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‘Homely’ ancient rock adds evidence of King David’s existence

Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:28:00 AM

House of David inscription, part of the “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (Meidad Suchowolski)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Dimly lit, the stone slab, or stele, doesn’t look particularly noteworthy, especially when compared to the more lavish sphinxes, jewelry and cauldrons one encounters en route to the room where it is installed.

Indeed, in a Twitter post this fall, art journalist Lee Rosenbaum described the nearly 13-by-16 inch c. 830 BCE rock, which resembles an aardvark or elephant, as “homely.”

What’s significant about this stone — on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its “Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age” exhibit running through Jan. 4 — is its inscription, which is the earliest extra-biblical reference to the House of David.

“There is no doubt that the inscription is one of the most important artifacts ever found in relation to the Bible,” Eran Arie, curator of Israelite and Persian periods at the Israel Museum, wrote in the exhibit catalog.

The rock was discovered in 1993 by archaeologist Avraham Biran as part of Hebrew Union College’s excavation at Tel Dan, and, as is to be expected with a rock nearly three millennia old, the slab is missing considerable portions. Arie’s translation of the remaining 13 lines of text is full of ellipses and bracketed additions. What is clear is that the Aram-Damascene king Hazael brags of having killed 70 kings, including of Israel and of the “House of David.” (The round number, scholars agree, is probably exaggerated, although Hazael did have a reputation for being ruthless and successful.)

The breaks in the stone neither obstruct nor obscure the “bytdvd,” or House of David, inscription, which remains “absolutely intact and clear,” said Ira Spar, professor of history and ancient studies at Ramapo College in New Jersey and a research Assyriologist at the Metropolitan Museum.

Epigraphers and biblical historians agree almost unanimously that the letters “bytdvd” refer to the House of King David, according to Spar.

“While it is clear that David was king of Israel, the archaeological evidence for the extent of his kingdom remains unclear,” he said.

Despite its “extraordinary inscription,” the rock, a seventh century BCE “Annals of Sennacherib” that tells of a siege of Jerusalem mentioned in the Bible, and a 10th-century BCE “Taanach Cult Stand” that may feature a depiction of the Jewish God, have been “curiously” ignored in reviews of the Met’s exhibit, notes the Biblical Archaeology Society website.

Steven Fine, a professor of Jewish history and director of the Center for Israel Studies at Yeshiva University, agrees that the lack of attention is curious.

“It’s astonishing how little the Jewish press has noticed it,” he said.

Although the inscription has received scant attention, Fine says he has observed widespread public interest in biblical-era artifacts. When he led tours as curator of the University of Southern California’s archaeological collections in the 1980s, Fine reported hearing many “oohs” and “aahs” when he showed an oil lamp from the First Temple period.

“Why? Because they heard about King David,” he said.

“People care about this stuff. They don’t care about the Middle Ages that much. They care about biblical history … and it’s part of the grappling with secularization that makes this so important to some people.”

Even without this latest piece of evidence, Rabbi David Wolpe, author of the 2014 book “David: The Divided Heart,” said in an interview that there was near-unanimous consensus among scholars that David existed. But Wolpe, of the Conservative Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, added that “the size and scope of his kingdom were probably far less than was once thought.”

In the catalog for the “Assyria to Iberia” exhibit, the Israel Museum’s Arie wrote that the inscription’s matter-of-fact invocation of David’s name just some 150 years after his reign amounts to a “clear indication that the ‘House of David’ was known throughout the region and that the king’s reputation was not a literary invention of a much later period.” This, he adds, “clearly validates the biblical description of a figure named David becoming the founder of the dynasty of Judahite kings in Jerusalem.”

Fine also thinks that most scholars accept a historical David, but he notes that some — those who align themselves with what is known as the Copenhagen School of biblical interpretation — don’t agree that David is a historical shoo-in.

“These things go in a range,” he said.

Although archaeologists tend broadly to be uncomfortable with text, Fine says, some might say that if there is a King David, he is “just a name” about whom we don’t know anything, while others would view David through the “eyes of Jewish history” and law.

Fine says public interest in biblical-era artifacts is good for the field, even if it is sometimes oversimplified on popular television programs.

“There wouldn’t be a field if it wasn’t for all this interest,” he said. “All of us started as little kids with that kind of stuff.”

Read more: http://www.jta.org/2014/12/15/arts-entertainment/homely-ancient-rock-adds-evidence-of-king-davids-existence#ixzz3MkVXVzJZ

EU Court Orders Hamas Removed From Terror List

Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:11:00 AM

The General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg accepted the petition by Hamas in which it sought to have itself removed from the EU’s list of terrorist organizations.

Still, the court postponed implementing the ruling for three months to allow for the EU commission or one of the EU’s 28 member states to petition the decision.

The hearing in the European court was technical and procedural, and did not stem from a change in the EU’s position regarding Hamas.

A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, tweeted that the court decision is “a legal victory for Palestinian rights.” According to the Twitter post, the decision rights an injustice done to the Hamas movement, “which is a national liberation movement.”

The Palestinian terrorist group asserted in its petition that the decision to put it on the EU terror list was carried out without giving it an opportunity for a hearing and without sufficient evidence being presented. The European court accepted the petition based on the precedent of a similar case of the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.

The court ruled in its decision that most of the evidence used to put Hamas on the list of terrorist organizations were from open sources – mainly press publications. The court made it clear that the ruling does not say anything substantial about the status of Hamas or the character of the organization’s operations.

Likewise, the three-month postponement also means that Hamas assets within the EU will remain frozen as well as sanctions against its members. During this period EU institutions or member states will be able to appeal the ruling or make a new decision within the council of EU foreign ministers, which would define Hamas as a terror organization based on stronger evidence.

The EU ambassador in Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, will meet Wednesday afternoon with the director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, to clarify that the EU’s policy regarding Hamas has not changed, and that the intent is to formulate a new decision to classify Hamas as a terror organization.

