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

Hundreds of African refugees were evacuated yesterday from a bomb shelter in South Tel Aviv. In the last few months, about two hundred and fifty refugees have faced inhuman conditions. They have been staying in over- crowded, deserted structures often flooded with no drinking water or electricity. They receive no medical care and are frequently harassed by the immigration police.

Israel tried to deport some of the refugees back to Egypt but could not stop the thousands of refugees who crossed the Southern border into Israel.

Israel has so far failed to find a solution for dozens of refugees who seek political asylum in Israel. Since Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East, these desperate people have no where else to go. Tel Aviv municipality officials have recently complained that government provided almost no help in finding solutions. As a result, these hundreds of refugee have been relying on the kindness of a few representatives by Tel Aviv municipality and some local volunteers.

I was very disappointed with the government’s policy on this issue. Everyone is now talking about Israel’s 60th Independence Day. But the 60 years that have passed seem to erase our collective memory. Considering Israel’s history, we have a moral responsibility to help these African refugees. The government should let the refugees work so they can provide for themselves and regain their human dignity. Israel’s ideology forces us to demonstrate more solidarity than that.

Yesterday Noam Shalit, father of the kidnapped soldier Gilad, passed a harsh critique of the government’s recent actions. Shalit is pointing a blaming finger at the Prime Minister Ehud Olment for not taking instant initiatives to release his son from Hamas captivity. According to Shalit, his son is paying the price for Olmert’s hesitation.

“I ask the prime minister, who said he would personally address the issue of the kidnapped soldiers, why out of the entire chain of command that is linked to the kidnapping fiasco should Corporal Gilad Shalit be the only one to pay the price?”, said Shalit.

Olmert failed to convince Gilad’s family that he is doing everything in his power to rescue Gilad Shalit. If the public believes that the government has forsaken the kidnapped soldiers, it will hurt the public support of the government’s actions, and will also hurt the motivation of the soldiers and those who are about to be enlisted. The morale has already been seriously damaged following the consequences of the second Lebanon war.

It is safe to say that almost every Israeli soldier is ready to put his or her life at risk, but only if the soldier knows the government will do its utmost in case something terrible happens. Olmert must work harder to gain the family’s trust. Olmert has complained that he is an unpopular prime minister. But to become a popular leader he must become a leader first, and to do that Olmert has to work harder to gain the public trust. In the meantime, he is not likely to win a popularity contest just yet.

Israeli doubles stars Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich have done it again by winning the men’s doubles championship at the 2008 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells California. Ram and Erlich, virtually repeated their Australian Open feat by winning in straight sets over Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 6-4 to achieve their second important Masters tennis title so far this year. When interviewed afterwards, Ram said that he and Erlich have been concentrating more on improving their game concentration, and that they “have been playing very solid tennis since last summer”.

“We are concentrating more on improving our game, match by match, and giving 100% concentration, rather than trying to win titles”, Erlich added.

The two Israelis are feeling more confident and this is apparently evident in their game performance.

The tournament, also known to many as the Indian Wells Tourney, saw a number of surprises in semi-finals individual matches on Friday, when American No. 1 ace Ron Federer was beaten by another American, Mardy Fish. Another star, Russian Maria Sharapova, was beaten by fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. Coming into this match, Sharapova had 18 straight wins to her credit.

Mardy Fish, who was beaten by Federer at the same tournament four years ago, was ranked number 98 going into this tournament, and if he wins the championship Sunday will regain much ground he has lost since being ranked number 17 four years ago.

As for Ram and Erlich, they are now in a very good position for advancing in world rankings, and are considered by many as the top male doubles team in professional tennis.

Israel’s female star, Shahar Peer, lost out to Indian female tennis star Sania Mirza in the third round of the competition. Mirza has dominated in previous encounters against the18th ranked Israeli player.

Israeli athletes are making good gains in both amateur and professional competitions, and this is especially so in sports like tennis. It only goes to show that Israelis are capable in holding their own against other players, and hopefully, they will perform as well in singles tennis competitions as they do in doubles matches.

My wife asked me to write this….

Wentworth Miller is here in Israel and between the attacks in the south, Hezbollah gargling in the North and the occasional stabbing over a parking spot, this politically correct, polite Englishman is making the news. He is visiting here for the third time and is going through the traditional route (Masada, Dead Sea, Galilee and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem). He is very patient with the reporters and answers all questions big and small. He was born in the UK and went to school in the US (Princeton) and he fascinated reporters with his genetic background, Russian, Dutch, French, Syrian and Egyptian from his mother’s side and African American, Jamaican, English, German and Jewish (yep..) on his father’s side. The final result according to our local fans (and my wife) is a very pleasant to look at guy.

