THERE IS an unmistakable link between Independence Day, Remembrance Day for the
Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Holocaust Remembrance Day. Many of the survivors who
reached Israel’s shores during the period of the British Mandate fought in the
War of Independence. Some paid the supreme sacrifice, not as victims but
as victors. World War II ended on VE Day, May 8, 1945. The establishment
of the State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948, the Council of Europe
established on May 5, 1949; and Europe Day, meant as a celebration of peace and
unity in Europe, is celebrated on May 9, in commemoration of the 1950 proposal
by French Foreign Minister Robert Schumann that some kind of new European
community of states be organized. Europe Day also coincides with the date on
which the Soviet Union celebrated the end of the WWII, and the tradition is
carried on by Russia.
Israel’s relations with the European Union have not
always been smooth sailing, and certain criticisms of Israel by the EU have
prompted some Israelis to regard it as hostile to Israel. This contention
was denied by Ambassador Andrew Standley, head of the delegation of the European
Union to the State of Israel, at a panel discussion at the Konrad Adenauer
Center in Jerusalem to celebrate the publication of the book, Israel and the
European Union: A Documentary History, which is yet another collaborative effort
by Sharon Pardo and Joel Peters (who previously produced Uneasy Neighbors:
Israel and the European Union). Standley stated that it was a
mischaracterization of reality to say that the EU has no concern for Israel’s
security. He admitted that the EU cannot position itself as a military strategic
ally in the same way as the United States, nor can it provide the same
guarantees for security, but he insisted that the EU cares deeply for Israel’s
security and wellbeing.
The event, co-hosted by the Konrad Adenauer
Stiftung, the Center for the Study of European Politics and Society at
Ben-Gurion University and the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, also had its
lighter moments. Laurence Weinbaum, editor-in-chief of the ICFR’s Journal
of Foreign Affairs, defined a diplomat as someone who thinks twice before saying
nothing, to which Standley responded, “Perhaps I don’t think at all before
saying something.” BGU’s Prof. David Newman, dean of the faculty of Humanities
and Social Sciences, observed that he and Standley share a common interest not
only in the politics of Europe but also in the football fields of
Europe.
The affable Sharon Pardo, who is the director of BGU’s Center for
the Study of European Politics and Society and the Department of Politics and
Government, is one of Israel’s most knowledgeable experts on Europe, and he also
has a huge affinity for Europe – joint factors that prompted Standley to say
that Pardo should be the next EU representative after Standley concludes his
tour of duty in a year-and-a-half. “He has the expertise and commitment, the
understanding and empathy,” said Standley, half seriously and half in jest. On
the other hand, Standley, who was a kibbutz volunteer on four different
occasions in the 1970s, might care to be an honorary ambassador for Israel. As
for an EU representative to succeed Standley, Newman pointed out that by the
time Standley leaves, a “young man” by the name of Shimon Peres will be looking
for a job.
■ NO CEREMONY in Israel is more symbolic of the phoenix rising
from the ashes than the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, because among the
soldiers participating are sons, daughters, grandchildren and even
great-grandchildren of survivors who emerged emaciated from the camps, the
forests and places where they had been hidden and rebuilt their lives and their
families. There are also child Holocaust survivors who became heroes of
sorts in Israel.
Among them is Arie Oz, who was born in Germany as Harry
Klausner and who was hidden together with his parents by a Christian family in
Holland during WWII. Oz and his parents came to Israel in 1946. Ten years later
he was a pilot in the Israel Air Force and led transport squadrons in the Six
Day War and the Yom Kippur War. After leaving the Air Force he joined El Al,
where he spent more than three decades and was chief of special operations. He
was one of the Hercules pilots in the Entebbe rescue operation in 1976. A
less daring but more emotional operation for Oz was the swift and daring airlift
of some 1,400 Ethiopian Jews in May 1991, known as Operation Solomon. His was
the first 747 to land in Addis Ababa. The plane had 760 seats, but more than
1,000 people crowded onto the plane. (The official figure was 1,067, but there
were actually around 50 more; mothers scared that they would be separated from
their infants hid them in the folds of their clothing.) Afterwards, Oz went to
the United States to raise funds to finance the absorption of immigrants from
Ethiopia. He has maintained an abiding interest in Israel’s Ethiopian community
and, like other pilots involved in Operation Solomon and Operation Moses, he
supports the current effort by Ethiopian immigrants and Sabras of Ethiopian
background who want to mainstream into Israeli society.
In an interview
on Israel Radio, Oz said that if he were in the position to do so, he would
close down any school that refused to take in Ethiopian students. Israel was
created as a haven for the Jewish people, and no one has a right to discriminate
against anyone just because of the color of their skin or their place of origin,
said Oz..
The Jerusalem Municipality has made several attempts to get rid
of the Ethiopian tent around the corner from the Prime Minister’s
Residence. The tent (or its occupants) has upset a number of people at
City Hall but not the residents of Rehavia and Talbiye, who regularly stop to
speak to the well-organized young men and women who are campaigning for equal
opportunities.
■ ANOTHER CHILD Holocaust survivor is government minister
Yossi Peled, who led the Israel delegation to New York last week for the opening
on Holocaust Remembrance Day of the exhibition “With Me Here Are Six Million
Accusers: The Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem,” which will run through May 28 in the
visitors’ lobby of the United Nations building. The first part of the title
comes from the opening statement delivered by Eichmann’s chief prosecutor,
Gideon Hausner, at Eichmann’s trial in Jerusalem.
