Israel Matzav

Friday, July 12, 2013

Halil Majnoun comments on the new Egyptian spring

Egyptian Minister of Conspiracy Theories Halil Majnoun on what's really behind the new Egyptian spring and the logical conclusion of Tisha B'Av.

Yes, it's the weekly LATMA update.

Let's go to the videotape.

Labels: Adly Mansour, Egypt, Egyptian democracy, Egyptian regime change, Egyptian Revolution, humor, Jewish unity, Judaism, LATMA, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood

Monday, May 07, 2012

Oren: At a time when support for Israel in the US is at an all-time high, Jews are increasingly divided

I don't agree with everything he says, but I urge you to read this speech that Michael Oren gave in Detroit on Sunday. It has plenty of food for thought.

Here's a small excerpt. I was shocked, then, that on the very day that I spoke with my kids about their concerns in Israel, some American Jews were discussing a call to boycott products made by Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

I followed that debate closely, as is my duty as ambassador. I was curious to know whether anybody seriously thought such a boycott could be implemented—whether a distinction could be made between the computer chip made in a settlement and the computer itself. I was curious to know how, in the absence of Palestinian peacepartners, such a boycott might contribute to a two-state solution. I wondered whether those calling for the boycott realized how much they strengthened the case for boycotting all Israeli products and delegitimizing the Jewish state.

But what most struck me—not as an ambassador but as an Israeli and as an Israeli father, was the fact that, on the same day that my son was worrying about his raw recruits and my daughter about rockets in Beersheva, a portion of the American Jewish community was debating whether or not to buy Ahava hand products.
Something is wrong here. Terribly wrong.

When I grew up in this country, the slogan of the United Jewish Appeal was “We are One.” Today, that same logo is more likely to raise eyebrows than funds.
No doubt, a majority of American Jews care deeply about the security of Israel and oppose those seeking to undermine it. And even some of those calling for boycotts do so out of a sense of caring—I’d say misplaced sense of caring—about Israel.
And yet, sometimes it seems that we, Israelis and American Jews, not only inhabit different countries but different universes, different realities.

As recent research by Prof. Steven Cohen has indicated, American Jews care most about women’s and minority rights in Israel, and equality among the major streams of Judaism. Those issues are also important to Israelis, but weare also interested in making a living and gaining social benefits. We are interested in protecting our families so that they can have the luxury of worrying about jobs and benefits.

Ironically, at a time when support for Israel in this country is at a near all-time high—indeed it's one of the few truly bipartisan issues—we Jews seem increasingly divided.

Let me be clear: at stake is not merely Israel’s policies or rights of American Jews to criticize them. At stake is nothing less than the unity of a Jewish people.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Jewish unity, Michael Oren

Thursday, August 11, 2011

A very different Tisha b'Av

Michael Eisenberg is a well-known venture capitalist who spent the night of Tisha b'Av in the tent city on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv and the end of the fast at the Kotel (Western Wall) several hours after I was there.

I spent the evening of Tisha B'av with the tent protest on Rothschild Street in Tel Aviv. I brought 3 of my children and 4 of their teenage friends to what was a very different Tisha B'av experience than any of us had before. I read Megillat Eicha on the "floor" and we followed with my good friend Hili Tropper telling over the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza from the Talmud. An incredible discussion and yearning for unity emerged. See the videos below (in Hebrew). I ended the day by going to the Western Wall (the Kotel for mincha). There too there was unity on display, albeit with a very different group of people than on Rothschild the night before. The singing (video below) in unison was inspiring as well. May this all be a sign of Am Yisrael coming together again as one. Amen.

Those of you who speak Hebrew should definitely click through and watch the videos. The first one is a surprisingly inclusive (okay, didn't see any Haredim in the crowd, but they're definitely in the second video) talk about unity, and gives a very different picture of what's going on in the tent city than we are getting through the 'leadership' that appears in the media. By the way, Michael is the speaker who starts around 3:55 of the first video. The second video is a cross-section of religious Jews sitting and singing at the end of the fast.

Labels: Jewish unity, Michael Eisenberg, Tel Aviv tent city