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1. Lieberman: Grapel’s Arrest a Mistake
by Gil Ronen
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reacted publicly Tuesday morning to the arrest in Egypt of Ilan Grapel and denied emphatically that the man is a spy.
“Speaking with absolute knowledge,” he told IDF Radio, “this is a student with no connection to the Israeli intelligence establishment. This is a mistake. The Egyptians have received all the clarifications and I hope the story will end soon,” he said.
Egypt is acting “strangely,” the Foreign Minister added. “We gave them all of the necessary clarifications and information. When such mistakes occur on our side we take care to correct them quickly, and they too understand that this affair should be ended posthaste.”
The minister expressed hope that Grapel would be released in a few days’ time.
Israel has not issued a formal reaction to Grapel’s arrest but diplomatic sources called the spy allegations “nonsense.”
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reacted publicly Tuesday morning to the arrest in Egypt of Ilan Grapel and denied emphatically that the man is a spy.
“Speaking with absolute knowledge,” he told IDF Radio, “this is a student with no connection to the Israeli intelligence establishment. This is a mistake. The Egyptians have received all the clarifications and I hope the story will end soon,” he said.
Egypt is acting “strangely,” the Foreign Minister added. “We gave them all of the necessary clarifications and information. When such mistakes occur on our side we take care to correct them quickly, and they too understand that this affair should be ended posthaste.”
The minister expressed hope that Grapel would be released in a few days’ time.
Israel has not issued a formal reaction to Grapel’s arrest but diplomatic sources called the spy allegations “nonsense.”
Comment on this story
2. ‘Spy’ Grapel – an Ardent Zionist who Loves Arabic Culture
by Gil Ronen
The man Egypt is holding on suspicion of spying for Israel, Ilan Grapel, is an ardent Zionist who also loves Arabic culture and believes peace is possible between Israelis and Arabs. His views on the Arab-Israeli conflict are described by people who know him as very dovish, sometimes "infuriatingly" so.
Grapel, 27, is a US citizen who resides in Queens, but he came to Israel on his own in 2005 to enlist to the IDF. He had majored in international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, also studying Arabic, and told his mother that he "didn't want a boring life" and was seeking some adventure before going into graduate school.
He made it into a leading unit in the Paratroopers Brigade and was lightly wounded in the shoulder during the Lebanon War, in a battle at the village of Taibe.
Grapel has a command of fluent Arabic and took every opportunity to speak it with Arab students at Johns Hopkins. His trip to Egypt during the recent revolution there appears to reflect his curiosity, sense of adventure and idealism, as well as his love of Arabic culture.
In a photograph of Grapel that appeared on his Facebook page, he was seen holding a sign that said “Stupid Obama, it is a pride revolution, not a food revolution.”
Egyptian activist and blogger Hossam al-Hamalawy cast doubt on the story, noting on his blog that protesters in Egypt have been accused of being Israeli spies since the student riots of 1968.
There is skepticism in Egyptian media as well regarding the charges against Grapel. Al Masri Al Youm quoted Abdel-Alim Mohamed, an expert on Israeli affairs at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, who said: “The problem is that we have this mythical image of the Mossad, that it is this incomparable intelligence service, but we ignore that it has many failings and it isn’t as strong as it used to be.”
In any case, the accusations against Grapel, a human being, are a step up from previous Arab suspicions against sharks and vultures. Sarcasm aside, there is well-founded worry about the conditions under which he is being held and of his getting a fair chance under the present rule in Egypt, an unknown quantity that seems to miss no opportunity to weaken the Israel-Egypt peace agreement.
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
The man Egypt is holding on suspicion of spying for Israel, Ilan Grapel, is an ardent Zionist who also loves Arabic culture and believes peace is possible between Israelis and Arabs. His views on the Arab-Israeli conflict are described by people who know him as very dovish, sometimes "infuriatingly" so.
Grapel, 27, is a US citizen who resides in Queens, but he came to Israel on his own in 2005 to enlist to the IDF. He had majored in international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, also studying Arabic, and told his mother that he "didn't want a boring life" and was seeking some adventure before going into graduate school.
He made it into a leading unit in the Paratroopers Brigade and was lightly wounded in the shoulder during the Lebanon War, in a battle at the village of Taibe.
