Sounds Familiar

I would like to quote a few lines from a difficult story in yesterday morning's Times newspaper about the Security Fence:

TO REACH the baked earth of his mustard field each day, Mohammed Safiqual Biswas must pass coils of barbed wire and armed guards and show his identity card at a security check. The problem is not where Mr Biswas has come from, but where he is going to.... Mr Biswas and his village of 2,000 people will be sealed off from their own country. More than 1,300 miles of the barrier has been erected in the six years since building began.....a 12ft double fence packed with razor wire.

100,000 citizens live and farm on a 150-yard patch of land hugging the international border known officially as “the zero line”, and they live on the wrong side of the fence’s designated path. Entire villages, including schools... and mosques lie in what will effectively become no man’s land.

Sound familiar? Yet another condemnation of Israel's "apartheid fence"!

Well actually..there's a catch. The Times article isn't about Israel at all! It's about India's construction of a 2,500 mile steel barrier along its border with Bangladesh to keep out terrorists. Indeed, the article continues, while the world’s attention has been focused on the Israeli security barrier sealing off the West Bank, India has been building a far longer fence to keep out Islamic militants.

Bearing in mind the close ties between Israel and India, Israel's officials will not be rushing out to single out India's construction of a barrier to justify the building of their own security fence. Even so, Israel's friends around the world would do well to use the Indian case in order to emphasize that other democracies around the world are doing exactly what Israel is doing to defend their populations.

In the meantime, I look forward to seeing The Guardian, the Independent and the Stop the War Coalition focusing their energies on the Indian Government's security barrier. I may have to wait a very long time.

Modern Orthodox - what?

Paul of Bloghd fame was surprised to find that he was labeled "Left Wing Modern Orthodox" when he took the orthodoxy test.

I am more surprised to find that I have only been labeled "Modern Orthodox" without the "Left Wing"part. I can only assume it has more to do with my views on feminism in Judaism than whether or not I am politically left leaning.

Not sure how much stock I put in the results - but Kudos to LamedZayin for a great time waster!

Bits and Bobs

Merry Anniversary to us! I say Merry - because we got married 2 years ago on Christmas day. We celebrated last night by going out to Jerusalem's only Kosher Irish pub, O'Connels. It was good but didn't feel very Irish or Pubby.

Speaking of things that don't feel like they should - I grew up in a city in Australia famous for the biggest Kosher barbecue and beach gathering on Christmas day in the world. It's weird to have snow/sleet on Christmas.

More on Christmas! Anyone else notice more and more "Christmas" in Israel each year. Like waking this year to church bells, and my local supermarket in Talpiot selling Santa Clause Hessian bags filled with sweets and chocolates or Galgalatz playing Christmas songs? Or is it just me?

Anyway... Happy Channukah!

New Doctor Who? Series

We finally got to watch the controversial first episode of the new Doctor Who series that received rave reviews throughout the UK.

I can't ever remember being a Doctor Who fan but I am certainly familiar with the characters and noises. I rather enjoyed it - and thoroughly amused myself when I said to my husband afterwards.

"It's a bit like watching Eastenders on drugs" :)

Happy Birthday Nushworld!

Admittedly a little bit late!

9th December was Nushworld's 1st Birthday. Hopefully there is enough life in us for another year.

Thanks to guest bloggeres, Ushyman and Rampisad. May the blogging bug continue to inspire you. (now please write something)


N

A weird blog world!

I sometimes check out my sitemeter to see who is checking me out - and it is not surprising that I get some really weird referrers.

Like this one, a google request for "baby food "badatz kosher ". Which in turn led the searcher to my blog post here, about the Frum guy in jail for some porn misdemeanors, who requested Kosher Badatz food.

:)

MEME Eilat Style!

I have been MEME'd and told off for not MEMEing about my Eilat experience.

Here goes!

5 questions you don't believe you are hearing on a bus full of people going down to Eilat for the weekend.

1. Is that our land or theirs?

2. That view is so beautiful - it must be ours - is it our land?

3. How come there are mountains on the Jordanian side?

4. Is the water salty also on the Jordanian side or only on ours?

5. Can you stop the bus I need to puke (chuck, throw, vomit, hurl, barf, ralph etc....)

5 Things you absolutely have to do in Eilat!

1. Relax by the pool with trashy British magazines. How else would I know that Christine Aguilera married a Jewish guy under a Gothic Chupah in a "Jewish Style" wedding, where they served macaroni and cheese and hamburgers at the reception?

2. Eat good food, however, I highly recommend you don't stay at the Laguna hotel for any gastronomic pleasure.

3. Scuba Dive, if you can't scuba dive then try snuba and if you can't snuba then snorkling is the next best option. The fish are not to be missed.

4. Drink copious amounts of alcohol at the 3 Monkeys and dance the night away. (Or in my case don't drink any alcohol because of liver problems and don't dance because of previous week's stomache surgery. Oh well - sit the night away at the 3 Monkeys - it's still fun in the right company)

5. When all else fails - Shop - but remember it is only 16% off so no need to rush out and buy a kitchen sink.

5 Things not to do on your weekend in Eilat

1. Sit next to stupid people who ask stupid questions on the bus.

2. Sit next to the person who needs to throw up on the bus.

... Okay, I lied, that just about covers it :)

Believe it or not I actually had a great time - and I was well looked after by my roomy the beautiful PP!

Men! Sigh!

So my husband has been going on at me for some time that he wants to see the movie Crash. I have heard good things about the movie so I wasn't too concerned.

On Saturday night it was showing at Cinemateque in Jerusalem but to be quite honest I find it very hard to go out on a Motsei Shabbat when the movie only starts at 9:30pm. And anyway the movie was also showing Tuesday night. So we made our plans for the whole week around going to see the movie last night (Tuesday).

When we got there we had only a few minutes to spare for buying tickets, then rushed into our seats - movie about to start - when my husband declares! Oh no, it's not the right Crash!

It turns out we had bought tickets to see the Crash that came out in 1996, not the new one. Fortunately, Cinameteque were kind enough to refund our tickets and even more fortunate that the 2 friends I had called and arranged to come to the movie with us could not make it in the end.

Oh well... We enjoyed a hot cider in the restaurant and went home to bed - which is where we should have been on a cold Tuesday night anyway :)

Men!

Why do it when someone does it so much better?

I was going to write about my weekend in Eilat but the ever-so-sexy Purple Parrot did such a good job of it here - that I decided to save my blogging time for more serious things.

and....

I was going to write about my experience with going to see the new Harry Potter movie (which was brilliant BTW) - but Shaya did it so much better here!

So happy reading.

Pizza Capers

So I have to write about this very funny thing that happened to me the other day!

I don't often eat junk food but here I was alone at home - no food in the house - no energy to go out and buy something to cook and sporting a very rare craving for Anchovie Pizza.

I call Pizza Hut - but they don't do Anchovies!
I call Pizza Mai - but they don't do Anchovies!
Pizza Meter - same!
Pizza Sababa - same!

In desperation I called back to Pizza Hut and begged the guy to go across the road to Super Moshava (the supermarket across the road) and buy me a can of Anchovies and I would pay for it. Surprisingly they agreed.

40 minutes later my Pizza arrived with Sardines all over it :)

At least the cat enjoyed it.

Topsy-Turvey World

Hat Tip Harris

"You are not authorized to view this page"

I got this when trying to view my blog this morning (Nushworld.blogspot.com)

! You are not authorized to view this page

but....

"If you believe you should be able to view this directory or page, please try to contact the Web site by using any e-mail address or phone number that may be listed on the Nushworld.blogspot.com home page."

It's amazing!

It's Amazing - what inspires me to take 5 min out of my busy schedule to blog!

Well actually to say this is inspiration is going a bit far - I have in the past blogged on my feelings about James Blunt here, now Purple Parrot has blogged about it.

All I can say is that I heard his new screecher this morning and it has "inspired" me to stock my car up with all my old CDs from now on, instead of suffering any more James on Galgalatz.

One person's clutter is another person's treasure

Never has this been more true than this morning. I came downstairs to head off to work. I was running very late - which inevitably means sitting in horrendous traffic for 30-40 min longer than it normally takes me to get to work.

I live in a fairly decent, you could say upperclass, neighborhood. And as I got to my car I noticed a disheveled man poking through the bins looking for clothes/food. He had a few plastic bags on him already filled to the brim with other people's shoes, clothes, discarded kumkums. It was a cold morning, and even though I was late, I remembered that I had a box-full of promotional T-shirts from the company I work for in the boot (trunk) of my car. I took out a few of the shirts - I did not think my work would mind too much - and I went and gave them to the man. "Shakran Shakran" He was soooo grateful.

I had just returned to my car when a thought came to me that I am always complaining about the clutter in my apartment that needs to be cleaned up. I have a huge iMac box full of my husband's old clothes that has been sitting, tablecloth draped over it, in our lounge since the day after we got married. I have a cupboard full of old dishes that the previous owner of our flat left when she moved out. I have a suitcase full of old blankets and pillows that a friend gave to me to "look after" when he made Yeridah and never came back! Everywhere CLUTTER CLUTTER CLUTTER !

I went back to the man and told him to come back tomorrow at lunch time and I will give him clothes and blankets and dishes and food - he "shakraned" me a few more times and now I have the daunting task of dealing with the mess in my apartment that I have been meaning to take care of for sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long. But it's all for a good cause!

