Tales from below the glass ceiling

September 28, 2006 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, Life, Politics 

Imshin writes about the glass ceiling in Israel, and why she identifies with the women who are accusing our president of sexually harassing or raping them:

I never really ‘got’ the sexual harassment thing before I experienced a particular strain of it first hand. I mean, I was always very empathetic with the victims and usually sided with them, as sisters, you know. But now I realize I didn’t really know what it meant, how it felt, what it did to them.

Suddenly, there I was – ostensibly no innocent spring chicken – a married mother of two in her late thirties, with many years of professional experience, ability and knowledge, reduced by a nasty creep to a piece of ass. And then to invisibility.

And thus my organization lost an experienced, capable, and undemanding professional.

I am in awe of those who have the courage to speak out, and ashamed that I don’t. No way could I even contemplate paying anything even marginally as horrible as the price ‘O’ is paying for shopping the president. I worry that the effect of this case will be that women, always fearful of the consequences of complaining, and rightly so, will feel even more intimidated now.

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A boycott against Israeli companies. So what else is new?

September 27, 2006 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Politics 

Lots of depressing things to report these days (as usual) about the many people and organizations who choose to vilify Israel for its actions without considering or even mentioning the broader context of our situation. The UN, Amnesty International, individual politicians around the world . . . even for the many Israelis who sometimes or often criticize their own country for the way it handles certain situations, it is difficult to escape the evidence that a lot of people out there hate Israel completely out of proportion to any of Israel’s actual wrongdoings.

The double standards in particular make one consider pulling out one’s hair. And, I know for myself, it’s especially angering when Europeans point fingers at Israel and accuse us of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the like, accusations which are obviously gross exaggerations and lies, and painfully ironic coming from people whose countries tried to perpetrate a “Final Solution” against the Jews not so very long ago.

So it was not surprising to learn that yet one more group out there has decided to boycott Israeli products, this time a Belgian hi-tech company.

Avner, an Israeli businessman specializing in product management and consulting approached a Belgian company in hopes of business cooperation.
The company, U2U, refused to cooperate with the Israeli businessman because of what they called “Israel’s war crimes and apartheid regime.”

U2U manager Wim Yotrasprot wrote in a statement to Avner obtained by Ynet that “I appreciate your interest in my company, but after the devastating and inhumane war crimes Israel perpetrated in Lebanon, and because of the apartheid regime it rules on Palestine, U2U does not wish to tie itself with Israeli products.”

That’s rich, coming from someone whose country spilled so much blood in the Congo, without even having any rockets raining on their cities or suicide bombers as an excuse. But anyway . . .

The part I found most damnable in U2U’s letter was the line saying “I hope that the political situation in your country will radically change and will be based on peace and respect to non-Jewish cultures.” In the entire Middle East, the ONLY place where the government goes out of its way to protect both churches and mosques is Israel. In fact, many Israelis complain that Muslims receive MORE protection by Israeli police in order to practice their religion than the religious Jews do!

Also, I wonder whether Yotasprot realizes just how many Israeli innovations, including computer chip technology and medications, he uses in his life every day.

But most of all, I wonder whether U2U would have accepted the offer had it come from a Muslim state, perhaps one of the many that have murdered millions (not thousands, millions) of people for reasons having nothing to do, at all, with self-defense.

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Where “Subway” is just a sandwich

September 27, 2006 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business, Israeliness, Travel 

The young author of the blog “Sustainable Apple Pie” points to a recent op-ed piece about plans for a new Tel Aviv subway, and says that it would go a long way toward raising morale in this country, if only because finishing the subway would prove that our government is capable of actually getting something done.

. . . . people (particularly young people) still want to care about issues in the country, issues that go beyond security and war, but they have been raised into a culture lacking faith in a government that has lost all accountability since, well, I’d say since Yitzhak Rabin’s death in 1995. As an idealist myself (as I’m sure you’ve all noticed) I get a lot of funny looks from my friends when I talk hopefully about peace, cleaning up the environment, better social services, and a stronger economy in the future. I get that tsk tsk sound that Israelis love to make (and that I’ve happily adopted) and a look that if put into words would say, “Little sis, I love you, but open your eyes. The world is not as sweet and kind as you might think.”

. . . . .So, yalla! The arguments are there. Now action must be taken. Tel Aviv is amazing city, let’s give it one more thing that we can brag about. You can read more about the plan on Wikipedia. Or check out the project’s homepage (in Hebrew). This tongue-in-cheek subway aficionado site lists archived newspaper articles related to the project and ends with the words “Fat chance!” Sigh.

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Can you tell me how to get, how to get to sheinkinstreet.co.il?

September 26, 2006 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Business, Food, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Travel 

sheinkin 3
Our favorite not-Israeli (-yet) blogger, Esther, brings our attention to a fun new site about Tel Aviv’s trendiest avenue:

[W]ith the internet, anything’s possible. For instance, you can visit the shops and see the personalities of Tel Aviv’s famous Sheinkin Street without ever leaving your apartment.

In addition to the site’s information about (including a virtual tour of) the cafes and stores that make up this hip area, I recommend you check out the videos section, where you can see Sheinkinians wish everyone a shanah tovah, where you can see the wacky Emily interview random people on the street, where you can find out what people get their lovers for the annual Love Festival, where you can see Asaf make pizza and compare it to smacking a–well, I’ll let you discover that.

Also of interest, in the magazine section, you can learn that actress Evelyn Ha’goel likes Sheinkin because on “Shimchat Torah” [sic], she gets to dance with the Breslavers in a “striking Trance show.” Well, it makes sense, since her last name means “the redeemer.” Plus, she played “Bruria” on “Pick-up,” an Israeli soap opera.

Unfortunately, there is no way I can see to embed the videos here, so you’ll have to click on the link and watch for yourselves. This is a really fun site. Just like Tel Aviv.
sheinkin 4

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Out with the old, anticipating the new

September 26, 2006 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Holidays, Politics 

New Year’s thoughts by Michael Eisenberg:

Since this is the first post since the Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, I thought I would take the opportunity for a top ten list of things I am looking forward to in the new year or I will not miss from the past year. I tried to draw on all parts of life that the blog covers (kids, tech, VC, Israel, politics)

So with deference to David Letterman, here goes the list.
10. Kofi Anan – I am looking forward to the retirement of the most corrupt and amoral world figurehead we have ever seen. Kudos to my favorite columnist William Saffire for keeping the heat on Anan.
9. Aharon Barak – Israel’s Chief Justice retired last week. Hooray! I found his over-reaching bench too much to handle. His Judicial activism and hand-picked supreme court left little room for the “elected” legislature. Maybe the New Year will bring a new spirit to the court.
8. My kids picking up their clothing from the floor – expect to see this on next year’s list as well with the addition of wanting them to do dishes. (My wife would like me to pick up my socks as well).
7. A bubble! Why not? It was good for VCs last time :)
6. An IPO market – It is about time. There are a lot of private companies needing an exit and it would be nice if the public markets opened their doors.
5. A repeal of Sarbanes Oxley – no words needed
4. A new Defense Minister in Israel – Unfortunately I was right when I warned about Amir Peretz. More unfortunately, the joke is on us.
3. The end of Israel’s electoral apathy. It is time for Israel’s citizens to take political matters seriously and dive head first into politics. We need good people to go into politics, not the party hacks and career bureaucrats that are running our country.
2. An honest confrontation with Muslim extremism. If we do not confront the Iranian/Hamas/Hezbollah nexus this year, next year might be too late.
1. A happy and healthy Jewish New Year for all.

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