Last Night Of Hanukkah

The most fabulous Menorah that we bought in Safed, Israel earlier this year.

Happy 64th Birthday Israel!

Mazal tov! It's Yom Haatzmaut - Independence Day - here in Israel and we are celebrating its 64th birthday. 


I hope you don't mind if I also post some excerpts from my own blog about the day.

To mark the special day, blogger Benji Lovitt has written a hilarious – and oh-so-true – list of 64 things he loves about Israel. I say Amen to all of them! Here’s a sample, read the rest. (h/t Israellycool).

1. I love how Israelis can be completely indifferent to politics but will still argue about their favorite hummus place until they blow an artery.
…
8. I love how when you call a wrong number on Passover, they still say “hag sameah” before hanging up.
9. I love that instead of worrying about kids developing peanut allergies, parents feed their babies Bamba before the doctor has even finished cutting the umbilical cord.
…
27. I love that during the tent protests, some protesters set up makeshift communal kitchens. Even when pretending to be homeless, Israelis still make fresh salads.
28. I love that no one here cares what Snooki ate for breakfast but the Kinneret’s crossing the red line causes my Facebook news feed to explode.
…
35. I love that my Arab cab driver says “baruch Hashem” in Hebrew.
36. I love that Arab guys scream “Alte zachen!!!” in YIDDISH. I guess this is less surprising when you consider that our slang is in Arabic. Sababa!
…
39. I love that when someone accidentally drops a dish, everyone in the vicinity screams “mazal tov!”
40. I love that kids can walk home at any hour in this country and feel safe. While this may be an adjustment for children of olim, the biggest thing they need to worry about is their overprotective parents.

 
On a more serious note, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, delivered an outstanding speech to the UN Security Council “Open debate on the situation in the Middle East”.  It is the best piece of PR for Israel that I have read in an awfully long time, and although the circumstances were not ideal, the speech is a beautiful tribute to Israel on its birthday.

Myth number one: the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is the central conflict in the Middle East. If you solve that conflict, you solve all the other conflicts in the region.

Make no mistake: it is important for Israel and the Palestinians to resolve our longstanding conflict for its own merits. Yet, the truth is that conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain, and many other parts of the Middle East have absolutely nothing to do with Israel.

It is obvious that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict won’t stop the persecution of minorities across the region, end the subjugation of women, or heal the sectarian divides. Obsessing over Israel has not stopped Assad’s tanks from flattening entire communities. On the contrary, it has only distracted attention from his crimes.
[...]
Myth number two: there is a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. In fact, numerous international organizations have said clearly that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including the Deputy Head of the Red Cross Office in the area.
[...]
Each rocket in Gaza is armed with a warhead capable of causing a political earthquake that would extend well beyond Israel’s borders. It will only take one rocket that lands in the wrong place at the wrong time to change the equation on the ground. If that happens, Israel’s leaders would be forced to respond in a completely different manner. It is time for all in this Chamber to finally wake up to that dangerous reality. The Security Council has not condemned a single rocket attack from Gaza. History’s lessons are clear. Today’s silence is tomorrow’s tragedy.
[...]
Myth number three: settlements are the primary obstacle to peace.

How many times have we heard that argument in this chamber?

Just this month, the Human Rights Council proposed yet another “fact-finding” mission to Israel. It will explore…surprise, surprise…Israeli settlements.

Today, I’d like to save the Human Rights Council and the international community some time and energy.

The facts have already been found. They are plain for all to see.

The fact is that from 1948 until 1967, the West Bank was part of Jordan, and Gaza was part of Egypt. The Arab World did nothing – it did not lift a finger – to create a Palestinian state. And it sought Israel’s annihilation when not a single settlement stood anywhere in the West Bank or Gaza.
[...]
Ladies and Gentleman – the Palestinian leadership has never, ever said publicly that they will give up the so-called “claim of return” – neither to the Palestinian people, nor to the Arab World, nor to the international community, or to anyone else.

Since the Palestinian leadership refuses to tell the Palestinian people the truth, the international community has the responsibility and duty to tell them the truth. You have a duty to stand up and say that the so-called “claim of return” is a non-starter.

Instead of telling the Palestinian people the truth, much of the international community stands idle as the Arab World tries to erase the Jewish people’s historical connection to the Land of Israel.

Across the Arab World – and even at this table – you hear claims that Israel is “Judaizing Jerusalem”. These accusations come about 3,000 years too late. It’s like accusing the NBA of Americanizing basketball.

Like many nations around this table, the Jewish people have a proud legacy of age-old kings and queens. It’s just that our tradition goes back a few years earlier.  Since King David laid the cornerstone for his palace in the 10th Century BC, Jerusalem has served as the heart of our faith.

In debate after debate, speakers sit in the Security Council and say that Israel is committing “ethnic cleansing” in Jerusalem, even though the percentage of Arab residents in the city has grown from 26% to 35% since 1967.

