The coronavirus cabinet is due to discuss this week whether all people returning from abroad should go into quarantine for the same length of time, or whether those who have had their second and third vaccinations will go into quarantine for a shorter period. The discussion comes just ahead of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s trip to the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden. The big question is whether Bennett will be exempt from quarantine altogether. If he is, it will be yet another example of some people being more equal than others.
■ OVER THE past year and a half, the media has been full of stories about couples who postponed their weddings because the coronavirus crisis affected the number of guests they could have as well as whether the reception could be held indoors or outdoors. One couple who with all the chopping and changing of regulations brought their wedding forward rather than delay it are broadcaster Lucy Ayoub and her fiancé Itai Bar, who had sent out invitations for September 5, but with fears of a lockdown looming, despite denials by Bennett and Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov, they decided to get married this week rather than risk having their wedding plans spoiled.
■ THE FACT that KAN broadcaster Yaron Deckel is temporarily leaving the screen and the airwaves to take up a position as a Jewish Agency emissary is old news. But last week it became official with an announcement last Sunday that he had been appointed regional director for Canada, while Sigal Kanotopsky will be the Northeast regional director based in Philadelphia. Deckel will be based in Toronto, where he will spend the next two years.
A political analyst, radio cohost and weekend news presenter, this is not Deckel’s first stint in North America, nor will it be the first time that he looks at what makes North American Jewry and Israeli expatriates tick. From 2002-2007, he was the Washington Bureau chief for the now-defunct Israel Broadcasting Authority, for which he undertook several features about Jewish community life in general, and Israeli expatriates in particular, traveling widely through the US in order to gain a comprehensive perspective. More recently, he was in the US to join KAN’s US correspondent Nathan Guttman, in covering the US elections. On his return to Israel after the five-year period in America, Deckel anchored a current affairs program on Israel Radio and was subsequently offered the top job in Army Radio. Soon after the establishment of the Israel Public Broadcasting Corporation, which is the KAN umbrella organization, he left Army Radio and returned to what had previously been the IBA, where he quickly reestablished himself as a kingpin. In his role as Jewish Agency emissary, he will work to strengthen diaspora relations with Israel, and assist with aliyah and donor relations. Presumably, he will work closely with Nachman Shai, the minister for Diaspora Relations, who many years ago preceded him as commander of Army Radio. The two may be at loggerheads over the aliyah issue. Shai is currently much more interested in cementing Israel-Diaspora relations than in promoting aliyah.
■ AT A time when Israeli journalists or journalists reporting for Israeli publications are openly reporting from many parts of the Middle East, including enemy countries, it is almost strange to think of a decades-long period after the establishment of the state when this was impossible. Not too many people could name the first reporter for an Israeli publication who openly reported from enemy territory. It was award-winning journalist David Makovsky, who is today the Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and director of the Koret Project on Arab Israel Relations. He is also an adjunct professor in Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. In 2013-2014, he worked in the Office of the US Secretary of State as a senior adviser to the special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Makovsky’s extensive CV includes a stint as editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post from 1999-2000. Prior to that, he spent seven years as the diplomatic correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, in which capacity in July 1994 at the personal intervention of then-US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, he became the first journalist working for an Israeli publication to openly visit Damascus. He subsequently made four other trips to Syria.
In March 1995 with assistance from US officials, Makovsky was given unprecedented permission to file reports from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for an Israeli publication, which happened to be The Jerusalem Post. He was concurrently a contributing editor to US News and World Report, serving for seven years as its special Jerusalem correspondent. As such, he was awarded the National Press Club’s 1994 Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence in recognition of his cover story on PLO finances.
He has written numerous articles for Israeli and American publications as well as several books.
In his present role at the Washington Institute, Makovsky has initiated a series of podcasts featuring both prominent and behind-the-scenes figures in US-Israel and US-Middle East relations. Whenever possible, it’s a three-way conversation that includes an American, an Israeli and someone from an Arab country. Among the Israelis who have participated, is Ambassador-designate Mike Herzog, who is a retired brigadier general and a long-time peace negotiator and adviser to a series of defense ministers, as well as a former senior fellow of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Jewish People Policy Institute.
It is more than likely that as Israel’s ambassador in Washington, he will be invited by Makovsky to speak on Israel’s foreign policies in future podcasts. Among the other Israelis who have participated are Assaf Orion, a retired brigadier general, a military strategist and a senior fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, and former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy.
The podcast series, called “Decision Points,” is now in its third season and has scored close to 50,000 downloads.
■ IT WAS heartwarming last week to see Palestinian firefighters join with Israelis in fighting the fires that raged on the outskirts of Jerusalem. They also came to help in 2010 when Haifa’s Carmel Forest was ablaze.
When it comes to lifesaving or the prevention of the destruction of nature, animosities are put aside as people join forces to do what needs to be done.
On another level, more than 400 runners in several countries including Canada, the US, England, South Africa, Australia and Israel participated in the second annual Race to Save Lives and raised $500,000 to support the lifesaving efforts of United Hatzalah in Israel.
Each runner undertook to run at least five kilometers, with the aim of raising $500 in an individual or team effort.
The largest team was Team Lax of Canada, which was running in memory of brothers Ethan and Jonny Lax, who loved Israel and loved humanity, and died tragically when in their twenties. Ethan had been a Gift of Life bone marrow donor, and both brothers strongly believed in helping other people, so it was natural that their relatives and friends would get together to support an organization that saves lives. Team Lax raised more than $58,000. The money which they and others raised will be used for emergency equipment.
Organizers of the international race were interested in learning about what had motivated the participants.
When asked why she chose to run and support United Hatzalah of Israel, Rachel Bess Davidson from Los Angeles wrote, “We ran for something extremely important and close to our hearts – to raise awareness and critical funds for United Hatzalah, a wonderful organization dedicated to saving lives in Israel regardless of race, religion, or gender.
“I am so fortunate to exist and be born in America and am thankful for organizations such as this one for going above and beyond to respond to EVERY human’s basic desire for survival. If you’ve ever been in an ambulance and had to pay the exorbitant costs you know firsthand the value of having free emergency relief and first responders who arrive in under three minutes. This is what this organization provides! It’s amazing! We are proud and grateful to be donating to their cause, and feel blessed that we could safely participate outside and raise awareness and funds for such a beautiful and necessary organization.”
■ THE SAVING of life has such a priority in Jewish Law, that one is allowed to transgress almost every other commandment in order to do so. But apparently, the same extreme ultra-Orthodox elements that deface images of women, have accused United Hatzalah of violating Jewish Law by training women to be emergency paramedics.
Posters in Beit Shemesh claim that female EMTs (emergency medical technician) treating males are breaking the law against intimacy. They also object to females doing civilian national service, some of them through United Hatzalah.
Among the various rabbis who sit on the board of United Hatzalah are
Rav Ezriel Auerbach, Rav Sariel Rosenberg, Rav Aryeh Dvir, and Rav Yehuda Silman who are all ultra-Orthodox. The organization’s founder and President Eli Beer is also Orthodox and frequently consults the rabbis on a variety of health and lifesaving issues. They have not found fault with the fact that females are among the organization’s EMTs.
“I am proud that United Hatzalah has women volunteers. We are the first organization to unite Ultra-Orthodox, Modern-Orthodox, Secular, Jews, Non-Jews, men and women alike,” says Beer. United Hatzalah stands as a shining example to other Jewish rescue organizations demonstrating that no one should be excluded based on their religious beliefs or their gender.”
He points out that having female EMTs is particularly beneficial to women in the ultra-Orthodox community, who feel much more comfortable being treated by a woman, regardless of her religion, than they do when treated by a man, and therefore United Hatzalah will continue to accept volunteers from all strata of society, from all denominations and without gender discrimination.
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