11 minute read
Opinion
It’s not just about Ice Cream
OPINION PIECE BY ROBERT FESTENSTEIN
When the ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry announced last week that they were no longer going to allow their product to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory there were statements from various Jewish communal groups condemning the action. The parent company Unilever responded by stating we look forward to investing in our business in Israel long into the future. Good news you might think, though what is meant by Israel and what is meant by Occupied Palestinian Territory? What is included or excluded by each of these words is of crucial importance in the continuing argument which has been running since 1948 and significantly here – 1967. 1967 saw the reunification of Jerusalem. The most holy of Jewish religious sites – the Western Wall – was once again accessible to the Jewish people. The Jewish quarter was revived and in 1980 the physical reunification was enshrined into law so that Jerusalem became one united city. Therein lies the problem. The status of Jerusalem. For Israel it is simple. Jerusalem was always the capital of the Jewish state. It is mentioned almost 700 times in the Tanach and without doubt is central to Judaism.
It is that centrality which makes is such a prize for those who seek to attack Israel. By creating a false narrative of ‘occupied East Jerusalem’, the BDS promoters and other anti-Semites claim that the part of Jerusalem recovered in 1967 is part of Occupied Palestinian Territory. In other words, Ben & Jerry’s announcement makes it clear that in their world view, the Jews can do without the Western Wall and the Jewish quarter. This is no accident. The whole basis of BDS is to squeeze Israel into nothing, little by little, eroding it away like the incoming tide does with children’s sandcastles.
We are being too nice, too polite, too accommodating. BDS is not about supporting the Palestinians, it is about destroying Israel. The current owners of Ben & Jerry might whine about their values but sadly, these do not apply to the Jews, and this is common across very many groups that declare themselves to be progressive. In the UK we came very close to having a Labour Government run by a man determined to destroy Israel and marginalise the Jews. The fact this didn’t happen was an enormous relief, but the fight is no way near over. The Labour party is clearly still riven with anti-Semites and it will take a generation to reverse all the gains made by them before the current leader took office.
The partition plan put to the United Nations in November 1947 envisaged Jerusalem being an international city administered by the UN, probably because any other idea would have been condemned as being too favourable to one side or the other. In the event this never saw the light of day. The current plan being promoted by Ben & Jerry and their ilk is to dismantle Jerusalem as it is today and remove the holiest of Jewish sites from Israeli sovereignty and in doing so putting a sword to the heart of modern Israel.
The Ben & Jerry announcement is about removing jobs from Israelis and Palestinians, splitting Jerusalem to the detriment of the Jewish people and above all, nothing to do with ice cream.
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.
From the editor’s desk
On Moitze Shabbat, I attended the levaye of 15 year old Toiba Grosskopf, who sadly passed away last Wednesday in a car crash in Scotland. Standing there at 1.15am as the car came into view, in front of her father and siblings, it struck me just how terribly tragic it was. Through bitter tears her father Reb Mordechai Zev mentioned how his daughter had been a ‘pikadon,’ a loan from Hashem who now has taken her back. Dayan Grinfeld, Rav of Belz mentioned how she was a ‘Korbon Tzibbur,’ a public sacrifice, and that we must all take Hashem’s messages to heart. Reb Leibish Rabinowitz from Shaarei Mordechai Steible encouraged everyone to do teshuva and commit to taking on more good deeds in her merit. Her principal from Beis Malka High School Rabbi Weiss mentioned how it was a ‘privilege to know such a special Neshama who davened so beautifully and had such wonderful middot. Following the accident on the M74 last week, Mr Grosskopf’s wife and son were flown by air ambulance to hospital in a critical state. Baruch Hashem they are on the road to recovery, however it will be a long road and many more prayers are needed. Mrs Grosskopf remains in Middlesbrough and is hoping to be moved to Manchester and her son remains in hospital in Newcastle.
Please continue to pray for Yosef Avrohom ben Rus Sarah and Rus Sarah bat Chana, and try to take something on in the merit of Toiba.
Hashem’s voice
Open your eyes and look around the world. Deadly flooding across Europe and Australia, where villages have been literally swept away in Germany, Belgium, Holland and Italy. Houses, cars the lot. Flooding in London this week including Stamford Hill. Deadly winds and sandstorms in China, forcing hundreds of thousands out of their homes. All this on top of the today’s helicopter crash, last week’s car crash, the recent tragedies at Surfside in Miami where the last body was found this week, the cable car in Italy and people being crushed to death in Karlin and Meron. Hashem is speaking to us in a mighty powerful voice; let’s make sure we listen and take heed to His warnings.
Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason is the man who made them all laugh, from the commoner to the Queen and everyone in between. He came from an established line of Rabbis and entered the profession himself, apparently leaving people in stitches during his Shabbat sermons. Leaving the orthodox world to enter full-time comedy, he rose to stardom, first on national TV, then on Broadway and eventually across the world. However now that he’s in the world of truth, where being a Rabbi means a lot more than being a comedian, I wonder if as my Chavruta said to me this week, ‘the final joke is on him.’
Letters to the
Editor Send in your comments to letters@thejewishweekly.com
Please note: The views of the letters do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper. Letters may be edited and publication is at the discretion of the editor.
