Dissing Israel from the Diaspora

They really should make aliya, and vote in Israeli elections and sound off to their hearts' content, those Diaspora Jews whose "lines", to quote the Bible, "have fallen in pleasant places", and criticise the little Jewish State from comfort and safety.  I put among this number the Aussies who have of late fallen for the propaganda of the New Israel Fund, a number that, I'm sorry to say, includes representatives of a large congregation whose pst rabbis were renowned for their robust love of Zion, and whose love was infectious.

Wouldst that we will see their like again.

In 2010, not long after I started blogging, I drew readers' attention to shameful remarks regarding Israel by Sir Mick Davis, head of Anglo-Jewry's plutocratic non-elected "Jewish Leadership Council".

In his regular column in the Jerusalem Post, world-renowned Jewish leader Isi Leibler, who had some years earlier made aliya from Australia, trenchantly denounced Davis, observing inter alia:

"Mick Davis, the South African-born chief executive of the powerful mining group Xstrata, is chairman of Anglo Jewry’s United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) – the principal fund-raising institution for Israel of the UK Jewish community.

He also heads a body known as the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) – essentially comprised of a group of wealthy British Jews and their acolytes who, by virtue of their financial largesse, assume a dominant influence on many levels of communal life. The power represented by their collective wealth enables them not to be accountable to anyone and few would dare question their policies....

.... Resident in London, he had the chutzpa to berate the Israeli prime minister “for lacking the courage to take the steps” to advance the peace process, arguing that “I don’t understand the lack of strategy in Israel.” He also employed the terminology of our enemies, predicting an “apartheid state” unless Israel was able to achieve a two-state solution – unashamedly blaming Israelis rather than Palestinians for being the obstacle to peace.

His sheer arrogance was best demonstrated in his most outrageous remark: “I think the government of Israel has to recognize that their actions directly impact on me as a Jew living in London, UK. When they do good things, it is good for me; when they do bad things, it is bad for me. And the impact on me is as significant as it is on Jews living in Israel... I want them to recognize that.”

Aside from implying that Israel is responsible for the anti-Semitism he is encountering, Davis is effectively warning that when considering defense issues which may have life-or-death implications for Israelis, the government must be sure not to create problems for him in his non- Jewish social circles. From his London mansion, he blithely brushes aside suicide bombers, rockets launched against our children and the threat of nuclear annihilation because his gentile friends might complain about the behavior of his Israeli friends...."

Other critics of Davis's stance included the indefatigable Melanie Phillips, in a Spectator column no longer reachable online, and Emanuele Ottolenghi, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, who opined:

"As the saying goes, you should practice what you preach – not what emerged from the recent panel discussion between Peter Beinart, former editor of the US liberal weekly the New Republic and recent heir to the late Tony Judt’s critique of Zionism, Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland, and Mick Davis, chairman of the Jewish Leadership Council.

Davis lamented the existence of a supposed conformism among Jewish community leaders when it comes to voicing criticism of Israel in the open and called for more frank introspection – but the panel failed to make room for dissenting views, offering instead a harmonious choir of opinionated liberal conformism....Davis is upset because Israel’s actions have an impact on Diaspora Jewry – so are most Diaspora Jews by the way, because nobody likes to see police patrolling Jewish institutions across Europe. But most Jews would blame anti-Semites for distorting Israel’s actions and then using them as a pretext, rather than blaming Israel for their own discomfort.

Regardless of whether you approve or disapprove of Israel’s actions, it comes down to this. Do you blame the rape victim for wearing a miniskirt or do you blame the rapist? Most sane people know the answer – there is no excuse for rape.

And then there’s Davis, who, if logic follows (and it does not necessarily always do), should blame the rape victim and advocate more modest dressing.

This kind of logic sits at the helm of Anglo-Jewry today – something that should concern us infinitely more than the impact of Israel’s actions on Jewish comfort levels in Great Britain or the extent to which we allow ourselves to criticise Israel’s actions."

Regrettably, Sir Mick is at it again, as the front page of the London giveaway paper the Jewish News indicates.  Lyn Julius, who runs the admirable Point of No Return blog, has made a pertinent social media post about one aspect of his criticism:

Read more in this blog by Jonathan Hoffman, who was given an honorable mention by Isi Leibler in the aforementioned column as one of the few Anglo-Jewish leaders brave enough to decry Sir Mick's 2010 remarks.