Grapel has a command of fluent Arabic and took every opportunity to speak it with Arab students at Johns Hopkins. His trip to Egypt during the recent revolution there appears to reflect his curiosity, sense of adventure and idealism, as well as his love of Arabic culture.
In a photograph of Grapel that appeared on his Facebook page, he was seen holding a sign that said “Stupid Obama, it is a pride revolution, not a food revolution.”
Egyptian activist and blogger Hossam al-Hamalawy cast doubt on the story, noting on his blog that protesters in Egypt have been accused of being Israeli spies since the student riots of 1968.
There is skepticism in Egyptian media as well regarding the charges against Grapel. Al Masri Al Youm quoted Abdel-Alim Mohamed, an expert on Israeli affairs at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, who said: “The problem is that we have this mythical image of the Mossad, that it is this incomparable intelligence service, but we ignore that it has many failings and it isn’t as strong as it used to be.”
In any case, the accusations against Grapel, a human being, are a step up from previous Arab suspicions against sharks and vultures. Sarcasm aside, there is well-founded worry about the conditions under which he is being held and of his getting a fair chance under the present rule in Egypt, an unknown quantity that seems to miss no opportunity to weaken the Israel-Egypt peace agreement.
Comment on this story
3. MKs Feel 'Pride and Shame' at Daytime Visit to Tomb of Joseph
by Gil Ronen
Jewish visitors to the Tomb of Joseph, under Israeli jurisdiction according to the Oslo Accords, do so with army permission, but only in the stealth of night.
As 12 Knesset Members, accompanied by IDF soldiers, conducted the first daytime visit to the Tomb of Joseph since the year 2000, MK Michael Ben-Ari (NU) said Tuesday that he feels both shame and pride. “Shame for surrendering to the terrorists [PA policement, ed.] who provide security to Knesset Members, they should not have been here. And pride that the Nation of Israel does not abandon its history and neglect Joseph the Righteous."
National Union Chairman MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) said in the course of the visit that he possesses an original set of letters in which Jews who lived in Shechem in the late 19th century corresponded with their fund raising emissaries abroad. “As one who has spent his whole life raising finds for the settlement enterprise and education, I say that here, too, in Shechem, there should be a vibrant Jewish community with Hesder yeshivas and educational institutions.”
MK Danny Danon (Likud) shared his kafkaesque feeling of unease. "While the Defense Minister is in China, we are here, depending on the goodwill of the PA policemen who murdered Ben-Yosef Livnat," he said.
MK Aryeh Eldad (NU) said upon exiting the Tomb that “we must and can bring back a Jewish presence to Joseph’s Tomb, both military and civilian. I we do not do so, the Arabs will know that it is possible to drive Jews out of a place in the Land of Israel by force and murder.”
Deputy Minister for Senior Citizens Leah Ness (Likud) commented: “In these times, when the State of Israel is fighting against the declaration of a Palestinian state, it is important to strengthen our hold everywhere in the Land and especially in the holy places including the Tomb of Joseph.”
MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) termed the daytime visit “a breakthrough toward the resumption of regular visits to the Tomb in all hours of the day.”
The MKs sang the Israeli anthem HaTikva at the Tomb and thanked the IDF for accompanying them.
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
Jewish visitors to the Tomb of Joseph, under Israeli jurisdiction according to the Oslo Accords, do so with army permission, but only in the stealth of night.
As 12 Knesset Members, accompanied by IDF soldiers, conducted the first daytime visit to the Tomb of Joseph since the year 2000, MK Michael Ben-Ari (NU) said Tuesday that he feels both shame and pride. “Shame for surrendering to the terrorists [PA policement, ed.] who provide security to Knesset Members, they should not have been here. And pride that the Nation of Israel does not abandon its history and neglect Joseph the Righteous."
National Union Chairman MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh) said in the course of the visit that he possesses an original set of letters in which Jews who lived in Shechem in the late 19th century corresponded with their fund raising emissaries abroad. “As one who has spent his whole life raising finds for the settlement enterprise and education, I say that here, too, in Shechem, there should be a vibrant Jewish community with Hesder yeshivas and educational institutions.”
MK Danny Danon (Likud) shared his kafkaesque feeling of unease. "While the Defense Minister is in China, we are here, depending on the goodwill of the PA policemen who murdered Ben-Yosef Livnat," he said.
