Israel sends relief to Guatemala after deadly volcano

(Photo: ZAKA)

By Nicky Blackburn - June 4, 2018

Israel is sending emergency aid money to Guatemala after a devastating volcanic eruption that killed at least 25, injured hundreds, and left cities in the region covered in ash.

In a statement today, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced that it was sending $10,000 to Guatemala through its embassy there, for emergency supplies including medicine, food and blankets.

Israeli trained first responders in Guatemala are also on their way to help after the Volcan de Fuego erupted on Sunday, spewing molten rock, ash and black smoke into the sky, in what is thought to be the worst eruption since 1974, according to local experts.

The volunteers were trained earlier this year by Israel’s ZAKA International Rescue Unit. The three-day search and rescue course in Guatemala was designed to give local volunteers the necessary skills to offer immediate assistance to emergency forces in the event of a mass casualty incident in their communities or regions.

Read More: Israel21c

CNN recommends Tel Aviv as the top place to visit this June

(Photo: Shutterstock)

By Kate Mackay - May 30, 2018

Originally appeared here on CNN

(CNN) — Deciding where to travel in June can be tough. School is out in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Families are flocking to beaches and national parks, and prices for airfare and accommodations are rising steadily with temperatures in this part of the world. It can feel like there's nowhere to turn.

You'll likely encounter larger crowds and higher prices at most destinations with pleasant weather this month, but you needn't fret. We've done the travel research for you.

Whether you want to explore ancient ruins, hit the beach or the museum, kayak through a canyon or stay out all night in a vibrant city, here are five great places to visit in June:

1. Tel Aviv, Israel
Spring and fall are Tel Aviv's less-expensive shoulder seasons, but there's a reason summer is its most popular. Europeans, in particular, flock to Israel's Mediterranean coast this time of the year.

Israel's second most populous city of course has its fair share of historical and cultural points of interest. Tel Aviv's White City was named a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 2003. This area contains over 4,000 buildings built in the Bauhaus or International Style -- the most of any city in the world. Architectural tours can be taken through the Bauhaus Center. Read More

Israel unveils plan to pump billions into neglected Arab areas of East Jerusalem

(Photo: Hadas Parush/Flash90)

By AP - 1 June 2018

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel

The government on Thursday unveiled what it billed as a groundbreaking program to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in long-neglected Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

The “Leading Change” program aims to reduce the huge social gaps between the Palestinian neighborhoods and the overwhelmingly Jewish western part of the city. Palestinian neighborhoods suffer from poor infrastructure, neglect and subpar public services, and nearly 80 percent of the city’s Palestinian families live in poverty.

The program will invest NIS 2 billion, or $560 million, in three core areas: education, infrastructure, and helping Palestinian women enter the work force.

The money will be spent on a variety of programs, including nine pilot projects, in the coming five years, with the aim of attracting further government and private investment down the road. Read More

Christian Misunderstandings of Gaza and Israel

(Photo: Reuters + Marc Israel Sellem) 

By Gerald Mcdermott - May 28, 2018

Originally appeared here in the Jerusalem Post 

In 2009 my photographer son and I walked across the Galilee, staying with Jews some nights and Arabs other nights. We were doing a photo essay for Christianity Today on what residents of the land of Jesus think about him today.

More than a few times Arab Christians pulled us aside, whispered to us not to write their names, and told us the same thing: “The media would make you think that the Israeli government is our biggest enemy. But that’s not true. Our real enemies are our Muslim cousins. They want to get rid of us Christians.”

Indeed, one lesson I learned from journey is to be wary of what the media tell us about Israel.

I wish Rich Mouw knew about some of this. Rich is a distinguished scholar and president emeritus of Fuller Seminary. He is a friend and ally on many issues, but I am afraid that his recent screed against Israel over the violence in Gaza was uninformed and, as a result, unfair. While desiring to help defend Palestinians, he perpetuates a false narrative that only hurts Palestinians.

President Mouw decries the way that some Evangelicals use Genesis 12:3 (“I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse”) to accept uncritically any and every action or policy of the Israeli government. I agree with Rich on that, and so do most Israelis I know. Unlike Palestinians living under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in Gaza, Jewish Israelis freely criticize their government in public and the media. So do the two million Arab citizens of Israel, whose Arab representatives in the Knesset regularly criticize Netanyahu’s government. Their Palestinian cousins who live in the West Bank and in Gaza don’t dare criticize their Palestinian governments for fear of torture and worse for themselves and their families.

