Tisha B’Av.

I have often wondered if all the calamities that plagued the Jewish people were bound to have occurred on or around Tisha B'Av.

Perhaps our sages of old and contemporary observers simply placed them in a convenient timeslot.

Let’s start with the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem. Fast forward to the First Crusade in 1096, the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290, from France in 1306 and from Spain in 1492.

I’ve probably omitted mentioning other tragic events that occurred on Tisha B’Av.

Scanning up to the twentieth century contemporary observers consider that many of the horrific crimes perpetrated during the Holocaust occurred on or around Tisha B'Av.

I wonder if the people who persecuted the Jewish people at various times purposely chose to do so on that specific date.

On the eve of Tisha B’Av this year there is an unmistakable  sense of impending doom.

I’m an incorrigible optimist and despite the ever-increasing number of voluntary combat and security forces reservists refusing to turn up for duty, I believe they will serve in the hour of need.

Only this week I read about an interview with an IDF combat pilot conducted by the BBC’s Jerusalem bureau chief. 

“As a proud Israeli, his protest also comes with an important caveat. 

"If push comes to shove and the country is really threatened, we will all show up and there will be no argument whatsoever," he says, adding that all his friends in the reserves feel the same way.

"And the moment we are safe again, we will keep quarrelling and fighting for what we believe is our democracy."

At this juncture let’s switch to Netanyahu’s realpolitik.  

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a tendency to ‘bend the truth,’ especially when he addresses the nation on prime-time TV. He lied about his state of health and coerced his doctors to deceive the public too.

A former Israeli ambassador to the United States said “Bibi can lie to Israelis repeatedly, but to the US he can only lie once.” He is still waiting for an invitation from President Biden to visit Washington.

Yesterday I ate lunch with friends in the kibbutz dining room. One of them had just returned from the march to Jerusalem. She wasn’t with the marchers on the gruelling 70km trek from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Instead, she joined them for the last lap of the march to the Knesset. Her comments echoed similar remarks made by various TV anchors accompanying the marchers. Throughout the march the organisation was outstanding. Food, water, first-aid, etc., were always available. There were also instances of spontaneous volunteering. People coming to the roadside with food and water.  Judging by their dress-code some of them were obviously from the other side of the ‘divide.’

On the road to Jerusalem, marchers protesting the judicial overhaul.

Another pause for a comment aptly described as “from the sublime to the ridiculous.’ 

Minister of Transport Miri Regev speaking at a demonstration held in Tel Aviv on Sunday supporting the continuation of the judicial reform legislation, said: "I know the attempts of the elite to sabotage any attempt at reform and diversification." Regev added: "Let's tell the truth, they are concerned with maintaining their centres of power, their elite, and we are concerned with creating diversity, representation and justice." Regev said that she has a problem with refusals and bullying, and called for pilots to be arrested: "Whoever refuses an order – belongs in prison."

Margin note:  Miri Regev no longer refers to the opposition parties as ‘leftists’, she has upgraded them to the status of ‘elitists.’

 After that mouthful I’m adding something totally different and hasten to add that I have ‘cherry picked’ it for the sake of relevance.

“And Israel Has Succumbed”

Posted by Tariq Al-Homayed Saudi journalist and writer, and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat 

Margin note: Although published under the name of a private company, Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), the paper was founded with the approval of the Saudi royal family and government ministers, and is noted for its support of the Saudi government. The newspaper is owned by Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family.

“Israel has long been described as the ’democratic’ state of our region, and this is why it is the United States' and the West’s trusted ally. However, amid the ongoing battle over judicial reform led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite mass opposition, its image is changing.

Today, we can say Israel has succumbed to the rules of the game in the region, becoming a quintessential Middle Eastern state. A third of its electorate votes for religious parties that support a messianic ideology, and its prime minister is leading the push to curb the judiciary’s authority and autonomy.

Netanyahu’s Israel is increasingly playing the rules of the region, where power corrupts, and corruption is venerated under the veneer of state legitimacy.

By “the region,” I am referring to the countries that have undermined their stability under the pretext that they were working to wipe Israel off the map.

And so, the Israeli political crisis indicates that fundamentalist ideology and narrow political interests have led Israel to play by the rules of the game in the region.  

All this will engender two significant outcomes. First, it has created real divisions that mirror those across Israel’s borders from all sides. While the degree of division varies in different countries, this region has become a region of deep schisms.

