 American Justice Department, where art thou?
The American Justice Department is not behaving any better than the American State Department when it comes to helping victims of overseas terror. The State Department has seemingly wiped its hands of Israeli victims of terror. They have a highly regarded Rewards for Justice program that is supposed to offer rewards of up to 25 million dollars for finding the terrorist killers of American overseas but the only act of terror in Israel that is mentioned on their cite is the Hebrew University bombing. Details of my son's murder (as well as other terrorism against American citizens in Israel) used to be on their site but have been taken down. And it's not because his killers were found. Koby, an American citizen, was 13 when he was stoned to death by Palestinian terrorists near our home in Tekoa. I wonder why the State Department believes that his murder, as well as the murder of the other (at least) 53 American citizens in Israel isn't worth mentioning. In many of those, the killers are still at large. Event though the Justice Department established an office specifically to deal with cases of overseas terror, that office has also been ineffective. The office was established because the State Department was seemingly not interested in helping American citizens, specifically in Israel, who were the victims of Palestinian terror. So the Zionist Organization of America spearheaded a bill that was named after my son Koby to open an office in the Justice Department that would be responsible for communication with the families of overseas terror victims. The office was supposed to also assist in the apprehension of killers still at large. The office was opened in 2005 as part of an FY 2005 Omnibus Bill. In the Congressional Record of June 1 2004, you can read about Senator Patrick Leahy's (a democrat from Vermont) hopes for the bill:
Not only are there no rewards being offered, there is currently no notification either. Keeping Koby's spirit alive
"To keep Koby's spirit alive and his power working in the world." That's what I said this week when a filmmaker from India asked me why we started The Koby Mandell Foundation. "Koby would have done a lot of good things in the world," I continued. "He would have had friends that he made laugh, a family he loved, a profession through which he would have made a contribution to society. The terrorists who murdered him robbed the world of his positive power. Camp Koby and our other programs make kids laugh and create a community of friendship." Camp Koby campers, all of whom have lost an immediate family member to terror, share their feelings of loss with each other and with their counselors. This creates deep bonds of love and friendship. I believe Camp Koby replaces a little of what was lost to the world when Koby was murdered. Bringing some joy into the world is the most we can do for him, for our family and for the world. Koby loved baseball. When he won the contest for best player in his age group in the Efrat Little league he was so excited that he jumped up and ran circles around the field. It was like his body couldn't contain his joy. That year I was the coach of the league's all-star team and Koby and I his teammates traveled around the country playing other teams. Koby was close to his teammates and a strong competitor. I don't remember wining or losing. I remember being spending time with Koby. After Koby was murdered, stoned to death by terrorists in a cave near our home in Tekoa, Cal Ripkin found out that he had been Koby's hero. Later he agreed to be honored at the first Koby Mandell Foundation Gala. Since then we've maintained the sports theme at our major fund raising event each year, honoring then-Mets coach Willie Randolph and NY Giants running back Tiki Barber. One of my personal goals is to make foundation activities things that Koby would have liked to do. That's why our major program is a camp for kids. In the same vein, one of the things Koby enjoyed the most was attending a baseball game at the brand new Orioles stadium in Baltimore. This year we're staying with our sports theme for our event in the US but we're adding a new twist, our "honoree" is the new Yankee stadium. Human Rights or Human Life
Two summers ago, Camp Koby, the camp for children bereaved by Palestinian terror named after my 13-year-old son Koby Mandell, hosted then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni and the UN Special Rapporteur On The Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967. The Special Reporteur had just returned from Sederot, where he had been introduced to the trauma of living under the reign of rocket terror perpetrated at that time and until Operation Cast Lead by the Hamas "government" in the Gaza Strip. The Foreign Ministry thought it would be appropriate to use Camp Koby as a backdrop for the meeting. In return, Livni and the UN representative addressed Camp Koby teens. At dinner I was surprised to see Tzipi reading from a script when addressing the Reporteur. I was less surprised to hear the Special Reporteur, who worked for the notoriously anti-Israel "UN Commission on Human Rights" talk about the alleged violation of human rights perpetrated by the Israelis. "But sir," I said, "The restrictions on the Palestinian population are a result of actions by the Palestinian terrorists who are trying to murder innocent Israelis like my 13-year-old son Koby. Sometimes it comes down to a choice between human rights and human life." Tzipi looked at me, a bit surprised. "Yes," she said "human rights or human life, that is the question." She seemed to like the phrase, as did I, and repeated it several times. But the Special Reporteur was unmoved, and Tzipi continued to her next point. I was reminded of this encounter when reading about an upcoming Rabbis for Human Rights conference that will, according to The Jerusalem Post, "scrutinize the moral, legal and religious dimensions of Operation Cast Lead." The Army quite rightly has decided not to participate in what will no doubt be an Israel Defense Force bashing festival of leftist de-legitimization by Breaking the Silence, BÂ’Tzelem and others. The pretense of peace programs
