The 2018 March of the Living marks thirty years since the first 1,500 participants gathered in Poland and marched along the path of memory that marchers have taken each year since.
As we again gather in Poland to march together from Auschwitz to Birkenau, we are more than merely walking along the 3.2-kilometer path that connects these two historical sites of our Jewish past. We are marching from our past into our future.
March of the Living participants learn and feel history where history happened. This experience provides a pivotal and transformative moment for many and it is for that reason we are steadfast in our commitment to teach the lessons of history where they occurred.
We are visiting ancestors who rest here on these hallowed grounds and keeping a communal promise to never forget but always remember them, their lives and their legacy. With each footstep, our presence chants a silent but strong and meaningful “Hineni” – I Am Here.
March of the Living participants learn and feel history where history happened. This experience provides a pivotal and transformative moment for many and it is for that reason we are steadfast in our commitment to teach the lessons of history where they occurred.
I believe that our presence is felt, our voices are heard and our commitment to memory is transmitted to those who perished as well as those who survived each year as we make this journey. We renew an important statement to the Jewish People: we are another generation of survivors committed to helping protect the future.
By learning the lessons of the past, we are strengthened to protect the future. By visiting the sites of the past, we become witnesses to history with tools of truth as devices of defense. Many March of the Living alumni have successfully taken their place as leaders in communities around the world. This is a clear tribute to this organization’s educational philosophy and purpose, which have helped empower them to do so. Our belief in the importance of the transmission of memory to the continuity and stability of our future is a message we will continue to teach as we march into the next thirty years and beyond.
The role of the March of the Living in the future of the Jewish People rests in our commitment to carry the torch of memory as a means of igniting an attachment to the past as a connector to the future. We are in the unique position of educating a committed group of alumni who can lead Jewish communities around the world into the future. If knowledge is power, then memory is truly powerful. Our younger generations face fast-paced and ever-changing times, and we take seriously our responsibility to prepare them to feel better equipped to face the future.
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau leading the March of the Living in 2015
By reaching back to their roots and understanding the strength they possess within themselves, our alumni expand their horizons, embrace new directions and serve as change-agents in their classes, communities and countries. The many individual initiatives and innovative projects we have seen alumni create as a result of their March of the Living experience is true testimony to the power of this thought-provoking program.
The expanding of one’s mind using reflections of the past as tools to address the future is a valuable asset for anyone hoping to make a difference. We are proud to have been able to provide so many participants with an experience affording them the opportunity to understand the past and contribute to the future. We have a firm commitment to continue our mission for many more years to come in the firm belief that the world is a better place because of the March of the Living and the graduates we send out into the world who are indeed committed to making a difference.
Phyllis Greenberg Heideman is President of the International March of the Living, an immersive Holocaust education experience that brings individuals from around the world to Poland to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hatred.
President Donald Trump says his administration will likely say “after the fact” how it decided to respond to a suspected chemical attack on the outskirts of Syria’s capital.
“It will be met, and it will be met forcefully,” Trump said before meeting with senior military leaders late Monday. He highlighted what he said was the power of the United States to stop atrocities like the attack Saturday in rebel-held eastern Ghouta that killed at least 40 people.
A global chemical weapons watchdog said Tuesday it will send a team to the Syrian town of Douma to investigate the poison gas attack.
“We have a lot of options, militarily,” he said, without giving specifics. Last year, he ordered missile strikes on a Syrian airfield believed by the U.S. to have been used for the launch of another chemical attack. Trump was critical of former president Obama for what he said was a failing strategy of publicizing planned military maneuvers ahead of time.
Syria has denied using chemical weapons throughout the conflict that began in 2011, including the most recent suspected chemical attack. Russia said there is no evidence Syria carried out such an attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday the United States has taken an unconstructive position and is refusing to face reality.
Trump said Monday, “We are getting some very good clarity,” regarding who was responsible, a task that has been difficult throughout the Syrian war and the source of conflict among the many international players involved.
Earlier he told his Cabinet at a White House meeting that the U.S. would figure out who was responsible for the attack, whether it was Syria, Russia, Iran or “all of them together.”
The U.S. has also requested that the U.N. Security Council vote Tuesday afternoon on a resolution calling for a new investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Syria. A resolution would need nine votes and no vetoes by Russia, Britain, China or the U.S. to be approved. Russia says it does not agree with the U.S. draft.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the council in a statement Tuesday to “redouble its efforts to agree upon a dedicated mechanism for accountability.”
A global chemical weapons watchdog said Tuesday it will send a team to the Syrian town of Douma to investigate the poison gas attack.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it would go to Douma after an appeal to do so.
“This has coincided with the request from the Syrian Arab Republic and the Russian Federation to investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma,” OPCW said. “The team is preparing to deploy to Syria shortly.”
Moscow’s envoy Vassily Nebenzia said that Russian experts have already visited the site, collected soil samples, interviewed witnesses and medical personnel, and have concluded that no chemical weapons attack had taken place.
Moscow’s envoy Vassily Nebenzia said that Russian experts have already visited the site, collected soil samples, interviewed witnesses and medical personnel, and have concluded that no chemical weapons attack had taken place.
Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the White House announced that President Trump would be canceling a scheduled trip to Latin America in order to “oversee the American response to Syria.”
In a related development, it was reported on Tuesday that Tom Bossert, President Trump’s top Homeland Security adviser, abruptly resigned in the latest in a long line of senior officials to leave the Trump administration.
No reason was given for his resignation, but it came a day after former UN ambassador John Bolton assumed his new role as Trump’s third national security adviser in the 15 months of his presidency. Both Bloomberg News and CNN reported that Bossert was quitting at Bolton’s request.
The 43-year-old Bossert had served in Trump’s White House since his inauguration, a key adviser to the president on cyber security, who also was a prominent official in handling the government’s response last year to devastating hurricanes in Texas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
“The president is grateful for Tom’s commitment to the safety and security of our great country.” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. “Tom led the White House’s efforts to protect the homeland from terrorist threats, strengthen our cyber defenses, and respond to an unprecedented series of natural disasters. President Trump thanks him for his patriotic service and wishes him well.”
U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the Security Council on Monday that both Russia and Iran could stop the Syrian government’s “murderous destruction,” adding that Moscow’s hands are “covered in the blood of Syrian children.”
Britain says Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson spoke to Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan by phone and the two “agreed that, based on current media reports and reports from those on the ground, this attack bore hallmarks of previous chemical weapons attacks by the Assad regime.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has also spoken by telephone with Trump several times to coordinate their response to Saturday’s attack.
Cecile Shea, a non-resident fellow in global security and diplomacy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, also said Syria is likely responsible, citing a lack of other forces capable of manufacturing and deploying such chemical weapons.
“But I think we really need to find out as quickly as we can what the hallmarks of this attack were, and I do believe that we will be able to figure out if it was an attack by the Assad regime,” Shea told VOA. “And if it was, then that is an example of a nation violating a treaty that has been in force for 95 years, a general rule of law and just fundamental strictures of humanity. And then I think the president and our allies should take action together to punish whoever did this.”
Trump said Monday, “We are getting some very good clarity,” regarding who was responsible, a task that has been difficult throughout the Syrian war and the source of conflict among the many international players involved.
In terms of preparing for a possible US attack on Syrian soil, the Britain-Based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that as of Monday night, troops have been on a 72-hour alert and are fortifying their positions, according to a Fox News report.
The report also indicated that the Sound and Picture Organization, an activist collective in eastern Syria, said on Tuesday that Iranian fighters and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group have evacuated their positions in the Boukamal area, near Iraq’s border.
The UNHCR said of thousands of civilians remain trapped in eastern Ghouta after an estimated 133,000 left the enclave during the past four weeks. The agency reiterated calls for all sides in the conflict to protect civilians and allow them to move freely.
According to a TPS report, a Senior Iranian official has warned that Israel’s missile attack over the weekend on the Syrian T-4 airbase “will not remain without response,” Lebanon’s al-Mayaden television channel reported Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Israel’s ambassador to Russia, Gary Koren, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow in the wake of the attack. Iran’s Tasnim news agency updated Tuesday that seven Iranians were among the dead and their bodies had been brought to Tehran for burial.
Russia also assigned blame to Israel for the attack overnight between Sunday and Monday, saying that two Israeli Air Force jets F-15 jets fired eight guided missiles from Lebanese airspace at the T-4 airfield between Homs and Palmyra some 250 kilometers from Damascus.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the strike on the base a “very dangerous development.”
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Israel did not inform Russia of the planned attack, calling Israel’s actions “a cause for concern”.
Kremlin officials said that no Russian advisers present at T-4 at the time of the attack were injured in the airstrike.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi called the strike a “blatant violation of international law which would strengthen terrorists.”
Israeli officials have remained silent on the strike, however an INN report said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a cryptic reference to the incident, when, while speaking at a ceremony marking a major housing development in the southern city of Sderot, said, “We have one clear and simple rule and we seek to express it constantly: If someone tries to attack you – rise up and attack him.”
Former Israeli OC Southern Command Yoav Galant also alluded to the strike when at the same event he said “Syria cannot become a springboard for weapons transfers to Lebanon.”
According to an INN report, Security Cabinet member MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) responded on Facebook to the recent events in Syria.
“In 2012, then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz told me in a private conversation, ‘One day we will need to account to ourselves what we did during the time that, across the border, people were being massacred,’” Shelah wrote.
“He, and the politicians who were above him, thought that any Israeli intervention in the events in Syria–other than the red lines which were set then and are still relevant now, and which pertain to Israel’s obvious security interests–will not do any good, and may do bad. There was a completely understandable resistance to involving Israel in the civil war across the border. I admit, I thought the same.
“Today I am convinced that we should have acted. We should have banned flights, because only Assad’s murderous planes were flying in Syria’s skies back then. We should have done everything diplomatically possible, we should have declared that we would protect the civilians’ flight routes. There was no lack of ideas back then, either. And I admit, again, I thought differently. Or maybe I didn’t think enough.”
Shelah also emphasized that Israel is not responsible for the massacre, but should have done something, according to the INN report.
“It needs to be clear: Bashar al-Assad is the only one responsible for murdering over half a million of his people, while he receives protection from patrons in Moscow and Tehran. And Israel, first of all, has an obligation to protect its citizens and borders. I believe that war must be a last resort. But war isn’t the only way to act, and Israel is not a regular country,” he said.
On Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Hashoah), Thursday, April 12, under the theme “From Holocaust to Redemption,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin led an international procession of more than 12,000 students and adults from around the world on the International March of the Living, which this year marks 30 years of the organization’s own Holocaust education programming and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
The President’s delegation, which also included Shin Bet Chief Nadav Argaman, Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen, IDF Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizenkot, and Police Commissioner Roni Alshich, marched with the crowds down the 3-kilometer path leading from Auschwitz to Birkenau as a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust, an event regarded as one of the greatest tragedies in Jewish and human history.
