Israel Campus Beat - May 7, 2006

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Business Science & Technology Arts and Entertainment Sports Domestic Israel News Suggest a Story Educational Resources Israel Study & Travel Additional News Sources Research Institutes NGOs Israeli Universities Israeli Government & IDF Featured this week Ben-Gurion Berkeley Brandeis Columbia Dartmouth Florida State Haifa Harvard Illinois - Urbana Johns Hopkins Kent State Manitoba Marquette Master's College Minnesota Missouri - St. Louis Ohio State Oklahoma Oregon State Stanford Technion Tel Aviv UCLA Yeshiva	Bush Pledges "Unwavering Support" for Israel by Yitzhak Benhorin American President George Bush promised to take an aggressive stand against the Hamas government, to press for a "difficult decision" to be taken in the UN's Security Council on the Iranian nuclear issue, and to safeguard Israel's security without wavering. Bush said and his government would have no contact with Hamas leaders of the Palestinian government until the group recognizes Israel. "America's commitment to Israel's security is strong, enduring and unshakeable," Bush said in a speech in Washington, speaking to the American Jewish Committee, which is marking its 100th anniversary.  (Ynet News) Additional Headlines Hamas Brands Convergence a Declaration of War Israel Foils Plot to Kill Palestinian President Wolfensohn Steps Down as Quartet Envoy with Dig at Hamas New Israeli Government Takes Office by Jeffrey Heller Israel's new government took office on Thursday under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who pledged it would implement a plan to remove isolated Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank but keep major enclaves forever. In a policy speech to parliament, which later voted 65-49 to approve his coalition government, Olmert also voiced deep concern over Iran's nuclear program, accusing the Islamic Republic of targeting the Jewish state for annihilation. (Reuters)     See also Olmert's Cabinet Includes Some Familiar Veterans, Some New Faces by Dan Baron Thumbnail biographical sketches of the main players in Israel's new government. (JTA) Speaking Out on Israel's Behalf by Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi In Israel's case that core message is this: Israel is a democracy whose people desperately want a way to make peace, whose leaders have striven to make peace since even before the state came into being and who will continue to seek a way to make peace with its neighbors. But not at all costs. Not at the cost of its very existence as a sovereign Jewish state. Israel's neighbors must want peace too. They must, in truth, acknowledge and accept that the Jewish state has a rightful place in the Middle East. [The author, founder and president of The Israel Project in Washington, presents "10 suggestions from among many possibilities to help us speak out successfully on Israel's behalf."] (Canadian Jewish News) Brandeis University Pulls Palestinian Art From Exhibit Brandeis University officials removed from a school exhibit artwork that depicts injured and bloodied Palestinian children, according to a media report. The images were painted by Palestinian teenagers at the request of an Israeli Jewish student at at the Jewish-sponsored college who wanted to bring the Palestinian viewpoint to campus. But school officials said the paintings were too one-sided. The paintings were removed Saturday, four days into a two-week exhibit at a school library. (AP/Ha'aretz) Dartmouth: Elie Wiesel to Give Commencement Speech by Phil Salinger Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel will deliver this year's keynote Commencement address on June 11. Some members of the Dartmouth Jewish community said that the choice was especially significant to Jews on campus, both because of Wiesel's views on Israel and because of what the choice says for inclusivity at Dartmouth. "Elie Wiesel is an influential and respected voice on Israel," Hillel President Chase Hogle '07 said. "His views on Israel, including his condemnations of the Iranian president's recent despicable remarks, are important for Dartmouth to hear." (Dartmouth Online) UCLA: Students Celebrate Israel's Birthday by Sarah Winter Amid the smell of Israeli food, the aroma of apple-flavored hookah smoke and the sound of a live band from Tel Aviv, students holding Israeli and American flags sang and danced in Bruin Plaza last week to celebrate Israel's 58th birthday. The event, put on by the student group Bruins for Israel, attracted a wide array of students in what event organizers said was a successful celebration of the history and culture of Israel's existence as a state since it was established in 1948. (Daily Bruin)     See also Israeli Independence Celebrated, Debated  (Daily Bruin) Florida State: Israel and Palestine: Will They Ever Find Peace? by Celeste Eberhardt David Newman lectured last week on "The Israeli Elections: Implications for the Israel/Palestine Conflict." Newman, a professor at Ben Gurion University in Israel, explained that the lecture was intended to give students information about the current situation with the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Newman said that even though he stated where he stands politically during his lecture, he wanted students to form their own opinions. (FSUNews) Point-Counterpoint - Is Birthright a Success? Reevaluate Birthright Israel by David Forman Nothing comes easy like water from a faucet. One has to work hard to achieve something of value. When something is given away for free, you can deduce it is not worth much. To crown someone with the grand Jewish prize of coming to Israel - for being Jewishly apathetic is to tell that person: Judaism is cheap. American Jews are turning Israel into a Jewish Disney World - instant entertainment that provides momentary pleasure, and little lasting effect. Yet such a quick-fix is supposed to save the Diaspora Jewish community and guarantee its perpetuity. One wonders what happened to the educational advisors of the Jewish philanthropists behind birthright. The professionals know that lasting Jewish commitment begins at birth and is nurtured throughout one's lifetime. Would it not have been wiser for wealthy Jews to have invested the approximately $250 million spent on birthright thus far on building academically prestigious Jewish day-schools that go through high school? One needs to think clearly about how best to secure that Jewish future; and therefore reexamine one's educational and ideological goals, and where best to expend one's financial resources. Short-term solutions do not solve long-term failures. The influence of birthright israel will remain marginal unless it serves one purpose only: aliya. (Jerusalem Post) Taglit-Birthright Israel is a Success by Barry Chazan The history of the project is not as described in the article. The genesis was not in an act of desperation or because of a student eating a pork sandwich on Yom Kippur. Rather, it began in creative brainstorming by some significant Jewish leaders which led to intense thinking and planning, and culminated in a bold and daring paradigm shift in the Israel experience field. The founders of birthright israel believe that Jewish identity formation is not as described in the article - exclusively beginning at birth and dependent on quality Jewish day high schools - but happens in many diverse ways and at many diverse times. Taglit-birthright israel did what it did when the Israel experience industry was on the verge of tragic collapse. Taglit-birthright israel turned "five lean years" into "five years of plenty." Taglit-birthright israel's goals are about Jewish meaning-making, Jewish identity, Jewish peoplehood, Israel connection, and if one so chooses, aliya. It is about the future lives of Jews, the Jewish people, and the State of Israel. So far, the research shows that the positive effect on Jewish attitudes and behaviors lasts at the same high level five years after the trip. Only time will tell, but so far, time is telling a good story. Birthright israel never claimed to be "The Savior" or the "magic bullet." It did break with the status quo, and created a new model of finding young Jews, bringing them to Israel, and working with communities afterwards to continue their journey, while continually researching what we are doing in order to improve it. (Jerusalem Post) To unsubscribe from Israel Campus Beat, click here
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JINSA Article Digest for May, 5th