Welcome to Israel !

Several days ago, following her sensational capture to no less than 5 Grammy awards, probably the most any singer has ever accomplished at one presentation, this blog had an article dealing with Amy Winehouse, one of the most talented music artists of all time. But with all this in mind, and in light of the 24 year old artist’s strange and kinky personality, many people are trying to find out just what makes Amy tick.

A psycholinguistic analysis of Amy’s words reveals a deep seated fear of planning for the future. Not a fear of the future itself, just planning for it. This fear is so wide and deep that it manifests itself in major decisions as well as trifle ones. She refuses to be involved in any marketing decisions concerning her new CDs because these decisions address forthcoming events. According to Amy: “I just wrote the songs, and I sing them. That’s pretty much it for me. I guess the rest of it’s all record company stuff, right?” Note the words “just,” “it,” and “all” in the phrases “just wrote the song,” “that’s pretty much it for me,” and “the rest of its all record company staff.” She detaches herself from anything that involves planning for future events.

When interviewed not long ago, she was asked what she would do if she was working in a position like a secretary (something she did try once with disastrous results) and he boss asked her to order some new stationary:

“Well, I was the sort of secretary where it’d be, ‘Amy, make me a cup of tea’, ‘No, fuck off’. You should call Rymans (a UK specialist supplier of Stationery and Office Products). for their catalogue Hang on, are you taking the piss out of me? You fucker! Really? Call Rymans. Or.. Are you being serious? Just go to another secretary and get her to order it. You were taking the piss, weren’t you?”

Amy’s reaction to being asked to perform such a mundane task as this is just part of her complicated makeup that also includes a strong fear of any kind of planning for the future, which includes even something like ordering something.

The future, or planning for the future, seems to be scare Amy so much that she is said to do the exact opposite, rather than even think about making any future plans. This might explain her escapism into both drugs and alcohol, both of which are often used by people wishing to escape reality.

Amy’s pre-occupation with past includes her personal fashion including 1960’s style “beehive” hairdos, as well as a liking for music and singers from that period, including groups like the Supremes and the Shangri-Las. Amy’s Jewish background has resulted in her considering an album of “cool Jewish Hanukah songs” as she said recently that there weren’t “any cool Hanukah available for Jewish kids”. Maybe this idea is going against the grain of her disdain to make future plans.

Liking things from the 1960’s isn’t anything to be ashamed of, as that period is one that many people, especially that of a large group known as “baby boomers”, still have fond memories for. For one thing, the music from that period still excites and turns people on. Maybe with this in mind, Amy has a good point in preferring that period, compared to what is going on in our ‘Brave New World’.

Remember this guy? He used to be President of the State of Israel, who resigned his position lest than a month before his term was to officially end. That’s right, he’s none other than Moshe Katsav, now private citizen Katsav, whose legal consuls appeared in court today in order for the Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz (to determine whether the former President should actually face charges for a number of sexual related crimes, including rape.

The issue centered around six petitions that had been presented in order to convince Mazuz to cancel the plea bargaining agreement made last July with Katsav in which he would formerly resign the Presidency, be given a one year suspended sentence and pay a fine of NS 50,000 to the women he has been accused of harming. Beinish upheld Maziz’s agreement with Katsav, which dropped virtually all the serious allegations against Katsav including at least two allegations of rape. These include the ones by the lady known as “A” who claims he had his way with her during the period she worked for him in the Tourism Ministry office.

Katsav had been suspended from formerly serving the last six months of his presidency, and Knesset speaker Dalia Itzick had filled in for him in this post until the new president, Shimon Peres, took office in July, 2007. Beinish was reported to have been in favor of at least two of the petitions, but in the end, a majority of the Justices voted to uphold the plea bargaining agreement. There still appears to be an air of questionability concerning the entire issue, and in the end, Katsav appears to have had more influence in having his way than the women he is accused of having indecent relationships with, who tried to get organizations like the Rape Crises Center on their side.

All this goes to show is that men still have the edge over women in Israel when it comes to sexually related crimes; especially if the perpetrator happens to be a government official. The Haim Ramon case is a good example of this kind of situation as Ramon not only got off very lightly for his advances to a female Army officer, but is even back in the government. Katsav appearing in court might have proven to be too much of an embarrassment to the government and this is part of the reason why the decision appears to have been made to shelve the issue, especially since Katsav would have bought many people to court, including members of his own family to act as character witnesses on his behalf. Requiring the former President’s alleged victims to “take the stand” might have been too much of an embarrassment as well. The moral to this story is that, in Israel anyway, it’s still a man’s world.

in Wikipedia the meaning of Demagogue is;

“a political strategy for obtaining and gaining political power by appealing to the popular prejudices, emotions, fears and expectations of the public — typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist or populist themes.”

