Just one minute
Israelis are used to standing in silence as the air raid sirens blare to commemorate tragedies in our past. There are sirens twice during the year: for the Holocaust on Yom HaShoah and for fallen soldiers on Memorial Day. As the siren calls out, Israelis of (mostly) all stripes, sizes and shapes stop what they’re doing, pull their cars to the side of the road, and remember what our people has been through.
Now, Deputy Foreign Ministry Danny Ayalon wants the rest of the world to take on this custom as well. He is pushing a campaign called “Just One Minute” in which he calls on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to devote a minute of silence during the opening ceremony of the summer London Olympic Games in remembrance of the massacre of the eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The campaign is a grass roots counterweight to the IOC’s refusal last week to formally honor the memory of the murdered athletes. The families of those athletes have been trying in vain for 40 years now to receive some official commemoration. Ayalon’s plan is to build public support via the Internet, using social media and petitions, to sway the hardened hearts of the IOC.
The campaign kicked off this week with the release of a YouTube video title “Just One Minute” featuring Ayalon solemnly addressing the camera, speaking in English During the video, a clock counts down the 60 seconds of the video’s duration, which Ayalon points out is not such a long time to do something with such clear value.
The campaign has some international support (20 British MPs, a few U.S. Congressmen), but Ayalon stresses he is not in this for politics. “I hope that this massive support and sympathy will lead to a change in the decision,” he says, adding “it is undeniably the just and moral thing to do.”
Ambivalent on Jerusalem Day
Motta Gur before entering the Old City in 1967
I’m never quite sure what to think of Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Day in English. The day commemorates the reunification of the city following the Six Day War in 1967 – 45 years ago today – and is for some a day of great joy – a miracle even – while for others is alternatively a catastrophe or at least a major sticking point on the road to the creation of a Palestinian state.
It’s hard to argue that the city of Jerusalem, without the treacherous wall that existed from 1948 until 1967, dividing the city and from which Jordanian snipers would take shots at civilians living near the seam line, is not a better place today. And yet, overly boisterous celebrations around Jerusalem Day always seem to me to have an inherently confrontational tone, one that says, “it’s ours, it always has been and always will be.”
Now that may indeed become the case, and I would hate to see the city divided again in any way, but let’s be straight: that outcome is far from de facto. East Jerusalem’s future status is in no way a done deal, despite what certain politicians may claim. There is a lot of work to be done…including compromise on both sides.
That doesn’t seem to be the understanding on the streets though. Jerusalem Day in recent years has been hijacked; no longer is it a day of unification among Israelis of different religious and political persuasions.
Just check out the annual flag parade that snakes down Jaffa Street towards the Old City: the message has become one of military and miraculous conquest, as the “parade” surrounds the Old City like Joshua and the biblical Jericho. Shouldn’t it be more of a ceremony marking the end of an historic and tragic wrong, where the historic Jewish Quarter was emptied of its residents and many of its synagogues and structures were pillaged and destroyed? Why can’t we celebrate Jerusalem Day bathed with words of love, not war; togetherness not antipathy?
I read in the newspaper over the weekend something else that disturbed me. When the march reaches the Old City, the sexes will be segregated. Men will go towards the Western Wall via the Dung Gate while women will enter through Jaffa Gate.
That left me feeling both saddened and angry. How can we untangle the conflicting narratives of this most complicated city if we can’t even keep our men and women together? It seems that my ambivalence about Jerusalem Day will continue for some time to come.
International Writer’s Festival a hit in Jerusalem
Etgar Keret
Gary Shteyngart
The International Writer’s Festival has returned to Jerusalem packing heat. The biennial event, which kicked off on Monday, has nearly as many international writers present as Israelis, many of whom defied pressure back home to steer clear of Israel, according to Uri Dromi, director general of Mishkenot Sha’ananim, the main location of the festival (events are also taking place at cafes, cinemas and even the Mahane Yehuda market all during the week).
Dromi was speaking at the opening to an enjoyable, often raucously funny meet-up between American writer Gary Shteyngart and Israeli surreal short story’ist Etgar Keret. My wife and I always try to attend at least one session during the festival, as much for the atmosphere – hundreds of Israelis who have come together for literature! – as well as the specific authors.
