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The Negev’s Taste of Resilience
A view of the Negev Desert. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – If you find yourself in the northern Negev during the summer, you will see a scorched landscape of yellow and brown. But each winter, the poppy anemone—the national flower of Israel—returns. You will witness a sea of lush, vibrant, red kalaniyot, a name derived from the Hebrew word for “bride.” Well over 400,000 Israelis make an annual pilgrimage to the area to immerse themselves in its spectacular beauty.
In 2019, I brought a group of student leaders to Israel on a tightly scheduled trip that left no time to see the blooming flowers. We did squeeze in a meaningful stop at the Negev village of Netiv HaAsara. After a moving presentation, we stopped to affix painted ceramic pieces on the “peace wall” that shielded the village from Palestinian sniper fire. The project’s initiators called it a “joint mosaic creation, by thousands of people, towards hope, love and happiness among all people.”
I was shocked that this stop scored lowest on the post-trip survey. I understood why when students shared that they felt unsafe visiting a village so close to Gaza. I thought they were overly anxious.
During the early hours of Oct. 7, Netiv HaAsara had a population of over 900 people. Today, like many villages in the area, the population is zero. The surviving residents are part of the over 200,000 Israelis who have fled their communities following the Oct. 7 massacre, the largest displacement of Jews since the Holocaust.
For some, it wasn’t the first time they were expelled from their homes. Netiv HaAsara was originally in the Sinai, but the 1978 peace treaty with Egypt required their removal. My grandfather covered the event as a journalist. His 1982 article in the Israeli newspaper Davar included a poem by Nativ HaAsara resident David Shemenovitz on the rebuilding of the village.
Translated by Nati Gabbay, it reads:
When we came here for the first time,
We felt at home,
Almost.
The sand is the same sand.
The sea the same sea.
The people are the same people,
And the beginning the same beginning.
Almost.
Less young.
Less innocent.
More polite,
And again we make the desert beautiful.
Anew, fields are sown,
Houses are built,
We try for grass.
With determination, we repeat it all from the beginning,
The daily struggle to succeed,
To profit, like the first time.
This time the beginning is not exactly a beginning,
And not exactly a continuation,
This time Netiv HaAsara is a revival.
After 2005, the residents of Netiv HaAsara were joined by Jews removed from the Gaza Strip.
Just two miles north of Netiv HaAsara is Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, named after the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt. In 1948, the kibbutz residents found themselves the only obstacle between the terrifying Egyptian army and poorly defended Tel Aviv. Just over 100 male and female Jewish defenders, including Holocaust survivors, armed with little more than World War I rifles, faced thousands of well-armed Egyptians with artillery and tanks. That the situation appeared hopeless is an understatement.
Yet the defenders miraculously held out against the Egyptian army for nearly a week, providing the young Jewish state invaluable time to organize a successful defense line outside Tel Aviv, preventing Egypt from fulfilling its vow to “throw the Jews into the sea.” Yad Mordechai was rebuilt soon after the war. The story of its valiant defenders is told in the page-turner The Six Days of Yad Mordechai.
On Oct. 7, Yad Mordechai not only managed to repel the invaders but did so without a single life lost. At the moment, it too has no residents. Some have found themselves exiled from their homes for the second time in their lives. Among the extensive damage in the attack was a symbol of Jewish resistance to another genocide: A rocket hit the kibbutz’s Holocaust museum, destroying a model of Mila 18, the headquarters of the Warsaw Ghetto fighters.
Residents throughout the Negev use art as a way to cope with the stress of Palestinian terrorism. The region’s music scene has thrived, as shown in the outstanding documentary “Rock in the Red Zone.” Yaron Bob had close calls with multiple rocket attacks, followed by an assault on his village on Oct. 7. He now describes himself as a refugee in his own country. His response was to turn rocket shards into sculptures of flowers. The artists of Netiv HaAsara are still selling the ceramics created to adorn their peace wall. They long to return home.
Like the anemone, I do not doubt that the inhabitants will return. Until then, we must continue to help them, whether through philanthropy, traveling to Israel or buying directly from Israeli artists through various means—including this Facebook group and the JNF.
