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Israel: Mofaz Derided for Joining Unity Government

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:24:06 +0000

Israel's biggest news story of recent months happened in the early hours of May 8: the head of the opposition and new chairman of the centrist Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, agreed to join Benjamin Netanyahu's government, thus postponing the early elections Netanyahu had announced just days before.

The new unity government has 94 members out of 120 members of the Knesset. In exchange for joining the government, Mofaz was promised the title of a Minister Without Portfolio for the (non-existent) peace process with the Palestinians.

The surprising news came as the Israeli public was gearing up for early elections on September 4. The unity government is designed to ensure that the Netanyahu government will remain in power for the next 15 months, and will make it the first government in decades in Israel to complete its full term. Mofaz, who had at first insisted he would never join Netanyahu's government, was apparently worried about taking part in elections since all the polls predicted his party would greatly diminish in power.

Shaul Mofaz. Image posted on Flickr by Tzipi Livni (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Israelis turned to Twitter, Facebook and blogs to comment on the surprising news. Many of them referred to Mofaz's harsh criticism of Netanyahu up until the moment he entered the government under Netanyahu's leadership. For example, on March 3, Mofaz's official Facebook page posted:

תקשיבו טוב: אני לא אכנס לממשלה של ביבי. לא היום. לא מחר ולא אחרי שאעמוד בראשות קדימה ב-28 במארס. זו ממשה רעה, כושלת ואטומה וקדימה בראשותי תחליף אותה בבחירות הבאות. מספיק ברור?

Listen to me closely: I will not enter Bibi's [Netanyahu's] government. Not today. Not tomorrow and not after I head Kadima on March 28 [at the time he was competing against Tzipi Livni for the leadership of the party]. This is a bad and failed government that doesn't listen to the people, and Kadima under my leadership will replace it in the next elections. Is that clear enough?

Israeli journalist Tal Schneider wrote on her blog about the winners and losers of this deal. Listing Mofaz as a loser, she explained:

שאול מופז – התדמית הציבורית שלו תפגע קשות בעקבות ההחלטה להיכנס לממשלה עם שותף פוליטי אותו כינה לא מזמן “שקרן”. מופז בונה על הטמטום של ציבור הבוחרים, על הזכרון החלש של האנשים. אבל אחרי שהבטיח שהוא יוביל את המחאה של הקיץ, החלטתו הלילה להיכנס לממשלה הופכת אותו לקטן שבקטנים.

Shaul Mofaz's public image will be greatly harmed because of his decision to enter the government with a political partner he recently called a “liar”. Mofaz is counting on the stupidity of the voters, on the weak memory of the population. But after he had promised to lead the social protests during the summer, his decision tonight to enter the government makes him the smallest of the small.

Leading leftist blogger Yossi Gurvits commented on the implications of this move for the Kadima party:

Kadima, a party whose motto may well have been, “We took corruption out of Likud (and brought it to a new home),” also seems to be finished. Why would anyone vote for it again? During the 2009 elections, Livni managed to con the voters into believing she would prevent a Netanyahu government. Livni is out of office, but the party is now in Netanyahu’s lap. If Kadima was looking at 10 seats before Mofaz’s latest schtick, it has now sunk near the level of Ehud Barak’s Atzmaut party (which polls at zero seats).

Dr. Yuval Dror, a widely-read Israeli blogger, wrote:

מופז הוא ג'לי פוליטי: חסר צורה, חסר טעם, ריח או עמוד שדרה, תוצר של יועצים פוליטיים השמים בפיו משפטים ועמדות. הוא האפס הפוליטי המוחלט.
ב-2 לפנות בוקר, כנחש מתחת לקש, חתם האפס הפוליטי המוחלט על עסקה עם אותו שקרן כדי לקבל משרת שר ללא תיק, כדי להציל את עורו ואת עור חבריו ולתת להם עוד שנה וחצי ממנעמי השלטון. כניסתו של מופז לממשלה הפכה את ממשלת ישראל לממשלה הכי צינית בתולדותיה…

