Author: s.hadary

On Tuesday, May 2, the sunshine that took over New York during the weekend danced over Manhattan to make for perfect weather to celebrate Israeli Independence Day. Although fading in and out through clouds, sun continuously glistened over Washington Square park for the “Rave in the Park” event, hosted by Hillel at NYU. In light of Holocaust Memorial taking place last week, Hillel members from college campuses all over the city came together to celebrate the momentous day, and stand with each other to express their love for the Land of Israel.

With the somber mood that had taken over during the prior week with schools and communities taking part in remembrance of the Holocaust, members of the Jewish and Israeli community used this day of celebration almost as a cleansing, washing themselves of the sadness that comes with honoring those who died in the Holocaust, and bringing in this sunshine and happiness in to celebrate where the Jewish Community is today and how they have progressed despite a hard history.

This day, known amongst Israelis as Yom Ha’atzmaut, is the day on the Jewish Calendar that is meant to celebrate the writing of the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948. Although this day is not an official day off from school, members of Hillel, students who practice Judaism, Israeli students, and all others even without ties to the country, came out on the beautiful day to celebrate.

“It’s just a day of pure happiness,” said Roni Fellah, 20, who is a student and member of Hillel at CCP, the community college in Philadelphia. “You don’t see too much outdoor celebration here in America, but in Israel right now cars probably can’t even drive down the streets, the whole city is on party mode,” she said while laughing with fellow friends. Although moving here when she was just at the age of 4, Roni was born in Tel-Aviv and identifies with Israel “more than anything else. Being Israel resonates with me at my core.”

Roni drove up to Manhattan on Tuesday morning with other friends from CCP to come to the event in Washington Square Park, because there weren’t too many festivities taking place.

“There was like one march and Hillel was doing something at school, but when I saw the event page for Rave in the Park, I just wanted to go so badly, it was the first option I saw for the day that really felt like a celebration.” Roni explained that after the week before, it’s “so important to celebrate Israeli Independence Day. The Holocaust was a blatant genocide of Jews, and after World War II I can only imagine how hard it was to recover from the things that happened. But look at where we are now! The fact that we can even talk about a real State of Israel is something the Jewish people never thought would exist post Holocaust.”

Although Fellah came a pretty long way from home to celebrate the event, locals took the large percentage of guests for the event. One of the many who came to celebrate, was a student at Queens College, Shahar Cohen.

“This is the first year I’ve seen like a party kind of thing on Yom Ha’atzmaut,” Cohen said, pulling her long curls into a ponytail as she tried to cool down from the dancing. “It’s nice to see so much pride in the Israeli Community, it’s something I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Although Cohen usually spends the day at home celebrating with the family, she felt like it was important to come to the rave and show support for the youth of the Jewish Community.

“I’m still having a party at my house when I get home from this, but I don’t know, for whatever reason I just felt like it was really important to come here today. With everything going on in the Middle East, the way people look at Israel here in America is kind of a grey area,” Shahar explained sincerely. “We are the future of Israel, so we’re also the future of Israeli support in America.”

Last week at a press briefing, Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien spoke about the continuing tensions and fatalities in Syria, saying that “thousands of people have been killed and millions more injured over the six years of fighting in Syria.”

According to an article in the Economic Times by AFP in December of 2016, the war in Syria had killed more than 312,000 people since the war began in March 2011. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Monitor, of the 312,000 , over 90,000 are civilians.

O’Brien says he “remains extremely concerned about the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the besieged parts of eastern Ghouta in Rural Damascus, where some 400,000 people are trapped by Government forces.”

Besides the constant casualties and deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that hospitals and health care centers are not in service, stating that “all three public hospitals and 17 public health centres in eastern Ghouta are non-functioning and inaccessible to the population.”

On Twitter, the Syrian Network posted on April 2nd that in March 2017, a total of 1,134 civilians were killed, adding to the disturbingly high number of deaths that have taken place during this war that has now reached its sixth year.

Besides the horrible deaths and suffering of innocent civilians, the United States Embassy also revealed on Twitter on March 31st that the Syrian government is not only standing back and neglecting to help their citizens, but they are also stopping aide from reaching their population:

“Despite calls to allow #HumanitarianAccess, Syrian regime & its backers continue to block aid delivery, including food & medical supplies.”

They also released a statement on March 31 from the United States Mission to the United Nations, giving updates on the situation in Syria.

“Half of all Syrians are displaced from their homes, some living in the ruins of bombed out buildings and other fleeing as refugees to neighboring countries… Despite multiple calls to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to reach these people, the Syrian regime and its backers continue to block aid delivery, including desperately needed food and medical supplies. When it is not attacking civilians with bullets and barrel bombs, the regime uses red tape and bureaucracy to delay and hinder access. As a result, countless numbers of people have died.”

