How Do I Love Bibi? Let Me Count The Ways

Bravo Bibi, Bravo

"The UN, begun as a moral force, has become a moral farce."

The Golan Heights

This is the only video I took in Israel, except for a time lapse outside of our hotel window in Tel Aviv.

If I know an area I like to take shots that will be tomorrow's "then" to some future date's "now." but I can't really do that if I am in a strange location. My other option is to somehow tell a story with the video. I would have missed most of the tour if I tried to do that with the video camera. Sometimes it is easy to do with a still camera, as I did on our trip. I took several hundred still photos (thank goodness for digital cameras or I would have put my retirement off to age 119 just to pay for the processing).

This video is of a former Syrian emplacement in the Golan Heights. It is now part of Israel.

#BurnedAlive

Anne posted this heartbreaking and horrific story on Legal Insurrection.

11 year-old Ayala Shapira was travelling in the car with her father Avner late at night on her way home from a class for gifted children to their home in the settlement of Maale Shomron in Samaria. 

A firebomb thrown by two Palestinians hiding at the side of the road not only hit the car, but smashed through the window and landed directly on Ayala, causing her to catch fire. Her father stopped the car and Ayala had the presence of mind to throw herself on the ground and roll on the floor to put out the flames. They were in a deserted spot about a kilometer from their home and help was slow in coming so Avner picked Ayala up in his arms and carried her home to wait for the emergency services.

You may need a few tissues.

Interesting Architecture of Israel

During our trip to Israel I was fascinated with the architecture.  Buildings, and parts thereof, make good subjects for photographs. The angles stand out and the uniqueness of the style takes you to another place -- and perhaps another time.

One of the most famous buildings in Jerusalem and one of the most famous hotels in the world is the King David.

You can almost see Eva Marie Saint on the terrace.

One day we stopped to have lunch in Megiddo. The patio area had a nice charm to it:

The food was surprisingly good.

I have this thing about photographing stairs. I don't know what it is about them, but taking a nice photo of stairs is a Holy Grail for me. These were in the artist colony of Zefat.

The architecture adds to these.

 A building in Zefat.

Happy to see the Israeli flag in the window.

 Another set of stairs, this time looking down.

The passageways in these towns were pretty narrow.

A building in Akko. This structure has been around for hundreds of years and was used a a prison by just about everyone who controlled the area.

The English were the last to use this a a prison in the 1940's.

 The Bahai Gardens in Haifa.

With the requisite stairs.

 This was in Jaffa.

It is really hard to tell how old buildings are.

 Another building in Jaffa

A definite middle-eastern look to this.

Sometimes it pays to be nosey. I saw an abandoned building with the door nailed shut. The glass in the door was broken. I looked in and saw this.

I love this photo.

 As I recall, this building as bombed in the 1940's and is significant in history.

The history is long in this part of the world, and fascinating.

 The clock tower of Jaffa.

A rather timely photo.

I love this age of digital photography. You can take as many photos as you want and sort through them later. You can also see if you need to retake a photo. And you won't be paying more for the pictures than you paid for the trip itself.

Get Well Soon Magic Fayre!

Let's tuck Fay into a comfy chair with pillows and a soft blanket and pour her a chilled glass of wine. For those who haven't heard, she fell and broke her arm on her trip to Israel. I'll let her and Matt tell the story. In the meantime....

Happy Chanukah!

Hmm. maybe the title should be written Happy Hannukah/Hanukah/Chanukah ? You can delete as many H's, c's and n's as you want. 

Note that I spell Chanukah differently each time I use it...

Since Christmas starts the minute Chanukah finishes I wanted to get in first and post some cute Hanukkah videos for your enjoyment.

First, here's a lovely video showing what Hanukah looks like in Jerusalem. I just wish they had added the real background sound rather than this bland playback. But the visuals are great.

Post by ISRAEL21c - A Focus Beyond.

Next we have a great rendering by of the Maoz Zur hymn that we sing after lighting the candles. It is sung by soldiers of the IDF. They may be great fighters but singers? Not so much... LOL.

Post by The Jewish Standard.

And last but not least, for those of you who are not too sure what Hanukah is all about - don't worry! You are not alone! 




Happy Hannukah to all those celebrating! (and also to those who aren't)

(And by the way, I love the pretty Menorah you've posted on the sidebar!)

Israel Strikes

Parchin nuke plant in Iran blown to smithereens.

"... the explosion on Sunday evening was “so intense that windows of buildings 15 km (nine miles) away were shattered.” 

“The glare from the blast could also be seen from a great distance,” the report said."

 Good.