Mofaz is a political jello: shapeless, tasteless, spineless, a product of political advisers who put words in his mouth and tell him which positions to take. He is the complete political zero [meaning: worthless, pathetic].
At 2 AM, like a snake coming from under the hay, this complete political zero signed a deal with the same liar [Mofaz recently called Netanyahu a liar] to get the position of a Minister Without a Portfolio, to save his skin and the skin of his friends [Kadima members of the Knesset] and give them another year and a half of the benefits of government. The entry of Mofaz into the Government of Israel has made it the most cynical government in its history…

Amir Schiby posted this altered campaign banner for Mofaz, which in a few hours was shared on Facebook over 1,500 times:

Mock campaign banner. Image posted by Amir Schiby on Facebook.

The text reads:

Mofaz. Because everyone can piss from the springboard [Israeli saying that means showing complete disregard]. Shitting from it [on the public] is art.

Minister's chair. Image posted by Gil Osser on Facebook.

Gil Osser posted an image of a chair, with the text:

An unprecedented sale for members of the Kadima party:

Minister's Chair*

An orthopedic chair made of elephant skin, particularly suitable for the spineless. The chair moves forward [Kadima], backward, right and left and can be found in various colors.

Price: Principles | Payment method: 15 months [the length of time this government will remain in power thanks to the deal]

*The same model sold to members of HaAtzmaut Party in 2011.

Noy Alooshe, the Israeli musician behind Gaddafi's “Zenga Zenga” remix, produced a new remix of footage in which Mofaz proclaims Netanyahu is a liar:

While the overwhelming majority of reactions online were negative, blogger Tal Yaron disagreed. Yaron mentioned the agreement between Mofaz and Netanyahu, which stipulates that the new coalition will pass a law to draft the ultra-Orthodox to military/community service (which they're currently exempt from) and to institute changes in Israel's electoral system:

רבים מגנים את השינוי, אך אם אכן יקוימו שתי הבטחות אלו בלבד, הרי שהדבר יביא לשינוי משמעותי בחברה הישראלית. בעקבות הקואליציה החדשה שנוצרה, יש כיום רוב לגיוס חרדים. הליכוד+ישראל ביתינו+קדימה מהווים קואליציה של לפחות 70 חברי כנסת שיוכלו להעביר את החוק.
גם העברת חוק שינוי שיטת הבחירות יטיב עם מצבה של ישראל, בכך שיביא להקטנת כמות המפלגות המשתתפות במשחק הפוליטי ויגרום למירכוז השיח הפוליטי, להגברת המשילות ולהקטנת ההקצנה.

Many condemn this change, but even if only these two promises are kept, they will result in a significant change in Israeli society. As a result of the newly formed coalition, there is not a majority to enlist the ultra-Orthodox. Likud plus Yisrael Beiteinu [Lieberman's party] plus Kadima form a coalition of at least 70 members of the Knesset who can pass this law.
Changing Israel's electoral system will also improve Israel's situation, by reducing the number of political parties and centralizing the political discourse in Israel, increasing the ability to govern and reducing extremism.

Israel: Tweeting the Passover Seder

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 05:52:48 +0000

The Jewish holiday of Passover began on the night of Friday April 6, and millions of Israelis gathered with their family for the Seder, the traditional ritual feast. The feast is preceded by reading the Haggada, which (among other things) describes the Exodus of the People of Israel from Egypt. The Passover Seder is notorious for being lengthy, and if followed according to the rules, eating commences after hours spent around the dinner table, reading from the Haggada and singing. The Seder, which is traditionally done with the extended family, is also infamous, much like American Thanksgiving, as an occasion when one is forced to spend time with disagreeable family members.

Table set for the Passover Seder. Image by Gilabrand, Wikimedia Commons.

Israeli Twitter users, known for their sense of humor and cynicism, could be counted on to tweet their Passover Seder experiences.

Lior Oren wrote:

ואין כמו ערב פסח כדי לזכור כי יש אנשים שאין להם היכן לעשות סדר, הם בודדים בביתם. עם בירה. ולקנא בהם.

