Hi ,
Our very own 'Blue and White Human Rights' opened a crowdfunding campaign in order to provide medical care to victims of the Palestinian Authority. Also in the newsletter – a new study by Josh Cohen presents the irrelevance of the Rabbinate's kashrut supervision over products manufactured in Israel. In addition, the newsletter brings you in-depth updates on our activities, including 'This is Jerusalem' – Geopolitical Tours of the Capital, and topical articles written by members of the Institute.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Israel Independence Day!
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As we reported in a previous newsletter, a recent Israeli court ruling found the Palestinian Authority responsible for the cruel torture of 52 Israeli and Palestinian Arabs, suspected of collaborating with Israel.
Now these brave people are seeking justice.
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Blue and White Human Rights is the only rights group in Israel willing to assist them and needs your help to recruit doctors to examine the victims and submit an assessment of their injuries and offer them a legal assistance.
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New Study: An Abundance of Kashrut in Israel
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The members of the 'Golden Mean' for the Regulation of Nation, Religion and State recently conducted a study aimed at examining the number of kosher products certified by the State Rabbinate that are also supervised by another kashrut organization. The issue in question is whether, regarding certification of kosher products, the rabbinate indeed provides a level of kashrut certification that meets the needs of the Israeli market.
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The study surveyed 506 kosher food products manufactured in Israel. The study reveals that 86 percent of the products have more than one kashrut certification. The significance of this surprising finding is clear: the overwhelming majority of food manufacturers are not satisfied with only the rabbinate kashrut. In other words: there is no demand for rabbinate kashrut in of itself, but rather, is required by the manufacturers only because it constitutes the legal precondition for receiving additional kashrut certification.
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The study also revealed that 26 percent of the products surveyed have more than two kashrut certifications. This means that 60 percent of the kosher products have only two kashrut certificates, leading to the conclusion that one additional private kashrut organization is sufficient to satisfy public demand.
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We believe that the findings indicate that it is worthy to reconsider the need for rabbinate kashrut certification of food products. We propose examining the possibility of allowing the rabbinate to forego its service of kashrut certification, that has been proven to be superfluous, and to instead serve as the regulator determining the prerequisites for private organizations to be able issue kashrut certificates.
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This month we conducted several tours – in Hebrew and in English – as part of the initiative 'This is Jerusalem' – Geopolitical Tours of the Capital, which we launched to mark the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem's reunification.
One was conducted for the students of the 'Melach HaAretz' army preparatory program in Ein Gedi, during which we visited a number of sites from the Mount of Olives to the Armon HaNatziv Promenade.
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A further tour was held in English for the general public and included a visit to the Abu-Tor neighborhood and a walk via a less familiar route to the City of David.
The next tour for the general public will be held in Hebrew on Friday April, 20 (one day after Independence Day) between 09:00-12:00.
Participation in the tour costs NIS 30. For more details and registration, please send an e-mail to Nicolas, our Tours Coordinator.
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'Blue and White' Human Rights
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This month we held a special activity together with the 'Reut' High School in Jerusalem and the 'Dor LeDor' organization. At the meeting, we met Yirmi Levendiger, a combat soldier during the Yom Kippur War, who told us of his experiences and the challenges he faced while defending the State of Israel as a young soldier.
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We also conducted a tour of the Rachel Crossing with a delegation of 80 students from France who then continued on to the Emergency Medical Center in Efrat where they heard the Center's Director tell of the medical aid that the Center provides to the local residents, both Jews and Arabs.
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The students, like many of the visiting delegations, were surprised to hear of our activity and of the assistance provided by the Center (and other Israeli institutions) to Palestinians, especially in light of the other reports and images they had previously been exposed to.
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We were again gratified to have been able to enrich their knowledge and correct mistaken perceptions. If you too are interested in seeing the actual reality, we invite you to contact us and coordinate a tour.
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In his editorial column, Hagai Segal, editor of the Makor Rishon newspaper, wrote about Yaakov Feitelson's demographic study and presented the dramatic implications of its findings. In addition, Nave Dromi, Director of 'Blue and White' Human Rights, presented the main findings in a Channel 20 panel. An extensive survey of the study can be found on the 'Sovereignty' website. |
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The 'Zavit Aheret' website conducted an extensive interview with Nicolas Nisim Touboul, on his study examining the preference of soldiers serving in the IDF with a comparative view. Institute Chairman Dr. Yoaz Hendel further related to the study in his column in which he called to encourage enlistment of Haredim to the IDF by awarding incentives to all serving personnel.
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On his 103FM radio show, Prof. Arye Eldad hosted Adv. Barak Kedem who represents Palestinians tortured by the Palestinian Authority after being suspected of collaborating with Israel. On the show, the two shared experiences from their cooperation with the 'Blue and White' Human Rights Movement.
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The following articles were published by members of the Institute and contain references to a wide range of issues on the public agenda:
- Institute Chairman, Dr. Yoaz Hendel, exposes Benjamin Netanyahu's hidden motive (Yediot Aharonot).
- Institute CEO, Miri Shalem, pays a farewell tribute to her grandfather who passed away aged 98 (Makor Rishon - Hebrew).
- Founding Chairman of the Institute, Yisrael Harel, returns the responsibility for combatting assimilation to American Jewry (Ha'aretz).
- Director of the 'Blue and White' Human Rights Program, Nave Dromi, claims that Tamar Zandberg's election as the new leader of Meretz, reflects the continued decline of the Left (Ha'aretz).
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