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Sunday, July 13, Last Updated 12:00 GMT

JERUSALEM, Israel — In a rare move of self-awareness and humility, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, had been decorated this morning with a bold caption in white that reads “Ko’ach Mash’chit” — a translation of “Power Corrupts” to Hebrew. It is not clear yet whether this is a very elaborate prank or part of the entrance wall’s scheduled refurbishment, which has been in planning for several months now.

The Knesset Spokesman, Giora Pordes, was very decisive about the manner. “The white painting was certainly not approved by any official authority, and that section of the wall was quickly fixed within the hour.”

However, former Minister of Education, Yossi Sarid, expressed his disagreement with Mr. Pordes. “I did not expect this to happen, well, ever. But there was a very similar suggestion I submitted to the chairman in 1999 regarding the inscription of Lord Acton’s famous quote somewhere within the assembly hall itself. As you can imagine, there wasn’t much support among other Knesset members, and the suggestion was quickly forgotten.”

A Closer Look

Mr. Sarid has retired from the political life by now, although he remains influential via his weekly commentaries in various Israeli media. “I don’t know whose idea this was,” he continues, “but I think it comes at a very interesting time, and I hope it’ll be left up there, because, you know, it’s just true. At the end of day, power corrupts, and we lawmakers should have the minimal amount of humility to acknowledge that, to admit that we’re human. I don’t think it shows any disrespect — on the contrary, the public will only respect the legislative authority if it shows signs of ‘I’m willing to change; I’m willing to learn from my own mistakes’.”

John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (known commonly simply as Lord Acton) is believed to be the originator of the famous dictum in 1887: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.“

As indicated by Mr. Sarid, the mysterious white painting appears on the eve of Talansky’s cross examination, when PM Olmert is sunk up to his neck in corruption allegations. This weekend alone, another allegation surfaced in the media regarding his flight bills at the time when he was mayor of Jerusalem.

More answers are likely to clear up in the coming days, as government officials and Knesset bureaucrats will have to face with the aftermath of this successful prank and the implications it may have on the public atmosphere.

Pais (pronounced “Pa’ees”) is the name of Israel’s only Lottery organization. For dozens of years, the weekly lottery raffle had been broadcasted on Israel’s Channel 1 (”A’rutz E’had”) every Tuesday evening.

Beginning July 1, the Pais raffle has moved to Channel 10. The show’s mythological host, Irit Anavi, will continue to entertain the Israeli gamblers from the show’s new TV studio.

Yes, it’s possible to ice skate in Israel! And especially now, in the hot summer days, there’s nothing more refreshing than dreaming of the Winter Olympics.

The most well known ice ring in Israel lies in the northern town of Metulla, just below the Hermon mount on the northeastern border. But for many years, we had used to have a large ice ring in the outskirts of Tel Aviv as well. It was called “Ach’la-Ke’rach”, which translates to “Cool Ice” in Hebrew. However, about five-six years ago, the place was burnt to the ground. Ironically, the ice could not stop the fire.

From that point on, residents in the center of Israel were left without an ice skating solution.

In 2004, Cellcom, one of the biggest cellular networks in Israel, erected a temporary ice ring in Rabin Square for two weeks. I personally remember how fun it was skating there with my younger brother, and perhaps this initiative was the thing that convinced several entrepreneurs to try and establish a new ice ring in Tel Aviv.

Two years ago, we saw the establishment of a small ice ring in Joshua Parks. However it didn’t survive long, and was forced to shut down after several months. Apparently it wasn’t profitable enough at the time.

And now, the final installment of our story…

This last September, the old Amusement Park in Tel Aviv, known as the Luna Park, inaugurated a new ice ring within the park grounds, titled iSkate. It measures 800 square meters in surface, and it operates 7 days a week. Nevertheless, admission prices are ridiculously high, at 70 shekels an hour, and when I came to check out their facility a few weeks back, the place was “dead empty”.

Will it manage to survive? Will the residents of Tel Aviv rediscover the joy of ice skating? I don’t know. Personally, I’m into rollerblading these days.

For the fourth year in a row, Tel Aviv held its unofficial annual Water War. The event was organized by a group named Pharsh, and was inspired by similar events all over the world.

This last Friday, thousands of people arrived at Rabin Square, in the very center of Tel Aviv, just below the City Hall. Most came equipped with water guns, buckets, or simply with a mop cloth — and when the clock hit 3:15pm, the games began. There was only one rule: Drench everyone with as much water as possible and have as much fun as you want!

In order to save water, participants had been asked not to bring water from home, and to use the fountain’s water instead.

Photo by Flickr’s lamalama666

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.

(Note: I fixed the post title. The strike has been going on for 3 months, and not for merely 5 weeks, as I incorrectly wrote before.)

Ministry of Welfare isn’t funding enough social workers relative to the population’s needs. In the southern Negev desert, for example, one young woman, fresh out of university, is treating 1,000 people, and she’s not even employed in a full time position.

Does anybody care?

Photo by Ynet

Pressure is mounting on PM Olmert and his Ministers to make a decision regarding the captive soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. After long two years, a swap deal with Hezbollah has finally been drafted, and the only thing that’s required for its immediate execution is the government’s approval. Ehud’s wife, Karnit Goldwasser, made a public appeal over the weekend and urged PM Olmert not to delay this decision any further, and to bring Eldad and her husband back home.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the United States’ Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a short and unscheduled visit to Jerusalem this Saturday, meeting with his Israeli counterpart, Rav Aluf (that’s the title) Gabi Ashkenazi. This is his second visit to Israel in 6 months. As a result, oil prices crossed the 140$ mark for the first time in history.

Minister of Justice Prof. Daniel Friedmann continues his crusade against the High Court, this time proposing to amend the “Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty” in such a way that it will not apply on immigration and border control issues. In other words, if this amendment is accepted by the Knesset — and that’s an unlikely scenario — Israeli officials will be legally free to deport any and all foreigners, including asylum seekers, without the High Court being able to intervene in the matter. Since Israel does not currently have a Constitution, Basic Laws are the closest thing we have so far, and playing with them is a very big deal.

Photo by AP

Two weeks ago I wrote about the possibility of Leonard Cohen including Israel in his summer tour. However, the Israeli producer Avraham Marsel got cold feet and canceled the show, in fear he might lose money in the end. He claims that he could not find major commercial sponsors for the show (such as the cellular companies) and since he does not intend to invest much of his own money in the project, he has no choice but to call it a No Show.

This is absurd! After 15 years, the one and only Leonard Cohen once again hits the road in what may be his last World Tour, and there is full willingness on his behalf to come here to Israel — but due to Marsel’s lack of professionalism, many thousands (and tens of thousands) of fans are left empty handed and disappointed.

I’d bet my ticket money that Cohen is just as disappointed as we are.

Photo by NRG

Yesterday the Chords Bridge was inaugurated in Jerusalem in a massive celebration that cost 2 million shekels.

Many people think the new bridge doesn’t fit the local atmosphere and is actually an attempt to try and make Jerusalem seem more European. The local Haredi (ultra-orthodox) population had threatened to boycott the event when it was discovered that an all-girl dance group would perform in the ceremony, eventually forcing the dance group to dress their girls in long puffy clothes.

The Gay Pride Parade is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem this evening, despite protests made by the Haredi population. Last year the protests threatened to go out of hand and the parade turned into a much smaller event, and three years ago a Haredi man stabbed and wounded one of the marchers.

Jerusalem is indeed a city in internal conflict: Jews vs. Arabs, Secular folks vs. Orthodox population, Old-style architecture vs. Western monumental designs.

Photos by Ynet/Sason Tiram, and the Jerusalem Open House