Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

Shalom Guy, allow me to introduce myself. I am a qualified Rabbanit/Rebbetzin who has been teaching Hilchot Niddah, the laws of Taharat HaMishpacha/Family Purity, for the past three decades. I have taught countless brides before their weddings and accompanied them to the Mikveh. I have taken hundreds of women and teenage girls on tours of the Mikveh, and I have taught many courses and seminars on the Jewish perspective on love, dating, marriage and intimacy.

By contrast, I dont think you have studied this topic in-depth, if at all, nor have you seen or analyzed any of the actual sources inside, and there are thousands of them. As any good TV show host knows, one should always do their homework and come prepared to address an issue. Based on your expos and Tweets, you were clearly not prepared nor qualified to address the issue of Family Purity. Id like to discuss some of the points you made, but first, let me give an introduction to the latest war of words.

For the convenience and enlightenment of my readers outside of Israel, I shall explain the background of this scandal, as well as quote Guy Piness Tweets, first in the original Hebrew which I will then translate into English. There has been a fair amount of brouhaha in Israel this past week regarding a new initiative to reach out to the greater female Jewish population in Israel; to educate and involve them in the laws of Family Purity, and regarding Judaisms take on marriage and sexuality. The new organization is called Sheasani Isha and it is the brainchild of Ruthie Leviev Yelizarov and Bracha Shilat. They brought on board a panel of experts and several high-profile celebs in order to spread the word. These celebrities are by and large nonreligious, and they are being paid for the hours that they sit and give interviews discussing how this Mitzvah has changed their lives and marriages.

The secular, left-wing, anti-religious segment of Israels population are horrified that anyone could still believe and disseminate such dark and archaic notions and rules, not to mention the fact that some of these believers are high-profile, secular, Israeli celebrities. They were deeply disturbed by the notion that Family Purity is still being practiced, and that famous secular people are promoting it. And Guy Pines who has a major ax to grind against religious people filmed an expos on Channel 12, exposing the salaries and nature of the celebs who are promoting Family Purity, presumably in the hopes of discouraging others from following suit.

Soon after his expos, he also posted several highly volatile tweets. On the other hand, the Orthodox community is angry that such a holy, private and intimate area of Jewish life is being sold as a common commodity. And sold by immodestly clad, secular celebs on Instagram to boot! The one thing that both the Secular and the Orthodox have in common, is their dislike of the use of social media and socialites to spread and publicize the message. Both sides were also reviled by the idea that people are actually getting paid to talk about their personal beliefs and intimate lives on the big (actually little) screen. But more about that later

Now that Ive summarized the scandal, lets get back to your Tweets, Guy. I will try to unpack them bit by bit:

, , , , , . . .

Now that they (all the religious people) are not here (on Twitter), because its Shabbat, Ill say that this issue goes above and beyond all the debates regarding our expos of this hidden missionary campaign to missionarize all women to immerse in the Mikveh. I think that anyone who believes in the secular Israeli religion and its good values, and who doesnt suffer from guilt pangs regarding their Judaism, should come out against the very essence of this idea. There is no such thing as impurity with regard to people. Therefore, there is no need to purify oneself. That is just a lie.

Firstly, picking a fight when the other side cannot respond is both cowardly and tyrannical. Are you interested in having a conversation or are you only interested in spouting your own views in a bullyish way, when the other side cannot respond or fight back?

Secondly, seeing that you are clearly uneducated regarding the Torahs verses and laws, it was not wise of you to emphatically state that the whole idea of Niddah is a lie and that there is no such thing as purity/impurity in the world. You are free to believe what you want, after all, the freedom to choose your lifestyle and beliefs is a basic tenet in Judaism and the foundation of the Jewish faith (see Maimonides, Hilchot Teshuva chapters 5 and 6). But before you can definitively call something a lie, you need to study, analyze and disprove it first. Otherwise, it is your statement that is a lie.

Whether or not you believe in the Torah, the concept of Tumah and Tahara ritual purity and impurity is clearly written multiple times for both men and women in the worlds number one bestselling book. You even quote one of them in your expos, Vayikra/Leviticus 15:19:

When a woman has a discharge, her discharge being blood from her body (i.e. uterus), she shall remain in her menstrual/Niddah separation for seven days; whoever touches her shall be impure until evening.

Two more famous verses regarding Niddah are found inVayikra 18:19:

Do not come close to a woman during her Niddah period of impurity to uncover her nakedness.

And inVayikra 20:18:

If a man lies with a woman during her uterine flow and he uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow and she has exposed her blood flow; both of them shall be spiritually cut off from among their people.

You may not believe in these verses and laws, nor have any wish to observe them, but to say that they dont exist or that they are a lie is simply outrageous! Can you prove with absolute certainty that these concepts dont exist? And if you have already decided that the Torah is a lie, why is your Twitter slogan Love your fellow as yourselfwhich is itself a verse from the Torah(Vayikra 19:18): You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against members of your people.Love your fellow as yourself: I am God.It seems that your secular Israeli religion and its good values actually come from the Torah after all! And by the way, that verse comes from Parshat Kedoshim, the very Parsha that includes the above verse on Niddah.

Which brings me to my next point. Your next tweet stated:

. .

To be Jewish and Secular is the Israeli religion in my opinion, and the State of Israel was founded upon it.

