Funerals.

In my weekly blog written in mid-November 2011, I deviated from my usual Middle East affairs briefing. Instead, I chose to write about the community I live in. Here is an excerpt from the things I wrote -

“On Sunday afternoon I went to a funeral here at Ein Harod. I'm not a compulsive funeral-goer, however, living in a tightly-knit community I feel duty bound to go to most funerals.  While listening to the eulogies being read, I looked beyond the row of Cyprus trees that demarcates the cemetery from the field beyond it. It was a scene Thomas Gray could have described. Admittedly this shady enclave beside the avocado grove is far removed from Gray’s country churchyard. Our lowing herd never grazes in the lea or leaves the confines of the cow sheds. Moreover, the ploughman in the field beyond the Cyprus trees had just turned the last furrow with a reversible double mouldboard plough drawn by a John Deere tractor and had headed home. Just the same, our cemetery has a distinct  rustic atmosphere about it.”

As the coffin was lowered into the grave I recalled an incident regarding our local Judaism study circle. The circle convened at Kibbutz Geva every Wednesday evening throughout the year except for a recess during the summer. Between two and three hundred people attended the circle’s lectures, most of us are secular Jews.

Margin note: Since then the circle functions via ‘Zoom’

On one occasion during the pre-Zoom era our lecturer Professor Uriel Simon was stuck in a traffic jam at the Megiddo junction. While we were waiting for him to arrive, we passed the time telling jokes, recounting anecdotes and personal experiences. One of our group, a retired drainage engineer, told about an amazing discovery he made a few years ago when he was working with a drainage installation team near Beit Shearim. The trenching machine they were working with struck a hard object. At first they thought it was a rock; however after digging around it they saw that they had unearthed a sarcophagus. They notified the local branch of the Israel antiquities department and a few hours later an archaeologist arrived at the site to verify and identify the object they had found. After examining the sarcophagus’ external features he opened the lid hoping to find objects that would help in dating the find. Often damage caused by grave robbers and the ravages of time leave little of interest for the archaeologists However in this instance the work team and the archaeologist were surprised to find a complete skeleton inside the stone coffin. Later the department of antiquities established that the skeleton was an 18-year-old male who had died about 1700-1800 years ago.

News of the sarcophagus reached the rabbi at Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu and he offered to bury the remains of the ancient John Doe in the kibbutz cemetery. When told there was no evidence to suggest that the deceased was Jewish the rabbi replied that even if there was doubt regarding his identity, he should be given the benefit of the doubt and a full Jewish burial.

That certainly wasn't a "ground breaking" precedent. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has always been over zealous about burying old bones even when there was clear evidence that the bones belonged to pagans or at the best to Christians. Perhaps the most famous case of post mortem conversions involved the skeletons found at Masada.

The Masada bones discovered by Yigael Yadin between 1963 and 1965 and later given a state burial by the Israeli government were not those of Jewish patriots but Roman soldiers, says Joseph Zias , who was Curator of Archaeology and Anthropology for the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Zias says that Yadin had doubts about the identification of the skeletons, but was coerced by Israeli political leaders to connect the bones with the Masada saga and agree to give them a state funeral.

 

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon this week. Despite the heat (40ºC at noon, cooler by 6pm at M’s funeral). Many came to pay their last respects. My daughter Irit attended the funeral and represented me there. I joined her an hour later at the ‘gathering’ in the kibbutz dining room.

In addition to family, friends and regular funeral attendees, there were many ‘ex-pats’. Namely, people who were born here as well as others who grew up here, but chose to live somewhere else.

By and large, my kibbutz is a secular community so we opt to dispense with the services of the ‘Hevra Kadisha,’ Orthodox Jewish burial society.

Let’s move on to other matters.

A Defence Ministry report provided details of massive exports as industries remain committed to the Israeli war effort; air defence systems account for more than a third of sales

Annual Israeli arms sales reached a new record in 2023, for the third consecutive year, amounting to nearly double the value of exports compared to five years ago, according to Defence Ministry figures released Monday.

The ministry’s International Defence Cooperation Directorate, known as SIBAT, said defence exports totalled $13 billion last year, up from $12.5 billion in 2022 — the previous record high. Between 2018 and 2020, that number hovered between $7.5 billion and $8.5 billion.

With the outbreak of the war on October 7, the Defence Ministry said it began operating in an “emergency mode,” with defence contractors being drafted to the war effort by manufacturing weaponry and equipment for the Israel Defence Forces around the clock, alongside previous orders for foreign clients.

Annual Israeli arms sales reached a new record in 2023, for the third consecutive year, amounting to nearly double the value of exports compared to five years ago, according to Defense Ministry figures released Monday.

“Despite the war, 2023 amounted to a new record and was characterized by significant export deals,” the ministry said.

Air defence systems made up the largest chunk of exports at 36% — up from 19% in 2022. This was largely due to Israel’s €4 billion sale of the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic system to Germany.

Exports of radar and electronic warfare systems amounted to 11% of arms sales, and weapons launchers made up another 11%.

While Israel is known for cyber-intelligence systems, these only amounted to 4% of all sales in 2023. Officials did not specify which countries they were sold to. Israeli sales of such technologies have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years due to allegations they were used by some countries to spy on political dissidents and journalists.

Unmanned aerial vehicles and drones, manned aircraft, avionics, observation systems, communication systems, vehicles, maritime systems, ammunition, and services accounted for much of the rest.

The Asia-Pacific region was the largest purchaser of Israeli defence goods, buying 48% of total exports, followed by Europe at 35%.

North America accounted for 9%, Latin America for 3%, and Africa for 1%.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, which normalised relations with Israel in 2020 agreements known as the Abraham Accords, accounted for just 3% of the arms purchases — down from 24% in 2022.

“This year’s figures show that even though our defence industries are committed… to the war effort, they continue to sign more and more significant export deals, thus enabling the realisation of the effort led by the Defence Ministry to increase defence exports while opening them to new markets,” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant concluded.

However, an anticipated increase in Israel’s defence industry sales at the Eurosatory 2024 defence show, which began on Monday aren’t likely to materialise.

Seventy-four Israeli firms had been set to be represented at the June 17 to June 21 event at fairgrounds close to Paris’s main international airport,

The French Defence Ministry last month ordered the Coges Event to ban the Israeli defence industry from exhibiting at the show, saying that “the conditions are no longer right to host Israeli companies at the Paris show, given that the French president is calling for the cessation of IDF operations in Rafah.”

On Tuesday, The Paris Commercial Court struck down restrictions requested by the French Defence Ministry on Israeli companies at the Eurosatory 2024 defence show. Unfortunately, the ruling will be effective after the show closes.

Hopefully, the publicity surrounding the ban and the French court ruling will serve to arouse interest in Israel’s defence industries.

 

Take care.

 

 

Beni,

       20th of June, 2024.