. In light of the fears this news may provoke, the Spectator, newspaper for Columbia College, unpacks the threat to free speech that these “investigations” may have instigated, and their implications for the future.

“There, in Low Library, one of the students representing the ISO heralded terrorist actions like targeting civilians with missiles or suicide bombs as a legitimate form of resistance to the Israeli government. I was appalled that a fellow student would hold such views, but I would have been more appalled if that student had left her ideas unexpressed for fear of being filed away as a potential threat by the NYPD. The chilling effect that the surveillance program might have on campus speech would mean that such views would go unsaid, and thus certain ideologies left unexposed for the truly deleterious modes of thinking that they pose—something more harmful in the long run than a few dilettantes sitting around and speaking reverently of Sayyid Qutb.”

Anne Frank baptized… again? [Huffington Post]

Here at New Voices, we recently shared a story about the controversy surrounding the recent posthumous baptism of the parents of Simon Weisenthal. The Mormon Church had issued an apology for its actions, there was an understandable amount of criticism (an agreement between the Church and the Jewish world a couple years ago was to put a stop to this sort of thing). Apparently, not everyone got the memo, as the Huffington Post reports Anne Frank has been baptized again– her ninth baptism at the hands of the Mormon Church, if anyone’s counting. A church whistleblower provided Huffington Post with all the allegations.

“Radkey said she discovered that Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank, who died at Bergen Belsen death camp in 1945 at age 15, was baptized by proxy on Saturday. Mormons have submitted versions of her name at least a dozen times for proxy rites and carried out the ritual at least nine times from 1989 to 1999, according to Radkey. But Radkey says this is the first time in more than a decade that Frank’s name has been discovered in a database that can be used both for genealogy and also to submit a deceased person’s name to be considered for proxy baptism — a separate process, according to a spokesman for the church. The database is only open to Mormons.

A screen shot of the database sent by Radkey shows a page for Frank stating “completed” next to categories labeled ‘Baptism” and “Confirmation,’ with the date Feb. 18, 2012, and the name of the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple.”

Tel Aviv makes move toward public transportation on Shabbat [Jerusalem Post]

While tension between traditionally observant Jews and modern communities doesn’t look to be resolved anytime soon, the city of Tel Aviv has ruled that it will offer public buses at various points around the city on the Sabbath. But the battle is far from over. The Jerusalem Post reports:

“A Transportation Ministry spokesman indicated Tuesday that the ministry would not approve Tel Aviv’s request. The Transportation Ministry will ‘not infringe [upon] the status quo which has been in place for decades regarding all aspects of public transport on Shabbat,’ the spokesman said.

Nevertheless, Huldai on Wednesday vowed to continue the mission to bring buses to Tel Aviv on Shabbat. ‘We must determine if we want to live in a democratic, Jewish state or a solely Jewish state – which will be similar to Iran,’ Huldai told Army Radio. ‘The citizens have the right to visit their relatives on Shabbat or go out for a trip,’ he added.”

Russia warns of the fallout of Israel – Iran conflict [Haaretz]

It looks like the string of international leaders urging Israel to avoid an all-out attack on Israel can add yet another name to its list: the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, who urged Israel to consider the nuclear fallout, and impact on international peace-keeping efforts, such a strike would have. Haaretz is there:

“‘Therefore I hope Israel understands all these consequences … and they should also consider the consequences of such action for themselves,’ Gatilov said at a news conference..

A top UN nuclear official said on Wednesday his team could ‘could not find a way forward’ in attempts to persuade Iran to talk about suspected secret work on atomic arms.”


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Posted in Abroad, activism, anti-Semitism, community, Culture, Diaspora, holocaust, Interfaith, iran, Israel, New Voices Magazine, Orthodoxy, politics, Reading List, Religion | No Comments »

Jews have a historical right to the land of Israel [Decent Dissent]

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012

In his response to my op-ed, Harpo Jaeger touches on the issue of Israel’s treatment of Judea and Samaria – better known today as “the disputed territories.” Jaeger alleges that “millions of Palestinians…live under occupation” and that their lives are “endangered by checkpoints, raids and searches.”

