Tag Archives: Jerusalem

International news

This is what I call 'public service'

Nir Barkat should become the face of public servants everywhere.

Who is this man? He is the mayor of Jerusalem who, along with his bodyguard, wrestled a knife-wielding attacker to the ground and held him there until police arrived.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/jerusalem-mayor-nir-barkat-wrestles-knife-attacker-ground-n310611

The 55-year-old mayor saved several people from possible injury or death from the attacker who apparently pulled the knife out in a crowd.

When U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., was mayor of Newark, N.J., he was known to roll up his sleeves and offer a hand to residents of his city. I recall once when the Beaumont, Texas, fire chief, Pete Shelton, answered a call from a resident who said an alligator was lurking in a culvert in the rear of a home; Shelton answered the call and wrestled the medium-sized gator out of the water, tied it up, and released it in a bayou.

Nir Barkat’s response to the incident, which he witnessed from his car, speaks well of his commitment to serving the people who elected him.

 

International news

Not exactly a 'bucket list' item, but …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLgdb6r0MQ4

I’ve kept this link filed away ever since I got it about a year ago.

It’s of Israel. It’s a promotional video, about 5 minutes in length that shows the best of one of the world’s most fascinating, complex, enduring and loveliest countries.

I spent five weeks there in May-June 2009. Most of that time was as part of a Rotary International professional exchange. Four young professionals came with me and we interacted for with others as part of Rotary’s effort to build bridges among cultures. Five folks from West Texas got an education that they will keep forever. And all of these wonderful young Texans have become four of my very best friends.

What’s more, together we forged friendships with our Israeli hosts — and a Rotary team with whom we traveled from The Netherlands — that will last our entire lives.

The final week was spent as a tourist, with my wife who had come to join me once the Rotary portion of the trip had concluded. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Jerusalem. We took tours to Masada and the Dead Sea and walked all through Jerusalem, visiting holy sites and then booked a tour to neighboring Bethlehem in the West Bank.

As I look repeatedly at this video it occurs to me how vibrant that country is in a region riven with strife, bloodshed, hatred and suspicion. But watch the video and you notice it’s a land of intense religious diversity, with Christians, Jews and Muslims literally praying next to each other.

We visited a site, for example, in the old section of Tel Aviv where a mosque and an Orthodox church share a common wall, which we were told is a huge sign of unity in a region known for religious violence.

My wife and I intend to return there. We have many more holy sites we want to visit.

Call it a variation of the “bucket list.” We’ve been there once already. But there’s so much more to see and experience. Check out the video. You’ll see what I mean.

International news

Israel feels terrorists' wrath yet again

Someone needs to explain to me in elementary terms why terrorists deserve any semblance of civil treatment.

Four worshipers at a Jerusalem synagogue were murdered early today by a couple of terrorists. Israeli police shot them to death at the scene of the carnage they left behind.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/18/world/meast/jerusalem-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Three of the victims were American-Israelis, one was a British-Israeli. They were worshiping in peace when two Palestinian cousins wielding axes and knives began slashing them to death.

And who do you suppose has endorsed this vicious act?

Among others was Hamas, the terrorists who run the so-called government in Gaza, the place that keeps originating attacks on Israelis civilians.

Does this make any sense to anyone?

The terrorists complain about Israeli settlements in territory captured by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. So rather than talk to the Israeli government, they choose to bomb innocent victims, shoot them dead in the street or, in the case of the attack today in Jerusalem, slash them to death in a horrific attack.

Israeli officials vow to respond with all necessary force to put down this latest round of violence.

How in the world can one justify this? How in the same world can one criticize a nation for trying to protect its citizens from this kind of barbarism?

 

Uncategorized

Bethlehem at once sad and thrilling

Bethlehem, the one in the Middle East, is a must visit for anyone who ventures to the region.

Getting inside, though, is a challenge for which you must be prepared.

It’s walled off from Jerusalem. The city is governed by the Palestinian Authority and sits on what is called the West Bank.

I’ve had the honor of being able to walk through Bethlehem. I did so with my wife in June 2009, but our entry into the city served as a serious wakeup call to the tensions that exist in that tinder-box region of the world.

I had just finished a four-week Rotary International Group Study Exchange. My wife arrived at David Ben-Gurion International Airport — between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I greeted her with flowers and an “I Love You” balloon. We set off for our digs in the Bakah neighborhood of Jerusalem.

