The funky cartoons and illustrations of two young Israeli brothers are in high demand these days, by many American newspapers. But their personal passion remains their comic book series Bipolar which follows their own personal adventures. Meet the Hanuka Twins.
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Miriam over at Bloghead quickly demonstrates why Glasgow professors Greg Philo and Mike Berry’s new book Bad News From Israel—which purports that the BBC and other UK media sources are biased in favor of Israel—is a crock of shit.
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Reuters reports (by way of Al-Jazeera, ha!),
The army on Wednesday said it was probing the allegations raised by “Breaking the Silence: Soldiers Tell About Hebron” – a display of photographs and videotaped accounts collected by the four troopers in the flashpoint city.But exhibition organisers accused authorities of hushing up criticism of Israel’s action to suppress a 3-1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising.
“I think there is an attempt here to prevent other soldiers from breaking the silence,” said Giora Salmi, director of the Tel Aviv gallery staging the exhibition.
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A University of Haifa poll says 64% of Jewish Israelis support transferring Israeli Arabs out of the region, and nearly 50% said they found the government to be overly sympathetic to the Arab population.
Interestingly, the same poll apparently reveals that roughly 60% of Jewish Israelis also support relocating Gaza settlers, or rather, the way Arutz Sheva puts it (cuz emphasis is everything) 40% don’t.
Talk about drawing a line in the sand…
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Shleve was blogging live from the Rebbe’s Ohel this morning in Crown Heights. Check out his coverage over at Fiddish.
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“Madonnesther” has come under fire from the Vatican for the second time in her career—the first being a condemnation of the video “Like A Prayer” for its purportedly blasphemous mixture of erotocism and Catholic imagery. This time it looks like the Catholics are miffed that she’s not playing on their side of the fence anymore.
JPost reports,
A high-level Vatican conference has singled out pop star Madonna’s kabbalistic beliefs for condemnation, according to a report on MSNBC.com.The Vatican has been holding a special conference of international Catholic leaders to deal with the challenges that New Age spirituality poses to traditional Christian beliefs. Special attention was reportedly given to “kabbala as espoused by Madonna.”
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“It is this Judaism I’ve learned in Morocco that I identify with, and today my neighbor is, before all Palestinian, and as long as this Palestinian is denied his most basic rights, an essential part of my Judaism is questioned.”
—Andre Azoulay, advisor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco
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A group of Muslim students at UC Irvine who are seeking to wear green stoles bearing Quranic passages reading “And say, My Lord, advance me in knowledge,” and “There is no god but the One God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of the One God” during graduation have come under fire from the ADL and other Jewish organizations who are implying that the second quote, known as “the shahada” (the central statement of faith within Islam) is in turn a statement in support of “shihadis,” otherwise known as suicide bombers.
Muslim WakeUp! writes,
Over a billion Muslims in the world see this testimony of faith as the core statement of their faith. And now some irresponsible ignorant bigots in the Jewish community are trying to re-define it as a symbol of terror and suicide bombing.
Disingenuous right-wingers like the staff at World Net Daily, for example, are upholding this idiocy, neglecting in their reportage the fact that the word “shahada” does not appear on the sash, but rather a quote known as “the shahada.” They are thus perpetuating a lie in order to advance their anti-Islamic agenda, relying upon the hearsay of character’s like Frontpage contributor Arnold Steinberg who, without providing any evidence whatsoever, insists that at a recent on-campus event, these same students wore green armbands in solidarity with Hamas, and that, therefore, these sashes too are meant to be a show of solidarity with terrorists. Though the school refuses to ban the stoles on the grounds of freedom of speech, the implication, of course, makes Muslim students at UCI very nervous (bypass reg), and rightly so.
Contact the ADL and let ‘em know where they can stick it. (c/o Laura)
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Ari Engel of Pilot Yid writes in (to us, and apparently everyone else),
Well, we saw Esther/Madonna last night, it was fun, she puts on a good show, and as Madonna is a full fledged kabbalist now, I thought I’d mention the Jewish references in the show:1. Throughout the show there were kabbalistic looking Hebrew letters and symbols flashing on the stage’s screen, mainly during ‘Like A Prayer’ but also during other songs.
2. Some of the shirtless male dancers were wearing tefillin-looking straps on their left arms during one of the songs.
3. Naturally, Madonna was wearing her red bracelet.
4. One of the songs had flags of all the countries flashing on the screen behind the stage, it seemed to me that the Israeli flag got more time than the other flags.
5. During one of the songs (American Life?) she had dancers dressed as various religions, including a woman wearing a burqa, a Cardinal looking guy, and 2 guys dressed as chassidim.
6. One of the videos on the screen was of a little Israeli (with yarmulka) and Arab kid with their arms around each other smiling, and walking away together ‘in peace’. Followed by the “Spirituality For Kids” logo which is an organization promoting kabbalah for children.
7. Some of the T Shirts for sale (which were priced from $20 to $85), had more kabbalistic looking Hebrew lettering and symbols, and another that had ‘Madonna’ spelled out in Hebrew.
Man, I feel exploited just reading about it.
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Private developers, under authority of the city of Jeruaslem, intend to pave the Jerualem Hills, extending the sprawl of the city 12 miles beyond its current permiter, clear-cutting JNF-planted forests: forests which you and I have planted with our contributions to that organization over these many years. The ‘Safdi’ plan would build 20,000 new homes as well as new commercial zones in Mount Heret, Ramat Hadassah and the Lavan Mountain Range.
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) is organizing opposition to the plan and offering viable alternatives which would permit the same level of growth within Jerusalem without further trampling the region’s environment.
