Sanctity of Life

This note is not going to be popular with most people.
This posting is also being written whilst I am very tired.
Lets assume this note plays a bit of devil's advocate, whilst remaining somewhat realistic

Can you really say that Hezbollah don't appreciate life?
Can you really think that they don't value their soldiers ? their fighters ?
Their negotiators just managed to make Israel give back every single Hezbollah fighter for what was widely believed to be (but not confirmed until today) 2 captured soldiers who were sadly killed some time ago.
True, we see it as them not appreciating our soldiers lives, but why have we kept remains of Hezbollah here too ? We have caused suffering to families of Hezbollah fighters in the same way they caused us the same anguish.

I really don't see how we can claim the moral high ground on this release. I understand that they were terrorists, fanatics and other combatants, but unless i misunderstood the nature of who these people were, I don't understand why we kept their bodies, which, according to one report, needed 23 red cross trucks to return the bodies.

The images of their soldiers changing back into military uniforms, showing that whatever they may be able to persuade the rest of the world, they are still wanting to fight. They want to carry on the battle.

This is not step towards peace. This was not a step towards progress.

What will they hold out for next? What will we have to give back in order to get back the captured soldiers who we know are alive ?

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those who are missing and returned today.

Information overload

It used to be easy. You had an e-mail address, and ICQ number and all was easy.
Then you needed Hotmail and AIM name.
and then well you used yahoo chat rooms to talk to people on other subjects.

Then, you got second e-mail address to handle the junk from the other stuff.

Its now impossible to keep up.
I have 3 Gmail accounts, Facebook, The blog, AIM, ICQ, Hotmail, Yahoo Messenger (thank G-d for trillian so i can keep the number of open windows to a minimum) and a domain i do nothing with but the e-mail (which i have never given out) gets filled with junk mail constantly

I used to use Igoogle, now i started to use Netvibes to manage my home pages.

To let people know how i am feeling i have twitter, facebook and the status fields in hotmail

I get my news from hundreds of news sources thanks to sites like newsnow.co.uk and google reader.
I have more RSS feeds than i know what to do with now.

I am on so many computers and systems you need delicious or other similar programs just to keep in touch with the sites you use - in case one of them is not linked from another one you happen to like.

Social networking is good, but its getting to the point now where i am asking if i really want to know everything about my friends. Its a lot better to see on these sites which sites my mates are using enjoying, but it keeps me thinking that i used to hate mass e-mails with "check this out" and how closely it resembles it, but to a much wider audience.

On top of that, there is the frustration of not getting a reply - you are on-line, they got the message and it's been 20 mins and no reply - how rude !

Anyway - i am off to check my e-mails, news, and other blogs before bed.
Might get there just in time for my kid to wake up

Flocking onto the web

I recently started using the new social networking browser "flock"
This web browser was born out of the growing amount of presence and usage of social networking sites.
It lets you automatically log into your Facebook, Flikr, Youtube, twitter etc etc accounts.
It also has a blog add-in (similar to the firefox addition which i was using for a while but whose name escapes me at this time- all as standard.

I am not about to give a whole review of it now, but as i play with it some more, I'll let you know how i get on.  
(one thing that seems not so easy is to edit the html of the blog posting - am trying to put a link to the flock site (http://www.flock.com for more info) but not really managing very well

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Bill 892 stops you seeing this post - please try another website

Israel has made many huge advances in the field of hi-tech. We invented here many of the things the world takes for granted now, especially in the realm of the internet ( VoIP Telephony, ICQ, etc) so it comes as a great disappointment to me to see that the Internet Censorship Law has been brought up again.

In today's Haaretz, and Jerusalem Post, there is the news of the bill proposed by Amnon Cohen and backed by the Shas Party, talking about bill working its way through the Knesset to force ISPs to block all users from accessing adult orientated sites.

How can we allow it to happen ?

The original bill was aimed at stopping children accessing these sites,but adults would have a password or biometric verification method, but it seems that this is not the case in the report now.

The world news is full of stories of other countries which ban and block sites such as You Tube. It would be a sad day for personal freedom, the internet and israel as a pioneer in the field, if this bill passes.

