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Israel Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2015 6 Comments
My wife and I are back, after an intense two weeks in Israel. From the Lebanese to Gaza borders, from the Mediterranean Sea to Judea and Samaria, from the cool evenings of Jerusalem to the heat of the Negev Desert, from an apartment in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem to Bedouin villages in the north and south, from university campuses to military bases, from faculty to students, from Jews to Muslims ... I can't say we saw it all, but we saw a lot. I've documented most of our big events in daily posts, with the exception of our emotional meetings with the families of Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner, students killed in the 1969 Supersol supermarket bombing by Rasmea Odeh; that post is coming, but I still have new photos, documents and information I have to work through. Here are my 5 Big Takeaways from the trip:

1. Our Revenge Is That "We Are Still Here"

Near the start of our trip, we visited Moshav Avivim on the Lebanese border, where we met Shimon Biton, a survivor of the 1970 bazooka attack on a school bus by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Biton, who was six and one-half years old, lost his father in the attack, and himself was shot point blank range by the terrorists when they realized he survived the bazooka attack.  Ten days before we met Biton, he was reunited for the first time in 45 years with the nurse who helped save him.  (Featured Image)

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 05, 2015 4 Comments
On June 12, 2014, a terror cell affiliated with Hamas kidnapped Naftali Fraenkel (16), Gilad Shaer (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19) in the West Bank. After an intensive hunt and crackdown on Hamas throughout the West Bank, they were found dead. The murderers months later were located and killed by Israeli forces. Contrary to popular mythology, the kidnapping did not cause Israel to attack Gaza weeks later. Rather, the cause of the Gaza conflict was when Hamas started firing rockets from Gaza at Israel without stop. While driving on the way back from Hebron, I saw a sign (Featured Image), designating a forest in the memory of the three teens. It is at the Gush Etzion junction in an area of settlements near where the teens were abducted. The visit to Hebron was quite interesting. Hebron had the oldest continuous Jewish community in the world -- dating back several hundred years -- until Arab riots in 1929 killed 67 Hebron Jews and ethnically cleansed Jews from the city.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 04, 2015 2 Comments
Problems between the Bedouins in the Negev desert area in the south of Israel and the government over redevelopment plans have received a lot of media attention, including at Legal Insurrection: As with every problem in Israel, there are dozens of Israeli and international "human rights" groups seeking to exploit the issue for a greater purpose unrelated to actually helping the Bedouin. So the media narrative is spun as the bad Jews trying to steal land. The Israeli side of the story rarely is told in the media. In part that reflects media bias, in part that Israel is not very good at getting its story out. So during our trip to the south of the country, we met with and toured the area with a local official from the Israeli government ministry which is handling Bedouin redevelopment issues. The official spoke Arabic fluently and was intimately familiar with the Bedouin tribes and culture. (We also were accompanied by our Negev guide, Danny Kella, who also guided us along the Gaza border.) Negev Bedouin Rahat Regional Satellite Map The official was frank in his assessments.  He acknowledged that there are real problems and that the situation has not been handled as well as it should have been. But he also felt that a lot of the problems had causes on each side of the equation and was misrepresented in the media.

Posted by David Gerstman on June 03, 2015 21 Comments
President Obama's speech a week and a half ago at Washington D.C. synagogue Adas Israel was alternatively promoted as both an opportunity to address the scourge of anti-semitism, and a chance to reach out to American Jews. The speech did nothing to advance either goal and was tone-deaf to any Jews, or Americans for that matter, who don't buy into the president's foreign policy. As far as his reaching out, the president simply rehashed all of his administration's arguments about closing off Iran's paths to a nuclear weapon. He offered nothing new. Of course, he said that the deal he's trying to make with Iran will make Israel safer. He made a point of saying that he shares the goal with Israel of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; but he said it with no real conviction. He was just repeating a talking point. Repeating all of his talking points isn't going to convince someone who doesn't already agree with him. Notably, he repeated his 2012 line about having Israel's back. But with Israel's political establishment - Isaac Herzog is no less skeptical of the emerging deal than Benjamin Netanyahu is - doubting the efficacy of the ongoing diplomacy, that claim hardly seems credible. He says that he welcomes debate, but the night before Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Congress, Obama gave an interview to Reuters attempting to undercut Netanyahu's arguments.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 31, 2015 6 Comments
Our journey off the usual tourist trail through Israel continued today with a visit to border areas near Gaza. Sderot is famous for being the closest Israeli town to Gaza, and the first and most frequent target. The Sderot Media Center has a wealth of information. Sderot Satellite Map North Gaza Because Sderot is so close, the town has only 15 seconds warning once a launch is detected. This video is from 2008: There are bomb shelters everywhere, including on the street (see Featured Image - "Shalom" painted on a bomb shelter) and in the playground, where the bomb shelter is in the form of a large caterpillar so as to make it more welcoming to children.

