Ynet News: Actor Juliano Mer-Khamis shot dead in Jenin

Preface

I cannot simply understand the behavior of the Palestinians. They are murdering in the same speed as slaughtering a goat. I have no other words but just to describe those people as the garbage of humanity. A man came to make their situation better and they just spit into the well, sorry shit (I have no other expression at the moment) into their drinking well.

They simply murdered a man of friendship and those are the people we need to deal with them peace. I don't want to dig deeper into their culture and faith which encouraged them to be easy on their guns to their own brothers and friends. So how easy will be their gun against the infidel Jews? It is no wonder if clerics and leaders like Erdogan, Mahathir and other radical anti-Semitic Muslim leaders are brainwashing their minds. They are the cancer of themselves. Just watch what Muslims are doing to Muslims. It is related to the religion. Not all Muslims are terrorists but almost all terrorists are Muslims. Just for that reason of being easy to murder and kill, the Muslims will be punished with a great bloodshed in a brother's war in a very short time. This is not my punishment, it is a divine punishment. They will face darkness for centuries.

In this case we don't need friendship, we don't need peace, not that prior this nor this prior that.

I'm about to change my blog name or remove it from the web. I simply don't want to be a friend of any Palestinian. They should learn first the minimal human behavior.

Hanan Leshnovolsky

Israeli-Arab actor, a pro-Palestinian activist, has received death threats for establishing theater

Elior Levy Published: 04.04.11, 17:27 / Israel News

The Israeli-Arab actor Juliano Mer-Khamis was shot to death in Jenin, Palestinian police in the West Bank announced.

The actor was shot by a masked man who fired five bullets at him as he was exiting his car in the neighborhood in which he resides, afterwards fleeing the scene, police say. Mer-Khamis has resided in Jenin and Haifa alternately.

Civil Administration officials say his body has been transferred to the Abu-Kabir Forensic Institute.

The 52-year old Mer-Khamis, a pro-Palestinian political activist born to a Jewish mother and Arab father, has previously received death threats after establishing a theater at Jenin refugee camp.

The refugee camp disseminated fliers in 2009 calling the actor a fifth column. "If words don't help we will have to speak in bullets," the fliers said.

The theater, which became one of the city's main culture centers since its establishment five years ago, has sustained many firebomb attacks. In April of 2009 the theater's door was torched.

Ynet News: Ignoring Israel’s goodness

Op-ed: Israel’s amazing altruism largely ignored by media as it doesn’t fit with Zionist stereotypes

Giulio Meotti Published: 03.29.11, 17:36 / Israel Opinion

Israel was the first country in the world to send aid to Haiti after the earthquake. An impressive mass of goods, people and emergency facilities was sent to the Caribbean island after the natural disaster. It happened also with the tsunami in Asia, when Israel was among the most generous countries. And now again, when disaster struck in Japan, Israel was the first to dispatch a field hospital to assist in the recovery effort.

IDF clinic in Japan Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

However, Israel’s amazing altruism never had its legitimate space in the global media, because this radical goodness doesn’t fit in with the Zionist stereotype of the colonialist, fascist and apartheid occupier.

In Haiti, an IDF team worked to identify the victims. After the 9/11 attacks, Israeli pathologists helped their fellow Americans at Ground Zero. In 1979, Israel sent a delegation of medical staff to provide medical relief to thousands of displaced people in Cambodia following the downfall of genocidal communist Pol Pot. The Israelis also ran a pediatric field hospital in Rwanda during the Tutsi genocide, assisted the Albanians during the Kosovo war and helped Turkey following the 1999 earthquake.

There is an untold, sad reason for Israel’s ability to offer such help. For the Jewish State, terrorism has always been an involuntary master of speed, precision and caring. There is an amazing quantity of research, inventions and new techniques for helping the disabled and the paralyzed return to normal life after terrorist destruction.

During the Second Intifada, Dr. David Applebaum invented a special method to treat wounded people transported to the emergency room. In New York, Dr. Applebaum showed slides illustrating how it is possible to treat “44 injured people in 28 minutes,” as he had done after a terrorist attack in Jerusalem. Then he returned to Israel and took his daughter Nava to Cafe Hillel, the day before her wedding was supposed to take place. Both of them were killed by a suicide bomber. Applebaum’s method has been copied around the world.

Boycotters hurting themselves

Israel’s ignored goodness can be extended to the incredible record of scientific and medical discoveries. Especially now that the “light among nations”, as Israel was called by David Ben Gurion, is boycotted by universities around the world. The Jewish State is one of the world’s leaders in the per capita registration of US patents by its scientists and doctors. One of the most important tumor suppressor genes was cloned in 1983 by scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot (defective copies of this gene are found in more than half of all human cancers.)

A non-invasive diagnostic method for detecting breast and prostate cancer was developed by another Weizmann’s pioneer. Israel developed the early diagnosis of “Mad Cow” bovine disease in Creutzfeldt Jakob genetic disease in humans with a urine test instead of a brain biopsy. The list of miracles includes the identification of the gene that causes muscular dystrophy, a revolutionary supportive metal in a coronary arteries to prevent a heart attack, a vaccine that prevents the development of juvenile diabetes, the discovery of a gene linked to post-traumatic stress disorder, the development of drugs to combat Alzheimer, cancer, Parkinson and multiple sclerosis and the late deciphering of the structure of the ribosome - the cell’s protein factory.
 
Israel is also the definitive model for finding solutions to major climate challenges, from the fight against desertification to water shortages. The boycotters and the haters of Israel are damaging their own interests, because the Jewish State truly is a light that benefits humanity as a whole.
 
