THE FIRST shock has passed. President-Elect Donald Trump. I am gradually getting used to the sound of these words.
We are entering an era of complete uncertainty. We Israelis and the entire world. From shoe-shine boy to head of state.
Nobody knows.
BUT FIRST we must say goodbye to Barack Obama.
Frankly, I like the guy. There is something noble about him. Upright. Honest. Idealistic.
When the cameras showed him this week sitting together with Donald Trump, the contrast could not have been greater. Obama is the anti-Trump. Trump is the anti-Obama.
The first mu`ezzin stood on the roof of the prophet Muhammad's home in Medina, during his exile from Mecca, and called the believers to prayer. He also walked along the streets, doing the same.
When Islam became the established religion, minarets were built. Their original purpose was to ventilate the mosque, letting the hot air out and thus drawing the cooler air in. The mu'ezzin climbed to the top and intoned the 'azzan, the call to prayer. Often a blind man was chosen, so he could not look into the homes below.
The word is closely connected with the biblical and modern Hebrew word "ha'azinu" ("listen").
WHEN MY parents married in Germany, just before World War I, among the gifts was a document attesting that a tree had been planted in their name in Palestine.
My father was an early Zionist. Popular Jewish humor in Germany at that time had it that "a Zionist is a Jew who wants to take money from another Jew in order to settle a third Jew in Palestine." My father certainly was not planning to go to Palestine himself.
Palestine was then a country bereft of ornamental trees. The Arab inhabitants cultivated olive trees, from which they made their scant living, and at that time the citrus trees were introduced. The olive tree is native – already in the Biblical story of Noah's ark, the dove fetches an olive leaf as a sign of life.
A DARK wave is submerging democracies all over the Western world.
It started in Britain, a land we always saw as the mother of democracy, the homeland of a particularly sensible people. It voted in a plebiscite to leave the European Union, that landmark of human progress which arose out of the terrible ruins of World War II.
Why? No particular reason. Just for the heck of it.
AN INCREDIBLE piece of legislation is now being debated in Jerusalem.
The country is busy with a settlement called Amona. There, deep in the occupied territories, a few dozen Jewish families have set up an illegal settlement – illegal even under Israeli law, not to mention international law.
Trouble is, they did not take the trouble to find out who owns the land on which they settled. As it turns out, it actually belongs to private Arab farmers. The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the settlers to evacuate the site.
Not only in my own face, but in the faces of at least half the Israeli population.
He has appointed a bankruptcy lawyer named David Friedman to the job of US ambassador in Israel.
This sounds like a bad joke. But it is brutal reality. It sets a precedent unknown in the annals of international diplomacy.
FIRST OF all, it is bad practice to appoint an ambassador to a country with which he has a deep personal connection. You don't send a Cuban-American Castro-hater to be the US ambassador in Havana. You don't send Kuomintang Chinese from Taiwan to be US ambassador in Beijing
Not only in my own face, but in the faces of at least half the Israeli population.
He has appointed a bankruptcy lawyer named David Friedman to the job of US ambassador in Israel.
This sounds like a bad joke. But it is brutal reality. It sets a precedent unknown in the annals of international diplomacy.
FIRST OF all, it is bad practice to appoint an ambassador to a country with which he has a deep personal connection. You don't send a Cuban-American Castro-hater to be the US ambassador in Havana. You don't send Kuomintang Chinese from Taiwan to be US ambassador in Beijing
There they were sitting at the round table, the representatives of the entire world, applauding their own handiwork, the resolution they had just adopted unanimously. The Security Council, like the Knesset, is not used to applause or any other spontaneous outbursts. And yet they clapped their hands like children who had just received their Christmas gift.
(It was indeed a day before Christmas and the first day of Hanukkah, a coincidence that happens once in decades, since the Christians use the solar calendar and the Jews still use a modified lunar calendar.)
Oh My God, Trump!
PRESIDENT TRUMP. I am still in a state of shock. But I had better get used to it.
This is not just another US election. In my life I have seen many. Some had results I liked, some not.
But this one is entirely different. This is an earthquake that changes the face of the planet.
How did it happen? Why? And why was it so completely unexpected?
IT WAS unexpected because of this pagan worship of the polls.
Israel to ban public address systems
The President Elect
THE FIRST shock has passed. President-Elect Donald Trump. I am gradually getting used to the sound of these words.
We are entering an era of complete uncertainty. We Israelis and the entire world. From shoe-shine boy to head of state.
Nobody knows.
BUT FIRST we must say goodbye to Barack Obama.
Frankly, I like the guy. There is something noble about him. Upright. Honest. Idealistic.
When the cameras showed him this week sitting together with Donald Trump, the contrast could not have been greater. Obama is the anti-Trump. Trump is the anti-Obama.
And yet....
Miko's lecture at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center, Ithaca NY. Nov 2 2016.
Alarming surge in number of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons
The Call of the Mu'ezzin
The first mu`ezzin stood on the roof of the prophet Muhammad's home in Medina, during his exile from Mecca, and called the believers to prayer. He also walked along the streets, doing the same.
When Islam became the established religion, minarets were built. Their original purpose was to ventilate the mosque, letting the hot air out and thus drawing the cooler air in. The mu'ezzin climbed to the top and intoned the 'azzan, the call to prayer. Often a blind man was chosen, so he could not look into the homes below.
The word is closely connected with the biblical and modern Hebrew word "ha'azinu" ("listen").
