The sun was shining on the November day that I sat in a restaurant called the Brasserie in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, I was being bought lunch by a publisher and recieving both steak tartar and advice dished out in equal measure.
Among the generally pessimistic talk about the chances of being published in todays world the lady turned to the country itself and simply said "your grandparents never had Israel when they were growing up and the truth is that your grandchildren probably won't have one either so enjoy it while you can."
I was a bit put out by this and it got me to wondering if it was really true that Israel had such a short shelf life. The lady I was chatting to was older than me by a generation and seemed to feel that the arrogance of the country ran too deep, more specifically of the people in it, of the attitude of those that were in charge then she turned to the Muslims (her words) saying that they were too intransigent and too numerous for us to ever really succeed and she may well have a point.
Perhaps it comes down to that, perhaps it really is all in the numbers and the hatred and everything else is just irrelevent, the arguments go deeper than the events of the last few months or even years, as soon as we declared a state the entire Middle East declared war on it.
Am I now just pretending that it matters what Israel does, occupying the Palestinians, withdrawing from this piece of land or that, perhaps it really doesn't matter what we do, perhaps the dream is over and we just don't have the sense to open our eyes and accept the fact that we don't have the numbers for our own state, perhaps we don't have a strong enough will to maintain it in the face of constant battery.
Monday, 13 April 2009
Monday, 6 April 2009
And Now This!
Just read this:
"Israel's attorney general told Ehud Olmert that he plans to indict the former prime minister for alleged corruption in an investments affair."
What must the world think of us?
the whole article is here:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/05/1004253/israels-ag-warns-olmert
"Israel's attorney general told Ehud Olmert that he plans to indict the former prime minister for alleged corruption in an investments affair."
What must the world think of us?
the whole article is here:
http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/05/1004253/israels-ag-warns-olmert
Blogging Israel
Ok well I have (inevitably) changed my mind about the below and have decided to write about the Holy Land, we're a bit over due for a look at the Holy Land as, quite frankly I have been at a loss for words with regards to the new government that has been sworn in there recently.
A new Israeli government was sworn in on the 31 of March, the orientation of this government can only really be described as...bizarre. The new Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman has already been interrogated twice by police since taking office over allegations of fraud and corruption as part of an investigation that has been ongoing for years now.
Lieberman is the guy whose policy states that citizens of Israel should swear loyalty oaths in order to have voting rights. Maybe it's just me but it would seem to be common sense not to push the demographic already being targeted by Hamas propaganda for terrorist recruits into the arms of terrorists by making their lives needlessly more difficult than they already are.
Lieberman immigrated to Israel at the age of 20 changed his name from Evet Lvovich Lieberman and started down the path that has brought him to the heights of power at which he now sits and also led to him punching a 12 year old boy in the face a couple of years ago for which he was fined what, at the current rate of exchange, equals just over £1000, what a guy!
as for the new Prime Minister, I pulled this quote from his Wikipedia page:
"he is one of the most obnoxious individuals you're going to come into - just a liar and a cheat. He could open his mouth and you could have no confidence that anything that came out of it was the truth." That came from Clinton's White House press spokesman Joe Lockhart,
He has had his own share of corruption investigations according to a great profile of the man which can be found here in full http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3482383,00.html:
"In January 1997 Israel's Channel 1 reported his (Netanyahu's) appointment of would-be attorney general Ronnie Bar-On was tainted, granting him the dubious pleasure of being the first prime minister to be questioned by police on suspicion of foul play. The police recommended Netanyahu be indicted, but then Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein decided against the indictment."
"In August 1999, Yedioth Ahronoth published an exposé revealing that Netanyahus billed the Prime Minister's Office for private construction done at their Jerusalem home. In March 2000, following a well-published investigation, the police recommended Netanyahu be indicted for fraud, bribery, breach of trust and obstruction of justice."
It wouldn't really have bothered me if these two were at the heart of the new Israeli government had that government been composed of more likeminded, corrupt, nutters of the right. If this was the case I could happily have sat back and watched while that government quickly disintegrated under the weight of self interest greed and intransigence that exists in their Knesset representatives.
The real shock for me is that Barak has joined this zoo. The cynical betrayal of his voters ideology that Labour's joining of this coalition is the dagger that stabs at the heart of the system of proportional representation which Israel clings to. More and more it feels to me that the Israeli elections are irrelevent, the same faces remain everytime only their positions change. The parties chop and change and Members of Knesset leave one party for another again and again in order to ensure their positions. I find it difficult to see how not to become disillusioned. How could anyone get involved in politics over there without being afraid that the very principles which led to their involvement in politics would be ignored by their own party leaders simply in order to be in power.
I am only left with being able to say that at least Livni had the courage to stay in opposition if not the charisma and/or political nouse to be able to form a government with herself at the head on one of the numerous occasions where she had the chance.
A new Israeli government was sworn in on the 31 of March, the orientation of this government can only really be described as...bizarre. The new Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman has already been interrogated twice by police since taking office over allegations of fraud and corruption as part of an investigation that has been ongoing for years now.
Lieberman is the guy whose policy states that citizens of Israel should swear loyalty oaths in order to have voting rights. Maybe it's just me but it would seem to be common sense not to push the demographic already being targeted by Hamas propaganda for terrorist recruits into the arms of terrorists by making their lives needlessly more difficult than they already are.
Lieberman immigrated to Israel at the age of 20 changed his name from Evet Lvovich Lieberman and started down the path that has brought him to the heights of power at which he now sits and also led to him punching a 12 year old boy in the face a couple of years ago for which he was fined what, at the current rate of exchange, equals just over £1000, what a guy!
as for the new Prime Minister, I pulled this quote from his Wikipedia page:
"he is one of the most obnoxious individuals you're going to come into - just a liar and a cheat. He could open his mouth and you could have no confidence that anything that came out of it was the truth." That came from Clinton's White House press spokesman Joe Lockhart,
He has had his own share of corruption investigations according to a great profile of the man which can be found here in full http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3482383,00.html:
"In January 1997 Israel's Channel 1 reported his (Netanyahu's) appointment of would-be attorney general Ronnie Bar-On was tainted, granting him the dubious pleasure of being the first prime minister to be questioned by police on suspicion of foul play. The police recommended Netanyahu be indicted, but then Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein decided against the indictment."
"In August 1999, Yedioth Ahronoth published an exposé revealing that Netanyahus billed the Prime Minister's Office for private construction done at their Jerusalem home. In March 2000, following a well-published investigation, the police recommended Netanyahu be indicted for fraud, bribery, breach of trust and obstruction of justice."
It wouldn't really have bothered me if these two were at the heart of the new Israeli government had that government been composed of more likeminded, corrupt, nutters of the right. If this was the case I could happily have sat back and watched while that government quickly disintegrated under the weight of self interest greed and intransigence that exists in their Knesset representatives.
The real shock for me is that Barak has joined this zoo. The cynical betrayal of his voters ideology that Labour's joining of this coalition is the dagger that stabs at the heart of the system of proportional representation which Israel clings to. More and more it feels to me that the Israeli elections are irrelevent, the same faces remain everytime only their positions change. The parties chop and change and Members of Knesset leave one party for another again and again in order to ensure their positions. I find it difficult to see how not to become disillusioned. How could anyone get involved in politics over there without being afraid that the very principles which led to their involvement in politics would be ignored by their own party leaders simply in order to be in power.
I am only left with being able to say that at least Livni had the courage to stay in opposition if not the charisma and/or political nouse to be able to form a government with herself at the head on one of the numerous occasions where she had the chance.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Blogging Israel
I am not blogging on Israel any more there is nothing positive to say, I am desperately trying to think of the words wil allow me to continue to love the country that adopted me so readily but I am forced to watch it turn into a ridiculous mess of small people motivated only by their own self importance who think nothing of the country or people.
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