Category: Frontlines

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NAKBA NONSENSE: The Unholy Alliance Between Columbia University, the BDS Movement, and an Israeli Arab NGO

A Columbia University-sponsored project promotes extreme anti-Israel rhetoric and provides a platform for propagators of the BDS movement, according to a new report released by the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu.

The report focuses on “The Nakba & The Law” project, a joint initiative of Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies and the Israeli NGO Adalah launched in 2016 that features blog-style posts on the topic of the Nakba, the Arabic word for “catastrophe” that is used by Palestinian Arabs to refer to the establishment of the State of Israel.

According to Im Tirtzu’s report, of the 32 authors listed on the project’s website, 17 openly support the BDS movement, 3 are affiliated with BDS organizations and 6 work for the “radical anti-Israel” NGO Adalah, which accuses Israel of committing war crimes, defends terrorists in court and works in international institutions to isolate Israel.

Of the 6 authors who have no public affiliation with the BDS movement or Adalah, continues the report, there is no shortage of extreme anti-Israel rhetoric, including accusations of apartheid, massacres and the equation of the Nakba to the Holocaust.

Among the authors listed in the report are Columbia Professor Katherine Franke, also one of the project’s editors, who co-authored a report defending the Black Lives Matter platform that accuses Israel of committing a genocide against the Palestinians; Professor Amahl Bishara, who has openly defended several terrorists, including Rasmea Odeh who masterminded the murder of two Israeli students; and Randa Wahbe, who has publicly advocated on behalf of two senior officials of the terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

According to “The Nakba & The Law” website, one of the project’s sponsors is The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, an organization that answers to the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and is heavily funded by the Dutch government.

Matan Peleg, CEO of the Im Tirtzu movement that has been a vocal critic of the Nakba, said: “The Nakba is a hypocritical attempt to rewrite history and to undermine the very existence of the State of Israel. This project is not only an insidious attempt to blacken the Jewish State, but is an example of the unholy alliance between anti-Zionist Israeli NGOs, European governments and the BDS movement.”

“It is important to unapologetically call the Nakba what it is: nonsense,” said Peleg alluding to his organization’s “Nakba Nonsense” booklet and audiobook.

Ilan Sinelnikov, President of Students Supporting Israel that has been active in combating the anti-Israel bias on American universities, responded to the report and said: “This shameful anti-Israel project only emphasizes the dire situation at Columbia University and campuses throughout the US. It is shameful that such a university is sponsoring a project that provides a platform to the BDS movement, whose goal is to destroy the Jewish state.”

Sinelnikov concluded: “We are calling on the Columbia University administration to act immediately to remove this project and I am sure that our pro-Israel voices on the ground will be heard.”

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All of Israel is One

“You shall not be a gossip monger among your people, you shall not stand aside while your fellow’s blood is being shed – I am HaShem. You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall reprove your fellow and not bear a sin because of him. You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the children of your people; you shall love your fellow as yourself – I am HaShem.” (VAYIKRA 19:16-18)

At first glance the Torah appears to be teaching a series of precepts designed to improve our character traits and perfect Israeli society. But the fact that these commandments are listed in such detail indicates that they reveal a central tenet of authentic Hebrew thought. In verse 18, we are commanded to love our fellow as we love ourselves. While a precept such as this might sound pleasant in theory, some might argue the impossibility of such a decree. In today’s prevalent culture – where the individual’s wants and needs are given central importance – it seems doubtful that modern man could really be expected to love another as he loves himself. Perhaps one could attempt to treat his fellow as if he loves him to that extent but to actually feel this love in one’s heart seems as though the Torah is demanding not only a behavioral adjustment but also a complete revolution in human nature. The commandment is followed by the statement “I amHaShem” – a declaration found throughout the Torah which often serves to emphasize the great importance of a particular mitzvah. In addition to reminding us that HaShem is all powerful and aware of a person’s true inner thoughts, the statement “I amHaShem” is akin to the Kadosh Barukh Hu signing a contract. Laws carrying great consequence often include this Divine signature in order to guarantee that HaShem will treat a person according to his behavior, especially in regards to the fulfillment of these precepts.

By utilizing the statement “I am HaShem” following these particular laws, the Torah prompts the question of how such incredible weight can be placed on mitzvot so ostensibly alien to human behavior. Rather than merely dictating conduct, these commandments serve as a direct challenge to what many mistakenly believe to be their nature, which can only be properly understood within the context of Israel’s true relationship to our Torah.

The Torah is not a rulebook meant to coerce human behavior but rather the written expression of HaShem’s Divine Ideal teaching us how to most successfully express our true inner selves. Our Sages teach (Yoma 28b) that “Our patriarch Avraham kept the entire Torah [even before the actual Torah was given to Israel in written form].”

