Ahhh, kwitcher' crabbin' awready and get happy...

...as Magnum Photos gives us the joy in black and white...

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IaLG on Yahoo 'You Witness News': The Lebanon War

Yahoo News is featuring the second Lebanon War, The Iraq War and the US-Mexico immigration debate in a three-part audio slideshow on their "You Witness" News year-end review.

A Yahoo editor separately interviewed a Lebanese college student, Rami Cheleb and myself about photographs we shot during the fighting and posted to our respective Flickr sites.

I spoke of scenes of wanton destruction and loss of life across the north and along the border during the conflict, of Israelis, civilian and soldiers, and locations affected by the some 4,000 Hizbullah Katyusha rocket barrages. Horrific details about one lethal rocket strike are here.

Considering the time constraints, I felt our half-hour interview was professionally conducted and fair, and was boiled down to about 33-seconds and six photos for my segment. As for the final product, well, you listen in and watch and let me know.

For comparison, here are a few segments from our discussion, wrapped into a longer podcast. Leave a comment below with your impressions: Fair/unfair, slanted/balanced and to which side?

The full photo series is here, video coverage is here, and the audio is here, and in the Odeo podcast gadget up there near the top left-hand side of this page.

Israeli economy shrugs off military, political woes

Click here or on image for Globes
Israel business news

Fitch Changes Israel's Outlook to Positive:

Fitch Ratings Monday changed the outlook on Israel's foreign and local currency Issuer Default ratings (IDR) to Positive from Stable. "The Positive Outlook reflects the Israeli economy's increased dynamism and resilience following the reforms of recent years, demonstrated by the limited economic impact of the war in Lebanon and the strong rebound now underway," said Richard Fox, Head of Middle East and Africa Sovereign Ratings at Fitch.

Seeking Affordability in Israel:

Home ownership is widespread in Israel, where some 70% of the country's 5 million citizens own their own homes.

Refusal to Cooperate Leaves Arab Economies Far Behind Israel's:

This year Israel recorded the best economic year in its history. In the 1990s, Israel proposed that the Arab world join it to transform the Middle East in a grand renaissance of prosperity and renewal. The Arabs rejected the vision and a new Middle East didn't materialize. On the contrary, the vision only led to the rise of Islamic defiance that found itself threatened by it. Israel sincerely wanted to advance a joint economy with the Palestinians and Jordan, but Arab leaders refused.

'Peace Breaking Out' index: Sderot residents turn to Supreme Court over Kassam rockets

SFX: DING!

SOUND UP: TELETYPE (under v/o)

V/O (1940's-style radio announcer): "And here's the latest "Peace Breaking Out" index for Friday morning, December 22nd. Nearly a month into the reputed ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The Jerusalem Post leads with a update that:

A group of Sderot residents are set to submit a petition to the High Court of Justice to instruct the cabinet to react more harshly to Kassam rocket attacks against their city, it was reported on Friday.

One of the architects of the petition, Avi Farhan, told Army Radio that he was "sure that if one Kassam was fired on Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan or Ramat Aviv, the government would have acted long ago."

"I hope that the High Court will correct this injustice and order the government to act and to stop gambling with our lives," he added.

Haaretz adds:

The security cabinet will meet early next week to decide whether to uphold the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported Friday.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided Thursday to press on with Israel's policy of restraint toward the Qassam rocket fire from Gaza, which has continued despite the declaration of a bilateral cease-fire. Nonetheless, he informed Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that this restraint cannot last much longer if the launches of the past few days persist.

Olmert apparently does not want to jeopardize his planned meeting with Abbas, which he hopes will demonstrate that he is making diplomatic progress.

Israel National News reminds that:

A separate attack on Thursday hit the port city of Ashkelon. The city is home to strategic oil and gas pipelines and a large electric power plant.

Some 45 Kassam rockets have been launched from Gaza against Israel since the November 26 truce went into effect, according to remarks made by Prime Minister Olmert Thursday afternoon.

From Israel's Foreign Ministry:

his decision was taken in an effort on Israel's part both to bring about a calming of the situation and as a signal of Israel's readiness to contribute to an improvement in the security and political condition of the region.

Israel is interested in maintaining a cease-fire as a means to end the violence and to enable progress in the political negotiations. In doing so, Israel is knowingly undertaking the risk that the terrorist organizations will exploit the cease-fire to rearm and to rebuild their infrastructure.

Veteran Sderot resident and US immigrant, Mechi Fendel, movingly writes:

It seems the media and the politicians (from all parties) are starting to wake up to the abnormal situation of a city in Israel during “peacetime” being bombed.

Mechi Fendel at a protest against the
ongoing rocket attacks. Click on the
photo for her blog.

