I just flew 6000 miles to Israel in a metal cylinder. I peered out the window and one moment I saw the snow dotted ranges of Labrador and the next, the mountains of Turkey.

How will we arrive in Israel in 2025?

I was in another world, one I hadn’t visited since 1994. Agoraphobia stood in my way but I am now conquering this terrible condition. While in the Holy Land, I discovered it does still flow with milk and honey, albeit sometimes curdled, and has a glorious flow of contradictions and seemingly irrational spiritual, political and day-to-day configurations.

Israel, the Middle East, is hospitable. Biblical Avraham and Sarah showed that. While I suffered from heatstroke in my 3-star hotel without room service, the man at the front desk brought me tea, as my Mother would. This was not their policy.

Israel is a land of trust. Egged – the bus company, does not charge for a bus ride after Shabbos from the Kotel requesting instead the passenger pay during the week. During the week of Parshat Chaya Sarah, the Torah portion dealing with the life and death of Sarah, the company rearranges their schedule so as to bring people to the Morat ha’machpala, the place she was buried.

Israel is a land of distrust. The Israeli houses are often triple bolted to defend against Arab threats. The reinforced security often prevents fireman from gaining access.

Israel is a land of brotherhood. I took a taxi with my colleague, Kirill Zaretzky, a fine travel companion, and my Israeli sister, Etti, an energetic Zionist. The driver unabashedly made calls to two doctors, his wife and a social worker, to determine the next phase of treatment for his son – a six year old boy who is one of seventy worldwide suffering from a medical condition having to do with a lack of sugar to the brain. He spoke on speaker phone. He brought us into his life; similarly to the many strangers I met who invited me to their d’ira (apartment) for coffee.

Israel is a country that cries out for co-existence with Palestinians and surrounding Arab nations. While on a walking tour of Katimon my sister read me a memorial of a battle in 1948 near a monastery. The plaque referred to ‘the enemy’ rather than the Arabs. This riled her greatly.

In this tiny little strip of land, entrepreneurs are everywhere. Profit is a must. Advertisements are plastered to bags, walls, buses, cars, sweaters, coats and anything else that can be worn, seen or touched.

It will cost you one shekel to use the bathrooms on a Tel Aviv beach.

Israel is a land of third-world poverty. The makeshift halls used for Ethiopian, Sudanese and other refugees, stink like urine. There is one counselor for over 150 children. Babies never leave their cribs. Refugees walk into Israel and are picked up by boarder guards and delivered to a park in Tel Aviv. That’s it. Nobody is taking responsibility for them. It is truly is a shanda (Yiddish shame).

The parents who accepted Ve’ahavta 3000 Kinder Kits (pack packs with educational material) did so with great humility. They are poor and the Torah says, “ani k’mait” – that a poor person is like a dead person. While these people displayed a sense of Mediterranean zest, they live in a much different country than those paying that 1 shekel.
I was in Israel for one week. While there, and along the way, I saw dozens of worlds aligned, contradictions abound, deep character creases carved into the faces of our people and a country that exudes holiness and quite frankly everything else.

Am Yisrael Chai. The Nation of Israel Lives.

How will we arrive in Israel in 2025?

I was in another world, one I hadn’t visited since 1994. Agoraphobia stood in my way, but I am now conquering this terrible condition. While in the Holy Land, I discovered it does still flow with milk and honey, albeit sometimes curdled, and has a glorious flow of contradictions and seemingly irrational spiritual, political and day-to-day configurations.

Israel, the Middle East, is hospitable. Biblical Avraham and Sarah showed that. While I suffered from heatstroke in my three-star hotel without room service, the man at the front desk brought me tea, as my mother would. This was not their policy.

Israel is a land of trust. Egged – the bus company – does not charge for a bus ride after Shabbat from the Kotel, requesting that passengers pay during the week. During the week of parshat Chayei Sarah, the Torah portion dealing with the life and death of Sarah, the company rearranges their schedule so as to bring people to the Ma’arat HaMachpela, her burial place.

Israel is a land of distrust. The Israeli houses are often triple bolted to defend against Arab threats. The reinforced security often prevents fireman from gaining access.

Israel is a land of brotherhood. I took a taxi with my colleague, Kirill Zaretzky, a fine travel companion, and my Israeli sister, Etti, an energetic Zionist. While we were in the cab, the driver unabashedly made calls to two doctors, his wife and a social worker, to determine the next phase of treatment for his son – a six-year-old boy who is one of 70 worldwide suffering from a medical condition having to do with a lack of sugar to the brain. He spoke on speaker phone. He brought us into his life, as did the many strangers I met who invited me to their d’ira (apartment) for coffee.

Israel is a country that cries out for coexistence with Palestinians and surrounding Arab nations. While on a walking tour of Katimon, my sister read me a memorial of a battle in 1948 near a monastery. The plaque referred to “the enemy” rather than the Arabs. This riled her greatly.

In this tiny strip of land, entrepreneurs are everywhere. Profit is a must. Advertisements are plastered to bags, walls, buses, cars, sweaters and coats.

 It costs one shekel to use the bathrooms on a Tel Aviv beach.

Israel is a land of Third World poverty. The makeshift halls used for Ethiopian, Sudanese and other refugees stink of urine. There is one counsellor for more than 150 children. Babies never leave their cribs. Refugees walk into Israel and are picked up by border guards and delivered to a park in Tel Aviv. That’s it. Nobody takes responsibility for them. It is truly a shanda (shame).

