This, too, is politics

By Ira Sharkansky

JERUSALEM–Not everything is the stuff of high drama, invasion or stealth, blood, bodies, and claims of decisive victory. There are also statements and actions, coming out of government departments, legislative committees, what may be chance remarks, and programs on public radio and television.

In neither the big or little episodes is there usually anything close to final victory or defeat. Life and politics go on, countries tend not to disappear, no matter how dramatic the deaths or the insults.

What is important?

There may not be a clear answer.

Ambiguity is a work of art.

Recent bits of the less dramatic sort in international politics have appeared in the United States, Britain, and Israel.

The larger conflict at issue is the “war against terror.” We must admit that “war” and “terror” are both fuzzy concepts, but it is possible to convey some meaning without parsing those terms to death.

One cluster of events appears to be slaps directed against Turkey, most likely as punishment for its government’s approach too close to the lines pursued by Iran and Syria.

The ammunition employed is the so-called genocide against Armenians in the context of World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps 1.5 million Armenians died as a result of forced expulsions, starvation and other brutality. 

Until now, the governments of the United States and Israel have stood with the Turks, and have used their powers of persuasion against condemnation or even publicity of Armenian claims. Official reluctance still may be the policy. Reports are that the Obama administration urged members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to avoid any condemnation of genocide, and the vote in favor was a close 23 to 22. It is still not clear if the measure will reach the full House. The Bush administration succeeded in keeping a similar committee resolution from reaching the House floor in 2007, when it was concerned with the loss of Turkey’s cooperation with its policies in Iraq. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/world/europe/05armenia.html?scp=2&sq=armenian%20genocide&st=cse

In what looks like a flick in response to a slap, Turkey’s prime minister has condemned the committee vote, and recalled the ambassador to the United States for consultation,

If the issue gets any bigger it may delay what appeared to be moves of reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia, including the definition of the border between the two countries.

Israel is making its own tiny contribution to the “confrontation of symbols,” which appears to be a few degrees lesser in intensity than “a war of words.”

One “salvo” comes from the Anti-Defamation League, not Israeli but a cousin. It announced that it considered the killings to be genocide. Another, closer to the Israeli establishment, is a program on public television that describes the killings as the Armenian Holocaust. The senior broadcaster of Israel broadcasting moderates the program. He has a wide public following, and is known from the somber way in which he condemns evil by the tone of his voice.

Officially the Israeli government is acting like the American government. President Obama wants Congress to stay away from the issue, and President Peres has told the Turkish prime minister that Israel has not changed its position, i.e., that Turkey and Armenia should resolve the issue among themselves in a dialogue. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/897273.html

Not likely that the Turkish government will be quick to moderate its posture with respect to Iran, Syria, the Palestinians, and Israel. We will never know if less than decisive actions in Washington and Jerusalem lead Turkey to do anything serious to prevent cooperation at the levels where things count in the actions of military and economic bureaucracies.

Another weapon in Israel’s arsenal against Turkey is tourism. The southern coast of Turkey is the vacation spot of choice for middle and lower income Israelis and others. Prices are low, the hotels are glitzy and the souvenirs plentiful. Labor unions organize group packages for their members. During the month that includes the Passover holiday, there will be more than 80 charter flights from Tel Aviv to Antalya and other airports in the resort area.

There was more traffic prior to the uptick in tensions, and there may be fewer if the tensions worsen. Promoters are flogging vacations almost as cheap on the coasts of Greece and Bulgaria.

Another front in this conflict via impressions comes from the British government. It is pondering with some seriousness a change in the law relevant to “political” arrest warrants. The prospect of being detained has kept former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and maybe even Colin Powell from visiting Britain. Officials want to curtail the right of an individual to obtain a writ of arrest from an ordinary judge. One proposal is for a high ranking body, such as the Crown Prosecution Service, to take over responsibility for prosecuting war crimes and other violations of international law. Key figures, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown worry about the damage to Britain’s standing due to the capacity of political activists to obtain warrants that limit the visits to Britain of the mighty, including some invited for consultation with leading officials. However, the issue is sensitive, there is an election coming, so deliberations will be delayed. Ms Livni and Mr Powell may postpone their travel plans yet again.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/04/gordon-brown-tzipi-livni-arrest-warrants-change-law

Meaningless tempest is a tea pot?

There are lots of those in international as well as domestic politics.

It is not always easy to know what is going on.

Israelis who may be in the know say that they are not all that concerned about the tempests raging around that incident in Dubai. Lip service, they say, expressed by officials objecting to the use of their country’s passports, and even by Dubai personnel who would rather have Israeli business people coming to their little place than Palestinian killers.

None of this is new.

Bava Kama is the Tractate of the Talmud that deals with damages. One of its discussions deals with when it is permitted or forbidden to injure a person or property when the individual to be injured asks that the act be done. The rabbis warn that not all statements are serious. Some are sarcastic, and must not be honored. (Chapter 8, page 93a)

One has to listen and read about the words and deeds of adversaries and others, look beneath the surface, and judge their meaning and significance. It may not be easy.