@alodium: There's nothing like the evening of Passover to remind you of the people who have no place to do the Seder, and they are lonely in their homes. With a beer [forbidden for consumption on Passover]. And be jealous of them

Rotem wrote:

הצעת חוק- כל ערב פסח, בין השעות שמונה לאחת עשרה כל הרציחות יוכרו כאי שפיות זמנית.

@rotemism: A law proposal - in each evening of Passover, between the hours of 8 and 11 pm, all murders will be recognized as a result of temporary insanity.

Avishay wrote:

עוד לא התחלנו וכבר 3 מתי תתחתן ו4 מה עם ילדים

@avishay_b: We haven't even started yet [the Seder] and I already got three “when will you get married?” and four “and what about children?”

Amir wrote:

השעה שמונה וחצי, ועדיין לא התחלנו. אני הולך להתנצר

@amirimon: It's 8:30 pm and we haven't even started yet. I'm going to convert to Christianity

Referring to the strict religious prohibition on consumption of leavened bread during the week of Passover, and the great effort religious/traditional Jews make to clean their homes and remove all bread prior to the start of the holiday, DKapuchino joked:

סבתא, מצאתי לך פרור לחם בתריסים. את הולכת לגהנום

@dkapuchino: Grandma, I found a bread crumb in the shutters. You're going to hell

Musician Mux 2000 reported:

שיכור. מפריע לסדר הציבורי לקול מחאות האורחים מהצד היותר רציני של השולחן

@mux2000: Drunk. Disturbing the public order to the sounds of disgruntlement of the guests at the more serious side of the table.

The blogger Gal Chen wrote:

יחסית לעובדה שהוא מותיר צלקות נפשיות למספר שנים, ליל הסדר ממש קצר

@galchs: Considering the fact that it leaves emotional scars for year, the Seder is really brief.

And, of course, there were the political tweets:

Noa Dror wrote:

לעולם לא אסלח למדינת ישראל על שהשניאה עלי את היהדות כה. חג אביב שמח וסגר נסבל לכולם.

@noa_dror: I'll never forgive the State of Israel for making me hate Judaism so much. Happy Spring Holiday [an alternative name for Passover] and a tolerable closure to everyone. [Each Passover, Israel enforces a complete closure of the occupied Palestinian territories]

There is a tradition of leaving an empty chair for Prophet Elijah at the Passover Seder table, to express the hope for his return along with the Messiah. In recent years, Israeli families added an empty chair for the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, to also signal the hope for his return. Referring to this practice, Journalist Yair Tarchitsky mocks the Israeli public for not caring about Ouda Tarabin, an Israeli Bedouin who is imprisoned in Egypt for accidentally crossing the border into Egypt.

מרגש לדעת שכמעט בכל בית בישראל השאירו הערב מסביב לשולחן הסדר כיסא ריק לעודה טרבין, הבן של כולנו

@yairtar: So moving to know that almost every home in Israel kept an empty chair at the table for Ouda Tarabin, the son of all of us [a common way of referring to Gilad Shalit]

Israeli blogger and social justice activist Haim Har-Zahav ‏wrote:

אני אף פעם לא אומר את המשפט של ״לשנה הבאה בירושלים הבנויה״, כי אני מקווה שאת הסדר הבא אעשה בישראל ולא בירושלים ‎‫#חי_בגיהנום‪‏

@haimhz: I never say the sentence: “Next year in Jerusalem” [which ends the Seder, signaling the Jews' hope to return to Jerusalem during Exile], because I hope that the next Seder I'll do will be in Israel, not Jerusalem [largely populated by ultra-Orthodox Jews]. #LivingInHell

And then there were the tweets discussing the non-stop tweeting of the Seder itself:

Dudi Rosenthal joked:

אישתי כמעט תפסה אותי מצייץ מתחת לשולחן. למזלי גיליתי תושיה ואמרתי לה שאני מאונן

@DudiRosenthal: My wife almost caught me tweeting under the table. Fortunately, I was resourceful and told her I was masturbating

Liron wrote:

עשרים אחוז אגדה. שישים אחוז אינסטגרם וטוויטר. עשרה אחוז ווטסאפ ואסאמאסים. עשרה אחוז לתקשורת עם הסביבה. תם הסדר

@liront: 20% Haggada. 60% Instagram and Twitter. 10% WhatsApp and SMSes. 10% communication with the people around me. The Seder has ended.

