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1. Left-Wing US Jews Call ’Law of Return’ Racist
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
A small group of left-wing Americans, some of whom call themselves Zionists, have launched a “Breaking the Law of Return” campaign, branding as “racist” the Israeli law that guarantees citizenship to Jews. More than 1,000 American Jews have backed the movement.
American Jewry traditionally had been pro-Israel until peace movements and Israel military efforts to stop Arab terrorism turned a growing number of Diaspora Jews against modern Zionism. One recent effort to maintain close ties with Israelis living abroad is a proposal to allow them to vote in Israeli elections. The idea also raised the suggestion that all Diaspora Jews be allowed to vote for Israel’s leaders.
However, a group of post-Zionist American Jews opposes even having the automatic right to become Israeli citizens by moving to Israel.
"The Law of Return creates an ethnically exclusive citizenship," Dr. Amy Kaplan, an English professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a co-founder of the 'Breaking the Law of Return' campaign, told The Media Line. "Anyone who can claim a Jewish grandparent has this automatic right to 'return' to this land while Palestinians who were dispossessed of that land, in 1948 and 1967 and most recently in East Jerusalem, can't have that same right. We see this as unjust and want to repudiate that right."
She said she grew up in a Zionist family but that the Operation Cast Lead operation against Hamas terrorists “personally implicated [me] in the violence that it perpetrates in my name.” She did not explain her remark.
The Law of Return, passed in 1950, carried out the principle of the re-establishment of Israel as a Jewish State. The American Jews campaigning against it cite their drive as part of a public commitment to boycott Israel as part of the growing global opposition to Israeli policies, although many foreign elements also have called for the abolishment of Israel as a Jewish country.
Critics of the campaign include Israeli leftist leader Uri Avnery, founder of the Gush Shalom movement. He told The Media Line, "At this moment I think it's the wrong tactic and the wrong time. It will only turn Israeli public opinion against the peace movement." He said that the Law of Return is discriminatory against Arabs but that trying to abolish it “will mean nothing [and] send a bad signal and do no good whatsoever."
Stronger criticism was expressed by Hebrew University political scientist Dr. Moshe Maor, who told the website, "The Jewish radical left has criticized Israel's policies and undermined Israel's overall legitimacy for years. These kinds of campaigns pose a major threat to Israel as they ignite anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli feelings abroad.”
He pointed out post-Zionist claims that the Law of Return is discriminatory because it favors a Jewish State “is not accepted by the Israeli Zionist center… In 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution for the establishment of a Jewish State. So, the ticket to enter Israel is given to Jews only, but in Israel itself, there is no legal discrimination whatsoever."
Bar-Ilan University political scientist Dr. Gerald Steinberg (pictured), chairman of that NGO Monitor that exposes anti-Israel bias, told The Media Line that the Breaking the Law of Return campaign eventually seeks to make the existence of the State of Israel illegitimate.
"It's always easy to find a group of Jews on the fringes of society who make some noise and who are embraced by pro-Palestinian organizations," he said. "Their entire purpose is to provide more legitimacy to the Palestinian narrative which is focused on repealing the 1947 U.N. resolution which led to the establishment of the State of Israel.
"If there was a French group that denied the right of the French to live in France and demanded that the French language be replaced by a kind of international culture it would get absolutely no publicity," he added. "But because it's Israel it gets attention."
Several American Jews campaigning against the law admit that it is part of a general move against American aid to Israel. "As a Jewish person I oppose what Israel is doing in my name but I also protest that they are doing it with my tax dollars," American Jewish activist Anna Beltzer said.
2. US Plans Sharp Hike in Passport Fees
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The United States plans to raise passport and consular fees by up to 100 percent effective March 12 if last-minute protests do not succeed in forestalling the move. The 30-day period for registering objections has expired, and officials are reviewing the proposed new fees schedule, the American embassy in Israel told Israel National News.
Extending current passports will cost $110, nearly 50 percent more than the present fee of $75, according to the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI). The cost of a new first-time passport will rise from $100 to $135, for a child under 16 from $85 to $100, and passport book security surcharges will double to $40. Application fees for a consular report of a birth in Israel or elsewhere outside of the United States will increase from $65 to $100.
