Submitted Stories by Mark J. Joffe RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Mark J. Joffe
At GA, JTA publisher checks out Sderot, where rocket attacks have been renewed
About 35 determined G.A. participants boarded a bus early this morning headed for Sderot, the scrappy town closest to the Gaza border where rocket attacks have resumed this month, after half a year of relative calm. Before they could climb aboard, they had to sign waivers acknowledging the riskiness of the trip and absolving UJC of any responsibility for death or injury. Read more »
Attacks end brief respite in Sderot
A short respite from rocket attacks has ended for the residents of Sderot, who again are struggling with a daily barrage of Kassams barreling in from the Gaza Strip. Read more »
Israeli official predicts return to talks
NEW YORK, Nov. 5 (JTA) – Now is the "moment of truth for Palestinians to decide if they want an agreement" with Israel, the Jewish state's foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, said during a visit here last week. But what if the Palestinians decide they really do not want an agreement with Israel if it means making painful compromises on Jerusalem? President Clinton is scheduled to meet at the White House with Yasser Arafat on Thursday and next Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. But if he fails to put together a formula to restart the peace talks, the Palestinian leader may unilaterally declare an independent state – as early as next week. And how will Israel respond if Arafat does declare a state, with no prospect for resuming the peace talks anytime soon? "We will have to respond by disengaging" and setting up a "flexible line of defense" to protect Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Ben-Ami told reporters at a special briefing for the Jewish media here last Friday, a day after Barak appointed him permanent Israeli foreign minister. "We're not going to annex every part of the West Bank," he said. But the Israeli army will set up "defensive blocs" to protect the settlements. On the other hand, if the peace talks do somehow get restarted, what is the likelihood that a settlement can be achieved, given the violence of the past two months? Is there any hope of reaching an agreement on Jerusalem, given the hardening of positions on both sides in the wake of Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon's controversial visit to the Temple Mount and the Palestinians' destruction of Jewish holy sites in Nablus and Jericho? Given what has happened, Ben-Ami told reporters, it "sounds unrealistic, perhaps even surrealistic" to believe that the two sides can strike an agreement on Jerusalem. But he said, "we need to believe that there is a possibility" for a settlement. "There is a crisis of confidence and trust with the parties," the foreign minister said. "There needs to be a process of mutual healing." That does not mean the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have to become friends. "This process is not about love, it's about peace," he said. Ben-Ami is philosophical about the violence that has engulfed his country during the past five weeks. "This may be a crisis that was needed for the parties to understand" the need to compromise, he said. The good news, he said, is that the Palestinians were "totally unable to erode Israel's political support throughout the world." Claiming that the European countries have pretty much stood by Israel throughout the recent conflict, Ben-Ami said, "Nobody really succumbed to the pressure of the Palestinians." Arafat will see that "this violence leads nowhere," he predicted, and eventually the peace talks will resume. But if and when those talks do resume, things will have changed. "When we get back to the negotiations, some of our positions will be strengthened and some will be weakened," Ben-Ami said. In particular, Israel will be even more resistant to the idea of granting Palestinian refugees any right of return – an issue that is of crucial importance to the Palestinian leadership. But Ben-Ami said he has "no doubt whatsoever" that if a peace agreement is eventually hammered out and presented to the Israeli electorate in a referendum, there will be a "landslide'' vote in favor of it. Read more »
Saving the whales: Is it Jewish?
What exactly is a "Jewish cause"? Many Jewish groups and individuals are active on issues that have nothing to do with Judaism. Some say Jewish foundations and funders should not support non-Jewish causes — not when there are so many Jewish institutions i Read more »
Saving the whales: Is it Jewish?
