Mission on a motorcycle

Harley-Davidsons, decision on the Dead Sea, Armistice Day, and an anniversary for Pilates.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Huldai Dead Sea vote 311 (photo credit: Courtesy Tel Aviv Municipality)
Huldai Dead Sea vote 311
(photo credit: Courtesy Tel Aviv Municipality)
■ A LARGE delegation of motorcyclists from the US, which included Evangelical pastors and military veterans, were in Israel for a nine-day motorcade on Harley- Davidsons as part of the Run for the Wall Israel. All of them are members of Mission: M25 Ministry of Hope, which ministers to the neglected and downtrodden people of the world. Mission: M25 has dedicated itself to promoting and encouraging soldiers and veterans of the United States Army whose bravery is often forgotten or overlooked when they return to civilian life. M25 organizes similar events throughout the world in support of soldiers around the globe.
The group came to Israel as part of the efforts of the Israel Government Tourism Office in North America to encourage tourism to Israel in general, but also as part of direct efforts to promote tourism among the Evangelical community, which has millions of believers worldwide. The headquarters of Mission: M25 is in Amarillo, Texas, directed by Rev. Gary Burd.
M25 executive director Paul Klassen asked each of the participants to pack one suitcase with what they required for personal needs and the other with medical and other humanitarian aid supplies, with strict instructions that foodstuffs being distributed should be free of pork products.
“Imagine if 50 people took the extra piece of luggage (50 lbs.) filled with humanitarian aid supplies. That would come to 2,500 pounds, or over a tonne of medical and other humanitarian supplies,” he wrote in his letter of request. The humanitarian aid is intended for people of all faiths.
■ TODAY IS D-Day. November 11 is the day on which it will be decided whether the Dead Sea is to be included on the list of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The Tourism Ministry, in conjunction with the Prime Minister’s Office, mounted an intensive SMS campaign for votes on behalf of the Dead Sea, though some people say the outcome doesn’t really matter because it’s common knowledge that the Dead Sea is a natural wonder. Recent voters for the Dead Sea included Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav.
■ OF COURSE, on November 11 not everyone is focused on the Dead Sea. Some people are focused on soldiers who lost their lives while fighting with British and Allied forces during World War I and World War II.
November 11 is Armistice Day, in memory of which services will be held in Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries around the world. In Israel, for some odd reason, the event is held on the nearest Saturday to November 11, which means that Jewish veterans who are religiously observant are unable to attend.
This year’s event, which will be attended by British Defense Attaché Philip Alan Stack, as well as defense and naval and air attachés from several Commonwealth countries and those of other countries that were part of the Allied forces, will be held at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in Ramle.
■ FOR ISRAEL’S high priestess of Pilates Dalia Mantver, today represents the 35th anniversary of the fitness routine that keeps her young, which she passes on to all her clients. Mantver will be celebrating the anniversary at Reading 3, in Tel Aviv Port, along with several of her successful clients, such as MK Yossi Peled, singer Rita, pilot Ran Pecker, lawyer Ron Gazit, model/actress Yael Bar Zohar, actress Nitza Shaul, Karnit Goldwasser and many other well-known personalities. The event will be marked by community singing to welcome Shabbat, with popular singer Einat Sarouf leading the sing-along.
■ HAIFA MAYOR Yona Yahav this week opened the fourth conference in a series by the Tourism Ministry aimed at encouraging investment in tourism projects and hotel development in different parts of the country. Previous conferences were held in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion. Participants in the conference at the Dan Carmel in Haifa included Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov and ministry directorgeneral Noaz Bar-Nir, as well as senior officials from the ministry’s capital investment and infrastructure departments. The final conference in the series, due to take place in Beersheba in January, will focus on unexploited potential in the south of the country.
This week’s conference, which covered the whole of the Galilee, included the Druse and Circassian sectors for which the ministry will provide grants. The ministry is also inaugurating a Gospel Trail from Nazareth to the Lower Galilee that traces the path of Jesus and will presumably be a major attraction to Christian visitors. The trail, which previously existed but was a rough haul, has been renovated with the assistance of the Jewish National Fund at a cost of NIS 3 million, of which NIS 2m. came from the ministry’s budget.