They don't get any dumber than this! Well maybe they do...
(NEWS) NY UNRWA: Time for Arab Nations To Absorb 'Refugees'
"The outgoing director of the New York office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency has angered Jordan after stating it is time for Arab nations to absorb their brethren who are 'refugees' from the 1948 war.
Andrew Whitley stated that Palestinian refugees must not live in the illusion of achieving the 'right to return' and that the Arab countries must search for a place for them in their lands to resettle there.
When UNRWA began its operations providing aid and services to the Arabs living in Israel in 1949, there were approximately 700,000 who qualified as 'refugees.' Today, according to the latest statistics, that number has ballooned to nearly five million."
Andrew Whitley stated that Palestinian refugees must not live in the illusion of achieving the 'right to return' and that the Arab countries must search for a place for them in their lands to resettle there.
When UNRWA began its operations providing aid and services to the Arabs living in Israel in 1949, there were approximately 700,000 who qualified as 'refugees.' Today, according to the latest statistics, that number has ballooned to nearly five million."
(NEWS) Hamas Warns Against Buying Cars Imported From Israel
"Ministry says it fears bugs and bombs, but many Gazans assert the warning is a cynical business decision.
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip is warning local politicians, government officials and faction leaders against buying cars imported from Israel for fear they may contain eavesdropping equipment or even remote-activated bombs planted by Israeli security agencies.
Ihab Ghossein, a spokesman for Hamas' Ministry of Interior, called in a statement for caution when dealing with the cars. But his warnings have fallen on deaf ears, where a four-year-old blockade has deprived Gazans of many consumer goods or put their prices out of range."
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip is warning local politicians, government officials and faction leaders against buying cars imported from Israel for fear they may contain eavesdropping equipment or even remote-activated bombs planted by Israeli security agencies.
Ihab Ghossein, a spokesman for Hamas' Ministry of Interior, called in a statement for caution when dealing with the cars. But his warnings have fallen on deaf ears, where a four-year-old blockade has deprived Gazans of many consumer goods or put their prices out of range."
(NEWS) Tourism Minister Urges Israelis To Boycott Turkey
"Mesezhnikov's call for travelers to boycott Turkey follows reports that Ankara had classified Israel as a 'strategic threat.'
Israel's tourism minister on Sunday urged Israelis to stop traveling to Turkey.
Stas Mesezhnikov called for the travel boycott after the Israeli press reported Turkey has classified Israel as a 'strategic threat.'"
Israel's tourism minister on Sunday urged Israelis to stop traveling to Turkey.
Stas Mesezhnikov called for the travel boycott after the Israeli press reported Turkey has classified Israel as a 'strategic threat.'"
(BIZ) Israelis Added $2.4 Billion To Massachusetts Economy In 2009
"A study commissioned by backers of trade with Israel and set for release Oct. 18 says deals between Massachusetts and Israeli companies are worth $2.4B to Bay State operations.
According to the report by Stax Inc.
'The data shows that both Israel and Massachusetts are hotbeds of innovation and the Mass venture and corporate community has the ability to expand and capitalize on Israeli technology, exporting it to the world,' said Rafi Musher, CEO of Stax Inc. 'Some states and countries are actively investing in facilitating these kinds of relationships, which drive long-lasting returns to their communities. Smart investors look for areas like this, with a track record and where momentum is building.'" (source)
According to the report by Stax Inc.
- Nearly 100 companies in Massachusetts are founded by Israelis or offer products based on Israeli technology.
- These businesses generated $2.4 billion in direct revenue in Massachusetts in 2009.
- In total, the direct and indirect revenue impact on the Massachusetts economy was $7.8 billion.
- From an employment perspective, these businesses directly generated 5,920 jobs in Massachusetts.
- 50 percent of these businesses focus on information technology, 29 percent are in life sciences, and the remainder in other industries.
- Israeli entrepreneurs chose Massachusetts over other U.S. destinations to launch or grow their enterprises due to the deep talent pool of educated workers, the opportunity to be part of an industry cluster, world class universities and outstanding business infrastructure.
'The data shows that both Israel and Massachusetts are hotbeds of innovation and the Mass venture and corporate community has the ability to expand and capitalize on Israeli technology, exporting it to the world,' said Rafi Musher, CEO of Stax Inc. 'Some states and countries are actively investing in facilitating these kinds of relationships, which drive long-lasting returns to their communities. Smart investors look for areas like this, with a track record and where momentum is building.'" (source)
(BLOG) EU-Funded Israeli NGO Launches Anti-Israel Computer Game
"The Israeli NGO Gisha - whose stated objective is to 'protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents' and uses 'legal assistance and public advocacy to protect the rights of Palestinian residents' – recently released a video game called Safe Passage.
Gisha – whose donors include New Israel Fund, the EU, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Oxfam GB, and (George Soros’s) Open Society Institute – is among the NGOs who characterize Israel using apartheid rhetoric. Gisha also, per NGO Monitor:
Further:
Gisha describes the game as an effort to 'inform about the legal and military measures that Israel uses to implement its policy of separation between the Gaza strip and the West Bank.' Their hope is that the game will encourage you to support Gisha in their efforts 'to allow for freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank…for 4 million Palestinians.'
(To give you a taste of the game, Safe Passage, it actually suggests that WAITING AT A BORDER CROSSING is a human rights violation. As a colleague noted, it seems that such a universal principle would require that US, Canada, and Mexico customs officials be immediately arrested and sent to the Hague. )" (source)
Gisha – whose donors include New Israel Fund, the EU, Norway, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, Oxfam GB, and (George Soros’s) Open Society Institute – is among the NGOs who characterize Israel using apartheid rhetoric. Gisha also, per NGO Monitor:
'promotes the false claim that Gaza remains ‘occupied’ under international law, and that Israel has a legal obligation to grant unfettered ‘freedom of movement’ to Gaza residents. Gisha’s claims were quoted in the Goldstone report in order to accuse Israel of enacting policies ‘in the pursuance by Israel of political goals at the expense of the civilian population, in blatant violation of international humanitarian law.’ '
Further:
'Gisha’s highly publicized 2008 campaign condemning Israel for barring Palestinian students’ travel from Gaza to Israel and to the United States under the Fulbright program erased Israel’s legitimated security concerns. Indeed, most of these 'students' were refused entry by the American government on security grounds.'
(To give you a taste of the game, Safe Passage, it actually suggests that WAITING AT A BORDER CROSSING is a human rights violation. As a colleague noted, it seems that such a universal principle would require that US, Canada, and Mexico customs officials be immediately arrested and sent to the Hague. )" (source)
(VIDEO) Islamic Cleric: Obama Must Convert To Islam, Or Else.....
Another psychotic Egyptian Islamic Cleric named Hassan Abu Al-Ashbal calls on President Obama to Convert to Islam, and Threatens: "We Have People Who are Eager to Die."
(VIDEO) Jews` Money Lending "Shylock" Behavior Caused Antisemitism Explains PA TV
More garbage media from the Palestinian Television...
"Video below: A history program on official Palestinian Authority television has repeated an odious PA distortion of history.
Since its inception, the PA has been rewriting the history of Zionism, teaching that the Jews came to Israel not because of their historical ties to the land, but because Europe wanted to be rid of 'the burden of its Jews,' [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 1998] and 'wanted to get rid of the Jews and their problems,' [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2009].
This message has appeared again in a PA TV history program, Witnesses and Testimonies. The program featured two Jordanian academics, who explained that the Jews' behavior had been 'harmful' to Europeans because of the Jews' 'great love of money.' They cited Shakespeare's fictitious character, the moneylender Shylock, as proof of this 'harmful' Jewish trait.
'This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them,' one of the academics explained.
As Palestinian Media Watch has reported, the idea that Jews were a threat to every nation in which they lived, and therefore had to be expelled, is an essential concept in the Palestinian Authority's denial of the Jewish connection to Israel, and the denial of Israel's right to exist.
According to this historical revision, Jews never had a history in Israel and would therefore never have created and supported the Zionist movement. In order to explain the Jewish ties to Israel, the PA claims that the Jews were so despised and were such a threat to every country in which they lived that the European nations sent their Jews to Israel to be free of the Jewish 'burden.'
PA TV is controlled by the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Jordanian academic Arafat Hijazi:
'150 years ago, when there were no Jews in Palestine, the Jews were in Europe, in Eastern Europe, but the Jews suffered from persecution by the European nations. The reason was that they would harm the people of the lands in which they lived. They had a problem: Wherever they went, they were expelled, and were imprisoned.'
Jordanian academic Muhammad Dohal:
'The Jews are hated in every society in which they have lived, because of their behavior relating to their great love of money. Their behavior led to [Shakespeare's] famous story, the story of Shylock about money lending, which clings to the Jews. This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them.'" (source)
"Video below: A history program on official Palestinian Authority television has repeated an odious PA distortion of history.
Since its inception, the PA has been rewriting the history of Zionism, teaching that the Jews came to Israel not because of their historical ties to the land, but because Europe wanted to be rid of 'the burden of its Jews,' [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 1998] and 'wanted to get rid of the Jews and their problems,' [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2009].
This message has appeared again in a PA TV history program, Witnesses and Testimonies. The program featured two Jordanian academics, who explained that the Jews' behavior had been 'harmful' to Europeans because of the Jews' 'great love of money.' They cited Shakespeare's fictitious character, the moneylender Shylock, as proof of this 'harmful' Jewish trait.
'This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them,' one of the academics explained.
As Palestinian Media Watch has reported, the idea that Jews were a threat to every nation in which they lived, and therefore had to be expelled, is an essential concept in the Palestinian Authority's denial of the Jewish connection to Israel, and the denial of Israel's right to exist.
According to this historical revision, Jews never had a history in Israel and would therefore never have created and supported the Zionist movement. In order to explain the Jewish ties to Israel, the PA claims that the Jews were so despised and were such a threat to every country in which they lived that the European nations sent their Jews to Israel to be free of the Jewish 'burden.'
PA TV is controlled by the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Jordanian academic Arafat Hijazi:
'150 years ago, when there were no Jews in Palestine, the Jews were in Europe, in Eastern Europe, but the Jews suffered from persecution by the European nations. The reason was that they would harm the people of the lands in which they lived. They had a problem: Wherever they went, they were expelled, and were imprisoned.'
Jordanian academic Muhammad Dohal:
'The Jews are hated in every society in which they have lived, because of their behavior relating to their great love of money. Their behavior led to [Shakespeare's] famous story, the story of Shylock about money lending, which clings to the Jews. This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them.'" (source)
(DISCOVER) Mahane Yehuda: Jerusalem's Ever-Evolving Market
"Video below: The Mahane Yehuda 'suk' in Jerusalem has been changing with the times for over a hundred years and shows no sign of slowing down.
When people in Jerusalem say they're going to the suk, they can only mean that they're on their way to the Mahane Yehuda open-air market.
Harvey Stein wended his way through Jerusalem's 100-year-old colorful and intoxicating market for ISRAEL21c and found one-of-a-kind boutiques proffering clothes and accessories alongside juice bars, pungent spices, candy and halva, exotic cheeses, fish, meat, poultry and Judaica.
