NETANYAHU SPENDS UNHERALDED TIME AT WHITE HOUSE

Below is a portion of an article written by Glenn Kessler that was published in the Washington Post on March 24, 2010 about Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's meeting with President Obama that lasted two hours over the course of two meetings at the White House Tuesday night under a virtual news blackout. To read the entire statement, click on the title above.

Amid high tensions in U.S.-Israeli relations, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with President Obama for a total of two hours in two meetings at the White House Tuesday night under a virtual news blackout.

No reporters or photographers were invited to record the scene or even a handshake between the two leaders, who met one day after Netanyahu, in a speech to a pro-Israel group, rejected the administration's plea that he halt construction in a disputed area of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians as their capital.

Generally, a leader of an ally would expect to have a joint news conference with the president or at least a joint appearance before photographers. But the White House did not even immediately release a statement providing a summary of the meeting's topics.

U.S.-ISRAEL SEARCH FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE GOES BEYOND RAMAT SHLOMO

JTA published the following Op-Ed written by Martin J. Raffel on March 23, 2010 about his analysis of the situation concerning the Washington-Jerusalem alliance. Mr. Raffel is senior vice president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. To read the Op-Ed in its entirety, click on the title above.

At the 2010 AIPAC Policy Conference opening session, Washington Institute Director Robert Satloff described U.S-Israel tensions surrounding the announcement by the Interior Ministry of Jewish housing in Ramat Shlomo as 5 to 6 on the Richter scale: Not cataclysmic, but strong enough to cause some lasting damage.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her AIPAC appearance reaffirmed America's unshakable support for Israel's security, but reiterated the administration's view that East Jerusalem housing seriously undermines the cause of peace and argued that the status quo is inimical to Israel's interests.

At times like this, I reflect back on 1977 in Jerusalem, as my Israeli friends and I watched with tears in our eyes as Anwar Sadat -- the Arab leader who just four years before had led the devastating surprise attack under cover of Judaism's holiest day -- emerged from his plane at Ben Gurion Airport. Thousands of Israelis, thirsting for acceptance and normalcy, spontaneously lined the road from the airport waving little Egyptian flags.

The Washington-Jerusalem alliance historically has been based on a number of fundamental shared values and interests, one of which is the search for visionary Arab leaders, like a Sadat, who are both willing to conclude and capable of implementing peace agreements with Israel.

PROTECTING CALIFORNIA'S GRAPE CROPS WITH ICE

ISRAEL21c.org published the following article written by Karin Kloosterman on March 22, 2010 about Californian vineyards who are turning to an Israeli company to protect their valuable grape crops from frost damage with a freezing 'igloo' that coats the grapevine buds in ice. A portion of the article is below, to read it in its entirety, click on the title above.

With much at stake, grape growers in California's Napa Valley and Sonoma County can't take the news of a frost warning too lightly. Plummeting temperatures in the winter do serious damage to grape crops and their loss can cost millions of dollars, not to mention translates into fewer bottles of some of the world's finest wine.

Now grape growers and vintners like Sonoma County's Kendall Jackson, who has 14,000 acres of vines to protect, are turning to an Israeli company to protect their grapes from frost damage.

PIP (Pulsating Irrigation Products) offers an irrigation technology that coats the growing grape bud with a fine layer of ice. It may sound counterintuitive, but like an igloo protecting the Inuit people in Canada's north, a coating of ice can shield young buds on a grape vine very nicely from temperatures that fall below zero. And it's far more effective than other conventional solutions, which rely on giant fan heaters to keep the grapes warm.

One of the difficulties of frost protection like this, however, is flow and water pressure. When it comes to a frost warning, grape growers have to act fast. They know a coating of ice on the vines can help mitigate damage, but if they turn on their irrigation systems at one go, they are unlikely to have enough water pressure for the whole vineyard, explains Roee Ruttenberg, PIP's CEO. As a result they tend to separate parts of irrigation system, turning on sections one at a time.

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SOCIAL ACTION/PUBLIC POLICY

“TEXAS TEXTBOOK FOLLIES”

The following is a portion of a Sermon that was delivered by Rabbi Adam Raskin to members of Congregation Beth Torah on the Shabbat of March 20, 2010 about the controversy surrounding the Texas State Board of Education’s decisions regarding textbook curriculum. To read the entire Sermon, click on the title above.

