Friday, May 02, 2014

100 Shofars - A Heartening Success against Proposed BDS Participation in Celebrate Israel Parade

Date: Thu, May 1, 2014 at 10:44 PM 

Watch a Video of the 100 Shofars Blower Rally! Very entertaining!
http://www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/275481

 


Dueling Shofarim

Photo Credit: Orel Cohen/Flash 90 



             100 SHOFARS – A HEARTENING SUCCESS
Against proposed BDS participation in Celebrate Israel Parade
By: Janet Lehr

MEANINGFUL RECOGNITION
ISRAEL GOVERNMENT COALITION KNESSET CHAIRMAN, MK YARIV LEVIN, WROTE "I am deeply moved... by the courageous stance of friends of Israel involved in the parade, calling to delegitimize those who delegitimize Israel. It is not logical or reasonable for Israel supporters to condone, overlook, or indirectly cooperate with BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel) groups..." (SEE FULL TEXT OF LETTER BELOW)


Crowd of Protestors, Mort Klein, Richard Allen, Helen Freedman,


Lauri Regan, Dr. Paul Brody, Rob Muchnick

Maxine Dovere (JNS) and Russian TV were photographing and interviewing protestors.  100 + stalwarts stood proud, shofrot sounding.  We were energized as we repeatedly chanted NO BDS IN OUR PARADE.  MORT KLEIN pointed out that the New Israel Fund gives millions to B'Tselem and the palestinian-supporting group Adalah.  "Say NO to Mr. Ruskay, UJA/FEDERATION, Mr. Miller, head of JCRC which is supported by UJA/FEDERATION.  If you support or condone BDS, you can't march in our parade.  Support of BDS is a part of the long, dark history of anti-Semitism.  Ruskay, by giving these groups money, wants them to grow."  Gesturing to the entrance of UJA/FEDERATION headquarters,  RICHARD ALLEN, head of JCCWatch.org, who has nurtured our protests with long hours of work cried, "SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.  We want to make sure our Jewish Charitable dollars are not misused." RABBI DAVID ALGAZE of Havurat Yisrael, and President of the International Committee for the Land of Israel, opened his remarks with a shofar blast.  "There is no room for those who boycott Israel.  Organize your own parade.  And the crowd chanted:
NO ROOM
NO ROOM
NO ROOM
You want to be democratic?  Why don't you ask the Jews who support you.  We question Kerry.  You are wrong.  You should apologize.
STEP DOWN KERRY
STEP DOWN KERRY
STEP DOWN KERRY
…..
THE PARADE IS FOR FRIENDS OF ISRAEL!

HELEN FREEDMAN of AFSI – spoke with passion. "For those who have questions, there is no room.  We supported UJA and JCRC years ago and they have terribly disappointed us.  How could Kerry, under the influence of Barack Obama, have said that Israel is an Apartheid State.  He's in effect giving a green light to our enemies as they join with Fatah and Hamas.  IF THERE WAS AN APPLICATION OF SOVEREIGNTY IN JUDEA AND SAMARIA, we would be able to assert our rights.  RIGHT NOW, ON HAR HARBAYIT, WE ARE NOT SOVEREIGN.  ON YOM HAATZMAUT,  G-D WILLING, WE  (THE AFSI CHIZUK MISSION) ARE GOING TO BE IN ISRAEL TO CELEBRATE ISRAEL'S 66th (MODERN) BIRTHDAY.  THIS ISRAEL IS OURS.  WE ARE NOT GIVING IT AWAY TO THESE PHONY ORGANIZATIONS."

RICHARD ALLEN again took the mic.  Referencing John Ruskay, Allen noted the short lived CONAME, one of a number of Liberal-Anti-Zionist organizations that sprung up in the aftermath of the Vietnam War where Ruskay worked with Noam Chomsky (1974.)   With the help of John Ruskay and Rabbi Arnold Wolf, it morphed into Breira.  (For a thorough overview of the various organizations: Torn at the Roots: The Crisis of Jewish Liberalism in Postwar America by Michael E. Staub).  "John Ruskay, and his group in UJA, uses Jewish money to push their agenda.  We hope our shofars today will open their hearts so we get a resolution." 

