Kudos to Lamar Outdoor Advertising for their sensitivity and responsivness to community complaints.
In the words of one individual, “Unfortunately this does not change the thinking of the group behind the misguided STOP30Billion campaign in New Mexico. It does prove, however that we can all do something to help eliminate the anti-Israel propaganda spewed out to an uninformed public on a daily basis.”
As reported in the April 24th edition of the University of New Mexico’s Daily Lobo, Palestinian journalist Ziad Abbas will visit Albuquerque this weekend to, “raise awareness about what is going on in the Middle East and especially in Palestine, because we think that often Americans are not aware because the media here does not cover what is happening on the ground.”
A different perspective is certainly always helpful. But a report from the Anti-Defamation League portrays Mr. Abbas’s hope to “win the support of the American people by telling them stories of Palestinians” coming with some disturbing rhetoric.
According to the ADL, Abbas, works for the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), a Berkeley, CA-based anti-Israel organization.
In a speech at Emory University, Abbas accused Jews of using the Holocaust as an “excuse” to perpetrate a “catastrophe” against Palestinians. He compared life for Palestinians to a prison and concentration camps and alleged that “Jews created their own way of torturing Palestinians” based on their experiences during the Holocaust and that the “victims have become the victimizers.”
Abbas also described Hamas as a “resistance” group, arguing that Palestinians in Gaza voted for Hamas in 2006 as a show of support for “resistance” against Israel. He also advocated for a dismantling of the Jewish state of Israel in favor of a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Under the leadership of Lynn Provencio, the Israel Alliance participated in two very important events last week. On Thursday, April 16, we had a booth at UNM’s Annual International Day. Israeli items and food were provided, as was information about Israeli culture. On Saturday, April 18, presentations were made at the UNM’S WORLD LANGUAGE EXPO. Many thanks to presenters Natti Wilcoxon and Yuval Carmi.
On Wednesday, April 29, the Israel Alliance will carry out its largest and most important event of the semester – celebration of Israel Independence Day. The advertisement of the event, which will run in the Daily Lobo for three days, is provided below. Lynn Provencio needs your help both before and at the event. Please contact her at lprovenc@unm.edu, 350-9800, or 277-1058 even if you can spare only half an hour.
Passover Guide for the Perplexed 2009
By Yoram Ettinger
1. David Ben Gurion, the Founding Father of Israel (UN Commission, 1947): “300 years ago, the Mayflower launched its historical voyage. How many remember the data of the voyage, how many passengers were on the Mayflower and what kind of bread did they consume? However, 3,300 years earlier, the Exodus from Egypt took place. Every Jew knows the date of the Exodus – 15th of the month of Nissan – and the kind of bread – Matza, leaven bread – consumed. Until today, Jews all over the world, tell the story of the Exodus and eat Matza on the 15th of Nissan. They conclude the story of the Exodus [Hagadah] with the statement: ‘This year we’re slaves, but next year we shall be liberated; this year we’re here, but next year in Jerusalem.’” The prayer Next Year in Jerusalem is recited twice a year: Yom Kippur and Passover, the most sublime spiritual and physical Jewish experiences.
2. Passover highlights the fact that the Jewish People have been passed-over by history’s angel of death, in defiance of conventional wisdom. Non-normative salvation has characterized Jewish history ever since the Exodus, the Parting of the Sea, destruction of the Temple, exiles, pogroms, expulsions, Holocaust, Communist and other forms of Anti-Semitism, on-going Arab/Muslim wars and terrorism, etc. However, the involvement of Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb and Nachshon (the first to jump into the Red Sea before its parting) attests to the crucial role played by principle-driven leaders.
