Jewish National Fund: Helping families affected by arson fires in Israel

As of this week

Hamas arson attacks in numbers:

 7413 acres of land burned  

1,364 fires caused by incendiary devices

10-12 million NIS worth of damage by arson attacks 

1,832 people have been treated for trauma.

These numbers increase each day.

Do you want to help?   The Jewish National Fund is leading a series of nationwide town hall events to learn more about the crisis, and about how the diaspora  community  can help.

As of now, there is nothing scheduled locally- we will let you know if that changes.

Fromm August 19 through August 30, the  Jewish National Fund invites you to learn the truth about the Gaza Border Crisis. In a series of town hall meetings across the country, you can hear first-hand from a mother, a young pioneer, and a farmer - residents of the Gaza border communities - who will share their personal stories of living under attack.

TOWN HALL SCHEDULE

Sunday, Aug 19

Los Angeles

 Stephen S. Wise Synagogue

15500 Stephen S Wise Dr.

Los Angeles, CA 90077

10am – 12noon

Register Now

Monday, Aug 20

Phoenix

Ina Levine Jewish Community Campus

12701 N. Scottsdale Rd.

Scottsdale, AZ 85254  

6:30pm – 8:30pm

Register Now

Tuesday, Aug 21 

Las Vegas

Temple Beth Sholom

10700 Havenwood Ln

Las Vegas, NV 89135

6:30pm – 8:30pm

Register Now

Wednesday, Aug 22

Denver

Temple Sinai

3509 S Glencoe St

Denver, CO 80237

7:00pm - 9:00pm

Register Now

Thursday, Aug 23

Chicago

Beth Hillel Bnai Emunah

3220 Big Tree Lane 

Wilmette, Illinois 60091

6:30pm – 8:30pm

Register Now

Sunday Aug 26

S. Florida

Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center

20400 NE 30th Ave

Aventura, FL 33180

6:30pm

Register Now

Monday Aug 27

Washington DC

Charles E. Smith Day School

Upper School Campus

11710 Hunters Lane

Rockville MD 208527pm

Register Now

Tuesday, Aug 28

Boston

Temple Israel of Boston

477 Longwood Ave

Boston, MA 02215

6:30pm

Register Now

Wednesday, Aug 29

Southern NJ

Shirat Hayam
700 North Swarthmore Avenue, Ventor, NJ 08406

1pm

Register Now

Wednesday, Aug 29

Philadelphia

Temple Beth Hillel-Beth El

1001 Remington Road

Wynnewood, PA 19096

6pm

Register Now

Thursday, Aug 30

New York

Park East Synagogue

164 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10021

8am – 10am

Register Now

The JNF is also collecting donations here

Debunking the "pine libel"

Anti-Israel sites are anxious to pass responsibility for the current rash of fires in Israel back to the Jews. What better way to reclaim the mantle of eternal victimhood  than blaming the  Jewish National fund for planting pine trees during Israel's formative years, instead of, oh, lets say, this guy:

Read the truth about the "Pine libel" from the Elder of Ziyon

The pine tree that the JNF has been planting for so many years is the Aleppo pine, pinus halepensis (known in Israel as the Jerusalem pine.)  It is found throughout the Mediterranean, from Morocco to Syria. The JNF did not choose the tree to make Israel look like Europe, a lie repeated by Mondoweiss.  Native Aleppo pine forests exist in the Carmel and Galilee regions.

Moreover, pine trees were observed in Palestine by travelers in the 19th century. From The Popular Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, 1856:

 The tall cypress only exists in Palestine, as cultivated by man in gardens, and in cemeteries, and other open places of towns. But as the spontaneous growth of the country, we find upon the heights and swelling hills, the walnut-tree, the strawberry-tree, the laurel-tree, &c.; while on the formerly wooded heights, various kinds of pine-trees, large and small, still maintain their ground.

As far as Mount Carmel is concerned specifically,  the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1907 says it is "covered with helm-oaks and pine trees."

Carved Pine cones, Palmyra, Syria.

UPDATE:
Mazin Qumsiyeh writing on behalf of the  Palestine Museum of Natural History and the Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability continues the "pine libel" stating:

The choice of European pine trees was because a) they grow fast, b) they give a European look to the otherwise “Arab” landscape, c) their leaves on the ground make  acidic preventing growth or regrowth of endogenous trees.

In total KKL boasts that it planted 240 million pine trees. Resinous pine is like petrol and burns with a ferocity. 

