April 19, 2009

Broadcast Date: 
Apr 19 2009

Israel stonewalls international efforts to investigate Israel's assault on Gaza; the struggle for a domestic workers bill of rights heats up in Albany as supporters mobilize in New York City; plus a new film, The Lemon Tree.

Episode segments
  • Israel Stonewalls International Efforts to Investigate War Crimes Allegations
    Global Justice, International Politics, Middle East, Israel/Palestine, Occupation

    Professor Richard Falk is the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  He is also Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus, Department of Politics, Princeton University and Visiting Distinguished Professor of Global and International Studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara. 

    In December 2008, Israeli authorities detained and then deported Professor Falk when he arrived in Israel on an official visit to investigate rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    Mounting evidence from a variety of sources from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross, Physicians for Human Rights (Israel), an investigation by The Guardian newspaper and testimonies from Israeli soldiers indicates that Israel committed numerous violations of international law during its bombing and invasion of Gaza.  But efforts by the UN to investigate allegations of war crimes--by Israel and by Hamas-- have been stonewalled by Israel.  Most recently, Israel announced that it would not cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council's investigation, headed by South African Judge, Richard Goldstone

    We talk with Professor Richard Falk about the war crimes allegation and the various international efforts to investigate them. 

  • Domestic Workers Bill of Rights
    Labor

    New York State Assembly member Linda Rosenthal

    Alissa Wise, Education Director of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), and soon-to-be-ordained Rabbi.
    Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    A bill to provide NYS labor law protection to domestic workers has been introduced in the New York State Assembly.  We talk with Assembly member Linda Rosenthal about the bill, A1470, and its prospects for passage in the Assembly and its future in the Senate.  (But first, A 1470 has to be released to the floor from the Assembly's Committee on Codes.)   JFREJ's Alissa Wise describes current efforts to mobilize support for domestic workers legislation that include a public forum--the Jewish Community Stands with Domestic Workers-- and a lobbying  day in Albany on April 28.

  • The Lemon Tree
    Film, Arts & Culture
    Eran Riklis is the Director of The Lemon Tree.  His previous films include the award winning The Syrian Bride.
    Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark

    A Palestinian woman's struggle to save her previous lemon grove from Israel's security services--who see it as a security threat--shows the two societies in microcosm.