I take issue with the allegation that millions of Palestinians live under occupation. From my understanding, Jaeger’s allegations dealing with the Israeli “occupation” of Palestine – a country that, by the way, has never actually officially existed – are rooted in an interpretation of UN Security Council Resolution 242 and Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Resolution 242 mandates “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states “the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The term ‘occupation’ is defined as “the control of a country by military forces of a foreign power.”

Israel’s sovereignty in the West Bank does not constitute occupation. We, the Jewish people, are not “foreign” to the land of Judea and Samaria and are therefore not “occupying” any land that does not belong to us. We have legal claim, in addition to historical claim, to the entire country of Israel – Judea and Samaria included – as per the original League of Nations Mandate for Palestine (a document that was adopted by the UN and is still legally binding today) and Article 80 of the UN Charter.

In addition to the legal documents, the Jewish people have been present in the land of Israel for thousands of years. If Israel’s presence in the disputed territories does not constitute occupation, then Resolution 242 is not applicable in this instance.

Regarding the Geneva Convention: the  occupation exists when one sovereign state (referred to, in the document, as a “high contracting power”) takes over land belonging to another sovereign state.

This is not the case when it comes to Israel. “Palestine” never existed and Jordan only controlled Judea and Samaria between 1948 and 1967. The territories of Judea and Samaria were never officially a part of sovereign Jordan. If the Geneva Convention is also not applicable in this instance, then I fail to see which international laws Israel has violated through its continued presence in the West Bank.

Israel’s retaining control over the disputed territories is in its citizens’ best interests. Yes, there have been isolated incidents. Israel has in no way condoned these incidents and has expressed dismay at every loss of innocent life. At the same time, Israel needs to have control over the high ground in Judea and Samaria in order to preserve its tactical advantage over countries that seek to destroy it.

As for the security fence, there is documented proof that the fence and security checkpoints have helped prevent many terrorist attacks – suicide bombings and the like – that would have had a severe impact on innocent Israeli civilians.

The situation is hardly ideal. But that does not negate the fact that Israel is responsible for its citizens’ safety and must consider that point above the comfort level of civilians whose safety does not fall under its mandate. It is unfortunate that circumstances require such measures, but the Israeli government is tasked with protecting its innocent civilians. When those civilians are put at risk, Israel must react in whatever way it deems fit. Israel is still determined to bring peace, but will not do so at the expense of the safety of its civilians and its borders and, at this point in time, the real barrier preventing peace is the Arab States’ intransigence and blanket rejection of a Jewish State on any borders.

Giving up land will not get us any closer to a peaceful Middle East. One of the beliefs of the Islamic religion involves the creation of a Dar-al-Islam, a solely Arab world, in which the values of Shariah law are kept to the highest degree. At this point, the Arab states have made it very clear that they see Israel as a threat to, what they feel should be, a purely Islamic Middle East. In their founding charters, many of the terrorist organizations that are run as proxies of various Arab states, declare their goal to “liberate Palestine [through armed struggle],” presumably in order to realize their ultimate goal of creating a Dar-al-Islam within the Middle East (this specific quotation was taken from the Palestinian Liberation Organization Charter). Are we really supposed to believe that giving them a small portion of land will appease them, if they advocate for our total destruction?

We are fighting a war with very different rules from anything that we have come across before, and many of these “rules” defy our Western logic.

Let’s relate this understanding of the Middle East to the current issue of the Iranian nuclear program. The international community is currently trying to reason with the Iranian dictatorship by imposing sanctions as a deterrent to further development of the nuclear weapons program. The world is treating this situation similarly to its treatment of the situation in the 1980s, during the Cold War. The reason that, ultimately, no nuclear weapons were detonated, during the Cold War, is that the United States and Russia, both countries in possession of nuclear power, did not want the world to meet with certain destruction.

The situation today is totally different: Iran is a Muslim country with a Shiite majority. Radicalized Shi’a Islam believes in an “End of Days” type scenario. Shiites believe that provoking an event akin to an apocalypse will bring about the coming of the twelfth Imam: the ultimate messianic goal of Shiite Islam.