“The recent intensification of anti-Semitism and racism from the global community highlights the importance of the March of the Living, which provides vital Holocaust education and helps to perpetuate the memory of the victims and heroes of this dark period in history,” said Dr. Shmuel Rosenman, Founder and Co-Chairman of the March of the Living. “These important milestones – ours and Israel’s – reminds us that time is not our friend, and that our survivors will not be around forever to tell their stories. By providing an opportunity for youth to interact with survivors in the very places that they were victimized, we are able to emphasize the need for a world governed by the values of mutual respect and acceptance of the other and plant the seeds for a more tolerant society.”
While leading the March of the Living’s largest-ever procession, President Rivlin was also joined by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who signed a controversial bill on February 6 that outlaws blaming Poland for any crimes committed during the Holocaust, Yad Vashem Council chairman and Holocaust survivor Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, a delegation of UN Ambassadors, and representatives of Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea Football Club, which launched the #SayNoToAntisemitism campaign earlier this year, an initiative to raise awareness of and tackle anti-Semitism in all its forms.
When addressing the record crowd during the closing ceremony at Birkenau, President Rivlin took the opportunity to send a clear message to President Duda about his stance on the Polish Holocaust bill and how he envisions the future of the Polish-Israeli relationship.
“We stand here and we know, that from this place we cannot hope for justice. In this place, where the ashes of our brothers and sisters were swallowed by the soil, no justice will grow. We do not expect justice in a Europe that seeks – too quickly – to forget, to eradicate the memory, to deny, to destroy evidence. But, our memory, the memory of the Jewish People, is the antithesis of the haste of the Nazis,” said Rivlin.
“We are a nation that remembers, our memory is patient. Engraved in our memory are those who murdered and then inherited, those who, after the war had ended, thought that Jewish blood was cheap and forsaken, and so they slaughtered those Jews who returned to their homes. True, there were men and women who put their own lives and the lives of their dear ones at risk for the sake of others, and they, too, will be remembered and honored forever. Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny the truth. True, it was Germany that established the camps, but our people were not murdered only in the camps. The members of our nation were betrayed by the people amongst whom they lived, in France, in Holland, and in Belgium. They were murdered by Ukrainians, Lithuanians and yes, also by Poles.”
“It is the right of every nation to rewrite sections of its own narrative, to rebuild itself from its ruins. However, if the Polish People feels that its image has been distorted by the events of the Holocaust, it is more important that we cooperate, that we invest in education, that together we establish research institutes, that together we work on commemoration and remembrance, that together, we – Poles and Jews – study what happened, so that we make sure that it will never happen again.”
In his own address, President Duda echoed the importance of perpetuating Holocaust memory and explained that he saw the joint participation of the two presidents as “a sign and a proof of the victory of life over death, the victory of memory over oblivion.”
The International March of the Living is an immersive Holocaust education experience – the largest of its kind – that brings tens of thousands of individuals to Poland every year to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hatred. Since its inception in 1988, more than 300,000 participants from 52 countries have marched down the same 3-kilometer path leading from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Memorial Day as a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust. Over the last 30 years, high-profile participants have included Israeli Prime Ministers, Presidents, Members of Knesset, Chiefs of Staff, and Ministers, as well as Presidents, Ministers of Education, intellectuals, and educators from around the world.
First-ever organized delegation from Japan joined the 30th March of the Living. (Photo Credit: Kobi Gidon)
This year’s record-breaking contingent of more than 12,000 youth and adults from around the world, both Jews and non-Jews from 14 countries – including Argentina, Canada, the United States, Poland, the UK and Japan – accompanied the honorary delegation of 70 Holocaust survivors for the moving, meaningful and historic march.
In his closing ceremony remarks, Dr. Rosenman stressed that the tears being shed at the march and the good intentions of all the participants would not be “good enough” in the global fight againts evil, racism and discrimination and urged all of the youth present to take action for the sake of the entire human race. “I ask that each one of you make a sincere pledge, that you will help create a better world for all humanity, so that no nation, no people, should ever have another Auschwitz, a Majdanek or a Treblinka built for their destruction. Let us also join hands with our brave survivors and pledge to them that we will always remember their stories, their pain, and their suffering, and we will pass on these lessons to the next generation so that they will never be repeated.”
Prior to the march on Holocaust Memorial Day, the participating youth delegations – comprised of both Jews and non-Jews – visited ghettos, monuments and death camps to learn about life in Europe prior to World War II, the Holocaust and the suffering of its tens of millions of victims. Following the march, the participants continued on to Israel for a week of study that will culminate in Israel’s Independence Day celebrations.
When members of Columbia’s Students Supporting Israel campus group set up a memorial booth on April 11th, for Holocaust Remembrance Day, honoring the 6 million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis, the memorial was disrupted by the screaming chants of anti-Israel protesters.
The table for the commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day had testimonials from Holocaust survivors as well as memorial candles laid out. After an hour in which Jewish students shared the stories of holocaust survivors, a large group of anti-Israel protests gathered across the plaza from the SSI table.
The protestors, a coalition of groups that make up Columbia University’s Apartheid and Divest student group, stood on Columbia’s College Walk chanting, “From Gaza to the plaza, globalize the Intifada!” This was followed by more violent chants such as, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” These slogans, call for the ethnic cleansing of the Jews and the destruction of the state of Israel.
Shocked and sickened to the core, Jewish students persisted with their event by reminding those who passed by both that today was Holocaust Memorial Day, and that Jews must continue to fight anti-Semitism wherever it appears.
This was no coincidence, last year during Holocaust Memorial Day, the same anti-Israel group invited the founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions group who has openly called for the destruction of the Jewish state and its people.
On Tuesday, Columbia University students in Students Supporting Israel submitted a detailed summary of anti-Semitic acts on Columbia’s campus, ranging from the tearing down of flyers to the bullying of pro-Israel students. After months of complacency, in which Columbia University has failed to respond with disciplinary actions, the detailed summary and related evidence were released yesterday to the public. Full Detailed Memo On anti-Semitism at Columbia.
Now is the time to expose this anti-Semitism on campus so that Jews can feel safe going to class and commemorating the Holocaust without hearing protests that call for the destruction of their state. The strength of Students Supporting Israel reminds us that we must not only say “Never Again”, but make a commitment to make sure that the Holocaust never happens again.
Here are two videos made from Students Supporting Israel at Columbia university, covering the anti-Semitism on campus and opinions of students.
On Sunday morning, April 15th, several hundred Brooklyn residents assembled at the corner of Kings Highway and McDonald Avenue in the Gravesend section to voice their staunch opposition to a Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transit Authority plan to implement a “Selective Bus Service” plan along the B82 route.
Holding aloft signs that say “Save Our Streets”, the neighborhood protestors (comprised of residents and business owners) as well as a bevy of local elected officials called on the DOT to abrogate what they perceive as an “ill intentioned” plan.
Said one resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “This plan that calls for the institution of express bus service along Kings Highway will serve to severely hurt the economic well-being of the numerous commercial enterprises on the avenue. The new bus lane will take over blocks and blocks of metered parking spots. That translates into more frustrated drivers who cannot find a parking spot. And if they can’t find a parking spot, they can’t shop along Kings Highway and that means that the shop owners will suffer financially.”
Addressing the safety aspect that looms over the concept of express buses another resident said, “This SBS plan will also place pedestrians in great danger as Kings Highway will be jam packed with buses and other vehicles and the risk of getting hit by a bus will increase dramatically.”
Other residents said that, “elected officials and politicians should be reminded that it is through the tax dollars of the Kings Highway businesses that are they compensated for their services.”
Another resident said, “Right now, what would help with easing vehicular congestion on Kings Highway is for the DOT to more aggressively ticket those who flagrantly double park. It is clear that both buses and passenger vehicles cannot drive down Kings Highway in a timely manner when they are blocked by those who double park.”
Senator Simcha Felder told the determined crowd that “these are our streets; we live here and it should be left to us to decide the future of our neighborhood and its value as a vibrant hub of commercial success. The business owners are local residents as are those who shop there and placing an SBS route on the B82 will be a tremendous blow to the economic welfare of the community and we have told the DOT and the MTA that we will not accept that scenario under any condition.”
Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (Center) came out strong against the proposal
Also addressing the community rally was Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz and Councilman Kalman Yeger. Said Councilman Yeger, “ We have never had this kind of support, this kind of achdus for a project like this before. We know that Kings Highway is a not a highway, but a residential/commercial street and we want to preserve it as such for everyone who lives here and for generations to come.”
Councilman Mark Treger said, “There is a reason that my colleagues and I got a call after the Town Hall meeting and before today’s rally saying that the MTA has put this plan on hold. It is because as a community, when our voices are joined as one, we can have the power and influence to make a difference for everyone who resides in the Kings Highway area.”
Shirley Feldman makes her case against the proposed express bus route on King’s highway.
According to an eye-opening report in the Gotham Gazette, supporters of SBS routes throughout the New York City metropolitan area have been severely disappointed in the results of such transit experiments. The report explicitly revealed that SBS “has not solved the problems that it promised to solve, such as stemming the loss of ridership, making buses more reliable, or significantly shortening passenger trip times.”
A report issued by City Comptroller Scott Stringer and is entitled, “The Other Transit Crisis: How to Improve the NYC Bus System” states that “of the nine SBS routes introduced prior to 2016, five have experienced a ridership decline. SBS routes travel at an average speed of 8.7 miles per hour, or just slightly better than the seven miles per hour achieved by local buses. City-wide, SBS routes fail to maintain steady, evenly spaced service 19 percent of the time, while local buses fail 22 percent of the time.”
Corroborating these facts is Margie Bijou, a board member of the Kings Highway Business Association. The organization that Ms. Bijou represents has championed community opposition to the proposed SBS route since learning about it in early February of this year.
“During a routine board meeting of the KHBA back in February did we learn about the MTA’s plan for express bus service on Kings Highway. After conducting exhaustive research into this important matter, I learned that despite their protestations to the contrary, it turned out that the MTA and the DOT (who work in consonance on these kinds of projects) did not survey 235 businesses in the Kings Highway area and beyond to ascertain the feelings of residents,” Ms. Bijou exclaimed.
She added that the once heralded cachet and influence of Community Board # 15, (which regularly debates local and city governmental matters that impact its residents) was effectively silenced by the MTA bigwigs. “I was told that even though there is growing community opposition to the SBS route, that it really did not matter what the results of the community board were and that this ill-conceived plan would go into effect this coming summer. We all felt that this plan was being foisted upon us unwillingly and many of us resent that,” she added.
For Ms. Bijou and the community members that she represents this issue far exceeds the scope of express buses running along Kings Highway. “For us, the way in which this entire unfortunate episode was handled by the city – namely the MTA and the DOT – was the truly frightening aspect to this story. They tried to stonewall us on every occasion; they tried to push something on us that we find repugnant in every way. After giving this matter much thought it appears that if governmental authorities are in a position to wield way too much power, they can force other very harmful regulations on communities. This would leave the average citizen’s group or community board without any tangible recourse in terms of voicing their opposition and determining their own fate.”
