TEEN ADVOCACY FELLOWSHIPS FOR ISRAEL
A SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY
Be one of four teens to be selected for a free trip to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference, March 4-6, 2012 in Washington DC. The trip will include registration, travel and hotel and the winners will join the Agudath Sholom AIPAC delegation.
To be one of the four selected: Submit in a 500 word essay- "WHY DOES AIPAC NEED YOU?" If you could lobby to the members of Congress on Capitol Hill, what would you say? What case would you present about the issues affecting the United States and Israel?
Essays will be evaluated by local and national panel of AIPAC supporters. Submit to Rabbi Cohen by Friday, January 15, 2012 rabbicohen@cas-stamford.org. Open to10th-12th graders from CAS.
Sponsored by Stephanie and Bob Sherman in memory of Stephanie's mother, Rosalie Aberman
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Join the CAS AIPAC Delegation
Join Rabbi Daniel Cohen and the CAS Delegation
at the AIPAC Policy Conference
The annual AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement. Thousands of participants come from all 50 states to take part in "three of the most important days affecting Israel's future." The 2012 conference will be held March 4-6, 2012, in Washington, D.C. Thousands have already registered, don't miss out on this truly remarkable experience to be in our nation's capital with thousands of fellow pro-Israel supporters.
CAS has reserved a limited amount of spots at a reduced rate of $299, to the Policy Conference. Delegates are responsible for flights and hotel arrangements, please go to policyconference@aipac.org for hotel locations and more information. Interested in joining? contact Rabbi Cohen at rabbicohen@cas-stamford.org, Yudi Gross, Synagogue Coordinator at ygross@aipac.org or Cindy Flynn, 203-358-2200.
at the AIPAC Policy Conference
The annual AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement. Thousands of participants come from all 50 states to take part in "three of the most important days affecting Israel's future." The 2012 conference will be held March 4-6, 2012, in Washington, D.C. Thousands have already registered, don't miss out on this truly remarkable experience to be in our nation's capital with thousands of fellow pro-Israel supporters.
CAS has reserved a limited amount of spots at a reduced rate of $299, to the Policy Conference. Delegates are responsible for flights and hotel arrangements, please go to policyconference@aipac.org for hotel locations and more information. Interested in joining? contact Rabbi Cohen at rabbicohen@cas-stamford.org, Yudi Gross, Synagogue Coordinator at ygross@aipac.org or Cindy Flynn, 203-358-2200.
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Hasbarah - Extraordinary Letter: Netanyahu & the NYT
Hasbarah - Extraordinary Letter: Netanyahu & the NYT Please read, forward and respond (if you like to write letters.)
In a letter to the Times obtained by The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, Netanyahu's senior adviser Ron Dermer – in response to the paper's request that Netanyahu write an op-ed – wrote that the prime minister would "respectfully decline."
Dermer made clear that this had much to do with the fact that 19 of the paper's 20 op-ed pieces on Israel since September were negative.
Dear Sasha:
I received your email requesting that Prime Minister Netanyahu submit an op-ed to the New York Times. Unfortunately, we must respectfully decline.
On matters relating to Israel, the op-ed page of the "paper of record" has failed to heed the late Senator Moynihan's admonition that everyone is entitled to their own opinion but that no one is entitled to their own facts.
A case in point was your decision last May to publish the following bit of historical revision by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas:
"It is important to note that the last time the question of Palestinian statehood took center stage at the General Assembly, the question posed to the international community was whether our homeland should be partitioned into two states. In November 1947, the General Assembly made its recommendation and answered in the affirmative. Shortly thereafter, Zionist forces expelled Palestinian Arabs to ensure a decisive Jewish majority in the future state of Israel, and Arab armies intervened. War and further expulsions ensued."
This paragraph effectively turns on its head an event within living memory in which the Palestinians rejected the UN partition plan accepted by the Jews and then joined five Arab states in launching a war to annihilate the embryonic Jewish state. It should not have made it past the most rudimentary fact-checking.
