UPDATE: (Video) PM Eulogizes Late Israeli Astronaut's Son

What a tragedy:

From The Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804559879&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Baruch Dayan Emet.

Video of Assaf Ramon getting his IAF wings:



Initial findings: possible blackout at 18,000 ft. in a sharp turn during multiple craft dogfight, according to Israel TV Ch. 2 talking with IAF experts.

From The Government Press Office:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today (Sunday), 13.9.09, eulogized Lt. Assaf Ramon:

"'Thy beauty, O Israel, upon thy high places is slain! How are the mighty fallen!'*

Few are the moments in which private pain so strongly shatters the national heart. Today, the entire nation is wrapped in unfathomable grief over the death of Assaf Ramon, who fell from the skies like his father Ilan.

This is an awful tragedy for Rona and the entire Ramon family; this is an awful tragedy for the entire people of Israel.

I was moved when Ilan, the youngest of the pilots who bombed the death reactor in Iraq, took with him into space a pencil drawing titled 'Moon Landscape' by a 14-year-old Jewish boy, Peter Ginz, who was murdered at Auschwitz. I was also deeply moved when Assaf continued in his father's path and finished the IAF pilot's course with top marks. The loss of each of these outstanding individuals, father and son, is a disaster in and of itself. The loss of both brings with it pain too terrible to bear.

There is no consolation for the Ramon family, or for the Israeli people, only tears."

* II Samuel 1:19

I wrote a story about Col. Ilan Ramon, who died along with his crew in 2003, when Space Shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere:

"Elegy for Columbia: A Personal Requiem"

You can read it here:

(Update) Reports: Katyushas fired on northern Israel

Update:

Israel police have confirmed the rocket attack on the northern coastal city of Nahariya, which lies just south of the border with Lebanon.

Danny Ben Shabbat, a resident in one of the town's southern neighborhoods told Ynet news, he heard three explosions at about 3:45 PM:

דני בן שבת, תושב נהריה, סיפר ל-ynet: "אני גר בשכונת שפרינצק בחלק הדרומי של העיר ויודע לזהות נפילות של קטיושות. שמעתי שלוש נפילות סמוך לשעה 15:45. אחי סיפר לי שראה ניידות רבות ואמבולנסים שיצאו לכיוון השדות. לא הייתה אזעקה".

"I live in the Sprintzak neighborhood in the city's southern area, and know what a Katyusha sounds like. I heard three explosions close to 3:45 [PM]. My brother says he saw many police vehicles and ambulances heading out towards the fields. There was no [warning] siren."

First report, via cell phone updates, and now Reuters via Ynet.co.il:

מקורות ביטחון לבנוניים: רקטות נורו מדרום לבנון לצפון ישראל

לפחות שתי רקטות נורו מדרום לבנון לעבר צפון ישראל. כך מדווחים גורמי ביטחון לבנוניים. כמו נמסר כי הרקטות שוגרו מאזור דרום טירה הסמוך לגבול.

מוקדם יותר דווח כי קולות קפץ נשמעו בנהריה וסביבותיה,

"Lebanese security sources report: rockets were fired from south Lebanon into Israel.

At least two rockets have been fired from south Lebanon at Israel. This, according to Lebanese security sources. it was also reported that rockets were fired from south Tira near the border," [with Israel, and near Sidon, according to Reshet Bet Israel radio].

There are no Israel reports of casualties or damage. Sounds of explosions were reported in Nahariya.

The IDF is returning artillery fire at the source of the rockets, possibly Katyushas.

The report will be updated as more details come in.

9/11 Audio Exclusive: Reactions in Jerusalem's Old City

On the evening of September 11th, 2001, I visited Jerusalem’s Old City to gather reactions in the wake of the attacks, as a reporter for The Jerusalem Post newspaper. While some Palestinians celebrated, calling it a fitting response to US support for Israel, other Christian and Muslim Arabs were dismayed by the scope of the horror.

