The Band Scores

December 2, 2007 by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
Filed under: History and Culture, Israeliness, Pop Culture

A short while ago we here at Israelity wrote about the film The Band’s Visit.

Well golly gee gosh, look how it’s doing now.

Don’t feel like sliding over to another site? A fill-in:

- The film’s lead, Sasson Gabai was named this year’s BEST ACTOR by the European Film Academy.

- Director Eran Kolirin won BEST SCREENWRITER at the same ceremony

Damn! Congrats! (check out the clip)

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Beer Sheba To Beirut

December 1, 2007 by Stephanie · 2 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, Life, Politics

Most images foreigners see of Israel are political & Wild West-ish in nature: stone throwing/burning tire/rocket launching Palestinians, shooting/menacing Israeli soldiers, bus bombing carnage, rocket hit aftermath…

With that type imagery, it’s no wonder “The Holy Land” is perceived as less than holy and downright dangerous.

Many Israelis also share a slice of that take, believe it or not.

A majority have been nowhere in the vicinity of The Gaza Strip or West Bank and a commonly held misperception is that Palestinian “terrorists” lie in wait at every turn and that the settlers living in the areas are under siege.

Although we differ in our political views, I recommend reading Treppenwitz’s tale of trying to convince a cabbie to take him from Beer Sheba to his West Bank settlement home late one night. Here’s a peek:

Finally I got a driver who, after a few minutes of reassuring, agreed to take me home.

Once we were on our way he began peppering me with a string of non-stop nervous questions:

“How far is it?”

“Are you sure?”

What’s that village over there… Jewish or Arab?”

“Arab!? Is it ‘problematic’?”

“What about that one?”

“You really drive this road every day?”

“Have you ever had any problems… roadside bombs… shooting… rocks… Molotov cocktails???”

“What the h… that was a Palestinian license plate on the car that just passed us! I didn’t know they were allowed on the roads?!”

Oh G-d!… I see headlights behind us. Should I be worried that it might be a terrorist following us?????!”

And on and on and on…

By the time we’d passed half a dozen sleeping Arab villages and were approaching the southern outskirts of Hevron, the driver had worked himself into a state of panic about terrorists who seemed to be lurking just around every bend to turn his wife into a widow and orphan his children.