September is the ‘erev High Holy Days’ issue for us, and our expectations of producing something substantial have been exceeded to a total of 66 pages, which include a 4 page supplement of messages, greetings and wishes. Momentously, this is the 60th Rosh Hashanah for the young and vibrant State of Israel – a year of great celebration also for us, a diaspora community, who view Israel as the pivotal point of our Jewish existence. We hope that the issue will do justice to this historic moment.
A’propos this, you will find among the brightly coloured pages some responses to July’s South African human rights delegation to Israel. The return from this mission coincided with our last deadline date, and we were therefore not able to give a broad overall coverage, other than a last minute, positive report back from one of the organisers, which we featured on the front page.
Unfortunately this positive mood was hardly echoed in the flow of negative reports in the media from other members of the group, and since then debate has raged within the media and over email – mainly from a Zionist perspective – in criticism of the delegation, its motivation and its lack of balance. Unfortunately, by time of this issue’s going to print, we have not seen counter-responses from members of the delegation in rejection or clarification.
The Chronicle’s being a monthly publication is a great disadvantage in matters of this kind, timing being of the essence. It is thus only now – a month later – that we have provided the opportunity to those who wish to respond to those anti-Israel reports. And though we would not wish to be part of a long-drawn debate, it seems that members of the delegation might well like to put their own position into perspective in our next issue.