Immediately following the Passover holiday, the JCRC will distribute information to the community as to how to "comment" to the State Board of Education regarding their pending decisions. The "comment" period will be from April 16th-May18th and information will be available at the end of Passover.

Would you believe—and please try not to fall out of your seats when I tell you this—that Baptists were once a minority in this country? I know it’s hard for us, living here in the epicenter of the Baptist movement, to believe that even in Texas Baptists were not always the dominant Protestant religious community. In fact, in 1801 a group of nervous Baptist ministers in Connecticut wrote an urgent letter to the newly elected President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Consider that nine of the original American colonies had not only government established and financed churches of the Anglican persuasion, but in many cases they also made people like Baptists, and Quakers, and Jews feel profoundly unwelcome if not persecuted. Jefferson himself was deeply opposed to government establishment of churches, and he wrote back to the Danbury Baptists that the government has no business establishing state-sponsored religion, but that it must insure the free exercise of religion. He reassured the embattled Baptists that there is an inviolable wall of separation between church and state. True, these phrases “the free exercise of religion,” and the “separation between church and state” are not in the Constitution itself. But let us not forget that it was Jefferson who influenced the writing of the Constitution, so we must assume that these were some of the very outcomes he intended. Most of us revere Jefferson as not only one of America’s greatest presidents—he’s got a terrific monument on a prime piece of Washington D.C. property and his face on the side of Mt. Rushmore as well as the nickels that jingle around in your pocket—but we also think of Jefferson as a philosopher, a scholar, a sage of American democracy. At least, that’s how I was raised and taught to think of him. But in Texas, the State Board of Education has proposed dropping Thomas Jefferson altogether from the social studies world history section focusing on great political thinkers. In his place are two great thinkers to be sure: Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin…though most of us would more appropriately consider them renowned for their religious rather than their political thought. Jefferson’s sin, it seems, was his unequivocal opposition to the merging of church and state.

ESCAPING FROM POVERTY

The New York Times published the following Op-Ed written by Nicholas D. Kristof on March 24, 2010 about the interventions that have been shown to work to help people escape poverty. To read the entire Op-Ed, click on the title above.

Before I ask for a drumroll and reveal “the secrets” of fighting poverty, a bit of background:

For a quarter-century after World War II, the United States made great progress against poverty. Then in the 1970s, we fumbled. Over the last 35 years, our economy has almost tripled in size, but, according to the United States Census Bureau, the number of Americans living below the poverty line has been stuck at roughly 1 in 8.

One reason is that wages for blue-collar and other ordinary workers peaked in the early 1970s, after adjusting for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A second is the breakdown in the family and the explosion in single-parent households. A third is the quintupling of incarceration rates beginning in 1970, making it harder for impoverished young men to play a role in families or get decent jobs.

When those factors converge — a young woman with a 10th-grade education trying to raise a couple of kids as a single parent — poverty proves almost inescapable. Often the cycle is transmitted from generation to generation.

CONSUMERS GUIDE TO HEALTH REFORM

The following is a guide written by Phil Galewitz that was published by Kaiser Health News on March 23, 2010 that explains how the passage of the healthcare bill will affect each of us. To read the entire guide, click on the title above.

The health overhaul package passed by the House Sunday and sent to the Senate for final action is the most far-reaching health legislation since the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. While President Barack Obama has now signed the underlying Senate bill into law, additional changes will occur if the Senate passes the reconciliation-bill part of the package. The following is a look at the impact of the entire package, which would extend insurance coverage to 32 million additional Americans by 2019, but also have an effect on almost every citizen. Here's where things stand and how you might be affected:

Q: I don't have health insurance. Would I have to get it, and what happens if I don't?

A: Under the legislation, most Americans would have to have insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. The penalty would start at $95, or up to 1 percent of income, whichever is greater, and rise to $695, or 2.5 percent of income, by 2016. This is an individual limit; families have a limit of $2,085. Some people would be exempted from the insurance requirement, called an individual mandate, because of financial hardship or religious beliefs or if they are American Indians, for example.

HEALTH CARE REFORM, AT LAST

On March 21, 2010, The New York Times published the following Editorial written about the historic passage of the health care reform bill. To read the Editorial in its entirety, click on the title above.

