I will be in Israel during the final week of February. I have lots set up and will divide my time between Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Efrat. I might be visiting Sderot, also.
Anyway, I’m coming back, people!
Archive for the ‘Israel’ Category
This contains some upsetting scenes, but is an ultimately uplifting short film.
The Palestinians have been offered a homeland on numerous occasions – most recently in 2000 and 2008 – and repeatedly they have turned it down. They could have created a Palestinian state when the West Bank and Gaza were part of Jordan and Egypt between 1948 and 1967. But they didn’t. In 1967 the Arab States not only turned down another potential chance, they also issued the three no’s: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiation with Israel”.
To this day, the Palestinian leadership refuses to enter into peace talks with Israel. Hamas continues to hold Gilad Shalit and to fire rockets at southern Israel. So why is President Obama threatening Israel with sanctions? This is the same President Obama who when courting the votes of American Jews promised to never cut foreign aid to Israel and said he was in fact committed to increasing it.
Meanwhile Iran continues to build a nuclear bomb…
This is my latest column for Jewish News…
I travelled to Amsterdam for New Year’s Eve to witness the city’s breathtaking celebrations as the sky is lit up with more fireworks than you can imagine. My trip came just days after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to pull off an even more spectacular explosion on the Detroit-bound plane that had started its journey from Amsterdam’s Schipol airport. Consequently, I arrived early at Schipol for my journey home, expecting tighter security checks in the wake of the Detroit incident.
Surprisingly, the process was as laid back as usual. No wonder I felt a touch twitchy on the flight home. It always surprises me when people complain about heavy security at airports. It seems a reckless stance to take – and sometimes a hypocritical one. In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks people in England rolled their eyes about how “naive” Americans were about airport security, particularly for internal flights. “It’s scarcely tighter than it is for train journeys in England,” they complained. But when America tightened security many of the same people complained that they were being too rigorous.
You won’t catch me moaning about ‘over-zealous’ vigilance when it comes to air travel – the tighter the better, I say. Indeed, the only times I’ve felt truly safe on a flight is when I’ve flown to Israel on good old El Al. The airline’s stringent safety measures on the ground and in the air are legendary. They are enough to reassure the most neurotic of passengers and are stunningly effective. If the whole world flew El Al-style then the would-be terrorists would soon be hanging up their box-cutter knives, shoe bombs and explosive pants.
My first trip on El Al was great fun. I was sitting next to a stunning Jewess. On learning she was Scottish I attempted a bit of break-the-ice humour. “I suppose,” I said with a bashful smile, “that being Scottish you find it even easier to pronounce words like la’chaim”. Dear reader, never in the history of mankind has a joke fallen more flat. Luckily, we soon hit it off as we sat watching the usual El Al passenger behaviour. (Has the airline ever thought of adopting Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up as its anthem?)
My time in Israel was wonderful, it really is the best country in the world to holiday in. The journey home was fun, too. As I checked in at Ben Gurion, I received a fairly thorough questioning. “Don’t be offended,” they told me. Offended? I loved every moment. I had nothing to hide, and every holiday maker loves to find a captive audience to talk to about their trip. The work that El Al has done to keep its passengers safe is just wonderful. It’s time more airlines and airports looked to the El Al example.
The attempted Detroit attack has come as a shock to some. An Islamic terrorist attacking Obama’s America on Christmas Day: that’s a wake-up call and a half. Or is it? Malcolm Grant is the Provost of University College London, where Abdulmutallab studied and became President of the Islamic Society. In a painfully defensive article in the wake of the incident, Grant wrote of Abdulmutallab: “What induced this behaviour remains a mystery. He has not emerged from a background of deprivation and poverty. He came from one of Nigeria’s wealthiest families.”
This suggests spectacular naiveté about Islamic terrorism on the part of Professor Grant. Speaking of which, the attempted bombing might also have come as something of a shock to President Barack Obama. You can imagine him shaking his head in despair as he tucked into his Christmas dinner: “What, so you mean prostrating myself in front of our enemies, blaming everything on Israeli settlements and chanting empty self-help slogans isn’t enough to stop terrorists?”
Yes, it’s quite a challenge to keep the skies over America safe, Mr President. If you want some help you could do worse than give El Al a call.
You can visit the Jewish News website here.
