A Wounded Soldiers Holiday

From one of Israel's wounded soldiers comes an interesting letter enjoying himself on his annual government sponsored holiday.

I believe this is worth publishing

Hi guys.

As a wounded ex paratrooper the government gives me a week every year in a 5 star spa hotel.

This year we are in one of the weirdest places a extremely small settlement [Ein Bokek, http://www.einbokek.com/ ] in the middle of nowhere on the shores of the Dead Sea. Maybe 2500 inhabitants and 10, 5 star spa hotels.

Half the visitors here are veterans all with bits and pieces missing. But who are these veterans? Well most people who haven't been to Israel will presume that they are all Jews. Wrong!! There are Jews, Arab Christian and Moslems who volunteer to serve, Druze who all serve, Bedouin {many Bedouin volunteer and reach high ranking officer status] and a people called Cherkaizim who are Moslems and came from the Caucasian mountains brought by the Turks as mercenaries a few hundred years ago and now live in 2 villages in the Galilee and all serve in the army.

So that’s the veterans, the other half are Christian Russians who come here for the Dead Sea treatments and the endless amounts of free food and alcohol included in the price.

There are icons of various Saints and symbols of Christianity in all the shops and we are told by the shopkeepers that without the Russians they would close down. All very weird.

The staff at the hotels is also a very strange combination. Half are local Israelis,
types that love living in the desert in small towns and villages, local Bedouin and strangest of all tall jet black Moslem Sudanese political refugees.

These poor souls brave travelling through Egypt [where they risk being shot on sight] and stealthily cross the border into Israel where they receive asylum as political refugees. So this is what’s going on in the lowest spot on he planet. I thought this might interest the uninformed.

Do the Press Report or Make the News?

Seems to me the press have given up any pretence of reporting in a fair and balanced way. No, this is not new it has been going on for years, it just seems to be more blatantly obvious with no attempts to defend its “journalism”, this is a word that needs to be redefined in today’s dictionaries.

From Just Journalism in the UK www.justjourmalism.com comes a review of how the press reported the visit of Paul McCartney and his performance in Israel. No mention of the 50,000 people who attended a successful concert in a thoroughly peaceful and enjoyable atmosphere. (the motorists had problems with traffic jams but that was expected)

JJ reports that whilst the overwhelmingly positive reception he received was reported, much of the coverage was devoted to objections by Palestinians and Palestinian sympathisers to McCartney's visit and to the fact that he would not be performing in the Palestinian territories.

These themes were most prominent in the television broadcasts, with both ITV and the BBC focusing on the Palestinian perspective. ITV broadcast two items by Julian Manyon about the McCartney visit, on 24 September and the following day. The first report covered the singer's visit to Bethlehem and focused entirely on Palestinian opposition, quoting Palestinian activist Omar Barghouti calling Israel ‘the oppressor'. In both the studio introduction to the report and in a question the journalist put to Paul McCartney, the focus was the accusation by Palestinians that the artist was acting as ‘an accomplice to the occupation'.

BBC Six O'clock News broadcast a report by Wyre Davies on the day of the concert, which also spent more time focusing on Palestinian objections than on Israel's view. The journalist did not interview an Israeli in his report.

The broadsheets reported Palestinian calls for McCartney to boycott Israel, while the tabloids concentrated on the huge security requirements in light of death threats from Islamic hardliners.

Interestingly The Times also reported “rumours” that Israeli right-wingers might also protest against the concert. Their leading article stated that these protests, which were not mentioned in any other paper, and never materialised, - how is that for “making news headlines” ?

While The Guardian led with ‘McCartney Israel gig sparks controversy', over half the article actually focused on a totally separate story - the release of a report by several aid agencies, which criticised the Quartet for not doing enough to alleviate Palestinian suffering.

And it is not only Britain!! Kenneth Timmerman, President and director of the Middle East Data Project reveals extremely disturbing evidence that foreign nationals from the Muslim world are trying to influence the presidential election through illegal contributions to the Barack Obama campaign.

