Grapevine February 7, 2024: Another embassy in Jerusalem

Unfortunately, Foreign Minister Israel Katz had an urgent cabinet meeting last Thursday night, so he had to bow out of the launch and plaque unveiling of the Indigenous Embassy, which, according to Gil Haskel, chief of State Protocol, is the 100th embassy in Israel and, according to Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, the fifth in Jerusalem after the US, Guatemala, Honduras and Papua New Guinea embassies. She overlooked the International Christian Embassy, which has been in the capital since 1980 – way ahead of any of the others.

While neither the Christian Embassy nor the Indigenous Embassy have full diplomatic status, they certainly have full diplomatic influence.

Most of the founding members of the new embassy are Evangelicals who are among the leading Christian supporters of Israel and strong believers that the Jewish people descended from the indigenous population of Israel, because Israel is where the ancient Children of Israel became a nation.

The fact that so many representatives of indigenous populations came to Israel at this time speaks volumes.

Some of them shared their feelings for Israel, and Israelis and others who filled the auditorium learned that once illiterate and warring Maori were first taught about peace and to read and write Hebrew, rather than English, by the Hebrews who first landed on their shores. Thus, when the Christian missionaries came, their task was easier than they had anticipated.

From the South African representative, they learned that not all South Africans are anti-Israel, and that accusing Israel of genocide or charging it with apartheid is simply absurd. Members of the First Nations said that their ancestors had hosted the first Jews who landed in the New World – America.

The Indigenous Coalition was founded by two Maori – a politician and an academic. Alfred Ngaro was the first Cook Islander elected to Parliament in New Zealand, serving from 2011 to 2020. Dr. Sheree Trotter holds a PhD in history which she earned for her thesis on Zionism. She is also a founder of the Holocaust and Antisemitism Foundation in New Zealand. The initiative for the creation of an Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem was born out of a friendship that developed between Trotter and Hassan-Nahoum.

Something that indigenous people seem to have in common is a love of music and dancing. The music and song were mostly provided by the lively Solomon Brothers, brothers who grew up on Moshav Mevo Modi’im, where music is in the air and in the lifestyle.

Channel 12 anchor and reporter Ofir Hadad, who was the moderator for the embassy launch at the Friends of Zion Museum, exclaimed that he’d never been to such an informal ceremony. It wasn’t just the embassy people who sang and danced. Former Likud MK Yehudah Glick grabbed FOZ founder and president Mike Evans by the arm and whirled him into the circle of dancers. Both men seemed to be having a great time.

Nonreligious passengers on El Al flights

For decades, nonreligious passengers on El Al flights were inconvenienced by Orthodox men gathering in the area of the galley for prayer meetings during which time it was difficult for cabin crew to pass and equally difficult for passengers to get to the toilets.

Then, in 2020, when Kenny Rozenberg, a New York nursing home magnate who happens to be Orthodox, shelled out $360 million for a majority stake in El Al, for which he happened to be the sole bidder, it was in the cards that Orthodox life in the air would be on the rise in more ways than one.

Strictly speaking, Rozenberg who is not an Israeli citizen, cannot hold office in the company. So he made his yeshiva graduate son Eli, who is an Israeli citizen, the head honcho.

During the COVID pandemic, when many airlines stopped flying to Israel, El Al kept taking wing, and the Israeli national carrier, which had been financially ailing for years, began to show a profit. Rozenberg increased his stake and announced that El Al’s Dreamliner fleet would grow to 17.

Now comes an increase in service for the Orthodox with audio recordings of lectures by Yeshiva University scholars.

A YU press release claims that the high-level content of these lectures will enrich the travel experience for El Al passengers.

But it may well be the case of leading a horse to water but not being able to make it drink – especially in business class. Many international travelers do things abroad that they don’t do at home. For instance, some of those who don’t watch television in Israel and never go to the movies spend the whole flight from Israel to the US or Europe watching as many movies as they can. They can always listen to religious podcasts when they get home.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir appears to be willing to sacrifice the lives of the hostages in Hamas captivity by voting against any agreement that will result in the release of all of them.

He knows that this government will not last a full term, and he’s working toward expanding his election base for the next time around.

