Israel At Level Ground: Old Jaffa port images

Abandoned Taverna. Old Jaffa port. (Dave Bender)

Israel At Level Ground: Old Jaffa port

(Dave Bender)

Wanted to get these up Friday afternoon. I shot them seaside at the old Jaffa port, just south of Tel Aviv. Enjoy a tranquil and joyous Shabbat, and have a great weekend.

Photo critique is welcome.

Observant Israeli supermodel talks with 'Israel At Level Ground' (Podcast)

Havi Mond, a fast-rising Israeli star in London's fashion modeling firmament, says that while getting kosher vittles catered to her modeling shoots and sometimes-missed lucrative weekend gigs may be a limitation, her agency and a bevy of major clients and magazines, including Vogue and Marie Claire don't seem to mind at all.

“It all adds to the intrigue," says one industry insider.

Mond, who's been on fashion and airport runways nearly nonstop since she was discovered by a talent scout as she was out strolling in London in 2001 at age 16, is also a three-season veteran for Israel's Fox line-up.

Israel At Level Ground spoke with Havi – a Latinized version of “Chava” - at her north London flat in Mill Hill a few evenings ago, for a feature article and photo spread set to appear in the July/August edition of Atlanta Jewish Life Magazine, and on their website. (First of a series)

Sleepless in Sderot

Noted author, columnist, and colleague Judy Lash Balint just posted a moving, close-to-the-bone report of her visit to beleagured Sderot, and it's residents.

"I remember sitting in the sweltering conference room of the bare-bones municipality building in 1990, as city officials explained where the new neighborhood of pre-fab houses would be built, not far from the burgeoning industrial zone. There was optimism in the air, despite the obvious challenges of integrating such large numbers of people who had little in common with the largely North African Sderot old-timers. The newcomers would revitalize the town and stimulate the economy, we were told, and Sderot would become an attractive regional center. A safe community, secure in its uncontroversial status inside the Green Line.

"These memories came flooding back yesterday as I sat in that same conference room listening to Eli Moyal, the ashen-faced, exhausted and exasperated Likud mayor of Sderot."

Read it all.

And this morning's latest from Ynetnews:

"Defense Minister Amir Peretz knows that in the last few weeks, his big test has become Sderot, his hometown and target of the incessant rocket barrage from northern Gaza Qassam cells. The battle for home, between him and the terror organizations. Residents are waiting to see how a local son, who has reached the highest security rank, will return calm to their lives."

Read it all.

Israel FM spokesman on Gaza chaos: Extremists uninterested in Pals' well-being (Podcast)

Entrance sign to Karni crossing, 'back-to-back' transfer of goods between Israeli and Palestinian loading bays. (Dave Bender)

On a recent visit to the Karni goods and cargo crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, I asked Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev for his response to an Israeli Air Force strike that killed a busload of Islamic Jihad terrorists, foiling the firing of a barrage of 20-plus kilometer range Katyusha missiles into Israel, but that also killed and wounded several dozen Palestinians gathered around the smoking wreckage of the first vehicle.

At Level Ground Podcasts now at 'Odeo'

Just finishing porting the first podcasts over to Odeo from Tripod (which will likely remain an archive). Go take a listen, if you haven't heard them yet. There are also pictures and video of the podcast content: scroll further down. Drop me a line with feedback about how they sound, content.

New audio gets posted on the top right side of the page, just under the email list sign-ups. So, sign-up and listen. In the immortal words of the legendary Gashash Hachiver comedy trio: "Amru li lis-ten! Oz lisanu... (they told me - transliterated - lis-ten. So I lis-tened...).

Just came across this Jewish Arts and Culture blog. Looks interesting, but they seem to have a slow server (or I'm just up waaay too late), so I can't get to most pages. Go take a look. Come back here, and we can discuss it among ourselves.

Any other really - but really good blogs/pocasts/vlogs you know about? Let me know.

