Agriprocessors Puts Barak Obama In The ‘Meat-Grinder’ - YWN Besides Barry Hussein Obama not knowing what city he was in yesterday (listen to his remarks in his brief appearance last night and his confusion first saying he was in Kansas City and then saying he was in St. Louis. Even his daughter asked him "Daddy, what city are you in?" Obama responds: "I'm in Kansas City sweetie". Now if he only knew whether that was Missouri or Kansas. All that after saying "you want a persistent President." Obama's appearance begins at the 3 hr 34 sec mark at CSPAN convention day 1 coverage part two) may experience long load time In any event, Obama took time out during the day to pass judgment against Agriprocessors for "taking advantage of undocumented workers".
"When you read about a meatpacking plant hiring 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds - that is some of the most dangerous, difficult work there is. ... They have kids in there wielding buzz saws and cleavers? It's ridiculous. And the only reason they're hiring these folks is because they want to avoid paying decent wages and providing decent benefits."
Those poor undocumented workers (IE. id thieves), you victims of greedy Joos making wages and benefits at or above industry standards. How ungrateful you are to make allegations after being arrested by ICE and put in line to go to your home countries after a visit to a US Federal prison where you eat 3 squares and have access to free medical care. Obama fell into the trap of believing what he wanted to believe. Maybe it was just a natural willingness to accept unproven allegations and maybe the reason is, that something inside him allowed him to do so. Its believable, you know, the Joos own that place.
Obama at least paid lip service to being a nation of laws but only after discussing the hardships for those who break the law. What better way to warm up for the Democrat National Convention than to throw a bone to the union bosses and the immigration amnesty crowd.
Nat Lewin contradicts and chides Obama in his piece hyperlinked above and copied below. Lewin contends that Obama, the law professor, should know better.
August 26, 2008 On Monday, YWN reported that Barak Obama had blasted Agriprocessors in a comment to a reporter. The following is the official response to Barak Obama issued by Nathan Lewin on behalf of Agri:
This is a shocking statement from a former president of the Harvard Law Review and former constitutional law professor who has sworn, as a United States Senator, to uphold the Constitution which prescribes a presumption of innocence until guilt is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Before he made public accusations accusing a meat-packing plant of hiring 13 and 14 year olds “only……to avoid paying people decent wages and providing them decent benefits” and declared that the minors were assigned to work with “buzz saws and cleavers,” did Senator Obama look at the evidence or consider the plant’s categorical denial of these allegations?
Agriprocessors recruited only those who were over 18 and knowingly accepted for employment only applicants who said they were over 18. Applicants may have lied about their age to get a job.
Agriprocessors fired four girls in 2007 when it discovered, from its own internal investigation, that they were under age.
The Iowa Labor Department conducted an on-site inspection in April 2008 with an expert at spotting minors and did not identify to Agriprocessors any person on its work-force who looked to be under 18.
No one alleges that any employee who was later identified as under 18 was working at Agriprocessors with “buzz saws and cleavers.”
Everyone on the Agriprocessors payroll, regardless of age, received wages and benefits at or above industry standards.
(Nathan Lewin: Washington attorney for Agriprocessors who was an officer of the Harvard Law Review, a law clerk for a Supreme Court Justice, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in the 1960’s, and now teaches a constitutional law seminar at Columbia Law School.)
I was thinking I might take some time to clean and "Rem oil" up my American made firearms. But only after I spend a good amount of time on some serious Chumash (Bible)learning with commentaries. Its also time to start preparing for the Yamim Noraim (High Holydays), so learning Yonah (Book of Jonah) might be in order. Then again, it may be Sichos. I am just so bitter I can't even decide. Far too bitter to watch the Obamamessiah unify America.
Ok, I think I am beginning to understand democrat logic which actually scares me. No, I haven't bought in - Chas v'Shalom, but I am seeing a picture now which I will try to illustrate.
The modern liberal/democrat must be able to ignore truth for vision. Vision of course, without truth is fantasy. But that doesn't stop the left. When fantastical beliefs in new ideas emerge, ideas which are based upon fantasy more so than observation, on idealism more so than realism, on a slavish connection to a misnomer casting away thoughtful analysis, then you have liberal thought.
Basing policy on this reasoning is the core mandate of liberal democrats. Even when it is pitifully obvious that the results of this process is destructive, the process is held in such esteem that the results cannot be criticized. Jimmy Carter's priorities in foreign policy come from that system. It permits antiJewism so long as his far-fetched policy derived from the fantasy led process of analysis is intact.
Carter will be speaking at the Democrat National Convention next week in Denver. Even though there are still some level headed Democrats around who understand that the Carter chain around the neck of Obama is a poltergeist of Joseph Goebbels which Obama will have to wear through November, they are powerless to prevent a talk by the former President who is the standard setter for liberal thought today. The process must have its day after all.
What message is Obama trying to send? Clearly he or his team have approved or cancelled speakers at the convention. So Obama must approve of Carter the antiJew speaking at his convention. Democrats have a problem because they have fostered and accepted this sort of non-sense thought inside their tent. Obama is stuck with it whether he likes it or not. My guess is he does like it. It strengthens him and gives credence to his appeasement manner.
The dems are trying to stem the tide of the dissolving Jewish vote, putting "rabbis" on the agenda and continually trying to bolster Obama's Jewish credentials. But sending out Carter the fantastical antiJew to the podium will by necessity remind everyone of Carter's Jew baiting. This is not the best America can do.
Expect McCain to pick up additional Jewish support as a result of the dems convention and it's media coverage. The alternative media should have a field day with this one. Kudos to the Young Israel for their courage and leadership.
(IsraelNN.com) The National Council of Young Israel has called on Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama and party leaders to cancel next week's scheduled address by former American President Jimmy Carter at the party convention in Denver, Colorado. Carter's public statements and his recent visit to Syria have attracted widespread criticism among pro-Israel supporters.
Young Israel president Shlomo Z. Mostofsky and executive vice president Rabbi Pesach Lerner stated, "Affording Mr. Carter a prime speaking engagement on the Democrats' brightest stage is an affront to the State of Israel, and to all American Zionists, whether they are Christians or Jews.
"In April, 2008 he deliberately and wantonly ignored the wishes of the United States government when he traveled to Syria to meet with Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas' terrorist organization. The fact that he embraced Hamas, a terrorist group that has repeatedly called for the destruction of the State of Israel, the obliteration of the United States, and the annihilation of the Jewish people, was a slap in the face to Israel, the U.S., and Jews everywhere." A Handy List of Carter is an AntiJew Articles ZOA presser on Carter - poll manipulation
Remember back in February all the hollering around the campaign to put Jerusalem on the Monopoly World Edition board and the controversy of why Israel was the first country name removed from the contest?