The holiest sites in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people, were closed only to Jews from 1948 until 1967. Everyone could come to these sites except Jews. There was absolutely no freedom of worship. The world did not say a word about the situation in Jerusalem at that time.

I love that zinger about Jerusalem. Classic! Read the whole thing. It’s just brilliant.

I also posted a couple of videos on my blog from the festive prayer service in our town's Central Synagogue which I hope you will enjoy.

Meanwhile, how could I not post THE 64th birthday song of all time? I give you, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Beatles!




Mazal tov Israel! May you live to be 120,000 years old, may your supporters and those who love you be blessed, and may your enemies be confounded.

Chag Sameach! Happy Festival!

Flytilla Folly Fizzles

This is a cross post from my own blog (at Fay's special request). I hope you enjoy it! :-)

It's spring, the day after Pesach, so what do pro-Palestinian terror-supporting "activists" do to celebrate? Why, they plan a "fly-in" to Israel - a flytilla - along the lines of the various flotillas that tried to "break the siege" of Gaza, and similar to the one organized (and which similarly fizzled) last summer.
The aim of the flytilla is two-fold: to get to Palestinian territory and cause disruption there, and to cause as much disruption as possible to Israel's Ben Gurion airport and the innocent travelling public along the way.  As CiFWatch's fact sheet on the flytilla, it's supporters, sponsors and participants states:

According to the organisers, the project is part of the “challenge to Israel’s illegal siege of Palestine”, with their publicity stating that:

“There is no way into Palestine other than through Israeli control points. Israel has turned Palestine into a giant prison, but prisoners have a right to receive visitors.
Welcome to Palestine 2012 will again challenge Israel’s policy of isolating the West Bank while the settler paramilitaries and army commit brutal crimes against a virtually defenceless Palestinian civilian population.”

In 2011 the Palestine Justice Network launched a campaign entitled the ‘One State Initiative’ which rejects the internationally accepted route of negotiations leading to a two-state solution in order to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Thus, ‘Air Flotilla 2′ represents another campaign designed to lead ultimately to an externally imposed ‘one state solution’ which would entail the dismantling of Israel as a Jewish state and an end to Jewish self-determination.
Provocation and bad public relations for Israel are also part of the underlying motive of the project, as expressed by organizer Jaques Neno when he told potential participants at a meeting in Paris last January that should they end up being arrested, “you have won because when Israel puts you in prison it shows how it becomes more and more fascist”.

In addition, CiFWatch has published an excellent and very detailed report by Hadar Sela.
It would also appear that these "activists" chose today specifically because it is one of Israel's busiest travel days, with tourists and travellers entering and leaving Israel after the Pesach and Easter holidays.

Police in Brussels tussle with flytilla activists

So far however, it seems that the flytilla has been another of those spectacular fizzles that give us such an overdose of schadenfreude. The Times of Israel reports that European airlines have cancelled the tickets of around 100 flytilla participants at the request of Israel:

A coordinator of a mass fly-in of pro-Palestinian activists into Israel’s main airport says airlines have canceled flights for at least 100 people.
Amira Musallam said Saturday that activists notified her via email that Lufthansa, EasyJet and Air France canceled the flight reservations of some suspected activists. Israel Radio reported that British Airways has done the same.
[...]
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich has called the activists “provocateurs” and said they are bent on disturbing the public order.
Israel reportedly sent no-fly lists to foreign airlines and warned them to bar persona non grata or foot the bill for deporting them.

UPDATE: Even Israel's newest adversary Turkey has prevented activists from boarding planes to Israel.

Authorities are paying particular attention to flights arriving from England, France, Belgium and Turkey, as most of the international activists are expected to arrive from these countries.
Turkish authorities were actively preventing activists from getting on flights from Istanbul, according to reports on Twitter.
Israel Radio reported that 100 activists in Geneva and seven in Rome were prevented from boarding their flights by authorities.

Nine activists who did manage to make it through to Israel were arrested on arrival at Ben Gurion airport.
Ynet adds that Israel has deported several activists who arrived in Israel, whereas activists who have been refused travel permission are staging a protest at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport.
And the Guardian (of course) records the outrage of some British would-be participants in the flytilla who had their tickets cancelled - for which the price will NOT be refunded:

Israel has forced low-cost airline Jet2.com to cancel the tickets of three women from Manchester intending to travel to Bethlehem via Tel Aviv this weekend for a gathering of pro-Palestinian activists.
Jet2.com informed the women by email that the airline would refuse to carry them and no refund would be paid. The move follows pressure on airlines from Israel to ban known activists.
One of the women, retired nurse Norma Turner, said Jet2.com had caved in to pressure. "It never crossed my mind that Israel could stop people with British passports leaving British airports," she told the Guardian.

Of course! It's the Zionist entity's far-reaching tentacles that can reach deep into the British aviation industry. It doesn't occur to the stupid woman that no airline will allow known trouble-makers to travel on their aircraft if they have been informed beforehand by the destination country that these people will be denied entry and that the airline will be considered responsible for repatriating these people. Has she never heard of the American no-fly list for example?
Turner concludes:

"Every country has the right to control its own borders. But to stop us leaving British shores just shows the extent of Israel's power and influence."