I cannot stress enough how much of an oxymoron that statement is. The very terms Yehudi (Jew) and Chiloni (Secular) contradict one another and certainly do not form the basis of any religion. To be secular is to be without religion as National Geographic put it: The Worlds Newest Major Religion: No Religion. The term Yehudi, on the other hand, is derived from Yehuda/Judah in the Torah and is synonymous with Yahadut Judaism. The term Yehudim is mentioned several times in the Bible, and it first appears in Sefer Melachim II. If one does not believe in the verses of the Torah, one cannot use the term Yehudi which is derived from them. As a side point, this is what I was referring to in my blogJewish, and it is interesting to note that even Wikipedia states unequivocally that:Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, asJudaismis theethnic religionof the Jewish people, although its observance varies from strict to none.

Furthermore, the State of Israel was founded upon the premise that it is a Medina Yehudit- TheJewishState. The term Israeli means that one comes from, and lives in, the Land of Israel which derives from and is mentioned umpteen times in the Bible. Being Israeli is not a religion, it is a geographic identity. Being a Yehudi/Jew, on the other hand, is to be part of a religion Yahadut/Judaism.

And as to your other point about anyone who believes in the secular Israeli religion and its good values, these values are all clearly based on the Torah, the Bible, the Ten Commandments and Monotheism, as mentioned above. Try as you might to separate Israeli values and Judaism, you will fall short every time. Just look at your Twitter slogan.

Furthermore, you can hardly accuse Jews who wish to teach Judaism to other Jews of missionarizing their fellow Jews. The definition of the word Missionary in the Oxford dictionary is: a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country.By definition, a missionary is one who converts foreigners to a religion that is not their own. Judaism belongs to and is an inseparable part of every Jews heritage. Wikipedia understands this, why dont you? Again, you have free choice of whether you will accept, practice, and believe in Judaism, but you are still a full-fledged member of the clan, not a foreigner. At the end of your expos, you mention that this Taharat HaMishpacha campaign is the equivalent of a Secular organization running a campaign to try to get Chareidi women to eat cheeseburgers, or go to the movies on Friday night. Guy, based on everything I just said, trying to get Jews to be Jewish is not the same thing as trying to get Jews to be un-Jewish. The latter would probably qualify as a missionary campaign not the former!

As for these guilt pangs that you mention some secular Jews suffer from with regards to their Judaism (or lack thereof), all I can say is that feeling guilty can be a good thing if it sets you on the right track. The feeling of guilt is a sign that you have done something wrong and you feel bad about it. To quote Brene Brown: Shame is a focus on self, guilt is a focus on behavior. Shame is I am bad. Guilt is I did something bad.Guilt: Im sorry. I made a mistake. Shame: Im sorry. I am a mistakeGuilt is just as powerful, but its influence is positive, while shames is destructive.

As for your call to come out against the very essence of this idea of Family Purity which you describe as a lie youd have to know and experience its essence before you can rebel against it. The essence of Family Purity, the laws and concepts behind it, are very beautiful and the Secular/Western world would do well to pay attention to many of the ideas behind it. Torah wants to enhance, improve and uplift our daily lives in every area, including sexuality. The point of Judaism is not to suffocate, obliterate and do away with pleasures and desires, but rather to harness, channel and control them, so that they are productive and promote our growth as human beings. Like anything worthwhile in life, it requires hard work and discipline. The laws are complicated and intricate and require study, diligence and instruction. The system of Family Purity is not the fun, carefree, no-rules and no-discipline lifestyle that Western culture so often promotes, but it is a supremely meaningful, inspiring, worthwhile and character-building way of life.

Having just mentioned rules and laws, your second tweet where you mention that we should be modern and create our own rules; such as taking a shower instead of immersing in a Mikveh just goes to prove that you know nothing about the concept of Family Purity or the laws behind it. Your comment is one of the most common misconceptions regarding the concepts of Tumah and Tahara ritual purity and impurity. It has absolutely nothing to do with physical cleanliness that is merely aprerequisitefor immersing in the Mikveh. Ritual Purity is a completely spiritual concept. Additionally, it is not negative or degrading, as your outcry would have us believe, it is a spiritual way of life.

Here are some sources for your perusal.

Regarding physical cleanliness, Maimonides states (Mikvaot Chapters 1-2):

If there is an intervening substance between them and the water for example, there was dough or mud clinging to the flesh of a person the immersion is invalidA womans hidden area is considered to have intervening substances present unlessshe washes before her immersionbecause that portion of the body is always sweaty and dust collects there and intervenes.

Regarding the use of a shower or bath in place of a Mikveh, Maimonides deliberately states (Issurei Biah 11:16):

A woman does not ascend from her state of ritual impurity and cease being forbidden until she immerses herself in aMikvehthat is halachically acceptablewhile there are no substances intervening between her flesh and the waterIf, by contrast, she washes in a bath even if all the water in the world passes over her her state is the same after washingas before washingand a man who engages in relations with her is liable forkareit.Forthere isno way of ascending from a state of ritual impurity to one of purityexcept through immersing in the waters of aMikveh, a spring, or a sea which is like a spring, as will be explained inHilchot Mikvaot.

