Aussie Dave has graciously invited me to do some blogging here on Israellycool. Quite the honor, as it was the first pro-Israel blog that I stumbled upon.

While I ran my own blog for quite some time, things caught up to me and I decided to retire.

Unsurprisingly, I have returned. In truth, I never left.

I have been a force on Twitter and did one guest post over at ElderofZiyon. In addition, I maintain the soon to be famous Gaza rocket counter found on my site and many others. I look forward to doing  posts here on Israellycool. I think my focus will pertain to the Arabic press, which contains so many great pieces of fresh baked Middle East nonsense, my speciality.

-Challah

Here’s some reasons why:

• I don’t use free blogging software; I pay for the website and domain, as well as other things to enhance the Israellycool experience. So any donations help defray these costs
• While there are plenty of blogs – even of the pro-Israel variety – where else can you be kept informed on Israel, read about pop culture, and be entertained like you are here?
• Israellycool has been around for almost 9 years, making this one of the “longest serving” pro-Israel blogs around
• Israellycool is one of the most visited English-language blogs from Israel and has been cited a number of times by the mainstream media
• I have tried to give back to the pro-Israel blogging community by creating  the Pro-Israel Blog-Off and (now defunct) Jewish and Israeli Blog Awards.
• Even though I lack time to blog as much as I would like, I have endeavored to maintain the quantity and quality of posts to which you are accustomed by recruiting the knowledgeable and entertaining Brian of London and Zionist Shark as co-bloggers
• Richard Silverstein has earned weaseled people out of over $1500 in the past few days, even though he wants Israel destroyed and is thoroughly unlikeable. I love Israel and am somewhat likeable
• Antisemites really, really hate me

Brian of London notes: neither I nor Zionist Shark get paid (and nor do we seek to be) but Dave keeps a fine show running here and, from looking at the google searches of people who land here (other than the “sex with animals” crowd) I’d say Israellycool is pulling in people who aren’t in “our” choir and many of them stick around for a positive view of Israel. It’s a valuable site and much loved.

Remember: if you’re not paying for something, you can have no reasonable expectation that it will be around tomorrow.

The idea? Readers can submit interesting links to news stories and posts, simply by joining Twitter and tweeting with the #Israellycool hashtag. All tweets will automatically appear in the pane for readers of the site.

Yes, I know this system is begging for abuse, but I like to try new things.

Give it a spin and let me know what you think.

Hi, I’m Zionist Shark. You may remember me from such social media outlets as my @ZionistShark Twitter account, and my Jumping the Zionist Shark blog.

Hi, I'm Troy McClure

Recently, Aussie Dave asked if I would like to contribute as a poster on Israellycool. And by gum, it took less time for me to accept his offer than it takes for a rocket to fly from the concentration camp-y shores of Gaza, to the settlement of Ashdod. I’ve been an avid reader of Israellycool for several years now, and I am deeply honored to write for such a pioneering pro-Israel blog.

Due to the tenacious sleuthing of the Sharm-El Sheikh tourism industry, I’ve been outed as a Zionist Death Shark™ for almost exactly a year, now. But even before being on the payroll of the Evil Zionist Mossad, I was gainfully employed as an Evil Zionist for years:

• As a teenager, I was a counselor at an Evil Zionist summer camp.
• After graduating from college, I served as a Lone Soldier in the Evil Zionist IDF, as a tank gunner in the Armored Corps.
• I worked for the Friends of the IDF, supporting the humanitarian, social, recreational & educational needs of Israel’s Evil Zionist citizen-soldiers.
• I worked for Evil Jooooo Zionist AIPAC, pulling the marionette strings behind the press, the banks, Hollywood, Congress… whoops! I’ve said too much.

Today, in addition to my ‘real’ job, I teach Jewish middle and high-schoolers about Israel at my local, twice-weekly Hebrew School. We are living in a time of profound moral inversion regarding Israel, an especially troubling manifestation of which is the narcissistic preening of pathetically misguided Jews who perversely think that by attacking Israel, they are on the side of the angels.

Morons.

I see it as part of my mission as a Jewish educator that I not only talk about what a wonderful country Israel is (warts and all), but also that I give my students enough of a factual, historical foundation regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict so as to better prepare them to withstand the fallacious, putrid tsunami of anti-Israel propaganda that awaits them on college campuses, if not sooner.

In teaching them to be both proud of and informed about (I encourage the kids never to leave a question unasked, and to challenge every assertion I make, so they can judge for themselves whether there is substance to my words) Israel, my goal is to help them avoid joining the shameful ranks of foolish, ignorant, vitriol-infused, self-important DoucheBlogging™ Jews when they grow up.

And maybe the next time the Israeli government tries to get some of its million citizens living abroad to come home, my former students will be among those able to distinguish between mountain and molehill, between tempest and teapot.

In closing, in the immortal words of Crash Davis in Bull Durham, as he taught young Ebby Calvin ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh the subtle art of interview clichés…

“I’m just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ballclub.”

“I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things will work out.”

