Stunning: John Pantsil displays his love for Israel

John Pantsil, a Ghana defender who plays professionally for Hapoel Tel Aviv, displays his love for Israel at the 2006 World Cup.

Photos from Rua da Judiaria, um blog de Nuno Guerreiro Josué

http://ruadajudiaria.com/

“Israel is one of the few causes I feel good about supporting”, Ray Charles

“Modest to the point of mum about his humanitarian and charitable activities, Ray Charles makes an exception for the State of Israel and world Jewry.
Among the many, the world leader Charles has most enjoyed meeting is David Ben-Gurion, with whom he had a conversation of many hours during a concert tour of Israel not long before Ben-Gurion's death.
And the award among the hundreds he claims to have touched him the most is the Beverly Hills Lodge of B'nai Brith's tribute to its “Man of the Year” in 1976.”

Ray Charles (1930-2004), American musician
Poster by: blueStarPR, The Jewish Ink Tank
http://www.bluestarpr.com/000084.php

The Marquis of Pombal and the 3 yellow hats

Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782), Chief Minister of Portugal and reformer

“Pombal’s social reforms designed to open the way to new economic prosperity went beyond the field of education. He recognised that one burden which held Portugal back was still the institutionalised persecution of all Portuguese of Jewish descent. He therefore outlawed racial discrimination and determined that New Christians should be given genuine legal equality with Old Christians. In order to carry out such a radical change he had to confront the Inquisition. This he did by virtually abolishing its church role and turning it into a state tribunal.”
A Concise History of Portugal, by David Birmingham, Cambridge University Press, 1996

A true/apocryphal story ...
King José I was considering a proposal by the Portuguese Inquisition which required New Christians (descendants of Jews) to wear yellow hats so that they could be identified in public. One day, the Marquis of Pombal, his Chief Minister, who objected to discriminatory measures, arrived in court carrying three yellow hats. The King asked who they were for and Pombal replied: “One for me, one for you and one for the Chief Inquisitor”. And there the matter rested.

Portrait of Pombal (1759) by João Silvério Carpinetti (1740-1800)

Concerning The Jews, by Mark Twain, Harper's Magazine, 1898

“If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one per cent. of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star-dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers.

He has made a marvellous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished.

The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? ”

Concerning The Jews, Harper's Magazine, March, 1898
Mark Twain (1835-1910), US writer
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1898twain-jews.html

A Prussian general’s remarks on the role of Jews in Germany

Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934), Prussian general and war hero of World War I, served as president of the Weimar Republic from 1925 until his death in 1934, when Hitler took over the office of president.

“The imperial military rules and regulations [before 1919] that were discriminatory to the Jews of our country were not drawn up by me. As a subordinate to the high military command, I had to abide by these laws, of course. But let me assure you that I was never in favour of any discriminatory laws against any element of our citizenship. …

The Jewish people have given to humanity some of its greatest men. Germany is proud to have among its citizens a scholar of the calibre of Prof. Einstein. I do not need to tell you that in Germany your race has a significant share in the development of the German culture. …

Informed as I am of the multiple activities of the Jewish race, familiar with their history and coming in contact with the outstanding representatives of your race, I fully appreciate the part Jews play in Germany and all over the world in the advancement of humanity toward a better world. …

No, there is no room for intolerance and prejudice, if permanent world peace is to be established. That is why I granted you this interview, in spite of my aversion to talking to the press, in order to make it clear once and for all that democratic Germany will not tolerate any prejudice toward any race or creed.”

In an interview granted to Miriam Sterner, in American Jewish World, June 29, 1928
Anti-Semitism before the Holocaust, by Albert S. Lindemann, Longman 2000
Albert S. Lindemann is Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara

The Jewish Bride, by Rembrandt, c. 1667

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669)
The Jewish Bride (c. 1667)
Het Rijksmuseum Amsterdam