“Tel Aviv” on the other hand..

[As usual, don't waste your time watching the entire thing, unless you are a masochist. Just watch from 0:20-0:26].

In case you missed it, he’s wiped Tel Aviv off the map and replaced it with Tel Ava’eev.

This coming from someone who boasts of having a a degree in Hebrew Literature and proficiency in the language.

The Joooooooooooos! (see from 2:00 onwards)

Mel Gibson is reportedly considering suing this woman for stealing some of his phrases (hat tip: Algemeiner).

New hotness: The Color Batshit Crazy

Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple and Israel hater, reviews a book of antisemitic conspiracy theorist David Icke, and in so doing, makes clear her belief in Reptilian space beings from the constellation Draco and their shapeshifting hybrid descendants controlling the world (hat tip: EoZ)

Earlier I wrote that David Icke reminded me of Malcolm X.  I was thinking especially of Malcolm’s fearlessness.  A fearlessness that made him seem cold, actually, though we know he wasn’t really.  All that love of us that kept driving him to improve our lot; often into quite the wrong direction, but I need not go into that.  What I was remembering was how he called our oppressors “blue eyed devils.” Now who could that have been?  Well, we see them here in David Icke’s book as the descendants  of the reptilian race that landed on our sweet planet the moment they could get a glimpse of it through the mist that used to cover it (before there was a moon).  No kidding.  Deep breath!  Yes, before there was a moon! (Oh, I love the moon; can I keep it? Please?).  Anyway, there they came, these space beings (we’re space beings too, of course, not to forget that).  But they looked…. different than us.  And they were.

They wanted gold and they wanted slaves to mine it for them.  Now gosh, who does this remind us of?  I only am asking.  You do the work.  Apparently their own planet needed this metal to continue its, apparently, long life.  Credo Mutwa, Zulu shaman – and I am on my knees here in gratitude that he held on long enough to tell us about this – calls them theChitauri, which has become my favorite word of all time (well, of this time that I’m learning all this): my partner and I go around saying Oh, Chitauri, whenever we get a glimpse of one or two of the Chitauri offspring, aka Illuminati bloodline families and their puppets, on the telly.  It’s quite the stress reliever, just knowing what we’re looking at.  And I like saying “telly” too, because it sounds so English and David Icke-esque.  Truthfully our “telly” is our laptops.

It’s an amazing book, HUMAN RACE GET OFF YOUR KNEES, and reading it was the ultimate reading adventure.  I felt it was the first time I was able to observe, and mostly imagine and comprehend, the root of the incredible evil that has engulfed our planet.   A lot of it is how shall we say: shocking, beyond belief (but not really, if you don’t get too scared), stunning, profound.  The deconstruction of language is breathtaking, the interrogation of symbols startling.  Magical, in a way.  I kept going:  Oh, so that’s why….  You will too.

The Reptilian space beings whose hybrid (part human, part reptile) descendants make our lives hell in Paradise were blue eyed devils to Malcolm X,  the devil himself to my Christian parents, who never talked about eye color, which I think was not only prudent but wise,  although they seemed clear enough about his sex, and as demons in many other religions, including the non-religion, Buddhism, where the advice is often to invite them in until they go away.  But maybe these were other kinds of demons.  Not the ones controlling not just you, but everything.

You can hear Walker endorse Icke’s book here (from 42:30)

This is not Walker’s first time complimenting Icke. Here she compares him to Malcolm X.

I have not known of David Icke until recently; I owe the introduction to my partner  who encouraged me to share a couple of videos with him.  What I admire most about David Icke is the freedom of his mind.  It will go anywhere and often does in bringing together bits and pieces (sometimes whole chunks)  of our mysterious human (and other) reality on this planet. Do I believe everything?  I don’t think it matters.  And so I wish to begin the New Year, 2013, honoring his courage, humility (it may look like arrogance but that is only because he is free of caring what others think), persistence, and freedom of thought.  He reminds me very much of Malcolm X, and, had Malcolm survived, I would have adored watching a conversation between them.  Malcolm too became someone whose love of truth kept leading him in strange, sometimes shocking, directions.  I remember how, in the earliest days especially, those of us who could not name or even quite imagine the evil we were swimming in, looked to Malcolm to bring his great liberated intelligence to bear.  What a joy it was to have that.  As it is to witness the comfortable freedom of thought in which David Icke lives and thrives.  Such people are a rare gift to the planet; whatever one might think of whatever appears most weird to us.  They are the reason, perhaps the only one, we humans progress.  Dragged along at times by our curiosity if not our courage.

