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The Yale
Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism YIISA SEMINAR Thursday, April 24 @ 4:15 PM Linsly Chittenden Hall, Room 101 (63 High Street) Title: The Academic and Public Debate over the Meaning of the ‘New Antisemitism’ Speaker: Professor Roni Stauber Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University
YIISA CONFERENCE – 2 DAYS! “UNDERTSTANDING THE CHALLENGE OF IRAN” Tuesday, April 29 @ 6:45 PM The Yale Club of New York City (50 Vanderbilt Avenue) *RSVP by April 22nd with meal choice: chicken, vegetarian or kosher to lauren.clark@yale.edu Formal Dinner & Lectures Speakers: David Menashri, Director of Center for Iranian Studies & Professor at the Department of Middle Eastern History at Tel Aviv University; Dean of the University's Special Programs Division Mehrangiz Kar, Iranian journalist and one of the most celebrated human rights activists in Iran Irwin Cotler, Canadian Member of Parliament and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Wednesday, April 30 @ 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM Linsly Chittenden Hall, Room 101 (63 High Street) Conference & Panel Discussions with leading scholars, activists and intellectuals
YIISA CO-SPONSORED EVENT *Please RSVP by April 30th to brooke.crockett@yale.edu Tuesday, May 6 @ 11:00am – 2:00pm Co-Sponsored with the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, Genocide Studies Institute for Social and Policy Studies, Room A001 (77 Prospect Street) Rescuers of Genocide Victims: Research Perspectives for the Future Speakers: Ben Keirnan, History, Genocide Studies Program, Yale University Mette Bastholm, Sociology, Yale University John Dovidio, Social Psychology, Yale University Bruce Wexler, Psychiatry, Yale University Stephanie J. Bird, Neuroethics, Editor-in-Chief of Science and Engineering Ethics Moderator: Julius Landwirth, Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics
LECTURES OF INTEREST Friday, April 25 @ 3:00PM – 6:00PM Saturday, April 26 @ 8:30AM – 7:00 PM Sunday, April 27 @ 9:00AM – 1:30 PM All events to take place at Luce Hall (34 Hillhouse Avenue) Facing Others: Iranian Identity Boundaries & Modern Political Cultures Three day conference featuring interdisciplinary discussions of “The Legacy of Cultural Exclusion,” “The Internal Frontiers,” “Empires and Encounters,” “Identity and Iranian Political Cultures” and “Globalized Anxieties.”
Thurdsay, April 24 @ 5:30 PM BAC, 1080 Chapel Street The Andrew Cardnuff Ritchie Lecture History of Matzah: The Story of the Jews Speaker: Russell Ferguson, University of California, Los Angeles & adjunct curator, Hammer Museum For more information: www.yale.edu/macmillon/cmes
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
IRAN
PM: Iran will not be nuclear (Haaretz) "I want to tell the citizens of Israel: Iran will not have nuclear capability," said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a pre-Passover interview. According to Olmert, the international community is making an enormous effort, in which Israel has a part, to prevent Iran from attaining nonconventional weapons capabilities. "And I believe, and also know, that the bottom line of these efforts is that Iran will not be nuclear," Olmert said.
The Holocaust Declaration (Washington Post) Charles Krauthammer writes, “On Tuesday Iran announced it was installing 6,000 more centrifuges -- they produce enriched uranium, the key ingredient of a nuclear weapon -- in addition to the 3,000 already operating. The world yawned. It is time to admit the truth: The Bush administration's attempt to halt Iran's nuclear program has failed. Utterly. The latest round of U.N. Security Council sanctions, which took a year to achieve, is comically weak. It represents the end of the sanctions road.”
Ahmadinejad boasts over Iran's military power (AFP) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday proclaimed Iran as the "most powerful nation" on earth as the country's air force showed off its prowess at a time of mounting tension with the West. Ahmadinejad told this during a military parade outside Tehran marking the Islamic republic's annual Army Day, reaffirming one of his favoured slogans.
U.S.: Iranian threats to 'eliminate' Israel justify int'l sanctions (Haaretz) In a new round in the war of words between Jerusalem and Tehran, the Iranian army's deputy chief threatened Tuesday to respond to any military attack from Israel by 'eliminating' it. The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that the comments showed the international community was right to sanction Iran.
US national security advisor in Israel for talks on Iran: radio (AFP) Visiting US national security advisor Stephen Hadley was to discuss Iran's nuclear programme with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday night, public radio said. The announcement came just hours after the deputy commander of Iran's army Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned that his country would "eliminate Israel from the global arena" if it were attacked by the Jewish state.
Iran is playing with fire (Haaretz) “Iran under the Islamic revolutionary government represents a serious security problem for Israel. It trains, funds and carries out terror via Hezbollah in Lebanon, and via Islamic Jihad in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It, or its emissaries, hid navigator Ron Arad. Under its aegis, Syria continues to choose hostility over seeking peace with Israel. Worst of all, its leaders explicitly declare their desire to destroy "the Zionist entity," and act to do so by developing ground-to-ground missiles and attempting to obtain nuclear weapons.”
Israel Can Stand Up for Itself (NY Times) The failure of diplomacy to stop Iran’s nuclear program became obvious this week, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed the installation of 6,000 new centrifuges at the country’s main uranium enrichment complex. His announcement was accompanied by the now customary assertion that outsiders can do nothing to stop Iran from fulfilling its nuclear destiny.
Spy photos reveal 'secret launch site' for Iran's long-range missiles (Times) The secret site where Iran is suspected of developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching targets in Europe has been uncovered by new satellite photographs. The imagery has pinpointed the facility from where the Iranians launched their Kavoshgar 1 “research rocket” on February 4, claiming that it was in connection with their space programme.
Iran Top Threat To Iraq, U.S. Says (Washington Post) Last week's violence in Basra and Baghdad has convinced the Bush administration that actions by Iran, and not al-Qaeda, are the primary threat inside Iraq, and has sparked a broad reassessment of policy in the region, according to senior U.S. officials.
Iran's Sly Games in Iraq (U.S. News) Fouad Ajami writes, “We needn't give credence to the idea of a vast "Shiite crescent" stretching from Iran to Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to appreciate the challenge posed by the Iranian theocrats to the American project in Iraq and to the order of that Greater Middle East. These are crafty players, the men who rule that radical realm. The networks of terror they have at their disposal have a way of overlooking the fine distinctions of theology and politics. In its struggle for primacy in the habitat around it, Iran is not a Shiite power per se: It aids and abets a Shiite-armed movement in Lebanon and also works with the Sunni die-hards of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories.
Iran's Busted Iraq Bid (NY Post) Analysts in Tehran describe events last month in Basra as a gamble that proved too costly. Iran's state-run media have de facto confirmed that this was no spontaneous "uprising." Rather, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tried to seize control of Iraq's second-largest city using local Shiite militias as a Trojan horse.
Countering Iran (Washington Post) Threaded through the reports of progress in Iraq by Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker last week was the story of a larger failure: the inability of the United States and its allies to contain the growing aggressiveness of Iran. Since Gen. Petraeus and Mr. Crocker last reported to Congress seven months ago, Iranian-backed militias and "special groups" in Iraq have evolved from a shadow force into the largest remaining threat to U.S. forces and the Iraqi government.
Iran, persecuting your Arab minority (Jerusalem Post) Daniel Brett writes, “‘Collective punishment’ is a term used often used to describe Israel's retaliation against Hamas terrorist attacks. Teheran usually rushes to be the first in line to accuse the Jewish state. Yet the Iranian regime's claim to represent the interests of Arabs is belied by its brutal persecution of the indigenous Ahwazi Arabs living within its own territory, who have been under direct rule from Persians since the end of self-government in 1925.”
