210513 Riots and Rockets

 

210513

13^th May 2021

 

I don't know how to start this missive. Shabbat Shalom? Not sure it's appropriate this week. A Blessed Idel Fitr? Same problem. I can pray for both but my hopes are not high.

 

In fact I'm currently beyond angry, not at the rockets and missiles but rather about the disgusting, violent yobbos, young zealots, both Jewish and Moslem, who defy every principle of their religions and fire up hatred that denies dignity to those they oppress. Oppression isn't only imposed by governments although ineffective government or bad example can and does invoke a sense of entitlement which allows young people to believe they have the right to destroy the lives of others. By legitimizing the far, far right of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, Netanyahu fell short in his leadership; by not strengthening, nay, criticising the police and border guard, he fell short in his leadership; by ignoring the warning signs of internal unrest, he fell short in his leadership; by spending his precious time determinedly holding on to his seat rather than defending the country, he fell short in his leadership. A brilliant man with a glowing past, Bibi Netanyahu fell short in his leadership and the proof is in the riots of yesterday and the sirens the "Tzeva Adom" every few minutes night and day.

 

As if the tensions caused by clear and present danger with a torrent of rockets and missiles raining upon the farming communities and small towns of South of Israel, were not enough; the horror of the violence was more than we could bear. It began with young Arabs wreaking havoc but then the young, far right Jewish zealots (sorry it's the only word I can think of) mostly from Jerusalem, went on the rampage, torching cars, destroying property, in Lod and Jaffa (both mixed cities) and in Bat Yam, terrifying ordinary folk, beating, clubbing anyone they deemed "different", if there are two sides exacerbating the rift. The enemy within is not necessarily the Arab Moslem Israeli, it is the lack of mutual respect, built so carefully over 73 years, that is the victim of the last few days. I know every country has its riots, every country has its racists but here, here in a country filled with those who suffered racism in all the countries of their dispersion or their grandparent's birth, here we do not have the right to be racist. I would arrest the lot of them, put all of them in prison, both sets of criminals, to spend a month together and any infringement of the rules would involve a further month; I don't want any of their ilk in the IDF.

 

Now we have to re-group, re-educate, and teach our children to be tolerant. We cannot let a few dozen yobbos influence the lives of normal Israelis, whatever their persuasion.

 

As is my wont, I turned my angst into a positive act and managed to wade through another dozen or so boxes of our totally superfluous belongings!

 

Now for the explanation you've all been waiting for.

 

Hamas had an agreement with the Netanyahu Government, that they would not "overdo" the rockets in exchange for Israel allowing the distribution of Qatari generosity (!) on the condition that the money be distributed under the watchful eye of the Qataris at the rate of $100 per family. There was relative quiet for a while, then came the PA elections and as soon as it looked as if Hamas was about to win over Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas decided to cancel the elections. Before you censure his actions you should know that Mahmoud Abbas has been determinedly fighting terror and all actions are co-ordinated between the Palestinian police and the Israeli police. Back to politics. The cancellation of the elections demanded a show of might from Hamas and Islamic Jihad which, of course, meant violence and terror. Encouraging violence through the Imams and then the shooting of rockets and missiles over the obvious scapegoat – Israel – was a no brainer. All they had to do was incite a return of fire from the IDF and the world was back on the bandwagon of condemning the Jews for defending themselves! The IDF, through our Air Force's pinpointing the arms factories, intelligence and internet intelligence centres successfully killed several of the main players but our major problem is that we will not target homes and they ensure that their HQs are in residential areas, schools and hospitals.

 

So, if we don't target homes why did we see a building collapse, a tall residential building in Gaza? Neri Yarkoni is a retired fighter pilot and he explained. "We target arsenals, in this case we hit the arsenal but it was apparently underneath a residential building so the arms inside exploded bringing the building down" This is the Middle East where nothing is as it appears.

 

What about Bibi's agreement with Hamas I hear you ask. Well, as I said it's all about power, a show of might, chest beating, so Hamas decided to join the Gazan branch of Islamic Jihad and between them they shot over 1,300 rockets and missiles, more than 200 of which fell inside Gaza. The constant declaration of poverty and claims of being under siege (despite the Qatari money and the 120 truckloads of staple needs from Israel daily) begs the question "How on earth can Gaza afford billions of dollars of arms, rockets and missiles, lobbed willy nilly over the Jews"?  The answer is easy, most Western countries and for that matter most of the Islamic countries, send money to finance education and feed the people, money which never reaches the poverty stricken people of Gaza.