Also included in the
delegation were Hausner’s son, Amos, and daughter, Tamar Hausner-Raveh, who are
both lawyers. Born in Belgium as Jozef Mendelvich, Peled, 71, never knew his
father. His parents had fled Poland to Belgium and after his birth deposited him
with a Catholic Belgian family. All of Peled’s relatives, with the exceptions of
his mother and sister, either perished or were murdered in Auschwitz. When his
mother came for him after the war, he was six years old and did not know her. He
was shocked to learn he was Jewish.
For Peled, a retired IDF general and
the former head of the Northern Command, this has been a turbulent year. In
January, for the first time in his life, he recited Kaddish for the father he
never knew. He said the prayer in Wansee, where the Nazis had deliberated over
the final solution to the Jewish problem.
In New York he spoke at several
Holocaust-related events, sharing platforms with Elie Wiesel, Deborah Lipstadt
and Ron Prosor, among others, and even came face to face with a man who had been
his teacher in Belgium when Peled was only three years old.
He wants to
take the Eichmann exhibition to Wansee with a group of IDF soldiers who by their
very existence symbolize the failure of Hitler’s policy. The final exhibition
will be at the Gerard Behar Center in Jerusalem, formerly known as Beit Ha’Am,
where the Eichmann trail was held half a century ago.
■ EVEN THOUGH his
colleague, British Ambassador Matthew Gould, was not present at the Israel
Britain and the Commonwealth luncheon to hear the accolades that US Ambassador
Dan Shapiro plied on both Gould and the country he represents, it was
interesting to learn that Shapiro spent part of his childhood in England, just
as he spent part of his youth in Israel. It was difficult to tell which was the
“holy land,” he admitted, given that both his parents were English professors
and his father, whose field was Shakespeare, was on an exchange program between
the University of Illinois and the University of Reading. Needless to say, the
Shapiro family spent a lot of time at Stratford upon Avon.
■ TAKING INTO
account his extremely busy schedule, it’s little short of a wonder that Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu finds time to read the newspapers, let alone surf
the Internet or read books. One of the papers he obviously enjoys reading is The
Jerusalem Post, judging by the expression on his face as he skimmed through a
front-page item.
■ WHENEVER SOME senior official who has committed a
misdemeanor gets off with a tap on the wrist or at least a fine, the media
immediately jumps in to cite the Buzaglo test. In most cases, the senior
official is an Ashkenazi of both influence and affluence, and “Buzaglo” is
someone of North African origin, a factor that instantly creates a distinction
not only in background but in the way that each is penalized for the
misdemeanor. Buzaglo usually gets the rough end of the stick.
The
Buzaglo test does not apply for Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias
because he’s not Ashkenazi – but that doesn't prevent him from circumventing the
law. According to a report in Bonus, the financial section of Yediot
Yerushalayim, Atias was found guilty of illegally constructing an addition to
his apartment on Jerusalem’s Rehov Ha’kablan. The enlargement encroached on the
area jointly owned by all the residents in the apartment complex. That was in
2004, when Atias was not yet a member of Knesset, let alone a
minister. The court ordered the demolition of the illegal structure at
the time. In 2008, with the demolition order not yet implemented, Atias managed
to get an extension which was accompanied by an order that he personally take
responsibility for demolishing the illegal structure. In January of this year,
neighbors learned that an attempt was being made to get retroactive approval for
the construction. As this would be at their expense, they were
understandably angry. In March the neighbors collectively opposed the new
initiative and this month the municipal committee for construction and housing,
headed by Kobi Kahlon, gave the construction the kosher stamp. It doesn't yet
end there, because the district committee for construction and housing, which
also has a say in these matters, may decide that what was illegal for the past
eight years remains illegal. On the other hand, if the district committee
concurs with the local committee, this will set a precedent that will make it
difficult to prosecute anyone else who decides to enlarge their apartment
without going through the usual bureaucratic hassles.
■ OPERATION
EMBRACE, a US-headquartered non-profit organization that offers direct financial
assistance for medical, therapeutic and rehabilitative needs to injured
survivors of terror attacks in Israel and also provides emotional support
through post traumatic stress disorder programs, does extensive work in Sderot
as well as in other parts of the country. This month it hosted a day in Ra’anana
for families and individuals from Sderot, Ashkelon and Eshkol who suffer a
variety of trauma-related disorders. Three busloads of people from the
South were welcomed to Ra’anana by Mayor Nahum Hofri. The Ra’anana Municipality
partnered with Operation Embrace to provide a fun day filled with sports and
other activities.
Ra’anana has an extraordinary record for social and
community responsibility, especially among those of the city’s residents who
come from English speaking countries. Operation Embrace, which encourages family
involvement in its various projects, also has bar/bat mitzva projects in which
youngsters find ways to raise funds for victims of terror. Among the people at
the Ra’anana fun day were Robyn and Jonathan Cohen, who contributed generously
to the costs involved in the event in honor of the bat mitzva of their daughter,
Talia.
■ THE LONG arm of the law eventually catches up with those who
disdain the rules, as sports commentator and former soccer star Itzik Zohar has
discovered. Zohar, who consistently parked his car in no-parking zones and
ignored the notices of fines left on his windshield by municipal traffic
inspectors, racked up an enormous number of offences between 2003 and 20120.
Some people might freak out at receiving a dozen tickets for parking violations
in seven years, but Zohar, who received 429 tickets over this period, acted as
though they were just a waste of paper. The Tel Aviv Municipality eventually
lost patience and took him to court, where the judge ordered him to pay NIS
192,000 to the municipality plus court costs of NIS 15,000. There goes
the cost of a new car. From the testimony given by the municipality, it
would appear that Zohar is very fond of new cars because the parking violations
that he committed involved 14 different cars, indicating that he likes to change
his car every six months.
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