Sderot

2024-05-03

86 who were evacuated from their homes from both southern and northern Israel following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war have passed away, the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry announced on Thursday ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day next week. According to the ministry, 52 Holocaust survivors died from the city of Ashkelon, 12 survivors from Sderot, and 11 survivors from other settlements in the south. In addition, 11 Holocaust survivors died from the evacuated northern settlements of Shomrat, Metula, Kibbutz Dan, Shlomi, and Kibbutz Yir’on. The data shows that some of the 238 who were evacuated to hotels returned to their homes or moved to other places. In the city of Ashkelon, 122 Holocaust survivors left hotels, while in Sderot, 33 Holocaust survivors left. Most of the Holocaust survivors who were evacuated from the north, on the other hand, remained in the evacuation centers, like much of the other residents. From Kiryat Shmona, for example, only two Holocaust survivors left the hotels, as well as two from Metula and seven from Shlomi. About 2,500 Holocaust survivors experienced the difficult events of . About 2,000 Holocaust survivors were forced to abandon their homes and evacuate to a safe area as a result. In the meantime, the ministry notes an increase in the number of Holocaust survivors who are assisted by welfare services. According to the data, this applies to 42% of Holocaust survivors in Israel. As of 2024, the office provides services to approximately 48,610 survivors, compared to 45,300 last year. 22,893 of the Holocaust survivors receive services from various frameworks of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, mainly through support communities. 1,710 survivors receive assistance through the social payments system, receiving mainly material and financial assistance. 5,110 receive services from the Friendship Fund in cooperation with the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry. Haim Raanan, 88, a Holocaust survivor who also survived the deadly October 7 Hamas attack on Kibbutz Beeri, shows a picture of himself as a child with his mother, Erin, wearing Stars of David, at his temporary accommodation in Tel Aviv, Israel January 21, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI) In addition, more than 1,000 Holocaust survivors are assisted by a remote welfare program and a connected program - programs to alleviate loneliness and strengthen intergenerational ties through two-way digital communication technology systems for remote contact and physical meetings, which aim to improve the quality of life of Holocaust survivors in the community in terms of reducing loneliness and a sense of belonging, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and promoting digital literacy. The Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry added designated standards for the care and assistance of Holocaust survivors in local authorities, alongside the expansion of community services to all senior citizens in the State of Israel and various programs. Welfare and Social Affairs Minister Ya’akov Margi said: "This year, more than ever, we have an obligation as a ministry, as a society, and as a community to embrace Holocaust survivors, many of whom experienced the events of the terrible massacre on October 7 and brought back to them difficult memories of the terrible Holocaust." "At a time when the State of Israel is fighting for its right to exist and when terrible antisemitic events and demonstrations take place every day in cities and campuses around the world, the generation of Holocaust survivors are our light and moral compass and the beacon of faith in our righteousness. The people, many of whom have experienced the horrors of both times, are testimony to the rise of Israel and the strength and resilience of the Jewish people," he concluded.  Director General of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, Yinon Aharoni, said: "Aid and support for Holocaust survivors is at the heart of the ministry's activities, and we are constantly working to diversify and expand the programs and services for this population. The goal is to personally reach every survivor, and to lay out before them all the rights and services they deserve. Our debt as a country and citizens to the survivors of the Holocaust is enormous, and we must work every day to make sure that they will live a good life with good health and a supportive and wide social network as possible, and this so that they will not lack anything." ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-30

Two IDF reservists killed in Gaza over the weekend were killed by IDF forces when a tank mistakenly opened fire on a building where Israeli soldiers were present, a by the IDF found on Tuesday, according to Israeli media. The incident occured during a firefight with Hamas terrorists that developed with explosives, Israeli media reported. During the battle, a tank fired outside of its firing zone against orders, hitting a building with IDF forces inside, according to Kan news. IDF reservists Staff-Sergeant-Major Ido Aviv and Staff-Sergeant-Major Kalkidan Mehar were killed in the incident and two other . Aviv, 28 years old, from Karmiel, was a fighter in the Yiftah Division, and Mehar, 37 years old, from Petah Tikva, was a fighter at the Carmeli Division. Anti-tank missiles were fired at northern Israel Tuesday, causing the closure of the road from Tel Hai Junction to Metulla, according to the Upper Galilee Regional Council. The strike caused damage to buildings, Kan reported.  An IDF artillery unit fires towards Lebanon near the Israeli border with Lebanon, northern Israel, November 2, 2023. (credit: David Cohen/Flash90) Hezbollah took credit for a strike on the north of Israel Tuesday, saying they fired at an IDF position near Metulla.  Overnight on Tuesday, the IDF conducted airstrikes on several Hezbollah terrorist infrastructures in southern Lebanon, the IDF said on Tuesday morning. Following rocket launches from Gaza towards the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Monday, the Israel Air Force hit the source of the attack, the IDF said on Tuesday. The rockets launched at Sderot were intercepted by the IDF aerial defense array. IAF fighter jets struck the anti-tank launch site located in northern Gaza, as well as tunnel shafts and terrorist infrastructure in the area. The IDF added that it struck several terror targets in the central Gaza Strip since Monday, with troops identifying and eliminating numerous terrorists in the area.  Eve Young contributed to this report.  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-30

Hamas continues to dictate the next stage of the Gaza war, both in its own view and in how it holds the world hostage by not agreeing to a hostage deal. After Hamas violated the first hostage deal in December, it gambled that Israel would not keep up the military pressure on its terrorists in Gaza. Hamas now believes it has been proven correct. It thinks it can basically outlast Israel in Gaza. On April 30, were both quoted in the pro-Iran al-Mayadeen media describing their continued attacks on Israel in Gaza. For instance, terrorists fired rockets at Sderot at the end of Passover, just before sunset on April 29. In addition, rockets were fired toward Ashdod, landing in the sea. The goal of Hamas and other Iranian-backed groups in Gaza is to keep up the pressure on Israel. This is carried out through rocket attacks that have been much reduced since the volleys of thousands in October but continue to pose a threat. The terror groups also understand that firing one rocket at Sderot, is basically the same as firing a dozen, if the goal is to get people in the city to have to seek shelter due to sirens. The goal is to continue to harass the Israeli border communities to remind them that Hamas is still active. Hamas knows that this kind of low-level rocket fire and other threats to the border communities make life there unsettling. For instance, it is clear that Hamas and other terror groups purposely escalate over Jewish holidays and on Shabbat with rocket fire and other threats. Hamas is proud of the fact that after almost seven months of war, it continues to have rocket fire capabilities and also that it can continue to carry out attacks across . Hamas has returned to much of Gaza because IDF forces left areas they were operating in, enabling Hamas to return. While terrorist infrastructure, such as tunnels were removed, Hams gunmen continue to operate. IDF SOLDIERS operate near what the military described as a Hamas command tunnel running partly under UNRWA headquarters, in the Gaza Strip, in February. In spite of the remarkable achievements of the IDF in Gaza, the war lingers on with no clear end in sight, the writer laments. (credit: DYLAN MARTINEZ/REUTERS) For instance, a new report at Al-Mayadeen said Hamas has claimed several attacks in central Gaza. Hamas and other groups are seeking to attack IDF soldiers in the Netzerim corridor, a corridor the IDF established across Gaza that links the coast of Gaza to Israeli communities near Beeri and Nahal Oz. This enables the IDF to operate freely in central Gaza. The corridor is also supposed to facilitate aid entering Gaza from a maritime corridor. However, the terrorists have other ideas. They want to target the corridor and the maritime corridor. The recent report says terrorists targeted Mughraqa, an area north of Nuseirat camp. The terrorists of PIJ also operate in Maghazai camp, where they claim to down a quadcopter drone. In addition, Hamas claims it targeted the Netzerim corridor with mortar shells. Overall, the picture is clear. The Palestinian terror groups want to create the conditions for a low-level, low-intensity insurgency in Gaza. The Hamas battalions have been dispersed and gone to the ground. Israel has claimed it defeated around 18 of the Hamas battalions, and only six remain; two of them in central Gaza and four in Rafah. However, this is pre-October six thinking because Hamas has changed its tactics. Hamas is also likely replacing its terrorists that were lost in the fighting over almost seven months. This means that even if Hamas lost up to 20,000 of its terrorists, either as killed or wounded, it can replace some of them. The group is illustrating its staying power. It had already gone through several rounds of rebuilding its networks, as it did in Shifa Hospital between January and March when up to 1,000 of its terrorists were found there. It has also sought to return to Shati, Zaytoun, Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, and other areas in northern Gaza. Now, the IDF has replaced the Nahal brigade in Netzerim with the 99th division, including the multi-dimensional unit that fought in Jabalya and central Gaza in the early part of the war. Hamas knows it is up against two recently deployed brigades holding the corridor. These include the 2nd Carmeli Brigade of infantry and the 679th Yiftah Reserve Armored Brigade. The IDF announced the deaths of two soldiers on April 29. Hamas is shifting focus to targeting the corridor and appears to be wondering about the IDF’s next moves in Gaza. Hamas knows that the IDF has postponed a Rafah offensive since March due to international pressure. It hopes to keep their pressure on Israel up and to keep drawing out the hostage talks, forcing the US, Israel and others to keep waiting. Hamas also recently released two videos of US-Israeli hostages it is holding. A recent video showed Omri Miran and Keith Siegel. Siegel is a US citizen. It also recently released a video of Israeli-American hostage . This is designed to pressure the US and to get the US to pressure Israel. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-29