Well all the effort has paid off. Well almost. Last I recall, Jerusalem was in the top three in the vote count before the tally board was hidden in the final voting period. Hasbro finally announced the winning cities and here they are:
While yellow is not too shabby, I was hoping for Boardwalk's position. Who is ready to believe that our own Yerushalayim would have been given the top position even had she received the most votes?
A few observations with others remaining unspoken:
Only one US city on the board - politically correct I guess
Three Canadian cities with Montreal in the top spot - which leads you to question if Hasbro has Francophilia since Montreal probably ranks as one of the top 5 most obnoxious cities in North America, if not #1 (no offense implied)
No Arabian cities - no suicide bombers
Only 1 Muslim city - speaks for itself
No Russian Cities (Ukrainian Kiev made it - Bogdan Khmel'nitsky would be proud)
A Polish city - Gdynia - in your face with a NATO missile shield for Vlad Putin
Riga formerly enslaved by the USSR is #2 - Putin now with steam coming out of his ears
London ahead of New York keeps the Brits happy but is a little 19th century
Rome - a tip of the hat to Edom
Athens - if Rome is on the list, Athens must be too
Three Chinese cities - could have been an all Chinese board I guess so I shouldn't complain
This is one making the rounds today on the Conservative News sites. I heard about Obama and his support for killing the survivors of late term abortions (by opposing the Born Alive Infant Protection Act) on the radio yesterday. Today, audio of Obama defending his opposition to the bill surfaced. See Obama wanted it both ways first claiming a technicality which stopped him from supporting the state legislation mirroring the federal version originally and then was forced to admit his own committee added the language which he claimed wasn't in the state bill. Anything, I suppose to endorse and justify abortion rights is fair game. The FR post referenced as its source Gateway Pundit which referenced other blogs.
As a G-d fearing Jew, the words that I heard Mr. Hussein Obama say put a chill down my spine. Let em die, Obama insists, it is a choice not a child. Somehow, the American psyche has permitted and accepted a discussion regarding the legality of late term abortions (or any abortions for that matter where the mother's life is not in imminent jeopardy) and framed the discussion as a civil rights issue. It is a horrifyingly deceptive discussion where raw brutality is viewed as medicine and humans are viewed as property. The Jews must be heard in this debate far more and the morality taught to us expressed clearly and resolutely.
Meanwhile, conservatives are amusing themselves with what is either political naivety, closet anti-Jewism or blatant anti-Jewism on display as the left seeks to still birth (oh is that appropriate after the above report to say that) Eric Cantor's possible selection as a VP'er for McCain. The stories below reference the number of times leftie propaganda points out that Cantor is, uh - a JEW. And this yid knows that yid who knows this yid and once Cantor and Abramoff appeared together and therefore it must be some big Jewish attempt to grab power in DC. Whatever. Protocols, the Sequel brought to you by our friends at the Obama at any cost committee. The DNC’s anti-Semitism - Hotair
Gary Rosenblatt recently wrote an article further contributing to the literature of denialism in Jewish Education. The reality is, we know what works. Day schools and Yeshivas will produce more boys and girls tightly bound up with the destiny of the Jewish people. Jewish summer camps reinforce that picture. After-school and Sunday School programs do not produce results in the same league. While there is clearly a creaming effect when contemplating whether each system of education is successful or not, (Ie. parents who send their children to Jewish day schools and Yeshivas are themselves more greatly bound up with the Jewish destiny than those parents who are able to send their children to days schools and who choose not to when no extenuating circumstances intervene) the results cannot be denied.
Among the interesting "findings" of Rosenblatt's article include Jack Wertheimer's finding that parents of the secondary education approach see this system as merely Bnai Mitzvah preparation while the schools see their mission as giving children positive Jewish experiences. Both conceptual approaches are flawed.
If the parents merely want a good show Bar Mitzvah from their son and the school merely wants to produce a positive experience, Wertheimer's research demonstrates that the secondary approach meets the needs of the providers and consumers. Young people who have a show case Bar or Bas Mitzvah will clearly also have a positive experience. Case closed, Jewish education complete at 13 (or 12) years old.
The flaw of course is that a well educated Jew cannot be produced in 13 years and the process of education lasts a life time. When is that positive experience supposed to translate into anything but a fond memory when the student does not have the tools to learn? How does being able to chant a Haftora which tooks months to prepare equate to picking up a chumash and learning a Rashi?
And what of the dichotomy between what parents want and what they should want from Jewish education? Without trying to be snobbish, the gap is huge and unfortunate. How many parents who want merely to have a good Bar Mitzvah really care whether or not their child will ever learn a Mishna? Does it matter to most of these parents that the basic infrastructure of Jewish knowledge, the ability to interpret a posek of Chumash, to work through a Mishna, even to touch a Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, is not only beyond reach of most of these kids but unknown to them beyond highly superficial mention?
We are not talking about highly advanced learning here, just basics. Yes it is important too, {answering the hypothetical question} that the kids are comfortable attending a Conservativish Shabbos day service or Reformist Shabbos night service because they learned how to say some of the prayers. But, such a goal or conclusion to a child's Jewish education, I would answer is utterly a disaster waiting to happen. It is not a far stretch to blame such reasoning on the destructive out-marriage rates which have reduced Jewish population levels to a startingly low level when compared to natural growth rates of the American population since World War II.
Changing the dynamic is not up to the children, the congregations, the "movements", the educators, or the Federations/Boards of Education. The dynamic depends upon the parents demanding Jewish day school options for their children, replacing once and for all the reliance on after-schools and Sunday schools. Jewish day school attendance must continue to rise and new schools must be opened to meet the rising need. Schools must be able to accomodate the great range in knowledge and ability of these Jewish young. Money should be allocated by the Federations for these schools and for assisting those students financially who need help to pay tuition. This must become the highest domestic priority of Jewish organized philanthropy. Efforts must be made to convince the biggest donors to shift their giving priorites to K-12 day schools. Finding teachers to staff the growing interest in Jewish education will be difficult to say the least. Salaries must be comensurate with need and the monies must be allocated for this process. Day schools need not be managed under "Orthodox" auspices but we must demand that the Judaic curriculum teachers must be Shomrai Mitzvahs, Shabbos, Yiras Shomayim yidden, maybe teamed up with a education "professional" for class room management purposes.
