(JTA) — The Seattle-area transit authority can refuse to post an advertisement criticizing Israeli policy as long as it is part of a viewpoint-neutral ban on the subject, according to a ruling by a U.S. federal appeals court. In a ruling issued March 18, a panel of judges from theContinue Reading
By Ron Kampeas, JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — Hillel International said its president, Eric Fingerhut, was pulling out of J Street’s upcoming annual conference because of the scheduled appearance there of Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. But J Street isn’t buying it. In a statement Monday, theContinue Reading
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The University of California Student Association passed two resolutions urging the university to divest from several countries, including Israel, the United States and Mexico. On Sunday, the association’s board of directors cited human rights violations in several countries in backing measures that urged the University ofContinue Reading
(JTA) — Two swastikas were spray-painted on a Jewish fraternity’s house at the University of California, Davis, two days after the student senate passed a divestment resolution targeting Israel. The swastikas were painted on the off-campus house of Alpha Epsilon Pi sometime early Saturday morning. “I don’t think that it’sContinue Reading
By Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, Special to the Jewish Sound “Bringing down Israel will really benefit everyone in the world and everyone in society, particularly workers.” These words were spoken by Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, at a Nov. 12 panel discussion at U.C. Berkeley organizedContinue Reading
(JNS.org) The undergraduate student government at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) voted to divest from American companies that do business in Israel. According to the Daily Bruin, the Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) voted 8-2-2 for the measure that calls for the University of California to divest from AmericanContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound Taryn Harris has a lot going on. The University of Washington senior majoring in history and minoring in Spanish and Jewish studies is the president of Washington Students for Israel, a member of the student senate, a history fellow, an internContinue Reading
(JTA) — More than 350 anthropologists from around the world have endorsed a boycott of Israel and its academic institutions.The statement was posted Oct. 1 on the website jadaliyya.com with 231 signatories and a call for others to add their names to the list. By last Friday, the list had reached 360Continue Reading
By David Shayne, Special to the Jewish Sound A while back, I heard Palestinian academic Nadia Elia brag that the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is so effective that Israel’s very existence is threatened. “Empty bravado from the side that is clearly losing,” I thought. Afterward, I heard some pro-IsraelContinue Reading
After reading the recent opinion piece by Rabbi Oren Hayon (“How much have we lost?” May 30) about the divisive BDS debate at the UW, I’m struck by the strong, thoughtful, effective leadership we enjoy and have enjoyed at our Hillel. Rabbi Hayon didn’t fully describe the important strategic roleContinue Reading
Last Friday, June 22, the Presbyterian church announced its intentions to divest from companies that do business with Israel in the West Bank. Several Jewish organizations have spoken out against the divestment, and today in Netanyahu’s address to journalists from all over the Jewish world, he gave his own response to theContinue Reading
(JTA) — Jewish groups predicted a rupture with Presbyterians in the wake of a close vote favoring divestment from three companies that deal with Israel’s security forces in the West Bank. The Presbyterian Church-USA biennial General Assembly approved the measure 310-303 late last Friday evening after hours of at timesContinue Reading
On Wednesday, the Associated Students of Western Washington University in Bellingham voted unanimously that it would not consider boycott and divestiture campaigns based upon national origin. According to a press release from Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs Northwest, “the 7-0 vote represents the first time ever that a North American university’s studentContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick Editor, The Jewish Sound Attitudes about Israel can be grouped into three different age groups, according to author and newspaper columnist Ari Shavit, and the gap, he said, is astonishing. People 70 and older can look to the Holocaust and see Israel as their safe haven. PeopleContinue Reading
By Paula Libes Chester, Special to The Jewish Sound The Seattle Jewish community came together Wednesday night, May 28, at a packed Temple De Hirsch Sinai to hear Ari Shavit, author of “My Promised Land,” and the Reverend Kenneth Flowers, of Greater New Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit,Continue Reading
Dear Ari Shavit: I was one of the under-30 audience members in your audience at Temple De Hirsch Sinai on May 28 — one of the “lost” youth who avoided the issue of Israel when I was in college because it was, as you said, “radioactive.” I am going toContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound After more than two hours of debate on May 20, the University of Washington student senate voted against resolution 20-39, for the UW to divest from certain corporations that do business with Israel, 59-8 with 11 abstentions. Jewish students opposed toContinue Reading
By Rabbi Oren Hayon, Special to The Jewish Sound In his biography of Pyrrhus of Epirus, Plutarch recounts the details of the ancient Greek general’s costly victory against Rome at Asculum in 279 BCE. According to Plutarch’s account, shortly after the battle, Pyrrhus considered the devastating losses to his MacedonianContinue Reading
Emily Alhadeff’s reflections (“Court’s decision highlights a bigger problem,” April 25) on the Olympia Food Co-op’s decision to cleanse its shelves of Israeli products are very acute in suggesting that nearly all BDS agitprop against Israel can fairly be labeled “Jews Against Themselves.” But she overlooks one paradox: The symbioticContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff Associate Editor, The Jewish Sound On April 15, as Jewish students were celebrating the first day of Passover, a resolution was introduced to the University of Washington student senate calling on the university to divest from corporations that do business with Israel. Resolution 20-39 calls upon theContinue Reading
