The Jewish answer to the pro-Palestinian Gaza flotillas: An aid flotilla, docked at Pier 59 at Chelsea Piers in New York City, to the Jews of Hevron.
The Hebron Fund, which runs an annual festive dinner for the Jewish Community of Hevron, continues its “out of the box” dinner planning by holding this year’s event not in a ballroom, but on a ship cruising around the island of Manhattan.
“We are happy about all forms of expansion of Jewish life in what is called the West Bank,” says the Fund’s Executive Director, Yossi Baumol, “and we condemn all the anti-Semitic attempts to block them. After much of the world absurdly supported the right of terrorists to send a ship to break Israel’s blockade on Hamas-run Gaza, we have decided to send our own flotilla, which will support peace and life.”
In addition, the Hevron aid ship will truly support a people surrounded by a hostile enemy – namely, the Jews of Hevron.
Baumol’s specialty is the Jewish Community of Hevron, but he has much to say about all of his fellow “settlers” in Judea and Samaria ('Yesha,' in the Hebrew acronym): “The Jewish communities in Yesha are totally legal. Just as Jews can build freely in Harlem, Moscow and Paris, they are similarly free to live and grow everywhere in the Land of Israel. We encourage Americans to send their tax-deductible donations to help Jews of Yesha and Arutz Sheva which is their voice; President Obama has to know that discrimination against Jewish life in Israel cannot be tolerated.”
Hevron, specifically, is the “first piece of land in the Holy Land to have been purchased by a Jew, namely the Patriarch Abraham,” Baumol says. “It is home to the burial place of the Forefathers and Foremothers, and to deny Jewish rights here is unthinkable.”
Continuing the maritime metaphor, Baumol says, “We are now all in the same boat. The outburst of hatred against Israel and Jews around the world after the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident was unprecedented. This is why we have decided to dedicate this flotilla to Jews who are under similar siege all year round.”
Baumol expressed appreciation to the dozen or so anarchists who demonstrate against the Jewish Community of Hevron each year: “They are worth their weight in gold” for the publicity they provide the cause, and the consequent increase in attendance and support.
Hevron spokesman Noam Arnon said, “The world is busy with the supposed suffering of the Arabs in Gaza. But the fact is that while they’re building hotels and malls, the Jews of Hevron truly live in impossible conditions – families with 7-8 children in 2-3 room apartments. And while the Arabs in Hevron and Gaza are free to build wherever and whatever they like, Jewish children in Hevron are arrested for planting trees and placing benches. And while investors are free to develop Gaza, in Hevron, Jews cannot even use their own structures, whether they purchased them in 1809 or 2005.”
Politicians from both the U.S.and Israel will take part in the flotilla dinner, and honorees will include Caroline Glick, David and Jane Seidemann, David and Joclyn Stern, Fred and Carole Samuel, and Esther Arieh-Hatanian.
For more information, visit www.hebronfund.com.