MK Aryeh Eldad (NU) said upon exiting the Tomb that “we must and can bring back a Jewish presence to Joseph’s Tomb, both military and civilian. I we do not do so, the Arabs will know that it is possible to drive Jews out of a place in the Land of Israel by force and murder.”
Deputy Minister for Senior Citizens Leah Ness (Likud) commented: “In these times, when the State of Israel is fighting against the declaration of a Palestinian state, it is important to strengthen our hold everywhere in the Land and especially in the holy places including the Tomb of Joseph.”
MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) termed the daytime visit “a breakthrough toward the resumption of regular visits to the Tomb in all hours of the day.”
The MKs sang the Israeli anthem HaTikva at the Tomb and thanked the IDF for accompanying them.
Comment on this story
4. PA: Arab States Cut Off Our Cash
by Gil Ronen
The General Accountant of the Palestinian Authority, Yusef Al-Zumar, said Monday that the PA is having difficulty paying its employees because Arab states are not giving it the financial aid that they promised it.
In 2010, he said, the PA only received $280 million of the $960 million promised by the Arabs. In 2011, which is almost half over, it has received no money at all.
Al-Zumar spelled out his woes in a meeting Monday that included Ali Al-Jarbawi, the PA’s Minister for Administrative Planning and Development, and Mariam Sherman, the World Bank Director in the PA.
Al-Zumar singled out the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which he said transferred very small sums in 2010, compared to previous years. Qatar, he said, gave no aid at all in 2008 and 2009, and only a little aid in 2010.
According to PA news agency WAFA, the World Bank promised to grant $20 million to the PA for rebuilding infrastructures in Gaza. In addition, it will hand over the annual $55 million in aid.
Al-Jarbawi told Sherman that the PA would continue to build institutions of government with the Bank’s help.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said last year that the PA received $1.2 billion in foreign aid in 2010 and that this aid is expected to drop further in 2011 to $1 billion. The financial aid comes from United States, Japan, Canada, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Spain and France. The European Union also contributes aid to the PA, with a budget in 2010 equivalent to about $370 million.
The EU bailed out the PA last year after it spent 50% of the cash that was allotted for the entire year, in just three months.
Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the PA has been the entity receiving the highest foreign aid per capita in the world.
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
The General Accountant of the Palestinian Authority, Yusef Al-Zumar, said Monday that the PA is having difficulty paying its employees because Arab states are not giving it the financial aid that they promised it.
In 2010, he said, the PA only received $280 million of the $960 million promised by the Arabs. In 2011, which is almost half over, it has received no money at all.
Al-Zumar spelled out his woes in a meeting Monday that included Ali Al-Jarbawi, the PA’s Minister for Administrative Planning and Development, and Mariam Sherman, the World Bank Director in the PA.
Al-Zumar singled out the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which he said transferred very small sums in 2010, compared to previous years. Qatar, he said, gave no aid at all in 2008 and 2009, and only a little aid in 2010.
According to PA news agency WAFA, the World Bank promised to grant $20 million to the PA for rebuilding infrastructures in Gaza. In addition, it will hand over the annual $55 million in aid.
Al-Jarbawi told Sherman that the PA would continue to build institutions of government with the Bank’s help.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said last year that the PA received $1.2 billion in foreign aid in 2010 and that this aid is expected to drop further in 2011 to $1 billion. The financial aid comes from United States, Japan, Canada, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Spain and France. The European Union also contributes aid to the PA, with a budget in 2010 equivalent to about $370 million.
The EU bailed out the PA last year after it spent 50% of the cash that was allotted for the entire year, in just three months.
Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the PA has been the entity receiving the highest foreign aid per capita in the world.
Comment on this story
5. Israel Holds Out Olive Branch to Turkey
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, visiting Italy, held out an olive branch on Monday for Turkey following Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's re-election. Erdogan won the poll by a smaller majority than he hoped for.
Relations between Israel and Turkey, its best regional friend until two years ago, have deteriorated to the point that Turkey openly supports Hamas and Syria and backs the terror-linked IHH organization that is sponsoring a re-run of the last year’s disastrous flotilla aimed at breaking the maritime embargo on Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Buoyed by his pro-Israel host, Italian Prime Silvio Berlusconi, the Israeli leader said the fact that Turkey holds elections deserves praise because “it’s not something to take for granted” in the Middle East. He added, "We will always try to fix what's broken, and to fix and end the deterioration" in ties with Turkey.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon went several steps further and called on Erdogan to lead a “responsible government [that] will not act against international law and will stop its citizens from entering dangerous zones.”
