Jewish Russian Telegraph

J Street: Pressure Israel, Pressure Israel, Pressure Israel

Meet J Street --- a leftist front of anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish forces. Great place for people who decided that the best way to defend the Jews is to join with the enemies. They see safety in this approach.

Commentary:

Comedy from J Street

Noah Pollak - 02.02.2010 - 5:05 PM

J Street is “gravely concerned about escalating threats to the character of Israel’s democracy” and is worried about “a perfect storm brewing that threatens the core of Israel’s democratic character.” The e-mail that contains these warnings is titled “Swiftboating Israel’s democracy.” Time to stockpile bottled water everyone, something serious is happening! It is this: an obscure Zionist youth group has criticized the leftist New Israel Fund for giving money to leftist NGOs.

This youth group is, of course, doing something fully consistent with democratic values — participating, albeit harshly, in a political debate.

There is a group, however, that indeed doesn’t have much regard for Israel’s democracy. Leading figures in this organization have frequently expressed their wish that the United States would do more to reverse the democratic choices of the Israeli electorate. It is named J Street. Here is Jeremy Ben-Ami, the executive director, in an unguarded moment:

There’s got to be some sort of intervention here where the U.S. says to Israel the time has come to finally do something. … And within Israel, the Israeli prime minister may have a tough time because of their domestic politics fulfilling their commitments. It’s going to be a lot easier if they say to their coalition partners and to the rest of the government, “I have to do this because the president of the United States is telling me to do it.” [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Dershowitz: Goldstone Is a Traitor

Jpost.com:

Two days after Israel submitted its response to the Goldstone report that accused the IDF of possible crimes against humanity during last year's Operation Cast Lead, prominent lawyer and political commentator Professor Alan Dershowitz said that the jurist, someone he once considered a friend, was "a traitor to the Jewish people."
Speaking to Army Radio, Dershowitz said the “Goldstone report is a defamation written by an evil, evil man."
He said the jurist "allowed himself to be used to give a hechsher, a certification of purity, to defamation," and that Goldstone is a "man who uses his language and words against the Jewish people."

Elaborating, the professor said that it would be as if the writers of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion "had asked a prominent Jew to read the report and sign it" to give it approval.

"I regarded him as a friend, but I now regard him as an absolute traitor," he said. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Anti-Israeli Lobby and 54 Democrats Who Support It (6 from Mass)

Anti-Israeli lobby is raising its ugly head. Rep. Keith Ellison, whom Power Line Blog, calls first CAIR congressman, organized 54 Democrats (no Republicans) to write a letter to President Obama urging him to pressure Israel into lifting blockade of Gaza. The letter ignores murderous and terrorist character of Hamas that is ruling Gaza, ignores the plight of Gilead Shalit, and, while hypocritically urging Israel not to submit Gaza population to collective punishment, de facto does not mind submitting to collective punishment our friends in Sderot. Six democrats from Massachusetts signed the letter:

Massachusetts
Michael Capuano: 202-225-5111
William Delahunt: 202-225-3111
Jim McGovern: 202-225-6101
John Tierney: 202-225-8020
John Olver: 202-225-5335
Stephen Lynch: 202-225-8273

Here is a good assessment of the merits of this shameful letter in Power Line Blog:

Rep. Keith Ellison has written a letter to President Obama urging him to use diplomatic pressure to end Israel's blockade of Gaza. 50 members of the House have signed the letter, including Ellison's fellow Minnesotans Betty McCollum and James Oberstar.

The letter pays lip service to the security needs of Southern Israel, which had been subject to repeated attacks from Gaza -- attacks which, to my knowledge, never prompted Ellison or his fellow leftists to write letters.

Ellison and his colleagues state:

We also sympathize deeply with the people of southern Israel who have suffered from abhorrent rocket and mortar attacks. We recognize that the Israeli government has imposed restrictions on Gaza out of a legitimate and keenly felt fear of continued terrorist action by Hamas and other militant groups. This concern must be addressed without resulting in the de facto collective punishment of the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip. Truly, fulfilling the needs of civilians in Israel and Gaza are mutually reinforcing goals.