“Israel’s current strategic situation is one of the most favorable the country has known in its 70 years of existence.” That’s the view of Udi Dekel from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), who tempers his view by adding, “Our margins of security are narrow, we cannot rely on our laurels, or on IDF military power alone.”
Veteran Israeli diplomat Yoram Ettinger told World Israel News (WIN), “Our national security is beyond expectations compared to our situation 70 years ago. Before the War of Independence we were supposed to be resoundingly defeated. We surprised everyone by winning the war. Today Israel is the most reliable strategic ally of the US in the Middle East. We have secured our borders and we have become the life insurance policy for Arab allies of the US. Back then we were ‘consumers of American national security.’ Today we are security producers for ourselves, for the US and for its allies.”
Ettinger cautions that Israel is “still under existential threat from Iran and its proxies such as Hezbollah, but we are no longer totally dependent on outside help to survive. We have a strong posture of deterrence, and we are now a net security producer.”
Dan Diker from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs told WIN, “Israel is in better situation than David Ben Gurion could have dreamed of in 1948. We are the world’s leader in cyber defense, military technology, emergency management and counter-terrorism. According to Diker, “Israel has learned the hard way to be resilient in the face of terrorism, and has succeeded so well that we are now among the world leaders when pollsters take ‘measures of happiness.’ Our people feel secure and generally speaking feel that Israel is a quality place to live.”
Diker points out that, “instead of facing hostile nations and their armies at our borders, we face Hezbollah and Hamas” which he calls “hydra terror groups.” Diker explains, “The enemies control a population and command a military element, but they are still terrorists.” Diker says that “Iran pulls the strings as the state sponsor of terrorism and remains a challenging opponent.”
Professor Efraim Inbar from the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies told WIN, “Israel at 70 is in pretty good shape. There are no conventional threats to our existence. The main challenge is Iran and we must deal with them. On the other hand all of our one-time Sunni Muslim opponents have made peace with Israel and those who have not, need our help to stand up against Iran. We are now hoping for Trump’s help with Iran but it should also be clear that we have a strong army and can defend ourselves. Even with the Iran threat looming, we are still in a strong strategic situation.”
Former US Ambassador to Israel Danny Ayalon told WIN, “After 70 years the threats have increased 70 fold, but our military abilities have increased 700 times.” Ayalon explains, “Israel’s overall security is better than ever. The qualitative edge over our neighbors has increased. Iran remains a threat and so do its proxies. It’s a threat we are able to manage.”
Middle East analyst Amotz asa El told WIN, “Israel is a much better place than even a decade ago. All of our enemies have suffered from severe political restlessness and upheaval at home. Israel needs to remain vigilant. Sadly we still face life and death situations, but the Arab world around us is retreating from its historic vow to destroy the Jewish State. This is very meaningful in the long term because with all its bluster, Iran is relatively far away and cannot really confront us directly.”
Security expert Dr. Gerald Steinberg from Bar Ilan University told WIN, “Our overall security situation is very good. We used to worry about Arab armies with hundreds of aircraft and thousands of tanks. Those threats are gone. Sure there are skirmishes on the Gaza border and there are security incidents, but it’s not an existential threat. Even the intifada violence of 2001-2002 is not likely to return.”
“The notion of Iran in possession of nuclear weapons is a problem, but Israel can deal with the issue especially since it seems likely that the US will make efforts to reassert its presence. Iran supports Hezbollah in Lebanon. This remains a major threat to Israel, but in the worst case we are facing hundreds of rockets in the first days of a potential war. This is a containable danger and Israel’s survival would not be at stake,” he said. (World Israel News)
Israeli and Polish Presidents Lead Larget-Ever International “March of the Living” to Mark Organization’s 30th Anniversary, Israel’s 70th
On Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Hashoah), Thursday, April 12, under the theme “From Holocaust to Redemption,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin led an international procession of more than 12,000 students and adults from around the world on the International March of the Living, which this year marks 30 years of the organization’s own Holocaust education programming and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
The President’s delegation, which also included Shin Bet Chief Nadav Argaman, Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen, IDF Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizenkot, and Police Commissioner Roni Alshich, marched with the crowds down the 3-kilometer path leading from Auschwitz to Birkenau as a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust, an event regarded as one of the greatest tragedies in Jewish and human history.
First-ever organized delegation from Japan joined the 30th March of the Living. (Photo Credit: Kobi Gidon)
“The recent intensification of anti-Semitism and racism from the global community highlights the importance of the March of the Living, which provides vital Holocaust education and helps to perpetuate the memory of the victims and heroes of this dark period in history,” said Dr. Shmuel Rosenman, Founder and Co-Chairman of the March of the Living. “These important milestones – ours and Israel’s – reminds us that time is not our friend, and that our survivors will not be around forever to tell their stories. By providing an opportunity for youth to interact with survivors in the very places that they were victimized, we are able to emphasize the need for a world governed by the values of mutual respect and acceptance of the other and plant the seeds for a more tolerant society.”
While leading the March of the Living’s largest-ever procession, President Rivlin was also joined by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who signed a controversial bill onFebruary 6 that outlaws blaming Poland for any crimes committed during the Holocaust, Yad Vashem Council chairman and Holocaust survivor Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, a delegation of UN Ambassadors, and representatives of Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea Football Club, which launched the #SayNoToAntisemitism campaign earlier this year, an initiative to raise awareness of and tackle anti-Semitism in all its forms.
When addressing the record crowd during the closing ceremony at Birkenau, President Rivlin took the opportunity to send a clear message to President Duda about his stance on the Polish Holocaust bill and how he envisions the future of the Polish-Israeli relationship.
“We stand here and we know, that from this place we cannot hope for justice. In this place, where the ashes of our brothers and sisters were swallowed by the soil, no justice will grow. We do not expect justice in a Europe that seeks – too quickly – to forget, to eradicate the memory, to deny, to destroy evidence. But, our memory, the memory of the Jewish People, is the antithesis of the haste of the Nazis,” said Rivlin.
“We are a nation that remembers, our memory is patient. Engraved in our memory are those who murdered and then inherited, those who, after the war had ended, thought that Jewish blood was cheap and forsaken, and so they slaughtered those Jews who returned to their homes. True, there were men and women who put their own lives and the lives of their dear ones at risk for the sake of others, and they, too, will be remembered and honored forever. Nevertheless, it is impossible to deny the truth. True, it was Germany that established the camps, but our people were not murdered only in the camps. The members of our nation were betrayed by the people amongst whom they lived, in France, in Holland, and in Belgium. They were murdered by Ukrainians, Lithuanians and yes, also by Poles.”
“It is the right of every nation to rewrite sections of its own narrative, to rebuild itself from its ruins. However, if the Polish People feels that its image has been distorted by the events of the Holocaust, it is more important that we cooperate, that we invest in education, that together we establish research institutes, that together we work on commemoration and remembrance, that together, we – Poles and Jews – study what happened, so that we make sure that it will never happen again.”
In his own address, President Duda echoed the importance of perpetuating Holocaust memory and explained that he saw the joint participation of the two presidents as “a sign and a proof of the victory of life over death, the victory of memory over oblivion.”
The International March of the Living is an immersive Holocaust education experience – the largest of its kind – that brings tens of thousands of individuals to Poland every year to examine the roots of prejudice, intolerance and hatred. Since its inception in 1988, more than 300,000 participants from 52 countries have marched down the same 3-kilometer path leading from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Holocaust Memorial Day as a tribute to all victims of the Holocaust. Over the last 30 years, high-profile participants have included Israeli Prime Ministers, Presidents, Members of Knesset, Chiefs of Staff, and Ministers, as well as Presidents, Ministers of Education, intellectuals, and educators from around the world.
This year’s record-breaking contingent of more than 12,000 youth and adults from around the world, both Jews and non-Jews from 14 countries – including Argentina, Canada, the United States, Poland, the UK and Japan – accompanied the honorary delegation of 70 Holocaust survivors for the moving, meaningful and historic march.
In his closing ceremony remarks, Dr. Rosenman stressed that the tears being shed at the march and the good intentions of all the participants would not be “good enough” in the global fight againts evil, racism and discrimination and urged all of the youth present to take action for the sake of the entire human race. “I ask that each one of you make a sincere pledge, that you will help create a better world for all humanity, so that no nation, no people, should ever have another Auschwitz, a Majdanek or a Treblinka built for their destruction. Let us also join hands with our brave survivors and pledge to them that we will always remember their stories, their pain, and their suffering, and we will pass on these lessons to the next generation so that they will never be repeated.”
Prior to the march on Holocaust Memorial Day, the participating youth delegations – comprised of both Jews and non-Jews – visited ghettos, monuments and death camps to learn about life in Europe prior to World War II, the Holocaust and the suffering of its tens of millions of victims. Following the march, the participants continued on to Israel for a week of study that will culminate in Israel’s Independence Day celebrations.
Leading analysts weigh in regarding Israel’s security as it reaches a landmark anniversary
“Israel’s current strategic situation is one of the most favorable the country has known in its 70 years of existence.” That’s the view of Udi Dekel from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), who tempers his view by adding, “Our margins of security are narrow, we cannot rely on our laurels, or on IDF military power alone.”
According to Dan Diker from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, “Israel has learned the hard way to be resilient in the face of terrorism, and has succeeded so well that we are now among the world leaders when pollsters take ‘measures of happiness.’ Our people feel secure and generally speaking feel that Israel is a quality place to live.”
Veteran Israeli diplomat Yoram Ettinger told World Israel News (WIN), “Our national security is beyond expectations compared to our situation 70 years ago. Before the War of Independence we were supposed to be resoundingly defeated. We surprised everyone by winning the war. Today Israel is the most reliable strategic ally of the US in the Middle East. We have secured our borders and we have become the life insurance policy for Arab allies of the US. Back then we were ‘consumers of American national security.’ Today we are security producers for ourselves, for the US and for its allies.”
Ettinger cautions that Israel is “still under existential threat from Iran and its proxies such as Hezbollah, but we are no longer totally dependent on outside help to survive. We have a strong posture of deterrence, and we are now a net security producer.”
Dan Diker from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs told WIN, “Israel is in better situation than David Ben Gurion could have dreamed of in 1948. We are the world’s leader in cyber defense, military technology, emergency management and counter-terrorism. According to Diker, “Israel has learned the hard way to be resilient in the face of terrorism, and has succeeded so well that we are now among the world leaders when pollsters take ‘measures of happiness.’ Our people feel secure and generally speaking feel that Israel is a quality place to live.”
Diker points out that, “instead of facing hostile nations and their armies at our borders, we face Hezbollah and Hamas” which he calls “hydra terror groups.” Diker explains, “The enemies control a population and command a military element, but they are still terrorists.” Diker says that “Iran pulls the strings as the state sponsor of terrorism and remains a challenging opponent.”