The parents who accepted Ve’ahavta 3000 Kinder Kits (packs with educational material) did so with great humility. They are poor, and the Torah says, “Ani k’mait” – that a poor person is like a dead person. While these people displayed Mediterranean zest, they live in a much different country than those paying that one shekel.

I was in Israel for one week. While there,  I saw dozens of worlds aligned, contradictions, deep character creases carved into the faces of our people and a country that exudes holiness and quite frankly everything else.

Am Yisrael chai. The nation of Israel lives.

Visit http://avrum.net to comment.

2. An incredible walk up to my niece’s apartment, along a roadway that overlooks the Mt. of Olives and the Old City.

3. Countless fascinating taxi trips with compelling taxi drivers.

4. A visit to my Father’s gravesite outside of Beth Shemesh. I hadn’t been there since 1994. It overlooks the Jerusalem Hills. It’s the right resting place for a man who gave his life for the Jewish people.

5. Lots of Israeli salad and shwarma….too much; but some very tasty cafe ha’fuch.

6. A chance to see Israel in a way I have never seen it. My traveling partner and I met with a number of potential partners for our work in Israel. We also visited soup kitchens and distribution centres for the impoverished. Israel has a very high rate of poverty and the job to change things is enormous.

I just returned from there after a seven day business trip. Most of my time was spent in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I have not been in the Holy Land since 1994 and this was more or less, a home coming for me. I had been told by many people that I will see great changes in Israel and indeed I did.

The landscape in Jerusalem is golden. There, a builder has a responsibility to use Jerusalem brick so that the entire city will sparkle. It does. The Old City mixes with the nouveau Jerusalem to create a start contrast of what was – David the King, and what is, commerce, religion and malls.

Oh but those malls.

They are filled with people who look healthy with their Mediterranean olive shine, or their exquisite Ethiopian features, or their Slavic cheek boned immigrants. People laugh and they look up when they walk, and they smile at you, such a smile we would translate as being a come-on in my hometown of Toronto. 

The taxi drivers speak into their speaker phones about personal things, such as one I drove with who contacted one doctor after another about his son’s condition, one which is unique and very serious. He let us into his life with no shame and what appeared to be an openness I am not used to.

There is anger, of course. There are those who are morose and have been burned by life and have in fact burned life. In fact a day after I returned a string of restaurants owned by the mob was burned down by their mobster competitors. There is some pretty heavy-duty nastiness happening in that Golden country.

But that is that. Such is life. Jerusalem brims holiness and therefore attracts the opposite. Where there is a ying there is a yang and both of them can be glaringly eye-opening or blinding. What I saw, mostly, though was a place which is growing at a pace unlike any other country in the world. I noticed the olim (Western immigrants), choreographers and radio talk-heads who decided to make a Mediterranean, no a Middle Eastern country their home.

This is the point. This is what impressed me.

People you will meet families and individuals who have picked up their couches and desks, cancelled their New York Times subscription, bid their pharmacist farewell and moved on down the road to Israel.

When a country is made up of people, many of whom have decided to move in; you can only guess that it must be a vibrant place flowing with milk and honey.

I spoke with many Arabs who said to me confidently that they living in Israel over any other Arab country. I did not go into Gaza and cannot exclaim to you how its citizens are feeling about the State of Israel, but I hazard to guess not positively.  And I will lay odds, they could care little about the Hamas government they voted in.

Israel is a dynamic, cradled in energy, dusted with an unbridled forward movement where poetry and classic prose are loved, not laughed at, and the nightly TV shows and the advertisements that divide them are well thought out creative pieces that you just know had some pretty bright hip folks sitting around a table for nights coming up with zany, sophisticated, bizarre, though-provoking ideas. TV there really is a creative experience. The country is full of Woody Allan-esk comics and writers. To the brim.  

That represents what I felt on the street.

Talk to me. Speak to me. Come drink coffee with me. I was invited to do so dozens of times by strangers who agreed and disagreed with the invasion of Gaza, and walked with the Shalit family in a quest to influence the government to release terrorists for his (Shalit’s) freedom, or did not. There, in Israel, ideas are celebrated and differences are a way of life - in fact an art form.

I watched husbands yelling at their wives, but they weren’t. They were speaking passionately and then smiled at one another. I back away from overt aggressive passion. That is what my Canadian middle-eye calls it.

I listened to a debate on TV between an Israeli-Jew and an Israeli-Arab about peace. The Jew bellowed at the Arab’s eye popped open very widely. They didn’t cut into each other, really at an all and they yelled. And then the host said thanks Ali for joining us, and he smiled and said, “I appreciate the opportunity.”

Children run freely in Israel and some say Israel parents don’t’ s watch them closely enough, but remember, today is the end of your days, unless you’re lucky enough for tomorrow  to come. So the children can climb very high trees and hang from monkey bars – sometimes.

The tomatoes tasted like tomatoes and the salads were finely cut and abundant, like the grapes were in the biblical stories of the spies.

Israel is like those rays that shine through sparse clouds and you think they are God, when you’re a kid. Sometimes they shine so brightly that one needs to cover his/her eyes just to survive their intensity. Sometimes the clouds set in but the rays never disappear.

The State of Israel, Israel, Eretz Yisrael, Canaan – call it what you would like attracts all of our attention simply because she is the most handsome country in the room, with a speech that articulates messages full of purpose, and a spirit that has been molded by fights with the entire schoolyard, and aggression that spills like molten lava on their sensitive fingers.

It is Biblical and it is modern. It is beautiful and some of its crannies appear ugly with sludge. But at the end of all that, it shines like those rays that come through the sparse clouds, the ones you thought were God when you were a kid.