This is also evident in full-page newspaper advertisements in the tabloid press in which a tall bearded policeman with peyot (side curls) and a big black skullcap is the persona urging recruitment into the police force with the slogan: “This is the time. This is the order of the hour.”

It should be remembered that Ben-Gvir himself never served in any of the security forces. He wanted to join the army, but the IDF would not accept him, due to his extreme-right political background.

Families of the hostages and their supporters gathered near the prime minister’s residences

For the fourth consecutive week, families of the hostages and their supporters gathered near the prime minister’s residences in Jerusalem and Caesarea, as well as in other parts of the country and outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem last weekend, to demand the immediate release of the hostages.

Among the demonstrators outside the President’s Residence was Yosef (Jucha) Avi Yair Engel, the grandfather of released teenage hostage Ofir Engel of Kibbutz Ramat Rahel in Jerusalem. The senior Engel, who is a former aide to Shimon Peres, and used to spend a lot of time inside the President’s Residence when Peres was president, called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign.

On Thursday evening, families of the hostages held a brief, mini-demonstration in Jerusalem’s France Square, not far from the Prime Minister’s Residence, and called for the release of their loved ones now! Although the demonstrators were relatively few in number, their voices could be heard more than two blocks away.

This Thursday there will be a much larger demonstration on behalf of bereaved families, relatives of hostages, soldiers in the reserve forces, and residents of the South. The massive event, organized by the Gaza border area forum, the Tikvah Forum of families of the hostages, the Mothers of Combatants, and Residents of the South will be bused into Jerusalem into the area between Cinema City and the National Complex from more than 70 cities, towns, and villages across the country.

Traffic is always heavy in the capital on a Thursday. This week it will be a nightmare.

Work has begun on a new tourist center at Haifa Port

Work has begun on a new tourist center at Haifa Port with the restoration of a building that was once occupied by the administrative division of the British Mandate.

On May 6 this year, which is the date of Independence Day, it will be the 76th anniversary of the lowering of the Union Jack from this building and the raising of the blue and white flag of the newly created State of Israel. David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister, said at the time that this was the most important milestone in the history of the nascent state.

The NIS 15m. project will strengthen the link between the urban sector of the city and the seafront. The new center will also serve as an entry and departure terminal on the sea route between Haifa Port and the Acre Marina.

Haifa Port was where the British turned back the ship Exodus 1947, and sent the passengers, who were nearly all Holocaust survivors, to detention camps in Cyprus. Among them was the late mother of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The project, which is a joint venture of the Tourism Ministry and Haifa Port, is being handled by the Government Tourist Corporation, though the port is owned by the Adani-Gadot company.

It is anticipated that work will be completed sometime in 2025, despite the construction of the infrastructure taking place in the shadow of war, when so many reservists have been called up.

The finished project will include a rooftop restaurant from which diners will be able to enjoy a spectacular, panoramic view of the surrounds.

The decision to create the tourist center and thus marry the past to the present has sparked initiatives for other tourist ventures in the immediate area, including a venue for cultural events.

Denial of access to Gaza

For the past four months the Foreign Press Association in Israel has lodged complaints with various official entities – particularly the IDF – about denial of access to Gaza, which forces journalists to rely on press releases and press conferences rather than being able to report independently on the basis of what they saw and heard.

Another area of contention between the FPA and the IDF is discrimination against Palestinian journalists with valid press cards issued by the Government Press Office. Members of the FPA board met last month with Richard Hecht and Nir Dinur of the IDF Spokesman’s Office in an effort to resolve these and other problems that prevent journalists from properly doing their jobs.

2023 Bakhuis Roozeboom Medal winner

Bar-Ilan University Prof. Shlomo Havlin, a world-renowned expert in statistical physics, network science, and phase transitions has won the 2023 Bakhuis Roozeboom Medal from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Bakhuis Roozeboom Medal is awarded once in four years to researchers in the Netherlands or abroad who have made innovative contributions to the phase behavior of matter.

Havlin, from BIU’s department of physics, was recognized for his groundbreaking theoretical contributions that yield the discovery of novel phases and phase transitions and predict the behavior of complex materials in different states.