Iran wants to wreak devastation on the world. Bargaining and sanctions will not do anything to stop them. Is it any wonder that current United States policy, vis à vis Iran, has been ineffective? I disagree with Jaeger’s opinion on this matter: The only chance that the world has to prevent certain disaster is to take invasive action that will put a halt to the Iranian nuclear program.

I fail to see how encouraging Israel to give up its territory, to appease one of the powers that admits its goal is to destroy the entire country, is “acting in Israel’s best interests.” By definition, acting as a friend involves caring about that “friend’s” well-being. Giving up the land of Judea and Samaria is tantamount to Israel announcing its annexation to the Dar-al-Islam that the Muslim states are so eager to create within the Middle East. So yes, I completely agree with Jaeger: should Israel decide to realize its suicidal aspirations, it will have an amazingly helpful friend in the form of U.S President Barack Obama.

AUTHOR’S CORRECTION: In the original op-ed, it said the IAEA report stated Iran has enough nuclear fuel to build four nuclear bombs; this is an error. In reality, this fact was found in a different article, which has since been taken offline by the website that published it. This recent article from the Jerusalem Post cites similar information.

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Posted in iran, Israel | 1 Comment »

Occupy Passover; ultra-Orthodox military draft; and more. [Required Reading]

Monday, February 20th, 2012

Ultra-Orthodox men in Jerusalem. | Photo by Flickr username asafantman (CC BY 2.0)

The responsibility of Jewish federations [Forward]

With the economic recession hitting many organizations, religious or otherwise, with hard times, leaders must make choices to ensure survival. But are some federations unfairly compromising the well-being of their employees in the process? The Jewish Daily Forward takes a look:

“In this flip exchange lies a serious issue. As our Nathan Guttman has reported, Jewish social service groups, along with other nonprofits seeking to cut pension costs, are using a controversial tax loophole to skirt federal rules that protect workers from being left with little or nothing if their retirement plans collapse. Among the Jewish non-profits availing themselves of what is known as the “church plan” are federations in Cleveland, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Detroit, along with nursing homes and health care facilities.”

Occupy the Exodus 2012 [The Shalom Center]

Jewish groups around the country have responded to the Occupy movement with a certain degree of enthusiasm, incorporating religious projects within the framework of these social protests. Rabbi Arthur Waskow of Jewish Renewal now suggests that there’s no better time to explore the pressing social, economic, environmental, and spiritual crises of our age than at Passover. He’s putting out a call to religious leaders and active laypersons to participate in an Occupy Passover event:

“We hope that the immediate impact of this specific action will be to empower and strengthen the disempowered 99% of our society, and to help dissolve the overweening power of the 1% and their giant corporations — the Pharaohs and Caesars of our day. We hope to do this by evoking the soul-force (satyagraha, often mislabeled “nonviolence”) that is implicit in our religious traditions, and bringing them into active public reality again.”

Praise the Lord, pass the ammunition [Haaretz]

Since the Israeli Defense Forces have suffered a decline in numbers in recent years, new measures are being taken to concentrate draft efforts on members of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, many of whom have not served in the IDF before. But is the decrease a combination of ultra-Orthodox Jews avoiding the draft and the lack of new aliyah (immigration) candidates willing to serve? Haaretz reports:

“Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, ‘we enjoyed huge waves of aliyah that increased the number of new recruits,’ a personnel directorate official said. ‘This year saw a decline in the number of new immigrants, and that is the one factor that immediately influences the number of conscripts. Today’s situation − no aliyah and many ultra-Orthodox youths − can be directly felt.’”

Another voice calls for Israel to refrain from attacking Iran [Jerusalem Post]

With tensions between Israel and Iran the highest in years, governmental officials from the world over are asking Israel to avoid military conflict for the time being, until other efforts to quell the violence are attempted and seen through. The Jerusalem Post shares:

“British Foreign Secretary William Hague advised Israel on Sunday not to attack Iran, saying that the international sanctions against Iran should be given a chance to work.

