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Mayors’ visit to Israel opposed
TweetThere are a lot of business opportunities for the Valley with Israeli firms, a Jewish Federation official says.
YOUNGSTOWN — Officials with the Arab American Community Center of Youngstown object to the participation by the mayors of Youngstown and Warren in a business trip to Israel that leaves today.
Amer Adi, the center’s president, said the United States shouldn’t conduct any business with Israel, accusing the nation of war crimes and oppressing Palestinians.
Also, business with Israel is a “bad deal economically” for the United States, Adi said.
Bonnie Deutsch Burdman, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, said Adi’s perceptions about some Israeli- Palestinian issues are “simply wrong.”
“Unfortunately, that approach to economic development is backward thinking,” said Burdman, who is accompanying the mayors on the trip. “There are a lot of business opportunities for existing businesses in the Mahoning Valley and new businesses to come to the Valley.”
Also objecting to the visit is the Rev. Werner Lange of Newton Falls. He protested outside the city halls of Youngstown and Warren on Thursday.
Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams and Warren Mayor Michael O’Brien are part of a local delegation leaving today for a one-week trip to Israel coordinated by the Jewish Federation and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Local officials will meet with Israeli industry, university and government leaders and attend presentations on Israeli and Mediterranean markets.
Williams said he fully respects and supports the rights of those in the Arab-American community to object “to recent issues they perceive as a concern.”
But the mayor said, “I am disappointed that they would suggest that as the mayor of a culturally diverse community, I should not seek to also engage other cultural groups.”
skolnick@vindy.com
Comments
If the trip is legitimate and will produce something other than someone living out their fanatasys at the expense of the two cities tax payers I am all for the trip. If the families are going too, who is paying for the trip, waht kind of accomidations and were the plane tickets in first class or with the normal folk who they are suppossed to represent?
Israel is a welfare state that consumes over $7 million US tax dollars every day; that means taxpayers in the Mahoning
Valley send this rogue state over $4 million every year. And what do we get for this drain on our national and local treasury? Illegal occupation. Illegal settlements. Illegal blockade. Illegal apartheid wall. Ethnic cleansing; and the slow starvation of the people in the Gaza ghetto. How shameful. How treasonous.
We need a New and Bold step into 2010! We love you and support you both! God Speed!
We need to build a explosives manufacturing plant on the West Bank . Chemical Engineers from The Mahoning Valley could be sent to set it up . There is a huge demand for C4, TNT, SEMTEC, PETN and detonators . The Palestinians could distribute them through their network . Rocket Technology could be developed here in The Valley and a rocket plant built later in West Bank . With rockets the lives of suicide bombers could be spared. The possibilites are endless.
Any move by the "leaders" of the Mahoning Valley that might possibly create jobs HERE would be a plus. The trip is kind of like chicken soup, it can't hurt. As far as the arab opposition to such a move, no one here would cry if they closed their "inconvienient" shops and headed back where they came from. Probably could get a lot of donations by the local communities to help them move.................
Why just Isreal? And how do they arrive at the choice of Isreal for a trip like this? If you have someone who's job it is to bring business in to this area from outside the country then they should be the representative that makes these kind of trips...Not a whole deligation....
This trip is some B.S! There is more to it than we know! I seen the man standing outside of city hall protesting holding a giant cross and YPD made him move across the street. He gave me a card that said the following...For years Americans have given Israel far more of our tax money than to any other nation, approximately $7 million per DAY. U.S media almost never reports this and additional significant facts. A fundamental cause of potential violence against Americans is U.S support for Israeli actions that most of us would be horrified even to see, let alone fund. For our own safety-and to help make our world more peaceful and just-we must become informed.>>>>>> check out the website at www.ifamericansknew.org
The Palestinians are not exactly pro American . Their cheering on 9/11/01 was not endearing to Americans .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vOJCQ...
Israel is a racist society http://www.jkcook.net/Articles3/0444.htm
and nobody should be doing business with them. As for the Pali's cheering, where was the footage from and was it indicative of all Pali society? you're fed what the media wants you to know. Did you know that an Israeli security company is responsible for security in some 40 odd US airports, and all international gateways? Did you know the same Israeli company handles the security out of Amsterdam, where the Nigerian guy flew out of? Or the same airports where the 9/11 hijackers took off from? As someone else pointed out, Israeli gets $7M a day from the US. That's your money propping up an apartheid state. Maybe that's why some Palis hate us?
How do you like a foreign gov't official saying "Believe me, America accepts all our decisions," like we're their lapdog? Would you except that from an Arab ruler? http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1...
Or how about this? http://mondoweiss.net/2009/09/sulliva...
Want to see the Pali Neda? (Non-violent protestor killed by army): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm_btv...
US State Dept take on Israel: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1...
Hannah Rosenthal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_R... said "I don't want my kids or my grandchildren to have to ever come visit their homeland and to live in a bomb shelter." Is she American or Israeli? http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1...
I guess you want us to live in the US of Israel. Well, I'm American! Not Israeli!
I'm glad the Jewish Federation isn't bragging about the wonderful Israeli advances in transplant technology. In the 1990's, Israeli soldiers would grab the bodies of dead or dying Palestinian youth for the purpose of harvesting their organs, some of these youth were killed apparently deliberately by Israeli soldiers before their bodies were taken. The story was first reported in a Swedish magazine ( http://www.aftonbladet.se/kultur/arti... ) and was widely renounced as "blood libel". But it turned out to be true (see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12...). Since then, Israel has passed a law making it illegal to take body parts without permission, so perhaps this story is beside the point.
Still, can you imagine American soldiers grabbing the bodies of Iraqi or Afghan youth they've recently killed for the purpose of using their body parts in transplants? I honestly can't. Nevertheless, Israel's done enough other war crimes in recent times, for example burning little children to death by dropping white phosphorus on them and ethnic cleansing that I wouldn't want my name as an American associated with Israel's. Israel should be boycotted until it ends the occupation and takeover of lands that it took in conquest, ends its apartheid practices and allows full equality of Palestinians regardless of creed by implementing the right of return.