Jewish Light interviews St. Louis Friends of Israel speaker, Mark Lavie, ahead of May 13th visit

Bill Motchan of the Jewish Light, interviewed Mark Lavie, Mideast journalist, in It’s a solid F+” — reporter slams media for failing Israel ahead of St. Louis visit.

Excerpt:

A veteran journalist who covered the Middle East for the Associated Press for years now claims AP and other news outlets engage in ongoing media bias against Israel. Mark Lavie, who also worked for NPR, NBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, will visit St. Louis for a May 13 presentation at the Jewish Federation. Lavie recently told the Jewish Light he grades media coverage of Israel a solid F+.

“I started seeing this as early as 1988, that journalists think they’re supposed to be helping the Palestinians,” Lavie said. “And in fact, we’re not. We’re supposed to be reporting the news and explaining it. That’s our job. Israel is complicated. The conflict is complicated, but a good journalist can get his head around that and put it in context. I did it for decades.”

READ MORE

‘Ribbon of Hope’ to stand tall in St. Louis until hostages released

Nearly 100 members of the St. Louis community gathered in Creve Coeur Monday to mark 150 days since the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. They gathered for the unveiling of “Ribbon of Hope,” a display that depicts the faces of the approximate 130 hostages still being held in Gaza.

A large blue-and-white ribbon paying tribute to the Israeli hostages will be unveiled at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 4 at 11557 Olive Blvd. in Creve Coeur. A community ceremony will accompany the introduction of the “Ribbon of Hope,” a 15-foot by 10-foot installation. The ribbon depicts the faces of all of the hostages still being held in Gaza.

READ MORE

He lost 18 friends and his right arm in Hamas war, now Rohn Harir is coming to St. Louis to tell his story

Everyday life changed radically for all Israelis on Oct. 7, and especially for Rohn Harir. The 21-year-old IDF medic was seriously injured in an attack on his unit. With only one week remaining on his military service, Harir was called in help evacuate a kibbutz. He was in a military jeep when a missile hit the vehicle.

The missile grazed Harir and tore his right arm off. He was thrown from the jeep and was lying helpless in a field for 30 minutes until he was extracted. After waking from a coma at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, he immediately asked to rejoin his unit. That’s when he learned the extent of his injuries.

READ MORE

500 Strong: St. Charles community unites for Israel

Nearly 500 Israel supporters gathered in Frontier Park in St. Charles on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 19 to call attention to the hostages held by Hamas and demand their safe return. “Bring them home” was the rallying cry at the event, which moved from the park to a march down Main Street. Speakers included Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham from Congregation B’nai Amoona, Rabbi Chaim Landa from Chabad Jewish Center of St. Charles and Adam Schwadron, Missouri state representative.

READ MORE

St. Louis unites Sunday with resounding support of Israel

A rally in support of Israel drew about 500 people on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 15. The event was held on Schuetz Road near the Jewish Federation building.

As St. Louisans held up Israeli flags and signs, cars drove by honking to show their support. The rally was organized in just a few days by Kalanit Chappell, Traci Goldstein, Orna Bitton Dar, Angie Rosenberg and Galit Lev-Harir (who has been in Israel since the Hamas attack).

According to Dar, “We decided last week we had to do something. There was a need for the community to do this and we got the help of the Federation.”

READ MORE

Hundreds of St. Louisans rally to show support for Israel

Approximately 350 supporters of Israel gathered outside Jewish Federation’s Kaplan Feldman Complex on Wednesday evening to sing, cheer, fly the Israeli flag and wave at supportive passing cars on Schuetz Road.

Itta Boyko, principal of H.F. Epstein Hebrew Academy, said she came to the “Stand With Israel Rally” to “show our support of Israel.”

Richard and Michelle Goldstein said they went to the rally to make sure there were enough people to send a message of support to the St. Louis community.

“Since it was kind of a last-minute thing, I wanted to make sure the Jewish community was well represented,” Richard said.

READ MORE

Palestinian critic of BDS speaks at St. Louis Friends of Israel event

The tense situation in the Mideast was the topic of discussion at United Hebrew Congregation on Thursday as the temple hosted an internationally known Palestinian human rights advocate for a talk on the complexities of the conflict.

“In my opinion, peace will have to start from the bottom, not from the top,” activist and commentator Bassem Eid told a crowd so large that chairs had to be added to the aisles.

Founder of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Eid is a controversial figure to some as he has been a critic of both the Palestinian Authority and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. He has been extensively published and honored with awards due in part to his allegations regarding human rights policies of both the PA and the Israeli military.  A sought-after speaker, he has lectured worldwide on Mideast issues.

His talk at United Hebrew was sponsored by the St. Louis Friends of Israel. 

READ MORE

More than 500 turn out for walk supporting Israel

More than 500 people participated in Sunday’s “Walk in Support of Israel,” which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Reunification of Jerusalem.  

Even the weather cooperated with the event—a blue sky with white clouds—the national colors of the State of Israel.  At noon, participants of all ages gathered on the back parking lot at the Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, and then walked to the four corners of Schuetz Road and Lindbergh Boulevard in a show of solidarity for Israel.  The march came off without incident and there were no counter-demonstrators along the way.

After the walk, marchers returned to the pavilion in the back parking lot of the Jewish Community Center for Israeli food, catered by Kohn’s Kosher Deli, as well as lively Israeli music and remarks by event organizers and community leaders. An official proclamation from Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was read, which expressed support for the march and rally and urged all Missourians to support the State of Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East.

READ MORE: https://www.stljewishlight.com/news/local/more-than-turn-out-for-walk-supporting-israel/article_dcaa24ba-4147-11e7-9860-6b26f00be8a2.html