His comments in a BBC interview came as US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem for talks focused on Iran.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the US put out a statement after that two-hour meeting, and Netanyahu said nothing about it – or the Iranian nuclear program – at a speech immediately after the meeting at the opening of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem.”


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Posted in Abroad, activism, community, Culture, Diaspora, Interfaith, iran, Israel, journalism, New Voices Magazine, Orthodoxy, passover, politics, Reading List, Religion | 1 Comment »

Israel responds to terror attacks; Israeli Valentine’s Day; Holocaust filmmaker turns her lens on media; and more. [Required Reading]

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Israel blames Iran for assassination attempts against Israeli diplomats. [Washington Post]

The Israel government responded yesterday to bombings targeting diplomats in both Georgia and India, pinning the blame for the attacks on Hezbollah and Iran. Though Iran is denying responsibility for the incidents, the bombings have propounded concerns over its nuclear program, and led to heightened tension in the region.

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited places where he said attacks on Israelis and Jews had recently been foiled, including Thailand and Azerbaijan, and he accused Tehran of orchestrating Monday’s plots, calling Iran ‘the greatest exporter of terrorism in the world.’”

David Bernstein on how supporting Israel on campus shouldn’t be a reactionary pursuit. [JTA]

Bernstein cites the ineffectiveness of the BDS movement on college campuses, as an indication that it is now time to diversify efforts and focus on supporting Israel rather than defending it.

“The real work that must be done in supporting Israel is not reactive at all. It’s not as fun as responding to the Israel bashers or engaging in dueling narratives on the campus quad. The real work targets the influencers, from student government presidents to Indian-American leaders, with a positive, pro-Israel message. It seeks to build long-term allies and sometimes ignores detractors. It’s proactive, not reactive.”

A senior at NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts Film and Television Program’s senior thesis project is a film about the holocaust…from a new angle. [JTA]

Emily Harrold’s thesis examines the way in which American media chose to cover the holocaust, focusing specifically on the New York Times, funded by the NYU Bronfman Center. Harrold, who is not Jewish, says the project was an eye opening glimpse into the way in which media attention was focused during the era.

“When you think about history, it’s always from the perspective of people who win the war, because those are the people who write the history books, usually. So we see history from the perspective of the great country of America in which they’re projecting themselves in the best way that they can. I guess learning that we weren’t the great liberators as much as we like to think of ourselves is sort of what got me interested in the topic.”

Valentine’s Day in Israel carries the weight of cross-cultural communications. [Forward]

Nathan Jeffay examines the ways in which pursuing relationships in Israel differs from that in the United States, and the pitfalls that may arise from taking this American holiday overseas.

“Aliyah among single American Jews was up 9% last year, which can create an echo boom in romantic encounters between sabras and American singles.”

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Posted in Campus, Israel, politics, Reading List, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Houston in Israel; Jews and the New Testament; preventing war; and more. [Required Reading]

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Can Jews better appreciate the New Testament? | Photo taken by flickr username Wonderlane (CC BY 2.0)

Whitney Houston visited Israel, called it “home” [Jerusalem Post]

Upon the recent announcement of the passing of world-famous vocalist Whitney Houston, whose rocky past and relationships were once the focus of much media attention, the Jewish press took the opportunity to explore Houston’s trip to Israel in 2003. Specifically, Houston visited Dimona, spending some time with members of the Black Hebrew community. Of the trip, the Jerusalem Post reports:

“Accompanied by her husband, Bobby Brown, and a large group of family and friends, Houston traveled from Eilat in the south to Galilee in the north.

She was hosted by Sharon at his official residence in Jerusalem but pointedly avoided shaking his hand, letting Brown do so instead.

Asked by Sharon how she felt in Israel, she said: ‘It’s home! It’s home!’

Wearing bright red African clothing, Brown and Houston – who was then 39 – told Sharon they had come to visit friends and family in the Black Hebrew community. Houston said that while it was her first trip to Israel, she planned to come back and record a Christmas television special here – a promise she never fulfilled.”