Do you remember Annie Lennox’s self-indulgent outbursts against Israel during Operation Cast Lead? She complained that events in Gaza ruined her Xmas “as a mother” as she watched them from the safety of her Western home. Yes, because it’s all about you and your Xmas isn’t it Annie?
Over on Second Draft, Richard Landes of Second Draft takes her to task brilliantly.
And here’s hoping nobody in the world defends themselves from terrorism this week, thus ruining Annie Lennox’s Xmas for a second successive year. That would be unbearable.
Here is Benjamin Netanyahu on the arrest warrant controversy: “We refuse to see a situation in which Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, and Tzipi Livni are summoned to trial. We will not agree to have IDF soldiers and commanders, who defended their country and its citizens so bravely and ethically from a nefarious enemy, called war criminals. We reject this absurdity.”
Well said Bibi. There are conflicts taking place all round the world so why do these activists always single out the state that does “more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare” as it defends itself from unparalleled threat? Why, more pertinently, do they single out the Jewish state?
It is a question that answers itself.
Meanwhile, to counter the latest efforts by these hypocrites, please consider buying Ahava in this festive period. Keep the ‘buycott’ going!
This is a guest post by Israelinurse.
I don’t know about you, but after a cold, dark week riddled with nasty carols, boycotters and antisemites, I think we’re due a dose of comfort food. Seeing as I can’t send hot liquids over the internet, here’s some visual chicken soup in the form of one of my favourite places in Israel.
(Click on photos to enlarge them.)
This is Nahal Samech in the Golan; one of many valleys which descend from the plateau down to the shores of lake Kinneret. In summer the streams are no more than a trickle, but in a good, wet winter you will see the locals out in their spare time ‘watching the flow’.
At the top of Nahal Samech lies Um el Kanatir, also known as Kshetot Rehavam; an ancient settlement which thrived by dealing in the bleaching of flax and growing olives.
Their techniques must have been advanced because apparently cloth was brought from as far away as Egypt to be treated in these stone baths using the soft, mineral-rich water of the Golan which is prized even today. ‘Kanatir’ means arches and an impressive arched building once stood above this network of baths. So well did Um el Kanatir prosper that in the 5th century the villagers built themselves a new synagogue on the site of their old one, with exquisite decorative stonework. This is one of the famous south-facing synagogues, several of which have been discovered in the Golan.
In 749 CE the village was hit by a massive earthquake (this is, of course, the top of the Syrian-African Rift Valley) which devastated much of the area. Today the synagogue is being painstakingly excavated and reconstructed. Just above the site lies Moshav Natur – a thriving village of young couples, many born in the Golan. They are engaged in agriculture and raising a third generation in the beautiful wild landscape of the Golan, just as the villagers from Um el Kanatir did 1,700 years ago. Knowing that certainly gives me a nice warm feeling.
And that’s my answer to all the boycotters and haters.
This is a guest post by Israelinurse.
You know how it is when you’re looking for one thing and you end up finding something totally unrelated that you’d forgotten you had? The other day I found an old newspaper cutting in a recipe book. It’s a Jerusalem Post editorial dated Thursday, March 16th, 1978. It is, of course, yellowed and crumpled; seemingly old news, but the words are remarkable in that they portray just how little has changed in over 31 years on Israel’s northern border.
Five days before this editorial was written the Coastal Road Massacre took place in which 38 Israelis were murdered and 71 wounded by Palestinian terrorists coming from Lebanon. The editorial relates to the subsequent Operation Litani:
“Beyond Retaliation”
“It would be a mistake to view yesterday’s massive Israeli military action in southern Lebanon as a simple, though justified, act of vengeance, in retaliation for the PLO terror attack on Israeli civilians on Saturday.
“The action, despite its dimensions, was carefully restricted, both with regards to targets and means. It was intended mainly to foil the attempt by the terrorists to fill the political and military void which has been permitted to develop in southern Lebanon which abuts on Israel.
“This void resulted from a de facto Syrian military take-over of Lebanon down to the Litani River, which it did not cross for fear of Israeli intervention, coupled with Lebanese failure to extend effective control into the area south of the Litani.
“The no-man’s land thus created, together with the recent massive arms shipments from the Soviet Union to the PLO through the port of Tyre, came to constitute a serious security threat to Israel, and a murderous potential against its northern border settlements.
