The utopian Gaza rehabilitation plan announced by US President Donald Trump, though praised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and various others, has been knocked on the head by Arab leaders, several world leaders, as well as ordinary people who do not see themselves as influencers.
It has been described as bizarre, crazy, breathtaking, insane, out of the box, impossible, and more. The concept has been a field day for political commentators of every stripe. It’s the focus of radio and television broadcasts worldwide and is gaining traction and extraordinary exposure on social media.
People who say it’s nothing more than hot air don’t consider that Trump may be a genius. Such naysayers are not sufficiently familiar with history and should read Vera Weizmann’s book The Impossible Takes Longer.
Vera Weizmann was the wife of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann.Israel has a history of beating the odds and achieving the impossible – so why not Trump? Because he’s making one cardinal error.
He’s playing patron to the Gazans instead of allowing them to chart their own destiny. There are a lot of Gazans who are experienced construction workers.
Let them work with the Americans in rebuilding Gaza while simultaneously learning the lesson of peaceful coexistence.
Trump fails to realize their attachment to the land. If America plays patron and runs the show in accordance with Trump’s initiatives, the Gazans will never change, and America will evolve into a colonial power.
On the other hand, Trump might care to take note of a tongue-in-cheek suggestion emanating from the American television sitcom The Golden Girls, in which, three decades ago, a solution was offered to the current problem of where the Gazans should be accommodated while their country is being rebuilt.
The ideal place is Greenland on the premise that there is plenty of room and a population of less than 60,000.
The idea seems preposterous, but if the Gazans could be voluntarily transferred there on temporarily, the Arab states would be able to breathe a sigh of relief, and the Gazans could stop wandering and living in fear.
Acknowledging heroes
■ ACKNOWLEDGING THE heroes of Israeli society should definitely be part of the national agenda and intrinsic to the communities in which these heroes live and operate. The glaring flaw is in the way it’s done.
There is a long-held tradition in Israel that food must be central to celebrations and commemorations.
Providing an extensive buffet for several hundred people is very expensive, particularly during a crisis period in which so many families and individuals have been evacuated from their homes, have lost income, and have been seriously injured in battle.
One shudders to think of all the money that should be transferred to the needy but is instead being used to pay for buffets at events honoring social entrepreneurs, philanthropic donors to institutions, and weddings and bar mitzvahs.
Have refreshments by all means – but only bare minimum offerings such as cookies, crackers, and soft drinks.
The Heroes of Israeli Society Awards ceremony at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem this week was a case in point. There was an overabundance of food, the cost of which could have been used for more necessary purposes.
The ceremony itself was very moving, though marred slightly by the acoustics. The only speaker whose voice came across loud and clear without any electronic disturbance was that of Israel Prize laureate Miriam Peretz, who chaired the awards committee and said she had been privileged to meet so many outstanding individuals.
Every single nominee had been worthy of the award, she said, but some were just that much more impressive.
The awards were presented by the Zionist Council in Israel in cooperation with the World Zionist Organization and the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund.
A video clip of each honoree was screened, after which each was presented with a filigree statuette of two doves facing each other, their bodies forming a heart shape and their wings two open hands.
An additional special award was presented to the families of the hostages who have made superhuman efforts in Israel and abroad to bring their loved ones home. Representatives of the families were given a sustained standing ovation.
Initiatives to help individuals, families, and community groups were many and varied. Demonstrated on a large screen was some of the enormity of what the human mind can conceive in moral support and emotional and physical aid.
Also on screen were brief glimpses of the civilian heroes and heroism of yesteryear, linking the immigrants who came as pioneers well over a century ago to what was largely a barren land with those of present times who have conceived creative ways of confronting existential and other threats.
Helping those with disabilities
■ ORGANIZATIONS THAT work toward enabling people with disabilities to enjoy life to the fullest are greatly concerned with the issue of accessibility. A person confined to a wheelchair has difficulty getting from the road to the sidewalk without a ramp, climbing stairs, and passing through narrow doorways.
Solutions must be found for all these problems and others. For instance, visits to the sites of the Hamas massacres were, until the end of last month, unavailable to people with mobility problems.
But Yad Sarah, which has overcome other challenges in the past, rose to the occasion and facilitated an emotional tour for some 40 wheelchair users.
At the end of January, Tal Kuperstein, the father of hostage Bar Kuperstein, led this group to the Nova festival site from where his son had been abducted on October 7, 2023.
Until then, participants could only learn what had happened by reading newspapers, listening to radio broadcasts, watching television, or seeing a documentary movie.
The visit to Re’im was part of Yad Sarah’s Accessible Pathways program, which enables individuals with impaired mobility to visit commemorative sites and pay tribute to victims.
The tour included the destroyed Sderot police station, the Nova festival ground in Re’im, and the Moshav Tekuma “car cemetery,” with over 1,560 vehicles destroyed on that fateful day.
Volunteers from Yad Sarah’s fleet of accessible vans transported the participants from their homes to the Western Negev.