The first part of this passage is disingenuous and the last sentence is nonsense. The blockade is intended to prevent weapons and advanced electronic equipment from coming into Gaza. Israel permits humanitarian aid and medical supplies to enter. As Leo Rennert of the American Thinker points out:

Israel sends about 100 truckloads daily into Gaza, carrying food, medicines and other basic necessities. Plus it provides sufficient diesel fuel to meet Gaza's needs. Plus it has admitted hundreds of injured and sick Gazans into Israel where they receive the same dedicated, advanced medical care that Haitians receive in Israel's field hospital at Port-au-Prince.

In other words, Israel is striking a balance between its security concerns (which even Ellison says are legitimate) and the basic needs of Gazans. Ellison and the others also purport to strike that balance, but they fail to explain how Israel's security concerns would be met in the absence of the blockade.

The best they can do is to assert that "lifting these restrictions will give civilians in Gaza a tangible sense that diplomacy can be an effective tool for bettering their conditions." But there is no reason to believe that a "tangible sense that diplomacy can help Gazans better their conditions" will protect Southern Israel from attack. If Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza did not dissuade such attacks, Israel has no sound basis to believe that lifting the blockade will do the trick. [link]

Tom Gross, a journalist and international affairs commentator, specializing in the Middle East documented on his site how Israeli withdrawal from Gaza promoted "peace".

Jewish children at a greenhouse in the Gadid settlement the week before the handover. The Jewish settlers in Gaza had built some of the most state-of-the-art agricultural facilities in the world, exporting flowers, fruit and vegetables to Europe and elsewhere, and employing thousands of Palestinians, Israelis, and others.

Wealthy Jewish philanthropists in the U.S. (as well as a couple of prominent non-Jewish ones such as Bill Gates) bought the Gush Katif hothouses for $14 million and donated them to the Palestinian Authority. The hothouses had taken years to build, but as PA police looked on, Palestinian mobs ransacked them within hours of the Israeli exit. They stripped them of their glass, wiring, computer and electronic equipment and irrigation pipes and timers, destroying a vital source of employment for Gaza Palestinians in the process.

Hamas gunmen carrying rocket propelled grenade launchers march near the Israeli settlement of Neve Dekalim, as Israeli troops prepare to evacuate the final Jews from Gaza.

Palestinians, some holding the green Islamic flags of Hamas,
climb on the roof of the now demolished Netzarim synagogue. [link]

Is it kind of peace that Rep. Keith Ellison wants for Israel? Would Michael Capuano accepts this kind of peace for Somerville? Would Steven Lynch take it for Boston?
Shame on you, gentlemen.

posted by: jrtelegraph

Charles Jacobs: Time For a Second ADL?

Charles' point is well taken. Translated in Russian it states: ADL does no longer catch mice. They are pretty much useless. They focus only on convenient, easy targets ignoring major threats to the Jewish community.

Charles is right. It is time for the Jewish community to have an organization that would focus squarely on the defense of the Jews. ADL can continue with their protection of the world proletariat, sexual  and racial minorities as well as large and small animals threatened by extinction and global warming.

Somebody has to stand up for the Jews. It ain't gonna be Abe Foxman and his team.

Charles Jacobs in the Jewish Advocate:

Is the answer a second ADL?

By Charles Jacobs
January 28, 2009

My critique of the Anti-Defamation League for not doing more on Islamic anti-Semitism brought a sharp and somewhat defensive response from the organization's leader, Abe Foxman, which unintentionally confirmed my point. In attempting to prove me wrong and misguided, Foxman only cited one specific public "action" by the ADL on the threat of radical Islam - a speech he gave almost four years ago. The only other examples he provided were private briefings, which cannot be checked or assessed for their effectiveness.

In his letter to the Advocate, Foxman wrote that "the greatest threat to the Jewish people and the highest priority for the ADL was that which came from Islamic extremists." Yet, a review of ADL's Web site shows that since 1995 the organization has devoted less than 3 percent of its thousands of press releases to "Islamic Extremism" and "Arab Anti-Semitism."

Why is this so?

