JUF E Alert

Forward this to a friend June 19, 2008






Chicago, Midwest, and US news

BREAKING NEWS
Jewish Federation collecting for Midwest flood relief
Groups angered by new Presbyterian statement
Reports from Write On for Israel trip
Lawyer-turned-nun rises to Israel's defense

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict


Gaza cease-fire takes hold
A year after Gaza takeover, Hamas shows no sign of ending violence
Rice says houses hurt Mideast talks
IDF to remove Kalkilya roadblocks as 'reward'
Army of Islam terrorists killed in aerial attacks

Israel and World News

Israel offers Lebanon talks on peace, and land
Latest Israel-Syria talks end in 'positive atmosphere'
Top Defense Ministry official: If Shalit is not released, Rafah stays closed
Israel wins significant EU upgrade
Tourism to Israel breaks all-time record in May
Israel chooses national bird

Iran Watch

Iranian FM: We're willing to negotiate with West over incentives package
EU to issue stronger Iran sanctions
Iran says uranium enrichment is a "red line"

Events and Programs

TOV announces first annual Green Mitzvah Mania!
Teens: Learn about terrific programs just for you
CFJE offers Melton Adult Mini School program
Learn modern Hebrew at Chicago's Hebrew Ulpan Center

Editorial, Opinion & Analysis


From the world press



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Chicago, Midwest, and US news

BREAKING NEWS
Just released: The full (12 judge) U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, based here in Chicago, just vacated it's own three judge panel ruling that vacated the $156 million civil judgment against Mohammed Salah and several local Muslim charities for their role in the murderous Hamas terrorist attack against American teenager David Boim. (Read the new ruling.) What this essentially means is that the historic ruling of liability against these American groups and an individual has been reinstated and it is now up to the defendants' attorneys to convince the entire Seventh Circuit Court Appellate Court that the original December 2004 judgment was flawed.

Rick Hoffman, who with his colleague Steve Landes of the Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon law firm, has handled the case for Stanley and Joyce Boim (David's surviving parents), applauded this latest ruling, expressing gratification that the full court recognized the flaws in the panel's analysis. Talking to E-Alert shortly after receiving word of the ruling he observed, "This is a significant legal victory that has broad implications. We are very pleased with the Court's ruling."

JUF's JCRC Executive Director Jay Tcath also welcomed the ruling, praised the committed, capable legal work of Landes and Hoffman and said, "While nothing can bring back David Boim, z.l., our thoughts are with Stanley and Joyce Boim whom from day one of this legal battle have been most interested in helping prevent a similar tragedy from befalling any other American parents. This civil case is an important piece of our country's battle to deter and stem the flow of U.S. support for international terrorism."

Background on the JCRC's "Chicago Connection to International Terrorism."



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JEWISH FEDERATION COLLECTING FOR MIDWEST FLOOD RELIEF
In the wake of the catastrophic flooding which has overwhelmed parts of the Midwest, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago has opened an emergency mailbox to funnel humanitarian aid to the devastated areas.
Funds from the Jewish Federation Midwest Flood Relief Fund will support humanitarian, non-sectarian needs on the ground. The Jewish Federation will not deduct any administrative costs;100% of collected funds will go directly to aid the victims.

Individuals can contribute online, by phone at (312) 444.2869 or by mail, making checks payable to:

Jewish Federation Midwest Flood Relief Fund
c/o Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago
30 S. Wells St.
Room 3017
Chicago, IL 60606


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GROUPS ANGERED BY NEW PRESBYTERIAN STATEMENT
Just days before they are due to consider a range of motions on the Middle East at their biennial convention, the Presbyterian Church USA has released a document on combating anti-Jewish ideas. But Jewish organizational leaders say the statement is "infused with the very bias" it purports to condemn.
The document, "Vigilance Against anti-Jewish Bias In the Pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian Peace," aims to help Presbyterians advance existing church policies opposing Israel's occupation and the construction of the West Bank separation barrier, while avoiding anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish rhetoric.

"The purpose of this resource is to help Presbyterians guard against anti-Jewish bias, even as they make a strong stand for justice, and work in sustained ways for peace," the document reads.

But to some Jewish ears, the document lays blame for the conflict squarely with Israel, avoids any substantive treatment of Arab support for terrorism, and is yet another church statement that appears to hold Israel responsible for the violence directed against it.

