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U.S. intellectuals call for boycott of settlement goods

More than 70 U.S. intellectuals have called for a targeted boycott of all goods and services from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The boycott call came in an open letter in the Oct. 13 New York Review of Books. The names of 14 signatories are included, along with the line “and 70 others.”

The signers include journalist Peter Beinhart, mass media commentator and former U.C. Berkeley professor Todd Gitlin, and U.C. Berkeley professor emerita Arlie Russell Hochschild and her husband, Adam Hochschild, an author-journalist and lecturer at the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

The letter said the signatories “oppose an economic, political or cultural boycott of Israel itself as defined by its June 4, 1967, borders,” which they refer to as the “so-called Green Line.” This boundary, according to the letter writers, “should be the starting point for negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian parties on future boundaries between two states. To promote such negotiations, we call for a targeted boycott of all goods and services from all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories, and any investments that promote the Occupation, until such time as a peace settlement is negotiated between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.”

The letter also calls on the U.S. government to remove Internal Revenue Service tax exemptions from West Bank entities and to exclude the settlements from Israeli trade benefits. — jta

 

Report: Adelson putting up funds to defeat Clinton

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson reportedly will contribute as much as $25 million to a super PAC dedicated to derailing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.

The Future 45 fund was founded by Joe Ricketts, owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and his wife, Marlene, and is overseen by the Ricketts’ longtime political adviser, Brian Baker.

The effort to defeat Clinton will focus on taking shots at her rather than promoting the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

In May, Adelson bucked a substantial number of Republican Jews who opposed Trump, even though by that time it was clear he would be the party’s presidential nominee. Adelson endorsed Trump and appealed to other top Republican Jewish donors to follow suit.

The New York Times reported at the time Adelson was prepared to spend up to $100 million to elect Trump. — jta

 

Jewish officials get security briefing for High Holy Days

In a pre-Rosh Hashanah briefing, Jewish community and U.S. security officials urged Jewish institutions to be resilient and keep up morale in the face of terrorist threats.

Officials from more than 100 institutions across the country participated in the Sept. 23 conference call. Speakers included Paul Goldenberg, the director of Secure Community Network, the security arm of the Jewish Federations of North America.

The speakers briefed listeners on recent terrorist attacks, including this month’s series of bombings in the New York-New Jersey area believed to have been carried out by an Afghani-American man. One of the bombs injured 29 people.

In addition to reviewing security procedures, including training staff on how to deal with active shooters, and establishing relationships with local police, Goldenberg emphasized that U.S. Jewish institutions should continue business as usual and keep security unobtrusive, so it does not hinder High Holy Days worship. Goldenberg said on the call that the barricades placed around Jewish buildings in Europe have created a psychology of being under siege.

One key, Goldenberg said, was for the public not to panic or demand drastic changes in national policies. Terrorists “recognize that if their attacks cause large-scale mobilization of the public to put pressure on their governments to change policies or positions, they could indeed enjoy agenda-setting powers over a democratic society,” he said. — jta

 

Obama lauds Jewish civil rights work

President Barack Obama told rabbis in a pre-High Holy Days call on Sept. 26 that Jews should share their stories of working to advance civil rights as a means of inspiring change at a time of racial tension.

Obama spoke with more than 600 rabbis from the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist movements.

“Rosh Hashanah is a time for reflection, and I’m not exempt from that,” Obama said in his opening remarks. “So, looking back on the last eight years, I’m both proud of what we’ve accomplished together but also mindful of the work we have before us.”

His remarks covered the $38 billion defense assistance package he recently announced for Israel and what he described as the success of last year’s deal between Iran and the international community, swapping sanctions relief for safeguards that Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon. He also spoke of his administration’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism and its allocation of resources to assist elderly Holocaust survivors.

Rabbi Jonah Pesner, who directs the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center, asked Obama what meaningful action he would recommend to heal wounds stoked by centuries of racism.

Obama recommended, among other things, registering voters, working with clergy in other denominations to reach out to racial minorities and advocating for better-trained police.

The president said relating the story of the black struggle was key, adding that the Jewish community had a unique role. He said that telling the story of the Jewish role in the civil rights era was a means of inspiring change.

Obama referred to the opening in Washington, D.C., last weekend of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.“The Jewish community … played such a central role and continues to play such a central role when it comes to civil rights,” he said.

Asked by Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, who directs the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, about his achievements in the U.S.-Israel relationship, Obama listed his efforts to bolster Israeli security, including the recent 10-year defense assistance agreement. He also listed the Iran deal, although he recognized that Israel opposed the deal, and said he regretted not making greater progress on advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace.  — jta

 

Pepe the Frog added to ADL database

The Anti-Defamation League added the internet meme Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character that has become a popular symbol for white supremacists, to its online hate database.

Images of the frog, variously portrayed with a Hitler-like mustache, wearing a yarmulke or a Ku Klux Klan hood, have proliferated in recent weeks in hateful messages aimed at Jewish and other users on Twitter, according to the ADL.

Pepe, which has been ubiquitous on the internet over the past decade, in the last year or so has become the flag bearer of the alt-right, which advances an insular conservatism favoring white people.

Earlier this month Donald Trump Jr., son of the Republican presidential nominee, posted to Instagram a movie poster parody of himself heroically grouped with Pepe and others deemed “The Deplorables.” Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had said that half of all Donald Trump supporters are what she termed “deplorables.”

Other symbols have been added to the “Hate on Display” database in recent months, including the (((echo))) symbol, a triple parenthesis used by white supremacists to single out Jewish journalists and users on social media for harassment. — jta