LAURI REGAN, Endowment for Middle East Peace, spoke of the parable of the Little Kosher Pigs whose first houses were made of straw, houses that were quickly blown away.  Regan continued, the Jews of UJA and JCRC build a big tent, but the JEWS OF ISRAEL BUILD A HOUSE OF BRICK.  The future of the organized Jewish community in the United States is at stake.  All the Jewish leaders who have come out in support of J Street are accepting their support of John Kerry and a two state solution including Hamas. "What does it mean to be pro Israel.  DISBAND THE BIG TENT.   Surely, if we don't learn from the lessons of history, we are bound to repeat them."

DR. PAUL BRODY, Vice President of the Great Neck-based Jewish Political Education Foundation (JPEF), discussing Talmudic law, proclaimed that during this time of Sfira, 24,000 Jewish scholars died because they did not treat each other with proper respect. "We are protesting out loud against a major Jewish organization. This is because, although according to Jewish law it is forbidden to talk ill of another person, if the situation involves a potential union of two individuals (a "Shidduch"), and a third party knows of a defect in one of the parties that would harm the second party, it is permissible to notify the party of that defect." "We are hereby notifying the UJA-Federation that a union of the Celebrate Israel Parade and the 3 BDS groups it proposes to allow to march, is a DANGEROUS and DESTRUCTIVE union for the State of Israel. We are, therefore, permitted to proclaim that this union MUST BE DISSOLVED  immediately and that no BDS groups shall be allowed to march with Israel supporters!"  

ROB MUCHNICK, U.S. Director of Manhigut Yehudit, a staunch supporter of a whole Israel and an early supporter of  Deputy Knesset Speaker, MK Moshe Feiglin, was the final speaker.  He led the crowd of ANTI-BDS WARRIORS IN CHANTING:

2-4-6-8  ISRAEL IS A JEWISH STATE
1-3-5-9 THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS PALESTINE
2-4-6-8  ISRAEL IS A JEWISH STATE
1-3-5-9 THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS PALESTINE


ROBIN TICKER, blogger and Israel activist, acknowledged the tremendous work and support of Mattot Arim for the anti-BDS movement and this rally, in particularMattot Arim is an Israeli grassroots organization working to educate the public on topics of national interest for the Jewish people. Susie Dym is the spokesperson for Mattot Arim. Their semi-annual report grades MK's on Knesset activity pertaining to National interests.  The report, breaks down the legislative, lobbying, and media activity of the MKs – from bills preventing the boycott of products made in the settlements, to media interviews and then puts it in a report card form.  

The excited band of Zionists at the Rally had one more amazing revelation to digest: Richard Allen quoted the president of the New Israel Fund as saying, "Why should I worry when the heads of UJA/FEDERATION and JCRC support us."   After which Richard Allen roared: "This is not the end, this is only the beginning,"  He means it.  Stay tuned for the next rally.

Dr. Paul Brody concluded the Rally by leading us in singing Hatikvah.  It was a powerful moment.

                                        **************************************
The author is the the editor and the publisher of the newsletter Israel Lives, and can be reached at JanetLehr@IsraelLives.org

Other major organizations supporting the "100 Shofar Anti -BDS Rally" include UCI, United Coalition For Israel, Esther Levens, CEO and Founder.  UCI is well known for its popular newsletter, an aggregate of many Nationalist media links. As reported on their website, UCI has convened an alliance of Christian and Jewish organizations actively working together to generate support for the State of Israel.  UCI on their website writes "With more than 200 autonomous partners, representing more than 40 million Americans, we are the largest network of Pro-Israel groups in the world. Through this grassroots coalition, we deliver a much-needed message to the media and Congress."

TZC, Toronto Zionist Council, Mothers for MIA's, and Canadians for Israel's Legal Rights. TZC newsletter has a devoted readership who wait with great anticipation for each week's articles bringing the side of the settlers in Judea and Samaria in a fair light.  Most news outlets are afraid to present the settlers in a positive light since it is not politically consistent with the way the State Dept wishes to portray settlers. The State Dept. does not base their report on true and accurate facts which have been thoroughly checked out, but rather on allegations.

SAY NO TO BDS ISRAEL GROUPS IN THE ISRAEL DAY PARADE!
   

