Exclusive Account of Gaza Flotilla Violence

Weapons Found on Ship Carrying "Peace Activists" Source: IDF Spokesperson

The following account came via my husband’s former boss:

I am disgusted and dismayed. Not by the actions of the Israeli Navy, but by the silence (so far) of our leaders who are supposed to explain to the world what is going on. The information below comes from my son who serves in the Navy and has just arrived home from Ashdod.

We realized that the flotilla of ships trying to reach Gaza was a provocation. No one realized how heavily they were armed. Five of the ships were boarded by the naval commando in the early hours of this morning and surrendered without resistance. The ships were taken to Ashdod, and the food they were carrying will be sent to Gaza, which as we know receives daily supplies of food, electricity and other essentials from the “Zionist entity” it refuses to recognize. When the commando boarded the sixth ship, the Marmara, they faced armed resistance. The gunmen – many of whom were clearly prepared to be “shahidin,” martyrs – jumped on them in an organized lynch and started to stab them and beat them with clubs, knives and metal poles. After they grabbed one of our soldiers and threw him overboard, and started shooting the other soldiers with his rifle, they had no alternative but to open fire to protect themselves. In such a situation, it is surprising there were so few casualties. About ten IDF soldiers were injured, some seriously. My son will start his day tomorrow visiting one of them, a former schoolmate, at Tel Hashomer hospital , before returning to Ashdod. I am disgusted and dismayed. Not by the actions of the Israeli Navy, but by the silence (so far) of our leaders who are supposed to explain to the world what is going on.

Please pass this on to whoever might be willing to listen to the truth.

Here is additional information on the unfolding story:

First, the  scene as the Israeli navy commandos landed on the deck. Note that the “Free Gaza” spokespeople reported that the commandos opened fire immediately.

Another personal account by a naval officer on the ship, via Ynet.

For regular updates, see IsraellyCool and Muqata.

Facebook Meets the Flotilla, an editorial by Daniel Gordis

With all of the criticism of Israel there has been little mention of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive in Gaza for over four years.

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Pashkevilim: Anti-Establishment Jerusalem Wall Posters Part II

In honor of Jerusalem Day our synagogue hosted Tzuriel Rashi, professor of political science and communications and expert on pashkevilim, political and religious wall posters found on the streets of large haredi neighborhoods.

This is Part II. See Part I and Part III.

In the pre-State period, a staff of four men known as kruzim sped through town to put up the pashkevilim. One brushed the walls with glue, the second and third worked together to carry and stick up the posters, and the fourth added a final layer of glue.

Pashkevilim were and continue to be a way of getting out important news that the regular press won’t publish, in the same way we often use blogs.

After the 1929 Hebron massacre, the graves of the victims were dug quickly and shallowly because of the tense situation. When animals began to carry away the victims’ remains the haredi leadership turned to the secular newspapers, but they did not consider the situation newsworthy. The pashkevil asking the public for help in reburying the bodies also criticized the editors of Doar Hayom for “shutting our mouths.”

Sometimes news in the haredi world will not be published even by mainstream haredi newspapers like Yated Neeman and Hamodia: Chabad’s announcement proclaiming the deceased Lubavitcher Rebbe as the Messiah was first announced in a pashkevil.

The British government of Palestine put up a pashkevil as a wanted ad to help solve the first political murder in modern Zionist history. Jacob Israel Dehaan was a Dutchman who immigrated to Palestine and became a spokesman for the Haredim. His contact with Arabs in order to undermine the Zionist leadership led to his assassination in 1924. Considered a martyr by Haredi anti-Zionists, a pashkevil has been posted for the last 84 years on the anniversary of his murder. The authors of the pashkevil consider the Arab nations their “brothers in misery.”

Occasionally the street sign for Bar-Ilan Street is altered to honor de Haan, instead of the Zionist it is officially named for.

Pashkevilim in the pre-state period asked for prayers for the powers of foreign governments. Rashi shared two stories about Franz Joseph I of Austria’s visit to Jerusalem in 1869:

• The Emperor visited the yet to be completed Tiferet Israel synagogue. When he remarked on its lack of a roof, Rabbi Nissan Beck replied that the synagogue “took its hat off in your honor.” Franz Joseph got the hint and donated the dome.

