I’ve hit the big time
Josh Kraushaar has put me on his list of “big time blogs”. Oysh, now I feel like a fraud. I’d be much more comfortable on a list of “small fry blogs”.

Thanks, Josh.
posted by Imshin 21:31

The municipal cultural center building in Gaza City is hosting a pro-Saddam Hussein rally. Attendees have the pleasure of walking all over the US flag.

Via Inner Space (Hebrew blog).
posted by Imshin 20:58

Stocking up for the war
According to Maariv, mineral water sales are up thirty percent in Israel and sales of canned foods are up twenty percent. A friend went to our local gas mask distribution center last week and had to queue up for quite a while. She asked the soldiers there when was the best time to come and they said between two and four in the afternoon (in case you need to go).

But maybe there’s no hurry. The London Telegraph (registration required) said yesterday that the 30,000 British troops planned to take part in the attack on Iraq will only begin deployment after the debate in the British Parliament on the 24th September, and it will take at least three months for their tanks to get there. Today British officials told the Telegraph that December would be the most likely time for military operations to begin, because of the weather.

posted by Imshin 20:21

I got an e-mail from an American seventh-grader, who asked me if I could help her with her school project which entailed describing a typical day-in-the-life of an Israeli teenager. My daughters are pre-teen so I asked someone I know to help out. This is his letter:
(Names have been changed for the sake of privacy)

Dear ------,
My name is Gal. I am a 14 year old Israeli boy. I live in Tel Aviv in an apartment with my mom, dad, 16 year old brother Alon, Moggy the dog and Suzy the cat.

My day starts at 7.30 when my mom wakes me for school, school is usually from 8.15- 13.40 -6 days a week - thats right poor me we have to go to school from Sunday to Friday.

My school is a big public school, there are no private schools in Israel. There are about 2000 pupils and it is 5 minutes walking distance from my home.

We are 40 kids in the class and I suffer least in English and sciences lessons.

After school finishes I come home for lunch. Do some homework if absolutely necessary and then at about 4 pm I meet up with my friends.

We go skateboarding or hang out at each others houses playing computer games and making home made movies.

Twice a week on Saturday and Tuesday I go to the scouts. I have been going to the scouts since 4th grade and this year I will do a leader's course. So that next year I will become a leader.

Once a week usually Friday afternoon 6 of my friends play Dungeons & Dragons. I am the Dungeon Master and have to prepare the adventure for a 4 hour game.

Friday night is the only night I can stay out till late although I am always arguing with my parents because they only let me stay out till 1 am. Usually we go round to a friends house to watch a movie and order in a pizza. Other times we go to the local park and hang out.

My parents don't like me going to the malls or out of our neighborhood as there is a danger of terrorists blowing up these places. I used to be allowed to go to markets and downtown. There was never any problem of safety as Israel was always very safe to travel round even at night and even in the downtown areas. Although things are quieter now, I always go out with a cellular phone and my mother likes to know where I am all the time. So I have to call in whenever I move position - rather like living with a homing device on you. I suppose that I can understand her. If there was a danger of suicide bombers detonating in your town at any moment your mom would probably like to know where you are as well.

Gal

posted by Imshin 19:14

Terrorists are coming out of the woodwork all over the place.
posted by Imshin 14:01

I made the pita for lunch with a bit of oil, this time. It's much better like that. Oh, and I made the famous lentil soup. It turned out really good (even if I say so myself). I haven't forgotten that I owe you the recipe.
posted by Imshin 13:45

Wolfie’s comment about Netanyahu made me think of the tragedy of egotism. The perfect government for Israel right now would have Sharon as Prime Minister, Bibi (Netanyahu) as Foreign Minister and Ehud Barak as Defense Minister. But both Barak and Bibi would probably find it demeaning.
posted by Imshin 13:41

Please note that my parents are arriving for lunch in two and a half hours and I haven't even started cooking, yet. Oh, I put the rice in water to soak. That's a start.
posted by Imshin 09:04

Meryl Yourish takes on Nigerian Spam letters
She mustn't be getting enough mail if she's still reading these things. On the other hand, now I know she reads any old garbage she gets sent, maybe I'll send her a line, too.

