Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dr. Charles Jacobs, a columnist for the Boston Jewish Advocate who is concerned about the failure of leadership in America and in the Jewish community to deal with anti-Semitism. He has written a series of columns challenging the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) management for failing to adequately reduce Islamic anti-Semitism.
Filmmaker Yoav Shamir produced "Defamation," a documentary critical of Rabbi Foxman's Anti-Defamation League - alleging that the group trumps-up anti-Semitism and challenges current management. "Defamation" film was largely funded with Austrian media funding. To view the trailer:
ADL's Director Abe Foxman, counters Charles Jacobs' allegations with this video interview on NewsMax TV, where at 12:45 minutes into the 14-minute interview, he claims that fundmentalist, extremist Islam the greatest threat to democracy, freedom, and our values.
Gallup poll: Support for Israel in U.S. at 63%, near record high; but don't get too comfortable
For the first time since 1991, more than 6 in 10 Americans -- 63% -- say their sympathies in the Middle East situation lie more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians. Fifteen percent side more with the Palestinians, down slightly from recent years, while a combined 23% favor both sides, favor neither side, or have no opinion.
Bottom Line
In the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict, a striking 63% of Americans currently say their sympathies lie more with the Israelis, the highest level in nearly 20 years. Support for the Palestinians, at 15%, is about average for the same period. At the same time, Gallup finds Americans' fundamental views of Israel no more favorable than they have been for the past several years. Israel does continue to enjoy a substantial advantage over the Palestinian Authority in its general image, a fact that clearly colors the ways Americans view the conflict.
Americans are no more optimistic today than they were last year that peace can be reached between Israel and the Palestinians -- and they are, in fact, less optimistic than they were toward the end of the Bush administration. This is largely owing to a drop in optimism among independents.
See full poll results and analysis
Bottom Line
In the ongoing Israel-Palestinian conflict, a striking 63% of Americans currently say their sympathies lie more with the Israelis, the highest level in nearly 20 years. Support for the Palestinians, at 15%, is about average for the same period. At the same time, Gallup finds Americans' fundamental views of Israel no more favorable than they have been for the past several years. Israel does continue to enjoy a substantial advantage over the Palestinian Authority in its general image, a fact that clearly colors the ways Americans view the conflict.
Americans are no more optimistic today than they were last year that peace can be reached between Israel and the Palestinians -- and they are, in fact, less optimistic than they were toward the end of the Bush administration. This is largely owing to a drop in optimism among independents.
See full poll results and analysis
Jerusalem Conference's Wednesday 17 Feb schedule begins with Livni, concludes with PM Netanyahu
The Jerusalem Conference provides a unique forum for the discussion of Israel's national priorities, social values, and aspirations, as well as the challenges and external threats faced by Israel and the West. Every year the Jerusalem Conference hosts key figures, opinion-molders and policy-makers from Israel and around the world -- all leaders in the political, economic, academic, media, communal, security, military, and rabbinic spheres.
The Jerusalem Conference is dedicated to the promotion of Jewish heritage and values and to Israel’s future as a viable, modern, democratic and Jewish state. The setting for the Jerusalem Conference – Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem – underscores the Conference’s devotion to Israel’s capital city. In the near future the Jerusalem Conference expects to hold additional conferences in other locations in Israel and in key cities in the United States.
Watch Live from Jerusalem through 6:30 pm GMT, 1:30 pm Eastern Standard Time
Watch Live from Jerusalem through 6:30 pm GMT, 1:30 pm Eastern Standard Time
What will Limmud L.A. create this year?
LimmudLA organizer Shep Rosenman and pop singer/songwriter Jill Sobule collaborate with participants in this Jewish songwriting workshop 2-years ago. (Photo by Scott)
Joo-Tube covered Israel's national elections last year from Jerusalem, pre-empting our annual coverage of Limmud L.A. When we covered it in 2008, we produced the following videos, which have been viewed by over 11,000 people.
Watch Joo-Tube's original videos from the LimmudLA 2008 President's Day Eve concert. "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy," Debbie Friedman sings her inspiring "Mi shebayrach."