Your spreading this disinformation is precisely the reason why Ruthie Leviev Yelizarov and Bracha Shilat created Sheasani Isha in the first place! Ruthie even explained this as her motivation in your expos. They understood that there is so much misinformation and disinformation out there, regarding Taharat HaMishpacha and sexuality in Judaism. Unlike the Secular world, Judaism believes in privacy and modesty, as well as in clean and helpful speech. We dont flash our bodies and our sex life all over the screens and social media but thats a whole blog in and of itself for another time. It is precisely for this reason, because Judaism believes in modesty, that Taharat HaMishpacha is not flaunted and discussed openly. That is why there is such a backlash from the Orthodox community regarding this new and public initiative. But it is also why there is such confusion, misinformation and lack of public discourse and education regarding this topic. The truth is that the Secular viewpoint on sexuality is everywhere, but the Jewish one is not. Ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power and I prefer the educated and enlightened path.

And by the way, Guy, no one ever complains about these women getting paid $150,000 an hour to flash their bodies in the name of lust, and to portray themselves as sex objects, it only bothers them when these same women use their faces and names to promote Judaism. As Ruthie stated in the interview, we live in a commercial and technological society, where everything is sold and disseminated via the screen. That would include your show, Guy. While she clearly denounces the idea of commercializing and selling Taharat HaMishpacha as one would sell yogurt or chewing gum, it is a fact that our society likes glitz, glamour and stardom. I personally am not entirely comfortable with this type of product, but it certainly fits with the times. Guy, you yourself think that religious people need to get with the times, so here they are!

At the end of the day, you and all your fellow secular Israeli coreligionists are my family, and I will always welcome you home.

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The Family Purity 'Scandal' in Israel: An Open Letter to Guy Pines - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

It is no doubt one of the most famous teachings of Jesus Christ.

Image via Pixabay

Christians know it.

Children know it.

Other religions know it.

Agnostics know it.

Atheists know it.

It is the so-called Golden Rule, a short, sweet, and simple view of how to live and act that really encompasses everything that we need to know about following Jesus:

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you,for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Mt 7.12)

And there it is.

Other religions and philosophies have variations on the same theme.

What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour: this is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. (Judaism)

None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself. (Islam)

One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to ones own self. (Hinduism)

Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. (Buddhism)

What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others. (Confucianism)

Regard your neighbors gain as your own gain, and your neighbors loss as your own loss. (Taoism)

So the idea is not entirely unique to Christianity.

Jesus does add a new wrinkle, similar to the line from the Jewish Talmud listed above, which makes sense, since that would have been part of the Jewish faith that Jesus was a part of.

The new wrinkle is this: for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

The Law and the Prophets is a term Jesus uses in the Gospels to mean the Old Testament Scriptures, which was the only Bible that the people of God had at the time.

The Golden Rule to treat others the way that I would wish to be treated is brief and easy to understand, and Jesus says that this simple commandment sums up the entire Bible that they had at the time.

Everything that God wants from us in how we live our lives is summed up here.

If we can get the Golden Rule right, we are getting everything else right.

This would seem to make it both very easy, and very hard, to please God.

Because its actually a really challenging rule to obey.

We often treat people negatively, in ways that we dont like when others do it to us.

We gossip, we slander, we attack, we judge, we look down upon, we withhold.

We wound with words, we wound with action, we wound with silence.

And on the other side, we often dont do the good that we would like for ourselves.

We dont encourage, we dont give generously, we dont support, we dont give grace, we dont forgive, we dont love well.

So the Golden Rule can become a regular gut-check, soul-search, indicator light on how we are doing at living rightly before the Lord.

The way I am treating this person is that what I would want for myself?

What am I doing/not doing to this person that is the opposite of how I would wish to be treated?

If I were in their shoes right now, what would I want done for me?

All the good that I would like for myself am I giving that away to this person?

As challenging as it is, it actually simplifies so much of life.

To love my neighbour as myself (Mt 22.39) takes all that God wants of me and makes it very easy to check and see how I am doing, and very easy to decide how I will respond and act towards others.

The Golden Rule is so simple, so well-known, so obvious in some ways, that it is very easy to actually overlook it and miss it.

But we are to come back to it again and again, in every interaction, in every motivation, in every word, in every relationship.

How well am I fulfilling the commandment of Christ here?

And what might I do to fulfill it better?

And the answer to the second question is as simple as the commandment is:

How would I want to be treated?

And then we go on from there.

********

If youve enjoyed what you read here, you can follow Third Way Christians on Facebook or Instagram, or sign up here to get new columns emailed directly to you! As well, you can track along with Chris Sunday morning teaching at Meadow Brook Churchs YouTube page!

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The Beautiful Power of the Golden Rule - Patheos

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

To Albert Camus, a hero is someone who can accept the bleak meaninglessness of life and press forward nonetheless. Is there no better option?

"The human spirit is absurd. The whole process of living is utterly unreasonable." Aldous Huxley

Perhaps the problem with us humans is that we think too much. Do cows interrupt their blissful bovine binging to ponder the meaning of existence? Do beavers ever gather at the top of their dams to pontificate about the intrinsic point in building something which - sooner rather than later - will turn into so many twigs floating down a river?

As far as we know, the answer is no. But as the existentialist philosopher, Alfred Camus, points out, humans consistently think, question, wonder, and seek meaning. Eventually, though, despite our efforts at euphemistically rephrasing, we have to face the (depressing) facts: Life consists of working so we can eat, eating so we can work, and then doing the same thing over the next dayand (face it!) the end of this dreary process is death.

While this may not bother the cows grazing in the field or the busy beavers building their dams, human beings find this so troubling that they spend much of our lives (and certainly all of their hours on Netflix and social media) desperately trying to escape confrontation with these ultimately unavoidable facts.

