Fur flies over threat to Hasidic headwear

Tip of the shtreimel to photographer Gali Tibbon for this hairy tale about a possible ban on animal pelts from Asia, and how it could impact the ultra-Orthodox community inside Israel. Note that there also are fake fur hats for the rain - a better look perhaps than an elasticated shower cap fastened on for protection

For Jason Koutsoukis' original article,filed from Jerusalem, click here

At dusk on the Sabbath, few things are more spectacular in Jerusalem than the passing parade of fur hats moving inexorably towards the Western Wall.
There are great furry crowns of all shades of brown, lined with velvet and leather. Some are so wide and flat they look like a sombrero made of sable; others so high you might think they were top hats made of mink.
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They are shtreimels, the traditional headwear of some Hasidic Jews worn on the Sabbath and on holidays, but not to be confused with spodiks or kolpiks, other varieties of hairy hat reserved for more revered rabbinical sages.
Once symbols of persecution, they were first imposed by 18th-century Polish kings who decreed that Jews must wear the tail of an animal on the Sabbath to show they were not working.
The tradition spread through eastern Europe, with each Jewish sect adapting the shtreimel to its own taste, and instead of being a mark of persecution it became a symbol of pride.
Standing at the Damascus Gate to Jerusalem's Old City before sunset on Friday, watching the stream of shtreimels make their way to the holiest site in Judaism, the practised eye can tell a lot about each person just from the cut of their hat — the name of the sect each Hasid comes from, and which part of Europe their ancestors hailed from.
The shtreimel is also a dead giveaway for things such as the income of the wearer, what religious texts and customs they adhere to, and even whether or not they are Zionists.
Sitting in his office at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, dressed in a black tailcoat, black vest and white shirt, Rabbi Moses had just returned from heated debate in the Knesset chamber.
"People want to ban furs imported from Asia because of the way the animal is killed there," he says. "But what does this mean for the shtreimel?"
With the proposed law carrying a punishment of a year in prison, Rabbi Moses asks who will pay for the prisons to house all the law-breaking Jews who import the wrong kind of fur.
"Today, as I told the history of the shtreimel, what it means to Jewish history and custom, I left them all wide-eyed in the Knesset. Jaws open," he said.
Rabbi Moses said that the opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, was among those who approached him after his speech, offering her congratulations. End result? The bill has been deferred to committee.
To make one shtreimel can take up to 400 tails of various breeds of mink, sable and fox — the scrap of the fur industry.
Customers are fussy... The hardest part is measuring their heads to get an exact size.
With only 10,000 shtreimels produced around the world each year, it's definitely what you would call a niche market. But at a cost of up to $4000 each, it can be a profitable one.

Move over, Lucy. Meet Adam. Did modern man originate in Israel, not Africa?

The proof is not in yet --because these 400,000-year-old teeth have yet to be certified as coming from homo sapiens and not Neanderthals-- but much international excitement has been mounting after a scientist chap, aptly named Avi Gopher, dug up eight teeth in an Israeli archaeological site and announced this discovery to the world (perhaps a bit prematurely, according to at least one Cambridge Don, Paul Mellars.) Without a portion of an ancient skull or jaw bone associated with the teeth, he says it is difficult to verify that these teeth are irrefutable evidence of modern man residing in Israel twice as long as in Africa, as conventional wisdom has it.
The academics are looking forward to chewing over the various scholarly arguments and weighing the evidence. (And getting more funding for further digs.) Meanwhile, it certainly increases doubts about the existence and/or efficiency of the Tooth Fairy.

Rather appropriately, given such a toothsome topic, this will be the last post on Israelity Bites for a while. Izzy Bee has been away from the Holy Land for some time and feels that biting commentary requires actual presence in the place. Even that goal can be made difficult. Note how the award-winning NPR reporter Lourdes Garcia-Navarro was recently detained and subjected to a strip search while trying to report on Kadima leader Tzipi Livni's presser about delegitimization. Garcia-Navarro's newly-wed husband was also pulled aside and grilled about his association with the ace radio reporter. Her Latina colouring and flashing dark eyes apparently were seen by a trigger-happy security agent as suspiciously Palestinian-like. She was holding government accreditation at the time, and graciously has laughed off the incident as an annoyance that comes with the job. The Foreign Press Association later issued a formal condemnation of the police detail's action. It bodes badly for the press coverage of Israel when reporters are routinely mistreated this way, even after years in the country. Sigh. Israelity Bites.