Debbie then breaks into an upbeat medly of "Turn the World Around,""Oseh Shalom," "Miriam," "Hallelu," and "David Melech Yisrael" which moved the sold-out audience of LimmudLA participants to dancing and rejoicing. (Click the second button to navigate the videos' menu).
The Moshav Band (in the 3rd of 3 videos above) performed their inspirational anthem, "Come Back (to Me)" the soundtrack of the famous Nefesh b'Nefesh aliyah documentary.
JTA syndicated this review of Limmud '08 by Sue Fishkoff.
“I knew what I was getting into and I still wanted to come, because I love all Jews,” said Rabbi Moshe Shapoff, who traveled to Limmud LA from his Israeli home in the Jerusalem suburb of Givat Zeev, where he co-founded a vocational school for haredi youth.Read it all.
“I was literally in tears seeing all those Jews dancing together. At the end of the day, it’s not what we wear, but that one soul touches another,” he said.
That’s a big part of what the British-based, volunteer-driven Limmud is about: Jews of all stripes and ages coming together to study, worship and learn from each other.
Mrs. Deidre and Dr. Richard Sterling were among the LimmudLA participants who appreciated Israeli General (ret.) Shimon Erem explaining his General David ben Gurion's ideology to nurture alliances with gentile friends supportive of the Jewish national refuge.
L.A. Muslim students endeavor to disrupt public discourse with Israeli Ambassador Oren; Exposes Univ of Calif at Irvine administration's complicity tolerating intolerant Muslim movement on campus
Ambassador Michael Oren addressed an overflow audience on US-Israel relationship and global affairs at the Univ of Calif Irvine. He discussed the Zionistic element (support for the return of the people of Israel to their ancestral homeland) within America's founding and maturing, from John Adams, through Abraham Lincoln, to Harry Truman. He discussed Americans' widespread spiritual and social support for democratic Israel, the only land where rule of law guarantees free-speech in the Middle East. He discussed the evolution of the multi-faceted ties between the US and Israel- which strategic relationship began towards the end of the 1967 Six-Day War.
Amb. Oren noted the U.S. and Israel's shared values - spiritual and democratic, and their shared interests- economic and political - from allying to resisting Communism, to resisting Islamic-extremism, today.
He discussed the state of the current relationship between Washington and Jerusalem, vis a vis the Obama's administration's pressure to force the creation of a state of Palestine. He discussed Israel's considerations regarding the conditions of Palestinian sovereignty and prioritizing it over stopping nuclear proliferation within the Islamic world - which would extort the West with threats to leak nuclear-weapons into Islamic-extremists' hands.
U.C. Irvine, with a large Muslim enrollment, has been criticized for fomenting a climate of aggressive anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism through its Muslim Students Union. The M.S.U. organized a stream of students disrupting through the speech, ignoring appeals from Chancellor Paul Drake and Political Science Dept Director Mark Petraca. Police Chief Paul Hensley chose not to position a uniformed police deterrence between the disrupting Muslims' seating sections and the Ambassador at the podium following repeated outbursts- and Muslim students continued to disregard faculty appeals- creating 10 disruptions. At least eleven agitators were arrested. Amb. Oren walked out briefly, but Rabbi David Eliezrie reports that he elected to return on his dedication to the attendees, his Jewish perseverance, and the promise of his hosts to suspend or expel further disruptors.
Shalom Elcott, President and CEO of Jewish Federation Orange County, said the highly-orchestrated disruptions by the President of the Muslim Student Union (MSU) - who was arrested, along with one MSU board member and 10 other student protesters - constituted an embarrassment to the University and an insult to the broader community. “While we had hoped the administration would have been better prepared to thwart groups or individuals trying to harass Ambassador Oren, we do commend the University police for making arrests and taking action to escort the perpetrators out of the room,” says Elcott. “And, we are proud of the Ambassador not letting the disruptions stop him from completing his address. We will intensely monitor what actions the University administration will take in response to this evening’s event and will report our findings to the community,” says Elcott.
Palestinian political refugee, Ghazi Brighith, in the accompanying deplored the Muslim agitators' behavior as un-Islamic.