Read about the local pines mentioned in the Bible here

Three pines are frequently encountered in the Middle East. One, Pinus pinea, the stone pine or umbrella pine (in allusion to its umbrella-like appearance when mature), was once grown on a large scale for its seeds which are an important ingredient in Middle East foods. Today, most of these seeds are imported from China and may be produced by trees other than the stone pine. All pines have edible seeds, most, however, are too small to harvest.

The two native pines are Aleppo pine, P. halepensis, and P. brutia which has no widely acceptable common name. Pinus brutia is widespread in Syria and Turkey. There are remnant forests of Aleppo pine in Israel and Jordan. Both pines are fire maintained in nature.

In Nehemiah 8:15 and Isaiah 41:19 the Aleppo pine brutia pine is probably meant. In each of these three references the beauty of the trees is emphasized. This is applicable as the pine is evergreen, fragrant, but also produces good wood for construction and furniture.

In Hosea 14:8 reference is made to a pine tree which apparently produces an edible fruit perhaps the stone pine. It is often difficult to say with certainty which pine is intended in the scriptures as the same word can be used for other evergreen trees such as the cypress and the fir.

Read more about the "pine libel" here:

Anti-Israel Activists: Israel Should Have Planted More Arson-Resistant Trees

Pine Libel

IJAN"s irrational assault on the venerable ADL

In response to the grand jury decision not to issue an indictment against the white police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American in Ferguson, Missouri, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the tragedy a wake-up call, “reminding us that the problems we face as a nation transcend Ferguson.”

Karen J. Aroesty, ADL St. Louis Regional Director, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director issued the following statement:

The events in Ferguson, Missouri should prompt all of us to do some very serious soul-searching.
We start from the premise that America is a nation governed by the rule of law. We were not in the grand jury room, we did not see the evidence, but we respect the grand jury’s integrity and their commitment to meeting the heavy responsibility thrust upon them. Friends of the Brown family, members of his community, and people across the nation may disagree with the outcome, and that is their right. But disagreement is never an excuse for violence.

At the same time, this tragedy should be a wake-up call reminding us that the problems we face as a nation transcend Ferguson. Fifty years after the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, our society is still not free from bias, racial prejudice, and discrimination. African-Americans are still the most frequent targets of hate crimes in America, black students are suspended or expelled from our public schools at a much higher rate than white students, and there are many other examples that show the continuing racial divide.

Michael Brown’s father has said that he does not want his son’s death to have been in vain. Rather, he wants it to lead to positive change, “change that makes the St. Louis region better for everyone.” We commend him for that, and hope that we can all come away from this tragedy with an understanding that will help not only St. Louis, but our whole nation. This is an appropriate moment to look at ourselves honestly, to confront the prejudice and bigotry that tarnish our society, and to commit ourselves to ensuring that we have a justice system that all Americans can trust.

*************

The ADL statement  was widely condemned by the IJAN, the extremist International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network,  who wrote

The ADL's decision to firmly support the police and attempt to silence nation-wide collective action is no surprise given their history of collaboration with and support of police violence and surveillance in the US. The ADL directly trains tens of thousands of police and other “security forces” and leads population control training of US Police by Israeli military and police forces. By facilitating the training of US police in Ferguson and other cities, the ADL acts as a driving force in the cross-pollination of the most repressive practices and the increasing militarization of police forces in the US and Israel.

We are disgusted that the ADL continues to stick to what it knows best: racism.

Why would the extremist IJAN deliberately  mischaracterize the ADL’s statement? What kind of  irrational moral inversion does it take to call a statement that urges Americans to engage in 'soul searching" because their nation is still not free from free from “bias, racial prejudice, and discrimination.”, racist?

You’ll find the answer at the Mike report

Jeff Robbins in a guest post at the Mike Report, has provided the answer, writing,  “The plan” as far as the Arabs were concerned was to “peel” American Jews away from the major American Jewish organizations, and in that way dilute American support for Israel.

Robbins provides the background:

In late 2004, as I was nearing the end of my tenure as President of the World Affairs Council of Boston, a foreign policy forum, we invited Nabil Fahmi, the then-Ambassador of Egypt to the United States, to speak to a group of Boston’s civic leaders about the Mideast. Fahmi delivered the predictable fare, blaming Israel not only for the Arab-Israeli conflict but for the region’s problems more generally. Straying somewhat from my proper role as host, I questioned him directly, and sharply, about his version of events, and insisted that he address the recently-released United Nations Arab Human Development Report written by Arab social scientists that placed blame for the Arab countries’ woes on the Arabs.

