Her colleagues at The Jerusalem Post bid a semi-farewell to veteran reporter, feature writer, editorial writer, columnist, and editor of the paper’s international edition Liat Collins, who is not quite retiring, in that she will continue to write her weekly column which appears on Fridays.
In an Internet age, very few people work inside the paper’s editorial offices at any given time. When Collins started her career at the Post 35 years ago, she was told that it was a temporary position for only three months.
Like many things in Israel, temporary became permanent. In those days, almost everyone worked in the office because typewriters were still in vogue, and only a few privileged reporters and graphic artists used computers. At her farewell party this week, so many people came to demonstrate their affection and appreciation that they couldn’t all fit into the conference room.
Most of those who spoke praised Collins’s intelligence, her broad range of knowledge, her passion for her work, and her consistently pleasant disposition.
Collins, who has a huge fund of personal anecdotes, drew on several for her own speech, mentioning that among the benefits of her job were some overseas trips, including meetings with the late King Hussein of Jordan during her stint as Knesset reporter. But that was not her favorite beat, she admitted. The beat she enjoyed most during her time as a reporter was that of environment, which earned her the national Life and Environment award.
Editor-in-Chief Avi Mayer, who was familiar with Collins’s writings long before he joined the Post this year and met her in person, always imagined her as a large, tall woman, and was surprised when he finally met the petite figure behind the byline.
Collins will be succeeded by another veteran staffer – David Brinn, who for several years has served as the paper’s managing editor and arts and entertainment editor. Brinn knows everything there is to know about running a newspaper, and can fill in for just about anyone, which he has done on various occasions.
Taking over from where Brinn leaves off is Benny Glatt, a veritable walking encyclopedia, who is often consulted before anyone checks with Prof. Google.
Collins, who has been talking for a long time about leaving, quipped that it’s like the old story of someone saying for years that they’re going, until no one believes them – and then suddenly they’re gone.
Still, there are some people who believe that Collins may return to work full-time. The Post has a revolving door history, with people returning after as long as 15 years and more.
There are close to 20 news and feature writers, copy editors, senior editors, columnists, and proofreaders currently on staff who left and returned – some of them more than once. There are other former staffers who occasionally write freelance pieces, and still others who work for syndicated wire services, whose bylines often appear in the Post.
Foremost among the latter is Ron Kampeas, the Washington bureau chief of The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, whose byline appears in the paper almost every week.
Therefore, no one would be surprised if within a year or two Collins would be back full-time.
Her last day at work will be on November 30, a somewhat propitious choice on her part, given that the paper will celebrate its 91st anniversary on Friday, December 1.
These days there are several – mostly online – media outlets in English available to those who find it difficult to read Hebrew but want to be au fait with what’s happening in Israel and the world. But for more than half a century, the Post was Israel’s only daily newspaper in English.
Round-the-clock reporting
■ IF THERE was a prize for responsible and sensitive journalism, one of the frontline people to be considered for the award would be KAN 11’s Suleiman Maswada, who has not slept much in recent weeks, while covering different aspects of the hostage situation.
Maswada has resisted all attempts to pry information out of him until it is officially confirmed, and has explained numerous times that it’s just too sensitive an issue, especially as details keep changing, and he doesn’t want to raise any false hopes. But he appears at all times of the day and night on radio and television to provide updates on what he can divulge.
The war's effect on Israel's economy
■ ONE DOESN’T have to be a financial genius to realize that Israel is heading for an economic depression. As a result of the war, the needs are so many and varied that it’s difficult to determine priorities. Whole industries and even whole cities will suffer.
A case in point is Eilat, Israel’s tourist resort paradise, and a favorite vacation spot for foreign visitors who like to follow the sun. According to Mayor Eli Lankri, there will be very little incoming tourism during 2024 and part of 2025.
No one knows how long the war will continue, and solidarity missions that come to Israel, seldom travel to Eilat. Festivals that had been scheduled in Eilat for 2024 and part of 2025 have been canceled, according to Lankri, so winter tourism is more or less nonexistent.
Without a massive cash infusion by the Finance Ministry, Eilat will collapse economically, he warns. Another problem is that Eilat, which used to be the safest place in Israel, has also become a target for enemy rockets. Meanwhile, Eilat’s hotels are filled with displaced persons.
Israel's gratitude for Biden
■ IF THE next US presidential elections were to be held in Israel, there is little doubt that Joe Biden, who is running for a second term, would win by a landslide.
Israel will be forever grateful for his deep personal involvement in the return of the hostages from Hamas captivity, and his particular focus on four-year-old American-Israeli citizen Abigail Edan, who was the first American citizen to be released.
Abigail, whose parents were murdered on October 7, became an international symbol not only because she is a very cute little girl, but also because she was taken to Gaza without the emotional support of a parent or sibling, and she transitioned from a three-year-old to a four-year-old while in captivity.
But there’s more to it than that in Biden’s interest in her.
His first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, and their one-year-old daughter, Naomi, died in a car crash in December 1972. Their two sons, Beau and Hunter, were critically injured but survived and recovered. But in May 2015, Beau Biden, a veteran of the war in Iraq and a Bronze Star recipient, who later served as the attorney-general of Delaware, died of a brain tumor. He was 46.
For any parent who outlives their child, regardless of the age of that child, the loss forever leaves a hole in the heart. Biden suffered the loss of an infant daughter and an adult son, so he, better than most people, could understand and identify with the anxieties of families praying to be reunited with their loved ones, and he feels for the young child who has come home to loving siblings, an aunt and grandparents, but who will never again know the comfort of a parental embrace.
Preventing further trauma
■ PSYCHOLOGY EXPERTS have urged families and friends to desist from questioning children who were hostages. It is much too early to get them to relive their experiences. It is difficult even for adults who were released.
Former child hostage Shai Gross concurs. Gross, who was six years old on June 27, 1976, when the Air France plane bound from Athens to Tel Aviv, on which he and members of his family were passengers, was hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Instead of flying from Athens to Tel Aviv, the plane was diverted to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. All the non-Jewish passengers, other than the flight crew, were released, but the hijackers demanded the release of 53 terrorists plus $5 million in exchange for the 106 hostages.
In the final analysis 102 survived and, following a rescue operation headed by Yoni Netanyahu, the older brother of the prime minister, were taken to Israel. Coincidentally, the date was July 4, which is American Independence Day. Yoni Netanyahu was killed fighting, and has ever since been regarded as one of the great heroes of Israel.
Even though his ordeal was for only a week compared to the 50 plus days that Israelis who are still in Gaza are enduring, Gross, in recent interviews, has said that after all these years, he has never overcome the trauma.
Children are credited with great resilience and the ability to forget some of the negative and painful incidents in their lives. But it isn’t true of all children, and memories of suffering may linger in the subconscious for a very long time, and then are triggered when something similar to what they experienced at a young age happens to another young individual.
Gross cautions against overburdening children who have returned from Gaza with questions about what happened to them. Some may never want to talk about that episode in their lives, and others will talk when they are ready. He is very much aware that there has been great progress in trauma therapy since the time that he was a child, but, nonetheless, he urges therapists and family members to tread carefully.
Is there another interpretation for Ireland PM's 'lost and found tweet'?
■ FAR BE it from me to defend the tweet of Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who on learning of the release of Irish-Israeli, nine-year-old Emily Hand, who had been presumed dead but was miraculously alive, sparked a diplomatic storm when he wrote: “An innocent child was lost and now is found.”
Israelis and Jews around the world were furious, and interpreted the Irish prime minister’s words as having made light of Emily’s capture and abduction to Gaza. His statement was attacked by the Israeli leadership and heads of Jewish organizations abroad.
But it should be remembered that people of other faiths and nationalities do not think the same way as Jews or Israelis do.
Also to be taken into consideration is the nuance of language. The word “lost” changes meaning according to context. For instance, “Amazing Grace,” a beloved Christian hymn, has a line: “I once was lost but now I’m found.” It doesn’t mean that the person to whom it applies was physically lost; it means that he was spiritually lost, and, having rediscovered faith, believes himself to have been found by God.
Of course, no one other than Varadkar himself knows what he meant, but if he happens to be religious, his remarks would have been made in the Christian context.