What exactly is a "Jewish cause"? Many Jewish groups and individuals are active on issues that have nothing to do with Judaism. Some say Jewish foundations and funders should not support non-Jewish causes — not when there are so many Jewish institutions i Read more »
FOCUS ON ISSUES New charities shatter myth about philanthropy in Israel
KIBBUTZ SHEFAYIM, Israel. Nov. 30 (JTA) – Diaspora Jews give dollars to Israel, while Israeli Jews give their lives. So goes the common conception that philanthropy in Israel is a one-way street, with North American Jews doing all the ``giving" and Israelis doing only the ``taking." That myth is being shattered by an explosion of philanthropic efforts in Israel that has been building over the past few years and really erupted during the last 12 months. In the last year alone: * A grassroots fund-raising campaign, called Spirit of Israel, in which Israelis give to earmarked programs run by the Jewish Agency for Israel, was launched and has already brought in 17,000 contributions totaling some $4.5 million. * A Lion of Judah campaign, modeled after the United Jewish Appeal Women''s Division program bearing the same name, has been launched in Israel and already counts 56 members among its ranks. * A United Way-style campaign has set up shop in Israel and is hoping to launch its first campaign next March. ``There are fantastic changes taking place here," says Nicky Capelouto, a businessman who immigrated here from South Africa 20 years ago and now chairs the Spirit of Israel campaign. ``We''ve got a society that is moving forward with a sense of responsibility for its own issues." This new burst of philanthropic initiatives can be attributed to a number of factors. First and foremost is Israel''s new affluence. There are now 2,500 millionaire families in Israel, according to Shalom Elcott, who is preparing to launch a nationwide United Way campaign here. ``We''ve reached a point in Israel where there is enough wealth to contribute to social causes," says Moshe Teomim, co-owner of what is reputed to be Israel''s largest market research and advertising agency. And according to Teomim, Israelis are already doing so. A recent survey conducted by his firm found that 72 percent of Israelis contribute money to a cause, and 74 percent of commercial businesses are involved in community causes of some sort. Part of the push has come from Diaspora fund-raisers, who have been trying to foster the notion of a philanthropic ``partnership" in recent years. The Jewish Agency was considered a major impetus behind the Spirit of Israel campaign and provided much of the seed money for the project. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has also launched a number of projects in Israel during the past decade aimed at developing an indigenous network of social services funded by Israelis. Among those projects is an umbrella group called the Third Sector, which serves as a sort of clearinghouse for Israeli self-help groups. Today 350 not-for-profit agencies belong to the Third Sector, which has become a Good Housekeeping- style seal of approval for these charities. But there has also been a strong push for philanthropy from within Israeli society, as many Israelis have become increasingly concerned about a number of social problems facing the country that they do not think the government is capable of addressing. One of those Israelis is Ronny Douek, a 40-year-old businessman from Ramat Hasharon who founded Zionism 2000 – a movement aimed not only at aiding social causes but also at bringing about social change in Israel. Douek was spurred to action a few years ago by a feature story in the Israeli mass daily Yediot Achronot about the depressed living conditions in the ``caravans" set up for recent immigrants from Ethiopia. Disgusted at how the Ethiopians were being treated, Douek set up a charitable trust to fund the construction of community centers at three of the housing sites. A year later, Douek turned his energy to another social problem that he felt the government was neglecting: drug abuse among Israeli teen-agers. He set up Alternative, a mobile campaign that seeks to educate teens about the dangers of using drugs. The program operates out of two buses that have been converted into hip- looking mobile screening rooms. Teens invited inside watch a film about an ``acid party" gone bad, which is followed up by a discussion with a drug counselor about the risks of substance abuse. The program originally received a cold shoulder from the Education Ministry and other agencies dealing with the drug problem. But the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin embraced it, and the program now receives government funding. ``Today we''re the most important anti-drug information project in the country," says Douek, adding that the program has already reached some 150,000 Israeli youth. But it was the assassination of Rabin that convinced Douek that