The opinions of some of your regular columnists regarding Israel are well known. They consistently distort the positions of our government and ignore the steps it has taken to advance peace. They cavalierly defame our country by suggesting that marginal phenomena condemned by Prime Minister Netanyahu and virtually every Israeli official somehow reflects government policy or Israeli society as a whole. Worse, one columnist even stooped to suggesting that the strong expressions of support for Prime Minister Netanyahu during his speech this year to Congress was "bought and paid for by the Israel lobby" rather than a reflection of the broad support for Israel among the American people.
Yet instead of trying to balance these views with a different opinion, it would seem as if the surest way to get an op-ed published in the New York Times these days, no matter how obscure the writer or the viewpoint, is to attack Israel. Even so, the recent piece on "Pinkwashing," in which Israel is vilified for having the temerity to champion its record on gay-rights, set a new bar that will be hard for you to lower in the future.
Not to be accused of cherry-picking to prove a point, I discovered that during the last three months (September through November) you published 20 op-eds about Israel in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune. After dividing the op-eds into two categories, "positive" and "negative," with "negative" meaning an attack against the State of Israel or the policies of its democratically elected government, I found that 19 out of 20 columns were "negative."
The only "positive" piece was penned by Richard Goldstone (of the infamous Goldstone Report), in which he defended Israel against the slanderous charge of Apartheid.
Yet your decision to publish that op-ed came a few months after your paper reportedly rejected Goldstone's previous submission. In that earlier piece, which was ultimately published in the Washington Post, the man who was quoted the world over for alleging that Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza, fundamentally changed his position. According to the New York Times op-ed page, that was apparently news unfit to print.
Your refusal to publish "positive" pieces about Israel apparently does not stem from a shortage of supply. It was brought to my attention that the Majority Leader and Minority Whip of the U.S. House of Representatives jointly submitted an op-ed to your paper in September opposing the Palestinian action at the United Nations and supporting the call of both Israel and the Obama administration for direct negotiations without preconditions. In an age of intense partisanship, one would have thought that strong bipartisan support for Israel on such a timely issue would have made your cut.
So with all due respect to your prestigious paper, you will forgive us for declining your offer. We wouldn't want to be seen as "Bibiwashing" the op-ed page of the New York Times.
Sincerely,
Ron Dermer
Senior advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu
Iran Sanctions
Representative Himes response to request for strong sanctions on Iran
December 20, 2011
Dear Ms. Krasnogor,
Recalling your interest in the tightening of sanctions against the Iranian regime, I wanted to highlight an important action recently taken by the House of Representatives on this critical issue.
As you know, the Iranian regime continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States to Israel, and frankly the rest of the world. Last week, the House of Representatives with my support passed the Iran Threat Reduction Act by a vote of 410 to 11. I was proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation and was pleased to lend the bill my support as it passed overwhelmingly before the full House of Representatives. Now the bill moves to the Senate, where I am hopeful it will be quickly brought before the full chamber for consideration. We must continue to put significant pressure on the Iranian regime to encourage their return to the negotiating table and end their pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities.
The Iran Threat Reduction Act, H.R. 1905, closes loopholes in existing sanctions against Iran's energy and financial sectors, sanctions senior Iranian regime officials and expands sanctions against those who help rogue regimes expand their dangerous weapons programs. The Threat Reduction Act builds upon past Congressional efforts by widening the scope of sanctions on human-rights abusers, imposing sanctions on foreign companies that do business with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and requiring a report on the Central Bank of Iran's activities to facilitate Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear missile capacities and promote terrorism.
If you have any additional questions regarding this or other issues, please do not hesitate to contact my office. You can sign up for my newsletter and find more information on my views and my work in Congress by visiting my official website at himes.house.gov .
Dear Ms. Krasnogor,
Recalling your interest in the tightening of sanctions against the Iranian regime, I wanted to highlight an important action recently taken by the House of Representatives on this critical issue.
