tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52055248352284162872024-03-13T16:41:34.134-05:00F-Y-EyeMark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-52265580640376302322012-01-10T16:04:00.002-06:002012-01-10T16:04:46.054-06:00p2g itinerary<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>DRAFT #234567</b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;">Partnership Steering Committee</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center; unicode-bidi: embed;">January 15 -17, 2012</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>Sunday </b>–<b>Partnership in the Jewish World: Connection to our Roots, Our Place in the Future</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">(pre-meeting) 10:00 – Management meeting </div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">12:00 Lunch</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">1:00 Welcome and Goals for the meeting</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">1:30 -2:30 Study session: Why Partnership: Our connection to Jewish sources</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">2:30 -2:45 Break</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">2:45-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3:30 JAFI, Partnerships and Global Planning Table update - Harold</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">3:45– 5:15 Presentation of new plans for Resource (human and financial) development </div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">5:15 Dinner</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">6:00 Presentation by the Ballet and Dessert Reception</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>Monday – Partnership <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Resource Development – Human and Financial – How do we do it?</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">8:30 -10:00<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Resource (human and financial) development – small group discussions-How do we organize in our communities and in the Consortium?</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">10:00 -10:15 Break</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">10:15 -12:30 Fundraising and solicitation workshop – Harold, Michael and Susan </div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">12:30 Lunch</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">1:30 -2:30 Best Practices on setting up a community Partnership committee - presentations – discussion</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">2:30 - Break</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">2:45 -5:00<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New initiatives of the task forces (Each task force will present one initiative that it wants to market) </div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">7:00 Dinner at a family's house </div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b>Tuesday – Birth to Birthright; Birthright to Leadership; Leadership to Legacy</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">8:00<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-Calendar of Opportunities- Review and explanation of remaining opportunities for current year.</div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">9:00 -11:30<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Planning and Advisory</div><div class="ListParagraphCxSpFirst" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: left; text-indent: -.25in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Budget decisions</div><div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: left; text-indent: -.25in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Birthright recruitment – Home and Away</div><div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: left; text-indent: -.25in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Consortium wide mission</div><div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: left; text-indent: -.25in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Youth Futures</div><div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: left; text-indent: -.25in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Need for rework of Mission statement</div><div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: left; text-indent: -.25in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Additional items</div><div class="ListParagraphCxSpLast" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: left; text-indent: -.25in; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>B2B</div>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-38273598491691736302011-09-07T11:11:00.001-05:002011-09-07T11:11:28.786-05:00Sept. 9: Federation's IAN Teleconference: David Makovsky on the Palestinian UN Bid for Independence<div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011">The <em>Jewish Federation's Israel Action Network</em> will present a conference call </span></font></div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"><strong>Friday, September 9</strong> 11:00 am Central Time with </span></font></div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011">political analyst <font color="#000000"><strong>David Makovsky</strong></font> of the </span></font><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011">Washington Institute for Near East Studies.</span></font></div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"></span></font> </div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011">Mr. Makovsky will help clarify the implications of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence,</span></font></div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"> which is expected to be introduced by Palestinian leadership at the UN on Sept. 20. </span></font></div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"></span></font> </div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011">JCRC and Jewish Federation hope you can be available for this important conference call.</span></font></div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"></span></font> </div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011">For the toll free call-in number and passcode, contact <a href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</a></span></font></div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"></span></font> </div> <div dir="ltr" align="left"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"></span></font><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"></span></font> </div> <div></div> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="599" background="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/bg-lb.png" align="center" vspace="0"> <tbody> <tr valign="top"> <td><a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,auhj,knht,hhyb,gks2"><img border="0" alt="The Jewish Federations of North America" src="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/lb-header-logo-ian.png" width="374" height="90" NOSEND="1"></a></td> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="225" background="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/lb-header-title.png" align="center" height="70" vspace="0"> <tbody> <tr valign="top"> <td height="20" colspan="2"> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="30"> </td> <td height="70" align="left"><font color="#ffffff" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"> IAN Alert</font></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <!-- <a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,auhj,knht,hhyb,gks2"> <img src="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/lb-header.png" width="599" height="90" border="0" alt="The Jewish Federations of North America"></a> --></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <!-- HEADER END --><!-- BODY START --> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="599" background="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/bg-lb.png" align="center" vspace="0"> <tbody> <tr valign="top"> <td height="25"> </td> </tr> <!-- CONTENT START --> <tr valign="top"> <td align="middle"> <center> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="460" align="center" vspace="0"> <tbody> <tr valign="top"> <td valign="top" align="left"><font color="#2f2f2f"><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">IAN Teleconference with David Makovsky</font> <br> <font size="2" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">September 7, 2011</font> </font></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td height="18"> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td align="left"><font color="#000000" size="2"> <p><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial">The Israel Action Network (IAN) is hosting a special teleconference this week with David Makovsky, Ziegler Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at The Washington Institute. The discussion will take place in advance of the release of an extended study on the unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood (UDI) by Makovsky. </font></p> <p><font color="#2f2f2f"><font face="Arial">The call, at noon (EST) Friday, Sept. 9, is part of efforts by the IAN, a project of the Jewish Federations of North America, in partnership with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, to help communities meet emerging challenges surrounding the Palestinian’s UN effort and other Israel advocacy issues. Mr. Makovsky will help clarify the implications of UDI, which is expected to be introduced by Palestinian leadership at the UN on Sept. 20.<span class="561455715-07092011"><font color="#0000ff" size="3"> </font></span></font></font></p> <p><font color="#2f2f2f"><font face="Arial"><span class="561455715-07092011"><font color="#0000ff" size="3"><font color="#000000">You can express your opposition to</font> </font></span>UDI by signing an </font><a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,hqnn,bgl4,hhyb,gks2"><font color="#0000ff" face="Arial">online petition</font></a><font face="Arial">, created by IAN, in partnership with</font></font><font face="Arial"><font color="#2f2f2f"> the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY), which </font><font color="#2f2f2f">will be presented to the U.N. as part of a larger community relations and media strategy. </font></font></p> <p><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial">Biography of David Makovsky:</font></p> <p><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial">David Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at The Washington Institute. He is also an adjunct lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).</font></p> <p><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial">Mr. Makovsky is the coauthor with Dennis Ross of the 2009 book Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East (Viking/Penguin), as well as numerous other books and policy papers.</font></p> <p><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial">Mr. Makovsky is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. His commentary on the peace process and the Arab-Israeli conflict has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Chicago Tribune, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and National Interest. </font></p> <p><font color="#2f2f2f" face="Arial">Before joining The Washington Institute, Mr. Makovsky was an award-winning journalist who covered the peace process from 1989 to 2000. He is the former executive editor of the Jerusalem Post, was diplomatic correspondent for Israel's leading daily, Haaretz, and is a former contributing editor to U.S. News and World Report. </font></p> </font> <p><font color="#000000" size="2" face="arial"><font color="#2f2f2f">A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Mr. Makovsky received a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a master's degree in Middle East studies from Harvard University. </font></font></p> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td height="44"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </center> </td> </tr> <!-- CONTENT END --> </tbody> </table> <!-- BODY END --><!-- FOOTER START --> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="599" background="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/bg-lb.png" align="center" vspace="0"> <!-- FOOTER TOP SHADING START --> <tbody> <tr valign="top"> <td width="599"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="581" background="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/bg-footer-shade.png" align="center" height="32"> <tbody> <tr> <td height="32"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <!-- FOOTER TOP SHADING END --><!-- FOOTER CONTENT START --> <tr valign="top"> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="581" bgcolor="#0d5580" align="center" height="32"> <tbody> <tr valign="top"> <td width="16"> </td> <td align="left"> <p><font color="#ffffff" size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#ffffff" size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#0000ff" size="3" face="Arial"></font><a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,hwar,da8q,hhyb,gks2" type="external" target="_self"><font color="#ffffff" size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><font color="#ffffff" size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"></font></font></a></font></font> </p> </td> <td align="left"> <p><a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,gakd,iwko,hhyb,gks2"><font color="#ffffff" size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">www.JewishFederations.org</font></a></p> <p><font color="#ffffff" size="2" face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">The Jewish Federations of North America<br> Wall Street Station <br> PO Box 157 <br> New York, NY 10268</font></p> </td> <td valign="top" align="left"> <p><a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,2pwv,itk1,hhyb,gks2"><img title="Follow us on Twitter" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/twitter-icon.png" width="21" height="21" NOSEND="1"></a> <a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,9v9q,961h,hhyb,gks2"> <img title="Find us on Facebook" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/facebook-icon.png" width="21" height="21" NOSEND="1"></a> <a href="http://www.elabs10.com/c.html?rtr=on&s=x8pbca,ni58,3vtb,w4o,5a55,hhyb,gks2"> <img title="Email to a friend" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.jewishfederations.org/local_includes/ujcfiles/email_templates/images/newsletters/mail-icon.png" width="21" height="21" NOSEND="1"></a></p> </td> <td width="14"> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td height="26" colspan="5"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <!-- FOOTER CONTENT END --><!-- FOOTER BOTTOM BORDER START --> <tr valign="top"> <td> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#e9eef0" align="center" height="10"> <tbody> <tr> <td height="10"> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </td> </tr> <!-- FOOTER BOTTOM BORDER END --> </tbody> </table> <img src="http://www.elabs10.com/images/mlopen_post.html?rtr=on&siteid=2010001834&mid=1096604&mlid=181199&uid=c7523bcd32" NOSEND="1"><br> <br> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-80839398431517234422011-09-01T08:31:00.001-05:002011-09-01T08:31:56.222-05:00Salowitz: Need for food assistance in Iowa increasing<div dir="ltr" align="left"> </div> <div></div> <div><font face="Arial"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9h907i9rfL8/Tl-JTO45DCI/AAAAAAAAAKs/Qu4ZP9gJU6w/s1600/Outlook-716223.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9h907i9rfL8/Tl-JTO45DCI/AAAAAAAAAKs/Qu4ZP9gJU6w/s320/Outlook-716223.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647383421253127202" /></a> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-1260661475594236632011-08-19T10:59:00.001-05:002011-08-19T10:59:57.487-05:00August 25: Special JCRC lunch. ISRAEL UPDATE with remarks from the Rabbis<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="864221715-19082011"><font color="#ff0000" face="Arial"><strong><em>-- Please make an effort to attend this important program, open to the community. --</em></strong></font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font color="#ff0000" face="Arial"><strong></strong></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"><strong>Special JCRC Event</strong> in light of yesterday's tragic terrorist attack on Israel from the Sinai</font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"> </font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"> <strong> <font size="4">* Thursday, <u>August 25</u>, 2011 * 12:15 pm at Tifereth Israel Synagogue</font></strong></font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font size="4" face="Arial"><strong></strong></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"><strong> ISRAEL UPDATE from JCRC</strong></font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"><strong>with remarks by Rabbi Leib Bollel, Rabbi Steven Edelman-Blank, and Rabbi David Kaufman </strong></font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"><strong> followed by discussion.