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Friday, Sep. 02 '16, כ"ט באב תשע"ו
HEADLINES:
1. UNIVERSITY CANCELS 'THE SETTLERS' SCREENING AMID BDS PRESSURE
2. NYT: NETANYAHU TOOK ATYPICAL 'VOW OF SILENCE' ON US ELECTIONS
3. YEMENITE SINGER INBAR TABIB COMES FULL CIRCLE
4. HAREDI SOLDIERS COMBINE ARMY WITH TALMUD AT SWEARING-IN CEREMONY
5. YOUNGEST PREMATURE INFANT SURVIVES IN ISRAEL
6. PASSENGER PRAYING TO 'ALLAH' TERRIFIES CANADIAN NIGHT FLIGHT
7. 'UCLA CAMPUS HAS BECOME HOSTILE TOWARDS JEWS, ISRAEL SUPPORTERS'
8. HURRICANE HERMINE HITS FLORIDA'S GULF COAST
1. UNIVERSITY CANCELS 'THE SETTLERS' SCREENING AMID BDS PRESSURE
by David Rosenberg
How did a left-wing documentarian and instructor at New York University find himself banned from an international film conference? Because of his Israeli citizenship, it appears, and the subject matter of his latest film – The Settlers.
A veteran filmmaker and faculty member at NYU, Shimon Dotan's latest release is, to be charitable, less than sympathetic to population it focuses on and derives its title from.
Like Israeli television specials over the past decade including Land of the Settlers and The Next War, The Settlers largely overlooks the complexities of a diverse and dynamic population, painting the some 400,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria as a monolithic, extremist fringe at war with Israeli society.
As The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf wrote of Dotan's film: "[It] portrays the settlements in a negative light, and is skeptical, at the very least, toward many settlers."
Audience members, he wrote, would be given the impression that there are rampant "terrorist acts perpetrated by Israeli settlers" and "explicit racism in the settler movement," and a sense that an "apartheid culture" has been "created in the West Bank."
When Dotan was invited to screen his film at an international film festival in Syracuse University, focusing on the theme of "The Place of Religion in Film", it seemed to be the perfect opportunity for the film to reach a wide-audience in the US, after winning praise from The New York Times.
But despite the film's unsympathetic portrayal of the Jewish population in Judea and Samaria, Dotan received a retraction on the invitation on June 24th.
In an email to Mr. Dotan, M. Gail Hamner, a Syracuse University Department of Religion faculty member, wrote that following warnings regarding "the BDS faction on campus", she had no choice but to withdraw the invitation, The Atlantic reported.
Hamner added that having not seen the film herself, she was unable to "vouch for it", and would "lose credibility" if she permitted it to be shown.
In her disinvite, Hamner wrote that she had been told "point blank that if I have not myself seen your film and cannot myself vouch for it to the Council, I will lose credibility with a number of film and Women/Gender studies colleagues. Sadly, I have not had the chance to see your film and can only vouch for it through my friend and through published reviews."
Yet, as Dotan pointed out in correspondence with a colleague neither Hamner nor any other Syracuse University faculty member requested the film for screening.
"Hamner rejected the idea of inviting the film without seeing it! She didn't even ask to see it. All she was concerned about is that BDS activists may not be happy with the screening of an Israeli film at Syracuse. That is really troubling. And that happens at a University, at a temple of freedom of speech, or so we want to believe."
2. NYT: NETANYAHU TOOK ATYPICAL 'VOW OF SILENCE' ON US ELECTIONS
by JTA
Benjamin Netanyahu is adhering to a strict policy of silence on the US elections to avoid a repeat of his 2012 troubles over perceived meddling, The New York Times reported.
The Israeli Prime Minister offered no comment on the subject during a recent 3-hour meeting with US political figures, The Times reported Thursday in an article entitled "As Trump vs. Clinton captivates world, Netanyahu is unusually silent." It was one of the first articles carrying the byline of Peter Baker, the newspaper's new Jerusalem bureau chief.
"I think we were all struck by the fact that it wasn't raised," Meghan O'Sullivan, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, said about the elections, in recalling a recent talk she attended with Netanyahu. During a meeting last week, Senators Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, and Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, mentioned the election only to have Netanyahu skirt the subject, according to The Times.
