Happy birthday to Israel? Not on this radio station
A Jewish couple’s request that a Michigan public radio station broadcast a paid birthday greeting to Israel was refused.
Hannan and Lisa Lis of suburban Detroit made a donation to Michigan Radio, a statewide public radio group operated by the University of Michigan, that entitled them to sponsor a day’s broadcast and have a message read on the air six times.
The Farmington Hills, Michigan, couple requested “Happy 68th Birthday Israel” to be broadcast on Israel Independence Day, May 12, DeadlineDetroit.com first reported. Hannan Lis is an Israeli citizen, and one son is serving in the Israeli army.
The station first said it needed two months notice to broadcast a message, but then rejected the message outright, saying in a letter to the couple: “We have determined that this message would compromise the station’s commitment to impartiality and that it crosses over into advocacy, or could imply advocacy.”
The couple and the station exchanged several letters, including one in which the Lises asked if the nonprofit station would broadcast a “Happy Birthday Norway” message. The station confirmed that it would not, according to Deadline Detroit.
According to rules posted on Michigan Radio’s website: “Day sponsorships must be personal in nature. They may not include promotional, commercial or messages that Michigan Radio deems would negatively impact Michigan Radio’s reputation for impartiality. Language referencing political campaigns, candidacies, religious convictions or legislation will not be accepted.”
Lisa Lis told American Media Institute Newswire, “I don’t see how ‘happy birthday’ is political.”
She also said, “There’s so much anti-Israel sentiments and rhetoric and lies out there, and I just wanted something positive about Israel on the radio.” — jta
Report: Trump to get millions from Adelson
Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson plans to spend tens of millions of dollars to help elect Donald Trump president, the New York Times reported on May 13.
Adelson, a Jewish billionaire, Republican mega-giver and pro-Israel philanthropist, said he was ready to spend more than he had in any prior bid to elect a president, even in excess of $100 million, according to the report.
Spending by Adelson and his wife, Miriam, in the 2012 elections has been estimated at between $98 million and $150 million, but that includes money spent on congressional races. Adelson plans to focus almost exclusively on the presidential race in this election cycle, the report said.
Adelson declared his support for Trump in a Washington Post op-ed last week but did not say whether that would mean a cash infusion.
Trump, who has riven the Republican Party and alienated many donors, until now has been largely self-funded. But as he heads into a general election against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump has said he will seek outside funding. — jta
Methodists withdraw from BDS coalition
Just days after rejecting four resolutions calling for divestment from companies that reportedly profit from Israel’s control of the West Bank, the United Methodist Church voted to withdraw from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
By a vote of 478-318 at its general conference in Portland, Oregon, the church on May 17 approved a petition requesting its withdrawal from the group, Religion News Service reported.
A national coalition that “works to end U.S. support for Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem,” according to its website, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has been accused of being more anti-Israel than pro-peace.
The Methodist petition called the group a “one-sided political coalition” that seeks to isolate Israel “while overlooking anti-Israel aggression.” The US Campaign promotes the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel and seeks to end U.S. aid to the country.
“Blaming only one side while ignoring the wrongdoing of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran will not advance the cause of peace,” the petition added.
Not everyone was pleased with the decision.
The Rev. Armando Arellano, a delegate from Ohio, told RNS that the US Campaign is “neither pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel, but pro-equal rights for all.”
“By withdrawing from the coalition,” he said, “we are withdrawing our commitment to be an agent of peace and justice.”
Over the weekend, a church committee rejected four resolutions calling for the church to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s control of the West Bank.
The resolutions called for divesting from three companies that pro-Palestinian activists have accused of working with Israeli security forces to sustain Israel’s West Bank settlement enterprise. They are Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola.
Similar BDS petitions failed at general conferences in 2008 and 2012.
Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination who was raised and remains a practicing Methodist, criticized the BDS movement in a recent statement that was believed to be directed at the church, though it did not specifically mention the church.
In January, the Methodists’ pension fund removed five Israeli banks from its portfolio, saying the investments were counter to its policies against investing in “high-risk countries” and maintaining its commitment to human rights.
BDS activists have scored a series of successes in recent years in advancing similar resolutions, most prominently the United Church of Christ in 2015 and the Presbyterian Church (USA) a year earlier. — jta
The Joint names ex-Columbia law dean as CEO
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has tapped a former Columbia Law School dean who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to serve as its CEO.
David Schizer, 47, will take the helm of the international Jewish aid group, also known as the Joint, on Jan. 1. He will succeed Alan Gill, who has served since January 2013.
A native of Brooklyn, New York, Schizer was the youngest dean in the history of Columbia Law School, according to the JDC. In his 10 years at Columbia, he oversaw a $150 million annual budget and completed a $353 million capital campaign.
Schizer serves on the board of Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y, a Jewish cultural institution, and the Ramaz School, a large Modern Orthodox day school.
He is also president of America’s Voices in Israel and co-director of Columbia’s Center for Israeli Legal Studies. Schizer also has served on the board of Columbia-Barnard Hillel and as senior adviser to the Tikvah Fund.
“Although I am part of an incredibly fortunate generation of American Jews, I am named for a grandfather who fled pogroms and political upheaval in Ukraine,” Schizer said in a news release. “Every Jewish family has a history of poverty, religious persecution, or violence — the only difference is how long ago it was.” — jta