200703
3rd July 2020
Shabbat shalom dear friends. I hope you passed
the last 2 weeks without too much drama and are well and surviving yet another
round of isolation or closure.
“Get your facts first,” said Mark Twain “and then
you can distort them as you please.”
Today's journalists rarely get their facts first,
rather than distorting facts they distort everything. Today's journalists do
not report, they opine, often with the sole intention of giving their readers,
listeners or viewers a skewed vision of the truth to suit their own political
views. Few and far between are those who
research their subject and inform.
This week in Israel the news has been full of
annexation, Corona and the falling world economy coupled with the odd honour
killing and rowdy youngsters fighting on the beach, probably very similar to
your news broadcasts and one aspect that probably didn't reach your news.
This week Prime Minister Netanyahu was intent
upon demeaning, disregarding and disparaging a war hero. General Benny Gantz
has the strange title of "Alternate Prime Minister", of equal rank to
the PM while serving Defence Minister in a government formed to deal with the
Corona Pandemic. In his usual fashion Netanyahu pays no heed to anyone else and
his announcement on annexation was made without consultation with his co-PM. In
a Press Conference this week both PM's were to speak on both Corona and the
annexation issue and as Benny Gantz sat waiting, his remarks prepared,
Netanyahu simply walked past him, said what he wanted to say and left, ignoring
Benny Gantz presence. Jerusalem Post Editor Yaakov Katz asks the most important
question in Israel right now "Who's in Charge Here?" in an opinion
which covers the annexation, broken communication in government and Corona https://www.jpost.com/opinion/between-netanyahu-and-gantz-whos-really-in-charge-comment-633700
The knee-jerk response of the Israeli press to
any disagreement with Israeli policy from any leader around the world is that
they are "Anti-Israel or Anti-Semitic". Most leaders have been disturbed
by the timing of the unilateral declaration of annexation. Boris Johnson, a
clear friend of Israel who charmed me by his brilliance and warmth when we met
in Jerusalem, believes that the timing is unwise and expressed his concerns
with clarity – I agree with every word he said.
Here's an abridged version of the current overbearing
Netanyahu control.
Netanyahu wants
annexation now without discussion under the deep influence of US Ambassador
Friedman. He also wants total control of all policies and will not abide by the
agreement with Blue and White. His actions are intended also to deflect from
his imminent trial for corruption and abuse of power.
Gantz, as a former
Chief of Staff, promotes careful consideration of implications to Security and
the status of the Jewish State and believes annexation must be combined with
negotiations with Palestinians and acceptance of the Arab world
Ashkenazi (Foreign
Minister) also a former Chief of Staff, is trying to thwart the annexation
plans as inappropriate timing
Edelstein – Minister of
Health. Forthright, aware of economy but doesn't hold back in demanding the
wearing of masks,
social distancing, love your grandchildren from 2 metres but visit the elderly
taking precautions, in general disagreeing with opening the country as
Netanyahu demands.
PA
President Abbas,
taking advantage of Israel's current indecision coupled with USA threats to cut
funding, announced that the Palestinians are willing to return to negotiation
table, conditional to picking up where the former negotiations ended. In other
words, 1967 borders and the return of all "refugees". Abbas doesn't
want independent country. With independence come the demand for a viable economy;
no further aid from the UN, US, UK, EU and all the other abbreviations;
acceptance that their demand for right of return will not happen; abiding by
the Geneva Convention rules and be held responsible for incitement to terror.
Abbas is losing power, rumblings from all sides in the PA so perhaps this is
not the time to come to an agreement with a man who is soon leaving power.
Enough
already!
I find all the machinations of power, and it is all about power, overpowering
and depressing. We, the little people can do nothing about it until elections
and even then it is debatable as to our influence. Let's talk about important
subjects instead.
As
you know I spent the latter part of last week in hospital, a fascinating social,
racial and religious amalgamation on every level of responsibility. My surgery,
for which I was wide awake, was carried out by the Head of Surgery at Shaare
Zedek, Dr. Alberton, who made Aliya from the FSU at about the same time as I
made Aliya; his assistant surgeon was an Israeli-born Jew, the anaesthetist
came originally from Uzbekistan, the male Theatre nurse an Israeli Moslem Arab
and the recovery room nurse in charge was born in Manchester! Upon arrival back
onto my wonderful, spacious, airy room I was greeted and coddled by a fabulous
nurse who came home from Ethiopia in 1984. Other countries talk about the
melting pot but Israel really is one – especially in the medical field. We have
our racists, we express all the usual human foibles, but essentially we are a
wonderfully brightly coloured rainbow of humanity. Most importantly, all of the
above was on our socialised medicine system and everyone, from the road sweeper
to the professor, gets the same treatment.