Professor Efraim Inbar from the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies told WIN, “Israel at 70 is in pretty good shape. There are no conventional threats to our existence. The main challenge is Iran and we must deal with them. On the other hand all of our one-time Sunni Muslim opponents have made peace with Israel and those who have not, need our help to stand up against Iran. We are now hoping for Trump’s help with Iran but it should also be clear that we have a strong army and can defend ourselves. Even with the Iran threat looming, we are still in a strong strategic situation.”
Former US Ambassador to Israel Danny Ayalon told WIN, “After 70 years the threats have increased 70 fold, but our military abilities have increased 700 times.” Ayalon explains, “Israel’s overall security is better than ever. The qualitative edge over our neighbors has increased. Iran remains a threat and so do its proxies. It’s a threat we are able to manage.”
Middle East analyst Amotz asa El told WIN, “Israel is a much better place than even a decade ago. All of our enemies have suffered from severe political restlessness and upheaval at home. Israel needs to remain vigilant. Sadly we still face life and death situations, but the Arab world around us is retreating from its historic vow to destroy the Jewish State. This is very meaningful in the long term because with all its bluster, Iran is relatively far away and cannot really confront us directly.”
Security expert Dr. Gerald Steinberg from Bar Ilan University told WIN, “Our overall security situation is very good. We used to worry about Arab armies with hundreds of aircraft and thousands of tanks. Those threats are gone. Sure there are skirmishes on the Gaza border and there are security incidents, but it’s not an existential threat. Even the intifada violence of 2001-2002 is not likely to return.”
“The notion of Iran in possession of nuclear weapons is a problem, but Israel can deal with the issue especially since it seems likely that the US will make efforts to reassert its presence. Iran supports Hezbollah in Lebanon. This remains a major threat to Israel, but in the worst case we are facing hundreds of rockets in the first days of a potential war. This is a containable danger and Israel’s survival would not be at stake,” he said.
The first time that I thought about taking a gap year in order to volunteer in a Jewish community was when I took part in the Zofim Friendship Caravan of 2016. For three months I was part of a group of 10 young people traveling around the Southeast U.S., visiting Jewish communities and performing for them. For some of them (both children and adults), it was their first encounter with Israeli culture, and I realized how much they longed for this and yearned to know more about Israel.
As I returned to Israel, I started exploring more about The Jewish Agency for Israel and its shlichut (emissary) programs and read a lot about Natan Sharansky, the organization’s chairman. His incredible life story reminded me of my great grandfather, who made aliyah after World War II, escaping from Poland to Russia and then to Uzbekistan in an attempt to rescue himself and his family. Like Natan, the hope of coming to Israel someday literally kept him alive.
I decided that I would to take action just like Natan and my grandfather, so I applied to The Jewish Agency’s Shinshinim (service year enrichment) program. This amazing program sends young Israelis to volunteer in Jewish communities all over the world and gives them the opportunity to be part of something bigger than themselves. I was accepted as a Shin-Shin (young emissary) in Brooklyn’s Jewish community.
Now, as Natan prepares to receive the Israel Prize (the state’s highest cultural honor) on April for Israeli Independence Day, I am honored to reflect on his legacy and what it means to me. Natan’s vision has come to life through The Jewish Agency’s network of more than 2,000 Israeli emissaries worldwide.
The first time I met Natan was at a seminar in Jerusalem, before arriving in the U.S. I met a very kind, down to earth man who spoke with so much passion about our role as emissaries in the Diaspora. Of course, I could fully understand this passion only when I got to the U.S. and started my shlichut.
There are three episodes that strongly influenced me during my time as an emissary in Brooklyn.
One was the personal story of the mother whose home I lived in. Growing up as a Jewish girl in Brooklyn, she didn’t have a strong connection to Judaism. She was raised as a secular American and didn’t even have a bat mitzvah. It was only after the birth of her children that she started to feel the need to explore her religion and joined the Conservative Jewish community. Natan also grew up without a sense of belonging to Judaism, and it was only after the 1967 Six-Day War that he started to have an interest in Israel and Jewish life.
Being a part of my hosting family and spending a lot of time together gave me the chance to better understand the American Jewish community, and for the family to learn more about Israel and the Israeli lifestyle. We felt the power of our shared legacy.
Another new experience for me in Brooklyn was shoveling snow. Since I’ve never done it before, I was excited to help my hosting sister with that. As we were shoveling the snow near our house, we started to talk about exploring new things. I told her about my gap year and why I decided to be an emissary. She told me that she wants to be part of a gap year experience just like I had and asked me to help her find programs. I felt so proud and happy that I was able to influence her life.
In my work, I get to meet all kinds of people—young children, teens, and elders. One group that I meet with every week is the teen lounge. This is a vibrantgroup of teenagers who may not know a lot about Israel, but they are very eager to learn. In one of our sessions, I spoke with them about military service in Israel. After the session, some of them came up to me and told me that they would like to serve in the IDF. For me, that was a huge accomplishment—helping them make the first step towards coming to Israel, exploring their heritage, and strengthening their connection to the Jewish State.
I’m fortunate that I’ve been able to continue Natan’s legacy as an emissary in the U.S. I wish him many more years of crucial work for the Jewish people around world in good health and energy. Thank you, Natan, for this life-changing opportunity.
Lihi Ben Ari is a Jewish Agency Shin-Shin (young emissary) in Brooklyn.
As Israel remarkably enters its 70th year, the now-not-so-young country has much upon which to reflect. From becoming the ‘Start-up Nation’ to producing award-winning laureates in multiple disciplines to withstanding countless military assaults via technology and sheer willpower, Israel has established itself as a powerhouse in a great many things, coming a long way since its humble beginnings, when its mere existence was constantly called into question. Still surrounded by hostile neighbors, the country continues to face many hurdles and questions for its future. However, Israel knows one thing for sure: it is an inclusive society.
Since its birth, Israel has been a socially inclusive country. The country’s visionary father, Theodore Herzl, proclaimed long before the State’s founding that the “promised land” would be a place where each man would have dignity and live in peace, regardless of his roots or appearance. Proudly, Israel has turned this proclamation into a reality for its more than 8 million citizens.
Since the State’s establishment, war veterans with disabilities have received significant rehabilitation services. Over the last 70 years, legislation has continued to improve, and there have been numerous developments focusing on disability rights and activism. Just this year, the government approved a NIS 4.2 billion increase in disability benefits, to be paid out over the next four years.
It’s no wonder that Israel places as one of the happiest countries in the world year after year. Despite its difficult surroundings, Israelis live happily due to their commitment to the value of human life. Under constant threat for seven decades, Israelis have been forced to reevaluate what really makes life worth living, and they have concluded that it is the gift of giving hope and support to others in need.
This attitude is exemplified by the nation’s willingness to channel the same innovation and creativity developed for its business and government sectors into the treatment and care of its most vulnerable citizens and influences the many facets that make up Israeli society.
For example, The IDF’s ‘Special in Uniform’ unit integrates thousands of young men and women with disabilities into the army each year. As military and civilian life are largely intertwined in Israel, the unit’s message of disability inclusion is vastly significant and impactful.
In Israel’s booming technology field, innovators are using their skills to focus on assistive technology. Just last month, an Israeli startup introduced a customizable universal adapter that connects strollers to wheelchairs, enabling parents who use wheelchairs to easily maneuver baby carriers.
Furthermore, businesses throughout the country have begun to seek out and hire individuals with disabilities. Café Harutzim, located in Jerusalem, trains and employs individuals with disabilities as waitstaff, while the Sea Watch application, a project of the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel that allows users to alert authorities about environmental incidents along the Mediterranean coast, employs individuals with physical, emotional and sensory disabilities in their call center. By establishing the employment of those with disabilities as the norm, these businesses are changing the way society views individuals with mental and physical challenges and making real employment opportunities available to all.
Civic leaders, organizations, and the Israeli government are actively ensuring that this message filters through to all Israelis, further exhibiting our nation’s exceptional commitment towards true disability inclusion. Just two years ago, ALEH, Israel’s network of care for individuals with severe complex disabilities, and Israel’s Ministry of Education, launched ‘Tikkun Olam,’ a project focused on educating Israeli high school students about disability inclusion. Through lectures, workshops and hands-on volunteering opportunities, this experiential education program exposes teens across the country to peers with disabilities and teaches them the importance of acceptance and inclusion.
In its first year alone, more than 10,000 Israeli students participated in the program, leading to a noticeable spike in youth-led volunteerism and social activism initiatives. Now in its second year, the program is poised to reach 100,000 students – every ninth grader in the country. Tikkun Olam’s overwhelming success and positive reception is just another example of the extent to which our society values inclusivity and continuously seeks to promote it. But there is still so much left to accomplish.
Established with the hopes of becoming a “light unto the nations,” Israel has, indeed, grown into a moral and social beacon to the world, boasting a society and government that genuinely cares for its people. At the same time, as Israel reaches its 70th birthday, the country must be weary of becoming complacent and work diligently to maintain the youthful energy and excitement that drives its inclusivity movement.
Like the Talmudic sage Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, a teenage prodigy who miraculously aged in appearance overnight to the ripe old age of 70 in order to be taken seriously by his colleagues and constituents, we must strive to have the best of both worlds: the strength and vigor of youth combined with the experience and sagacity of old age. While humans are slaves to chronology, countries have the ability to constantly renew their youthfulness and harness the wisdom of experience by looking ahead, remaining open to new ideas, and simultaneously learning from failure while focusing on success.
In this vein, Israel musn’t turn 70 years old. As a nation, we must turn 70 years young, and commit ourselves to constantly shaping and reshaping our society until it’s something that we can all be proud of – to investing whatever amounts of time, money and manpower are necessary to transform movements like disability inclusion into societal norms. When this becomes our new reality, we will not only be a “light unto the nations” but a beacon to ourselves.
Dov Hirth leads the Marketing and Development for ALEH (www.ALEH.org), Israel’s network of care for individuals with severe complex disabilities and a global voice for disability inclusion and accessibility.
When 77-year-old Jacqueline Erani swims laps in The Center pool twice a week, she is reminded of her days as a youth, swimming in the sea at Sidi Bishr, a beach town in Alexandria, Egypt. Her family would spend summers there, just 45 minutes from their winter home, also in Alexandria.
“We had a small, wooden chalet across from the ocean and we used to spend every day, all day from June to September socializing there with relatives and friends who came from Cairo. Every morning at 6:30 my aunt, cousins, siblings, and I used to swim with my father before he went to work. It was a nice life.” Jacqueline wistfully recalls.
Jacqueline Erani’s family
Throughout our conversation, Jacqueline’s delicate brows lifted gracefully as she recounted happy memories and depressed into tight, straight lines as she spoke of the more troubling times.
Her eyebrows tightened, “Everything changed when Nasser came to power.”
Jacqueline was referring to Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second president of Egypt who served from 1956 till his death in 1970. Nasser introduced a constitution under which Egypt became a socialist Arab state with a one-party political system that claimed Islam as its official religion. He abolished civil liberties and allowed the state to perform mass arrests without charge. His government arrested Jews and seized their businesses and bank accounts.