For more reading on this, see:a great blog post on the globalvoicesonline site when the bill was proposed in May 2007 and another site which documents the history of the Bill 892

Buying a House

I am not entirely sure how the chain of events came about, but we started to think about a place to live. It's very different from in the UK, where our options are limited really to the main centres of Jewish life. Here, we have the whole country to consider.

We have decided, through a process of elimination, to try for the Gush Etzion area, specifically Efrat, partly as we are hoping Ruth will have a job in the area.

Ruth went to see it about a week and a half ago; I went to see it on Friday
Tonight we spoke to a lawyer about it, we are talking to banks tomorrow.
All of this seems to be going very fast!

I know there is much to do in order to get a house here (my sister went through the same thing last year-ish.

Anyway - I know that the style of post is not the usual ones, but every once in a while it happens.

Snow ?

As mentioned before, there is 1 thing at this time of year which makes all Israelis excited -- Snow.
They are forecasting snow again tomorrow night. This will mean another couple of days of chaos and fun for all.
Will it snow ? Well,I for one won't get the day off, but will try to take part in some of the fun, if only I can find my gloves

Browser Compatability

I have often been annoyed how some websites don't work properly in Firefox. One solution is to use the IE Tab plugin. This has a few flaws, but is generally excellent at emulating an IE window within Firefox. I am therefore very sad to have noticed that the Blog template I am using looks really bad within Internet Explorer( at least on my laptop).

I therefore apologise to all of you using Internet Explorer, who, as far as I can make out, see my blog as:


Those of you using Firefox (and even Safari) see the blog in this nicer template of


So, until I find a template which is better suited to all browsers, or am proven wrong, please use Firefox to maximise your viewing pleasure.

The Real Jerusalem Day

As anyone who watched any news to day either national Israeli or international, including the BBC and CNN, you will have seen that Israel had some snow today.
The amount of snow amounted to about less than 5 inches, but resulted in schools being closed, public transport being stopped and other chaos causing decisions.

I tried to work at home, but due to PC problems, I had to go into the office, but the taxi company would not send a cab to my house, because of the weather! (Eventually I was able to get in, get the PC problem fixed so I can work at home tomorrow if the same thing happens)

What does result in a snow day is that the focus of Southern Israel (and anywhere close that does not have snow) is Jerusalem. Whilst driving to work we passed bus loads of people, cars parked all next to one of the main parks to take part in the annual snowman competition.They come from all over the country (on the way home again we passed a truck with logos from the Ashdod port on it)

Winograd was released today. The report on the state of the war, a criticism of the policies and handling of the war(I will write more about that once I have read more) although the main story of the day was the snow.

So, my point is this:

Yom Yerushalayim celebrates the unification of Jerusalem, which, under current political plans may be un-unified, and relatively few people from outside the city come to celebrate the festival.

It's not a day off; it's not a public holiday. No special dispensation is given to this day. Anyone who wants to celebrate it has to take one of their personal vacation days to come and join in the joyous occasion.
Today, on a day with horrible weather, when schools are cancelled, when public transport is suspended, and getting to work is next-to impossible, they come from all over the south – religious, irreligious, families, groups, friends – they all come to Jerusalem to celebrate the snow.

The biggest bigwig comes to town

As Bigwigs go, they don't come much bigger than this. W arrives in Jerusalem later this week.
There are American flags going up all over the city. An article in the Jerusalem Post outlines the routine at the King David -- including how the staff are not allowed to leave the hotel for the duration of the visit.

According to this article by the Associated Press Jerusalem has spent nearly $400,000 for this visit

I realise that I should see this as an honour that he is coming, but even now, when you call the city council hotline (106) they cannot tell you which roads will and will not be open. The only one which is for certain closed is King David street. I look forward to the chaos of getting to work, but as Ritz, from the King David hotel echoes the thoughts of everyone in the city -""There will be complete gridlock on the roads of Jerusalem,"

Hail to the Chief!

