Tuesday, December 24

Update: 'Snowmageddon' photo series in Israel's NatGeo!

Update: The 'Snowmageddon' photo series is now in Israel's NatGeo - check it out!

My photo series from the "100-year" snowstorm that battered northern and central Israel, and the region for several days in mid-December.

Mt. Meron framed by pines, as seen from Tzfat's 'Citadel,' 

the highest point in the city.



Friday, November 15

One Year Later: IDF Operation 'Pillar of Defense' to Halt Rockets From Gaza:

Post by Dave Bender:

One Year Later: IDF Operation 'Pillar of Defense'":

KIRYAT MALACHI, Israel , Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- In a violent instant on Thursday morning, a single Grad rocket from Gaza took three lives, wounded seven and plunged residents of one Israeli town into the explosive horror.
Photo: Israeli schoolchildren and a dog at Kibbutz Nir Oz inspect a kindergarten wall 
pockmarked by a Kassam rocket that slammed down nearby. 
(Photo and series: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved) 



The long-range rocket, fired from Gaza, scored a direct hit on two apartments in the 4th-floor walk-up in Kiryat Malachi Thursday and killed 24-year-old Itzik Amsallem, 25-year-old Mira Scharf and 49-year-old Aharon Smadja.

"I cried all morning," Gila Yehezkeli, 19, a close friend of Sharf, told Xinhua. I grew up with her, she was like a sister to me."

"While, outside, pastoral fields stretched towards Gaza to the south, inside, a 30-centimeter-deep carpet of masonry rubble, shattered glass, children's toys, demolished furniture and household artifacts spread across the floor. Bookshelves and glass breakfronts full of bibles and other Jewish religious books, were ripped off walls, scattering ancient Hebrew texts among the rubble."

Full article:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/.../2012-11/16/c_131977581.htm

Photo set:
https://www.facebook.com/davebrianbender/media_set?set=a.10151305170690446.526692.505025445&type=1

Sunday, October 6

Religious Jews 'Hurrying to greet the Queen'


'Hurrying to greet the Queen' (Photo: Dave Bender: All Rights Reserved)
I spotted this group late Friday afternoon near the Mt. Cannan Merkaz Klita (immigrant absorption center), Tzfat, just as I was hurrying to get in my pre-Shabbat hill-blaster ride. (Photo: Dave Bender: All Rights Reserved) 

Come book a stay by us at:
http://www.simchaleahsbedandbreakfast.com/, and join me on my rides and you might get the next shot! 

Wednesday, July 31

'Israeli Citizens Wary of Peace Talks' (USA Today)

My latest, published in USA Today:

Dave Bender, Special for USA TODAY
4:23 p.m. EDT July 29, 2013

JERUSALEM -- After six decades of conflict, Israelis did not appear confident Monday that a resumption of direct negotiations over disputed territory will result in peace.



Israeli Border Police officer on guard near Palestinian Arabs during Muslim prayers held in Old City alleyway.
(Illustrative photo: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)
"I have very low expectations," said Rivkah Moriah, an American immigrant who lives with her family in the settlement of Efrat, south of Jerusalem.
Israeli and Palestinian teams arrived in Washington on Monday to end years of diplomatic stalemate and prepare for a new round of Mideast peace talks. 
The resumption of talks was preceded by a decision by Israel's Cabinet to free 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners convicted of terrorism. The release was part of an agreement brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to bring the sides back to the negotiating table.
Read more.

Monday, April 8

Israel and the Nationalist vs Universalist Holocaust


Powerful and disturbing:
"There are nice Jewish boys and girls who have read Anne Frank's diary, visited Auschwitz and come away anti-semities. Of course they don't of course call themselves that. They call themselves human rights activists, they board flotillas, they boycott Israeli products, smash Jewish store windows, hug terrorists and rationalize suicide bombers. And it's not entirely their fault. The lessons that they drew from their education is that the underdog is always right, that people in uniforms are bad and that you always have to stand up for minorities."
Read the rest.

   Israeli Air Force attack helicopter during a "nap-of-the-earth" approach run during live fire exercises at an artillery base in the south of the country (Photo: Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved)     

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