The Jewish Weekly Issue 246 04 August 2022

Page 12

12 OPINION

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OPINION

4 AUGUST 2022

The opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper

Don’t get used to the unusual OPINION PIECE BY ROBERT FESTENSTEIN

It’s been an interesting week. Two seemingly unconnected events merged together resulting in what might be decisions which otherwise would not have been made. The first was fairly minor. A friend of mine – I’ll call her Sarah – has been in correspondence with a voluntary organisation in their capacity as one of their contributors. The correspondence unfortunately grew hostile and to make matters worse the organisation refused to address the complaint and made statements in the correspondence which were clearly not true. When I saw the exchange I was astonished and said to Sarah that in my view this organisation was clearly failing to meet its responsibilities and I couldn’t understand why she wanted to have anything to do with them. Her response was that she got so used to the way in which this organisation conducted itself. It had not occurred to her to take a step back and think about whether she wanted to maintain a connection with them. The second event was much more serious and far-reaching. Going back to at least 1964 the PLO and more recently the Palestinian Authority, had been paying terrorists or families of terrorists salaries for killing Jews in Israel. On Monday this week it was announced that the payments made to those terrorists in Israeli jails (convicted of

a bombing in Jerusalem where nine people were killed) will have their payments increased. My initial thought was that this was nothing more than a cynical approach to the effect of inflation and the payments being made to the individuals concerned. In the same way as I responded to the first event though, it suddenly occurred to me that for far too long the community has been largely silent on this abhorrent practice. Over two years ago in May 2020, as President of the Zionist Central Council, I wrote to the Palestinian Mission in London complaining about this policy. In that letter I said: “Our concern is the continued policy of the Palestinian Authority – PA – to reward individuals who kill or maim Jews in Israel. Although leaders of the PA have repeatedly stated that settlements are the main obstacle to peace, it is difficult to accept this in light of the continued policy of ‘pay to slay’. This policy makes it impossible to believe that there is a genuine desire on the part of the PA for there to be peace. Making heroes out of those who kill and maim Jews tells the real story of the aims of the PA. Removing this ‘pay to slay’ policy is in our view a basic first step and I welcome your input as to when this will take place”. Needless to say I didn’t get the courtesy of even an acknowledgement, let alone a meaningful response. So how do these two seemingly disconnected events merge? It’s simple. Each of them are examples of conduct which on any empirical examination, is reprehensible. They are of course miles apart in terms of degree, but the principle is the same. Sarah

A Whale's Tale OPINION PIECE (REBBETZEN) ANNA BERGSON

Recently I was taking a much needed coffee break when I came across a beautiful video that brought me to tears. A marine biologist (named Nan) was doing whale research in the South Pacific Ocean and had got into the water to film two humpback whales that were nearby. Although she had been swimming with whales for over 30 years, she knew to keep her distance as it is their ‘back yard’. Suddenly the larger whale pulled her under his fin, escorting her along with him. Surprised by this unexpected free ride, Nan knew in the back of her mind the whale was trying to tell her something. But the sharp barnicles under his fin were starting to cut into her torso and she wriggled to try and get free. In that brief moment Nan turned around and saw, behind the second whale, a third beast in the water, however this one’s fins were shaped differently and Nan realised it was a huge tiger shark! At this point she

realised the whale’s true intentions and that he was trying to save her! Not willing to desert her for one moment, the whale scooped her up and placed her on his huge head. The journey to safety took ten minutes and the whale knew exaclty where Nan's boat was where he delivered her with absolutely no charge. As his smooth and magestic body turned over in the glistening water and swam away, Nan cried out “thank you - I love you!” Once she had got over the shock and emotions, Nan thought back to a friend's research on whales that showed that whales display altruistic character traits, not only to their own kind but to other animals too. As we know, altruism is doing a pure act of kindness without expecting any thanks or reward. This whale saved Nan’s life without seeking fame (although this story is famous now!), fortune or celebrity status, social media ‘likes’, not even a ‘yeshar koyach’ from his whale community. It was a most pure act of chessed, kindness from one living being to another. This got me thinking. We all try to live by