Ayalon added, “This election is an occasion to open a new page. This doesn’t depend on us, but on the Turks, and we hope to see from them a policy that is more thought-out and balanced and responsible. It’s clear that we don’t want to see encouragement on the part of the Turkish government towards a provocative flotilla,” which is scheduled to set sail later this month.
Last year’s flotilla ended in a deadly clash with Israeli Navy commandos when approximately 40 IHH terror activists savagely attacked the soldiers when they boarded their ship to make sure it would change course from Gaza. The commandos killed nine of the attackers before restoring order on the boat.
The new Turkish government will be headed by Erdogan for the third time, but he fell far short of the needed two-thirds majority in the legislature that would have enabled him to change the constitution without a referendum.
Turkey still backs the new flotilla, but Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last week showed a softer stand and suggested that the flotilla’s aid for Gaza be delivered overland and without provoking another confrontation.
The Mavi Marmara ship, on which the terror activists attack the Navy commandos last year, eventually docked in Ashdod, where authorities discovered that it was not carrying any humanitarian aid.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, visiting Italy, held out an olive branch on Monday for Turkey following Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's re-election. Erdogan won the poll by a smaller majority than he hoped for.
Relations between Israel and Turkey, its best regional friend until two years ago, have deteriorated to the point that Turkey openly supports Hamas and Syria and backs the terror-linked IHH organization that is sponsoring a re-run of the last year’s disastrous flotilla aimed at breaking the maritime embargo on Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Buoyed by his pro-Israel host, Italian Prime Silvio Berlusconi, the Israeli leader said the fact that Turkey holds elections deserves praise because “it’s not something to take for granted” in the Middle East. He added, "We will always try to fix what's broken, and to fix and end the deterioration" in ties with Turkey.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon went several steps further and called on Erdogan to lead a “responsible government [that] will not act against international law and will stop its citizens from entering dangerous zones.”
Ayalon added, “This election is an occasion to open a new page. This doesn’t depend on us, but on the Turks, and we hope to see from them a policy that is more thought-out and balanced and responsible. It’s clear that we don’t want to see encouragement on the part of the Turkish government towards a provocative flotilla,” which is scheduled to set sail later this month.
Last year’s flotilla ended in a deadly clash with Israeli Navy commandos when approximately 40 IHH terror activists savagely attacked the soldiers when they boarded their ship to make sure it would change course from Gaza. The commandos killed nine of the attackers before restoring order on the boat.
The new Turkish government will be headed by Erdogan for the third time, but he fell far short of the needed two-thirds majority in the legislature that would have enabled him to change the constitution without a referendum.
Turkey still backs the new flotilla, but Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last week showed a softer stand and suggested that the flotilla’s aid for Gaza be delivered overland and without provoking another confrontation.
The Mavi Marmara ship, on which the terror activists attack the Navy commandos last year, eventually docked in Ashdod, where authorities discovered that it was not carrying any humanitarian aid.
Comment on this story
6. Wolfensohn Barred from Beirut U.,Learns Arab Gratitude Firsthand
by Aryeh Ben Hayim
When the Sharon government uprooted the Jewish residents of Gaza, former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn personally bought the hothouses of the evicted Jews for millions so they could be delivered intact to the Palestinians. This was intended to help underpin the Gazan Arabs economically and strengthen the presumed peace that he expected to see flourishing after Israel's surrender of the territory.
The Palestinians promptly burned the hothouses as a prelude to how peace with Gaza, and their governance of it, would look. The PA rebuilt them.
But Wolfensohn had shown the Arabs that his heart was in the right place and in recognition of this and other assistance projects, he was scheduled last Friday to deliver the keynote address at the commencement exercises at the American University of Beirut.
Wolfensohn had to change his plans once students and faculty discovered that he had business ties with Israel. These include support for the electric car Better Place company and the Ieftist Israel Democracy Institute.
More than 90 faculty members signed a petition, entitled "Not in our name: AUB faculty, staff and students object to honoring James Wolfensohn."
The university folded altough the president Peter Dorman attempted to defend “Wolfensohn’s long and devoted record of work on behalf of the Arab world,” including his opposition to U.S. policies after Hamas won elections in 2006, and a 2007 award he received from the Palestinian Authority for his work to rebuild Gaza.
