Grapevine January 31, 2024: The courage of her convictions

Although she went against the official policy of her country in dissenting from the majority vote of the International Court of Justice, there is a certain irony in the fact that Julia Sebutinde, the Ugandan judge who happens to be the first African representative on the ICJ, should be so favorably disposed to Israel. It may be remembered that when the Zionist movement was in its infancy, Uganda was proposed as a temporary homeland for the persecuted Jews of Russia at the Sixth Zionist Congress in August 1903. Opinion was hotly divided, and after an investigating team was sent to British Uganda, the proposal was finally rejected.

The Palestinians are not refugees

■ REVELATIONS THAT UNWRA employees were among the Hamas sadists who, without provocation, brutally attacked thousands of Israelis on October 7, 2023, have at last vindicated investigative journalist and community activist David Bedein, who has spent more than 30 years of his life trying to convince the world that textbooks supplied by UNWRA to Palestinian schools are sources of evil.

For those who do not know, UNWRA stands for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East. Why this should include the residents of Gaza is mystifying, in that they do not conform to the definition of refugee. One is a refugee when circumstances force one to leave one’s own country, but not when circumstances dictate that one should leave one’s own home.

Some journalists mistakenly refer to Israeli evacuees as refugees. But they are not refugees. They are evacuees, and there most definitely is a difference.

As unpleasant as circumstances may be for the civilian population of Gaza, these people are nonetheless living in their own territory, and therefore cannot be defined as refugees. For all that, it is unfair to deprive them – especially their children – of basic needs such as food and medical supplies, but the blame rests much more with Hamas than with Israel.

■ EVER SINCE the Hamas massacre and reports that Israeli women were the victims of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas, Michal Herzog, the wife of the president, has taken up the cause of the victims. A criminal lawyer by profession, Herzog was aghast that, by and large, women’s organizations, especially those connected with the United Nations, were silent in relation to this abuse even after some of the most bloodcurdling incidents became public.

Herzog, who has become deeply involved in the whole issue, met this week with Pramila Patten, a Mauritian barrister and women’s rights activist, who serves as the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict.

Patten arrived in Israel on Monday with a 10-member delegation of medical and legal experts to gather information on the atrocities committed on October 7.

In addition to meeting with Herzog and the president, she has also met with released hostages who were victims of or witnesses to sexual violence against Israelis in Gaza who had been kidnapped by Hamas, or during the Hamas invasion of southern Israel.

She will also visit the Palestinian Authority.

After some of the negative attitudes toward Israel on the part of various UN officials, Herzog was pleasantly surprised to find a woman who is both empathetic and sympathetic.

During their conversation Patten said: “I want to say to survivors and victims, we owe you all more than solidarity. We want to ensure that you have justice.”

Prior to the meeting between Patten and her fact-finding team with Michal Herzog, Patten met privately with the president and his wife.

During that meeting, the president said: “The scenes we saw on October 7 continue to reverberate. They must be told and must be investigated, and, most of all, the victims must be cared for.”

Michal Herzog said: “As a woman to a woman, I want to thank you very much for coming to Israel with an open heart and open mind to listen and to see, and to help the survivors.”

Patten replied: “I’m here to express my solidarity with the government of Israel, the people of Israel, the survivors, the families of victims, and the families of hostages. I have one important message: Sexual violence is one of the most heinous crimes, with devastating consequences that echo across generations. Sexual violence used as a tactic of terrorism, as a tactic of war, is intended to destabilize, to instill fear, to humiliate, to dehumanize not only the victims but also the families, the societies, the nation, or the perceived enemy. And it is the silence of survivors, who out of shame and stigma do not report, that makes sexual violence so potent and cheap and effective: cheap because perpetrators are under the belief that victims will not report, and they will walk free in total impunity, and effective because they do shatter lives and livelihoods of the victims, their families, and societies.”

Her message to survivors: “Please come forward, please break your silence, because your silence will be the license of those perpetrators, and would-be perpetrators, to continue to do these heinous crimes. There’s no place in the 21st-century battlefields for such crimes. My team and I, we are here to listen to you in all safety and confidentiality. I’m here for a week, I’m prepared to meet you in a safe and enabling environment and to listen to your stories. The world needs to know what really happened on October 7. The stigma should not be on you. The stigma, the shame, is on the perpetrators. And you have to join us in shifting the stigma and the shame on the perpetrators.”