"We Reject Extremists who work with the New Israel Fund and Boycotts of Israel"

Earlier this week, David N. Myers announced that he will shortly be stepping down from his position as head of the New York-based Center for Jewish History, which comprises  the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, the Leo Baeck Institute, the Yeshiva University Museum and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. 

His resignation, coming hot on the heels of that of American Historical Society executive director Rachel Lithgow,  who resigned from the Center after she scheduled a play under the auspices of the heinous, pro-boycott Jewish Voice for Peace organisation (see also here and here), is being hailed a victory for critics who deplore his support for the New Israel Fund:

"In a victory for the Jewish people, it was announced today that David Myers has resigned from his position as leader of the Center for Jewish History.  We called for Myers’ resignation from the day he commenced work at the institution, as he is a leader of the New Israel Fund which openly supports a boycott of the State of Israel, and as such does not belong in a position of Jewish communal leadership.

Let us say it again today, loud and clear: if you stand with the New Israel Fund who supports a boycott of Israel we will raise a voice of moral conscience and ensure we do all we can that you will not sit in Jewish establishments in the United States, or anywhere else in the world.  There is no room in Jewish communal life for any form of a boycott of Israel....

Myers denies that they have been instrumental in his decision.
But one thing is certain.  The New Israel Fund is a dangerous, duplicitous  organisation that has been making inroads here in Australia of late, and must be checked:

'There is no room in communal Jewish leadership for those who support New Israel Fund’s boycott of the State of Israel.... Harvard professor Ruth Wisse rightfully has noted that, “the rapid demoralization of Jews in the face of anti-Zionism… shows the depth of the influence of the past, for many have yet to achieve the simple self-respect that has been eluding the Jews collectively since the dawn of modernity.”

We reject extremists who work with the New Israel Fund and boycotts of Israel. Those who fund a boycott that harms the Jewish State will be held accountable. Those Jewish organizations that partner with New Israel Fund leaders will be targeted...'

See the rest of that article here

And here's a snappy video (with English subtitles) by Im Tirtzu, which is uploading it declares:

'The New Israel Fund is a foreign political organization working to harm the State of Israel and undermine its elected government. 

In the past several years, the NIF has funneled over $85,000,000 to anti-Israel organizations like "Breaking the Silence," "B'Tselem," and "Adalah" that operate against IDF soldiers and Israel.'

                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp7KhB7XqpQ

More:

                                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7NT0jglLO4

In Australia, Jewish Pollsters Promote the NIF

There are about 120,000 Jews in Australia, roughly 85,000 of them adults.  The results of a poll, known as the "Gen17" Australian Jewish community survey, taken between February and May last year and attracting 8621  replies, have been released to much fanfare.

Note that I don't say "by 8621 respondents".  And for good reason: there were no safeguards in place to prevent those with a particular axe to grind filling out the questionnaire more than once. (At least one prominent, left-leaning, communal figure has made no secret of participating in the survey several times.)

Never mind that the poll's methodology has been called into question, with pollsters desperately touting for responses among various constituencies, online and in person, including approaching parents of Jewish day school children as they waited to pick up their kids, and offering them coffee while they filled the questionnaires out.

Here, retired professor Bill Rubinstein, who during the 1980s and 1990s was involved in conducting polls on behalf of Isi Leibler's Australian Institute of Jewish Affairs, declares the survey "deeply flawed" and pulls few punches:

'The only proper way to conduct such a survey is to obtain a comprehensive master list of all Jews in the communities being surveyed  ̶  in this case, Melbourne and Sydney  ̶  and then draw up a random sample of names on these lists, a genuinely random list obtained from a table of random numbers or generated by a computer. This is, of course, the method adopted in all surveys of voting intentions, and is the reason why a truly random sample of only 1500-2000 registered voters, drawn from the millions of registered voters, will produce a result normally within a few per cent of the actual outcome....