The first child born after the Haiti earthquake came into the world in the tents of the Israeli army. The mother had no doubts about the child’s name: Israel.

IDF Delegation in Port-au-Prince (Archives) Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Office

Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah. The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism

The hypocrites who claim against committing human crimes of IDF (Israeli Defence Forces)

The video clips that are following are just showing the brutality of the regime in Syria. They are the people who are claiming about crimes against humanity done by Israel (IDF). I wonder where is the Humans Rights Committee and Judge Goldstone to make an investigation. Oh, how fast was it established for the "crimes" of IDF in Gaza? Where are those leaders/figures like Erdogan, Mahathir and others? I wonder why are they so silent?

Sure when an anti-Semite is an anti-Semite he will forever remain an anti-Semite. And they just wonder why we call them anti-Semites.

A few video clips are better than 1000 words to describe the brutality of those people. I just wonder from where are they nursing it. Is it education? Is it their religion? Is it their "beasts schools" with hatred brainwashing. I just know that who teaches to hate the Jews blindly, the hatred will become a sward against him. Maybe that time is arriving.

Ynet News: Israel to open field clinic in Japan

Two planes carrying 50 doctors, tons of equipment leave Saturday. Israeli doc: Japanese are grateful

Itamar Eichner Published: 03.23.11, 12:48 / Israel News

Israeli mission to aid Japan crisis on its way: A medical delegation, including 50 doctors, is expected to fly from Ben-Gurion Airport on Saturday and head to Japan.

Israel will send two planes, one holding nearly 20 tons worth of humanitarian aid and the other full of 50 tons worth of medical equipment intended for an Israeli field clinic which will be established in the town of Minamisanriku.
 
"The view here is extremely harsh. Everything is destroyed. Nothing is left of this town," IDF Home Front Medical Corps Commander, Colonel Dr. Ariel Bar, told Yediot Ahronot about the sights he had seen in the town.
 
"In this area alone there are about 10,000 homeless people. People sleep on the floor and seem unresponsive. They definitely need help and fast."

The Israeli clinic will provide the Japanese with pediatrics, internal and orthopedic medicine. A field X-ray lab and a blood test lab will also be built on location.

"The Japanese think very highly of Israeli knowledge and especially our ability to act independently in the field," said Bar. "When it comes to Japanese culture it's not an easy thing to ask for help or admit their inability to do something. But this crisis is hard enough so that they do. They are grateful."

Israel's ambassador to Japan Nissim Ben Shitrit is the one in charge of contacts between local authorities. Director of the North East Asia Department of the MFA (Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Hagai Shagrir, is assisting Ben Shitrit from Israel.
 
"Not one building is left standing. Everything is in ruins," said Bar. "Those who are still alive suffer from different diseases. That's why we're going to establish a field clinic and provide various medical services."

Ynet News: Jew-hatred in Holland

Dutch government won’t pay for security of Jews, while anti-Semitism continues to grow

Manfred Gerstenfeld Published: 02.13.11, 20:13 / Israel Jewish Scene

The Dutch government continues to refuse to pay for the security of its threatened Jewish citizens. The Jewish community has stated on various occasions that it is the only group in society which cannot organize activities without including guards or other security measures.

The other week during a debate in a parliamentary commission on the current anti-Semitism in the Netherlands, several MPs asked the Dutch government to pay for the Jews’ security. However, Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten stuck to the position of his predecessors saying that security is the responsibility of the Jewish community itself and if necessary, of the local authorities. The latter are rarely willing to pay for these expenses.

Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs. Frequently insulted in public

Photo courtesy of Rabbinical Center of Europe

The Dutch Parliament has existed for almost 200 years. The first plenary meeting ever on contemporary anti-Semitism took place last June after a series of articles in the media about anti-Semitic incidents. One article in the prominent daily NRC Handelsblad was titled: “Anti-Semitism is more than an incident. It is normal.” The fact that a second parliamentary meeting was called for a few months later is a sign that nothing has been solved.

The main targets of anti-Semitic harassment in public are a small number of Jews who are recognizably attired as such. In past weeks, several newspapers have reported that Rabbi Raph Evers, the head of the Dutch Jewish Seminary, no longer travels on public transportation because of the harassment he encounters there. He walks out on the street as little as possible. Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs is also frequently insulted in public. His home is fitted with an alarm system which links him directly to the police. Jacobs says 35 year ago, no one insulted him.

What were not mentioned in the Dutch media are the experiences of those Jews who had been repeatedly harassed and now live elsewhere. One Dutch Jewish youngster living in Jerusalem told me that while he was a student at Amsterdam University, he earned a living working in a supermarket in the center of town. He wore a small yarmulke. He was insulted at work on the average twice a week with calls like: “cancer-Jew” of “Hamas Hamas, Jews to the gas.” All of this harassment came from customers of Moroccan ethnicity.

I also interviewed another youngster now living in Jerusalem, who wears ultra-Orthodox garb. A few months ago he visited his parents in the Netherlands. When he changed trains after arriving from Belgium at the Dutch border station Rozendaal, he was immediately shouted at in English by a man with a heavy Dutch accent: “You killed Jesus.” At his arrival in Arnhem, where he exited the station through the back door, he was insulted as well. The same happened when he left from the same station. During his stay in The Netherlands he hardly left his parents’ home.

