What is it about 16 people locked up in a villa for 100 days? When it was launched, I simply ignored the Israeli version of “Big Brother”. I figured it was way too stupid for me to spend time on. Then one day, sometime around day 60 or so, I turned on the TV, and there they were. I got hooked. I actually went and watched all of the previous episodes too, on VOD.

There, it’s out. You can all go on and make fun of me now. Before you do, I have some thoughts to share. Some “intellectual” insights gained from watching this show.

One of the major issues on the show is a supposed Ashkenazi/Sepharadi rift. Actually, I’m using the word “Sepharadi” for the benefit of English speakers. The current term for Jewish people of Middle East origins is Mizrahi (literally: Easterners). In the villa, you have Yossi Booblil and his daugher Einav Booblil, evoking this issue again and again, with them being “The Mizrahim” and supposedly suffering from the condescendence of the Ashkenazi players.

Yossi Booblil

The Booblils (aren’t we lucky it’s not “Lilboobs?”) are of North African origins (Yossi having a distinct Lybian accent). His daughter is the one complaining of being looked down at by players such as Shifra Kornfeld (typical Ashkenazi name) and Tzabar Gadish.

Shifra Cornfeld

This is actually quite an interesting topic, which uncovers a the cultural pychosis inherent in the Israeli national character. The Western liberal “European” cultural streak, contrasted by the Eastern conservative “Arab” one.

Interestingly, I think Booblil’s complaint reflects something that I have heard before from some Arab participants on boards. Many of them are saying that Israel brings something that is culturally foreign to the region. That these “Jews from Europe” don’t want to become part of the Middle East, but rather to bring in a culture that is not local and can’t be tolerated here. They have a point, in a way - both the Booblil’s of Israel and the Arabs. There is a definite part in Israel which does not want to blend in the Middle East, that wants to retain its affinity to Western culture, to liberal values, to European mannerism and behavior codes, if you like.

Here’s another interesting fact. Being Asheknazi or Mizrahi, as this show clearly shows, has very little to do with your “genetic” heritage. Despite Booblil Jr.’s complaints, Shifra, Tzabar and Leon (Schinerovsky - can’t get any more Ashkenazi than that in name!) have aligned with Shai Sheetrit (clearly of North African descent) and with the Arab player, Ranin too. The show’s “rich bitch” who was totally “Ashkenazi” in behavior and in who she hooked up with - was Keren Hasis (Morrocan name there, again). It’s a mixed world out there, and while there is a clear cultural distinction, it really doesn’t necessarily correlate to people’s actual origins.  Or as Einav Booblil said it so well: “Even the Arab they brought into the show is an Ashkenazi”

On a more positive note, and a more personal one too, being a mongrel myself (of Tunisian origin from Mom’s side and Polish from Dad’s side), I think that there is a certain blend of both culture always going on. The Ashkenazi today - using this in the cultural sense, again - are not as European or Western as they’d like to think. The Mizrahi are not as hardcore Middle Eastern or as conservative as they were a couple of generations ago. There is a unique blend constantly being created in our little melting pot. It’s happening not only in Israel, but in Lebanon too, and to some extent in some groups in Egypt and Jordan as well as among the Palestinians. I imagine it may be happening elsewhere in the Middle East as well. This new sub-culture, with its free-spirited, liberal, democratic values may just be the key to a peaceful and prosperous Middle East in the future. Inshalla.

Every once in a while, I get one of these frantic virus warnings from a thoughtful friend or relative:

Hi All,  this has been checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus! and it is for real!!
Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND
CONTACTS!

This alarming message is followed by a description of “the latest” virus around.

This comes from people I love and care for, and I usually take the time and email back to explain. I figured I’d put it all in a post for a change, for easy reference. So here’s the bottom line:

You should never forward virus warnings to “friends, family and contacts”.

It’s not only useless, it’s actually a form of manual mail virus that you are distributing. Don’t worry, it’s not going to harm anyone’s computer. What it does instead is load up email servers around the globe with useless emails, sent over and over again by caring individuals. Like a virus, these emails mutliply exponentially and create a burden to servers and recepients alike.

Here is why these warnings are pointless:

New computer viruses are constantly written and released into cyber space. Some may be more successful and spread more quickly while others are more limited. The point is, you can’t keep track in your head of every new virus (not to mention “old” ones which never completely die out). For that reason, it doesn’t make any sense to inform people of a specific virus.

Are these warning emails harmful?

