Facing Migrant Crisis, E.U. Makes a Dubious Deal with Turkey: Steven Erlanger, New York Times, Mar. 10, 2016— More and more, it seems that the European Union wants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to replace Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi as the guardian of European shores against the flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
Migrant Policy in Europe Exposes its Hypocrisy: Shmuley Boteach, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 29, 2016— Europe has long touted itself as a beacon of human rights and freedoms.
Is a Break Up of the EU Good for Israel?: Manfred Gerstenfeld, CIJR, Feb. 24, 2016 — There is currently much tension in the European Union both among member countries and in their relationship with EU leaders in Brussels.
First Chief Kotel Rabbi’s Letter Reveals Desperation on Eve of Jordanian Capture: Hana Levi Julian, Jewish Press, Mar. 3, 2016— Adar 1948: Three letters recently uncovered from the besieged Old City of Jerusalem, written a month before the British left and two months before it fell into the hands of Jordan, betray the desperation of the residents and their leaders.
Yitzhak Shamir Celebrating 100 Years (Photo Essay): Sharon Altshul, Baltimore Jewish Life, Feb. 29, 2015
Changing EU Requires New Alliances: Isi Leibler, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 24, 2016
Macedonia is Defending Europe from Itself: Gjorge Ivanov, Telegraph, Mar. 6, 2016
There’s Only One Country in the Middle East That Could Produce a Soldier Like Me: Major Alaa Waheeb, Jewish News, Mar. 3, 2016
FACING MIGRANT CRISIS, E.U. MAKES A DUBIOUS DEAL WITH TURKEY
Steven Erlanger
New York Times, Mar. 10, 2016
More and more, it seems that the European Union wants President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to replace Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi as the guardian of European shores against the flow of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.
It was Colonel Qaddafi, the former Libyan strongman, who, before Europe and the United States helped to overthrow him, had an agreement with Italy to keep migrants from its shores. In 2010, visiting Silvio Berlusconi, then the Italian prime minister, Colonel Qaddafi demanded 5 billion euros, then about $6.6 billion, a year to continue to stem the tide. Otherwise, he said, Europe would become “another Africa” as a result of the “advance of millions of immigrants.” “Tomorrow,” he added, “Europe might no longer be European and even black, as there are millions who want to come in.” Colonel Qaddafi got his money.
Now it is the European Union, prodded by a beleaguered Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and overwhelmed by 1.3 million asylum seekers last year, that is desperate to deter as many migrants as possible. Their instrument of necessity is Mr. Erdogan, who, like Colonel Qaddafi before him, has a price, and knows how to bargain. As Marta Dassu, the former Italian deputy foreign minister and senior director for Europe for the Aspen Institute, put it: “Erdogan keeps locking and unlocking the door as it pleases him.”
Already, the European Union has promised Mr. Erdogan €3 billion. This week, in a sweeping deal still to be confirmed by European leaders, the bloc promised him at least twice as much, along with the prospect of visa-free travel for Turks and an acceleration of Turkey’s application to join the union — a process begun nearly 30 years ago, in 1987.
In return, Turkey has agreed to take back every illegal migrant reaching the shores of Europe. That would have an immediate impact on the 2,000 a day now reaching Greece, but it is also meant to discourage others contemplating the trip. Turkey will keep the migrants while they are screened, adding to the more than 2.5 million already in Turkish camps, and return those who don’t qualify to their country of origin. For every Syrian migrant returned to Turkey, Europe must accept a Syrian migrant now in Turkey who qualifies as a refugee.
But there is another kind of price to be paid by the European Union, reminiscent of the deal done with Colonel Qaddafi. The main cost is to European values. Even as European leaders met, the Turkish government seized the popular newspaper Zaman, which has been fiercely critical of Mr. Erdogan’s rule, and replaced its journalists with pro-regime hacks. Turkey has also continued to crack down on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organization, under the pretext of fighting President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
Since his re-election last year, according to Human Rights Watch, Mr. Erdogan “has demonstrated a growing intolerance of political opposition, public protest, and critical media. Government interference with the courts and prosecutors has undermined judicial independence and the rule of law.” European officials argue that they had to act tough and create serious disincentives for migrants to ease the enormous pressure on Greece and the countries along the Balkan route. Unless they acted, they say, the Schengen agreement on freedom of movement within most of the bloc, now effectively suspended, would collapse, with significant economic costs…
[To Read the Full Article Click the Following Link—Ed.]
MIGRANT POLICY IN EUROPE EXPOSES ITS HYPOCRISY
Shmuley Boteach
Jerusalem Post, Feb. 29, 2016
Europe has long touted itself as a beacon of human rights and freedoms. From their safe and secure area of the world, they’ve looked askance at Israel with a self-righteous smugness that proclaims, “If only we were in Israel’s position, there would have been peace and tranquility with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority and all Arab nations.”