What a nasty statement, implying a sinister Israeli "influence" over British travel. She admits that every country has the right to control its own borders but seems to deny that right to Israel. Israel has not stopped her from leaving Britain. They just won't let her enter Israel.
To top off the feel-good moment (which I hope will continue throughout the day), the Israeli government has produced a letter to be handed to any and all activists who do arrive in Israel (h/t Israel Matzav for the full text).  I really and truly hope this is not a spoof. :-) (Click to enlarge).

Letter from Israel's Government to flytilla activists

Let's hope this flytilla fizzle continues to sputter and die out fast.

How a new Israeli attache renounced his U.S. citizenship

Foreign diplomats are not allowed to hold American citizenship as well as their official citizenship. So what's an American-born diplomat to do when he is appointed to represent his country in the United States? Sadly, he has no choice but to renounce his American citizenship.

These circumstances recently arose for Eli Groner who has been named Israel's minister for economic affairs to the United States. JTA has the beautifully eloquent statement he submitted to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. I think you will find it as moving as I did.

Because I love America, it is with hesitant hands and a heavy heart that I am writing this note. I never expected to request revocation of my citizenship, and while I certainly understand the circumstances requiring me to do so, it is important for me to share with you why I have decided to take this step.

The United States has a perfectly sensible law that does not allow for diplomats from foreign countries serving in the U.S. to hold U.S. citizenship. The fact that this is eminently reasonable doesn’t make this any less difficult.

Much of who I am is based on my childhood in the U.S.; as a 4th-generation American growing up in quintessential Small-Town America, the values inculcated in me in school and at home were American. Many of those values are shared by Israel, which I believe to be the destined homeland for Jewish people of all nations. As Israel builds its place among the nations, it has much to learn not only from its Jewish and biblical roots, but also from the ideological foundations which built the United States of America – the greatest country of the past 240 years.

Every week in synagogue, Jews around the world read a portion of the Bible. Last week, we read the Ten Commandments. One of the many lessons of these commandments is that the Jewish nation left Egypt not simply to survive, but rather with a greater purpose of building a just and moral society. Now, some 3,300 years after the revelation at Sinai and 63 years after the establishment of the State of Israel -- two of the most momentous occasions in Jewish history -- the guidance from Sinai is all the more relevant. In this spirit, a very small piece of what Israel needs to do is to continually strengthen its economic foundations. Like other dimensions required in building the State of Israel, I consider this to be my generation’s holy work; therefore, when I was asked by Israel’s Finance Minister to serve as the country’s Minister of Economic Affairs to Washington, the decision to accept was easy. That doesn’t make my decision any less painful.

...

One can love two countries just as one loves two parents. Today, I voluntarily give up my citizenship, but I do not give up my values; indeed, in giving up my citizenship to help further the economic development and strength of Israel in a diplomatic role, I believe I am living those values I was educated to cherish. During my 10 years of schooling in wonderful Upstate New York, I pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States each and every day. And today, more than ever and despite the renunciation of my citizenship, I remain committed to the Republic for which it stands.

God bless America; land that I love.

Read it all. You'll be glad you did.

Bravo Netanyahu

Such logic, common sense and truth. Such eloquence. Bravo Bibi!

H/T airforcewife

Glenn Beck: Restoring Courage

Annie caught me this morning just as I was walking out the door with these awesome links to Glenn Beck's Restoring Courage event.

From IsraellyCool:

I don’t really know how more clear Glenn Beck could make his intentions than what he said last night. I’ll paraphrase: he loves Jews AS Jews in Israel and has no desire to convert us. Clear enough? Anybody who still doesn’t believe him is malicious or completely incapable of taking honest people at their word.

MyRightWord:

Fears of sneak proselyzting or missionary work were not only unfounded but dashed. I think the Christian speakers were more pro-Jewish than the Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, in a sense.

Haaretz:

The evening's opening act, a dissection of Israel's significance that felt more like a news channel studio debate than a live show, was followed by video footage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he vowed that "Jerusalem must never be divided." This statement won the first of many raucous rounds of applause of the night.

It seems Beck is a smash hit with our Jewish friends, and I'm tickled to see it. Go Glenn!

Multiple Terrorist Attacks In Israel

At least six are dead and dozens are injured in three coordinated terrorist attacks in southern Israel.

Authorities are calling for Israeli to donate blood at local MDA stations across the country. The area has been declared a closed military area and the IDF spokesman has asked people to keep away.

This is a horrific and cowardly attack. I hope the IDF extracts a heavy price, and takes no prisoners. My heart is with the people of Israel on this sad day.

Update: Our friend Annie has more here.

Israel's History

A picture a day. This blog is mesmerizing, and a superb history lesson for us all. Enjoy!

H/T: Our friend Annie of Anne's Opinions.