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

New theories concerning electricity being generated from the power of ocean tides and waves may be closer to being reality than previously thought. Harnessing the power of ocean waves has been thought about for years, but so far no practical type of device has been made that is strong enough to withstand the battering received by the power of even normal ocean surf.

A number of countries are interested in turning the power of marine waves and currents into clean, pollution free electric power. Some of these countries include Australia (which has some of the most powerful waves in the world), Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Spain, South Africa, and Cyprus. One of the most promising ideas for undertaking this feat comes from an Israeli inventor named Shmuel Ovadia. Ovadia has been involved in this project for nearly 20 years, and has already patented several devices for turning waves into electricity. His idea involves a series of large buoys that ride on top of the waves and are attached of large hydraulic “arms” that contract, or turn backwards, powering an alternator that makes electricity in a similar manner as a belt powered alternator does in a car. According to Ovadia, the process is completely free of pollution as no fuel is needed to create power as is the case in present electric power plants, whether they by powered by oil, coal, natural gas, or atomic power.

The power of tides in the world’s seas and oceans can be enough to provide between 10-20% of needed megawatts of electricity which will not only save on fuel costs, but be very beneficial to the world’s environment. Areas of particular interest are locations in Africa and Asia where this kind of power would be very beneficial to developing economies that have constant problems with electric power shortages. This is where people like Ovadia and his company, SDE, come in; and he hopes that his company’s “wave power” devices will one day be providing electricity to countries which have plenty of wave power and little natural energy resources. SDE currently has developed devices large enough to provide as much as 100 megawatts of power depending on the time of year and size of the waves. As ocean waves are usually stronger in both summer and winter, the devices, called “modulators” would supply electricity at times when it is really needed to provide heating during winter months and air conditioning during hot summer months.

Ovadia wishes that his own country, Israel, would be more interested in this kind of system. But so far, electricity generated in Israel is still made from conventional power plants fueled by imported coal and oil.

There are some drawbacks in this type of system, as large ones take up consider area and appear to cause some damage to beaches, due to adverse currents generated by the hydraulic arms. But the question is, as Ovadia puts it, whether this is a worse problem than pollution caused by conventional power plants.

Whether or not the idea is accepted in Israel is not currently important though, as there are plenty of other countries more than willing to listen to people like Shmuel Ovadia; who may one day be recognized as one of the foremost pioneers of alternative energy solutions.

The struggle between religious and secular people in Israel continues. Religious groups in Israel can mark another small victory – the 24/7 AM:PM chain store has decided to close a number of its branches on Shabbat following continuous pressure. The rabbis have threatened to boycott the network if their demands are not answered.

This store chain works as a 24-hour supermarket, and in Tel Aviv you can find a branch on every other corner. It goes without saying that the vast majority of Tel Aviv’s population is secular.

Negotiations between one of the AM:PM owners, David Wiessman and the rabbis bore no fruit. Another controversial development on this issue took place last week when a court judge authorized secular stores to sell Chametz on Passover, contrary to the status quo.

Personally, I think that Rabbis should invest their resources in bettering the lives of their own communities instead of fighting people who will eventually do what they want. You cannot enforce seculars to keep the Shabbat or eat Matzahs if they don’t want to. The freezer and microwave have been invented, whether you like it or not. This little victory doesn’t achieve much; if anything, it only raises antagonism in the Israeli secular sector. Both seculars and religious folk should allow each other the freedom of choice. All we ask is that you treat us like consenting adults.

Despite a crises in mortgage banks in both the USA and UK, Israel’s top banks revealed substantial profits for the year 2007. Leading the top three was Bank Leumi with a gross profit of N.S. 3.5 Billion. This was followed by Bank Hapoalim with N.S. 2.25 Billion, and Israel Discount Bank with 1.26 Billion.

Spokespersons for the banks did say, however, that their profits were affected somewhat by what has been happening in financial markets abroad, especially in the U.S.A. The severe mortgage and real estate crises in America has not yet had major implications in Israel, by many observers fear that the “ripples” created overseas could eventually find their way to the Israel mortgage and housing markets in Israel which are still fairly strong, due to continued sales of new apartments to purchasers in the U.K and Europe, especially France.

The bank profits were also evident in the salaries paid to top bank executives. CEO’s Galia Maor of Bank Leumi and Zvi Ziv of Bank Hapoalim reportedly received N.S. 9 Million each in 2007, while Giora Ofer of the Discount Bank received a whopping N.S. 17.5 million; nearly as much as the other two combined.

