Hashomer Hatzair Australia

Getting BDS right.

2011-09-06T05:56:00.001-07:00

Edan Nissen

Students for Palestine is currently engaged in an infamous campaign against the chocolate store Max Brenner. This is part of the wider global campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. Why Max Brenner? I hear you ask. Quite simply, Max Brenner is owned by an Israeli company, The Strauss Group who provide chocolate for the ration packs of Israeli soldiers.

For those unaware, Max Brenner is a popular place to buy chocolates or enjoy a hot beverage. Recently the chain’s outlets have seen a marked increase in visitors. My guess is this had something to do with this campaign and the prominent politicians, community leaders and unionists who came out against it. The “struggle” against Max Brenner was buoyed by the belief that “all press is good press” and that the intention is merely to “bring attention to the plight of the Palestinians”. However, rather than doing Palestinians any good and helping to expose the crimes of the occupation, Students for Palestine has made its campaign look very silly. Already 19 members of the movement have been arrested with some of the protesters now looking at jail time for breaking a court order to stay away from the store. No attention was shed onto the Palestinian cause. Instead, the Australian Competitor and Consumer Commission is investigation the legality of the campaign and Max Brenner has enjoyed an increase in sales. In light of the most recent fiasco led by those who claim to stand up for Palestinian rights, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the short list of ideas that the Students for Palestine considered boycotting before settling on Max Brenner. I have written these ideas using the usual far-leftist rhetoric that characterizes their approach the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

The Hebrew Language

Why it was short listed?
The Hebrew language is not only a symbol for Israel and Zionism but is also deeply enshrined within the occupation of the Palestinian people. Often Hebrew is used to pass through a chain of command which orders the Israeli army to commit its hateful acts against the Palestinian people. It is also taught in most Palestinian schools, against the wishes of the Palestinians. Above all, the revival of the Hebrew language is synonymous with the rise of the Zionism, the colonialist racist movement that led to the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and occupation of their land.

Boycott Targets
• The Black Eyed Peas song “I Gotta Feeling”. Uses the words Mazal Tov and Le’chaim.
• Any Mel Brooks Movie

Why it was rejected?
Despite it being a great target, as it is a huge symbol of the occupation. It’s simply too tough logistically difficult to boycott a language.
Also, it’s pretty anti-Semitic.

Ke$ha

Why she was short listed?
First, let’s start with a universal truth that her music isn’t great. So a boycott of her music isn’t just political. Not long ago a group of soldiers stationed in a Zionist colonialist outpost of Hebron, made a video of them performing a dance to Ke$ha’s song Tik Tok. The video went viral. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO8Et-aa-dE&feature=related). This is clear evidence that Ke$ha is an agent of the occupation and genocidal Israel. Her music should therefore be boycotted until these occupied lands are returned to the Palestinians.

Boycott Targets
• Ke$ha’s single “Tik Tok”
• Any other song by Ke$ha (does anyone know any?)

Why it was rejected?

Even for the BDS campaing, boycotting Ke$ha is a stretch. While there is no doubting the fact that the soldiers did dance to one of her songs, there is no real link between the singer and this particular group of genocide-enablers. Also, Ke$ha has not expressed any support for the soldiers in the video. Anyone that already listens to her music is unlikely to have any interest in the plight of the Palestinian people, as they are most likely to be 12 year old girls.

Synagogues

Why it was short listed?
Almost every Synagogue in Australia supports Israel. Many of them advocate a love for the Jewish state. The support ranges from advising Israel as a trip destination, discussing the latest in pro-Zionist politics, even a mention in the sermon from time to time. Australian synagogues therefore have clear tie to Israeli oppression.

Boycott Targets
• St. Kilda Synagogue
• Caulfield Synagogue
• Temple Beth Israel

Why it was rejected?
While the link is clear, no one in the organization attends synagogue, or would even think of attending a synagogue. While some members of the Australian BDS movement are Jewish, none of them would attend a shule service and many of them haven’t since they were forced to by their parents for their bar/bat mitzvah.
Again, there is also an issue of anti-Semitism.

So there it is. All of these are the most worthy targets to truly boycott Israel. For Students for Palestine, Aggressively targeting a chocolate store seems the most likely to stop Israeli oppression. Go figure.

Statement against the boycott law.

2011-07-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

Hashomer Hatzair Australia is deeply concerned about the boycott bill passed two weeks ago by the Israeli Knesset.

As a Zionist organisation, we encourage our chanachim to form a personal relationship and connection with the state of Israel. This connection is based on a belief that Israel should be not only strive to maintain a proud Jewish character but also act as an “or la goyim” (light unto the nations) through a commitment to liberty and protection of minority groups.

Although our movement opposes the call for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) of Israel, we nonetheless recognize boycotts as a legitimate tool of political expression. Therefore, the law undermines the freedom of expression of those organisations and individuals who choose to advocate a boycott.

Most concerning about the legislation is that its objective is to quash boycotts that are specifically directed towards Israel’s illegally occupied territories. This attacks the rights of those who recognize that the occupation is blight on Israeli society and rightly refuse to financially support it.

We implore Australia’s Zionist community to stand up for freedom of speech in the Jewish state and not allow the dangerous anti-democratic precedent set by this legislation to prevail.

University battle ground

2011-05-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Edan Nissen

On Universities, battle lines are firmly drawn.

To anyone that has stepped on a university campus, especially amongst the big campuses, in Melbourne including Melbourne University, Monash, and Deakin- The battle lines of the Israeli-Palestinian debate have been drawn in cement. Seemingly on each side is an organization representing its uncompromising stance and an inability to listen to the arguments of the other. Stuck firmly in their own beliefs these organisations will often source articles and reports that support their own contentions, firmly dismissing anything that dares to portray the conflict any differently.

On the “Palestinian” side, Students for Palestine, backed up by the Socialist Alternative, and the far left movements of Australia, depict a scenario in which Israel is the ultimate of all evils, incapable of doing any thing progressive or pro-peace. Its belief is that it is not just the actions of the state, but the entity itself which is a “colonialist, racist, empirical entity which threatens to ethnically cleanse the land of all native Palestinians”. The members of Students for Palestine are often standing on University campuses and at rallies, shouting out their narrative of the latest incident in the area, telling you about Israel’s land grabbing government and its secret ethnic cleansing operations. They show historical maps, which are majorly out of context and ignore what isn’t convenient for them.

On the other side, stands a conglomerate of groups, led by the Jewish group on campus, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students. AUJS staunchly defends Israel’s right to exist, often labeling any action against Israel as “Anti-Semitism” and that Palestine is being ruled by “terrorists” and therefore cannot be worked with. AUJS is also joined by the university wings of the two main political parties of Australia, or at least the large majority of these groups. Both the ALP right wing university faction and the Young Liberals, are both supportive not only of AUJS, but also of the belief that Israel is above any criticism, siding with AUJS on every single campaign that it makes. They try and show that all is fine and dandy in the Jewish state. They stand awkwardly to the side of “pro-Palestinian” forums, hoping to evoke a response from the crowd gathering inside. They hope to speak to individuals, believing that their hard line “pro-Israel” approach will gather respect. Another major tactic is showing off their knowledge of the dotted examples of pluralism around Israel in an attempt to depict the image that Israel is not intolerant of its Arab population.
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The effect that this leaves is that there are two polar extremes being represented. The concept behind these theories is that if no inch is surrendered to the opposition, then your beliefs look stronger. However, when speaking to any ordinary university student, most of them do not care about the conflict, and those that do care, often find both sides as equally impossible to believe. Most students that follow the conflict see the evidence of both sides and are not swung either way by propaganda. They see the images in the media, about bombs dropping in Gaza, they’ll see a news report about Gilad Shalit, they’ll be shown statistics of rockets which have fallen into Israel and they’ll see death tolls from IDF operations in Gaza and the West Bank. The summation is that the conflict is confusing and convoluted. However, neither side of the argument on university campuses portray it as such, and as a result, they both look out of touch with reality.