Non-selective immigration policy

Only limited parts of the Dutch Jewish community encounter substantial anti-Semitism. Besides the aforementioned harassment of recognizably dressed Jews, it impacts mainly on Jewish children in schools and through insults in the workplace. The Jewish community now explicitly blames the disproportionately large role in anti-Semitic incidents of Muslims who account for six percent of the population. The most problematic elements come from the Moroccan, and to a lesser extent, Turkish community.

Over the past decades, Dutch governments have non-selectively allowed in 1.6 million non-Western immigrants, about 10% of the population. Of these, one million originate in Muslim countries where anti-Semitism is far stronger than in the Netherlands. It is thus not surprising that the percentage of anti-Semites among these immigrants is substantially higher than among the local Dutch population. One could put it differently: the Dutch government has for many years followed an anti-Semitism-promoting immigration policy.

It would be desirable to undertake a detailed poll on anti-Semitism among Muslim immigrants as compared to the autochthonous population. One could then also analyze to what extent this anti-Semitism is fueled by families, mosques, schools, friends, or foreign incitement. This would be very useful in the battle against one of the main sources of anti-Semitism. Such an investigation would be, however, far too big a betrayal of Dutch taboos.

Last week’s parliamentary debate had its origin in the media discussion engendered by my book “The Decay: Jews in a Rudderless Netherlands.” It quoted senior Dutch politician and former EU commissioner Frits Bolkestein stating that recognizable Jews should advise their children to leave for the United States or Israel.

However, the book did not focus on anti-Semitism. It had two major themes. The first one, that Jews have a symbolic importance in the Netherlands which goes far beyond the real importance of the community, and the second was that by watching the interaction of the Jewish community and Dutch society at large, one obtains a prism on many aspects of the functioning and problems of Dutch society.

The recent discussions and debates have borne these two points out once more. Minister Opstelten stated that there would be zero tolerance for anti-Semitic incidents and registration of incidents at school. However, the Dutch police are unlikely to be able to become more efficient in the coming months. It is also unlikely that recognizable Jews can soon walk unhindered in certain parts of the country in the near future.

Approximately 10 years ago, there were major inquiries and debates in Dutch society about government failures of post-war restitution of Jewish assets looted in the Holocaust. One of the many criticisms about the Dutch government’s handling of the situation was that it had wrongly charged the surviving Jews for the administrative services involved in returning what was looted from them because the Dutch government could not protect them during the occupation.

A commission of inquiry said that this was a public duty and thus needed to be provided free of charge.
 
One wonders whether in the future, investigators will conclude that the Dutch government has misbehaved against the Jews once again by failing to pay for their protection and that of their institutions, which is also, clearly, a public duty.

Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld has published nineteen books, several of which deal with European anti-Semitism

Mending Hearts...Building Bridges: Children Currently in Israel

Children Currently in Israel

Who is in Israel This Week: 06/02/11

Save a Child's Heart is currently treating seventeen children:

 Before surgery

 After surgery

ANGOLA

 Julia Mario Macaco, Angola

Julia is an 11 year old girl. She lives with her father who is a fisherman and her younger sister who is 8 years old. Her mother also has a heart disease and must live in another city so that she can be nearer to hospital. Julia cannot go to school because the walk from her house is too far and she does not have the energy to walk the distance. Julia likes to clean the house, wash dishes and likes paying with sand and bottles. She never gets tired of listening to the Lion King soundtrack and she loves singing along. She is strong willed and very bright. Julia is a loving and friendly child, who has captured the hearts of all of the SACH staff.

INDONESIA

 Kevin Audy Azizi, Indonesia

Kevin is a one year old boy from Indonesia. When he was 8 days old, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease. His mother was unable to afford the high cost of the operation and so contacted a friend to see if he could help. The friend carried out research and discovered Save a Child's Heart. After sending over the necessary medical documentation, Kevin's mother was told that we could help her son and on 15th Decmeber, exactly 4 months after their initial contact with us, Kevin arrived in Israel with his mother for his life-saving heart surgery.

IRAQ

 Rawa, Iraq

Rawa is an 8 year old boy from Iraq.

 Akar, Iraq

Akar is a 4 year old boy from Iraq.

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

 Mansour, Palestinian Authority

Mansour is a two month old baby boy from Jabalia, Gaza. He was diagnosed with a heart defect one week after birth through a regular check up. He has two sisters aged 4 and 2. His mother is a college student and his father works in construction.

 Shaban, Palestinian Authority

Shaban is a one week old baby from Torqueman.

 Basheer, Palestinian Authority

Basheer is a two month old baby boy from Beit-Lahya, Gaza. He was diagnosed with a heart defect at birth. He has one brother aged 3 and one sister aged 1. His brother was also born with a heart defect (hole) but it healed by itself. His mother is a housewife and his father is a gardener. They live in an asbestos house which includes one room and a kitchen and bathroom and which is based on governmental land.

 Mahmad, Palestinian Authority

Mahmad is a six month old baby boy from Jabalia, Gaza. At the age of two months he was diagnosed with a heart defect after he appeared blue. He has two sisters aged 4 and 2.5 years old and one brother aged 6 years old. His mother is a housewife and his father is unemployed.

PANAMA

 Migdalia Milagros Cedeno Artega, Panama









Migdalia is a 1 year old girl from Pacola in Panama. Her mother doesn’t work and her father is a driver. She has 5 siblings - 2 sisters aged 13 and 6 and 3 brothers aged 19, 17 and 11. Her family live in a 4 bedroom house, which is a one hour drive away from the local hospital. Her parents found out about her heart problem when she was 20 days old. Her heart problem affected her developmental growth so we are delighted that a few weeks after her operation she took her first steps in the SACH house! Migdalia loves eating milk with cereal though her favourite food is potatoes. She enjoys playing with dolls and balls and since coming to Israel, she has slowly begun to show her strong willed, independent personality.