Yoga for peace Is there any word more degraded than the word peace? Peace seems to be leaking all of its meaning, a catch word for getting money from the European Union (it seems that any co-existence group is ensured funding). The peacemakers seem to think if you bring Israelis and Palestinians together in the same room, then there will be peace. And the world apparently buys this idea. Oprah is going to run an article on a group of Israel and Palestinian women in a diet club. I am reminded of Peter, a man I met in East Hampton, New York who harangued me when he learned I was from Israel. "You people have to be in dialogue with the Palestinians. It's your fault that you don't have peace." When I asked him about himself, he admitted that he was living with a friend because his wife had kicked him out of the house. I am the reason there is no world peace
I am the problem. I am the one. The head of the free world referred to
me, personally, my family, as the reason for the unrest in the world .
With a broom in my hand, trying gamely to clean up the popcorn from my
son's movie party, I am the reason that there is no world peace. Obama
handed me the world's destiny. He told me - 'if you stop building,
stop growing, all will be right in the Middle East. Don't even think of
Iran or Darfur or the honor killing of the women in your region. Your
home renovation is the cause of war.' Renewable energy and the war on terror
Years ago a friend of mine in Israel bought a gas guzzling 9 passenger GMC van. On one of his first visits to a gas station he pulled in next to a guy who was filling up an identical vehicle. Leaning out the window my friend asked his compatriot "How many kilometers do you get to the liter?" The guy looked over "If you start asking that question," he said, "you'll never drive anywhere." New York Times star columnist Thomas Friedman would have been appalled. Last week he climbed back onto his green revolution horse and advised US President Barak Obama to impose a $1 a gallon "freedom tax" on American drivers. As a rationale he invoked comedian Bill Maher who quipped that the imposition of the tax would "make the bad guys fight all of us." What he means is that in the same way that the Arabs can use the "oil weapon" against Western democracies, the US and others can declare an "oil war" on the Arab Sheikdoms and simply buy less gas. That would throw their economies into a tailspin forcing them to stop funding terror and the expansion of Islamist educational institutions. The radical Islamist revolution would literally run out of gas. The world, and Israel would be a better and safer place. Jimmy Carter - The Prince of Peace?
I met former US president Jimmy Carter on June 14th and left the meeting profoundly unsettled. The Hundred Years War
For the first time in years, probably since Israel invited Yasser Arafat and his minions back into the West Bank in a march of folly that resulted in the death of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians including my 13-year-old son Koby Mandell, the sanctity of the "two states for two peoples" concept is being challenged. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu [Bibi] so far has refused to utter the phrase and his Likud backers are begging him to resist the temptation. Conjecture about his Bar Ilan University policy speech touted as a response to Obama's Cairo address centers almost completely on whether he will utter the two state formula. Not that anybody really thinks the idea is a good one. Dear Barack, do not reward terror with gifts
Dear President Obama, This week the entire country of Israel performed a security exercise. At 11:00am a siren sounded and all of us, every man, woman and child had to take shelter. At a home for seniors who are Alzheimer's patients, it took much longer than the allotted 3 minutes for the staff to help find these patients protection. (They were pushed in their wheelchairs to sit next to an interior wall.) This whole country is a target for attack. All of us are imperiled. More Sundays, less stress
I have lived most of my adult life in Israel and there are really only two things I miss about the American Diaspora: One is Tropicana orange juice - can someone please tell me why we can't get a good, sweet half gallon of the stuff at a reasonable price? After all they grow the oranges right here - and the other is Sunday. I was reminded of this last night when, while leafing through an old copy (May 13th) of The Jerusalem Post, I ran across an article entitled Israel needs time off suggesting that the advent of Sunday as a day off would reduce the stress in Israeli society. |
 |
 
Combined feed for all JPost.com blogs
Top Rated Posts
Tags:Blogroll |
Comments (3)