• Franz Joseph also visited the home of Rabbi Shmuel Salant, who  invited the emperor to sit in the only chair in his modest home. The Emperor promptly fell through a hole in the chair’s seat. Rabbi Salant saved the occasion by remarking that according to the Midrash, the stones fought over which would serve as the pillow for the patriarch Jacob and then joined together to become one large stone. In the same way, the small holes in Rabbi Salant’s chair combined to have the honor of seating the emperor.

Some  pashkevilim are republished on a regular basis with the names of the signatories updated. Before every national election a poster goes up decrying the elections of the kofrim hanatzionim, the “NaZionist apostates,” and announcing that stores will be closed in protest (!).

Some messages are too sensitive for pashkevilim. When the haredim worked to cancel the Gay Pride parade scheduled for Jerusalem, they worried about answering children’s questions. Instead of pashkevilim they decided to discuss the issue only in the mikveh, the ritual bath where children don’t generaly accompany their fathers. Rashi quipped that the mikveh in Washington D.C. is supposedly the way top-secret information about Israel gets leaked to AIPAC from the state department.

See Part I here.

Coming up next: The cell-phone controversy and “spoof” pashkevilim in Part III.

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Pashkvilim: Anti-Establishment Posters in Jerusalem, Part I

Pashkevilim hold up the buidings of Jerusalem.
Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, Former Satmar Rebbe

Today marks Jerusalem Day, commemorating the unification of Jerusalem and the restoration of its Old City to Israel’s control. As part of the celebration our synagogue hosted a talk called “Al Homotayich Yerushalayim” (“On Your Walls,  Jerusalem,” Isaiah 62).

Dr. Tzuriel Rashi, head of the Communications Department at Lipshitz College in Jerusalem and a professor in the Political Science Department of Bar-Ilan, introduced us to the textured world of pashkevilim, the religious wall posters found in large haredi neighborhoods throughout the world.

The  word Pashkevil comes from the Italian pasquinades. Dissident and satiric posters and newspapers were common in ancient Rome and spread throughout Europe.

Whether in ancient Rome or in modern times, pashkevilim are a way for the “little person” to have a voice. Usually the authors oppose the ruling government and have little political power.

Most pashkevilim in Jerusalem are written by the residents of “Batei Ungarin,” (lit. homes of the Hungarians) within the neighborhood of Mea Shearim. The residents of Batei Ungarim are among the least connected to the State of Israel. They refuse  receive any benefits from the government, including basic health care, and are not hooked up to the Israel Electrical Corporation.  They probably consist of about 700 families, but there is no way to know for sure.

Collections of pashkevilim can be found at Harvard University and in private collections. Yoel Kroize has  catalogued 20,000 of them in the basement of his tiny house in Batei Ungarim. Kroiz replaced Yehuda Meshi-Zahav as the de facto leader of the community when Meshi-Zahav went over to the Zionists by participating in in the central Independence Day celebration a few years ago.

Rashi emphasized that just like any other Jewish groups, the anti-Zionist chassidic enclave of Batei Ungarin is not monolithic. For instance, after the Gaza withdrawal contradictory pashkevilim went up about whether and how to celebrate. The wife of Moshe Aryeh Friedman, who met with and kissed Ahmedinejab, was granted a divorce by the religious court without hesitation. Friedman later publicly apologized for the kiss.

Rashi asked for a volunteer from the audience to read one of the pashkevilim out loud.  The volunteer had trouble with several acronyms, although our rabbi didn’t. The speaker pointed out that this is deliberate, as outsiders aren’t meant to understand every word.

Other topics that came up in Rashi’s fascinating talk:

• The alternate name of the major street in a haredi neighborhood named for a Zionist. Bar-Ilan Street is the site of numerous secular-religious clashes about driving on the Sabbath.
• Pashkevilim hoaxes, including at least one that the secular press took seriously.
• The first political assassination in modern Israel, and the pashkevil that has been published annually in his memory for the  last 82 years.
• How the haredim united to win their battle against the cell-phone companies, although it may have been a Phyrric victory.
• News about haredim that the haredi press won’t publish

Part II is now available.  So is Part III. Shabbat shalom and happy Yom Yerushalayim.