Israel: Netanyahu Threatens to Replace Interns with Indian Doctors

Carmel L. Vaisman — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:07:54 +0000

Israeli medical interns were one of the most prominent sectors in the social protest that stirred Israel this summer and one of the few sectors that have kept striking until a fair agreement is reached. Their struggle has been occupying the front pages of the Israeli newspapers in the last couple of days; Friday 18 November's newspapers have quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting to the Ministry of Health to replace the interns with foreign labor contractors from India, if an agreement can not be reached with them.

This shocking remark, coming from the Prime Minister against the backdrop of poor labor conditions across sectors and the government's tightening control on foreign labor through discontinuing of visas, has been the top conversation topic online over the weekend.

As critique over social media is often presented in the form of humor and sarcasm, many Israeli interns have replaced their profile pages on Facebook to pictures of Indian doctors as seen in the profiles collection on Ido Keinan's blog, who reported the phenomenon first.

Message on the wall reads: "Bibi, you live in a Bollywood movie!"

Israeli interns change thier profile pictures to those of Indian doctors to protest Prime Minister Netanyahu's intent to replace them with foreign labor contractors

Israelis have been posting to the Facebook page of “civilians supporting the interns struggle” pictures of Gandhi or of Netanyahu wearing a Sikh turban, subtitled: “Wanted – an Indian PM” or “We can import an Indian PM too”, as well as digitally-manipulated pictures of Netanyahu's wife in an Indian sari.

Caption reads "We can import a PM from India too"

On Twitter @orbar wondered:

When they bring doctors form India will they instruct Oz bullies (the police unit responsible for capturing illegal foreign workers) to ask for medical diplomas?

@nitayp suggests:

I have a solution for this crisis: if the inters call themselves settlers instead of interns suddenly their demands will seem natural and reasonable

Famous Journalist and Television critique Rannan Shaked tweeted:

Bring doctors from India, social workers from Denmark, trains from Japan and community services from Sweden. Only keep bringing the Prime Ministers from your butt.

In a more serious tone, opposition Knesset member, Dov Khenin tweeted:

Netanyahu: “bring doctors from India”. The essence of Capitalism in 3 words. And when these doctors will learn Hebrew and learn to organize their labor, we will deport them and import others from China.

* Many thanks to Elizabeth Tsurkov for her help with curating the tweets.

Israel: Fury Over Legislation That Would Limit NGO Foreign Funding

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:34:24 +0000

The Israeli Twittersphere reacted strongly to the decision of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in the Knesset, approving two bills that would heavily tax foreign donations of human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and would severely limit the amounts the organizations are allowed to receive funding.

This legislation was supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and due to Israel's parliamentary system, once the coalition endorses the bill, it is most likely to pass in the plenum, where the coalition holds the majority of seats. The votes in the plenum regarding these two pieces of legislation are expected in the coming weeks. If the law passes, human rights NGOs are expected to appeal against it at the Supreme Court, demanding that the law be struck down.

The Israeli Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice have warned the committee that the law is unconstitutional (opposes Israel's Basic Laws) and is “very likely” to be struck down by the Supreme Court.

Hagai El-Ad, the Executive Director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, one of the organizations that would have their funding cut as a result of these bills, wrote that the bills do not reflect the will of the Israeli public, which spent the summer protesting for social justice:

The summer passed, the Knesset’s recess was finally over. Hardly a week or two passed. Has the Knesset opted to now devote its time to what had preoccupied the public all summer, or rather return to anti-democratic-business-as-usual?

So far, the answer is quite clear, and it is a slap in the public’s face. Social legislation? The coalition votes against. Anti-democratic legislation? The coalition is vigorously pursuing this agenda, as if the summer never happened.

