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

The months of January and February are always periods to be on the lookout for one of winter’s worst “visitors”, the flu. Also known by it more formal name, the influenza virus, this highly contagious disease is much more serious than a common cold, and can lead to dangerous and sometimes fatal complications. Recent publicized warnings are advising people in Israel, especially older people and small children to take extra precautions, and many health authority officials are saying that stains of this year’s “flu bug” seems to be more aggressive and widespread than ever.

There are three prevalent kinds of “bug” or influenza, which go by names of Spanish flu, Asian and Hong Kong flu, and combinations of the three. Although vaccinations, such as Tami Flu are offered to people annually, it is usually impossible to guarantee that the given vaccination will be effective against the particular virus “visiting” a country or region each year. Other serious viral diseases that have been given considerable attention in recent years is the Avian of “bird flu” and a condition known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome of SARS. Although both SARS and bird flu have resulted in a number of deaths world wide, their combined total to date have been far less that the mortality rate of a single influenza season which usually results in thousands of deaths, even in countries like the U.S. and Europe, who claim to have to best health care systems.

This year, it has been reported that the largest flu outbreaks in Israel are in the major population centers; especially Jerusalem and the heavily populated central region, stretching from Ashdod to Netanya. Since many people work in large buildings, such as those in the high tech industry, and with many frequenting shopping malls and traveling on modes of public transport, such as buses and trains, the likelihood of getting “bitten” by the flu bug is much more possible since the virus is also an airborne one, as well as one that is transmitted by touching things that already contaminated people were touching, such as door knobs and even computer keyboards. Schools, hospitals and nursing homes are also especially vulnerable to outbreaks of flu, and small children in nurseries and day care center often pass the “bug” from one to another.

This year, many cases of flu seem to be accompanied by high fevers and various body aches and pains, in addition to the normal symptoms, such as headaches, nasal and lung congestion, as other respiratory problems. Anyone with high fever, feelings of stiffness in the neck, and especially feelings of nausea should see a doctor immediately as they could have something more serious such as meningitis. Flu can also develop into conditions such as pneumonia, especially in small children and people over age 50. Although an average case of flu usually runs its course in 5 to 7 days, come cases last considerably longer and develop in to these and other complications.

Picture: Nir Ben Yosef
The Israeli Air Force is studying how the drug Sildenafil sulfate, otherwise known as Viagra, may be beneficial to fighter pilots on combat missions. The drug, most commonly used by men to have better and longer erections may also be helpful in controlling a pilot’s blood pressure and functional capability during high altitude flights, when less oxygen is available.

Viagra and generic derivatives such as Tadalafel, from which Calais is derived, have become increasingly popular with men, especially those over age 50. Fighter pilots, who are usually in their early to mid 20’s, and at the height of their physical (as well as sexual) prowess Just like the drug is supposed to make men more “sexually aware” it also may sharpen a pilot’s awareness concerning sighting and closing in on his targets in the air.

Now why would this sort of thing be cool to must of us guys who aren’t “fly boys”? The answer is very simple: if this stuff helps fighter pilots “shoot straight” in a manner speaking, it should help us too, even though we’re not a “top gun” at the controls of an F-16A fighter jet. Many may be wondering if fighter pilots might even be too gung ho after taking these drugs prior to leaving on a mission. Flying a sophisticated aircraft, like an F-16, is not child’s play; and if these guys start thinking about the girl friends while hot-rodding their planes in the “wild blue yonder” it might result in some interesting “maneuvering”. Taking the drug prior to flying, might be embarrassing afterwards, though, especially wearing the normally tight flight suits that fighter pilots have to wear.

Using these drugs top enhance combat flying ability will be discussed further at an Air Force investigations conference that will deal with the matter of using Viagra as a performance enhancing drug. Whatever happens as to a final decision, one thing may be for certain. And that is the drug might be able to “free” the pilot’s normal appendages for manning the aircraft’s fighting equipment, since another “appendage” will be available to help fly the aircraft. After all, if one can play a piano this way, why not fly a plane?

The Israeli silversmith and goldsmith David Weitzman calls himself a cosmic jewelry artist. For many years he has been studying the Kabbalah, Tibetan Buddhism, ancient Egypt and mysterious Atlantis. This gives him inspiration for his marvelous jewelry. They all have deep symbolic meaning and really positively affect the person who wears them. Many people claim that the rings and pendants that he creates somehow contain spirituality. David’s creations represent peace and unity. They are inspired by ancient knowledge.

