Alan Dershowitz

I hope that this department will also work with the international jurists who have advocated so ably for Israel in the past, e.g. Alan Dershowitz.

in reference to:

"Following the decision, the Security Cabinet asked the Minister of Justice, in coordination with the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor, to immediately establish a new department within the Ministry of Justice. The department will handle all relevant issues pertaining to international legal proceedings that involve the State of Israel and those who act on its behalf to counter terrorism.The decision grants the department the mandate to handle (inter alia) legal proceedings before international tribunals and national courts of foreign states that are initiated against the State of Israel; to provide advisory opinions to Israeli officials who might be exposed to such legal proceedings; to establish throughout the world a legal network of law firms that have relevant legal expertise in international law in order to provide immediate legal advice and representation when needed; and to serve as an information center on relevant issues.The Security Cabinet also decided that the department will work in conjunction with a permanent steering committee composed of experts in relevant fields from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the IDF, and the Office of the Prime Minister. The steering committee will work with the department in order to establish and coordinate the relevant policy and activities entailed in handling international legal proceedings. The decision also mentions that the head of the department, who is required to have expertise and experience in relevant legal fields, will update the Security Cabinet on international developments that might impact Israel's counter-terrorism activities.[7]"
- Establishment of a Legal Department by the Israeli Security Cabinet to Deal with Issues of International Jurisdiction - The Israel Democracy Institute (view on Google Sidewiki)

The State of Israel as the National Home of the Jewish People

What's shocking is not that Israel's constituent assembly (Knesset) failed to ratify a constitution, but that they failed to even propose a tentative draft (they not only failed to complete the work; they never even began it)! The task would have a whole lot easier during the first 6 months (or even years) after Israel's formation than it is now, 60 years later.

in reference to:

"As  part of the Declaration, it was determined that the elected constituent assembly would ratify a constitution within half a year of the establishment of the State.  Because of the existential wars imposed on the State of Israel since its birth and because of  political disagreements (many of them partisan), Israel has remained until today without a constitution.  Because of this, the State of Israel's legal character as the National Home of the Jewish People was never explicitly delineated, leaving us only with the general principles stated in the Declaration of Independence."
- Jewish National Home - The Institute For Zionist Strategies-המכון לאסטרטגיה ציונית (view on Google Sidewiki)

Still a year to go!

Strictly speaking, 2010 is the last year of the current decade, not the first year of the next!

in reference to: You decide: Who was your Person of the Decade? - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/29/2009

• The arguments made by climate change sceptics (BBC News)

  tags: climate change

• The pluralist (Jerusalem Post)

  tags: Religion and State

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/28/2009

• Oren Asks for Inquiry on Wall Arrest (Forward.com)

  tags: Pluralism

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/27/2009

• Oren Asks for Inquiry on Wall Arrest (Forward.com)

  tags: Pluralism

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

  • But Women of the Wall chairperson Anat Hoffman criticized the lack of political response to the treatment that Frenkel received. “I want Michael Oren to be drowning in e-mails and faxes and letters saying: ‘Do something about this. This is something we care about,’” said Hoffman, who is also executive director of the Reform movement’s Israel Religious Action Center.

    
    

    Hoffman said that when she led the women in Rosh Hodesh prayer at Kotel, she heard ultra-Orthodox men jeering them, calling them “prostitutes” and shouting that “the Holocaust happened because of you.”

    
    

    “But more than I heard the bullies, I heard the silence of all my supporters,” Hoffman said. “The silence of the majority of Israeli seculars, who have allowed this thing to happen; the silence of the court, the police, the mayor, the Knesset, and also the silence of my brothers and sisters, who know women read Torah and wear tallit.”

    
    

    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Muddying the water

A good way to try to muddy the water, by equating the Galilee, Samaria, [the] Negev and Judea! The fact is that the Galilee and the Negev are (previously) undisputed parts of Israel proper, while Judea and Samaria are part of the territories conquered by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, and which will probably never become part of Israel itself. For the last 40 years, the integration and development of the Galilee and Negev have been totally neglected in favour of pouring Israel's resources into YESHA, an investment that will now probably never be recovered. For Israel to reclaim the Galilee and Negev now requires that the investment in Judea and Samaria be liquidated. Thanks to the Settlement Enterprise, Israel's grip on its strategic north and south have been loosened, while Judea and Samaria are all but lost anyway. Good going, guys!

in reference to:

"instead of investing the money in building and developing the Galilee, Samaria, Negev and Judea."
- Settlers: Secret Plan Renders Barak ‘War Criminal' - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Eisengruppen? Einsatzgruppen

Eisengruppen should read Einsatzgruppen (German: "task forces", "intervention groups").

in reference to:

"Eisengruppen"
- East Of Auschwitz: New Book Fuels Shoah Debate (view on Google Sidewiki)

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/24/2009

• Are hesder yeshivas as united as they claim to be? - Israel (Jerusalem Post)

  tags: Hesder

  • Another hesder head, who was unhappy with the outcome of the meeting but who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was concerned that rabbis would lose their influence with religious youth.
    

    "Young people tend to be more extreme in their opinions," said the rabbi, whose yeshiva is located in Samaria.
    