In the same trenches of Yad Mordechai where Jews once fought the Egyptian army, soldiers are stationed once again. The kibbutz’s apiary remains undamaged. Its bees happily feast on the nectar of the anemones covering the surrounding hills, producing honey that can be delivered to your doorstep, providing the sweet taste of resilience.
The post The Negev’s Taste of Resilience first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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University of Toronto is granted an injunction to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment that has been on campus for two months
The University of Toronto has received an injunction to dismantle the pro-Palestinian encampment on its property. The 98-page decision from Justice Markus Koehnen of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said that members of the encampment must take down the tents within 24 hours, by 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3. Toronto Police will have […]
The post University of Toronto is granted an injunction to dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment that has been on campus for two months appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Jewish Cemeteries Vandalized in Cincinnati, Montreal
Vandals in Canada targeted a Jewish cemetery. Photo: Screenshot
Vandals have targeted notable Jewish cemeteries in Cincinnati, Ohio and Montreal, Canada, sparking outcry and concern over mounting threats of antisemitism.
Vandals at Montreal’s Kehal Yisrael Cemetery placed memorial stones in the shape of a Nazi swastika on top of tombstones. Ones with the last names Eichler and Herman were targeted in the antisemitic attack.
Placing memorial stones on graves is an ancient Jewish custom to memorialize the dead. Jewish cemeteries oftentimes have stones nearby tombstones for mourners.
Canadian leaders decried the vandalism.
“It is absolutely abhorrent and revolting to defile the dead with swastikas,” Jeremy Levi, the Jewish mayor of a Jewish-majority suburb of Montreal, commented on X/Twitter. “This desecration at the Kehal Israel cemetery in Montreal is beyond contempt. [Canadian Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau, step aside and get out of the way so we can reclaim our country. May this Kohen’s neshama have an Aliyah on high.” One of the tombstones vandalized belonged to a Kohen.
The leader of the Conservative Party in Canada’s parliament and candidate for prime minister, Pierre Poilievre, lambasted Trudeau and denounced antisemitism. “We cannot close our eyes to the disgusting acts of antisemitism that are happening in our country everyday,” he posted on X/Twitter. “The prime minister must finally act to stop these displays of antisemitism. If he won’t, a common sense Conservative government will.”
Canada, like many countries around the world, has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents since the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Meanwhile in Cincinnati, vandals targeted two historic Jewish cemeteries this past week, toppling and shattering ancient tombstones — some dating back to the 1800s.
According to a statement from the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, 176 gravesites in Cincinnati’s West Side were ruined “in an act of antisemitic vandalism.”
“Due to the extensive damage and the historical nature of many of the gravestones, we have not yet been able to identify all the families affected by this act,” the statement continued. “Our community [is] heartbroken.”
The Cincinnati Police Department and the FBI are investigating the incidents.
The destruction of monuments is the latest in a greater trend of antisemitic vandalism. In an incident over the weekend, vandals in Australia targeted war memorials dedicated to Australian veterans who sacrificed their lives in Korea and Vietnam with pro-Hamas graffiti.
A couple weeks earlier, vandals in Belgium defaced two memorials for Holocaust victims with swastikas and a phrase calling for violence against Israel. In Germany, meanwhile, at least seven stolpersteine, or stumbling blocks in the sidewalk meant to mark Jewish homes seized by the Nazis, were defaced with the message “Jews are perpetrators.”
The US, Canada, Europe, and Australia have all experienced an explosion of antisemitic incidents in the wake of the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, and amid the ensuing war in Gaza. In many countries, anti-Jewish hate crimes have spiked to record levels.
According to the B’nai Brith, antisemitic incidents in Canada more than doubled in 2023 compared to the prior year.
The post Jewish Cemeteries Vandalized in Cincinnati, Montreal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UN Launches Probe Into Anti-Israel Rapporteur for Allegedly Accepting Trip Funded by Pro-Hamas Organizations
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, attends a side event during the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
The United Nations has opened an investigation into allegations that its special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories accepted an all-expense paid trip to Australia from various pro-Hamas groups.
In November 2023, Francesca Albanese allegedly traversed around the Australian continent on a trip whose high price tag was covered by anti-Israel organizations, according to documentation acquired by UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO that monitors the UN.
