Nostalgia Sunday

May 18, 2008 - 4:30 PM by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
Filed under: History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Profiles

This classy lady is synonymous with Israel’s founding, springtime and blooming anemones. We miss you, Shosh. But we think of you each year when the kalaneeyot sprout up.

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Nation’s Birth

May 18, 2008 - 2:44 PM by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
Filed under: History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Politics

This New York Times OpEd by Ruth Gruber recounts her experience as a journalist covering the UN General Assembly in 1948 when Ben Gurion read the state’s Independence Proclamation . Pretty interesting reading.

A wee share:

IT was Friday, May 14, 1948. I was sitting in the press section of the United Nations General Assembly in its temporary quarters at Flushing Meadow in Queens. I felt my heart thumping. We journalists were waiting impatiently to see who would win a tug of war taking place in Washington.

On one side was President Harry S. Truman, who had told his aides that, with the last British troops leaving Palestine that day, he believed the Jews had a right to declare their own nation, and that he would make sure that the United States would be the first country to recognize it.

On the other side was the State Department, which wanted the land placed in a trusteeship under the United Nations. Secretary of State George Marshall was so passionate in his opposition to a Jewish state that he threatened to vote against the president in the November election. For Truman, who had come to office with the death of Franklin Roosevelt three years earlier, this was to be one of his first true tests of power. . .

Check the rest here.
Thanks, jewlicious

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Holy Land T.V.

May 18, 2008 - 12:30 PM by Stephanie · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Israeliness, Pop Culture

ISRAEL is emerging as the Promised Land for TV show ideas writes The New York Post’s Adam Buckman.

Citing Israel as The New Britain for TV Show Ideas, Buckman continues…The latest adaptation from an Israeli format – following HBO’s “In Treatment” earlier this year – is “The Ex List,” one of five new series CBS will introduce next fall, the network announced yesterday.

The new Britain? Well, er, um..Read the story here.

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She Survived!

May 18, 2008 - 9:31 AM by Stephanie · 7 Comments
Filed under: Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture

What’s everybody talking about around the office espresso machine this morning?

That fact that Israel survived its first season of the infectiously popular adapted-from-the U.S.Survivor Series; in last night’s finale, Naama Keisari, a cosmetician by trade, was crowned season winner in a surprise upset.

Naama left a several-month old baby and a father ailing from cancer back in Israel to join the series filmed in the Caribbean.

Check the clip(s) here.

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Dropping Dollar

May 17, 2008 - 7:34 AM by Stephanie · 4 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, Business, Israeliness, Technology

As we here at Israelity have noted on several occasions, Israel’s economy has historically been linked to the U.S. dollar. Salaries & property values are often quoted in dollars and keeping a close watch on the index is a daily routine for many.

So as the dollar continues to slip in value, dollar-based venture backers are gasping.

Benchmark Capital partner Michael Eisengerg writes:

Today the dollar closed at 3.3 shekels to the dollar. That is a big hit for Israeli companies who raised dollars or sell in dollars but pay salaries in Shekels. I have written about this before.. The graphic below sums it up in my mind