UAE EMBASSY
President Isaac Herzog and United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Al Khaja, cut a ribbon during the opening ceremony of the Emirati Embassy, which is housed in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange complex, on July 14. “Ten months ago our two countries signed the Abraham Accords with a vision of dignity, prosperity and peace for the two peoples,” the ambassador declared. “This is just the beginning.” Herzog, who took office a week before, hailed the embassy opening as an “important step for the entire Middle East.”
SOUR DEBATE
In a fiery Knesset debate on July 12, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu accused each other of mishandling the coronavirus pandemic. Netanyahu asked Bennett, “How did you succeed in destroying so much in such a short time in the struggle against corona?” Referring to Netanyahu and other opposition figures, Bennett retorted, “You have become hamutzim (pickles or sourpusses) so fast that even when you see good things, you cannot give compliments.” Netanyahu had accused the opposition of being hamutzim when he was prime minister.
COLD WAR
Israel slammed Ben & Jerry’s announcement on July 19 that it would no longer sell ice cream in “Occupied Palestinian Territory,” referring to Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told Alan Jope, the CEO of Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, that this anti-Israel step ”has severe consequences, including legal, and (Israel) will take strong action against any boycott directed against its citizens.” Jope clarified that Unilever remains “committed to our business in Israel,” while Ben & Jerry’s Israeli distributor condemned the move and said distribution would continue throughout the country. “Don’t let them boycott Israel,”
it said. “Keep ice cream out of politics.”
AFRICAN UNREST
As South Africans suffered the worst outbreak of unrest since the fall of apartheid in July, the 50,000-strong Jewish community collected funds and food to help those in need, especially in the Durban area. “With the city now being looted, the community leadership is being forced to airlift supplies of food and medicine for distribution especially to the sick and elderly who can’t go out due to Covid,” said campaign organizer Michael Foreman. Hayley Lieberthal, spokesperson for the South African Jewish Board of Deputies KwaZulu-Natal Council, said, “Although tension is running high here, we have an incredible community that has always come together and this is no exception.”
LEGENDARY FUNNYMAN
American Jewish comedian Jackie Mason died in New York on July 24 at the age of 93. Mason, a strong supporter of Israel, gave his last interview to The Jerusalem Report’s Joseph Scutts, which was published on February 8, 2021. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, Mason was able to find humor, telling the Report that “Coronavirus has had its perks. My wife can’t go shopping so much. So I’m saving a fortune.” Mason, who was born Yacov Moshe Hakohen Maza on June 9, 1928, is survived by his wife, Jyll Rosenfeld, and a daughter, Sheba Mason, who is also a comedian.
FIRST MEDAL
Avishag Semberg, 19, won Israel’s first medal, a bronze, in taekwondo at the Olympic Games in Tokyo on July 24, beating Rukiye Yildirim of Turkey. “I have an Olympic medal at 19!” she exclaimed. “I worked so hard all the way. I withstood the pressure.” Sport and Culture Minister Chili Tropper was one of the first to congratulate her, saying, “Avishag Semberg has made the dream a reality and brings us a first medal with an amazing opening to the Olympics.” The Olympic Games for the first time held a moment of silence during the opening ceremony for the 11 Israelis murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
AHED’S KNEE
Israeli director Nadav Lapid’s film, Ahed’s Knee (Haberech in Hebrew), won the Jury Prize at the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 17. The semi-autobiographical film is a critique of artistic censorship in Israel and received funding from the Israel Film Fund and the Ministry of Culture and Sport. “What bothers me is not the censorship of the state, but when censorship becomes part of your soul, your mind – censorship from within. It accompanies you like a shadow,” said Lapid, 46, whose film Synonyms won the Golden Bear award at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019.