Articles added to JINSA Online from April, 28th to May, 5th.
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#566 Misdirected Outrage

(2006-04-28) The price of gas is high and consumers are angry.�But when our
elected representatives stage press conferences near gas stations and call
for investigations of oil company collusion over prices they are pandering
and their outrage is deliberately misplaced and cynical.�We dont like high
gas prices and were not crazy about oil company profits, but $0.09/gallon in
the hands of Exxon (or the $0.18/gallon in taxes the U.S. government rakes
in) doesnt foster international jihad or threaten the world with nuclear
annihilation.�The real money is going to the bad guys. Read the analysis in
JINSA Report #566.

Read more @ http://www.jinsa.org/articles/view.html?documentid=3391
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

#567 Iraq Has a Government

(2006-05-03) Last week, Iraq created a coalition government derived from
open, multiparty elections; that doubles the club in the Middle East and is a
huge step toward consensual government in the Arab world. We applaud the
Iraqis for finding some give-and-take in a place notoriously hostile to
compromise, and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for keeping
enough-but-not-too-much heat on the parties. But just as having an election
doesnt make a democracy, neither does forming a government. Read the analysis
in JINSA Report #567.

Read more @ http://www.jinsa.org/articles/view.html?documentid=3393
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

#568 And So Does Israel

(2006-05-03) The underpinning of the Oslo Accords - the idea that Israel has
a Palestinian partner with which to negotiate is finally crushed by the
Palestinian popular choice of a terrorist government committed to the
destruction of Israel. Meanwhile, Iran moves closer to nuclear capability at
the upper reaches of the threat spectrum and foments and pays for terrorism
at the lower end. In stark contrast, Israel provides the example of what
determination and hard work can do in a country poor in natural resources,
but rich in free people. Read the analysis in JINSA Report #568.