It's been a while

My husband asked me to re-instate the iPod song of the day - so I am forced to admit that I have not blogged for a long time and that I miss it. Mine is not a problem of nothing to blog about - rather the opposite - too much to blog about. I am overwhelmed with stories, links, emotions, thoughts that I wish to write about and quite frankly cannot find the time for.

I am happy to say though that I am getting better. Except for the small matter of some surgery I am having next week - which may just give me enough time to catch up on my blog reading and writing.

I am also happy to wish Rampisad a very happy Happy 60th Birthday. Abba you sure are getting old! :)

Anyway - not sure if anyone even bothers to read it - but it is the reason I am now blogging again - check out the iPod song of yesterday on the left-hand-side.

Three cheers for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Lets see now how the UN and our other "friends" like France and Russia dance their way out of this one....

From Reuters today ...

Washington won a vote at the U.N.'s 35-member International Atomic Energy Agency threatening Iran with referral to the Council -- but Russia abstained. No deadline was set.
Russia, like Iran, has long maintained that Tehran's nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, and defended Tehran's right to develop non-military atomic projects.

From CNN today ...

The U.N. Security Council has condemned recent comments by Iran's president that Israel should be "wiped off the map" but did not say if the world body planned any action against Iran.

Israel is the second most advance hi-tech country in the world, but ...

Just before Yom Kippur, I wanted to do some research into the Kol Nidre prayer, so I did a Google search on the phrase. I am appalled at the number of viciously anti-Semitic websites that come up within the first two pages of the Google result. Go and see for yourself. And the prominence of these results means that they are frequently visited (that's what brings them up in the Google sequence). Many of them are old - a typical example is an editorial in the Dearborn Independant (home of Henry Ford) from 1922 - and they're still being being read today! Someone, somewhere is taking the time, trouble and expense to keep this excrement prominent in the public domain.

Now, it's not Google's fault. But surely, somewhere in the myriad of high-tech junkies here in Israel, there must be people who know how to hack into public websites and either kill them, swamp them, or block them. If you're out there, and you know how to do it, then you have a duty to clean this filth from the public airways.

Whereabounts of Nushyman - part II

I hope I'm not telling secrets out of school when I say that the lack of postings to this blog has been due to the unfortunate state of Nushyman's health. She spent all of Rosh Hashana in hospital with a serious infection, and is now awaiting surgery in a few days time. Join me in praying for a Refuah Shleima for her complete and speedy recovery.

On the same subject, I can also reveal that this problem is not isolated to her, but runs in her family (like the nose). That's been the trouble with this lineage ... too much heredity, not enough inheritance.

The whereabouts of Nushyman

I know I have been a bit lazy with posting recently. The main reason is lack of time. About 3 months ago I joined a gym near work to try and help myself lose weight. I have been overweight most of my life and it is always an uphill battle to lose it (surely if it is an uphill battle it should make that weight-loss a little easier, just a thought).

Anyway, I now get up 4 times a week at 5:15am and leave for the gym at 5:45am. I work out 3 days a week with a personal trainer and once a week I attend a water aerobics class. It is really hard to motivate oneself to go work-out every single day. It is harder still to motivate yourself to do it so early in the morning. I am proud of myself and more than happy to inform you that my bank balance has lost plenty of weight over the last 3 months :)

Inflation!

I just looked back through my archives because I thought I had posted a blog about eating at Finks restaurant in Jerusalem. I cannot find the link so I guess what I have to say may be a trifle irrelevant now.

Unfortunately, I just heard that Finks closed down this week. Anyone who has been there will be sad to see it go, but I must admit I honestly think it serves them right.

You see Finks was an amazing bar/restaurant. It was a mainstay in Jerusalem for more than 50 years. The atmosphere and history on the walls made it a very special place to go sit quietly and soak in Jerusalem. Walking into Finks was like a step back in time. As soon as that door shut - the world outside, the busy streets of Ben Yehuda and King George were all but a faint dull noise in the background as you were absorbed by the colorful display of 1950's and upwards memorabilia covering the walls, from the unchanged decor to the half empty dusty bottles of liqueur that have graced this bar for so many generations.

Finks was already famous for among other things, turning away Henry Kissinger when he requested the place all to himself. As a hang-out for many foreign reporters and journalists during Israel's colorful wartime history, and more recently for it's Goulash. About a year and a half ago it became Kosher so it was without hesitation that I took my husband there on his Birthday last year for dinner.

When we were seated (there are only five tables) we were offered a selection of, what we were assured was, the finest collection of quality single malt whiskeys in Israel. We had what I would like to consider a fairly modest meal, Tomato soup and liver pate on toast for starters, followed by beef stroganoff and one of their famous goulashes, apple pie with ice-cream, tea and coffee. Oh and of course I ordered a diet coke.

When presented with the bill I was a little taken aback to discover that we had run up a bill of over 450 shekels. The whiskey we had ordered was priced at 90 shekel, my diet coke (you may want to sit down for this) was 20 shekel, 15 shekel for a cup of tea… etc

I mean COME ON!!! The food was OK and the atmosphere was charming – but 15 shekel for a tea bag and some hot water??? Not wanting to make a scene on my husband's birthday – we paid the bill and left. But we never went back and we decided never to go back. So it does not surprise me, even though it saddens me, that Finks is now closed.

Often we go out and are presented with ridiculous prices for food and drinks and we NEVER SAY anything. I know that restaurants put their prices up when the Intifada was at its strongest. I know that in most restaurants in Jerusalem you are asked to pay an additional 2 shekel per person for the added security. But last time I checked I was not earning any more money than I was 2 years ago. I am starting to wonder where these restaurants get off and how they think we can continue to keep supporting them at such ridiculously inflated prices. I know if I am presented again with a 20 shekel diet coke, I am going to make the decision to just stop eating out. Which is a real shame because sometimes I just can’t be bothered cooking.

We will fight them on the beaches ???

The very idea that Major General Doron Almog had to face the possibility of arrest when landing in London for "crimes against humanty" - namely bulldozing houses in Gaza, is sickening enough in what it says about the current state of international law. Much more disturbing for me is the spectre of a fine Israeli soldier scampering back home like a whipped dog with his tail between his legs because some people have been able to exploit the perverted state of British law to threaten him with such action. Surely a much better action would be for Israel to expose the nonsense that this threat represents by letting someone (not necessarily Almog) be brought to trial in a British court, and to, as would almost certainly be the case, have the charges dismissed out of hand, thereby eliminating the need for Israeli soldiers to now avoid landing in the UK.

We could take the positive step of laying these charges ourselves, not waiting for the perverts who call themselves citizens of this country to choose their targets. Get it all out into the open, and get rid of it once-for-all. Better than letting them crow about their "victory" and our cowardice. Much better this way than trying to negotiate a diplomatic solution, which would only serve as ammunition in their claims that we seek to control the world though underhand dealing, bribery and subversion. If British "justice" allows such charges to be laid, then let's get British "justice" to deal with them properly.

Germany 2006? You're Kidding, right?

I watched Israel's World Cup Qualifier against Switzerland yesterday with great despair and frustration. Here was a distinctly average Switzerland team (the excellent Philippe Senderos excepted) that was there for the taking. If Israel had won the game last night, it would have been in pole position to finish top of Group 4, thereby qualifying automatically for the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

Unfortunately, Avraham Grant, the manager of Israel's national side is less interested in winning games than in avoiding defeat, as we could see so clearly last night. It was disgraceful to see Grant's cowardly approach - rather than try and win the game when the game was level, he took off his best attacking players and urged his players to maintain a defensive bunker. In fact, I noticed on a couple of occasions that when the Israeli team were on the attack, they got scared and retreated.

Of course, there are people who will point out that an Israeli draw away from home against Switzerland is a great achievement. Maybe it is - for a team with limited objectives, and very little adventure that has little hope of competing in Germany 2006. That is the trouble with Israel's national team and its clubs in European competition. They are chokers! As soon as the summit comes into view, they freeze. And this is before we've even discussed the drab defensive football that Grant serves up.

With a little more attacking adventure, I believe that Israel could have caught the Swiss off guard, and could certainly have scored a second goal. With a manager as over-cautious as Avraham Grant, it was never going to happen. It now means that the rest of the World Cup qualification campaign is no longer in Israel's hands. We are basically hoping that Switzerland, France and Ireland take points off each other, letting Israel in through the back door. Even if Israel were to finish second, they are likely to face top notch opposition in the play-off spot. Let's not forget it.

Now I want to see Israel play in the 2006 World Cup as much as anyone else, but it might help our cause if the team actually showed some desire to score goals and even win a game or two.

We Mustn't Do It - Muslims Might Get Angry

This week's Observer newspaper reported that the British Foreign Office issued a warning about a year ago that the Iraq War was stirring Muslim unrest in Britain. In a letter from the British Foreign Office Permanent Undersecretary, Michael Jay, to the British Cabinet Secretary, Sir Andrew Turnbull, it said that British foreign policy was a 'recurring theme' in the Muslim community, 'especially in the context of the Middle East peace process and Iraq'.

'Experience of both ministers and officials ... suggests that ... British foreign policy and the perception of its negative effect on Muslims globally plays a significant role in creating a feeling of anger and impotence among especially the younger generation of British Muslims.'