We're not talking a few dollars here. As Timmerman notes, the Federal Election Commission has compiled a list of questionable foreign contributions totaling nearly $34,000,000! The "mainstream media" has virtually ignored this issue, in spite of the many, many news reports coming out of the Middle East and Muslim world that document the strong support Barack Obama has there. Has investigative reporting gone out of the window totally??

What a Crazy World

Another day, another show but the UN continues along its immoral path. Iran's president (hard to bring myself to even write his nanme - yes I can spell it!) claims "The dignity, decency and rights of the American and European nations are being manipulated by a small but cunning group of people called Zionists… who control the important centers of the economy and the decision-making… It is troubling to see that a number of leading presidents and [presidential] candidates from large countries are visiting these people, participating in their conventions… and are committed to their interests… These facts indicate that the American people and the European states are forced to give in to the demands and whims of a small group of materialistic and invasive people… and to waste their resources and dignity on the crimes of the occupiers and the threats of the Zionist network against their will."

Following this speech, Ahmadinejad received the applause of heads of state, diplomats and dignitaries. Now, to add insult further, Iran is seeking a seat on the UN Security Council. Sick, sick,sick

Meanwhile in the UK, Islamisation continues to affect life in a slow and steadily increasing way.The Mail Online reports that the passport photo of 5 year old girl was banned 'in case it offends Muslims'

The post office clerk stunned the girl's parents by claiming the skin exposed by her daughter's halter-neck dress would not be accepted by the Passport Office as it might prove unacceptable in a Muslim country.

An official spokesman said: 'Our offices have a Passport Office template which says what the photograph should and shouldn't be.'Bare shoulders don't come into that at all. We can't see any instruction to that effect so all we can do is apologise to Mrs Edwards. It was clearly a mistake made by the clerk."

Of course, some would say I am overreacting, however Diane West writing in Townhall.com http://townhall.com/Common/PrintPage.aspx?g=b87e3c06-fc12-4356-b876-b4cfb68fa5e0&t=c states "With Wall Street convulsing, and the White House race intensifying, the question "Who lost Europe" is on no one's lips, let alone minds. Indeed, the question begs another: "Is Europe lost?"

The answer to the second question is, "No, not yet." And losing Europe, I would add, is by no means inevitable. But that doesn't mean the continent isn't currently hell-bent to accommodate the dictates of Islamic law, bit by increasingly larger bit. Such a course of accommodation, barring reversal, will only hasten Bernard Lewis' famous prediction that Europe will be Islamic by century's end. "

Just as the Jews of Germany could not accept what was happening to them and buried their heads in the sands, ostrich style in the 1930's, so many in Europe are today doing exactly the same - will the human race ever learn?

This is the Reality of Haifa

This weekend sees the end of the month long “Holiday of Holidays” festival here in Haifa, In such a multicultural city as Haifa all events and festivals in all religions are celebrated.

The “Holiday of Holidays” festival marks the co-existence of Hannukah, Christmas and the Festival of Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha. http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/news/article.php?storyid=48

The central feature of the festival held in the neighbourhood of Wadi Nisnas is a handicrafts exhibition dedicated to the works of the women of all cultures

In addition there street parades, stage shows, exhibitions, an antiques fair and an arts fair; in fact smething for everyone.

A formal cultural evening for Eid al Adha and Christmas was also held In the presence of Mr. Raleb Majadlla – the Minister of Sports Culture and Science with and performers, dance groups and music.


Although Wadi Nisnas is one of the main multicultural neighbourhoods in the city, Kababir is a neighbourhood well integrated within the city of Haifa, close to the Mercaz ha Carmel (the Carmel Center), which is inhabited by Muslim residents of the city who belong to the Ahmadiya sect. The Mahmoud Mosque is situated in the center of the neighbourhood.

This is the reality of Haifa