Ziv Pug also pointed out the disconnection between the social justice protests in Israel and the government's actions, listing the bills the Knesset has turned down since returning from recess [he]:

נגד זכויות אדם, נגד רווחה, לא דיור ציבורי או אפילו פיקוח על שכר דירה. ממשלת מדינת יהודה עוסקת אך ורק בשרידה ושדידה. זו לא הממשלה שלי

@Zivpug: Against human rights, against welfare, against public housing and even rent control. The government of Judea is only busy with survival and robbery. This is not my government.

Ran Cohen, the Executive Director of Physicians for Human Rights, another NGO that would have its funding cut, reacted on Twitter [he]:

אין לי שום דבר חכם להגיד על תמיכת ועדת השרים בחוק הגבלת המימון לעמותות. אבל יש לי אצבע משולשת, ואני מתכוון להשתמש בה ביתר שאת. י

@Cohen_Ran: I have nothing smart to say about the support of the Ministerial Committee for the law limiting funding of NGOs. But I do have a middle finger, and I plan on using it with greater intensity.

Others discussed the implication of the bills on Israel's democracy.

Blogger Haim Har-Zahav wrote [he]:

הערב אני והגברת נקיים שיחת ״חיינו לאן״, ולראשונה לא אפסול את אופצית ההגירה. לא כי שלום עכשיו לא תגייס תרומות- אלא כי יש מי שחושבים שאסור לה

@haimhz: Tonight the wife and I will have a conversation about our future, and for the first time, I will not rule out the option of emigrating. Not because Peace Now [leftist NGO] will not raise donations - but because some think is should be forbidden from doing so.

Avishai Burla wrote [he]:

לכל הבכיינים שמאימים לרדת מהארץ לברלין, אני חושב שישראל היא מדינה אירופאית נאורה לכל דבר. בדיוק כמו גרמניה רק בדילאי של 72 שנה

@avishay_b: To all the cry babies threatening to emigrate to Berlin, I think Israel is totally an enlightened European state. Just like Germany, only with a 72-year delay.

Blogger Noam R. wrote [he]:

הסיבה היחידה שהחוק החדש מדבר על ארגוני זכויות אדם ולא על מפלגות שמאל היא שהממשלה חושבת שדעת הקהל עוד לא בשלה. אבל חכו, גם זה יגיע

@noamr: The only reason the new law talks about human rights NGOs and not leftist parties is because the government thinks public opinion isn't ready. But way, it will get to this too.

זה לא לפתע, זה לא בבום, זה בהדרגה, לאט לאט, בהתבשלות. #פאשיזם. הוא זוחל

@Rubynet: It doesn't happen suddenly, bam and that's it, it happens gradually, very slowly. #fascismIsCreeping

מכל הממשלות שהיו לנו בשנים האחרונות, היחידה ששורדת קדנציה שלמה זו הפאשיסטית?! מה לעזאזל, ישראל?

@DanielleBN: Out of all the governments we've had in recent years, the only one that lasts a whole term is the fascist one?! What the hell, Israel?

הכותרת בטמקא “מכה לשמאל: הממשלה בעד הגבלת התרומות”. חדשות לטמקא: זה לא מכה לשמאל, זה מכה אנושה לדמוקרטיה. אה, רגע.

@OferRon: The headline on Ynet [one of the most popular news sites in Israel]: “A hit for the Left: the government supports limitations of donations.” Newsflash to Ynet: it is not a hit for the Left, it's a devastating blow to the democracy. Oh, wait…

A widely-shared photo on Facebook, originally posted by We Won't Shut Up, a campaign by a coalition of leftist NGOs, congratulated Israel:

"Congrats to the government of Israel! For joining the exclusive club of countries that place limitations on foreign funding for NGO! Signed: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leon, Belarus, China"

Others pointed out the hypocrisy in this legislation, considering Netanyahu's election campaign was mostly funded by foreign donors, and the newspaper supporting him, Yisrael Hayom, is funded by the American casino-tycoon, Sheldon Adelson.

