HOENLEIN WARNS AGAINST ‘APATHY’ AT TIME OF GROWING THREATS

On May 24, 2010 The Jerusalem Post published the following article written by Judy Siegel about Malcolm Hoenlein, who received the 14th Guardian of Zion Award. Mr. Hoenlein is the Vice President of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations and received this prestigious award from Bar-Ilan University. In his acceptance speech, Hoenlein stressed the need and importance for the Jewish community to remember its roots and history, and to teach this heritage to younger generations. To read the entire article, click on the title above.

Friends of Israel, including many Jews around the world, are apathetic to the growing physical and verbal threats against Israel and Jerusalem, warned Malcolm Hoenlein, longtime executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, at a dinner in his honor at the capital’s King David Hotel on Sunday night.

Hoenlein, who received the 14th Guardian of Zion Award from Bar-Ilan University’s Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, said, “We are living in an age of forgetfulness. We seem to be losing any connection to the past or we dismiss it. We will pay a heavy price for this,” he said, if friends of Israel and the Jews remain apathetic and ignore the signs of anti-Semitism and real threats against the Jewish state and the unity of Jerusalem.

He urged that they pay attention to the words of dictators like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran when they disclose their intentions to destroy Israel and denigrate the Jewish heritage of Jerusalem.

“Leaders of democracies lie; dictators tell the truth,” said Hoenlein.

The Palestinians are intentionally trying to demolish evidence of the Jewish heritage of Jerusalem and are finding a favorable reception among many people around the world. This atmosphere hostile to Israel is spreading and finding a receptive audience among those who know little about the history of the region and the Jewish people, he said.

30 TONS OF BUILDING MATERIAL TO ENTER GAZA

On May 17, 2010, The Jerusalem Post published the following article written by Herb Keinon about 30 tons of building material that will be allowed to enter the Gaza Strip in order to help rebuild a damaged hospital. To read the entire article, click on the title above.

In response to a special request by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Israel allowed some 30 tons of building material into the Gaza Strip last Thursday to help rebuild a hospital damaged in the fighting there in 2009.

Israel has been extremely reluctant to let concrete and building materials into the region since the end of Operation Cast Lead in January 2009 because of the concern it would be diverted by Hamas to rebuild factories manufacturing Kassam rockets.

The French, however, have been very persistent in seeking permission to reconstruct the intensive care unit in the Al Quds hospital in Gaza, and last November, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner signed an agreement to allocate some two million euro for the project.

In rare words of praise for Israeli actions connected to the Gaza Strip, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement Friday “welcoming” the passage of the trucks carrying the material, and saying that this would be the first of a number of convoys bringing in the material.

BUILDING AN ELECTRONIC HUMAN BRAIN

ISRAEL21c.org published the following article written by David Shamah on May 23, 2010 about how a former Weizmann Institute scientist seeks to create an electronic human brain with cognitive abilities to provide insight into the most powerful 'computer' in existence. To read the article in its entirety, click on the title above.

We already have mechanical and computerized devices that can stand in for human limbs and organs. Now Prof. Henry Markram is working on a computerized version of the human brain, down to its finest synapses. In fact, Markram, who did much of his research at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, tells ISRAEL21c that if his Blue Brain Project goes well, "we anticipate that the brain model we develop will have most, if not all, human cognitive capabilities."

Markram is currently director of the Brain and Mind Institute of the École Polytechnique in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is there where the Blue Brain Project was founded in May 2005, to study the brain's "architectural and functional principles."

Working with a number of international researchers, including Prof. Idan Segev of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the project aims to "reverse engineer" the workings of the brain - beginning with the brains of small mammals, says Markram, and culminating in the human brain, a goal that he hopes to achieve by the close of the decade.

SOCIAL ACTION/PUBLIC POLICY

PAYDAY LENDING: A PROBLEM?

Dallas JCRC MAZON Hunger Fellow Rachel Fox wrote the following article on May 27, 2010 about the growing problem of payday lenders, who charge an average of 400-800% interest for their loans. To read the entire article, click on the title above.

Moneyshop, Cash Express, Fast Cash… these are the shiny storefront sign names under which payday lenders operate.

A payday loan (also called a paycheck advance or payday advance) is a small, short-term, high interest rate loan that is purportedly intended to cover a borrower's expenses until his or her next payday. The people who resort to payday lending are typically low-income people with few assets, who are unable to secure normal, lower-interest-rate forms of credit. This type of lender can charge their customers rates that can approach 400% to 800% in annual interest. A two-week, $500 loan can turn into $3000 in no time. Because payday lending operations charge such high interest-rates, and do nothing to encourage savings or asset accumulation, they have the effect of depleting the assets of low-income communities, which is where the majority of payday lenders are located. Payday loans weren't created, as some argue, to help lower income populations. The evidence shows they were created to exploit economically vulnerable people.

