Adar, Terror and Hope

 

23^rd February 2024

 

Shabbat Shalom dear friends. A peaceful, kind weekend to one and all irrespective of how you pray, to whom you pray and in which direction. I wish you well.

 

Ramadan is one of the Five Pillars of the Moslem faith. It is celebrated on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and entails a month of daytime fasting and after sunset, holding family feasts. It is a month of fasting, praying and celebration of Mohammed’s revelation. It should be a month of contemplation and prayer, but it has changed its face in the Middle East, no that’s not true, it has changed its face in this tiny part of the world. It has become and excuse for violence, terror, killing, maiming and death. A religious festival became an explosion of terrifying anger that has spread its ugly wings to too many corners of our world, destroying lives.

 

Yesterday, ordinary people sat complaining and moaning about the usual morning traffic jam bringing ordinary working folk into southern Jerusalem. It happens every morning, just like traffic jams everywhere in the world, and this one is exacerbated by the need for a border control, because the town of Maaleh Adumim, just a few kilometres from French Hill, on the way to the Dead Sea, is surrounded by Arab villages, of which most of the residents work in Jerusalem. Traffic Jams are annoying, but we can’t do anything about it, we don’t have cars on high wheels like Dick Dasardly!  However, yesterday a traffic jam became a death trap with nowhere to escape the three terrorists who intentionally caused an accident, jumped out of their hire car and ran shooting wildly at drivers and passengers, determined to kill everyone. A young man who was released from miluim just days ago still had his personal weapon, got out of his car and together with a policeman who was on his way to work, successfully shot the perpetrators, but not before one young man died, 8 were injured and many were traumatised. Can you imagine hiring a car, driving from Hebron with the sole intention of killing as many Israelis as possible?

 

Itamar Ben Gvir used the opportunity for a rant encouraging ordinary citizens to carry guns. His childish, racist rants are now all too familiar. Here in Israel, in order to achieve a gun licence, one must pass psychological tests, learn to shoot at an official range, and renew your licence on a regular basis. You cannot shoot someone just because you are suspicious, otherwise you will be arrested as someone we know who shot at a burglar in his house. Our gun rules are very strict and woe betide the soldier who doesn’t keep his personal weapon beside him at all times, even if he is at home.

 

Yehuda and Shomron, the Biblical Judea and Samaria, was occupied by Jordan, from 1948 until 1967 and the 6 Day War. Yes, it was Jordanian for just 19 years! The Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Samaria. In fact, in 1947, the Biblical terminology was used by the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine with the statement: "the boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea starts on the Jordan River at the Wadi Malih south-east of Beisan and runs due west to meet the Beisan-Jericho road and then follows the western side of that road in a north-westerly direction to the junction of the boundaries of the Sub-Districts of Beisan, Nablus, and Jenin”. No mention of “to the Sea”! From about 1977, it has accumulated various eponyms – West Bank, Occupied Territories, Occupied Palestinian Land, East Jerusalem (even though it isn’t in the East), basically it is land that was fought over and occupied by many ancient peoples but nobody ever doubted that it was Biblical, recognised in the Old Testament, the Tenach. More than 3,000 years from the time of that famous poet, King David and well before. So folks, from now on, no West Bank, no occupied land, when talking to journalists or even to each other, it is Judea and Samaria or we can revert to our origins and call it Yehuda v’ Shomron.

 

Udi Levy - who was head of economic warfare in the Mossad, Israel's famous spy agency, until 2016 - says he told Mr Netanyahu many times that Israel had the means to crush Hamas, which controls Gaza, "by using only financial tools". We could have stopped Hamas using just financial warfare, their investments of $422 million in 2018.Levy says he never got a response to his proposal from Mr Netanyahu. I have the full list of Hamas’s multi-million dollar investment portfolio. If you want to see it just let me know.

 

I want you to meet Hamid Abu Arar, father of 9. Hamid grew up in Gaza but lived in the village of Aroer in the Negev. He and his wife Fatima were on their way to work on October 7^th when Hamas attacked. Fatima, who was pregnant, was driving and was killed instantly, Hamid was injured but grabbed their baby and found somewhere to hide for hours on end. While he hid, he called the emergency services to no avail. He overheard the terrorists talking of their plans so when he finally heard Hebrew being spoken and understood that the IDF was there, he took his clothes off, held his 7 month old baby, to show that he had no weapons, and told the soldiers of the overheard Hamas attack, saving many lives. Interior Minister Moshe Arbel chose to reward Hamid for his bravery and presented him with permanent resident status in a ceremony. Arbel declared that the true Children of Abraham must fight evil.

