Drones to map Europe’s Jewish cemeteries

A private organization that wants to preserve thousands of old Jewish cemeteries in Europe is using aerial drones to map burial sites in countries where the Holocaust decimated Jewish populations that existed before World War II.

 

The European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative said Tuesday that teams of drone operators plan to survey 1,500 endangered Jewish cemeteries in Slovakia, Greece, Moldova, Lithuania and Ukraine this year. Once the boundaries are recorded, the sites will be enclosed and cleaned, the Germany-based organization said.

Drones used to map the Jewish cemeteries (Photo: AP)

The European Union is funding the effort with an 800,000-euro grant ($911,100) at a time of rising alarm over anti-Semitic acts in some countries. This month, swastikas were painted on about 80 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in France, and vandals damaged windows, sinks and a prominent headstone at a Jewish cemetery in northwestern England. The chief executive of the initiative, Philip Carmel, said walls fitted with locking gates will be erected around the graveyards covered by the EU-funded project both to protect them and to re-establish a physical presence, “so people know there’s a Jewish cemetery.”

Preservation work at a Jewish cemetery in Slovakia (Photo: AP)

The group also wants to recruit volunteers in the five countries to help maintain and safeguard the cemeteries. “Fencing doesn’t protect. It’s the people who protect the cemeteries,” Carmel said, noting that a fence didn’t protect a cemetery near the French city of Strasbourg where 37 gravestones and a monument to Holocaust victims were tagged with anti-Semitic graffiti in December.

Preservation work at a Jewish cemetery in Slovakia (Photo: AP)

There are about 10,000 known Jewish burial sites in 46 European countries, according to the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative. About three-quarters are located in central and eastern Europe. In some parts of the east, the organization is on what Carmel called a last-minute “rescuing mission.” Germany funded the nonprofit group’s previous projects, involving 123 cemeteries in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

“It is vital, especially, that the next generation of Europeans learns about Jewish existence to combat rising anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial,” Carmel said. “The cemeteries are so often the last physical proof of centuries of Jewish life in the towns and villages of Europe, which were wiped out in the Shoah. There is no better proof to deny Holocaust denial.”

Preservation work at a Jewish cemetery in Slovakia (Photo: AP)

Many of the cemeteries to be surveyed and enclosed this year had to be found before they could be protected. Local residents helped the organization’s researchers find some, abandoned and grown over since World War II. Pre-1918 maps and aerial photos that Germany’s Luftwaffe used to pinpoint targets for aerial bombing missions helped reveal more. Now, drones are collecting topographic data that experts based in Kiev can use to design plans preservation plans for the sites. As part of the project, workers erected a fence Tuesday around a neglected Jewish cemetery in Slovakia that dates from the 18th century and sits like an island in the middle of vast farmlands east of the capital, Bratislava. “Preserving our Jewish history creates a vital link to our past, which in turn makes us more aware of the present and shapes our future,” Rabbi Isaac Schapira, the initiative’s founder, said. “We owe our ancestors this duty and mark of respect by ensuring their final resting places are restored and preserved.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Drones to map Europe’s Jewish cemeteries : https://ift.tt/2TfFE9N

Holocaust historian quits synagogue that backed Netanyahu deal with extremist party

Renowned Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt has resigned her local synagogue membership, after the Young Israel Movement to which it belongs defended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to strike a deal between the Jewish Home party and the extreme-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Might) party.

"I cannot be associated with an organization that gives such racism, celebration of violence, and immoral policies a ‘heksher' (kosher certification)," Lipstadt wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt (Photo: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC))

"At this time of rising antisemitism, Jew hatred, and prejudice of all kinds, each of us — and not just our spiritual leaders – must speak out and act individually and collectively. And so I speak out with deep sadness that such a despicable action is given ‘cover’ by people who claim to walk in the ways of the Kadosh Baruch Hu,” Lipstadt wrote.

Citing the need to harness as many right-wing votes as possible in the April 9 elections, Netanyahu personally pushed for the Jewish Home agreement with Otzma Yehudit, a party co-founded by a former member of the Kach movement, which was classified as "a right wing terrorist group" by the FBI in 2001.

Lipstadt's announcement of her resignation from the synagogue came after the Young Israel Movement was quoted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency as saying that Netanyahu "acted to get right-wing parties to merge in order to meet the threshold necessary to secure a victory in the election."

"We understand what Prime Minister Netanyahu did, and he did it to have ministers of the national religious and National Union parties in his coalition,” said the statement from the Orthodox organization for which Lipstadt's former Toco Hills, Atlanta congregation is named.

  

A statement from the rabbi of Lipstadt’s synagogue, Adam Starr, condemning the Young Israel support for Netanyahu was not enought to persuade the Holocaust historian to remain.

"This is a party that has racist views,” Lipstadt told the JTA. “This is a party that condones murder. This is a party that condones the man who committed the largest mass murder in Israel by a Jew. Those are all things that I find despicable, and to say it’s just politics is really bad.”

Lipstadt was referring to the support of Otzma Yehudit member Itamar Ben-Gvir for Baruch Goldstein, the Jewish settler who murdered 29 Palestinians in a massacre in Hebron in 1994.

Speaking to JTA. Lipstadt also criticized Netanyahu for wooing nationalist leaders in Europe, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Holocaust historian quits synagogue that backed Netanyahu deal with extremist party : https://ift.tt/2GOcpVJ

Uncertainty regarding motive of Argentine attack

A day after the attack on Argentina’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich, questions are arising regarding the motive of the attackers. Sources among the local Jewish community say that the chances that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism are very low.

 

“I have no idea who was behind the attack on me,” the rabbi said. “I only know that it was a brutal attack and I don’t negate that it could have been motivated by anti-Semitism.” He added that the attackers knew their way around his home very well.

Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich (Photo: AMIA)

The rabbi expressed gratitude for the warm embrace by jews around the world and said that he received phone calls from the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin, chief Rabbi David Lau and Jewish Agency Director Isaac Herzog.

The rabbi’s son Aryeh Leib told Ynet that his father is doing well but has pain. The family has a jewelry business and “we believe the attackers sought to steal. They told him that he is the chief rabbi and that he must have money. But the community believes that they were anti-Semites because they hit the rabbi and only asked his wife for money,” he said.

Argentinean police officials believe that the motive was criminal and that the attack was premeditated with surveillance on his home. The robbers knew exactly which window to use to enter the home. Two years ago, the community’s Sephardic rabbi was attacked in a similar incident. But it turned out that the motive was a family feud and the attackers were family members.