    "When they see rabbis kowtowing to Barak they'll lose all respect for us," he said. "Without rabbinical guidance these young people are liable to stray off the track and abandon religion."
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Sidewiki entry by Russell

Thanks for setting things out so clearly. There's no doubt in my mind that this opinion is secretly (or not so secretly) shared by most of the Hesder Yeshiva heads.

in reference to:

""We should have told Barak that the IDF is subordinate to the rabbis," said Ilani, in an interview on Radio Kol Chai, a haredi radio station."
- Are hesder yeshivas as united as they claim to be? | Israel | Jerusalem Post (view on Google Sidewiki)

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/23/2009

• Jerusalem Journal - Challenging Traditions at the Heart of Judaism (NYTimes.com)

  tags: Pluralism

  • The Kotel is defined in Israel as a national and holy site that is open to all. In practice, the women say, it operates like an Orthodox synagogue, with separate prayer sections for men and women and a modesty patrol to ensure that visitors are appropriately dressed.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/22/2009

• Spitting in spite (Features | Jerusalem Post)

  tags: Haredim

  • Christians in Israel are a small, weak community known for "turning the other cheek," so these Jewish xenophobes feel free to spit on them; they don't spit on Muslims in the Old City because they're afraid to, the clerics noted.
    

• Panel slams Water Authority over drought levy policy (Science and Environment | Jerusalem Post)

  tags: Water

  • While a little more rain this winter may have reassured some people, conservation efforts must continue without cease throughout the winter, the committee also strongly urged. One year of good rainfall will not solve this crisis. Even after all the desalination plants become operational in 2013, they will still need to pump water into Lake Kinneret and the aquifers to make up a two billion cubic meter deficit, a result of consistent over-pumping to match demand. In light of the severe crisis, which, they pointed out, no one should doubt for a second, the drought levy should only be dropped if immediate and effective alternative conservation measures are put in place.
    
    
    
    
    

• Hasmonean rule extended to Negev (10-Dec-2009)

  tags: Antiquities

  • According to Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who is the scientific editor of the excavation, “We are talking about a revolutionary discovery that will redraw the maps of the region which describe that era and greatly increase the territory governed by the Hasmoneans into the heart of the Negev Highlands as we know it. This is an important discovery from an archaeological and historical standpoint. Despite the evidence of the historian Josephus, according to which King Alexander Jannaeus conquered the southern coast of the Land of Israel and the harbor in Gaza (which was of paramount importance to the Nabataeans) and even further south, no clear archaeological proof of this has been found in the field. And it was because of this lack of proof that historians were inclined to dismiss the possibility that the Hasmoneans did indeed control the Negev”.

    
    

• Akiva Eldar / U.S. tax dollars fund rabbi who excused killing gentile babies - Haaretz - Israel News

  tags: Settlements

  • How can President Barack Obama object to furthering education in a settlement like Yitzhar, located in the heart of the West Bank? After all, his own tax revenues contribute to the flourishing of the Od Yosef Chai Shechem yeshiva, the settlement's crowning glory.
    
    
    
    This is the same yeshiva whose rabbi said it is permissible to kill gentile babies because of "the future danger that will arise if they are allowed to grow into evil people like their parents." In his latest book, the head of the yeshiva, Yitzhak Shapira, who bears the honorable title of rabbi, even permits killing anyone "who, through his remarks and so forth, weakens our kingdom" (Obama, beware!).
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    	Advertisement

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    On November 17, this column reported that the Education Ministry's division for Torah institutions transferred more than NIS 1 million to this yeshiva in 2006 and 2007. The Welfare Ministry made do with a mere NIS 150,000.
    
    
    
    A report on donations submitted by the yeshiva to the registrar of nonprofit organizations revealed that the American public also participates in financing the message coming out of Yitzhar. It states that in 2007 and 2008, the yeshiva received NIS 102,547 from an American foundation known as the Central Fund of Israel.
    
    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Sidewiki entry by Russell

Pretty much what I've been saying in my Med-Kinneret Canal proposal.

in reference to:

"Even after all the desalination plants become operational in 2013, they will still need to pump water into Lake Kinneret and the aquifers to make up a two billion cubic meter deficit, a result of consistent over-pumping to match demand."
- Panel slams Water Authority over drought levy policy | Science and Environment | Jerusalem Post (view on Google Sidewiki)

Religion, secularism and theocracy

The logic behind this article is so flawed that the article doesn't warrant a detailed critique. I do want to make a couple of comments however:
1. Gideon Levy is confusing the idea of religiosity and that of a theocracy. Even if 100% of the Israeli (Jewish) population was religious (in whatever sense), this still does not imply or require that Israel be a theocracy. Neither is a necessary precondition for the other. While I stipulate that Israel has too many theocratic features to qualify as a true democracy, it doesn't have to be this way. Stripping out the theocratic baggage from the Israeli system will not prevent or even affect anyone's religiosity.
2. "Only 44 percent of Israelis define themselves as secular, as opposed to 64 percent of Swedes who define themselves as atheists..." Secular has more to do with requiring a separation between religion and state than with religious beliefs as such. A secularist and an atheist are not one and the same. Someone who is religious (or observant, to use Orthodox terminoloy) can still be secular, i.e. favour a separation between religion and state.
3. Israel is something of an aberration regarding the Jewish attitude to secularism. Everywhere in the Diaspora, Jews tend to favour countries and political parties which oppose theocratic trends. Only in Israel are they neutral, in favour of (or at least not strongly opposed to) theocratic ideals. This simply demonstrates that the much-vaunted Jewish attachment to justice and equality has more to do with circumstances and less to do with an innate drive for prophetic values.

in reference to: Gideon Levy / Let's face the facts, Israel is a semi-theocracy - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Engaged or fielded?