Frightened American tourists from Arkansas and Oklahoma scurried through dark alleys of the Muslim Quarter's Via Dolorosa seeking refuge. In the Jewish Quarter, Jewish seminary students from New York watched the fall of the World Trade Center towers in stunned disbelief on a television at a local pizza parlor. Some managed to contact loved ones, but others called in vain, trying to reach family members thought to have been in Manhattan that morning.

Audio podcast: http://www.davebrianbender.com

Jewish Youth, Lost & Found, Pro & Con

Haviv Rettig, in a very nuanced and insightful article at The Jerusalem Post, about the Jewish collective, and/or individualistic "Lost and Found."

The article comes in response to the uproar over a recent video ad campaign by Masa - "Trek" - an Israel-based group offering cultural programming geared towards stemming assimilation among diaspora Jewish youth, similar to the US-based Birthright program.

Un-embeddable video (what's up with that, editors?): http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1194419829128&pagename=JPost%2FPage%2FVideoPlayer&videoId=1251804482457

Read it all.

Some Advice For The 'Ignorant Arrogance of the Advice-Givers'

Prof. Barry Rubin replies - plain and simple - to the Ignorant Arrogance of the Advice-Givers:

"One remarkable thing about watching the Middle East is how what’s celebrated as brilliant in Europe or America is errant nonsense.

Writing such stuff makes people successful and gives them an audience of millions. What they say is so ridiculous that one wants to laugh, yet so totally accepted as true in Washington and European capitals that the laugher would be laughed at.

The article to which I refer is by Jacob Weisberg in the June 22 Newsweek, entitled, “A Friend in Need: Barack gets tough on Bibi.” It is far more terrible because Weisberg is neither leftist nor anti-Israel but has simply imbibed what 'everyone says.'"

Warning: Serious slapdown action ahead.

Israeli Press Center Hosts Suicide Bombers as Madonna, Baby Jesus

One of the paintings at the exhibition.

From the "days I just love my profession" file:

From Ynet News:

"Art exhibition including seven paintings of female suicide bombers depicted as Madonna holding baby Jesus in their laps slated to open Thursday at Journalists' Association in Tel Aviv. Following protest, association considers removing paintings. Artist: Art is meant to ask questions"

That's right. At the Bet Sokolow Journalists' Association.

"On a personal level, the paintings bother me," said Bar-Moha to Ynet. "If I need to weigh freedom of expression against the outcry of the bereaved families, I prefer the terror victims. They are more important to me than freedom of expression in this case. But I can't determine this. I am turning to my colleagues, one by one, and asking their opinion. As of now, I have spoken with four of them, and all have authorized the removal of the exhibition."

"...There are pieces that won't be taken down, such as the one on clumps of earth collected from the site of the suicide terror act on the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. There is no reference or halo around this earth, as opposed to the pictures of the female suicide bombers," said Bar-Moha."

So where's the Israeli diplomat to reply in kind, with his own brand of "public art," like then Israel Ambassador Zvi Mazel in 2004 at an "art installation" in Sweden? Wait a minute, Sweden... Huh. Wonder why? Any ideas, readers?


'Snow White and The Madness of Truth'

"Israel's ambassador to Sweden was kicked out of Stockholm's Museum of National Antiquities after he destroyed an artwork featuring a picture of a Palestinian suicide bomber, news reports said.

The incident, widely reported in the Swedish media, occurred at the opening on Friday of the "Making Differences" exhibit, part of an upcoming international conference on genocide hosted by the Swedish Government and in which Israel is scheduled to participate.

"I was really looking forward to seeing what the artists had done. Instead, I was met by a picture of a smiling suicide bomber, the woman who killed 21 people in Haifa a few months ago," ambassador Zvi Mazel told Swedish news agency TT.

The art installation, located in the museum's courtyard, featured a fountain filled with red water, designed to look like blood.

A sailboat with the name Snow White floated on the water, and on it was a photo of a smiling Hanadi Jaradat, the female lawyer who blew herself up in the Haifa suicide bombing attack in October which killed 21 Israelis.

