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

Every year, soon after the end of the Passover Holidays, Jews all over the world, and especially in the State of Israel, observe a day of remembering for one of the worst periods in the history of the Jewish People.

Known as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom HaShoah in Hebrew, all normal activities are altered and in Israel, places of entertainment, including restaurants, theatres and like are closed. Programs dealing with this subject are conducted in Synagogues, community centers, schools, etc., while television programs run ceremonies, interviews, movies and other features to bring forth various aspects of the period which ran from the mid 1930’s until the end of World War II.

We are now seven years into the new millennium and more than 66 years after the last shots were fired in Europe and the remnants of the cream of European Jewry were finally set free from the man-made hell of concentration camps all over northern and central Europe. For more than six million Jews, however, liberation came too late, as they had been swallowed up in the inferno created by a country that was once considered to be one of the most law-abiding and cultured in the World.

The Holocaust for the Jewish People is not the only disaster that has stricken Mankind – within the framework of man’s inhumanity to man. Literally thousands of events are evident throughout recorded history, ranging from conquests by the great empires of the earth, religious carnage by events such as the Crusades, rise of Islam, etc., Spanish Inquisition, and, of course, wars. Since the beginning of the 20th century, when Mankind was supposed to be more enlightened and cultured some of the worst atrocities have occurred, and in themselves, were no less horrible than the Holocaust itself. Ranging from the Turkish slaughter of the Armenians in 1918, to the Japanese persecution of the Korean and Chinese peoples, not to mention those living in South East Asia; the mayhem in various African countries, such as Rwanda, Liberia, Senegal, Ethiopia, and Sudan, where millions have died horrible deaths; the Khmer Rouge carnage in Cambodia; and the events in various Balkan countries including, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Kosovo province of Serbia-Yugoslavia, the Chechnya province of Russia; the list literally goes on and on.

And despite all of this, it was recently announced in the U.K. that public schools there will no longer include studies of the Holocaust in their study curriculum, as this offends Muslims who are denying that the Holocaust ever happened!

For the Jewish People, whether living in Israel or in the Diaspora, life is never 100% secure, even in democracies such as England, America, Canada, etc. Israelis know all too well the alternative to being unable to defend oneself. As a country established for Jews to live in after being hounded and persecuted for centuries, Israel form the outset has had to defend itself from its “neighbors”, some of whom actually welcomed Jews in former years. In war after war, terrorist atrocity after atrocity, and recently Intifada after Intifada, the Jews of Israel have literally been fighting for survival. With one of the largest population of Holocaust survivors and children of Holocaust survivors, the importance of Yom HaShoah carries on year after year, in order that new generations of Jews will continue to spread the message of “Never Again”.

“Never Again”: the meaning of this expression is symbolic in the culture of Israelis, in that Jews will never again allow themselves to be weak and defenseless and at the mercies on the peoples of the countries in which they live. Never again will Jews be forced to give up their faith and religious practices. Never again will Jews be considered as pariahs, stateless wanderers, being forbidden to live in certain areas, and barred from working in certain trades and professions, etc.

But being strong has its price, and this price is particularly and painfully felt in the State of Israel, especially within the past few years. Both physical and economic hardships have become a part of Israeli lives, with more and more wars and terrorism attacks.

Despite all of the adversities, Israel continues to carry on, and likewise, Jews all over the world continue to have this Homeland to come to if they should ever need to flee their present places of dwelling.

By continuing to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, Jews continue to be strong.
Because once they begin to forget this segment of their past, it creates the seeds of it happening again in the future. Already many non-Jews all over the world, like the example of the U.K., preach denial of Holocaust, saying it was a fabrication to create sympathy towards the Jews.

The truth is stronger, however, and millions of Gentiles join their Jewish brethren annually to commemorate this event. For they too know that “he who forgets the lessons of history will certainly be doomed to repeat it”.

Ynet News just published a collection of 178 family pictures, which were hidden in the walls of a house in Poland just before the Holocaust, only to be found some 60 years later and be returned to their rightful owners ..

