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ERKLEY

School District is the Oakland County school district where
personal excellence is achieved through a powerful community,
a true culture of caring, and extraordinary resources.

U.N.'s Anti-Zionism

Robert Sklar

Editor

I

srael's deputy foreign minister
said the Goldstone Commission
report should be treated like the
U.N. resolution equating Zionism with
racism.
Danny Ayalon told leaders of the
American Jewish Committee that, as
with the 1975 resolution, "we must
mobilize and act with all force against
the report in order to remove it:'
"The Goldstone report is a danger-
ous attempt to harm the principle of
self-defense by democratic states and
provides legitimacy to
terrorism:' he said.
So reports the New
York-based Jewish
Telegraphic Agency
(JTA).
Released on Sept.
15 by the U.N. Human
Rights Council, the
Goldstone report
charges Israel with
war crimes and
crimes against
humanity during
last winter's military
offensive against
Hamas in the Gaza
Strip.
The 574-page
document, written
by a panel headed
by South African Judge Richard
Goldstone, who is Jewish, calls for
Israel to establish independent inves-
tigations within three months "to pur-
sue justice." It also recommends that
international bodies launch prosecu-
tions if Israel does not do so within six
months. Similar recommendations are
made about Hamas, declared by the
U.S. to be a terrorist organization.
Self-review to determine fault is
appropriate, certainly. Israel should
should prosecute if its investigation
merits that. To think Hamas will inves-
tigate itself, however, is folly.
On Sept. 17 in the New York Times,
Goldstone wrote in a guest commen-
tary that "no state or armed group is
above the law" and that Western gov-
ernments would be seen as "hypocriti-
cal" if they pushed for "accountability
in places like Darfur:' but did not do
the same in Israel.
Goldstone wrote that "in many
cases, Israel could have done much
more to spare civilians without sacri-
ficing its stated and legitimate military

aims:' He charged that Israel's internal
investigations are "unlikely to be seri-
ous and objective."
The European Jewish Congress cou-
rageously called on European Union
nations to reject the Goldstone report.
"From its original mandate, this com-
mission has shown itself to be nothing
more than an exercise in demoniza-
tion of one nation, namely Israel: EJC
President Moshe Kantor told JTA. "We
call on the European Union, particular-
ly those nations represented on the U.N.
Human Rights Council, to unequivocal-
ly reject the report just as they rejected
the original resolution and mandate."
In dispelling the
flawed report, the
Zionist Organization
of America found that
it "ignores all Hamas
assaults upon Israel
that led to Israel's
operations in Gaza
and which bases its
condemnation of
Israel on unsubstanti-
ated Palestinian testi-
mony.
The ZOA added,
"The report 1) claimed
to find no conclusive
evidence that Hamas
used Palestinian civil-
ians as human shields
in the fighting; 2)
copied major, politi-
cized distortions of international legal
norms habitually made by anti-Israel
NGOs; 3) falsely reclassified Hamas
personnel as civilian police in order
to indict Israel for legitimate assaults
upon these forces; and 4) invented
non-existent legal obligations of which
it then proceeded to find Israel in
breach."
View the United Nations for what
it really is: a shill for the Arab world
that demonizes the Jewish state and
considers Israeli defensive strikes to
be aggressive acts against Palestinians.
The U.N.'s anti-Zionist attitude should
outrage the Jewish people.
As the solemnity of Yom Kippur and
the haunting strains of Kol Nidre near
on Sunday, Sept. 27, let us get over
the notion that the U.N. is an impar-
tial international observer, provider
and peacemaker. Let us stand tall for
Israel, America's staunchest Middle
East friend.
Gmar chatimah tovah. May you be
sealed for a good year. Also, Shabbat
shalom!

View the U.N.
for what it really
is: a shill for the
Arab world that
demonizes the
Jewish state and
considers Israeli
defensive strikes
to be aggressive
acts against
Palestinians.

The Berkley School District values individuality in our students and we strive to
provide an educational experience tailored to each child. Our students achieve
personal excellence in all areas of study — both in and outside of the classroom.

Our relationship with our local community helps us foster
unique and creative programs for our students. Our
Holocaust to Righteousness class at Berkley High
Our relationship
School partners with the Holocaust Memorial Center
with our local
to educate the students on the importance of
community helps us
tolerance. Natalie Taylor, who teaches this unique
foster unique and
course, wants the students to learn that, "They are
creative programs
very much connected to events that happened
for our students.
decades ago, centuries ago, on the other side of the
world." The class is broken up into four main units:
culture, hate, resistance, and altruism. In the last six
weeks of the class, students volunteer in their local community,
"where they are putting someone else's needs before their own," says Mrs. Natalie
Taylor. Berkley High School pioneered this course with the Holocaust Memorial
Center.

We focus on nurturing the creative spirit of each child. Students have had the
opportunity to cook with some of the best chefs in Michigan through the Spoons
Across America program which came to Anderson Middle School last year thanks
to parent Michelle Kobernick. Students spent weeks learning everything from
nutrition to napkin folding on their way to planning an elaborate dinner party for
their families, friends, and community members. '1 think
this is something these kids are going to take with them
For more
through all their years," said Kate Lawson of the
information or to
Detroit News.
inquire about
enrollment for your child,
Creativity thrives throughout the Berkley School
please visit us on our new
District as was recently shown by 10-year-old
website:
Sydney Knisley from Angell Elementary. Her
artwork was published on the cover of the new
c8
Curtis Granderson book 'All You Can Be: Dream It,
004
Draw It, Become Iti" which came out in August 2009,
'speak-
Sydney's art teacher was happy to surprise her with
someone.
the news that her drawing would
appear on the cover. The A
Cappella choir also recently
learned that PBS would like to tape them for a
musical special titled 'Celebrate America',
Finally, several students from Anderson Middle
School showed off their artistic talents when
they participated in the "On Location: Spotlight
on Your Community" program. The students
produced a video highlighting the Detroit Dance
Collective called, 'The Power of Dance",

•

Visit www.livestream,comiwbsd to view video of
various Berkley School District events.

1528510

265 01d Vkloodwaid • Birmingham

248-642-2555

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1121o,oi SAnkilv

September 24 • 2009

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