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

Will Monday’s publication of the much awaited Winograd Report be reminiscent of Ernest Hemmingway’s classic novel: For Whom the Bell Tolls? The long prepared document prepared by a very distinguished committee headed by former Tel Aviv District Judge Eliahu Wingrad (pictured), is supposed to formally point out the faults of the Israeli government during last summer’s Lebanon II war, in which more than 230 Israeli soldiers and civilians lost their lives and the country’s entire northern region from Haifa and Afula onwards were bombarded during 34 days of constant Hezbollah launched missile attacks.

These attacks, which caused serious damage to many of Israeli towns and cities, including Haifa, also turned the country’s economy upside down and caused more than a million Israeli citizens to be either confined to very unpleasant conditions in crowded bomb shelters, or turned into refugees in their own land, forced to seek the kind assistance of people like billionaire Arkady Gaydamak, whose tent city in southern Israel gave temporary shelter while a hapless government failed to come to terms with a very unpleasant reality.

The report is expected to note the failures of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defence Minister Amir Peretz, and then IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz. But with all of this before us, is there really anything that hasn’t already been figured out by most of the Israeli public? After all, the reserve soldiers who were sent into battle without enough rations, ammunition – even water – do they need a long and very in depth report by a group to retired generals and legal experts to conclude what has already been thought out by nearly everyone with an IQ of at least 75? The report, which took more than five months to complete and at a cost of millions of shekels, is reported to find Olmert responsible for the results of the war, including lack of ability to care for the needs of nearly a fourth of the country’s inhabitants; Peretz’s failures due to his not being qualified for his position as Defense Minister; and Halutz’s failures due to his not having ‘on the ground’ military experience as a field commander (after all flying over a war zone is not the same as having to plow through it as many unprepared conscripts and reserve soldiers found out).

The committee also blames other IDF generals including Gal Hirsch and Udi Adam for their actions, and adds that lack of awareness of Hezbollah activity by former Prime and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, former Defense Ministers Shaul Mofaz and Moshe (Boogie) Ayalon allowed Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to strengthen his organization’s infrastructure in southern Lebanon during the six year period between the May 2,000 IDF pullout and the July 2006 war.

Though other details will most likely be revealed when the report is formally released at 3:30 p.m. on Monday (NOW !!), the resulting fallout to Olmert’s already troubled administration may result in early elections at most, or if not, at least a severe shakeup in Olmert’s cabinet.

Olmert commented recently that he knows he is not a very popular prime minister; and by the time the Winograd Report’s dust has settled, he may discover that his unpopularity is even more intense. After all, a lot of ordinary people were directly involved in this conflict – more than in most other major wars in Israel’s 59 year history.

And from a military point of view, many eyes will now be focused on new IDF Chief of Staff Gaby Ashkenazi to try to set things right in Israel’s armed forces. The only thing is – things have to be set right at the top as well; for as a former U.S. President, Harry S. Truman, once said, regarding ultimate responsibility: “the buck stops here”.

He sits alone in a wheel chair in one of metropolitan Tel Aviv’s many “parent’s houses”, otherwise known to Westerners as nursing homes. The man, Abie Nathan, who formerly dedicated his life to promoting peace between Israel and her neighbors as well as helping to alleviate the suffering of fellow human beings the world over, recently “celebrated” his 80th birthday as a sick and crippled pensioner. His main wish, as sadly noted in a feature article in last Friday’s Yidiot Ahronot newspaper: to be provided with a pistol in order to end his personal suffering.

How could his have happened to a man, a former IAF and El Al pilot and Tel Aviv restaurant owner, whose AM/FM radio station broadcasted daily for so many years from “somewhere in the Mediterranean”, and whose good deeds became known by many unfortunate and disaster stricken people who had long given up hope – until he entered their lives? Abie Nathan was simply a very unique human being during the years that he invested so much of himself and his limited resources into trying to make the world a better place. These efforts were especially prevalent during the 1970’s and 80’s when his Peace Ship sat anchored less than a mile offshore Israel’s largest city, and whose bright and breezy radio broadcasts brought not only the latest pop tunes to his adoring listeners, but messages of hope, peace, and reconciliation to everyone in the eastern Mediterranean: From Greece to Egypt.

