Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Emboldened by UNESCO’s vote last week, the BDS propagandists have decided to take another bite at Jewish history and divert it to further their aims. News reaches us that they plan campus activities against the two historical events that occurred in November: (1) The Balfour Declaration, Nov. 2, 1917, and (2) the UN Partition Resolution, Nov. 29, 1947.
Their cronies may soon arrive at your campus with lectures and exhibits on why these two events were aggressive acts of colonialism. The message below proposes a way of countering their distortions with facts and pride. It is called: “November 29, A Jewish Thanksgiving Day”, and it involves celebrating that event visibly on your campus.
The idea is summarized in the following articles from the Los Angeles Jewish Journal:
- On Jewish Thanksgiving http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/november_29_the_jewish_thanksgiving_day
- Jewish Journal on “The Vote” http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/israel_and_nov._29
- On “the miracles ofnovember” http://www.jewishjournal.com/judea_pearl/article/the_miracles_of_november_20091125/
- On”theforgottenMiracle” http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/the_forgotten_miracle_nov_29_1947_2008121/
- A 10 min. movie on “the vote” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrIjzUK0FKg
True, time is short, only 3 weeks remain for November 29.
But all it takes is for one energetic Hillel Director (or an enlightened Director of a Center for Jewish Studies) to invite his buddies from across campus to attend a celebration of the historical UN vote, and let Jewish students and faculty on campus thank them (as representatives of their countries) for voting their conscience when the fate of the Jewish people was in the balance.
The program should not take more than a couple of tables with Baklawa, two guitars, 33 flags, a movie projector, and three readers/actors, one to read the resolution, one to re-enact the vote ( from Australia-Yes to Yugoslavia – Abstained,) and one to read Amos Oz description of his street in Jerusalem.
Then personal accounts by attendees on what the Vote means to them.The rest would be recorded in the campus archives as the day that students (Jewish and Gentiles alike) got a genuine glimpse at the history of the Middle East.
I hope it works out for you, and do not forget to invite Brazilian students for the incredible role that Oswaldo Aranha (the president of the assembly) played on that day.