Celebrate Israeli Festival event inspires Israel's family & friends across America

Event is one of five, Israeli-American Council-organized public Israeli Independence events being held around the US this month.

An estimated 15,000 Zionistic Americans and Israelis celebrated Israeli Independence and Jerusalem Day at the Celebrate Israel Festival in Los Angeles' Rancho Park on Sunday, May 17, 2015. 

Dennis Prager and Consul General David Siegel were among the luminaries who spoke with JewTube after addressing the crowd, which was comprised of Israeli-Americans, Jewish-Americans, and some Zionistic - Christians. I.A.C. organizational leaders also spoke to JewTube about their role in adapting the previously low-budget, San Fernando Valley event. The video-playlist plays automatically in the first raster frame, or you may select your preference from the menu of a dozen clips is in the upper left corner. Several of the segments are parsed below the fold.

Excerpts can be found in the next section.

Celebrate Israel Festival unites Zionistic Americans and Israelis to rejoice with Zionist pride

Celebrate Israel Festival is held in America's 2nd most populous Jewish city, Los Angeles, annually. Enjoy some video clips from JooTube's coverage at last year's Festival.

Rabbi's "Roadmap Genesis" leads Jews and Christians together

Roadmap Genesis is a film that makes the case that the Book of Genesis is an international roadmap for morality across faiths.



The film exposes viewers to a wide spectrum of ideas and dialogues, including conversations with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Alan Dershowitz, Rabbi David Wolpe, Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, and Rabbi Sharon Brous. Roadmap Genesis promises to lift the U.S. out of its current decline, and return it to prosperity, promise, and accomplishment. 

"Roadmap: Genesis" director, Rabbi (in training) Nolan Lebovitz @ L.A. Jewish Film Festival spoke with us at the premiere. 

Question and Answer period of Roadmap Genesis panel discussion with Rabbis David Wolpe  (Sinai Temple) and Sharon Brous (IKAR),  moderated by Jewish Journal Managing Editor, Susan Freudenheim (left).

Dutch Resistance fighter honored for humanitarian work by filmmaking project at LA Musuem of Holocaust & LA Jewish Film Festival

Dutch Resistance survivor, Curt Lowens' story of escape and resistance during World War II to the screen (see below) was produced into a film, A Life of Changes," at last summer's Harvard-Westlake's Summer Film program, with the Righteous Conversations Digital Storytelling Workshop. Their mentor filmmakers and animators were Alyssa Sherwood, Cosmo Segurson, and Cheri Gaulke.

Hilary Helstein, Executive Director of the L.A. Jewish Film Festival, explains how the 70th annivesary of the liberation of Auschwitz factored in to the selections at the 10th annual Festival.

Curt Lowens was presented an Humanitarian Award for the lives he helped save against Nazis- and educating the next generations to defeat anti-Semitism before it gets out of hand.

Watch the presentation and Curt Lowens' story in his own words in this JewTube exclusive video.

Watch "A Life of Changes" on Vimeo
Curt Lowens: A Life of Changes from TheRighteousConversationsProject on Vimeo.

Netanyahu forms new government; Judiciary positions go to Bennett's Jewish Home Party/ Habayit haYehudi

Bennett & Netanyahu announce coalition agreement (Photo:Emil Salman/HaAretz)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finalized a deal late Wednesday evening to establish a new governing coalition, concluding weeks of negotiations after his March 17 election landslide victory, Israel Radio reported.

An announcement from Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud Party said that the prime minister would deliver a joint statement with Naftali Bennett, the leader of the pro-settler Jewish Home Party, who was the final hold out in the coalition haggling.

Mr. Netanyahu’s new majority is likely to have just 61 seats held by right-wing and religious factions, leaving Mr. Netanyahu with little margin for error in the 120-seat parliament, known as the Knesset.

Read More in the Wall St. Journal

Ha'Aretz reports: "According to the deal, aside from the education portfolio, Habayit Hayehudi will get both the justice portfolio and the chairmanship of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, giving it unique control over the judiciary. The party will also hold the deputy defense minister position, and will get control of the Civil Authority, in charge of the Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank."

