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Hold the Date: For the 2007 Social Justice Award |
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14 is the day JSPAN will present its 2007 Social Justice Award, to Alan
Lerner and Adelaide Ferguson, in an early evening celebration at The Pyramid Club in Philadelphia. Wait for the full details and invitations next month!
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JSPAN Raises Questions with United Air Lines About Charity Miles Program |
 JSPAN leadership recently challenged the Charity Miles Program operated by United
Air Lines. The program offers United's Mileage Plus members the opportunity to
donate a minimum of 1000 miles to any of 23 designated organizations, to be
converted into air travel use by those organizations. According to the guidelines
for the program, United Air Lines does not accept "religious institutions" in the
program. Nevertheless, the Salvation Army is permitted to participate.
In a letter sent on September 4 to Glenn Tilton, Chairman of United Air Lines, JSPAN
president, Jeff Pasek sought an explanation as to why the company singled out the
Salvation Army in this way. The letter noted that the Salvation Army, is "at its
core a fundamentally religious organization." While recognizing the valuable
humanitarian work performed by the Salvation Army, it questioned why other religious
organizations such as Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and the Jewish
Federations are not permitted to participate.
To read Jeff Pasek's letter to the Chairman of United Air Lines, click here.
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Iraq Policy - The Issue of Our Time |
 The American role in Iraq is the moral issue of our time, and JSPAN has a
strong policy in favor of reducing our military presence there as rapidly as
feasible. We have followed the development (or lack of development) of
national policy on this issue with dismay. Each new initiative seems to
beget a counter-effort that defeats progress toward any resolution of the
policy or strategic issues, either in the Congress or the Executive Branch.
Members of Congress understand that the status quo is untenable and will not
stand up to defend it. Our invitations to come to a forum on the subject,
which we extended to a number of our Representatives from both parties, have been
declined or ignored.
We will continue to seek opportunities to shed light on the underlying
forces that lock our government in place, poised for neither victory nor
defeat, but continually spilling blood and losing lives. In these Days of
Awe, there can be few issues more worthy of our attention and
action. – Your comments are invited. Ken Myers, Vice President
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The Example Israel Sets in its Treatment of Unlawful Combatants |
 According to a Washington Post editorial entitled "Israel's Example: Fighting terrorism without sacrificing due process", which appeared on September 4, 2007, the current administration in Washington could learn much from Israel on how "a country that essentially lives under siege provides so many legal accommodations to those it detains as unlawful combatants". The U.S. Supreme Court will hear this argument, presented in a friend-of-the-court brief filed by Israeli legal experts, in an upcoming case on the issue.
The Post editorial outlines many aspects of the system of due process in Israeli civilian courts. The system is "not without critics". However, in comparison to the current process in the United States, Israel must prove that the enemy combatants are "an imminent danger" to the state in order to hold them. "If the state fails to make that case, the detainees must be released."
To read the Post editorial in its entirety, click here.
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Senate Pushes for Meaningful U.S. Diplomacy |
 Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) have been enlisting bi-partisan support of a resolution that presses for more serious United States leadership and engagement in the Israeli - Palestinian arena. The bill urges President Bush to appoint a senior "special envoy for Middle East peace", and calls on him "to pursue a robust diplomatic effort to engage the state of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, begin negotiations and make a two-state settlement a top priority."
The resolution also notes that "a robust, high-level American diplomatic presence on the ground is critical to bringing Israelis and Palestinians together to make the tough decisions necessary to achieving a permanent resolution to the conflict." More than a third of the Senate has co-sponsored the bill, including both Senator Casey and Senator Specter.
JSPAN encourages our readers to contact the senators, and thank them for their support of the Feinstein/Lugar resolution, an updated version of S. Res.224.
- Sen. Casey can be reached at (866) 802-2833
- Sen. Specter can be reached at (202) 224-4254
- To read the resolution in its entirety, click here.
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Image vs. Reality in Israel |
 "The news from Israel has a surreal quality these days, half farcical, half simply bizarre."
In the September 17 issue of The Forward, Leonard Fein, writer, teacher, and veteran social activist, touches on a few of the disturbing items in Israel's news last week which describe a reality that is "complex" and not "comport(ing) with the Zionist dream." The stories ranged from the rampages of gangs of neo-Nazi Russian youth, to Madonna's Rosh Hashanah Kabbalah trip, to the Israeli raid over Syria, and finally to the Israeli government's "'rebranding' campaign which is seeking to "reshap(e) Israel's public image."
Mr. Fein is concerned that a "rebranding" campaign, based on the need to create an "image", will "keep bumping into reality, and reality is always more complex. Israel has, indeed, pharmaceuticals and computers, nightclubs and bikini beaches, but these are not all it has. It has neo-Nazis and hoodlums, it has enemies and cluster bombs, it has a yawning income gap .... and much, much more."
To read Leonard Fein's article in its entirety, click here.
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Get to Know Us! Meet a JSPAN Board Member... |
 My name is Brian Gralnick. I've long believed in the good that government can accomplish and my background includes working for State Representative Lawrence Curry and Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging Nora Dowd Eisenhower. While recently completing my Masters in Social Policy at Penn, I had the pleasure to aid the Nutter for Mayor campaign in the areas of policy and communications.
I became a member of JSPAN in the spring of 2006 because JSPAN felt like the perfect place to combine my Jewish identity and passion for advocacy. For such a young organization, I am thoroughly impressed with the events we have and people we bring together.
I'm proud JSPAN is addressing the important moral and legal issues that impact not just the local Jewish community, but all communities.
My message to non-members is that I know your lives are always very busy, but set aside an evening to attend a JSPAN event - you'll be happy you did.
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Support JSPAN |
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Become a member of JSPAN or renew your membership now. It's easy to do on our
website by credit card, or you can mail in your donation. JSPAN is your progressive
voice and action agency, and needs your help now!
Click here to join!
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Want to Join?
To become a voting JSPAN member, please go to www.JSPAN.org. On the right side of your screen you will be able to start a secure transaction and become a voting member.
Make all checks payable to:
JSPAN
2033 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
JSPAN Officers
Jeffrey Pasek
President
Kenneth Fox
Vice President
Kenneth Myers
Vice President
Joel Beaver
Treasurer
Stewart Weintraub
Secretary & General Counsel
Directors:
Susan Myers, Chair
Irwin Aronson
Deanne Comer
Hon. Ruth Damsker
Marshall Dayan
William Epstein
Helen Fox
Brian Gralnick
Rosalie Greenfield
Matzkin
Jerome Kaplan
Lazar Kleit
Judah Labovitz
Ruth Laibson
Rabbi Robert Layman
Spencer Lempert
Herb Levine
Theodore Mann
Christopher McDonald-
Dennis
Norm Newberg
Ruth Perry
Adena Potok
Randy Schultz
Ruth Schulz
Daniel Segal
Burt Siegel
Jared Solomon
Rabbi David Straus
Alex Urevick-
Ackelsberg
Rabbi Avi Winokur
Executive Director:
Mort Levine
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