What is needed is a more moderate group that is more in touch with the complexities of the conflict. The group that does this successfully could be the first source that most university students turn to for an understanding as they know that they cannot trust the existing orders. Currently, the youth at University look at both parties and see two sides with uncompromising narratives, and in the end, reach the conclusion that neither can be trusted. The result of it all has been the belief that one cannot be a Zionist while being for Palestinian statehood and one cannot be for Palestinian statehood while being a Zionist.

2011-05-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

Response to the Herald Sun

Hannah Green

Reading an article in a Melbourne newspaper yesterday elicited two responses from me, one that I frequently feel and one I do not usually experience. My first reaction was anger and shock. The second response was a thankfulness that youth movements such as Hashomer Hatzair, exist.

Alan Howe's piece published in Monday’s Herald Sun newspaper assured me that political education is vital to combat the blatant racism and fear tactics so often employed by the media . Howe argues that Australia’s refugee policy is far too soft and that citizenship is a privilege that should not be extended to most individuals as it is currently. Howe’s major contention is that violent detention centre detainees are criminals unworthy of compassion as they threaten Australian security and values whether locked up or a part of the community .

Using inclusive language to suggest that all ‘real’ Australians share his views, Howe states that ‘everyone acknowledges Australia has already accepted too many dangerous people into our country; and not just your garden variety ne'er-do-wells, but men with an intense hatred for us who wish to kill us in our thousands.’ I am not only offended that Howe has redefined Australian values to include racism and bigotry and ascribed to us those qualities , I am appalled that such an opinion piece could appear in such a widely-read newspaper. To me, the piece lacked any credibility as its assertions are rooted in racism, not substantiation or fact.

Looking past the context of the piece, it is the author’s contentions that caused me more anguish. Howe argues that Australians should be wary of refugees living amongst the community, irrespective of the length in which they have lived here as they are dangerous and harbour a hatred of Western values and ‘Australian culture’. His evidence? None. His credibility? Seemingly none. However, what worries me most is is these arguments will further encourage discrimination and prejudice towards immigrants whether they arrived here ‘legally’ according to Australian immigration policy or not. These social issues are already prevalent as a result of confused government policies on multiculturalism vs assimilation and the convenient denial of all Australian’s immigrant past when it is convenient.

Howe highlights the motivations for asylum seekers to claim the benefits of our welfare, health and education system through refugee status because the countries from which they originated are probably run by “woman-hating, Kalashnikov-toting goat-herder from Kandahar.” Instead of understanding the motivations of someone seeking asylum, Howe associates the values of the asylum seeker with that woman-hating gun-toter, demonises the asylum seeker, suggesting they are unworthy of Australian sympathies. Howe employs negative labels to dehumanise and generalise those seeking refuge, hence justifying inhumane immigration policy. In addition, Howe fails to recognise any troubles of a policy of ‘send them back,’ despite recognising social, economic and political problems that provoked the asylum seeker’s departure in the first place. Although the UNHCR’s Charter states otherwise, as Howe sees it, this is not Australia’s responsibility.
The heart of Howe’s argument is that the violence of detainees in detention centres is unforgivable and signifies that by no means should these people should be allowed in Australian society. Howe’s literary techniques are as transparent as his xenophobia, contrasting the ‘criminal asylum seekers’ with the ‘hardworking police and firefighters sent there to restore order and save lives.’ While aggravating, the piece’s unfortunate prose is not my main concern. In arguing that these people are criminal, dangerous and violent, Howe conveniently ignores the fact that this extreme behaviour was provoked. It was incited by Australian immigration policy that treats people arriving by boat as criminal, regardless of their situation. In a court system that assumes innocent before guilty, why is it not the same for people seeking asylum? Howe would likely argue that these people do not deserve the justice of the Australian legal system and its values as they are most likely to reject and even endanger such values. To think that the rioting asylum seekers acting this way due to an innate criminality or violence as a cultural norm is ludicrous. To be incarcerated, stripped of your freedom and subjected to an ill-considered immigration policy without any indication of the lengths in which you may stay imprisoned would cause most rational people to act in a regrettable manner.

When finding this article online, my fears were unfortunately and predictably confirmed. Alan Howe is not the only person who holds this view. Eight other Herald Sun readers who commented on the article (there were no comments in opposition) and presumably a large portion of the population share Howe’s views. Assuming my left-wing glasses have not completely coloured my reading of this article, I see the piece as an unsubstantiated racial commentary of refugee policy and immigration in general. Thus I am privileged to be a madrich at a youth movement that largely supports my political views and allows me to educate against the values presented by Howe.

In light of the socialist, Zionist and Judaism ideology not wholly connecting with all chanichim or madrichim, I believe Hashy’s role to provide informal education towards critical analysis (which yes, may be a contradiction) and if we succeed, left-wing ideology, still relevant. While I do not expect everyone to be as distressed as I was by Howe’s article, I hope that Hashy’s education is successful insofar that chanichim can recognise the racism, attempts to invoke fear and danger Howe’s article and understand that it lacks credibility through baseless claims. The unceasing debate at Hashy remains, once we have identified our dissatisfaction with society and government, how should we channel this to create effective political and social change? Thus we meet the looming questions: is education enough or should we be doing more?

It's time for the exit visas and to get tough on criminal 'Aussies'
Alan Howe From: Herald Sun May 02, 2011 12:00AM

WE are getting tough on criminal asylum seekers, and it's right to be tougher on those criminal 'Australians' who have rejected us.
We've had enough of hunger striking, lip-stitching, violent arsonists seeking to stay in our country.
These criminal ingrates have shown their true colours - and indicated their lowly IQs.
They are almost certainly unemployable - unless perhaps some vacancies came up in the nightclub security industry - and would most likely drain our taxes spending years in our judicial and correctional systems. That's if they don't kill us.
We don't need them. Neither can we afford them.
Unstitch their lips, force feed those who won't eat, severely punish those who have flouted our criminal code - and for whom gratitude and decency are alien concepts - and then dispatch them back to the miserable lands from whence they came.
From Christmas Island to Woomera, from Villawood to Curtin, we are hosting desperate people, among them many possibly deserving asylum seekers, as the Government assesses their right to stay.
Arriving on cramped, dodgy boats - that's those who make it - they are too often dismissed as queue-jumpers. I find it hard to criticise them for that.
If you and your kids were condemned to a hungry life among those who have read the Koran and believe it gives them licence to hang homosexuals, decapitate foreign aid workers, and stone to death raped young girls - how many queues would you jump?
Olympic gold medallist Steve Hooker leapt well over 6m in Beijing. That's the back fence compared with what these "queue jumpers" have achieved.
We have obligations to asylum seekers under various UN charters, and we accept that, even if not evenly across the whole community.
Our role, when these people are intercepted, is complex. We feed and house them - perhaps not as well as they wish, but in better conditions than are likely to be provided by some woman-hating, Kalashnikov-toting goat-herder from Kandahar. We also provide consular and educational services, as well as medical care.
In the meantime, we set out to establish their bone fides.
Everyone acknowledges Australia has already accepted too many dangerous people into our country; and not just your garden variety ne'er-do-wells, but men with an intense hatred for us who wish to kill us in our thousands.
Among those convicted of fearful terror crimes in Australia in recent years are migrants who arrived here from such places as Bosnia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Lebanon.
So we are better safe than sorry. Cross-checking the characters of asylum-seekers is a tedious, drawn-out business involving communications with administrations of countries often in chaos: Iraq, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and, of course, Afghanistan among them.
This is explained to the new arrivals, and mostly they understand. Some choose not to and they were behind the unforgivable violence that has seen rioters extravagantly harming themselves - but only after they have our attention with criminal arson.
So what did they burn? Their bedrooms? No way, they need them.
Last month, they targeted the kitchen, computer room and medical centre, which presumably puts this lot at odds with the patient, law-abiding majority without criminal backgrounds just seeking safer and more prosperous lives for their kids.
There's a further insight to the thinking of these would-be "Australians". At Villawood detention centre, the criminal asylum seekers hurled roof tiles at police and firefighters - hard-working men and women sent there to restore order and save lives.
On Christmas Island, they threw rocks at the police - employees of the Government they apparently wish to call their own.
Not many people noticed that the Governor-General, while belatedly handing out some Order of Australia awards a few days back, presented a bravery medal - the only one given this year - to a Richard Battersby.
Mr Battersby was the manager of the Villawood detention centre when riots broke out one day. He saved two inmates from a burning building, and then negotiated with 20 others scaling the fence appealing to them not to flee.
As he did so, they flung molten aluminium at him. Aluminium melts at just over 660C.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has been criticised for the flow of "illegals" on his watch. It has been said that the Government's softened refugees stance means more are making the journey, and more are dying by taking the risk. Not as much was said about his quick and robust response to law-breaking asylum seekers.
Bowen plans legislative changes that would mean anyone convicted of any criminal act while in detention would fail the character test under Section 501 of the Migration Act.
In recent weeks - indeed, for some years now - we have seen dozens of selfish criminals who have accepted our generous nation's assistance break our laws almost with impunity. Bowen will bounce them.
Next, he needs to start dispatching from our shores those migrant criminals who pretend to be Australians - sometimes for decades, and who often have accents just like you and me - but who never show enough faith in our country to join us and accept the responsibilities that come with the privilege of citizenship.