I firmly believe this is a possible mission if and when the souls of the Jewish people link together. Surely a blessing for Shomayim cannot be that distant. The power of the Jews to bring Torah to the world is enormous and our mission cannot fail. It is the will to overcome the negativity generated by the Yetzer Hara which will be the greatest obstacle for only in areas where Torah obligations lie does the YH reside. But this too can be overcome and when it inevitably is overcome only good things could tidings will follow.
No matter what you call them — Hebrew schools, religious, congregational or supplementary schools — they have long been the whipping boy of American Jewish life, blamed for providing a superficial education and the most negative Jewish experience in a young person’s life.
But despite being derided as “bar and bat mitzvah factories” with little lasting positive impact, “supplementary schools continue to enroll the majority of students receiving a Jewish education” in the U.S., according to a census about to be released by the Avi Chai Foundation, which focuses on Jewish education.
The study, by Jack Wertheimer, a professor of American Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary, estimates that about 230,000 youngsters attend these after-school or Sunday classes, generally one to three times a week.
(Another Avi Chai study, by Marvin Schick, found that 172,447 students were enrolled in Jewish day schools in 2003-2004.)
To no one’s surprise, Wertheimer found that there is precipitous drop in supplementary school enrollment after grade seven (meaning, after bar or bat mitzvah) — more in the New York area than other parts of the country — and that very few Jewish students make it to the high school level.
In addition, most of the schools have small enrollments (more than 40 percent have fewer than 50 students) and Conservative congregational schools are shrinking, in large part because “the number of Conservative families with school-age children has shrunk.”
Reform schools are dominant, accounting for 57 percent of all supplementary students, and only about 3 percent of Modern Orthodox children attend since most go to day schools and yeshivas.
“An overlooked phenomenon,” according to Wertheimer, is the rapid growth of Chabad-sponsored supplementary schools, with more than 400 nationwide, many of them having started in the last five years.
Some Conservative and Reform educators bitterly complain that the Chabad schools are poaching on their constituents, offering reduced tuition and no minimum requirement of time enrolled before providing a bar or bat mitzvah, compared to their three years of mandatory enrollment.
But others note that the Chabad schools have developed a sophisticated method of decoding the Hebrew language, called Aleph Champ, which is widely used and seems to be highly popular with youngsters. It is based on the karate motivational system of color-coded progression from white to black “belts” while gaining expertise in reading.
Wertheimer acknowledged that the census raises as many questions as it asks, mostly because there is relatively little hard data available nationally about even basic information.
The Board of Jewish Education in New York, for example, does not have up- to-date information on the number of schools and students under its aegis.
Robert Sherman, who has been CEO here for a year, said the BJE is working now on compiling that information.
One seeming disconnect that Wertheimer found in his study is that while most parents see the chief role of secondary schools as preparing children for bar or bat mitzvah, only 7 percent of the schools surveyed listed that as their primary goal. Most schools cited giving children positive Jewish experiences as their top objective.
Among the questions Wertheimer now poses, based on his study, are how to reconcile that gap between parents and educators on goals, as well as how to retain students post-bar and bat mitzvah, and how to influence more schools to incorporate Shabbat programs (either through attending services or communal activities) into the curriculum.
Wertheimer is at work on another study tracking 10 supplementary schools from around the country with a high success rate in terms of student retention, to see what works. One trend he has found is “an emphasis on the experiential, providing positive Jewish experiences, perhaps in reaction to the horror stories of how adults look back on their time in supplementary school.”
He says the big question that parents and educators should be asking themselves, and each other, is what they want youngsters to come away with from their time in supplementary school. Is it learning to read Hebrew, or the prayers, or Jewish history, or to observe rituals, or more generally to feel good about being Jewish?
Parents cannot reasonably expect their children to become scholars based on a few hours of study a week (often after a full day of secular classes). Wertheimer believes the key is to “find ways to complement the formal studies and informal Jewish experiences” at home, in school, in synagogue and, ideally, at a Jewish summer camp.
“It’s the combination that shapes Jewish identity,” he maintains.
Both Wertheimer and Sherman of the BJE of New York note that the supplementary high school programs with the most success tend to have a critical mass of students that not only allow for a variety of subject offerings, from courses to retreats to social action programs, but also have a strong social component so that it is “cool” to be enrolled.
Having a group Israel experience as a high school student is another strong identity marker.
But Sherman says there is now a serious debate among educators about whether Birthright Israel, which provides free 10-day Israel trips to 18-to-26-year-olds, is having a negative impact in that many parents are holding off on sending their youngsters to Israel on costly youth group tours, opting to wait a few more years for a free Birthright-subsidized trip.
Wertheimer’s report is intended to provide a census of supplementary schools, but as he notes, his work was “vastly complicated by the absence of a comprehensive list of schools.”
What he has provided is a starting point for collecting much-needed data and posing questions about the direction and very purpose of these schools.
We can complain about their lack of depth and other ills, but in the meantime they are still the gateway for most American Jewish youngsters who receive any kind of Jewish education. So it’s time we invest more research and creativity in this area to find out what’s working and what isn’t before we turn off yet another generation of youngsters to Jewish education.
Agriprocessors cannot stay out of the news. The latest report is of the State of Iowa investigating under age employees, 57 minors to be exact in violation of state employment laws. Iowa law has some provision calling on employers to take special measures to be certain that all employees are of legal age. What? No special measures to make certain the employee is legally in the US?
I don't know what Iowa had in mind with this provision. But the basic issue remains, these were workers who illegally entered the US and were either provided by the company or someone else the Name, DOB, and SSN of an American citizen in order to work. Agriprocessors should launch a constitutional fight over the law protecting any illegal workers, minor or otherwise. The unions want them protected with same rights as US citizens and legal residents. I for one, do not. These people were working here as identity thieves and resided illegally in the US. They should just be sent home to wherever they came from. I have little sympathy for people knowingly working illegally getting caught and then crying foul about conditions and lack of rights. Go work in Canada or Brazil.
If on the other hand, US citizens or legal residents under the age of 18 were employed in ways they should not have been or under conditions inappropriate for workers then you have a different set of circumstances.
As to the articles below, I am further of the opinion that Rabbis should do Kashrus work and government employees should enforce the laws of the land, be they state or federal. Rabbi Lerner led a team of 25 Rabbis to Postville to tour the plant subject of the May ICE bust. The report of his tour group can be read below. Overall, it paints a very different picture than the media is portraying. Nevertheless, and meaning no disrespect to Rabbi Lerner and the Rabbonim he took to Iowa, their primary focus should be kashrus. Whether employees like their job or are being paid on time is not their business unless those same employees bring their claims to a beis din. Then it becomes a Rabbi matter. Otherwise, not.