It is truly comforting to know that antisemites and Israel haters include people of such unsound mind.

I’ve written a lot about the experience and I’m still as positive as I was that day. I’ve heard from many people who’ve bought electric cars, partly helped by my writing and I get a tremendously positive feeling when I hear those stories.

I have two new articles up today, the most comprehensive review of my year will be published a little later at Green Car Reports. It covers one year in a Better Place car.

I’ve also penned a companion piece for Times of Israel which answers a variety of questions that myself and fellow electric car pioneers get asked while we are driving and parking our cars.

Comedian Larry David has been called a lot of things over the course of his long and successful career, but we’re pretty sure “peace maker” has never been one of them. Until now. Well, almost sort of, anyway.

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has sent an episode of David’s HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in hopes that he will invite Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over to watch it, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As dedicated “Curb” fans have likely already guessed, it’s none other than the Palestinian Chicken episode, in which David is conflicted over whether it’s okay to get chicken from a Palestinian-owned restaurant even though—to the dismay of his Jewish friends—it’s housed right next to a deli.

David got the whole thing going by first sending the DVD out to Dershowitz. The attorney says it’s been received by Netanyahu, who is “looking forward to watching it.”

“Maybe if they both get a good laugh, they can begin a negotiating process,” says Dershowitz of the two leaders.

It sounds as crazy as any good “Curb” episode, but after watching this clip we think maybe he’s right.

The Jerusalem Post have clearly taken the story from the JTA blog 6 Degrees Of No Bacon. But they’ve omitted the video clip from the end of the story, rendering the last sentence above nonsensical.

But more embarrassingly, the story is from 2011, as clearly written in The Hollywood Reporter story linked to in the JTA blog post. In fact, I posted it all the way back then.

Way to go, Post.

I wonder if by “vicious” and foul-mouthed,” Booth means something like this.

Okay jerk offs
as you are so obsessed by the wish to have me as some self rejecting member of your supposed ‘Chosen Race’ let me once and for all put this idiocy about my mother’s ‘religion’ and background to rest.
My mother had a Jewish father who divorced her mother when she was little. She met him about three times and was raised in a secular Christian household. Thus when I was born rest assured no signs of any Judaism entered our world at all and my mother talked of Christ and God. The end. Now how about you lot try to address the really important questions; like your Occupation of Palestine, slaughter of children in Gaza in the name of the Jewish state and your tragic assertion at being ‘Chosen’ by God to rule over the rest of humanity. LOooool.

As for “finding ugly photos” of her, it really isn’t too difficult.

Photo Credit: Tazpit News Agency

Tazpit News agency reports:

Hundreds of residents of South Mount Hebron, Kiryat Arba – Hebron and Gush Etzion, who were driving to Jerusalem on Monday morning, spotted to their utter surprise a swastika flag perched up on the outskirts of the Arab settlement of Beit Ummar. The flag had been up there since the early morning hours. Residents reported the offensive flag to the IDF, but as of 11:15 AM Israel time, the flag is still up there.

The IDF has confirmed the flag was hung on an electrical line in the village and will be removed.

via Avi Mayer

While there are many disagreements about the future of the Jewish community, the direction which it is taking and the ways that it may change, one issue  seems to be agreed upon by all sides — the importance of Jewish education as a way of imparting a strong Jewish identity to the next generation.

There are numerous Jewish organizations and institutions which devote themselves exclusively to Jewish education. Many of these groups identify with a particular stream of Judaism while others promote specific educational projects, educational frameworks or modes of Jewish learning.

