Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

Despite not being able to travel, JNF has kept the connection to Israel alive through Zionist education in the community.

Throughout the pandemic, JNF has extended their educational impact in schools through virtual Israel tours and interactive sessions on dealing with anti-Israel rhetoric. Their latest My Israel Passport collectable sticker book has also allowed children as young as four years old to commence their introduction to various aspects of Israeli society. As of late, thousands of children have competed to complete their educational and recyclable passports, encouraging them to form a tangible link to Israel.

An important member of JNFs in-school program is Yigal Nisell, JNFs New South Wales education shaliach, who has become a permanent feature in the classroom. Students can find him on any given day playing Israeli Trivia Twister, exploring an interactive map of Israel or teaching about different aspects of the start-up nation. Lynda Fischer, Head of Primary at Moriah College, has said that JNFs in-school initiatives are well thought-out, respectful of the pressure inside of schools and impactful.

Since 2018, more than 200 educators have visited Israel though JNFs Educator Missions to deepen their understanding of Israel and to develop the skills to incorporate Zionist education in secular and Jewish school curriculum. This tradition is continuing in 2021 with 100 educators from 26 schools participating to make the sights, sounds, textures and flavours of Israel a more immersive experience in the classroom.

For more information, head to jnf.org.au, email info@jnf.org.au or(02) 9389 5466

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Leading the way with Zionist education - Australian Jewish News

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

TEHRAN - An Iraqi analyst says that the Jordanian kingdom is entrusted by the U.S. with securing the Zionist regime.

The existence of Jordan is to protect the Zionist regime and secure its eastern borders, as it is a small monarchy that subsists on American aid and oil provided by Iraq under American direction, whether during the time of Saddam Hussein or today. It is a reward to Jordan for its support to Israel, Ali Fahim tells the Tehran Times.

In an interview with CNNs Fareed Zakaria, the Jordanian king struck a note of warning about a range of alleged Iranian hostile activities in the region and hoped that these activities be addressed in the current nuclear talks in Vienna between Iran and its negotiating partners.

There are legitimate concerns in our part of the world on a lot of portfolios that the Americans are hopefully going to be able to discuss with the Iranians, King Abdullah said.

The Jordanian king went so far as to claim that his country has been targeted by Iranian-made drones, a bizarre claim that was made for the first time by Abdullah.

In this regard, Ali Fahim notes that King Abdullah II plays exactly the role entrusted to Jordan as a monarchy. In fact, the reason for its existence in this part of the Arab body is to protect the eastern front of the Zionist regime since its establishment by King Abdullah bin Sharif Hussein.

The Jordanian authorities consider providing the Palestinian resistance with weapons as a crime and deal with any support to the resistance as a violation of Jordanian sovereignty and a betrayal of the state, Fahim argues.

Following is the text of the interview:

Q: During an interview with CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria aired some two weeks ago, Jordans King Abdullah II claimed Iranian drones have attacked Jordan. Why does once in a while the Jordanian king remembers to talk about the Shias or the Iranian missiles and drones?

A: Of course, the last remarks of the Jordanian monarch with the American network CNN reminds us of his statement in 2004 with the Washington Post newspaper on his visit to the United States of America when he warned of what he called the emergence of an ideological Shia Crescent from Beirut to the (Persian) Gulf and he meant that Iranian support would reach the front lines with the Zionist regime through Iraq and Syria to complete the line of the resistance axis.

Here, King Abdullah II plays exactly the role entrusted to Jordan as a monarchy. In fact, the reason for its existence in this part of the Arab body is to protect the eastern front of the Zionist regime since its establishment by King Abdullah bin Sharif Hussein, who was assassinated on charges of betraying the Palestinian cause and his relationship with Golda Meir (the fourth prime minister of Israel) and Britain to serve the Zionists.

He made every effort to annex the West Bank to Jordan and then the division of Palestine.

The existence of Jordan is to protect the Zionist regime and secure its eastern borders, as it is a small monarchy that subsists on American aid and oil provided by Iraq under American direction, whether during the time of Saddam Hussein or today. It is a reward to Jordan for its support to Israel.

Therefore, the Jordanian authorities consider providing the Palestinian resistance with weapons as a crime and deal with any support to the resistance as a violation of Jordanian sovereignty and a betrayal of the state.

King Abdullah IIs statement coincides with two important and inseparable developments:

The first is the transfer of American bases from the Al-Sailiya region in Qatar to Jordan, and the second is the establishment of what is known as the new Levant, which means establishing a cooperation zone between Iraq, Jordan and Egypt.