An unusually large coalition of 13 Jewish organizations -- the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith International, and the major bodies of the Conservative and Reform movements among them -- harshly denounced the document last week. The document's release has generated fear that years of Jewish-Presbyterian dialogue following pro-divestment votes in 2004 and 2006 have yielded little fruit.

The original document, published on the PC (USA) website May 6, was the product of an effort spearheaded in Chicago through the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation. Leaders of the effort--initiated by JUF Rabbinic Scholar Yehiel Poupko, with the active involvement of JUF/JF Executive Vice President Michael Kotzin and Rabbis Peter Knoebel and David Sandmel--welcomed this original document which represented the final result of several successful meetings between the two parties. The document called on Presbyterians to look critically at materials that discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to reject anti-Jewish themes that the church acknowledges reside in some of these writings, including some that are rooted in the application of liberation theology to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The new, 'expanded version' of the document, which was released with no review and little warning, contained major changes. It was greeted with dismay by the four local interfaith activists.


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REPORTS FROM WRITE ON FOR ISRAEL TRIP
Read JUF News executive editor Aaron Cohen's blog entries from his trip to Israel with the fellows of the Write On for Israel program, as well as some entries from the fellows themselves.

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LAWYER-TURNED-NUN RISES TO ISRAEL'S DEFENSE
Former lawyer Sister Ruth Lautt works from a single room on the 19th floor of the God Box. Such is the nickname for the Interchurch Center, the office building on Riverside Drive in Manhattan that is the closest thing to a Vatican for America's mainline Protestant denominations. Indeed, Sister Ruth's fellow tenants include agencies of the United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

On many of the issues that animate the mainline churches--ecumenical outreach, social justice--she makes a perfectly companionable neighbor. On the subject of Israel, however, she qualifies as something more like the enemy within.

Through the organization she founded three years ago, Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East, Sister Ruth has frequently and sharply clashed with the very denominations housed under the God Box's roof. When they have proposed divestment from Israel or more generally condemned its actions against Palestinians, she has fought against those positions, vociferously speaking out for Israel's right to self-defense and security.

"We are informed by the Christian mandate to stand for justice and to raise our voices when we see someone being falsely accused," Sister Ruth, 44, said in an interview at the God Box. "The issue isn't divestment. Divestment is a symptom, a symptom of bias against the state of Israel and an attempt to lay the blame on the shoulders of Israel."


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The Israeli-Palestinian conflict


GAZA CEASE-FIRE TAKES HOLD
The start of a six-month truce between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, took effect as scheduled on the Gaza border at 6 a.m. Thursday, after about 30 Qassam rockets were fired from the Strip at communities along its border, lightly wounding one woman. Moments before the truce took hold, the Israel Air Force killed a member of a Qassam rocket squad preparing to launch near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. Palestinian sources said the man killed was a Hamas operative.

Also read Israelis on Gaza border have little faith in truce.


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A YEAR AFTER GAZA TAKEOVER, HAMAS SHOWS NO SIGN OF ENDING VIOLENCE
"For many of us, the coup in Gaza meant the end of the Palestinian dream of a single Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, with a connection between them," said P., a resident of Gaza City's Sajiyeh neighborhood, on the one-year anniversary of the coup in which Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. "Israel will not agree to a Palestinian state in Gaza as long as it is under Hamas control, and the coup divided the Palestinian people in two," he continued. "Even in the Diaspora, Palestinians are divided between Hamas and Fatah supporters."
Beyond the coup's negative implications for Palestinian politics, its negative implications for the personal lives of Gaza residents have been enormous. Yet no small number of Gazans also mentioned positive changes that have taken place in the Strip in the past year.


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RICE SAYS HOUSES HURT MIDEAST TALKS
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that thousands of housing units that Israel is building on captured land were harming peace talks with the Palestinians. She also said she could not understand why Israel was still blocking three Fulbright grantees from leaving Gaza.
On the latest of her nearly monthly visits here to push along Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Ms. Rice was more explicit than usual in asserting that the construction was reducing confidence in the talks. The United States hopes to get the two sides to produce a peace framework by year's end, but the Palestinians say the new housing is a big stumbling block.

