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June 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Nearly 300 women from across Israel registered for the competition and
contestants were whittled down to the 14 finalists who appeared on Thursday.
The contest, part of Helping Hand’s annual “cultural” night,
included a lavish dinner and music at a Haifa reception hall. Some 600
people attended, including two Cabinet ministers, Moshe Kahlon and Yossi
Peled, himself a Holocaust survivor.
The women, ranging in age from 74 to 97, clearly enjoyed themselves. Wearing
black dresses, earrings and necklaces, and sporting blue-and-white numbered
sashes, they grinned and waved as they were introduced to the adoring
audience. Music played as the contestants walked along a red carpet,
introduced themselves and described their memories of World War II.
“I have the privilege to show the world that Hitler wanted to exterminate
us and we are alive. We are also enjoying life. Thank God it’s that way,”
said Esther Libber, a 74-year-old runner-up who fled her home in Poland as a
child, hid in a forest and was rescued by a Polish woman. She said she lost
her entire immediate family.
A four-judge panel consisting of three former beauty queens and a geriatric
psychiatrist who specializes in treating Holocaust survivors chose the
winner. Hava Hershkovitz, a soon-to-be 79-year-old, was banished from her
home in Romania in 1941 and sent to a detention camp in the Soviet Union for
three years. Today, she lives in an assisted living home run by Helping
Hand.
“This place is full of survivors. It puts us at the center of attention
so people will care. It’s not easy at this age to be in a beauty contest,
but we’re all doing it to show that we’re still here,” the
silver-haired Hershkovitz said.
Wearing a glittering tiara, she was joined by her granddaughter, Keren Hazan. “I’m
very proud of her because she’s the most beautiful woman in the room tonight,”
Hazan said.
In addition to the contestants’ accounts of surviving Nazi ghettos and
concentration camps, their later contributions to their communities were
also considered, Sabag said. Physical appearance was maybe “10 percent”
of the criteria, he said, though a cosmetics company was recruited to help
the women dress up for the occasion.
“We always tell them to dress well and look good. To think positive and
to take care of themselves,” Sabag said. “Always look at life with
a smile and continue to live.”
The thought that physical appearance could even remotely be a factor rubbed
some the wrong way. Avital, of the Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group,
criticized the cosmetics company, saying it was using Holocaust survivors in
a cheap marketing stunt to promote their products.
“Why use a beauty contest to show that these people survived and that
they’re brave?” wondered Lili Haber, a daughter of Holocaust survivors
who heads an Israeli organization that assists survivors from Poland. “I
think it’s awful. I think it’s something a decent person shouldn’t even
think about.”
The Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany oversaw the systematic slaughter of 6
million European Jews, plays a unique role in Israeli society. The country
gained independence in the wake of the Holocaust, serving as a refuge for
hundreds of thousands of people who survived the genocide.
Nearly 200,000 aging survivors live in Israel today, and the country’s annual
Holocaust Day is one of the most solemn occasions on the calendar.
Restaurants and cinemas close, and the country comes to a standstill as
sirens wail for two minutes. Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently make references to the Holocaust when
discussing the threat they believe a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the
Jewish state.
Thursday’s contest was among the many unconventional beauty pageants that have
sprouted up over the years. The war-torn countries of Angola and Cambodia
have held “Miss Landmine” contests for survivors of land mine
explosions, Star Trek fans enjoy the “Miss Klingon Empire” contest
in Atlanta, and plus-sized women in Thailand compete for the honor of “Miss
Jumbo Queen.” There are also a senior citizens’ pageants in the U.S.
Gal Mor, editor of the popular Israeli blog “Holes in the Net,” said
Thursday’s pageant was well-intentioned but misguided.
“Why should a decayed, competitive institution that emphasizes women’s
appearance be used as inspiration, instead of allowing them to tell their
story without gimmicks?” he wrote. “This is one step short of
‘Survivor-Holocaust’ or ‘Big Brother Auschwitz.’ It leaves a bad taste.
Holocaust survivors should be above all this.”
Source: AP
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