President Mouw says it is “shameful” to celebrate the American embassy moving to Jerusalem while the Israeli military is “killing dozens of Palestinian protestors against Israeli policies.”

When I read these words written by President Mouw, I can only imagine that he is unaware of several critically important facts.
For example, he must not know that more than 80% of the killed protesters were Hamas soldiers. This was admitted publicly in a television interview by a senior Hamas official.

He must not know that these soldiers, who were told to dress in civilian clothes because of the presence of media cameras, were on their way to kill Jews. According to Palestinan journalist Bassam Tawil, this was no peaceful protest. They and the rest of the demonstrators were chanting, “Death to Israel!” and “Death to America!” They had machine guns, firebombs, airborne improvised explosive devices and grenades. One of their leaders, Yahya Sinwar, shouted to the media, “We will take down the border [with Israel] and we will tear their hearts from their bodies.” Hamas had posted maps for their soldiers showing the quickest routes from the border to Israeli homes, schools and day-care centers. Read More

How Jesus died: Extremely rare evidence of Roman crucifixion uncovered in Italy

(Photo: Ilan Shtulman)

By Amanda Borschel-Dan - May 30, 2018

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

A lesion on the foot of a 2,000-year-old skeleton discovered in a Roman burial site in northern Italy appears to constitute rare tangible evidence of execution by crucifixion, according to an interdisciplinary team of Italian researchers.

Although broadly attested to in historical writings — including the New Testament — it is only the second known archaeological proof of the particularly cruel form of capital punishment practiced by the Romans against criminals, as well as revolutionaries such as Jesus Christ.

The findings — published in the April 2018 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences under the title “A multidisciplinary study of calcaneal trauma in Roman Italy: a possible case of crucifixion?” — are based on new analysis of a skeleton that was discovered in 2007 during a salvage excavation of an isolated tomb.

“In the specific case, despite the poorly preserved conditions, we could demonstrate the presence of signs on the skeleton that indicate a violence similar to crucifixion,” co-author Emanuela Gualdi from the University of Ferrara told the Italian-language paper Estense. Read More

Preschool Near Gaza Border Resilient After Mortar Shelling

(Photo: Eshkol Regional Council) 

By Tamara Zieve - May 30, 2018

Less than an hour before children were due to arrive at a kindergarten in southern Israel on Monday morning, a mortar shell landed in the preschool yard.

Shrapnel was scattered across the area, the exterior walls sustained damage, and a tree was hit. But fortunately, the kindergarten was vacant.

Despite the close call, the message that kindergarten teacher Tovah Ludmer Gigi was keen to convey to the children was that their kindergarten is the safest place they can be.

“I told them that the kindergarten is the most protected place,” she told reporters outside the preschool, stressing the difference between the yard and the preschool building. “They know that if there is any danger while they are at home, they run to a shelter; here, the whole kindergarten is fortified.”

Read More: Jerusalem Post

New Yad Vashem exhibit chronicles Jewish yearning for Israel during Holocaust

A teacher and a student near a map of the Land of Israel in the Łódź ghetto, Poland. (Yad Vashem Archives Collection)

By Tracy Frydberg - May 29, 2018

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

Yad Vashem’s new exhibit, “They Say There is No Land,” is a powerful narrative tracking the Jewish people’s 2,000-year desire to return to the Land of Israel. It was a yearning that became most urgent during the Holocaust.

The Jerusalem-based Holocaust museum created the exhibit in honor of the State of Israel’s 70th anniversary. The display highlights Israel’s historical and religious importance to the Jewish people, before turning to European Jewry’s connection to the land through Zionism between 1933 and 1948.

Holocaust survivors whose memorabilia is on display and museum curators met with members of the press Tuesday morning before the exhibit opened to the general public later in the day.

The contents of the exhibit — children’s artwork, letters to loved ones, photos and hand-drawn maps — hung on freshly painted navy walls and sat in glass cases still noticeably free of fingerprints. The collection presents a look at Zionism as a beacon of hope — freedom for a Jewish people helplessly trapped in Hitler’s grasp. Read More

For the Jews of Arlington National Cemetery, American dreams were writ large

(Photo: Matt Lebovic/The Times of Israel)

By Matt Lebovic - Memorial Day 2018 

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

Until he died in 2003, Kenneth Poch was an amateur historian with a mission: to identify and record every grave where a Jewish service member had been laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, home to 400,000 graves of veterans and their family members.

