Contents: Download a pdf version of today’s Isranet Daily Briefing.pdf
CIJR: A Quarter-Century Of Israel Advocacy: Frederick Krantz,CIJR, June 17, 2013 —What would become CIJR began in my basement twenty-five years ago, with a hardy pro-Israel band responding to the media’s first-intifada (1987-88) anti-Israel tilt towards the Palestinians.
CIJR At Twenty-Five Years Young!: Baruch Cohen, CIJR, June 17, 2013 — Across this quarter-century, CIJR’s unfailing work has steadily been directed at the well-being of our community, of Israel, and of the Jewish People.
From Our Readers — It is time that I finally write to you all and congratulate you over and over again on the publications of the CIJR Isranet Briefing. Several times a week, I am immediately drawn to read every editorial, story and current even news item packed into this report. I am always moved beyond belief, to anger, to shame, and to disgrace with regard to the world we are living in.
CIJR: A QUARTER-CENTURY OF ISRAEL ADVOCACY
Frederick Krantz, June 17, 2013
What would become CIJR began in my basement twenty-five years ago, with a hardy pro-Israel band responding to the media’s first-intifada (1987-88) anti-Israel tilt towards the Palestinians. The organized Jewish community, seemingly paralyzed, was largely silent, and we filled the breach, rallying the community and beginning what would become, today, 25 years later, an internationally-recognized, independent and pro-Israel academic think tank. And Menachem Begin z”l was the first member of our International Board.
The Canadian Institute for Jewish Research has put Montreal, and, indeed, Canada (with our new Toronto Chapter) on the Israel-advocacy map. It has done so through intelligent, informed, and sustained defence of Israel, the Jewish people, and—importantly—of students, on- and off their embattled campuses.
Initially an informal group, five or six people, CIJR—after it found that no organized group would provide it with an office and access to a secretary, let alone basic funding—incorporated (aided by now-Sen. Yoine Goldstein) as a non-profit educational endowment. We never looked back. And while finding funding has been difficult and time-consuming, over time the lack of organized-community support helped ensure CIJR’s success by reinforcing its independence, the necessary precondition of its international credibility.
Hence we are proud that CIJR is, in the direct sense, a true “community” entity, sustained neither by direct Israeli nor ongoing organizational support, but by the individual tax-deductible contributions of amcha, of the individual Jewish men and women who, together, constitute the community.
On this 25th Anniversary, I would like to remember, and thank, some key people who supported us initially, and continue to do so now. Some are departed: Clara Balinsky z”l, the great Montreal activist and Hadassah leader urged us to create an ongoing National Board; Richard z”l and Hilda Golick z”l, key early supporters, and Eddie Winant z”l, who always remembered that the Institute idea emerged from discussions across 1987-88 in the Golick kitchen, at which he was present.
We could not have achieved our current status without the unfailing contributions and support of the key, respected pro- Israel speakers and writers who make our publications and conferences, and work with students, possible. This includes Irwin Cotler, and our long-time Council members include, from Canada, the U.S., Europe and Israel, Professors Julien Bauer, Brian Smith, David Ben-Soussan, David Pariser, Ira Robinson (our current Associate Director), Hal Waller, Daniel Pipes (Philadelphia), Sally Zerker (Toronto), Gerald Steinberg and Mordechai Nisan (Jerusalem), R. Abraham Cooper (Los Angeles), and Isi Leibler (Jerusalem).
Ongoing and unfailing sources of National Board support include: our first and second Chairmen, Charles (Chuck) Lazarus and Irwin Beutel; outstanding veteran members like Thomas Hecht, Joyce and Meyer Deitcher, Evelyn Schachter, Louise Roskies Goldberg, Gustava Weiner, Ariela Cotler, Lionel Goldman, Dr. Hy Goldman, Ted Quint, Mannie Dalfen, Kurt Rothschild, Lillian and Bryant Shiller, Nathan Yacowar, and Rabbis Lionel Moses and Ronnie Cahana, and Naomi Frankenberg (Vancouver); generous donors like Evelyn and Rafi Schachter, Jack, Maureen, and Frieda Dym, Tom and Riva Hecht, Irwin Beutel, Herb and Carole Feifer, our Anniversary Honorees Aaron and Deborah Remer, Sam and Brenda Gewurz, Gail Asper and the Asper Foundation (Winnipeg); David Sherman, and Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman (Toronto), Robert Greenberg (Ottawa), and Sabina Citron (Jerusalem).