Dorman was roundly attacked by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, condemned for his defense of Wolfensohn, which PACBI called an attack on “his own community and the Lebanese community at large.”
PACBI was founded in Ramallah, "the Palestinian capital," in 2004 to promote a comprehensive boycott of all Israeli academic and cultural institutions.
The university issued a statement reading, "AUB regrets to announce that Sir James Wolfensohn, out of concern that his presence at the June commencement ceremony would distract from the celebratory nature of the event, has decided that he will not attend."
Wolfensohn will have to console himself with an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem this Sunday, where they appreciate his work on behalf of Palestinians and Israeli democracy.
Comment on this story
by Aryeh Ben Hayim
When the Sharon government uprooted the Jewish residents of Gaza, former World Bank chief James Wolfensohn personally bought the hothouses of the evicted Jews for millions so they could be delivered intact to the Palestinians. This was intended to help underpin the Gazan Arabs economically and strengthen the presumed peace that he expected to see flourishing after Israel's surrender of the territory.
The Palestinians promptly burned the hothouses as a prelude to how peace with Gaza, and their governance of it, would look. The PA rebuilt them.
But Wolfensohn had shown the Arabs that his heart was in the right place and in recognition of this and other assistance projects, he was scheduled last Friday to deliver the keynote address at the commencement exercises at the American University of Beirut.
Wolfensohn had to change his plans once students and faculty discovered that he had business ties with Israel. These include support for the electric car Better Place company and the Ieftist Israel Democracy Institute.
More than 90 faculty members signed a petition, entitled "Not in our name: AUB faculty, staff and students object to honoring James Wolfensohn."
The university folded altough the president Peter Dorman attempted to defend “Wolfensohn’s long and devoted record of work on behalf of the Arab world,” including his opposition to U.S. policies after Hamas won elections in 2006, and a 2007 award he received from the Palestinian Authority for his work to rebuild Gaza.
Dorman was roundly attacked by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, condemned for his defense of Wolfensohn, which PACBI called an attack on “his own community and the Lebanese community at large.”
PACBI was founded in Ramallah, "the Palestinian capital," in 2004 to promote a comprehensive boycott of all Israeli academic and cultural institutions.
The university issued a statement reading, "AUB regrets to announce that Sir James Wolfensohn, out of concern that his presence at the June commencement ceremony would distract from the celebratory nature of the event, has decided that he will not attend."
Wolfensohn will have to console himself with an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem this Sunday, where they appreciate his work on behalf of Palestinians and Israeli democracy.
Comment on this story
7. Italian Referendum Limits Berlusconi, Swells Antinuclear Tide
by Amiel Ungar
Anybody who had invested in solar energy and wind power stocks is doing well. Following the German government's U-turn on nuclear energy as a result of the disaster in Japan, comes the Italian referendum, slamming the door on Italian Prime Minister's Silvio Berlusconi idea of relying more on nuclear energy.
Aside from his meeting with Israel's Prime Minister, it was a bad day for Berlusconi, as voters rejected his position in four separate referendums and more importantly secured a quorum for carrying them. This is the first time this was accomplished since 1996 when the idea of referenda had become tiresome.
The Italian prime minister now looks to be on shakier grounds as the rumblings are being heard from the leadership of the Northern League, a key coalition partner, whereas after the local government debacle the recriminations were coming from the rank-and-file.
The nuclear issue eclipsed all the other issues. Silvio Berlusconi was laconic about the other referendum results, saying that one would have to take account of them, but on the nuclear issue he said addio - goodbye to nuclear energy and hello to renewable energy.
For the Italians who live in a country afflicted by earthquakes, the Japanese precedent could not be ignored. As opposed to Germany that has coal and had made an earlier investments in solar and wind energy, the decision leaves Italy further dependent on fossil fuel imports. Silvio Berlusconi realized this dependence when he supported Russia within the European Union.
The results of the Italian referendum have now created 2 distinct camps within Europe: Italy and Germany have turned their backs on nuclear energy while France and Britain are persisting. This has already created the paradoxical result that Germany, until it can replace the power output furnished by nuclear reactors, is importing energy from France - energy generated by nuclear reactors.