The Contributions of the Rebbe to Torah Scholarship

Thu, 3 Jul 2014 1:09:00 PM

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb. Photo: JEM,

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president emeritus of the Orthodox Union, wrote the following article on OU.org describing what he sees as the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s contribution to Torah Scholarship:

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We live in an age of specialization, which has convinced us that even our greatest leaders excel in only a limited range of activities. It is the rare leader in whom we recognize a wide range of diverse achievements.

Even among gedolei Yisrael in our history, we find some who specialized in halachah, others in pilpul and still others in homiletics, or derush. We have come to believe that those who were involved in community affairs necessarily compromised their scholarly pursuits by doing so. And Chassidic masters who combine their Chassidic Torah with Talmudic expertise are often seen as exceptions to the rule.

Of course, we are all aware of those rare individuals who possessed a dazzlingly diverse repertoire of Jewish leadership attributes. Beginning in medieval times, the Rambam and the Ramban come to mind. In later generations, the Maharal of Prague, the Ba’al HaTanya and the Chatam Sofer are good examples of men who were great Talmudists, heroic community leaders, gifted teachers and preachers and prolific writers.

The late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson,zt”l, whose twentieth yahrtzeit we are commemorating this summer (3 Tammuz/July 1), is an example of one such wide-ranging Torah personality. Sadly, however, many see him much more narrowly, focusing on one or another of his many accomplishments, but failing to appreciate the vast range of his contributions to the machshavahand Torah of the Jewish world.

Because his success in certain areas of leadership is immediately apparent, we tend to blind ourselves to other, perhaps less easily discernible, achievements. Thus, all acknowledge his amazing ability to inspire thousands of his Chassidic followers, as well as many who were not part of his community, to devote their lives to outreach in all the far-flung corners of the globe. His command of the entire corpus of Chassidic thought is evident and impressive, as was his ability to convey those teachings to masses of individuals who have no prior exposure to Chassidic thought.

Rabbi Schneerson’s written works fill multiple library shelves, and his spoken words have been eternalized in audio and video recordings and in many print volumes. His sensitivity, empathy and compassion for all Jews were directly experienced by thousands who had the privilege of individual consultations with him. His care and concern for every Jew—indeed for every human being—were his essential personal characteristics. His counsel was sage, and often bordered on the miraculous. His political views were explicit, forceful and impactful.

Because of all of these phenomenal achievements, and more, many overlook the fact that the Rebbe contributed to traditional Torah exegesis in numerous ways. For the remainder of this essay, I will attempt to describe some of those contributions, while fully aware that my description cannot possibly convey the full scope of his work. I will focus primarily on those aspects of the Rebbe’s scholarly heritage from which I have personally benefited.

Commentary on Rashi

Rashi’s commentary on Chumash is essential to traditional Torah study. Every committed Jew approaches his study of the weekly parashah through the lenses that Rashi provides. Over the centuries, a number of Torah scholars of the first rank have written commentaries on Rashi’s commentary. Such works are known as “supercommentaries.”

The Rebbe left us with a modern-day such supercommentary synopsized by a team of scholars in the form of a readily available five-volume work entitled Biurim LePirush Rashi al HaTorah. This work originated from the Rebbe’s practice of delving into a quotation from Rashi at each of his regular public, multi-hour farbrengen. He attended to issues of textual content, grammar or sequence. The Rebbe would first resolve those issues before continuing to expound upon the subject from a Chassidic, and sometimes musar, perspective. His five-volume work dispenses with the Chassidic material and distills much of the Rebbe’s teachings of what we would call the peshat, or simple meaning of Rashi’s words.

The Rebbe paid careful attention to seemingly minor points in the text. By concentrating on those fine details, he was able to extract an array of exegetical treasures. Some of his conclusions have halachic implications, some are keen observations of the linguistic components of Rashi’s choice of words and all are relevant to the personal spiritual service of the reader. I myself have come to rely upon this work in the preparation of my weekly sermons and as material for discussion around the Shabbos table, irrespective of whether those around the table are learned elders or young schoolchildren.

The Works of Rambam

The Rebbe expected from his followers a great deal in the way of Torah study. He strongly reinforced the study regimens that his distinguished predecessors instituted: a requirement of one masechet of Shas annually, a daily diet of Chassidic discourses and daily portions of Chumash, Psalms and the Chassidic classic Sefer HaTanya. The Rebbe emphasized that this was all in addition to the individual learning required of each person according to Jewish law, as depicted in the Shulchan Aruch’s Hilchot Talmud Torah. Among the Rebbe’s own innovative projects in this regard was his request for the daily study of Rambam. For more advanced students, he required the study of three chapters or, if too difficult, then one chapter daily of Mishneh Torah; for those less knowledgeable, he required the study of a parallel selection of the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot each day. The festive siyum with which the completion of the entire work was celebrated each year was rivaled only by the festivities of the major holidays on the Jewish calendar.

But the Rebbe’s emphasis on the Rambam and his teachings did not stop with his insistence upon the study of the Maimonidean text itself. Entire volumes of the Rebbe’s teachings are dedicated to analysis of those texts. My personal favorite remains his commentary on the Rambam’s Hilchot Beit HaBechirah, the Laws of the Holy Temple. The Rebbe recommended that Hilchot Beit HaBechirah be studied during the Three Weeks of mourning prior to Tishah B’Av. In his commentary, the Rebbe combines a profound analysis of the conceptual underpinnings of the Rambam’s text with an appreciation for the spiritual guidance that the student can derive from the Rambam’s treatment of the subject. He achieves the latter by applying his mastery of Chassidic thought to the Rambam’s words. But for the former, he relies upon a surprising “mentor”: the brilliant but often cryptic notes of Rabbi Yosef Rosen, known as the Rogatchover Gaon.