At the sold out dialogue between Keret and Shteyngart, the latter read from his latest book, “Super Sad True Love Story,” set in a dystopian future where everyone wears a necklace of sorts that broadcasts one’s social status and financial status – it’s Facebook gone crazy with any hints of privacy entirely eviscerated.
Keret mostly played the interviewer although he peppered his questions with a few stories of his own, mostly about his father who passed away six weeks ago. In a touching and original way, Keret has replaced the religious “Kaddish” that is traditionally said for a year after a parent dies with a pledge to speak about his dad in any public appearance he makes. His main story at the Shteyngart meet-up involved cancer, coughing and coffee.
The Mishkenot Sha’ananim setting is, to indulge in a cliché, picture perfect. Our session was held in a large white tent erected specially for the festival, open on one side, with a spectacular view of the Old City.
Other international writers appearing at the festival include Lukas Barfuss from Switzerland, Aimee Bender from the U.S. (whose latest book has the unflappable title “The Girl with the Flammable Skirt”), Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo, and Tracy Chevalier whose best known work, “The Girl with the Pearl Earring,” sold four million copies and was made into a successful movie.
Tracy Chevalier
Chevalier was in the audience for the Shteyngart–Keret shindig, which was a treat for me because we both went to Oberlin College, graduating a year apart. I was sure that we must have known each other (I was a Creative Writing major, she was in the English department), but alas, it seems we never crossed paths and my chance at reminiscing with a true literary celebrity was reduced to a few friendly words and some pleasant small talk.
If you’re in Jerusalem and you have an hour or two to spare, the International Writer’s Festival continues until Thursday.
Cell phone at the supermarket? You can save big
YouPhone is one of the new cellular carriers hitting the Israeli market
Israelis won’t be saying “hallo” on their cell phones, but that doesn’t mean low prices aren’t coming.
A few weeks ago, a much-rumored new discount-priced Israeli cellular phone company called Hallo dropped its plans to launch after it emerged the company didn’t have the contacts in place it needed to operate . The company had promised an incredible deal – NIS 99 for unlimited talk time, unlimited messages and 2 GB of data surfing. A similar offer at one of the big three carriers – Orange, Cellcom and Pelephone, would cost at least double that.
But this week, three new operators hit the market with innovative pricing that will further shake up the cell phone market in Israel. It brings to five the number of “mobile virtual network operators” (or MVNO’s), a fancy way for saying that the new guys buy time from the existing carriers, piggybacking for a price on the antennas and infrastructure already built.
One of the new guys, Golan Telecom has the exact same attractive pricing that Hallo promised. Another, HOT Mobile, has a fee structure includes unlimited talk and text for just NIS 89 – NIS 10 less than Golan – but doesn’t include data in the price.
HOT Mobile also has a plan for “light users” – no monthly fee at all, then 10 agorot per minute and the same per text message and per megabyte of Internet access. Golan’s light user plan costs NIS 10 a month and includes 60 minutes of talk time, 60 text messages and 10 megabytes of Internet access. The third operator, YouPhone, will be charging NIS 18 a month, then 18 agorot per minute of talk time and 15 agorot for messages. Internet will also be 15 agorot per megabyte.
The different packages for each carrier sound confusing, but they’re actually a bit clearer (although not much) than the traditional cell phone deals which include x number of minutes free to other subscribers on the same network, another package of minutes to family and friends, discounts if you bought a phone via the carrier and speak at least 200 minutes a month…it got so confusing that Orange, one of the big three, came out with its own “clear” package that sets a base price of NIS 69 (and as a result, the cost of purchasing the phone through the company listed is listed separately).
If you’re a heavy mobile Internet user, HOT Mobile’s offer of 10 agorot per megabyte can add up. 2 GB = NIS 200, so the NIS 99 all you can eat package is a much better deal. If your Internet usage is less – say 250 MB a month like me, that’s only NIS 25. If you then talk 200 minutes a month and send, say, 100 text messages, that’s another NIS 30/month, making the combined price less than at the big carriers.
YouPhone’s doesn’t offer a more expensive package with a higher data level, so if you like to surf on-the-go, stick with Golan or HOT.
Perhaps the most intriguing element – at least for immigrants with strong ties to the “old country” – is Golan’s offer of free overseas calling to landlines in 29 countries. HOT’s overseas calling price is a shekel a minute.