Following this statement, Rice met with Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert who stressed that Israel's policy has not changed. "It remains as it was - and it was clarified to our counterparts, both American and Palestinian, long before the Annapolis conference and then again after it," said Olmert.


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IDF TO REMOVE KALKILYA ROADBLOCKS AS 'REWARD'
The Civil Administration in the West Bank has negotiated a deal with a number of Palestinian villages in the Kalkilya region in which dirt roadblocks cutting off their access to nearby cities and roads would be lifted in exchange for the cessation of local terror activity, a senior IDF commander told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

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ARMY OF ISLAM TERRORISTS KILLED IN AERIAL ATTACKS
As part of a joint IDF and ISA operation Tuesday, aerial attacks were carried out in which the IDF identified hitting Army of Islam terrorists involved in recent attempts to execute a large-scale terror attack against Israeli targets.
Among the terrorists killed were Ma'ataz Dagmesh, 29, resident of Gaza, Mahmud Shandi, 25, resident of Al-Hawa and Muhamad Asaliya, 21, resident of the Jabaliya R.C - three senior terrorists within the organization. Dagmesh, whose brother is the organization leader in the Gaza Strip, was the leader and planner of the thwarted terror attack. Asaliya served as the organization's senior terror attacks planner.


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Israel and World News

ISRAEL OFFERS LEBANON TALKS ON PEACE, AND LAND
Israel offered on Wednesday to start direct peace talks with Lebanon, saying all issues would be negotiable, including a tiny, disputed piece of Israeli-held land on the countries' border. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Israel over the weekend and made a surprise stop in Lebanon on Monday. She spoke to the Israeli and Lebanese governments about the United States' desire to find a solution to the land dispute as a catalyst for solving bigger issues in the region, a senior Israeli official said. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, agreed to this effort. Among the larger issues is strengthening the Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

But Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora rejected Israel's call for direct, bilateral talks to reach a peace deal between the two bordering countries. "Lebanon's known position before this government is that there is no place for bilateral negotiations between Lebanon and Israel," Siniora's media office said in a statement late Wednesday.

Hezbollah legislator Nawar al-Saheli told The Associated Press that the Israeli offer is "ridiculous propaganda."


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LATEST ISRAEL-SYRIA TALKS END IN 'POSITIVE ATMOSPHERE'
Two days of indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria in Turkey ended Monday, Israeli and Turkish officials said, adding that the atmosphere was positive and the contacts would continue.
An Israeli official said the talks covered practical matters as well as procedure, without giving details. The talks resumed on Sunday in Ankara, with negotiators aiming to prepare an agenda for a possible direct meeting next month.


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TOP DEFENSE MINISTRY OFFICIAL: IF SHALIT IS NOT RELEASED, RAFAH STAYS CLOSED
"If Gilad Shalit is not released, Rafah crossing does not open," said Senior Defense Ministry Official Amos Gilad during an interview with Ynet on Wednesday night. Gilad is currently representing Israel in talks negotiating the ceasefire with Hamas and the other Gazan terror organizations in Egypt.

Gilad's statement validated an earlier statement made by the kidnapped soldier's father, Noam Shalit, according to which Israel's government had neglected his son during the negotiations of a truce. Shalit claimed that the opening of border crossings would cause Israel to lose leverage in the negotiations, therefore putting his son at risk.


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ISRAEL WINS SIGNIFICANT EU UPGRADE
Despite intense lobbying by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, the European Union on Monday - in a sign of vastly improved European-Israeli relations over the last few years - agreed to a significant upgrade of relations with Israel.
The upgrade was announced in Luxembourg during the annual EU-Israel Association Council meeting, headed by foreign ministers, which conducts the bilateral relations between Israel and the EU. The announcement was made at a meeting attended by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the ministers of the 27 EU states. A statement put out by the foreign ministry said this agreement "will usher in a new era in Israeli-European relations."


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TOURISM TO ISRAEL BREAKS ALL-TIME RECORD IN MAY
Nearly 300,000 tourists visited Israel in May, an all-time record, the Ministry of Tourism said. The number of tourists was five percent higher than May of 2000, Israel's record year for tourism, and at the current pace, 2.8 million tourists are on track to visit by the end of the year, according to the ministry.