</strong></font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"><strong></strong></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial">For your convenience, those wishing to order a parve, dairy, or vegetarian lunch from Palmer's Deli can place their order through <a href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</a></font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial">Thank you for your interest. To facilitate set up, RSVP to <a href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</a></font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial">Note: <em>This program replaces the previously scheduled JCRC Current Events lunch on Thursday September 1st. </em>The topic for September 1st will be re-programmed.</font></span></div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> <div><span class="864221715-19082011"></span> </div> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-31781036077251332782011-08-18T10:42:00.001-05:002011-08-18T10:42:31.355-05:00Jewish Federation: Stand with Israel against contractors of terrorism<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span class="695132413-18082011"><span class="905543914-18082011"><font face="Arial">Statement from The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines August 18, 2011</font></span></span></div> <div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial">The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines condemns the multiple cross border attacks by Arab terrorists today on southern Israel from the Sinai. We join with the people of Israel in mourning those whose lives were taken by the terrorists, including the two children ages 4 and 6.</font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial">We stand with Israel as it seeks to protect its citizens from further attacks.<span class="905543914-18082011"> </span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><font face="Arial"><span class="695132413-18082011"><span class="905543914-18082011"> Israel is committed to negotiating peace with the Palestinians. It is prepared to make hard concessions to provide for a two state resolution, recognizing Palestine as the state of the Palestinian people.</span></span></font></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"> But to do so, the Palestinian leadership must speak with one voice for peace, for acceptance of Israel as the Jewish homeland and for a permanent end to the conflict. </span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">Make no mistake about it: Such attacks as the ones today are intended to encourage others to weaken and eliminate Israel -- in this case, by establishing a southern front, once secured by the peace treaty with Egypt. There is already a northern front, threatened by Hizballah. There is the western front, threatened by Hamas. And there is an overall threat by both alQaeda and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary regime. None of the above named bodies -- under any conditions, no matter what conciliatory policy Israel adopts in the West Bank-- accepts the concept of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. The attacks on Israel, including attacks on its civilians from Gaza or Sinai are designed to displace Israel, not change its policies.</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">It is important, therefore, that Americans stand with Israel against the contractors of terrorism and that Americans demand that the Palestinian leadership speak with one voice for peace.</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">Mark S. Finkelstein</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">Director of Community Relations</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">33158 Ute Avenue</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">Waukee, IA 50263</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">Send comments to <a href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</a></span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011">cc: Barbara Hirsch-Giller, President</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"> Elaine Steinger, Executive Director</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"> Steven Schoenebaum, JCRC Chair</span></font></span></div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"><span class="905543914-18082011"></span></font></span> </div> <div><span class="695132413-18082011"><font face="Arial"></font></span> </div> </div> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-76333537541569591162011-08-16T09:37:00.000-05:002011-08-16T09:38:15.986-05:00A Partnership Revolution: new brand, new resources, new people.<div><font face="Arial"><b><font size="3" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Arial"> <p>A Partnership Revolution: new brand, new resources, new people. </p> </b> <p>The Jewish Agency for Israel's Partnership Unit officially launched the new ‘<b>Partnership2Gether</b>’ <b>(P2G)</b> brand during the 5th Partnerships Conference in Tel Aviv this summer. The new name replaces <i>Partnership 2000</i> / <i>Partnership with Israel</i>, which had been in use for the past 15 years in 550 communities and 45 Partnerships. </p> <p>Along with this new brand, dynamic changes are taking place in our Western Galilee/ US Central Area Consortium Partnership. Our P2G Co-Chairs, Zoe Riekes (returning U.S. Central Area Consortium Chair) and David Laron (Western Galilee Chair), said to ensure a flourishing future we will strive to expand our network, impact, awareness, and support – all of our activities – by 10 times within the next 3 years. For example, if we currently have 500 teenagers engaged in our programs both in the US and the Western Galilee, by 2014 we will strive to multiply that number by 10 to have a total 5,000 teenagers involved. <i>Woah -</i> that’s a big multiplier, right? </p> <p>Even in the best of times how can we expect that type of growth to happen? How do we achieve this when we are dealing with tightened budgets, leadership changes, and a complex system of connections, programs, and communities? Both Zoe and David agree this will not be an easy task but they know that we have a highly professional staff and lay leaders in place who can initiate a strategic plan to execute our goal. Based on a recent GAP analysis survey of our Partnership, our focus will shift to three critical challenges or ‘gaps’ and in doing so we will be moving ourselves into position to achieve the <b>WG/Central Area Consortium</b> <b>P2G</b> <b>x10 Goal</b>. </p> <b> <p>Challenge 1: Engage & Utilize Communication Platforms - <i>Inform, Enlighten & Inspire</p> </b></i> <p>Partnership is about building people-to-people connections; obviously we should be the best at communication, right? David Laron said, based on our GAP analysis results, we have under-utilized our communication resources. Too many are stuck in old ways of communication; there is a lack of initiative in exploring and using new technologies and online networks. It is critical to our Partnership’s future success that we effectively communicate. </p> <p>A central communication platform will be launched that will allow our communities to be instantly connected and updated. This new platform will increase productivity, initiate collaboration, build on our connections, increase dialogue, and strengthen our engagement and commitment. In addition, we will actively harness the power of social networks to create a synergy of connection allowing anyone at anytime, no matter where they may be, to tap into the flowing stream of current Partnership information – to be informed, enlightened, to inspire and to be inspired. </p> <b> <p>Challenge 2: Expansion of Lay Leadership & Volunteers – <i>Involve, Network & Grow</p> </b></i> <p>Once the new communication tools are initiated and used, we will have a well-oiled support system in place to expand our people resources. As Zoe states, our Partnership is a model for others, we are considered pioneers of the Partnership organization and should be proud of all we’ve accomplished to this point. To continue the success and momentum of our best practices we need to build upon the passion of our current pool of lay leadership and volunteers and expand our people resources. This will involve creating specific programs that target recruitment initiatives. We will be actively planning and introducing new programs focused on involving and growing our team of talented and passionate people. </p> <b> <p>Challenge 3: Expansion of Financial Resources & Relationships with Partnering Organizations – <i>Stabilize, Secure, & Strengthen </p> </b></i> <p>During the next year we will develop a strategic plan for fundraising in Israel while simultaneously seeking new cooperation with organizations to establish a stronger financial base. This is big news – we are planning to expand upon the current funds that come from our Federations Partnership allocations, and begin to create additional avenues of revenue to support our programs for the future. </p> <p>Zoe and David spoke for all of us when mentioning the tremendous appreciation we have for our US communities continued support, and they agree that it is time to initiate additional creative approaches to ensure a strong financial platform for a flourishing future. Our Partnership mission is focused on creating and promoting mutually beneficial endeavors - forging relationships through programs that build Jewish identity and strengthen connections. To fully realize our mission we will initiate a balance in our fundraising efforts – we’re in it together, we’re intrinsically connected, and we have the potential to grow exponentially because of it. </p> <p>Our programs have proven to be successful and are life-changing for our participants. We have touched over 30,000 people’s lives in the past 13 years. Just as we’ve seen other revolutions taking place around the world, we will face our current challenges directly and with a keen focus, knowing that we have great momentum behind us and even more amazing potential for our future. The time is now to start our <b>WG/Central Area Consortium</b> <b>P2G</b> <b>x10 Revolution</b>. Join us, connect and make a difference today. </p> <p>For more information on Partnership2Gether programs contact your local Jewish Federation and visit: </font></font><font color="#41ae49" face="Arial"><font color="#41ae49" face="Arial">www.westerngalilee.org.il</p> </font></font><font size="3" face="Arial"><font size="3" face="Arial"></font></font></font></div> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-44098201021092854122011-08-03T14:17:00.001-05:002011-08-03T14:17:25.793-05:00For young Jewish adults: Birthright Israel Winter trip via the P2G Central Consortium<div dir="ltr" align="left"><font face="Arial"><img src="cid:667413018@03082011-070D"></font></div> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-36008482447395212612011-07-25T13:32:00.000-05:002011-07-25T13:32:17.006-05:00U Iowa Prelim info<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Dear Parent/Guardian:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The below message was just sent to your admitted student, and we also wanted to share this information with you</span></i><i><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Dear </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">We look forward to seeing you at Orientation August 15! This e-mail is a reminder to take any required placement tests before the deadlines outlined in this e-mail so your academic advisor can appropriately assist you during Orientation. Your placement test scores help determine the level of course work appropriate to your ability. We require all tests to be completed at least 14 days before your scheduled Orientation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Our records show you still need to complete the online <a href="http://orientation.uiowa.edu/firstyear/mpt.html" title="blocked::http://orientation.uiowa.edu/firstyear/mpt.html">Mathematics Placement Test (MPT)</a>. The deadline to complete this is August 1, based on your August 15 Orientation date. You’ll be given 60 minutes for the test, but plan to allow 90 minutes so you can take the tutorial and practice test beforehand.<span style="color: #333333;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Depending on your major, you may also need to complete the <a href="http://orientation.uiowa.edu/placement/chemistry.html" title="blocked::http://orientation.uiowa.edu/placement/chemistry.html">Chemistry Diagnotic Test</a> (CDT) if you haven’t already. Whether or not you need to take the <a href="http://orientation.uiowa.edu/placement/language.html" title="blocked::http://orientation.uiowa.edu/placement/language.html">World Languages Placement Test</a> (WLPT) depends on your previous study of a world language and your future plans for language study at Iowa. These tests also need to be completed no later than August 1 based on your Orientation date.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">You can access all placement tests through the “Your Next Steps” section of your Admissions Profile on <a href="http://isis.uiowa.edu/" title="blocked::http://isis.uiowa.edu/">ISIS</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Your Admissions Profile on ISIS also explains our measles, mumps, and rubella <b>(MMR) immunization requirement </b>and will indicate if we still need additional information from you, such as your official test scores or final official transcript.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">If you misplaced your Hawk ID and password or need your password reset, call the Office of Admissions at 1-800-553-4692 or 319-335-3847 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Also, be sure to bring your Hawk ID and password with you to Orientation as you will need them to register for classes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Sincerely,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The University of Iowa <br />
