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1. Austrians Mute Israeli Anthem at Fencing Tourney
by Gil Ronen
Young female athletes from Israel's fencing team swept top medals at a 28-nation European tournament held in Mödling, Austria last week – but faced an additional challenge when they stood on the winners' podium to receive their medals: the organizers did not play the recording of the Israeli national anthem, and the Israeli winners had to sing the anthem on their own, a capella style. The Israeli team's staff has no doubt that the incident was intentional.
Israel's Dana Strelnikov, 14, won the gold medal and Alona Kamarov won the bronze at the tournament, which hosted 120 fencers aged up to 17. Both Israeli medalists hail from the northern Israeli town of Ma'alot, whose fencing club has produced many of Israel's best young fencers. But as they stood on the podium and awaited the opening sounds of national anthem HaTikvah – they heard only silence. The girls and their trainers quickly understood what was happening and proceeded to sing the entire anthem on their own, with some scattered support from voices in the spectators' bleachers.
The Israeli national team's coach, Yaakov Friedman, told Arutz Sheva that the Israeli team faces constant political challenges on the international circuit. At a tournament in Göteborg, Sweden, in January this year, Israel won the silver medal and when the medalists were already on the podium the organizers informed Friedman that they do not have a recording of the Israeli anthem. The team sang the anthem without the help of the recording. It was understood by everyone, Friedman said, that the reason was Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, which had just ended.
'We only have the old anthem'
In the Mödling incident, Friedman said, the organizers approached him when the winners were on the podium and told him that “we do not have a recording of the new Israeli anthem, just the old one.” Friedman informed them that to the best of his knowledge, Israel has only had one anthem – HaTikvah – since it was founded, but this did not change anything, and the team had to sing a capella again. While the anthem was missing, the Israeli flag still hung proudly, he said – because tournament rules specifically require the presence of the national flags.
The head of the Israel Fencing Association, Yossi Harari, told The Forward that in the next tournaments Israel participates in, the team and every single one of the athletes will be equipped with recordings of the anthem, so that organizers will at least no longer be able to use the same excuses when refusing to play HaTikvah.
Friedman said that Jews have been prominent in the modern sport of fencing because it requires “character and brains,” besides certain physical qualities. “Like chess,” he explained, “decisions need to be made very quickly and that is why there are many Jews who excel in the sport.”
2. Historian: Obama Won't Go Head-to-Head with US Jews
by Gil Ronen
“Ethnic minorities like the Jews are an integral part of the American nation, and every president in the White House understands that if he ignores the Jews of the United States and their supporters he will be making a mistake,” Professor Shlomo Aronson, an expert on political science from the Hebrew University, told Arutz Sheva Thursday. “Even Barack Obama would not think of entering a confrontation with the Jews of the United States,” he said.
Asked if President Obama's relative silence in the face of the Iranian nuclear danger could be compared to the silence of Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman in the face of the Holocaust, Prof. Aronson, a former holder of 1939 Club Holocaust Chair at UCLA, said there was no comparison between the two situations.
"The U.S. In that period was dragged into participating in World War Two after Japan and Nazi Germany attacked it,” he said. “Previously there was a debate in the U.S., whether or not to join the war. The Americans thought that after World War One, there was no point in entering another war.”
Many things have changed
"It was a different world then and the attitude to the Jewish question was different from today,” he explained. “At that time, the entire matter of the Jews seemed to the Americans like something that was not their business. The Jews were a scattered and dislocated people without a country or an army, the British ruled the Land of Israel and as far as the Americans were concerned, the Jews were not their problem.”
"But since then many things have changed. Today there is a Jewish state with an army, and the attitude towards Israel is built upon internal American considerations. Those were dark times of anti-Semitism in the US which washed its hands of dealing with the Holocaust, but today the situation is different.”
Prof. Aronson said that there was no room for comparison between Nazi Germany, which threatened the world, and Iran under Ahmadinejad. “Nazi Germany was a power. Iran is a Third World country,” he added. Obama simply prefers to fight Iran using a different tactic, Prof. Aronson estimated. “Iran is a very important subject that Obama wants to take care of, but the way that seems more realistic to him is to strangle Iran economically. He believes that this is a very sensitive subject for the Iranians and that this is what will truly make them feel the pressure.”
