January 11, 2009
11:09 Inside a glittering New York City ballroom on Wednesday night, several hundred people turned out to support the construction of Jewish housing near an Arab-populated part of east Jerusalem. The $250-a-plate dinner, hosted by American Friends of Beit Orot, was expected to raise at least $75,000 for the yeshiva. But the fund-raiser, and others like it, have thrust into the limelight an ongoing debate over tax-exempt American donations to Israeli settlements and Jewish housing in east Jerusalem that contradict American foreign policy. ''We're very much disturbed,'' said Ori Nir, a spokesman for American for Peace Now. ''Any kind of support for settlement activity, whether it's material or moral or political or otherwise is wrong. It is bad for Israel, bad for the United States and bad for Middle East peace.'' (Guysen.International.News)
While estimates vary, such groups made roughly $33.4 million in tax-exempt donations to settlements or organizations promoting settlement building between 2004 and 2007, according to a tabulation by David Ignatius in The Washington Post earlier this year.
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Debating the Holocaust: A New Look at Both Sides By Thomas Dalton
In this remarkable, balanced book, the author skillfully reviews and compares "traditional" and "revisionist" views on the "The Holocaust."
On one side is the traditional, orthodox view -- six million Jewish casualties, gas chambers, cremation ovens, mass graves, and thousands of witnesses. On the other is the view of a small band of skeptical writers and researchers, often unfairly labeled "deniers," who contend that the public has been gravely misled about this emotion-laden chapter of history.
The author establishes that the arguments and findings of revisionist scholars are substantive, and deserve serious consideration. He points out, for example, that even the eminent Jewish Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg acknowledged that there was no budget, plan or order by Hitler for a World War II program to exterminate Europe's Jews.
This book is especially relevant right now, as "Holocaust deniers" are routinely and harshly punished for their "blasphemy," and as growing numbers of people regard the standard, Hollywoodized "Holocaust" narrative with mounting suspicion and distrust.
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Peace.
Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
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