Together With Israel

Olmert presses Egypt on Shalit

2008-06-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Another JTA article on Gilad Shalit...

JTA, 06/24/2008

Ehud Olmert flew to Egypt to press for progress in efforts to retrieve captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

The Israeli prime minister arrived in the Red Sea resort of Sharm e-Sheik on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whose government brokered last week's Gaza Strip truce.

Mubarak told reporters at the opening of the meeting that Egypt was "making efforts in the case of Gilad Shalit."

Olmert's aides said the prime minister received an Egyptian pledge to keep the Rafah crossing closed until a prisoner swap deal is in place which would return Shalit, who was abducted to Gaza by Hamas-led gunmen two years ago.

Hamas and the Olmert government have been wrangling, via Cairo, over how many jailed Palestinian terrorists Israel should release as ransom for the soldier.

Egypt has voiced hope that the Gaza cease-fire will speed a prisoner swap.

Israel may declare Lebanon hostages dead

2008-06-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

This just in on JTA on the fate of the other two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who where taken hostage nearly two years ago in the Second Lebanon War...

JTA, 06/23/2008

Israel's military rabbinate announced Monday it was studying intelligence assessments about the condition of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, army reservists abducted by the Lebanese militia after a July 2006 border raid, and will soon issue a decision on their status.

Forensic findings at the scene where the soldiers' convoy was ambushed suggested that one or both may not have survived.

The rabbinate's conclusions could have a major impact on a German-mediated swap in the works between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel has offered to release five jailed Lebanese terrorists in exchange for its troops, but if the two are declared dead, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may find himself under pressure from the defense establishment to reduce the ransom. Israel has the bodies of about 10 Lebanese which it might offer instead of live prisoners.

There are also implications for Karnit Goldwasser, Ehud's wife, whose prospects of remarrying under Jewish law depend on a rabbinical decision that she is a widow.

Second Anniversary: Gilad Shalit in Captivity

2008-06-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, June 24, 2008 marks the 2nd anniversary of Gilad Shalit being held captive by Hamas. JTA has written an article about the anniversary and about the odds that he will be released and when. The full article and original link are below.

Over on Facebook a group was formed to remember the anniversary. Called 24.06. my Facebook status. "is waiting for Gilad Shalit for 2 years!!!" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16835438359

The group which has over 36,000 members with a goal of 50,000 is the largest group on Facebook’s Israel Network. Each member will change the Facebook for the day to "has been waiting for Gilad Shalit for 2 years!!!" and will replace their profile for a pre-designated photo of Gilad, located here: http://www.giladshalit.co.il/download.htm

After cease-fire, questions
about Shalit's being left out

Israeli Foreign Ministry

By Roy Eitan, JTA, 06/23/2008
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/200806230623shalit.html

JERUSALEM (JTA) – The Hamas-Israel cease-fire's fiercest critics are those some expected to be its greatest beneficiaries: the parents of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Having pursued a largely low-key campaign for the liberation of their son since he was abducted by Hamas-led gunmen two years ago, Noam and Aviva Shalit have reacted furiously to the exclusion of their son from the Egyptian-brokered Gaza truce.
On Sunday, the Shalits filed a petition with Israel's High Court of Justice demanding that one of the key components of the cease-fire -- the easing of Palestinian movement across the Gaza border -- be blocked until Israel commit to retrieving their son.

And in a slew of media interviews, the couple accused Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of potentially having destroyed any chance of getting the 21-year-old hostage back soon -- or even ever. Enlisting Gilad in absentia, they published a recent handwritten letter in which he wrenchingly begs to be freed.
Their criticism has roiled the Israeli public and fueled public debate about the efficacy of Israel's cease-fire with Hamas.

A poll in last Friday’s Yediot Acharonot found that 78 percent of Israelis think the Gaza truce should have been conditioned on Shalit going free, while only 15 percent disagreed. Asked if they agreed with Noam Shalit's assertions that his son had been "forsaken" by the state, 68 percent of respondents said yes and 24 percent said no.
The public’s outrage may seem surprising given the Olmert government's repeated assurances that Shalit is integral to the truce, which began June 20. Olmert is to fly to Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt this week for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on speeding Shalit's release.

"The 'calming agreement' is, for the time being, the best means of creating a framework and an umbrella to propel forward a process of discussion, under the auspices of Egypt, which we hope will culminate with the return of Gilad Shalit," Amos Gilad, the Defense Ministry negotiator representing the state at the High Court, told Israel Radio.

Yet Hamas has said otherwise, denying any direct linkage between the suspension of hostilities and Shalit.

"We separated Shalit and the truce," said Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader in Gaza and deposed Palestinian prime minister. "The Israelis and their leaders have so far undermined reaching a prisoner exchange because they are not accommodating the Palestinian demands."

Hamas wants Israel to free hundreds of jailed Palestinian terrorists in exchange for Shalit. Israel has balked at some of the names on Hamas' list, arguing that returning mass murderers to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip would be disastrous for the embattled, relatively moderate Palestinian Authority.

But in recent days Israeli officials have hinted that they could relax their criteria. Israel hopes for similar flexibility from Hamas, though it has shown no signs of that.

The ace up Israel's sleeve is Rafah, the main terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border, which was shut by Cairo after Hamas seized control of Gaza a year ago. Israeli officials say Rafah will not reopen unless there is "significant progress" in efforts to free Shalit, though what this would constitute remains unclear.

Noam Shalit has argued that Rafah could provide a conduit for Hamas to spirit out his son to a location where he will never be found.

"We all remember what happened with Ron Arad, how he was handed from one group to another and eventually disappeared," Noam Shalit said in one interview, referring to the Israeli airman who bailed out of a plane over Lebanon in 1986, was captured and then disappeared. Israeli intelligence believes Arad was captured by Lebanese Shiite militiamen and later transferred to Iran, where many suspect he was killed.
When they announced they were filing their court petition, the Shalits found surprise support from Tammy Arad, the normally reclusive wife of the missing Israeli air force navigator.

"Captivity is a terminal disease. The chances of retrieval are in your hands," Tammy Arad wrote in an open letter to the court. "Do not take away Gilad's hopes of returning to his family. Do not take away Aviva's and Noam's hopes of reuniting with Gilad, of holding him in their arms again."

On Monday, Israel's high court denied the Shalits' petition.

Israeli defense officials are doubtful about whether Hamas would want Gilad Shalit to be anywhere other than Gaza. Taking him out through the Egyptian Sinai would risk a clash between the Palestinians and Cairo.

Dov Weisglass, an adviser to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who is now helping the Shalits, said another concern is that, with Israel's military and economic pressure on Gaza eased, Hamas will have less of an incentive to make a prisoner swap.
"Due to the siege and the closure, Hamas sought Egypt's help in achieving a 'calm,' and its leaders undoubtedly understood that in exchange for the 'calm,' they would have to soften their demands for prisoners," Weisglass wrote in Yediot Acharonot. "But no. Israel did not demand this. Israel, for some reason, consented for the matter of the kidnapped soldier to be discussed after the removal of the siege and closure."

"Now, when the Gazans can breathe easy, Hamas will no longer have a reason to hurry and renew the negotiations, and certainly no reason to end it with any concession on their part," Weisglass continued. “An Israeli hostage is not a bad thing: He is a pretext for a great many interviews, talks, trips around the world. In the end, Israel will also pay dearly for him. What could be bad about this? Why rush?"
Jerusalem officialdom also sees the strategy of keeping Shalit in captivity as a Hamas bid to safeguard its leaders against Israeli assassination attempts. In the past, Hamas has hinted it would execute Shalit in retaliation for a major Israeli strike.

Israeli officials insist that pursuing Shalit's release in the atmosphere of a Gaza truce is the best option, given the dearth of alternatives.

A rescue raid is unlikely to succeed, given past experience with other captive soldiers and Israeli intelligence assessments that Shalit is being held in a booby-trapped underground bunker and watched by an elite team of Hamas gunmen ready to kill him and themselves. Wider Israeli military strikes in Gaza so far have proven fruitless in retrieving the soldier.

Gilad, the Defense Ministry official, said the best chance lies with Egyptian mediation.

"The Egyptians promised to muster all their resources to open contacts" on Shalit's return, Gilad said. "Compared to other options, this is the best one at the moment. Actually, it's the only one that exists. There are those criticizing harshly, and though the strength of the words may be impressive, no one is offering a better alternative."

Gil Troy's Why I Am A Zionist: Israel @ 60

2008-05-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

A video slide show celebrating 60 years of Israel set to Gil Troy’s updated version of his "Why I Am A Zionist" article (2001).
Video designed and edited by Bonnie K. Goodman.

The cloud that shadows Israel's 60th

2008-05-07T18:38:00.001-07:00

Despite its miraculous progress over six decades, the country is still threatened by its neighbours

By Gil Troy
Montreal Gazette, May 07, 2008

At sundown tonight, Israel marks its 60th anniversary, celebrating impressive national achievements. In 1948, the fragile, embattled country was a harsh place to live, as imperiled as a blade of grass planted in a desert surrounded by menacing predators. Six decades later, the country is a stable, thriving democracy with seven million citizens.

No longer a flimsy seedling, Israel is like a microchip, small, sophisticated - and complicated - generating great power, attracting much attention.
Yet, despite this country's miraculous progress in six decades, the 10th anniversary of Israel 's 50th anniversary is sobering. Looking at 2008 from 1998, not 1948, highlights the devastating impact of the Oslo peace process's failure.

Today, it is easy to forget David Ben-Gurion's daring in urging Israel 's independence. The British planned to relinquish control of Palestine on May 14, 1948. In November, 1947, the United Nations had voted to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab territory - both groups called themselves "Palestinians." Ben-Gurion, the gruff, charismatic leader of the Yishuv, the Jewish state's preliminary government, endorsed the compromise. That too, took courage because the plan offered hard-to-defend boundaries and internationalized Jerusalem .

Arab leaders rejected the UN decision. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem called for jihad. From November 1947 through May 1948, local Arabs slaughtered 1,256 Jewish men, women and children with truck bombs and ambushes, shootings and stabbings.

With Jerusalem besieged, and five surrounding Arab armies ready to pounce, many proposed postponing independence. Harry Truman's secretary of defence, the legendary George Marshall, warned Ben-Gurion's emissary "as a military man," that the situation was "grave."

Ben-Gurion, however, felt the Jews had waited long enough. They had lost sovereignty 1,900 years earlier, when the Romans razed Jerusalem , and exiled many - although some Jewish communities remained in their homeland. They had just endured the mass murder of 6 million. And the Zionist movement in Palestine had been building toward this moment, settlement by settlement, institution by institution, since the 1880s.
At 4 p.m. on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion read Israel 's Declaration of Independence. This remarkable document, mixing civic and ethnic nationalism, rooted in history stretching back to the Bible, envisioned peace with all the country's neighbours.

Six thousand Jews died in Israel 's War for Independence , approximately one per cent of the population. After fierce fighting, the borders became more defensible. Jews controlled Jewish Western Jerusalem.

Alas, crack Jordanian troops captured and destroyed the old city's Jewish Quarter, the Jewish people's emotional epicentre.

Ben-Gurion's gamble paid off - although what he "won" was not much of a bargain. The new country, Israel , was small, arid, with minimal economic infrastructure, major enemies and massive waves of immigrants coming to resettle, both the survivors of the Holocaust and, over the next 10 years, nearly one million Jewish refugees expelled from Arab lands. These were days of food rationing, rough clothes, hard work, tempered by the exhilaration of returning to history, controlling their destiny and fulfilling a national mission.

Sixty years later, those who survived walk around Israel amazed. The goodies of modern Western prosperity and freedom abound, for better and worse: cars and traffic, factories and pollution, a flood of consumer goods and waves of individualistic self-indulgence. Headlines emphasize the high-tech inventions, the medical advances, the cutting-edge research. Less appreciated are record-level per-capita rates of book publishing and reading, charitable giving and volunteering, spiritual seeking and study.

Perhaps most surprising to outsiders - and most impressive given the country's tragic history - is an ingrained peace ethos. So many defining Israeli songs yearn for peace - Shir LaShalom, a song of peace, Nolatedi LeShalom, I was born for peace, Salaam Aleikum, peace be upon you - Arabic title, Hebrew lyrics, universal hope. Cynics might scoff, but the world has seen the difference between civilizations craving peace, and cultures celebrating vilification and violence.

And that explains the trauma of the 10th anniversary of the 50th. In 1998, the Oslo Accords fed Israelis' hope for peace with their Palestinian neighbours. As it did with the Sinai in 1979, Israel had made the historically unprecedented step of offering to leave contested territory seized legitimately in a border dispute. Israel imported Yasser Arafat from Tunis , offering his forces weapons and training. Alas, rather than being another Nelson Mandela, Arafat remained a terrorist. The renewed Palestinian terror campaign beginning in 2000 shattered Israelis' hope for normalcy.
That Israel's self-defence earned such worldwide opprobrium, despite the Oslo concessions, demoralized Israelis.

Israel has a strong democratic culture of self-criticism that does not exist in the Arab world. Most Israelis, from across the political spectrum, hold two contradictory positions. They lambaste their own leaders for various missteps. Still, most believe Israel 's mistakes pale amid this great betrayal when Palestinians turned from negotiations toward terror - and attracted world support rather than being urged back to negotiate.

As a result, clouds shadow tonight's celebrations. Independence Day festivities immediately follow the Day of Mourning for Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims. This year particularly, as Israelis swing abruptly from lamentation to exhilaration, they will delight in the miracles they have created since 1948. They will mourn their lost loved ones and dashed hopes. But they will sing their collective songs of peace, knowing that they - and their neighbours - were born for peace, that peace must come upon them, in Arabic and Hebrew, with both sides willing to be self-critical, make critical compromises, and seek a solution that will make the 10th anniversary of the 60th anniversary a moment of absolute joy.

Center Field: Why I am a Zionist

2008-05-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

By Gil Troy
Jerusalem Post, JPost.com, May 7, 2008

Today, too many friends and foes define Israel, and Zionism, by the Arab world's hostility. Doing so misses Israel's everyday miracles, the millions who live and learn, laugh and play, in the Middle East's only functional democracy. Doing so ignores the achievements of Zionism, a gutsy, visionary movement which rescued a shattered people by reuniting a scattered people. Doing so neglects the transformative potential of Zionism, which could inspire new generations of Israeli and Diaspora Jews to find personal redemption by redeeming their old-new communal homeland.

Tragically, Zionism is embattled. Arabs have demonized Zionism as the modern bogeyman, and many have clumped Zionists, along with Americans and most Westerners, as the Great Satans. In Israel, trendy post-Zionists denigrate the state which showers them with privilege, while in the Diaspora a few Jewish anti-Zionists loudly curry favor with the Jewish state's enemies. Jews should reaffirm their faith in Zionism; the world should appreciate its many accomplishments. Zionists must not allow their enemies to define and slander the movement.

No nationalism is pure, no movement is perfect, no state ideal. But today Zionism remains legitimate, inspiring, and relevant, to me and most Jews. Zionism offers an identity anchor in a world of dizzying choices - and a road map toward national renewal. A century ago, Zionism revived pride in the label "Jew"; today, Jews must revive pride in the label "Zionist."

I AM a Zionist because I am a Jew - and without recognizing Judaism's national component, I cannot explain its unique character. Judaism is a world religion bound to one homeland, shaping a people whose holy days revolve around the Israeli agricultural calendar, ritualize theological concepts, and relive historic events. Only in Israel can a Jew fully live in Jewish space and by Jewish time.

I am a Zionist because I share the past, present, and future of my people, the Jewish people. Our nerve endings are uniquely intertwined. When one of us suffers, we share the pain; when many of us advance communal ideals together, we - and the world - benefit.

I am a Zionist because I know my history - and after being exiled from their homeland more than 1900 years ago, the defenseless, wandering Jews endured repeated persecutions from both Christians and Muslims - centuries before this anti-Semitism culminated in the Holocaust.

I am a Zionist because Jews never forgot their ties to their homeland, their love for Jerusalem. Even when they established autonomous self-governing structures in Babylonia, in Europe, in North Africa, these governments in exile yearned to return home.

I am a Zionist because those ideological ties nourished and were nurtured by the plucky minority of Jews who remained in the land of Israel, sustaining continued Jewish settlement throughout the exile.

I am a Zionist because in modern times the promise of Emancipation and Enlightenment was a double-edged sword, often only offering acceptance for Jews in Europe after they assimilated, yet never fully respecting them if they did assimilate.

I am a Zionist because in establishing the sovereign state of Israel in 1948, the Jews reconstituted in modern Western terms a relationship with a land they had been attached to for millennia, since Biblical times - just as Japan or India established modern states from ancient civilizations.

I am a Zionist because in building that state, the Jews returned to history and embraced normalcy, a condition which gave them power, with all its benefits, responsibilities, and dilemmas.

I am a Zionist because I celebrate Israel's existence. Like any thoughtful patriot, though I might criticize particular government policies I dislike - I do not delegitimize the state itself. I am a Zionist because I live in the real world of nation-states. I see that Zionism is no more or less "racist" than any other nationalism, be it American, Armenian, Canadian, or Czech. All express the eternal human need for some internal cohesion, some tribalism, some solidarity among some historic grouping of individuals, and not others.

I am a Zionist because we have learned from North American multiculturalism that pride in one's heritage as a Jew, an Italian, a Greek, can provide essential, time-tested anchors in our me-me-me, my-my-my, more-more-more, now-now-now world.

I am a Zionist because in Israel we have learned that a country without a vision is like a person without a soul; a big-tent Zionism can inculcate values, fight corruption, reaffirm national unity, and restore a sense of mission.

I AM a Zionist because in our world of post-modern multi-dimensional identities, we don't have to be "either-ors", we can be "ands and buts" - a Zionist AND an American patriot; a secular Jew BUT also a Zionist. Just as some people living in Israel reject Zionism, meaning Jewish nationalism, Jews in the Diaspora can embrace it. To those who ask "How can you be a Zionist if you don't make aliya," I reply, "How will anyone make aliya without first being a Zionist?"

I am a Zionist because I am a democrat. The marriage of democracy and nationalism has produced great liberal democracies, including Israel, despite its democracy being tested under severe conditions.