To presume for a moment the thoughts of Agriprocessor's critics, it is inconceivable except to the most perverted mind that this entire tour group is bought and paid for, subject to bribery and arm twisting and generally seeking the exact same outcome. To believe in such madness requires one to be vulnerable to the most ridiculous conspiracies.
Speaking further to the idea of credibility is that unlike the previous Heksher Tzedek tour, or the attacks by organized labor or PETA, Rabbi Lerner's group cannot be said to enter this issue with a preconceived conclusion or agenda. Think of the consequences if such a conspiracy were true and revealed to the public? Think of the shanda this would be and the chilul HaShem which would result? The careers and lives ruined for a single cause? Its just not credible to believe such fantasies. One does not have to look very far to see the difference in the integrity category. Evidence is drawn from experience and first hand observation. All else is hearsay, wishful thinking and agenda driven propaganda. Is that correct Ari Hart? When will we hear from these same critics that the refuse to buy shoes, clothes, appliances and other goods from overseas producers where working conditions, payment and labor rights are appalling by every one's standards? Why single out Kashrus?
Finally, the last article heralds the long awaited meaningless guidelines for so-called ethical kashrus published by Morris Allen and Hechsher Tzdek. This doesn't warrant further discussion as the irrelevance is obvious. The Conservativists are merely seeking union membership. Nothing more will come of this effort which is destined to slip back into the anonymity from which it sprung forth.
FIRST FULL REPORT: National Rabbinic Mission Visits Postville Meat Plant - YWN August 4, 2008 As was first reported HERE by YWN, a group of more than twenty Orthodox Rabbinical leaders were scheduled to visit the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa. Below is a report of that visit as written by Aaron Troodler (one of the participants in the mission representing the National Council of Young Israel):
A group of more than twenty Orthodox Jewish rabbinical leaders representing several major Jewish organizations and large Jewish communities visited the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa on July 31st. Agriprocessors is the largest kosher meat and poultry plant in the United States. The mission, which was spearheaded by Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, was meant to provide the Jewish leaders with a first-hand account of the state of the Agriprocessors plant and the impact that recent developments have had on the Postville community. It is believed that the delegation of Rabbis that visited the plant last week was the first delegation to be inside the plant since the May 2008 raid that was carried out by federal immigration agents.
"We have all heard many media reports coming out of Postville which relate to the Agriprocessors plant," said Rabbi Lerner, "We wanted to see first-hand the status of the facility's equipment and machinery, examine the working conditions at the plant, and observe how the employees are being treated."
The Rabbis flew into airports in a number of cities throughout the Midwest, including Madison, Wisconsin, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Dubuque, Iowa. As there is no airport near Postville, the Rabbis traveled anywhere between two and five hours in cars and busses from their respective airports to reach Postville. Following the mission, the Rabbis' journey was no less tiring with several more hours spent in cars and busses, and numerous flight delays which delayed their return, with most of the Rabbis arriving home after midnight on Thursday night.
The Rabbis began the day by touring the plant. Before embarking on the tour, everyone was required to don a hard hat, hair and beard nets, and a white coat to wear over their clothing, all of which was intended to provide the visitors with a level of safety and to maintain a high level of cleanliness at the plant. The visitors were required to adhere to the same safety and hygienic standards that are required of all workers at the facility.
Shortly after beginning the tour, which was led by managers at the plant, word came of a tornado sighting in the area, which briefly put the tour on hold. Soon thereafter, there was a weather-related power outage at the plant. During that time, the Rabbis waited in the plant's lunchroom, where many of the workers at the plant were there on break. The participants conversed with the workers, both in English and Spanish, and inquired about the working conditions at the plant, including salaries, working hours, and benefits.
Every worker who spoke with the Rabbis expressed a degree of satisfaction with how much they were being paid and the hours which they worked. Some of the workers noted that the working conditions and the hourly wages that they were being paid at the Agriprocessors plant were a stark improvement over conditions they faced in other meat and poultry plants that they had worked at in the past. Others spoke about the opportunity for advancement that they had at Agriprocessors, which were not available in other meat plants. A reporter for the Five Towns Jewish Times filmed dozens of interviews with randomly selected employees in English and Spanish. Those interviews will be made available shortly on the Internet via You Tube.
After the power was restored, the Rabbis spent time touring the plant, during which time they observed the working conditions in various parts of the facility and spoke with employees to get their perspective about working conditions at the plant. Although several of the plant's managers were leading the tour, the participants were free to separate from the group and to walk around unimpeded if they so desired. Many of the visitors did break away from the tour and spent a great deal of time speaking to the workers and visiting different areas of the plant unannounced.
The Rabbis also spent time examining the Kashruth standards (adherence to Jewish dietary laws) at the Agriprocessors plant. The rabbinic delegation walked through the slaughtering sections for both poultry and beef, and observed all aspects of the processing of the foods including the cooking and preparation of smoked meat.
Some of the Rabbis who are involved in Kashruth certification noted several unusual innovations in kosher observance that are unprecedented in the kosher food industry. Rabbi Zvi Zuravin of the St. Louis Vaad Hair, one the oldest kosher certification agencies in the United States, said "What impressed me the most was the innovations in kosher slaughter, salting and the freedom of the kosher supervisory agencies to operate without management's intrusion."
During the course of their tour, the Rabbis noticed a number of inspectors from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is the government agency responsible for overseeing the meat and poultry production at the Agriprocessors plant. While speaking with the Rabbis, the USDA inspectors said that the conditions at the plant, and the plant's equipment and facilities were equal or better than other facilities that they have observed.
Following the tour of the plant, the Rabbis took a tour of the city of Postville. They saw the modern affordable housing complexes that the Rubashkin family, the owners of Agriprocessors, had built for its workers and for members of the Postville community. In fact, the mission participants discovered that a number of the families of the workers who were arrested during the May 12th raid are in fact still living in housing provided by the Rubashkins and paying limited, if any, rent. The Rabbis also saw several dilapidated trailers, which are in visible need of repair, that were rented to workers by a Postville City Councilman, and which were mistakenly portrayed in the media as being owned and operated by Agriprocessors. The Rabbis also saw Postville's day care center, which was built by a number of individual and community groups, including the Rubashkins and Agriprocessors.
The Rabbis also visited the $12 million environmentally-friendly water treatment plant that Agriprocessors constructed. The director of the facility, a professional with twenty-five years of experience in the field, demonstrated to the visitors how the state-of-the-art plant transforms unusable water to clean, healthy water for the city's residents above the federally mandated requirements.
Postville Mayor Bob Penrod, whose family has been in Postville since the 1950's, spoke to the rabbinic delegation about the central role that Agriprocessors plays in the city. Mayor Penrod praised the Rubashkin family's contribution to the economic and social well-being of the town of 2,500, and explained that the plant was responsible for employing more than one-third of the labor force in the ethnically diverse city. The Mayor also spoke about how the May 12th raid at Agriprocessors had negatively impacted the financial well-being of Postville, and expressed hope that many Latino families would continue to consider making Postville their home.
When asked by the Rabbis about some of the Postville residents who have been vocal critics of the Agriprocessors plant, Mayor Penrod explained that for some people, change is daunting, and there is a desire among some to have the town revert back to the way it was in the 1950's, before Postville became an ethnically diverse city.
"The Jewish community is extremely important to this town and we don't want to see them leave," said Mayor Penrod.
Pastor Gary Catterson of the Presbyterian Church of Postville and President of the city's Food Bank told the Rabbis that although he heard the rumors in town about some of the reported abuses of workers, "he had never seen a shred of evidence of any such abuses." Pastor Catterson told stories of how the Rubashkins regularly contribute to the Food Bank.
"We have had nothing but the best experience with the Rubashkin family," said Pastor Catterson.
Ryan Regenold, a representative of Jacobson Staffing, the national firm which presently oversees and works with the plant's human resources operation, explained to the Rabbis that his firm is using the federal government's E-Verification system in order to make certain that illegal workers are not hired by Agriprocessors to work at the plant. Although using the E-Verification system is not mandatory, Regenold noted that it was being used at Agriprocessors to ensure that all immigration-related policies and procedures mandated by the federal government are strictly adhered to.
In addition, Regenold noted that Jacobson Staffing is utilizing recruiting managers who are bilingual in an attempt to preclude any possible miscommunication when dealing with potential workers during the hiring process.
The Rabbis inquired about media reports which centered on workers who were promised jobs and not hired, and others who were being underpaid. In response to these questions, Regenold explained that Jacobson Staffing advertises for workers all over the country, which is how the group of Somali workers discussed in these news stories found their way to Postville. Regenold said that the group merely answered a nationwide ad. "We never promised anyone a job," said Regenold. "Some workers we hired, while others either had issues with immigration or were inappropriate for the jobs being advertised." Those individuals who were not hired were given bus fare back to their city of origin.
Regenold also told the Rabbis that Agriprocessors is paying its new workers $10 an hour, which is well above Iowa's minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour. "The pay scale is the same for everyone," he said. Regenold also said that as workers develop seniority, their pay scale increases considerably, and that many workers voluntarily work overtime, which pays 1 1/2 times the normal hourly rate.
Trent Gorton, a Postville resident who serves as the Safety Director at the Agriprocessors plant, told the Rabbis that Agriprocessors is nearly 100% compliant with all of the requirements set forth by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Any outstanding items are being addressed and will be resolved shortly. Generally, employers tend to fall short of complete compliance with OSHA requirements, and a compliance rate of almost 100% is extraordinary. Gorton said that "working for the Rubashkin family has been a treat," and that he is "encouraged and inspired by what we are doing here."
James Martin, a former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri who became Agriprocessors' compliance officer, reported on some of the steps that have been taken at the plant in the area of worker relations. Martin told the Rabbis that a toll-free hotline had been put in place so that workers can confidentially report any problems or concerns that they may have. Information about the hotline is available for the workers throughout the plant in multiple languages. In addition, Martin said that Agriprocessors has hired former agents from OSHA, the Internal Revenue Service, and the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in order to maintain a level of excellence at the plant when it comes to government compliance.
"Safety is our number one priority, even ahead of production," Martin said.
Several of the Rabbis also met with worker advocates affiliated with St. Bridget's Church, which historically has been critical of the plant and its management. Although the entire group of Rabbis was initially scheduled to meet with the church representatives, many of the mission participants had to depart Postville in order to get to the airports and catch their flights home. Due to the importance of this meeting, four of the Rabbis did rearrange their travel plans and remained behind in Postville in order to attend the meeting.
Rabbi Lerner of the National Council of Young Israel, Rabbi David Eliezrie of the Rabbinical Council of Orange County, California, and two other Rabbis from the group met with Paul Rael, the church's Director of Lay Ministry, and Esther Lopez, a social worker associated with the church, for more than an hour.
The church representatives cited specific cases of alleged worker mistreatment at Agriprocessors and spoke about their desire to investigate those claims. The Rabbis pledged to work with the representatives of the workers and the management at Agriprocessors to help facilitate their investigation and address the allegations. As of this moment, the Rabbis are awaiting documentation of the alleged abuses to workers of the Agriprocessors plant.
Rabbi Lerner noted that a great deal of the problems between the St. Bridget's community and Agriprocessors was due to a lack of communication. Although the church representatives acknowledged that the Rubashkin family had made an overture to the church, to date no meetings have taken place and there has been no direct communication between the parties.
"Part of the problem here appears to be a lack of communication," said Rabbi Lerner, "It became very evident that there needs to be a dialogue between the church and Agriprocessors so that the two sides can have an open and honest conversation about the issues at hand."
The Rabbis suggested that St. Bridget's Church and Agriprocessors create a system where representatives from each entity meet with one another once a week so that the two sides can establish a relationship and a means by which issues and concerns can be addressed in person, rather than through the media. The Rabbis discussed the proposal with the church representatives and the management at Agriprocessors, both of whom pledged to consider the proposal and get back to the Rabbis in short order.
"We are hoping that we can create a bridge of understanding between the Church representatives and the plant's management," said Rabbi Lerner, who noted that this is the first time that there has been a real effort to put the two groups together for the betterment of the community, "Together they can address the issues affecting the workers and actively seek solutions."
After visiting the Agriprocessors plant first-hand, personally observing the operation, and speaking with the workers, the Rabbis marveled at how the media reports, which have traditionally placed a strong emphasis on statements from union officials and others who do not necessarily have personal knowledge of the situation, actually differ from the situation that they observed during their mission.
"The current situation at the Agriprocessors plant is diametrically opposed to the rumors and innuendos that we had heard before we got here," said Rabbi Lerner, the Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, who organized the mission and led the group that came from fifteen cities in the United states and Canada. Rabbi Lerner's sentiments were shared by the other members of the mission.
"We saw the reality, not stories told over from others," explained one member of the delegation, "That reality was far different than the one that has portrayed in the press."
