Israellycool

New Israeli commercial for Satellite television provider YES.

Update: Still on the subject of Israeli commercials, I thought it time to dust off the cobwebs and bring this classic out again.

From JTA:

An Israeli army rabbi is under investigation for putting a mezuzah up in an off-limits area of Hebron.The rabbi of the military’s Judea Brigade was photographed this week putting up a mezuzah in the casbah, or old city of Hebron, accompanied by Chabad supporters.

The Hebron casbah, from where many Palestinian residents have fled during the past six years of violence, is off-limits to Israeli civilians out of concern that settlers might try to squat in its buildings.

Many Israelis say casbah properties were originally Jewish-owned and should be reclaimed.

“This gate is one of several gates through which people enter the casbah,” Noam Arnon, a Hebron settler spokesman, told Israel Radio on Thursday. “Chabad wanted to put up a mezuzah, a very welcome act. This, of course, did not bother anyone, particularly not the Arabs.”

Following protests by left-wing Israeli groups, the military top brass said the rabbi was under investigation and that the mezuzah had been removed.

The Jerusalem Post adds:

Rabbi Yossi Nachshon, a Chabad emissary in Hebron who helped organize the ceremony, said he did not understand the IDF’s extreme reaction.

“The media and the IDF have totally blown the whole thing out of proportion,” said Nachshon. “We affixed the mezuza in a place where IDF soldiers are stationed near a Jewish neighborhood. We do these types of things all the time. On the same day we affixed mezuzot in various settlements around the Hebron hills.”

Nachshon said that according to Jewish law there was no obligation to affix a mezuzah near the casbah. However, he added that a mezuza was believed to offer protection against physical dangers.

Nachshon said that a Jewish settler had been killed near the scene of the contentious mezuza.

So it was just a gesture of support for the IDF, a symbolic wish for their safety, not a political act.

But the left-wing reaction was furious:

Peace Now issued a statement calling for Rabbi Peretz and the soldiers who participated in the ceremony to stand trial.

Knesset members also weighed in on the contentious move. MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) said that “this is a thuggish act vis-à-vis Palestinians who have not been able to live their lives for years. Even worse than that, this time it was not only done under IDF auspices but by soldiers who were engaging in severe political provocation.”

MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz) called on Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi to convene a discussion on the matter and deal with the perpetrators “to the fullest extent of the law.”

“A uniformed rabbi who participates in an act with lawbreakers disgraces the IDF and should be punished,” said Vilan.

Notice anything missing?

Even though it has been a full 24 hours since this event occurred, I have not seen one mention of outrage from any Arab or Muslim about this supposedly outrageous act. The people who riot at the drop of a hat, who obsessively follow Israeli media to find things to offend them, have not said a single word about affixing a small scroll with words of the Torah to the entrance to the old market. I have seen nothing in the Arabic press nor in their English-language press.

Israel’s left wing is now more offended on the Arabs’ behalf than the Arabs themselves are. Their eagerness to co-opt Arab outrage for their own leftist purposes show that their goal is hardly protecting Arabs as much as it is showing their seething hate for the Right - and religious Jews.

Chutzpah, thy name is Israeli Arab Knesset members.

Israeli Arab lawmakers responded angrily Wednesday to proposed legislation that would prevent anyone who travels to a country classified as an enemy state from serving as a Knesset member.

The Knesset plenum approved proposals for two bills on this issue in preliminary readings on Wednesday.

The bills were drafted by right-wing MKs Zevulun Orlev of National Union-National Religious Party and Esterina Tartman of Yisrael Beiteinu.

MK Ahmed Tibi (Ra’am-Ta’al) said that “the Knesset is steeped in racism. Corrupt members of Knesset want a Knesset without Arabs. The face of the Knesset is the face of Esterina: Knesseterina. If I am invited [to enemy states] I will go regardless of the law. I am sure that a person who violates an unjustified law, or whose conscience is not completely clear, and is willing to pay the price and be imprisoned in order to raise public awareness regarding the injustice in the law, then that person is showing his respect to the most supreme values.”

And I thought “That is not a drug. It’s a leaf” was absurd.