And CIJR’s success is inconceivable without the unfailing support of our remarkable Research Chairman, Baruch Cohen, resident CIJR tzaddik and member of the original 1987-8 chevra. Through his writings in CIJR’s publications, and key work in making the Romanian Holocaust known, Baruch—soon to turn 94! – has become a well-known name in Jewish communities the world over.
(Other wonderful volunteers include Nathan Yacowar, Esther Noodelman, and Esther Luftglass.)
CIJR was also committed, from the beginning, to supporting the pro-Israel work of students, on- and off-campus. This has been repaid many-fold through wonderful young people who, seized by the great miracle of the rebirth of the Jewish People on its own Land, came to make activism part of their academic and community life.
A case in point is our 25th Anniversary Keynote Speaker, Hillel Neuer: my student at Liberal Arts College, Concordia U., an Israel Intern and editor of the students’ Dateline: Middle East Journal at CIJR, and Irwin Cotler’s student at McGill law school. Hillel is today the world-renowned Director of the UN Watch organization in Geneva.
Among the many, many students who have worked at CIJR or taken our famous Student Israel-Advocacy Program (SIAP) are, inter alia, Guy Mizrachi, Karen Lazar, Elliot Kramer, Zev Gewurz, Jackie Douek, Howard Liebman, Shira Alon, Josh Peters, Alan Herman, Oscar Moore, Randy and Marian Pinsky, Merav Fima, Amariyah and Yoninah Orenstein, Josh Paiken, David Smajovits, and Charles Bybelezer.
Indeed, there is a real sense in which CIJR’s most important product has been precisely these young people, some of whom are not Jewish, who found the Institute an intellectually and morally nourishing place, and democratic Israel a worthy focus of their ongoing support. 3
Also deserving of mention are some of the newer members of our Academic Council—Prof. Csaba Nicolenyi, Barbara Kay and Machla Abramovitz (Montreal), Asaf Romirowsky (Philadelphia), Aurel Braun and Clifford Orwin (Toronto), Manfred Gerstenfeld and Amb. Alan Baker (Toronto); of our Board—Howard Bokser, Peter Margo, Esther Luftglass, Steve Bramson, Nathan Elberg, David Smajovits, and Rabbi Asher Jacobson; as well as our talented Publications Chair, Ber Lazarus, courageous Executive Assistant, Yvonne Margo, and our Toronto Chapter leaders, Prof. Sally Zerker and David Freeman
In closing, I would like to recognize and thank – in addition to Baruch and Sonia Cohen – three other indispensable people. One is my wife, Lenore Hammel Krantz, who has gallantly supported me over the years in what she came to term my “second, non-paying full-time job”; a second is our superb, unfailingly creative, exact, and utterly reliable desktop-publisher and aesthetic advisor of over 20 years, France Normandeau. The third person is our new, National Board Chairman, my friend, colleague, and comrade-in-arms, the unique and indomitable Jack Kincler, whose superb work is already helping make possible CIJR’s next twenty-five years.
It has been my privilege, and duty, and joy, to work—supported by all these wonderful people—for the well-being of Israel and the Jewish People. Am Yisrael chai! The Jewish People, and CIJR, live!
Prof. Frederick Krantz (Director, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research,
Editor, Daily Isranet Briefing & ISRAFAX Magazine)
CIJR AT TWENTY-FIVE YEARS YOUNG!
A SILVER ANNIVERSARY OF GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT
Baruch Cohen, June 17, 2013
Israel today is a vibrant, strong democracy, an astonishing oasis of human endeavour in every field. A remarkable body of writing, informed by Jewish values, chronicles our nation’s millennial religious and civilizational achievement. The Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, CIJR, is a brilliant part of this record of achievement, a shining link in the long chain of Jewish history.