It was in 1961, when Jacqueline’s family began to feel the repercussions of Nasser’s policies. One morning, when her father and uncle went to open their store, as they did daily, they saw upon the door a 2 1/2” red wax, government seal. This menacing mark meant her family’s retail operation, which sold men’s undergarments and linens, no longer belonged to them. She said, “From then on, my father and uncle could not go into the store without a government official and were ordered to stand far from the register. They had to sell merchandise to the clientele, but received little or no pay.
“That was when we knew it was time to leave. With the clothes on our back, a small suitcase each, and fifty Egyptian pounds (the equivalent of what would be about twenty dollars today,) we left the building we owned, our two homes, and all our belongings. With the other members of my immediate family already in America and Israel, my mother, father, brother and sister, along with my uncle, aunt, and cousins, boarded a small plane to Cairo and then onto France.”
Parisian living was made pleasurable for Jacqueline’s family thanks to The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, better known as HIAS, a division of the UJA. HIAS gave them kosher food, coats; paid the rent in a hotel in the city, and then relocated them to an apartment in the suburbs. “They were a big, big help.” Jacqueline stated.
On Egyptian sands
While in Paris, they took in the sites. Jacqueline’s lips formed a sweet smile and she said, “We walked everywhere! We saw The Louvre, The Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, and Le Seine. Then, I began to get bored. I was twenty-one years old and wanted to do something, so my friend got me a job at Printing Development International. We were eight people employed there, each one of us of a different nationality.“ Since Jacqueline had attended both French and British schools in Egypt, she was able to converse and build friendships easily.
Jacqueline used her language and office skills to advance in the work world once she and her family came to America a year later. She worked at American Express, was promoted quickly, and then left her job when she married Robert Zetouni. Jacqueline and Robert had two beautiful daughters and then their paths split.
A few years later, Jacqueline met and married Albert Erani, someone who she discusses with a noticeably raised brow and a definite twinkle in her eye. She spent 22 happy years married to him until complications due to his smoking habit led to his passing.
Today, Jacqueline spends most of her time with her daughters, her grandchildren and great grandchildren. When she is not busy with them, she can be found at The Center exercising in the gym, making waves in the pool or, along with approximately 20 other women in her age group, taking “yoga with Diana” or Constructive Exercise with Michael. These activities add a lot of structure to her week and keep her spirits high.
She described the good vibes she gets each time she enters The Center foyer. She enjoys seeing all the young children sitting against the walls waiting to go to class. Jacqueline said with a giggle, “They’re so cute. One is crying, one is laughing. One is saying, ‘eh eh.’ I feel so good when I see them.” She also spoke of the help at the front desk as well as the guards. “They’re all so nice. They’re willing to help with anything I need. It’s a warm, wonderful atmosphere.”
Jacqueline appreciates her life in Brooklyn, New York as well as her memories of that other life long ago. When I asked her to impart some of her wisdom, she said, “Don’t smoke, share a smile,” and then she recited a quote taught to her by her father, first in Arabic and then in English: “You should cover yourself with a blanket from your toes to your neck.” Puzzled, I asked for an explanation. She said, “Ah, it means that you should always live within your means.”
Even though Jacqueline described her father as a serious man, in my mind’s eye, I saw him acting out these words for her, pointing his feet toward the ocean and pulling a towel up to his chin–as they lay back on the Alexandrian sands.
By: Renée Beyda
Renée Beyda is a freelance writer, tweeter, and artist. Visit her on Instagram @Reneebeyda and on Twitter @Reneebeyda1
Whenever tragedy strikes, it is always the children involved who suffer most. Impressionable and vulnerable, children are the first to get swept up in both natural disasters and manmade drama, always ending up in the eye of the storm. Even if they survive the squall, they emerge broken, having lost the one thing that matters most in the process: their childhood.
The current situation in the Ukraine is robbing children of their innocence at an alarming rate, doing untold damage to an entire generation of Ukrainian youth. Gripped by violence and fear, unemployment continues to rise in the Ukraine, with nearly 60% of the country’s population living at or below the poverty line.
Breadwinners who are lucky enough to find employment are consumed by the need to provide for their families, working long hours to meet their most basic material needs. Under these harsh conditions, and in the total absence of social support services and appropriate educational programming, distress and hardships are ignored, and the children suffer in silence.
So, what happens to children who miss out on a proper childhood? How important is it to allow kids to just be kids?
Years of scientific research have shown that people cannot learn theoretically. Rather, we learn by doing, by engaging our hands, hearts and minds. These physical, emotional and intellectual interactions and experiences allow us to retain information and create a picture of the world around us. But the quality of these experiences also determine further development.
Studies focused on children who were physically abused reveal that if a child’s experiences are consistently negative or traumatic, they will wind up with insufficiently formed neural connections. That is, the areas of their brains that are responsible for decision making, judgment and planning simply will not develop properly. What’s more, children who are cheated of a normative childhood will have lower IQs, become incapable of establishing harmonious relationships, and experience constant severe mood changes.
In a sense, it all boils down to freedom and connection. Children learn and develop best when presented with opportunities for independent exploration of the surrounding world. They need to make mistakes, study their errors, and figure out why a particular method didn’t work. Of course, children embrace this freedom with the understanding that their parents, and other adults who care for them, will ward off danger when necessary and catch them when they fall. The trouble begins when the adults in a child’s life cannot provide them with this brand of supportive freedom. In fact, emotional connection and warm contact with adults is one of the basic needs of a child in childhood.
Scientific evidence suggests that there is a defined receptive period for the development of human abilities during which the basics of functionality are most easily absorbed. If a child misses this window of opportunity, he may never be able to recover fully. Examples that we are all familiar with include verbal delays, impaired motor skills, poor coordination, extreme impulsiveness, attention deficits and learning disabilities, but the list goes on and on.
Childhood is fleeting, and if it is obscured by tragedy and trauma, we can only assume that a complicated and arduous adulthood awaits. Indeed, the emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become.
When working with the children enrolled in the LifeChanger FSU program, the most vulnerable Jewish children in the region, I am always struck by the extent to which our current situation in the Ukraine impacts their abilities to learn, grow and connect with others.
For example, from the moment I began working with 7-year-old Sophia, who had struggled with poverty and abuse since birth, she showed sharp negativity toward any task I presented, even those that would normally be interesting, if not fascinating, to children her age. Additionally, while Sophia had a good memory, she had trouble paying attention and showed very weak verbal-logical and imaginative thinking skills, which is detrimental during the stage when “playing pretend” is both an emotional outlet and a social learning tool.
Throughout our sessions together, Sophia displayed impulsive behavior, tried to establish her own rules, and was aggressive to children her own age and defiant to adults. This behavior clearly illustrated Sophia’s general mistrust of the world around her – a world that had failed her. Trauma had ravaged her intellectual and psychological development, and it would have stunted her growth permanently had LifeChanger FSU not stepped in to establish new social, educational and therapeutic frameworks for Sophia and set her on a new course towards sustained recovery and significant, drastic growth.
No child should be a salvage project. Every child deserves a childhood.
With all the suffering in the world, it would be easy to give up hope. But the Jewish people, as a nation, embody faith and resilience, and we cannot abandon our ideals in the face of harsh realities. In the spirit of “every Jew is responsible for one another,” we must realize that it is our duty – every one of us – to provide our children with the freedom and connection they need to grow and thrive. By allowing our kids to just be kids, they will create a better world for their children, one in which every child is guaranteed the blessings of a normative childhood.
Anna Demirpolat is the Family Counselling and Psychotherapy expert for LifeChanger FSU (www.LifeChangerFSU.org) in Nikolayev, Southern Ukraine, where she counsels the children enrolled in the program and helps them integrate into healthy and empowering environments and guides them towards sustained recovery and independence.
A staff historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is suggesting, incredibly, that the Roosevelt administration was right to refuse to bomb Auschwitz. The late Elie Wiesel, the museum’s founding chairman, argued exactly the opposite. Whose side will the current museum leadership take?
Museum staffer Rebecca Erbelding told the Times of Israel (April 15): “I’m extremely cautious about saying that bombing the gas chambers would have saved a lot of lives… [bombing] would have killed a lot of people. There were about 100,000 people in Auschwitz [in 1944]. And so if the [U.S.] had carpet bombed the camp, most of the camp would have died.”
Dr. Erbelding’s use of the term “carpet bombing” is a red herring. The requests that Jewish leaders made for bombings typically asked for precision strikes on the railway lines leading to the death camps, or the gas chambers and crematoria, not for “carpet bombing” of the entire camps.
For example, the request that the War Refugee Board forwarded to senior Roosevelt administration officials on October 3, 1944, stated that rescue advocates were asking for “bombing the extermination chambers and German barracks at largest Polish concentration camps which, they say, are subject to precision bombing since they are sufficiently detached from the concentration camps.”
In another such request, made several weeks later, War Refugee Board director John Pehle pointed to the Amiens Prison raid as evidence that a precision air strike on Auschwitz was feasible. Swooping low over that German prison, British planes had bombed the walls and guards’ quarters, enabling more than 250 Allied POWs to escape into the French countryside.
American planes even carried out a successful precision strike on a military target in a Nazi concentration camp. In August 1944, they bombed the V-2 rocket factory in Buchenwald, destroying the munitions site while sparing the adjacent prisoners’ barracks. The commander of the raid later recalled that he was specifically instructed to avoid hitting the prisoners’ area.
A few of the requests to bomb the death camps spoke in general terms about destroying the camps. But that does not mean someone who was calling for “bombing Auschwitz” was demanding a specific military strategy of carpet-bombing, as Ebelding implies. Obviously the military authorities would have been the ones to decide which type of bombing was most effective.
What did the prisoners themselves think?
In his famous book “Night,” Elie Wiesel described how he and other Auschwitz prisoners reacted when U.S. bombers struck the oil factories in the camp’s slave labor section in August 1944:
“We were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the blocks [the prisoners’ barracks], it alone would have claimed hundreds of victims on the spot. But we were no longer afraid of death; at any rate, not of that death. Every bomb that exploded filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life. The raid lasted over an hour. If it could only have lasted ten times ten hours!”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Gerhart Riegner, the World Jewish Congress official in Switzerland who was the first to alert the Allies that the Germans intended to systematically murder all European Jews with poison gas.
In a postwar interview, Riegner explained that he and his colleagues urged the Roosevelt administration to bomb Auschwitz because although some prisoners would be killed, “nevertheless we came to the conclusion we had to recommend it, because the people would die anyhow…If every day thousands of people are automatically put to death the only chance to save some Jews is to put the death machine out of order…”
Wiesel and Riegner were stating the obvious. It is preposterous to suggest it was preferable to refrain from bombing Auschwitz, lest some prisoners be killed—thereby leaving all of the prisoners to be murdered by the Nazis.