The process was wrenching, and tainted to the 11th hour by narrow political obstructionism, but the year-long struggle over health care reform came to an end on Sunday night with a triumph for countless Americans who have been victimized or neglected by their dysfunctional health care system. Barack Obama put his presidency on the line for an accomplishment of historic proportions.

The bill, which was approved by the Senate in December and by the House on Sunday, represents a national commitment to reform the worst elements of the current system. It will provide coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, prevent the worst insurance company abuses, and begin to wrestle with relentlessly rising costs — while slightly reducing future deficits.

Amendments approved by the House and awaiting approval in the Senate would provide additional coverage and make somewhat deeper reductions in the deficit.

AT PASSOVER, A PLEA FOR THE CHILD NUTRITION BILL

JTA published the following Op-Ed written by Rabbi Elliot A. Kleinman on March 24, 2010 about why Passover is a time to reflect on the problem of childhood hunger in the U.S. Rabbi Kleinman is chief programming officer of the Union for Reform Judaism and a board member of Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. To read the entire Op-Ed, click on the title above.

When we sit down to our Passover seder tables, as a people we will proclaim that we remember the days when we were not free, when we lived under the yoke of slavery in someone’s else’s land. Then we will extend an invitation to all who are hungry to come and eat with us, for we remember that, too.

This is not merely an invitation to share in a meal from a bountiful table; it is also a challenge to bring freedom -- freedom from want, freedom from ignorance, freedom from fear to all who are so afflicted.

We seal the invitation with a plea that when we sit down to our seders next year we all will be free.

But it is the specifics of the seder’s message of freedom from hunger that cries out to us from across this land of plenty in which so many don’t have even enough food to eat. The need to eat is the most basic of human needs. It is a need so vital that we must say that no one who is hungry can be considered free in any sense of the word.

For the Americans who live in poverty and for whom hunger is the defining feature of daily subsistence, hunger is enslavement. For when all your emotional and physical resources and energy must be channeled into the quest for basic sustenance, nothing is left over for anything else – nothing left to give to your children, nothing left over for education, nothing left over to look around at the rest of the world, nothing left to find the means to move out of slavery.

BIG IMMIGRATION MARCH IN WASHINGTON

The following is an article written by Clement Tan and Don Lee that was published in The LA Times on March 22, 2010 about tens of thousands of people who called for an overhaul of the immigration system to be the next priority in Congress, even as lawmakers debated the passage of healthcare legislation. To read the entire article, click on the title above.

Determined to push a major overhaul of the immigration system to the top of the nation's political agenda, tens of thousands of people rallied Sunday on the National Mall, challenging Congress to fix laws that they say separate families and hurt the country's economic and social vitality.

Organizers and supporters of the "March for America" campaign -- who demonstrated as House members cast a historic vote on healthcare -- want to make an immigration overhaul the next big undertaking in Washington.

"The reality is that immigrants keep jobs in America, they help businesses move forward," said Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, one of hundreds of community, labor and faith-based groups nationwide that joined the march.

The organizing group, Reform Immigration for America, said Sunday's rally was larger than the massive Washington demonstration in April 2006, when thousands protested around the country over immigrant rights and enforcement practices. On Sunday, the crowd stretched nearly five blocks on the mall.

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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.

US WANTS BITING SANCTIONS ON IRAN

The following is a portion of an article written by Matthew Lee that was published by The Washington Post on March 22, 2010 that discusses Iran’s continued block of travel by the nation’s most prominent poet, Simin Behbahani. To read the entire article, click on the title above.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Monday that the Obama administration will not accept a nuclear armed Iran and is working on sanctions "that will bite" to press it to come clean about its suspect atomic program.

In remarks to a pro-Israel group, Clinton said parts of Iran's government are "a menace" to the Iranian people and the Middle East. Israel considers Iran a mortal threat in its back yard, especially since the development of better Iranian missiles and the advancement of Iran's nuclear program to the point where a weapon could be feasible.

Iran claims it is not building a weapon.

Clinton said Iran's leaders must know there are "real consequences" for not proving their nuclear activities are peaceful.

OBAMA OFFERS ENGAGEMENT IN VIDEO MESSAGE TO IRANIANS

The New York Times published the following article written by Helene Cooper on March 20, 2010 about President Obama’s message to the people of Iran for the festival of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. To read the article in its entirety, click on the title above.