Read more @ http://www.jinsa.org/articles/view.html?documentid=3394

_______________________________________________
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Invitation for an upcoming JINSA Event

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs cordially invites you
to attend a presentation on

"The Long War: America's Security Interests in the Middle East"

Featuring

BRIGADIER GENERAL MARK T. KIMMITT, USA

Deputy Director, Strategy and Plans
United States Central Command

Wednesday, May 17
5:30pm-7:00pm
The Army-Navy Club
901 17th Street NW * Washington, DC 20006

The United States and its allies are engaged in what has been viewed as
a generational conflict against terrorists and countries that harbor and
support them. In this view, the "hot" wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
represent only battles in a much longer conflict.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt will discuss American military strategy for the
"long war," update the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, and
address the importance of success on these fronts in preventing further
attacks on U.S. soil. He will also discuss U.S. efforts to cultivate
stable and open governments in the Middle East that will serve broader
Western security goals in the region.

Brig. Gen. Kimmitt is Deputy Director of Strategy and Plans at United
States Central Command. His responsibilities include the development of
strategy and plans for the Central Command area of responsibility, which
includes nations in Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, the
Horn of Africa, and active operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bring your questions.
We promise you a candid and enlightening conversation.

Please RSVP to Shoshana Bryen at JINSA by e-mail at sbryen@jinsa.org or
by telephone at 202-667-3900

Looking forward --

___________________________________________________
Have a comment on this JINSA Report? Send an email to feedback@jinsa.org to let us know.

Access past JINSA Reports at: http://www.jinsa.org/

If you would like to receive JINSA Reports by e-mail, please sign up online at
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Israel shrugs off its midlife crisis... and celebrates 58!