Photo credit: nikolette22

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Rabbi Yigal Ariel: We are cutting ourselves off from the Israeli public

Rabbi Yigal Ariel of Moshav Nov in the Golan Heights published a book about haredi trends in religious Zionist circles. Here are some comments from a Ynet interview:

“While everyone else spoke of ‘disengagement’ we (Religious Zionists) spoke of ‘expulsion’. Instead of the ‘Amona evacuation’ we referred to the ‘Amona pogrom’….we are settling ourselves apart from the general public through this terminology, and are viewing the world through our own narrow and limited point of view. We are completely cutting ourselves off from the Israeli public.”

I agree. Our community can’t expect a dialogue with other segments of society while continuing to use loaded vocabulary.

Rav Ariel also brings up the case of the teenage girls who were recently jailed:

As a further example, Rabbi Ariel noted that he was recently asked to endorse the efforts of Right wing groups, who refused to recognize the authority of various law enforcement agencies, and to deem such actions as ‘heroic’ and as ‘sanctifying God’s name’.

“The girls involved in such civil disobedience said that they did not recognize the authority of the State of Israel no its courts, only that of God almighty,” said Rabbi Ariel. “Is this what Religious Zionism has come to?”

The rabbi further said that what disturbed him far more than these actual actions is the fact that rabbis refused to speak out against such phenomenon [sic]. “Somebody brainwashed and warped these young girl as is the case with many Orthodox youths, and the rabbis all remain silent.”

“These are young girls that don’t know which way is up just yet,” said Ariel. “They find themselves running across a hilltop in the West Bank one day and are convinced that they are saving the land of Israel.

“What about the Israeli people, its inhabitants, however? What about the IDF that protects them on that hilltop? These girls do not recognize [them] either, and deem them ‘a rule of evil’. If this is the way Orthodox people speak, then we have become detached from reality. We have become delusional individuals.”

Rav Ariel also laments religious Zionist rabbis who have recommended against reading certain books, including “Mekimi” by Noa Yaron (whom I heard speak recently). “We (religious Zionists) now want obedient followers that do as they are told and do not ask difficult questions.”

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Someone in the government has been looking at my blog

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Where Are the Parents?

Seven teenage girls have been arrested for settling an illegal outpost, and held in jail for over two weeks. Yitzhak Kadman, the director of the National Council for the Child, has called for their release. The girls, most of whom are only 14 years old, broke the law but did not commit a serious crime. The girls refuse to identify themselves or sign any statements because they don’t recognize the authority of the court. Judges have upheld the prosecutor’s decision to keep the girls in jail until they cooperate with the authorities.

The fact that they are still being held is an outrage and an embarrassment for the country. The girls should be released.

On the other side we have the parents, who could identify the girls and file a petition for their release. They have refused. In a Makor Rishon interview one mother said it would be like stabbing her daughter in the back. The parents have gotten together and agreed that the girls would be “hurt” and would get the feeling that the parents “don’t agree with their decisions.”

Parents should not let young teenage daughters fight the community’s ideological battles with jail time. Let the parents sit in jail instead (although one mother says that she’s proud of her daughter for her actions, as she could never sit in jail herself). They are not encouraging their children’s autonomy by subjecting them to prison. The parents’ job is to look at the big picture and get them out of jail, before there is any more psychological and (hopefully not any) physical damage. It’s possible to explain, even to teenagers, that you support their cause but that you cannot let them pay such a price, and that until they are 18 they cannot make such life-altering decisions without their parents’ consent.

In the religious community we discourage adult women from going into the army. How can we let 14-year-old girls sit in jail?

Either the parents are afraid of their teenagers’ reaction, or they believe so deeply in their cause that they are willing to sacrifice their children’s well-being to it.

My husband says I’m being too harsh on the parents, some of whom are still traumatized by the eviction from Gush Katif (the Jewish communities in Gaza). The article quotes a mother who said that the disengagement turned her daughter from a girl into a young woman who “needs to take responsibility because the adults failed.” My husband says this demonstrates a sense of failure on the part of the parents, who are pinning their hopes on the next generation.

My husband is right; I’m being too harsh on the parents. Because they are getting implicit or explicit support from many others in the community, including rabbis and political leaders, who should be telling the parents to do what they have to do to get those girls out of jail.

Update

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