The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA) was closed on July 31, 2011. This website is an archive of the official website upon its closure and is strictly for research archival purposes.
The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism
Newsletter
Volume 4 No. 16
12 March 2010
YIISA/IASA CALL FOR PAPERS
“Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity”
Monday, August 23rd – Tuesday, August 24th, 2010
Now accepting papers to be presented at this conference as well as proposals for panels. Please send proposals to info@iasa-anti.org by Monday, May 17, 2010.
IASA will host its inaugural international conference at Yale University, in conjunction with the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA). This conference is being organized in conjunction with the Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research, University of Cape Town, The Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, The Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University, Stephen Roth Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University, as well as other institutions.
Conference registration is now open. Registration fees are $150; Senior Citizens – $100; Students – $75. Under exceptional circumstances fees may be waived. Checks may be made payable to the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA) and mailed to YIISA/IASA Conference, 77 Prospect Street, P.O. Box 208209, New Haven, CT 06520. For more information regarding registration please contact info@iasa-anti.org or 203.432.5239.
For more information please CLICK HERE.
SAVE THE DATE
Monday, April 12, 2010 @ 12:30pm
Yom Hashoah Day Commemoration: “What Did We Learn”
Location: Linsly-Chittenden Hall, Room 102 (63 High Street)
Speaker: Stella Bengel, Shoah Survivor
Ambassador Hannah Rosenthal, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, State Department, Washington, DC
Charles Asher Small, Director of YIISA
Please RSVP to yiisa.program@yale.edu or 203.432.5239 by Thursday, April 8th.
YIISA LECTURE
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 @ 4:15pm
“Making Sense of European Antisemitism”
Location: 77 Prospect Street, Room B-012 (Basement Floor)
Speaker: Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post Correspondent for Germany
ENJOY SPRING BREAK!
SPECIAL ARTICLE OF INTEREST
‘Hated Israel will be annihalated’
(Jerusalem Post) Ahmadinejad warns aggression won’t save “most criminal regime in the world.”
Click here to read
REPORT
Hard-Won Progress and a Long Road Ahead: Women’s Rights in the Middle East and North Africa
(Freedom House) As the governments of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) undertake the difficult process of enacting social and political change, the unequal status of women presents a particularly formidable challenge.
Click here to read
IRAN
Israel cannot abandon military option on Iran
(Haaretz) In all the years since nuclear weapons were first developed, they have been used on humans exactly twice: on August 6 and 9, 1945, against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is how the Americans achieved the final surrender of Japan. There are some who claim that the second bomb was unnecessary, but it was important as a warning to the future: This is not a weapon you play around with.
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Gates sees Gulf support for Iran sanctions push
(Washington Post) Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that leading Gulf states appeared ready to use their clout to lobby China to support sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program.
Click here to read
Israel tries to jump-start calls for Iran nuclear sanctions
(Washington Post) Israeli officials are beginning to signal impatience with the slow pace of diplomacy aimed at restraining Iran’s nuclear ambitions
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Familiar hurdles for U.S. as it ramps up pressure on firms doing trade with Iran
(Washington Post) Congress and the Obama administration are stepping up pressure on private companies to stop doing business with Iran, but their efforts are running into the same problems U.S. sanctions have encountered for three decades — reluctance in Europe and a host of elusive trading companies eager to sell gasoline and other goods to Iran
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‘US playing game in Afghanistan’
(Jerusalem Post) Taking aim at the U.S., Ahmadinejad said “They themselves created terrorists and now they’re saying that they are fighting terrorists.”
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Forged Passports: Is It Catching On?
(Sky News) Three Iranians were caught entering the Seychelles masquerading as Israelis using stolen Israeli passports.
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MIDDLE EAST
Expose ‘apartheid’ charge’s real agenda
(JPost) Apartheid was a totalitarian system, not unlike many Arab regimes today.