Lowering the Bar, raising the profile

So do most Americans have issues with Israelis? Many, many issues, it appears...and more than ever. The most popular magazine in America, the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, sports Israeli model Bar Rafaeli on its 2009 cover. She's shown adjusting her suit, just as the IDF (whose service she managed to dodge) is strategizing how to tackle suits about some alleged war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. You'll notice that both actions literally let the left down. How low can you go?

In the same week, Bar's portrait is going to be painted larger than life on the side of an aircraft-- the Southwest Airlines jet to Las Vegas, no less--but the 23-year-old blonde has her feet firmly on the ground and says she is most delighted with her exposure on the newsstands. (She's been displayed on the inside pages twice before) Here's to a full-body press! Bar also mused to Time magazine that, had she been at home to vote, she might have cast her ballot for a fellow-blonde, Tzipi Livni, who is also a forward thinker. Kadima, eh.

It'll be some time before all the sums are done and Israel's new ruling coalition is in place. In these transitory times, in her skimpy swimsuit, Bar Rafaeli is raising interest in a different side of Israel.

As Election Day draws nigh, Fringe Parties seek High Voter Turnout in Israel

It’s coming down to the wire in Israeli elections, to be held tomorrow. After all this Cast Lead bloodshed in Gaza, political energy inside Israel lurched to the right. Security is paramount and countering nuclear-armed Iran and justifying Israeli “defensive” overkill seems to be the constant drumbeat of politicians. Whatever happened to concern over economic freefall and official corruption?
Excuse me while I dodge this Qassam, maam.

Not many Israeli voters think cleanliness is next to godliness this time round. Tzipi Livni (aka Ms Clean) suddenly is scrambling, assuring would-be supporters that she is far more likely to charm cooperation from President Barack Obama than hard-ass rivals such as Bibi Netanyahu or Ehud Barak, the defence minister.

Funny thing is that , even this late in the campaign, at least 20 per cent of the voters have yet to make up their minds. And another 20 per cent—the Arab-Israelis—are unlikely to cast ballots at all.

Enter Avidgor Lieberman, the Soviet émigré and former nightclub bouncer who lives in a settlement. He appeals to youth and the intolerant by bashing Israeli Arabs and calling for their “transfer” out of the country. No loyalty, no citizenship, he mutters. And if this sounds like a mafia oath, more power to him, say his backers. When Lieberman underwent a police probe for a money laundering and bribery scam involving his daughter, his followers managed to put a positive spin on it. Surely, the ruling party Kadima, which is tainted with its own graft scandals, set up the man who dares to speak politically incorrect truths. What’s more, Lieberman makes Bibi look less hawkish and even more electable.

Lieberman’s message is gaining resonance.

"Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without,"he says, "And terrorism from within is always more dangerous than terrorism from without."

It’s a slippery slope. Who next will have their loyalty questioned? The Ethiopian immigrants? Mizrahi Jews with Middle Eastern bloodlines?
Not everyone we know is resigned that the next leader of Israel will be Netanyahu, particularly if it’s a close-result and President Shimon Peres will have some discretion in naming the prime minister. Whoever wins will need to hammer together a coalition in order to rule.

The choice of potential political bedfellows is intriguing. Speaking of high office – get a whiff of the latest offshoot from the Green Leaf Party, now known as the Grown-Up Green Leaf. It’s a weird combo of cannabis users and death camp survivors, and emerged after the original Green Leaf party rolled out a controversial election advert featuring the party head, Gil Kopatch, toking up a spliff at the grave of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. Some members disapproved and did not get the joke.
Of all the fringe parties on the ballot for Knesset, this new one, pushing pensioner rights along with penalty-free pot, has to be one of the quirkiest. Monster Raving Loony Party, it's not. They have a manifesto and some of the Pensioners were elected to Knesset seats in the last election.

This surreal alliance between Holocaust survivors and marijuana proponents undoubtedly is helped by medical marijuana , which has eased pain for some of the cancer-stricken elderly. But it doesn't necessarily cloud their judgment.

Yaakov Kfir, 74, who survived the Holocaust as a child in Yugoslavia, said he welcomed the party's embrace of Israel's estimated 350,000 survivors, who are often impoverished and side-lined in a society that extols military might. Kfir lost his parents at age 6 to the Final Solution. After emigrating to Israel, he became an air force officer and later an activist for the rights of survivors. Now the party is energized.