There's also the 'etrog man', selling juice as well as creams, sprays, lotions and potions made from the sweet-scented etrog, or citron.
At the end of the 19th century the first merchants sold their wares in the area on an empty lot and in the 1920s, the British cleaned up the market, building the first permanent stalls and roofing.
The neighborhood around the market is filled with history, and still contains many old buildings and pilgrimage sites.
Jerusalem's Light Rail train, scheduled to begin operation in spring 2011, will stop right outside the Jaffa Street entrance to the market.
In addition to the clothing, artists cooperatives and trendy café chains have joined the traditional fresh fruits and vegetables so that today, the shopping experience in Jerusalem's suk has evolved into a leisure outing." (source)
When people in Jerusalem say they're going to the suk, they can only mean that they're on their way to the Mahane Yehuda open-air market.
Harvey Stein wended his way through Jerusalem's 100-year-old colorful and intoxicating market for ISRAEL21c and found one-of-a-kind boutiques proffering clothes and accessories alongside juice bars, pungent spices, candy and halva, exotic cheeses, fish, meat, poultry and Judaica.
There's also the 'etrog man', selling juice as well as creams, sprays, lotions and potions made from the sweet-scented etrog, or citron.
The neighborhood around the market is filled with history, and still contains many old buildings and pilgrimage sites.
Jerusalem's Light Rail train, scheduled to begin operation in spring 2011, will stop right outside the Jaffa Street entrance to the market.
In addition to the clothing, artists cooperatives and trendy café chains have joined the traditional fresh fruits and vegetables so that today, the shopping experience in Jerusalem's suk has evolved into a leisure outing." (source)
(TECH) Israeli Company Lets You Shop The US Without Leaving Your Chair
"Sears, Macy's and Bloomingdales are all on board with FiftyOne, the Israeli company that finally opened up American merchandise to the rest of the world, online.
While US culture, brands and entertainment have been exported to the four corners of the world, until recently, American retailers have had a hard time exporting their wares - despite the longing by tens of millions of people to shop the websites of American retail legends like Bloomingdales, Macy's, the Gap, and many others.
Now, with technology developed in Israel, fans of the latest US fashions across the globe can buy whatever they want from their favorite online stores, via a site administered by Israeli company FiftyOne.
Very few American companies have sold over the Internet to retail customers outside the country, not because they didn't want to, explains Mike DeSimone, CEO of FiftyOne, but because from a logistical/security standpoint it just wasn't feasible. Ensuring secure credit card transactions, converting between currencies, complying with import laws and paying duties were all a nightmare for retailers who were already working with razor-thin profit margins and didn't have the resources to develop an export department.
A win-win solution
Following the 2008 recession retailers were hit hard as consumers in the US began to do without.
'At that point, retailers realized that they needed to respond to the challenging sales environment if they wanted to continue to grow, and we were able to offer our services to them, to the extent that now there are many more US retailers selling abroad than there were just a few years ago,' DeSimone tells ISRAEL21c.
Indeed, a glance at FiftyOne's customer page is like taking a stroll through a virtual US mall, taking in names familiar to many shoppers like Sears, PacSun, Brookstone Johnston and Murphy, along with big web retailers like Overstock.com, Drugstore.com, Shoes.com, and many more.
Users in most countries outside the US (including Israel) can register on most sites with their home address and country of residence, and receive a display of the products available in their countries (just about everything is available, other than heavy appliances and furniture, which are mostly off-limits because of shipping issues).
After choosing their purchases, customers are forwarded to a site administered by FiftyOne, which calculates their shipping and duty charges. In essence, they do their buying through FiftyOne, while the retailers fill their order. It's great for the retailer, enthuses DeSimone, since he or she doesn't have to get involved in the details, and great for the consumers, who have the opportunity to shop for products and styles that may not be available where they live.
Investments to the tune of $30 m.
There are dozens of issues to consider in such transactions, notes DeSimone, with currency exchange being the least of them. Shipping - finding the cheapest service that promises the quickest delivery - is a concern, as are computing, collecting, and remitting customs duties and taxes.
Some items - like those containing GPS chips - cannot be legally exported from the US, and FiftyOne has to keep track of these and inform customers. Then there are the myriad, ever-changing regulations about what can and cannot be imported into particular countries. 'For example, you can't import leather into Italy,' DeSimone mentions, adding that he has become a far 'worldlier' person than he ever expected to be, after delving into the different rules and regulations.
FiftyOne employs 77 people in its offices in New York and Tel Aviv (where the programming and R&D are located). While DeSimone says he isn't at liberty to disclose specific numbers about particular companies, he will say that many of his clients do between three and 15 percent of their business through FiftyOne.
The company raised $4 million in its latest investment round, and since its inception has raised $30 million, through investors who have included Pitango Venture Capital, Plenus Venture Lending Fund, Delta Ventures, US funds Adam Street Partners, JPMorgan, Online Ventures, and private investors.
Sears, Macy's and Bloomingdales are on the list
FiftyOne didn't start out with the intention of becoming 'the world's marketplace.' For its first seven years the company was known as e4X and it enabled businesses to easily convert currencies to make international trade smoother.
It was founded in 1999 by Israeli serial startup entrepreneur Yuval Tal, who is now CEO of Payoneer, another company he started, that markets and provides service for prepaid MasterCards. According to DeSimone, FiftyOne emerged in 2007 when '... we realized that businesses working internationally had frustrations other than currency exchange. We asked them what they needed, and after all the suggestions, we realized we had the makings of an important service here.'
DeSimone maintains that FiftyOne offers the most comprehensive and extensive service of its kind. 'As retailers have sought solutions to international sales - after all, more than 80% of all online consumers live outside the United States - several other companies have gotten into the picture, so there is competition.
'But I'm very happy with our customer list. Companies like Sears, Macy's and Bloomingdales, among many others, are smart enough to make the right choice. I'm very happy to be in a business that is so helpful to US retailers, and that helps out the American economy and gives customers around the world the freedom of choice to get the products they want.'" (source)
While US culture, brands and entertainment have been exported to the four corners of the world, until recently, American retailers have had a hard time exporting their wares - despite the longing by tens of millions of people to shop the websites of American retail legends like Bloomingdales, Macy's, the Gap, and many others.
Now, with technology developed in Israel, fans of the latest US fashions across the globe can buy whatever they want from their favorite online stores, via a site administered by Israeli company FiftyOne.
A win-win solution
Following the 2008 recession retailers were hit hard as consumers in the US began to do without.
'At that point, retailers realized that they needed to respond to the challenging sales environment if they wanted to continue to grow, and we were able to offer our services to them, to the extent that now there are many more US retailers selling abroad than there were just a few years ago,' DeSimone tells ISRAEL21c.
Indeed, a glance at FiftyOne's customer page is like taking a stroll through a virtual US mall, taking in names familiar to many shoppers like Sears, PacSun, Brookstone Johnston and Murphy, along with big web retailers like Overstock.com, Drugstore.com, Shoes.com, and many more.
Users in most countries outside the US (including Israel) can register on most sites with their home address and country of residence, and receive a display of the products available in their countries (just about everything is available, other than heavy appliances and furniture, which are mostly off-limits because of shipping issues).
After choosing their purchases, customers are forwarded to a site administered by FiftyOne, which calculates their shipping and duty charges. In essence, they do their buying through FiftyOne, while the retailers fill their order. It's great for the retailer, enthuses DeSimone, since he or she doesn't have to get involved in the details, and great for the consumers, who have the opportunity to shop for products and styles that may not be available where they live.
Investments to the tune of $30 m.
There are dozens of issues to consider in such transactions, notes DeSimone, with currency exchange being the least of them. Shipping - finding the cheapest service that promises the quickest delivery - is a concern, as are computing, collecting, and remitting customs duties and taxes.
Some items - like those containing GPS chips - cannot be legally exported from the US, and FiftyOne has to keep track of these and inform customers. Then there are the myriad, ever-changing regulations about what can and cannot be imported into particular countries. 'For example, you can't import leather into Italy,' DeSimone mentions, adding that he has become a far 'worldlier' person than he ever expected to be, after delving into the different rules and regulations.
FiftyOne employs 77 people in its offices in New York and Tel Aviv (where the programming and R&D are located). While DeSimone says he isn't at liberty to disclose specific numbers about particular companies, he will say that many of his clients do between three and 15 percent of their business through FiftyOne.
The company raised $4 million in its latest investment round, and since its inception has raised $30 million, through investors who have included Pitango Venture Capital, Plenus Venture Lending Fund, Delta Ventures, US funds Adam Street Partners, JPMorgan, Online Ventures, and private investors.
FiftyOne didn't start out with the intention of becoming 'the world's marketplace.' For its first seven years the company was known as e4X and it enabled businesses to easily convert currencies to make international trade smoother.
It was founded in 1999 by Israeli serial startup entrepreneur Yuval Tal, who is now CEO of Payoneer, another company he started, that markets and provides service for prepaid MasterCards. According to DeSimone, FiftyOne emerged in 2007 when '... we realized that businesses working internationally had frustrations other than currency exchange. We asked them what they needed, and after all the suggestions, we realized we had the makings of an important service here.'
DeSimone maintains that FiftyOne offers the most comprehensive and extensive service of its kind. 'As retailers have sought solutions to international sales - after all, more than 80% of all online consumers live outside the United States - several other companies have gotten into the picture, so there is competition.
'But I'm very happy with our customer list. Companies like Sears, Macy's and Bloomingdales, among many others, are smart enough to make the right choice. I'm very happy to be in a business that is so helpful to US retailers, and that helps out the American economy and gives customers around the world the freedom of choice to get the products they want.'" (source)
(SOCIAL) Jewish Ethiopians Celebrating Sigd As A Part Of National Heritage
"For Israel's Ethiopian community, the Sigd holiday is one of the most significant of the year. Now it's becoming part of Israel's national tradition too.
At a ceremony at the President's House marking the Ethiopian Sigd holiday, President Shimon Peres marveled at how Ethiopian Jewry has survived not only an environment of assimilation, but also hostility from so many sides.
'This is truly a miracle,' he said, 'and it's not just your festival, it's the festival of the whole of Israel.' Indeed, the Sigd is entering the Israeli psyche as part of the national heritage.
This was the second consecutive year in which the Sigd festival activities were launched at Beit Hanassi and the 10th year in which Sigd was celebrated in Israel. The event coincided with the 25th anniversary of Operation Moses, the cooperative effort of the Mossad, the Israel Air Force and the Israel Navy to covertly transport some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
The holiday, which is also a fast day, is traditionally marked on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, which is 50 days after Yom Kippur. Unique to the Ethiopian Jewish community, Sigd was first celebrated in Israel by members of the Ethiopian community in the early 1980s.
In February 2008, MK Uri Ariel submitted legislation to the Knesset that would see Sigd established as an Israeli national holiday. The Knesset officially added Sigd to the list of state holidays in July 2008.
