Jenin . A City out of Control

 The IDF may have no choice but to recommend to the Cabinet the launch of a wide-scale operation in the terror hotbed.

The fact that the Israel Defense Forces needed to call in air support for ground forces in Jenin this week is a signal of a significant escalation in this Palestinian city, which has become a hornet’s nest of terrorism.

 The use of air support is a statement on the character of the combat in Samaria, with what should be a standard security operation becoming entangled and turning into a messy escalation.  

Four Palestinians were killed and several IDF soldiers were wounded in intense exchanges of fire which began when IDF and Border Police units entered Jenin camp to capture two security suspects.

A powerful explosive device damaged an armored IDF vehicle as the Israeli force was leaving, wounding Israeli personnel. The IDF decided to evacuate the injured via helicopter, but the aircraft came under fire, and that is when commanders decided to call in air support. A helicopter gunship fired on gunmen to enable the extraction of the Israeli forces, according to the Israeli military.  

 Large-scale exchanges of fire between Palestinian gunmen in the IDF and large numbers of bombs were hurled during the clash, according to the Israeli military.

Zooming out from this event, it is clear that Jenin is out of control, and that as time goes by, the chances of a larger-scale IDF operation there are growing.

The Palestinian Authority is non-existent in the city despite nominally being in control there, and the area has turned into an active terror hub, not only for local terrorists, but also for those from other areas of Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank.

Recently, it is likely that several such terrorists fled to Jenin after attacking Israeli civilians or soldiers in other areas, viewing it as a safe haven. Large quantities of firearms are also flowing into the city, an arsenal of weaponry is amassing there.

It is left to the IDF to repress the terrorist activity.

Within Jenin, localized terror factions that call themselves “the Jenin battalions” work in cooperation with established terror organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, both of which maintain a strong presence in the city.

 

 

Israeli Player Signs for UAE Soccer Team Listed as Romanian

 

The official website for the UAE Pro League soccer team Al Ain now includes a profile for the club’s newest member, Israeli midfielder Omer Atzili, who signed a three-year contract with the team on Wednesday, but his nationality on the website is listed as Romanian.

The 29-year-old was born in Israel but holds a Romanian passport that he obtained in 2015, according to the Israeli publication Mako, which added that Atzili is now the first Israeli Jew to play in the United Arab Emirates.

Some Al Ain fans expressed dismay on social media after the team signed the Israeli player and criticized the team’s attempts to mask Atzili’s Israeli background.

“Al-Ain does not tell you that it was an Israeli player who was signed and not Romanian. Al-Ain’s shame continues,” an Emirates media outlet reported, as cited by Mako.

Ahmed Al Nuaimi, the president of the association against the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, was also quoted saying, “Al-Ain is forcing its fans to cheer for a player they’ve never wanted. The Israeli player will damage the image of the club.”

Atzili, a two-time consecutive Israeli Footballer of the Year, signed with Al Ain for a salary that is reportedly almost four times what he earned with his previous team, Maccabi Haifa. The athlete, who also previously played for Beitar Jerusalem, made some requirements in his contract related to his religious observance and as a result he will be allowed to not play or train during some Jewish holidays, including Yom Kippur, according to i24News.

Israeli midwives sit out int'l conference after Israeli flag banned

 The Israel Midwives Association decided to not take part in the International Confederation of Midwives' (ICM) Congress in Bali, Indonesia after the confederation informed the association that they would not be permitted to display the Israeli flag.

The Congress began with the Opening Ceremony on Sunday, during which the various midwives associations' displayed their national flags, including Iran.

Gila Zarbiv, the head of the Israel Midwives Association media committee, was set to deliver a lecture at the Congress and was going to be joined by Yifat Hadar Rubanenko, the chairwoman of the Association, to speak about the activities of midwives in Israel.

A week before the conference, the director-general and president of the International Confederation of Midwives emailed the Israeli association to inform them that, in order not to anger the governor of Bali, the Israeli flag would not be displayed and the name of the Israeli association would not be mentioned in the flag parade at the beginning of the Congress. Instead, the Israeli association would march with the Confederation's flag.