Patten and Herzog, in their more public meeting, met with a range of leading Israeli civil society, legal, and medical experts in the field of women’s rights. The meeting was also attended by Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Gilad Erdan and representatives of the Foreign Ministry.

■ IN A poignant commemoration event held last week at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, ZAKA Tel Aviv volunteers united with families of the victims murdered by Hamas at the Supernova music festival to inaugurate a new ambulance which was named NOVA in memory of the 364 people killed at the festival on October 7.

The joint initiative of the Peres Center and ZAKA stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and unity, fostering a spirit of healing and collaboration in the face of tragedy. Among those attending the ceremony were representatives of the Children of the Light association, which has been supporting the families of the victims, bereaved families, and members of the Nova community.

Peres Center chairman Chemi Peres, who served for 10 years as a combat pilot in the Israel Air Force said: “In my worst dreams, I never imagined such a gathering at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. This is a very moving meeting between the families of the murdered and the members of ZAKA Tel Aviv, who did holy work in the most difficult moments.

“My father used to say that there are no desperate situations but only desperate people, and I am hopeful that we will all take these moments to continue building the country to new heights. We will not give up on life and hope, and from the terrible grief we will emerge stronger and more united.”

ZAKA Tel Aviv CEO Zvi Hasid said: “This is a difficult and emotional day for me and for all our volunteers. After October 7, in which we cared for the final journey of the Nova party celebrants with endless dedication, today we were blessed with the opportunity to meet their loved ones. I salute our volunteers and I salute the families.”

■ NOT FOR the first time has Interior Minister Moshe Arbel displayed the kind of humanity that is rare among his colleagues.

There have been many heartrending stories about foreign workers who have been the victims of Israel’s cruel bureaucracy. The most common is when a foreign female worker receives permanent residency status by virtue of her marriage to an Israeli, is widowed, and is then deported, but her children who are Israeli citizens are permitted to stay. Another very common example is an Israeli-born child of a foreign worker, who has been raised in Israel, whose friends are all Israelis, and who speaks Hebrew like an Israeli, is deported at age eight or 10 with his or her mother, regardless of the fact that the child knows no other culture or language.

But in the case of the Filipino parents of Sgt.-Maj. Cedrick Garin, who had distinguished himself in the Givati Brigade, there was no need for them to appeal to remain in Israel. Arbel took the initiative after their son, who was born in Israel, fell in battle against Hamas.

Garin’s mother, when he was born, was permitted to stay in Israel, but his father was deported soon after the birth. That’s yet another example of Israel’s cruel bureaucracy. His father was permitted to return for Garin’s funeral.

Arbel decided that as the Garin family had lost what was dearest to them, as their son had been an outstanding combat soldier in Israel in Operation Swords of Iron, they were entitled to citizenship. He didn’t leave it to some underlings to inform them, but paid a condolence call to tell them that they could both stay, and not as temporary residents but as permanent citizens. Would that there were more like him in government.

■ LAST FRIDAY, January 26, was Australia Day, marking the anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in January 1788. Until then, Australia was inhabited by its indigenous population, whose complexions were similar to those of the indigenous populations of Africa. In both cases, the populations who had lived in their respective homelands for millennia were subjugated by the white man, and in both cases, they have finally been liberated. In Australia, some of them actually celebrate Australia Day, while others, along with fair-minded white people, call it Invasion Day with no cause for celebration.

But it is wrong to carry grievances from one generation to the next, especially if the descendants of the victims of the conquest succeed in improving their lives and receive the same rights and privileges as the descendants of the invaders. What is wrong is that they may lose the traditions of their ancestors along the way.

What makes the most sense is a tweet by someone who signs himself Professor Rodgers in which there are the images of two cute little girls, one a white Australian and the other with Japanese features. Written next to the first girl is “Blaming her for invasion day (and then alongside the second girl) is like blaming her for Pearl Harbor.” Both girls are generations removed from the two events.

But just as many Holocaust survivors refuse to go back to Poland or to Germany, and blame a generation that was yet unborn for their suffering, so many Israelis are blaming Gazan children for the anguish and suffering of Israeli families who have lost relatives and friends to terrorism in the south of the country. To deny these children food is not only unfair but immoral.