Nefesh HaḤaim (1:21) expands on this idea by explaining how Israel’s patriarchs were able to perceive the positive impact of mitzvot on the metaphysical realm, therefore living Torah lives as an expression of their true inner selves. While most humans today are sufficiently healthy that our lungs breath and our hearts beat without external guidance or assistance, we are not yet healthy enough to live the mitzvot as a natural function. We still require the Torah’s written form in order to help us in successfully expressing our true selves.

Through a heightened awareness of Israel’s true inner essence, we can appreciate themitzvot quoted above as just a few of the many liberating precepts intended to elevate our overall perceptions of reality. The Jerusalem Talmud (ninth chapter of Nedarim), for example, offers an explanation concerning the Torah’s prohibition against vengeance. It describes a man slicing food with a knife. As he is cutting, the hand holding the knife slips and injures his other hand. The Talmud then asks if the wounded hand would rise up to take vengeance against the hand that cut it. This rhetorical question comes to teach that just as each hand is a piece of one whole body, so is each individual Jew one piece of Knesset Yisrael – the giant national Israeli soul that shines into this world through the earthly Jewish people. Therefore, one Hebrew taking revenge against his brother is no less absurd than a person’s left hand rising up against the right. The Hebrew Nation is not the sum total of every Jew but rather one colossal spirit that manifests itself in space and time through millions of bodies. While human beings each possess a personal soul, Israel shares one massive national soul – like a giant tree of which each Jew is an individual branch.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzḥak HaKohen Kook teaches that the highest level of Ahavat Yisrael(love for Israel) a person can achieve results from obtaining the belief, knowledge and deep understanding of Israel’s true inner essence. It involves more than merely loving individual Jews for their positive personal traits. These traits may not always be discernable and are certainly not what makes Israel unique. The Segula of Israel is the collective national essence that precedes the individuals. It is the inner Divine light planted within the Hebrew soul and revealed in human history through the Jewish people. Rather than attempt to love each and every individual Jew, one can learn to recognize and love the source of Israel’s essence – the Segula – which then allows this love to flow out to every distinct piece of that national collective.

A man who loves his son does not simply love the sum total of each limb. He loves his child as a whole person and therefore loves every individual piece of that person. He can see each finger, leg and ear as an expression of that one soul he knows to be his son.Knesset Yisrael is similarly one giant spiritual organism revealed through individual Jews scattered in space and time. The highest level of Ahavat Yisrael is therefore a deep Torah wisdom that must be studied and not merely emotionally felt. The base of this wisdom stems from learning about, understanding and recognizing the Segula in order to comprehend Israel’s true inner unity.

The Torah does not merely instruct us to love each Jew as much as we love ourselves. It actually informs us that each Jew is inseparably connected because Israel is essentially one Divine entity. Despite the Hebrew soul appearing fragmented in our world, Jews have the ability to recognize the objective reality of our inner unity – a unity that transcends far beyond the confines of what our eyes perceive. Once a person fully recognizes this truth, he becomes able to feel and express the required love for each individual. And he automatically becomes incapable of spreading evil gossip about or holding grudges against his brothers. He becomes incapable of taking vengeance against a fellow Jew and becomes unable to passively stand by as blood is being shed.

When Israel is finally able to appreciate our inner oneness, we will be empowered by true love and a sense of collective responsibility. A mature understanding of this lofty ideal arouses the highest levels of Ahavat Yisrael and allows the Jewish people to reach our inner potential and achieve our national goal of bringing this world to Divine perfection.

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Uman, the Engine for the Final Redemption

There is a light growing in the world.  It is hidden behind the veil of our everyday redundancy, but it is still there none the less. We can feel something happening.  A great movement away from the globalist consumerism that has enveloped all of our lives.  Smartphones, Internet, Netflix, Amazon, and so on.  The globalist elite understand there is something afoot.  Something powerful. But they cannot stop it. It started small after the fall of the Soviet Union, bu the awakening promised in the prophets is happening.

In a city in central Ukraine, Rebbe Nachman is buried.  He was the great grandson of the Baal Shem Tov and the young leader of the Breslov movement of Chassidus. At 38 he already knew his life would be cut short by tuberculosis and so decided to travel to Uman with his most trusted followers six months before his death. Rebbe Nachman chose Uman early on as his final resting place for a variety of reasons.  It was there he said, “A place was prepared for me from the beginning of Creation.”

Rebbe Nachaman taught almost 200 years ago that a flood of G-Dlessness would fill the Earth. This would be the real war, a complete spiritual attack on humanity’s belief in a single active Creator responsible for every moment of our reality. This attack would be on what we call Emunah, the pure faith in the Almighty’s providence with every facet of his creation.

This war has filled our lives.  It is the war the globalists who are a manifestation of the husks of the Other Side wage on the common person.  Their war is a war built around money, war, and control.  They spread disinformation and lies, which lead to depression and sadness. These globalists maybe faceless and hide behind the zeros and ones of the computer screen, but make no mistake they are there.