Democracy and Jewish law: irreconcilable tensions? [Forward]

In a recent study by the Israel Democracy Institute’s Guttman Center for Surveys, some surprising findings about the Israeli perception of the compatibility of Western values and halakhah (or Jewish law) were uncovered. When asked where to side in a conflict between democracy and halakhah, only 44% of Israeli Jews said they’d choose democracy. Harvey Hames explores the implications:

“This disturbing state of affairs comes from a misunderstanding of what Rabbinic Judaism is all about, and it reflects the incredible success of the rabbis over 2,000 years of linking belief with religious observance. Rabbinic Judaism emerged in the period after the destruction of the Second Temple (along with Christianity) in order to provide a solution for a people bereft of worldly power, political independence and a central place of worship. The rabbis further developed ideas that had been circulating for a couple hundred years, one of which portrayed the divine being as the supreme judge before whom comes each and every individual to answer for his or her deeds. Instead of going to the temple and having the priest, the chosen mediator, offer a sacrifice in order to placate the divine entity, every act of the individual was now under the scrutiny of an all-powerful God who offered blessed eternity to those who did his will (that is, kept the commandments) and severe punishment for those that did not.”

Moving toward a renewed Jewish understanding of the New Testament [Forward]

While Jewish sentiment toward the New Testament has been host to a variety of reactions, author Jay Michaelson highlights a new book that encourages a deeper reading of a text undeniably influenced by Jewish thinkers. Can this analysis offer guideposts to a renewed appreciation of a book that has been the core of conflict between Jews and Christians for centuries? Using a critical Amazon.com review as a jumping off point, Michaelson responds:

“But you can understand the anonymous reviewer’s fear: As the joke goes, ‘Two thousand years of Christian love have worn down the Jews’ nerves.’ Despite being the younger religion, for many American Jews, Christianity is the bullying elder brother: stronger, bigger, dumber. As a people, we’re appallingly ignorant of the New Testament, in part, as that Amazon comment suggests, due to having the Good News shoved down our collective throats for hundreds of years.”

Can war with Iran be prevented? [+972]

With tensions between Israel and Iran reaching a boiling point, what hope does the peace process have of quelling a conflict that could change the face of both nations forever? Reporter Larry Derfner weighs in on the future, what might be done, and what war could mean for Israel.

“I imagine the day after the smoke clears, for however long it clears, when Israelis count their dead and realize they’re going to have to do it again in another year or two or three, and I wonder what it’s going to be like in the interim. I try to imagine a future in which Israel, believing it has no choice, starts one war after another after another whenever some Middle Eastern country decides it wants a fraction of one percent of the weaponry Israel has had for decades.”

 

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Posted in Abroad, activism, anti-Semitism, Arts and Culture, Blogs, community, Culture, Diaspora, Interfaith, iran, Israel, journalism, music, Orthodoxy, politics, Reading List, Religion, social media | 1 Comment »

Lower tuition… yay! Israel and Iran… meh… [State of the Students]

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

Everybody and their mother is trying to predict what’s going to happen in the 2012 race to the White House. At New Voices, we’re wondering what college students will vote for. Well, tonight may have given us a hint.

Most college students use their Tuesday night to catch up on homework or party before class-free Wednesday.

At American University in Washington, D.C., its student newspaper (which, by the way, I also work for) The Eagle proclaims, “It’s time for the most anticipated televised event of the year at AU. Nope, not the Super Bowl. It’s the State of the Union!”

AU College Democrats gathered the campus political junkies in The Tavern, AU’s bar-turned-hamburger-and-burrito-joint. As early as half and hour before showtime, students milled about, bought themselves a turkey cheese steak and settled in for President Barack Obama’s sixth statement to a joint session of Congress.

AU’s known to be a pretty liberal campus, so it was not surprising that Obama got a raucous round of applause when he began to give his State of the Union.

But what’s even more interesting is what students didn’t seem to care about. Obama’s celebration of global teamwork to stop Iranian nuclear weaponry, and the subsequent growth of Iranian sanctions, received barely any response from the gathered students. Obama’s mention of support for Israel received only a polite golf clap.