Sponsored by THE HEAR O ISRAEL COALITION:
Jewish Political Education Foundation (JPEF)
Manhigut Yehudit
The Nordau Circle

*****************************************************************

FULL TEXT OF LETTER FROM COALITION CHAIRMAN MK YARIV LEVIN
SUPPORT FROM ISRAEL KNESSET


 Open Letter to Israel Parade Participants
 Knesset Coalition Chairman, MK Yariv Levin


From: יריב לוין  
Date: April 27, 2014 at 10:07:16 AM EDT
To: Richard Allen
Subject: For the participants of the 100 Shofars Rally, April 29th in New York City
Mr. Richard Allen
Founder, JCCWatch.org

Dear Mr. Allen,

As coalition chairman at the Knesset in Jerusalem, I am deeply 
moved by the tireless supporters and marchers in the Celebrate Israel Parade and by the courageous stance of so many friends of Israel involved in the parade, calling to delegitimize those who delegitimize Israel. It is not logical or reasonable for Israel supporters to condone or overlook or indirectly cooperate with BDS groups which represent the antithesis of support for Israel. Refusing to recognize the State of Israel's sovereign right to develop and maintain an independent legal position on any issue of national importance is not legitimate.
The State of Israel came into being by virtue of our people's unassailable rights having historical, legal and religious foundations. I am certain that by mutual effort our just path will surmount any attempt to strike down Jewish survival and the Jewish way of life in the land of our forefathers.

MK Yariv Levin,

Coalition Chairman
Daniel Sokatch of NIF indignantly responded with this letter:

From:
 "Daniel Sokatch, NIF" <info@nif.org>
Date: April 29, 2014, 14:29:04 EDT
Subject: We will not be deterred.
Reply-To: info@nif.org



Friend --

It seems silly at first.

100 men and women are planning to blow shofars outside the UJA-Federation office in New York this evening. They're calling on the UJA to exclude NIF, Partners for a Progressive Israel, and B'Tselem from New York's Celebrate Israel Parade based on the phony charge that we support the global BDS movement.

The protestors seek to narrow the margins of debate about Israel. They can't seem to come to terms with the notion that, for many thousands of us, loving Israel means not sweeping Israel's problems under the rug, but rather helping Israelis overcome the most difficult challenges Israel faces: from ending the occupation, to preserving democratic freedoms, to upholding women's rights.

So what's the big deal about 100 protesters in New York City, especially when the UJA, the JCRC, and so many in the organized Jewish community are standing with us?

Sadly, the shofar blowers are getting support from Israeli extremists, including those in positions of real influence. Just yesterday Knesset Member Yariv Levin -- chairman of Prime Minister Netanyahu's coalition and the author of anti-democratic legislation -- wrote them a letter of support.

What I have come to understand is that there is a visceral connection between those protesting the UJA and the ultra-nationalist settlers who hold so much influence in the current Israeli government. Both seek to narrow the scope of acceptable discourse. Both are emboldened by the collapse of the peace process. Both want to rip Israel away from its heritage as a liberal democracy.

NIF is committed to the proposition that Israel can be simultaneously a Jewish homeland and a democracy where everyone participates in a shared and just society.
 You and I know, however, that this vision of Israel is jeopardized by the rise of political forces bent on delegitimizing progressive Israelis, marginalizing Israel's Arab minority, and shutting out women's voices.

We also know that the answer to this threat is to help ordinary Israelis fashion a better Israel. This has been the core of NIF's work for more than 30 years.

The time has also come for us to step up our investment to change the public discourse in Israel and to rebuild the pro-democracy, progressive camp. You will be hearing more from me soon about the bold steps we are initiating to shift the national direction from greater exclusion toward greater openness.

The noisy extremists will not deter us. Not from marching in the Celebrate Israel Parade, nor from pushing for social change. We will continue to provide the support that Israel's champions of democracy need to build a better Israel.

I invite you to join us at the parade in New York on June 1st. Click here for all the information you need.

Also, please take a second and forward this message to any of your friends or family in New York who are committed to Israel and to progressive values.

Thank you for your partnership.

Daniel Sokatch, CEO
New Israel Fund
  




--
Sincerely,

Robin Ticker
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing.

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com

Personal emails to individuals will not be posted to my blog. 

