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Monday, Aug. 01 '16, כ"ו בתמוז תשע"ו
HEADLINES:
1. SOCIAL MEDIA DARLING REVEALED TO BE DAUGHTER OF TERRORIST
2. JEWISH NBA STAR BRINGS FRIENDS TO ISRAEL TO FIGHT BDS
3. BENNETT: WE'RE LOSING MILLIONS OF JEWS TO ASSIMILATION
4. ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NY: I AM PROUD TO BE A 'SETTLER'
5. POPE EQUATES CAPITALISM WITH TERRORISM
6. WATCH: HUMAN CHAIN SAVES WOMAN FROM DEATH IN MARYLAND FLOOD
7. 'ARABS FLOODING THE MARKET WITH REAL ESTATE ACROSS ISRAEL'
8. WATCH: MARK FAMILY BIDS FAREWELL AT FATHER'S GRAVE
1. SOCIAL MEDIA DARLING REVEALED TO BE DAUGHTER OF TERRORIST
by Gil Ronen and David Rosenberg
The heartwarming story of a simple act of kindness that went viral just became much more complex.
Social media outlets were abuzz this weekend when a Facebook post by a young Muslim mother in the United States on Saturday spread, recalling a chance encounter with an elderly Jewish man in a local Barnes & Noble bookstore.
Noticing the mother's clearly Islamic attire, the man, named Lenny, approached the woman, offering his "heartfelt apology for the general anti-Muslim sentiment in our society today," the woman wrote on Facebook.
Lenny, who turned 90 on Friday, "had tears in his eyes" as he told the woman "that he feels awful about the bigotry my kids might one day experience, and that as a Jewish man whose parents didn't speak any English growing up, he personally understands what it feels like to be rejected and discriminated against".
"I asked if I could give him a hug… and he wanted to reassure me that most Americans are decent people who don't hate people like me or believe what they hear on the news."
But the story doesn't end with the post.
As chance would have it, the author of the post happens to be Leena Al-Arian – daughter of the convicted Islamic Jihad terrorist Sami Al-Arian.
The Kuwaiti-born Sami Al-Arian, 58, who worked as a computer engineering professor at the University of South Florida prior to his arrest, was indicted in 2003 on 17 counts of aiding and abetting the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad.
Sami Al-Arian was later convicted following a plea-bargain arrangement and handed a prison sentence and deportation order. Following the end of his term in 2015, Al-Arian was deported to Turkey.
Prior to his arrest, Al-Arian had praised the Muslim Brotherhood, and had been recorded on multiple occasions calling for violent Jihad and proclaiming "death to Israel".
Despite the terror conviction, Al-Arian's family refused to disavow their father and his actions, claiming he was "persecuted" because of his background.
Speaking at a demonstration in 2003, Leena Al-Arian said on her father's behalf: "I'm crucified because of who I am."
"I am a stateless Palestinian, an Arab, a Muslim, an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. I am not the enemy, but the forces of exclusion and intolerance are."
While studying at the University of South Florida, Leena served as Vice President of the radical Muslim Students Association. She also maintained a blog during this period, ranting against the State of Israel, Zionism, and Holocaust education.
"I am just so tired of reading blatantly biased writings on the Holocaust... [T]he thought of sitting through that nauseating three-hour class makes me want to put a bullet through my head. I am sick of the likes of propagandists such as Elie Wiesel, Rubenstein, and others who continue to exploit the tragedy of the Holocaust to justify the continued, unjustifiable suffering of the Palestinians," Leena wrote in 2004.
[youtube:2017707]
[youtube:2017713]
2. JEWISH NBA STAR BRINGS FRIENDS TO ISRAEL TO FIGHT BDS
by Tal Polon
Israeli NBA star Omri Casspi is scheduled to land in Israel this Thursday, accompanied by fellow players in the NBA, as part of a public relations campaign to improve Israel's image in the US and fight BDS, Yisrael Hayom reports.
He is to be accompanied by other fellow NBA and WNBA players, who have enlisted their support for a second time after a similar solidarity trip Casspi made last year.
Casspi expressed the importance of the mission for him: "We worked day and night for this journey [...] We are continuing in our work to change public and youth opinion in the US, to create as positive an image of Israel as possible."
In the past, Casspi has publicly shown his pride in his Jewish identity. In July, Casspi posted a picture of himself praying while wearing tefillin.
Among the players that will accompany Casspi on this trip is Amar'e Stoudemire, who retired from the NBA last week, and reportedly has closed a deal to play with the Israeli basketball team Hapoel Jerusalem, which he co-owns.
Stoudemire has called a news conference for Monday, where he is expected to make the announcement that he will play the 2016-17 season with Hapoel Jerusalem, according to ESPN.
In 2010, after joining the New York Knicks, Stoudemire told the New York Post that he had become "spiritually and culturally Jewish." The All-Star said he was keeping kosher and would celebrate the High Holidays. He traveled to Israel that year after discovering that his mother was ancestrally Jewish.
