 Most of you already know that I just returned from my twenty-first Aliyah (trip) to Eretz Israel. On each of the previous twenty times I would deplane down the ramp to the tarmac, board a bus and then be transported to the terminal. This time I walked from my 747 into a long gangway into the most modern, futuristic, user friendly terminal in the world. Israel just opened its new terminal 3 to my utter delight just 3 days before my arrival.
Forty thousand tons of Jerusalem stone, tons of glass, steel, many moving sidewalks to move passengers. A rain forest fountain in the center of its huge rotunda, twenty five acres of gardens, parking garages, a train stop right in the terminal for those who do not wish to drive, one of the largest free trade zones, huge baggage area for more convenience, plus much, much more. Truly Israel is beautifully posed to enter the twenty first century in a most meaningful and dramatic way. You need to book your next trip now to witness all of these developments.
It was a most historic time to be in the land. Arafat died the day that I left. The day before, my friends and I were in the Knesset for a live session. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Finance Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Minister of Justice Tommy Lapid along with the other members were present. This was the day that the Knesset voted to allow Arafat to be buried in Ramallah. Plus many other issues dealing with social security (pension) benefits to matters involving traffic and the publishing of names of those accused of illegal activity were debated and voted upon by the members.
The same day we attended a live session of the Israeli Supreme Court, toured through Yad Vashem with three survivors. Ann Rosenheck, a survivor of Auschwitz and Dachau, wept as she saw the horrible scenes from the Shoah and remembered how she stood before Dr. Mengala, the Angel of Death when she was selected to live but her father, mother, sister, nephew and niece were selected to die. She was also angry when she saw pictures of our own Jewish people serving as Koppels for the Germans. Reportedly these sometimes would beat Jewish prisoners. Malka Baldar, her cousin related to me as we exited that her job in the camps was to remove the dead bodies. Gripping testimonies. And to think that there are those who say that the holocaust never happened. If you haven't been to Yad Vashem lately they have expanded it and added more beautiful landscaping. It was good to see tourists in goodly numbers there.
(Last evening Nov. 18th, we had the Fifteenth Anniversary Benefit Dinner for our Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach. Norman Braman is President of the executive board and served as Master of Ceremonies. Over one million dollars were raised. One half is for the on going educational mission of the memorial and the other half is for over 600 survivors between65-103 who live on limited incomes. I was happy to be honored to serve as one of the co-chairs for the benefit.)
Most of you know that I have been an ardent supporter of our Israel Defense Forces. In fact the South Florida Friends of the IDF was founded by my good friend Miriam Jacobi. Under her leadership the Florida-Miami House was built for the soldiers at the Ashkelon facility on the Mediterranean. Finally I was able to see it after many years and all the other houses built by the Jewish communities of Chicago, Canada, New York etc. This R & R facility for our soldiers is exceptionally beautiful being located directly on the Mediterranean. Seven hundred soldiers can come here each week from Sunday to Thursday 52 weeks a year. If you are not yet supporting our IDF troops please consider doing so.
Another highlight was a tour of the Naval Base in Haifa. Commander Yehuda Sisso was very gracious and allowed his assistant Lieutenant Commander Sharon to take us on a VIP tour of the base. We saw the command ship INS Lahav. With the technology aboard this ship a whole war can be conducted. In addition we saw the Dolphin state of the art submarine and the Bees, similar to our PT boats, which are the backbone of Israel's war on terror on the water. Again the South Florida Friends of the IDF built a beautiful facility on this Naval Base for the sailors to enjoy. It includes a Synagogue as well as library and other leisure recreational facilities. I am really proud of the work that our South Florida community is doing in looking out for our young men and women while they are on the front lines in Israel looking out for us. Baruch Ha Shem.
Two other highlights included a visit to the Jerusalem Temple Institute. Already the Institute has built 93 articles for worship in the next Temple. It is training Priests and Levites in preparation for Temple Worship. The Institute is looking for a red heifer according to Numbers 19 where Ha Shem requires the ashes of a perfect red heifer as a sacrifice with no deformity or blemish of any kind. Every hair is to be red. One qualified recently but then it was disqualified shortly thereafter when a couple hairs changed colors. According to the understanding of Rabbis Ariel and Chaim Richman, we have had nine red heifers in our history and when we receive the tenth the Messiah will be here. These ashes are needed to cleanse the Temple Mount, the Cohens, and the Levites so that they are Kosher and Kodesh in order to minister to Ha Shem in our soon to be established Messianic Temple.
Another highlight was a visit to the Aish Ha Torah facility at the Jewish Quarters in the old city overlooking the Temple Mount and Kotel (Western Wall). Baruch Ha Shem, the government gave them one of the prime properties of Jerusalem. Any chain of five star hotels would gladly pay millions for this property. Aish Ha Torah already has a Yeshiva serving hundreds of students from around the world. There will be an auditorium for lectures, a reception area for weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs etc. all overlooking the Temple Mount.
One of the most interesting visits that we made this time was a tour through the Ben Gurion University in Beersheva. Dr. Baron of our Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center had made arrangements for Professor Yehuda Granus to take us on this special tour of the University, Beersheva, and the Desert Research Institute in SDE Boker. BGU has a student body of 17,000 and a faculty of over 700. It includes numerous schools of medicine, arts sciences, humanities, agriculture, etc. The buildings are new and modern. The grounds are beautifully landscaped. A new train station is being built on campus so students can commute easily from Tel Aviv
At the Desert Research Institute, alternate forms of energy are being researched. Of course with the abundance of sunshine in the Negev, solar energy receives priority attention. Also great research is being conducted on water. Water is the key to turning the Negev into a garden from a desert. The concept that I had was to bring pipelines of water down from Turkey 24/6. However the head of the Water Research Institute Professor Eilon Adar told me that the problem with that is security. It would have to come through Lebanon or Syria and until fanatic Islam is broken, security will remain a problem. The pipeline is the least expensive costing 48 cents per cubic meter. Desalinization is the next least expensive. This will cost 52 cents per cubic meter and with this method there is not the problem with security as with the pipelines from Turkey.
So far the city of Eilat is being supplied entirely with water from desalinization. An interesting side bar of information is that 95% of that water is being flushed. Starting in February 2005 Israel will be receiving 50 million cubic meters per year from desalinization. Then in February of 2006 it will increase to 100 million cm. and 2010 it will increase to 250 million cm. per year.
In my humble opinion, desalinization will take too long to irrigate the Negev at this rate. While I was Mayor of North Miami, the County put in a modern sewer plant at Interama. This plant serves over one million customers. It pumps 125 million gallons of water per day into the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. Comparatively 250 million cubic meters per year will take forever to irrigate the Negev.
Again in my humble opinion, now that we have bases and troops in Iraq and Afghanistan we must join forces with Israel in demanding that Syria remove its troops from Lebanon immediately. Also for Iran to disarm all nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction immediately as well. Failure on either part will prompt severe action from Israel and the United States with or without United Nations approval. President Bush declared war on terrorism and states that sponsor it before a joint session of Congress after 9/11. It is time for him and Congress to live up to his words. Too much blood is being spilt by those who oppose common decency and civility in the Middle East. Once these terrorist states are disarmed, we will be able to bring dozens of water pipe lines into the Negev and into all Eretz Israel to turn the rest of our Promised Land into a garden. Water MUST become Israel's and our top priority.
John Stembridge |
