Picture of the week: Finding friendship in the ruins of war

October 28, 2009 - 10:55 AM by Nicky · 4 Comments
Filed under: Picture of the Week, War, coexistence 

Picture of the week best friends

Israel is a country of contradictions. While the world outside sees the conflict in the clean crisp black and white of headlines, here in Israel we tend to see things in myriad shades of grey.

Take these two kids for example. Maria Aman (in the wheelchair) is a Palestinian girl from Gaza who was hit by an Israeli rocket during operation Cast Lead. Orel Ilizrov, is an Israeli child from Beersheva who was left with severe brain damage after he was hit by a grad missile fired from Gaza in the same conflict.

Against all the odds, they are best friends.

Maria was left paralyzed when her house suffered a direct hit. Four of her family were killed. Orel, an only child, is lucky to be alive. His mother threw herself on top of him in an attempt to protect him from the missile.

The children were hospitalized at the Alin Rehabilitative Center in Jerusalem and were given neighboring beds. Despite the traumas that both suffered, they ignored the conflict – as kids so rightly do – and formed a deep friendship based on everything they have in common, and not everything that keeps them apart.

Photo by Nati Shohat/Flash90

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Sderot solidarity on display

June 8, 2009 - 7:12 PM by Harry · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, History and Culture, Religion, War, coexistence 

Art for SderotThank the good Lord, the rockets haven’t been falling much in the southern part of the country lately. Sure, not all the news coming out of the Gaza border area is positive, but at least the rate of Qassam fire into Israel has slowed dramatically in recent months.

Several grassroots, cultural initiatives have aimed at making the situation on Israel’s southern front as comfortable as possible, and at expressing or fostering solidarity with those effected (on these pages, we’ve written in the past about a lot of them, including one initiated by musicians looking to bring aid into Gaza, a community of local young bloggers sharing their experiences under fire with the world, and even one rock and rocket-themed film project).

A year ago, the Connections Israel non-profit, which has been in operation for 11 years and aims to strengthen ties between Jewish communities in the Diaspora and those here, raised the question, “To what extent do Jews around the world feel responsible to one another in the context of the situation in Sderot?” The organization mobilized its network of young people the world over to submit answers to this question that were expressed via original works of art. The solidarity-themed exhibit that resulted from the campaign opened in a Sderot community center last month (a slide show from the opening can be seen here), with plans for the exhibit to travel the world in the works.

Mordechai David Cohen, Connections Israel’s director, is proud of the work the organization had done. From his statement in the exhibit’s catalogue:

“We believe in the power of energy conservation. The energy that a young artist expends, even in a place as far away as the United States, is transferred to the person viewing his creation here in Israel!”

Connections Israel received hundreds of submissions from Europe, the former Soviet Union, South and North America, with works including sculptures, photos, paintings, poems, multimedia and even large installations. 25 of the best submissions were included in the exhibit, curated by Noa Lea Cohen, with the top three receiving prizes.

Pictured is Jerusalemite Yedidyah Ish Shalom’s “From You to You I Shall Flee,” its title taken from a poem by Rabbi Yehuda Helevi as an expression of the duality of our interconnectedness, its subject matter taken from a newspaper photograph depicting a Qassam landing area.

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Fred Teng Gets It

January 14, 2009 - 9:58 PM by DavidS · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Life, Politics, Profiles, War, coexistence 

Given the avalanche of hate against Israel on the internet, at anti-Israel protests around the world, and in the media (of course!), it’s easy to believe that “nobody” likes us. By “nobody,” I mean, of course, folks from the wide world. And even if they are willing to overlook our “crimes” in Gaza (no, of course I don’t mean that), they still don’t “get it” – they just can’t understand what we’re up against. missile1

So I wanted to share with you a message I got from a friend who’s in New York right now. There was a big pro-Israel rally this past Sunday, featuring speakers from the Jewish and general community. According to the message I got,

“The most powerful speaker at Sunday’s massive rally for Israel was Fred Teng, president of the Chinese Community Relations Council of NY. His words would have been exceptional even coming from an Israeli — and how much more striking for having come from the heart of a New Yorker and a member of the Chinese community.”

Suffice to say Mr. Teng “gets it.” He’s got Hamas’ number – comparing them to the gangs of big American cities who get their jollies running drive by shootings against innocent people. In the words of Mr. Teng,

“Enough is enough”

“These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like Drive-by Shootings. We have to put every gang member away for good, not just the ones that did the shooting. These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like a Fire in the Forest, You can’t STOP only half of the fire in the forest, and thinking you will be safe. If your house is next to the fire, you won’t think so. It is not the Qassam Rockets; it is the people behind the Qassam Rockets that we need to go after. This is an epidemic threat to the entire world.

“In the last 60 years, every gesture of peace by Israel only met with escalated violence. Every peace proposal, whether it is multi-lateral, bi-lateral, or uni-lateral was never honored by the terrorists. However, in this time of extreme difficulties, we shall not lose hope. We shall say yes to Peace. We shall say yes to Life. And we shall forever say yes to an eternal Israel Am Yisrael Chai.

Maybe someone should tell this guy we have an election coming up? Sounds like he’d make a good prime minister!

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