A return to the UN
THE ANNOUNCEMENT last week that Danny Danon, who served as Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2015-2020, will be returning to that post, was hardly surprising. Ever since it was known that Gilad Erdan, who has done a remarkably good job at the UN, will be returning home in the summer, Danon’s name has been bandied about as the most likely person to take up where Erdan leaves off.
Erdan might have stayed in the US for an extended term, but for the tunnel vision of the accountant-general. He had been asked to go to Washington to take over from Israel’s ambassador Michael Herzog, who will also be returning home in the summer. Erdan was willing, but wanted the government to provide a home for his children, who are studying in a Jewish day school in New York. The accountant-general refused the request. There could have been a compromise solution in which Erdan would fill both positions as he did when he initially went to the US or a wing in the apartment of the new representative to the UN could have been allocated to Erdan’s family.
But Israel is ill-disposed to compromise, though this time, the choice of Danon will make things much easier in terms of knowledge and adjustment. Danon knows the ropes, and several of the permanent representatives of other countries who were there during his term are still there, and he has maintained some of the relationships that he formed. As for Erdan, he will keep up the good fight for Israel till his last day at the UN and declines to disclose what he will be doing once he gets back. If he wants to return to the Knesset, he can start campaigning way ahead of the Likud primaries, unless the government happens to fall in the near future.
The Labor Party
MEANWHILE, THE Labor Party’s new chairman, Yair Golan, while referring to the party under his leadership as the Democrats, has not removed the word Labor from the title. It’s just in smaller print, and surveys indicate that he is on his way back to the Knesset. That may take time, depending on how long the present administration remains in office.
In last week’s European elections, results indicate that Europe has turned sharp Right. But since Israel so often takes the opposite path to the rest of the world, it’s quite feasible that Israel’s Left will reclaim its legacy.
Organ donor heroes
ISRAEL HAS heroes in a number of different categories: those civilian, security, and military heroes who risked and, in some cases, lost their lives in rescue operations and in providing medical aid to people wounded in the Hamas assault and massacre on October 7; conscripts and reservists who have fought and are fighting against terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah in the North; families of hostages who are using every means at their disposal to bring home their loved ones while ensuring global awareness of how the hostages were kidnapped, injured, sexually abused, brainwashed, and tortured; evacuees who have no idea if and when they can return to their homes, but those who have farms return daily to tend to their crops; people who care for the poor and the aged; and families of fallen soldiers who have donated the organs of their beloved sons and daughters in the hope of saving the lives of others.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, the organs have enabled adult recipients to live a normal and prolonged life. But one recipient, Liel, was an eight-month-old baby when she received part of the liver of Maj. Dor Zimel, who carried an ADI card, but whose family would in all probability have donated his organs, even without the ADI, which signified his willingness to be a donor. In addition to Liel, five adults received his heart, lungs, and kidneys.
Liel underwent her successful liver transplant at Schneider Children’s Hospital, whose management, once Liel was well on the road to recovery, arranged for the Zimel family to meet with the infant and her parents. The hospital subsequently released a video of the emotional meeting between the two families.
The Zimel group included Dor’s parents, Sharon and Alon, his twin sister Lior, and his fiancée, Shir Sagiv.
Sharon Zimel brought with her a toy lion, which will symbolically guard Liel for the rest of her life. Liel’s reaction was very positive. This was the first time that she had responded positively to an adult stranger, said her father, explaining that all the other adults had caused her pain, something that was unavoidable when they were giving her medical treatment.
“Your son did not die,” Liel’s mother told Sharon Zimel. “He lives on in my daughter.”
The Zimels heard similar expressions of appreciation from the other transplant recipients.
The government or a group of philanthropists should establish a special hospital wing or some other appropriate monument to all the soldiers, who lost their lives defending Israel but were able through their supreme sacrifice to save the lives of others.
Alternative support
DIFFERENT PEOPLE devise different ways in which to support the return of the hostages and their families. The varied creativity that goes into this support is quite amazing, and some enterprising person should either write a book or make a documentary film about it – or both. My cousin Tali Fagenblat, who lives in Vail, Colorado, writes that the woman who sits next to her in the place where they both get their nails painted, has since last October been sporting blue nails in the hue of Israel’s flag and says that she won’t change the color until all the hostages are freed.
Our volunteers
HOSTAGE AWARENESS will also feature strongly this year at the annual ceremony at which the President’s Awards for Volunteerism are distributed to organizations and individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary concern for the well-being of the other.
President Isaac Herzog has decided to expand the number of recipients this year to include individuals and organizations who rallied around their fellow Israelis who had been wounded, bereaved, displaced, and unemployed during and since the events of October 7, which at least on a temporary basis made Israel’s citizens of all backgrounds and beliefs more united, more resilient, and more innovative in thinking up new activities and approaches to help the less fortunate in their midst.
At the end of June and the beginning of July, the National Civil Service Appreciation Week will take place from June 30-July 4 to salute the efforts of national civil service volunteers who will be among the recipients of awards at the President’s Residence.
One of these volunteers is 23-year-old Israel Malka from Ashdod, who had a difficult time during his adolescence, much of which was spent in boarding schools and institutions.
When he received his first draft notice at 16, it seemed that his future in the army would be as a mechanic. This did not appeal. Malka lowered his profile and received an army exemption. He wanted to contribute – but not as a mechanic. While searching for something he could do, he met Shlomo and Shira, coordinators at the “Osim Shchuna” (creating a neighborhood) association in the national service program, operating a lone farm.
Malka joined the work of the association, where volunteers create green spaces in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Today, he is responsible for establishing a therapeutic agricultural area at Mekif D High School in Ashdod, where students participate in activities like growing vegetables. A community has formed around the green space, and students who were on the verge of dropping out have found a place at school where they are successful.
On October 7, when the entire management of the association was called to reserve duty, Malka joined the remaining female volunteers and led the City of Refuge project in cities under threat. He and other volunteers spent months working on more than 250 shelters, which had been severely neglected and made them safe and usable.
After a long, but ultimately triumphant battle to cancel his military exemption, Malka is on his way to joining a combat unit and serving as a fighter in the IDF.
Mental health
PATIENTS AT the Abarbanel Mental Health Center now have a luxury fashion brand in their closets. Top tier designer Doron Ashkenazi has designed a series of leisure time sporty outfits for men and women in the hope of giving them a feeling of greater self-confidence. The project was conducted on a voluntary basis.
Since October 7, 2023, with so many people having witnessed, fled from and survived the Hamas massacre, and thousands of residents of vulnerable communities in the south and north of the country being displaced, plus trauma affecting many soldiers returning from Gaza and the northern battleground, mental health has become a significant concern in Israel, and far greater efforts are being made to help people with mental health problems.
The Friends of Abarbanel together with the Center's management decided that the time had come for a change in patients' leisurewear and asked Doron Ashkenazi if he would be willing to design a special collection.
Ashkenazi was happy to do so without a fee, and at the recent unveiling of the collection, the models likewise gave their services free of charge.
Postponed
THE PHOTO exhibition by Karen Benzian that was scheduled to open at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory last Thursday, was postponed due to the protest demonstration at the Knesset, which is nearby. Instead, the opening will take place this evening, Sunday, June 16 at 6 p.m.