Ethiopian Refuseniks [1/12] - Saying no to the Israeli army
Protesting the racism of Israel's police chief
The Arabs Did It
WHEN MY parents married in Germany, just before World War I, among the gifts was a document attesting that a tree had been planted in their name in Palestine.
My father was an early Zionist. Popular Jewish humor in Germany at that time had it that "a Zionist is a Jew who wants to take money from another Jew in order to settle a third Jew in Palestine." My father certainly was not planning to go to Palestine himself.
Palestine was then a country bereft of ornamental trees. The Arab inhabitants cultivated olive trees, from which they made their scant living, and at that time the citrus trees were introduced. The olive tree is native – already in the Biblical story of Noah's ark, the dove fetches an olive leaf as a sign of life.
Ethiopian Refuseniks [2/12] - How the protest began
Ethiopian Refuseniks [3/12] - Breaking with Israeli consensus
Ethiopian Refuseniks [4/12] - Recognizing racism
Ethiopian Refuseniks [5/12] - No more naiveté
Ethiopian Refuseniks [6/12] - On police harassmen
Ethiopian Refuseniks [7/12] - List of demands
Ethiopian Refuseniks [8/12] - On social integration
Ethiopian Refuseniks [9/12] - Solidarity not charity
The Call of the Nation
A DARK wave is submerging democracies all over the Western world.
It started in Britain, a land we always saw as the mother of democracy, the homeland of a particularly sensible people. It voted in a plebiscite to leave the European Union, that landmark of human progress which arose out of the terrible ruins of World War II.
Why? No particular reason. Just for the heck of it.
Ethiopian Refuseniks [10/12] - On African refugees
Ethiopian Refuseniks [11/12] - Lessons from Palestinians
Ethiopian Refuseniks [12/12] - On charges of leftism
Ethiopian Refuseniks [FULL]
Golden Netanyahu Statue Toppled Over In Israel
Remember Naboth
AN INCREDIBLE piece of legislation is now being debated in Jerusalem.
The country is busy with a settlement called Amona. There, deep in the occupied territories, a few dozen Jewish families have set up an illegal settlement – illegal even under Israeli law, not to mention international law.
Trouble is, they did not take the trouble to find out who owns the land on which they settled. As it turns out, it actually belongs to private Arab farmers. The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the settlers to evacuate the site.
Hell just froze over: the New York Times runs an article saying Zionism is racist
Excellent piece, thanks for posting it CM
"Boehm's most startling point is that Zionism has anti-Semitic strains, witness its collaboration with Nazis."
Don't Send Him!
DONALD TRUMP has spat in my face.
Not only in my own face, but in the faces of at least half the Israeli population.
He has appointed a bankruptcy lawyer named David Friedman to the job of US ambassador in Israel.
This sounds like a bad joke. But it is brutal reality. It sets a precedent unknown in the annals of international diplomacy.
FIRST OF all, it is bad practice to appoint an ambassador to a country with which he has a deep personal connection. You don't send a Cuban-American Castro-hater to be the US ambassador in Havana. You don't send Kuomintang Chinese from Taiwan to be US ambassador in Beijing
Don't Send Him!
DONALD TRUMP has spat in my face.
Not only in my own face, but in the faces of at least half the Israeli population.
He has appointed a bankruptcy lawyer named David Friedman to the job of US ambassador in Israel.
This sounds like a bad joke. But it is brutal reality. It sets a precedent unknown in the annals of international diplomacy.
FIRST OF all, it is bad practice to appoint an ambassador to a country with which he has a deep personal connection. You don't send a Cuban-American Castro-hater to be the US ambassador in Havana. You don't send Kuomintang Chinese from Taiwan to be US ambassador in Beijing
Inside Story - Egypt pulls plug on UN vote on Israeli settlements
Others brought the same motion and it succeeded as Obama instructed the US to abstain rather than veto.
‘Santa stands with Palestinians!’ Protesters clash w/ Israeli police demanding access to Jerusalem
Palestinians react to UN settlements vote
Israel refuses to recognise UN vote on settlements
UN Resolution Is a Breath of Hope in Sea of Darkness and Despair
Inside Story - How's Israel dealing with fallout of UN vote?
Israeli Activist: No Difference Between Democrats and Republicans on Israel
The Great Challenge: Israel
Israel claims it has clear proof Obama pushed UN settlement vote
US and Israel engage in war of words over settlements and UN vote
Anti-Semitic Zionists
WHAT REALLY got me was the applause.
There they were sitting at the round table, the representatives of the entire world, applauding their own handiwork, the resolution they had just adopted unanimously. The Security Council, like the Knesset, is not used to applause or any other spontaneous outbursts. And yet they clapped their hands like children who had just received their Christmas gift.
(It was indeed a day before Christmas and the first day of Hanukkah, a coincidence that happens once in decades, since the Christians use the solar calendar and the Jews still use a modified lunar calendar.)
Palestinian Authority: Israel rejected all requests for ID cards in 2016
3 Myths about Israeli Settlements
7-year-old caught by military stakeout, Kafr Qadum, 23 December 2016, 12:30 PM
Israeli police question PM Netanyahu
Diana Buttu & Gideon Levy on Israeli Settlements, Kerry, Military Aid & End of Two-State Solution
Court to issue verdict in Hebron shooting trial
IDF soldier convicted of killing wounded Palestinian attacker
Inside Story - Is Israeli soldier Elor Azaria a hero or a killer?
Netanyahu openly boasts of Israel’s war on Africans
Ali Abunimah: Can Israeli Apartheid Really Be Defeated?
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