One of the German solutions is to create giant solar farms in North Africa. Given the current instability in that region, Germany may have reason to fear a different type of earthquake in that region. Perhaps it was with the hope of restoring stability that Germany finally recognized the insurgent Libyan regime in Benghazi after falling out with her allies and abstaining on the UN Security Council Resolution facilitating humanitarian intervention in Libya.
Comment on this story
by Amiel Ungar
Anybody who had invested in solar energy and wind power stocks is doing well. Following the German government's U-turn on nuclear energy as a result of the disaster in Japan, comes the Italian referendum, slamming the door on Italian Prime Minister's Silvio Berlusconi idea of relying more on nuclear energy.
Aside from his meeting with Israel's Prime Minister, it was a bad day for Berlusconi, as voters rejected his position in four separate referendums and more importantly secured a quorum for carrying them. This is the first time this was accomplished since 1996 when the idea of referenda had become tiresome.
The Italian prime minister now looks to be on shakier grounds as the rumblings are being heard from the leadership of the Northern League, a key coalition partner, whereas after the local government debacle the recriminations were coming from the rank-and-file.
The nuclear issue eclipsed all the other issues. Silvio Berlusconi was laconic about the other referendum results, saying that one would have to take account of them, but on the nuclear issue he said addio - goodbye to nuclear energy and hello to renewable energy.
For the Italians who live in a country afflicted by earthquakes, the Japanese precedent could not be ignored. As opposed to Germany that has coal and had made an earlier investments in solar and wind energy, the decision leaves Italy further dependent on fossil fuel imports. Silvio Berlusconi realized this dependence when he supported Russia within the European Union.
The results of the Italian referendum have now created 2 distinct camps within Europe: Italy and Germany have turned their backs on nuclear energy while France and Britain are persisting. This has already created the paradoxical result that Germany, until it can replace the power output furnished by nuclear reactors, is importing energy from France - energy generated by nuclear reactors.
One of the German solutions is to create giant solar farms in North Africa. Given the current instability in that region, Germany may have reason to fear a different type of earthquake in that region. Perhaps it was with the hope of restoring stability that Germany finally recognized the insurgent Libyan regime in Benghazi after falling out with her allies and abstaining on the UN Security Council Resolution facilitating humanitarian intervention in Libya.
Comment on this story
8. Holocaust-Era Mezuzahs Found in Dutch Home
by Hillel Fendel
"I feel like I received warm regards from my Holocaust victim grandparents whom I never knew," says Miriam Hanina, nee Tafelkruijer. The regards came in the form of two mezuzahs her grandparents hid in a wall in their Amsterdam home during the Holocaust, and which were found during the course of refurbishing work several years ago.
The woman who currently lives in the house took the time and trouble to track down the original owners, leading to a "reunion" with their granddaughter Miriam who now lives in Even Shmuel, near Be'er Sheva.
"I never knew anything about my grandparents or about my aunt," Miriam told Israel National News, "because my father, the only survivor of his family, refused to talk about anything having to do with that period. Now, all of a sudden, I feel that I have received a 'hello' from them."
Both Miriam and the house's current owner, Suzanne Rodrigues-Pereira, are descendants of Anusim (known in the past as Marannos) who arrived in Amsterdam from Portugal around the late 15th century.
In the course of routine refurbishing work inside the house several years ago, Suzanne found two mezuzah scrolls – small parchments with Torah passages that, in accordance with Biblical law, are affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes – wrapped one inside the other, close to the place where one should have been affixed. She immediately realized that this was a significant find, and set out to find who had put them there.
Miriam herself was born in 1945, after her father Meir, a member of the Dutch underground, was hidden together with his wife and son in the home of a Righteous Gentile Dutch doctor. Miriam, who made Aliyah to Israel on her own in 1967, said that her grandparents' home was emptied of its Jews during the Holocaust, and a Gentile family was placed there instead.
It was through a member of this Gentile family that Suzanne was able to locate Miriam – the daughter of the man who inherited the house from his Holocaust victim parents who hid the mezuzahs.
The Tafelkruijer family living there for years prior to the Holocaust was religiously observant, Miriam recounts, and therefore the only explanation for the deviations from Jewish Law - two scrolls in one, wrong placement - is that they were forced to hide the mezuzahs. "They had to make sure the Nazis and their Dutch accomplices, of whom there were not a few, would not see them," she said.