The use of the term "engaged" here is somewhat confusing. It would have been better to use a term such as "fielded". Engaged gives the impression that this refers to the opposing force.

in reference to:

"the army that Alexander Jannaeus engaged was for the most part a mercenary force that was composed of non-Jewish soldiers."
- Hasmonean rule extended to Negev-10-Dec-2009 (view on Google Sidewiki)

Not one (more) dollar/shekel

Adds more weight to my contention that the only way to tackle the twin evils of subsidised Haredi and Settler growth and triumphalism is by means of a campaign to identify and prevent donor and taxpayer funds (both in Israel and the US) from being diverted to either cause.

in reference to: Akiva Eldar / U.S. tax dollars fund rabbi who excused killing gentile babies - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/20/2009

• BoI: Child benefits boost Arab, Haredi birthrates - Haaretz - Israel News

  tags: Demography

  • 
    Economic assistance to families in Israel increased fertility among Arab and ultra-Orthodox with more than three children, according to a Bank of Israel study released yesterday and covering the 1994-2007 period.
    
    
    
    The payment of state-funded child allowances - NIS 500 per month for the fourth child in a family and each additional child up to the seventh, and NIS 560 for the seventh child and each successive child - increased the probability of a married Arab woman having another child by between 6% and 7% and of a married ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman doing so by about 3%. Child allowances increased overall birthrates in Israel during the study period by about 2%.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    	Advertisement

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    According to the study, the abolition of child allowances would result in an overall decline in fertility among Haredi women of about 0.2 children (one less child in one in five families) and 0.4 children among Bedouin woman in the south (two fewer children in one in five families. Overall fertility among Druze women and non-Haredi Jewish women would remain unchanged.
    

• Israeli settlements are more than legitimate -- latimes.com

  tags: Whose Land

• Is the Mossad Too Obsessed With Iran? - Newsweek.com

  tags: Intelligence, Iran

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/16/2009

• Netanyahu and Barak must stand strong against right-wing yeshiva - Haaretz - Israel News

  tags: Refusal

  • Barak's decision is only symbolic: It does not release the IDF from its problematic arrangement with the yeshivas, which have become a right-wing bastion in combat units and whose students view their rabbis as a parallel source of authority to their commanding officers. But its importance should not be underestimated. This is the first time the defense establishment, which for years has been negligent in dealing with lawbreakers on the right, has set a "price tag" for rabbis who undermine the foundations of democracy and tell their students which orders to obey and which to refuse.
    
    
    
    The support for Melamed among the heads of other hesder yeshivas, and their threats to discourage their students from joining the army to protest this "interference in a rabbi's spiritual path," shows the grave danger of creating within the army a private militia of the extreme r ight, subservient to the directives of the rabbis. It is difficult to imagine a more clear and present danger to democracy, and to the strength of Israeli society, than such threats of rebellion - even if they come wrapped in pretty slogans about hesder soldiers' motivation and contribution to the army.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/15/2009

• Israel should bring Jewish law into its legal system - Haaretz - Israel News

  tags: Halacha

• Basic Law on Democracy (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Constitution

  • Under such circumstances, the need to enshrine the rules of the democratic game in a constitution is greater than ever. In the absence of the possibility of passing a constitution, a much less comprehensive, but essential, law should be passed: a Basic Law on Democracy. Below is the draft of such a bill:
    
    
    
    1. The State of Israel is a democratic state, in which decisions are made by the principle of majority rule, on the basis of general and egalitarian elections held every four years or less.
    
    
    
    2. The Knesset freely determines the laws and oversees the cabinet, and the Supreme Court freely oversees the actions of the legislative and the executive branches and of the Israel Defense Forces.
    
    
    
    3.The Supreme Court and the IDF are responsible for protecting this law.
    
    
    
    4. Any attempt to fundamentally harm the democratic character of the State of Israel shall be considered treason, punishable in accordance with the law.
    
    
    
    5. Amendments to this law shall require a two-thirds majority of Knesset members in each reading, but shall not involve fundamental changes to this law.
    
    

• One chain of command (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Refusal

  • That is a mistake. The government must not give in to those who do not accept its authority, particularly if certain rabbis threaten that their students will not enlist in the army. The more the state ignores the incitement in the hesder yeshivas, the more it allows it to grow.
    
    
    
    This growth is not "spiritual," as the rabbis label it. By virtue of the rabbi's position and the special arrangement between the army and the yeshiva, this growth effectively means a division of authority. The inciting rabbi is not "expressing his opinion." He is telling his students to do the opposite of what their commanders instruct them to do. This division is a surefire recipe for the breakup of the army and a sign of anarchy.
    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The very soul of Israel

Once again I'm shocked to find that an editorial on an issue that is central to the very soul of Israel has attracted only one other comment! The beautiful Israel that so many of us have loved from near and far is slowly slipping away, steadily replaced by this sour, ugly Israel of an intolerant Halacha and uprooted olive trees. All I can say is, we'll be sorry when it's gone...

in reference to: The worst appointment - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Land is also a scarce resource!

While I'm every bit in favour of using alternative (preferably green) energy sources, we also need to realise that land (especially agricultural land) is one of our scarcest resources. When it comes to solar power, for instance, we should be covering every available roof surface with solar cells, NOT, taking valuable agricultural land out of production for so-called "solar farms". Likewise in the case of wind farms and bio-fuels. Wave and tidal power generation on a large scale also has the potential to decimate valuable coastlines.

in reference to:

"Kibbutz Meirav on Mount Gilboa is also planning to build its own solar generating array, but this will be much bigger - 5 megawatts spread over 100 dunams (25 acres) of its land. The kibbutz has already signed an agreement with the Solarit Doral company, which will build and operate the facility. The total investment is estimated at NIS 80 million, though the construction requires various approvals for the use of agricultural land for solar power systems."
- Real estate firms, kibbutz considering large solar plants - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Be afraid, be very afraid...

