‘YES’ he can – Obama hawks for Israeli cable
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, General, Israeliness, Politics, Pop Culture, tv
President Barack Obama may not have pleased many Israelis with his Middle East policy during his first year of his presidency. To give him the benefit of the doubt, let’s just call it naive.
However, that doesn’t mean that we still don’t appreciate Obama’s charisma, his ability to inspire and his movie star charm and appeal. YES, one of the two cable TV providers here, apparently realizes that – which is why they recently started screening this very clever and well-made commercial for their new services they’re offering viewers.
I’m not sure we’re they got all the actors, but the ad – produced by McCann Films for McCann Erickson Israel, the local arm of international advertising giant – will surely put your week off to a good start.
The next prime minister of Israel – Dennis Ross?
Ross - Ammunition both for and against Bibi
With the major parties – Kadima and Likud – frothing at the bit after being held up due to the the ‘national unity’ displayed during the war in Gaza, they’re now finally unleashing the campaigns that their spin doctors and media specialists have been cooking up these last few weeks.
And, strangely enough, they’re using some of the same strategy, courtesy of a one-time aide to Bill Clinton who is set to make a comeback under President Barack Obama – Dennis Ross. The former Middle East negotiator, who’s expected to be appointed as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s point man on Iran, was up to his elbows in the Israel-Palestinian issue during the 1990s and he knew all the players involved.
That’s why both Kadima and Likud are planning to use quotes from Ross’s published memoirs to both praise and bury Likud leader Bibi Netanyahu, according to Gil Hoffman writing in The Jerusalem Post.
“Bibi rarely seemed to know how to act on his ideas – how to present them, to whom, and even when to do so,” Ross wrote about Netanyahu in a quote from his book, The Missing Peace, that was distributed by Kadima. “Translating an idea into action seemed beyond his grasp. It was not lack of intelligence… it was the lack of judgment… but there was something more: Often he would come up with ideas simply to get himself out of a jam.”
The Likud, by contrast, focused on Ross quotes that were policy-oriented and not personal. They distributed interviews with Ross and articles he wrote in which he regretted not insisting upon reciprocity with the Palestinians as Netanyahu had advised him.
“Rather than trying to resolve issues like Jerusalem and refugees, we would have focused on expanding the scope of Palestinian independence from Israeli control, developing and investing in the Palestinian economy, and expanding the connections between the Israeli and Palestinian societies,” Ross wrote in The Wall Street Journal in June 2007, sounding very much like Netanyahu’s current “economic peace” diplomatic plan.
How the new prime minister of Israel will work with the Obama administration is playing a big role in the election propoganda.
Likud officials said they hoped Kadima would continue to portray Netanyahu as someone who would have a difficult relationship with the Obama administration, because they believe this would help Netanyahu win more support among the public. Both Kadima and Labor have already started warning that Netanyahu would have an adversarial relationship with Obama, according to Hoffman.
“Whoever thinks that it will be easy for Israel with Netanyahu as prime minister is wrong,” Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog told Army Radio on Friday. “It will be hard because it seems that Netanyahu’s policies will be in direct contrast with those of Obama.”
So while Americans can now relax in the knowledge that the election is over and Obama is firmly ensconced in the White House, here in Israel, the charismatic leader is still smack in the middle of the election campaign.
Obama’s inauguration enraptures Israelis
Filed under: A New Reality, General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Politics, War
With the Gaza ceasefire apparently taking hold, Israelis have been happy to have something new upon which to fixate our attentions in the news. Something hopeful. US President Barack Obama’s inauguration yesterday and the festivities surrounding it this whole week have kept Israelis enraptured.
The one exception to this trend might be American immigrants to Israel, who tend to be a Republican-leaning crowd, often because of the popular perception that the American Right is more friendly to Israel than the Left. This perception might or might not be true, but Americans living in Israel are certainly wary of Obama’s alleged lack of Zionism.
So despite citing nightlife-themed parties surrounding the inauguration which took place in Tel Aviv as well as Jerusalem, a Haaretz piece from earlier this week points out that mainstream American organizations were shying away from the event:
Neither the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel nor the American Israeli Action Coalition – two non-partisan groups – have planned any special activities to mark the swearing-in of the new president. A spokesman for Israelis for Obama, a small group that was formed before the elections and operated mainly online, told Haaretz the group had dissolved after completing it’s only goal of seeing Obama elected.
But even though George Bush is considered by the people here to have been a great friend to the country, most Israelis are optimistic about new blood inhabiting the White House. The Associated Press even hints at some more literal connections between the Israeli appetite for inauguration news coverage and the Gaza ceasefire:
Obama’s inauguration became the lead story in Israeli media, which had been dominated by coverage of the Gaza offensive that began with a massive air bombardment on Dec. 27.