	May 3, 2006

Check today's blog | Support our Zionist mission! SPONSORED BY: Shmooze: The Jewish Social Network Shmooze is a gathering place for the Jewish People in all its diversity, enabling Jews the world over to define themselves, create friends and business connections, upload and share photos, create and join groups, each with built-in forums, multi-user blogs and file collections. Organizations and publications can use Shmooze to created their own branded social networks. It's more than a dating site, and it's not just for singles... though singles will LOVE it. There's nothing quite like it and, best of all, it's free for individual members. Check it out! OPENING LINES: Israel tries to shake its mid-life crisis Dear Israel Insider Readers: Today we celebrated our 58th birthday, the first in about 1936 years, since the Romans threw most us out of here, that Israel has more Jewish citizens than any other nation. It's not that we're such an amazingly attractive place (although we are). It's that we make more babies, and we don't marry out -- factors that cause the Jewish population in every other country to dwindle. Only Israel's Jews are increasing. This is a sobering thought, dwarfing in many respects the mid-life doldrums this nation is going through. Between the looming threat of a mad-dog Iran with nuclear capability and the danger of civil war as Ehud Olmert tries to dismantle dozens of Jewish communities and expel tens of thousands of Jews from their homes -- one would hope that the nation could just buy itself a red ragtop, get itself a hair transplant, start an affair with a 20-something year old nation, and just... get over it. The truth is this: Israel, for all its official stagnation and corruption, is young at heart and fierce in its independence. We may look to America to steal concepts for Reality TV, but Israelihood, more than ever, has a meaning and a substance lacking from Jewish life in any other place and in fact lacking from many other self-respecting nations. Israel is the Jewish future, even if that future is faced with the knowledge that we are a small nation facing large dangers. In theory, we could be obliterated with a couple of nukes. In practice, we are here to stay and will probably be the last nation standing in this region if and when push comes to shove. That may be a hope, and a prayer, but I think there's good grounding for my faith in the reborn Jewish state. If you have never been here, you owe it to yourself. And if you're a young Jew, or an older Jew young at heart, consider doing yourself a favor and take seriously the idea of Israel as YOUR home. I did, 22 years ago, and I've never looked back. Finally, please do, if you are a Jew, please sign up for Shmooze, our Jewish social network. It's fun, it's free, it's interesting and you'll thank me when you find your bashert or future business partner. And if you're not Jewish, don't fret. We have plans to roll out a pro-Israel site for non-Jews as well. If you're connected with an organization interested in your own social network, please contact me directly! So, dear readers, happy birthday to Israel, and chag sameach to us all! Reuven Koret Publisher TOP OF THE NEWS: Shrugging off a mid-life crisis, Israel celebrates its 58th birthday The Jewish State, with over 5.8 million members of the tribe, at last surpassed the US. Articles Abbas says he will not seek second term, will negotiate with Israel Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he will not seek a second term of office when his four-year mandate expires in 2009. Olmert's Cabinet take shape, but questions remain Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert presented a new Cabinet lineup that includes the daughter of a legendary Zionist underground fighter as foreign minister. Israeli army chief: against retaking Gaza, for stopping Iranian nukes Israel's military chief said in comments published Tuesday that he is opposed to the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip in an effort to stop Palestinian terrorists from firing rockets. Israel observes Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, terror victims With the wail of air raid sirens at sundown Monday, Israel began its annual observance of Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks. American students fly to Israel to support wounded classmate Thirty-one classmates of an American high-school student critically wounded in a suicide bombing held an emotional prayer service for the boy, after flying to Israel. Woman killed accidentally by IDF as terrorist fugitives resist surrender IDF shot and killed a Palestinian woman and wounded her two daughters on Monday when they fired on a house in Samaria that an Islamic Jihad terrorist was hiding in. Israel orders settlers to evacuate building in Hebron Israel has notified a group of Jewish settlers in the Judean city of Hebron that they must leave a building they recently occupied or face a forced evacuation. Israel's Kadima signs coalition deal with Shas party, securing majority Interim PM Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party on Sunday signed a coalition deal with the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, media reported, securing a parliamentary majority. Israel approves construction of fence around Jerusalem Israel's Cabinet voted on Sunday to lay temporary fencing around areas of Jerusalem where the controversial security barrier still hasn't been built. IDF: Palestinians have smuggled Katyusha rockets into Gaza Palestinian terrorists have smuggled Katyusha rockets into the Gaza Strip, potentially threatening towns well inside Israel, a senior Israeli military official said Friday. Hamas' first month in power: collision course with Israel and world Just one month into its reign, international isolation of Hamas has deprived it of the funds needed to meet Palestinians' basic needs. Eros B, meant to track Iranian nuke program, sends first images The first high-quality images from an Israeli spy satellite designed to track Iran's nuclear program arrived at a ground station over the weekend, an Israeli official said Sunday. Leftist government taking shape with deal between Olmert's party and Labor The incoming Israeli government will move swiftly to flee from most parts of Judea and Samaria and complete construction of the separation barrier. Israeli Robots and their masters compete for prizes, bragging rights The event, called TechnoBrain, brings out the inventive talents of students, who try to fulfill a tongue-in-cheek robotic chore with appropriate technical and design flare. Yuval Neeman -- physicist, politician, founder of space program -- dies at 80 Yuval Neeman, founder of Israel's space program and a key figure in the nation's nuclear efforts, died Wednesday, his daughter said. He was 80. RECENT VIEWS Dreaming on Yom HaZikaron By Ze'ev Orenstein No matter how many speeches I'll hear, be it today or tomorrow, it doesn't make up for not being there, in Eretz Yisrael. Daniel's Story By Lori Lowenthal Marcus Why is his story not newsworthy? because Daniel Wultz is a teenager, an American, now an amputee, or because he is a Jewish Zionist? The Tattered Flag By Moshe Kempinski I don't want the flag waving on my car to mirror the aspirations and fantasies of so many others with the same flag; so, this year I avoided attaching one. Two minutes for memory By Daniela Shames On Memorial Day, all paths will meet; all rivers of pain will join; all wails of sorrow will combine in a scream of a siren. These I remember By Yehuda Poch The sirens of memorial day cry out a warning that it can happen again. And as long as that is true, we have not truly won anything. Days of Remembrance, Independence and Fear By Moshe Feiglin All that we need is to understand that the Nation of Israel and the State of Israel are first and foremost -- us. No Jordan Option By Dr. Aaron Lerner The "Jordan option" - even if Jordan agreed - would mean a temporary respite with a very real chance of ultimately facing an even more dangerous situation. How the PA makes suicide bombers By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook What drives a young Palestinian to turn his body into a bomb? Terrorists like the boy who killed 9 people in Tel Aviv last week are not born hating. Should Israel Live with the Iranian Bomb? By Edward Bernard Glick If Olmert gives the order, and the IDF pulls it off, the mad mullahs of Persia will be gone and the Middle East will be a much less dangerous place. Olmert's convergence is an existential threat By Ryan Jones There is not one shred of evidence that after Israel withdraws from over 90% of Judea and Samaria, the world will not continue to back Arab demands. Playing Russian Roulette With Human Rights By Alex Margolin If human rights groups genuinely uphold universal principles, why do they ignore the most basic right of Israeli civilians: the right to life? Perverting the Message of the Shoah By Ze'ev Orenstein Under the guise of promoting tolerance and co-existence, the memory of the Holocaust, along with the foundations of the Jewish State, are undermined. It will never go away? Never? By Paula R. Stern There was no Israel to come get them. No country that swung into alert as the dawn of Nazism brought darkness to Europe. The Case against Cindy Sheehan By Bruce S. Ticker Sheehan cannot convince us that she does not have issues with Israel -- and Jewish people in general -- by hiding behind Lerner, who out-liberals most Jews. I Cried in Room #617 By Tamar Yonah It was a poem someone had written. Someone who was living in my hotel room. Someone who for 8 months was crammed into this room with his family. Briefs Holocaust Museum to help trace Jews held in German-occupied France during World War II Islamic Jihad delegation in Cairo for talks on Palestinian situation Former professor sentenced to more prison before he can be deported Rice clings to hope of a Hamas turnabout Report: Rabin's jailed assassin barred from inseminating his wife Israel shocked by alleged rape of young girl on army base Vanunu accepts invitation to Norwegian festival despite travel ban USEFUL LINKS Israel News in English Wiresearch/Newsportals about Israel Israel Insider Yahoo Jerusalem Post Google Israel news (by relevance) Haaretz (English) Google Israel news (by recency) Israel National News   Israel News in Hebrew Other Maariv Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ynet Israel Defense Forces Haaretz CoP/JCPA Daily Alert Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) WebLog of Mideast Politics Voice of Israel (Second Network) OpinionJournal Best of the Web The Israel Insider daily briefing is a limited circulation newsletter intended for supporters and subscribers only. However, you are welcome to forward individual copies to your friends and colleagues, so they can become familiar with this daily source of inside information on what's happening in Israel, and what it means. If you have questions, comments or reactions, please write to us at publisher@israelinsider.com. For an "inside perspective" on the latest news, analysis and commentary from and about Israel, or to sign up for this newsletter, visit our homepage daily at http://www.israelinsider.com. You are currently subscribed to this list as: davidlevy68.home@blogger.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-46235-1130864K@list.israelinsider.com