The Center for Responsible Lending found that 91% of loans were given to people who had taken out this type of loan five times or more during the course of a year. The non-profit organization CouleeCap published a paper stating the startling statistic: There are one hundred times more payday loan operations today (as of 2007) than there were in the early 1990s. US Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has recognized payday lending as a big issue. His staff found that the typical lower-income borrower targeted by these lenders did not have enough money to pay back their payday loan without going into debt at the end of the two-week period. So he, along with three other senators, has introduced a senate bill aimed at providing alternatives to payday loans for low income individuals.

NEW BOARD OF EDUCATION COULD FIX STANDARDS NEXT YEAR

The following is a portion of an Editorial that was published in the The Dallas Morning News on May 27, 2010 about how there is a chance for the new members of the Texas State Board of Education to revise changes made to textbook curriculum when they take office next January. To read the entire Editorial, click on the title above.

As expected, the State Board of Education passed a flawed set of social studies standards last week for Texas students. Also expected was the resulting firestorm of debate across the country.

What the board expects Texas students to learn about history, economics and other elements of social studies will shape their view of the world – and it's not limited to our state. This could have effects across the nation.

By now, you've probably read that these social studies standards determine what goes in Texas textbooks. And Texas textbooks, because our state is such a large customer, end up being the template for other states' textbooks. That's why this matters everywhere.

TIME FOR TEXAS TO FIX FLAWED CURRICULUM PROCESS

On May 26, 2010, The Dallas Morning News published the following Op-Ed written by Kathy Miller about why she feels the way Texas decides what our children learn in their public school classrooms is seriously flawed. Ms Miller is president of the Texas Freedom Network, a public education and religious liberties watchdog based in Austin.. To read the Op-Ed in its entirety, click on the title above.

The State Board of Education's final approval of new social studies curriculum standards made something very clear: The way Texas decides what our children learn in their public school classrooms is seriously flawed.

Teams made up of teachers and scholars labored throughout much of last year to draft new standards. Then politicians on the state board sent the experts home. Over the course of three meetings this year, the board made detailed, ill-considered and blatantly political changes throughout the drafts. Educators could only watch in despair.

Our schoolchildren deserve far better, and a Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll for the Texas Freedom Network Education Fund shows that the vast majority of Texans agree. The May 4-12 poll found that 72 percent of Texas likely voters, including 78 percent of parents, want teachers and scholars, not elected state board members, to be responsible for writing curriculum standards and textbook requirements for public schools.

That's just common sense. Throughout the state board's needlessly drawn-out and divisive debates over standards for language arts, science and now social studies, parents have grown tired of seeing their children's education turned into a political battleground. Texans don't want decisions about what their children learn based on the political biases of anyone, liberals or conservatives. They just want their children to get an education based on facts and sound scholarship – an education that prepares them to succeed in college and a 21st-century economy.

STUDY: TEXAS BIG WINNER UNDER HEALTH LAW

The following is a portion of a blog entry written by reporter Robert T. Garrett that was published in The Dallas Morning News on May 26, 2010 about the results of a recent study that show Texas stands to benefit from the recent health care reform. To read the entire blog entry, click on the title above.

This just in: A new study says Texas will be a big winner under the federal health care overhaul -- assuming it doesn't secede from the union, pull the plug on its Medicaid program or at every turn drag its feet.

States that don't aggressively gear up to take advantage of the law may forfeit a chance to virtually cut in half the ranks of their uninsured adults who are poor or just barely above the poverty line, the researchers warned.

"For a relatively small investment of state dollars, states could see huge returns -- with federal dollars covering the bulk of the bill," said Diane Rowland, who heads the Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, which sponsored the study.

For example, compared with what would have happened to our state's Medicaid program if the federal law hadn't been passed, "Texas could see an increase in enrollment [by impoverished adults] of 46 percent but an increase in state spending of about 3 percent," said researchers John Holahan and Irene Headen of the Urban Institute, who did the study for the foundation.

THE MEASURE OF A DISASTER

The following is an Op-Ed written by Ian R. MacDonald, John Amos, Timothy Crone and Steve Wereley that was published in The New York Times on May211, 2010 about how there is a scientific way to measure the amount of oil spilling into the ocean, despite claims that there is not.Mr. MacDonald is a professor of oceanography at Florida State University. Mr. Amos is the president of SkyTruth, which uses satellite images to monitor environmental problems. Mr. Crone is a research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Mr. Wereley is a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. To read the entire Op-Ed, click on the title above.

On Thursday, BP was finally forced to acknowledge that far more oil is escaping from its damaged well into the Gulf of Mexico than the oft-repeated estimate of 5,000 barrels per day. Nonetheless, the company still insists that an accurate measurement of the spill rate is neither necessary, as it would do nothing to alter their response efforts, nor is it possible with existing science.