The director-general wrote that "there is sensitivity in Indonesia regarding the raising of the Israeli flag and the remembrance of the State of Israel," adding that they heard that "should it be decided to include the Israeli flag and mention Israel in connection with the identity of the Israeli organization, there is a risk that the Congress will be closed and the Israeli delegation will be required to leave Indonesia."

The director-general added that she was "sure that the Israeli delegation understands that the union will not be able to take this risk and therefore, despite the difficulty involved, the Israeli flag will not be part of the flag parade and the Israeli organization will not be mentioned during the ceremony."

Israeli midwives shocked by flag ban

"This laconic email struck us with amazement. Our position from the first moment was clear and unequivocal: we will not take part in a conference that erases our identity as Israelis," wrote the association in a statement this week. "We demand that ICM implement the value of 'equality for all,' without differences of religion, race and nationality. We will not accept in any way a surrender to antisemitism and/or racism and anti-Israelism."

The Association contacted the Foreign and Health Ministries and conducted an intensive campaign to be allowed to display the flag, but the efforts did not succeed and the Association decided not to take part in the Congress.

In an email to the Confederation in May, the Association wrote that "the Israel Midwives Association understands from your letter that we, as a full paying member association, with highly active members (nominees for the ICM Regional Board, and members of the Regional Professional Committee), as midwives, and above all, as women are not welcome at this conference."

"This is not the first time that Israel has faced antisemitism and hate and we will prevail, but the precedent that the ICM is about to set for itself, in staying silent and capitulating, suggests that they prefer to succumb to politics and antisemitic governments, as opposed to standing by its member associations. It is a dangerous precedent and one that Israel cannot support."

The Association expressed sorrow at how the situation ended, stating on Monday: "That's it, the conference has started. The flag parade looks exciting on Instagram, such 'love and joy and fellowship' between midwives all over the world. We are thinking a lot about this week, a shocking encounter with the ugly side of politics and hypocrisy, a roller coaster of sadness and excitement, faith that we will succeed and also great disappointment from the whole chain of decisions made regarding the conference."

Social-media Influencer Reflects on Volunteer Tour in Israel

 Emily Austin, an Israeli-American sports broadcaster and social-media influencer, last visited Israel almost a year ago. So it was high time for another visit, the 22-year-old told JNS, when the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer invited her to get a glimpse of its humanitarian work.

 Austin, who began modeling and working in broadcast news at 18, has a vast social-media following with more than 500,000 on TikTok and 1.2 million on Instagram. She aims to visit Israel at least annually and thinks it is “important to remind myself and everyone else of my Israeli roots,” she said.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Israeli parents who immigrated to the United States, she got her big break when an MTV producer saw an Instagram live show that she produced, called “Daily Vibes with Emily Austin.” The producer asked her to audition for the MTV show “Music Lives On.” She did and was part of the show for one year.

 She has served as an unpaid media consultant to Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations since September 2022 and was a judge of the 71st “Miss Universe” pageant earlier this year.

 “Israel is always taking heat for a lot of false narratives that are out there,” she told JNS. “I am one of the many proofs that this is a thriving and democratic country.”

 Correcting false narratives, building bridges organically

 Austin hopes that her visits to Israel, which she discusses on her social-media handles, will encourage U.S. athletes to see for themselves that Israel is neither a war zone nor an “apartheid” state, an accusation that has been increasingly pointed towards the country.

Her trip last month, which was organized and paid for by the hospital, included meetings with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal Herzog, at their Jerusalem home; visits to the Western Wall (Kotel) and its tunnels; and a meeting with Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, chairman of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. And, of course, she spent a lot of time at the medical center.

Herzog was “very genuine,” she reported, and she and he and his wife discussed medical innovations at the hospital as well as the importance of Israeli unity. The Israeli president thanked her for her social-media activism on behalf of the Jewish state, she told JNS.

 At the Sheba Medical Center, Austin learned about advances it has made in the medical field in recent years, including a field hospital that reportedly was the first to set down in Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February 2022. 

Don't forget, remember the Farhud

More than 850,000 Jews fled or were expelled from Arab and Muslim lands in 1948, upon Israel’s establishment as a state.

