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.

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

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!

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 ?

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.

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