Using a random sample ... is not, however, what the “Gen17” survey has done. Apparently, it has simply requested that all local Jews answer its online questionnaire, and reported on the responses of those who did.... Simply reporting on the replies of voluntary respondents is exactly what was done in probably the most notoriously inaccurate poll in history, that conducted by the American weekly The Literary Digest during the 1936 presidential election. A popular magazine of the time, it succeeded in obtaining no fewer than 2.4 million responses as to voting intentions at that election, and confidently predicted that Republican candidate Alfred M. Landon would easily defeat President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was running for re-election.  Of course, the very opposite happened: FDR trounced Landon, and was re-elected with a record majority.  At the same election, the newly founded Gallup Poll employed the valid method of surveying voters, and predicted that Roosevelt would win decisively.  Largely because of The Literary Digest fiasco, that journal’s method of conducting surveys was abandoned.

Unfortunately, however, the Gen17 survey has used The Literary Digest technique.  While its 8600 respondents are superficially a very impressive number, its results are reliable only insofar as they represent a truly random sample of the Jewish community, without any biases. “Appropriately weighting” its results will not correct the absence of randomness, and almost nothing can be inferred about background or attitudes of those it has not polled.  Any adjustment by assuming that those it has polled will be similar to those it has not polled will be valid only if these two samples are similar, for which it has no evidence....'

He goes on:

'The major problem with the survey ... is that the background and attitudes of those who did not participate in the survey  ̶  90 per cent of the community  ̶  are unknown, and simply cannot be inferred  from the responses of those who actually did vote. Moreover, it is highly unlikely that those who did participate represent anything like a random sample of the whole community, but is a group hallmarked by clear biases.... 

Several of the findings in the survey strike me as being, frankly, unbelievable. Thirty-two per cent of respondents stated that the Israeli government should negotiate with Hamas, officially regarded as a terrorist body by all Western governments, with which no one in the Israeli mainstream would negotiate until it changes its charter that calls for the destruction of Israel. Similarly, 37 per cent of respondents  stated that non-Jewish people suffer from discrimination in Israel, a position here associated only with the extreme left. The sheer implausibility of both of these “findings” strongly suggest either that their respondents are a deeply unrepresentative sample of the Jewish community, or that the poll has been abused by multiple votes from a minority....'  [Emphasis added]

It's extremely concerning to see the poll's organisers snuggling up with the local supporters of that highly questionable, indeed dangerous, organisation, the New Israel Fund, who seem to be going all out to reap as much political capital out of the survey's ostensible results as they can.

A particularly brazen and egregious instance of this propagandistic drive occurred last Sunday evening in Melbourne, when, under the aegis of the survey's organisers, a panel convened to discuss the results of the survey and its implications.

Alarmingly, the panel included (why, if not solely for partisan purposes?) Professor Emerita Ilana Snyder, representing the NIF Australia and touting that organisation at length. She especially recommended it to Jewish young people keen to participate in communal affairs.

Learn more about this lamentable state of affairs from decidedly non-leftist communal broadcasters Alan Freedman, Michael Burd and their guest Professor Rubinstein on this J-Air "Nothing Left" podcast.  It's the first topic in that podcast, and fear not: although contact is lost during Freedman and Burd's interview with the professor, it's soon restored.

Pappe, Have You Heard Him?

I've said it before and I'll say it again (par the old British television commercial for a well-known, now defunct, chain of gentlemen's outfitters aka High Street tailors: "John Collier, John Collier, the window to watch!"):

David Collier, David Collier, the website to watch!

In the comparatively short time that David Collier has been blogging, he's produced some absolute gems.


And in case you haven't heard yet, he's caught out anti-Israel ex-pat academic Ilan Pappe admitting to what is the Big Lie of the BDS movement.

To quote reader Harvey:

"This post from David Collier is one of the most important scoops to come out of the on-going battle against BDS for some time. David attended a talk by the execrable Ilan Pappe last week in which Pappe kindly pulled the rug from under the BDS . He confirms what we have always suspected, that there was never a call for Boycott from within Palestinian society. It was a lie but the hard left brigade needed it to be compared to the South Africa model which was a call for boycott from within South African society. Pappe in this one short clip disproves it."

 But as Pappe laughingly says, "It's a desperate call ... for historical records":

For more on this see Collier's post here

And also see Elder of Ziyon here

(Update: And BBC Watch here)

Here's a long but valuable video by David Collier beginning "I'm going to talk about BDS"

Incidentally, the  very long-established Jewish communal newspaper in Perth, Western Australia, The Maccabean, has ruffled a number of leftwing communal feathers by refusing an advertisement from the New Israel Fund.   I reckon that befits the place where Australia's first ongoing Zionist body was born, and a newspaper that has always been proudly supportive of Israel.

