A dark day in Rishon Lezion
Three members of the Oshrenko family who were discovered dead on Saturday.
The security fence, for all its ugliness and negative implications, solved the problem for the short term. But the problem facing Israel today can’t be solved by a fence or wall – unless each Israeli builds their own and isolates themselves.
The news that greated people on Saturday, or Saturday night if they’re religiously observant, talked of police calling it the ‘worst crime’ in Israel’s history being committed. A day after her Revital Oshrenko celebrated her third birthday in her Rishon Lezion home with her family – grandfather and grandmother Edward and Ludmilla, both 56; parents Tattiana, 28, and Dimitry, 32; and 4-month-old brother Netanel – the whole family was stabbed to death and their apartment set on fire in an apparent effort to cover up the murders. Some of the victims were said to have been stabbed repeatedly.
Rescue services only discovered the bodies when they were called to the home after a report of a fire. While a gag order has been placed on the police investigation, family friends and acquaintances, including Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov and the mayor of Rishon Lezion, said that the family members were model citizens.
Suspicions are rampant that the murders were ‘business’ related, pertaining to restaurants and clubs catering to Russian immigrants that Dimitry owned and operated. The murder is just the latest in a series of sensationalist killings that have taken place this year in the country, where non-terror murders were once considered a rare occurrence.
I would kind of prefer it going back to the old ways – at least then you knew who the enemy was. I still feel safe here, walking around at night, or sending my children unsupervised on buses. But slowly, with Israel’s social fabric in danger of being ripped asunder, there’s a growing sense of lawlessness – when I’m out jogging at night now, sometimes I think twice about running past a group of teens gathered at a street corner – it’s a feeling that a security fence will be powerless to prevent.
Ikea in Rishon
The Ikea franchise in Israel has won a major or minor victory, depending on how you look at it. After three years of a heated legal battle between the Ikea franchise owners in Israel and more than 200 furniture purveyors in Rishon Lezion — Israel’s fourth-largest city — a second branch of the Swedish furniture chain will be built in the seaside city of Rishon, but without an adjacent shopping center, which was what the city’s storeowners had feared.
According to the Ha’aretz account of the settlement, the furniture store owners are less fearful of the Ikea branch itself, and more nervous about the planned 30,000-square-meter shopping center that was supposed to accompany the 323,000 square-meter Ikea. Personally, I’m surprised they’re not more nervous about Ikea; the Netanya store is one of the chain’s most successful ever, with more than 16 million visitors since it opened eight years ago.
Rishon, in case you didn’t know, has become something of a shopping destination. I was somewhat aware of this, but became more aware last week when my sister and I took an outing in order to shop at the city’s branch of Eden Teva Market, without having to schlep out to Netanya. Yes, I know, it may seem strange to head all the way to Rishon from Jerusalem (about a 45-minute drive, longer, if you don’t have good directions) for food shopping. But when the store in question is Israel’s answer to Whole Foods, some of us travel far and wide.
And now, it seems, we won’t have to head as far as Netanya any longer for our Billy bookshelves and Poang armchairs. As for those in northern Israel, it seems there are plans to open a third store in the Galilee within three years. So thanks to all the Rishon Lezion furniture store owners and to Ikea Israel for settling; now I’ll have an additional stop to make in Rishon when I head out there for sulphur-free dried fruits, spelt breads and other natural goodies.
Bumper car wimps
With summer winding down, we decided to treat our seven-year-old to a day at Superland. Situated among the sandy expanse near the Rishon Lezion beach, Superland is your typical outdoor amusement park, even sprawling by Israeli standards.
With some prime attractions like the obligatory roller coaster, a frightening looking bungee-style drop built for three, and a log water slide, there’s plenty to do, and because it’s spaced out, there’s not a huge line for any ride.
And of course, what amusement park could be complete without the bumper cars. Matan and his friend Nir, were too young to ride their own, so my wife joined Matan and I partnered with Nir, as we ran out onto the game floor with a mixture or kids, adults, teens – both Jews and Arabs – jostling for the right car.
We all know the clichés about Israeli drivers – how reckless, aggressive and unsympathetic they are on the roads. And we all know that it’s 100% true. But when the bell rang, the cars started moving, an amazing thing happened – the Israeli driver became a wimp!
Given the chance to legally bash into each other, without any ramifications, most of the drivers pussyfooted around the perimeter, actually trying to avoid each other. Meanwhile, I was telling Nir, who had control of the steering wheel, to ram everything in sight.
When he did so, we got looks from the other drivers like, we had somehow ran into them intentionally on the road. Hello! That’s the point of the ride! Slowly, they began getting into the spirit of things, and by the end of the three minutes, most of the drivers were behaving like they were passing cars on blind curves on Jordan Valley road at 100 km. an hour.
Now that’s the Israeli I know and love.
The Bodyguard II – Britney and her Israeli bodyguard
Oh brilliant! Ever since Bar Rafaeli and Leonardo di Caprio split up, we’ve been a bit short of A-list celebrity gossip around these parts.
Now we’ve got a hot one. Britney Spears – always good for a few column inches – is rumored to be dating Israeli musician/dancer turned body guard – Tsour Lee Adato. (Have you heard of him before now? I haven’t.)
British newspapers have published snaps of Spears and Adato dancing close and messing about at a poolside resort in Mexico, and that’s enough in their books to suggest a hot and heavy relationship.
Spears was reportedly employing 31-year-old Adato, from Rishon Lezion, as her bodyguard, obviously bowing to current fashion trends in Hollywood, where anyone who is anyone, has an Israeli bodyguard in tow.
Adato used to be a backup dancer in the Habimah musical Mary Lou, and moved to the US five years ago to begin a career as a trance music artist.
Adato’s brother, Kobi, says it’s all strictly work and that Tsour was her bodyguard and is now serving as her photographer – doesn’t that mean he’s supposed to be behind the camera?
Well, at least he’s single – according to his MySpace page. And he likes to take an optimistic approach to life. According to press reports on his page, he says: “I always tell people that even when things are difficult they should always see the light and positive in life.” Isn’t that nice.
Hey didn’t they make this story into a film starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner?
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