PHILIPPINES

 Alexia Vien Castro, Philippines

Alexia is a 16 month old girl from the Philippines.

TANZANIA

 Ester Samuel Ndakata, Tanzania

Ester is a 9 year old girl from Tanzania. She is a Massai child living in an orphanage, run by Sister Angelika Wohlenberg for female Massai orphans. When Esther fell ill, Sister Angelika took her to Mater Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, and was told that Esther needs heart surgery otherwise she will not live for more than two years. Unable to afford the high costs associated with her surgery in Nairobi, it was recommended that Sister Angelika contact Save a Child's Heart for help. For the full story of how Ester reached Save a Child's Heart, please click here.

Ester loves reading, doing puzzles, listening to music and especially watching movies. She is very bright and has arrived in Israel with lots of homework so that she does not fall behind in her studies. She goes to an English speaking school so her level of English is very high. Ester is an outgoing and friendly child and within a day of being in the Save a Child's Heart children's home, she was getting involved in all of the acitvities. She was accompanied to Israel by Sara, a German volunteer who was working in the orphanage where Ester lives.

A TV report from the Israeli Channel 2:
http://www.mako.co.il/news-channel2/Friday-Newscast/Article-6bfccaded061e21004.htm

ZANZIBAR

 Kassim Makame Hilali, Zanzibar

Kassim is a 13 year old boy from Zanzibar. He is the 4th child in a family of 7 chidlren. He likes playing games and eating fish and rice. He was diagnosed with a heart disease when he was 6 years old. He cannot go to school because of ill health. He feels too breathless. Kassim’s ambition is to become a pilot. Kassim is a very talented and artistic boy. He is a shy boy and although it would be easy for him to be meak in the house, he always gives his best in the house activities.

 Nassor Salum Nassor, Zanzibar

Nassor is a 14 year old boy from Zanzibar. He is the eldest of his 2 siblings. Nassor lives with his grandmother. His father is a shopkeeper and his mother is a housewife. He goes to school, a one hour bus ride away from his house. Nassor was diagnosed with a heart disease when he was 4 years old. His ambition is to be a doctor when he’s older. He enjoys playing football and he likes to eat rice and chicken. Nassor brings a lot of playfulness to the Save a Child's Heart children's home. He is also very creative when it comes to arts and crafts.

 Zainab Adibu Abdalla, Zanzibar

Zainab is one and a half year old girl from Zanzibar. She is the youngest child in her family of seven. She was diagnosed with a heart disease soon after she was born. Her mother is a housewife and her father works in the Ministry of Health as a mason. Zainab is a very loving child and will anyone love who is forthcoming with themselves. She easily falls asleep in anyone's arms. She is a very peaceful and delicate child.

Ynet News: 'Troops reassured me as I went into labor'

Shirin Muhammad Salamin, 27, recounts positive experience of giving birth to baby boy in military ambulance with help of IDF soldiers

Omri Efraim Published: 02.08.11, 08:09 / Israel News

Shirin Muhammad Salamin, a 27-year-old Palestinian woman residing south of Jericho, lies exhausted but overjoyed in the maternity ward at the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. She had a decidedly different delivery experience than that of the rest of the women on the ward.

Sgt. Gilad Nesher in class simulation Archive photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

"It all started in the evening. I went to sleep with pain which grew stronger around 11 pm," she relates. "The family called an ambulance, but it couldn't make it to our house, which is situated at a mountain top, because of the rain. They called an Israeli ambulance but that didn't work either. Eventually my family took me down to the road where we met soldiers inside the army's ambulance."

The baby was delivered by the soldiers and the army medic. "I was alone inside the army's ambulance, my mother and the rest of my family didn't come with me, and I was scared. But the soldiers reassured me throughout the ride. At one stage I literally felt the baby come out and the soldiers put a blanket and helped me give birth. When he came out, they smiled at me and him and asked me to talk to him in order to calm him down. They gave me the baby and let me breastfeed him."

IDF sources said the baby later had trouble breathing. After resuscitating him, the baby and mother were flown via an Air Force helicopter to the hospital. Both are doing well.

Despite the language barrier Shirin says she had no difficulty communicating with the soldiers. "The soldiers were speaking to me and the baby the whole time and made sure we stayed calm."

Shirin is grateful for the care she was given and says she would like to meet the soldiers who helped her. "I would like to thank the soldiers who greatly helped me and wish them health," she says.
 

"There is a great deal of satisfaction in giving life," Sergeant Gilad Nesher, a paramedic who treated the woman and child, told Ynet earlier.

AFP: Synagogue torched in Tunisia: Jewish leader

(AFP) – 22 hours ago

TUNIS — Arsonists set fire to a synagogue in the southern Gabes region of Tunisia, a leader of the local Jewish community said Tuesday.

"Someone set fire to the synagogue on Monday night and the Torah scrolls were burned," Trabelsi Perez told AFP, criticising the lack of action by the security services to stop the attack.

Worshippers visit the Ghriba synagogue in Djerba, southern Tunisia

"What astonished me was that there were police not far from the synagogue," added Perez, who is also head of the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba, the oldest synagogue in Africa.

