Ghosts in Israel? Not likely

October 27, 2009 - 10:17 AM by Nicky · 4 Comments
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Pop Culture 

Israel may be an ancient land, with an ancient, not to mention, bloody history, but despite this, it doesn’t seem to be a land of ghosts.

What with Halloween coming up, I thought I’d do a story on the top 10 hauntings in Israel, expecting to find some fascinating material dating back to biblical times that would scare the pants off even veteran ghost observer Melinda Gordon, AKA Jennifer Love Hewitt. I scoured the web. Then scoured it again. There were many references to ghosts and hauntings – but only the living kind.

“There isn’t a culture of ghosts in Israel,” said an American friend who’d done similar research just a few years ago and also drawn a blank. “They just don’t have a history of it.”

I asked my sabra husband. “Ghosts!” he said, looking baffled. “We don’t have ghosts in Israel!”

But wait a minute. This is the country that spawned Paranormal Activity – supposedly the scariest movie about ghosts around today.

I carried on my research and discovered an article from Ynet last year. Apparently, the research by the German Bertelsmann Foundation showed, only 16 percent of Israelis believe in ghosts and spirits. A pretty low figure that could explain the absence of ghost stories. Compare that to the US, for example, where 48 percent of the population say they believe in ghosts , and a sizable 22 percent say they’ve actually seen or felt a ghost.

Interestingly enough, however, in the same Israeli poll, 45% of participants said they believed in angels.

It would make an interesting research paper to examine why Israelis don’t believe in ghosts. I’m sure it reveals much about the society, since ghost stories are an essential part of most cultures around the world.

Is it because they are well-grounded people with a surprisingly strong sense of optimism (angels!)? Is it because a country that has so many living enemies doesn’t have time to waste thinking about spectral enemies? Or could it be that the country, founded as it is in the wake of the Holocaust, is haunted enough by the very real loss of six million people?

I did come across one haunting – on a base in Israel. See above. Speculation runs from a speck of dust on the screen, to an energy orb, or a dead motorcyclist haunting the road.

And I’d love to hear your ghost stories too. Come on, there must be one or two stories of troubled spirits in Israel.

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Just another ghost in the Wall

July 15, 2009 - 9:08 AM by David · 6 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Technology, coexistence 

A poster for ther G.ho.st launch on the security barrier near Beit Jallah. (AP)

A poster for ther G.ho.st launch on the security barrier near Beit Jallah. (AP)

The security barrier is on lots of peoples’ minds lately – first it was the Cellcom ad, and now it’s a new Internet startup G.ho.st, launched last night by an Israeli entrepreneur and Palestinian software developers.

For this startup, the product may be less important than the people who created it.
According to the Associated Press, Israeli entrepreneur Zvi Schreiber partnered with Palestinian engineers to launch G.ho.st Virtual Computer, a Web-based operating system based in Jerusalem and Ramallah that recreates the attributes of a personal computer’s desktop from any computer with an Internet connection.

“Our idea is simply to use the Internet to give people a computing environment that is not just stored on a physical device, but is available on a Web page or any mobile device and gives you everything you need: your desktop, your files, your programs,” G.ho.st CEO Schreiber said at the launch, in the West Bank town of Beit Jalla, close to Jerusalem’s southern edge.

The company started more than three years ago after Schreiber sold his second high tech startup. He had never worked with Palestinians and knew very little about the fledgling software industry in the West Bank.

“I wanted to combine my technological interests with my social interests. I always wanted to do something to help resolve the complete mess that we’ve all made of this part of the world,” he said.

According to Schreiber, the company’s name refers not only to the virtual computer’s ability to float through the boundaries of a physical computer, but also to the G.ho.st team’s cross-border collaboration.

There’s a Palestinian staff of nearly 30 workers who confer with their Israeli counterparts mostly by video conference. Many of the engineers living in the West Bank aren’t able to get the permits needed to get into Israel, while Israelis are barred from most Palestinian areas in the West Bank due to security concerns. Schreiber has never been to the company’s Ramallah office.

Tuesday’s launch in Beit Jallah was against the backdrop of the security barrier – an intentional decision.

“Ghosts go through walls and the very first wall that G.ho.st goes through is the … wall and fence that Israel is building in the West Bank between itself and the Palestinians and which physically divides the G.ho.st team into two,” the firm’s Web site says.

AP reported that International Mideast peace envoy Tony Blair attended the launch, commended G.ho.st’s initiative and called for more such partnerships across the Israeli-Palestinian divide.

“One thing we know is of course we need a political solution, but we also know it’s not just about politics. It’s about business,” Blair said.

It would be nice if G.ho.st succeeded, not only with its Internet platform, but in forging real ties between people on both sides of the wall.

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Bomb Chicka Bomb

June 7, 2007 - 3:00 PM by Stephanie · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, Politics, War 

Need a laugh? ‘Course ya do. We all do.

Count on Benji. He’s the resident funny guy. Except he’s currently residing in the U.S. where he’s spending the summer playing babysitter camp counselor somewhere in the Mid-West or something.

But he still reads the newspapers. And interprets. And delivers his signature humorous take:

This recent NY Times article talks about the latest breed of jihadists in Gaza, Lebanon, and other places I won’t be visiting before hell freezes over….

No need to read the whole thing-I’ll summarize for you. “Bomb terror fundamentalist terror terror bomb bomb”

The funny part of the article though (and let’s be honest, what’s NOT funny about Muslim fundamentalists?) is this:

The Army of Islam in Gaza is similarly shady, Mr. Mhaisin said. “It’s very difficult to find a detailed description of such groups,” he said. “It’s like the movement of ghosts, but there are signs: the burning of Internet cafes, statements on the Internet, various fatwas.”

Hmm…issuing statements on the internet…and then burning down internet cafes. Sounds like somebody needs to improve their strategic planning. What’s next? Building nuclear bombs and then blowing up the reactors? Great idea, boys! What, pray tell, do their internet statements read like?


Go here for the full text.

We know you’re doing the camp counselor thing because you like singing ’round the campfire. Fess up, Benj.

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