I am the top blog for search of IAJV ??

Top blog for search of IAJV
Originally uploaded by seraphya.

I am apparently the top blog people find when they search for the "IAJV" (Independent Australian Jewish Voices). It beats me how this happened. There are no links that are pointing people to this blog about the IAJV.

Considering that this is the case I should just make it very clear what the IAJV is. It is a trick being used by Self-hating Jews and anti-Zionists to divide the Jews of Australia and to make people think that the Jewish community of Australia is not run democratically. Its mission statement is misleading and is easy to agree with as I showed in earlier posts. It has worked into tricking very well intentioned people into supporting it. It does not stand for peace between Israel and a future Palestinian state as it claims, but for the destruction of Israel. If you want a real left-wing Zionist organization in Australia try Hashomer Hatzair, which accidentally signed it before realizing it was duped, or try 'Jewish Voices for a Just Peace'.

One post I recommend exposing the IAJV is THE BLANK PAGES OF THE AGE

Even the Left wing isn't fooled by IAJV - and a possible solution

Dissent debate: The rebuttal
Backlash against dissident petition

Hashomer Hatzair was issued with an urgent “please explain” from the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), after the youth movement’s controversial decision to sign the IAJV petition.

Claiming a “grave misunderstanding”, the youth group later moved to distance itself from IAJV founder Antony Loewenstein and said it had “signed in agreement with only the sentiments expressed in the letter”.

“In no way is our statement intended to express support for Antony Loewenstein’s personal opinions nor any of the other signatories.”

ZFA president Philip Chester said while he disagreed with the IAJV campaign, Hashomer Hatzair was entitled to its view and wouldn’t be ostracised for signing the petition.

The youth group had “misunderstood” the political agenda behind the dissenting campaign, he said.

Now Hashomer Hatzair (Hashi) was formed in Melbourne for those who were too left-wing for Habonim Dror, and therefore are just about the most left you will get in the scale of Australian Zionists. Now I am not suprised they signed the petition. It was written in a away that anyone, even a right-wing person could sign. What was the trick? it was to make people think something was wrong with the way Jewish and Zionist groups conduct themselves. While there maybe be valid issues that need to be brought up, as I pointed out earlier, this is a scam. The IAJV is having people sign onto a petition whose meaning is not what it seems to be.

Just in case you really believed that the Zionist groups in Australia don't behave well, we have perfect proof that they do. The ZFA would let people publicly condemn it and remain members without penalty.


Maybe we should all take a page out of Hashi's book and sign the petition. Imagine if everyone on the Jewish Board of Deputies and the ZFA and every organization were to sign the statement of principles, which as pointed at earlier, they already agree with. What better way of showing the IAJV and the world that the IAJV is redundant or has an ulterior motive?

Michael Danby - Federal MP against IAJV

After agreeing with the bland petition(which I posted about earlier to show how bland it really was) a group came out with this statement

But we object to and wish publicly to dissociate ourselves from disingenuous and misleading aspects of the IAJV petition.

The statement pretends that Israel's mainstream has not yet acknowledged Palestinian aspirations for a homeland.

We object to its saying nothing about either the rejection of Israel's legitimacy by Arab parties to the conflict or the role of Islamist terror.

In our opinion, an Arab-Israel peace will not be achieved by attempting to impose pariah status on Israel. Some of the key organisers of the IAJV petition have a long record of one-sided, Israel bashing.

The anti-Israel bias evident in the omissions of the IAJV petition forms part of that record and it is not a constructive step towards the peaceful solution of the conflict. That will come only when moderates prevail and extremists are condemned on both sides.

Only a tiny minority of Australian Jews reject the fundamental role that Israel plays in Australian Jewish life and identity and the need to ensure the security of Israel and we believe that this minority who condemn Israel have a right to express their views.

Nevertheless, the views of the large majority of Jews who support Israel's legitimacy and security are of greater significance in any debate.

Nor should a vocal minority be given special dispensation from community debate, scrutiny, and rational criticism. Australian Jews have a good understanding of what Israelis face every day. There are security guards at the gates of our children's schools and our Synagogues are terrorist targets. Peace in the Middle East will only come after terrorism is renounced and the extremists accept the right of Israel to exist free from attack in safe and secure borders.