I find this very disturbing. This letter implies that if Muslim hotheads get upset about a particular policy, it must be dropped. The subtext is clear - no foreign policy is worth the risk of terrorist attacks. Does the British Government believe in its presence in Iraq, and its role in bringing about a peaceful transition in that country? I assume it does. If Britain believes in its foreign policy, it should have no reason to allow Muslim passions to block it.

And another thing. How does British foreign policy on the Middle East peace process upset the younger generation of British Muslims? We all know that Tony Blair has gone out of his way to promote the peace process, and has pushed President Bush to prioritize it (albeit with limited success). I would have thought that young British Muslims would support this policy.

For me, the telling point of the letter is this, and I quote: 'This [British Foreign Policy] seems to be a key driver behind recruitment by extremist organisations (e.g. recruitment drives by groups such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir and al Muhajiroon).

We now have the answer to our question. British Foreign Policy might just as well stay clear of the Middle East because extreme organizations such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir and al Muhajiroon will be upset by it. Of course Hizb-ut-Tahrir will be upset by British policy on the Middle East peace process. They are opposed to any peace in the Middle East, if it means that Israel is allowed to exist. They detest most of the Arab States in the Middle East since they are unIslamic. Indeed, they are opposed to any Middle East which does not take the form of an Islamic Caliphate.

Although these extreme organizations do not represent all British Muslims, it is they who seem to set the tone in the British Muslim community. Unfortunately, it is their voices we hear rather than those of the moderates.

This letter from the British Foreign Office tells us everything we need to know about the cowardice at the heart of the British diplomatic and political establishment.

Israel getting back to normal #1

A clear sign that things are returning to normal in Israel, was the sheer turn-out of people at this years' International Arts and Crafts Fair in Jerusalem. This year saw the return of the fair to the Sultan's Pool concert grounds, which can accommodate at least double the amount of people as the previous venue downtown, and yet - there was still barely enough room to move around.

Although I enjoyed myself I was a bit surprised at how expensive everything was. At 20 shekels for parking, 40 shekels per person for entrance, minimum 20 shekel for a basic meal (hotdog) and all this before you have bought any of the wonderful art pieces on offer. Fortunately, I had a friend give me a free ticket and she paid for parking, I ate my dinner before I went and I didn't buy anything at the fair (although I did take a few cards from stalls with intention to buy things later). So all in all - it's no wonder I enjoyed myself.

Some cool stalls of note had absolutely nothing to do with art. Bezeq had a giant tetris game, where you had to stamp on the controls to turn the tetris shapes, very cool! Lotto were giving away free scratchy cards (well free except the cost of sending an SMS message), but I didn't win the 50,000 shekels my card promised me - boy could I use that money!

Anyway - I have been going to Chutzot Hayotzeh for the last 9 years - never missed a year. I am looking forward to next year too.

An appropriate consequence

Watching the disengagement unfold in full living colour this week has been a literally shocking experience. It is heart-wrenching! I do however come away from each session shaking my head in disappointment at the behaviour of the outsiders who have come to try and score political points at the expense of our country. Worst of all are the teenagers who have been least able to detect the difference between legitimate opposition and outright revolution.

No doubt there will be no reprimands for most of them from parents or teachers, since they are coming in most part with the blessing, if not in fact outright support, of these people who should know better. They shouldn't be allowed to come away from this with the feeling that they are above the law, and I would like to suggest what seems to be the appropriate consequence of their actions. They should be forbidden from serving in the Israeli army! I think that the normality of army service as a "rite of passage" for all Israeli youth is deeply embedded in our national psyche. For a young man or woman to go through life without the "chavershaft" and experience of service will be a life-long stigma, like carrying a sign that they're not good enough. And they have amply demonstrated this week that they aren't!

How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot

I have had serious misgivings about the Disengagement from the very outset. Not because I have a problem with the evacuation of settlers from the Gaza Strip - I am all for territorial concessions, especially if they bring peace. My misgivings are more to do with the unilateral nature of the step, and the lack of coordination with the Palestinians.

Now that the Disengagement is happening, I am beginning to think that it might not be such a bad thing. Over the last thirty years or more, the Settler Movement have had it all their own way. The Gaza Disengagement, however, has exposed the grotesqueness and fanaticism at the very core of the settler enterprise, and has laid it bare for the Israeli public (and the rest of the world) to see.

The sight of little settler children and their parents wearing orange stars and holding their hands up as they were taken away by soldiers was certainly morally repugnant. To even suggest that there can be comparison between the Disengagement and the Holocaust is bordering on Holocaust denial. More than that, however, it trivializes the settler cause, precisely because there can be no comparison. Instead of creating sympathy, these settlers just invited ridicule.
Throughout the day, we have seen pictures of settler children being exploited by their parents for all it is worth, as a means to elicit sympathy. We even saw a bearded gentleman dangling his baby out of the window, ala Michael Jackson. I personally found these images appalling, and I started to wonder whether this whole struggle has crippled the settler movement as a whole in the eyes of the Israeli public. Israelis en masse will start to ask themselves why they are putting their lives at risk to defend such fanatics living in some hilltop settlement, or even in somewhere like Shilo or Beit El.

During the Second Intifada, the Settler Movement emphasized the importance of the idea of Lehitnahel Bilvavot -" to settle in the hearts of the Israeli people". It seems to me,however, that they have cut themselves off from the heart of the mainstream Israeli public.

Will Ariel Sharon be Charged with Incitement.....Against Himself?

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that Jewish settlers should take out their frustrations on him and not on the Israeli soldiers. He said, "Don't hurt them[the soldiers], hurt me."

Does this count as incitement?

Eicha

Tonight, myself, my husband, and at least 100 other people, trudged up a hill in the darkness - sat before Rabin's grave and sang Eicha under the stars.

How serene, how poignant. I cannot think of a more fitting place to lament.

Have an easy (meaningful) fast!

Yesterday was the start of the days of mourning in Australia

Feel for us! Mourn with us! Weep, shed bitter tears. So close. Within our grasp, and we allowed it to slip away. If only I were a poet, I would be able to express the depth of our pain, so that others would be able understand. (Not bothering with Americans, of course. Such matters are beyond the grasp of their attention span.)

Two runs! Two measly little runs. A statistical insignificance, a nothingness. 0.16% of all runs scored. Yet they make all the difference between darkness and light.

And the gall of the conquerors, to hold our shattered bodies up in triumph and claim victory. Dancing down the streets, blood dripping from their savage hands on their way to celebrations where they imbibe copious amount of what they call beer and regale each other with tales of their personal role in this infamy! As if anything other than blind chance, and our own sins, had allowed such a thing to happen.

My Poem
Merit to them ... never!!
Shame on us ... forever (or at least until the next test, when we'll wallop them good!).

Israel's double standard questioned!

At around 9pm tonight my mother called to ask me to look at channel 11 and see what was going on. At first I thought Piguah as the camera spanned a bus, windows shattered and blood stained seats. But the Hebrew subtitles said "Yeri" not Piguah. So I said to my mum there has been some kind of shooting up North - immediately assuming we had been shot at again.

It was only when my husband returned and we watched the news together that it became clear that this time one of our own had done the shooting. My immediate thought was to hope that Israel treats this terrorist exactly the way they treat Islamic ones - by banishing his family and raising their homes - why should we accept double standards.

But it only just occurred to me now that, while watching Israeli news report on channel 11, at no time did they call it a Piguah???? Now THAT is a double standard - how can we constantly abuse BBC and CNN for their editorial bias when we ourselves are just as disgusting?

One thing I know for sure - we must all speak out at this disgust - we must all condemn this soldier and any others like him out there - we must all do everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again and that we will not tolerate it - Unlike Muslim people around the world who, for the most part, keep fairly silent.

Beckhamburgmanson

Apparently have just gotten Hebrew tattoos to celebrate their 6 years of marriage - So if the marriage doesn't work who will they blame?

Brilliant Front Page

Blair: "We must track down the evil mastermind behind the bombers"
Livingstone: "...and invite him round for tea"

At least the British know how to poke fun at themselves.

Hat Tip: Greenspan

Tel Aviv with no Airconditioning

There was a fire in the electric cupboard that feeds the elevator and airconditioning system. Unbearable - I can't work so I am blogging instead.

My father says all I ever do is winge (moan) winge winge. So I have refrained from blogging for a week just in case all I have to say comes out as a massive winge fest. Unfortunately, blogging for me is about venting all my frustrations and thoughts. I think though that I have had some nice things to say...

So in the spirit of not moaning - I saw this T-Shirt on a google search last week and I thought it was just brilliant.

It's a FIRST

I have been avoiding writing about the goings on at the Jerusalem Post because it was starting to get a bit boring. But I just heard that The Jerusalem Post Newspaper did NOT come out this morning. Citing "press breakdown" the publishers claim they may print an edition later this morning.

In my 8 years in a top position at the paper not ONCE, never ever (even when the image server wasn't working) did that newspaper NOT come out!

I am shocked!

