False Dichotomies

“The masses of Israelis who regularly travel to Jerusalem via Modi’in are familiar with the large cement cubes near the signs that indicate the approach roads to the Palestinian villages on either side of the main road known as Highway 443. Anyone who bothers to look to the sides will be able to see, beyond the cubes, at the side of the ride, cars bearing Palestinian Authority license plates. Those who have sharp eyes will be able to descry the passengers climbing up and down the hills.” Find out why Palestinians have been effectively banned from this road that runs, in part through the OPT here. 

I hope you will notice the new pictures up on the site (shouts to Yonkeltron). To celebrate their release, we are launching a caption contest. Why have we chosen such pictures? Is Alex an Arab lover? Is Seth a machine gun toting settler? Remember, avoid false dichotomies….In the comments section, leave your suggestions for what Seth and Alex are thinking….

I have been spending hours during the past couple of weeks trying to help a friend. Well, he’s not really a friend, we hardly know each other. 

I have exchanged e-mails with him several times over the past years, and appeared with him once at a conference at Tel Aviv University. I was impressed by his mild manner and his “go-getter” attitude to life. 

In a lot of ways he reminds me of myself. He immigrated to this country out of a deep sense of idealism. He felt that he was coming home. He wanted to serve his people, build a life for himself and his family. Like me, he immigrated from the States. He has been living here for years and has scored some real achievements, including making a name for himself in the business world. Continue Reading »

Now we know that anti-Zionists are wrong, but they didn’t deserve this! Check the whole story here. This is true - even the JC confirmed it…

Shouts to the Highbury Gaon

An old one - Henrik Ibsen (1901):

R

Haaretz is reporting that new homes are to be built in three settlements - Ariel, Alfei Menashe and Karnei Shomron.

We do not need to get bogged down in abstract arguments regarding the rights or wrongs of this latest step. What is important is that this is a blatant transgression of the road-map, which the Israeli governent continues to claim it is committed to. Continue Reading »

Israel has often been described, not entirely unfairly, as an army with a state. Its standing army is, believe it or not, the same size as America’s. That’s because almost everyone’s in it. Such an army does a lot more than fight…

Continue Reading »

“Who could possibly be mean enough to attack the angelic frontman of the world’s most inoffensive band - Coldplay? Well someone’s got to do it. I recognise that he’s an all-round Lovely Bloke who really wants the world to live in peace and harmony. Unfortunately he’s doing a pretty good job of ensuring that this won’t be possible.” Read on here.

From Haaretz: Israel scattered at least 350,000 unexploded cluster bombs on south Lebanon in its war with Hezbollah, mostly when the conflict was nearing its end, leaving a deadly legacy for civilians, United Nations officials said on Tuesday. Continue Reading »

From Haaretz: Organizations that further Jewish-Arab relations in Israel have become increasingly exposed, since July 12, to an intensifying emotional confrontation that is taking place between the two peoples. From the Jewish Israeli point of view, the second Lebanon War constituted an unassailably justified response to a crass violation of Israel’s sovereignty. To Israeli Arabs, the Israel Defense Forces operation was unnecessary, disproportionate and caused abominable injustices to their Lebanese brethren. The clash between these two viewpoints rekindles the question on whether Israel’s Jews and Arabs can continue to live together on the basis of their single common denominator - a shared civil society. Continue Reading »