The radio news bulletin as the ended Monday evening sounded sadly  familiar -- and unfortunately very much like what the nation was accustomed to prior to October 7. No, it wasn’t because of protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Rather it was the reports of  sirens warning of incoming rockets in communities near the Gaza border. One rocket was intercepted over Sderot, and two fell in the sea off of Ashdod. Nearly seven months into the Gaza war, and terrorists from the coastal strip still have the ability to send residents of towns nearby scurrying for cover - two people in Sderot were hurt doing just that. The frequency of the attacks and the number of rockets fired has declined dramatically since the war began,, but Hamas’ ability to fire off rockets still exists. Likewise, Hezbollah and Hamas fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon onto communities near the northern border during the holiday, with anti-tank missiles damaging six homes in Metulla. Those reports bring into focus a major question that the government needs to grapple with as talks progress on a possible cease-fire as part of a hostage release deal: what will it take to enable the tens of thousands of residents in towns and communities along the Lebanese and Gaza borders to return home? Assume for a second that there is a cease-fire of some six weeks, and as a result of the cease-fire in Gaza, Hezbollah and Hamas stop their . Then should residents of the communities there be allowed to return to their homes? And even if they are allowed to return, will they? Released hostage Amit Soussana, kidnapped on the deadly October 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, talks to the press in front of her destroyed home at the Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Israel, January 29, 202 (credit: REUTERS/ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI) What will it take for residents of the north and south who were evacuated to feel safe enough to return home? Will it take a complete end to all rockets from both arenas to enable people to return to their homes? Is that even a realistic expectation? When the government ordered the evacuation of communities in significant swaths of the country just after the start of the war, it set a dangerous precedent. It is understandable why the decision was taken, but it still set a dangerous precedent in that it showed the enemy they can chase people away from their homes. That decision, however, was born of a security doctrine that has since collapsed: that Israel can turn a blind eye to an enemy building up directly on the border, believing that the enemy would not do anything “crazy” - such as using the significant capabilities that they built up - fearing a furious Israeli response. As such, Israel did not act following the Second Lebanon War in 2006 when Hezbollah violated the US Security Council Resolution and built-up a missile arsenal with Iran’s help that would do a small NATO country proud. Israel saw the buildup there, as well as the stationing of Hezbollah units directly on the border trained to infiltrate Israeli communities,   but in its two-decade-old sanctification of quiet, did not want to take action, fearing that would lead to a wider conflagration it did not want, and believing  that Hezbollah would be deterred by Israel’s might. The same was true in Gaza. Israel saw the tremendous buildup of weapons and military capabilities inside Gaza, but did not take action, believing instead that Hamas could be deterred both by the knowledge of Israel’s superior might and appeased with suitcases of Qatari money. Neither in Lebanon nor in Gaza did Israel act against the buildup it was witnessing. As a result, when Hamas attacked on October 7, and when there was a fear that Hezbollah would follow suit on October 8, Israel had little choice but to evacuate civilians because they were very much in the direct line of fire. In Lebanon, Hezbollah was stationed  right on the border, withing spitting distance of Israeli communities, just as Hamas was in Gaza. Had Israel prevented the buildup in Lebanon over the years right on the border, then it would not have had to evacuate those communities because Hezbollah would not have been able to fire directly into border communities with anti-tank missiles. The unprecedented evacuation of these communities - something that went against the ethos this country was built upon - was a result of relying for the last two decades on state-of-the-art walls and fences and technological bells and whistles to defend the country’s residents, rather than active defense: such as taking military action to prevent a threatening military buildup. It is safe to assume that this doctrine will now be buried, and Israel will go back to taking offensive action to prevent threats, rather than just building up defensive fortifications to protect itself from those threats. But in the meantime, the question remains: what will make residents of the Gaza and Lebanese border communities feel safe enough to return home? One element will be a massive redeployment of IDF soldiers to these borders. The presence of thousands of soldiers will not only give residents a sense of security but will also provide real-time response possibilities if there is a massive incursion across, or underneath, either of these borders, as there was on .  The second element will be a combination of responding immediately and with great force to every rocket fired or even every  inflammable balloon launched - even if they are intercepted or land harmlessly in the sea - with  taking preemptive action against threats when they appear small, such as the deployment of Hezbollah’s Redwan force right on the border fence with Israel, before they metastasize into something much worse. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-29

Tariq Abu Erar, a Bedouin doctor from the village of Ararat an-Naqab (previously Aroer) in the Negev, was on his way to his shift at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon . As he passed a junction close to Sderot, he noticed a wounded man on the side of the road. Tariq assumed it was a car accident and stopped his car to help the man. To his dismay, it was not a traffic accident, but rather an ambush set by Hamas terrorists. In his own words, Dr. Abu Erar told Maariv what happened before and after that moment: "I had a first aid kit and a safety helmet, because my wife called while I was in the middle of the road and told me there were sirens in the village and there were casualties. She told me there was a conflict, and it was clear it was from Gaza." He then described the harrowing experience when surrounded him: "After they shot me in the chest and then in the leg, they captured me and tied me to a pole. They started questioning me; I was in shock, I thought it was a dream." They asked Tariq questions, like "Where are you from?" and "Where are you going?" At first they thought he was a Jew, when he told them he was a Muslim, they spoke to him in Arabic. "They asked me verses in the Koran. What are the people of the Prophet Muhammad? Then they said: "Shut up, you traitor, you are working with Jews," he recalled. For over an hour, while he was tied up and slowly losing hope and blood, he was forced to witness Hamas terrorists commit acts of violence against others in the area, going car by car and killing the people inside.Palestinians take control of an Israeli tank after crossing the border fence with Israel from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 7, 2023. (credit: ABED RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90) Tariq recounted: "They are very barbaric. Not people! They shoot without hesitation, without emotion, they had and knew what they were doing." Eventually, Israeli forces arrived and engaged the terrorists in combat. "When the soldiers arrived, I was stressed. I thought they would be confused, thinking I was one of them, and shoot me and kill me, but luckily one said 'Stop, stop, he's a hostage, and they identified me," he added. Tariq then described the moment that IDF soldiers went to rescue him from his armed captors. "There were two terrorists waiting for the soldiers to get closer to me so they could shoot them." Despite the chaos, Tariq managed to signal to the soldiers and point out additional terrorists hiding on the side. "Unfortunately, the terrorists killed two soldiers, but they fell as heroes," he said. Throughout the event, Tariq shares that "there were no thoughts, just that I was going to die, that was the only thought I had." He believed that thanks to the bravery of the Israeli soldiers, many residents of the area were saved. "They could have advanced further into the streets and even to Ashkelon," Tariq added. Tariq was transported from the battlefield to Soroka Hospital via a United Hatzalah ambulance after the incident. Even while in the hospital, he found it difficult to grasp the reality of what had transpired. "I was in the hospital, safe and protected, but despite the pain and injuries, it all felt surreal. I felt like I was living in a movie, in a dream." Tariq sustained injuries to his hand, chest, and leg, receiving treatment at the hospital and now undergoing a rehabilitation program. He expressed satisfaction with the care he received, and his rate of recovery. "They're helping me recover mentally, physically, and emotionally." Nonetheless, he acknowledged his limitations: "I'm still weak, moving slowly, but I've resumed part-time work." ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-24

Israel Air Force (IAF) fighter jets targeted two Hamas launch posts in a in southern Gaza overnight into Wednesday, following intelligence reports and operational identification, the IDF stated.  The IDF noted that the strike was made after taking precautions to , adding that the launch sites were filled with rockets and were struck before any were fired toward Israel.  The IDF continues to operate in central Gaza, eliminating terrorists and destroying , the military said.  In one strike, the IDF reportedly eliminated terrorists in close proximity to soldiers with tank fire. As part of the operation, IAF fighter jets struck over 50 military targets. IDF operational activity, April 24, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT) Additionally, an IAF aircraft struck a tunnel shaft and additional terror infrastructure in central Gaza.  Tuesday evening, the IDF struck Hamas rocket launchers in Gaza City after four rockets were identified crossing from the area of Beit Lahiya towards Sderot and Kibbutz Zikim. All of these rockets launched from Gaza were intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-23

Israel Air Force fighter jets destroyed ready-to-launch in the southern Gaza Strip, while soldiers from the Nahal Brigade killed multiple terrorists in the central part of the strip over the last day, the IDF announced on Tuesday. Fighter jets completed several airstrikes overnight on Hamas located in southern Gaza based on IDF intelligence and operational identifications . ‏The launch posts were loaded, but were struck before any launches were carried out toward Israeli territory. Meanwhile, soldiers from the Nahal Brigade continued their counterterrorism activity in the central Gaza Strip's corridor. During one of the activities, the troops killed a number of using sniper fire. Additionally, an IAF aircraft struck several terrorists who hid adjacent to a civilian shelter in the area of Bureij. The strike was carried out in a targeted and precise manner. Over the past day, fighter jets and additional aircraft struck approximately 25 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including military infrastructure, observation posts, and  launch posts. Shortly before this announcement was released, sirens sounded in Sderot, with Israeli media reporting that four rockets were intercepted and no injuries or damages were sustained. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-14

After half a year of war, during which the Café Greg branch in was closed, the chain is opening a renewed flagship branch in the southern city, with an estimated of about NIS 550,000. The renovated branch is located in Mall 7 and is a mehadrin branch, covering an area of about 200 sq.m., with about 100 seats and designed in a modern, up-to-date style, befitting Greg's new branches. As a sign of identification with the hostages' families, a huge sign will be placed in the branch with the slogan “Bring Them Home” next to the yellow ribbon, as a symbol and sign of freedom. The branch in Sderot offers a new menu, which includes a rich variety of dishes for the whole family According to Yair Malka, Gilad Almog, and Nir Edri from the owners of Greg: "As an Israeli-patriotic coffee chain, we are proud that half a year after the Greg branch in Sderot was closed, as a result of the murderous attack by Hamas, we were able to open a renewed and invested branch after a massive renovation, in Sderot, where most of the residents were forced to leave. We also managed to recruit workers from Sderot and the surrounding area in difficult times and we hope that Greg will return to being a meeting and recreation place for the residents of Sderot and the Gaza border communities and they will quickly return to a blessed quiet routine." Greg's owners also said: "As a sign of solidarity with the families of the hostages, we decided that a huge sign will be placed in the branch with the Shabbat slogan of the abductees: Bring Them Home, next to the yellow ribbon for freedom. The sign will be a daily reminder to all of us that our brothers and sisters are still held by Hamas in Gaza and we will not take it down until the last of the abductees returns home." The chain is currently considered the leading coffee chain in Israel with about 120 branches throughout the country. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-13

