Hashalom May 2016 Established 1923 Volume 20 No. 8 CONTENTS EDITORIAL Out of Perspective WHAT MAKES THE HOLOCAUST Editorial 02 Out of Perspective 03 UNIQUE IN HUMAN HISTORY? Israel 04 Prof Antony Arkin JAMES BOND BANNED IN ISRAEL? Learning to Hate 04 There have been countless horrific acts of injustice perpetuated By David Arkin Real Rapprochement with Israel Requires Turkey to 05 throughout history. Though Jews are no strangers to suffering, many Tackle Anti-Semitism others have also been victims of unspeakable cruelty. But the judgment Welcome to the greenest building in Israel 06 of Winston Churchill is almost certainly the definitive description of the This may seem strange to the reader as in all of Ian Fleming’s original Goldfinger was only the third 007 film, but is arguably today the all-time Jewish World 07 uniqueness of the Holocaust: “The Final solution is probably the greatest, books and the subsequent movie franchise based on his character, James favourite of Bond fans: it had a powerful theme song sung by Shirley most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world”. Daughter spots her teenaged survivor 07 Bond has actually never been in Israel. He has been close, having a tête- Bassey, an iconic image of a secondary Bond girl covered in gold paint, a mother in YouTube video à-tête with a belly-dancer in Beirut in 19741, a year after the Yom Kippur deadly henchman in Oddjob, the introduction of Q-Branch gadgets and the The philosopher Emil Fackenheim summarized what puts the Holocaust 2 Living Word From a Dead World 08 in a class by itself as an example of evil in his book ‘To Mend the World’. war, and then cavorting with the lovely “XXX”, in Cairo in 1977 , a year quintessential Bond car (an Aston Martin DB-5), and possibly the raciest 5 ‘Japanese Schindler’ Who Saved 6,000 Lives 10 It was the only time in recorded history that a state tried to destroy an before the signing of the Camp David Accords. In fact, the only Israeli of all the Bond lead women: Pussy Galore . It also had the arch villain, During World War II Finally Gets A Movie entire people regardless of an individual’s age, sex, location, profession or he did meet up with briefly was in the Swiss Alps in 1969, soon after Auric Goldfinger, played with extraordinary flair by the German actor Gert UK author exposes the oft-forgotten horrors of a 11 belief. And it is the only instance in which the perpetrators conducted this Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister. One of Blofeld’s “Angels of Death” Frobe. However, when the Israeli censorship board found out that Frobe, Nazi death camp for women genocide for no ostensible material, territorial or political gain. (bacteriological warfare agents) was an Israeli girl with a Shellfish allergy3. who had studied theatre in Berlin, had joined the Nazi party during the Are ‘1652s’ the new Jews 13 Due to the obvious lack of Kashrut policy, I thought the “Israeli girl” was a Third Reich, Goldfinger was banned at once from being screened. Frobe Thus Jews were singled out for the “crime” of existing. Jewish birth was rather amusing character-cast. heard about this and attempted to set the record straight: in a subsequent Community News 15 sufficient cause for death. Assimilation was impossible. Conversion Past Tense 15 offered no protection. The biological connection to Jewish grandparents newspaper interview, he claimed that he had actually left the Nazi party Bubkes 16 was guilt enough. Bond, though, has met up with a whole gamut of villains with a dodgy two years before the outbreak of WW2, that he was drafted and sent Beth Shalom 17 Nazi background. This is hardly surprising as Ian Fleming worked for to the Russian Front for distributing anti-Nazi leaflets, and made the News from Hashalom 19 So the extermination of the Jews was not a means to an end, it was British Naval Intelligence during the Second World War. His war-time startling revelation that he risked his life in the war to hide two Jews from Young Israel Centre 19 Durban Holocaust Centre 20 an end in itself. It was carried out for ideological reasons. The mass experiences and the immediate post-war period provided the inspiration the Gestapo. No-one believed him and Goldfinger remained banned. Then Limmud 21 murder of the Jewish people ran parallel to the German war against the for what was essentially a Cold-war spy combatting rogues in the twilight out of the blue a certain Mario Blumenau suddenly appeared at the Israeli Eden College 22 Allies. Enormous resources were diverted from the Nazi war machine to of the British Empire. There was Sir Hugo Drax of Moonraker fame, who, embassy in Vienna and backed up Frobe’s revelation: he and his mother facilitate the extermination of the Jews. Durban United