Grapevine: Star-studded opening of the Knesset summer session

What more is needed to create awareness?

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Celebrities against violence (photo credit: Courtesy)
Celebrities against violence
(photo credit: Courtesy)
ONE OF the attention-getters at the opening of the Knesset summer session last week was an exhibition organized under the auspices of the Public Security Ministry and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews as part of the national campaign to put an end to the violence that appears to be overtaking the country.
The exhibition was opened by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich and Fellowship president Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, in the presence of many celebrities, as well as MKs. Among the celebrities were Shiri Maimon, Anat Harel, Danny Roup, Linoi Bar-Gefen, Shlomi Koriat, Amos Tamam, Kobi Mahat, Roni Duani, Moshe Ivgi, Nadav Abucassis, Galit Giat, Zvika Pik and Yael Goldman.
ACCORDING TO a report in Israel Hayom, it transpired that Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Sites Shmuel Rabinowitz, who was seen at the Biblical Zoo with members of his family on Holocaust Remembrance Day, apparently has a tradition of going to the zoo on this particular day of the year.
The newspaper was quoting a report on Channel 10 whereby the rabbi and his family were given a guided tour of the zoo, including areas that are not open to the public. The report quoted the zoo’s management as saying that Rabinowitz had been of great assistance to the zoo, and taking him and his family behind the scenes was a way of repaying him.
Following the television report, Rabinowitz apologized and acknowledged that it had been insensitive on his part to visit the zoo, and he expressed the hope that in future he would be more aware.
This begs the question as to what creates awareness. In the week of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the media are saturated with stories about survivors and the atrocities they endured at the hands of the Nazis and their cohorts. A nationwide siren is sounded in the evening and again at mid-morning, with most of the nation coming to a stop for the duration of the siren.
What more is needed to create awareness?
EVERYONE SEEMS to be getting on the papal bandwagon in advance of the visit to Israel next week by Pope Francis. On Tuesday, Bethlehem Mayor Vera Baboun held a press conference to inform the media of the preparations being undertaken by the Bethlehem Municipality for the pope’s arrival.
On Wednesday, the Jerusalem Press Club hosted Rabbi Abraham Skorka, the Argentinean rabbi who authored a book with the pope and co-hosted a television program with him as well. The two have been close friends for more than 20 years.
When Skorka visits the pope at the Vatican, the pontiff personally makes sure that the meals served to the rabbi are strictly kosher.
In addition, the Government Press Office has set up a media center at the Mamilla Hotel, which sits on the seam of east and west Jerusalem.
CONSTRUCTION AND Housing Minister Uri Ariel and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat toured various construction sites in the capital last week to inspect the progress of new residential projects in Pisgat Ze’ev, Homat Shmuel and Arnona, as well as a complex for security forces in East Talpiot and a pinui binui (evacuation and construction) project on Bethlehem Road. They also looked at some other residential projects which, when completed, will add 4,000 new housing units to the capital.
In 2013, Jerusalem broke a 20-year record for construction through the building of 3,442 new apartments, compared to 2,470 in 2012 and 1,360 in 2011. According to statistics released by the ministry, Jerusalem is way ahead of Tel Aviv and Haifa when it comes to the construction of new residential projects.
This is hardly surprising, considering that the population of Jerusalem is twice that of Tel Aviv. Uriel said that in order to reduce the cost of housing in Jerusalem, it was essential to build more, to market more and to issue more construction permits with a minimum of red tape. Barkat agreed and said that Jerusalem was undergoing an unprecedented boom in construction.
This boom is likely to be enhanced even further by the approval two weeks ago by the District Planning and Building Committee chaired by Kobi Kahlon for the demolition of Beit Giora, the veteran immigrant absorption center in Kiryat Hayovel, and the erection of a 12-story apartment block in its place, including at the behest of opposition leader Pepe Alalu, a number of small affordable studio apartments. In recent years, Beit Giora has outgrown its original purpose and has served as a seminary for religious girls.