Wednesday, April 13, 2011

How to contact Federation during its move

The day has finally come...we are moving  April 14, 2011 .  Due to the move and the upcoming Passover Holiday, we will not have computers or phones until Thursday, April 21st.
 
 In the interim, if you need to contact a staff member, you can send an email to jcrcdm@aol.com.
You can also call Tom's cell phone at 515-208-2088 or Elaine's at 515-480-8748.
 
Come visit us in our new offices:
33158 Ute Avenue in Waukee at The Caspe Terrace
515-987-0899
 
Tammy Abdulghani
Campaign Assistant 
Jewish Federation of Des Moines
 
 

Friday, April 8, 2011

Merkel: Germany will not recognize any unilaterally-declared Palestinian state.

Deutsche Welle, Germany       7 April 2011

Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised Israel Germany will not recognize any unilaterally-declared Palestinian state. Merkel spoke after meeting Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the peace process.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would never recognize any Palestinian state if it were declared without Israel's acceptance. After talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin on Thursday, Merkel said she supported a two-state solution, with Israel and a Palestinian state coexisting side by side. However, she added that this could only be acceptable to Germany if Israel itself recognized Palestinian independence. Palestinian officials have said they might declare statehood in September.

"When it comes to the question of recognizing a Palestinian state, I repeat again that Germany is working for there to be a two-state solution," said Merkel.

"Unilateral recognitions therefore definitely do not contribute to achieving this aim... This is our stance now and it will be our stance in September."

"There needs to be mutual recognition, otherwise it is not a two-state solution."

Plan to seek UN recognition of borders

The Palestinians have pledged to seek UN recognition of an independent state within borders established in 1967 - with east Jerusalem as its capital, despite Israel pressing ahead with controversial plans to build Jewish homes there. Netanyahu is on a diplomatic tour aimed at convincing western allies not to acknowledge the state.

Germany currently holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Merkel, who referred to some "controversy" during the meeting, said that the talks had been "very friendly and very direct."

She added that restoring momentum back to the stalled Middle East peace process was "more pressing than ever."

Merkel's office has denied that the chancellor and Israeli prime minister had fallen out in a highly-charged telephone conversation in February, with Merkel accusing Netanyahu of failing to make progress on peace.

Jewish Federation is moving to The Caspe Terrace!

As of April 14, 2011, the offices of the Jewish Federation will be moving to The Caspe Terrace.
 
 
 
Our new address will be: 
 
Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines
33158 Ute Avenue
Waukee, IA  50263-7538
 
Our new phone number, operative at some point, will be: 515  987-0899 
 
 

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Tactics of Hamas

"Immediately after the [Israeli school] bus was hit, militants in Gaza fired at least seven mortar rounds at the area, complicating efforts to evacuate the teenager and the bus driver, an AFP correspondent said.

By early evening, the army said at least 45 mortar rounds and rockets had slammed into southern Israel, one of which scored a direct hit on a house."

From Agence France-Presse  http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/restofasia/Israel-pounds-Gaza-kills-3-after-missile-hits-bus/Article1-682513.aspx

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From Hamas.  http://qassam.ps/news-4391-Al_Qassam_declares_responsibility_for_Kfar_Saad_operation.html

Gaza-Ezzedeen Al Qassam Briades (E.Q.B) the military wing of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas declared in a military communiqué released on Thursday April 7, 201l the full responsibility for the operation of targeting Israeli bus traveling in the nearby Israeli settlement of Kfar Sa'ad east of Gaza Strip.

The operation left two Israeli settlers injured, one of them was in a critical condition and evacuated by the Israeli medical crews to Soroka hospital.

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Note:  To Hamas.... all Israel is a settlement.  And all Israelis are 'settlers.'  //Mark  jcrc@dmjfed.org

 

Friday, April 1, 2011

Why Facebook took down the 3rd Intifada page

Why Facebook took down the '3rd Intifada' page, calling on people to launch a Third Palestinian intifada against Israel.

Richard Allen, Facebook’s director of policy for Europe, the Middle East and Asia:

 “Our reviewers felt that the content of the Page began as a call for peaceful protest, even though the term Intifada has been associated with violence in the past. In addition, the administrators initially removed comments that promoted violence. Under these conditions a Page of this nature would normally be permitted to remain on Facebook.

“However, after the publicity of the Page more comments deteriorated to direct calls for violence. Eventually, the administrators also participated in these calls .After administrators of the page received repeated warnings about posts that violated our policies, we removed the Page yesterday.”

Source:  http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/facebook-intifada-page-removed-when-comments-deteriorated-to-direct-calls-for-violence-1.353319