Grapevine, June 21, 2024: Remembering others

 IN ALL the rallies and meetings held on behalf of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, there is a tendency to overlook those who are not Israeli. The same goes for foreign nationals who were murdered by Hamas on October 7.

These include caregivers as well as students who came to Israel to study modern agriculture. Among them were students from Nepal who had been in the country for less than a month.

Prof. Haim Shaked, the president of Hemdat College of Education in Sdot Negev, considered it important to go to Nepal to visit the families of the murdered students and to catch up with some former students to see how they had progressed.

The latter visits were heart-warming but the visits to the bereaved families were heartbreaking. Most live in totally isolated primitive areas, Shaked said in an interview on KAN Reshet Bet this week. For each, the deceased student was not only a beloved family member, but the key to the family’s future if he had been able to put to use the knowledge gained in Israel. Thus his death was doubly devastating, erasing all hope for improvement in the quality of their lives.

Moreover, they cannot understand why Nepalese citizens who have no involvement whatsoever in the Middle East conflict, should be among the victims of Hamas.

Apparently, before their deaths, the students were equally nonplussed. According to witnesses, one student who was outside, kept shouting “Nepalese,” while pointing to his chest, and another who emerged with his hands raised, was promptly shot, as was the other student. Hamas simply didn’t care. They were on a killing spree.

Thai workers and students were also among the casualties and the hostages, but according to Shaked, the Thai government put far more effort into securing hostage release and repatriation of Thais in Israel than the Nepalese Government has done.

The Thais likewise have no involvement in the Middle East conflict.

President Isaac Herzog has been in frequent contact with ambassadors of foreign countries whose citizens are among the Hamas hostages.

This week he went a step further and held a Zoom conversation with the family of Bipin Joshi, an agriculture student from Nepal, who was studying in Israel when brutally kidnapped by Hamas. The young man showed great courage as he deflected grenades during the terrorist onslaught.

Herzog assured the family that Israel would continue to do all in its power to bring Bipin and all the other hostages back to Israel.

Biden-Bibi tensions

■ THERE ARE many questions as to what may have prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to insult US President Joe Biden and the US administration in general by releasing an English-language video that contained barely a grain of truth regarding American supplies to Israel. Politically savvy Israelis have come up with a variety of scenarios, but no one knows the real reason.

One possibility in the opinion of this columnist, is that Biden is a more forgiving individual than former president Donald Trump who wants to get back into the White House.

With US Presidential elections on the horizon, Netanyahu wants to get back into Trump’s good graces, in the event that he wins.

If Biden wins, sufficient time will have passed to permit a reconciliation. In addition, Biden will remain pro-Israel, no matter what.

His quarrel is with Netanyahu not with Israel. The big question is whether Netanyahu will still be in office after the Americans decide on which of the two candidates they want as their president.

Rejecting the 'rabbis bill'

■ PRIOR TO the shelving of the controversial ‘rabbis bill’ there were few people who thought that they might one day side with screeching MK Tali Gotliv.

But when an attempt was made to remove Gotliv from the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in response to her declaration that she would vote against the bill, a hue and cry went up over the fact that such a move would be undemocratic, and Gotliv found herself supported by people who might ordinarily shun her. In the final analysis, she stayed put.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Israel

■ EVEN THE best PR agent cannot compete with a doting grandmother – in this case, Jerusalemite Shoshana Gabbay – who wants to make sure that as many people as possible will get to see the English language musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that is being shown in venues around the country from July 1. The cast includes Gabbay’s 11-year-old grandson.

The Israel Musicals production is an ideal summer holiday treat for both children and adults.

Founded in 2007, Israel Musicals is a live theater company passionate about Broadway productions and reproduces them in the original language – namely English – in Israel.

Over the years, the productions have not only received favorable reviews, but have also revived nostalgic memories for many audience members who may have initially seen the production on Broadway or in London.

For those Israelis who don’t understand English, there are Hebrew subtitles to enable them to follow the plot.

Although Israel Musicals has a regular team of actors, singers, and dancers, it always welcomes new on-stage and backstage talent.