Guess what? They stopped sending me those things (Nigerian spam...) maybe they saw I wasn't responding and they were offended? I stopped getting KLEZ twenty times a day, too. Yesterday was Friday the 13th. Wasn't that the day KLEZ should have been activated or something?

Update: Someone said something that made me realize Meryl might find what I've just said offensive. This was not my intention at all. I LOVED the post about the spam letter. Forgive me for being a bit crude. Please? With Yom Kippur coming up, I really need to be forgiven, ASAP.

posted by Imshin 09:00

So which was it?
Bernard Lewis or Gerald Durrell? The new and exciting, or the familiar and homey? Which book did I pick up and read last night before dropping off?

Guess.

I’m practicing my battle tactics. I plan to tackle Saddam single handedly armed with the most dangerous weapon of mass destruction of all: Curiosity. Bibi did say on Thursday that Saddam’s a cat to our mouse. And we all know what killed the cat.

Or was it Arafat he said that about? I'll have to be careful with my new weapon. It could turn out to be a two-sided sword.

posted by Imshin 08:06

I never thought I’d be saying this
I might not be able to stand him, personally, but Bibi (Binyamin Netanyahu) was masterful in the US House Government Reform Committee on Thursday. Here’s a link to the whole thing, all three hours of it. Bish and I saw/heard it tonight. I admit I nodded off, during some of the questions and answers, and he seemed to be getting tired towards the end of the questions and answers, but this was a great performance, no doubt about it. Those Palestinian hooligans knew why they were taking extreme methods to shut him up in Montreal. The man talks sense and he sure can talk.

posted by Imshin 01:05

Nikita, on Gil's comments:
"Did you know that Syria, a country on the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terror, sits on the UN security council (actually had its rotating chairmanship too) and that while the US is excluded from the UN Commission on Human Rights, countries with the horrific human rights records of Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Sierra Leone serve on it and Libya is to chair it? Gadaffi's one-year term begins next March.

Did you know that Israel is the only U.N. member state excluded from a regional group within the overall body of the UN, and as a result, Israel cannot sit on the Security Council or other key committees?

Did you know that of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel, and of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel? The UN has convened emergency session after session to condemn Israel. As Israeli Ambassador Pazner said, "No such session has ever been convened with respect to the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, the slaughters in Rwanda, the disappearances in Zaire or the horrors of Bosnia. Israel is a democracy. It is ludicrous to suggest, as the U.N. has, that Israel is a worse abuser of human rights than Iraq or Syria."

SHAME on the U.N. And shame on the European states, dependent on Gulf oil and afraid of their Muslim immigrant populations, for their eagerness to condemn Israel. It smells bad. It smells really bad, and brings back strong memories".

posted by Imshin 00:30

Reading books
Jen’s brewing blog is so nice and comfy, it's like coming home at the end of a long cold day and sinking into a favorite chair.

A few days ago, there was a lovely post over at Jen’s about going back and reading books you read as a child. The post had a nice comment thread, too. I was reminded that a well-known Israeli editor of quality children’s books once said in an interview that he never reads books written for adults because children’s books are so much more optimistic.

Jen’s post and the comments made me nostalgic for books I haven’t read for a while, such as Gerald Durrell’s wonderful ”My Family and Other Animals”, although I actually read it first as an adult. The only thing is I think I’ve got it in English somewhere but I can’t find it. I’ve got our Hebrew copy handy, but I dislike reading books written originally in English in Hebrew translation and vice versa, because I’m forever trying to translate it back, in my mind.

I don’t have time to read books at all, any more. Not long ago, I cleared the pile of books that had amassed by my bed and put them all back on their shelves. Now there’s a new pile growing ever higher. I’ll probably tidy it back on the shelf unread, eventually. You understand these are all books I really want to read. I’m a slow reader, and blogging means I’m reading more news than is healthy, but no books. Books are relegated to the minutes before I drop off to sleep at night. So I never read more than a few sentences a day.