In 2010 Prof. Havlin and collaborators published an article in the journal Nature proposing that the abrupt electricity failure causing the famous 2003 Italy blackout was a consequence of the interdependence of two networks. According to Havlin’s theory, the dependence between the power network and its communication system led to cascading failures and abrupt collapse.

Havlin’s seminal work ignited a new field in statistical physics known as “network of networks” or “interdependent networks” and paved the way for understanding and predicting the effects of the interaction between networks. This knowledge has significant implications for various aspects of our daily lives, such as the impact of a power failure on the Internet and other communication systems.

In mid-2023 Havlin, Prof. Aviad Frydman, chairman of the department of physics at BIU, and colleagues published a breakthrough study confirming the theory of interdependent networks experimentally for the first time. This research has vast significance in several disciplines, including basic physics, materials science, and device applications.

Havlin has been a professor of physics at BIU since 1984. He studied physics at BIU and obtained his PhD with highest distinction from the university in 1972. Together with his colleagues, he has published hundreds of widely cited articles in top scientific journals over a period of more than 50 years.

He has received prestigious prizes from many countries in recognition of his achievements.

Last refuge of citizens in dispute with the government

Retired Supreme Court justice and a former chairman of the Central Elections Committee Hanan Melcer, who in his retirement speech from the Supreme Court in April, 2021, urged that the court remain the last refuge of citizens who are in dispute with the government, has been appointed chairman of the Commission for the Designation of Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem, the National Holocaust Memorial Museum and Archives.

Conditions for recognition are very tough. In the past, deserving individuals or families were denied recognition despite testimony by several individuals who had either been saved by them or who had relatives who had been saved or sheltered by them. But there was insufficient evidence to support the testimony.

Annual art exhibition and sale

For many years now, Bank Hapoalim has been sponsoring an annual art exhibition and sale in which 500-600 works by leading Israeli artists are displayed in the bank’s head office in Tel Aviv, with proceeds from sales going to a designated charity.

This year’s exhibition of 600 works was more important than ever. Proceeds went to Enosh – The Mental Health Association, so it came as no surprise that the guest of honor was Michal Herzog, who is deeply interested in mental health, and more so since October 7, when so many residents from the south of the country, and so many soldiers who are or were fighting in Gaza, are suffering acute traumatic effects from what they have witnessed and experienced, and from having been displaced from their homes.

Similar trauma is experienced by people living near the northern border, and the worst trauma is possibly that of the hostages who have returned home, but whose hearts and minds are with the hostages still in Gaza.

Reuven Krupik, chairman of Bank Hapoalim, and Dov Kotler, the CEO of the bank, hosted approximately 2,000 leading members of Israel’s business community. On the opening day of the exhibition, NIS 1.1m. was raised from sales, with 25% going to the artists.

Since the corona pandemic, with its devastating death toll, and more recently the Swords of Iron war, mental health has become a burning issue in Israel. Individuals suffering mental health problems need a variety of constant therapies.

Studies indicate that there is a significant increase in the number of people suffering from depression and other mental illnesses.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, which was not known until recent years and therefore went undiagnosed and untreated, is now found among many veteran soldiers and victims of terrorism, rape, and other acts of violence.

Aware of this, Bank Hapoalim, through the community workers fund in its social banking divisions, chose to dedicate its 23rd exhibition of Israeli art to Enosh.

Herzog, who addressed the crowd, said: “This amazing project has become an annual tradition, and I thank you for continuing it even during these days, which are the days when you need to continue to encourage the spirit and the soul through culture and art. I thank you for encouraging artists from the Negev, from around the country, and in general. Most importantly, I thank you for choosing to allocate all proceeds this year to a humanitarian organization that deals with mental health, which is such an important issue.

“You took the issue with which I deal and promote, telling people not to be ashamed. We are all in this story, which is all the more important right now, when we all feel the impact.”

Herzog looks forward to the day when all who have loved ones in the army or in captivity will see them all come home.

Krupik pledged to continue the exhibition and its purpose in the years to come, and Enosh CEO Dr. Hilla Hadas reminded everyone that “mental health is the story of all of us.” Enosh adapts its services to individual needs and functions in places where its services are required, she said.