Banks in Israel have enjoyed large profits for some time, mainly due to the high fees and commissions they receive on all types of transactions, including payments of various debits by customers, commissions on stock market transactions, high interest rates on overdrafts and other short term debt, and even fees for counting large sums of money (banknotes) deposited into customer’s own accounts. These fees and commissions are some of the highest in the world, and are much higher than those charged by banks in the U.S.A. This is especially true in regards to foreign currency transactions. Perhaps this is why many bank executives receive such high salaries, as noted above. Due to the current mortgage bank crises in the USA, however, Bank Hapoalim’s overall profits were 20% less than in 2006. Bank Discount’s profits actually increased by 51%, which may explain the high salaries paid to Ofer and other high ranking Bank officials.

In another financial related matter, Lev Leviev, head of African Israel Development Company and LLD Diamonds, said that in his opinion, the Israeli economy is heading towards a recession. Perhaps this statement, by one of the country’s richest men, came in the wake of his losing 336 million Shekels (nearly $100 million dollars) in recent stock market falls. Despite this slight reversal, Leviev is said to have made more than 4 Billion Shekels in the year 2007.

Today’s been a record hot day for the season. I’m not sure what the temperature actually is but it feels close to around 90F. The heat in Israel can be uncomfortable, but it’s easy to get distracted from it when dealing with other things– like, say, the Israeli service industry.

My latest run-in– maybe “collision” would be a better word– was with the Internet and cable provider Hot. I’ll give a little background on the company in the form of telling you that there is a Hebrew website called “I Hate Hot.” The website is well built and seems very active.

The first salvo of stupidity occurred, naturally, the first time I contacted Hot about a problem I was having with my connection. The technician said, “How can I help you?” I said, “I have a problem with my internet.” There was silence until I said, “Hello?” The thick Israeli accent on the other end responded, “Ehhhh….yes, ehh, my computer is brroken, so I must to pass you to another person.” Bad omen.

They eventually managed to send out a technician– who didn’t fix the problem. They sent another one 3 days later and, you guessed it, no dice. They sent a third who decided it’d be better for him to not show up at all.

The first customer service representative to “help” me after the volley of failed technicians was a cute-sounding Israeli girl, Meirav. Meirav said she’d get back to me. Ha. The second one (also cute-sounding) told me she’d also call me back but I didn’t allow that to happen. Very angry by this point, I said, “No. Either I speak to a manager or I cancel the account. It’s that simple.” The girl pulled out a whole new strategy: she said “Okay, hold on please,” and then left me hanging on hold indefinitely. Clearly this girl was taught the art of attrition when she was in the army.

Then Yair called me from the tech department. “Ehhh…I must to know what the problem with internet.” Yair…Yair…are you really asking me this question again? We go through the motions of this silly dance of failed customer “service”. We reach a conclusion: someone who speaks English will call me back.

Are you still wondering if that actually happened?

I was initially going to use the first incident– the Hot computer technician who has a broken computer– as a metaphor to illustrate some sociological or economic phenomenon in Israel. I’m not sure what the metaphor means anymore, or if the situation is anything more than literal.

But with 18 families controlling the vast majority of the wealth, utilities and government institutions it’s not really that surprising. It’s even less surprising when you take into account a public that thinks an Ivri Lider-Aviv Gefen-Rita sing-a-long constitutes a protest. I say again and again that there’s only one real problem in Israel– it just has many facets.

I just got off the phone with another technician who told me confidently that he made an appointment with a “professional” technician to come fix the problem tomorrow, since the problem is complex and needs “professional” service (making me wonder what the other guys were). He asked me to hold, came back, and then told me that, actually, the pro can’t come tomorrow. Someone will have to call me back later.

There was a long discussion in recent days about what are going to be the effects of the US drop on the Israeli market. In the local coffee shop the saying was “if the US will sneeze we will catch a cold” others were very confident that the Israeli economy is very strong and would withstand a drop in the US and global markets.

Today I just want to say one thing: AAAHHHHH!!!!!

The Dollar is up a little today to 3.63 Shekel/Dollar after Stanly Fischer, in what some call a bold move, reduced the interest rates by 0.5% to 3.75%. But take a look at this graph, this is what’s it been doing in the last 12 months…

This has had significant effects on local business, especially if you’re doing any sort of international sales and need to manufacture here and sell abroad. The difference can amount to a drop in 30% in the net revenue, in some case more.

