Houston flooding damages Jewish institutions, homes
Massive flooding has caused serious damage to the Jewish community of Houston for the second time in less than a year and just days before Passover.
Dozens of homes in the Jewish neighborhoods of Meyerland and Willow Meadows reported significant flood damage from the extremely heavy rainfall in the previous two days, the Jewish Herald Voice reported.
The United Orthodox Synagogue reported about 3 feet of water in its sanctuary after sustaining more than $1 million in damage from the flooding that hit last May on Memorial Day. The Meyerland Minyan also took on water, according to the newspaper.
Flash floods resulted from the 16 inches of rain that hit the Houston area early this week, killing at least seven people. At least 1,000 homes were flooded and damage was estimated at $5 billion.
Houston is America’s fourth-largest city and home to more than 40,000 Jews.
The 2015 Memorial Day flooding damaged about 500 Jewish homes as well as three synagogues and 11 other Houston Jewish institutions, which were in the midst of an 18-month recovery plan when this week’s flooding hit. — jta
Professors sue American Studies Association over Israel boycott
A group of professors is suing the American Studies Association over its academic boycott of Israel.
The lawsuit filed April 20 in federal court in the District of Columbia charges the ASA with violating the district’s law governing tax-exempt nonprofit organizations.
The four plaintiffs, longtime members of the association, also charge that the boycott violates the group’s internal rules. They are American studies professors Simon Bronner, Michael Rockland, Michael Barton and Charles Kupfer.
In December 2013, the ASA approved the boycott with two-thirds of the 1,252 members who voted in support. At the time of the vote, there were 3,853 eligible voters, meaning a third of the membership participated. The boycott is not binding on members and targets institutions, not individuals.
The lawsuit charges that a boycott of another country is outside the scope of ASA’s charter.
ASA’s constitution says its goal is “the strengthening of relations among persons and institutions in this country and abroad devoted to such studies.” According to the complaint, the boycott does the exact opposite, since it separates an entire country and its academics.
The suit also claims the ASA refused to circulate or post to its website in the run-up to the boycott vote several letters opposing the resolution, including one signed by approximately 70 ASA members and another in opposition from eight former ASA presidents.
At least four universities withdrew their ASA membership following the vote — Brandeis University, Indiana University, Kenyon College and Penn State Harrisburg — and at least 55 American universities and colleges rejected the boycott resolution.
The Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law assembled the legal team to represent the American studies professors in the case. — jta
Boulder hires moderator for Nablus sister-city dispute
The Boulder City Council in Colorado agreed to hire a moderator in the dispute over its planned sister-city relationship with the Palestinian city of Nablus.
At its April 19 meeting, the council agreed to spend the $5,000 allocated annually for the Sister Cities program and up to $5,000 more on the mediation.
The request to hire the mediator came from the Boulder-Nablus Sister City Project, which had asked the council to postpone a public hearing on the project for fear it would turn contentious, the Boulder Daily Camera reported.
A 2013 sister-city plan with Nablus, which is located in the West Bank, failed a city council vote after four hours of debate described as emotional.
Proponents of the project told the Daily Camera they engaged in “hundreds of hours” of outreach to opponents before bringing the proposal back to the city council.
“We were really kind of taken aback to find that they did not shift their views very much,” Essrea Cherin, president of the Boulder-Nablus Sister City Project, told the Associated Press.
Opponents say the project has a political agenda, citing comments by proponents that described Palestinian suffering under the “Israeli occupation.”
A city spokeswoman said the council received about 200 emails in the run-up to this week’s meeting, some in support of the sister-city relationship and some saying it is not the city’s place to resolve the dispute between the sides.
An official sister-city relationship would require city council approval. Boulder has seven sister cities and Nablus has 11 similar relationships, including with the Israeli city of Nazareth. — jta