Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

According to a Times of Israel report on the unity government agreement, on 1 July this year, between Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz may begin the process of formal annexation of parts of the Occupied West Bank, including the Jordan Valley and all illegal Israeli settlements. In February, Israel announced the introduction of thousands of new housing units in illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The UK Government, among others, reacted to this, as always, with a simple condemnation.

But condemnation alone is proving totally ineffectual as a deterrent lacking, as it does, the imposition of sanctions against Israel. Israel must be called to account for its flagrantly illegal human rights abuses against the Palestinian people which constitute a war crime under international law. The Zionist state is driven by an ideological conviction of the superiority of its territorial and ethnocentric goals over both international law and human rights. The international community must recognise this reality because it shares responsibility and obligations to support international law and oppose serious breaches, especially when they inflict injustice and hardship. That means the withdrawal of all forms of co-operation that may grant or reinforce the offending states impunity and ability to profit from its illegal actions.

Security Council member acknowledges Israeli war crimes

A powerful Security Council member, such as the UK, does not deny Israels war crimes. Recently, on 29 April, Britains Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (FO), James Cleverly, was asked the following parliamentary question concerning:

. . . what assessment he has made of the effect of recent demolitions and seizures of Palestinian (a) homes, (b) water and hygiene structures, and (c) clinics on the Palestinian Authoritys ability to contain the spread of covid-19 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

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The FO Secretary of State replied as follows:

The UK is seriously concerned by any demolition and seizure of Palestinian property by Israeli authorities. In all but the most exceptional circumstances demolitions are contrary to International Humanitarian Law (IHL). We are particularly concerned that demolitions are continuing at this time. Such actions weaken the capacity of Palestinians to withstand the impact of COVID-19. Under IHL, an occupying power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining public health and hygiene in the occupied territory to the fullest extent of the means available to it. We call on both parties to avoid any provocative action which might undermine the co-operation that is so critical.

While in no way attempting to deny the facts of Israels human rights violations outlined in the question, Cleverlys final sentence disgracefully suggests a degree of equality and responsibility between perpetrator and victim. He might just as well have said, well they asked for it.

For over half a century, Israel has been shrinking the space it allows the people of the Occupied Palestinian homeland for developing their economy and agriculture or even to build homes. Worse still, Israeli Occupation forces actually destroy Palestinian homes at gunpoint, while forcing the people to accept the building and expansion of Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land. In addition, Israels ever-encroaching annexation Wall, settler-only by-pass roads and military checkpoints impose further crippling restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement.

On 1 May, more than 120 UK parliamentarians, including former Conservative cabinet ministers, wrote to Boris Johnson, urging him to impose economic sanctions against Israel should it annex parts of the West Bank. The letter unequivocally states that annexation would be clearly illegal under international law. Even diplomats and prominent campaigners against so-called anti-semitism in the Labour Party, such as Margaret Hodge, have signed. In September last year, the UK Government joined with France, Germany, Italy and Spain by warning that unilateral annexation of any part of the West Bank would be a serious breach of international law. The case for sanctions is unchallengeable yet, even though Britain has joined with ten EU diplomats in a call, warning the Israeli Foreign Ministry against annexation, the imposition of sanctions, as opposed to mere condemnation, would be unprecedented.

Further acknowledgment

In the British Parliament House of Lords, Baroness Tonge asked Her Majestys Government what assessment they have made of reports that Israeli aircraft have sprayed toxic herbicides onto crops near the border fence in the east of Gaza City and damaged farmlands; and what steps they intend to take in response.

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development, Lord Ahmed, did not contest the facts raised and simply replied: . . . we are troubled by reports of assaults on farmers and vandalism of agricultural land. We continue to raise with Israeli counterparts our concerns about Israeli action.

Israeli Occupation update

This month, up to and including 12 May, there were one Palestinian and 44 Israeli Gaza ceasefire violations. The Israeli violations included 23 Israeli Navy attacks on Palestinian fishing boats and 15 Israeli Army attacks on agriculture in Gaza.

On 12 May, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported a sharp increase in settler violence that is undermining already fragile farming livelihoods in various West Bank areas. Attacks have increased since the [Covid-19] emergency was declared, despite movement restrictions, lockdowns and social distancing. The attacks have included physical assault, torching of Palestinian vehicles, theft of livestock and vandalising of fruit trees.

The Israeli Occupation continued its population-control tyranny in the West Bank, destroying homes, sabotaging the Palestinian economy and interfering with the peoples attempts to manage Covid-19 transmission here are one or two examples, from each day:

1 May 2020:

InKafr Qaddum, Israeli forcesfiredrubber-coatedsteelbullets, stun grenades and tear gascanistersat villagers protesting against the closure of theirvillage,wounding sixresidents, includingtwochildren, and causing several tear gascasualties. Just after midnight, Israeli forces, firingrubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gascanisters,raidedal-Eisawiya village while, during the day, they raided the Cremisan area in north-west Beit Jallah, seizingand destroyingbeehives,the property ofa resident,Nasr Nimr Abd Rabbo.

2 May:

In Azzun Atma village the Israeli Army seized Palestinianfarmland planted witholive andalmond trees and trappedbehind theIsraeli Occupation Wall.

3 May:

Israeli forces seized construction equipment from a man, Naim Abdel-Qadder, who was digging a well in an area between Ras Atiya and Magharat Al-Daba villages, and

issued a destruction order against another wellin Deir Istiya.

IsraeliOccupationsettlermilitants invaded Immatin village farmland,bulldozed crops anduprooted 24olive trees.

4 May:

During the morning, Israeli forces destroyed a barn near al-Aqbat village in the North Jordan Valley, as well as destroying a well under construction inal-Jiftlik village. Israeli soldiers also beat up and hospitaliseda resident, Naseem Ayman Naim Abdel-Qadder, near the entrancetoTurmusaya.

5 May:

The firing of a missile by Palestinian Resistance members was met with a further eight Israeli Gaza ceasefire violations, including five acts of agricultural/economic sabotage.

6 May:

Israelisfrom the Efrat Occupation settlementinvaded farmlandin al-Khadrand uprooted 450Palestinian grapevines. That evening, a gang from the Homish Israeli Occupation settlement invaded Palestinian pastoral land in the Bab al-Wad area, near Burqa village, and assaulted a goatherd, Harbi Mohammad Ali Abboud, leaving him hospitalised with a fractured foot and severe bruising. The settlers also made off with 70 goats belonging to Abboud.

7 May:

With two 14-year-old boy refugees abducted and armed soldiers robbing a man of his bulldozer, the daily Israeli Army population-control violence also included the beating and hospitalisation of 15-year-oldAmeer Ziyad Rushdi Yusef who, as a result, suffered broken bonesas well asinternal bleeding inhispelvis andupper chest.

8 May:

Two members of a fishing crew were wounded during five Israeli Navy attacks on Palestinian fishing boats off Gaza. In the West Bank, Occupation settler malevolence included the destruction of 40 olive trees and the theft of crops from Palestinian farmland. The number of Palestinian wounded totalled six by the end of the day.

9 May:

Four people were wounded and a journalist was taken prisoner after Israeli troops invaded his home.

10 May:

Murad Bassam Al-Bayed, aged 12, was shot and wounded by Israeli troops. Two 16-year-old youths were also wounded.

11 May:

Another four Israeli Navy attacks on Palestinian fishing boats and two armed Israeli Army incursions into Gaza, together with the familiar agricultural sabotage, marked another miserable day in Gaza. In Nablus, in the West Bank, Israeli settlermilitantsraided anagricultural nurseryandstole fruit tree seedlings,water reticulation materialand other agricultural equipment.

