Stymie Iraq! from page 48

Editorial

Presented by

Shapir's Institute for National
Security Studies noted the recent
failed attacks on Israeli targets in the
Eastern Hemisphere's Georgia, India
and Thailand as signals of Iran's les-
soned terrorist infrastructure and
global initiatives against terrorism.
Israel blamed Iran for those three
terror attempts.
Should Israel be
coaxed into war to
defend itself, the
price the home front
would pay in terms
of casualties and the
question of whether
it would be able to
Israela Oron
tolerate a death toll
of even 500 people
have never been discussed, charges
Israela Oron, a member of Israel's
National Security Council.
Yes, it's mind-boggling that
defending the home front isn't cen-
ter stage for Israel. Oron, a retired
brigadier general, hit the bull's-eye
in taking aim at the unpreparedness:
"What will it mean if our cities are
shut down for months? How will
the public respond? The govern-
ment should weigh these questions
as carefully as they do the military
planning."
Fundamental
questions all.
Israel will rebuild
its embassy in
Argentina in 2013,
Deputy Foreign
Minister Danny
Ayalon announced
Danny Ayalon
on March 16 at a
20th anniversary
ceremony where
the attacked building once stood.
Iran was believed to be an instigator
of the March 17, 1992, bombing.
"We want the Israeli flag waving
again on the streets of Buenos Aires','
he said. "This new home will show
that we can win against terror!'
B'nai B'rith International's president
remembered the deadly embassy blast
in a cogent reminder. "In 1992, Iranian
terror was a surprise and shock:'
Allan Jacobs said in a statement.
"Today, many of Argentina's neigh-
bors — including Venezuela, Bolivia,
Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba — have
embraced Tehran by signing various
agreements."
For its sake and the sake of all civi-
lized governments, Israel must move
quickly to begin the process of aggres-
sively and emphatically addressing
the glaring major inadequacies in
home-front preparedness. 0

Replanted Sapling Elevates
Anne Frank's Stunning Faith

T

rees are among God's robust
creations. They're fragile, but
useful and enduring. They
cast shadows of darkness and draw
rays of sunshine. They can be scrag-
gly and majestic. In the right context,
they're also compelling and inspiring.
Such is the case with a sapling from
the once-mighty chestnut tree Anne
Frank wrote about in her Holocaust
diary. The sapling, donated by the
Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, has
a fitting new home – Yad Vashem,
Israel's memorial to the Shoah –
3 1 / weeks before Yom HaShoah,
Holocaust Remembrance Day (April
19). The sapling is near the Children's
Memorial and the International School
for Holocaust Studies.
The Yad Vashem dedication, held
Monday, included Hanna Pick, a
Holocaust survivor and beloved
friend of Anne Frank. The sapling is a
remnant of the 150-year-old disease-
weakened tree a 2010 storm toppled.
The Anne Frank House decided to
donate saplings to Yad Vashem and
other suitable institutions, includ-
ing the Holocaust Memorial Center
(HMC) in Farmington Hills, when the
chestnut tree began to rot. In 2008,
Amsterdam workers caged the trunk
in steel in hopes of protecting it.
The HMC sapling is quarantined
until January; it will be dedicated next
spring. Meanwhile, HMC will conduct a

Dry Bones

community support campaign to raise
money for landscaping, security and
upkeep as well as a permanent Anne
Frank exhibit and curriculum.
Anne wrote about the chestnut tree
three times in her diary, which she
kept for the two years she, her family
and four other people hid in a secret
annex of her father Otto's office build-
ing. The Frank family – Otto, Edith and
their two daughters, Margot and Anne
– moved from Germany to Holland in
1933, when the Nazis gained control
of Germany. The German occupation
of Holland in 1940 trapped the family
and, two years later, forced it into hid-
ing for 25 months. In August 1944, the
family was betrayed and dispersed to
concentration camps.
"Nearly every morning, I go to the
attic to blow the stuffy air out of my
lungs," Anne wrote on Feb. 23,1944.
"From my favorite spot on the floor, I
look up at the blue sky and the bare
chestnut tree, on whose branches
little raindrops shine, appearing like
silver, and at the seagulls and other
birds as they glide on the
wind." The last diary refer-
ence came May 13, 1944:
"Our chestnut tree is in
full bloom. It's covered
with leaves and is even
more beautiful than last
year."
Anne died of typhus at
Bergen-Belsen, a German
concentration camp in
Lower Saxony, in March
1945. She was just 15.
Saplings from the tree
that so inspired her now
will stand at Yad Vashem,
at our HMC and elsewhere
to inspire new generations
of people of good will. The
Torah is an Etz Chayim,
a Tree of Life, forever
pointing the way toward
God. The storied saplings
also provide thought and,
in turn, direction toward
Divine wisdom. Li

"Funny, poignant,
life-enhancing,
and
much cheaper
than a ticket
to Italy!"

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March 29 4. 2012

49