In both the Muslim world and in the West, a huge torrent of Islamic hatred for Jews spews from a wide range of sources, some of them state-financed. In books, articles, television and radio, mosque sermons, organization position papers and even schools, hatred of Jews is presented daily to an audience of millions. This torrent dwarfs all other non-Islamic sources of anti-Semitism combined, resulting in significant risks to the safety of Jews worldwide.

We know well that anti-Semitism mutates over time. In the past, hatred of Jews has been based in Christian theology, nationalism and racialist movements, usually located on the political right. It also appeared in Communist countries, especially in the USSR. Jews have had to continually develop new strategies to fight the dominant form of anti-Semitism of their time.

But adjusting the community's response is not easy. Maybe ADL leaders have concluded that a shift away from their major traditional focus - Jewry's enemies on the right - would be institutionally risky and unwise, that expanding ADL's mandate to include Islamic anti-Semitism might weaken its effectiveness against neo-Nazis and Christian anti-Semites. In today's politically correct culture, confronting Muslim anti-Semitism risks accusations of intolerance, bigotry and Islamophobia, even by - or especially by - some Jewish intellectuals. They could easily imagine that the prospect of such accusations might cause ruptures in their solid support groups.

Whatever the case, for the sake of Jewish safety, Jewish leadership needs to expose and oppose Islamic Jew-hatred. What should such an effort include? Here are key tasks:

Wake-Up Call. World Jewry needs to be educated about the threat: We live in a "new time" and we must respond - with focus, energy and Jewish creativity. Most Jewish establishment leaders have failed to mobilize a response. A new kind of leadership must emerge and rally the people, a leadership that is willing to speak out honestly.

Develop Alliances. Islamic anti- Semitism forms part of a more general attack on the West. Therefore we have potential allies around the world who - out of their own self-interest - will join us in this effort. Anti-Jihadist alliances are already emerging in the United States. In New York, the Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam (HRCARI) - a rainbow coalition of Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, gays, women, atheists, Muslim moderates and apostates from Islam - is holding rallies and protests against Islamist assaults on any and all targeted peoples around the world.

Analysis of religious texts and teachings. The enormous, life-saving reversals in Christian theological teachings about Jews could not have been achieved without years of intensive Jewish critique of Christian Biblical texts and traditions. It was the sensitive sharing of these studies with Christians of good will that turned the tide. If the Muslim world is ever to experience theological (and social) re-interpretations of its "teachings of contempt" about Jews - which predominate but are also contradicted in the Islamic canon - then Jews will have to confront, study and speak about the theological anti- Semitism embedded in Muslim holy books. (The ADL flees from this task: It criticizes Jew-hatred in the Arab media without reference to the Islamic sources.)

Activism on behalf of the community. Jewish activists seem to prefer almost every cause in the world, except what is in their own community's interest. These talented people need to be enlisted - to sponsor conferences on Islamic anti-Semitism and Islamist penetration of American society; to expose the Saudi lobby and its impact on silencing scrutiny of anything Islamic; to lobby our elected officials about the dangers facing the country; and to campaign for implementation of sensitivity training for university students who come from lands with anti-Semitic cultures.

Perhaps the ADL should maintain its current mission and continue being effective at what it does. Meanwhile, the Jewish people must find a way to launch a new defense organization adapted to the evolving menaces of the 21st century. We're long overdue.

Charles Jacobs is president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance.

posted by: jrtelegraph

Yoram Ettinger: Obama Skips Arab-Israeli conflict

YNETnews.com:

Obama has other priorities

President’s State of Union address shows Mideast conflict not a top priority
Yoram Ettinger
Published:
01.30.10, 15:25 / Israel Opinion

The exclusion of the Arab-Israeli conflict from President Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address reflects a US order of priorities and, possibly, a concern that mediation in the Arab-Israeli conflict does not advance – but undermines – Obama's domestic standing. In fact, Jerusalem should impress upon the US to reduce its mediation profile, minimize tension between Israel and the American broker, while enhancing strategic cooperation between Israel and its American ally.