Twenty-one people were killed, including 16 European tourists, when Al-Qaeda bombers attacked Ghriba in April 2002.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

A Book Is Man’s Best Companion

A Book Is Man’s Best Companion

This is a universal idea that transcends all cultures and civilizations. Ever since writing systems were invented in ancient civilizations, human beings have been using books to share their emotions and their experiences, their fears and their joys, and to advance knowledge.



This “sharing” of knowledge and experience, of history and values, is at the heart of the Aladdin Online Library and its translation of major works into different languages. The books in this library are a collective call to conscience and to vigilance, addressed to every reader, so that ultimately the forces of reason and dialogue shall prevail.

The first works on the shelves of Aladdin are books that throw light on some of the darkest pages of history, the universal symbol of human suffering, the Holocaust.

Members of the Experts Committee of the Aladdin Online Library, intellectuals from different cultures, firmly believe in the necessity of sharing values based on mutual knowledge and mutual respect, rejection of conflicts of memory and all forms of Holocaust denial and trivialization. Their aim is to promote a greater knowledge of our common and specific cultures, more particularly those of Muslims and Jews.

Jacques Andréani,
Ambassadeur de France
Chairman of the Experts Committee

.

Ynet News: Bulgarian Jewry's amazing story

(Video) Experts discuss heroic efforts to save Bulgarian Jews during WWII, Balkans' tolerance and revival of Jewish life in Sofia

Leadel. NET Published: 01.15.11, 08:02 / Israel Jewish Scene

VIDEO - Bulgarian Jews completely assimilated to European society with the exception of during WWII. The survival of the whole Jewish community is an amazing phenomenon.

There is also the example of the Danish community saving over 99% of their Jewish citizens during the Holocaust. However, Denmark was an occupied state, where Bulgaria was an aligned Nazi state.

Bulgarian society, saturated with multicultural and multiethnic history, gives us a great lesson of tolerance.



Dr. Rumiana Marinova-Christidi gives us the historical insights for the root causes of the heroic efforts of Bulgarian people to save the Bulgarian Jews during WWII.

Nikolay Mladenov, Bulgarian minister of foreign affairs, speaks about the sensitivity of Balkans to the Jews and tolerance in the region.

Alexander Oscar, president of the Sophia Jewish community, touches upon the revival of Jewish life in Sofia thanks to the help of other nations both financially and socially.

Ynet News: Patient transferred from Syria to Israel

Young Druze man studying dentistry in Damascus suffers brain hemorrhage, rushed to Haifa hospital through Quneitra Crossing

Hagai Einav Published: 12.24.10, 10:45 / Israel News

 An 18-year-old Druze from Majdal Shams was transferred Friday into Israel through the Quneitra Crossing in the Golan Heights, after suffering a brain hemorrhage while studying in Syria.

"He is a young and talented man who went to Syria to study dentistry, like many other students from villages in the north Golan Heights," Head of Majdal Shams Council Daulan abu Salah told Ynet.

"His family was informed of the incident last Saturday, and he has since been hospitalized at Al Shami Hospital in Syria, waiting to be transferred to Israel.

"As a regional council we offered the family support with the help of the social services department, and also appealed to Israeli elements in an effort to obtain a crossing permit for urgent medical treatment in Israel," he added.

The patient was then taken via helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

Medical emergency chopper at scene (Photo:Avishag Shaar-Yashuv)

On Thursday, the family was informed that the Defense, Health and Interior Ministries authorized all the necessary permits in order to transfer the young man – who is in serious condition – into Israel.

However, shortly before crossing the border, the Red Cross announced that it has not completed all the necessary preparations, and the mission was delayed by a few hours.

IDF officials stressed that even though the border crossing closes at 6 pm daily, the post is manned 24-hours-a-day and could be opened for an authorized humanitarian crossing in a relatively short period of time.

After finally crossing into Israel, a Magen David Adom ambulance took the young man to a Lahak Aviation helicopter, which flew him to Rambam Medical Center.

"It cost more than NIS 30,000 (about $8,300), and because HMO insurance does not cover aerial evacuations and the State does not include it in its health services, the family had a hard time raising the money," said abu Salah.

"Fortunately, many village residents came to their aid, and we hope we will be able to save this dear man's life," he concluded.

Ynet News: UK Imam prays for Carmel Fire victims

Leaders of European Muslim, Jewish communities convene in Brussels to discuss initiative for better relations between communities. Delegation meets European Council President Herman Van Rompuy

Ynetnews Published: 12.09.10, 07:47 / Israel Activism

Rabbi Schneier and Herman Van Rompuy  Photo: Michael Thaidigsmann

Over 50 leaders of Muslim and Jewish communities from across Europe convened in Brussels on Monday for the first Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders to discuss initiatives for better relations between the two communities.

At the opening session Imam Dr. Abduljalil Sajid from Britain spoke prayers, in which he included the victims of the recent Carmel fire disaster in Israel and the floods in Pakistan.

The meeting is co-organized by the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU), the World Jewish Congress (WJC) and the European Jewish Congress (EJC). Earlier on Monday, a delegation met with the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, to whom a common statement was presented which calls for closer cooperation between the two communities in Europe and steps “to ensure that Jews and Muslims are able to practice our respective faiths fully and unimpeded by intrusive, discriminatory and unfair governmental regulations.”

The leaders’ declaration urges “cooperative projects to succor the poor and homeless of all backgrounds, to help protect new immigrants who are threatened by hatred and xenophobia, and to heal the environment, bringing together Muslim and Jewish youth for joint programming.” It also denounces all forms of violence in the name of any religion or ideology.

