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Salaam writes: I've recently posted about the Haredi here; Walid Shoebat here and here; apocalyptic thinking among Jewish extremists here; and the Obsession movie here.
Inter Press Service news agency reports:
WASHINGTON, Sep 19 (IPS) - Millions of voters in U.S. states crucial to this fall's presidential election received DVD copies of a controversial documentary film as advertising inserts in their morning newspapers over the past week, with more expected to be sent out over the upcoming weekend.
The 2006 film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West", which has been accused by critics of encouraging Islamophobia, was reportedly delivered, or slated for delivery this weekend, into tens of millions of households in states such as Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Missouri and other "swing states" that don't vote consistently for either party and usually decide elections.
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Among the film's stable of experts are "reformed" Palestinian Liberation Organisation terrorist and convert to evangelical Christianity Walid Shoebat, self-described terrorism expert Stephen Emerson, and another evangelical convert from Islam named Noni Darwish who runs a website called Arabs for Israel.
An investigation by IPS last year revealed that the production and promotion of "Obsession" was tied to several right-wing Zionist groups in the U.S. and Israel. [The film was produced by The Clarion Fund. Head of The Clarion Fund] Raphael Shore's brother, Rabbi Ephraim Shore, heads up the Israeli group Aish Hatorah, which helped form HonestReporting, an organisation which, the IPS investigation revealed, had ties to the film despite the apparent denials of the relationship. Story here.
An organization called Jewish Socialists' Group, located in the UK, published an expose on Aish Hatorah in 2006.
Some excerpts (link beneath):
The breezy prose on Aish HaTorah's website, with its tales of personal growth and acts of kindness, suggests an organisation that is liberal and broadminded, with a dash of Californian self-help therapy. But the values that guide Aish are not those of Liberal, Reform, or even Modern Orthodox Judaism. Its credo is that of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi movement. Aish HaTorah (Fire of the Torah) insists on the inerrant truth of the Bible, which it believes was dictated by God to Moses.
However, Aish differs from traditional Haredi groups in three ways. Firstly, its outreach work, which aims to convert secular Jews to Orthodoxy, is its overriding priority, not merely a spin-off. Orthodox converts - or ba'alei teshuvah (those who have repented) - make up most of its membership, and its yeshiva programs combine traditional Talmudic studies with intensive training in outreach and leadership skills.
Secondly, it has hitched its social conservatism to an aggressively neoconservative stance on the Middle East. Its donors and well-wishers may include liberals and conservatives, but the political voices on its website extend from the right to the far right: Benjamin Netanyahu, Daniel Pipes, David Horowitz, Alan Dershowitz, Dore Gold, Natan Sharansky, Melanie Phillips and Charles Krauthammer.
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Like the evangelical Protestant Alpha Course and Catholic Opus Dei, Aish has a particular penchant for the young and affluent, and restricts many of its activities to 'YJPs' - Young Jewish Professionals. New Yorkers can join the Aish MBA Community, a 'group of Jewish business leaders and students who are exploring their heritage while advancing their business acumen,' while London professionals can attend Aish in the City lunchtime meetings, hosted by media and telecoms corporation IDT.
Jewish Aish Hatorah 'survivors' and their family members call it a cult
Another parent wrote: 'Despite Aish's modern marketing methods, and what Rabbi Schiff claims... in reality Aish has no regard for the 21st century. It takes people born Jewish and turns them into extreme Jews, with no thought for their families. Aish would argue that its mission is to stop assimilation, but the reality is that it creates fanatical Jews, with little regard for the fallout effect.'
Similar views are expressed by a mother on Rick Ross's cult-watch website: 'Although I am resigned to my son choosing a very different lifestyle than mine, I feel it is a loss. My child can never travel with me, eat in my home - or really be a part of the rest of our family and friends. The hardest part is now I know that this is not what my son actually planned for himself, but rather the direct result of how he was influenced through what began as a vacation trip to Israel.'