Obama's address focused on the US economy in general, and on the 26 year record-unemployment and the 65 year record-budget deficit, in particular. Thus, Obama highlighted a national order of priorities, underlining domestic issues, which preoccupy the public mind and tend to determine the fate of an American president and his political party for success or oblivion. Therefore, the global agenda – and even counterterrorism – were marginalized by Obama's address.

Washington's international agenda does not consider the Arab-Israeli conflict to be a top priority. Obama devoted the few minutes allotted to the international arena to his commitments to evacuate Iraq, to reinforce troops in Afghanistan, to constrain the North Korean nuclear threat, to prevent Iran's nuclearization, to reduce the nuclear arms race, to combat terrorism, to sustain engagement with rivals and enemies and to continue seeking multilateralism in general and with Muslims in particular. The avoidance of any reference to the Arab-Israeli conflict was intentional. [More]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Head Rabbi of Ukraine To Return National Medal Over Bandera

RIA:

The head rabbi of Ukraine and Kiev said on Tuesday he would reject a national award over the recent decision by the country's outgoing president to declare "Nazi collaborator" Stepan Bandera a national hero.

Viktor Yushchenko's January 22 move has already fueled fierce debate in Ukraine, where Bandera is a controversial figure, with his mainly West Ukrainian supporters considering him a hero. An MP from Sevastopol in the Crimea burned his passport in protest against the move, and two people have challenged the decree in court.

"I was awarded Ukraine's Order of Merit, 3rd Class, but because of Yushchenko's decree I am planning to give it back to the government soon," Moshe Reuven Asman told the Segodnya daily.

The religious leader of Ukrainian Jews said he was indignant at the president's move which he said had no political future.

"This is a hideous blow to Ukraine's international image, and, unfortunately, the new authorities will have to face the consequences," Asman said.

Yushchenko lost the January 17 elections and will leave office soon as the ex-Soviet country is facing a runoff on February 7 between frontrunner Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the opposition Party of Regions, and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

An influential Jewish human rights organization based in the United States, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, expressed its concern last weekend by the fact that Yushchenko's controversial decree came "at the period when the world pauses to remember the victims of the Holocaust on January 27." [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Miranda Rights For al-Qaida; Why?

htrnews.com:

Byron York: Why?

Questions for Holder in Detroit terror case

It seems like a simple question. Who made the decision to charge Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the accused terrorist arrested for trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas Day, as an everyday criminal, as opposed to an enemy combatant?

After all, Abdulmutallab was trained by al-Qaida, equipped with an al-Qaida-made bomb, and dispatched by al-Qaida to bring down the airliner and its 278 passengers. Even though the Obama administration has mostly abandoned the term "war on terror," the president himself has said clearly that the United States is at war with al-Qaida. So who decided to treat Abdulmutallab as a civilian, read him the Miranda warning, and provide him with a government-paid lawyer — giving him the right to remain silent and denying the United States potentially valuable intelligence that might have been gained by a military-style interrogation? [Read more]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Dubai, Where Scores Are Settled

CBS News:

(GlobalPost)  Written By GlobalPost's Tom Hundley

In the Middle East, Dubai has replaced Beirut as the place where deals are done, secrets are sold and scores are settled.

The glitzy city on the Gulf has become a kind of Arabian Big Easy where a senior operative in a powerful political organization can be assassinated in a five-star hotel - and the crime will be hushed up for more than a week while the powers-that-be decide how the story will be spun.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a military commander and arms smuggling specialist with Hamas, was found dead in his room at the swanky Al Bustan Rotana Hotel on Jan. 20. But word of al-Mabhouh’s demise was kept quiet for nine days, until a brief announcement on Friday from the U.A.E. government’s official press agency coincided with his funeral at the Yarmouk refugee camp near Damascus.

According to the announcement, the assassination was carried out by an “experienced criminal gang, who had been tracking down the movements of the victim before entering the U.A.E.”

Al-Mabhouh arrived in Dubai from Syria on Jan. 19. His body was found in his hotel room less than 24 hours later. By that time, his killers, apparently travelling on European passports, had already fled the country.

“Despite quick skill exhibited by murderers ... they left behind evidence at the scene of [the] crime that would help in tracking them down,” said an unnamed security source quoted in the official statement.