SRI: Segregated Religious Instruction?

2011-04-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Tal Slome

Four years ago while on placement in a prep class, I first experienced SRI (School Religious instruction). Never have we discussed religious instruction in public schools throughout my four year Bachelor of Education course, so I was understandably confronted when a Christian religion volunteer entered the classroom. This week, she announced, we will be talking about birthday parties. She gave each of the 15 five and six year olds party hats and proceeded to ask them how they would feel about having a party in which they could only invite 12 of their closest friends, and no one else. That would be very sad, the children expressed, to which the teacher replied: this is what Jesus had to go through at his last party (read: the last supper). I threw a quick glance towards my teacher and could instantly tell that I wasn’t the only one in the room questioning both the seemingly bizarre relevance as well as the impact this type of story might have on a child.

In 1872, Victoria was a world leader in free, secular education, and SRI was only introduced in the classroom due to conservative trends in the 1950s. Teachers have consistently refused to administer SRI, and, subsequently, ACCESS Ministries is the “default” provider of instruction in religion in the state curriculum, by ministerial and statutory authority. It provides a service of Christian religious instruction for 30 minutes per week. The children are instructed by 'trained' volunteers – individuals (who are, not necessarily, and generally not, teachers), that undertake training for as little as one day prior to entering the classroom.

Alternatives to Christian SRI do exist in some instances, but these extend only to religious instruction of other faiths. Currently, only Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Baha'i, Greek Orthodox, Hare Krishna and Roman Catholic courses are accredited. It is extremely difficult to qualify for accreditation by the government, with these religious streams not funded by the state, unlike Christian education. Just last week, due to growing criticism expressed through the media and schools, Martin Nixon, the new education Minister pledged an additional $200 000 to assist ACCESS with improving the program. If parents do not subscribe to the above mentioned religions, they have only one choice; they can opt their child out of SRI classes. If a parent fails to respond to the SRI form (for whatever reason), they are automatically assumed to be opting in. When students are opted out by their parents, they are not allowed to use that time to engage in any educational content, such as homework or additional learning. Instead, students are often forced to sit in corridors, quiet rooms, or in the back of the class. The Education Department’s requirements make it abundantly clear that secular instruction may not be scheduled while special religious instruction is taking place.

As parents have the option to remove their child from the class, some argue that SRI is not obligatory. This, however, is not an appropriate approach. An ethical and decent environment is not one where people are forced to seek their way out. Many parents feel that their children will be discriminated against and students are often left feeling isolated and different from their peers.

The core issue with the current model is that it is in stark opposition to the messages which we are trying to promote and instil in our children; hopes for social inclusion, acceptance and respect. Rather than celebrate our multicultural character, we are stifling our children's abilities to be immersed in the richness and diversity of our society. Having children exposed to only one perspective (whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Islam or any other religious belief) leaves our children with a limited understanding of religious diversity and the role which religion will play in their future. It encourages segregation amongst the single most impressionable group in society. It does not set the foundations for a vibrant, culturally diverse community.

The Religions, Ethics and Education Network Australia has written to The Prime Minister and respective ministers seeking an urgent review of religious education so changes can be included in the new national curriculum. The notion of religion and its place in the state system needs to undergo a radical overhaul. A widespread debate and inquiries must be undertaken to discuss whether religion ought to even have a role in our public schooling system. Current legislation stipulates that a government school may offer special religion instruction to children; we need to establish if this remains relevant, and even if it does, we must provide some workable alternatives.

If religious education is to continue being taught in state schools, it should be replaced with a holistic course. Fairness In Religion In Schools (FIRIS) argue that 'schools should teach about religion, not instruct children in religion'. This alternative should be based on a multi faith pillar and incorporate different ethical traditions. It is no secret that we live in a multicultural society, and thus need to encourage religious literacy. Volunteers or teachers should be well trained to thoroughly and confidently teach this course, through professional development opportunities. Even so, an alternative should always be available for parents or students that prefer non religious education. In NSW, for instance, schools offer 'religion free ethics courses' alongside traditional religion classes. Another option could be to host religion specific classes prior to or post schooling hours. This way parents can be respected in their rights to have their children educated religiously, without religion classes being taught in the normal school curriculum. This would serve to limit the stigma on both sides of the issue.

By clarifying the intentions and structure of religious instruction in the classroom, we can work together to educate a generation of children that will be proud of their identity, respect others and therefore grow to be citizens, adults and parents who make their own choices and good ones at that.

The misuse of the Goldstone Report.

2011-04-10T21:33:00.000-07:00

Jesse Rose

The Goldstone Report on the events of Operation Cast Lead and the subsequent fallout has been a disaster from the moment it was launched.

The United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHCR) set up its fact finding mission on the Gaza conflict in April 2009 after Israel refused to set up its own transparent enquiry. Using protection of human rights as a shield, the Council politicised the investigation from its inception with the shameful intention of deligitimising the Jewish state. Indeed, it was only due to the insistence of Goldstone that the investigation included all combatants of the conflict and not only Israel.

Meanwhile, while Goldstone’s investigation was in full swing, some of the world’s most tyrannical regimes and members of the UNHCR, Libya, China and Bahrain were hard at work promoting human rights in their own countries.

Israel justifiably cried foul.

However, far from pleading their case reasonably, the Jewish state and her supporters gave merit to the arguments of an increasingly hostile international community. Using victimization as the major force behind its foreign policy, Israel again behaved as a spoiled child refusing to cooperate with Goldstone’s investigation despite his insistence on an unbiased approach.

Perhaps more troubling were supporters of Israel, (many of whom are vocal devotees of the occupation and other policies which actually harm the Jewish state) that went even further. Using tired old arguments of anti-Semitism against the international community, the substance of the report was rarely questioned. Instead, Israel’s supporters used UNHCR bias as the main basis for their claim.

The most troubling response above all was the personal attacks on Goldstone himself. This included the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth’s claim that Goldstone “mercilessly sent innocent blacks to the gallows during the Apartheid era”. The unfounded claim based on questionable evidence was subsequently accepted by Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and one of Israel’s most prominent defenders, Alan Dershowitz.

Goldstone has now made what appears to be a retraction of some of his claims. Israel to its credit has implemented some of the recommendations made from Goldstone’s original report.