A fake account of Yisrael Hayom, the pro-Netanyahu paper, posted [he]:

צריך להבין שמדינה דמוקרטית לא יכולה לאפשר לנתינים זרים לכוון ולשלוט במדיניות הפוליטית, החברתית והערכית שלה. רק כשזה בתקשורת זה די סבבה.

@Not_IsraelHayom: You must understand that a democratic country cannot allow foreign citizens to direct and dictate its political, social and moral policies. It's only pretty good when they control the media.

Daniel K appealed to the United States:

@dkapuchino: Hey, @barackobama @ronpaul Israel just voted to ban foreign donations to political NGOs. Does that cover US foreign aid to the IDF as well?

Blogger Itamar Shaltiel responded [he]:

ראש הממשלה, שלמעלה מ-95 אחוזים מהתרומות שלו מגיעות מארה”ב, תומך בחוק שמגביל תרומות מחו”ל לעמותות. מדהים. באמת מדהים

@itamars: The Prime Minister, over 95 per cent of whose donations come from the United States, supports a law that limits foreign donations to NGOs. Amazing. Truly amazing.

Israel: Whistleblower Anat Kamm Jailed for Exposing IDF Assassinations

Gilad Lotan — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:02:04 +0000

Anat Kamm is an Israeli journalist who was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for leaking thousands of classified military documents to Israeli Haaretz journalist Uri Blau. Information from the documents suggests that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) had defied a court ruling against assassinating wanted militants in the West Bank who could have potentially been arrested safely.

On December 4, 2008, Blau published a report based on these documents which stated that the IDF senior command planned and executed targeted killings of three people in violation of a 2006 ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court limiting the circumstances in which such a tactic could be used. I couldn't find a working link to the original article by Uri Blau, “License to Kill”, but here's a link to a blog post that reposted the original text.

Image by mish

Kamm is reported to have said during her interrogation: “There were some aspects of the IDF's operations procedures in the West Bank that I felt should be public knowledge… When I was burning the CDs I kept thinking that history tends to forgive people who expose war crimes.”

The Israeli police secured a gag order prohibiting Israeli media from reporting on Kamm's arrest. On February 6, 2010, Anat was convicted of espionage and providing confidential information without authorization and placed under house arrest. After almost two years under house arrest, on October 30, 2011, Kamm was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

While this story is not new, the court decision on Kamm's sentence this week drew a wide array of Israeli netizen reactions. Noam Lester reposts thoughts [he] he published when the story was first publicized in 2010, protesting the lack of media focus on the reported IDF crime that surfaced from this leak:

We witness again the ritual of concealment, censorship, foreign publishing, leaks to blogs and finally a tiring day of non-stop blabbering media. Once again we sacrifice a victim in order to teach us all not to deal with the security forces, especially not to embarrass and show their wretchedness (and crimes). Everyone is focusing on the emissary (Anat) and not the news she surfaced: the IDF has committed crimes directly violating a court order from the Israeli Supreme Court. For this no one will be tried and certainly no one will sit in prison. But the one who exposed the atrocity - she can be presented as a traitor and sent for life imprisonment.

Anat Balint sarcastically writes:

The severe verdict of four and a half years in prison, given by the Tel-Aviv district court to Anat Kamm is a harsh blow to the 24-year-old whistleblower, and a calming pill to many of the public who followed the evolution of this story since April 2010. The process of turning Kamm to a modern-day witch who is threatening the existing social order has been completed successfully. She was caught, removed away from us, thank god, and now all can be sure that we've returned to believe in the holy values: there's nothing more important than the security of our country and its protection from enemies, there's no holier entity than the military, and there's nothing more severe than trying to hurt either of these.

She continues:

Every person whose part of the complex relationship between government entities, security forces and journalists in Israel understands the sheer irony wrapped in the Kamm affair. Leaks of the same sort are the bread and butter of these relationships, a daily affair. Messages that don't come out through the formal channels, or through an authorized interview, are in effect a type of “leak”, which is, according to the law, a crime. These leaks many times include confidential or top secret documents that somehow find their way to journalists and serve as a basis to their articles.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are many who believe that Kamm's sentence should be more severe. Moshe Goldbladt writes:

I hope that the State Attorney will not accept this absurd punishment that Anat Kamm received. In opposition to the judge ruling in the given verdict, the punishment reflects disrespect towards the state security.