In Camus's thought, heroism is about having the courage to face this stripped-of-illusions-portrayal-of-life.

In Camus's thought, heroism is about having the courage to face this stripped-of-illusions-portrayal-of-life. Camus's hero, then, is the mythical Sisyphus, who was condemned by the Greek gods to endlessly roll a large stone up the mountain, only to have it plunge to the bottom and do it all over again each and every day.

Camus is especially interested in what went through Sisyphus's mind as he made his way down the mountain to pick up the rock yet again. He theorizes that while shlepping the heavy stone up the mountain, Sisyphus was probably too engaged in his work to wonder anything (like the rest of us, when we are immersed in our daily to-do list). But what was Sisyphus thinking on the way down the mountain--when he was presumably free to contemplate the pointlessness of his life with brutal honesty?

The usual avenues of escape were not open to Sisyphus since he knew the gods had condemned him to this for eternity. No flippant, new-age, 'it's all good'; no pseudo-mystical 'karma'; no pearly gates and chubby cherubs in the hereafter, could be roped in to make Sisyphus's narrative more bearable.

Sisyphus is Camus' hero because he ceased trying to milk meaning out of intrinsic meaninglessness. By walking back down the mountain to his fate, he was, in essence, embracing life-as-it-is with both hands, and Camus posits that because of that, he probably experienced true joy.

Indeed, for the thinking, self-aware person, it is hard not to laugh at the ludicrousness of the human condition. We scurry around, full of ourselves and our aspirations, oblivious to the fact that we are just a speck - like the one on Horton, Hears a Who's flower. Even in the happy event that we leave some small mark on the world, it is just a matter of time before - like a pebble in the ocean - we disappear - a few fancy swirls and oblivion.

As Jews, we are exquisitely attuned to the absurd - indeed, clarity of vision is often described as laughter in our sources. Perhaps because of our history - never setting down roots for too long, always somewhat on the periphery of mainstream society - Jews have held on to their sense of humor (sometimes black yet always there). But in Judaism, the punchline is different because of one word which changes everything: love.

Albert Camus, Newyorker.com

If you have ever spent hours creating a gluten-free treat for a child with celiac disease or went to one more store on aching legs for the perfect shade of magenta for a gift or any equivalent investment of time, energy, and resources, you, too, are aware of how love infuses the mundane with significance.

While in the greater scheme of history, the gluten-free treat and the magenta jacket are inane and even absurd, within the context of your relationship with your loved ones, their significance is beyond calculation. Each mundane act done with love is another thread binding you to each other.

Because of this truth, Judaism is much less interested in what we accomplish than in who we become - as we trudge (or perhaps) dance up the mountain, carrying our heavy rocks. How we live our lives - all those mundane details - expresses our love for God. And God's expectation that we see the cosmic significance beyond the absurd -which both the busy beaver and the sanguine cow are probably oblivious to - is an expression of God's love for us.

Each mundane act done with love is another thread binding you to each other.

This is also why Torah study often focuses more on the practical than the theological or eschatological: returning the suitcase borrowed last year, moving the neighbor's bike under the roof when there is a sudden shower, and feeding one's cat before eating one's own breakfast may not seem spiritual yet (absurdly) they are.

Because while the suitcase, the bike, and the cat will shortly fade into oblivion and are insignificant in the greater scheme of things, who you become through these small actions - how much you identify with the Divine soul that makes you different than the beaver - creates the bond between you and the Infinite. This bond endures forever - love, connection, and relationship are the name of the game.

The burial place of the Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs in the city of Hebron is called "Mearat Hamachpeila," which means 'The Doubled Cave.' On the surface, the word 'double' refers to the fact that four pairs of married couples are buried there - yet, Jewish mystics, with their exquisite hearing, point out that the word 'double' is not a synonym for 'couple' or 'pair.' Double means the same thing twice and hints at the duality these Jewish greats lived.

When in love, each inane, absurd detail is infused with momentous significance - the very same act interacts simultaneously on two very different planes. As the parent making the gluten-free snack and the friend searching for the perfect shade can tell you, love infuses mundanity with beauty in the here and now.

In a deliciously ironic alchemy, Judaism transforms the absurdity of each mundane detail - each generic mountain, each ephemeral sweaty step, each transitory aching muscle - into the joy of love and connection - right here in this (absurd) world.

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Love and Absurdity - aish.com Ponder, Philosophy - Aish.com

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

The ultra-Orthodox leadership has found an old-new enemy: the state-Haredi education system. Last week, United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni said: There will be no such thing as state-Haredi education. Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, leader of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox public, went him one better by asserting that those who teach in state-Haredi schools lose their place in the world to come.

To the outside observer, this looks like yet another petty Haredi civil war. In reality, the consequences of that war for Israel are enormous. Victory would leave the ultra-Orthodox sector poor and insular, making an ever-smaller contribution, relative to its size, to the State of Israel and Israeli society.

Twenty-five percent of children enrolled in Israels Hebrew education system are ultra-Orthodox, and the number is growing at a rate of 3.7% per year (compared to 2.3% in the rest of the education system). The vast majority of Haredi children, 96%, study in unofficial ultra-Orthodox institutions. These institutions maintain only the weakest of links to the state system. Their curriculum generally does not include a full slate of core studies, if any at all; their supervision is lax or non-existent, and their connection to the state is mostly budgetary. Their administration is a failure and, in many cases, they are a source of income for wheeler-dealers no less than they are educational institutions. In a nutshell, this is a chaotic system run according to mid-20th century standards.