12 May:

At 4:30am, the Israeli Army,firinglive ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, stungrenadesand tear gas canisters, raided Yabad, earched several homes and took prisoner four people. As the soldiers moved out with their prisoners, one of them, 21-year-old Staff SgtAmit Ben Ygal, washit by a stone thrown from a nearby roof and died of his injurya few hourslater.The four people takenprisoner during the invasions of their homes were identified as:Ali Muhammad Nazmi Abu Bakr, Yazen Kamel Abu Shamla, Marcel Bassem Lotfi Abu Bakr and Anas Kamel Abu Shamla.

Settlement expansion

On 6 May,Israeli Defence Minister, Naftali Bennett, announced his approval of the addition of 7,000 new housing units in the Israeli Efrat settlement on Occupied land inal-Khadr, Bethlehem. Bennett tweeted that he had instructed the military to continue to strengthen settlements. The US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, gave a newspaper interview in which he said America is prepared to recognise an Israeli declaration of sovereignty over settlements in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley, so long as the Jewish state accepts conditions requested by the Trump Administration.

Zionist influence over the US

On 7 May, it was reported that the US Department of Justice is dropping its case against Trumps former National Security Adviser, Mike Flynn, even though he has admitted that he lied to the FBI. In 2016, Flynn called on a number of countries, in an attempt to get them to counter a US decision to allow the New Zealand-sponsored Security Council Resolution 2334 to go unchallenged. According to the original Justice Department charge sheet, to which Flynn pleaded guilty: On or about December 22, 2016, a very senior member of the Presidential Transition Team directed Flynn to contact officials from foreign governments, including Russia, to learn where each government stood on the resolution and to influence those governments to delay the vote or defeat the resolution . . . Fortunately, Flynn failed in the attempt and, with the US abstaining, the resolution was adopted 14-0. In 2017, the New York Times expressed unease over the role of Israel in the case and today the issue of Israels ability to influence US politics has been exposed once again.

UN Appeals

Due to the Covid-19 crisis, UN officials are calling for the immediate release of all Palestinian children held in captivity in Israel and Palestine. In a joint Press Statement, Jamie McGoldrick, Humanitarian Co-ordinator in the Occupied Palestinian territory, Genevieve Boutin, UNICEF Special Representative in the State of Palestine and James Heenan, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian territory reminded the world that, according to the Israeli Prison Service, 194 Palestinian children were being detained in prisons and detention centres, mainly in Israel. This is higher even than the monthly average number of children held in 2019. The UN appeal states: Children in detention face heightened risk of contracting COVID-19, with physical distancing and other preventive measures often absent or difficult to achieve.

The majority of these children have not been convicted of any offence but are being held, while awaiting trial. The removal of abducted children from Palestine to Israel is a gross violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: The Occupying Power shall not deport or transferparts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. It also prohibits the individual ormass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory.Under Article 147 of the 1949 Geneva Convention IV, unlawful deportation or transfer . . . of a protected person constitutes a grave breach of the Convention. See also Statement by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The law clearly recognises that such population transfer is often a step towards intended colonisation and annexation, yet the international community does nothing to stop what amounts to a war crime under international criminal law.

NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)

New Zealand should stand by its declared support for rules-based international law and human rights. On its website, MFAT reminds us that: After a 10 year campaign New Zealand was voted onto the UN Security Council in 2014 andserved two years in 2015 and 2016. Our seat on the Security Council placed New Zealand at the heart of international decisions on peace and security. In 2016, this country successfully promoted Security Council Resolution 2334 which, sadly, although passed without opposition, has achieved nothing to halt Israels gross violations of international humanitarian law. An appeal by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian territory, Professor Michael Lynk, calls upon the international community to ensure that Israel must face the cost of its violations of international law. It is high time the UN imposed sanctions upon Israel.

The Israel lobby is used to getting its way in the US and the UK. The power and influence of these UN Security Council members is immense but it is not absolute. Those who would have us stay silent, whether they be our traditional allies or those closer to home who are dedicated to serving Zionisms ambitions, must be opposed and told so in no uncertain terms. MFAT tells us: The United Nations works to make the world peaceful and secure, and to promote social progress, better living standards and human rights. The highest judicial body in the world, the International Criminal Court (ICJ), finds Israel guilty of war crimes which violate principles outlined in the UN Charter and long-standing global conventions that prohibit the threat or use of force and the acquisition of territory that way, as well as principles upholding the right of peoples to self-determination.

New Zealand could, and should, lead the demand for an end to the shameful lack of decisive international action that is required if Israel is ever to be brought to account.

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

The Herald

Correspondent

Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, designated the last Friday of Ramadan as the day of Quds, presented to Muslims, freedmen and the oppressed of the world in this day and age.

Every year, on this day, the free people of the world march in support of the oppressed people of Palestine and condemn the crimes of the usurping Zionist regime.

The rallies are not limited to Islamic countries, and even in some non-Islamic countries that support Zionism, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, demonstrations are held on the occasion of Al-Quds Day.

Famous intellectuals like Gandhi, Mandela, Chomsky and even athletes and some Hollywood actors have always condemned the crimes of the Zionist regime.

The Zionist regime is no more than seven decades old and is the product of colonialism.

Contrary to the claims of the Zionists, who claim to be the original owners of the Holy Land, citing the rule of David and Solomon, historical evidence shows that the main inhabitants of the Occupied Territories were Arabs who entered Palestine from 2500 BC and ruled those lands for 1 500 years.

Quds Sharif has been declared the eternal capital of Israel since the Zionist occupation in 1967.

The Zionist occupiers, with the support of the worlds tyrants and colonialists, forced the Palestinians to leave their homes and lands in one of the largest forced migrations in history.

Quds is a symbol of the unity and determination of the free and oppressive people of the world amidst the Zionist military crimes and the arrogant supporters in Palestine and Gaza.

Quds Day is the day of resistance of the oppressed of the world against the arrogant and the day of the cry of oppression of a nation that with the blood of its children reveals the ugly face of the usurping Zionist regime.

This years Quds Day is more special than any other year, because it coincides with the day 700 000 Palestinians were evicted from their homes on the day of the tragedy, the Day of Nakbah.

Along with all the freedom fighters and peaceful people of the world, we can once again create the necessity and obligation of the oppressed Palestinians and the veil from the evil face of these Zionist usurpers.

Human rights is one of the concepts that Western countries, which today support Zionism, have essentially created and developed.

The crimes of the Zionists in the occupied territories and the Gaza Strip violate these laws.

In other words, the Zionists are also considered criminals within the framework of the laws enacted by their supporters.

The Israeli governments treatment of Palestinians, for example, has become like an apartheid system. Resolution 3379 of the UN General Assembly, adopted on November 10, 1975, also condemned the Zionist regime as a racist system.

The resolution was adopted in the 2 400th session with the participation of all members (72 positive votes, 35 negative votes and 32 abstentions.

Clarifying the international communitys mindset on human rights abuses during the years of occupation by the Zionist regime, including terrorism, the illegal construction of Jewish settlements, the construction of a racist retaining wall, and the lack of citizenship services such as drinking water and repelling urban waste to the Palestinians and violating the freedom of expression of Palestinian writers and artists seemsessential.

The intellectual foundations of Zionism are so irrational, racist, and contrary to the principles of Judaism that even many Jews oppose it.