The word 'sigd' is Amharic word for 'prostration.' The celebration of the festival in Israel is marked by a fast and a gathering in Jerusalem, during which the Kessim (the Ethiopian religious leaders) read from the Orit (an Amharic version of the Torah). The ritual is followed by the breaking of the fast, dancing, and celebration." (source)
At a ceremony at the President's House marking the Ethiopian Sigd holiday, President Shimon Peres marveled at how Ethiopian Jewry has survived not only an environment of assimilation, but also hostility from so many sides.
'This is truly a miracle,' he said, 'and it's not just your festival, it's the festival of the whole of Israel.' Indeed, the Sigd is entering the Israeli psyche as part of the national heritage.
This was the second consecutive year in which the Sigd festival activities were launched at Beit Hanassi and the 10th year in which Sigd was celebrated in Israel. The event coincided with the 25th anniversary of Operation Moses, the cooperative effort of the Mossad, the Israel Air Force and the Israel Navy to covertly transport some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
In February 2008, MK Uri Ariel submitted legislation to the Knesset that would see Sigd established as an Israeli national holiday. The Knesset officially added Sigd to the list of state holidays in July 2008.
The word 'sigd' is Amharic word for 'prostration.' The celebration of the festival in Israel is marked by a fast and a gathering in Jerusalem, during which the Kessim (the Ethiopian religious leaders) read from the Orit (an Amharic version of the Torah). The ritual is followed by the breaking of the fast, dancing, and celebration." (source)
(NEWS) Top Gear TV Car Show Filming In Israel
"Video below: Israelis are ready to start their engines. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May - presenters of the Emmy-award-winning BBC TV series Top Gear about motor vehicles were seen crossing into Israel from Jordan on used roadsters in mid-October.
The crew was reportedly in Israel to film an episode of the show to be aired during the coming season and the trio was said to be on its way to Jerusalem. During the journey, the presenters would complete various tasks and improve their cars in the amusing and entertaining style for which the program has become famous.
While receiving acclaim for its visual style and presentation, the show has also drawn considerable criticism for its content and comments made by its presenters.
Images of the cars being brought into Israel showed some modifications for the Middle East environment. One vehicle was painted in camouflage colors and another had a nargileh pipe attached to its door.
During the coming season, to be aired in Britain in a few months, viewers will learn exactly what Clarkson, Hammond and May thought about Israel's roads.
Estimated to have 350 million viewers worldwide, first run episodes of Top Gear are broadcast in the UK on BBC Two and the program is also aired in the US, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.
The show's popularity has led to the creation of two international versions, in Australia and Russia.
A recent segment on the US television news magazine 60 Minutes was said to pull in 16 million viewers." (source)
The crew was reportedly in Israel to film an episode of the show to be aired during the coming season and the trio was said to be on its way to Jerusalem. During the journey, the presenters would complete various tasks and improve their cars in the amusing and entertaining style for which the program has become famous.
While receiving acclaim for its visual style and presentation, the show has also drawn considerable criticism for its content and comments made by its presenters.
Images of the cars being brought into Israel showed some modifications for the Middle East environment. One vehicle was painted in camouflage colors and another had a nargileh pipe attached to its door.
During the coming season, to be aired in Britain in a few months, viewers will learn exactly what Clarkson, Hammond and May thought about Israel's roads.
Estimated to have 350 million viewers worldwide, first run episodes of Top Gear are broadcast in the UK on BBC Two and the program is also aired in the US, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.
The show's popularity has led to the creation of two international versions, in Australia and Russia.
A recent segment on the US television news magazine 60 Minutes was said to pull in 16 million viewers." (source)
(ENVIRO) Israeli Galvanizing The Bedouins To Go Green
"Green architect Michal Vital-Baron is at the forefront of a movement that's introducing natural building techniques to the Bedouins in southern Israel.
In the shade of an expansive mulberry tree at the bottom of her family's rambling garden in leafy Karkur, in northern Israel, Michal Vital-Baron points to a pie chart on her laptop screen. 'You see how much energy is wasted in quarrying, transporting and building with these materials?' she asks.
A group of 15 burly Bedouin men from the southern village of Quasr Al-Sir soak up the data like diligent schoolchildren. They have been bused in from the distant Negev, and want to cram as much knowledge into the day as possible. Minutes earlier, they had returned from a visit to a nearby community garden, full of admiration for the local residents who had transformed a waste plot into a blooming organic vegetable garden.
Forty-seven-year-old Vital-Baron is one of a handful of Israeli architects specializing in 'natural building' - construction using materials such as straw bale, adobe, cordwood, stone and granite. She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, cares about the environment and is concerned about society, which is why helping the Negev Bedouins to help themselves is so important to her.
She also walks her talk. When the time came to renovate the family living room, she chose to rebuild the walls using compacted earth blocks. These are bricks made from highly-pressed soil that contain mineral, rather than organic substances.
Having completed several design courses conducted by Israel's permaculture guru Talia Schneider, Vital-Baron is about to hold her own (third) four-month permaculture design course - one of which was held for 15 Bedouin men and women in the southern city of Beersheba.
'She's opening our eyes'
Blue-eyed and soft-spoken, she somehow manages to penetrate male-dominated mindsets. 'The Bedouins have a lot of respect for me,' she tells ISRAEL21c. 'They have a term jaddah, which means a woman with power. It's mutual - I see in them people from whom I have much to learn: How to accept life when it's hard, without complaining. They are very optimistic people with boundless patience. It's hard to break their spirit. The Bedouin women see me as an example of what a woman - a mother - can achieve.'
Earlier that morning, she had introduced the Bedouin men to the concept of the ecological footprint. 'She's opening our eyes,' exclaims Ibrahim Elhwashla, head of the village council.
'Michal has taught us about green construction methods, heating and cooling of structures, energy consumption and waste reduction - things we didn't think about before.
'We don't have this knowledge - how to build permanent homes,' Elhwashla admits. 'Meeting Michal has introduced us to a different way of thinking, an ecological mindset. We want to strengthen this. Look at the young men - they want to learn. I'm convinced that this is the right way for us - closer to nature. The whole world is beginning to understand the ramifications of everything we do. If God made us from nature, we should protect it.'
Vital-Baron was a professional weaver ('one of the last weavers in Israel - the textile market is dead') for 15 years while raising three children. 'All that's behind me now - the last of my children left the nest two weeks ago.'
After studying interior design at the Hermelin College of Engineering in Netanya, she joined her mother's company, Edith Baron Interior Architecture, in 1995, following a family tradition. 'My grandfather, Zalman Baron, was one of the first designers of Tel Aviv. My father is an engineer and my mother an interior designer. I was a conventional architect who specialized in redesigning the interior of hotels,' she says.
Discovering the Earthships
In 2001, during a trip to the US, she first came across Earthships - sustainable homes made of natural and recycled materials - while working in a Jewish summer camp in Colorado. For three months, she watched how a complete Earthship, designed by green construction pioneer Michael Reynolds was built. She also travelled to Taos, New Mexico, to see up close the Greater World Earthship Community being constructed.
'I took plenty of notes. During this process I came to realize that we can do things naturally, with an added value to the environmental. These houses are pretty, but also practical, sturdy structures. I learned how to do things properly, taking into account both the environment and social factors.'
Upon her return, she completed Israel's first green architecture course, held under the auspices of the Environment Ministry, at the Israel Building Center on Kibbutz Ga'ash. 'The very concept was an urban legend in Israel at that point - something people talked about but had never actually done. The field was still in its infancy here in 2002.'
Vital-Baron focused on 'natural building' technologies, 'but I had no idea what to do with this knowledge at that point. The economy was in recession brought on by the second intifada, and my work at the family business was cut to three or four days a week. This left me with time to do other things.'
The breakthrough came when the NGO Bustan, which promotes sustainable community action among the Bedouins of the Negev desert, contacted her. The proposed project: To build a medical clinic in one of the dozens of Bedouin shanty settlements that dot the Negev, following a High Court decision that 'unrecognized' villages must receive medical services.
Together with the late architect Yuval Amir, she designed a 9x7 meter (29.5 x 23 foot) straw-and-mud structure for Wadi Na'am, a rambling collection of cinder block-and-tin shacks near the Ramat Hovav hazardous waste dump. An outer enclosure wall, built from adobe-covered tires filled with gravel and garbage, was built to protect the clinic from the Sharqia, or eastern desert wind.
Not a paradigm shift, but a strong trend
'The pracice of adobe/straw building has a history in Bedouin tradition, and this project reintroduced these sustainable, low-budget techniques. It was an amazing experience that brought hundreds of Jewish Israeli volunteers to unrecognized villages and made them aware of the problems the Bedouins face, and also exposed them to natural building,' she says.
Vital-Baron is keen to point out why Israelis need green building: 'Because we are exhausting our resources on quarrying, transportation and the accompanying air pollution. Construction is a heavy industry. Natural building has many advantages - that's why we're examining materials that are not quarried. A modern house with all the facilities can be built with natural materials, and be just as functional. Between 20 and 30 such houses already exist in Israel.'
In 2005 she went solo, opening one of Israel's first 'green' architecture companies. 'Only Yuval operated in the field of natural building at the time, and there were about five other companies with a declared environmental approach.'
During the latter half of the decade, interest in this unconventional field - and eventually job orders - began to increase. Now she is fully-booked and employs another architect.
'Most people turn to me asking for 'regular' construction or renovation, but with the added value of minimizing the environmental damage. I talk to them about making their homes solar passive, the importance of shade, insulation and lowering water usage.
'We offer the same services as a regular company but with a green emphasis. For example, conducting a thermal analysis of a house helps the owner decide what is worth investing in. The second group is those who want to build with their own hands. They need closer support, often physically on-site,' she explains.
'There are at least five to eight other companies similar to mine now, dealing with natural materials. It's unbelievable - only a few years ago it looked like a distant dream to me, but now everyone seems to be interested. It's too early to talk about a deep-rooted change of attitudes, a paradigm shift, but it's definitely a strong trend - and it's also coming from above.
Solutions in synch with surroundings
'There's more awareness of energy usage and saving, often the result of local councils and municipalities demanding greater insulation, shading, etc. in building design. It was nice working only with the hard-core environmentalists until now - but it makes me really happy to see official bodies making such demands,' she adds.
Vital-Baron's approach has been adopted by Quasr Al-sir, a neglected, litter-strewn desert shanty near Dimona, home to some 5,000 Bedouins. The rapidly expanding settlement received state recognition in 2006, joining the Abu Basma regional council that unites 11 such villages.
'The regional council has drawn up development plans, with demarcated plots of land, a school, kindergartens and a community center,' Vital-Baron relates. 'Bustan adopted the community center project and I planned it together with local residents - representatives of both the men and the women. It's been an interesting, unprecedented process that will serve as a platform for further development programs. Sustainable development is the way forward for the Bedouins,' she says, adding, 'I took all sorts of techniques that can be done with a local workforce - part of the idea is to train a core group of builders in the village.'
