Israel Committee: Initiative for Israel – September 2, 2014

What did Israel gain?

Israelis are uncertain on the benefits achieved from the war in Gaza.  Ban Ki Moon says the blockade should end in return for Israeli security.

• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-strip-conflict.html?_r=0

Is it time to restart the peace process?

Author David Grossman’s speech in Tel Aviv on behalf of the peace process.

• http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/204268/an-israeli-novelists-cry-for-peace-a-rabbis-reply/?

Yossi Klein Halevi can’t decide whether the time is right to risk a Palestinian state.

• http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119244/2014-gaza-conflict-part-hamas-long-effective-war-israel

Role of the Diaspora

When a NY Times Sunday Review opinion suggested that Diaspora Jews have to chose between liberal or Zionist, Rabbi Josh Weinberg, the President of ARZA US, responded that Liberal Zionism is alive and well and has an important role in the future of Israel.

• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/opinion/sunday/israels-move-to-the-right-challenges-diaspora-jews.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias:&_r=0
• http://blogs.rj.org/arza/

Should Diaspora Jews encourage Israelis to pursue a peace initiative?

• http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/diaspora-jews-must-make-their-voices-heard-for-peace/article19804350/

Not having a good summer – Rabbi Daniel Gordis suggests that Diaspora Jews don’t understand that the peace question isn’t relevant at the moment.

• http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/A-dose-of-nuance-Hope-youre-having-a-good-summer-372646

Palestinian Israelis

Israeli society is experiencing two opposing trends – the successful integration of Arabs into mainstream employment, and racist rhetoric to exclude them.

• http://972mag.com/why-palestinian-citizens-of-israel-are-no-longer-safe/95382/

Israel’s Bedouin population has no protection from Hamas rockets.

• http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/israels-bedouin-caught-between-iron-dome-and-hamas/375428/?single_page=true

Israeli rights’ groups don’t have to be popular to be effective

• https://www.opendemocracy.net/openglobalrights/jessica-montell/israeli-rights-groups-don%E2%80%99t-have-to-be-popular-to-be-effective

Israel and the US

A former Israeli Consul General in New York believes that Netanyahu is responsible for Israel’s deteriorating relationship with the US.

• http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4559278,00.html

Anti-Semitism in Europe

Yair Lapid, speaking in Berlin, says Europeans are again failing to recognize the face of evil (a speech delivered Wednesday, August 20, 2014 at Platform 17, Holocaust Memorial Site, Berlin)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crIKfuUX5PE&feature=youtu.be

Deborah Lipstadt, famous for defending herself against charges of libel by Holocaust denier David Irving, worries that Gaza is being used as a pretext for anti-Semitism.

• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/opinion/deborah-e-lipstadt-on-the-rising-anti-semitism-in-europe.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

Media and Advocacy

A sarcastic guide to foreign journalists in Israel

• http://sultanknish.blogspot.ca/2014/08/how-to-write-about-israel.html

Music

Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah works better in Hebrew than English, because Hebrew has words that rhyme with Hallelujah.  As performed by IDF soldiers.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nt_zDQjkwY