Orientation Services</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">P.S.</span> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Now that you're officially a Hawkeye, join the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/IowaClassof2015" title="blocked::http://www.facebook.com/IowaClassof2015">Official Facebook Page for the UI Class of 2015</a>!</span>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-68499337670506441162011-06-01T09:31:00.001-05:002011-06-01T09:31:23.155-05:00Ajami: UN Can't Deliver a Palestinian State<div dir="ltr" align="left"><font face="Arial"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Wall Street Journal – June 1, 2011 </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></div> <div> <p class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The U.N. Can't Deliver a Palestinian State </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">By Fouad Ajami <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">It had been quite a scramble, the prelude to the vote on Nov. 29, 1947, on the question of the partition of Palestine. The United Nations itself was only two years old and had just 56 member states; the Cold War was gathering force, and no one was exactly sure how the two pre-eminent powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, would vote. The Arab and Muslim states were of course unalterably opposed, for partition was a warrant for a Jewish state. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">In the end, the vote broke for partition, the U.S. backed the resolution, and two days later the Soviet Union followed suit. It was a close call: 10 states had abstained, 13 had voted against, 33 were in favor, only two votes over the required two-thirds majority. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Now, some six decades later, the Palestinians are calling for a vote in the next session of the General Assembly, in September, to ratify a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood. In part, this is an appropriation by the Palestinians of the narrative of Zionism. The vote in 1947 was viewed as Israel's basic title to independence and statehood. The Palestinians and the Arab powers had rejected partition and chosen the path of war. Their choice was to prove calamitous. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">By the time the guns had fallen silent, the Yishuv, the Jewish community in Palestine, had held its ground against the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. Its forces stood on the shores of the Red Sea in the south, and at the foot of the Golan Heights in the north. Palestinian society had collapsed under the pressure of war. The elites had made their way to neighboring lands. Rural communities had been left atomized and leaderless. The cities had fought, and fallen, alone. </span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Palestine had become a great Arab shame. Few Arabs were willing to tell the story truthfully, to face its harsh verdict. Henceforth the Palestinians would live on a vague idea of restoration and return. No leader had the courage to tell the refugees who had left Acre and Jaffa and Haifa that they could not recover the homes and orchards of their imagination. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Some had taken the keys to their houses with them to Syria and Lebanon and across the river to Jordan. They were no more likely to find political satisfaction than the Jews who had been banished from Baghdad and Beirut and Cairo, and Casablanca and Fez, but the idea of return, enshrined into a "right of return," would persist. (Wadi Abu Jamil, the Jewish quarter of the Beirut of my boyhood, is now a Hezbollah stronghold, and no narrative exalts or recalls that old presence.) </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">History hadn't stood still. The world was remade. In 1947-48, when the Zionists had secured their statehood, empires were coming apart, borders were fluid, the international system of states as we know it quite new. India and Pakistan had emerged as independent, hostile states out of the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, and Israel had secured its place in the order of nations a year later. Many of the Arab states were still in their infancy. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">But the world is a vastly different place today. The odds might favor the Palestinians in the General Assembly, but any victory would be hollow. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="PAGE-BREAK-BEFORE: always" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The Palestinians have misread what transpired at the General Assembly in 1947. True, the cause of Jewish statehood had been served by the vote on partition, but the Zionist project had already prevailed on the ground. Jewish statehood was a fait accompli perhaps a decade before that vote. All the ingredients had been secured by Labor Zionism. There was a military formation powerful enough to defeat the Arab armies, there were political institutions in place, and there were gifted leaders, David Ben-Gurion pre-eminent among them, who knew what can be had in the world of nations. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The vote at the General Assembly was of immense help, but it wasn't the decisive factor in the founding of the Jewish state. The hard work had been done in the three decades between the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the vote on partition. Realism had guided the Zionist project. We will take a state even if it is the size of a tablecloth, said Chaim Weizmann, one of the founding fathers of the Zionist endeavor. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Sadly, the Palestinian national movement has known a different kind of leadership, unique in its mix of maximalism and sense of entitlement, in its refusal to accept what can and can't be had in the world of nations. Leadership is often about luck, the kind of individuals a people's history brings forth. It was the distinct misfortune of the Palestinians that when it truly mattered, and for nearly four decades, they were led by a juggler, Yasser Arafat, a man fated to waste his people's chances. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Arafat was neither a Ben-Gurion leading his people to statehood, nor an Anwar Sadat accepting the logic of peace and compromise. He had been an enemy of Israel, but Israel had reached an accord with him in 1993, made room for him, and for a regime of his choice in Gaza. He had warred against the United States, but American diplomacy had fallen under his spell, and the years of the Clinton presidency were devoted to the delusion that the man could summon the courage to accept a practical peace. </span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">But Arafat would do nothing of the kind. Until his death in 2004, he refrained from telling the Palestinians the harsh truths they needed to hear about the urgency of practicality and compromise. Instead, he held out the illusion that the Palestinians can have it all, from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean. His real constituents were in the refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria and Jordan, and among the Palestinians in Kuwait. So he peddled the dream that history's verdict could be overturned, that the "right of return" was theirs. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10.4pt" class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">There was hope that the Arafat legacy would go with him to the grave. The new Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas had been a lieutenant of Arafat's, but there were hints of a break with the Arafat legacy. The alliance between Fatah and Hamas that Mr. Abbas has opted for put these hopes to rest. And the illusion that the U.N. can break the stalemate in the Holy Land is vintage Arafat. […] </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">The General Assembly may, in September, vote to ratify a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood. But true Palestinian statehood requires convincing a decisive Israeli majority that statehood is a herald for normalcy in that contested land, for Arabs and Jews alike. </span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Mr. Ajami is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is co-chair of the Hoover Working Group on Islamism and the International Order.</span></i><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> </font></div> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-54022169726871463442011-05-23T09:33:00.001-05:002011-05-23T09:33:45.550-05:00Remarks by the President at the AIPAC Policy Conference 2011<div dir="ltr" align="left"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">THE WHITE HOUSE<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="WordSection1"> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Office of the Press Secretary<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">For Immediate Release May 22, 2011<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">AT THE AIPAC POLICY CONFERENCE 2011<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Walter E. Washington Convention Center<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">10:56 A.M. EDT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"> THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Good morning. Thank you. Thank you so much. Please, have a seat. Thank you. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">What a remarkable, remarkable crowd. Thank you, Rosy, for your very kind introduction. I did not know you played basketball. (Laughter.) I will take your word for it. (Laughter.) Rosy, thank you for your many years of friendship. Back in Chicago, when I was just getting started in national politics, I reached out to a lot of people for advice and counsel, and Rosy was one of the very first. When I made my first visit to Israel, after entering the Senate, Rosy, you were at my side every step of that profound journey through the Holy Land. So I want to thank you for your enduring friendship, your leadership, and for your warm introduction today.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">I also want to thank David Victor, Howard Kohr and all the board of directors. And let me say that it is wonderful to look out and see so many great friends, including a very large delegation from Chicago. (Applause.) Alan Solow, Howard Green. Thank you all.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">I want to thank the members of Congress who are joining you today -- who do so much to sustain the bonds between the United States and Israel, including Eric Cantor -- (applause) -- Steny Hoyer -- (applause) -- and the tireless leader I was proud to appoint as the new chair of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">We’re joined by Israel’s representative to the United States, Ambassador Michael Oren. (Applause.) And we’re joined by one of my top advisors on Israel and the Middle East for the past four years and who I know is going to be an outstanding ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro. (Applause.) Dan has always been a close and trusted advisor and friend, and I know that he will do a terrific job. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">And at a time when so many young people around the world are standing up and making their voices heard, I also want to acknowledge all the college students from across the country who are here today. (Applause.) No one has a greater stake in the outcome of events that are unfolding today than your generation, and it’s inspiring to see you devote your time and energy to help shape that future.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Now, I’m not here to subject you to a long policy speech. I gave one on Thursday in which I said that the United States sees the historic changes sweeping the Middle East and North Africa as a moment of great challenge, but also a moment of opportunity for greater peace and security for the entire region, including the State of Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">On Friday, I was joined at the White House by Prime Minister Netanyahu, and we reaffirmed -- (applause) -- we reaffirmed that fundamental truth that has guided our presidents and prime ministers for more than 60 years -- that even while we may at times disagree, as friends sometimes will, the bonds between the United States and Israel are unbreakable -- (applause) -- and the commitment of the United States to the security of Israel is ironclad. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">A strong and secure Israel is in the national security interest of the United States not simply because we share strategic interests, although we do both seek a region where families and children can live free from the threat of violence. It’s not simply because we face common dangers, although there can be no denying that terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons are grave threats to both our nations. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">America’s commitment to Israel’s security flows from a deeper place -- and that’s the values we share. As two people who struggled to win our freedom against overwhelming odds, we understand that preserving the security for which our forefathers -- and foremothers -- fought must be the work of every generation. As two vibrant democracies, we recognize that the liberties and freedoms we cherish must be constantly nurtured. And as the nation that recognized the State of Israel moments after its independence, we have a profound commitment to its survival as a strong, secure homeland for the Jewish people. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">We also know how difficult that search for security can be, especially for a small nation like Israel living in a very tough neighborhood. I’ve seen it firsthand. When I touched my hand against the Western Wall and placed my prayer between its ancient stones, I thought of all the centuries that the children of Israel had longed to return to their ancient homeland. When I went to Sderot and saw the daily struggle to survive in the eyes of an eight-year-old boy who lost his leg to a Hamas rocket, and when I walked among the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem, I was reminded of the existential fear of Israelis when a modern dictator seeks nuclear weapons and threatens to wipe Israel off the face of the map -- face of the Earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Because we understand the challenges Israel faces, I and my administration have made the security of Israel a priority. It’s why we’ve increased cooperation between our militaries to unprecedented levels. It’s why we’re making our most advanced technologies available to our Israeli allies. (Applause.) It’s why, despite tough fiscal times, we’ve increased foreign military financing to record levels. (Applause.) And that includes additional support –- beyond regular military aid -– for the Iron Dome anti-rocket system. (Applause.) A powerful example of American-Israeli cooperation -- a powerful example of American-Israeli cooperation which has already intercepted rockets from Gaza and helped saved Israeli lives. So make no mistake, we will maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">You also see our commitment to our shared security in our determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. (Applause.) Here in the United States, we’ve imposed the toughest sanctions ever on the Iranian regime. (Applause.) At the United Nations, under our leadership, we’ve secured the most comprehensive international sanctions on the regime, which have been joined by allies and partners around the world. Today, Iran is virtually cut off from large parts of the international financial system, and we’re going to keep up the pressure. So let me be absolutely clear –- we remain committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Its illicit nuclear program is just one challenge that Iran poses. As I said on Thursday, the Iranian government has shown its hypocrisy by claiming to support the rights of protesters while treating its own people with brutality. Moreover, Iran continues to support terrorism across the region, including providing weapons and funds to terrorist organizations. So we will continue to work to prevent these actions, and we will stand up to groups like Hezbollah, who exercise political assassination and seek to impose their will through rockets and car bombs.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">You also see our commitment to Israel’s security in our steadfast opposition to any attempt to de-legitimize the State of Israel. (Applause.) As I said at the United Nations last year, “Israel’s existence must not be a subject for debate,” and “efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.” (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">So when the Durban Review Conference advanced anti-Israel sentiment, we withdrew. In the wake of the Goldstone Report, we stood up strongly for Israel’s right to defend itself. (Applause.) When an effort was made to insert the United Nations into matters that should be resolved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, we vetoed it. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">And so, in both word and deed, we have been unwavering in our support of Israel’s security. (Applause.) And it is precisely because of our commitment to Israel’s long-term security that we have worked to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Now, I have said repeatedly that core issues can only be negotiated in direct talks between the parties. (Applause.) And I indicated on Thursday that the recent agreement between Fatah and Hamas poses an enormous obstacle to peace. (Applause.) No country can be expected to negotiate with a terrorist organization sworn to its destruction. (Applause.) And we will continue to demand that Hamas accept the basic responsibilities of peace, including recognizing Israel’s right to exist and rejecting violence and adhering to all existing agreements. (Applause.) And we once again call on Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, who has been kept from his family for five long years. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">And yet, no matter how hard it may be to start meaningful negotiations under current circumstances, we must acknowledge that a failure to try is not an option. The status quo is unsustainable. And that is why on Thursday I stated publicly the principles that the United States believes can provide a foundation for negotiations toward an agreement to end the conflict<span style="COLOR: red"> </span>and all claims -- the broad outlines of which have been known for many years, and have been the template for discussions between the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians since at least the Clinton administration. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">I know that stating these principles -- on the issues of territory and security -- generated some controversy over the past few days. (Laughter.) I wasn’t surprised. I know very well that the easy thing to do, particularly for a President preparing for reelection, is to avoid any controversy. I don’t need Rahm to tell me that. Don’t need Axelrod to tell me that. But I said to Prime Minister Netanyahu, I believe that the current situation in the Middle East does not allow for procrastination. I also believe that real friends talk openly and honestly with one another. (Applause.) So I want to share with you some of what I said to the Prime Minister.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Here are the facts we all must confront. First, the number of Palestinians living west of the Jordan River is growing rapidly and fundamentally reshaping the demographic realities of both Israel and the Palestinian Territories. This will make it harder and harder -- without a peace deal -- to maintain Israel as both a Jewish state and a democratic state. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Second, technology will make it harder for Israel to defend itself in the absence of a genuine peace. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Third, a new generation of Arabs is reshaping the region. A just and lasting peace can no longer be forged with one or two Arab leaders. Going forward, millions of Arab citizens have to see that peace is possible for that peace to be sustained.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">And just as the context has changed in the Middle East, so too has it been changing in the international community over the last several years. There’s a reason why the Palestinians are pursuing their interests at the United Nations. They recognize that there is an impatience with the peace process, or the absence of one, not just in the Arab World -- in Latin America, in Asia, and in Europe. And that impatience is growing, and it’s already manifesting itself in capitals around the world. <o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">And those are the facts. I firmly believe, and I repeated on Thursday, that peace cannot be imposed on the parties to the conflict. No vote at the United Nations will ever create an independent Palestinian state. And the United States will stand up against efforts to single Israel out at the United Nations or in any international forum. (Applause.) Israel’s legitimacy is not a matter for debate. That is my commitment; that is my pledge to all of you. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Moreover, we know that peace demands a partner –- which is why I said that Israel cannot be expected to negotiate with Palestinians who do not recognize its right to exist. (Applause.) And we will hold the Palestinians accountable for their actions and for their rhetoric. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">But the march to isolate Israel internationally -- and the impulse of the Palestinians to abandon negotiations –- will continue to gain momentum in the absence of a credible peace process and alternative. And for us to have leverage with the Palestinians, to have leverage with the Arab States and with the international community, the basis for negotiations has to hold out the prospect of success. And so, in advance of a five-day trip to Europe in which the Middle East will be a topic of acute interest, I chose to speak about what peace will require. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">There was nothing particularly original in my proposal; this basic framework for negotiations has long been the basis for discussions among the parties, including previous U.S. administrations. Since questions have been raised, let me repeat what I actually said on Thursday -- not what I was reported to have said. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">I said that the United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps -- (applause) -- so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself –- by itself -– against any threat. (Applause.) Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism, to stop the infiltration of weapons, and to provide effective border security. (Applause.) And a full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign and non-militarized state. (Applause.) And the duration of this transition period must be agreed, and the effectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated. (Applause.) <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Now, that is what I said. And it was my reference to the 1967 lines -- with mutually agreed swaps -- that received the lion’s share of the attention, including just now. And since my position has been misrepresented several times, let me reaffirm what “1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps” means.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">By definition, it means that the parties themselves -– Israelis and Palestinians -– will negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967. (Applause.) That’s what mutually agreed-upon swaps means. It is a well-known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a generation. It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years. (Applause.) It allows the parties themselves to take account of those changes, including the new demographic realities on the ground, and the needs of both sides. The ultimate goal is two states for two people: Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people -- (applause) -- and the State of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people -- each state in joined self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace. (Applause.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">If there is a controversy, then, it’s not based in substance. What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately. I’ve done so because we can’t afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades to achieve peace. (Applause.) The world is moving too fast. The world is moving too fast. The extraordinary challenges facing Israel will only grow. Delay will undermine Israel’s security and the peace that the Israeli people deserve. <o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Now, I know that some of you will disagree with this assessment. I respect that. And as fellow Americans and friends of Israel, I know we can have this discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Ultimately, it is the right and the responsibility of the Israeli government to make the hard choices that are necessary to protect a Jewish and democratic state for which so many generations have sacrificed. (Applause.) And as a friend of Israel, I’m committed to doing our part to see that this goal is realized. And I will call not just on Israel, but on the Palestinians, on the Arab States, and the international community to join us in this effort, because the burden of making hard choices must not be Israel’s alone. (Applause.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">But even as we do all that’s necessary to ensure Israel’s security, even as we are clear-eyed about the difficult challenges before us, and even as we pledge to stand by Israel through whatever tough days lie ahead, I hope we do not give up on that vision of peace. For if history teaches us anything, if the story of Israel teaches us anything, it is that with courage and resolve, progress is possible. Peace is possible. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">The Talmud teaches us that, “So long as a person still has life, they should never abandon faith.” And that lesson seems especially fitting today. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">For so long as there are those across the Middle East and beyond who are standing up for the legitimate rights and freedoms which have been denied by their governments, the United States will never abandon our support for those rights that are universal. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"> <o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">And so long as there are those who long for a better future, we will never abandon our pursuit of a just and lasting peace that ends this conflict with two states living side by side in peace and security. This is not idealism; it is not naïveté. It is a hard-headed recognition that a genuine peace is the only path that will ultimately provide for a peaceful Palestine as the homeland of the Palestinian people and a Jewish state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. (Applause.) That is my goal, and I look forward to continuing to work with AIPAC to achieve that goal.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'">Thank you. God bless you. God bless Israel, and God bless the United States of America. (Applause.) Thank you. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"> END 11:21 P.M. EDT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="physicaladdress"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; COLOR: gray; FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt">The White House · 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW · Washington DC 20500 · 202-456-1111<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-5095386438126577292011-05-18T14:49:00.011-05:002011-05-18T15:20:07.620-05:00June 4: NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman at the Caspe Terrace<div align="left" dir="ltr"></div><div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2510/4221967001_2f04716751.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2510/4221967001_2f04716751.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><b>Dave Liebman with Guitarist Vic Juris</b><br />
<b>Sat., June 4 7:30 pm at the Caspe Terrace in Waukee</b><br />
<b>For tickets, call 279-6452</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Earlier this year, saxophonist Dave Liebman was on the stage of the Kennedy Center receiving </span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">the Jazz Master designation from the National Endowment For The Arts, the highest honor for</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">jazz musicians in America.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">On June 4, he'll be on the stage at Caspe Terrace in Waukee. </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Dave will be joined by long-time </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">musical partner </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">guitarist Vic Juris for their first-ever duo performance. </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Dave is one of the most prolific players on the scene, who began his career in the bands of trumpeter </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Miles Davis and drummer Elvin Jones. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">He is a direct connection to saxophone master John Coltrane, </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">who inspired Dave early in his career. </span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">There is no better place to experience the subtleties of this music than Caspe Terrace. </span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f71412;"><b>Join Dave for a question and answer session at 6:30 p.m., prior to the show.</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">Seating is limited to 150 so order your tickets today by contacting Abe Goldstien</span></span></span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> at 515.279.6452 or </span></span><a href="mailto:abe@trilixgroup.com"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">abe@trilixgroup.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><i>Presented by Abe Goldstien and Jackie Garnett with support from the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines and the Waukee Arts Council</i></span></span></span></span></span></div></div></div>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-55692535972098669132011-05-16T11:50:00.000-05:002011-05-16T11:50:29.800-05:00Recent and upcoming B'nai MitzvahAll of the following B'nai mitzvah will be or were held at Temple B'nai Jeshurun.<br />
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<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 0;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 59.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="79"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:date day="30" ls="trans" month="4" year="2011"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">04/30/11</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 65.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="87"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:time hour="10" minute="0"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">10:00 AM</span></st1:time><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 164.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="219"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sarah Rose Ballard<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 59.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="79"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:date day="21" ls="trans" month="5" year="2011"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">05/21/11</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 65.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="87"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:time hour="10" minute="0"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">10:00 AM</span></st1:time><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 164.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="219"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mandi Vogel<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 2;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 59.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="79"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:date day="28" ls="trans" month="5" year="2011"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">05/28/11</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 65.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="87"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:time hour="16" minute="30"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">4:30 PM</span></st1:time><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 164.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="219"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gabriel Butler-Klein<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 59.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="79"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:date day="4" ls="trans" month="6" year="2011"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">06/04/11</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 65.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="87"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:time hour="16" minute="30"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">4:30 PM</span></st1:time><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 164.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="219"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Regan Copple<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 59.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="79"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:date day="11" ls="trans" month="6" year="2011"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">06/11/11</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 65.