JINSA Report #568 And So Does Israel

JINSA
1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Suite 515
Washington, DC 20036

202-667-3900
202-667-0601 Fax

May 3, 2006

JINSA Report #568

And So Does Israel

Israel’s Independence Day comes as a new governing coalition is formed -
one that departs from previous Israeli governments in important ways:
the Prime Minister is not a member of either the founding fathers nor
the historic leading families. The Defense Minister will be without
serious experience in defense or military matters. None of the historic
parties will lead the coalition - Kadima is a hybrid built to meet the
exigencies of the times. The coalition will be dependent on a number of
non-national parties, meaning those committed to a platform
(Pensioners), an ethnicity (if the Russian Yisrael Beiteinu joins) or a
religious mandate (Shas).

All of this happens as the underpinning of the Oslo Accords - the idea
that Israel has a Palestinian partner with which to negotiate a modus
vivendi, if not a peace - is finally crushed in the Palestinian popular
choice of a terrorist government committed to the destruction of Israel
and the furtherance of Islamic rule in the region. And as Iran moves
closer to nuclear capability at the upper reaches of the threat spectrum
and foments and pays for terrorism at the lower end. And as the region
comes to grips with President Bush’s understanding that the old bargain
of cheap-oil-for-illusory-but-temporarily-comforting "stability" is
really, truly over.

So, is this an awkward moment to celebrate Israeli Independence Day? No.
This is PRECISELY the moment to stop, recognize and applaud the miracle
that is Israel - an open, thriving economic and social system under
built under extreme threat conditions.

* Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world -
and the highest rate among women and among people over 55.

* Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly
Process, an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict
free."

* Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century
with a net gain in its number of trees; more remarkable because this was
achieved in an area considered mainly desert.

* Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized,
no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

* Israel developed the first ingestible video camera, so small it fits
inside a pill. It is used to view the small intestine from the inside
helping to diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

* Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in
the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over
70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany.

* Israel has the highest per capita number of home computers, museums
and university degrees in the world.

* Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds right
behind the U.S. and, other than the U.S. and Canada, Israel has the
largest number of NASDAQ listed companies.

So, Happy Birthday Israel! And thank you for the example of what
determination and hard work can do in a country poor in natural
resources, but rich in free people.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3394

___________________________________________________
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JINSA Report #567 Iraq Has a Government

JINSA
1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Suite 515
Washington, DC 20036

202-667-3900
202-667-0601 Fax

May 3, 2006

JINSA Report #567

Iraq Has a Government

Last week, Iraq created a coalition government derived from open,
multiparty elections; that doubles the club in the Middle East and is a
huge step toward consensual government in the Arab world. We applaud the
Iraqis for finding some give-and-take in a place notoriously hostile to
compromise, and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad for keeping
enough-but-not-too-much heat on the parties. But just as having an
election doesn't make a democracy, neither does forming a government.

After the overthrow of Saddam, it was reasonable to expect the citizens
of Iraq to turn first to the most local, most parochial sources of
protection - and revenge. This gave Iraqi terrorists and foreign ones,
including al Qaeda, room to advance disparate agendas: jihad, Ba'athist
resurgence, Iranian influence, Kurdish independence and generalized
anti-American/Westernism. Iraq in turmoil and close to civil war would
provide fertile ground for all of this and more.

The purveyors of upheaval have tried hard - there are increasing reports
of Iranian attacks against Kurds in the north, bombers have wreaked
havoc in the mosques and market places of Baghdad, Baquba and Samarra,
and the mutilated bodies of people executed overnight turn up every
morning.

There is no shortage of people willing to kill, but there is no civil
war. There is, rather, a government elected by a wide majority of the
citizens, determined to halt the violence. "Under fire" is probably the
worst condition under which to begin practicing consensual politics, but
the new government very quickly has to convince the people that the
government is the source of their protection and the address for the
redress of legitimate grievances. Citizens have to be convinced to end
their support for militias and terrorists by a combination of government
strength in counter-terror, equality in application of the law, and the
uncorrupt provision of security and services in the middle of a war.

It is a tall order. Can it fail? You bet. Will it fail? Hedge.

Thus far, punditry has considered it axiomatic that nothing political
could go right in Iraq - a governing council could never be established;
the election for the interim government would never be held; people
wouldn't vote; the constitution committee would never create a draft;
the people wouldn't vote a second time; Sunnis wouldn't vote at all; the
constitution wouldn't pass; the people wouldn't vote a third time for a
permanent government; a coalition would never be created. And punditry
has held it axiomatic that terrorists would indeed foment a civil war
and any political progress that had happened to defy punditry would be
for naught.

Punditry was wrong because it underestimated two things: the bravery of
the Iraqi people and the willingness of stubborn American leadership and
spectacular American soldiers to provide time and space for Iraqi
political development. The first is self-protective and must persist.
The second is based on the understanding that Iraq is a front in the
larger war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support
them, but the physical manifestation of that understanding cannot remain
in Iraq forever.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3383

___________________________________________________
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AJC Mideast Briefing

