Doc's Talk: The Maccabiah Games 2013

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Maccabiah Games 2013

Nurit Greenger

Building Jewish pride through sports...from the London Olympics to the Jerusalem international Jewish athletic event.

Since 1932, every four years, on an uneven number year, one year after the Olympic Games take place, the Maccabiah Games are held in Israel under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation, affiliated with the Maccabi World Union.

In 2013, from July 17^th to July 30, approximately 9000 athletes delegations from 70 countries will partake in the 19^th Maccabiah Games. The opening ceremony will take place in Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teddy_Stadium). The closing ceremony will be held in Haifa's brand new stadium, under construction as of this writing, under the auspices of the IDF.

The name Maccabi stands for 'Mee Ca'mocha Ba'elim Adonai', meaning, Who is like G-d among the Gods. מי כמוך באלים יהוה-מכבי. The name is also after the Maccabees heroes, the Jewish rebel army that took control of Judea, which had been a client state of the Seleucid Empire. They founded the Hashmonean Dynasty, which ruled the land of Israel from 164 BCE to 63 BCE, reasserting the Jewish religion, expanding the boundaries of the Land of Israel and reducing the influence of Hellenism and Hellenistic Judaism.

In the Beverly Hills most tastefully decorated home of Laura and Sam Goldfeder, a group of sports' enthusiasts gathered to learn about the upcoming Maccabiah Games and what they can do to help so that the 2013 19^th Maccabiah Games will be even more successful than the previous 2009 one.

First to speak was Steve Soboroff, who is the Chairman of the 18^th Maccabiah Games. Mr. Soboroff has his full heart in making sure that the Maccabiah Games go from strength to strength. He not only sees the present efforts important but he is already speaking about building the future generation of the Maccabiah Games leadership.

The International Maccabi Organization was established in 1895. Today, there are 50 Maccabi Clubs worldwide and approximately 450,000 members.

In 1984, the Olympic Games, in their then model were failing. Peter Ueberroth who served as the sixth Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1984 to 1989 changed the games' model that took place in Los Angeles California in 1984. Mr. Ueberroth made the game profitable. After the successful games in Los Angeles, the USA Olympic Committee had in its kitty $300 Million dollars in profit, that after all expenses paid. And that is the goal of the Maccabiah Games; to make them not only the largest gathering of Jewish people in Israel but also make them profitable. Today they are not.

The next to speak after Mr. Soboroff was Eyal Tiberger, the Executive Director of Maccabi World Union from Israel. Mr. Tiberger and his wife Eti are on a USA tour to amass support for the upcoming games. And Support they should have galore. How can we not give a hand to an organization its main goal is to assist 9000 Jewish athletes, able and disable, to arrive to Israel some for the first time, and smell, feel, hear and see the only Jewish Homeland?!

The games will be covered by Jewish Life Television-JLTV, headed by President/CEO Phil Blazer, assisted by Eran Shargal, Director of Development (http://www.jltv.tv/), both were present at the meeting. The 2013 Maccabiah Games will be available for viewing in 50Million household in America. Of course advertisers for a spot-ad, sponsors and naming rights are most welcome.

To assist in travel and accommodation, Gil Tours Travel, Inc., in Philadelphia, Igal Hami, President/CEO, who attended the meeting, has taken upon itself the make sure that everyone who wants to be in Israel for the games will be. (http://www.giltravel.com/ - 800-223-3855).

Among the guests were medal holders of yesteryears in water polo and wrestling. Among them was Eli Marmur, who, participated in the 1973 games as a member of the soccer team USA and was indicted to the Maccabi Hall of Fame as well as the Maccabi Southern California Hall of Fame.

The Maccabiah Games, the third largest international sport event in the world, offer 46 different sports in which one can compete in the group categories: 14 yr old-to-18 yr old, Junior Games; 18 yr old-to-35 yr old Open Maccabiah, and from 35 yr old Master Games.

To bring awareness and encourage participation, representatives of the Maccabi World Union travel the world to meet and select athletes. Countries that cannot afford sending a worthy delegation or single athletes – some are 'lost countries' – will get financial help to achieve the desired goal. It costs $5,000 to sponsor an athlete.

As an indication of the true meaning of the Maccabiah Games, one can dare call the Jewish Olympics, this story is appropriate: after the terror attack on the Chabad center in Mumbai, India, in 2008, the Maccabi World Union took upon itself to bring athletes from India to the 2009 games and thus make a statement of 'we will arise stronger'; a Cricket team was assembled and was brought to Israel to compete. They ended up winning the silver medal in their sport.

Maccabiah Games are a sport competition event but it is also a vehicle to bring the Jewish world to Israel which gives birth to the best ambassadors for Israel and encourages Aliyah, which is immigration to Israel. It is the Taglit-Birthrights Israel – the Zionism of the 21^st Century of the sports. The Maccabiah Games is the trigger to Jewish life, before and after.

For more information contact your local Maccabi Club through: http://maccabi.org/ and if in the USA: http://www.maccabiusa.com/

Come and join the 9000 athletes of the Maccabiah Games 2013 and sing the Jewish national anthem Hatikvah in one of the 70 Hebrew accents.

Are you already excited about the upcoming Maccabiah Games? I for one am! You can either lend a helping hand and/or participate. Your choice.

Athletes, athletes' families and supporters, sports' fans and simply supporters of Israel, see you in Israel in July 2013.

1 comment:

Nathan Anderson said...: Hey Doc, I enjoyed reading your article and am really hoping you can help me out! I am part of a group of 8 students from the University of Western States chiropractic school where we are enrolled in the Doctor of chiropractic program as well as a masters program in sports and exercise science. We, along with our instructor Dr. Sara Mathov, have been invited by the head of the medical staff for the Maccabiah games, Dr. Gakner, to be a part of the medical staff at the games. We will be treating athletes for at least 4 days of the games and looking forward to helping these athletes perform at their highest levels. We are very excited to be part of this once in a lifetime opportunity and are currently actively fundraising to help pay for our trip. As students our budgets are very limited, but we are all willing to pay for our trip, but are trying to get as much help as we can. Whether it be just leading us in the right direction or helping us get in contact with those that can help, any help will be greatly appreciated. You can contact me at nanderson@students.uws.edu for more information, thank you for your time!; 12:58 AM

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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