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="87"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:time hour="10" minute="0"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">10:00 AM</span></st1:time><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 164.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="219"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Eva Saltzman<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;"> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 59.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="79"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:date day="18" ls="trans" month="6" year="2011"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">06/18/11</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 65.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="87"> <div class="MsoNormal"><st1:time hour="16" minute="30"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">4:30 PM</span></st1:time><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td nowrap="" style="height: 15.0pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; width: 164.0pt;" valign="bottom" width="219"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt;">Samantha Sobel<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">The Jewish Federation wishes <i>Mazel Tov</i> to the students and their families!</span></span>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-72668406719682514402011-05-03T12:08:00.001-05:002011-05-03T12:32:45.540-05:00May 8 Israel Independence Day program!<div align="left" dir="ltr"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VSG5LdLnXYM/TcA7L4LdZ0I/AAAAAAAAAKc/jukLbT2JpNo/s1600/israel+baloon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="908364316-03052011"> <span class="721404616-03052011"><span style="color: blue;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="908364316-03052011"><span style="font-size: medium;">The community's <b><i>Israel Independence Day</i></b> celebration<span style="color: blue;"><span class="721404616-03052011"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="721404616-03052011"> </span></span></span></span></span></div><div></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VSG5LdLnXYM/TcA7L4LdZ0I/AAAAAAAAAKc/jukLbT2JpNo/s1600/israel+baloon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VSG5LdLnXYM/TcA7L4LdZ0I/AAAAAAAAAKc/jukLbT2JpNo/s1600/israel+baloon.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VSG5LdLnXYM/TcA7L4LdZ0I/AAAAAAAAAKc/jukLbT2JpNo/s1600/israel+baloon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span class="908364316-03052011"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Sunday, <b>May 8,</b> 2011 7:00 pm at Temple B'nai Jeshurun<span class="721404616-03052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011"><span data-jsid="text"><span class="text_exposed_show">Sponsored by Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Ames Jewish Congregation, Beth El Jacob Synagogue, Temple B'nai Jeshurun, Judaic Resource Center, and Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines</span></span></span></span></div><div> <span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;"> <span style="color: black;"><b>Come enjoy the <i>free</i> Falafel Bar </b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;"><b>in celebration of Israel's 63rd Birthday!</b></span></span></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011"> </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011">Falafel<span class="721404616-03052011"> and Pita</span> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Hummus<span class="721404616-03052011">, </span>Tahini Sauce</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Zchug (Harissa) – spicy sauce</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Feta Cheese</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Tomato and Cucumber Salad with mint</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Tzatziki (yogurt sauce)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Pickled Red Onions</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p><o:p> </o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Sweet Potato Fries</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><o:p> </o:p>Ice Cream </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Lemonade</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Iced Tea</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Pop</div></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="908364316-03052011"><span class="721404616-03052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: black;">Catered by</span> <span style="color: black;">The Tangerine Food Company</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></span></span></div>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-4426523542659457862011-05-02T10:26:00.001-05:002011-05-02T11:22:26.251-05:00May 23: A Balanced Presentation on the Arab-Israeli Conflict<div align="left" dir="ltr"><span class="300333114-02052011"> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>The Troublesome History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Balanced Presentation</b></span></span></div><div align="left" dir="ltr"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><img height="128" src="http://armystrongstories.com/blog-assets/kenneth-plant/images/PITZarthur.jpg" style="height: 51.93%; width: 13.79%;" width="100" /><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"> <span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">With</span> </span></span></span></o:p></span><o:p><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Dr. Arthur Pitz</span>, professor and historian <span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span></span></o:p><o:p><span class="300333114-02052011"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b></span></o:p></div><div align="left"><o:p><span class="300333114-02052011"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Blackhawk College, St Ambrose University, Augustana College in the Quad Cities</span></b></span></o:p></div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><b></b></span></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"> <span class="300333114-02052011"> </span></span></span></span></o:p></span><st1:date day="23" month="5" year="2011"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><b>Monday</b></span>, </span><st1:date day="23" ls="trans" month="5" year="2011"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><b>May 23, 2011</b></span></st1:date></st1:date><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b> </b><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><b> </b> <b><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></b></span></span><b><st1:time hour="18" minute="30"><st1:time hour="18" minute="30">6:30 pm</st1:time> – <st1:time hour="20" minute="00">8:00 pm</st1:time></st1:time> </b><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><b> </b> </span><b>at the <st1:city><st1:place>Des Moines</st1:place></st1:city> Public Library</b>, </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Central Branch, <st1:address><st1:street>1000 Grand Avenue</st1:street>, <st1:city>Des Moines</st1:city></st1:address></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dr. Pitz will provide a balanced presentation of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. He has traveled many times to <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the Palestinian territories. In 2010 he spent a month in the region where he was briefed by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, traveled to the Israeli towns adjacent to Gaza, and visited the West Bank and a Palestinian refugee camp.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>The program is free of charge and open to the public</b> <b> No reservations required.</b> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><br />
</div><span class="300333114-02052011"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"> <span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">Sponsored by</span> <span style="color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"><b>t</b></span></span></span><b>he </b><b>Jewish Community Relations Commission <span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small;">of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines and the <i>JFed Forum.</i> </span></span></span></b></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="300333114-02052011"> </span>For additional information, contact </span><a href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org"><span style="font-size: x-small;">jcrc@dmjfed.org</span></a> </span></div><div></div><span class="300333114-02052011"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;"></span> </span></div>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-791517895122018142011-04-13T10:50:00.001-05:002011-04-13T10:50:50.128-05:00How to contact Federation during its move<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial>The day has finally come...we are moving <SPAN class=835224715-13042011><FONT color=#0000ff> <FONT color=#000000>April 14, 2011</FONT> </FONT></SPAN>. Due to the move and the upcoming Passover Holiday, we will not have computers or phones until Thursday, April 21st.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=835224715-13042011><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000> In the interim,</FONT> i</FONT></SPAN>f you need to contact a staff member, you can send an email to </FONT><A href="mailto:jcrcdm@aol.com"><FONT face=Arial>jcrcdm@aol.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial>.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial>You can also call Tom's cell phone at 515-208-2088 or Elaine's at 515-480-8748.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial>Come visit us in our new offices:</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial>33158 Ute Avenue in Waukee at The Caspe Terrace</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=679283315-13042011><FONT face=Arial>515-987-0899</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff></FONT> </DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial>Tammy Abdulghani</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial>Campaign Assistant </FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial>Jewish Federation of Des Moines</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-73731515662773293812011-04-08T12:11:00.000-05:002011-04-08T12:12:25.945-05:00Merkel: Germany will not recognize any unilaterally-declared Palestinian state.<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: black; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Deutsche Welle, Germany<SPAN class=038330917-08042011> </SPAN>7 April 2011<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV> <DIV> <H4><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">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. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></H4> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">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. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">"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.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">"Unilateral recognitions therefore definitely do not contribute to achieving this aim... This is our stance now and it will be our stance in September."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">"There needs to be mutual recognition, otherwise it is not a two-state solution."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><B><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Plan to seek UN recognition of borders</SPAN></B><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">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.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Germany currently holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Merkel, who referred to some "controversy" during the meeting, said that the talks had been "very friendly and very direct."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">She added that restoring momentum back to the stalled Middle East peace process was "more pressing than ever."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">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.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-53013914870790405432011-04-08T11:49:00.001-05:002011-04-08T11:49:49.268-05:00Jewish Federation is moving to The Caspe Terrace!<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><STRONG>As of April 14, 2011, the offices of the Jewish Federation will be moving to The Caspe Terrace.</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV></FONT></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><IMG src="cid:960522616@08042011-1D47"></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Our new address will be: </FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><STRONG><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>33158 Ute Avenue</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><STRONG><FONT face=Arial color=#800000>Waukee, IA 50263-7538</FONT></STRONG></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><STRONG><FONT face=Arial color=#800000></FONT></STRONG></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><FONT face=Arial><STRONG>Our new phone number, operative at some point, will be: </STRONG><FONT color=#800000><STRONG>515 987-0899</STRONG></FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=148254716-08042011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=148254716-08042011></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=148254716-08042011><STRONG><FONT color=#800000><FONT color=#000000>Contact:</FONT> <A href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</A></FONT></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=960522616-08042011><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=148254716-08042011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-84092246161572753632011-04-07T15:15:00.001-05:002011-04-07T15:15:40.379-05:00Tactics of Hamas<DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011>"</SPAN>Immediately after the <SPAN class=528460720-07042011>[Israeli school] </SPAN>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.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial>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.<SPAN class=528460720-07042011>"</SPAN></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011>From Agence France-Presse </SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011><A href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/restofasia/Israel-pounds-Gaza-kills-3-after-missile-hits-bus/Article1-682513.aspx">http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/restofasia/Israel-pounds-Gaza-kills-3-after-missile-hits-bus/Article1-682513.aspx</A></SPAN></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011>----------</SPAN></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011>From Hamas. <A href="http://qassam.ps/news-4391-Al_Qassam_declares_responsibility_for_Kfar_Saad_operation.html">http://qassam.ps/news-4391-Al_Qassam_declares_responsibility_for_Kfar_Saad_operation.html</A></SPAN></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011><FONT face="Times New Roman">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 <B>full responsibility for the operation of targeting Israeli bus</B> traveling in the nearby Israeli settlement of Kfar Sa'ad east of Gaza Strip.<BR><BR></FONT><A style="CLEAR: right; FLOAT: right; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 1em; MARGIN-LEFT: 1em" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-paxc02-o7GU/TZ4IK8htLSI/AAAAAAAAEBk/-clvQhKq7yM/s1600/hamas+bus+2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000></FONT></A>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.</SPAN></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011>-----------------------------------</SPAN></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011>Note: To Hamas.... all Israel is a settlement. And all Israelis are 'settlers.' //Mark <A href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</A></SPAN></FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=528460720-07042011></SPAN></FONT> </P></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-67470217928407844722011-04-01T11:51:00.001-05:002011-04-01T11:51:55.425-05:00Why Facebook took down the 3rd Intifada page<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=070554416-01042011><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>Why Facebook took down the '3rd Intifada' page, calling on people to launch a Third Palestinian intifada against Israel.