It's not Halacha as such that scares me (although I have no desire to see Halacha become the law of the land), but rather the modern-day practitioners, interpreters and adjudicators of Halacha. Both Halacha and (especially) its interpreters have a huge amount of work to do before it and they become fit to govern our day to day lives.

in reference to: Israel should bring Jewish law into its legal system - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

The next step

In a sane, democratic society, there would a "next step" here: the whole hesder yeshiva system would be done away with completely, and yeshiva heads that encourage/instruct their students not to enlist would be thrown in jail and the yeshiva concerned closed.

in reference to: One chain of command - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Not One Shekel

The Israeli taxpayer and charitable donors (both in Israel and the Diaspora) could all benefit from a campaign to cry out against abuses such as this, and call for Not One Shekel of taxpayer/donor money to find its way into Haredi coffers (at least not until such time as they fully integrate themselves into Israeli society).
I am shocked that, despite the impact of this issue on each and every taxpayer, there was only one comment on this article.

in reference to: 'National service is yet another channel funneling money to Haredim' - Haaretz - Israel News (view on Google Sidewiki)

Celebate?

A typo in the text here. "Celebate" should probably read "celebrate". Oh well, at least you didn't tell us to celibate! :-)

in reference to: Happy Chanukah from the Jewish Agency (view on Google Sidewiki)

Allow Labels when using the Send to: Blogger function

When using the Google Toolbar Send to Blogger function, it opens up a useful little Blogger editor in a pop-up Window.
While the editor has most of the functionality one could want when editing a quick post on the fly, it could be made even more useful by including a field for "Labels", as per the built in Blogger editor.
Including the Labels field would allow the user to complete the post entirely from within the Send to Blogger function, instead of having to add Labels later in another editor.

in reference to:

"New! Send To You can use your Google Toolbar to share web pages via email, text message (SMS), or blog. To share an entire page, select from the Toolbar's "Send To" menu; to share an excerpt, simply select the section of the page you want to share before clicking "Send To.""
- Features - Toolbar Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/12/2009

• Op-Ed: Seven Principles to help heal the planet (JTA Jewish & Israel News)

  tags: climate change, global warming, green judaism

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/11/2009

• Why silence over Israel's wrongs is anti-Zionist (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Zionism

  • We need to remember this Rashi because it suggests that American Jews should offer angry, vocal, confrontational critique when they feel that Israel is practicing particular policies that they find unworthy. Note the word that Rashi uses: "to fight." Not just to critique, not just to gently remind, not just to seek to influence, but to shout, to confront, to demand to be heard.
    
    
    
    If we want American Jews and Israel to be in a truly deep relationship, then we need to enable American Jews to be the ezer k?negdo, the helping spouse who fights. After all, they do enough helping. We can't ask American Jews to support us, visit us, give us their money, and be inspired by us, without allowing them - demanding of them - to tell us what they think. It is taxation without representation. It is an abuse of the relationship between us. It is blasphemy to the very notion of a Jewish state.
    
    
    
    This approach will ultimately lead to a much richer marriage between American Jews and Israel. Young American Jews throw their weight behind other causes, causes where demands are made on them, where they are encouraged to fight against injustice, to debate, to create change. We don't give them these opportunities with Israel. Go and change the world, we say; but when it comes to Israel, you must close off your creative energies, your critical thinking, your fiery emotions, and just support politely from the sidelines. No wonder they are not interested.
    
    
    
    
  • The lack of American Jewish voices in modern Israel is a tragedy. Israel, for all its wonders, its achievements, and its robustness, is not living up to its potential, and one of the reasons for that gap is the lack of American Jewish voices in its culture, religion, and politics.
    
    
    
    Thomas Friedman writes more perceptively about Israeli politics than any Israeli journalist or politician; why are his pieces not regularly and immediately translated into Hebrew? Abraham Joshua Heschel revolutionized our understanding of Jewish spirituality; most religious Israelis have never heard of him. Diaspora Jewish educational thinkers and practitioners have made enormous strides in working out how to get Jews of different religious streams to sit, talk, and learn together; Israel is decades behind. There are countless other examples. Both sides are at fault. Israelis have been too stubborn, too arrogant, or too busy, to listen; but American Jews have not been willing to be the ezer k'negdo, the spouse who fights.
    
    
    
    Israel is not living up to its potential, and one reason for that is because American Jews have not insisted that their voices be heard. This is scandalous. It is anti-Zionist. It is suicidal. It must change
    
    
    
    

• Not refusal at all (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Settlements

  • After all, we can understand a soldier whose conscience does not allow him to shoot on Shabbat, can't we? Well, the answer is absolutely not. That is precisely the path to the hardali takeover of the IDF: The rabbis have succeeded in keeping women away from their students, encourage them to turn to a rabbi on any issue related to "conscience" or "ethics," and have created a blatant separation between soldiers who have to obey every order every day of the week, and their favorites, the skullcap wearers.
    
    
    
    There can no doubt: The domination of the Israeli reality by the settler norm is a successful enterprise. Every fiery speech by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who bangs on the table with his fist and declares that "we will not agree to refusal from any side," and every demonstration of evasiveness by Defense Minister Ehud Barak who threatens to punish opponents of evacuation but ingratiates himself with the hesder yeshivas and says that we must not harm all of them "because of a handful of refuseniks," are increasing this domination.
    
    
    
    Just as the Supreme Court once permitted the two different legal systems in the territories and created a basis for apartheid, the political establishment is allowing the destroyers of democracy, who want to replace sovereignty with the rabbinate, to take it apart from within. That's not refusal at all. That's war.
    