“Lebanese President Sarkis in attempting to stave off the Israeli action admitted that his government did not control the PLO-infested area south of the Litani. Defence Minister Ezer Weizman yesterday corroborated this admission.
“By last night it seemed clear that Israel’s major purpose is to clear and hold on to a wide strip parallel to its northern border until an effective anti-terrorist agreement is concluded with Syria and Lebanon. Provisions for keeping PLO terrorists away from the Israel border were said to have been included in the Shtura agreement, hammered out between the various forces in Lebanon at the time of the Syrian take-over. But for all intents and purposes the Shtura agreement was born dead.
“The Israel Government has made it as clear as possible that yesterday’s action in Lebanon will not serve as a pretext for Israel’s remaining in that territory. Israel wants security for its citizens, not other people’s lands.
“Yesterday’s military operation should, in fact, have come some time ago, as soon as it became clear that the PLO was filling the void left by the Lebanese Government. The reason it did not is equally clear: U.S. pressure against any Israeli intervention which it feared could lead to a confrontation with Syria.
“The reason the action could finally take place yesterday is also clear: the brutal murder at the hands of Lebanese-based PLO killers of scores of Israeli civilians,which, for the time being, swept away the political underpinnings of American objections.
“The need to wait for the murder of scores of innocent victims in order to justify resort to military action whose only purpose is to prevent terror, should say something about the moral priorities and prescience of U.S. diplomacy.
“It is also important to stress that the action should in no way prejudice the continued search for agreement between Israel and Egypt. On the contrary, one of the goals of the military action was to deprive the PLO of its southern Lebanese bases, that were used as springboards for forays into Israel designed to undermine the peace process.”
So, if we exchange ‘PLO’ for ‘Hizbollah’ and ‘Soviet Union’ for ‘Iran’ we clearly see that 31 years down the line, little has changed apart from the names of the key players.
South Lebanon is still an area that country’s government cannot control; a fact still cynically used by terrorists with foreign backing. Even worse – today’s terrorists actually form part of Lebanon’s government.
As for the international community and the US in particular, neither Operation Litani in 1978, Operation Shlom HaGalil in 1982 or Lebanon II in 2006 seem to have impressed upon them the need for urgent and far-reaching action regarding the constant threats on Israel’s northern border.
America is still tying Israel’s hands and Israel is still restricting itself in the scope of its self-defence.
Even if dozens of Israeli citizens are murdered yet again, will the world see the real nature of the threat located to Israel’s north? Most certainly could not do so in 2006. It would seem that blind bigotry has frozen the minds which steadfastly refuse to see what has been in clear view for over three decades.
On June 4, 2008 as he campaigned for office, Barack Obama said: “Jerusalem will remain Israel’s capital, and no one should want or expect it to be re-divided.” Quite right too, but he has been wriggling from this position ever since.
The following month he said: “You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. The point we were simply making was, is that we don’t want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the ’67 war, that it is possible for us to create a Jerusalem that is cohesive and coherent… I was not trying to predetermine what are essentially final status issues.”
Then this week, speaking about the Gilo apartment construction, he said: “I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel’s security, I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbours. I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous.”
The Gilo apartments have nothing whatsoever to do with settlement building. Gilo is a Jewish neighbourhood that lies within the borders of Israel as anticipated by the Clinton parameters and the Geneva Accords. If Jerusalem is to “remain Israel’s capital” and will never be “re-divided” then Israel has every right to build whatever it wants there. So why doesn’t President Obama grow a pair and confront something that really could end up being very dangerous.
Is it just me or have we stopped taking about Gilad Shalit so much since Hamas released the video of him last month? After an initial surge of discussion in the wake of the video’s release it seems that general public attention on Gilad’s plight – he has been in captivity in Gaza since his kidnap in 2006 – has declined. I hope I’m wrong…
It was an emotional day when the video was released. We’ve talked about, campaigned and prayed for him for so long but for most of us Gilad Shalit has always been just a – peculiarly haunting – photograph. Watching the video was such a relief. On the face of it at least he seemed in far better physical and mental health than one could have hoped for in the circumstances.
And then the video came to an end and with it a painful reminder that for all the relief its release brought us, Gilad is still being held. One can only imagine the emotions his parents must have gone through that day.
