The document discusses recent events impacting Israel and American Jews. It summarizes tensions between Turkey and Israel over the Gaza flotilla incident and the ongoing diplomatic fallout. It also discusses Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's opposition to Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence and efforts to cut off US funding. Additionally, it notes the continued propagation of the antisemitic text "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and efforts to revitalize Jewish communities in the cities of Charleston, SC and Detroit, MI.

1. GERMANY EDITION
September 6, 2011
Dear Friends:
In the U.S., we’re different. Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of
September not May 1st. It gives us a long weekend and indicates to all that the
summer (unofficially) is over; the fall is now upon us, and its back to work time.
With the coming of September that also means the United Nations annual meeting in
New York will be taking place. This year there are two very important events that
impact Israel and American Jews.
Most important is the Palestinian’s unilateral declaration of independence. It is seen
as a further attempt to isolate Israel diplomatically. It appears that the Palestinians
have given up on direct face to face negotiations. How it will affect the Middle East
situation is anyone’s guess.
The second item is the Durban III Conference which will be another attempt to attack
Israel. Both the U.S. and Germany have announced that they will not attend as have
several other countries.
Added to these troublesome matters is the fact that our economy remains in trouble
with a high degree of unemployment and that the campaigning for an election that is
more than a year away has captured large segments of the media. Attack after
attack after attack. It’s not a pleasant time here in the U.S.
However, you in Germany have your own problems so let’s get on with the news and
hope things take a turn for the better in what remains of 2011.
IN THIS EDITION
TURKEY, ISRAEL & “TOUGHING IT OUT” – How come this long term relationship
has come apart?
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN & THE PALESTINIANS – A lady with muscle.
THE PROTOCOLS – The anti-Semitic classic has new life.
JEWISH REVITALIZATION: CITY STYLE – Another attempt to bring back Jewish
life.
THE FUTURE OF LIBYA & LIBYAN JEWS – Is there really a future?
1

2. DURBAN III: AN UPDATE: GERMANY OPTS OUT – Doing the right thing regarding
a conference that is doing the wrong thing.
TURKEY, ISRAEL & “TOUGHING IT OUT”
I am going to assume that you have read about the spat between Turkey and Israel
over the Gaza Flotilla matter which resulted in the deaths of 9 Turkish citizens who
were on a ship (intercepted by Israeli Special Forces) that tried to run the Israeli
blockade of Gaza.
Following the event the UN set up an investigation. I think most Israelis and many
American Jews (including me) thought the report that followed would be the usual,
one-sided UN anti-Israel condemnation. Evidently Pres. Erdogan of Turkey thought
the same thing and started to press Israel for an apology. Israel refused saying that
Turkey had started the whole thing.
Amazingly, the UN report came out quite evenhandedly. The New York Times in an
editorial noted, “it said (the report) that Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is legal and
that Israeli commandos boarding the vessel had to defend themselves against
“organized and violent resistance.” But it said that the force used by the Israelis was
“excessive and unreasonable.” Most of those killed were shot multiple times.
The flotilla, which sailed from a Turkish port with the acquiescence of the Turkish
government, was faulted for acting “recklessly” in running the blockade. The report
also said that “more could have been done” by Turkey to persuade organizers to
avoid a clash with Israeli forces.
Turkey rejected the findings, expelled Israel’s ambassador and announced that it
was freezing military ties until Israel apologized for the deaths and compensated the
victims’ families. It has also been demanding that Israel end the blockade and that
the United Nations shelve the report.
It’s pretty obvious that Pres. Erdogan oversold the matter to the Turkish public and
to the Islamic world in which he is trying to become a more important figure. While
he probably thought he could more profitably use the UN report to bolster his case,
he is now trying to “tough it out” (as we say in the States). An admission on his part
that Turkey is in any way guilty would cause him to lose face. For the time being he
is stuck. Rather than admitting anything he is raising the diplomatic stakes.
As far as Israel is concerned, they are being very quiet in an attempt not to raise the
temperature of the conflict beyond what it already is. Trade with Turkey plus military
and security cooperation have been important to Israel. They will probably maintain
that posture and hope that in time relations with Turkey can get back to what they
were. However, if Pres. Erdogan continues in trying to burnish his Islamic reputation
that could be a long way off. Sometimes ego and politics gets in the way of truth.
2

3. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN & THE PALESTINIANS
My guess is that you have never heard of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. If you haven’t, you
will. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen is a Republican member of the U.S. House of
Representatives from Florida and though not Jewish (she is actually Cuban-
American) she is one of Israelis strongest supporters in the House. Perhaps more
important, she is the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Commenting on the Palestinian announced proposal to declare unilateral
independence, she stated in a recent Miami Herald signed article, “In 1989, Yasser
Arafat’s PLO also pushed for membership for a “Palestinian state” in UN
entities. The PLO’s strategy looked unstoppable until the George H.W. Bush
administration made clear that the U.S. would cut off funding to any UN entity that
upgraded the status of the Palestinian observer mission in any way. The UN was
forced to choose between isolating Israel and receiving U.S. contributions, and they
chose the latter. The PLO’s unilateral campaign was stopped in its tracks.
This example demonstrates a simple but needed lesson: At the UN, money talks,
and smart withholding works.
With Arafat’s successors up to the same tricks today, the U.S. response must be as
strong. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has consistently refused to use our
strongest leverage — our financial contributions — to advance U.S. interests at the
UN. If the executive branch will not demonstrate leadership on this issue, Congress
must fill the void.
I will soon introduce the United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform
Act, which will reflect the executive branch’s previous successful policies by cutting
off U.S. contributions to any UN entity that grants membership or any other
upgraded status to the Palestinian observer mission. This legislation will also
leverage U.S. taxpayer dollars to make sure they do not fund biased or wasteful UN
activities, and to achieve other much-needed reforms that will make the UN more
transparent, accountable, objective, and effective.
It is time to use all our leverage to stop this unilateral Palestinian scheme — for the
sake of our ally Israel and all free democracies, for the sake of peace and security,
and for the sake of achieving a UN that upholds its founding principles.
It is a fact that the Chairman of the Hose Foreign Affairs Committee does not set
U.S. foreign policy. It is a fact also that Ms. Ros-Lehtinen is a conservative
Republican very opposed to Pres. Obama. However, one should not undervalue her
importance especially when it comes to financial matters. The House of
Representatives is in the hands of the Republican Party and many of its members
feel about Israel (and the Palestinians) the way she does.
3

4. According to the Congressional Research Service, “From FY2008 to the present,
annual U.S. bilateral assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip has averaged
over $600 million, including annual averages of over $200 million in direct budgetary
assistance and over $100 million in non-lethal security assistance for the PA in the
West Bank.
The remainder—approximately $300 million on average per year—is dedicated to
project assistance for the West Bank and Gaza through U.S. government grants to
non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Much of this assistance is in direct support
of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s security, governance, development, and
reform programs aimed at building Palestinian institutions in advance of statehood.
The post-2007 annual average of U.S. bilateral assistance is substantially greater
than the approximate annual average of $170 million from 2000-2007 and
$70 million from 1994-1999.
Despite more robust levels of assistance, the absence of Israeli-
Palestinian peace and Hamas’s heightened role in Palestinian politics could make
effective implementation of lasting aid projects difficult.
Because of congressional concerns that, among other things, U.S. funds might be
diverted to Palestinian terrorist groups, this aid is subject to a host of vetting and
oversight requirements and legislative restrictions. U.S. assistance to the
Palestinians is given alongside assistance from other international donors, and U.S.
policymakers routinely call for greater or more timely assistance from Arab
governments in line with their pledges.
Additional U.S. humanitarian assistance for Palestinian refugees in Gaza and
elsewhere continues through contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). U.S. contributions to UNRWA,
which have totaled approximately $4 billion since UNRWA’s inception in 1950, have
averaged over $200 million annually since 2007.
There is little question that if the Palestinians go ahead with their unilateral
declaration there will be a strong move on the part of the Republicans to stop U.S.
funding. If Pres. Obama resists, it will become a major foreign policy issue in the
2012 election and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen will be one of the most vocal House members
opposing any funding for the Palestinians. It’s a lot of money. I just wonder how
much Pres. Abbas is taking that into consideration.
To read the entire Ros-Lehtinen article click here
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/27/v-print/2377714/to-protect-israel-at-un-
money.html
To read the Congressional Research piece click here
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22967.pdf
4