Michael Danby
Federal MP

Eric Roozendaal
NSW government minister

Marsha Thomson
Victorian government minister

Martin Pakula
Parliamentary Secretary to the Victorian Minister for Transport

Michael Borowick
Assistant Secretary, Australian Worker's Union

Associate Professor Douglas Kirsner
Dr Phillip Mendes
Dr Paul Gardner
Dr Henry Pinskier
Justice Howard Nathan
Mark Dreyfus QC
George Newhouse
Rabbi John Levi
Leora Harrison
Roland Lindell
Jennifer Huppert
Bobby Guttman
Peter Koadlow
Jonathan Slonim
Vladimir Tsivlin
Ron Finkel
Michele Bernshaw
Reeva Lederman
Marcia Pinskier
Clem Issavitch
Amanda Mendes Da Costa



- The AJN



So far, I have just talked about the theory of an "independent voices". This tells you more about the Facts

The German group is problematic

Selected Quotes and commentary on:

English translation of Schalom 5767 (Berliner Erklärung)
Shalom 5767 (Berlin Declaration)

The root of the problem is the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory since 1967. The Occupation humiliates and disenfranchises the Palestinians. It paralyzes their economic, political and social life. Moreover, this daily recurring experience of injustice prevents a peaceful resolution of the old injustice done to the Palestinians when they were forced to leave in 1948. All this further fuels the spiral of violence.

The root of the problem is clearly NOT the occupation. The problems and terrorism have been going on long before 1967. This paragraph puts all the blame on Israel, and there is no paragraph to be found in the document which puts any responsibility in the slightest on the Palestinians. This paragraph also solely blames Israel for the Palestinians leaving Israel in 1948, when the reality is much more complicated than that.

We call upon the German government, together with the European Union,
- to no longer tolerate the Israeli policy of occupation
- to promptly end the boycott of the Palestinian Authority
- to strive earnestly for the realization of a viable Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and the entire West Bank that was occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, a state with full sovereignty and freedom of movement.

That is being blatantly Anti-Israel. Advocating that Germany somehow sanction Israel an no longer tolerate Israel's actions, rather than being helpful, increases hatred towards the State of Israel.
Ending the boycott of the Palestinian Authority would send a message that the destruction of the Israel is legitimate, the Quartet and Israel all realize that letting accepting Hamas as is means accepting the destruction of Israel. And this comes after saying that Israel should be "boycotted" for her actions?!
Why do they insist on the entire West Bank and Gaza? They seem to be more interested in Palestinian Nationalism than in Zionism. Because there are no Zionist statements in here, only Palestinian Nationalist ones.



I could add more, but its painfully obvious that this German group is not exactly an alternative Zionist voice, but merely a Palestinian voice. The other "Independent Voices" may be the same, but their declarations haven't made it clear

A close look at the IAJV Declaration

The Blue italics will be my comments

The Declaration

Statement of Principles: A Call for an Alternative View

We are Jews with diverse opinions on the Middle East who share a deep concern about the current crisis in the region.

How many affiliated Jews aren't deeply concerned about what is happening in Israel and the middle east?

We are committed to ensuring a just peace that recognizes the legitimate national aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians with a solution that protects the human rights of all.

Most people shouldn't have a problem with this. However not everyone will agree that the Palestinian national aspirations are legitimate. Certainly Hamas's vision of a Palestine that destroys and conquers Israel is not legitimate, so it wouldn't be included. Now skeptics will point out that most national aspirations of the Palestinians, including Fatah's are illegitimate, and would be right. I think that being that this organization is set up against the mainstream it will have a very broad definition of what is legitimate, but this line doesn't necessarily imply that. Very few Zionists cling to a one Jewish state solution, so I don't think people can complain about this line

We condemn violence by all parties, whether state sanctioned or not. We believe that Israel’s right to exist must be recognized and that Palestinians’ right to a homeland must also be acknowledged.

Treading on dangerous ground of moral equivalence. Israel's right to exist is not exactly Zionism, but it certainly isn't Anti-Zionism. I don't know exactly why the Palestinians have a "right" to a homeland. Maybe it is necessary to give them one given the situation, but a "right" to a Palestinian homeland that isn't Jordan is already becoming left wing. But thats OK, no one claimed that they weren't left wing Zionists.

As Australians we are privileged to live in a democratic state that embodies the principles of tolerance and free speech. We feel there is an urgent need to hear alternative voices that should not be silenced by being labelled disloyal or “self-hating.”

Often those being labeled disloyal or "self-hating" are, but I know plenty of people who are mislabeled, as I argued in my last post, they have a point.

