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The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism
Newsletter
Volume 4 No. 7
9 October 2009

YIISA LECTURE
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 @ 12:00pm (Noon)
“Antisemitism and the Power of Cartoons”
Location:        77 Prospect Street, Room B-012 (Basement Floor)
Speaker:         Yaakov Kirschen, Visiting Fellow (Artist in Residence), YIISA; Cartoonist, Dry Bones
*A Light Lunch Will Be Provided* - Must RSVP to 203.432.5239 or
yiisa.program@yale.edu by Monday, October 12th.

Thursday, October 15, 2009 @ 4:15pm
“How the PLO ‘Adapted’ Antisemitism as ‘Anti-Zionism’”
Location:        Linsely-Chittenden Hall, Room 101, 63 High Street
Speaker:         Professor Barry Rubin, Director, Global Research in International Affairs Center (GLORIA); Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya Israel

LECTURE OF INTEREST FEATURING YIISA SCHOLAR
Monday, October 12, 2009 – Saturday, October 17, 2009
“Transatlantic Doctoral Academy on Corporate Responsibility”
Location:        Kassel, Germany
Speaker:         Ajnesh Prasad, Graduate Fellow, YIISA
Ajnesh Prasad’s presentation is entitled “Unethical liaisons in the global political economy of human (in)security: Conceptualizing the institutional nexus of social conflict in Israel/Palestine.”

LECTURES OF INTEREST
Monday, October 12, 2009 @ 12:00pm (Noon)
“Europe’s Uneasy Marriage of Secularism and Christianity since 1945 and the Challenge of Contemporary Religious Pluralism”
Location:        Rosenkranz Hall, Room 005, 115 Prospect Street
Speaker:         Jytte Klausen, Political Science, Brandeis University
Sponsor:         The Religion and Politics Workshop
Click here for more information

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 @ 6:10pm
“Viewing of The Judge with Prof. Owen Fiss and Cief Justice Ahron Barak”
Location:        Yale Law School, Room 127
Speaker:         Professor Owen Fiss
                        Former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Ahron Barak
Sponsor:         ACS
Click here for more information

REPORT

The Rise of the Iranian Dictatorship
(Foreign Policy) Tehran is increasingly relying on its military to control its citizens.
Looking at the new leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, that trend seems certain to hasten.
Click here to read

SPECIAL ARTICLES OF INTEREST

Barack Obama's Nobel prize greeted with cynicism, surprise and optimism
(Guardian) Residents of Kabul, Baghdad and Jerusalem voice reservations at US president's award.
Click here to read

Obama Says He’s ‘Surprised and Humbled’ by Nobel Prize
(NY Times) President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Click here to read

Deep Denial
(The New Republic) Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the United States discusses why the Holocaust still matters.
Click here to read

ARTICLES OF INTEREST

IRAN

More Incitement from the Revolutionary Guard
(Haaretz) Iran would "blow up the heart" of Israel if the Israel or the United States attacked the Islamic Republic, a Revolutionary Guards official said in comments published on Friday.
Click here to read

CIA Knew About Iran's Secret Nuclear Plant Long Before Disclosure
(Time Magazine) Although the Iranians had taken great pains to keep the facility a secret, building it into a mountain 100 miles southwest from Tehran, the CIA had known about it for three years.
Click here to read

Intelligence Fiasco Footnote
(Wall Street Journal) The authors of the 2007 Iran National Intelligence Estimate have some explaining to do.
Click here to read

U.S. plans 'serious' sanctions if Iran diplomacy fails
(CNN) The Obama administration is working on a substantial sanctions package against Iran in case current diplomatic efforts to curb its nuclear program fail, top officials told Congress on Tuesday.
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Buying Time for Iran
(NY Post) Amir Taheri says Obama is not getting tough.
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The Region: The president, Iran and the 'or else' factor
(Jerusalem Post) Barry Rubin discusses the meeting in Geneva last week between the US - along with Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - and Iran.
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Iran blames US for 'defection of scientist over secret nuclear plant'
(Times Online) Iran has accused the United States of involvement in the disappearance of one of its nuclear scientists earlier this year amid speculation about his possible role in the unmasking of the clandestine nuclear plant near Qom.
Click here to read