Second, Netanyahu’s attempt to constrain the authority of the judiciary in a state that doesn’t have a written constitution is a powerful blow to Israel’s status as a ‘democracy,’

The most significant development is that the ‘Israeli democracy’ card cannot be played in a region that doesn’t respect democracy.

To sum up, Israel has succumbed to the modus operandi of the region, where democracy is distorted, and the fundamentalist card is played to make political gains.”

 A Reuters report posted from Dubai yesterday, stated that the crisis sweeping Israel has become a rallying point for its enemies across the Middle East.

They have convened top-level meetings to discuss the upheaval and how they might capitalise on it, sources familiar with the discussions claim.

Foes including Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah have been crowing at the sight of Israel fractured by the crisis ignited by government moves to overhaul the judiciary, especially threats by reservists to stop showing up for military service.

Away from the propaganda being broadcast by groups eager to see Israel's demise, these factions have also been devoting special attention to the crisis at closed-door meetings, perceiving this as a potential turning point for Israel.

The subject was discussed at a three-hour meeting last week involving a senior commander from Iran's Quds Force, the arm of its Revolutionary Guards that funnels military support to Tehran's allies, two Iranian security officials and officials from Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, an Iranian diplomat said.

An unnamed source said that Hezbollah officials have discussed the crisis in detail and after concluding that it had already weakened Israel, they agreed they should refrain from any "direct interference", believing this could give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the opportunity to blame foreign adversaries.

Nevertheless, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech on Monday, said Israel was on a "path of collapse and fragmentation".

Iranian Foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani referred to Netanyahu's recently fitted pacemaker when tweeting about the crisis, saying "The heart of the Zionist regime is in deeper crisis than the crisis in the heart of its prime minister".

Sources close to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad say the two groups are monitoring closely the protests in Israel, enjoying the images, and hoping the tensions worsen.

But they are also wary of the risk of Netanyahu seeking to divert attention from the domestic crisis through conflict against Israel's enemies that could unite its people.

 

Have a good weekend,

 

Beni,                     27^th of July, 2023.

 

Learning to cope.

 

First and foremost, I want to thank all the many friends and acquaintances for their messages consoling me on my loss. Your messages were really comforting.

We have just ended the seven days of mourning, the ‘Shiva’ and I am gradually returning to my daily routine. However, it won’t be the same without Roni.

At home, everywhere I turn there’s something that reminds me of her.

Roni’s dexterity was legendary. In later life it was in various handicrafts- knitting, sewing and embroidery. As a young teenager she earned the title of Ein Harod’s cotton picking queen. That was before the advent of the modern cotton harvester. One of our neighbours told us how Roni picked far more cotton than anyone else in the kibbutz.

In those days, the names of all the cotton pickers and the weight of the cotton they picked were posted on the kibbutz notice board. It was a way of ‘encouraging’ people to work harder. In effect it was what we now call ‘shaming.’ Roni was always top of the list way above everyone else.

 About eighteen months ago I wrote, “I’m back and recuperating after a brief hospitalisation with a new lease on life. I spent a few days in the Herzliya Medical Centre for the purpose of repairing a malfunctioning aortic heart valve. The procedure employed is referred to as TAVI-Transcatheter Aortic Valve implantation. This ingenious method implants a made-to-measure valve guided through one of the femoral arteries to its exact location. The hour and a half procedure was performed by a team led by Dr. Rafi Wolff and Professor Amit Segev, two of the leading cardiologists specialising in the TAVI procedure.

 A few months ago, my wife was referred to Rafi Wolff by her cardiologist. In her case the procedure was far more challenging. Diabetes along with other ailments required significant changes in the procedure. Nevertheless, Wolff and Segev were prepared to meet the challenge. The procedure was successful and Roni began recuperating well. Then suddenly, there was a turn for the worse and indications that Roni had contracted an aggressive infection somewhere. She was rushed to the hospital where Rafi Wolff personally supervised the treatment administered in the cardiology intensive care ward. All efforts to save her failed and she died surrounded by her loving family.

Roni and I at Niagara Falls (Canada) in better days.

 At this juncture I want to add a few comments about the TAVI procedure.

The Danish inventor of an aortic valve for transcatheter implantation (TAVI) finally gained recognition for his achievement by colleagues within the European Society of Cardiology

Eleven years ago, a stupid idea came home to Denmark. When first proposed it was ridiculed by many cardiologists. Nonetheless, the brilliant innovative procedure saved the life of an 86-year-old man. The idea was for a balloon-inflated aortic valve that could be implanted using a guide wire passing through the femoral artery instead of open-heart surgery. The dying man who received the valve was Jorgen Rud Andersen, the father of the inventor of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), Henning Rud Andersen MD.

