The real Harry Potter in Israel
Israel's Harry Potter is buried in Ramle
The second to last Harry Potter movie opens tonight in Israel. My daughter and 20 of her friends bought tickets earlier in the week to ensure they’d have seats. But there’s no need to pay $10 for a screening. Just head to the central Israeli town of Ramle to visit the grave of Harry Potter – a British soldier killed in 1939.
The Ramle military cemetery has become a “popular attraction,” says The Jerusalem Post with tour guides making a stop when in the general area, which is not far from Ben Gurion Airport. Ramle’s main draws are a number of archaelogical ruins.
“There is no connection with the Harry Potter we know from literature, but the name sells, the name is marketable,” Ron Peled a tour guide who said he has brought dozens of groups to the grave, told The Post.
I don’t know if I’d rush to Ramle for the chance to stand next to a grave with the name Harry Potter inscribed on it, but in London, there are popular Harry Potter tours including a stop at the train station where platform 9 ¾ is located (in the book, not in real life, of course).
Private Harry Potter was born near Birmingham, England, and joined the British military in 1938. He arrived to British mandate Palestine later that year, but was killed in battle a year later when he was 18, just like his namesake in the final Harry Potter books.
Dudu Topaz, the King of comedy, ends his life
Filed under: A New Reality, Crime, General, Israeliness, Pop Culture
Waking up this morning to the news that disgraced entertainer Dudu Topaz had ended his life by hanging himself in his Ramle jail while awaiting trial was an inevitable end to his sorry saga.
Topaz was going to be tried for initiating a series of violent attacks on top Israeli TV executives who had spurned his ideas for TV vehicles for himself. It was a case of the worst of Israeli society, with Topaz hiring goons to bash in the execs. A judge at an initial hearing for the case today described Topaz as a public menace.
It was a huge fall from grace for the comic who dominated television in the 1990s when the Israeli cable industry was getting on its feet. His unsophisticated, often vulgar humor made him a ‘people’s’ entertainer, however he was never fully accepted by the the intelligentsia.
I remember soon after my aliya watching him host an Israeli version of The Dating Game. My wife and I would guffaw as Topaz blurted out non sequitors and insults – like a combination of Don Rickles and Howard Stern. But you could tell that there was something about his delivery that showed that it wasn’t all in good fun.
And his mean streak was noticeable long before attacks. In 1995 he publicly attacked a television critic and crushed his glasses following a bad review. In 2003 he was accused of sexual harassment and indecent acts, although the two cases collapsed for lack of evidence. That same year he bit a female Latin-American soap star on the arm for no apparent reason during a live broadcast.
Despite his knack for controversy, Topaz had all but disappeared from TV screens recently, as younger hosts and reality shows took over what was once his domain. I don’t know if there’s a uniquely Israeli angle to this story, as former celebrities missing the spotlight and resorting to crime can happen anywhere.
But because we’re such a small country, there’s a sense of familiarity here with celebrities – they’re not in some ivory tower – they still go to the same restaurants and makolets, and pay the same mortgages (albeit a little easier than the rest of us).
I don’t think any of the victim’s of Topaz’s unbalanced cruelty would have wanted to see this ending to the story. They would have preferred that he suffer in prison. However, now the country will be spared a long trial filled with gossipy details of the attacks and the personalities behind them. It may be the most compassionate thing Topaz ever did for his viewing audience.
ISRAEL21c takes CNN World Report on a trip to Lod
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Life, Politics
With so much of the media focused on the conflict, the ISRAEL21c feature stories airing on CNN — like this one by Molly Livingstone about a multi-ethnic, multi-religious effort to redevelop the city of Lod — are beacons of hope and progress from a place often seen only as a place of conflict.
More ISRAEL21c stories will likely be seen on CNN in the future – meanwhile, there are dozens of others to view and enjoy at the ISRAEL21c YouTube channel.
I’ll eat anything.
I’ve been living in Israel for quite some time now and have pretty much eaten my way through the country. I’ve eaten everything from turkey testicles (delicious if you can get past the fact you are eating balls) to a raw meatball of sorts prepared by Druze in the north to calf’s foot soup in the inner depths of Meah Shearim. It is incredibly rare for me to come across an item of food that I have never eaten. Last week I had to go to the Licensing Bureau to renew my license. The closest branch to my home is in Ramle so I took a ride over with dreams of either Indian food or hummus in mind. After the arduous process of basically waiting in line for an hour and running back and forth between numerous windows and locales I took a detour on the way back to my car via the shuk. I had plans to stop by at Hummus Khlalil for lunch but while walking through the shuk the smell of something being fried immediately caught my olfactory system. I asked the young man what he was frying and he told me they were samboosaks. Now sambooksaks are common throughout the middle east and are readily available in Israel as well – though I had only seen them baked – never fried. The young man explained to me that they are stuffed with mashed chickpeas spiced with garlic, paprika and other flavorings. The verdict is that they were incredible. Crispy, delicate, flavorful and deliciously oily. Yes, I know, deep fried anything isn’t so healthy, but everything in moderation.
Walking further through the shuk I came upon a bakery that was selling my absolute favorite Bukharian bread. I had only known of one place in the shuk in Jerusalem that sells it (and it always sells out rather quickly early in the day). After noshing on the samboosak and gnawing on the bread I actually headed over to Khalil for some hummus. I waddled back to my car, unbuttoned the top of my pants, drove home and took a nap.
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