Israel Today - December 2013

An Israel Awareness Publication

eHillel.org Tevet 5774/December 2013

ISRAEL TODAY

Keeping Iran on Hold

By Jacobo Fux, Grade 10 A little more than three weeks ago, the P5+1 and the Iranians negotiated an accord to allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons in a manner that allowed the world to be confident Iran wasn’t developing a nuclear weapon. For days, they had been discussing issues and the negotiations were challenging, especially since the P5+1 were adverse in forming a bad deal with the Iranians. The question that everyone had been asking was if the P5+1 powers were going to give a favorable deal to the Iranians.

The deal was necessary due to the P5+1’s concerns about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and enriching uranium. The P5+1 were scared that Iran might use their nuclear program to annihilate their enemies which includes Israel and the United States.

Although it was difficult for the P5+1 to construct a workable deal with the Iranians, eventually they both agreed on decreasing the chance of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. One part of the deal was to limit the uranium enrichment to 20%. In addition, the IAEA, the world body that inspects for nuclear deal violations, would be allowed to do inspections daily in the facilities where uranium is enriched. These sights include Natanz and Fordow, the largest facilities.

With inspecting these facilities, the IAEA is capable of finding out whether or not Iranians are making nuclear weapons or enriching uranium for energy needs alone. The deal is beneficial to Iranians. By agreeing to this deal, they are able to receive three to four billion dollars in oil revenue. If the Iranians hadn’t agreed with this deal, the P5+1 would have had no choice but to extend the sanctions until the Iranians agreed to the plan. It has been nervewracking for other countries around the world including Israel, because they have been waiting for months on making the perfect plan. At this point, the world waits to see if the Iranians will keep to the interim deal.

Picture credit: Associated Press Picture credit: The Forward

President - Sarah Angress Editor - Daniela Hanono Writers - Joseph Wolf & Jonathan Allen Rabbi Uri Pilichowski - Faculty Advisor

Picture credit: The Forward

Israel’s Viewpoint: The Deal with Iran

by Maxine Dunn, Grade 11

The United States, along with the P5+1 and Iran, reached a deal in Geneva to come to a diplomatic solution to the world’s concern over Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disagreed with the agreement and stated that the world was making an historic mistake. Prime Minister Netanyahu fears for Israel’s security, as the terms of the deal put Israel at risk. The deal focuses on easing of economic sanctions in exchange for inspections and limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment.

This deal is just an interim agreement to try to slow down the Iranian nuclear program. This agreement will hold for the next six months while America and Iran try to negotiate a final deal. Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani

and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced that this deal represents a victory for Iran. Saudi Arabia took the side of Prime Minister Netanyahu, condemning the deal. Tariq Alhomayed, a person close to Saudi Arabia’s policy makers, said, “Obama had sold the region, abandoning the U.S.’s historic alliance with Gulf”--and that the agreement was “more dangerous than 9/11.”

Conservative Iranians also condemn the deal.

After this deal was made, American Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the United States remains committed to Israel’s security. “I can’t emphasize enough that Israel’s security in this negotiation is at the top of our agenda,” Kerry said. “And the United States will do everything in our power to make certain that Iran’s nuclear program -- a program of weaponization possibilities -- is terminated.”

Kerry recently visited Israel to talk about Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. A state department official reported that Secretary Kerry would give Prime Minister Netanyahu an update on the P5+1 negotiations. This official also stated that Kerry would discuss with Netanyahu the steps to reaching a final and definitive accord with Iran on its nuclear program.

Israel Today is a publication of Scheck Hillel Community School. It is written by the school’s Israel Advocacy Club, a group committed to educating and raising awareness about news and issues connected to Israel. With passionate spirit, vast knowledge and clear vision, club members train to become articulate spokespeople and advocates who meet with politicians and other community leaders to make a difference locally and globally. eHillel.org/IsraelToday.

Dvar Torah & Advocacy

Opinion on the Iranian Deal

by David Woldenberg, Grade 12

By Rabbi Uri Pilichowski, Faculty Advisor We recently observed the day of mourning and fast of the Tenth of Tevet. Although it was three years before the inevitable destruction and exile, on the Tenth of Tevet, Yerushalayim ceased to function as the city to where Jews could go to relate to Hashem.

