Foto Friday – Snaps from the IDF Spokesperson
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Picture of the Week, War
Two nights ago, after two months of grueling basic training, the cadets of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade held their swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall. This was the first time in two decades that the Golani ceremony was held at the Wall; the emotional event was captured by Cpl. Ori Shifrin, IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.
The IDF Spokesperson’s office was in the headlines this week with the news that Yoav Galant, is replacing outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, had appointed Lior Lotan as the new IDF spokesman. These sort of nominations are never without controversy but this one was particularly vulnerable to criticism because Lotan, an attorney and soldier in the elite Sayeret Matkal combat unit, has no experience either working in the media or with the media.
“Nevertheless,” Ha’aretz reported, “the prevailing assessment among both journalists and the staff of the IDF Spokesman’s Office was that his [Lotan's] long experience in both negotiations and psychological warfare operations would stand him in good stead.” Which givens you an idea of the historic relationship between the media, local and foreign, and the IDF Spokesperson’s office.
Indeed, the IDF Spokesperson’s office is a powerful force in Israeli culture. It publishes BaMachaneh magazine which, like army radio station GLZ, has long been the training ground for many an Israeli journalist. These days, The Spokesperson’s office is keeping up to date with a revamped website, blog, Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Flickr photostream.
On Flickr, you’ll find images like this dramatic shot of the Hermon Brigade, which is made up of reserve forces, in a training exercise on Mt. Hermon. The photo was taken by IDF Spokesperson photographer Neil Cohen.
This “straw man” camouflage suit, worn by a soldier from the Combat Engineering Corps, was photographed by Michael Shvadron of the IDF Spokesperson’s Film Unit.
I’m not a great fan of the “Girl Soldierette Pinup” but it is important to note this genre which, over the decades, has created its own mythology: the strong and sexy Israeli woman, kittenish by night — drill sergeant by day. (Photo: Michael Shvadron).
Really, now that it’s been announced that, in addition to expanded service for haredi (ultra-Orthodox) men, haredi women will also be given the opportunity to serve in IDF computer units, they’re going to have to cut down on this sort of thing. After all, there are a lot of good and important things happening that make better stories than snapping wannabe It girls in combat boots.
For example, following last month’s Carmel Forest fire, almost 1000 soldiers from the IDF’s Nachal infantry Brigade were brought in to clear and rebuild in the areas damaged by the fires. While a full-time Citizen’s Conservations Corps is a long way away for our beleaguered little country, it is nice to see a glimmer of what a peacetime national service could one day be.
Munich memories
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Life, News, Politics, Sports, War
When I saw a news report Tuesday that Munich was one of the three cities that had officially entered a bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, I could hardly believe my eyes.
What was behind the thinking of the city officials behind the campaign? ‘Well, we screwed up in ’72, but maybe we can do better next time if we get another chance.’
The families of the 11 Israelis killed in the Palestinian terrorist attack on the Olympic Village in 1972 may not be thrilled with the possibility that Munich will beat out Annecy, France, and Pyeongchang, South Korea for the privilege of hosting the 2018 winter games and they have good reason.
Anke Spitzer, widow of one of the victims, Israel fencing coach Andre Spitzer, has been spearheading a campaign for years to convince the International Olympic Committee to hold a memorial service during the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. The IOC has repeatedly denied the requests, saying they don’t want to mix politics and sport or offend the participants from Arab and Muslim states.
Spitzker related to The Jerusalem Post how she attended the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she met with the German delegation at their complex. She said that she was told by delegates that “the people of Munich feel short-changed, that they lost an Olympics because of what happened [in 1972]. We told them we lost a little more than this.”
Spitzker and other widows from the attack like Ilana Romano, the 64- year-old widow of weightlifter Yosef Romano, can live with another Munich Olympics if the memorial ceremony is included. Romano said the that the event being held in Munich again “will remind people of the victims and of what happened.”
“I absolutely believe that Munich is a very painful place for us, for families to walk there again and see the Olympics there again it will reopen old wounds. But, for the memory of the victims, this is the place where the ceremony must be held and someone with the courage to make it happen must step forward and do so.”
So, if the International Olympic Committee is brazen enough to choose Munich as the 2018 site, let them at least be compassionate enough to also vote to inaugurate the memorial ceremony for the Israeli victims of 1972. It’s the least they can do.