"For me it was intolerable and an insult to the families of the victims. As ambassador to Israel I could not remain indifferent to such an obscene misrepresentation of reality," Mr Mazel said."

(Video) Israeli Flying car: Iraq medivac demo

"Foxnews reported on the X-hawk a year and a half ago, and the IDF insists that the prototypes are not far away (as close enough as 2010).

"Like a similarly sized helicopter, X-Hawk will be able to take off vertically, fly up to 155 miles an hour and as high as 12,000 feet and remain aloft about two hours, Urban Aeronautics says.

"But encased fans will replace the exposed rotors that keep helicopters from maneuvering effectively in urban areas or dense natural terrain because they have to stay clear of walls, power lines and mountain ridges. And a patented system of vanes is designed to afford the vehicle greater stability.

Urban Aeronautics says vehicles will be able to sidle right up to a building."

Is it just me, or does this remind you of the old Gerry Anderson British "Supercar," tv show...



(H-T: Double Tapper)

When the Prophet & Profit Motive Meet

Oh, the sweet bitter irony - otherwise known in the language of the Prophets as vacuous, stunning "hutzpa" - of it all...

From the WaPo:

"[Shari] Arison -- billionaire ($2.7 by Forbes's most recent estimate), perhaps the richest woman in the Middle East, a major force in Israeli philanthropy -- claims that she can see the future.

"This is much bigger than a parlor trick. In her new book published this summer in Israel, the 51-year-old Miami native says she felt the Indonesian tsunami sweeping over the land two months before it happened and sensed Hurricane Katrina pummeling New Orleans. In an interview, Arison says she also "saw the writing on the wall" before the global economic crash. Reading about Arison's extrasensory perception makes you ache for a heads-up, maybe a blog entry or a tweet or a phone call to Brownie or Greenspan or somebody who might have helped."

I hear there's medication for this.

Hey - btw: I'm looking for multimedia development ideas for my website: http://www.davebrianbender.com. And no, asking Arison for a loan doesn't count. Go take a look, and drop me a line. Thanks, D

(Audio Slideshow) UK Guardian: 'This land belongs to the Jewish people'

View
Shdema is located at the green A. (Click on the larger view for a detailed map)

The UK's Guardian newspaper has an audio slideshow (so far unembeddable) up purporting to give an on-site view of Israelis trying to (re) settle and rebuild Shdema, an abandoned Israeli army base near the Israeli neighborhood of Har Homa, and the Palestinian town of Beit Sahur - both just SE of Jerusalem and NE of Bethlehem.

For what it's worth, my take is that the slide show - despite it's faults - is far drier and more straight-up newsy, than the written article by the same author - Rory McCarthy. While both focus on Israeli Women in Green founder Nadia Matar , the written article comes across as a much more of a screedy and opinionated piece of work than the slideshow.

The Women in Green website post on Shdema:

"The convention of the terrorist Fatah organization in Betlehem last week has brought with it a wave of vandalism against Shdema, located on the outskirts of Betlehem

"For the past two weeks, international anarchists and Arabs have vandalized Shdema, have besmirched the Israeli flags and have painted anti-Israeli slogans on the walls.

"When we go up to Shdema, the IDF accompanies us, mainly to make sure we don’t do any serious building in Shdema. On the other hand, the illegal Arab construction at the bottom of Shdema continues to blossom, despite the destruction orders against it."

'Batterup!' Feature Length Film on Baseball in Israel

Entertaining: sweet, no mideast politics - just all about the boys (and girls) of summer in the US and Israel... worth watching. Batterup!

Source: http://www.hulu.com

Video description: A diverse group of players and executives attempt to create the first professional baseball league in the Middle East.

Full disclosure: my son played extensively in Israel Little League (where he usually swatted them out of the park - but hey - it's just his abba talkin'...)

After the film, check out my news site. Comments welcome.