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Ashkenazi: We shall triumph over those who seek our demise
(YNet) IDF chief of staff spoke in New York before army donors, stressing significance of Iranian threat and pointing to military’s high state of alert
Click here to read article
Click here to read key phrases from Lt. Ashkenazi’s speech
What is happening on US campuses
(Campus Beat) Overview of student activities on US campuses.
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Executing the hangman
(JPost) According to former agent ‘Anton,’ in 1965 the Israeli government deployed the Mossad to South America to assassinate a Nazi in a way that would resonate internationally and make it difficult for Germany to enact a proposed statute of limitations on war criminals. The target? Latvian Herbert Cukurs, the Hangman of Riga.
Click here to read
Former prisoners reveal torture in Palestinian prisons
(YNet) In broadcast dealing with one of most sensitive issues in Palestinian society, former prisoners in Gaza, West Bank provide painful testimonies of interrogation methods. Fatah admits phenomenon exists, while Hamas denies it, says ‘prisons open to human rights groups’
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MISCELLANEOUS
‘They Need to be Liberated From Their God’
(Wall Street Journal) The ‘Son of Hamas’ author on his conversion to Christianity, spying for Israel, and shaming his family.
Click here to read
Martyr: A Book Review on “My Name Is Rachel Corrie: Taken from the Writings of Rachel Corrie”
(Powell Books) On Justice Brandeis’s celebrated principle that “the remedy [for free speech] is more speech,” it is good and salubrious that My Name Is Rachel Corrie can finally be seen on a New York stage.
Click here to read
An unholy campaign: Presbyterian Church elders are poised to defame Israel
The NY Daily News writes, “The U.S. Presbyterian Church is on the verge of a blunder that would severely damage interfaith harmony. Its 3 million lay members must call the hierarchy to its senses.”
Click here to read
French Jews sous pression
(Word From Jerusalem) Over the past decade the status of the 500,000-600,000 French Jews, who constitute the third largest Diaspora community, has continued to deteriorate.
Click here to read
WEEKLY QUOTES
(Source: Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, Montreal)
“Why is it that those who say they want to fight terrorism are never successful? I think it is because they are the ones who are playing a double game. They are the ones who set the terrorists on their course and now they say: ‘Now we want to fight them.’ Well they cannot, it is impossible…. What are you even doing in this area? You are from 10,000 km over there. Your country is on the other side of the world. What are you doing here?” — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a media conference with Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai, taunting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates over U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Gates, before leaving Kabul, replied, “I told President Karzai that we want Afghanistan to have good relations with all of its neighbors. But we also want all of Afghanistan’s neighbors to play an upfront game dealing with the government of Afghanistan.” (Reuters, March 10)
“Palestine [was] always at the top of Turkey’s priorities.” — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the Saudi paper Al Wattan, condemning Israel’s inclusion of the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb as national heritage sites, which “were not and never will be Jewish sites, but Islamic sites.” Erdogan also encouraged renewed talks between Fatah and Hamas. (Jerusalem Post, March 7)
“It is unconscionable that Hamas, which is a foreign terrorist organization pretending to be a government, would find it to be appropriate to detain a journalist. This is an unacceptable violation of Paul’s individual human rights as well as his rights as a journalist.” — Richard Heideman, a Washington, D.C., lawyer, condemning Hamas for their detainment and interrogation of British journalist Paul Martin. Martin was seized by Hamas agents on February 14 and is being held without charge. His wife, Anne, described his conditions: “He has been kept in solitary confinement and interrogated whilst being denied access either to his Gazan lawyer or to official British representatives. We understand that he is now being held without reading and writing materials and without means of communication with the outside world…. This is the first time that a foreign press representative has been held by the authorities in Gaza. We are becoming extremely concerned.” In 2002, Martin quoted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah urging a global suicide bombing campaign and was able to produce an authentic transcript of the statement. Martin has been arrested multiple times while reporting on justice and human rights issues in Gaza. (National Post, March 5)
