Naomi Klein sounds off on Mossad and madness

Click here for her latest; Naomi spelled backwards is, as you know, "I moan."

Purim video reveals racism embedded in Israeli state structure

If granted one simple wish to raise awareness in the US Congress about where America’s annual Israel subsidy goes, it would be this: before the next pro-Israel vote, members of Congress would sit down and watch YNET’s ninety second video of Israeli settlers holding a Purim Party in East Jerusalem in the neighborhood where Israel is forcibly evicting Arabs who have lived there for generations so Israelis like these can move in.

It’s not an atrocity, not the casual cruelty of soldiers at a checkpoint, or “at war” against a defenseless civilian populace in Gaza. These are Israelis far from the stresses of combat, Israelis in a festive mode. They are singing a song of praise for Baruch Goldstein, the American born Jewish doctor who shot and killed twenty-nine Palestinian worshipers in Hebron in 1994.

“Dr. Goldstein, Dr. Goldstein" their song goes, "Everybody loves you.”

Obviously, the songsters represent a very small slice of Israel opinion: very few Israelis would openly praise the slaughter of unarmed worshipers. And equally obviously, there are extreme racist nationalists in almost every country in the world. There are small groups of neo-Nazis In Germany, and other places.

But the truth is also this: in no other country which is an “ally” of the United States is the racist far Right more deeply embedded in the state structure, more encouraged and empowered by a freely-elected democratic government. Remember, these are the kinds of Israelis that the Netanyahu government is now, as part of official policy, moving into houses in the most symbolically rich and contested real estate of a city holy to three religions. They are the kinds of Israelis whom the government will then protect with troops and police, and whom prominent mainstream American Jews will subsidize with tax deductible contributions. They are, quite literally, the vanguard of Zionism today.

And because of America’s support for Israel, financial and diplomatic and rhetorical, the singing settlers are now a big part of the face of America itself, the face we show to the Arab and Muslim world. So, honorable members of Congress, watch a bit and see what our dollars are paying for. Ninety seconds is all I ask.

Guest post by Scott McConnell of Mondoweiss

Heat is on in the Holy Land after diplomatic debacle

The heat continues here…weather-wise as well as politically...and the Israeli Army has sealed off the West Bank for the duration of the Jewish holidays. I turn to Professor Shlomo Einstein for an interpretation. From the breaking of a hospitality gift under Bibi's elbow to the naming of a forest after Joe Biden's late mum, the diplomatic signals have been so mixed as to yield a fiasco.

The professor pondered and penned this:

What the media has not noted here/hear in the Holy Land of God's Chosen is that the shaming of a person in public...an ordinary person who is struggling to survive or even the VP of the USA... is one of Judaism's major sins...a "No..No" for both God and man.

The warmth of my greetings remain as I continue to experience that I live among Sabbath misusers, people abusers...a group of ritual wretcheds.
SO…I will share a story I was told this week…a Hassidic tale…a tale by which to greet The Shabbat queen.

One day, after much internal weighing, saying, struggling... one of the Hassidic Rabbis shared with his followers that one might not have to experience…carry out the Sabbath on Shabbat. He was a learned, honest teacher.

And so…they all met one day during the week…dressed in the Sabbath clothes which one wears when one goes to God’s abode to pray…as one would in the secular world wear finery when invited to the Queen and/or King of England. Palaces are not just architectural outcomes…and surely not of one’s God.

And the prayers of the Sabbath were prayed and the special foods of the Sabbath were eaten…notwithstanding…or perhaps because of one’s poor economic condition…and songs and melodies of the Sabbath were voiced…and the peace and contentment of being apart from the daily struggles of survival were distanced…for the Sabbath moment…a long moment of a day…and the Sabbath was ended with the special prayers alive from so long ago…the special candle lit…the wine blessed…the aromatic spices inhaled and one returned to ‘the days of regularity’…to the problems and realities of survival…until…
until…

The Rabbi was not simply able to ‘let go’ of what he and his followers had done. And so he went to another Hassid…one who could/would judge…described what he and his followers had done…not WHY…( there are and no doubt always will be WHYs) but rather WHAT.

And this learned man…having experienced so many Sabbath experiences did not judge…did not criticize…did not approve or disapprove. Rather he suggested that if indeed one experienced the Shabbat in its many dimensions and carried out the essence of this unique gift to mankind that calendar and chronology were not critical. Shabbat, after all, is not an institutionalized ritual to be documented…She is a gift to be experienced and celebrated in the best way that each of us can.

