Nostalgia Sunday – Elections in Israel, Part 1

January 25, 2009 - 11:36 PM by Rachel Neiman · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Pop Culture

Let’s go back in time, shall we? The year was 1988. Israel still had only one television station but, then as now, was blessed with a multitude of political parties that, for the first time, were allowed to present their platforms on the air, thus providing the entire country with an evening’s entertainment. So there we sat, transfixed. Remember: there was only one TV station. Also, some of the ads were nothing if not amusing, especially if you go for Theater Of the Absurd.

This man, for example, from the “Quiet Party”, advocated getting rid of government stagnation and corrupt politicians by either voting for his party – symbolized by the ever-popular letter “zayin” – or putting in a blank ballot, or just not showing up at all.

The logic still escapes me but they look like a fun bunch, floating on the Dead Sea in their inner tubes.

But the most memorable catchphrase of 1988 was, without a doubt, “Noar, Noar, Noar” (“young folks” repeated three times), from the ad presented by Tarshish, a Netanya-based party headed by Nissim Douek. Although his party’s symbol was “zayin ayin mem” (there’s that zayin again!) — meaning “rage” — Douek seems more doleful than angry as he tells the country’s Sephardic youth they has been lied to by the government, then promises to found a university in Netanya.

To see all the election commercials from 1988, visit the Nana-Channel 10 portal.

Compare these clumsy awkward efforts of yesteryear with media-saturated today. Every political party, TV and radio station, has a YouTube presence. A good one is Channel 2’s Election 2009 channel, where Israelis (celebs, demi-celebs and non) sound off about… well, whatever.

It’s also important to keep up with weekly satire show Eretz Nehederet (Wonderful Country) which, having finished up with the war, now turns its attention to the elections.

Another fun online tool for keeping up with things is the Israel Democracy Institute’s 2009 Israel Election Compass. A joint project of IDI and Ynet , the Election Compass guides users through a series of questions that help them identify which political parties and Prime Ministerial candidates most closely reflect their views on Israel’s most pressing social, political, economic, and security-related questions. It’s amazing what you can learn about yourself in filling out these questionnaires. Apparently, I should vote Labor, although in fact, that wasn’t my plan.

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Tags: 1988, 2009, elections, israeli elections, politicians, Politics

Nostalgia Sunday – Sallah Shabati

November 30, 2008 - 11:55 PM by Rachel Neiman · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Movies, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture

If you don’t know the film Sallah Shabati then go out and rent it right away because you don’t know Israel. Yes, that’s how strongly I feel about it. Go, go, go out and get it now.

Okay, are you back? Good. Without giving away anything of the plot, Sallah is a film about the immigrant experience and although Israel has changed since 1964 when the movie was made, there are certain constants of Israeli society that humorist Ephraim Kishon put his finger on 44 years ago which still remain the same – bureaucracy, cronyism, societal divides, JNF tree plantings – all the things from which great humor is derived.

The film stars Haim Topol – who went on to have a successful international careers, as well as a very young Arik Einstein, an equally young Gila Almagor and a host of other well-known Israeli actors. It won two Golden Globes and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.

Now, the Cameri Theater is reviving the highly successful musical version of Sallah, which first premiered at Habima in 1988. It promises to be good. Here’s the movie version of Sallah’s big number, “Mashiach HaZaken.”