In 2025, Rosh Hosanna
begins at sundown on September 22, and ends at nightfall on September 25.
Rosh Hosanna is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah It is the first of the High Holy Days (‘days of Awe'), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins the Ten Days of Repentance culminating in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. It is followed by the Fall festival of Sukkot which ends with Shemini Atzeret in Israel and Simchat Torah everywhere else.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration that
begins on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year. The holiday itself
follows a lunar calendar and begins the evening prior to the first day. In
contrast to the ecclesiastical lunar new year on the first day of the
first month Nisan,
the spring Passover month which marks Israel's exodus
from Egypt, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year,
according to the teachings of Judaism, and is the traditional anniversary of
the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman
according to the Hebrew Bible, as well as the initiation of
humanity's role in God's world.
The country that we now know as Israel was once known as
Palestine, a name that that goes back centuries.
Palestine, officially the State
of Palestine, is a country in West
Asia. Recognized by 150 of the UN's 193
member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West
Bank, including East
Jerusalem, and the Gaza
Strip, collectively known as the Palestinian territories.
The territories share the vast majority of their borders with Israel, with
the West Bank bordering Jordan to the east and the Gaza Strip
bordering Egypt to
the southwest. It has a total land area of 6,020 square kilometres
(2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem,
while Ramallah serves
as its de
facto administrative center. Gaza was
its largest city prior to evacuations in 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine
The war saw Britain occupying Palestine from the Ottoman
Empire, where it set up Mandatory Palestine under the auspices of
the League of Nations. Increased Jewish immigration led to intercommunal conflict between
Jews and Palestinian Arabs, which escalated into a civil war in
1947 after a proposed partitioning
by the United Nations was rejected by the Palestinians and
other Arab nations.
(editors note: a two-state solution was proposed in 1947 –
but was rejected by the Palestinians and other Arab nations. When Israel was
created in 1948, Arab countries declared war)
The 1948 Palestine war saw the forcible displacement of
a majority of the Arab population, and consequently the establishment of
Israel; these events are referred to by Palestinians as the Nakba ('catastrophe').
In the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel occupied the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip,
which had been held by Jordan and Egypt respectively.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared independence in
1988. In 1993, the PLO signed the Oslo
Accords with Israel, creating limited PLO governance in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip through the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel
withdrew from Gaza in its unilateral disengagement in 2005, but
the territory is still considered to be under military occupation and has been blockaded by Israel. In 2007, internal divisions between political
factions led to a takeover of Gaza by Hamas. Since
then, the West Bank has been governed in part by the Fatah-led PA,
while the Gaza Strip has remained under the control of Hamas.
Let’s fast forward to today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/21/world/europe/starmer-uk-recognize-palestinian-state.html
Britain, Canada and Australia confirmed this morning Sunday that they
now formally recognize Palestinian statehood, piling pressure on Israel to ease the
humanitarian crisis in Gaza and putting three major U.S. allies at odds with
the Trump administration. As of now, 147 members of the 193-member United Nations
recognize the state of Palestine. The United States and Israel are not in that
group.
The
seemingly coordinated announcements came on the eve of the annual gathering of
the United Nations General Assembly in New York, at which France and Portugal are
also expected to vote for recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The concerted action will deepen the diplomatic isolation of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But so far, it has done little to curb his military campaign against Hamas, which has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and left much of the enclave in ruins
Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, waited to act until after President Trump’s state visit last week to Britain, during which Mr. Trump said he disagreed with the move, preferring to focus on securing the release of the hostages held by Hamas militants.
“I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that
score,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference with Mr. Starmer on Thursday,
although he added, “One of our few disagreements, actually.”
When Mr. Starmer announced
Britain’s plans in late July, he said a final decision would
hinge on multiple conditions. Israel, he said, must address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, sign up
to a cease-fire agreement with Hamas to secure the release of hostages, and
pursue long-term peace with the Palestinians, based on a two-state solution.
Since then, Israel has
attacked Hamas leaders in Qatar, the
Persian Gulf state that has been the site of cease-fire negotiations, making
any agreement more elusive than ever. Far from scaling back, Israeli troops
have expanded their combat operations, advancing on Gaza’s main urban center,
Gaza City.
For
Mr. Starmer, who worked as
a human-rights lawyer before entering politics, the decision has
nevertheless been an anguished balancing act. He has tried to avoid daylight
between Britain and the United States on issues like trade and the war in
Ukraine. But Gaza poses moral and political challenges.
Mr. Starmer noted that
members of his extended family lived in Israel (his British-born wife,
Victoria, is Jewish). “I understand, firsthand, the psychological impact” of
the Hamas attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers in October 2023, he
said. “So, I know exactly where I stand in relation to Hamas.”
Domestic
politics played a part in Mr. Starmer’s decision as well. Pressure to do more
has swelled within the ranks of his Labour Party, as well as in the broader
public, as harrowing images and videos of suffering Palestinians have been
broadcast online and in the news media.
“The U.K. government will hope that this buys them an
extended period of quiet without having to take further moves,” said Daniel
Levy, who runs the U.S./Middle East Project, a research institute in London and
New York. “But if Israel’s actions continue to be as egregious, aggressive and
criminal as is currently the case, then that is highly unlikely to play out.”
He and other critics fault
the British government for not having done more already. Britain has stopped
short of accusing Israel of genocide, despite calls to do so by Labour members
of Parliament and legal experts. And
while it has suspended some weapons sales to Israel, it continues to supply
parts for F-35 fighter jets, used by the Israeli Air Force in strikes on Gaza.
The
government issued sanctions on
two far-right ministers in Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet: Itamar Ben-Gvir, the
security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister. Downing Street also signaled it
could arrest Mr. Netanyahu if he entered Britain, pledging to fulfill its
“legal obligations as set out by domestic law and indeed international law.”
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for
him last November
Israel has long been the beneficiary of aid from the
United States. In 2023, the only country that got more aid was Ukraine, which
got $17 billion. Israel was #2, at $3 billion.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/countries-that-receive-the-most-foreign-aid-from-the-u-s
There are many reasons why foreign aid to other countries benefits
the United States, but a full explanation of those advantages would require a
few hundred pages.
For now, the move by Canada, Britain, and Australia should
lead to more peace, and less genocide, to a region that has long been torn by
turmoil.
On that note – HAPPY NEW YEAR!
No comments:
Post a Comment