Argentinean President Mauricio Macri tweeted: “We repudiate the attack suffered by the great rabbi Gabriel Davidovich in his house. We accompany him in his recovery and he has our support so that the investigation finds those responsible.”

President Rivlin spoke with Rabbi Davidovich and expressed concern for the community: “The State of Israel will do everything it can to protect every Jew, wherever he chooses to live.”

Rabbi Davidovich with PM Netanyahu

Jewish Agency Director Isaac Herzog spoke with the rabbi and said that the motive does seem to have been anti-Semitic. He added that the agency will assist the community going forward including funding for security. A security officer already visited the rabbi’s home to assess what that would entail. The Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Saka told Ynet that we should not rush to conclusions and declare that the attack was motivated by Jew hatred saying that it didn’t fit the current atmosphere towards Jews in Buenos Aires. Members of the community also told about internal fighting over control in the community that have become violent and of the rabbi’s involvement. “I fear that the rabbi, as anyone else of stature, has to make all sorts of decisions and sometimes some people are not happy with them and there are angry, crazy or violent people… The rabbi deals with marriages and divorce,” the source said. “It is also not clear whether the attackers told the rabbi that he ‘is the rabbi of the Jews,’ perhaps they said that he is the rabbi of AMIA (the local Jewish federation),” he added.

Rabbi Saka stressed that Argentina does not suffer from much anti-Semitism. If it was related, “it would be very unusual,” he said. “It is not like Europe here.” He added that we must be cautious before coming to conclusions.

One member of the community said that the incident reminded many in the community of the 1994 bombing of the local Jewish community center in which 85 people were killed and the murder of Jewish federal prosecutor in 2015. The community says they have enjoyed years of relative quiet since the 1994 attack.

Some have pointed out that the attackers would have to be quite bold to enter into the heart of the Jewish community and that they seemed to know the rabbi’s house well, which raises questions about their identity. “Although nobody wants to admit it, there are tensions within the community between senior members… While everyone is praying for the welfare of the rabbi, many are praying that it does not turn out that Jews were involved in the attack,” they said.

Nevertheless, many are still insisting that details of the attack do seem to indicate that the attack was anti-Semitic. Leon Amiras, director of the Federation of Latin American Jews in Israel, said: “We all hope that the significant problems in the country do not cause a wave of anti-Semitism against the largest Jewish community in Latin America.” It seems that seven individuals were involved in the attack. When the rabbi went to investigate suspicious sounds in his home he was attacked and beaten until he lost consciousness. His wife was tied to a chair and she fainted. The rabbi says that he can’t recall much except that he could hardly breathe.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Uncertainty regarding motive of Argentine attack : https://ift.tt/2To570y

Anti-Semitism spreads in Europe: New incidents in Poland, Spain, Greece

The wave of anti-Semitic attacks in Europe appears to be continuing unabated, with swastikas and hate graffiti appearing on Jewish institutions and property in a number of countries, including Poland, Greece and Spain.  

On Monday morning, Uri and Reut Huminer, emissaries from the World Zionist Organization, discovered swastikas and anti-Jewish graffiti daubed near their home in Madrid. The local police have launched an investigation.

Swastika graffiti in Madrid

In France, swastikas have also repeatedly appeared painted outside the homes of Jews. One of them, Olivier Feldman, told Ynet that the attacks will not make him leave his country.

"It's a terrible feeling, but my life is here," he said, but added that he no longer views France in the same way as before. "I am afraid for my wife, for my children and for myself," he said. "I look at people differently, every day I wonder if it will happen again."

He made it clear that despite the growing anti-Semitism on the continent, he was not considering emigrating to Israel. "My life is here, I work in France, my friends are in France, my family is in France, it's a dream (to move to Israel), but my life is here."

  

Three months ago, vandals sprayed antisemitic and anti-Israeli slogans, along with swastikas, in front of the house of Angel Mas, a senior activist in the Jewish community in Spain and chairman of a Jewish organization fighting local boycotts of Israel.

"If our message stirs such opposition and anger… then it seems that we are doing something right," Mas said.

Nazi symbols daubed outside the home of Jewish activist Angel Mas

The use of neo-Nazi symbols has become common in light of the radicalization of the political arena all across the globe. Extremist groups from both ends of the political spectrum use these symbols as part of the struggle between them.

Even so, deliberately spraying neo-Nazi symbols in a neighborhood where a number of Jews live is very uncommon in Spain. 

Graffiti outside the home of Angel Mas

The Madrid police has launched an investigation into the cases, working alongside the local Jewish community's security organization and Madrid municipality, which has ensured that the slogans outside Mas's home were removed.

The Israeli embassy in Madrid passed images of the graffiti along to several organizations that monitor and combat anti-Semitism, and also posted them on social networks. "It is sad to see that anti-Semitism still exists in Spain," the embassy said. The anti-Jewish sentiment has also reached Poland, where earlier this week large posted were placed on several residential buildings in Warsaw, which read: "These buildings will soon be returned to the Jews, to meet their demands."

Anti-Jewish posters in Warsaw

In the Greek capital Athens, anti-Semitic graffiti was sprayed in the yard of a Jewish school. The graffiti said, among other things: "Jews are whores."

Anti-Semitic graffiti in Athens

In France, which is home to the largest Jewish community in the world after Israel and the US, has seen an increasing number of such anti-Semitic attacks. Recent incidents include swastikas sprayed on mailboxes image of late French Jewish politician Simone Veil, who was a Holocaust survivor, a minister in the French government and president of the European Parliament. In Paris, the word Juden (German for Jew) was daubed on the window of a bagel shop.

In another incident, the French-Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut was attacked with anti-Semitic slogans when he came across a yellow vest demonstration in central Paris. Days later, at least 80 graves were desecrated in a Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg, in the eastern part of the country.

In addition, unknown assailants vandalized the Paris memorial to Ilan Halimi, a young French Jew who was tortured and murdered in a 2006 anti-Semitic attack that shocked France.

Last Thursday, anti-Semitic graffiti was painted on the facades of houses and street furniture in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. A municipal official said that there had been dozen cases of anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed on several streets in the southern part of the French capital. A man working in the area said that the graffiti had not been there the night before.