More Iranian Nuclear Scientists Defect?
(Real Clear World) The defection of General Ali Asgari in 2007 took everyone in Iran by surprise. Some believe that his defection was handled by the CIA. This angered Iranian authorities greatly, as such defections are political, and—more importantly—an intelligence blow. Now there are more stories circulating about two other mystery defectors.
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MIDDLE EAST

Lose-lose situation
(Haaretz)  Two weeks of continuous incitement by the Islamic Movement's northern branch, members of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian clerics has generated a particularly volatile mixture.
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Under Netanyahu, Abbas has gone from 'good Palestinian' to foe
(Haaretz) Upon returning to power, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has changed the Israeli attitude toward Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
Click here to read

Palestinians urged to defend al-Aksa
(JPost) The Fatah Central Council has called for a general strike in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Friday in protest of Israel's "measures against al-Aksa Mosque."
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Abbas' steps toward peace talks are echoing loudly
(LA Times) Hounded by his moderate supporters and militant rivals alike, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is facing a leadership crisis that will make it harder for the Obama administration to draw him into peace talks with Israel.
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Lebanon suspects mass infiltration of Islamist terrorists
(Haaretz) Lebanon's security apparatus are looking into claims that hundreds of Islamist fundamentalists loyal to Al-Qaida have entered Lebanon during the summer as tourists and remain in the country to plan terrorist attacks.
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Qaradawi calls for ‘day of anger’ against Israeli action
(Gulf Times) Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi has called on the Muslim world to stage peaceful marches on Friday to protest against the Israeli excavation under the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Jewish state’s action against worshippers at the mosque this week.
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Ahwazi Organization: Iran is Planning to Attack the Gulf Countries; Iran is Producing Chemical Weapons and Burying the Waste in Ahwaz
(MEMRI) An interview with an Arab Ahwazi man who was presented as a former undercover agent for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The man claimed that 40,000 well-trained operatives, mostly Shi'ites, are in the service of Iran in the ArabGulf states. He added that Iranian Al-Qods forces commander Qassem Suleimani had prepared a plan to take over 22 embassies, both in Iran and outside it, if Iran were to be attacked.
Click here to read

EUROPE

Speaking out against Antisemitism is a risky business
(The Jerusalem Post) From the fatwa against Salman Rushdie to the ostracisation of Nonie Darwish, Wafa Sultan, Irshad Manji and many others, it is hard for those in the Arab and Muslim world to speak out against suicide bombers, Jihadists, Antisemitism and anti-Americanism in their countries.
Click here to read

Holocaust memorial unveiled in Romania
(YNet News) Romania on Thursday unveiled a monument in memory of some 300,000 Jews and Gypsies killed during the Holocaust in the country, which at times denied that the extermination even happened.
Click here to read

Russian Anti-Americanism
(NY Times) Vladimir Shlapentokhw writes, “When I returned to Russia as a visiting American scholar in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I saw — this time with joy — how anti-Americanism and Antisemitism was fading away. Now, under Vladimir Putin, xenophobia has been restored as a leading element of the official ideology.”
Click here to read

Chelsea to prosecute YouTube antisemitic singers
(Vital Chelsea) Police announced they were looking to identify a bunch of Chelsea-supporting dimwits who were filmed singing antisemitic chants.
Click here to read

NORTH AMERICA

Livni slams Goldstone report at Yale
(Jerusalem Post) Speaking at an event at Yale University in New Haven on Thursday night, where she was honored as a Chubb Fellow, opposition leader Tzipi Livni criticized the UN fact-finding mission's report on Operation Cast Lead for drawing comparisons between IDF soldiers and terrorists, and told the audience of her support in the two-state solution.
Click here to read

Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Bomb Sites in Toronto
(NY Times) A man unexpectedly pleaded guilty on Thursday to leading a plot to blow up at least three prominent sites, including the Toronto Stock Exchange, in a bid to create chaos to force Canada to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
Click here to read

MISCELLANEOUS

The tropes of 'Jewish antisemitism'
(Guardian) Antony Lerman writes, “The concept of the 'self-hating Jew' has been dignified with a pseudo-psychopathology by those keen to suppress dissent.”
Click here to read

Revolutionary Antisemitism
(Wall Street Journal) Chávez imports Ahmadinejad's ideology to Latin America.
Click here to read

Weekly Quotes: Canadian Institute for Jewish Research

"Israel is lighting matches in the hope of sparking a fire, deliberately escalating tensions in occupied East Jerusalem rather than taking steps to placate the situation." -- Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, in a statement ahead of the arrival of a U.S. envoy later this week, criticizing Israel for supposedly instigating riots in Jerusalem 's Old City that erupted over the weekend.

Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Raed Salah said Palestinians would "shield the Aksa Mosque with their bodies" and "would pay any price to defend the Aksa [Mosque]", since the use of human shields has proven to be effective against Israel . "No one has rights to the Al-Aqsa Mosque other than the Muslims," he said. "The mosque compound is Muslim, Palestinian and Arab, and Israel has no rights to the mosque or East Jerusalem ." National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau, responded that " Israel must stop paying the salaries of imams and heads of mosques who engage in incitement against the state of Israel ." (YNet News, October 6; Jerusalem Post, October 6-7; Ha'aretz, October 7)

"We're committed to serious and meaningful engagement. But we're not interested in talking for the sake of talking. If Iran does not take steps in the near future to live up to its obligations, then the United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely, and we are prepared to move towards increased pressure." -- U.S. President Barack Obama, at the conclusion of the P5+1 meeting on Iran , warning that Iran must take "concrete action" to demonstrate its cooperation with the IAEA. (White House Briefing Room, October 1)

"You have to navigate from where you are, not from where you wish to be. A strategy that does not leave Afghanistan in a stable position is probably a short-sighted strategy." -- NATO Commander U.S. General Stanley A. McChrystal, during a press conference in London, responding to a question regarding VP Joe Biden's proposal to scale back troops in Afghanistan and, instead, to hunt for al Qaeda operatives with drone planes. McCrystal has called for an additional 40,000 U.S. soldiers to be deployed in Afghanistan . In his prepared statement, he unambiguously said, "My assessment and my best military judgment is that the situation is, in some ways, deteriorating, but not in all ways." (International Institute of Strategic Studies, International Herald Tribune, October 1)

"I'm the one who hired him. I put him there to give me a frank assessment." -- U.S. President Barack Obama,in a meeting with 18 Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders, seeking to reduce the perceived discord between his Administration and General Stanley McCrystal. Yet, following the deadliest day for coalition troops in over a year, which witnessed eight U.S. soldiers killed, White House National Security Adviser James Jones,denying McCrystal's assessment, said, "I don't foresee the return of the Taliban and I want to be very clear that Afghanistan is not in imminent danger of falling." (Agence France Presse, October 4; Guardian, October 7)

"Canadians, and especially Jewish Canadians, understand what lies behind this monomaniacal attack on Israel . We know what motivates this outrageous attempt to blacklist its cultural and intellectual leadership and to intimidate and demoralize its supporters.

"Canadians, and especially Jewish Canadians, understand why the very people who shouted 'Death to the Jews' in the streets of Toronto and Montreal just a few months ago now hide behind the symbolic skirts of a handful of people whose Jewish identity is trotted out only when it serves either their political interests or their professional ambitions.

"And Canadians of every faith and ethnic origin understand why efforts to blacklist artists and intellectuals are so dangerous, so insidious and so corrupt. We know how this story ends. Always and without exception." -- Sara Saber-Freedman, executive vice-president of the Canada-Israel Committee, explaining in a National Post editorial what motivated the establishment of the BUYcottIsrael counter-boycott campaign. The BUYcottIsrael campaign encourages people to make a point of shopping for items targeted for boycott. (National Post, October 1)

"No human-rights curriculum is complete without the inclusion of the facts of the Holocaust, and its lessons." -- John Ging, director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip, telling Britain 's The Independent about new plans to teach Palestinian children about the Shoah in UN-run schools in Gaza . Ging was "confident and determined" the Holocaust would be included in the new curriculum, which will touch on genocide in Rwanda, the apartheid regime in South Africa, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and the "Nakba," or Palestinian "day of catastrophe," referring to the mass exodus of Palestinians from Israel in 1948. Ging explained that "[t]his is also part of the frustration here. There are so many global tragedies and travesties that are learned worldwide. Who learns about the Nakba?" ( Jerusalem Post, October 6)

