The U.S. Elections –
How will They Impact on Israel and the Middle East?
by Israel HighWay Staff

An American political leader once remarked, "All politics is local." What he meant was that the problems and concerns of local communities around the country affect the actions of their representatives and senators in Washington. Perhaps it is time to amend his comment and add: "All American elections are international in their impact."

The elections earlier this month did not decide who would sit in the White House for the next four years. After all, President George W. Bush has another two years to his term. Rather, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate were contested. So how will those elections have international implications?

Issue of the Week is continued below

President Bush Welcomes Prime Minister Olmert of Israel to the White House

After meeting with Israel's prime minister at the White House on Monday, President Bush said: "We talked about our commitment to a two-state solution. We talked about the need for a Palestinian government to embrace the principles of the Quartet and the road map....We spent a great deal of time on Iran, and about how we can work together with other nations of the world to convince the Iranians to abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions."

"The whole central thrust of our discussions was based upon our understanding that we're involved in an ideological struggle between extremists and radicals versus people who just simply want to live in peace." (White House)

India's "Lost" Jews Set for Long-Awaited Homecoming
by Sunil Kataria

Dalia Doliani Sela is an Indian by birth, part of a community in the country's remote northeast who says they are one of the "lost tribes of Israel," exiled from their homeland 2,700 years ago. Sela, a 63-year-old mother of 10, is among the first group of India's Bnei Menashe community to be allowed to settle in the Holy Land since rabbinical leaders in Israel formally recognized the community as Jews and carried out a mass conversion ceremony in India last year. 218 Bnei Menashe, or the "Children of Menashe," are due to emigrate in November. Dalia Sela will join 1,000 of her community already in Israel, among them nine of her own children.

Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based organization which has been locating descendents of the lost tribes of Israel and bringing them home, says the Bnei Menashe's return is a miracle. (Reuters)

Israelis Fear Arms Buildup in Gaza by Anne Barnard

Israeli officials say they fear that the Gaza Strip could become another southern Lebanon. A senior military official recently described "Lebanonization" - the possibility that Palestinian militants could end up as well-organized, well-fortified, and well-armed as the Lebanese group Hizballah - as the most worrying new threat Israel faces in Gaza. Hamas, he said, began smuggling in more-advanced weapons and Iranian know-how through a growing network of tunnels under the Egyptian border. (Boston Globe)

Mitzvah Day 'Truly Made a Difference' by Ken Hilfman

"It was an incredible day," Joy Kurland said, describing UJA of Northern New Jersey's ninth annual Mitzvah Day Nov. 5. Kurland, director of the federation's Jewish Community Relations Council, noted that l,300 volunteers came to 40 different locations to donate their time. The teens made care packages for Israel Defense Forces soldiers that included wool hats and baseball caps; gloves and scarves; socks; long underwear, and toiletries. Packages also included personal notes and a return envelope for a reply.

Leftover funds and clothing items will be sent to residents of Nahariya through UJA's Israel Emergency Campaign. Megan Hess, 17, said she wrote that the soldier "had an amazing heart and the courage to go on, and that he gave me courage, too." (New Jersey Jewish Standard)

Young Emissaries Convene

This past week 25 JAFI pre-army young emissaries met in White Plains, New York as part of the annual JAFI emissary conference in North America. They are "Shinshinim" - high school graduates from Israel who defer their military service and are sent to their P2K Jewish community in the U.S. for a one-year program of volunteer activity and service in the community. There they will meet and interact with young Jews through dialogue and interactive creative programming making "their" Israel alive for their community.

The shinshinim have been in their respective P2K communities and living with host families since the beginning of September and have begun to "make their mark" working with the youth and students in the communities afternoon schools, supplemental Hebrew schools, old age homes, Jewish Community Centers, Synagogues, and Day Schools. (Jewish Agency for Israel)

From Boston to Safed with Love

During Succoth, Dr. Alex Sagan from Cambridge, MA brought school supplies and games collected by the children, parents and teachers of the Jewish Community Day School of Greater Boston, to Israel. The supplies destined for Ethiopian children were taken to the Tzahal 9 Absorption Center in Safed and distributed to children who have just arrived to Israel and need them for this school year. (Jewish Agency)

Conversation with…Adam Harmon: American 'Lone Soldier' in the IDF Writes of his Experiences by Dror Markus

American-born Adam Harmon was raised with a strong Jewish identity in New Hampshire and made aliyah to Israel at the age of 22. Once there, he enlisted in the Israeli army, serving in an elite paratrooper unit as a "chayal boded" - lone soldier - a term used by the army to describe immigrant soldiers who are serving alone in Israel without their families.

Harmon's new book, entitled, "Lonely Soldier: The Memoir of an American in the Israeli Army," describes his experience serving in the Israeli military, while the Palestinian intifada was under way.

Question: With the benefit of hindsight, what advice can you give to teenagers - such as myself - who are planning to join the Israeli army as "lone solders"?

Answer: The most important thing that will enable you to get through your service, is to do it with a sense of humor and while keeping a sense of proportion in mind. You must realize that although at a given moment - like during training n things seem really hard, in the larger scheme of things, your situation is not that bad.