ELECTIONS IN ISRAEL
Dear Editor I am always delighted to read James Marlow’s columns in The Jewish Weekly, very precise and informative. My question to you is as follows. Israel is a world leader in many ways, but what gets my goat is their electoral system.
A population of 9 millions, have about 30 parties, and most parties get 1 or 2 seats, causing an almighty “balagan’’. Surely they shouldn’t have more than 5 parties. Four elections in two years. Are they going for a world record?
Best wishes
Brenda Solomon
UNILEVER’S BRANDS LIST
Dear Editor Perhaps you could advise your readers that they can see a complete list of Unilever’s foods and toiletry brands simply by “googling” <Unilever Brands 2021>.
It is quite surprising what they do sell but conceal their cartelisation - like Nestle, Kraft Proctor and Gamble, Heinz and others behind their subsidiaries’ names. There is a lot to be said for giving subsidiary managers a loose rein to use their initiative - do what you are told, and a little bit more - but there are grey areas bordering on touchy politics where it would be well to caution managers to consult with head office first.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Adam
The nonsense they spurt is ridiculous
OPINION PIECE BY JAMES J MARLOW
For many years the Palestinian Authority, which falls under the umbrella organisation of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, has put forward several spokespeople claiming that the Jews of today, have absolutely no connection to the Jews of 2000 years ago.
They have also regularly claimed that the main founder of Christianity (The Jewish Weekly prevents me from actually writing his name, for fear of upsetting some loyal weekly readers) was a Palestinian. Actually he was a Jew, but let’s leave that topic for another day.
And according to PA leaders, Palestinian history goes back more than 6000 years. Funny thing is, if we count our Jewish years from the beginning of creation, Palestinians were around at least 219 years before creation.
Perhaps they witnessed the great historic dinosaurs and sea monsters after creation.
So far, nothing new in their public relations strategy, as sadly a great deal of it
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is filled with misinformation, half-truths, distortions, and in the above case, outright lies.
But now PA Prime Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Shtayyeh becomes the latest high profile Palestinian figure to say, that there is no connection between Israel and the Jewish people.
Speaking to an audience which was aired on Palestine TV on June 29, 2021, Shtayyeh, who apparently is an economics “expert”, in case you mistakenly believed, he was some grand historian with a respected track record, announced “The Hebrews, the Jews and Israelites are not the same thing”.
He added, “The Israelis... Israel is Jacob. “The Israelites are the sons of Jacob. “1,300 years separated between Jacob and Prophet Moses. “Therefore, 1,300 years separated between the Israelis and Judaism. “So there is no connection between the Israelis and the Jews.”
What a genius eh? And they made him Palestinian Prime Minister.
In case you are wondering, Shtayyeh went on to say that we are “Khazar Jews” who converted to Judaism in the sixth century CE and that Israel constitutes “A function rather than a State”. Moreover the “evidence” is that Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon Bonaparte and Balfour all back this up.
Let’s leave his speech for now and talk about the Palestinian Authority. It was founded in 1993 after Israel found it painful to deal directly with the PLO when it signed the Oslo Accords. The PLO was created by Yassar Arafat in 1964 next to the graves of Jews at a hotel on the Mount of the Olives.
When British troops were in the land in the thirties and forties, they referred to the Jews as Palestinians whilst the Arabs were Palestinian Arabs. In fact the UN partition plan of November 1947 was based on the question on whether “Palestine” should be divided into two independent states – Arab Palestine and Jewish Palestine.
Today, the PA President Mahmoud Abbas is in his 17th year of a 4-year-term. He openly boasts about being proud that the PA pay Palestinians who murder Jews, a handsome monthly amount.
But more importantly, the PA teach their people hatred and lies, steeped in classic anti-Semitic rhetoric such as “Khazar Jews”, in order to delegitimise and demonise the Jewish people and sever that connection with the Land of Israel.
Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI in Jerusalem, who do fantastic work, constantly report on the Palestinians claiming in news interviews and speeches that almost every Jewish city in Israel, is really a Palestinian city.
Historic coins found in Israel are really Palestinian coins. Several biblical stories are altered to make into their own Palestinian stories and that there was never a Jewish Temple.
It’s not just misinformation, half-truths, distortions and lies, its genuine theft of our history, heritage, culture and land.
I don’t wish to make fun of Palestinian Arab identity. But I regret to tell you, that you have no ancient history in the Land of Israel or anywhere for that matter. You have no tombs of ancient Palestinians, except of course Arafat.
You have no historic Palestinian cities, temples or mosques. (The Jerusalem mosques belong to the religion of Islam, not the Palestinians). You have no archaeological evidence, no historical books, no currency, no national anthem, no songs or no literature.
You may have just built (with outside help) a brand new Palestinian museum with few artefacts inside. And you may have members of world bodies regurgitating your historical inaccuracies. But you will never succeed in stealing a 3500-yearold history of the Jewish nation that was born out of slavery in Egypt, eventually arriving in the Land of Canaan (not the land of Palestine) in the Jewish year 2489, (1272 BCE).
James J. Marlow is a broadcast journalist previously working for ITN, EuroNews, LBC Radio, Daily Express and a number of Jewish publications. In addition, he runs a Media and Communications / Public Speaking Training Operation and was a consultant at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. Email: James@TheCommunicationBureau.com
