LAG BA OMER
The Nation’s Largest JEWISH CLASSIFIEDS (PAGE 45)
the
ewish Voice J Deuteronomy 32:1
SUNDAY, MAY 2ND
M AY T H E E A RT H H E A R T H E WO R D S O F M Y M O U TH
April 30, 2010 | 16 Iyar, 5770
www.JewishVoiceNY.com
Outraged Jews: “Enough!” Rally for Israel in NYC
Mideast War Looming Experts Advise
Photo by Shmuel Ben Eliezer
New York Graffiti Artists ‘Bombing’ Shelters with Solidarity
Vol. 6, Iss. 18
Advanced weaponry may mandate Israeli Government response.
Artwork shows Israel’s right to exist in peace.
BY HANA LEVI JULIAN BY AVI YELLIN A group of New York’s most talented urban artists arrived in Sderot this week with the Artists 4 Israel movement in hopes of bringing some much needed color to the beleaguered Negev town lying just outside of the Hamas-controlled Gaza region. he artists aim to show support and bring beauty to a town that since the 2005 withdrawal of Israeli soldiers and expulsion of Jews from Gaza, has had the daily lives if its residents defined by crude rockets and concrete bomb shelters. “Our tour is called ‘Project Murality,’ joining the words ‘mural’ and ‘morality’ to evoke justice through art,” explains Meital Dohan, an Israeli actress known for her role in the popular American Showtime TV Series, “Weeds”. Dohan, currently premiering in Monogamy at the Tribeca Film Festival, has taken time off from her busy acting career to volunteer with Artists 4 Israel and help coordinate the project. Artists 4 Israel (A4I), a relatively new organization on the American Jewish scene, defines itself as a New York-based community of creative people working together on collaborate projects that illustrate Israel’s right to exist in peace and security. It spon-
T
Continued on page 9
Thousands of inspired and concerned Jews listening to rally organizer Beth Gilinsky from the Jewish Action Alliance passionately calling for US President Barak Hussein Obama to ease up on Israel. BY FERN SIDMAN “Obama - Stop Pressuring Israel” was the rallying cry of the day, as over 2000 supporters of Israel gathered in front of the Israeli Consulate in New York City on Sunday afternoon, April 25th to express their views on the current strain in relations between the United States and Israel. Organizers of the rally had expected thousands more to attend but the inclement weather kept many away. he rally was sponsored and organized by the Jewish Action Alliance, an proIsrael activist organization that is renowned for championing issues of Jewish security. Beth Gilinsky, the spokesperson and chief strategist of the Jewish Action Alliance said, “We are outraged that President Obama is scapegoating Israel and wants to expel Jews from their homes in Jerusalem. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton display more anger about a Jewish family building a home in Jerusalem than Iran building a nuclear bomb.” Expressing the sentiments of those in attendance at the rally, she said, “Vast seg-
T
ments of the Jewish community will not tolerate the President’s continuing attacks on Israel. Grassroots Jewry will not be silent.” Noticeably absent from the lengthy roster of organizations endorsing this rally were the major American establishment Jewish organizations such as the World Jewish Congress, the ADL of B’nai Brith, the American Jewish Congress and the United Jewish Appeal. It has been suggested that these Jewish organizations are supportive of President Obama’s agenda in the Middle East and don’t want to damage their relations with the current administration. Amongst the plethora of organizations endorsing and participating in the rally were, Stand With Us, a college campus activist organization that spotlights hate speech against Israel, Christians and Jews United for Israel, Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, Artists 4 Israel, Z Street, The Jerusalem Reclamation Project, The Center For Defense of Democracies, the AISH Center, AMCHA; Coalition for Jewish Concerns, The Jewish Political Education Foundation and
Continued on page 4
A U.S. - based think tank has issued a report saying that a new Middle East war may be looming on the horizon. f hostilities do in fact break out, writes David Schenker of The Washington Institute, “fighting could take on a regional dimension not seen since 1973.” The prediction comes in response to reports that Syria has supplied the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization with advanced Russian-made 9K38 Igla-S antiaircraft missiles. Transfer of the shoulderfired ordnance to the terrorist group has previously been marked by Israeli officials as a “red line” issue. Schenker also cited pronouncements posted in late February on the internet by the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization hinting the group might renew its aggression against the Jewish State. The statement followed an unprecedented trilateral summit / dinner meeting on February 26 in Damascus between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
I
A new development Meetings between the Syrian and Iranian presidents have become very com-
Continued on page 12