"Much of the rest of the world is absorbed by the contest between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton, but it is a topic Netanyahu will not touch," Baker wrote, calling Netanyahu's no-comment policy "a virtual vow of silence" that is unusual for an Israeli leader known for his heavy involvement in US affairs.
In 2012, Netanyahu hosted in Jerusalem and praised Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama's Republican challenger, in what the Obama team viewed as an effort to influence the election, though Netanyahu's office denied this. The rift widened when Netanyahu accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress in 2015 to assail Obama's efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran curbing its nuclear program.
"The Prime Minister now seems intent on extricating himself from the partisan tussle," read Baker's article.
The campaign, in turn, is largely staying away from Israel, according to The Times, raising concerns – including on Netanyahu's part – that the United States is pulling back from regional issue concerning Israel as it prioritizes the Islamic State, the war in Syria and relations with Russia. "The Israeli-Palestinian dispute, once a dominant part of any White House foreign policy, seems to be slipping to a second-tier issue," The Times article reads.
Netanyahu and Obama have tried lately to put their difficulties behind them by negotiating a 10-year American security aid package for Israel, the deal on which is "all but complete," according to the report.
"The White House has been discussing how to announce it," and it is likely to be signed by lower-level officials at a UN meeting this month, according to the article.
3. YEMENITE SINGER INBAR TABIB COMES FULL CIRCLE
by Judy Simon
Inbar Tabib was born in Israel to a Yemenite/Persian family.
Her father was disabled as a young child, and both her parents served as role models for coping with challenges.
When she was 5, her family relocated to Chicago, where she spent the rest of her childhood.
Although Inbar grew up in a traditional home and went to Jewish schools,
At the age of 18 she left home in every sense of the word.
She returned to Israel, joined the army, and drifted away from religious observance.
She began recording an album with another artist, and became an airline hostess on El Al.
When her boyfriend started showing interest in studying in a טeshiva and becoming religious, she gave him an ultimatum: "the yeshiva or me." He chose the yeshiva, and the two split.
It was her mother who initially drew Inbar back to her heritage, triggering a great deal of soul-searching, questioning, and inner struggles.
Now a singer-songwriter who performs only for women, Inbar has finally found fulfillment and satisfaction in her life, and is following her dreams.
[audio:2018761]
Click here to download the podcast
4. HAREDI SOLDIERS COMBINE ARMY WITH TALMUD AT SWEARING-IN CEREMONY
by Ido Ben Porat
A swearing-in ceremony for the newest soldiers in the army's all-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion – better known as Nahal Haredi – turned into a milestone for haredi service in the IDF on Thursday, when the recruits added in an ancient Jewish tradition.
For the first time ever since the founding of the state 68 years ago, Israel's newest enlistees combined the ceremony marking their official entry into the army as fully-fledged soldiers with the celebration of the Talmud upon the completion of an entire tractate.
The entire company had learned tractate Megilla – which focuses largely on the holiday of Purim – together during basic training, and finished their study together at Thursday's ceremony.
"The people of Israel act based upon their learning (a play on words with Talmud), they first learn, and then take the best course of action," said one of the soldiers who spoke at the ceremony. "We soldiers in Netzah [Yehuda] act based upon Torah, thus we first learn a tractate [of Talmud] before our army service."
[video:2018762]
5. YOUNGEST PREMATURE INFANT SURVIVES IN ISRAEL
by ILTV
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6. PASSENGER PRAYING TO 'ALLAH' TERRIFIES CANADIAN NIGHT FLIGHT
by Dalit Halevi
A 21st century drama unfolded on an intra-Canada Westjet flight from Toronto, Ontario to Edmonton in the western province of Alberta.
One of the travelers on the Wednesday night flight sat in the back of the plane, in a manner which aroused the suspicions of other passengers.
He continued to carry a backpack on his back, all the while praying, saying the word "Allah" several times. Afterward, he walked to the front of the plane twice, stood next to the door, and asked the flight attendants to let him off the plane.
One of the passengers told Canadian news network CTV that the young man said to other passengers that non-believers should be executed.
Flight attendants and passengers blocked his path to the door, and restrained him until the plane landed, when police took him in for questioning.
