Hamas War

Monday, August 18, 2014

And What About Our Prize-Winning Wines?

What's next in the creeping Nazism of Europe. Yes, I'm calling it Nazism when Israeli Jewish businesses are being systematically banned from Europe.
Israel to Stop Exports of 'Settlement Products' to EU
Israel will end its export of poultry and dairy produce from communities beyond the Green Line, in line with EU directives.
Only the historically blind can insist that there's no connection between the early anti-Jewish restrictions in Germany and what is going on now. And the worst is that the Israeli Government is cooperating Judenrat style with this!
Lodz, Poland, A group of Judenrat
members in the Ghetto,
Yad Veshem
As far back as 1933, Nazi policy makers had discussed establishing Jewish-led institutions to carry out anti-Jewish policies. The concept was based upon centuries-old practices which were instituted in Germany during the Middle Ages. As the German army swept through Poland and the Soviet Union, it carried out an order of S.S. leader Heydrich to require the local Jewish populace to form Jewish Councils as a liaison between the Jews and the Nazis. These councils of Jewish elders, (Judenrat; plural: Judenräte), were responsible for organizing the orderly deportation to the death camps, for detailing the number and occupations of the Jews in the ghettos, for distributing food and medical supplies, and for communicating the orders of the ghetto Nazi masters. The Nazis enforced these orders on the Judenrat with threats of terror, which were given credence by beatings and executions. As ghetto life settled into a "routine," the Judenrat took on the functions of local government, providing police and fire protection, postal services, sanitation, transportation, food and fuel distribution, and housing, for example......When the Nazis required a quota of Jews to participate in forced labor, the Judenrat had the responsibility to meet this demand. Sometimes Jews could avoid forced labor by making a payment to the Judenrat. These payments supplemented the taxes which the Judenrat levied to finance the services provided in the ghettos. (Jewish Virtual Library)
What is the point of having our own state when it cooperates with those who are against us?

Now Europe is blocking dairy and poultry, but next it will be fruit and vegetables and after that the import of wine and our participation in wine contests. Just wait!

For the past few years, Israeli wines from the Benjamin and Samaria areas have been consistent winners at prestigious Israeli and international wine competitions:
RechallimA Samaria (Shomron) vineyard has won the “Oscar Award of Wine” in Israel's annual Golden Grapes competition.The Tura vineyard in the settlement of Rachelim won both the gold and the silver medals in the annual Eshkol HaZahav – the Golden Grapes – competition.
The prestigious award has been dubbed by international connoisseurs as  “the Oscar of wine.”
and
Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika sent his congratulations to the owners of the Har Bracha winery for two medals won in 2013 DECANTER competition held in Britain.  Shira and Nir Lavie established their own winery in the Samaria region ten years ago, when they realised other wineries in the country were interested in buying the grapes they produced.  This young winery took a silver medal for its 2011 Petit Syrah and a bronze for its 2009 Highlander Cabernet Sauvignon Gold.  With over 14,000 wines from 52 countries in the competition, this is no small honour.
Har Bracha, which produces about 30,000 bottles a year, is now one of seven wineries in the Samaria region.  As farmers realise the perfect mix of altitude, climate, and soil available for grape-growing, wine production has become more popular there.
Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/470/israeli-wineries-take-prizes-in-international-competition/#PFMPugqFFCDmIbyQ.99
It's not only abroad that Israeli Judean-Samarian wines that already suffer discrimination. Here in Israel Leftist Israelis boycott it.
Given that some in Israel have accused international boycott advocates of being anti-Semitic, such domestic parallels are a sensitive issue.
Yoram Cohen, of the Tanya winery in the settlement of Ofra, called the Israeli boycotters "trendy" hypocrites who had no problem purchasing wine from countries with much worse human rights records. Berg said he was afraid that a vocal minority was "poisoning" the public discourse and influencing others to shun settlement products...
...Along with other West Bank wineries, Berg recently went public with news that dozens of Tel Aviv restaurants were boycotting their wines in hopes of shaming them into reversing course.
The Associated Press contacted more than a dozen Tel Aviv restaurants, including some named by settlers. All refused to discuss the subject.
It wasn't just the fear of alienating clients that likely deterred them from speaking but also a 2011 law in Israel that could expose them to lawsuits if a boycott became official. The law did not make a boycott call a criminal offense, but rather a civil issue that could trigger financial compensation. There is no actual precedent of this happening yet.
Grapes are traditional crops here in the Biblical Heartland. Even totally incompetent gardeners like me and my husband manage to grow large quantities of grapes. We haven't tried our hand at making wine, but many people in our area, Benjamin Regional Council have.

I find it extremely upsetting and a horrendously dangerous precedent for the Israeli Government to cooperate with the anti-Israel boycott movement.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went to the Gvaot winery near Shilo a few weeks ago and enjoyed their Massada wine. I am perfectly happy that people should boycott these wines - it leaves more for me and keeps the prices down. Anyone foolish enough to boycott these wines would probably want to boycott the medical advances, technology contributions etc. that have come from Israel and Jews throughout the world and through history.

Batya said...

a, thanks.
Shiloh is surrounded by excellent boutique wineries. No doubt this was the wine center of the world during Biblical times and now doubt that's a reason the Mishkan and centralized Jewish worship were here for close to 400 years.

NormanF said...

Leftists like termites crawl through the Israeli government body politic and now we see their baneful effects at work in the Agriculture Ministry's directive mandating Israeli cooperation with European anti-Semitism.

What's the point of having a state when you meekly surrender to the hate Europe has for Jews without even putting up a fight? Jews can be their own worst enemies.

Leah said...

Batya, is there anyway.to get this concise post to Netanyahu? I know, sounds like fantasy.thinking, yet you are.point fir point with the picture of
the Judenrat especially...because of the way it starts and progresses etc ..

Anonymous said...

Doesn't surprise that the government acquieses with those who hate us. History has proven that already, but we also know that the State was started by socialists and the infrastructure is socialist and are internationalists first and Jewish only second, (in name only). That's why when the 'Right' is voted in, you still get the 'left'.

Batya said...

Norman, Leah and a2 we must fight it evrry way possible politically and by sharing articles like these. Do not vote Likud!

Anonymous said...

Do you have a list of these "boycotted" wines? I would like to make sure to support them.

Batya said...

They are great wines, so you'd benefit from drinking them. It's a wonderful idea to publicize. A few are mentioned in my article. Joe Bazer of Shiloh also makes a fantastic prize-winning wine.