A group of 15, 18-to-30 year-old Bedouins - who would otherwise be unemployed - are working on her projects right now, learning the trade as they go. Earlier this year, they underwent a training course at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava desert, Israel's 'greenest' community, paid for by Bustan. 'The vision is to organize for them a long training course recognized by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry that would give them a professional qualification,' she says.
'We want to set up a community center for the elderly and youngsters of the village,' says Elhwashla, the local council head. 'We intend to start building in the coming months. There's a lack of belief among the Bedouins (the exception being Ahmed Amrani, who has been dubbed 'the green Bedouin') that it is possible, because our economic situation is so bad. But for a low price, we can make it happen. We want to be an example to other Bedouins.'" (source)
In the shade of an expansive mulberry tree at the bottom of her family's rambling garden in leafy Karkur, in northern Israel, Michal Vital-Baron points to a pie chart on her laptop screen. 'You see how much energy is wasted in quarrying, transporting and building with these materials?' she asks.
A group of 15 burly Bedouin men from the southern village of Quasr Al-Sir soak up the data like diligent schoolchildren. They have been bused in from the distant Negev, and want to cram as much knowledge into the day as possible. Minutes earlier, they had returned from a visit to a nearby community garden, full of admiration for the local residents who had transformed a waste plot into a blooming organic vegetable garden.
She also walks her talk. When the time came to renovate the family living room, she chose to rebuild the walls using compacted earth blocks. These are bricks made from highly-pressed soil that contain mineral, rather than organic substances.
Having completed several design courses conducted by Israel's permaculture guru Talia Schneider, Vital-Baron is about to hold her own (third) four-month permaculture design course - one of which was held for 15 Bedouin men and women in the southern city of Beersheba.
'She's opening our eyes'
Blue-eyed and soft-spoken, she somehow manages to penetrate male-dominated mindsets. 'The Bedouins have a lot of respect for me,' she tells ISRAEL21c. 'They have a term jaddah, which means a woman with power. It's mutual - I see in them people from whom I have much to learn: How to accept life when it's hard, without complaining. They are very optimistic people with boundless patience. It's hard to break their spirit. The Bedouin women see me as an example of what a woman - a mother - can achieve.'
Earlier that morning, she had introduced the Bedouin men to the concept of the ecological footprint. 'She's opening our eyes,' exclaims Ibrahim Elhwashla, head of the village council.
'Michal has taught us about green construction methods, heating and cooling of structures, energy consumption and waste reduction - things we didn't think about before.
'We don't have this knowledge - how to build permanent homes,' Elhwashla admits. 'Meeting Michal has introduced us to a different way of thinking, an ecological mindset. We want to strengthen this. Look at the young men - they want to learn. I'm convinced that this is the right way for us - closer to nature. The whole world is beginning to understand the ramifications of everything we do. If God made us from nature, we should protect it.'
Vital-Baron was a professional weaver ('one of the last weavers in Israel - the textile market is dead') for 15 years while raising three children. 'All that's behind me now - the last of my children left the nest two weeks ago.'
After studying interior design at the Hermelin College of Engineering in Netanya, she joined her mother's company, Edith Baron Interior Architecture, in 1995, following a family tradition. 'My grandfather, Zalman Baron, was one of the first designers of Tel Aviv. My father is an engineer and my mother an interior designer. I was a conventional architect who specialized in redesigning the interior of hotels,' she says.
Discovering the Earthships
In 2001, during a trip to the US, she first came across Earthships - sustainable homes made of natural and recycled materials - while working in a Jewish summer camp in Colorado. For three months, she watched how a complete Earthship, designed by green construction pioneer Michael Reynolds was built. She also travelled to Taos, New Mexico, to see up close the Greater World Earthship Community being constructed.
'I took plenty of notes. During this process I came to realize that we can do things naturally, with an added value to the environmental. These houses are pretty, but also practical, sturdy structures. I learned how to do things properly, taking into account both the environment and social factors.'
Upon her return, she completed Israel's first green architecture course, held under the auspices of the Environment Ministry, at the Israel Building Center on Kibbutz Ga'ash. 'The very concept was an urban legend in Israel at that point - something people talked about but had never actually done. The field was still in its infancy here in 2002.'
Vital-Baron focused on 'natural building' technologies, 'but I had no idea what to do with this knowledge at that point. The economy was in recession brought on by the second intifada, and my work at the family business was cut to three or four days a week. This left me with time to do other things.'
The breakthrough came when the NGO Bustan, which promotes sustainable community action among the Bedouins of the Negev desert, contacted her. The proposed project: To build a medical clinic in one of the dozens of Bedouin shanty settlements that dot the Negev, following a High Court decision that 'unrecognized' villages must receive medical services.
Together with the late architect Yuval Amir, she designed a 9x7 meter (29.5 x 23 foot) straw-and-mud structure for Wadi Na'am, a rambling collection of cinder block-and-tin shacks near the Ramat Hovav hazardous waste dump. An outer enclosure wall, built from adobe-covered tires filled with gravel and garbage, was built to protect the clinic from the Sharqia, or eastern desert wind.
'The pracice of adobe/straw building has a history in Bedouin tradition, and this project reintroduced these sustainable, low-budget techniques. It was an amazing experience that brought hundreds of Jewish Israeli volunteers to unrecognized villages and made them aware of the problems the Bedouins face, and also exposed them to natural building,' she says.
Vital-Baron is keen to point out why Israelis need green building: 'Because we are exhausting our resources on quarrying, transportation and the accompanying air pollution. Construction is a heavy industry. Natural building has many advantages - that's why we're examining materials that are not quarried. A modern house with all the facilities can be built with natural materials, and be just as functional. Between 20 and 30 such houses already exist in Israel.'
In 2005 she went solo, opening one of Israel's first 'green' architecture companies. 'Only Yuval operated in the field of natural building at the time, and there were about five other companies with a declared environmental approach.'
During the latter half of the decade, interest in this unconventional field - and eventually job orders - began to increase. Now she is fully-booked and employs another architect.
'Most people turn to me asking for 'regular' construction or renovation, but with the added value of minimizing the environmental damage. I talk to them about making their homes solar passive, the importance of shade, insulation and lowering water usage.
'We offer the same services as a regular company but with a green emphasis. For example, conducting a thermal analysis of a house helps the owner decide what is worth investing in. The second group is those who want to build with their own hands. They need closer support, often physically on-site,' she explains.
'There are at least five to eight other companies similar to mine now, dealing with natural materials. It's unbelievable - only a few years ago it looked like a distant dream to me, but now everyone seems to be interested. It's too early to talk about a deep-rooted change of attitudes, a paradigm shift, but it's definitely a strong trend - and it's also coming from above.
'There's more awareness of energy usage and saving, often the result of local councils and municipalities demanding greater insulation, shading, etc. in building design. It was nice working only with the hard-core environmentalists until now - but it makes me really happy to see official bodies making such demands,' she adds.
Vital-Baron's approach has been adopted by Quasr Al-sir, a neglected, litter-strewn desert shanty near Dimona, home to some 5,000 Bedouins. The rapidly expanding settlement received state recognition in 2006, joining the Abu Basma regional council that unites 11 such villages.
'The regional council has drawn up development plans, with demarcated plots of land, a school, kindergartens and a community center,' Vital-Baron relates. 'Bustan adopted the community center project and I planned it together with local residents - representatives of both the men and the women. It's been an interesting, unprecedented process that will serve as a platform for further development programs. Sustainable development is the way forward for the Bedouins,' she says, adding, 'I took all sorts of techniques that can be done with a local workforce - part of the idea is to train a core group of builders in the village.'
A group of 15, 18-to-30 year-old Bedouins - who would otherwise be unemployed - are working on her projects right now, learning the trade as they go. Earlier this year, they underwent a training course at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava desert, Israel's 'greenest' community, paid for by Bustan. 'The vision is to organize for them a long training course recognized by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry that would give them a professional qualification,' she says.
'We want to set up a community center for the elderly and youngsters of the village,' says Elhwashla, the local council head. 'We intend to start building in the coming months. There's a lack of belief among the Bedouins (the exception being Ahmed Amrani, who has been dubbed 'the green Bedouin') that it is possible, because our economic situation is so bad. But for a low price, we can make it happen. We want to be an example to other Bedouins.'" (source)
(NEWS) Historic German Jewish Children's Book Goes On Sale
"Six and a half decades after the Holocaust, the first Jewish publisher of children's books in Germany will issue its inaugural title on Monday.
Filmmaker and author Myriam Halberstam, a German-American Jew, said she set up 'Ariella Books' in May 2010 because there was a lack of children's books on Judaism in Germany.
'A Horse for Hanukkah' -- a humorous story about a horse who wreaks havoc on a family's celebrations during Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights -- is Halberstam's first attempt to cater for Germany's 200,000-strong Jewish community.
'At Christmas there are all these books you can buy for your children, but if you're Jewish and you want to read them something about Jewish holidays, you can't,' she told Reuters. 'I needed to create something for my own daughters.'
Presenting the book in Berlin's Jewish Museum on Friday, Halberstam said there was a need for the books in Germany because local communities had grown rapidly in recent years due to an influx of Jews from the former Soviet bloc after 1989.
Halberstam said she wanted to be able to pass on her Jewish identity to her two young daughters via the book, which is intended for children aged 4-8.
The 32-page book -- which is being published in English and German -- is not just aimed at Jews. Halberstam said she hoped Gentiles in Germany's increasingly multicultural society would also read the book and become aware of Jewish traditions.
'It would be nice if Jews and Judaism would become a normal part of German society -- but only if you know about Jews can they become normal,' she said.
Halberstam said the book, which features colorful illustrations by prize-winning U.S. illustrator Nancy Cote, was a 'milestone' on Judaism's path back to normality in Germany, whose Nazi leaders exterminated some 6 million European Jews.
'In Germany the Shoah is omnipresent, it's still in the media and it determines the relationship between Jews and non-Jews,' she said. 'I wanted to do something that looks to the future in a positive way without the burden of the past.'
Halberstam has pledged three euros from each 12.95 euro copy of 'A Horse for Hanukkah' sold to the German-Israeli foundation for children with cancer, a charity which aims to fight the disease and foster closer ties between the two countries.
Most German literature on Judaism still focuses on the Holocaust so it was important to have a book in which 'Jews are normal and nothing terrible happens to them,' she said.
'One has to remember the past but it's very difficult,' she said. 'When do you start burdening Jewish children with that, especially when you're living in Germany?'" (source)
Filmmaker and author Myriam Halberstam, a German-American Jew, said she set up 'Ariella Books' in May 2010 because there was a lack of children's books on Judaism in Germany.
'A Horse for Hanukkah' -- a humorous story about a horse who wreaks havoc on a family's celebrations during Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights -- is Halberstam's first attempt to cater for Germany's 200,000-strong Jewish community.
'At Christmas there are all these books you can buy for your children, but if you're Jewish and you want to read them something about Jewish holidays, you can't,' she told Reuters. 'I needed to create something for my own daughters.'
Presenting the book in Berlin's Jewish Museum on Friday, Halberstam said there was a need for the books in Germany because local communities had grown rapidly in recent years due to an influx of Jews from the former Soviet bloc after 1989.
