Telling Israel’s positive story with tomato plants

 

Other items in today’s column include:
*Pro-Palestinians, pro-Israelis hold opposing demonstrations
*ADL formally launches its “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign against Facebook
*RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust now a virtual exhibition
*Recommended reading

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO — Whenever I’ve been to Israel, whether on a mission or an independent tour, I’ve been impressed by that country’s fresh vegetables, especially its tomatoes.  Maybe it is because the country is so small that tomatoes can be shipped from farm to market to the salad plate in a relatively short time, compared to how long the same process takes in the United States.  Israeli tomatoes taste juicier, fresher, and sweeter than American tomatoes.  They are among the special taste treats of Israeli cuisine.

For a decade or so, the House of Israel has participated in Earth Day celebrations at Balboa Park.  The House of Israel was supposed to do so again last April, but by that time the coronavirus pandemic had invaded San Diego and the outdoor event had to be cancelled, to the mutual loss of both Israel and San Diegao tomato-lovers.  In its Earth Day exhibit area on the Prado, with the cooperation of other pro-Israel organizations such as StandWithUS and TEAM (Training and Education about the Middle East), the House of Israel had put up an exhibit about the wonderful work that Israel does in agriculture, water conservation, technology, and other areas of innovation.  At the end of the exhibit, for which many people would line up, the reward to take home was a tomato plant grown from seed in Israel.

The idea man and tomato plant provider for the annual exhibition was Jim Sherman, owner of the Sherman Wholesale Nursery in San Marcos, who obtained the seed from the Hazera Seeds in Coconut Creek, Florida, one of those cities with a concentration of retirees who love to grow vegetables in their back yards.  Sherman, a member of Beth Jacob Congregation in San Diego and the Chabad Alef Center in San Marcos,  has teamed with Ruth Mastron, president of the House of Israel and a member of Chabad of Oceanside, to distribute Israeli tomato plants along with information about the Jewish state. Mastron, incidentally, visits Israel frequently to volunteer as a warehouse worker on Israeli military bases in order to let reservists participate in more important tasks, under the organization known as Sar-El in Israel, and Volunteers for Israel in North America.

People who would like to support the program to educate San Diego County residents about Israel may obtain from Sherman tomato plants along with  literature about Israel by contacting him via this email. Sherman expects the plants to be ready for pickup in the Del Cerro neighborhood  between July 10 and July 15, depending on the weather. Once Israel supporters pick up the plants, Sherman and Mastron would like them to set them on their front lawns with a sign saying “Free Israeli Tomato Plants.”  The plants should be accompanied by a brochure that can be downloaded on participants’ computers, so that the gifts of education and tomatoes can go together.

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Pro-Palestinians, pro-Israelis hold opposing demonstrations

In contrast to the outreach program of the House of Israel, sometimes anti-Israel propaganda needs to be countered in real time.  Various pro-Palestinian groups, anticipating that Israel would move to annex cities in Judea and Samaria on Wednesday, July 1, decided to call for a “Day of Rage” in cities throughout North America.  Among the cities targeted was San Diego, where such groups as Al Awda, Students for Justice in Palestine, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Black Lives Matter-San Diego, Jewish Voice for Peace, and others, arranged to meet in the parking lot of the Reuben H. Fleet Space & Science Center in Balboa Park for a rally and caravan.

In a circular announcing the protest, these groups said: “The Palestinian movement in San Diego joins calls by Palestinians under Israeli occupation and across the diaspora for a day of rage, as we continue to build with, and alongside, Black movements and uprisings to eliminate racism and oppression in the U.S. We know that combating Zionism is also part of the global fight against racism, colonialism, and imperialism.”

StandWithUs and other pro-Israel Jewish groups say that Zionism has nothing to do with racism, colonialism, or imperialism, but is the movement of Israel’s indigenous people — the Jews, whose history in the country is well documented by the Bible — to exercise the right to self-determination in their homeland.