3. Passover commemorates the transformation from Diaspora- slavery to national-deliverance. The difference between the spelling of Ge’oolah (deliverance in Hebrew) and Golah (Diaspora in Hebrew) is the first Hebrew letter Alef, the root of the Alpha-Bet. The Hebrew spelling of critical root values and terms begins with Alef: G-D, Truth, Faith, Covenant, Credibility, Awesome, Power, Abraham, Light, Father, Mother, Love, Soil, Adam, Courage, Spring, Unity, Food, Responsibility, Immortality/Everlasting, Cure, Horizon, Patrimony, Tree. In order to transform (personal or national) Diaspora into Deliverance one must return to the roots.
4. The Exodus took place around 1,300BC, 600-700 years before Greek philosophers promoted democracy, establishing the Jewish People in the forefront in the on-going battle against rogue regimes. Passover is celebrated on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan – the first month of the Jewish year and the introduction of natural and national spring (Nitzan is the Babylonian word for spring and the Hebrew word for bud). Nissan (its root is Ness – miracle in Hebrew) is the month of miracles, such as the Exodus, the Parting of the Sea, Jacob wrestling the Angel, Deborah’s victory over Sisera, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, etc. The 15th day of any Jewish month is endowed with full moon, which stands for optimism in defiance of darkness and awesome odds. It is consistent with 15 parts of the Hagadah (the chronicles of Passover), 15 generations between Abraham’s message of monotheism and Solomon’s construction of the first Temple and the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shvat, Arbor Day – the “Exodus” of vegetation.
5. Passover has four names: Holiday of Pesach (Passed-over; sacrifice), Holiday of Liberty, Holiday of Matza and Holiday of Spring. It is the first Jewish holiday, according to the Jewish calendar, which starts in the spring (Aviv in Hebrew, which consists of two Hebrew words: Father of 12 months), the bud of nature. The word spring is mentioned 3 times in the Torah, all in reference to Exodus. Passover – which commemorates the creation of the Jewish nation - lasts for 7 days, just like the creation of the universe. Passover is the first Jewish pilgrimage and the basis for the other two annual pilgrimages. Thus, the first stop of the Exodus was at Soukkota (Soukkot/Tabernacles - the 3rd pilgrimage), and Passover is the prelude to the receipt of the Torah/Ten Commandments (Shavou’ot/Pentecost - the 2nd pilgrimage).
6. Passover (role model of Liberty/Exodus) interacts with Pentecost (role model of Morality/Ten Commandments), since Liberty interacts with Morality. The one constitutes a prerequisite for the other. The absence of one means the absence of the other. The Liberty-Morality interaction/interdependence distinguishes Western democracies from rogue regimes. No appeasing-rhetoric would transform rogue regime into a free/moral entity. Herut is the Hebrew word for Liberty and Harut (spelled with identical Hebrew words) is the Hebrew word for Inscription, which refers to the Ten Commandments.
7. Passover – just like monotheism, the Sabbath, Ten Commandments, repentance/Yom Kippur – constitutes a Jewish gift to humanity. It constitutes inspiration to liberty and to national liberation (”Let My People Go”). Jews have been targeted by enemies of Liberty (from Pharaoh, Nazism, Communism to Palestinian/Arab/Islamic terrorism and Ahmadinejad), because Jews have been rightly perceived as the messengers of liberty as a God-given natural right and equality before the law.
8. Moses, the hero of Passover, has become a role model of principled leadership. Moses’ name is mentioned only once in the Passover Hagadah, as a servant of G-d, a testimony to Moses’ humility, in order to humanize – rather than deify – Moses and to highlight the role of God in the Exodus. Similarly, Moses’ grave site is purposely unknown, and the only compliment accorded by the Torah to Moses – a prime leader in human history - is “the humblest of all human beings”. The Mosaic legacy has greatly impacted US democracy, hence Moses’ marble replica at the House Chamber on Capitol Hill, at the Rayburn House Office Building’s subway station and at the Supreme Court (holding the Ten Commandments).
9. Passover inspired Puritans, Pilgrims and the US Founding Fathers:
*George Washington and John Adams were compared to Moses and Joshua.
*Adams, Jefferson and Franklin proposed the Parting of the Sea as the official US seal.