Suzanne arrived recently in Israel to hand-deliver the mezuzahs to Miriam, who showed them to her husband – a former ritual scribe – to check their status. Amazingly, he found that one of them, the larger of the two, was still kosher, and Miriam has decided to return it to its place in her father's home.
One Will Stay Here
The other one did not withstand the ravages of time, at least in terms of its kashrut, and Miriam donated it – together with a collection of Holocaust-era documents from the Jewish community in Amsterdam that her father amassed – to the Holocaust Museum in Kibbutz Lochamei HaGetaot.
Miriam noted that her unique maiden name, which apparently means Table-porter, will live on in future generations only in the merit of this story of the found mezuzot, as no male children with that name have been born into her family.
This coming summer, Miriam and her daughter will visit Amsterdam, where an official "mezuzah-restoring" ceremony will be held. In addition, Miriam said, "there was an old shack behind the house, used for a Sukkah during the Holocaust… I have bought another mezuzah that I will affix there as well."
Other Houses on the Street
Yet another result of this story is that Suzanne and her neighbors have researched the former Jewish owners of many of the buildings on their street. She has established an Internet site that provides many long-lost details, including information on family members and relatives who lived there.
Comment on this story
by Hillel Fendel
"I feel like I received warm regards from my Holocaust victim grandparents whom I never knew," says Miriam Hanina, nee Tafelkruijer. The regards came in the form of two mezuzahs her grandparents hid in a wall in their Amsterdam home during the Holocaust, and which were found during the course of refurbishing work several years ago.
The woman who currently lives in the house took the time and trouble to track down the original owners, leading to a "reunion" with their granddaughter Miriam who now lives in Even Shmuel, near Be'er Sheva.
"I never knew anything about my grandparents or about my aunt," Miriam told Israel National News, "because my father, the only survivor of his family, refused to talk about anything having to do with that period. Now, all of a sudden, I feel that I have received a 'hello' from them."
Both Miriam and the house's current owner, Suzanne Rodrigues-Pereira, are descendants of Anusim (known in the past as Marannos) who arrived in Amsterdam from Portugal around the late 15th century.
In the course of routine refurbishing work inside the house several years ago, Suzanne found two mezuzah scrolls – small parchments with Torah passages that, in accordance with Biblical law, are affixed to the doorposts of Jewish homes – wrapped one inside the other, close to the place where one should have been affixed. She immediately realized that this was a significant find, and set out to find who had put them there.
Miriam herself was born in 1945, after her father Meir, a member of the Dutch underground, was hidden together with his wife and son in the home of a Righteous Gentile Dutch doctor. Miriam, who made Aliyah to Israel on her own in 1967, said that her grandparents' home was emptied of its Jews during the Holocaust, and a Gentile family was placed there instead.
It was through a member of this Gentile family that Suzanne was able to locate Miriam – the daughter of the man who inherited the house from his Holocaust victim parents who hid the mezuzahs.
The Tafelkruijer family living there for years prior to the Holocaust was religiously observant, Miriam recounts, and therefore the only explanation for the deviations from Jewish Law - two scrolls in one, wrong placement - is that they were forced to hide the mezuzahs. "They had to make sure the Nazis and their Dutch accomplices, of whom there were not a few, would not see them," she said.
Suzanne arrived recently in Israel to hand-deliver the mezuzahs to Miriam, who showed them to her husband – a former ritual scribe – to check their status. Amazingly, he found that one of them, the larger of the two, was still kosher, and Miriam has decided to return it to its place in her father's home.
One Will Stay Here
The other one did not withstand the ravages of time, at least in terms of its kashrut, and Miriam donated it – together with a collection of Holocaust-era documents from the Jewish community in Amsterdam that her father amassed – to the Holocaust Museum in Kibbutz Lochamei HaGetaot.
Miriam noted that her unique maiden name, which apparently means Table-porter, will live on in future generations only in the merit of this story of the found mezuzot, as no male children with that name have been born into her family.
This coming summer, Miriam and her daughter will visit Amsterdam, where an official "mezuzah-restoring" ceremony will be held. In addition, Miriam said, "there was an old shack behind the house, used for a Sukkah during the Holocaust… I have bought another mezuzah that I will affix there as well."
Other Houses on the Street
Yet another result of this story is that Suzanne and her neighbors have researched the former Jewish owners of many of the buildings on their street. She has established an Internet site that provides many long-lost details, including information on family members and relatives who lived there.
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