Three Labrador Retrievers — one Chocolate, one yellow and one black were sitting in the waiting room at the vet’s when they struck up a conversation.
The black Lab turned to the chocolate Lab and said, “So why are you here?”
The brown Lab replied, “I’m a pisser. I piss on everything….the sofa, the curtains, the cat, the kids. But the final straw was last night when I pissed in the middle of my Owner’s’ bed.”
The black Lab said, “So what is the vet going to do?”
“Gonna cut my nuts off,” came the reply from the chocolate Lab. “They reckon it’ll calm me down.”
The black Lab then turned to the yellow Lab and asked, “Why are you here?”
The yellow Lab said, “I’m a digger. I dig Under fences, dig up flowers and trees, I dig just for the hell of it. When I’m inside, I dig up the carpets. But I went over the line last night when I dug a great big hole in my owner’s couch.”
“So what are they going to do to you?” the black Lab inquired.
“Looks like I’m losing my nuts too”. The dejected yellow Lab said
The yellow Lab then turned to the black Lab and asked, “Why are you here?”
“I’m a humper,” the black Lab said. “I’ll hump anything. I’ll hump the cat, a pillow, the table, fence posts, whatever. I want to hump everything I see.” Yesterday, my owner had just got out of the shower, and as she was bending down to dry her toes I just couldn’t help myself. I hopped on her back and started humping away”.
The yellow and chocolate Labs exchanged a sad glance and said, “So, nuts off for you too, huh?”
The black Lab said! . “No , I’m here to get my nails clipped.”

Following the resignation of Israeli Police Chief Inspector Moshe Karadi, and the turning down of Karadi’s recommended successor, Prisons Chief Wardon Yaacov Ganot, the recommendation of Central District Commander may finally be a turning point for Israel’s stained police department leadership.

Cohen, who is now said to be a “good, dedicated cop who came up through the ranks” is still to be approved by the Knesset before he can begin to work toward creating a better image in the country’s law enforcement service, an image recently drug through the muck of scandal and controversy.

Those who know Commander Cohen, including former Inspector General Yaacov Aharonisky, have great confidence in the man who is said be a good leader and fair career officer who “knows the police department from the inside out “. A 30 year police force veteran, Cohen has held a number of posts and appears to have a good record in so far as his various duties.

If approved, he will have some considerable public relations and rebuilding tasks ahead of him to restore public confidence in a police force that many regard with skepticism for the least part, and outright distrust otherwise. Corruption, which is rife in the government, is also very much publicized in the police force, which has caused several high ranking officials to leave their positions.

Cohen was recommended for the post by Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, who himself has been criticized for his support of other police officials whose activities came under public scrutiny. These included Chief Prisons Warden Ganot, who himself turned down the Chief Inspector’s position after his not-so-rosy record was brought to light.

This caused Dichter to begin a frantic search for a ‘few good men’ who might qualify for the publicized and highly controversial Chief Inspector position. These included Police Commander Mickey Levy who asked not to be considered.

The police department has recently been involved in a number of controversial crime episodes including a number of unsolved murders and rapes. Perhaps the most noteworthy event in which the Police were embroiled was the escape and two week par amblings of convicted serial rapist Benny Sela; who, when captured, was held up to the press like a captured animal. This brought a lot of “attention” to Israel’s finest including various comedy characterizations in such television programs as “Eretz Nehederet”. It also resulted in Tel Aviv District Commander David Zur being turned down for the Chief Commissioner post.

Cohen thus has some very dirty laundry to wash, and hopefully he will be able to restore some confidence in a law enforcement body which has been regarded as even more ridiculous than anything that even TV comedian Eli Yatzpan has been able to personify.

It may still be too early to wish Cohen well as he is still considered a candidate. If he does succeed being appointed, then all everyone can do is wish him well.

Picture Haaretz.

The furor over Balad Party leader Azmi Bashara’s political future makes many Israelis wonder if he may be the beginning of other Arab Israeli Knesset parliamentarians going over to “the other side”. And that ‘other side’ may be Israel’s enemies, including radical Islamic countries like
Syria and Iran.

Mr. Bashara’s radical political views in respect to being a member of the Israeli Knesset have often gotten him into trouble with the Israeli government, particularly among the more right wing political spectrum, including the Likud and other parties who take a dim view of such actions. Bashara’s frequent trips to neighboring Arab countries, resulting in his hob-knobbing with such people as exiled Hamas leader Khalid Mashal and Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad, has resulted in many Israelis calling for his ouster from his parliamentary seat as well as indictment for seditious anti-government activities. Other Arab Knesset political leaders, including Taal Party leader Dr. Ahmad Tibi seem moderate in comparison to Bashara, who has been advocating the disillusion of the Jewish character of the state in favor of a secular one.

