Nimby

October 31, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, coexistence, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, News, Politics, Sports 

A story I wrote last week for JTA brought me to a neighborhood near my own — literally, a 10-minute walk — that I had never visited before. Two neighborhoods, really.

The first was Givat Hamatos, or Hill of the Airplane, named for a plane that crashed there during the 1967 Six-Day War. Givat Hamatos is now known as the latest site for Green Line construction, as the prime minister is planning on extending his contiguous Jerusalem line that will cut off any possible Palestinian string of neighborhoods, as well as Palestinian East Jerusalem. But until a few years ago, Givat Hamatos was the caravan neighborhood for Russian and Ethiopian immigrants, as well as some down-on-their-luck Israelis, like Barak Hasid’s family, interviewed in the story.

What struck me about Barak Hasid and Givat Hamatos, is how close he is to my home, and our very different existences. His family has made do with very little for quite a while, and has found some kind of peace — or at least he has — in their story. A lemonade out of lemons kind of narrative. And then I drove through Beit Safafa, the adjacent neighborhood, trying to get a sense of the place, the people, and the location, which is sandwiched between Givat Hamatos and the Talpiot industrial zone on two sides.

It’s a nice neighborhood with fairly large homes, a very new soccer field (thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation), and is the home to Yad B’Yad, or Hand in Hand, the Jerusalem branch of Israel’s bilingual Arab-Hebrew schools. I can’t tell you much more than that, because I didn’t find anyone to speak to me. But I’m still working on that. I figure there has to be more to the Beit Safafa story, given its history and existence of coexistence.

It’s strange to think of a possible residential neighborhood down the road from me as a) settlement construction and b) possibly part of a future Palestinian Jerusalem. What I do know is real estate locations, and there’s no question that Givat Hamatos works from a geographical standpoint. It’s off a main road, close to a busy business area and has access to major transportation. But nothing is ever that simple in these parts, so we’ll have to see what happens in this particular section of my backyard.

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Babies, bathwater and social justice

October 31, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Politics 

Social justice protest Oct 29, 2011 (Jerusalem Post photo)

I’ve taken a lot of heat on this blog for not attending the social justice protests over the summer. While I had my questions about the focus of the demonstrations, I admit that laziness may have been the primary non-mover. But when the gatherings returned to the streets this past weekend, I was much more adamant in my opposition – for two reasons:

The protests, which always were somewhat unclear about their proposed end game, now seem to be all about rejecting the Trajtenberg Commission’s recommendations. The protesters want to re-open and replace the current budget in favor of one that emphasizes social issues and, according to some of the protests’ spokespeople, will do so by increasing the national debt.

I’ve written before about why an unbalanced budget is a terrible idea: just look at Greece this week.

Now, from what I can tell, and I’m certainly not an economist, the Trajtenberg recommendations are well thought out and probably the best compromise between increased attention to social issues and fiscal responsibility.

Why not give Trajtenberg a chance? The Knesset will be trying to pass it in the current session, which opens today. Rather than trying to start over from scratch, why not aim the energy of protest towards ensuring that what Trajtenberg proposes actually get passed.

The newspaper this morning is pointing out that various Knesset factions want to vote on each clause of Trajtenberg, one by one. While that may not be a bad idea in principle, it opens up the process to party politics, pandering and populism as different parties see only what will help their constituent’s trees, while ignoring the national needs of the forest.

Some potentially good news: Daphni Leef , who set the whole tent protests in motion back in July, will reportedly be in attendance at the opening session of the Knesset and plans to remain there, either inside or on the streets she says, making sure her voice gets heard. As long as that voice isn’t a naïve call to bring down the current government rather than work towards concrete economic aims, that could be the best result of the summer’s social upheaval.

Oh, and the second reason I was against this past weekend’s return to the streets? If the turn out is too small – and it was: just a few tens of thousands vs. the hundreds of thousands at the last rally two months ago – the whole enterprise could appear as if it has lost steam and relevancy, allowing the politicians to belittle even more than they have already, casting it as a meek sideshow next to the headlines of Gaza and Iran.

Let’s do our best to ensure that a social agenda stays on the top of the Knesset’s deliberations. But give up on all this talk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The bathwater may need some more bubbles, but the baby is doing just fine.

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Montel Williams touts Israel’s medical marijuana

October 31, 2011 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, health, Israeliness, Life, Medical Breakthroughs 

Israel’s reputations as having one of the most advanced medical marijuana programs in the world is getting a big boost these days.

American TV star Montel Williams, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 and he has since been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana to relieve pain caused by the disease, is evidently impressed with our medical usage of the cannabis plant and during a visit to Israel this week, said that he believes the US has something to learn from our policies.

“There are chemicals within that plant,” he told AP, “and some of the leading science on where and how those chemicals work is being done right here in this country,” referring to Israel.