Yes, they are. Not only do they clog up servers and take up everyone’s valuable time, they also get forwarded to huge mailing lists when caring recipients forward them to their entire list of contacts. Almost always, these emails are open for all to see, and are preserved in the body of the email, as the next recipient forwards it on. I sometimes get these warnings with thousands of personal email addresses tagging along together in cyberspace. I don’t mean to sound paranoid, but these lists are like candy for spammers who can harvest them and add those emails to their nasty reservoirs.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some spammers start these chain letters, hoping to to harvest a few thousands of valid email addresses this way. It’s just a conspiracy theory, of course. I’d like to believe that the majority of these warnings are actually spawned by caring individuals. Either way, they create a huge collection of valid emails surfing around the net creating, at the very least, a privacy issue for all concerned.

What can you do?

It’s simple really. Follow simple safety rules when it comes to using your computer and forget about the viruses altogether. It’s not worth worrying about, as long as you maintain a basic anti-virus routine. Here are the two golden rules, offered as friendly advice:

1. Always run an up-to-date version of a good anti-virus program. Have your anti-virus software check for updates at least on a daily basis. Run full scans of your system every few days - just in case.

2. Never ever open email attachments unless you’ve been expecting them. Even if they show up as being sent from a friend or relative, it could still be a virus pretending to be the latest cool powerpoint presentation or PDF file. DO NOT OPEN IT. It’s that simple.

Follow these two rules and you are pretty much covered: Anything that you get in a warning chain-letter kind of an email becomes redundant. After all, all these emails will tell you is to update your Anti-Virus software and not to open attachments.

There is more you can do to protect yourself from cyber-threats. If you really want to dive into it all, check out this page by Symantec (the makers of the famous Norton Anti-Virus):

http://www.symantec.com/norton/security_response/index.jsp

Click on the items in the navigation menu to the left there and you too can become an expert on internet security.

Hopefully, if you took the time to read my humble post here, you won’t be forwarding virus warning emails to “your friends, relatives and contacts” ever again. For myself, from now on, when I receive one, I am going to send them back a link to this page. Hopefully, you’ll do the same The key here is education, and if we can teach people not to forward these warnings, we’ll help destroy this form of human-powered viral contamination of the web.

The link directly to this post is:

http://www.israelimom.org/general/209/virus-warning.html

In case you want to help spread the word - thank you!

We had a small birthday party at his kindergarten yesterday morning, with games for the kids, songs, a cake and all that. Then today, we had a small get-together for the family. It was just grandparents (the ones currently in the country, anyway), IsraeliDad’s brother and his wife, my brother and his wife and two daughters and my sister.  It was a nice intimate breakfast/brunch outside, followed by a cake decorated with a homemade Omnitrix (IsraeliDad’s special design) and lots of presents.

We were worried it may rain, as we have to hold such family meetings outdoors (our home is way too small). Fortunately, it was a glorious day. Just beautiful. In fact, I had a great time just driving along to bring my Mom, Grandpa and sister over here. Nature was putting on a lovely autumn morning display.

Not only did someone hang a large pale moon up in the bright blue sky, but there were also large flocks of white and black storks flying in the sky along the beach. Clearly visible from the road, they looked like they were dancing in huge circles, up and down and into each other. Just beautiful. Made me feel sorry everytime the traffic lights changed back to green.

I didn’t take this picture - was too busy driving - but this picture from the website of the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel shows you what they look like. Multiple this by about 100, and imagine them gliding through the sky in huge circles. I found a video of storks over the Karmel ridge which is not far from where I spotted mine this morning. It’s blurry, but it might give you a sense of the sheer size of these majestic flocks.

I’ll post some pictures from Dan’s birthday parties later on - still haven’t downloaded them from the camera.

It’s Election Day here in Israel today. Just for the local municipalities, thankfully, but still quite the festival. IsraeliDad has volunteered to help our candidate, so he’s there “in the field” from dawn till who knows when. For me, after a long day with the kids, it’s time to tune in to Big Brother - the Israeli version. Yeah, I’m shallow. Sue me.

Today, my dear parents-in-law are leaving us for a month to tour Burma. Fortunately, just before they were about to leave we finally got news from their son and his wife - Oren and Lesley, who finally made it to India in their boat, along with their sailing dog Sheva.

We had last heard from them some 50 days ago, as they were heading from Eritrea down the Red Sea to India. We knew their route was taking them through hostile water, with non-friendly countries on either side and a sea notorious in its pirates to cross. They had estimated the journey at three weeks, so we were naturally quite worried by now.