*John Locke considered Moses’ 613 Laws as the most fitting legal foundation of the new society in America.
*Ezra Styles, the President of Yale University, stated that “Moses, the man of God, assembled three million people – the number of people in the America in 1776…” (May 8, 1783).
*President Calvin Coolidge: “The Hebraic mortars cemented the foundations of American democracy…” (May 3, 1925).
*John Winthrop, the first Governor of Massachusetts: “God has entered into a Covenant with those who are on their way to wilderness in America, just as he had entered into Covenant with the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai…” (1630 sermon on the Arbella).
They considered themselves “the modern day People of the Covenant “, King George III was “the modern day Pharaoh”, the Atlantic was “the modern day Red Sea” and America was “the modern day Promised Land”.
The term Federalism is based on “Foedus”, the Latin word for “The Covenant.” The Founding Fathers considered the political structure of the 12 Tribes, sustaining semi-independence, governed by their own Governors and by Moses the Chief Executive, Aaron, Joshua and the 70 person Legislature, a model for the 13 colonies and the US political system.
10. The Exodus is mentioned 50 times in the Torah, equal to the 50 years of Jubilee, a historical pivot of liberty (”Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof”, Leviticus, 25, 10, inscribed on the Liberty Bell). 50 days following the Exodus, Moses received the Torah, which includes – according to Jewish tradition – 50 Gates of Wisdom. Where does that leave the 50 States?! The commemoration of the Exodus is one of the 613 Jewish/Mosaic laws. It is highlighted in most Jewish prayers and rituals, such as the daily prayers, the welcoming of the Sabbath, the blessing over wine, each holiday, upon circumcision, at the door step (Mezuzah) of Jewish homes, etc.
11. Passover commemorates the victory of Jewish demography. Jacob arrived to Egypt with 70 members of his family, but Moses launched the Exodus with 600,000 adult males and a total of some 3 million people – quite a demographic momentum. The Exodus was the first case of a massive Jewish immigration (Aliya) to Israel, in defiance of odds and projections – as have been all major Aliya waves since 1948 - but in touch with Jewish history and destiny. A Jewish Demographic tailwind has currently been in motion between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. While Herzl launched the Zionist voyage – in 1897 - with an 8% Jewish minority west of the Jordan River in 1900, and Ben-Gurion celebrated the 1947 UN vote with a 33% minority, today’s Jewish State is endowed with a 67% majority over 98.5% of the land west of the River (without Gaza) and a 60% majority with Gaza.
Op-Ed: Apartheid in Israel? The facts say otherwise
By Reda Mansour · April 1, 2009
ATLANTA (JTA) — A few years ago I began an initiative at the Israeli Foreign Ministry aimed at opening a dialogue with Muslim communities in the West. When the first delegations of European and American Muslims started to arrive, they were amazed at the coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Israel.
For many outside of Israel, their perception of the country has been framed by the international media. They have allowed their opinions to be shaped by a constant stream of pictures and articles with one main idea: Between Arabs and Jews there can be only hatred and violence.
With this mind-set, the delegates traveled to Haifa, Israel, one of the most beautiful cities on Earth, a place where beauty is about more than geography. In Haifa, the Muslim delegations visited a major university with an Arab Muslim vice president and many Arab students. They went to markets and offices and observed Arabs and Jews peacefully going about their simple daily lives.
The delegations heard the call to prayer of the muezzin. They visited the mosque of the Ahmadi Islamic sect, Muslims persecuted in many parts of the world who have flourished in Israel, and traveled near the world Baha’i religious center, a faith persecuted in Iran. They met some of the more than 100 Islamic family court judges and talked with the imams who provide religious services; both groups are paid by the Israeli government.
In a regular Israeli parliament session, there are an average of 15 Arab members, some of whom are part of self-proclaimed Zionist parties. Israel has Arab members of parliament and in the Cabinet; it has Arab ambassadors and high-ranking Arab officers in the military.