I am a Zionist because I am an idealist. Just as a century ago, the notion of a viable, independent, sovereign Jewish state was an impossible dream - yet worth fighting for - so, too, today, the notion of a thriving, independent, sovereign Jewish state living in true peace with its neighbors appears to be an impossible dream - yet worth seeking.

I am a Zionist because I am a romantic. The story of the Jews rebuilding their homeland, reclaiming the desert, renewing themselves, was one of the 20th century's greatest epics, just as the narrative of the Jews maintaining their homeland, reconciling with the Arab world, renewing themselves, and serving as a light to others, a model nation state, could be one of this century's marvels. Yes, it sometimes sounds far-fetched. But, as Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, said in an idle boast that has become a cliche: "If you will it, it is no dream."

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University . He is the author of "Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today. This is an updated version of an essay he first wrote for Yom Ha'atzmaut 2001.

Center Field: Remember the terror victims at the Seder

2008-04-17T19:59:00.000-07:00

Posted by Gil Troy, Jerusalem Post, Wednesday Apr 16, 2008

Once again, we will celebrate our joyous holiday of liberation this seder with heavy hearts. Even as we revel in our freedom as Jews today, even as we marvel at Israel's steadiness amid the terrorist onslaught, even as we begin celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary, too many Israeli families are in pain. This year, as we think of three Israeli hostages in a Mitzraim, in dire straits, and think of an entire region, the western Negev, including the city of Sderot, held hostage, we must reclaim our symbols, remember our losses, reaffirm our commitment to Israel, to the Jewish people, and to a true peace.

In the bloody, unnecessary war the Palestinians began by turning away from negotiations toward violence, too many died, too many have been injured, on both sides. And too many seders now have empty chairs - missing husbands, fathers, brothers, sons; missing wives, mothers, sisters, daughters.

The seder's power and popularity comes from ritualizing memory. It is primal, sensual, literal. The seder plate - representing the mortar used in building, the charoset, and the tears shed by the slaves, the salt water - helps us visualize the trauma of slavery.

The physical acts of reclining, of eating special foods, of standing to greet Elijah the prophet, help us feel the joy of Yetziat Mitzrayim, leaving Egypt. And, affirming the importance of peoplehood, we mark this moment not as individuals but as a community.

In that spirit, we cannot proceed with business as usual. We must improvise a new ritual marking our present pain, illustrating the Jewish people's profound unity. We should intrude on our own celebrations at seder by leaving one setting untouched, by having one empty chair at our tables.

Let us take a moment to reflect on our losses from these terrible seven-and-a-half years, for even as stability has returned, terror attempts continue, freshly dug graves pockmark the Holy Land, the mourning for those lost persists. And as we reflect, let us not just remember the dead as nameless and faceless people, let us personalize them. Let us take the time to uncover one victims name, one Jew who cannot celebrate this year's holiday, one family in mourning.

Let us call out the names of Oleg Lipson and Lev Cherniak, civilians killed days ago by terrorists attacking the Nahal Oz fuel depot, which supplies Gaza with power.

Let us call out the names of Gilad Shalit, a 19-year-old with a shy smile, kidnapped by Hamas on the Gaza border in July, 2006; and that of Ehud Goldwasser, a 31-year-old engineer, and Eldad Regev, a 26-year-old pre-law student, kidnapped by Hizbullah just south of Lebanon. The joy we take in our freedom must remain incomplete knowing that the Shalit, Goldwasser, and Regev families are missing their loved ones - even lacking information about their status.

Still reeling from the carnage amid the holy texts in the Mercaz HaRav library, let us call out the names of Yohai Lifshitz, 18, Neri Cohen, 15, Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, Avraham David Moses, 16, Roee Roth, 18 and Doron Mahareta, 26.

Remembering the Second Lebanon War sacrifices, let us call out the name of Yaniv Bar-On, the 20-year-old son of a South African father and a Canadian mother, ambushed while trying to save Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev from Hizbullah's clutches, and of Roi Klein, 31, a father of two, who jumped on a grenade crying "Shma Yisrael," Hear O' Israel, sacrificing his life to save his troops from certain death.

Remembering previous victims, let us call out the name of Benny Avraham, age 20, one of three young Israelis murdered by Hizbullah in a failed kidnapping in October 2000, whose body was kept frozen as the sadistic terrorists toyed with the emotions of the three grieving families.

Let us call out the name of Koby Mandell, age 13, a young American immigrant brutally killed in May, 2001, whose father, Rabbi Seth Mandell, talks about the empty seat at his Shabbat table and shares the pain of watching other boys grow up, watching their voices deepen, their shoulders broaden, their gaits quicken, even as his son lies dead.

Let us call out the names of Ernest and Eva Weiss, aged 80 and 75, residents of Petach Tikvah who survived Nazi concentration camps only to be slaughtered while sitting down for the seder at the Park Hotel exactly six years ago, Pesach, 2002.

And as we condemn modern-day Pharoahs in Iran and elsewhere, as we recoil from the worldwide scourge of anti-Semitism this terrorism also unleashed, let us call out the names of Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old French Jew cellphone salesman kidnapped, tortured and murdered in a Parisian suburb by anti-Semitic thugs, and of Daniel Pearl, the 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped, then murdered, in Pakistan almost exactly four years earlier.

As we call out these names, let us vow to do what we can to bring the three hostages home. As we call out these names, let us commit to some action to embrace the families of the victims - the thousand who died and the nearly ten thousand who were injured. As we call out these names, let those of us in the Diaspora commit to building a friendship with Israel which is not just about politics, and not solely about mourning and memory; let those of us in Israel commit to building a nation which can bring pride to the memories of those who sacrificed so much.

And as we call out these names, unlike too many of our enemies, let us not call for vengeance; let us not call for more bloodshed. Instead, as we mourn, let us hope. As we remember the many lives lost during this crazy and pointless war, let us pray ever more intensely for a just and lasting peace.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author of Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today.

A Zionist Seder

2008-04-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

By Gil Troy, www.israelatsixty.org.il, April 5, 2008

This year’s seder should launch the big buildup to Israel’s 60th anniversary celebration. Just as in my youth we had a “matzah of hope” to carve out time from the historic ritual to remember the contemporary challenges of Soviet Jewry, we need to use this most popular Jewish ritual to delight in the miracle of Israel’s surviving – and thriving.

The power of the seder - which remains one of the most popular of Jewish ceremonies in Israel and abroad - comes from its ritualization of memory, and its dramatization of history. It is a most primal, most sensual, most literal, of services. The seder plate - with its representations of the mortar used in building, the charoset, and of the tears shed by the slaves, the salt water - helps us visualize the trauma of slavery. The joy of Dayenu – and the building toward the festive meal – helps us feel the redemption of freedom.

There are many entry points within the Seder ritual for discussion and commemoration of Israel. We could start by setting one empty seat at the table, to remember the three kidnapped Israeli soldiers – and the other soldiers and victims of terror who cannot join this festive night because they were murdered by modern-day enemies. We could continue by only serving Israeli wine, and celebrating the emergence of a sophisticated wine culture that both fills traditional kashrut requirements and is beginning to make a splash on the international wine scene. We could give our children an Israel related toy – or simply make a charitable donation to Israel in their names – in exchange for the Afikomen. We could add contemporary readings and modern Israeli songs at the point of Dayenu – the song detailing the many miracles of redemption. And we could culminate with a discussion over dinner about just how do we celebrate the modern miracle of Israel, wherever we might stand on the political spectrum, because Zionism is an idea that should transcend the left-right gravitational physics of everyday politics.

Let us start this countdown toward Israel's birthday with an ambitious goal. Every Jew who attends a seder this month should end up celebrating Israel in some way next month. If we really could fulfill that goal, we would trigger such a torrent of ideas and waves of participation that we would accelerate the needed renewal of the bond linking Diaspora Jews with Israel, and the bond linking Israeli Jews with their brothers and sisters in the Diaspora.

Center Field: This family's answer to the menace of terrorism

2008-03-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

By GIL TROY, Jerusalem Post, Mar 11, 2008 21:27

Last week was what I am starting to think about as a typically strange week in Israel. Even before the horrific attack on Mercaz Harav here in Jerusalem we were living what I think of as the great Israeli disconnect.

On the one hand, our major focus was on sticking to the shigra, a new word I learned this year - the routine. My wife and I spent much of the week juggling. On Thursday for example, we worked on helping our 10-year-old son with his shishim shana Israel-at-60 school project, getting our seven-year-old son to the stress test he had to take to play in his baseball little league, dropping our five-year-old daughter off at her swimming lesson, and preparing our 12-year-old daughter for her youth movement tiyul - trip.

On the streets of Jerusalem the big headline was that the winter had lifted, spring was in the air. The meteorologists actually warned of sharav, a hot and dry spell, as our friends in Montreal struggled with another storm - this time 18 centimeters of snow mixed with 5 centimeters of ice pellets.

In Jerusalem , the weather shift was so swift it felt as if someone had just flicked a switch. All of a sudden, the air was lighter, more fragrant, the sun brighter, more welcoming. Looking at the delightful explosion of red, blue, pink, purple, and white flowers suddenly blooming in our yard, I learned what a kalanit - an anemone - actually looks like, rather than simply thinking about it as some lyric in romantic Hebrew songs. I spent part of Thursday afternoon uncovering and cleaning garden furniture.

I AM NOT smart enough or deep enough for this age of terrorism. I don't know how to square all that routine beauty with the pain of Sderot, the trauma of Ashkelon, the horrible choices Israeli soldiers and their commanders had to be making in split-seconds in Gaza, again and again as we enjoyed our Jerusalem spring.

I cannot reconcile our borderline-boring but oh so safe and soothing familiar family routine with the tragedy of Roni Yihye the 47-year-old father of four with whom I identify (for some strange reason) killed last week at Sapir College, the heartbreaking stories of Palestinian children tragically or cynically caught recently in the crossfire, or the despairing families of the three soldiers killed this week - one of whom was a 27-year-old Beduin volunteer with eight children, including a baby born just last month, another of whom was an essential hearing and speaking link for his two deaf parents.
It seems that headlines roll over everyone here in Israel at such an astounding pace that you get inured to it, until the horror actually happens to you.

And then the trauma of Thursday night hits. At approximately the same time as the terrorist was shooting up the seminary, a holy place of learning, I was showing two young guests from San Diego our neighborhood, Jerusalem 's German Colony. We reached Yemin Moshe, standing at one of Jerusalem 's many stunning overlooks, soaking in the entrancing beauty of the illuminated Old City walls. We then blithely strolled along the shops and cafes of Emek Refaim with no idea that at least eight young men, who probably had done the same thing many times, were having their lives cruelly taken from them at that same moment, on the other side of town.

SO WHICH is the reality and which the illusion? I don't really know.

And yes, the first human tendency is to hide, to run, to sweep up your children, hug them tightly, and keep them far away from the violence. But when you think about the cold-blooded killer, spraying hundreds of bullets at defenseless students, or the barbarians in Gaza and the West Bank who celebrated this bloodbath in a house of learning with victory shots in the air and candy thrown in the street, it becomes clear that we cannot hide, we cannot run - because they will never stop, they will never be satisfied. It sounds demagogic, paranoid, unenlightened, and most unscholarly but alas true: it really is yesterday Sderot, today Jerusalem , and tomorrow the West.

And we all have to do what we can. Some, like one of the older students at the yeshiva, Yitzhak Dadon, age 40, will hear the shots, scramble up to a roof, look through the window, and eventually help stop the tragedy with two shots to the terrorist's head, followed by a 29-year-old Paratroopers Capt. David Shapira, who ran from bathing his children across the street, ignored police warnings that it was dangerous to enter, and actually killed the terrorist.

Some, like friends in Montreal and all over the civilized world, will stand in silent prayer or loudly voice their outrage at rallies. And some, like my family and I are privileged to be doing right now, will stick to our routines, clean our garden furniture, go to baseball and swimming, make that presentation at school and enjoy the outing. And in doing that we will show that we, who love democracy and yearn for peace, will not be moved. We will not be discouraged. And we will enjoy this high quality of life, appreciating life, because that is what it means - to be a free people in our homeland, as we send warm regards, proudly, safely, calmly, happily, to our concerned friends and loved ones from Jerusalem .

Barak visits Mercaz Harav

2008-03-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

JTA, 03-11-2008

Israel's defense minister visited the Mercaz Harav yeshiva to learn firsthand how last week's massacre unfolded.

Ehud Barak made an unannounced trip late Monday to the Jerusalem yeshiva, where witnesses to the attack by a Palestinian terrorist explained to him where and how each of his eight victims died.

The gunman's spree March 6 was cut short when an off-duty Israeli army officer and an armed student both shot him dead.

Barak was quoted as consoling the yeshiva on its losses but saying there was no guarantee such an attack would not recur. There is no choice but to continue fighting Palestinian terror, the defense minister said.

Barak's polite reception at Mercaz Harav was in marked contrast to the heckling of Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir, a noted left-wing activist, when she tried to visit the yeshiva. Tamir left after being called "murderer."

Mercaz Harav's staff has also been quoted as saying that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is persona non grata due to his pursuit of peace talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Taking the temperature of Mercaz Harav

2008-03-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Ami Eden, JTA Telegraph,

http://blogs.jta.org

Police arrest eight in connection with Merkaz Harav attack

2008-03-12T12:43:00.001-07:00

By JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP
Jerusalem Post, Mar 7, 2008 17:05 | Updated Mar 8, 2008 22:14

Police have arrested eight people in connection to Thursday's terror attack at Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, they said Saturday. The gunman, Ala Abu Dhaim, did not meet the typical profile of Palestinian attackers, police said.

"He is not known to the security forces," Jerusalem Police Chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco told Channel 2. "He was a normal man ... who was going to wed soon."

Franco added that the gunmen drove students to school for a living, once again denying Abu Dhaim's family's claim that he had been working at the Yeshiva.
He said that while Abu Dhaim had recently become more religious, he was not devout.
Franco said he believed Abu Dahim had planned the attack some time in advance and that it was not a response to recent violence in the Gaza Strip.

"We think he had done some surveillance of the place and planned [to attack] it specifically. He chose a strategic and sensitive [target]. He knew where he was going."

An assault on the heart of Zionism

2008-03-12T12:38:00.000-07:00

An assault on the heart of Zionism
By CALEV BEN-DAVID
Jerusalem Post, Mar 6, 2008 23:56 | Updated Mar 7, 2008 0:40

Rarely have terrorists chosen their target with so much malicious care as in Thursday night's attack on Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva.

In striking the flagship institution of the religious Zionist movement, a Jerusalem landmark whose history is linked with the founding and fulfillment of the Jewish national home in the Land of Israel, the gunman aimed his weapon at the heart of the Zionist enterprise.

If the goal was to outrage the general public and to inflame that particular segment of it most skeptical of the possibility of Israel one day coming to terms with its most immediate Arab neighbors, then the bullets struck home with deadly and accurate force.
Beyond that, as the first terrorist attack on this scale in nearly two years - since a Tel Aviv suicide bomber killed nine in April 2006 - the impact of this incident will be profound.

This will be a sharp blow for those Israelis, especially Jerusalemites, who have allowed themselves to let their psychological guard down since the second intifada petered out. That the gunman was able to carry out this operation in the heart of a crowded Jerusalem neighborhood, some distance away from the Arab neighborhoods of the capital, will raise serious questions about assumptions made since the construction of the West Bank security barrier.

The Olmert government, which until now has been able to contain political fallout from the rocket fire on Sderot and Ashkelon in part because of the absence of major attacks elsewhere in the country, will now find its margin of error - and survival - dramatically narrowed.

The efforts by both Jerusalem and Washington to renew the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, interrupted by the fighting in Gaza, will now be officially put on hold, and picking up the pieces in the wake of this outrage will not be easy.
The grief and fury in particular of the religious-Zionist sector will be beyond measure at this violent desecration of the cradle of their movement. The current efforts by the government to reach an accommodation with the settler leadership on the removal of outposts will have been in vain for the time being, as any spirit of compromise will be buried with the victims of this atrocity.
Israel's radical Islamic enemies - Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Hizbullah - have talked in the past month about dealing a blow to Israel that would go beyond any of those they have carried out before.

The death toll last night was nowhere near the worst of those attacks they have carried out in the past. But in bringing their war of terror right into the halls of Mercaz Harav, the institution founded by and embodied with the spirit of the Zionist's movement's most revered religious figure, the Yishuv's first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook, the terrorists struck with the most terribly precise accuracy they have demonstrated to date.

Blackening the Palestinian soul

2008-03-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Gil Troy, National Post, Saturday, March 08, 2008

Sometimes, for a brief moment, the clouds part and the moral issues surrounding the Middle East conflict become clear.

This week's shooting at a Jerusalem school shined a harsh spotlight on the nihilistic violence that lies at the core of Palestinian nationalism. Building an entire ideology -- eagerly fed by the rest of the Arab world -- that focuses so much on attacking the Jewish state is perverse and self-destructive. In the wake of this week's tragedy, the challenge now is for those forces able to trigger reforms within Palestinian society to recognize its self-destructive path, and demand change.

On Thursday, a Palestinian terrorist entered the library of a Jerusalem Yeshiva, Mercaz HaRav, and sprayed students with as many as 600 bullets. Moments later, eight students, ranging in age from 15 to 26, lay dead, and another 10 lay wounded. Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Ab-bas vaguely condemned "all attacks that target civilians, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli," this bloodbath triggered celebrations in Gaza and the West Bank. Gazans proudly shot rifles into the air and threw candy in delight. The murderer's family claims his entire village is proud of him.

By contrast, earlier in the week, when Israel felt compelled to enter Gaza temporarily after over 7,000 rockets had rained down on the town of Sderot during seven trying years, and long-range rockets from Iran had ripped into the city of Ashkelon, Israel's soldiers tried hitting surgically. Most of the Gazan dead were terrorists -- and the civilian casualties that resulted triggered an anguished debate among Israelis. The bystanders' deaths were mourned not celebrated; the difficult dilemma of how to fight an enemy embedded among civilians was dissected endlessly.

Imagine that after the Dawson College shootings in Montreal last year, the gunman Kimveer Gill had become a pop star to young Americans, and no American leaders specifically condemned worshiping this murderer. How would Canadians react? Imagine that Mexicans toasted Steven Kazmierczak on the streets of Tijuana after he slaughtered five students at Northern Illinois University last month. Would Americans forgive Mexicans for the gesture? Would they consider making political concessions to Mexico as a result? The celebration of this sort of slaughter entails a dehumanization of the victims so intense as to dehumanize the apologist. Such hatred is all-consuming.