As IDF troops in the central Gaza Strip continued precise operations against entrenched targets, the military announced on Saturday that it had destroyed launchers containing ready-to-launch rockets aimed at central Israel. Following in the Sderot area, three launches crossed over from the Gaza Strip, which the IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted. IDF artillery responded by striking the area from which the launch was carried out.  Additionally, struck and destroyed three launchers containing 20 rockets that were ready to fire toward central Israel, the military reported.  IDF troops also destroyed Hamas infrastructure, including a weapons storage facility, and seized additional military equipment belonging to the terrorist organization.  IDF troops operating in Beit Hanoun, April 13, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT) Simultaneously, during operations in in the northern Gaza Strip, IDF troops used a drone to locate several armed terrorists operating in the area. An Israeli aircraft subsequently struck the terrorists, eliminating them.  The IDF also noted that, in a series of precise strikes, Israeli fighter jets struck over 30 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip, including terrorist infrastructure, military compounds, and anti-tank missile launchers. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-13

Lihi Lapid, whose latest novel, On Her Own, was in the US by HarperVia, has a very unusual biography for a writer.  While she is the author of a previous novel, Woman of Valor, which was also published in English to positive reviews, and several other books that came out in Israel, she is known around the world as , Yair Lapid, now head of the opposition.  As we meet in the café at , a convenient location for the Tel Aviv-based novelist, who is set to attend a rally to protest the policies of the current government outside the Knesset in a few hours, where her husband will speak, many people recognize her and wish her well.  Lapid acknowledged them gracefully, displaying the poise that she has acquired in a life in the harsh Israeli political spotlight. “I’m very involved in supporting Yair, not in terms of political decisions, but going out and campaigning,” she said. Still, it was important to her to keep writing, and she did much of her work “in the twilight zone of the early morning hours,” during bouts of insomnia. As the well-wishers drifted away, before I could ask a question, she turned to me with one of her own, one that any author would ask: How did I like the book? ‘ON HER OWN’ (credit: HarperCollins) My answer, that I thought it was a moving and suspenseful story, filled with beautiful writing and vivid scenes, and that I fell in love with the three complex women at its center, pleased her as if she were a first-time writer, and led me into my first question: Where did she get the idea for it?  On Her Own is about Nina, a teenage girl from Sderot born to Irena, a Ukrainian immigrant and single mother. A smart girl, Nina is nevertheless seduced by Johnny, a smalltime gangster who brings her for trysts to a Tel Aviv hotel.  One night when she is with him there, she witnesses a violent crime he is involved in, and she flees and takes refuge with Carmela.  Carmela is a lonely widow with dementia who has buried one son, a fallen soldier, and whose other son is busy with his family in America. Carmela has moments that are partly dementia and partly wishful thinking when she feels that her late son is still alive. She has also been dreaming that Dana, her granddaughter will come to visit, and when Nina shows up at her door, she foggily embraces the girl, thinking – or hoping – that she is the grandchild she hasn’t seen in years. Meanwhile, Irena frantically searches for her daughter on the eve of the Passover holiday. She created these characters and told their stories through a complex writing process that took her several years. One inspiration was from a poem by Giora Fisher about a bereaved father with dementia. Lapid quoted the lines: “Don’t tell me, oy, but he’s been gone a long time/Tell me, he just went out and he’ll be back soon.”  For her, this was the “most heartbreaking poem I’ve ever heard.... When I heard that poem, I knew that was the essence of Carmela, that she wants to be in that place where in just a moment, he’ll return.”  Nina came to life for her in a more circuitous route, when she imagined a teenage girl who is fleeing from a world of danger who meets Carmela on the stairs. For a long time, she had only vague thoughts about this scene and couldn’t figure out what the rest of the story should be. She spoke with a woman who worked as a counselor at a center run by Elem, for at-risk youth, about how girls like Nina are preyed on by men like Johnny. “And she told me, ‘It doesn’t happen all at once.’.... Gradually, girls are drawn into this world.” She also spent time speaking to single mothers who were recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union. “One woman I have known for years. She is so talented and so smart, she has two children from different fathers, she gets up early, she works all day in the store so that her children will have a future.  She lives for them.... And she exists almost completely in a Russian-speaking world.” Her brother, Deddy, who lived in the US for decades, was an inspiration for the character, Itamar, Carmela’s son who lives in America. Lapid’s brother passed away from cancer after the book was finished and the book is dedicated to him. “We were very close.... He knew me better than I know myself. He knew I would become a writer before I knew.” Lapid may seem to be the ultimate Tel Aviv insider, and at first, it is surprising that she wrote about characters who live on the margins of society, but as you speak to her more, you begin to understand that she can identify with these characters because she also grew up feeling like an outsider. Born in Arad, a town where “you visit for a minute to get a cup of coffee and to go to the bathroom when the bus stops on the way to Masada,” she moved with her parents, who ran a Judaica store, to the Tel Aviv area when she was in her teens and struggled to fit in.  “The distance between a place like Sderot or Arad and Tel Aviv can be even longer than the distance between Tel Aviv and New York,” she noted.  Working as a photojournalist in Tel Aviv after the army, when she first met and then married Yair, she initially felt intimidated by his distinguished family. Yair Lapid was an actor and author at that time, and his father, Tommy Lapid, was a politician and a journalist, while his mother, Shulamit Lapid, is an acclaimed novelist.  “I took literature courses at the university to keep up with them, so I wouldn’t seem like an idiot at their family dinners, where they spoke about literature and art all the time.” She turned to writing after she suffered two miscarriages and was put on bedrest when she was pregnant with her son, Lior, and needed a way to express herself that didn’t involve running around Tel Aviv on a motorcycle with a camera.  “When Lior was born, I understood that no newspaper is looking for a photographer who has to nurse every four hours.”  Another way in which Lapid looks at the world differently from how you might expect is that her daughter, Yael, is on the autism spectrum. I have known Lapid slightly for many years because I also have a son on the spectrum the same age as her daughter, and she is the president of SHEKEL, an organization for people with special needs in Israel.  Both of the Lapids have been upfront about their struggles raising their daughter. At first, after Yael’s diagnosis, Lapid was consumed by trying to help her, to the exclusion of everything else. “I was a wreck, I didn’t want to see anyone, I didn’t want to work, I just wanted to save her, I tried to do everything for her.... There was a very dramatic moment, where Yair said to me, ‘You have other children who need you.  And you have me, and I need you. Yaeli will be who she is for life, she’s not a project for a couple of years, it’s not like she’ll go swimming with dolphins and then everything will be fine.... This has to go back to being a happy home.’” Now, having a special-needs daughter is an important part of who she is, but not her full identity. “I am connected to Yael,” she said. “I will always need to be there for her. But I’m also a writer, I’m also Lior’s mother and Yair’s wife. I’m also a friend.” It was interesting for her to write the sections about Nina and Irena’s relationship, because her relationship with her daughter is very different. “I have a daughter I can’t fight with the way Irena and Nina fight in the book.”  One aspect of the response to her book in Israel that has pleased her is that, “People have said, it’s so Israeli.” Now that it has been published in English, she isn’t afraid that readers in other countries will find it too Israeli and won’t be able to relate to it. “It’s like reading a book from abroad, a book like The Kite Runner, and it’s wonderful that it gives you an authentic glimpse into another world, a window into the life of someone completely different.”  Just before heading off to the rally, she said that since October 7, she felt that the story of the bereaved mother in the novel was even more relevant. “Every time I see a picture of a soldier who has been killed, I think, there’s another mother like Carmela now, who will miss him for 30 or 40 years, who won’t be able to feel happy for 30 or 40 years.  They are soldiers, but they are also our children.... Now that the book is being published in English, I think people who read it outside of Israel will have a greater understanding of what it means to be Israeli, of the price we pay for our life here, that’s very meaningful to me.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-12