Halberstam said she wanted to be able to pass on her Jewish identity to her two young daughters via the book, which is intended for children aged 4-8.
The 32-page book -- which is being published in English and German -- is not just aimed at Jews. Halberstam said she hoped Gentiles in Germany's increasingly multicultural society would also read the book and become aware of Jewish traditions.
'It would be nice if Jews and Judaism would become a normal part of German society -- but only if you know about Jews can they become normal,' she said.
Halberstam said the book, which features colorful illustrations by prize-winning U.S. illustrator Nancy Cote, was a 'milestone' on Judaism's path back to normality in Germany, whose Nazi leaders exterminated some 6 million European Jews.
'In Germany the Shoah is omnipresent, it's still in the media and it determines the relationship between Jews and non-Jews,' she said. 'I wanted to do something that looks to the future in a positive way without the burden of the past.'
Halberstam has pledged three euros from each 12.95 euro copy of 'A Horse for Hanukkah' sold to the German-Israeli foundation for children with cancer, a charity which aims to fight the disease and foster closer ties between the two countries.
Most German literature on Judaism still focuses on the Holocaust so it was important to have a book in which 'Jews are normal and nothing terrible happens to them,' she said.
'One has to remember the past but it's very difficult,' she said. 'When do you start burdening Jewish children with that, especially when you're living in Germany?'" (source)
(NEWS) 'Beat The Jew' Game Prompts High Schools To Increase Tolerance Education
"A high school where some students played the Internet game 'Beat the Jew' will receive a new tolerance curriculum, officials said.
The annoucement comes five months after officials a La Quinta High School in Riverside County disciplined students for playing the game.
'Administrators of the La Quinta High School and Desert Sands Unified School District have accepted Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area’s offer for Anti-Bias Education, to be delivered by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) 'A World of Difference' Institute,' said Bruce Landgarten, chief executive of the federation, in a statement. 'We applaud the Unified Districts for their commitment in this issue and appreciate ADL’s partnership in this project.'
Other school districts in that region were also to get the training, Landgarten said.
The game, which gathered participants via Facebook, is a complicated contest of tag, in which 'Jews' are taken, blindfolded, by car to a place off campus and have to make their way back to base while pursued by 'Nazis.'
Organizers had put up a Facebook page announcing the game that was 'friended' by some 40 students, of which seven participated.
The game took place on the night of May 20 on the grounds of La Quinta High School. No one was hurt." (source)
The annoucement comes five months after officials a La Quinta High School in Riverside County disciplined students for playing the game.
'Administrators of the La Quinta High School and Desert Sands Unified School District have accepted Jewish Federation of Palm Springs and Desert Area’s offer for Anti-Bias Education, to be delivered by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) 'A World of Difference' Institute,' said Bruce Landgarten, chief executive of the federation, in a statement. 'We applaud the Unified Districts for their commitment in this issue and appreciate ADL’s partnership in this project.'
Other school districts in that region were also to get the training, Landgarten said.
The game, which gathered participants via Facebook, is a complicated contest of tag, in which 'Jews' are taken, blindfolded, by car to a place off campus and have to make their way back to base while pursued by 'Nazis.'
Organizers had put up a Facebook page announcing the game that was 'friended' by some 40 students, of which seven participated.
The game took place on the night of May 20 on the grounds of La Quinta High School. No one was hurt." (source)
(ARTS) An Exuberant Comedy Of Jewishness
"Booker prize-winning novel thought-provoking amid belly laughs.
'The Finkler Question' - Howard Jacobson
His latest book has won this year's Man Booker prize, the most prestigious award in English literature, but fans of Howard Jacobson might be alarmed to discover that the main character in The Finkler Question is a gentile.
As it turns out, though, they needn't worry. Julian Treslove may not be Jewish, but in most other respects he's a typical Jacobson protagonist: a middle-aged man much given to tears, self-interrogation, a sense of imminent doom, falling heavily in love and regarding his male friends as his rivals. Above all, he's obsessed with Jews and Jewishness.
When The Finkler Question begins, Julian, a failed BBC producer, has just had dinner with two of his oldest friends/rivals. His old schoolmate, Sam Finkler, is now an irritatingly successful popularizer of philosophy and so Jewish that Julian privately thinks of Jews as 'Finklers' (hence, among other things, the book's title). Their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, is solidly kosher too -- and locked in an endless argument with Finkler about the State of Israel: Libor's for it, Finkler isn't.
Then, on the way home, Julian is mugged by someone who, he later becomes convinced, used the words 'you Jew' during the attack. What if the attacker knows more than he does? What if he is -- as he's perhaps always wanted to be -- Jewish too? Before long, he's certainly giving it his best shot, brushing up on his Yiddish, wondering if it's too late to get circumcised and moving in with a woman called Hephzibah Weizenbaum.
Not that he finds it easy to blend in with his 'fellow' Finklers. For one thing, there's their puzzling custom of telling jokes about themselves that they'd angrily resent from anyone else. (Luckily, this custom allows many of Jacobson's own gags to be fearlessly tasteless.) For another, even he can't really match their obsessiveness. After all, 'you have to be born and brought up a Jew to see the hand of Jews in everything. That or be born and brought up a Nazi.'
Meanwhile, Finkler is on a very different trajectory. Appearing on BBC's iconic Desert Island Discs (much, naturally, to Julian's envious horror), he declares that
Israel's treatment of the Palestinians makes him 'profoundly ashamed.' As a result, he's invited to join a group called 'Ashamed Jews,' who meet regularly to debate, often rancorously, just how outraged they are by the Zionists.
As this might suggest, The Finkler Question is quite a schematic novel, with the characters there primarily to embody the ideas that Jacobson wants to discuss. In a book never short of competing theories, plenty are put forward as to why Julian is so keen to be Jewish, but the main reason is surely just Jacobson's desire to set up a bitterly comic contrast between him and all the real Jews who seem so keen not to be.
There's also a full supporting cast representing every possible shade of Jewish opinion -- and, while Jacobson tries to follow the approved fictional practice of presenting the conflicting viewpoints and leaving the reader to judge, it's increasingly obvious which side he's on. The Ashamed Jews get a merciless (but extremely funny) kicking throughout.
And just in case that's not clear enough, the final sections deliver a series of fairly transparent author's messages warning about the uncomfortably close links between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, and savaging the glib parallels drawn by Israel's critics between the Holocaust and the events in Gaza.
By the end, in fact, the urgency of these messages is so unavoidable as to create the sense of a book that changed its own idea of what it should be as it went along -- as if Jacobson had gradually decided that, in such perilous Jewish times, some things are more important than turning in a well-ordered novel.
All this might have been more damaging if he wasn't so good at the disordered kind. The spectacle of him letting rip remains as exhilarating as ever -- and in any case, nobody will ever read his work for its decorous understatement. Jacobson has often said that one of his key writing mottoes is 'More is more' and here again he sticks firmly to that principle (only more so).
For some writers a thorough investigation of the situation of Jews today might do as the subject for a single book. In The Finkler Question it's combined with his characteristically unsparing -- but not unkindly -- ruminations on love, aging, death and grief. He also manages his customary -- but not easy -- trick of fusing all of the above with genuine comedy.
And sentence by sentence, there are few writers who exhibit the same unawed respect for language or such a relentless commitment to re-examining even the most seemingly unobjectionable of received wisdoms.
No wonder that, as with most of Jacobson's novels, you finish The Finkler Question feeling both faintly exhausted and richly entertained.
As the chair of this year's Booker judges said, it is 'a completely worthy winner of this great prize. The Finkler Question is a marvellous book: very funny, of course, but also very clever, very sad and very subtle.'
It is the 68-year-old author's 11th novel, though his first novel, Coming From Behind, only appeared when he was 40. He has been longlisted twice before for the Booker, in 2006 for Kalooki Nights and in 2002 for Who's Sorry Now.
Britain's press praised the Booker choice, with the Guardian newspaper hailing 'a victory for that most overlooked genre on literary prize lists, the comic novel.'
The Independent said awarding the prize to Jacobson 'broke the mould. It was predicted to be the most likely loser, not least because a comic novel has never satisfied the tastes of high-minded judges.'
Jacobson has often been compared with the American writer Philip Roth, who has also written on the themes of Jewishness and relationship. Jacobson himself however, begs to differ: 'I'm not the English Philip Roth, I'm a Jewish Jane Austen,' he told the Guardian newspaper in a recent interview.
He deplores the false categories of 'literature' and 'entertainment' as if they are mutually exclusive.
'I mean, I am a pleasure giver. I am an entertainer. I give fun. I make people laugh. I am not difficult, though there might be the occasional Yiddish word people don't know. It has always bewildered me that people don't want to read me in large numbers.'
Tongue-in-cheek? The point about Jacobson is that he's at his most serious when he's joking." (source)
'The Finkler Question' - Howard Jacobson
His latest book has won this year's Man Booker prize, the most prestigious award in English literature, but fans of Howard Jacobson might be alarmed to discover that the main character in The Finkler Question is a gentile.
As it turns out, though, they needn't worry. Julian Treslove may not be Jewish, but in most other respects he's a typical Jacobson protagonist: a middle-aged man much given to tears, self-interrogation, a sense of imminent doom, falling heavily in love and regarding his male friends as his rivals. Above all, he's obsessed with Jews and Jewishness.
When The Finkler Question begins, Julian, a failed BBC producer, has just had dinner with two of his oldest friends/rivals. His old schoolmate, Sam Finkler, is now an irritatingly successful popularizer of philosophy and so Jewish that Julian privately thinks of Jews as 'Finklers' (hence, among other things, the book's title). Their former teacher, Libor Sevcik, is solidly kosher too -- and locked in an endless argument with Finkler about the State of Israel: Libor's for it, Finkler isn't.
Then, on the way home, Julian is mugged by someone who, he later becomes convinced, used the words 'you Jew' during the attack. What if the attacker knows more than he does? What if he is -- as he's perhaps always wanted to be -- Jewish too? Before long, he's certainly giving it his best shot, brushing up on his Yiddish, wondering if it's too late to get circumcised and moving in with a woman called Hephzibah Weizenbaum.
Not that he finds it easy to blend in with his 'fellow' Finklers. For one thing, there's their puzzling custom of telling jokes about themselves that they'd angrily resent from anyone else. (Luckily, this custom allows many of Jacobson's own gags to be fearlessly tasteless.) For another, even he can't really match their obsessiveness. After all, 'you have to be born and brought up a Jew to see the hand of Jews in everything. That or be born and brought up a Nazi.'
Meanwhile, Finkler is on a very different trajectory. Appearing on BBC's iconic Desert Island Discs (much, naturally, to Julian's envious horror), he declares that
Israel's treatment of the Palestinians makes him 'profoundly ashamed.' As a result, he's invited to join a group called 'Ashamed Jews,' who meet regularly to debate, often rancorously, just how outraged they are by the Zionists.
As this might suggest, The Finkler Question is quite a schematic novel, with the characters there primarily to embody the ideas that Jacobson wants to discuss. In a book never short of competing theories, plenty are put forward as to why Julian is so keen to be Jewish, but the main reason is surely just Jacobson's desire to set up a bitterly comic contrast between him and all the real Jews who seem so keen not to be.