The success of that procedure, which gave back a robust life to his father, was a personal triumph that closed the circle on a journey that began for Dr Andersen in 1988 in Phoenix, Arizona. Still in training as an interventional cardiologist that year, he was inspired by a presentation of coronary artery stents. Why not make the stent larger and place a valve inside, he asked. No one was listening, so he built such a device himself, patiently bending wires to create a stent and buying pig hearts from the local butcher shop for the aortic valves. He then built a transcatheter delivery device inspired by the Cribier-Letac balloon catheter pioneered in France during the 1980s for balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) by Alain Cribier MD. From conception to proof-of-concept took Andersen just 75 days.

Since its inception in 2007, more than 250,000 TAVI procedures have been performed worldwide, of which 70 000 were performed last year. By 2025, there will be 280 000 such procedures per year.

Further improvements and refinements will undoubtedly revolutionise cardiac surgery.

 

Beni,              20^th of July, 2023.

 

.

 

Roni.

 

It’s difficult to imagine life without Roni.

Our 57 years together, measured by any standard is certainly a long time.

We shared many unforgettable experiences. We raised four wonderful children and were blessed with equally wonderful grandchildren.

 

Both of us travelled overseas visiting many countries and had the privilege of serving Israel as emissaries (schlichim) to the Zionist youth movement and the Jewish Community in Melbourne, Australia.

I met Roni when we were both on holiday in Netanya. I came from Kibbutz Nirim in the Gaza periphery and Roni arrived during a break in her studies at the Oranim seminar. Her home and family were firmly rooted in Kibbutz Ein Harod Ihud,

Roni was the second of four daughters born to Gad and Naomi Tavel. Both her parents came to the kibbutz in 1937 from Germany.

I was born in England, grew up in New Zealand and ‘made’ Aliya in 1961.

From this brief preamble it’s easy to see that we came for different places and backgrounds. Furthermore, we had vastly different interests, but they never clashed.

We never competed with one another I admired her handicraft skills and her wonderful ability to maintain contact with all our relatives and friends. In a similar, but different way I assumed the role of the keeper of family documents and records.

Roni was a warm and loving mother to our children and always welcomed my daughter Daphna (from my first marriage) and her husband Mark on their many visits to Israel.

I sorely miss my beloved wife and treasure the memory of our happy life together.

 

Beni       15^th of July, 2023.

The Palestinian self-delusional mindset.

It’s difficult to find a completely impartial foreign news media account of the recent IDF incursion in the Jenin refugee camp. So instead, I am quoting from a CNN description and have added margin notes where required.

“Early on Monday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched a major operation in Jenin, carrying out drone strikes and targeting a ‘command and control’ centre for militants in the refugee camp there.

The incursion involved hundreds of Israeli security personnel, at least ten drone strikes, and bulldozers that were used to disarm potential explosives buried under asphalt-sealed roads. Tanks were also deployed on the outskirts of the city.

 

     A road in the Jenin refugee camp ‘ploughed’ by an IDF bulldozer.

 An IDF spokesperson told reporters that the operation had been planned for some time, with the object of dismantling the ‘safe haven’ Jenin has become for militants.”

Margin note: - Like most foreign news outlets CNN prefers to call terrorists - militants.

Back to the main text: -

“According to the spokesperson, the IDF entered all parts of the refugee camp and said at least 120 people were detained. Israeli soldiers dismantled hundreds of explosive devices, weapons caches and underground tunnels. Fierce firefights were reported between soldiers and militants. In one of the clashes IDF soldier St.-Sgt. David Yehuda Yitzhak was killed.”

Enough of CNN. Here are some of my own comments: -

“It didn’t surprise me at all when I read the accounts of how Palestinians in the West Bank and elsewhere celebrated what they termed the IDF’s ignominious defeat at the hands of their ‘courageous Palestinian fighters.’

 “Hundreds of Palestinians, chanting Allahu Akbar! took to the streets of Jenin and its refugee camp late Tuesday to celebrate after Israeli security forces completed their withdrawal from the area.

Flashing V-for-Victory signs with their hands, the Palestinians also chanted slogans in support of the local armed groups, specifically the Jenin Battalion, a militia directed and funded by the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).”  Margin note: - Most of the commanders of the Jenin Battalion had fled the Jenin Refugee Camp shortly before the start of the large-scale Israeli security operation.

