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His article Ronald S. Lauder, President of WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS, which was published in New Y Times on 13 August 2018
For many Israelis, Jews and supporters of Israel, the past year has been a challenging one.
In the summer of 2017, the Government of Israel withdrew from an agreement that would have created an equal prayer area at the Wailing Wall and proposed a strict conversion law, which infringes on the rights of non-Orthodox Jews. This summer the Knesset passed a law denying same-sex couples equal rights. A day later came the Nation-State Law, which rightly reaffirms that Israel is a Jewish State, but damages the sense of equality and "belonging" among its Druze, Christian and Muslim citizens.
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Kathimerini, 9.7.2018, interview with Athanasios Ellis
Diversification is the best way for a newspaper to deal with the changing media landscape as the world moves from print to digital information, believes Aluf Ben, editor of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. During his recent visit to Kathimerini's offices, we discussed the future of journalism as our newspapers – we both work with the New York Times – face similar challenges. He points out that more and more people are choosing a different way to get informed, moving from print media and televisions to tablets and mobile phones, but at the same time predicts that print information will resist the digital challenge and "survive" on weekends.
He also talks about Benjamin Netanyahu's dominance inside Israel, as well as Greek-Israeli relations, stressing that Erdogan's aggressiveness has brought Greece and Israel even closer.
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of Ambassador of Israel to Greece Ms. IRIT BEN ABBA
President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel merely confirmed a political and historical reality.
Politically and practically, Jerusalem is the center of the Israeli Government, housing all its institutions, such as the Knesset (Parliament), the Offices of the Prime Minister, the President, Ms. All foreign leaders who visit Israel are received in Jerusalem. There is already a de facto recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Historically Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish People, not since 1948 or 1967, but for 3.000 years since the time of Kings David and Solomon. During their 2.000-year exile until the founding of Israel, the Jews prayed for a return to their capital, Jerusalem. Any attempt to question the eternal bond of the Jewish people with Jerusalem is ahistorical and out of touch with reality.
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Huffington Post 18.10.2017: JIHADISM & NEONAZISM, by Victor Isaac Eliezer
The violent and bloody demonstrations in Charlottesville, United States a few months ago, the rise of the far-right parties AFD and FPO in recent elections in Germany and Austria respectively, and the recent terrorist attacks in London, Manchester and Barcelona highlight the multidimensional nature of the rise of terrorist threat at an international level.
These recent events also highlight the simultaneous spread of jihadism and neo-Nazism globally. We must therefore understand the interaction and connection of the "new neo-Nazi extreme right" with Islamic extremists, with mutual benefits and mutual dynamic development, despite the apparent ideological distance.
Jihadists in essence seek to inflict painful blows on modern Democracies and pretending the "inhuman behavior" of Christians and Jews against the Muslim populations, they attempt to impose the law of Allah. After nearly wiping out Christians in Iraq and Syria, they are spreading death everywhere, regardless of the amount of bloodshed. Each strike increases the fear of the citizens, raises the level of alarm and intensifies the security measures of the authorities. Each strike is accompanied by shouts of celebration from followers of the Islamic State and other allied terrorist organizations, and their enthusiasm spreads through social media to encourage other Islamists to become "Witnesses of Allah". The supposedly oppressed do not "revolt" to obtain their freedom, they kill to harm the freedom of others, the "different", to harm the right to life.
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HUFFINGTON POST, 9.6.2017 by VICTOR I. ELIEZER: "The Six Day War" of 1967, changed the image of the Middle East and made it clear to the Arab world that the State of Israel is an integral state and national entity of the region. The goal of the Pan-Arab movement to eliminate the state of Israel, as set by its leader and Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, was not only not achieved, but the Arab world had suffered a heavy defeat both morally and politically. strategic.
But in order to understand the present, we must look back at the past. That is, what was the image of the Middle East before the six-day war of 1967.
First of all, neither in 1947 nor in 1967 was there a Palestinian state. Its establishment was proposed in 1947 by the United Nations, and this proposal was rejected by the Arab states because it simultaneously provided for the establishment of a Jewish state next to the Palestinian one. The West Bank as well as East Jerusalem were under Jordanian rule until 1967, while the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian rule. Of course, the access of the Jews to the holy places of East Jerusalem was forbidden by the Jordanians.
Historical reality therefore teaches that if the Arab world sought exclusively the establishment of a Palestinian state it could have been established before 1967, on the very same lands that today the Palestinians claim for the establishment of an independent state, and when these lands were under Jordanian and Egyptian rule respectively. But this possibility was not discussed either in the conferences of the Arab leaders, or in those of the International organizations. Then the only thing that dominated the Arab conferences was the refusal to accept the state of Israel. The same spirit prevailed even after the heavy defeat of 1967. It is also worth noting the fact that the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO of Yasser Arafat, was founded in 1964 and since then has taken an active part in hostilities against Israel. At that time, there were no Jewish settlements in the West Bank of the Jordan because quite simply the West Bank belonged to Jordan.
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WJC, 24.5.2017: Fifty years ago, the city of Jerusalem was reunited, following its separation in 1948 during Israel's War of Independence. 1967 marked the reunification of Israel's political and cultural capital. For the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel, Jews were finally allowed to pray at the Western Wall, the holiest site for Judaism. It was also the first time that the Jewish people gained sovereignty over Jerusalem after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in AD 70.
During the last 50 years Jerusalem has been revitalized and has become a vibrant metropolis where people of all races and religions live and prosper and are able to pray freely. To mark the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification and 3.500 years of the city's Jewish history, the World Jewish Congress has created a series of videos celebrating its beauty, past, renewal, and the spirit of religious tolerance that exists today .
We invite you to watch these videos and share them with your friends.
3.500 years of Jerusalem's Jewish history
Old Jerusalem in vivid colors
The rebirth of Jerusalem
50 years of religious coexistence in Jerusalem
SOURCE: WJC NEWSLETTER, 24.5.2017
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The journalist Mr. Victor Isaac Eliezer, in an interview on 15.2.2017, at the radio station "Athens 9.84", on the show "Oh, what a world!" of Costa Rapti. Among others, B.I. Eliezer commented on the trends of Israeli society towards more conservative positions as a consequence of terrorism, while emphasizing the well-established functioning of justice and the rule of law, which in Israel "is not swayed by cries of fanatics". Listen to her broadcast here (interview B.I. Eliezer from minute 31,34 to 43,10').