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Living in Fear the Druze and the State of Israel

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Living in Fear the Druze and the State of Israel 5TJT.COM SERVING NASSAU COUNTY, BROOKLYN, QUEENS, MANHATTAN, BRONX, & STATEN ISLAND $1.00 | פרשת ראה | VOL. 18 | NO. 45 | AUGUST 10, 2018 FIVE TOWNS JEWISH TIMES 29 AV 5778 SSeeee PPageage 3 SSeeee PPageage 2211 Last Thursday, more than a thousand people celebrated the arrival of 550 Bike4Chai cyclists at the entrance to Camp Simcha Special. Page 65 FROM THE EDITOR HALACHIC MUSINGS Living In Fear The Druze And The State of Israel BY LARRY GORDON BY RABBI YAIR HOFFMAN alking around central Jerusalem or dining in one of the hey number about a million or so, and are found throughout city’s delightful and cutting-edge culinary establishments, the Middle East. They are persecuted in every country in Wit is near impossible to discern that there is trouble lurking Twhich they reside except for Israel and Lebanon. They are the out there that is concerning and potentially perilous. Druze, and they are now in the news. If you are even a casual consumer of news, you know, of course, that Within Eretz Yisrael there are about 130,000 Druze—about thir- there are dangerous and lethal missiles pointing in the direction of the teen percent of all worldwide Druze. Throughout the years they have Jewish state and ready to be fi red by Israel’s enemies on the spur of the dedicated themselves to the protection of the citizens of Israel. Israeli moment. These missiles are directed at Israel from several places that Druze are drafted in the IDF and work for the police. Many strongly virtually surround the country. Most troubling are the rockets aimed identify as Israeli. In Eretz Yisrael’s history, more than 500 Druze sol- at Israel from Hezbollah in Lebanon, from the Continued on Page 7 diers and police offi cers have been killed in the Continued on Page 10 SSeeee PPageage 9911 August 10 - 7:41 PM August 17 - 7:31 PM See Luach, Page 11 Features Index, See Page 8 SSeeee PPageage 4422 2 August 10, 2018 • 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES JEWISH TOWNS 2018 • 5 August 10, 3 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES • August 10, 2018 TIMES • August 10, JEWISH TOWNS 5 4 Embassy in Israel needs to be moved how we felt as we moved closer to the from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And since new embassy building. We felt like we HEARD IN THE that law was passed during the adminis- were stepping into a dream, a long-an- tration of Bill Clinton, every six months ticipated reality that was made possible in the last 22 years the sitting president in the simplest fashion after a more than BAGEL STORE has signed a waiver on the move that two-decade frustrating delay. By Larry Gordon stipulated he can do so based on over- Thanks to President Trump, Ambas- riding U.S. national-security consider- sador Friedman, and the administra- ations. tion’s foreign-policy team, the U.S. Em- Three thousand years ago, the Psalm- bassy is fi nally located and functioning THE WIZARD OF JERUSALEM ist wrote, “When we return to Zion, we in Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem. As it will be like dreamers.” And that was was explained, however, there are still t was a momentous occasion. We many issues to be dealt with as the em- were not in Kansas anymore, nor bassy takes its place on the rocky diplo- Iwere we in the Five Towns, though matic landscape. it was easy to conjure up images of Dor- There is an unusual dynamic at play August 10, 2018 • 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES JEWISH TOWNS 2018 • 5 August 10, othy and Toto on a journey to an Oz-like here 18 months into the Trump presi- place. We were a delegation of 15 people dency. The relocation of the embassy led by the great activist for Israel Dr. Joe from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem seems to be Frager and the inimitable former gover- one of the president’s proudest achieve- nor Mike Huckabee. We would be one ments amongst the many others he has of the fi rst non-diplomatic delegations accomplished over the last year and a visiting the new United States Embassy half. If you follow the president and the in Jerusalem with the opportunity to sit rallies he hosts around the country, then and talk about the issues of the day with you know that rarely is there an occa- our U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David sion when he does not take a few min- Friedman. utes to talk about the embassy move and Though Israel is one of the smallest how proud he is to have Mr. Friedman as countries on the globe, she draws dis- his ambassador to Israel. proportionate attention and is a major The ambassador was open and forth- focus of international diplomacy. So coming about a number of issues, some there we were, 15 supporters of Presi- of which he said, looking in my direc- dent Trump and the Trump policy on tion, were better off not published even U.S.