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ISRAEL CHOOSES NATIONAL BIRD
Watch this video from the Colbert Report about Israel's new national bird, the noble long-billed hoopoe.

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Iran Watch

IRANIAN FM: WE'RE WILLING TO NEGOTIATE WITH WEST OVER INCENTIVES PACKAGE
Iran is prepared to negotiate with the West over a package of incentives to stop uranium enrichment, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced on Thursday.
Speaking at a Uganda gathering of Foreign Ministers from Muslim states, Mottaki added that his country hoped world powers would consider accepting Teheran's suggested solutions to the conflict surrounding its nuclear program.



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EU TO ISSUE STRONGER IRAN SANCTIONS
The European Union agreed Monday on the need to sharpen sanctions on Iran-- possibly targeting the oil and gas sectors in what would mark Europe's strongest punishments yet to discourage Tehran's nuclear ambitions. The EU's tougher stance follows Iran's latest refusal to accept an economic incentives in exchange for halting uranium enrichment, which Tehran insists is for energy-producing reactors but Western nations and others fear could be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Also read Iran withdraws $75 billion from Europe.


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IRAN SAYS URANIUM ENRICHMENT IS A "RED LINE"
Iran said on Tuesday uranium enrichment was its "red line" and would continue, despite an enhanced offer of incentives from big powers to stop activity the West fears could yield nuclear bombs. The EU's top diplomat, Javier Solana, presented Tehran on Saturday with an adjusted package of economic benefits designed to persuade it to curb its nuclear work, and said Iran should stop enrichment during negotiations to implement the offer.
"We have repeatedly said that enrichment is our red line and we should enjoy this technology. The work will be continued," deputy foreign minister Alireza Sheikhattar told reporters, according to the state news agency IRNA.


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Events and Programs

TOV ANNOUNCES FIRST ANNUAL GREEN MITZVAH MANIA!
In an effort to explore new areas of volunteerism and to uphold the Jewish values of environmentalism and tikkun olam, the JUF TOV Volunteer Network is proud to introduce the first annual Green Mitzvah Mania!! This program will feature three one-time environmental volunteer projects throughout the summer. The first opportunity will be a family craft project and is scheduled for Sunday, June 29. Register online.

Green Mitzvah Mania is a great opportunity for people to give back in a meaningful way, learn more about the Jewish community's response to climate change, and volunteer outside with friends and family!


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TEENS: LEARN ABOUT TERRIFIC PROGRAMS JUST FOR YOU
Applications are now open for the hands-on youth philanthropy programs Voices and Kolot; Camp TOV 2008, a week long, fun and interactive service oriented day program on wheels; TOV MTV - Monthly Teen Volunteering; and Write On for Israel, a selective, two-year advocacy training fellowship.

Get more information about all these opportunities.


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CFJE OFFERS MELTON ADULT MINI SCHOOL PROGRAM
The Community Foundation for Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago (CFJE) offers adults an opportunity to achieve Jewish literacy and increase their knowledge about Israel with Melton. Classes are taught in a pleasant and enjoyable atmosphere. Knowledge of Hebrew is not required. Students are a committed group of adult learners who represent a great diversity in background, prior level of learning, and affiliation, united by a desire to learn more about our Judaism and about Israel. The Limud North suburban school meets at Temple Jeremiah in Northfield, and the Chicago/Lakeview School meets at Anshe Emet Synagogue in Chicago from September 2008 through May 2009.

Registration has begun and will fill up fast. Find more information at www.cfje.org or contact the Melton Center at (847) 410-3900 x 25 or by e-mail at kkanter@cfje.org.

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LEARN MODERN HEBREW AT CHICAGO'S HEBREW ULPAN CENTER
The Community Foundation for Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago (CFJE) offers adults an opportunity to learn and feel comfortable with Hebrew through its "Merkaz Ivrit" or "Ulpan Center." Classes will take place in Skokie, the North Shore, Lakeview and new this year: the Northwest suburbs in Buffalo Grove. Running from October 2008 through May 2009, this 22-session program (1.5 hr/week) is structured to meet the needs of learners at all levels through more advanced.

Registration has begun and will fill up fast. Find registration information online or contact the Ulpan Center at (847) 410-3900 x 20 or by e-mail at Ulpan@cfje.org.