To counter the Palestinian protests in San Diego and other cities, StandWithUs in cooperation with the Iranian American Jewish Federation outfitted trucks to carry on their sides video messages showing the impacts of terrorist attacks on Israel.  Additionally, the trucks displayed such messages as “Israelis Want Peace;” “Palestinian Leaders: Stop the Hate, Negotiate Peace;” “Palestinian Leaders: Stop Teaching Hate & Rewarding Violence;” “Palestinian Leaders Said No to Peace in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2007 and 2020?” and “Israel Needs a Partner for Peace.”

The organizers of the Palestinian rallies and caravans “are dedicated to ending Israel’s existence and promoting antisemitic propaganda,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs. “While there is nothing wrong with having an open and vigorous debate about Israeli policies, that is not what these events are really about. We are answering hate with a message highlighting the urgent need for Palestinian leaders to choose peace negotiations over hatred and violence.”

The two groups did not interact.  The pro-Palestinian caravan, with approximately 50 cars and a police escort,  followed a route that took it past various Jewish sites including the Hillels at UCSD and San Diego State University, the Jewish Federation Building  in Kearny Mesa(where StandWithUs also has offices); the offices of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in University Town Center, and the Edward Schwartz Federal Office Building downtown.   Because of the coronavirus pandemic, many of the workers at the Jewish organizations were working from home, meaning the pro-Palestinian caravan probably was seen by relatively few staff members, according Yossef Condiotti, regional director of StandWithUs.

The StandWithUs truck, with billboards on both sides and its back, followed a route from Balboa Park to La Jolla via downtown, Pacifi Highway, Mission Bay Drive, and Torrey Pines.  Condiotti said he “thought our message went over very well.  Our truck was driving around, giving off good vibes and messages.”

Besides in San Diego, pro-Palestinians held rallies on Wednesday in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Portland, and Salt Lake City in the U.S., and Madrid in Spain.  Others were scheduled July 2 for Miami and July 4 for Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario.

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ADL formally launches its “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign against Facebook

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Sleeping Giants formally launched on Wednesday their “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign in whicht hey have asked for a month-long “pause” in advertising on Facebook as a way to protest that platform permitting anti-Semitic posts, including Holocaust denial.

The ADL said 530 advertisers had agreed to withdraw its advertising from Facebook, including such major corporations as Coca Cola, Unilever, Adidas, Starbucks, LEGO, White Castle, and Dunkin Donuts.

“As a result of Facebook’s refusal to categorize Holocaust denial as a form of antisemitic hate speech, this rhetoric appears across the platform, including in both public and private groups specifically devoted to the topic,” the ADL  said. “And while some of these groups state that they are forums for “objective discussion” of the Holocaust and that blatant denial is not permitted, an ADL review clearly found explicit denial, as well as the hate-filled and conspiratorial antisemitism common to this philosophy.”

The ADL posted on its website an article entitled “Facebook Has a Holocaust Denial Problem” which may be accessed by clicking here. 

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RUTH: Remember Us The Holocaust now a virtual exhibition

Like many museums and public places, the Chula Vista Public Library had to curtail operations with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, cutting short the exhibition called “RUTH–Remember Us The Holocaust,” looking at the Shoah through the eyes of Survivors who eventually resettled in San Diego’s South Bay area.

Sandra Scheller, organizer of the exhibit which is named for her late mother Ruth Sax, was not to be deterred.  If the crowds couldn’t come to the Chula Vista Public Library, then she would take its exhibit to the crowds via a virtual tour, which you can see in the video above.

In addition, Scheller continued to work with Comic-Con, where at recent conventions, she had put on a panels about art and the Holocaust, to create virtual programming that will be shown over the Comic-Con website.  Here are the details, as set out in a news release:

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Recommended reading
*Shoshana Bryen, senior director of the Jewish Policy Center in Washington, suggests in a Newsweek article, that the United States should put economic pressure on Mainland China in an effort to roll back its increasingly draconian policies in Hong Kong.  She suggests that a fertile place to begin is in the semi-conductor indutry.

*The Hill reports that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and allies in the House of Representatives want Congress to condition U.S. military aid to Israel if that country goes forward with plans to annex portions of Judea and Samaria.

*Times of San Diego‘s Ken Stone reports that renters and labor leaders have targeted the La Jolla  home of billionaire Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife Joan for a drive-by protest on Wednesday against economic disparity.

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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com