Optimistic books are so good for you, I think. I read anything of Jane Austin’s I can get my hands on, over and over again. Say what you like, beside them being a joy to read, the heroine always gets her guy, and they always live happily ever after. And I love murder mysteries. They are often just as optimistic as children’s books. They may be gory, sometimes, but the good guys always solve the case and catch the bad guys. I’m just hooked on that catharsis at the end, what can I say?

Oh, I get my share of “good” literature, and I usually make my way through quite a lot of non-fiction. But there’s nothing I love more than curling up with an old familiar favorite. So I think I’ll go to bed now, and read another two sentences on the first page of “My Family and Other Animals” in Hebrew, before I drop off.

Or should I read the first few sentences of “What Went Wrong?” by Bernard Lewis that my parents bought me as a Rosh Hashana gift? Decisions, decisions.

Maybe I should just go to sleep? I can never remember which two sentences I read the night before, anyway, so I end up reading them again and again.

posted by Imshin 00:16

Fasting
It looks like it’s going to be very hot on Yom Kippur. So what’s new? It’s always hot on Yom Kippur, to give the fasters a hard time, and it always rains on Purim to ruin the kids’ fancy-dress costumes. Aren’t I the optimist? Anyway, here are some tips for suitable food before and after fasting.

A confession: I’m thinking of fasting this year. I haven’t fasted for 15 years. OK, now I’ve had it. I’m never going to be able to live this down. It’s not that I’m getting religion or anything. Just a bit of Jewishness, long denied, creeping in.

posted by Imshin 14:29

This is a nice story
A Jewish mother makes sure her soldier son and his colleagues have enough to eat, and is helped out by half the town. I didn’t really understand why they weren’t getting any food from the army, but that’s beside the point.

posted by Imshin 14:29

Food poisoning
Maariv’s Gail Hareven (Hebrew link) says we shouldn’t get hysterical about being poisoned in restaurants by terrorist chefs. She reminds us that statistically, women have a far higher chance of being victims of violence in the home (she says its one in seven), than of being poisoned by a terrorist, but this doesn’t stop women from being in contact with men. This is a ridiculous analogy, of course, even if the point she’s trying to make is correct. Jewish women, even most ultra-religious women these days, from what I hear, have a chance to get to know the man they’re bringing into their lives. I’m sure if I could really get to know the chef in every restaurant and meet his or her parents, I’d feel much better about eating his or her food (even without the fear of terrorism).

posted by Imshin 14:29

There are still only 487 combatant refuseniks who have signed the “letter” anouncing their refusal to serve in the territories, only one or two additional signers a week.
posted by Imshin 10:09

Six weeks without a (successful) terrorist attack inside the green line, thanks to the hard work and perseverance of the security forces.
posted by Imshin 10:09

A kassam rocket fell into someone's kitchen this evening
in a Western Negev town. That's inside the green line if you were wondering. Luckily, the inhabitants were out. So much for a lull in terrorist activities.

Let us not forget that force is not the answer to terrorism. Hey there's a lull, let's get talking.
posted by Imshin 00:14

OK, OK. I know interesting things are happening in the PA. Here's one link (Amira Hass in Haaretz), and here's another (Jerusalem Post).
posted by Imshin 22:34

Israel TV channel two news just announced that the pumping from the Snir (Hatzbani) River by Lebanon is not intended just for local use as was previously believed. The water pumped is to be sent further north, where the Lebanese have the large Litani River and have no need for extra water. If this is true, it can only be seen as a provocation, and certainly not an attempt to answer a local need. I didn't catch the source of this update, but it was backed up with a video of a tractor busy filling in the river with dirt (so as to divert it into the pipes).
posted by Imshin 20:21

Meryl Yourish knows what to do with flag poles
Nazis and anti-Nazis - they all hate Israel equally. These people all seem so full of hate.
posted by Imshin 19:32