Yet despite examples of diversity like these, some critics persist in trying to apply the terrible adjective of apartheid to the State of Israel. The facts on the ground, however, show nothing even remotely close to a racist system. For while one can claim that Arabs in Israel do not receive enough government attention or investment in their community, or one can argue that the situation for Israeli Arabs is sensitive as a minority in a country that has gone to war with its Arab neighbors, all of these issues are political and have nothing to do with race.
There is no apartheid in Israel. Nor is there apartheid in Gaza and the West Bank. The territories came under Israeli control in 1967 following the Six-Day War, and over the next 20 years Israel controlled them with nearly no security measures: almost no checkpoints, no fences and no controlled roads.
However, during the first Palestinian uprising in 1987 and again during the 1990s, Israel was forced to toughen its security measures. The country had to protect its citizens because the terrorists of Hamas made suicide bombing their tactic of choice and shopping malls, night clubs, schools and hotels their primary targets.
Before the uprising began, more then 120,000 Palestinians worked in Israel. In every Palestinian household there was at least one person who worked in Israel. The workers entered the country freely and their standard of living was among the highest in the Middle East.
Only after 25 years of controlling the territories and having its citizens targeted by terror did Israel begin to institute the security measures that some are trying to call “apartheid.” That is why it has been so hard to make the charges stick. Israel, like any other country, is not perfect. The country and its diverse population still admittedly face political and security issues. But apartheid? You must be joking.
Israel and the international community are ready for Palestinian freedom and independence. The question is, are the Palestinians?
The greatest problem facing the Palestinians today is not Israel or illusionary “apartheid” but a lack of unified and visionary leadership. Palestinians need to understand that violent action will never yield the results they want and that serving as a useful distraction for the regime in Tehran will never bring prosperity.
The Palestinians need to produce their own Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi — a leader who will demonstrate to them that nonviolence is a much more successful tool for freedom and coexistence.
(Reda Mansour is an Israeli Druze and the current consul general of Israel to the southeastern United States. Mansour, the author of award-winning poems and short stories, is a longtime activist for dialogue between Israelis and Arabs.)
Prof. Sam Lehman-Wilzig, the Schusterman Visiting Israeli Scholar, Brown University, visited Albuquerque recently to address the topic of “Can Israel Do a Better PR Job?”
His facinating discussion offered background on the relationship of the Israeli government to the Israeli media and how this is a major reason for the Israeli governments’ historical complacency and lack of focus on “hasbarah” (professional PR) vis-a-vis explaining its policies to the rest of the world.
The following are suggestions Professor Lehman-Wilzig offered to Israel advocates as to how they can help as part of Israel’s larger general PR campaign.
Truth: most Americans don’t care about Foreign Policy unless it really impacts their lives: (1974 oil embargo — gas prices go up!).
Rather, most Americans see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a regional problem, not a local one. “Public opinion is overrated,” says Dr. Lehman-Wilzig. “What is really important (is reaching) the opinion leaders – people who set policy.”
Main Advocacy Efforts Should Be Focused on:
Main Advocacy Messages
“American Jews don’t have to tote the Israeli government line… it’s our job to learn more about what makes Israel tick,” he says. In other words, the more we see and portray an “Israel beyond the conflict,” the more effective our advocacy work will be.
This is a reminder about the showing of the THE ROAD TO JENIN by director Pierre Rehov. The 52 minute film is a documentary about the battle of Jenin in April 2002. The battle was preceded by a spate of homicide bombings in Israel. It particular, the film investigates allegations that a massacre took place. There will be two showings on Thursday, April 2, at 11 AM and at 12:30 PM. Location is the Luminaria Room, third floor of the Student Union Building (SUB), University of New Mexico. Bagels, cream cheese, and coffee will be served.
To promote the film we will be tabling on Wednesday, April 1. The table will be set up from 8:45 AM to 4 PM in the SUB basement (Plaza level) near the poolroom.
Hope to see you at the table and at one of the showings.
Donald Gluck, President UNM Israel Alliance
Alliance@unm.edu
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