However, the recent influx of refugees has put Europe to the test, and to the unfortunate shock of many, we are starting to learn that Europe is not as tolerant as we might have believed. Yet the world really doesn’t seem so concerned about it. Europe is very good at judging Israel but seems to have a double standard when it comes to itself. What one must ask is, how would Israel have been treated if it had adopted the policies toward migrants that Europe has? Let’s look at some facts.
To begin, Czech President Milos Zeman recently said, “It’s practically impossible to integrate Muslims into Western Europe,” and referred to the migrants as implementing an “organized invasion.” The Czech Republic has refused to open its borders to the masses of refugees. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has complained that the influx of refugees “could redraw Europe’s cultural and religious identity.” Apparently when these statements are coming from Europe, they are not condemned.
Hungary and Slovenia have now built barbed-wire fences along their borders to keep migrants out. Poland and Slovakia follow a similar policy, not allowing any refugees within their borders. Austria has passed legislation allowing only 80 migrants a day to apply for asylum. Hungary has even taken the extra step of criminalizing undocumented border crossings with up to three years in prison.
We are also now learning that the poor and desperate refugees reaching Denmark are actually having their valuables confiscated by the government to pay for their processing. This includes watches, laptops and any cash amount over $1,450 dollars. This has been enshrined within Denmark’s laws. Switzerland has been doing the same thing and just recently Germany has accepted this policy as well. This is aided by legal strip-searches of migrants within some European countries. The little bit of money seized from these refugees may represent a lifetime of hard work and savings, confiscated in a moment with no legal recourse.
It is unimaginable that Israel would ever contemplate something similar. We are witnessing that racial profiling is an acceptable way of dealing with refugees – as long as you are Europe. In German, Austrian and Dutch cities migrant males have been legally banned from swimming pools, bathhouses and saunas. Clubs and bars in Austria have a “no migrant men” policy and in Denmark men will not be allowed into certain establishments unless they can speak Danish, German or English.
Coming out in the news is that Doctors Without Borders has announced that it will no longer provide services at migrant reception centers in Italy. Why? Because the Italian government has allowed these centers, which accommodate tens of thousands of refugees, to fall into disrepair. Squalid restrooms, bug infestations, showers without privacy, untreated mold, and water leaks are par for the course, and the Italian government has purposefully allowed this to happen in the hopes of dissuading future migrants. What if this was Israel instead? Can you imagine the headlines? Many other European states are passing laws making it almost impossible for migrants to ever adjust and live a normal life within these countries. Laws have been passed to severely limit migrants’ access to social welfare benefits, and other enactments that require waits of three years before family members can be brought over for reunification.
Some European states do not allow migrants to live outside of refugee centers – some of which are nothing but tent encampments. Migrants also face long waits just to acquire work permits. The overall goal of all these laws is to make it harder for migrants to gain permanent status and to make life so difficult they will be compelled to leave. Anti-immigrant verbal abuse and outright physical attacks are seemingly becoming the norm in Europe, as the ranks of far-right movements increase by the day.
Recently, in the East German town of Bautzen, a hotel that was being converted into a migrant shelter was engulfed in flames in a suspected arson case. A crowd at the scene cheered as the building burned and police said that many of the people looked and spoke with “unashamed delight.” Some of the crowd even tried to stop firefighters from putting out the flames. Another German town saw 100 angry protesters prevent a bus full of migrants from disembarking.
And now we are learning that Sweden has announced plans to deport 80,000 refugees while Finland announced deportations of 20,000. A number of European countries have begun passing legislation that classify refugees from Afghanistan as “economic migrants” thus barring them from being granted asylum. Never mind the fact that 2015 was the worst year for civilian casualties on record. People who risked their lives to escape squalor and tyrannical regimes are being cordoned off based on their ethnicity and forcibly removed from Europe.
Can you step back for a second and imagine if everything mentioned above had happened in Israel instead? Can you hear the condemnations and self-righteous proclamations that would have echoed from one side of the globe to the other? The calls for boycotts and sanctions? Now it’s reached the point where a recent poll shows 29 percent of Germans support a(n) open-fire policy on the border to keep the refugees out. Is shooting to kill now becoming an acceptable refugee policy? As larger number of migrants continue entering Europe, these sentiments will inevitably increase. One can only hope that fascist nationalism does not replace the crumbling policies and approaches of European governments that we are witnessing today…
[To Read the Full Article Click the Following Link—Ed.]
IS A BREAK UP OF THE EU GOOD FOR ISRAEL?
Manfred Gerstenfeld
CIJR, Feb. 24, 2016
There is currently much tension in the European Union both among member countries and in their relationship with EU leaders in Brussels. As a result, the continued existence of the Schengen open borders agreement, the Euro and even the EU itself has been brought into question by leading politicians, such as EU president Jean-Claude Juncker and EU parliament president Martin Schultz.
