IDF chief of staff confined to quarters

August 23, 2009 - 9:23 AM by David · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Crime, General, Immigrant Moments 

askenaziWhen I was in basic training in the IDF many years ago, I had a leave cancelled because while cleaning my M-16 rifle, I lost a little internal pin. Apparently, I wasn’t the first, because the pin even had a name – the Shabbat pin – because if you lost it, it meant you stayed on the base for Shabbat.

I flashbacked to those days when I was reading last week that a revolver was stolen out of the Tel Aviv office of IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. The thief, a young soldier on guard inside Ashkenazi’s inner sanctum, also stole his credit card data which was used by a third party to purchase NIS 2,000 worth of items. The decorative handgun was a gift to Ashkenazi from a US military counterpart.

According to Ha’aretz, the investigation into the incident exposed serious lapses in the arrangements for protecting Ashkenazi. Along with the security provided by the General Staff Security Unit, a number of positions on the office’s security perimeter are still being carried out by regular troops assigned to guard duty. These troops are not required to go through rigorous combat training, nor are their backgrounds substantially screened. The Military Police’s investigation revealed that the suspect had been involved in fights and a stabbing, and had piled up debts to underworld figures.

So, I was wondering, what would be the appropriate punishment for Ashkenazi for the breach of security? If I got confined to the base for a weekend for losing my Shabbat pin, I think he should at least have to do a couple shifts of guard duty at the Kirya, the IDF headquarters where he sits. However unlikely that scenario is, it somehow makes me feel better about my army service.

Tags: , , , , ,

You Day

October 28, 2008 - 1:26 PM by DavidS · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General 

The anticipation and excitement began already last week, even while we were celebrating Sukkot – an exciting enough event on its own, if you ask me. But when that letter came, we just started counting down the days – and then the hours – to Sunday.

Why all the excitement? You Day!                  youday.jpg

So what’s You Day, you ask? Only the best day of the year to go shopping! You Day is the reward for us loyal customers who frequent a local “big box” supermarket all year, buying groceries with their You Card branded Diner’s Club debit card. The previous two times the store ran You Day, there were great bargains to be had – so much so that by the time me and my Significant Other arrived, they were out of half the sale items!

Well, this time we weren’t going to lose out – so bright and early on Sunday morning, we shlepped down to the store to take advantage of the bargains. And what bargains they were! Would you believe half-price – on a whole bunch of stuff we actually use! And unlike the usual requirement to get deals at this store, there was no minimum purchase of non-sale items required. Just free and easy shopping for a whole bunch of half price items! The only limitation – you could purchase just two of each item. Fair enough – and for us, not a problem, since my SO had her own You Card. So we were able to get four of each item!

Now, I’m no fool; I know how sales work (in Israel, the U.S., or anywhere). Loyalty program or not, nobody is giving away anything for half price. So you expect a little pre-sale price inflation, where the store raises the price on items and puts them back “on sale” – so you end up saving less than you expect. And You Day prices were no different, although I have to say some of them were genuine bargains (except for the instant coffee, where they basically doubled the price, so you would end up paying the “normal” price in the deal).

And so we shopped. And shopped some more. And when it was all over, we took our purchases up to the cash register, and watched with great satisfaction as the printout listed an item, a price – and a 50% discount!

There’s a theory about grocery shopping that says how sales and bargains, no matter how good they are, are basically a consumerist ripoff. Just walking into the big supermarket with the bargains means you’re going to end up spending more than you planned; far better to do your shopping at the not so cheap and much more limited neighborhood makolet (grocery store). The bigger the bargains, the more you end up spending, buying stuff you don’t really need.

But does that theory really apply when almost all the items in your shopping cart are half price? Did we buy items we didn’t need? I’ll admit it; we bought four of almost all the sale items, including things we didn’t buy on a usual basis (because they’re usually too expensive!). So, in one sense, it was a good day for bargains – but on the other hand, the makolet would have helped keep spending down. I guess the strategy works – even with all the bargains, we still spent nearly 1,000 shekels between the two of us, the second highest amount we have ever spent in any “walk down the aisle” at a supermarket!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

© 2009 ISRAELITY | Site by illuminea | Sitemap