Abie could have made a sizable profit from the advertising revenues he received, as well as various donations to his various causes. Instead, he spent his entire revenues not only to promote his message of peace, but to provide food, medicines and other assistance to people as far away as Biafra Africa, Mexico and Nicaragua, whenever a natural or man-made disaster struck and caused so many to suffer. News clips of him walking among children, passing out toys, candy and other items to their smiling faces, often brought smiles to many. His philanthropic projects were in fact so numerous that it eventually bankrupted him and forced him to shut down his radio station and even scuttle the very ship where his crew had mostly been made up of young volunteers who often put in 16 hour days without any financial compensation.

Abie Nathan’s efforts to promote peace between his adopted country and her hostile neighbors often got him into trouble with various Israeli governments, who viewed his clandestine meetings with Palestinian and other Arab personalities as seditious and even traitorous; and prevented him from receiving any formal recognition from his own country. These rejections resulted in him being prevented from nomination for such prestigious awards as the Israel Prize, and that “jewel in the crown” that is awarded annually in the city of Oslo, Norway, the Nobel Prize.

For many people, particularly we “Anglos” who gave up the comforts of Western countries to settle in Israel, Abie’s daily broadcasts from the Peace Ship made our lives more tolerable and helped us to persevere in spite of being so far away from our former way of life. Whether it was listening to the latest rock and roll and other pop music hits, or to the VOP’s evening Twilight Time mellow renditions of earlier more tranquil years, Abie Nathan’s comforting voice was appreciated by all who listened to his message.

And now, near the end of his long life, Abie sits alone and dejected; a forgotten crusader for humanity, unable to function, and barely able to speak after two paralyzing strokes – his only wish now is to be able to die with what little dignity still remains still remains in his aged, frail body in a country that has passed him and his dreams by in this ‘brave new world’ of religious and secular extremism that is now threatening to engulf us all.

Is this a proper and fitting end for a man to whom so many owe so much, and whose tireless efforts are only now beginning to be appreciated? Surely someone in the world, especially in Israel, will finally decide to give this great man the long delayed recognition he deserves – and hopefully while he is still alive to receive it.

Wishing you all a happy 59th..
Moshik says hi

Less than three days before Israel’s 59th independence anniversary, we finally put some flags out on our balcony, courtesy of a local newspaper. In many neighborhoods there appears to be a marked absence of flags and banners that are usually hung out in the days preceding Israel’s annual national holiday; and from recent articles and news commentaries, this ‘phenomena’ seems to be a nation-wide reality.

More than eight months following the end of last summer’s war in Lebanon, and with an atmosphere rife with political controversy and scandal, it’s no wonder that fewer symbols of national pride are being displayed by a public that is becoming more and more disillusioned with what is transpiring – especially among the country’s leadership. To give you an idea about what has brought all of this on, a quick survey highlight the following problems that Israelis presently have to deal with:

1. The President of the State has been indicted for charges of rape and other forms of sexual misconduct.

2. The Prime Minister is under investigation for his handling of the war, as well as a number of financial dealings involving properties and other investments.

3. The Defense Minister, chosen for a position he was completely unqualified for, is under fire and many have called for his resignation.

4. The Finance Minister is now under increasing investigation for allegations of both Grand Theft and fraud, with “clarion calls” for his dismissal.

5. More and more Israelis, especially aged ones (particularly Holocaust survivors) are living under the poverty line and cannot even buy enough food to survive. This also includes one in every four Israeli children.

6. The three Israeli captive soldiers are still unaccounted for, and the present government appears unwilling or incapable of securing their release.

7. It was revealed this weekend that emigration (Yeridah) is now exceeding immigration (Aliyah) for the first time in over twenty years. And this is despite an increase in new immigrants (Olim) from France and other European countries.

Need one say more…..