Hebrew Congregation 23 in the original book, had joined the Nazi Party and fought with the had been saved by the slandered actor‘s actions and they wanted to set Hebrew Order of David 23 Wotsup Wizo 24 The atrocities of the Holocaust were not primarily carried out by Wehrmacht. Max Zorin, of A View to Kill, was a former KGB agent, who was the record straight! Their written affidavit was accepted by the local film Durban Progressive Jewish Congregation 25 monsters, but for the most part, average citizens. They were in born in Dresden in 1943 as a product of Nazi medical experimentation. His censorship board, the ban lifted, and Frobe’s reputation restored. Sisterhood of Temple David 25 Fackenheim’s words “ordinary jobholders”. Throughout Europe Jews associate in the film, and the one responsible for the experiments, was Union of Jewish Women 26 were rounded up and swept into concentration camps with the Dr. Carl Mortner (real name Hans Glaub), who’s character is akin to the evil There is still an outside chance that James Bond might make a film Divote 27 connivance of the local authorities. In many cases they were betrayed by Dr. Josef Mengele. Bond’s most-recurring nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, debut appearance here in Israel. There have been book series spin-offs Umhlanga Jewish Centre 28 their neighbours and friends. Those running the camps worked all day in Akiva College 29 was in fact a worker in one of the ministries of the Polish Government, by Fleming’s publishers since the 1980’s, where the recreated James the most inhumane conditions imaginable, and returned each evening KwaZulu Natal Zionist Council 30 who collaborated with the Nazis prior to Poland’s invasion by passing on Bond character does meet up with the Mossad. A Bond/Beautiful Sabra to the comfort of their families. At the end of the war, many people who Above Board 31 classified material (as outlined in the novel Thunderball). In all the films, Mossad Agent rendezvous on Tel Aviv’s Gordon Beach is not out of the participated in conducting the horrors of the Holocaust simply returned Cooking with Judy and Linda 31 Blofeld’s background is never truly revealed 4. realm of possibility. Social and Personal 31 to their normal lives. Diary of Events 32 The growing persecution of the Jews between 1933 and 1945 unfolded So, despite many literary and cinematic run-ins with Nazis or Nazi- The views expressed in the pages of Hashalom are not necessarily those of the without organised official opposition by the governments of the world. A collaborators, there is still no compelling reason why 007 should be 1 In The Man with a Golden Gun Editorial Board or any other organisation or religious body unless otherwise great deal of terrifying information was widely available, but no measures banned in Eretz HaKodesh. There was, however, an official ban on 2 In The Spy Who Loved Me were taken to limit the damage. The impediment to the Jews finding their purchasing German-made products in the initial four year inception period 3 In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service individual. way to safety lay in the refusal by these nations to receive the Jewish of the State, until a reparations agreement was signed with Germany in 4 Interestingly, and by way of trivia, Fleming pens Blofeld’s birthday to be refugees from Europe. Hashalom Editorial Board: 1952. And even afterwards, there were in fact no diplomatic ties until in the port of Gydnia, on May 28, 1908, his own birthdate! Editor: Prof Antony Arkin these were established in 1965 by Levi Eshkol and Ludwig Erhard. Buying 5 More useless trivia: “Pussy Galore” was inspired by the actual name of Editorial Board: Mrs Mikki Norton, Mrs Michelle Shapira One of the inexplicable aspects of the Holocaust is that it took place in Commitee: Dr Issy Fisher, Ms Diane McColl, Mrs Lauren Shapiro, Mr Colin Plen the twentieth century and was the work of the so-called “cultured” highly products “Made in Germany” continued to be a bit of a taboo, and there Fleming’s pet octopus, which was called “Octopussy”. Production Manager: Mrs Robyn Bradley educated Germans with the connivance of the “civilized” world. The other existed an unofficial boycott by the generation of Holocaust survivors. examples of mass murder in the last century have included the Turkish This was passed down to the next generation, where many also banned Notice to Organisations/Contributors: annihilation of the Armenians, Stalin’s atrocities in the Soviet Union, Mao (or at least disapproved) their children from travelling back to Germany All material to be submitted by email to Zedong’s “great leap forward” in China, Pol Pot’s atrocities in Cambodia [email protected] to tour or holiday (even on a cultural roots visit).