 

Gosh that was quite a rant, but you needed to know, you needed to hear because the news you get is so slanted that Israel, the few square metres of land, is the mighty oppressor of the poor Moslems. If you are sick and tired of CNN, BBC, Sky etc etc….just watch https://www.i24news.tv/en or Google search 124 news and you can choose your language of preference.

 

The best explanation so far https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/israel-is-under-attack/2021/05/12/

 

The situation has nothing to do with who is President or his intentions, but for all you doubters, President Biden reiterated that Israel has every right to defend herself, he understands.

 

The Free Gaza "demonstrations" are held by those who have no inkling of the facts. We left Gaza 20+ years ago, we are the only country bordering on Gaza which has not locked its gates and thrown away the key. Egypt and Jordan do not allow Gazans to enter nor do they attempt to feed them– Israel is their only source of staple foods, so why, why us? It's simple, The Jews "occupy" Moslem lands, a tiny country the size of Wales surrounded by enormously large Moslem countries is something these zealots cannot bear, but, still, in NYC a Jewish man was attacked by screaming women who tried to beat him with the Palestinian flag.

 

I have now depressed myself so I will tell you a little about where we live. It's a whole community, not just old people (I know how you think!) but people of all ages. I go for walks to make sure my fitness watch is happy. Parents and children now know my face and everyone calls out "Erev Tov" – Good evening – as I pass. The boys stop their soccer game to let me pass and I get to see the TV's in the ground floor apartments so I can walk and watch the news! Anyone who came to Israel around the early to late '60's travelled from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on the Old Road, not as far back as the Burma Road of Mickey Stone fame (I'm sure you remember the movie Kirk Douglas in To Cast a Giant Shadow) but nonetheless before Road 1, so before 1967, we came in on a narrow road with tortuous hairpin bends, getting our first glimpse of Jerusalem in the distance; well that's where we live! Opposite our entrance is a wonderful walking area, totally unspoiled, and just over the ridge is the beautiful reservoir in Beit Zayit. I know, I can't reel off all the neighborhoods as I did from out old veranda, but I can still tell you about the various trees and birds, and of course the Presidents Avenue that I told you about last week.

 

I'll tell you something funny. Most of the President's trees are dried out or just plain dead, but Herzl's tree, a mere stump, instead of replacing it they put a plexiglass cover over it with the sign noting that he planted it. I have a feeling that very soon we'll see mushrooms growing where the tree didn't succeed!

 

While wading through box after carton after packing case we have found some real treasures. Children's books from Zvi's childhood, hundreds of LPs (for those who remember the 33rpms), photos that brought back happy memories and photos that made one stare and say "Who on earth is that"?

 

I am actually sitting in our Mamad (safe room) which is also our study, for a change with the window covered by the heavy metal protective cover. Who knows if the siren will go off for us as it has umpteen times for Zvi's boys and families, for all our friends in the Coastal plain and the adults and children of Otef Aza – the farmlands, kibbutzim and towns that border with Gaza – who have suffered the destructive power of Hamas and Islamic Jihad for 20 years. This week as if the rockets were not enough they have returned to sending incendiary devices carried on the breeze underneath children's party balloons which have destroyed thousands of acres of crops and wild animals.

 

I'm so happy that I went to Rachel earlier in the week when we took Yosef to Yonatan's 7^th birthday party in Tel Aviv, those two have a lovely relationship ,a little boy who looks up to his 16 year old cousin, both of them love a challenge, both want to be Ninjas! It was so much fun to watch the little boys trying to whack the living daylights out of the football piñata that Rachel made for Yonatan. It also gave me a chance to see the panorama over Jerusalem from Samuel's Tomb, such an amazing sight on our way back home. I may have moved to the other side of Jerusalem but my heart will always be there….just a few miles up the road.

 

So that's it for now, hopefully there will not be need for an update, we have lost too many this week, children and adults, may their souls rest in peace.

 

Two weeks ago I chose Shlomi Shabbat's song about Jerusalem and today it is the turn of Omer Adam. Jerusalem https://youtu.be/GzhiZLPrNHc

 

Psalm 137, written by King David thousands of years ago, is so relevant today as we are yet again threatened. Here Dudu Fisher sings "If I Forget Thee Oh Jerusalem" in the very language in which King David wrote it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GBVaUPTTSw

 

What we need more than anything else is for someone to act as a Bridge Over Troubled Waters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbc7PL8VZ8&list=RDMM&start_radio=1 with the beautiful singers and musicians of the Shalva Band, Tareq al Menhali, Arqham and the Jerusalem Symphony.