Amid reports of progress on negotiations for a hostage deal, hostages’ families gathered in Tel Aviv Thursday evening for a march, organized by the Women’s Protest for the Return of the Hostages, calling for a “deal now.” Danny Elgarat is one of the family members who participated in the march, calling for the release of the hostages, including his older brother, Itzhak. Danny Elgarat is a retired police chief-superintendent who was the commander of a station in Ashdod and was awarded a medal of service by the police commissioner. He now works as a high school teacher, and has a law degree. Around 11:30 Elgarat got a call from his brother, a resident of Nir Oz. “I could hear that he was very stressed, on the verge of tears,” he said. “He told me that his hand was badly hurt, that it was crushed when he tried to close the door to his safe room.” “He didn’t realize what situation he was in until then,” he said. Kibbutz Nir Oz after the massacre (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) Elgarat tried to coach his brother to make a tourniquet for his hand, but soon heard sounds of gunfire and shouting. “Itzik screamed into the phone, ‘Danny, it’s over. Danny, it’s over.’ and the call went dead,” he described. Elgarat tried to reach his niece’s husband, who also lives on the kibbutz. “He told me, ‘Danny, they have thrown four grenades at me. I killed a terrorist in my living room. Whoever goes outside dies.’ “That is when I realized that this was an attack on the kibbutz like what I had seen that morning in Sderot and Netiv Ha’asara. I just couldn’t believe that the whole Gaza border area was conquered and attacked.” Elgarat tried to use police connections to send his brother help, but to no avail. He later tracked his brother’s phone and saw that it had entered Gaza an hour after the two had spoken. Hostages released in the temporary ceasefire in November later updated Elgarat, telling him his brother was brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, where he was treated and remained until mid-November, when he was brought to the tunnels. Hamas released a video around a month ago, claiming that seven hostages were killed by an IDF bombardment. Itzik was one of the hostages in the video, but there are reasons to believe that the video may not be credible, explained Elgarat. Currently, the IDF is treating Itzik as a living hostage, but the family has no idea what his status really is. Udi Goren, whose cousin Tal Haimi was murdered and kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, also participated in Thursday’s march. Haimi’s body is being held hostage in Gaza. He was thought to be alive in captivity, and only in December did it become clear that he had been killed on October 7. Everything Goren does is focused on bringing the hostages home. “There is nothing that even approaches the importance” of bringing them home, he said. Goren is a photographer and videographer by training. He also edits and lectures, and is a tour guide. “But I haven’t really done that since the seventh [of October],” he explained. “Tal was an engineer. He was a family man,” Goren recalled. “It was important to him to be at home and with the kids, to take them to school and to come home in time to see them in the evening.  He was beloved on the kibbutz. He was a handyman who was always fixing things, and people were always calling on him to help. “He was an incredibly loved person. He was quiet; he didn’t feel the need to stand out and to take up space. He was pleasant and humble.” WHEN EXPLAINING why bringing the hostages home must be the top priority, both Elgarat and Goren touched on what the future of the state might hold, if the hostages are not brought back alive.  Both described a serious breach of the social contract between the State of Israel and its citizens.“The future of the State of Israel is dependent on bringing the hostages back,” Elgarat said, explaining that every country has a contract with its citizens which stipulates that, when necessary, citizens are willing to fight and die for their country.  “Every soldier who goes to the army swears that he will give his life for his country, because he knows that if he is in a situation where he needs the country, the country will stand beside him. This isn’t a one-sided contract where only we give our lives for the country.” “There are 133 hostages, whom the state has apparently decided to abandon, and not to uphold their side of the contract and save them,” he said. “I don’t see how mothers will send their children to the army when they know that if something happens to their kids, they will have to go through what I am going through, and that their children will go through what the hostages are going through. “Once the agreement is breached, society comes apart; there can be no country.“If the hostages don’t come back, there will be no tekuma [revival] for the State of Israel.” Goren also emphasized that failing to return the hostages would be a breach of the social contract. The fight for the hostages is “not only to keep it as a top priority,” he said.  It is “to make it clear that beyond this, if the state does not bring back the hostages, or if they all come back dead, the state is certainly not Jewish, certainly not Zionist, and certainly not fulfilling its role as the state of the Jewish people.” GOREN AND Elgarat have both been active in the fight to bring the hostages home, and have attended numerous events and protests. Both emphasized the importance of social action to bring the hostages home. The way in which their views on this protest differ, however, is whether or not they think this fight should be a political one that calls for elections and a new government. In the past few weeks, some hostage families have been calling for the replacement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for a new government, while others have been coming out against this call.  The Hostages and Missing Families Forum has not called for a new government, while other organizations have, saying that the way to bring the hostages home is through new political leadership. Thursday’s march, led by the women’s protest, was not branded as being political, with a women’s protest representative saying that the organization is “a public movement founded after October 7 whose purpose is to bring back the hostages. Our call is to create the conditions to bring the hostages home and get a deal now.” For the first few months after October 7, Elgarat only participated in events organized by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, but in the past month, he has started protesting with other organizations, including those calling for elections. Seeing the government cancel cabinet meetings because of the Sabbath, the Knesset go to its recess despite the war, the negotiation delegation canceled, or sent but with limited authority to make decisions, were some of the things that pushed Elgarat to his decision to stop limiting his fight to bring home his brother to the forum’s more moderate approach. Elgarat said he realized that the person who is really stopping a hostage deal from succeeding is the prime minister. “He prefers his government to the hostages,” he said.  National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened Netanyahu that without the war his government will fall, he said, “so now he is giving Ben-Gvir a war to keep the government.” “He will probably do anything to stay in control,” he added. “After the Second Lebanon war, [Netanyahu] told [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert ‘you don’t give the captain of the Titanic another Titanic,’” he said.  “We have given this prime minister another Titanic, after October 7,” he said, adding: “I don’t see how he can safely bring us to shore; he doesn’t know how to navigate this situation.” Goren does not participate in protests for the hostages led by organizations calling for elections or the resignation of the political leadership. “In my opinion, everyone should do what feels right to them and do what feels most critical and relevant,” he explained. “To me personally, it is clear that nothing is more urgent and more important than returning the hostages. “Generally, in a public struggle, you must have one clear message. My message is very clear: Bring back the hostages, yesterday. That is all. Any other message takes the focus away from that message. “The current government is responsible for the situation and responsible to bring the hostages home,” he maintained, but added: “I don’t feel I have time to deal with a [political] process that takes months, which also isn’t in the consensus. It’s not that if there is a call to dismiss [Netanyahu], it will happen next week,” he explained. “I see no logic in putting my resources there.” Goren is against linking the hostage fight to a political fight, but still thinks it is necessary to protest for the hostages. While everyone agrees that we must bring back the hostages, “not everyone agrees on what the priorities are, and how we should prioritize the hostages compared to the other goals of the war and other challenges that the State of Israel faces now,” he said. Even those who do not prioritize the hostages as the first priority should be protesting right now, according to Goren. “We are witnessing the State of Israel giving away her entire hand of cards and receiving nothing in return,” he said. “Hamas is getting whatever it wants, and we aren’t.” “I don’t understand how this works, and I mostly don’t understand how it can be that not all Israelis are with us in the street,” he said. “There was an attempt to paint our fight [for the hostages] as a left-wing fight when this is nonsense, but how are the people who are more militant, for whom the military goals are more important, not in the street right now?” Goren wondered. “Those people care about the hostages as well, and here we are giving up on our military goals, and not bringing back the hostages” by pulling out IDF forces and increasing humanitarian aid, he explained, wondering how it could be that this has not brought more Israelis out in protest. Regardless of their different opinions on the connection between calling for new leadership and successfully bringing the hostages home, both men were in the street Thursday, calling to bring the hostages back now. The only way to help the hostage families is by taking to the streets, said Elgarat. “Come with us. Protest.”• ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-10

In a press conference held in Sderot on Wednesday, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz asserted that Hamas had been militarily defeated following the recent operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza. Gantz emphasized the significant achievements made by the IDF, stating, "From a military point of view - Hamas is defeated. Its fighters are eliminated or in hiding. Its abilities are cut off, and we will continue to strike what remains." Furthermore, Gantz outlined a steadfast commitment to securing victory, affirming, "Victory will come step by step. We are on our way to it, and we will not stop. We will enter Rafah. We will return to Khan Yunis. And we will operate in Gaza. Wherever there are terror targets - the IDF will be there." In addition to addressing military matters, Gantz proposed the necessity of building a regional alliance led by the United States.  He advocated for the expansion of normalization agreements with countries like Saudi Arabia, aiming to bring about a strategic shift in the region. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-10

(JTA) — A lecturer at an Israeli university is going on unpaid leave after students demanded he be fired for signing a petition that claims Israel “appears to” be . Regev Nathansohn, who teaches communications at Sapir College, is one of two dozen Israeli academics who have signed a petition calling for the United States to stop arming Israel in its war with Hamas. The petition, which more than 1,000 academics from around the world have signed, characterizes Israel’s conduct as a “plausible genocide.” “, do not let the United States go down in history as the enabler of genocide,” said the petition, which has more than 1,000 signatories, from a group called Academics4Peace. “Respect the US’s obligation under international law and basic morality. The only way to stop the starvation of two million people, including 100+ Israeli hostages, is to end this war.” Sapir is located on the Gaza border near the town of Sderot, which was one of the sites attacked in Hamas’ October 7 invasion of Israel. Many of the school’s students and staff hail from the area, and hundreds of its students signed a letter asking the college administration to fire Nathansohn for signing the petition. Israel rejects accusations of genocide and says it takes measures to avoid civilian casualties. “We will not tolerate educators who incite and call for a boycott against our country, as well as those who slander our soldiers,” said the students’ letter. Israeli soldiers standing near a graffiti at the site of the Old Sderot Police Station that was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, March 11, 2024. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) Nathansohn has not been fired. But the school released a statement to the press condemning the petition, distancing Sapir from its content and saying it had instructed him not to use his academic affiliation while making political statements. Since then, Nathansohn and the administration have fought over what the college owes one of its faculty members, whether and how he should be protected and, more broadly, how far academic freedom should extend. Nathansohn, who earned his doctorate at the University of Michigan, is one of at least five Israeli signatories who have faced intense backlash from students, according to the petition’s organizer, Shira Klein, an Israeli American history professor at Chapman University in California. She said the others are Eran Fisher of the Open University of Israel, and three scholars at Beersheba’s Ben Gurion University: Michal Givoni, Maor Zeev-Wolf and Uri Mor. Klein pointed to posts from students denouncing them on social media and in an online petition, as well as, in one case, a campus protest. In total, more than 20 Israeli academics have signed the letter, among more than 1,000 overall. Outside of Israel, signatories include two Nobel laureates and numerous scholars of the Holocaust and Jewish history. Klein is an expert on the Holocaust and has studied contemporary antisemitism. The campus conflicts are especially notable in Israel, where institutions of higher education — including Sapir — are one of the few spaces in which Jewish and Arab Israelis interact. Other campus conflicts have erupted in the country since October 7. “We forcefully condemn the rhetoric against IDF soldiers and take very seriously the offense felt by the students,” Sapir’s statement said. “We must clarify beyond any doubt: The petition, and its signatories, do not represent Sapir in any way.” It continued, “While upholding basic principles of academic freedom and free speech, which the college has respected since its founding, the college unequivocally directed the lecturer not to use the name of the college in personal and/or political contexts and that he doesn’t represent the college in these contexts.” Nathansohn said the college should have done more to defend his right to free expression. Following coverage of the students’ letter in the Israeli press, he said he received anonymous phone calls as well as messages from fellow faculty members condemning him. In a letter to Sapir’s administrators on March 28, Nathansohn wrote that they did not “prevent the creation of a hostile work atmosphere in the college.” He said he could not teach in the spring semester, which was due to begin April 1, and requested a leave of absence. Administrators understood his email as a request for unpaid leave, said granting a paid leave would not be possible according to the school’s regulations, and offered an unpaid leave of six months, according to correspondence reviewed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Administrators also rejected his accusations, saying that they had vigorously defended his continued employment on the grounds of academic freedom. “In recent days, we have unequivocally defended your right to express your opinion as a private citizen, in the face of a range of fronts that we are contending with — from the students’ association to government agencies,” read a letter dated April 1 from Sapir CEO Orna Gigi and its rector, Omri Herzog. The college did not reply to a request for comment from JTA. Nathansohn eventually agreed to take an unpaid leave, but he did not consider the choice voluntary. He said that the restrictions on using his academic affiliation on petitions were unjust and, if applied only to him, could constitute an illegal double standard. “They presented me with a mafioso-like choice: either go back to teaching without protections and with more limited freedom of speech, or remain on unpaid leave that dramatically affects my livelihood,” Nathansohn said. A reporter with Israel’s Channel 14 tweeted the names of the recent petition’s signatories who work at Israeli colleges and universities. The post garnered outrage from many users, some who accused the academics of treason. The petition is the fourth organized by Academics4Peace. The first, which went online in August, prior to the Israel-Hamas war, sought to direct attention to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amid mass protests against the government’s efforts to weaken the judiciary. The next three have focused on October 7 and its aftermath. Along with the letters calling for him to face consequences, Nathansohn has received support from a number of academic associations and professors. One fellow academic wrote in an email to Sapir’s leadership that Nathansohn “has been subjected to political persecution and unjust treatment by actors within the Sapir Academic College community and specifically by its management.” Herzog responded that has tried to uphold its values in an increasingly challenging environment. “We’re serv[ing] as a gatekeeper, with all the complexities that you may or may not be aware of,” he wrote. “I’m proud of the work we do in the classrooms and in campus.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-08