The U.S. military announced in a statement the closure of the main Al-Sailiya army base, along with the southern Al-Sailiya base, and an ammunition supply point called Falcon, which was serving as a forward staging area for American supplies in the Middle East (West Asia), as it contained 27 depots for storing tanks and armored personnel carriers and a variety of equipment.

Thus, these bases would be safe from Iranian missiles in the event of any possible war, instead of being easy prey under the Iranian range of fire. On the other hand, this move can protect them from the strikes that affect the logistical support lines coming from the (Persian) Gulf, passing through the central and southern Iraqi provinces to the Ain al-Assad base, which is located close to the Jordanian border in western Iraq.

It also allows the U.S. to devote all its energy to contain the Chinese dragon in East Asia.

The presence of American bases and warehouses on Jordanian territory brings them within the range of Iranian missiles and also protest marches towards these bases.

This statement may be seen by Jordan as a preemptive blow and reaction to this possibility, albeit on a media or political level.

On the other hand, the new Sham (Levant) project links Iraq with Israel through Jordan and Egypt and pushes it out of the Chinese Silk Road project in an attempt to tighten the siege on the Islamic Republic of Iran to satisfy the United States.

America gives privileges to Jordan at the expense of the Iraqi interest that it does not deserve, especially exempting Jordanian goods from customs tariffs.

In fact, they are Israeli goods whose packaging is changed only. Thus, Israel takes over the reins of the Iraqi markets with facilities and exceptions that do not serve the Iraqi industry, but rather affect it.

All of these roles are played by Jordan in the service of American regional projects, so we are not surprised by a statement that reveals the aforementioned goals and plays the roles entrusted to it.

Q: How do you evaluate Jordan's relations with Israel and the role that the Jordanian government plays in security coordination with Israel?

A: As I mentioned to you, Jordan's ties with Israel is essential to protect the Zionist regime, and this relationship is inexhaustible as an organic link.

Without this relationship, Jordan cannot survive; given the composition its political system in which a royal family dominates people does not like it. It is a tribal composition, 70% of whom are Palestinians who have been displaced from their lands.

The Jordanian people reject this subservience and complicity in crimes committed by the Zionist regime, but they live under an iron security fist.

This is obvious in Jordans strange coldness in the interaction with the Arab countries and their causes, while it is in the middle of an area, to say the least it is inflamed in terms of security and stability due to the existence of an illegitimate regime.

Jordan is an exception in its Arab periphery i.e. Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon. Jordan has established a strong tie with Israel under an American umbrella that supports its Arab puppets in the region.The Jordanian government today has linked its existence to the security of Israel, so it is natural that it cooperates to preserve Israels security.

King Abdullah is the best who can play this role after America gave him the throne when he seized it from his fathers crown prince, Prince Al-Hassan bin Talal, in the last days of former King Hussein bin Talal.

That is why King Abdullah feels deeply indebted to the Americans for their help to ascend the throne and to preserve his position, so how can he disobey their orders and will?

Q: Why are some Arab countries such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia worried about the Iran nuclear agreement?

A: Some countries in the region have become deeply involved in the American project in a way they have lost all independence in terms of decision-making. Rather, they are racing to please their lord (America) and to prove their loyalty to her, so they adopt the views of America and Israel.

One of the U.S. projects in the region is to demonize the Islamic Republic of Iran by replacing hostility with the usurper Zionist regime with hostility with Iran by extremist propaganda.

All the attitudes of these countries are in line with Israels interests, so it is not strange for them to be worried about the Iran nuclear program and are more concerned about the nuclear talks in Vienna because it can lead to an agreement that lifts part of the siege and unjust sanctions on the Islamic Republic and allows it a greater space for development and progress in various scientific fields.

This is what distinguishes Iran from the rest of the countries in the region that have turned into consumer countries that sell oil and consume Western products.

On the other hand, Iran is emerging as a regional power that confronts arrogant hegemony and strengthens the axis of resistance, which these regimes are openly hostile to.

Q: In response to CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria, when asked about the role of Bin Salman in the failed coup attempt, the Jordanian monarch preferred to pass unnoticed when it comes to the Saudi role. King Abdullah said we do not want new crises and consider the failed coup an internal affair despite evidence of external involvement. Why did he turn a blind eye on the Saudi role in the coup attempt?

A: The Jordanian king could not deny the Saudi role, especially the role of bin Salman in the coup attempt. He confirmed it implicitly, but at the same time, he made every effort to distract attention from Saudi Arabia by trying to downplay Riyadhs role as much as he could.