</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV> <P>Richard Allen, Facebook’s director of policy for Europe, the Middle East and Asia<SPAN class=070554416-01042011>:</SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=070554416-01042011></SPAN> “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. </P> <P><FONT face=Arial>“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.” </FONT></P> <P><SPAN class=070554416-01042011><FONT face=Arial>Source: <A href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/facebook-intifada-page-removed-when-comments-deteriorated-to-direct-calls-for-violence-1.353319">http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/facebook-intifada-page-removed-when-comments-deteriorated-to-direct-calls-for-violence-1.353319</A></FONT></SPAN></P></DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-80724214092438452612011-03-28T11:42:00.000-05:002011-03-28T11:43:27.579-05:00Iowa City Jewish and interfaith Third Annual Mitzvah Day, April 3<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> <SPAN class=174463916-28032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=3> <FONT color=#000000>Rabbi</FONT> </FONT></SPAN>Jeff Portman [mailto:jrportman@agudasachimic.org] <BR></FONT></DIV> <DIV class=WordSection1> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p>Press Release<SPAN class=174463916-28032011><FONT color=#0000ff size=3> </FONT></SPAN><o:p> </o:p>March 28, 2011<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>From: Jeff Portman, Rabbi<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Agudas Achim Congregation<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>602 E. Washington Street<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Iowa City, IA 52240<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>What: Third Annual Mitzvah Day <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>When: Sunday, April 3 <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Time: 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Locations: Agudas Achim Synagogue and Iowa City area <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Contacts: Rabbi Jeff Portman 319-337-3813 or Sue Weinberg 319-679-3120<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>What is Mitzvah Day? In Hebrew, the word “mitzvah” represents ancient laws requiring Jews to perform acts of human kindness, among other commandments. On Sunday, April 3, hundreds of people from Agudas Achim, Shulman Hillel, Kingdom Apostolic Community Worship Center and The University of Iowa will come together to perform acts of kindness throughout the local community, across the country, and around the world in this annual service event. <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>This day of generosity and enrichment is an annual event led by the Tikun Olam Committee of Agudas Achim Congregation, Iowa City’s only synagogue, officially organized in 1916. <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>Mitzvah Day brings together families, friends, and neighbors in the Jewish spirit of “Tikun Olam” which means “repair the world”—a commitment Jews make to community service and social action. Some of the activities taking place on Sunday include food packaging for Outreach International, a group that is sending food to Africa, a blood drive, military service correspondence, fleece blanket tying, nursing home visitation, and more. As part of the project, several collections are being taken of food, household goods, pet food and supplies, bicycles, and money, for the Crisis Center, the Iowa City Animal Shelter, the Iowa City Bike Library, and Mazon—an international Jewish organization dedicated to stamping out hunger around the world. <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal>For the second year in a row, the Iowa City Jewish community will be joined by Kingdom Apostolic Community Worship Community Center, a local church currently without a building that has been using donated space in the synagogue for Sunday services. Pastor Vincent Allen and other church leaders decided to cancel services that day to join in the Mitzvah Day activities.<o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT color=#0000ff size=3></FONT></o:p> </P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><A href="http://www.agudasachimic.org"></A></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P> <P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-44711544770998343072011-03-27T10:53:00.000-05:002011-03-27T10:54:27.581-05:00JCRC Action Alert: Help Iowa divest public funds from Iran!<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Calibri><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000>A Coalitional Action Alert from the Jewish Community Relations Commission of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines Contact</FONT>: <A href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</A></FONT></FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Calibri size=4><SPAN class=150590415-27032011> De</SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Calibri><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial>ar Fellow Iowans,</FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Calibri><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial> A</FONT></SPAN> very important piece of legislation is before us in the Iowa Legislature and <SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial>a coalition of Iowans, including Veterans groups, needs</FONT></SPAN> your help. <SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial> <STRONG>Our objective is for Iowa to become the 24th state to divest specified public funds from assisting Iran's oil industry</STRONG>. To do this, we ask you to contact your local State Senator --immediately -- and respectfully request that he or she votes <U>in favor</U> of <U>House File 484</U>.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Calibri><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN> House File 484 protects our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by instructing the public pension boards to divest our direct holdings (not co-mingled funds like mutual funds) from foreign companies that do business with Iran’s petroleum industry. Iran’s petroleum industry is owned by the Iranian government which has direct links to the arms being used to fight and kill our troops overseas. </FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=150590415-27032011> <FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>(Talking points on this important issue are appended to this e-mail.)</FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><SPAN class=150590415-27032011> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=4><STRONG><U> </U></STRONG><FONT face=Calibri><STRONG><U>Please email your </U></STRONG><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial> <STRONG><U><FONT face="Times New Roman">State</FONT></U></STRONG> </FONT></SPAN><STRONG><U>Senator Today</U></STRONG><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial> <STRONG><U><FONT face="Times New Roman"> to support House File 484</FONT></U></STRONG> </FONT></SPAN><STRONG><U>! </U></STRONG><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Calibri><SPAN class=150590415-27032011></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Calibri><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#000000><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>Instructions:</FONT><STRONG><U> </U></STRONG></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT size=+0><SPAN class=150590415-27032011> </SPAN><STRONG><U> To find your Senator and their email please follow this link:</U></STRONG></FONT></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us> </SPAN><A href="http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/senate.aspx"><SPAN lang=en-us><B><U><FONT color=#0000ff>http://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/senate.aspx</FONT></U></B></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN></A><SPAN lang=en-us><B><U>.</U></B></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><B><U></U></B></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us> <SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000>(Alternately, you can find the name of your State Senator on this map</FONT>: <U>Htt</U><A title=http://www.legis.iowa.gov/DOCS/DistrictMaps/2011/Senate/names.jpg href="http://www.legis.iowa.gov/DOCS/DistrictMaps/2011/Senate/names.jpg">p://www.legis.iowa.gov/DOCS/DistrictMaps/2011/Senate/names.jpg</A><SPAN class=150590415-27032011> ) </SPAN></P> <DIV><SPAN class=150590415-27032011></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=150590415-27032011><FONT color=#000000>A Sample Letter in Support of House File 484. <STRONG>Remember to include your address</STRONG>, so you can be identified as a constitutent -- and have your letter read.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <P dir=ltr><EM><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#000000></FONT></EM></FONT></SPAN></SPAN> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><B><U></U></B></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN></P><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>Dear Senator_______;</FONT></I></SPAN> <P></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>I am a constituent of yours and would like to voice my support for House File 484. This bill divests direct holdings from the public pensions companies that do business with Iran’s petroleum industry. I support the 23 other states that have supported our troops overseas by taking this action. I do not want any of Iowa taxpayers’ money going to a regime that is supplying weapons and explosive devices to American opposition in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of taking this action is very minimal and regardless I do not want to see us investing in a country that is putting our troops in harm’s way. It is my understanding that “terror-free” investing is</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><I> <FONT face=Calibri>not</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><I> <FONT face=Calibri>any less profitable. </FONT></I></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>The bill passed the House overwhelmingly 88-3. The bill is currently in a subcommittee whose members include Senators Kibbie, Horn and Behn and to avoid the session procedural deadlines it must pass out of Senate State Government by April 1</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><I><SUP><FONT face=Calibri>st</FONT></SUP></I></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>. </FONT></I></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>I hope you agree with me and vote or encourage your colleagues to vote for House File 484.</FONT></I></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>Sincerely,</FONT></I></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>Name</FONT></I></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><I><FONT face=Calibri>Address</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us><I></I></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr align=center><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr align=center><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN><SPAN lang=en-us></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN></P>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-48545371330268908622011-03-21T10:59:00.000-05:002011-03-21T11:00:12.977-05:00Wed., March 23: Barry Rubin Conference Call<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left> </DIV> <DIV></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV align=left><FONT size=6><IMG src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQo0aNtqt1TpIns4gHXx20Y9C7SRHnvVAH37aSM0Bq0dQC1SnJGw" NOSEND="1"></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=6>Conference Call with Dr. Barry Rubin</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=6>of the GLORIA Center.</FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><STRONG>Brought to you by Rabbi David Kaufman as an installment of</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><STRONG>Rabbi Kaufman's - The Whole Megillah Podcast</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=4><FONT size=6>Wednesday, March 23</FONT> </FONT><FONT size=4>at </FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=6>10:00 am Central / 11:00 am Eastern</FONT></DIV><FONT size=4> <DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT size=6></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT size=5>To Listen Live to the Call with </FONT></STRONG><STRONG><FONT size=5>Dr. Barry Rubin</FONT></STRONG></DIV><STRONG><FONT size=5> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><STRONG>There is no charge to listen in on the call, but the call is not toll-free.</STRONG></FONT></DIV></FONT></STRONG> <DIV align=left><FONT size=5><STRONG>Dial</STRONG></FONT><FONT size=2><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> <STRONG><FONT size=5> </FONT></STRONG></SPAN></FONT><STRONG><FONT size=5>712-432-1001</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV align=left><STRONG><FONT size=5></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=5><STRONG>Enter Access Code</STRONG></FONT><FONT size=2><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> <STRONG><FONT size=5> </FONT></STRONG></SPAN></FONT><STRONG><FONT size=5>499558534</FONT></STRONG></DIV><FONT size=5> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><STRONG>Please submit questions for Dr. Rubin to Rabbi Kaufman </STRONG><SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN><STRONG>at </STRONG></FONT><A href="mailto:dkaufman@aol.com"><FONT size=3><STRONG>dkaufman@aol.com</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG>. You may do so during the live conference call </STRONG><SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN><STRONG>as well as prior to it.</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><STRONG>Previous Episodes of Rabbi Kaufman's - The Whole Megillah </STRONG><SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN><STRONG>may be found at </STRONG></FONT><A href="http://www.rabbi.mypodcast.com/"><FONT size=3><STRONG>www.rabbi.mypodcast.com</STRONG></FONT></A><FONT size=3><STRONG> including a recent interview </STRONG><SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN><STRONG>with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy.</STRONG></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV></FONT></FONT> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT color=#000000 size=4><STRONG>Brief Biography of Dr. Barry Rubin</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><STRONG><FONT color=#000000></FONT></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT color=#000000>Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) <SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT color=#000000><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN>Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal.<SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT color=#000000><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN> See the GLORIA/MERIA site at <A href="http://www.gloria-center.org">www.gloria-center.org</A>.</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT color=#000000></FONT></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT color=#000000>An expert on politics of the Middle East, Barry Rubin maintains a blog at </FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: medium 'Times New Roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate; WIDOWS: 2; ORPHANS: 2; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px"><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 15px; COLOR: rgb(153,153,153); LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><A href="http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com/"><FONT color=#000000>www.rubinreports.blogspot.com</FONT></A></SPAN></SPAN><FONT color=#000000> and is a frequent contributor to the Jerusalem Post <SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN>among other publications. He has published numerous books including most recently<SPAN class=898165515-21032011><FONT size=2> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000><SPAN class=898165515-21032011> </SPAN> <U>Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis</U>.