Uncritical allegiance to Israeli government policy does not necessarily serve Israel’s best interests. Our concern for justice and peace in the Middle East is a legitimate opinion and should be met by reasoned argument rather than vilification and intimidation. In particular, we are concerned that the Jewish establishment does not represent the full range of Jewish opinion. Contrary to widespread concerns, anti-Semitism is not fuelled by Jews who publicly disagree with actions of the Jewish State.

Well the Orange anti-disengagement people will agree with that first sentence. Its hard to be against Justice and Peace, I know many a right-winger who are for that just us much as anyone else. I think they are being a bit alarmist in saying that the Jewish establishment does not represent the full range of Jewish opinion. Sure there are politics, in the Jewish establishment, but the ones who are attacking these progressive voices are much extreme and far form the centre than these progressives. Rather than remove themselves from the establishment, maybe they should have protected their rightful place inside the establishment. However, removing themselves from the establishment instead of firing back at those who attack them can be commended. At the end of the day, they are doing a disservice to themselves by removing themselves from the debate; they are also doing a bigger disservice to the establishment by removing themselves from it.

On the last point they are just plain wrong. Neturei Karta and Extremely Left-Wing Jews are some of the biggest fuelers of Antisemitism. Many Left-Wing groups which "publicly disagree with actions of the Jewish State" and don't do a good enough job at separating themselves form anti-zionists and antisemites bring about both antisemitism and mar the Left-Wing.

Jews understand what it is to suffer racism and victimization and therefore we are not only concerned about anti-Semitism but also the demonisation of all other minorities.

Sorry, but that therefore doesn't work. While I am concerned about all discrimination, I don't think one neccasarily has to lead to the other. While I use a variant of this approach to support Jewish efforts for Darfur, I think this statement could be clearer. Nothing wrong with it though.

We call upon fellow Jews to join us in supporting free debate to further the prospects of peace, security and human rights in the Middle East.

Free debate sounds good. As long as we are not talking about Holocaust Denial, which we aren't.

So I got through all of it, and found nothing wrong. Well, just that anti-semitism should be spelled antisemitism, because there is no such thing as "semitism"

Independent Jewish Voices - necassary?

Lately there has been a move by those who are dissatisfied by the current Jewish organizations to set up "independent" organizations to make themselves heard.
These include
IJV
IAJV
Schalom5767


I won't deal with the question of: "Are these organizations Anti-Zionist?" except to say on paper they certainly aren't, and that they don't necessarily have to be.

The fact that these organizations have sprouted up is a possible cause for worry, but is also surprising. Most Jewish and Zionist organizations in the diaspora took a policy of staying away from political issues, even under the intense pressures of the disengagement. Certainly the Executive Groups, Coalitions and the Umbrella Organizations would not dare to take a strong political stand.

At this point it would seem that these "independents" are firebrands who want to stir trouble and are not being suppressed. Come on, we all know that there are fair elections in these organizations and no one is rigging the elections of the World Zionist Congress. If these "independents" can sign on the Jerusalem Program, then they are having their fair vote. If they can't, then well they aren't really Zionists then, so they should stop pretending to be.

But that is all on paper, maybe they are being suppressed in reality? boo-hoo stop whining! Well no, not exactly. When policies on paper, and systems of fairness are being abused, there should be an answer. Bnei Akiva in most of the diaspora is politically non-partisan, and they do any things to make sure they keep to that ideal. However, when certain Madrichim (counselors) teach the chanichim(kids) songs about hating Arabs, a line has been crossed, even if he claims that those are his/her "personal opinions." It damage control isn't taken on and apologies aren't made, something is wrong. Now why is this relevant?

Because the ZOA wants to kick the UPZ out of the ICC. lots of fun 3 letter acronyms!

Take the story
from: JewSchool , OurJerusalem , The Jewish Daily Forward


So there was some damage control


But at the end of the day, organizations on the right who are members of the Executive Groups, Coalitions and the Umbrella Organizations such as the ZOA criticize Israel with impunity, harm Israel's image, make extremely controversial even possibly racist statements, connect themselves either officially or unofficially with other hate groups and terrorist organizations. Meanwhile no one is suggesting that that the ZOA be kicked out. No one is saying that the ISM or other anti-zionist organizations should be let in, just left wing Zionist groups.

If Left-wing groups are made to feel uncomfortable in the establishment, let them do what they do best, rebel against the establishment.