5. THE PROTOCOLS
”The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” (Wikipedia) “is a fraudulent anti-Semitic text
purporting to describe a Jewish plan for achieving global domination. It was first
published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated
internationally in the early part of the twentieth century. Henry Ford funded printing
of 500,000 copies which were distributed throughout the United States in the 1920s.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis were major proponents of the text: It was studied, as if
factual, in German classrooms after they came to power in 1933, despite having
been exposed as fraudulent years before. In the opinion of historian Norman Cohn,
the Protocols was Hitler's primary justification for initiating the Holocaust — his
"warrant for genocide.”
The Protocols purports to document the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting of
Jewish leaders discussing their goal of global Jewish hegemony by subverting the
morals of Gentiles, and by controlling the press and the world's economies. It is still
widely available today, often offered as a genuine document, on the Internet and in
print, in numerous languages.
Maybe you knew all of that. And if you did, you probably thought, well, that sort of
nonsense has probably been dispatched to history’s dustbin. If so, you’d be wrong.
Giulio Meotti, an Italian author and a journalist with Il Foglio, a national daily in Rome
recently wrote in Y-Net News, “ (The Protocols)…is the biggest falsehood that
refuses to die. It’s the only book that has ever had the perverse distinction of being
both globally influential and, at the same time, a forgery.
The “Protocols” are now prominently displayed not only in the Middle East, but also
on the Western and Christian bookshelf. Books based on the “Protocols” are now
available even in countries with hardly any Jews such as Japan. A Chinese
bestseller entitled “The Currency War” and based on the “Protocols,” describes how
Jews are planning to control the world by manipulating the financial system. The
book is reportedly read in the highest government circles.
Recently, an Iranian stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair presented a copy of the
“Protocols” published in English by the Islamic Republic of Iran in plain view.
Thousands of Jews have been killed in Europe because of this infamous document.
Hitler used it as a manual in his war to exterminate the Jews and Palestinian suicide
bombers have been found with the “Protocols” in their pockets.
Renowned historian Bernard Lewis wrote that the “Protocols” were brought into the
Islamic world by Christian authors who translated the book into Arabic. That
shameful operation is still battering the Middle East. The “Protocols” rarely attracts
5

6. Western attention, as we like to think that it is just a bad joke. But now some
Christian sects and bishops are fomenting hatred against the Jews using traditional
ant-Semitism - much of it theological.
While there is in fact no Jewish conspiracy to submit the world, there is an anti-
Jewish conspiracy that is infecting the minds and the hearts of millions of people, in
the West and elsewhere. Next month Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who
claimed to have distributed the “Protocols” to expose “the real visage of this satanic
enemy” (Israel) and to “burn and wholly destroy this deadly, cancerous tumor”, will
speak at the United Nations’ conference on racism in New York.
After reading the entirety of Mr. Meotti’s article I felt myself to be in a depressed
state. If it was not all so serious and dangerous the continuing life of the “Protocols”
would be laughable. I can understand a lie to have a life span of over a hundred
years – but a whole book based on a falsehood is almost unimaginable. .
What a world! Even the unimaginable is imaginable these days.
You can read the entire Meotti article by clicking here.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109236,00.html
JEWISH REVITALIZATION: CITY STYLE
The Jewish communities in two great American cities, one North and one South, are
trying in different ways to revitalize themselves.
Jewish life in Charleston, South Carolina goes back to the early 18th Century. The
city itself was one of the most important in the South before and during the Civil War.
The Jerusalem Post reports, “Some 130 Jewish South Carolinians in all are believed
to have fought the Union (on the side of the Confederacy) in the bloodiest conflict in
US history.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Charleston went into a steady decline, together
with the rest of the South.
By the early 20th century, its dwindling Jewish community had long been eclipsed
by the massive influx of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe to other parts of the
country.
“The last study done in the 1990s found 6,000 Jews,” said Sarah Swingle, program
director for the Charleston Jewish Federation. “I’ve heard my executive director say
there are about 8,000 now. We generally say about 6,500 to people who ask. The
numbers are rising and in the past few days we’ve had five separate calls from
people moving here.”
One of the causes for this growth is the massive new Boeing factory being built in
6

