Fingerhut says “Hillel is deeply dedicated to Israel.” and “Hillel will not partner with organizations that espouse anti-Semitism, apply a double standard to Israel, spout racism or promote Islamophobia.”.  All good.

BUT, he also believes that students should listen to Mahmoud Abbas respectfully. I’m sorry but he doesn’t deserve respect. He is a holocaust denier, the financier of the Munich Massacre and Arafat’s partner in all his crimes against the Jews. He still wants to destroy Israel. Why should Hillel encourage their students to listen to him and to show him respect. If Hillel is truly dedicated to Israel, why give a platform to those who aren’t, who want Israel terminated. No doubt he believes students should listen to Hamas also. Hillel accepts all students regardless of whether they are “dedicated to Israel” or not.

“Inclusivity and broad-mindedness are part of our core values” writes Fingerhut. Therein lies the problem. These values undermine “dedication to Israel” and Hillel should recognize this. Either you are pro-Israel or you are “broadminded”.

“For some, those simultaneous commitments to openness and pluralism on the one hand and to passionate support of Israel on the other may seem contradictory. For Hillel, there is no contradiction.” Again, that’s the problem.

Doesn’t he realize when he writes “Hillel will not partner with organizations that espouse anti-Semitism, apply a double standard to Israel, spout racism or promote Islamophobia.” that everybody applies a double standard to Israel or that Islam is Israel’s enemy and to fear Islam is healthy and not a phobia?

Ted Belman

By Eric Fingerhut, Pres of Hillel, HAARETZ | Oct. 10, 2014

New Hillel President Eric Fingerhut speaking with Johanna Rothseid, a student member of the Hillel board of directors. Photo by JTA Photo Servicen R. Federman | Oct. 9, 2014 |

JTA – Once again the love affair between the Jewish people and higher education is back in full bloom. The start of a new school year, and the Jewish New Year, marked the beginning of robust programming for Jewish college students across the globe.

As students dig into their studies, the events in Israel and Gaza this past summer are a hot topic on many campuses. In response, Hillel International, the largest Jewish student organization in the world — its growing network now serves some 550 campuses in North and South America, Europe, Central Asia, Australia and Israel — is drawing on its expertise in promoting deep and thoughtful discussion. Hillel is sponsoring a broad range of programs to help students understand the issues and how they will affect Israel and its neighbors in the future. Read more…

350 students gather at Harvard and discuss need for inclusion of non-Zionist voices in Jewish campus conversations about Middle East conflict

BY BATYA UNGAR-SARGON, TOI,  October 16, 2014,

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (JTA) — Harvard senior Rachel Sandalow-Ash scanned the exuberant crowd that packed a campus auditorium on Saturday night.

“Wow,” she said, speaking to an audience of some 350 composed primarily of American college students. “This is amazing. This is really cool.”

Sandalow-Ash, 21, went on to discuss the importance of nurturing a pluralistic and intellectually diverse Jewish community.

“We believe that no one should be excluded because of their views on Israel-Palestine, or really for any reason at all. And we believe that real discussions of Israel-Palestine have to include Palestinian voices as well,” she said to raucous applause.

The crowd had gathered at Harvard for “If Not Now When,” the inaugural conference of Open Hillel — a two-year-old student group that seeks to abolish Hillel International Standards of Partnership rules that prevent campus Hillels from collaborating with people or groups that “delegitimize” the Jewish state, or support efforts of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeted at Israel.
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By David M Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM

On Wednesday morning, for the holiday of Hoshana Rabbah (the last day of Sukkot), 20,000 Orthodox Jews gathered at dawn for prayers at the Western Wall. Waves of worshippers made their way silently on foot in the very early morning twilight through the alleyways of the Old City toward the Kotel.

Then magically on cue, they belted out the core “Shma” prayer as the sun crested the horizon. Then they waved their lulavim (palm branches) while singing Hallel (psalms of praise to God), and pounded their aravot (willow branches) on the ground in expiation of sin. By 8:30 a.m., the enormous crowd dispersed quietly.

No one would know about this uplifting holiday event from listening to Israel Radio or checking any Israel or global news website. Because there was no violence involved.