However, the damage has been done. The bias of the UNHCR has again been exposed and Israel’s public image has taken another hit with its insistence on playing the victim, refusing to cooperate with Goldstone or to engage with legitimate criticism of its handling of the war.

Why I oppose BDS

2011-04-03T05:29:00.001-07:00

Edan Nissen

Recently I’ve seen the BDS campaign (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel slowly gain momentum; I’ve been impartial to the campaign as a Zionist who is critical of Israel’s actions towards the Palestinians and its ongoing settlement building. I certainly do not oppose a boycott, or at least some actions against Israel’s policy regarding settlement expansion. The settlements are undoubtedly outside of the Green Line, which most countries around the world accept as Israel’s internationally recognized borders and the last fully adopted borders by the United Nations.

However, upon discovering more calls for musicians and artists against playing in cities such as Tel Aviv as well as university professors calling for universities in the Diaspora to boycott academics from Israel, I have turned against the BDS movement.

As a left-wing Jew growing up in Hashomer Hatzair, I was taught of the powers of dialogue. The power of dialogue can sit people down at a table and make them listen to each other. Peace is achieved through the act of dialogue. No wound has ever been healed by more fighting, one cannot cover the pain by causing more damage. One can make someone feel worse then you, one can make oneself temporarily feel better about ones own situation but it will never be a permanent solution. Only through talking will we heal wounds, only through compassion and empathy can we move forward towards a better future. Only through dialogue will lasting peace be achieved.

However, the BDS campaign asks us to do the opposite. It asks us to ignore our problems, to pressure them to go away without compromise. The BDS campaign asks us not to send letters of complaint, to force the issue to be talked over . It takes an issue and places the pressure directly to the jugular and tries to kill it off without discussions. Many supporters of BDS would have cried out against the security fence. The wall that was said to be divisive, intrusive and most importantly it was a sign that Israelis had given up on talking. They said while in the short term, the barrier would be effective, it was the long term isolation that would escalate the conflict. They were proved correct. In the short term, the number of suicide bombings have fallen to 0 in the last three years. However, the long term effects of the wall are starting to show. Less Palestinians have met their Israeli counter-points outside of situations with soldiers. Less Palestinians can distinguish Israelis from the actions they see at the checkpoints and the apparent necessity to hold up traffic while they try to make their way to Israel to work. It is this inability to talk and see the other that makes young Palestinians more hostile towards an increasingly apathetic Israeli government.

And now the left is suggesting the same tactic. The BDS campaign uses the same foolish, short-sighted vision as the security fence. It blocks dialogue. The BDS campaign will stop people from talking. It stops people from going to Israel and seeing the culture, seeing that there is so much more to the country then just the occupation. The boycott campaigns are not calling for an end to an unjust system, as it was in the era of South African Apartheid; it is calling for an end to the right of Self determination, a right that is afforded to several peoples around the world, and a right that the Palestinians themselves are fighting for.

From the Guardian Newspaper

2011-03-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

An interesting approach from Tariq Ali, columnist for the Guardian, claiming that despite the seemingly humanitarian intentions of the NATO led intervention in Libya, one must not be too quick to judge the actions of the United States and her western allies as justified.

Background:
Two weeks ago, Western leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief as the United Nation Security Council passed resolution 1973. This paved the way for a no fly zone to be established and a military intervention to be launched in Libya. Initially the action received support from conservatives and liberals a like around the world as a humanitarian action designed to protect civilians and help them defeat Gadhafi’s brutal dictatorship. A closer analysis however reveals hypocrisy on the part of the United States and her allies. Is the west prepared to topple some dictators whilst keeping others that support their strategic interests in power?

Libya is another case of selective vigilantism by the west

The US-Nato intervention in Libya, with United Nations security council cover, is part of an orchestrated response to show support for the movement against one dictator in particular and by so doing to bring the Arab rebellions to an end by asserting western control, confiscating their impetus and spontaneity and trying to restore the status quo ante.

It is absurd to think that the reasons for bombing Tripoli or for the turkey shoot outside Benghazi are designed to protect civilians. This particular argument is designed to win support from the citizens of Euro-America and part of the Arab world. "Look at us," say Obama/Clinton and the EU satraps, "we're doing good. We're on the side of the people." The sheer cynicism is breathtaking. We're expected to believe that the leaders with bloody hands in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are defending the people in Libya. The debased British and French media are capable of swallowing anything, but the fact that decent liberals still fall for this rubbish is depressing. Civil society is easily moved by some images and Gaddafi's brutality in sending his air force to bomb his people was the pretext that Washington utilised to bomb another Arab capital. Meanwhile, Obama's allies in the Arab world were hard at work promoting democracy.

The Saudis entered Bahrain where the population is being tyrannised and large-scale arrests are taking place. Not much of this is being reported on al-Jazeera. I wonder why? The station seems to have been curbed somewhat and brought into line with the politics of its funders.

All this with active US support. The despot in Yemen, loathed by a majority of his people continues to kill them every day. Not even an arms embargo, let alone a "no-fly zone" has been imposed on him. Libya is yet another case of selective vigilantism by the US and its attack dogs in the west.

They can rely on the French as well. Sarkozy was desperate to do something. Unable to save his friend Ben Ali in Tunisia, he's decided to help get rid of Gaddafi. The British always oblige and in this case, having shored up the Libyan regime for the last two decades, they're making sure they're on the right side so as not to miss out on the division of the spoils. What might they get?

The divisions on this entire operation within the American politico-military elite have meant there is no clear goal. Obama and his European satraps talk of regime change. The generals resist and say that isn't part of their picture. The US state department is busy preparing a new government composed of English-speaking Libyan collaborators. We will now never know how long Gaddafi's crumbling and weakened army would have held together in the face of strong opposition. The reason he lost support within his armed forces was precisely because he ordered them to shoot their own people. Now he speaks of imperialism's desire to topple him and take the oil and even many who despise him can see that it's true. A new Karzai is on the way.

The frontiers of the squalid protectorate that the west is going to create are being decided in Washington. Even those Libyans who, out of desperation, are backing Nato's bomber jets, might – like their Iraqi equivalents – regret their choice.

All this might trigger a third phase at some stage: a growing nationalist anger that spills over into Saudi Arabia and here, have no doubt, Washington will do everything necessary to keep the Saudi royal family in power. Lose Saudi Arabia and they will lose the Gulf states. The assault on Libya, greatly helped by Gaddafi's imbecility on every front, was designed to wrest the initiative back from the streets by appearing as the defenders of civil rights. The Bahrainis, Egyptians, Tunisians, Saudi Arabians, Yemenis will not be convinced, and even in Euro-America more are opposed to this latest adventure than support it. The struggles are by no means over.

Obama talks of a merciless Gaddafi, but the west's own mercy never drops like gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It only blesses the power that dispenses, the mightiest of the mightiest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/29/libya-west-tripoli-arab-world-gaddafi?intcmp=239

Anti- Racism Rally in Kikar Zion, Jerusalem

2011-02-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

Edan Nissen

On Saturday the 26th of January 2011, a group of between 1,500 and 2,000 protested gathered on a cold night in Jerusalem to protest growing racist trends in Israel. The rally was organized seemingly in a joint operation between Hashomer Hatzair Israel and Peace now. Members from Meretz, Hadash and Avoda were also present.

In A loud show of support against Netenyahu and Lieberman, the two leaders of the current government, many of the protesters held signs with photos of one or the other. Amongst the speakers was the new Mazkal (head) of Hashomer Hatzair Israel, MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) and Hussein Rawidi, whose son had been stabbed to death by a group of Jewish teens in Jerusalem, for speaking in Arabic in the middle of Jerusalem.