I think MK Ms. Shelly Yechimovitch observed so well – most kids don’t remember a Sderot without Kassam missiles. My 4½-year-old son was born into a Kassam-falling world. He’s been taught since he’s 2 years old to run for cover if he hears the warning. Over the weekend we were at a family simcha near Jerusalem, and my son kept on “hearing” the warning siren and telling us to run to a shelter. He’s just not used to a Kassam-free Shabbat!

The Hamas terrorists are terrorizing the people of Sderot and at the same time causing terror within Gaza. Anyone trying to oppose the sending of Kassam missiles from his home in Gaza is killed. They are trying to kill us, in Sderot, all the time. I also feel bad for the “innocents” in Gaza – but it would be for their benefit too if Israel does a fully-encompassing attack to get rid of the Hamas once and for all.

A protest against the Kassam threat.
Click on the photo for her blog.

And finally, in the words of This Ongoing War:

There have been numerous injuries and plenty of damage from the random firings of these 'heros', mostly among their own children, siblings and cousins. Yesterday, though several rockets crashed into the southern Israeli city of Sderot, most of the injuries were among small Arab children in Gazan Bet Hanoun where a rocket fell short. Your local media won't report it (Pal Arabs injuring other Pal Arabs? Who cares?).

SOUND UP: TELETYPE (under v/o)

This has been a "Peace Breaking Out" index update for Friday morning, December 22nd.

Previous "Peace Breaking Out" updates are here.

SFX: DING!

Dancing in the rehovot

Who ever said white Jewish guys can't dance?

(H-T: Israelity)

'Nicely done, Mr. Chamberlain!'

From Ynetnews:

The law firm at which former US Secretary of State James Baker is a senior partner used an Israeli middleman to bypass US sanctions on Iraq and push through a multimillion-dollar collection effort involving the regime of Saddam Hussein, according to an Israeli businessman who said he mediated the deal.

Nir Gouaz, president of Caesar Global Securities in Israel, told WND that Baker's firm, Houston-based Baker Botts, made about USD 30 million collecting funds owed to a South Korean company by the Iraqi government at the peak of American sanctions imposed against Baghdad.

"As a citizen of Israel I cannot just sit by and watch the hypocrisy being spewed by Baker," said Gouaz. "If Baker was still a private citizen I could keep his business dealings private, but now he is involved in diplomacy that sells out Israel. People need to understand he is acting out of economic considerations."

The Iraq Study Group report (Note: .pdf file download)

Hannuka in Jerusalem's Old City (Exclusive photos)

Supplications to God jammed in the crevices
of the Western Wall (Photo: Dave Bender)

Took a stroll down to the Old City last night, and made my way through the alleyways down to the Western Wall plaza, photographing all the way.

More photos after the jump. Comments and critique are welcome.

(Cross-posted at Israelity)

US immigrant to Israel yocks the house for Hanukkah

Campbell told me his amazing aliya (immigration to Israel) saga last year in an interview for The Jerusalem Post's local weekend edition, "In Jerusalem." Not only a very funny and honest guy, Yisrael is the kind of warm, clear -eyed neshama that we need here:

"So what's so funny about Israel?" I asked him in the Sept., 2005 interview...

"Damn near everything," says 42-year-old Yisrael Campbell, a Torah student, stand-up comic, father of twins and a convert who made aliyah five years ago. After entertaining the crowd from behind the mike at comedy clubs from Los Angeles and Las Vegas, to New York and London, his close-up-and-personal humor is now yocking the house throughout Israel.

"When I was 19 I read Exodus," says [Campbell], recalling the initial spark to his Zionistic fire. "I was ready to move to Israel; I was ready to turn the desert green. If Kitty Fremont (Exodus's female protagonist) was still here, she'd have been about 85..." he guffaws.

More here (in their for-pay archives). More interviews are here.

(H T: Kesher Talk)

Any more minimalist, it would vanish edge-on

Cute copy, too:

Hanukkah has got to be tough. Instead of finding 1 decent gift like most Chistmastians do, Hanukkahians need to find 8 (but only on their 8th birthday, otherwise there are more candles and it's even harder.) The 100% recyclable stainless steel credit card dreidel could make a nice modern addition to traditional Hanukkah gifts...but we think it's just a concept. Maybe next year. Until then use Moses Pez or something.

War on Terror: The boardgame

Hey Kids! Just in time for for the holidays!

Everyone starts with the best intentions. Then things start to get cramped. Then you notice your neighbour has more oil than you. Before long, war is waged, nukes are dropped, revolutions are fought and terrorists are doing your dirty work, before turning on you...

... and the Axis of Evil is a spinner in the middle of the board. You can fight terrorism, you can fund terrorism, you can even be the terrorists. The only thing that matters is global domination - err, liberation. Read more about the game.

Meanwhile...

Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil," Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil," which they said would be way eviler than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of his State of the Union address. Read more.