It is our view that accurate, continuously updated measurements are not only possible, but absolutely essential if we are to respond effectively to this and future disasters. That is why we are conducting satellite image analysis and image-based fluid-flow analysis to provide an independent assessment of the oil spill.

For example, the siphon tube inserted into the damaged pipe on Monday is reported to be recovering 5,000 barrels per day, but large and unknown quantities of oil are still escaping. BP is also planning to try a procedure called a “top kill,” in which heavy fluids and drilling cements are to be injected into the valve, but that move would likely provide only partial relief.

Without knowing the flow’s true magnitude, how can anyone judge the success of any approach? Without determining how much oil is beneath the ocean’s surface and how much is floating toward land, how can we best direct response efforts?

There are, in fact, at least two ways to measure the rate of the spill. The first method uses computer image analysis of satellite photos and data to measure the spread and thickness of oil on the ocean surface.

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THE IRAN REPORT

September 2007, the JCRC began a special section entitled “The Iran Report”.  Due to the looming serious nature of Iran and its politics within the global world, JCRCs across the country are providing community leaders with updated materials and articles concerning Iran, which will include political matters, divestment information, etc.  Both the United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) have issued joint statements indicating that the subject of Iran should be on the top of the agenda for local Jewish communities. 

The JCRC will continue to bring the community updates on the situation with Iran and its implications throughout the Middle East and the world.

JCPA RESOLUTION ON IRAN’S NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

Adopted by the Board of Directors of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) on March 27, 2007.

U.S. IS SKEPTICAL ON IRANIAN DEAL FOR NUCLEAR FUEL

The following is a portion of an article written by David E. Sanger and Michael Slackman that was published in The New York Times on May 17, 2010 about the reaction to Iran’s announcement that they would send half of its nuclear fuel to Turkey. To read the entire article, click on the title above.

The United States, Europe and Russia responded with extreme skepticism to Iran’s announcement on Monday that it had reached an agreement to ship roughly half of its nuclear fuel to Turkey, saying they would continue to press for new sanctions against Tehran.

Nonetheless, officials from several countries said that the deal, negotiated with the leaders of Turkey and Brazil, was a deftly timed attempt to throw the sanctions effort off track.

The terms were similar to those of an accord made with the West last October that fell apart when Iran backtracked. Since then, Iran has added considerably to its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, meaning that it would keep on Iranian territory about half of its current supply — or about enough fuel for one nuclear weapon if it chose to make one. The earlier deal was attractive to Washington because it would have deprived Tehran of enough known fuel to make a weapon, leaving breathing space for negotiations.

IRAN POLICE WARN OPPOSITION AGAINST HOLDING 'ILLEGAL RALLY'

On May 25, 2010, VOA News published the following article about how Iranian police have warned that they will confront any opposition protests on the anniversary of the country's disputed June presidential election. To read the news release in its entirety, click on the title above.

Police in Iran have warned that they will confront any opposition protests on the anniversary of the country's disputed June presidential election.

Iran's ILNA news agency quoted Tehran police chief General Hossein Sajedinia as saying that police will confront any illegal gathering.

Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi have called on supporters to take part in peaceful protests to mark the June 12 election, which returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

Iran's opposition accuses Mr. Ahmadinejad of rigging the election, adding that Mr. Mousavi was the rightful winner.

ANALYZING THE NEW UN SANCTIONS PROPOSAL ON IRAN

Below is a portion of an policy analysis written by Patrick Clawson, Michael Singh and Jeffrey White that was published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on May 20, 2010 about the new UN Sanctions Proposal on Iran. To read the policy analysis, click on the title above.

The May 18 draft resolution proposing additional sanctions to curb Iran's nuclear program is backed by all five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Although this unanimity is the proposal's principal strength, it comes at the cost of making the draft weaker in some sections than ideas discussed previously by the Obama administration. The following is an analysis of some of the resolution's key elements.

Enforcement: Overcoming Practical Obstacles

One of the draft's most encouraging aspects is its seven-paragraph section on sanctions enforcement. The resolution calls for the Iran Sanctions Committee to "intensify its efforts...including through a work program covering compliance, investigations, outreach, dialogue, assistance and cooperation." It also calls for the secretary-general to appoint a panel of up to eight experts to "gather, examine and analyze information from States, relevant United Nations bodies and other interested parties" and to "make recommendations on actions the Council, or the [Sanctions] Committee or [individual member] State, may consider to improve implementation of the relevant measures."

STATEMENT BY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS ON IRAN

On May 17, 2010, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made the Statement about Iran.

