Point of View. Sister Act: San Francisco and Haifa

Check out this striking piece of interactive public art down by the San Francisco Cruise ship terminal.  There is an identical piece in Haifa.

San Francisco and Haifa,  two "Cities by the Bay" have been sister cities since 1973.  Today's installation of "Point of View" is just one in a series of cultural and sporting events that have tied the 2 communities together.

Matthew Passmore from Oakland's MoreLab  and Israeli artist Saron Paz collaborated on the design and execution of the project.

The installations feature panoramic cameras, atop identical towers, allowing visitors in each country a glimpse into the other.

Check it out.

Sister Act. Thank you, Mayor Ed Lee

San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee wants to help its sister city Haifa get back on her feet following the devastating fires. He just tweeted

" #SF is proud to be Haifa's Sister City & we encourage you to support the recovery efforts from the fires. Donate now at sfgivesback.org"

The donations are channeled through the venerable Jewish National Fund (JNF)
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) has more info:

Tens of thousands of residents of the Israeli port city of Haifa, a San Francisco Sister City, were forced to evacuate last week when high winds pushed fires into residential areas. More than 700 homes were damaged or destroyed, and residents are only now returning. While among many serious fires in Israel, Haifa's were some of the worst. In response, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has launched a new website at http://sfgivesback.org/ to help bring attention to the situation and drive donations.

“On behalf of the residents of San Francisco, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected by the fires that have struck our Sister City Haifa, Israel. San Francisco stands ready to support and assist...," he said in a statement.

This is an impressive action by the mayor and we have sent him our thanks. We encourage anyone who feels grateful to reach out to him at: Mayor Edwin M. Lee City Hall, Room 200 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: (415) 554-6141, Fax: (415) 554-6160 Email: mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org  Facebook: Mayor Edwin M. Lee Twitter: @mayoredlee

Haifa Celebrates Diversity

Haifa, that other city by the bay, has been San Francisco's sister city for 41 years.

Among the many commonalities are a strong pride in celebrating their diversity, promoting multiculturalism, tolerance and coexistence.

From the J post

For the past 21 years, thousands of visitors have been attending the annual December weekend Holiday of Holidays Festival in Haifa.

This festival, which falls on the crossroads of Hanukka, Id al-Adha and Christmas, has come to stand for coexistence and multiculturalism. The festival runs until December 27, when the city invites visitors to enjoy theatrical and musical performances, vendors and art exhibits.

The photos are breathtaking.

Haifa is more beautiful than ever in its holiday finery.

Sister Act

For 41 years, San Francisco has enjoyed a "sister city" relationship with that other "City by the Bay", Haifa.  Both cities have a diverse population, are centers for high tech innovation and are located astride an earthquake fault.  Both cities are "sanctuary cities ' as well, with Haifa providing sanctuary for the beleaguered people of the Bahia faith.

The sisters are about to get closer. Within the next year or so, San Francisco's mayor, Ed Lee will visit Haifa to continue to build a foundation of cultural collaboration and innovation between the two cities.

Via the J Weekly, the Northern California Jewish Bulletin

"I am excited to announce that I plan to take a sister-city visit to Haifa very soon," Lee said. "But we're not going to wait until 2016 to deepen our ties with Israel. I am also excited to announce that, after conversations with Consul General Andy David, I have directed my arts commission to move forward with a cultural exchange right away....

"We are going to build around the theme of arts and innovation, seeking out the most cutting-edge and interesting artists in Israel and developing a strong exchange program with San Francisco-based artists," Lee said. "I am excited to see what these creative minds come up with."

The San Francisco Arts Commission and the S.F.-based Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest will spearhead the cultural exchange, and the JCRC, the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, the San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee and Israeli officials will collaborate on the initiative, according to Arthur Wachtel, chairman of the sister city committee.

The sister city relationship has the potential to open up new venues of innovation, cooperation and creative exchanges between our "Cities by the Bay", brightening the future for all of our people.

San Francisco and Haifa: Celebrating 40 years as sister cities

In 1973, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a resolution establishing “the creation of a sister city affiliation between San Francisco and the City of Haifa, State of Israel" designed to promote travel, trade, cultural exchanges, and international understanding.  

Both San Francisco and Haifa are located on a bay,  both have a diverse population, both are centers of high-tech, and both sit on an earthquake fault. Just as San Francisco functions as a "sanctuary" city,  Haifa too provided a sanctuary for people of the Bahai faith, and today is the home of the Bahai World center.

This week  the two "cities by the bay " marked the 40th anniversary of their sister city relationship.

From the website of  the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest 

 Mayor Edwin M. Lee, Consul General Andy David, Charlotte Mailliard Schultz (Chief of Protocol), Senator Mark Leno, City Supervisor Scott Weiner, Arthur Wachtel, Chair of the San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee,  and many others joined in celebrating the 40th year of Sister City relations between the two cities by the bay.

Guests included heads of Jewish organizations and members of the Sister City Committee, including Deputy Consul General Eyal Naor, Tracy Harding, Regional Director of the U.S. Department of State and Fuad Sweiss, City Engineer.

