Obama to Jewish leaders: No ‘grand peace plan’ coming on Israel trip
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama said in a meeting with American Jewish leaders on Thursday that he does not intend to propose a “grand peace plan” on his upcoming trip to Israel, but that a peace effort might be launched within the next “six, nine or 12 months,” Reuters reported.
“The president noted that the trip is not dedicated to resolving a specific policy issue, but is rather an opportunity to consult with the Israeli government about a broad range of issues—including Iran, Syria, the situation in the region, and the peace process,” said a with knowledge of the meeting, according to Reuters.
Several Jewish groups in attendance contacted by JNS.org confirmed that the meeting with Obama was off the record. Some groups, however, did issue public statements on Thursday’s gathering.
“On behalf of The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), I very much appreciated the opportunity to meet with the President about his upcoming trip to Israel and the Middle East,” said JFNA President and CEO Jerry Silverman. “As Jews and as Americans, we are proud to see our President visit our ancient homeland and engage with the Israeli people. The President’s trip is yet another demonstration of the continued strength of the deep and historic bonds between the United States and Israel.”
“President Obama reiterated his unshakeable support for Israel and explained that his upcoming trip will be focused on discussing with his Israeli counterparts the critical issues facing the Jewish state, including Iran, the peace process, and Syria,” said National Jewish Democratic Council Chair Marc R. Stanley.
Obama’s prior White House meetings with Jewish leaders have not passed without controversy. In a March 2011 gathering with delegates of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Obama reportedly told Jewish leaders to search their souls over Israel’s seriousness about making peace.
In May 2012, Obama did not attend the annual Conference of Presidents gathering at the White House because he was at the NATO Summit in Chicago the same day. That same month, however, it was reported that he attended a meeting with nine foreign policy editors—some known for being highly critical of Israel—who discussed Afghanistan, Israel, NATO and the G8 Summit at Camp David.
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State Dept. defers award for alleged author of anti-Semitic, anti-American tweets
(JNS.org) The U.S. State Department has delayed an award it had planned for Egyptian women’s rights activist Samira Ibrahim, the alleged author of anti-Semitic and anti-American tweets.
Ibrahim, who was set to be honored by Secretary of State John Kerry and First Lady Michelle Obama on March 8 as one of 10 recipients of the International Women of Courage Award, reportedly tweeted the following after last summer’s bus bombing that killed five Israelis in Bulgaria: “An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news.”
The Weekly Standard reported that later in the summer of 2012, Ibrahim tweeted, “I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society, takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it. Hitler.” Additionally, on the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, she tweeted, “May every year come with America burning.”
In a press briefing March 7, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department “became aware very late in the process about Samira Ibrahim’s alleged public comments.”
“After careful consideration, we’ve decided that we should defer presenting this award to Ms. Ibrahim this year so that we have a chance to look further into these statements,” Nuland said. “I would say that in conversations with us in the last 24 hours, Ms. Ibrahim has categorically denied authorship. She asserts that she was hacked. But we need some time and—in order to be prudent to conduct our own review.”
In light of her alleged anti-Semitic statements, Ibrahim tweeted, “My account has been previously stolen and any tweet on racism and hatred is not me.”
According to a State Department press release, Ibrahim had earned the honor because she was “among seven women subjected by the Egyptian military to forced virginity tests in March 2011.” But Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, president and of the American Islamic Forum forDemocracy, believes Ibrahim’s entire personal record—not just her women’s activism—should be considered when evaluating her.
“We cannot cherry pick specific endearing characteristics of individuals we support,” Jasser wrote in a statement to JNS.org. “Some Islamist public figures as well as some secular leftist socialists may have redeeming features, but those cannot be viewed in a vacuum. We ignore their Islamism and its attendant threat against the West at our own eventual peril.”
“Samira Ibrahim’s recently revealed tweets are indicative of the anti-Semitism that is rampant throughout the Middle East, as I testified to before Congress on February 27,” he wrote.
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Israel escapes locust plague in advance of Passover
(JNS.org) In advance of Passover, Israel has successfully escaped the plague of locust that threatened to damage the country’s agricultural industry—for now.
“Officials sprayed the flying insects with pesticide early this morning (March 6), greatly reducing the number of living, flying insects,” according to a statement from Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
One of the few ways to deal with swarms of locust is to spray them with pesticides, according to experts.
“The FAO [UN Food and Agriculture Organization] warned Israel a couple days ahead of time that swarms were likely, and the country “immediately mobilized teams [and] resources, and informed farmers and other parties so they were prepared for the locusts,” Keith Cressman, a senior locust-forecasting officer in Rome for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, told Live Science.
The desert locusts, which originated in Egypt and Sudan, thrive in warm and wet environments. They arrived just weeks before Passover, which recounts the Jewish exodus of from Egypt. According to the Bible, one of the 10 plagues that God used to torment the Egyptians over their enslavement of the Jews was a plague of locusts.
But Israel isn’t out of the woods yet. Another swarm of may threaten the country again over the weekend.
“A small swarm could reach northeastern Egypt and the Negev on Friday or Saturday,” Cressman said.
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Jewish Harvard students receive mock eviction notices in anti-Israel campaign
(JNS.org) Jewish students at Harvard University received mock eviction notices on their dormitory doors as part of an anti-Israel campaign organized by the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee.
The flyers, which informed the students that their rooms “were scheduled for demolition in the next three days,” were meant to invoke the “unlawful displacement of Palestinians from their homeland at the hands of the Israeli government,” the Harvard Crimson reported.