</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV align=left> </DIV> <DIV align=left> </DIV> <DIV align=left><FONT lang=0 PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF">David Jay Kaufman<BR>Rabbi<BR>Temple B'nai Jeshurun<BR>Des Moines, Iowa<BR>www.templebnaijeshurun.org<BR>www.rabbikaufman.blogspot.com <BR>515-274-4679<BR>dkaufman@aol.com<BR><BR><A href="http://www.weareforisrael.org/">www.weareforisrael.org</A><U><BR></U>President and Co-Founder</FONT></DIV></FONT>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-4610036849274909502011-03-17T14:01:00.001-05:002011-03-17T14:01:42.237-05:00Purim programming in Des Moines<DIV dir=ltr align=left><STRONG><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT face=Arial>Purim programming in Des Moines. Consult your synagogue/Temple for additional information.</FONT></SPAN> </STRONG><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=700164418-17032011></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV></DIV> <P dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial><STRONG><SPAN class=904281518-17032011> Community </SPAN>Purim-Palooza<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN></STRONG><STRONG>Community Carnival</STRONG><SPAN class=652293618-17032011> <SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff> at Beth El Jacob Synagogue </FONT></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P><SPAN class=652293618-17032011> <P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'"><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#008000><STRONG>Sponsored by Beth El Jacob, Tifereth’s YAD group, <SPAN class=652293618-17032011> </SPAN></STRONG></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'"><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#008000><STRONG><SPAN class=652293618-17032011> </SPAN>JFCS, The Jewish Federation and Temple B’nai Jeshurun<o:p></o:p></STRONG></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> <P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT face=Arial color=#008000><STRONG></STRONG></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial> </FONT></SPAN><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><STRONG>Sunday, March 20th<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN>11am — 3pm<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> at </SPAN></STRONG></FONT><FONT size=2><STRONG>Beth El Jacob Synagogue</STRONG></FONT><FONT size=3><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> <STRONG><FONT size=2> </FONT></STRONG> </SPAN></FONT><FONT size=2>Featuring kosher lunch, costume<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN>contest, and carnival games and<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN></FONT><FONT size=2>attractions! $10 *optional* price per</FONT></FONT></P> <P dir=ltr align=left></P> <P dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>family includes lunch and bounce<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>house entry for each child.</FONT></P> <P dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2><FONT color=#000000>RSVPs VERY appreciated for food<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN>planning purposes! Email</FONT><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><FONT color=#000000>:</FONT> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><A href="mailto:office@betheljacob.org">office@betheljacob.org</A> or call 515-</FONT></P> <P dir=ltr align=left><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff>274-1551 ext 1<SPAN class=652293618-17032011><FONT size=3> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></P> <P dir=ltr align=left><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=652293618-17032011><FONT color=#000000> <FONT face="Century Gothic" size=3>[</FONT><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'">All<STRONG> Tifereth YAD kids</STRONG> who volunteer will also receive FREE lunch.</SPAN><FONT face="Century Gothic" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'">Contact Alla for more information </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face="Century Gothic" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'"><A title=blocked::mailto:mikeandalla@msn.com href="mailto:mikeandalla@msn.com">mikeandalla@msn.com</A> ]<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT> <P dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><FONT size=2><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT size=3> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> <P dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><FONT size=2><FONT size=+0><FONT size=+0><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=3><STRONG>From Beth El Jacob Synagogue:</STRONG></FONT></FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> <UL> <LI> <DIV align=left><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><FONT size=2><FONT size=+0><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> <FONT size=3> </FONT><STRONG><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2>Sunday, March 20th<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN>11am — 3pm<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> at </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Beth El Jacob Synagogue : Purim-Palooza Carnival . (See above)</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <LI> <DIV style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: black"><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff size=3> Sunday, March 20 5: 30pm at Colby Park. </FONT></SPAN>Lubavitch's Judaic Resource Center and Beth El Jacob will be enjoying the Purim Seudah together at Colby Park in Windsor Heights. There is a charge for this event. Please contact the JRC for details and/or to RSVP at (515) 277-1770<SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff size=3> </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <LI> <DIV style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: black"><SPAN class=700164418-17032011></SPAN><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff size=3>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> </SPAN></DIV></LI></UL></DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: black"><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT size=3><STRONG>From Tifereth Israel Synagogue</STRONG></FONT></SPAN></DIV></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN> <P><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> </SPAN></SPAN><STRONG>Purim Megillah Reading<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN>and Costume Parade</STRONG></FONT></FONT></P> <P><STRONG><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2>Saturday, March 19th at 7pm<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> - </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Tifereth Israel Sanctuary</FONT></STRONG><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff>Join us for a dramatic reading<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN>of Megillat Esther by Cantor<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>Linda Shivers.</FONT></P> <P align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2>Come in costume and join the<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN>parade following the reading! We’ll<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>Sing Purim songs and enjoy some</FONT></P> <P align=left><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=2>hamantaschen.We also encourage you to bring<SPAN class=904281518-17032011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>canned food for donation to DMARC.</FONT></P> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left> <TABLE id=content_LETTER.BLOCK10 style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 6px" height=263 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><FONT size=3><FONT color=#000000><STRONG>From Temple B'nai Jeshurun</STRONG></FONT>: </FONT></FONT> <FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=3><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT size=3><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> </SPAN><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN class=904281518-17032011><SPAN class=700164418-17032011> </SPAN></SPAN><STRONG>MEGILLAH READING</STRONG></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG>AND</STRONG></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG>PURIM PARTY!</STRONG></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 14pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG>SATURDAY</STRONG></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG></STRONG> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> 6:00 PM Read The Scroll In Sanctuary</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>6:30 PM Children Eat In Social Hall</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>7:00-7:30 PM Adults Go To Bergman Mansion</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>(Children Stay With Childcare at Temple)</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>7:30-9:00 PM Food & Music At Bergman Mansion</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>(2000 Grand Avenue)</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>FREE Babysitting! </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>FREE Food!</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>FREE Fun!</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>Wear Costumes (If Desired)</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>Music Provided (Sam Miller)</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>Food & Drink Provided</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>FREE (Contributions Gladly Welcomed)</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center> </P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>RSVP RSVP RSVP</P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG>515-274-4679</STRONG></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><STRONG><A href="mailto:officemanager@templebnaijeshurun.com">officemanager@templebnaijeshurun.com</A></STRONG><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><STRONG>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</STRONG></SPAN></P> <P style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><STRONG>From Judaic Resource Center</STRONG> </SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR></DIV> <DIV></DIV><FONT face=Arial> <DIV> <TABLE style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 10px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #48718f" cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%" bgColor=#48718f border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 7px; PADDING-LEFT: 7px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 7px; COLOR: #cdd4d7; PADDING-TOP: 7px; FONT-FAMILY: trebuchet ms,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif" align=middle> <DIV><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #cdd4d7; FONT-FAMILY: trebuchet ms,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif"><B>Davening schedule at the J<SPAN class=786550118-17032011>udaic </SPAN>R<SPAN class=786550118-17032011>esource </SPAN>C<SPAN class=786550118-17032011>enter</SPAN>:</B></FONT></DIV> <DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV> <P>Please remember to RSVP for Purim In China Sunday, March 20th at 5:30pm. 515-277-1770 <A title=blocked::mailto:jrcspark@msn.com href="mailto:jrcspark@msn.com">jrcspark@msn.com</A></P></DIV></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 7px; PADDING-LEFT: 7px; FONT-SIZE: 8pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 7px; COLOR: #cdd4d7; PADDING-TOP: 7px; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" align=middle> <P align=left> </P> <P><STRONG>Friday:</STRONG></P> <P>Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat: 7:00 PM</P><BR> <P><STRONG>Shabbat: <BR clear=all></STRONG>Shacharit: 9:30 AM</P><BR> <P>Mincha: 7:00 PM</P><BR> <P>Maariv: 8:05 PM</P><BR> <P>Megilla Reading: 8:30 PM</P><BR> <P><STRONG>Sunday:</STRONG></P> <P>Shacharis: 9:00 AM</P> <P>Parshas Zachor will be read again right before Megillah reading</P> <P>1st Megilla reading (during Shachris): 9:30 AM</P><BR> <P>2nd Megilla Reading:</P> <P>12:30 PM at Valley West Apartments 1800 36th St. West Des Moines</P><BR> <P>3rd Megilla Reading:</P> <P>5:30 PM (followed by a grand Purim in China Celebration) Colby Park Community Center 6900 School Street Windsor Heights</P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000><STRONG>Information distributed by the <EM>Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines</EM></STRONG> Contact</FONT>: <A href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><STRONG>Join the Jewish Federation's page on FaceBook! </STRONG></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=700164418-17032011><FONT color=#0000ff><A href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Jewish-Federation-of-Greater-Des-Moines/124027370980783">http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Jewish-Federation-of-Greater-Des-Moines/124027370980783</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=700164418-17032011></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-19825767697242932562011-03-14T16:30:00.000-05:002011-03-14T16:31:42.991-05:00JCPA statement on Itamar murders<DIV><FONT face=Arial> <P> <STYLE type=text/css> <!-- ..ArticleBox { border: thin none #000; padding: 5px; font-size: small; font-style: normal; color: #000; text-align: left; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; } ..unsubscribe { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal; color: #000; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; } ..Articletitle { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: bolder; color: #000; } ..Sidebox { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; color: #666; background-color: #dee9f2; padding: 5px; border: 1px solid #666; } ..mainbox { background-color: #FFF; } ..continue { font-size: x-small; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; color: #003f5e; text-align: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } ..Sideheader { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; color: #003f5e; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-left-style: none; border-bottom-color: #003f5e; text-align: left; font-weight: bold; font-variant: normal; } ..Titlebox { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: bolder; color: #000; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid #000; } ..Donatebox { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: italic; font-weight: bolder; color: #800000; background-color: #FFF; padding: 5px; border: 1px solid #800000; } a:link { color: #003f5e; } ..TableofContents { border: thin solid #003f5e; padding: 5px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; color: #003f5e; text-align: left; background-color: #DEE9F2; } ..picture img { border: 1px solid #CCCCCC; vertical-align:middle; margin-bottom: 3px; } ..engage { font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-variant: normal; color: #999; text-align: right; vertical-align: middle; } ..picture { background-color: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #CCCCCC; padding: 3px; font: 11px/1.4em Arial, sans-serif; } ..right { margin: 0.5em 0pt 0.5em 0.8em; float:right; } ..left { margin: 0.5em 0.8em 0.5em 0; float:left; } body,td,th { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } body { background-color: #ece4e0; } ..sponsortext { background-color: #FFF; border: 1px none #CCCCCC; padding: 3px; font: 11px/1.4em Arial, sans-serif; } --> </STYLE> <!-- TemplateBeginEditable name="content" --><!