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

In July 2003, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), proclaimed “The White City” of Tel Aviv as a World Cultural Heritage site, due the large number of buildings built in the city in the Bauhaus style.

Every year since the UNESCO declaration, Tel Aviv celebrates its cultural heritage in an all-night festival all across the city. That festival, my friends, is happening tonight, Thursday July 3rd! Wherever you might stroll across town, you will encounter music performances, art displays, sporting events, and more.

Here’s a selected list of events happening tonight:

Tel Aviv University stays up all night, with free student movies, and a hip-hop concert that will showcase the famous Ha’Dag-Nahash alongside younger bands. It all starts there around 8pm.

The Banana Beach is hosting its own line of musicians. From 9pm and up to 4am, you could enjoy a fresh drink in the sandy beachside bar while listening to the Giraffes, Efrat Gosh, and Daniel Solomon. The bar will also display the movie Notting Hill on a large outdoor screen.

For all you romantic people, David Broza is holding a sunrise concert in the northern Ha’Tzuk beach. The music will start at 1am, and David himself will take to the stage at 3am. As far as I could find out, it’s all supposed to be free! And if you’d rather spend the night dancing, the southern Charles Chlore seaside park is having a wild dance party.

Jaffa Seaport, Tel Aviv’s Old Seaport, the Opera House, the Nach’lat Binyamin Market, Rothschild Boulevard — all these places will hold special events, such as public dancing, outside bazaars, and street performers.

In any case, feel free “to take it to streets” tonight, and I’m sure you’ll find something you enjoy.

Summer is the annual time of beach goers. Racquets, ice lollies, and bikinis — there’s plenty to look out for. But there are also several things to look out from.

Jelly fish is a known annoyance along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Those sting-inflicting cold-blooded animals migrate northward around this time of year, and according to recent reports, they’re well on their way at the moment.

Another menace that signals the onset of summer is the appearance of snakes. There has been news of numerous snake bites in recent weeks, which resulted in several people hospitalized in critical conditions, especially in the northern parts of Israel.

In case you get bitten by a snake, don’t panic and run. On the contrary, you’d want to slow down your blood circulation, so that the venom couldn’t spread too fast to vital organs. However don’t lie down flat, as you’d want the bitten area to be lower than the heart. Here are a few common tips about treating snake bites anyone should be familiarized with before going out on a field trip.

And if you do go out on a field trip in Israel, we’ll be glad to feature your travel story and your photos on our blog. You may contact us at editor@OneJerusalem.com for any contributions, comments, or questions.

Picture by NRG

Tel Aviv is a marvelous city. I’ve been living here my whole life, and I still discover new things about it almost every day. There’s a lot going on under the surface: a lively music scene, ambitious infrastructure projects, countless events, and people from all over the world (I shall expand on this issue at some other time). One of my favorite activities is to stroll around the city and to discover new places that I never knew about, such as an old alley, a hidden park, or a new pub. The things I find in those walkabouts never cease to amaze me.

Last week I walked across the Yarkon River, Tel-Aviv’s landmark creek, which has a beautiful park alongside its shores. I entered the Bavli neighborhood — the easternmost neighborhood in Tel Aviv that sits on the banks of the river — and followed the pathway along the park.

Apparently, a small outdoor cafe had opened there two-three months ago, right at the edge of the water. They lined several wooden sofas on the grass and now offer around-the-clock service. The place looks incredibly romantic.

Then I strolled on and arrived at the point where the Yarkon River divides into two separate streams: One continues to be titled the Yarkon as it delves into the Joshua Parks — while the second, smaller, sibling quickly aligns itself along the Ayalon Highway, and is appropriately titled Ayalon Creek (mind you, the creek was there before the freeway).

This is a relatively quiet area of the park, virginal and wide. If you continue across the bridge, you arrive at the ancient archeological site Tel G’risa, which is commonly known as the Napoleon Hummock. It is a beautiful place, hidden from view, even as your car shoots across the nearby freeway, and on top the hummock you arrive at a round reconstructed structure that slightly resembles Stonehenge — at least this is the association that I came across my own mind.

The city has done a superb job in redesigning the surrounding parks in recent years, and it is now possible to ride a bicycle or simply walk along the pathways all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to Tel G’risa, and even farther.

Map Picture by Walla! Maps , Tel G’risa photo by Joshua Parks

An Israeli Billboard company demands to take out the sex from the “Sex and the City” posters displayed in Jerusalem and Petah Tikva.

The new and highly anticipated film is now being promoted throughout the country to the delight of many of its fans that have waited for this moment impatiently. But the billboard company Maximedia is fighting the ad campaign of this popular movie under the premise that the citizens of these two predominantly religious cities are not interested in the word “sex” printed all over their town.

You really don’t know whether to get angry or just laugh at the ridiculousness of this whole thing. Once again we are confronted with the absurd reality where the interests of the secular population in mixed cities are not taken into account.

“We have treaties of commerce with the municipalities which grant us the right to install signs and advertise within them, and there are certain understandings as to the substance advertised”, said Meir Shamir from Maximedia. According to Shamir, the officials in the municipalities of Jerusalem and Petah Tikva have requested not to put up the word “sex” simply because it bothers them.