A family member in Gaza told Al Jazeera television on Friday that al-Mabhouh received an electrical shock to the head and was then strangled. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Rasmussen Report: Obama's Monthly Approval Index

Rasmussen Report:

[link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Hinda Mandell: Mein Kampf in My House

Boston Globe:

The heirloom that they fear

By Hinda Mandell, Globe Correspondent  |  January 31, 2010

Jewelry. Real estate. Artwork. These are possessions that ignite many a family feud over an inheritance.

"Mein Kampf?" Maybe not so much.

But such is the situation in my family.

We’re stuck on whether anyone should inherit a copy of Adolf Hitler’s political manifesto that my great-uncle grabbed from the rucksack of a German soldier he likely killed in battle in 1944.

Some mystery surrounds the book, but this much is clear: for decades, "Mein Kampf" has been an unwelcome possession in my parents' home. Yet whether we should continue to keep it, as an unusual heirloom, or donate it — we are Jewish, after all — remains a question far from settled.

My father, Fred Mandell, 67, a business and innovation consultant, is the agitated guardian of the book. Its title means “My struggle,’’ and Hitler wrote it in prison in the early 1920s after a failed attempt to overthrow the government in Munich.

For much of my dad’s life, he has displayed the book, a 1937 edition printed in Germany, among his vast collection of Jewish history books.

“I remember being conflicted between throwing it out . . . and putting it in a prominent position, as a way of saying ‘You can’t hurt us. We won. We outlasted you,’ ’’ said my father. His uncle who brought the book stateside, Eddie Cohen, died in 2001.

My father’s decision to keep the book was an act so personal that he rarely spoke about its existence, let alone why he felt compelled to display it - always upside down - on the bookshelf.

“I wanted to have dominion over this book that represented so much more than a book or ideology. It represented the fate of Jews,’’ he said.

But now my father’s ready to be done with the book and the space it’s taken up on his bookshelves, first in Brookline, then Newton and now Needham, where he lives with my mother.

After raising three children, my father said he’s done his part to affirm Jewish continuity. And the book - outlining Hitler’s venomous hatred of Jews - is no longer a focal point in his life.

But we’re far from agreement on what should happen to it.

My brother and I argue that the book should remain in the Mandell household as an artifact of family history. Its existence is a reminder of history on both a family and global level.

Yet my mother doesn’t need such a reminder. [Read the rest]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Mein Fürer, We Lost Massachusetts

posted by: jrtelegraph

No Jihadis In Newton; For Now

Guantamo Bay State, Newton residents welcome the decision no to invite jihadis to Newton:

Boston Globe:

Newton residents demand an apology from aldermen

 Posted January 20, 2010 11:27 AM

By Caitlin Castello, Town Correspondent

Some Newton residents are demanding a public apology from the two aldermen who sponsored a failed effort to bring a Guantanamo Bay detainee to the city, saying they will organize a recall if they don’t get it.

The Board of Aldermen unanimously voted down the resolution Tuesday night following fierce public opposition, but some of the more than 60 people who filled the aldermen’s chambers said the issue isn’t over.

‘‘We want [aldermen] Steve Linsky and Ted Hess-Mahan to apologize, and to go for sensitivity training or resign,’’ Charles Jacobs, president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance, said in an e-mail to the Globe afterwards. ‘‘If they do not apologize, we will consider forming a movement to recall them.

Jacobs helped to organize residents who opposed the resolution to allow Abdul Aziz Naji, a 34-year-old Algerian man to relocate to Newton. Many residents attended Tuesday night’s meeting with signs in protest of the measure.

‘‘I would be happy to sit down and speak with them and hear what their grievances are,’’ Hess-Mahan said in an interview today.

"“I'm happy to have a discussion with them," said Linsky.

There is no procedure in the city charter for a recall or impeachment of an alderman, said David Olson, clerk of the Board.

“Did they think for one minute that you shouldn’t bring in a jihadi to Newton?” said Jacobs, whose nonprofit group’s mission is to keep America ‘‘hate free,’’ according to its website. “Do they know nothing about Gitmo recidivism? The Dept of Defense reports that 20 percent of Gitmo prisoners who are released return to terrorism. Want that in Newton?”

