1. Olmert’s unprecedented offer?
2. Shall we sing a song for you?
4. Vox Humana
5. Shock to the System
6. The first day
7. Mazal tov, C-Mac
8. Johann’s favourite quotes
9. When underdogs break the rules
10. Stavros Flatly
The appointment of Michael Oren as the new Israeli ambassador to the United States marks an interesting development in Israeli diplomatic history. Oren is one of the leading lights at the conservative Shalem Center, from where he has authored numerous best-selling histories, including Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, and Power, Faith, and Fantasy: The United States in the Middle East. A popular historian with real clout, he has suddenly been thrust into life as Israel’s number one diplomat. read more…
From the protest against the New Profile arrests
The story begins two years ago. I had been in Israel for almost three months. I was earnest back then, ticking off my bureaucratic to do list as if I had faith in the red tape. I turned up at government offices without so much as a book to read, assuming that everyone would want to help me, that assisting an oleh in his bureaucratic absorption was the country’s pre-eminent spiritual mission, a fundamental joy. read more…
1. The first day.
2. Wood on McEwan.
3. End the university as we know it.
4. This is water.
5. Shaming their memory.
6. The land of no smiles.
7. Homes from within.
8. Tel Aviv street-art.
9. Mexican Flu.
10. Salt of this sea.
“The police assault on activists of ‘New Profile’ and ‘The Center for the Defence of the Individual’, the detention of activists, among them grandmothers, and confiscation of computers constitutes a severe attack on the Freedom of Speech in Israel” warns Uri Avnery of the Gush Shalom movement. “The activity of New Profile – an organization which opposes the militarism of Israeli society and gives counseling to Conscientious Objectors – is considered by the police to be ‘incitng to shirking’ – a severe legal charge. read more…
Expect to see a lot of needless whooping about this. ABC”s George Stephanopoulos interviewed Iranian President Ahmadinejad last week, and asked the following question: “If the Palestinians sign an agreement with Israel, will Iran support it?” read more…
A few weeks ago, I touched on the idea that the worldwide economic recession has reduced Generation Y’s sense of entitlement. The world is no longer ours to inherit; as a result we have to revise our expectations in order to avoid acute disappointment. This point also applies to olim, particularly those from the west. Far too often, we walk around Zion as if we own the place, as if we’re innately superior. When I was coming to the end of basic-training, for example, me and my comrades were disappointed at being asked to be truck-drivers or office-clerks. After all, we had degrees from the best universities in the world. Shouldn’t we have walked into a top intelligence or public relations post? read more…
1. I do it to live n*****/to Pulitzer prize winners.
2. Beyond the pale?
3. Indian Zionism.
4. Literature and the recession.
5. Obama’s Seder.
6. Happy Birthday, Tel Aviv.
7. Top ten literary blogs.
8. New Coetzee.
9. India’s new face.
10. The best shoe-throwing yet.
I realised this wasn’t exactly going to be a regular office job while we were in the process of moving offices. I opened a cupboard to begin schlepping some books. I wasn’t looking down, and my hand was soon roaming over something odd but at the same time familiar. I crouched down to look closer. Of course, it was my commander’s M16, and it would have to move office just like everything else. read more…
