New Yorkers hold solidarity vigil for slain Israeli teenagers Photo: REUTERS
Communities across the Diaspora will be holding memorial services on Tuesday as Jews worldwide grapple with the murders of the three kidnapped teens whose bodies were found in a village outside of Hebron Monday evening.
Naftali Fraenkel, 16, Gil-Ad Shaer, 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, were found buried in a shallow grave. Reports indicate that they were killed shortly after being kidnapped.
Impromptu gatherings have already been held at the Israeli consulate and Manhattan Jewish Community Center in New York and further gatherings are scheduled in Warsaw, Los Angeles and other cities both in the United States and around the world.
Both New York mayor Bill De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted their shock and outrage on Monday, joining their voices with those of their Jewish constituents.
“While others merely respond to this savage act of brutality by simply ‘condemning’ this violence against innocent, unarmed civilians – including one with United States citizenship – mere words are not enough. It’s regrettable that President Obama lacked the leadership to say anything or even acknowledge this tragic situation as it unfolded or during his Rose Garden press conference this afternoon,” said Bruce Blakeman, who is running to fill a congressional seat in Long Island’s 4th district.
“There cannot be any peace with terrorists who commit such heinous crimes,” he added. “Hamas and its followers are merchants of death and must be treated accordingly. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. This administration’s international policy, which has not accepted this simple fact, has failed.
Larry Gordon, the editor of the Long Island based Five Towns Jewish Times interviewed Rachel Fraenkel, Naftali’s mother, just minutes before the bodies were discovered.
Fraenkel, he said, seemed “very upbeat” and was looking forward to leaving the public eye once her son was returned.
During the interview, he recalled, Fraenkel received a call from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) asking about what kind of sandals her son was wearing when he disappeared.
Asked about how Jews back in New York were handling the news, Gordon said that “everybody is shocked” and that many of his readers were disappointed in what he termed the lack of an immediate and “decisive” response by Jerusalem.
In Beverly Hills, the Israeli Consulate, together with the Beth Jacob Synagogue, the Jewish Federation, and Gil-Ad Shaer’s aunt Lihi will be holding a memorial. Bnei Akiva of Los Angeles, together with the local chapter of the National Council of Synagogue Youth and several modern orthodox schools have mobilized to learn Jewish texts in memory of the deceased.
Speaking to the Jewish Journal, Lihi Shaer said that Gil-Ad’s “sisters don’t have a brother anymore. I can’t believe it.”
Hamas does not “appreciate life; they don’t care about life [and] they don’t care about peace,” she was quoted as saying. “They just want to kill. They don’t want to talk—they don’t want to negotiate.”
In a letter to area teens published by the Journal, Bnei Akiva, a national-religious youth movement, stated that while only god knows why he allowed the yeshiva students to be murdered, as believing Jews “it seems fitting to bring more Torah to the world” after “three budding Torah scholars were ripped from our arms.”
Learning Torah in memory of the deceased is a custom among orthodox Jews.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies, together with Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and the local Zionist Federation will be holding memorials around the country, the groups announced Tuesday morning.
While Jewish groups across the board mourned the deaths of the young yeshiva students, the takeaway from recent events differed among organizations.
“Violence and hatred does not solve problems; it only worsens them, and we must not let the deaths of these young men be in vain,” the National Council of Jewish Women said in a statement. “If there is anything to take away from this moment, it should be that all human lives are sacred.”
Other organizations, including many orthodox ones, took a more hardline approach in the wake of the murders, calling for the United States and Europe to cut ties with the Palestinians and blaming Ramallah for creating an atmosphere of hate that they said incites violence.
“The kidnapping and subsequent murders are the direct product of the constant and relentless incitement taught by the Palestinians,” B’nai B’rith International asserted.
“For many decades, generations of Palestinians have been raised on a diet of hate, which feeds the terror targeting Israel. The twin evils of incitement and terrorism have once again shown that Israel does not have a credible partner for peace…It is the duty of the Palestinians to surrender the murderers to Israel.”
B’nai B’rith stated that Hamas remains committed to Israel’s destruction and pointed out that the Palestinian Authority recently entered into a unity deal with the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.
StandWithUS, a pro-Israel advocacy organization said that the murders indicate that “terrorists continue to act with impunity under Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.”
Joining the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Agudath Israel of America, StandWithUS blamed Palestinian propaganda and “hate education” for the murders, stating that such “institutionalized incitement against Jews and Israel permeates education, the media, mosques and other social institutions, directed and supported by the Palestinian leadership.”
“International pressure must be placed on the Palestinian Authority to stop the ongoing incitement to bigotry, hatred and violence,” the group demanded.
The World Jewish Congress asserted that the murders show Hamas’ “true colors” and that it is the Palestinian Authority’s responsibility to “remove all Hamas-linked officials from his government immediately and fight terrorism vigorously and urgently.”
The international Jewish organization urged Jewish institutions globally to hold memorial services and events and for schools to hold special classes to explain the murders to their students.
Communities affiliated with the WJC were asked to display home-pages devoid of any content except for the names of the victims this Thursday at ten twenty five in the evening, the time at which the boys were kidnapped.