3. 'US Knows Bibi Can Be Squeezed,' says Former Head of PM's Office
by Gil Ronen
Former Prime Minister's Office Director Yossi Ben-Aharon thinks Binyamin Netanyahu's image as a person who can be squeezed into concessions is the reason that the United States has begun pressuring Israel regarding the neighborhood of Gilo in Jerusalem.
Former prime ministers knew how to be tough with the U.S., Ben Aharon told Arutz Sheva. “When [President Jimm Carter tried to pull a stunt on [Prime Minister Menache Begin and put Jerusalem on the negotiation table, Begin answered him in an unmistakable manner: 'If I forget thee Jerusalem, may my right arm wither.'
"When Bush the father tried to pressure Shamir to freeze settlements, Shamir used a very efficient tactic. Without getting into confrontations, he simply created a tough image. He knew how to safeguard Israel's interests. Then-Secretary of State James Baker knew there were certain subjects one could not raise with Shamir. When he mentioned the settlements, Shamir would look at him without answering. There was a red line here that Shamir would not let anyone cross. Netanyahu, too, can do the same thing.
"Netanyahu has created the impression of a squeezable man and this operates to his detriment,” Ben Aharon elaborated. “Obama's aides tell him 'Netanyahu is squeezable, so let's squeeze him'... Now they have reached the Gilo neighborhood because they see that the pressure on Netanyahu yields results.”
4. Belgium PM to Head EU, Lady Ashton to Replace Solana
by Hana Levi Julian
The European Union has elected Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as the body's new full-time president after years of rotating the post on a monthly basis. Lady Catherine Ashton was elected to replace Javier Solana as the EU's foreign policy chief.
Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, elected unanimously by the 27-member entity on Thursday, assumes his post on December 1. A Flemish politician, age 62, Van Rompuy has been politically active since his youth, but has only been prime minister since December 2008. He was chairman of the Christian People's Party, a center-right Flemish party, from 1988 to 1993, and Budget Minister from 1993 to 1999. He is seen as a budget hardliner, with little expertise in foreign relations.
Baroness Catherine Ashton, Trade Commissioner to the EU for the United Kingdom, age 53, is a British Labour politician who has served in various lower-echelon government offices over the past decade. She was appointed in June 2007 by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council, and in October 2008, was nominated as the UK's European Commissioner in the European Commission. According to Reuters, she is "virtually unknown in Britain" and has had little foreign affairs experience, but is adept at trade issues. Ashton also has a degree in economics.
Neither of the new leaders has extensive experience in the field of foreign relations, which has raised concern among critics, who content the pair have too low an international profile. There also appears to be no record of either candidate having any specific interactions with the State of Israel.
The leaders of France and Germany both strongly backed the appointments -- and both strongly oppose Turkey's admission to the European Union. French President Nicolas Sarkozy praising the choice as a "very wise decision" to elect a leader from "an important country but not one of the most important countries, so that no one will feel excluded." German Chancellor Angela Merkel adding "We got a candidate who brings consensus and whose political competence has long been tested and tried throughout his political career."
Impact for the Middle East?
Turkish Parliament member Onur Oymen told reporters he was concerned about what the election meant for his nation's hopes of entering the European Union. In an interview with the BBC, Oymen noted that Van Rompuy had "said a few years ago that he was totally against Turkish membership because of religious and cultural reasons."
The Qatar-based Aljazeera news network quoted Van Rompuy as saying during Belgian parliamentary debate five years ago, "Turkey is not a part of Europe and will never be part of Europe... The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigor with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey."
Analysts have said that it may be the growing disaffection with the EU and the West that has pushed Turkey towards closer relations with Iran and its more radical Muslim neighbors in the Middle East. As it has continued tightening ties with Syria and Iran, Turkey has increasingly distanced itself from Israel and the United States.
5. Israel Fears Israeli Arab Links with Iranian Terrorists
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Fears that Arab Israelis are linking up with terrorist organizations are behind decisions to ban a former Arab mayor from visiting Mecca and to refuse freeing terrorists from eastern Jerusalem as part of a deal for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, according to a popular Hebrew University researcher.
Convicted and jailed terrorists from Jerusalem “are not Israeli citizens but they live under Israeli sovereignty, and the government definitely will not allow them to go free and encourage efforts to involve Arab Israelis with the Palestinian Authority struggle,” Dr. Mordechai Kedar told Arutz 7.
An expert in Middle East affairs at Bar-Ilan, Dr. Kedar also revealed that the same fears are behind Israel’s refusal to allow Suleiman Agbaria, former mayor of the Galilee Arab city of Umm-el-Fahm, to leave the country for the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca.