Individual aldermen and the city clerks office have been flooded with emails from across Newton,  said Alderman Charles Shapiro. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Israel’s Disproportionate Response in Haiti

Telegraph.co.uk:

Israel builds a field hospital in Haiti. Anti-Zionists not fooled!

By Stephanie Gutmann World Last updated: January 19th, 2010

A five-month-old baby boy is nursed at the Israeli Field Hospital in Port-au-Prince (Picture: AP)

Clever people the Jews… oops, I mean the Israelis. Look at the lengths to which they have gone to distract the world from their daily ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The latest trick is an Israeli field hospital, rushed into Haiti last Friday and erected in a soccer field.

The US, with all its resources, hasn’t yet managed to set up a field hospital in Haiti (undoubtedly the State Department is still drafting the crucial legal papers needed) but the Israelis, operating with their usual disregard to the niceties of law, slapped one up and have already delivered a baby there. The father, obviously paid off by the Mossad, rapturously declared that the baby would be named “Israel”.

According to Israeli government sources the hospital includes 10 tons of medical equipment, 40 doctors, 24 nurses, medics, paramedics, x-ray equipment and personnel, a pharmacy, an emergency room, two surgery rooms, an incubation ward, a children’s ward and a maternity ward.

Information from Israeli government sources should, of course, be taken with a grain of salt, but footage of this tent-city/hospital has now been seen on SKY, Fox and CNN, ABC and CBS and the video seems to confirm (Mossad video fabricators are tricky) at least that the facility is large, clean, and full of modern equipment. CBS’s piece called the hospital the “Rolls Royce of medicine in Haiti”.

Thankfully, the BBC has kept its head and is not colluding with the Israeli government’s attempt to make the world forget its sins.  However, that has not stopped Jewish…er…Zionist propagandists, who are already triumphantly calling the field hospital “Israel’s Disproportionate response”, a reference to the charge last year that Israel reacted to Hamas rocket fire with “disproportionate” military force.  The word “disproportionate” in this case refers to the fact that this country of 7.5 million has sent 220 people, compared to say, China, which as of last week had sent 60.

Thankfully, many people are onto the ploy, as these comments from the Los Angles Times show:

“Great,” said someone identifying himself as ‘Smart Alex’, “I just hope the IDF soldiers don’t harvest any of the dead Haitians’ organs without the permission of their families.

“I know, I know,” he wrote, “that was a cheap shot. But I believe well-deserved for a country that tries to use its U.S.-funded humanitarian efforts as propaganda to paper over its disastrous and vile treatment of the Palestinians.”

A clever fellow and brave too! It takes guts to make such a deduction and publish it from behind the cover of a moniker like ‘Smart Alex’. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Growing Up Jewish Under Stalin

LA Jewish Journal:

Growing Up Jewish Under Stalin

By Jonathan Kirsch

Emil Draitser's dark but whimsical memoir, "Shush!"

The story is told of a delegation of Communist Party cadres who are ushered into the Kremlin for a ceremonial meeting with Stalin.  After they are gone, Stalin discovers that his favorite pipe is missing, and he sends Beria, the much-feared chief of the Soviet secret police, to retrieve it.

“Never mind,” Stalin tells Beria on his return.  “I found the pipe under a pile of papers on my desk.”

“Too late,” reports Beria. “Half of them confessed to taking the pipe and were shot as wreckers, and the other half died under questioning.”

The story captures both the terror that afflicted the citizens of the Soviet Union who lived (and died) during the Stalin era and the spirit of resistance that has always manifested itself in joke-telling.  But the humor is very black when it comes to Stalin, who succeeded in destroying Jewish and Yiddish culture in Russia.  At the time of his death in 1953, Stalin was preparing a new wave of terror against the Jews in connection with the so-called “Doctor’s Plot.”

All of these ironies came to mind when I heard that Emil Draitser, author of “Shush! Growing Up Jewish Under Stalin” (University of California Press: $24.95), will be taking the stage in the ALOUD series at the Central Library at 7:00 p.m. on February 3, 2010.