“This is a defining moment for the Obama administration. If he caves to the politics of fear that have dominated this debate in recent months, he will set a dangerous precedent for future national-security policy.” — Elisa Massimino, present of Human Rights First, discussing the negotiations between White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Linsey Graham about holding the trial for alleged 9/11 terror attack mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before a military tribunal instead of a civilian court. (Wall Street Journal, March 6)
“Unfortunately, despite agreement on the need of defending occupied Islamic territories, the Islamic world has been influenced by the American and British propaganda and plots to create discord among Shi’ites and Sunnis. Bullying powers, America and Britain are fully aware that disunity and discord among Muslim can deviate the Muslims’ public opinion from the important issue of Palestine. The occupation of the holy land of Palestine and the endless brutality of the Zionist regime towards innocent Palestinian people is a big wound in the body of the Islamic world.” — Iran ‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a televised speech marking the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, trying to rally the whole Muslim world against the West and, particularly, against Israel, a “dangerous and fatal cancer”. (Reuters, March 4)
SHORT TAKES
EU PARLIAMENT BACKS GOLDSTONE REPORT — (Brussels) The European Parliament urged its 27 member states to monitor the Israeli and Palestinian probes into alleged war crimes in Gaza. The parliament also called on Israel to immediately open border crossings with the Gaza Strip, saying the blockade was worsening the humanitarian crisis there. The parliamentary move, which would give the EU an unprecedented role in evaluating the progress of Israel’s war crimes probe, was sharply criticized by Israel. (Jerusalem Post, March 10)
CHINA REJECTS IRAN SANCTIONS, PUSHES FOR DIPLOMACY — (Jerusalem) China said it will continue to push for a diplomatic resolution to the Iranian nuclear standoff, rebuffing efforts by Western powers to introduce a new set of sanctions against Iran. The proposed sanctions would target the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and toughen existing measures against its shipping, banking and insurance sectors. China depends on Iran for much of its energy needs. (Ha’aretz, March 4)
UK: MAJORITY SUPPORT OUTLAWING BURKA — (London) Almost six out of 10 Britons think women should be banned from wearing the burka in public, saying they would support a prohibition similar to the one being considered in France. Support for a ban in Britain is not as high as in France, where about 70 per cent of people say they would back prohibition. Asked if they would support a burka ban if it were accompanied by a clampdown on the wearing of all religious icons, such as the Christian crucifix and the Jewish kippa, only 9 per cent said they would support such a move. (Financial Times, March 2)
DUTCH ANTI-ISLAM POLITICIAN BACK IN UK — (London) Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Britain’s parliament to protest the screening of the anti-Islamist film Fitna by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Wilders, whose anti-immigrant Freedom Party is on the rise in the Netherlands, presented the movie at London’s House of Lords. It wasn’t his first visit to London — the politician made headlines last winter when Britain banned him from entering the country. Wilders got the ban overturned in court and flew back to the British capital in October. (Wash. Post, Guardian, March 5)
AFGHAN ISLAMISTS CLASH WITH TALIBAN; 50 KILLED — (Kabul) Fierce weekend fighting in the north of Afghanistan between Taliban forces and another Islamist group has killed fifty. Fighting erupted between the Taliban and fighters of the Hezb-e-Islami, a guerrilla faction under the command of longtime militia leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Mujahideen leader in the war against the U.S.S.R. It is unclear whether this represents a break in the ranks of the groups that have challenged the government of President Hamid Karzai. (Wash. Post, March 7)
U.S. CONGRESS SAYS ARMENIAN DEATHS WERE GENOCIDE — (Washington) Turkey yesterday warned of serious damage to its relations with the U.S. after a congressional panel narrowly approved a resolution describing the Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians as genocide. The vote by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives took place as Washington struggles to persuade Turkey to back sanctions against Iran. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately blamed U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration for failing to block the resolution. (NY Times, March 4; Fin. Times, March 6)
