World
ROUNDUP
West Bank Ties
Jerusalem/JTA
The alleged Fort Hood
shooter is a conservative Muslim, not an
extremist, says an uncle who lives in the
West Bank.
Rafik Hamad, 64, who lives in El-Bireh,
near Ramallah, told the Associated Press
that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan loved America
and wanted to serve his country.
Hasan, 39, a U.S. Army psychiatrist who
allegedly killed 13 people at the U.S. Army
base in Texas, also reportedly has a brother
and grandfather living in the West Bank.
Hamad told the Associated Press that
his nephew had been harassed for being
a Muslim. His car was vandalized and a
bumper sticker that read "Allah is Love" was
ripped off. Also, diapers were thrown at his
house with the message "this is your head
cover" written inside.
Hasan reportedly said in a presenta-
tion during a public health course for his
master's degree during the past school year
that he was against U.S. wars in Muslim
countries. His presentation also justified
suicide bombings, the AP reported.
Hasan was born in the United States to
Palestinian parents living in Virginia. They
are both dead. Another brother also lives in
Virginia.
Several solders reported that he shouted
Allahu Akbar (Arabic for "God is great")
before opening fire in a medical clinic at
Fort Hood on Nov. 5. He was hit four times
by a civilian police officer. On Sunday, he
was removed from a respirator at a San
Antonio hospital but still had not spoken.
Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported
that Hasan prayed at the same mosque in
Virginia in 2001 as two of the 9-11 terrorists.
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Yoffie: Eat Less
Meat
Toronto/JTA Reform
Jews should eat less red
meat and consider more
carefully what food they
serve in their syna-
gogues, the movement's
Rabbi Yoffie
leader said.
"We need to think
about how the food we eat advances the
values we hold as Reform Jews;' Rabbi Eric
Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform
Judaism, said Saturday in Toronto at the
biennial conference of the movement's
synagogue arm.
A day earlier at the biennial, URJ passed
a resolution urging equal services for Israeli
Arabs. It was the first time the body had
passed a measure specifically addressing
the needs of the minority population.
During his presidential sermon, Yoffie
outlined the URJ's Green Table/Just Table
Initiative.
Noting that Americans are increasingly
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22
November 12 - 2009
Little Bird, Little Bird
The Jewish Community Center in
Oak Park had a little guest on Oct. 26.
Now, Judy Front has a guest she would
rather not get attached to.
Front, assistant
membership direc-
tor for the Jewish
Community Center
of Metropolitan
Detroit, was leaving The guest canary
the JCC's Jimmy Prentis Morris Building on Oct. 26 when she saw a
yellow, orange and brown canary outside pecking at a JCC window.
Judy Front
Front, a former pet shop and bird owner, slowly walked up to the
bird and captured it with her hands.
The bird "showed no fear;' said Front. "She is obviously someone's pet and had been
well cared for." Because of the bird's coloring and "necklace," Front estimates it would
be valued at $100-150. She said the bird is fairly quiet, which is why she believes she
is a female.
Front took the bird home, put her in a homemade incubator/fishbowl the first
night, then transferred her to a borrowed cage. The bird seems happy and content,
but her foster mom "can't keep pets right now I'm becoming attached to this bird, so
the sooner we can find it a home, the better!"
The bird's owner or potential foster parents can call Front at the JCC, (248) 432-5605.
"We can talk about the bird',' Front said, "and we can also talk about JCC membership."
- Alan Hitsky, associate editor
concerned about food issues, he urged
Reform Jews to consider the ethical, envi-
ronmental and health aspects of what they
eat and come up with food policies for their
synagogues.
Yoffie steered clear of promoting kashrut,
saying "ours is an ethically based tradition"
But rather than ignore dietary practice, as
he said Reform leaders did a century ago,
he noted that food choices are intimately
connected to issues, such as environmen-
talism and social justice, that Reform Jews
care about.