7. 'UCLA CAMPUS HAS BECOME HOSTILE TOWARDS JEWS, ISRAEL SUPPORTERS'
by David Rosenberg
Despite a formal rejection of the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement in March by the University of California system, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), one of most prestigious public colleges in the state, has empowered and enabled the anti-Israel movement, targeting those who challenge BDS and allied organizations.
Efforts by campus BDS groups, bolstered by the University itself, have in the words of a former UCLA Graduate Student Association (GSA) president, made the school's campus a "hostile and unsafe environment for students, Jewish students and non-Jewish, who choose not to support the BDS movement, let alone support the state of Israel."
As reported by The Algemeiner, ex-GSA president Milan Chatterjee slammed school administrators for giving BDS activists a free hand on campus – and even actively assisting them in their harassment of those challenging the BDS agenda.
The school administration, Chatterjee wrote, "not only allowed BDS organizations and student activists to freely engage in intimidation of students who do not support the BDS agenda, but has decided to affirmatively engage in discriminatory practices of its own against those same students."
Chatterjee himself, in his capacity as GSA president, became the target of the BDS movement when he limited the distribution of GSA funds for a campus event last November to non-BDS organizations.
Chatterjee pointed out that the arrangement was accepted by school officials beforehand.
"Everyone knew about the stipulation from the very beginning. I even received explicit approval."
Nevertheless, Chatterjee told The Algemeiner, the local branch of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization launched a "deadly, malicious campaign against me," including a virulent smear campaign on campus.
"They wrote defamatory articles in the media, circulated petitions and tried to remove me as GSA president three times. A lot of venom was spread around campus against me."
To make matters worse, despite having received approval for the move, Chatterjee soon found himself under investigation by the UCLA Discrimination Prevention Office over his limiting of GSA funds to non-BDS groups.
After a four-month investigation, the DPO found Chatterjee had "violated University policy requiring viewpoint neutrality". Despite the report's confidentiality clause, it was quickly leaked to the Students for Justice in Palestine organization.
When Chatterjee approached the UCLA administration, they refused to even examine his claims.
"I filed a complaint with the office of Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jerry Kang, who took zero action and refused to investigate. Then, astonishingly, Kang went and wrote on his blog about the report and gave people access to it by redirecting readers. This is very disturbing behavior and shows a double standard at play at UCLA. If SJP files a complaint, they will bend over backwards. If it's anyone else, they don't care."
Chatterjee has since left UCLA, transferring to NYU for his last year of law school.
"I am leaving many close friends behind at UCLA and the LA community, which I formed a very strong connection with, particularly the Jewish community, which has been very supportive," he said. "I am having to pay a lot of more money to go to NYU Law School and am essentially being forced to pay a financial premium for my education. My parents have been very supportive because they've come to realize that UCLA has become an unsafe place. Thankfully, they are willing to help me in taking on a huge financial expense."
"The Jewish students I know are some of the nicest, hardworking, most cultured people I've ever met. They come to college to celebrate their heritage and are instead targeted because of their faith and culture, which is ridiculous. The fact that the UCLA administration joins them [the instigators] is even more shameful."
8. HURRICANE HERMINE HITS FLORIDA'S GULF COAST
by Uzi Baruch
Hurricane Hermine hit Florida's northwest coast Friday morning, flooding streets, toppling trees and knocking down power lines, local authorities said.
The storm touched down in a lightly populated, mostly rural section of the state, where the Florida peninsula meets the panhandle. It's the first hurricane to hit Florida since Wilma in October 2005, a record-breaking 11-year stretch.
As of 1 a.m. local time, power was out for 32,000 customers in Tallahassee, a city of around 181,000, the local government said on Twitter.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday warned of the danger of strong storm surge, high winds, downed trees and power outages, and had urged people during the day to move to inland shelters if necessary and make sure they had enough food, water and medicine.
"This is a life-threatening situation," Scott said. "It's going to be a lot of risk. Right now, I want everybody to be safe."
Scott added that 6,000 National Guardsmen in Florida are ready to mobilize after the storm passes. The governors of Georgia and North Carolina declared states of emergency. Hermine is eventually expected to drop back down to a tropical storm and push north into Georgia, the Carolinas and up the East Coast with the potential for drenching rain and deadly flooding.
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