But students were apathetic about more than just the United States’s relationship with Israel. Approval for a clean energy economy and reaction to Obama’s gratitude to American soldiers was tepid at best.

But there were certainly highlights for students watching the president’s address happening only six miles away. Students naturally chuckled (by chuckled, I mean literally laughed out loud) at House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (Republican of Virginia and surprise Jew) visible conniption at Obama’s call for a payroll taxes and First Lady Michelle Obama’s embarrassed reaction to Barack’s joke gone sour.

But when it came to education costs, students came just short of jumping out of their seats in exultation. When Obama said the cost of college was too high, one student, with sarcasm dripping, loudly asked, “Really?”

Everybody else in the room laughed in agreement.

Obama continued to please AU Eagles when he called for more work-study financial aid, demanded lower student loan interest rates and, most importantly, scolded universities for raising tuition too much.

“Let me put colleges and universities on notice: If you can’t stop tuition from going up, the funding you get from taxpayers will go down,” Obama said.

Students responded in kind with surprised enthusiasm for the Commander in Chief’s hardline against rising tuition, an issue students at AU are all too familiar with.

But students’ passion shone through where they cared. Applause and cheers abounded for:

  • The end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,
  • Decreasing our debt and “nation building at home,”
  • Continuing American exceptionalism,
  • The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
  • Prevention of another BP oil spill,
  • More bipartisanship in Congress,
  • Equal pay for women,
  • The DREAM ACT and immigration reform
  • And most of all, the death of Osama Bin Laden.

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Why we should sanction Iran, even though it won’t work [Parsing]

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Gary Hufbauer says sanctions don't work. Except for when they do | iie.com

I listen to NPR’s Planet Money podcast to understand basic news about the economy because it puts things simply. And because I don’t know my head from my ass when it comes to economics.

But sometimes they take hard economics and deploy it as a way of looking at something in the news in a different light, deploying some economist or the other in an offbeat way. Their “Do Sanctions Work?” podcast from earlier this week is one of those. In it, sanctions expert Gary Hufbauer tells the Planet Money’s Adam Davidson that sanctions only work about 30 percent of the time, usually only on very small economies — and that we should continue using them on Iran anyway.

Generally, we (the Jewish press, the press, the Jews, people in general — take your pick) take it for granted that the way stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon without actually going to war is to use economic sanctions. But noting Israeli skepticism on that front, The Forward wrote today:

As the United States moves toward the final stage of imposing sanctions against Iran’s central bank and oil industry, American officials are trying to erase Israeli suspicion about the effectiveness of economic pressure and to ensure that Jerusalem and Washington are fully coordinated in dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat.

Meanwhile, Tablet‘s Marc Tracy, always such a ray of sunshine on these issues, has nothing but optimism in a blog post today titled, “On Iran, Most Roads Lead to Bad Places: A look at what could happen in the coming months.”

Hufbauer basically agrees, at least when it comes to the efficacy of sanctions. After saying that economic sanctions only work about 30 percent of the time, he says that they’re actually quite effective. Upon hearing that, Davidson basically does a double-take, saying that every example of economic sanctions he can think of was a total failure. Hufbauer says, yeah, those are the ones you’ve heard of, and then rattles of a couple of examples of how sanctions can be tremendously effective on small, poor economies. Then he says that as far as tools for applying international pressure without starting a war go, a proven success rate of 30 percent is pretty damn good.

But in the end, Hufbauer doesn’t think economic sanctions will work on Iran; their economy is just too big. Yet, he thinks we should keep using them anyway. In fact, he says, we should use sanctions to squeeze Iran as hard as we possible can. Why? Because then it will be easier to make the case that we tried every possible thing if we have to convince the world it’s time to go to war with Iran.

But what do I know? Listen to the podcast for the full story.

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Posted in iran, Parsing | 2 Comments »

Iran’s nuclear fallout [Long-Range Israel]

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

An Israeli Air Force F-16 refuels | via Wikimedia Commons

Though defeating Iran is a given, the costs of a war with Iran would be dramatically high. This much has to be made clear.