In Israel it’s;

Imad Mughniyah, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, and perhaps second or third on America’s and Israel’s “rogue gallery” finally was caught off guard in Damascus on Tuesday night. The Hezbollah terror mastermind, who is alleged as responsible for a great deal of the terror attacks in Lebanon and elsewhere since the early 1980’s was blown up by a car bomb in the Syrian capital where he has been residing for a number of years.

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin still has the “distinction” of being No. 1 on America’s Most Wanted criminal list.

Beginning with the car bombings of American and Israeli bases in Lebanon, and including the kidnappings and murders of high ranking American military and diplomatic officials, including CIA Beirut head William Buckley, Mughniyah was also responsible for several international attacks including the on the Israeli Embassy and cultural center in Buenos Aires in the 1990’s. As one of America’s top wanted, he carried a price on his head of $25 million, the same amount as Al Qaeda head Osama bin Ladin. He was also responsible for the hijacking of a TWA airliner which resulted in one American being killed and the rest of the passengers held captive in Libya for 17 days.

His death is said to have caused by a bomb planted inside the headrest on the front seat of his Mitsubishi Pajero jeep. It was definitely a professional job, which is why the Hezbollah have immediately blamed “the Zionests” for carrying out the hit. But
Imad had many enemies who wanted him dead, including the CIA and even groups within Lebanon, such as the Philange Christian militia whose leader, Bashir Jamil was alleged to have been assassinated by either the Amal militia or the group that became known as Hezbollah. Mughniyah may also have been involved in the assassination for billionaire and former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.

Israeli diplomatic missions worldwide are on a state of high alert following the attack, especially in light of Mughniyah’s funeral being today, which will probably be the center of another mass anti Israel demonstration, including a few choice words by Hezbollah’s General Secretary, Sheikh Hassan Sayed Nasrallah. What makes today’s event even more provocative is that it coincides on the third anniversary of Rafik Hariri’s assassination, meaning that there is bound to be conflict between the two groups. Mughniyah’s funeral is to be held in South Beirut, Hezbollah’s stronghold.

If it turns out that the assassination of Mughniyah was not a CIA or Israeli act, it will be interesting to see who turns up to claim the $25 million bounty that was still on his head as the time of his death. Who knows? Perhaps this act was either carried out by the Syrians (who are a bit strapped for cash these days) or even by Hezbollah people themselves who would put the reward money into Hezbollah’s general fund to assist the “poor people of Lebanon”. That would be a real slap in the face for U.S. President Bush and his Administration.

Possibly no singer has ever won as many Grammy awards ever as British pop star Amy Winehouse did Sunday night at the annual 2008 Grammy music awards show in San Francisco, California. Amy, who happens to be Jewish, won the top awards for a female singer and song writer in a number of categories, including: jazz, rock, soul, and rap. Her Grammies includes Best New Artist, Best Record of the Year, and Best Song of the Year. She personally performed two of her top hits, including the one called Rehab, which is tied to her problems with both alcohol and narcotics and resulting (short) stays in rehab facilities.

Winehouse, whose physical characteristics include massive “beehive” hairdos” and a number of outrageous tattoos on various parts of her body, has possibly won more music awards than any other known singer. Other awards racked up to her credit include MTV’s top music award and Britain’s BRIT music award for Best British Female Artist. Amy writes many of her own songs, a feat not heard of since American singer and song writer Carole King during the 1960’s and ’70’s.

Her personal life has been nothing short of boring, and this has been known more recently due to both her and her husband Blake Fielder’s problems with drugs and booze. Although she has performed in many American cities, she was denied an entry visa on several occasions due to her problems with substance abuse.

Taking these “minor” issues into consideration, Ms. Winehouse has still managed to have a music career that has been the envy of many top singers, including Diana Ross and Janis Joplin, who although were popular in their time, never won Grammies personally.

Amy’s top selling album Back to Black has won gold and platinum music awards in several countries. She has appeared in video and DVD music clips numerous times on MTV and other music television programs, and is one of UK and European papa rachis favorite subjects for entertainer photo images.

Providing her head and her body hold out, the singer plans to release some new albums including one that has both Christmas and hanukkah songs on the same CD and has plans to do some reggae music gigs and recordings in Jamaica with Bob Marley’s son, Damian. For all of our sakes, let’s hope she keeps belting out her music for years to come.

I dedicate this to my lovely wife