Posted by Mike LaChance on May 31, 2015 6 Comments
Professor Jacobson has written extensively about the BDS movement and the effort to boycott the boycotters. Senator Ted Cruz has a new idea. Take federal funds away from schools that boycott Israel. He made the remarks at the Champion of Jewish Values International Awards Gala. Among attendees was Sheldon Adelson, an influential donor to Republican politicians. Katie Zezima of the Washington Post writes:
Cruz: Universities that boycott Israel should lose federal funding NEW YORK -- Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that universities that boycott Israel should lose their federal funding. Cruz's remarks were aimed at the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, which is gaining traction on college campuses. It calls for U.S. companies and universities to divest from Israel. Cruz has spoken against BDS but sharpened his tone Thursday. The nation needs a president who will ensure that "if a university boycotts the nation of Israel then that university will forfeit federal taxpayer dollars," Cruz said at the Champion of Jewish Values International Awards Gala here, where he received the Defender of Israel Award. "BDS is premised on a lie and it is antisemitism plain and simple."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 30, 2015 5 Comments
In 2013, I traveled extensively in Samaria. You can find photos and description of that travel here, To Samaria and back. On Friday, May 29, 2015, I traveled to Mount Gerizim and the Samaritan community, on a high peak in Samaria. Mount Gerizim Map Road Mount Gerizim overlooks the city of Nablus and the Balata refugee camp, and contains ancient ruins of the original Samaritans (the Islamic style dome is not part of the original ruins): [caption id="attachment_129103" align="alignnone" width="600"][Mount Gerizim Samaritan Ruins - Dome Not Original] [Mount Gerizim Samaritan Ruins - Dome Not Original][/caption]Mount Gerizim - Samaritan Ruins overlooking Nablus and Balata Refugee Camp Amid conflict, Samaritans keep unique identity (CNN 2002):

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2015 6 Comments
Ah, the beach in Tel Aviv. The Featured Image shows the view north from in front of my hotel. There is a huge amount of construction going on up and down the beach -- luxury hotels and residence buildings. The building on the far right in the Featured Image is the U.S. Embassy. That's right, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv is beachfront on the most prized section in Tel Aviv. U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv Beach Satellite

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 29, 2015 8 Comments
According to Haaretz, the Palestinians have backed off their push to ban Israel from FIFA. Watch live: Haaretz reports:
4:50 P.M: Palestinian soccer chief welcomes Eini's call for a handshake, but demands FIFA vote on compromise deal: "Let bygones be bygones," Rajoub said. FIFA president Sepp Blatter told the congress that at this point "there is no motion to ban any association from the league." 4:45 P.M. Palestinians introduce amended version of proposal, which drops demand for banning Israel from FIFA, but includes the formation of a committee to look into the freedom of movement for Palestinian soccer players, Israeli racism, and the status of Israeli league teams based in the West Bank.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 29, 2015 8 Comments
That's Legal Insurrection reader Joel E. who lives in a town near Tel Aviv, and reached out to me when he read I was heading for Israel. The featured image is us at a really good falafel place near the beach. I also saw Legal Insurrection favorite and sometimes contributor "Anne in Petah Tikva" and her husband.  Except that night, she was "Anne in Tel Aviv." William Jacobson and Anne in Petah Tikva It's a tough life, but someone has to live it.

Posted by Amy Miller on May 28, 2015 4 Comments
We've provided extensive coverage of the BDS movement's battle against the inclusion of Israeli-made products at food cooperatives. Most recently (and closest to the hearts of the Legal Insurrection team,) the members of the Ithaca-based GreenStar Food Co Op won a very hard-fought battle against BDS activists fighting for a referendum that called for the boycott of Israeli products. A Co Op in Olympia, Washington, however, has found itself on the opposite end of the spectrum. Members of the Olympia Food Cooperative sued the Co Op's board after board members decided to protest Israel's alleged human rights violations via a Co Op-wide boycott of Israeli-made products. Plaintiffs claimed that the boycott violated the Co Op's own boycott policy; the board, however, invoked Washington's anti-SLAPP statute, claiming that the plaintiffs had filed a frivolous lawsuit as a way of suppressing public discussion. The plaintiff group was SLAPPed (I had to) with over $200,000 in fines and penalties, but appealed, claiming the SLAPP statute itself was unconstitutional. Guess what---they won.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 28, 2015 11 Comments
Continuing on my tour in northern Israel, on May 27, 2015, I visited the Bedouin village of Khawaled led by our guide Hassan Khawaled. Hassan Khawaled Most of the people in the village have the village name as a last name, or a variant, such as the first Israeli Bedouin diplomat Ishmael Khaldi, who is from the village. Khawaled is east of Haifa, in the Galilee region. Khawaled Village Northern Israel Map The Bedouin are Arab Muslims with a unique culture. Most Israeli Bedouins live in the south of the country in the Negev region, but there is a sizable presence in the Galilee. The Israeli Bedouin are not obligated to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, but many volunteer to do so. Bedouin have achieved great success in the IDF, and are particularly known as trackers at the borders.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 26, 2015 10 Comments
On Tuesday, May 25, 2015, we continued our tour of northern Israel along the Lebanese border, stopping at Moshav Avivim. While our discovery of a memorial to the victims of the Haifa Bus 37 suicide bombing and our visit to Ziv Hospital in Safed, and its Syrian patients, were unexpected, our visit to the Moshav was even more emotional and full of surprises - Revenge and Reunion. We met with Shimon Biton, the Secretary of the Moshav.  (Our excellent guide, Udi Guberman, provided translation, as Shimon does not speak English.) [caption id="attachment_128643" align="alignnone" width="550"][Shimon Biton, Moshav Avivim, Israel] [Shimon Biton, Moshav Avivim, Israel][/caption]A Moshav is a type of collective farming community where homes are owned individually and owners are allotted separate plots of land, but the community shares in certain expenses and resources. (Unlike a classic kibbutz, where all the property is communal.) There currently are 120 families in the Moshav, 480 people. There are plans to expand to add at least another 50 families, and the demand outpaces available spots. Moshav Avivim sits along the Lebanese border, just south of Bint Jbeil and Maroun Al-Ras.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 25, 2015 6 Comments
Yesterday I reported on the Haifa Bus 37 suicide bombing in 2003, and how I stumbled on the Memorial during my first full day in Haifa. Today was a travel day that took us even further north, to the Lebanese border. I'll have a report in the next couple of days on the extraordinary story of a child survivor of another bus bombing, and the unexpected recent twist in his life some 45 years later. Now I report on a different aspect of terror, and the extraordinary Israeli humanitarian effort. I traveled to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed (Zefat), Israel. Ziv is the major trauma center serving the northestern part of the country from the Upper Gallile to the Golan Heights. Safed Rivka Ziv Medical Center Regional Map Because Ziv is only 11 kilometers from Lebanon, Ziv was targeted by Hezbollah rockets during the 2006 Lebanon War. It has undergone, and still is undergoing, a process of creating reinforced operating room theaters and patient facilities to protect against future rocket attacks.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on May 24, 2015 11 Comments
In Israel, you are never far away from terror or the memory of terror. I learned that by chance tonight. We arrived in Israel late afternoon yesterday, May 23, 2015.  Today was planned as a rest day to try to adjust to the 7-hour time difference. From the airport we headed directly for Haifa, the northernmost big city in Israel, with a population just under 300,000.  It is a very mixed city, both ethnically and religiously. Haifa Country Satellite Map We started the day with the classic Israeli Shakshuka breakfast at the Villa Carmel, where we are staying:

Posted by Amy Miller on May 24, 2015 14 Comments
An Israeli civil servant committed suicide on Saturday after a Facebook post accusing him of racism went viral. Ariel Ronis, 47, managed the Population, Immigration and Border Crossing Authority (PIBA) offices in Tel Aviv. Last week, a black Israeli woman posted a note on Facebook about her experiences in the office, accusing various staff---including Ronis---of treating her unfairly because of the color of her skin. She says that she was denied services by a clerk, and then told by Ronis to "get out of his face" when she complained about it. She claims the incident made her cry, and caused her a considerable amount of distress. Her post caught the attention of the online community and the media, and went viral. Ronis was officially smeared, and judging by a note he posted to his own Facebook page, the incident pushed him over the edge. Screen Shot 2015-05-24 at 4.26.58 PM The Times of Israel translated his post:

Posted by David Gerstman on May 22, 2015 8 Comments
When in 1993 Israel and the PLO agreed to make peace, PLO chief Yasser Arafat committed to forswear violence and engage in bilateral negotiations. The thousands of Israelis killed, especially during the so-called Aqsa intifada - really a terror campaign orchestrated by Arafat - show that the Palestinians didn't keep to the first commitment. The ongoing lawfare campaigns against Israel in the United Nations and other international organizations show that they haven't kept the second either. The latest manifestation of this lawfare against Israel to make the news is the effort by Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) to suspend Israel from FIFA, the governing body of international soccer. Sepp Blatter, the controversial president of FIFA is trying to defuse the situation. He is also running for reelection. At FIFA's Congress later this month Rajoub wants to bring his motion to a vote. To suspend Israel would require a three fourths vote against Israel. The problem is that Israel has not violated any of FIFA's bylaws. But that doesn't mean that Rajoub won't try.
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