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WHO WE ARE FOUNDER COUNCIL The Late Brigadier General Lady Sainsbury (Chairman) Sir Wyndham Deedes, CMG, DSO Lady Anderson Sir Andrew Burns, KCMG HON PRESIDENT The Earl of Balfour contents HE The Ambassador of Israel Mrs E Corob Dame Vivien Duffield, DBE 5. HON VICE-PRESIDENTS Mr JM Greenwood CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE Mr M Green Mrs M Park 6. ISRAAID Mrs L Hochhauser The Marquess of Reading Mr J Marshall Mr D Sumberg 8. WITH NO SOLUTION IN SIGHT: BETWEEN TWO NATIONAL MOVEMENTS - SHLOMO AVINERI Mr GR Pinto The Lord Weidenfeld Lady Sainsbury The Rt Hon The Lord Woolf, PC 12. A WAKE UP CALL TO THE WEST - BENNY MORRIS Mr A Yablon 17. ISRAEL’S PEOPLE WANT PEACE TOO. PRESSURE DOESN’T HELP – DANIEL TAUB EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (TRUSTEES) The Lord Bew (Chairman) DINNER COMMITTEE 18. BDS AND UK CHARITIES Mrs J Atkin Lady Baker (Co Chairman) Mr R Bolchover (Co-Deputy Chairman) Mr A Reeve (Co Chairman) 22. I AM A ZIONIST Miss B Dingle Ms L Diamond 24. AMBASSADOR MATTHEW GOULD Professor D Hochhauser (Co-Deputy Chairman) Mr B Streather Mr D Kessler Mrs E Tarling 25. SPEECH MADE BY AMBASSADOR DANIEL TAUB AT THE “WE STAND BY ISRAEL CONFERENCE” Mr H Lewis FCA (Hon Treasurer) Ms O Polizzi EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 26. IN THE NEWS Mr A Reeve Mrs Ruth Saunders Dr A Sher 30. ISRAELI INNOVATIONS Mr B Streather 42. SUZANNE PERLMAN - A VISIONARY EXPRESSIONIST. Mrs E Tarling Mr T Vince 46. WAS THIS THE SITE OF JESUS’S TRIAL? 48. ISRAEL GETS ITS NINTH UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE 50. CLERGY ISRAEL STUDY TOUR FOLLOW THE ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSOCIATION ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER AT: 52. THE AIA AMBASSORDORS’ ROUNDTABLE 54. “NO JOKE MAKING JEWISH HUMOUR” - RUTH WISSE facebook.com/AngloIsraelAssoc/ @AngloIsraelAssn 56. DEBATING MATTERS ISRAEL 59. ISRAEL, UK IN HUGE NEW SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION AGREEMENT 60. MASKIT FASHION SHOW 62. SHAKSHUKA FOR THE SOUL ANGLO-ISRAEL ASSOCIATION PO Box 47819, London NW11 7WD 64. AIA EDUCATIONAL TRUSTS T: 020 8458 1284 F. 020 8458 3484 E: [email protected] 70. TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY’S VALEDICTORIAN www.angloisraelassociation.com 72. JOBLESS ISRAELI ETHIOPIANS TRAIN AS NURSES AIDS Registered Charity No. 313523 74. FURNITURE FOR A GRAFFITI AGE The articles in this magazine reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily those of the Anglo- Israel Association. If you have a comment on any of the articles or on the magazine in general, we would 76. HIGH TECH BEHIND THE HEADLINES be pleased to hear from you. Letters or emails should be addressed to the Editor and sent to email: [email protected] or The AIA, PO Box 47819, London NW11 7WD Editorial Team: Ruth Saunders (editor), Linda Diamond, Grace Reginiano Cover: Tel Aviv Street art Design by WEARECAPRI.com Nimrod Capital LLP 3 St Helen’s Place London EC3A 6AB Switchboard: 020 7382 4565 www.nimrodcapital.com With best wishes from CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE It has been – to be honest – another worrying year. The best that can be said about the Iran nuclear deal is that no one can be sure it will work out well. The spike in anti- Semitic attacks throughout Europe is another profound concern. I find it disturbing that an illustrious writer and scholar like Frederick Raphael, at the age of eighty-four, should feel it necessary to bring out a book on antisemitism in 2015. But I understand Nimrod Capital LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority why he has felt it necessary to do so. In this world, the work of the Anglo Israel Association remains essential. We continue to deepen the intellectual links between Israel and the UK. Over the years, our Ambassadors’ Roundtables have brought together some of the leading scientific minds in both communities. We have been proud to sponsor visits of the Christian clergy to Israel. We regularly sponsor high level debates here about the key issues in Israeli political life. This year in a new initiative, working with The Institute of Ideas, we sponsored a widely based debating competition for schools in Israel. We remain determined to insist on the democratic vitality and complexity of Israeli society. ‘Boycott’ is the word Ireland gave to the world in 1880. The sheer strength of the Israeli contribution to the world, at all levels, is the best defence. That said, the educational role of the AIA remains essential. Now more than ever, we need your support. Lord Bew Chairman of the Executive Committee 5 Lesbos, Greece beneficiaries come from countries that are traditionally It will also expand the psycho-social help to bases in the A volunteer holds a child after arriving on the Greek hostile, or even officially still at war, with Israel. registration and refugee camps that have