It is for this war that, which is spiritual in its nature that Rebbe Nachman chose to be buried in Uman. Knowing that the Land of Israel would be the foremost target of the forces of evil at the End of Days, a place outside of their radar was prepared for us to recharge for the fight at hand.  Uman is this place.

Uman has always been central to the Jewish experience during the painful exile.  It was there Chmielnicki massacred thousands of Jewish men, women, and children.  He dumped them in a mass grave on the very hill, Rebbe Nachman chose to be buried on over 150 years later.  In 1920, 3000 Jewish inhabitants were murdered by their Ukrainian neighbors, and during World War Two, the Nazis laid waste to the rest.  It is within this place of deep darkness Rebbe Nachman chose to fight his war.  Why in such a place of great pain? Because the forces of evil have no way of attacking him and his mission there. They can issue decrees only in places of overt light, like the Land of Israel, but in Uman the mission is kept hidden as it prepares to burst open.

My first trip to Uman on Rosh Hoshana was nearly eight years ago.  Then there were 35,000 visitors, praying more intensely than anywhere else I had ever seen.  There was no inhibition.  The same person outside of Uman, even in Israel is trapped by his doubts, fears, and worry, but in Uman I saw my fellow travelers experience freedom.  I felt free. This past year the number doubled to 70,000. Rebbe Nachman can be felt everywhere. Singing, dancing, joy, and deep personal prayer can be experienced everywhere. It is this light, that Rebbe Nachman promised he would give us that is so necessary to be brought back to the Land of Israel and spread to throughout the world.

With the above in mind I took my two oldest boys to the Ukraine last week. We visited grave sites of many chassidic leaders and ended our journey in Uman.  We prayed and connected and saw that even during the year, on the quietest of days, there are many visitors from around the world.  Both religious and non-religious are journeying to Rebbe Nachman to reconnect to themselves.  It is said the Tzaddik stands at the center of a great maze. It is this maze each one of us is trapped within, seemingly unable to find the way out.  The Tzaddik can see all of our paths and although physically passed from he Earth, it this ability gained from completing the maze himself that gives him the ability to lead each one of us out of our maze.

Rebbe Nachman told his followers “My Light will burn until the coming of the Messiah.” With Putin spreading war into Ukraine and Syria and Iran and Hezbollah poised to strike Israel. While the USA is set to go head to head against North Korea in a nuclear confrontation, there is one place that has the power to lift us beyond the darkness and depression those in “control” have injected us with.

Rebbe Nachman teaches that the light of the true Tzaddik always shines. It is this light, which has the power to open our eyes to the truth of the Creator’s guidance of all of Creation for tha is the role of the Tzaddik, to awaken and guide us.

 

This light of the true Tzaddik is found, hidden away in Uman, ready for each of us to discover it for ourselves.

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Amid Growing Incitement, Haredis Will Hold Ceremony Commemorating Fallen Haredi Soldiers

The Likud’s haredi faction will be holding a special memorial ceremony this Monday on Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, commemorating the haredi members of the IDF who were killed in Israel’s wars.

Haredis, or ultra-orthodox Jews, generally abstain from IDF service and those who enlist often face incitement and violence from extremists within their communities.

This is the second year that members of the haredi faction of the Likud are organizing the ceremony at the Ponevezh Cemetery in Bnei Brak, where a number of fallen haredi soldiers are buried. Last year, the ceremony was interrupted by Haredi extremists who attempted to prevent the ceremony from taking place and proceeded to chase away the majority of the participants.

The ceremony will be attended by Likud Minister Ayoob Kara, Chairman of the Likud’s haredi faction Yaakov Vider, representatives of the IDF’s Military Rabbinate, IDF soldiers and wounded veterans, and bereaved families.

The Zionist organization Im Tirtzu also announced its plans to attend the ceremony, which according to the organization represents a true bridge between different factions of Israeli society.

Chairman of the Likud’s haredi faction and organizer of the ceremony, Yaakov Vider, noted the relevance and importance of the event: “Specifically now when there is a wave of anti-IDF incitement and violence from extremists within the haredi sector, there is growing importance to remember the haredi soldiers who gave their lives fighting for Israel.”

“I am thankful to the Israeli government and to Im Tirtzu for the help,” continued Vider, “and call on the Israeli public to attend the ceremony and honor the memory of our holy brothers who fell fighting for Israel.”

Matan Peleg, CEO of the Im Tirtzu movement that has been a leading advocate for the integration of all factions of Israeli society in the IDF, said: “We salute the brave haredi soldiers of the IDF and together will remember those who gave their lives fighting for the country. These soldiers represent the very essence of unity and serve as a prime example of what it means to be a scholar and a warrior.”

The ceremony will take place at 3:30 pm on Monday, May 1st, at the Ponevezh Cemetery in Bnei Brak.