    
    
    

• Israeli ecologists could help stop global warming (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Global Warming

  • I will start by relating that my late colleague, Prof. Hugues Faure of the University of Marseilles in France, who studied Saharan terrain and groundwater resources, calculated that if we used the groundwater beneath that desert for irrigation, and restored the greenery that covered it during the last ice age, the vegetation would absorb all the carbon generated by industry each year. According to his calculations, the water supply could last a few hundred years.
    
    
    
    In light of his findings, I convened a group of experts on water in arid areas at UNESCO's offices in Paris in 1998, after which we published a manifesto urging a worldwide campaign to plant trees in desert areas.
    
    
    
    Studies conducted since then in the Yatir Forest in the southern Judean Desert, by teams led by Prof. Dan Yakir from the Weizmann Institute of Science and from the Desert Research Institute at Sde Boker, indicate that in addition to the trees functioning as a trap for the huge amounts of carbon in the air, and as a means for transforming it into a substance that can help them grow, the stomata (pores) of the trees' leaves do not have to open to absorb the large amount of carbon dioxide in the air.
    
    
    
    Thus the amount of water secreted from the leaves is reduced, and the tree saves water and is able to grow even in relatively dry regions.
    
    
    
    And there is more to it: The shade provided by the trees planted in sandy expanses reduces the evaporation of the little rain that falls in the desert.
    
    

• Slip of the tongue? / His credo snapped (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Religion and State

  • After all, "Torah law" requires us first of all to immediately restore the death penalty. Without it, we will not be able to punish with the full extent of the law, through stoning or burning, for adultery, sodomy and a multitude of other sins. This crown, that Neeman seeks to return, is a crown of thorns and thistles and prohibitions and sufferings and cruelties that are not from the world of justice.
    
    
    
    And even if we were to replace "Torah law" with "halakha" - the full complement of Jewish religious law - we could still not relax, breathe a sigh of relief, we would still be choked and lacking air.
    
    
    
    Which halakha, exactly? That of Beit Hillel or of Beit Shammai, the less strict or more strict, or, in contrast - that of Ovadia Yosef, according to whom one's mouth should not be muzzled; or that of Eliezer Melamed, the hesder yeshiva head who is calling for soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate settlements; or that of Yitzhak Ginsburg, author of a hagiography of Baruch Goldstein? This crazed land is filled with religious teachers, and every gang has its own rabbi.
    
    
    
    There is no animal called halakha; there are many such animals, some of which are predators. We are as if devoured by evil beasts if these are our teachers, if these are our judges, and we shall no longer be able to perceive the coat of many colors of the "Jewish and democratic" state. Instead of judges in Jerusalem we will have a rabbinical court.
    
    
    
    Who would want to live here? Who could? We've already given them more than enough authority to run our lives, from birth to marriage to the grave. And what of our conscience, with a rabbi forced upon it?
    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/09/2009

• Reading "Success Is Not an Accident" and here's what it's about: - jackalopekid's posterous

  tags: no_tag

  • 

• An Israeli in Dubai (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Gulf

  • After four days in this wonderful place, I want to go home. Talking with the people has taught me respect for the ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, his vision and resolve. He developed the emirate from a beach to the top of the international glitterati scene with hardly any oil revenue, which made me think unhappy things about the leadership in Jerusalem.
    
    
    
    I learned about the order the local government preserves, the paucity of crime, the openness to strangers, and the political pragmatism of the emirs. I also feel uncomfortable about the hordes of foreign workers, who have a majority but no political power.
    
    

• Trust the settlers to lose the West Bank - Haaretz - Israel News

  tags: Settlements

  • For more than 40 years, Israelis have subsidized settlers, defended their enclaves with their life's blood, drove on disintegrating highways even as transportation budgets laid down dedicated settler roads to remote hills and preposterous trailer camps, all the while listening to West Bank rabbis issuing rulings justifying violence against Arabs, refusal to serve in the army, and opposition and resistance to Israeli soldiers, police, and government. It has further hurt the settler cause that their rightist allies have led the fight to foil a deal to free Gilad Shalit.
    
    
    
    The anger, the settlers are always shocked to discover, cuts both ways.
    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Common error

Although the anchor text points to the (correct) Web address, www.kkl.org.il/eng, the link location points to http://www.jpost.com/servlet/www.kkl.org.il/eng, which is an invalid address.
In order to access the site, copy the anchor text, i.e. what's actually displayed in the article, or copy the link from here:
http://www.kkl.org.il/eng

in reference to: Green Revolution at the UN Climate Change Conference | KKL-JNF at UN Climate Change Conference | Jerusalem Post (view on Google Sidewiki)

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/08/2009

• Israel must join the Jewish world and go green (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Conservation

  • Israel is, on the one hand, a strange country, and on the other side it is a very strange country. It is at the gates of the OECD, asking to be a member of the developed countries' club, but also pretends it is still developing; it is consciously slipping in its overall effort to save the planet from the effects of global warming, but also expects to receive preferential treatment.
    
    
    
    The impression is that the international community is increasingly losing patience with our double dealings on all levels. Environmentally-conscious Israel is in its fetal stage. While awareness is developing here like a pregnancy, it is taking too long to reach term. The signs are there but there is no genuine willingness to complete it. Capital interests still have the upper hand in most instances in which there is a clash between greed and future welfare.
    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/04/2009

• Interview: Anat Hoffman (The Jewish Chronicle)

  tags: Pluralism

  • I don’t have a problem with those who don’t want us to pray at the Wall. I have a problem with secular politicians, secular mayors and secular police who put up with that. There is more than one way to express your Jewishness.”