'Dirty Jew' daubed on a wall in Paris (Photo: AFP)

Graffiti reading "Dirty Jew" and an inverted swastika were sprayed on the wooden door of one of the buildings. Similar slogans were also found outside public toilets, on a bench at a bus stop, and on the facade of another building, beside the sign for a doctor's clinic.

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AFP)

In the wake of the wave of anti-Semitic incidents in France, tens of thousands took to the streets of Paris and other locations in the country in protest last week.

The Paris demonstration was attended by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and former presidents François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy. Before the rally, Philippe warned that anti-Semitism was " deeply rooted in French society."

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Anti-Semitism spreads in Europe: New incidents in Poland, Spain, Greece : https://ift.tt/2tBtcCL

Praise for Hitler and racist caricatures: Anti-Semitism swamps French social networks

Anti-Semitism in 2019 manages to reach far-fetching conclusions in the name of hatred of Jews, thus uniting the extreme right and extreme left in this ideology.

 

Groups that identify themselves as either anti-globalization or anti-Zionist, use their platforms to spread anti-Semitic and racist propaganda, according to the findings of Israeli media research company Vocativ.

“Hello, Moshe? Look like the goyim are suspecting something”

Images and caricatures of Jews with stereotypically long noses are prevalent on the social media pages of these groups.

In France, where a wave of recent anti-Semitic attacks was preceded by anti-Jewish messaging appearing among members of the anti-government yellow vest movement, images of Adolf Hitler with a yellow vest photoshopped onto him also recently began to appear on these pages.

Following the recent anti-Semitic attacks in France, social networks have been abuzz with propaganda targeting the Jewish community, which includes posts entitled "Uncle Adolf didn’t finish the job" and "You did a good job, friends! France belongs to you and not the Zionist Jews."

  

Even Alain Finkielkraut—a well-known writer and son of a Holocaust survivor who was caught on camera being abused by a yellow vest protester, calling him a “dirty Zionist shit”—continues to deal with anti-Semitic abuse online, where countless photoshopped images of him with an exaggerated nose are splattered across those social networks.

Alain Finkielkraut with photoshopped nose

Vocativ monitors communications on the Internet using technological tools developed for intelligence agencies.

“The effect it has on the physcology and the way it's propagated on the social media is quite sophisticated. Our company has for some time been identifying algorithms linking popular movements to anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli messages," said Vocativ’s founder Mati Kochavi. 

  

Kochavi gives an example of a social media post, urging "those who support the yellow vests” to foster hatred for Jews and Israel “because the banks are owned by Jews and (French President Emanuel) Macron worked for Rothschild."

For instance, one extreme-right group posted an old anti-Semitic saying: "Republican France is actually the France of the Jews who slaughter the people, and who the kings of France expelled from here a dozen times."

In another example, a social media page entitled, "A better world without Jews" is run by an extreme Russian-based right-wing group called "Grakov."

Hitler with a photoshopped yellow vest

Meanwhile on the far-left, activists celebrate Alain Soral—a well-known Holocaust denier with several convictions for anti-Semitic incitement, and French comedian Dieudonné—self proclaimed anti-Zionist and inventor of the ‘quenelle’ gesture, a chest-level version of the Nazi salute.

Rabbi Shmuel Lubetzky, a leading rabbi in the Parisian Jewish community, said that in the wake of the recent attacks, he’s met with many yellow vest activists who have apologized and denounced the anti-Semitic views shared by some of the movement’s members.

"On the one hand, there is a show of solidarity, but on the other hand, these activists told us what they think about us in a very straightforward manner," said Lubetzky. “Many rabbis have received encouragement from priests who wish to strengthen the Jewish community and renounce anti-Semitism."

Rabbi Lubetzky believes the rise of anti-Semitism in the country correlates directly with the rise of the yellow vest movement.

“Every Saturday the yellow vests stage demonstrations, which has a mixture of both the extreme right and the extreme left—all the extremists. They spur one another on and create this atmosphere,” he added. 

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Praise for Hitler and racist caricatures: Anti-Semitism swamps French social networks : https://ift.tt/2U7ub9z

Police: Actor Jussie Smollett staged attack because he was unhappy with salary

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Jewish, black and openly gay actor paid $3,500 to his two acquaintances to stage the supposed hate crime because 'he was dissatisfied' with the money he was being paid by the producers of 'Empire' television series, says Chicago's police chief. Police: Actor Jussie Smollett staged attack because he was unhappy with salary : https://ift.tt/2IoKxce

In Pictures: France rallies against anti-Semitism

PARIS  -- Rallies against anti-Semitism attracted crowds of thousands in Paris and other French cities Tuesday following a series of aggressive acts with Jewish targets, including a cemetery where about 80 gravestones were spray-painted with swastikas overnight. In the French capital, former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy joined a rally led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Republic Plaza.

Former president Francois Hollande at the protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: Reuters)

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy attends the protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: Reuters)

French Muslims attend the protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AP)

Political parties from across the spectrum participated in the nationwide rallies with the theme "That's enough", although Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party held a separate event.

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris. The poster reads: That's enough (Photo: AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron went to the Shoah Memorial, a Holocaust museum in Paris, to observe a moment of silence with parliament leaders.

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AP)

 "Every time a French person, because he or she is Jewish, is insulted, threatened -- or worse, injured or killed -- the whole Republic" is attacked, Macron said at a news conference in Paris. Hours before the rallies started, Macron visited the vandalized Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, a small town in the northeastern Alsace region. He said he felt shame at the sight of the defaced grave markers. "This looks like absurd stupidity," the French leader said, looking visibly sad and concerned.

Emanuel Macron visits a desecrated Jewish cemetery in Alsace (Photo: AFP)

Macron observed several moments of silence in front of the vandalized graves while local Jewish community representatives stood by. "We will take action," he promised.

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AP)

 France is home to the world's largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States. Among the incidents arousing worries of renewed anti-Semitism was a torrent of hate speech directed at Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut during a Saturday march by yellow vest protesters.

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AP)

In recent incidents, swastika graffiti was found on street portraits of Simone Veil -- a survivor of Nazi death camps and a European Parliament president who died in 2017. The word "Juden" was painted on the window of a bagel restaurant in Paris, and two trees planted at a memorial honoring a young Jewish man tortured to death in 2006 were vandalized, one cut down.

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AFP)

Two youths were arrested Friday after they allegedly fired shots at a synagogue with an air rifle in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, where a large Jewish community lives. Sarcelles mayor Patrick Haddad told BFMTV on Tuesday that prosecutors believe the motive was anti-Semitism.