There's also a full supporting cast representing every possible shade of Jewish opinion -- and, while Jacobson tries to follow the approved fictional practice of presenting the conflicting viewpoints and leaving the reader to judge, it's increasingly obvious which side he's on. The Ashamed Jews get a merciless (but extremely funny) kicking throughout.
And just in case that's not clear enough, the final sections deliver a series of fairly transparent author's messages warning about the uncomfortably close links between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, and savaging the glib parallels drawn by Israel's critics between the Holocaust and the events in Gaza.
By the end, in fact, the urgency of these messages is so unavoidable as to create the sense of a book that changed its own idea of what it should be as it went along -- as if Jacobson had gradually decided that, in such perilous Jewish times, some things are more important than turning in a well-ordered novel.
All this might have been more damaging if he wasn't so good at the disordered kind. The spectacle of him letting rip remains as exhilarating as ever -- and in any case, nobody will ever read his work for its decorous understatement. Jacobson has often said that one of his key writing mottoes is 'More is more' and here again he sticks firmly to that principle (only more so).
For some writers a thorough investigation of the situation of Jews today might do as the subject for a single book. In The Finkler Question it's combined with his characteristically unsparing -- but not unkindly -- ruminations on love, aging, death and grief. He also manages his customary -- but not easy -- trick of fusing all of the above with genuine comedy.
And sentence by sentence, there are few writers who exhibit the same unawed respect for language or such a relentless commitment to re-examining even the most seemingly unobjectionable of received wisdoms.
No wonder that, as with most of Jacobson's novels, you finish The Finkler Question feeling both faintly exhausted and richly entertained.
As the chair of this year's Booker judges said, it is 'a completely worthy winner of this great prize. The Finkler Question is a marvellous book: very funny, of course, but also very clever, very sad and very subtle.'
It is the 68-year-old author's 11th novel, though his first novel, Coming From Behind, only appeared when he was 40. He has been longlisted twice before for the Booker, in 2006 for Kalooki Nights and in 2002 for Who's Sorry Now.
Britain's press praised the Booker choice, with the Guardian newspaper hailing 'a victory for that most overlooked genre on literary prize lists, the comic novel.'
The Independent said awarding the prize to Jacobson 'broke the mould. It was predicted to be the most likely loser, not least because a comic novel has never satisfied the tastes of high-minded judges.'
Jacobson has often been compared with the American writer Philip Roth, who has also written on the themes of Jewishness and relationship. Jacobson himself however, begs to differ: 'I'm not the English Philip Roth, I'm a Jewish Jane Austen,' he told the Guardian newspaper in a recent interview.
He deplores the false categories of 'literature' and 'entertainment' as if they are mutually exclusive.
'I mean, I am a pleasure giver. I am an entertainer. I give fun. I make people laugh. I am not difficult, though there might be the occasional Yiddish word people don't know. It has always bewildered me that people don't want to read me in large numbers.'
Tongue-in-cheek? The point about Jacobson is that he's at his most serious when he's joking." (source)
(NEWS) Israeli PM Orders Million-Dollar Armored Audi A8
"The specially adapted Audi A8 Security wll be delivered to Israel shortly.
The most expensive car ever to travel on our roads will arrive in Israel shortly.
This is the prime minister's new official car, an armored Audi A8 Security, which will replace various German and American cars used for the purpose up to now.
The official full price of the car, which is certified to the highest bullet-proofing classes B6+ and B7, according to the European standard, is $685 thousand dollars (about NIS 2.5 million) before taxes. However, the car ordered for Israel has many unique improvements and upgrades according to specifications of the Israeli security forces.
Automotive industry sources estimate the official price of the whole project, including additions, at $750-850 thousand dollars before taxes (NIS 2.7 = 3.1 million). Full tax is paid on official government cars, but often there is an exemption for the protection element, which forms a large part of the price of this vehicle. The price of the car including tax is therefore around $1 million (NIS 3.64 million).
The A8 Security was launched in late 2007. It is based on the W12 version of the Audi A8, with a 12-cylinder, 6-liter engine, with an output of some 450hp, and permanent four-wheel drive .According to the manufacturer's official data, it has an original, factory-produced, protected passenger compartment, proof against bullets and hand grenades. It has electronically controlled air suspension to support the great weight of the vehicle and the special safety systems.
The vehicle has safety features such as bullet-proof tires; and a device that blows the doors off if they have become jammed by shockwaves; an independent oxygen supply system; an automatic fire extinguishing system, and more. For passengers' comfort, a DVD player is installed in the back, with a wide screen, and there is a drinks fridge, and a device for keeping cigars moist.
The state has been previously procured A8 Security cars, used in recent years to transport VIPs.
One of them is now the official vehicle of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. However, these were standard cars, leased from Audi.
The Prime Minister's Office said, 'The vehicle intended for the prime minister has a high level of protection, as specified by the security forces, and was therefore chosen in a tender for vehicles capable of carrying the required protection level. The prime minister had no part in the decision making process on the type of vehicle. The matter was dealt with solely by professional staff.'" (source)
The most expensive car ever to travel on our roads will arrive in Israel shortly.
This is the prime minister's new official car, an armored Audi A8 Security, which will replace various German and American cars used for the purpose up to now.
The official full price of the car, which is certified to the highest bullet-proofing classes B6+ and B7, according to the European standard, is $685 thousand dollars (about NIS 2.5 million) before taxes. However, the car ordered for Israel has many unique improvements and upgrades according to specifications of the Israeli security forces.
Automotive industry sources estimate the official price of the whole project, including additions, at $750-850 thousand dollars before taxes (NIS 2.7 = 3.1 million). Full tax is paid on official government cars, but often there is an exemption for the protection element, which forms a large part of the price of this vehicle. The price of the car including tax is therefore around $1 million (NIS 3.64 million).
The A8 Security was launched in late 2007. It is based on the W12 version of the Audi A8, with a 12-cylinder, 6-liter engine, with an output of some 450hp, and permanent four-wheel drive .According to the manufacturer's official data, it has an original, factory-produced, protected passenger compartment, proof against bullets and hand grenades. It has electronically controlled air suspension to support the great weight of the vehicle and the special safety systems.
The vehicle has safety features such as bullet-proof tires; and a device that blows the doors off if they have become jammed by shockwaves; an independent oxygen supply system; an automatic fire extinguishing system, and more. For passengers' comfort, a DVD player is installed in the back, with a wide screen, and there is a drinks fridge, and a device for keeping cigars moist.
The state has been previously procured A8 Security cars, used in recent years to transport VIPs.
One of them is now the official vehicle of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. However, these were standard cars, leased from Audi.
The Prime Minister's Office said, 'The vehicle intended for the prime minister has a high level of protection, as specified by the security forces, and was therefore chosen in a tender for vehicles capable of carrying the required protection level. The prime minister had no part in the decision making process on the type of vehicle. The matter was dealt with solely by professional staff.'" (source)
(NEWS) Suspicious Materials Found At Texas, Baytown Synagogue
"BAYTOWN, Texas – Police believe a homeless man who had earlier been removed from the property of a synagogue may be responsible for suspicious materials found Saturday morning.
Police said around 9:30 a.m. officers received a call from a congregation member reporting criminal mischief at the Congregation K’Nesseth Israel Synagogue in the 100 block of W. Sterling.
Upon their arrival, officers found an American flag with wires wrapped around it on the doorstep and anti-Semitic messages taped to the door.
Authorities cordoned off a two-block area and halted railroad traffic while the scene was being investigated.
Police said an officer pulled up the flag and found the wires were not connected to anything, prompting authorities determined there was no danger, but the neighbor who called a member of the congregation said she did not want to take any chances.
'It was strange, been here for 10 years, I’ve never seen anything like that, so I had to call someone and let ‘em know what’s going on,' said Rufina Lafeiner.
Police said officers were called to the synagogue at around 1:30 a.m. after a homeless man was seen sleeping on the property. They believe he may be connected to the findings and want to question him." (source)
Police said around 9:30 a.m. officers received a call from a congregation member reporting criminal mischief at the Congregation K’Nesseth Israel Synagogue in the 100 block of W. Sterling.
Upon their arrival, officers found an American flag with wires wrapped around it on the doorstep and anti-Semitic messages taped to the door.
Authorities cordoned off a two-block area and halted railroad traffic while the scene was being investigated.
Police said an officer pulled up the flag and found the wires were not connected to anything, prompting authorities determined there was no danger, but the neighbor who called a member of the congregation said she did not want to take any chances.
'It was strange, been here for 10 years, I’ve never seen anything like that, so I had to call someone and let ‘em know what’s going on,' said Rufina Lafeiner.
Police said officers were called to the synagogue at around 1:30 a.m. after a homeless man was seen sleeping on the property. They believe he may be connected to the findings and want to question him." (source)
(BLOG) How A Quest To Save Soviet Jews Changed The World
"On Dec. 12, 1987, a quarter-million people gathered in Washington, D.C., on the eve of a historic summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. They came from all over the country to a rally aimed at freeing Jews in what was then the Soviet Union.
Among the speakers was George H.W. Bush, who was vice president at the time. In his speech, he echoed the words of Reagan at the Berlin Wall, 'Mr. Gorbachev,' he said, 'Let these people go. Let them go.'
Author Gal Beckerman explores that moment, and that movement, in his new book 'When They Come For Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry.'
He tells NPR's Guy Raz that the day after the rally, Reagan stood with Gorbachev in the Oval Office and asked if he'd seen footage of the demonstration.
'Gorbachev kind of shook it off, but it was clear this sent a very strong message,' Beckerman says.
A History Of Persecution
Jews had been persecuted in the Soviet Union through much of the 20th century. In 1970s Moscow, a city with hundreds of thousands of Jews, there was only one synagogue. Beckerman says there was no way to become a rabbi or even eat kosher food.
'Even more fundamentally than that, there was no way for Jews to even have a kind of secular Jewish identity that a lot of American Jews have — just a knowledge of their background, of their history, a little bit of a sense of Hebrew,' he says.
But Beckerman says Jews in the Soviet Union weren't demanding dozens of synagogues. They were just asking for the opportunity to learn more about their tradition which, he says, 'they knew for better or for worse they were a part of.' Later on, after constant denial, they just wanted to be able to leave the country. But that too was all but forbidden for decades.
Persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union started with a policy Joseph Stalin initiated in 1937. Every Soviet citizen was required to carry an internal passport and under 'nationality,' Jews were required to list 'Jewish.' Beckerman says this policy actually may have been a tough decision for Stalin.
'On the one hand, he followed this Leninist principle [that] all Soviet citizens should just melt into one general populace that doesn't have any distinctions for nationality,' he says.
'But on the other hand, he wanted to control this population and Jews always had kind of a strange place in the Russian society psyche, so he wanted to know who the Jews were.'
Beckerman says by the time the 1960s rolled around, many Soviet Jews had little positive sense of their Jewish identity.