Al Wattan: 20 Hizbullah men die in Iran training (Jerusalem Post) At least 20 Hizbullah fighters have been killed during military training in Iran, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan reported Thursday evening, quoting the Director General of the Islamic Union in Lebanon, Muhammad Ali Husseini. The Lebanese official did not say exactly how the fighters were killed, but he made clear that "Hizbullah regards those killed while training in Iran as holy ones who died fulfilling their duties, and this concerns not only Shi'ites, but also Sunnis who are loyal to Hizbullah."
Column One: Ahmadinejad's smile (Jerusalem Post) Caroline Glick writes, “The regime-affiliated Iranian Fars news agency published a sensational story this week. According to the Fars report, Saudi Arabia and Israel collaborated in killing Iranian terror-master Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in February. The story is important regardless of whether it is true. It is important because it says something important about the nature of Iran's relationship with Syria. Specifically, it says that Iran views Syria as a vassal state.”
MIDDLE EAST
PLO official: We'll drive Israel out of Palestine (Jerusalem Post) "The PLO is the sole legitimate representative [of the Palestinian people], and it has not changed its platform even one iota." Abbas Zaki, told Lebanon's NBN TV in an interview that aired last Wednesday and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). He added, “Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine.” Click here to watch video clip
Killing in the West Bank Exposes a Furtive War (Washington Post) When the preacher's body arrived at the hospital, his back was scarlet where he had been whipped with pipes. His legs were black with bruises. His wrists were sliced open and bloodied. The Palestinian Authority, which had been holding Majd Barghouti in an intelligence-service prison for the previous week, soon declared that the popular Hamas imam, or prayer leader, had died of a heart attack.
2 Palestinians arrested for plot to poison Ramat Gan diners (Haaretz) Two Palestinians from the West Bank city of Nablus were arrested last month for planning to poison diners at the Ramat Gan restaurant that employed them, according to details revealed Thursday after a gag order was lifted. Under interrogation, the pair admitted planning the attack after being recruited by an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade cell that received funding and instructions from Hezbollah.
Hamas MP and Cleric Yunis Al-Astal: “We Will Conquer Rome, and from There Continue to Conquer the Two Americas and Eastern Europe” (MEMRI TV) Excerpts from an address by Hamas MP and cleric Yunis Al-Astal, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on April 11, 2008.
Report: Hizbullah to Launch Offensive in Occupied Territories in Case Israel Wages War (Naharnet Newsdesk) A high-ranking Hizbullah official has said the party would launch an offensive on Israel in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 in case the Jewish state wages a new war, Iranian News Agency, Fars, reported. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the statement in an interview with Syrian magazine "al-Hakika," the news agency said.
Israel says Syria arming Hezbollah despite UN resolution (AFP) Syria is supplying Lebanon's Hezbollah militia with rockets in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak charged on Tuesday. "Resolution 1701 is not being applied. The transfer of rockets from Syria to Lebanon is continuing and Hezbollah's military build-up is continuing," Barak's office quoted him as saying during a visit to an air force base.
UN Security Council calls for disarming Hezbollah and solution to Israel-Lebanon conflict (International Herald Tribune) The U.N. Security Council called for the disarming of Hezbollah and all other militias in Lebanon and greater progress toward a permanent ceasefire and long-term solution to the conflict between Lebanon and Israel.
U.S. Senate to discuss N. Korea-Syria nuclear ties (Haaretz) The American administration intends to give the Senate Intelligence Committee an account of the nuclear ties between North Korea and Syria for the first time on April 22. Senior IDF officers have warned, however, that the release of any information containing details of the Israeli Air Force strike in Syria last September could increase tension between Israel and Syria.
Were Syrian officers involved in Mugniyah killing? (YNet) Hizbullah's top military commander Imad Mugniyah, mysteriously killed in a blast two months ago, has been the subject of lively discussion in the Arab press in recent days. Lebanon's Al-Shiraa magazine reported Saturday that two weeks ago Syrian intelligence broke into the houses of two Syrian officers in Damascus and executed them with shots to the head, apparently due to their involvement in Mugniyah's assasination.