–Israel relations, on a bus, riding up though to some extent the news on these a steep circular roadway that separates issues is already out there. So there were the newly designated embassy proper- really no big secrets revealed, though ty from the rest of the neighborhood of there were matters that do not get a lot mostly gray-looking apartment build- of publicity because they occur mostly ings. behind the scenes. The law of the United States as passed by Congress in 1995 says that the U.S. Larry Gordon and David Friedman Continued on Page 6 5 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES • August 10, 2018 TIMES • August 10, JEWISH TOWNS 5 6 BAGEL STORE Why these two entities function this tion, especially regarding the refreshing Continued from Page 4 way is as intriguing as it is complicated. change towards our ally Israel, should The brief answer is that the consulate not be lulled into complacency that Those of you who visit Jerusalem on was opened in 1844, more than a hun- because the embassy was moved, all any kind of regular basis are most likely dred years before the State of Israel was goals have been achieved. Furthermore, familiar with the imposing and impres- founded, so to speak, or opened for busi- even with the fantastic new leadership FIVE TOWNS JEWISH TIMES sive structure that is the U.S. Consulate ness, in 1948. of Secretary Pompeo and Ambassa- on Agron Street in the city. The con- According to Ambassador Friedman, dor Bolton alongside our Ambassador sulate is located down the street from the reason for this setup is that the Friedman there is tremendous work to P.O. BOX 690 • LAWRENCE, NY 11559 Rechov King George and you pass it on Agron Street Consulate is there primar- be done, and government bureaucracy [email protected] [email protected] your way to the Waldorf-Astoria or the ily to serve the Palestinian population has not changed simply because some 516-569-0502 Mamilla Mall or on your way to the Old while the embassy in Tel Aviv was, until policies have shifted. It seems from LARRY GORDON ESTA J. GORDON City of Jerusalem. the relocation of the embassy, the ad- Ambassador Friedman that while he If you walk by the consulate side of the dress for whatever services Israelis or thought the embassy move would take Publisher/Editor Managing Editor street there are always American secu- Americans living in Israel required. much more time, he accomplished it on YOSSY GORDON • YOCHANAN GORDON rity personnel standing outside, about Those of us who have been following his 365th day in the country, but there is DOVI GORDON August 10, 2018 • 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES JEWISH TOWNS 2018 • 5 August 10, 20 or so feet apart from one another. Of this issue and this administration care- still a lot left to be accomplished. Sales Managers course, this is a safe part of town, but fully can tell that the Trump adminis- As for the so-called “grand plan” being CHANA ROCHEL ROSS MICHELLE GREEN this is an American outpost in a foreign tration governs from a reality-based drawn up by the Trump administration Production Manager Editorial Assistant country, and, after all is said and done, it perspective. It seems that careful that is being touted by Jared Kushner SIDI BARON • DAVID FOX is the Middle East. thought needs to be given to the reason and lead negotiator Jason Greenblatt, Sales Representatives The intriguing thing about the U.S. for two U.S. missions in one city. There the ambassador said he is hopeful for MICHELE JUSTIC Consulate in the city, we learn, is that requires some real deliberation in success but is disappointed that there is Managing Content Editor this is one of only two cities in the world terms of how best to streamline redun- no identifi able personality representing in which the consulate and the embassy dancies to ensure that the U.S. is most the Palestinian side who can reach an RACHELI GLASS • BETH COHEN function independently of one another. eff ectively and effi ciently represented eff ective and implementable peace plan Copy Editors (The other city is Hong Kong.) This can in Israel. with Israel. SHMUEL GERBER EMUNA GANZ and does lead to all forms of ineffi cien- Those of us who have been support- Editorial Adviser Proofreader cies and confusion. ive of President Trump’s administra- Continued on Page 7 MARCY FARRELL Online Editor CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Hannah Reich Berman • Anessa V. Cohen Rabbi Aryeh Z.
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