-- TemplateEndEditable --></P> <TABLE class=mainbox width=600 align=center border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=banner vAlign=center align=middle colSpan=2></TD></TR> <TR> <TD align=middle width=450> <DIV><SPAN class=110152621-14032011><FONT size=2>From the Jewish Council For Public Affairs, online at </FONT><A href="http://jewishpublicaffairs.org"><FONT size=2>jewishpublicaffairs.org</FONT></A></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=110152621-14032011></SPAN> </DIV></TD> <TD width=150 height=36><A title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=eo7r2ov73a%2F%2FQYFniKbu4n2X%2B2E8%2Fok9 href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=eo7r2ov73a%2F%2FQYFniKbu4n2X%2B2E8%2Fok9"></A></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=ArticleBox vAlign=top colSpan=2> <P><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </P><STRONG><FONT size=5></FONT></STRONG> <P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><IMG height=90 alt="" src="http://engage.jewishpublicaffairs.org/images/JCPA%20logo.jpg" width=150></P> <P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: large"><B>Heartbreaking Itamar Murders Shine Light on Incitement</B></SPAN><BR><I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: larger">JCPA Mourns Tragic Deaths, Calls for PA Action and Calm From Israelis</SPAN></I></P> <P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">This weekend’s horrific murder of a sleeping family in the West Bank community of Itamar was a heartbreaking terrorist attack not only on Jewish Israelis, but on the peace process itself, said the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.<BR><BR>“This vicious act was aimed at intimidating Israeli Jewish families and derailing the already fragile peace process,” said JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow. “My heart pours out for the Fogel family, their loved ones, and their community. All of us who remain committed to a vision of two states living in peace and security cannot help but feel an incredible sadness at this attack and the cold hearted machinations of the murderers and their supporters. We look to the Palestinian Authority to work closely with Israeli authorities to bring the killers to justice.”<BR><BR>“We have joined with U.S. and Israeli officials in praising Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for making progress toward preventing terrorism and instituting effective security arrangements in areas under PA control. This makes the terrorist attack in Itamar that much more shocking,” said JCPA Chair Dr. Conrad Giles. <BR><BR>“The path to peace and reconciliation,” he continued, “requires serious effort from the PA in ending incitement, especially among school children, the most vulnerable to hateful propaganda and the most important to reach with positive lessons.” At the annual JCPA Plenum March 7th, 2011, the JCPA and its member agencies approved a resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that called, in part, for the PA to promote security and denounce all acts of terrorism and violence.<BR><BR>“We understand the strong passions aroused by this brutal murder, but revenge violence directed indiscriminately against Palestinians is unacceptable. We regret that some attacks reportedly have occurred,” Giles asserted.</P> <P style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"><I><B>JCPA, the public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community, serves as the national coordinating and advisory body for the 14 national and 125 local agencies comprising the field of Jewish community relations.</B></I></P></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=2> <HR> </TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=2> <TABLE width=595 align=center border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=sponsortext vAlign=top align=middle colSpan=2> <P><SPAN class=unsubscribe></SPAN> </P></TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=unsubscribe colSpan=2> </TD></TR> <TR> <TD class=unsubscribe><A title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=yOQUCx6ammurNOMbSMNsxn2X%2B2E8%2Fok9 href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=yOQUCx6ammurNOMbSMNsxn2X%2B2E8%2Fok9"><IMG title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=yOQUCx6ammurNOMbSMNsxn2X%2B2E8%2Fok9 height=48 alt="" src="https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5145/images/JFNA_NationalAliance.jpg" width=280 align=left border=0></A></TD> <TD class=unsubscribe><A title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=U2TKDO1pZ88U7aeZZU189n2X%2B2E8%2Fok9 href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=U2TKDO1pZ88U7aeZZU189n2X%2B2E8%2Fok9"><IMG title=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=U2TKDO1pZ88U7aeZZU189n2X%2B2E8%2Fok9 alt=e-powered src="https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5145/images/e-powered%20gen.jpg" border=0></A></TD></TR> <TR></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <P><MAP id=Map name=Map><AREA shape=RECT alt=http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dJ7V1iVesOFawhNQKGH2R32X%2B2E8%2Fok9 coords=516,19,538,39 href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dJ7V1iVesOFawhNQKGH2R32X%2B2E8%2Fok9"><AREA shape=RECT alt="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=c6ZQRNQQR8RI%2BPnTI7lfUX2X%2B2E8%2Fok9 twitter" coords=541,18,561,40 href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=c6ZQRNQQR8RI%2BPnTI7lfUX2X%2B2E8%2Fok9"><AREA shape=RECT alt="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Rd8dndbjPyir0CQ7oP45KX2X%2B2E8%2Fok9 email" coords=563,20,584,39 href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Rd8dndbjPyir0CQ7oP45KX2X%2B2E8%2Fok9"></MAP></P><IMG height=1 src="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/TrackImage?key=425137444" width=1><DIAEMAILID='425137444' thread="1237" /></FONT></DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5205524835228416287.post-73921690255344289622011-03-13T11:06:00.001-05:002011-03-13T11:06:38.400-05:00Summary: Palestinian terrorist attack 3/10 and reactions<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=249183415-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000>As you may know, there was a Palestinian terrorist attack in a West Bank settlement Friday night in which five members of a Jewish family --including a baby among three children --were brutally murdered in their sleep. The following is a summary covering aspects not found in one source. -- Mark Finkelstein </FONT> <A href="mailto:jcrc@dmjfed.org">jcrc@dmjfed.org</A></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff></FONT> </DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT color=#0000ff> <P><FONT color=#000000><FONT face=Arial>President Shimon Peres condemned Friday's attack, saying <SPAN class=249183415-13032011><FONT color=#0000ff> :</FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#000000>"This is one of the hardest and ugliest events that we've seen," Peres said. "The murder of parents and their young children, including a three-year-old and a month-old baby in their beds on Shabbat is a testimony of a loss of human dignity. </FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=249183415-13032011> <FONT color=#000000> </FONT> </SPAN></FONT><FONT color=#000000>"No religion or faith exists in the world which allows for such atrocious acts…</FONT><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN class=249183415-13032011> <FONT color=#000000>"</FONT> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></P></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=139390715-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> [ </FONT></SPAN>The victims are Udi Fogel (36), his wife Ruth (35) and three of their children: Yoav (11), Elad (4) and Hadas (3 months old).<SPAN class=983345514-13032011><FONT face=Arial><FONT color=#0000ff> <SPAN class=139390715-13032011><SPAN class=249183415-13032011> </SPAN> <FONT color=#000000>These are the victims referred to, without being named, in the AP article <SPAN class=858251415-13032011> and headlined "5 settlers" by the AP, Washington Post and New York Times. <SPAN class=249183415-13032011> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=983345514-13032011><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=+0><SPAN class=139390715-13032011><SPAN class=858251415-13032011><SPAN class=249183415-13032011></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=983345514-13032011><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=+0><SPAN class=139390715-13032011><SPAN class=858251415-13032011><SPAN class=249183415-13032011>Three other children were not involved.</SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=983345514-13032011><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=+0><SPAN class=139390715-13032011><SPAN class=858251415-13032011><SPAN class=249183415-13032011></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=983345514-13032011><FONT size=+0><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=139390715-13032011><SPAN class=858251415-13032011>The family had relocated to<SPAN class=249183415-13032011> the</SPAN> settlement near Nablus after having been removed by the IDF from residency in Gaza, during Israel's unilateral evacuation for peace from Gaza in 2005. -- MF] </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=983345514-13032011><FONT face=Arial><SPAN class=139390715-13032011><SPAN class=858251415-13032011></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=983345514-13032011></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span><SPAN class=Apple-style-span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 16px"><SPAN class=983345514-13032011> The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the killing in a statement sent to reporters. <SPAN class=249183415-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff><FONT color=#000000> [Responsibility for the terrorist incident is in dispute -- JTA]</FONT> </FONT></SPAN> <P>They said the attack was an "heroic operation" that was "part of the natural response to the massacres of the fascist [Israeli] occupation against our people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip," said the leaflet. </P> <P>"Violence will only bring more violence – we must hurry to find a comprehensive, just solution to the conflict," said Abbas. </P> <P>Abbas called Netanyahu earlier Saturday to condemn the settlement attack, following several long months of almost no communication between the two. </P> <P>Netanyahu told Abbas that his condemnations are not enough. "The incitement must stop and the Palestinian people must be educated toward peace," said Netanyahu. <SPAN class=249183415-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> [ Editorial: I believe that,given the broader context of the conflict, this is a major, important point that must be advocated by anyone seeking a win-win resolution of the conflict. See for example: -<STRONG><FONT color=#000000 size=2>PA TV glorified terrorist </FONT></STRONG><STRONG><FONT size=2>who killed 3 in 2002 terror attack </FONT></STRONG><STRONG><FONT size=2>in the town of Itamar </FONT></STRONG><A title=blocked::http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=ovtqbicab&et=1104812716048&s=5637&e=001brTh__rH1YLv8MyNNyGv1aPPeH0jr6TI68lSIsPx5r3f-mN-NXCfLLNfbQVzYfsajR8TGpDYkiPNYf6q9H56_eipygUqlGoc_U1Z_wa09z1rC2kvu9SUwbNepuuHc4HPkFT3bBLybyd7FBxXUTrREGbSAMmsOgHY href="http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4794" target=_blank shape=rect>http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4794</A> <STRONG><FONT size=2> </FONT></STRONG>- MF]</FONT></SPAN></P> <P>Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad also commented on the attack on Saturday, saying that "Violence does not justify violence, we condemn it completely, whoever does it and whoever the victims are."</P> <P><SPAN class=983345514-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>Source<SPAN class=249183415-13032011> for the above </SPAN>: </FONT><A href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-palestinians-world-must-condemn-settlement-attack-unequivocally-1.348763"><FONT face=Arial>http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-palestinians-world-must-condemn-settlement-attack-unequivocally-1.348763</FONT></A><SPAN class=139390715-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=983345514-13032011><SPAN class=139390715-13032011> <FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>Source for below: <A href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041106,00.html">http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4041106,00.html</A></FONT><SPAN></P> <P>Gaza residents from the southern city of Rafah hit the streets Saturday to celebrate the terror attack in the West Bank settlement of Itamar where five family members were murdered in their sleep, including three children. </P> <P>Residents handed out candy and sweets, one resident saying the joy "is a natural response to the harm settlers inflict on the Palestinian residents in the West Bank."<SPAN class=858251415-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=858251415-13032011> <FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>Source for below: <A href="http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=31615">http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=31615</A></FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>"The Palestinian people don't like actions of this kind," Samih Hamoudah, a political scientist at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, told The Media Line. "People are aware of the fact that actions like this harm the Palestinians and therefore many believe that Jews did this in order to tarnish the Palestinian cause." </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>But on Sunday, Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah condemned the attack not only on practical grounds, but on moral ones as well.</FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>"The Palestinian judgment of such an action is one of unequivocal condemnation and with the harshest words," columnist Adli Sadek wrote. "Not because this is a crime that harms us politically and publicly … but because such a heinous murder is unacceptable to human nature." </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>Hamas, the Islamic group controlling the Gaza Strip and ideologically committed to destroying Israel, pulled back from its initially enthusiastic support of the Itamar killings. </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>However, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza was circumspect about the Itamar attack, condoning the attack without claiming responsibility for it.</FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>"We in Hamas completely support the resistance against settlers who murder and use crime and terror against the Palestinian people under the auspices of the Israeli occupation soldiers. Hamas official Sami Abu-Zuhri said on Saturday morning. </FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>But, by Saturday night, Hamas’ tone had altered, as its spokesman explicitly distanced the organization and its leadership in Gaza from the attack.</FONT></P> <P><FONT size=2>"We are closely following the Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people and the attempts to implicate the Gaza Strip in the killing that took place in the settlement of Itamar, attempting to justify aggressive acts against the Strip," Hamas government spokesman Taher A-Nunu said. "At the same time, Hamas has denied its connection to the Itamar operation and does not rule out the possibility of a criminal act."</FONT><SPAN class=249183415-13032011><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=249183415-13032011> <FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff>Source for below: <A href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/03/13/3086373/assailant-kills-parents-3-children-in-settlement">http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/03/13/3086373/assailant-kills-parents-3-children-in-settlement</A></FONT></SPAN></P> <P><SPAN class=249183415-13032011>Reports said PA forces had arrested a number of Hamas activists. [ This justifies the AP subheadline "Palestinian forces join the hunt for suspects in the deaths. "--MF]</P> <P>The White House called it an act of terrorism.<SPAN class=249183415-13032011> </SPAN>"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of five Israelis in a terrorist attack in the northern West Bank, and we offer our condolences to their loved ones and to the Israeli people," a statement said. "There is no possible justification for the killing of parents and children in their home."</P></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></DIV>Mark Finkelsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11106624277640005227noreply@blogger.com0