'But they knew they were Jews because every time they applied for a job or had to move into a new apartment, they had to show these passports,' he says.
Desperate To Flee
While Soviet Jews could apply to leave the country, the vast majority were denied. They became known as 'refuseniks' and were often unable to get a job.
'You became almost a pariah inside of Soviet society and it led to a whole series of bad things that could happen to you,' he says. 'You'd lose your job, but then it was illegal to be without a job — you would be accused of parasitism. And then you suddenly had people who were former world renowned scientists working as stokers, shoveling coal or elevator operators, because the government would assign you to a job.'
Beckerman says many of those who were desperate to flee were Zionists — they wanted to go to Israel. In the summer of 1970, a group from Latvia was determined to make it there any way they could.
They decided to hijack a plane.
The group found a 12-seater scheduled to fly to Sweden. They planned to take over during a stopover in Finland.
But the plan never came to fruition. The KGB tackled and arrested some of the group on the tarmac the day they planned to hijack the plane.
'Just in the Soviet Union, if you had two people involved in anything, you could be sure that one of them was somehow talking to the KGB,' Beckerman says.
However, he says, the group wrote a sort of 'suicide note.'
'They wanted to make sure that if they were caught or killed in the process, the world would know somehow why they did this. The Soviets couldn't just paint them as criminals who were trying to hijack a plane.'
After the arrest, the Soviets seized the opportunity to paint the Latvians as religious extremists. The knew 'they could put on a very large show trial and show the world in fact, that these were not these idealistic Zionists that they said they were, but Zionism was really a mask for 'hooliganism,' Beckerman says.
And the end of a swift trial, the judge sentenced the group's two leaders to death. Beckerman says the verdict reverberated across the world.
'People couldn't believe that they had sentenced two men to death for a crime that hadn't actually committed in the end,' he says. 'It highlighted the total desperation of these people. Up until that point, it wasn't entirely clear that Soviet Jews were willing to go to that extent to get out; that they were suffering that much.
'That moment really turned this cause from being the province of just a few lonely but very committed activists, into a global cause that was not going to go away,' he says.
The Effect On U.S. Policy
As the movement gained more prominence, it began to influence the way the United States formulated its foreign policy. At the forefront of the shift was a senator for Washington state — Henry 'Scoop' Jackson.
Beckerman says Jackson's interest in the movement was triggered in August 1972 when the Soviets started to let out some Jews, but was requiring them to pay a 'diploma tax' for education they had received from the Soviet state. This bothered Jackson especially because, at the same time, they were involved with the U.S. in trade talks and seeking so-called 'preferred trading status.'
'Henry Jackson said, 'You know what, no. If they want these things — these goodies from the U.S. — they have to do something as well. And what we want from them in exchange is for them to change something about their internal policy that's making Soviet Jews in particular suffer,' ' Beckerman says.
Over the next decade, those sentiments had a profound influence on American foreign policy.
'Every time Gorbachev would walk into meeting with Reagan by the mid-'80s, the first thing Reagan would do — and we see this in memoirs and oral histories — is Reagan would pull out a piece of paper with names of Soviet Jews who had been refused visas or had been somehow sent to prison for their activism and he said, 'Well if you want to talk, first we have to discuss these names,'' Beckerman says.
Eventually emigration restrictions eased and Soviet Jews were allowed to leave in larger numbers. Among those who left are Avigdor Lieberman, now Israel's foreign minister, and Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.
'It's a testament to how large this group was and how varied they are,' Beckerman says." (source)
Among the speakers was George H.W. Bush, who was vice president at the time. In his speech, he echoed the words of Reagan at the Berlin Wall, 'Mr. Gorbachev,' he said, 'Let these people go. Let them go.'
Author Gal Beckerman explores that moment, and that movement, in his new book 'When They Come For Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry.'
He tells NPR's Guy Raz that the day after the rally, Reagan stood with Gorbachev in the Oval Office and asked if he'd seen footage of the demonstration.
'Gorbachev kind of shook it off, but it was clear this sent a very strong message,' Beckerman says.
A History Of Persecution
Jews had been persecuted in the Soviet Union through much of the 20th century. In 1970s Moscow, a city with hundreds of thousands of Jews, there was only one synagogue. Beckerman says there was no way to become a rabbi or even eat kosher food.
'Even more fundamentally than that, there was no way for Jews to even have a kind of secular Jewish identity that a lot of American Jews have — just a knowledge of their background, of their history, a little bit of a sense of Hebrew,' he says.
But Beckerman says Jews in the Soviet Union weren't demanding dozens of synagogues. They were just asking for the opportunity to learn more about their tradition which, he says, 'they knew for better or for worse they were a part of.' Later on, after constant denial, they just wanted to be able to leave the country. But that too was all but forbidden for decades.
Persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union started with a policy Joseph Stalin initiated in 1937. Every Soviet citizen was required to carry an internal passport and under 'nationality,' Jews were required to list 'Jewish.' Beckerman says this policy actually may have been a tough decision for Stalin.
'On the one hand, he followed this Leninist principle [that] all Soviet citizens should just melt into one general populace that doesn't have any distinctions for nationality,' he says.
'But on the other hand, he wanted to control this population and Jews always had kind of a strange place in the Russian society psyche, so he wanted to know who the Jews were.'
Beckerman says by the time the 1960s rolled around, many Soviet Jews had little positive sense of their Jewish identity.
'But they knew they were Jews because every time they applied for a job or had to move into a new apartment, they had to show these passports,' he says.
Desperate To Flee
While Soviet Jews could apply to leave the country, the vast majority were denied. They became known as 'refuseniks' and were often unable to get a job.
'You became almost a pariah inside of Soviet society and it led to a whole series of bad things that could happen to you,' he says. 'You'd lose your job, but then it was illegal to be without a job — you would be accused of parasitism. And then you suddenly had people who were former world renowned scientists working as stokers, shoveling coal or elevator operators, because the government would assign you to a job.'
Beckerman says many of those who were desperate to flee were Zionists — they wanted to go to Israel. In the summer of 1970, a group from Latvia was determined to make it there any way they could.
They decided to hijack a plane.
The group found a 12-seater scheduled to fly to Sweden. They planned to take over during a stopover in Finland.
But the plan never came to fruition. The KGB tackled and arrested some of the group on the tarmac the day they planned to hijack the plane.
'Just in the Soviet Union, if you had two people involved in anything, you could be sure that one of them was somehow talking to the KGB,' Beckerman says.
However, he says, the group wrote a sort of 'suicide note.'
'They wanted to make sure that if they were caught or killed in the process, the world would know somehow why they did this. The Soviets couldn't just paint them as criminals who were trying to hijack a plane.'
After the arrest, the Soviets seized the opportunity to paint the Latvians as religious extremists. The knew 'they could put on a very large show trial and show the world in fact, that these were not these idealistic Zionists that they said they were, but Zionism was really a mask for 'hooliganism,' Beckerman says.
And the end of a swift trial, the judge sentenced the group's two leaders to death. Beckerman says the verdict reverberated across the world.
'People couldn't believe that they had sentenced two men to death for a crime that hadn't actually committed in the end,' he says. 'It highlighted the total desperation of these people. Up until that point, it wasn't entirely clear that Soviet Jews were willing to go to that extent to get out; that they were suffering that much.
'That moment really turned this cause from being the province of just a few lonely but very committed activists, into a global cause that was not going to go away,' he says.
The Effect On U.S. Policy
As the movement gained more prominence, it began to influence the way the United States formulated its foreign policy. At the forefront of the shift was a senator for Washington state — Henry 'Scoop' Jackson.
Beckerman says Jackson's interest in the movement was triggered in August 1972 when the Soviets started to let out some Jews, but was requiring them to pay a 'diploma tax' for education they had received from the Soviet state. This bothered Jackson especially because, at the same time, they were involved with the U.S. in trade talks and seeking so-called 'preferred trading status.'
'Henry Jackson said, 'You know what, no. If they want these things — these goodies from the U.S. — they have to do something as well. And what we want from them in exchange is for them to change something about their internal policy that's making Soviet Jews in particular suffer,' ' Beckerman says.
Over the next decade, those sentiments had a profound influence on American foreign policy.
'Every time Gorbachev would walk into meeting with Reagan by the mid-'80s, the first thing Reagan would do — and we see this in memoirs and oral histories — is Reagan would pull out a piece of paper with names of Soviet Jews who had been refused visas or had been somehow sent to prison for their activism and he said, 'Well if you want to talk, first we have to discuss these names,'' Beckerman says.
Eventually emigration restrictions eased and Soviet Jews were allowed to leave in larger numbers. Among those who left are Avigdor Lieberman, now Israel's foreign minister, and Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google.
'It's a testament to how large this group was and how varied they are,' Beckerman says." (source)
(ARTS) Israel Film Festival Opens With Hollywood Actors
"The 25th Anniversary Gala for the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles attracted a number of Hollywood stars to the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Among the honourees this year are Richard Dreyfuss (actor and founder of the Dreyfuss Initiative), Avi Lerner (Co-Chairman & CEO of Nu Image/Millennium Films, The Expendables) and Jon Landau (COO of Lightstorm Entertainment, producer of Avatar, The Titanic).
Dreyfuss received the festival’s Career Achievement Award; actor Topher Grace presented Ryan Kavanaugh with the Outstanding Achievement in Film Award; and Sylvester Stallone was on hand to present Lerner (who recently produced The Expendables, starring Stallone) with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
'It was an incredible evening with each of the honourees speaking so passionately about Israel and praising the success of the Israeli film industry around the world,' founder and executive director of the festival Meir Fenigstein said in a statement.
Comedian Elon Gold acted as the Master of Ceremonies for the gala, which featured many Israeli directors, including Avi Nesher. Nesher’s film The Matchmaker (which premiered at TIFF) opened the festival.
This year’s featival -- which runs until Nov. 4 in Los Angeles -- will feature two closing night films: The Human Resources Manager, Israel’s Oscar entry, and Precious Life, a documentary that had its premiere at TIFF.
Turn Left at the End of the World, I’m Not Jerusalem, Rage and Glory, Out of the Box, Neighbors and Murders, Lone Samaritan, A Duck’s Journey, Theives by Law, Amos Oz: The Nature of Dreams, I’m Not Filipina, Blood Relation, A History of Israeli Cinema, A Matter of Size and There Were Nights will also be screened at the festival.
For more information and to see the complete list of films, visit www.israelfilmfestival.com." (source)
Dreyfuss received the festival’s Career Achievement Award; actor Topher Grace presented Ryan Kavanaugh with the Outstanding Achievement in Film Award; and Sylvester Stallone was on hand to present Lerner (who recently produced The Expendables, starring Stallone) with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
'It was an incredible evening with each of the honourees speaking so passionately about Israel and praising the success of the Israeli film industry around the world,' founder and executive director of the festival Meir Fenigstein said in a statement.
Comedian Elon Gold acted as the Master of Ceremonies for the gala, which featured many Israeli directors, including Avi Nesher. Nesher’s film The Matchmaker (which premiered at TIFF) opened the festival.