A Tale of Two Miracles: As We Celebrate AJC's Centennial and Israel's Independence, Let Us Remember That We Are One A Weekly Briefing on Israeli and Middle Eastern Affairs May 2, 2006 Dr. Eran Lerman Director Israel/Middle East Office It was Moshe Sharett, the talented but tragically overshadowed second prime minister of Israel, who put it most succinctly: The Jewish world of today was shaped, he once said, by two miracles and a catastrophe. Last week we marked and mourned the catastrophe, the loss from which our people is still far from recovered, even in sheer numbers. This week, in powerful and almost eerie proximity, we shall be marking the miracles-the truly interlocking miracles-representing the two successful responses of the Jewish people to the immense challenges of modernity:   • Israel's fifty-eighth Independence Day, marked on Wednesday-which, as always, will be preceded on Tuesday by the searing grief of our Memorial Day. Many, everywhere, will be prostrate on the graves of loved ones who fell young or were torn apart by terror attacks, with almost the entire country feeling acutely the cost of our existence as a sovereign state and the ongoing challenge of survival. Then will come the sharp shift to the noisy joys of independence. These will perhaps be tempered this year, for many, by a pensive reaction to the internal tensions over last summer's Disengagement, to the election results, and to the prospect of further decisions and divisions. Still, amidst all this-for those who say the Hallel prayer on this day, and for those who do not; for those who celebrate by adopting the local version of a barbecue party (mangal , in modern Hebrew slang) and for those who watch the national Bible Quiz-there will be, underneath it all, the tinge of awe at the miraculous achievements of a small, struggling country. Poor in natural resources, a tiny patch of West Asia, a population tormented by the Jewish people's heritage and the fresh wounds of its greatest tragedy, we nevertheless rose from the ashes of the Holocaust to a good place in the ranks of the militarily powerful, economically well-to-do, scientifically successful, and culturally creative nations. • The American Jewish Committee's Centennial-emblematic, in this context, of the immense distance that separates the position of the Jews in America and in the world today from where we sadly stood just two generations, let alone three or four generations, ago: honored-by right, not as an act of piety-by the most powerful officeholders in the world; offering a mature and measured perspective, and an invitation to lively debate, on the greatest questions of our time, including the role of religion and the structure of the international community; and bringing together the younger generation of leadership from all over the Jewish world (and the future high command of the Israeli defense establishment) to celebrate all this. This is a time, moreover, to reassert the interconnectedness of these celebrations. Theoretically, they could have happened without each other. Practically, the essence of what we celebrate could not have been there without both: We are one, and we are codependents. Without the rising power and influence of American Jewry (yes, power: or else the Walts and Mearsheimers of this world would have left us at the mercy of the "realists" who look wistfully at the "stability" of the Saudi family as the measure of all else, in the Middle East and beyond), Israel would have been a thin shadow of what it has grown to be. Both countries would have been the poorer for that. But as often happens with what the economists call "public goods," what Israel ended up contributing to America would not have happened if it were not for the agency of a committed group of dedicated women and men, and in this case, the work of AJC and other American Jewish organizations, who envisioned both moral and practical reasons for the "special relationship."   It goes even deeper. Without the steady hand and voice of AJC speaking to American society about the need to redefine itself-to allow for the celebration of diversity, of the various historical and geographical journeys, it would not have been possible for Jews in America to ask their government to respect their association with their reborn, new "old country"-or for the Greeks and Italians and Irish; Hispanics and Africans and Chinese and Japanese; Poles and Latvians and Armenians and sub-continental Indians, to count but a few, to do the same. A profound transformation has made it possible for Jews not only to pray in the abode of their choice, but to "practice their peoplehood," if that is how they wish to describe it. This very notion of peoplehood-still, at times, a hesitant and somewhat vague concept, and yet robust enough to sustain the immensely successful efforts that we celebrate this week-could not have come into its own, on the other hand, were it not for the emergence of the State of Israel. Try to play for a minute, in the style of Philip Roth's recent novel about Charles Lindbergh's presidency, with a counter-factual history in which, after the Holocaust, there would have been a failure to attain sovereignty (or worst, a second extermination, this time by Arab hands). It is enough to remind us what a dark world this would have been for every Jew, anywhere, if it were not for the thin line of young women and men in tattered khaki uniforms, my parents and their generation, who were willing to lay down their lives so that this cup, at least, will pass from our people's lips. And so there will be other cups and glasses raised this week-plastic cups with Coke at picnics, thin glasses of bubbly at cocktail parties, a sturdy red (we make some of the finest, right where it all began) at our tables, a toast at the gala dinner in Washington-lehayim -not just as an empty phrase: to life, and to the lives we have rebuilt together.

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David Harris on the Radio

AJC Celebrates 100th Anniversary David A. Harris Executive Director, American Jewish Committee Week of May 2, 2006 David Harris delivers regular radio commentaries on the CBS radio network, which can be heard nationally just before the Osgood File on more than 400 stations. All of the commentaries are available at www.ajc.org. Click here to listen to this week's commentary. In 1906, a group of American Jews, shocked by attacks against Jews in Russia, met in New York. They created the American Jewish Committee, widely known today as AJC. They began fighting for the equal rights of Jews everywhere and, since Israel's establishment, for its right to live in peace and security. And the organization has never stopped. Our founders also understood that freedom and human dignity are everyone's business. That's why AJC defended Catholic children's right to attend parochial schools when, in the 1920s, the state of Oregon tried to prevent it...why AJC-sponsored research was cited by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark desegregation case...why AJC rushed to help victims of hatred in the Balkans and today in Darfur. This week in Washington, political leaders from around the world join thousands of AJC members and friends to mark our first century. To help us shape the next 100 years, visit ajc.org. This is David Harris of the American Jewish Committee.

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