Imagine if another country had a role in a coup attempt in Jordan, how the reaction would have been indescribable. It is not a simple event at all; it is a conspiracy against a state and an attempt to overthrow a regime. How can the reaction be with this unusual and unjustified coldness?

If we follow the relationship between the two countries recently, we find that it has almost been a kind of political dependency on Saudi Arabia. The best example is the closure of the Jordanian embassy in Tehran after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed (in protest of executions of human rights defenders).

In all Saudi positions on the Islamic Republic, the Syrian issue and the Palestinian cause, Jordan was largely in consensus and along the line with the Saudi approaches without question.

But I think that this incident would affect greatly Saudi-Jordanian ties, even if it is not visible. The Hashemite Kingdom has lost a large amount of confidence in Bin Salman, even if he did not declare it. Despite pressure by the U.S. to bridge the rift and stop the aftershocks, it will affect the relationship between Amman and Riyadh in the future.

Q: How do you assess Jordan's role in terms of stability in West Asia and its surroundings?

A: Due to the geographical location of the Kingdom of Jordan, it can play a major role in establishing security in the region.

However, it has played a destructive role in its Arab surroundings; this is the case when it comes to the Syrian crisis when the armed conflict broke out in Daraa.

In a misreading of developments, the decision-makers in Jordan expected a different outcome in Syria while Bashar al Assad could restore stability to the country.

Jordan supported the opposition and provided them with weapons, equipment and logistical support, but it was fraught with caution. And although the support was not public at first, it turned into public support to the Syrian opposition and hosting defectors from the Syrian government.

At the same time, Jordan tried to protect its borders from the spread of the Islamists so as to protect its cities from being infected where fundamentalist movements, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, were strengthened.

These movements were closely monitored because of their organizational links with Hamas in Gaza and the Kingdom's duty to protect the eastern occupied territories (Palestine) from any unrest or instability.

Jordan also had another negative role after the American invasion of Iraq by deploying Salafist armed groups into the depth of Iraq, especially al-Qaeda and its Jordanian leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was very much in harmony with King Abdullah IIs concerns of the Shia movement.

Al-Zarqawi shifted the direction of the battle of al-Qaeda from confronting the Americans to fight the Shia (what they call Safavid) presence in the region.

Meanwhile, Jordan has its own goal, which is internal security; it tries to penetrate its neighbors exploiting flaws but stops if it faces strong resistance. All of Jordans measures are according to agendas that are planned by Americans.

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Jordan's role is to protect the Zionist regime: Iraqi analyst - Tehran Times

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

Times of Israel Ops & Blogs editor Miriam Herschlag, Ohad Zeltzer-Zubida and Noah Efron discuss three topics of incomparable importance and end with an anecdote about something in Israel that made them smile this week.

If It Please the CourtIs it time for Israeli courts to stop allowing improperly gotten evidence? A newly proposed law would outlaw the fruit of the poisonous tree.

GoldWhat do the Olympics tell folks here about what it means to be an Israeli?

Under Another SunWhat does an award-winning documentary about growing up on a kibbutz tell us about what it means to be an Israeli?

Your Only Choice Is Zionism Or Anti-Zionism. Which One Do You Choose?For our most unreasonably generous Patreon supporters, in our extra-special, special extra discussion, we discuss an essay in Tablet by Liel Liebovitz called, Us & Them: Your only two choices are Zionism and Anti-Zionism, Pick Wisely, asking: Are those really our only two choices? Cant we be Yiddishists? Cant we be Vegans or Kantians or Olivia Rodrigo fans?

All that and Yoni Poliker!

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The Bodies of Evidence & Evidence of Bodies Edition - The Promised Podcast - TLV1 Podcasts

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

(JTA) Over the last year, Jewish college students took it upon themselves to combat antisemitism at their schools. Now, two major Jewish organizations are working together to play a stronger role in fighting antisemitism on campus.

Some of the student activists documented incidences of antisemitism at colleges nationwide, often submitted anonymously, while others have taken a confrontational tone on social media. With some portraying themselves as the ideological successors to early Zionist activists, the students often argue that anti-Zionism and antisemitism overlap.

In a new partnership, Hillel International and the Anti-Defamation League are aiming to take a more traditional approach to the same issues one that they say will not always treat anti-Israel activity as antisemitism.