In any event, the reason the Roosevelt administration rejected the bombing requests was not because of possible civilian casualties. War Department officials replied to such requests by claiming they had conducted a “study” which found bombing was “impracticable” because it required “considerable diversion” of planes needed for the war effort.
But no evidence of the alleged study has ever been found; and the “diversion” argument clearly was false, since U.S. planes were already flying over Auschwitz to bomb its oil factories. The real reason for the refusals was that the administration was not willing to expend even minimal resources to interrupt the mass-murder of the Jews, which was a non-military objective.
What about the U.S. refusal to bomb the railway lines or bridges over which hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported to their deaths? Such strikes would not have risked killing any prisoners—and hitting enemy transportation lines was part of the war effort.
Rebecca Erbelding, of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, has an excuse for that, too. “Had the [Allies] bombed the rail lines, they certainly could have stopped the gassing for a day or two,” she said. “But prison labor was repairing train lines fairly quickly. So it would have had to be a continuous bombing of rail lines for it to be successful.”
Erbelding dismisses the value of stopping gassing “for a day or two,” but when one considers that 12,000 Jews were being gassed daily at Auschwitz, even a brief interruption would have affected a lot of lives. Moreover, bridges could not be repaired as quickly as railways. If fear of killing Jewish prisoners really was the issue, U.S. officials could have targeted the handful of key bridges on the route to Auschwitz, which would have interrupted the mass deportations for many days or even weeks. Some of the requests for bombing actually named specific bridges. But they were ignored.
It’s all too easy to make excuses for why governments fail to act against genocide. We’ve heard the excuses that were made for the international community’s failure to interrupt the mass murder in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Darfur. No doubt similar excuses will be made with regard to Syria.
But there is no excuse for the U.S. Holocaust Museum, a government-supported institute, to permit one of its representatives to make misleading statements regarding the Roosevelt administration’s failure to bomb Auschwitz.
If the museum’s leadership does not disavow Rebecca Erbelding’s assertions, the public will conclude that it endorses them. That would dishonor the memory of Elie Wiesel and all the other Auschwitz inmates who prayed for the American planes that never came.
By: Dr. Rafael Medoff
(Dr. Rafael Medoff is the founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, and author or editor of 19 books about Jewish history and the Holocaust.)
Governor Tom Ridge (L) and Ronald S. Lauder (Photo by Noa Grayevsky)
How can we thank people who spend their lives protecting us while receiving little remuneration and acknowledgement? What can we say to those who lose family members and colleagues on a fairly regular basis and are maligned by the media and public on an equally regular basis? What award would be sufficient to say “hey thanks for saving thousands of lives from terrorist attacks and drug dealers” and for doing so without every being recognized or commended adequately? In a world where most of the money, awards and accolades are given to celebrities, who “pretend” to be action heroes it is about time we give praise to those who are meritorious. I had no idea what to expect this past Monday April 23rd, when I was invited by telephone to a dinner where titans Ronald Lauder and Henry Schleiff were being honored.
(Left-Right)Stephanie Wolkoff, Richard Kendall, Henry Schleiff, Chris Hansen, Tom Ridge
I attempted to research the evening but could find nothing online. It must be a humanitarian, entertainment or business event, I surmised. As I exited my cab at the Plaza Hotel I was greeted by five men with machine guns-when did the New York social scene become so dangerous. Maybe there was a rapper or head of state inside but security still seemed excessive. Now I was in the elevator with a burly man who seemed overly suspicious. “You heading to the dinner”? I inquired. “Yes,” he furtively answered. “What do you do for a living”? I asked-hoping to get an idea who the dinner was for. “I work for the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency)”, he mumbled. I exited the elevator to The Plaza Ballroom where for a change there were no socialites, no models, no promoters, no New York regulars but instead about 500 brawny men who looked like they weighed a lot-and not because they ate too many cheese blintzes. Through the process of elimination I was now sure of two things: this was not an Orthodox Jewish convention, nor was it an LGBT awareness dinner.
Heading to the red carpet there were few familiar faces except for former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge and former NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. By now I was convinced I was at the wrong event. I approached Tom Ridge who appeared thinner than usual, and asked him what tonight was honoring. “These are the Ridge Awards for the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation (FEHSF) which pays homage to those who protect our country”, he responded. “What organizations are here”? Well, he continued, we have the senior members of the FBI, US Marshals, ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms), DEA, Secret Service, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and US Customs and Border Protections (CBP). I was still unconvinced I was at the correct dinner until I saw Ronald Lauder arrive.
(Left-Right) Sylvia Atkins, Michal Grayevsky and Ricardo Roa
Now I was free to ask Ridge his feelings about Trump with him responding, “Trump has always been a great supporter of law enforcement and that’s a powerful message from people who second guess law enforcement all the time.” On the subject of North Korea, Ridge said he admired the President’s response which was, “I won’t ignore them I will talk to them.” Ridge thought it was a highly intelligent and unconventional strategic move for the President to send then Head of CIA, Mike Pompeo, to talk to North Korea instead of the Secretary of State because Pompeo had access to all the intelligence and was therefore better able to converse with their Supreme Leader.
Ridge recalled Barbara Bush insisting he call her Barbara when he referred to her as Mrs. Bush. He recounted a favorite story of his where Barbara’s dog, Millie, made a “deposit” on the floor and when Tom went to pick it up she replied, “My dog, my mess I will get it.” Tom also said he had recently been feeling weak and after researching his symptoms on Google realized he was having a heart attack. Ridge was then pulled away by ten people and we were encouraged to head to the ballroom.
While celebrities who are ubiquitous at charity dinners in New York always claim to be supportive of law enforcement the only luminaries in attendance were: Carol Alt, Joe Piscopo and Stephen Baldwin. However, nobody cared tonight was all about the brave men and women who protect our country. While FEHSF was founded by Richard Kendall 12 years ago this was only their fifth annual dinner. The organization which has raised $2.5 million provides financial assistance to those in law enforcement who experience tragedy, and hardship within the first 24-48 hours when funds are most critical.
Carol Alt, Joe Piscopo and Dr. Jordan Josephson
The evening appropriately began with the New York National Guard playing pipes and drums. Emcee and television journalist Chris Hansen introduced CEO Richard Kendall who joked this was one of the safest rooms to be in-I would argue it was one of the most dangerous since there were so many targets. Tom Ridge, also thanked the group and in my favorite part of the evening introduced heroine Terry Carothers, who lost her husband US Marshal, Pat Carothers, in the line of duty two years ago. Terry was an absolute knockout in an off-the-shoulder black dress. I still can feel tears welling up as I recount her tragic story. Terry, a mother of five, who was nearly sobbing, described the fateful day in 2016 when she was teaching her class in Georgia and was called out to the horrific news that her husband had been murdered. She thanked the organization for helping her with funeral expenses and said faith in Jesus kept her alive. Terry decried the media in general and CNN in particular “for spewing hate to make a buck.” Terry remarked that our only hope in preventing gun violence was belief in G-d and restoring prayer back in school and was taking her LSAT in order to become a lawyer and effectuate change. In a moment that will be etched in my memory forever, Terry did something incredibly vulnerable and brave.
She sang a song about Jesus that had given her hope in front of over 500 people that was epic. Her haunting voice could be heard loud and clear in the silent room-a fork wasn’t touched, a cup wasn’t moved-for three minutes the crowd was hers. At the conclusion, the audience gave her a rousing standing ovation but the sadness was almost too much to bear. These men and women who put themselves on the front lines of danger are mostly anonymous but tonight they were literally given a voice. Adding some needed levity was country singer Corbette Jackson who sang joyfully and danced with audience members as the crowd went wild. Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly then introduced mogul Ronald Lauder remarking that Lauder does not get enough credit for dedicating his life to helping people and for his 30-year support of the NYPD. He said Ronald was devoted to reinvigorating Jewish life all over the world as President of the World Jewish Congress and enjoyed planting trees and sharing his art collection with the citizens of New York at the Neue Galerie.
(Left-Right) Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Stokes Nielson ,Tom Ridge, Corbette Jackson & Dan Knopf
Ronald-Lauder & Michael Shvo
Ronald Lauder, who ran for mayor, jokingly thanked Ray Kelly for the one vote he received and criticized the media for being too busy attacking law enforcement instead of holding them up as role models. “The anti law enforcement attitude is wrong and I’m sick and tired of it,” exclaimed Lauder to enthusiastic applause. He praised law enforcement for risking everything to ensure the safety of complete strangers. As the evening proceeded, Federal Agency Awards were handed to the leaders of ATF, CBP, DEA, FBI, ICE, US Marshals, and the US Secret Service who brought down drug dealers, members of MS-13, and helped save victims of terror attacks. A live auction was held where Dr. Ruth auctioned off a dinner with her which went for “$6,900” promising the crowd if they made the winning bid their sex lives would be fantastic.
Honoree Henry Schleiff, President of Discovery Communications and one of the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry, spoke about what a privilege it was for him to be honored amongst these heroes. He also said it was our duty to support law enforcement regardless of whether you were a Democrat, Liberal or Republican. Henry is known for revitalizing and strengthening brands and tonight the group he chose was law enforcement. The awards continued until 11PM and while much of the crowd had thinned there were many who stayed to the last moment including celebrity trainer David Kirsch who trains Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lopez and auctioned off a training session and diet consultation for $2,500-this group was in pretty good shape. Moreover, his friend media giant and Vice Chairman of Penske Media Corporation, Gerry Byrne, who is one of the busiest men around, was glued to his chair the entire evening-respectfully paying homage to the deserved group. Afterwards, I had the privilege of a lifetime in escorting 10 agents to the after party at LAVO-most likely the only opportunity I will have to lead a group of supermen to a destination that was “unknown” to them.
Jewish Voice society, fashion & entertainment reporter Lieba Nesis reporting from The Plaza Hotel
The White House Correspondent’s Association (WHCA) held its annual dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 28, 2018 with unknown 32-year-old comedian Michelle Wolf as emcee. The WHCA is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the President of the United States. The dinner is an annual event where guests comprised of celebrities, journalists and the who’s who of Washington are invited to this exclusive event. Reviewing which celebrities were “asked to attend” is quite revealing. Firstly, the disgraced Kathy Griffin was on the red carpet-the woman who shamefully joked about beheading our President while carrying his bloody head in her hand. Omarosa Manigault, a former member of the Administration and reality star who has disparaged the President on numerous occasions was also in attendance. Finally, Stormy Daniels was pursued by multiple media outlets to join the festivities but declined-imagine if the press corps had reached out to Gennifer Flowers during the Clinton years.
I was wondering where James Comey and Michael Wolff were-did they lose their invite in the mail? Speaking of “Wolves” emcee Michelle Wolf who was a former correspondent at “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and is scheduled to star in a new Netflix series “The Break With Michelle Wolf” this May, was an absolute disaster. Whereas, in the old days you had to be a bona fide and established celebrity like Imus or Stephen Colbert the only current qualification appears to be you must be a Trump hater and be willing to say anything and everything to disparage him and the office he holds. Donald Trump is the first President since Reagan, who was recovering from an assassination attempt in 1981, who chose not to attend for the past two years. Instead Trump was at a rally with his base in Michigan talking about the economy, North Korea, and Iran-real and exigent issues.
