Hasbarah, (haz-ba-rah) n. information; L’hasbir, v. to inform.
The publication of the Advocacy for Israel Committee ("A-Team") of Congregation B’nai Israel

Volume 3 * Issue 107 May 28, 2004

The Week’s News in Review

May 19: At least 10 Palestinians were killed and some 50 wounded when Israeli tanks and helicopters fired at protesters in a Gaza Strip refugee camp. A top State Department official said the Bush administration's support for Israel is not related to upcoming elections. Israelis marched in their capital to celebrate Jerusalem Day. May 20: An Israeli court convicted Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian official, of murder. Israeli troops killed at least five Palestinians on the third day of a raid in the Gaza Strip. May 21: Israeli troops left two neighborhoods in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Four Israeli groups petitioned the High Court of Justice on alleged human rights violations during army operations in Gaza. May 24: Israel ended most of its operations in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Israeli security forces foiled the bombing of a synagogue in a fervently Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem. May 25: Israel's Justice Ministry denied reports that the nation's top prosecutor has decided to clear Ariel Sharon in a corruption case.

Myths and Facts in The Israeli-Arab Conflict

MYTH: "Israel is illegally, and without justification, destroying Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip."

FACTS: (1) The Palestinian Authority has repeatedly made commitments to stop terror against Israel. In the most recent agreement, the road map, the PA agreed to "declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism and undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere." To date, the PA has not fulfilled this commitment. (2) In Gaza, terrorists have acted with impunity since the PA was created. They intentionally hide in refugee camps and elsewhere among the civilian population. They do so knowing that Israel will make every effort to avoid attacking them out of concern for innocent lives. The civilian population puts itself at risk, however, by allowing the terrorists to use them as shields. (3) When it comes to homes that Israeli security forces have demolished, they are not chosen at random. These dwellings are used by terrorists as hideouts, bomb factories, and sniper and ambush sites. (4) As is the case in fighting terrorism generally, the question that must be asked about Israel's decision to demolish homes is: What alternatives are open to Israel? If the Palestinian authorities were doing their jobs, and fulfilling their promises, the terrorists would be in jail, the bomb factories, closed, and the tunnels filled in. (5) Unlike the PA, Israel is governed by the rule of law, and even the decision to demolish homes is subject to review by its judiciary. When terrorists fire at Israeli soldiers or civilians from residential buildings or activate roadside charges from orchards and fields, military necessity dictates the demolition of these locations and international law recognizes them as legitimate targets. Israel’s Supreme Court, the most independent judicial body in the Middle East, has ruled the army’s actions are legal. (6) Innocent lives have been lost during Israeli operations. As the United States has discovered in fighting an urban war against anti-American insurgents in Iraq, it is virtually impossible to engage gunmen in populated areas and avoid civilian casualties. Like the U.S. army in Iraq, Israeli forces are defending themselves and seeking to minimize collateral damage. (7) In the course of Israel’s operations, it is tragic that civilians sometimes suffer. Rather than blame Israel, however, the Palestinians should demand the democratic election of new leaders who will dismantle the terrorist networks so that Israel has no need to take defensive measures. Source: Myths & Facts Online -- A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Mitchell G. Bard, http://www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org. 

Advocacy for Israel Committee Information

The Advocacy for Israel Committee was formed in September of 2001 to organize pro-Israeli activities and to rally support in the form of Hasbara. The next A Team meeting is Sunday May 16 in the CBI Library at 9:45. Make a difference for Israel! Questions? Ideas? Contact A Team Chairmen Jay Epstein (jhe@tampabay.rr.com) or Sheldon Scheinert (Sheldo123@aol.com). Get involved!

The ISRAEL ADVOCACY TEAM of Congregation B’nai Israel

300 58th Street North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33710 727.381.4900

Speaking out for Israel so that "Never Again" shall Jewish silence lead to an indifferent world

 

 

A Team Proudly Accepts Jewish Federation Award

At the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Pinellas County, Congregation B'Nai Israel's Advocacy for Israel Team received the 2004 Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Award for the Community Program of Distinction. Accepting the award on behalf of the "A-Team" were co-chairman Drs. Jay Epstein and Sheldon Scheinert. To follow are excerpts of the meaningful remarks by Dr. Scheinert on accepting the award.

"When I was 10 years old, my parents took me to Washington, D.C. and while I was standing with them at Kennedy’s grave, which was a new and important monument at the time, a nun came up to my father, out of the blue, and forgave him for killing Christ. That same vacation led us to a restaurant outside Richmond, Virginia, which we had to leave because we weren’t served. I’m not sure I can imagine precisely what went through my father’s head just then, but, years later, when I understood history a little better, it came to me that my parents’ generation of Jews, and the one’s before it, must have lived under the impression that their place in American society was tenuous. They were living in a country with unprecedented freedoms, but there was no shortage of Father Coughlins or Charles Lindberghs to tell them how they should behave, and how they should keep their mouths shut, so as not to annoy their hosts, who were, after all, so kindly allowing the Jews to live amongst them. Many Jews were frightened of this, some sought to hide what they were, others were embarrassed, some felt second-class.  

Then, in my time, on a specific date, everything changed. On June 6, 1967, Israel, convinced a disbelieving world, that when Jews say Never again, they mean never again. And on that date, most of the world, while it might not have liked Israel, respected Israel. And on that date, Jews here, in America, suddenly became more proud than they ever were, of being identified as Jews. Heads were held high, Stars of David appeared around people’s necks, and we felt a great pride. And because of that pride, we were no longer afraid to speak out, to say our piece, and because of that pride in ourselves, we no longer felt like second class Americans, pariahs living at someone else’s sufferance, but instead, we mainstreamed into American life, as Jews. Our lives as Americans, and as American Jews, became what it is today, because of what Israel is today, and because of the strength we all draw from it. Without Israel, I’m not sure just what we would think about ourselves and our place in society.

 And so because of this, Israel, and its success and survival, is not only central to our lives as Jews, but central to our lives as Americans. Because of Israel, no longer are Jews handwringers, worrying about what to say so as not to invite retribution, but we are now bellringers. We’ll make noise when we need to, let anyone know how we feel, and what’s important to us, and we live better lives because of it.

And that’s why I’m on the A-team. And that’s why its important to answer when Federation, or Haddassah, or Israel Bonds, or the A-team, come calling.

Thank you very much."