The Iranians told the Israelis: ‘You know we are cousins'

Today’s ‘Positive and Optimistic Sunday’. Indeed today’s the fifth consecutive ‘Positive and Optimistic Sunday’ post about Israel. Readers of Farmdoc’s Blog [1] and other citizens of the world, know of the deep-seated enmity between Iran and Israel. I blame it on the Iranian ruling regime’s anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial; and the incitement that results from . But whatever the enmity’s cause, no-one doubt it exists. Or does it? In the wake of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on 11 March, Israel and Iran both sent humanitarian delegations: Israel’s comprised volunteers from ZAKA [2], and Iran’s was an official government delegation. In the city of Kamaishi [3] both teams worked side-by-side [4, 5]. The ZAKA delegation’s head said: ‘We shook hands and became friends. At one point they set up a stand and wanted to hand out food and medicine to the locals. We joined in and there we stood, side by side, handing out food and medicine. They removed the Iranian flag and removed our Israeli flag and we just stood there together. It was very odd. We were suspicious of them. We hesitated a bit because they hugged us too much’. The Iranians told the ZAKA people: ‘You know we are cousins. The wars and conflicts are between the leaders, but between the people there should be peace. We can’t forget we were close once’. I can’t explain any of this. But it makes me feel positive and optimistic. A tad so, anyway.

Rami Levy commits to 16 years of kindness

Today’s ‘Positive and Optimistic Sunday’. On 11 March the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. The same day Udi Fogel, 36, Ruth Fogel, 35, and their children Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, 3 months, were brutally stabbed to death [1] – in Itamar [2], an Israeli settlement in the Samarian Hills. Two other Fogel sons, aged 8 and 2, survived unharmed. As did the Fogels’ 12-year-old daughter. As I wrote last Friday [3], in Japan the official toll of dead and missing’s over 13,000 – and still climbing. Exemplifying the media adage: ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ [4], Japan’s catastrophe grabbed much more media attention than the Fogel murders. And some of it’s positive, e.g. the heroism of those risking their lives trying to avert a nuclear cataclysm [5]. It’s hard to imagine anything good coming from the Itamar carnage. But imaginations can deceive: In 1976 Rami Levy (pictured) opened his first food store. Today Rami Levy Chain Stores is the fourth-largest food retailer in Israel [6]. Every day, the same Rami Levy comes by the house where the Fogel family sit shiva [7], and fills the cupboards and refrigerator himself with food for the family and guests. When thanked for his kindness, he answered ‘You will get used to my face. I have committed myself that every week I will deliver food and stock your home until the youngest orphan turns 18 years old’ [8]. What Rami Levy has done is commit to 16 years of kindness. How positive and optimistic is that.

List: Libraries in Japan after the earthquake

Today’s ‘List Friday’. Last Wednesday I visited the Deloraine branch of the State Library of Tasmania, to collect books I’d ordered. The duty librarian was Russell. He’s a terrific bloke: softly- spoken, courteous, affable, knowledgeable, thoughtful. We fell, as usual, into conversation. This time about how the Tasmanian Library service will deal with the e-book issue. For example if it’ll loan out e-readers with e-books preloaded. Or if you’ll download e-books from a library server to your own e-reader. Time will tell. Libraries are more than book repositories. Much more. Arguably they’re community hubs. And when hubs break, wheels fall off. In the week – yes, only a week – since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we media consumers’ve been bombarded with statistics about it: The equal fourth most severe quake in history [1], a quake that changed the angle of Earth’s rotation and thus shortened each day by a millionth of a second [2]. Et cetera. The official toll of dead and missing’s over 13,000 – and still climbing [3]. These raw numbers obscure the enormity of the human tragedy. But today’s list sheets it home. Back to libraries. Last Monday darling Meg sent me this email: ‘Would you consider including a pictorial list on a Friday? Mobile phone photos of Japanese libraries after the earthquake. All of them quite eerie, I think’. Here it is [4]. Not a conventional list, but a reminder of what people in Japan are facing. ‘When hubs break…’

H/t darling Meg. xxx