"Sometimes I ask myself if Hitler wasn't right when he wanted to finish with that race, through the famous holocaust, because if there are people that are harmful to this country, they are the Jews, the Israelites." -- David Romero Ellner, Executive Director of Radio Globo, broadcasting on September 25, 2009 in Honduras . Ellner is a zelayista -- a supporter of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya. Zelaya, deposed in a legal coup on June 28 after trying to overturn the constitution, snuck back into the country in September and, installed in the Brazillian embassy, has gotten the support of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and U.S. President Barak Obama. Ellner's antisemitic remarks come on the heels of Zelaya's own claim that "Israeli mercenaries are torturing [me] with high-frequency radiation." (Wall Street Journal, Ha'aretz, October 5)

"Last week, courtesy of the group NGO Monitor, we learned that Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch's senior military adviser is (wait for it) an ardent collector of Nazi medals and memorabilia. Garlasco, as THE SCRAPBOOK has previously noted, is best known for his reports accusing Israel of targeting Palestinian civilians, one of which was retracted as factually inaccurate....Garlasco's own postings at a forum for collectors of Nazi souvenirs, though, seemed to indicate an adolescent enthusiasm for SS gear. 'The leather SS jacket makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!

"The idea of a man fascinated by Nazi pageantry standing in judgment of Jews who seek to defend themselves from attack was too much even for some of the group's biggest supporters.

"As we go to press, Garlasco still has his job. Given HRW's record, we'd say he's as likely to be promoted as fired. And who knows, he might really fire up the Saudi donor base." -- An excerpt from "Human Rights Watch Follies" from The Scrapbook, a short editorial section of the Weekly Standard Magazine. (Weekly Standard, Sept. 21)

Short Takes

IRAN , RUSSIA SET TO FINALIZE NUCLEAR DEAL -- ( Geneva ) Iran has agreed "in principle" to a process that will put 80 percent of its existing enriched uranium supplies beyond military use. Iran also promised to allow inspectors into its previously hidden nuclear enrichment plant at Qoms within two weeks. The seeming breakthrough came after a day of talks on October 1 in Geneva between Iran 's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, and the U.S. , Britain , Russia , China , France and Germany . As part of the deal, Iran has agreed to allow most of its enriched uranium that could be used for nuclear weapons to be shipped to Russia , to be turned into higher-grade nuclear fuel rods for peaceful medical purposes. (National Post, Oct. 2; The Australian, Oct. 3; Jerusalem Post, Oct. 5)

ASHKENAZI AT SECRET TALKS IN FRANCE -- ( Jerusalem ) IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi flew secretly to France on Sunday for meetings with Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, their French counterpart. Ashkenazi's trip to France came amid warnings that senior IDF officers could be arrested in Europe for their involvement in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza . The meeting reportedly focused on assessments regarding Iran , Syria , Hezbollah and the joint-Israel-U.S. Juniper Cobra missile defense exercise scheduled to start later this month. ( Jerusalem Post, Oct. 4)

ISRAELI ARAB PARTY URGES ABBAS TO QUIT OVER GOLDSTONE -- ( Jerusalem ) For the first time in history, an Israeli Arab policial party challenged the Palestinian leadership on Tuesday. The Balad party, led by Jamal Zahalka, was planning to call officially for Abbas' resignation at a conference scheduled for Saturday. Abbas has faced an unprecedented wave of criticism over recent days over his decision not to ask the U.N. Human Rights Council to vote on the findings of the Goldstone report. The report concluded that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during Israel 's offensive in Gaza last winter. The UNHRC has delayed its vote on the report, as per Abbas' request. Abbas made the decision to delay the vote immediately after meeting with the U.S. Consul General Oct. 1, without the knowledge of the PA or Hamas governments. (Ha'aretz, Oct. 6)

SHALIT SEEN ALIVE IN RELEASED VIDEO -- (Jerusalem) Thin and wan, but lucid and very much alive, kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit appeared in a video holding a Palestinian newspaper dated Sept. 14. This is the first footage seen of him since his capture in cross-border raid by Hamas three years ago. Israel obtained the DVD yesterday in a deal brokered by German and Egyptian mediators. In return for the two and a half minute video, Israel released twenty Palestinian women from jail. (National Post, Oct. 1 & 3)