President Obama delivered his second message to the Iranian people for the festival of Nowruz, which marks the Iranian New Year, releasing a video on Saturday in which he again offered Iran’s leaders engagement with the United States.

But he tempered his offer for dialogue with a threat of international sanctions if Tehran did not rein in its nuclear ambitions.

“We are working with the international community to hold the Iranian government accountable because they refuse to live up to their international obligations,” Mr. Obama said. “But our offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands.”

The video acknowledged the lack of progress and the failures in Mr. Obama’s outreach to Iran since the Nowruz message he sent a year ago, when he was offering a new approach to bilateral relations based on diplomacy instead of confrontation.

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP IRAN WITHOUT SYRIAN HELP

The following is a portion of an Op-Ed written by Amos Harel that was published by Haaretz on March 24, 2010 that discusses his views on the escalating diplomatic situation with Iran. To read the entire Op-Ed, click on the title above.

Israel's security situation is fraught with a paradox. Despite the occasional incidents in the West Bank and on the Gaza border, 2009 (after Operation Cast Lead ended in January) was the quietest year in a decade in security terms. But amid this quiet, a worrying threat has developed on all sides of the Israeli home front. Most of the civilian population is now menaced by many more missiles and rockets; their range, precision and potential damage is greater than in the past. And memories of 2006 teach that we can't hope that they will rust.

A badly waged war in Lebanon, despite attempts to rewrite history, and a better-managed operation in Gaza have left behind a similar picture. The price the enemy organizations paid, as did the civilians they operated behind, has created reasonable deterrence. It seems that Hezbollah and Hamas, as well as Syria, which watched the fighting from the sidelines, has no taste for another direct clash with Israel. The Israel Defense Forces has used training and exercises to close most of the gaps in preparation for more intense confrontations.

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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.

SUDAN PREZ THREATENS TO EXPEL ELECTION OBSERVERS

AP published the following article written by Sarah El Deeb on March 23, 2010 about the Sudan president's threat to expel foreign observers over their recommendations to delay the country's first multiparty elections in decades due in April. To read the entire article, click the title above.

Sudan's president threatened Monday to expel foreign observers over their recommendations to delay the country's first multiparty elections in decades due in April.

The April vote — Sudan's first multiparty elections in decades — will see voters cast ballots for a national president, a southern president, local and national assemblies as well as governors. President Omar al-Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur, is running for re-election. He issued his warning while campaigning in east Sudan.

"Any foreigner or organization that demand the delay of elections will be expelled sooner rather than later, " al-Bashir said in remarks carried by the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television.

"We want them to observe the elections, but if they interfere in our affairs and demanded the delay, we will cut their fingers and put them under our shoes and expel them," he told supporters, according to his remarks carried by Al-Arabiya television web site."

WHAT THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE GOT WRONG ON DARFUR

Foreign Policy published the following blog entry written by Sean P. Brooks on March 23, 2010 about how the OIC should encourage full transparency of all of the donors to ensure that Darfuris know where and how the money is being spent. To read the article in its entirety, click on the title above.

Members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) pledged $850 million dollars for future development in Darfur on Sunday in Cairo. Egypt and Turkey co-chaired the donor's conference--which aimed to jumpstart international commitment to long-term reconstruction and development in Darfur after seven years of conflict, mass displacement, and humanitarian crisis. Some countries making generous pledges willfully ignored the ongoing security challenges and unresolved conflict between the Darfuri rebels and the Sudanese government. In this way, the OIC--like the League of Arab States in its response to the Darfur crisis--sought to help the people of Darfur without addressing those most responsible for their deplorable conditions.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, for instance, said in his opening statement, "Since the beginning of the crisis in Darfur, the basic issue has been one of development, which has taken on political, tribal and social dimensions." This short-sighted view of the recent bloody history of Darfur conveniently avoids placing blame on the government of Sudan or any other political agents.

Having just returned from Darfur, I know that Aboul Gheit's prescription that "the core solution to the Darfur crisis must focus on increasing rates of development and improving the standard of living for each citizen in Darfur" will be met with heavy skepticism by the over 2 million people living in internally displaced camps and many of the United Nations agencies assisting them.

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JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL
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