Albanese initially landed in Sydney and subsequently enjoyed flights into Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra, as well as Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand. The glamorous excursion is estimated to have cost a staggering $22,500.
The UN Investigations Division of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) told UN Watch last week that it had alerted the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the allegations of financial impropriety levied at Albanese.
In a letter sent to UN leadership last month, UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer outlined evidence based on multiple sources indicating that Hamas-supporting organizations funded Albanese’s trip to Australia, which has been experiencing an alarming spike in antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA), an organization that lobbies Australian politicians on behalf of the pro-Palestinian cause, claimed on its website that it “sponsored Ms. Albanese’s visit to Australia” to speak at its annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture in Adelaide. During the lecture, Albanese thanked AFOPA for “organizing such a busy visit,” in which she met with numerous Australian politicians and foreign ministry officials.
Free Palestine Melbourne (FPM) and Palestinian Christians in Australia (PCIA) both claimed to have “supported her visit to Victoria, ACT [Australian Capital Territory] and NSW [New South Wales].” Both groups also publicly declare that they participate in explicit lobbying of Australian politicians in an attempt to “change their minds” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
While on her visit, Albanese served as a keynote speaker at a PCIA fundraiser. FPM encourages politicians to endorse the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel on the international stage economically and politically as the first step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination.
Australian Palestinian Advocacy Network (APAN) said it was “honored to support” Albanese’s visit. The organization’s president, Nasser Mashni, openly endorses the terrorist group Hamas and has stated that the eradication of Israel is necessary to secure “the liberation of earth.” APAN states that it “facilitated a range of meetings” for Albanese with Australian parliamentarians.
Palestinians in Aotearoa Co-ordinating Committee (PACC) and Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) both organized and likely bankrolled Albanese’s trip to New Zealand, according to UN Watch. At the behest of these groups, Albanese helped lobby a New Zealand sovereign wealth fund to divest from Israel-linked companies.
Albanese outright denied that her trip was funded by Palestinian lobbying organizations, insisting that the UN footed the bill.
“Yet another trail of egregiously false claims agst me,” she tweeted. “My trip to Australia was paid by the UN as part of my mandate’s activities. Continuous defamation agst my mandate may be well remunerated,but won’t work. It just wastes time that should be used to help stop violence in [the Palestinian territories].”
Albanese did not present any documentation confirming that the UN paid for her travel and accommodations. Rather, she pointed at a statement from AFOPA reading, “Ms. Albanese was authorized by the UN to accept AFOPA’s invitation to deliver the Edward Said Memorial Lecture. The UN funded Ms. Albanese’s travel & accommodation costs. No Palestinian Solidarity group paid for this trip.”
Albanese has an extensive history of using her role at the UN to denigrate Israel and seemingly rationalize Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state.
In April, Albanese issued public support for the pro-Hamas protests and encampments on American university campuses, saying that they gave her “hope.” She has also repeatedly falsely accused the Jewish state of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza and enacting “apartheid” in the West Bank without condemning Hamas’ terrorism against Israelis.
In February, Albanese claimed Israelis were “colonialists” who had “fake identities.” Previously, she defended Palestinians’ “right to resist” Israeli “occupation” at a time when over 1,100 rockets were fired by Gaza terrorists at Israel. Last year, US lawmakers called for the firing of Albanese for what they described as her “outrageous” antisemitic statements, including a 2014 letter in which she claimed America was “subjugated by the Jewish lobby.”
Albanese’s anti-Israel comments have earned her the praise of Hamas officials in the past.
Additionally, in response to French President Emmanuel Macron calling Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel the “largest antisemitic massacre of the 21st century,” Albanese said, “No, Mr. Macron. The victims of Oct. 7 were not killed because of their Judaism, but in response to Israel’s oppression.”
Video footage of the Oct. 7 onslaught showed Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas celebrating the fact that they were murdering Jews.
Nevertheless, Albanese has argued that Israel should make peace with Hamas, saying that it “needs to make peace with Hamas in order to not be threatened by Hamas.”
The UN did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The post UN Launches Probe Into Anti-Israel Rapporteur for Allegedly Accepting Trip Funded by Pro-Hamas Organizations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.