Hosting Mughniyah in Tehran (Haaretz) Yossi Melman writes, “It is difficult to see Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani as a promoter of peace. But that is precisely how he was defined recently by several analysts in important newspapers in the United States, Britain and other Western countries, because of his involvement in the negotiations to broker a cease-fire in the war in Iraq between the Shiite militias and the government.”
Hamas says Carter visit a boost to militants' legitimacy (Washington Post) Hamas officials said Wednesday that Jimmy Carter's meetings with leaders of the Palestinian militant group will boost its legitimacy despite criticism by Israel and the U.S. government of the former president's personal peace mission.
Legitimizing Hamas (Weekly Standard) Matthew Levitt writes, “Imagine the Alice in Wonderland scene that will take place later this week, when U.S. Secret Service agents entrusted with protecting former president Jimmy Carter stand guard over a meeting with the head of a designated terrorist group responsible for near daily attacks targeting civilians, including numerous attacks in which American citizens have been injured and killed. The former president may have altruistic motives, but his meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Mishal is both imprudent and dangerous.”
Jimmy's World (Wall Street Journal) Former President Jimmy Carter has an interesting way of saying more than he intends. He lusts in his heart. He turns to his 13-year-old daughter for foreign policy wisdom. He titles a book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid." What Mr. Carter means to say is that he is a flesh-and-blood human being, a caring father, a missionary for peace. What he actually communicates is that he is weirdly libidinal, scarily naive and obsessively hostile to Israel. Cool welcome for Carter in Jerusalem (Haaretz) President Shimon Peres accused former U.S. president Jimmy Carter of causing significant damage to Israel and the peace process in recent years, during a meeting between the two men yesterday at the President's Residence, officials at the residence said.
Hebron university shut down after Fatah-Hamas clashes (Jerusalem Post) The administration of the Islamic University in Hebron decided Saturday to suspend studies until further notice following fierce clashes on campus between students affiliated with Fatah and Hamas. The clashes erupted after students belonging to the Hamas-affiliated Islamic List distributed leaflets accusing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's forces of arresting four of their colleagues. Click here to read
How did we forget that Israel's story is the story of the West? (Telegraph) Charles Moore writes about how British media and that “Little prepares the post-Christian European audience to understand Israel. By "understand", I partly mean sympathise with, and partly, just comprehend.”
State Dept. targets anti-Semitism (Jewish Telegraphic Agency) A U.S. State Department report on anti-Semitism targets its manifestation as anti-Zionism and excoriates its appearance in the U.N. system.
Anti-semitism clouds 2009 summit on racism (United Press International) Delegates in Switzerland are planning for a world conference on racism amid criticism of a prior summit's anti-Semitic tones, diplomats say. Israel and the United States walked out of a 2001 Durban, South Africa, conference against racial intolerance because non-governmental organizations took center stage, equating Zionism with racism and accusing Israel of committing a "holocaust" against Palestinians.
NORTH AMERICA
Yale Moves Away From Plans for Link With Abu Dhabi (NY Times) After more than a year of talks, Yale University has backed away from its plan for an arts institute in Abu Dhabi, involving Yale’s art, music, architecture and drama schools. The stumbling block, ultimately, was Abu Dhabi’s insistence that Yale offer degree programs at the institute, and Yale’s refusal to grant its degrees in Abu Dhabi.
2007 Audit shows decrease in state’s antisemitic incidents (Jewish Ledger) The number of antisemitic incidents in Connecticut decreased 37 percent in 2007, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents. A total of 49 incidents were reported across Connecticut in 2007, 26 were cited as incidents of vandalism and 23 as incidents of harassment. Continuing a long time trend, the state ranked seventh in the nation in antisemitic incidents, with New York leading the pack.
Koch on Koch on Antisemitism (Forward) Ed Koch, the legendary former New York City mayor — who puckishly describes himself as “a liberal with sanity” — has never been shy about standing up for his fellow Jews. That much is clear from “The Koch Papers: My Fight Against Anti-Semitism” (Palgrave Macmillan), a new volume he compiled with Holocaust scholar, activist and frequent Koch collaborator Raphael Medoff. The book collects Koch’s speeches, correspondence and writings on antisemitism and Jewish concerns from his years as mayor — a post he held from 1977 to 1989 — and his past two decades as an outspoken private citizen.
Anti-Semitic incidents continues to climb, says League (Canadian Jewish News) Incidents of anti-Semitism continued to trend upward in Canada last year, with a record 1,042 occurrences reported by the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada – nearly one-third of them on the Internet. The new high marked an 11.4 per cent increase over 2006 and nearly doubled the 584 incidents reported in 2003, the League stated in its 2007 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents.
Seminary slaughter commemorated (The Suburban) Last week’s murder of eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem was commemorated here in Montreal. A memorial service was held at Mercaz Harav’s local affiliated seminary Kollel Torah Mitzion.
Santorum calls for war with ‘Islamo-fascists’ (Yale Daily News) As part of a speaking tour throughout various college campuses about the dangers of Islamic extremism, Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum spoke at the Yale Political Union debate on the importance of defining the enemy in the “War on Islamic Extremism” — the subject of the debate — and on the historical roots of the clash between Islamic and Judeo-Christian culture.
EUROPE
German FM blasts 'new anti-Semitism' clothed in anti-Israel sentiments (Jerusalem Post) A new form of anti-Semitism increasingly cloaked by expressions of moral superiority and anti-Israel statements is unacceptable and will not be allowed to permeate German society, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at a ceremony at the German Foreign Ministry marking the establishment of the offices of a new Holocaust-awareness organization. Court Faults Britain for Halting Arms Deal Inquiry (NY Times) The High Court in Britain on Thursday ruled that officials investigating accusations of corruption in a multibillion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia acted unlawfully when they dropped the inquiry under pressure from the government. The court also criticized the role of Saudi officials in the matter.
Over hundred people protest in Prague against anti-Semitism (Romea) Over a hundred people took part in a meeting in protest against anti-Semitism, held in Prague today, that included a march through the centre of the city and a rally in the upper house garden named All of us are people. The event, organised by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, took place for the fifth time this year.
Protester interrupts Israeli singer's concert in Spain (YNet) A Spanish protester carrying a Palestinian flag interrupted a concert of Israeli singer Achinoam Nini in the city of Tulsa in Spain this weekend. The concert resumed after the crowd beseeched the singer to return and Nini stated that the incident made her proud to be an Israeli.
Weekly Quotes - (Canadian Institute for Jewish Research - Montreal) “Just last week, the PLO ambassador to Lebanon Abbas Zaki restated the PLO's aim of destroying Israel in an interview with Lebanese television. In Zaki's words, ‘The PLO... has not changed its platform even one iota.’ That platform, to destroy Israel in stages, remains the objective of the PLO. He continued, 'In light of the weakness of the Arab nation and the lack of values, and in light of the American control over the world, the PLO proceeds through phases, without changing its strategy. Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine.’” Caroline Glick, quoting the PLO ambassador to Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, to highlight the misguided Israeli assumption that Fatah would eventually transform the PLO and Palestinian society from a “terror-supporting society to a terror-combating society.” (Jerusalem Post, April 14) SHORT TAKES YALE MOVES AWAY FROM PLANS FOR LINK WITH ABU DHABI(New York) After more than a year of talks, Yale University has backed away from its plan for an arts institute in Abu Dhabi, involving Yale’s art, music, architecture and drama schools. The stumbling block, ultimately, was Abu Dhabi’s insistence that Yale offer degree programs at the institute, and Yale’s refusal to grant its degrees in Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi project would have been Yales’s first major venture in the Middle East. (New York Times, April 12)
Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism | ISPS | yiisa.program@yale.edu
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