    
    

    Of particular worry to her are the strictly Orthodox communities who opt out of Israeli national life. “In 2050, the Charedim will be 37 per cent of the population. Israelis are not going to put up for very long with the current economic formula. I pay my taxes twice for them not to pay taxes, I send my kids to the army so they can study Torah. Israel may not be economically viable in 50 years’ time. They have to change. They have to work like their brethren in New York or Golders Green.”

• Azure on "Coming To Terms With Christianity" (Spengler Forum at First Things View topic)

  tags: JC

  • Indeed, while Catholic leaders of recent times have repeatedly expressed sorrow and even remorse for hundreds of years of antisemitism, the Jewish world has not yet shown a comparable willingness to reconsider its own perception of Christianity. No one, of course, has demanded this of Judaism, for understandable reasons. Ever since Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century c.e., it was the Jews, the so-called Christ-killers, who were persecuted by the Church, and not the other way around. Today, however, circumstances demand that all established religions reexamine their traditional attitudes toward each other. Christianity, in all of its various denominations, has generally risen to the occasion. Judaism, for its part, has not.
    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Link Field

You said "The Link field can be very useful if your blog posts are frequently about other articles, and you want the links to these articles visible on your public blog."

Wouldn't it be more correct to say that the Link Field transforms your blog post title into a link to the external article, rather than to your own blog post page?

in reference to:

"The Link field can be very useful if your blog posts are frequently about other articles, and you want the links to these articles visible on your public blog."
- What does the Link field do? - Blogger Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/02/2009

• 'Settlements are legal and legitimate under US law' (Israel Jerusalem Post)

  tags: “Whose, Land?”

  • The little-known Anglo-American Convention, a treaty signed by the US and British governments in 1924, stipulated that the US fully accepted upon itself the Mandate for Palestine, which declared all of the West Bank within its borders.
    

    "The treaty has been hidden," said OFICL director Mark Kaplan. "But if you look at the House [of Representatives] deliberations during World War I, people are saying, 'Look, we've invested a lot of money in Palestine, and we expect that this treaty will be upheld.'"
    

    Though the United Nations' 1947 partition plan declared the West Bank an Arab territory, the mandate's borders still hold today.
    
    
    
    
    

    "The mandate expired in 1948 when Israel got its independence," Kaplan said. "But the American-Anglo convention was a treaty that was connected to the mandate. Treaties themselves have no statute of limitations, so their rights go on ad infinitum."
    

    "The UN partition plan was just that-a plan," said OFICL chairman Michael Snidecor in a statement. "The General Assembly has no authority to create countries or change borders."
    

    
    
    
    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    

• If the Vilna Gaon was right, the 3rd Temple is on its way (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Haredim

  • However, secular and Zionist Orthodox Jerusalemites are concerned that two developments could lead to the synagogue becoming ultra-Orthodox.
    
    
    
    The first was the appointment of a rabbi for the synagogue - which happened about three years ago, when it was still a concrete shell - Rehovot's chief rabbi Simcha Hacohen Kook, who is considered close to the ultra-Orthodox non-Hassidic leader Rabbi Yosef Elyashiv. He was chosen by a panel of rabbis, with the blessing of Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
    
    
    
    "A government company built the synagogue. There are procedures for how people are chosen. They made this choice to prevent the appointment of a Zionist Orthodox rabbi," said Anat Mufkadi, a member of the group concerned about the synagogue. Rabbi Elyashiv reportedly told Haredi journalist Shlomo Kook, the synagogue rabbi's nephew, that the expedited appointment was intended to "stop up gaps," comments understood to mean keeping a Zionist Orthodox rabbi from getting the post.
    
    

• Becoming Part of the Crowd (Israel Religious Action Center)

  tags: Pluralism

  • 
    Such an example of Haredi influence and power is not uncommon in Jerusalem.  But it baffles Noa.  “There are ultra-Orthodox Jews in big cities all over the world, and they manage to lead observant lives without violent outbursts toward the rest of the population.  It’s absurd that when they live in the Jewish state they can behave as such.”
    

    
    

    
    She continued, “I wonder if someone who doesn’t live in Jerusalem cares about this or not.  Only when people understand that what happens in Jerusalem affects everyone – Jerusalem is a microcosm of Israel, and its problems will one day blow up in our faces if we’re not careful.”
    
    

• Segregation is Unacceptable Humiliation (New Israel Fund)

  tags: Segregation

  • She also made copies of a ruling by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, one of the 20th century’s foremost halachic commentators, permitting mixed seating on public transportation on the grounds that this was not erotic contact, and saying that any man who experienced it as such has problems.

    
    

    Fisher said, “I am not aware of a single eminent rabbi who has ever ruled that there must be gender segregation in public places. Even the separation of men and women in Orthodox synagogues is a matter of custom rather than halacha.”

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 12/01/2009

• High-tech lobby chief warns on Intel violence

  tags: Haredim

  • 
    Mankovsky believes that the attacks against Intel's fab in Jerusalem are a major threat at two levels. First, they harm Israel's attractiveness as an enlightened, business-friendly, and open economy. Second, the violence and vandalism are liable to cause Intel Corporation's management to decide to close the Jerusalem fab.

    
    Mankovsky warns, "Such an act will cost the jobs of hundreds of people employed at the fab, and lead to considerations to move operations to other countries perceived as more attractive. Closing the Intel fab in Jerusalem will prevent the opening of the next fab and/or R&D center by the company in Israel, and cause a domino effect."