“We wish to show a unified stand of World Jewry in reaction to this heinous crime, and to lend our support to the families and friends of the three boys,” WJC CEO Robert Singer stated.
The European Jewish Congress, a WJC affiliate, likewise called a change in the status quo, demanding that the European Union “immediately cease all support, funding and political contact of and with the new government of the Palestinian Authority until it suspends the agreement with Hamas.”
“Neither the cause of Middle East peace nor the protection of young lives are served by this perpetual apology for Islamist fundamentalism, terror and extremism which threatens not only Israel, but the whole of the Middle East region and indeed, the continent of Europe itself,” EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor said.
According to Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, in his country there is “an additional responsibility to remember, mourn and warn the world concerning the execution of Jews. We have lost too many Jews to hatred.”
“Enough,” he declared, stating that “no person with any sense of morality can permit the world to return to normal until the world will not accept the murder of Jews as normal.”
The National Council of Young Israel, a modern orthodox body, issued a similar call, demanding that the United States cease sending aid to the Palestinian Authority “until they end their contemptible practice of naming streets after terrorists and promoting as heroes those who murder Jews.”
“The world needs to recognize, as it often fails to do, the nature of the enemies that are arrayed against Israel and the level of inhumanity of which they are capable. We join in the call for swift and resolute punishment for the perpetrators of this atrocity, and call upon world leaders to continue to affirm that such heinous tactics have no place in the civilized world,” the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America, two other modern orthodox groups, said in a statement.
The Zionist Organization of America, a right wing group, also joined the call for financial sanctions against the PA.
ZOA National President Morton Klein also condemned Palestinian Authority President Abbas for criticizing Israel’s crackdown on Hamas and door to door searches carried out in order to find the teens.
“This is what any self-respecting country does when its citizens are victims of terrorism,” he explained. “When the Boston Marathon was bombed by radical Muslim terrorists, the Boston police locked down half the city and conducted house-to-house searches until they located the perpetrators. Why would or should Israel do any less?”
The ZOA also critiqued President Barack Obama, stating that “in 18 days, he uttered no criticism or condemnation of the kidnapping of the three youths, one of whom is an American citizen; he merely expressed concern.”
The Conference of European Rabbis, the Anti-Defamation League, Israeli American Council, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the American Jewish joint Distribution Committee and the Conference of European Rabbis, among other groups, also expressed their sadness over the deaths and solidarity with the families and the state of Israel.
"We feel a great anger towards those who have committed or allowed these acts," the CRIF, A French Jewish umbrella organization, said in a statement. "They have the blood of children on their hands. They will all have to answer for their crimes and their barbarism."
Naftali Fraenkel, 16, Gil-Ad Shaer, 16, and Eyal Yifrah, 19, were found buried in a shallow grave. Reports indicate that they were killed shortly after being kidnapped.
Impromptu gatherings have already been held at the Israeli consulate and Manhattan Jewish Community Center in New York and further gatherings are scheduled in Warsaw, Los Angeles and other cities both in the United States and around the world.
Both New York mayor Bill De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted their shock and outrage on Monday, joining their voices with those of their Jewish constituents.
“While others merely respond to this savage act of brutality by simply ‘condemning’ this violence against innocent, unarmed civilians – including one with United States citizenship – mere words are not enough. It’s regrettable that President Obama lacked the leadership to say anything or even acknowledge this tragic situation as it unfolded or during his Rose Garden press conference this afternoon,” said Bruce Blakeman, who is running to fill a congressional seat in Long Island’s 4th district.
“There cannot be any peace with terrorists who commit such heinous crimes,” he added. “Hamas and its followers are merchants of death and must be treated accordingly. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive. This administration’s international policy, which has not accepted this simple fact, has failed.
Larry Gordon, the editor of the Long Island based Five Towns Jewish Times interviewed Rachel Fraenkel, Naftali’s mother, just minutes before the bodies were discovered.
Fraenkel, he said, seemed “very upbeat” and was looking forward to leaving the public eye once her son was returned.
During the interview, he recalled, Fraenkel received a call from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) asking about what kind of sandals her son was wearing when he disappeared.
Asked about how Jews back in New York were handling the news, Gordon said that “everybody is shocked” and that many of his readers were disappointed in what he termed the lack of an immediate and “decisive” response by Jerusalem.
In Beverly Hills, the Israeli Consulate, together with the Beth Jacob Synagogue, the Jewish Federation, and Gil-Ad Shaer’s aunt Lihi will be holding a memorial. Bnei Akiva of Los Angeles, together with the local chapter of the National Council of Synagogue Youth and several modern orthodox schools have mobilized to learn Jewish texts in memory of the deceased.
Speaking to the Jewish Journal, Lihi Shaer said that Gil-Ad’s “sisters don’t have a brother anymore. I can’t believe it.”
Hamas does not “appreciate life; they don’t care about life [and] they don’t care about peace,” she was quoted as saying. “They just want to kill. They don’t want to talk—they don’t want to negotiate.”