Despite this pessimistic outlook, the total disintegration of the EU seems largely theoretical. However, it is important for Israel to study the implications of such a development. An analysis of a possible break-up of the EU may help Israel understand how to proceed more effectively in its complex relationship with that body.
A more integrated European Union would not bode well for Israel. There is by now ample evidence to support the prediction that the more power Brussels has, the more it will abuse it against Israel. This may be seen, for example, from the discriminatory labelling of settlement products and the financial support for extremist so-called humanitarian Israeli NGOs – in reality humanitarian racist bodies — which remain silent about the genocidal intentions of Hamas, the largest Palestinian party. The EU also interferes in the in the Israel-controlled Area C in the territories in opposition to Israel’s declared wishes, including financing housing for Palestinians there.
Double standards are at the core of anti-Semitism through the centuries. The European Union has frequently applied these against Israel. The requirement to label goods from Israeli settlements – something not demanded for other areas which are similarly in dispute – made the EU bias against Israel so explicit that the Simon Wiesenthal Center gave the EU pride of place in its annual 2015 list of major anti-Semitic slurs.
In the first part of the previous century Jews suffered hugely from extreme nationalistic anti-Semitism. The EU is a supranational body. Member states have gradually been relinquishing elements of their sovereignty in its favor. Israel is a nation state which jealously guards its sovereignty. The EU, by nature a sovereignty-absorbing entity, can hardly look favorably on it, despite its being a democracy. Today Israel is the target of supranational anti-Semitism, exhibited among others by the EU and the UN. This is much weaker than traditional, national anti-Semitism, but far from innocuous.
The recent massive refugee influx has made many more Europeans aware of the potential consequences of the partial transfer of national sovereignty to the EU. This has been highlighted in the loss of control over member nations’ borders. Experts in the UK are also concerned about the primacy of European law over national law.
Those EU member countries which are willing to accept the Brussels dictum and take in significant numbers of new immigrants disperse them over many locations. Previous immigrants live usually in suburbs or neighborhoods of larger cities. During the recent influx, large numbers of asylum seekers were housed in smaller communities. This has substantial social and political ramifications. Among many other problems, asylum seeker centers have become a focus for attacks by citizens against asylum seekers and the centers themselves, violence within the centers and attacks against local residents by refugees.
Tensions within the E.U have oscillated over the past decades, Euroscepticism is probably currently at a historical high, partly due to the refugee crisis, which French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said is destabilizing Europe. Anti-European parties in various countries, including France and Netherlands are gaining in the polls. The EU’s opponents present many arguments, from the economic, citing the low growth of the E.U economy, to the security-related, in that open borders facilitate terrorism.
The upcoming UK referendum on a possible “Brexit” – whether the country should exit the EU or remain a member – is another important milestone in the unfolding anti-EU events. The many arguments brought forward by Brexit proponents against the EU may serve Israel in its negotiations with that body. Germany’s domination of the EU, already sizeable, will become even more problematic as a result of a possible UK exit. Wolfgang Schaüble, the German finance minister has said that investors in Asia and the US may diagnose terminal decline in Europe if the EU cannot prevent the UK from leaving its ranks.
The foreign ministers of the six initial founding states German, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg have recently been meeting on how to push European integration forward. This meeting took place against a background where the proponents of a federal Europe, although not fully defeated, have been pushed into a corner. For Israel, the difficult situation faced by the pro-integrationists is a welcome development.
A total break-up of the EU has both advantages and disadvantages for Israel. Rather than dealing with the EU, nominally representing 500 million citizens, Israel would then have to deal with many smaller countries. This may be beneficial when such countries attempt to meddle in Israel’s internal policies, without the power of a supranational body behind them. However, if the EU does disintegrate completely, countries such as Sweden ruled by an anti-Israel inciting government dominated by social democrats may embark on more extreme policies toward Israel when not bound within the EU to seek compromise. Although the absence of an EU may make it easier to face-off against the Swedes, very undesirable precedents may be created.
In the light of all this a shrinking of the E.U’s power and competences without an actual break up would probably be best for Israel. This the more so if the Euro is dissolved and the Schengen open border agreement is cancelled. This would also mean a psychological trouncing. The above analysis at this early stage can only be indicative. Yet it can serve to clarify Israel’s thoughts as the situation evolves.
