Following the tragic explosion in Beirut, Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem became an instant media target in light of the many complaints over the years about chemical wastewater being responsible for serious illnesses inflicted on large numbers of Haifa residents. Kalisch-Rotem said she saw no reason for factory plants dealing with harmful chemicals to be in Haifa. Perhaps no less dangerous in the North are land mines that have not been cleared.
Seemingly less of a threat to human life are the tall towers reaching ever skyward. In photographs of the Beirut catastrophe, the city’s tallest building, which is 50 floors high, can be seen in the background. Thankfully, it was unscathed. Imagine how much greater the death toll would have been if this building had also succumbed to the explosion. The tallest building in Israel, which is in Ramat Gan, is 68 floors high. The mind boggles at how many lives would be lost if it were hit by a missile fired from Iran. Land for construction is becoming increasingly scarce, which is the reason for the need to build upward. But it is still possible to build on a grading into hillsides, a form of urban planning that would be much safer than skyscrapers.
■ AUSTRALIANS IN Israel who were members of the Betar Zionist Youth Movement were thrilled to learn that Danny Danon, who has just completed his tenure as head of Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations, has been appointed as Israel’s next ambassador to Australia, succeeding career diplomat Mark Sofer.
The Australian-Jewish leadership hosted an online farewell ceremony for Sofer and his wife, Sara, on August 4 with a huge representation of the Jewish community participating.
Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler remarked that the large turnout of friends and supporters was testament to the profound impact both Sofer and his wife had made on the entire community. Leibler characterized Sofer as “a true mensch,” citing Sofer’s resilience during the pandemic.
Mark Leibler, the national chairman of the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, credited Sofer with being a master of the art of diplomacy. Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Jillian Segal praised Sofer for boosting the links between Australia and Israel and working indefatigably to enhance and create new relationships with Australia’s political, business, media and community leaders.
As a farewell gift, the three above mentioned organizations have created a Mark and Sara Sofer Fellowship through which an Australian student will receive $10,000 to assist in travel, accommodation and tuition costs for studies in an Israeli university in the fields of cybersecurity or international relations.
Sofer, who has had a long diplomatic career, said that of all the gifts he had ever received this was the most beautiful.
Danon has served in numerous leadership capacities, among them: chairman of World Likud, member of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, member of the Zionist Executive of World Zionist Organization and chairman of the World Betar Executive.
Prior to his appointment to the UN, he was a member of Knesset, serving on many committees. He also served as deputy defense minister and science, technology and space minister.
Fears that he may find Australia to be tame after the United Nations will prove groundless. Australia has a warm and diverse Jewish community that will take Danon to its bosom, as it has done with every Israeli ambassador.
As far as challenges go, antisemitism is on the rise, and the Muslim community is one of the fastest growing minority groups in Australia, with whole neighborhoods looking as if they were part of the Middle East, with both men and women in traditional attire, signs on shops in Arabic restaurants that serve mainly Lebanese food but also traditional dishes from other Arab countries, and of course there’s at least one mosque in each of the Arab neighborhoods. Some of the leaders of these communities are virulently anti-Zionist.
■ IT’S NOT uncommon to boycott entertainers who express racist views on social media, but to boycott an entertainer who believes in coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, but who at the same time speaks out against BDS, and is a very proud Israeli, sinks to the lowest level of political hostility. When the World Zionist Organization’s Department of Diaspora Affairs announced that Achinoam Nini, aka Noa, would be appearing in its online Tu Be’av program, certain European branches of the WZO threatened to withdraw their financial support unless Noa’s appearance was canceled.
This is not the first time Noa, despite her global popularity, has faced a boycott. But there are so many people who take her side, that boycotting her is an exercise in futility as it was on this occasion.
“We will not let political discourse and threats hurt our pluralistic vision of open and tolerant Zionism,” declared Diaspora Affairs Department head Gusti Yehoshua Braverman. “We will not surrender to threats. I am proud of the decision to invite Achinoam Nini to perform on our Tu Be’av celebration night. Achinoam continues to bring a lot of pride to Israel and the Diaspora Jewry in her performances on the most prestigious stages in the world.”
■ NO MATTER how well we think we know our relatives and friends, there is so much left unspoken. Case in point, Rabbanit Miriam Hauer and her late husband, Rabbi Benyamin Hauer, who during the many years in which they lived in Canada, were friendly with a man called Josef Lewkowicz. Some years ago, the Hauers moved to Jerusalem and so did Lewkowicz and the friendship was maintained.
This week, Hauer, who spends a lot of time on Zoom, teaching her grandchildren in Israel and abroad, took time out for herself to watch a video called “The Survivor’s Revenge.” To her surprise, she learned that Lewkowicz, now 94, is an internationally known Nazi-hunter. Only 13 years old and living in Krakow when the Nazis invaded Poland, he was sent to several death camps, among them Plaszow, Mauthausen and Ebensee, and went through the most traumatic experiences that can befall a teenage boy. He was the sole survivor of his family, and after the war worked with US intelligence with the aim of bringing ex-Nazis to justice.
One of several such war criminals he caught was Amon Göth, who had been the sadistic commander of the Plaszow concentration camp, and who was executed for his crimes. For a long time Lewkowicz did not talk about his Nazi-hunting activities, but as he advanced in years, and realized the need to leave a legacy of memory for future generations of Jews, he began to talk in schools in various parts of the world, as well as to various organizations involved in collecting testimony from Holocaust survivors. Hauer was amazed by the revelations on video. Anyone interested in learning Lewkowicz’s story can google his name, and several YouTube versions will come up.
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