Stop the presses!!!

Haaretz ticker today:

10:55 Technion researcher identifies cause of sesame allergy, believes may increase world consumption of sesame (Haaretz)

War games in Gush Katif

This is the main photo on Yediot Aharonot's front page today: Three boys, around 12-14 years old I would guess, wearing camouflage and flak jackets and carrying paint guns, as they go to play war games in the Gaza Strip settlement bloc of Gush Katif.

And we wonder what's wrong with Israeli youth today?

TAPD

The other day I saw two separate Tel Aviv police cars parked on Allenby street, just south of Sheinkin, as officers were writing jaywalking tickets to Israelis pleading their innocence. One police car was parked in front of a store famous for selling pirated CDs, DVDs and videos. I guess it would be too complicated for the cops to actually go after the store owner, and jaywalking tickets is more profitable for the city.

Leak aimed at Peres

Shimon Peres to Abu Ala: "When I'm appointed foriegn minister we'll open secret negotiations"

This was the main headline on Thursday's front page of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot. According to the story by Shimon Shiffer, a secret document given the previous day to "senior decision-makers in Israel" says that the dialogue between Peres and the Palestinian prime minister has intensified as of late, and that Peres made this promise to Abu Ala, even though negotiations to bring Labor into the government haven't been finalized.

The story says that senior Palestinian officials told diplomats in Ramallah that Israel is close to renewing political talks via a "back channel" after PM Sharon finishes rearranging his cabinet.

In a story such as this, it's important to consider who benefits from the release of this information at this particular time. Obviously, this includes Likud members opposed to Labor joining the government, and most specifically Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who would likely lose his post if Peres joins the government.

(In my opinion, Sharon should have fired Shalom some time ago because the foreign minister is vocally opposed to the PM's disengagement plan. How can a head of state accept such a situation?)

It's also important to remember that Shalom's wife, Judy Nir Moses Shalom, is from the Moses family that owns Yediot Aharonot.

Sharon picking Kerry?

It looks as if Ariel Sharon is picking John Kerry to win the November elections. The timing of the Israeli government's decision to approve construction of more housing in the West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim is a slap in the face to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Sharon certainly knows that President Bush can't afford to take Israel to task on the decision because it would mean risk alienating Jewish voters in an election year. And if anything the move could indirectly help the Kerry campaign, because it makes it look as if Sharon is pushing Bush around and making a mockery of U.S. efforts in the region.

More on Lapid

Haaretz political correspondent Yossi Verter slams Lapid.

The Lapid question

In a dramatic political about-face, Tommy Lapid, leader of the anti-Haredi Shinui party, is apparently willing to sit in a government that includes an ultra-Orthodox party, which in this case is United Torah Judaism.

It's still unclear if it will happen, but Lapid's move raises some important issues. 

Lapid seems willing to sit with UTJ, an ultra-Orthodox party primarily composed of Ashkenazi Jews. Would he be willing to do the same if we were talking about Shas, which has its main support base in the Sephardi community? Probably not.

"No one is as corrupt as Shas," a colleague who voted for Shinui told me when I posed this question to him. While this may be true, Lapid's new found willingness to sit with "white" Jews, but not the "dark" ones lends credence to the charges that this is a man with some racist tendencies.

I do recall one occasion a year or so ago when Lapid made some disparaging remarks about Mizrahi music. If I remember correctly, he said something about hearing it and thinking he was in Ramallah, or some other West Bank city.

Lapid is a Holocaust survivor and certainly a proud Jew, but there's something almost anti-Semitic (Yes, I dared to say it) about his message. I'm not anti-Shinui. I might have voted for the party myself if it had a more leftist peace platform. But I get the feeling that there's some kind of hatred of religious Judaism and not just corruption, among some Shinui voters, not unlike the immigrants who disavowed their religious backgrounds in Europe to come to Israel with a new secular socialist brand of Judaism, not like the weak religious Judaism they felt fueled anti-Semitism and contributed to the Holocaust.

Want to avoid reserve duty? Date a Knesset member

In wake of yesterday's report about Effi Etiam (see yesterday's blog entry) Yediot Aharonot reports today that Likud MK Inbal Gavrieli contacted military officials in an attempt to get her boyfriend out of reserve duty. According to the report, she rejected a proposal to transfer him to another unit.

"I want one day a year," she's quoted as saying. Gavrieli denies the story.

Her boyfriend is Liran Strauber, goalie for Israel's national soccer team. A related story tells how Strauber didn't report for reserve duty, and that he actually attempted to get a medical release!!! So he'd like us to believe that he's physically unfit for military service, but is fit enough to be on the soccer field. Army doctors refused his request. 

I'd like to say that it's just the right-wingers, but I'm sure the lefties are also doing it. I don't have any inside information, but don't be surprised to see a similar story involving a Labor or Meretz MK in the coming days.

Eitam and Son: Escape from Gaza

Great story in today's Yediot Aharonot. Turns out while he was minister, MK Effi Eitam (National Religious Party) requested from senior Israel Defense Forces officials that his son Amitzur be transferred from a reserve unit attached to the Gaza Strip to a unit in the Golan Heights. True, this would have brought Amitsur closer to his parents' home in the Golan, but MK Eitam has been among the most vocal opponents to Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, which would include a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

How many other reservists can have their dad call senior military officials with such a request. (George W. Bush notwithstanding.) The Yediot report also says that members of Eitam's ministerial staff made calls to the army with the same request. Think they would be willing to do the same for me?

