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The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism
Newsletter
Volume 3 No. 14
20 February 2009

YIISA LECTURE
Thursday, March 5th @ 4:15pm
“Western Culture, The Holocaust, and the Persistence of Antisemitism”
Location:        Linsly-Chittenden, 63 High Street, Room 211
Speaker:         Dr. Catherine Chatterley, Professor, Department of History, University of Winnipeg

LECTURES OF INTEREST
Wednesday, February 25th @ 12:00 Noon
“The Disenchantment of the Orient:  Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State”
ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room A-001
Speaker:         Gil Eyal, Columbia University
Sponsor:         Council on Middle East Studies
Contact:          Felisa Baynes – felisa.baynes@yale.edu 
Please click here for more information

VIDEO

Israel, the Jews and the Sunni-Shiite Conflict
A symposium at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism
Click here to watch

SPECIAL ARTICLES OF INTEREST

London declaration on antisemitism says ‘never again’ to UN’s ‘Durban II’
Parliamentarians meeting in London at the first ever summit on antisemitism called on their respective governments and the United Nations “never again to allow the institutions of the international community to be abused for the purposes of trying to establish any legitimacy for antisemitism.”
Click here to read

First-time summit conference on antisemitism at London’s Lancaster House
(EJP) Several government ministers and around 100 MPs from 40 countries gathered in London to develop coordinated and long-term action to tackle the escalating global threat of antisemitism.
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Pioneering move to fight race hate
(Jewish Chronicle) Experts from around the world hammer out groundbreaking document aiming to clamp down on antisemitism worldwide.
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Italian FM attends first London summit on combating antisemitism
(EJP) Several government ministers, including Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, and more than 100 parliamentarians from nearly 40 countries, are expected to attend the first-time summit conference on combating antisemitism, hosted by Britain’s foreign ministry.
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'A pernicious evil that must be repudiated': Jason Kenney Cdn Immigration Minister at London Summit
(National Post) Immigration Minister Jason Kenney addressed the international conference aimed at addressing rising antisemitism at London's Lancaster House, on behalf of the government of Canada.
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Antisemitism meeting confronts anti-Zionism
(NJ Jewish News) “When 120 parliamentarians from almost 40 countries from all over the world gather to find ways to work together to fight the scourge of antisemitism, one has a very strange feeling.”
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Gaza, slump seen spurring rise in antisemitism
(Reuters) Israel's offensive in Gaza and the global economic downturn have spurred a rise in physical and verbal attacks on Jews, participants in an international conference on antisemitism said.
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MIDDLE EAST