Before
going into hospital
I had a meeting in Shalva and I am amazed, touched, emotional and
excited to tell you that we reached our goal of $125,000 to build "Dr.
Dan's Room" a Music Therapy classroom equipped with every kind of musical
instrument appropriate to even the most physically and mentally challenged children
and young adults. Every time I go to Shalva I am uplifted. There is a sense of
hope and acceptance that is rare and makes each of us a better person. I walk
inside and know that this is what my Daniel, my beautiful son, would have
approved of because Shalva represents all of his basic principles in life of loving,
giving, understanding, accepting, healing and helping these youngsters reach
their potential. I cannot bring Daniel back but, together with all of Dan's family,
especially his children Joshua and Callie, and his closest friends, I can give
this world a beautiful reminder of his humble determination to bring kindness
to our world. To understand why I chose Shalva, please watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Dame
Helen Mirren
introduced a fantastic Israel Philharmonic Orchestra internet concert
which we all enjoyed this week. It was truly amazing! Enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib3O-9Sp6ss
Black
Lives Matter
is an organisation which has lost its way, lost its morality. As a child and
young woman my heroes were the incomparable Dr Martin Luther King and a fine
scholar and gentleman called Paul Robeson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson. Paul Robeson was black, poor yet won an
academic scholarship to Rutgers University in 1915, aged 17, an exceptional
achievement and then attained a law degree from Columbia University. Robeson
was a polyglot with at least 15 languages and a law degree. He was a victim of
McCarthyism and found safe haven in the UK where both his singing and legal
careers flourished. One little known aspect of Paul Robeson was his love of the
Jewish people and Israel. This deeply religious Christian loved the Yiddish
language and his repertoire went far beyond Old Man River, Otello or Porgy and
Bess – here he sings two wonderful Yiddish songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ3lRWyVX9A
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGgFqq1yVe0
English,
Arabic, Spanish and Hebrew – Omer Adam and Eden Ben Zaken have a
multilingual, fun new music clip. I love it!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d60H5D9GefE
I
changed the order around a bit this week just because I felt like it! My week
has been limited, obviously, but Zvi and Rachel have been amazing. Zvi now
makes a good British cuppa fit for a queen, in fact fit for The Queen!!!
Rachel made us cheese borekas that are so easy and delicious that I couldn't
believe it. Roll out puff pastry fairly thinly and cut into squares of
appropriate size. For the filling mix, (you can do all of this low fat) cottage
cheese, either feta or Bulgarian cheese and sour cream until a nice firm consistency.
Fill the squares, top with spinach, use beaten egg to seal into triangles then
eggwash. Pop onto a cookie tray into a medium oven until puffy and golden brown
and enjoy!!!
I have
spent most of my relaxing, recovery hours sitting on our veranda, just enjoying
the burst of colour of my winter planting in the foreground framing the
breathtaking view of Jerusalem spread before me. I named my newsletter "The
View From My Veranda" because in the year 2,000 the beautiful view was
clouded by explosions, the air shook from the reverberations and the site of
the latest Palestinian terror attack was pinpointed by palls of black smoke.
Thank Heaven times have changed and thanks to the border fence and the
brilliance of the IDF, 95% of attacks have been thwarted. Today the view from
my veranda is one of beauty, of a city which has temporarily slowed down, but
is tentatively opening up again like a flower which is scared of the sun. We
have no choice but to abide by the demands of a terrifying pandemic and are
learning to read between the lines of our leader's words, judging for ourselves
the need to be very careful.
Almost
Shabbat. This week's Torah reading is a lesson in forbearance. After 40 years of wandering in the
desert, the people of Israel arrived in
the arid wilderness of Zin and they were thirsty and somewhat rebellious. G‑d tells Moses to speak to a boulder and command it to give water. Moses was angry at
the attitude of the Israelites and struck the stone in frustration. Water poured out but
God told Moses that because of his outburst neither he nor Aaron will enter the Promised Land.
Violence may get you what you want now but denies you the ultimate goal.
On that
note…….
I wish
you a Shabbat Shalom, a safe and healthy week filled with loved ones at a safe
distance.
With
love from Jerusalem
Sheila
I just
received this from my nephew Jeffrey and I couldn't believe the level of
stupidity. Young people in Alabama are holding Corona party competitions and
the first one to be ill gets a prize https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/us/alabama-coronavirus-parties-trnd/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1iqjh-xl1a2MyCYxDYwRBd2_8iaBomG6NgbZznUaHSJbHBhhDDYNIt7Rk