The protest, was launched in response to a few main incidents that had been happening in the region of late.
Most of the speakers discussed the publication of the controversial book “Torat Ha’Melech”, or the King’s Bible, written by Rabbis Yitzchak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur, which allowed for Jews to kill gentiles, including children. As well as the petition supported by several rabbis which called for Jews not to rent or sell land to Arabs, reminiscent of Arab legislation which was used to intimidate Arabs from selling their land to Jews in the pre-state period. Both controversies, sprang forward towards the end of last year, show a marked trend in Israeli opinions on both Palestinians and Arabs in general. Certainly from speaking to older Israeli who loitered around the protest, but took no part stated that they did not believe talking would make any difference.

However, in the rally, the attitude couldn’t have been more different. The young and youthful crowd at the protest offered a hope that could spring from the new generation, despite the fact that most of the speakers were of a middle age, the crowd was quiet a young one, and all the speakers noticed this and thanked the youth for their attendance. At almost every pause chants ranging from “Gizoni ze lo ani” (I’m not a racist), “mi she lo kofetz gizant” (If you do not jump, you are a racist), to chants of Hashomer Hatzair.

Hopefully, the rally shows a positive sign for the future. Lets hope that a new idealistic generation can force change and overthrow the old generation, bringing again hope and peace to Israel and by doing so returning Zionism to its original place as stated in the declaration of independence as well as in the writings of key Zionist thinkers such as Herzl and Borochov.

Edan is currently with the new shnat kvutsah in Israel

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4034499,00.html

A More Active Future

2011-02-18T22:24:00.001-08:00

By Benny Pojer

What purpose does the Zionist youth movement hold in today’s Jewish community? It is this question that has caused movements around the world to rethink and redefine their often age-old ideologies. Are we merely here to educate? Or do we have a higher purpose? Do we want to simply instill a set of moral values within the minds of our chanichim or do we want to affect change within our greater communities and ultimately, our society?

There is an overwhelming sense of apathy and indifference which is taking hold of Zionist youth movements around the world and it is this passivity which I fear will result in the death of the Zionist youth movement. It is very easy for a group of individuals to spend hours discussing issues regarding their beliefs – restructuring, redefining and rewording their ideology – but it takes much more passion to actually put that ideology into practice and actualize those beliefs.

If we look back through history at the roles of Zionist youth movements in the past century, we see a series of movements who were inspired not only to discuss their ideology in depth, but also to take action as a counterculture group to affect change within their surrounding society. Movements who organized underground rebellions during the time of the ghettos of Europe in world war two, risking their lives to revolt against Nazi oppression – this is an example of the action that today’s movement are nowhere near to achieving.

It’s not that I am asking movements to bring about revolution within their societies or for chanichim to risk their lives to affect change in the world, but any action would be a step forward from the indifference that currently plagues the Zionist youth movements.

The time has come for movements to rethink what is there main goal. While many would say that education of chanichim is of the utmost importance, I would argue that this is only second to the need for practical projects. Purely advocating for change without actually acting on it not only discredits the entire purpose of the youth movement’s existence but also sends an apathetic message to chanichim which in no way inspires them to be the ‘chalutzim’ that every movement yearns to produce.

The status quo of the Zionist youth movement mentality is that of a weak and passive movement which runs ample programs on the problems facing our society and yet only on the rare occasion actually takes an active approach to fixing them. These idealistic visions all too often remain just that – visions.

What I have presented in this piece may appear overly critical to some and nonsensical to others. It may seem judgmental and unwarranted, harsh and brutal. And yet, what I present today is out of a deep love for the movement of which I am proud to be a part. I see Hashomer Hatzair as being at the pinnacle of a revolutionary period in our rich history. I only fear that we will

waste this precious opportunity and fall back into lull that has defined our movement for the past decades.

It is thus that I present the following pledge: we must take time away from executive meetings and veidot, and invest some of that time into the society in which we live. This is the only way in which our movements will reinstate their once vital purpose within our community. Otherwise, we will be left as nothing more than an idealistic, naive group of individuals who spend hours discussing issues of great importance, but end up getting lost on our way to ultimate fulfillment.

Testemony of Hashomer's Masa Le Polin

2011-02-14T02:25:00.000-08:00

Yoni Ungar

We, my Australian group from Hashomer Hatzair, arrived one Friday morning to Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial and museum in the outskirts of Jerusalem, and met the group of people that would be our friends, companions and those needed for support throughout our Poland trip. We had an emotional tour of Yad Vashem before all arriving back to the Machon. There we had integration programs and discussions about identity and our personal connections to the holocaust, as well as expectations and worries connected to our trip. After a Friday night Shabbat service and dinner with the whole group and our 40 South Americans, we enjoyed a night of shared games, songs, dances and fun. On Saturday, a holocaust survivor, Aliza, spoke to our extended group and shared with us her story. She was part of Hashomer Hatzair in Warsaw during the ghetto period and was actively involved in the movement during the resistance period. She told of her meetings with the heads of the movement, whom we all glorify, and her role in resistance against the Nazis. Obviously, she survived the war, and we were amazed to hear that we had shared an intimate meeting with one of only 2 survivors from Hashomer Hatzair who were involved in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Out of over a thousand members and hundreds who fought, she was one of two who survived. I was inspired by her courageous story and by her ability to settle in her new country, Israel, and establish a kibbutz, raise a family and build a new life. She implored us to tell her story and to ensure that our movement’s history is never lost, in light of recent attempts by right-wing Jewish groups to do such, and to glorify their own past. After our talk with Aliza, we said our farewells and were not to meet until the 1st of April at Tel-Aviv airport.
The flight to Warsaw left very early in the morning and was about 4-5 hours long, I was lucky to sleep through most of it. After a sleep-filled bus ride, I discovered the beauty of sleeping in the aisle, we arrived at a huge textile factory in Lodz which was owned by a prominent Jew, Posnanski, before the war. This really highlighted the high place of Jewish-Polish people in their society, as well as exemplified all that was taken away and lost during the holocaust. After a kosher le-pesach lunch in a mall of Salad and chips, (all that I ate for a good 3-4 days) we headed off to the old Lodz Jewish cemetery. It was an eerily beautiful place, and we were given a sheet of paper which explained various symbols that were on some of the graves there. Some symbols represented the graves of generous Jews, educationalists, community activists etc. this cemetery is located at the edge of what was the Lodz ghetto during the holocaust period and consequently, those who died in the ghetto were buried there. We moved to a section of the cemetery that housed the graves of those Jews, as well as a special area dedicated to those whose bodies were not found or whose identities were unknown. It was an indescribably large area, with endless graves and monuments. The burial place of 100’s of thousands of Jews. It was very emotive and gave some light to the non-tangible and unimaginable horrors that occurred. To see such a sight was a truly scary and shocking experience. From the cemetery we drove to the Lodz Ghetto memorial, which is situated at the train station from where the Jews were deported. With amazing architecture, I think it was a fitting monument and there, I was able to pay some homage to all those who were lost. We proceeded to visit a tiny room which was used to hide 25-30 Jews, seeing the small, cramped conditions were shocking. Throughout the day, our Madrichah, Tal, shared with us personal stories of a few Jews in the Lodz Ghetto, which effectively allowed for us to form some sort of connection to the Jews of that time and to attempt to comprehend the lives that they were forced to live. We arrived at our Hotel, exhausted, ate dinner and had a very lethargic late-night wrap-up of the day and discussion, before bed.

After an early start and a breakfast of matzah and spreads, we went for a tour of the city of Krakow. We saw Wavel castle, a beautiful palace, and learnt a lot about the history of Krakow and the history of Jews there. After touring through the old Jewish quarter of the city, seeing the old Jewish buildings, the old Hashy house and eating lunch at a nice vegetarian restaurant, we arrived at the square of the ghetto and met up with the European delegation of Hashomer. There were French, Italians, Hungarians, Austrians and Swiss. We had an opening ceremony all together, all 140 of us, which I helped organize back in Israel. We went off from there and had a little tour of the old ghetto and learnt about the struggle of the Jews there. There was a resistance, in which Jews rebelled and threw Molotov cocktails into coffee shops, put up Polish flags everywhere, and put flowers on the graves of the Jews and Polish soldiers killed during the early days of the war. We visited the various places that were affected by this uprising, which I thought was pretty cool. After our tour, we returned for a Shabbat service and dinner. The service was held in 8 different languages, all translations of the same text, and was generally a ruckus, but nice nonetheless. After dinner, we all crashed and went straight to sleep.