Let’s hope today’s up swing continues…

Netanya, Israel’s fifth largest city, has been undergoing a significant building boom recently; and one of the central “players” in this boom is an Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi named Yaacov Shimon Sher. Rabbi, who also is a prominent city council member, and a key member of the board of Laniado Hospital, seems to be almost too much involved in a number of construction projects, both commercial and residential, that have going on in this sea-side city, 30 kilometers north of Tel Aviv.

In fact, local building contractors have been complaining recently that in order to receive a permit to begin a construction project in Netanya, especially a large scale one such as the multi-story apartment buildings sprouting up in various Netanya locations, they must first pay a sizable “contribution” to one of the many philanthropic projects that the Rabbi is involved in. When asked how much they have to “contribute” some of these contractors (who asked not to be disclosed) said: “it’s usually somewhere between five and ten thousand”. And it turns out that these sums are Dollar amounts, not Shekels.

Rabbi Sher, who has close ties to Netanya Mayor Miriam Fireburg, seems to always be in the picture concerning goings on at City Hall, as well as at Laniado Hospital. Located in North Netanya, next to the Ultra Orthodox residential neighborhood of Kiryat Sanz, Laniado is the only hospital in Netanya; and it has been undergoing an expansion program, funded largely by donations from contributors in both Israel and abroad. Considerable donations have also been coming from sources in the U.K., as well as from the U.S.A. And when mention and recognition of these are noted, Rabbi Sher’s name seems to be frequently mentioned – perhaps more frequently than should be for such endeavors.

Whether the Rabbi himself has any personal connection to any of these “fundraising projects” is a matter of speculation, as was noted on Israel Channel 2 television last Friday evening. During the program, it was noted that Rav Sher, as he is usually called, has a rather large villa on a very choice piece of sea front property located just meters away from a number of yeshivas that he is said to have raised funds for, as well as Laniado Hospital itself. The gist of the program was whether Rabbi Sher may have personally benefited from the numerous contributions he receives from the building contractors, as well as from other sources. Though he firmly denies this, many do wonder where how he was able to build such a fine home on such choice property, especially on the very modest remuneration that he receives for being on the City Council and as an Orthodox Rabbi.

A major commercial construction project, located in southern Netanya’s Sapir Industrial Park, called Alexander Center, is also connected with Rabbi Sher and his Philanthropic projects. Due to the scale of this project, which contains high tech companies, restaurants, and even a large cinema, the amount of the “contributions” is rumored to be even greater than the amounts previously mentioned. How the Rabbi allowed an American theme restaurant known as Hooters to be opened there remains a mystery, and no one is talking about this mater either.

The general consensus to this story is that if one wants to build a construction project in Netanya, especially a large scale one, he must first deal with Rabbi Sher and make the “appropriate contribution”.

A few tips on how to negotiate a successful Yahoo! deal…

I never expected to see the spectacle that occurred Friday morning at a local branch of Bank Mizrachi-Tefahot in the city of Netanya. Friday mornings are always are always a bit hectic in banks but what occurred there was completely unexpected as the usual morning sounds were suddenly filled with the shrill blasts of whistles blown by a large group of what appeared to be very unhappy people. When I asked the bank clerk what the commotion was all about, she simply said: “Oh, I think it’s some kind of demonstration.”

And a demonstration it certainly was, as the entrance foyer of the bank, and the passageway to the entrance outside was filled with people shouting, blowing whistles and holding scores of signs and banners. Out on Smilansky Street in front of the back, things were heating up even more, with the demonstrators shouting for people to not only avoid going into the bank, but to close their accounts there as well.

One tall blonde lady, holding a white paper pad with a number of name on it said she was soliciting a petition to put pressure on the banks’ main branch to assist them concerning their being cheated out of their money when they purchased apartments in a project that was being built by the now bankrupt Heftsiba Construction company, which has lately been broadcast considerably in the news.