Poor Saudi kids won't get to read Harry Potter. Not that it's so surprising.
posted by Imshin 18:40

Bush's model niece would rather not hit the catwalk wearing Arab-style fashion, thank you very much.
posted by Imshin 18:36

Tent City
Yediot Aharonot (Hebrew link) says Ramat Gan mayor Tzvi Bar has organized an evacuation plan in the event of an Iraqi attack. Ramat Gan municipality has begun preparing an area in the south of the country that will be used as a tent city for evacuated inhabitants of Ramat Gan. Ramat Gan, which borders with Tel Aviv in the east, suffered most of the damage (and casualties as well, I think, although they were minimal) in the Gulf War. The mayor, who was mayor in 1991 as well, is not taking any chances this time.

The joke, at the time, was that Saddam was aiming for the large community of Iraqi Jews that reside in Ramat Gan. The more probable reason for so many scud missiles falling in Ramat Gan is that they were aimed at the army headquarters in Tel Aviv and were slightly short.

Long time Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat committed political suicide in 1991, when he ridiculed people who left the city during the Gulf War and called them deserters. The "deserters", a large percentage of Tel Avivi’s who didn't fancy playing the part of sitting ducks, Bish and me included, were not amused. He didn't run for mayor again.

I actually heard Ramat Gan mayor Tzvi Bar, on the radio months ago, talking about the need for people to just get clear out of the towns, in the event of an Iraqi attack. He went ahead and organized it for his city. Good for him.

posted by Imshin 18:19

On our best behavior for the tourists
I have noticed that I usually don't discuss politics with friends whose politics I disagree with. What’s the point? And if I don't know how a friend stands politically, I'll probably steer clear of the subject, so as to avoid unpleasantness. Janice (see her page for buying Israeli stuff) sent me this letter written by a lady she defines as a “"lefty" and a reform rabbi” who visited Israel this summer and writes of her experience. She points out that her Israeli friends didn't really want to talk about politics with her.

“Most of our friends in Israel once had strong political passions. Throughout this visit, the Israelis we encountered had little interest in talking politics—again and again, we heard the observation, “Sharon has no plan, but who does?” The Israelis we spoke to had no vision of the future, no useful scheme that could help them understand the violence they are living with, or offer a glimpse of a way out. They were eager to talk with us about the crisis—what they call Hamatzav, or The Situation—but only in personal terms. They spoke of grief and fear. Among this group are some that years ago spoke passionately of Palestinian rights, who were active seeking an end to Israel’s occupation. This time, no Israeli Jew we talked to had an interest in discussing the Palestinians’ plight. It seemed that they couldn’t—that it would be an affront to mention it, engrossed as they were in their own desperation. They were aware and disappointed that most of the world’s sympathies are with the Palestinians, but didn’t seem to have the energy to care all that much”.

I wonder if some of them weren't just avoiding the subject, knowing her to be left wing. Maybe they didn’t want things to get awkward, when they had such a short time to spend with her.

posted by Imshin 17:51

25 wanted murderers are taking refuge with Arafat in his headquarters.
posted by Imshin 06:13

We are usually advised to fly back into Israel on El Al, even if we leave the country with other companies. It seems the government is taking steps to making other airlines flying to Israel safer.
posted by Imshin 06:09

I live in dread of the next terrorist attack.
At the height of the attacks, when there was one every day, a friend confided in me that she was actually relieved when the “daily” attack happened because then she felt she could stop waiting for it and worrying. Always the bigmouth, I couldn't help pointing out that there could be more than one.

I get this sinking feeling when I hear an ambulance go by (why does their siren always make it sound like there’s more than one?) and when airplanes fly over, when I get a phone call at an unusual time, when I get a phone call at a usual time, when my eldest daughter is two seconds late getting home.