SPNI is lobbying for alternative growth plans, which focus on strengthening the residential development of the inner city and bolstering the city’s economy. The (SPNI-coordinated) Coalition for the Preservation of the Jerusalem Hills has proven that there is ample room for the necessary development within the city’s boundaries for the foreseeable future. SPNI and the Coalition are in the process of collecting objections from various environmental and public health organizations, to present to the Planning Commission, which will be taking objections until July 20, 2004. More than 10,000 objections have been submitted.
These projects will wreak environmental damage upon the heart of the Judean Hills, one of the most important green lungs in Israel. Effects would include:
- Depletion and contamination of groundwater supplies from impermeable surfaces, increased pumping, and pollutants such as gas stations
- Dramatic reduction in natural recreation areas for residents of Jerusalem and central Israel, where the majority of the Israeli population resides
- Damage to a unique ecosystem and habitat for a range of endangered species
- Impact on the panoramic views, historic sites, nature reserves, national gardens
Looking out for Jerusalem’s future:
- Expanding this far westward will effectively create a new city, which will draw residents away from central Jerusalem, further weakening the core of the city
- Diverts municipal funds, which are necessary to refurbish and revitalize central Jerusalem, to yet another upscale suburb
The Coalition is urging Jerusalem to put an end to the migration of its residents westward, and concentrate on investing in the city itself, encouraging small and big business, helping to create jobs, and renovating run-down and low-income areas. The inner city has been long neglected and the green lungs beyond the city boundaries must be preserved. The Jerusalem Hills provide a green corridor between Israel’s highways and urban development. They also provide us with a reminder of the biblical landscape and a vision of the history of the Jewish people in Jerusalem.
To express your opposition to the ‘Safdi’ plan, contact The Jerusalem Development Authority here, or e-mail Jerusalem’s mayor here.
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Tuesday marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory.
I don’t care what people like this guy think or what maniacs like this one are all about. Chabad has been one of the greatest gifts to the Jewish people in our history, and we should remember and praise the Rebbe for this incredibly important contribution to the world.
I’m sayin’, you don’t have to like every Chabadnik, you don’t have to jive on the Rebbe-as-Moshiach tip, or even appreciate the Mitzvah Tank—but you can’t be just and be down on Chabad as an organization. It be the jernt. Having a free, non-coercive, and open Jewish environment in which to go and have a Shabbos dinner or to do some learning in nearly every district of every country on this planet is a remarkable achievement for which we should all be very grateful.
Yay Rebbe! May Hashem keep you in close company in the world to come.
News Roundup
» JTA
» The Jewish Week
» The Forward
» Jerusalem Post
» Ha’aretz
Also, here’s a pretty interesting writeup on the Rebbe/Carlebach/Shachter split.
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The Jewish Journal reports,
As a child, [comedian Lewis] Black said he developed an unhealthy obsession with the Holocaust and a fear of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. He so worried that God would write his name in the Book of Death that he stewed over every misstep.Black said his concerned parents ended up sending him to a shrink to deal with his neurosis. It’s hard to know whether he’s kidding.
As a graduate student, Black and a friend attended services during the High Holidays. The rabbi used the occasion to raise money for Israel. “I was thinking, ‘No, not today. You idiots,’” he said in his trademark growl.
On the other hand, Black said he dreamed of becoming a religious leader until his early teens, when his temple hired a rabbi who turned him off. Black has fond memories of his bar mitzvah, which netted him “the big bucks.” He said his Jewish background gave him a strong moral foundation and empathy for the less fortunate.
Still, Judaism, like other Western religions, holds little appeal for Black.
“The Jews created guilt. The Catholics codified it. And the Protestants transformed it into tension,” Black said with a chuckle.
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WOAI San Antonio reports,
Just two weeks after adopting a hard line platform at its convention in San Antonio, the Texas Republican Party is under fire from Jewish groups.The convention, which was dominated by religious conservatives, approved platform language that calls the United States a ‘Christian Nation,’ and calls the separation of church and state ‘a myth.’
Linda Berger of Houston, a spokeswoman for the American Jewish Committee, says the language is ‘hurtful’ to non Christians.
I know I posted ‘em already recently, but just to, again, invoke a couple of quotes from our founding fathers:
“Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.” — James Madison
How much clearer does it need to be?
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Man, if this is how the hareidim react to Mordechai ben David, you gotta wonder how they’d feel about Matisyahu.
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Awful Flash animation accompanying remotely funny parody of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”. I live in fear.
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A contributor to the Eastern Conference Records website forums posted a message yesterday stating that,
AT THIS WEEKS HIPHOP CONFERENCE / RALLY / WHATEVERTHAFUCK, IN NEWARK, SLICK RICK GOT UP ON STAGE AND PROCLAIMED THAT THE JEWS WERE THE ENEMEY OF THE WORLD, THE SCURGE OF THE EARTH, THE BAD OF THE BAD, THE FUCKIN H IN HORRIBLE, N ALL THAT GOOD SHIT.
The writer of the original message goes on to “defend” us in a way that, frankly, is almost as offensive as Slick Rick’s alleged comments, but regardless, if it’s true, that shit’s mad fucked up.
The Newark Star Ledger has a writeup on the event but notes no outright antisemitic remarks by Rick, noting instead,
Inspired by the setting, Slick Rick also offered a rambling political speech, speaking out against the war in Iraq (“It’s strictly an oil thing”) but expressing ambivalence about the upcoming presidential election (“You can’t trust Kerry either”).
Anyone else hear anything about this? (c/o Shred)
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Haaretz reports,
Knesset Speaker Rivlin to demand modest dress from female Knesset aides…
It seems that Washingtonienne story is coming full circle.
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