Rachel Frenkel at the United Nations Session 24.06.2014
First Publish: 6/24/2014, 12:25 PM
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182102#.U6r0lLGCpdc
"It is wrong to take children and use them as an instrument in any struggle. You are responsible for human rights."
Racheli Frenkel, the mother of kidnapped teen Naftali Frenkel (16), addressed the United Nations
Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Tuesday, urging them to rally the
international community to place pressure on Hamas to release the
kidnapped teens. With her were Bat Galim Sha'ar and Iris Yifrah.
"I
have come here today as a mother," Frenkel said, tearfully. "Twelve
days ago, my son Naftali, and two other teenage students, Eyal Yifrah
and Gilad Shaer — whose mothers are sitting behind me — were kidnapped
on their way home from school. Since then, we’ve heard nothing — no
news, no sign of life.
Frenkel
spoke a little about each of the boys, humanizing them in the face of
the delegitimization and smear campaign presented by the UNHRC for the
90 minutes prior.
"With
your permission, I’d like to tell you about the boys. My son Naftali is
16. He loves to play guitar and basketball. He’s a good student and a
good boy - a combination of serious and fun. Eyal loves to play sports
and cook. Gilad is an amateur pastry chef, and loves movies.
"My
son texted me - said he’s on his way home - and then he’s gone. Every
mother’s nightmare is waiting and waiting endlessly for her child to
come home."
"We wish to express our profound gratitude for the waves of prayers, support and positive energy, pouring in from around the world."
"Being
in this assembly, I wish to thank the UN Secretary-General for
condemning the abduction of our boys, expressing his solidarity with the families, and calling for their immediate release."
"And
I thank the International Red Cross for stating clearly that
international humanitarian law prohibits the taking of hostages, and for
demanding the immediate and unconditional release of our boys."
"At
the same time, I believe much more can be done - and should be done -
by so many. That is why we three mothers have come here today - before
the United Nations, and before the world - to ask everyone, to do
whatever they can, to bring back our boys."
Frenkel then bravely took to task the justification of the abduction as a vehicle of Palestinian Arab 'frustration.'
"Mr. President, it is wrong to take children, innocent boys or girls, and use them as instruments of any struggle. It is cruel."
"This
council is charged with protecting human rights. I wish to ask: Doesn’t
every child have the right to come home safely from school?"
Naftali
Frenkel (16), Gilad Sha'ar (16), and Eyal Yifrah (19) were kidnapped by
Hamas terrorists thirteen days ago from a bus stop and hitchhiking post
in Gush Etzion, while attempting to make their way home from school.
The
international community has had a decidedly blasé attitude toward the
kidnapping, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon saying that he is "unsure" the abduction really happened and UN officials urging Israel to show "restraint" in cracking down on the terrorists responsible.
Some progress appears to have been made, however. On Monday, the United Nations Security Council failed to agree
on a statement that would have condemned Israel over the deaths of
Palestinian Arabs as part of its security operation in Judea and
Samaria, dubbed 'Operation Brothers' Keeper.'
Despite this, the UNHRC meeting
held just before Frenkel spoke featured an ongoing barrage against
Israel, with several countries making wild claims against the Jewish
state, including that it had occupied Syria and Lebanon and that it is
participating in ethnic cleansing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdMFkp23UQ0
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Mother of Kidnapped Teen Makes Emotional Address to Knesset
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/182161#.U6rzkbGCpdc
Bat-Galim
Sha'ar addressed the Israeli Knesset Wednesday (June 25, 2014), in an
emotional speech to urge the Israeli government to keep all resources
trained on finding her son Gilad (16), Naftali Frenkel (16), and Eyal
Yifrah (19) despite a recent decision to scale back the wide-ranging IDF operation. (See full text at the end of this article.)
Sha'ar
began by expressing gratitude for the outpouring of love and support
the mothers have received from the larger Israeli and Jewish community
in general, as well as the many visits by Knesset MKs.
She cited the midrashic text
about the Biblical Rachel, whom God listened to, according to
tradition, when making the decision to eventually return the exiled
Jewish people to their land. Rachel received this request while she was
crying over her lost and exiled children, "sons she does not have."
Sha'ar
then addressed the Israeli government, with Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu and the Security Cabinet in particular.
On
Tuesday, the Security Cabinet decided to scale down the IDF operations
against Hamas and focus on locating the teens, concentrating on arrests
that would aid in gathering intel about the three.
The decision, which was initially denied by
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, allegedly was to fend off international
criticism over the IDF crackdown on Hamas over the abduction, as well
as concerns about the upcoming Muslim holiday of Ramadan.