Read about the brewing contretemps here

More Lizards In Oz

Destination Down Under.  That seems to be the motto of international anti-Israel activists this season.  The Sydney Opera House and Wollongong University await Ilan Pappé this month, and a pair of Israeli dissidents worked their mischief last month.  One of them, Micha Kurz, was instrumental in founding the NGO Breaking The Silence, and appears on this video giving aid and comfort to Israel's enemies by waxing enthusiastic about the BDS movement.

I almost posted that video yesterday, but was so disgusted that I decided not to give it oxygen.

The antipodean J-Wire service carries an article by Dr Ron Weiser, immediate past president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, and a vehement critic of the New Israel Fund and of David Landau's visit to Australia under its auspices last year, who writes in part:

'Australians for Palestine promoted a function in Melbourne on the 28th of August.

They produced a very nice flyer for the event.

NIF Australia has been desperately trying to separate themselves from the people presenting at forums under the Australians for Palestine banner.

They say that although the co founder of BtS is no longer a spokesperson for BtS, we should ignore the publicity of those who host him. They say that he has made that clear.

Well, except to his hosts apparently, or to anyone interested in attending the actual event.

So now the issue deepens, because another NIF-funded organisation is also being used in the Australians for Palestine promotion of a second function – Sheik Jarrah Solidarity.

For the Melbourne function, the cofounder of BtS is described precisely as that, without qualification.

The Australians for Palestine promotion was headed "Israeli peace activists speak out" and featured the two Israelis which also included the following descriptions on the promotional leaflet

"Sahar Vardi – is involved in the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement

 Micha Kurz – a co-founder of Breaking the Silence"

Both of these organisations received significant funds from the New Israel Fund.

Both of these organisations are political organisations who have an agenda of opposing the policies of the democratically elected government of Israel.

That is their right of course, but just because they cannot attract the support of the Israeli electorate, it does not mean that their activists or cofounders will "sensitise Israelis to the ways in which the occupation is having an effect on Israel’s values" as claimed last week by NIF Australia, by being promoted by Australians for Palestine.

..... The basic problem with NIF’s reasoning is its failure to recognise, or perhaps it is purposeful, the main complaint against them.

They like to smugly say that we should not shoot the messenger.

That they are the moral voice.

The problem is not in who is the messenger at all – the problem is the message.

The message is twisted.

The message is unproven....

This is not a debate about whether one should be washing "dirty linen" in public or not, it is about whether the "dirty linen" actually exists....'

Read and see more here

David Landau's Bandwagon Trundles On Down Under

Like Sydney-based Middle East affairs analyst David Singer, who last week resigned from the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies over its hosting of controversial former Ha'aretz editor David Landau, brought to Australia by the New Israel Fund, Danny Lamm, Melbourne-based President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), and the son, incidentally, of one of the great stalwarts of Zionism in Australia, regrets that Landau has been accorded a platform for his views.

The Australian Jewish News quotes Danny Lamm as saying:

“Some of his [Landau's] statements are statements that can be used to delegitimise Israel, for example a boycott of the Knesset and the statements that his idea of a wet dream is the rape of Israel.

These are obscene comments and this is unacceptable stuff.

The ECAJ would not have hosted him.

I am sorry that he is here and I’m sorry that he has been given the opportunity to speak to our audiences.”

 The latest J-Wire reports as follows on David Landau's action-packed visit the Shtetl On The Yarra (otherwise known as Melbourne), where leftist Israeli journalist - who is, of course, on record as saying Israel wants to be raped - seems to have been packin' 'em in ...

 Reports J-Wire:

Read on for articleFormer Haaretz editor-in-chief David Landau spoke to a packed house in Melbourne last night, just hours before the prominent journalist and commentator made news in the Jewish and non-Jewish press.

'Former Haaretz editor-in-chief David Landau spoke to a packed house in Melbourne last night, just hours before the prominent journalist and commentator made news in the Jewish and non-Jewish press.
Landau, in Australia on a speaking tour for the New Israel Fund, made his sole public appearance at Caulfield Pavilion in Melbourne last night, with standing room only for the 100-plus people in the audience to discuss “The Battle for Israel’s Democracy”.