Fees for notary and authentication services will increase 100 percent to $50. Renouncing American citizenship, which now is processed without charge, soon will cost $450, according to the proposed schedule of costs.
Many American immigrants to Israel have angrily protested the new proposed fee schedules in Internet and e-mail forums, but the State Department said the increases were suggested following a comprehensive cost of service study.
“As demand for passports increased to an average of 15 million per year, the increase in certain fees will help cover actual operating expenses for the Department of State’s 301 consular posts abroad, 23 domestic passport agencies, and other centers that provide consular services to both U.S. and foreign citizens,” according to federal officials.They added that improvements in automated systems have decreased some fees, such as the application fee for determining returning resident status.
3. Jordan Says Israel Threatens Christian Sites in Jerusalem
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Jordan’s King Abdullah warned the Archbishop of Canterbury on Sunday that Israel threatens to evict Muslims and Christians from eastern Jerusalem. The king also said Jordan will act to protect non-Jewish holy sites in the Palestinian Authority area, where it had closed all non-Muslim sites before Judea and Samaria were restored to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.
King Abdullah also told Archbishop Rowan Williams that Western churches could play an important role in supporting peacemaking efforts in the Middle East. Jordan has offered a plot of land in the Jordan Valley for the Anglican church, which on Sunday laid the foundation stone for a church at the Baptism site.
Until eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria were restored to Israel in 1967, Jordan had closed off all Jewish and Christian sites, except for tours by visting dignitaries.
Although King Abdullah warned that Israel is threatening against Muslims and Christians, the number of Christians in Jerusalem during the Jordanian rule actually dwindled from 25,000 in 1949 to fewer than 13,000 in 1967, when the Jewish State re-opened Christian holy sites.
The 1949 Armistice Agreement provided for the resumption of normal operations at sites in eastern Jerusalem, including the Mount of Olives cemetery. However, Jordan denied access to it and allowed the construction of a road across the cemetery, where hundreds of Jewish graves were destroyed and used by Arab Legionnaires as pavement stones.
Jordan also allowed only a limited number of Christians to visit sites in the Old City and Bethlehem and restricted the visits to the Easter and Christmas holidays. The kingdom also passed laws that required the teaching of the Quran, ordered Christian schools to close on Fridays instead of Sunday and banned Christian purchases of property in Jerusalem.
4. IDF Leaves Two Hevron-Area Towns without Security
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
An IDF cost-cutting move has left two Jewish communities without soldiers to guard the entrance to the towns, which are at the edge of the Judean and Negev deserts, commonly used by drug dealers and weapons smugglers.
Both communities, Beit Yatir and Shani-Livnah, are located outside the security barrier, which extends from Samaria in the north to the suburbs of Be’er Sheva in the south. However, the eastern flank of the southern Hevron Hills, where the two communities are situated, remains without a fence or barrier, leaving the area a convenient route for terrorists and smugglers to traffic in drugs, weapons and terrorists.
Residents of the two communities were shocked by the army’s removal of the soldiers with only 24 hours' notice. “An army officer arrived on a recent Wednesday and notified us that the soldiers will no longer be guarding us, beginning from the next day,” Beit Yatir administrator Eliezer Ben-Atar told Israel National News.
He noted that Beit Yatir is part of Judea and Samaria even though it is not inside the three-sided security barrier. A new army base is located adjacent to the northern edge of the community, but Ben-Atar said the soldiers’ duties do not include guarding the entrance to the community.
“Terrorists go where there is no security,” he warned. “If there is an attack, they are more likely to escape into an area where there are no soldiers on guard. Security is meant to prevent a terrorist attack and not to go into effect after it happens.”
Two years ago, two suicide bombers from Hevron used the open desert area to reach Dimona, where they killed two people at an outdoor market. Last year, the army prevented a terrorist attack by capturing Palestinian Authority Arabs who were using a desert trail northwest of nearby Arad, located several kilometers inside the 1949-1967 border.
Tzviki Bar-Chai (pictured), chairman of the Hevron Hills Regional Council, said that the IDF has provided security for Shani-Livnah and Beit Yatir 25 years, and that the military establishment should have given the communities advance notice of more than 24 hours.
