Prof. Judea Pearl and Steven Geiger commemorate UN's 70th
Anniversary of Partitioning Palestine for a Jewish Israel
at Sinai Temple ceremony, L.A. 27 Nov '17
(Republished to commemorate this significant date in Jewish history): Hungarian-American, Steven Geiger's Mensch Foundation commemorated The
U.N.'s Partition Plan for Palestine anniversary with a dramatic reading and panel discussion before an audience at Los Angeles' Sinai Temple in November '17. He will reprise this event tonight, Monday 29 November.
"Finally, let us remind the Arab world that the UN voted for two states, not for a Jewish state only.
"For several years now, I have been campaigning to declare November 29 the Jewish Thanksgiving Day; a day where we give thanks to Lady History and to the many heroic players who stood behind the historic UN vote of November 29, 1947, an event which has changed so dramatically the physical, spiritual and political life of every Jew in our generation.
I have argued that Jewish communities in every major city in the world should invite the consuls general of the 33 countries who voted yes on that fateful day to thank them publicly for listening to their conscience and, defying the pressures of the time, voting to grant the Jewish nation what other nations take for granted – a state of its own. . . .
This year, on its 70th year anniversary, I will celebrate November 29 by myself, if needed, and if you and you community care to join me, it would make the celebration so much more meaningful."
Israeli-American actor/director, Mike Burstyn, dramatically reads "The U.N.'s Vote" to Partition Palestine - which recognized Jewish Israel:
Judea Pearl recalls UN's partitioning Israel & Arab Palestine
The Jews accepted it and the Muslims rejected it, although it gave them 70 percent of Mandate Palestine. Prof. Judea Pearl, born in Palestine, looks back and assesses our fight against anti-Zionists today.
Prof. Michael Berenbaum on the credit-due Pres. Harry Truman in recognizing Israeli sovereignty.
Historian, Dr. Michael Berenbaum relates the circumstances surrounding the U.N. vote to Partition Palestine into one Arab and one Jewish state. Recorded at Sinai Temple commemoration, Nov 27, 2017. Prof. Judea Pearl looks on from Dr. Berenbaum's left side. The late, Prof. Michael Bazyler (z't'l) looks on from his right.
Let us give thanks to the 33 countries who voted yes on the spectacular turn that Jewish history took in November 1947, and for the dignity, pride and self-image that every Jewish soul has enjoyed since.
Let us give thanks to Eddie Jacobson, president Harry S. Truman’s friend and former business partner from Kansas City, who risked that friendship and wrote to Truman on October 3, 1947: “Harry, my people need help - and I am appealing to you to help them.”
Let us give thanks to Albert Einstein who pleaded, albeit unsuccessfully, with Jawaharlal Nehru, then prime minister of India, to vote for “the august scale of justice.”
Let us thank Cardinal Spellman, head of the Catholic Church in New York City who, days before the vote, used his personal influence in Latin American countries urging them to vote yes.
Let us thank the many ordinary yet courageous people, from Peru to the Philippines, who understood the collective responsibility that history bestowed upon them in 1947, and used everything in their power, from person - al pleading to arm twisting, to get their governments to vote yes.
Let us thank 33 ethnic communities in our hometowns and remind them that we Jews do not forget friends who stood with us on the side of justice – we give thanks and ask for nothing in return.
And while we thank history for its miracles, let us remind ourselves and others of a few basic facts.
Let us remind the world that Israel is there by historical right, not by force or favor.
Let us remind the UN what kind of institution it once was, and let us do it this month when, in Orwellian mockery, the UN Human Rights Council elected Congo, Qatar and Pakistan to join the anointed guardians of human rights.
Let us refresh our memories with all the arguments, pro and con, regarding the idea of a Jewish state; arguments that our enemies have mastered to perfection, and that we have naively assumed to be no longer necessary, to the point of delinquent forgetfulness.
Let us express ceremonially what we have tacitly understood for quite some time, that Israel remains the only uniting force among world Jewry, without which collective Jewish identity would cease to exist.
Finally, let us remind the Arab world that the UN voted for two states, not for a Jewish state only, as their spokesmen claim, and that the option of Palestinian statehood is still on the table, waiting for them to internalize the meaning of the word “coexistence” and to learn to utter the words: “equally legitimate and equally indigenous.”
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Where Netanyahu and Trump teams were right on stabilizing the Middle East
At the recent Republican Jewish Coalition leadership meeting in Las Vegas, Brian Hook (former Senior Advisor to Secretaries of State in the Trump administration) and Israel's U.S. Ambassador Ron Dermer reveal why Trump's Iran & Middle East policies were so vital - and how the Biden Democrat administration can keep from messing it up again.