 

I wish you a peaceful weekend, a beautiful Shabbat and please put us in your prayers.

With love from right next to Jerusalem

Sheila

 

Every event that Zvi organised, every event that I went to ended with just one song and today I cannot break that rule HATIKVA          - The Hope, the National Anthem of Israel sung by the youngsters of the IDF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQCu9kl68Tg

 

 

 

 

210507 Politics, Meron and New Home

 

210507

7^th May 2021

 

Shabbat Shalom and Ramadan Kareem

 

Yes I'm back, well established in our new home and luckily we found the computer in the fourth box! Did you miss me? Of course I chose the busiest, most fateful week in Israeli history to go off line, but I will try to catch you up.

 

The split, the lack of tolerance, within Israeli society and generally worldwide, between Jews of various persuasions came to a head this week with the tragedy of Mount Meron. The reasons are numerous and complex but the resulting venom is horrific.

 

Mount Meron is arguably the resting place of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and a pilgrimage site of ever growing proportions especially on the anniversary of his death. Traditionally a great Rabbi is chosen to light the bonfire or beacon on Mount Meron and thousands come to watch and celebrate. Last year Covid put paid to the gathering and this year it swelled to over a hundred thousand pilgrims, especially significant because Lag B'Omer also celebrates the end of the plague that killed 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva's followers. The Ministry of Health wanted to limit the gathering but Interior Minister Aryeh Deri overruled and the numbers swelled and swelled in a site that couldn't cope. As a result, 45 innocents, including children, died after one man fell on the steps and everyone else fell on top and panic reigned. 45 deaths, it doesn't bear thinking about. The first responders on site are utterly traumatised by the sights. Israelis of every variety rushed to give blood and the Arab town of Tamra opened its doors to the injured and families of victims, bringing in kosher food and extending love and sympathy.  

 

The ghastly side to this tragedy is that many secular people have used this tragedy became an excuse for a tiny but vociferous secular minority to pour vitriol upon the Haredi community. Where is their empathy? Why, even in such tragic circumstances, can't we stand together in humanity? Why? One of those killed was a brilliant Rabbi, Moshe Tsarfti z"l who spent his life encouraging young Haredim to serve in the IDF, including his own sons, yet as usual generalisation brought hatred. My heart goes out to the injured and the families of those who died. May their souls rest in peace and our politicians understand that power is a dangerous thing that must be used with great discretion.

 

Talking about power, discretion and the misuse of…………that's it, the removal vans must start packing the House in Balfour Street and taking all the Netanyahu belongings to their beautiful home in Caesaria. How sad that what could have been a glowing place in history has been sullied by narcissistic, even megalomanic determination to hang on to power at all costs. Selling one's soul to retain power is never a wise move. Now what? Netanyahu's period of time to form a government has ended and President Rivlin handed the mandate over to the next biggest party led by Yair Lapid. Fascinatingly, Lapid who is centre-left and Naftali Bennet, unquestionably right wing but not extreme, have joined forces and refused to accept the extremists of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, choosing to include the relatively centrist Israeli Arab Party of Mansour Abbas. Abbas isn't a Zionist but understands that it is in his community's interest to be part of the decision making. So far so good, only time will tell.

 

Ramadan, a time of fasting and prayer has become a time of unrest among young Arabs, both Israeli and Palestinian and sadly, young Jewish zealots. Since Hamas has basically stopped its incitement (temporarily) one can only assume that the violent riots have been instigated by Iranian sources. It's only my opinion and that of a few very wise pundits, but it seems to be the most logical source of the fervent, religious based riots around Hebron and Schem. Clearly, the years of hate education have prepared the ground and fired up the rebellion of these young people who then risk their lives by engaging violently with the IDF. The apparent cause of violence in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jerach, right next to French Hill, is that Jews decided to live in Jewish property in this Arab area and Jews in Kfar Tavor are demonstrating against the sale of homes to Arabs.  Has everyone gone mad? As to the young Jewish zealots, to me their actions are those of racist hooligans who deserve to be imprisoned as are their Arab counterparts; a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist.

 

John Kerry, did he or didn't he inform the Iranians of Israeli security secrets? Having spent a week with the man I would be inclined to believe the rumours. However, for those died in the wool Republicans who laughed at my belief that Joe Biden is a good man, he has made it very clear that any agreements with the Iranians is a very long way away and will entail many changes in the original Obama agreements, including many conditions not in the original.

 

It finally happened, the EU has censured the PA and UNWRA for their educational material, threatening to withhold funding! How? All because 6 people, 5 genius researchers and a fantastic CEO sit in a little office in Tel Aviv and work night and day to make it happen! https://www.impact-se.org/reports/ IMPACT-se worked closely on the measures alongside parliamentarians for several months, from drafting the resolution to the plenary vote. The resolution was based on two IMPACT-se reports published in January and February 2021 that found UNRWA-created material contained antisemitism and incitement to violence and jihad. Facts and dogged perseverance won over malicious fiction.

 

It's very nearly Jerusalem Day. Jerusalem Day, the celebration of the reunification of the City of Jerusalem on that joyous, dramatic day in the 6 Day War. We all remember that incredible moment of "The Temple Mount is in our hands"; the photograph of the 3 soldiers beside the Kotel; the joy when the extra verse was added to Naomi Shemer's "Jerusalem of Gold" sung by Shuli Natan declaring that all the beautiful places we yearned to see were suddenly a reality; that we, all of us, Jews to the Kotel, Christians to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Delarosa, everybody to the Arab Shouk, we could all finally go to pray as we wished where we wished. So many things changed, the millennia-long prayer "Next Year in Jerusalem" was answered.

 

And so to our new home. We are so happy, so calm, really enjoying our surroundings and the kindness and warmth of our new neighbours. Obviously the veranda is a work in progress, rather bare and needing lots of colour but the view, while very different is wonderful – trees, trees and more trees!! Actually not just trees, but right next to us is the Avenue of the Presidents, not as grandiose as it sounds but really pretty and with deep history. The first tree to be planted in Motza, that is the first tree in the Avenue, was planted by Theodore Herzl when he was advised to spend time in Motza "for the best air in Israel". His tree was cut down by local Arabs for fear that it represented Jewish return, but a new one was quickly planted. Most of the trees were inappropriate to the site and didn't survive but it is still historic! Sadly Shimon Peres died just 2 days before he was due to plant his tree but it stands proudly nonetheless.

 

In the project (I have to stop calling it that since almost everyone has moved in) there are two playgrounds for little children and large areas for slightly older children and every evening as we take our walk along the paths and lanes between the buildings and parkland, past the gorgeous central building, designed to look like the White House, which was once a sanitarium and is now our cultural centre; the sound of children playing greets us as young families enjoy the evenings cool. Passing the apartments we learned that we aren't the only ones who haven't yet bought light fitments or set up the bookcases and we hear the news as we pass the various giant sized televisions. Neighbours ensured we had food for the first few days of unpacking, turning up with cakes and real food  and as we walk around everyone greets us with a "Erev Tov" Good evening – it's like living in a village!

 

We have tried to continue our voluntary work and Zvi has had a few meetings of his various organisations and we even managed to hold a choir party for Lag B'Omer  - but more of that later. I had my first proper meeting, together with Rachel and Ilan, concerning the outline plans for Dr. Dan's Room. All plans were on hold due to Covid. We plan to go to the phenomenal site to familiarize with the future studio. Remember that this is in the magical have called Shalva. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjcgIeMVwcA

 

Oh my goodness time has run away with me. Zvi is at the old apartment with Tomer working hard to clear everything……and Leor, Shiri and the girls are coming for supper. Zvi is going to his parliament and I will go to Rachel to kiss everyone so I have one or two things to do, including emptying my pledged 2 boxes a day!!

 

What music is most fitting for the week leading up to Jerusalem Day

 

Sarit Hadad sings of the need to put hate aside and together we will win through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcr4EPfPTHg

 

For Shabbat Leha Dodi, a beautiful prayer said in the synagogue to welcome the Bride of Shabbat (with English translation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWmcQpzUMHY

 

Last but by no means least, Zvi's choir, Hakol Yahassi, has been recording a gorgeous medley of Jerusalem songs and two weeks ago they met up with the Mayor, Moshe Lion, who has a gorgeous voice, and recorded a video…..enjoy enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFROAZv4fHM  

 

I wish you a Shabbat Shalom and please remember to listen to those you disagree with, listen and perhaps between you you can come to an agreement, if only to respect your differences – or as we Brits say "agree to differ". A young man came to finish off our kitchen yesterday, and as an observant Moslem during the month of Ramadan he is obviously both praying and fasting. He explained, with great enthusiasm, about how Allah is behind our every thought and action and it sounded exactly like young enthusiastic religious Jewish boys. Fascinating.

 

With much love to you all, irrespective of your leanings, beliefs or thoughts as long as they don't hurt anyone.

 

Love from just outside Jerusalem, still my favourite place in the world

Sheila