The Australian Jewish Democratic Society: A strong voice for peace, reconciliation and social justice

Bteslem, the Israel Human Rights Organization in the Occupied Territories reports --

On 3 February 2010, the Hamas government submitted a 52-page report to the UN in advance of the debate in the General Assembly on the report of the Goldstone Fact-finding Mission. The Hamas report discusses, among other things, the measures the government has taken to implement the mission’s recommendations and the investigations it has carried out regarding breach of international law committed by its forces during Operation Cast Lead, and provides clarifications relating to attacks from within the Gaza Strip against civilians and civilian objects in Israel.

Various versions of this letter were published in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian today.

----------------------------
The morality of extra-judicial killings is an extraordinarily difficult one, because they undermine the principle of the rule of law and particularly international law. Who would not have wanted to get rid of Hitler?

Daniel Sokatch is CEO of the New Israel Fund. Fortuitously, he has been in Australia at a time when a series of attacks on the integrity of the fund (and Naomi Chazan) have been circulating.

He spoke at the Shirah Hadashah synagogue on 24 February before a packed audience, and his talk is available for listening to directly or downloaded (mp3, right mouse click and save). The file is about 10mg in size and 47 minutes long). It stands to the credit of an inclusive Orthodox congregation that he was invited to speak. Kol ha-kavod!

Thanks to Daniel for permission to record.

It makes for fascinating listening.

[Photo source: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a16779/News/New_York.html, but it seems to appear elsewhere as well...]

Martin Indyk is a Australian-born former US Ambassador to Israel. His defense of the NIF is significant, particularly because he has been a strong defender of Israeli and obviously American foreign policy interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Indyk

This is what he has said about the New Israel Fund in an important counter to the current misinformation campaign in Australia and other countries:

The Truth About the New Israel Fund
Martin Indyk
22nd February 2010

When I served as U.S. Ambassador in Israel in the 1990s, and as an American Jew committed to Israel's survival and well- being, I became deeply concerned about the failure to adequately address the problems of inequality in Israel. I could see that Israeli governments were so preoccupied with war and peace decisions that they had little time to attend to the needs of Israel's Arab and Bedouin minorities. Although growing into a robust Jewish state, Israel was falling short of Ben-Gurion's standard that Israel should also be a state for all its citizens with equal rights for all, as called for in Israel's Declaration of Independence. I feared the effect on the basic health of Israel's democracy.

A few good letters appeared in the Australian Jewish News on 18 Feb 2009

Treatment of Chazan and the NIF is shameful

THE furore over the New Israel Fund (NIF) has highlighted an ugly underbelly in both Australia and Israel.

The NIF and organisations that have received NIF grants work on civil and human rights; social and economic justice; religious pluralism and tolerance for Israeli Arabs and Bedouin citizens; the environment and assistance for immigrants – issues enshrined in Israel’s declaration of independence.

The Israeli government, while using propaganda to deny the facts, continues to besiege the Palestinian population though collective punishment for rocket attacks from Gaza. 13 Israelis have been killed by rocket attacks, 3 of whom were civilians.

Noam Chomsky opposes BDS on the ground that it is hypocritical and impractical. Supporting BDS only reinforces hardliners who support Israeli actions. He distinguishes between 'feelgood' and 'do good actions'.

The AJDS contains a wealth of local and international opinion from sources that you might otherwise never see. If you want to be informed, read it! Download the attachment. The December letter includes a response to the cancellation/postponement of the visit of Naomi Chazan because of pressure from the local Jewish Right. The scandal also concerns the campaign against the New Israel Fund by the Right in Israel and the USA, and now locally.

Once again, our community 'elders' have banned a dissident opinion from speaking on a community platform. There is all sorts of denial going on, but its clear that Danny Lamm, representing the local right-wing Zionist Federation has used or got others to use muscle and other forms of influence to prevent the Union of Progressive Judaism from hosting Naomi Chazan, now President of the New Israel Fund. The excuse has been to use the completely scurrilous campaign being run by young neo-facists and their elder supporters in Israel and the US against the NIF.

The civilian population of Gaza continues to suffer a a year after Operation Cast Lead.

The Israeli government, while using propaganda to deny the facts, continues to besiege the Palestinian population though collective punishment. The current protests against the siege by various international activists, Palestinians, and Israelis, though ignored by Israel, indicate that the problem will not just go away.