So, finally, we heard from the adventurous couple this morning, with an email letting us know that they have made it safely to India. Apparently, it has been quite the adventure, as they were close to becoming stranded at sea with no food or water… but finally, they made it through. And no, no pirate attacks. How disappointing.

So, welcome back to civilization, Lesley and Oren. Glad you survived without having to resort to eating Sheva!

You can read more about their adventures as soon as Lesley updates their wonderful blog at - www.chasamba.com

I have spent sometime since initially making this post this morning, trying to gather up more information. I have found no indication in the Israeli press that any women were brought out of Gaza during the operation.

I have mentioned Wafa before, although not by name. He is a great guy I met through the MePeace community. 25 years old, living in Gaza, Wafa is a student of English, about to become an English teacher soon, and a member of the Palestinian rescue forces.

I intend to write more about Wafa and his vision, and our fascinating communications. For now, I am introducing him as “my source in Gaza”. You see, Wafa is kind enough to keep members of MePeace updated with news from inside Gaza. It’s a fascinating opportunity for me to learn how things look from the other side, on the ground, so to speak. Wafa being a peace seeking patriotic Palestinian, I feel that he provides a rather objective and non inflammatory point of view.

Today, Wafa sent us all this message:

Palestinian family in the central Gaza Strip Appealed institutions of international humanitarian and human rights to intervene to release the three women ‘abducted’ by Israeli occupation forces from their homes during the incursion in the east of Maghazi refugee camp two days ago. WHY?????
Because their brother is wanted to israeli occupation forces.

On his page on MePeace, there were images of the three women too.

(Photo: AP Photo/Yehuda Lahiani)

Well, I am curious too, and would like to try and help, in whatever little way I can. I’ll start by providing my own perspective.

Israel has been known to go into various places, sometimes in other countries and abduct people to arrest them, so it’s not that I think this is something unheard of. I don’t know if it actually did take place or not - trying to find out. My perspective relates to the possibility that it is true.

I have no idea if and why their brother is indeed wanted for questioning, but if he is, it may make some sense to hold the sisters for a brief investigation and try to find out where he is. I would expect them to be released afterwards though - it’s not like Israel is in the habit of keeping family members of wanted persons in its jails (if it were, those jails would be overflowing by now…)

We do know, from the media, that the sisters were not the target in this particular mission. The target was the tunnel, constructed by Hamas with the purpose of kidnapping another Israeli soldier. According to Palestinian sources quoted in one of the newspapers, the information about the tunnel and the plan were provided by a Palestinian recently arrested by the Israeli security forces.

These are all my own assumptions, based on the information provided by the media. My point being, in all likelihood, this was not some pre-planned kidnapping. Question remains, why are they not released after the questioning and sent back home to their family. I would think a couple of days is more than enough to ask a few questions.

In fact, while I think holding them captive during the operation itself and possibly for a few hours following that, for questioning, is a legitimate action - anything beyond that is morally wrong, IMO.

If this is an attempt to exert more pressure on the family, and hence on the brother, then I think this is an immoral and probably illegal measure. These women should not be held hostage until their brother shows up (and let’s face it, what is the likelihood of that happening?)

So, I have sent an email to my contact in the Ministry of Foregin Affairs, and will be making a phone call soon to the IDF Spokesperson, trying to get some answers. I’ll keep this post updated if I find anything new.

It has many variations, but the essence is the same. A group of people of various nationalities are asked to write essays about the elephant. Each brings his own perspective and national biases. In the versions I know, the French guy writes about the elephant’s love life; the German writes a meticulous introduction to elephants in six volumes; the Japanese writes about how to make smaller, smarter and cheaper elephants;  the American writes about how to make elephants that are bigger and shinier… and so on. The Jewish representative writes about “The Elephant and the Jewish Problem”.

The wording goes back to the Nineteenth century, early roots of Zionism, when Jews were very concerned with what they (and others) perceived as that “problem” of a people without a land. The concept lasted well into our own times though: judging anything and everything through the single narrow prism of being Jewish.

The Israeli version of this mindset is reflected in the question asked again and again in the Israeli media over the past couple of days: Is Obama good for Israel? and some even go as far as asking “Is Obama good for the Jews?” when what they mean in effect is the Jews in Israel.