Where I come from, visiting an enemy state is called treason, and being prevented from serving in parliament would be the least of your worries. The fact that Arab MKs would be most affected by this proposed legislation speaks more about them than proponents of the bill.

But this theater of the absurd gets more absurd.

Talab A-Sana (Ra`am-Ta`al) said that “the bill is opposed to peace, the Arab public, and its representatives that are visiting Arab states. This is a dark bill that constitutes political persecution, and shows what a substandard level the Knesset has reached.”

Visiting an enemy state to promote peace? I don’t think so.

Meet Asaf Ben David, a palestinian who converted to Judaism, only to aid in palestinian terrorist attacks against Jews.

The Haifa District Court convicted Asaf Ben David, a Palestinian who converted to Judaism, of contact with a foreign agent and conspiring to aid the enemy.

The 39-year-old Ben David (originally Hussam Sawatmeh) was convicted of trying to help his brother Salah, an activist in Islamic Jihad, attain nitric acid for the purpose of preparing explosives.Ben David was born in the West Bank town of Kfar Tuba. However, after converting to Judaism he married a Jewish woman and moved to the Haifa area. The youngest of his four children is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

According to the court’s ruling, Ben David was in contact with his brother regarding the supply of nitric acid between October 2006 and until his brother’s death in December of 2006. Following his brother’s death, Ben David apparently returned to Islam.

According to the verdict, while mourning his brother’s death Ben David lamented the fact that he did not have a chance to supply him with the acid before he died.

It’s kind of like those men who have sex change operations to become women, only to become a lesbian. I’m left scratching my head.

Update: Here’s more on Ben David.

While palestinian first-graders are learning how to become martyrs, their Israeli counterparts are learning the regular things first-graders learn. You know…reading, writing…astrophysics and astronomy….

Pupils in Jerusalem’s Har Homa neighborhood can now aspire to reach the stars, thanks to a new curriculum from first grade that includes astrophysics, astronomy and space studies. It will be offered this year at the Ilan Ramon Elementary School, named for the late Israeli astronaut who died during the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle mission in 2003. Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski will visit the children and the modern, well-equipped science labs when school opens next week.

The Jerusalem Municipality also announced that pupils in the 11th and 12th grades in state schools throughout the city will be sent to the Belmonte science labs on the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus to focus on astrophysics, cosmology and space studies.

Well, how are we supposed to take over the world without advanced education?!

Last night over dinner, the subject of the famous Israeli McShwarma commercial came up.

So in case you missed it the first time I posted it over 2 and half years ago, here it is:

And now for something a little different….a guest post. This one is from Israellycool friend, political analyst and journalist Jeremy Wimpfheimer (who also featured on an Israellycool podcast here).

Called the Social Seal or Tav Chevrati in Hebrew, the certificate which is now being prominently displayed in over 300 Israeli eateries from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and various other locales was introduced by Bema’aglei Tzedek to combat what the organization’s director Asaf Banner calls “an all too often ignored, yet deeply troubling aspect of Israeli society.”

Banner, who was among the organization‚Äôs founders in 2004 says, ‚ÄúThe way that tens of thousands of workers all over Israel are being treated without regard to their most basic human rights was a situation that demanded to be addressed.  We saw that the social seal was a great way of bringing attention to this issue.‚Äù  While the campaign began locally in Jerusalem with organization representatives using the seal as a means to promote the good labor practices of shop owners, it has quickly gained steam and spread across the country.

Roey Zisman who manages the popular Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Caf√© on Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem believes that the seal is something many of his customers greatly value as well as acting as a motivating factor for employers to  improve worker conditions.  ‚ÄúThe Social Seal is very important in our relationship with our workers,‚Äù says Zisman. ‚ÄúI hear many people coming in and asking about it and we feel that there is a large clientele that comes to eat with us because of it.‚Äù

Since its founding, Bema‚Äôaglei Tzedek has been active within the Israeli school system and in the country‚Äôs numerous youth movements.  According to Marla Haruni, a New York native and Jerusalem resident, it was her children who taught her about the seal and since that time the family will only visit eateries that have received the organization‚Äôs approval.  ‚ÄúMy children have really come to view the Social Seal with the same level of importance as the kosher dietary certification,‚Äù the mother of four said.    ‚ÄúI think it’s crucial that people recognize that a restaurant being truly kosher requires that they act in accordance with all Jewish values beyond just ensuring that the food is prepared properly.”