This addiction to violence has been the Palestinian national movement's central failing. The repeated embrace of violence over compromise, and the celebration of barbaric terrorist attacks, serve to blacken the soul, individually and collectively. Such mindless outward violence inevitably leads to a society that solves internal problems with similar brutality. The Fatah-Hamas blood feuds in the West Bank and Gaza reveal the legacy of decades of Jew-hatred. Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir's insight rings truer than ever: As long as Palestinians hate Israeli children more than they love their own kids, peace is unattainable. As long as organizations such as Hamas invest more in trying to destroy Israeli society than building a Palestinian state, the violence will only fester.

Not surprisingly, the United Nations Security Council refused to condemn the Mercaz HaRav attack. As long as phrases such as "cycle of violence" are used to rationalize pathological behaviour, the most violent nihilists in the Palestinian national movement will feel emboldened. The equivocators enable the terror, and share the blame -- at least indirectly.

Another truism of unclear origin: If the Palestinians had produced a Gandhi, instead of a Yasser Arafat, if the Palestinians had relied on non-violence not terrorism, they would have had a strong, viable state long ago. To that insight, we must add a new truism: If so many people in the world did not equivocate in the face of Palestinian terror, let alone justify it, peace would have been achieved long ago, too.

The enablers and perpetrators of terror are both guilty, not only of crimes against Israel, but of crimes against humanity.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University.

Gil Troy on the Palestinian national movement's addiction to violence

2008-03-08T16:39:00.000-08:00

By Gil Troy, National Post, March 07, 2008

Sometimes, for a brief moment, the clouds part and the moral issues surrounding the Middle East conflict become clear.

This week’s shooting at a Jerusalem school shined a harsh spotlight on the nihilistic violence that lies at the core of Palestinian nationalism. Building an entire ideology — eagerly fed by the rest of the Arab world — that focuses so much on attacking the Jewish state is perverse and self-destructive. In the wake of this week’s tragedy, the challenge now is for those forces able to trigger reforms within Palestinian society to recognize its self-destructive path, and demand change.

On Thursday, a Palestinian terrorist entered the library of a Jerusalem Yeshiva, Mercaz HaRav, and sprayed students with as many as 600 bullets. Moments later, eight students, ranging in age from 15 to 26, lay dead, and another 10 lay wounded. Although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vaguely condemned “all attacks that target civilians, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli,” this bloodbath triggered celebrations in Gaza and the West Bank. Gazans proudly shot rifles into the air and threw candy in delight. The murderer’s family claims his entire village is proud of him.

By contrast, earlier in the week, when Israel felt compelled to enter Gaza temporarily after over 7,000 rockets had rained down on the town of Sderot during seven trying years, and long-range rockets from Iran had ripped into the city of Ashkelon, Israel’s soldiers tried hitting surgically. Most of the Gazan dead were terrorists — and the civilian casualties that resulted triggered an anguished debate among Israelis. The bystanders’ deaths were mourned not celebrated; the difficult dilemma of how to fight an enemy embedded among civilians was dissected endlessly.

Imagine that after the Dawson College shootings in Montreal last year, the gunman Kimveer Gill had become a pop star to young Americans, and no American leaders specifically condemned worshiping this murderer. How would Canadians react? Imagine that Mexicans toasted Steven Kazmierczak on the streets of Tijuana after he slaughtered five students at Northern Illinois University last month. Would Americans forgive Mexicans for the gesture? Would they consider making political concessions to Mexico as a result? The celebration of this sort of slaughter entails a dehumanization of the victims so intense as to dehumanize the apologist. Such hatred is all-consuming.

This addiction to violence has been the Palestinian national movement’s central failing. The repeated embrace of violence over compromise, and the celebration of barbaric terrorist attacks, serve to blacken the soul, individually and collectively. Such mindless outward violence inevitably leads to a society that solves internal problems with similar brutality. The Fatah-Hamas blood feuds in the West Bank and Gaza reveal the legacy of decades of Jew-hatred. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s insight rings truer than ever: As long as Palestinians hate Israeli children more than they love their own kids, peace is unattainable. As long as organizations such as Hamas invest more in trying to destroy Israeli society than building a Palestinian state, the violence will only fester.

Not surprisingly, the United Nations Security Council refused to condemn the Mercaz HaRav attack. As long as phrases such as “cycle of violence” are used to rationalize pathological behaviour, the most violent nihilists in the Palestinian national movement will feel emboldened. The equivocators enable the terror, and share the blame — at least indirectly.

Another truism of unclear origin: If the Palestinians had produced a Gandhi, instead of a Yasser Arafat, if the Palestinians had relied on non-violence not terrorism, they would have had a strong, viable state long ago. To that insight, we must add a new truism: that if so many people in the world did not equivocate in the face of Palestinian terror, let alone justify it, peace would have been achieved long ago, too.

The enablers and perpetrators of terror are both guilty, not only of crimes against Israel, but of crimes against humanity.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University.

Processions draw thousands

2008-03-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

JTA, 03/07/2008

Thousands turned out for the the funeral processions for the eight students -- including the son of American immigrants -- killed in a terrorist attack on the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva.

Media reports identified the dead buried Friday as Yochai Lipschitz, 18; Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16; Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld; Neriah Cohen, 15; Roey Roth, 18; Segev Pniel Avihayil, 15; Avraham David Moses, 16; and Doron Meherete Trunoch, 26.

Moses, 16, was the son of two Americans who had moved to Israel several years ago, according to the New York Times.

His mother, Rivka Moriah, was originally from New England and his father, Naftali Moses, was from Long Island. He was buried in Gush Etzion, just inside the West Bank.

“He was a really good kid,” his stepmother, Leah Moses, who grew up in New Jersey, told the Times. “He was just an incredible blessing.”

The processions started at the yeshiva on Jerusalem's outskirts, where the yeshiva's director, Rabbi Ya'akov Shapira, delivered a eulogy charging the government with failing to deliver strong leadership and face down a deadly enemy.

He called for a "good leadership, a stronger leadership, a more believing leadership" and said: "The murderer did not want to kill these people in particular, but everyone living in the holy city of Jerusalem."

The yeshiva is identified with the settler movement and a number of the victims came from settlements. Processions continued to victims' hometowns.

The attacker, reportedly a former driver for the yeshiva, came from Jebel Mukaber, a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem. He walked into the cafeteria late Thursday evening and opened fire before being gunned down in retaliatory fire.

Police chief: J'lem attack is not start of 3rd intifada

2008-03-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

Mar 7, 2008 17:05 | Updated Mar 7, 2008 22:46
Police chief: J'lem attack is not start of 3rd intifada
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP

Police Chief Insp.-Gen. Dudi Cohen on Friday said that Thursday's terror attack could not have been prevented even if there would have been a security guard at the entrance of the yeshiva.

"The terrorist was very decisive and well prepared with a big arsenal of weapons - a real war machine. No security guard could have prevented the attack," Cohen said.

During a press conference which he held Friday afternoon, Cohen said there was no reason to believe the event was the beginning of a third Intifada.

Also on Friday, Hamas backtracked on their claim of responsibility for the deadly attack in Jerusalem.

Ibrahim Daher, head of Hamas' al-Aqsa radio, said his station put out an earlier claim of responsibility prematurely, based on confused information.

Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, confirmed the group was not taking credit for the attack - at least yet.

"There may be a later announcement ... But we don't claim this honor yet," he said.

Earlier, a Hamas radio presenter said the group's military wing had "promised a jolting response" to this week's violence in the Gaza Strip in which more than 120 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military, many of them in the northern Gaza town Jebaliya.

The radio referred to the Jerusalem attack as "the fruits of what happened in Jebaliya" and called on believers to "celebrate this victory against the brutal enemy."

The announcement came as thousands of mourners marched in funeral processions for the dead students, a closure was imposed on the West Bank and an Israeli official indicated that fledgling peace talks with the Palestinians would go on despite the violence.

Israel will push ahead with talks "so as not to punish moderate Palestinians for actions by people who are not just our enemies but theirs as well," the Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the government had yet to make an official announcement.

Meanwhilem, Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman on Friday blamed Thursday's terror attack in Jerusalem on Arab MKs in the Knesset.

"Whoever calls on IDF operations in Gaza which are aimed to protect southern residents 'war crimes' cannot escape from responsibility for the terror attack."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has condemned the Jerusalem attack, describing it as "an attempt to strike a blow at the very heart of the peace process".

Mr Brown said he had sent his condolences to Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert.

Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter on Friday called for the expulsion to the West Bank of Arabs in east Jerusalem who have been involved in terrorist activity.

"We need to find a legal and legitimate way to kick those few Palestinian Arabs in east Jerusalem who make it their choice to aid and take part in terrorism back to Ramallah," Dichter told mourners, referring to the major West Bank city on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Mercaz Harav hit by worst terror attack since April 2006

2008-03-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

From the Jerusalem Post:
Mercaz Harav hit by worst terror attack since April 2006
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS, March 6, 2008

A Palestinian terrorist opened fire at a central Jerusalem yeshiva late Thursday night, killing eight students and wounding 10 others, police and rescue officials said.

The 8:45 p.m. shooting at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood broke a two-year lull in terror in the capital and sent students scurrying for cover from a hail of gunfire - a reported 500-600 bullets - that lasted for several minutes.

"There were horrendous screams of 'Help us! Help us!'" recounted Avrahami Sheinberger of the ZAKA emergency rescue service, one of the first to respond to the scene. "There were bodies strewn all over the floor, at the entrance to the yeshiva, in various rooms and in the library."

As security forces raced to the scene, the gunman fired round after round of ammunition into the library at the seminary, religious Zionism's flagship institution. About 80 students had gathered in the library to celebrate the Hebrew month of Adar II, which begins on Friday evening.

It was not immediately clear, late Thursday night, whether there was a security guard at the entrance to the yeshiva.

Channel 2 reported that the terrorist carried a blue Israeli identity card and came from east Jerusalem.

Initial reports of a second terrorist on the loose proved unfounded, police said.

"We heard shooting and knew that something had happened," recounted Yitzhak Dadon, 40, who studies at the yeshiva. Dadon said he cocked his handgun and went up to the roof of the yeshiva, where he saw the terrorist spraying gunfire indiscriminately at the crowd inside. Dadon said he fired two bullets at the terrorist, who began to stumble.

At the same time, police arrived at the scene and an intense gunfight erupted with the terrorist lasting several minutes, witnesses said. The scent of gunpowder wafted in the air as undercover police stormed the building.

Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco said the terrorist was killed by an IDF officer who lives near the yeshiva and raced to the scene.

Rescue workers recounted a grisly picture of students hiding under desks and locking themselves in classrooms to avoid being caught in the hail of bullets.

Yerach Toker, a paramedic for United Hatzola of Israel, said he saw several dead yeshiva students on the library's floor. "Some of them were still holding sacred Jewish books smeared with blood from which they were learning before they were murdered," he said.

"I heard an explosion and I quickly understood that this was gunfire," said Nuri Davidov, 21. "We hid in a room and, from a window, we could see the terrorist opening fire at other students."

"We had just finished evening prayers and suddenly we heard a burst of gunfire," said Dr. Yitzhak Luber, who was attending a class at the yeshiva. "We all immediately ducked on the floor."

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said the dead gunman was wearing a vest that at first appeared to be an explosives vest but turned out to be a belt holding extra ammunition.

Outside the yeshiva after the attack, crowds of angry onlookers shouted "Death to Arabs!" as rescue workers rushed the wounded to city hospitals.

Franco said that there was no specific intelligence warning about such an impending attack, although there were general alerts for terrorist attacks in the city.

Police were on heightened alert ahead of Friday prayers on the Temple Mount after a major IDF operation in the Gaza Strip earlier in the week.

Hizbullah's Al-Manar satellite television station announced Thursday that a relatively unknown Israeli Arab group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza was responsible for the shooting attack. "Galilee Freedom Battalions - the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem operation," read the message that flashed across Al-Manar's screen.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was informed of the attack after holding security meetings in Tel Aviv. He spoke immediately after the attack with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski, and held consultations with his advisers and security officials.

Lupolianski told Channel 2, "It's very sad tonight in Jerusalem - many people were killed in the heart of Jerusalem."

The Foreign Ministry said the attack would not stop Israel's peace efforts. "Talks will continue," a spokesman said.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack. "The president condemns all attacks that target civilians, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli," the PA said in a statement.

In Gaza City, residents went out into the streets and fired rifles in the air in celebration after hearing news of the attack on the yeshiva.

At Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which is only a few minutes' drive from the yeshiva, the most seriously wounded student - who had bullet holes in many parts of his body - was rushed to the operating room. Spokeswoman Shoham Ruvio said he looked about 18 years old. Two other wounded students were in moderate condition, while four were lightly wounded. The age of the wounded was estimated at 16 to 28.

At Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem, three wounded were received. Two were in serious condition in the trauma room, while one was lightly wounded.

According to eyewitnesses, the students initially thought that the gunfire was fireworks - part of a party underway to celebrate the beginning of Adar II.

The Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is considered the leading national-religious yeshiva in Israel, with hundreds of elite students. Among its thousands of graduates are leading public figures including senior rabbis and IDF officers. It was founded in 1924 by mandatory Palestine's first chief rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook. Its longtime head, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, died in September 2007.

Rabbi David Stav, one of many prominent graduates of the yeshiva, which has produced the bulk of the spiritual leadership of religious Zionism in Israel, said that the attack had been directed at the heart of religious Zionism.

"Mercaz Harav is the flagship of the entire religious Zionist movement," said Stav. "The terrorist targeted a place that symbolizes love for the land of Israel, love for the people of Israel and love for the Torah. No Jewish soul can remain indifferent to the horrible thought that a despicable terrorist attacked a group of young men who were busy studying the holy Torah."
[A student wounded in the...]

A student wounded in the shooting attack in Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is evacuated to Sha'arei Tzedek Hospital.
Photo: AP

Stav, who has been involved in interfaith dialogue with Israeli Muslim spiritual leaders via an organization called Kedem, said that Thursday night's attack underscores the cruelty and evil of Islamic-inspired terrorism. "Followers of Islam claim they respect the people of the book. But this horrific act proves the emptiness of their claims."

Rabbi David Simhon, the educational director of the yeshiva, said "the people of Israel will not be broken" by attacks such as this.

Matthew Wagner, Judy Siegel and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

Remember civilians' extraordinary morale

2008-02-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

Center Field: Remember civilians' extraordinary morale

Posted by Gil Troy

Jerusalem Post, Wednesday Feb 06, 2008

In early January, a small ceremony that balanced out the drama of the recent Winograd Commission pronouncements took place in the Israeli Air Force personnel offices, at "HaKiryah," IDF headquarters in downtown Tel Aviv. An Air Force colonel awarded certificates of appreciation to seven civilians who crisscrossed the country boosting soldier's morale during the Second Lebanon War. (Full disclosure: I was one of those honored, having played a minor role in the initiative).

The main honoree was Haim Avraham. Haim's son Benny Avraham, z"l and two other Israeli soldiers were supposedly kidnapped but actually killed by Hizbullah along the Lebanese border in 2000. As soon as the fighting broke out six years later, Haim mobilized his wife Edna, their two daughters, Efrat and Dafna, two colleagues from the Ramat Gan Histadrut, and others of us who helped the family during the torturous years when the Avraham, Avitan, and Souad families traveled the world trying to ascertain their sons' fate. Haim and his family recognized their symbolic role in this new war, having lost Benny under eerily similar circumstances. Thirteen times over the next six weeks they visited the Northern border and military bases throughout Israel, dispensing 250,000 shekels worth of donated soda, cigarettes, books, candy, underwear, and aftershave to comfort soldiers. More important, they hugged the soldiers and cried with them, giving them the priceless gift of a morale boost from a family that understood exactly why Israel needed to fight.

Haim considers the war "an important success," rejecting the Winograd Commission's labeling the war a failure. As a veteran who served in Golani, Battalion 13, and in the Air Force's cargo plane division for a quarter of a century, Haim acknowledges "there were problems, there were personnel issues, there were tactical mistakes." Still, he sees three central accomplishments. First, "we pushed back at Hizbullah, destroying much of the group's infrastructure, leveling Hizbullah headquarters, and restoring some deterrence." Second, "we built a consensus in Europe against Hizbullah, and now Hamas." Haim is thrilled that the United Nations Security Council put an international force in Southern Lebanon . Finally, "the support for Hizbullah in Lebanon weakened." A realist, Haim confesses: "We couldn't have achieved all our war aims without destroying Lebanon , so we stopped. Still, we bought some quiet for a few years."

According to Haim, while every war has a military element and a political element, another, equally important, element is "the morale of the people and of the army." This dimension the Winograd commission overlooked. It is essential during wartime to tell both soldiers and civilians that "we care about them, we think about them," Haim explains. "I thought I could give of myself, pay attention to the little things," he says. "What did I bring them? Nothing - but soldiers reacted to the fact that someone from the home front was paying attention, especially seeing that someone who had already paid the ultimate price understood exactly what the soldiers were doing. The soldier is working hard, eating the dust, breathing in the smoke. We met many right after battle exiting from Lebanon ," Haim recalls. "And make no mistake about it, war is war. Friends were killed near them. They exited dirty with sweat and mud, the smell of battle still hanging on them, looking at you through eyes that hadn’t slept all night. And then, all of a sudden, when the soldier sees a civilian who hugs him, it raises his morale. It reminds him what the fight is all about."

Haim is right. During the extraordinary day I spent with Haim and his merry band of morale raisers, I saw what Israel 's "Dr. Hug" could do. I saw all these tough, gruff battle-scarred recruits melt right back into the extremely young - and quite frightened - boys they are, when Haim hugged each and every one of them, at each and every stop.

Haim's initiative was one of hundreds of volunteer efforts that flourished during the summer of 2006. We forget amid this nearly-two-year orgy of recriminations how magnificently the "home front" performed. Secular and religious kids streamed up north, working together to help the people who had nowhere to go, as Israelis in the center and the south opened their homes - and hearts - to friends, relatives, and strangers, displaced by Hizbullah's hellish hail of Katyusha rockets.

