Israel’s News Blog Magazine: Daily Stories Video and Photos

Like many other kids, one of my favorite childhood stories was Snow-White. Perhaps some of it was because my mom always liked to say that when she was pregnant with me she’d wished that she would have a daughter with lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony, like that famous pale beauty.

Her prayers were answered. The only problem was that I, girl of about 5 or 6, somehow got my hands on a copy of the story that had quite an unusual portrayal of this black haired Snow-White. She was blonde.

From that moment on, and if to admit my superficial nature – to this very day, I’ve hoped I’d had blonde hair (nowadays I just hope I’ll have cute blonde kids). It seems that I share this adherence to the gleaming blondeness with the majority of the Israeli population.

Instead of taking pride in their Middle Eastern beauty, a lot of Israeli women feed their hair with high oxygen percentage and thus maintain their epithet Schehordiniot (black-blondiniot). The men are not different. They themselves would never dream of dying their own hair (they are, after all, Mediterranean machos), but if there was ever anything appealing to them – it would be blonde hair on a girl.

I’m not being an envious criticizing bitch here, believe me. I just find it pretty hilarious that whenever I take a glance at some blonde who walks by, there would also be a man who’d turn all the way round to stare at the unaware lady. What an asset it must be, to be a blonde. If only there were more blonde guys here, too!

Read part one and two of this series.

Are they for real? 4000 New Israeli Shekels for a full-time job? “What we’ve got here is — failure to communicate”!

It seems like employers here have lost their minds. Or perhaps they can afford themselves, to demand that their employees work full-time plus extra hours, without any social benefits and sometimes without even having their transportation expenses paid for.

That’s not all. With how things are going these days, even a pizza delivery boy might be requested to be a native English speaker (”or at least have English at mother-tongue level”), holding at least a BA degree, and with at least a 5 year work experience in the field. You know what, dear employers? *At least* be able to offer a decent salary to those who actually fit this description!

By the way, it’s good to know Israelis are such good, well-educated employees if that’s the standard of the present demand and supply in the job market. But, in any case, perhaps it’s for the best, as now I have a better answer for the most maddening, frustrating rejection of all: “Sorry honey, but you’re over-qualified for the job.”
So, yeah… back to my full-time work from home.

Present Project: spreading the Word and my CV to the whole goddamn world.

Objective: have my CV next to each and every key person’s morning coffee (or their secretaries’) in every single company in the Tel Aviv area.

I’ll show them what I’m made of. I’m special, so special! And willing to work overtime when needed, of course.

Rumor has it that Osama Bin Laden phoned the White House yesterday and was connected with President Bush.

“I had a dream last night,” said the terrorist. “I found myself flying over your miserable country and noticed that on every building was waving an enormous white banner with the same inscription.”

“And what did the banners say?” asked the President.

“Long Live Osama!” said the terrorist with glee.

“Hmmm,” said President Bush. “That’s curious, because I had a dream last night, too. I found myself flying over Afghanistan and was stunned at how the country had changed. There were green gardens instead of deserts, schools and stores instead of terrorist camps. Happy women and children playing peacefully in parks, and food bazaars filled with nutritious edibles of every description. And above every building, a white banner waved in the breeze.”

“And what did the banners say?” asked Bin Laden.

“I don’t know,” said the President. “I can’t read Hebrew.”

A small Internet game to help boost the holiday spirit and strengthen your Jewish identity.

On July 29, 2006 actor and director Mel Gibson was arrested in Los Angeles after been caught exceeding the speed limit. Police officers identified high levels of alcohol in his blood. The incident provoked many reactions as a result of anti-Semitic remarks made by Gibson to the arresting officers. According to witnesses, Gibson said “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson apologized a day later: “I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable”. Since his arrest, Gibson was criticized broadly and became a subject for mockery by comedians.