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Hillel and the ADL will together create a college-level curriculum on antisemitism and jointly document antisemitic incidents on campuses in the United States. But not every student government resolution endorsing the movement to Boycott, Divest from and Sanction Israel, known as BDS, will wind up in the groups database.

Anti-Israel activism in and of itself is not antisemitism, an ADL spokesperson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Situations vary widely with BDS, we will carefully evaluate each one and make a determination based on our criteria for antisemitism.

For example, the ADL spokesperson told JTA, a BDS resolution alone would not count as antisemitism, but if a student was excluded from the debate because he or she was Jewish, then it might be counted.

The Hillel-ADL partnership, which will begin in the coming academic year, follows a spike in reported antisemitic incidents on campus. In the school year that ended in 2021, the ADL tallied 244 antisemitic incidents on campuses nationwide, an increase from 181 the previous school year. Hillel has a presence on more than 550 campuses and says it serves more than 400,000 students.

Accusations of antisemitism on campus have received significant attention from large Jewish organizations for years. Some Jewish leaders have long said anti-Zionist activity on campus constitutes antisemitism, especially as a string of student governments endorsed BDS.

Hillel International prohibits partnerships with, and the hosting of, campus groups that support BDS. Anti-Zionist groups have at times targeted Hillel; last week, Students for Justice in Palestine at Rutgers University criticized the schools Hillel in a statement endorsed by other campus groups.

In addition, the ADL has documented white supremacist propaganda campaigns on campuses nationwide.

Multiple national groups have filed complaints with the Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights based on campus antisemitism allegations. In 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating robust enforcement of civil rights protections for Jews on campus and including some anti-Israel activity in the definition of antisemitism. Pro-Palestinian activists said the order would have a chilling effect on free speech on campus.

The ADL and Hillel International plan to develop a curriculum about the history of antisemitism and how it manifests currently. They will also survey schools nationwide to provide a better picture of the state of antisemitism on campus, and will create a dedicated system to tally incidents of antisemitism at colleges and universities, including a portal for students to report incidents confidentially.

The ADL did not detail how it would verify whether confidentially submitted incidents actually occurred, beyond telling JTA they would be judged by the methodology the group uses in its annual audit of antisemitic incidents. The methodology states that ADL carefully examines the credibility of all incidents, including obtaining independent verification when possible.

In recent months, the student activists have formed their own organizations to further their online activism, called the New Zionist Congress and Jewish on Campus. The New Zionist Congress hosts an online book club and discussions about Zionism, while Jewish on Campus records stories of college antisemitism on its Instagram account, which has posted more than 400 times and has 32,000 followers.

The ADL said its partnership with Hillel would complement student activism and that the group will firmly support well-meaning student-led efforts to push back against antisemitism on campus.

The effort with Hillel is also the third partnership with an external organization that ADL has announced in the past two weeks. It recently launched a partnership to combat antisemitism with the Union for Reform Judaism, and last week began an initiative with PayPal to research how extremists use online financial platforms. PJC

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ADL and Hillel Int'l are now working together to document antisemitism on campus - thejewishchronicle.net

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

The Women of the Wall prayer service passed off relatively quietly on Monday morning at the Western Wall despite a promise by hardline religious-Zionist activists to protest the group.

The group faced jeers and other mild forms of harassment by other women praying in the women's section, as well as similar activity by small groups of Orthodox children harassing a group of men praying in solidarity with the Women of the Wall.

Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev (Labor) promised in June to ensure that the Women of the Wall would not face such harassment again.

During the course of the Women of the Wall prayer service on Monday, women and young girls in the womens section continually shouted at the group, especially when they sang.

And the Western Wall Heritage Foundation deployed a loudspeaker system for use in the male prayer service in the mens section when the Women of the Wall service began, apparently in an effort to drown at their singing.

A small group of boys both ultra-Orthodox and from the hardline religious-Zionist community booed, jeered and insulted the small group of men praying behind the womens section at the site in solidarity with the group.

Present among the men were Labor MK Gilad Kariv, who is a and Reform rabbi, as well as Yizhar Hess, deputy chairman of the World Zionist Organization and former director of the Masorti Movement in Israel.

A group calling itself the Joint Committee for the Preservation of the Holiness of the Western Wall announced on Sunday that thousands of worshippers would go to the holy site on Monday to protect the holiness of the Western Wall, accompanied by Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu.Ultimately, there were only small numbers of protestors against Women of the Wall.

Kariv noted that the prayer arrangements and security provisions for the Women of the Wall and the mens service that accompanied them were better and more orderly than has been the case in previous months.