In order for an eatery to receive the seal, representatives of the organization will visit the restaurant and observe overall conditions as well as speak with the workers.  According to Banner, several seals have been revoked after it was reported that workers‚Äô rights were being repeatedly violated. Violations include cases where workers are being denied breaks or being paid below the legal minimum wage or where the restaurant is lacking appropriate access for the handicapped.

The seal has also gained the attention of many members of the Israeli Knesset across the political spectrum.  Amir Peretz, who until recently served as Israel‚Äôs Defense Minister and was the longtime head of the Histadrut national union said the seal is establishing a new standard of ethical practice in Israeli society and that ‚Äúhighlighting the issue of worker‚Äôs rights will create a better future for the people of Israel.‚Äù Zevulun Orlev, a member of the Mafdal party, notes that this effort brings to the forefront an issue which is of critical nature to the national and Zionist cause. ‚ÄúIn order for us to be a fair and just society,‚Äù he says, ‚Äúit is necessary that workers have the assurance that they will receive the proper treatment and compensation they deserve.‚Äù

As one of the numerous events throughout the year advancing this cause, on Tuesday, July 3rd, Bema’aglei Tzedek held a conference at Jerusalem ’s Rose Garden across from the Knesset entitled “Fighting the Exploitation of Custodial Workers.”

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Chief Rabbi of Efrat who addressed the conference which attracted approximately 1500 according to police estimates, said that despite often being pushed to the side of the social agenda, workers rights is something which is deeply entrenched in Jewish values.  ‚ÄúThe Torah teaches again and again that our ability to stay on this holy soil of Israel depends on our being a holy people specifically in the realm of human relations - including those between employer and employee,‚Äù he said.

Taking place on the fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz at the outset of the summer break, a collection of the conference attendees were North Americans visiting Israel over vacation.  Rabbi Chaim Sidler-Feller, Director of the Hillel at UCLA said the lessons being conveyed by this organization were important ones for a younger generation that often could feel alienated by Jewish traditions.  ‚ÄúThis effort serves to show the ‚Äòoperationalization‚Äô of Judaism by displaying how values are not just in the mind but need to be acted upon.‚Äù

Asaf Banner believes that the Social Seal truly has the potential to change how an Israeli society often ambivalent about these types of issues views the question of how its workers are being treated.  ‚ÄúFor every additional restaurant or caf√© that joins the ranks of those bearing the social seal we feel that we‚Äôre making that much more of a difference,‚Äù he says.  ‚ÄúAs more and more consumers become familiar with this seal, we know business owners across the country will begin to take notice and at that point anything is possible.‚Äù

[His high school teacher].. said that he stood out among his classmates. “When they coined the phrase ’salt of the earth,’ it was for people like him. He was decent, sensitive and always willing to help.”

 

Hagit Baruch, Arbel’s high-school literature teacher said: “Arbel loved life and loved his friends. School did not really interest him. He only decided to take the bagrut (matriculation) exams towards the end of his senior year.”

Update: Mobius has managed to capture screenshots from many (if not all) the sites this morning.

Worth watching, even though you are subjected to seeing Michael Moore at the beginning.

Today we marked Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Memorial Day.

It commenced last night as our leadership (if we can call it that) participated in a ceremony at Yad Vashem, and continued today, beginning with a two-minute-long siren at 10:00AM which brought most of Israel to a standstill.

As fate would have it, I happened to be in a meeting room at the time of the siren.

With two German colleagues.

There we were - a Jew and two Germans - standing in silence with our heads bowed, for two minutes, as a siren wailed to remind us of those who perished in the Holocaust.

Talk about uncomfortable silences.

Israeli “creative co-op” VeeCee, has decided that the best way to deal with high rent in Tel Aviv is to create cardboard hookers to drive down prices (hat tip: Ace).

Talk about thinking out of the box.

*Ba dum bum*

In any event, I have just the solution to this cardboard filth.

If Arik (Sharon) woke up today….