We decided we wanted to go to Bethlehem. As people of faith, we couldn’t let pass a chance to visit the birthplace of Jesus Christ, correct? So we booked our tour and waited for our guide to arrive at our bed-and-breakfast. Our guide arrived and we drove to the entrance into Bethlehem and were startled to see a huge wall with barbed wire strong across its top. Sentries were posted at the gate.

We had to show them our passports, answered a couple of questions about our purpose for visiting Bethlehem and then we were let in.

Another guide greeted us on the other side. We were pleased then to learn that our Palestinian guide is a fellow Christian who spoke of the joys of taking us to visit sites associated with “my Lord and Savior.” I’ll admit to a kind of surreal sense in hearing it in this place that has known so much violence.

We visited the Church of the Nativity, the Shepherds Field and walked along some streets looking for things to purchase and bring home.

Our visit to Bethlehem was much too brief. Both of us would have loved to stay longer, just to take in what we felt was a much calmer ambience and atmosphere than we felt on the other side of the wall, in Jerusalem. Yes, the Old City was charming. We were thrilled to see the Church of the Sepulcher, to walk along the stations of the cross, to see where Jesus was imprisoned, to peer down on the Old City from the Mount of Olives, to sit in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Bethlehem seemed oddly peaceful behind those high walls guarded by soldiers with deadly weapons.

It saddened and thrilled me all at once.

We’re looking forward to returning someday.

Uncategorized

Looking back on an incredible journey

The world, or at least about a fourth of it — the Christians among the world’s people — is getting ready to celebrate the birth of a baby who would come to symbolize salvation, grace and victory over death.

My own thoughts at Christmas every year since, oh, 2009, have turned to an amazing journey I was honored to take through the Holy Land. I was given the honor in May-June 2009 of accompanying four young people on a Rotary International Group Study Exchange trip through virtually all of Israel. Fernando, Aida, Shirley and Katt have become four of my closest friends and I cherish them more than they know.

We spent four weeks there traveling from Nahariya to Eilat, to Tel Aviv, Sderot and Ashkelon, to Nazareth and Caesarea, the Dead Sea and Masada. It was an amazing time. Then, after the exchange had concluded, I spent another week with my wife who had flown over to join me as a tourist. We spent the bulk of our time in Jerusalem, visiting holy sites.

But I think of that journey now every year at Christmas time and remember the things we saw along the way.

* Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation, where the angel told Mary she would give birth to the Son of God.

* Bethlehem, where my wife and I visited the Church of the Nativity and the Shepherds Field.

* The Temple Mount, where Jesus preached.

* The Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem and Via do lo Rosa where Jesus walked.

Easter, of course, marks the end of Jesus’s life on Earth and the resurrection we celebrate.

This day, though, is to remember his birth.

I’ve believed my entire life in all that is holy about this holiday. However, being able to see those places up close and to walk the paths trod by Jesus himself makes it special beyond all measure.

Uncategorized

Kerry to get Nobel Peace Prize?

Israel and the Palestinian Authority have commenced peace talks in secret.

If the talks prove successful and the ancient enemies — the Israelis and the Palestinians — actually forge a working peace agreement, I have a candidate for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize: Secretary of State John Kerry.

http://news.yahoo.com/israelis-palestinians-kick-off-peace-talks-182226376.html

Kerry managed to persuade the two sides to restart talks that would seek a so-called “two-state solution” to the longstanding conflict. The Palestinians want an independent state next to Israel. The Israelis are now talking about that outcome being acceptable — under certain conditions. One of them would be that the Palestinians would stop shelling Israeli homes. The two sides have until October to seal the deal.

Meanwhile, Kerry and the Israelis will need to hammer out some solution to the continuing construction of settlements in territory that Israel captured during the Six-Day War in 1967. The Palestinians say the settlements are a barrier to a peace agreement; the Israelis say they are necessary to keep the Palestinians at bay.

I’m not an expert on Israeli-Palestinian relations, but I have seen up close just how precarious the situation is within Israel. I’ve visited cities — such as Sderot and Ashkelon — that have been shelled by Palestinians living in Gaza I understand the Israelis’ fear of continuing attacks on civilians. I’ve been able to peer into Gaza from just outside the region’s border with Israel.

Gaza is governed by Hamas, the infamous terrorist organization dedicated to Israel’s destruction. Whatever comes out of these peace talks, there must be some accounting for how to handle Hamas and to reel in the terrorists who continue to rein violence down on Israel.

Secretary Kerry has many decades of international experience under his belt. He knows the players on both sides personally. The civilized world, therefore, should be pulling for a successful resolution to these talks. Peace must come to the Holy Land.

If it does, John Kerry should start working on his Peace Prize acceptance speech.