These Jews have also set up anti-Zionist movements in order to create a barrier to Zionist oppression in the occupied territories and elsewhere.

As a result of the exorbitant costs of propaganda and the Zionist media, many people around the world mistakenly consider these criminals to be oppressed who commit crimes in self-defence.

One way to correct this misconception is to explain the racist views of thinkers and prominent Zionist figures.

These people clearly consider themselves superior to other peoples of the world and give themselves the right not to be bothered by any crime to occupy Palestine.

The importance of Holy Quds is due to the fact that this holy land, the place of life and resurrection of the divine prophets, was the first qibla of Muslims and the place of the heavenly ascension of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), just as Jerusalem is of special religious importance to Christians.

The article was provided by the Embassy of Iran (Cultural Centre)

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Quds: A part of Islam - The Herald

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

Life wasnt easy for Palestinian farmers under the British Mandate. But in 1948, their lives were turned upside down.

Lost land: Nakba survivors recall rural struggle in Mandate-era Palestine

For over three decades, between 1917 and 1948, Britain ruled over Palestine. While the McMahon-Hussein correspondence during World War I formally promised Arab independence across the region, including for Palestine, the British government vowed in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 to establish a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.

Throughout the Mandate, the British faced resistance from both Palestinians and Zionist militias - as the latter rejected Mandate policies seeking to slow down the influx of Jewish immigrants, and progressively became more aggressive in seeking to create their own state.

On 15 May 1948, Britain withdrew its forces from Palestine, and Zionist leadership declared the establishment of a state of Israel, ramping up the ongoing process of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Palestinians were taken by surprise by the British decision. After 30 years of brutal British repression, they found themselves without unified leadership, unorganised, and largely unarmed against Zionist paramilitary groups seeking to establish control.

The subsequent killing of some 15,000 Palestinians, the destruction of at least 530 villages and towns, and the forcible displacement of around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes would pave the way for Israel to claim large swathes of land as its own.

While Israelis commemorate Independence Day on 15 May, for Palestinians the events of 1948 and beyond are known as the Nakba - or "catastrophe".

Survivors who spoke to Middle East Eye recalled their memories of escape from massacres and destruction and the difficult transition to uprooted lives as refugees.

For the three-quarters of Palestinians at the time living in rural areasin particular, the Nakba upended life as they knew it.

The British retreat and subsequent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians coincided with the harvest season, the loss of which for farmers would have been a calamity in itself.

Khadija al-Azza, 88, recalled the moment when Zionist militias attacked her village, Tell al-Safi.

"It was mid-summer, and the farmers had already piled the wheat on the threshing floor when Jewish armed gangs attacked the village, killing many farmers, she said. Terrified villagers fled and left the heaps of wheat unthreshed. We thought that we would return to thresh it.

Saeed Dandan, 87, shares similar memories of the moment when his village, Tiret Dandan, was occupied.

It was the third day of Ramadan when Jewish militiamen raided our village, he said. The villagers were about to harvest their corn but were forced to flee. We left our sheep behind and never retrieved them.

Many displaced farmers tried to sneak back into their villages to salvage whatever crops, livestock or goods they could from their abandoned homes. But to do so was to run the risk of getting shot by Zionistmilitias. Some farmers succeeded. Others found their villages destroyed. Others still were shot dead.

Zakia Hamad, 91, was among those who fled the village of Saris, west of Jerusalem, for nearby Beit Susin.

"The villagers infiltrated into Saris at night in order to harvest their crops, she said. They would reap them at night and go back to Beit Susin to sleep during the day.

They winnowed and pounded the grains with their hands inside their homes because if the Jews saw them, they would shoot.

Mustafa Abu Awad, 83, was a child when his village of Sabbarin near Haifa was attacked by militias on 12 May 1948.

"After 10 days, I tried to return with my older brother and arrived at the nearby village of Umm al-Shouf, he recalled. We found our village surrounded by (Zionist) gangs and saw 13 of my fellow villagers dead. We couldnt enter the village so we turned back around. We thought that it was a matter of days before Arab armies would reclaim our village and we could return home.

Left to their own devices, Palestinians set up local defence committees in every village, equipped only with old guns carried by untrained farmers. Farmers sold their harvests and women parted with their jewellery in order to buy weapons to protect themselves.

But for the most part, their efforts were no match for the Zionist militias seeking to push them out. News of the Deir Yassin massacre - during which more than 100 villagers were killed on 9 April - spread quickly among Palestinians, sowing fear and playing a decisive role in convincing many people to flee before they met the same fate.

The crimes of 1948: Jewish fighters speak out

"Villagers heard of the massacre in the nearby village of Deir Yassin, and feared murder and the rape of women, recalls Shaker Odeh, 87, from the village of al-Maliha. My father asked my sisters and my mother to leave the village and since I was a child, I followed them to Beit Jala. That same night, my father joined us after al-Maliha was occupied by Zionists."

Odeh recounted the capture of Maliha thusly: "When the Zionists attacked Maliha, there were few (Palestinian) fighters, armed only with old Egyptian rifles. Each fighter only had five bullets, some of which were not suitable for use, in addition to being extremely expensive (half a Palestine pound). They tried to defend the village, but they couldnt stand their ground."

The decision to leave their homes was extremely difficult, one that families did not take unless they felt no other options remained.

But many Palestinians thought the situation would be temporary, only the matter of a few days. As a result, most fled to places close to their villages, carrying few belongings andsupplies.

Shukria Othman, 86, said her father was shot dead near the family home during the attack on the village of Lifta.

My eldest brother decided that we should leave immediately, like most of the other villagers, she said. But one of the farmers, Abu Rayya, didnt leave as he wanted to stay on his farm where he had planted okra and beans. Then the (Zionist) gangs came and slaughtered him.

We left in a hurry, taking only two mattresses and two blankets, she recounts with sorrow. We left behind jars of olive oil and our chickens. All our belongings and supplies were left behind as we believed that we would return in a few days.

Like many others, Azzas journey into exile after the attack on Tell al-Safi on 9 July 1948 was extremely difficult and involved repeated displacement.

We left on foot, carrying nothing with us. After walking one day and one night, we got to the village of Ajjur, where farmers kindly received us in their homes, she said. We spent three days there, then the Zionist gangs attacked Ajjur and we fled to the east.

We walked for two days without water until we reached Beit Jibrin.

They remained in Beit Jibrin for a few months until that village was also attacked by Zionist militias in October 1948.

There, Palestinians and their Arab allies fought back for many days.

"The Zionist militias bombarded the town with artillery and warplanes, forcing people to flee towards caves in the hills. They entered the town from the west and we fled from the east. We walked for five days and five nights until we arrived in Hebron," Azza added.

Maryam Abu Latifa, 91, recalls a similarly harrowing escape from the village of Saraa, west of Jerusalem, in July 1948. Villagers tried to defend their homes, but couldnt; so they escaped in the middle of the night towards nearby hills.

I locked the door of my home and left, but then I remembered I had left behind my six-month-old baby Yassin, she said. So I returned to the house to get him and ran towards the hillsin the dark.

The residents of Saraa sheltered under trees for days, hoping to come back home. But after two weeks, Israeli paramilitary groups arrived with bulldozers and razed the village under their eyes, Abu Latifa said. The villagers lost all hope of return and left on foot for Beit Nattif - a village that would also end up being turned into rubble a few months later.

After fleeing from one village to another, displaced farmers found themselves in refugee camps, where their agricultural knowledge and experience were no longer useful.