These stories fill out the picture of the war. They do not compensate for the shoddy preparation, the equipment shortages, the air-force-heavy strategy, the hesitance to commit ground troops. Haim's analysis, focusing on the importance of morale, in fact highlights one of the Winograd commissions' most scandalous findings - that it took almost a month before the army issued a general order to deal with the Katyushas. This fact alone would justify calls for Ehud Olmert's resignation. Generals are paid to be arrogant, to dismiss Katyushas as military insignificant annoyances that should not distract from their mission. But healthy democracies need civilians in charge, with enough empathy for the people and standing with the army to redirect the military when generals minimize civilian suffering.

A government's primary function is protecting its people. Sadly, in the summer of 2006, Israel failed to fulfill that task for half a million civilians. Remembering, nevertheless, Israel 's successes - and Israel 's marvelous morale, one walks away not sugarcoating the results, but appreciating a fuller picture. The people outperformed their military and political leaders.

The magnificent people of Israel should get the kind of leadership they not only merit but that they earned with their acts of heroism, large and small, both military and civilian, during the Second Lebanon War - and at so many other points during these last 60 years,

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University . He is the author of Why I Am a Zionist: Israel , Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today. His next book Leading from the Center: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents, will be published by Basic Books this spring.

THIS HANUKKAH, LET'S TEACH OUR CHILDREN HOW TO GIVE

2007-12-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

by Gil Troy
Updated December 2007 version of article first published in The Canadian Jewish News - 28 November 2002, B2-B3

Jews are preparing to celebrate Hanukkah, our festival of lights, during a particularly dark period. The world seems to have gone mad. Islamic extremists declare war on the West, and many Westerners, especially in Europe and Canada , deny and dither, afraid to respond too assertively. Iran threatens to destroy the United States and Israel , conducts a conference denying the Holocaust, and redoubles efforts to go nuclear, yet the world appeases – and continues funding the regime by remaining addicted to oil. Palestinians declare a war of terror on Israel, Hezbollah continues attacking Israel even after it withdrew from Southern Lebanon in 2000, and too many, including Israelis and Jews, are quicker to blame Israel, the victim, than the terrorist perpetrators. The terror has slowed but not disappeared -- Israel has stood strong, but there are too many victims throughout the world, still reeling from the blows on the Lebanese border last year and in Sderot on a regular basis, let alone in London and Bali , Madrid and Mombasa . Too many communities have been scarred by this scourge.

It is precisely during such bleak moments that we are compelled to celebrate. Rejoicing in past victories helps put our current troubles in perspective, reminding us that we have suffered before, and not just survived but thrived. Moreover, with terrorists trying to rob innocents of any joy, and any semblance of a normal life, observing holidays becomes yet another act of defiance, a leap of faith asserting our commitment to stick to the everyday.

Nevertheless, even as we celebrate, it behooves us to reassess the meaning of the holidays, thinking about how we observe them. Precisely now, during this time of crisis, we should be rededicating ourselves to Jewish renewal, finding the joy in Judaism, not just the "oy." Such a reevaluation is particularly necessary in the case of Hanukkah, a holiday whose meaning has changed over the years.

While Hanukkah’s basic plot line has remained unchanged for almost two millennia, the Hanukkah we know and love is a twentieth-century invention. The central themes we associate with Hanukkah, of heroism and power, both physical and spiritual, were Zionist ideas; for centuries the Rabbis dwelled on the miracle of the oil. When the Zionist revolution a century ago reevaluated Judaism, the Maccabees’ story proved that Jewish history was not just about the anti-Semites who hated us and the Rabbis who taught us. The Maccabees were home-grown heroes, rooted in Israel ’s ancient soil, and willing to fight, if necessary, for their homeland, their beliefs, and their freedom. In fact, before World War I, many Jews used Hanukkah as an opportunity for giving not receiving, donating the modern equivalent of the "shekel," the Biblical coin, to the Zionist cause.

At the same time, the other great twentieth-century Jewish revolution, the rise of North American Jewry, also transformed Hanukkah. As with Passover, the theme of "freedom" resonated in the land of liberty, giving the ancient Jewish holiday a contemporary American flavor. But, even more important, the quirk of scheduling, as well as the anthropological linkage to another winter-solstice festival of lights, made for the gift-giving frenzy we see today.

As a delightful holiday of dedication, Hanukkah has long been child-centered. Traditionally, Jewish communities used Hanukkah to rededicate themselves to their children’s Jewish education. In that spirit, parents gave children "gelt" or coins to sweeten the experience of Torah study.

In the modern world, this festival of gelt-giving and of lights became the popular Jewish response to Christmas envy, the malady that seized many a Jewish household each December. In fact, with eight nights, and thus eight opportunities for gift-giving, Hanukkah became a way for Jews to trump their Christian neighbors.

Tragically, both Hanukkah and Christmas have become "Festivals of Consumption," in the late historian Daniel Boorstin's apt phrase. A minor sweetener to facilitate Torah study has become the major focus of the holiday, even as this traditionally minor holiday has become a major highlight on the North American Jewish calendar.

Once again, then, we have a chance this year to rededicate Hanukkah, and ourselves, to reorient the holiday. It is time to rejuvenate the holiday by making it a highpoint on our tzedakah calendar, our schedule of giving, while teaching our children about generosity not just materialism. It is not realistic, nor necessary, to declare a gift-giving ban. Most of us, thankfully, do not have to choose between self-indulgence and good works. Moreover, to set up false choices by being too austere, defeats the educational purpose behind the gelt-giving. But is it too much to ask for this year, that every family, every school, every Jewish institution, every Hanukkah get-together carve out some time to think about others who are less fortunate, others with whom we should share our good fortune? Is it too much to ask that as we teach our children the joy of receiving gifts from loved ones we also teach them the joy of giving gifts to strangers?

The smallest of gestures can teach this most important of lessons. During the traditional Hanukkah grab bag, one additional toy can be thrown into the hopper, and that toy can be designated for a child in need. Similarly, children awash in presents could be asked to give one old toy and one new toy to tzedakah. Relatives from far away who are going to send Hanukkah checks can be encouraged to allocate part of their gift to a charity of the children’s choice, or parents and children can agree on a certain percentage of all gifts to be donated. Even more important, acts of loving kindness, good deeds, should be encouraged so we go beyond many Jews’ tendency to assume that the only way to help others is materially.

This Hanukkah, of all Hanukkahs, why not take advantage of the eight nights, the eight candles, to designate our thoughts, our prayers, and our gifts of time, talent, and money in the following directions:

On the First Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to the Victims of Palestinian Terror, the casualties of the recent Second Lebanon War, and most especially the embattled citizens of Sderot, hoping to bring a little light into their lives: Terrorists have slaughtered more than 1000 people in Israel since 2000, and maimed thousands more. Hezbollah killed nearly 150 others, soldiers and civilians, Jews and Arabs, during the summer of 2006. Thousands of Kassam rockets have rained down on the good people of Sderot. We must adopt families of the victims, embracing them, supporting them, befriending them, sending both love and money. Right now, we should focus our efforts on helping out the people of Sderot. The Hesder Yeshiva there has proven to be an essential force for community building there, doing good and holy work. For more information on how to adopt the people of Sderot and support this amazing institution, visit http://sderot.org/index.php.

Another way to make a strong stand of solidarity with the citizens of Sderot is through http://sderotmedia.com/?cat=5.

To support Camp Koby , a magical summer camp that works with survivors of terror, healing sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of victims, visit www.kobymandell.org/home.htm.

On the Second Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to the three Israelis kidnapped last summer, and those who are still Missing in Action, honoring their heroism, and that of their families: More than 500 days ago, Gilad Shalit, a 20-year-old with a shy smile, was kidnapped by Hamas near Gaza; Ehud Goldwasser, a 32-year-old engineer, and Eldad Regev, a 27-year-old pre-law student, were kidnapped by Hezbollah. Their pain – and their families’ suffering – is our pain. Our worlds will not be complete, our holidays not fully joyous, until they come home – and we have not done enough for them. These three families share a unique bond of anguish with the families of Ron Arad, Zachary Baumel, Zvi Feldman, and Yehuda Katz, who have been missing since the 1980s. Write your representatives demanding information and action. For more information, including a petition to sign, visit http://www.kidnappedsoldiers.com/phpPETITION/index.php.

On the Third Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to the Children of Israel, who deserve to live in freedom, free of fear: Israeli society has proved itself remarkably resilient, but the 2006 war, combined with the economic troubles of the last few years, took its toll. Even as the security situation has stabilized, and the economic numbers have improved, there is far too much poverty in Israel , and the gap between the rich and the poor is growing greater than ever. We must be proactive not just reactive, thinking about how to help improve the quality of Israeli life. One lovely initiative is the Jade Bar Shalom Books for Israel Project, an attempt to get new and slightly used English books sent to Israeli schoolchildren to help compensate for budget cutbacks. Since July 2005, over 41 tons of donated English literature and reference books have been delivered to over 200 of Israel 's Jewish, Druze, Bedouin, Christian, Bahai, and Muslim public schools. For more information about this project, including how to set up local chapters, access http://www.edu-negev.gov.il/bs/b4i/.

On the Fourth Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to the Institutions of Israel, the well-oiled infrastructure which keeps the society functioning: Even as we champion new initiatives, we need to continue supporting agencies that have laid the foundation for the Jewish state, and help make it thrive. To name only a few, during these difficult times, Hadassah continues to maintain and modernize Israeli medical facilities, the Magen David Adom (Israeli "Red Cross") serves all people in Israel under very trying circumstances, the Jewish National Fund continues renewing and rebuilding the land, the United Jewish Communities launched a special Israel Emergency Fund to rebuild in the north and in Sderot. This year, in honor of their heroic services to the citizens and soldiers up north during the 2006 war, make sure to support Rambam Hospital in Haifa as well, as part of the rebuilding effort: http://www.rambam.org.il/Home+Page/.

On the Fifth Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to Our Local Jewish Community, renewing our collective ability to help us renew ourselves and our own Jewish identities: Even while fighting fires abroad, we need to keep our home fires burning, as it were, by supporting our local synagogues, schools, Federations, agencies. If we do not create welcoming, exciting models for Jewish identity, we will raise a new generation of Hellenists not Maccabees. This Hanukkah is a perfect time to rededicate ourselves to Jewish education, on all levels, for young and old alike. We all need to be engaged in lifelong learning, the more formal, the better, the more time-intensive the better. More broadly, let us challenge ourselves by asking not only how much money am I willing to donate, but how much time am I willing to volunteer this coming year?

On the Sixth Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to neighbors in need, bestowing gifts on neighbors who are suffering: Most of us live in cities marked by huge disparities between haves and have-nots. Those of us who have should take the time to help those who have less, both Jews and non-Jews, seeing what we can do to make sure that none of our neighbors go to bed hungry, cold, or lonely, that none of our neighbors are deprived of the joy of celebrating this season. Wherever we stand on the War in Iraq , we should all stand united in support of the American troops, our idealistic, vulnerable, heroic knights in Kevlar willing to risk so much. Creative ways of supporting the troops include donating Frequent Flyer Miles so troops on leave can fly home for free (see http://www.heromiles.org); buying pre-paid calling cards so soldiers can call their loved ones for free (see http://www.operationuplink.org/) or sending messages of support (see https://wwwcfi.cnet.navy.mil/dearabby/). Given the seasonal coincidence between Hanukkah and Christmas, we have a lovely chance to make Christmas and Hanukkah wishes harmonize, as we celebrate Hanukkah by helping neighbors celebrate Christmas.

On the Seventh Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to non-Jewish friends and causes, understanding the power of affirming our common humanity, and helping one another: It is too easy, during these times of Jewish stress, to turn inward. These last seven years we have certainly seen the power of Hillel’s teaching, that "If I don’t care for myself, who am I?" And the strategy worked. The situation has improved dramatically. But let us not forget the second part which is "And if I only care for myself, what am I?" The United Way , Centraide, and dozens of other organizations are happy to help us help others, as are our local Federations. The crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan demands our action and our outrage. Let us not stand by idly, complaining of others' inactions, yet not doing anything ourselves. The American Jewish World Service has been a particular leader on this and other issues, combining education, advocacy and intelligent giving. Check out http://www.ajws.org/. For more information on Darfur , click http://www.savedarfur.org/. A great student-initiated movement to stop the suffering in Darfur is STAND, http://www.standnow.org/, or http://www.standcanada.org/ in Canada .

On the Eight Night of Hanukkah, let us dedicate ourselves to the Power of Teaching, of Leading Our Children by Example: If every night, we channel our children’s charitable impulses, giving a guided tour of the possibilities of giving, on this, the last night of Hanukkah, let us ask our children to take the first baby steps in this world of responsibility and great satisfaction, by asking them to pick a charitable deed, a mitzvah for someone else they plan on doing.

The time and resources are limited; the work is great – and overwhelming. Yet our sages teach that it is not upon us to complete all the work, nor are we free to evade it. No one should feel guilty for failing to carve out a charitable moment every one of the eight nights – yet no one should feel free to ignore this challenge completely.

For decades now, kids have greeted each other every morning of Hanukkah with the question: "What did you get last night?" This year, perhaps, we can also teach our children to ask: "What did you give?"

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author of Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today, which was just re-released in an expanded and updated edition.

ISRAEL AT SIXTY: THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION

2007-11-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

ISRAEL AT SIXTY: THE PERSISTENCE OF VISION
LET’S HAVE A SUBSTANTIVE, ZIONIST CELEBRATION OF ISRAEL’S 60th.
November 02, 2007,
http://www.israelatsixty.org.il/my_weblog/2007/11/lets-have-a-sub.html#comments

by Professor Gil Troy

How do we celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday? How do we mark Zionism’s great success and one of the twentieth century’s most redeeming moments?

When Rabbi David Hartman first came to Israel, he wondered what rituals secular Jews improvised to celebrate Israel’s Independence. On his first Yom Ha’atzmaut he visited an anti-religious kibbutz. He discovered a ghost town. Wandering around, he began sniffing something. Following the smell to the fields, he discovered mass mangal, group barbecues. Similarly, Americans celebrate their Independence on July 4th with picnics and firecrackers. To avoid mass indigestion and the occasional blasted-off finger, Zionists should celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary with two classically Jewish activities: learning and arguing.

The learning should be straightforward, with the calendar as our guide.

The 90th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, should remind us why it was so significant that the British Government, as described by Lord Arthur Balfour, viewed “with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” – and why the Jewish people needed a Jewish state at all.

As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ Partition Plan for Palestine on November 29, 1947, we should remember the joy that seized the Jewish world when the UN legitimized creating a Jewish state, even though this painful compromise deprived Jews of control over Jerusalem. By contrast, the Arabs rejected the compromise. In an historic interview in September (click here to see it), the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas acknowledged what Israel’s supporters have known for a long time. Describing the 1947 partition plan, Abbas said: “we rejected this, so we lost.” The interviewer asked “You should have taken it?” He replied: “Yes, at that time, of course.”

All this learning will culminate in May when we celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday. Here, too, we should remember how vulnerable Israel was, how overwhelming it was to have seven Arab Armies attacking, but how important it was to have a free, proud, democratic and safe Jewish state, after 1900 years of exile.

While remembering our history, we must revitalize our ideology. On May 14, 1948, the 5th of Iyar, Zionism succeeded, creating a state. Since then the question has been: what now? We in the Zionist movement have to use this 60th anniversary to trigger a Zionist renewal, creating a moment of mass redefinition that reaffirms the Jewish commitment to Jewish nationalism while charting a path for a twenty-first century Zionism as an answer to our needs today. We should start arguing, respectfully, passionately, thoughtfully about what the Zionist idea means to us.

In this month’s Atlantic Monthly dozens of prominent Americans describe the “future of the American idea” in 300 words (click here to read the article). The result is a dazzling display of celebrations and condemnations, disappointments and visions, ideas and suggestions. We should undertake a similar exercise – but at the grassroots. We can ask some professors and politicians, intellectuals and entertainers to address the idea. But we should also have Jews from around the world, write out their “ani ma’min,” their Zionist “I believe” and convene in small salons across the world to compare notes and refine them. Everyone connected to the Zionist movement should undertake to host one evening with ten friends who are simply willing to talk about Israel, Zionism, and Jewish peoplehood for an hour. These ideas and new visions should then be summarized and posted on the Web.

To celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary, we need to find the “I” in Zionism. We need to develop a language that culturally, professionally, morally, practically, brings Israel, Zionism, communal values into our lives today. This is not the Zionism of yesteryear which was us-oriented and historical. We have to figure out a more me-oriented, present-minded, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, why-should-I-carve-out-my-time-in-my-schedule-for-this, 21st century Zionism.

Anniversaries, both personal and communal, are great opportunities to look back and forward. We appreciate what was, celebrate what is, and build what will be. Now is the time for a massive new Zionism re-engagement, a renewed passion and vision about the centrality of Jewish peoplehood and Israel in our lives. We are blessed to be living in the era of the Third Jewish Commonwealth. Let’s start a conversation about we can all benefit from the Zionist idea – and the charming and sometimes challenging Israeli realities.

P.S. In 2001 I made my own attempt at an “Ani Ma’amin” with my essay “Why I Am A Zionist” which you can read by clicking here .

I invite anyone who is interested to help by translating the essay into languages other than English.

Kidnapped soldier's wife speaks out

2007-10-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

JTA, 10-30-07

The wife of a kidnapped Israeli soldier made her plea to Jewish student and advocacy groups around the world.

Karnit Goldwasser, whose husband, Udi, was abducted in July 2006, spoke via teleconference Tuesday from Jerusalem to students in the United States and abroad on World Solidarity Day for the release of the Kidnapped Soldiers.

The event was organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel to raise awareness of the plight of kidnapped soldiers Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit.

Goldwasser insisted that the Red Cross gain access to her husband and the others. She said she isn't even sure her husband is alive. The capture of Udi Goldwasser and Regev by Hezbollah was the impetus for the Lebanon war.

She urged the students to send letters to the ambassadors of Lebanon, Syria and Iran asking for the release of the prisoners. Goldwasser expressed hope for negotiations between Hezbollah and the Israeli government, and that the families of Lebanese prisoners lobby their government for the return of their family members as well.

Goldwasser insisted that international pressure was vital to the movement for the return of the prisoners, adding that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told her "'you don't need to ask me. It's my obligation to be in this process. The free world won't accept kidnapping as a way of getting things.'"