Anat Kamm received the support of the left due to exposing “war crimes” - the claim is total babble - and glorified her for her motivation and ideology. When Kamm's lawyers saw that this heartens left wingers but doesn't help her, she started presenting herself as a young, confused girl who doesn't really understand the judges.

It is now time to stop playing hide-and-seek with Uri Blau and with Haaretz. The journalist, editor and everyone involved in receiving this classified material from Anat Kamm must stand before trial and pay a heavy price for their action. Also in this case we need to be talking about an active prison term for many years. Their claim for regularly having access to classified materials (as Raviv Druker suggests as a witness Kamm's trial) is exactly why they need to learn the consequences of breaking military field security laws in this country.

Israel: Netizens Strongly Object to the Prospect of a Strike on Iran

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:19:54 +0000

Several Israeli media reports in recent days have discussed the possibility of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The reports stated that Israel's security establishment, the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet object to attacking Iran, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are pushing the cabinet to agree to strike Iran.

Following these reports, the Israeli public, for the first time, started seriously debating this important issue.

As Larry Dafner wrote on +972 Magazine:

Finally, it’s happened. After years of hearing and talking about nothing but the potential danger of a nuclear Iran, this country is hearing and talking about the potential danger of trying to pre-empt that first danger with fighter bombers. We’re hearing not just about “the Iranian threat,” but about “the Israeli threat,” too. And after years of listening to the hasbara king talk about Hitler and 1938 and Holocaust déjà vu, the Israeli public is hearing, indirectly, from the people they trust more than they trust the politicians – the professionals, the career warriors and spies – and the word they’re hearing from those tough guys is a very loud, urgent “NO.”

The response to these reports and the possibility of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities was unanimously negative among Israeli netizens. Some have even started a Facebook event for a protest in front of the Israeli Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv on November 6 against a strike on Iran.

Many netizens saw a possible attack on Iran as a diversion tactic from the recent wave of social justice protests against the economic policies of the Netanyahu government.

חלאס כבר עם האיום האיראני. אם ייפול פה טיל גרעיני נראה התחלה של הבזק והכל ייגמר. זה אפילו לא יכאב. אוברדראפט, לעומת זאת, מרגישים כל הזמן

@haimhz: Enough already with the Iranian threat. If a nuclear missile lands here, we'll see the beginning of a flash and everything will be over. It won't even hurt. An overdraft [living in debt due to Israel's economic policies], on the other hand, you feel all the time.

אם אין לחם תאכלו מלחמה עם איראן

@YishaiO: If there's no bread, eat a war with Iran

אז, למה כולם מדברים על איראן עכשיו? אפרנטלי אהוד ברק עבד קרוב עם כל כתבי הצבא כדי לשכנע שאוטוטו תוקפים. למה? רצו לקצץ בתקציב הביטחון

@odaskal: So why is everyone talking about Iran now? Apparently, Ehud Barak has worked closely with all the military affairs correspondents to convince them we're about to strike. Why? Because they wanted to cut the defense budget.

Others lamented what they perceived to be the stupidity and recklessness of Israel's leadership.

מטורללים, חידלו! #איראן
זה בערך משהו כזה: “אוי לא! הבריון הזה רוצה להרביץ לי! אז עדיף שארביץ לו קודם, ואז זה יראה לו והוא יבכה וילך הביתה!” #איראן

@a_Daydreamer: Crazy people, stop this! This is basically something like: “oh no! This bully wants to beat me up! So it's better I beat him up first, and this will show him and he'll cry and go home!” #Iran

למיטוט הרשות הפלסטינית הקישו 1. למלחמה עם איראן הקישו 2. למאות טילים על ת״א הקישו 3. להתבצרות במצדה הקישו 4. לגוג ומגוג הקישו 0 או המתינו

@doroniko: For causing the collapse of the Palestinian Authority, press 1. For war with Iran, press 2. For hundreds of missiles on Tel Aviv, press 3. For fortifying ourselves on the Masada [before committing mass suicide], press 4. For Gog and Magog [end of the world] press 0 or wait.