In order to make a living, most had to take on new lines of work.

After the Nakba, some refugee farmers in the Qalandiya camp worked as construction labourers in nearby areas, Hamad said. Others worked as guards at the Qalandiya airport, others as tourist guides.

Turning rooftops into gardens in a Palestinian refugee camp

As Palestinian refugees have been born, lived, and died for over 70 years in camps made of concrete, they have slowly lost much of the agricultural knowledge that had previously been passed down from generation to generation.

The Nakba resulted not only in the physical displacement of the farmers, but also in the loss of parts of their identity, of their ties to the land.

As 2020 marks 72 years since the beginning of the Nakba, survivors still yearn to return home and cultivate their fields.

Azza, who now lives in the al-Amaari refugee camp near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, still bemoans the heap of wheat that was left unthreshed.

I wish the time will come when I will be able to return and die in my hometown, she said.

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

By: Zahran Maali

JENIN, Sunday, May 17, 2020 (WAFA) The 15th of May 1948 was an extraordinary day for the Palestinian people, the day when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homeland with all their belongings and became refugees, as Zionist militias were attacking the country to make way for Jewish migrants to replace the indigenousPalestinian population.

Two months following the most heinous event in the history of the Palestinian people, a new chapter of suffering and displacement began for nearly 1500 Palestinians from the abandoned village of Tirat Dandan, in the then district of Lod. The displacement and suffering have been going on for 72 years now, with no imminent end seen in the near future.

Omar Saeed al-Tirawi, who hails from the said abandoned village, was 14 years old at the time his family and he were forced to leave their village to the West Bank, fearing the barbarity and massacres of the invading Zionist militias.

Al-Tirawi, 87, who accompanied his family to the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus where he lives now as a refugee, recounts the events that led to the forceful emigration of his village's residents, saying "the spread of rumors was the cause for loss of our homeland and our displacement".

The beginning of the displacement of the village's population started with the news of the Deir Yassin massacre by Zionist militias west of Jerusalem in April 1948, but soon after most of the village's residents were forced to flee to nearby mountains after the Zionist militias embarked on an attack on the village amid heavy gunfire, according to Al-Tirawi.

Like the rest of the population, Al-Tirawi, carrying his four-year-old brother, fled with his family and the people of the village on foot towards the nearby village of Deir Tarif, then to the village of Deir Ammar. Following the displacement, he says all families became homeless and were forced to sleep in the open.

Farming and raising livestock were the main source of livelihood for the village's residents, like the rest of the Palestinian population in the countryside. Al-Tirawi says he tried to return to the village to bring the seven sheep that he had used to graze on the lands and mountains of the village, but says he wasn't able to do so due to the intensive bombing by the attacking militias.

Al-Tirawi, also known for his kunya Abu Nabil, describes his father's land, confiscated by the new state of Israel, as a paradise that was planted with wheat, cactus, olives, figs, corn and grapes. His father was a well-known cattle merchant, yet "he joined us barefoot on foot with only a small amount of money on his possession."

"If I were to choose between a palace in the refugee camp and a tent in Tirat Dandan, I would choose the other way around in my hometown. For 72 years, I have never felt comfort. Our whole life is full of fatigue. We have not breathed the fresh air of our land for 72 years," he continues.

The 87-year-old man sighs, "The story of displacement is inherited from one generation to another. We were a five-member family when we were displaced, but today we have dozens of children and grandchildren. My children and grandchildren today are 83 individuals, and we must return one day."

In Jenin refugee camp, north of the West Bank, the belief that the refugee issue is inherited across generations is confirmed by Mr. Rashid Mansour, 64, who is from the second generation of the Nakba, and whose family took refuge in the camp in 1948 after they were displaced from the village of Ijzim, near Haifa.

"We rose up with our grandmothers talking in the evening about the displacement, killing and destruction that befellupon our people in our stolen country," Mansour adds.

Mansour says that Ijzim was known for its livestock and agriculture industries, and that his grandfather had 500 sheep at the time of the Palestine fall, in addition to 50 dunums of land.

Mansour returned to Ijzim twice, the first was in 1983 after he was released from the Israeli occupation's prisons, and the second was in 2012 when he visited the abandoned village with his wife, children and mother but only as a visitor not as a citizen. He believes that the return of the Palestine refugees will take place one day, saying he believes in the return as he believes in God.

Mansour also believes that the refugee camp, inhabited by about 11 thousand people who took refuge there from 70 villages after being displaced in 1948, is only a "return" station, and that the right to return is inherited and established from one generation to another.

M.N

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

The latest:

An abundance of love from a close-knit family may have played a role in the recovery of a 101-year-old Sept-lesman from COVID-19.

In early April, Clment Maltais began experiencing symptoms of the disease. Upon taking a home screening test, he tested positive.

Despite his age putting him at risk of serious complications, Maltais refused to head to a hospital. But with the support of his family, he managed to recover.

Quebecjunior Health Minister Lionel Carmantis in Laval today, as the city's designated COVID-19 treatment centre is at capacity.

The Cit-de-la-Sant Hospital was expected to send 50 patients to a temporary hospital set up at the Place Bell arena last week. But due to a staffing shortage, that has not yet happened.

Laval has 4,676confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Sunday afternoon and 455 people have died.

Spring has arrived in the Eastern Townships, and with it to the frustration of locals so have visitors from elsewhere.

Though typically accustomed to tourists, many Townshippers are growing concerned about a rising tourism tide, beginningthis long weekend and persisting through the summer months.

Even as the Quebec governmentclosed off access to other regions, the province did not set up roadblocks around the Eastern Townships.

In the Townships and other regions, public health is still asking Quebecers to limit themselves to essential travel only.

A student who attends a French-language school in western Quebec has tested positive for COVID-19, the school board says.

In a news release, the Commission scolaire des Draveurs said the student attends cole de l'Ore-des-Bois in Cantley, Que. A risk assessment has been conducted by the Outaouais public health authority and classes will continue.

Last week, a student at Lord Aylmer Elementary School in Gatineau, Que., was also sent home with symptoms of COVID-19.

Students outside the greater Montreal area are back in class, but those in Montreal, Laval and surrounding regionswill not return until September.

With places of worship closed, the faithful have come up with other ways to pray together.

In Montreal's Outremont borough, home to the city's Hasidic population, that has meant praying, and singing, from their balconies.

Withprevious tensions between the Hasidic community and some of their secular neighbours, COVID-19 had the potential to drive a divided neighbourhood further apart. But instead, something remarkable happened.

Listen to David Gutnick's radio documentary forThe Sunday Edition below.

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COVID-19 in Quebec: What you need to know on Sunday - CBC.ca

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many observant Jews have found themselves forced to confront the theological implications of a plague that has subverted popular assumptions regarding reward and punishment.

Ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel have seen the lions share of infections and deaths from COVID-19, at the same time as Jewish communities abroad have been disproportionately affected, with high infection rates in Hasidic neighborhoods from New York to London.

The high rate of infection in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods was all the more shocking to some in the wake of early assurances by community leaders that their religious observance would provide divine protection.

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As the virus began to spread in Israel, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the foremost leader of Lithuanian ultra-Orthodoxy, announced through a spokesman that study halls should remain open, as canceling Torah study is more dangerous than coronavirus.

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky at his home in Bnei Brak on December 26, 2019. (Yaakov Nahumi/Flash90)

Taking their cue from Kanievsky, some members of the community at first assumed that not only did they not have to take drastic steps to staunch the spread of the virus, but that they were essentially immune.