The group first arrived in Sderot, paying homage to the hard-hit city and the 70 people killed there on October 7. The group screened a commemorative video at the Sderot Resilience Center. They proceeded to the adjacent Memorial and Heroes Park at the former site of the city’s police station, which was destroyed after a deadly gunbattle between security forces and terrorists.
From there, the group traveled to the Nova memorial, gathering at the harrowing grounds at approximately the same time as IDF helicopters brought hostages, who were newly released, back to Israel. It was at the Nova memorial site that Tal Kuperstein shared the story of his son, Bar.
This was where he was last seen before being abducted to Gaza. Instead of fleeing, Bar, who was then a 21-year-old security guard, had stayed behind to help the wounded, shuttling victims to safety four times before he was taken captive.
Tal, who has used a wheelchair since a roadside accident five years ago, has spent the past year regaining his ability to speak to advocate for his son’s return. He traversed each destination along the tour, holding a poster of Bar. His plea to the group and all who approached him: “Do not stop until they are all free.”
During a moment of prayer, he was at the center, surrounded by supporters. “Every hostage who returns gives us hope,” one participant said, “but every moment they remain there feels like an eternity.”
From the Nova grounds, the group proceeded to the Tekuma “car cemetery,” where a tour guide related the events of that day and told the stories of several victims, including one saved by Bar Kuperstein.
There, another participant, Yael, was able to see – for the first time – the car belonging to her son, Oriel Bibi, who was killed fighting terrorists near the Gaza border. “It closes a loose end to see the last known place he was alive,” she said in tears.
The trip concluded in Netivot, where participants laid flowers and offered their prayers at the tomb of the great Moroccan kabbalist, the Baba Sali.
“We have organized many emotional tours,” said Yaron Aviv, national director of Yad Sarah’s Accessible Transportation Program. “But this trip is more than that. It’s an opportunity to remember, to honor, and to ensure that no one is forgotten.”
Yad Sarah operates the largest accessible transportation network in Israel, known as Nechoniyot. This fleet of specially adapted vehicles provides free and low-cost transportation for individuals with disabilities, ensuring they can access medical care, social activities, and various cultural events.
Herzog shakes it off
■ READERS WHO look closely at photographs of President Isaac Herzog published in this and other newspapers may notice that he has a cast on his right wrist.
The president suffered a fall a little over two weeks ago and broke a bone, which is still on the mend. Given the number of times he has to shake hands on any given day, his injury can be an ongoing painful experience, which explains the occasional stern expression on his face.
Superbowl Sunday
■ MANY AMERICAN expatriates, tourists, and students in Israel will be following the annual National Football League Super Bowl next week.
Jeff Seidel, who runs student information centers in Jerusalem, will host his annual Super Bowl party for gap year students next week at the Jerusalem Student Center, 14 Lehi Street, French Hill.
The party begins in the wee small hours when Sunday runs into Monday at 1 a.m. The event, which is free of charge, includes a BBQ and other eats, plus an open bar. The main office of Seidel’s Jewish student centers is located in Jerusalem’s Old City. The phone number is 02-6282634, and the cell phone number is 058-4667795.
The holiday of the trees
■ TU B’SHVAT, the New Year for trees, and Purim are not yet here, but advertisements and press releases for Passover are already beginning to filter in.
Some are slightly off the wall, presumably to appeal to a post-millennial generation.
Something of this nature is The Dry Bones Passover Haggadah produced some years ago by former Jerusalem Post cartoonist Yaakov Kirschen, but now, something even less conservative is The Rock ‘n’ Roll Haggadah devised by Meredith Ochs and Kay Miller that infuses the traditional text with vibrant stories that bring a new twist to the seder table.
This Haggadah features English, Hebrew, and transliterations, paired with updated illustrations and little-known rock-and-roll references that lightheartedly tie into the narratives of the Ten Plagues, 40 Years in the Wilderness, and Elijah’s Cup.
Adding to its charm, the book includes creative DIY projects – such as crafting a rock-and-roll Egyptian centerpiece or a record album Seder plate – and offers a curated Passover playlist to energize and enhance any Seder gathering.
The Haggadah, which also relates to the four sons, who, though different from each other, have the same roots, reflects the difference in the background denominations of its two creators, who nonetheless have the same roots.
Meredith Ochs, who grew up in an Orthodox family in New York, rejected a huge party for her bat mitzvah and asked her parents to take her on a trip to Israel. The visit made a profound impression on her.
Ochs went on to build a career in and around rock ‘n’ roll as an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, and longtime NPR commentator and became the first woman editor of Guitar World magazine.
After a Reform upbringing in Ohio and graduating with a fine arts degree, Kay Miller headed for New York, where, after working in a variety of odd jobs, she eventually began teaching at a public school on the Lower East Side.
On the weekends, she spent her time attending live rock shows. She married a drummer, and they continue to rock and roll to this day.
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