I hoped the video would give the campaign a second impetus but I can’t help worrying it had a placatory effect and knocked us off course. That said, there is a school of thought that decreased discussion of his case is good, because – so the argument goes – every time a protest takes place Hamas will note the pressure on the Israeli government and raise its price for his release. I suppose this goes to the heart of the kidnapped prisoner issue for Israel: the price for a hostage’s release is unthinkable, to abandon the captured unconscionable.
I know the Israeli government is doing lots behind the scenes for Gilad’s release. Despite being very much a realist I’ve always believed he will get home. We just have to keep hoping and praying.
There is a very interesting news story on the Ynet website. A gay Palestinian who lives in Israel (with his Jewish partner) visited his mum and dad in the West Bank. He had to do so secretly, as the Arab residents of his parents’ village had vowed to murder him because of his sexuality.
After visiting his parents the man was held up at the checkpoint back into Israel for security reasons. This left him stranded overnight: he couldn’t get home to Israel but couldn’t return to his parents’ village because of the murder threats.
He found sanctuary when a religious Jewish settler took him into his home.
It’s a great story and lots of people will be surprised by it. Personally I wasn’t surprised. Perceptions of the ‘settlers’ have always been wildly inaccurate and Israel has an astonishingly tolerant approach to gay people by any standards, let alone those of a Middle Eastern nation that is just 61 years old. Israel is so brilliant: a democratic state with freedom of speech and a free press, a judiciary that often rules against the government, a fine record on women’s rights and gay rights, and it is a leading innovator environmentally.
And all this from a state that has faced unparalleled threats and peril from the first day of its existence. Its record should have any decent person in the world on their feet in rapturous admiration. I long for the day when more will join the applause.
Many thanks everyone for entering the Winehouse v Cowell competition. I’ve selected a winner in each camp. So congratulations to ‘Henry’ for winning the Winehouse book and ‘Beny’ for winning the Cowell one. I’ll be in touch to arrange delivery. There will be a new competition very soon.
I’m going to take a few days off from blogging, so I thought I’d leave you with a quick round-up of recent posts you might have missed:
Firstly, have a read about Boycott Israel Campaign’s ugly protest. Am I right to be suspicious of the timing?
Also, what is the maddest thing anyone has ever said to you about Israel? Do share!
On a happier note, this is what I’ll be doing during Rosh Hashanah.
Speaking of which, I wish all my Jewish readers Shana Tova.
I’ll be back…
So, Chris has written his first blog post about Israel. A very powerful read it is, too.
Please go and have a look – and leave him a comment letting him know what you think.
I’ve written before about some of the loons – antisemitic and otherwise – who sometimes leave peculiar comments on my blog.
Yesterday I received the funniest remark in response to my blog that I’ve had for a long time. Someone told me that he doesn’t understand the Israel/Palestine issue..but that I’m wrong. Wow, that’s some superpower!
To be fair, he’s far from alone. There are plenty of people who don’t understand the issue, don’t live in the region, but have the lazy arrogance to believe they are better than the people who understand, deal with and are affected by the issue on a daily basis. They are the modern-day equivalent of the colonial Brit of old, with his cultural, intellectual superiority complex.
Because he was one of the ‘there are two sides to it, it’s all very complicated’ types. It’s so hopelessly inane. Yes, there are ‘two sides’ to the argument, as there are to every issue. There were ‘two sides’ as to whether the Nazis should murder millions of Jews in Europe. There are ‘two sides’ as to whether women should be executed for being unfaithful to their husbands in the Middle East. People on both sides of those issues believe strongly their position is right. So what? So the right thing to do is sit on the fence, fold our arms and look down our noses at them all? The existence of two sides to an argument does not make the absurdity of one of those sides any more valid.
It reminds me for some reason of another cranky commenter: the person who said to me that he didn’t mind the Jews having a state – so big of him! – only it should be not in the land of Israel but “a contiguous region taking in parts of Poland, Belarus and Ukraine”. This begged too many questions to bother with at the time: Which part of Poland did he have in mind – Auschwitz? How would displaced Poles be any better off than displaced Palestinians? Why would it be better to establish a Jewish state anywhere other than on Jewish land?
His other quibble was that he believes Israelis should should speak Yiddish, not Hebrew. Thanks for that. Let’s just say there are two sides to that argument and leave it there! 
Anyway, I am curious about your experiences. What is the crankiest thing anyone has ever said to you about your support for Israel?