 

Established in 1973, the Sister City agreement has gained increased momentum in recent years, generating the visit of Haifa Mayor Yahav to San Francisco in 2010, a game between the Maccabi Haifa basketball team and the Golden State Warriors in 2012, and an official delegation visit from San Francisco to Haifa in May this year, including emergency management personnel, health officials and military staff.

 

Mayor Lee affirmed the vital role of the Sister City relationship in promoting deeper mutual understanding and cooperation, sharing the vision of Mayor Yahav, who spoke during his 2010 visit of the role of Haifa as a model for coexistence in the Middle East: "What is outstanding about the fabric of the people is that all parts, all sectors within the Haifa society are living in full peace more than 100 years."

Al Awda: And the War continues

If its May, it must be Nakba season. And true to form, a variety of anti-Israel events are scheduled throughout California . Our local Al Awda's promotional poster carries the promise of continued "resistance"- a thinly veiled threat of violence.

The theme of continued violence carries over to the Southern California Al Awda, who have declared No Return = No Justice = No Peace!, and have scheduled a day of rage at the local Israeli Consulate on Wilshire Blvd.

Zahi Damuni's hate filled invective begins:

"Of all Zionist war crimes, none was as massive as that committed in the 1948 era with the wholesale expulsion of the Palestinian Arab people from their homes, towns and villages, as part of a calculated plan to uproot an entire population and empty the land of Palestine from its indigenous inhabitants.

The Nakba ("Catastrophe" in Arabic) of 1948 refers to this planned ethnic cleansing when the vast majority of Palestinians were ruthlessly attacked, massacred and driven from their homes into refugee camps by Zionist terror groups, and not allowed to return in violation of international law...."

And of course, he is wrong.

What Israelis, Jews and most of the world celebrates as Israel's independence, people opposed to Israel's birth commemorate as the "Nakba"- the Catastrophe. Roughly 650,000 Arabs were displaced in Israel's war of Independence. The vast majority fled without seeing a single Israeli soldier. Thousands of wealthy Arabs left in anticipation of a war. Others responded to a call from Arab leadership to leave, and were promised a quick return following a victory over Israel. That victory never came. A handful were expelled, but most simply fled to avoid being caught in the war.

A 1948 British police report from Haifa explained that “every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with their normal lives, to get their shops and businesses open and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe.” In her autobiography, Golda Meir writes about going to Haifa to try to persuade the Arabs to stay.

Thousands of these handbills were distributed in Haifa, in an effort to convince the Arabs not to leave.



Israel's declaration of independence- that most Zionist of all documents states

"WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions. "

The true catastrophe- the real Nakba- is that after 64 years Al Awda continues to wage a war on the Jewish state- a war of words, a war of hate, a war of agitprops.

Near lynching of Israeli teenagers in Haifa

Haifa, sister city of San Francisco, another city by the bay, has been noted for its diversity and tolerance. Until now. Details are emerging of a horrifying attack on two 19 year olds, as reported in YNET

“After we parked the car, another vehicle approaching quickly stopped next to us,” one victim said. “They asked us whether we’re Jewish, and then started yelling ‘Jews, Jews.’ We ran in different directions but they chased us.”

“They caught up with me and started to beat me up with clubs all over my body. I felt they wanted to murder me,” he said. “I saw about 15 or 20 people and felt I was finished.”

According to the second victim, the assailants came out of three vehicles equipped with clubs and metal rods.

“Seven or eight people grabbed hold of me, beat me up and kicked me all over my body,” he said. “They also tried to hit my head with a club, but I protected myself with my arms. That’s why my arms were pulverized. They hit also my head and pelvis with a rock.”

During the savage assault, the attackers decided to “leave their mark” on one of the victims, resorting to a particularly brutal tactic.

“At one point they pounded my head against the pavement,” one soldier said. “One of them grabbed hold of my arms and someone who stood above me engraved something on my head using a knife or a sharp object. I fainted.”

As it turned out, the assailants engraved the words “you dog” in Arabic on the victim’s head. "

San Francisco and Haifa: Sister Cities

Haifa and San Francisco are sister cities- the reasons seem obvious. Both are cities on a hill, both have a diverse population, both are centers of high-tech, and both sit on an earthquake fault. Just as San Francisco functions as a "sanctuary" city, Haifa too provided a sanctuary for people of the Bahai faith, and today is the home of the Bahai World center. Last week, Haifa mayor Yona Yahav came to San Francisco, to celebrate and promote Haifa's 35 year old relationship with the "City by the bay".

While here, Yahav attended a screening at the Kabuki Sundance Theater of the Israeli film “The Matchmaker,” which was filmed in Haifa. He also spoke at the World Affairs Council discussing Haifa as a model of coexistence in the Middle East. Haifa, with a population of almost 600,000 is third-largest city in Israel. Haifa’s residents consist of Jews, Arabs, Christians, Bahai, and other communities living side-by-side. His theory as to why his city seems to be an island of Arab-Jewish cooperation. “In our city,” he said, “nothing is holy.”

Stronger relations are being promoted between San Francisco and Haifa, sister cities with much in common. How's that BDS movement going, btw?