Israel will never go it alone. The country does not have the assets currently to make any sort of unilateral assault sustainable against multiple foes at once. It would involve the United States, United Kingdom and probably most of NATO. That being said, it will never come to that level of shooting. The optimal idea would be to see the Arab Spring pay forward the revolutionary zeal and topple the Iranian domino.

That scenario has been in the dream box of international strategy for well over ten years. Sporadic riots at Tehran University in 1999 and 2003 fueled speculation something could happen. In 2009, a month of marches and riots protested an apparently fraudulent re-election for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Six months later, a revolutionary leader’s death kindled the spark again. 2011 has put the country’s leaders on edge. With its former ally Muammar Qaddafi gone and Syria’s brickwork becoming as shotty as the bullet-holed façade of its cities’ buildings, there is plenty to fear from losing another ally and then seeing the people’s reaction.

The speculation making waves here is coming from a sporadic amount of reports there would be some approval for a strike. Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is supposedly still vulnerable to a military assault, if only the meddling media did not constantly ruin the element of surprise. Note my sarcasm, but the string of coincidences slipping into Western and Israel news reports the last two weeks seem well-timed and point to something interesting. What that is happens to also be a matter of speculation, but that is why I write these things.

To recap, three reports having to do with the Israeli military have been featured recently. The Israeli Air Force was recently in Italy conducting [incoming self-promotion] “long-range” training, including mid-air refueling of fighter jets. The second piece has to do with a surface-to-surface missile test conducted in full view of the most-populated urban area in Israel. Couple that with the civil defense drill last week in case of an attack. Thirdly, news reports have slipped that there have been recent meetings where Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak have been trying to win over enough of the cabinet to approve a military strike against Iran.

All these things have gained denials and fits of frustration from spokespeople and ministers here. But all these events coincide with today’s release of a report on Iran’s nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency is going to report incriminating evidence there is a military angle to Iran’s research, and that is big. Knowing this report has been in the offing, there has been speculation the Israeli government is making the idea of war with Iran sound more rational and preparing to use a window of opportunity to gain global sympathy and attack. The Israeli military has denied the missile test had anything to do with the report and that it was scheduled months ago.

But so was the report. In other news, the United Kingdom is also talking up the military option. There seems to be some sort of consensus about preparing the military to go to war with Iran. The last time the element of surprise was sacrificed for an operation this big was Iraq. The US started moving troops into Kuwait in 2002 – six months ahead of the invasion.

I cannot say I am convinced though. Governments let things “slip” all the time in order to put something into the media’s purview – a desirable topic, a favorable opinion or a point of distraction. The fact that Israel conducted a missile test of all things in both broad daylight and right over the country’s center instead of its desert indicates they are trying to push the issue publicly. But it is not the Israeli public that needs convincing. All of Israel’s governments have been hawks about Iran – there is hardly a difference between Netanyahu and Olmert. It’s the rest of the world Israel is posturing toward. Iran is going to lose points and Israel’s military is going to gain some benefit of the doubt from this, even from European publics. “They are not warmongering,” so the thinking might go. “That’s the Iranians. I understand wanting to be ready just in case.”

Public relations and public perception are all important. That subject has driven Jews mad since the Obama-Netanyahu implosion started two years ago. If Israel does eventually decide to press the red button, global sympathy is going to play a role even if it will not be the major deciding factor.

One more thing to consider: Israel is trying to get advanced submarines from Germany. The last few weeks have seen that deal threatened by the apparent Israeli policy on settlements and the Palestinians. If it is more than that, it could be Germany suspects Israel IS moving toward a strike. Coordinating jets and offshore submarines might make the whole war thing a lot easier. Okay, my conspiracy theories are exhausted for today.

Gedalyah Reback graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s Dgeree in Middle Eastern Studies. He has made Aliyah and was married in 2011. He is pursuing a Master’s Degree. His column, Long-Range Israel, usually appears here on alternating Tuesdays.

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Posted in Israel, Long-Range Israel, opinion | No Comments »

Ahmadinejad vs. Columbia: Round Two

Sunday, September 25th, 2011
Ahmadinejad at Columbia University in 2007.