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Monday that Brigadier General Roman Gofman was chosen as the new Military Secretary to the Prime Minister. Gofman was tapped by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after consulting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, and will be promoted to the rank of Major General.  Current military secretary to the PM, Major General Avi Gil, will end a three-year term. However, the exact date will be determined according to a situation assessment. Gofman was the most senior officer to be injured on October 7, after being seriously wounded during the Hamas-led attack. On the morning of the attack, the Brigadier General travelled from his home in Ashdod to Sderot as reports emerged of terrorists infiltrating the area.  Along the way, Gofman gathered a number of police volunteers and sought to engage the . At the Sha'ar Hanegev junction, he encountered armed terrorists, hit two of them, and was seriously wounded in his limbs during the exchange of fire. Since then, he underwent a rehabilitation process and in March was appointed as head of division in the IDF Planning Directorate. Gofman was born in Belarus and moved to Israel in 1990. Five years later, he enlisted in the Armored Corps and was placed in the 53rd Battalion of the 188th Brigade. Over the years, he served in many positions including commander of the Etzion division, during a wave of wide-ranging attacks mostly carried out in area, as well as having served as a commander in other positions. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-05

What do Ukraine’s President and Israel’s President Isaac Herzog have between them? Believe it or not – a Torah Scroll. Recently completed in Jerusalem the new scroll will be transferred in coming months to Kyiv’s Great Synagogue JCC, Beit Menachem. Zelensky wrote the first letter in the scroll, and Herzog the last, though one suspects that Herzog had a better idea of what he was doing. As the scroll was written while the countries of both presidents had been unlawfully attacked and were at war, the two presidents dedicated the Torah scroll to peace and unity. The initiative for the writing of the scroll came from Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch, who is also the chief rabbi of Kyiv. Markovitch devotes much time and energy to strengthening solidarity between Israel and Ukraine. The writing of the Torah scroll began shortly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and in writing the first letter, Zelensky returned to his Jewish roots. Herzog is not the only Israeli to have written a letter in the Kyiv Torah Scroll. Among others who have guided the quill are Chief Rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, close relatives of abducted Israelis, families of Israeli victims of the war, and families of soldiers who fell in battle in Gaza, as well as prominent rabbis, Jewish soldiers in the Ukrainian army, members of the Jewish community in Kyiv, and various influential Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. The scroll traveled widely in the process of its completion. Present at the moving ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem where the final letter was written, was the Beilin family from Sderot, whose mother Zina Beilin was among the first victims murdered in Sderot by Hamas terrorists on the morning of October 7. The Beilin family immigrated to Israel from Ukraine and settled in Sderot. Zina was killed moments after leaving the home of her elderly mother Galina Beilin, whom she had visited as soon as the sirens sounded. The grandson of Israel’s first chief rabbi, whose name he bears, Herzog said: “Throughout thousands of years of exile, wherever they were in the world, the Jewish people united around the Sefer Torah. Even today, we are in an especially challenging period, where the Jewish people and the Western world are defending themselves against enemies who oppose the values of truth and the desire to live in peace and tranquility. Therefore, the integration of impact between the Jews of Israel and the Jewish community in Ukraine constitutes a powerful, multiple force for the survival and continuity of the Jewish people. There is nothing more moving than being a part of writing a Sefer Torah that symbolizes this special unity, especially now.” MOVING FROM one monotheistic faith to another. Herzog on Wednesday night hosted an Iftar dinner for close to 140 people. This was the last official event for Kazakhstan Ambassador Satybaldy Burshakov who is concluding his service in Israel, and next week will leave to open a Kazakhstan Embassy in North Macedonia. All ambassadors attending the president’s Iftar dinner in the past were of the Muslim faith, or representatives of Muslim majority countries. Not this time. One of the ambassadors present was US Ambassador Jack Lew, who is Jewish, and who had already tweeted Easter greetings to the Christian community. INTERVIEWED BY Aryeh Golan for the launch of the new KAN 11 podcast, Focus, former president of the state and former speaker of the Knesset Reuven Rivlin said that under the present circumstances, there should be new elections. Although Golan would have liked to have him say something about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with whom Rivlin long ago had a falling out, Rivlin refused to discuss Netanyahu saying merely that some people see themselves as Begin and some as Moses, but that no one is greater or more important than the state itself. Rivlin, who is a keen advocate for public radio on which people of all stripes and opinions can have their say, also put in a good word for the now-defunct Israel Broadcasting Authority. IF, AS war cabinet member Benny Gantz has urged, general elections are held in September, chances are high that a new government would be formed by October 7, the first anniversary of the cardinal failure of the present government, and the murderous attack by Hamas. This year, October 7 is not on Simhat Torah, but during the Ten Days of Penitence. Whether this occurred to Gantz is a matter of speculation, but since so much of Jewish lore and history are based on symbolism, there’s a possibility that it was important to have a new government in the Jewish New Year, replete with all its coinciding factors. WHETHER WE remain conscious of it or not, the experiences of our childhood remain with us forever. Sometimes they stand in the open gateway of memory, and sometimes they are locked deep into the recesses of the mind. But they never really go away. FROM LEFT: Elem CEO Tali Erez, rabbi Shai Piron, Meir Cohen, Nava Barak and entrepreneur and social activist Judith Recanati, who is the founder of NATAL, the Israel Trauma and Resilience Center. (credit: ITZIK BIRAN) Known for his irreverence, best-selling author Tuvia Tenenbom divides much of his time between Germany and the United States, is also a journalist and playwright, and founder of the English-speaking Jewish Theater of New York.Born in Bnei Brak to a haredi family, he certainly knows a thing or two about haredim (ultra-Orthodox) and what makes them tick. He recently published a book on haredim and how they have been maligned and misjudged. Because he hadn’t lived amongst them for many years, while researching his book, he spent the best part of a year living in Jerusalem’s Mea She’arim where he could observe what was going on around him and talk to his neighbors. He came away with very positive impressions, convinced that most people who speak in denigrating terms about haredim have probably never spent time with them or engaged in conversation with them. Tenenbom may have been more open-minded precisely because of his background. On Tuesday, April 9, at 7.30 pm he will be the guest of the Tel Aviv International Salon at Soho House, 27 Yefet Street, Tel Aviv-Jafo, where he will engage in conversation about haredim with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the former deputy mayor of Jerusalem and Israel’s current special envoy for innovation. She is also the first woman to be appointed as Secretary-General for Kol Israel in the Zionist Congress; and sits on the international advisory council of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. The event, which is free of charge, is geared to people in their 20s and 30s. As space is limited, reservations are essential: ALL THINGS eventually come to an end. After 28 years as president of Elem, Nava Barak stepped down on of all dates – April 1. No, her farewell event was not an and a large number of leading industrialists and socialites turned out to thank her for her dedication to at-risk and in-distress youth and to wish her well in the future. Among them were former education minister Rabbi Shai Piron, who is currently the Elem chairman; businessman Boaz Dotan, who was among the founders of Amdocs, former minister for social welfare Meir Cohen, Reuven Krupik, the chairman of Bank Hapoalim, businesswoman Liora Ofer who chairs the Melistron Group and many other well-known figures. Also present was a large contingent of youth who have been helped by Elem and now lead productive lives. All of the business people present have given substantial financial support to Elem over the years, and some quipped that it was impossible to say no to Nava Barak. In her farewell speech Barak said that Elem represented a significant chapter in her life – one that she regarded as a mission; and one which had given her great satisfaction. She was mentally connected and committed to young people lacking a family background, she said. For them, Elem was an important anchor – a home and a family. Some of those present – knowing that on April 8, Barak will celebrate her 77th birthday – will probably get together again to raise a toast. WITH DUE respect to Mickey Berkowitz, who this week was named an Israel Prize laureate in the field of sport, he is not the first hoopster to be accorded that honor, which in 1979 went to Tal Brody whose famous and prophetic speech about being on the map and staying on the map following Maccabi Tel Aviv’s victory against Soviet Russia’s CSKA, has held good for almost half a century. But to Berkowitz’a credit, he said in interviews that he could not have achieved what he did without team-play; and named several other star players who had been on . CONVENTIONAL WISDOM would dictate that after being vindicated for his years of pointing out that UNWRA school textbooks are crucibles of hatred against Israel that independent journalist David Bedein would be acknowledged and rewarded. Instead, he has been evicted from the office that he has occupied for 37 years at Beit Agron which is owned by the Jerusalem Association of Journalists. Bedein admits that he was sometimes tardy in paying the rent, but in the final analysis, he always paid. As far as he is aware, the new occupants are part of an ultra-Orthodox organization. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-04