Iran holds Israeli hostages

2007-10-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

JTA, 10/14/2007

Two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah last year reportedly have been handed over to Iran.

The London-based newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported Sunday that Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were seized in June 2006, have been transferred from Lebanon to Iran via a third country. Iran is Hezbollah's chief sponsor.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office denied the report. Israeli officials did not provide further details.

Karmit Goldwasser, Ehud's wife, told Israel Radio that U.N.-mediated negotiations for the soldiers' release are well under way. She had no details on their condition.

Rosh Hashana – a holiday in transition - Shanah Tovah!

2007-09-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Ynetnews 09.12.07, 08:40 / Israel Jewish Scene

Rosh Hashana – a holiday in transition

Rabbi Davidh Bar-Hayim of Machon Shilo explains how Rosh Hashana, which for centuries has been celebrated for one day only, became a two-day fest after French rabbis forced indigenous Jews to change their practices

Rosh Hashana is currently celebrated throughout the world for two consecutive days, but has this always been the case? According to Rabbi Davidh Bar-Hayim of Machon Shilo, the practice of celebrating the holiday for two days has undergone various fascinating changes throughout history that may still be relevant to Jews today.

For how many days was Rosh Hashana originally celebrated?

Rabbi Bar-Hayim: The Torah speaks of the Festival, known as "Zichron Tru'ah" (Leviticus 23:24) or "Yom Tru'ah" (Numbers 29:1), which falls on the first day of the seventh month (Tishrei) – ie a one-day affair, like all festivals mentioned in the Torah, such as the first and seventh days of Passover, the one day festival of Shavuot, etc.

The Jewish calendar is essentially a lunar calendar (albeit synchronized with the solar year). Seeing that a lunar month is 29.5 days, and seeing that one cannot count half-days, a month must be either 29 or 30 days in length.

The decision to include the 30th day in the preceding month, or to announce that the 30th day was in fact the 1st of the new month, was a major function of the Sanhedrin (the High Court of the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel). As long as this was the case, it could not be known ahead of time which day would in fact become the 1st of the month (Rosh Hodesh).

The court informed the Jewish people of their decision by way of bonfires lit atop mountains or messengers. Communities that were informed well in advance, such as those of Eretz Yisrael, were able to keep the festivals on the appointed day. Communities further afield, however, such as the Jews of Babylon, did not receive word until later in the month; they were thus required to keep two days for every festival day prescribed by the Torah.

Thus in the Land of Israel all festivals were observed for one day. The first day of Passover, for example, was always the 15th of Nissan. In Babylon, however, the first day of the month being unclear, Passover was celebrated on either the 14th and 15th, or the 15th and 16th (this becoming clear only retroactively).

Rosh Hashana was the exception to the rule: it is the only festival which falls on the first of the month. Most Jews, within and without the Land, were required to observe two days, with the exception of the Jews living in relatively close proximity to the seat of the Sanhedrin who could be informed on the day the new month was announced.

So Rosh Hashana was always celebrated for two days even in Israel?

Initially yes, but then things changed with the advent of the fixed calendar in the second half of the 4th century. Doubt was a thing of the past; every Jew now knew the exact date of each festival. For reasons that we shall gloss over here, the Jewish world was henceforth divided into two: in the Land of Israel all festivals, including Rosh Hashana, were celebrated for one day; outside the Land, all festivals were two-day affairs.

This was the reality for over eight centuries. There is neither doubt nor argument regarding this point. Approximately 960 years ago Rav Nissim Gaon wrote to Rav Hai Gaon of Babylon as follows: "Why does our Master claim that the Jews of Eretz Yisrael must celebrate Rosh Hashana for two days? We see to this day that they keep only one day?"

In his response Rav Hai Gaon admits that this was, in fact, the reality, but expresses the opinion that the Jews of Eretz Yisrael are mistaken. It bears noting that this is by no means the only instance of the Torah authorities in Babylon taking a more hard-line and conservative approach than their counterparts in Eretz Yisrael.

The historical fact is that the Jews of Eretz Yisrael – whose practice was based on the opinion of the Torah authorities and the halachic traditions of the Jewish communities in the Land of Israel since the fixed calendar was instituted – took no notice of Rav Hai Gaon.

In Israel today Rosh Hashana is observed for two days. How, why and when did this transition take place?

The status quo remained in place until the 12th century. At that time there was an influx of great rabbis from Provence (the south of France) who simply imposed their halachic views on the indigenous Jewish populace, forcing them to deviate from their ancient traditions and practices. The communities of Eretz Yisrael – by this time small, weak, and lacking strong and courageous Torah leadership – were unable to resist the aggressive takeover.

That, in brief, is why the custom in Israel came to be as it is today.

What was the rationale behind this change?

The argument seems to be based on the following: as mentioned above, prior to the advent of the fixed calendar, most of the Jews in Eretz Yisrael observed two days of Rosh Hashana, with the exception of the Jews living in relatively close proximity to the seat of the Sanhedrin. In other words, within the Land of Israel, two realities existed side by side: those near the court celebrated one day, and those further away celebrated Rosh Hashana for two days.

The essential question, therefore, is this: what should have happened when the fixed calendar was introduced? Should all the Jews of Eretz Yisrael have acted like those who resided near the court, and keep one day, or should they behaved like those further away and kept two?

The historical reality, based on the decision of the rabbis of the Sanhedrin in Eretz Yisrael, was to observe one day only. (Clearly, the Jews of the Land of Israel received this tradition and halachic ruling from earlier generations, ultimately going back to the original Sanhedrin of Hillel the President in the 4th century).

Even if one can make a case for the opposing view, Maimonides teaches us (Shemittah Chap. 10) that when faced with two opinions both of which are tenable, the weight of tradition and the facts on the ground should prevail – and the fact on the ground, for eight centuries, was one day.

How is this relevant today?

The question needs to be asked: are the Jews of Eretz Yisrael today required to continue the present state of affairs, or can we aspire to the authentic and original Judaism of our forefathers who walked these hills and valleys before us?

Another question that might be raised concerns the dynamics of halachic change: should halachah be decided by the kind of strong-arm tactics employed by certain rabbis in the 12th century? Can such power-plays be considered a legitimate mechanism of Torah Judaism?

Some of the greatest medieval Torah authorities, such as Rabbi Zerahyah HaLevi and Rabbenu Ephraim, were unimpressed with the claim that all Jews must observe two days of Rosh Hashana. Both stressed the unchallenged reality in the Land of Israel from time immemorial. Rabbenu Nissim ('Ran') seems to have had similar leanings.

Isn’t observing two days "playing it safe"?

Some may feel that observing two days is preferable, taking the more stringent opinion and "playing it safe". In my view this line of reasoning is mistaken:

* Does it really make sense to observe Rosh Hashana on the 2nd of Tishrei – a day clearly not the "Yom Tru'ah" of the Torah which falls on the first of the month?

* Keeping two days is, in fact, no safer than keeping one: what of praying festive prayers on a weekday? Not wearing tephillin (phylacteries)? Of reciting Kiddush when no Kiddush is called for?

With a fixed calendar in place for over 1,600 years, is it not perhaps time to rethink this issue? I believe, following in Maimonides’ footsteps, that it is possible to reconstitute a Sanhedrin today. The rabbinical establishment chooses to ignore this pressing issue of re-establishing the High Court of Torah Law – is this a case of "can't" or "won't"?

I feel that it is high time that knowledgable and courageous Torah scholars convene to discuss these and related issues.

Rav Davidh Bar-Hayim is the head of Machon Shilo, which seeks to revivify Jewish practice as it was practiced in Eretz Yisrael

Israel, Hamas came close to Shalit deal

2007-08-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

JTA, 8-29-07

Israel and Hamas came close to clinching a deal in May for the release of Gilad Shalit from his Gazan captivity.

Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon on Wednesday confirmed recent disclosures by Hamas that Egyptian-brokered talks on freeing Shalit in exchange for Palestinian prisoners almost bore fruit three months ago.

Speaking on Israel Radio, Ramon said the Olmert government had agreed in principle to release 450 prisoners, but balked at some of the names on the roster presented by Hamas. Israel has long ruled out an exchange in which deadly terrorists would be freed from jail.

Ramon said Israel is awaiting a new list of 1,000 names to be submitted by Hamas, whose gunmen led a June 25, 2006 cross-border raid in which Shalit was captured and two other soldiers killed.

Gilad Shalit turns 21 in captivity

2007-08-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

JTA, 8-28-07

Israelis marked the 21st birthday of captive soldier Gilad Shalit.

Supporters of Shalit held a rally in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, the conscript sergeant's second birthday in Palestinian captivity. Newspapers and other media carried fresh coverage of his family's ordeal.

Shalit was abducted in a June 25, 2006 cross-border raid by Hamas-led gunmen in the Gaza Strip. Two of his comrades were killed in the incident.

His father, Noam, said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was not doing enough to recover his son from Hamas, which wants a prisoner exchange.

"There are no serious negotiations, and to judge from the outcome, the situation is a clear and total failure," he told Israel Radio.

Olmert has signaled a willingness to bargain for Shalit's return but has ruled out the lopsided swap demands made by Hamas.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Monday that a deal was almost clinched to trade Shalit for 350 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, but that it fell through over the types of prisoners the Olmert government would release. Israel has said it will only release prisoners not involved in killings.

At rally to free Israeli soldiers, speakers take aim at U.N.

2007-07-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

Justin Sulsky,
JTA, 7-17-07

Many young people from several overnight summer camps, including these URJ Campers, added enthusiasm at the rally to free the kidnaped Israeli soldiers Monday July 16, 2007 near the United Nations.

NEW YORK (JTA) – Thousands of demonstrators showed up for a rally organized by Jewish organizations to call for the release of three Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hamas and Hezbollah last summer.

But instead of focusing their outrage exclusively at the two Islamic militant movements, speakers at Monday's event lashed out at the United Nations and other international organizations for not doing enough to aid the soldiers.

"We're standing here next to the U.N.," Karnit Goldwasser, the wife of one of the kidnapped soldiers, told the crowd at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. "What have they accomplished? Nothing. Where's the Red Cross and Palestinian leaders?"

Hezbollah militants abducted Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26, on July 12, 2006, precipitating last summer's 34-day war in Lebanon. Their abduction came just weeks after Hamas grabbed Gilad Shalit, 20, in a raid on Israeli soil.

The energized crowd, which consisted of many campers from Reform, Conservative and Orthodox camps in the region, chanted "Free Them Now" several times. Several Jewish organizational leaders and politicians called on the crowd to chant loud enough that U.N. workers could hear their requests for help from the world body.

The focus on the United Nations comes as Jewish organizations are writing off its Human Rights Commission as hopelessly anti-Israel, while also holding out hope that the world body's new secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, will stake out a more balanced position on Middle East issues. On Monday, several speakers stressed their dissatisfaction with the United Nations.

Michael Miller, executive vice president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, said the United Nations deserved all of the condemnation it received at the rally because it was not exercising its diplomatic influence to free the soldiers.

"We’re thankful that the new secretary-general is aware of the matter," Miller told JTA the day after the rally. "But we know for certain that more can be done and more needs to be done, so we can celebrate their return back home rather than mark their continued captivity."

One speaker at the event, New York City mayoral hopeful U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, drew applause as he called the United Nations "feckless." Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel also denounced the U.N. for not doing enough to release the soldiers.

"Why is the U.N. Commission on Human Rights silent?" Wiesel declared.

The lineup of speakers included several local New York politicians and five members of the House of Representatives. Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), an African American representing parts of Queens, received an ovation when he told the crowd it was important for blacks to show solidarity with the unjust capture of the Israeli men just as Jews historically have contributed so much to the civil rights movement.

"Sometimes voices are silent," Meeks said, "and when voices are silent bad things happen."

Representatives from the Korean, Latino, Turkish and Catholic communities also received warm greetings.

Most speakers failed to offer specific plans to bring about the return of the soldiers, but had harsh words for their captors and their ideology.

"There is more than one inconvenient truth," said Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.). "In addition to global warming, there is Islamic terrorism. We need to wake up and acknowledge this. And we need to bring these men home."

At the end of the rally Gabrielle Flaum, a 16-year-old activist, presented a petition demanding action from the United Nations. The petition, signed by 40,000, is to be sent to the U.N. secretary-general, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Flaum, who came with the contingent from the Reform movement's Eisner Camp, is the founder of SOS: Save Our Soldiers, an organization that advocates for the release of the abducted soldiers by collecting petition signatures and lobbying political leaders.

"People are not going to stop fighting," Flaum, of New Jersey, told JTA after the rally.

Flaum said she was motivated to create SOS after seeing the hardship of war firsthand while on a Reform youth group trip to Israel last summer.

"One counselor told us his best friend had been killed, and another had to leave us to serve in the reserves," she said. "I came home with an incredible image and I couldn't let them go unnoticed. I had to make a difference."

Bad Moon Rising As the month of Av begins, a rally for captured Israeli soldiers inspires Jews of all ages

2007-07-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Mark - Associate Editor
New York Jewish Week, 7-20-2007

The Jewish summer is haunted and insiders know it. The 21 days of the Hebrew calendar, falling this year between July 3 and July 24, contain the looping anniversaries of misjudgment, from the Golden Calf and the breaking of the Ten Commandments to the Nazi liquidation of the Kovno Ghetto; from Babylonians and later Romans destroying Jerusalem, to the twin burnings of the Temple, to the triple kidnappings of Israeli soldiers in the summer of '06.

The new moon of Av is a bad moon rising. Lock the barn and don't scare the horses. These are the days when children, despite the heat, are kept out of swimming pools; men stop shaving, cheeks go prickly, eyes seem bleary; travelers are advised against traveling; musical instruments are unplayed, lovers don't marry, meat is uneaten and wine unsipped (except on Shabbat). Sages link the Zodiac sign, the lion, to a verse in Lamentations, "He is a lurking bear, a lion in hiding." Wild animals wait in ambush.

If Passover's rituals evoke liberation, the Jewish midsummer evokes irritation, siege, abandonment by God, man, weather and luck.

On the first day of Av, July 16, at the rally across the street from the United Nations to demand the soldier’s release, there were those in the crowd of 3,000 who shrugged and said the soldiers - Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev — were probably dead. Other rumors had them alive, alone in a private Auschwitz.

Speakers on both podium and sidewalk spoke of them as "kidnapped," helpless as the Lindbergh baby, as if Shalit, Goldwasser and Regev weren’t captured right out of their military units while fully armed and on duty. But if the Six-Day War made messiahs out of Israel’s military men, failure infantilizes. Or maybe, the grace of Jewish unity allows us to imagine these boys as our own, loved simply for being ours as an infant is loved for the most primal reasons, for being our blood, if only spiritually, from the very dawn of their lives.

"When I hear the names of these soldiers in shul," when their names are read aloud with their mothers’ names in the traditional phrasing for a Jew needing mercy, "I hear these very names, (Ehud, son of) Malka, (Eldad, son of) Tova, (Gilad, son of) Aviva, such traditional, iconic motherly names," said Sarah, a West Side mother.

"And the names of the sons, Gilad, Ehud, Eldad, such Israeli names," said Sarah's friend, a woman sleeveless in the heat, who asked that we not use her own Jewish name.

"We were young when Israel was young," said Sarah's friend. "Back then, the soldiers were our age. We looked at them in awe. Now we’re the age of these soldiers' parents, and we have children as old as these soldiers. No matter which way you look at it, our hearts are with them, with their parents and their wives, and their siblings."

We look at the soldiers and say, "I know that guy." A delegation from Conservative Judaism’s United Synagogue held a placard that said, "Gilad Shalit: bar mitzvah at Masorti Kehilla Kfar Vradim."

There were hundreds of young people - campers bussed in for several hours from the Berkshires, the Poconos, the Catskills - more than a few of whom wanted to not only move to Israel but to risk their lives for her. Who among them was bar mitzvahed and would be someday be lost behind enemy lines?

Teenagers came from the Conservative movement's Camp Ramah, the Reform movement's Camp Kutz and Camp Harlam and from the Orthodox Camp Moshava, along with several others. They rode on busses for as much as a six-hour round trip to a rally in Manhattan because that is what Jews do when another Jew is in trouble.

Jesse Gruber, 14, a Moshava camper, said, "I don't even know if they're still alive." But he didn’t mind giving up a day of camp for this “because this is what it’s all about, caring for the Jewish people.”

Irwin Kula, the president of CLAL - The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, wearing a T-shirt in the noon heat, said, "The story here is the young people. We always worry about young people. We're obsessed with continuity. What this rally proves, whether you're on the right or the left, is be real, be genuine about the issue. Don't obsess about continuity; just put out what you deep down and genuinely believe, what you are passionate about, and your passion, your genuineness will generate connection. This is a midday Monday, middle of summer, no one is around, and meanwhile these kids are proud to be here, even if they had to ride for hours, because this is genuine. This isn't some program about Jewish identity; this is real 'Jewing.' This is what Jews do."

Jews came by chartered busses from distant cities, and they came by subway and public bus from the boroughs. "More people came to this rally by public transportation than we usually see," observed David Pollock, associate executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, one of the rally organizers, along with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, United Jewish Communities, UJA-Federation, the American Zionist Movement, and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. David Sable, a lay leader at UJA-Federation, planned, at the rally's end, to go across the street to the secretary general’s office, or as far as he could get, with "110,000 signatures on a petition," said Sable. Many of the signatures were gathered at Freethesoldiers.org, a Web site dedicated to news and activity regarding the captives.

The crowd applauded Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel when he said, "Those who kidnapped [the soldiers] are cowards and criminals ... What they are doing is an insult not only to Jews but to all civilized people ... In choosing kidnapping, Hezbollah and Hamas have excluded themselves from the code of the family of nations, and they deserve universal disdain, condemnation and punishment."

If Hamas ought be punished, few in the crowd knew quite how. Israel has decided to send Hamas fuel, food and electricity, for humanitarian reasons, without demanding Shalit's release.

Ehud Goldwasser’s mother Malka told the rally, the conditions of her son’s captivity "is a humanitarian issue," too. "As a mother," not to be given any "sign of life, it is misery."

And next week, on the last haunted night of the 21 days, in Jewish camps across the distant hills and hollows, the young ones will march in the dark with flashlights and torches to mountain lakes, as if the waters of Babylon, to read Lamentations as they sit cross-legged in the grass. They'll listen to voices, coming through the crickets and shadows: "Her children have gone into captivity...."