Meanwhile, anyone who wants to have an enjoyable family outing with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory should call 02-533-4561 during business hours (10 a.m. – 6 p.m.) to purchase tickets. Prices range from NIS 65 to NIS 105.

New book release

■ PR MAN and author Gil Samsonov launched his latest book The Begins at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem last week.

Fellow author Micha Goodman presented a thesis on the road from politics to interviews and ideas about politics, on the path to reconciliation and unity.

Among those present were Eli Gonen, a former director-general of the Ministry of Tourism, Herzl Makov, the chairman of the Begin Center, and several former directors-general of government ministries and former CEOs of major business enterprises.

Samsonov had a previous launch in May at Tel Aviv’s ANU Museum where those in attendance were riveted by a discussion between prominent journalists Ben Caspit and Amit Segal.

Tourism in Israel during the war

■ BUSINESS HAS started to pick up in the tourist industry and many displaced persons who have already lived in three or more hotels since October 7, have been given their marching orders.

Fortunately, in some cases, they have received government subsidized extensions till August, but heaven only knows what will happen after that. Many residents of the North no longer have homes to which to return. Others refuse to return until the cessation of the daily barrage of rockets.

Frequent protests against inadequate action on the part of the government have been heard from the mayors of Kiryat Shmona and Metulla, but now Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav has added his voice.

Haifa is the capital of the North, and generally speaking is a model of coexistence with joint Jewish-Arab cultural and business projects that should not be in danger of falling asunder.

In terms of tourism, there is obviously a cataclysmic drop with travel agents, travel guides, hotel managers and staff along with proprietors of bed & breakfasts feeling the brunt.

In addition, because so many people from the North have moved away, many commercial enterprises have been forced out of business or are operating on a scaled-down level. This includes supermarkets.

Yet in Tel Aviv, there are places where one would never know that the country is at war; and there are still hotels in which most of the guests are people who have been displaced from their homes.

In most hotels, guests are pampered, and while they appreciate this, they miss the taste of home cooking, especially in those hotels where the majority – if not all the guests – are of North African background, and the hotels serve European-style cuisine.

One such establishment is the Hotel Jo whose general manager Yaakov Ovadiah is well aware of this and invited one of the guests Tami Moyal, who is well known for her traditional Tunisian specialties, to occasionally make her mark in the hotel kitchen so that guests could have a taste of home.

Moyal is also quite a Moroccan cuisine expert, so everyone is happy when she cooks. Hotel Jo is one of several hotels in which guests have been permitted to take over the kitchen under the eagle eye of the hotel’s executive chef. It’s a win-win situation in that hotel kitchen staff add to their culinary repertoires and guests receive what for them is soul food.

A leader of faith and courage

■ YESHIVA UNIVERSITY President Dr. Rabbi Ari Berman has conferred the inaugural Torat Tziyon Award on Rabbi Doron Perez, executive chairman of the Mizrachi World Movement, for being a voice of emunah (faith) and courage for the community.

Originally from South Africa, Perez made aliyah as a teenager and served in the IDF before raising a family committed to the ideals of Zionism. On October 7, his two sons – both officers – fought to defend Kibbutz Nahal Oz; Yonatan was wounded, has recovered, and got married during his rehabilitation period.

 Daniel, 22, the commander of a tank crew, was murdered, his body taken hostage, and not yet returned. Despite his family’s uncertainty and pain, Perez has helped to strengthen thousands, constantly stressing the connection between Torah, Jewish peoplehood, and the Land of Israel.

At the inauguration ceremony, Perez said:

“Never before have I seen a need for leadership, specifically rabbinic leadership, to help navigate the critical issues the Jewish people in Israel and around the world face.“What is needed today are those who will stand up for Truth as it applies to the world and its challenges.”

Following Daniel’s death, Perez was given his son’s diary in which the young man reflected on his high school trip to the death camps in Poland, and the price Jews paid for not having a state and the capacity to defend themselves.

Daniel considered it his purpose, privilege, and responsibility to protect his people and his family. “What is my role as a soldier and an officer?” he wrote. “I have the ability to defend. And if not me, then who?”

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