Howard Jacobson: Let’s see the 'criticism' of Israel for what it really is
(Independent) Emotions have run high over recent events in Gaza. And in this impassioned and searching essay, the writer argues that just below the surface runs a vicious strain of ancient prejudice.
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Israel launches covert war against Iran
(Telegraph) Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct military strikes against Tehran's nuclear programme.
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Defense establishment: Iran No.1 threat to Israel
(YNet) IDF chief presents defense minister with military's work plan for 2009, says Tehran near-nuclear capabilities, existing ballistic aptitude and terror contacts pose 'existential threat' to Israel
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Clerics urge new jihad over Gaza
(BBC) At a weekend meeting in Istanbul, 200 religious scholars and clerics met senior Hamas officials to plot a new jihad centred on Gaza.
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'World duped by Hamas death count'
(Jerusalem Post) Four weeks after the cessation of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF finally opened its dossier on Palestinian fatalities on Sunday for the first time, and presented to The Jerusalem Post an overview utterly at odds with the Palestinian figures that have hitherto formed the basis for assessing the conflict.
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Hamas: PA tortured and killed our supporter
(Jerusalem Post) The Palestinian Authority said that a Hamas supporter who was found dead in one of its prisons in the West Bank had committed suicide and did not die as a result of torture.
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Hamas puppet: I declare war on the Zionists
(PMW) After having three puppet hosts, the Mickey Mouse look-alike, the bee and the rabbit, all die on TV, Hamas children's television has introduced a fourth puppet host. The new one, a bear named Nassur, appeared Friday on Hamas TV promising to be a Jihad fighter, and declaring war on the Zionists.
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Europe opens covert talks with Hamas
(Independent) European nations have opened a direct dialogue with Hamas as the US intensifies the search for Middle East peace under Barack Obama.
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'Syria building chemical weapons plant'
(Jerusalem Post) Syria has been conducting extensive construction work on a chemical weapons facility in the country's northwest, satellite images obtained by the defense analyst group Jane's reveal.
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'Uranium at Syrian site not from IAF bomb'
(Jerusalem Post) UN nuclear agency samples taken from a Syrian site suspected of being a secretly built reactor have revealed new traces of processed uranium, the agency reported,
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Yemenite immigrants arrive in Israel following secret mission
(YNet) The immigrants were brought by a secret operation of the Jewish Agency by way of a third country.
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Yemenite family makes aliya in secret op
(Jerusalem Post) Stepping off their plane and into the bright lights of Ben Gurion Airport, the Ben-Yisrael family was on the final leg of its journey from one world to the next.
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Where prejudice is disgracefully tolerated
(The Star) Bigotry and the delegitimization of Israel collides with sport.
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'No Jews Allowed': Tennis United Arab Emirates Style
(Jerusalem Post) The normally staid world of professional tennis became the latest battleground in the Arab-Israeli conflict this week after the United Arab Emirates decided to bar Israel's Shahar Pe'er from taking part in the Dubai Championships.
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Tennis Channel Won’t Televise Dubai Event in Protest
(NY Times) The Tennis Channel will not televise the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this week to protest the United Arab Emirates’ refusal to grant an entry visa to the Israeli player Shahar Peer.
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Sponsors dump Dubai Open over the treatment of Israeli player Shahar Peer
(Fox Sports) The Wall Street Journal Europe has revoked its sponsorship of the WTA Dubai Open women's tennis tournament.
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Sweden to play Israel in empty arena
(Reuters) Sweden will play their Davis Cup first round tie against Israel next month in an empty arena because of security concerns.
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Iran holds enough uranium for bomb
(Financial Times) Iran has built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.
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Analysis: Turkey's shift toward Iran, Syria is no short-term blip
(JPost) Last weekend, a conference held under the title "Gaza the victory" took place at hotel near Istanbul's Ataturk airport. The conference brought 200 Sunni clerics and activists together with senior, Damascus-based Hamas officials.
Click here to read

EUROPE

Jihad TV in Europe
Iranian-backed terrorist organizations are deploying another dangerous weapon in their war against Western democracies -- terrorist television stations.
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The writing is on the synagogue wall
(Times) World depressions lead to a rise in antisemitism. All over Europe, the evidence is around us
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Jewish leader calls for EU action on antisemitism
(IHT) The leader of the European Jewish Congress said the main blame for growing antisemitism across the continent was the economic crisis, not the Gaza war.
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‘You grow immune to the threat’
(BBC) Michael Bookatz needs no statistics to understand that his community is facing, according to Jewish groups, a level of antisemitism unprecedented in recent years. Last month, the 32-year-old was attacked by two men in Golders Green, north London - home to a prominent Jewish community.
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Oxford students defeat anti-Israel campaign
(The Jewish Community) An anti-Israel motion has been rejected by Oxford University Student Union after Jewish students persuaded members of every college to vote against it. The motion called for the university to condemn Israel’s action in Gaza and the “hideous toll” on Palestinians.
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Manchester students lose boycott motion
(The Jewish Community) A motion to boycott Israeli goods and condemn Israel’s Gaza operation as an “atrocity” has been passed at Manchester University’s Student Union.
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UK Jews brand 'Play for Gaza' libelous, antisemitic
(Jerusalem Post) Over 60 Jewish community members, including well-known actors, academics, rabbis and community leaders, have signed a letter in protest at the decision by a prestigious London theater to host a play that has been accused of being antisemitic.
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French state found responsible for deporting Jews
(AP) France's top judicial body on Monday recognized the French government's responsibility for the deportation of Jews during World War II, the clearest such recognition of the state's role in the Holocaust.
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NORTH AMERICA