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards the southern city of Sderot, causing alarm and minor damage, according to municipal officials. The first rocket struck a road in Sderot, resulting in slight damage, while the second projectile was intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, preventing further harm.  Additionally, another rocket was fired towards the coastal city of Ashkelon but was successfully shot down by the IDF. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for the attack. Fortunately, there have been no reports of injuries resulting from the rocket strikes. The incident marks the third barrage of rockets targeting southern Israel today and the sixth within the past 26 hours, signaling a concerning escalation in hostilities. Emergency response teams, including rescue, security, and municipal forces, are currently at the scene to assess the situation and ensure the safety of residents. Yaron Sasson, a spokesperson for the municipality, provided updates on the situation, emphasizing the ongoing threat posed by rocket attacks originating from Gaza.  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-03

KYIV, Ukraine — More than two years after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote its first letter, his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog has inked the final letters of in both of their countries. The Torah was initiated in Ukraine shortly after Russia’s 2022 invasion and completed this week in Israel, now engaged in its own war in Gaza. Along the way, letters were written by Jews serving in the Ukrainian army, members of the Jewish community in Kyiv, families of Israeli fallen soldiers and relatives of Israelis kidnapped in Gaza, among others. The writing of the Torah, which will be brought back to Ukraine in the coming months and placed in one of the synagogues in the country’s capital, was an initiative of the Kyiv chief rabbi, . “Both Jewish presidents wrote a letter in the Sefer Torah, dedicated for the sake of peace and achdut (unity) in Am Yisrael, which will be placed in Kyiv’s Great Synagogue JCC, Beit Menachem,” the Chabad rabbi said in a statement referring to Zelensky and Herzog, who are the world’s only Jewish heads of state. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli President Isaac Herzog attend a welcoming ceremony as they meet in Kyiv, Ukraine October 5, 2021. (credit: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS) The first letter of the Sefer Torah was written by Zelensky “in his office in the presidential bunker in Kyiv,” and Herzog wrote the final letter in a ceremony held at his official residence in Jerusalem, according to Markowitz. “The integration of forces between the Jews of Israel and the Jewish community in Ukraine constitutes a powerful force multiplier for the survival and continuity of the Jewish people,” Herzog said during the event. “There is nothing more moving than being part of writing a Sefer Torah that symbolizes this special unity, especially now.” The ceremony was attended by relatives of Zina Beylin, a 60-year-old Israeli woman of Ukrainian origin who was murdered on October 7 in Sderot together with a dozen other senior citizens while on a bus trip, she had organized to the Dead Sea. Images of their bodies were some of the first to show the carnage from that bloody day. Also present at the Israeli president’s residence, Markowitz spoke of “the story of Jewish heroism and resilience” shared by “the Jews of Israel and Ukraine” and thanked Jews from Israel and around the world for their assistance to Ukrainian Jews. “When we began writing , we did not think we would reach a situation where our brothers, the people of Israel in the Holy Land, would also be under the threat of a cruel war,” Markowitz said. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-03