“When I looked at an image, I was able to understand it immediately, but in order to actually uncover these concepts I felt the need to express them outwardly. I then came up with the idea of jewelry. My first item was the Merkaba – a two-dimensional Star of David“.

Other Works include items such as the Jerusalem Ring, representing wholeness and The Mobius Ring, a symbol of oneness and infinity;

“I want to create something that unites people instead of divides them, something that transcends religion. This probably has to do with the fact that I live in Israel, not the quietest place on earth! There is a great deal of violence here. Different population groups wage life-and-death struggles with each other. And all of them, interestingly enough, fight in the name of God.”

David’s vision and attitude is what makes his jewelry so beautiful and unique, take a look at his great store Ka Gold Jewelry…

Big Apple N.Y. Giant fans weren’t the only ones celebrating their team’s stunning 17-14 upset over a heavily favored New England Patriot team. At a late Sunday night Super Bowl party in central Tel Aviv, at least a hundred of us gathered at a local brewery to eat hot dogs, chili, and nachos, and wash them down with unlimited glasses of “home made” suds. The party began at 10 p.m. as the Super Bowl LVII pre-game show begin to air, complete with high spirits, a live blue grass music band, and, of course, the beer.

Americans, Israelis, and other NFL football fans didn’t seem to mind the noise and long lines at the “comfort stations” as well as fact the kick-off for the annual sports classic only began at 1:30 a.m. local time.

From a personal standpoint, and after seeing a lot of Super Bowl classics through the years, This game was one of the best ever, and was one of the lowest scored. New England came into the game with a perfect season record and was at least a 3-1 favorite over the Giants who had lost six games during the regular season. But like many sports events, as the old saying goes, “its only over when it’s over”; and nothing proved so true than this game. What was really interesting was the duel between the two opposing quarterbacks, Eli Manning of the Giants, and Tom Brady of the Patriots. Manning, who has often been referred to as the “little brother” of his sibling, Peyton Manning, who is the Indy Colts star quarterback; was so flawless that he was awarded the game’s most valuable player award afterwards. The fact that the Giants were able to pull out the win with only 39 seconds remaining in the game was really outstanding.

What inspired me the most was the idea that the Giants never gave up and due to their winning spirit were able to snatch a victory from the “jaws of defeat”. This brings to mind something said by one of the greatest NFL coaches ever, Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers to several Super Bowel triumphs. Vince said that when two teams met to play against each other, both were equally capable of winning from a physical standpoint. What won out in the end was one team’s mental resolve to win over the other team – in other words, its winning attitude. Judging from the outcome of Sunday’s game, no truer words have ever been spoken!

As for us fans, the idea that we stayed glued to the big sized game screen till 4:30 a.m. was something in itself. But it was well worth it, and the game’s exciting outcome should be an inspiration to us all.

I’m curious about a matter of simple logic.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but to my mind there is no city anywhere on earth that is the capital city of either two states or countries. Are we trying to re-invent the wheel?

Just how you can divide the city of Jerusalem (which is already the capital of Israel) to become the capital of another state?

No precedent, certainly no logic and a simply unworkable exercise. With this level of muddled thinking we’ll never find a solution to our search for a just and lasting peace.

What happened to Middle East logic?

Rather Muddle East!

Yossie - Kfar Saba

Omri Sharon, Airik Sharon’s elder son and former Likud Party Knesset member, lost out on his latest appeal of what is now going to be a 7 month term in the hoosegow for campaign funds manipulation and other similar crimes. Sharon, who has tried to prevent his incarceration by claiming he is constantly at the bedside of his still comatose father, will be allowed two visits to his father per week during the sentence which is now slated to begin on February 27.

In addition to the prison sentence, Sharon also has to pay a N.S. 300,000 fine, equivalent to around $65,000.

During his father’s last re-election campaign, Omri is alleged to have received illegal campaign contributions on behalf of this father which were used in a manner not allowed under Israeli political campaign rules. Omri was also involved in other questionable activities which may also have gone back to the so-called “Greek Island Affair” in which his brother, Gilad was said to have been involved in concerning the purchase of a couple of small Greek islands for use as tourism resorts catering to Israeli holiday makers.