Born in Odessa in 1937, Draitser was a political satirist in the Soviet Union before he was blacklisted for a piece that daringly criticized a high-ranking figure. He managed to reach L.A. in 1974, earned a Ph.D. in Russian literature at UCLA, and is today a professor of Russian at the City University of New York.

Since coming to America, Draitser has published novels, non-fiction, newspaper journalism and scholarly articles, including “Forbidden Laughter: Soviet Underground Humor” and the bittersweet memoir that gives its title to his event at ALOUD.  “Shush!” was hailed by Publishers Weekly as “a painful and acutely observed memoir,” but Draitser always brings to his work the same wry sense of humor that cost him his career in the Soviet Union.
Draitser will be featured at ALOUD in conversation with Suzi Weissmann, a professor of politics at Saint Mary’s College of California.

Free reservations and additional information about Emil Draitser’s event at the Central Library, located at Fifth and Flower Streets in downtown L.A., are available by calling (213) 228-7025 or at www.aloudla.org.

Jonathan Kirsch is the book editor of The Jewish Journal and can be reached at books@jewishjournal.com. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

Detective Hired by Deripaska's Employee to Wiretap Cherney Sentenced in Tel-Aviv

Cherfund.org Press Release:

Detective Hired by Deripaska's Employee to Wiretap Cherney Sentenced in Tel-Aviv

Press Release Source: Michael Cherney Fund On Friday January 22, 2010, 3:00 am EST

TEL AVIV, Israel, January 22 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 13th, 2010 the Tel Aviv Court handed down its first verdict in the case of illegal eavesdropping on businessman and philanthropist Michael Cherney. Illegal spying was commissioned by a Russian citizen, who at the time was an executive in Oleg Deripaska's empire.

On January 13, the Tel Aviv Court confirmed the plea bargain between the DA's office and Aviv Mor, a private investigator. Mor was found guilty of illegally gathering information of personal nature - in particular, tapping the phones of Cherney.

Judge Daniel Beary stressed that Cherney and his Secretary, Elena Skir, are "victims of a crime". He added that Israel must fight illegal violations of privacy of and subsequent damage to its citizens.

The plea bargain handed down a 14-month sentence to Mor. Part of the sentence will be in the form of community service and the rest will be a suspended sentence. In addition, Mor will pay a penalty of 20,000 shekels. Mr. Cherney asked the court that the collected fine be used to help orphanages.

The DA's office stated in court that the cases of other suspects in the illegal data collection case "are at an advanced stage and close to indictment."

The charges against Mor cite their names: Avigdor Eskin, working in PR; Rafael Pridan, formerly a PI; and Maksim Gurevich, who has also worked in private investigations.

The same document in Hebrew says that "in May 2007 Eskin asked the defendant (Mor) to get him in touch with a foreign subject Alexei Drobashenko (further referred to as Client), who was interested in the defendant's services at Eskin's recommendation.

'As per Client's request, Eskin, the defendant, and Pridan went to meet him (Drobashenko) in Moscow. At the meeting the Client made it clear that the subjects he represents are in conflict with Michael Cherney and would like to collect information on him for advancing their own interests.

At that time Alexei Drobashenko was the head of the External Relations department at Basic Element, a financial and industrial group that belongs to Oleg Deripaska. In February 2008 Mr. Cherney filed a suit in a Tel Aviv court, claiming that it was this Russian oligarch, acting through Drobashenko, who had hired Eskin, Pridan, and Mor. In his claim Mr. Cherney accused a group of 10 plotters, including Oleg Deripaska, Alexei Drobashenko and the already sentenced Aviv Mor, of illegal wiretapping, hacking the computers of his charity fund, publishing slanderous articles, and harassing him with insulting graffities and leaflets.

In his interview to Haaretz Daily, Cherney noted that Deripaska had tremendous influence in the Russian government, in particular maintaining close relations with Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev. Mrs. Deripaska is the daughter of Valentin Yumashev, President Yeltsin's chief of staff.

Deripaska and Cherney are former partners in an aluminum business. Currently, a multi-million dollar suit that Cherney brought against Deripaska is being decided in a London court. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph