Italy's 74th Republic Day was marred by the impact of coronavirus.
By GREER FAY CASHMANPRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jerusalem in 2009.(photo credit: AVI OHAYON - GPO)
Italy this week celebrated its 74th Republic Day, but due to concern for the health and well-being of the hundreds of guests who annually gather on the spacious lawns of the Italian ambassador’s residence in Ramat Gan, there was no reception, though there was an online Italian film festival. Italian ambassador to Israel Gianluigi Benedetti, posted a message on the embassy’s website in which he apologized for the absence of a reception this year, but spoke of Italian solidarity in the face of the many challenges posed by the novel coronavirus.He also referred to the different areas of cooperation between Italy and Israel, and was optimistic that Italy, which is known for its creativity, could rely on what it has created in the past as a foundation for creativity in the future.■ THE WORRISOME spike in coronavirus cases in India, prompted the Foreign Ministry to decide it did want any of its people who were stationed in India to be sick or dead heroes, and therefore opted to bring them home on a special Air India flight from New Delhi to Tel Aviv. Among the passengers was Ambassador to India Ron Malka,who came to diplomacy from the world of high finance. Other than diplomats and their families and Israeli representatives of various other interests in India, passengers on the flight included Israelis who had been stranded and had been unable to join earlier flights back home.■ SOCIAL ACTIVIST Polly Bronstein, who was informed just before she was due to start her new job as CEO of Keren Hayesod that, due to economic belt tightening, the position had been scrapped, missed out on making history because she would have been the first woman to hold the position. What is perhaps more extraordinary is that she was hired in March, when the economic effects of COVID-19 were already in the air. Bronstein’s long-term predecessor, the popular, easy-going but highly efficient Greg Masel, resigned several months before Bronstein’s appointment, which means Keren Hayesod has been without a CEO for more than half a year. Masel, who now works as a freelance consultant, did not publicize the reason for his resignation, but it came soon after the installation of Steven Lowy as chairman of Keren Hayesod’s World Board of Trustees, though it is doubtful he had anything to do with Masel’s stepping down, given the fact that Masel is very close to Lowy’s father Sir Frank Lowy, who lives in Israel.■ FORMER AUSTRALIAN Ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma,who is now a parliamentarian, has developed something in the nature of a blood brother relationship to Israel and the Jewish people. Sharma will be among the speakers at an on-line Limmud Oz&NZ (Australian and New Zealand) multi-disciplined experience, with an amazingly diverse range of subjects on Jewish matters, and speakers from many parts of the Jewish world, as well as some non-Jewish speakers. The event runs from June 6-14. Full details are available on the Limmud Oz website.■ MUCH MEDIA attention has been given to the high ratio of coronavirus victims in America’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, particularly those in New York. In fact, in some circles they have been blamed for the spread of the dreaded disease. But a CBS broadcast indicates that more than half of the tens of thousands of blood plasma donations from people who have recovered from coronavirus came from these very same communities.Lawyer Mordy Searl, one of several people spearheading the blood plasma donations campaign, said on the CBS newscast it was important for people who have recovered to give back to the community. CBS also showed an emotional online meeting between Robert Kovacs and Jacob Markowitz, who saved his life. Kovacs had been in hospital for almost a month suffering from severe oxygen deprivation until receiving a blood plasma donation from Markowitz. Both men looked ecstatic on screen and told each other they had been waiting for the moment they could meet. “It’s the best thing that could have happened to me that I could help,” said an exuberant Markowitz. “It made my day, it made my year, it made my whole life I feel so connected to you.”“We’re brothers from different mothers,” said an excited Kovacs.■ IN ENGLAND, Prince Charles has endorsed a virtual book of remembrance for COVID-19 victims. The prince released a video in which he said the pandemic had brought agonizingly painful tragedy and heartbreak to thousands of families whose loved ones had been taken from them with such suddenness. The initiative for the project, known as “Remember Me,” came from St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The virtual book of remembrance will include the names of victims of all faiths and ethnic groups. In his video-taped message Charles said:“This virtual book of remembrance is here to help us remember; not just to recall our loss and sorrow, but also to be thankful for everything good that those we have loved brought into our lives, and all that they have given to others.”
■ RACISM HAS many forms, but the common denominator is antipathy or even hatred towards the other who may be of a different ethnic group, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or even political party. Racism exists almost everywhere, in all classes of society.Anyone who flips through international media can see that racism is fast becoming a global scourge and police officers who are supposed to defend the public are in the forefront of racial bias, neutralizing suspected criminals by killing them instead of shooting them in the foot.Aside from what we know of the deaths of Iyad al-Halak, Solomon Tekah and George Floyd, there have been other incidents ending in death or humiliation. In Paris, Adama Traore, a man of African background, died in police custody, thereby sparking a riot against racial injustice. In Nunavut, Canada, a Mountie deliberately drove a truck into an apparently intoxicated, staggering Inuk man. As was the case with Floyd, a bystander video taped the scene, which in both instances contradicted police versions of what had taken place.In America and elsewhere, peaceful demonstrations have led to riots, and expressions of solidarity with peaceful demonstrators and social posts of outrage of what was done to victims have sometimes led to viciously hateful responses. Among the many celebrities who have expressed revulsion at what happened to George Floyd were supermodel Bar Refaeli and Wonder Woman Gal Gadot. What each of them wrote was not remotely provocative, yet their messages elicited a barrage of vindictive verbosity. Refaeli had featured a clip of a dark skinned girl saying she feels she is treated differently because of the color of her skin. To this, Refaeli added a text stating “little girls, big girls, children, men, women – no one should feel different or inferior because of the color of their skin.” Response was quick in coming, accusing her of hypocrisy in view of the bias practiced against anyone of Ethiopian background in Israel. She was also asked where she was when Tekah was killed and why she had not sent a similar tweet then.Gadot, who had written it wasn’t good enough to be silently anti-racist but to come out against racism with a loud voice, was reminded that she is an Israeli who is well aware of the racism practiced against Palestinians and who as a soldier in the IDF had played a role in continuing the “occupation.”■ACTOR, AUTHOR and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger, who as governor of California came to Jerusalem in 2004 to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony of the controversial Museum of Tolerance, has done more than post a message. He has produced a video in which he talks about bigotry, hatred, white supremacy and neo-Nazism.Until the beginning of this year, the museum was still under construction, and had just begun a running in period when all museums were closed indefinitely.Throughout the years, Schwarzenegger has remained in close contact with the original Los Angeles-headquartered Museum of Tolerance, which is the educational arm of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Schwarzenegger knew the legendary Nazi hunter with whom he was friendly, and has been a regular financial supporter of the Museum of Tolerance.The Austrian-born Schwarzenegger always knew his father Gustav had been a Nazi, but wasn’t sure whether his father could be considered a war criminal. He asked the Simon Wiesenthal Center to investigate, and was relieved to learn that none of his father’s wartime activities could be characterized as criminal.In the video, Schwarzenegger says there are no two sides to bigotry and no two sides to hate.Addressing neo-Nazis he says: “If you choose to march with a flag that symbolizes the slaughter of millions of people, there are no two sides to that.”Addressing US President Donald Trump, Schwarzenegger tells him that, as president he has a moral responsibility to send an unequivocal message he will not stand for hate and racism, and that he rejects the support of white supremacists.“The country that defeated Hitler’s armies has no place for Nazi flags,” he says.greerfc@gmail.com