Hirchson - the full story

Friday's Haaretz Magazine has a story by Gidi Weitz which outlines the full extent, as discovered by Haaretz and based on testimonies from police statements and other interviews, outline a fantastic, (and if he had not been caught and the facts proven, the word could be taken literally) story of him using a whole network of people to carry out his embezzlement of 2.5 million shekel from the National Workers Federation (NWF).

This included
"NIS 1.2 million for permanent monthly "expenses," between NIS 600,000 and NIS 750,000 for trips abroad, NIS 160,000 as "holiday grants," NIS 115,000 for meals in restaurants and in the Knesset cafeteria, NIS 72,000 for medicines and NIS 30,000 to host members of the Likud Central Committee. The investigators also suspect that the NWF financed Hirchson's campaigns in the Likud primaries of 1998 and 2002 to the tune of NIS 600,000."

If you thought that the scandal of our prime minister and bank leumi were over, then an article, also in Haaretz stated that not only is the case still open, but they are awaiting on the results of another case involving the Dimona Silica Industries by the ministry of trade, when he was the minister.

Will this end ?

Resignation with more corruption to follow

This week Yaron Zelicha has announced his resignation. As readers of this blog may have guessed, I am a bit of a fan of his. I support his championing of anti-corruption right up to the point where the fight literally cost his job. He announced his resignation today saying, according to Arutz 7 “I intended to wait until the investigation (of then-Acting Finance Minister Ehud Olmert) was over.

This investigation has finally been handed over to the police to investigate now Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Olmert is currently under 3 separate police investigations; the first is the purchase of a house in Jerusalem, alleged political appointments through the small business unit of the Ministry of trade and industry ,and now this - trying to rig the sale of Bank Leumi whilst he was Finance Minister.

The prime minister who is currently undergoing criminal investigations whilst at 2 former ministerial posts, and 1 currently, whilst Prime Minister (the house purchase). In most countries political leaders are meant to set examples, show leadership, moral standings, but it would seem Israel is exempt from such leaders.


If you read today's Haaretz there is an article about the investigation into the former finance minister Abraham Hirchson.

As some background .."On March 20, 2007, Hirschson was investigated for seven hours by Israeli police regarding an alleged embezzlement at a non-profit organization while serving as the chairman of the National Workers Labour Federation.He suspended himself from May to July while Israeli police investigated him for embezzlement,before resigning on 1 July."

The article in today's paper relates how a researcher in the archives of the case was sorting through all the documents prior to their computerisation, came across an envelope with 576 old Shekels marked for Ovadia Cohen, who was one of the organisations senior executives.

If you remember that the new Israeli Shekel only came into existence in 1985, and the suspicions of which he is being investigated are from the 90s, we can get an idea of the people who are making there way into government even today.

How can we stop this crippling, demoralising, illegal corruption ?
Do we have a new Zelicha-like figure to be able to work on stamping out these crimes ?


There was a joke circulating round about a year ago which is sadly going to need a lot more lines added to it.
I just hope we can find some true leaders of Israel ..

Your comments, as always, appreciated

---
If Arik (Sharon) would wake up today….

It is a rainy night and we are at Tel Hashomer Hospital. Only one assistant is around, named Shmiel. He is on night duty tonight in the room of “sleeping” former PM Sharon.

Everybody, but Sharon himself, knows he is no longer the Prime Minister of Israel. Shmiel is sitting peeling an apple and G the Shaba”k agent is nodding off.

Suddenly, all the machines start to beep. The PM is waking up!

Sharon says, “I haven’t slept like that for a long time! Get me [Reuven] Adler, I have some ideas for a new direction.”

Shmiel says, “Good morning, sir. How do you feel?”

Sharon answers, “I am dying of hunger. Where am I?”

The shabak agent continues to sleep while Shmiel explains to Sharon what had happened to him.

Sharon does not take him seriously and says, “So tonight you fooled with the PM, eh Shmiel?”

Shmiel says, “Sorry sir but you are really no longer the PM.”

After a few minutes Sharon asks, “So who replaced me?”

Shmiel answers, “Ehud Olmert.”

Sharon reacts, “Olmert? That Jerusalemite putz? What will happen if war breaks out, he does not know how to run the army! At least Shaul [Mofaz] is still there!”