The Torah protects us. We dont need to do anything, one yeshiva student saidat the time.

According to Prof. Kimmy Caplan, who heads Bar Ilan Universitys department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, several popular ultra-Orthodox preachers took to social media to call for people to increase their Shabbat observance during the weekend prior to the Passover holiday, claiming that this would tilt the scales and beat the coronavirus.

But as the death toll mounted and their community was not spared, some ultra-Orthodox Jews began to question what was happening.

Interior Ministry Aryeh Deri in an interview with the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar HaShabbat broadcast on May 9, 2020. (Screenshot/Kikar HaShabbat)

On Sunday, reflecting the zeitgeist in his community, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri called on Israels ultra-Orthodox to take stock of their actions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We need to do very deep soul-searching, the ultra-Orthodox politician said, asserting that God was telling us something.

Several days earlier, Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, one of the leaders of the Lithuanian branch of non-Hasidic ultra-Orthodoxy, told followers that their community was bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic because secular Jews werent as prone to divine retribution as the religious, whose sins are judged more harshly by God.

An ultra-orthodox youth is tested for coronavirus in Bnei Brak, March 31, 2020. (Ariel Schalit/ AP)

The higher infection rates in the communities have largely been ascribed to overcrowded conditions in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, their intensely communal nature and the initial refusal of rabbis, including Edelstein, to endorse social distancing measures and the shutting of synagogues and other religious institutions.

Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, head of the Ponovitz Yeshiva seen at his home after lighting the candles on the fourth night of Hanukkah, in Bnei Brak, December 5, 2018. (Aharon Krohn/Flash90)

This attitude began to change for many of the ultra-Orthodox as the virus burned its way through their communities, with many eventually acknowledging that a lack of preparedness and resistance to taking early preventative measures played a large part in the unfolding tragedy. (Some members of the community have continued to flout regulations, with hundreds of people crowding together in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak to celebrate the Lag BOmer holiday on Monday evening, hundreds arrested on Tuesday in clashes at Mount Meron in the Galilee, and large crowds at another illegal gathering Tuesday in Jerusalem.)

Ultra-Orthodox Jews celebrate the Jewish holiday of Lag BOmer in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem on May 11, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

However, while some have acknowledged that these explanations are correct, many appear to believethat there is a deeper, spiritual reason for the suffering.

Wanting to know why is the most important and frustrating question people ask, said Dr. Jeffrey Woolf, a historian of Medieval and Renaissance Jewry and Associate Professor of Talmud at Bar Ilan University.

Dr. Jeffrey Woolf (Courtesy)

An Orthodox rabbi himself, Woolf explained that discussions of divine justice and theodicy or why God permits evil in Judaism go all the way back to the Biblical story of Job. People dont like being helpless. And if something is happening and you dont know why, you feel totally helpless.

Statements like Edelsteins, asserting that God is punishing the sins of the most fervent believers more severely, are fully in consonance with the Haredi ethos that the Jewish world and universe depend on us studying Torah and doing mitzvot, Woolf said.

Yoel Finkelman. (Courtesy)

Jewish popular theology takes divine providence extremely seriously, agreed Yoel Finkelman, curator of the National Librarys Judaica Collection. Everything happens for a reason.

There is a very longstanding tradition when bad things happen to look for opportunities for repentance and soul searching, he said, and currently many in the ultra-Orthodox community are advocating for renewed commitment regarding various aspects of observance.

While for many this approach doesnt necessarily mean blaming religious laxity for the pandemic, others have seen a more direct relationship between the two.

Among the ultra-Orthodox, wall posters known in Yiddish as pashkevilim, which urge the community to undertake various courses of action, are an important method of communication. The National Librarys ephemera project, which has been gathering material related to the pandemic, has collected several blaming the pandemic on women.

According to the poster, both Corona epidemic and lack of modesty have a numerical value of 900

Horrifying discovery: Corona epidemic = lack of modesty, one such poster seen in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem announced, using gematria, or Jewish numerology, which ascribes a numerical value to letters and words and draws significance from words or expressions with equal values.

According to the poster, both corona epidemic and lack of modesty have a numerical value of 900, indicating a conceptual link.

A number of Orthodox rabbis have spoken out against using gematria to find meaning in the pandemic, with one telling The Jewish Press, an Orthodox newspaper in New York, that to create new ideas or theories based on numerology is improper.

Another poster shared by the National Librarys ephemera project, this one in English and with an American phone number recommends that women should join the Tzniut [modesty] Challenge and rid their closets of inappropriate outfits in order to arouse the mercy of heaven.

According to a WhatsApp message seen circulating among Haredim in the United States, God is sending us an unprecedented and powerful message and any woman who makes her wig more modest will be blessed with protection. Married Haredi women cover their hair, many of them with wigs that have drawn rabbinic irritation for being too attractive.

Sign linking gossip and coronavirus in Ramat Beit Shemesh. (Sam Sokol)

Others have advanced different punitive reasons for the pandemic. Signs plastered in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in Israel have linked COVID-19 to gossip and slander, using the tagline Dont speak [badly of others], dont get infected.

Some figures on the fringes of the Orthodox community have offered even more radical suggestions. Rabbi Yosef Mizrahi, a controversial New York-based Israeli rabbi who has previously suggested that both the Holocaust and various developmental disabilities were the result of Jews sins, blamed the pandemic on Chinese people eating limbs from living animals, stating that when God punishes the nations it always relates to us, the Jewish people.

In a video viewed more than 27,000 times on YouTube, Mizrahi suggested that the only cure for COVID-19 was blowing hot air from a hair dryer down ones throat.

Some have have taken a different tack, attempting to divine what God is trying to teach them through the pandemic. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Ateret Yerushalayim yeshiva in Jerusalem and a prominent figure in the national religious camp, is one of them.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner at the dedication of a new kindergarten in the settlement of Beit El, on Wednesday, March 26, 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Despite asserting in multiple articles that we dont know what causes coronavirus and that even the Biblical prophets couldnt give a reason for everything that happens, he has also posited that COVID-19 could help create peace between married couples by forcing everyone to stay home.

In one article, Aviner mused that the disease could be a divine response to moral relativism or postmodernism, which he said has caused people to value their own judgment above that of God.

He also suggested that in every evil there is some good. In the case of COVID-19, he elaborated, this good was the shutting down of almost all gentile culture, including academia and leisure travel.

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men pray outside their homes in the city of Beit Shemesh, April 10, 2020 (Yaakov Lederman/Flash90)

Both the themes of divine punishment and divine lessons could be seen in a recent article in The Jewish Press in which several rabbis were asked What Is Hashem [God] Teaching Us With The Coronavirus.

If the coronavirus succeeds in bringing people to assess themselves then intrinsically, its good

Rabbi Lazer Brody, a popular lecturer and author belonging to the Breslov Hasidic sect, asserted that God was curing people of their materialism by curtailing vacations and ending the public desecrations of Shabbat.

Brody also said that if the coronavirus succeeds in bringing people to assess themselves then intrinsically, its good. The coronavirus can be one of the key catalysts of [the coming of the Messiah].

Rabbi Mendel Kessin said that God was cleaning up the world by taking action against Iran and China, the two greatest nations contributing to the instability of the world, ahead of the coming of the Messiah.

Nachman Kahana, a rabbi in Jerusalems Old City, called it a wake-up experience for Diaspora Jews who did not want to move to Israel.

Not everyone in the ultra-Orthodox community believes in attempting to divine Gods intentions.