The front page of Yediot Ahronot, Israel’s biggest daily newspaper, featured the smiling Obama and his wife over an English headline: “Good luck.”
Seemingly timing its withdrawal to Tuesday’s inauguration, Israel had already pulled most of its troops out of the ravaged Gaza Strip after a deadly three-week offensive aimed at halting years of militant rocket fire. But the crisis is not over, with reports of shooting along the Israel-Gaza border, and with Israeli soldiers poised to resume the assault if Gaza militants break a fragile cease-fire.
Maybe it’s simply a matter of the incoming president’s rock star-like status, but Obama buzz is not relegated to Democrats – even when it comes to Americans living here. Summing up the feelings at last night’s parties, today Haaretz quotes a young reveler named Guy Simen:
“Even people who did not support Obama are excited, because they know the whole world is watching this event – and they feel close to home. They know that now we’ve elected a man who is supposed to change the world and many people are proud to be Americans.”
Image courtesy lostintransitzine from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Bazooka Joe and Poochie
Filed under: Business, Food, History and Culture, Israeliness, Pop Culture
Bazooka bubblegum might not have represented a revolution in chewable candy back when the product line was launched over 50 years ago, but the brand’s use of mini-comics as an added-value piggybacking promotion was a stroke of genius. The Topps baseball card publisher hired comics pioneer Wesley Morse to develop “Bazooka Joe and his Gang,” an enduring and endearing ensemble of characters that has included the turtlenecked Mort, canine companion Walkie Talkie, Jane the love interest, Hungry Herman and Toughie (a complete and illustrated chronology of the development of these characters over a half-century is enumerated here).
Joe’s cheeky adventures and one-liners have hit it big in Israeli consumerist pop culture over the years as well, thanks to a licensing deal through huge food maker Strauss-Elite, the Israeli spin-off even enjoying success as an export back to the US thanks to its kosher certification.
The quest to keep Joe relevant has been an ongoing and international process, with baggier jeans added to the character’s wardrobe in the grunge- and hip-hop-loving Nineties and new plans to even get Barack Obama involved in Topps-marketed products.
Here in Israel, a marketing campaign costing NIS 2 million is underway to cast a new character to join the Gang, as YNet’s Hebrew website has recently reported. Young Israeli chewing gum aficionados are encouraged to pitch their ideas to the Strauss-Elite decision-makers via homemade production videos, with the winner to be unveiled some time in January.
YNet quoted Elite-Strauss marketing executive Gali Shabad with words of praise on the campaign, which she claims “connects the general public to a cultural icon that we all grew up with, through the use of an interactive marketing platform” (translation ours).
Hopefully the new Israeli Gang-member will enjoy enduring longevity – unlike our beloved Poochie, may he rest in peace.
From Barack to Barkat: A Look Back at the November Elections
The just concluded Jerusalem election, while certainly not as important on a world stage as last week’s U.S. presidential contest, was in many ways spookily similar to its overseas counterpart. For those who supported Nir Barkat, who beat his main competitor Meir Porush by a commanding 9 points (52 to 43 percent), the sheer jubilance that erupted across the city (though certainly not in all parts of it) reminded me of what I’d heard from so many friends and family in the U.S. after Barack Obama bested John McCain.
That tolerance had triumphed over extremism. That inclusiveness would now prevail, not sectarianism. And most importantly, that hope, pride and patriotism had been restored – in the case of Jerusalem, at a time when many residents were saying, either outright or under their collective breaths, what one Beit Hakerem resident was quoted by Haaretz as lamenting: that this election would “determine whether I’m staying” in the city.
The resemblance between the two races extended beyond just the similarity in the winning candidates names. One candidate preached change, the other more of the same. One ran a relatively clean campaign, while the other (or his supporters, it’s not clear) spent much of his political capital on negative attack ads.
To wit: I took a walk several days before the election. There were posters claiming Barkat was really a closet leftist; that with only five years in politics he “lacked the experience” to manage such a complex city as Jerusalem. Sound familiar?
Barkat, to be sure, didn’t run a flawless campaign the way Obama did. He flip-flopped on political positions and took pot shots at low hanging fruit (the light rail fiasco, the over priced “Bridge of Strings”). Posters appeared on city streets in the waning days of the contest almost messianically proclaiming him “HaTikva,” a play on words: the literal translation is “The Hope” but it’s also the name of the Israeli national anthem.
But Porush had his own Sarah Palin debacle when he was caught on tape boasting that, following his presumed election, “there would be no more secular mayors anywhere in Israel within 10 years.” Once publicized, that statement more than any others did the job of scaring away any remaining voters still on the fence.