It is clear that the Rebbe was heavily influenced in his approach to Talmud study in general, and to the works of the Rambam in particular, by this early twentieth-century genius. The hallmarks of the Rogatchover’s approach are his astonishing bekiut (thorough familiarity with the entire range of rabbinic literature) and a method of study that does not hesitate to use abstract philosophical concepts. Garnered in part from the Rambam’s own Moreh Nevuchim, Rabbi Yosef Rosen uses these concepts as analytic tools to find the underlying themes behind seemingly disparate strands of Talmudic discussion.

In my opinion, the Rebbe remains the foremost interpreter of the Rogatchover’s Torah teachings. Most of us, who find the Rogatchover’s writings forbiddingly terse and often inscrutable, are indebted to the Rebbe for making them more accessible.

Chiddushei Torah and Lomdut

The ultimate criterion of rabbinic greatness is, of course, exceptional proficiency in the Talmud corpus. The ability to formulate novellae, to expound with originality upon a wide range of texts—reconciling seeming contradictions and resolving questions of all sorts—is the sine qua non of rabbinic greatness. It is here that the Rebbe’s contributions, although published and available to all, are least known to those outside his circle of followers.

The most incontrovertible demonstration of the Rebbe’s lomdut is found in the hadranim, the lectures he delivered at the conclusion of studying Talmudic tractates. The Rebbe delivered 151 such hadranim, eighty-four of which are recorded in the two-volume Hadranim al HaShas, published by Kehot Publication Society. I have two personal favorites: one is the hadran that the Rebbe delivered on the occasion of the completion of the entire Talmud, in which he persuasively argues that a common thread runs through all of the hundreds of disputes between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. The other is his hadran on the tractate Bava Kama. This is a tour de force in which the Rebbe connects the Bavli and Yerushalmi, uses the “Brisker” concepts of cheftzaand gavra and ingeniously links the beginning of the tractate with its end—all to elucidate a fundamental principle which underlies the entire 118 folio pages of the crucial tractate.

Derush, or Homiletics

As a pulpit rabbi for many years, and as one who is still frequently called upon to deliver sermons, I have found the Rebbe’s works to be veritable archives of chomer lederush, homiletic material. The thirty-nine volumes of his selected edited sichot, or weekly discourses, and more than two hundred unedited ones, might prove to be too overwhelming a source for busy pulpit rabbis. Fortunately, many of his teachings have been condensed and compiled in a collection about the festivals called Shaarei HaMoadim. I have found those volumes indispensable for preparing and delivering inspiring and spiritually relevant sermons—grounded in a heterogeneous array of sources—to audiences of every possible background. On the occasion of Shevii Shel Pesach, I once delivered a lecture to a distinctly secular audience on the topic of miracles, using the Rebbe’s discourse on the Splitting of the Red Sea from Shaarei HaMoadim as a guide.

The Rebbe as Pastoral Counselor

Most readers would surely concur that an essential component of great Torah scholarship is a rabbi’s ability to use that scholarship to assist those seeking personal guidance. We have interesting manuscript evidence of the Rambam’s skill in this regard; in much more recent times we know of the practical advice that spiritual leaders like the Chofetz Chaim and the Chazon Ish were able to give those who sought their counsel.

I personally benefited from the Rebbe’s advice in a life-changing telephone conversation I had with him more than forty years ago. Thousands of others have benefitted similarly.

We have written documentation of these counseling sessions in the multi-volume collection of letters that the Rebbe wrote over the course of his leadership career. This collection is published as Iggerot Kodesh. It amounts to thirty volumes and has scores more in the works. I am drawn to this collection especially because of my training and experience in the field of psychotherapy. A number of major principles of effective counseling emerge from these letters. To name a few:

1. It is important to have clear and achievable goals in life.

2. When those goals are reached, one must immediately set new goals and never complacently rest upon one’s laurels.

3. Study, joy and song are antidotes to depression, as is focusing on helping others.

4. One must cultivate as many friendships as possible, and do so by giving spiritually or materially to the other person.

5. We need much less sleep than we think.

6. One must persist in the face of failure. Failure is seldom total and never final; it is usually a step toward reaching the next level of achievement.

7. One must never compromise one’s religious principles. Such compromise is not effective.

8. Each person has a distinct role to play; both God and one’s fellow man fully rely on him to accomplish it. No one else can do what he is uniquely created to do.

The Rebbe tried valiantly to change the orientation of modern psychology from Dr. Sigmund Freud’s approach to that of Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning. (Dr. Freud and his followers believed that unconscious and dark forces were the essence of man. Dr. Frankl, who was a survivor of Auschwitz, asserted that man’s conscious search for meaning is his essence. The Rebbe personally encouraged Dr. Frankl to persist in his dispute against the Freudians. See Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’ article on page 21.)

By expanding our view of the Rebbe and increasing our familiarity with his contributions, we get a picture of his unusual significance in Jewish history. More important, we become aware that his teachings remain a vital source of education and inspiration for all Jews, irrespective of one’s background and hashkafic perspective.

The Rebbe was not just a rebbe for Chabad Chassidim. He was, and remains, a rebbe for us all.

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is executive vice president, emeritus of the Orthodox Union.

The Rabbi's Motorcycle Accident

Thu, 2 Jan 2014 9:44:00 PM

It’s Friday afternoon in central Paris.

It’s close to Shabbat, so I get on my motorcycle and head home.

I live in France, serving as a Chabad emissary in S.-Maur-des-Fossés, a small city south of Paris.

It’s raining heavily, and the pavement is slippery. I slow down, adjusting my helmet.

Suddenly I notice a sports car entering the intersection. The driver hasn’t noticed me approaching at high speed.

The situation is dangerous, and my heart races. What to do? Brake on wet pavement at 80 km/h? I am in danger of rolling over. To continue? A collision is unavoidable.

