Very funny.
This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. Click here.
Let it snow
We went outside for a little while. It’s still snowing and is quite cold so we didn’t stay out too long.
People seem nicer when it snows.
Anyway, here are some quick photos I shot of our Moshav (agricultural community) in the snow.
Jerusalem under siege (sort of)
Jerusalem is being held hostage today by the “crippling” snow. It’s been snowing all night here. The entire city is shut down. Jerusalemites everywhere are making their way to Gan Sacher, the largest park in Jerusalem to play in the snow. I was just watching Channel 2 news. There were kids playing there at 7:30 a.m. for goodness sakes. One little girl grabbed some snow and threw it at the reporter. It was quite comical.
Israelis are in top form when it snows. Everyone goes outside. I remember last time it snowed a bunch of us went to Gan Sacher to play a good ole game of American football. Tackle of course. We had an audience of some people cheering us on, and others looking at us like we were insane. As the roads cleared and more and more people started showing up the site became a little surreal. People from out of town brought jars and coolers and started filling them up with snow to take back to their snow-free cities. It was truly bizarre.
I’m going to head outside in an hour or so - I’ll take some photographs and post them here.
Unfortunately, I don’t live in Jerusalem, so there won’t be any gratuitous snow blanketed Old City photos - sorry.
I for one am looking forward to sitting in my warm home, hanging out with my wife, drinking coffee and watching the complete second season of The Simpsons on dvd.
Hysterical headline alert
From The Associated Press: Rare snow brings wintry joy to Mideast battlefield
The opening paragraph is a classic:
A rare dusting of snow fell in parts of Israel and the West Bank on Monday, and gun battles gave way to the odd snowball fight and a bit of wintry joy.
I can see it now - Border Police and Palestinians building snowmen in Ramallah.
Chickencide
Talk about insensitivity.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have launched a new campaign comparing the treatment and slaughter of animals to the victims of the Holocaust.
It can be found at masskilling.com
By pulling quotes from Nobel Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer and by mentioning that the chairman of the campaign is the descendent of Holocaust survivors somehow alleviates the utter offensiveness of their abhorrent campaign. PETA should be ashamed of themselves. 
Lest we forget the letter that Ingrid Newkirk recently sent to Yasser Arafat requesting that the Palestinians cease using animals to perpetrate terrorist attacks. The letter was written after a donkey was rigged with explosives and was detonated in Gaza.
In her letter, which can be found here, Newkirk doesn’t mention anything about the hundreds of victims of Palestinian bombings and attacks during the past two years. Nor does she request that they stop the terrorist attacks - she only requests that Arafat cease using animals in them.
What the F%#CK is wrong with these people?
Can Israeli students really be that dumb?
According to a survey held in a Jerusalem high school, three out of four Israeli children couldn’t identify the composer of the national anthem, Hatikva.
The most popular guess was Tzvika Pik, an Israeli songwriter and super-cheeseball. His latest great accomplishment was writing “Diva” for Israeli transvestite singer Dana International, which won the Eurovision cheese festival in 1998.
Pretty sad.
Not as sad as this however.
From The Jerusalem Post
In another question, 63% of those polled did not know who Cuban leader Fidel Castro was, with some identifying him as a Spanish singer, a Muslim holiday, or the leader of Spain.
According to the article I read yesterday in Yediot, many students guessed that Fidel Casto was the founder of the Castro clothing store chain.
Education Ministry Director-General Ronit Tirosh said the results “do not represent the general level of knowledge of Israeli students.”
I sure hope not.
Shimon Peres finally makes sense
I’m certain that left-wing pundits are going to cite his age but Peres is finally starting to make some sense. His comments are surprising considering he is considered a francophile.
From The Associated Press:
Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres on Thursday criticized France and Germany for their opposition to a U.S.-led attack on Iraq, and questioned France’s status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also criticized recent mass demonstrations around the world against a possible U.S. attack on Iraq.
“Why didn’t they demonstrate when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, or invaded Kuwait?” Peres told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “That was a war. It cost a million lives.”
Peres also suggested another country replace France as a permanent member of the Security Council. “Why not for example, India, that represents much more of the 20th century, in terms of people, in terms of position, in terms of visions?” Peres said.
If France and Germany oppose positions backed by other European countries, they should provide alternatives proposals, Peres said.
The full article can be found here.
Meanwhile, Iraqi-Americans support Hussein’s ouster. No surprises there considering they have had the opportunity to actually live under his demonic regime.
I saw a great documentary two summers ago at the Jerusalem Film Festival called Uncle Saddam, it’s a satirical movie about Hussein, disturbing to say the least. I swear, I’ll never look at fishing the same way again. Worth checking out.
Where are Hollywood’s Jews?
Israeli born Hollywood actress Natalie Portman is here on a visit. According to an interview on Army Radio, Natalie has a lot of family here and visits three times a year.
This visit however, Portman took some time out of her schedule and visited victims of terrorism at Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem.
Portman was one of the few Jewish Hollywood stars to actually take a stand for Israel. While at Harvard, an Arab student wrote a brutal opinion piece about US policy and Israel.
Portman wrote a letter to the editor which is pretty cheesy and definitely sappy, but nonetheless, she is among the few high profile Jews in Hollywood actually saying something about Israel.
There were rumors that Jerry Seinfeld with a comedic entourage were going to visit but in the end only Seinfeld cohort and Weekly Standard columnist Larry Miller came. His trip was much appreciated, but Miller isn’t all that high profile.