Oh, wait! Here's one now:

"(2006-06-07) — In what may be a major breakthrough in stalled talks over Iran’s uranium enrichment program, the United States has reportedly offered to give long-range nuclear weapons to the Islamic Republic in exchange for assurances that it will soon stop production of nuclear material."

Israel mayor's message to Americans (Podcast)

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal talking with reporters at the town's city hall on Tuesday, June 13th. as Government Press Office Director Danny Seaman looks on. (Dave Bender)

Hear Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal compare US President Bush's military reaction to the 9/11 attacks to possible Israeli responses to the non-stop terrorism and rocket attacks emanating from the nearby Gaza Strip.

Sderot: 'Red Dawn' means run for cover (podcast)

Sderot school custodian Shlomo Halevy points to hole in classroom ceiling where Kassam rocket slammed in. Children had just left the room for morning prayers. (Dave Bender)

Hear Israeli National Service student Avital Morer tell about Kassam rockets and traumatized children in Sderot, where a lethal steel rain from Gaza keeps falling, and kids are terrified.

Film: IDF airstrike against Katyusha missile crew

(Communicated by the IDF Spokesperson)

Yesterday morning (Tuesday), 13 June 2006, the IDF carried out an aerial attack in the northern Gaza Strip against a vehicle loaded with rockets and carrying a Islamic Jihad terrorist cell en route to launch long-range Katyusha (Grad) rockets against Israel. Thirty-eight rockets have been launched at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours; over 100 rockets have been launched at Israel since Friday, 9 June 2006.

According to Palestinians reports three terrorists who operated in the cell were killed, as well as eight civilians. After the attack the terror cell was seen removing the rockets from the vehicle.

"I state clearly that we are saddened by the deaths of these innocent Palestinians but hold absolutely no responsibility for them. The responsibility lies entirely on the shoulders of the Palestinians," said the Chief of Staff Dan Halutz last night, who added that "the incident must be evaluated in its context, which is that Palestinians attempted to launch Grad rockets against Israel, and we acted with determination to prevent their firing."

This is the fourth time in the past two months in which terrorist cells attempt to launch Grad rockets at Israel. On Knesset election day (March 28) a rocket fell south of Ashkelon; about a month later another attempt was thwarted. On the third attempt, which occurred on May 15, the rocket hit an Israeli community north of the Gaza Strip, and damaged civilian infrastructure.

These rockets are capable of causing much more serious damage than the Qassam rockets, because they can reach a range of 15 to 20 kilometers and carry much more explosives. Since Friday morning terrorists have launched over 100 projectile rockets at Israel, 38 of these within the last 24 hours.

'Kossacks against Israel'

The (what seems pretty clear to me, at least) hard-left blog, Daily Kos (the "Alien" to hard right-wing Little Green Footballs' "Predator" More on the Alien vs Predator sci-fi film face off here) has a very interesting entry by an American-Israeli/Israeli-American member on the sheer maliciousness, and redline-the-meter hatred of Israel of many commentors shot throughout the Daily Kos site:

"Tue Jun 13, 2006 at 03:26:26 PM PDT

Why do so many on the DailyKos continuously attack Israel? Why is there no balance in the presentation of issues? What the hell has happened here?

"I support progressive politics. I support gay rights, oppose globalization, hope that unions will be reinvigorated. I've voted democrat every election that I could, write my congressmen, and live in one of the most liberal towns in the US. I'm an Israeli citizen, I served in the IDF, and I am proud to be Israeli-American. And I am disgusted by the daily vicious attacks on Israel that we see on this site.

"I am saddened and amazed to see how the "left-wing blogosphere" falls completely for so much anti-Israel propaganda. I am stunned at how so many Kossacks daily argue that Israel is fundamentally evil, that Israel must abandon its defenses, and that Israel takes glee at the death of its enemies."

Israel supporters, first take a dramamine and a shot of arak, and then read it all, and leave some comments - there and here.