The “So You Think You Can Drive, Mel” Internet game raised up a notch the ridicule level. The object of the game is driving Gibson from a restaurant to his home. On the way home you collect tequila bottles while trying to avoid flying Stars of David and police troopers. The more bottles you collect, the drunker Mel gets, and it’s harder to control his car. It’s a funny, stupid but rather addictive game. Let’s get out the little aggressive devil that is hidden in all of us.

Mel Gibson’s Drunk Driving Game Website: http://www.gsn.com/mel

(Photograph courtesy of GSN)

Is the cat out of the bag, or is this something most people really knew all along? Only days after U.S. President Bush met with Pakistan’s president (or is it Dictator) Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in New York during the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly, the release of the General’s book, In the Line of Fire, some very revealing details concerning Pakistan’s “real relationship” with the United States. Musharraf, who himself is not lily-white when it comes to how he became the supreme ruler of the world’s only (so far) nuclear armed Islamic country, has now made a virtual confession concerning how he had no alternative other than to ‘change horses’ and give support to the U.S. led War on Terror following the Al Qaeda planned attacks against the U.S. in September, 2001.

After supporting the ultra-Islamic Taliban organization to oust the Russians from Afghanistan, in which the U.S. CIA also played a major part, Pakistan continued to give support to this group which turned Afghanistan into an ultra-religious Islamic state where even most kinds of music was considered blasphemy and women had virtually no rights – even concerning education and receiving basic health care. All of this changed, however, when the Pakistani President received telephone calls from both the U.S. President and his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, “inviting” Musharraf to join forces in defeating the Taliban, and it’s Al Qaeda ‘guests’, including Osama bin Laden.

Musharraf writes in his book that “America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear”, and that “this wounded bear would come charging straight at us” unless Pakistan elected to join the anti-terror Coalition. As was related to him by Mr. Powell, and later said generally by President Bush: “you are either with us, or you are with the terrorists”, with the obvious consequences for those who chose not to ‘join the party’.

Many people are asking, why is this ‘revelation’ coming out now? Why is Musharraf, who still is technically aligned with the U.S. and other countries, now coming clean? The only answer can be is that the Pakistani president has sensed a change of direction in the winds of war, regarding the battle against the Great Jihad of World Islam. Recent news stories have mentioned that Pakistan is not doing enough to search for and find Taliban and Al Qaeda members reported to be hiding in the mountain wilderness of northwest Pakistan; terrain so rugged that it is almost impossible to detect people who may be hiding there, even with the most sophisticated surveillance equipment. Top Al Qaeda leaders as well as Taliban chiefs such as Muhammad Omar, the ousted Taliban leader, are still assumed to be holed up there somewhere, or in similar terrain in northeastern Afghanistan.

Musharraf also has had his neighboring country India in mind when making these strategic decisions, since India is also a nuclear power and very much aligned with the U.S. The two countries have fought several major wars since both gained independence from Great Britain in 1947. They still have occasional skirmishes in the disputed region of Kashmir, and blame the other for frequent terror attacks which occur in both countries.

“We put our national interest on the line for self-preservation, as the Americans threatened to ‘bomb us back to Stone Age’ if we didn’t comply” Musharraf relates. He also sadly notes, that instead of becoming a safer place following the initial stages of the terror war, “the world has actually become far more dangerous”.

Is it accepted to begin a job interview in the elevator? I wonder. “So I see here” (my Shrekky interviewer holds a crumpled copy of my precious CV in her hands) “that you worked in…” – elevator stops. I try to say something witty while following the hurrying lady to the interview room. She stops before the door and looks at me with a confused expression on her face. She forgot the key. Well, I sure don’t have it, now do I? I don’t work here (yet!), remember? “I know I came a bit early,” I say with a polite smile (trying to suppress my laughter), “do you need some more time to get ready?” Power shift? I chuckle softly to myself when this chick tries to hunt down one of her colleagues to lend her a key. Half way down the corridor she hollers, “D’you want something to drink?” after already getting herself a cup of cold water.