The Age carried this repugnant cartoon some years ago

In today’s The Age newspaper [known for its hostility to Israel - D.A.], the outspoken Israeli urged Australian Jews to take a more critical line on Israel, saying her democracy is “at a crossroads” and local Jews needed to speak out instead of blindly toeing the government line.
Read The AGE piece here…

“We will have to be either democratic or Jewish,” The Age quoted him as saying. “The poison of the occupation is seeping back and corroding our democracy.”

In addition, Landau, the Israel correspondent for The Economist, had an opinion article on Iran published today in all major Fairfax mastheads, including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, WA Today and the Brisbane Times. [The one antipodean newspaper that can be depended upon for its fairness towards Israel is The Australian, owned by Murdoch - D.A.]

Its resident cartoonist, Leunig, also produced this

In it, Landau argued that PM Bibi Netanyahu, whom he described as “a bluffer”, was not bluffing when he threatened Iran with a unilateral strike on its nuclear facilities.

“He does not want to go down in Jewish history as the leader on whose watch a fanatical enemy achieved the means to cow, terrorise and threaten to destroy the Jewish state while the rest of the world stood by and Israel itself did nothing,” Landau wrote.  Read the SMH piece here.

But in this week’s edition of the Australian Jewish News, ECAJ president Danny Lamm chastised Landau, saying he was “sorry” that he had been brought to Australia to speak and that the roof body of Australian Jewry would not have hosted an event with him.

And this...

This prompted Yair Miller, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, to defend hosting Landau at a lunch last week saying his organisation was “mature” and “open-minded” enough to expose its members to different viewpoints.

Robin Margo, president of the New Israel Fund Australian branch, defended Landau, saying his Zionist credentials were incontrovertible, noting he had collaborated with Shimon Peres on his memoirs, written a biography of Ben-Gurion with Peres and had authored a biography of former PM Ariel Sharon, which is due out next year.

Landau is speaking at Yom Limmud in Melbourne on Sunday.'

Oy vey!

David Landau's Visit & The Fall Out Down Under

Under the auspices of the New Israel Fund's Australian branch, which has not been long in existence, David Landau, former diplomatic and managing editor of the Jerusalem Post and former editor-in-chief of Ha’aretz, the man who in 2007 infamously said "Israel wants to be raped by the U.S.", has been visiting Australia.

Of course, as any red-blooded Zionist knows, the New Israel Fund is a controversial organisation to say the least, and one which numerous supporters of Israel regard, as they do J-Street, with deep suspicion.  The organisation NGO Monitor has many examples of the NIF's eyebrow-raising initiatives.

Landau's been interviewed on the ABC (Australia's answer to the BBC, and, broadly speaking, with a similar jaundiced lefty approach to Israel) and on SBS, which is certainly not known for its over-friendliness towards the Jewish State.

David Landau's position on Israel can be gleaned from a breakfast time talk he gave in Sydney to invited guests of the New Israel Fund, reported here.

The decision of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies to invite him privately to address its members has, it seems, been widely criticised by communal activists who have Israel's interests uppermost in their heart.

This has prompted that supreme political realist, David Singer, the Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst, to resign from the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.  As reported in the latest J-Wire, Singer has written:

"The Board Of Deputies No Longer Represents Me

It is with much regret that I have tendered my long standing membership of the Board of Deputies.

My reasons are two fold:

The decision of the Board to host David Landau at a luncheon last week.

The failure of the Board to take any action against New Israel Fund Australia holding a fund raising appeal in breach of Communal guidelines.

The Board cannot argue that it was unaware of the consequences of extending its hospitality to a person with extreme views that are inimical to Israel’s national interest.

I voiced my opposition to such an invitation which could be taken to indicate communal acceptance of such views – rather than communal disgust.

Mr Landau is entitled to say whatever he likes and to be roundly criticised and condemned – as is apparent from the spirited comments in J-Wire.

For the Board to welcome him as it did at a lunch was unforgivable.

The Board’s failure to do anything about a fund raising appeal by New Israel Fund Australia in breach of communal guidelines is also regrettable and indicates a lack of leadership in the community’s interest.

My letter to the Board objecting to such an appeal being held was not even answered.

Is any organisation now free to hold an appeal at any time without reference to the communal guidelines?

Sorry – these two actions by the Board do not represent my views nor do they in my opinion represent responsible leadership in the interests of our community.

I urge any other members who also feel similarly outraged by these decisions to also resign their membership."