VISIT POLAND

JPOST EDITORIAL

Fully understanding Israeli identity is impossible without understanding the Jewish culture that was destroyed in the Holocaust.

Majdanek concentration camp in Poland in the snow. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

High school trips to Poland have been controversial since the Education Ministry began organizing them in the wake of the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Those who were critical of the trips argued they commercialized the experience. The main benefactor of this “Holocaust tourism” was none other than the Polish people. An absurd situation was created in which a society permeated by antisemitism was making money from “Shoah business.”

Also mitigating against the trips was the classic Zionist ethos of rejecting exile and the Jewish culture that developed there as unnatural and a relic of the past. According to this ethos, trips to the destroyed Jewish communities of Eastern Europe were a distraction from the more important educational goal of state-building.

Even proponents of the trips could not ignore the irony. Just over a generation after the creation of the State of Israel, a project designed to supersede and reject Diaspora living, the state’s Education Ministry was sending Israeli children back to the Exile to discover their roots.

Controversy surrounding the trips has grown after the Polish government’s decision to pass a law that seeks to punish anyone who uses the term “Polish death camps” or who “publicly and against the facts” blames the Polish nation or state for being complicit in Nazi Germany’s crimes.

Many are questioning whether Israel should continue to send high school students to a country that is trying to whitewash its past and severely restrict freedom of expression on the question of the extent of Polish collaboration with the Nazis in carrying out the systematic murder of Polish Jewry.

Others, such as Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Azman, have called to stop the annual March of the Living and school trips to Poland.
Yet, we would argue that discontinuing trips organized by the Education Ministry for our high school students or calling for a wider boycott of Poland is wrongheaded. If anything the opposite is true. Now, after Poland has tried to stifle free speech about the Polish people’s role in carrying out the Final Solution, even more people should go to see firsthand how the Nazis and the Poles who assisted in the murder and persecution destroyed the vibrant Jewish communities of Poland.

While it is true that the Zionist ideal of living in Israel and devoting one’s energies to its well-being remains a strong value of Israeli society, there is also a recognition that contemporary Israeli identity cannot ignore Diaspora culture. Indeed, fully understanding Israeli identity is impossible without understanding the Jewish culture that was destroyed in the Holocaust.

Only by visiting Poland, particularly the sites that were once thriving Jewish centers, can one truly understand the dimensions of the loss. Nothing can substitute for being in the place where the Nazis carried out their genocide on occupied Polish land where in 1939 a full 10% of the population, or 3.5 million persons, were Jews. Six years later barely 100,000 Polish Jews remained alive.

Once they’ve seen the destruction, our high school children can return to Israel and proceed to strengthen and build what is the most important, most vibrant and most promising Jewish community in history.

After being at the site where just over 70 years ago the foremost laboratory of Nazi barbarity existed, Israelis can return home with renewed energies and drive to participate in the foremost laboratory for Jewish innovation and growth.

Is modern Polish society antisemitic? It undoubtedly has strong antisemitic undercurrents, whether in the form of classic negative Christian depictions of Jews or as a distorted form of anti-communism. And the current diplomatic spat between Jerusalem and Warsaw has unleashed a wave of antisemitic activity on social media.

Are there Polish philosemites? Yes there are. And the present right-wing Polish government happens to be one of the most pro-Israel governments in Europe. As is the case elsewhere, reality in Poland is a bit more complicated and nuanced than comes across from bombastic headlines.

Holocaust survivors protest outside Polish embassy against controversial new law

ALEXANDER FULBRIGHT

Demonstrators enter Tel Aviv compound, confront deputy ambassador over legislation outlawing blaming Holocaust atrocities on Poland

Holocaust survivors protest at the Polish embassy in Tel Aviv against Poland’s new Holocaust law on February 8, 2018. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Paul McCartney awarded Wolf Prize, expected to come to Israel

MICHAEL BACHNER

Iconic Beatles member declared one of 9 laureates of ‘Pre-Nobel’; set to attend Jerusalem award ceremony in May to receive it from president

Former Beatle Paul McCartney, during his concert in Tel Aviv on September 25, 2008. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90/File)

Legendary British singer-songwriter Paul McCartney was announced as a winner of the 2018 Wolf Prize on Monday, paving the way for an expected visit by the former Beatle to Israel at the end of May.

The Wolf Foundation also announced eight other winners of the annual award, also known as the “Israeli Nobel Prize,” since about a quarter of previous laureates have gone on to win Nobel Prizes later, in parallel fields

President Reuven Rivlin hosted a special event at his Jerusalem residence announcing this year’s laureates, saying that, “together with the prize committee, I and many Israelis share the eternal love for the works of Sir Paul McCartney and the Beatles.”

The five awards, in music, agriculture, chemistry, physics, and mathematics, totaling $100,000 in each field, will be divided this year among nine winners from five countries, the foundation said.