L.A. Jewish Film Festival opens with bio-pic of Sophie Tucker, the female Al Jolson

Actress, Kat Kramer at the L.A. Jewish Film Festival premiere

The 2015 premiered with a screening of biography, The Outrageous Sophie Tucker by Lloyd and Susan Ecker.

The week-long, Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival began in a big way with the Los Angeles premiere for the biography, “The Outrageous Sophie Tucker.” This film from Susan and Lloyd Ecker tells the story of legendary entertainer Sophie Tucker who shocked and enthralled audiences with her booming voice, outsized personality and musical talent. The film features appearances by Tony Bennett, Carol Channing, Michael Feinstein, Shecky Green, Bruce Vilanch and Mamie Van Doren. 

JooTube interviewed director William Grecki, Sophie Tucker and Ted Shapiro performers Suzy Williams and Brad Kay, and filmed the post-screening discussion with the producers, moderated by Stan Taffel, Emmy-Award winner and classic film archivist.


The Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival runs from April 30 to May 7th.

Melanie Phillips adds context at new documentary, "Body & Soul: State of the Jewish Nation," premiere in L.A.

Director, Gloria Greenfield discusses her new, theatrical documentary about Israel, "Body and Soul: State of the Jewish Nation," which she is screening around N. America and Europe.

Director Gloria Greenfield

The N.Y. Times calls Body and Soul "a concise, skillful recounting of the story of the Jewish people and their connection to the land of Israel." 

In this trailer for "Body & Soul: State of the Jewish Nation," UK Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks is among many experts who explain Judean/Palestine history and Zion's role in the faith and culture of the Jewish people.

Melanie Phillips with Adam and Gila Milstein at LA premiere

The film premiered in L.A. on April 23rd, accompanied by remarks from Ms. Greenfield, backer Adam Milstein, and British author, Melanie Phillips. Ms. Phillips praised the film and contextualized the importance of people seeing it to c0unter the Islamist-imperialist movement's delegitimization of Western societies.  She and Ms. Greenfield then addressed audience questions, shown in this JewTube exclusive playlist.
 
(Additional clips behind Playlist menu & control)

Sold-out premiere audience listens to Gloria Greenfield

"Body and Soul" is running at the Cinema Village in Manhattan's Soho through April 30th. To learn more about screenings, obtain tickets or DVD's, please visit BodyAndSoulTheMovie.com

"Woman in Gold" attorney addresses Holocaust survivors concerned over revived European anti-Semitism; Israeli diplomat over Iran nuclear threat

The L.A. Museum of the Holocaust ("LAMOTH") program, which drew some 1,100 attendees, began at 2 p.m. and included city leaders, rabbis and others, who offered words of remembrance for the 6 million Jews who perished in the Shoah. 

Diplomats from Europe & Japan attended L.A. ceremony

“I hope we as Jews will stand up to make sure that just as Germany has accepted its role [in the Holocaust] and has spoken out, and other countries have done the same, it is time for us to see that in every national capital, that when we see the mass extermination of peoples we all have a responsibility to make sure that history is written,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said, speaking from the stage under a canopy set up for the day’s program. 

Other participants included Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR, who delivered the invocation; Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles David Siegel; Holocaust survivor Eva Brettler; The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles President Jay Sanderson; LAMOTH executive director Samara Hutman; and L.A. City Councilman Tom LaBonge, whose district the museum is located. Philanthropist Jona Goldrich, who donated funds toward the construction of the museum, was among those in the audience. (Ryan Tork, "Shoah commemoration brings both high and heavy spirits to Pan Pacific" in The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles)

Chronicled in JewTube's video clips: Randy Schoenberg, Pres., LA MOTH; Israeli Consul General David Siegel; Cantor Herschel Fox (Temple Valley Beth Shalom) singing the "Jewish Partisan's Hymn"; Rabbi Shaye Berkowitz and son Schneur  Berkowitz, 22, of Hancock Park; Rabbi Sharon Brous of Ikar Congregation. 

Iran's nuclear terror strategies- Dr. Michael Singh; Dr. Benjamin Weinthal, Nir Kalron at AIPAC

Addressing the US Congress, Israeli Premier Netanyahu cautioned the world about Iran's "tentacles of terror" around the world. 