Is State Dept Report Fueling Persecution Against Settlers? Is NIF funding Youth Against Settlements? Just curious.

bs"d


What do you think?  Seems pretty interconnected.  Shabbat Shalom Umevorach!


[Edwin Black in] Financing the Flames establishes how often "peace groups" act in such bad faith ways, engaging in pointless confrontations and promoting boycotts that only hurt the people they claim to want to help while appearing utterly disinterested in working toward peace.

The culture of activism that has grown around the conflict has made things worse, Black suggests. This isn't a new phenomenon. Western NGOs routinely make things worse when they egotistically and blindly interfere in foreign countries, but their actions in Israel are often uniquely malicious.

Some of the most shocking material in Financing the Flames includes the New Israel's Fund involvement in child endangerment as children are dispatched to harass Israeli soldiers. Paying children to throw rocks at soldiers was a common journalistic tactic back in the Intifada 80s and produced plenty of dramatic photos and videos, but there is something disturbing about a non-profit that is being heavily supported by American tax-exempt contributions helping finance this sort of behavior.

BUREAU OF COUNTERTERRORISM
Report
April 30, 2014


.....Price Tag Attacks:
 
"Price tag" attacks (property crimes and violent acts by extremist Jewish individuals and groups in retaliation for activity they deemed to be anti-settlement) expanded into Israel from the West Bank in 2013. The Israeli government formed a new unit of the national police designated specifically to investigate these crimes in both Israel and the West Bank and in June the Security Cabinet authorized the Ministry of Defense to classify groups that perpetrated "price tag" attacks as "illegal associations," which allowed security authorities greater leeway in collecting information on and seizing the property of groups, and of their members, that perpetrated "price tag" attacks. Incidents included:
 
    • In July, gravestones in a Christian Orthodox cemetery in Jaffa were vandalized with the words "revenge" and "price tag." Price tag graffiti was also found on a residential building near the cemetery.
    • In August, the Beit Jamal Monastery near Jerusalem was firebombed and spray-painted with the words "death to the Gentiles" and other slogans.

--
Sincerely,

Robin Ticker
Activist emails sent to my list  are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) and Howard Chaim Grief great activists and lovers of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichronum Baruch.  May their memories serve as a blessing.

Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com 

Personal emails to individuals will not be posted to my blog. 

Monday, April 28, 2014

Please watch or listen to these amazing youtubes. Caroline Glick, Mark Langfan, Dr. Shalem

bs"d

Please watch or listen to these amazing you tubes



  • Dr. Shalem lecture in Hebrew. See English summary below (Special Lecture in Shdema sponsored by Women in Green - Rabbis and Spiritual Leaders on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. What did Rabbis and Hassidic leaders think about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising? And what did the spiritual leaders of Zionism think? Points of view that have been forgotten and ignored over the course of Zionist history. Historian Dr. Haim Shalem revealed unknown facts during a special event in Shdema, in Gush Etzion and can be watched (in Hebrew) by clicking on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNFjsrQAOWg&list=UU2BQ9Ug9niueKD0R6Nf3F2A

Never Again! 100 Shofar Rally following Holocaust Remembrance Day, NIF exposed. Knesset Coalition Chairman Endorses Anti-BDS Protest - April 29, NYC, Afsi newsletter

bs"d

Why is this Shofar Rally tomorrow so important?  (See flier below) See how the NIF is actually endangering Israel by undermining the IDF. 

The message of the Yom HaShoa Rally in front of the Iranian Mission was Never Again!  That means we must stop the BDS enablers before it is too late. 

 

Rejecting the Boycotters at the Celebrate Israel Parade by Edwin Black Author of Financing the Flames: How Tax-Exempt and Public Money Fuel a Culture of Confrontation and Terror in Israel



"In his flyer, Allen of JCC Watch was referencing that the organized international Arab boycott against Jews began on April 1, 1933, after the Mufti of Jerusalem imported Hitler's April First boycott into the Arab and Islamic world. Few remember that April First Nazi boycott was launched by Hitler after a million-man, anti-Nazi protest in Madison Square Garden and elsewhere a few days earlier on March 27, 1933. Even fewer recall that the March 27 rally was preceded earlier that month by a scraggly, rag-tag assemblage of Jewish War Veterans, who marched in New York City calling for a pre-emptive boycott of Nazi Germany. As they marched, those JWV were vociferously denounced, disowned and marginalized by the leaders of organized Jewry who labeled them as "nobodies" and "extremists," saying they "speak for no one." History immutably records that the JWV actually spoke for many — and long before others were willing to speak at all."