 

A farce was avoided in one of the most exquisite buildings in London. A Ramallah based, supposed Palestinian Human Rights Group, Al Haq launched a case urging the suspension of UK arms sales to Israel. The legal challenge against the UK Department for Business and Trade was launched in December and summarily dismissed by the Court  

 

The Jews are today’s litmus test, the canary in the coal mine of Western society. If you are an observer of changes in society you will note that in many places, places near you, the object of hatred is swerving, nay veering from Israel to the Jews. When hatred is projected on to the Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben and is at the corner of Parliament, it may have been a step too far. The House of Commons held speech after speech condemning the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic rallies particularly after the Sottish National Party called for sanctions against Israel. I hate to think what will happen next but I worry for you.

 

That’s it! Gloom and doom don’t fit my current mood or the Hebrew month of Adar. I just got back from one of the most positive events in a long time. Let me introduce you to Shauli Yosipon, a wonderful man who lives in the village of Motza with his wife Rachel and four daughters. Shauli became a mosaic artist later in life and has created mosaics for many local sites. This morning was Shauli’s birthday, a good day for a delightful event. Let me go back 4 months and the outbreak of war, the national trauma of October 7^th and the need to be together. Shauli had already planned a mosaic to mark the 90^th anniversary of the founding of the “Yishuv” literally meaning settlement, just 8 miles from Jerusalem where pilgrims walking to the Temple would stop to rest on their way to honour the “foot festivals” of Pesach, Shevuot and Succot. I say 8 miles because the chosen site of the large mosaic is where the original pilgrim’s milestone once stood. Going even further back, as I have explained, Motza and our neighborhood of Arza, are on the ancient road to Jerusalem, the so-called 7 Sisters, or Sheva Achiot, and it was here that the first  modern settlement outside Jerusalem was built. Motza is also the site of an ancient Neolithic settlement many thousands of years old. The Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, and Rashi discuss the meaning of the name and Motza’s residents were exempt from taxation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motza

 

OK, back to Shauli and his mosaic! This morning was the ceremony to reveal the finished mosaic! What a glorious humble ceremony. Shauli’s mother was there as the initiator of the idea, and the amazing lady who placed the very first stone in the mosaic. We sat in the spring sunshine, and Shauli’s work brought a much needed smile. Shauli thanked Mohammed, Ibraham and Akram for their help in bringing the project to fruition, and of course Shalom Goldstein, the local council head, for his unwavering support.  As always, at any ceremony today, we blessed the soldiers who protect us, wished the wounded a speedy return to health and consoled the families of those who were lost. Thank you Shauli, you made my day.

 

Interestingly, when Zvi used to take dignitaries to the 6^th floor of the Municipality he would always describe multicultural Jerusalem as a human mosaic.

 

Lucy Aharish breaks barriers! She grew up in the only Moslem family in a Jewish town, she’s a woman from the periphery, married to a Jew and is one of the most successful journalists in Israel. Lucy has no fear of speaking out about October 7^th, the rapes, the broken bones, the savagery of burning babies, of killing mothers in front of children and children in front of mothers, and the silence of the Women’s Groups all over the world about it all. Here she talks about being and Israeli Moslem married to a Jewish actor/soldier in an interview with Bari Weiss. Fascination and enlightening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LIcd7wHlCE  

 

This has been a week with many positive happenings. On Sunday a group of girlfriends came for brunch and a catch-up. It really was delightful. On Monday we went to see a movie with the Dagans, on Tuesday I went to my “Mind and Movement” session which always lifts my spirits, on Thursday, that’s yesterday, more girlfriends came for lunch, but not just for lunch, first we went for my favourite walk over the reservoir. Since some came from Raanana and Herzliya the glorious sunshine, the open vista with the softly undulating hills of the Jerusalem forests, the Beit Zayit dam and the rain filled reservoir and vineyards. Life was made even better since everyone brought something to eat so I didn’t need to cook! Zvi, yet again proved that he is not a misogynist by joining us in our “Picnic on the veranda”. The only thing that is missing in our nature trail is a picnic table. This afternoon our incredible friend Dr Kimball Taylor (aka Kim) is making the long journey from a small town in Alberta, Canada, to take his place at the WZO meetings in Jerusalem. I love it when Kim comes to stay, he lights up our lives with his joy at returning “home”.

 

I’m off to my Rachel when I finish talking to you. I definitely need to finish off my week with hugs from the huggiest family in the world, to say nothing of the cup of tea and freshly made bread roll with her famous egg salad that will await me. Zvi has gone to his parliament in the Botanical Garden then he will go to the airport to bring Kim home. Tonight’s Shabbat dinner will not be big but it will be delightful as Amiad returns from Miami and he, Noga, Ella and Yonatan are coming to join Zvi, Kim and I for dinner.

 

We all need music to lighten our load and this week is no different.

 

The people of the towns and villages of the South (and North) have been refugees in their own country. What they miss most of all is the companionship of small societies, their friends, to help them heal. Be’eri,  lost so many and so much really needed to get back together somehow and Koolulam came up with the  how and where and Idan Reichel with the song. It says it all “Everything that was here will change tomorrow” Listen to the words, the hope in their song and their eyes.  https://youtu.be/hptZdP_hulY?si=0MGcjIB_YCZHqKTs

 

Arik Einstein is an Israeli legend. Lyricist, playwright, singer, comic actor, serious actor and wonderful representative of Israel. Here he sings of how we, you and I, can change the world https://youtu.be/UUgCUgDUBmA?si=9ctiOY8reaty0kZG

 

Idan Amedi is a true Israeli hero although he would be angry if he knew that I said that. He could have just carried on with his music and acting careers, but instead, on October 7^th he donned his IDF uniform and headed for Gaza. Idan was very seriously injured in the explosion that killed 7 of his fellows, but he was determined to display a rare strength in his humility and his recovery has been nothing short of miraculous. He goes each day to the rehabilitation centre of Sheba hospital, determined to fight back. Of course you know him as Sagi Tzur, the elite fighter commander in Fauda, a role very close his real life. Here he sings the theme song of Fauda. https://youtu.be/WqmtMDlo7Y0?si=6noD3nkkilm8V-6p

 

So, another weekend, another Shabbat, 140 days that the hostages left in Gaza are missing from their family Shabbat table. We must never give up, we have to bring them home.

 

I wish you a peaceful weekend, a true Shabbat Shalom. I send you love from the most beautiful city in the world, Jerusalem.

Sheila  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Yarmouk to Rafah

 

15^th February, 2024

October the 132nd

 

Shabbat Shalom!

 

This week was Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten period. My childhood memories of Shrove Tuesday was of ladies dressed in frilly aprons racing each other down the streets of the city while tossing pancakes! Not thick fluffy pancakes but something more reminiscent of crepes.

 

Last Shabbat Zvi and I went for a long walk along the path which leads through the nature reserve with glorious views over the now full reservoir. The spring flowers were abundant and the view simply breathtaking. After a newspaper article describing it as the most beautiful view in Israel, we were no longer alone with our view, as many people discovered it, even if they took their cars on the stony path rather than walk it! I look around me as I drive down the road and I see the puff balls of pink and white almond blossom (shkediot), the pink of the wild cyclamen (rakefot) , the bright red of the anemones (calaniot) against the rich green foliage after the rains. The reservoir is full, reflecting the new foliage of the bushes and trees that surround it, the air is fresh and crisp, and we are at war. Young lives are lost before they are lived, children will grow up without a father and young women have to be mother and father to their children. Add to that the vile anti-Semitism that, like a boa constrictor, is strangling freedom in just about every corner of the globe from Stockholm to Sydney and from New York to Melbourne. Both the beauty and the evil are real, one diametrically opposed to the other, yet walking side by side. 

 

We are all aware of the outrage in the world for Israel’s oppression of the Gazans in our war against Hamas. I’m just curious, have you ever heard of Yarmouk? On Dec 16, 2012, the Syrian air force, on the orders of Assad, bombed Yarmouk killing many civilians (the real number may never be known). Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled Yarmouk & were displaced without anywhere to go & without knowing if/when they may ever return. Over the next 6 years, in the largest Palestinian city in Syria, Palestinian civilians were indiscriminately slaughtered, tens of thousands fled, and then Assad laid total siege to the remaining tens of thousands of Palestinians during which men, women, children, the elderly, the infirm, & babies were all forced to stay in Yarmouk without electricity, without water, with minimal access to food, and with little to no access to any medication or first aid of any kind. Of course you weren’t aware of Yarmouk, because no-one cared because it was a cruel dictator not Israel trying to survive.

 

Another question. Remember last week I wrote about the apparently disappearing medication that poured into Gaza? Well, the two wonderful men who were released from captivity in Rafah by our special IDF troops, said that they never received any medication!!

 

The highly sophisticated missiles have been launched with greater frequency on the north of Israel, all the beautiful towns and villages that you loved to visit have been systematically destroyed. Yesterday they targetted Sfat or Safed, the exquisite ancient spiritual town, knowing full well that the HQ of the IDF operations in the North were close by. Tragically a young soldier was killed and others injured. It’s an awful thing to say but we are used to the daily recitation of names of beautiful young people who have lost their lives defending ours.

 

The photograph which needed no explanation, indeed is the epitome of hope in this ghastly war, was that of Fernando Marman and Luis Har as they arrived at Sheba Hospital and were reunited with their families. After 4 months of near starvation, they lost huge amounts of weight, barely subsisting on the meagre rations that Hamas grudgingly gave them, but as they clung together with their loved ones, we understood that they were home.

 

134 hostages are still in Gaza and their families are in a living hell, not knowing who is alive and who died in captivity. Since it is high time that Israel preempted rather than defended in the Hague, tired of waiting for our government to do something, anything, around 100 representatives of family members of the kidnapped flew to the Netherlands on Wednesday to file an official complaint against Hamas and its leadership at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-786843  Simultaneously and without consultation with the War Cabinet, the Prime Minister brought the Israeli representatives back from the Beirut Conference on the release of hostages.