RJC Chair Norm Coleman; Iran expert, Brian Hook; and Israel's former US Amb. Ron Dermer
During the Trump Administration, Brian Hook served as Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, U.S. Special Representative for Iran, and Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff. He was a key official on the team that negotiated peace agreements between UAE-Israel,
Bahrain-Israel, Sudan-Israel, and Morocco-Israel, known collectively as the Abraham Peace Accords.
Transcribed from taped discussion: Brian Hook: "When we (Republican
administration) were in office we inherited the Iran nuclear deal.
Which, I think, you know many of our partners in the region who then
later made peace with Israel - Bahrain and U. A. E. - thought this was a
betrayal.
And when American foreign policy doesn't stand with
our friends and deters our adversaries, a lot of bad things happen. And
so we reversed that policy. We decided to stand with Israel, stand with
our Gulf partners, deter and counter Iran, and it was very hard to do
that inside the Iran deal because you can't touch the oil! Oil is
the lifeblood of the Iranian regime and under the (Democrats') Iran
nuclear deal you can't sanction their oil! You can't sanction their
their petro-chem, you can't sanction metals... John Kerry was
essentially acting as the president of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce!
That's what the (Democrats') deal does to you! It makes you a champion of the
Iranian economy. Which is the banker for Hezbollah, Hamas, P.I.J., and
all sorts of terrorist activity around the world. President Trump
understood, uniquely, that in order for us to have leverage over this regime, we have to get out of the deal.
We
got out of the deal and then we were able to take, you know, Iran is 3%
of the world's oil supply. That's $50 billion dollars a year in
revenue- the oil! When we came into office, they were at 2.7 Million
barrels of oil a day and we took them down to 70,000 barrels! And when
you do that, the downstream consequences are magnificent because it
causes Hassan Nasrallah to have to do fundraising-drives because his
banker is out of money. It puts Hamas on an austerity budget.
I
think getting, look, the deal also has already started expiring. When
we were in office, the arms of the U. N. Arms Embargo expired. The
deal's gonna keep expiring, There really is no deal left to join. So I'm
a little baffled by the whole theory of the case. And I'll close on at
least on this part of Iran. A successful Iran policy needs just a
couple of components. You have to have maximum economic pressure; The
credible threat of military force to defend our interests; Diplomatic
isolation, and Standing with the Iranian people who really do hate this
regime. And so those are the four pieces and if you have that in place
you can really, I think achieve some pretty significant results."
Former Israeli Amb to US Ron Dermer reveals the problems of the Biden
regime's policy towards Iran nuclear weaponizing. (Filmed on Shabbat,
Amb. Dermer's observing Orthodox Judaism precludes him from using a
microphone).
R.J.C. Nat'l Chairman Sen. Norm Coleman
Sen. Norm Coleman, R.J.C. chairman:
"President Trump took a lot of grief for canceling pulling us out of the Iran deal. In fact, I had a conversation at breakfast one time with General Mattis, US Secretary of Defense, who was telling me what a disaster would be for Israel if we pulled out of the the the J. C. P. O. A. Talk to us about the regional context of what that deal originally, how it impacted Israel the region. Talk about pulling out and talk about where we should go next. "
Amb. Ron Dermer: "First thing, before I answer your question about Iran, I want to say something about my colleague, Brian. Now Brian was a Special Envoy dealing with Iran and he also was intimately involved in the Abraham Accords. He's the only person in the administration who's dealing with both issues - who I dealt with on a day-to-day basis on both issues. Brian Hook today has a security detail on him. Now, former presidents have a security detail, former vice-presidents have a security detail, occasionally a former Secretary of State has a security detail. It is, I think, unprecedented that a Special Envoy - after the end of an administration - has a security detail on him. And the reason he has a security detail on him is that, day after day in his job, he confronted the enemies of America and the enemies of Israel. And I think we should all show him a deep debt of gratitude! [Applause and standing ovation].
Now I want to remind people why the Iran deal was so dangerous and why it remains dangerous today. And why the decision of President Trump, in my view - Senator Cruz said it yesterday I agree with him. It was the most important foreign policy decision that Pres. Trump made - to pull out of that Iran deal! [Applause]
The Iran deal does not block Iran's path to a bomb. That's what was said in 2015 - it was a lie then and it's a lie today. It pavesIran's path to a bomb because the restrictions it puts in place are automatically removed in about 10 to 15 years. And in those two words automatically removed you understand why Israel was opposed to this deal. Because 10 or 15 years, as Prime Minister Netanyahu said in his speech to Congress, that's a long time in the life of politics but it's a blink of an eye in the life of a nation. We are over six years beyond the nuclear deal and everybody's talking about going back. What would going back do? Well, right now they say "well Iran is closer to getting a nuclear bomb" right?