I brake quickly. The motorcycle skids, and I fall to the ground. I am waiting for the approaching cars. Are these my last moments?

Silence. One car stops and blocks the road. I check myself for injuries. ThankG‑d, I’m fine. I try to get out the street.

A woman runs toward me. “Are you all right?” she asks in French. “Can I help you?”

“I think I’m all right,” I answer, removing my helmet. She looks surprised—perhaps not expecting a bearded man. There are not many in Paris.

“Is everything all right?” she asks again, this time in Hebrew. Now I am taken aback.

She introduces herself as Madame Katia Dahaan. “I live nearby, and happened to be passing,” she says. “I didn’t expect to see a Jew, never mind a rabbi.”

“And the Hebrew?” I ask.

“Oh, that’s from trips to Israel years ago,” she says.

Katia wants to talk, but I apologize and explain, “It’s almost Shabbat, and I need to get home.”

Katia is surprised to hear Shabbat is coming. Her reaction puzzles me. Almost 400,000 Jews live in that neighborhood; it’s hard not to know today is Shabbat eve.

“Do you light Shabbat candles?” I ask.

Katia gives me another strange look. She mutters, “No, I don’t.”

“Can I invite you to our home for Shabbat?” I offer.

“Which Shabbat?” she asks with surprise.

“Tonight,” I answer.

A smile emerges. “I don’t think I can come tonight, but I will be happy to come another Shabbat,” she says. We exchange phone numbers, and part.

Katia didn’t come that evening, nor the next Shabbat. And I couldn’t find her number, though I tried hard to locate her.

Four months pass. One morning I received a text message from an unfamiliar number.

Moments later, my phone rang.

“Rabbi? It’s Katia Dahaan. Do you remember me?”

“Of course! We are still waiting for you to come for Shabbat.”

“When can I come?”

“Please, this coming Shabbat!”

That Friday night Katia was one of our guests. She was very emotional throughout.

Others asked me who she was. I told them the story about the accident. I said, “You can say that she was a messenger from Above to help me during those scary moments.”

Katia looked at us with a smile and said, “I think it’s time for you to hear my version . . .

“I am forty-five years old and live alone. I have a sister and mother, but I haven’t spoken to them for over twenty years.

“It’s hard to be single, especially for a Jewish woman. My parents were traditional; we made kiddush, celebrated holidays and fasted on Yom Kippur. But since I’ve been living alone, I stopped observing.

“When you live alone, it’s hard to make kiddush, because there is no family to have a meal together. It’s hard to go to synagogue alone. I didn’t even have Jewish girlfriends.

“About two years ago, after years of being disconnected from Judaism, I wanted to come back to my religion. I decided to find a job in a Jewish environment. This way I’d make friends, and maybe get invited for Shabbat and holidays.

“I found a job in a shoe store in the Pletzel. All the local workers were Jewish, and I made friends.

“But there was one problem—Shabbat. On Fridays they would wish one another ‘Good Shabbat,’ and on Mondays, ask each other how Shabbat went. But no one paid attention to me. Every week I hoped for an invitation, but every week brought more disappointment.

“Almost a year passed . . . ‘Can it be that Jews don’t accept you anymore?’ I asked myself. ‘How can they be so inconsiderate?’”

Katia’s voice became choked with emotion. “I became very angry with Jews and Judaism. I decided it wasn’t for me. I left that store and found another job.

“But there still was one problem—Shabbat. Every Friday night I would remember the Shabbat of my childhood—the candles, kiddush. I thought, ‘How can I stop these memories?’

“I decided to find something to do on Friday nights. I found an advertisement for a church choir looking for singers on Friday nights.”

Silence prevailed around the table. “I was accepted into the choir, and it’s been a year that I’m singing in church on Friday nights. With a sad smile she added, “I come home so tired that I don’t have time to think about Shabbat.

“Everything went smoothly until that Friday,” continued Katia, “when I saw the motorcycle rolling over on the road. I ran to help the rider, and was shocked when he reminded me that it was Shabbat eve and invited me! And he didn’t even know me!

“You think that I was sent to you?” Katia concluded. “I think it was you who was sent to bring back my soul.”

Katia doesn’t sing in the church anymore. She spends every Friday night with us or other Chabad families.

So, it wasn’t just a motorcycle accident after all.

American worker kidnapped by Al-Qaida appeals to Obama

Thu, 26 Dec 2013 9:32:00 PM

A U.S. government contractor kidnapped by Al Qaida in Pakistan again has asked the Obama administration to negotiate with his captors.

Al-Qaida released a video message from Weinstein, a former Peace Corps and USAID official, late Wednesday night in which he says he feels “totally abandoned and forgotten,” according to the Washington Post. The video was sent to journalists and news services in Pakistan, according to reports.

Weinstein, 72, sitting by himself against a white wall, asks Obama to release Al-Qaida terrorists in exchange for his release.

“You are now in your second term as president of the United States and that means that you can take hard decisions without worrying about reelection,” he said, according to the Post.

A link to a photo of a handwritten note was also sent to journalists. The testimonial letter is dated Oct. 3, 2013; it is not known when the video was filmed.

Weinstein, of Rockville, Md., was kidnapped in August 2011 outside Pakistan while he was working for J.E. Austin Associates, a private company that advises Pakistani businesses.

The U.S. State Department did not receive a copy of the video, but was provided with one by the Post.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said that U.S. officials are “working hard to authenticate” the message. She reiterated the government’s call for Weinstein’s release.

The United States has said it will not negotiate with al-Qaida, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization

In a video released in May 2012, Weinstein also appealed to President Obama to save his life, asking him to accede to his captor’s demands, including the freeing by the United States of all al-Qaida and Taliban suspects.

In September 2012 Weinstein appealed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video released by Al-Qaida, to help free him.