Rabbis I know have all said that they dont know what has caused coronavirus or why Hashem would create it, one member of an English-speaking ultra-Orthodox community in Beit Shemesh told The Times of Israel.

They have all emphasized that our reactions should be to care more for peopleand to use the time to reflect on our own personal realities and what we can improve. I have not yet heard one serious rav claim he knows the reasons for COVID-19 beyond the scientific and medical explanations.

Some, while acknowledging the epidemiological mechanics of the pandemic, have suggested that it is still possible to consider the possibility that God is sending a message.

Is it too much to consider that as our world continues to sink ever lower in our commitment to virtue that God responded with a virus that has forced millions into a timeout of quarantine and seclusion? asked Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University, the flagship institution of American Modern Orthodoxy, in an article on the website Aish.

Noting that the Ten Commandments constitute the biblical source of the most basic system of ethical and moral behavior, Blech pointed out that in the original Hebrew, the language in which the commandments were inscribed by God on the two tablets, there are exactly 620 letters.

620 is the gematria, the numerical value, of an important Hebrew word, keter, which means crown, he continued, musing that the pandemic could be a divine message reminding us that we have been given our lives to invest them with meaning and virtue as defined by Gods 10 Commandments.

Messianic times

Several Orthodox publications have approached the issue of the pandemic through an eschatological lens. While warning against getting carried away, one author on Aish asserted that current events showed just how close the world is to redemption.

Might humanity now be open to hearing the voice of Moshiach?

The current global crisis could be a likely scenario for the advent of Moshiach, Sara Yoheved Rigler wrote, using the Hebrew word for the Messiah.

Sara Yoheved Rigler (Facebook)

She elaborated: Spiritual truth cannot sprout in ground crowded with the weeds of false beliefs and tenaciously-held fealty to false gods. The last few years have seen an unprecedented disillusionment with government. With the malls closed and the stock market in seizures, the bastions of materialism and economic security are crumbling. Confusion abounds. Might humanity now be open to hearing the voice of Moshiach?

Israelis walk past a roadblock at the entrance of an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem on April 19, 2020 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

In an audio lecture on the Torah Anytime website, a Rabbi Yaakov Mizrahi said that the 14-day quarantines mandated for people who test positive for COVID-19 or who have come into contact with coronavirus patients mirrored Jewish laws relating to purity and impurity that will become relevant again after the rebuilding of the Temple when the messiah comes.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman speaks during a press conference at the Prime Ministers Office in Jerusalem on March 12, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90

Hashem is clearly preparing us for mashiach, that we can get used to the concept of purity and impurity, he said.

Even outgoing Health Minister Yaakov Litzman has expressed messianic sentiments. Replying to a journalists question about lockdown restrictions being maintained over Passover, he said that he was sure that the Messiah will come and bring us out, as [God] brought us out of Egypt.

While some rabbis have tried to explain what is causing the virus, others are focused on telling people what to do to avoid it.

A charm distributed by Shas political activists at election day polling stations, offering divine protection against the coronavirus, on March 2, 2020 (ToI staff)

In the run-up to Marchs repeat Knesset election, Israels Central Elections Committee fined the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party NIS 7,500 ($2,150) for illegally handing out charms and candles promising protection against coronavirus at polling stations.

Earlier this month, the Bnai Brak-based Kupat Hair charitable organization began a campaign promising donors that if they send in NIS 3,000 ($850) they will receive an amulet in addition to an assurance by Kanievsky that they will not get sick and that there will not be anyone sick in [their] home.

I have enough Haredi friends whove told me that the fact that the Haredi world has taken such a serious hit could lead to a weakening of their group identity and morale, Woolf told The Times of Israel, explaining why rabbis like Edelstein may be so focused on providing theologically acceptable explanations for their followers.

Such an approach has led to pushback among some current and former members of the ultra-Orthodox community. In an article on the Haredi website Iyun, one ultra-Orthodox rabbi decried the standard responses of citing specific issues in need of strengthening, asserting that such suggestions are not appropriate for a situation of plague.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Natan Slifkin, a former member of the Haredi community, presented a different approach on his website Rationalist Judaism.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray outside the Tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai on Mount Meron in northern Israel, May 6, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

COVID-19 is the consequence of global society not placing sufficient emphasis on medical preparations, he wrote, citing the views of the medieval Jewish philosopher Maimonides.

Putting it into more religious terms, he said that there is a mitzvah of taking precautions to preserve life and that we are obligated as a society to make sure that we have the necessary precautions and medical equipment to deal with a pandemic. To the extent that countries and societies failed to do so, they suffered the consequences.

However, such an approach is unlikely to stir many people looking for an easily identifiable answer that can be framed in traditional ultra-Orthodox theological terms.

The reality, Woolf explained, is that many people cant deal with nuance. They want the answer.

JTA and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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Slammed by COVID-19, ultra-Orthodox Jews try to understand what God hath wrought - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

Truth is very dear to the heart of the Israeli public. Even when it errs, it does so through a wrong interpretation of the truth, not out of indifference to it. As far as truth goes, the public in Israel is never indifferent. Moreover, its keen on convincing the entire world of its being right, namely, of its adherence to the truth. This, after all, is the essence of the almost magical thinking termed here hasbara (explaining our cause overseas).

When the public supports annexation, it does so out of a deep conviction that the West Bank really and truly belongs to Israel, and that our ownership over it is an expression of historical truth, of a biblical, national and divine truth. The growing belief in God and in believing that the people of Israel are the chosen people attests to the fact that people have to anchor their worldview on solid ground, in order to show that this worldview is the word of the living God.

Its important for Israelis to prove that Israel is right and that the Palestinians are wrong. The dominance of Holocaust remembrance also attests to the importance of truth in the life of this nation. Holocaust denial is perceived as a crime against truth. The Nakba narrative [the Palestinian perspective of events in 1948] is a crime against truth. In the way we perceive ourselves, Israel is not an aggressive nation but one pursuing the truth, using its power as a means of defending this truth.

The Trump plan, which allows annexation to proceed, is perceived as American recognition not only of the reality thats taken shape on the ground, but as American recognition of the truth. The same applies to the recognition of the annexation of the Golan Heights and of East Jerusalem. This land truly belongs to us, in the deepest evangelist, religious and historical sense.

The truth also affords significance to the death of soldiers. In their death, not only do these soldiers bequeath us life, they also ratify the validity and importance of Israels truth. Its doubtful whether there is another nation in the industrialized world that is so obsessively immersed in proving its truth. Israelis are fanatic about their narrative. Its hard to think of a more central concept in the life of this nation, held even while being so horribly wrong in its conception of the truth.

More over, the Bibism movement which rules this country is based on a struggle to reach the truth in the cases against Netanyahu and his impending trial. The hatred of the High Court of Justice is driven by a controversy over what that truth is.

Therefore, the public is going to hate the new government. Hatred towards this government will unite all parts of this divided nation, because there is not a shred of truth behind it. Netanyahu set up a government in order to cancel his trial, to annex part of the West Bank and to fight the coronavirus, precisely at the moment in which these issues lost their importance, with the main issue becoming the one million unemployed and the recession thats around the corner. Its the economy, stupid.

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A cabinet with 36 ministers and 16 deputy ministers is the epitome of reckless profligacy and government corruption. The nation wont accept this absurd government. Its a government thats patently a lie. It has invented groundless and needless ministries and is wasting much of the most precious resource we have (money), thereby proving that it isnt intended to deal with the economic crisis. While people are losing their money and livelihood, it is stealing public money to give to politicians.