■ WHEN EMBASSIES began moving out of Jerusalem, and the only ones that were left were a couple from Latin America, which in the final analysis also moved out due to large Palestinian populations and Palestinian pressure in those countries, Israel-loving Evangelists in 1980 opened the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.

Now the Indigenous Embassy, founded by the Indigenous Coalition for Israel, which has similar strong support from indigenous world leaders in Singapore, Taiwan, Samoa, American Samoa, Hawaii. Tahiti, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Native American Chiefs and Paramount Chiefs from Southern Africa, is opening yet another embassy in Jerusalem to be inaugurated on Thursday, February 1, at the Friends of Zion Museum, which will host the new embassy until it is firmly established and finds premises of its own nearby.

The coalition seeks to have Jews recognized as indigenous to Israel, and at the same time to counter the rising antisemitism since the October 7 massacre.

FOZ founder Mike Evans, though a practicing Christian, is halachicly Jewish in that his mother was Jewish, which may explain his dedication to Holocaust survivors and to fighting antisemitism and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. The initiative for the Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem was spearheaded by outgoing Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahoum.

The importance that Israel attaches to the coalition can be seen in the fact that Foreign Minister Israel Katz will attend the inauguration of the embassy.

■ VIETNAM AND Israel established diplomatic relations in July 1993 and last year celebrated the 30th anniversary of those ties. Israel opened an embassy in Hanoi in December 1993. Vietnam waited till 2010 to establish an embassy in Tel Aviv, but since then the ties between the two countries have become increasingly stronger. The number of Vietnamese citizens resident in Israel is somewhere between 150 and 200. The first Vietnamese came to the country as refugee boat people in the late 1970s. One of the initial acts by Menachem Begin after he became prime minister, was to grant them political asylum. During the Vietnam War, numerous temporary Jewish communities were set up in Vietnam, consisting largely of American military personnel.

After the Vietnam War, the Jewish community decreased significantly, but in recent years has begun to return, Ly Duc Trung, the ambassador of Vietnam, told a large group of Israeli business executives at a superb luncheon at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Herzliya that he cohosted with the Ambassadors Club of Israel.

Chabad is active in Vietnam, with centers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hoi An, where visitors can receive kosher meals, Sabbath services, and ritual baths. Each of the abovementioned cities has a synagogue. There is also a Jewish school, said the ambassador.

At formal events, the ambassador is usually attired in the national costume of his country, but this time he wore an elegant business suit.

While people were networking before the meal, which incidentally was served with true professionalism, some of the food and beverage products of Vietnam could be viewed on a display table, along with a book of beautiful photographs of Vietnam in the totality of what it has to offer.

At the tables, guests heard something of the ambassador’s remarkable biography, both from Yitzhak Eldan, the founding president of the Ambassadors Club, and from the ambassador himself. Ly Duc Trung entered diplomatic school when he was 18, stayed for four-and-a-half years, and was awarded a scholarship to Paris. He wanted to officially join the Foreign Service, so he returned home and has held a number of positions over the years.

Eldan noted that while some ambassadors left after October 7, Ly Duc Trung stayed on and did much to improve the connections between Vietnam and Israel.

But most of the conversation centered on what the two countries could do for each other.

The Vietnamese people believe in a balanced diet, which is why they are so slim, the ambassador told his guests.

But the real purpose of the luncheon was to explore imports from Vietnam and Israeli investment potential in Vietnam.

Israeli car importers are very interested in importing Vietnamese electric cars, and Vietnam is interested in exporting them to Israel, but there’s a lot of bureaucratic red tape to cut before that can happen. The ambassador said that before he came to Israel, he had envisaged traversing the country in its length and breadth in an electric car. Unfortunately, he can’t see that happening during his posting here.

Among the guests were architects, town planners, transport and tourism officials, and people engaged in night vision devices, cyber, agriculture, homeland security, diamonds, civilian and military communications equipment, and journalism.

Israel and Vietnam complement each other in that Israel grew out of the mosquito swamps and the desert, and Vietnam grew out of a wild jungle. Traditionally, both countries also observe lunar calendars. Vietnam’s New Year, the Year of the Dragon, coincides with February 10. Both Vietnam and Israel have developed out of very little into highly modern countries, and the ambassador asserted that not only Vietnam but all of Asia is destined to become a formidable power.