As a Jew, I am appealing to you, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the head of the Jewish State of Israel, as one Jew to another, to please intervene on my behalf, to work with the mujahideen and to accept their demands so that I can be released and returned to my family, see my wife, my children and my grandchildren again,” he said in the video.

U.K. warns against doing business in West Bank Jewish settlements

Thu, 12 Dec 2013 12:09:00 PM

(JTA) — The British government is warning the business community to steer clear of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

New recommendations noting there are “clear risks” and the United Kingdom does “not offer support to such activity” were published last week on the U.K. Trade and Investment website in the section titled Overseas Business Risk–Israel.

The recommendations suggest that British and European Union citizens should “be aware of the potential reputational implications of getting involved in economic and financial activities in settlements, as well as possible abuses of the rights of individuals.”

They say the settlements, according to international law, “are built on occupied land and are not recognized as a legitimate part of Israel’s territory. This may result in disputed titles to the land, water, mineral or other natural resources which might be the subject of purchase or investment.”

The recommendations reiterate that the British government considers the West Bank — including eastern Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights – as territories occupied by Israel since 1967.

The section also states, however, that “The UK Government is deeply committed to promoting our trade and business ties with Israel and strongly opposes boycotts.”

On a positive note, the recommendations state that “Israel enjoys a strong entrepreneurial culture which nurtures and develops new ideas, making Israel a technology powerhouse.” Technology industries also have “an entrepreneurial start-up spirit,” according to the British government.

Boycott of Israel endorsed by American Studies Association leaders

Thu, 5 Dec 2013 6:48:00 PM

A Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) protest against Israel in Melbourne, Australia, on June 5, 2010. Credit: Mohamed Ouda via Wikimedia Commons.

(JNS.org) The national council of the American Studies Association (ASA) on Wednesday announced its adoption of a resolution to boycott Israel. The ASA’s 5,000 members now have until Dec. 15 to vote on the measure.

“Our resolution understands boycott as limited to a refusal on the part of the Association in its official capacities to enter into formal collaborations with Israeli academic institutions, or with scholars who are expressly serving as representatives or ambassadors of those institutions, or on behalf of the Israeli government, until Israel ceases to violate human rights and international law,” the ASA national council stated.

Kenneth Stern, director on anti-Semitism and extremism for the American Jewish Committee, said in a statement that the ASA resolution “is despicable, contravenes the most basic values of academic freedom and does nothing to advance the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace.”

“Treating Israeli academic institutions in a way no other universities are treated anywhere else in the world is discrimination pure and simple,” Stern said.

The Israel Action Network, an initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America in partnership with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a statement, “Peace for both Israelis and Palestinians depends on both parties working together towards a negotiated, two-state solution. Academics can play a very constructive role in encouraging collaboration in all fields as well as peace-making. Divisive measures such as academic boycotts only serve to undermine this very objective.”

Iran ‘far too close’ to nuclear weapon after deal, says former CIA head

Wed, 4 Dec 2013 10:36:00 PM

Former CIA and NSA chief Gen. Michael Hayden. Credit: CIA.

(JNS.org) Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, said Iran is “far too close to a nuclear weapon” following its interim agreement with world powers. The deal allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium to 5 percent.

“At the end of the day, Iran is going to be a nuclear threshold state,” Hayden told Fox News.

“We have accepted Iranian nuclear enrichment,” he said. “What we have to do is push that threshold back as far as possible, and that will define whether this is a good idea or a bad idea.”

IDF’s Druse battalion prepares for its next clash with Hezbollah

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 11:01:00 AM

Senior commanders in the IDF’s 300th Infantry Brigade tell 'The Jerusalem Post' that the quiet reigning over the Lebanese frontier is highly deceptive: "Hezbollah is carrying out massive preparations."

On both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, the IDF and Hezbollah are quietly and intensively preparing for the next clash between them, a conflict both expect will surpass previous wars, in the scope of firepower each side will seek to employ.

The IDF’s 300th Infantry Brigade is based in what is known in the army as the Western Sector of the Lebanese border.

Senior commanders in the brigade told The Jerusalem Post this week that the quiet reigning over the frontier is highly deceptive.

In the midst of the green mountains and pastoral Shi’ite villages of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah is installing the most serious conventional threat to Israeli security, planting tens of thousands of rockets in civilian homes, digging underground bunkers for command and control centers, and plotting cross-border attacks.

“Hezbollah is carrying out massive preparations,” a senior source from the 300th Brigade said in recent days. “They’re focused in civilian Shi’ite villages. They know we won’t just attack the villages for no reason. Hezbollah members come to the border too, but without their uniforms.

They arrive in the form of shepherds, farmers, and hunters.”

“Hezbollah has the operational capabilities to attack now. When it will do so remains to be seen,”the source added. “This might end up being something we haven’t experienced. The threat exists from the air, sea and ground, as well as underground tunnels.

We’re always thinking about what the next step might be.”

In the middle of this build-up is Lt.-Col. Raafat Halabi, Commander of the Division’s Sword Battalion, which is composed of Druse infantry soldiers. The battalion is highly esteemed among IDF commanders for its professionalism and fighting capabilities, and is seen as a major northern infantry asset.

Sitting at battalion headquarters near the Lebanese border in the Upper Galilee, Halabi sketched out the beginnings of the Druse-Jewish relationship. “It started before the establishment of the state. The Druse felt they were an oppressed minority.

The Jews arrived here with the same feeling,” he said.

When Arab forces first began armed attacks on pre-state Jewish communities, the Druse were neutral, but soon enough, the leadership of the Druse community made a decision to tie its fate to that of the Jewish national liberation movement.

By 1948, when the War of Independence broke out, the Druse joined battles against invading Arab League armies, forming a Minorities Company in the nascent IDF. During the conflict, Druse leaders in Israel got in touch with a contingent of Syrian and Lebanese Druse, who had joined the Arab League’s offensive after being told that Israel was ethnically cleansing Druse villages.