By this time several police cars had arrived as well as what appeared to by a television news crew to film the event. With all this going on I knew that the was more serious than I had originally thought, especially when a young guy named Daniel pulled me aside and begin explaining what it was all about. He said that he and 126 others had purchased apartments in a project called Green towers located in the new residential area known as Kiryat Hasharon, located not far from Netanya’s academic college. He said that everyone who had purchased apartments from Heftsiba had deposited money in a trust account at Mizrachi-Tefahot and that when the company went bankrupt they tried to obtain their funds from the bank. It was only later that they found out that the monies that were supposed to be kept in for them had been given by the bank to Heftsiba to pay off the company’s numerous creditors. Heftsiba’s CEO, Boaz Yona is still incarcerated in Milan Italy while legal proceedings continue to have him extradited to Israel to face numerous charges of fraud and larceny concerning unfinished building projects all over Israel, including Netanya.

Daniel said that although the issue was taken to court, and a compromise solution was worked out concerning completing the building project, it wasn’t acceptable by him and the other purchasers since they would be required to pay an additional N.S. 500,000 each. I asked Daniel who had worked out the compromise plan, and he answered immediately: “It was done through the offices of the bank’s CEO Eli Younis in Tel Aviv. And even if all of Boaz Yona’s personal assets are liquidated, they wouldn’t be enough to pay even a part of what his company owes us”.

“To make matters worse, many people are literally living in the streets, as they sold their apartments to purchase the new one in Green Towers. Many of us are now paying a mortgage payment to Mizrachi-Tefahot as well as rental payments for temporary housing, and we don’t have any property to look forward to”, Daniel continued. And Daniel and his unfortunate fellow purchasers are wondering if they’ll ever see either their money or receive the keys to a newly completed apartment.

And until that day should come, they will continue to meet every Friday morning in front of the bank, armed with petitions, placards, and their whistles.

There’s an old saying that says “whatever goes up must come down”. And in reference to world stock bourses, including the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, “coming down” is looking like nothing less than a catastrophic free fall. After dropping an average of nearly 3 percent yesterday, today’s opening looks like it could end even worse as stock markets all over the worlds are falling between 7 and 10 % per day over the dismal news concerning the problems of the American economy, still considered as the largest economy in the world.

There are a number of reasons why all this is happening, including the energy crises, global warming and climate change, the continuing aftermath of Al Qaeda sponsored terrorism, and perhaps (for the outgoing Bush Administration anyway) the nearly 5 year disaster known as the U.S. led invasion of Iraq. As for Israel, the economy here is heavily tied to the fortunes of the American Economy as Israel’s biggest economic pluses in recent years have been connected to technologically based industries, especially information technology and bio-technology. Due to Israel’s mounting political problems in the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanese war and the conflict with the Palestinians in which most European countries consider Israel as an occupying aggressive oppressor of “Palestinian rights”, Israeli companies have had to rely more and more on the USA to market both products and services.

With crude oil prices hovering at close to the $100 per barrel mark, and after the U.S. Treasury has wound up spending over $200 billion in it’s continuing war against insurgents in Iraq, these and other problems, including the mortgage loan crises, have brought the American economy to the brink of what is being talked about as a major economic recession; one even greater than the one of 1991-94 that resulted in the U.S. President George Herbert Bush (G.W.’s dad) losing his re-election bid to Bill Clinton, and at least half of the workers in high paying aerospace industries in California and other states looking for $1,000 per month sales jobs in cities like Atlanta.

The “R” word, meaning recession, is definitely being talked about these days, and is bound to arrive at Israel’s doorstep sooner or later. After all, the Tel Aviv stock indexes have been rising too high for too long, and as other bourses start “heading south” stocks in Israel are bound to go that way too. Many Israeli companies, especially the high tech ones are posted on the NASDAQ, the American “over the counter” stock exchange that for years has become one of the most popular indexes for technological based companies to be listed on. These stocks are often very fickle and any reverberation in economic fortunes can cause them to fall quite rapidly. Many NASDAQ listed stocks are selling for as much as 30 times the actual earnings of the companies they represent, which mean that a lot of speculation is involved in pushing up their trading value.

As a result, they are now leading the markets in a very troubling direction. Everyone will be watching which direction Wall Street will head today, following the breaking news announcement that the US Federal is lowering its prime lending rate by 0.75%. The Dow dropped by 500 points on Monday and even the Fed’s attempt to bring stability into the financial markets may not be enough to stop the fall, as the problems of the mortgage crises and other financial concerns remain. Most home mortgages are fixed rate ones that keep the same interest rate during the life of the loan.

What the intermediate to long term outlook for Israel’s economy will be as a result of these market flip flops remains to be seen. But for sure, if the “R” word becomes reality in America, it’s bound to reach Israel sooner or later.