The luncheon was held on Tu Bishvat, so the ambassador received a large tray of fruit from Eldan, and in return he presented Eldan with a work of Vietnamese art.

The ambassador recommended Vietnam as a popular honeymoon destination, saying that it is so close to other Southeast Asian countries that honeymooners can go for day drips and return for romantic evening meals. Vietnam has become so popular a honeymoon destination for Indians, he added, that some even have the wedding in Vietnam, and most Indian weddings have around 300 guests. An Indian wedding is a weeklong affair, which is a tremendous boon to Vietnam’s tourism

Presumably, Vietnam will soon be hosting Israeli weddings.

■ AS AN international organization, B’nai B’rith can host solidarity events with and for Israel in different parts of the world. Last month it was with Bernard-Henri Lévy in Paris, and this month a solidarity concert in Frankfurt was organized by the B’nai B’rith Schonstadt Lodge, the Hausam Dom, and the Rabunus Maurus Catholic Academy. Proceeds from the event were donated to NATAL – the Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center.

Guest of honor at the event was Ukrainian Consul-General Vadym Konstiuk, who, given the situation in his own country, which in February will mark the second anniversary of its war with Russia, could well understand the emotions of Israelis and the Jewish people and could sincerely express solidarity with Israel. Also present at the well-attended tribute to Israel were Jewish community board members Benjamin Grauman and Marc Grunbaum; Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt Avichai Apel; Dr. Daniela Kalscheuer, director of intercultural and contemporary history at the Dome Catholic Academy, who was the unfortunate recipient of hate mail in reaction to her support for Israel and the Jewish community; and Ralph Hoffman, president of the B’nai B’rith Lodge.

NATAL chairwoman Emi Palmor, a former director-general of the Justice Ministry, spoke via Zoom about how NATAL’s work has intensified since October 7.

The Gesher Ensemble and friends performed free of charge and took the audience on a musical journey through genres, including compositions from the 1920s, internationally known music, Israeli songs, and “Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables, which was dedicated to the youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas, who reached the age of one year two days after the concert.

■ MARKING TU Bishvat, and as a symbol of faith in the future, 300 saplings and dozens of fruit trees were planted in the new “Embracing Israel Forest” on the Bar-Ilan University campus, symbolizing hope, renewal, and growth in the Gaza border area and northern Israeli communities damaged and evacuated during the war.

Members of BIU’s administration and two BIU researchers, Prof. Eitan Okun and Dr. Shimrit Daches, residents of the Gaza border area, took part in the event.

“We are planting trees that will bear fruit and that symbolize a better future for the State of Israel. I believe and am committed that we, as a university and also as a country, will move forward. We owe it to ourselves and to everyone who survived Black Shabbat,” said Bar-Ilan University President Prof. Arie Zaban, chairman of the Association of University Heads in Israel.

Daches, from the department of psychology, was evacuated from her home in Kibbutz Erez. Captivating all present with her personal story, she said, “On Black Shabbat we were concealed in our security room while terrorists outside were shooting at our house. We decided that day that we were evacuating and rehabilitating ourselves as individuals and as a community. This season of the year shows that it is possible to flower and prosper once again.”

■ CHAIRMAN AND CEO of Pfizer Dr. Albert Bourla shared a profound experience at Davos, where he had a heart-wrenching discussion with four Israeli women: two of whom were freed hostages previously held in captivity by Hamas, and two who have loved ones still held by Hamas. The women’s stories highlight the urgency for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists who have sexually abused hostages and have forced them to live in inhumane conditions.

In a Time magazine op-ed, the Pfizer CEO called for the release of hostages held by Hamas, as did op-eds in other publications from freed hostages and families of hostages currently held in captivity by Hamas.

■ IT’S NOT always easy for something in Jerusalem to impress Tel Aviv, but Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, a former school principal, was delighted with his visit to the National Library of Israel, where he was presented with rare items about his city and family, including some related to Gordonia, the youth movement that established Kibbutz Hulda, whose founders included Huldai’s father. Later that day, the mayor waxed enthusiastic on Facebook, encouraging his constituents to visit the new building, “which uplifted my spirit from the moment I entered.”

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