In his 2002 paper for the Jewish Journal of Sociology, Aaron Tapper concluded that Aish exhibited each of the characteristics of a new religious movement (a term he preferred to 'cult'). He defined these characteristics as:
a charismatic leader; submission to authority; a rigid ideology, including a fundamentalist approach to theology; a promotion of apocalyptic beliefs; a communal lifestyle; isolation from one's family; hate and/or fear of outsiders; active missionary work, including attempts to convert outsiders to its way of religious life; and an excessive focus on fundraising.
Noting the contrast between the organisation's public and private face he added:
Aish HaTorah is much more open and candid about its ultra-Orthodox perspective in the environment of its yeshiva, whereas in other venues - such as in its outreach centers and the programmes offered there - Aish HaTorah advertises itself as a pluralistic, all-inclusive environment.
Aish warms to US Christianist political objectives:
Aish is less reticent about sharing ground with the Christian fringes in its enthusiasm for intelligent design - the concept that evolution is not a natural process but is directed by a supernatural 'designer'. Most other Jewish organisations, left and right, religious and secular, see it for what it is: an attempt by a Christian fundamentalist organisation, the Discovery Institute (not linked to Aish's Discovery seminars), to impose a creationist agenda on US schools and institutions - an agenda that is spreading to Britain and other countries.
But Aish is a keen proponent. An article on its website, 'Rationality vs Randomness', by nuclear physicist and Discovery lecturer Gerald Schroeder, concludes: 'randomness cannot have been the driving force behind the success of life. Our understanding of statistics and molecular biology clearly supports the notion that there must have been a direction and a Director behind the success of life.'
When a judge ruled against forcing high school science teachers to teach intelligent design in Dover, Pennsylvania, the Anti-Defamation League, showing uncharacteristic insight, stated: 'For Jews and other religious minorities, it's an important issue because the religious freedom we have through the separation of church and state has allowed us to flourish as communities and has enabled us to be equal partners in this country.'
Aish takes a different view. One website contributor writes: 'Jewish leaders should stop worshipping at the wall separating church and state, and stop trying to be more pious about that separation than the US Supreme Court. Let them focus their energies instead on the preservation of a 3,500-year tradition.'
Aish enthusiastic about neoconservatism/Israeli rightwing nationalism
Aish shows no such vacillation in its stance on the Middle East. Despite traditional Haredi antipathy towards Zionism, Aish has adopted a right-wing brand of Israeli nationalism that mostly manages to avoid the Z-word. Many articles on its website are reproduced from American conservative journals such as The Weekly Standard and National Review, and the themes are depressingly familiar: the Palestinians are solely to blame for their predicament; the territories are 'disputed', not occupied; the Gaza pullout is a reward for terror; the illegal settlers are heroes and patriots.
According to its statement of policy, 'Aish is an apolitical organization, takes no political positions, and endorses no parties or candidates.' Some of its articles carry additional disclaimers such as 'Aish.com is non-political, and the ideas expressed here are those of the author alone.' Yet web visitors will search in vain for counterbalancing views.
A section of Aish HaTorah's website is devoted to Jerusalem's spiritual and historical importance for Jews - and why it is of less significance for Muslims. Aish's Old City yeshiva remains the focus of its activities, and it is currently building a spectacular outreach centre opposite the Western Wall, on land sold to it by the Israeli government for the token price of one shekel. Aish supporters are invited to donate to a $40 million fund to help build and equip the high-tech centre. Its highlight will be the 'state-of-the-art Kirk Douglas Presentation Theater' which features a '15-minute multi-media extravaganza that will put Aish HaTorah on every tourist itinerary'.
In 2001 Aish set up two pro-Israel lobbying groups. Hasbara Fellowships, launched jointly with Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, trains university students to be 'effective pro-Israel activists on their campuses', and supplies them with speakers and resources. But it has stepped beyond mere 'advocacy' to defend Israel's expansion of West Bank settlements, even arguing that such 'activity may be a stimulus to peace because it forced the Palestinians and other Arabs to reconsider the view that time is on their side'. Like Aish, it plays host to the controversial right-wing polemicist Daniel Pipes, who argues that Israel 'must achieve a comprehensive military victory over the Palestinians'.
Full expose here. |