"They [survivors] know what it feels like to be persecuted for no reason. They can identify with us," party-head Shem-Tov said.

Here’s one of their campaign spots.

Livni gets fed up with factions' demands, prepares for elections

Hopes for any peace settlement this year were scrapped when Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni informed President Shimon Peres that she has given up trying to form a coalition that would enable her to become Israel’s next prime minister. As a result, Israel likely will hold general elections in February to determine its next leader.

An ex-Mossad agent and mother of two, Ms Livni had been striving for five weeks to form a coalition government. But after negotiations stalled, she conceded that there was no possibility of doing so. Now Benjamin Netanyahu, the hawkish former prime minister from the Likud party, is tipped to become the next leader. Livni's political stature is diminished after her failed attempts to reach across the aisle. Israelis spurn any sign of weakness.

Livni had been counting on the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which holds 12 seats in the Knesset, to join her but she balked at the party’s demands not to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority over the status of Jerusalem.

"I'm not willing to be blackmailed, either diplomatically or in terms of the budget, and therefore, I will go to elections," Livni said. "We'll see all these heroes in 90 days."

Shas’ non-negotiable stance puts the future of a two-state solution at risk and jeopardizes future negotiations. Shas also insisted on a 1.5 billion shekel ($394 million) increase for child allowances but Livni was willing to offer only 400 million shekel ($105 million), saying, “There are some things the State cannot be sold for.” Shas’ voter constituency includes big families and religious seminary students who depend on the government for significant financial subsidies for school and living expenses.

As Kadima’s newly elected chairwoman, Livni had 42 days to form a coalition and technically, she still has until Nov. 3 to do so. But without the support of Shas and United Torah Judaism, another religious party which currently holds six seats, she cannot amass enough seats in the Knesset for a coalition that comprises centrist and left-of-center parties.

Peres now has until Tuesday night to review the situation and inform the Knesset speaker of Livni’s inability to form a government, after which any of the 120 members of the Knesset will have three weeks to try to form a coalition. Israeli law requires a minimum of 61 members to form a coalition.

If a government is not formed within three weeks after Livni announces that she was unable to form a coalition, Peres will call for general elections, which are expected take place Feb. 17. The Current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will remain in office until a new coalition is formed following the new 2009 parliamentary elections. This is an unexpected breather for him, but his reputation is unlikely to be salvaged.

Olmert resigned his post Sept. 21 because of corruption investigations into his activities when he held ministerial positions in previous Israeli governments.

Do-it-yourself coalition governmment online

As Tzipi Livni faces the challenge of putting together a government, an online game lets Israelis, the diaspora, and anyone else, really, try out political nous and test coalition building skills. You can pretend to be Livni or Labor leader Ehud Barak, and predict what ought to happen and what will happen. Israel's English daily, Haaretz, and playthenewsgame.com are the sponsors, although you can access the current event games site as a Facebook application, too.

To have a go, simply click here and follow the instructions.

Take one hot topic and try to predict the outcome. Use the game's guides and advisers for advice on what to do - and what not to do!

Good luck and happy coalition building!

Mirren to play Mossad agent in new spy flick

Given the secret agent background of Israel's designated prime minister, Ms Tzipi Livni, a new Miramax spy film called "The Debt" couldn't be more topical. But Paris is not the setting for this new cloak and dagger thriller starring Dame Helen Mirren as a classy female secret agent; the action takes place in Berlin, Britain and Israel. Shooting will soon get underway for this big studio remake of last year's HaHov about the hunt for a reviled Nazi.


The Independent reports that

Producers for the The Debt confirmed yesterday that Mirren, 63, will play Rachel Singer, a Mossad agent who lies about killing a Nazi war criminal in the 1960s. She is forced to return to work when her alleged victim reappears three decades later.

The film's director, John Madden, who achieved success with Shakespeare in Love, said Mirren was perfect for the role, which he described as "a national celebrity and retired Mossad agent, a formidable and dignified woman grappling with years of emotional disappointment, suddenly confronted by a powerful and unexpected choice". Madden describes the script as an intense psychological thrill. "It is a tremendously compelling read."