How the NIF is undermines the IDF is documented in Edwin Black's book Financing the Flames.  Maybe that is why Chairman of the Coalition MK Yariv Levin (see below in Afsi newsletter) saw fit to send a letter of support to Richard Allen, head of JCCWatch.

Soros and Saudi Arabia Finance a Non-Profit War in Israel


"Many books have been written about the financing of war, but Edwin Black's latest book is about the financing of peace. That would seem like a positive theme, except that Black reveals that the financing of peace is really the financing of war.


Edwin Black has a history of writing investigative reports about the financing of conflict and Financing the Flames: How Tax-Exempt and Public Money Fuel a Culture of Confrontation and Terror in Israel is firmly in that tradition. Black picks up where he left off with his investigation of the Ford Foundation's bigoted Anti-Israel shenanigans at Durban to look at the left's financing of the conflict in Israel.

Financing the Flames breaks down everything from the dollar amounts paid to convicted terrorists ($400 a month for under 3 years, $1,690 for over 10 years and $2,000 for over 15 years) to how the viral videos of Israeli soldiers clashing with civilians are staged (taunt the soldiers, insult their mothers, get right in their faces, edit out the parts that show the incitement) to how a money trail that begins with George Soros ends with violence and hate.


An Arab farmer tells Edwin Black how social justice groups deliberately plant olives in a nature preserve and then stage confrontations for the cameras when the authorities tear up the trees.Black doesn't write in abstracts, instead he gets down and dirty with the personalities; from a meeting at a hotel with the arrogant director of the New Israel Fund to a trailer park in Florida that serves as the real base of operations for an anti-Israel activist group that uses false European fronts to cover its tracks. Financing the Flames takes the reader into encounters with Israeli soldiers and Arab sheiks who surprisingly agree on wanting foreign financed NIF social justice front groups like B'Tselem to go away and leave them alone.

"Why do they do it?" he asks rhetorically. "They are encouraged to make trouble."

Financing the Flames establishes how often "peace groups" act in such bad faith ways, engaging in pointless confrontations and promoting boycotts that only hurt the people they claim to want to help while appearing utterly disinterested in working toward peace.

The culture of activism that has grown around the conflict has made things worse, Black suggests. This isn't a new phenomenon. Western NGOs routinely make things worse when they egotistically and blindly interfere in foreign countries, but their actions in Israel are often uniquely malicious.

Some of the most shocking material in Financing the Flames includes the New Israel's Fund involvement in child endangerment as children are dispatched to harass Israeli soldiers. Paying children to throw rocks at soldiers was a common journalistic tactic back in the Intifada 80s and produced plenty of dramatic photos and videos, but there is something disturbing about a non-profit that is being heavily supported by American tax-exempt contributions helping finance this sort of behavior.

The journalists and the non-profits have a profit motive and an ideological motive to perpetuate the conflict. The money comes from American billionaires and foundations, from the Ford Foundation, which made the New Israel Fund possible, from George Soros, a former Nazi collaborator, while the people on the ground are treated like puppets manipulated into dancing for their amusement.

Black's journalism is meticulously researched and he brings to it the same moralistic eye for detail that informed his earlier work. Edwin Black had examined the funding mechanisms behind the Holocaust and with Financing the Flames he once again charts how modern day genocide is financed and promoted, from the Islamic Development Bank to the State Department to the donor down the block.

The wires cross as money from Islamic terror states and from liberal foundations in the United States go to finance the same organizations and seemingly for the same purposes revealing that when it comes to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Ford Foundation, George Soros and the Saudi king are all on the same page.

Sheikh Zaid al-Jabari of Hebron, a city that has become a favorite target of social justice activists looking to shoot viral videos targeting Israeli soldiers and residents, says, "Millions of dollars are given to these organizations, and they say it is for peace… instead of putting water on the fire, they are fanning the flames."

The non-profits of the left didn't begin this conflict, but Edwin Black's book establishes that they most certainly are fanning the flames.

