The big scandal of the past few days has been the question of whether or not the Israeli government should be funding cultural events even though they go against the core principles of the country. Education Minister Naftali Bennet removed a play from the list of plays subsidized by the Ministry for showing to schools, because the play was written by and about a terrorist who was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli soldier. In response, many actors from the political Left have been screaming about the end of freedom of speech, which of course is a huge exaggeration. The play is continuing to show, just without being funded by the Ministry of Education. Last night, at an “emergency gathering” of actors and directors, an actor called everyone who voted Likud (i.e. 25% of the population) “a herd of mammals”, which has brought about a lot of uproar.
But in other matters, it’s been a pretty interesting week online:
1. June 8th, “The Israeli Left and the myth of Palestinian Susiya“, from Arutz7.
2. June 8th, A Hamas- affiliated website has no qualms about saying out loud what we’ve already known- “Hamas: Armed resistance not negotiable in struggle with Israel“.
3. June 9th, this great video about the complexity of living in Israel. via ynet (01:26).
4. June 10th, another great video about Israeli innovation. From StandWithUs (01:50).
5. June 10th, “International legal experts slam IDF- for over-warning Gazans“. Apparently the IDF is too moral…
6. June 10th, on the same subject- the end of days is here: Arab panelists on a talk show discussing syria compare the IDF and the French army with Hizballah and the Syrian army- and wish the latter were more like the former in their treatment of civilians. Watch the video and let your jaw drop (05:58).
7. June 12th, BDS has nothing to do with peace or Palestinians’ rights. It has to do with doing whatever it takes to hurt Israel, no matter the consequences to them. “BDS threats thwart Israeli-Palestinian normalization meeting in Bethlehem“. From Jpost.com
8. June 12th, While Jerusalem hosts four major events, including the Light Festival and a “Spirit of the Dance” concert, rocket sirens sound again in southern Israel for the fourth time in less than 3 weeks. Video by Standwithus (01:14).
9. June 12th, “Nazi ‘perfect Aryan’ poster child was Jewish“. The irony. From the Telegraph.
10. June 14th- a multinational committee has found Israel has performed above and beyond requirements in safeguarding enemy civilians in Gaza during last summer’s “protective edge” operation.
Status by UN Watch:
“Our overall findings are that during Operation Protective Edge last summer, in the air, on the ground and at sea, Israel not only met a reasonable international standard of observance of the laws of armed conflict, but in many cases significantly exceeded that standard.”
“Each of our own armies is of course committed to protecting civilian life during combat. But none of us is aware of any army that takes such extensive measures as did the IDF last summer to protect the lives of the civilian population in such circumstances.”
Source: http://blog.unwatch.org/…/key-findings-of-the-high-level-i…/
11. June 15th- Terrorist FAIL: “Palestinian attacks IDF jeep- ends up underneath it“. He threw a bomb at the jeep, the jeep overturned, he was in the way. By the way, the Hamas website from link number 2 above, is of course calling this “Israeli military jeep runs over Palestinian”. It’s all a matter of how you phrase it.
12. June 15th- One of the most beautiful pieces I’ve seen written about Israel. A man from England comes for a tour in Israel, expecting to confirm his negative thoughts about the country, and comes home in love. “To my newfound love” by Oli Marjot.
13. June 15th- A video of Israel’s competitors in the Baku 2015 games. Water acrobatics. Impressive. Watch it here (03:00).
14. June 15th- “TripAdvisor CEO says his favorite trip was to Jerusalem“. Why, thank you! From Times of Israel.
15. June 16th- After last week’s scandal of Orange’s CEO’s statement, allegedly in favor of BDS- “Exposed: Orange telecom involved in war crimes in occupied territories, according to French official“, by Prof. Eugene Kontorovitch in the Washington Post. Lots of plot twists here.
16. And finally my own post from today, June 16th- of the Jerusalem Light Festival. See the photos here.
Here’s a taste:
Dormition Abbey, Mount Zion, outside Zion Gate, “Transitions- from old to new, from traditional to modern”, Kobi Rosenthal, Israel
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