 

It is a rainy night and we are at Tel Hashomer Hospital. Only one assistant is around, named Shmiel. He is on night duty tonight in the room of “sleeping” former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

 

Everybody, but Sharon himself, knows he is no longer the Prime Minister of Israel. Shmiel is sitting peeling an apple and G the Israeli Secret Service (Shabak) agent is nodding off.

 

Suddenly, all the machines start to beep. The PM is waking up!

 

Sharon says, “I haven’t slept like that for a long time! Get me my strategist, Reuven Adler, I have some ideas for a new direction.”

 

Shmiel says, “Good morning, sir. How do you feel?”

 

Sharon answers, “I am dying of hunger. Where am I?”

 

The Shabak agent continues to sleep while Shmiel explains to Sharon what had happened to him.

 

Sharon does not take him seriously and says, “So tonight you fooled with the PM, eh Shmiel?”

 

Shmiel says, “Sorry sir but you are really no longer the PM.”

 

After a few minutes Sharon asks, “So who replaced me?”

 

Shmiel answers, “Ehud Olmert.”

 

Sharon reacts, “Olmert? That Jerusalemite putz? What will happen if war breaks out, he does not know how to run the army! At least Shaul [Mofaz] is still there!”

 

Shmiel answers, “Mofaz is the Minister of Transportation.”

 

“So who is the Defence Minister?”

 

Shmiel says, “Peretz.”

 

“That old man is still alive?!” asks Sharon in wonderment.

 

Shmiel whispers trembling, “not Peres, Peretz. Amir Peretz.”

 

“What? Are you crazy? I close my eyes for a minute and you guys let a Labor leader take over the defence of the country?! Not all the factories in Dimona are the same. Does he know that? Listen, get Omri here right away. He will fix everything.”

 

“Sorry sir, Omri is on his way to jail.”

 

“Jail?? for that nonsense? I do not believe it. So get me my lawyer quickly. Get Klagsbald.”

 

 Shmiel responds, Klagsbald is on his way to jail.”

 

Sharon calms down and says, “I knew I could count on Klagsbald. he will get Omri out of it.”

 

Shmiel corrects him and says, “No, sir. Klagsbald is also on his way to jail. He was driving and not paying attention and caused an accident unintentionally running over and killing a young woman and her son.”

 

Sharon said, “So bring me [Avigdor] Yitzchaki. He always knows how to fix these situations.”

 

“Sorry, sir. Yitzchaki is under his own investigation for tax fraud. He fixed things too much this time.”

 

“Can’t be. I know Yitzchaki. They must be framing him. So get me the Head of Police.”

 

“Sorry, sir, but Karadi is under investigation for corruption.”

 

“Of course he is. He is the head of police. I am sure he is in the middle of a number of investigations!”

 

“No, sir. This is an investigation against him!”

 

Sharon takes a deep breath. It can’t be. The whole justice system has been ruined! We must get them out of this. Get me the minister of Internal Security, Tzachi [Hanegbi].”

 

“Sir, Hanegbi has been indicted for fraud, bribery and job fixing. He is not a minister anymore.”

 

“So get me the Justice Minister. Who did Olmert appoint?”

 

“Haim Ramon”

 

“So get him here!”

 

“Sorry sir. I can’t. He has been indicted and is on trial for sexual misconduct.”

 

“What? So get me the president. That is still Katzav, right?”

 

“Sorry sir, but Katzav is under investigation as well, for sexual misconduct AND wiretapping.”

 

“So get me the Chief of Staff, Boogie [Moshe Ayalon]. Sorry I mean Halutz, right?”

 

“Sir, he got into some trouble in the Lebanon War. Nothing criminal. he sold some stocks. He will soon be giving testimony to an investigative committee.”

 

“Halutz?? he was a young Piper pilot during the Lebanon War!”

 

“Sir, that would be the second Lebanon War, it happened while you were sleeping. We… how should I say? lost the war but the Prime Minister said we should be patient, victory is coming.”

 

Sharon looked around his room. “What is your name and what is your position?”

 

“Shmiel, sir. I am a hospital attendant.”

 

“Ok, Shmiel. Do not tell anyone about this conversation.”

 

“You can count on me, sir.”

 

“I’m going back to sleep.”