Three experts on Iran's political strategies discuss how the prospect of nuclear weapons capability will advance her influence over Middle East, Europe, and African societies, governments, and international forums.
The role of nuclear weapons in Iranian terrorism- Dr. Michael Singh

Thwarting Islamist Iran & Hezbollah in Europe- Benjamin Weinthal

Nir Kalron: defeating Iranian supported jihad in Africa 
Attendees' question and answer on Iranian counter-imperialism strategies to Dr. Michael Singh, Benjamin Weinthal, Nir Kalron


Filmed at AIPAC Policy Conference last year in Washington, D.C.

Obama Admin twists Bibi's words to wrest Americans' protection of "Islamophobic" Israel against deal to enable Islamist Iran amassing nuclear material

Obama Admin and lapdog media vilify Israel to fulfill Obama's aspiration- grease US shift from Israel towards Iran as regional power, critics say; 

"Obama Pursuing His Ideological Ambition to Weaken Israel
by Peter Wehner in Commentary 3/24/15

Pres. Obama is using Prime Minister Netanyahu’s comments to achieve an end he has clearly wanted all along: the weakening of the Jewish state. Mr. Obama is the product of a progressive milieu, including in the academy, where hostility to Israel is widespread.  

As president, there have been constraints on how much Mr. Obama could do to undermine Israel. But the president has seized upon comments by Mr. Netanyahu leading up to the Israeli election to advance his agenda – in this case, considering reversing decades of U.S. policy by turning to the United Nations to impose a two-state solution. (This is only one piece in a much larger puzzle.)  Read more

Why is NBC 's Meet the Press host Chuck Todd behaving as Pres. Obama's henchman in 'gotcha'-interviewing Israel's Amb. Ron Dermer? Mark Levin gives examples in this audio excerpt

Mark Levin explores Obama's anti-Israel/
pro-Iran policies as a threat to global safety.

Stanley Kurtz wrote "Radical-in-Chief"

Author, Stanley Kurtz, ("Radical-in-Chief") appeared on radio's Mark Levin Show on 23 March to explain how it ought be no surprise that Obama is treating Israel with such contempt these days. In "What Obama Thinks of Israel," (National Review 21 March 15) Mr. Kurtz asks,

"Has Obama been gunning for a battle with Israel like the one we’re seeing now from day one? Yes. Obama’s break with Israel was both predictable and predicted. (Read more)

Mr. Kurtz shows how Obama is really just reverting to what he believed before he ran for president in 2008, when he
was pals with Edward Saeed, Rashid Khalidi, and Ali Abunimah of the Arab-American Action Network. (Right Scoop). 

Stanley Kurtz, references his Pro-Palestinian-in-Chief in National Review May 2011, in which he laid out these alliances and issues.

The continuing influence of Obama’s pro-Palestinian sentiments is the best way to make sense of the president’s recent tilt away from Israel. 

Mark Levin denounces anti-Semitism from White House
Mark Levin called for a national discussion about the anti-Semitism which reeks from Obama's administration in conversation with Sean Hannity.


Mark Levin: "The fact of the matter, Sean, I want to say this and it’s important. Eric Holder said this nation is full of cowards because we won’t have a discussion about race. Well, I think this nation needs to have a discussion about what’s going on in this White House and this administration about anti-Semitism." (Video credit: Sophia Duffy)

Israeli electorate resists Obama-control

Israeli Election Update: Netanyahu’s Conservative Party Opens Wide Lead by Daniel Greenfield in FrontPage Mag

With 57 percent of the votes counted, Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party has opened a major lead against the left’s un-Zionist Camp with 32 seats in Israel’s Knesset parliament against 24 for the Labor left. This is a major shift from exit polls showing a virtual tie. These numbers can and will change, but it’s certainly a promising development. The Muslim-Communuist United Arab List falls to fourth place.

Why the Israeli election results are great news for Netanyahu, in one chart by Zack Beauchamp March 17, 2015 in Vox.com

Caroline Glick was on the Mark Levin Show tonight explaining that Bibi Netanyahu really did win the election today in Israel and that he will be the only one who can form a coalition to run the Knesset. She also talks about how American money was used to bring out the Arab vote but explains how it backfired and gave Bibi the win. It’s a great interview. Listen:

Israeli election is a referendum on Israelis' willingness to sacrifice to resist the Obama-enabled, global Islamist revolution

In the final hours before Israelis go to the polls, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state under his administration, expecting it would become a proxy for enemy Iran. The US, eager to avoid a military conflagration with Iran, is attempting to negotiate Iran's nuclear program from weaponizing- without Israeli participation.  At last year's N.R.B., JooTube daringly asked Israel's new Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, "How well can Israel trust Pres. Obama to negotiate away Iran's nuclear threat?"

This year, disconcerted by Pres. Obama and negotiator Secretary of State John Kerry's weak deal terms with Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu accepted House Speaker John Boehner's invitation to pose his concerns to a joint-session of Congress. 

President Obama turned Mr. Netanyahu's objection into a partisan issue, alleging that he and Mr. Boehner were attempting to ignore protocol and shame the Obama administration, which would neither meet with, nor advocate congressional Democrats attending the speech. 

Mr. Netanyahu took the occasion of the AIPAC 2015 Policy Conference to explain why it was important for him to bring the issues of the terms which would enable Iran nuclear weapon capability in addressing the U.S. Congress.

Meanwhile, a group of Obama campaign coordinators, 270 Strategies, was employed to defeat Mr. Netanyahu- allegedly with U.S. funding. 

A source told Fox News the investigation focuses on State Department grants to a non-profits group that has been leading field organizing efforts openly aimed at replacing Netanyahu’s government with a center-left coalition. The news report has been making big waves in the news media here in Israel.

Reported FoxNews.com: “The fact that both Democratic and Republican sides of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations have signed off on the probe could be seen as a rebuke to President Obama, who has had a well-documented adversarial relationship with the Israeli leader.” A source told Fox News the senatorial probe is looking into U.S. governmental “funding” to OneVoice Movement, which is a partner in a get-out-the-vote drive with a newly-formed Israeli political action group calling itself V15.

Jeremy Bird of 270 Strategies

  V15, short for Victory 2015, attracted U.S. media attention after it hired 270 Strategies, a consulting firm whose senior leadership is comprised mostly of former top staffers for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. The V15 organization has partnered with OneVoice, a U.S.-U.K. nonprofit, for its get-out-the-vote-organizing drive aimed at replacing Netanyahu’s government with a center-left coalition. OneVoice received a State Department grant for $350,000.  It was OneVoice that reportedly hired 270 Strategies, a consulting firm whose senior leadership is comprised mostly of former top staffers for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. The reported move to investigate the state funding comes one week after Netanyahu gave an interview in which he spoke of “tens of millions of shekels from abroad” aiding in an effort to mobilize leftist Jewish and Israeli Arabs voters to defeat him. OneVoice is reportedly sponsored by scores of nonprofits and received two grants in the past year from the U.S. State Department. The State Department is also listed as a partner of OneVoice on the group’s website. Read more at World Net Daily. 

Lt. Col. Allen West: 'Obama 'shamefully' seeking to defeat Netanyahu for exposing the threat from Kerry's Iran deal.' 

Netanyahu's Cabinet Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu party) addressed the issue of global interest to stand against Islamist terrorism in this pre-Congressional address at the National Religious Broadcasters Association in Nashville at the end of February.


Mrs. Karen Shirley, a Californian grandmother attending AIPAC, expressed dismay at those who would shun Mr. Netanyahu's revelations on the Iranian deal which Mr. Kerry is fast-tracking. 


An Israeli journalist (who preferred to not use his name) explains how Israel's electoral party system, President, and Supreme Court ensure her representative democracy. The minor parties, such as Yisrael Beitenu will take on an important role in coalition building in tomorrow's election.

Isaac Herzog, leader of the Zionist Union party, introduced himself to American Zionists last year at the AIPAC Policy Conference, speaking with Times of Israel editor, David Horovitz.