3. BENNETT: WE'RE LOSING MILLIONS OF JEWS TO ASSIMILATION
by Yoni Kempinski
Minister of Education and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett arrived Wednesday morning at the introductory convention for Israeli "emissaries," those that will be sent around the world in coming weeks to serve Jewish communities in need of strengthening.
"If I think of the major challenge facing world Jewry today, it's that we're losing millions of Jews [to assimilation]," Bennett emphasized to the crowd. "Few times in history has there been destruction of Jewry on the scope we are seeing: during the first Temple period, during the Holocaust, and in our current period."
"Israel, in my eyes, is not only the state of the citizens of Israel, but the state of world Jewry. Your mission is one of saving, of looking outward from the confines of the community you will be serving."
"I expect each and every one of you to work hard and think how you can save another Jew. The key lies more in your inner strength than in ideology," he added.
Bennett also shared some of his personal story: "My family also served as emissaries in the US from 1977-79. The technique that worked best was when we invited Jews to our home and they saw real life. People want to see real faces. Who you are, and not just what you represent, your behavior, your honesty - this is the most effective way to connect people to us.
"I believe in you," Bennett concluded. "The State of Israel has no greater mission. Lots of love, wish you luck."
4. ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NY: I AM PROUD TO BE A 'SETTLER'
by Ambassador Dani Dayan
My father first crossed an international border inside a potato sack, his mouth muffled with a cloth.
The year was 1921 and he was barely six months old. He and his family - my family – were fleeing pogroms in the Ukraine to the relative safety of Poland. His parents put him in that bag and covered his mouth to prevent him from crying – a mortal danger for the entire group. When they arrived to the Polish side, my grandmother opened the sack to see if her son was still alive. Luckily, he had not suffocated and so the story continues.
Sixty years later, my father – Moshe Dayan, a distant relative of the homonymous Israeli General - crossed another border coming from Israel into Guatemala. This time, as Israel's ambassador to that country, he enjoyed immunity, was received with honors while carrying a diplomatic passport bearing the menorah of the sovereign Jewish State. A similar diplomatic passport I carry today as I arrive to New York to head Israel's largest diplomatic mission in the world.
The tale of these three crossings symbolizes the dramatic change in the history of the Jewish people from the dark days of the first half of the 20th century until the prosperity and achievement of today. The creation of the independent State of Israel made these changes possible and its existence guarantees their permanence.
I bear all this in mind when I am told that representing an Israel led by a mostly conservative government in a predominantly liberal New York is not an easy task. As the global epicenter of economy, media, culture and civil society, not to mention the most vibrant hub of Jewish life outside of Israel, representing Israel to New York, is in fact representing Israel to the national and perhaps even to the global public opinion.
Some would be forgiven for thinking that the task will be even more challenging for someone with my political background. For decades I have resided in a town nestled within the hills of Samaria, overlooking Tel Aviv and Israel's coastal plain, considered by many in the international community as a "settlement". I am also not a career diplomat, but a political appointment by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These are both things that I am proud of and have never tried to hide. In fact, I see them as two of the greatest assets that I bring to New York. In my view, diplomacy is not a euphemism for a shallow exchange of platitudes that evades anything sensitive but rather a candid and incisive dialogue. We don't have to agree, but we have to tell each other our truth.
I hope to avoid two traps Israelis are sometimes tempted into.
First, I don't intend to ignore the elephant in the room: "The Conflict", our long and seemingly interminable dispute with the Palestinians, and the heated discussion how it should be solved or managed.
Israel is indeed the Start-Up Nation, Tel Aviv really is an LGBT paradise and surely there is no city more special than Jerusalem. But those are not relevant answers to questions asked that merit serious responses. Therefore, I come to New York to maintain an open conversation, about the most delicate issues as well. I will listen attentively and I will do my best to persuade my interlocutors that a Palestinian state does not exist because our neighbors have always preferred to continue their struggle to eliminate Israel from the map, instead of taking any of the far-reaching offers made to them by successive Israeli governments.
Preaching to the choir with its accompanying easy applause – the second trap - may be good for one's ego, but I have always done my utmost to avoid it. Countries do not send senior envoys abroad to convince their supporters but rather the doubtful and the opponents. I will not engage the hate-filled demagogues, because it is totally futile and because they don't deserve it.
However, I definitely see as my duty to dedicate a large share of my time and effort to those on the fence, to the disenchanted lovers of Israel, to those that want to support Israel but don't always comprehend all its policies.
While in Israel, I always accepted invitations from across the political spectrum, never refused to speak to an audience strongly opposed to my beliefs. Frequently I was the only member in my political camp to engage those audiences, disregarding claims I "legitimize" them by so doing. The same attitude will lead me in New York.
The task Prime Minister Netanyahu bestowed upon me is probably one of the most challenging, but also the most exciting Israel's Foreign Service can offer. As my aircraft descends towards John F. Kennedy Airport I think both about my father who wandered for decades from Ukraine to Poland to Argentina and finally to Israel, and about my daughter who knows nothing but growing up in the self-confidence granted by an independent Jewish State. What a difference Israel makes! This thought will always be imprinted on my mind as I represent Israel in New York and to the world.