עצרת מחאה נגד אנטישמיות בפריז

According to sociologist Danny Trom, author of "France Without Jews," thousands of Jewish people leave France every year because of anti-Semitism.

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AFP)

"This is a low-intensity war, perhaps, but let's not forget the murder of children killed at close range by Mohamed Merah in a school," Trom told French magazine Telerama, referring to the 2012 slayings of three children and a teacher from a Jewish school by an Islamic extremist in the southwestern city of Toulouse. "It is without equivalent in the history of France," he said. "Jews have been present in France since the dawn of time. Now, the pressure is such that they are led to consider their country inhospitable."

Protest against anti-Semitism in Paris (Photo: AFP)

The French government reported a big rise in anti-Semitism last year: 541 registered incidents, up 74 percent from 311 in 2017.

Leaders from France's main religious communities, including Christian, Muslim and Jewish representatives, met at France's Interior Ministry on Tuesday. In a joint declaration, they solemnly condemned anti-Semitic acts and called on people to make individual commitments to combat all forms of racism and hatred.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

In Pictures: France rallies against anti-Semitism : https://ift.tt/2EjQZNK

Macron vows action as French prepare to rally against anti-Semitism

עמנואל מקרון נשיא צרפת מבקר ב זירה חילול בית קברות יהודי קברים אנטישמיות ליד שטרסבורג

Photo: AFP

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Macron vows action as French prepare to rally against anti-Semitism : http://bit.ly/2TYhVbk

French rally against anti-Semitism as Jewish cemetery desecrated

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Hours before marches against anti-Semitism were set to go ahead across France, swastikas were tagged on some 80 Jewish graves in the town of Quatzenheim, in an attack French interior minister called 'disgusting.' French rally against anti-Semitism as Jewish cemetery desecrated : http://bit.ly/2tuLfKO

France to march against anti-Semitism in wake of attacks on Jewish targets

Demonstrations against anti-Semitism are expected to take place on Tuesday across a large number of French cities, following a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in France that have recently hijacked the yellow vest anti-government movement.

Some of the most prominent French politicians are set to participate in the events, expressing their support for the Jewish community in France, the world's largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States.

 

Former president Francois Hollande, former prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the former Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe are all among those announcing their plans to march, according to a report in The Local news website.  Jean-Luc Mélenchon—the leader of socialist-democratic party La France Insoumise (Unbowed France)— will also attend.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, second right, talks with the President of the Central Jewish Consistory of Paris Joel Mergui, left, as district mayor Pierre Aidenbaum, right, looks on outside the bagel shop which was sprayed with the German word "Juden" on its front window last week, in Paris, Tuesday, Feb.12, 2019.

France's Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, chief government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux, European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau are also set to demonstrate. "There is a leprosy that rises in Europe, we must fight it and we will shoot it down," said Loiseau.

Although French President Emmanuel Macron will not attend the proceedings, he will give a speech at an annual dinner organized by CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish groups on Wednesday.

According to French authorities, the total of registered anti-Semitic acts rose to 541 in 2018 from 311 in 2017, a rise of 74 percent. Recently several unsettling incidents took place across France. Portraits of the late Simone Veil drawn on mailboxes were daubed with swastikas. A survivor of Nazi death camps and a European Parliament president who died in 2017, Veil also spearheaded abortion rights as one of France's most prominent female politicians.

French street artist Christian Guemy cleans mailboxes vandalized with swastikas covering the face of the late Holocaust survivor and renowned French politician, Simone Veil, in Paris, Tuesday Feb. 12, 2019.

In another incident, one of the founders of bagel chain Bagelstein said the word "Juden" was painted on the window of one of their restaurants, although he insisted the inscription was found before Saturday's yellow-vest demonstrations in Paris.

 

"Anti-Semitism is spreading like a poison, like a venom," Interior minister Christophe Castaner said last week when attending a ceremony at the memorial of Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man who was tortured to death back in 2006. Two trees planted at the scene where he was found dying in a Paris suburb have been vandalized. "It's rotting minds, it's killing," Castaner said, vowing that the government would fight anti-Semitism.

According to sociologist Danny Trom, author of the book "France Without Jews," thousands of Jewish people leave France every year because the rise of Anti-Semitism.

"This is a low-intensity war, perhaps, but let's not forget the murder of children killed at close range by Mohamed Merah in a school," Trom told French culture magazine Telerama, referring to the murder in 2012 of three children and a teacher from a Jewish school by an Islamic extremist in the southwestern city of Toulouse.

"It is without equivalent in the history of France," he said. "Jews have been present in France since the dawn of times. Now, the pressure is such that they are led to consider their country inhospitable."

Associated Press contributed to this report.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

France to march against anti-Semitism in wake of attacks on Jewish targets : http://bit.ly/2SZp6CN

Future rabbis from US plant with Palestinians, sow rift with Israel

Young American rabbinical students are doing more than visiting holy sites, learning Hebrew and poring over religious texts during their year abroad in Israel.

In a stark departure from past programs focused on strengthening ties with Israel and Judaism, the new crop of rabbinical students is reaching out to the Palestinians. The change reflects a divide between Israeli and American Jews that appears to be widening.

American rabbinical students take a group photo, with the village of Attuwani in the background, during a day planting olive trees, near Hebron in the West Bank

 On a recent winter morning, Tyler Dratch, a 26-year-old rabbinical student at Hebrew College in Boston, was among some two dozen Jewish students planting olive trees in the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani in the southern West Bank. The only Jews that locals typically see are either Israeli soldiers or ultranationalist settlers. "Before coming here and doing this, I couldn't speak intelligently about Israel," Dratch said. "We're saying that we can take the same religion settlers use to commit violence in order to commit justice, to make peace." Dratch, not wanting to be mistaken for a settler, covered his Jewish skullcap with a baseball cap. He followed the group down a rocky slope to see marks that villagers say settlers left last month: "Death to Arabs" and "Revenge" spray-painted in Hebrew on boulders and several uprooted olive trees, their stems severed from clumps of dirt.