There’s a general Jewish tendency, both in Israel and the Diaspora, to read antisemitism and anti-Zionism into the most innocuous remarks.
Following the furor raised by his tweet, Varadkar, who is a physician by profession, also came in for sharp criticism at home, because in his tweet he failed to mention Emily’s abduction by Hamas, and that she was a freed hostage.
Varadkar subsequently issued an official statement in which he wrote: “A little girl was snatched from her home and held captive for almost seven weeks. She spent her ninth birthday as a hostage. We hope she will soon heal and recover from the traumatic experience in the loving embrace of her family.” However the statement neglected any direct mention of Hamas.
Since October 7, Varadkar has been consistently critical of Israel’s actions, saying that they bordered on revenge, but in defending himself in the brouhaha resulting from what he tweeted with regard to the release of Hand, he claimed that he had been critical of Hamas in the past. It would seem, however, that he has been much more critical of Israel.
Support from Germany
■ WHILE NO country has been more supportive of Israel than the United States during the present crisis, Germany is undoubtedly in the lead when evaluating European support.
Indeed, the presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, or defense ministers of several European countries have come to Israel in a display of solidarity, but German solidarity has been far more pronounced, despite rising antisemitism throughout Germany.
In mid-October, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz arrived on a solidarity visit, saying that Germany’s place in difficult times is alongside Israel. This week, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany is in solidarity with Israel, not only when there are victims, but also 100% of the time.
Meetings with the President of Israel
■ WHAT DO Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Steinmeier have in common? All of them have met with at least three presidents of Israel.
Given his age and the length of his political career, which spans more than half a century, Biden has probably met the most, either when he was in Israel, or they were in the US, or both.
With the possible exception of the present incumbent, Putin has met with every president since Moshe Katsav, whom he initially met during Passover 2005, when he visited Israel for the first time. The Israeli media made a big deal out of the fact that Putin was unable to eat regular bread during his visit, and had to be content with matzah.
But there was no real story in this, as it subsequently transpired that Putin loves matzah and eats it all year round.
That tidbit was imparted by Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, who sometime later, when speaking at the Oxford Chabad Society, revealed that when Katsav, who is religiously observant, came to Moscow on a state visit, Putin ordered the Kremlin kitchens to be kashered.
Steinmeier, who twice served as his country’s foreign minister, has met with Katsav, Shimon Peres, Reuven Rivlin, with whom he drank beer in Jerusalem’s Mahaneh Yehuda market, and with Isaac Herzog, with whom he visited Kibbutz Be’eri on Monday. The two presidents met with some of the survivors of the Hamas massacre and surveyed some of the destroyed houses and other buildings.
During the visit, Steinmeier announced that the German Bundestag had allocated €7 million to rebuild the Kibbutz Be’eri Art Gallery, which was totally destroyed by Hamas.
He commented that the kibbutz and the kibbutz movement per se are in a sense linked to Europe, and especially Germany. Be’eri was founded by Jews from Germany, Hungary, and the former Czechoslovakia.
As appreciative as the residents of Kibbutz Be’eri are for Germany’s generosity, one suspects that some of them might have preferred for the gift to be allocated to the Kibbutz Be’eri printing plant, which happily did not get destroyed, and which is one of the three largest in the country.
The Be’eri printing plant is eager to put in a bid for the Israel Postal Service, which is to be fully privatized but is presently not in the financial position to be so, and has asked for the bidding to be postponed for several months.
Even though the plant was not destroyed, some of the workers were killed, and others were called up to military service, so it’s not certain that it can catch up with all of its orders or deal with new ones, but the presses began working again, very soon after the massacre.
Among the most recent publications of the Be’eri printing plant is a book for children, The Frightening Shadows, by social worker Lilach Kipnis, who was murdered by Hamas on October 7.
Kipnis was a member of Kibbutz Be’eri who dedicated herself to helping children and young men and women overcome the traumas brought on by constant sirens and rockets. Kipnis wrote the book in 2021, and the Be’eri printing plant came out with a new edition following her death. The book was presented to Herzog on Tuesday.
Speaking up against propaganda
■ MELBOURNE RADIO host Neil Mitchell, who broadcasts on Radio 3AW, has spoken out against two Melbourne subbranches of the Australian Education Union for permitting and even encouraging teachers and other school staff members to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians.