It’s not the first time that following a major military conflict that feelings of dismay and lack of patriotism have been evident in the Jewish State. What makes this year’s phenomena even more striking however, are the other problems that go along with the aftermath of the Lebanon II war.

Israel’s growing economic affluence, for some, that is, largely brought on by the “get rich quick” attitudes inspired by the technological boom, has given many people the economic freedom and mobility that enables them to relocate their entire business venture by simply packing their ‘laptop’ into a suitcase and boarding an international flight to American cities like Boston or Santa Clara California. Zionistic calls to ’settle the land’ are becoming fewer and fewer, particularly following the mass disengagement from settlements in Gaza and planned ‘resettlements’ from large sections of the West Bank.

Though many of the ‘Yordim’ or emigrants are ones who came to Israel from Russia and other former Soviet Union republics, they as a whole are intelligent, highly educated people, whose skills are very much needed to ensure Israel’s technological edge over her adversaries. With countries like Iran on the verge of becoming nuclear powers, this ‘brain drain’ is even more critical, and could even be fatal in next few years.

We must therefore find ways to correct the many problems facing our country; and this can well begin with coming together as a nation and showing a bit more patriotism – even if it is only the placing of flags on our cars and on our balconies.

We don’t have another country.

To someone visiting Israel or even a new comer, these days must seem very strange. As someone who has lived here all his life though, having gone through the emotional rollercoaster every year, there is a certain balance to these two days.

Memorial Day started at 8:00 PM this evening with a siren that caught me on the way home (2 blocks from home actually), and like everyone else I stopped, got out of the car and stood in silence as the siren blared. These next 24 hours will have us dig deep. Today we get out all the old pictures and memories of the fallen. We dust them off and we take a good long look. We listen to the families who still have a gaping hole in their life. A hole that time will never fill. The stories are sad, heart wrenching, surprising and uplifting all at same time. We have a great deal of stories to tell today and they all need to be told. Since the beginning of Jewish settlements in Israel, over 22,305 lives have been lost in wars and acts of terror. 233 were killed this past year, 119 of them were soldiers killed in the Second Lebanon War.

Today you hear all sorts of stories. It makes you realize how detached we get when we are busy living our lives. I mean we feel the tinge, the pain, when we hear about a soldier killed on the news, but today we see how deep the wound is. Today we see the whole story we knew was there when we heard it on the radio.

The stories about the father’s premonition, who called the army’s Special Family Services and said he was worried about his son. At the same time his son Yaniv, was killed in Lebanon. He was told that evening when soldiers appeared at the door.

A story about a couple who at the age of 47 and 53 lose their 20 year old son and 12 months later have a third son. The fallen son was in an elite unit and was killed by friendly fire. His younger brother (18) now asked his parents for a permission letter to join a combat unit. They painfully agree.

The story of an Ethiopian boy who makes it to Israel, goes to a school on a Kibbutz and is filled with ambition to become a real Israeli. He joins the army, becomes a paratrooper and later a Lieutenant Colonel. When he falls he leaves behind a huge void for both family and community that sees him as the light of their life. A community center for Ethiopian children is dedicated to him now. His mother says she now feels she is an Israeli, not an immigrant.

There are so many stories and so many good people. Salt of the earth people: Russian immigrants, Ethiopian immigrants, religious, secular and all 100% Israelis.

Tomorrow night we will celebrate Independence Day. We will celebrate our 59 year old country. Celebrate living free in a country we more then earned.

Israel prepares to honor its war dead and those killed in acts of terror at Remembrance Day 2007, also known as Yom Hazikaron. Coming just months after last summer’s Lebanon II war, the people of Israel have those killed in this unfortunate episode to add to many others who have fallen in battle or were killed by acts of terror since the founding of the state. Also to be remembered are the three captured Israeli soldiers: Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, and Gilad Shalit. Shalit was captured in late June when his patrol unit was attacked on the border with Gaza; Regev and Goldwasser were captured by the Hezbollah July 12 on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon - an act which sparked a war that ended more than a month later with more than 150 Israelis killed, including 38 civilians from 4,000 Katyusha rocket attacks.