The former host of the popular long-running talk show “The Montel Williams Show” – which rivaled Oprah and Geraldo for popularity – was in Israel meeting with MKs, scientists and physicians about Israel’s medical marijuana practices.

Hundreds of Israelis receive medical marijuana on a regular basis in a government program launched in 1994. I spoke to the program director a couple years ago – Dr. Yehuda Baruch – who said that around 60 more patients applied each month to join the program that enables them to receive free marijuana for their medical problems.
Among the conditions accepted by the program are cancer patients, HIV positive patients, people with Crohn’s Disease or ulcerative colitis, who are being treated by gastroenterologists and MS patients specifically for the spasticity symptoms upon recommendation from an MS center or a neurological specialist. Patients with post stress trauma disorder were being tested with the drug on an experimental basis, Baruch told me.

Montel Williams


Itay Goor-Aryeh, the head of the pain management unit at the Sheba Medical Center, told AP that medical marijuana is often more advantageous than other pain-relieving drugs.

Those patients, if they do not get cannabis, they will get morphine-like drugs and other harmful drugs,” said Goor-Aryeh. “I think that in many ways, cannabis is tolerated and is less addictive that morphine-based drugs.”

Williams, who says he uses marijuana daily to alleviate his pain, will surely go back to the US with a different view of Israel.

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Nostalgia Sunday – Rain, rain, come

October 30, 2011 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Entertainment, Environment, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, War 

Israel’s rainy season has begun. Last month, Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, marked the transition from praying for dew to praying for rain. A week before we even started asking for it, the first rain of the season, known as the yoreh, had already fallen. And then… we had nothing but beautiful weather, marred only by the occasional yellow-red dust storm.

You wouldn’t necessarily think it of us but Israelis love rain and songs about rain, perhaps because we have so little of it. There are songs about the yoreh, songs about the last rain of the season, called the malkosh, and songs about raindrops and just plain rain, too.

Israelis love rain because it clears the air, calms the nerves and keeps us indoors where it’s cozy and safe. In anticipation of these attributes, needed so desperately at this time, and in addition to our actual need for rain to water crops, replenish Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) and the aquifer, we present a selection of songs about rain, starting with a golden oldie from 1968.

Geshem Yored – Lahakat HaBroshim

Lehakat HaNahal, the IDF Nahal unit’s entertainment corps was, at one point, the place for talented young performers to get discovered. The troupe had any number of hits to its credit, including this one, Geshem Bo (Rain, come). (Please note: The pictures are fun to watch but this video’s sound quality isn’t very good. Click here for a version with better audio).

Geshem Bo – Lehakat HaNahal

For some reason, rain was a very popular them in the Eighties. Here are a few examples:

Geshem – Benzin (featuring Yehuda Poliker)

Zeh HaGeshem – Nurit Galron

Geshem – Meir Banai

Singer Uzi Hitman, who died seven years ago today, was a prolific pop singer-songwriter who also made a good living putting out sing-a-long videos of classic Israeli children’s songs. Here is his version of HaYoreh.

HaYoreh – Uzi Hitman

For more recordings, check out the amazing Zemereshet website, an online archive of lyrics, songwriting credits and recordings.

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Remember the date: Israel’s next war begins

October 30, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, News, War 

Three cars in Ashdod that were set alight by rocket fire from Gaza on Saturday. (Reuters)

The post-euphoria of the Gilad Schalit release and return home after more than five years of captivity has made way for the reality of rockets bombarding Israel’s southern cities once again.

Of course, those terrorists released in the Schalit swap aren’t the ones out there lighting the Grads and Kassams that have fallen on Ashkelon, Ashdod and other sovereign Israeli points over the weekend, killing a father of four and causing mass destruction and trauma. It would have happened whether the 1,000-plus terrorists would have been freed or not.

On the other hand, whether it’s due to infighting between Hamas and Islamic Jihad – one trying to prove the other is weak toward Israel, and doing so by cowardly acts of terror – one thing is clear: Israel is at war.

Foreign media reports are likely couching in terms of tit for tat – the rocket attacks were in response to the IDF’s weekend air strike in Gaza killing five people. Bad Israelis.

Don’t believe those reports, and refute them whenever possible. The IDF air strike killed an Islamic Jihad leader and four accomplices who were responsible for previous rocket attacks on Israel – attacks that were implemented in the days after Schalit’s release with no provocation whatsoever. Nobody was injured in those attacks, but that’s far from the point. The point is that Israelis are being targeted from outside the country. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

Wherever this current round of violence takes us – back to an uneasy cease fire constantly broken by the Palestinians, or to a full-fledged invasion of Gaza aimed at stopping once and for all the deadly assault on Israel – it should be known that there was a beginning to this escalation. Israeli citizens were attacked without provocation with the intent of killing them. And as a result, whether we call it that or not, Israel is now at war.

It remains to be seen if we’re going to aim to win the war, or just scare the other side a little. History suggests the latter, but maybe, with Schalit now home, it’s time for the former.

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