Ahmadinejad at Columbia University in 2007. | Photo by Flickr user midnightquill (CC BY 2.0)

Turns out there was no need for such a fuss.  On September 19th, two days before Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was scheduled to have dinner with 15 members of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association (CIRCA), the Iranian mission to the United Nations revoked the invitation due to the “media firestorm” surrounding the event, according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.

Various students had scheduled a protest, “Just Say No to Ahma(dinner)jad,” for September 21. After the dinner was cancelled, they decided to hold it anyway, renaming it “Just Say No to Ahmadinejad.”  A number of Columbia students attended, as did Shirin Nariman, a former Iranian political prisoner. Topics of discussion included the oppressive nature of Ahmadinejad’s government and why students would even attend the dinner.

Despite protests and revoked invitations, some 100 undergraduate and graduate students did get a chance to meet Ahmadinejad, reported CNN. Although he didn’t actually eat dinner with them, he did participate in a Q&A session moderated by an Iranian official from the United Nations. Attendees even received party favors of “hand-painted plates from Iran and books about theology.”

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Ahmadinejad at Columbia: All News Outlets on Earth Weigh in | Parsing

Monday, September 19th, 2011

After a controversial speech at Columbia University in 2007, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have linked up with the New York school again to discuss his policies. And every news outlet from the Upper West Side to Israel has put their two cents in.

(Photo by flickr user Daniella Zalcman (CC BY 2.0))

Ahmadinejad at Columbia in 2007 (Photo by flickr user Daniella Zalcman (CC BY 2.0))

According to a Sept. 10 article in the Columbia Daily Spectator, an email went out to the listserv of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association (CIRCA), inviting its members to a potential private dinner with Ahmadinejad two days from now, on Wednesday the 21st.

Campus website Bwog later posted the text of the email, which offered students the opportunity to “learn about Iran from her president!” The Spec reported that only 15 students would get the opportunity to dine with Ahmadinejad and they were excited to have the chance to do so.

Since then, a firestorm of media coverage has sprung up, with major news sources like The New York Post reporting on it.

Many sources blasted Columbia for interacting with Iran’s president again. An op-ed in the Spec advocated that Columbia should “say no to the Ahmadinedinner” because of the “moral sacrifice” inherent in doing so.

Ynet News reported that the president of United Against Nuclear Iran has opposed the dinner. Members of the organization called upon Columbia president Lee Bollinger to cancel the meal, calling the proposed meeting “inappropriate.”

Comedian Dennis Miller even advocated that CU students “blow off” Ahmadinejad’s head.

On PajamasMedia, Roger Simon scathingly rebuked Columbia, stating that “the progressive intellectuals of Morningside Heights evidently have a special place in their hearts for state sponsors of terrorism who murder and torture their own citizens with impunity.”

Columbia has also come under fire abroad for its potential meeting with Ahmadinejad. According to The Jerusalem Post, the Israel Law Center, Shurat HaDin, has targeted the university for its “illegal” invitation to Ahmadinejad. In a letter to Bollinger and other authorities, including the U.S. Attorney General, the NGO noted that “Ahmadinejad is Iran’s chief executive and personally directs Iran’s terrorist and nuclear proliferation activities and human rights abuse.”

In recent days, the Jewish Telegraph Agency reported that Columbia has denied that Bollinger was involved in bringing Ahmadinejad to campus and would be attending the meal.

The Spec reported that CU has since corrected the rumor, going so far as to claim that “…at no time has there ever been any university event planned or considered involving the president of Iran, nor has there ever been any plan for a dinner involving the Iranian president and President Bollinger.” According to the Spec, the dinner, indeed, remains tentative. Conservative websites, like American Thinker, expressed skepticism over the university’s denial, while the National Review dubbed the school “Jihad University.”

Will Columbia and CIRCA’s plans to host Ahmadinejad come to fruition? Stay tuned for more.

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Posted in Blogs, Campus, Campus Publications, community, Diaspora, holocaust, Israel, journalism, politics, Terrorism, The Conspiracy | 2 Comments »

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