5. POPE EQUATES CAPITALISM WITH TERRORISM
by Tal Polon
In an interview on his flight back from World Youth Day in Poland, where he also visited the Auschwitz death camp, Pope Francis related to the issues of terrorism and capitalism in the world today, even implying a comparison between the two, as reported by NBC News.
He said that it is "unfair" to equate 'Islam' with terrorism, claiming that every group has its extremist factions: " "I don't like to talk about Islamic violence. Not all Muslims are violent. In every religion there are small groups of fundamentalists."
"We [Catholics] have them, too. So it's not fair to identify Islam with violence and terrorism. It's not fair, and it's not true."
Further attempting to downplay a connection between Islam and terrorism, the Pope implied that capitalism, if anything, is a type of terrorism.
"When you place at the center of the world economy the 'God of Money,' that's terrorism against all humanity."
His words come at the end of a four-day visit to Poland to mark the Roman Catholic Church's World Youth Day. During his trip, the pontiff visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi death camp that is now a museum and memorial, where he prayed silently and met with Holocaust survivors.
6. WATCH: HUMAN CHAIN SAVES WOMAN FROM DEATH IN MARYLAND FLOOD
by Tal Polon
[youtube:2017706]
Last night, a brutal flood in Ellicott City, Maryland killed two people and left more than 100 injured, NBC News reported.
Between 7 and 9 pm, 6 inches of rain fell - the equivalent of the amount of rain that generally falls in a month in that area.
Amidst the destruction, one scene that was captured on camera exemplified bravery and mutual responsibility.
The footage shows a woman stranded in her car in the middle of the heavily flowing water, unable to escape the current.
After one bystander unsuccessfully tries to rescue her by himself, a group of men band together to form a 'human chain,' with one end rooted on dry land and the other reaching to the woman stuck in her car.
In this way, the men succeed in pulling the woman from the flood, saving her from certain death.
NBC News reported that the flood in Ellicott City was part of a series of heavy storms that plagued the eastern coast of the US over the weekend. In North Carolina, lightening struck a 5-year-old boy at the beach; the boy later died of his wounds.
7. 'ARABS FLOODING THE MARKET WITH REAL ESTATE ACROSS ISRAEL'
by Hezki Baruch
[youtube:2017700]
Arabs across Israel and on both sides of the Green Line are increasingly willing to sell to Jews, says a Jerusalem city councilman, calling it a golden opportunity for Jewish buyers to redeem property in the Holy Land.
Jerusalem councilman Aryeh King, who has worked for years to redeem Jewish properties in what are now predominantly Arab neighborhoods in and around Jerusalem, is calling upon Diaspora Jews to take part in "rebuilding of Jerusalem".
Ahead of a planned visit to a number of Jewish communities in the United States and Canada, King spoke with Arutz Sheva about the sudden surge of Arab properties available to Jewish buyers.
"The purpose of my visit to the US and Canada is because we are aware of a big change in the Arab population in Judea and Samaria, in Jerusalem, and in fact in all of Israel," King said.
"More and more Arabs are offering properties for sale. Because of that the cost of properties that Arabs are selling is dropping and we are able to buy in areas that we never thought to buy. So this visit is really to expose the areas that we are already active [in] and to expose the properties to Jewish potential buyers".
King, whose trip is scheduled for the upcoming period of mourning for the destruction of the Temple 2,000 years ago, said the timing of the visit was symbolic.
"The timing is important: it will be during the Nine Days, when we are mourning and remembering that Jerusalem is still a city that needs to be rebuilt and that we are missing our Temple on Mount Moriya."
"Every person during the Nine Days is thinking about the history of how the city was during the First Temple and the Second Temple. And I'm coming with others to the US and Canada to tell people that we can change it. We can build Jerusalem, and every Jew can participate today in buying a property. You don't need to be a billionaire in order to buy. You can buy for $100,000, $200,000 a property in Jerusalem that will give you a property in the holy city of Jerusalem, and it will help us to strengthen the Jewish presence in the strategic and historical neighborhoods that surround the Old City."
Aside from Jerusalem, King noted that a wide variety of properties are also up for sale in both the north and south of Israel, as well as in cities with both Jewish and Arab populations, like the Jaffa section of Tel Aviv.
"We will also talk about other properties in the Galilee and in the Negev and in... mixed cities. We are focusing on Jaffa, Lod, and of course the most important place is in east Jerusalem."
"A lot of land is also being offered in other areas, in Judea and Samaria like in Gush Etzion: fields, vineyards, olive groves."
"There is a big wave of new Arabs who are offering properties, and we don't have enough money to buy all of the properties that are being offered."
8. WATCH: MARK FAMILY BIDS FAREWELL AT FATHER'S GRAVE
by Eliran Aharon
[video:2017704]
30 days after Rabbi Michael Mark was murdered, his family visited his graveside for a final farewell.
Mark was driving with his wife and two of his children in early July when a terrorist shot at the vehicle, killing him and wounding his family. His wife was in a coma for several days.
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