If the [public security] minister and the police want it, then everything is under control and everything is quiet, the MK told The Jerusalem Post.

Hess said that unlike many prayer services at the beginning of the new Hebrew month that are marred by severe protest, Mondays was almost uplifting, adding that the voices of the Women of the Wall group singing could be heard from afar.

There are however those who try to crassly bother them in the womens section, but much less than in other months, and the public plaza where we [men] prayed was much quieter, said Hess.

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Women of the Wall pray at Kotel, harassed by Orthodox - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

Over the last year, Jewish college students took it upon themselves to combat antisemitism at their schools. Now, two major Jewish organizations are working together to play a stronger role in fighting antisemitism on campus.

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Hillel and the ADL will together create a college-level curriculum on antisemitism and jointly document antisemitic incidents on campuses in the United States. But not every student government resolution endorsing the movement to Boycott, Divest from and Sanction Israel, known as BDS, will wind up in the groups database.

Anti-Israel activism in and of itself is not antisemitism, an ADL spokesperson told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Situations vary widely with BDS, we will carefully evaluate each one and make a determination based on our criteria for antisemitism.

For example, the ADL spokesperson told JTA, a BDS resolution alone would not count as antisemitism, but if a student was excluded from the debate because he or she was Jewish, then it might be counted.

The Hillel-ADL partnership, which will begin in the coming academic year, follows a spike in reported antisemitic incidents on campus. In the school year that ended in 2021, the ADL tallied 244 antisemitic incidents on campuses nationwide, an increase from 181 the previous school year. Hillel has a presence on more than 550 campuses and says it serves more than 400,000 students.

Accusations of antisemitism on campus have received significant attention from large Jewish organizations for years. Some Jewish leaders have long said anti-Zionist activity on campus constitutes antisemitism, especially as a string of student governments endorsed BDS.

In addition, the ADL has documented white supremacist propaganda campaigns on campuses nationwide.

Multiple national groups have filed complaints with the Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights based on campus antisemitism allegations. In 2019, president Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating robust enforcement of civil rights protections for Jews on campus and including some anti-Israel activity in the definition of antisemitism. Pro-Palestinian activists said the order would have a chilling effect on free speech on campus.

The ADL and Hillel International plan to develop a curriculum about the history of antisemitism and how it manifests currently. They will also survey schools nationwide to provide a better picture of the state of antisemitism on campus, and will create a dedicated system to tally incidents of antisemitism at colleges and universities, including a portal for students to report incidents confidentially.

The ADL said its partnership with Hillel would complement student activism and that the group will firmly support well-meaning student-led efforts to push back against antisemitism on campus.

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ADL, Hillel work together to document antisemitism on university campuses - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

Israeli envoy slams UN chief for turning a blind eye to Hezbollahs war crimes

Israels Ambassador to the UN and to the US Gilad Erdan has slammed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres over his response to flaring tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border, accusing him of turning a blind eye to Hezbollahs war crimes and acts of terror.

On Friday, Hezbollah fired 19 missiles toward open areas in the north of Israel, its heaviest barrage since the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Israel responded with several rounds of artillery strikes. Hezbollah also released a video of its rocket assault, showing a mobile rocket launcher maneuvering into position and firing a salvo of rockets at Israel.

In his statement earlier today, Guterres expressed his deep concern about the recent escalation between Lebanon and Israel across the Blue Line, including rocket fire into Israel and return airstrikes and artillery fire into Lebanon.

The Secretary-General calls on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and to actively engage with UNIFILs liaison and coordination mechanisms. It is paramount that all actors involved avoid actions that can further heighten tensions and lead to miscalculation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov following the talks in Moscow, Russia, May 12, 2021. (Maxim Shemetov, Pool via AP)

In his own statement, Erdan says it is unfortunate that the UN Secretary-General repeatedly chooses to draw a moral equivalency between attacks perpetuated by designated terrorist organizations and the law-abiding, democratic State of Israel, which is a member of the UN.

It is inconceivable that the rocket fire for which Hezbollah itself explicitly took responsibility has not been attributed by the Secretary-General to that terrorist organization, he adds.

The UN continues to willfully turn a blind eye to Hezbollahs war crimes and acts of terror and its effective control of Lebanese territory. These actions by Hezbollah will ultimately lead to the destruction of Lebanon, Erdan argues. We expect more from the UN, which should serve as a voice of moral clarity before its too late for the people of Lebanon and the region as a whole.