The many 9/11 commemorative specials I’ve been watching on TV have left me very jittery. I’m sure a lot of Americans can appreciate what I’m talking about.

posted by Imshin 06:01

Now that school has started I'm finding it harder to keep up with blogging. I'm busy all day after work, organizing dancing classes and other extra-curricular stuff (+ driving kids to and fro), making sure homework is done and music is practiced, sandwiches and lunches are made, a sufficient supply of socks and sports clothes are readily available. If all that isn’t enough, I now find myself on two parent-teacher committees.
posted by Imshin 05:37

Water stuff
Hizbullah is threatening to "chop off the hands of the Israelis" if Israel tries to stop additional pumping of water from the Wazzani River, a source of the Snir (Hatzbani) River, which in turn flows into the Jordan river. They’re just trying to jump on the wagon and are probably delighted for another excuse to get at Israel. Sharon has called this planned diversion of the River waters a casus belli. The Lebanese Prime Minister has complained to the U.S. that Lebanon doesn’t appreciate being threatened. I wonder why they (the Lebanese) got into this (besides needing the water). They surely didn’t think it would go smoothly. I wonder where this is going.

posted by Imshin 05:36

posted by Imshin 22:22

There will be no posting on 9/11 on Not a Fish.
posted by Imshin 22:22

Comments left by readers yesterday seem to have disappeared. I'm sorry. I think I'm going to have to change to another company.
posted by Imshin 21:47

New aviation security measures in Israel
Israel is going to incorporate a new “system that can distinguish between 'friendly and unfriendly' aircrafts”. All aircrafts arriving in Israel will have to install this new system.

posted by Imshin 16:36

An apology
I'm feeling increasingly uncomfortable about my post saying Arabs could be losing their jobs as a result of three Jerusalem Arabs being arrested for planning to poison Jews in a cafe. I'm sorry I wrote it. It was a horrible thing to say. It was my anger and fear speaking.
posted by Imshin 23:57

A sick world
I sometimes don’t tell you about places I’d just love to tell you about, because I don’t want to turn them into targets.
posted by Imshin 22:09

Stupid stupid stupid
Three Jerusalem Arabs have been arrested for planning to poison Israelis in a Jerusalem cafe.

OK, so they hate us and they want us dead. So they plot to poison us. Makes sense. But what about the harm they’re doing their own people? I think many Arabs in Israel will be able to thank these three for being responsible for their losing their jobs or not being able to find jobs. Just as people are demanding security guards they’ll now start demanding no Arabs in the kitchen. It’s not like people are falling over backwards to employ them as it is.

So where is the outrage of the Arab Israeli “street” at this terrible, irreparable damage to their already shaky position in Israeli society? Where is the outcry of the Israeli Arab leaders? Nothing. Deafening silence.

In case this wasn't clear: It's not racism. It's fear. I pray not a single Arab loses his or her job in a restaurant or cafe as a result of this, but what are restaurant owners to do if people start being afraid of being poisoned in their establishments? Business is not exactly flourishing.

posted by Imshin 21:56

Little Green Footballs has been posting photos of 9/11.
Those photos of people jumping. It’s still hard to grasp. I guess it always will be.

posted by Imshin 06:01

According to this Al-Ahram feature about housing in Egypt, there was an earthquake in Egypt last week. I don't remember hearing about this. Did anyone read about it and happen to notice how high it was on the Richter scale and where the center of it was? There mustn't have been any deaths or we surely would have heard about it.

Update: Fred Lapides has it: "4.4 on Richter for Egypt 2002/08/24". The center seems to be in Giza near Cairo. That must be why they were talking about it in an article on housing. Houses must have collapsed. I don't suppose it could damage the pyramids. They must have withstood one or two earthquakes in their day, don't you think? It's mind-boggling to think of them collapsing.
posted by Imshin 00:09

Did you hear the one about the speeding hamster?
Hey Mum and Dad, you never told me it was so dangerous on Blackpool Prom.

Via AMCGLTD .

posted by Imshin 22:16

Another Gilmore Girls rerun this week.
Oh, well.
posted by Imshin 21:23

An aquarium built into a Jaguar?


I’m so lucky I’m Not a Fish.