Remember when our Commander-in-Chief was treated with respect as the representative of our country around the world at this dinner? When there were repercussions for comparing our leader to the Nazis, making scatological jokes at his expense and joking that he was destitute. Imagine if any of these things were said about Obama or Clinton or if their children Malia, Sasha or Chelsea were pilloried the way Ivanka was. One of the “highlights” of Wolf’s roast was her remark that Ivanka was about as helpful to women “as an empty tampon box” and was like a diaper genie “sleek on the outside and full of shit on the inside.” She then said Ivanka “has done nothing to satisfy woman: like father like daughter”-making sexual references concerning the President’s daughter was heretofore unchartered territory.
The list of disgraceful, tasteless and humorless barbs aimed at the President’s children went further with her joking that Trump was so broke he looked for foreign oil in Don Jr.’s hair; and the President attempted to sell Eric for monetary gain. In case you thought a plane tragedy was off limits she joked the President was so broke Southwest Airlines had to use him as an engine. She then compared the President to a vagina remarking he was the only pussy you were not allowed to grab-this X-rated, despicable routine was shocking. What about the children watching C-SPAN waiting to hear some political humor-what planet are we living on? I hope this puts an end to Wolf’s career and to the dinner which has lost nearly all its’ credibility. The 2,600 attendees looked miserable and uncomfortable. Wolf’s comedy was exclusively aimed at the Republican party and its constituents. Her critique of Rachel Maddow was that “she never gets to the point”-mild in comparison to her other remarks. She ripped into Pence calling him worse then Trump and had the audacity to mock abortion saying “don’t knock it until you try it.” It was hard to differentiate between this dinner, filled with scholarly members of the press, and an Andrew Dice Clay or Chris Rock concert. She just handed Trump a major gift-lending credence to his claim that the press is on a one-sided witch hunt.
Now it was time for her to go after the physical appearance of Republicans something the media has consistently criticized Trump for doing-joking that recently retired Mitch McConnell was getting his neck circumcised; Paul Ryan was already circumcised but they took away his balls; and a finale one-two punch making fun of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The only comment some in the media took offense with was her remarks against Sanders whom she compared to Aunt Lydia from “Handsmaids Tale”- the paradigm of evil and ugliness. Vulture, The Washington Post, CNN and Wolf herself defended the remarks saying she was criticizing Huckabee’s policies not her appearance- a blatant lie when it was obvious she was comparing the dour and dowdy Aunt Lydia to Huckabee whom the media often ridicules. Wolf remarked that Sanders burns facts and then creates the perfect smokey eye with the residue-again disparaging her appearance.
This was so mean-spirited and lacking in humor it was embarrassing. Wolf claimed to be part of the “Me Too” movement and commented that unless you were Michael Cohen offering her $130,000 you couldn’t shut her up. Is this what the “me too” movement looks like-degrading other women who are trying to do their jobs in the most belittling fashion. Isn’t the movement about showing support and raising each other up regardless of politics? Now it was time to go after Kellyanne Conway whom she said was a complete liar and “hoped got stuck under a tree”-at this point nobody was laughing including Conway.
The last two minutes were spent ridiculing the conservative media by warning “ladies to cover their drinks” since Fox News was at the dinner and saying she wanted to make fun of Sean Hannity but was unable to since this was a dinner for journalists. She then remarked that she would be more “proud of women” if there was no Megyn Kelly comparing Kelly to the Olympics by joking she was “white, cold and expensive”-a new low. She concluded her roast by criticizing the media for helping “to create this monster (Trump) they were profiting from” who is so broke “he grabs pussies because he thinks there might be change in them”-the ultimate finale to a disgraceful 20-minute diatribe. In the aftermath of this catastrophic performance, CNN has called Wolf “the winner of the evening”, Kathy Griffin has jumped to her defense, and the President of The White House Correspondent’s Association, Margaret Talev, said it was all within Wolf’s First Amendment Rights. While this dinner has lost its luster in the past couple of years, with few celebrities attending, and most after-parties canceled, this year’s display will go down as one of the most unfortunate manifestations of vitriol towards a sitting President in the history of the media.
The giant Italian bicycle race is going to start this year in Israel, and it is a big deal. This is the first time ever; the start of this massive event begins outside of Europe
Tom Dumoulin, the Dutch cyclist won Giro d’Italia in 2017 (Wikipedia)
101st edition of the Giro d’Italia bike race is scheduled to begin May 4 with a 10-kilometer individual time trial in Jerusalem kicking off the “Big Start,” three stages traversing Israel. ong with the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, the Giro makes up cycling’s prestigious three-week-long Grand Tours.
The Big Start will see 176 of the world’s top cyclists begin the competition against the backdrop of Jerusalem’s Old City. Over the following two days, the athletes will ride from the north of Israel southward to the tip of the Red Sea, Israel 21C reported
For the first 47 editions of the race, the race started on Italian soil. In 1965 the race made its first foreign start in San Marino, and has since had eleven more foreign starts.
Luigi Ganna won the first ever Giro d’Italia in 1909 (Wikipedia)
Giro d’Italia, a 21-stage three-week race organized by RCS Sport/La Gazzetta dello Sport, covers approximately 3,500 kilometers and is watched by hundreds of millions of viewers in 194 countries, Israel 21C reported.
Participating cyclists — including current Tour de France champion Chris Froome from Great Britain will finish the race in Rome, Italy, on May 27.
Among the 22 teams competing is Israel’s first-ever professional biking team, Israel Cycling Academy, whose riders hail from 16 countries on five continents.
“Israel Cycling Academy earned this selection with our excellent team, including seasoned riders who have secured victories in two of the three Grand Tours,” stated the team’s co-owner Sylvan Adams, honorary president of Giro’s Big Start in Israel.
“No Israeli rider has ever competed in a Grand Tour, so for us it’s really an unbelievable dream come true. It’s our chance to step up and stand on the biggest stage in the cycling world and to scream, We are on the map and we will stay on the map”, Israeli road champion Roy Goldstein who competes with the UCI Professional Continental team Israel Cycling Academy told Israeli press .
The jerseys of the Israel team will feature the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation logo of a flying dove carrying an olive branch.
“This year’s Giro will exemplify brotherhood between cultures and religions, expressing peace and coexistence through the universal language of sportsmanship,” said Adams.
Last year’s race in action (facebook)
All of the stages are timed to the finish. After finishing the riders’ times are compounded with their previous stage times. The rider with the lowest aggregate time is the leader of the race and gets to don the coveted pink jersey. While the general classification gathers the most attention there are other contests held within the Giro: the points classification for the sprinters, the mountains classification for the climbers, young rider classification for the riders under the age of 25, and the team classification for the competing teams. As researched by Cycling News.
Dutch rider Tom Dumoulin was the victor in the 2017 edition of the race (which was also the 100th edition of the race).
Trump is reportedly examining an Israeli request to pardon Pollard in honor of Israel’s 70th Independence Day, allowing him to leave his restricted freedom in the United States
Speaking at The Jerusalem Post conference in New York, Transportation Minister Israel Katz raised the matter of the possible lifting of legal restrictions that prevent convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from coming to Israel. Katz issued an appeal to President Donald Trump to allow Pollard to make Aliyah and celebrate the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14.
Middle East analyst Amotz Asa-el went further by telling WIN, “Minister Katz was wrong in making this a public issue. Pollard is not Natan Sharansky, (pictured above) nor is he Elie Cohen (an Israeli who spied on Syria).
Trump is reportedly examining an Israeli request to pardon Pollard in honor of Israel’s 70th Independence Day, allowing him to leave his restricted freedom in the United States. Pollard is a former intelligence analyst for the US government who pleaded guilty in 1987 of spying for Israel and providing it with classified information. Originally sentenced to life in prison, Pollard was freed in 2015, albeit with restrictions, including a prohibition from leaving the US. In his defense, Pollard says that he committed espionage because “the American intelligence establishment collectively endangered Israel’s security by withholding crucial information.”
Asked by a visitor to New York if he thought there was a chance that the Trump administration would commute his sentence and allow him to go to Israel, Pollard responded, “I am praying for a miracle. I just want to come home,” the Post reported.
Bobby Brown, former Diaspora Affairs adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told World Israel News (WIN) that “Pollard has been used by successive American governments as a warning against Jews in public life.” Brown offered a prayer that Trump will indeed release Pollard, saying, “I would thank the Lord for allowing me to see this day.”
“This would be a second taboo that Trump would be breaking. Other presidents ducked their responsibility to move the US embassy, but Trump is doing it. Pollard paid the price by serving over 30 years in prison, and the time has come to allow him to come to the place which he considers home and to a country which loves him. I know there is still stiff opposition to this move in parts of the US government. Trump has the guts to make this happen,” Brown said.
President Trump is reportedly examining an Israeli request to pardon Jonathan Pollard in honor of Israel’s 70th Independence Day, allowing him to leave his restricted freedom in the United States
Lenny Ben David of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs advised against a public campaign to lift restrictions on Pollard. Ben-David told WIN, “I would hope that this takes place, but we must be careful not to upset the US intelligence community, which still opposes lifting Pollard’s restriction. If he is released to come to Israel, we must avoid embarrassing the US by receiving him as a hero, like we did when Natan Sharansky left Russia. Pollard was severely punished, perhaps unfairly, but we must not be seen to honor a man who spied on the United States.”
‘Pollard is not Sharansky’
Middle East analyst Amotz Asa-el went further by telling WIN, “Minister Katz was wrong in making this a public issue. Pollard is not Sharansky, nor is he Elie Cohen (an Israeli who spied on Syria). Israel is responsible for this spying episode. We worked to eventually secure Pollard’s release, but we should make do with his relative freedom. This must not be seen as an Israeli national goal and should not be presented that way.”
Mark Zell, who heads Republicans in Israel, said he is unaware of Trump ever speaking about the issue, and he knows of no one in the administration pushing for this to happen.
“I will not be at all surprised if Trump makes this gesture. The initiative is coming from outside Washington, including a pro-Pollard lobbying effort in the US,” he told WIN. “It would be a very welcome gesture from the president,” he said.
(L-R) Rachel Norton, Michelle Retelny, Paul Shaffer and Dani Dayan
Soroka Medical Center held its Sixth Annual Gala Benefit Dinner at The Pierre Hotel on Tuesday May 1, 2018 with cocktails beginning at 6:30 PM. Soroka Medical Center, the second largest Hospital in Israel, is the only major medical center in the entire Negev serving a population of more than one million inhabitants, including 400,000 children. It is located in Beer-Sheba and with 1,100 beds is among Israel’s largest and most advanced hospitals providing comprehensive cancer care to its patients.