This year’s featival -- which runs until Nov. 4 in Los Angeles -- will feature two closing night films: The Human Resources Manager, Israel’s Oscar entry, and Precious Life, a documentary that had its premiere at TIFF.
Turn Left at the End of the World, I’m Not Jerusalem, Rage and Glory, Out of the Box, Neighbors and Murders, Lone Samaritan, A Duck’s Journey, Theives by Law, Amos Oz: The Nature of Dreams, I’m Not Filipina, Blood Relation, A History of Israeli Cinema, A Matter of Size and There Were Nights will also be screened at the festival.
For more information and to see the complete list of films, visit www.israelfilmfestival.com." (source)
(NEWS) Stolen Torah Returned To Phoenix Synagogue
"A Torah that was stolen from the Young Israel of Phoenix last week has made its way back.
How exactly it made its way back remains a bit of a mystery — as is the question, whether a reward placed on the website Craigslist for the Sefer Torah return played a role. The SEfer Torah, valued at $35,000, was recovered by detectives Friday, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a police spokesman.
Officials are still investigating the case and no arrests have been made.
A member of the Shul reportedly placed an ad on the popular website offering a $500 reward for anyone who could help locate the Sefer Torah or for the burglar to bring it back, Rabbi Reuvan Mann said.
Police could not say Friday whether the Craigslist ad led to the return of the Sefer Torah, or elaborate on the circumstances on how it was retrieved by investigators.
The Young Israel Synagogue of Phoenix, near Seventh Street and Maryland Avenue, was burglarized Monday and one of the Shul’s three Sifrei Torah was among several items taken.
'We are extremely appreciative,' said Rabbi Mann, 'It was returned in perfect condition, which is more than we could have hoped for.'" (source)
How exactly it made its way back remains a bit of a mystery — as is the question, whether a reward placed on the website Craigslist for the Sefer Torah return played a role. The SEfer Torah, valued at $35,000, was recovered by detectives Friday, said Sgt. Steve Martos, a police spokesman.
Officials are still investigating the case and no arrests have been made.
A member of the Shul reportedly placed an ad on the popular website offering a $500 reward for anyone who could help locate the Sefer Torah or for the burglar to bring it back, Rabbi Reuvan Mann said.
Police could not say Friday whether the Craigslist ad led to the return of the Sefer Torah, or elaborate on the circumstances on how it was retrieved by investigators.
The Young Israel Synagogue of Phoenix, near Seventh Street and Maryland Avenue, was burglarized Monday and one of the Shul’s three Sifrei Torah was among several items taken.
'We are extremely appreciative,' said Rabbi Mann, 'It was returned in perfect condition, which is more than we could have hoped for.'" (source)
(NEWS) West Bank Terrorists Open Fire On Israeli Vehicle
"Terrorists fire at settler couple traveling near Bethlehem; No injuries reported in attack.
Another West Bank terror attack: An Israeli vehicle was fired at Saturday evening northwest of Bethlehem.
No injuries were reported in the shooting attack.
A couple residing in the settlement of Har Gilo was traveling from the Mount Hebron area to Jerusalem when it came under fire. Security forces identified bullet holes on the vehicle."
Related Article:
Another West Bank terror attack: An Israeli vehicle was fired at Saturday evening northwest of Bethlehem.
No injuries were reported in the shooting attack.
A couple residing in the settlement of Har Gilo was traveling from the Mount Hebron area to Jerusalem when it came under fire. Security forces identified bullet holes on the vehicle."
Related Article:
(TECH) Israeli Technology Has Chief Role In Battling World Threats
"Migdal H’aemek company HTS's Container Code Recognition system controls half of the international market.
On Sunday, Israel begins to host the first three-day International Homeland Security Conference, showcasing locally developed and manufactured solutions to terrorism threats before security experts and decision-makers from around the world. One of the companies that will be presenting its products is Hi-Tech Solutions (HTS), a company based near Migdal Ha’emek that specializes in image processing and computer vision technologies, mechanisms critical for a wide variety of civilian and security applications.
Established in 1992, the company saw its first commercial product sold in 2000. HTS’s proprietary technology provides both digital and video image records, for direct recognition, identification and recording of alphanumeric and graphic codes."
On Sunday, Israel begins to host the first three-day International Homeland Security Conference, showcasing locally developed and manufactured solutions to terrorism threats before security experts and decision-makers from around the world. One of the companies that will be presenting its products is Hi-Tech Solutions (HTS), a company based near Migdal Ha’emek that specializes in image processing and computer vision technologies, mechanisms critical for a wide variety of civilian and security applications.
Established in 1992, the company saw its first commercial product sold in 2000. HTS’s proprietary technology provides both digital and video image records, for direct recognition, identification and recording of alphanumeric and graphic codes."
(ARTS) Bulgaria's Plovdiv Hosts Top Israeli Artists Exhibit
"Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv became Friday the host of an exhibit of works of Israel's top artists.
The exhibit, including masterpieces of over 10 Israeli authors, is on display at the office of the Bulgarian Member of the European Parliament from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, Emil Stoyanov, and promises to become on of the key Bulgaria-Israel art events of the year.
The works include oil paintings, graphics, photographs and video installations, Stoyanov press center informs.
The display was officially opened by the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Bulgaria, Noah Gal Gendler, and Deputy Foreign Minister, Dimitar Tsachev, in the presence of the Israeli Member of the Parliament, Lia Shemtov, the Mayor of Haifa, Israel Savion, and members of the Bulgarian Jewish community.
The event was covered by the largest circulating daily in Israel – Haaretz.
Stoyanov is the organizer of the exhibit under his capacity of member if the EP Delegation for Israeli Relations." (source)
The exhibit, including masterpieces of over 10 Israeli authors, is on display at the office of the Bulgarian Member of the European Parliament from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party, Emil Stoyanov, and promises to become on of the key Bulgaria-Israel art events of the year.
The works include oil paintings, graphics, photographs and video installations, Stoyanov press center informs.
The display was officially opened by the Ambassador of the State of Israel to Bulgaria, Noah Gal Gendler, and Deputy Foreign Minister, Dimitar Tsachev, in the presence of the Israeli Member of the Parliament, Lia Shemtov, the Mayor of Haifa, Israel Savion, and members of the Bulgarian Jewish community.
The event was covered by the largest circulating daily in Israel – Haaretz.
Stoyanov is the organizer of the exhibit under his capacity of member if the EP Delegation for Israeli Relations." (source)
(BLOG) Palestinians Can't Handle The Truth
"By Abby Wisse Schachter: In a shocking (shocking!) development, a UN apparachik has spoken the truth about Palestinian refugees. And predictably the man is being attacked and condemned.
Andrew Whitley, the New York Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said the following at a recent conference:
'We recognize, as I think most do, although it's not a position that we publicly articulate, that the right of return is unlikely to be exercised to the territory of Israel to any significant or meaningful extent,' Whitley told an audience at the National Council for US-Arab Relations conference. 'It's not a politically palatable issue, it's not one that UNRWA publicly advocates, but nevertheless it's a known contour to the issue.' Instead of entertaining that 'cruel illusion,' he continued, Palestinians should start considering 'their own role in the societies where they are, rather than being left in a state of limbo where they are helpless.'
UNRWA has been responsible for providing aid and services to Palestinian refugees since 1949. At that time there were approximately 700,000 refugees. Now there are estimated to be 5 million since refugee status was made transferrable to the next generation and -- more importantly -- because the places where the original refugees ended up, Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza have done nothing to integrate them into the surrounding society.
As Ben Cohen notes , it is hard to fault Whitley for his logic. 'Of the 50 million people who lost their homes because of war and conflict in the twentieth century, practically none of the original displaced returned to their homes, never mind their descendants. The historical record shows that refugees - like those 17,000 displaced Jews administered to by UNRWA back in 1950 - are invariably absorbed by host countries.'
Ah, but the Arabs have refused to absorb any Palestinians because that would have prevented them from using these poor souls as political bludgeon with which to beat Israel. So the reaction to Whitley's extraordinarily reasonable statement was predictably extreme. The Jordanians have condemned him , Hamas has threatened him and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat denies there is any validity to Whitley's position .
There are two tragedies about this episode. First, it simply a fact that Whitley had the extreme good sense to allude to that Israel will not commit suicide by permitting million of Palestinians who have no claim to the Jewish State to 'return' there. And second, it has been more than 60 years that millions of Palestinians live in miseable conditions in refugee camps because the powers that be will not let them have civil and equal rights. The result is news reports about the current condition of refugee camps in Lebanon which another UNRWA representative says are as bad as the camps in Gaza.
Those who wear the label of 'friend of the Palestinian' are exactly the ones who are, in fact, doing that people the greatest harm." (source)
Andrew Whitley, the New York Director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said the following at a recent conference:
'We recognize, as I think most do, although it's not a position that we publicly articulate, that the right of return is unlikely to be exercised to the territory of Israel to any significant or meaningful extent,' Whitley told an audience at the National Council for US-Arab Relations conference. 'It's not a politically palatable issue, it's not one that UNRWA publicly advocates, but nevertheless it's a known contour to the issue.' Instead of entertaining that 'cruel illusion,' he continued, Palestinians should start considering 'their own role in the societies where they are, rather than being left in a state of limbo where they are helpless.'
UNRWA has been responsible for providing aid and services to Palestinian refugees since 1949. At that time there were approximately 700,000 refugees. Now there are estimated to be 5 million since refugee status was made transferrable to the next generation and -- more importantly -- because the places where the original refugees ended up, Jordan, Lebanon, Gaza have done nothing to integrate them into the surrounding society.
As Ben Cohen notes , it is hard to fault Whitley for his logic. 'Of the 50 million people who lost their homes because of war and conflict in the twentieth century, practically none of the original displaced returned to their homes, never mind their descendants. The historical record shows that refugees - like those 17,000 displaced Jews administered to by UNRWA back in 1950 - are invariably absorbed by host countries.'
Ah, but the Arabs have refused to absorb any Palestinians because that would have prevented them from using these poor souls as political bludgeon with which to beat Israel. So the reaction to Whitley's extraordinarily reasonable statement was predictably extreme. The Jordanians have condemned him , Hamas has threatened him and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat denies there is any validity to Whitley's position .
There are two tragedies about this episode. First, it simply a fact that Whitley had the extreme good sense to allude to that Israel will not commit suicide by permitting million of Palestinians who have no claim to the Jewish State to 'return' there. And second, it has been more than 60 years that millions of Palestinians live in miseable conditions in refugee camps because the powers that be will not let them have civil and equal rights. The result is news reports about the current condition of refugee camps in Lebanon which another UNRWA representative says are as bad as the camps in Gaza.
Those who wear the label of 'friend of the Palestinian' are exactly the ones who are, in fact, doing that people the greatest harm." (source)
(VIDEO) Hemp Bagels, Hummus In A Bottle At Kosherfest 2010
Hummus in a bottle and a kosher hemp bagel were just some of the foods that caught our eye at Kosherfest, the annual kosher food trade show. JTA's Adam Soclof and Uri Fintzy have the scoop:
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