Third place for Shiri
The buzz over Shiri Maimon’s live performance Thursday at the 2008 MTV European Awards was formidable indeed, and the attractive singer didn’t disappoint her Israeli fan base. She might have taken fourth place at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, but when all of the votes were tallied, she beat that mark by earning third place at the MTV awards in the “Europe’s Favorite Act” category (Turkey’s Emre Aydin took home the statuette).
At this rate, Maimon should win second place in the 2011 Soul Train Awards, paving the way for a 2014 Grammy.
The entire studio version of “Now That You’re Gone,” Maimon’s latest hit single in English, and the song she performed on MTV Europe, can be heard here.
Perhaps the 2008 MTV European Awards weren’t quite ready for Maimon, as the scale of the proceedings seems to have been more global than local, according to YNet’s coverage:
Former Beatle Paul McCartney stole the show at the ceremony, as he was named Ultimate Legend. The other big winner was Britney Spears, who won Act of 2008 and Album of the Year. She did not attend the event.
McCartney was one of several stars on the night to pay tribute to Barack Obama following his victory in the US presidential election this week.
In fact, being a down-home local girl thrust into the glitzy world of international power is exactly what was on Maimon’s mind leading up to the performance. In an interview with Ma’ariv La’noar, the singer defended herself against accusations that she had turned into a spoiled superstar, claiming that the Israeli market is simply too small to be able to support the whims of a real diva. To back up her claims, Maimon cited rumors that Mariah Carey demands 6000 flowers decorate her every dressing room.
Some day, you too shall merit such treatment, Shiri.
Where Bob and Obama meet
Can we fix it? Even my two and a half year old knows the answer to this one. “Yes we can!” Is he a political genius who has been following the Barack Obama election campaign closely. No of course not. He’s a fan of Bob the Builder.
Everyone is talking about Obama’s new slogan “Yes we can”, the new “Just do it”, of our era. Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa even had thousands of Israelis chanting it at the memorial to Rabin on Saturday night, which was a piece of political engineering if ever there was one.
But I’d just like to point out that the much loved animated character, Bob, the head of a construction team of assorted tractors and diggers, was already saying “Yes we can”, when Obama was probably still thinking about a career in law.
The British-made show emphasizes conflict resolution, co-operation, socialization and various learning skills – and (translated into Hebrew) helped teach my kids the value of working together to solve a problem. Can we fix it? Yes we can.
In the UK the theme song – Can we fix it? Yes we can, became a million-selling number one hit, which, coming from the birthplace of the Beatles seems a little sad.
Anyway, I’m clearly not the only one to see the connection. I came across this video on YouTube – excuse the swear word at the end.
Eschatology, Israel Style
A small country risen after centuries of exile and wandering, surrounded by enemies that seek to destroy it, with a large religious population – it’s an eschatologist’s dream. Jews in general, and especially Israelis, are experts in seeking out signs of “the end,” the final redemption in which the Messiah comes and declares the victory of the Kingdom of G-d.
As an observant person, I subscribe to the idea of the Messiah, who can come at any moment and redeem the Jewish people The Talmud discusses various scenarios of what that redemption would mean, and the circumstances under which it would occur. Then there’s the “great war” that is to precede the coming of the Messiah – the War of Gog and Magog, which may or may not be a prerequisite to the final redemption. Rabbinical opinion on the identity of this entity also varies, with some attributing it to a specific king/nation, and others describing it as a force.
In other words, the subject is one of deep mystery – as Maimonides says, these matters “cannot be [clearly] known by man until they occur, for they are undefined in the words of the prophets.” There really is no point speculating on the identity of Gog, Magog, the Messiah, or any of the other features of the “final days,” Maimonides says – we won’t understand the scenarios laid out by the prophets until they actually occur.
But of course, Maimonides’ logical approach to the subject is not shared by everyone. There are many who insist on speculating on the identities of all the figures and events described by the prophets regarding the coming of the Messiah – in fact, a cottage industry in such speculation has sprung up in recent years, aided by the “advances” in the “science of Torah codes,” where hints of current or future events are discovered by counting off equidistant letter sequences in the Torah. There are several web sites, and at least one best selling book, that purport to show that historical and current events were predicted by the Torah, using various code combinations. And, of course, future events, as well. But they don’t always work as their boosters hope they will.
Latest evidence: Barack Obama’s election as President of the United States. For Israelis, Obama is a mystery – other than what he said during his campaign, little is known about his views on Israel, the Middle East, the peace process, etc. In recent weeks, there has been all sorts of speculation – on the one hand, he supposedly palled around with PLO supporter Rashid Khalidi of Columbia, and on the other hand, his Chief of Staff is going to be, according to media reports, Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel, whose parents are Israeli (his dad was a member of Menachem Begin’s Irgun, no less), and who himself volunteered in the IDF. Go figure!