Lesson from Leeds

I am thinking that there may be a specific lesson Israeli parents need to learn from what has happened in the UK since September 7. In the city of Leeds, where three of the terrorists who attacked the London transport system were born and grew up, most of the Muslim community are saying "we didn't know, we never imagined" ordinary boys could go wrong so badly. "I can guarantee you if you go to all the bombers, they probably had upstanding parents who had no idea what they were up to," said Rizwan Haq, 34, the manager of a small grocery store down the block from the purported bomb factory in a small apartment. (Quoted in Washington Post 15/07/2005)

Children are impressionable. They lack the depth of experience that enables a person to understand complex issues, and they tend to take statements, especially those by their parents and community leaders, as given truths. It's not hard to see how young boys growing up in Leeds, exposed to a constant stream of biased, politicised and distorted information from their elders, will arrive at the untenable position that led these to commit their horrible action.

So where does this lead us to in Israel. Parents who openly disdain the democratic process of the country, who present their opinions about a highly complex issue like disengagement as a given truth, who encourage and reward actions that would otherwise be, if not punishable, at least subject to reprimand, are laying down the foundations of consequences like Leeds. Standing out on the street corner handing out orange ribbons may seem cute, but the message being passed on with the approval has frightening implications, and parents owe it to their children to be able to discern the border between disapproval of, and rejection of, authority, because their kids can't. Saying that impeding the progress of the disengagement is a mitzvah may sound like a rational statment to you, but to your children, that takes on a completely different meaning. Can you be sure just how far your child will want to go in performance of a mitzvah? Are you going to say "we didn't know, we never imagined", when it's too late?

Lies, Damn lies, Statistics

The press has had a field day recently, promoting the publication of a survey by an organization called Iraq Body Count, that claims the civilian death toll in the two years of conflict in Iraq has now reached 25000, with 42500 injured. The blame for all of this, obviously, is placed squarely at the feet of George Bush and the imperialist, oil-ravenous White House.

Something struck me as strange about these figures, and prompted some further investigation. Doesn't it seem odd, that the number of injuries is less than double the number of deaths. We've seen just in the last month, the figures from the London terrorist bombing, where 56 were killed, and over 700 injured sufficiently to require hospitalization. Over the five years of terrorist attacks in Israel, about 1000 have been killed, and more than 15000 injured. This ratio, of roughly 10 injured to 1 death, seems to hold fairly true across most areas of conflict that I have seen reported. So, if the "maximum" death count is true, then we should expect nearly 5 times more injured. And if the injured count is true, then the "body" count is overstated by a factor of 6.

What makes the attacks in Iraq so deadly? Are the victims being deliberately shot dead after they are injured? Are they using some form of explosive that is deadly over a short distance, but peters out beyond that range, so that people standing 10 feet away from a blast are always killed, but those 11 feet away do not even get a scratch?

Before I'd believe these, or other equally ludicrous suggestions that may support these figures, I'd rather look at the methods, motive, source and funding of the survey itself. Dare I say that this is something the press should have done itself before giving such wide publicity to the so-called survey, but still, we know by now what to expect of yellow journalism.

Iraq Body Count is an organization founded in 2003 to "establish an independent and comprehensive public database of media-reported civilian deaths in Iraq resulting directly from military action by the USA and its allies in 2003. In the current occupation phase this database includes all deaths which the Occupying Authority has a binding responsibility to prevent under the Geneva Conventions and Hague Regulations. This includes civilian deaths resulting from the breakdown in law and order, and deaths due to inadequate health care or sanitation".

Note - they don't collect data themselves from any independent source, they read newspapers and websites, and collect statistics. And what are their criteria for inclusion in their count?

"Maximum deaths". This is the highest number of civilian deaths published by at least two of our approved list of news media sources." So if any two sources publish a claimed fatality, then it's in. And who do their sources comprise? Amongst others, the following ...
Al Jazeera network
Commondreams.org
Jordan Times
Nando Times
Middle East Newsline
Middle East Online
Middle East Report
Human Rights Watch
Hindustan Times

So if, for example, Hindustan Times and Al Jazeera, two outstanding examples of free, unbiased reporting, come up with an estimated body count after an incident of 50 civilians murdered by Iraqi criminals, or dying from disease induced by rotten food, then the number is in, and Bush did it. It's interesting also to see that they have concocted a "minimum body count", which anyone who hasn't studied their method would conclude is a rock-bottom count that has been verified and validated widely. However, the "minimum" will only differ from the "maximum" if more than two of their sources quote a different, lower, figure from the maximum. Far from a "minimum", this is just another estimate with exactly the same reliability as the maximum.

So much for the veracity of the method. Another look at the organization behind the study gives further interesting insights. It's principals are HAMIT DARDAGAN and JOHN SLOBODA . Dardagan is a freelance researcher currently working in London. His only claim to fame is that he has written for Counterpunch (one of their sources). He is such an eminent social and academic force that a search of Google with his name turns up nearly a thousand entries. However, I was unable to find a single one that wasn't directly connected to the IBQ organization. As a prominent research personality, he scores zero.

John Sloboda, however, is a notable person. He is (wait for this) Professor of Psychology at Keele University in the UK, where he directs the Unit for the Study of Musical Skill and Development.

Nuff said???

5 things I hate about James Blunt's new song

5. It's on Galagalatz 17 times a day, and just my luck it's on every time I'm in the car and the radio is on.
4. It doesn't mean anything - the words are soooo boring.
3. Why does he have to use one swear-word in the middle of the song for no reason - I mean seriously, is it really necessary
2. I hate the line "There must have been an angel playing with my heart - when she thought-up I should be with you" It doesn't fit to the music and "thought-up" is naff.
1. He doesn't sing - he screeches.

My 2 cents!

So disgusting I want to be sick

My husband sent me a link to this article, where Shmuel Sackett writes how disgusted he is that "Jewish money" was sent to help the victims of last years Tsunami disaster. Shmuel Sackett you are a despicable human being.

You say in your article, and I quote:

When will we learn that Jewish money must remain in Jewish hands until every Jew has what to eat, where to go to school and receives proper medical care? Does every Jewish bride have a nice dress? Are our elderly being cared for? Are the security needs of those Jews living on "the front lines" attended to adequately? Are the "outreach" programs properly funded?

What the hell is Jewish money, what makes money "Jewish" money? Is it money that only comes from dealing with Jews? Does it have to have been made by Jews? Does it have to have never been touched by, dare I say it, goyim? Is persons life less important if they are not Jewish than a nice wedding dress for a Jewish bride?

What would happen if there was a terrible natural disaster in Israel - what an outcry for the world to say - we are not giving our "Christian, Muslim, atheist" money to those Jews? You are a pig and your ideas disgust me. Why can't people see that there is no reason for things to be so black and white. I earn a good salary, I try and give money to victims of terror in Israel, I raised 4,000 shekel in a sponsored walk to go towards the building of a new children's ER at Hadassah Hospital, and when the Tsunami hit I was appalled at the devastation, it sickened me to see all that suffering. The tsunami didn't target those bad UN voting politicians, it didn't come out of the sea and say you naughty naughty little children - you voted for a government that believes that all Jews are bad and there should not be a state of Israel therefore I am going to strike you down. It hit - tourists, visitors, Jews, Muslims, children, mothers, doctors, good people and bad people. I GAVE MONEY!

And the worst - most despicable part of your article:

What makes matters worse is the fact that this Jew hating, Israel bashing, idol worshipping country teaches this to their children in schools that are now being restored thanks to the "Kids for Kids of Sri Lanka" program founded by Rambam Mesivta of Lawrence.
My heart bleeds when I think of this. My Jewish souls cries when I remember how my children went to Yeshivot in Karnei Shomron and Kedumim and studied in trailers with no heat in the winter, sitting the entire day in coats and hats.
How about a "Kids for Kids" program for the 400 children in Atzmona who attend school and have no playground? How about a "Kids for Kids" program to restore the schools in Itamar and Otniel, which were attacked by terrorists paying with young Jewish lives?

>

What is your "right" to live in the territories and then bemoan the danger to your children's lives. Do you work or do you sit and learn in Yeshivah all day?

How revolutionary it would be to focus on the fact that there is a disease in Jewish Ultra-orthodox societies, where they think it is acceptable to study torah and rely on tzeddakah money to feed their children and put a roof over their heads. They too have a choice to go out each and every day as millions of Jewish people around the world do and earn some "Jewish" money. Surely this is a way more important issue than whether or not Jews send money to help victims of a terrible natural disaster.

If we don't care about the rest of the world then next time there is a holocaust, or a fight for a Jewish homeland why the hell should they care about us.

I wish people like you Shmuel Sackett should only know what it is to have no money - I don't think you would care whether it came from a Jew or a dead cow!

iPod Song of the Day

Yesterday's:

Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road


Today's:

The Kinks – Dead End Street

Of London and Bombs

A few sad things about the London bombs which I've yet to write about:

1. When I talked to my husband (and since with other people) he did not seem all that surpised, he thought it was inevitable - now that is sad...
2. The thought that we go to London to get away from it all and be able to take buses and tubes without thinking about it has been somewhat ruined - now that is sad...
3. The fact that there are countless bodies that the forensics experts still have not identified and that we here in Israel have so many experts with real field experience, just 5 hours away, if only the British people would reach out and accept our help - now that is sad...
4. The Israeli who was living in England because she was too scared of the bombs here and she was killed - now that is sad....

All in all I thank Hashem that the people closest to me are all safe - but I feel so sorry for all the people that were hurt or killed. The fact that we have to live with these fears every day is saddest of all.

My guest bloggers suck!

Ok so I have a real excuse not to blog - I have kindof been busy with my latest obsession (more on this in a minute). But my guest bloggers have NO excuse.