The announcement surfaced hours after the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) publicly assailed Israel for over 90 minutes during a session in Geneva, just before Rachel Frenkel - Naftali's mother - was about to speak.
Dear women,
I come to you today as a woman to woman, mother to mother, from the bottom of my heart.
Day after day and with a breaking heart, I want to see Gilad alive and at home.
I may be heartbroken, but I am not broken.
I
want to share with you that in these difficult times, we derive our
strength mainly from the support and love directed to us all the time -
across the Israeli spectrum in Israel. We say prayers and we sing songs.
One
of the most touching songs, one of the most sensitive and painful
songs, is the song of [Biblical] matriarch Rachel to her children (from
Yirmiyahu/Jeremiah - ed.):
"A loud voice is heard / wailing bitterly / Rachel, weeping for her children / inconsolable for the children she does not have."
[
Editor's note - in Hebrew: "Kol b'rama nishma/N'hi be'hi tamrurim/Rahel
m'bakeh al baneiha/mei'ana lhi'baheh al baneiha ki ainena." ]
Our
sages tell us that many great people in Israel prayed [in Heaven - from
the midrash - ed.] for the safety of the people of Israel, God only
listened to Rachel's prayers. When she was young, she gave her sister
Leah her signs of identification to Jacob, so as not to embarrass her
[and thus giving up her marriage out of consideration of others - ed.].
Rachel did something extraordinary; she was caught in a bad situation,
but she transcended her circumstances for something larger. For this,
God promised her - and only her - that the Jewish people would return to its borders.
It turns out that life throws at us too situations that we need to transcend by ourselves.
We
need to look beyond our own pain, to let go of that which burns within
us; we are required to see before our eyes the people of Israel, the
IDF, the security forces, the government of Israel standing up against
its enemies, and the hidden mission God has brought before us.
I
have full confidence in the system, but only if I know that Israel is
doing everything to find my son, as well as Naftali and Eyal.
I got up this morning, opened the news, and was in shock. Prime Minister Netanyahu authorized a deal with terrorist prisoners.
Could it be? Really?
Eyal,
Gilad, and Naftali are being held by Hamas terrorist kidnappers - and
the Prime Minister seeks to appease them, to please them?
If
the Prime Minister knows the identity of the kidnappers, we must act in
any way possible to pressure them to bring the boys home alive: to stop
funds, to worsen conditions for prisoners, to put pressure on the
Palestinian Authority (PA). Hamas will then know that it is not worth it
to kidnap Jewish children.
Ramadan
is coming. How is it possible that our people live in uncertainty and
anxiety over the boys while the Palestinian people celebrate Ramadan?
That Israel is forced to live with a lack of security, while the
Palestinian people get to live their daily lives?
Mr.
Prime Minister, internal security staff, you have become confused.
Making an agreement with the hunger strikers is a serious mistake.
We do everything to keep the unity of the people and understand the great responsibility at this time.
We feel beyond our own pain, that there is much at stake, not all of which we understand yet.
People of Israel, unite in pain and in prayer for the return of our abducted sons.
But
we will not accept the irresponsible actions of decision makers.
Reaching an agreement with the hunger strikers at this time is
irresponsible to the people of Israel.
Precious
Knesset members, you hold the reigns of power. You are also here - all
together -transcending political divisions to share an important cause.
As we work together, you give us, the mothers, more strength.
[...]
MKs,
you have one important task during these difficult times - to rise
above political differences and work towards bringing the boys - Gilad,
Eyal, and Naftali - home, safe.
Prime
Minister and Cabinet members, we will test what you have done through
the results. You say that you have information that they are alive; it
is your duty to bring them back alive.
I
hope that Rachel's merits, and the merits of unity, will grace us -
that our prayers to the Master of the World are heard for the sons we
don't have with us - and that our sons will be returned home.
******************************
Jeremiah 31,
13 Then shall the virgin rejoice
in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their
mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from
their sorrow. 14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with
fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, said the
LORD. 15 Thus said the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation,
and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
16 Thus
said the LORD; Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from
tears: for your work shall be rewarded, said the LORD; and they shall
come again from the land of the enemy. 17 And there is hope in your end, said the LORD, that your children shall come again to their own border. …
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"Please HaShem Bring Back Our Boys"
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/june2014/friedrichw622-1.htm
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Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
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Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.
24.06.2014 = St. John’s Day … six month to Christmas…
A
happy St. John's Day to all our readers, wishing you and yours joyful
celebrations of Midsummer (or Midwinter, for those in the Southern
Hemisphere)! A Happy "Second Christmas" to all!
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2014/06/happy-st-johns-day.html