Also in the meeting, officials spoke about the urgency that should be surrounding the topic of aide to Syria, both in aspects of food and medical services, but refuge. Security Council at the UN, High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said “to meet the resettlement challenge, we not only need additional places, but also need to accelerate the implementation of existing pledges.”

 

 

 

“I sacrificed a privileged life for this country and I don’t regret it at all.”

At the start of the 2016-2017 school year, Sherri Feldman, a 19-year-old from Bayside Queens, chose that she was going to take a ten hour flight to Israel to serve in a Country that she was not born in.

Although the United States has abolished their military draft, it is still common in other countries around the world to have draft enlistments for citizens when they reach a certain age or if it becomes necessary during pressing times of war. The State of Israel, is no exception to this draft. Due to the constant ever growing tensions that lie in the Middle East, Israel has a constant draft law, which states that once Israeli citizens reach the age of 18, they are required to serve in the military for a minimum of twelve months, and the duration varies depending on age and gender, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh, an online draft service based in Jerusalem.

From the outside looking in, people can have the tendency to carry a bit of animosity in regards to Israel’s drafting of young citizens to train and fight in their military, feeling as though these draftees are being forced to risk their lives for a cause they might not want to fight for.

However, what may come as a shock, is that a large percentage of IDF soldiers are not born Israeli Citizens.

According to Lieutenant and IDF Spokeswoman Libby Weiss in an interview in 2014, Israel has one of the largest number of Americans serving in its military, reporting close to 1,000 Americans serve in the IDF.

With this information, a constant driving question is, why? Why do these American citizens voluntarily choose to serve in a foreign country?

“I was raised by Israeli parents so I was constantly exposed to the culture,” said Feldman, who enlisted in the Winter of 2016. “We’re not a religious family so we weren’t really heavily involved in the Jewish Community but every holiday we either spent with family or our Israeli family friends.” Sherri is still in training, and is learning to be a combat medic.

“What I love about it is the fact that this job shows the other side of the military that doesn’t kill but rather heals.” Sherri then went to describe the long process that is required to join the IDF. Things like IQ testing, leadership testing, and physical aptitude testing are all part of the two year process in becoming an IDF soldier.

When asked to describe in one word why she serves in the IDF, “passion” was immediately the word she chose to utilize.

“As a lone soldier, girls I’ve gone through basic training with in my course are always asking me if I have a place to stay for the weekend and have Shabbat dinner,” said Sherri. “The diversity in this country reminds me of New York. We all have family that come from different countries and that mix is basically Israeli culture.”

Sherri revealed that it was always a childhood dream of hers to enlist, but wasn’t sure she’d ever to through with it until she graduated high school.

When asked how what country Sherri identifies with for her nationality, she explained that she identifies with Israel because it “feels like home”.

“Israel is home to every Jewish person regardless if they are Israeli, or religious. It’s our indigenous homeland.”

 

Although the United States has abolished their Draft for the military, it is common in other countries throughout the world to have Draft enlistments for their citizens when they reach a certain age, or it becomes necessary to draft to do rising tensions and beginnings of wars. The State of Israel, is no exception to this draft. Due to constant ever growing tensions in the Middle East, Israel has a constant draft law, which states that once citizens reach the age of 18, they are required to serve in the military for a minimum of twelve months, and varies depending on age and gender, according to Nefesh B’Nefesh, an online draft service based in Jerusalem.

Running in a few circles, people tend to carry a bit of animosity about the fact that these young adults are drafted to serve and fight in the military, and feel as though they are being forced to risk their lives for a cause that they might not want to fight for. However what may come as a shock, is that a large percentage of IDF drafted soldiers are not born Israeli citizens.

In an interview with the Israeli Defense Force spokeswoman Lieutenant Libby Weiss in 2014, Israel has one of the largest number of Americans serving in its military. In the interview she also stated that the IDF had roughly 1,000 Americans who had never lived in Israel who ended up serving.

I feel as though an angle that hasn’t been focused on yet, is in the lens of the American-Israeli who decided to go serve in a country they never lived in, and where this nationalism comes from.

Hadas Bar-Ad is currently serving in the IDF, she enlisted in September. Despite the tough hours and intense training she has every day, she “works harder every day proudly fighting for a country that is always fighting for freedom.”

Among Hadas, I am also going to be interviewing a two friends of mine since childhood, who both were born American citizens and still chose to enlist in the Israeli Defense Forces, Sherrie Feldman and Yahav Sinay. Sherrie is currently working as an officer making sure there is everyday safety in the towns and cities in Israel, while Yahav has been out of the IDF for a few years now, and is now living in Brooklyn, NY.

What is going to come out of these articles is definitely going to be incredibly interesting and rich interviews, all full with very complex conversations from young adults who feel so strongly about their love for Israel. I think it will give a very interesting angle in the controversy that is always hovering around the IDF.