In 2014, Education Minister Shai Piron established the state-Haredi education system. The idea was to incorporate the ultra-Orthodox education system into the Israeli system, apply state supervision standards to it, and establish a more binding and meaningful core studies framework to start transforming Haredi education from an extraterritorial system to a part of the state. The idea sounds proper and logical, but in practice it has had little success. Today, only about 3% of ultra-Orthodox schools belong to the state-Haredi education system. Of these, a large majority are affiliated with marginal Haredi streams such as Chabad, Breslov, or other small groups. The ultra-Orthodox mainstream is not there.

In recent years, following an increase of less conservative Haredim who desire that their children receive an education that will allow them to live above the poverty line, there have been attempts to establish state-Haredi schools in several major ultra-Orthodox population centers. These parents want their children to be educated in a more modern system that meets, at least, minimum standards of both curriculum and physical facilities, and which is part of the State of Israel.

Despite the marginality of this emerging current in ultra-Orthodox education, the Haredi leadership is waging a war of attrition. Attempts by parents in ultra-Orthodox cities to open such schools run into a brick wall. The municipal systems struggle with this, and the community condemns any parent who promotes such initiatives or sends their children to these schools. The words of MK Gafni and Rabbi Edelstein animate this Haredi horror show.

And they know why. The ultra-Orthodox education system is the power base of the Haredi leadership. Upholding ignorance and preventing Haredi boys from acquiring the ability to earn a decent living; preserving the communal regime that controls parental behavior through educational institutions and admission to them; the great budgetary milking operation that supports masses of ultra-Orthodox political hacks and dynastic courts.

All of these are necessary conditions for maintaining the ultra-Orthodox system. If that system should heaven forfend! become subject to supervision, core studies would be instituted which, in turn, would prepare students for further education in remunerative fields and enable lucrative careers and that would make it impossible for rabbis and wheeler-dealers to control who gets accepted where. They know the entire edifice would collapse on their heads.

Haredi Jews currently constitute 13% of the Israeli population (1.22 million), and their median age is 16. If drastic change doesnt occur soon, and if the current vectors of non-education, non-involvement in Israeli life, and non-participation in military/national service and the labor market continue unabated, Israel will collapse under this increasingly untenable burden and become an entirely different place within a few years time.

Strengthening the state-Haredi education system is a potential tool for change. If the next government to be formed is not encouraged to do so, it may be too late for those that follow. But the responsibility also lies with those many Haredim who want state-Haredi education but are afraid. If they dont confront their leadership which cares nothing for their well-being neither they nor the state will survive.

Dr. Shuki Friedman is the vice president of the Jewish People Policy Institute and a lecturer of law at the Peres Academic Center.

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A fight for the right to poverty and ignorance - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

Israeli media reports dozens of Egyptian soldiers killed in 1967 war are buried under what is now an Israeli tourist park.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has said his office would investigate reports of a mass grave in central Israel containing the bodies of Egyptian commandos who were killed during the 1967 Middle East war.

Lapids office said on Sunday that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had brought up the issue in a call after two Israeli newspapers published witness accounts suggesting there was an unmarked grave near Latrun, an area between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv where Israels army fought the Egyptian soldiers decades ago.

According to the statement, Lapid directed his military secretary to examine the issue in depth and to update Egyptian officials.

Earlier on Sunday, Egypts foreign ministry had said in a statement the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv had been assigned to communicate with the Israeli authorities to clarify what is being circulated in the media, call for an investigation to verify the credibility of this information, and urgently inform the Egyptian authorities of the relevant details.

Newspapers Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz published archival material and interviews with residents recounting how dozens of Egyptian soldiers killed in the battle may be buried there.

According to the reports, about 80 Egyptian soldiers killed during the war were buried under what is now a popular Israeli tourist park.

The soldiers were reportedly killed on June 5, 1967, when fighting broke out between Israeli troops and a group of Egyptian soldiers in Kibbutz Nahshon, a settlement in the now illegally occupied West Bank.

After the soldiers were killed, Israeli authorities dug a 20-metre grave and buried the Egyptian soldiers bodies together, said the report.

Residents of the kibbutz attempted to speak out about the issue during the 1990s but were silenced by the Israeli army.

Known to the Arabs as the Naksa, meaning setback or defeat, the 1967 war saw Israel seize the remaining Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.

The Naksa was a continuation of the 1948 war which saw the establishment of the state of Israel in a process that entailed the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

The 1948 war ended with Israeli forces controlling approximately 78 percent of historical Palestine. The remaining 22 percent fell under the administration of Egypt and Jordan. In 1967, Israel absorbed the whole of historical Palestine, as well as additional territory from Egypt and Syria.

In January, Haaretz reported a mass grave of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the village of Tantura in 1948 was discovered under the car park of a popular Israeli beach.

After fighting another war in 1973, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979. That was the first it signed with an Arab country and Israel regards it as a cornerstone of its security.

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Israel says it will probe 1967 mass grave of Egyptian soldiers - Al Jazeera English

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

Saudi Arabia has taken a complex approach to the recognition of Israel by several Arab countries in the Abraham Accords. It has a long history of clandestine cooperation with Israel against mutual enemies. Recently, it has said public recognition of Israel will come only if there is movement to resolve the Palestinian conflict and create a two-state solution. But the kingdom has tolerated and even abetted the development of diplomatic and military ties between some of its closest allies and Israel.