Peace or aliens: Israel in 2018 and 2111
How will Israel look in 2018 or 2111? Will there be peace…or aliens? Two ambitious projects culminated last week with a film and a Facebook campaign, both intended to drive home the future consequences of inattention to the problems of today.
Of the two, One Voice was the more serious. The non-profit organization, unabashedly in favor of a two-state solution to peace in the region, sent out messages via Facebook to politicians and media celebrities – from Defense Minister Ehud Barak to musician Yoni Bloch – informing them they would soon be receiving a package.
The package consisted of a fake newspaper called “Israel Tomorrow” (designed to look like the popular “Israel Today” publication), dated January 1, 2018 and proclaiming that the end of the conflict had finally been achieved.
Tal Harris, the director general of One Voice Israel, told Haaretz that the purpose of the campaign was two-fold: “To acknowledge and thank those who are really working toward a two-state solution (and) to remind…conservatives (that) they could one day get a prize for helping Israel achieve peace, if they only stood for what they know Israel needs.”
One Voice is now launching a film competition calling on movie makers to share their vision of the region on Israel’s 70th birthday in 2018. But cinematic depictions of the nation’s future have already been tackled, in particular, by the just concluded “Jerusalem 2111” project where the winning flick received a $10,000 prize.
The contest, which sported some big name judges including Avatar producer Jon Landau and German director Wim Wenders, awarded top honors to a two-minute film called “Secular Quarter” by U.S.-based cinema student David Gidali.
In his vision, Jerusalem is divided by huge cages sealing off neighborhoods with different political and religious worldviews. When UFOs arrive to remove the cages (which presumably these unexplained extraterrestrials put in place after some calamitous event), religious and secular meet for the first time in years. Cut to black.
It’s a cheeky approach, but ultimately optimistic. Compare that with two other entries, one of which shows a nuclear explosion set off in the city and rippling out to rupture the entire world, and another depicting a battle which unites Jewish and Arab forces against a horde of flesh eating zombies.
Good thing the delivery packages didn’t get mixed up. I’m not sure I want to know how Ehud Barak would react to the peace through zombie message.
Four years ’til tomorrow
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, News, Politics, War
We can party like it’s… 2014.
The outgoing head of the Mossad disclosed this week that he doesn’t believe that Iran will have the possibility of gaining nuclear capability before 2015.
That’s a big collective sigh of relief for Israelis, for whom the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran is enough to keep us awake at night.
In a summary given to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and reported widely on Thursday, Dagan said Iran was still far from being capable of producing nuclear weapons and that a series of malfunctions had put off its nuclear goal for several years.
Dagan handed over the job to his successor, Tamir Pardo, in the Prime Minister’s Bureau Thursday morning, after having parted from the ministers during last Sunday’s cabinet session.
The $64,000 question now is whether Pardo and the upper echelon of Israeli leadership will continue to hope that worldwide economic sanctions and pressure on Iran will thwart its goals, or whether sometime in the next four years, some more decisive action will have to be taken.
For us ordinary folks, with the new assessment replacing earlier estimates that Ahmadinejad might have his hand on the trigger as early as next year, we can cross this off our long ‘anxiety list for 2011. Or as Forrest Gump said, “One less thing to worry about.”
Foto Friday – Local Testimony 2010
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, coexistence, design, education, Entertainment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, News, Picture of the Week, Politics, Pop Culture, Travel, War
Local Testimony, the country’s largest and most prestigious annual exhibition of international and Israeli press photography, opened this month at the Eretz Israel Museum.
Photo: Mohammed Muheisen, Daily Life category
The exhibit presents images from the past year of war and peace, politics and society, culture and art, nature and the environment, sports, portraiture, multimedia presentations and more.
Photo: Shlomi Nissim, Nature category
The exhibit also includes a special focus on the work of its curator, photographer Galia Gur-Zeev, who notes, “As the curator of Local Testimony 2010, I regard this as a chance to compare this year’s photos with those of previous years that deal with the same topic.”
Photo: Rina Castelnovo, Politics category
“Press photos always appear together with a mediating text which imposes meaning and interpretation that are not free of manipulation. Separating a photo from the text enables freedom from verbal linearity and a transition to the photograph’s timelessness.”
Photo: Amir Cohen, Daily Life category
“Now, the documentary photo is open to new observation, new interpretation, and the suspension of our gaze.”
Photo: Moti Milrod, Portrait category
Local Testimony runs through January 15, 2011, and is open till 10:00pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
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