The World Beyond

Relevant Updates: Maintaining a Mideast Vigil

  • Dear Members of the Peterborough Community.

  • I am sure that you have been watching the frightening events in the Middle East. We wanted to make you aware of the initiatives being taken by RJCO/UIA our connecting organization in Toronto. If you have been wondering what you can do, have a look below:

  • 1. Read the information updates

    We have been receiving news releases from Toronto which we will begin sending to all of the Peterborough community for the duration of the difficulties in Israel. We want all of the Jews in our catchment area to be as informed as possible.

  • 2. Advocate for Israel

    You have already been informed about the next Support Israel rally in Toronto. (July 26/2006). We will continue to inform you of formal advocacy activities.

    In addition, we need to hear from anyone who believes that the Peterborough community needs to take action. Perhaps a letter needs to be written to the local paper or a speaker is needed. Let's keep one another informed about the response in our local community.

  • 3. Contribute money.

    UIA Federations Canada has committed $400,000 to the Israel Crisis Relief Fund. These funds will primarily be allocated to enable families in the North and South of Israel to send their children to Jewish Agency summer camps - even if for a few days. As well, funds will be directed to provide bomb shelters with air-conditioning, furnishings etc. where people have been confined since the beginning of Hezbollah's terror campaign.

    These are the dollars that will need to be raised to give some support to Israeli citizens.

    Many of you received a request for dollars with Hadassah-Wizo. Groups are not competing for your dollars. It is only critical that every Jew in the Peterborough area do what we can to support Israel at this time. We must contribute money to give Israelis whatever relief and moral support that we can.

    We have to act now.

    I am adding a couple of excerpts of emails from Israel. One is from my friend Sara in Haifa and the other is from my daughter Leah in Jerusalem.

    Sara - July 20/2006

    - "Anyway, today is really strange. No traffic, no people about anywhere, no sirens, no rockets. THIS is unnerving and makes me tense because I don't know what is happening or what is going on. Nothing on the news. Shalom for now, Sara"

    Sarah - July 17/2006

    "hi there; between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. today we had 15 rockets hit in or near Haifa. One was close enough to rattle my windows, 3 hit the sea, 5-7 went south and east of me and one hit a 3 story building downtown area collapsing it but not deaths only people hurt. we have about 30 seconds to get to a safe place when the sirens go. We got an all clear an hour ago. And they don't seem to like to shell us in the night so in about 3 hours things should settle down here. Please pray that we will be safe. thanks. shalom, sara"

    Leah - July 16/2006

    "There was a ketushah rocket that hit the Haifa train station today...I think 8 people were killed and or so injured. It seems like every day something more is happening. The count of ketushot a couple days ago was 761. I can't believe it. On tv and on the internet posts people are offering housing to people in the north. I am starting to worry about Dolev's safta [her boyfriend's grandmother who lives near Netanya]. Today I saw two Australian girls on the bus...one crying a lot with a large bag and the other on the phone with her parents discussing going home...I am going to go and buy water and canned food and check out the public shelter and maybe look into getting a gas mask. G-d willing, I probably won't need that stuff, but I really think that this is not one of those times to be Israeli and go with the flow. They said on the news that in some areas of the north people are injured or sick and there are no pharmacies open for them....Doctors and nurses in Haifa have been working since Thursday full time... I think I'm going to go donate blood. I also want to give something for the army....I really appreciate them now. Something good, there's a lot more extensive security on the bus system, guards at nearly every bus station saying hello to people to check their accent...also I saw a guy today driving to every bus stop and checking for suspicious packages. In synogogue, when people say "Oseh shalom bimrumav, overachaman veoseh shalom aleynu, vealkol Israel" You can hear the strongly said Amen, even in usually quiet congregations...everyone really wants peace and for this to stop. Saw a sign today that said in Hebrew "Soldier, thank you for protecting us and Israel, that you should come back in peace (safely)."

    Please respond as you can and let's also support one another as a community.

    Heather Pollock hchalmers@cogeco.ca



Letters to the Peterborough Examiner.

Dear Editor

Prime Minister Harper Has My Full Support.

I ask the people of Peterborough to put themselves in a terrifying and bizarre situation. Imagine that a terrorist group has set up camp just across the border. For the past six years, your government has asked the neighbouring government and the international community to stop the build up of arms. Instead the stockpiling continued. There are now at least 12,000 rockets placed within range of 1/3 of the country's population. And nothing is done. For the past year, rockets have fallen on several neighbouring cities with no outrage by the world community. Silence. Then this terrorist group enters Canada and kidnaps two of our soldiers. Then the rockets begin to fall in the dozens, then the hundreds. The foreign governments that have provided many of those rockets promise further destruction of our major cities and the annihilation of our country. How much would it take before you expected the Canadian government and military to protect you? This is the situation in Israel.