As you know, the Iranian regime continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States to Israel, and frankly the rest of the world. Last week, the House of Representatives with my support passed the Iran Threat Reduction Act by a vote of 410 to 11. I was proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation and was pleased to lend the bill my support as it passed overwhelmingly before the full House of Representatives. Now the bill moves to the Senate, where I am hopeful it will be quickly brought before the full chamber for consideration. We must continue to put significant pressure on the Iranian regime to encourage their return to the negotiating table and end their pursuit of nuclear weapons capabilities.
The Iran Threat Reduction Act, H.R. 1905, closes loopholes in existing sanctions against Iran's energy and financial sectors, sanctions senior Iranian regime officials and expands sanctions against those who help rogue regimes expand their dangerous weapons programs. The Threat Reduction Act builds upon past Congressional efforts by widening the scope of sanctions on human-rights abusers, imposing sanctions on foreign companies that do business with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and requiring a report on the Central Bank of Iran's activities to facilitate Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear missile capacities and promote terrorism.
If you have any additional questions regarding this or other issues, please do not hesitate to contact my office. You can sign up for my newsletter and find more information on my views and my work in Congress by visiting my official website at himes.house.gov .
Sincerely,
Jim Himes
Member of Congress
Jim Himes
Member of Congress
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
CAS IAP Bulletin
Dear CAS!
The kiddush table conversation last shabbat, focusing on Israel advocacy, was informative and activity encouraging! Not only were there those who will join CAS in Washington for the AIPAC annual Conference, but there was discussion surrounding other projects.
Veronica Reich happily explained AIPAC Conference details, and Eve Nachman contributed the hope that The David Project, for high school and college students, could expand awareness of their efforts within CAS.
Others dropped by, adding their ideas and enthusiasm.
At this point, the CAS IAP needs specific help with a number of the proposed projects.
Please contact me or Rabbi Cohen to offer some assistance. Israel needs us! And our projects are easy to help with!
Below is a list of those that can be achieved this year. Please consider helping with any that interest you! CAS has always cared deeply about Israel. Let's put your love of Israel into action.
PROJECTS:
The first formal CAS IAP meeting, held a few months ago, produced agreement on excellent projects for the coming year. (Thank you to the patient group!)
The following ideas emerged:
1. Five minute set asides at CAS meetings for cell phone calls to Congress (for current action requests.)
2. Youth group essay contest "Why Israel is Important to Me."
3. Rotating home showings of the powerful film "Iranium."
4. Guest speaker from CUFI (Christians United for Israel) a powerful and passionate Israel lobbying group on Capitol hill and around the U.S.
5. Weekly "Action Alerts" in the CAS Bulletin.
6. AIPAC and others speakers
There are many ways each one of us can help! This is a multi-prong effort! ISRAEL needs all the support it can obtain, and CAS cares!
You can also feel free to share your ideas, comments and sources of information on our new CAS IAP blog Log onto: http://cas-israel.blogspout.com/.
We welcome your comments and interest! We can discuss, together, what may interest you! Does not require a lot of time
Todah!
Rabbi Cohen rabbicohen@agudathsholom.org
Norine Krasnogor nzk111@yahoo.com
The kiddush table conversation last shabbat, focusing on Israel advocacy, was informative and activity encouraging! Not only were there those who will join CAS in Washington for the AIPAC annual Conference, but there was discussion surrounding other projects.
Veronica Reich happily explained AIPAC Conference details, and Eve Nachman contributed the hope that The David Project, for high school and college students, could expand awareness of their efforts within CAS.
Others dropped by, adding their ideas and enthusiasm.
At this point, the CAS IAP needs specific help with a number of the proposed projects.
Please contact me or Rabbi Cohen to offer some assistance. Israel needs us! And our projects are easy to help with!
Below is a list of those that can be achieved this year. Please consider helping with any that interest you! CAS has always cared deeply about Israel. Let's put your love of Israel into action.
PROJECTS:
The first formal CAS IAP meeting, held a few months ago, produced agreement on excellent projects for the coming year. (Thank you to the patient group!)