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Bennett said to tell ministers to prepare for possible lockdown next month - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor died by suicide on Sunday at the grave of his son, on the anniversary of his death on the last day of Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

The Eshkol Regional Council said that Moshe Etzion left his home in Kibbutz Nirim early Sunday, and that a search began for him several hours later, Israeli news site Walla reported.

Searchers eventually found him dead at the grave of his son Zeev Zevik Etzion.

Zevik was a security guard and paramedic at the kibbutz who was killed by a Hamas mortar strike during the 2014 conflict between Israel and the terrorist group.

Moshes daughter Samar Halperin said, My father was an optimistic person who loved life. With everything he had been through in his life, a smile never left his face. He loved Israel and the kibbutz very much.

He did what he did out of love, she said. He didnt want to be a burden on the family. He decided when, how, and where to do it.

She added that Moshe had driven Palestinian children in need of medical care from checkpoints to hospitals in Israel, and lectured frequently to students and soldiers about his Holocaust experience.

Kibbutz Nirim issued a statement saying, Moshe stood heroically not only in bereavement, but also in the circumstances of his life as a Holocaust survivor. Moshe inspired pride and faith that anything is possible in all of us.

Etzion leaves behind a wife, his daughter, and several grandchildren.

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88-Year-Old Israeli Holocaust Survivor Died by Suicide at Grave of Son Killed in 2014 Operation Protective Edge - Algemeiner

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

Thousands of olim and other Israelis are facing severe difficulties in obtaining entry permits for their parents, children or siblings to enter the country for important life-cycle events, while hundreds are missing flights or are forced to reschedule without knowing when such a permit might come.

These difficulties come as the government has increased restrictions and regulations for those entering the country due to the resurgence of COVID-19 in Israel and abroad, in an attempt to halt foreign nationals who may be infected from entering the country.

But even requests in which the applicants seemingly meet the criteria for entry, and whose documentation and applications are filled out correctly, are not receiving answers to their entry permit requests in a timely fashion.

The failure to provide responses is creating deep distress and anxiety among olim who desperately wish to have their parents, siblings and children present for weddings, as well as the birth of grandchildren, circumcision ceremonies and for other events and necessities.

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JESSICA AND DANIEL from Chicago, not their real names, have a daughter living in Israel, whose husband is away from home for work purposes several days each week.

With kindergartens closed for the summer, their daughter, who has a full time job, needs assistance looking after the children and so Jessica and Daniel applied for an entry permit and booked a flight to come to Israel.

They applied through the online application portals of both the Foreign and Interior ministries Population and Immigration Authority on July 19, and booked a flight for Sunday, August 8.

They have yet to receive a response as to whether their entry permit application has been approved or denied, and are now anxiously wondering whether or not to pay for and take COVID-19 PCR tests and pack their bags, or just cancel their flight.

The couple already missed the birth of their now four-month old grandson due to the governments closure of the airport back at the end of January, and are now facing new difficulties coming to Israel.

Its so frustrating why it has to be this way; Im devastated, Im disappointed. My daughter will now have to pay money they dont have to pay for private day care, which will cost a fortune, Jessica told the Post.

This is my daughter, I want to be there and support her, and she wants and needs our support, she said.

We are trying so hard to keep a glimmer of hope, but my heart just aches as our fight is on Sunday.

ANOTHER CASE is that of Brendon Davis, 32, who made aliyah from South Africa in 2015 and is due to get married on September 12.

In anticipation of the wedding, his parents applied for an entry permit via both online application systems, also on July 19.

Daviss parents flight to Israel is on August 18 but they are also awaiting to receive approval for their requests.

Im not sleeping; its made me really anxious, said Davis.

This is not just a regular visit, its for my wedding day. Dealing with this has taken over my life for the last two and a half weeks; Im waking up at all hours to see if I have received confirmation, he said.

Im checking my work email, private email, refreshing them every half hour, I check junk mail the whole time, its very nauseating not knowing whats happening.

IN A BIZARRE and almost Kafkaesque twist on Friday, Daviss mother was informed that her entry permit application had been approved, but his fathers was still pending.

And in an astonishing development, Daviss mother was then told her entry permit had been issued erroneously and she was still not authorized to enter the country.

Applications for foreign relatives of Israeli citizens to enter the country are made via online forms, either through the Foreign Ministry or the Interior Ministrys Population and Immigration Authority.

Israeli embassies and consulates deal with applications made from their jurisdictions, although a central processing center in the Foreign Ministry itself assists embassies and consulates with high numbers of requests.