Last year, Israel returned the control of Gaza to the Palestinian authority as a first step to what many of us hoped was a lasting peace. The Israelis living in Gaza were forced from their homes and resettled within Israel. And the rockets and attacks continued. Instead of gaining peace, Israel once again just brought the danger closer to its citizens. To the north, the government of Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to take control of the border area, knowing that rockets were being aimed at Israel.

Jenny Carter is right. This situation should have been handled differently. So many lives and so much tragedy could have been averted. Where were concerned people here when after making a significant step for peace, Israel had to absorb rockets falling on the homes and schools in Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon. Why didn't you rise up then to show terrorist groups that only peace would be tolerated? Why wasn't Lebanon forced or assisted with the disarming of the terrorist group setting up shop within its borders? Why was there not a quick world reaction to the ongoing bombing of Israel over the last couple of years, the infiltration and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, and the assault on the Northern border?

Unfortunately, the silence of the world as Israel was expected to just live with terrorism may have made peace impossible. There were no choices left. What a tragic future we have. Many of us hoped that this summer would see the beginning of the handover of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority. Sadly and undoubtedly this would have meant that Israel would be fighting a war on three fronts, not two. So instead of making plans for future economic and community growth and co-operation and the healing of wounds on both sides, we are seeing that peace might not be possible.

Moderate Israelis and Palestinians only want peace and an ability to provide safely for their families. The terrorists, Hamas and Hezbollah and the governments that support, have taken the situation out of the hands of the moderates and perhaps out of their future.

Thank you Stephen Harper for recognizing that we can no longer expect Israel to be the silent and willing victim of terrorists.

Heather Pollock



Letter to the Peterborough Examiner.

Dear Editor

Israel Has Little Choice

I am sure that Jenny Carter is a good caring person. In her letter to the editor on Thursday July 27/2006 she indicates her upset with the relentless violence in Lebanon.

Looking at half of the problem as she does, produces irrational unrealistic results.

Israel did not suddenly for no apparent reason release this pent up fury at innocent civilians in Lebanon. Israel has no territorial dispute with Lebanon, or Hezbollah for that matter.

During the last six years, while Israel carefully observed the border between the two states, Hezbollah, a militia with thousands of adherents, whose stated purpose is the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews, gathered its forces and assembled more than 10,000 rockets right on the Israeli border.

This in itself is tantamount to an act of war. In addition , during this time countless rockets have been fired at Israeli towns and settlements.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the kidnapping from Israeli territory of 2 soldiers, and the killing of eight others. This violent provocation was -accompanied by the firing of many rockets into Israel.

The strategy of Hezbollah is to conceal its weapons among civilian homes and buildings and to unleash its terror using non-combatants as shields.

The Israelis have little choice. Either pursue these attackers where they are, amidst the population or to accept the destruction of the missiles that Hezbollah is firing.

It is unfortunate that many innocents are being killed or wounded, but Israel is doing its utmost to avoid unnecessary damage and death. Hezbollah was emboldened by hiding in back yards and homes and moving its hundreds of mobile rocket launchers constantly. Even now, after two weeks of fierce bombing they still are able to fire more than 100 rockets every day.

The way to stop the bloodshed is to get Hezbollah to obey the United Nations resolution 1559 and the unanimous decision of the G8, give up their arms, and restore authority to the government of Lebanon.

Irrational criticism of Israel is a bad habit. Prime Minister Harper has earned my respect by saying it as it is. His is a principled position. One we should all take.

Gerald Cooper



Email Example to the Prime Minister You Can Use For Advocacy.

From: Your Name and Email

To: pm@pm.gc.ca; delmad1@parl.gc.ca

Subject: Prime Minister's support for Israel

Dear Mr. Harper and Mr. Del Maestro:

I want to commend Prime Minister Harper for his support for Israel. I am asking that he continue with his principled position. It would be easy to get side tracked since there are Canadians who have been killed in this terrible war which was started by the Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists. The Prime Minister is correct that Israel deserves to defend her citizens. Israel is our only hope of fighting terrorism and maintaining our democratic principles. Mr. Harper knows that Israel is making every effort to avoid killing civilians while the Hezbollah are sending their missiles into Israeli neighbourhoods filled with civilians. Prime Minister Harper has made me proud to be a Canadian.

Thank you again,

Your Name

Peterborough, Ontario

Prayer for Peace at Peterborough Rally--August 2.

From:

The Gates of Prayer (CCAR)

Grant us peace, Your most precious gift, O Eternal Source of peace, and give us the will to proclaim its message to all the peoples of the earth. Bless our country, that it may always be a stronghold of peace, and its advocate among the nations. May contentment reign within its borders, health and happiness within its homes. Strengthen the bonds of friendship among the inhabitants of all lands. And may the love of Your name hallow every home and every heart. Blessed is the eternal God, the source of peace.

Offered at the Rally by Rabbi Jordan Cohen

Peterborough, Ontario