Palestinian advocates have been invited to speak in schools, to put up pro-Palestinian flags and banners, and to wear traditional Palestinian attire.
“It’s wrong for teachers to turn classrooms into propaganda outlets,” said Mitchell, who sees this as “a serious problem,” especially as some teachers are acting as lobbyists and political crusaders rather than teachers.Mitchell has called on the Victorian government to step in to prevent such action from continuing, and has pondered over how Jewish children in such classrooms would feel.
Victoria’s Deputy Premier Ben Carroll has condemned the solidarity with Palestine campaign, saying that it is “divisive and inflammatory.”
Melbourne, which is the capital of Victoria, is not the only place in which demonstrations of pro-Palestinian solidarity are breaking the rules of conduct.
The Jewish community is, of course, conducting a pro-Israel campaign within the rules, including a convoy of cars, trucks, and bikes decorated with large Israeli and Australian flags, which recently drove through some Melbourne suburbs. It was almost like Independence Day in Israel, with hundreds of flag-waving people lining the route.
Carolyn Zeidler of Sydney, a strong supporter of Magen David Adom, and a volunteer with MDA during her visits to Israel, reports that at the Sydney Opera Company last Saturday night, the many Jews in the audience were shocked when the cast donned keffiyehs and proceeded with a stance on Israel’s “occupation” of Gaza. “It left people totally rattled and distressed,” she says.
The election of former Australian ambassador
■ FROM A Jewish standpoint, some news of a more pleasant nature is the election of former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma as the official nominee for the New South Wales Liberal Senate vacancy.
In congratulating him on his successful campaign to reenter the Australian Parliament, Dr. Colin Rubenstein, executive director of the Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council, said: “It is encouraging news that the Australian Senate will have another voice within its ranks of a politician with a thorough and detailed knowledge of national security and world politics.
He will hopefully help facilitate constructive, informed debate and dialogue and contribute to wise, effective decision-making in Australia’s national interest.
“As a former Australian ambassador to Israel and the former Liberal MP for Wentworth in Sydney’s east, he has in particular demonstrated a comprehensive and perceptive understanding of Israel and Middle East realities – and proven to be a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish community as well as genuine Arab-Israeli conflict resolution and mutual coexistence in the Middle East.
“Furthermore, Dave Sharma has shown himself to have moral clarity and courage, including on important issues relating to the Australian Jewish community and Israel, and I sincerely congratulate him on his very welcome return to national politics.”
After asking for an extension, Sharma served in Israel for four years, from mid-2013 to mid-2017, and on returning to Australia was a keynote speaker at various Jewish events.
Solidarity visits to Israel
■ AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR Ralph King has come in for high praise for his work together with Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon in facilitating the visit to Australia by a representative delegation of families of the hostages.
Numerous world leaders have met in their home countries with such delegations, or have spoken with them in the course of solidarity visits to Israel. Some have done both. Such meetings, together with the efforts of the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, as well as other countries, have helped to put pressure on Hamas.
On the local scene, King was among the people supporting Israeli farmers by attending the Galilee Farmers’ Fair in Atidim Park, Tel Aviv, making several purchases and hugging the farmers. He wasn’t the only Aussie who was there.
Boosting morale
■ NEW IMMIGRANTS are eager to become part of community efforts to boost morale and to help with anything that will benefit the communities of the South and the North which have been temporarily displaced. One such immigrant is Lisa Opolion, whose family emigrated from the US in August of this year.
When the war started, Opolion was looking for a way to become involved, as were friends in the US. After a lot of brainstorming they decided to organize a global virtual event that would connect people around the world.
It’s called Live Braid for Hope, and will take place at 7 p.m. Israel time on Thursday, November 30. It consists of the ancient ritual of braiding challah, with the three strands symbolically representing people of different faiths and cultures. Wound together, the braids form perfect unity.
Public figures such as actress and social activist Mayim Bialik and Israeli American rapper Kosha Dillz (Rami Matan Even-Esh) have joined the event, and altogether people from six continents, 26 countries, and 17 US states have registered. To participate, register at LIVE Braid.
greerfc@gmail.com