Thank you, Fred Lapides, for helping me reach that deep understanding. He actually sent me an even more convincing photo, but too harsh for this vegetarian to post.

posted by Imshin 21:14

9 responses to 9 common distortions of the Israel-Palestinian conflict
The Simon Wiesenthal Center. Adobe Acrobat Reader required.
posted by Imshin 21:05

Who murdered the Israeli peace camp and Palestinian hopes for a free society?
It’s a rhetorical question, silly.

Here is an article by Robert Fulford on the subject of the disappearance of nearly all of the Israeli left. It discusses the disillusionment of prominent Israeli lefties such as Jerusalem Report’s Hirsch Goodman, controversial “new historian” Benny Morris, writer A.B. Yehoshua, and others.

And here’s an article by Daniel Polisar that explains, in great detail, exactly how Arafat took control of the formerly pluralistic Palestinian society in the territories, stifled all diversity and opposition, and destroyed the judicial system. Polisar, who was a member of an Israeli organization that was accredited by the Palestinian Authority as an official elections observer during the Palestinian elections of January 1996, maintains that Arafat’s leadership is not the result of free and equal elections and is inimical to peace in the region and to Palestinians’ aspirations for freedom.

posted by Imshin 19:49

”The radicals were sent packing”
James K. Glassman thinks common sense won the day in Johannesburg (in WSJ). It seems the “Green Gestapo” was more loud than influential. As the Talmud says (in the G’mara, Baba Metziya p”h) “Istra balagina kish kish karya.” Translation from Aramaic: A little coin in an (empty) jug cries kish kish (makes a lot of noise).

But he complains that steps in the right direction (promoting development in poor countries and refraining from environmental decisions impracticable in poor countries) were too minor and watered down by corporate sucking up to the Greens.

posted by Imshin 15:56

A self-critical moral dialogue among Palestinians is required.
Yossi Klein Halevi in the NYTimes: “On this Rosh Hashana, a time of self-examination, I confess that my capacity as an Israeli for self-criticism has been exhausted.

[…]

Few Palestinians seem prepared even now to examine their own share of responsibility for the conflict. Instead, most remain barricaded in a self-righteous understanding of history, apportioning all innocence to themselves and all blame to us. Perhaps their inability to acknowledge the historical complexity of this conflict is understandable: The Palestinians, after all, were its losers. Yet that failure led them to commit their greatest blunder in a history of missed opportunities. By declaring war two years ago against an Israeli government that was as far left as any in history, they turned Israelis like me from supporters of Ehud Barak into supporters of Ariel Sharon.

What the first intifada was for Israelis, this intifada should be for Palestinians: a precious moment of self-examination. The Oslo process failed because of an asymmetry of self-criticism: Only one side came to the realization that this is a conflict between two legitimate national movements. The time has come for Palestinians to partition their sense of historical justice. They need to admit that much of their suffering, especially now, has been self-inflicted. And they need to confront the repeated moral failures of their leaders, from supporting Nazi Germany to backing Saddam Hussein.”

So true. Read more.

posted by Imshin 09:38

”Hag”log: More food II. This one’s for Lawrence
At the end of Yesterday’s “Hag” lunch at my sister’s we got a going home present. One of my sister’s neighbors bought them halla (plaited white bread for Shabbat) in Bnei Brak (ultra orthodox city near Tel Aviv) for the Hag. To remind you – they have a lot of children in Bnei Brak (usually double digit, but who’s counting?) and Shabbat is holier than Yom Kippur, so this was one very large, very delicious halla. We got a big chunk. I’ve just had some of it for breakfast. Mmmmmm. Heavenly.

My in-laws say that the halla is so popular that the neighbor regularly brings about 25 loafs every Shabbat to give to all the neighbors. He sounds like a nice guy.

posted by Imshin 07:03

The Wolf and the Sheep: Follow-up (my version)
Sometimes the wolf is in sheep's clothing and the sheep is mistaken for a wolf.
posted by Imshin 06:33

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