7. the city’s outskirts, which is expected to provide thousands of jobs.
“Boeing is bringing new residents to town,” said Rabbi Adam Rosenblum, the head
of the Conservative Synagogue Emanu-El. “But the bigger reason people are
coming is that magazines are coming out all the time with lists of “most friendly city,
most livable city – and in some cases, we were at the top of the list.”
Rabbi Yossi Refson, who heads Chabad of Charleston and the Low Country, says
the city reminds him in some ways of his country of birth, England.
“I say this all the time, there is a very distinct British influence here,” said the native
of Leeds, who has been living in South Carolina for three years. “The streets are
named after British people, and the sense of hospitality is also similar.”
Refson, like many others, credits the high quality of life for attracting Jewish
newcomers, especially retirees.
“It has the art, the culture, the weather, the shopping, the food and the history, the
tremendous history,” he said. “Everywhere you walk, you have the old and the new.”
It’s a different story in Detroit. Detroit is the poster child for the “Rust Belt” of
America’s Mid-West. A devastated and terribly poor center city gave rise to the
movement of the city’s Jewish communities to the suburbs and beyond. As the
economy of Detroit imploded younger Jews (and many others) saw their futures in
other cities, especially in those where the economic climate was better.
The Detroit area, however, is staging a comeback. With the bailout of the American
automobile industry it is undergoing a rebirth. However, there remains little of Jewish
life. That is beginning to change. According to Y-Net News, “A group of young
Jewish professionals attracted to the vitality of Detroit's evolving downtown wants to
bring others into the city decades after their parents and grandparents left.
Community NEXT Director Jordan Wolfe says the 25 people targeted through a rent
program would help return Jewish culture to Detroit and contribute to the city's
revitalization.
Subsidies of $250 per month for a year will be offered. Wolfe says he is seeking to
bring in people "who get a kick out of building a community."
The rent program piggybacks offers major corporations and businesses are making
to entice their employees to relocate downtown or to Detroit's growing Midtown area.
A dodge ball tournament fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday in Detroit and will be
followed Sunday by a kickball tournament in Los Angeles.
This may not seem like a major program but it is a start. If the auto industry
continues to grow and associated industries thrive as well, gentrification will certainly
7

8. follow and the number of young Jewish adults will increase as well. So, there you
have two very different cities with two different kinds of problems to overcome. A
strong economy will strengthen the Jewish communities in both places. Let’s hope it
happens.
THE FUTURE OF LIBYA & LIBYAN JEWS
According to The Jerusalem Post, “…, the leader of a Libyan-Jewish Diaspora group
said he was offered by the emerging ruling power to run for office in free elections in
that country.
Raphael Luzon, the head of Jews of Libya UK, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday
that opposition leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil recently invited him to return to his country
of birth and participate in the political discourse.
Top of Form
A week ago I received an [invitation] from the chief of the rebels,” he said referring to
Abdul Jalil, a former justice minister and current chairman of the rebel council in
Benghazi.
“They proposed for me to take part in one of the parties because they would like it to
be open to all people including women and Jews.”
The Benghazi-born Jew, whose family was forced to flee Libya following a pogrom
in 1967, said he was waiting for further developments before he gave a definitive
answer.
“I said I would accept it once I see it is real democracy and the proposal is offered,”
he said. “If I do it I do it for one matter: the historical matter. The first Arab country
that proposed that a Jew run in a free election.”
Jews have lived in Libya since ancient times. At its peak during the 1930s the
Jewish community in Libya numbered 25,000 but persecution by Italy and Germany
during World War II and a series of state-sponsored pogroms after Libya became
independent in 1951 took a toll and its members immigrated mostly to Israel, Italy
and the UK. The last Jew in Libya left the country almost a decade ago.
From his base in London, Luzon has been in contact with Muammar Gaddafi’s
regime over the past decade representing the demands of Jewish Libyans abroad.
He visited his country of birth several times and met with the Libyan dictator
privately twice.
If he were to return to Libya, Luzon said the reconstruction of the war-torn country
and the restitution of Jewish assets which were confiscated by the Libyan regime to
their rightful owners would top his political agenda.
8