Saturday was our first truly intense day, it was when we visited the death camps of Auschwitz. We began our day at the Birckenau camp. It was a huge barb-wired area with rows of barracks and it also housed 4 gas chambers and crematoria. Most of the camp was destroyed however, and what we saw was generally accurately re-designed reconstruction. We wandered through the area with our group and witnessed the places where the prisoners of this death camp lived, condemned to life was how our leader put it. What we saw in this camp truly gave justice to this term, condemned to life. We saw the train line, on which they were brought, were the selections as to who lived and who died occurred, the bunk areas with hundreds of tiny bunks in small sheds, the bathroom which was just rows of benches with holes and finally we saw the gas chambers and crematoria. Most of these were bombed upon the liberation and were preserved in their dilapidated state. It was a surreal site to see the place where 1.1 million people were gassed and murdered, dehumanized and disregarded. Our leader explained that, in the Nazi’s eyes, Jews were regarded less important than dogs but more important than cats, which was seen as somewhat of an excuse or a systematically crafted and indoctrinated mindset that allowed for the atrocities to occur. What was perhaps ironic and difficult to accept was the beauty of the place. The gas chambers were located in the forest, with the sun shining, the leaves golden brown and even a deer frolicking amongst the nature, it was a serene and beautiful place, yet such nature was so starkly juxtaposed to the unnatural cruelty and the ultimate exemplar of inhumanity that occurred there. The whole Hashomer group gathered for a ceremony to pay tribute to those lost. One by one, all those that wished to, stood up and stated the family name of those killed in the holocaust. I said Midler. Afterwards, some candles were lit and some words said and I believe it was somewhat of a fitting way to respect our family members. Walking out of the camp was emotional for me, as I was contemplating the devastating effect that places such as Aushwitz-Birckenau had on our family and the sorrow that was ensured for the grandparents. Experiencing and seeing this camp was truly a daunting and challenging experience, one that was very emotionally difficult and draining, however, I think it was necessary in order to pay tribute to all those who were killed there, and in particular to Bubba’s father. I felt I was successfully able to pay some form of homage, which was an eerily nice feeling. From Birkenau, we lunched in a park and then headed off to the Auschwitz-1 camp. This was mainly an administrative area during the war, with barracks for prisoners and one gas chamber. Also, there were prison areas where indescribable acts of inhumanity were carried out on prisoners for punishment occurred. However, what was shocking though, was the commercial aspect of the place. It was very much museum-like, with Yad Vashem style exhibitions and displays, tour guides with headphones and tourists taking photos. Throughout, we discussed an interesting topic as to whether the Nazis could have exemplified humane actions to their loved ones, and tried to delve into understanding as to their psyche at the time. We ended with a communal ceremony and headed back to the hotel.

Sunday was to be a much lighter day than the previous day. We travelled to the area of Galicia, where Hashomer Hatzair was founded in the early 20th century. At the city of Tarnow we stopped and acted out the first national meeting of our movement at the place that it occurred. This was a special moment for me as it allowed me to witness both where Hashy started and the issues that the founders had, which were not so dissimilar to the issues of today. We broke off into our groups and had very meaningful discussions about the point of our movement, our roles within and the reason for being part of out movement. I believe that I, and most of our group, was inspired to be more active and more passionate, simply by this morning session. The day was not to be completely light-hearted though, as our next station was the mass grave at Zvlitovska-Gura. It was a place in the woods, where tens of thousands of Jewish Poles were sent to, shot and then buried. There, the whole of Hashomer held hands in a circle around the grave and had a little ceremony which was fairly emotional. We returned to the buses and watched Fiddler on the Roof, as we were off to visit some shteitels. At the lovely town of Dombrowa Tarnowska we lunched and visited an old synagogue. We then visited the town of Kresnik, wherein we learnt about the origins of the Hassidic Jewish movement, which is based on happiness, joy and a love for religion. We learnt that Hashomer Hatzair stemmed from Hassidic origins and that some traits, such as singing and dancing and playing games are still shared. In the old town square, the whole movement again congregated in a large circle. Led by one of our leaders, Oren, we jumped, danced and sang Jewish, Israeli and Hashy songs. It was inspirational to see 140 Jewish youths re-invigorating Jewish life and vibrancy into a town whose Jewish character and culture was destroyed along with its people. The Brazilian Hashy kids are truly crazy and, led by about 10-15 big, tall boys, were central to the dancing and singing and were simply awesome to watch. We stayed in Lublin that night and furthered the great conversations that were started earlier in the day.
Monday was Easter, and on Easter Monday we were instructed that it is a Polish tradition to throw water on those that were responsible for the killing of Christ, the Jews. Hence, we all got on our buses in clothes that had no religious symbols on them. We briefly visited the Lublin Ghetto, before travelling a very short distance to the death camp, Majdanek. Majdanek, for me, was the most difficult experience of the whole trip. Whereas, in other death camps there was glimmers of hope or positive messages that could be brought, I saw only death and despair at Majdanek. This camp was preserved in its original state by the conquering Soviet Army, so it was still real and raw. Also, it exemplified the attitude of the general Polish public perfectly, I believe. This hugely significant death camp was located in the city of Lublin, not in the forest like Auschwitz, but in a residential area. Polish apathy is shown by their acceptance of the fact that they can wake up in the morning, open their blinds and look out over Majdanek, a place where 80,000 people were murdered, and such feelings were furthered when we saw regular people enjoying their days with a stroll right by the camp, or even using the path between the gas chamber and the barbed wire fence as a thoroughfare for their bike trips. For me, it was almost as if there was a barrier around this area, and that humanity and compassion was not able to enter. We discussed the actions of the head of the camp, who would commission SS workers to kill Jews, skin them and use the skin for wallets, and then go back and raise his family. We were able to witness a large barracks, filled to the brim with shoes from prisoners, which gave a shocking visual representation to the inconceivable atrocity. We went in to the gas chamber, which was preserved in its original state, and the crematoria. Such an experience was indescribable and left me numb and full of emotion and sorrow for hours, if not days, afterwards. Lastly, we went to the mausoleum, which houses the ashes found from the crematoria when the Soviets conquered. It was a roof-high pile with an immensely huge circumference and was a daunting sight. The Hashomer group gathered again and had another ceremony, before re-entering the bus to go to Warsaw. On the way we stopped off at a memorial wall, which was constructed by the piecing together of Jewish grave stones that were destroyed by the Nazis. We visited the town of Kazimierz Dolny and had I had my last kosher-le-pesach meal, before getting on the bus and breaking the festival after sun-down on 9 slices of breads in one sandwich. We arrived to our surprisingly nice hotel in the middle of Warsaw quite late, had a carb-filled dinner and then discussion, before heading to bed.

On Tuesday, We met the group at the Janusz Korczak orphanage in Warsaw. At the orphanage we learnt about Janusz Korczak, who was a very prominent Jewish Pole and whose views on childcare and education were revolutionary at the time, and we discussed and analyzed his theories- many of which are put into practice by Hashy today. From there, we went to the Ancient city of Warsaw which is very beautiful and we lunched. We then visited the umshlagplatz, which was the area from which the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto were deported to the death camps. Back on the bus and we were on our way to the death camp, Treblinka. Treblinka was totally destroyed at the end of the war and all that remains there is a series of monuments. It was somewhat more difficult to find an emotional connection to this camp, in which 850,000 people were exterminated, as there was simply no evidence left behind. However, the monuments that were built are very thought and emotion provoking. For example, there were tens of thousands of large shattered rocks placed around one vast area, each one representing a European Jewish community that was destroyed. Hashomer once again gathered for a ceremony which I thought was very successful in paying respect to all those killed and highlighting the solemnity of the place. We returned to the hotel to our discussion groups, and me and Saar (from America) were chosen to represent our group in the organization and running of the next day’s closing ceremony. I was very happy to be doing such, yet was less happy when I realized that I was only to sleep at 3 in the morning before a 7am wake up.