“We asked Forum Films to leave out the word and place three dots instead, so it’s not exactly as they have been telling the press,” said Shamir. “If we don’t leave out the word it’s likely that the past will repeat itself and our signs will be defaced. It certainly bothers a certain population.”

The removal of the word sex from the title “Sex and the City” is absurd! It is also a blatant expression of censorship in what is supposed to be progressive and modern society. Well, let’s just rename the film with something less provocative, like “The Encouragement of Natural Reproduction and The City”.

So for the time being the two cities remain sexless, and frankly they’re better off. After all, what logical arguments can possibly appeal to those who think they can stay protected from the obscenities of this world by never leaving town or watching television?

Source: YNET

Up until 2002, there was only one commercial broadcasting television channel licensed to operate in Israel. There were already many niche channels transmitting via the cable networks (which have meanwhile merged into the “HOT” network) or the satellite network “YES”, but up until that point, Channel 2 was the dominating force of commercial TV in Israel, and considered to be the mainstream option for the average Israeli TV-goer.

In 2002 businessman Yossi Meiman made the bold move and initiated the creation of Israel 10 (known simply as Channel 10 in Israel), infusing huge amounts of cash into this media adventure. At the beginning, it seemed that he threw away his money in vain, having to face many bureaucratic obstacles and initial low rating levels. Despite shameless purchasing of Channel 2’s main news anchors, Ya’akov Eilon and Miki Haimovitz, Israel 10’s future remained uncertain for the first 3 years or so. All changed when new investors jumped onto the wagon, and when Israel 10 had decided to claim its share of the lucrative pie known as Reality TV…

Yesterday 36% of Israel’s TV screens were tuned “10″ — mine including — on the occasion of a “good-trash” celebration, known as the Survivor 10 Live Finale, taking place in a major basketball arena, no less. After 16 successful seasons in which the reality show Survivor has been a definite “hit” in America, it was high time for the gold-laying chicken to learn how to speak Hebrew. Still, it wasn’t a simple case of a format purchasing and localization. Israel 10 went several steps ahead and has grossly altered the known format, turning the fast-paced reality into a semi-scripted soap opera. Countless magazine articles have published multiple claims of game manipulation by the Israeli production, ranging from the supply of groceries to the castaways, and up to changing the rules on-the-fly in order to keep their preferred characters inside the game, when these faced an imminent threat of dismissal by their fellow tribe members. Personally, I have no idea if these claims have any truth in them; the production certainly denies such allegations. One thing is for sure, the show fulfilled its purpose as a major rating magnet, and provided Channel 10 with a widespread buzz, that is normally the exclusive property of Channel 2.

Three finalists came on top after 52 days on the island: Dan Mano, the young Haifa attorney, whose uncle owns the wealthy Mano Cruise company. Dan has been painted as the manipulative mastermind, who managed to irritate most of his fellow castaways, and a great proportion of the viewers. At one point, when Dan was about to be voted off the island in the following tribal council, the production suddenly transferred him into the women’s group, virtually “saving his ass”. He always claimed to simply playing the game, and personally I must admit that he was my favourite pick for taking the one million shekels prize. Next to him, we had Na’ama Keisary, the new mom, who left her one-month baby, and her dying father, in order to challenge herself in this dire experience. She hadn’t won even a single contest on the island, yet came across as a strong and independent woman. Last but no least, the third finalist pleading the jury for a check last night, was Noam Tor, the humble bee-keeper, who was elected Israel’s sexiest man alive by a major magazine. Noam was voted off the island relatively early in the game, but survived a secondary game in what was called “the Island of the Dead” — a serious deviation from the original format.

Despite being filmed in the Caribbean Islands, the winner wasn’t chosen on-site, as done in the original version, nor was the decision free of public influence. The castaways arrived at the Nokia Arena while already enjoying a celebrity status, and have had many weeks to influence the members of the jury after leaving the island. In addition, the TV finale included an SMS poll, in which the audience was asked to pick its favourite finalist — and these results would have been considered the tie-breaking vote if such a scenario was materializing. In the end, after an excruciating evening that included 3 weary finalists, and many emotional breakdowns, Na’ama Keisary was chosen the ultimate Survivor, surprising everyone believed strongly that Noam was signaled by the production as the suitable winner.

Now that the first Israeli season came to an end, Channel 10 is losing its first rating monster, and leaving many viewers with a bad taste in mouth. Nevertheless; it was fun, it was hot, and it was addictive. Expect a second season heading your way next year….

Passover is over. Matzah left over can be an issue you need to deal with. The Jewish Robot marketing team is thinking of a few ideas for you

Thank you Rashi!

It’s a holiday week here and people are out having a good time. This is one of those holidays where families go traveling across the country, the weather is mild and not too hot and most of the upcoming workdays next week are half days. We are also going to take it easy in the next couple of days. So y’all have a great break and if you are working - then watch this at work
Hat tip: Nick A.

This is a greeting sent to us from some friends (Hat Tip: Bili)