Israel values its covert contacts with the Saudis but craves public recognition as the path to ending its isolation in the Islamic world. Yet it overestimates Riyadhs clout. Several Muslim countries would not follow the Saudis lead on normalization of relations with Israel: Algeria (the largest Arab and African country), Iraq (which just recently criminalized any contact with Israel), and Pakistan (the only Muslim state with nuclear weapons). But the Israelis still chase the Saudis.

Clandestine cooperation between the Saudis and Israelis dates to the early 1960s, when both supported the Royalists in Yemen against the Egyptian and Soviet-backed Republican government in Sanaa. Their intelligence services coordinated the delivery of weapons and expertise to the Royalists, who were based in Saudi Arabia. The chiefs of the Mossad and Saudi intelligence met at the Dorchester Hotel in London on one occasion. The 1993 Oslo agreement facilitated more behind-the-scenes contacts.

Iran and its allies like Hezbollah and the Houthis now form the common foe. Saudi Arabias Gulf allies Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates recognized Israel in 2020, largely to get the Saudis support against Iran. The Saudis have allowed direct flights from Tel Aviv to Manama, Abu Dhabi and Dubai crossing over their territory.

Bahrain is a particularly important country for Saudi Arabia. The two countries are connected by the 15-mile-long King Fahd causeway, Bahrains only access to the mainland. In 2011, Saudi troops crossed the causeway to help the Sunni ruling family crush protests by the majority Shia community on the island. The Bahraini government routinely accuses Iran of supporting Shia unrest. Bahraini Shia oppose the recognition of Israel. The Saudis own minority Shia community are located in the Eastern Province across the causeway from Bahrain.

If the Saudis did not want Bahrain to recognize Israel and exchange ambassadors, they could have easily done so. Manama will not cross Riyadh. So the Saudis have supported the Bahraini decision to make peace with Israel.

Saudi Arabia has a large Palestinian expatriate worker population. It also is the home of Mecca and Medina, the holy cities of Islam. The Wahhabi clerical establishment is a strong proponent of Palestinian rights and the demand for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem. So there are significant constraints on King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman against following Bahrains lead.

U.S. President Joe Biden understands the limitations facing his Saudi hosts later this month. No major breakthrough is likely during his visit to Jeddah. He will meet with nine Arab leaders: the six Gulf monarchs plus Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq. The Saudis are going to take more control of Tiran Island in the Gulf of Aqaba from Egypt, according to some accounts. It is home to an American military outpost that monitors the 1978 peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Uninhabited Tiran is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination.

The Saudis have not defined what progress on the Palestinian issue means in concrete terms. This gives them some room to maneuver. Unfortunately, there is no sign that Washington is going to make the Palestinian issue a priority, so the Saudis will have nothing to point to in order to justify going further toward recognition.

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How to understand Israel and Saudi Arabias secretive relationship - Brookings Institution

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

Americans attitudes about Israel are nuanced, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis. While two-thirds of U.S. adults (67%) express a favorable view of the Israeli people, a much smaller share (48%) says the same about the Israeli government. Views of Israel as a country, meanwhile, fall in between, with a little over half of Americans (55%) expressing a favorable opinion.

This Pew Research Center analysis explores the interplay between three questions about Israel, using data drawn from two different surveys. We first surveyed 10,441 U.S. adults from March 7 to 13, 2022, using the Centers American Trends Panel, asking them about their views of the Israeli government and the Israeli people. Between March 21 and 27, 3,383 of these same respondents were then asked about their views of Israel. This analysis draws only on people who completed both of these surveys. While previous reporting on views of the Israeli people and views of the Israeli government only used the random half of respondents who received each question first (due to a modest order effect), the analysis reported here uses all respondents who were given the three questions.

Everyone who took part in these surveys is a member of the Centers American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses, which gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATPs methodology.

Here are the questions from the first survey and its methodology, and here are the questions from the second survey and its methodology.

The Centers analysis is based on two recent surveys and the subset of 3,383 U.S. adults who took them both. The first survey, fielded March 7-13, asked Americans about the Israeli people and the Israeli government. The second, fielded March 21-27, asked them about Israel in a more general way, as a country. Together, the two surveys provide a closer look at what Americans may have in mind when they express a favorable or unfavorable opinion about Israel.

Among Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party, around six-in-ten (57%) have a favorable view of Israel as a country, the Israeli government and the Israeli people. Another 12% of Republicans have an unfavorable view of all three, while all other combinations of views are held by no more than 10% each.

Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party are more divided. Around a quarter of Democrats (24%) have a favorable view of all three: Israel as a country, the Israeli government and the Israeli people. A similar share (22%) has uniformly unfavorable views of the country, government and people. But a third sizable group also emerges among Democrats: 18% have an unfavorable view of Israel as a country, an unfavorable view of the Israeli government and a favorable view of the Israeli people. Once again, all other combinations of views are held by no more than 10% each.

These results are generally in line with the Centers other internationally focused work, which suggests that Americans may be more likely to think about a particular countrys government than its people when they are asked about the nation as a whole.

