rosh hashanah
The Jewish
Calendar Year’s
Inspiring
Newsmakers
JACOB KAMARAS JNS.ORG
J
udaism’s High Holidays are a
time for prayer, introspection
and, for those fortunate enough,
inspiration. Amid the headlines on
terrorism and political disputes,
some prominent newsmakers in the
Israel and Middle East scene gave us
something to smile about or admire
during this past year. JNS.org spot-
lights high-profile individuals who
made a positive difference — some-
times in unexpected ways — during
the Jewish calendar year of 5777.
GAL GADOT
Despite Arab
nations’ boycotts
of Wonder Woman
over the Israeli
actress’s lead-
ing role, Gadot
wowed at the box
Gal Gadot
office while giv-
ing Jews, Israelis,
feminists and
comic book aficionados much to
be proud about. In late June, Gadot
was ranked first in The Hollywood
Reporter’s Top Actors list, which
bases its rankings on actors’ popu-
larity on social
media sites.
NARENDRA MODI
Narendra Modi
86
September 14 • 2017
jn
Israel has no
shortage of
enemies around
the world. But
Modi, by making
the first-ever visit
to Israel by a sitting Indian prime
minister, showed the Jewish state
also has powerful friends — in
particular, the world’s second-
largest country by population.
Modi’s trip to the Jewish state in
July had it all, from technological
collaboration, to meeting with a
Jewish child orphaned by the 2008
terror attack on Mumbai’s Chabad
House, to a beach stroll and jeep
ride with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. The Modi-
Netanyahu “bromance” was sealed
with the Israeli leader’s delivery of
a hand-signed photo of the beach
walk to his Indian counterpart.
NIKKI HALEY AND
DANNY DANON
Israel has experi-
enced decades of
bias and dispro-
portionate criti-
cism from the
United Nations,
Nikki Haley
but the Trump
administration —
under the lead-
ership of Haley,
its ambassador
to the U.N. — is
vowing to chart
a new course for
the world body’s
culture on the
Danny Danon
Jewish state.
During her
speech at March’s AIPAC policy
conference, Haley described
herself as the U.N.’s “new sher-
iff in town” and declared “the
days of Israel-bashing are over.”
Haley, who in April assumed the
U.N. Security Council’s rotating
monthly presidency, has promised
to refocus the council away from
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Danon, Israel’s U.N. ambas-
sador, made strides by securing
landmark roles as vice president
of the 72nd Session of the U.N.
General Assembly and chair of
the U.N.’s Legal Committee.
JASON
GREENBLATT
Upon being
dispatched to
help defuse the
Temple Mount
crisis, President
Donald Trump’s
Jason Greenblatt
international
negotiations rep-
resentative has
now made seven visits to Israel
in the span of half a year. While
pessimism is typically prevalent
when it comes to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, Greenblatt’s
persistent diplomacy has earned
rare praise from both sides.
Following a meeting with
Greenblatt in March, Palestinian
Authority (PA) President
Mahmoud Abbas declared that
“under President Trump’s lead-
ership, a historic peace deal is
possible, and that it will enhance
security throughout the region.”
Most recently, Greenblatt
announced an agreement
between Israel and the PA on a
historic Red Sea-Dead Sea canal
that will relieve Palestinian water
shortages.
YARIV LEVIN
Israel has
constant secu-
rity concerns
internally and
regionally, yet
the country is
as attractive as
Yariv Levin
ever for inter-
national travel-
ers. April and May set individual
monthly records for tourists
arriving in Israel, while the first
six months of 2017 set their own
half-year record with 1.74 million
incoming tourists, a 26-percent
increase from the same time last
year.
What’s behind the tourism
boom? Levin, Israel’s tourism
minister, cites his ministry’s new
marketing strategies to “brand
Israel” and to encourage airlines
to open additional routes to the
Jewish state.
THOM YORKE
In July, Radiohead
defied BDS pres-
sure by treating
Israel to the
band’s longest
performance in 11
Thom Yorke
years.
Former Pink
Floyd frontman Roger Waters and
South African Archbishop Desmond
Tutu had spearheaded a BDS
petition against the concert. But
Radiohead frontman Yorke took a
principled stand in a Twitter feud
with British filmmaker Ken Loach,
asserting, “Music, art and academia
are about crossing borders not
building them, about open minds
not closed ones, about shared
humanity, dialogue and freedom of
expression.”
NIR BARKAT
This year,
Jerusalem’s mayor
saw the holy city
mark the 50th
anniversary of its
reunification, a
Nir Barkat
milestone feted
significantly by
Israelis and Jews around the world.
Barkat is overseeing the develop-
ment of infrastructure that will help
Jerusalem grow into a major eco-
nomic hub, including a forthcoming
high-speed rail that will take resi-
dents from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in
just 28 minutes.
At the same time, Barkat embrac-
es his city’s DNA. “People think that
conflict in Jerusalem is a bug, some-
thing that needs to be resolved,” he
told JNS.org in May. “In Jerusalem,
conflict is not a bug; it is a feature.”
AMAR’E
STOUDEMIRE
The former
National
Basketball
Association (NBA)
star has been
deepening his con-
Amar’e
nection to Israel
Stoudemire
since 2010, when
he made a much-
publicized visit to explore what he
called his “Hebrew roots.”
Last year, Stoudemire moved to
Israel and signed a contract to play
for Hapoel Jerusalem, a franchise
he had partially owned. Though he
never won a title in 14 NBA seasons,
Stoudemire got an Israeli league
championship with the Jerusalem
team in June. He also made his
presence felt off the court, earn-
ing Israel’s Martin Luther King Jr.
Award in February for efforts such
as educating at-risk youths and
providing safe drinking water in
impoverished countries. •