 

Bedouins were among the hostages, the dead and many bravely risked their lives, going back time and again to take young people to safety, their one aim to save others from the horrors of October 7^th. This week a ceremony was held in the FOZ (Friends of Zion) Museum in Jerusalem to honour the Bedouin heroes of October 7^th.

 

Eylon Levy, spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, became famous for his raised eyebrows when interviewed on CNN at the beginning of the war. This week he interviewed Marcus Sheff, CEO of Impact-se (www.impact-se.org ) about UNWRA’s part in the October 7^th terror attack and the conditioning of Palestinian children to be martyrs, kill and be killed, Jihad, which led to the October 7th massacre of Israelis. https://youtu.be/Rt3DlOO-5KY?si=TX1Jeo9xaP6E9rXT

 

The final proof that UNWRA was complicit in all of Hamas activities came this week. Beneath UNRWA’s Gaza HQ, the IDF uncovered one of Hamas’s most significant and top secret assets; a subterranean data center used by the terror group for intelligence and communications. The terror group built the server farm, complete with an electrical room and living quarters for the Hamas IT staff, directly below the UN agency’s complex in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, to ensure Israel would never target it.

 

It was a busy week but for me the highlight was definitely my visit to the Impact-se office as Chair of the Board. Such a brilliant group of young people, specialists in Arabic and the Middle East, they are responsible for the translation and reports on the school books of many nations, experts in both Sunni and Shiite teaching. It gives me great pleasure to be in the company of great enthusiasm, efficiency, determination to make this a kinder, better world where the child abuse of hate education will become a thing of the past.

 

While most of the Western Media has turned on Israel, Sky Australia has been even handed, in fact supportive of Israel in their reporting of the Gaza War. Chris Kenny, on his opinion show, tells it like it is, no holds barred. He criticises his own government and the “weak trio” – well worth a listen https://youtu.be/dn278aYtodg?si=hmrTjI4iB4w--B9c

 

Each morning I wake up, check my emails, bring the newspaper in from beside the door, make my coffee and crackers and take it all outside to our veranda. I sit and read the paper but all the time listening to the tell-tale high tweet of the sunbirds. Their tiny, iridescent black bodies, flit from flower to flower, drinking their sweetness from the bottom of the flower, darting and playing with each other at what seems like the speed of light. Somehow the news in the paper is less depressing as I watch them. They make me smile, indeed I am still smiling as I go on to Wordle and Spelling Bee. The sunbirds (Tsufiot) hover over the citrus trees, as if chattering to each other admiring the abundance of limes, lemons and kumquats, of course I agree with them.

 

The weather has been rather cool, I dare not say cold because most of you have been suffering in the ice and snow, but there is a definite nip in the air. I should point out that our table and chairs outside are under cover so I don’t get wet in the fairly constant rain. I can’t complain about the rain since the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is full, the waterfalls of the north are crashing down the hillsides and Mount Hermon’s pistes are covered in fresh white snow. The shame is that all of the latter are unreachable because of the danger from Hezb-Allah.

 

Tomorrow morning we will go to Tel Aviv to celebrate the bat Mitzva of Ori, Leor and Shiri’s third daughter. Her birthday was some time ago and the Bat Mitzvah party date has been changed four times poor girl. At first because there were missiles raining down on Nes Ziona, then because too many were on Miluim but now….it will happen tomorrow. Admittedly much smaller than intended, but with loads of love!

 

 

A group of Malawan A Capella singers and the song Home, about the prayer for the return of the Israeli hostages in Gaza. They sing in Hebrew. Apparently, the people of Malawi understand the situation infinitely better than some Western leaders https://youtu.be/QzJpEwpYsLA?si=Vedd10x_OSrpUq_7  

 

In today’s turmoil one tends to forget the good things, the beautiful relationships that exist despite, which is why I love this song, and the version. What a wonderful World  https://youtu.be/R0xoMhCT-7A?si=D_ngOXcOEDqFDjEu

 

Lecha Dodi – Come My Beloved – is sung on a Friday night to welcome the bride of Shabbat. Why bride? Pure and beautiful, just as Shabbat. I love this rendition by the wonderfully eccentric, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach  https://youtu.be/NC19kaPCMYM?si=25wJtvRKz7d-3k-j

 

My prayer does not change from week to week. I pray to see the hostages home, safe if not sound. I want the families of those who fell at the hands of Hamas buried here in Israel to find relief of the awful unknown of whether they are alive or not. I want this war to end, although I know it cannot yet. I want, I pray that Hamas will really fall and that the utterly corrupt United nations, be it UNWRA or the so-called Security Council disbanded and a logical, fair, honest organisation take its place. I want so many things, especially that Tal’s husband will come home safely from months of Miluim in the South. Who’s Tal? My lovely young neighbour who is coping with three small children alone while her husband fights for our security. I want a fair world where my friends in the Diaspora do not feel under threat.

 

I wish you a beautiful Shabbat or Sabbath Day. With love from Jerusalem, our Jerusalem. May God keep you and bless you.