Adam Sandler hasn’t said much publicly but his gifts of toys to young victims of terrorism and his fund raiser for a children’s psychiatric center spoke volumes.
In a recent article on the news magazine website Jewsweek, a reporter was only able to get non-Jewish actors and actresses to speak about Israel.
According to the article the Los Angeles Times tried locating Jewish actors willing to support Israel for a story they were doing about Jews, Hollywood and Israel, but they weren’t able to find anyone willing to go on the record.
No surprises there.
Shaquille O’Neal might not have much to say but he has been sporting an Israel Police winter hat for a couple of months now.
Respect.
Back from the dead. Sea.
Got back late last night from Ein Bokek, a massive area of hotels on the Dead Sea. I was pretty surprised as to how crowded the hotels were. It was of course all internal tourism, with the exception of a few Germans with psoriasis. Germans have very good health insurance apparently. They are permitted to spend three weeks at the Dead Sea to treat their psoriasis or rheumatic diseases. Not a bad deal.
I spent the weekend reading The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings on Rock Music, by Nick Kent. It is by far some of the best rock journalism I have ever read. A great essay on Brian Wilson’s insanity and the why Kurt Cobain isn’t that relevant included.
We spent Friday morning at Masada. As stated in the previous post, I haven�t been to Masada is over ten years. Since my last visit they have built a brand new beautiful visitor center and a huge cable car. No more walking up the snake path for me. I recall running up the path when I was seventeen. We made it up in 14 minutes. I don�t think I will ever be physically capable of doing that ever again.
I don’t remember Masada being that big. It’s freaking huge. Once again, not a foreign tourist to be seen, but there were a large number of Israeli tourists there.
More interesting than the site itself however were the American soldiers taking a tour of the place.
My mother immediately approached them. My mother has this talent. She talks to anyone, anywhere. By the time she is finished, she knows absolutely everything there is to know about them. I am always surprised that she doesn’t walk away with people’s bank account information.
Turns out the soldiers are here for the long haul. They were anticipating on being here for a very, very long time. They were from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. A few were pretty talkative but they were obviously a little guarded as to what they are allowed and not allowed to say. They wouldn’t even acknowledge that they were manning patriot missile batteries. They did tell me where they were based but I’m not going to post that information here.
They seemed to be enjoying the time spent here. They said that the IDF is being incredibly hospitable. One soldier who serves in Naval Intelligence was specifically enthusiastic about the “chow room”. He said that they were given authentic Israeli food for every meal. I chuckled to myself when he said this. I lost nearly twenty-five pounds in the army because my American stomach couldn’t handle the IDF food. I barely ate.
He then told me how professional and nice the IDF soldiers were that they were working with. We then launched into a discussion about MRE�s (Meals, Ready to Eat) and how the American rations are far superior with their M&Ms and heated meals, while Israelis are stuck with a cold spam type substance, olives and halvah.
Perhaps due to his military experience in the United States, the Head Heeb can comment on this.
One soldier told my father that under no circumstances are they allowed to visit Jerusalem. One soldier asked my father, “What’s going on in Jerusalem that we aren’t allowed there?”
“Not much”, my dad replied.
The next day we thought we would check out the Flour Caves. I had never been there before but knew it was close by. We drove to the site only to find a narrow dirt road leading up on a sharp angle. I was ready to give it a go but my father dissented. I was quite sure that my Honda civic could handle it but in the end we went back to the hotel. The flour caves will have to wait until I get a 4X4 � which is probably never.
Parental visit
Blogging will be light in the coming days. My parents are visiting this week and we are heading down to the Dead Sea for a couple of days.
We are actually going to go to Masada. I haven’t been there in over ten years so it should be fun. Might take them to the Flour Caves too. Wow. Exciting stuff.
Bad orientation
So the incoming freshman of the 16th Knesset had their orientation yesterday. Mitzna was a no show. Omri Sharon showed up late. I happened to catch the English news on Channel one yesterday evening and saw Gila Gamliel interviewed. She could barely put a sentence together in English. It was pathetic.
A shocking fact about the Knesset from the Jerusalem ComPost:
The 16th Knesset will have a record number of MKs who are being probed by the State Attorney’s Office. Knesset legal adviser Anna Schneider warned MKs that their parliamentary immunity will only be valid if they take their oath of office on February 17, although it is applied retroactively from Election Day.
She said under an amendment to the law, MKs will not be entitled to immunity if during their parliamentary work they take actions that undermine the Jewish and democratic character of the state, express support for an armed struggle against the state, or incite to racism.
Does anyone know if this means that MKs receive immunity for possible crimes committed before they are elected? Or just crimes they commit while in office?
Now, for more important news. Maariv reported this morning that MTV is looking for an Israeli host for the “music” channel. Unlike MTV in America, MTV Europe actually plays videos, albeit the same shit that is on American MTV, just with a few exceptions of European artists who haven’t made it in America. I think that Inbal Gavrieli, the former waitress, daughter of a mobster and incoming MK should apply for the job. She has got the looks, the fashion, the bubbly personality and lacks the intelligence and would probably feel more comfortable at MTV, than the Knesset.
Gil, the original, undisputed Israeli Guy is back from his blogging break. He recently added to his blog, “Blogging in broken English since April 14 2002″. Which I thought was hysterical considering his English is far better than most blogs that I read.
-
Search
-
-
My Flickr