And kudos to Yediot for a great headline (inside, not front page) for the story:
Effi Eitam wanted to disengage his son from Gaza 

What did Arafat really tell Haaretz?

It's worth noting that the Haaretz interview of Yasser Arafat was done by veteran correspondent Akiva Eldar and new Haaretz Editor-in-Chief David Landau. The reason is because a few years back, during the current intifada, Eldar had an exclusive interview with the Palestinian leader which suggested that Arafat was ready and willing to end the violence and make peace.

But the Haaretz staffperson who transcribed that taped interview for the Haaretz English edition felt that Arafat's comments on the tape - some of which were omitted from Eldar's report - were not nearly as optimistic regarding peace as Eldar made them out to be. Upon mentioning this to a very senior member of the Haaretz English edition, it became clear that some at Haaretz feel Eldar, among other Haaretz reporters, allows his leftist political views to obstruct his objectivity as a reporter.

Maybe that's why Eldar wasn't allowed to visit the Muqata alone this time.

What's Bret talking about?

Can anyone tell me what today's column by Jerusalem Post Editor in Chief Bret Stephens has to do with Israel? I get the feeling that he's recycling an old university paper he wrote because he clearly doesn't understand what's going on Israel. Of course, if would be unfair to expect him to - he's doesn't speak Hebrew.

Deadly dog finds a home - in the IDF

An Amstaff dog who on Thursday killed a four-year-old girl from the Tel Aviv family that owned it is to be adopted by the Israel Defense Forces. If I was the father I would kill the dog myself, so it makes me wonder why the dog is still alive.

An open letter to rabbis at weddings

Where do rabbis get the completley inappropriate material they use at weddings? I'm currently in the U.S., where I attended a wedding on the east coast, and am still trying to figure out why the rabbi at the wedding thought his comments were appropriate. I imagine a group of old rabbis getting together, encouraging one another to use material that simply doesn't work for Jews of my generation. (I can hardly believe that it would work for any generation.) They must get no feedback from the congregation.

Below are some of the comments - as best as I can remember them - that the rabbi made during the ceremony, which took place in a tent outside in a light drizzle:

"There's a saying that when it rains at a wedding, don't take the bride to the bakery, because she's a nosher." [My friends and I were scratching our heads trying to figure this one out. ]

"There's another saying that when it rains at a wedding, it means that the bride is fertile."

"Judaism is a man's religion."

"This ketuba (wedding contract) will be among the cheaper gifts the groom will buy the bride."

Unfortunately I don't recall more of his comments, but I wasn't the only one among the attendees feeling uncomfortable and thinking that my good friend, the groom, deserved a rabbi with a little more sense. And the Jewish community in North America wonders why it's having trouble keeping my generation interested.

On vacation

I apologize to my faithful readers (do I have any?) for my recent absence, but I'm currently outside of Israel. I'll try to find time to write soon.

Sharon plotting his next move

Yoel Marcus from Haaretz writes that reports of Sharon's demise are premature and a government shakeup is imminent in wake of cabinet opposition, especially in Sharon's own Likue party, to the PM's disengagement plan.

"The Big Bang is on its way. It's not going to be the same government anymore," Marcus quotes "someone in the know" as saying.

What goes around...

When Likud MK Naomi Blumenthal was suspected of giving improper favors to Likud Central Committee members in exchange for their support in the party's primary, Ariel Sharon made a point of ostracizing her from his circle and verbally flogging her in public. Today Blumenthal's verbal attack on the PM let to the end of a Likud faction meeting in which Sharon was to discuss his revised disengagement plan. It would be so ironic indeed if Blumenthal, who hasn't really done a hell of a lot in her political career, plays a central role in the Likud's undoing.

Likud's week of destiny

While some political analysts are saying that in future years we might look back on this week as when the Likud party split, I'm not so sure. Haaretz correspondent Akiva Eldar says Sharon has unmasked the Likud, while the Jerusalem Post's Tovah Lazaroff says Netanyahu, more than Sharon, needs a compromise that will allow him to support the disengagement plan.

The reason Israel razed Yamit

I had always assumed that Israel's motivation for demolishing all buildings and infrastructure after withdrawing from territory was a kind of punitive measure to prevent the "enemy" from living in Israeli homes, but it turns out that PM Menachem Begin ordered Yamit razed in 1982 to prevent Israeli residents opposed to the peace deal from sneaking back into their homes.

The secret of Appel's success

Israeli businessman David Appel, who is accused of bribing the prime minister, reveals to Haaretz the secret of his success:

"So obviously I see all the metaphysical forces now. I recognize them and know how they work. And this puts me in possession of a billion times more information than you have. I understand how this world operates. I know exactly how every single thing operates. There is no question to which I do not have an answer. And so my ability is exponentially greater. My ability to receive information is unlimited. There is nothing in the universe that I cannot comprehend. Including the secret of matter. There is nothing in the universe whose content and structure I don't know."

Bullets for sale

At least Israel is benefiting in some way from the Iraq mess. Ths U.S. is buying bullets from Israel Military Industries Ltd. for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.