The public will not accept this. In times like this, a government such as this is the enemy of the people. It doesnt even try to hide this. This time, Netanyahus political instincts have betrayed him, and hes on a collision course with the public, whose spirit will soon become quite gloomy. Annexation and Netanyahus trial will not interest people, not when taxes go up and pension funds come down. He wont be able to sell the story that Gantz is to blame. The public knows whos the boss.

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Hatred of the government will unite the Israeli nation - Haaretz

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

If Israel could afford only two ambassador postings anywhere in the world, they would have to be Washington and the United Nations, in that order. Nowhere else comes close.

For a parliamentary democracy like Israel, theres nothing unusual in assembling a governing coalition, rewarding allies and placating rivals. But short of being prime minister or defense minister, theres probably no position with more influence, prestige or responsibility than ambassador to the United States or permanent representative to the UN. Either one should suffice.

Is an ambassadors constant presence really all that essential either in Washington or at the UN? Israel is known for the high caliber of its career diplomats, including those serving as deputy chief of mission in Washington or as deputy permanent representative in New York.

And theres no reason they cant fill in at the White House or in the Security Council Chamber when an ambassador is unavoidably absent. But thats never been by choice.

No deputy can replace a prime ministers handpicked envoy, to know in real time every nuance and confidence, or to project full resolve to friends and enemies alike.

The cultures and responsibilities of these two postings are so different and demanding, that no one can be expected to succeed in either while attempting both.

Yes, the late Abba Eban simultaneously served in both roles in the 1950s, before Israel was even a nuclear power, long before it was the leading recipient of US foreign aid and, well, he was Abba Eban.

Israel is relevant to the UN, and not only as a target for condemnation. However much they publicly dismiss the UNs importance, Israeli leaders have always seen the world body as a prime forum and vehicle for defending and advancing Israels interests.

However much Israeli politicians may denigrate it, the UN was instrumental in the countrys founding and remains integral to its international legitimacy. Netanyahus address to the UN General Assembly each autumn is a highlight of his public agenda.

Critical deliberations and decisions affecting Israels interests still emanate from its various bodies, possibly more and with more Israeli influence than when Netanyahu was the UN ambassador in the 1980s. In fact, his achievements at the UN consisted mostly of speeches and TV interviews, understandable for that era of pitched battle between the West and the Communist and nonaligned blocs, and the implacable stranglehold of the Arab and Islamic states.

Since Netanyahu left his UN post, the end of the Cold War and Oslo process broke down much though by no means all of Israels isolation. The repeal of the infamous 1975 Zionism is Racism resolution was a reflection of new realities, and in the past 15 years Israels diplomats have achieved measurable progress: Israelis appointed as experts to UN bodies and as regular employees, the adoption of Israeli-sponsored resolutions and the reduction in the number of anti-Israel resolutions, and an annual high-level Holocaust commemoration backed by a permanent office for Holocaust education and commemoration, and a General Assembly resolution condemning Holocaust denial in Iran.

This doesnt mean the UN has become an easy arena for Israeli interests. For all the progress since the 1980s, Israel still wont win any popularity contests within the corridors of the UN, and these days neither would the US.

With President Donald Trump openly hostile to multilateralism and to the UN and its agencies, the US delegation carries much less influence and soft power than it did under Barack Obama or even in the Reagan years. There is no longer an effective backstop for Israel at the UN.

Its precisely the persistent hostility and resistance within various pockets of the UN that demand maximum and credible Israeli diplomatic effort, full-time leadership and dedication by whoever has the prime ministers trust and an open line to his mobile phone. With the Security Council convening literally at a moments notice to deal with crises often involving the Middle East, Israels ambassador is always on call to attend and to carry on informal conversations with friendly diplomats.

The contrast between newspapers and magazines sold in the UN Secretariat lobby and at Washingtons Union Station is stark. Ambassadors who served in Washington before transferring to the UN have stressed to me the culture shock they experienced, and they dont face the animosity awaiting an Israeli representative.

In Washington, the agenda is set by the White House, and all policy debates and outreach are premised upon US national interest and American partisan politics. Even the calendar is timed to American election cycles, the State of the Union address each January, the congressional budget process, and the cultural assumptions of the red, white and blue.

Rightly or wrongly, many ambassadors at the UN see the US and especially Trump as more of a problem and a nuisance than Russian President Vladimir Putin or Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. Their agenda and priorities dont emanate from Inside the Beltway, and theres little any US ambassador can accomplish there without having counterparts from other countries on board.

IN MANY parts of the world, the US may have lost its luster as the indispensable nation, but for Israel it remains the sine qua non.

Israel today is an outsize, high-profile player in Washington, and thats not by accident. All the hasbara (public diplomacy) notwithstanding, there is nothing natural about the US-Israel strategic partnership. Its taken hard work and sacrifice on both sides of the Atlantic, and it remains a 24/7 task for whoever serves as Israels ambassador. It requires 100% focus on what Americans want and need to hear, whether in a cigar bar on F Street, CNNs Situation Room or a state fair in Kansas.

If Democrats win the White House and the Senate in November, this will mean significant turnover of officials and staff as well as some recalibrating of US Middle East policy. Not that Democrats are less friendly than Republicans, but Washington would at least return to the consistent, well-worn path stretching back at least to the Nixon era. Israel will again be expected to explain its actions and policies, and Washingtons decision-makers and influencers will expect a full-fledged ambassador to be doing the explaining and not just three days a week.

Regardless of who wins the presidency, US politics and American Jewry are more divided and demoralized today than at any time in the past century. In many ways, so is the entire world. The American scene and the world stage will each require maximum attention from a top Israeli envoy.

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For the United States and United Nations, two heads are better than one - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

The holy month of Ramadan is typically one of the most prosperous times of the year for mosques and other Islamic institutions. Its a time when Muslims come together for nightly prayers and offer zakat, or donations to support their houses of worship, community and the poor.

Part of what makes this season so special is celebrating together as a congregation during prayer and iftar, the meal shared after sundown, said Iman Jodeh, spokeswoman for the Colorado Muslim Society, the regions largest mosque. That spirit of community is, in part, what inspires its roughly 3,000 parishioners to give.

But this year, Ramadan started on the evening of April 23 during the thick of the coronavirus pandemic and two weeks before stay-at-home orders in the metro area expired. Since the Denver mosque closed on March 12, its seen a significant drop in community contributions, Jodeh said, even as its begun promoting PayPal and other online options.

Its incredibly difficult, she said of fundraising. Thats being conservative.

Rachel Woolf, Special to the Denver Post

Many of Colorados religious institutions have been suffering financially since the public health crisis forced them to discontinue in-person worship and educational programs. Churches, synagogues and mosques have been quick to move services and offering plates online, but faith leaders say the economic hardship imposed on their members is trickling down.

Representatives from several institutions told The Denver Post they are constantly reevaluating their budgets to adapt in this time of financial uncertainty. While they declined to reveal specific losses, some acknowledged they were forced to make cuts or furlough staff.

But all maintained their primary goal is doing whatever necessary to offer continued support to their communities during this difficult time and welcome them back once limits on in-person gatherings are lifted.

Though some churches have begun gradually welcoming parishioners back, those contacted by The Post said most are waiting for a directive from Gov. Jared Polis about the soonest and safest timeline to reinstate onsite services.

