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Temple Israel
Israel Action Committee
Newsletter - Issue 6
October 8, 2002
This newsletter is brought to you by the Israel Action Committee of Temple
Israel. In this newsletter we will bring you articles about Israel and the
conflict in the Mideast that we believe are particularly insightful or that
have important information, as well as suggestions for how to help support
Israel in a variety of ways. Please read, think about, and act on the
information in this message. In addition, we encourage you to send this
newsletter, or any individual item in this newsletter, on to your friends
and acquaintances.
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National Public Radio Series
National Public Radio has just run a 7 part series on the history
of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Entitled "The Mideast: A Century of
Conflict", the series told a fascinating story, but it is also an example of
how something can be factually accurate yet through omission, shading,
selection of sources, and emphasis, can be misleading or even false, and
leave the listener with a false impression of history. You can listen to,
or read, all 7 parts here:
Click here: NPR : The Mideast : A Century of Conflict
http://www.npr.org/news/specials/mideast/history/index.html
One particularly worthwhile aspect of the NPR series are the maps
that are included on the NPR Web site (click link above, and go to "maps"
link on the right side of the page). The maps graphically illustrate some
key developments, including especially the fact that the modern country of
Jordan is simply the eastern part of the British mandate of Palestine
(meaning that there already is a Palestinian state, although NPR does not of
course say that), and that Jordan not only occupied but annexed what is now
referred to as the West Bank into Jordan in 1950.
CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in
America) has been publishing rebuttals to and clarifications of various
aspects of the NPR series. The first 2 are available at:
Click here: CAMERA Update
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/shuster2.html
Click here: CAMERA Update
http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/nprfctn.html
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Arab Criticism of the Rejection of Camp David
We are beginning to hear of Arab, including Palestinian, recognition
that the strategic course being followed by the various aspects of
Palestinian and Arab leadership are not serving the cause of the Palestinian
people. One particularly cogent examination and criticism was published in
September in Al Hayat, a London-based Arabic-language daily newspaper. The
essay discusses how far along the Palestinians had come toward statehood
after Oslo, how they threw it away by rejecting the proposals made in 2000
and launching Intifada II, and how the Arab states continue to use and
inflame the Palestinian issue as a means of controlling their own people and
resisting democracy and modernization.
Click here: MEMRI: Latest News
http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD42202
And last week, Al Hayat published a cry by the Palestinian father of
a suicide bomber against his people's leaders for sending Palestinian youths
to their deaths:
Click here: Special Dispatch Series - No. 426
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=subjects&Area=conflict&ID=SP42602
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Amiri Baraka's Anti-Israel Canard
New Jersey's current "poet laureat" Amiri Baraka (f/k/a LeRoi
Jones) has caused controversy but more importantly great consternation by
his recent public readings of his poem "Somebody Blew Up America", written
last year shortly after the September 11 attacks. The poem, which is a
wide-ranging attack on the ills of the world as seen by Baraka, supports
the canard, widely circulated in the Arab world, that Israelis were behind
the September 11 attacks:
Who know why Five Israelis was filming the explosion
And cracking they sides at the notion ...
Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed
Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers
To stay home that day
Why did Sharon stay away?
You can read the entire poem at:
Click here: Somebody Blew Up America
http://www.amiribaraka.com/blew.html
It is worth noting that Baraka does not justify the references to Israelis
and September 11 as some sort of provocative literary device meant to
stimulate thought, nor, as some of his defenders have tried to contend, that
it was meant to be ironic, to point out how ludicrously false the charge
against the Israelis is. Rather, in a number of interviews Baraka states
that the charge is literally true -- that the Israelis at least knew of the
attacks in advance, and took steps to protect their citizens by removing
them from the World Trade Center. You can read Baraka's defense of his poem
(and his attacks on Israel) at:
Click here: Statement by Amiri Baraka
http://www.amiribaraka.com/speech100202.html
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Palestinian Abuse of Children
HonestReporting.com has put together an exhaustive, painful, and
angonizing report on how Palestinian society has destroyed its younger
generation by creating a culture of martyrdom and turning its children into
murderers:
Click here: Children Under Fire
http://www.honestreporting.com/Critiques/2002/81_children.asp
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Bob Dylan on Israel
Did you know Bob Dylan recorded a song about Israel? It's called
"Neighborhood Bully". It appears on Dylan's 1983 album "Infidels". You can
read the lyrics, and listen to the beginning of the song, here:
Click here: Bob Dylan: Neighborhood Bully
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/bully.html
And don't be fooled by the title.
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Upcoming at Temple Israel
The Israel Action Committee, in conjunction with the Adult Education
Committee, presents a dialogue with Assemblyman Scott Garrett and Dr. Anne
Sumers on Sunday, October 13, 2002, at 9:30 am (starting promptly). The two
major party candidates for Congress from our district will address national
and world issues, including the events in the MidEast. There will also be a
Q&A period.
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Israeli Artisans Fair, October 26-27
Come show your support for Israel!
Temple Israel is a proud sponsor of the Israeli Artisan Network's Merchants
Fair
to be held at the YJCC in Washington Township on October 26th and 27th.
More details are available on the Temple Israel Web site, at
Click here: http://www.synagogue.org/iac/Israeli Flyer.pdf
http://www.synagogue.org/iac/Israeli%20Flyer.pdf
Come and buy Israeli
products, and support the Israeli people and economy.
Also, you should have received an invitation to the Preview Night and
Reception (on October 26 at 8:30 pm) by mail.
And if you want to help in the planning or at the Fair
itself, please contact Denise Frenkel (201 891 8279) or Jerry Birenz (201
891 5787)
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Shopping Online
Here are 2 sites that provide direct links to Israeli stores online:
Click here: Support Israel - Buy Israeli Products
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/teddyflipped/myhomepage/?mtbrand=AOL_US
Click here: Gifts From Israel
http://www.allforisrael.com/
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This newsletter is intended as a service to our community. Although
we select the items in this newsletter with care, Temple Israel is not
responsible for the content of particular items, including material in
items linked to. Please note that outside Web sites do not keep material
indefinitely, so some links may become invalid at some point.
This newsletter, and past issues of the newsletter, are archived at
www.synagogue.org, Temple Israel's Web site.
Click
here: Temple Israel - Home Page
(Click on the Israel Action Committee link from the home page.)
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If you would like to help the Israel Action Committee, or if you
have items for consideration for this newsletter, please send an e-mail to
IsraelActionComm@aol.com.
Israel Action Committee Newsletter, Editor, Jerry Birenz
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