The Foreign Ministry online application form requests a scheduled flight date, although not a proof of a flight ticket.

Entry permits once issued are valid for 31 days, while some applicants are told that their request may take up to 21 working days for approval.

Applications to the Population and Immigration Authority are processed by 50 regional branches of the authority, depending on the place of residence of the Israeli citizen whose relatives seek to enter.

According to the Population Authority, it has dealt with 7,000 applications since the online application system went live on July 15.

There are some 140 authority employees dealing with the requests.

A spokesperson said the authority has not been given extra manpower to deal with the large number of entry permit requests that it has to deal with, and that employees processing such requests are doing so in addition to their regular duties.

Entry permit applications are processed in accordance with the date they are received, with an emphasis put on urgent requests as far as possible.

THE FOREIGN MINISTRY said that it has worked in accordance with the criteria established by the State of Israel for the entry of Israelis and foreign nationals into the country, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It said that it had experienced a large number of such requests, and that at some of the consulates where there are large Jewish and Israeli populations, there have been thousands of new requests every day.

It further said: The Foreign Ministry is making the utmost effort to improve and make more efficient the processing of entry permit requests, and to ensure that anyone who is eligible can do so in the quickest possible manner.

The ministry declined to say how many employees are working on permits at the embassies, consulates or the central processing center in its headquarters, and also declined to say whether or not it had been given extra manpower to deal with the heavy number of entry permit applications.

There are dozens of stories like that of Jessica and Daniel, and Brendon and his parents, many in which the applicants never hear back from the Foreign Ministry or the Population Authority before their scheduled flights.

RABBI DOV LIPMAN, who has set up a new organization called Yad LOlim to provide assistance in these and other situations, says the group receives between 10 and 20 requests a day from the desperate relatives of Israeli citizens requesting assistance in obtaining permits ahead of imminent flights.

Critically, applicants are not informed if they have incorrectly completed the application forms or omitted necessary documentation, meaning the applicant never knows they need to rectify the application and waits in vain for entry permits which will never come.

In other cases, apparently illogical decisions are made such as in the application of one couple in which one spouse received the permit and the other did not, such as that of the Davis parents.

The new ministers and their staff are committed to helping olim and their families within the constraints of the health concerns, said Lipman.

We have a channel of communication with them and a good working relationship, he said. The problem seems to be the volume of requests and the lack of manpower to get to all of them in a timely manner.

Based on what I am seeing, I would recommend hiring more people to review the files, communicating with applicants if they are missing specific documents, and creating a mechanism for requests to be addressed when its 2-3 days before the flight, Lipman said. Those steps would remove most of the pressures, anxiety and stress from all sides.

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Thousands struggling to get entry permits to visit Israeli relatives - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on August 9, 2021

Coronavirus infection rates in the country continue to soar. As of Wednesday evening, 236 people were hospitalized with severe cases of COVID-19, with 58 of them in critical condition and 49 on respirators. On Tuesday 3,280 people tested positive for the coronavirus, with 3.34 percent testing positive.

In light of these worrisome numbers and despite Israels high vaccination rate and a new campaign to give booster shots to immunized people over 60, drastic measures, including another lockdown, are back on the table.

Public health experts are in broad agreement that vaccinations alone cannot stop the spread of the pandemic. No matter what we do, within a few weeks well have 1,000 severely ill patients, said Prof. Eli Waxman of the Weizmann Institute of Science, a participant in the discussions of the coronavirus cabinet.

According to one scenario presented to the forum Tuesday by Weizmanns Prof. Eran Segal, if measures to slow the infection rate are not taken, by the end of the month there will be a daily average of about 170 severely ill patients in Israels hospitals similar to the numbers seen in Israels third wave of infections.

Several new measures have been introduced or are in the works. In addition to the launch of the booster vaccine campaign this week, limitations on incoming and outgoing passenger traffic through Ben-Gurion International Airport and Green Pass restrictions have been tightened.

The approaches supported by experts fall into three general categories, ranging from wait and see all the way to a full lockdown as soon as possible.

Mass infection

The most lenient approach holds that theres no reason to rush into harsh restrictions because Israels hospitals can handle the relatively low number of severely ill COVID-19 patients, and booster shots are likely to help keep that number in check. Supporters of this approach point to the decline in COVID-19 cases in Britain after the removal of restrictions, possibly due to a combination of a high vaccination rate and the herd immunity caused by mass infections.

The de facto implication of the coronavirus cabinet resolutions is that Israel is choosing mass infection, Segal said. Will it work? We dont know. There is no certainty that we will have a decline like that of Britain. We cant rely on that.