Note: The shark picture at the top of this post was created by gravitational; a member of AboveTopSecret.com, in the Mossad shark attacks- exclusive picture ! message thread.

In contrast, this page we reported over half a year ago is still up.

Since I am not willing to reveal my real identity on here (although my real life friends know who I am), I guess the Israellycool page is no more.

I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but there is war going on online, with people trying to shut up pro-Israel and pro-Judaism voices like mine.

If you want to support my activities – and shove it to our detractors – please contribute.

Sure, it may look less “sexy”, but at the end of the day, Intense Debate was chewing up too many of your comments or sporadically sending them to moderation for no apparent reason. In short, Intense Debate was too intense and too little debate. And I haven’t even mentioned the effect it had on post loading times.

But I am curious. Have I made the right decision in your eyes?

I am also interested in getting your feedback in the comments (!) regarding which commenting features you like, and which features you think would improve the commenting experience even more.

Yeah, I know. Been there, done that. When it comes to deciding whether or not to have a forum, I’ve had more flip-flops than John Kerry. But this time I’ve have decided to  reopen the forum for business.

Why?

For a start, I have noticed some comment threads going way off topic, which I interpret as a healthy sign that you have things you would like to discuss, and have not found a place to do so. The forum can provide you with that place.

Secondly, I would like us all to get to know each other better and develop a better feeling of community. The forum includes a Community sub-forum for that very purpose.

Finally, it is way easier to use than the old forum plugin I used. For instance, you needn’t be a member – you can simply post using your Twitter or Facebook account.

Of course, what will ultimately decide on the success or failure of the revamped forum  is you. If you find it useful, it will be a welcome addition to the Israellycool experience. If not, it will be relegated to the dustbin of history.

Lema’an Achai Emergency Fund

The victim of last week’s utterly evil missile attack on a school bus, is local Bet Shemesh/RBS resident Daniel Viflic, aged 16.

Daniel is in critical condition – and his family asks all of us to daven for his survival and recuperation (Raphael Daniel Arieh ben Tamar). The coming hours are extremely important.

Raphael Daniel Aryeh should have a complete and speedy recovery.

Lema’an Achai is coordinating all efforts to help the family, shoulder to shoulder with our colleagues at “One Family” (who specialise in assisting Terror Victims) and “Paamonim” (who specialise in financial and small business structuring).

* How You Can Help *

The Viflic family run a small catering business, and right now (coming up to Pessach) was planned to be their peak season.

Due to the horrific circumstances the Viflic’s are now suffering, the business will be non-existent during this period. Unfortunately, there is no cash reserve to fall back on.

In order to float the business and the family until after Pessach, $10,000 is immediately needed.

This is a definite and immediate need. Depending on Daniel’s progress, there will likely be other financial impact also.

A special Emergency Fund has therefore been established for the Viflics, by Lema’an Achai.

Please

a. *After* you have given your regular kimche depischa/maot chitim donation, please ALSO donate generously to the “Terror Victim Fund – Viflic”
https://lemaanachai.org/donations.aspx

b. Please, add your personal recommendation to the top of this email, and send this emergency appeal to your close friends, family, shul lists, and others who may be interested to help the Viflic family (but please don’t spam).

More Details How to Donate:

* Checks * – clearly marked “Terror Victim Fund – Viflic”: Mail to…

USA Tax Deductible: Payable to “US Friends of Lema’an Achai”, PO Box 532, Oceanside, NY 11572-0532, USA.
UK Tax Deductible: Payable to “British Friends of Lema’an Achai”, c/o Nava Kestenbaum, 96 Rigby Street, Salford, Manchester, M7 4BQ, ENGLAND.
Canadian Tax Deductible: Payable to “Gates of Mercy Charity Fund”, C/O Murray Shore, 31 Marwill Street, Toronto, Ontario, M3H 3L2, CANADA.
Israel Tax Deductible: Payable to “Lema’an Achai”, The Lema’an Achai Center,
40/7 Nahal Lachish, Ramat Bet Shemesh, 99093, Israel.

* By Phone*:
24/6 Donations Hotline (Hebrew): 02 99.999.33

* Securely On-Line *
https://lemaanachai.org/donations.aspx
(Use the drop-down, or comments section to designate “Terror Victim -Viflic”

–
Besorot Tovot and a Chag Kasher V’Sameach
David & Avrohom

Small Print: This is an emergency situation; in the event that more donations are received for the Viflics than their needs, any remaining funds will solely be used for helping similar families in crisis.

Meanwhile, I have not heard any updates about Daniel’s condition (beyond those in the above mail), but I believe our prayers are still greatly needed.

I have decided to run for the Knesset in the next elections.

Being a Likud member, I will be trying to influence the party from within, since I don’t believe being part of one of the smaller parties – with whom I may have closer ideological similarities – is going to get me very far.

Some of you may think I am aping another Jewish blogger, but I think I am the real deal. And I don’t consider myself to be a fool.

I don’t want to give away too much at the moment, since there is still much to organize. Needless to say, this means I will no longer be blogging  semi-anonymously.

More details to follow in the coming days.

If you are still experiencing problems, please let me know in the comments.