The millions and billions of dollars flowing into Gaza and the West Bank from foreign aid and non-profits aren't making things better. Even under the guise of peace, there is still more money in war.


Edwin Black s latest book, Financing the Flames: How Tax-Exempt and Public Money Fuel a Culture of Confrontation and Terrorism in Israel, pulls the cover off the robust use of US tax-exempt, tax-subsidized, and public monies to foment agitation, systematically destabilize the Israel Defense Forces, and finance terrorists in Israel. In a far-flung investigation in the United States, Israel and the West Bank, human-rights investigative reporter Edwin Black documents that it is actually the highly politicized human rights organizations and NGOs themselves all American taxpayer supported which are financing the flames that make peace in Israel difficult if not impossible. Black spotlights key charitable organizations such as the Ford Foundation, George Soros' Open Society Foundations, the New Israel Fund, and many others, as well as American taxpayers as a group. Instead of promoting peace and reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis, a variety of taxpayer-subsidized organizations have funded a culture where peace does not pay, but warfare and confrontation do. Ironically, several Jewish organizations, scooping up millions in tax-subsidized donations, stand at the forefront of the problem. At the same time, the author details at great length the laudable and helpful activities of such groups as the New Israel Fund; he chronicles a heartbreaking conflict between stated intent and true impact on the ground. In addition to documenting questionable 501(c)(3) activity, Black documents the direct relationship between taxpayer assistance to the Palestinian Authority and individuals engaged in terrorism against civilians.

About the Author:

 Edwin Black is the award-winning, New York Times and international investigative author of 120 bestselling editions in 14 languages in 61 countries, as well as scores of newspaper and magazine articles in the leading publications of the United States, Europe and Israel. With more than a million books in print, his work focuses on genocide and hate, corporate criminality and corruption, governmental misconduct, academic fraud, philanthropy abuse, oil addiction, alternative energy and historical investigation. Editors have submitted Black's work nine times for Pulitzer Prize nomination, and in recent years he has been the recipient of a series of top editorial awards. He has also contributed to a number of anthologies worldwide. Mr. Black's eleven award-winning bestselling books are IBM and the Holocaust (2001 & 2012), Financing the Flames (2013), British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement (2011), The Farhud (2010), Nazi Nexus (2009), The Plan (2008), Internal Combustion (2006), Banking on Baghdad (2004), War Against the Weak (2003 and 2012), The Transfer Agreement (1984 and 2009), and a 1999 novel, Format C:. His enterprise and investigative writings have appeared in scores of newspapers from the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune to the Sunday Times of London, Frankfurter Zeitung and the Jerusalem Post, as well as scores of magazines as diverse as Playboy, Sports Illustrated, Reform Judaism, Der Spiegel, L'Express, BusinessWeek and American Bar Association Journal. Black's articles are syndicated worldwide by Los Angeles Times Syndicate International, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post Syndicate, JTA and Feature Group News Service.

-------------------------------------------

 Yom Hashoa - Holocaust Remembrance Day Rally writeup by Chaim Schmidt. 

http://kosherscene.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/yom-hashoa-holocaust-rememberance-day/


 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Americans for a Safe Israel <afsi@rcn.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 2:11 PM
Subject: Knesset Coalition Chairman Endorses Anti-BDS Protest - April 29, NYC
To: faigerayzel@gmail.com


Americans for a Safe Israel
 
April 28, 2014
   

     Many thanks to Lynne Bursky and Nissim Tammam for their extraordinary efforts in once again planning and sponsoring the amazing Holocaust Remembrance Rally at the U.N. Iranian Mission on Sunday, April 27. Hundreds were in attendance and heard an array of excellent speakers, (Helen Freedman was privileged to speaking for AFSI) all pointing out the tragedy of the Holocaust and the need to prevent another such horror from occurring. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced these same feelings and concerns in his address to the Israeli nation.

    We know that Iran is moving forward with its plans to build a nuclear bomb to threaten Israel and the world. We also know that Secretary John Kerry, working under President Obama, is clearly Israel's enemy when he predicts that Israel will be guilty of apartheid if a two-state "solution" is not realized with the Fatah/Hamas coalition of terrorists. He threatens a reign of terror against Jews, and looks forward to a change in regime for Israelis and Arabs. It is he who should step down from a position that he is clearly unfit to hold. Americans for a Safe Israel goes on record opposing his statements and calling for him to leave office as Secretary of State.  