The notices were orchestrated as part of “Israeli Apartheid Week,” which is an annual series of anti-Israel lectures, events and protests that is aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
“I feel like [Israeli Apartheid Week] goes against what Harvard stands for as a place for open academic dialogue, open thoughts, and open intellectual activity,” Harvard senior Steven J. Tricanowicz, who was one of the students effected by the notices, told the Harvard Crimson.
Many of the notices were later found ripped up and thrown on the ground.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed outrage over the incident.
“This tactic is designed to silence and intimidate pro-Israel advocates at Harvard and campuses around the country,” said Robert Trestan, ADL Acting New England Regional Director.
“Free expression has a place on campus; however targeting the dorms of Harvard students lends itself to creating tension, isolating students and fomenting hostility,” he said.
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NYC mayoral candidate appeals to Evangelical Latinos and Orthodox Jews
(JNS.org) With the campaign to succeed three-term mayor Michael Bloomberg heating up in New York City, one candidate running in the Democratic primary is attempting to forge an unlikely alliance amongst the city’s growing religious population.
Erick Salgado, 42, the pastor of Iglesia Jovenes Cristianos (Young Christian) Church in Besonhurst, Brooklyn, is attempting to bring together New York’s growing Evangelical Latino population and Orthodox Jewish community to support him in his race for mayor.
“One dark-horse candidate is being backed by an alliance made from an odd coupling of religious Jews and Evangelical Christian Latinos to support his socially conservative yet resolutely Democratic agenda,” write Colin Campbell and Hunter Walker for Politicker.
While Salgado is running as a Democrat who supports traditional liberal issues such as supporting immigrant reform, government assistance to needy families and environmental issues, according to his campaign website, he is also strongly anti-abortion and against gay marriage. His appeal to socially conservative religious groups might be part of a growing trend in America.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center before the 2012 presidential election, only 50 percent of Latino Evangelicals supported President Barack Obama, a much lower total than that Latinos overall. Latino Evangelicals are also growing rapidly, according to the Economist; they comprise around 10 percent of an estimated 100 million American Evangelical Christians.
Meanwhile, the Jewish communities in places like New York City are growing again, largely thanks to the growth of Orthodox Jews. The Jewish population in New York City grew 9 percent over the last decade, with two-thirds of the growth coming from two Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn, according to the New York Times.
In order to connect with the growing Orthodox Jewish community, Salgado has hired Gregory Davidzon, an influential Russian-Jewish media mogul and power broker.
Despite growing numbers in his favor, Pastor Salgado is still viewed as a longshot to become mayor.
“Welding those groups together to take back the Democratic Party for a socially conservative candidate will be tough going considering how much cultural power the left wields, but it might be interesting,” wrote Daniel Greenfield for Frontpage Magazine.
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Jewish groups concerned about Venezuelan Jewry’s future after Chavez death
(JNS.org) In the wake of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s death Tuesday, Jewish groups have expressed concern for the future of Venezuela’s Jewish community.
“The passing of Chavez brings Venezuela to a crossroads,” Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman told The Jerusalem Post. “Will the country continue with the Chavista policies of repression, political manipulation and alliances with Iran, or will there be a new openness and true participatory democracy for the people of Venezuela?”
The Venezuelan Jewish community under Chavez “was a target of anti-Semitism, permitted and even encouraged by the Chavez regime and its supporters,” Foxman added.
“Intimidation of the Jewish community was commonplace and Jewish religious and communal institutions were desecrated, vandalized and even investigated by the police without justification. Chavez would use the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to accuse the Venezuelan Jewish community of disloyalty to Venezuela if they did not denounce Israel,” he said.\
According to Claudio Epelman, executive director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, “Jewish communities worldwide have two main concerns with the Venezuelan government: One, more symbolic, is the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, something the Jews from Venezuela see as very meaningful. The second one, more essential, is its relationship with Iran.”
“For the Jewish world, President Chavez leaves a mixed legacy. He broke off diplomatic relations with Israel and fostered close ties with the Iranian regime,” said Latin American Jewish Congress and World Jewish Congress presidents Jack Terpins and Ronald Lauder, who expressed hope that the Venezuelan leadership “would continue its dialogue with the Jewish community in order to improve the difficult situation of Jews in the country and internationally.”
B’nai B’rith International told JNS.org that it “hopes for a positive democratic outcome and for peace for the people of Venezuela in the wake of the death of Hugo Chavez.”
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Suspect arrested in death of Brooklyn Hassidic couple and baby
(JNS.org) The suspect in the hit-and-run killing of Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, has surrendered to police. Julio Acevedo was arrested on charges of leaving the scene of an accident and is being held without bail.
Acevedo is accused of driving in Brooklyn Sunday at 60 miles per hour and hitting a taxi in which the Hassidic couple was on its way to the hospital because the pregnant Raizy was feeling ill. Both Nachman and Raizy were killed. The baby was delivered via c-section in the hospital, but died hours later. Acevedo said he was speeding because he was running away from gunshots.
A friend of Acevedo arranged his surrender by meeting police at New York’s Grand Central Terminal and taking them to Acevedo who was located about 80 miles away. Authorities discovered that Acevedo already has a record. He was previously arrested on a charge of driving while under the influence, and was imprisoned for 10 years in the 1990s for manslaughter. He had been convicted of shooting a Brooklyn criminal who called himself 50 Cent. That name inspired rapper Curtis Jackson’s stage name.
“We in the community hope that today is Acevedo’s last day that he sees daylight for the rest of his life,” said Isaac Abraham, a spokesman for the Satmar Hassidic community, according to Haaretz.
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