“Our leadership told them this is a lie. No one is being kicked out here. Their commander understood what had happened, and told his soldiers, ‘Those of you who wish to stay can do so. The rest should return home with me.’ The grandson of one of the soldiers who stayed became the first Druse navigator in the Israel Air Force,” Halabi said.

The Minorities Company evolved into a battalion in the 1950s, when the government extended the mandatory national draft to Israeli Druse.

In the 1970s, Druse soldiers began joining all army units, a process that today sees them integrated in and commanding vital military forces. Last month’s appointment of a Druse commander to head the Golani Brigade, Col. Rasan Alian, is one example.

Halabi concedes, his battalion is facing stiff competition from other units keen to enlist young Israeli Druse, who are not only bilingual in Arabic and Hebrew, but also, like their Jewish-Israeli peers, are often fluent in the world of computers and technology.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE’S Unit 8200 and the air force are just two of the contenders.

“But motivation to join this battalion remains high,” Halabi argued.

The history of Halabi’s family is intertwined with the Sword Battalion. His father served in it, and four out of seven of his brothers did too.

“Today, like any infantry battalion, we’re carrying out continuous security missions and training for war. We moved to the Lebanese border from the South following Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. This area is our specialty,” he added.

During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the Sword Battalion fought nonstop throughout the course of the conflict, earning a citation from the chief of staff. On the wall of the battalion’s headquarters is a photograph of Druse soldiers waving an Israeli flag as they passed through the border gate back into Israel, the last to leave Lebanon.

“We met all of our missions with honor. Very few were injured,” Halabi said.

One plain advantage possessed by the Druse battalion is its Arabic language and familiarity with Arab culture. Halabi researched the issue on behalf of his Division Headquarters.

“When I enter a village in Lebanon, it’s very similar to my village. If there’s a sign with a photo of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, I can read it. I can see a gas stove and know it’s not an explosive device. I can tell that a floor door is most likely a well. I dug one in my home recently,” he explained.

In the course of house-to-house fighting in 2006, Halabi found Hezbollah books that transmitted the Iranian ideology at the heart of the Shi’ite terror organization, and read them. He also found a book that listed Hezbollah’s members killed in action.

“This is part of the indoctrination of the population, also achieved through summer camps and other civilian programs. I read these books during breaks in the fighting, and learned about the Khomeinist [Iranian Islamist] ideology which is being spread throughout the population,” Halabi added.

The cultural advantage also enables members of the battalion to easily discern Hezbollah men approaching the border to carry out reconnaissance, while pretending to be hunters.

Despite the many criticisms of the IDF’s performance during the 2006 conflict, Halabi firmly believes it enabled the northern border to remain quiet, due to deterrence. “But we understand this is time-limited,” he added.

Halabi’s army career contains within it the story of the IDF over past decades. In Gaza, before Israel’s departure, he was a company commander, and his base near Netzarim was fired on by Palestinian gunmen every night.

He once rode in a jeep driven by a young, quiet army driver, when an explosive went off nearby, which was detonated by Palestinian gunmen.

Despite being alone, Halabi acted quickly.

“I didn’t know if the terrorists were near the sea or in the orchards, in the opposite direction. I did what we were trained to do; I drove forward, turned at a 40-degree angle, got out and stormed the orchards, firing as I went. I took up a position on a hill and continued firing. The young jeep driver got out and crouched next to me, firing as well,” Halabi said.

“We’re an excellent battalion in the IDF, with certified accomplishments,” he continued.

“We’re familiar with engaging Hezbollah, and maintain a collective, firsthand memory of our experiences. This helps us to be smarter, deeper in our understanding, and more creative.”

The battalion carries out daily patrols of the border. “We’re on permanent alert.

The other side is learning, too, and drew lessons from the last conflict. They’re thinking about how to act, what to do.

The Iranians are investing a lot of money in this,” said Halabi.

“They’re monitoring our activities. The initiative is in their hands. We have no intention of attacking them. We’re defensive, and seek quiet. They sometimes act otherwise. There’s an array of threats in the sector, and they decide when things happen.”

As part of preparations, the Sword Battalion recently held a two-day battle drill, in which soldiers marched for 10 hours and linked up with other Ground Forces units to simulate a sudden entrance into Lebanon.

“We’re getting ready for all scenarios, including sea-based infiltration, aerial attack, and attacks through tunnels. Fighting here is not like combat in the sands of Gaza,” Halabi added.

High-ranking commanders in the IDF’s Northern Command told the Post this week that Hezbollah’s clashes with Sunni rebels in Syria are enabling the organization to gain valuable operational experience.

“They could exploit this against Israel in the future. The IDF is taking this into account. Their fighting abilities are far higher today,” one source said.

When suspicious individuals approach the border, the IDF alerts the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which can whisk away unwanted individuals. However, UNIFIL refrains from entering Shi’ite villages, the gravitational center of Hezbollah’s activities, after the terror organization signaled to it in the past, through gun and bomb attacks, that this would be a transgression of “the rules of the game.”

Hezbollah’s field intelligence units are highly developed, the source said. “On this side, we’re mapping out where Hezbollah is. We’re working closely with intelligence,” he added.

The IDF, UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army hold regular meetings, which contribute to cooperation and border stability, the senior source said.

The Battalion is one of five enlisted battalions under the division’s command.

They are joined annually by some three to five reserve battalions, which include Combat Intelligence, armored units, sappers and K-9 units. “They’d all be activated in a war,” the source stated.

“This relaxing scenery can change in seconds if there’s a missile, bomb attack or an infiltration,” he continued.

One nagging concern is the significant budget cut suffered by the IDF, which has limited training. Week-long drills have shrunk to span just two days. “We’re finding ways to close the gaps. We hope the situation will change in 2015 [when a new defense budget will be passed],” the source said.

For his part, Halabi broadcast a quiet confidence in the IDF’s readiness to tackle Hezbollah. “Israel is stronger,” he said.

“We’re protecting our homes here, which are in the North. We love the state very much.”

Former Israeli National Security Chief: Israel Could Halt Iran’s Nuclear Weapons Capability ‘For a Very Long Time’

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 3:53:00 PM

F-16 fighters. Photo: WikiCommons.

An influential Israeli official said at the weekend the Jewish state is confident a military option can be effective if diplomatic efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program fail.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser and close confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told the Financial Times that Israel could halt Iran’s nuclear weaponscapability “for a very long time,” and added its air force had been conducting “very long-range flights . . . all around the world” as part of preparations for a possible military confrontation with Iran.

“We are not the United States of America, of course, and believe it or not they have more capabilities than us,” Amidror said. “But we have enough to stop the Iranians for a very long time.”

Israel has expressed concern about a possible deal between world powers and Iran. Netanyahu told CNN Sunday that Iran is “getting just an enormous deal, from their point of view, and it’s giving practically nothing in return. They’re keeping their infrastructure to make nuclear bombs.”

Netanyahu also said Sunday that Western powers can reach “a much better agreement” with Iran over its nuclear program.“I hope that we will succeed in convincing our friends this week and in the days afterwards to achieve a much better agreement, and it will be possible to do so,” Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting.

“Iran is under economic pressure and continuing – and even increasing – this pressure will be able to achieve the much better result of a peaceful, diplomatic solution. I believe that many in the region and beyond it share this view.”

Netanyahu: Interpreter Who Called Out UN’s Hypocrisy ‘Has a Job Waiting for Her in Israel’

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:50:00 AM

UN general Assembly hall.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that a UN interpreter caught by an open microphone expressing bewilderment at a slew of resolutions condemning Israel was “brave”, and offered her a job in Israel were she to be dismissed from her position at the UN.

“I hope nothing happens to the interpreter, but at any rate, a place of employment is guaranteed for her in Israel if there is a development in that direction,” Netanyahu said.

Unaware of the open mic, the interpreter broadcast her opinion to everyone at a General Assembly session last week.

“I mean, I think when you have five statements — not five — like a total of 10 resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s gotta be something, c’est un peu trop, non? [It’s a bit much, no?] I mean, I know there’s other really bad shit happening, but no one says anything about the other stuff,” she said.

Many of the delegates laughed, and the interpreter later apologized.

According to a statement from his office, Netanyahu showed a video of the incident to his Cabinet, explaining: “There are moments that tear the hypocrisy off the unending attacks against us and this brave interpreter did so.”

Israel Ranks Second on Global Dynamism Index Science and Technology Sector

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:44:00 AM

Jerusalem Technology Park. Photo: Wikipedia.

Israel has been ranked second in the Global Dynamism Index science and technology sector of one of the world’s largest worldwide accountancy firms with a mark of 62.7. Israel moved up one place to second from third, lagging only behind South Korea with a mark of 64.2. Israel was ranked ahead of Finland (62.6), Sweden (58.8), and Japan (58.7).

The Grant Thornton index draws together 22 indicators, including GDP growth, R&D spend, regulatory risk, access to finance and labor productivity, across five areas of dynamism (business operating environment, science and technology, labor and human capital, financing and environment, economics and growth) to produce the rankings.

Overall Israel ranked eighth place with a mark of 61.8. Australia topped the list followed by Chile, China, New Zealand, Canada, Finland and Singapore.

Biggest children’s book publisher erases Israel from map

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 6:00:00 PM

Jewish state absent from map in Egypt-based adventure book for kids published by Scholastic Inc., which promises to stop book’s shipment

A detail from a map of the Middle East that appears in the book 'Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt,' published by Scholastic.

Arab textbooks are not the only ones erasing Israel from their maps. Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, has also eliminated the Jewish state in a book.

“Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt,” part of the popular Geronimo Stilton children’s series translated from Italian and published by Scholastic in 2012, tells the story of a group of investigative journalists involved in a treasure hunt in Egypt.

The story commences with a map of modern Egypt and its neighboring countries. While Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia appear clearly on the map, the territory of Israel is completely covered by Jordan, painted red. A line indicating the Israeli border with the Sinai Peninsula does appear in the book.

Adina Golombek, a Jerusalem resident who emigrated to Israel from Canada last year, said she was shocked to discover Israel’s absence while reading the book with her 7-year-old son.

“I wanted to show my son where we lived in the Middle East, but it didn’t say Israel on the map; instead it said Jordan,” Golombek told The Times of Israel. “I showed him the problem and drew in the border of where Israel is today.”

Founded in Pennsylvania in 1920, Scholastic has grown to become the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books through its book clubs, teaching resources and popular book fairs held inside many North American schools. The company has exclusive publishing rights for the Harry Potter series in the United States.

The cover of the ‘Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt’

Kyle Good, a senior vice president for corporate communications at Scholastic, told The Times of Israel in an email that her company would stop selling the book until the error was amended in the book’s next edition.

“The President of Trade Publishing who was on a plane yesterday returning from Europe has confirmed for me this morning that we are stopping shipments on this title, making the correction and going to reprint. We regret the error,” Good wrote.

A recent study carried out by Israeli and Palestinian researchers found that 96 percent of Palestinian school textbooks did not mention Israel by name in their maps. Similarly, 87 percent of Israeli school textbooks did not designate the Palestinian Territories by name.

Jewish groups’ Iran sanctions push conjures echoes of 1943 Holocaust advocacy

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 5:52:00 PM

A tried-and-true method for lobbyists whose cause is opposed by the U.S. president is to bypass the White House by going to Congress. It worked for Jewish activists in 1943. But will it work in the current battle over sanctions on Iran?