Filming will begin next year in Israel, Germany and Britain. Jonathan Ross's wife, Jane Goldman, has written the English-language script. Kris Thykier, who co-produces the film, said yesterday: "The film is about three Mossad agents who are sent into East Berlin in the 1960s to extract a man known as the 'Surgeon of Birkenau' who is masquerading as a real doctor. The capture goes wrong and, 30 years later, Mirren's character is sent back to do the job again."

For the earlier scenes, Rachel Singer will be played by a younger actress. Mirren will play the Mossad agent in the present day. Further details of the film are being kept under wraps but it is a reworking of HaHov, a little-known but well-received Hebrew-language film from last year, directed by the Israeli director Assaf Bernstein.

In Bernstein's version, Rachel Singer and the two other agents are hailed as heroes after they claim to have killed the Surgeon of Birkenau. The Nazi war criminal in fact survived the assassination attempt and the agents have to live with the knowledge that their hero status is based on a lie.

Three decades later, a decrepit old man suffering from dementia claims to be the Surgeon. The agents fear their deception will be exposed to the public and are torn over whether they should return to their original mission.

Secret power: Mossad

*Mossad – translated as "institution" – is the Hebrew nickname given to Israel's foreign intelligenceservices. Alongside Shin Bet (internal security) and Aman (militaryintelligence), it is charged with defending the state of Israel. Officially known as the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, Mossad traces it roots to the anti-British struggle in Palestine. Mossad's "Kidon" department has executive powers to carry outkidnappings and assassinations.

Barak and Bibi 'plotting new coalition' to grab power

Tzipi_Livni-8
Originally uploaded by Tzipi Livni

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Likud Party leader Binyamin Netanyahu are secretly teaming to deny the premiership to the discredited Kadima Party, according to press reports in Jerusalem. The Foreign Minister and ex-Mossad agent Tzipi Livni, pictured here, is heading exit polls tonight and tipped to win the party leadership. Will this dubious duo thwart her ascent and let Bibi grab power? Kadima, which means forward, is not taken aback by the rumors by the rightwing website. It may be wishful thinking on their part. But anything is possible.

Elections were underway Wednesday to determine the next leader of Kadima, replacing the resigning current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Under normal circumstances the winner of the Kadima election would automatically replace Olmert as prime minister and attempt to establish a new parliamentary majority.

But unnamed sources told the Israeli Web site DEBKAfile.com that Barak, a member of the Labor Party, and Netanyahu are having secret discussions to form a Labor-Likud majority coalition and deny the premiership to the next Kadima leader.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz are the favorites to succeed Olmert as Kadima Party leader.

DEBKAfile's sources say under a Barak-Netanyahu deal to be presented to Israel's president, the Likud leader would become prime minister and serve until a general election at the end of next year, and after that would hand off the premiership to Barak.

When politics gets personal, Israel suffers. Well, with guys like these in charge...

It's the opposite of the Republican convention tagline in Minneapolis/St Paul. Because of graft at the top, in Israel these days, country comes last, concludes Ben Caspit in today's Hebrew daily, Ma’ariv. It's a heartfelt rant, which sheds a light on the rancour inside the leadership. English translation below:

It is difficult to believe that not long ago they yearned for each other, conducted a torrid love affair behind Amir Peretz’s back and counted the days until they could unite publicly. Here they are, the two Ehuds, the prime minister and the defense minister, walking together towards a common future. Ha.
Their common future looks today like Hell. They are immersed in a sea of toxic gastric juices, giving each other grief, sitting opposite each other in the cabinet meeting with burning, terrifying eyes, pecking at each other’s livers and saying things about one another that are hard to imagine. Barak has succeeded in causing Olmert to again like, a little bit, sometimes, Tzippi Livni. Olmert will yet return Barak to the arms of Shimon Peres. Yes, things are that bad.
The problem is that both of them are right. Barak was right when he forced Olmert to vacate the scene, Olmert is right in what he says and thinks about Barak. This is neither the first time, nor the last, that our state leadership looks like a street fight between gangs in Harlem. It happened to Rabin and Peres, it happened to Bibi and Mordechai (and Levy, and Meridor, and many more), it happened to Barak and Ramon (and Levy, and Sarid, and everyone), it happened to Sharon and Bibi, it happened to Shamir, it happened to Ben-Gurion, it happened to Eshkol, it happened to Begin. It will happen to everyone.
The system of government in force here is destructive, impossible, it does not enable governing, decision-making, making long-term plans. The system makes everything personal, here and now. Everything is conditional. Every morning anew you have to count hands, bribe your way to the end of the day. No one is willing to see the other succeed at anything. Barak will not let Olmert make peace with the Syrians, because he wants to do it himself. Everyone makes their personal calculations. There is also a country here, but in the existing system the country comes last. Long live the primaries.
Besides that, yesterday was a sad day. In the cabinet meeting, and in general. A day of a sweeping police recommendation to file an unprecedented indictment against Israel’s prime minister. Eight o’clock in the evening, like clockwork, upon the start of the news editions, was also the hour of the recommendation. The public has long since lost its confidence in the prime minister, in his government, but also in the rest of the systems. The police, for example. The rule of law. Everyone, in the end, has their eye on 8:00 PM. And then too, what was published is far from what will happen. We are still waiting for the indictment against [president] Moshe Katsav for rape. Olmert will be indicted, that is clear, the question is for what, bribery? It’s not certain that it will be for that. But what difference does it make.
What was Olmert hinting at when he spoke about Barak’s sensitive leaks? About his damage to security? Two things are burning up the prime minister: The first is the fact that Barak said that Olmert had delayed the truce in Gaza when the reality, says Olmert, is the opposite. Barak, in his insane paranoia, was opposed to convening the security cabinet, and preferred to decide everything alone, just with Olmert, in a secret partnership.
The second thing is related to covert operations, in which Barak is trying to forcibly take credit he does not deserve. In Olmert’s drawer lie transcripts of recordings of discussions and work meetings that prove how Barak twists reality in his favor. Olmert tossed these transcripts in Barak’s face, but what does it matter now. It’s all history. So is Olmert.
This coming Wednesday, US [envoy] General Jones is supposed to come to Israel, in an attempt to organize the bottom line in advance of the end of George Bush’s term, with regard to the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Americans very much want to make a dramatic statement at the UN General Assembly session towards the end of September, they are talking about a presidential address, a joint document, a declaration of one kind or another, various formats and ideas. They want to promote this with the Israeli government, but where is the Israeli government? There is no Israeli government.
There is only Armageddon, investigations, leaks, reports, clashes, passions, envy, hatred and conflicting interests of candidates for the primary and just plain candidates. There is no law and no judge. A retired Supreme Court justice recommends on television that cabinet ministers receive psychological therapy, and a prime minister all but strangles his defense minister before his astounded ministers, and his defense minister, the same evening, at a gathering of the Labor Party (there is such a thing) in Haifa, reminds us: “Don’t forget, we’re all brothers.” As if we had forgotten.

Cartoon of Ehud Olmert in criminal mode by Ben Heine.

Hostage alive-Egyptian official says

Snowflakes were drifting down all over Jerusalem, while the Egyptian foreign minister asserted at his joint press conference this afternoon with Israel's Tzipi Livni that this was no snow job. Aboul Gheit announced to gathered reporters that the kidnapped Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilat Shalit, is alive after six months in captivity. What's more, Egypt is actively working for his release.

Aboul Gheit admits that he could not guarantee the release of the unlucky young corporal who was abducted by Palestinian militants in June. "This is a very sensitive issue and we have to treat it with very serious sensitivity," he said, according to Ynet.

"I hope and believe that he will be released ... But I emphasize that we are working hard for his release and we are sure that he is still alive." Press reports said that months earlier, Hamas had turned down Israeli offers to liberate up to 1000 jailed Palestinians in exchange for the bespectacled soldier they are holding as a bargaining chip.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with the Egyptian official, who --according to the Israeli government press office-- had expressed appreciation for Olmert's current policy of restraint and efforts to empower moderates in the Palestinian Authority.

Olmert advised his cabinet that "it's time to show flexibility and generosity" on the issue of prisoners, ahead of the Muslim Eid el-Adha holiday this weekend. Well, perhaps we'd better check to see if today's snow sticks on the Hinnom valley (the alleged entrance to the Biblical Gehenna). That would be a sign, too: that Hell is freezing over. And that Peace in the Muddle East is nigh.

Here at Israelity Bites, we would welcome any possible breakthrough; if some positive proof of Shalit's life were shown, such a gesture could jumpstart the peace process. It's time the stalemate is broken.

Snowy Jeusalem cityscape on Wed, as Shalit remains out in the cold.