A petition currently circulating on social media platforms is headlined UN Women Your Silence is UNforgivable. Devised by #MeToo_Unless_Ur_A_Jew, the petition is part of a grassroots campaign founded by Danielle Ofek and Nataly Livski to protest and draw attention to the silence of UN Women in the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, in which hundreds of women were raped and brutally murdered, and tens of women and girls were kidnapped and are still being held hostage.
Part of the petition states: “When it comes to being a ‘global champion for gender equality’ and raising awareness of human rights violations against women, it is very clear that for UN Women and the UN as a whole, Jews simply don’t count.”
It is a case of # MeToo_Unless_Ur_A_Jew.
The campaign, which already has a large following, calls on humanity around the world to speak up, and notes that “Every woman’s life is equally precious. No side of any story should be deliberately excluded.”
President Isaac Herzog addresses the March for Israel rally in Washington
Following his videotaped address from the Western Wall in Jerusalem to the March for Israel rally in Washington on Tuesday, President Isaac Herzog was again heard in many parts of the Jewish world on Wednesday when he participated in a webcast, organized by Merkos 302 News, which is part of Chabad headquarters in New York.
Other speakers included South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, several rabbis from New York and Israel, and Niky Pelesof of Brazil. There was also a woman among the speakers – Rivkah Slonim, a mother of nine, who is the associate director at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life at Binghampton University. Slonim is an internationally known teacher, lecturer, author, and activist whose main focus is the intersection of traditional Jewish observance and contemporary life, with particular attention to women in Jewish law.
Jacky Rosen convenes international group of Jewish legislators
Prior to the solidarity march on Tuesday, Sen. Jacky Rosen convened an international group of Jewish legislators in Washington at the initiative of the World Jewish Congress. Elected representatives from close to a dozen countries including Israel came together as The International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians.
In a series of meetings and briefings around Washington, including with senior White House and state department officials, the delegation discussed international solidarity with Israel, the imperative of freeing hostages, the alarming rise in antisemitism since the outbreak of the October 7 war, and how to combat antisemitism on university campuses in the US and elsewhere.
WJC president Ronald S. Lauder addressed these issues in his remarks on Tuesday night at a dinner at the Renwick Gallery, and expressed support for bipartisanship and President Joe Biden’s response to the crisis in Israel. “I have never seen a president of the US be as strong for the Jewish people as Biden. Support for Israel and the Jewish people has been bipartisan. The majority of both parties support aid for Israel. Frankly, it’s the first bipartisan agreement we’ve seen in a long time,” said Lauder.
Also present were members of families of the hostages who spoke in harrowing terms about their experiences. Among them was Rachel Goldberg, whose son is believed to have been taken hostage. “Like all of the people standing with me right now, we all live in a world of the indescribable… pain doesn’t quite name it,” she said, “And that’s our world.”
The ICJP gathering underscored international solidarity with Israel during this period of crisis.
The call for solidarity was echoed by Minister of Economy Nir Barkat. “With antisemitism rising all over, a secure Israel is the best backup for all Jews around the world,” he said, adding: “That bond is represented here in this room.”
University collaboration
An international collaboration between the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Leipzig, and the Dubnow Institute has been approved for financing by The German Research Foundation. The collaboration will give rise to an innovative joint school for doctoral students. This groundbreaking academic initiative marks a significant step towards fostering international collaboration in the field of humanities.
The school is set to open its doors in the summer of 2024 in Jerusalem, providing an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the study of Jewish material culture in the 20th century, and to explore the complex web of relationships between Jews and their surrounding environments. Titled Belongings: Jewish Material Culture in Twentieth-Century Europe and Beyond, the program will equip 22 research students with interdisciplinary skills, spanning history, philosophy, literature, cultural studies, art history, and more.
Each doctoral thesis will receive full funding for four years and will be jointly supervised by senior researchers from the three collaborating institutions. The overarching goal is to cultivate a new generation of young researchers who will integrate seamlessly into educational and cultural institutions, museums, and archives worldwide.