For example, in an open-ended survey question last year, the Center asked Americans, Whats the first thing you think about when you think about China? In that study, Americans were more focused on the Chinese government including its policies and how it behaves internationally than on the people. To the degree that the Chinese people were mentioned at all (only 3% of responses mentioned the Chinese people), Americans tended to use quite favorable words. And that was true even among Americans who had lukewarm or cold views of China as a country.

The same broad pattern applies when people in other countries are asked about the United States, as the Centers international surveys have shown. In most countries surveyed, people abroad generally express more or equally as positive views of Americans than of the U.S. as a country. Attitudes about the U.S. as a country also tend to fluctuate substantially with a change in the U.S. presidency, suggesting that people are thinking more about the government than the people.

When it comes to Americans attitudes about Israel, views of the country and the government are closely related, as the Centers new analysis shows. But there can be other factors at play, too. For example, for a share of the public, positive views of the Israeli people may be enough to lead to positive views of the country, even among those who dislike the Israeli government. Other factors, such as views of a countrys cultural exports or model of government, can also play a role, coloring views of the country if not views of the government or people, as might the countrys historical or religious significance.

Around two-thirds of Americans who have a favorable view of Israel as a country also have a favorable view of the Israeli government (70%). And more than eight-in-ten of those who have a favorable view of Israel as a country also have a favorable view of the Israeli people (86%). Still, 16% of Americans who have a favorable view of Israel as a country express a favorable view of the people and, at the same time, an unfavorable view of the government.

A similar pattern emerges when looking more closely at the Americans who express an unfavorable opinion about Israel as a country. A large majority of these Americans express a negative view of Israels government (71%). But around three-in-ten of those who have an unfavorable view of Israel as a country simultaneously have an unfavorable view of the Israeli government and a favorable view of the Israeli people (28%).

Note: Here are the questions from the first survey and its methodology, and here are the questions from the second survey and its methodology.

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When Americans think about Israel, what do they have in mind? - Pew Research Center

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

From June 26 to July 5, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis traveled to Israel, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to meet with government officials, private sector executives, and academic thought leaders to discuss efforts to promote the security of our common digital ecosystem and the integrity of our hardware and software supply chains.

Director Inglis met with officials from the Governments of Israel, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to share lessons learned on enhancing national cybersecurity, growing the cyber talent pool, and ensuring the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure. He also solicited feedback on themes of the Biden-Harris Administrations forthcoming National Cybersecurity Strategy. Director Inglis met with leaders from the private sector to discuss the Biden-Harris Administrations priorities for public-private cyber collaboration and the vital role that the private sector plays in protecting national and international cybersecurity. Director Inglis met with educators and academic leaders to discuss efforts to promote the digital literacy and cybersecurity awareness of our citizens and expand the cyber talent pipeline.

Director Ingliss visit served to strengthen and reinforce partnerships necessary to ensure a secure and resilient international cyber ecosystem that reflects democratic values, safeguards our individual and collective security, and supports U.S. interests abroad.

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Readout of National Cyber Director Chris Inglis's Travel to Israel and Europe - The White House

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

The family of Shireen Abu Aqleh, the renowned Palestinian-American journalist killed during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank, is demanding a meeting with President Biden during his visit to Jerusalem this week after accusing his administration of shielding Israel from accountability for her death.

Abu Aqlehs brother, Anton, wrote to Biden on Friday expressing his familys grief, outrage and sense of betrayal after the US sState department concluded that Israeli forces were likely responsible for shooting the Al Jazeera reporter in the head in the West Bank city of Jenin in May but found no reason to believe that this was intentional.

The letter to Biden said the state department assessment was a whitewash given the weight of evidence showing that Abu Aqleh was the subject of an extrajudicial killing by the Israeli military, including a United Nations report that said soldiers fired several single, seemingly well-aimed bullets at her and other journalists

The family accused the White House of adopting the Israeli governments conclusions and talking points in an apparent intent to undermine our efforts toward justice and accountability for Shireens death.

Instead, the United States has been skulking toward the erasure of any wrongdoing by Israeli forces, the letter said.

The journalists niece, Lina Abu Aqleh, told the Guardian that the request to meet Biden after he arrives in Jerusalem on Wednesday has been met with silence from the White House. Abu Aqleh, who said she was very close to her aunt and spoke to her almost every day, accused Washington of placing Israeli interests over discovering the truth about the death of a US citizen.

The US is clearly trying to bury the case. Theyre trying to cover it up, she said.

If Shireen was killed in Ukraine, Im 100% sure the reaction would have been completely different. There would have been action taken from day one. There would have been accountability. There would have been a transparent and independent investigation. And there would have been justice.

The Abu Aqleh family is backed by Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.This much is clear the State Department has comprehensively failed to carry out its mission as it relates to the murder of an American citizen. This failure sends a clear message to the world: some American lives are worth more than others, and some allies have license to kill with impunity, Tlaib said in a statement

Last week, the state department said that the US security coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz, had been granted full access to the Israeli and Palestinian investigations into the journalists death as well as overseeing an extremely detailed forensic analysis of the bullet that killed her.

The department said the security coordinator concluded that Abu Aqlehs death was the result of tragic circumstances during an Israeli military operation. But it said investigators could not reach a definitive conclusion regarding the origin of the bullet because it was too badly damaged.

The dead journalists family told Biden that the state department has bought into Israeli claims that she was killed during an exchange of gunfire with Palestinian militants when the UN and other investigations found that Abu Aqleh was not near the fighting at the time.