It must have been hell for their mothers, too.

Eldad and Ehud said to be alive

2007-07-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

There are some official signs that both Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26, are still alive. This new information comes just after the first anniversary of this abduction (July 12, 2006). JTA posted this story yesterday (7-15-07):

Israel received an indirect assurance that its two soldiers held by Hezbollah are alive.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country hosted representatives from the Lebanese militia last week, indicated Sunday that the condition of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser had been discussed.

"It is my understanding that the two soldiers are alive," Kouchner told reporters. "I raised the subject with the Hezbollah representatives. They told me that the talks on a prisoner swap are in an advanced stage."

Israel has said that the two army reservists were likely wounded when they were abducted by Hezbollah guerrillas in a July 12, 2006 border raid. Hezbollah, which has demanded that Israel released hundreds of Arab prisoners in exchange for the hostages, has refused to give details on their state of health.

One Year Anniversary

2007-06-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

365 days after being kidnapped there was an official sign that Gilad Shalit is alive, I posted the video here yesterday, but here it is translated in English from the BBC:

"I, the soldier Gilad, son of Noam Shalit, held by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Mother and father, my sister and my brother, my friends in the Israel Defence Forces: I send you from jail regards and my longing for all of you.

An entire year has passed with me in jail and still my health condition is deteriorating and I need extensive hospitalisation.

I am sorry for the lack of interest by the Israeli government and the army in my case and in the demands of Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

It is clear that they must accede to these demands in order that I may be released from jail.

Especially as I was involved in a military operation under orders and I was not a drugs dealer.

Just as I have parents, a mother and a father, the thousands of Palestinian detainees also have mothers and fathers who must have their sons returned.

I have great faith in my government that it will take more of an interest in me and will answer the demands of the mujahideen.

Cpl Gilad Shalit"

Also take a look an an interesting post from Jewlicious on the video

Israeli boys take part in a demonstration outside the Knesset in Jerusalem marking a year since Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas.

Shalit speaks on video

2007-06-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

JTA, 6-25-07

The kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was seen speaking on a video released by Hamas.

"I have been in prison for an entire year and my health is deteriorating. I need lengthy hospitalization," Shalit says in Hebrew on the video, which was released Monday.

The recording is the first sign of life from Shalit since a handwritten note was delivered to his parents nine months ago. Shalit's father confirmed that the voice was that of his son.

Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, a Hamas-linked group, said Shalit is “alive and in very good shape.”

“His health is good and he's stable. We are treating him according to our religion's instructions on how to deal with war prisoners," Mujahid said, according to reports. The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, which emphasizes Palestinian rights, called for Shalit’s immediate release.

YouTube

Sderot is us

2007-06-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ari Shavit, Haaretz, 5-28-07

Every night, Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal tours his city, checking the number of houses with lights on. Last week the number of lights dropped each evening. On the eve of Shavuot it reached a nadir. Whole apartment blocks stood empty. On the street where Moyal himself lives only a few residents remained. At its height, Sderot had a population of 24,000, the exhausted mayor says. In recent years, when the Qassam attacks mounted, the number fell to about 20,000. But now, with the refugees whom Hamas chased out being scattered throughout the country, no more than 10,000 people remain in the city. And suddenly the feeling is that perhaps it has really happened: Perhaps Sderot has been broken.

But Sderot has still not been broken. If the rocket attacks cease, most people will return. Without security, without hope, without happiness - a depressing return to no-choice. So the basic fact remains: Sderot 2007 is a city that seems cursed. A frontier city with no home front. A frontier city with no aura of heroism. A frontier city that the government should protect, but isn't protecting. A frontier city that the nation should be standing behind, but is not. A frontier city abandoned by the center of the country.

It should not have been like this. Sderot is not Gush Katif. There is no debate. On the contrary: Sderot is a "Green Line" city. Sderot is a post-withdrawal city. Sderot is the righteous Israeli city after the occupation. Sderot is the future. Indeed, it is the litmus test that will teach us in real time what we can expect in the future when we withdraw completely. This being the case, Sderot should have been the apple of the eye of all those preaching withdrawal in the past, and of everyone who still believes in withdrawal. Sderot should have been the city of peace writers and peace singers and peace industrialists. A "peace now" city. A city of Israeli solidarity. A city of mutual responsibility. A city where strong Israelis stand together with Israelis who are less strong in the face of Islamic zealotry.

All this is not happening. Bank Hapoalim is funding the new emergency center there. But the large sum needed to renovate the city's shelters was raised by American evangelical Christians. The major community work in the city is being done by Hanan Porat. Yitzhak Mordechai is working in Sderot, and Arcadi Gaydamak is amusing himself there in the absence of the center of the country. Enlightened, satiated Israel is not standing with all its strength behind Sderot.

The attack on Sderot is a strategic attack on peace. It is an attack on the two-state solution. If the attack succeeds, there will be no chance of any future withdrawal. If the attack succeeds, the occupation will be perpetuated. Therefore, before the great political decision is made on how to act in Gaza, a moral decision has to be made about Sderot. Sderot must become the national project of the current period. Its residents cannot be expected to confront the Qassams alone. In the face of buses removing people from the city, buses of supporters must set out for it. In the face of the economic collapse of Sderot should come an unprecedented economic embrace of it by government and nongovernment bodies alike.

At the same time, it should be made clear that there is one law for Sderot and Tzahala: A Qassam on Sderot is like a Qassam on Kikar Hamedina. The insensitivity has got to stop. Sderot has to be defined as the Israeli front line. The struggle for the city should be viewed as both a struggle for Israeli sovereignty and as a symbol of the responsibility of Israelis for each other.

Sderot is us, all of us. We rise and fall with Sderot.

Israelis take stock of their middle-aged state

2007-05-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

By Gil Troy, Canadian Jewish News, May 25, 2007

Like vigorous baby boomers who wonder whether their current good health or inevitable decline is the more defining reality, Israelis celebrated their country’s 59th anniversary uncertain about the state of their state.

From the outside, Iranians’ and Palestinians’ genocidal threats – reinforced by a relentless assault on Israel’s politics, history and ideology – makes the Jewish national project appear precarious. From within, post-Lebanon-war recriminations, political corruption, ideological drift, and social tensions intensify the pessimism.

Yet, this supposedly dysfunctional society is remarkably functional. Palestinian terrorism has been reduced, with the improved security restoring Israel’s characteristically vibrant normalcy. The stock market is booming as Israelis continue their friendly competition with Americans for the title of world’s most charitable citizens, based on donations per capita. Even the summertime war produced a bomb-shelter-induced baby boom this spring. Never underestimate a country whose citizens can transform being bombed into making babies.

The magic numbers four billion, 3,186,739, 257,000, 9.2 and 2.7 quantify Israel’s everyday miracles.

• Billionaire Warren Buffett spent $4 billion buying Iscar, part of foreigners’ $23.7 billion investment in Israel’s economy, which grew 4.5 per cent in 2006.

• In a country of seven million people, 3,186,739 Israelis voted in the 2006 election, the Middle East’s 17th free election, uniquely involving Muslims, Christian and Jews.

• Israel’s marvellous universities teach 257,000 students cutting-edge and traditional skills.

• The percentage of the Israeli economy devoted to the non-profit sector – 9.2 per cent, ranking the county fourth worldwide – illustrates Israelis’ exceptional commitment to charity, volunteering, and tikkun olam, fixing the world.

• Finally, the Israeli Jewish birthrate of 2.7 children per woman represents the highest rate among developed countries. More than 100,000 new babies last year joined a future-oriented, family-friendly, community-building, values-rich society.

Still, the country faces serious problems, many of which are Israel’s version of broader western dilemmas. While Israel’s quest for peace with its hostile neighbours is unique, the underlying dilemma is familiar to post-9/11 westerners. Many Israelis have lost faith in diplomacy. The failure of the Oslo peace process to yield peace despite major Israeli concessions, along with the exterminationist culture feeding Islamist terrorism, has made many peaceniks skeptics. Diplomacy requires certain common rules and limits. Just as Cold War liberals wondered whether it was possible to negotiate with Communists, most Israelis and westerners doubt diplomacy can work with jihadists.

While Israel’s neighbours need to restore Israeli faith in diplomacy, Israel’s leaders need to re-establish their people’s trust. The scale of corruption is outrageous. Israelis wonder whether their leaders are a particularly bad bunch, whether society is experiencing a deeper values crisis, or whether the investigative scrutiny magnifies misdeeds into major crimes. Amid the modern media magnifying glass, Israel desperately needs worthy successors to David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, founding fathers of the country who despised each other ideologically while both leading simple, modest lives.

Whatever explanation people offer for the corruption contagion, Israel’s material success has triggered a broader cultural crisis that all westerners will recognize. The new generation of Israelis – especially the secular majority – tends to be wealthier, more individualistic, more self-confident and more selfish than the founders’ generation of only decades ago.

Modern Israelis, like so many of us, are the children of modern consumerism, with television-compressed attention spans and iPod-induced self-involvement that’s balanced out by computer-fed creativity and connectivity. Israelis have to develop a communal ethos that cultivates modern individualism and ingenuity without abandoning a sense of national mission and idealism.

For a people battered recently and historically, the ability to be normal is quite exceptional. Living well truly is the best revenge, a repudiation of Nazi exterminationism as well as Palestinian terrorism. Israelis do and should delight in sharing their modern dilemmas with fellow westerners. At the same time, this celebration of normalcy and the powerful realities of daily living should not eclipse the special dimensions of Israeli life or the country’s unique challenges, even though they appear to Israelis living through them as quite normal, or at least familiar.

The Zionist revolution built on Jews’ exceptional history and sense of togetherness while promoting a vision of national normalcy. Modern Israel dances on the head of a similar pin, hoping, like the traditional fiddler on the roof, not just to keep balance but to live a life filled with meaning and joy.

Kassam rocket lands in Sderot factory

2007-05-17T13:04:00.000-07:00

Jerusalem Post, May 17, 2007

A Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a factory in Sderot on Thursday evening.

The factory burst into flames and firefighters worked frantically to extinguish the blaze.

No casualties were reported.

(An man is seen through the shattered glass of a car that was hit by a rocket in Sderot Thursday

Photo: AP)

Elsewhere, Kassam rockets landed in two western Negev Kibbutzim and south of Ashkelon.

In one of the kibbutzim a rocket landed on a petting zoo, injuring farmyard animals and causing damage.

Another rocket landed in an open area outside Sderot. No one was wounded and no damage was reported.

(A teacher comforts a student after a rocket hit their school in Sderot.
Photo: AP)

By 7 p.m., 16 Kassam hits had been reported in Sderot and the western Negev. Magen David Adom paramedics were treating a mother and her nine-year-old daughter, both of whom were suffering from shock. A car was also damaged.

Another rocket hit a high school near Sapir College earlier in the day, causing significant damage and lightly wounding two pupils.

A moshav in the Eshkol Regional Council also suffered a Kassam hit. One of its greenhouses was reportedly damaged, but no one was wounded.

SDEROT UNDER FIRE

Meanwhile, dozens of Sderot residents barged into Mayor Eli Moyal's office, demanding his help in evacuating the city.

Israel Radio reported that more than 1,000 people had fled Sderot. Among the evacuees were 90 families with at least one member considered mentally disabled.

The angry Sderot residents stormed into the mayor's office after hearing that the Defense Ministry had ordered a halt to the evacuation of families from Sderot.

Also Thursday, a survey inspecting the shelters in the western Negev town showed that eighty bomb shelters in Sderot were unfit for use.

(May 16, 2007

18 wounded as 20 rockets hit Sderot. A young girl from Sderot reacts after her house was hit by a Kassam rocket fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip Tuesday.

Photo: AP )

Israel Radio reported that due to a shortage of funds to renovate the shelters, they were being used to store scrap metal.

Only 36 Sderot shelters are in active use, although they too are in need of extensive repair work, it emerged from the survey.

On Wednesday night, a Kassam rocket reportedly hit a four-story apartment building in the city. Several people were reportedly suffering from shock as a result, while another rocket hit a transformer, knocking out electricity in parts of the city.

Earlier Wednesday, the Sderot Municipality prepared to temporarily evacuate 4,000 residents after Palestinians fired approximately 50 rockets into the area around the Gaza border within 24 hours.

A 70-year-old woman sustained serious shrapnel wounds when a Kassam rocket hit her Sderot home, and was evacuated to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. A man was lightly wounded in the attack, and four others were treated for shock, bringing the total number of shock victims for the day to 18.

Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.

Secret report: Chances captive survived are slim

2007-05-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Yedioth Ahronoth reveals secret IDF report on two soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah last summer. Report says one of troops 'at least' seriously injured, second one is probably dead
Ynet, May 17, 2007

A secret IDF report given to the families of kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev stated that one of the troops was "probably hit by an RPG bomb, and the chances for a person to survive such an injury without receiving immediate complex medical treatment requiring surgical skills are slim."

Regev and Goldwasser were kidnapped by Hizbullah on July 12, 2006, and the abduction led to an Israeli military response, which developed into the Second Lebanon War.

Regarding the second missing soldier, the secret report stated that "his condition is (at least) serious, after he was apparently hurt by an RPG bomb… and lost a lot of blood.

The report also says that the soldiers probably did not receive medical treatment in light of Hizbullah fighter's need to escape. The injured troops were carried out of the burning patrol vehicle on the shoulders of two Hizbullah fighters and were taken into Lebanon.

The report, which was not shown to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during the war, is not based on intelligence information, but on findings at the scene of the kidnapping.

The IDF said in response, "Our work premise is that they are both alive."

The full details on the secret report and additional and surprising revelations from Ronen Bergman's book 'The point of no return' will be published Friday by Yedioth Ahronoth.

Jerusalem Day 5767

2007-05-17T12:24:00.000-07:00

Celebrating 40 years of a unified capital

The Temple Mount and Jerusalem.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

Did Israel want the Six Day War?: Historian Michael Oren reviews new versions of traditional Zionist histories

Six Days of War: A timeline of the historic war

City under siege: A young American writer's first-person account of a miracle victory

Homeland security: An interview with Menashe Ben-Ari about his experience during the liberation of Jerusalem

Divided celebration: A Wadi Joz resident explains his reasons for not celebrating Jerusalem Day

A new rallying point: Events in Hebron and Homesh show that much remains the same since '67

IDF soldiers next to the tower of David in Jerusalem's Old City.
Photo: AP

Which Jerusalem?: The debate over identifying the capital's geographic boundaries

Finding ourselves: The archeological treasures unearthed beneath the IDF's battlegrounds

Yearning for the Old Yishuv: Dreaming for the way things were and may someday be

Jerusalem after 40 years: Religious rebirth after the war

Creating new boundaries: Tom Segev's 1967

Jerusalem of (Dore) Gold: A new book explains why the city holy to three religions must remain in Jewish hands

Jerusalem Day event

Israel supporters march in N.Y.

2007-05-07T17:07:00.000-07:00

Thousands of Israel supporters marched in New York City. Organizers estimated that some 100,000 people marched with floats and flags up Fifth Avenue through the city's midtown celebrating the anniversary of Israel's founding in 1948.

Among those attending Sunday's Salute to Israel Parade were New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, U.S. Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski.

For more photos visit: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122361

100,000 March for Israel in New York City

2007-05-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

100,000 March for Israel in New York City

by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) Over 100,000 Israel-supporters marched up Fifth Avenue in New York City on Sunday in the colorful and spirited annual Salute to Israel Parade.

When it ended, some 20,000 of them packed into Central Park for an activism-geared Israel Day Concert.

Photo: Steven Posner

The parade was led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, accompanied by Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky. Various delegations and floats represented synagogues, temples and Jewish day schools from the greater New York area - and even from Maimonides Academy in Los Angeles. The Nefesh B'Nefesh Aliyah organization, Israel's Ministry of Tourism, El Al Israel Airlines, Hadassah, JDate, the Yachad organization of the Orthodox Union, and many more were also represented.

Click here to hear the Israel Day Concert with Israel National Radio's Rabbi Tovia Singer
Hour One Hour Two Hour Three

Photo: Steven Posner

Participating politicians included New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Congressmen Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Anthony Wiener.

At the concert, MC'ed by radio host Nachum Segal, keynote speaker MK Effie Eitam (National Union) updated the crowd on the current political, military and social situation in Israel. The event focused on Israel's captives - particularly Gilad Shalit (held in Gaza), Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev (both apparently held in Lebanon), and Jonathan Pollard (imprisoned in the United States).

Photo: Steven Posner

Performers included Hassidic-music singers Shloime Dachs, Shlomo Katz, the Piamenta brothers, the Israeli-American trio Yood, Jewish rapper Remedy (Ross Filler), Kosha Dillz, Gershon Veroba, rock-and-reggae band Pey Dalid, and Chaim Kiss.

Photo: Steven Posner

Photo: 357studios@gmail.com

Steven Posner's pictures courtesy of Jacob Richman - see more at his website.

Darfur: silence is consent

2007-04-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

Darfur: silence is consent By Gil Troy
Canadian Jewish News, April 26, 2007

Darfur haunts me. In July 2004, I wrote an article protesting the Arab Janjaweed militias’ brutality against farmers in the Sudan’s northwestern region. The Janjaweed had murdered 30,000 people and displaced 1.2 million more. “How dare we sit, drinking our morning coffee,” I wrote, “tut-tutting over evil without trying to fight it?”

Nearly three years later, more than 300,000 have been murdered, and we are still tut-tutting. True, there is enough Darfur awareness that people who want to telegraph their humanitarian bona fides invoke Darfur to position themselves as successors to Mother Teresa. And the Jewish community has responded far more effectively than most. But I remain haunted by Darfur, embarrassed by our silence, humiliated by our impotence, humbled by my own failure to help.

I used to criticize America and Canada for not doing enough during the Holocaust to save European Jewry. While both countries should have welcomed more refugees, I am more cautious in my condemnation. I watched the Rwanda genocide unfold. Former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan and former U.S. president Bill Clinton, the dithering duo, did nothing. My friends and I did nothing that inconvenienced us. Now, we are equally numb regarding Darfur.