Finally in the interview room, I wait politely to be asked to sit down. I stand there like a schmuk though I know Israelis have no clue about these standard politenesses, but she’s not even looking in my direction. In her haphazard manner she rummages through her bag and discovers she doesn’t have a pen to write with. I offer her mine, resourceful as I am. I decide to sit without being asked to. I’m already losing my patience with this woman, who keeps shooting questions at me and doesn’t wait for an answer. Her boobs spill on the table (why the hell did I bother to dress like a prude?); her head is bent down to the piece of paper, once in a while turning left to the mobile phone. Which of course rings. Which she of course takes up and examines curiously. “Ahhh, so what were you saying…? I’m all yours now,” she says without even looking up at me.

Ten minutes after I’m out, being promised to be called for a second interview with the CEO. God bless her, she liked me!

These are the (shocking!) facts: Three small kids were found dead this Saturday, after their pregnant mother had been savagely slain. Jimella Tunstall, mother of three and pregnant with another child, was 23 in her death.

The coroner believes her death was caused by excessive bleeding from her abdomen – after the fetus had been taken out of her body with a sharp object, probably scissors. The primal suspect is the mother’s childhood friend and the one who looked after the kids in their mother’s absence.

These are the facts. Do you want to know what people had to “talkback” about this story? Believe me, you don’t. I’m sorry, but I’m not making this up. Comments written originally in Hebrew in different local news sites:

- “That’s what happens when you don’t look after your kids properly”;
- “She must’ve been Arab, look at her name. So her family must have done this to save the family’s reputation”;
- “A baby factory – and at such an early age! How careless”;
- “Such a thing will never happen here, in Israel. Crazy Americans, too many McDonald’s meals”;
- “Mothers! That’s why you should stay at home with your kids Decide whether you want a career or raise your children. You have to sacrifice yourself for them”;
- “Nannies are filthy, they steal and eat and talk all day using your phone bill”…

It goes on and on. There are, of course, some sane voices here and there, but it’s much too overwhelming to first read the horrible details of the article and then freak out even more by the crazy reactions written by so many actual living people.
Perhaps we really should stop and think if we want to bring children to this psychotic world.

Are all Tel-Avivis terribly melancholic? After all, people do say they never smile on the streets… But perhaps there’s a different reason for the citizens of this lively city to walk with their heads down.

Walk down Rothschild Ave., and see the biggest number of dogs you’ll ever see anywhere else (unless you’re a dog show fan, that is). These dogs are usually out together with their owners, led by them or leading them. It’s a social thing here, walking your dog. You’ll find all sorts of dog-walkers out there, from early morning to the small hours of the night. Old people getting bored from staying in all day who treat their dogs as if they were their own children, desperate housewives (or their Philippine Help) with the tiniest dogs, married couples with their doggy tied to the baby stroller and – of course – young singles.

It seems like every other single man or woman owns a dog in Tel Aviv. At night, in their best outfits, with make up and perfume on, they all take their dogs out and let them run around freely, while they busy themselves eyeing the current potential hook-up market.

It’s definitely not a bad way to get to know people. Actually, I think it’s very healthy to meet people on the street in the most natural way, and not in a silly and awkward blind-date or – god help us – a shiduch. You see someone you like, you smile, (let him) begin to chat… That’s even romantic.

But. Let’s say I see my future husband – handsome, well-built, with a lot of taste but not too pretentious… He walks by, smiles and enigmatic smile and looks at me with his oh-so-intelligent eyes – and then hurries after his stupid looking dog and picks up its excrement with his hands using a very thin nylon bag. Major, major turn-off. And, no, the fact that this person would bother to pick it up at all doesn’t make it better. And watch out, a lot of them don’t bother.

Today’s the day. I’m wearing my best clothes, put on some make up, some perfume, and fixed my hair. I look good. I feel good. Confident, sharp, clever. Today they will adore me, listen to everything I have to say. They will hire me for the job.