Shmiel answers, “Mofaz is the Minister of Transportation.”

“So who is the Defence Minister?”

Shmiel says, “Peretz.”

“That old man is still alive?!” asks Sharon in wonderment.

Shmiel whispers trembling, “not Peres, Peretz. Amir Peretz.”

“What? Are you crazy? I close my eyes for a minute and you guys let a labor leader take over the defence of the country?! Not all the factories in Dimona are the same. Does he know that? Listen, get Omri here right away. He will fix everything.”

“Sorry sir, Omri is on his way to jail.”

“Jail?? for that shtus? I do not believe it. So get me my lawyer quickly. Get Klagsbald.”

Shmiel responds, Klagsbald is on his way to jail.”

Sharon calms down and says, “I knew I could count on Klagsbald. he will get Omri out of it.”

Shmiel corrects him and says, “No, sir. Klagsbald is also on his way to jail. He was driving and not paying attention and caused an accident unintentionally running over and killing a young woman and her son.”

Sharon said, “So bring me [Avigdor] Yitzchaki. He always knows how to fix these situations.”

“Sorry, sir. Yitzchaki is under his own investigation for tax fraud. He fixed things too much this time.”

“Can’t be. I know Yitzchaki. They must be framing him. So get me the Head of Police.”

“Sorry, sir, but Karadi is in investigation.”

“Of course he is. He is the head of police. I am sure he is in the middle of a number of investigations!”

“No, sir. Thi s is an investigation against him!”

Sharon takes a deep breath. It can’t be. The whole justice system has been ruined! We must get them out of this. Get me the minister of Internal Security, Tzachi [Hanegbi].”

“Sir, Hanegbi has been indicted for fraud, bribery and job fixing.He is not a minister anymore.”

“So get me the Justice Minister. Who did Olmert appoint?”

“Haim Ramon”

“So get him here!”

“Sorry sir. I can’t. He has been indicted and is on trial for misconduct.”

“What? So get me the president. That is still Katzav, right?”

“sorry sir, but Katzav is under investigation as well, formisconduct and wiretapping.”

“So get me the Chief of Staff, Boogie [Moshe Ayalon]. Sorry I mean Halutz, right?”

” Sir, he got into some trouble in the Lebanon War. Nothing criminal. he sold some stocks. He will soon be giving testimony to an investigative committee.”

“Halutz?? he was a young Piper pilot during the Lebanon War!”

“Sir, that would be the second Lebanon War, while you were sleeping. We… how should I say? lost the war but the PM said we should be patient, victory is coming.”

Sharon looked around his room. “What is your name and what is your position?”

“Shmiel, sir. I am a hospital attendant.”

“Ok, Shmiel. Do not tell anyone about this conversation.”

“You can count on me, sir.”

“I am going back to sleep.”

Egypt Vs Iran -- is there a difference

On Monday Egypt announced their plans to begin developing Nuclear Energy power plants.

To quote an article by the AP "President Hosni Mubarak said the aim was to diversify Egypt's energy resources and preserve its oil and gas reserves for future generations. In a televised speech, he pledged Egypt would work with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency at all times and would not seek a nuclear bomb.

But Mubarak also made clear there were strategic reasons for the program, calling secure sources of energy "an integral part of Egypt's national security system."

At what point does the aim to diversify fuel needs become an integral part of security.- according to the Egypt State Information Service, Oil production accounts for 92% of all fuel, and as of 2006, they discovered even more sites, so, even long term, i am not really worried about Egypt suddenly becoming dependant on other countries for fuel needs.

In a discussion on the BBC World Service programme World have your Say"

Most of the calls were concerned with 2 main issues:
Firstly - are they really prepared for the long term secure storage of spent nuclear rods - -can they guarantee that militant factions wont be able to get them and turn them into weapons (after all, they don't actually need to do much to make it dangerous)

and secondly- the regime, currently its stable, moderate and peaceful, but who is to say that in a few years time, when the reactor is going live, or in times after, that Egypt does not have a leader akin to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose anti-everything rhetoric, in the words of Nick "the scariest man in power".