Your administrations actions can only be seen as an attempt to erase the extrajudicial killing of Shireen and further entrench the systemic impunity enjoyed by Israeli forces and officials for unlawfully killing Palestinians, the family said in the letter to the president.

Lina Abu Aqleh said that the US has failed to provide the family with details of the investigation or how the security coordinator reached his conclusions, and called on Biden to release the information his administration has collected about the killing.

We never felt like we were in the loop or being supported. We did receive condolences. But we need meaningful engagement and action. Thats what were asking for, and we didnt receive it, she said.

The family has asked Biden to withdraw the state departments assessment and to appoint the FBI and other agencies to conduct a full investigation into the killing. It is also seeking clarity on who tested the bullet after the Palestinian Authority agreed to hand it over to the US for forensic testing on condition that the Israelis were not involved. However, the Israeli military claimed that the test was to be carried out by Israeli experts with the US acting as observers.

The White House has been approached for comment.

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Shireen Abu Aqleh: family of killed journalist demand meeting with Biden - The Guardian

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Posted By admin on July 12, 2022

Israel must find better ways of dealing with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip than to submit to endless rounds of violence, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday evening.

Lapid was speaking at a state ceremony in Jerusalems Mount Herzl military cemetery to commemorate the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces who were killed during Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in 2014. The somber event was attended by the families of those killed in the conflict eight years ago, as well as by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who also spoke at the ceremony, and Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy.

For a long time, the only two options on the table were occupying Gaza or endless rounds of fighting, Lapid said. Our job is to find better solutions. The IDFs strength enables us freedom of action in Gaza, but also economic and diplomatic freedom of action.

Lapid said Israel must make the civilian population in Gaza realize that they can live a different life. To pressure Hamas to stop firing at Israel. To that end, we have increased the number of permits for working in Israel that are issued to the residents of Gaza, and we continue to promote the Economy-for-Security plan, in reference to Israeli efforts to help the Gazan economy in return for security assurances.

In their respective speeches, Lapid and Gantz honored the memories of those killed in action during the 50-day conflict with Gaza-based terror organizations, chief among them Hamas, the ruling organization that is sworn to Israels destruction.

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A total of 74 people 68 IDF soldiers, 11 of whom were killed in cross-border tunnel attacks, and six civilians died on the Israeli side of the conflict. In Gaza, more than 2,000 people were killed, with Israel putting the number of civilians killed at approximately 50 percent, the rest being combatants.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid at a state ceremony on Mount Herzl commemorating fallen soldiers in Operation Protective Edge, July 10, 2022. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

The bodies of two soldiers killed in the operation Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul were captured by Hamas and remain in Gaza as the bargaining chips for a prisoner exchange with Israel, alongside two living captives: Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed. The two Israeli civilians crossed the Gaza boundary voluntarily between 2014 and 2015 and have been held prisoner by Hamas since then. Both men have histories of mental illness. Hamas recently released footage of al-Sayed, saying his health has been deteriorating, with Israel dismissing the move as psychological warfare.

Israel and Hamas have held several rounds of indirect talks over the years, in an attempt to reach a prisoner exchange deal that would see the release of Palestinian security prisoners, including terror convicts.

In his speech Sunday, Lapid said that Israel has a sacred obligation to bring home our fallen soldiers, Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, for burial.

The premier also called for more unity among Israelis, reiterating comments he made last week about the need for all Israelis to come together.

On the battlefield and in cemeteries, there is no right or left. It is not important who is secular or religious, Druze or Jewish, he said.

The fallen soldiers of Operation Protective Edge did not die only for Israeli society to break apart from within, said Lapid. If we can die for each other, we must know how to live for each other. If we can fight the enemy together, we should be able to fight together for a common good.

Lapid concluded: On this day, in these times, when domestic divisions and rifts threaten Israeli society, I look around this cemetery and remind us all that the things that bind us together are greater than those that pull us apart. Our strength is in our unity.

In his speech, Gantz who served as IDF chief of staff at the time of the operation said Israel destroyed Hamas tunnel infrastructure and dealt a heavy blow to the terror organization, but paid a heavy price.

The soldiers who died in Gaza left us a mission to protect the State of Israel, to protect Israeli society, to continue to work for its growth in all ways, said Gantz.

Israel continues to respond to rockets and acts of violence from Gaza to preserve deterrence through powerful responses to any violation of sovereignty, he said. At the same time, Israel maintains contacts and dialogue with countries such as Egypt, which has served as mediator a number of times, and Qatar, which financially supports Hamas, as well as others, to maintain quiet and head off the next escalation.

We will continue to turn every stone, and take every action to maintain peace and stability, said Gantz.

The defense minister vowed to continue working for the return of the remains of Goldin and Shaul, and the living captives.

Gantz also noted the kidnapping and murders in the weeks before Operation Protective Edge of Israeli teenagers Gilad Shaer, Eyal Yifrah, and Naftali Fraenkel by a Hamas-linked cell in the West Bank an act that served as a precursor to the 2014 summer war. Israel launched Operation Brothers Keeper in the West Bank immediately after the kidnapping, in the hope of locating the teens and capturing the terror operatives.

Gantz wrapped up his address by saying that Israel has nothing against the residents of Gaza.

This is Hamas working against them, against their interests. It is Hamas thattrades in blood, and holds captive innocent civilians, including those with mental disabilities, he said.

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Israel must find new way to deal with Gaza, says PM at ceremony for fallen soldiers - The Times of Israel

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