Omri was said to have used monies for paying off people involved in acts of political favoritism as well, and some of these activities were even recorded by hidden TV cameras and used on local reality TV shows covering crime investigations.

Ariel Sharon is still languishing in a vegetative state where he has been for more than two years. Nearly 80, it is highly unlikely that he will ever regain consciousness and his present state has helped keep Omri from meeting his prison sentence date. Omri did succeed in having his sentence reduced by two months, which makes his sentence only slightly longer than American cooking show host Martha Stewart had when she served five months for inside stock trading.

Omri will probably not be thrown in with super hardened criminals, and will most likely be sent to a minimum security facility to serve
his sentence, similar to what happened to another former politician, Arieh Deryeh. Recent Video clips of Omri show that he has grown hair again on his once bald head, a possible indication that he fears what might happen to him in prison if he looks too much like a “pretty boy” to fellow inmates, especially those with “one gender orientation”. Seven months isn’t the end of the world, although with a prison record, Omri’s possible return to politics will be a bit doubtful. He can spend most of his time at the Sharon Ranch, taking care of his father’s sheep and cattle, and even venture into some private business dealings, where his particular expertise in wheeler dealing will be appreciated.

More than 42 years after their initial Israel concert was canceled by government authorities, the two remaining members of the original Beatles have been invited to perform here during Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Present government officials extended the invitations to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with an official apology for canceling the original concert which would have taken place when the British pop group was at the height of their international fame.

There appear to be many versions as to why the 1965 concert was canceled at the last moment; but for the most part, the main reasons were that officials were afraid that the screaming fans would cause severe damage to the newly completed Hechal Hatarbut cultural center in Tel Aviv (located by the Habima Theater), and that the Finance Ministry was afraid there wouldn’t be enough foreign currency to pay the mop-haired group after Israeli Lirot was converted into either Pounds Sterling or U.S. Dollars. Both reasons seem a bit weak when looking back on the subject. The main reason might have been that the Ministry of Culture didn’t seem to think that the pop music quartet wasn’t of a high enough cultural standard to perform along with the likes of classical music greats like American violinist Isaac Stern.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that there wasn’t any “tele” (as the Brits call it) in Israel at the time in order to broadcast the event; and that the Labor led socialist folk in the government didn’t want to corrupt the innocent young minds that were being groomed to some day lead the country to great academic and cultural heights, despite being completely surrounded by Arabs who wanted to push an even smaller and more fragile Israel into the depths of the Mediterranean Sea. After all, the Six Day War had not been fought yet, and the West Bank and the Golan heights were still in Jordanian and Syrian hands. Gaza was being administered by Egypt who really didn’t give a hoot about the nearly million refugees from the 1948 Way of Independence, living on U.N. administered hand-outs.

Although both McCartney and Starr have visited here since that time, they haven’t been here together as the surviving members of what may go down in history as the most successful singing group of all times. In reference to the then government’s fear that the Beatles would corrupt the innocent youth of Israel, that fact that they played in the best concert halls in America and were featured on television programs like the Ed Sullivan show (where Elvis also made his big debut) means that John, Paul, George and Ringo were not considered to be morally corrupting in most places they appeared (expect possibly to a few fundamentalist Christian groups, that is). The other two former Beatles, John Lennon and George Harrison, are now playing their tunes “up above”.

Maybe now the remaining Beatles will finally get the welcome they deserve here, albeit blatantly, like they should have had more than 42 years ago.

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.

Cochrane is only about 15 miles from Calgary so if you’re ever up to Calgary, take a side trip and go see this booming town. This mural is a sight to behold.

*If you look at each tile individually, you can see how different each tile is. Someone assembled all the tiles to form one large mural, which was unveiled in September. Each tile is 1 foot square, is its own Individual picture and each is by a different artist. Together they Form the huge mural.

*You can click on each of the tiles to see them in detail. You might want to check out the horse’s eye. Simply amazing. I had to go back and look at the complete mural really carefully….because I could not believe the tile they used to do the horse’s eye. There all amazing. Enjoy!!

Click Here To Visit!

I read the comments and emails that came in and I agree. This isn’t right and I can’t back any of this up.
The Post has been removed !
The Urban Legend is at snopes.com