in the first example and our community in the second have just got used to something which is unacceptable. Sarah is now thinking of disassociating her group from the voluntary organisation mentioned above. As for the Pay to Slay policy, this is something we should be yelling about from the rooftops. Some progress has been made with the British Government over payments to the Palestinian Authority. The bulk of reports in the Jewish press seem to concentrate on one Jewish group or another complaining about Israel not making enough concessions in relation to the peace process and how if only she did, all would be well. Presently however, there is no peace process, only a continued desire on the part of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to either kill Jews or pay those who do. That should be our focus and it will certainly be that of the Zionist Central Council over the next few months. In the same way as there is no nuance to adopting the IHRA definition on anti-Semitism, there can be no equivocation in condemning the Pay to Slay policy. This unusual and murderous scheme has to be brought front and centre both within and without the Jewish community so that everyone can be aware of the real reason why there is no peace process. Robert Festenstein is a practising solicitor and has been the principal of his Salford based firm for over 20 years. He has fought BDS motions to the Court of Appeal and is President of the Zionist Central Council in Manchester which serves to protect and defend the democratic State of Israel. Torah values and standards… when given a new opportunity of doing a mitzvah, do we always agree to do/perform this mitzvah simply ‘lishma’ (for its own sake)? Or, just sometimes, do we think in the back of our minds, yes I will do such and such because maybe Hashem will, in turn, reward me with ‘that thing’ that I need or want… Our physical bodies may not be as big as a whale but our neshama, our unique G-dly soul within, has infinte potential for personal growth and transformation. When we overcome our egos and become selfless we can achieve spiritual depths deeper than all the oceans… In a heart-warming ending to the story, two months after the life-saving incident, Nan got a call from a fishing boat in a harbour near to her station to say “Come over, your friend is here to say hello!” Nan knew it was him from two distinctive marks he had on his tail fin. She couldn’t believe he'd come to check up on her! She got into the water and thought, how do you hug such a big animal?! She just lay on his back, stroking him and crying “thank you forever!” Whilst we all may be facing difficulties, challenges and pain in one way or another, we can always look out for things that lift and inspire us to use each and every moment of our lives in the very best positive way we can.

THEJEWISHWEEKLY.COM

CST Antisemitic Incidents Report Jan-June 2022 OPINION PIECE BY DAVE RICH, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AT CST

It is no surprise the number of antisemitic incidents fell during the first half of this year. They could hardly do anything else, given last year’s all-time record high during and after the conflict in Israel and Gaza last May. I’m sure we all remember the car convoys driving through Jewish neighbourhoods, waving flags and shouting abuse. Antisemites reacted to conflict in Israel by spewing out anti-Jewish hate, online and on the streets. There has been no similar conflict this year, and no other ‘trigger event’ to cause a comparable spike in anti-Jewish hate, so it is some relief that the number of incidents reported to CST has dropped. This means we can see what antisemitism looks like in its purest form, with no external factors. It is not a pretty sight. A higher proportion of incidents are violent (although thankfully not the majority), more are on the streets and in your face. It is as if antisemitism is moving back to how it was before the pandemic forced everyone online. CST’s recent training course for the Stamford Hill Charedi community was designed to teach the participants how to deal with this kind of danger. It combined self-defence training and security awareness, with an official counter-terrorism component delivered by the Metropolitan Police. Antisemitism is a blight on society and affects all parts of our community, but it tends to land disproportionately on the most visible parts. This is why CST has a specific focus on increasing security awareness and capabilities within the Stamford Hill community. There is a waiting list for another course and will hopefully repeat it in the future so as many people as possible will have the ability to protect themselves and their community. One troubling trend to emerge from CST’s new report is the growth in antisemitism amongst younger people. The proportion of anti-Jewish hate incidents in which the perpetrators were under 18 years old has more than doubled in two years, from 9% in the first half of 2020 to 21% in the first six months of 2022. This looks even worse when you consider the number of incidents in and around schools dropped considerably. This is not simply a case of children from one school picking on children from another, it suggests antisemitic ideas are becoming more common, and more popular, amongst a minority of younger people in this country. It looks like there is a growing need for education about the Jewish people, about antisemitism and wider society. To volunteer for CST, or to report antisemitism or suspicious activity, visit www.cst. org.uk or call our 24-hour number, 0800 032 3263. In an emergency, always call Police first on 999.


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