'As they did in Darfur, Islamists pursue genocide against a Jewish state,' asserts Sudan Liberation leader
The Wall Street Journal published this Op/Ed by Mr. Al-Nur in June 2008: Why We Won't Talk to Sudan's Islamofascists
Over 400,000 civilians, including women and children, have been slaughtered, raped or robbed. Millions of people were chased from their land to make space for Arab settlers. By using Arab militias, the Janjaweeds, to perpetrate most of the massacres, Khartoum hoped to be able to avoid international condemnation. It was a rather transparent ploy to misrepresent the conflict as some sort of civil war beyond the regime's control. ...Sudan opposition leader Mr. Al-Nour supports good relations with Israel, which has absorbed thousands of Darfurian refugees. He explains his support for Sudan establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in this interview on the Dubai-based, al-Arabiya TV. (Courtesy Memri TV via Amplifier)
Let's not forget that this Islamist regime came to power in a military coup after a disastrous election defeat. Given the horrendous crimes it has committed, Khartoum knows it would lose any free contest at the ballot box. It would therefore never allow fair elections. Despite all its goodwill, the international community is incapable of guaranteeing anything even resembling free elections in Sudan. We will not lend legitimacy to these sham elections. ...
It is inconceivable that the racist, Islamo-fascist regime in Khartoum can reform itself. It must disappear. Did the world ever attempt to "reform" the Nazi regime?
Shimon Peres, Netanyahu and Ehud Barak to headline 10th annual Herzliya Policy Conference begins in Israel
Commences: Sunday 16:30 - 21:00 Israel time, 06:30 am - 11 am Pacific time
Monday 8:30 am - 21:30 Israel time, 10:30pm Sunday - 11:30 am Pacific time
Tuesday 8:30 am - 21:30 Israel time, 10:30pm Monday - 11:30 am Pacific time
Wednesday 8:30 am - 20:45 Israel time, 10:30pm Tuesday - 10:45 am Pacific time
Watch Live Video from 2010 Herzliya Conference during session hours. Full archived sessions will be available a couple of days after they air. Highlights are available here.
Videos from 2009 Policy Conference
US WMD commission ranks Obama an "F" on preventing and coping with germ weapon attack against U.S.; Israel conducts drill training world experts on coping with calamity
Almost a decade after the 2001 anthrax attacks, a new report released Tuesday gives President Barack Obama a failing grade for not doing enough to prepare the U.S. for a biological terror attack.
The report, published by a bipartisan anti-terror task force, says America isn't ready to handle a biological threat.
It points to the government's poor preparation for the swine flu epidemic, noting the U.S. ran out of vaccine despite a six-month warning from health officials.
The report also says that no one in the Obama administration has the responsibility to protect against a bio-attack.
Former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., co-chaired the panel along with former Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo.
"Each of the last three administrations has been slow to recognize and respond to the bio-threat," Graham said. "But we no longer have the luxury of a slow learning curve when we know al-Qaeda is interested in bio-weapons," he said.
Fox News reports: Specifically, the commission concludes that the Obama administration, like the three administrations before it, has failed to pay consistent and urgent attention to increasing the nation's ability to respond quickly and effectively to a germ attack that would inflict massive casualties on the nation.
The commission repeated its warning that unless nations acted decisively and urgently, it was more likely than not that a WMD will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013, and that the terrorists' weapon of choice would be biological, rather than nuclear.
The administration's lack of urgency was also reflected in its lack of priority on producing and distributing enough vaccines and other medical countermeasures for Americans, its reluctance to insist that hospitals have enough surge capacity to treat people who would be infected in a bioterror attack, and the lack of a national plan to coordinate federal, state and local efforts following a bioterror strike, the document asserts.
Ultimately, the commission chairman and vice chairman say, the "lack of preparedness" and "consistent lack of action" reflect "a failure of the U.S. government to grasp the threat of biological weapons."
Unlike its effort to prevent a nuclear attack, the Obama administration has shown "no equal sense of urgency" about preventing or responding to germ warfare that might cause comparable death and suffering, the commission concludes.
The report assigns 17 grades that it says highlight the issues of greatest priority in protecting Americans from WMD. The commission gave the administration a "D+" for its efforts to tighten oversight of high-containment labs in which experiments involving the deadliest pathogens are conducted. There were still far too many Federal, state, and local agencies regulating germs in sometimes conflicting ways, it states.