"There were no limitations placed on us as we inspected the facility and no boundaries imposed during our visit - everything and everyone was fair game," said Rabbi Lerner. "We discovered workers being treated equitably and receiving fair wages and benefits. We saw a state-of-the-art plant, a tremendous emphasis on safety, and excellent standards of Kashruth. While we have no personal knowledge of what may or may not have happened in the past, the Agriprocessors plant that we saw today is far different than what has been reported."
Rabbi Lerner promised to continue to work hard "to set the record straight with the help of the two-dozen witnesses who joined him on the July 31st trip to Postville, Iowa. He explained that Agriprocessors was an important part of Jewish life in America, and noted that they are responsible for supplying 60% of glatt kosher beef and 40% of kosher poultry in the United States. In addition, Rabbi Lerner pointed out that Agriprocessors also supplies kosher meat and chicken to some of the more remote communities in the United States, which would have no access to kosher food but for the products they receive from the Agriprocessors plant.
"What we observed in Postville was a 'Cadillac' with top of the line machinery and a heavy emphasis on safety, security, and health," said Rabbi Lerner. "Based on what we saw, this is a modern plant that is servicing an important need and working diligently to adhere to the highest workplace standards possible. What we saw and heard is how the Rubashkins and Agriprocessors are going well above and beyond the call of duty and the requirements of the law."
The following is a list of the individuals who traveled to Postville, Iowa for last week's mission:
Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, Agudath Israel of America, New York Rabbi Naftali Burnstein, Young Israel of Greater Cleveland, Ohio Mr. Yehuda Ceitlin, COL, Radio 10 (Flatbush), Bakehila (Israel) Rabbi Edward Davis, Young Israel of Hollywood-Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and ORB Kashrut Commission Rabbi Yochonon Donn, Hamodia Newspaper, Brooklyn, New York Rabbi Moshe Elefant, Orthodox Union, New York Rabbi David Eliezrie, Rabbinical Council of Orange County, California Rabbi Chaim Goldberger, Congregation Knesseth Israel of Minneapolis, Minnesota Rabbi Yair Hoffman, Five Towns Jewish Times, Lawrence, New York Rabbi Yechiel Kalish, Agudath Israel of America, Chicago, Illinois Rabbi Shauli Klein, Vaad Hakashrus of Dallas, Texas Rabbi Pesach Lerner, National Council of Young Israel, New York Rabbi Pinchos Lipschitz, Yated Ne'eman Newspaper, Monsey, New York Mr. Menachem Lubinsky, Lubicom Marketing Consulting, New York Rabbi Seth Mandel, Orthodox Union, New York Rabbi Daniel Moscowitz, Chicago Rabbinical Council, Chicago, Illinois Rabbi Chanoch Nelkin, Vaad Hatzdakus - Jewish Charity Commission - Toronto, Canada Rabbi Shlomo Rybak, Congregation Adas Israel in Passaic New Jersey, Rabbinical Council of America Rabbi Dovid Schochet, Rabbinical Council of Ontario/Vaad Rabbonei Lubavitch, USA and Canada, Rabbi Peretz Steinberg, Young Israel of Queens Valley, New York, and Vaad Halachah, Young Israel Council of Rabbis Rabbi Gershon Tennenbaum, Rabbinical Alliance (Igud Harobbonim) of America, New York Mr. Aaron Troodler, National Council of Young Israel, New York Rabbi Yaakov Wasser, Young Israel of East Brunswick, New Jersey, and Rabbinical Council of America Rabbi Asher Zeilingold, UMK Kosher, St. Paul, Minnesota Rabbi Zvi Zuravin, Vaad Harabbanim of St. Louis, Missouri A Look At Rubashkin - Five Towns Jewish Times By Rabbi Yair Hoffman, Published on Thursday, July 31, 2008 The nation should have been horrified. Here was a case where a well-known institution had clearly hired illegal workers. It was a well-respected institution that should have known better. Was it the Rubashkin meat plant in Postville, Iowa? No. It was actually the Department of Water and Power of the city of Los Angeles in California. This government organization had hired illegal workers from Mexico, El Salvador, the Phillipines, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. This is not to say that the situation was ignored. In May 2006, agents from the United States Custom and Immigration Enforcement Agency (ICE) swept into these government offices and promptly arrested eight of the Los Angeles DWP employees. The illegality was widely varied. Some of these workers had entered the country legally but had stayed past the expiration date of their visas. At least one had entered the country illegally. Some had criminal convictions.
The entire issue of undocumented workers has been pretty much evaded by the legislators and federal-level politicians in this country. It is a problem that should be addressed on a federal level that requires careful balance.
We may also recall Zoe Baird, former president Bill Clinton's nominee to be Attorney General, who had employed two Peruvians living illegally in the United States as her babysitter and part-time driver for nearly two years. Indeed, an entire cadre of politicians have been questioned and vetted on this issue in the past decade.
In this past election campaign as well, both Governor Mitt Romney and his son had utilized illegal workers on their lawns who worked for a company called "Community Lawn Service with a Heart." When asked by a reporter about his use of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, Romney, who was hosting the Republican Governors Association conference in Miami, said, "Aw, geez," and walked away.
On the other hand, the largest purveyor of kosher meat in world history, the Rubashkin meat plant in Postville, Iowa, has been the subject of an overwhelmingly negative media and government onslaught. Rubashkin's compliancy officers have always made sure that the workers in their plants were legally documented. When the federal government arrested individuals who had actually dealt in and obtained forged documents, however, the accusations came flying. There is an expression in Western culture—"Hypocrisy is the last bastion of morality." The intent is that even though the person may be personally weak, at least the moral standards espoused remain in force. This is not quite the Torah perspective, however. Judaism draws a distinction between not following the moral standard and actually reproving others for not following something that you don't follow yourself.
Which brings us to a fascinating concept in Jewish law: K'shot atzmecha v'achar kach k'shot acheirim—"Be true to yourself and then bring truth to others."
The Talmud (Sanhedrin 60a) derives this concept from a verse in Tzefaniah (2:2). It is used to tell us that the kings of Israel, although they sit and are present during rulings of the high court, may not judge. This is because they themselves are not subject to the rulings of a beis din. It is a tacit rule of logic that one may not judge another if one perceives that they themselves are not subject to the same criterion.
The principle is utilized when describing the mitzvah of tochachah, reproving someone for being lax in a mitzvah. The question arises as to whether it is merely good advice or a solid halachic requirement. In other words, if someone is personally not fasting on a fast day, is it forbidden for him or her to reprove someone else who is not fasting? Or is this merely good advice?
Dayan Weiss zt"l (Minchas Yitzchok v. 4, r. 80) cites a fascinating Malbim (Vayikra 19:17) in which he states that the mitzvah of admonishing (tochachah) applies only to equals, i.e. one who is free from that sin. He further states that the recipient must be amenable to receiving the admonishment. The latter requirement of the Malbim is only according to the view of the SMaG and the Meiri. This is, however, a minority view that is not considered the normative halachic position adopted by our poskim (See Mishnah Berurah Shaar HaTziyon Orach Chayim 608:13). The import of the Malbim's first point, however, is that it is not just good advice—until one cleans up one's own act, one should not point fingers to others. This is also the implication of the Talmud's ruling regarding the kings of Israel.
The character assassination that Rubashkin has been subjected to in recent weeks, however, is truly deplorable and runs counter to the very traditions that Americans have held dear since the revolution. The character assassination can be seen in many ways. 1) The tone of the media and unfortunately the tone of many who should know better in not giving Rubashkin the assumption of innocence that lies at the foundation of our country. 2) The veritable acceptance of anonymous charges by non-citizens looking for any opportunity to remain in the country. 3) The sheer multiplicity of accusations based on either zero or very flimsy evidence ranging from untoward behavior to women, to weapons and drug manufacture.
The above situation has prompted Jewish communal leaders to take a look at these issues themselves. This week, numerous Jewish leaders will visit the Rubashkin plant in Postville, meet with the mayor of Postville, and examine the issues at stake for themselves. Representatives of the OU, Agudas Yisrael, and various va'ad ha'rabbanims and shuls will be in attendance. The event was spearheaded by Rabbi Pesach Lerner from the National Council of Young Israel. According to the coordinators of the meeting, aside from the rabbis and leaders in attendance, editors and correspondents from the HaModia, the Five Towns Jewish Times, and the Yated Ne'eman will be accompanying and reporting on this visit and meeting next week. Stay tuned! Yair Hoffman can be contacted at yairhoffman2@gmail.com. Kosher Meat Shortages Reach Brooklyn, Catskills - YWN August 5, 2008 Brooklyn, NY - The sign at a local Shoprite tells kosher shoppers that the store only has kosher meat when it receives a delivery from Agriprocessors. At the Wal-Mart in Monticello, a freezer case usually reserved for products from Agriprocessors was empty. Similar reports were also received from many parts of the country as Agriprocessors continues to struggle to resume normal deliveries.
In Postville and at a Brooklyn distribution center, the company's phones are ringing off the hook with retailers, wholesalers and caterers clamoring for product. It is apparent that despite efforts by Agriprocessors to resume full production, "it is still not there yet," a wholesaler told KosherToday. The Postville plant appears to be approaching normal production for poultry but is still lagging far behind for beef, the wholesaler noted.
With Rosh Hashanah less than two months away, there was a growing concern that there would not be enough product to go around, although the company says it is making strides every week.
One of the main issues at the plant appears to be the hiring of skilled workers, which continues on a daily basis. In addition to the reports of shortages, some kosher meat and poultry prices continue to rise with some reports of an additional 5% increase in just the past 10 days. Almost three months since the May 12th raid, the repercussions are only now beginning to be felt as the nation's kosher meat supply is at its lowest point in the past two decades, according to industry sources. (Source: Kosher Today) Ethical Guidelines for Kosher Food Released - Forward By Marissa Brostoff, Thu. Jul 31, 2008 A group of Conservative rabbis has released long-awaited guidelines for a program that aims to monitor and certify working conditions in kosher food production.
The guidelines for the Hekhsher Tzedek program, as it is known, are wide-ranging, with sections devoted to labor standards, the treatment of animals, corporate transparency and environmental impact. In order to evaluate a company's performance in those categories, the Hekhsher Tzedek commission will consider whether it is in compliance with a number of pre-existing industry and government standards, as well as some standards specific to the commission.
"Companies will be favored for the Hekhsher if they pay their workers the industry average or above; offer comprehensive health insurance and retirement benefits; and provide workers with paid time off for vacation, sick, and maternity leave," according to the guidelines.
Rabbi Morris Allen, project director of Hekhsher Tzedek, told the Forward that he hoped to see the first wave of products endorsed with the commission's hekhsher, or stamp of approval, by Rosh Hashana of next year.
"We believe that in the next month, we will be involved in serious discussions with players in the kosher food industry around these issues," Allen said. He added that some kosher food companies, "a couple major ones," have already been speaking with the commission.
Typically, Orthodox rabbis have run kosher certification in the United States and have charged for their services. Allen suggested that there would be costs for companies that want a certification from Hekhsher Tzedek.
Allen's commission formed in 2006 after a group of Conservative rabbis and others responded to complaints about the working conditions at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. Since that plant was the target of a federal immigration raid this past May, Allen has been one of the most outspoken critics of the company, Agriprocessors, and its labor practices. In the background, Allen and his commission have been putting together concrete standards for the new certification since winning the endorsement of the Conservative movement's governing bodies last year.
KLD Research & Analytics — a Boston-based consulting firm that advises companies on socially responsible investing — helped to compile Hekhsher Tzedek's guidelines and will assist the commission in analyzing a company's compliance.
Many in the Orthodox Jewish world have been skeptical of Hekhsher Tzedek, arguing that ethical issues should not be tacked on to the age-old system of kosher laws.
After viewing the initial guidelines, Rabbi Yosef Wikler, editor of Kashrus Magazine, said, "These guidelines do not give us enough freedom for us to complete a proper ritual slaughter without being impeded by these arbitrary rules."
"At this time, I don't believe that any kosher organization is prepared to work together with them in any which way," Wikler added.
Children's Poetry Booklet Recalled After Arabs Complain (Israeli censorship kowtows to Arabs. When Will We Tell The Truth Without Fear)
(IsraelNN.com 7 Sivan 5768/June 10, '08) Ynet's web site and Arab complaints against a ten-year-old boy's poem about terrorists has resulted in the recall of all of the Nes Ziona municipality's children's poetry booklets.
Ynet boasts that its coverage of the poem resulted in its being recalled.
The text of the poem (Ynet's translation):
Ahmed's bunker has surprises galore: Grenades, rifles are hung on the wall. Ahmed is planning another bombing!What a bunker Ahmed has, who causes daily harm.Ahmed knows how to make a bomb. Ahmed is Ahmed, that's who he is, so don't forget to be careful of him.We get blasted while they have a blast!Ahmed and his friends could be wealthy and sunny, if only they wouldn't buy rockets with all their money.
Poetry competition director Marika Berkowitz, who published the booklet, was surprised at the protests and told Ynet: "This is the boy's creation and this is what he wanted to express. Of course there should be a limit, but I think the there is no racism here. 'Ahmed' is a general term for the enemy. These are the murmurings of an innocent child."
The Education Ministry told Ynet: "The local authority that published the booklet should have guided the students in a more correct manner through the schools. The district will investigate the issue with the local authorities."
The Bare Basic Facts of the History of Palestine. Louis Rene Beres - Feb 21, 2009 The Jewish Press President Barack Obama has already placed the Middle East at the very top of his foreign policy agenda. There is nothing inherently wrong with this - quite the contrary. The problem, however, is that the new administration's ambitious negotiations remain structured upon altogether erroneous assumptions. In this connection, the gravest continuing misrepresentation of all is that there are Arab lands under an Israeli occupation.
Today, as always, words matter. Over the years, a notably durable Arab patience in building Palestine upon whole mountains of Jewish corpses has drawn directly upon a prior linguistic victory. Yet, the still generally unchallenged language referring provocatively to an Israeli occupation always overlooks the pertinent and logically incontestable history of the West Bank (Judea/Samaria) and Gaza.
Perhaps the most evident omission still concerns the precise and unwitting manner in which these Territories fell into Israel's hands in the first place. Here it is simply and widely disregarded that occupation followed the multi-state Arab state aggression of 1967. Egypt Syria or Jordan, of course, never disguised this aggression.
A sovereign state of Palestine did not exist before 1967 or 1948. Nor, did UN Security Council Resolution 242 ever promise a state of Palestine. Contrary to popular understanding, a state of Palestine has never existed. Never. Even as a non-state legal entity Palestine ceased to exist m 1948 when Great Britain relinquished its League of Nations mandate. During the 1948-49 Israeli War of Independence (a war of survival fought because the entire Arab world had rejected the authoritative United Nations resolution creating a Jewish State), the West Bank and Gaza came under flagrantly illegal control of Jordan and Egypt, respectively. These Arab conquests did not put an end to an already-existing state or to an ongoing trust territory. What these aggressions did accomplish was the effective prevention, sui generis, (Being the only example of its kind; unique) of a state of Palestine.
Let us return to an earlier history. From the Biblical Period (ca 1350 BCE to 586 BCE) to the British Mandate (1918 - 1948), the land, named by the Romans after the ancient Philistines was controlled only by non-Palestinian elements. Significantly, however, a continuous chain of Jewish possession of the land was legally recognized after World War I at the San Remo Peace Conference of April 1920. There, a binding treaty was signed in which Great Britain was given mandatory authority over Palestine (the area had been ruled by the Ottoman Turks since 1516) to prepare it to become the national home for the Jewish People. Palestine, according to the Treaty comprised territories encompassing what are now the Jordan and Israel, including the West Bank and Gaza.
Present day Israel comprises only 22 percent of Palestine as defined and ratified at the San Remo Peace Conference. In 1922, Great Britain unilaterally and without any lawful authority split off 78 percent of the lands promised to the Jews - all of Palestine east of the Jordan - and gave it to Abdullah, the non-Palestinian son of the Sharif of Mecca. Eastern-Palestine now took the name Transjordan, which it retained until April 1949, when it was renamed as Jordan. From the moment of its creation, Transjordan was closed to all Jewish migration and settlement - a clear betrayal of the British promise in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and a patent contravention of its Mandatory obligations under international law.
On July 20, 1951, a Palestinian Arab assassinated King Abdullah for the latter's hostility to Palestinian aspirations and concerns. Regarding these aspirations, Jordan's moderate King Hussein - 19 years later, during September 1970 - brutally murdered thousands of defenseless Palestinians under his jurisdiction. In 1947, several years prior to Abdullah's killing, the newly-formed United Nations, rather than designate the entire land west of the Jordan River as the long-promised Jewish national homeland, enacted a second partition. Curiously, because this second fission again gave complete advantage to Arab interests, Jewish leaders accepted the painful judgment.
As readers of The Jewish Press already know all too well, the Arab states did not. On May 15, 1948, exactly 24 hours after the State of Israel came into existence, Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, declared to a tiny new country founded upon the ashes of the Holocaust: This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre. This unambiguous declaration of genocide has been at the core of all subsequent Arab orientations toward Imoderate' Fatah. Even, by the strict legal standards of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Arab actions and attitudes toward the microscopic Jewish state in their midst, has remained patently devoted to the annhilation of Israel. For some reason, this persistence has repeatedly been made to appear benign. However, President Obama and Senator Mitchell now have a clear obligation to look behind these propagandistic appearances.
In 1967, almost 20 years alter Israel's entry into the community of states, the Jewish state, as a result of its unexpected military victory over Arab aggressor states, gained unintended control over West Bank and Gaza. Although the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war is properly codified in the UN Charter, there existed no authoritative sovereign to whom the Territories could be returned. Israel could hardly have been expected to transfer them back to Jordan and Egypt, which had exercised unauthorized and terribly cruel control since the Arab-initiated war of extermination in 1948-49. Moreover, the idea of Palestinian self-determination had only just begun to emerge after the Six-Day War, and, significantly, had not even been included in UN Security Council Resolution 242 which was adopted on November 22, 1967.
For their part, the Arab states convened a summit in Khartoum in August 1967, concluding "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it." The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed three years earlier, in 1964, before there were any Israeli Occupied Territories. Exactly what was it, therefore that the PLO sought to liberate between 1964 and 1967? This critical question should now be considered by Barack Obama's special envoy to the region, Senator George Mitchell.
This has been a very brief account of essential historic reasons why the so-called Palestinian Territories are not occupied by Israel. Several other equally valid reasons stem from Israel's intrinsic legal right to security and self-defense. As I have said so often in this column, international law is not a suicide pact. Because a Palestinian state would severely threaten the very existence of Israel- a fact that remains altogether unhidden even in the Arab media and governments - the Jewish State is under no binding obligation to-end a falsely alleged occupation. No state, not even a Jewish one, can ever be required to accept complicity in its own dismemberment.
No doubt, both President Obama and Senator Mitchell want to be fair and evenhanded in their developing plans for the Middle East. To meet this obligation, however, it is essential that they first build all pertinent negotiations upon a firm foundation of historical accuracy and ethical truth. This means, at a minimum, the aspiring US peacemakers must familiarize themselves with correct history, and not simply allow themselves to be swallowed up with their many predecessors in ritualistic dogma and empty platitudes.
LOUIS RENE BERES was educated at Princeton (Ph D, 1971) and is a long-time expert in international relations and international law.
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