 

Sheila

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben Gurion to Haniya

 

9^th of February, 2024

October 126th

 

Shabbat Shalom dear friends.

 

Did you know that ”email message” in Yiddish is Der Blitsbriv? It’s amazing how Yiddish, an old European Jewish language, is still morphing, changing with the times. Most of the Jews of Eastern Europe communicated with each other in Yiddish, yet that language did not die with the Holocaust, it is thriving and ever growing, a bit like us!

 

On the 8^th of February, 1940, the Lodz Ghetto was announced and the Jews began heading, with what few belongings and all the courage they could muster, to the crowded conditions of the Ghetto, leaving their homes behind. Despite their sense of foreboding, they prayed for the best, after all they had no alternative, there was no Jewish homeland. Like Jews all over the world, they were, and are, visitors in another’s home. Despite the fact that we are rather like the worker bee whose work is the basis of nature, we are treated as a cuckoo who must be thrown out of the nest. Both sets of our parents had left Poland, mine in 1910 and 1920 whereas Zvi’s parents, who left in 1934 and 1935, were saved because they came here, to the nascent state of Israel. Despite going back to Poland and begging their families to leave, all of them felt they were safer there. Sadly all perished, only Kalman and Alla survived, here in their own land. I don’t believe in Never Again, I believe in Never Forget.

 

Always curious, I had a look at what happened on this day in history. 30 years ago today Shimon Peres signed an accord with Yassir Arafat; 40 years ago, the headlines could almost have been of today, except for the hostages, when the USA left Lebanon with the suggestion, intention, assumption, that Israel would patrol her own border with that imminently dangerous area; 50 years ago today the British miners strike created havoc yet great neighborliness as everyone gathered around our log fireplace by candlelight; 60 years ago today the Beatles went on the Ed Sullivan show, the beginning of the unofficial social reforms together with Mary Quant and Vidal Sassoon. Isn’t it strange how one can find life fascinating when searching for thoughts to take one away from reality.

 

As news leaks out about more and more deaths among the hostages, the issue becomes more and more urgent. Hamas were not only body-snatchers on October 7^th, they are holding on to the bodies of those they have killed, either murdered or simply denied urgent medication, an untenable situation for the families and for the nation. As I told you last week, every hour of every day on Israel television, is dedicated to news and families of hostages or fallen soldiers are invited to join the panel of experts to tell their story. The bravery of the families is astonishing, but outside Israel the displaced Israelis are often forgotten. Over 140,000 people have been asked to leave their homes in the South and the North and they are living in hotels, the intention to protect them from the bombardment by both Hamas and Hezb-Allah, but emptying the towns and villages goes against everything that David Ben Gurion believed.

 

In March 1955 there was a wedding in Patish, a moshav near Gaza, when Fedayeen terrorists came in from Gaza and threw hand grenades at all the guests. When Ben Gurion came to support the moshavniks (members of the Moshav) he saw several packing their bags to go elsewhere. To paraphrase his long speech, Jews do not run away any more. I feel that demanding that all those people leave their homes, albeit to prevent deaths and damage, the message to our enemies is that they have won, the Jews are running again. The “Old Man” who’s courage was legend, would not have approved.

 

Another David Ben Gurion quote is even more appropriate. The UN in Hebrew is haUmot hameuchedet, or UM; which Ben Gurion, when informed of the UN demands said “Um Shum” or United Nations is nothing! They were useless even then!

 

Back to today, I cannot escape from what is happening, the lies told and the facts on the ground. Israeli Brigadier General Dan Goldfus took foreign journalists to Khan Yunis to show them the extent of the most recent tunnel discovery. Tiled walls, a kitchen, bedrooms, dining room and a cage for the hostages. https://youtu.be/_tOG8qUhxPk?si=PZiU_8QGTTQpWg7y  The conditions under which those hostages were and are held, those who are still alive, were inhuman. Barely fed, no air, no light, no medication. Those who were held in private homes were kept in even worse conditions, constantly threatened by their “hosts”.

 

We now face the Catch 22 situation of prisoners for the hostages, both the survivors and the bodies of those who did not. It was announced that at least 32 of the remaining hostages are dead and possibly another 20 also did not survive. If you remember the last prisoner release was in exchange for Gilad Shalit. At that time Ehud Olmert was firmly against the release of prisoners with blood on their hands, but Benjamin Netanyahu chose to agree to the deal and could be seen at the multitude of photo ops with the Shalit family. Among the 1,047 prisoners released was Yahyeh Sinwar, and we all know the result. The prisoners who may be released in any deal for the release of the hostages, are almost all proven terrorists with blood on their hands, but the level of their atrocities is wide. The most serious is Marwan Barghouti who was responsible for the First and Second Intifadas. Barghouti was always considered the most dangerous, highly intelligent, he was exiled to Jordan in 1987 for terror activities then returned to lead the Tanzim, the Fatah military arm. He was caught in 2002 and convicted to 5 terms of life imprisonment. His release is being considered but it is essential that if released, he understands that it was secured by Israel not by Hamas. Despite the bloody history of Hamas against Fatah in Gaza, when Hamas murdered any and all Fatah supporters, if he feels gratitude to Hamas he may just join them with disastrous results. Like everything in this part of the world, it’s complicated!