With one popular view being that more Muslim countries are leaning towards the extreme ideals,(I am not getting into a discussion on the religious leanings of Israel) do we want Egypt to have this capability. They state, in the same AP article above that they will be doing it with the full cooperation and assistance of the IAEA, which, in comparison with Iran's attitude, is definitely more promising.

Of course, it is hard to question why anyone in the middle east should not have it when Israel is allegedly storing the 6th largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world.

Your thoughts ?

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti dead at 71

Sad news for the Opera world, and for culture in general.
Luciano Pavarotti died today, aged 71, from Pancreatic Cancer

You can see a wonderful performance of the aria for which he is known best( at least by the commoner such as myself) here



Or him singing Ave Maria



And finally, is the slightly more bizarre performance with James Brown

Whats the point in being honest ?

An excellent article appeared in a weekend edition of Haaretz back in February 2007. The main story in the weekend section that edition was not about a traditional political figure, but rather the Accountant General Yaron Zelekha. I urge you all to read this article. Its a little long, but well worth it. The article can be found here This article extols the honesty, integrity and dedication this man has given to the state.

Bibi Netanyahu in his blog post tells also of examples of how much he as been able to save the state, after appointing him to the position and the benefit to the country in having this man in this position.

His decisions have not made him popular (he was assigned a full time body guard due to the corruption he was uncovering and other such noble activities which made him such an easy target for Israeli politicos and other characters. (It was Zelekha who discovered the Bank Leumi scandal,in 2005, which implicates, amongst other people, our Prime Minister, Olmert.)

So, in today's papers, and online sites ynet, haaretz and others, it tells the story of how his contract is not being renewed.

The only person in the government who is taking political corruption seriously, including publishing a comprehensive anti-corruption plan, being a star witness against olmert in the Bank Leumi case and other major innovations within Israeli political circles, is being fired.

The Finance minister has decided not to keep on his employment. The State Prosecutor has stated that he will not intervene. The state comptrollers office has yet to make their decision.

The levels of corruption in Israeli politics is growing. According an article in the IHT in 2006, (I am sure there are more, but this is the first one i found, the last parliament, when Sharon was in power, was the most corrupt one ever. The main political players are still involved in politics now. We are suffering from a severe lack of ethical and moral leaders. This is meant to be the country which shows the others the way. Instead we can be more compared to the corrupt nations of the world, rather than the honest ones.

The political system is set up to fail the people. Its all about the party. How good you are in the party, how well the party perceive you. At the last elections, there were several good people, with good ideas for reform, who were all conveniently a little bit too low down on their lists to actually make a difference. Instead, the usual suspects were at the top. This is not change, it makes no difference who you vote for. It would take a landslide victory of 1 party in order to get new people, new ideas into Israeli politics.
Electoral reform is discussed every election, primarily amongst olim; those who came from representative based systems. Those from where the elected officials are responsible to the people they represent, not the party line they have to tow. There is Little incentive to work for the people if you don't directly represent them. So in order to get ahead, you need a few bribes here, a few favours handed out there. Every office seems to do it. Its all a "if you help me now, if i get this position, i'll help you" mentality. This is not the Israeli protexia, where having good contacts will get you almost anything you need, this goes far beyond it.


And the govt is getting rid of the man trying to stop the corruption.
I don't know what the public in Israel can do. I don't know if we have the ability to petition the government - saying that WE want him in the position. Telling them that WE want and need someone digging out the corruption within the system. We need to be able to trust our leaders. One of my colleagues at work mentioned today that for him, a bigger issue than security, is trusting the people who make those decisions. If all your choices are based on what stock options you need to get rid of, or what friends you need to tip-off before you make the decisions -- the person may have the experience, but are they really thinking of the country, or just the best way to line their own pockets.

This is the coolest cooking thing i think i have ever seen

I've not tried it, but random browsing of internet came up with this gem today... popcorn-on-the-cob


Popcorn On The Cob - Funny blooper videos are here

I'll have to persuade Ruth to let me potentially explode our microwave and have a go

Shooting in jerusalem

This is a post written really without all the facts.
I am currently on holiday, not fully reading all the facts, but none-the-less shocked by the footage released of the shooting in Jerusalem
I found the footage online and wanted to post and share with those who did not see it.