At twenty-five, the Institute is celebrating a Jubilee of unsurpassed pro-Israel creativity, expressed in its internationally respected publications, unique work with students, on and off campus, and rich Montreal and Toronto community-oriented seminars, colloquia, and conferences.
Across this quarter-century, CIJR’s unfailing work has steadily been directed at the well-being of our community, of Israel, and of the Jewish People. At twenty-five, all of us are proud to have been part of an unbroken record, despite sometimes difficult circumstances, of great accomplishment for am yisrael, the Jewish State and the Jewish People and our students. I am today, at ninety-three, proud of completing twenty-five years of unbroken, day-by-day service at CIJR, at the side of a unique man who is my friend, my colleague, and my teacher, a strong guide to Jewish thought and a tribune dedicated to the Jewish People. For this privilege I thank all our wonderful staff and supporters, and above all, I thank Fred Krantz, founder and Director of the Canadian Institute forJewish Research.
Baruch Cohen is CIJR Research Chairman
Contents
FROM OUR READERS
From: Hannah Brown
Sent: March 30, 2013 10:29 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: CAMPUS PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS OF LIES AND BLOOD LIBELS AGAINST ISRAEL/JEWS CONTINUE—HERE A BATTLE LOST, THERE A BATTLE WON
I wish that the Jewish studies departments in all universities would put up posters that say…If you truly support BDS, do not use many wonderful electronic and medical products from Israel or designed in Israel…let’s see how that reality check would work with the anti-Israel crowd. I don’t think they are aware of Israel’s contributions to them…it’s time to give them a chance to put their money where their mouths are…or is it not put their money(that is on Israeli inventions etc. where their mouths are). Let’s see if they canspeak out of both sides of their mouths…
Hannah Brown
From: Chalom Schirman
Sent: April 8, 2013 8:34 PM
To: fred krantz
Subject: RE: TWENTY PHOTOS THAT CHANGE THE HOLOCAUST NARRATIVE
]
KOL HAKAVOD for distributing this doc, CIJR!!
Chalom Schirman, Director – International Executive Education (IEDP)
School of Economics & Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
From: Media Action Group
Sent: April 8, 2013 11:39 PM
To: ‘Media Action Shirley Anne’
Subject: Today on the 70th Anniversary of the WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING we can look back and see the courage…
Friends,
Today being Holocaust Remembrance Day, it is fitting to read the stories below about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising to better understand what happened 70 years ago, the courage, bravery and sacrifice in the face of the most evil plans to mass murder the Jewish people – we must remember. Our thanks to Dr. Krantz for his efforts to educate below.
Shirley Anne Haber
From: Maureen Frumkin
Sent: April 12, 2013
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Isranet Daily Briefing: ANNE FRANK MUST NOT WEEP: POSITIVE JEWISH DEMOGRAPHICS, ZIONIST SELF-DETERMINATION, OFFSET REVIVED ANTISEMITISM
Good afternoon,
I hope this email finds everyone well.
It is time that I finally write to you all and congratulate you over and over again on the publications of the CIJR Isranet Briefing. Several times a week, I am immediately drawn to read every editorial, story and current even news item packed into this report. I am always moved beyond belief, to anger, to shame, and to disgrace with regard to the world we are living in.
Thank you for the exceptional, insightful and vivid work from those around the world who are the strong advocates and supporters of peace, democracy and freedom on earth.
As always, Jack and I support your endeavours to educate one and all.
Bravo!
Best wishes from us,
Maureen Frumkin Dym
From: George Goldsteen
Sent: April 13, 2013 6:13 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Isranet Daily Briefing: ANNE FRANK MUST NOT WEEP: POSITIVE JEWISH DEMOGRAPHICS, ZIONIST SELF-DETERMINATION, OFFSET REVIVED ANTISEMITISM
Dear Professor Krantz,
I am responding to the article “Anne Frank must be weeping”.
I lost about 100 relatives in the Shoah, including my father, uncle, aunt and grandmother. I di not become aware of why they were killed until I was about 14 years old, in 1954. It was a few years later that Dutch TV began to broadcast a long running series of documentaries about what happened in the Netherlands during the Second World War.
