The OTHER Aftermath of the War

With a heavy heart there are matters, which have come to light in the aftermath of the war, that I must share with the "outside world".

I feel it is incumbent upon me to share this information because there were donation drives for Israelis in a number of countries. The donors would probably be interested in knowing that it is becoming increasingly apparent that not all of their money got where it was intended to go, most likely.

If you or your colleagues are journalists and are willing to do honest investigative reporting and to write up the conclusions of whatever you/they might find up as an expose - please, be my guest.

I grew accustomed over the decades to being used, abused, cheated and shunted aside by the government, national and local, in Israel. Their treatment of the Palestinians is documented in the world press. Their matter-of-fact maltreatment of the citizenry is not known. It is assumed that we Israelis enjoy the benefits of living in a country that is considered relatively wealthy and technologically advanced. In fact, not much trickles down. The gap between the richest and the poorest here is second to NONE in the "Western" world. Yes, that includes the US.

I could live with it - until now. Now, when the smoke is clearing from the missiles, we are seeing increasingly clearly how our government betrayed us, probably diverted donations that were intended for the weakest and infirm among us that come from those who love and support Israel and used the situation to better themselves in all manners.

I have, then, no choice but to display some of our dirty laundry.

Please be so kind as to read what I wrote on the following link:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Tzfat/message/2755

Having become convinced that we were in fact cheated of days of R&R, and I still know not what else, I wrote the following as a follow-up:

Let Your Familes and Friends Know About About the OTHER Aftermath of the War!

I'd like to make a couple of suggestions to those who feel that their needs were neglected by the Municipality during the war or that they did not get what was coming to them to increase their chances of surviving the war or simply making living on the direct line of fire, under siege, for 34 days more bearable.

First, Ilan Shohat, a member of the Tzfat Municipality who is in the opposition and vociferously opposed to Mayor Yishai Maimon, has published a request to receive any and all reports of neglect or incompetence. He assures your anonymity. You can reach him at: s_shohat@012.net.il or by calling Edva at
050-7193475 or Gili at 050-6579899.

However, I'd like to mention that Ilan is a seasoned politician and is no doubt making political capital on Maimon's failings. Were he Mayor, as he clearly would like to be as evinced from the fact that in his rather short career as a politician he has racked up quite a reputation for climbing over others whom he betrays and tramples under foot; I am sure that he would be no better than his predecessors.

I would, in addition to contacting him, do some things that will, no doubt, be vastly more effective:

Contact everyone you know in the United States and tell them about the problems, about the maltreatment on the part of the Municipality of Tzfat. We all have relatives who expressed their love and panic for us during the war. Let them know how we were being cheated and bamboozled, unbeknownst to us because the local papers in town weren't operating, except for a temporary one run by the Municipality that told us only what the Municipality wanted us to know.

Include the major national and regional Jewish newspapers in your contact list. Ask them to carry out investigations and write up exposes. The world needs to know about the suffering we endured at the hands of our Municipality, which has been praised for its actions by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Tell them about the questions that have arisen as to whether the food that was intended for residents who remained in Tzfat was distributed fairly, correctly and that we received all that was intended for us.

Tell them about the donated air conditioners that were intended for the bomb shelters that were stolen. I do not claim the Municipality did this certainly. But, I am compelled to ask: Did they do everything possible to ensure that it would not occur?

Tell them about the fact that there have been complaints by ordinary citizens who stayed in Tzfat during that they were never sent for days of R&R, while relatives, friends and supporters of members of the Municipality were sent for free vacations in hotels for 3 – 5 days.

Let them know that Tzfat has a long and ugly history of misappropriation of donations.

It is high time to tell them about the money that was donated for an especially well-appointed kindergarten specifically for children at risk, so that they could get all the care they needed day and night if need be, who were thrown out so that room could be made for the children of those that Yishai Maimon had promised the kindergarten to for votes. Tell them that after many long weeks without a kindergarten at all those children were given a downscale kindergarten that did not provide places for them to sleep when being at home presented a risk and a threat to them.

Tell them that the children from the poor neighborhoods in Tzfat are being thrown out of their lovely neighborhood school and into a far older, smaller, less well-equipped one so that Mayor Yishai Maimon can make good on the dirty deal he made with the ultra-Orthodox to get their votes by displacing children from needy homes from their school and replacing them with children from the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. That public grade school is the only promise of a better future for the children of the poorest neighborhoods in Tzfat, which I know intimately because I live in the most notorious one of those neighborhoods. Oh, yes. They will go to school, but under cramped and disadvantaged conditions – as the Municipality thinks befits the poor of this town.

Let them know about the rampant nepotism in this town. Tell them it is no new phenomenon that those connected to the politicians in the Municipality get everything while the residents of this town get nothing. It has simply become unconscionable now that it has become clear that the politicians didn't miss a beat to better themselves even while some 600 rockets fell on Tzfat.

Ask your family and friends in your native countries to let everyone know who made donations that they intended for ordinary Israeli citizen under 34 days of siege that some of those donations seem to have been, um, diverted. Ask for investigations into this matter to be carried out by the donors themselves because, as the local Tzfat paper "Chadash B'Galil" says: "A Complaint Has Not Yet Been Lodged at the Police Station Concerning Irregularities in the Disbursement of Donations During the War" (issue 762 (1068) of 18/8/06, page 20). So, it devolves on the people who gave money to investigate where it went.

Let them know that it is not wise to put money and other donations in the hands of politicians. Tell them they must have agents here who see to it that the money and donations gets to where it should.

Let the Municipality know that you've contacted those who care about you in the US. Let them know you are not afraid.

Let them know that they cannot build their political careers and pad their nests by risking out lives!!!

Having made the above suggestions to the residents of Tzfat and the Upper Galilee on our Yahoo! groups, it behooves me to follow my own advice. Consider yourselves likewise informed.

A profoundly sad and betrayed Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com