I will get back to writing more later.

Trip to the UK

Last week Elal took possession of the first of 2 new 777's.
A short film of the maiden flight can be seen here.



I did not take any videos on the plane as we flew on "Sderot", the brand new, one week old plane. (The 2nd one is Kiryat Shmona). I used to travel more often for work, now, not so much, but never have I flown on a brand new, 1 week old plane.

The features include V.O.D for all seats, touchscreen entertainment centre, new and better seats.

My 1 year old child tested everything as best he could - the remote control still worked after being given the 2 tests -- the Dribble and the Bashing test.
The touchscreen still functioned after the hitting-with-the-remote-control test


Ilan showed his appreciation for it by being sick.
6 times

I apologise to anyone who has to sit in row 51 -- it was not my intention to ruin ElAl's new toy, but you can be assured that all the equipment was tested to the highest of child standards

Avram Wedding Videos

Yes Yes it finally happened. After sitting next to and listening to lots about it, it finally took place.
Avram and Talya got married and what a great wedding it was.
So Avram and Talya -- I wish the 2 of you all the best in your new life together. I wish you only the best things in life and as they say you get to build your "bayit neeman beyisrael"

Talya -- you need to introduce Avram to some new music, because, well -- wedding music can only be listened to for so long before it gets tedious.

On another note once again my own "aishes chayil" proved invaluable at the wedding as she remembere the camera, so as the saying goes " Wives - don't leave home without one"

anyway - here are some videos

Avram's Wedding

Tisha B'Av thoughts

I know it's a little late, but this is the first time i have had to write this...

If we go back to the origins for Tisha B'av the whole eternal damning of this day came out of negative propaganda and people believing it. 10 leaders were able to persuade the whole nation that Israel was not worth fighting over, not worth working hard for. They painted a gloomy picture
"and they spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying: 'The land, through which we have passed to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature"

This, some may say is still true today -- the land definitely "eats its inhabitants" in more ways than you could really imagine.

With Israel fighting boycotts, a negative media image, NGO's criticising Israel for anything it does, and countless other negative vibes, it is very easy to think that this is the spies again coming back out and saying - its not worth it.

Sitting in Shul on Tisha B'av its clear to see that its always been like this.
This antisemitism is sadly told of over and over in the kinot read -- how the nations of the world will cause problems (i cant find the exact wording right now), how they will jeer and reject us.
The problems described are as old as the destruction itself.
I think its one of the reasons why Sinat Chinam( baseless hatred) destroyed the temple. But i see it on a national level, not just a personal level.

10 leaders persuaded all the Jews to hate Israel for no good reason
1 unwanted invitee to a party persuaded the Romans to hate Israel
1 rogue photographer in last years war got his photos published on CNN and the world thought much worse of Israel
The stories go on.


Sadly it does not take much to make the world hate Israel, so when G-d said that because we cried on this night for no reason, he would give us a reason to cry -- this is our punishment.
Sinat Chinam destroyed our chance, so sinat Chinam keeps happening.

A footnote on this is to add that i am really against those who equate the tragedy that happened in Gush Katif last year to what happened on Tisha B'av. I think it belittles Tisha B'av. Tisha B'av is about national tragedies happening to the Jews from other nations, not from ourselves.
Israel has made enough mistakes on the part of its own people, without claiming that evicting people from their homes falls under the category of a Tisha B'av proportion.

Eicha ends on a semi-positive note -- a hope that we return to Israel again, so I want to end with a story.

Napoleon was once walking through the streets of Paris. As he passed by a synagogue, he heard the sound of people weeping inside. He turned to his assistant and asked, "What's going on in there?"

"Today is Tisha B'Av," came the reply, "and the Jews are mourning the loss of their Temple."

Napoleon looked toward the synagogue and said, "If the Jews are still crying after so many hundreds of years, then I am certain the Temple will one day be rebuilt!"


Please G-d he will put an end to our suffering and bring about complete salvation