We are living in an era when narratives battle with history – and often win.

This is particularly evident around this time of year, when the Palestinians and their supporters mark Nakba Day – commemorating the “catastrophe” of Israel’s creation – and Naksa Day, the “upset” of Israel surviving the Six Day War that was meant to wipe it off the face of the earth. Shamefully, Nakba Day was even commemorated this year in the United Nations, to mark its 75th anniversary.

There is, however, a gap in both knowledge and acknowledgment when it comes to the history of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. More than 850,000 Jews fled or were expelled from Arab and Muslim lands in 1948, upon Israel’s establishment as a state. But this did not come out of the blue.

Remember the Farhud

One of the horrific incidents that preceded this mass flight of Jews is often overlooked. It is the Farhud – the onslaught or violent dispossession – which took place in Iraq on June 1 and 2, 1941, coinciding with the Shavuot festival. It was a pogrom in every sense. 179 Jews of all ages were killed in the two-day rampage, which was concentrated in Baghdad and Basra. They were slaughtered in their homes and on the streets – wherever they were found by the murderous gangs, whipped up by Nazi propaganda and the pro-German Iraqi leadership.

The lethal attacks, rapes, killing, looting and desecration of synagogues affected the entire community. It is estimated that more than 2,000 Jews were wounded and the property of more than 50,000 Jews was looted or destroyed. The dead were later buried in mass graves – and the illusion of peaceful coexistence was buried with them. Although Jews had lived in this ancient Babylonia and Mesopotamia region for some 2,500 years, it counted for nothing when the Farhud broke out.

In 1948 there were some 140,000 Jews in Algeria, 75,000 in Egypt, 150,000 in Iraq, 38,000 in Libya, 30,000 in Syria, 105,000 in Tunisia, 55,000 in Yemen and 100,000 in Iran. Today, some of those countries have no Jewish community at all; others have fewer than 10 Jews.

The late historian Robert Wistrich used to note how strange it is that Israel is accused of “ethnic cleansing” while the Jews have largely disappeared from Muslim lands and the Muslim population in Israel has grown since 1948.

The Knesset this week granted preliminary approval to a bill sponsored by MK Ofir Katz (Likud) calling for an annual Commemoration Day for the Farhud, to be held in June. The bill is important, but we don’t need to wait for it to pass into law. It is incumbent on us all to remember the Farhud and its lessons.

Genocide? You must be joking!

 The facts do not support the claim of genocide.

Jews, Muslims Work Together to Save Lives at United Hatzalah

 

When Eli Beer set out to establish United Hatzalah of Israel in 2006, his goal was getting to every medical emergency within 90 seconds.

“If we had remained within our communities, we would have never been able to get everywhere in 90 seconds,” Beer, who today serves as the founder and president of the organization recalled, speaking at The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference, which took place in New York on Monday. “In order to achieve our goal, we needed to reached out to our neighbors and to people we didn't have a relationship with, starting with the Arab community”

Some 17 years later, United Hatzalah responds to almost 2,000 emergency calls every day, with hundreds of volunteers from every sector of Israeli society, Jews, Muslims and Christians, secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox, men and women.

United Hatzalah: Saving lives with limited resources

“For me and my family, it has been important to support Hatzalah because it saves lives with very limited resources,” said Erica Gerson, a Board Member of the EMS organization and a reform rabbi.

“In addition, it means so much to see the humanity of Israel at its best within our organization,” she added. “It is more than pluralism, it is really about humanity.”

Echoing the same sentiments were also two Hatzalah volunteers, Batya Widawsky, a religious Jewish woman and a resident of the West Bank, and Nazir Aweida, a Muslim man and a resident of East Jerusalem.

“When we are at an emergency scene, religion doesn’t matter, we work all together, people of all faiths, to save people of all faiths,” said Widawsky.

“My family is very proud of what I’m doing and people in my neighborhood are happy to have an EMS first respondent,” Aweida highlighted. “As a Muslim, the Koran teaches me to help everyone in need because saving a live is the highest value.”

“This is a message that I also want to teach my children, to volunteer and to give more and more under the umbrella of Hatzalah for the people of our country,” he concluded.