If he were allowed to visit Mecca, he could easily come in contact with terrorists from Iran and Syria, he said. “Hizbullah and Hamas persistently try to enlist Arab Israelis into service. Arabs Israelis can move freely within the country and become excellent spies.
“Agbaria was sentenced to jail for transferring money to illegal ‘charity’ groups that are linked with Hamas,” Dr. Kedar added. He is part of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, headed by Sheikh Raad Salah who sat in jail with him and constantly challenges the existence of the State of Israel.
6. Swastikas at Gush Katif Evictee Site at Nitzan
by Gil Ronen
Unknown vandals spray-painted Nazi swastikas, Christian crosses and epithets on walls and asphalt roads at the “caravilla” site of Nitzan in southern Israel overnight Thursday.
“On my way to the prayer I noticed two swastikas spray painted on the road,” Chaim Klein, a resident of Nitzan, told Arutz Sheva. “Inside one of them was the word 'Nazis.' Later, I saw two more swastikas spray painted on the wall of the community's security room.
"I was really hurt,” he said. “I am the second generation to Holocaust survivors, and this is simply outrageous.”
Klein said that when he informed other worshipers at the synagogue of the graffiti, some said it could have been a child's prank. “I do not think it was children,” he said. “They could spray paint all kinds of things but not a swastika. If a child did carry out an act of mischief like this it should be taken care of. Children need to know what the Holocaust is and what Nazism is... I truly hope that it was not children.”
"I think that it is people from outside and it must be taken care of,” he said. “We must not remain silent about this incident.”
Incidents of neo-Nazi violence and vandalism were unheard of in Israel until recent years. They are largely attributed to the non-Jewish element among immigrants who came to Israel from Russia.
7. Mumbai Doctor Smashed Idols and Became a Jew with Holtzbergs
by Hana Levi Julian
In a powerful echo of the Biblical story of the patriarch Abraham, a Mumbai doctor smashed his father's idols and eventually decided to become a Jew in the Land of Israel.
[weJe Email readers, please click here to view the video.
Dr. Aharon Abraham, left his position as Director of the ICU Medical Center at British Kennedy in Mumbai, India after terrorists murdered his spiritual guide and his wife, Rabbi Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg one year ago.
Abraham was born Vagirds Frads to a Hindu cleric who worshipped idols, and a mother who prepared food for them. As did the Biblical Abraham, young Vagirds could not understand how his father could honor a man-made statue, nor why his mother would cook for them. "Sometimes I eat it in secret," he confided in an article that appeared in Hebrew in Sichat HaShavuah.
Unlike the patriarch, however, he waited until after graduating high school to confront his father, asking how he could believe "such nonsense." But when there was no reply, his anger led him to take a hammer and smash the idols, exactly as Abraham had done. "The gods are angry!" his father shouted at him, he recounted, and recalled his reply: "If they're angry, let them do something, reconstruct themselves..."
It was while studying medicine at the University of Mumbai that he first read a Bible, given to him by Christian students. Amazed, he read the story of Abraham and many others. "A new world opened before me," he said.
The woman he married, a nurse, was equally interested in his Bible studies, and after their wedding the couple changed their family name to "Abraham," to honor the patriarch. Vagirds became Aaron, because "the priest was a wonderful person, full of glory," he explained.
Eventually the couple decided to convert, and began studying Judaism in earnest with Rabbi Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg, Chabad emmissaries to Mumbai.
"Our whole life centered around the Chabad House," said Abraham. "It was the only place where we could get kosher food. Gabi and Rivky were our guides, we did not move without them. We began a process of true conversion and found the extraordinary beauty of the Torah commandments."
It was the brutal murder of the Holtzbergs and their four guests at the Nariman Chabad House that changed their lives forever, however. "They took away my Master... But what we learned from Gabi and Rivki will accompany us and our children forever."
This week, the couple completed their conversion and remarried in a truly kosher Jewish ceremony at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, on the first anniversary of the murder of their friends and spiritual guides, Gabi and Rivky.
The couple's three children also have new names as well: Sarah, Shmuel Gavriel, and Sharonah Rivka, in memory of the matriarch Sarah, wife of Abraham, and to forever keep alive the memories of Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg.
The Jewish community of Hevron will be holding their annual dinner in New York this Saturday night.