Manfred Gerstenfeld is a CIJR Academic Fellow
FIRST CHIEF KOTEL RABBI’S LETTER REVEALS
DESPERATION ON EVE OF JORDANIAN CAPTURE
Hana Levi Julian
Jewish Press, Mar. 3, 2016
Adar 1948: Three letters recently uncovered from the besieged Old City of Jerusalem, written a month before the British left and two months before it fell into the hands of Jordan, betray the desperation of the residents and their leaders. The letters include one of the last letters signed by the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall, known in Hebrew as the Kotel, who insisted on returning to the besieged city and was killed two months after signing the letter.
The three letters were written in the month of Adar 1948, 68 years ago, by the besieged people of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, were recently discovered by an unidentified individual in Jerusalem. The letters reveal another piece of the harsh reality in the besieged city, the internal arguments between its civilians and the efforts to save the Jewish way of life during the inferno. One of the letters is signed by Rabbi Yitzchak Avigdor Orenstein, the Kotel’s first and legendary Chief Rabbi, two months before he perished during the shelling of the Old City.
In the letter – signed also by Rabbis Yisrael Zeev Mintzberg, community rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jewish Quarter, Shalom Azoulay, Dayan of the Westerners community, and Benzion Chazan, founder of the renowned “Porat Yosef” Yeshiva – the four send a distress call to Israel’s Chief Rabbi at the time, Yitzhak Herzog. “Have mercy on the men, women, and children, and take drastic measures where needed elsewhere, so we won’t perish, God forbid.” The four describe the difficult situation in the Old City after the shelling by the British soldiers.
“The lives of the Old city residents are in a grave danger. During the last few nights British troops shelled the Jewish Quarter, harming the sanctity of the synagogue,” they write, adding, “The night of Thursday and the night of Motzei Shabbat, were nothing short of a nightmare for us, we thought that we would all perish, God forbid, but thanks to the mercy of Hashem, no casualties occurred… the awful bombing was imposed on us by the British soldiers, without any reason or cause.
“This morning we woke up agreeing unanimously to leave the property behind and save our lives, escape the Old City and the life of nightmare. Nevertheless, after we partially recovered, we called the residents of the city for help in taking counsel and decided to appeal to his Excellency with the broadcast above “. Rabbi Orenstein, who was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Kotel in 1930, insisted on returning to the Old City when the siege began, even though he was then visiting the new city.
Through special efforts done by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and Rabbi Herzog, Rabbi Orenstein was able to enter the Old City. When asked why he was endangering himself, Rabbi Orenstein replied that “If someone is destined to sacrifice himself for the sake of the sanctity of ancient Jerusalem and its holy places, I am hereby committed to it more than anyone else.” Rabbi Orenstein was killed along with his wife, Rebbetzin Mushka Liebe, during the shelling of Iyar 14th, about two months after signing the letter above. He was buried in a mass grave that he himself approved to set up within the Old City limits.
Alongside this letter, the collection holds another letter written the next day, by the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community, Rabbi Mintzberg, who also addressed Chief Rabbi Herzog. In his letter, Rabbi Mintzberg describes once more the difficult situation in the quarter. “I am to inform him that after the past Sunday of Parashat Shemini (about a week before writing this letter), a bitter day for the residents of the holy city, the soldiers were raging once more, shooting the residents. In yards and homes before midnight Friday night and yesterday Motza’ei Shabbat for several hours continuously, they fired shells and mortars and destroyed several homes.”…
[To Read the Full Article Click the Following Link—Ed.]
CIJR Wishes All Our Friends & Supporters: Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzhak Shamir Celebrating 100 Years (Photo Essay): Sharon Altshul, Baltimore Jewish Life, Feb. 29, 2015—Yitzhak Shamir was born Yitzhak Yezernitsky on October 22, 1915 and died on June 30, 2012. Shamir, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, served two terms, from 1983–84 and 1986–1992. On the occasion of the 100th year of his birth, a crowd of family, old friends, and government officials, past and present, were joined by President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Menachem Begin Center in Jerusalem, Israel, on Sunday night.
Changing EU Requires New Alliances: Isi Leibler, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 24, 2016—The mass migration of Muslim “refugees” to Western Europe could result in one of the most significant global demographic upheavals in history.
Macedonia is Defending Europe from Itself: Gjorge Ivanov, Telegraph, Mar. 6, 2016—The migrant and refugee crisis is deepening and reaching a critical level. It used to take refugees and migrants six to eight months to reach their destination countries. Now they can do it in just a few days. Today united Europe has more walls than divided Europe had during the Cold War. Greece is facing a possible humanitarian crisis, and there are armies in a state of alert deployed on the borders of Balkan countries.
There’s Only One Country in the Middle East That Could Produce a Soldier Like Me: Major Alaa Waheeb, Jewish News, Mar. 3, 2016—In the last few weeks, students across the UK have been involved in Israeli Apartheid Week. Some have supported it. Others have opposed it. Invited by the Zionist Federation UK, last week I was able to attend campuses up and down the country specifically to address and counter some of the claims involved.