Since the early 1980’s and the war known as Operation Peace for Galilee, or Lebanon I, a number of Israeli soldiers have been reported as either missing in action or captured. So far, none of these soldiers have returned alive, and many, including Air Force Flight Navigator Ron Arad, have been missing for years. It was only in the Yom Kippur War that some captured prisoners were returned alive, many after spending several months as prisoners in either Egyptian or Syrian jails or prison camps.

The reality of this past and recent scenario is that Israeli soldiers captured alive do not appear to have much likelihood of ever coming home again to their families; alive that is.

Recent optimism concerning a prisoner exchange with the Palestinians for the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit seems to be constantly frustrated as demands made by the Hamas dominated Palestinian Authority for the inclusion of prisoners with “blood on their hands” are just not acceptable by Israel. In regards to the other two being held by the Hezbollah, their spiritual leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, knows how to play on the emotions of concerned relatives as they did several years back when the remains of three Israeli soldiers, and a reserve officer named Elhanan Tenenbaum, were exchanged for more than 1,000 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.

On Sunday night, April 22, Yom Hazikaron will begin in Israel with a special memorial ceremony at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem. While special remembrance flames will be lit there, and at numerous ceremonies around the country, we must all pause to say a prayer for the three captive soldiers and hope that they will soon be released and back with their loving families.

That’s what Yom Hazikaron is all about: not just to memorialize the dead, but to pray for the living as well.

WhiteSmoke develops writing software. In addition to the traditional English grammar, spelling, and punctuation checks found in word processors, WhiteSmoke provides an enrichment feature that suggests context-based additions to users’ texts, plus an online dictionary that includes translations and a thesaurus. The patented technology stimulates the human thought process when it reads, classifies, and stores millions of English texts.

The company developed this artificial intelligence tool that is able to scan databases from news sites such as CNN and The New York Times, and studies documents from Harvard and Yale on an ongoing basis to learn how English sentences are used real-time in business, medicine and every-day life.

When a user activates WhiteSmoke software he sends text to the server, which then parses the text and returns it to the user with relevant choices for text enrichment. WhiteSmoke software is compatible with all applications; the user’s text is automatically sent to the WhiteSmoke server upon activation. An OEM version also exists, consisting of a set of client and server tools that enable websites and writing platforms to provide users access to WhiteSmoke.

WhiteSmoke has been in business for three years. Notable investors include Shlomo Touboul, evolution VC, and Yair Goldfinger, a founder of online chat giant ICQ.

Worth a look..

The body of Dr. Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor and lecturer at the Virginia Tech School of Engineering for more than 20 years, was brought back to Israel following his death at the hands of the 23 year old South Korean student who killed not only the 76 year old professor, but 31 others as well.

Dr. Librescu, who at the age of 10 was interned with his parents in a work detention camp in Romania during WWII, became a hero on Monday, April 16, when he barred the door to his classroom with his own body to prevent the slayer from entering – an action that is now being credited with saving the lives of at least twenty students. For that heroic action, Dr. Librescu paid the ultimate price – his life.

When interviewed following the carnage that still has the campus of nearly 30,000 students, and Americans all over reeling from the sadness and shock of this tragedy, several of Librescu’s students said that his actions probably saved their lives. “I probably wouldn’t be here today if Professor Librescu hadn’t acted like he did – he is a real hero” one student was quoted as saying. While Dr. Librescu blocked the doorway, many of his students were able to escape by jumping out the classroom windows.

Dr. Librescu’s son, Joe, who lives in Israel, said that his father had lived a very “eventful life”, having had experienced both the horrors of the Holocaust and the severe hardships of life under the regime of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu before immigrating to Israel in 1977. Professor Liberescu had managed to gain distinction in Romania in the field of engineering science and mecanics; and was invited to do research at Virginia Tech in 1986, where he continued on as a research fellow and lecturer.

