Yesterday, Georgetown’s pro-Israel student group, Georgetown Israel Alliance, stirred controversy when they posted on Twitter about the race riots in Israel targeted at Sudanese and Somalian asylum seekers. In their Twitter, @Hoyas4Israel, the group said: “Israel! Be nicer to those Africans we’re murdering, maiming, and raping in Somalia and Sudan. Yours always, the freedom-loving Arab world.” Within the next few hours, several students reacted on Facebook and Twitter condemning the inappropriate nature of the post. The group took down the post shortly thereafter.

Initially, GIA responded indignantly. About an hour later the group tweeted: “Slightly surprised at the backlash from pointing out the irony in Al-Jazeera’s damning coverage of African refugees of Arab states in Israel.” The group did not initially feel the comment merited an apology.

Later that night at around 10pm, the group apologized, explained and defended their post in a subsequent five tweets.

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Yesterday afternoon, the Office of the President and the Council on Religious Institutions of the Holy Land hosted a discussion in Riggs Library on the role and contributions of religious leaders in Jerusalem in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The discussion featured Rev. Canon & Dr. Trond Bakkevig who has convened the Council on Religious Institutions of the Holy Land since 2005, and panelists from the Council, including Oded Wiener, the Director General of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Salah Zuhayka, Director General of the Ministry of the Waqf.

Bakkevig opened with an introduction to the Council on Religious Institutions of the Holy Land, explaining how it provided a space where Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders in Jerusalem can meet in dialogue on how they can contribute to peace.

He listed the main goals of CRIHL, which include maintaining permanent relationships and open communication between institutional religious leadership locally in the Holy Land, and upkeep, respect, and protection for holy sites in the city. He also discussed the importance of promoting a culture of peace through educating a new generation of leaders. “Peace is negotiation among politicians,” he said, “what religious leaders can do is help politicians deal with obstacles of religious nature.”

Wiener explained the complexity of the issue in Jerusalem, and touched on the role of halakha, Jewish religious law, in the issue. “The problems of the conflict of the Holy Land are enormously complex,” he started, “[they include] water sources, demographic problems, security and historical claims. All of these problems—ideology, religion, philosophy and theology, are interconnected and have to be addressed at the same time. No single issue can be neglected.”

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Last night, Barney Frank (D- Mass.), America’s most prominent gay Jewish politician, spoke on the current state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the initial event of “Israel Issue Week”, hosted by the Georgetown University College Democrats and J Street U.

Meandering from Israel’s treatment of homosexuals to his opinion of the new Clint Eastwood flick J. Edgar to the national allegiance of the many Portuguese-Americans in his Massachusetts district, Frank entertained his audience with a variety of anecdotes, jokes, and pragmatic assessments of the Arab-Israeli conflict and America’s relationship with Israel.

Throughout his speech and the question and answer session that followed, the Massachusetts congressman expressed both criticism for the policies and attitudes of Israel that he considers extreme, such as expanded settlement activity in the West Bank, and general support for the strong relationship between Israel and the United States. Reflecting on this nuanced position, Frank said that “the notion that when you’re friends, you don’t normally express criticism, is simply wrong.”

On current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Frank said that “If I was an Israeli, I would not be voting for Prime Minister Netanyahu.” But he also applauded Netanyahu for defending gay rights, harkening back to the Israeli leader’s speech to a joint session of Congress in May during which he said that “in a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted, Israel stands out.”

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On Saturday, around 1000 activists from over 20 countries set sail for Gaza to try once again to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian supplies.

The move is a repeat of last year’s failed aid mission in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were left dead in Israeli military raids. One of the members of the original flotilla, Paul Larudee, received a Ph.D in linguistics at Georgetown in 1973.

The California piano tuner was arrested by Israeli soldiers after he jumped from one of the ships in order to delay the raid. Vox caught up with Larudee late last week to get his perspectives on Georgetown and the Gaza issue.

“My studies at Georgetown facilitates my awareness and activism,” he said. “But I wouldn’t say that they’re directly related.”

“The Jesuit identity encourages activism. There are activists like Steve Kelly [arrested for trespassing on the School of the Americas] who are themselves members of the Jesuit community.”

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Movin’ on up

Last week, we speculated on the possibility of Georgetown professor Michael Oren being appointed Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Turns out he got the gig, according to Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have chosen Michael Oren as Israel’s next ambassador to Washington. The cabinet is expected to approve the appointment before Netanyahu’s visit to Washington on May 17.

The benefit of the Voice bump? Probably…

Photo from pbs.org.

Ambassador Oren?

Georgetown professor and former Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Michael Oren is a frontrunner to fill the post of Israeli Ambassador to the US, according to the Jerusalem Post.

A close associate [of Oren's] told The Jerusalem Posthe understood the American-raised historian to be “among the leading candidates” for the ambassadorship.

“He has not received any formal offer. If he received that offer, he would be very honored to serve, and he would serve just as he has served when he has been called into miluim [reserve duty].”

Oren joined the Georgetown faculty last year as a visiting professor with the Program for Jewish Civilization [full disclosure: I'm a PJC minor]. This year he taught courses on “America in the Middle East since 1776″ and “Military History: the Modern Middle East.”

Oren’s chief competition for the spot, according to the Post, is Dore Gold, President of the Jersualem Center for Public Affairs and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations. Gold is also familiar to Georgetown students, as he came to campus as a participant in the Doha Debates last month.

Photo from the PJC website.