Additionally, you must realize that your commanders want only the best for you. The people selected to command and train troops are actually selected based on their high levels of sociability.

Dror Markus is a senior at Hall High School in West Hartford. Following graduation, the 17-year-old honor student plans to join the Israel Defense Forces. (Jewish Ledger)

Israeli Store Opens in Arab Ramallah by Avi Shauli

The Israeli apparel chain H&O have opened their newest children store in an unlikely place: The Plaza shopping mall in Ramallah. The store is being operated by a local agent, and the owner of the mall said that they are planning to open another store for men and women in a few months.

A source among the owners of the mall APSC said that they are planning to increase future business with Israeli companies and they believe that business can be used as a bridge for peace. "The problem starts when people have no money, and then they don't have any education and they turn to violence and extremism," he said. (SomethingIsraeli.com)

Israelis and Palestinians Come Together to Discuss Infectious Disease by Steven Stanek

In a rare show of Israel-Palestinian cooperation, health experts from the two sides came together last week to discuss an issue threatening both communities: infectious disease. At a round-table discussion sponsored by the World Health Organization, Israeli and Palestinian health care officials met to develop a joint strategy for treating the diseases that can easily spread between the neighbors.

"The principal is to use health as a platform for dialogue because we think that health is something that is a common interest of both communities-infectous disease even more," said Ambrogio Manenti, head of the WHO office in the West Bank and Gaza. "Virus issues or bacteria issues are not stopped by walls or borders." (AP/Combined Jewish Philanthropies)

Israeli 'Shaq' Hits Yeshiva Hoops League by Eric Herschthal

With five minutes left in the second quarter, Iyal Solomoviz, the giant of a center who dominated the preseason of the Metropolitan Yeshiva High School Basketball League, took a seat on the bench. His team, the Moshe Aaron Yeshiva High School (MAYHS) Jaguars, was leading Metropolitan Solomon Schechter High School 22-7 in the season opener Sunday in Teaneck, N.J.

The game was headed for a blowout, and Solomoviz, the bruising 6-foot-8 Israeli star from Nahariya, already had more than half of his team's points. It was probably a good move for Ed Leibowitz, the MAYHS head coach, who in his second year on the job has taken the once-mediocre school located in Middlesex County town of South River to the No. 1 spot in the 22-team league. (New York Jewish Week)

Hopeful Israeli Baseball Players Take a Shot at the Big Leagues

Dozens of Jewish athletes flocked to the heart of Israel last week in hopes of realizing a deeply American dream: becoming a professional baseball player. Israel's fledgling pro baseball league held its first tryout for local ballplayers in a Tel Aviv suburb, putting them through a grueling battery of sprints, fielding drills and simulated games under an unseasonably warm November sun.

With the pop of leather mitts and crack of wooden bats filling the air, the scene resembled a typical ballgame in small-town America. But the tryout had a decidedly Israeli feel. Players included Orthodox seminary students, Israeli soldiers and Mideast peace activists. They freely mixed Hebrew and English baseball jargon - there apparently is no Hebrew word for "curve ball" - and some people left early to get home in time for the Jewish sabbath at sundown. (AP/International Herlad Tribune)

Israeli Students Win Best Foreign Film Award by Tamar Trebelsi-Hadad

Israel has reason to take pride in its students: Graduates of the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa were awarded first prize for the "Best High School Drama" in the prestigious annual International Student Film Festival held in Hollywood last week.

The students – Omer Feler (director and cinematographer), Ilia Parfel (editor) and Gili Braslerman (producer) represented Israeli schools in the competition. The film reached the competitions' finals from among 2,000 films sent from all over the globe. The Haifa film overtook student films sent by universities and colleges worldwide, including from the US, Australia, Canada and Germany. (Ynet News)

Making Music, Not Politics by Joseph Leichman

Idan Raichel is not your typical Israeli musician. He's simply a 29-year-old guy who records music in his parents' basement in Kfar Saba, and eons away from politics or conflict. Raichel grew up in the rarest of Israeli phenomena - an apolitical home - and, after selling a quarter of a million albums and performing worldwide, the world-pop keyboardist and vocalist is zealous only about unity through music.

The Idan Raichel Project is his brainchild, born of the combined efforts of more than 70 Israeli, Ethiopian, African, and other musicians who contributed to 2002's eponymous debut, as well as last year's follow-up, "Mima'amakim" (Out of the Depths). An assemblage of songs from both albums will be available this year, in conjunction with a world-music collection by Putumayo World Music, featuring songs by Willie Nelson, Ziggy Marley, and others. (New Jersey Jewish Standard)

Aviv Geffen Goes International by Sagie Ben Nun

Good news for Aviv Geffen's 'billion' fans: The Israeli rock star is on his way to becoming an international star, a position unattained by any Israeli rock singer so far. Geffen and Stephen Wilson (Porcupine Tree) - a collaborative effort between one of Israel's biggest pop stars and one of progressive rock's most innovative musicians - signed a contract at Warner Atlantic Saturday, one of the world's four biggest record companies. (Ynet News)