The height of it was the media’s orgy over the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as the White House Chief of Staff. “Oh my God, an Israeli in the most important role in the USA! Obama is so wonderful for Israel!” Honestly, I thought at first he had an actual Israeli citizen appointed as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

This narrow-minded, shtettle mentality is so annoying to me. I am amazed so many people still use this terminology. Of course, what they actually wonder about is the future US policy in the Middle East, which is an interesting topic. But phrasing it like that just sounds so provincial and limited, and yet is so accepted in the Israeli media. Ridiculous, really, when you consider the  following two points:

1. Who the heck knows what’s good for Israel to begin with? There is so much internal dispute over this question. When America supports an Israeli policy to have more settlements in the Occupied Territories, is that good or bad for Israel? When America does apply pressure on Israel to get into negotiations with the Palestinians, or the Syrians for that matter, is that good or bad for Israel? Ask different people and you’ll get different answers anyway. Reminds me of the responses to Emanuel’s appointment when some people said it was actually proof that Obama is anti-Israeli, because Emanuel is actually, God forbid, a supporter of the Israeli peace movement.

2. Israel is actually, believe it or not, part of the world. If there’s anything the current economical crisis has shown it’s just how tightly bound together our globe is. The policies of the American President regarding the US itself effect the entire world, and ultimately, Israel as well. The question therefore should be the same as it is everywhere else: Is Obama good for America, and subsequently, is Obama good for the world. After all, any global changes that take place following American policy eventually effect us here as well.

So, I’ll wrap up this longish saying that I sincerely hope that Obama will be good for the US. It’s all I ask for really - the rest will follow on its own.

“Seven palestinians were killed as truce ended between palestinians and israelies.”

A single line that made my heart sink.

It’s such a shame. I hope both sides will have enough sense in them to prevent further escalation.

Some more background, by Haaretz:
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1034284.html

This was a military clash, and the Palestinians who were killed were, according to Hamas themselves, military personnel engaged in creating a tunnel into Israel through which they planned to kidnap another soldier. Six of them were killed when the tunnel exploded. It exploded and didn’t just collapse, because it had been booby-trapped from the inside, in preparation for the IDF discovering it.

I hope the Hamas has enough sense to see their own part in this. This wasn’t some wild attack on civilians. And, as with all stupid wars, “revenge” has been delivered in the form of 30 qassam rockets fired over the night.

Don’t get me wrong - I think it was a stupid move on the part of Israel, to shake this fragile truce. Just like it was a stupid move to build those tunnels filled with explosives to begin with. I just hope that with the new president in the White House, who knows, maybe some change will come to the Middle East as well.

We sure do need change here, more than “here we go again” lines…

I have developed quite the reputation for rescuing odd animals around these parts. Ever since I (successfully!) rescued a huge beetle, which I thought was a rare specimen, my rescues have become a bit of a family joke. Well, maybe it started with the chicken rescue, not sure.

Just that you don’t think I go around rescuing ants and mosquitoes, the bug, I was sure was a rare collector’s exotic beetle. It was totally huge too - the largest bug I had ever seen:

Turned out it was a local wild species after all, just unusually large. And yest, we found it a good home, actually, with a guy who goes around schools to teach kids about animals. He knew how to take good care of this beetle and was thrilled with it.

Anyways, this time around it was a bird. Not our first rescued bird. The aforementioned chicken was not a successful rescue. Although we did take it to the vet and had it treated properly (it had been injured by a dog), alas a few days later, another dog managed to get into its cage and all that was left was a single feathered wing We also had an unsuccessful heron rescue. It was sick, wouldn’t eat and eventually, despite our efforts, it died.

So, when we found a jay lying on the ground, I was worried. It looked ok, just wouldn’t fly. It looked old enough to fly, and was alert and feisty enough to keep pinching me with its beak. So, I decided to contact the Israeli wildlife authority. Now, jays are quite common in Israel, nothing rare about this pretty bird, so IsraeliDad was extremely skeptic that they would be remotely interested in this bird. But our bird was in luck. This very friendly guy appeared a few hours later, checked it over and even named it George. He couldn’t see anything wrong with him either, but said maybe an x-ray would show more, as George was possibly hit by a car, or maybe even shot somewhere further away from our place and managed to fly over to here.

So here’s “our” George, first in the cage we held him in (we didn’t want to touch him too much, so as not to stress it out):

and then held by the wildlife authority guy:

He was such a lively little guy. He kept trying to grab our fingers in its beak and sometimes succeeded - it wasn’t to painful, actually quite endearing:

So, good luck to you George. I hope you’re doing well in the wildlife hospital!