It’s ironic that the tragedy in which so many died, including Dr. Librescu, occurred on Holocaust Remembrance Day, when thousands of Holocaust survivors, many living in both the U.S.A. and Israel, still feel the grief and pain of perhaps the world’s worst human nightmare.

Those who knew Dr. Librescu personally, including colleagues, students, and members of his own family, say that he was thoroughly dedicated to his profession and had refused to retire; feeling that he was needed as an academic leader.

For those who lived through and survived the terrible years of Nazi tyranny, it has often been said that they were being saved for some kind of higher purpose. In the case of Dr. Librescu, that purpose was demonstrated many times during his life and appears to have culminated with his brave and heroic act to save the lives of many of his students.

One of three academic lecturers from Israel on the Virginia Tech campus, Dr. Liviu Librescu was brought back to Israel for burial. Perhaps this is most fitting as the State of Israel, has become a symbol for Jews everywhere to live in their own homeland and not be subject to whims of some king or political despot, as had been the fate of the Jewish People for more than two thousand years.

Being a Holocaust survivor, what more fitting way to leave this world than as a hero, trying to protect those he taught, guided, and loved. His life – and death, should be an example to us all.

The final body count still isn’t in yet as the normally quiet Virginia Poly Technical University, and Americans at large are still reeling from Monday’s mass shootings which have left at least 32 people dead and another 29 injured – some critically.

The carnage began at 7:15 am Monday, EDT, when a lone gunman shot and killed 2 students at a dormitory on one part of this Shenandoah Valley campus, located more than 200 miles from Washington D.C. Though belatedly told to keep inside and away from windows, many students did not heed these advisories, and just two hours later, the real blood bath began when the killer, 23 year old Cho Seung Hai, a South Korean national and Virginia Tech English Major, suddenly began to open fire on students at another part of this sprawling campus of more than 25,000, virtually lining up people and shooting them in cold blood.

The mayhem which resulted, and in which the killer himself also died, has left an entire nation stunned, and became breaking news all over the world. Witnesses said that the gunman was looking for a former girl friend, and seemed to know where to be – and when. The killings are said to be the worst school shooting incident ever in America and many are comparing it with the shootings at Columbine Colorado High School, nearly eight years ago, when more than 12 students and teachers were killed.

While Columbine may have been the most recent tragedy of its kind before the V. Tech massacre, it was still not as bad as one which occurred on August 1, 1966, when a young man named Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas Clock Tower in the City of Austin, and there, armed with a high powered rifle, killed more than 15 students and teachers in a four hour shooting rampage. Whitman, who had earlier killed both his mother and grandmother, had been suffering from a brain tumor which pathologists believe caused him to commit mass murder. His killing spree finally came to an end when Texas law enforcement officers managed to reach the top of the tower and end Whitman’s rampage by shooting him to death. Whitman, a former Eagle Scout, never had the opportunity to explain why he did what he did; and all law enforcement officials could do was speculate what caused him to kill not only his immediate family but so many others as well.

With yet another horrible shooting incident transpiring, this time even more deadly, law enforcement authorities and educational administrators in the sleepy college town of Blacksburg Virginia, will be trying to determine how such an incident could have happened; and on a scale rivaling some of the worst recent Baghdad terror attacks.

Gun control advocates will definitely have good points to say in regards to easy availability of semi-automatic weapons and ammunition, which can be readily purchased at gun shops and sporting goods stores; often without the need for a police permit. That a long gunman could come onto to a school campus armed to the teeth with an “ungodly amount of ammunition”, as described by one witness, is frightening in it self. Issues such as the availability of firearms and lack of proper security at educational institutions are areas that should be addressed and dealt with as quickly as possible.

Whatever measures that might be taken, however, won’t bring back the scores of dead, many of them young undergraduate students, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The trauma won’t go away so quickly either; and for many people, especially the parents of the dead students, their lives will be changed forever.

Americans now mourn the loss of so many innocent people, whose lives have been snuffed out by a killer who seemed to have no regard to human life. Are incidents such as this an omen for the future, as more and more violence takes place in American society? Can anything be done to stop these kinds of tragedies from occurring? Hopefully yes.