“Sir Paul McCartney is one of the greatest songwriters of all time,” the foundation said in a statement. “His versatility underlies an extraordinary wingspan, from the most physical rock to melodies of haunting and heartbreaking intimacy. His lyrics have an equally broad range, from the naive and the charming to the poignant and even desperate. He has touched the hearts of the entire world, both as a Beatle and in his subsequent bands.”

Comparing the 75-year-old to classical music masters Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, and Claude Debussy, among others, the foundation added that “there is little doubt that his songs will be sung and savored as long as there are human beings to lift up their voices.”

The prizes will be awarded to the winners by Rivlin at an official ceremony at the Knesset in Jerusalem at the end of May. The foundation said this year’s laureates are “expected to arrive in Israel for the award ceremony and a series of related events at the end of May.”

McCartney is required to come to Israel if he wants to receive the prize. The ex-Beatle played a warmly received concert in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park in September 2008.

With some 60 gold records and sales of more than 100 million singles in the course of his career, McCartney is arguably the most commercially successful performer and composer in popular music. The 1965 Beatles track, “Yesterday,” written by McCartney, has been played some six million times on US radio and television, far outstripping its nearest competitor. With over 3,000 cover versions, it is also the most-recorded song ever.

“More than a rock musician, McCartney is now regarded as a British institution,” said the Wolf Foundation. “Like warm beer and cricket, he has become part of British identity.”

The only other living Beatles member, drummer Ringo Starr, announced last month that he is to perform in Israel on June 23 at Tel Aviv’s Menora Mivtachim arena with his All Starr band.

The Beatles — from left, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison — letting off steam with a pillow fight. (photo credit: Harry Benson/JTA)

Along with McCartney, the Wolf Prize for Music will be awarded to prominent Hungarian conductor Adam Fischer, who was described in the statement as “an inspirational conductor and eloquent defender of human rights.”

The Wolf Prize for Agriculture will be granted to Prof. Gene Robinson from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, for “leading the genomics revolution in organismal and population biology of the honeybee,” the statement said.

The Wolf Prize for Chemistry will be shared by Prof. Omar Yaghi, from the University of California, for “pioneering reticular chemistry via metal-organic frameworks and covalent organic framework” and Prof. Makoto Fujita, from the University of Tokyo, for “conceiving metal-directed assembly principles leading to large highly porous complexes.”

The Wolf Prize for Physics will be shared by Prof. Charles Bennett from the IBM Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, and Prof. Gilles Brassard from University of Montréal, Canada, “for founding and advancing the fields of Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Teleportation.”

The Wolf Prize for Mathematics will be shared by Prof. Alexander Beilinson and Prof. Vladimir Drinfeld, both from the University of Chicago, “for their groundbreaking work in algebraic geometry, representation theory, and mathematical physics.”

The Wolf Prize is distributed annually in five out of eight disciplines (the disciplines change on a rotating basis). The Wolf Foundation began its activities in 1976, with an initial endowment fund of $10 million donated by the Wolf family. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded prizes to 329 laureates, 14 of whom are women. Over the years, 21 Israelis have won the prize, with 176 laureates coming from the US — the biggest number of laureates — followed by the UK, with 29.

ARAB-ISRAELI, TURKISH CITIZEN ARRESTED FOR AIDING HAMAS

ANNA AHRONHEIM

They were arrested last month in Israel on suspicion of laundering funds and aiding the terrorist group.

Zaher Jabarin (right) and Kamil Takli (left). (photo credit: SHIN BET)

Two Hamas operatives, one from Turkey and the other an Israeli-Arab, were arrested last month in Israel on suspicion of laundering funds and aiding the terrorist group, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said on Monday.

According to the Shin Bet, the two men were recruited in Turkey by senior Hamas figure Zaher Jabarin, who had been released from an Israeli prison as part of the Gilad Schalit prisoner exchange deal. Jabarin is responsible for the Hamas budget and has promoted extensive terrorist activity in the West Bank under the direction of one of the founders of Hamas’s military wing, Salah Arouri, who fled to Turkey in 2012.

On January 15, 2008, Kamil Takli, a Turkish citizen and a law lecturer, was arrested on suspicion of aiding terrorist groups in Turkey.

According to Shin Bet, the investigation into Takli found he was asked by Jabarin in 2012 to help Hamas operatives who had come to Turkey to establish themselves both personally and economically. The operatives who Takli helped, most of whom were released during the Schalit prisoner-exchange deal, were all involved in terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of dozens of Israeli citizens.

Takli is accused of helping the operatives obtain visas; purchase or rent residential and business real estate; purchase luxury vehicles; and establish business in Turkey by registering companies under his name.

The investigation into Takli found that Turkey was contributing to Hamas’s military buildup, among other things through a company called Sadat, which bills itself as “the first and the only company in Turkey that internationally provides consultancy and military training services.”