Going to a job interview is almost like going on a date. You feel like you have to dazzle them, to make them want you in their office until the end of time. Knowing you will have only a few minutes to explain the person who’s in control of your future career life why you’re just the perfect person for the job, you get all the right answers ready in advance, you wear something decent and serious (but with a personal touch to it, of course), and muster all your self-confidence and self-esteem (or at least try to).

Like most people, I don’t really feel comfortable talking so much about myself, especially not with a handful of superlatives. But I know I have to be strong and look super-assertive (and pray they won’t ask something silly like, “tell me five things you’re best at”). Good morning, my name is Ally McBeal, and my theme song for today is: Brass in Pocket. I’m special. So special.

Ready, set? Go! With sweat trickling down my back (thank god I chose the white buttoned-down shirt today, clever me), I finally get there. I’m even early in 10 minutes! Reliable and punctual, oh yeah. But wait, isn’t this supposed to be my dream job? So how come this building is this crappy? No, no, don’t be superficial and judgmental; see what they have to offer. C’mon, put on a sophisticated smile, girl. I open the door and about to utter a polite “Hello” when an Amazonian woman almost bumps into me and shouts, “You Yaara?”

To be continued…

The grisly story that has shocked Americans the past few days is still something ranging from for completely unbelievable to a tale out of the worst nightmare of horror flicks. Occurring on or about September 15, in the predominantly African American community of East St. Louis Illinois, across the Mississippi River from its larger namesake, St Louis Missouri. Jimella Hall, a 23 year old mother of three, and seven months pregnant to boot, was knocked unconscious and her unborn fetus literally cut from her body by her 24 year old babysitter, Tiffany Hall (pictured above). Jimella’s children, Demond, aged 7, Ivan, aged 2, and baby Jinella , aged 1, were later found stuffed into the mother’s washer and dryer in their E. St. Louis ‘project’ apartment.

Though the subject of an intense search, the children were only found inside these appliances after several days when the smell of their decomposing bodies led police to look inside to find their grisly remains. Later, forensic tests revealed the children had been drowned before being ‘laid to rest’ inside the Whirlpool appliances.

Ms. Hall, who had notified the police that the now dead fetus was her own still-born child, later divulged most of the details of these extremely horrific events. She has two children of her own, now safe in Police custody.

The events noted here may come to a shock to many, especially those living outside the United States. Others, especially those involved in social work and related professions, are acutely aware that such occurrences happen all to often; especially to members of this country’s poorer minority elements of society. What has made this series of events so shocking, however, was the manner in which they occurred – especially in regards to a live fetus being cut out of it’s mother’s womb. This only indicates that America is far from being a perfect society, and that in reality, more than a third of all Americans, especially from minority groups, live under the poverty line. Many live in these ‘project condominiums’; often inhabited by single mothers who are living on welfare or near-welfare subsistence levels. These people, often several generations, have little or no hope to improve their circumstances; resulting in their lives being filled with drugs and violence, coupled with living in truly wretched living conditions.

Israel is not immune to problems involving the country’s poor and disadvantaged citizens, and numerous incidents of domestic and family violence are often noted, including the most recent in which a young immigrant father (from the CIS countries) threw his two children from the balcony of their second story apartment. More than 1,200 cases of domestic violence have been reported in Israel so far this year, and from all indications, with the state of the country’s economy following the 34 day Lebanon conflict, the situation is bound to get worse before it gets better, with the weaker elements of society being the ones involved most in these incidents of family-related violence.

As for acts of violence in America, it appears that the so-called “American Dream” is really a nightmare for more than 35 million Americans, making it no wonder that many are being attracted to various cults, and to religious groups which may preach violence as a means to solve problems. The reality of this tragedy means that government officials, both local and national, had better concentrate more on solving their country’s social problems before trying to be the ‘policemen of the world’.