Back to the main text-

“They (the Israeli security forces) were forced to pull out less than two days after the incursion because they failed to achieve most of their goals. Thank God, most of the fighters have not been harmed.”

Palestinian sources said 12 Palestinians were killed and at least 120 injured, 30 of them seriously, during the Israeli operation. “

Another margin comment: - It’s likely that more Palestinians were killed, almost all of them were identified as armed terrorists. 

Returning to the main text-

“Shortly after the Israeli withdrawal, dozens of Palestinians attacked the local headquarters of the Palestinian security forces in Jenin with stones and explosive devices. The protesters accused the Palestinian security forces of ‘hiding’ during the Israeli operation and failing to ‘defend’ the Palestinians against the ‘aggressors.’ No one was hurt as Palestinian security officers responded with tear gas to disperse the assailants. 

The attack on the PA headquarters was not the first of its kind. On a number of occasions over the past two years, gunmen attacked the compound, largely in response to the arrest of some of their friends by the Palestinian security forces.

Recently, several Palestinians took to social media to voice outrage against the PA and its security forces for their alleged “collusion” with Israel. 

Some pointed out that, according to reports in the Israeli media, Israel notified the PA in advance of its intention to launch a massive operation against terrorists in the Jenin Refugee Camp. They said this was proof of the ongoing “collaboration” between Israel and the PA.”

(IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht confirmed that the Palestinian Authority and Jordan had been informed about the incursion in advance, but didn’t elaborate further.)

On Monday night, the PA leadership, after holding an emergency meeting in Ramallah, decided to halt all contacts and meetings with Israel, as well as security coordination between the two sides. 

“No one believes the Palestinian leadership,” said Murad Awad, 28, a resident of the camp. “They did nothing to help the people during the Israeli incursion. They ordered the Palestinian security forces to stay away. We didn’t see one security officer on the streets. This proves that the security coordination has not been suspended.”

A senior Palestinian security official dismissed the charges as “lies.” He claimed that the security coordination, which was suspended earlier this year after an Israeli security raid on Jenin, has not been resumed since then.

“The main goal of the operation was to end the phenomenon of resistance in Jenin,” said Mu’taz Khalil, a 35-year-old political activist from Nablus. “But it’s clear that this goal was not achieved. There are hundreds of gunmen in the camp. This operation, on the other hand, showed that all the armed groups are united in the field. There is no difference between Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad when it comes to confronting the aggression.”

On Wednesday morning, Palestinian activists called on Palestinians to head to the Jenin Refugee Camp to help the local residents, especially those who left their homes and sought shelter in the city. 

PIJ Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhaleh said in a statement after the Israeli withdrawal that “the Palestinian people scored a great victory by defeating the aggression against Jenin and its camp.”

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, said the Palestinian “resistance taught the enemy a harsh lesson and made it suffer heavy losses.”

In a statement early Wednesday, Haniyeh said that the coming days “will expose the size of the violent blow the resistance dealt to the enemy.” He added that “the resistance is the strategic choice of the Palestinians to respond to the aggression and expel the occupation from our Palestinian lands.”

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem praised the Jenin camp and its “resistance and victory over the Zionist enemy army.” He added: “Jenin has once again defeated the occupation army. We announced from the beginning that the occupation will fail to achieve its goals. Jenin camp will remain a fortress of resistance and a thorn in the side of the occupation, and the revolution in the Arab West Bank will continue to escalate until the goals of our people are achieved.”

Time for another margin note: - These bombastic claims about inflicting heavy losses on the IDF are part and parcel of the Palestinian self-delusional mentality. Hezbollah, Syria and other not-so-friendly neighbours also have delusions regarding Israel.

On the other hand, Israel has no delusions about the incursion and what it achieved. Throughout the operation, accurate military intelligence enabled pinpoint strikes on predetermined and live-time targets.

That being said, the IDF has no delusions about the need to “clean-up” the Jenin hornets’ nest from time to time.

Predictably, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said. The IDF airstrike on Jenin may be ‘wilful killing’. The Jenin operation, “raises a host of serious issues with respect to international human rights norms and standards.”

Further to that, Turk said the scale of the Jenin operation, including the use of repeated airstrikes, along with the destruction of property, raised serious issues regarding international human rights norms and standards.

Some of the methods and weapons used “are more generally associated with the conduct of hostilities in armed conflict, rather than law enforcement,” he said.

 If Volker Turk believes the IDF Jenin operation could have been conducted by law enforcement methods, then he is delusional.

Have a good weekend,

 

Beni                           6^th of July, 2023