For years, Poch had been rattled when hearing people repeat the myth, “Jews don’t fight and don’t serve.” To shatter that misconception, the retired audio technician spent 15 years identifying the Jews buried at Arlington, best known for its Tomb of the Unknown Solider and the grave of President John F. Kennedy.

Complicating Poch’s mission, grave markers other than crosses were not permitted at Arlington until 1918. Even after stars of David were allowed onto the grounds following World War I, some Jews continued to be buried under crosses — including those grown accustomed to hiding their Judaism out of fear of discrimination, and some who had the decision made for them. Nothing was computerized. Read More

The Israeli and Palestinian doctors who put saving lives above it all

By NBC News - Originally appeared here in NBCnews.com

While conflict affects daily life, these Israeli and Palestinian transplant surgeons at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem work together to save lives, with no regard to their political differences. We follow along on a live transplant from an Israeli donor to a Israeli Arab patient. Watch video here

For the First Time Ever: A Jewish-Christian Party To Run For Knesset

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - May 23, 2018

Originally appeared here in BreakingIsraelNews.com

Avi Lipkin, a well-known lecturer who has spoken in over 1,000 churches, announced that he has formed the first joint Jewish-Christian party and intends to lead it in the next Knesset elections. A closer look at his motives reveals that this may be the wave of the future.

The acceptance of Lipkin’s Gush Hatanachi (Biblical Bloc) party application was announced on Wednesday. The party’s founding document reads:

“The Biblical bloc protects everyone who believes in the Bible and opposes the ethnic cleansing of Jews and Christians from the Land of Israel. The Biblical bloc represents parties all over the world who espouse Judeo-Christian, democratic Western culture.”

“The party will also work to strengthen Israel by formulating a program to improve public relations around the world by recruiting Jewish and Christian speakers and training them to improve Israel’s image in the world and protect Western democracy.” Read More

Extremely rare 4th century BCE Jewish-minted coins unearthed in Jerusalem

(Photo: Temple Mount Sifting Project)

By Amanda Borschel-Dan - May 24, 2018

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

Three extremely rare Jewish-minted coins dating from the 4th century BCE were recently discovered by the Temple Mount Sifting Project, doubling the number unearthed in ancient Jerusalem to date. These coins are among the earliest testaments to Jewish minting in the Land of Israel.

But they’re easy to miss: The coins are only 7 millimeters in diameter and of an almost negligible weight. Made of silver, their design is based on the Athenian Obol and utilize its barn owl motif, representing the goddess Athena. However, instead of the Greek letters ΑΘΕ for Athens, they bear an inscription in ancient Hebrew — “yhd” or Judah.

The Sifting Project has uncovered over 6,000 ancient coins during its systematic meticulous study of thousands of tons of Temple Mount earth haphazardly discarded during unauthorized renovations of a subterranean mosque in the late 1990s. Read More

US pediatricians go to Kenya with IsraAID

(Photo: Tamar Lazarus)

By Abigail Klein Leichman - May 23, 2018

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Marking its first joint Israeli-American medical specialist mission, Israeli humanitarian aid organization IsraAID arranged for a delegation of American pediatricians to join IsraAID’s ongoing medical program in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.

According to IsraAID, Kakuma is one of the world’s oldest and largest refugee camps and is chronically understaffed. Kakuma houses more than 185,000 refugees from countries across the region, including South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in addition to a host community from the Turkana ethnic group. Nearly 60 percent of Kakuma’s refugee population is under the age of 18.

The mission participants, led by Dr. Michelle Sandberg and Dr. Sabrina Braham from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, landed on May 16 and were greeted by Israeli peers in the camp’s two hospitals and six clinics operated by the International Rescue Committee and Kakuma Mission Hospital. The US doctors also will train Kakuma’s medical staff.

“Major health issues affecting Kakuma’s residents vary, and have recently included malaria, lung infections, tuberculosis, HIV, malnutrition and cholera,” said IsraAID in a press statement. “By providing up-to-date training in pediatrics, the visiting physicians can make a real difference to the long-term prospects of Kakuma’s children.” Read More

Paraguay becomes third country to open embassy in Jerusalem

(Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

By Raphael Ahren - May 21, 2018

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

Paraguay opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailing the country as a “true friend” of Israel, making it the third country to do so after the United States and Guatemala opened their embassies in the city last week.