Because it's three months away from having the fissile material. So let's go back into the deal and let's move a few months back. All you do is take two steps back so that in a few years Iran will have no breakout time to a bomb!
In year 12, the breakout time of the nuclear deal - that's 2027 year twelve. In 2027, the breakout time - which is defined as acquiring the fissile material necessary for a bomb - the breakout time is close to zero! And those are not my words - those are the words of former President Obama in a moment of candor on NPR radio where he said, "In year 12, the breakout time will be close to zero." We cannot accept a deal that would be a glide path for Iran which vows to destroy the State of Israel, and works every day to destroy the State of Israel and leads chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" we cannot allow them a glide path to nuclear weapons! That's why it has to be opposed.
Now in addition to that, not only did it not solve the nuclear problem it created a much worse regional problem. Because it it fueled Iran's campaign of conquest and carnage throughout the Middle East by allowing them (as Brian said) to sell oil on the financial markets! That's the big money of the deal!
The big money was not that signing bonus and people argued 'is it $50 billion - is it $100 billion?'
What Brian said is right - every single month, Iran was getting another $4-5 Billion dollars. And it wasn't using that money to establish a G.I. Bill for returning members of the Revolutionary Guard! [Laughter] It was doing this to fuel its aggression in Iraq, in Syria, in Lebanon, in Yemen, in Gaza!
And that's why the decision was so important. But just remember the timeline:
President Trump refused to re-certify the deal in October 2017. It took about 10 months. Then it was another eight months or so before he decided to withdraw from the deal which was May '18. But there were still waivers on the sale of oil at that time and it was allowing Iran to sell 1,000,000 barrels a day!
It was only in May 2019 when those waivers were removed - that you actually had maximum pressure on Iran and as Brian said, within a few months you took them from 2.8 3 million barrels a day to a couple hundred thousand barrels a day - it's a huge shift! And it was drying up their resources. So Iran only faced maximum pressure for a year and a half. But they had a lifeline - and the lifeline was that every single person who was running for president on the other side of the aisle was telling them "we are going to go back into this deal." Instead of actually standing with that decision and showing to the Iranians that no matter who you're going to elect here in the United States we're going to continue this maximum pressure policy, they did the opposite and they said basically 'Help is on the way!'
And now we find ourselves in a situation where the Iranians are not even willing to go back into the deal because you know what they think? They're going to get an even better deal from this administration and it's a very dangerous situation the United States should do exactly what Brian said - you need a credible military threat - without that diplomacy will not work. You need to keep maximum economic pressure. And the third element which Brian also mentioned - is you have to reach out to the people of Iran. They are not your enemy, they are not Israel's enemy, they are the enemy of that regime.
They have virtually no support from the outside world and I hope that in Congress and other American leaders and other leaders around the world will reach out directly to the Iranian people because they're our hope if we're going to avoid a potential military confrontation. We might have to move in that direction there might be no choice. And I hope that whomever is sitting in the Prime Minister's chair in Israel will make the decision that they have to make in order to secure the Jewish future. Thank you!"
Sen Norm Coleman: "One more question on Iran, as a segue to the Abraham Accords. In many ways could one argue that that by doing the original JCPOA in which they didn't tell the Israelis negotiating with Iran, didn't tell the Saudis that they were negotiating with Iran. Obama told the Saudis that you've got to learn to live with Iran in the neighborhood. That's like telling a family of of six kids they've got to learn to live with the pedophile who's living next door to them. Please talk to me about Iran's malign activities and talk to me about how that kind of kind of fits in to then coming together and ultimately achieving one of the greatest achievements of oury time which really is the Abrahamic Accords. Ambassador Dermer, I'll turn to you first... "
(Continues in video - since Amb. Dermer didn't use a microphone on Shabbat, please activate the Closed Captioning under the "Settings" cog icon):
A Zoom webinar from Holocaust Museum - L.A. During the night of November 9, 1938, violent anti-Jewish pogroms broke
out across Germany and its incorporated territories including Austria.
Nazi officials concealed the organized nature of the attack in which
mobs desecrated synagogues, vandalized Jewish-owned businesses, murdered
91 Jews, and sent 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps.
As a
nationwide, brutal mass attack on Jews simply based on their ethnicity,
Kristallnacht was a significant turning point in the Holocaust.
Join us
to hear from German Holocaust survivor Paul Kester, historian Dr. Alan
Steinweis, author of “Kristallnacht 1938,” and Consul General of the
Federal Republic of Germany in Los Angeles Stefan Schneider to mark the
anniversary.