“The seeds of this joint venture were planted in the summer of 2019 under very different circumstances from today. We hope to open the first cycle in Jerusalem in August 2024 under infinitely better conditions,” said Prof. Yfaat Weiss, director of the Dubnow Institute, and a member of the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University, who will head the school.
“Recent times have emphasized the importance of knowledge, especially a deep understanding of Jewish history, as a safeguard against global amnesia. Our collaborative approach and the opportunity for students to study in both Jerusalem and Leipzig represents a small, yet meaningful step towards preserving the knowledge of humanity in these challenging times,” she stated.
Benjamin Pollock, a professor of Jewish thought at the Hebrew University and the director of the Franz Rosenzweig Minerva Research Center, who will head the Israeli side of the school, added: “The joint learning of Israeli and international students in Jewish studies, the diversity of the fields of expertise of the senior scholars who will teach in the program, the research focus on material culture – these features make this graduate school one of a kind. In these trying times, it is heartening to recall Jerusalem’s potential as a place where diverse worlds of research and culture converge, expanding the horizons of academic discourse.”
The joint venture involves thirteen senior researchers, including professors from the University of Leipzig, one of Germany’s oldest universities, faculty members from the Hebrew University, and researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture, one of Europe’s leading institutes in the field, which is dedicated to interdisciplinary research into the multiple eras and areas of Jewish life, including areas of Jewish emigration.
Japanese, pro-Israel religious movement
Makuya, a Japanese religious pro-Israel movement founded in 1948 by Ikuro Teshima, who taught Biblical religion, included in its studies songs in Hebrew, and does not restrict itself to those of a religious nature.
Makuya makes frequent pilgrimages to Israel, and sends its young people to work in kibbutzim. During visits to Jerusalem, its members, clad in their kimonos, often gather in the capital’s Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, and sing songs in Hebrew. Particular favorites are songs from the Psalms and those related to peace. Since October 7, Makuya has been organizing pro-Israel rallies in Tokyo, which recently included the participation of Israel’s ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen.
Makuya is not alone in condemning Hamas and speaking out for Israel and the hostages. Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yōko Kamikawa has also done so.
The fact that Makuya rallies are always musical attracts a lot of attention from passers by, and helps to win support for Israel.
Israeli civilian heroism
In their weekly Thursday morning program on Radio Reshet Bet, Rina Matzliach and Akiva Novick discussed heroism – not the heroism of soldiers, but the heroism of civilians featured daily in the Israeli media. There are so many amazing stories of civilian heroism, said Matzliach, that it is difficult to absorb them all. Novick noted that each of the stories is unique, and often related to exceptional self-sacrifice. He also hinted that just as awards are conferred on soldiers in recognition of their heroism, something similar should be done for civilians.
Israeli Arabs and the Gaza war
Although prominent figures in Israel’s Arab communities have condemned the brutality of Hamas, most Arabs are very unhappy about the death toll resulting from Israeli air strikes in Gaza. This led to student riots at Netanya’s College, where many of the students are Arab. After Jewish residents in the area complained that Arab students threw eggs at congregants of the Chabad synagogue across the road, and played loud Arabic music on the Sabbath, thereby disrupting prayer services, a large group of Jewish protesters gathered outside the Arab students’ dormitories, chanting ‘death to the Arabs,’ and trying to break in. Police had to intervene and stop the ensuing riot.
But that was not the end of the story. Political pressure was exerted on ISSTA, (the Israeli Students Travel Association), which manages student dorm arrangements, for Arab students to be evicted. The person applying the pressure was none other than Netanya’s mayor, Miriam Fierberg Ikar, who reportedly called ISSTA several times a day to ensure that the students had indeed been removed. The move was accomplished nearly three weeks ago with the help of police. The students were naturally reluctant to go, and college officials and faculty members have accused the municipality of prioritizing political considerations, rather than calming tensions.
Haaretz has obtained a recording of a telephone conversation between Fierberg Ikar and Netanya College president, Prof. Jacob Hart, in which she said that she had promised residents that she would ensure that she would get rid of Arab students for the duration of the war.
That goes beyond political prejudice. That’s racism. The students involved are all Israeli Arabs.
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