SWEDISH PAPERS PUBLISH MOHAMMED DRAWING — (Stockholm) At least three Swedish newspapers published a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog after an alleged plot to murder the artist who created it was uncovered in Ireland, Irish authorities detained four Muslim men and three women suspected of plotting to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced several death threats since the drawing was first printed in 2007. Al Qaeda put a $100,000 bounty on his head. (Wash. Post, March 10)
U.S. AID GROUP ATTACKED IN PAKISTAN; 6 DEAD — (Islamabad) Terrorists armed with grenades attacked the offices of a U.S.-based Christian aid group helping earthquake survivors in north-western Pakistan, killing six and wounding several others. All the victims of the assault on World Vision, a major humanitarian group, were Pakistanis. Extremists have killed other people working for foreign aid groups in Pakistan and issued statements saying such organizations were working against Islam. Many groups have scaled down operations in the desperately poor region or pulled out altogether. (Wash. Post, March 10)
ISRAEL TO BUILD CIVILIAN NUCLEAR PLANTS — (Paris) Israel announced that it intended to develop civilian nuclear plants for energy, offering to build one as a joint project with Jordan, under French supervision. The Israeli infrastructure minister, Uzi Landau, said at a Paris conference that Israel wanted a cleaner, more reliable source of energy than the large amounts of coal now imported. Jordan, claimed such cooperation was premature before a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Jer. Post, March 8; NY Times, March 9)
ABBAS APPOINTS NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION PANEL — (Jerusalem) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has launched a special commission of inquiry to investigate a series of corruption cases in the PA. The commission — which has already summoned suspects and witnesses — was set up after former PA intelligence official Fahmi Shabaneh exposed several top officials in sexual, financial and administrative corruption. Shabaneh’s revelations have thus far led to the suspension of Rafik Husseini, director of the PA president’s bureau. (Jer. Post, March 9)
“SERIOUS THREAT TO VENEZUELA’S JEWS” — (Jerusalem) A report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights watchdog group warns of a possible “threat to the life and physical integrity of the Jewish community in Venezuela” due to the Chavez regime’s violations of the political and human rights of its citizens. The report cites antisemitic discourse in media and among state officials, along with vandalism and an “unexplained” raid by Venezualan police as contributing “to creating an atmosphere of intimidation and violence against the Jewish community in Venezuela.” (Jer. Post, March 9)
17 POLICE HURT IN TEMPLE MOUNT CLASHES — (Jerusalem) Seventeen policemen were lightly wounded in their attempt to restore order on the Temple Mount after Arab youths emerging from Friday prayers started hurling rocks down onto those worshiping at the Western Wall. The clashes broke out following a sermon attacking a recent Israeli decision to include two West Bank Jewish shrines on a list of national heritage sites. (Ha’aretz, Jer. Post, March 5)
CANADA ADDS AL-SHABAB TO TERRORIST LIST — (Toronto) Joining the UK, Australia and the U.S. in blacklisting al-Shabab, Ottawa announced that it has formally designated the Islamist group a terrorist organization under Canadian law. This will enable the government to seize any money and assets belonging to al-Shabab fronts existing in Canada. Leading an Islamist insurgency in Somalia, the al-Qaeda-affiliated group uses the Internet to draw young recruits from abroad. (G&M, March 
THOUSANDS OF SAUDIS STUDYING AT CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES — (Toronto) Saudi Arabia is footing the bill for about 62,000 students to attend foreign universities, including 10,000 in Canada — with more on the way. In the last two years, Canada has become the third most popular destination for students from the oil-rich nation, behind Britain and the U.S. It’s a trend promoted by Canadian campuses’ need for relief from funding shortfalls. (G&M, March 6)
YORK SUSPENDS STUDENT FOR INTERNET POSTS — (Toronto) Salman Hossain, a Muslim student from Toronto,has been suspended from York University after the National Post reported he was under police investigation over his controversial Internet postings. Hossain been ordered to appear before a disciplinary panel and in the meantime, he is not permitted to attend classes at the Toronto campus. The Ontario Provincial Police said last week its hate crimes and extremism unit was investigating Hossain’s online writings which make hateful comments about Jews and call for their genocide. (Nat. Post, March 9)