Seventy years ago, the Holocaust rescue activists known as the Bergson Group found themselves stymied by an administration that did not want to take action to save Jewish refugees from the Nazis. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his aides insisted that rescue was not possible until the Nazis were defeated on the battlefield. The White House called its policy “rescue through victory”—a clever way of disguising what was, in reality, a policy of non-rescue.

The Bergson Group looked to Congress for help. In the autumn of 1943, just before Yom Kippur, the Bergsonites and an Orthodox rescue group, the Va’ad ha-Hatzala, brought 400 rabbis to Washington, DC, for an unprecedented march to Capitol Hill and the White House. The dramatic protest helped galvanize members of Congress to introduce a resolution calling on FDR to create a new government agency to rescue Jewish refugees.

Bergson understood the political importance of lining up supporters from both sides of the aisle. It was quite a coup that the leading sponsors of his resolution were Congress members from President Roosevelt’s own party: U.S. Sen. Guy Gillette of Iowa and U.S. Rep. Will Rogers, Jr. of California.

Presidents don’t like when activists use Congress to advance a policy that the administration opposes. FDR didn’t like what Bergson was doing, and the administration of President Barack Obama doesn’t like that some pro-Israel activists today are urging Congress to tighten sanctions on Iran. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has called the congressional sanctions effort “a march to war.”

In 1943, the Roosevelt administration’s allies in Congress tried to slow down the rescue resolution by insisting on full hearings before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Bergson arranged for an impressive array of public figures to testify in support of the resolution. Probably the most important was New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. The fact that he was a staunch supporter of President Roosevelt’s policies in general gave La Guardia credibility to challenge FDR on refugee policy.

In his testimony, La Guardia zeroed in on the fact that the administration had recently established a commission to rescue historic buildings and monuments in war-torn Europe. (“Monuments Men,” a new George Clooney movie about that effort, will be released in February.) The mayor told the congressional hearing, “This very important problem... is not like the destruction of buildings or monuments, as terrible as that may be, because, after all, they may be rebuilt or even reproduced; but when a life is snuffed out, it is gone; it is gone forever.”

Unfortunately, American Jewish leaders were divided on the rescue resolution. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, head of the American Jewish Congress and a fervent supporter of President Roosevelt, testified that the Gillette-Rogers resolution was inadequate because it did not state that refugees should be brought to Palestine. (Bergson had deliberately omitted the contentious Palestine issue from the wording in order to gain the backing of more members of Congress.) This display of Jewish disunity nearly doomed the resolution.

Today, by contrast, there appears to be unity among the major Jewish organizations in support of congressional efforts to tighten sanctions on Iran. The Israeli daily Ha’aretz claimed in a Nov. 1 news article that leaders of four Jewish groups agreed to a White House request to temporarily hold off on the sanctions effort. But in response, two of the groups—the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the American Jewish Committee—publicly reaffirmed their support for tighter sanctions. A third, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, did not indicate any change in its support for tighter sanctions. A fourth, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), initially confirmed that it would refrain from urging more sanctions, but 10 days issued a statement reversing that position.

Back to 1943: The Roosevelt administration countered Bergson and La Guardia by sending its top refugee policy expert, Assistant Secretary of State Breckinridge Long, to testify against the Gillette-Rogers resolution. But that move backfired when Long wildly exaggerated the number of refugees who had already been admitted to the United States. Now the mainstream Jewish organizations, while still hostile to the Bergson Group, nevertheless joined with Bergson in denouncing Long’s distortions. That made it harder for the Roosevelt administration to play divide-and-conquer.

President Roosevelt, faced with this rising tide of criticism from the Jewish community and Congress, reluctantly agreed to create a rescue agency. It was called the War Refugee Board. Although FDR gave it only token funding (90 percent of its budget came from Jewish organizations), and the State Department and War Department often failed to cooperate with its efforts, the Board played a key role in the rescue of some 200,000 Jews in the waning months of the war.

Jewish disunity nearly derailed the 1943 rescue resolution. If not for a twist of fate—Breckinridge

Long’s preposterous testimony—the War Refugee Board might never have been created. Perhaps today’s Jewish leaders have learned a lesson from that experience.

Suspects admit to killing IDF colonel 'as a gift to the Palestinian people'

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 5:42:00 PM

Two Palestinians admit to murder of Saraya Ofer in Jordan Valley last month; plan began as robbery but upon discovering Ofer's military background they decided to murder him, Shin Bet says.

Men arrested for murder of former IDF colonel Photo: Courtesy

Two Palestinians accused of murdering IDF Colonel (res.) Saraya Ofer in the Jordan Valley last month, originally planned the crime as a robbery, but decided to commit the murder "as a gift to the Palestinian people" when they realized that Ofer was a senior IDF officer, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed on Thursday.

The two suspects, Oda Frid Taalb Haruv, 18, and Bashir Ahmad Oda Haruv, 21, were arrested by the Shin Bet two weeks after the murder.

During their interrogation, the two suspects admitted that two weeks prior to the murder they traveled to Ofer's home in the vacation village of Brosh Habika to gather information and planned a violent robbery. Once they realized that the home belonged to a senior military officer, they plotted to murder him and his wife "as a present to the Palestinian people and for Hamas's prisoners in honor of the [the Muslim holiday] Eid al-Fitr". They admitted to praying for success before committing the murder.

On the evening of Oct. 10, the two suspects arrived at Ofer's home and attacked him and his wife with metal bars and axes. His wife managed to escape. She is currently still hospitalized for wounds sustained during the attack.

According to the Shin Bet, the suspects considered escaping to Jordan after the murder, but instead called a friend, Mahmad Avad Raba Shuamra, 27, for a ride from the area and went back to Shuamra's east Jerusalem home with him and changed their clothes. Shuamra was also arrested and questioned.

In the upcoming days the investigation will be turned over to the State Attorney's Office and the suspects will be charged, the Shin Bet stated.