EGYPT 'S TOP CLERIC BANS NIQAB FROM ISLAMIC SCHOOLS -- ( Cairo ) Egypt 's top Islamic cleric is planning to bar students wearing the face veil from entering the schools of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's educational network in Egypt . Police have orders to prohibit girls covered from head to toe from entering middle and high schools, as well as several universities in Cairo . The move appears to be part of a government crackdown on increasingly overt manifestations of ultraconservative Islam in Egypt . Meanwhile, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the religious police of neighbouring Saudi Arabia , is planning to set up a "human-rights" division. Saudi human rights activists have called this move "the best joke in history." (Ha'aretz, Oct. 6)

CENTRE-RIGHT PARTY GAINS ASCENDANCE IN GERMANY -- (Berlin) The German elections of September 27 mark a shift to the right for Germany, whose centre-left Social Democratic Party scored its lowest result in a national election since the fall of the Weimar Republic in 1933.  It also means the likely return to government for the small, pro-business Free Democratic Party after more than a decade in opposition. The FDP's strong showing puts its leader, Guido Westerwelle, in position to become vice chancellor in a cabinet led by Chancellor Angela Merkel.. (Wall Street Journal, Sept. 28)

CROATIAN NGO PLANS MONUMENT TO NAZI COLLABORATOR -- ( Jerusalem ) The Croatian Cultural Movement, a Croatian extreme-right wing NGO, has announced plans to erect a monument in honour of former Croatian president Ante Pavelic. The monument will be erected in Zagreb , Croatia , in December, and will stand adjacent to the capital's central square. Pavelic, the president of Croatia during WWII, was known for his state-organized terror campaign against Jews, Serbs, Gypsies and anti-fascist Croats. He was installed as the president of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941, a puppet state of the Nazi regime which included Bosnia and part of Dalmatia . His fascist Ustasha regime murdered an estimated 700,000 people. ( Jerusalem Post, Oct. 6)

AFGHAN BATTLE KILLS 8 U.S. TROOPS -- ( Kabul ) Eight U.S. soldiers were killed on Oct. 3., when hundreds of Taliban terrorists swept down a hillside and overran their remote outposts at dawn. The attack originated from a mosque in a village in eastern Nuristan province, a haven for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. U.S. forces called in air strikes to repel the attack in a battle that lasted into the night, and eventually succeeded in fighting off the Taliban. (National Post, Oct. 5)

AL-QAEDA-INSPIRED GROUPS ACTIVE IN CANADA -- ( Montreal ) A secret government list of the country's top terrorist threats say al-Qaeda-inspired extremists remain active in Canada and are willing and able to carry out attacks. One of these extremists, Trois-Rivières resident Saïd Namouh, was arrested and convicted of four terrorism charges Oct. 1. Online conversations showed he was headed for Egypt to meet with co-conspirators in a plot to bomb an unknown location in Europe . He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. (National Post, Oct. 2 & 6)

U.S. EYES BIGGER SLICE OF INDIAN DEFENSE PIE -- ( New Delhi ) India plans to spend an estimated $100 billion on defense over the next decade to modernize its Soviet-era arsenal. With its growing military footprint, India is steering away from traditional ally Russia , its main weapons supplier, and looking towards the U.S. to help upgrade its weapons systems and troop gear. But India 's expanding military ambitions, and the U.S. role in selling this nuclear-armed nation more firepower, is starting to worry its neighbours, especially Pakistan . (New York Times, Sept. 26)

ARAB PRESS FUMES OVER UNESCO VOTE -- ( Jerusalem ) According to the editor-in-chief of the influential pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi, Egyptian Culture Minister Farak Hosni's Sept. 22 loss in the race for UNESCO's new director-general reflects the Arab world's general cultural and political stagnation, not Hosni's personal credentials. The loss "further confirms the fallen status of the Arab regimes, and the Egyptian regime in particular, on the international scene, and the disrespect in which they are held in all fields, not just the cultural," wrote Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based daily, in a Sept. 23 editorial featured prominently on the paper's Web site. (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 24)

HERO OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING DIES AT 90 -- ( Warsaw ) Marek Edelman, a cardiologist who was the last surviving commander of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Nazis, died Oct. 1 in Warsaw . He was 90. Dr. Edelman was one of a handful of young leaders who in April 1943 led a force of 220 poorly armed young Jewish men and women in a desperate and hopeless struggle, the first civilian rising against the Germans in the Second World War. For decades after the war, he fought communism in Poland . His heroism earned him membership in the French Legion of Honor, and Poland 's highest civilian distinction, the Order of the White Eagle. (New York Times, Globe and Mail, Oct. 3.)