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.”
Foto Friday – Yigal Pardo’s Dog (and Cat) Days
Filed under: A New Reality, education, Environment, Foto Friday, General, Life, Picture of the Week, Profiles, Sports, Travel
Photographer Yigal Pardo loves animals and has successfully parlayed that affection into a career.
Pardo studied photography at Hadassah College, Jerusalem, then worked in New York for a year, returning to Israel to open his pet photography business.
Pardo works with Israel’s pet food manufacturers, ad agencies, breeders, animal-related publications, professional and non-profit organizations as well as pet-lovers, shooting commercial studio work and portraits, and photographing animals in the great outdoors.
One organization that has benefited from his talents is Shaar HaGai Kennels, breeders of Israel’s national dog, the Canaan.
Pardo has documented kennel owner Myrna Shiboleth on her treks to seeks out new desert and Bedouin bloodlines so as to retain the natural characteristics of this “semi-feral” breed.
A previous post reported on Shaar HaGai’s current woes: the kennel — and with it its Canaan breeding program — is under threat of closure by the Israel Lands Administration (ILA). Shiboleth, a world champion dog breeder, dog show judge and the world authority on Canaan Dogs, is lobbying for public support via on an online petition. (50,000 signatures are needed and she’s up to 39,855, so if you support this cause, please sign and share the link).
Far from the wild, Pardo also photographs dog shows for the Israeli Kennel Club.
And cat shows, too!
A cat-owner himself, Pardo has stated that although his specialty is dogs, it is from cats that he’s learned the most about photographing animals.
“It is the dog’s nature to please his owner. When the owner brings them to a photographer, from the dog’s perspective, the photographer is an ally… The cat is not interested at all to please humans… but fortunately, he is also very curious and we can take advantage of this curiosity when we take the pictures.”
Great photos of animals of all kinds can be found on Yigal Pardo’s page at PetNet.co.il.
Globetrotters bounce into Israel
Filed under: A New Reality, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Life, Pop Culture, Sports
If there are two things that are universal, it’s humor and basketball. So the Harlem Globetrotters have all angles covered.
The venerable touring jugglers/ball handlers glided into Israel last week for three shows – two in Tel Aviv and one in Jerusalem. An international institution since 1926, the Globetrotters have showcased their iconic talents in 120 countries on six continents.
I saw them a few times growing up in New England, with the legendary team featuring Meadowlark Lemon and Curly Neal. So I was psyched to take my 11-year-old basketball-loving son to see them in Jerusalem.
And happily, aside from a few more showbiz hip-hop moments, the general premise was still intact – some amazing magicianship with the ball, tons of laughs, incredible baskets, and good, clean fun.
The names had changed – Hi-Lite was the Meadowlark funnyman-frontman, and Flip Atkins was the limber gymnast flipping around the court like he was on coils. But the game remained the same, down to the bucket of water chasing around the court during the break skit that ended up with confetti on the adoring crowd.
One ‘only in Israel’ moment occurred when Hi-Lite went into the crowd and came back with a women’s purse for some cross-dressing fun. He then asked the owner of the purse, Dina, to come to mid-court to regain her possession It turned out that, like much of the audience, she was religiously observant, wearing a head covering and a skirt.
She was a good sport, dancing with Hi-Lite and playing the straight woman to his Groucho Marx. However, when he thanked Dina and told her to give him a kiss, that’s where she drew the line.
“I can’t,” she said.
“Why not,” asked Hi-Lite.
“I can only kiss my husband.”
“Your husband? Is he here? Show him to me.”
They walked back to the stand and he shook hands with the husband, and turned back to Dina. “That’s your husband? Good luck to you!” And he gave her big hug, and returned to the court for the resumption of the game.
Of course, the Globetrotters won the game handily, against their worthy but hand picked opponents. And by the looks on the children, and adults leaving Malha auditorium, everyone went away happy. Even Dina and her husband.
Foto Friday – A street view of Israel with Google StreetView
Filed under: A New Reality, education, Entertainment, Foto Friday, General, Israeliness, Life, Movies, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture, Sports, Technology, Travel, tv
Earlier this week, Google let it be known that it would be launching the long-awaited StreetView application for Israel. The official launch date is this Sunday, April 22, but the soft launch apparently happened yesterday and seems to be working on Google Maps Netherlands at this point.
StreetView, which is part of Google Maps, lets users explore places around the world through 360-degree panoramic 3D imagery of city streets, public spaces, museums, national parks and more. (Here’s a quick video on how to use it).
Google accomplishes this by deploying a fleet of cars topped by a 15 lens camera taking 360 degrees of photos as it drives along. The car also also has motion sensors to track its position, a hard drive to store data, a small computer running the system, and lasers to capture 3D data to determine distances within the Street View imagery.
Google provides a nice explanation of how its done. And last year, this fellow posted a video of himself following the Google car down Tel Aviv’s Ben Yehuda street, writing “Look how lucky I am to capture the car that is capturing me.”
Given that Israel is a major R&D center for Google, the launch took longer than expected. This was due to concerns over security — not unjustified as Palestinian militants have stated that Google Earth satellite images have been used to identify targets in rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israel. Similarly, there were concerns about Google StreetView possibly being used by terrorists to attack critical locations and/or important personages. Privacy concerns were less of an issue — in Israel, security trumps privacy every time. Plus, we are the kind of people who feel “lucky” if we’re captured by a Google cam!
The Google Map of Israel…
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So far, StreetView has covered neighborhoods, universities and museums in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, plus a few smaller towns and tourist sites around the country.
The Jerusalem Theater…
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The Harp Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem…
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The Knesset…
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Western Wall…
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And here’s where my running group, the Holyland Hash House Harriers, will be meeting tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 PM, right in the Valley of the Cross. All are invited and beer will be served.
Embracing Maccabi Tel Aviv
Filed under: A New Reality, Entertainment, General, Israeliness, Life, Sports
After living in Israel for over 26 years, there’s not many times I can say that I did something for the first time. But this week, I did indeed attend my first Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball game.
Maccabi Tel Aviv is the Yankees, Lakers and Cowboys of Israeli sport, all rolled into one.
With 5 European Championships, 49 Israeli Championships, 39 Israeli Cups, and 3 League Cups, Maccabi has been the most successful basketball team in Israel. It is also the fourth-most successful club in European history, and one of the most successful teams of the past decade in European basketball, having won three titles and reached the finals five times in that period.
The team boast a great lineup of legendary past players – native Israelis and American imports – such as Tal Brody, Miki Berkovich, Motti Aroesti, Kevin Magee, Doron Jamchi, Earl Williams, and Aulcie Perry, and more recently Derrick Sharp and Anthony Parker been among the elite of Europe’s basketball players.
But even though I had been a sports fanatic in the US growing up, I’ve failed to attach myself to Israeli sports in the same way. No shame in that – a Red Sox fan can’t change his colors overnight, or in a quarter century.
But that doesn’t mean that my youngest son can’t. Since he started an after-school basketball league this year because his friends were all doing it, he’s become enamored with the game – and with Maccabi TA. So after months of nudging from him, I was finally able to secure a couple tickets to a game this week at their home Nokia Arena.
And, to put it bluntly, it was a blast. From the comfortable on-top-of-the-game arena to the enthusiastic but civilized crowd and the superlative play of the team, it was as much fun for me as going to see the Boston Celtics back in the day.
I don’t know why I waited so long to lose my Israeli basketball virginity, but now that I have, I know it won’t be my last game.
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