FFEU President and WJC Vice President Rabbi Marc Schneier called the first Brussels Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish leaders “a promising beginning.” He stated: “Today, we have hopefully kick-started a movement that will spread across Europe. The recipe really is quite simple: our two communities must focus more on what unites us than what separates us. We also must restrain the radicals within our own ranks and make sure they don’t gain the upper hand.”

'Starting at the micro level'

Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, declared: “I think it is very important that Jews and Muslims start talking more with each other, and less about the other. Pointing the finger at the other side and accuse it of being the root cause of all evil on this planet may be easy and convenient, but most of the time it is wrong – and counter-productive.

"How are all the disparate nations of Europe going to co-exist if citizens of the same country can’t share neighborhoods? We need to start at the micro level to succeed at the macro level. We need to pay attention to every level of intolerance, hate and xenophobia.”

Senior representatives of both faiths from Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States attended the one-day gathering, which concluded with a Diplomatic Dinner attended by numerous ambassadors posted in Brussels.

Ynet News: Palestinian firefighters help battle Carmel blaze

Head of Palestinian team says assistance is a 'humanitarian gesture' that has nothing to do with Israel-PA relations

Hassan Shaalan Published: 12.05.10, 14:18 / Israel News

Twenty-one Palestinian firefighters arrived at the Mount Carmel region on Sunday to assist Israel in its battle against the huge wildfire which has claimed the lives of 41 people.

Palestinian fire truck in Israel Photo: AFP

"I've dreamed of visiting Haifa for a long time," Ibrahim Ayash, the head of the Palestinian rescue team told Ynet, "But unfortunately I came at a very sad time."

'Humanitarian gesture.' Palestinian firefighters in Israel (Photo: AFP)

The Palestinian firefighters entered Israel through the Salem crossing. They were accompanied by Civil Administration personnel. "We arrived in Haifa two hours ago, and we are supposed to help extinguish the fire that has spread in the Carmel Forest," Ayash said. "I consider our assistance a humanitarian gesture."

According to Ayash, the Palestinian people viewed the disaster with a great deal of sorrow.

He said the cooperation has nothing to do with the relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. "We came here to help without addressing the issue of Jews and Arabs," Ayash added. "We will stay in the Carmel region until the fire is put out."

The Palestinians joined hundreds of firefighters who have been battling the fire since it erupted on Thursday.

Ynet News: Israel to send aid to Haiti

After medication sent to combat cholera outbreak, Israel Aid Agency intends to set up permanent trauma unit, train local teams in island's second largest city

Ronen Medzini Published: 11.24.10, 20:07 / Israel News

The Foreign Ministry sent some 200,000 doses of medication against cholera to Haiti this week, where more than 1,000 have died already from the outbreak. Israel also intends to set up a permanent trauma and emergency unit on the crisis-ridden island to assist in treating the thousands of patients.

Trauma unit within four months (illustration) Photo: AFP

The international cooperation branch of Israel Aid Agency announced it intends to come to the aid of Haiti which less than six months ago was hit by a devastating earthquake which left the island in ruins. It intends to assist both by sending medicines and by long-term aid.

Haitian hospital (Photo: AFP)

"This is an aid project in a place where we see a need not being filled by others," said Dr. Yossi Peretz, a senior consultant for medical and humanitarian issues. "Many groups are operating there, but not all with good reputations and not all with appropriate coordination and to satisfactory levels from the point of view of the local authorities."

The unit will be located in the island's second largest city, Cap-Haïtien, which was chosen after authorities said there was a tangible need for a quality unit in the city, Peretz said. Cap-Haïtien has more than a million residents, and the unit's operations will also assist in developing the economy.

"We came to an agreement that we'd build a large unit meeting Israeli standards," Peretz said. "This is a pilot project. There is currently no infrastructure for trauma victims and the wounded, and there is a lack of experience and knowledge. We have taken it upon ourselves to build and train, and we are now preparing to take out the equipment. This will require many containers and Israeli construction and training teams, all 'blue and white' (from Israel). We intend to finish the project within four months and hand it over to them."
 
The UN has recently called on states around the world to contribute some $164 million to increase international efforts to combat the cholera outbreak, which has claimed the lives of 917 people so far and infected at least 14,600. According to Save the Children, 40% of those who died did not receive adequate medical attention. According to UN estimates, the number of those infected is liable to reach 200,000 – some 2% of the Haitian population.

Mending Hearts...Building Bridges

A few days ago I watched on the TV news a report about an Israeli (Zionist) association of cardiologist doctors and surgeons who are treating children worldwide - "Save a Child’s Heart (SACH)". They are treating kids with heart problems and illness from many countries and places like SE Asia, Africa, Europe, Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority. A great number of treated kids are from enmity countries to Israel and about 1000 children from the Palestinian Authority were treated successfully.

I'll not speak for those doctors and refer you to their website links so you can get the impression first hand.

http://www.saveachildsheart.org/14-en/Sach.aspx


"Betty's Story" (English) - The Story of Save a Child's Heart activities around the world with a focus on little Betty from Ethiopia 



http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/xinhua/2010-10-04/content_960812.html

Ynet News: IDF rescues Lebanese woman caught in border fence

Troops patrolling northern border detect elderly woman tangled in barbed wire fence on Lebanese side near mine field, safely return her to Lebanon in coordination with UNIFIL forces

Hagai Einav Published: 11.14.10, 23:49 / Israel News

Troops carrying woman Photo: The IDF Spokesperson's Unit

An IDF force patrolling along the northern border Saturday detected an 80-year-old woman whose clothes had tangled in the Lebanese side of the border fence. The troops informed United Nations personnel stationed at the area and rescued the woman together.