 

To understand the depth of our pain, our longing for the return of the hostages, Jerusalem Municipality, Safra Square and empty beds. https://youtu.be/o-b7M0oaQFM?si=xru75DYTPTwYD47x

 

Rafah is on the so-called Philadelphi Corridor and the final stage for the IDF battle against Hamas, despite strong objections from Egypt. It is where most arms were smuggled into Gaza. Egypt, very wisely, created a safe zone on their side of the Egypt-Gaza border, clearing a wide swathe of land of housing that abutted the border. Of course when Israel tried to do the same on the Gaza side of the border with Southern Israel we were accused of just about every sin in the book! Both Egypt and Israel must protect themselves from the crucible of hate that is Gaza.

 

Did you know that the USA hit 85 sites in Iraq and Syria this week? All were linked, like Hamas, to Iran’s IRGC militias. I think the media were too busy condemning Israel to even notice!!

 

This week Jordan and Holland answered the Hamas request for medicines. Seriously? What about those truckloads of medicines that we saw going into Gaza after they demanded 1,000 times the medication Israel provided for the hostages? If you go back to the video of the tunnel you will see boxes of medicine thrown on the floor.

 

Time and again Israel shows inhuman generosity when dealing with the sick from Gaza, but this one is exceptional! Ismail Haniya is the leader of Hamas, residing in luxury in Qatar. At various times members of Haniya’s family have been treated in Israeli hospitals. Haniya’s niece, who lives in Israel, gave birth to a dangerously premature baby who was taken to Soroka Hospital and treated with the utmost care, as are all patients. Israel celebrates life not death but that leaves no impression upon the cruelty of Hamas.

 

Nova Peris is an Aboriginal heroine. An Olympian athlete she has proudly represented the indigenous peoples of Australia and now she supports the indigenous people of this land. Truth telling is her aim. What a wonderful lady. https://youtu.be/fpt6p6IF58E?si=nqqdjr6Tv3XOCrtN

 

Yuval Freilich already won the Gold Medal in the European Fencing Championships and has now won Gold in the Doha Grand Prix. Yuval has brought more than personal and national honour, Hatikva was played in Qatar. Wonders will never cease. Yuval is not the only Israeli athlete to bring in the prize this week!

Sharon Kantor won the Gold in the iQFLiO World Windsurfer Championships in the Canary Isles

 

Last night we drove up to Netanya for the combined birthdays of Sergio and Sara Verbitzky. I thought I would be rather lonely as the only non-Spanish speaker in the room, but in fact it was a delightful evening and many of the guests came to talk to us! Such lovely friendly people especially the Mexicans!  The first lady that we spoke to was Miriam Zaga who came on Aliya with her job some 20 years ago. To say that Miriam works with Naaleh is wrong, it is her vocation. Naaleh brings young people from all over the world who make Aliya before their parents. I love this programme. Read all about it. https://naale-elite-academy.com/program/

 

Yes it has been another busy week and I succeeded in knitting my 23^rd hat for soldiers! It’s so relaxing! One visitor was Gaby Hirsch. Gaby has been my link to my son Daniel z”l although she never met him. Gaby guided me through the creation of Dr. Dan’s Room, the studio for the performing arts in the magical Shalva Centre where people with special needs are given the opportunity to be part of society and their parents to know that their children are just as beautiful as everyone else’s, in fact more special. Gaby is going on to a new and exciting position and I, along with everyone who knows her will miss her smiling face. Good luck Gaby; love you arms and legs. https://give.shalva.org/daniel

 

Perhaps it is most appropriate that my first song is with the Shalva Band and All You Need is Love. You’ll see Gaby in her office, Shalva soldiers, happy children and volunteers along with the Band https://youtu.be/wvhhae73wnk?si=W1xGGLAQVzShur27

 

Natanel Hershtik has the voice of an angel, His father, Naftali Hershtik, was the Cantor of the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem and Natanel is a loving son of his parents and of Israel. Here he sings the prayer for the IDF, for our soldiers https://youtu.be/uL-yEVU18Cc?si=5lJ2IDVexRc3kH2w

 

One day we will live in peace One Day a very different Koolulam. https://youtu.be/EuHwoz8K3tM?si=O-Up15dUiUUtuFMR

 

I wish you a weekend of peace, a weekend of kindness, of calm, of Shalva.