But the arrival of a new president – especially one as exotic as Obama – is a gold mine for those looking for “hints” of the future. Add that to Torah codes methodology – and you come up with the formula cited at http://tinyurl.com/5n9w3r (page is in Hebrew), where the name “Obama” appears in code in the book of Ezekiel, smack in the middle of where the Prophet discusses Gog. Busted! And Obama, who seeks to “unify” everyone, is a perfect candidate – his “unity” program is, according to this theory, to get the rest of the world to gang up on Israel!
But Obama has some competition for the title of Gog – George Bush! According to http://tinyurl.com/5dxy6a, (a page created in 2002), it’s Bush who is Gog, based on a couple of complicated formulas in Genesis and the Book of Isaiah. Even his name is suspicious: Drop one letter from the Hebrew spelling of “George,” and you get you know who!
Well, Bush still has 75 days to go Gog over Israel, although it’s hard to figure how a lame duck president would get away with that. As far as Obama is concerned, I’m betting he has a lot more on his plate than our chronic controversy with the Arabs of this land. But here’s my question: If Bush fails to fulfill his Goggist legacy, does that mean the mantle automatically passes to Obama? Or does it mean that Obama gets a pass, too? Gotta love that Eschatology!
More Israeli-Americans take to the polls
Earlier in the week I wrote about the voting event that occurred at the Dancing Camel brewery in Tel Aviv where American citizens in Israel had the opportunity to hand in their absentee ballots, write-in a candidate on a federal ballot and even have their ballot FedEx’ed to their local board of elections. Jerusalem got into the game as well this week and unfortunately the event was not held at a brewery (Jerusalem doesn’t have one but if it did it should be called “Brew-salem” and it’s tagline should be “Next beer in Jerusalem”) or even a bar but rather at the Orthodox Union center. Not quite as thrilling as the Dancing Camel but it looks to have certainly served it’s purpose. The LA Times’ Babylon & Beyond blog reports: The third floor of Jerusalem’s Orthodox Union building was packed Tuesday evening.
A cross section of Americans living in Israel patiently stood in a long line wrapped around the corridor, waiting to enter the room and juggle pens, passports and papers to cast their vote in the U.S. presidential elections. The obvious questions of who they voted for and why will be answered by the exit polls analysis Thursday. But beyond that, the occasion offers an interesting window into the life of Americans living in Israel, their ties to the U.S. and how they perceive their civic rights and duties. ‘Israeliness’ is popularly defined more by the experience than the citizenship. But a considerable part of being American is defined by citizenship, an apparent technicality but representing a code of values. American immigrants — recent and veteran — retain their citizenship. And this, with its rights and responsibilities, is not taken lightly — including voting. Many American immigrants to Israel have left behind families, assets and many practical domestic concerns. Physically moving to Israel weakens neither emotional ties nor a strong civic sense of belonging. Voting is as much a part of good citizenship as paying U.S. taxes, which most living in Israel do too.
I concur with the writer. On a few levels I may feel somewhat distant at times from my American brethren, but despite living in Israel for well over a decade I still feel that I would like my voice to be heard. I still have interests (financial and otherwise) in the USA and care deeply about it’s future. Israel has been known to catch American’s cold, so it’s best kept in good health. I cast my vote a few weeks ago though as a native New Yorker my vote will hardly count. Unlike most of my friends and others I have spoken to here I did not vote solely on the candidate’s views on Israel. The definition of “good for Israel” means many different things to many different people. And my view of this has certainly changed somewhat dramatically over the past few years. Whatever the outcome may be, I believe that both candidates will preserve the special relationship between the United States and Israel.
Baruch Obama
Barack Obama had quite a whirlwind trip here yesterday. He met with three past prime ministers, the current prime minister and pretty much everyone who wants to be prime minister. It was as much as a photo opportunity for Israeli politicians who want to be seen with the possible next president of the United States as it was for Obama.
Obama was received quite well as he was shuffled from meeting to meeting, with a visit to Yad Vashem, a quick stop in Ramallah, an important visit to Sderot and a predawn visit to the Western Wall. Personally, I think the most important aspect of his trip was his visit to Sderot. Obama delivered his only speech of his trip there (and said all the right things of course). As a result, Sderot’s plight will get mentioned in nearly every newspaper in the world today and all three major television networks in the states surely mentioned it last night.
Politics here unfortunately tend to be single-issue oriented. I think we, as Jews, need to wake up and realize that while the security and peace for Israel is important for the America, it is not the number one issue. Yair Lapid nails this in an excellent column in Yediot this week.
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