the nation''s social problems were a symptom of a larger problem of national attitude and values. And so he gathered together a group of 200 thinkers – business people, journalists, actors, lawyers and others – and created Zionism 2000: A Movement for Social Responsibility. Today the philanthropy, based at this kibbutz, sponsors three major projects: Leadership 2000, an education and service program aimed at fostering democratic values and leadership skills among youth; Business for the Community, a program aimed at getting corporations to take on community improvement projects; and Extend a Hand to One Child, a program in which well-off families volunteer and provide cash assistance to children from needy families, so that they can receive better educational opportunities. The idea behind these projects is not only to supplement government efforts to address various social problems, but also to help ordinary Israelis develop a sense of responsibility for their fellow citizens. ``There are hundreds of people in our organization who are giving hours of their time to do something" says Douek. Israelis are beginning to ``control their own destiny and the destiny of the country." Fostering that sense of responsibility is also a goal of the Spirit of Israel campaign. The campaign was the brainchild of Avraham Burg, the charismatic chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive. Burg and the Jewish Agency itself have been trying to develop the idea of an Israel-Diaspora philanthropic partnership, rather than the more traditional one- way flow of money from UJA campaigns to the Jewish state. It would be wrong, though, to think of Spirit of Israel as the Israeli branch of the United Jewish Appeal. For its founders recognized immediately that a different type of ``culture of giving" would be needed on Israeli soil. ``We felt it was important that this campaign be representative of the masses," says Joe Dushansky, the campaign''s executive director. ``We want to try to get across to every Israeli the importance of philanthropy." And so the campaign set up polling stations all over Israel last year in which voters were asked to rank their philanthropic priorities. The cause that won was providing assistance to elderly needy people, in a country where there is a shortage of beds for people requiring around-the-clock nursing care. Last spring, the group launched a campaign dedicated solely to providing assistance for the elderly. One of Israel''s television stations pitched in by agreeing to air a series of 30-second public service announcements promoting the campaign. And during the month of December, McDonald''s restaurants in Israel are contributing a percentage of their profits to the charity. Spirit of Israel hopes eventually to reach 250,000 donors, by focusing on many small gifts, rather than a few large ones. ``We treat the donor of one shekel the same as everyone else," Dushansky explains. Another type of mass appeal is just now getting under way. This one is an attempt to set up a United Way campaign in Israel, in which employees would donate a portion of their paychecks to a philanthropy of their choice. The project, which opened its offices in September, was initiated by Shari Arison, president of the Arison Foundation and a member of the family that owns Carnival Cruise Lines. It hopes to begin raising money next March. ``We''re trying to take a concept that''s about 100 years old and replicate it in Israel," explains Shalom Elcott, the project''s director. ``Our objective is to empower people," he says. ``We think that we can effect a major change that will ultimately reduce the obligations of Diaspora Jewry" to fund humanitarian needs in Israel. How well these various philanthropic initiatives will succeed, and whether they will become a permanent weave in Israel''s social fabric are questions that remain to be answered. ``There are a lot of people around who say this is not going to fly, who are waiting for this to fail,'''' says Dushansky of Spirit of Israel. But the sheer number and scale of the various philanthropic initiatives that have been launched in the last few years is proof itself that Israelis feel a new sense of responsibility to help their own. Read more »
NEWS ANALYSIS Jewish Agency struggles to reprioritize its mission