Projections Segal showed the coronavirus cabinet on Tuesday predicted that by the end of the month, Israels hospitals will be near the breaking point and that the booster shot will only reduce the number of severely ill COVID-19 patients rather than the total number of people sick with the disease.

LISTEN: How Israels Olympic hero challenged a nations identity

We dont know what giving a third shot to over-60s will do, he said, adding that it might cut the number of severely ill patients in half and slightly reduce the total number of patients who end up being hospitalized with the virus. He said that tightening restrictions on public gatherings will slow the spread of infection slightly, at best.

Waxman said Israel cannot rely on the British experience to decide policy: Were in an uncertain situation in which all kinds of things could occur. When you talk about risk management, you need to ask yourself if youve planned for scenarios that cannot be ruled out with high probability. A lot of people dont understand this, including those in the government. People say, Lets see what happens in Britain. But no one really understands whats happening in Britain and whether it is relevant to whats happening in Israel. If we wait for things to develop in a negative direction, well crash.

Containment measures

Another approach talks about fast and effective measures to contain the rising morbidity rate, or at least to delay the time when Israel has to go into lockdown. That strategy has been heard more often in recent weeks, with the rising number of cases. Advocates say the government has done too little, too late.

As policies go, it would be a tough one to carry out, requiring hard work of government ministries, health care officials, local authorities, police and others. It includes restrictions that would hurt the economy, such as limiting activities to Green Pass holders and returning to Purple Badge standards (in other words, limits on big gatherings), backed up by strict enforcement and an intense program of public education.

However, as hard as it would be to implement, many experts hold that it can be done without disrupting everyday life and believe it could save the government from imposing a lockdown.

Every day that passes is making it harder to avoid a lockdown, but I think its still possible, said Prof. Ran Balicer, the head of research at the Clalit health maintenance organization who heads a committee of experts advising the Health Ministry on the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of seriously ill on September 1 will be determined by what we see in the second week of August. In other words, every decision taken and announced will have to go into effect based on the situation in the second week of August, he said, adding that it can be done without harming economic activity.

The challenge decision-makers face now is whether to experiment with measures that will partially hurt the economy in the hope that in the medium term they will save us from the bigger harm of a lockdown. Every day or a week or two can be quite significant from every perspective, Balicer said.

Waxman said the decision to restate the Green Pass this week should have been done a few weeks ago, when the resurgence of COVID-19 started. We certainly could have stopped the outbreak with the Green Pass if it had been imposed immediately. But the view was then that we dont need to do anything and that Israel is like Britain, Waxman said. But today the Green Pass is no longer relevant. The longer we wait, the worse things will become. No matter what we do now, well reach 1,000 seriously ill, and we know that with 600-700 seriously ill, the quality of care declines.

Numbers point to a lockdown

A lockdown is something that Israel and its new government want to avoid. But like its predecessor, it appears that the current government will find it hard to manage the situation as it is now, which requires coordinated, demanding, systemic work and the imposition of restrictions. Israel is on its way to adopting the accordion method of opening and closing the economy.

Some of the experts who attended the cabinet meeting this week say a lockdown is inevitable. The only question is the timing and duration. Opinions are split over whether to call one now or in another two weeks, with the understanding that the longer the government waits, the longer the lockdown will have to be.

Roni Numa, the retired major general heading COVID-19 prevention operations at Ben-Gurion Airport, told the cabinet meeting that an immediate lockdown was the only thing Israel could do to contain the coronavirus. Segal said that at this juncture, the government seems to be following Britains lead in the hope that Israel will also see a decline in contagion. But if it fails, the only option left will be a lockdown because the number of confirmed cases is so high, he said.

A lockdown is the most extreme step the government can take, and will hurt the public and the economy. Given the high numbers, it is expected to be lengthy and its effectiveness is by no means assured. During Israels third lockdown, and with the emergence of the British variant in the country, Israel posted record numbers of confirmed cases, severe morbidity and mortality. Since the source of most of the infections is in homes, it takes a few weeks until you start to see a decrease from a lockdown, Balicer warned.

And in the long term? Vaccinations dont solve the problem because no small part of the population still hasnt been inoculated. The long-term goal is to vaccinate all children and make it part of the standard course of vaccination, said Waxman. When we get there, the situation will look completely different. This is our vision. Until then, we will have to use additional means.

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With COVID figures on the rise, can Israel steer clear of another full lockdown? - Haaretz

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