Our last day began with a very nice breakfast and a return to the Umshlagplatz. We were, however, to discuss the place with a very different context. This was the start of the ‘Heroes’ Path,’ a walk which traces the steps of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The uprising began against one of the major Jewish deportations, hence we began there. From the Umshlagplatz we visited the sites where the Judenrat, the appointed Jewish heads of the Ghetto, were situated, we visited the Warsaw orthodox synagogue and spoke to an Australian Chabadnik about the current Jewish community, their communal life and its various challenges. We also visited the Warsaw Jewish cemetery and heard the stories of many prominent Jews. Krashinsky Park was our next stop, there we ate lunch and discussed the life of Mordechai Anilewicz who was the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the head of Hashomer Hatzair Warsaw at the time. The park was also very close to where the old Hashy meeting place was. We were taught about the life of a member of Hashomer at the time, how the movement ran and about its leadership; it was interesting to hear the differences and the many similarities between their lives and ours. We continued on our path and delved into attempting to understand the circumstances behind the uprising, how and why it was fought and who was involved. We learnt about various leaders, military tactics and events that occurred. We saw the Rapaport monument; a great statue dedicated to the memory of the fighters and ended our journey at Mila 18- the commanding bunker of the uprising and the place where many of the warriors, including Anilewicz, died in battle. This was an inspirational and fitting place to end our journey as it represented a triumph of Jewish spirit and will, of maintenance of pride and dignity in a period in which one could be forgiven if they lost their innate sense of humanity. Furthermore, it was a place of much relevance and significance to all members of Hashomer Hatzair, as it is the place where our movement exemplified the ultimate form of resistance to authority, of standing up for what is believed to be right and of sacrifice for a noble cause. In short, I was proud to be wearing my movement shirt there. We conducted out ceremony there; saying my speech was truly a memorable and inspiring moment, one of unequivocally positive emotions. Yet, that was to be the end of our journey. We said our goodbyes to the European delegations, had hugs and photos, and then headed to the buses to a 30 zloty ($12) dinner at a mall. At the airport later that evening we had some form of summary for our trip, which was continued at Tel-Aviv airport after my sleep-filled flight (Jesse actually gave me a sleeping tablet which effectively knocked me out for the whole trip.) we were then to depart until meeting again at a ceremony for Holocaust memorial day, where summaries were to be continued and where we attended a Hashomer Hatzair ceremony and one of the national ceremonies too. So, as I look back on my trip, I feel happy that I went and experienced what I did. There were definitely hard times, however I feel that the trip has somewhat opened my eyes to humanity and to how humans can behave and act and that I have benefited greatly from this. I’ve probably consequently matured in the way that I treat people and have generally acquired a much greater respect for those who resist, for those who were involved in any way in the Holocaust and in general to Hashomer Hatzair- which I think our whole group’s attitude has positively changed towards and to which we can all say we are very proud members.

How important is the world movement?

2011-02-13T19:10:00.000-08:00

Yoni Pojer

As a Hashomer Hatzair ken, you’d think that being part of a World Movement would be of vital importance. But is it really? Do we really need to be part of a larger umbrella organisation? Is there a positive influence to being part of something that is bigger? Or do the negatives outweigh the positives?

There are two parts to the relationship of our ken and its Shomrim to the World Movement. The first is the relationship with the World Movement leadership. This is predominantly the five-member Mazkirut that runs the World Movement’s affairs, as well as the madrichim that are our contacts with the World Movement and run us peulot. The second relationship is with the Shomrim and kenim that make up the World Movement. In other words, the two relationships are with the World Movement as an organisation, and with its individual members. In my opinion, these two relationships should be viewed as separate rather than be lumped together as one.

Ken Bet Anielewicz’s relationship with the World Movement organisation was basically non-existent until a few years ago, when the ken left the World Movement . Although at the end of the year the ken rejoined the World Movement, how much did this one year absence affect the Australian movement? It clearly affected that year’s Shnat program, where instead of Machon, the kvutza went to a mechina. But was there an effect on the ken back at home? The ken was still able to run smoothly without belonging to a World Movement. This can also be seen in Hineni, which is only found in Australia, which functions perfectly well without belonging to an international umbrella organisation.

So does the Hashomer Hatzair World Movement actually influence what happens in Australia? Except for Shnat and a few ideological veidot, the World Movement is far away, both in terms of distance and in terms of thought. The ideological battlefields in Israel seem at times so far away from the relative tranquility of the Australian ken.

But does that mean that we can disregard any impact of the World Movement? Its coordination of veidot that brought together Shomrim from across the far reaches of the world -- from South and North America, Europe, Israel, and of course, Australia -- to discuss, even sometimes argue, over the finer details of Hashomer ideology has given us insight in order to improve our understanding and execution of our ideology.

As present Shnatties, it is vital to go further in depth into the World Movement’s involvement with the Shnat Hachshara program. I I believe it is important to mote that the World Movement is responsible, in conjunction with the Hashomer ken in Australia and the Australian Zionist Youth Council (the AZYC), for the organisation of the year program, especially for events in Israel. However, their bureaucratic mechanisms make it at times fairly difficult to negotiate with them.

However, we need to remember the effort that the World Movement has gone through in order to make the year as enjoyable and as enriching as possible for us. They have organised trips for us to visit the Jerusalem Hashomer Hatzair kenim, made it possible to got to the Yom HaShoah ceremony at the kibbutz Yad Mordechai in the south (including transport to and from the event, organised our attendance at the Israeli movement’s Machane Halutzi, and who can forget our Masa LePolin? So without the World Movement’s influence our Shnat year would be so much more bland.

The second relationship can be seen from the Shnat angle (i.e. from the view of Shnatties), and from the point of view of the ken.

For Shnatties, meeting Shomrim from all over the world is a great experience. Especially for us, the first kvutza to really know our South American counterparts on Shnat, because in the past, contact was minimal between the Australian and South American Shnat groups. This year, since we are spending Communa and Kibbutz together, as well as Machon, the bond between us and the South Americans has flourished. This relationship is beneficial for individuals (it’s always good to have contacts in foreign countries -- especially if we plan to travel), but also for the Melburnian ken’s culture. Bringing home traditions, customs and ideas that are used in other kenim can always improve the spirit of our own ken.

Except for the ideas brought back from Shnat, it is hard for us to have a relationship with the kenim from around the world, when the nearest ken is in Santago, Chile, which is more than 11,200km away from our ken in Melbourne.

I believe that a topic like the importance of the world movement is not something that can be decided by me or by any specific person, but rather must be decided by each individual. Although the status quo means that we are part of the World Movement, and staying with it is the seemingly easy task with this seemingly irrelevant issue, I believe that we cannot remain apathetic to this, since apathy leads to no progress at all.

Video from one of the branches of Hashomer Rio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUq0msiu_es
Hashomer USA bogrim movement blog: http://www.hhnabogrim.com/

A secular Yom Kikkur

2011-02-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

There is an old tradition in some of the most radical kibbutzim to serve pork for lunch on Yom Kippur. In part, I can understand this mentality. Pesach is a festival of freedom; Sukkoth is a festival of nature; Chanukah is (in the Zionist narrative) a festival of nationalism. But what is Yom Kippur? It is a festival of austerity, devoid of taste and colour. The Torah portions deal with the technical details of sacrifices in the temple. The rich symbolism and ceremony which accompanies most Jewish traditions is stripped away – all in order to disconnect us from the imminent world. Yom Kippur is a day of atonement, largely not between man and man, but between man and god.