    
    

• Politics, Not Principle

  tags: Pluralism

  • 
    It may be that given Israelis lack of interest in changing the status quo, our making a big deal of Israel’s lack of religious pluralism and the corruption of the
    Orthodox establishment will simply alienate more Jews from Israel, which is already considered by many American Jews to be problematic with regard to liberal issues of rights
    and freedom. Only an explicitly explained boycott of all businesses and institutions under the control of the Orthodox political establishment has any chance of even getting
    significant attention. This would mean no visits to Meah Shearim or the Kotel, no spending money in the Old City, no praying at Heichal Shlomo or the Central Synagogue, and
    no support of Old City yeshivas. As with any policy of "sanctions," this needs to be targeted to hurt those in power, and not those who are vulnerable but caught
    in the fray. Local Israeli civil disobedience on this issue — a few thousand Israeli women and men demonstrating and yes, even getting arrested as is necessary in
    any genuine civil rights battle — would probably be helpful. These activists would be a wonderful constituency for Jews living here to connect with, as they already
    feel alienated from Israel due to these issues.

    
    

• No one is poor by choice (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: Welfare System

  • The data in the report shows not that ultra-Orthodoxy causes poverty but rather that poor people tend to become ultra-Orthodox, as the Shas phenomenon shows. The dismantling of the welfare state pushes the poor to seek help from ultra-Orthodox services. Embracing an ultra-Orthodox lifestyle in turn causes cultural changes among the poor, including an increase in the number of children in a family - which provides a justification for poverty.
    
    

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 11/28/2009

• The World Union for Progressive Judaism (Our Newsletter)

  "MARMUR DEFINES WORLD UNION’S VERY ESSENCE AT BIENNIAL"
  

  tags: Reform Judaism

  • MARMUR DEFINES WORLD UNION’S VERY ESSENCE AT BIENNIAL
    
    In a speech at the recent Union of Reform Judaism biennial in Toronto, Rabbi Dow Marmur, a former World Union executive director and rabbi emeritus of the city’s Holy Blossom Temple, called the World Union and its work “a vindication of faith and an endorsement of our way of expressing it.”
    
    “It’s reasonable to assume that Reform Jews in North America don’t need the World Union,” he said in insightful and inspiring remarks delivered at the organization’s Celebratory Luncheon on Thursday at the biennial. “Nevertheless, their involvement in it, and support for it, are crucial. Thanks to that support, Jews in remote places in the world can identify as Jews.”
    
    “Without the World Union, with the exception of Britain and perhaps France, there would be no Progressive, Liberal, Reform… Judaism in Europe today,” he continued, adding that in the former Soviet Union, “much of the revival of Jewish life is due to the spectacular achievements of our movement.” Turning to Israel, he said that Reform Judaism had become” something of a model of how to be Jewish in the Jewish state…. We must not let them down and thus let ourselves down by jeopardizing the Jewishness of Israel. The World Union, through its affiliate, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, is our vehicle.”
    
    To read the full text of Marmur’s speech, click here.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Post to Maskil_Activity 11/27/2009

• Using Windows Live Writer to post to Posterous (with pictures) (Scoobaa Scoobaa [josh's blog])

  tags: Posterous, WLW

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Blogger: I'm not a spammer, please unlock my blogs!

After years of having done nothing regarding the use of Blogger/Blogspot as the vehicle for spam blogs or splogs (see this post on the subject: J-Blogosphere: The Blogspot namespace and splogs), Google finally decided to tackle the problem.  This has resulted in lots of collateral damage ("false positives"), which now includes two of my blogs:

• Maskil_Sidewiki
• Israel High-Tech Newsletter

A couple of things really grate:

• I've been on Blogger since mid-2007.  Surely after more than two years of good behaviour, I'm not suddenly going to become King Spammer.
• In the past, Blogger would apparently send a notice via e-mail before starting the process.  Not in this case;  I only discovered they'd been locked when I went into the dashboard.
• During their 2008 purge, they apparently assured users that successfully reviewed blogs would be unlocked within 2 days.  My Sidewiki blog has been locked for a week now (since the 19th)!
• In the case of TechIsrael, I was actually busy editing the blog layout when it was locked.  How does that fit the profile of some automated bot posting spam links, or whatever?

Strangely enough, the blog I set up to replace Maskil_Sidewiki has not been touched, although all posting is automated through Diigo and Google Sidewiki.  The only diference I can think of is that one of my earliest posts was submitted manually through the post editor on the dashboard, announcing that it's not a splog!

Maskil_Activity: This is not a spam blog!

It's at times like this that one starts to understand the wisdom of self-hosting!

Technorati Tags: Blogger, Spam Blog

Post to Maskil_Activity 11/25/2009

• New Statesman - The New Israel Fund

  tags: Social Justice

  • Since 1979, NIF has fought for social justice and equality for all Israelis. We believe that Israel can live up to its founders' vision of a state that ensures complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, without regard to religion, race or gender.

    Widely credited with building Israel's progressive civil society from scratch, we have provided more than $200 million to more than 800 cutting-edge organizations since our inception. What's more, through our action arm, SHATIL, we mentor, train and lead Israeli civil society in an ongoing struggle to empower the underprivileged.

    We fight inequality, injustice and extremism because we understand that justice is the precondition for a successful democracy - and the only lasting road to peace.

    The Fund, which says powerfully that "the only secure Israel is a just Israel", prioritises social justice and civil rights.

• Climate Cover-Up (The Crusade to Deny Global Warming)

  tags: Global Warming

  • Starting in the early 1990s, three large American industry groups set to work on strategies to cast doubt on the science of climate change. Even though the oil industry’s own scientists had declared, as early as 1995, that human-induced climate change was undeniable, the American Petroleum Institute, the Western Fuels Association (a coal-fired electrical industry consortium) and a Philip Morris-sponsored anti-science group called TASSC all drafted and promoted campaigns of climate change disinformation.