Professor Itzhak Avital
Professor Itzhak Avital, the Head of the Cancer Center told me that “a true legacy is not what you leave behind but the way you live your life.” He further explained that 40 percent of the people in the room tonight will develop cancer with one out of two men and one in three women getting cancer, making it necessary to have a smart cancer center with artificial intelligence in order to transform cancer into a manageable “chronic disease.” After raising $10 million the Center will be named after leading oncologist Larry Norton in honor of his contributions and support.
(L-R)Pamela Rohr Josh Nash Beth Nash and Helen Nash
Dr. Norton is the Chair of Clinical Oncology at the Evelyn Lauder Breast
Dr. Larry Norton and Dick CavettKouros Torkan, David Kimia and Saul Maslavi
Cancer Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering and is renowned for mathematical modeling in therapeutic development. Dr. Norton was joined by his celebrity friends Paul Shaffer and Dick Cavett and dinner with Norton was auctioned off to two different attendees for the astronomical sum of $21,000 each. Dick Cavett also auctioned his Montauk home, replete with seven bedrooms, for 4 days and 3 nights for the extravagant price of $12,000. We were even treated to a duet between former David Letterman bandleader of 33 years, Paul Shaffer, on the piano, accompanied by Dr. Norton on the bass guitar-prettyguitar-pretty cool for an oncologist.
Shaffer, who was introduced as the man who was offered the part of George Costanza on Seinfeld but turned it down, joked that he was lucky to have dinner with Dr. Norton three days ago for free and regaled the audience with a fantastic piano rendition of “Exodus.”
John Khani and Dr. KhaniDavid BenHooren, Sophie Haddad and Jack Chehebar
As Co-Chairs David Kimiabakhsh and Michelle Retelny thanked Dr. Norton for his pivotal work Ambassador Dani Dayan said that Soroka had revolutionized the city of Beer-Sheba converting it from a place where Abraham had pitched his tent to a major metropolis-becoming one of the most cutting edge and sophisticated cities thanks to Soroka. A Literary Arts Award was also given to Nicole Krauss who is the bestselling author of four novels and winner of the Saroyan Prize for International Literature. After a special tribute to Rosalind Franklin, whose nieces Caroline Freidfertig and Rosalind Franklin accepted the award on her behalf, we were told how she uncovered the secret of the DNA helix formation leading to the discovery and understanding of the human genome. With all these incredible men and women being heralded for their phenomenal contributions it was now time for some chocolate souffle and cookies-a savory ending to an informative evening.
(L-R) Rachel Norton, Rachel Heisler Sheinfeld Paul Shaffer and Amb. Dani Dayan, with Nicole Krauss and Carmel Krauss
American friends of Soroka Medical Center held its Sixth Annual Gala Benefit Dinner at The Pierre Hotel on Tuesday May 1, 2018 with cocktails beginning at 6:00 PM. Soroka Medical Center, the second largest Hospital in Israel, is the only major medical center in the entire Negev serving a population of more than one million inhabitants, including 400,000 children. It is located in Beer-Sheba and with 1,100 beds is among Israel’s largest and most advanced hospitals providing comprehensive cancer care to its patients.
Professor Itzhak Avital
Professor Itzhak Avital, the Head of Sokoka’s Legacy Heritage Oncology Center told me that “a true legacy is not what you leave behind but the way you live your life.” He further explained that 40 percent of the people in the room tonight will develop cancer with one out of two men and one in three women getting cancer, making it necessary to have a smart cancer center with artificial intelligence in order to transform cancer into a manageable “chronic disease.” This gala was focused on raising critical funds for the completion of the new cancer center.
Soroka Medical Center has established the Dr. Larry Norton institute at the Legacy Heritage Oncology Center as a leading center for cutting edge cancer research, to be lead by renowned oncologist Dr. Larry Norton.
(L-R)Pamela Rohr Josh Nash Beth Nash and Helen Nash
Dr. Norton is the Chair of Clinical Oncology at the Evelyn Lauder Breast
Dr. Larry Norton and Dick CavettKouros Torkan, David Kimia and Saul Maslavi
Cancer Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering and is renowned for mathematical modeling in therapeutic development. Dr. Norton was joined by his celebrity friends Paul Shaffer and Dick Cavett and dinner with Norton was auctioned off to two different attendees for the astronomical sum of $21,000 each. Dick Cavett also auctioned his Montauk home, replete with seven bedrooms, for 4 days and 3 nights for the extravagant price of $12,000. We were even treated to a duet between former David Letterman bandleader of 33 years, Paul Shaffer, on the piano, accompanied by Dr. Norton on the bass guitar-pretty cool for an oncologist.
Shaffer, who was introduced as the man who was offered the part of George Costanza on Seinfeld but turned it down, joked that he was lucky to have dinner with Dr. Norton three days ago for free and regaled the audience with a fantastic piano rendition of “Exodus.”
John Khani and Dr. KhaniDavid BenHooren, Sophie Haddad and Jack Chehebar
As Co-Chairs David Kimiabakhsh and Angela Retelny thanked Dr. Norton for his pivotal work Ambassador Dani Dayan said that Soroka had revolutionized the city of Beer-Sheba converting it from a place where Abraham had pitched his tent to a major metropolis-becoming one of the most cutting edge and sophisticated cities thanks to Soroka. A Literary Arts Award was also given to Nicole Krauss who is the bestselling author of four novels and winner of the Saroyan Prize for International Literature. After a special tribute to Rosalind Franklin, whose nieces Caroline Freidfertig and Rosalind Franklin accepted the award on her behalf, we were told how she uncovered the secret of the DNA helix formation leading to the discovery and understanding of the human genome. With all these incredible men and women being heralded for their phenomenal contributions it was now time for some chocolate souffle and cookies-a savory ending to an informative and inspirational evening.
On Thursday May 3, 2018 the New York City Ballet held its annual Spring Gala with cocktails beginning at 6:00 PM at the David H. Koch Theater. Anticipation was high for the celebration of 100 years of the magnificent Jerome Robbins, a founding choreographer of New York City Ballet along with George Balanchine. Robbins’ epic career started from when he was a dancer at the Theatre in the 1940’s and began a collaboration with Leonard Bernstein on the ballet “Fancy Free”; peaking with his return as ballet master in 1969 where he was hungry to focus exclusively on ballets after having produced Broadway masterpieces “The King and I” (1951), “West Side Story,” (1961), and “Fiddler on the Roof” (1964).
Christian Zimmermann, Principal Dancer Ashley Bouder and Richard Kielar
Choreographer JustinPeck-and-Actress-Phillipa Soo
Robbins was born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz in the Jewish Maternity Hospital on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He died in 1998 after winning five Tony Awards, two Academy Awards and the National Medal of Arts. Robbins approached each project he undertook with a noteworthy voraciousness researching his ideas by reading, listening to music and viewing art works. When directing and choreographing “Fiddler on the Roof” ,in 1964, he took various cast members to a Jewish wedding as well as sampling from his own Russian heritage.
Sarah Jessica Parker with daughters Tabitha and Marion
I was curious if the New York City Ballet would do justice to his impressive and wide-ranging career with its opening gala. They hit it out of the park with the fun, lighthearted ode to Robbins which was technically and visually exciting, while still providing enough substance for the ballet purists in the audience. And yes the crowd was replete with ballet lovers including: Sarah Jessica Parker and her two beautiful daughters Marion and Tabitha, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leslie Stahl, Deborah Norville, Ansel Elgort, Carlos Souza; and philanthropists: Jean and Martin Shafiroff, Fe and Alessandro Fendi, Michele Herbert, Emily Blavatnik, Patricia Shah, and Lucia Hwong Gordon.
The dominant color of the evening was mint green with Sarah Jessica in a green dress she purchased at a thrift shop and Jean Shafiroff in a stunning mint Victor De Souza gown with crystals on the bodice and matching gloves. Ulla Parker always hits a home-run with her fashion choices and tonight she shone in a striking Steffane Rolland jacket-dress combination.
(L-R) Models Left to Right Models: Rachel Fox, Daphne Velge, Puck Loomans, Charlott Cordes, Zuzanna Bijoch and Maja Brodin
The ballet began at 7:15 PM with a rendition of Jerome Robbins’ “The Four Seasons” an ode to Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall with dancers in corresponding costumes of white, green, yellow and orange-with a sun and leaf backdrop. This 37-minute piece with dancers Tiler Peck, Sara Mearns, and Teresa Reichlen was playful and light with musical accompaniment by Giuseppi Verdi.
After a brief intermission we were regaled with Robbins’ “Circus Polka,” with music by Igor Stravinsky. The only movement not choreographed by Robbins was the third act “Easy” which was produced by Justin Peck and was an ode to Robbins with its colorful costumes and Broadway staging. “A Suite of Dances” which was originally choreographed by Robbins for an older Baryshnikov and was danced by star Joaquin De Luz was my least favorite even though cellist Ann Kim was perfect-the dancing was good and I was expecting great.
The last Act entitled “Something to Dance About,” was Broadway at the Ballet with snippets of nine of Robbins’ musicals including “Peter Pan,” “On the Town,” “Gypsy,” “West Side Story,” “The King and I” and “Fiddler on the Roof”-paying homage to the genius of the prolific Robbins. The direction and musical staging were expertly executed by Warren Carlyle who had been approached by former ballet master in chief Peter Martins to produce this exciting piece. Guest Vocalist Jessica Vosk was an absolute smash hit with her searingly pure voice. Dancers Ashley Bouder, Lauren Lovette, Sara Mearns, Tiler Peck, and Indiana Woodward moved seamlessly to the Broadway tunes-everything is easy compared to Ballet.
Nicolette Robinson, Actor Leslie Odom, Jr. and Actress Charlotte d’Amboise
At the conclusion of the evening, a large picture of Robbins was displayed on stage as the dancers took their bows to enthusiastic applause. However, the fun had just started with guests heading to the second floor for dinner and dancing where it was announced that more than $2.4 million had been raised. The absence of Peter Martins who was a close colleague of Robbins left an undoubtable emptiness in the room. Martins joined Balanchine, Robbins and John Taras as balletmaster in 1981 and his perspective on the evening would have been invaluable. The participation of Martins in the choreography would have lent an undeniable credibility to the pieces since he had participated in so many of these groundbreaking moments-and yet his name wasn’t even mentioned. There was a certain gravitas Martins gave to each “ballet happening” as he stood on the side watching the fruits of his labor in his sequined bow tie. Yet, this night was all about the dancers and Robbins with centerpieces of dancers and plates with Robbins likeness adorning the table. Guests fraternized enthusiastically as few galas of this magnitude have occurred within the last few months. DJ Chelsea Leyland, clad in a sexy white dress spun tunes as the dancers displayed some fancy moves. When 12:45 AM arrived, the music stopped but the crowd was begging for more. As I headed out into the balmy evening, I wondered if we will ever see a celebration of this kind when it is time for Peter Martins 100th year-and whether history will be kinder to him then the current environment.
DJ Chelsea Leyland and Marie RamosLisa Rinehart and Mikhail Baryshnikov