Ongoing dramas in Israel provide ample fodder for budding novelists and playwrights: the Saturday night and other demonstrations which bring so many people of varied backgrounds together; the difference in treatment of families of hostages by the American and Israeli governments; the number of families whose loved ones were murdered on October 7, who in interviews have said that not a single government minister visited them or contacted them in any way to offer condolences; and how Education Minister Yoav Kisch has been forced to backtrack on several erroneous decisions, the most recent being the Israel Prize. Last week, the Education Ministry published the full list of this year’s Israel Prize laureates, who at the closing of Independence Day events will receive their awards not in Jerusalem but in Sderot, much to the annoyance of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion. The list includes technology entrepreneur and Benjamin Netanyahu nemesis Eyal Waldman, whom Kisch reportedly wanted to exclude by making certain changes to this year’s Israel Prize ceremony. But when Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara declined to defend his decision in court, Kisch had no choice other than to retract. But the controversy is not yet behind him. Both he and Netanyahu sit on a panel with President Isaac Herzog and other dignitaries as each laureate comes to the stage to receive his or her prize, and then walks along the row shaking hands and is congratulated by each of the dignitaries. Will Netanyahu and Kisch exchange a few pleasantries with Waldman and shake his hand, and perhaps offer a few words of sympathy over the loss of his daughter on October 7? Or will they find convenient excuses to absent themselves from the ceremony? Incidentally, in addition to Waldman, another controversial figure among the laureates will be Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who has spoken out against the haredi draft. Yosef will receive the prize for Torah literature and Jewish law. Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israel Prize ceremony in Jerusalem, on Israel's Independence Day, on April 26, 2023. (credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/POOL) ■ APROPOS THE Israel Prize, at the Hebrew University, of Jerusalem they’re kvelling, because three of the honorees are among their past and present faculty members. Prof. Gershon Ben-Shakhar has been recognized for his work in psychology research; Prof. Ya’acov Ritov for his contribution to statistics research, and Prof. Hagai Bergman for life sciences research. In congratulating them, HU president Prof. Asher Cohen said: “This is no less than an amazing achievement, showcasing the high academic caliber of the Hebrew University, which boasts researchers with exceptional abilities across all disciplines.” ■ WHEN THE Czech Republic opened an embassy branch office in Jerusalem in March, 2021, it was understood that it was merely a matter of time before the whole embassy would move to Israel’s capital, with or without the approval of the European Union. The Czechs have a long history of being among Israel’s best allies in Europe. There’s a reason that Herzog chose to give Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor to then-Czech president Milos Zeman in July 2022. There’s also a reason that several places in Israel bear the name Masaryk. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said after the Hamas attack on Israel that transferring the embassy to Jerusalem would be “a desirable step.” From recent media reports, it would seem that he is moving in that direction. If so, the Czech Republic will be the first member of the EU to open an embassy in Jerusalem, and the second NATO member state after the US to do so. ■ LAST WEEK, former and possibly future US president Donald Trump gave an exclusive interview to Israel Hayom reporters Omer Lachmanovitch and Ariel Kahana, who thought it important that Israel hear what Trump had to say. Trump, being Trump, claimed that he had done more for Israel than any other US president. It cannot be denied that he did a tremendous amount, but whether he did more than present incumbent Joe Biden is a matter for debate, although Trump will undoubtedly go down in history as the president who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem. But there’s nothing surprising in the fact that he gave his exclusive interview to Israel Hayom, which advertised it for days on end on electronic media. The late Sheldon Adelson, who launched Israel Hayom in 2007, was one of the most generous of Republican campaign donors. Trump showed his appreciation in November 2018 by conferring the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Adelson’s wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson, who is now one of the wealthiest women in the US and the publisher of Israel Hayom. ■ SUBJECTS OCCUPYING attention of journalists working for Jewish publications, or Jewish journalists working for general media around the globe, are antisemitism, the Israeli hostage situation, Israel’s war against Hamas, and how far points of disagreement between Israel and the US and Israel and the EU will be permitted to go. A worrisome April cover story by Franklin Foer in The Atlantic is headlined “The Golden Age of American Jews is Ending.” It has been picked up in whole or in part by various publications outside America, including Yediot Aharonot, which translated it into Hebrew, published it in its financial supplement, Calcalist, and included in the title page of a very long article 24 portraits of prominent American Jews. There are additional illustrations throughout. There are slightly fewer portraits on the cover of The Atlantic and mostly of people different from those featured in Calcalist. The cover of The Atlantic also contains several lines in Yiddish which do not appear in the Hebrew translation. Printed in Yiddish on the left ear of the page is the statement: “What doesn’t suit America, likewise does not suit me. What’s not good for Jews is also not good for America.” Then, in a line across the page, above the row of portraits: “What happened to our golden land?” The article was sufficiently provocative to prompt an online discussion with Foer sponsored by Harvard Hillel and introduced by Harvard Hillel Rabbi Dani Passow. Nineteenth-century Jews considered America to be “Die goldene medina,” and for some it certainly was – almost from day one. But for many Jews it was a tough ride through several periods of antisemitism. But according to Foer there was a discernible difference between Jews taking on the European way of life and Jews becoming Americans. “Jews didn’t have to accept the devil’s bargain [where] the cost of citizenship was assimilation. In the United States, you could be your Jewish self.” Even so, with only a few exceptions, most notably in Hollywood, Jews didn’t rise to high positions till the 1960s. In 1950, according to Foer, there was not a single Jewish professor at Yale. By the end of the 1960s, 17% of the professors at elite American universities were Jewish. That’s an incredibly dramatic leap in such a short space of time, and what followed was a golden age for American Jewry in almost every white-collar profession. Foer began researching antisemitism in America long before October 7. His brother, a religiously observant Jew who lives in Brooklyn, called him to tell him of an antisemitic incident that he had experienced. That call led Foer to research antisemitism in America and to reach the conclusion that, for the foreseeable future, the golden era for Jews in America is nearing its conclusion. ■ THE PEOPLE least surprised by the government’s failure in a six-month period to bring home the hostages from Gaza are members of Israel’s Ethiopian community, who have been waiting for long years to be reunited with relatives who were left behind with empty promises that their turn to set foot in the Holy Land would soon come. As horrific a situation as the hostages are in, let us not forget that Avera Mengistu has been captive in Gaza since September 2014. The issue of the Ethiopian Jews still waiting to make aliyah came up in the Knesset last month, when the delay was questioned and criticized by Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer, who chairs the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs, and Yesh Atid MK and former Knesset speaker Mickey Levy, who chairs the State Control Committee. At a joint meeting of the two committees, Forer and Levy queried why thousands of people are still stuck in transit camps in Addis Ababa and Gondar, and why Government Resolution 713 to bring to Israel 3,000 of the 14,000 waiting people had not been implemented. The debate will continue after the summer recess of the Knesset. Meanwhile, UJA-Federation of New York has weighed in on this injustice. Gabriel Sod, the organization’s Israel-based director of government relations and media, has called on the government to stop its foot-dragging and to bring to Israel 1,226 Ethiopian Jews who have been found eligible. Hundreds of Ethiopian Jewish families have been separated through Israel’s bureaucratic ineptitude. One example is Svinor Tarkein, who came to Israel from Ethiopia in 2007 and spent six years serving in the IDF. His grandmother remained in Ethiopia, and an uncle of his who lived in Israel was murdered on October 7. Tarkein cannot understand why Ethiopian Jews with proven blood ties to Ethiopians already resident or even born in Israel are prevented from joining them. ■ RECENTLY LAUNCHED at Reichman University by the Rosental-Belachovsky family was the Ruth and Meir Rosental Brain Imaging Center, which facilitates interdisciplinary research and integrates the cognitive sciences with medical sciences as well as fields not typically associated with MRI research, such as law, marketing, human-machine interaction, diplomacy, strategy, and management. The center also provides guidance to researchers who are not experienced in integrating imaging into their research endeavors, assisting them from the conceptualization phase to implementation. The scope of research possibilities is endless. The center’s MRI device is a Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3 Tesla, a state-of-the-art research system designed for human scanning, with the capability to produce exceptionally high-quality images. It enables high-grade anatomical, functional, and metabolic scans of various body organs. Established in 2021 as part of the university’s Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, the center was converted into an independent university entity in late 2023. Founded with the aim of helping researchers working with MRI/fMRI technology, the center plays a pivotal role in providing tailored services and an objective window into the brain before, after, or during an activity, which significantly enhances research reliability. The center also offers scanning for interdisciplinary and neurocognitive studies conducted by researchers from Reichman University, other academic institutions, and external companies and start-ups. At present, researchers at the center are engaged in dealing with post-trauma, resilience, and the impact of innovative treatment methods, alongside basic scientific research. RU founding president and chairman of the board Prof. Uriel Reichman stressed the importance of the donation of the MRI in contributing to the advancement of the university. “We are marching towards a substantial expansion of our scope – from interdisciplinarity in the social sciences to interdisciplinarity in technology and life sciences,” he said. “This significant milestone will already be reflected next year, with the opening of additional laboratories, endeavors in the life sciences, and the establishment of the medical school. I have no doubt that the interdisciplinary nature of our institution and the investments made in psychology and neuroscience will yield groundbreaking research.” Expanding on this theme, Dikla Ender-Fox, director of the center, emphasized that “this contribution by the Rosental-Belachovsky family will pave the way for significant and pioneering research and advancements, particularly at a university that also prioritizes applied research.” ■ SEVERAL HEBREW media outlets last week carried a headline stating that Netanyahu had lost the north. The headline follows the statement by US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that Netanyahu has lost his way, and the suggestion that Israel should go to elections. This did not sit well with Israelis – including those who agree with Schumer – because it was interpreted as American interference in Israeli politics. But for students of linguistics, there is interesting food for thought. To find one’s way (at least in the traditional manner), one needs a compass. In Hebrew, the word for “compass” is “matzpen.” The word for “north” is “tzafon,” and the word for “conscience” is “matzpun.” The p and the f sounds are interchangeable, and because Hebrew is generally written without vowels, when one looks only at the consonants of the three words, there is an undeniable similarity. This is obvious not only in the spelling but in the meaning. North is the highest point on the compass, and a person’s conscience guides his or her decisions on issues of morality. ■ REGULAR READERS of The Jerusalem Post will have noticed the extent to which the paper’s management took Women’s History Month to heart and has boosted women leaders in numerous fields, last month bringing them together at a Women Leaders Summit. Women have reached top ranks in more industries than is generally realized. At the summit a women’s entrepreneurship competition hosted by Post and the Luzzatto Group was won by Alisa Givertz, founder and CEO of Liquid360, who received the 2024 Next-Gen Women’s Entrepreneurship Award. Liquid360 offers technological solutions to make companies’ sites more secure and ready for any situation. The competition for young start-up entrepreneurs took place during the summit at the Google for Start-ups Campus in Tel Aviv. Givertz was selected by a panel of judges that included Dr. Esther Luzzatto, CEO of The Luzzatto Group; Tamar Luzzatto, head of business development, marketing and innovation at The Luzzatto Group; and Dr. Gili Bittan-Banin, head of innovation at the Bazan Group. ■ OVER THE past couple of years, the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem has gained a vast following by holding events that are both Zoom and in-person. Aside from anything else, it enables Zoom audiences abroad to feel as if they are part of the Israel experience. The next upcoming event in English will be on Sunday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. Like the United States and some other Western countries, the UK has experienced a tidal wave of anti-Israel protests and a huge rise in antisemitism since October 7. Weekly demonstrations take place in London, and British members of Parliament fear for their safety if they’re perceived as pro-Israel. Dr. David Hirsh, the CEO of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, is currently in Israel and will speak on “Responses to October 7: the British experience.” Hirsh has been at the forefront of the fight against antisemitism in the UK for more than 20 years, especially antisemitism and anti-Zionism in academia and on campus. He is the author of Contemporary Left Antisemitism and editor of The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century. He has coedited a compilation of essays responding to October 7, to be published in May of this year. Zoom audiences should be aware that the lecture will begin at 12:30 p.m. EDT. Access the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82396331946 Webinar ID: 823 9633 1946 ■ AFTER A decade as founder and director-general of the Jerusalem Press Club, Uri Dromi is retiring, though he won’t be giving up his own journalistic activities as a contributor to publications in Israel and abroad. From 1992, to 1996, Dromi, a retired air force colonel, served as spokesman for the Rabin and Peres-led governments. He’s also an author and political analyst. On April 9, JPC will give him a fond farewell reception while simultaneously celebrating its first decade of operations as a professional and social home for foreign and local journalists. That honor belonged for several years to Beit Agron, which is still home to the Jerusalem Association of Journalists, but which for some years now has ceased to be the central meeting point for journalists working out of the capital. There was a time when the offices of many foreign news agencies were in or around Beit Agron. But after the Government Press Office moved out and went to its current location in the Malha technological park, things began to disintegrate. Several international television companies rented offices in what was then Jerusalem Capital Studios, and used the various services provided by JCS. Some are still there, but JCS is not. The building was sold to the head of the Jerusalem Post Group, Eli Azur. Several of the electronic media outlets take advantage of the services offered by the GPO. Dromi was looking for a more central and easily accessible venue and, with the help of the Jerusalem Foundation, found the ideal spot in Yemin Moshe, where facilities for all media have been installed. During major media events the JPC and the GPO have worked in close cooperation. ■ AMERICAN BUSINESS executive, conference speaker, author, and mentor Jay Abraham, who is known for developing successful market industry strategies, was in Israel last week and accepted the invitation of Nir Yeshaya, the CEO of the Edmond de Rothschild Group, to speak to members of the de Rothschild team and leading Israeli businesspeople in Tel Aviv. Abraham came directly from the US to help owners of businesses that have been harmed as a result of Israel’s war with Hamas. Abraham, who has been rated by Forbes as one of the top five management coaches and business gurus in the world, accepted Yeshaya’s invitation to meet exclusively with Israel’s leading capitalists to discuss strategies, management hazards, and business crises during emergency situations. This is one of many initiatives worldwide by the Edmond de Rothschild Group, headed by Baroness Ariane de Rothschild, who is the first woman and the first person without direct Rothschild lineage to head any of the Rothschild institutions. ■ IF ALL the money raised for a variety of causes in Israel through and by individuals and groups in Israel and abroad was added up, the total would come to many billions of dollars. It’s amazing how Jews can get their act together during a time of crisis – but the money did not come from Jews alone. For instance, since the October 7 massacre by Hamas and the ensuing war, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, headed by Yael Eckstein, has presented the Association for Israel’s Soldiers with $4 million to be used for soldiers’ needs. The association and the IFCJ have partnered in various initiatives since 2005. The association recently arranged for senior members of the board of the IFCJ to visit a battalion of IDF reservists on a day of R & R, which was made possible through a gift of the IFCJ. The visitors, who included Eckstein; former congresswoman Michele Bachmann, chairman of the US board Bishop Paul Lanier, IFCJ Canada chairman of the board of directors Mark Climie-Elliott, and HaKeren L’Yedidut director-general Ayelet Shiloh Tamir, were able to speak with the reservists training on the base and hear about their service throughout the war, while the soldiers enjoyed a catered meal, recreational games and musical entertainment. ■ VEGANS AND vegetarians will be flocking to 8 Balfour Street, Jerusalem, on Tuesday evening, April 9, to celebrate the 90th birthday of leading vegetarian advocate Prof. Richard Schwartz, who, together with speakers Rabbi David Rosen, Prof. Yael Shemesh, and Rabbi Adam Frank, will expound on Judaism and vegetarianism, and how abstaining from nonvegetarian and non-vegan products fits in with the Jewish concept of tikkun olam – fixing the world. A prolific writer, Schwartz has written extensively on the topic. Rosen, the longtime international director of interreligious affairs of the American Jewish Committee, has taken leave from this position to serve as the special adviser to the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. Shemesh, in addition to being an eminent Bible scholar, is a long-distance runner. She is a faculty member of the Bible department of Bar-Ilan University, and her various areas of interest include compassion toward animals. Frank, who is the former spiritual leader of the Moreshet Israel Conservative Congregation in Jerusalem, is an activist in the spheres of religious pluralism and animal welfare, and cochairman of the Jerusalem Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Needless to say, the refreshments to be served will be vegan. [email protected] ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-03

brought 130 Jewish mothers to visit Israel in a trip designed to help them understand the gravity of Hamas’s October 7 attacks, help them connect to their Jewish values and to the state, the organization announced on Tuesday. has collectively transported more than 200 participants in three different solidarity trips, before this one, since October 7. However, the latest trip is the first time the organization has brought women from outside of the United States, with 7 out of every 10 participants taking part for the first time in a Momentum trip.  The current hailed from North, Central and South America from countries including: the United States, Canada, Columbia, Chile, Panama, Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and Israel. While the trip still maintains the goals of connecting participants to Judaism and Israel, in the wake of October 7, Momentum has placed a greater emphasis on volunteerism and hearing first-hand accounts from soldiers, evacuees and October 7 massacre survivors. Participants met with the families of the hostages in Tel Aviv’s Kikar HaChatufim (Hostages Square) and volunteered at a farm. The group also made chocolates for evacuated families.A group shot of the Momentum Mother to Mother mission. (credit: AVIRAM VALDMAN) Additionally, the women prepared meals for IDF soldiers, and visited Sderot and kibbutzim on Israel’s southern border, where they witnessed what remains of the October 7 massacre.   “The mothers on this trip saw Israel’s stories from their own eyes and heard them from their own ears and now it's the time to act,” said Momentum Founding Director Lori Palatnik. “We hope every participant takes the call of ‘Hineni’ - to show up - and they each go back to their homes to show up for their Israeli sisters who have suffered so much. It is our hope that they come out of this experience forever changed.”  "The purpose of the mission is to provide opportunities for women in the Diaspora to meaningfully contribute to Israeli society while they’re here and identify with their struggles. After hearing from families of hostages, soldiers, farmers and Israeli mothers we hope our participants will emerge from this experience with a new sense of understanding about what Israelis are going through right now. And, collectively, when the Diaspora and Israel come together, we can demonstrate the power of unity,” Palatnik added. Trip participant Erica Markovitz, from Detroit, said, “I had two friends at the Nova Festival. One of them is still a hostage. I’m here in Israel to bear witness and send a message home and to keep their stories alive.” ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-28

Gabriela Leimberg had been released from Hamas captivity after nearly 80 days when she received a phone call from the IDF officer handling her case at 3:20 am The officer quickly reassured her that it was good news, knowing that for Gabriela, whose family members Louis and Fernando were still in captivity, a middle-of-the-night phone call from the military was stressful, to say the least. "We have them, they will be at Tel Hashomer in 30 minutes," the officer told her. Louis and Fernando had been rescued in a daring , freeing them from the Hamas apartment-turned-cell they had previously shared with Leimberg, her daughter Mia, sister Clara, and tiny dog Bella. Leimberg was shocked, and it took her a while to understand what she was being told. "Are they ok?" she asked the officer. "Who else is coming back?" she added. "It really is something we didn't imagine, certainly when we were in [captivity in Gaza]," she explained to The Jerusalem Post, saying that they thought that a rescue mission was impossible and would have led to the death of the hostages. Leimberg and her family members had been taken from her sister's bomb shelter on the southern kibbutz of Nir Yitzchak on October 7. Leimberg and her daughter had been visiting her sister and planned to leave the kibbutz on Saturday morning. The rocket alerts that started sounding early kept them from leaving. The alarms weren't new to Leimberg, who regularly visited her sister. Still, this incident felt different because of the number of alarms and the messages from the kibbutz telling them to close themselves in their homes and stay in their shelters. Gabriela Leimberg, mother of one of the returned hostages (credit: ALEX WINSTON) They learned about the from Gaza on the news, where Leimberg says they started seeing what was happening in Sderot and kibbutz Be'eri. "The moment we realized it had reached us was when my sister got a message from her neighbor over WhatsApp that terrorists were inside her house," she said. Realizing that terrorists might also try to come into their shelter, Leimberg and her family tried to block the door with a stick and a chair, but to no avail. Terrorists opened the door and shot into the room before taking them to a white pickup truck that drove them to Gaza. Leimberg, her brother Fernando Marman, sister Clara Marman, daughter Mia, and sister's partner Louis Har were taken from the truck to a building, where they entered a narrow tunnel where they were forced to walk for around two hours. They climbed from the tunnel into an animal pen, and for the first time, Leimberg noticed that her daughter Mia had her dog Bella with her. The family was moved from the pen to another building and from there to a car that drove them through the city and to an empty apartment. "That is where it started, that nightmare of being in captivity, of not knowing what will happen," said Leimberg. The Hamas captors gave them a rough idea of what was going on in Israel, how many had been killed, and how many were taken hostage, but they had no way to confirm what was true. The family knew they were constantly in danger, and the were incredibly hard to bear, Leimberg said. Their captors also warned them against making noise so that locals would not know there were Israelis in the apartment and attempt to harm them. "They were guarding us because they wanted a deal, otherwise they wouldn't have kept us for so long in a home, fed us, and taken care of us [if they didn't]. At the end of the day, they didn't kill us; they wanted us alive, but you can't know what will happen," said Leimberg, describing the terrible feeling that anything could happen to them in captivity. "Your life is in danger. You can die any moment, that is the fear. "You're locked up, and you can't make any decision. Not opening the window, not if you breathe, not if you get fresh air, not if you see light, not what you eat, nothing," she described. The conditions in captivity got worse with time, with almost no water and less and less food. "We understood that they didn't have anything. It wasn't that they were trying to deprive us, there just wasn't anything and that was the situation," she remembered. Leimberg also talked about the fear she felt being in captivity with her daughter Mia. "Luckily we were always together, there was not a moment she was not in our eyesight, but there is the fear that it could be different," she said, adding that she knew she would resist anyone trying to harm Mia, but couldn't know that she would be able to keep her safe. In November, their captors allowed them to watch the first hostage releases on TV and told them that it might soon be their turn to be released, but they would only find out the same morning. Watching the hostage release on TV was how Leimberg and her family found out just how many people had been taken and how many elderly and children were among them. "Mia used to always say, 'I must be the youngest person they attacked," said Leimberg, who added that Louis thought he must be the oldest. Through the exchanges, they learned that children had been taken and that many older women were also abducted. As the fourth day of the deal arrived, which they were told was the last, they were not released. This was devastating for the family until they were updated that the ceasefire and the hostage release might continue. The ceasefire was held, and the hostage release continued into a fifth day, on which Clara, Mia, and Gabriela received the wonderful news that they were to be released but were also told that Fernando and Louis would be staying behind. They anticipated that this could happen from seeing the other releases, in which almost no men were freed, but "wanted to believe" that Fernando and Louis might leave with them, said Leimberg. They told themselves the ceasefire might continue, and Louis and Fernando would soon be freed. This hope accompanied them through their goodbyes with Fernando and Louis, who Leimberg says did all they could to make it easier for them to leave. "They tried to give us as good a feeling as possible," said Leimberg, who added that the release of the women not only meant that their lives would be saved but that they could also tell others back in Israel that Fernando and Louis were still alive and held hostage. The happiness of being released and returning to their family and home was great, but it came with the immense pain of knowing that Fernando and Louis stayed behind and the journey was not complete. As the days passed since they were freed, Leimberg realized that nothing was happening and that there was no additional deal. She joined the fight to free the hostages, and after weeks with no news, She got the call in the middle of the night. "It was a miracle," she said. It was a miracle that we were released and a miracle that there was the rescue." Immediately after she was informed of the rescue, Gabriela left her home for the hospital to meet her freed family members. When asked how it felt to meet them after their long captivity, it seemed hard for her to find the right words. "Incredibly exciting... incredibly exciting," she said. "To understand that this nightmare is over in my family and our personal life. It's hard to imagine that we made it to that moment." "What happened to us must happen to all the families," she adds. "That hug, of getting your loved ones back […] we can't stop doing the impossible for one moment to make that happen." Leimberg said we need to find solutions and ideas where there are none and give what it takes. "I think, and I think that everyone should support the idea, that the most important thing is to bring back the hostages," she added, saying that all the rest can wait. "Everyone involved needs to imagine that their daughter, brother, mother, or father is there. That is what should guide this—the idea that the people there are our brothers, our sons, our parents, and we need to bring them back." "I don't want to think of the nightmare [they are going through]. I went through that nightmare 53 days, my brother and louis went through it 129 days," Leimberg said, "it's been nearly half a year, this can't be. Enough." Leimberg's return to life after captivity has been slow and completed in stages, she explained. "Our body is ok, but our soul isn't," she said, explaining that they could only really start the healing process after Fernando and Louis's release, and even then, not really. "I can't disconnect from the other families. I can't and don't want to," she said. "I think they should get all of our support." "The government is responsible for the return of the hostages," said Leimberg. "The words and the hope are not enough, they need to take action, that is what I expect." Leimberg hopes to slowly get back to her job and activities from before the war, although she says that the abduction and captivity will accompany her for the rest of her life. She also hopes to see the country come together. "I hope that this terrible thing that has happened to us will connect us because I think that this terrible thing that happened to us on October 7 is the result of what has been happening to us recently as a society." "I think that is the only way and the right way, to be united. And maybe we will succeed [in doing this] with our neighbors as well." Alex Winston contributed to this report. ...قراءة المزيد

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