Under siege, the Jews of Yerushalayim were forced to fight for their lives. While the Beit Hamikdash continued to function in limited capacity, it was not the center of searching for Hashem that it was designed to be. In recognition that our sins continue to prevent Yerushalayim from being the city of investigating Hashem, we fast in the hopes of repentance powerful enough to improve our state for the better, and Yerushalayim once again becomes the spiritual center of the world.

The Tenth of Tevet also became known as a collective day of mourning over national tragedies not given their own day of commemoration.

After the largest contemporary persecutory event, the Holocaust, our people pledged “Never Again.”

We vowed to save a Jew wherever they might be in trouble, fulfilling the law of saving another Jew. As the Rambam wrote, “Whenever a person can save another person’s life, but he fails to do so, he transgresses a negative commandment, as Leviticus 19:16 states: ‘Do not stand idly by while your brother’s blood is at stake.’” (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Pursuer and Saving a Life 1:14) If we are to truly take our vow of “Never Again” seriously, we must redouble our efforts to stop Iran.

We need to demand that Iran be stopped in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Most of all, we need to demand of our elected officials that they take the necessary steps to stop Iran.

President Barak Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry recently struck a deal with the Ayatollah regime to limit Iranian nuclear ambitions to refining low, non-weapons grade, uranium in exchange for the gradual lift of some of the sanctions imposed by the US on Iran.

President Obama recently accomplished his goal of ending Former President George Bush’s war in Iraq and has been a proponent of less U.S. military involvement in international affairs. This past year, President Obama set a redline that when Syria used chemical weapons, he would send in U.S. troops.

Although U.S. intelligence services confirmed that in fact chemical weapons had been used, President Obama decided to ignore his previous statements and not deploy troops to Syria. While the peace deal that Kerry accidentally spearheaded did stifle some of Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities, it is unquestionable that the Iranian government drew a parallel from the fact that he didn’t carry out his word with the redline in Syria to the possibility that Obama would dodge again if the time came to take action against Iran.

Shared Values: Technology

by Alexandra Mundlak, Grade 10

Israel and the United States share the value of technology advancement in all aspects. Both countries share the aim of improving the standard of everyday life. From iPhones, to Internet search engines, to improvement in automobiles, and household appliances, the value of technology permeates all walks of life in both Israel and the United States.

Photo Credit: Jpost.com

The peace deal with Iran can have catastrophic implications on the western world because America’s credibility with their threats, as implied above, is low. That translates to Iran thinking it could not follow the rules of the treaty and get away with it. The deal outlines that Iran cannot refine uranium to weapons grade, but the international community will only monitor their facilities by camera once a day. It is also important to note that the Ayatollah has publicly denied the Holocaust six times, has claimed that he wishes to destroy Israel and implied that the U.S. soon would follow. President Rouhani, the so-called moderate, was on the Iranian committee that funded two terrorist attacks against the Jewish community in Buenos Aires and the largest killing of U.S. Marines on any single day in U.S. history. Given the ease of being able to break these sanctions, their influx of revenue for nuclear programs due to lifted sanctions, the U.S.’s low credibility with threats, and the repeated desires and actions to wipe out democratic institutions, it seems as though the current situation is a recipe for disaster.

basis. In Israeli and American homes, one can see the use of technology to make appliances like washers and driers work better while using less electricity. Israeli companies such as Checkpoint Software and Waze have made great inroads in the U.S. Great American companies such as Microsoft and Intel, have found Israeli technicians so competent, that they have opened labs and research and development centers in Israel. More than shared centers of advancement, this is about shared values.

Specifically, the technology of cellular communications is very advanced in both countries. Mobile phones such as the iPhone are ubiquitous in the U.S. and Israel. Companies such as Cellcome Israel and AT&T help to deliver the full benefits of present day smart phones. In both countries, Internet technology also has come far. Such technology, in the form of search engines, is very useful in searching for medical solutions all the way to making dinner reservations. In terms of automobile technology, both countries have developed ways of making cars more fuel-efficient and run quieter.

Israel and the U.S. have implemented the use of GPS technology on a wide Photo Credit: Hatem Moussa/AP

From early childhood through Grade 12, Scheck Hillel Community School inspires students to become exemplary global citizens with enduring Jewish identity through an innovative curriculum enriched by co-curricular experiences. All of this is set within a nurturing, international community united by core values. Hillel is one of the largest Jewish day schools in the nation.