The elderly woman was caught in a part of the fence which was adjacent to a mine field and when it became clear the Lebanese Army could not assist her, the IDF stepped in.

A joint military force pulled the woman into Israeli territory while the Lebanese Army observed the rescue operation. After making sure the woman was not injured UNIFIL representatives contacted the Lebanese Army and coordinated her return to Lebanon via the Rosh Hanikra crossing.

 Rescue operation. 'Woman posed no security risk' (Photo: The IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

An IDF source told Ynet the woman posed no security risk and was in evident distress. "As a humanitarian measure it was decided to help her and return her safely to her village in Lebanon," he said.

 
"The woman's rescue was performed by a joint force of engineering, scouts and Golani troops who are intimately familiar with the area and who managed to release the woman from the fence and transfer her to the Israeli side safe and sound."

Ynet News: Restoring Poland's Jewish past

Special Israeli-Polish collaboration has Polish inmates renovating, restoring Jewish cemeteries ruined in WWII

Noah Klieger Published: 11.09.10, 12:07 / Israel Jewish Scene

POLAND – Sixty-five years after Jewish cemeteries were demolished by the Nazis, they are now being restored and renovated by the unlikeliest of volunteers - Polish inmates.

Jewish cemetery in Warsaw Photo: Visual/Photos

 

Hundreds of prisoners from some 50 Polish jails have been spending the last few months renovating and performing restoration work on Jewish cemeteries as part of a special and unprecedented collaboration between Israel's Prison Service and the Polish prison service. More prisons are scheduled to join the project in the future.


It should be noted that the prisoners participating in the project have volunteered to do so after learning of its significance from their wardens.

The project was first conceived in 2005 when Israeli and Polish prison service representatives met during an international conference and decided to cooperate in various fields.

The Polish representatives later told their Israeli counterparts that the warden of a prison in Lublin had initiated the renovation of a local Jewish cemetery and that dozens of prisoners volunteered to take part in the effort. The Israelis were also told that the plan had been coordinated with Poland's chief rabbi and the Director of Poland's Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage, Monika Krawczyk.

The Israeli Prison Service officers immediately saw the project's huge potential and shortly thereafter offered their Polish counterparts to turn the initiative into a national project.

Haim Shmulevich, former Prison Service legal advisor and a Polish native speaker was appointed as the Israeli contact person. Last January, he and Prison Service discipline director Benny Poloczek held a tour of Poland to monitor the project's progression and finalize the necessary details of its expansion.

Jewish philanthropist

As the project's scope grew bigger it became apparent there was need for outside funding. This is where Brian Anderson, a British tycoon who moved to Israel six years ago, came into the picture. Anderson, 54, is the son of a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to England after WWII.

He made his fortune working as an importer of Far East products since his teen years. The son of ardent Zionists, Anderson visited Israel frequently as a young man. In one of his visits, he met his wife Irit, with whom he has three daughters. After retiring and making aliyah, Anderson created a donors club for the benefit of various causes in Israel which mainly consists of wealthy British Jews. The club's members provide funding for terror victims, lone soldiers and IDF wounded veterans.

Last year, one of Anderson's friends introduced him to the Prison Service. When he learned about the cemeteries campaign he decided to recruit his fellow philanthropists and raise the necessary funds to keep the project going.

Tombstone maker's secret

On Monday, several of a donors, together with a Prison Service delegation attended a special ceremony marking the completion of the first stage of the unique collaboration in the Polish city of Radom. A monument built by the Polish prisoners using old Jewish tombstones was unveiled.

An interesting story lies behind these tombstones. During the German occupation, a Polish tombstone maker decided to move 70 gravestones from the local Jewish cemetery to a warehouse near his house. Choosing the most extravagant headstones, he planned on selling them when the time came. In doing so, he in fact saved them.

The Germans used the thousands of tombstones that remained in the cemetery to build a runway for their fighter jets and to pave a road from the city to the airport. After the war, the Communist regime prohibited citizens from holding on to items of historical value, thus preventing the Polish tombstone maker from selling his treasure.

The tombstones were discovered only decades later when Haim Kintzler, chairman of the Radom Jews association visited his hometown and learned of the cemetery's sad fate. When he discovered the hidden tombstones, he recruited the help of the mayor of Radom and together they convinced the tombstone maker's sons to return them to the municipality, which promised to feature them in a special new museum.

It took Kintzler 13 years to realize his plan and showcase the tombstones. While the municipality could not afford to keep its promise, a solution was found with the help of the organizers of the Polish cemeteries renovation project. It was decided that a monument featuring the tombstones would be set up to mark the special project.
 
Monday's ceremony in Radom was attended by the Polish justice minister, municipal officials, Israeli Prison Service representatives, Brian Anderson and 20 members of his donors club, as well as Israeli Ambassador to Poland Zvi Rav Ner.

Ynet News: Muslim president inaugurates Jewish school

Azerbaijan leader applauded at Jewish education center in Baku, says hopes 'school's graduates will be proud Jews and proud Azeri citizens'

Dmitriy Prokofyev Published: 11.07.10, 08:23 / Israel Jewish Scene

A Muslim president of a Muslim country inaugurating a Jewish school is not exactly a common event. And yet, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev recently visited a Jewish education center in the capital city of Baku, accompanied by his education minister, minister for religious affairs, mayor and other senior officials.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev. 'Courage and wisdom' Photo: Reuters

Upon his arrival, the president was applauded and cheered by the ceremony's attendees. "I hope the graduates of this school will be proud Jews as well as proud Azerbaijani citizens," he said.