Come on Rampisad and Ushyman - speak up!

Well Done London

I knew they would win the Olympic bid!

A sure way to stop disengagement - NOT

This guy sure knows how to make an effective protest - just close your eyes before you look his way!

Looking at the world through (euro)vision

Watching the news last night with my husband, there was a report on a planned joint pipeline project between Turkey and Greece, that the reporter claimed would "help strengthen, often strained relations between these two rival countries"

My response (which I think is a classic) was, "oh no! Now they are going to vote for each other in next year's Eurovision song contest."

ha ha

Block this

Driving home yesterday from Tel Aviv, the roads were practically empty. Not surprising considering the fact that there were meant to be hundreds of protestors blocking roads all around the country, protesting against disengagement.

So I decided to take one of the better-known back roads into Jerusalem. Me and half the world I should add... And most of the cars taking the back road in the hopes of missing the inevitable traffic jams, were sporting orange ribbons.

Talk about quintessential oxy-moron.

NEVER again BA

Most people can't wait to fly any airline other than El-Al. But I have found that El-Al has been getting increasingly better, not to mention the fact that it is more secure, than any other airline I have flown.

I had four flights booked with BA (British Airways), totaling $1900 +. That's a very large amount of money. NOT one of my flights left on time. The first leg, Israel to London was delayed nearly two hours, once we were all already onboard, because of Engine trouble.

The flight leaving London for Chicago was also delayed, because a whole group of people who were on the flight connecting from Africa (where they had been on mission) started throwing up. When we landed they had to taxi the plane to a remote part of the airport and wait for a health inspector to come on board to clear us before we could get off.

The flight back to London was ok except someone had a heart-attack in first class (I think if you are going to have a heart-attack first class is definitely the way to go). We had to wait for the ambulance to clear him before we could disembark.

And as if that was not bad enough. Leaving to London to come home, again once we were already onboard the plane, there was a problem getting the auxiliary power to work. This meant there was no airconditioning. They could not turn on the airconditioning until the engines were switched on, they could not switch the engines on until the doors were close, they could not close the doors because there was no auxiliary power. So there we were sitting for nearly 2 hours on a very hot airplane, waiting for them to bring an emergency generator to power-up the engines. How many Israelis do you think will sit quietly, without complaining or screaming on a 35 degree+ plane for over an hour?

Anyway - ElAl for me all the way from now on!

Oh and in case you are wondering the food sucks on BA.

Contrasting Opinions

On my flight back from Chicago I sat next to a very interesting young guy who was on his way back to Iraq after a leave holiday at home in the US. We talked alot about war, and the situation in the middle east (he was quite surprisingly pro-Israel) and mainly Iraq in particular. What amused me most was when he asked me "Isn't it dangerous to live in Israel, aren't you scared all the time?" Halllo - you are fighting a war in Iraq...

I stepped off the plane and there was a mini-cab waiting to take me back to my mother-in-law's house. The driver was dressed in a long white kaftan-type robe with a huge white Kippa on his head. While driving he took a call on his cellphone, it was his brother reminding him it was time to pray. He asked if I would mind if he stopped on the side of the road for 5 min, I was not going to object. When he returned to the car he started to talk about how Islam is the essential peaceful religion. That they pray 5 times a day and this makes them very peaceful and spiritual people, something he claims the world does not know about Islam.

He continued talking - totally unprompted by me, I was too scared of saying the wrong (politically incorrect) thing to say anything at all. He continued, that he thought Islam was misrepresented in the world - and it's all Bush's fault. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction and he has no proof that Muslims were involved in 9/11??? He said that Jews and Arabs are brothers and that Islam teaches you should love Christians and Jews. So I asked him - how do you justify militant extremists like Hamas who call for holy wars against other races and religions? He answered that there are no such things as Islamic extremists, he said that the people who are called extremists are very loving peaceful people (it was around this time that I started to hope my husband would not come out and greet me wearing his kippa).

When I asked him what he thought of the situation in Israel at first he said "I don't have an opinion on that, I am not studying what is happening in that part of the world" But he proceeded to include this little gem. "When the Muslims controlled Israel they did not treat the Jews as Hitler treated the Jews, now the Jews are in control they treat us the way Hitler treated them."

I just hope this mini-cab driver, who hailed from Afghanistan 6 years ago is being VERY closely watched by the Homeland Security (or whatever the equivalent is in the UK). Anyway - I still arrived home safely, and my husband even came out to see me!

Heaven to me

When I was in london I stepped out the tube and walked smack bang into a brand new Apple Store. I have never been to heaven before but there I was. Only one small, tiny, almost insignificant problem... I didn't have any money to spend in there.

Oh well - I can always dream can't I.

We're back

I really missed blogging, if I have a buck for every time I thought - ooh I must blog that... Well let's just say that Old Navy would have done very well out of me!

And yet we still managed to grow our hits by 200+ not bad considering there have been no updates for 2 weeks. Well I now have so much to write that I don't know where to start.

First of all I see that in my absence cars in Israel have started sporting blue ribbons in support of disengagement. I am glad to see that people take Nushyman's advice seriously.

I also noticed that summer decided to arrive while we were away - I was hoping it would still be cool enough not to need the airconditioner when we came back.

Other than that fact that it feels like we were away for about a year - everything is pretty much the same. Its good to be back. More on my travels soon!

We are off to England (and me Chicago)

Will try to blog - now that supposedly I have some holiday time. Hopefully Rampisad can fill in the holes *HINT*

Byeeeeee

Getting Hi-Techy

I saw the coolest thing I have seen in a long time today. Parking police taking photos with digital cameras of the cars that are illegally parked before writing the tickets.

BRILLIANT! It's about bloody time Israel woke up. Now they just need to do something about speed cameras.

Ushyman got there first!

The Observer have a great read about Apple's iPod. As Ushyman said "I could have written it."

Check out our iPod song of the day feature (not everyday but hey) on the left-hand-side of the Nushworld blog.

Check out Ushyman's own blog post about his iPod here

You Disappoint Me Haaretz

Today's Haaretz (June 1) featured an editorial which used the plebiscite in France as a strong justification for opposing a referendum here in Israel on the Disengagement.

I felt that by dragging the Israeli angle into the French 'Non' vote, Haaretz did itself a disservice. First of all, I do not see any connection between the referendum held in France on the EU Constitution and a possible referendum in Israel on the Disengagement from Gaza and Northern Samaria. Why couldn't Haaretz focus on the French plebiscite and the historic 'Non' vote on its own terms, without bringing Israel into it. As it is, I find it strange that Haaretz never comments on international affairs unless it has relevance to Israel. If Haaretz views itself as the "thinking person's newspaper", it should be able to make its voice heard on international developments, in the same way as any other quality newspaper around the world. For example, The London Times or The Guardian, to name but two newspapers, will feature leading articles on any important international story, whether it takes place in the United States, the Ivory Coast or in Israel. I expect insularity from The Jerusalem Post, but Haaretz?

I have one other problem with the comparison made between the Chirac referendum and a possible 'Disengagement' referendum in Israel. Quite simply, there is no comparison! The French plebiscite was held on an internal issue that posed no problems vis-a-vis international law - namely, whether or not to accept the EU Constitution. Israel, on the other hand, has no business holding a referendum on whether to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, because the decision is not Israel's to make. No country recognizes Gaza and the West Bank as Israeli sovereign territory. At best, they are disputed territories, and even the Israeli Government reluctantly accepts this, hence its decision to withdraw.

Driving me crazy

Going over my blog posts yesterday, I realized that a lot of them are about driving or the roads, or thoughts I had while driving. I get the feeling I am spending too much time on them, but that is where I do most of my thinking. Afterall, I am on them for at least 2.5 hours a day with nothing else to do but listen to Galgalatz or think or both.

So I started thinking last week, while driving of course, that there seem to be more and more cars with Orange ribbons on them than I would care to see. And I started thinking that maybe the people who are pro-disengagement (or anti-settlement as some people like to call it) should have an easily recognizable symbol to show their support for evacuating the settlements.

And then I thought, wait a minute, surely the fact that there are 50 cars without orange ribbons to each car that has one is a clear enough sign. If you count the number of cars that DON'T have orange ribbons on them then I think you have a clear sign that people are either apathetic to the disengagement or pro. But either way you look at it they are certainly, by a very very large margin, in the majority. So if you disagree with me then put an orange ribbon on your car and prove me wrong. Who needs a referendum!

Galgalatz

During the winter season there is a funny law in Israel that makes drivers have their lights on in the day as well as at night. Understandable when visibility can be reduced due to the weather.

On my way to work this morning Galgalatz, fast becoming quite painful to listen to, for it's very annoying road safety ads. Played a script calling for people to join a forum to discuss the decision for a law that lights have to be on during the day all year round in an effort to reduce road accidents.

Yep that aught to do it! I can now see the moron driving over 150km an hour in the middle of the road much much better. Sure way for him to avoid losing control of the car and killing 5 people in the process, don't you know - his lights are on!

MORONIC !!!

When will they learn?

Anyone who knows Tel Aviv well, knows that Hamasger is a very busy dual lane road that carries you from one of the main highway exits into central Tel Aviv and at 8am in the morning it is jam-packed with rush-hour traffic. This morning while waiting for a light to turn green, I could not help being utterly shocked to see, in my rear-view mirror, 5 boys come careening down Hamasger on their bikes. Totally ignoring the red light they shot through and one of them narrowly missed being hit by a car coming out of the side-street.

