Israeli condescension toward the Diaspora
Dec 31, 2009The Forward is running a piece about an Orthodox school in New York sending some of its students to a religious Israeli school to experience Israeli realities and to improve their Hebrew.
Next year, the Israeli school is due to send four of its own students to the American school in a return visit:
In fact the school... has a blanket ban on overseas school trips, as it abides by a religious-Zionist view that it is prohibited, under normal circumstances, to leave the Land of Israel. But both West Bank institutions are making exceptions for this visit.
“Rabbi Eitan Eiseman, the head of the Tzvia-Noam school network... has said time and time again that for halachic reasons we should not allow our students to leave Israel,” Rachel Kaplan, principal of Ulpanat Tzvia, told the Forward. “But an exception was made for the exchange program with the Yeshiva University high schools because the students are leaving Israel as shlichim[emissaries] of the Jewish people, with the goal of enhancing the lives of their American counterparts with Israeli culture and the Israeli experience.”
I strongly object to this attitude to the diaspora, particularly condescending when we are talking about a school in one of the most heavily 'Jewish' areas of America, with exceptionally strong Jewish infrastructure and Jewish life. It never occurs to her that her students have something to learn from the American school and the American community - perhaps about community life or modern Orthodox values. They are simply there to teach the ignorant, quivering diaspora Jews.
Maybe Mrs Kaplan should join the students in their trip to America. She might be astounded by what she finds.
Calling Judge Goldstone
Dec 31, 2009The latest figures released by the United Nations show that 2,021 civilians died during clashes [in Afghanistan] in the first 10 months of this year, up from 1,838 for the same period last year. International forces' stepped up efforts to protect the population has reduced civilian casualties. Taliban insurgents were blamed for 68 percent of the deaths this year — three times more than NATO forces, according to the U.N.
As Yaakov Lozowick notes, this means that NATO forces killed 646 civilians in Afghanistan by the end of October this year - "or 65 a month, or two a day. Afghanistan is mostly a rural place, not densely populated."
But no sign of an international inquiry as yet....
How Israelis keep their airport safe(r)
Dec 31, 2009The attempted bombing of a flight heading to America last week has generated lots of discussion, in the US, about the Israeli method of airport security. I linked to a couple of pieces yesterday; today there is an interesting piece in the Toronto Star revealing many details I was not previously aware of:
At the check-in desk, your luggage is scanned immediately in a purpose-built area. [Security expert Rafi] Sela plays devil's advocate — what if you have escaped the attention of the first four layers of security, and now try to pass a bag with a bomb in it?
"I once put this question to Jacques Duchesneau (the former head of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority): say there is a bag with play-doh in it and two pens stuck in the play-doh. That is 'Bombs 101' to a screener. I asked Ducheneau, 'What would you do?' And he said, 'Evacuate the terminal.' And I said, 'Oh. My. God.'
"Take Pearson [Toronto's main airport - MS]. Do you know how many people are in the terminal at all times? Many thousands. Let's say I'm (doing an evacuation) without panic — which will never happen. But let's say this is the case. How long will it take? Nobody thought about it. I said, 'Two days.'"
A screener at Ben-Gurion has a pair of better options.
First, the screening area is surrounded by contoured, blast-proof glass that can contain the detonation of up to 100 kilos of plastic explosive. Only the few dozen people within the screening area need be removed, and only to a point a few metres away.
Second, all the screening areas contain 'bomb boxes'. If a screener spots a suspect bag, he/she is trained to pick it up and place it in the box, which is blast proof. A bomb squad arrives shortly and wheels the box away for further investigation.
"This is a very small simple example of how we can simply stop a problem that would cripple one of your airports," Sela said.
Read the whole piece here.
(h/t: Harry)
Room at the Limmud inn
Dec 30, 2009Funny story from blogger David Bogner, an American-Israeli attending Limmud for the first time:
My flight landed well after 11:00 PM on Xmas eve at Heathrow. By the time I'd gotten my bag and made my way to the nearby hotel, it was well after midnight. Luckily I'd told them when making my reservation that I would need a late check in.
Or so I thought.
When I arrived at the front desk, the West Indian looking (and sounding) gentleman behind the counter seemed to have some trouble locating my reservation... and they were all booked up. I watched him poking around in his computer for a minute or two and then spoke up:
Me: "I hope there's no trouble with my reservation, I can't imagine trying to find a room at this hour.
Desk Clerk [after glancing meaningfully over the top of his glasses at my kippah]: "Don't worry sir, if there's one thing the hospitality industry has learned in the last 2000 years it is to never turn a Jew away on Xmas eve".
Israeli airline security - good for the Americans?
Dec 30, 2009Megan McArdle asks whether American airports should take up Israeli-style security screening, and notes:
Maybe we could do it smarter, like the Israelis do. But the Israelis also armor the holds of their airliners, making it very difficult to blow them up--and impossible to fly at a profit.
I didn't know they armoured the holds. Yet another reason to fly El Al...
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Goldberg has an interesting interview with security expert Bruce Scheiener on American airline security, which is worth reading in full. He opens with the same question McArdle addresses:
Jeffrey Goldberg: Do you think that we are moving toward the Israelification of American airport security?
Bruce Schneier: I don't think it's possible. The Israelis rely on a system of individual attention -- interviews, background checks, and so on -- that simply can't be replicated on the scale required for America. If anything, we're moving in the opposite direction: layers of annoying, time consuming, ineffectual, static -- but automatic and scalable -- security systems. Although it seems that we're finally hitting the limit as to what the American business travel will put up with, and no security measure will survive wholesale rejection by the airlines' most profitable customers.
Seems to me that it would be possible if the Americans willed it. Isn't the main obstacle, which Scheiener, doesn't address, that the Israelis racially profile - and the American (and European) public are still not ready to do that?
Hamas rejecting the Shalit deal would play into Bibi's hands
Dec 30, 2009The Israeli media, quoting Al Jazeera, is reporting that Hamas is rejecting the Shalit deal in its current form. A Hamas spokesman told the network that they will “continue the negotiations” – although Israel has already said that the offer currently on the table would be the last.
Ironically, the Hamas attempt to play hardball might be good for Bibi.
It is clear that, much as Netanyahu would like to save Gilad Shalit – no one doubts this – he does not really, truly want to do the deal. Netanyahu has spent his career preaching against giving in to terrorists. A deal with Hamas, particularly one involving releasing over 1,000 terrorists, including several responsible for major terror attacks, goes against everything Netanyahu has ever stood for.
He also knows that the deal is strategically disastrous for Israel, potentially undermining or even completely destroying PA President Mahmoud Abbas, strengthening and giving a moral boost to Hamas, and letting hundreds of terrorists who are likely to re-offend back into Palestinian society.
On the other hand, it is clear that a majority of Israelis are in favour of a deal and that Netanyahu is finding it very hard to resist the pressure.
Netanyahu and his ‘kitchen cabinet’ worked visibly hard last week to come to a realistic offer, one which was painful for Israel but which would nevertheless maintain some red lines, refusing to release the very worst terrorists. The entire country watched carefully as Bibi and his closest ministers and advisors conducted a 24-hour marathon of deliberations. They know that he really did try to close this deal.
A Hamas rejection would essentially let Bibi off the hook. He could argue – and I think people would accept -- that Israel did everything it can do free Gilad Shalit, but that in the end, the deal was impossible.
The price, sadly, would be Gilad Shalit, who would suddenly become dispensable to his captors. For the sake of this young soldier, let us hope that some kind of resolution is still found.
A dybbuk hits Brazil
Dec 29, 2009The Charedi ban on the internet does not hold in all circumstances, apparently.
Just recently, a man in Brazil exhibiting strange behaviour was diagnosed as being posessed by a dybbuk. (Yes, in 2009.)
After referral to a couple of the world's leading rabbis, he was sent to the renowned master of Kabbalah, Rav Batzri, in Israel. Due to the distance, Rav Batzri attempted to remove the dybuk - via Skype!
You can watch the less-than-impressive ceremony here.
Not surprisingly, the attempted exorcism was unsuccessful - maybe there was a bad internet connection? - and the possessed man was last heard of on his way to Israel, to have the spirit removed in person.
I'd love to hear his interview with the El Al security people.....
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