Among the participating artists were Sigalit Landau, Moshe Tarka, Ziv Koren, Amir Tomashov, and Michel Platnik.

Absence of females in government ministries

There may be a growing absence of females in government ministries, the Knesset, and government-affiliated companies, but females are doing well in sports and bringing honor to Israel.

One of the latest top-of-the-line gold medalists is 21-year-old Sharon Kantor, who last Saturday in the Canary Islands was crowned World Champion Wind Surfer, thus assuring her place in the Israeli team competing in the 2024 Olympic Games. Now she’s dreaming of another gold medal in the world’s biggest sporting event.

Among the people waiting at Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday to greet her on her return home and to congratulate her was four-time World Windsurfing Champion Lee Korzits, who won the title in 2003, 2011, 2012, and 2013. The presence of Korzits, who is being treated for cancer, was an especially emotional moment for Kantor, who developed her windsurfing talent in the same club that Korzits had joined as a girl. When Korzits won her championships, Kantor was among the fans waiting to greet her on her return to Israel. Now the roles have changed, and “it’s my turn to greet her,” said Korzits.

Most outstanding athletes of 2023

At a modest ceremony this week at Beit Halochem in Tel Aviv, the Israel Paralympic Committee and the Association of Athletes with Disabilities announced the most outstanding athletes for 2023, and also gave a special citation to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, for its much appreciated contribution to the rehabilitation of soldiers wounded in war – some of them permanently – through the encouragement of sport.

The citation was presented to Sheba Director Prof. Arnon Ofek by chairman of the Paralympic Committee Moshe Mutz Matalon and honorary president of the Paralympic Committee Andrew Danos, who is one of the owners of the James Richardson Duty Free Stores.

In addressing the paralympic athletes, Ofek told them: “You are the outstanding athletes of rehabilitation from war injuries. You bring light and hope to the State of Israel.”

On a different Sheba issue, the cornerstone was laid this week for the new Shira and Ishay David Center for Urgent Oncology Medicine, which will have a dedicated emergency room for cancer patients requiring immediate urgent care. It will be part of the Jusidnan Oncology Hospital, and will provide the highest quality innovative care for cancer patients.

Friends of ANU

The friends of ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, together with DocAviv, this week held a fundraiser on behalf of families evacuated from the south and north of the country.

The twofold event, which was the joint brainchild of the director of ANU Friends, Adi Akunis, and the director of DocAviv, Carine Zaroni Goldman, was also dedicated to International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Participants toured exhibits which were illustrative of the link between the atrocities and genocidal goals of the Nazis and those of Hamas, and also viewed the screening of the film The Return from Another Planet, which tells the story of Auschwitz survivor and author Yehiel De-Nur, known by his pseudonym, Ka-Tsetnik. The film, directed by Assaf Lapid and produced by Naomi Levari, was shown at the Munich Filmfest 2023.

Among the many people present at the ANU Museum in Tel Aviv were ANU Friends chairman Yehuda Raveh and his wife, Tami, who is the daughter of the late Gideon Hausner, who was the chief prosecutor at the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann at which Ka-Tsetnik, who was called to the witness stand, fainted in the course of his testimony.

Also among the ANU attendees were Irina and Rami Shalmor, Galia Albin, Sara Sella, Dan Lahat (whose late father, Shlomo Lahat, as mayor of Tel Aviv, was one of the stalwarts of the museum in its previous incarnation), Linda and Itzhak Sagol, Etty and Gad Propper, Hanna Pri-Zan, Nilly and Mibi Moser, and Lea Schenirer.

Meanwhile in the US, the American Friends of ANU, in coordination with Foodish, the culinary department of ANU, has launched an initiative to send mishloah manot (the traditional gift parcels of varied foods that Jews send to each other on the festival of Purim) to wounded soldiers and civilians in Israel.

Here too, there is a double purpose, not only to bring some joy to the wounded but also to provide employment for bakers and businesses impacted by the tragedy of October 7 and the ongoing war.

The gift boxes will be distributed by Foodish to hospitals, rehabilitation centers, safe havens that are housing evacuees, and IDF bases throughout Israel. The tax-deductible cost per gift box is $36.

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