been set up. island of Lesbos with a group from Syria But for Shaltiel, that’s unimportant. The NGO also has volunteers providing assistance on the Croatia-Hungary border. Eventually IsraAid plans to be “You are meeting fellow human beings,” she said. “You in final-destination countries, like Germany, where they see agony and pain, you see a need, then what does it hope to help with refugee rehabilitation. matter where the person is from. “The aim is to have a presence as an organization along “In the end you hope that the human contact will bring us the entire journey,” Gorodischer said. forward,” added Shaltiel, who also volunteered for the IsraAid mission in South Sudan. On the beach in Lesbos, the work goes beyond the medical. When she is finished dealing with the But she does acknowledge that for the Syrians, Iraqis, hypothermia, dehydration, wounds and illnesses of the Afghans and Pakistanis — who make up the vast majority travellers, Shaltiel gathers some of the refugees to of those arriving — having Israelis as a first contact explain their situation to them. in Europe can be unexpected and unnerving. We try to find a balance,” Shaltiel said. “On the one hand, we are Most have only a vague idea of which country they are in, wearing IsraAid shirts and speaking most of the time in or that they are on an island and not the mainland. Hebrew to each other. None realize that their landing spot is still a gruelling “But, ultimately, you just want people to get help; you 40-mile walk from the registration camps. don’t want to put up barriers to that.” “It’s safer to stay here during the night and start your Plus, in reality, even though the Israelis are wearing walk in the morning,” she tells them, giving them a map bright blue Stars of David on their shirts, most of the made by the IsraAid team with instructions written in refugees don’t even notice amid the chaos and tumult Arabic. of emotions of the landing beaches, said Kardosh, who The volunteers look to assist in any way they can. does most of the communicating with them in Arabic. “The situation is chaotic, you don’t always know what Among those who recognize the T-shirts, most have a you need in the beginning, so we keep looking for positive response — although some are resistant. One ways to help, to see what’s needed,” said Boaz Arad, a man who was receiving treatment from Shaltiel kept volunteer who was documenting IsraAid activities and asking Kardosh, “Tell me the truth, is she a Jew?” also organizing the logistics and transportation. “I tried to ignore him, but he persisted. Eventually I said After finding hundreds of people sleeping in the open to him, ‘She is here to help you, what does it matter who along the road, IsraAid volunteers brought sleeping bags she is?’” Kardosh said. “After about 10 minutes he came to distribute to families with children. back and offered Tali a biscuit and apologized.” They were also waiting for a shipment of donated baby Another issue for IsraAid has been finding Arabic- carriers from Israel. speaking personnel who can communicate with the refugees. That’s particularly important for the second For Shaltiel, the sight of tens of thousands of refugees part of IsraAid’s mission, which is providing psychological walking across Europe was especially poignant. first-aid to those who have experienced trauma. “When we say ‘Never again,’ it is also an obligation to do One IsraAid volunteer social worker spent a day something,” she said. providing support to the family of a 5-year-old girl who “I can’t stop the war in Syria, but I can do something.” drowned on the crossing. Another team was on the island of Rhodes assisting survivors from a boat that sank, killing 34, including 15 infants and children. “We are working in complicated conditions and our Arabic speakers have that experience of working in IsraAid difficult situations,” said Naama Gorodischer, IsraAid’s LESBOS, Greece — As the small rubber dinghy crowded shivering 4-year-old girl out of her wet clothes and a pair global programs manager. with Syrians and Afghans emerged from the midnight- of inflatable armbands that would have provided little black sea to land on a desolate pebble beach, the first protection had the overloaded boat capsized at sea. Still, it’s a challenge for those who have never done field people to greet the bewildered and frightened refugees work before. Kardosh and Shaltiel are part of a small advance group were two Israelis. of volunteers from IsraAid, an Israeli nongovernmental At the moment, the main aim of the team is to assess “Does anyone need a doctor?” Majeda Kardosh, 27, a organization that is trying to provide some assistance to the needs of the refugees and find gaps in the services nurse from Nazareth, shouted repeatedly in Arabic as the hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants who provided by the overwhelmed Greek authorities and the asylum seekers scrambled ashore amid cries of are flowing into Europe.