On the other hand, YouPhone has a deal with the Mega chain of supermarkets and Alon gas stations (the same holding company owns all three) so that if you buy groceries or gas, you get free minutes. For every NIS 100 customers spend, they will receive 10 minutes of airtime at no charge, up to a maximum of 200 minutes per month per customer. The idea is that talking on the phone is as much a necessity as eating and traveling in your car, but that pricing brings us back to the familiar complexity the new companies seem to have been trying to avoid.
The other two MVNOs are associated with the Rami Levy supermarket chain and the Home Center DIY chain.
If you want a full service cellular carrier with a proper office and repair facility, you won’t get that with the newbies – YouPhone and Rami Levy are using their supermarkets and gas stations to sell their services and Golan has just a website – they’ll send you a SIM card in the mail.
The bottom line: if you’re willing to shop around, you can save a lot in the new cellular landscape. And that’s good news for competition. Now if only it would extend to cottage cheese.
Haaretz tries to make itself irrelevant
Multi-media, multi-platform, multi-expensive
You know it’s bad news when a newspaper refers to a new web initiative it’s launching as “the start of a new era.” But that’s exactly what Haaretz did this week in announcing a program that “will enable us to provide you with accurate and comprehensive news coverage, analyses and commentary on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.”
In other words, they’re going to start charging for access.
Haaretz hasn’t shared specifics of its new digital subscriptions program yet, but the parameters are clear – they’re identical to what The New York Times launched earlier this year: a limited number of free articles per month with the rest nestled behind a pay wall. Print subscribers will get access to the whole kit and kaboodle. A subscription will cover all digital platforms: web and mobile, including smart phones and tablets.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know well the dire circumstances newspapers are in (I report on the subject for the AIM Group). But sequestering your content for paying subscribers works only if you’re the undisputed leader in your space: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Economist have all succeeded. Other attempts to cut free access have failed, many miserably, before being unceremoniously retracted.
Is Haaretz the clear king of the Israeli news space? Their Hebrew edition certainly has elements of The New York Times, particularly in terms of its writing, columnists, features and investigative reporting. I’ve been a regular reader for years. But the online competition – in English, certainly – is fierce in Israel. The Jerusalem Post’s website has far more readers than Haaretz; indeed, it’s the web’s number one English language site on Israel and Jewish subjects in terms of traffic.
More recently, The Times of Israel has come on the scene. The writing is uniformly excellent, superior even than to Haaretz (which consists of direct translations from Hebrew). It quickly made it to the top of the sites I visit first in the morning.
True, Haaretz has faster news coverage, and it’s been my go-to site after a terrorist attack or midnight coalition re-alignment, but if you flit from The Times of Israel to The Jerusalem Post to Ynet to some of the more right wing papers, you can get your fix without ever needing to pay an agora to Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken.
Haaretz has one thing going for it that the other English-language online Israeli news sites don’t, though: a top-notch mobile app. Haaretz’s iPhone app makes it so easy to consume news, I don’t even bother with the west. The Times of Israel’s David Horowitz told me that a smart phone app is on the newspaper’s development horizon but in the meantime a browser version optimized for mobile will be out soon. I hope it’s as functional and friendly as Haaretz’s, or – gulp – I may wind up paying in the end after all.
When I posted about Haaretz’s going pay on Facebook, I was met with a barrage of Haaretz hate: the paper’s politics are loathed by many Anglos in Israel. While I may not always agree with the editorials at the paper either, my post was about business models not Gaza.
What will save the newspaper industry? We’re still trying to figure that out. Sexier interactive advertising (see what Yoni Bloch’s Interlude is doing), better behavioral tracking (despite our shuddering the thought), even setting up as a non-profit are all being discussed and tried.
In the meantime, we can cool our heels with this ambiguous pronouncement from Haaretz:
As we approach our first centennial, we hope you will join us as we embark on a new chapter in our history, one in which will pledge our allegiance to maintaining the standards of journalistic excellence and integrity that are the bedrock of Haaretz as we explore the new frontiers of the modern digital age.
Amos Schocken will be holding an online Q&A session Tuesday May 15 at 4:00 PM Israel time. Ready your outrage.
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