Shavua tov, Jerusalem,

Thank you for inviting me to speak on behalf of the Tag Meir Forum.

We formed Tag Meir eleven years ago in order to fight hate crimes, racism, incitement, terror, and acts of revenge. We go on solidarity visits and, to our sorrow, also to consolation visits to mourners on all sides.

Last Monday, our representatives attended the ever so sad funerals of Hallel and Yagel Yaniv, z”l, who were murdered in Hurawa by despicable people. On Tuesday, we went to Har Brakha to console the Yaniv family for this horrific murder, and on Wednesday, we went on a solidarity visit to Huwara after the rampage of hundreds of Jews in the village, in which scores of homes and hundreds of vehicles were set ablaze. We saw there on the main road of the village homes that were set afire through the piling up of tires in their doorways. There was very little distance between what we saw in Huwara and the murder of the Dawabshe family in the village of Duma, which we also saw. read more

As you probably heard the Israeli Knesset is in the process of effective annihilation of the Supreme Court.

Thousands of Israelis are protesting this power grab in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and numerous cities across the country. About two months ago ex-pats Israelis in the US began weekly rallies in cities around the country. The feedback from Israel has been tremendous. Israelis tell us that these rallies here are boosting the morale of the protesters there.

Now it’s our turn in Rochester NY read more

PARAPHRASING A QUOTE FROM THE SPANISH WRITER SANTAYANA, “THOSE WHO FORGET HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO LIVE IT AGAIN”.

TONIGHT, WE COMMEMORATE YOM HASHOAH—HOLOCAUST REMEMBERANCE DAY, AND SO FOR THE LAST 76 YEARS, ALL AROUND THE WORLD JEWS HAVE CRIED “NEVER AGAIN”, YET ARE WE BEGINNING TO FORGET?

AS MANY OF YOU KNOW ALREADY, ALTHOUGH I WAS NEVER IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP,  I AM A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR, BORN IN STUTTGART, GERMANY, ON NOVEMBER 7, 1932; AND ALTHOUGH I MAY NOT REMEMBER MUCH FROM MY EARLY YEARS, THERE IS SEARED IN MY MEMORY, THE MORNING OF NOVEMBER 9, 1938, KRISTALLNACHT, THE START OF THE HOLOCAUST, WHEN AT 5:00 AM MY BROTHER AND I PEEKING DOWN FROM THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, WATCH AS MY MOTHER OPENS THE FRONT DOOR TO A LOUD KNOCK TO SEE TWO GESTAPO COMING TO ARREST MY FATHER. LIKE MY GRANDFATHER WHO HAD BEEN ARRESTED EARLIER, HE WAS SENT TO THE DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP.  ALTHOUGH HE WAS LATER RELEASED SINCE THE NAZIS HAD NOT YET BEGUN THE SYSTEMATIC KILLING OF JEWS, THEY JUST WANTED THEM GONE SO THEY COULD MAKE GERMANY “JUDENREIN”—A COUNTRY WITHOUT JEWS, WHICH ALLOWED US TO ESCAPE TO THIS COUNTRY. SO TONIGHT I SPEAK, AS I DO OFTEN, FOR THE 6 MILLION JEWS, WHO WERE BEATEN, TORTURED AND MURDERED, WHO CAN NO LONGER SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. read more

Every era has its moments that are written and evaluated by “historians.” Creatives capture those same events through the prism of nuance, drama, and emotion.

Lilly Rivlin, now 84, is one such artist. A contemporary of pioneering feminists, she was on the ground to document their contributions to the upheaval of the 1970s, when women were beginning to realize that the problem wasn’t them.

Rivlin’s identity as an Israeli-American has also uniquely positioned her to be an active participant in seeking out a path of reconciliation in the Israel/Palestine conundrum. Her particular sensitivities paved the way for the forthright corrective statement in her 2005 interview with Amy Goodman, when she noted, “I’m Palestinian-born. That makes a difference to establish that; I was born before the state of Israel.” read more

Dear Friends

Many of us are hoping that by July 1 – in about two months – some of the restric­tions we are living under because of the coronavirus may be eased.  Of course, there is no way of knowing now when that threat will be eased.

But there is one thing that we do know about that date.  On July 1, Israel’s new govern­ment, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu with his former bitter rival, Benny Gantz, as his deputy, could begin to annex parts of the West Bank, some­thing no Israeli government has ever tried to do.  We Americans who care deeply about Israel’s future must work together with the many like-minded Israelis to stop this threat to Israel’s integrity, which would create a major obstacle to a future two-state solution. read more