Saying that he was not promoting veg-
etarianism, Yoffie said that cutting down
on red meat "is an area where we can make
a difference" in offsetting our carbon foot-
print.
"Reducing our collective meat consump-
tion by 20 percent would be comparable to
every American driving a Prius," he said.
Synagogues might also consider serving
more communal meals, Yoffie suggested, as
a way of building spiritual community. He
also encouraged the planting of synagogue
gardens.
To help Reform Jews take these practi-
cal steps, the union has posted a food
policy guide, sample curriculum for youth
groups, gardening tips and information on
how synagogues can set up Community
Supported Agriculture programs.
In his sermon, Yoffie also urged Reform
congregations to harness the community-
building power of the Internet and set up
their own blogs.
Calling such congregational blogs an
"online Oral Torah;' he said congregations
need to think more creatively about social
media. To help them do so, the union is
offering a blogging platform, substantive
and strategic support, and other resources.
The resolution on Israeli Arabs encourag-
es the Israeli government's efforts to imple-
ment its Or Commission recommendations
to reduce the gaps between Jewish and
Arab citizens of Israel, "including but not
limited to the gaps in education, housing,
industrial development, employment and
services;' and encourages the government
to address the needs of the unrecognized
Bedouin villages.
It commits the Reform movement to
educate its member congregations and
the wider American Jewish community
about these issues, and encourages Reform
movement missions and Israel programs,
including those run by NFTY, the Reform
youth movement, "to include issues of
Arab-Jewish equality as part of their pro-
gramming."
against Israel's security fence.
The activists are calling for a complete
boycott of all Israeli goods in British super-
markets to last for "as long as Palestinian
rights are denied by the apartheid regime"
and for demonstrations at the chain's
branches and head offices.
Activists were asked to come to demon-
strate Friday in front of the North England
headquarters of the chain, and to bring
with them children's clothes stained with
blood, candles and placards.
Obama 'At' Rabin Rally
Jerusalem/JTA President Obama called
on Israelis to continue to pursue peace
with the Palestinians, in a video message
screened during a memorial to Yitzhak
Rabin.
Thousands filled Rabin Square in Tel
Aviv Saturday night near the site where the
Israeli prime minister was shot to death 14
years ago.
"On that terrible November night,
Yitzhak left us with his death," Obama said
in his message, which was televised. "Now
it is up to us to carry on its meaning, to
carry on his work.
"To all who seek peace I say tonight, you
will always have a partner in the United
States of America and in my administra-
tion. That's why we've been working aggres-
sively for our clear goal, two states living
side by side in peace and security."
The memorial service had been post-
poned one week due to extremely heavy
rains. The secular date of the assassination
by a right-wing law student is Nov. 4.
President Shimon Peres in his address
called on Palestinian Authority Prime
Minister Mahmoud Abbas to continue to
work with Israel toward peace. Abbas said
last week that he would not run for re-elec-
tion in a vote he has called for late January.
"(W)e both signed the Oslo accords, and
I turn to you as a colleague and ask that you
don't let go;' Peres implored.
Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak and
opposition leader and Kadima Party chair-
woman Tzipi Livni also addressed the
gathering.
—
Abbas Won't Run
Jerusalem/JTA Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas announced
he would not run for re-election. In a live
televised speech on Nov. 3 from his head-
quarters in Ramallah, Abbas said he would
not run in the elections he has called for
January.
In response, a Hamas spokesman said
Abbas' decision not to seek re-election
was a rebuke to his supporters, the Obama
administration and the Israelis.
"We advise him to ... face the Palestinian
people and tell them frankly that the path
—
Supermarket Boycott
London/JTA A pro-Palestinian group is
staging a weeklong protest at two British
supermarket chains to force them to stop
selling Israeli products.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign is calling
this week for a boycott of the Morrison
and Waitrose chains as part of a long-term
campaign for an economic and cultural
boycott of Israelit coincides with a call by a
Palestinian group called the Anti-Apartheid
Wall Campaign for a week of global action
—