Because Jews go to pray at their holy sites, not to riot.
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Paralysis afflicts western powers, allowing the Islamic Republic of Iran and its venomous proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, to grow ever stronger and usher in new horrors.

Victor Sharpe, INN

In the past I have written several published articles, both regarding the ancient ties between the Kurds and the Jews, as well as the more recent examples of Israeli support for the Kurdish people in their fight against Arab aggression.

The present and immediate moral crisis that surrounds the Kurdish resistance against ISIS in the city of Kobane cries out for Israeli and Jewish assistance to perhaps the only true friend Israel has in the Middle East apart from many in the Druze community.

Let me quote from what has just appeared in Britain’s Daily Mail. It is an account of what horrors Kurdish fighters discovered after liberating parts of Kobane from the ISIS Islamo-Nazis:
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This plan which envisions changing the status of the land by annexing it, would require the abrogation of Oslo. About time. Ted Belman

Minister Yisrael Katz proposes that Judea-Samaria sovereignty begins with Jerusalem – and expanding it as much as possible.

By Shimon Cohen, INN

Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is dependent on sovereignty in Jerusalem, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) declared in an interview published Sunday.

Katz presented his plan to establish full Israeli sovereignty over the full State of Israel in an interview with the Sovereignty journal, published by Women in Green.

In the interview, he dubs the first stage the “Greater Jerusalem” plan.

“I envision autonomy for Arab residents like what was decided at Camp David,” Katz explained, referring to the 2000 Camp David summit. At the time, the status of Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem was heavily disputed. In the Israeli negotiators’ incarnation of a deal, the Palestinian Authority (PA) would have had civilian autonomy – but not full sovereignty – over Arab neighborhoods and the Temple Mount.
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The  Jewish  Press   Jan 5, 2001

MK  Calls  For  Re-Examination  Of  Kach   And   Kahane   Chai   Classification

Following is the translation of a letter from MK Kleiner to Attorney General Rubenstein calling for a re-examination of the classification of Kach and Kahane Chai as terror organization

December 31, 2000

Mr. Elyakim  Rubenstein  Attorney  General

Re: Re-examination of classification of the organiza­tions “Kach” and “Kahane Chai” as terrorist organi­zations.

In the past, the organizations “Kach” and “Kahane Chai” were classified as terrorist organiza­tion, among other things, as an extension of the de­cision of the Supreme Court that confirmed the in­validation of the “Kach” list headed by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane.

At the same time, the Supreme Court decided with a majority of three against two not to invali­date the list of MK Mohammed Miari. An examina­tion of the explanation of the majority finds that all the red lines set by the Supreme Court regarding what an Arab list may and may not do have been crossed by the parties and MKs who are now openly acting for the end of the Jewish character of the State of Israel.

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By Michael Doran, MOSAIC

President Obama has repeatedly promised to do whatever it takes to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb. If there is no other choice, he says, he will resort to force. In a March 2012interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, the president famously rejected the alternative policy, namely, allowing Iran to go nuclear and then trying to contain it. He emphasized the point dramatically: “[A]s president of the United States,” he said, “I don’t bluff.”

Really? Suppose this statement was just a show of toughness, timed to keep supporters of Israel on his side during the 2012 campaign season. Suppose that, when it came to Iran, in his heart of hearts, the president actually preferred a strategy of containment to a strategy of prevention. Suppose that was actually his policy aim from the outset—but, for obvious reasons, he couldn’t say so. How would he proceed?
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By David P. Goldman, PJ MEDIA

Coming soon after Sweden’s recognition of a non-existent state of Palestine, the British Parliament’s 274-to-12 resolution to recognize “Palestine” flags a sea-change in European sentiment towards Israel. France is thinking of following suit. The European Community bureaucracy, meanwhile, has readied sanctions against Israel. One remonstrates in vain. The Gaza War should have taught the world that Israel cannot cede territory to Mahmoud Abbas, now in the 10th year of a 4-year term. Hamas has the support of 55% of West Bank Palestinians vs. just 38% for Abbas, and Hamas openly brags that it could destroy Israel more easily from firing positions in the West Bank. Only the Israeli military keeps Abbas in power; without the Israelis Hamas would displace Abbas in the West Bank as easily as it did in Gaza; and a Hamas government in the West Bank would make war on Israel, with horrifying consequences.

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By Daniel Greenfield

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia ruled that ten year old girls can be married off, because in his words, “Good upbringing makes a girl ready to perform all marital duties at that age.”

The Mufti, who also called for destroying churches in the Arabian Peninsula, is descended from Mohammed Wahhab who gave birth to Wahhabism and whose descendants have controlled the Saudi religious establishment, and through it Islam around the world.

However for all his power and influence, the Mufti is blind and hasn’t seen a thing in the last half century years; an apt metaphor for his entire religion.

Saudi Arabia, the heartland of Islam, still tries and executes witches. What sort of religion can come out of a place that marries off ten year old girls and murders old women on charges of witchcraft? The sort that flies planes into skyscrapers, murders teenage girls for using Facebook and bases its entire society on a ladder with Muslim men at the top, Muslim women a few rungs below and everyone else somewhere at the bottom.
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While Ankara and Washington maintain there’s “no discrepancy” between Turkey and the United States over fighting the Islamic State, it’s quite clear there’s a huge chasm between them.

By Cengiz Çandar, Al Monitor

On Oct. 14, US Secretary of State John Kerry said of Turkey: “Turkey, yeah. There’s — Turkey is a very valued member of the coalition and has joined the coalition, is doing things in the coalition, is committed to things in the coalition. And as far as I know, there is no discrepancy with respect to what is going on. Gen. [John] Allen was there, he had long meetings with them. The meetings, in his judgment, helped to move the ball forward. And so I really think that Turkey obviously has a very important role to play in this process going forward. … I mean, Turkey has agreed to host and train and equip people. It certainly has allowed the use of certain facilities, and we don’t need to get into specifics except to say that I don’t believe there is any discrepancy with respect to what they will or won’t do.”

What is particularly noticeable is Kerry’s insistence that “there is no discrepancy between Turkey and the United States.” Here the keyword is discrepancy.

Kerry’s remarks were in response to the following question:
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The U.S. fears that once the Palestinian initiative gets rolling, it will snowball and end any hope of resuming peace talks in the coming years.

By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is seeking to advance a new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative that would forestall the Palestinians’ application to the UN Security Council to mandate an end to the occupation. To this end, senior Israeli officials say, Kerry has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu whether he would be willing to resume negotiations on the basis of the 1967 lines with territorial swaps.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly in late September, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he would ask the Security Council to set a deadline for ending Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. A week later, the Palestinians circulated a draft resolution calling for Israel to withdraw by November 2016 and for an international force to replace the Israeli army.
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Both Yaalon and Gantz have come out this week in support of Israel’s conduct both during and after Operation Protective Edge.Israel has decided that

1.) the Palestinians will only get the autonomy they have now even under negotiations for a two-state solution.
2.) Israel will facilitate greater mobility and economic progress for both Gaza and Judea and Samaria and
3.) Israel will support the Free Syrian Army in the Golan on condition that they keep the extremists out.
4.) Maintain the defacto freeze of construction east of greenline. This may be breached next year  to prevent the government from falling.

Ted Belman

By Amos Harel, Haaretz

Ask Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon about the external challenges that Israel confronts and his reply will always be reasoned and sober.

Ya’alon will try to place the severity of the threat in the proper perspective and even to play it down. If his strong pessimism is translated into a tough, hawkish stance regarding the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, when it comes to exercising military force the defense minister is a very cautious man.
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Gazans and their Hamas leaders started this war, they voted in Hamas, attacked Israel, chose violence and Jihad and it is for this reason that they should pay.

David Shalom, INN

Not a penny. This should be the answer from Israel to the donors who gathered in Egypt last weekend to promise $5.4 Billion to Gaza.

Not a penny to Gaza until Hamas disarms and hands over its weapons to the IDF. Not a penny until Israel is compensated for the destruction to its homes, property and economy. Not a penny until Qatar and the other terror-funder states pay for the destruction they created. Not a penny until the families of the dead and wounded in Israel are compensated.
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Former Israeli defense minister says conflict looms with Hamas

Former Defense Minister Moshe Arens (1983-84, 1990-92, 1999) kept a skeptical eye on the reports that emerged this week from the International Donors’ Conference in Cairo for Reconstructing Gaza on Oct. 12. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Arens said the billions of dollars pledged on behalf of the Gaza civilian population would reach Hamas hands and serve them for rearmament. Thus, in Arens’ opinion, the next round of fighting between Hamas and Israel is only a matter of time.

Arens, who will turn 89 in December, is a member of the Likud movement and former Israeli ambassador to Washington. To this very day, Arens is viewed as one of Israel’s most esteemed Israeli defense ministers, who enjoyed excellent, intimate relationships with US administrations throughout his tenures. He refuses to get agitated from the descriptions and reports of acrimonious conflicts between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Barack Obama administration. According to Arens, the Israel-US relationship is better today than ever.
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How the president has exploited the international campaign against IS in order to accommodate Iran.

By MIchael Doran, MOSAIC

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations on September 29, he had a number of concerns on his mind, but one stood out above the rest. He feared that President Obama was downgrading the struggle against the Iranian nuclear program. “To defeat [the Islamic State] and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power,” Netanyahu said in the most quotable line of his speech, “is to win the battle and lose the war.”

Netanyahu had good reason to sound the alarm. An examination of Obama’s recent moves in the Middle East reveals that he has exploited the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State (IS) in order to increase cooperation with Iran in matters of regional security. Of course, administration officials dismiss any suggestion that they are “coordinating” with the Iranians militarily. In their next breath, however, they grudgingly concede otherwise—acknowledging, for example, that we provided advance notice to Tehran of the anti-IS coalition’s bombing plans in Syria. They also acknowledge opening “a quiet backchannel” to Tehran in order to “de-conflict” Iranian and American operations in Iraq.
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By Shlomo Cesana, ISRAEL HAYOM

By Yoram Ettinger, ISRAEL HAYOM

The elitist media outlets in Israel, Western Europe and the U.S. are wrong! Israel is increasingly appreciated and embraced — not ostracized — by the global community.

In defiance of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Britain, and despite the recent Gaza war, Israel’s exports to Britain and the Israel-Britain trade balance, surged by 38 percent and 28 percent respectively between January and August 2014 (as compared to the same period in 2013), expanding employment in both countries. In addition, there were 37 Israeli-British mergers, acquisitions and British stock market initial public offerings during the same period.
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I am surprised that Iran hasn’t stepped in to ensure that Baghdad which is largely Shiite does not fall. The article below makes no mention of this. Now that all borders are up for grabs, why doesn’t Iran occupy Baghdad and claim sovereignty over southern Iraq. Would the US oppose such a more? Why is Iran allowing its proxy, Iraq to fall to the Sunnis? Is ISIS a bigger threat to the west than to Iran? or is the biggest threat that the mutual Jihadist tendencies in Iran and ISIS will bind them together? Ted Belman

By Patrick Poole, PJ MEDIA

Reports that ISIS has surrounded Baghdad and is quickly closing in on the Baghdad International Airport (armed with MANPADS, no less) are troubling. Baghdad itself has been rocked by a series of VBIED attacks in the past 24 hours by ISIS, indicating that the battle for Baghdad has begun.

The possible fall of Baghdad could be the most significant development in the War on Terror since 9/11. And yet many among the D.C. foreign policy “smart set” were not long ago mocking such a scenario.

So what happens if such a situation comes to pass? Here are five key implications (by no means limited to these) if Baghdad falls to ISIS:

1) ISIS will not be claiming to the be the Islamic State, they will BE the Islamic State
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Israel Behind the News

Dr. Arnon Groiss* has prepared the following working document which summarizes the Anti Semitic motifs that have been used in the PA Schoolbooks used in UNRWA schools , ever since the new school books were introduced to UNRWA by the PA in September, 2000.

The following are references to Jews, Israel and to the perceived solution of the present conflict in Palestinian Authority schoolbooks currently used in UNRWA schools in the West Bank (including few schools in East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. This is an initial list, to be followed soon by a more detailed one, with the fully scanned material.

De-legitimization of Jewish presence the country in both past and present
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