Hasbara For Israel

January 9, 2013

Hagel Lashes Out at Critics

By: JTA

Published: January 8th, 2013

Chuck Hagel lashed out at critics of his Israel record in an article timed for release just after President Obama nominated him to be defense secretary.

Hagel told his hometown paper, the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska, that his record was one of "unequivocal" support for Israel and that in the weeks leading up to his nomination on Monday it had been subject to "falsehoods and distortions."

Hagel, a Republican who represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate from 1996 to 2008, said he refused to join initiatives backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that he deemed unhelpful to Israel, and believed multilateral sanctions on Iran were more useful in isolating the regime than unilateral ones.

"I have not supported unilateral sanctions because when it is us alone they don't work and they just isolate the United States," he said. "United Nations sanctions are working. When we just decree something, that doesn't work."

Hagel said he would offer differing views as defense secretary, but ultimately would defer to Obama.

"I have said many times that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism," he said. "I have also questioned some very cavalier attitudes taken about very complicated issues in the Middle East."

Hagel's critics have singled out his proposals to engage with Iran and with terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, his skepticism of Iran sanctions and of the efficacy of a military strike on Iran, and his criticism of Israel in how it deals with the Palestinians.
Read More:

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/hagel-lashes-out-at-critics/2013/01/08/0/?print

A Bad Pick for Secretary of Defense

By: Harry Maryles

Published: January 8th, 2013

Photo Credit: Yori Yanover

He’s going to be confirmed. Sadly. Chuck Hagel who was nominated by the President to serve as his Secretary of Defense will eventually be confirmed by Congress for the job. This could in theory spell disaster for the State of Israel.
If you are Jewish or a supporter of Israel - unless you have been hiding under a rock somewhere you have probably heard by now that Hagel cannot under any reasonable interpretation of his past statements be considered a friend of the Jewish people. The most troubling of those statements is the following (from The Telegraph):

“[T]he Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here” and “I'm not an Israeli senator. I'm a United States senator.”

‘J Street’ Loves Chuck Hagel and the Treif in his Bagel

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Published: January 9th, 2013

Photo Credit: Yori Yanover

Often, when a group wants to hound someone with an opposing viewpoint, they will offer to donate one financial unit for every time the opponent does something the donor dislikes. The kicker, though, is that the donation is made to a group or cause the opponent abhors, thereby creating a disincentive for the bad actor to continue his actions, which have become the source of support for the opposing viewpoint.

This is how it works: say a group of anti-Israel protesters show up regularly to protest the Israel Defense Force in front of an Israeli Consulate. The pro-Israel group then publicly announces it will donate $18 to the American Friends of the IDF for every anti-Israel nudnik who shows up at the Consulate to protest.
Read More:

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/j-street-loves-chuck-hagel-and-the-treif-in-his-bagel/2013/01/09/0/?print

As Hagel Fight Begins, Wide Partisan Differences in Support for Israel

For decades, the public has sympathized more with Israel than the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict. However, the partisan gap in sympathies, while little changed in recent years, is as large as it has been in more than three decades of polling.

Discussion of the U.S.-Israeli relationship is likely to come to the fore with the nomination of former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel as President Obama’s new secretary of defense. The choice of Hagel has drawn criticism from some of his former Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill, who have questioned whether he has been supportive enough of Israel.
In a Pew Research Center survey conducted last month (Dec. 5-9), 50% of adults said they sympathized more with Israel in its dispute with the Palestinians. Just 10% sympathized more with the Palestinians, while about as many (13%) volunteered that they sympathized with neither side.

Read More:

http://www.people-press.org/2013/01/08/as-hagel-fight-begins-wide-partisan-differences-in-support-for-israel/

Dershowitz: 'I Will Testify Against Hagel' on Iran

Prof. Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School is a legendary defense lawyer, and the country's foremost pro-Israel advocate. He is also a steadfast supporter of President Barack Obama. Breitbart News spoke to him in an exclusive interview today about the nomination of former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) as Secretary of Defense.

Sen. Hagel is controversial for his views on Israel, the Iraq War, Iran, and gays, among other issues. Dershowitz had, prior to Hagel's nomination, urged President Obama publicly not to appoint Hagel to the position.
Breitbart News: Does the Hagel nomination represent a slap in the face to the pro-Israel community?
Dershowitz: No--I think it's a heartfelt decision by the President, based on his personal relationship with Hagel. I think it's a policy mistake. And I'm not the only person who thinks its a policy mistake. There are several people within the White House who urged him not to do it.

Read More:

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/07/Dershowitz-Will-Testify-Against-Hagel

US State Department Legitimizes Terror

January 8, 2013 | Eli. E. Hertz
update

To whom did the Obama administration grant permission to fly the Palestinian Liberation Organization [PLO] flag in Washington D.C.?

The answer: Palestinian Arabs - A society whose overwhelming majority nurtures a blind hatred of Israel, and has created a cultural milieu of vengeance, violence and death. This organization, which has been directly responsible for the murders of American civilian and security personnel, now has its recognition and flag waving in our capitol.

Here is just a subset of articles from the PLO Charter that the American administration has no shame to honor:

*Article 7: [Individual] must be prepared for the armed struggle and ready to sacrifice his wealth and his life in order to win back his homeland and bring about its liberation.

*Article 9: Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. This it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it. They also assert their right to normal life in Palestine and to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty over it.

* Article 10: Commando action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war.

* Article 19: The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and to their natural right in their homeland, and inconsistent with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the right to self-determination.

*Article 20: The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.

And if their charter was not convincing enough, the United States Congress, on numerous occasions, has reaffirmed the PLO's status as a terrorist organization.