But in this case, they are. Am Yisrael Chai. The Nation of Israel Lives!!!!

Abbas to Obama: I’m against lifting of Gaza blockade

The Palestinian president reportedly told Obama that lifting the naval blockade of Gaza would bolster Hamas, a move that shouldn’t be done at this stage.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/abbas-to-obama-i-m-against-lifting-of-gaza-blockade-1.295771

•”The Nazism of the Jews does not skip women and children, it scares everyone. They make war against people’s livelihood, plunder their moneys and threaten their honor … They took advantage of key elements in unfolding events, and accumulated a huge and influential material wealth which they put to the service of implementing their dream ….”

•(Jews) control of the world media (and use their) wealth to stir revolutions … They stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions.”

•”There was no war that broke out anywhere without their (Jews’) fingerprints on it.”

The key players in the Middle East brouhaha today are: Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the PLO and Syria. Each one of them is governed by violent, brutal, cruel and sadistic men, frothing and dripping anti-Israel feelings and anti-Semitic beliefs.

Israel is sandwiched like corn beef on rye, between them, commonly fending of a barrage of missiles of all sorts hurled at her citizens – our people.

We the Jewish people and the State of Israel are blessed to have enemy’s who will suicide to death in their cause. Their passion runs deeply. We are their passion. A beheading to them is a victory. Their schoolyard bullying tactics designed to inflict mental and physical grief on the Jewish people seem to give them pleasure.

A recent animated video released by Hamas showing Gilad Shalit’s (the Jewish people’s most famous hostage ever) Father wandering the streets only to find the coffin of his son, is expressive of the heartless nature of our enemy.

While the Israelis are a rough and tough nation they are a diminutive nation, challenged by the natural affairs of any country, but constantly, regularly, persistently, confronted by outer force intent upon their destruction.

An entity of loathing has arisen once again and threatens to destroy us, once again. The Hamas charter states (quoting Mohammad), “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews)….The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”

We seem to be their every breath. What to do?

Reading all of this, considering its meaning it remains so difficult for most of us, I’m sure, to determine natural level of sensitivity that lies inside the Arab soul. Who in fact are the children of Ishmael? What do they really want from us? What is our task in all of this?

How is it they loathe and scorn us so; will tirelessly donate a gold coin of vengeance and ruin toward operations levied at Israel and the Jewish people? On the face of it, it seems Hamas, Hezbollah and their wretched Iranian (government) brother live to huddle and strategize on means of obliterating us. Why do they froth so at our existence?

I do not believe, unlike many of my family, friends and colleagues all Arabs/Muslims fall into this category. I do believe however, a small minority can concoct and shower shear and utter devastation on us, if they keep at it, as they are. Of this, I am not naïve.

So where do we go with this? Staring at this familiar and bleak future are we to continue playing poker on Tuesday nights unabated?  Are we to pretend life is fine and the IDF, Canada, the Americans and sometimes the Brits, will have our backs?

Do we sit around, pretending history will not repeat itself. Everything will be just fine?

Or are we, in the back of our insecure Jewish minds preparing for the eventual onslaught of tyranny and anti-Semitism we studied about in Talmud Torah?

You know my friends, we do not have a plan. There is no collective grass roots and organizational plan to understand and stave off anti-Semitism. Nobody is thinking about our enemy and friends in the entire world and ways to fight and embrace them. If they are, let me know if you’ve been contacted?

The banishing of all English Jews. The Spanish Inquisition. The Chmielnicki Uprising. The Holocaust.  The Dreyfus Affair. Things of the past?  

Oh what a stupid people we can be.

Monday, May 31, 2010 Key Points for Consideration Re: Gaza Flotilla

1. Israeli sailors, attempting to board one of the six ships of the protest flotilla en route to Gaza, were attacked by dozens of activists armed with knives, metal bars, and handguns. Fearing for their lives, the Israeli soldiers had no choice but to respond. At least four Israeli personnel were wounded by various means, including by gunfire from activists.

2. Israel made every effort to provide the flotilla organizers with an opportunity to avoid a confrontation. Israel offered to bring the flotilla into the port of Ashdod, and to transfer their aid to Gaza following appropriate security checks. The organizers rejected this offer, stating clearly that “this mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies, it’s about breaking Israel’s siege.” (Greta Berlin, AFP, 27 May 10).

3. Israel gave repeated warning of the maritime blockade in effect off the coast of Gaza and that the flotilla would be turned away and brought to an Israeli port to offload their cargo.

4. The organizers of the protest deliberately invited a confrontation with Israeli sailors. This was not an aid mission, but a PR stunt designed to undermine Israel and bolster Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist organization. Among the protestors were a group of highly-trained extremists with links to the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist groups in Afghanistan.

5. There is no blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza. In fact, Israel delivers 15,000 tons of humanitarian aid – including medical supplies, food, and water – to Gaza every week. The blockade exists to prevent unauthorized individuals and unknown cargo from entering Gaza and falling into the hands of its ruling Hamas regime.

6. Hamas is presently smuggling in massive amounts of military supplies into Gaza to fortify its positions and continue its attacks. Under international law Israel has the right to intercept vehicles that are “believed on reasonable grounds to be carrying contraband or breaching a blockade, and after prior warning they intentionally and clearly refuse to stop, or intentionally and clearly resist visit, search or capture.” (Section 67A of the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea) For an excellent overview of the situation, please click here For video footage, please click here For further information, please click here

Listen to the words of those who hate Israel and the Jewish people now that Flottila-Gate is upon us.

Wait for stuff like:

- Hitler didn’t finish his job

- Nazi Israel

- Apartheid Israel

- Jewish children to the ovens.

Just wait. It’s coming.

JEWISH CHILDREN TO THE OVENS.

Imagine saying or thinking such a thing. My God. People do though. In Toronto, New York, Paris, Argentina….and in the Middle East. More than we’d like to know.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, it is coming.

And remember when it does it is pouring forth from the mouths of people, many of whom,  would not think twice about hurting a Jew or another human being. It does not stop with their language.

Speech is not simply a formulation of syllables and an expression of noise. It has meaning. It does hurt. It is an action. It can be the beginning of a very painful shocking jab, slice and punch.

 Consider how you would feel if I looked at you with anger, fierce fire in my eyes and I said, “I’m going to throw your baby in that hot fire.”

Consider that. I have heard those words and yes, worse.

I am a Jew and familiar with the history of anti-Semitic epitaphs. They stung and we’re only the beginning of something far more horrendous.

The pitchers of such words and phrases are warming up and have found a reason too, regardless if it is logical or not.

The words are coming. To those of you, who condemn Israel for Flotilla-Gate, listen closely to the response. It will be far more than: where is the enquiry? International courts? A balanced report.

It will sound more like, “A good Jew is a dead Jew.” Wait and see. It will be more so, “Death to all Jews”. It should be hear in a few hours. I am bracing.

Find our friends and make them understand. Now is the time.  Watch our enemies. Listen to them. They are very serious and do not mince words, and do not intend upon coddling little Jewish children. Not at all.

The information is only now coming out, and will continue to over the next few days. Soon enough there will be an enquiry, something which would not happen in any other country in the Middle East.

We can see today IDF footage however, of soldiers landing on one of the boats and beaten by its passengers; thrown from one level to another. It seems from the footage that some of the passengers were equipped with knives and poles and grabbed soldier’s side arms.

One question that will have to be asked is what was Israel’s plan?

It was clear that Israel expressed to the Flotilla leadership from Turkey that their ’humanitarian cargo’ would be delivered, a process they could oversee. This was rejected.

It was then decided that force was required to stop the flotilla. Was this the best way? Was it handled well and were there backup plans in place?

This is considered now to be an international crisis, one Israel does not need.

10 people are dead and a number of IDF soldiers are seriously injured.  This situation will only serve to alienate Israel more so – something the Jewish people, in and out of the Diaspora, do not need.

While I believe the Flotilla leadership did not have pure objectives – i.e. to help the people of Gaza but rather to stick a thorn in the side of Israel - it seems like this could have been planned better.

I worry so about our State of Israel. Every move is a serious one. Every action has serious ramifications. This ‘Flotilla-Gate’ will not go away soon, and in the minds of Israel’s enemies, likely never.

To all Jews everywhere, to all friends of Israel and the Jewish people – learn how to respond to the aggressive insults coming our way. Make friends with those who are lovers of Israel. Bring peace to the region by sharing your goodness with others.

Israel may have planned this operation badly. Who knows. We’re  not military experts. Remember though, its essence is good and will always be good. Fight to ensure others see that. Do not loose sight of that regardless of what people say!!

Be strong Israel. Am Yisrael Chai. The Nation of Israel shall Live!!!

Our Navy commandoes fell right into the hands of the Gaza mission members. A few minutes before the takeover attempt aboard the Marmara got underway, the operation commander was told that 20 people were waiting on the deck where a helicopter was to deploy the first team of the elite Flotilla 13 unit.

The original plan was to disembark on the top deck, and from there rush to the vessel’s bridge and order the Marmara’s captain to stop. Israeli Explanation Barak: Sail’s organizers responsible for deadly raid / Attila Somfalvi (Video) Defense minister, IDF chief of staff and Navy commander explain Israeli considerations following takeover of aid ships sailing to Gaza, which left at least 10 pro-Palestinian activists dead.

‘We regret the casualties, but soldiers were in danger’

Officials estimated that passengers will show slight resistance, and possibly minor violence; for that reason, the operation’s commander decided to bring the helicopter directly above the top deck. The first rope that soldiers used in order to descend down to the ship was wrested away by activists, most of them Turks, and tied to an antenna with the hopes of bringing the chopper down. However, Flotilla 13 fighters decided to carry on. Navy commandoes slid down to the vessel one by one, yet then the unexpected occurred: The passengers that awaited them on the deck pulled out bats, clubs, and slingshots with glass marbles, assaulting each soldier as he disembarked.

The fighters were nabbed one by one and were beaten up badly, yet they attempted to fight back. However, to their misfortune, they were only equipped with paintball rifles used to disperse minor protests, such as the ones held in Bilin.

The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons. One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows.

‘I saw the tip of a rifle’ The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances.

The planned rush towards the vessel’s bridge became impossible, even when a second chopper was brought in with another crew of soldiers. “Throw stun grenades,” shouted Flotilla 13’s commander who monitored the operation. The Navy chief was not too far, on board a speedboat belonging to Flotilla 13, along with forces who attempted to climb into the back of the ship. The forces hurled stun grenades, yet the rioters on the top deck, whose number swelled up to 30 by that time, kept on beating up about 30 commandoes who kept gliding their way one by one from the helicopter.

At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness. Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire.

The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters’ legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes. “I saw the tip of a rifle sticking out of the stairwell,” one commando said. “He fired at us and we fired back. We didn’t see if we hit him.

We looked for him later but couldn’t find him.” Two soldiers sustained gunshot wounds to their knee and stomach after rioters apparently fired at them using guns wrested away from troops. 2 errors During the commotion, another commando was stabbed with a knife. In a later search aboard the Marmara, soldiers found caches of bats, clubs, knives, and slingshots used by the rioters ahead of the IDF takeover.

It appeared the activists were well prepared for a fight.

Some passengers on the ship stood at the back and pounded the soldiers’ hands as they attempted to climb on board. Only after a 30-minute shootout and brutal assaults using clubs and knifes did commandoes manage to reach the bridge and take over the Marmara.

It appears that the error in planning the operation was the estimate that passengers were indeed political activists and members of humanitarian groups who seek a political provocation, but would not resort to brutal violence. The soldiers thought they will encounter Bilin-style violence; instead, they got Bangkok. The forces that disembarked from the helicopters were few; just dozens of troops – not enough to contend with the large group awaiting them.

The second error was that commanders did not address seriously enough the fact that a group of men were expecting the soldiers on the top deck. Had they addressed this more seriously, they may have hurled tear-gas grenades and smoke grenades from the helicopter to create a screen that would have enabled them to carry out their mission, without the fighters falling right into the hands of the rioters, who severely assaulted them.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3896796,00.html

Speech by Spanish Activist Pilar Rahola: The Struggle of Israel is the Struggle of the World

April 27, 2010 – 1:41 pm

Pilar Rahola is a Spanish politician, journalist and activist. Her articles are published in Spain and throughout some of the most important newspapers in Latin America. Here she addresses pro-Palestinian demonstrations:

Why don’t we see demonstrations against Islamic dictatorships in London, Paris , Barcelona ?

Or demonstrations against the Burmese dictatorship?

Why aren’t there demonstrations against the enslavement of millions of women who live without any legal protection?

Why aren’t there demonstrations against the use of children as human bombs where there is conflict with Islam?

Why has there been no leadership in support of the victims of Islamic dictatorship in Sudan ?

Why is there never any outrage against the acts of terrorism committed against Israel ?

Why is there no outcry by the European left against Islamic fanaticism?

Why don’t they defend Israel’s right to exist?

Why confuse support of the Palestinian cause with the defense of Palestinian terrorism?

And finally, the million dollar question: Why is the left in Europe and around the world obsessed with the two most solid democracies, the United States and Israel, and not with the worst dictatorships on the planet? The two most solid democracies, who have suffered the bloodiest attacks of terrorism, and the left doesn’t care.

And then, to the concept of freedom. In every pro-Palestinian European forum I hear the left yelling with fervor: “We want freedom for the people!”

Not true. They are never concerned with freedom for the people of Syria or Yemen or Iran or Sudan, or other such nations. And they are never preoccupied when Hamas destroys freedom for the Palestinians. They are only concerned with using the concept of Palestinian freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom. The resulting consequence of these ideological pathologies is the manipulation of the press.

The international press does major damage when reporting on the question of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. On this topic they don’t inform, they propagandize.

When reporting about Israel, the majority of journalists forget the reporter code of ethics. And so, any Israeli act of self-defense becomes a massacre, and any confrontation, genocide. So many stupid things have been written about Israel that there aren’t any accusations left to level against her.

At the same time, this press never discusses Syrian and Iranian interference in propagating violence against Israel, the indoctrination of children, and the corruption of the Palestinians. And when reporting about victims, every Palestinian casualty is reported as tragedy and every Israeli victim is camouflaged, hidden or reported about with disdain.

And let me add on the topic of the Spanish left. Many are the examples that illustrate the anti-Americanism and anti-Israeli sentiments that define the Spanish left. For example, one of the leftist parties in Spain has just expelled one of its members for creating a pro-Israel website. I quote from the expulsion document: “Our friends are the people of Iran, Libya and Venezuela, oppressed by imperialism, and not a Nazi state like Israel .”

In another example, the socialist mayor of Campozuelos changed Shoah Day, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, with Palestinian Nabka Day, which mourns the establishment of the State of Israel, thus showing contempt for the six million European Jews murdered in the Holocaust.

Or in my native city of Barcelona, the city council decided to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel , by having a week of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Thus, they invited Leila Khaled, a noted terrorist from the 70′s and current leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization so described by the European Union, which promotes the use of bombs against Israel .

This politically correct way of thinking has even polluted the speeches of President Zapatero. His foreign policy falls within the lunatic left, and on issues of the Middle East, he is unequivocally pro-Arab. I can assure you that in private, Zapatero places on Israel the blame for the conflict in the Middle East , and the policies of Foreign Minister Moratinos reflect this. The fact that Zapatero chose to wear a kafiah in the midst of the Lebanon conflict is no coincidence; it’s a symbol.

Spain has suffered the worst terrorist attack in Europe and it is in the crosshairs of every Islamic terrorist organization. As I wrote before, they kill us with cell phones hooked to satellites connected to the Middle Ages. And yet the Spanish left is the most anti-Israeli in the world.

And then it says it is anti-Israeli because of solidarity. This is the madness I want to denounce in this conference.

Conclusion:

I am not Jewish. Ideologically I am left and by profession a journalist. Why am I not anti-Israeli like my colleagues? Because as a non-Jew I have the historical responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and currently against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel . To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of the Jews, it is the duty of the non-Jews.

As a journalist it is my duty to search for the truth beyond prejudice, lies and manipulations. The truth about Israel is not told. As a person from the left who loves progress, I am obligated to defend liberty, culture, civic education for children, coexistence and the laws that the Tablets of the Covenant made into universal principles.

Principles that Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. That is to say, that as a non-Jew, journalist and lefty, I have a triple moral duty with Israel, because if Israel is destroyed, liberty, modernity and culture will be destroyed too.

The struggle of Israel, even if the world doesn’t want to accept it, is the struggle of the world.

 A sixty-two year old men and women begin to look older. Whereas their skin was taut at forty-two and their knees were mostly strong at fifty-five, at sixty and throughout that decade aging begins to set in.

While being sixty-two is different than it used to be (it is now perceived as being younger than a decade ago) that age is still closer to eighty than it is to forty. And therein lays an important truth.

Happy birthday Israel.  While your olive skin still shines and seduces, your drained swamps and nubile Sabras are gone. It seems as if all of your pioneers are gone or have just crawled into bed.

That Zionistic flare, the one which shot sky high into the stratosphere with umbrella sparks and screaming colors, is a low dim now.

We barely remember, and are only a little bit proud that unemployment did not exist in Israel once, not so long ago. Remember those days, when we capitalists would commend the socialist State of Israel, for creating a job for every Jew.

Even though we were irritated and frustrated with the sluggish and edgy postman mouthing off in Hebrew about Diaspora Jewry and the imbalance between us – he had a job. And that was good. And he was right. That is gone.

Happy birthday Israel.

You are six decades and two years old. You seem to be a tad tired. But why shouldn’t you? There is little time for peace in Israel as war continually hogs your citizen’s space. You work hard and while unemployment no longer exists, the age-old Israeli overdraft is alive and well.

And why shouldn’t it be? You go to the army, many of you serve in the reserve, and most of you send your children off to the IDF as well. So if you want to buy 52” HD Televisions and $200 jeans, go ahead. G’zunt a’hait.

Happy 62^nd Israel. The Diaspora-Israel partnership has changed.

Tedakah used to keep us together. We knew our roles. From the turn of the century right up until a few short years ago, it was understood that you would send your sons to the frontline and we would wire you our cash. While your end of things is pretty much the same, we’re not raising as much for you.

The truth is, it just doesn’t seem like you need our money as much anymore. We know poverty is ramped in Israel, that is clear to all of us, but you’ve grown up and the JNF boxes have been replaced by money markets, the stock market and overseas investment. Even Israel Bonds get it and folding over the tab on Yom Kipper is not what it used to be.  

From we in the Diaspora to you in Israel, happy birthday. God bless. You are more complex than ever, like a senior, but far simpler, like an aging woman throwing off her pretenses. While you still have to care about whom you tell to go to hell, especially those Americans, your strong hands and brute strength continue to intimidate and humbles us.

We have stood in line waiting for you to speak at our synagogues. We have fawned over you when your IDF generals spoke at campaign launches, or when Sharansky threw up his hands and said, “Am Yisrael Chai” at an Israel rally in downtown Americas and Europe.  When you walk into our halls adorned in bravery we are still compelled to stand as we would for a stately senior.

You’re getting older Israel. We’ll rise for you, but know too that the balloon has burst. The cat is out of the bag. Most of us have figured out you are no longer perfect.

The new generation and some of the middle-aged and older among us don’t quite see the middle-eastern attraction as clearly. Like my doctor who didn’t know everything as I got older, a bunch of people are pointing that out about you.

There is a change afoot within our community. Some of us wonder about certain forms of racism in Israel, strange policies and statements that alienate Diaspora Jewry and your age-old inability to market yourselves with maturity and depth.  

We in New York, Toronto, Argentina, Paris and other metropolitan cities are opening our eyes to your foibles, (and no doubt you have figured our’s out), but don’t worry, because at the end of the day, most Jews know we are ‘one’.

We are very aware that Israel is our space and yours and while we don’t send our children to war, we are Jews like you and all in this madness and beauty together.

So while our partnership may not be the best, it’s all we have. We know it, and so do you.

And besides, ‘they’ never fail to let us forget we are all Jews.

Happy 62 birthday to all of us then. We are all somewhat tired and in agreement it is hard to be a Jew. Our lives have all been touched by the Holocaust, Gilad Shalit and the execution of Jewish leaders in Iran.

And we are happy. We are because you exist, and stand strong and mighty. A soulfulness still pervades the streets of Jerusalem, Sephat remains mystical and Tel Aviv is bustling with life, commerce, art and lots of Breslaver Chasidim.

While not every Jew loves Israel, or perhaps affiliates with it, I would hazard to guess too that in the back of our minds, we all feel safer because you are around.

Here in Toronto we can walk freely with a kippah, and have no fear of anti-Semitic thugs. Of course they are there, and looked ugly as hell during Gaza, but mostly we have superlative lives as Jews and citizens of our country. And that is, in part, because you send your children to the army, and gave away much of your hard earned money to absorptions hundreds of thousands of Jews into your tiny space.

You are a haven for our tired and famished. We know that. Very well.  

Happy 62^nd old man. Your citizens take the brunt of our Jewishness right in the gut and soul. There is no question about that and we are very grateful. Yom Hu’ledet sam’ayach.  Thank God you exist. Thank God we are still strong. Thank God we are one.

On Yom Ha’azmut we had a l’chaim in our office and drank Manishewitz wine. Seriously. It’s still the same – syrupy and sweet – but I loved it.

Am Yisrael Chai!

I am delighted that the CFJS has taken the initiative to create a campaign showing the beauty, courage and successes of our small country – Israel. Clearly there is a great need to do so because: a) our adversaries have become very efficient in PR and marketing, leaving the Jewish people behind; b) both Jews and non-Jews are often very uneducated about the dimensions of Israel, its small population and the incredible affect it has on the world; c) more and more Jewish students and families are showing fear about expressing their love of the Jewish people, Judaism and Israel. 

(I will write more about this in the future, however suffice it to say that I continually hear from teachers, principals and Jewish leaders about their constituents, congregants, students etc. expressing this sentiment about their Jewishness. Europe [Jews in France are afraid to wear kippot etc.]  is slowly coming to North America).

Once again, accolades to Jewish students for taking the initiative to show off Israel and the Jewish people to the world.

I do not believe, however, that the theme of this campaign is appropriate, nor is it terribly Jewish. Using a provocative and sexual reference to the size of one’s manhood in describing Israel, is to me drawing upon a very base tone and form of messaging generally reserved for mindless Reality TV and talk shows.

There is something very holy and precious about our people and Home. While the beaches of Eilat are clearly a draw for many tourists, as is Tel Aviv nightlife, so too are the cul de sacs of old Jerusalem and the artistry of Sefat.

To distill all of this down to an advertising campaign where an attractive woman reflects on the anatomical symbol of her well buffed boyfriend’s virility, detracts from the historic and current meaning and purpose of the State of Israel.

Israel exists as a homeland for the Jewish people, as a place where we are allowed to be a ‘light unto the nation’ and where our fathers and grandmothers fled to escape slaughter. This can never be forgotten and is certainly not seen through this campaign.

Moving forward, Israel is also a place where young people party, learn about sex, joyfully discover their youth and adulthood. While there is room for humor in all of this – and no doubt we Jews need to laugh more - I think that in this case we will be laughed at.

Essentially the CFJS has decided to use racy comedy club humor (which is fine in a comedy club) to showcase Israel. I think they may have forgotten this message goes out to their contemporaries, non-Jews including our enemies, and my Mother. (I know I don’t want to be in the room if she asks for an explanation as to what this message means).

I am not a prude by any stretch. I am a big supporter of independent Jewish student programming and advocacy, but I fear in this case a mistake was made and encourage those who constructed this campaign to rethink it. 

Israel is indeed small and its successes enormous. The number of Jews in the world is almost insignificant compared to the world population, but we have made some serious inroads, both today and years gone by. That point was made through this campaign, however in a very provocative way, and through words and images that will only appeal to a very select group of people. 

Certainly this campaign is garnering a lot of recognition. The website is getting hits galore. The truth be told though is, we shouldn’t compromise our values through the process. The ends do not necessarily justify the means. This process, I believe, does not symbolize the best of our values.

Be proud. Be hip. Be edgy. Be funny and clever. And while you’re at it, students please consider there are many people watching us, now wondering about our choice of messages, and what it is exactly so many people have died for and continue to fight on behalf of.

Well done students for showing your independence from the ‘man’. Just ask around a bit more next time to gauge your market. I believe you missed the target this time.

http://www.sizedoesntmatter.ca/wp-content/themes/sdm_theme/splash.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjQKHVA2kLA

In 1935, British Zionist journalist Leo Elton traveled to Albania, apparently at his own initiative, to see if it would be possible to establish a Jewish national entity there. It seems the only surviving trace of his voyage is his report 10 years later to Hebrew University’s first president, Judah Leib Magnes. The document rests in the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People at the university’s Givat Ram campus in Jerusalem.

Elton’s journey was spurred on by the increasing persecution of German Jews two years into the Nazi regime and Britain’s refusal to increase the quotas on Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine. Elton writes that he first read of the idea in British newspapers reporting that the Albanian government welcomed Jewish immigration.

So he traveled to the tiny country of a million inhabitants, which was completely cut off from industrialized Europe. A government minister told him that “in Albania religious intolerance is quite unknown …. The Albanian Muslims of today are no fanatics.”

	Advertisement

The minister also emphasized that, in contrast to the rest of Europe, Albania had no history of anti-Semitism. “There is no reason whatsoever to expect that Jewish settlers would not live in complete harmony with the population’s diverse elements,” Elton wrote.

The Albanian option also had economic advantages. The land was extremely fertile, and if modern agricultural methods were used, it could easily supply the needs of five million people.

The oranges and lemons, Elton enthused, were the best in the world, and Jews’ success in raising oranges in pre-state Israel could be replicated in Albania. Other suggestions included growing tobacco and raising silkworms, and building up the textile and olive-oil industries. The less positive side, according to Elton, was that the capital Tirana had no theaters or concert halls.

“I believe that if such men and women were pioneers of the right type, they would achieve not only material prosperity quickly, but also the respect and goodwill of the Albanians,” Elton wrote to Magnes. He said that “in the course of a very few years, not hundreds but thousands of Jews in all walks of life might follow.”

As a first stage Elton recommended establishing a Jewish national entity in Albania like the one in Mandatory Palestine, with the cooperation of two Zionist movements. Later Albania might even be turned into a Jewish national home.

It is not known what became of the idea, whether any official body discussed it, and whether Magnes even bothered to answer Elton. The Jews, in any case, did not immigrate in large numbers to Albania. Hadassah Assouline, director of the archive, says the report was probably submitted to the university in 1945 amid the refugee problem at the end of World War II.

Interestingly enough, Elton’s high estimation of the Albanians was borne out during the Holocaust: They saved the country’s small Jewish community, down to its very last members.

President Obama Speaks in Cairo

I have only begun to read the reviews of President Obama’s speech today in Cairo, which range from ‘he is destabilizing the Middle East and the world’ to ‘this is groundbreaking and absolutely necessary toward peace in the region.’