Presently “languishing” in a posh Amman Jordan hotel suite, Bashara is now pondering both his political as well as personal future. Carefully weighing his options, he is considering returning to Israel and coming into the line of fire by an unfriendly, Jewish parliamentary majority; who seem bent on kicking him and possibly his political party of Israel for good. Or, to voluntarily give up his Knesset seat and show his true personal and political “spots” by officially emigrating to either Syria, Lebanon, or Jordan.

Syria, and possibly other countries unfriendly to Israel may want to use Bashara as a propaganda tool against the Jewish State by having him send a clear message to other Arabs holding Israeli nationality that the time has come for them to decide as with whom their loyalty really lies. For Bashara himself, it’s becoming more and more evident regarding where he wants to be; and that place is not within a Jewish dominated and governed republic. One might wonder if Bashara would consider becoming involved in Palestinian politics; but most likely, even he is not that stupid, judging from the current state of anarchy which is tearing the Palestinian Authority apart and which almost led to civil war.

Most Israelis would like to see Bashara exit Israeli politics and the country as well. His continued presence in both has been damaging to all, to say the very least. Other Israeli Arab politicians, many of whom live very comfortable lives in the Jewish Republic, must now decide who really butters their bread; for life in most neighboring Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan, may not be nearly as pleasant as life within the ‘confines’ of the State of Israel.

At the end of the day, many Israeli politicians may decide that they have never had it so good, Bashara included.

Don’t you love Mondays?

The Israeli Ambassador at the U.N. began, “Ladies and gentlemen before I commence with my speech, I want to relay an old Passover story to all of you …
“When Moses was leading the Jews out of Egypt toward the Promised Land, he had to go through the nearly endless Sinai desert. When they reached the Promised Land, the people had became very thirsty and needed water. So Moses struck the side of a mountain with his staff and a pond appeared with crystal clean, cool water. The people rejoiced and drank to their hearts’ content.

“Moses wished to cleanse his whole body, so he went over to the other side of the pond, took all of his clothes off and dived into the cool waters. The only problem was when Moses came out of the water, he discovered that all his clothes had been stolen.

‘And,’ he said, ‘I have reason to believe that the Palestinians stole my clothes.’”

The Palestinian delegate to the UN, hearing this accusation, jumps from his seat and screams out, “This is a travesty. It is widely known that there were no Palestinians there at that time!”

“And with that in mind,” said the Israeli Ambassador, “let me now begin my speech.”

Ynet Picture
Gilad Schalit was kidnapped 286 days ago today. Together with Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev (269 days), the guys are missing and we wait for their return. Read more about them here.
I read today that Gilad Schalit received his reading glasses. The glasses were sent to him 2 months ago by his father Noam, and he reportedly received them 2 weeks ago through Egyptian mediators. It took almost 2 months to get him a pair of reading glasses. I guess the Palestinians just don’t get it…

The Palestinians are tired of this whole hostage “thing” though and that is supposedly the good news. In a recent visit of the Chancellor of Germany, Angela apparently was mostly talking about Schalit and gave little attention to the Palestinian political issue to the extent that made the Palestinian very “disappointed”. She also didn’t hide her disappointment from Abu Mazen’s impotence and lack of ability in the Schalit kidnapping. I am sure that the Palestinians would like to get this whole “messy kidnapping thing” out of the way, after all, its difficult to be taken seriously as an actual law biding country when you go around kidnapping soldiers. Look at Iran, the spiritual and ideological leader, the sponsor, even he had to return the British hostages.

Happy Passover.

I just got back from a trip to Prague and it was great. A couple of things I thought were cool (there were lots of others): The Cross on the Charles bridge with the words Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh on the corners. The other thing was walking through the Jewish Quarter I saw these two “Hogs” outside a Kosher deli. The Harley has the words: “Our Hogs Are Kosher”.
The city is great and there is lots to see there. Highly Recommended
The full set will be available here..

Girls at The Cairo National Stadium a video by Nimrod Kamer. I saw a few of his videos on YouTube and we’ll try to show them here..