By Marni Mandell
Submitted by correspondent Tom Ifrach
Today our kids came home. Some in boxes, others on stretchers, and still others walked off the plane. But the scars in their heads will last a lifetime.
All for the simple fact of having an Israeli identity.
As a nation we have already begun the mourning process. You can hear it in the outrage, in the disbelief, in the confusion and the pain. We have not yet tapped into the sadness — but that, too, will come.
As a friend of mine and I were working on a project for Shabbat last night, we selected some readings for this week, and opted to include Yehudah Amichai’s “Diameter of a Bomb:”
The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters
And the diameter of its effective range about seven meters,
With four dead and eleven wounded.
And around these, in a larger circle
Of pain and time, two hospitals are scattered
And one graveyard. But the young woman
Who was buried in the city she came from,
At a distance of more than a hundred kilometers,
Enlarges the circle considerably,
And the solitary man mourning her death
At the distant shores of a country far across the sea
Includes the entire world in the circle.
And I won’t even mention the crying of orphans
That reaches up to the throne of God and beyond, making
A circle with no end and no God.– (Translated by Chana Bloch)
(Image via Shutterstock)
The last time I was asked to read this was at a memorial ceremony for friends who were killed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in another bombing, nearly 10 years ago to the day. It was as poignant then as it is now. But this time, it’s a little different — because I’m Israeli.
A friend, Jen Maidenberg, wrote in a blog post last night, “When I saw the headline, I felt in my gut like I narrowly missed a personal tragedy. And yet, that somehow the tragedy still belongs to me.”
We are in the weeks leading up to Tisha B’Av, a day on which both temples were destroyed and other terrible events took place. This period in the Jewish calendar marks a time of national morning, as if all of Israel and the Jewish people are in a collective state of a sharp intake of breath. Painfully aware of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Once Tisha B’Av comes, and then goes, we can exhale, and release. Only then can we be begin to prepare for the new year that awaits just beyond the bend.
But in the meantime, we must survive this period. We must pray for the families, and our country, and pledge to ensure that hatred does not breed more hatred, and band together to support one-another through these difficult times.
May the victims’ memories be for a blessing.
___________________________
Once Again, Hillary Clinton is Silent as Israel Gets Thrown Under the Bus
Source: EMET Blog
By Sarah Stern
Submitted by correspondent Tom Ifrach
On November 11, 1999, then First Lady Hillary Clinton paid a visit to Mrs. Suha Arafat in Ramallah. Mrs. Clinton sat by calmly and dispassionately as Mrs. Arafat made an outrageous allegation that the Israelis had been poisoning Palestinian air and water. When Mrs. Arafat finished speaking, what was the former First Lady’s response? A warm embrace and a kiss on the cheek.
This week we saw another reserved, passive response by Mrs. Clinton, as the historical facts of the Middle East conflict became radically dissembled in front of her
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ran to Cairo to welcome in Mohammad Morsi, the new President of Egypt, and former head of the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite the fact that her motorcade was pelted with tomatoes and shoes, the Secretary of State remained unruffled, as she rushed to bestow American legitimacy on the newly elected President of Egypt, who incidentally, in his very first Press Conference stated his intention to free from an American prison Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, (known as “The Blind Sheik”), and mastermind of the first World Trade Center Bombing in 1993.
Immediately after meeting with Mohammed Morsi, there was a Press Conference with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr. At one point, Mr. Amr stated, “I would like to add something about the peace treaty. Mr. President has repeatedly reaffirmed, and on all occasions, that Egypt continues to respect all treaties signed as long as the other party to the treaty respects the treaty itself. And today, he once again reiterated this issue and also reiterated that Egypt’s understanding of peace is that it should be comprehensive, exactly as stipulated in the treaty itself. And this also includes the Palestinians, of course, and its right to – their right have their own state on the land that was – the pre June 4th, 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Again, the Secretary of State sat silently, and let this radical departure in the meaning of the Camp David Accords be stated.
Israel has had a 33 year period of relative calm based on the Camp David Treaty. It has been an icy cold peace, but a peace, none-the-less. This peace was supposed to have ushered in “a comprehensive framework” of peace between Israel and all its Arab neighbors. It was a paradigm that was supposed to have been modeled by Israel and all of the individual states that have declared war on the Jewish state, since its birth, in 1948.
The peace with Egypt has heretofore, never been predicated on a peace with all of the other Arab neighboring parties. It would be absurd to make that a condition.
If Abu Mazen would suddenly be convinced to start negotiating once again with Israel, would we in the international, foreign policy community say, “No, You can’t negotiate for a two state solution without getting the Syrians involved , as well?”
What makes this so pernicious is that it flies in the face of commitments made from every single president since Johnson that Israel must have “secured and recognized boundaries” or “defensible borders”. In fact, in an iron clad letter of assurance that was written by President George W. Bush, prior to the Gaza withdrawal on April 14, 2004, and given to Prime Minster Sharon stated that,” The United States reiterates its steadfast commitment to Israel’s security, including secure, defensible borders, and to preserve and strengthen Israel’s capability to deter and defend itself, by itself, against any threat or possible combination of threats.”
If Israel were to go back to the pre-1967 lines, she would be nine miles wide in her narrowest waist. It would make every single Israeli city within easy striking distance of a Kassam missile attack. It would endanger the safety and security of every Israeli man, woman and child.
And what of all of the assurances that Americans have heard for years upon years from American Presidents and politicians about the indivisibility of Jerusalem? Did the Secretary of State suddenly have a bout of amnesia, when the Foreign Minister Amr simply threw the division of Jerusalem into the mix as being a condition of a sustained peace treaty between Israel and Egypt?
Again: A deafening silence on the part of the Secretary of State.
Finally, today as we mourn the loss of seven innocent Israelis whose Israeli tour bus was targeted in Burgas, Bulgaria, we are reminded that Israel, unfortunately, has been more affected by acts of terrorism than any single nation in the world.
Yet, Mrs. Clinton has issued invitations to twenty nine Middle Eastern and European countries to her Global Counterterrorism Forum in Madrid. These were all countries affected by terrorism. Which country was glaringly omitted? You guessed it, Israel.
While this administration is running to accord legitimacy to someone who had been, until last week, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, we are forgetting about all the innocent victims of that very organization’s teachings.
Through both her acts of omission and commission, Secretary Clinton is simply throwing Israel under the bus.