Ben Shapiro "I have never been more ashamed to be an alumnus of this university"

"Ben Shapiro, reporter and talk show host, makes the trip to his Alma Mater, UCLA, to make a statement against the BDS, a pro-Palestinian movement who supports boycotting Israeli products made in Judea and Samaria. “I have never been more ashamed to be an alumnus of this university,” Shapiro tells the audience. Shapiro’s audacity and courage made it possible for more Israel supporters to speak up at the BDS hearing, and, ultimately, the proposal was voted down. Thank goodness for Ben Shapiro and some healthy Jewish chutzpa!"

via Israel Video Network



Hat Tip:  Devon aka RWC from many moons ago in a strange green universe....

Turns out this is an old video but the truth is still the truth.

Two Bags Full

A Double Feature

How wonderful...

 

Do not attempt to watch unless you have a box of tissues at hand.  Hat tip and thanks to annie.

Something for the soul

I'm taking the liberty of cross-posting this from my own blog. As an antidote to the bad news that has been dominating the news lately, this is in a class all of its own. I was considering keeping this piece for my weekly Good News Friday post, but it really deserves and needs a stand-alone post.

Ascending a precipice, we approach a lone tree reaching upwards to its Maker. (photo: Qanta Ahmed)

This is simply one of the most beautiful and moving articles about Israel that I have ever read. You may think it is written in prose, but it is pure poetry. It could almost be set to music.

It brought tears to my eyes and made me yearn for my country - and I'm right here, living in it.

The most incredible thing about this is that it's written by a Muslim woman of Pakistani origin, the amazing Dr. Qanta Ahmed.

Here's just a short excerpt of "This is the Land" which is also accompanied by the most glorious photos of Israel, taken by Qanta Ahmed herself:

Rolling fields are immaculately tended. Not an inch of space goes to waste. Dates, mangoes, bananas grow in neat lines, ranks of an impossible army. Some of the more delicate fruits are veiled – protection from bats. For the first time I see pomegranate trees! Gracefully bowed, their short branches deeply curved, weighted with still young fruit supplicate to the Holy land.

The golden land of Galilee. (photo: Qanta Ahmed)[/

[...]

Yet still the land unfolds: fields; lapis-colored reservoirs; soft rolling hills. No one has prepared me for the soft beauty of the Golan. In my brain I had conjured images of a demilitarized zone, barren, desecrated and godforsaken. Instead I see a landscape which speaks England. Neat fields, intensely green, pepper the landscape. Soft brown hills evoke the Scottish Highlands save the purple heather. This land was host to conflicts and wars, bunkers and bombs? Somehow, like the rest of Israel, the resilient land has recovered and not only repaired, but blossomed, responding to destruction with incredible vitality and bold beauty. What spirit, this land!

[...]

After two weeks of being in Israel, I now accept there are many things here I will not understand, including how Israelis can move towards not only tolerance in peace, but nurturing partnerships with those once their mortal enemies.

[...]

In the days before I have clumsily clambered over Jerusalem. I have competed with tourists from every corner of the globe. I have stayed in East Jerusalem and West. I have visited shrines to the three great monotheisms and cast prayers at every site, some written, some spoken, all heartfelt. But nothing prepares for the view of Jerusalem as God sees it – the view from His heavenly throne.

If those words alone didn't move you to tears you need to read some more. Be sure to click on all the photos in both photo galleries accompanying this article. They are a work of art in themselves.

Go and read "This is the Land". You know you want to.

Yom Hashoah 2013 - Israel's Holocaust Memorial Day

Yom Hashoah 5773 - 2013

Yom Hashoah, Israel's Holocaust Memorial Day, began this evening with the annual ceremony at Yad Vashem. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke of Israel's need not forfeit its security to other nations:

Netanyahu stated that anti-Semitic hatred "has not disappeared, it has been switched with murderous hatred against the state of the Jews. What has changed is our ability to defend ourselves."

The prime minister stated that while Israel appreciated the efforts of the world to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions, Israel "cannot forfeit our security to other nations...not even to our closest allies."

PM Binyamin Netanyahu speaks at the Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem

President Shimon Peres reminded us and the world that anti-Semitism still exists and is still a threat to the Jewish people and all humanity:

The map of Europe still contains local stains of anti-Semitism. Racism erupted on that land in the last century and dragged it down to its lowest point. Ultimately the murder which came from her, damaged her.

To our shame, there remain some who learned nothing. Young skinheads. False scientists dressed in false suits. Yes! There remain those who forget the Holocaust, those who deny it.

Not all the flames have been extinguished. Crises are once again exploited to form Nazi parties, ridiculous but dangerous. Sickening anti-Semitic cartoons are published allegedly in the name of press freedom.

[...]

The civilized world must ask itself how in such a short space of time after the crematoria were extinguished, after the terrible death toll that the allied powers endured to put an end to the Nazi devil, it is still possible for the leadership, like that of Iran, to openly deny the Holocaust and threaten another Holocaust.

Peres' words are reinforced by the news that there has been a 30% increase in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide in 2012. Most shockingly, and counter-intuitively, anti-Semitic incidents lead to more anti-Semitism, not less: