World – Page 2

Thoughts on Bahrain

Nancy Khedouri, a member of the National Assembly of Bahrain. (photo from bahrainthisweek.com)

Nancy Khedouri, a Jewish politician, writer and businesswoman from Bahrain, provided insight into the history of the Jewish community in the small Gulf state and its recent normalization agreement with Israel, signed in September. She spoke at a Nov. 29 Zoom talk organized by Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University and moderated by Ambassador Ido Aharoni.

A member of the National Assembly of Bahrain since 2010, Khedouri is also the author of From Our Beginnings to Present Day, a history of the Bahraini Jewish community, which started at the end of the 19th century.

“Bahrain was known as a place that always embraced people of various religious and cultural backgrounds. The Jews of Bahrain were always allowed to practise their religion freely,” said Khedouri, a third-generation Bahraini and descendant of Iraqi Jews.

The Jewish community in Bahrain totaled close to 2,000 people a century ago. From the 1940s through the 1960s, many Jews left the country on their own volition; they were never expelled, she pointed out. These days, their numbers are rather small, with roughly a half-dozen resident families, or about 40 individuals, covering all age groups. Most Jews living in Bahrain now came from Iraq.

“Overall, the Jewish people worked in various professions, tobacco, olive oil, electronics, some were in the record business – both my grandfathers were involved in the leasing of cinemas. Some of those here today work in the money exchange business. We have integrated very well in the texture of society. We are highly respected,” she said

One famous member of Bahrain’s Jewish community in the 1940s was a midwife known as Um-Jan, in Arabic, whose story influenced a popular 2020 Arabic television series Um Harun. When the community was larger it had a shochet (ritual slaughterer), and it still maintains a Jewish cemetery.

These days, Jewish traditions and festivals in Bahrain are taught and celebrated at home. Bahrain’s synagogue, located in country’s capital, Manama, is not presently in use. Established in the 1930s, the shul was funded by a Jewish pearl trader from France who wanted to create a place of worship for local Jews. At that time, he entrusted a community member with the responsibility of looking after the title deeds of the property. The synagogue is currently under renovation, and the hope is to have it reopen by Purim.

On the question of the tolerance shown towards Jews in Bahrain, Khedouri highlighted the “open-mindedness” of the ruling family and Islam, “a religion that teaches coexistence, peace and respect for one another. They have embraced the true values of being Muslim.” She pointed out that other religions live in peace in Bahrain: in addition to the synagogue, Bahrain houses churches and the only Hindu crematorium in the Gulf.

Aharoni remarked on the prominent role women seem to have in Bahraini society and public life. “Bahrain took pioneering steps to empower women. We have reached advanced stages,” said Khedouri. “We have had women as ministers and leading roles through the years.” Khedouri’s cousin, Houda Nonoo, served as Bahrain’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2013.

Since the 1950s, women have joined the workforce and, since the 1960s, have started companies, said Khedouri. They joined the police force in the 1970s, she continued. And, now, Bahraini women constitute a high percentage of those employed as doctors. Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement, she said.

On the newly formed ties with Israel, Khedouri commented, “We must remember that Israel never posed a threat to the Gulf countries or the region. Seven decades of lost opportunity is a long time. Everyone met the new agreement with great excitement. We believe both countries will benefit. Israel will benefit by having a great trading partner.”

She expects joint collaborations in many aspects. There are opportunities, she said, in technology, in cinema, arts and tourism. In Manama, much preparation is underway for the arrival of Israeli tourists to the country. A number of hotels and supermarkets are offering kosher menus and products.

Khedouri lauded outgoing American president Donald Trump and his son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner for being instrumental in bringing about a peaceful arrangement with Israel. Bahrain followed the United Arab Emirates in normalizing ties with Israel; afterwards, Sudan and, later, Morocco established deals with the Jewish state. These agreements collectively have been referred to as the Abraham Accords.

Bahrain’s political system is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative chambers. Its Council of Representatives is elected while its Consultative Council (or Shura Council), on which Khedouri sits, is appointed by the king.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Orchestra faces crises

Members of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, Paraguay, are among those helping provide relief services during COVID-19 and after a devastating fire. (photo from IBB)

Times are tough for everyone, but that hasn’t stopped one Vancouver group from organizing an urgent fundraising drive to support an orchestra that is a testament to the transformative power of music.

Instruments Beyond Borders (IBB) is a registered Vancouver-based charity that supports music education in disadvantaged communities. The group is raising funds to support the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, Paraguay (aka the Landfill Harmonic) as they are dealing with two major crises: not only the COVID-19 pandemic, but a devastating fire in the landfill, next to which they reside.

Since 2014, IBB has delivered donated instruments and funds to the Recycled Orchestra, which was borne out of a desire to teach music to eager children living in the marginalized landfill community of Cateura.

photo - Compounding the hardships wrought by the pandemic, the Cateura landfill recently suffered a major fire, resulting in the destruction of many of the orchestra families’ homes — Compounding the hardships wrought by the pandemic, the Cateura landfill recently suffered a major fire, resulting in the destruction of many of the orchestra families’ homes. *(photo from IBB)*

The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura is internationally renowned, performing all over the world with their instruments made out of recycled materials from the neighbouring landfill. They deliver a resounding message of environmental stewardship and hope and endurance in the face of poverty.

The pandemic has suspended the capacity of the orchestra to travel internationally – which was a major source of their revenue. Compounding the hardships wrought by the pandemic, the Cateura landfill recently suffered a major fire, resulting in the destruction of many of the orchestra families’ homes. Consequently, this has all but eliminated the opportunity of the parents to derive much-needed income from the gathering of saleable recyclables from the landfill.

photo - The students of the Recycled Orchestra, along with the Orchestra’s Parents Association, have become the hub of relief services — The students of the Recycled Orchestra, along with the Orchestra’s Parents Association, have become the hub of relief services. *(photo from IBB)*

In 2014, IBB donated $10,000 towards the building of a music school in Cateura. Fortunately, the school was not damaged by the fire, and today it is temporarily being used as a food relief centre – for the preparation and distribution of upwards of 5,000 meals daily to the devastated local community. Incredibly, the students of the Recycled Orchestra, along with the Orchestra’s Parents Association, have become the hub of relief services.

In the midst of these crises, Favio Chavez, the orchestra’s founder and director, is determined to keep both the orchestra and the hope of music alive, and to support the orchestra’s education program.

The IBB fundraising drive aims to assist the orchestra recover from these dire circumstances. To jumpstart this urgent appeal, the Ben and Esther Dayson Charitable Foundation has pledged to match the first $5,000 donated.

The Recycled Orchestra was the subject of an award-winning 2016 feature film Landfill Harmonic, the trailer for which can be watched on YouTube. Donations can be made at instrumentsbeyondborders.org.

Gratz, Carleton partner

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Gratz College in Melrose Park, Pa., and Carleton University in Ottawa, promises to enhance the academic reach of both institutions. Signed by Gratz president Paul Finkelman and Carleton president Benoit-Antoine Bacon, the MOU forges a collaboration between the two schools, with a focus on Holocaust studies and international engagement. Possible ventures include the exchange of faculty and staff, student exchange programs, and joint research projects.

“We are honoured and excited to develop a partnership with one the great universities in Canada,” Finkelman said. “The collaboration will make Gratz and Carleton stronger institutions by complementing each other’s programs and strengthening international cooperation in higher education.”

Finkelman noted that “this year, 2020, Gratz is 125 years old, and signing this agreement is a wonderful way to conclude our anniversary year.”

“This international partnership focused on Holocaust studies will greatly benefit students and researchers at both Carleton University and Gratz College,” Bacon said. “This important work will advance the priorities of Carleton’s new Strategic Integrated Plan, International Strategic Plan and brand new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. As the world awaits the return of international travel and cross-border cooperation, we look forward to further engaging with the remarkable team at Gratz College.”

Under the MOU, Gratz will work directly with Carleton’s Max and Tessie Zelikovitz Centre for Jewish Studies. Gratz faculty and students will have access to Carleton’s libraries and archives, as well as opportunities to join the Zelikovitz Centre as research affiliates.

“These opportunities for Gratz faculty and graduate students will enhance our vibrant masters and doctoral programs by offering additional scholarly opportunities,” said Honour Moore, dean of the college.

In exchange, Carleton faculty and students will have access to Gratz’s Holocaust Oral History Archive, which houses one of the largest collections of audiotaped testimony in the United States and is a contributing organization to both the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem.

“As a small institution, Gratz values academic partnerships that can enrich our students’ learning opportunities in significant ways,” said Ruth Sandberg, director of Gratz’s Jewish-Christian Studies Program. “We are eager to take advantage of what Carleton has to offer us, including ways in which our students can interact with each other, ways in which our faculty members could partner with each other, and ways in which Gratz can become regular participants in the many notable lectures and discussions offered through the Zelikovitz Centre.”

Bacon and Finkelman signed the MOU during a virtual ceremony Dec. 8. The agenda also included remarks from Sandberg and Deidre Butler, director of the Zelikovitz Centre.

“From our first conversations with Gratz leadership, we found true colleagues,” Butler said. “We look forward to strengthening this community by engaging with Gratz faculty and students through a variety of venues.”

The virtual signing ceremony set the tone for the partnership, said Karen Schwartz, associate vice-president of research at Carleton and the university’s international liaison officer. Ahead of the ceremony, faculty members and administrators from both institutions began collaborating by joining each other’s online lectures and discussions.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become even more important – regardless of how challenging – to not only keep in touch with our preexisting international partners, but to continue establishing new ones as well,” Schwartz said. “Holding a virtual MOU signing is certainly not the same as an in-person event on campus, but it is the next best thing. And so, in this spirit, we are excited to make official our partnership with Gratz College. It will allow students and faculty from both institutions to share academic resources and conduct joint research to advance Holocaust education.”

Gratz College, a private nonprofit institution, is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Founded in 1895, it is the oldest independent college for Jewish studies in North America. Today, Gratz enrols a diverse population of students from around the world, with many programs that reflect its historic focus on Jewish studies and education.

Located in Canada’s capital city, Carleton University provides more than 30,000 students from every province and more than 100 countries with academic opportunities in more than 65 programs of study, including public affairs, journalism, engineering, high technology and international studies.

Breathing life into patients

Dr. Liran Levy, left, and Dr. Milton Saute. (photo from IMP)

Sheba Medical Centre in Israel and Canada’s Toronto General Hospital are collaborating to advance the field of lung transplantation in Israel and to enhance medical education in both countries.

In the last year, Sheba’s Institute of Pulmonary Medicine has established a new lung transplant program, headed jointly by Dr. Liran Levy – who, in 2019, completed four years of clinical, research and surgical training at Toronto General – together with surgeon Dr. Milton Saute, an expert in lung transplantation. According to Sheba’s head of pulmonary medicine, Dr. Amir Onn, collaboration with Toronto General will “put Sheba on the map of lung transplantation,” due, in large part, to revolutionary technology that can increase the number of donor lungs by almost 50%.

Toronto General is renowned for having performed the world’s first successful lung transplant, in 1983. They have since expanded their lung transplantation program, both clinically and in terms of research. One of the most groundbreaking discoveries was made in 2013 by Dr. Marcelo Cypel, a staff thoracic surgeon at Toronto General and director of their ECLS (extracorporeal life-support) program. This technique, said Cypel, “effected a change in paradigm for how we do lung transplants.”

photo - Dr. Amir Onn, left, and Dr. Marcelo Cypel — Dr. Amir Onn, left, and Dr. Marcelo Cypel. *(photo from IMP)*

The innovation, called ex vivo lung prefusion (EVLP), doubles the amount of time that the donor lungs can remain outside of the body. “Previously, donor lungs could be kept for only six to eight hours,” Cypel explained. “Patients had to uproot their lives to live near a transplant centre, and staff had to race against the clock to transfer the organ from the donor to the recipient, often forced to perform the complex surgery in the middle of the night.”

The valuable hours gained don’t just optimize the logistics of the operation, they actually allow for recovery of the organ itself.

“As a rule, over 80% of donor lungs are unsuitable for lung transplantation, due to poor functioning, infection, blood clots or injury,” said Cypel. By pumping a solution of oxygen, proteins and nutrients into the injured donor lungs, the EVLP system enables injured cells to heal themselves, or to be prepared for more sophisticated repair techniques. “The method doubled the number of lung transplants performed in Toronto in the last seven years,” he said.

With the help of Toronto General, Saute estimated that the EVLP program will become operational at Sheba by the middle of 2021. “We anticipate that [EVLP] will make a huge impact and significantly increase the pool of donors for lung transplantation in Israel, especially now, during COVID, with donors reduced by more than 50%,” he said.

According to Cypel, some of the reasons for the reduction in donor lungs during the pandemic include deaths that occur at home, due to reluctance of patients to seek hospital care, and the fewer car accidents (whose victims supply donor lungs) that occur while populations are in lockdown.

Collaboration will encompass clinical care, as well, including consultations regarding challenging patients, as well an exchange of trainees, in both directions. “We hope to send members of our team to Sheba to learn from their unique expertise,” Cypel said.

Onn added that COVID-19 has created new potential candidates for lung transplant. He is currently treating patients in Sheba’s designated post-COVID clinic who present with an unusual combination of symptoms – shortness of breath, chest pain and forgetfulness. Some, he said, have sustained irrevocable damage to the lungs.

A growing population of “COVID-19 survivors,” are being referred to the lung transplant centre. “We are in the process of identifying those who may be potential transplant cases,” said Levy.

Levy remarked that he is looking forward to working with his former colleagues and mentors from Toronto General. Looking back on his years spent in Canada with his wife and four children, he admitted that it was hard to leave. “The Jewish community made us feel very much at home, and we still miss Toronto,” he said. “But I think we have a very important mission here in Israel.”

When the teams from both hospitals met one year ago to discuss collaboration, Cypel and Saute were delighted to discover that they both hail from the same city in southern Brazil. “Although we didn’t meet in Brazil, Dr. Saute told me that he knew my grandparents quite well, and that was very emotional for me,” Cypel shared. Saute added that they both had the same mentor in thoracic surgery and, thus, “We have the same ideas.”

The scope of research and complexity of cases at Toronto General have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. Sheba Medical Centre, home to the ARC Innovation Centre, and where 25% of all clinical research in Israel takes place, has likewise distinguished itself in patient care, particularly in the era of COVID-19. Patients in both countries, and worldwide, can look forward to the fruits of this collaboration.

– Courtesy International Marketing and Promotion (IMP)

Task force set up

Over the last several years, there has been an alarming increase in antisemitic incidents across the globe, with many originating online. As social media posts do not stop at international borders, members of the national legislatures of Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States came together last month across party lines to launch the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism.

Members of the task force include Member of Knesset Michal Cotler-Wunsh (Blue and White, Israel), Member of Parliament Anthony Housefather (Liberal, Canada), MP Marty Morantz (Conservative, Canada), Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Democrat, United States), Congressman Ted Deutch (Democrat, United States), Congressman Chris Smith (Republican, United States), MP Josh Burns (Labour, Australia), MP Dave Sharma (Liberal, Australia), MP Andrew Percy (Conservative, United Kingdom) and MP Alex Sobel (Labour and Cooperative, United Kingdom).

The launch of the task force follows campaigns working to expose online antisemitism, including the #NoSafeSpaceForJewHate campaign that served as a global call to action to combat the virulent antisemitism that goes unaddressed or inadequately addressed on social media platforms.

The task force has the following goals:

Establishing consistent messaging and policy from parliaments and legislatures around the world in order to hold social media platforms – including Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and Google – accountable.
The adoption and publication of transparent policies related to hate speech.
Raising awareness about antisemitism on social media platforms and its consequences in order to acknowledge the tremendous responsibility that comes with the power the platforms hold.
Emphasizing that, if one minority cannot be protected by hate speech policies, then none can be. This task force will, therefore, serve as a means for protecting all minority groups from online hate.
Underscoring that the fight against antisemitism is a non-partisan consensus in democratic countries.

“Always and at this time in particular, as we stand united in fighting a global pandemic, another virus rages that requires global collaboration and cooperation,” stated Cotler-Wunsh. “By working with multi-partisan allies in parliaments around the world, we hope to create best practices and real change in holding the social media giants accountable to the hatred that exists on their platforms. It is imperative that we work together to expose the double standards.”

Housefather said, “Online hate, including antisemitic hate, is growing exponentially. Posts are viewed across national borders and impact people in many jurisdictions. Social media platforms have failed to adequately address hatred on their own. But they cannot be expected to create different policies in every separate country. By working together, we can create international definitions and recommendations for regulating social media platforms that can then be reviewed and hopefully implemented by each individual country.”

Morantz added, “Online hate is an abhorrent reality on social media platforms. I am honoured to work on a bipartisan basis with my Canadian colleagues, as well as international colleagues, to find solutions that keep all those safe who might suffer from online hate, antisemitism and discrimination.”

Lubeck shul sees restoration

Israel’s Lavi furniture factory recreated Carlebach Synagogue’s original ark from three prewar black-and-white photos. (photo from IMP)

Viewing the restored Carlebach Synagogue in Lubeck, Germany, brings to mind the biblical prophecies of consolation, where the Jewish people are reassured that the day will come when not only will they be restored to their land, but their houses of worship will likewise be restored. Sadly, neither the shul’s rabbi nor any other of the original community members are alive today to revel in the synagogue’s reinstated glory; however, in an interesting twist, several of the rabbi’s grandchildren are the children of founding members of Kibbutz Lavi, whose furniture factory designed and built the synagogue’s ark and other holy articles.

Rabbi David Alexander Winter, rabbi of the Carlebach Synagogue, fled Lubeck in 1938, together with most of his community. Several months later, on Kristallnacht, when many of Germany’s synagogues were torched and burned to the ground, the Lubeck shul was damaged and looted, but not destroyed – the building had been sold to the municipality and the contract, signed by the rabbi, was inside the synagogue, in plain view.

For Winter’s grandchildren, seeing the restoration of their grandfather’s synagogue is especially moving. “It’s a feeling of coming full circle,” said Yehudit Menachem, who visited Lubeck last year, seeking to learn more about her family history. Dr. Ariel Romem, a pediatrician and one of the grandsons, remarked that the restoration is symbolic of the re-blossoming of the Winter family and of the Jewish people as a whole. “They may have ruined the shul, but they never succeeded in breaking us,” he said.

In the seven decades since the Holocaust, the once-stately synagogue, established in 1880, has suffered looting, a firebombing, squatters and general neglect. German architect Thomas Schröder-Berkentien began working on its restoration in 2010, but the project was stuck due to a lack of funding. In 2016, the federal government dedicated a sizable sum, with other funding arriving from the Schleswig-Holstein state, the Lubeck-based Possehl Foundation and UNESCO, which had declared the Old City of Lubeck a World Heritage Site. The total cost of the project amounted to almost $10 million.

Schröder-Berkentien was intent on finding the best craftspeople for the synagogue furniture, and also felt that it was only right that the furniture should come from Israel. He found the Lavi furniture factory online and, after several inquiries and a visit to the carpentry workshop along with his team, was assured that they had the necessary experience and expertise to perform the research and produce items of quality and beauty. Indeed, in its 60 years of operation, Lavi has designed and produced interiors for synagogues in more than 6,000 Jewish communities around the world, including for new and restored synagogues in Germany.

Motti Namdar, the factory’s chief planner, described the challenge, and ultimate satisfaction, of creating replicas of the original items. “We only had three prewar black-and-white photos to go by,” he explained. “The photos showed only one angle and even that was not very clear. It was difficult to make out a lot of the detailing or which metals were used, especially for the ark, which you can see from the photos is very unusual.”

Ultimately, much of Namdar’s work had to be done by deduction and a knowledge of the history of the period. “I traveled to Lubeck to see the synagogue and examine the parts that had not been damaged. Part of the ladies’ gallery was intact. The architect had hired restoration experts who carefully removed the layers of paint from the walls, exposing the original murals. The synagogue as a whole had been built in the Moorish style, and I proceeded in that direction.”

In one of the photos, it’s possible to make out the pointed roof-like structure at the top of the ark, which Namdar designed to include 1,500 “scales,” all coated in pure gold. Under Namdar’s direction, the Lavi factory completed all the articles by the deadline. “The hardest part wasn’t the tight schedule, but, rather, building everything such that it could be taken apart, packed and shipped, and then reassembled so that everything fit perfectly.”

photo - Since its restoration, Carlebach Synagogue in Lubeck, Germany, has been serving as a spiritual hub for Lubeck’s 700-strong Jewish community — Since its restoration, Carlebach Synagogue in Lubeck, Germany, has been serving as a spiritual hub for Lubeck’s 700-strong Jewish community. *(photo from IMP)*

But while it was clear to the craftspeople at Lavi that they wanted to produce replicas that were as authentic as possible, the project’s architect, Schröder-Berkentien, was intent that the structure itself, which was restored to be a national monument, should serve as a testament and, in his words, “like a wound,” as a painful reminder of the events of 1938. This was the reasoning behind his decision not to redo the synagogue’s original ornate façade, which, together with the cupola and other elements, had been destroyed on Kristallnacht. “The plain red brick tells the story of what happened,” he said. “A rebuilt façade would ignore that part of history, failing to show the suffering of the era. This is what makes it such a unique monument among other German synagogues.”

When news of the coronavirus pandemic first broke in January, the factory began working overtime so that everything would be ready for the gala re-inauguration, which was to have been attended by high-ranking German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, members of the restoration committee and local community figures, as well as Winter’s grandchildren from Kibbutz Lavi. However, when it was finally time for the assembly and installation of the furniture, the world was already in COVID-19 lockdown. As soon as it was possible, Lavi sent their own experts from England to complete the work. Now, the synagogue stands in all its resplendent glory, but the ceremony has been postponed indefinitely.

The important thing is that the synagogue is open and operating, serving as a spiritual hub for Lubeck’s 700-strong Jewish community. “This synagogue is not only a place of prayer, but a symbol of the revival of Jewish life in Lubeck, throughout Germany and around the world,” said the current spiritual leader of Lubeck, Rabbi Nathan Grinberg.

– Courtesy International Marketing and Promotion (IMP)

Israel and UAE accord

TeraGroup chair and chief executive officer Oren Sadiv, left, signs a research deal with Khalifa Yousef Khouri, chair of APEX National Investment, in Abu Dhabi. (photo from WAM Emirates News Agency via Israel21c)

Overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic could be just one of many positive results of Israel and the United Arab Emirates establishing full diplomatic relations on Aug. 13, 2020. The historic pact is expected to trigger numerous joint projects in health, economics, agriculture, water technology, telecommunications, security, culture, tourism and other fields.

“Today, we usher in a new era of peace between Israel and the Arab world,” said Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in announcing the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accord with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan (“MBZ”).

Even before the accord, on July 3, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries of Israel signed agreements with Abu Dhabi’s Group 42 concerning research and development collaborations for solutions to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. On Aug. 15, UAE company APEX National Investment signed a strategic commercial agreement with Israel’s TeraGroup to develop SARS-CoV-2 research. And, on Aug. 16, in the culture arena, Israeli singer Omer Adam announced that the UAE royal family invited him to perform a private concert.

Netanyahu said the two technologically advanced countries will open mutual embassies and direct flights, among other bilateral agreements.

“This is the greatest advancement toward peace between Israel and the Arab world in the last 26 years, marking the third formal peace between Israel and an Arab nation, after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994),” he said.

One big difference is that Israel and the UAE – a federation of seven states including Dubai and Abu Dhabi – do not share a border and have never warred with one another. Under-the-radar business and security ties have been building over the past 20 years, and diplomatic ties more recently.

In 2015, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General Dore Gold opened a diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi connected to the International Renewable Energy Agency. In 2018, Israel’s communications minister attended a telecommunications conference in Dubai; in 2019, Israel’s foreign minister spoke at a United Nations environmental conference in Abu Dhabi.

Israel’s culture and sports minister came to the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam judo competition in October 2018, where, for the first time, the UAE permitted Israeli competitors to wear their national flag on their uniforms, and played the Israeli national anthem on the winners’ podium.

The new agreement puts an official stamp of approval on this ongoing relationship and allows it to expand in full daylight.

* * *

The development of coronavirus vaccines, therapeutics and testing will “absolutely” figure prominently in Israeli-UAE deals following the Abraham Accord, said Jon Medved, chief executive officer of Jerusalem-based OurCrowd.

Medved has been traveling to the UAE for years, building contacts between Israeli and Gulf entrepreneurs, investors and experts.

“They’ve got world-class hospitals and there is huge interest in working with Israel on healthcare technology, telemedicine and digital health,” he told Israel21c.

Medved spoke in Abu Dhabi last December at the SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) investment conference. He was the first Israeli investor to appear on a public stage in the UAE.

“I wasn’t sure they would let me speak openly about Israel, but, on the contrary, they wanted me to talk about Israel’s ecosystem,” said Medved. “You could tell we are in historic times. I was amazed how open they are to us and how aware they are of what is going on in our country.”

Medved reiterated that the UAE has long done business quietly with Israel but now will become a bigger trade partner and a bridge to other Gulf-region markets for Israel.

“For most of us, the Arab world has been more or less an afterthought and that’s about to change,” he said. “We will sell them enormous amounts of health gear and ag-tech, education-tech and cybersecurity,” he predicted. “For the startup community, the agreement will open up a source of tremendous new investment from the best investors in the world. [The Emiratis] are not only deep-pocketed but incredibly skilled, experienced and sharp.”

However, he added, “The real challenge for us is how we can really make this a win-win by trying to understand what they want. My sense is they don’t want to be passive investors. They want to build joint ventures, engage in technology transfer, build startups, do business and create jobs and long-term value and partnership.”

* * *

The Abraham Accord is “a huge diplomatic achievement for Netanyahu” and a “brave leadership act of Bin Zayed,” said Yoel Guzansky, senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies and co-author of Fraternal Enemies: Israel and the Gulf Monarchies (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Guzansky, who coordinated Israeli policy on Iran and the Gulf states under four national security advisers and three prime ministers, said in a press call on Aug. 13 that “the announcement was historic and dramatic, but not 100% surprising for those who have been talking behind the scenes with Emiratis.”

“Relations between Israel and some of the Gulf States, especially the UAE, [are] the worst-kept secret in the Middle East,” Guzansky said. “It was almost ordinary for Israelis to visit the Gulf representing industries from diamonds to agriculture to desalination to security. Relations evolved, especially in the past five years, in several dimensions – security intelligence, economic/commercial, cultural and religious dialogue – pushed and led by Bin Zayed.”

Guzansky believes the deal could catalyze other Arab countries in the Gulf and North Africa. Indeed, Netanyahu said he expects to “soon see more Arab countries join our region’s expanding circle of peace.”

Bahrain released a statement lauding the landmark Abraham Accord, while an anonymous Saudi Arabian source told Israel’s Globes business newspaper that “the Arab world has a great deal to gain from Israel.”

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the start of phone service with the UAE and stated that the peace treaty “will benefit the entire region, helping secure a brighter and more prosperous future for all.”

Israel21c is a nonprofit educational foundation with a mission to focus media and public attention on the 21st-century Israel that exists beyond the conflict. For more, or to donate, visit israel21c.org.

Muslim leader an ally

Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Al-Issa receives an award, virtually, from Sacha Roytman-Dratwa, director of the Combat Antisemitism Movement. (screenshot)

During a worldwide virtual event this month involving Jewish leaders and government officials from various countries, one of the leading figures in Sunni Islam was recognized for his work opposing antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa is the secretary-general of the Muslim World League and is a former minister of justice of Saudi Arabia. The Muslim World League is funded by the Saudi government, is based in Mecca and positions itself as a force for modernization and moderation in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim world. Earlier this year, Al-Issa led an historic trip of senior Muslim clerics and leaders to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The online event, titled How Muslims and Jews Can Combat Anti-Semitism Together, featured Al-Issa via video from Saudi Arabia, joined by U.S. government officials including Sam Brownback, a former senator now ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, and Elan Carr, special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism. The event was sponsored by the American Sephardi Federation and the Combat Antisemitism Movement, which bills itself as a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and faiths, united to combat antisemitism. The organization’s director, Sacha Roytman-Dratwa, presented Al-Issa with the movement’s first annual award recognizing Muslim leadership against antisemitism.

“We have been reminded that, even in countries as advanced and multicultural as the United States, misunderstanding and mistrust is dangerous when allowed to fester,” Al-Issa said in an address that was translated from Arabic. “It can lead to anger, violence and social divisions that help no one. Everywhere in the world, we face challenges in building the bridges of communication, partnership and friendship. But, in a world with many complicated threats, from terrorism to global pandemics, our partnerships are more important than ever.”

He talked about the unifying global fight against coronavirus which, he said, “does not care if a person is Muslim or non-Muslim, Jew or non-Jew, Christian or non-Christian … rich or poor, educated or non-educated.”

That unity is a model for opposing the spread of hatred and intolerance, he said, even as extremists attempt to exploit the current uncertainty to push hatred and division.

He spoke of his visit in January to the death camp in Poland, as well as his numerous visits to synagogues and Jewish museums.

“I stood united alongside my Jewish brothers and said, ‘never again.’ Not for Jews, not for Muslims, not for Christians, not for Hindus, not for Sikhs, not for any of God’s children,” said Al-Issa. “History’s greatest horror, the Holocaust, must never be repeated.… The 1.1 million people murdered at Auschwitz were human beings, just like any other, just like any Muslim. And even though it has been 75 years since the gates of the Auschwitz death camp were torn down, creating a better world for future generations is a constant struggle that we must not give up on.”

He cited murders of Muslims in New Zealand, Christians in Sri Lanka and Jews in the United States as indications of the work remaining to be done.

“Whereas Jews and Muslims lived centuries together, in these last decades we have sadly grown apart,” he said. Since taking the helm of the Muslim World League in 2016, he has tried to build bridges with Jewish and Christian communities. He has also been vocal in fighting Holocaust denial in Muslim circles.

“There are those who still try to falsify history, who claim the Holocaust, the most despised crime in human history, is fiction,” he said. “We stand against these liars, no matter who they are or where they come from, for denying history can only serve to further the aims of those who perpetrate hateful ideas of racial, ethnic or religious purity.”

Continued genocides, in Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia and now Myanmar, show that the lessons of the Holocaust are universal, he said.

“Muslims have a responsibility to learn them, heed the warning of history and stand as part of the international community to say, ‘never again,’” Al-Issa said. “We will act together to make just peace a reality for Jews and Muslims, and for all people, religions, civilizations and cultures.”

Uprising observed

The Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver were among 125 partners presenting a global commemoration of the 77th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising recently.

Beginning and ending with stirring renditions of the “Partisans’ Hymn,” the online event, which also commemorated the end of the Second World War 75 years ago, featured a long list of singers and performers from Hollywood, Broadway and elsewhere, including Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Mayim Bialik, Whoopi Goldberg, Adrien Brody, Lauren Ambrose and dozens more.

We Are Here: A Celebration of Resilience, Resistance and Hope, which took place June 14, was produced by the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Sing for Hope, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.

“Zog Nit Keyn Mol” (“Never Say”) is generally called “The Partisans’ Song” or “The Partisans’ Hymn” in English and is an anthem of resilience amid catastrophe sung at Holocaust commemorative events. Written in the Vilna Ghetto by Hirsh Glik after he learned of the six-week uprising by Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, its stirring concluding lines translate as, “So never say you now go on your last way / Though darkened skies may now conceal the blue of day / Because the hour for which we’ve hungered is so near / Beneath our feet the earth shall thunder, ‘We are here!’”

Other musical performances included a Yiddish rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” adapted and performed by pianist and singer Daniel Kahn; “Over the Rainbow,” from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg, two friends from the Lower Eastside of Manhattan, against the spectre of a darkening Europe; and “Es Brent” (“In Flames”), a musical cri de coeur written in 1936 by Mordechai Gebirtig after what he viewed as the world’s indifference to a pogrom in the Polish town of Przycik.

Andrew Cuomo, governor of the state of New York, spoke of his father, the late former New York governor Mario Cuomo, who helped ensure the creation of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the world’s third-largest Holocaust museum.

One of the other presenting partners, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, is the longest continuously producing Yiddish theatre company in the world, now in its 105th season. It was founded to entertain and enlighten the three million Jews who arrived in New York City between 1880 and 1920.

Sing for Hope, another partner, believes in the power of the arts to create a better world. Its mission is to “bring hope, healing and connection to millions of people worldwide in hospitals, schools, refugee camps and transit hubs.”

The Lang Lang International Music Foundation aims “to educate, inspire and motivate the next generation of classical music lovers and performers and to encourage music performance at all levels as a means of social development for youth, building self-confidence and a drive for excellence.”

The program, which runs approximately 90 minutes, is available for viewing at wearehere.live.

Diverse Jewish communities

Morning prayers in Gondar’s Tikvah Synagogue. (photo from David Breakstone)

Since Dr. David Breakstone, deputy chair of the executive of the Jewish Agency, had to cancel his scheduled talks in Calgary and Winnipeg because of COVID-19, the Jewish Independent reached him by phone to learn more about his planned topic – Beta Israel and the Emerging Jewish Communities of the Amazon and Latin America.

Born and raised in the United States, Breakstone made aliyah in 1974 and has been involved with Jewish education for more than 50 years.

“The Jewish Agency (JA) really is the largest global Jewish organization that represents the full spectrum of the Jewish people,” said Breakstone. “JA itself is a partnership of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Federations of North America. It makes for a very dynamic, stimulating environment with incredible reach and ability, impacting our major issues and agenda items regarding world Jewry. To be in a position to impact all of that and influence things is, for me, a very exciting and demanding challenge.”

JA’s four major goals are connecting Jews around the world to one another, their Jewish heritage and to Israel; facilitating aliyah; serving those in need in Israeli society and fighting antisemitism; and assuring the safety and security of Jews everywhere.

The term Beta Israel refers to the Ethiopian Jewish community, thought to be descendants of the Hebrew tribe of Dan, explained Breakstone.

“Back in the 1950s, the JA was building schools and developed a teaching seminary in Ethiopia to work with the community,” he said. “Ethiopian Jewry has presumably been around for thousands of years, but has only been known about for the last 1,000 years…. The Beta Israel are unquestionably fully Jewish. Ovadia Yosef, chief rabbi of Israel back in 1973, confirmed the decision of a response of the Radbaz [David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra] from the 16th century. What’s happened, however, is that there are those of Jewish descent from Beta Israel who, over the years, converted to Christianity … and, so, there are major questions still being argued about whether they converted out of duress or whether they converted freely or for economic reasons.”

photo - Dr. David Breakstone, deputy chair of the Jewish Agency — Dr. David Breakstone, deputy chair of the Jewish Agency. *(photo from David Breakstone)*

Regardless, said Breakstone, “There’s full agreement by the authorities in Israel on whether they are all … zera Israel (of Jewish seed), even if they are not, according to halachah [Jewish law], Jewish.”

The JA is involved with this community because of its Jewish roots. Today, said Breakstone, there are somewhere between 7,500 and 9,000 people from this community who have been waiting anywhere from 10 to 20 years or more to be allowed to make aliyah, all of whom have close relatives in Israel. The JA, he said, is committed to bringing to Israel all Ethiopians who are eligible to come.

Breakstone noted that there are other isolated Jewish communities throughout Africa, South America and India, which he referred to as “the emerging communities of Jews around the world.”

“The Ministry of the Diaspora, a couple of years ago, expressed a great deal of interest in these emerging communities,” he said. “And they put together a very high-level committee that really delved into the issue in depth and came up with the astounding figure of – believe it or not – some 350 million people around the world who have some sort affinity to the Jewish people.

“Affinity is a very vague term,” he cautioned. “In fact, a recent DNA report indicated that 24% of Latin Americans had a significant amount of Jewish DNA…. Most claim ancestry going back to the Marranos, Conversos and Crypto-Jews from Portugal and Spain who had moved to South America and kept various traditions going.

“In Brazil,” he said, “there was supposed to be – they just got notification that it was cancelled – there was going to be the first conference of Jewish communities of Brazil that are not recognized by the established Jewish community there … all of whom are connected through their belief that they are descended from Marranos, Conversos.”

Despite the cancelation of the conference, the Jewish Federation of Brazil is in contact with those communities and is exploring whether or not to recognize them and invite them into the larger community.

“At this point,” said Breakstone, “the JA is also exploring the history in conjunction with the established Jewish community, trying to figure out what to do with those who have not been part of the traditional Jewish establishment and yet, are living life as Jews. That’s quite an interesting phenomenon.”

Uganda is home to a Jewish community that claims no Jewish roots, Breakstone added. In that community, the founding chief was converted by Christian missionaries more than a century ago. And the chief, becoming well-versed in religious studies through the Bible, decided Judaism was the right path.

“Since 2002, they started going to formal conversion, through the worldwide Conservative movement,” said Breakstone. “They now have a local rabbi who studied at one of the Conservative movement theological seminaries … in California and they are fully embraced by the Conservative Jewish world. The JA, too, officially recognizes them as being Jewish. They’ve had a number of people come to Israel through various programs and a number of them are in the process of making aliyah.

“I think the diversity of the different Jewish communities, backgrounds, traditions and cultures that people bring to Jewish life are also something to be celebrated,” he said, “as it broadens the Jewish mosaic.”

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.