Prize winning broadcast journalist Esty Perez-Ben Ami, who anchors a daily lunchtime current affairs program on KAN Reshet Bet radio, is a polished interviewer.
On Tuesday of this week, she interviewed Ra’am (United Arab List) leader Mansour Abbas, who is usually a fairly genial fellow. Abbas has said many times that he is in politics to improve the quality of life for Israel’s Arab population.
During their interview, Perez-Ben Ami pressed him about saying exactly what he thought of Hamas. He sidestepped a direct answer but said that he condemns any kind of terrorism and that he had done whatever he could to help bring the hostages home.
“Why won’t you tell me?” Perez-Ben Ami said in response repeatedly. Eventually, Abbas asked: “Why am I always being tested?”
“I told you my answer,” he added.
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that no Arab would dare to publicly refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization. Given Abbas’ failure to make a direct statement or explanation, we don’t know whether he or his family has relatives in Gaza.
If they do, he was not going to make any statement that could put his family’s kinfolk in jeopardy.
Guatemala, Israeli relations since before the formation of the Jewish state
Guatemala's relationship with Israel extends way before the establishment of the state. Jorge García Granados, who was Guatemala’s permanent representative to the United Nations, was also a member of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), the 11-member group of diplomats affiliated with the UN, which investigated the wisdom and feasibility of the partition of Palestine.
Granados voted in favor during the fateful UN General Assembly vote, which paved the way for the declaration of the sovereign State of Israel. He lobbied other South American countries to follow Guatemala’s example. Granados was also Guatemala’s first ambassador to Israel.
More recently, in fact, the Guatemalan Ambassador to Israel, Ava Atzum Arévalo de Moscoso, unveiled a symbolic plaque signed by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo, recognizing the City of David as part of Guatemala’s national heritage.
The ceremony was also attended by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel, members of the Guatemalan parliament, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and other dignitaries.
Commenting that the ceremony was being held a day after Tisha B’Av, which is a day of mourning that commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in ancient Jerusalem, Sa’ar said, “Yesterday we remembered what we lost, destroyed by the hands of foreign occupiers. Today we reaffirm what can never be taken from us – our history, our heritage.”
Referring to similar ceremonies by the US and Argentina, Sa’ar continued, “These are not merely diplomatic gestures. They are an affirmation of historical truths.”
In this context, he was critical of those who try to deny the Jewish connection to Biblical Israel and cited findings during excavations that prove that Jews were in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Holy Land centuries ago.
“If you dig deep enough, the truth will be revealed,” he said.
The Guatemalan ambassador said, with a mix of joy and awe: “From this day forward, Guatemala becomes part of this remarkable place.”
Guatemala was the second of ten countries so far to locate its embassy in Jerusalem.
In Guatemala itself, there are more than 30 streets, parks, and plazas with the word “Jerusalem” in their official titles.
Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish literature
One of the most prestigious prizes for Jewish literature these days is the annual Sami Rohr Prize, awarded in alternate years in New York and Jerusalem, in categories of fact and fiction.
This year was particularly special because it was the 100th anniversary of Sam Rohr’s birth, the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the prize, and the first time that the award ceremony took place in the National Library of Israel, with which the Sami Rohr Prize foundation now works in partnership.
Rohr, a real estate developer and extremely generous philanthropist, loved Jewish literature of every kind. In honor of his 80th birthday, his children established the prize.
Rabbi David Wolpe, who is one of the prize adjudicators, a lecturer, educator, moderator, and a prize-winning author in his own right, is set to be the presenter for the Sami Rohr Prize.
He’s an excellent choice because he has a loud, clear voice, is familiar with the four books whose authors were the finalists, and has an easy way of conversing with the finalists and the winning author.
Two of the finalists, Laura Hobson Faure, the author of Who Will Rescue Us? and Jordan Salama, the author of Stranger in the Desert, were unable to attend, so Wolpe had a thought-provoking conversation with American sociologist Shaul Kelner instead.
His book, A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews, based on dozens of interviews, tells the story of American and other Diaspora Jews who mobilized on behalf of Soviet Jewry.
Wolpe also interviewed Amir Tibon, the winner of $100,00 prize, whose book, The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands, tells the story of his family, his kibbutz, and his friends and neighbors, with particular emphasis on October 7.
Most Israelis are familiar with Tibon’s story about how he, his wife, and two young daughters were trapped in a safe room on Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which suffered massive casualties, and how his father, a retired major-general, came to rescue the family – and succeeded.
Tibon’s parents were in the audience on Tuesday night, not to rescue him this time, but to smile with quiet pride, and to perhaps reflect on what might have happened if Noam Tibon had not arrived in time.
Although this was already the sixth prize Tibon has received for the book, he was quite humble in his acceptance speech.
It was wonderful to get the prize “for a book I wish I never had to write,” he said, adding that it was “an incredible honor” to join the esteemed writers who have won the Sami Rohr Prize over the past two decades.
Tibon and other speakers as well stressed the importance of telling the Jewish story as antisemitism continues to rise and antisemites are denying, distorting, or delegitimizing the truth regarding Jewish history.
He also mentioned that this particular prize closed a circle in his family’s relationship with the National Library of Israel. His great-grandfather, he said, had come to Jerusalem in 1925 to attend the opening of the Hebrew University.
He began working in the newspaper section of the university’s library, which was the forerunner of the National Library of Israel.
In his conversation with Wolpe, Tibon was asked whether it had been strange for him to write as both an observer and a participant. He conceded that it had not been easy, especially as so many people whom he knew well had been murdered.
Like most Israelis, he was in shock because the Hamas invasion was not like the pogroms in Europe. “It was happening in Israel, and that had never happened before,” he said. In addition, there had never been a war (in which Israel was engaged) that lasted for so long.
When Wolpe spoke with Kelner and asked him about the message that he wanted to convey, the author said that he did not want to tell readers about the persecution and suffering of Soviet Jews.
The book’s concept was to show how American Jews and Jews worldwide rallied to liberate Soviet Jewry. Everyone wanted to help, not just because Jews were responsible for each other, he said, but because they were free to do so.
Though different in time and situation, Tibon’s and Kelner’s books each demonstrate Jewish resilience, care, and responsibility. Just as Jews around the world mobilized on behalf of Soviet Jewry, they did the same for displaced Israelis, Israeli soldiers, and families of soldiers, and families who had been bereaved on October 7 or who afterward had lost loved ones on the battlefield.
Support network for former hostages expands
The return of the hostages is not the end of the story. They and their families have endured horrific experiences.
To help alleviate any trauma they are enduring, they have a support network that has now expanded. Named 255 – Support for the Hostages and their Families, 255 indicating the number of families of hostages, the organization provides holistic rehabilitation and community support.
It recently launched a business sector forum, which last week held its first conference in Tel Aviv. The forum includes senior executives from leading business and commerce companies throughout Israel, including Ari Or of Harel Insurance, Gideon Rosenberg of NVIDIA Israel, and Miri Shalev of SysAid.
All of the above involve human resources. The forum, chaired by Mali Alcobi, provides employment, partnerships, professional contacts, and online mentoring.
“We are working to ensure that the families of the hostages are not left to face the reality forced upon them on their own,” said Mor Peretz, the CEO of 255 – Support for the Hostages and their Families.
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