Part of The Yom Haatzmaut Project
1. Organizations to Help Victims of Terror
2. Operation Solomon
3. Education
4. Worst Human Rights Violater (according to UNHRC)
Organizations to Help Victims of Terror
In response to the violence and terror thrown upon the people of Israel since it's conception, countless organizations have been founded to aid the victims and their families. Whether these organizations provide financial, technical, medical, emotional or psychological support, they show a level of resilience, strength and love among Am Yisrael that promises a bright future...no matter what is thrown (or shot?) our way! It is by continuing to transform pain into love, despair into hope and tragedy into triumph that we will ultimately turn exile into redemption.
Operation Solomon
In 36 hours, 34 non-stop flights of Israeli aircraft transported 14 500 Ethiopian Jews to Israel. On May 24, 1991, the operation set a world record for 'single-flight passenger load' when an El Al 747 carried 1 122 passengers to Israel (1 087 passengers were registered, but dozens of children hid in their mothers' robes). Two babies were born during the flight(wikipedia.com).
Bringing geulah - kibutz galiyut at its finest..!
Education
There are challenges and problems galore - student strikes, teachers strikes, insufficient funding, low teachers' wages, strikes, strikes, strikes, but at the end of the day, Israel's commitment to education can be seen through the following facts:
Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world.
Four Israeli universities are included in the European Top 100.
Worst Human Rights Violater According to the UNHRC
I would be extremely worried and ashamed if Israel was meeting the United Nation's Human Rights Council's standard of human rights. Since its inception, the Council has passed twenty resolutions - 19 of them have been anti-Israel. The 2009 UN anti-racism conference, Durban II, is being planned by a committee that boasts Libya as its Chairman and Iran, Cuba and Pakistan as its members. Richard Falk, who draws a moral equivelency between the actions of the Nazis and those of the Israelis, was just appointed special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories. Need I continue?
Considering the council's definition of Human Rights proves to be completely backward, I consider this title to be a great compliment to Israel's commitment to human rights. Despite the fact that she has been faced with difficult challenges every step of the way, Israel offers religious and political freedom, protects minority rights, champions womens' rights, and protects the holy sites of other religions in the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. Perhaps we arent exactly where we would ultimately like to be, but we're most definitely on the way...