President Shimon Peres sent a televised greeting to his Azeri counterpart in honor of the occasion, expressing his deep appreciation of the unusual gesture in building the large Jewish center in Baku.

"I would like to salute you for your courage and wisdom, in this pragmatic world we live in, to maintain values of building schools and centers for all religions so that not a single book is buried and not a single prayer is lost. I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the traditional way you treat the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Your father and you will always be remembered as great personalities, who have a vision and act courageously and humanely."

Israel was represented by Chief Sephardic Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who was impressed by the national and religious tolerance in Azerbaijan, blessed President Aliyev and the citizens of his country, and installed a mezuzah on the entrance gate.

Another important guest was Israeli businessman Lev Leviev, who donated funds to the center.

Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan, a Shiite country and neighbor to Iran. It is a very rich city, as Azerbaijan is a major exporter of oil to Western Europe, and has about two million residents. Its Jewish community has some 30,000 members.

The school, intended for 450 students, was built in a luxurious neighborhood on a hill facing the sea. The compound, which stretches over 3.5 acres, has three modern buildings housing a school, a kindergarten, a daycare center, sports facilities, a concert hall and a synagogue. The money was invested by Leviev's Or Avner fund.

The education center's inauguration was preceded by a meeting between Aliyev, Rabbi Amar, Leviev, and Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities Berel Lazar.

The route leading to the president's residence was blocked to traffic, and police officers standing in every corner saluted the convoy. Rabbi Amar was shocked, noting that "this is the first time traffic in a city is blocked to allow Israel's chief rabbi to get through."

Against anti-Semitism

During the meeting, President Aliyev turned to Leviev as an old friend. The two have known each other for many years thanks to the Jewish businessman's humanitarian gestures.

Aliyev told the rabbis, proudly, that his country's Jews never experienced anti-Semitism and that he himself was unfamiliar with the word "anti-Semite" until he traveled abroad for academic studies.

He showed proficiency in the affairs of his country's Jewish community and invited the chief rabbi to inaugurate a government-funded synagogue slated to be built in Baku in the next two years.

During the meeting, I asked Lev Leviev about the luxurious project and the activity of the Or Avner fund during the financial crisis.

"Crisis or no crisis, the fund continues to operate and donate," he replied, "because this is a real investment in our future as a people. We are gaining more and more Jews. This way we'll be stronger, and I have no doubt you will be blessed by God. We now have more than 500 active communities in the Commonwealth of Independent States alone, and they are developing dynamically."

Why did you choose to build the biggest and most luxurious education center you've ever established in Baku of all places?

"Because of real needs and a coincidence. We have a very intelligent community here, but it's very assimilated, with many mixed families. When the child goes with his father to the mosque on Friday and with his mother to synagogue on Saturday, it turns on a red light. We simply have to give that child the option to receive Jewish education, and for both parents to agree to send him to a Jewish school it has to be a school of the highest quality. At the same time, we received a great response from the political echelon, which even provided the land for free."

What next?
 
"The education center in Baku is only one chapter. Several weeks ago we opened a school called Or Avner in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, now we are opening one in Azerbaijan, and in Hanukkah we will open a similar center in Minsk."

Ynet News: Jaffa square named after Muslim leader

Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality decides to commemorate Islamic Movement's Sheikh Bassam Abu Zayid. 'He was very likeable to Jews because he made sure to maintain moderation, coexistence,' says Meretz councilman

Yoav Zitun Published: 11.07.10, 22:48 / Israel News

Sheikh Bassam Abu Zayid

Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality has decided to name a Jaffa square after Bassam Abu Zayid, who was a senior figure in the Islamic Movement in Israel and founded the movement's Jaffa branch.

Abu Zayid, who passed away in July of 2008, was considered by Jaffa's residents to be one of the foremost religious authorities.

A square located on the corner of Dolphin and Yehuda Hayamit Streets is to be named after the sheikh, who remained neutral during the internal split of the movement into northern and southern branches.

Since his death a public battle has taken place regarding his commemoration, led by Jaffa council member Ahmad Mashrawi (Meretz), who resigned from his post at the municipality over the issue.

Mashrawi. Resigned over battle Photo: Afaf Mashrawi

"The fact that Sheikh Bassam was not a member of any branch, northern or southern, makes him very likeable to Jews because he made sure to maintain moderation and coexistence," Mashrawi told Ynet. "There are hundreds of streets named after Jews in Jaffa, some of them biblical characters, even in Ajami neighborhood, which is absurd."

Likud councilman Arnon Giladi expressed surprising support for the move. "The Likud supports the commemoration of people who contributed to coexistence and moderation for the benefit of Israel's prosperity, whether they were Arabs or Jews," he said.

Another street will also be named after an Arab, the seventh so far. It will carry the name of George Hananiya, who chaired Jaffa's Orthodox Union and was one of the city's most beloved leaders.
 
 

Giladi. Supports move Photo: Ofer Amram

The city council is also embarking on a neighborhood-naming spree, as part of which Giladi has suggested calling his neighborhood after former Prime Minister Menachem Begin. However he encountered opposition on the part of Councilwoman Haviva Avi-Guy, of the Pensioners' Party.

 

"Begin was the first prime minister to bring peace. If we commemorate prime ministers, as we have the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, it would be proper to honor him with a neighborhood as his namesake as well," Giladi responded.