When it was time for him to leave, Fahmi made a special point of coming to see me to say goodbye, and asked me to come see him the next time I was in Washington, D.C. This was a gracious act on his part, particularly given my critical questioning of him in a public setting, and I did go see him at the fortress-like building that is Egypt’s Embassy to the United States. The meeting took place on November 22, 2004 in Ambassador Fahmi’s office, with only the two of us and his note-taker present. For an hour, Fahmi leaned back in his chair and explained to me that “the plan” as far as the Arabs were concerned was to “peel” American Jews away from the major American Jewish organizations, and in that way dilute American support for Israel.

We've seen JVP's childish rants against AIPAC and StandWithUs.  The IJAN has the JNF and the ADL in its crosshairs.  Other Jewish organizations are also under attack. This is not a spontaneous grass-roots response- its a concerted, coordinated Arab-lead effort.

Jeff Robbins' answer to to this challenge? "Israel Advocacy Organizations Need To Up Their Game"

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on Israel

Israel is the only country in the Middle East to commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and his pursuit of peace, justice and equality.



"Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect her right to exist, its territorial integrity ..... Israel is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security, and that security must be a reality.”

Spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr 10 days before his assassination

Israel acknowledges the legacy of Dr. King with a memorial in Jerusalem, and with a forest, planted in the Galilee. Currently, trees are also being planted to honor his wife, Coretta Scott King.

From the JNF

"In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah launched Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, destroying two million trees that covered thousands of acres of forest in the Galilee. As a tribute to Coretta Scott King and her message of peace and equality, a section of the Biriya Forest, which was destroyed by the rockets, will be replanted as the Coretta Scott King Forest. King, who passed away in 2006, was a distinguished human rights activist and leader. She devoted her life to social justice, alongside her husband, The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Coretta Scott King Forest is in addition to a forest that was planted in Israel in memory of her husband."


From Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King





Martin Luther King St. in Israel. Note the English, Hebrew and Arabic of the sign. What were you saying about "Jew only roads", again?

Plant a Tree For Gilad Shalit

Plant a Tree for Free in Honor of Gilad Shalit’s Release

In honor of Gilad Shalit’s release from captivity, Jewish National Fund (JNF) invites everyone to plant a tree for free and send a personalized certificate to the Shalit family to commemorate this important occasion.

Gilad Shalit’s long-awaited homecoming, after five and a half years in captivity, is testament to the value that we as a Jewish people place on the sanctity of life, and to Israel’s dedication to its citizens.

“One hundred ten years ago this organization was founded to repurchase the land and create a homeland for the Jewish people. One hundred ten years later a solder from the IDF – in itself a remarkable entity—had a homeland to come back to," said JNF President Stanley Chesley. "With all the emotions that are at play at this time, our thoughts and prayers are with those whose sons and daughters can never be returned even as we celebrate Gilad Shalit’s homecoming, we take pride in the strength and fortitude of this extraordinary miracle—the land and people of Israel.”

Send a tree to Gilad Shalit to welcome him home. Visit jnf.org or call 800-542-TREE.

Courtesy of Ronald Lauder and Stanley Chesley, JNF’s Chairman of the Board and President, and its Board of Directors, in celebration of Gilad Shalit’s release after 5 years of captivity.

Limit one per person. Free tree offer expires Sunday, October 23.

Jewish Voice for Peace Announces "Day of Rage " against the Jewish National Fund

Jewish Voice for Peace has announced today as day of rage against Jewish National Fund, urging people to launch a coordinated attack against the venerable non-profit. Our "proud to be ashamed to be Jewish" friends are using the eviction of squatters in Israel's Negev desert as an excuse to harrass the JNF. Its another in a series of attacks, orchestrated by JVP and its allies on Jewish institutions and organizations that support our right to self determination in our ancient homeland.

Lets turn this into a "buycott", folks. Go to the JNF website. Buy some trees. Do it in honor of someone you love. For added impact, ask the JNF to send the acknowledgement to "Jewish Voice for Peace"
1611 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 550. Oakland, CA 94612

Can't plant a tree? Thats ok, too. Sometimes its necessary to turn the tables. So why don't you pick up the phone today and give JVP a call. You can reach them at 510-465-1777. Be polite and respectful, as difficult as it might be.

Go ahead. You know you want to.