In a ceremony in the capital’s Malha Technological Park, the prime minister and Paraguay’s President Horacio Cartes together unveiled the new mission’s plaque, making the move official.

“A great day for Israel; a great day for Paraguay — a great day for our friendship,” Netanyahu said.

“You have done much for your country. Now you’re doing something for both our countries,” Netanyahu told Cartes.

Netanyahu recalled that Paraguay helped Jews escape Nazi Germany and supported the creation of the State of Israel.

“Paraguay, before but especially under your leadership, took a very bold stance in international affairs and refused to cooperate with the lies directed against Israel,” Netanyahu told Cartes. “We always remember that. Thank you Horacio. Thank you, and thank you Paraguay.” Read More

10 unforgettable Bedouin tourism experiences in Israel

(Photo: Nati Shohat/FLASH90)

By Jessica Halfin - May 17, 2018

Originally appeared here in Israel21c 

If experience-based travel is your thing, you may want to book some time with real people of the settled nomadic tribes of Israel’s North and South. The Bedouin claim to fame is extraordinary hospitality, so whatever adventure you choose is sure to be a cultural highlight of your Israeli journey, especially when set against the backdrop of the gorgeous desert or unimpeded starry night sky.

1. Kfar Hanokdim

(View from Kfar Hanokdim. Photo by Joni Gritzner)

Located just outside Arad, Kfar HaNokdim is a unique Bedouin-inspired site on a beautiful desert mountain overlook.

Set up as a fully equipped modern camp with private cabins or wooden-floored sukkahs, hot showers and cold filtered drinking water, the site offers educational demonstrations on Bedouin hospitality, evening bonfires, camel rides, desert hiking treks and sunset jeep rides. Read More

Making friends while racing with ‘the other’ in Jerusalem

By Abigail Klein Leichman - May 17, 2018

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Philip, like many of the teens involved in Arab and Jewish Jerusalem running group Runners Without Borders, doesn’t know enough Arabic to converse with his counterparts from Arab neighborhoods. But as a recent Russian immigrant, he barely speaks Hebrew either.

While running through Jerusalem’s Liberty Bell and Mesila parks for training once a week, Philip nevertheless has made friends.

“He found common ground with both sides, communicating with signals and a few words as they run together,” says Israel Haas, cofounder of RWB, which encourages Jewish and Arab residents of the city to meet, interact and cooperate through athletics.

Haas recalls that when some of RWB’s youth runners participated in the London Marathon in April 2017, Philip spent his free time in the city’s Arab Quarter with his friends from East Jerusalem.

RWB was formed in November 2014 in response to a tense year punctuated by racial violence and war. Haas was organizing a mixed boys running group and Shoshana Ben-David was separately organizing a mixed girls running group.

“We did not know each other and we were connected by some friends,” Haas explains. “We decided to join forces and establish an NGO.” They engaged a Jewish coordinator and an Arab coordinator in addition to professional running coaches.

From the very beginning, Haas felt that typical Arab-Jewish coexistence efforts based on the Western emphasis on dialogue don’t take into account the Middle Eastern mindset and are therefore of limited value.

“When you want to bridge between two sides you can’t use the tools of one side and not the other. That’s why Shoshana and I chose sports, and specifically running, because we both are runners and we know it’s a very easy platform. In football or basketball you need to communicate in a common language but in running you just run together and everybody is equal.” Read More

Cheering Israel’s 70th, descendants of Nazis march in Jerusalem

(Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

By Marissa Newman - May 16, 2018

Originally appeared here in the Times of Israel 

They came from over 40 countries — from Australia to Burundi, China to South Africa, the United States to Germany — to celebrate Israel’s 70th birthday, filling the streets of Jerusalem on Tuesday with a sea of billowing flags, ecstatic chants of “Israel, Israel” and heartfelt, if often bungled, Hebrew lyrics.

At the March of Nations’ starting point in Sacher Park, a pair of beaming Poles proudly sported Star of David crowns, blue-and-white balloons strong-armed into the shape. Across the grassy expanse, an effusive Hasid was on a rock, welcoming the 2,000-odd international marchers to the city. And on the steep incline of Bezalel Street, hugging the capital’s trendy Nachlaot neighborhood, a middle-aged German violinist in a flat cap was serenading an Israeli baby in the arms of a woman in loose-fitting clothing on the sidelines.