 

       We are aware that there are some who may not fully understand the dangers of BDS and the New Israel Fund which is its main supporter. Edwin Black's article below explains that clearly. In it he tell us that "Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Yoni Chetboun (Jewish Home) asserts that 'the main goal of the NIF is to undermine the Israeli Army, by knowingly financing left-wing Israeli groups that try to get young Israeli soldiers prosecuted for war crimes.' If that is not despicable enough, Black goes on to say that the NIF has "fueled well-financed NGO campaigns that portray Israel as a cruel, undemocratic, and oppressive apartheid nation that must be boycotted and sanctioned into either submission of oblivion." 

 

        I trust you are as horrified by this information as we. If so, you MUST attend the 100 Shofar anti-BDS rally on Tuesday, April 29, 5 P.M. - full details below. Please also see the letter of support from Israel's Knesset Coalition Chairman, MK Yariv Levin.

 

 

"The NIF's financial records for 2012 indicates that it granted $109,615 to Breaking the Silence, $255,477 to B'Tselem, and $209,161 to Adalah. These three groups are among many NIF grantees that operate at the front line of anti-Israel information."  

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/14898#.U16MGFVdWSp  

  

  

Open Letter to Israel Parade Participants

 Knesset Coalition Chairman, MK Yariv Levin

   

 

 

 

From: יריב לוין  
Date: April 27, 2014 at 10:07:16 AM EDT
To: Richard Allen
Subject: For the participants of the 100 Shofars Rally, April 29th in New York City

 

Mr. Richard Allen

 

Founder, JCC Watch

 

 

Dear Mr. Allen,

 

As coalition chairman at the Knesset in Jerusalem, I am deeply 

moved by the tireless supporters and marchers in the Celebrate Israel Parade and by the courageous stance of so many friends of Israel involved in the parade, calling to delegitimize those who delegitimize Israel. It is not logical or reasonable for Israel supporters to condone or overlook or indirectly cooperate with BDS groups which represent the antithesis of support for Israel. Refusing to recognize the State of Israel's sovereign right to develop and maintain an independent legal position on any issue of national importance is not legitimate.

The State of Israel came into being by virtue of our people's unassailable rights having historical, legal and religious foundations. I am certain that by mutual effort our just path will surmount any attempt to strike down Jewish survival and the Jewish way of life in the land of our forefathers.

 

MK Yariv Levin,

 

Coalition Chairman



 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Tuesday, April 29 - 100 Shofars to be blown in Manhattan
 
WE ARE CONTINUING THE PROTEST AGAINST BDS MARCHERS IN THE PARADE
April 29, 2014
UJA-Federation Building
130 East 59 Street (Between Park & Lex)
New York City, 5pm to 7pm : Shofars to be blown at 5:30 pm
 
The largest number of Shofars ever blown in Unison to take place in Manhattan by a Coalition of Jewish groups; to protest the inclusion of Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions against Israel in the Israel Day Parade.  
Join Us and Bring Your Shofars!
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Wednesday, April 30th 7:30pm -  
ANOTHER EXCITING AND INFORMATIVE AFSI MEETING AT THE HOME OF OUR CHAIRMAN, MARK LANGFAN  - 58TH  ST. & PARK AVE , NYC
Meet the founders of the powerful daily online newspaper headquartered in Beth-El, Israel.  
Former Arutz Sheva Director General, Yaacov Katz "Ketzahla" and  Baruch Gordon will meet with us to discuss the situation is Israel.  RSVP required. Light refreshments and libation. 
 
Ketzelah with Bibi

   

May 5 - Manhigut Yehudit Annual Dinner

Keynote Speaker:  MK Moshe Feiglin, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset Terrace on the Park, Flushing, Queens  RSVP:

www.JewishIsrael.org (516) 295-3222

huvie@jewishisrael.org   (ask for special AFSI price)

   
June 1 - Join in the Annual Israel Day Concert/Rally in Central Park at  the SummerStage; enter Central Park on 72nd and 5th Ave.  This year's theme: Jerusalem
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

 
 
  
 Helen Freedman: Executive Director
Judy Kadish: Director,Special Projects