Hebrew graffiti is seen on a rock, that Palestinian villagers say was made by neighboring Israeli settlers

This year's student program also includes a tour of the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, a visit to an Israeli military court that prosecutes Palestinians and a meeting with an activist from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which is blockaded by Israel. The program is run by "T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights," a US-based network of rabbis and cantors. Most of T'ruah's membership, and all students in the Israel program, are affiliated with the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements—liberal streams of Judaism that represent the majority of American Jews. These movements are marginalized in Israel, where rabbis from the stricter Orthodox stream dominate religious life. The T'ruah program, now in its seventh year, is meant to supplement students' standard curricular fare: Hebrew courses, religious text study, field trips and introductions to Jewish Israeli society. Though the program is optional, T'ruah says some 70 percent of the visiting American rabbinical students from the liberal branches of Judaism choose to participate. The year-long program is split into one semester, focused on Israel's presence in the West Bank, and another, on alleged human rights abuses inside Israel. T'ruah claims its West Bank encounters aren't one-off acts of community service, but experiences meant to be carried home and disseminated to future congregations. "We want to propel them to action, so they invite their future rabbinates to work toward ending the occupation," said Rabbi Ian Chesir-Teran, T'ruah's rabbinic educator in Israel.

American rabbinical students plant olive trees, near the West Bank village of Attuwani, south of Hebron

 The group began its trip in the most Jewish of ways, a discussion about the weekly Torah portion that turned into a spirited debate about the Ten Commandments. "The Torah says don't covet your neighbor's fields, and we're going to a Palestinian village whose private land has been confiscated for the sake of covetous Jews building settlements," Chesir-Teran said. As their bus trundled through the terraced hills south of Hebron, students listened to a local activist's condensed history of the combustible West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. As part of interim peace deals in the 1990s, the West Bank was carved up into autonomous and semi-autonomous Palestinian areas, along with a section called Area C that remains under exclusive Israeli control. The destinations of the day—the Palestinian villages of At-Tuwani and Ar-Rakkes—sit in Area C, also home to around 450,000 Israeli settlers. Palestinians seek all of the West Bank as the heartland of a hoped-for independent state. The group was guided by villagers to their olive trees—an age-old Palestinian symbol and a more recent casualty of the struggle for land with Israeli settlers. Israeli security officials reported a dramatic spike last year in settler violence against Palestinians. Yishai Fleisher, a settler spokesman, blamed the attacks on the "atmosphere of tension" in the West Bank. "We're against vigilantism, unequivocally," he said. As Israeli soldiers watched from the hilltop, Palestinians and Jews dug their fingers into the crumbling soil, setting down roots where holes torn out of the field hinted at recent vandalism.

American rabbinical students plant olive trees, on the land near the West Bank village of Attuwani, south of Hebron

Dratch said he came of age in Pennsylvania during the violent years of the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s. "My religious education was steeped in fear of Palestinians," he said. But in college, Dratch's ideas about Israel changed. Dratch says he still supports Israel, while opposing its policies in the West Bank. "I realized I could be Zionist without turning my back on my neighbor, on Palestinians," he said. With hundreds of young American rabbis sharing such sentiments, some in Israel find the trend alarming. "I worry about a passion for social justice becoming co-opted by far-left politics among future American Jewish leaders," said Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, a Jewish research center in Jerusalem. "Future rabbis are marginalizing themselves from the overwhelming majority of Israeli Jews," he added. As Israel heads toward elections in April, opinion polls point to another victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his religious, nationalist allies. In the US, meanwhile, surveys show American Jews, particularly the younger generation, holding far more dovish views toward Palestinians and religious pluralism. Netanyahu's close friendship with President Donald Trump has further alienated many American Jews, who tend to vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Two weeks after visiting At-Tuwani, the group received disheartening news: half of the 50 trees they'd planted had been uprooted, apparently by settlers. The students scrambled to make plans to replant. Dratch said that while his time in Israel has provided him with plenty of reasons to despair, he still harbors hope for change. "We'll be sharing these stories to give people a full picture of what it means to care about this place," he said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Future rabbis from US plant with Palestinians, sow rift with Israel : http://bit.ly/2GyrU3I

In Japan, 'Jewish domination' is a good thing, says prof.

Traits ascribed to Jews that are seen as negative in the West, such as a disproportionate control over world events and finances, are welcomed and valued in Japan, claims a Japanese history professor from Jerusalem.

 

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter

 

Professor Ben Ami Shiloni, professor emeritus of Japanese history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has published a book about Jewish-Japanese ties and believes that the two peoples have developed a consciousness and feel uniqueness compared to other nations.

    

Japanese pro-Israel Makuya (Mishkan) movement (Photo: ELi Mandelbaum)

  

For centuries Japan was closed to the outside world and only in the 19th century did the country open up to commerce with the West. Accordingly, Japan had no Jewish community, or anti-Semitism, but with the opening of the country to outsiders, European Jewish businessmen formed ties with the country.

 

According to Shiloni, it was — ironically — only after Jewish investment helped Japan beat Russia in their 1904-5 war that European anti-Semitic literature began to enter the country.

 

“The interesting thing is that the Japanese reached entirely different conclusions from European anti-Semitic theories. While the Germans believed that the solution to the anti-Semitic claim that "the Jews rule the world" is expulsion and annihilation, the Japanese concluded that they must learn from the Jews, connect with them and implement the good things they do. In other words, their anti-Semitism became philo-Semitism — affection and respect.

 

Albert Einstein in Japan, 1922

 

 

Shiloni points to the 1923 visit by Albert Einstein in to Japan. The scientist was welcomed with great fanfare and given a lot of respect. He met with many senior figures and delivered a series of highly publicized lectures.

“In order to understand the Japanese approach to the Jews, a few years ago we were visited by a senior Japanese delegation,” Shiloni says. “After the meal, the leader of the group stood up, thanked the hosts and said that he and the other members of the delegation knew very little ablaut Jews and Israel before the trip. In preparation, they searched for a book on the subject and after reading it they felt that they now understand Israel’s success and the special position Jews hold. “He then drew the book from his pocket and gave it to us a s a gift — it was The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This shows that classic anti-Semitic literature is seen by the Japanese as a model for success and imitation. In essence, they draw counterintuitive conclusions regarding the Jews and how to relate to them,” he said.

An interesting chapter in Jewish-Japanese relations is the safe haven afforded by the Nazi allied Japanese government to Jewish refugees fleeing Europe. Many Jews settled in Shanghai (then under Japanese control) and survived the war.

Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese vice Consul in Kaunas Lithuania risked his life and career to issue thousands of visas to desperate Jews, allowing them to flee the Nazis. Sugihara was later awarded the Righteous Among the Nations Award by Yad Vashem. Following World War Two, many Japanese were ashamed of their country’s pact with Hitler, according to Shiloni. Many saw the new State of Israel as a gateway for them to the Western-American influenced world. Currently there is a small Jewish community in Tokyo and two Chabad houses. Most of the Jews there are on business, along with a number of Israeli travelers and Jews married to a Japanese spouse. There are also groups of Japanese that express a special interest in Israel and the Jewish people from an intellectual perspective and they often visit Israel. In the 1950s, Kibbutzim attracted Japanese volunteers, although that trend has waned in recent years says Shiloni.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

In Japan, 'Jewish domination' is a good thing, says prof. : http://bit.ly/2STHZGY

Germany anti-Semitic offenses up sharply in 2018, government says

BERLIN - Anti-Semitic offenses rose almost 10 percent in Germany last year, and violent attacks were up more than 60 percent, crime statistics showed Wednesday. Police recorded 1,646 offenses motivated by hatred against Jews, said a government answer to a request by far-left Die Linke party lawmaker Petra Pau. Among these were 62 violent offenses that left 43 people injured, up from 37 physical attacks the previous year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks at a demonstration in Berlin against anti-Semitism (Photo: AFP/Archive)

Germany, like other western countries, has watched with alarm as anti-Semitic and other racist hate speech and violence have increased in recent years as the political climate has coarsened and grown more polarised. A mass influx of mostly Muslim refugees and migrants to Germany from 2015 drove the rise of the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which since late 2017 is the biggest opposition group in parliament. Leading AfD members, aside from railing against Islam and multiculturalism, have also made comments that play down the Holocaust. Party co-leader Alexander Gauland described Nazi Germany's industrial-scale murder of Jews and other minorities as a mere "speck of bird poo in over 1,000 years of successful German history."

Another leading AfD politician, Bjoern Hoecke, has criticised the sprawling Holocaust memorial in Berlin as a "monument of shame." 

The Holocaust memorial in Berlin (Photo: Marko Priske)

  The president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, and other Jewish community leaders have accused the AfD of fomenting hate against refugees, Muslims and Jews. At the same time, Germany has also witnessed a rise in anti-Semitic attacks committed by migrants from Arab states. In one prominent case last year a 19-year-old Syrian man was convicted for assault after lashing out with his belt at an Israeli man wearing a kippa while shouting "yahudi", Jew in Arabic. A video of the street assault, filmed by the victim on his smartphone, had sparked widespread public revulsion as it spread on social media, and triggered street rallies in solidarity with Jews.

'Berlin Wears a Kippa' soldiarity march (Photo: EPA)

News of the belt attack coincided with another public outcry, over a rap duo who made light of Nazi death camp prisoners but went on to win the music industry's sales-based Echo award, which was subsequently axed.  The controversial winners were Kollegah and Farid Bang, whose lyrics include: "I'm doing another Holocaust, coming with a Molotov" and who sing that their bodies are "more defined than Auschwitz prisoners." 

Days after the belt assault, some 2,000 people rallied at a "Berlin Wears Kippa" solidarity demonstration, matched by smaller events in several other German cities.

Most anti-Semitic offenses were however committed by far-right perpetrators, reported the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel in an article on the new crime statistics.

An anti-Israel protest in Frankfurt, Germany (Photo: Reuters)

 Pau in her statement charged that "we are seeing that militant right-wing extremists can openly call for the desecration of Jewish institutions and attacks against Jewish people."

  

A rising number of people and groups in the "gray zone between conservatism and right-wing extremism are denying the Holocaust and engaging in anti-Semitic agitation," she said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Germany anti-Semitic offenses up sharply in 2018, government says : http://bit.ly/2RZxwWb

Anti-Semitism rears its head in France roiled by anti-government protests

PARIS -- Portraits of a Holocaust survivor stained with swastikas. A memorial in honor of a murdered Jewish man vandalized. A bagel shop with the German word "Juden" sprayed on its front window. These are just a few of the hundreds of anti-Semitic acts that have been committed in France, which is home to the world's largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States, in recent months. According to French authorities, the total of registered anti-Semitic acts rose to 541 in 2018 from 311 in 2017, a rise of 74 percent.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, second right, talks with the President of the Central Jewish Consistory of Paris Joel Mergui, left, as district mayor Pierre Aidenbaum, right, looks on outside the bagel shop which was sprayed with the German word "Juden" on its front window last week, in Paris, Tuesday, Feb.12, 2019.

A judicial official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that four investigations have been opened by Paris prosecutors after the latest incidents in the French capital last weekend. The person was not authorized to be publicly named because the investigations are ongoing.

"Anti-Semitism is spreading like a poison, like a venom," Interior minister Christophe Castaner said when attending Monday night a ceremony at the memorial of Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man who was tortured to death back in 2006. Two trees planted at the scene where he was found dying in a Paris suburb have been vandalized.

« Ici on plantera des arbres encore plus grands, encore plus beaux ».
À Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, en mémoire d’Ilan Halimi. pic.twitter.com/Jy1J2mwpg1

— Christophe Castaner (@CCastaner) February 11, 2019

"It's rotting minds, it's killing," Castaner said, vowing that the government would fight anti-Semitism. Castaner did not link the rise of incidents to any specific groups. But some members of France's yellow vest anti-government movement are known for extremist views, and several anti-Semitic incidents have occurred amid the broad-based movement that started in November. Frederic Potier, a French government official in charge of fighting anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination based on sexual orientation, said some far-right groups have managed to infiltrate yellow-vest demonstrations.

"Anti-Semitic tags up to nausea in the heart of Paris this weekend," Potier wrote in a message on Twitter with a picture of a Parisian wall with a derogatory inscription, insinuating that French President Emmanuel Macron was just a tool of a supposed Jewish plot.

"When the hatred of the Jews overlaps with the hatred of democracy, the vocabulary of the fachosphere (the sphere of fascists) is found on the walls," Potier wrote.

 

In addition to the desecration of the Ilan Halimi memorial, portraits of the late Simone Veil drawn on mailboxes were daubed with swastikas. A survivor of Nazi death camps and a European Parliament president who died in 2017, Veil also spearheaded abortion rights as one of France's most prominent female politicians.

French street artist Christian Guemy cleans mailboxes vandalized with swastikas covering the face of the late Holocaust survivor and renowned French politician, Simone Veil, in Paris, Tuesday Feb. 12, 2019.