This week science, the secular DNA testing, which does not have to rest on the Sabbath, and the BBC…a 7/24 human creation… increased the Jewish People, who may want to know and to care, by approximately 80,000 Zimbabwen and South African Lemba; a tribe whose members abstain from eating pork, wear yarmulke-like skull caps, conduct ritual animal slaughter, has an oral tradition that links them to the ancient Jews, circumcise their male children, which is not a common practice in Zimbabwe, and even put a Star of David on their gravestones.

Interestingly enough the scientists and the media noted nothing about a Lemba Shabbat.

--guest post from Shlomo, who is not from the eponymous Ramat Shlomo!

Israeli Supermarket ad Mocks Dubai Assassins

Killer Prices? Oy veh. It's not top secret that one food chain inside Israel has dubious taste, at least in its commercials, reports the BBC.

An Israeli supermarket chain is using a spoof of surveillance footage showing the alleged assassins of a Hamas commander in a television advert.

The advert's fake grainy surveillance footage shows actors wearing elaborate disguises.

Dubai police released footage they said showed the assassins of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, some dressed for tennis, as they followed him through his hotel.

Israel's secret service is widely suspected of being behind the killing.

But the government says there is not enough proof that its agents were involved.

In the advert for Mahsanei Kimat Hinam shops, disguised customers prowl the supermarket's aisles and an actress wearing a wide-brimmed hat says she: "cannot admit to anything". The final line is: "We offer killer prices."

Advertising executive Sefi Shaked said the campaign was inspired by the original footage.

"We were fascinated by the technique of using surveillance cameras instead of high-production cameras, and the latest events in Dubai have given us a great opportunity," he said.

"It's a parody, a take-off of what happened in Dubai. All the Israeli television comedy shows have done it, so why shouldn't we?" he added.

Will future of Israel-Palestine become multi-ethnic and multi-religious?

In my view, it doesn't really matter if Netanyahu's slap in the face to [US Vice Prsident Joe] Biden derails the proposed indirect [peace] talks, writes the leftist journalist Juan Cole. The Likud-led government has no intention of allowing a Palestinian state, and there is now no place to put one. Israel-Palestine has unalterably entered the era of Apartheid (actually something worse), and it will spell both the end of dreams of peace in our generation, and probably over time the end of Israel as Netanyahu's generation knew it. The Palestinians cannot be left stateless (the legal estate of slaves as well as of Jews under Nazi rule, i.e. people with no legal rights) forever. If they can't have Palestinian citizenship, then they'll have to have Israeli citizenship. The future of Israel-Palestine is likely to become a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state like Lebanon. Ironically, it is Netanyahu who is in no small measure responsible for this likely outcome, the opposite of the one he aspires to.

Israelis claim a 'birthright' to do things like colonize Palestinian territory, based on romantic-nationalist reworkings of biblical narratives. But Canaan was populated for millenia before some Canaanite tribes adopted the new religion of Judaism, and it was also ruled, as Palestine, for centuries by Romans and Greeks, and for 1400 years by Muslims. The Palestinian Jews converted to Christianity and then to Islam, so they are cousins of the European Jews (who appear to have gone to Europe voluntarily as male merchants around 800 CE,, where they took local wives). European Jews are about half European by parentage and all European by cultural heritage, and it is no more natural that they be in geographical Palestine than that they be in Europe (where nearly two-thirds of their mothers were from and about a third of their fathers). From a Middle Eastern point of view, European Jews planted in British Mandate Palestine by the British Empire were no different from the million colons or European colonists brought to Algeria while it was under French rule from 1830-1962. (Algeria had been ruled in antiquity by Rome, and the French considered themselves heirs of the Roman Empire, so it was natural that people from Marseilles should return to 'their' territory. Romantic nationalism, whether French or Zionist, always has the same shape). I don't predict the same fate for Jewish Israelis as befell the French colons. Rather, I think they are likely to more and more resemble in their position the Maronite Catholics of Lebanon-- i.e. powerful and formerly dominant population-wise, but increasingly challenged by other rising communities.

Economic aliyah surges in Israel as US recession bites

Fed up with the tough job market inside the States, more young American Jews are choosing to wait out the recession in Israel, where the government heavily subsidizes their stay while they intern, learn Hebrew or volunteer. It harks back to the exodus of Argentine Jews to Israel during their meltdown in 2001-2. Reuters reports on this trend:

According to Masa, a group that organizes programs to Israel and is partially funded by the Israeli government, participation is up 50 percent since the fall of 2008. Today, Masa has more than 1,500 Americans working in Israel.

