Shimon Peres wants you to be his Facebook friend [JTA]
President of Israel Shimon Peres has launched a clever media campaign, enlisting the help of remix artist Noy Alooshe to extend his message – be my Facebook friend, for peace.
Civil War Bigotry, Revisited [Slate]
While pretty much everyone is familiar with the racist history leading up to and encapsulating the Civil War, less talked about is then-General and later President Ulysses S. Grant’s anti-Semitic order expelling Jews from a region under his command known as the Department of Tennessee. Johnathan Sarna reflects on how this blatant display of anti-Semitism highlighted and influenced the Jewish community’s position in society back then – and how it ultimately benefitted the Jews.
“Americans today are often surprised to learn that Ulysses S. Grant once expelled “Jews as a class” from his war zone. It seems incredible that he could blame Jews for the sins of smugglers and traders—most of whom were not actually Jewish at all—and expel them from the entire territory under his command. Some Jews at the time wondered whether their new homeland was coming to resemble anti-Semitic Europe at its worst.”
Renaming a Pool of Anti-Semitism [Fox News]
Residents of Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, vote today on whether to change the name of the town’s “Jew Pond”, a rarely used but highly charged body of water whose name has been a source of tension in the town for decades. While some residents claim that the name is anything but anti-Semitic, the name’s history reflects remnants of historical anti-Semitism, asserts the ADL.
” For many long-time residents of this rural town, the quest to change the name of Jew Pond is much ado over a muddy, manmade body of water not used for much of anything besides ice skating and fishing. For more recent transplants and the town’s health officer, though, it’s a way to banish an offensive title that’s recorded on at least one official map.”
Florida Legislature comes out in favor of a Israel [JTA]
Both houses Florida’s state legislature voted unanimously in February to support Israel, an act that some critics say supports a one state solution. The measure was based in part on a similar bill that passed in South Carolina last June, which the Republican National Committee adopted in January. When these states were called in to solve the crisis, however, remains unclear.
“The activists behind the measure say their goal was to affirm Israel’s right to determine what happens with the territories it captured in 1967 and the right of Israeli settlers to live anywhere in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. But critics counter that the plain reading of the resolution ends up endorsing a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — with Palestinians in the West Bank being granted equal citizenship.”
Rabbi claims targeted killings foster Tikkun Olam [Ynet]
Rabbi Donniel Hartman comes out in favor of targeted killings of known Palestinian terrorists, claiming that such acts favor security and work towards Tikkun Olam, the healing of the world, in a controversial op-ed.
“Pre-emption, however, is a slippery term and can, in a slippery slope, morph into aggression. While power can be a vehicle for profound moral expression, it can also corrupt. Targeted killings of known terrorist leaders, those with blood on their hands and the self-expressed desire and capacity to spill more blood, are not morally ambiguous, but rather acts of tikkun olam, repairing the world.”