The following ideas emerged:
1. Five minute set asides at CAS meetings for cell phone calls to Congress (for current action requests.)
2. Youth group essay contest "Why Israel is Important to Me."
3. Rotating home showings of the powerful film "Iranium."
4. Guest speaker from CUFI (Christians United for Israel) a powerful and passionate Israel lobbying group on Capitol hill and around the U.S.
5. Weekly "Action Alerts" in the CAS Bulletin.
6. AIPAC and others speakers
There are many ways each one of us can help! This is a multi-prong effort! ISRAEL needs all the support it can obtain, and CAS cares!
You can also feel free to share your ideas, comments and sources of information on our new CAS IAP blog Log onto: http://cas-israel.blogspout.com/.
We welcome your comments and interest! We can discuss, together, what may interest you! Does not require a lot of time
Todah!
Rabbi Cohen rabbicohen@agudathsholom.org
Norine Krasnogor nzk111@yahoo.com
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
AIPAC : Take Action
AIPAC
Call(202) 224-3121
Senators can be reached through the Capitol switchboard
E-mail your Member of Congress
Find your Member of Congress
Info/Questions
Contact Julie Peretz
(202) 639-5192
jperetz@aipac.org
Call Senators and Thank Them For Supporting Menendez-Kirk Amendment Senate
Last night, in a show of overwhelming bipartisan support, the Senate voted 100-0 to pass the Menendez-Kirk amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment will dramatically escalate the pressure on Tehran by going after Iran’s Central Bank, virtually the only Iranian financial institution capable of conducting international financial transactions for the regime.
Sample phone script:
"I am calling to thank the Senator for supporting the Menendez-Kirk amendment, which places mandatory sanctions on Iran's Central Bank. Again, please express my appreciation to the Senator."
Call(202) 224-3121
Senators can be reached through the Capitol switchboard
E-mail your Member of Congress
Find your Member of Congress
Info/Questions
Contact Julie Peretz
(202) 639-5192
jperetz@aipac.org
Call Senators and Thank Them For Supporting Menendez-Kirk Amendment Senate
Last night, in a show of overwhelming bipartisan support, the Senate voted 100-0 to pass the Menendez-Kirk amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment will dramatically escalate the pressure on Tehran by going after Iran’s Central Bank, virtually the only Iranian financial institution capable of conducting international financial transactions for the regime.
Sample phone script:
"I am calling to thank the Senator for supporting the Menendez-Kirk amendment, which places mandatory sanctions on Iran's Central Bank. Again, please express my appreciation to the Senator."
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
AIPAC
Join Rabbi Daniel Cohen and the CAS Delegation
at the AIPAC Policy Conference
The annual AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement. Thousands of participants come from all 50 states to take part in “three of the most important days affecting Israel’s future.” The 2012 conference will be held March 4-6, 2012, in Washington, D.C. Thousands have already registered, don’t miss out on this truly remarkable experience to be in our nation’s capital with thousands of fellow pro-Israel supporters.
CAS has reserved a limited amount of spots at a reduced rate of $299, to the Policy Conference. Delegates are responsible for flights and hotel arrangements, please go to policyconference@aipac.org for hotel locations and more information. Interested in joining the CAS delegation? Contact Rabbi Cohen at rabbicohen@cas-stamford.org, Yudi Gross, Synagogue Coordinator at ygross@aipac.org or Cindy Flynn, 203-358-2200.
at the AIPAC Policy Conference
The annual AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement. Thousands of participants come from all 50 states to take part in “three of the most important days affecting Israel’s future.” The 2012 conference will be held March 4-6, 2012, in Washington, D.C. Thousands have already registered, don’t miss out on this truly remarkable experience to be in our nation’s capital with thousands of fellow pro-Israel supporters.
CAS has reserved a limited amount of spots at a reduced rate of $299, to the Policy Conference. Delegates are responsible for flights and hotel arrangements, please go to policyconference@aipac.org for hotel locations and more information. Interested in joining the CAS delegation? Contact Rabbi Cohen at rabbicohen@cas-stamford.org, Yudi Gross, Synagogue Coordinator at ygross@aipac.org or Cindy Flynn, 203-358-2200.
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