Obama's high-risk engagement at 'Durban II'
(Jerusalem Post) The Obama Administration's decision to jump into the preparations for the UN's Durban Review Conference, scheduled for Geneva in April 2009, is a bold but also a risky move.
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Obama's Durban Dalliance
(WSJ) Last December, we wrote that an "early test" for the Obama Administration would be whether it participated in a forthcoming U.N. conference on racism, better known as Durban II. Uh, oh.
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Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?
(ME Forum) While Muslim advocacy organizations argue that honor killings are a misnomer stigmatizing Muslims for what is simply domestic violence, a problem that has nothing to do with religion, Phyllis Chesler, who just completed a study of more than 50 instances of North American honor killings, says the evidence suggest otherwise.
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Hampshire Divests from Israel, So Contributors Should Divest from Hampshire
(Hudson NY) Several months ago, a rabidly anti Israel group on the Hampshire College campus began a campaign to try to get the college to divest from six companies that they claim helped “the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”
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Jewish students 'held hostage' in Toronto Hillel
(Jerusalem Post) Jewish students at York University in Toronto were forced to take refuge in the Hillel office as anti-Israel protesters banged on the glass doors, chanting,"Die, Jew, get the hell off campus."
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Kenney says some Canadian Arab groups express hatred toward Jews
(CBC) Canada’s immigration minister suggested that organizations like the Canadian Arab Federation and Canadian Islamic Congress should not expect to receive government funding because of their "hateful sentiments" toward Israel and Jews.
Click here to read
US urges IAEA to take up Syria nuclear concerns
(AFP) The United States called on the International Atomic Energy Agency Thursday to discuss what it said was mounting evidence of a clandestine nuclear program in Syria at a meeting next month in Vienna.
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Laura Rosen Cohen: Fear and political intolerance at York University
(National Post) Last week, word broke that Jewish students were verbally accosted by anti-Israel protesters at York University. An eyewitness account of the melee, published here, described a hostage-like situation, where in Orwellian fashion, the Jewish victims of the campus intimidation were punished and asked by security to stop their event -- ostensibly for their own safety.
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Cops quell anti-Israel attack at Toronto college
(JTA) Toronto police quelled tensions between Jews and anti-Israel activists at the campus of one of Canada's largest universities for the second time in two weeks.
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Anti-Israel Activists Blockade Students in York Hillel Office
(Hillel) On Wednesday, February 11, York University in Toronto, one of the largest Jewish student communities in North America, was the site of a disturbing incident in which students blocked the entrance to the Hillel office shouting anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slogans.
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MISCELLANEOUS

Review of Pius X Society websites reveals virulent antisemitism, says Jewish magazine
(EJPress) The traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, whose excommunication was lifted by the Vatican in January, openly propagates virulent antisemitism.
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Argentina to expel Holocaust-denying Roman Catholic bishop
(Haaretz) Bishop Richard Williamson, an ultra-traditionalist who headed a seminary near Buenos Aires until earlier this month, has said he believes there were no gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews died in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million figure that is
widely accepted by historians.
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Israeli Embassy to Argentina strongly supports rally to condemn antisemitism in Buenos Aires
(Iton Gadol) "This is a positive event, which shows that the community is not afraid of anti-Semites. And I view this as an act of support, a common struggle against the lies about the Jewish people and Israel. I am very happy with the support for Israel," Gazit told the Jewish News Agency (AJN).
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When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews, said Martin Luther King
(Jerusalem Post) Is criticism of Israel antisemitic? The Six Day War sparked a wave of
anti-Zionistic reactions, triggering the Left's denial of solidarity with Israel.
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Philippine police capture suspected bomber
(IHT) Police have arrested a Muslim militant who allegedly was involved in deadly bombings in the southern Philippines and planned to attack the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Manila.
Click here to read