    
    

    The success of those plans is self-evident. A Yale/George Mason University poll taken late in 2008 showed that — 20 years after President George H.W. Bush promised to beat the greenhouse effect with the “White House effect” — a clear majority of Americans still say they either doubt the science of climate change or they just don’t know. Climate Cover-Up explains why they don’t know. Tracking the global warming denial movement from its inception, public relations advisor James Hoggan (working with journalist Richard Littlemore), reveals the details of those early plans and then tracks their execution, naming names and exposing tactics in what has become a full-blown attack on the integrity of the public conversation.

• Changes in American Jewish Identities Since 1948: From Norms to Aesthetics (eJewish Philanthropy: The Jewish Philanthropy Blog)

  tags: no_tag

• The future of Israeli high-tech: Jewish brains aren't enough (Haaretz Israel News)

  tags: High-tech

  • But more than anything, Israel has been devoid of a clear foreign policy. This creates a persistent sense of insecurity about the future. Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed for years that Israel's economic growth is no longer affected by the general political situation; that Israel can continue on its current path for a long time without paying an economic price. This is a highly questionable assumption. Foreign investors may indeed think that the political situation does not constitute a risk factor when it comes to R&D on a small scale: knowledge generated by small companies can be moved very quickly from one country to the next.
    
    
    
    The same doesn't hold true for production facilities and large companies; they require huge investment, and they cannot be moved quickly in case of emergency. The option of a third intifada or the resumption of hostilities in some other form looms large because of the political stalemate. This situation is certainly not conducive to a state of mind that leads to development of companies for the long haul.
    
    
    
    Israel's lack of a political horizon and long-term planning are the main reasons why our high-tech industry is oriented towards short-term gains. If Israel's citizens are sometimes accused of just living for the day, we cannot blame them anymore than we should accuse the high-tech sector of short sightedness. High-tech entrepreneurs and investors cannot plan further ahead than the infrastructure of the state allows.
    
    

• Click: 17th October (BBC NEWS Programmes Click)

  Tags for:
  Click: 17th October
  Portus Project
  Ground penetrating radar
  Polynomial texture mapping
  Archaeological Computing Research Group
  Autodesk 3ds Max
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  tags: Antiquities

• Israel Water Technologies Can Boost Himachal’s Farm Productivity (Dhumal My Himachal)

  tags: Water

  • Shimla: To boost productivity in agriculture and horticulture crops as well as have technical collaboration on renewal energy, the Himachal government would try and enter into a memorandum of understanding with Israel with approval from the central government, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal disclosed here today.

    
    

    Speaking to the media after returning from the a three day visit to Israel where the chief minister participated in WATEC – Israel 2009, an international exhibition cum conference on water related technologies held in Tel Aviv, he said, “the Israeli government was keen to enter into an early MoU with Himachal and we have asked our diplomatic office in Tel Aviv to prepare a document that could be agreeable to their as well as our union governments.”

    
    

    Other than the feasibility of technology transfer especially in water management, waste management, opportunities in tourism would be explored as over 50,000 Israeli tourists visit Himachal annually, he said.

    
    

    The country had emerged a leader in drip and sprinkler irrigation system and by being able to recycle about 75 percent sewage water for irrigation, the small country with a population of 70 lakh people had been able to achieve very high productivity levels in all crops grown including apples, said Dhumal.

    
    

• Badal seeks technology from Israel Water Management firms to tackle Industrial pollution in Punjab (PunjabNewsline.com)

  tags: Water

  • TEL AVIV(ISRAEL): Leading players in cutting edge solar energy technology, agriculture, water management fighting the problem of water salination, environmental and water pollution are likely to visit Punjab in the coming days as a follow up to the joint developmental thrust proposed between Israel and Punjab.

    
    
    

    The government of India has been approach to facilitate the process.

    Earlier, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal  called on the Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour of Israel Binyamin Ben-Eliezer last evening to explore the possibility of joint collaboration between Israel and Punjab in several developmental areas.

    Giving the details Chief Minister's Media Adviser Harcharan Bains said that during the meeting with the captains of Industry and Experts, Badal laid special stress on efficient and cost effective treatment of water for domestic as well as agriculture purposes. 

• Israel water tech thrives in weakened economy (Green Business Reuters)

  tags: Water

  • TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel's water technology sector has prospered despite the global financial crisis, largely due to global stimulus packages and penetration in developing countries, officials said on Wednesday.

    
    
    
    

    Though affected by a slowdown in spending in the country and throughout the world, Israel's Ministry of Industry and Trade said there is an "opposite and strong trend" in the demand for water technologies that will generate growth in companies.

    
    
    
    

    At least half of Israel's water industry leaders will present sales growth in 2009 despite the global crisis, the ministry projected at its annual WATEC conference in Tel Aviv.

    
    
    
    

• Israel Signs New Agricultural Agreement with the EU (NEW EUROPE The European News Source)

  tags: Agriculture

  • On Wednesday, November 4, a new agricultural agreement was signed in Brussels between Israel and the European Union, which improves access to both markets.
    
    The new agreement, which updates the original agricultural agreement signed in the 1970's, is the result of lengthy negotiations led by Israel's Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. Since the original signing, the agreement has been updated several times in order to reflect the significant changes in the needs of both parties.
    
    Access to the markets of both sides has been greatly improved. In the processed agricultural products sector, over 95% of the products will be exempt from all taxes or levies. Considerable liberalization was undertaken in regards to all areas of fresh products and approximately 80% will be exempt from all customs restrictions.
    
    Each year, around one billion euros of Israeli agricultural and processed food products are exported to the EU.
    
    Europe is Israel's most important trading partner in the agricultural field. More than 25% of Israel's agricultural products and more than 75% of its total fresh agricultural products are exported to European countries.

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