Never-mind the fact that these boys were riding in the middle of a very busy road and ignoring the traffic signals - not one single boy was wearing a helmet!!! Where I grew up in Australia it was illegal for you to ride a bike without a helmet, and so too should it be here. If someone falls off a bike – it has been proved that the risk of severe brain damage is drastically reduced if they wear helmets.

Where are the parents of these boys – what would have happened if the car had hit and killed one of them. What of the poor driver who would be affected for life – The parents of this stupid boy who would sit at home and cry "why me – why did this have to happen to my innocent, beautiful little boy." What a waste!

I blame the parents! I blame the government!

God Changed Sides

Simon Barnes of the Times summed up Liverpool's epic victory against AC Milan in last night's European Cup Final: "It was as if God had Changed Sides."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,762-1628459,00.html

New Nushworld Feature

A few weeks ago my husband wrote this beautiful post about the present I gave him for his Birthday. In honor of his post and the fact that he loves his iPod so much - Nushworld now has a new feature. On the left-hand-side of the page you will now see an "iPod song of the Day" link. Everyday we will post the song that makes our day that much more fun.

Enjoy!

PS I am working on getting a live link there so you can listen to the song of the day - stay tuned!

A Cure for Insomnia: AC Milan Versus Liverpool

If you're looking for a cure for insomnia, I strongly suggest you watch tonight's European Cup Final between AC Milan and Liverpool. You will find yourself dropping off within seconds of the snoozefest. Neither team will try and play football. They will both try and cancel each other out with mind numbingly dull defensive play, even though AC Milan, at the very least, has exciting attacking potential.

When was the last time you saw an exciting Cup Final of any kind? When was the last time you saw an FA Cup Final, European Cup Final or World Cup Final that set your pulse racing? The most exciting games tend to come much earlier in the competition. These days, Cup Finals are the mother of all anti-climaxes, at best. Caution and negativity come to the fore in such games. Managers are more scared of losing, it seems, than actually winning, and therefore adopt unadventurous tactics. Liverpool are the embodiment of a cautious defensive team.

It pains me to say this but I was more than a little ashamed by Arsenal's ultra-cautious defensive tactics, in winning the FA Cup on Saturday. Yes, it was great to see Arsene and the boys get one over Alex Ferguson, but why did Wenger have to betray his principles, and play ugly in order to beat the Mancs? In the last few years, under Arsene Wenger, Arsenal have played breathtakingly beautiful attacking football. So why the regression to negative football? Wenger even admitted that his main concern was not conceding a goal.

The fact that Henry was injured is no excuse. Arsenal had enough attacking options on the field. Pires anyone? Ljunberg? Bergkamp? Van Persie? Reyes? Vieira? Most football teams would die to have that plethora of attacking talent! I can only surmise that Wenger was so desperate not to lose to Manchester United again, that he was prepared to try anything, including playing for penalties. Yet this strategy could so easily have backfired, as Manchester United could have won the game ten times over (much as I hate to admit it). I almost felt like the George Graham era had returned with a vengeance. It could have been 1993 all over again - when Graham's Arsenal played the less attractive football against the more fancied Sheffield Wednesday, yet ran out winners with that last minute Andy Linighan goal. I was at Wembley that night, and even as an Arsenal fan, I felt sorry for the Sheffield Wednesday fans.

So back to tonight. Expect a no-score bore stalemate tonight between two unadventurous teams.

If only the teams would play end to end stuff, and go for the jugular. I wouldn't bet on it, though. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

For my South African friends

(People unfamiliar with the ways of our female co-religionists in Darkest Africa shouldn't try to understand this. They're a world apart, psychologically as well as geographically.)

In the true spirit of modern democratic Sarth Efrika, the ladies of the Jewish communities have decided to demonstrate that they are fully tuned-in to, and comfortable with, the social milieu of "the New South Africa" by learning and frequently using a word of the local language.

And the word is ....

Umshlanga!

Baby wants a dummy?

What an exciting shabbat. Arsenal won on penalties against Man U in the FA Cup final. Poor Ferdinand, blubbering like a baby when they lost, baby wants a dummy? Talk about bad losers! I think Arsenal deserved to beat Man U. because they killed the champs winning - 49 games, no defeat - run with a very dubious game half way through the season. On ya gunners - you showed them!!!

I take back all my curses directed at Lehman this season you came through in the end. Thank goodness you stayed in the box.

Now that's out the way we have Eurovision to look forward to - watch this space!

I love you Gran

My beloved Granny z"l passed away on Sunday. My gran and I were very very close and the one thing that will always remind me of her, was her love for me and vanilla milkshakes. Gran thank you for all the cheaky comments you used to make under your breath that amused me so much. You inspired me to always be as strong and loving as you were to all of us. I never said it enough but thank you also for the beautiful engagement ring you gave us. Everytime I look at it I will remember you. I am sorry I could not be there to say goodbye but I think you know that I will always be with you.

I love you!

Schizophrenia in action

I spent Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut in the Galil and came away from the experience absolutely blown away! This was the Israel I grew up with and had forgotten about. I'm just a bit older than Medinat Yisrael, and all through my youth was an ardent Zionist, not your wimpy Habonim socialist, but a died-in-the-wool Betarnik, who knew every word of the creed (Yodefet, Masada, Betar!). Our heroes were Trumpeldor and Jabotinsky and Begin, (may their memories be for a blessing). Israel for us was a clean, bright, positive image, the place where Jews were strong, handsome, honest, hard-working, proud with good reason, prosperous by the work of their own hands, etc etc etc. We fought when we had to, but didn't go looking for a fight. We wanted peace and we worked together as one people, with common purpose and a sense of brotherhood, to achieve it. This image was embedded in my brain, and it sprang to life again over the last two days.

First the sad part. I visited the Military Cemetery in Nazaret Illit, where my cousin Terry lies buried, killed on Yom Kippur 1973 in the opening battle. He was only 21 years old and he has no family left here. I took my 6 year-old grandson with me, who got a charge out of seeing his own surname on the gravestone - an instant bonding for him. This was the Israel I remembered, of honour, bravery and commitment. I call this sad, but I got an emotional injection from this visit that far exceeds anything I've had from a Shul service in years.

Then the joy, spending Yom HaAtzmaut on a Dati Leumi yishuv. The
effervescence of the Shul service, with choir, keyboard, clapping and singing all through the prayers. Afterwards, a typically "Israeli" concert, starting an hour late, completely amateurish, but who cares. The dancing, the singing, the fireworks (eventually!). The sense of togetherness, of Am Yisrael. This was the Israel I grew up with.

So you may ask, why is this piece called Schizophrenia? Because I drove back home, in my flag-bearing car, through Ramat Beit Shemesh, and had my car pelted by Jews throwing rotten fruit. I read later that there had been flag-burning incidents here - my home town! My first reaction, after the disgust and anger has subsided, was to say that I must move, get away from these pigs parading as people. But I realise that this small personal incident is in fact symptomatic of the sickness that infests all of Israel. We are a schizophrenic country, and you can't escape this by moving around inside the sick body - eventually the poison will find you. We need a cure. One thing I know for sure, the cure doesn't start with Glick-style negatives. No diet is going to fix us up. The opening paragraph of the suggested cure has to be "We must do this and this so that ..." not, "Your policy is wrong because I say so".

Who will invent the Prozac for our beloved land!

A sobering thought

I have so often heard people saying bad things about living in "this country", albeit I am guilty of doing it myself. Inevitably it happens after a typical Israeli experience at the bank, with the builders on your house, with the traffic... You get the point. My husband gets this year's award for the most amounts of "I want to leave and go back to...".

The old adage goes, "the grass is always greener." I am not sure if it is or it isn't but driving home from work today I had an almost fleeting, very real desire to be anywhere else other than Israel. I have never felt it as strongly as I did today, and of all days? The one thing I always say to people who complain about Israel and express a desire to leave is to imagine how much worse it would be if we did not have this country, if the Jewish homeland did not exist and we were unable to come and go freely. Would we really feel so nonchalant about Israel and it's, what I like to call, quirks?

It was this thought that brought me back to reality. I was ashamed of my fleeting desire to leave. On this very sad and special day I had betrayed, for just a second, all those people who had given their lives defending my freedom and right to live here in peace. We MUST do everything to keep Israel our Jewish homeland, even if that means giving back a small peace of it (pun intended).

With that in mind. Chag Sameach and enjoy your barbecues. As a true Australian (even though I was born in South Africa) it warms my heart that the Israeli way of celebrating Yom Haatzmaut is to light up the barbie, shame about the shrimps though!

American Scandal

This year's American Idol deserves a name change. First Abdul is accused of having a relationship (she is not married so who cares) with a contestant in 2003 who didn't even make it into the top 13... Again - who cares? It would be a scandal if he had won...

Then Scott Savol is all over the news for beating his girlfriend, claiming "everyone gets angry sometimes, doesn't mean I am violent". Much bigger scandal is the fact that he managed to stay in the competition for as long as he did and here's why:

Wednesday's vote was a disappointment for organizers of votefortheworst.com, a Web site that was conspiring to get the least talented contestant the record contract prize. Savol, of Shaker Heights, Ohio, was their pick. The Web site became a victim of its own popularity when a crush of visitors led to its shutdown Tuesday night.
"We had a big traffic problem yesterday at 5 p.m. (PDT) before the show aired on the East Coast, more than 200,000 hits," founder Dave Della Terza said Wednesday.

Which makes American Idol all the more sadder this year than it ever was - shame really because I quite enjoy the show.

Still think Bo is going to win!

A word we should use very carefully

Most dictionaries would agree basically with the definition of the verb transport that I find in the Americal Heritage Dictionary, namely ...

1. To carry from one place to another; convey. 2. To move to strong emotion; carry away; enrapture. 3. To send abroad to a penal colony; deport.

In Jewish history, however, the word has a whole different connotation, because it was a term used by the Germans in the context of their carefully planned and executed program to kill all the Jews within their reach. Jews were "transported" to the death camps. Those who were condemned to the living hell of the forced-labour camps lived in mortal fear of a "transportation", which they knew meant something even worse than the torment they were already suffering.

A Jew should therefore use the word trasport very carefully. I was shocked to hear it used in the same sense as the Germans had, in a discussion of the "proper solution" to the Israel/Palestinian problem. The Palestinians should be "transported" out of greater Israel, thereby eliminating the problem. I was sitting at the Shabbat table and literally had to bite my tongue, out of respect for my hosts, to stop myself from speaking. Worse still, there was no disagreement from the 7 others around the table.

What are we coming to? I have been barely able to think about anything else since that meal. Nothing is the world should be leading us to think like the Germans. There is no excuse for them, and there would be no excuse for us. Make no mistake, I am a Zionist; I completely believe that we have a right to the Land, and a duty to do everything we can honourably do to maintain our Homeland. But "transportation" is not a solution, it is a poison. Germany will never erase the stain of its past, and we have the duty to future generations of Jews, our children and grandchildren, not to burden them with the guilt that their forefathers had been guilty of such a sin against humanity.

A story to make Yom HaShoah even more special

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110006658

In preparation for this year's Yom HaShoah, a Jewish school in New York discovered one such act of defiance and survival. At a recent parents' meeting at the progressive Abraham Joshua Heschel School on Manhattan's Upper West Side, two fathers of young daughters introduced themselves and learned, remarkably, that both of their fathers had been born in the same small Ukrainian town.

The Heschel parents, an American and an Israeli, realized that, since there was only a single Nazi transport from the town, both of their fathers were undoubtedly on the same train bound for an extermination camp in October 1942. The American told of his then 19-year-old father, who escaped by jumping through a plank he had dislodged from above a window in the car. His father, telling the story, always added that, before he jumped, he pushed a boy up and out through that loosened plank.

The Israeli instantly knew who the boy was, for his own father had always told of how there was an opening too high for him to reach--he was then age 11--and of how an older boy lifted him up and pushed him out. The two boys never saw each other again, but each, miraculously, survived the war by hiding in Ukrainian farms and forests. Now their children, so far in time and space from these events, came to learn that their daughters are in the same class.

You only miss something when it's lost

I tuned in to a BBC discussion on the election outcome, and heard a lot of talk about PR. My brain, tainted by US-speak, translated that as Public Relations, and I was wondering whether even the BBC has enough stupidity to imagine that Michael Howard could have done better if he'd had effective PR. Getting him to win this election was the equivalent of the original miracle of creation ex nihilo since the man has all the public presence of a 3-day-old prawn. Watching him talk on TV, the most fascinating thing about him (including what he is saying) is the gap between his two front teeth. Not even the most rabid masochist can endure more than a few seconds of him before crying "stop!".

But it turned out that they were talking about PR as in "Proportional Representation". They are bewailing the fact the the system in the UK allows Labour to win a 66 seat majority with barely 36% of the total vote, and only 3% more than the Tories. Bring in PR, they say, and we'll get responsible government.

No. No! NO!!!! We've got PR here, and it SUCKS. At least in the UK, you have a representative in Parliament. You may be unlucky enough to get George Galloway, but if that's as bad as I think it is, you can move. In Israel, you can't escape. You're stuck with a whole Knesset stuffed full of Galloways, or people that make him look morally and intellectually superior. The only way you can get away from them is to die.

So to my Pommy friends (all two of you) I say, you'll miss your current system 2 days after you choose the first UK governement by PR. What you've got, to paraphrase Churchill, is a terrible system, but its way ahead of whatever comes second.

Truly Unbelievable - You have to watch this!

By all accounts, the British general election campaign was very dull.

The outcome was rather more exciting, with Blair's majority significantly reduced by Tory and Lib Dem gains. George Galloway's shock win in Bethnal Green certainly caused a sensation, as he took a safe Labour seat that the party had held since 1945.

George Galloway is an odious demagogue, who exploited the racial tensions in the area for his own gain.
Unpleasant though Galloway is, I think Jeremy Paxman went OTT in this astonishing interview. It has to be seen to be believed. Enjoy!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/blog/4519553.stm

A Minutes Silence

...Where were you when the siren went off today for Yom Hashoah? I was having my car tested because I want to sell it. 70% of the workers and people at the Mosach were Arab and yet they stopped when the siren went off and hung their heads in silence. Amazing when you think there are ultra-orthodox (mainly Haredi) areas in Israel where they won't play a memorial siren to honor the fallen Soldiers on Yom Hazikaron! More about this next week.

...For some reason Galgalatz only plays Hebrew music on Yom Hashoah. Not sure if it really makes that much difference but I guess it is a way of showing some respect!

...A few years ago someone I know (no I am not telling) did not realize it was Yom Hashoah, when the memorial siren went off she thought there was a war breaking out and she grabbed her baby and locked herself and the baby in the bomb shelter. She didn't come out for a few hours and then only to grab the phone to call he mother to find out what was going on :)

...WE SHALL NOT FORGET!

Thierry Henry Speaks Out Against Racism

As well as being one of the most talented footballers on earth, (and one of the cutest, according to my wife!), Thierry Henry is also an eloquent spokesman in the campaign to kick racism out of football.

He has written a fine article in the Times on the issue.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,278-1597611,00.html

Racism in football is a controversial, emotional subject. It can reflect society itself, but football’s high profile means it can also create news around the issue. Yet governments are not able to tackle these problems easily. It is up to individuals to make their mark and do what they can in their field too.

Poetic justice for Chelsea

Like everyone else in England (except for Chelsea fans), I was cheering Liverpool to victory last night in the epic Champions League semi-final encounter against Chelsea, even though I'm an Arsenal fan. This was not only because Chelsea are London rivals of Arsenal, or even because of the crude way in which they have bought success.

Chelsea cheated their way to victory in a previous round of the Champions League against a glorious Barcelona team. Ricardo Carvalho clearly fouled the Barcelona goalkeeper, in the run-up to Chelsea's goal that knocked the Spaniards out. Hugh McIlvanny, a distinguished British sportswriter, has been outspoken in his condemnation of Chelsea's misdemeanours.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2094-1593498,00.html

So Chelsea' s elimination from the Champions League by a controversial Liverpool goal was poetic justice of the highest order. Incidentally, the Kop proved that dedication and devotion to their team is worth so much more than the millions that Roman Abramovich has poured into the nouveau riche Johnny Come Latelies of west London.

As Simon Barnes of The Times put it,

The Liverpool crowd had done an astonishing thing. They made Chelsea play worse than they can, they made Liverpool play better than they can, they made the referee turn a crucial decision their way. That’s 23 people all behaving in the way that the Liverpool crowd wished. It was, in the most literal sense, a triumph of hope over expectation.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,762-1597205,00.html

That is not to say that Liverpool played attractive football. Far from it. Shortly after they scored, they retreated into a shameful bunker, and barely resurfaced as an attacking force. In short, Liverpool defeated Chelsea at their own defensive game. A plague on both their houses, I say!

Since Liverpool will be representing England for only the second time in a European Cup Final, since 1985, I hope that they will actually try and play some football in the Final against their Italian opponents AC Milan, and be a credit to the English game. Or is that too much to ask?

exposure

Google search Janglo

Nushworld 3rd on the list :)

I Love My IPOD

Yes it's official!

I love my IPOD.

When my wife bought me the IPOD for my birthday, I did not get that excited. For starters, I'm not a Geek, and have no idea how these things work. To be honest, I still don't! My wife just put tons of my CDs (and even a few of her own) on the IPOD, and hey presto, I now have my own private radio station/jukebox (call it what you will) !

The thing is tiny. Not much bigger than a match box. On frustrating and exasperating days at work, the IPOD keeps me sane. It is actually a little toy, and I feel like an eight year-old boy with his action man. For me, the IPOD comes into its own when it is on shuffle mode. Now, for instance, this is what my IPOD has thrown at me:

1. Carl Orff - Carmina Burana
2. Rachmaninov - Vocalise
3. Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around
4. Dvorak - Allegro Con Fuoco
5. The Police - Walking on the Moon
6.Beethoven - Symphony No.2
7. Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance
8. Starsailor - Fidelity
9. Gustav Holst - Saturn - The Bringer of Old Age
10. Joan Jett - I Love Rock N'Roll (my wife's contribution!)

It's the aural equivalent of throwing all your kitchen ingredients into a pot, and making a broth out of it!
The taste makers may not approve. It doesn't seem quite right musically, but it is certainly fun, even if the music doesn't gel.

I have my work cut out to get my wife a present that she will appreciate as much!

My father used to say

My father always used to say you learn a new lesson every day. I was not aware that Israel was suffering from "overpopulation" of teachers in its' schools. I was also not aware that teachers are "overpaid" so I was shocked to read the following article in today's JP.

Education Minister Limor Livnat had justified the ultimatum by explaining that the ministry must inform local authorities about whether or not a mass dismissal of teachers would take place in time for them to prepare for the new school year in September.
In accordance with Rachlevsky's and Livnat's warnings, the ministry distributed a letter to school district directors during the first week of April instructing them to prepare lists of teachers in the category of "unnecessary" subjects such as fashion and agriculture, and teachers working less than a third of what is considered a
full-time job. At the time, Livnat had blamed the teachers' unions for "dragging their feet" to arrive at a "dead end," making it impossible to prepare the letter in time for implementing the reform next year. She also accused them of focusing on "short-term interests" and trying to "preserve their power as organizations" rather than thinking of what is in the students' best interest.

Because - hey part-time teachers don't have real jobs? Oh and those "unnecessary" subjects are the things that are not in the students best interest. Puhlease! As someone who failed academically at school, had it not been for the "unnecessary" subjects that I chose outside of Science and English literature I don't think I would have managed to go as far as I did.

Now I am convinced

Now I am convinced American Idol is rigged! Constantin voted out and Scott Savol still in - yeah right! when he survived after attempting Bohemian Rhapsody I thought for sure he would win - I am shocked!

Oh well Bo - it's all yours - mwa

Quote of the Day

Daniel Finkelstein in today's Times:

"I am glad that Moses got Pharaoh to let the Jews go, but did he have to invite them all round to our house?"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,21129-1586267,00.html

Oh you silly people....

Much has already been written about the woeful and misguided decision of the British Association of University Teachers. to boycott the Israeli Universities of Haifa and Bar-Ilan. I saw a couple of excellent articles in the British media which slammed the boycott. The London Times condemned the boycott on Monday in its leading article. Another of the articles in question was written by David Aaronovitch, in last Sunday's Observer newspaper. The Observer is hardly a pro-Israel newspaper, and is the sister-paper of The Guardian, so that makes it even more interesting.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1468969,00.html

Ushyman

Pope Beanedict CVI

Pope Beanedict XVI

Parked in #2

Yesterday I went to drop some stuff I had bought for Pessach at my sister-in-law. There were 8 parking spaces and only one car parked in the 3rd space from the right. So I parked in the last (number 8) parking space because I didn't want to block someone and I also didn't want to be there more than 5 min, so I left my bag on the front seat - grabbed my shopping - and rushed up the stairs (1 flight) to drop everything off.

When I came back down 10 min later (I had to get at least 5 kisses from each of my 3 nephews), the woman whose parking space I had obviously taken had PARKED-ME-IN! That is to say she had parked her car directly behind me and I could not reverse out of my space! I went back to ask my sister-in-law whose car it was. I intended to knock on the door, explain very nicely and apologetically that I was in a rush and had lots of parcels to carry and I was only going to be stopping for 5 min etc... I did not want to get into a fight because I figured it would be counter-productive to yell at someone blocking my car.

I knocked on her front door and she refused to open it and after the first knock just ignored the rest of my pleading. I waited 30 min and tried her door again, she continued to ignore me. After a phone call to cancel an appointment with my dietician in Jerusalem, I eventually became enraged! What sort of F#$%^& up person does this to another person for parking in their space? My sister-in-law tells me that this woman hasn't paid her Va'ad Bayit for 2 years and that the whole building pay on her behalf. She would not even open the door and yell at me for parking in her space!!! WHAT SORT OF PERSON IS THIS?

Eventually I got into my brand new Mazda 3, moved my car within a millimeter of the car behind and floored the gas, I managed to move the car behind me just enough to be able to squeeze my car this way and that until I got it out. All I can say is that this woman is very lucky not to have 4 flat tires and a couple of key scratches down the side of her car. I hope when she does teshuvah next YK she remembers what an absolute idiot she has been to people around her this year!

Chag Sameach you moron!

When did Geek become cool

I am sitting here at the IDC in Herzeliyah at a competition being sponsored by my company. Basically it is a competition for extremely clever kids, they have 1.5 hours to answer 44 questions about computers and codes. The competition is called CodeGuru.

What amazes me, besides the fact that there are no females in this competition, is that these kids don't look like your sterotypical geeks. In fact I would go as far as to say some are quite cute! (girls where are you).

Of the 35 participants only 5 or so wear glasses, either contact lenses are in or maybe they forced kids with a certain IQ to wear glasses back when i was a young lass. Anyway kudos to these kids. One of them will win a laptop computer today ala IBM.

-------------------

When we had an organizational meeting a few weeks ago there was a riddle we had to solve before we could move on. I didn't solve it but hey - I don't claim to be a genious! Can you solve it?

עיכר - is to מכונית
as
אני is to ברך
as
חיבוק is to ????

Icar is to Mechonit
as
Ani is to Berech
as
Chibuk is to ????

Pope Hype

In honor of the hype surrounding the death of one Pope and the election of a new one. The BBC News website has published a section called "A-Z of religions and beliefs"

Here's what they say about Judaism (strangely enough when I hit the page the first time, Islam was the featured religion at the top of the page - conspiracy? nahhhhhh)

Judaism is around 3500 years old. Jews believe that there is only one God and that the Jewish People were specially chosen to receive God's guidance. Find out more.

They even have a section titled "Basics". I think I should write a letter and tell them there is NOTHING basic about Judaism :)

Overview of Judaism
Around 2,000 years ago a non-Jew told Hillel, a famous Jewish teacher, that he would convert to Judaism if Hillel could teach him the whole of the Torah in the time he could balance on one leg.
Hillel replied… "What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it."

The Bare Essentials of Judaism
* 3500 years old
* Began in the Middle East
* Founded by Abraham and Moses
* Parent faith of Christianity
* Jews believe that there is only one God
* Jews believe that the Jewish People are specially chosen by God
* Jews worship in Synagogues, their spiritual leaders are called Rabbis
* The Jewish Holy book is the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, especially the first 5 books, called The Torah
* 12 million followers, most in Israel and the USA
* 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in an attempt to wipe out Judaism

Well anyway I think it's an interesting site - well done and I am sure it took them a loooooooooong time to come up with things to write there that they thought wouldn't be controversial - but I am sure that somewhere, someone will have an issue with something that is written. I can feel an anti-semitism cry coming....

plus ca change

Is there a phrase that is the opposite of "deja vu". Something that you can use that sounds a bit more sophisticated, educated and less yobby than "been there - done that". You know the sense of deja vu - when you see something that you know is new, but you have the feeling you've seen it before - somewhere.

I was looking for such a phrase when leafing through an old copy of the Jerusalem Report - October 26 1998 to be exact, and I had exactly that feeling - the opposite of deja vu. Everything I was reading was today's news. It was simply remarkable how you can look at a magazine that's nearly 7 years old, and still get the overwhelming sense that although we'd obviously been there before, it was all new. Just look at some of the headlines and content I read.

1. Main story - For the Love of Gaza
"Gaza's Jews say that their reality now awaits West Bank Settlers if another withdrawal takes place."
"Rafael Eitan says "there's going to be war for every inch of territory' "
"Isolated, sometimes besieged but determined to stay put, the settlers of the Gaza strip say .."
"Anticipating siege, the settles have stockpiled canned food..."
"...political stickers are common here - 'We are not budging from Gaza' 'We are all Netzarim'. "
"In terms of attachment to the Land of Israel, we're at the bottom of the ladder. Still, we do have have support - even 30% is significant ... My job is to hold any part of the Land of Israel that I can"..

2. The Courts
"The courts are castigated by politicians...."
"a growing wave of well-publicized verbal assaults on the judicial system, particularly from ultra-orthodox quarters..."
"...relentless criticism of the legal system comes from two groups - the religious parties and the far Right..."

3. Palestinian "Justice"
"..tribal bloodletting has worsened in Palestinian society..."
"thousand of armed security force members ... who routinely act as though they are above the law..."
"... there is always someone killing someone else, in the process of taking revenge for a previous killing, seemingly without end."
"..within a day, 3 members of the clan were sentenced to death....there are reports that the convicted men are now free"

4. The region
"..Egypt has regained a position of seniority by taking a line of occaisional recalcitrance against the US..."
".. Hizbullah has absorbed weapons that are more accurate and dangerous than anything previously in its posession"
" Iranian Admiral Shamkhani has threatened retaliation in the event of an Israeli strike - within two years Israel will be within range of operational Iranian missiles"

5. The economy
" despite a shaky start, privatization - the crown jewel in Benjamin Netanyahu's master plan to reshape the Israeli economy, appears to be moving ahead..."
"...the Manufacturers Association is comlaining about a drop in R&D funding in the budget ..."

6. Politics
".. Barak has yet to learn that, unlike generals, politicans cannot order people to vote for them..."

One of the redeeming features of life is the feeling that we are going somewhere. Here in Israel, the overwhelming feeling has to be that wherever we may be going, we've been there before. How depressing!

The French say "plus ca change, plus ca meme chose", which means "the more things change, the more they stay the same", but I don't speak French, so find me something in Yiddish, Latin, or even Japanese, that says the same thing in two words.