 In a separate incident, one of the founders of bagel chain Bagelstein said the word "Juden" was painted on the window of one of their restaurants, although he insisted the inscription was found before Saturday's yellow-vest demonstrations in Paris. In a speech to France's leading Jewish group last year, Macron pledged to protect the nation's Jews amid growing concerns about intolerance. In 2012, three children and a teacher from a Jewish school were killed by an Islamic extremist in the southwestern city of Toulouse. In 2015, four customers of a Paris kosher supermarket were slain by another terrorist.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Anti-Semitism rears its head in France roiled by anti-government protests : http://bit.ly/2N3yMGI

'Hope is a greater human need than even love'

Just before Passover 1972, Ben Corn's mother called him, his brother and sister to her bedroom, and told them: “Dad will not be with us at the Seder, he’s in the hospital and he’s not doing well.” A few hours later, they all arrived at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in Manhattan.

 

“Dad was a successful lawyer, a student at Harvard and an outstanding athlete in college, and suddenly we saw him in bed, weak and thin,” recalls Corn. “The doctors told us he had metastatic prostate cancer.”

Corn, now Professor Ben Corn, was 11 years old. The tears still choke him up as he recalls his last moments with his father, when the walls of denial that his parents built around their children collapsed in one horrific moment. Suddenly they realized that all the business trips and their father’s frequent absences were actually hospitalizations. “At this point we realized that he was extremely ill, but even then the doctors did not tell us that the prognosis was so dismal.”

A little more than a week later, on the last holiday days of Passover, the phone rang in the family's apartment.

“We are a religious family and we do not talk on the phone during the holiday, but we all knew what this conversation meant. There were four telephones in the house, and the four of us picked them up simultaneously.”

On the other end, the doctor said: “Mrs. Corn, we are sorry to tell you that your husband has passed away. Can we do an autopsy?” In fact, the doctor used the words “has expired” - a sterile, formal and insensitive expression whose exact meaning is “out of date”, as if it were a container of cottage cheese to be removed from the supermarket shelves.

Prof. Ben Corn (Photo: Courtesy)

 

After the trauma of his father's death, Ben swore to himself that he would become a doctor when he grew up and he would find a cure for prostate cancer. Indeed, right after high school he was accepted into a prestigious accelerated medical program in Boston. He remembers one case that drove him to find his true purpose.

"I was a student and I accompanied a senior physician who had to inform a cancer patient that his tumor had spread, that there were metastases in his brain, and that he had only three months left to live.” We went into the room and without making eye contact she said to the patient, 'It’s brain cancer. You need radiation treatments.’ Six years after the death of my father I realized that things had not really changed as far as the communication between doctors and patients with terminal illness was concerned. At that point I said to myself, 'I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I’m here to educate my colleagues that that is not how to talk to patients, that those days are over. This is my true calling as a doctor.'"

Corn, now aged 58 and a senior oncologist and radiotherapy specialist at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, has not discovered the winning drug for prostate cancer. In fact, it is still one of the most common cancers among men over the age of 50. But in more than one sense, the 11-year-old boy, and later the medical student, fulfilled the mission that he outlined for himself: Corn conceptualized and leads a special program aimed at giving hope to the most difficult patients, those who suffer from cancer that has spread and know that their time is limited. And he does so using seemingly simple means, which for some reason have been squeezed out of the doctor-patient communication models over the years: listening, straight talk, basic human respect, compassion.

Before choosing to focus on his impressive Hope Project, Corn worked hard to develop a brilliant career. After graduation, he began his residency in oncology at the University of Pennsylvania and built a reputation as a specialist in the treatment of brain tumors and the reproductive system. At the age of 36 he became a full professor.

“In the United States, when you receive a professorship, you are entitled to six months of sabbatical,” he says, “I wanted very much to be in Israel and managed to arrange a year of sabbatical, which I divided between the United States and Israel, alternating every two weeks. I moved to Jerusalem with the family and we fell in love – me, my wife, and the kids. At the end of the year I decided, I’m leaving everything and we’re making Aliya. I did not have a place to work, no one promised me a position, and during that period there was a big gap in standards between Israel and the US, in my field (radiation oncology). But the desire to live in Israel prevailed."

Corn did not immediately land in an Israeli hospital. He accepted an offer to run a start-up company that focused on biotechnology. A significant part of the work was to maintain regular contact with the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration.

“The FDA determines the prioritization of new drugs and treatments, giving permits for trials,” he says. “So in fact, this is the organization in the world that most influences the progress of medicine.”

After six years in the business world, he received an offer to launch a radiation institute at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv and returned to practicing medicine full time. Along with the day-to-day work, the return to the field reinvigorated his urge to deal with the emotional aspect of cancer, that which touches upon the quality of life of patients.

“With all the tremendous progress made in recent years in the treatment of cancerous tumors, even if we look at the situation through rose-colored glasses, at best patients have only a sixty percent chance of recovery. In actuality, it’s probably less when you consider all types of cancer in the aggregate, but even if we accept this figure, we still are left with 40% of patients for whom there is, in fact, no hope.”

Together with his wife Dvora, Corn founded an organization called Life's Door, which later also received the Hebrew name “Gisha LaChaim.” One of the organization's focal points is the “Conversation Project”, which is designed to help doctors - and also family members - speak with those going through serious illness about the end of life. The project is based on the work of Ellen Goodman, an American journalist and activist who works to promote the right of terminally ill patients to be partners in decisions regarding the medical care that they will receive.

“On the one hand, everyone knows that they will reach the end of life, on the other hand it is almost impossible to talk about it,” says Corn. “We decided to formulate a kind of kit that includes specific suggestions and questions that could be asked even at the dinner table with the family. It facilitates talking about the end of life: How do you see the end of your life? Do you want aggressive treatment right up to the end or would you prefer to stop the treatments? In very gentle language, Goodman provides very effective tools that allow us to bring up these questions and help us understand what a person's values are, what her desires may be, what motivates him. In short what makes the patient’s day."

Prof. Ben Corn with late President Shimon Peres (Photo: Courtesy)

The “Conversation Project” already has Hebrew, Arabic and Russian versions, and soon there will be one in Amharic. Professor Corn and his organization lead workshops for physicians and for any one who is interested in the subject, in Israel and overseas. The project, which has gained the support of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, teaches family members of patients and also those who are responsible for their treatment, how they really want to spend the time they have left, and gives them a certain sense of control and responsibility: they are no longer passive victims of a terrible disease that nothing can be done about.

But at some point, Corn discovered that the “Conversation Project,” with all its proven importance, still does not cover all of the patient's emotional needs.

