In memoriam Hanna Szenes

Hannah Szenes (often anglicized as Hannah Senesh or Chana Senesh); Szenes Anikó; July 17, 1921-November 7, 1944) was one of 37 Jews from Mandatory Palestine parachuted by the British Army into Yugoslavia during the Second World War to assist in the rescue of Hungarian Jews about to be deported to the German death camp at Auschwitz.

Szenes was arrested at the Hungarian border, then imprisoned and tortured, but refused to reveal details of her mission. She was eventually tried and executed by firing squad. She is regarded as a national heroine in Israel, where her poetry is widely known and the headquarters of the Zionist youth movements Israel Hatzeria, a kibbutz and several streets are named after her.

Source: Wikipedia

You can find the memorial of Hannah Szenes in Budapest in district VII. Hanna Szenes Park and nearby the Mammut shopping mall show the spot where the prison stood and Hanna Szenes was tortured and executed by firing squad on Margit Boulevard.

The house at Dezso Square where Hanna spent her childhood

JR in Cambodia

French visual artist "guerrilla artist" JR who exhibits freely in the streets of of the world visited Cambodia in 2009. as the part of the project "Inside Out". I took this photo in Phnom Penh just a view days later where hi displayed the portraits of evicted people. The government was quite fast to react and removed it within a week. In 2010 JR has been awarded TED Prize.

Two years earlier of this project, he traveled to Israel and did the same with the portraits of Israeli and Palestinian people on both sides of separation wall.

Jerusalem Bomb Explosion

A device went off at a bus stop near the central bus station and conference center in Jerusalem on Wednesday. The attack, which injured around 30 people and killed one, is believed to have been carried out by Palestinian militants. It was the first terrorist attack in four years that involved an explosion. Windows of a bus at the scene were shattered.

I took the first photo with the Israeli soldier girls in 2009 February at a very nearby location where the bomb was exploded on this Wednesday. The girl in the uniform was braiding her friend’s hair that holds her machine-gun nearby the bus stop.

The second photo I took inside the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. On the photo an orthodox Jewish boy help to repair the Tzitzit for a passenger before read from the Torah.

I remember, the security check was very strict and took for awhile to get inside the station.