 

The country I have chosen as my main focus for the Semester is Israel, more officially known as The State of Israel. Israel is an 8,522 square mile country with a population of 8,174,527 people (according to the 2016 estimate.). Bordering with several other countries — Egypt, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank — , Israel is a small nation, as well as the only Democracy in the Middle East. According to a 2013 estimate: the religions that are present in Israel are 75 percent Jewish, 17.5% Muslim, 2% Christian, 1.6% Druze, and the remaining 3.9% is occupied by other remaining religions that are present. A predominantly large Israeli Community that I am aware of is actually right around where I live, the Kew Gardens, Union Turnpike area of Queens, as well as Bayside and Hollis Hills.

The history of the Land of Israel has always been one of dispute and different interpretation, which is what calls conflicts like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into order. The start of this conflict came to be in 1948, and still goes on to present day. In 1948, during the end of World War II, both the President of the United States who at the time was Harry Truman, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, acknowledged Israel as its own free independent state and nation. However at the time at which this agreement was made by the UN, the members of the Arab League refused to accept this plan implemented by the UN. They then declared self determination, which at this point marked the start of the conflict that is now in fact more present than ever in the everyday lives of the people of both Israel and Palestine.

Of course there is so much I can cover with this nation, but I will be going for different kinds of stories, something that pulls away from the stigma of this conflict and really dives into the real lives of the people who live in this truth every single day.

I would love to dive into the lives of IDF Soldiers, which I believe is one of the most unique stories to be told of this country. However what I think makes my article on this topic so interesting is that I am going to be reaching out to IDF soldiers that are ALSO naturally American Citizens, but have chosen at the age of draft to go and serve for a country they do not live in. Being that I am half Israeli, in the past year I have seen so many of my close family friends fly to Israel to serve in the Military, whether it is to train and be a part of the artillery, or to play their part in national security. One of my closest friends since I was younger, Yahav Sinay, has actually been living in the US for about two years now, post-IDF. From what I have spoken to him about, he left Israel knowing a lot of the suffering that it is to live in a country full of constant attack and fear, but he still has room to discuss the love and zest for life that the Israeli people have to show and give while living in such high tensions land.

Besides this topic, I do want to dive further into the IDF, and right a feature article about Women in the IDF, and how they see themselves in that environment. This will require me to reach out to the two close friends of mine, Hadas and Sherri, who are both currently in training for national security positions in the IDF. I think this will be very interesting in zooming into the lives of these American women who have chosen to go back to this country and call it their home and dedicate themselves to serving for it.

After these two article ideas, I also have several for the beauty of the country and the preservation of its nature and the way that the society is built around such dangerous times. I want to look at the way that the Israeli people look beyond the tension between themselves and a neighboring land, and see how they can still live a happy healthy life full of joy.

And I do also think it would be a very interesting angle to look at how other cultures and religions live and are treated in the Democratic Nation of Israel. To see how they practice their religion, the laws they live under, and how their living conditions are as a whole, in lieu of the constant tension taking place between their homeland and the country they are now living in.

The Huffington Post, formed in May 9th, 2005, is a predominantly liberal online newspaper and blog that covers almost all forms of informing. It covers from topics like politics and business all the way to more modern forms like blog posts and satire. In their past they have been generally separated from controversy with the exception of a couple of stories.

HuffPo began to face labor disputes in February 2011, when Visual Art Source went on strike and boycotted them. They were also involved in a lawsuit upwards of millions of dollars on behalf of the United States District Court because of accusations of not paying massive amounts of bloggers who had written for the Newspaper. The case later ended in their favor in March 2012.

A suspicious incident that has been discussed from the Huffington Post is their inclusion of articles supporting anti-vaccination and alternative medicine. This was momentous for HuffPo because this is quite the controversial topic, and they hired Dana Ullman who is apparently, according to Steven Novella of the New England Skeptical Society, “a notorious homeopathy apologist”. By definition, homeopathy is “the treatment of disease by minute doses of natural substances that in a healthy person would produce symptoms of disease.” For any news outlet to pick a firm standing on a topic that is deemed so controversial, seems to be a very risky move on behalf of HuffPo.

 

Here is the link for Steven Novella’s article about HuffPo’s stand on alternative medicine and anti-vaccination:

 

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/homeopathy-pseudoscience-at-the-huffpo/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Huffington_Post#cite_note-NESS

 

For this semester I am really drawn to finally targeting my focus on Israel and the Israeli community here. I want to find and work on several different angles, but one of my most appealing ideas as of right now definitely is to target young adults my age, with an American citizenship, who choose to go to Israel and become a part of the community and lifestyle there. I want to speak to current and post IDF soldiers, and also speak to Israeli immigrants who left everything they had in Israel to look for a different life here. I feel like I can find an endless amount of people with something to say in regards to their history with the country and their opinions on the dilemma going on there in the present day.