JERUSALEM, Nov. 16 (JTA) – Facing a future when its historic mission of rescue and resettlement may one day be completed, the Jewish Agency for Israel is struggling to reposition itself and reorder its priorities. And it is doing so at a time when the landscape of American Jewish philanthropy is rapidly changing around it. Delegates from around the world grappled with that reality this week as they convened here for the Jewish Agency's annual assembly. After hours of debate that included a fair amount of vociferous criticism, they adopted a ``Shared Vision and Mission Statement" that redefines both the agency's work and the way it is supposed to accomplish it. The adoption of the statement is the first major milestone in a strategic planning process that may determine whether the agency continues to enjoy the support of most Jewish community federations in the United States beyond Dec. 31, 1999, when its contract for funding by the United Jewish Appeal expires. Many federations have been openly critical of the agency and have reduced their annual allocations to it over the years, in some cases funding their own programs in Israel separately. If this trend leads to the abrogation of a binding arrangement between the federations and the Jewish Agency, it will change the way American Jews have been contributing money to Israel for the last half century. But, in fact, that process is already changing, as the three central institutions of American Jewish philanthropy – the United Jewish Appeal, the Council of Jewish Federations and the United Israel Appeal – put the finishing touches on a merger into a single, streamlined entity. While many of the specifics of the merger are still being ironed out, one thing is clear, said Bennett Aaron, chairman of UIA. ``The federation system in North America wants to have much more control" over the money its donors send to Israel and how that money is being spent. The mission and vision statement, adopted Monday after three days of extensive debate, was crafted to respond not only to changing needs in Israel but to the changing priorities of the federation system and its donors in North America. The statement identifies five major areas of activity for the agency: * aliyah and rescue, which it defines as its ``primary priority at this time"; * strengthening the relationship between Israel and the rest of world Jewry; * enhancing Jewish unity; * enhancing Jewish identity; and * strengthening the State of Israel as a state for all Jews. All but the ``aliyah and rescue" functions are essentially new. While the agency has always underwritten Jewish and Zionist education in the Diaspora, never before has it assumed responsibility for such things as ``cultivating Jewish identity," promoting the ``enrichment of Jewish life" in Israel and striving to ``create an appetite and an environment for developing Jewish values and Jewish cultural creativity." And while the Jewish Agency has always billed itself as the principal link between Israel and the Diaspora, never before has it assigned itself the task of securing the ``future of the Jewish people" or creating a ``global Jewish community." The move to broaden the agency's mandate is ``an attempt to grapple with a post-aliyah period," said Shoshana Cardin, immediate past chairman of UIA, which distributes and monitors the use of funds raised by Jewish federations in the United States for the Jewish Agency. With just 50,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union now coming to Israel each year and with all but a few thousand Jews rescued from Ethiopia, ``we had to have a vision of what the agency would do in the 21st century," Cardin said. Beyond the expanded mandate, the mission statement calls for a new mode of operating, using many of the buzzwords of American corporate culture in an era of ``downsizing" and ``re-engineering." The agency plans to continue to ``act collectively while also facilitating and coordinating individual community action and interaction," according to the statement. It will strive to be a ``flexible, responsive, dynamic learning organization" that will ``encourage consultation, mutuality, accountability and controlled risk taking." What that means is that the Jewish Agency ``should concentrate on only those issues where our added value is important," said Salai Meridor, the agency's treasurer and next chairman. ``We have to go through a serious process of cultural change in the agency," he said last Friday in an address to assembly delegates. Whether these changes will succeed in countering the agency's image as a bloated Israeli bureaucracy that is unresponsive to the needs of its donors – in the words of one federation executive – remains to be seen. According to some delegates, that change has already happened. ``This is not the same animal that existed a few years ago," Nicky Capelouto of South Africa, a member of the agency's Board of Governors, said last Friday, during one of the assembly's several break-out discussions. Others warned that such changes could go too far. ``We have made a fetish out of efficiency and professionalism," exclaimed Jacques Torczyner of New York, a Zionist delegate and member of the Board of Governors. The heated debate sometimes degenerated into fierce battles over semantic minutiae. But in the end, the delegates adopted the two-page statement, agreeing that it was time to move forward. Avraham Burg, chairman of the Jewish Agency, put the assembly's discussions in a broader context. The Jewish world is ``going through a very deep and difficult crisis about identity," he said. The real question, he said, is, ``Can the Jewish people survive without an external enemy?'' Read more »