We acknowledge the efforts that have been made by Turkey and Brazil. The proposal announced in Tehran must now be conveyed clearly and authoritatively to the IAEA before it can be considered by the international community. Given Iran’s repeated failure to live up to its own commitments, and the need to address fundamental issues related to Iran’s nuclear program, the United States and international community continue to have serious concerns. While it would be a positive step for Iran to transfer low-enriched uranium off of its soil as it agreed to do last October, Iran said today that it would continue its 20% enrichment, which is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions and which the Iranian government originally justified by pointing to the need for fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor. Furthermore, the Joint Declaration issued in Tehran is vague about Iran’s willingness to meet with the P5+1 countries to address international concerns about its nuclear program, as it also agreed to do last October.

The United States will continue to work with our international partners, and through the United Nations Security Council, to make it clear to the Iranian government that it must demonstrate through deeds – and not simply words – its willingness to live up to international obligations or face consequences, including sanctions. Iran must take the steps necessary to assure the international community that its nuclear program is intended exclusively for peaceful purposes, including by complying with U.N. Security Council resolutions and cooperating fully with the IAEA. We remain committed to a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program, as part of the P5+1 dual track approach, and will be consulting closely with our partners on these developments going forward.

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CRISIS IN DARFUR

February 2009 marked the sixth anniversary of the beginning of the violence in Darfur, Sudan.  For six years a government-backed militia known as Janjaweed (which in Arabic means, “evil men on horseback”) has continued to engage in a systematic program of expulsion, rape and murderous violence in Darfur, Sudan.  Millions of people now live in displacement camps lacking adequate food, water, shelter, healthcare, and sanitation. Attacks on \civilians continue.  As Jews, we have a particular moral responsibility to speak out and take action against genocide.  

The JCRC remains committed in its fight to end this battle and will continue to bring you facts and articles about this ongoing genocide. (For further information on Darfur, visit the JCRC web site “International” section at www.jcrcdallas.org.)

SUDAN IN CRISIS

Explore the history, people and politics behind one of the world's bloodiest conflicts in this interactive web site by The Washington Post.  Click the title above to be connected to this site.

US WOMAN AMONG THREE AID WORKERS ABDUCTED IN DARFUR

AFP News published the following article written by Abdelmoneim Abu Edries Ali on May 18, 2010 about a US aid worker who was abducted by gunmen in Darfur. To read the entire article, click the title above.

A female American aid worker and two Sudanese colleagues were ambushed and abducted by gunmen in the war-torn region of Darfur on Tuesday, Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs said.

The kidnapping took place when the trio, working for an "American organisation," was travelling to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, Abdel Baqi al-Jilani told AFP.

It was confirmed by the US embassy in Khartoum as well as a United Nations spokesman in the Sudanese capital.

"The US embassy is aware of the abduction. We are now working with the relevant authorities to get more information," spokeswoman Judith Ravin told AFP.

UN spokesman Samuel Hendricks said armed men stopped two vehicles transporting nine workers from the still-unnamed non-governmental organisation.

UNAMID MEETS WITH UN COUNTRY TEAM, AID AND HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS

AllAfrica.com published the following news release on May 17, 2010 about a UNAMID meeting that allowed organizations working in Darfur to exchange ideas on how to improve collaboration and address common challenges. To read the article in its entirety, click on the title above.

Over fifty representatives of the UN Country Team, multilateral and bilateral development agencies, and UNAMID met yesterday at the Mission's headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur.

This meeting, the first of its kind, brought together officials from the development and humanitarian community operating in the Sudan and in Darfur, notably from what is known as the UN country Team, which includes all the UN agencies, funds and organizations operating in the region.

The meeting was co-chaired by UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari and UNMIS Deputy Special Representative, Resident Humanitarian Coordinator in the Sudan, Georg Charpentier. It provided a unique forum for all the development and humanitarian actors in Darfur to outline the various roles and strengths of their respective organizations and exchange ideas on how to improve collaboration and address common challenges.

UN EVACUATES 10 AID STAFF AFTER SOUTH SUDAN CLASHES

Below is news release from Reuters that was published by SaveDarfur.org on May 25, 2010 about the evacuation of aid workers because of more violent clashes in Sudan. To read the news release in its entirety, click on the title above.

The United Nations evacuated 10 aid workers from a remote part of south Sudan after an armed group disappointed with April election results clashed with the region's army, a World Food Programme official said.

Matt Persson, head of the WFP office in Jonglei state, said a crisis in the semi-autonomous south, where half the population is short of food, could worsen if the instability continued. South Sudan will vote in less than eight months on whether to become Africa's newest nation state.

"The security situation was getting bad," Persson told Reuters late on Monday. "There were reports of mobilisation of soldiers and that the population was moving out of the town... We decided to relocate."

He said 11,000 people would not be distributed food in Pibor in Jonglei where the fighting took place. "(But) if this continues 62,000 people will be affected in June," he said.

Jonglei state, where French oil giant Total (TOTF.PA) holds a largely unexplored oil concession, is one of the worst hit areas in the food crisis and has seen deadly tribal fighting.

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