9. “As you know we left there 82 synagogues, land and property and I would like to
take care of this because it belongs to the Jewish community of Libya,” he said.
Luzon dismissed fears that the northern African country might emerge as a hotbed
for radical Islam.
“No country in northern Africa has a tradition of Islamic extremism,” he said. “They’re
never Islamist. Perhaps there will be a small party in Libya but different than the
ones in Egypt.”
The 57-year-old Luzon also did not rule out the option that Israeli Jews of Libyan
descent would be free to visit their country of origin similarly to other northern
African countries.
“If it will be democratic there will be no reason not to visit, like in Tunisia and
Morocco,” he said.
He emphasized that all this depended on the outcome of fighting in the capital,
which is still raging between the rebels and forces loyal to the Libyan dictator, who
has so far evaded capture.
“First they have to get rid of Gaddafi, rebuild the country and decide which direction
to take,” he said.
Frankly, it all sounds too good to be true. An openness to Jews is something that is
sadly lacking in the Arab world today. Granted, some northern African Arab
countries have been more welcoming and liberal in their attitudes toward Jews so I
guess Mr. Luzon’s hopes have some chance of coming to pass. However, I wouldn’t
hold my breathe waiting for it to happen. I’m putting it in the “Wait & See” file.
DURBAN III: AN UPDATE: GERMANY OPTS OUT
I was delighted to read that Germany has decided not to attend the Durban III
Conference. It was the right thing to do.
From now through the rest of September and probably into October I will be
reporting on the Sept. 22 Durban Conference at the UN in New York. If you haven’t
been keeping up with it, according to Wikipedia, “Durban III is a United Nations (UN)
scheduled conference to be held in New York City on 21 September 2011. Initially
mandated in 2009 by General Assembly (GA) Resolution 64/148 to commemorate
the UN Durban Conference on its tenth anniversary, it was given additional form and
visibility by a GA Third Committee draft resolution adopted on 24 November 2010.
The date was finalized on 24 December of that year.
9

10. The Durban conferences have previously been criticized by Western governments
for allegedly promoting rather than combating racism. Canada, the United States,
Israel, the Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands have announced that they will
boycott Durban III. The countries charge that the Durban process has been used to
promote racism, intolerance, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, and to erode
freedom of speech and Israel's right to exist. In particular, Canada denounced
Durban III as a "charade" and a "hate fest". A coalition of 25 non-governmental
organizations critical of the conference, led by UN Watch, has organized a parallel
human rights summit.
More recently, Australia has decided to pull out. On August 27th The Herald Sun
(Victoria, Australia) reported, “Australia has pulled out of the United Nations Durban
conference to combat racism on grounds that it would likely to be a repeat of the
initial racist and anti-Semitic event.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Australia had decided not to
attend the High Level Meeting on the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action
scheduled to be held in New York on September 22.
Australia and many other countries walked out of the first meeting while the Kevin
Rudd government subsequently boycotted the second conference in 2009, which
saw Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deliver a long tirade against Israel.
He hasn’t changed his tune. Two weeks ago he said that (Jerusalem Post) “The
creation of a universally-recognized Palestinian state would be just a first step
towards wiping out Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said…”
Ahmadinejad, restating a position expressed soon after taking office in 2005 that
Israel was a "tumor" to be wiped off the map, urged Palestinians not to settle for a
two-state solution that is backed by [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud]
Abbas but to strive for a complete return of what they consider their land.
"Recognizing the Palestinian state is not the last goal. It is only one step forward
towards liberating the whole of Palestine," Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Friday
prayers on international Qods Day -- an annual show of support for the Palestinian
cause.
"The Zionist regime is a center of microbes, a cancer cell and if it exists in one iota
of Palestine it will mobilize again and hurt everyone."
Of course the conference will be held and Israel will once again be excoriated. It’s a
black mark on the UN to give a platform to Ahmadinejad. What else is new?
************************************************************************************************
DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be contacted by
clicking here
10

11. Both the American and Germany editions are posted at
www.dubowdigest.typepad.com
Click here to connect
11