Minutes later, the exuberant crowds filed past a barbershop in downtown Jerusalem, where an Israeli woman paused mid-haircut — her grey hair plastered to her face — to snake a smartphone through her cape and snap a photo through the glass. Past Hillel Street, a lanky Spaniard carrying a shofar high-fived an Israeli over his country’s soccer prowess, as several American nuns forged ahead behind a gray-bearded man with an eye patch and binoculars.

Nearby, a handful of IDF soldiers were showered with attention by the marchers.

But while visually reminiscent of the annual international pro-Israel march on the Sukkot festival, Tuesday’s March of the Nations had an under-the-radar twist missed by most casual Israeli observers.

“My grandfather went to Auschwitz and helped build the concentration camp. He was responsible for putting 16 kilometers of barbed wire into place and he also helped build the gas chambers,” Bärbel Pfeiffer, flanked by her husband and children, told the crowd in German before the march.

“And we are standing here today as a whole family to say that something like this must never happen again. And Israel, we stand by your side and we love you, Israel, and we will be with you.” Read More

Does This 3,000-Year-Old House Confirm King David's Lost Biblical Kingdom?

(Photo: Griffin Aerial Imaging)

By Owen Jarus - May 3, 2018

Originally appeared here in Live Science 

Archaeologists have discovered a sprawling, possibly 3,000-year-old house that suggests a biblical kingdom called the United Monarchy, ruled by King David and later Solomon according to the Hebrew Bible, actually existed.

The archaeologists who excavated the house, at a site now called Tel Eton, in Israel, said in an article published online March 13 in the journal Radiocarbon that the date, design and size of the house indicates that a strong organized government existed at Tel Eton around 3,000 years ago. They added that this government may be the United Monarchy.  The site is located in the central part of Israel in a region called the Shephalah.

The Hebrew Bible states that the United Monarchy collapsed after the death of King Solomon (an event some historians believe occurred around 930 B.C.). After that collapse, two rival Jewish kingdoms popped into existence — Judah (based around Jerusalem), and a kingdom to the north of Jerusalem that retained the name Israel. Read More

US Embassy move to Jerusalem becomes official today

(Photo: Yontan Sindel/FLASH90)

By Israel21c Staff - May 14, 2018

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

Declaring “a historic day for our people and for our state,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed a US delegation to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on Sunday, ahead of this afternoon’s ceremonial move of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“President Trump’s decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem affirms a great and simple truth: Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for the past 3,000 years. It’s been the capital of our state for the past 70 years. It will remain our capital for all time,” said Netanyahu, acknowledging US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s role in the process of moving the embassy to Jerusalem. Read more

Rare coin from ancient Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt discovered in cave

(Photo: Cogat Spokesman)

By Juliane Helmhold - May 3, 2018 

Originally appeared here in the Jerusalem Post

A rare coin from the Bar Kokhba revolt was discovered in the Qibya cave, 30 km northwest of Ramallah, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories announced Thursday.

The coin is believed to have been minted between the third and fourth year of the Bar Kokhba revolt (136-134 CE).

One side of the coin shows a palm tree with seven fronds and two clusters of fruit, as well as the inscription “Shim[on].” The other side portrays vine leaves with three lobes and the inscription, “To the freedom of Jerusalem.” Read More

Tanzania farm for at-risk youth modeled on Israeli program

By Abigail Klein Leichman - April 30, 2018

Originally appeared here in Israel21c

When Tanzanian community developer and environmentalist Fabian Bulugu began a master’s degree program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2017, he wanted to spend his spare time learning how Israelis work their magic in the desert soil.

“I was very interested in agriculture because Israelis came to Tanzania in the 1960s to help us grow crops at Lake Victoria with Israeli irrigation technologies,” he explains to ISRAEL21c. “I visited those sites and the farmers are still thankful to the Israeli people to this day.”

He heard about a hydroponic gardening project at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens run by Kaima, an organization that uses organic farming to give Israeli high-school dropouts an income and a fresh start on life.

“It amazed me to see how engaged the youth were,” Bulugu tells ISRAEL21c.

He began volunteering there once a week and then at Kaima Beit Zayit, the flagship farm of the NGO, which now encompasses four “sister” farms in other Israeli locales. “With my interest in climate change and in youth empowerment I felt I needed to do something to help youth,” he said. Read More