It seems, however, that President Obama’s words have the potential to bring incredible change to the area and world.

What sort of change?

We will see perhaps tomorrow, next week or maybe at the end of the decade. We must be patient to determine the outcome of this momentous day just as we must to find out the possible benefits, or otherwise, of the war in Iraq.

What is clear however, is that there is not one singular response to Obama’s message – there are a plethora. In essence his oratorical presentation today and the feed back it gets, reflects the vast beliefs that shape the Muslim world, the Middle East and the thoughts and feelings of millions around the world.

There are those communities of listeners who have waited long and hard to hear a voice of leadership that speaks to the ‘beauty of the Muslim world’ and what it has brought to our existence. They are now bathing in glory. These are people who also feel that Muslims have been treated badly by the United States and other non-Muslim nations.

The truth is, they are right. Very few people, certainly most Americans during the Bush administration spoke well of Islam and its followers and generally saw those who subscribe to Koranic values – men, women and children as terrorists or potential mass murders. If I were a Muslim living in Tunisia, I would likely have felt abused by the West and its perception of me and my people.

There was little to no trust of Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iran, Iraq and Morocco and certainly not of Hezbollah and Hamas. Today many of those sorts who felt put upon and demeaned are saying, ‘it’s about time; We are slowly being vindicated and understood as a great religion, and rich nations (Obama’s words were framed in terms of a message to Muslims but it is inevitable that they were also directed toward Arabs in generals – Muslims and Christians)’.

Then there are those in the Middle East who see this as a significant opportunity to push their agenda of pan-Islam, a movement which professes that ‘Allah, as described by fundamentalist Islam, is everyone’s God and Mohammad an international and forever profit of every human being’. This movement and its beliefs was once imposed upon others by the sword, then the gun and now through international PR firms and wealthy fundamentalists and governments such as Iran.

There is no fooling ourselves – these people exist en masse and now through Obama’s words likely sense that they have an entire playroom of ‘naiveté’ to use to fool others even more. I say ‘naiveté’ because Obama generally speaks in pure terms, expressing the view that ‘everyone’ has the ability to make change and bring civility to the world.

That is a mistake. Hitler did not. I don’t believe the president of Iran can, and I certainly never believed that Saddam Hussein was intent upon showering his citizens with goodness and prosperity through some type of awakening. These people are violent in life, and died/die with the perverbial noose around their neck (and sometimes real), a tool of violence. They are/were evil and need to be dealt with as such either through incarceration or assassination.

And then there are the me’s of this world, individuals who hope and pray that Obama is opening up a damn of goodness that exists within all countries, Middle Eastern or otherwise; one which will come spilling out dousing the sewage and carnage that took front stage before.

There are the me’s who want so badly for his speech to stir up the good men and women, families, living in Rabat or Cairo to act democratically and undermine the intolerance and brutal regimes running most Muslim/Arab nations.

Let me be clear, I do not believe that Hosni Mubarek, the president of Egypt will become a saint because of Obama’s oratorical skills and finally measured words nor do I buy into Mr. Kaddafyi’s conversion to decency. It is hard to change – the way Obama expressed in his speech – after slaughtering, torturing and instilling fear in thousands of civilians, downing foreign commercial airplanes and financing international terrorism. My Father, of blessed memory used to say, ‘you won’t come out of a coal mine smelling like perfume’ and sure enough these guys must reek of the putrid odor of evil.

Many Jews, many Israelis, and many Arab leaders and citizens are terribly frightened today because of President Obama’s radical departure from the United States previous policies re. The Middle East and Muslim/Arab world. Jews in particular, at least many I have spoke to, are feeling vulnerable and as though they have been tossed to the wolves of dishonesty and deceit, soon to have their nose and finger tips bitten off.

They are scared because the Arab/Muslim world has just be empowered and emboldened, with no self-growth required or commitments from their governments to live up to his compliments. If I tell you are a great guy, even if you’re not, your going to act as if you are and let others know that. That rolling stone gathers some serious moss.

Essentially, Israeli leadership are now sensing that they are on their own, unprotected, by a United States government that has one-sidedly propped up its enemies. In one fell swoop, during the coarse of a speech the Muslim world now feels as if all the very lousy stuff they have been responsible for – decades – human rights violations, stealing and hoarding funds loaned to them by democracies etc. etc. – is okay.

But it is not okay. They like you and I, and any nation need to ask forgiveness for their sins, of which there are many including invading Israel a number of times. They need to atone for stoning women to death and executing minors. Obama’s words do not absolve the sins of nations, anywhere. He does not have the power to do so.

There are many Jews and Israelis, who are feeling today as if they are on stilts and just stepped into a pot hole, ready to topple over.

President Obama’s speech today was as powerful and groundbreaking as one could have expected. His presentation made for outstanding TV and his mastery with words, phrases and sentences will go down in history and no doubt grant him a place in the Oratory Hall of Fame.

The outcome of his words – which after all are only words according to some – will become evident one day – or they won’t. It is too early to tell. It is obvious however that there is not one universal response to the man’s speech in Cairo, nor one conclusion.

Once again the Middle East and American’s first Afro-American president are centre stage with an audience that is only partially giving them a standing ovation. Something new has been tried today, something possibly refreshing which may, like the war on Iraq, cast a new light on a region and people who have for years refused to grow with the rest of the globe and used this inability to perpetrate some very destructive and hurtful things.

Stay tuned, the best is yet to come! Peace might be around the corner. Or it may be way down the block, off to the left and then circling around to the right. Let’s wait and see.