 

Shabbat Shalom from beautiful Jerusalem where the sun finally came out after weeks of rain. I can’t wait to go to the Nature Reserve opposite for our weekly constitutional to see the reservoir overflowing with the recent rainwaters and the spring flowers showing their faces to the sun

 

With love

Sheila

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

UBNWRA exit stage left

 

The 2^nd of the 2^nd 2024

Shvat 23^rd 5784

 

October the 118^th

 

Shabbat Shalom dear friends, Shabbat Shalom from a very wet, windy and rainy Jerusalem. Shabbat Shalom from a very busy week in Israel’s life. As usual I will try to give you a balanced look at our lives, what it means to be at war with a cruel enemy which hides under the guise of the underdog. It’s a strange world that we live in where Western politicians understand the situation and the public doesn’t!

 

I listened in rapt attention to the Congressional Hearing on UNWRA’s role, particularly UNWRA’s hate teaching and role in the October 7^th massacre. I am so proud of Impact-se and our role in changing the world for the better but rarely more than at the hearing as our CEO Marcus Sheff, presented the schoolbooks taught in UNWRA schools and their part in hate teaching. Marcus, unlike most others, presented with professional sang froid, without drama, the facts. UNWRA was and is undoubtedly the catalyst for hatred. Of course one can also quote the horrifying figures of corruption and profligate waste of money within the organisation, but corruption occurs everywhere, the greatest crime of UNWRA is promoting hatred of such dimensions that it led to a massacre. For those with patience, the entire Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on UNWRA. Presenting the UNWRA control of education in Gaza and its effect, Marcus Sheff, CEO of Impact-se, appears at 1 hour exactly and at 1 hour and 35 minutes. https://www.congress.gov/committees/video/house-foreign-affairs/hsfa00/zkBp1zgggtc

 

UNHCR the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, takes care of refugees throughout the world, refugees whose situation is beyond terrible and they do so with efficiency. Refugee status in the rest of the world lasts for two years but UNWRA has succeeded in making refugee status for Palestinians a multi-generational status. UNWRA must be disbanded and allow UNHCR to take over the position.

 

Israeli satirical TV show “Eretz Nehederet” or Wonderful country, did a very funny skit on UNWRA, in English, proving yet again that Jews have survived every conceivable horror with a sense of humour! https://youtu.be/1RBnP05DGjw?si=e6fHp-2ZnUkZfnxp

 

The war goes on, Hezb-Allah chooses to continue launching missiles at the almost empty towns, villages and kibbutzim in the north and Britain and the USA have been joined by many other countries in combatting the Houthis and their attempted blockage of ships. If ships do not go through the Suez Canal, Egypt loses essential revenue, so they may well join the fray. It is incredible how Iran, the master puppeteer is bringing chaos to the world both directly and indirectly. It is tangible in the Middle East but sadly clear in the West through demands for Sharia law in societies opposed to changing from open Christian societies to one governed by an oppressive way of life.

 

The hostage situation has reached boiling point here in Israel. We are fully aware of the price paid to release the hostages, both those who survive and those who do not. We learned a terrifying lesson over the Gilad Shalit case. We released 1,047 prisoners, many of whom had blood on their hands, for one soldier. I wanted to see Noam Shalit hug his son but the price was beyond all logic. Ehud Olmert voted against it but Netanyahu chose, at the last minute, to include one Yahya (pronounced Yichyeh) Sinwar among the released terrorists with blood on their hands, his release created a domino effect of terror. Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of October 7^th. It is a dilemma beyond reason but one shared with the most supportive American President in Israel-USA history. Yes I know you don’t like the last statement, know that you want to think of him as a doddery old man but he has been steadfast in his support.

 

Each and every day, each and every hour, the families of the hostages and the fallen appear on our television screens. Their stories are part of our lives, an important part of our lives and despite the known dangers, we want our hostages home.

 

The Jerusalem Post reported that Qatar is funding the families of hostages in their fight to bring their family’s home. It would appear that the Qataris are playing all sides. https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-784799

 

I spoke yesterday to a dear friend who visits the wounded soldiers in hospitals. She told me that the soldiers who are in the convalescent department of Sheba Hospital do not want to leave hospital. The bond they have formed has become their lifeline. Only they understand the disruption caused by the physical and emotional turmoil. Wouldn’t it be amazing if they could live together, with their families, in a kibbutz-style area, so that they could heal together, support each other, not break the bond which ties them until their last day?

 

Dr Nir Boms is a Middle East analyst and currently serving in the IDF, as he has done since the beginning of this conflict. It is Nir who introduced me to Impact-se, for which I will be ever grateful. I have taken the liberty of taking a small part of his most recent report from the front, because it is of ultimate importance to understanding this conflict.

 

“For many years now, the Iranian people have been trying to demonstrate to the world that they neither support nor condone the policies and actions of the Islamic regime. In fact, they want nothing to do with the worldview and sentiments of the revolutionaries who brought the Islamic revolution to fruition. 

The support given to Israel after the October 7 attacks is yet another clear signal to the world of an enormous schism between the Iranian people and the Islamic regime of Iran. Iranians wish nothing to do with the Islamic regime, the revolution that brought it into existence, nor the mentality of activists who supported it. Similar to the Islamist regime in Gaza, the Islamic Republic in Teheran has brought nothing but pain, suffering, and destruction to its people and the region at large. Iranians have long realized it. The question is – will the free world realize it as well?”

