Is anyone surprised except Bibi himself?
For some reason I thought the Western Wall was much older. I guess some of the things I thought of as ancient aren't so ancient.
Thank you for proving my point. Crazy people like to attack others who have different beliefs. It happens everywhere.
It's very much like the anti-Muslim "cartoons" that the Israeli Embassy in Ireland published. Boaz Modai's team took iconic European art, dressed it up in Muslim garb and wrote slanderous words about Muslims. They took a photo of the Molly Malone statue, doctored her up in traditional Muslim women's garb and then put a banner on the photo that said "Today Israel, tomorrow the world." If our Jewish community wants people to distinguish between the government of Israel and all Jews, then Israel and its embassies need to distinguish between terrorists and all other Muslims.
I think it's great that these families are making their complaints public and warning other people, instead "hushing things up" and keeping it quiet rather than getting civil authorities involved. I hope they also report the matter to the police and cooperate with criminal prosecution. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
Sheinman gives me hope that true Jewish values will prevail in all of this. We care for those who are suffering because of our shared humanity. I have great admiration for him and hope that he will continue to share his message of caring. If the next generation of our tribe turns out to be willing to listen to its elders, it will be because of elders like this professors, not because of Israeli politicians and right-wing rabbis.
A certain subset of men wants to control, abuse and diminish women in any way it can. Our tribe has its fair share, and yes, they live in all streams of Judaism. Let's make it clear we won't tolerate them, even if they try to cloak their evil intent in religious garb.
Last week the Israeli Embassy in the Republic of Ireland posted and tweeted doctored images of iconic European art with anti-Muslim slogans. Led by Boaz Modai, who should be fired instead of egged on by his government, the Israeli Embassy posted a photo of the Molly Malone dressed in traditional attire for a Muslim woman along with the banner, "Today Israel, tomorrow Dublin." When the Embassy was called on the hatred, racism and bigtory being promoted, they said, "No offence was intended." If we want anti-Semitism to be dealt with appropriately, we need to make it clear to Israel that it needs to stop promoting the hatred of any religion in Europe. What goes around comes around, and if Israel gets Europe to hate people who make women cover their heads, circumcise their male babies and insist on eating only ritually slaughtered animals, the people Europeans hate might be Jews as well as Muslims.
Tourism in Israel is a disaster. The tourism ministry has regularly been bragging about how tourism in Israel has been increasing about 3% a year. Contrast that to Turkey, where tourism doubled between 2002-and 2005. In 2013, Turkey welcomed 31 Million foreign visitors. Israel gets only about 3.5 million. What's going on? Israel gets tourists from the US and Russia, wanting a visit to a historic place or to visit relatives. Turkey, on the other hand gets a lion's share of European tourists who are close and come often for warm weather and beautiful beaches. But no one wants to give repeat business to a a place that's a war zone and has rude, arrogant service. Israel needs to negotiate for peace and teach service people to be welcoming, not rude.
I think this is great! We need to have a very large tent for our tribe with a very wide door. We are much more diverse than we have given ourselves credit for. let's make up for lost time.
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Medley