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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University.

Tensions between Turkey and US over Congress resolution on Armenian “genocide”

 PRESS RELEASE (WJC)–Turkey’s foreign minister,  Ahmet Davutoglu, has warned of a breakdown in ties with Washington after a committee of the US House of Representatives approved a resolution labeling the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians a “genocide.” Davutoglu said the Obama administration had not sufficiently put its weight behind efforts to block the vote. He called on the administration to prevent the measure from coming to the full House. Immediately after the vote on Thursday night, Ankara recalled its ambassador to the US for consultations.

Davutoglu said the issue was a matter of “honor” and said the country would assess what other measures to take. Some historians estimate up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the 1915/16 conflict, most of them at hands of Ottoman forces. Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, denies the word genocide is an accurate description of the events.

The resolution will now go to the full House of Representatives, where its prospects are uncertain.

Earlier this week, the Jewish community of Turkey reiterated its opposition to the resolution tabled in Congress. In a statement, it said that “the assessment of historic events by parliaments is an unrealistic undertaking that does not serve to the interests of the parties involved, and that such matters can only be resolved by historians.”

However, a key Jewish Congressman urged passage of the resolution. Howard Berman, a Democrat from California and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “Turkey is a vital and, in most respects, a loyal ally of the United States in a volatile region. We have also been a loyal ally to Turkey, and should continue to be so. Be that as it may, nothing justifies Turkey’s turning a blind eye to the reality of the Armenian genocide.”

According to the ‘Jerusalem Post’, Ankara has not – unlike in previous years – sought to enlist the support of Israel and Jewish groups to combat the resolution.

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The Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress.

British Jews take action against hate speech on college campuses

PRESS RELEASE (WJC)–The Board of Deputies of British Jews has drawn up an action plan to combat the spread of extremism and hate speech on university campuses in the UK, which is at risk of turning into a pandemic, the ‘Jewish Chronicle’ reports. According to the paper, the Board’s plan draws on experience of campaigning against extremist Muslim speakers at British universities who hold hostile views toward Israel and would include alerting university authorities of any impending visits of extremists. The Board also proposes that participants speakers sign strict written undertakings that hate speech will not be used and agree to filming by university authorities.

The ‘Jewish Chronicle’ also reports that guidance on the limits of free speech is currently being developed by the Board of Deputies and the Community Security Trust. The Board, which is the umbrella organization of British Jewry, renewed its commitment to “a robust and uncompromising opposition to extremist ideologies that adversely affect the Jewish communities”.

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The preceding provided by World Jewish Congress.

Can the disgruntled unite?

By Rabbi Dow Marmur

JERUSALEM–Most people in the world are said to be disgruntled (described in my dictionary as “discontented, resentful, disappointed”) with politics and politicians. Perhaps the difference in Israel is that here even politicians seem to be disgruntled with (their own) politics and (other) politicians. The tensions within and around many of the political parties in the Knesset are painful illustrations.

Kadima  that has most seats in the Knesset but failed to form a government and decided not to join Likud whose leader would become prime minister. It has a disgruntled Number Two, Shaul Mofaz, who repeatedly challenges party leader Tzipi Livni by threatening to take several of their colleagues with him and form a faction of his own or join Likud. This has, of course, diminished Livni’s status as the Leader of the Opposition.

The right wing of Likud includes many disgruntled members within the Knesset and outside, because of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s effort to stay in the centre in order not to annoy the Americans more than necessary. He has made serious efforts to delay internal elections out of fear that the disgruntled on the party’s right wing will make gains because of the building freeze (such as it is) in the settlements, imposed by the Netanyahu government as a first step toward talks with Palestinians.

Labor has already broken up and some of its few Knesset members have left parliament. Others don’t really support their leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Meretz, on the so-called far left, which was decimated in the last election, has just published an internal soul-searching document which may lead to it ceasing to exist altogether or perhaps joining the disgruntled of Labor.

Though we don’t know of any disgruntled members in Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu (probably because he doesn’t allow it), the rest of the country is very unhappy. His dealings with the police and the courts have heated up. Though he has been investigated for potential criminal offences for the last 13 years, more recent evidence may actually bring about charges. The effect on his party, and therefore on the current government coalition of which it’s a part, is difficult to determine but it’ll be messy.

In the past, many disgruntled politicians have formed new parties that have been and gone, the latest of which were Shinui and the Pensioners. The former was led by the late Tommy Lapid. His son Yair is rumored to try to form a new party of the disgruntled, bringing together refugees from the above and some new ones.

But this is at best another band aid soon to disappear. The only way is, of course, for Kadima to join the Netanyahu government and thus get rid of troubling coalition partners, not least Yisrael Beiteinu. The Likud disgruntled may not be appeased, but they can probably be managed. The Kadima disgruntled would cease because they want to be in government. The peace process could now continue – and, alas, probably show that the Palestinians’ Iranian paymasters are much more opposed to it than Israel’s right-wingers.

According to a report in Ha’aretz, President Peres is trying to persuade Livni and Netanyahu to become political partners. Despite his powers of persuasion, political skills and the status of his office, we’re told that he hasn’t (yet) been successful. He knows well that one politician’s ego feeds the disgruntlement of the other, but as president he’s trying to help everybody to learn from his experience and see sense for the good of the country.

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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.  He divides his year between Canada and Israel.

Diplomatic battle for new UN sanctions against Iran heating up

 PRESS RELEASE (WJC)–After a closed-door session of the United Nations Security Council on Sudan and Iran, the United States ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, has denied reports that Washington had elaborated and circulated a draft resolution regarding new sanctions against Iran. “We are not at the present circulating a draft text of a resolution to Council colleagues here in New York,” Rice said. Media reports said the sanctions package proposed by Washington would both broaden the scope and intensify three previous rounds of sanctions enacted since 2006 in an effort to persuade Iran to halt uranium enrichment and compromise over its nuclear program.

China again pointed out that diplomatic efforts had to continue before any new sanctions should be imposed. However, some experts believe Beijing will eventually accept a watered-down resolution in the Security Council. “China is preparing the ground to effectively water down the expectations and the impact of any sanctions that might eventually be agreed,” Sarah Raine of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, was quoted as saying by the news agency ‘Agence France Presse’. “The question is making sure from China’s perspective that those sanctions have minimal impact on its interests there,” she added.

The European Union told the Board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna that it supported new Iran sanctions. “Iran’s persistent failure to meet its international obligations require a clear response, including through appropriate measures,” adding that the EU would support action by the UN Security Council “if Iran continues not to cooperate with the international community over its nuclear program.”

Meanwhile, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi warned against imposing international sanctions on her country, but said Western companies should not assist the regime in Tehran to continue its oppression. Speaking at the Asia Society in New York she said sanctions on Iran would backfire. However, Ebadi called on governments to stop Western firms from doing business with the regime in Tehran.

Ebadi left Iran a day before the June 2009 presidential elections to attend a conference in Spain, and has yet to return. Her sister was arrested after mass protests in December. A month earlier, Ebadi said the Iranian government had confiscated her Nobel Prize medal from a Tehran bank vault. The Iranian authorities have denied this.

Brazilian President Luís Iñacio Lula da Silva also reiterated his opposition to sanctions. “It is not prudent to push Iran up against a wall. The prudent thing is to establish negotiations.” Lula is scheduled to visit Iran soon. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met earlier this week with Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

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The preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Re-souling on Shabbat

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal

SAN DIEGO–I love Friday nights. Friday night is Shabbat. It is the one evening of the week that neither Judy nor I have anything to do but be with each other, family, and friends. On the other nights of the week dinner is usually a rushed affair, a prelude to the meetings or housework that follows. On Shabbat our wedding china and silver come out and dinner is relaxed and leisurely. We do not allow our dining to be interrupted by telephones ringing or email chirping. On Friday nights we savor the neshama yeteira, the extra soul that our sages say enters the body on Shabbat.

When speaking about the festivals of Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot the Torah says, “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel.” (34:23) The literal meaning of this verse is that on these three festivals every Israelite was supposed to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem and celebrate there. That is why Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot are referred to as the “three pilgrimage festivals.”

Rabbi Moses Alsheikh interpreted the Hebrew midrashically. He wrote that the image of God (tzelem Elohim) is found within every human being. However, the drudgery and anxiety of daily living often cloud that divine image and we do not always see it. On Shabbat and holidays, labor and exertion give way to rest and celebration and this allows the divine spark in each of us to shine through.

We can, Rabbi Alsheikh writes, read the verse from parashat Ki Tissa in the following way: on the Shabbatot and Festivals of Israel “all your males shall appear [to bear the face of] the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel.” It is only on Shabbatot and holidays that our true divine nature shines forth.

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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue

German minister says Iranian membership of UN Human Rights Council would be an “affront”

 

PRESS RELEASE (WJC)–Germany’s Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, has called on UN member states to vote against Iran when it seeks a seat on the United Nations’ Human Rights Council later this year. He said having Iranian membership of the council would be an “affront” to human rights. Addressing the Geneva-based UN body, Westerwelle said that Iran was undeserving because it has violated many of its citizens’ human rights, including during a postelection crackdown on protesters last year.

In May, the UN General Assembly is expected to elect new members to the 47-nation council, which was set up in 2006 as a successor of the failed UN Human Rights Commission. The regime in Tehran was heavily criticized last month at the council’s first-ever review of the human rights situation in Iran.

On Wednesday, six human rights activists were reportedly arrested in Iran, and an appeals court in Tehran upheld the death sentence imposed on a 20-year-old student for his involvement in anti-government protests. Mohammad Amin Valian was found guilty of “waging war against God” for throwing stones at security forces.

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The preceding provided by World Jewish Congress.