In a letter to area teens published by the Journal, Bnei Akiva, a national-religious youth movement, stated that while only god knows why he allowed the yeshiva students to be murdered, as believing Jews “it seems fitting to bring more Torah to the world” after “three budding Torah scholars were ripped from our arms.”
Learning Torah in memory of the deceased is a custom among orthodox Jews.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies, together with Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and the local Zionist Federation will be holding memorials around the country, the groups announced Tuesday morning.
While Jewish groups across the board mourned the deaths of the young yeshiva students, the takeaway from recent events differed among organizations.
“Violence and hatred does not solve problems; it only worsens them, and we must not let the deaths of these young men be in vain,” the National Council of Jewish Women said in a statement. “If there is anything to take away from this moment, it should be that all human lives are sacred.”
Other organizations, including many orthodox ones, took a more hardline approach in the wake of the murders, calling for the United States and Europe to cut ties with the Palestinians and blaming Ramallah for creating an atmosphere of hate that they said incites violence.
“The kidnapping and subsequent murders are the direct product of the constant and relentless incitement taught by the Palestinians,” B’nai B’rith International asserted.
“For many decades, generations of Palestinians have been raised on a diet of hate, which feeds the terror targeting Israel. The twin evils of incitement and terrorism have once again shown that Israel does not have a credible partner for peace…It is the duty of the Palestinians to surrender the murderers to Israel.”
B’nai B’rith stated that Hamas remains committed to Israel’s destruction and pointed out that the Palestinian Authority recently entered into a unity deal with the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States.
StandWithUS, a pro-Israel advocacy organization said that the murders indicate that “terrorists continue to act with impunity under Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.”
Joining the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Agudath Israel of America, StandWithUS blamed Palestinian propaganda and “hate education” for the murders, stating that such “institutionalized incitement against Jews and Israel permeates education, the media, mosques and other social institutions, directed and supported by the Palestinian leadership.”
“International pressure must be placed on the Palestinian Authority to stop the ongoing incitement to bigotry, hatred and violence,” the group demanded.
The World Jewish Congress asserted that the murders show Hamas’ “true colors” and that it is the Palestinian Authority’s responsibility to “remove all Hamas-linked officials from his government immediately and fight terrorism vigorously and urgently.”
The international Jewish organization urged Jewish institutions globally to hold memorial services and events and for schools to hold special classes to explain the murders to their students.
Communities affiliated with the WJC were asked to display home-pages devoid of any content except for the names of the victims this Thursday at ten twenty five in the evening, the time at which the boys were kidnapped.
“We wish to show a unified stand of World Jewry in reaction to this heinous crime, and to lend our support to the families and friends of the three boys,” WJC CEO Robert Singer stated.
The European Jewish Congress, a WJC affiliate, likewise called a change in the status quo, demanding that the European Union “immediately cease all support, funding and political contact of and with the new government of the Palestinian Authority until it suspends the agreement with Hamas.”
“Neither the cause of Middle East peace nor the protection of young lives are served by this perpetual apology for Islamist fundamentalism, terror and extremism which threatens not only Israel, but the whole of the Middle East region and indeed, the continent of Europe itself,” EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor said.
According to Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, in his country there is “an additional responsibility to remember, mourn and warn the world concerning the execution of Jews. We have lost too many Jews to hatred.”
“Enough,” he declared, stating that “no person with any sense of morality can permit the world to return to normal until the world will not accept the murder of Jews as normal.”
The National Council of Young Israel, a modern orthodox body, issued a similar call, demanding that the United States cease sending aid to the Palestinian Authority “until they end their contemptible practice of naming streets after terrorists and promoting as heroes those who murder Jews.”
“The world needs to recognize, as it often fails to do, the nature of the enemies that are arrayed against Israel and the level of inhumanity of which they are capable. We join in the call for swift and resolute punishment for the perpetrators of this atrocity, and call upon world leaders to continue to affirm that such heinous tactics have no place in the civilized world,” the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America, two other modern orthodox groups, said in a statement.
The Zionist Organization of America, a right wing group, also joined the call for financial sanctions against the PA.
ZOA National President Morton Klein also condemned Palestinian Authority President Abbas for criticizing Israel’s crackdown on Hamas and door to door searches carried out in order to find the teens.
“This is what any self-respecting country does when its citizens are victims of terrorism,” he explained. “When the Boston Marathon was bombed by radical Muslim terrorists, the Boston police locked down half the city and conducted house-to-house searches until they located the perpetrators. Why would or should Israel do any less?”
The ZOA also critiqued President Barack Obama, stating that “in 18 days, he uttered no criticism or condemnation of the kidnapping of the three youths, one of whom is an American citizen; he merely expressed concern.”
The Conference of European Rabbis, the Anti-Defamation League, Israeli American Council, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the American Jewish joint Distribution Committee and the Conference of European Rabbis, among other groups, also expressed their sadness over the deaths and solidarity with the families and the state of Israel.
"We feel a great anger towards those who have committed or allowed these acts," the CRIF, A French Jewish umbrella organization, said in a statement. "They have the blood of children on their hands. They will all have to answer for their crimes and their barbarism."
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