Fortunately, some of my students still believe they can change the world, or at least stop the slaughter. One, Evan Malach, organized “The Amazing Benefit Concert for Darfur” on the McGill campus, last November. A former student, Josh Scheinert, now studying at Osgoode Hall Law School, succeeded in getting the National Post to publish a series of articles by politicians and community activists this spring.

These initiatives are lovely, creative, inspiring, but will they help? Three years from now, will Evan, Josh and their allies look back as I do on my essay, with an overwhelming sense of failure drowning out what little pride they can muster because they, at least, tried? The answer lies not with them but with the rest of us.

We are overdue for a massive mobilization. We should write letters, make phone calls, contributing our time, efforts, creativity however we can. We should pressure western governments to sanction the Sudanese dictatorship, which facilitates the Darfur slaughter. We should donate money generously but vigilantly, making sure our charity goes to the needy, not the jackals who exploit western guilt and African misery. We need to learn other pressure points, such as boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympics unless the Chinese stop supporting Sudan. We must demand that the United Nations prove it can stop Third World abuses not just nitpick at Israel.

We also should help single-issue advocacy organizations connect the dots between their concerns and Darfur. Feminists should mobilize because women and girls are frequently raped, then branded, making the emotional trauma permanent. Environmentalists should galvanize because the murderers sometimes throw corpses into local waters to poison the water supply. Islamic leaders should respond because most of the criminals in this conflict – and the victims – are Muslim. African-Americans should react to the conflict’s racist dimension, with the Arab Janjaweed militias targeting black tribal farmers in a push for Arab supremacy. And human rights groups should rally more vociferously, because this conflict’s brutality demeans us all as fellow human beings.

The ’60s cliché applies: silence is consent. True, Darfur is thousands of miles away. True, most of us have no real stake in the outcome. True, most of us are lucky enough to lead such comfortable lives we cannot imagine this catastrophe’s dimensions. And true, we crowd our schedules with so many work, relationship and leisure time commitments we cannot carve out time for serious activism. That is why we must as a society stand up for Darfur. We need to act heroically, not only for the hundreds of thousands of good people in anguish, but for our own souls. Who are we as individuals, who are we as a people, if we stand idly by? And imagine what we can become as individuals, and as a nation, if we start learning how to be a strike force for justice. We must understand that even when we do not seem to have a stake in the battle for good – we do, and that when we try to save strangers, we are also saving our own souls.

Yom Hazikaron & Yom Ha'atzmaut 2007

2007-04-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day in Israel

Israeli soldiers salute after placing flags on graves at the military cemetery on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, April 22, in a ceremony before Memorial Day, which commemorates Israeli soldiers killed in war.

Israel Celebrates

Israelis wave flags as they celebrate the country's 59th Independence Day, in Jerusalem on April 23.

Casualties from recent Lebanon war remembered on Israel's Memorial Day
JTA, 4-23-07

JERUSALEM (JTA) – The young men from reserve battalion 9211 greeted each other with quiet handshakes and embraces on Israel's Memorial Day by the rose and flag-covered grave of their friend David Smidov.

"It's a difficult day," Ori Bushari, 26, said on Monday.

Bushari had been friends with Smidov since the day they were drafted together nearly eight years ago and was just a few feet away from him when a Hezbollah mortar shell ended his life on Aug. 9.

On this Memorial Day, known in Israel as Yom Hazikaron, there was an especially bitter pain mourning those killed in Israel's most recent war as the country asks openly if its leaders bungled how the war was fought and if it was even necessary.

Smidov, 25 when he was killed, was one of the 119 Israeli soldiers killed in a war that only recently was given a name: the Second Lebanon War.

His battalion comrades know that the shell that exploded near their friend could easily have hit them.

Bushari quickly sketches out the formation the battalion walked as its members climbed a path north into Lebanon toward their destination: the village of Marjayoun.

The X he marks at the front of the marching line represents the company commander. He was just one behind, to the right of the commander. Smidov was three men behind Bushari.

"We heard the mortar falling, hit the ground and then heard the cries of someone shouting for the medic," Bushari said.

Smidov was badly injured and died almost immediately.

"It's just a matter of luck, it's not something you have control over," Amir Binyamin, 29, said of the mortar fire.

In past years Binyamin said he had attended Memorial Day ceremonies for a former commander, but this year he was compelled to be here, next to Smidov's grave.

"This time I was there when it happened," he said. "I was only a few feet away."

Smidov's grave and the those of other soldiers killed in Lebanon were scattered through bloc 7 of Mount Herzl, the national cemetery. Next to them were parents, siblings, fiancees and friends huddled protectively around the headstones as the country engaged in a national day of mourning.

There was no room to move Monday at Mount Herzl. People stood packed together between the narrow rows of graves and under the shade of pine trees as a two-minute siren went off in memory of the dead.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke at the ceremony.

"On this special day we are all one bereaved family," he said.

But as members of the reserve unit noted, few people seemed to be listening closely to the prime minister.

Olmert is hugely unpopular and will soon face the findings of the Winograd Commission, which has investigated the way the government and army handled the war.

"It's part of the aftermath of this war and the leadership," Bushari said. "As people say, they hate the state, but they love their friends. That's why they go to reserve duty."

The battalion will meet again next week in the Negev Desert when they gather for a week of training exercises.

Professor Yaakov Bar-Siman-Tov, an international relations expert at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said the pain this year is different from the past. While it is always excruciating to lose soldiers in battle, most Israeli wars have been fought with the belief that the state had no other choice.

Israelis had the sense that if enemy nations were about to destroy you, "you had to defend yourself, otherwise the country could face total destruction," Bar-Simon-Tov said. "There is nothing harder than burying one's children, but at least there was a feeling that the sacrifice stood for something."

In the case of the war in Lebanon, "there were so many miscalculations in decision-making and it was not clear of the need to go to war," Bar-Siman-Tov said. "Today with all the pain we feel over the kidnapped soldiers, there is the question of whether or not we could have come to a different scenario."

Smidov, who was to have started studying architecture last fall, was called up for reserve duty just after returning from a holiday in Prague with his girlfriend. In Prague, friend say, he had asked her to marry him. On Monday she stood by his grave.

The Great Diaspora Dilemma: To Criticize or Not to Criticize

2007-04-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

By Gil Troy
THE JEWISH TRIBUNE, April 19, 2007, p.5

To criticize or not to criticize, that is the great Diaspora dilemma. Those of us deeply engaged in Israel , viewing Zionism as the Jewish national liberation movement, seek ever more involvement in Israeli life. We recognize that the state of our homeland will determine our Jewish future. We know that true love, for countries and individuals, involves seeing the warts as well as the wonders, so we can demand better. Why should we silence ourselves, refraining from criticizing the Jewish state?
At the same time, we Diaspora Jews vote with our feet, choosing not to participate fully in our great national Jewish adventure by living elsewhere. We give what we choose not what we must. We do not pay taxes to the third Jewish Commonwealth. We do not vote in the first Jewish democracy. We and our children do not serve in the modern Jewish army. Given our limited, voluntary investment in blood, sweat, and tears, how dare we dictate decisions about Israel ’s borders, about life and death questions plaguing Israel ’s citizens?
Extremes on the left and the right have been myopic, inconsistent. Traditionally, right-wingers supported Israel “right or wrong,” demonizing dissenters. Starting with the Oslo years, and peaking with the Gaza Disengagement, many Diaspora rightists denounced Israel and the Israeli Army. Meanwhile, too many leftist Jews are what others have called “proud to be ashamed to be Jewish.” These people only identify publicly as Jews to criticize Israel – often viciously.
We could all use some Vitamin “H” – humility. Like all armchair statesman and laptop warriors, I have strong opinions about Israel ’s borders, Israel ’s relations with the Palestinians, Israel ’s strengths and flaws. I happily share them at my dinner table. But even there – and certainly in public – I am humbled by my choice not to put my life, or my kids’ lives, on the line. I do not think it is proper for me to preach to our Israeli brothers and sisters where to draw the line between themselves and their enemies. Under Israel ’s Law of Return I can acquire citizenship instantly and plunge into the debate wholeheartedly. Until that day comes, I choose to stay humble, to keep my opinions on this complicated, existential issue private.
My instincts to be humble are reinforced by the fact that we are not operating in an honest environment. Israel has been subjected to a vicious, disproportionate ideological assault. I am loathe to join the pile-on, and I loathe those who do pile on, attacking Israel without acknowledging Israel’s search for peace, Israel’s willingness to compromise, Israel’s right to self-defense. So I defend Israel ardently, without an asterisk, without feeling constrained by my decision to sit out the border debate, for now. There are so many bigger issues concerning the Palestinians’ immoral decision to turn from negotiations to terror, the world’s amoral acquiescence, the toxicity of Palestinian political culture, the one-sided application of human rights law, the travesty the United Nations has become, the tragedy of Arab autocracy and rejectionism. All these make whatever mistakes Israel has made pale in comparison.
Still, as someone passionately committed to Israel ’s future, for my sake, for my kids’ sake, for my people’s sake, I have no problem criticizing Israel constructively, appropriately, empathetically. I mourn the growing gap between rich and poor, the weakening education system, the epidemic political corruption, Israeli intellectuals’ self-loathing and hypercritical behavior, the Rabbinate’s ham-handed policies which have alienated generations of Israelis, Israeli secular culture’s materialistic paganism, the social, economic, and educational inequities afflicting Israeli Arabs, the harshness of Israeli political culture and street life. All those problems keep my critical faculties more than engaged. Of course, they are balanced out by my wonder at Israelis’ personal generosity, warmth in hospitality, cultural creativity, improvisational entrepreneurship; my appreciation for the remarkable attempts to plant liberal ideas of democracy, liberty, equality in the Middle East’s rocky soil, for the richness of Jewish life throughout the country, and for the idealism, altruism, courage, and humanity I witnessed last summer during the war against Hezbollah..
Thus, just as I avoid opining publicly on military matters, given my fortunate ignorance and insulation from such concerns, I feel particularly emboldened to ply my expertise as both critic and cheerleader when it comes to fostering a vibrant modern Jewish identity, building an effective and humane democracy, nurturing a muscular but moderate middle path. Just as we all could spend more time emphasizing Israel ’s accomplishments not Israel ’s mistakes, we all should spend more time focusing on those areas where our standing is clear, our input constructive, our expertise helpful. North American Jews justifiably bristle when some Israelis cross the Atlantic to lecture us that our communities are dying or that we are not fully realized Jews in the Diaspora. We should extend to Israelis the same courtesy we demand from them.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author of Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity, and the Challenges of Today.

Olmert: Limit prisoner swap

2007-04-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

JTA, 4-18-07

http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/101247.html

Ehud Olmert said there are limits to what Israel will give in exchange for a soldier held hostage in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli prime minister said Wednesday that Israel had rejected a list of 1,400 Palestinian prisoners whom Sgt. Gilad Shalit's captors want freed as ransom.

"The list is disappointing and creates expectations that are impossible to live up to," Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, according to an official briefing. "It has to be within proper proportions."

Olmert did not say how many prisoners he would be willing to free to recover Shalit, who was abducted to Gaza by Palestinian gunmen last June.

Hezbollah: Captives treated humanely

2007-04-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

JTA, 4-6-07

A Hezbollah leader said two kidnapped Israeli soldiers were being treated humanely.

Israel Defense Force reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose capture in a crossborder raid last July sparked a monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah, are receiving the same treatment as that given Elhanan Tannenbaum, Muhammad Kamati told the Nazareth-based newspaper A-Sinara in an interview to be published Friday, the Jerusalem Post reported. Tannenbaum was an Israeli businessman kidnapped in Europe and held captive in Lebanon for several years until he was released in exchange for hundreds of Arab prisoners.

"We are treating the prisoners as the prisoners whom we released in the past have described, and as our religion directs us to treat prisoners of war," Kamati said.

Goldwasser's wife, Karnit, said the statements constituted neither a sign of life nor a "turning point" in efforts to win their release. "We want to see them alive," she told Channel 2 television. "A sign of life is if someone sees them, and a Red Cross representative needs to see them. Until now, no one has seen them, including the Red Cross."

Goldwasser's father, Shlomo, said Israel must talk directly to Hezbollah, just as Britain negotiated with Iran to win the release of captured British sailors this week. He spoke to reporters in Tel Aviv, where he was joined by 150 participants in a cross-country solidarity march for Goldwasser, Regev and Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Palestinians near the Gaza Strip last June.

POW families welcome Iran releases

2007-04-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

JTA, 4-5-07

The families of three captive Israeli soldiers welcomed Iran's release of a group of British sailors.

Relatives of Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit sent letters of solidarity to the families of the 15 sailors, who were freed Thursday after almost two weeks in Iranian captivity. The sailors were captured in the Persian Gulf after Iran accused them of crossing into Iranian waters, though Britain insists the group was in Iraqi waters.

The letters, copies of which were provided to Israeli media, congratulated the Britons' on the return of their loved ones and urged them to help in efforts to recover Goldwasser and Regev from Hezbollah and Shalit from his Palestinian captors in Gaza.

"We are certain that, when you finish celebrating the release of your children, you will serve as an advocate for us in Britain through your government and the international community,” read the letters, which were transferred by the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.

REMEMBER THE VICTIMS OF TERROR AT THE SEDER:

2007-03-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

Note: Unfortunately, this is the seventh year in a row that I feel compelled to circulate this call (the text is updated.....) best wishes for a happy and peaceful pesach, Gil Troy

Once again, during this year's seders, we will celebrate our joyous holiday of liberation with heavy hearts. Even as we revel in our freedom as Jews in the modern world, even as we marvel at Israel 's strength and tenacity in the wake of a terrorist onslaught, too many of our brothers and sisters in Israel are in pain. This year, in particular, as we think of three Israeli hostages and their families, truly in a Mitzraim, in dire straits, and as we think of more than one hundred civilians and soldiers murdered this summer, we must rise to the challenge to reclaim our symbols, to remember our losses, to reaffirm our commitment to Israel, to the Jewish people, and to a true peace.

In the bloody, unnecessary war begun when the Palestinians turned away from negotiations toward violence, too many died, too many have been injured, on both sides. And too many seders now have empty chairs - missing husbands, fathers, brothers, sons; missing wives, mothers, sisters, daughters.

The power of the seder - which remains one of the most popular of Jewish ceremonies - comes from its ritualization of memory. It is a most primal, most sensual, most literal, of services. The seder plate - with its representations of the mortar used in building, the charoset, and of the tears shed by the slaves, the salt water - helps us visualize the trauma of slavery.

The physical acts of reclining, of eating special foods, of standing to greet Elijah the prophet, help us feel the joy of Yetziat Mitzrayim, of leaving Egypt . And, in an affirmation of the importance of peoplehood, we mark this special moment not as individuals but as a community.

In that spirit, we cannot proceed with business as usual during these difficult times. We must improvise a new ritual that marks our present pain, that illustrates our vital connection with Israel and with Israelis today. Let each of us, as we gather at our seders, intrude on our own celebrations by leaving one setting untouched, by having one empty chair at our table.

Let us take a moment to reflect on our losses from these terrible six-and-a-half years, for even as stability has returned, terror attempts continue, freshly dug graves pockmark the Holy Land , and the mourning for those lost persists. And as we reflect, let us not just remember the dead as hundreds of nameless and faceless people, but let us personalize them. Let us take the time to find out the name of one victim of the current conflict, one Jew who cannot celebrate this year's holiday, one family in mourning.

Let us call out the names of Gilad Shalit, a 19-year-old with a shy smile, kidnapped by Hamas on the Gaza border in July; and that of Ehud Goldwasser, a 31-year-old engineer, and Eldad Regev, a 26-year-old pre-law student, kidnapped by Hezbollah just south of Lebanon. "This year we won't celebrate Pesach," Gilad's father Noam has said. "Pesach is about freedom, and we don't have that in our hearts. We want Gilad to return from imprisonment to freedom. It's been nine months, and we're not giving up."

Let us call out the name of Yaniv Bar-On, the 20-year-old son of a South African father and a Canadian mother, ambushed while trying to save Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev from Hezbollah's clutches, of Roi Klein, 31, a father of two, who jumped on a grenade crying "Shma Yisrael," Hear O' Israel, sacrificing his life to save his troops from certain death, and of Omer Pesachov, 7, and his grandmother, Yehudit Itzkovich, 58, who fled Nahariya one morning at the start of this summer's war, only to be bombed in Moshav Miron later that evening as the family prepared to welcome the Shabbat, the Sabbath.

Remembering earlier victims, let us call out the name of Benny Avraham, age 20, one of three young Israelis murdered by Hezbollah in a failed kidnapping in October 2000, whose body was kept frozen as the sadistic terrorists toyed with the emotions of the three grieving families - and people of conscience throughout the world.

Let us call out the name of Koby Mandell, age 13, a young American immigrant brutally killed in May, 2001, whose father, Rabbi Seth Mandell, talks about the empty seat at his Shabbat table and shares the pain of watching other boys grow up, watching their voices deepen, their shoulders broaden, their gaits quicken, even as his son lies dead.

Let us call out the names of Ernest and Eva Weiss, aged 80 and 75, residents of Petach Tikvah who survived Nazi concentration camps only to be slaughtered while sitting down for the Pesach Seder at the Park Hotel exactly five years ago, Pesach, 2002.

Let us call out the names of Maryam Attar, 27, Kamar Abu Hamed, 12, Abigail Leitel, 14, Mordechai Hersko, 41, and his son Tom Hershko, 15, a Muslim, a Druze, a Baptist, and two Jews, among the 17 murdered in Haifa just over four years ago on March 5, 2003.

And as we condemn modern-day Pharoahs in Iran and elsewhere, as we recoil from the worldwide scourge of anti-Semitism this terrorism also unleashed, let us call out the names of Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old French Jew cellphone salesman kidnapped, tortured and murdered in a Parisian suburb by anti-Semitic thugs last year, and of Daniel Pearl, the 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped, then murdered, in Pakistan almost exactly four years earlier.

As we call out these names, let us vow to do what we can to bring the three hostages home. As we call out these names, let us commit to some action, to embrace the families of the victims - the thousand who died and the nearly ten thousand who were injured. As we call out these names, let us commit to building a friendship with Israel and Israelis which is not just about politics, and not solely about mourning and memory.

And as we call out these names, unlike too many of our enemies, let us not call for vengeance, let us not call for more bloodshed. Instead, as we mourn, let us hope; as we remember the many lives lost during this crazy and pointless war, let us pray ever more intensely for a just and lasting peace.