Although past U.S. presidents have attempted to circumvent this law, its conclusions are concise and unequivocal:

"Therefore, the Congress determines that the PLO and its affiliates are a terrorist organization and a threat to the interests of the United States, its allies, and to international law and should not benefit from operating in the United States."

The violent and disturbing history of the PLO and its Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is one that has dreadfully affected the lives of countless Israelis, Americans, and many others. The PLO is transparent in its criminal and malicious ways, whether it is via their charter, public statements, or incitement that one must question the State Department’s wisdom of continual support of the PLO’s DC office and the waving of its flag in our Capital.

For Israel, the Palestinians and the rest of the world, the PLO must face reality and reject a culture of hatred; only then should the State Department legitimize the organization and its renewed culture.

No longer safe to wear a kippah in Europe...

Israel has room for all Jews and welcomes them, but that does not have any bearing on what is going on in Europe. Rabbi Lau predicted that European Jewish history is nearing its end.

Surprised that Israelis entering Jordan are required to deposit religious Jewish items, like skullcaps and tefillin, for "security reasons?
It's happening in many European countries as well, where Jews are once again in grave danger and Judeophobia has become the common currency of politics.
Jews in Denmark have just been warned by Israeli officials not to appear publicly wearing Jewish religious symbols such as yarmulkes or stars of David in order to avoid increasing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic altercations. “We advise Israelis who come to Denmark and want to go to the synagogue to wait to don their skull caps until they enter the building and not to wear them in the street, irrespective of whether the areas they are visiting are seen as being safe,” said Israel’s ambassador to Denmark, Arthur Avnon.

January 4, 2013

NY Boy Using Bar-Mitzvah Money to Establish Be’er Sheva Basketball Team

By: Jewish Press Staff

Published: January 1st, 2013

Daniel Klosk

In the “Yud Alef” neighborhood of Be’er Sheva, home to immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, the children still can’t believe their eyes— on Sunday, December 30, the old basketball court, at the Rimonim elementary school in the middle of the neighborhood, was transformed overnight to a stunning, brand new court. And in January, 2013, advanced basketball lessons will be given twice a week to the neighborhood kids, for free, on the new court, by a seasoned coach, new uniforms included.

The generous individual behind this new initiative is 13-year-old New Yorker Daniel Klosk, who donated all of his bar-mitzvah money to make it happen.

Daniel's parents, Tricia Kallett and Craig Klosk, joined him, and Dr. Heftzi Zohar, Deputy Mayor of Be’er-Sheva, and Ilan Halperin, representative of UJA-Federation of NY in Israel, at a special dedication ceremony that culminated in a friendly basketball game between kids from New York and a group of neighborhood kids. Daniel plays on the New Renaissance Team of New York, a nationally ranked, Division One team of the American Athletic Union (AAU). New Renaissance of New York finished 10th in the country at the 6th Grade AAU National Tournament. In August, 2012, Daniel was MVP of the 6th Graders' Game of the JEM All Star Classic, and according to basketballspotlight.com, he is one of the best pure shooters in the country for his age group.

“I thought it’s important to give the kids in the neighborhood not only a new basketball court, but also the opportunity to enjoy the experience of learning and playing competitively in a real basketball team, with a real basketball coach, and to give them the same kind of opportunity that was given to me,” said Klosk. “I hope this basketball training will give the kids the inspiration, ability, and motivation, to successfully overcome their daily challenges.”

“The Give a Mitzvah–Do a Mitzvah program of the UJA-Federation of New York enables bar- and bat-mitzvah students to create their own unique mitzvah project that connects their interests and hobbies,” said the Director of the Center for Youth Philanthropy and Leadership at UJA-Federation Sheila Devore. “Daniel’s project is truly amazing. Not only does it provide other young kids a great example of how to become more involved in philanthropy, it also helps to strengthen the relationship between the Jewish community in New York and in Israel.”

Feiglin Urges Giving Arabs a $500,000 One-Way Ticket

Likud Knesset Member candidate Moshe Feiglin, indicted for trying to prostate himself in prayer on the Temple Mount, wants to pay each Palestinian Authority Arab $500,000 to leave Israel.

He unveiled the proposal at a “Sovereignty” conference sponsored by the Women in Green and which is discussing ideas for Israeli annexation of Judea and Samaria or part of it and for removing it from military control, as Israel did with the Golan Heights and areas in Jerusalem that were under Jordanian occupation before the Six-Day War in 1967.

“The country pays 10% of its gross national product every year to maintain the ‘two-state solution’ and the Oslo Accords,” Feiglin said.

He explained the money is for the security fences and checkpoints, Iron Dome missile defense systems and guards whom he said are posted “at every café.”

Read More:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163806#.UOb496wWQWJ

Police Say Feiglin Prostrated himself on Temple Mount and Attempted to Pray

Police on Tuesday freed without restricting conditions Likud Knesset candidate Moshe Feiglin, after he was arrested in the morning on the Temple Mount, Israel's Reshet Bet radio reported.

According to police, Feiglin prostrated himself on the ground and tried to pray. The police will recommend that he be charged for breaking the rules governing the compound, according to which only Muslims are permitted to pray there.

Feiglin said in response that the police has adopted an illegal arrest procedure, according to which it places restrictions on any person being detained, without having to justify the need for such restrictions. Feiglin said that the fact that the police gave up the requirement to restrict his freedom until he would be charged is an important victory in the struggle for human rights in Israel.

According to Reshet Bet, the Jerusalem police arrested Feiglin two months ago in similar circumstances, and then was released without conditions.