I believed then that antisemitism was dead and buried. However, in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s I saw the first sign of a renewed antisemitism on public display followed by one or two more. It was at that time I decided we should leave the Netherlands, because apparently antisemitism had never died. It was just politically incorrect to publicly spout one’s antisemitism.
I learned about 7 years ago, during a 3-months stay with my daughter and her family in Holland, why there was so much anti-Israel (read anti-Jewish) rhetoric in the Media and the street. After the oil-boycott of 1974 the Arab countries (who controlled OPEC) told the European countries that there would never be another oil-boycott provided these countries would stop supporting Israel and do not stop Muslims from settling in their countries.
Well, these countries certainly kept their end of this “bargain”. There are now millions of Muslims in Europe and the support for Israel indeed started to drop over the years. Given that the Netherlands were always friendly to Jews for centuries and thousands risked their lives to hide Jews during the Shoah, it is inconceivable it would become so anti-Israel, but it has.
So although I welcome and support all efforts to educate young people, the real culprits that enabled these youngsters ( and far more adults !) to acquire such feelings are the Media and governments. These two should be pursued. Their fear is of course the threat of another boycott; however there never was a boycott in 1974. The Arabs still sold oil, but the papers showed it was not shipped to Europe but elsewhere and once at sea the destinations of these tankers were changed to Rotterdam and other European ports. The Arabs just asked that this not be made public, so the people would continue to think there was a boycott. In the Netherlands no one was allowed to drive their car on Sundays. If there had been a complete boycott, then after a few months the stored supply of oil would have been exhausted, and not driving on Sunday would not have helped one bit.
It is the steady stream of anti-Israel articles in newspapers and newscasts on TV and radio as well as announcements by Government figures that has turned the Dutch population against Israel and then against Jews as well. So these two culprits should be targeted and the thoughts and feelings of people over time will be modified once again. I am sure you are aware of Honest Reporting, which does an excellent job of tackling the Media with good results, although unfortunately they can only deal with English-language Media.
The fact that the Mayor of Arnhem has said Jews should go into hiding is nothing new. A number of local authorities in Antwerp, Sweden and Germany have told their local Jews not to dress Jewishly or speak Hebrew in the streets because they cannot protect them. Since theywould need protection primarily from Muslims, I can only conclude these authorities are afraid to be accused of racism if they start acting against these Muslims (in other words, PC gone meshuggene).
Remember the Somali woman Hirsi Ali…who came to the Netherlands as a refugee, went to University and joined the Liberal Party (a centre-right party, not to be confused with the US Liberals). She had to live in her home while under 24/7 guard to protect her, after Mr. van Gogh (with whom she made a film condemning Islam for the way it views and treats women) was knifed to death by a local Muslim. In the end she was forced to leave her home, because the neighbours started to complain about the police presence. She was offered a position with a US think-tank, and so she left the country, where she was once touted as a future political leader.
I am afraid that if Anne Frank were alive today she would scrap her famous line, about her still believing in the good of all people, from her diary.
Kind Regards from Down Under,
Gershon Goldsteen
Launceston, Tasmania
Australia
From: Georgette Bensimon
Sent: April 17, 2013 9:18 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Isranet Daily Briefing: WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS IN REVIEW” ROUND-UP
Hello,
I just wanted to say that I really appreciate this way of conveying information. It is short and concise and the message is clear. Thank you for this initiative.
Georgette Bensimon
From: Wilf Mandel
Sent: June 11, 2013 9:45 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: JORDAN-SYRIA TENSION — ASSAD’S ADVANCE THREATENS AMMAN’S STABILITY: ISRAEL, WATCHFUL, WAITS
In regard to the article about Abdullah being anti-Israel, all you need do is read his book, in which he rewrites history, claiming that the Jews in 1948 had a massive military advantage over the invading Arab armies. He also rewrites the 1967 War, eliminating Israel’s offer not to attack if Jordan stayed out of the conflict (the answer was Jordanian shelling of Israel’s West Jerusalem).
He, like many rulers in the Middle East is a pragmatist, going with the flow, remembering the original Abdullah’s fate and that of Sadat. He is also aware of the huge Palestinian (as opposed to Hashemite) proportion of the population, and how Arafat, in 1970, came close to deposing his father.
Wilf Mandel
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