The importance of a quality Jewish education in the lives of future Jewish leaders and dedicated and involved community members is not in dispute. The centrality of the educator as a major force for a high-quality Jewish educational experience is, however, often overlooked.

Several leaders have created awards for Jewish educators which aim to recognize excellence in the field of Jewish education. These leaders are committed to promoting a strong future Jewish community by acknowledging exceptional teachers who have committed their lives to educating the next generation of North American Jews.

Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards

The Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards for Excellence in Jewish Education partners with the JESNA organization in its effort to recognize classroom-based teachers who work in formal Jewish educational settings. Nominations are made by a principal or school administrator and submitted to the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Foundation through local Federations or through the local Board of Jewish Education.

Grinspoon-Steinhardt awardees are honored for demonstrating exceptional educational achievement and serving as a role model for their students. Nominees must teach in day schools or congregational schools ranging in ages from pre-school through 12th grade. Local communities may include their own eligibility criteria for nomination. The committee presents 55 awards annually, with a maximum of one nominee per city (outside of New York).

Each Grinspoon-Steinhardt recipient receives $2,000, $1000 of which he/she must use for his or her professional development and the other $1,000 at his/her discretion.

Covenant Awards

The Covenant Award was first presented in 1991 and since then it has been awarded annually to three exceptional Jewish educators who have made an impact on Jewish life through innovative educational models and practices. Covenant awardees are honored for having distinguished themselves in classroom teaching, the arts, adult education, Tikkun Olam, family education, storytelling, curriculum design, professional development, leadership and other areas of Jewish education.

Covenant honorees receive $36,000 and their home institution receives an additional $5,000. The goal of the award is to recognize the great Jewish educators and their work.

Milken Jewish Educator Awards

The Milken Jewish Educator Award is a project of the Milken Family Foundation which established the Award to acknowledge the work of outstanding Jewish educators from across the country. The Award was launched in 1994 and is presented annually to a select group of Jewish educators as a way of honoring them for their professional leadership, their efforts in support of their schools’ students, their community involvement and their relationship to the families and communities that rely on their skills and dedication.

Lowell Milken a known philanthropist, helped create the Jewish Educator Award as an expression of his philosophy that a Jewish Day School education will encourage a child to develop strong Jewish values, remain faithful to his Jewish heritage and nourish the child’s Jewish identity. MFF created the Award to reward excellence in teaching and strengthen the Jewish Day School movement. Educators are honored for their efforts to create an exciting and engaging educational experience for their students and making Judaism vibrant and meaningful.

The Jewish Educators Award is based on a teacher’s classroom performance as well as with his/her relationship with the community and connections with the school’s community and families. The MFF Award committee reviews each nominee’s leadership skills to determine how the teacher influences the school community and its families. The committee also examines the originality of the nominee’s educational methods.

Recipients of the MFF Jewish Educator’s Award include teachers, specialists and administrators who are engaged in all facets of Jewish education. Since 1994 the Milken Family Foundation has presented the Award to Jewish educators who represent almost 40 Jewish Day Schools throughout the United States.  The Award recognizes educators as “role models deserving of emulation for their intelligence, scholarship, creativity and compassion.”

Four educators are named as recipients each year. Nominees must teach in a school that is affiliated with the local Board of Jewish Education at the K-12 level. Each recipient receives $15,000.

I noticed Dave has been posting some fairly average footy videos from his favourite team (the West Coast Eagles). I just wanted to give you an example of how a REAL footy team (my team – Carlton, the Mighty Blues!) does it.

This is an example of what they call “Coast to Coast” – i.e. a team scores by moving the football from the very back of the defensive field all the way to scoring a goal without the other team touching the football. And this one is capped with an amazing 60 metre bomb.

Well, Israeli music can actually be AWESOME. Not always, but there is PLENTY of great stuff. So without further ado, I want to introduce you to one of my favourite Israeli artists – Beri Saharof singing “Kaha Ze”. This is s beautiful song, and its extra special for me because it was the song to which I walked down the aisle. (if you like it let me know, and I’ll be happy to post some other quality Israeli music)