“We started to think, what do we need to do? What’s missing? We realized that by communicating directly and openly with a patient we can find different medical solutions with him, new treatments that will make it easier for him to deal with the disease, but that is not always what he really needs. We understood that there is something else a doctor can offer a patient, and that something is hope. Here I’ve been greatly assisted by the work of Prof. Malka Margalit, an educational psychologist and dean of the School of Behavioral Sciences at the Peres Academic Center.”

Here you've completely abandoned medicine and switched to philosophy.

“You could say that, although I’m still very much an oncologist. Many people do not really understand what hope is. But it’s the most human value that exists ... Hope constitutes a greater human need than even love. People can live without love but they can’t live without hope. Animals have models of love, but they do not have a model of hope. And the reason why hope doesn’t exist in the animal kingdom is that hope relates to the future, to looking ahead. The ability to look into the future is a solely a human quality. In other words, only people can set goals that are achievable.”

What hope can be offered to a patient who has developed cancer and has six months left to live?

“Let's say you have widely metastatic prostate cancer. As an oncologist, I can’t cure you, which is of course frustrating. But I can find another goal, together with you, that is attainable. And this I can learn by getting to know you. We have what we call a ‘Hope Map’ that’s divided into sections. So I might ask, what is your medical goal? The answer is to cure the cancer. But what if we don’t succeed in curing the cancer, as happens to at least forty percent? We keep going and we look for another goal. And then the patient says, ‘It scares me that if the tumor spreads, I’ll experience shortness of breath. I want to prevent this situation.’ This is an attainable goal. We have tools that can help him. Or a woman suffering from cervical cancer might say, 'I do not want to bleed, it's a matter of dignity.' Here too we can help.”

Probably one of the most significant hopes of terminally ill patients is not to suffer pain.

“Yes. Pain is one of the main fears of patients, and in this area you can offer quite a lot. There’s a great variety of medications that will alleviate pain. Until recently many doctors were afraid of giving these drugs because we feared we might cause addiction. But today we understand that addiction to painkillers is not as consequential when it comes to people who are going to die.”

The issue of hope is not limited only to feasible medical goals such as reducing pain, preventing bleeding or relieving shortness of breath.

“When I talk to the patients openly, I get to know their dreams and aspirations, in the professional sphere and even the personal... Let's say a particular patient has two years to live. You talk to him and he says, 'I always wanted to do a Master’s degree' or 'I have a dream of publishing a book of poetry', and I say to him, 'So let's go and we’ll help you fulfill this.' We understand that things never go completely smoothly, there are ups and downs, bumps along the way, so in the workshop that we lead, we teach how to overcome them or circumvent them. And here we arrive at another essential component in our communication with patients: motivation. How we inspire motivation and encourage them to action.”

In working to instill hope as an integral component of communication with terminally ill patients, Corn had to overcome another obstacle: the automatic disagreement of some of his colleagues, whose education was focused on finding a solutions to specific problems rather than dealing with an amorphous concept like hope. “Doctors are a tough crowd, because a doctor presents himself as a scientist who deals with measurable phenomena, and of course there is a lot of ego involved, but we received excellent feedback from physicians who went through our workshops and we get invitations from diverse places in Israel and abroad - from Greece to Germany to South Africa. You have to remember that oncologists are the doctors who struggle the most with burnout, so our workshops give them hope as well.“

What about the fear of fostering false hope in patients?

“A lot of doctors have told me that they’re fearful of this and I agree that it’s important to avoid it. There really is a thin line that separates hope from false hope, and you have to learn to recognize it, which comes with skill and experience," he says.

"On the other hand, one study sought to investigate how often doctors use the term ‘cure’ when treating children with cancer in an experimental trial that was evaluating safety of a chemotherapy drug rather than curability of the tumor. It turned out that 70 percent still used the term cure, not because of lack of awareness or an irresponsible desire to mislead. The doctors assumed that people want to be convinced that it’s possible to find a cure.

"Our mission is to teach these doctors that even if cure is not currently attainable, we can still help patients pursue hope in the broader sense of the word.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)

'Hope is a greater human need than even love' : http://bit.ly/2E2ATYC

Pittsburgh synagogue attack survivor gets birthday chorus during State of the Union

In a rare joyful, bipartisan moment, lawmakers briefly interrupted the State of the Union on Tuesday evening to serenade a survivor of October's Pittsburgh synagogue shooting with an impromptu version of "Happy Birthday."

Judah Samet, who is also a Holocaust survivor and IDF veteran, celebrated his 81st birthday on Tuesday.

Judah Samet, who survived the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, smiles he is sung 'Happy Birthday' during the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill

 President Donald Trump saluted Samet during the State of the Union, saying Samet can still recall the moment nearly 75 years ago when he was put on a train after 10 months in a concentration camp. Suddenly the train screeched to a halt. A soldier appeared. Samet's family braced for the worst, but then his father cried out with joy, "It's the Americans." Lawmakers jumped to their feet and applauded as Trump told the story, and they spontaneously sang "Happy Birthday." Samet smiled and shouted "thank you."

Noting the singing lawmakers, Trump told Samet that members of Congress "wouldn't do that for me." Samet immigrated to Israel after World War II and served in the Israel Defense Forces before moving to the United States in the 1960s.

In October he escaped the shooting at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue, in which 11 people were killed and six were wounded.

Robert Bowers, 46, stormed the synagogue during Shabbat services, yelling "All Jews must die" before opening fire using an AR-15 rifle and two handguns.

He then barricaded himself on the third floor of the building as police arrived at the scene. The gunman, as well as the four police officers, were wounded in the exchange of fire that ensued. Three of the police officers were shot and one was hurt by shrapnel.

Judah Samet blows a kiss as he is acknowledged during the State of the Union address at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

Bowers, who was pinned down by SWAT teams, eventually surrended himself to the police, crawling to them due to his injuries.

Trump also used his State of the Union speech Tuesday night to condemn Iran for its theats to wipe Israel off the map, and vowed to battle anti--Semitism in whatever form it took.

"We will not avert our eyes from a regime that chants Death to America and threatens genocide against the Jewish people," Trump said in his 82-minute speech.

"We must never ignore the vile poison of anti-Semitism, or those who spread its venomous creed. With one voice, we must confront this hatred anywhere and everywhere it occurs,” he said.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Pittsburgh synagogue attack survivor gets birthday chorus during State of the Union : http://bit.ly/2SwFB8V