Iraq may still have Scuds and nuclear-capable bombs
NEW YORK, Sept. 10 (JTA) – Iraq could still have Scud missiles capable of striking Israel and may even have three nuclear bombs, despite eight years of U.N. disarmament efforts. Richard Butler, chairman of UNSCOM, the U.N. Special Commission charged with Iraqi weapons inspections, raised the possibility that Iraq still possesses Scud missiles, in remarks he made Wednesday at a briefing sponsored by the Middle East Forum, a New York-based think tank that publishes the journal Middle East Quarterly. He spoke a day after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution delaying any possible review of sanctions against Iraq until Baghdad resumes cooperation with UNSCOM inspection activities. Iraq suspended such cooperation last month. Butler also refused to comment on an Israeli media report that Iraq is hiding three ``technologically complete" nuclear bombs that lack only the fissile material to make them operational. The Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that the existence of the bombs was disclosed recently at a closed-door meeting of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy by Scott Ritter, a ranking member of the Iraqi inspection team who recently resigned from UNSCOM in protest. Ha'aretz also reported Wednesday that Iraq is believed to still have between five and 12 Al Hussein ballistic missiles and parts for another 25. Butler said he was not going to comment on intelligence documents that might give the Iraqi government a precise idea of what information UNSCOM currently possesses about Baghdad's weapons capability. The Ha'aretz report about nuclear-capable bombs and the possibility that Iraq still possesses Scuds capable of hitting Israel are important because they appear to indicate that Baghdad remains a greater potential threat to Israel than has generally been believed. The prevailing view has been that most, if not all, of Iraq's Scud missiles were destroyed soon after the Gulf War ended in 1991, and that Baghdad's nuclear capability has been virtually, if not totally, eliminated. Butler raised similar concerns about the threat to Israel a year ago, when he told The New York Times that Iraq may possess enough biological substances, such as anthrax or botulin toxin, to ``blow away Tel Aviv." Butler said Wednesday that his team had asked the Iraqis for an accounting of some 300 tons of propellant that is used only with Scud missiles. The Iraqis first denied that the propellant still existed and then said that if it did, it would not matter since all missiles had been destroyed. To this day, Butler said, the Iraqis have not proven that the propellant had been destroyed. ``As long as Scud-specific fuel is retained," he said, ``it points to the possibility that Scud missiles are retained." The UNSCOM chief said that his commission had accounted for 817 of the 819 Scud missiles that Iraq had imported from the former Soviet Union – leaving doubts about the whereabouts of the other two missiles. In addition, he said his commission had failed to obtain any information from Baghdad about any Scuds the Iraqis may have produced indigenously. Last September, Butler told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that Iraq still has ``an indigenous missile capability." And he was quoted at the time by the Times as saying the remaining missiles are ``very crude, but they work.'' Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 11/22/09 @ 04:34PM EDT
- "Real progress" has been made in negotiations to release a captured Israeli soldier, President Shimon Peres confirmed.
- The online auction Web site eBay said it took down an ad offering biological samples from Benito Mussolini before anyone could bid on them.
- Turkey has given Israeli defense contractors 50 days to deliver 10 promised drone aircraft.
- Iran began an air defense drill designed to protect its nuclear program, Iranian state television reported.
- The Gaza war has spurred more Israeli recruits to request service in combat units, the country's army said.
- Peres: ‘Real progress’ in Shalit talks
- eBay removes Mussolini brain, blood samples
- Turkey demands delivery of Israeli drones
- Iran begins air defense drill
- More Israeli recruits seeking to join combat units
- Haredim return to protest Jerusalem Intel factory
- Gaza groups agree to stop rocket fire
- Pakistani Mumbai terrorists arrested in Italy
- Female Orthodox scholars helping women talk about sex
- Obama half-brother has Jewish roots
- Lieberman: Fort Hood could be terror attack
- J Street confab shows generational divide on Israel
- What really happened at the Reform biennial in Toronto
- Rubashkin convicted on 86 charges
- Pro-Israel fliers confiscated at campus speech
- Obama shifts to Israel’s corner, but tries not to show it