The commission also gave Congress a failing grade for failing to consolidate the estimated 82 to 108 committees and subcommittees that oversee some part of the Department of Homeland Security.
"Virtually no progress has been made since consolidation was first recommended by the 9/11 Commission in 2004," the report asserts.
The Obama administration disputed the findings of the report Tuesday, arguing that the president has accomplished a "great deal" in his first year in office.
Concomitant to the release of the report, Israel prepared for a germ warfare attack by staging its largest ever drill on emergency preparedness - as hundreds of emergency response experts from around the world attend a simulated biological attack on Tel Aviv.
(Video courtesy The Media Line)
Flight-attendant deems tefillin-wearer davening Shacharis justification to emergency land flight in Philadelphia
A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said a flight attendant reported "a disruptive passenger" before the crew diverted the Louisville-bound flight to Philadelphia.
Chief Inspector Joe Sullivan explains in this AP Video how the Philly Police Department pulled-out all stops in pursuing this as a terrorist act. If this had happened to a Muslim passenger, you can be sure that C.A.I.R. would already have a lawsuit against the flight-attendant filed. What future effect would Jewish leadership's failure to denounce this abuse of power have?
This satire from Israel's Latma.TV:
ZAKA mission to Haiti 'proudly desecrating Shabbat'
YNet News reports: "Religious rescue team holds Shabbat prayer with members of international missions in Port au-Prince"
ZAKA, a rescue team made up of religious volunteers, has been working overtime in the quake-stricken Haitian capital of Port au-Prince. Late Friday night they found a few minutes to conduct Kabalat Shabbat.
"There was not really a Shabbat, but on Friday night we said Kiddush with delegations from Mexico, England, and Scotland," commander of the ZAKA mission to Haiti, Mati Goldstein, told Ynet.
"With all the hell going on outside, even when things get bad Judaism says we must take a deep breath and go on to save more people."
Goldstein added that his team had continued to work throughout Shabbat. "We did everything to save lives, despite Shabbat. People asked, 'Why are you here? There are no Jews here', but we are here because the Torah orders us to save lives… We are desecrating Shabbat with pride," he said.
"One of the mission members wanted to raise morale, and we started to sing. The search team was working, the families were standing on the side, and everyone was singing 'Heveinu Shalom Alechem' (Trans: We bring peace to you). I had tears in my eyes."
The ZAKA team is scheduled to remain for an additional two days in order to assist the US team, but they are adamant to make their Israeli identity clear. "The people here see it as very important that the State of Israel has come to help," Goldstein said.
"There was not really a Shabbat, but on Friday night we said Kiddush with delegations from Mexico, England, and Scotland," commander of the ZAKA mission to Haiti, Mati Goldstein, told Ynet.
"With all the hell going on outside, even when things get bad Judaism says we must take a deep breath and go on to save more people."
Goldstein added that his team had continued to work throughout Shabbat. "We did everything to save lives, despite Shabbat. People asked, 'Why are you here? There are no Jews here', but we are here because the Torah orders us to save lives… We are desecrating Shabbat with pride," he said.
"One of the mission members wanted to raise morale, and we started to sing. The search team was working, the families were standing on the side, and everyone was singing 'Heveinu Shalom Alechem' (Trans: We bring peace to you). I had tears in my eyes."
The ZAKA team is scheduled to remain for an additional two days in order to assist the US team, but they are adamant to make their Israeli identity clear. "The people here see it as very important that the State of Israel has come to help," Goldstein said.
Israeli rescuers and mobile field hospital saves lives of Hatian earthquake victims
Israel emergency rescuers locate trapped and wounded Haitian earthquake victims.
ABC News' Dr. Richard Besser on site in Haiti discusses with Diane Sawyer, America's ineffectual medical response, particularly in light of the effective field medical hospital established by the Israel Defense Forces.
ABC News' Dr. Richard Besser on site in Haiti discusses with Diane Sawyer, America's ineffectual medical response, particularly in light of the effective field medical hospital established by the Israel Defense Forces.
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