For more Infomation visit:
http://togetherwithisrael.org

Information about many of the Israelis killed in the current violence can be found at
the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Web site:

http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/home.asp Click on
Terrorism -- Terror since 2000 - In Memory of the Victims of Palestinian Violence
and Terrorismn.

Ideas about how to help families of victims can be found at
http://www.onefamilyfund.org/index.asp

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author of
"Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today."

ISRAEL'S CRITICS PROTEST TOO MUCH

2007-03-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

New York Jewish Week, 3-23-07

So far this year, Iran continues threatening Israel and America while seeking nuclear weapons. Palestinian terrorists temporarily stopped fighting each other in Gaza to murder Israelis in Eilat and plan other crimes the Israeli army thwarted. The Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan endorsed one book alleging Jews controlled the slave trade, one book claiming Jews control America 's banks, and Jimmy Carter's bestseller falsely accusing Israel of "Apartheid." And, across the Arab world, numerous cartoons criticizing Israel 's Mugrahbi Gate repairs in Jerusalem depicted Jews as hooked-nose demons.

Amid all this, what outraged many Progressive Jews, prompting denunciations in the New York Times, the New Republic, the Boston Globe, and the Forward? Professor Alvin Rosenfeld's short American Jewish Committee (AJC) pamphlet: "Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism." This brouhaha over a careful scholar's attempt to define when disparaging Israel and Zionism goes "well beyond legitimate criticism" to feed modern anti-Semitism illustrates the techniques too many of these Progressives - not all - use when anyone dares criticize them.

The New York Times' January 31 article which triggered the controversy began by incorrectly calling the AJC a "conservative advocacy group." This signaled to the Times' overwhelmingly liberal readership that the AJC approach to anti-Semitism would be a McCarthyite hatchet job. The Times eventually issued a correction that the AJC's "stance on issues ranges across the political spectrum." This vague correction preserved the impression that the AJC takes conservative positions - like what, opposing anti-Semitism and terrorism? When did opposing anti-Semitism become conservative?

Beyond demonizing, a second technique is to caricature. Thus a Boston Globe op-ed proclaimed: "All Critics of Israel Aren't Anti-Semites." Professor Rosenfeld made that point in his essay. At the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism held in Jerusalem that week, Israel 's Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni - and almost every other speaker - distinguished between legitimate criticism and anti-Semitism too. Still, these nuanced stands did not prevent the charge that Rosenfeld and the AJC were demonizing "all" critics.

Finally, rather than treating the essay as an honest analysis of a painful, complex issue, critics accused the AJC of stifling the debate. Such hysteria makes intellectuals look spoiled, thin-skinned and brittle. Best-selling authors like Noam Chomsky or billionaires like George Soros ritualistically applaud their own bravery and pretend they are lonely voices when joining the trendy intellectual pile-on against Israel . How it is that people who viciously criticize Israel and Zionism, who lecture the Jewish world about tolerating diverse opinions, suddenly cannot stomach vigorous debate when they ar criticized? Nothing in the AJC essay advocates hate laws, suppressing free speech, shunning, or any other intimidation. Professor Rosenfeld did what thinkers are supposed to do - identify, catalogue, analyze, explain, and challenge.

Israel's supporters are used to being criticized for criticizing critics. Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident, has argued that disproportionate, demonizing language, judging Israel by a double-standard and singularly delegitimizing Israel, crosses a red line, feeding anti-Semitism not "just" anti-Zionism. The question is one of proportionality and judgment: it is bizarre to feel more threatened by Alvin Rosenfeld than by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad just as it is disreputable to compare Israelis to Nazis while ignoring Palestinian terrorism, Arab anti-Semitism, Iranian calls to genocide.

Unfortunately, too many Progressives have been silent about modern anti-Semitism, just as many of those same Progressives have been strangely silent in the fight against the broader Jihadist agenda. The New York Times recently quoted a New York area Hillel rabbi foolishly claiming that "The question about radical Islam and how do we fight it is unproductive. The question is how to break down the stereotypes facing the two religions." Not everything can be solved with diversity training. Progressives lose credibility when they domesticate the lethal Jihadist threat by reducing it to an all-American problem of group dynamics.

Here, then, is a way out of the impasse. Israel's critics could confuse the issue constructively, if they denounced modern anti-Semitism as vehemently as they object to any suggestions that their words might encourage the Jihadists. Let these Progressive critics spend some of the political capital they earned in criticizing Israel to demand that Palestinian textbooks no longer incorporate libels from the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," that Arab cartoons and television programs avoid ugly Nazi stereotypes of devilish, money-hungry Jews, that international bodies sanction Iran's president for threatening to "wipe out" a legitimate member of the United Nations. And let these critics take a page from their own Progressive Jewish movement, which has repudiated Israeli policy with the powerful phrase: "Not In My Name." We need Israel 's critics, Jewish and non-Jewish, proclaiming to anti-Semites far and wide: "Not In My Name," demanding, "do not take my criticism of Israel policies to be used to target Jews or question's Israel 's legitimacy."

The necessary fight against anti-Semitism should not be misconstrued as endorsing Israeli policies, just as you need not love George W. Bush to hate Islamicism. The fight against anti-Semitism, like the fight against Islamicism, must not be imprisoned in our usual left-right paradigm. A broad-based condemnation of anti-Semitism and eliminationist Anti-Zionism should be a positive first step in reinvigorating a wide coalition for freedom and against bigotry.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and the author of "Why I Am A Zionist: Israel , Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today."

Sderot mayor wants rockets stopped

2007-03-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

Canadian Jewish News, 3-21-07

He knows because as part of his daily routine, he has to bear the brunt of complaints from his constituents in the southern development town of Sderot that more properly should fall in the laps of the two senior government ministers.

Faced with an unrelenting barrage of Qassam missiles from Palestinian controlled Gaza, the residents of Sderot “talk to me and see me like a prime minster, chief of staff or the defence minister,” he said.

“They tell me, it’s your job to do something. When I explain I can’t give orders to the army I stand there and get shouts and criticism in place of the government. I don’t mind, because they can’t see or talk to [Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert or [Defence Minister] Amir Peretz.”

Though he tells this story in measured tones, it’s clear Moyal is quite angry at the Israeli government. He feels it has let down the community of 24,000 that is situated only one kilometre from the border with Gaza. As a result of its location, the town, as well as nearby kibbutzim, have been hit with numerous primitive, though deadly, missiles.

“We stopped counting after 4,000,” Moyal said last week following a breakfast briefing for a UJA Federation of Greater Toronto leadership group.

The missiles started raining down on Sderot in 2000 but the frequency increased markedly after Israel pulled out of Gaza in August 2005. Since the Palestinian “ceasefire,” more than 600 have been fired and in the period following the Mecca accord, the average has reached nearly two per day.

So far, seven residents of Sderot have been killed, hundreds wounded and hundreds of homes have been damaged.

Those are the statistics. But what is really affecting the quality of life in the town is the impact the missile attacks are having on children. As for the adults, “we’ll manage,” Moyal said stoically. “We served in the army and we know how to manage. We’re talking about the children, the soft souls.”

In Sderot, as in nearby kibbutzim, many “go into shelters at night.

“We’re talking about traumas and fears of children who cannot sleep. Kids who refuse to go outside after sunset. You have children sleeping in shelters, sleeping with parents, peeing the bed again.”

Others are taking various pills and medicines to help them cope.

“We’re talking about a lot of problems. We’re talking about something that has been studied at Tel Aviv University for the psychological impact on our children.

“One hundred per cent of Sderot children are suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome, which is very bad. This is a story nobody has heard about and we’re dealing with it every day.”

While the government has not provided the military solution Moyal is advocating, the response from other Israelis has been heartening. Many psychologists and social workers have visited the town to help the people cope. Respite programs have been put in place allowing residents to leave for a brief vacation.

But Moyal is adamant that what is really needed is a military strike to stop the missiles from being launched and to deter further attacks. The past three Israeli governments, two headed by Ariel Sharon and the current Olmert administration, “did nothing to stop these missiles,” he said.

“They are wrong in their policy. They think by talking, it will end. They think that by giving land to the Palestinians, it would bring some sheket (quiet). They were wrong.”

Moyal pointed out the intensity of the rocket attacks increased after Palestinians were handed all of Gaza. The lesson he learned is plain: “We didn’t react properly in the beginning. We didn’t ask them to pay a full price for shooting on civilians. We accepted it. That’s why it continued.”

Asked what the full price should be, Moyal replied, “I don’t care. My mitzvah (commandment) is to prevent [those] who are trying to kill me.”

Israel “should destroy the places they are shooting from.” Palestinians should be warned and then the Israel Defence Force should “destroy the whole area.” The IDF should re-enter the Palestinian territory and “clean the Gaza and go back home.

“But we didn’t use that [tactic] at the beginning in the right way, that’s why they continue.”

Rally to Free the Soldiers in Nahariya

2007-03-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

נועם שליט לאולמרט: שחרור חטופים אינו נדל"ן

עצרת המונית לשחרור החטופים שהתקיימה בנהריה הפכה למצעד ביקורת נגד ראש הממשלה. אביו של גלעד שליט, נועם: "אדוני ראש הממשלה, שחרור הבנים שנשלחו על-ידי צה"ל ועל ידך להגן על גבולות המדינה זה לא עסקת נדל"ן"

שרון רופא אופיר

פורסם:

23.03.07, 14:52

נועם שליט, אביו של החייל החטוף גלעד, הפנה היום (ו') ביקורת קשה אל ראש הממשלה, אהוד אולמרט, בשל טיפולו בשחרור החטופים: "אדוני ראש הממשלה, שחרור הבנים שנשלחו על-ידי צה"ל ועל ידך להגן על גבולות המדינה זה לא עסקת נדל"ן. שחרר את הבנים לאלתר".

אלפים הגיעו לעצרת שהתקיימה בנהריה וקראו להחזיר הביתה את החיילים החטופים. מלבד בני משפחותיהם של אלדד רגב, אהוד גולדווסר וגלעד שליט, הגיעו לעצרת גם בני משפחותיהם של עדי אביטן ובני אברהם, שנחטפו לפני שבע שנים בדרום לבנ

נועם שליט ובני נוער מפגינים בנהריה (תצלום: ודים דניאל)

נועם שליט ביקש להודות למי שדואגים להזכיר את הנושא לציבור: "זה בכל פעם מחמם את הלב ומרגש כל כך. אין ספק שעצרות עושות משהו לעם במיוחד ערב הפסח, ערב חג החירות. אני מקווה שהן עושות משהו גם למקבלי ההחלטות, ערב החג שאותו השנה לא נחגוג לצערי". שליט דורש מאולמרט תוצאות: "אדוני ראש הממשלה, אתה טוען שאתה עושה הכול למען שחרור הבנים אבל אנחנו רוצים תוצאות. אחרי תשעה חודשים זו לא בקשה מופרזת. מנהיגים נבחנים במעשים ולא בהצהרות ודיבורים".

שלמה ומיקי גולדווסר במהלך העצרת (תצלום: ודים דניאל)

את האירוע יזם בית הספר עמל בנהריה. דודו לוברצקי, חברו של אודי גולדווסר לפלוגת המילואים עקץ את ראש הממשלה, בעקבות תשובתו לביקורת שהוטחה בו באירוע קודם: "ראש הממשלה טוען שלא מחזירים חטופים בצעקות. למעלה מ-250 ימים שאודי, אלדד וגלעד צועקים 'תחזירו אותי הביתה'. אדם נמדד לפי מעשיו ולא לפי מידת הפופולריות שלו, ובמבחן התוצאה - כשל ראש הממשלה, כשל שר הביטחון וכשל המטה הכללי של צה"ל".

במהלך העצרת נשאו דברים גם אשתו של אודי, קרנית, מנכ"ל עיריית נהריה, נציג ממועצת התלמידים של בתי הספר בעיר, השר שלום שמחון וחיים אברהם, אביו של בני. "40 שנה הציניות אוכלת בנו כל חלקה טובה. הגיע הזמן שהמדינה תתעורר ותשנה את המדיניות שלה. המדיניות תמיד הייתה מי ימצמץ ראשון אך לנסראללה זה לא משחק. מה שמשחק לו זה אם נגרום לו נזק ועד שלא נקפד את ראשו של העקרב מדרום לבנון, שום דבר לא יזוז".

אברהם מוסיף: "אני מרגיש שאני בתסריט חוזר. מה שקרה עם הבנים שלנו קורה גם כאן ואם לא נעשה מעשה העולם לא יביא פיתרון לבנים שלנו שנמצאים בשבי

Schools throughout Israel host ceremonies to mark 250 days since Hizbullah kidnapped soldiers. Family members, Knesset members attend ceremonies

2007-03-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

We can't celebrate freedom this Pesach, says Noam Shalit

Schools throughout Israel host ceremonies to mark 250 days since Hizbullah kidnapped soldiers. Family members, Knesset members attend ceremonies

Ahiya Raved

Published:

03.20.07, 14:31 / Israel News

Three hundred schools throughout Israel held solidarity ceremonies Tuesday morning to mark 250 days since the abduction of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in July.

“We won’t be able to celebrate freedom this year. We will sit at home, and wait for Gilad to be set free,” said Noam Shalit, father of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

Prisoner Swap

Kidnapped soldier's father: It's time to free my son / Ahiya Raved

One day after formation of Palestinian unity government, Noam Shalit calls on Khaled Mashaal to allow his son Gilad to come home. Israel is ready to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, he says, but the Palestinian government's patrons are causing delays

Full story

He spoke at a ceremony held at his son’s former school, and said that it was particularly heartwarming, since the students put in so much time and effort into it, in the hopes that Gilad would soon be released.

“Gilad is our child, he studied here, and we expect the government and the IDF to do everything possible in order to bring the boy home,” said Gila Michael, the school’s principal.

Eyal Regev, Eldad’s brother, said that the fighting in Lebanon shouldn’t have stopped before the soldiers were returned.

“Their return was possible without putting soldiers at risk. We hope and believe the government is doing everything, and not placing obstacles in the way of bringing back the captured,” Regev said during his speech at Eldad’s high school in Haifa.

Miki Goldwasser, Ehud’s mother, spoke at a ceremony in Tel Aviv, and said that issue of the kidnapped soldiers, and efforts to release them, were a part of “our identity”.

“I’m sure that the government won’t fail in bringing them home, since it cannot handle the shame,” Goldwasser said.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir said, “If we must go to the Syrians or to Lebanon to find out their fate, we must not be afraid to do so. We must offer everything we are willing to offer in order to know how to get the sons back home. We have to open the door for a dialogue now," she said.

MK Silvan Shalom (Likud) attacked the international community for not doing enough to help bring the soldiers home. He called on the UN secretary general to do all in his power to make sure the soldiers were released.

Welcome

2007-03-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new blog for "Together With Israel." The site's purpose was inspired by Gil Troy's November 2, 2006 article from The Canadian Jewish News:

WE MUST ACT TO FREE THE SOLDIERS

Recently, I gave an audience of 200 involved Jews in Montreal a pop quiz.

"How many of you have heard of Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev," I asked. Most hands shot up proudly, as people recognized the names of the three Israelis kidnapped this summer - and still held hostage by Hamas and Hezbollah. I then asked: "How many of you have done anything to support their families or demand their release?" Every single hand dropped, dejectedly.

Shame on us. How could we observe the Jewish holidays without imagining even briefly what it must have been like for these three families with a son, a brother, absent from the table? How could we celebrate without empathizing with these three young men, caught in a hellish purgatory devised to impose pain on them, their families, the State of Israel and the Jewish people?

We cannot sit idly by anymore. We must act.

There are two kinds of constructive responses to the hostage crisis. We can reach out to the three affected families with the simple message of "anachnu eetchem," we are with you. Letting these people, wracked by worry, know through cards, letters, children's drawings and little gifts that they are not alone is important. It strengthens them by placing their personal predicament in the broader sweep of Jewish history, the Israeli narrative, and the modern struggle between democracies and Islamist terror. Small gestures can't save the boys, but they can lighten the load, even momentarily, that these three families have borne since the summer with grace.

The person-to-person contact is easy. And, as my family discovered when we tried to help the three soldiers Hezbollah kidnapped ? and murdered ? in October 2000, the rewards can be tremendous. We as a family bonded so deeply with one of the families, that of Benny Avraham, of blessed memory, that my children now have a special set of Israeli "grandparents."

The greater challenge is determining what kind of political efforts will facilitate the three?s release. This requires a sophisticated analysis of the dynamics surrounding the two separate kidnappings - that of Gilad Shalit, a 19-year-old with a shy smile, by Hamas on the Gaza border; and that of Ehud Goldwasser, a 31-year-old engineer, and Eldad Regev, a 26-year-old pre-law student, by Hezbollah just south of Lebanon.

Clearly, direct pressure on the two terrorist organizations is not likely to work. But constant, relentless, constructive pressure on their supporters or neighbours might help. We need to mobilize a vast coalition of Jews and non-Jews to bombard Lebanese officials and activists for the Palestinian cause - as well as western diplomats who interact with Palestinian and Lebanese officials - with a simple message: free the kidnapped victims today.

Palestinians seeking a resumption of western aid must know that until Shalit is home again, no aid will flow. And those who support the Palestinian cause, waving the flag of humanitarianism, should be challenged to try saving a young kid caught in the crossfire. "Treat him as a human. Make a stand for our common humanity," we should say.

Similarly, as the Lebanese government begs the international community for reconstruction aid, all assistance should be contingent on arranging the release of Goldwasser and Regev. This summer's ceasefire was supposed to secure their release. We cannot allow the world to forget their fates.

In late September, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to join a massive pile-on against Israel at the Francophonie summit. Most of the other 72 countries were ready to approve a resolution lamenting Lebanon's suffering and not Israel's. Standing on principle, Harper forced the leaders of the world's French-speaking nations to acknowledge the suffering of everyone caught in the crossfire. Since then, many have asked how they can thank Harper, and they have responded logically by donating money to his party, by joining his party and by seeking effective candidates who can win in contested districts.

Another way to salute Harper is to emulate his example. We have an opportunity to stand on principle, to rally around a seemingly hopeless cause, and make a statement affirming humanity, democracy and civilization. If we fail, there are at least three families in Israel who will remain grateful for our efforts.