He pointed out that the government provides Border Police protection for other communities outside the separation barrier, such as Har Gilo, in southern Jerusalem, and Maaleh Adumin, located east of the capital.
“In one area of the country, the government says there will be no protection while in another area it provides police,” Bar-Chair added. “We are not second-class citizens.”
He has appealed to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and specifically to Likud Knesset Member Zev Elkin to provide security for the areas "before it is too late.”
5. Saudi Courts Open Doors to Women Lawyers
by Maayana Miskin
Saudi Arabia is planning to grant female lawyers partial access to courtrooms. A proposed law, which will be drafted in the near future, will allow women to represent women in cases involving marriage, divorce, or custody of minor children.
Currently, female lawyers living in Saudi Arabia can work only in offices, and are not allowed to argue cases in court. Women in the country are allowed to work or learn only with permission from a male guardian.
The plan to increase women's access to court was announced less than a week after a Saudi reformer told American media that empowering women in Saudi Arabia is the key to spreading democracy throughout the Arab and Muslim world.
"Democratizing Saudi Arabia is the key to democratizing all Arabs and Muslims,” Dr. Ali Alyami of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia told a writer for the news blog network Pajamas Media. “The best, easiest, cheapest and quickest way to achieve this formidable undertaking is to empower Saudi women... Empowering Saudi women will resonate throughout Arab and Muslim societies.”
Many Saudi women are already challenging oppression in their country, Alyami said. Saudi women “are among the most marginalized people on this planet,” he said, but are “the most resilient people I know.”
6. Lieberman: Why Blame Israel for Assassination?
by Gil Ronen
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman refused on Monday to confirm or deny that Israel carried out the assassination of Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on January 19. He suggested that the accusations against Israel stem from an anti-Israel bias among the Arab states.
Lieberman' Irish counterpart, Michael Martin, asked him for clarifications about the assassins' use of forged Irish passports, when the two ministers met in Brussels. "There is no information that shows that Israel was involved in the matter,” Lieberman replied.
"If someone had presented other information, beyond reports in the media, we would comment on it,” Lieberman added, “but since there is no such information, there is no need to comment on the matter.”
"There are many false accusations against Israel about all kinds of subjects and there is an Arab tendency to blame Israel for everything,” Lieberman went on. “In the Middle East, there are many internal struggles inside countries and bodies that are not as democratic as Israel.”
EU condemns use of fake passports
The foreign ministers of the European Union issued a statement Monday condemning the use of forged European passports in the assassination of al-Mabhouh, but refrained from mentioning Israel. “The EU strongly condemns the fact that those involved in this action used fraudulent EU member states' passports and credit cards acquired through the theft of EU citizen's identities," the statement said.
"We are extremely concerned that European passports... can be used in a different manner for a different purpose," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters. French President Nicolas Sarkozy "unreservedly condemned" the assassination, speaking at a press conference with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas according to news agency AFP.
7. Israelis Help Haiti Quake Victim ‘Back on Her Feet’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
When the earthquake struck Haiti in January, five-year-old Simmorville Keture was buried underneath her home. She survived, but her right leg had to be amputated.
One among the many wounded, she lay helpless in bed for a month until therapists from Israel’s Alyn hospital arrived with the IsraAID relief team. In a hospital in Haiti, where medical staff focused mainly on life-saving surgeries, no one has thought of dealing with the rehabilitation of these children. Within minutes after being provided with crutches, treated and taught to stand, however, Simmorville began to walk, astonishing the local hospital staff.
IsraAID relief and rehabilitation programs in Haiti have been expanded from emergency medical aid to include post trauma, establishment of child-friendly spaces programs and community centers through its member group Tevel Be'Tzedek.
The unique program currently operated by the Israeli team brings a bright ray of light to survivors and therapists alike.
The Israeli team in addition to six post-trauma experts and social workers includes two Israeli therapists from the Alyn Hospital who during the past 15 days have been treating 15 children with severe injuries and amputations at the Sacred Heart Hospital Center in Port au Prince.
IsraAID missions to Haiti are supported and funded by the American Jewish Committee, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, B'nai B'rith International, Jewish Federation of the Metropolitan of Chicago, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, Jewish Federation of St. Louis, Jewish Federation of San Francisco, UJA – Federation of New York and the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.