In the face of this, a secular Jew has several options. Like the sacrilegious kibbutz members, he or she can outright reject the festival since it bears no relevance to his/her Jewish identity. Alternatively he or she can (like many in the Melbourne community do) become a once-a-year synagogue goer, and sit through hours of prayer because Yom Kippur seems too central to simply discard. Lastly, he or she can choose the hard and sometimes controversial option: reimagining the day. Leaving to one side the debate about the extent to which secular Jews have the right to adapt Jewish traditions, I would instead like to explore what is for me the much more interesting question: how would this secular, humanist Yom Kippur look? I have a couple of suggestions.

Firstly, every active secular Jew can study and take from the book of Jonah. This deeply allegorical tale, which is so full of imagery, has been read in numerous ways by critics both ancient and modern, but one reading attracts me above all the rest: that Jonah’s journey represents the struggle between mercy and justice, by which I mean the desire to have those who treat us well rewarded and those who hurt us punished. This conflict is introduced when god commands Jonah to pronounce judgement on the people of Nineveh. Jonah refuses, not because he resents the burden of being a prophet, but because he wants to see those who transgress receive swift and compassionless justice. He knows that god will save the people if they repent, and that this salvation will just provide a further incentive for others to sin. So Jonah refuses to pronounce judgement on the people of Nineveh and flees to the ends of the world to escape the commands of god and the need to grant forgiveness. In the end, Jonah is brought back via storms, whales and miraculous trees, sometimes kicking and screaming, to perform his mission. Along the way his own of pain and loss catalyse in him a growing sense of empathy so that, when he finally arrives back at the city of Nineveh, he has come to realise other people’s fundamental dependence on his mercy and his fundamental dependence on theirs. The story remains ambiguous on to what extent Jonah really is a changed man, but suffice to say he has begun to open his heart to the need for mercy.

This lesson brings me nicely to my second suggestion for a secular Yom Kippur: atoning. Once we have grappled with the need to forgive others for the pain they have inflicted on us and be forgiven for the pain we have inflicted on them, we can go about the actual process of letting our grudges go and preparing our apologies. A secular Jew reflecting on the year that has been might well compose a list of both grudges to drop and apologies to make in order to– so to speak – write themselves into the book of life, love and mercy and not condemn themselves to the book of death, hate and revenge. Thus, temporarily released Jonah’s ongoing struggle, we are free to begin the New Year unclouded by our hang-ups. What I mean to say is that, while a secular Jew may not be able to atone between man and god, a secular Jew can at least atone in a deeply meaningful way between man and man.

Should a secular Jew fast or eat pork? I don’t know. It probably depends on whether it is easier to atone on a full or empty stomach.

Simon Green (originally posted at ayeka.org.au)

A secular congregation

2011-02-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

Liraz Jedwab on Ayeka and Jewish identity.
Ayeka is a Secular Jewish Study Group which was formed by Bogrim of Hashomer along with other members of the wider Jewish community.

Secular Judaism is by far the most confused and misunderstood concept in the wider Jewish Community. The reality is that for a number of reasons, the words “Secular Judaism” have lost any real meaning or power, especially any meaning that we can feel proud of or which we can claim to be the expression of our Judaism. Having grown up in a “Secular” movement and being told by our parents that we are “Secular,” as most of us have, has not helped when it comes to our own personal Jewish identity. This is regardless of how much our parents forked out to send us to Jewish camps and schools. When the over eager child questions, the parent too often draws on a long list of negatives – we are not religious, we do not go to synagogue, we do not pray or keep kosher… Ultimately it creates a negative identity – we are Secular because we are NOT religious and in the Melbourne Jewish community it translates to “lazy Judaism”.

This denigration of the word “Secular” and its growing negative connotation in the community became the centre of conversation amongst a few concerned friends who have grown up under this “Secular” banner and who were tired of being homeless when it came to Jewish expression.

Ayeka was created in late 2008 and has already completed its third cycle. Its mission statement is to create an active, engaged secular community that would be able to fill a hole we see in Melbourne. Ayeka has attempted to capture this moment and take action to re-take the word “Secular”. Ultimately we are looking to create our own congregation. The first three courses have involved a study group of between 15-20, meeting weekly with highly respected educators and lecturers (mostly from the Monash University’s Jewish Civilizations department) and covering a range of concepts from “Why do bad things happen to good people: The Book of Job” to “American Jewry”. The sessions usually run on a structure of learning then discussion – but at its core is the idea that everything is on the table and it’s not unusual to see heavy discussions break out well before anything has even been presented.

Ittay Flescher, one of the founders of Ayeka, brought a text to the group in the early planning stages, adopted from a lecture of Martin Buber given in 1926. As soon as we read it we understood the path our new group should take;

“…read the Bible as though it were something entirely unfamiliar, as though it had not been set before you ready made…Face the book with a new attitude as something new…Let whatever may happen occur between yourself and it. You do not know which of its sayings and images will overwhelm and mold you…But hold yourself open. Do not believe anything a priori; do not disbelieve anything a priori. Read aloud the words written in the book in front of you; hear the word you utter and let it reach you.”

Buber is calling on the readers of the Tanach to leave behind all complicated preconditioned, religious, political, and moral understandings of the stories being told and see the words for what they are. We are thus collectively re-reading the Tanach for the first time. This experience is liberating and refreshing, and yet feels so genuinely and naturally Jewish. The conversation and arguments arising from the reinvention and reinterpretation of traditional texts allows you to not only understand the great Rabbis, but effectively act as one. Rambam and Akiva stop being cemented texts of study and become a part of a conversation, just another opinion alongside our own.

In this way we are engaging with our Judaism and finding meaning in the open, modern and free thinking expression of our culture, traditions and texts without being held back by some form of agenda or religious baseline. Ayeka (“Where are you?”) was the first question asked in the Torah by God to Adam and is representative of our understandings and how we express our Judaism. God, knowing where Adam was, was not being literal, but instead was asking for what reason Adam was hiding and why his actions had lead him to where he now was. As Secular Jews, asking questions of our actions, our Jewish identity and our beliefs is essential.

This article was originally published on galusaustralis.com on the 15th March 2010.

Hashy's letter to the Australian Jewish News criticising the Israeli government's land privitisation legislation.

2011-02-09T05:18:00.000-08:00

Government is selling off our land

THE Jewish National Fund (JNF) Blue Box, a staple of Jewish communities around the world since the early 20th century, has symbolically allowed Jews to contribute to the ownership of the physical land of Israel. These contributions mean that, until today, the whole Jewish people own the land in the Jewish State rather than private individuals. This supports both the vision of Eretz Yisrael outlined in the Torah, in which land is a divine asset, as well as Theodor Herzls' dream for a modern Jewish state. Herzl himself famously stated at the Zionist Congress of 1901 that "philanthropic colonisation did not succeed, but the national one will".
Through the privatisation of 800,000 square kilometres of Israeli land, the Netanyahu Government is eroding the important Zionist principle of Jewish collective ownership of Eretz Yisrael. This proposal will allow land to be privately bought and sold as a commodity, as opposed to currently, where land is a valued public asset, owned jointly by the State of Israel and the entire Jewish people (via the JNF). This reform has been deviously introduced to the Knesset through a series of bills, rather than one piece of legislation, and thus it has been given little media attention or public scrutiny.
Apart from undermining an important Zionist ideal, private land ownership will serve as another potent symbol of the economic divide within Israeli society, a country where the gap between the richest 10 per cent and the poorest 10 per cent remains the widest among all western countries. This is undeniably a backward step for a liberal Israeli society.
As a community committed to fighting for a secure Jewish state, Australian Jews should follow the lead of both progressive Zionist and religious political parties in voicing their opposition to the Israeli Government's plan to undermine the essential Zionist principal of public land ownership. Eretz Yisrael belongs to all Jews, not only to those who can afford it.

Hashomer Hatzair, Australia