 

A very quick roundup of thoughts.

Normalisation with Saudi Arabia, which is closer than you think, is the ultimate defeat of Iran. 

Americans, in our current situation, would have rejected anyone labelled a loser, a fact we need to learn. It’s time for change.

Yair Lapid is ready to change his former position and join the government on condition that the extremists are thrown out, in order to prevent the upheaval of elections. 

 

You will be surprised to hear that there is a great deal of good news too – Besorot Tovot.

 

Horfeish is a Druze town in the North of Israel. A wonderful lady called Ibtisam lives there and has a restaurant which, after October 7^th, she made kosher so that all of those who wish can eat there. A few days ago, a man was sitting in a nearby coffee shop and noticed a group of soldiers who were not eating. He offered to buy them food, thinking it was a matter of cost, but they said that they couldn’t because the food there was not kosher. He immediately called Ibtisam to find that the restaurant was already closed. “Bring them to me! I’ll open the restaurant for them” She then began cooking, preparing them a feast, without charge. It is typical of the Druze community, who have served with great honour in the IDF too. As a result of their loyalty and bravery, change will be made in the Basic Law to ensure that they have a place of honour.

 

Cedrick Garin z”l, a fallen soldier who came to Israel with his mother from the Philippines some 17 years ago, was a brave young man who loved Israel. His civil status was uncertain but last week Interior Minister Moshe Arbel paid a condolence call on Cedrick’s mother and young wife to inform them that they had both received honorary citizenship and to thank them for Cedrick’s bravery. Moshe Arbel of the Shas Party, has proven his humanity time and again. Zvi and our friends Prof. Shimon Shetreet and Meishi Schreiber went to the Shiva (mourning ) at the Garin family home and found that there were many, many visitors and each had brought them food along with their condolences. Prof. Shetreet has done his best to visit as many families as possible to show compassion and unity with them.

 

I wish you could have been a fly on the wall when I went shopping this week in a large local supermarket. Standing in front of me in the line for the cashier was a Moslem lady in full, and beautiful, Arab dress. We started chatting, one of my favourite aspects of shopping, and touched on the current situation. She was from Abu Ghosh very aware of what is happening, and we helped each other with loading our goods on to the conveyor belt. As we parted with a huge smile and thanks, we wished each other peace. She said “Inshallah” and I said “B’ezrat HaShem” both of us meaning may it be God’s will.  

 

Our daily life continues as usual with obvious changes. We have not been to the cinema lately, which we have sworn to change next week. Continuing with normal life in times of chaos is essential to one’s sanity. Going to courses, meetings, discussions, knitting hats for soldiers, making sandwiches, working for the better of one’s community and of course supporting those who need it, to show our enemies that we can still enjoy life is of ultimate importance.

 

I finished my 20^th hat for soldiers and decided that I would do for the family as well! I find it so relaxing to sit and knit. It means I don’t have to think about the war, about anything in fact. The pattern is so simple that I can watch the news and still continue knitting!

 

When our conversation is over, Zvi will go to his parliament in the botanical gardens, a sad parliament because we lost one of our most loved members, Eli BenTovim z”l  this week and I will head off to Rachel to see the children too. Zvi will then go to get Gili, Ori and Yuval and bring them to our home for Shabbat while their parents take a well deserved break to celebrate 20 year since they met. I have already made most of the food including Ori’s favourite crepes with maple syrup for dessert! I’m just about to prepare the crust for the pizzas and make the lasagne, not the usual Shabbat dinner but the one they requested. Tomorrow will be much more traditional and if the rain will just stop for an hour, we will go off to the nature reserve to check out the wild flower situation!!

 

And so to music.

Yachad is a song about opening our hearts to love and peace. https://youtu.be/S_Jmyu6MQHc?si=zx0PpbdgnfymW1Bb

 

Brothers in Arms was written many years ago by a British Jew, Mark Knopfler, and it is said he wrote it to honour the IDF. I don’t know if it is true but this song, in my mind, does just that.  These mist covered mountains, Are a home now for me, But my home is the lowlands, And always will be
Someday you'll return to Your valleys and your farms, And you'll no longer burn to be
Brothers in arms  https://youtu.be/p_zfB4zV3nY?si=3PfANg6HZPtuW8Cf

 

Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu – Peace will be upon us- a prayer and a song. https://youtu.be/VcdCidGNaYo?si=iRHIdgoyxrWcqPSC

 

I wish you a peaceful Shabbat a weekend of kindness, of good new and of good health. We can only control our own tiny part of the world but as I always say “The Power of One” can change our world and ultimately the whole world. Bringing love may be a banal statement but its power is infinite.

 

Shabbat Shalom from beautiful Jerusalem, to you all, my friends. Please write and tell me how you spend your weekend. I love hearing from you

 

Sheila