Founded in February 2012 by Adnan Tanriverdi, a former general who is close to Turkish authorities, the company’s website says Sadat’s mission is to establish a “defensive collaboration and defensive industrial cooperation among Islamic countries to help the Islamic world.”

But according to Shin Bet, the company was set up to help finance and build an “army of Palestine” to fight Israel. Sadat also helped senior Hamas officials visit a weapons exhibit in Turkey where they expressed interest in drone capabilities.

DURING THE interrogation it became clear that Hamas was in direct contact with the Turkish authorities through Jihad Yazmor, a terrorist operative who was involved in the abduction of the late Nachshon Wachsman, who had also been released as part of the Schalit deal.

“The findings of the investigation exposed Hamas’s extensive activity in Turkey under the direction of Zaher Jabarin, while the authorities ignored the source of the money,” read the Shin Bet statement. “During the interrogation it became clear that Hamas operatives owned a company called IMES, which was used by Hamas to cover up the laundering of millions of dollars of which were transferred to the Gaza Strip and various other places.”

The importance of IMES for Hamas was revealed during the arrest of Umm el-Fahm resident Diham Jabarin, who was recruited by Zaher Jabarin during his frequent visits to Turkey. Diham Jabarin, who was arrested a few days after Takli, is suspected of transferring hundreds of thousands of euros from Hamas operatives in Turkey to operatives in the West Bank.

A search of his home following his arrest found 91,000 euros which Jabarin intended to transfer to operatives in the West Bank.
The investigation revealed that Diham Jabarin’s activities were carried out under the guidance of Zaher Jabarin and his right-hand man, Salameh Mar’i, who settled in Turkey with the help of Takli. Mar’i was involved in a shooting attack in the Burkin area in March 1993 in which an IDF soldier was killed. He was also released from Israeli prison as part of the Schalit deal.

Additional suspects, residents of Umm el-Fahm, were arrested during the course of the investigation on suspicion of helping Dirham Jabarin.

Shin Bet implied that Turkey gave tacit approval for Hamas’s actions, saying government officials there “turned a blind eye” to the fact that the terrorist group was the source of the money given to Takli and Jabarin.

“The findings of the investigation illustrate the extensive military and economic activity of Hamas in Turkey, which takes place uninterruptedly as Turkish government officials turn a blind eye and sometimes even encourage with the assistance of Turkish citizens, some of whom are close to the administration,” read the Shin Bet statement.

“This activity relies, inter alia, on business platforms used by Hamas to launder funds to be transferred to the West Bank and to recruit Israelis for its activities,” the statement added.

Takli was deported to Turkey after he was interrogated. Dirham Jabarin’s trial is expected to begin in the coming days.

French film distributor comes to Woody Allen’s defense amid sexual abuse claims

THOMAS ADAMSON

The head of Mars Films calls renewed allegations by Allen’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, ‘shameless opportunism’

In this Wednesday, May 11, 2016, file photo, director Woody Allen poses for photographers during a photo call for the film Cafe Society, at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

PARIS (AP) — Woody Allen’s French film distributor has defended the American director against sexual abuse claims, saying he has been unfairly caught up in the fallout surrounding the #MeToo movement.

Writing in the French weekly Le Point, Mars Films head Stephane Celerier dismissed the furor over renewed allegations by Allen’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, that Allen molested her in an attic in 1992 when she was 7. Celerier describes the accusation as a family drama caught in the crosshairs of the #MeToo movement amid fallout from the allegations of rape and sexual harassment against Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein.

It is “shameless opportunism,” Celerier said of the fresh attacks against the director in the media that he said “taint the dignity of real victims.”

Celerier’s company is behind the distribution of Allen’s latest movie “Wonder Wheel,” starring Kate Winslet and Justin Timberlake, which opened in French cinemas this week to lukewarm ticket sales.

His defense of Allen is the latest chapter in an emerging narrative in France, particularly in its film industry, that the Hollywood anti-abuse campaign has gone too far.

Dylan Farrow speaks with CBS in an interview aired on January 18, 2018. (Screen capture: YouTube)

Farrow in January gave her first on-camera interview to “CBS This Morning” about her longstanding abuse allegations against the 82-year-old filmmaker. Allen has long denied the allegations and was investigated but not charged.

Since the Weinstein allegations, France — the country synonymous with love — has been stumbling as it addresses the issue of sexual harassment and violence against women.

Last month, French actress Catherine Deneuve set the feminist world ablaze by co-signing a letter accusing the post-Weinstein groundswell of allegations of being puritanical.

In November, France’s famed film institute La Cinematheque Francaise went ahead with a retrospective of works by director Roman Polanski despite opposition by feminist groups. The institute said its role was not to moralize. The Polish-born director in the 1970s pleaded guilty to having sex in the U.S. with a 13-year-old girl whom he plied with champagne and Quaaludes.

Polanski, who lives in France, and Allen, continue to be highly revered by the French public. Polanski was honored last year as president of the Cesar awards, France’s answer to the Oscars.