If we do not have some kind of relief for houses of worship, youre going to see a high increase of these places closing doors permanently, Jodeh said. While we are not there yet, thankfully, it is something that we are monitoring, and something we are taking step by step, day by day.

David Zalubowski, The Associated Press

Donations are down across the board at the 149 Catholic churches under the purview of the Archdiocese of Denver, said spokesman Mark Haas, though the extent to which they are varies from parish to parish. Decreases in revenue have triggered a 20% reduction in staff at Archdiocese, plus additional furloughs and pay reductions, reaching every department within the organization.

Although some Denver-area Catholic churches began welcoming worshippers back for Sunday Mass in limited capacities on May 9, offerings havent yet made up the deficit.

By no means was it even close to making up for the last two months, Haas said. With so many people having either lost their jobs, lost hours/income at their jobs, or just facing an uncertain future, even when we return to full Masses, we are anticipating that donations will remain below average for months and even years to come.

Long-term, that could spell more layoffs or force the Archdiocese to consolidate parish communities, he said.

At Trinity United Methodist Church in Capitol Hill, weekly revenue dipped as much as 30% in March, according to senior pastor Ken Brown. That rebounded in April, however, thanks to what he calls the Easter surprise.

Weekly offerings were only down 2% in April compared to 30% in March. Im incredibly encouraged, Brown said.

Daniel Brenner, Special to the Denver Post

The church was also approved for a federal Payment Protection Program loan, which will help retain staff during the pandemic. But there are still many unknown factors, Brown said, including when Trinity might reopen its doors for in-person services.

We dont know how deep this is reaching people economically, he said, but we are cautiously optimistic. And, of course, we believe in our faith.

Temple Emanuel in Denvers Hilltop neighborhood employs a dues-based model, which allows members to give what they can to support community outreach and educational programs, said Rabbi Joe Black.

The synagogue also hosts Shwayder Camp for Jewish youth on the slopes of Mount Evans, which attracts 500 to 600 attendees each summer and brings in revenue through registrations fees. For the first time in 72 years, the camp will not open this summer.

The synagogue also rents out the campsite to other organizationsand hosts services for High Holy Days there, but those prospects are in limbo as well.

Its a significant hit that were going to have to take, but we had no choice, Black said. We made that decision, it was a painful one.

While the coronavirus pandemic has caused financial uncertainty for religious organizations, its also moved them to find innovative solutions.

Scott Bloyer, lead pastor of Elevation Christian Church in Aurora, is working to form a nonprofit organization called One Person Inc., which will be related to but separate from his church. Thats because, in his experience, many businesses hesitate to donate to religious organizations, Bloyer said.

The new entity will enable those parties to give and help Elevation expand ministry programs, such as its market that offers free groceries to those in need and an initiative that helps newly-released prisoners reacclimate to society.

Bloyer is also weighing the prospect of doing drive-in sermons for Elevations 250-plus members.

The American community of faith has relied on their buildings too much, he said. This is forcing us to be way more creative.

Since religious services have been adapted to digital platforms, many congregations said theyll likely maintain virtual ways for members to stay involved. For example, Bloyer wants to start an online Bible study, so couples with young children can attend without having to worry about child care.

Trinity United Methodist recently began offering a virtual membership, which has inspired people across the country to join the congregation, said pastor Brown. Because of that, the church will continue to broadcast its sermons online.

Few, however, see these options as replacements for in-person communion and not just because of the financial prospects.

Many members of the Colorado Muslim Society are immigrants and refugees who come to the mosque for a sense familiarity and community, Jodeh said. In times of strife, Catholics often gravitate toward their faith by literally going to church and praying as a community, Haas said.

And thats perhaps the most important reason to stay fiscally responsible during this pandemic, said Rabbi Black to ensure houses of worship can open their doors and welcome patrons back when its safe to do so.

I am most looking forward to seeing peoples faces in person and being able to, God willing, someday give someone a big hug, Black said.

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Coronavirus is taking a financial toll on Colorados houses of worship. But religious leaders still have faith. - The Denver Post

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Posted By admin on May 17, 2020

Most synagogues, including my own, have been considering the question of reopening and returning to community life from our narrow lens as a synagogue. However, local, state, and national governments have many more factors to consider than synagogues do when considering when to allow businesses to open and gatherings to take place the economy, peoples livelihoods, mental health, etc. How do we balance and manage the public health risks with other public needs? Does Jewish ethics or Halakha have suggestions or models for governments?

I reiterate that this is a separate question from that of synagogues synagogues will likely remain closed after other businesses reopen for two reasons: (1) we do not have these other factors to consider the economy and peoples livelihoods, for the most part, are not dependent on our status, and (2) the nature of synagogue life, programming, personnel, and budget makes reopening more difficult for us than for other businesses.

I posed this question to my teacher, Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, who is a Posek and a Jewish ethicist. What would a government run according to the values of the Torah and Halakha do in this situation? Below is his response in my translation (please assume that any errors or confusing statements are due to translation).

Risk management is among the more fascinating issues that we have discussed in the past few years. I have written about it from a few perspectives. For example, may the national healthcare system subsidize technologies that improve quality of life even though their inclusion would cause other potentially life-saving drugs to be eliminated from the budget? May one drive to a simcha(Bar Mitzvah, engagement party) in a remote settlement in Sderot during periods of increased attack? These are questions we deal with as individuals, but they also touch upon Judaisms view of state policy.

At first glance, there is a prohibition to put oneself in danger andPikuah Nefesh(saving lives) is one of the more important principles in Judaism. Based on this, presumably the answer would be that our priority must bePikuah Nefesh; we may not restart the economy, even if this would lead to a great collapse of the economy, sincePikuah Nefeshis the overriding value.

However, this is not a sound ethical option for four reasons:

Therefore, we must balance two competing factors. On the one hand, the Halakha is that we are generally prohibited from placing ourselves in danger, and we are obligated to save lives of others who are in danger. On the other hand, we have an ethical imperative that is necessary for life: we must be able to have an economy and live our lives normally.

Is there a precise line we can draw? Do we know exactly when considerations ofPikuah Nefeshoverride other ones, and when we may live normally?

Its a very difficult line to draw. Certainly, when there is a high level of danger we must sayPikuah Nefesh takes precedence. But we must tread carefully with that too. I think we can use the case of discretionary wars as a guide, that is, if there is a serious risk to more than one-sixth of the population, we should favor the prohibitive stance and legislate emergency life-saving measures; if its a smaller risk, there are significant ethical reasons to balance competing factors and initiate a return to normal living.

I would like to emphasize that I do not believe that, according to Halakha, the government is permitted to give up on a sixth of the population. That is the limit, the line that we have found that Halakha draws. Above that number, and there is no conversation, debate, or consideration for economic or other needs, just as above that number a King may not initiate a discretionary war for any reason. Below that number, the King must engage in a cost-benefit analysis of going to war and can consider a multitude of factors. The riskier the war, the greater the potential benefit must be. Thank God our numbers are far lower than 16%. Therefore, there is room for governments to consider a variety of factors in making their decisions and Halakha gives authorities the flexibility to do so.

Roy Feldman is Rabbi of Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob in Albany, New York. Prior to that, he was Assistant Rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City and taught Judaic studies at the Ramaz Upper School. He has studied at and holds degrees from Yeshivat Petach Tikva, Columbia University, and Yeshiva University. Rabbi Feldman believes that a rabbis primary role in the twenty-first century is to articulate, embody, and exemplify the reasons why traditional Judaism remains relevant today.

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Rav Cherlow on Risk Management and Reopening Society - The Times of Israel

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