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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Richard Baehr</title>
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		<title>Surrendering to Anti-Israelism</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/richard-baehr/surrendering-to-anti-israelism/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=surrendering-to-anti-israelism</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/richard-baehr/surrendering-to-anti-israelism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:15:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Richard Baehr]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=88180</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The pro-Israel consensus in the American Jewish community is under attack. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a class="highslide" onclick="return vz.expand(this)" href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/boycott.gif"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-88214" title="boycott" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/boycott.gif" alt="" width="375" height="297" /></a></p>
<p>Pressure from the political left has shaken the pro-Israel consensus that has historically existed within the American Jewish community.  This consensus has been attacked by such “luminaries” as former New Republic editor <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/israel_and_americas_jews.html">Peter Beinart</a> for requiring progressive Jews, especially younger and generally less affiliated Jews, to “check their values at the door” when it comes to Israel.  At the same time, the pro-Israel consensus has also had to confront the assault from Jewish or Jewish-affiliated activist groups from the burgeoning <a href="http://www.bdsmovement.net/">BDS</a> (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) movement against Israel. In essence, the pro-Israel consensus has come under attack from both the soft and hard left.</p>
<p>The soft left is unhappy with Jewish settlements in the West Bank and considers them to be an obstacle to peace with the Palestinian Authority, which they maintain would be easily realizable if only Israel would agree to withdraw from most of the settlements.  While 60-plus years of history argues against this, the proponents of the “settlements are the real problem” view maintain they want to end Israel’s international isolation, and achieve the peace and security the nation and its citizens have always wanted.   An equally, if not more important, side benefit is that a resolution to the conflict would make Israel less of a lightning rod in the salons that the soft left calls home.</p>
<p>The hard left believes Israel is an apartheid state (much like the former South Africa), born in original sin in 1948-1949, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who were supposedly “driven out” during the war that accompanied the creation of the Jewish State. Additionally, Palestinians are now suffering through a “brutal occupation” (the words always go together) of the West Bank, now in its fifth decade, which was instituted following the Six Day War.</p>
<p>Recently, the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, convening in New Orleans last October, established a new initiative to fight the BDS movement.  It created the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=192892">Israel Action Network</a>. Martin Raffel, the senior vice president of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, and the new director of the IAN, described the initiative:</p>
<blockquote><p>The project, which I am directing, will work alongside Israel and key organizational partners in the US and Canada, not only to stand up against anti-Israel initiatives, but also to anticipate and prepare for future challenges and actively promote a fair and balanced picture of the Middle East among key constituencies.</p></blockquote>
<p>The General Assembly reportedly allocated $6 million to the IAN effort, not an inconsiderable sum, given the funding issues described earlier.</p>
<p>Now comes word that the IAN has made a decision as to the organizations that fit under the umbrella of its anti-BDS movement efforts.   In a statement late last week, Raffel offered the <a href="http://engage.jewishpublicaffairs.org/p/salsa/web/blog/public/?blog_entry_KEY=1464">following</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>In my judgment, those groups that are unwilling to support the Jewish people&#8217;s right to build a national homeland in Israel &#8212; i.e., recognition of Israel as a democratic and Jewish state &#8212; place themselves outside the Jewish mainstream and cannot reasonably be seen as allies in our effort to counter the growing assault on Israel&#8217;s legitimacy.</p>
<p>But what to think about Zionists on the political left who have demonstrated consistent concern for Israel&#8217;s security, support Israel&#8217;s inalienable right to exist as a Jewish democratic state, and consider Israel to be the eternal home of the Jewish people &#8212; but have decided to express their opposition to specific policies of the Israeli government by refraining from participating in events taking place in the West Bank or purchasing goods produced there? I vigorously would argue that such actions are counter-productive in advancing the cause of peace based on two states that they espouse, a goal that we share. But this is not sufficient cause to place them outside the tent.</p>
<p>As the Reut Institute report on delegitimization stresses, it is these activists from the Zionist left who are best positioned to advocate to their liberal friends, who by all rights should be supportive of Israel as the region&#8217;s most democratic and most supportive society of women&#8217;s, LGBT, labor, and minority rights[.]</p></blockquote>
<p>In essence, the Raffel statement acknowledged that there are two classes of BDS supporters &#8212; &#8220;good&#8221; boycotters and &#8220;bad&#8221; boycotters. The good boycotters need to be welcomed within the community’s big tent, since they share the broader Jewish community&#8217;s consensus view of Israel &#8212; i.e., good boycotters supposedly have “demonstrated consistent concern for Israel&#8217;s security, support Israel&#8217;s inalienable right to exist as a Jewish democratic state, and consider Israel to be the eternal home of the Jewish people.”  If such boycotters exist as Raffel articulates, I have yet to find them or hear from them.  In fact, the category of “good boycotters” is relatively indistinguishable from the &#8220;bad boycotters&#8221; when it comes to events and campaigns targeting Israel.</p>
<p>Raffel also argues that these acceptable boycotters are needed within the big community tent in order to help persuade the more hardline leftists that Israel deserves their support (for example, because of women&#8217;s rights, LGBT issues, labor, and minority rights).  Presumably, if the bad boycotters (the delegitimizers of Israel) were educated by other progressives about all the progressive features of Israel’s society, then the bad boycotters could be persuaded to move along the political continuum, maybe even becoming good boycotters themselves.</p>
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		<title>Honoring Sarah &#8211; by Richard Baehr</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2009/richard-baehr/honoring-sarah-by-richard-baehr/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=honoring-sarah-by-richard-baehr</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:02:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Richard Baehr]]></dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=42601</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[David Horowitz shares the generosity of spirit and courage of his late daughter. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-42608" title="cracking_horowitz_lg" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/cracking_horowitz_lg2.jpg" alt="cracking_horowitz_lg" width="300" height="431" /></p>
<p><strong>[Visit <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/">American Thinker]</a></strong></p>
<p>At some point in our lives, we come to understand the concept of death, and then it happens to our family members or friends. In the normal course of events, there is a progression: Grandparents die first, then our parents, and then we go. If we are fortunate enough to have children, then they survive our death.</p>
<p>Some people have a different pattern: their children predecease them. I have never known a parent who lost a child and was not deeply affected by it. David Horowitz is one of those who buried a child. In 2008, his 44-year-old daughter Sarah died suddenly and alone.</p>
<p>Sarah was born with Turner Syndrome, a disease I had never heard of  until I read the book Horowitz has written about his daughter&#8217;s life. About one in 2,500 girls is born with Turner Syndrome, and it can make life miserable for those who have it.</p>
<blockquote><p>There are characteristic physical abnormalities, such as short stature, swelling, broad chest, low hairline, low-set ears, and webbed necks.[3] Girls with     Turner syndrome typically experience gonadal dysfunction (non-working ovaries), which results in amenorrhea (absence of menstrual cycle) and sterility.     Concurrent health concerns are also frequently present, including congenital heart disease, hypothyroidism (reduced hormone secretion by the thyroid),     diabetes, vision problems, hearing concerns, and many autoimmune diseases.[4] Finally, a specific pattern of cognitive deficits is often observed, with     particular difficulties in visuospatial, mathematical, and memory areas.[5]</p></blockquote>
<p>Sarah experienced a high percentage of the afflictions described above. She walked slowly and with great discomfort. Her vision and hearing were very poor. As an adult, she stood but four feet, seven inches.</p>
<p><strong>To continue reading this article, <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/12/a_cracking_of_the_heart_by_dav.html">click here</a>.</strong></p>
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