Masa's Aaron Goldberg said interest has been rising since the financial crisis, which gave them the idea for their "Israel: A Better Stimulus Plan" marketing campaign.

"Before the economic crisis, there wasn't that impetus to look beyond the traditional career path," said Goldberg, Masa's director of recruitment. "Now there are less jobs and less internships, so this becomes a great way to add something to your portfolio."

Jews are not the only ones seeking their fortune overseas. According to the Institute for International Education, the number of American students interning overseas has doubled since 2000.

"In tougher times, people are taking a look at how they can develop themselves further," said Paul Lakind, president of The Global Intern, a company in Randolph, New Jersey that arranges internships in Israel, as well as England, China and Italy. [Israel has government funds available for Jewish emigres and invests in Birthright and other feel-good propaganda visits.]

Since its founding, Israel has sought to attract Jewish youth to ensure its survival as a Jewish state [despite high birth rates among Arab Israelis and Palestinians]. But the recession has proven a good marketing tool.

Rachel Wolfson, 22, graduated last May with a degree in government and English but the Dallas resident could only find work selling shoes. To save money, Wolfson moved back in with her parents, but quickly grew frustrated.

"I feel like an undergraduate degree doesn't mean as much as it used to," she said. "And with the economy the way it is, I just decided to leave America."

Through Masa, Wolfson will intern for the political party New Movement-Meretz. The internship is unpaid, but Wolfson hopes the experience will improve her resume.

Her internship costs about $9,000, including air fare, room and board for five months. Masa gives her a $3,000 grant and suggested she have $300-$500 a month for personal expenses.

Unemployment is up in Israel, but the country was mostly spared the economic beating America and many other rich countries took. High-tech and biotech, Israel's top industries, are booming and many global firms now have a presence there, driving demand for college-educated English speakers. There is universal health care and new immigrants get tax breaks.

Although Masa's programs mostly focus on helping Jews get reacquainted with Israel, some other programs are open to non-Jews, especially those between 20-30 years of age.

Most programs are short-term, meant to immerse young adults in a foreign culture while boosting their professional skills. But some participants have decided to stay on after their internships ended, after receiving job offers.

Elliot Lazarus, a 30-year-old architect from Long Island will soon be relocating to Jerusalem with his wife and 5-year-old son, after spending last fall interning at two Jerusalem architectural firms. When he was initially laid off in December 2008, Lazarus was in despair. But with time, he came to think of his job loss as a new beginning.

"Most people can't just walk away from a six figure salary," he said. "I had to be shaken out of my comfort zone."

Unlike most participants, Lazarus is an orthodox Jew who long had a desire to live in Israel. But he says it took the economic crisis to push him over the edge.

On his blog "Recessioning in Jerusalem", he ruminates about his decision and more everyday pursuits, like haggling over the price of a haircut or jogging through the Old City at dusk.

For some, the appeal of Israel is religious. For others it's practical: life is cheaper there. But overwhelmingly, participants say they are surprised by Israel's work culture, which encourages flexibility and a better life-work balance.

"It was never a problem to ask my boss if I could come in late or leave early," recalls 27-year-old Rachael Freedman who interned at a Tel Aviv architecture firm after losing her job in 2008. "It's definitely more relaxed."

Since returning, Freedman has been hired back by her old firm, but Israel also left an indelible mark on her.

"I think about it every day," said Freedman, who considers herself a secular Jew. "I wake up thinking of Israel, at work I think about it, and hope to be there in the nearer future. There is just something about it that feels like home."

Digging for trouble - sacred and profane archaeology

Dig beneath Jerusalem's sacred stones in the name of science, and you'll incite threats and preemptive arrests. At the very least, insults and rocks will be hurled.
The recent convergence of archaeological projects in Jerusalem's oldest and most sensitive district has ignited Arab fury, prompted official Israeli denials, and sparked off an internecine row amongst archaeologists about the use of Biblical scripture in scientific analysis.

Any archaeological excavation close to the Old City walls quickly becomes a religious flashpoint and a focus for vicious politicking that can provoke Muslims, Jews and Christians around the globe. Like a baklava of multiple historic layers, strewn with jarringly anachronistic artifacts because building materials were recycled by successions of tight-fisted conquerors, these rich diggings at the heart of the Holy Land are dense, compact, and sweet with promise. Passions run high and devout Millenarianists who count down for the Rapture and Apocalypse keep tabs on the symbolism of it all, complicating matters further.

And when a pro-settler Israeli group funds the digs, while Arab residents fight to keep their homes from being bulldozed to make way for a Biblical theme park fit for tourists on futuristic segways, the tension rises. Time magazine reports the latest.