“ראיתי שתוקפים אותנו מעזה, את המצב במצרים ובסוריה ואמרתי לעצמי מה שכל ראש ממשלה שפוי היה אומר לעצמו: בוא נפתח עוד חזית” #ביבי.נאום.לאומה

@Omerbara: I saw we were being attacked from Gaza, the situation in Egypt and Syria and told myself what every sane Prime Minister would tell himself: let's open another front. #BibiSpeechToTheNation

אזרחים מטומטמים. לא רק שהממשלה גוזלת מכם את הזכות לחיות בכבוד וברווחה, עכשיו היא גם תגזול מכם את הזכות לחיות #מבצע.איראן

@shanirabi: Stupid citizens. Not only does this government rob you for the right to live in dignity and prosperity, now it will also rob you for the right to live. #OperationIran

Some, of course, used to opportunity to crack jokes. Referencing the slew of recent leaks, Rubynet wrote:

פירסט רול אוף איראן פייט קלאב, יו דונט טוק אבאוט איראן פייט קלאב #מתוך:בטחון.למתחילים

@Rubynet: First rule of Iran fight club, you don't talk about Iran fight club. #From:SecurityForBeginners

Itamar Shaltiel joked about the possible benefits from Israeli cities being subjected to missile fire.

אם נתקוף באיראן, יהיו טילים על תל-אביב. אם יהיו טילים על תל-אביב, מחירי הדירות ירדו. אם מחירי הדירות ירדו, נשיג צדק חברתי #ווין #j14

@itamars: If we attack Iran, missiles will land in Tel Aviv. If missiles land in Tel Aviv, the cost of apartments will go down. If the cost of apartments goes down, we'll get social justice. #WIN #j14

Israel: Netizens Prepare to Take to the Streets in a New Social Justice Protest

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:03:30 +0000

After the largest protest in Israel's history, which drew almost half a million of Israelis to the streets in early September, the social justice movement in Israel has taken the backseat as the government successfully shifted the public discourse away from issues of economic inequality. The response of the government in the form of the Trajtenberg Committee failed to appease the majority of protesters, but Gilad Shalit's release from Hamas captivity increased the government's popularity. Israeli media, most of which used to be very supportive of the protest movement, hasn't devoted as much attention to covering (and promoting) this new round of protests. Despite these setbacks, the rallies tonight are planned for Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Rishon LeTzion, Kiryat Shmona, Beer Sheva, Haifa, Modiin and Eilat.

Blogger Goliath, pseudonym of journalist Yair Kaldor, explained in his blog the impetus for returning to the streets:

זהו, חוזרים לרחוב. גלעד שליט כבר בבית, אבל המתמחים עדיין מקבלים שכר מגוחך, ולמרות הורדת המחירים של תנובה ושטראוס, ההוצאה הממשלתית בישראל על מטרות חברתיות – כמו חינוך ורווחה – עדיין נמוכה משמעותית מרמת ההוצאה של מדינות ה-OECD. ולא, אין לממשלה שום כוונה לשנות כיוון בנושא.
…
זהו, חוזרים לרחוב. דו”ח טרכטנברג פיספס את כל הדרישות החשובות של המחאה, והתמקד בתיקונים קוסמטיים, כמו הגברת התחרותיות בענף גז הבישול והורדת מכסי מגן על תוצרת חקלאית.

That's it! We're returning to the streets. Gilad Shalit is home, but the medical residents are still getting a ridiculous salary, and despite the cut in prices by Tnuva and Strauss [two big Israeli food conglomerates], the government spending on social causes - like education and welfare - is still significantly lower than the spending level of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, and no, the government has no plans to change its course on the issue.
…
That's it! We're returning to the streets. The Trajtenberg report missed all the main demands of the protest movement, and focused on cosmetic changes, like increasing competitiveness in the cooking gas sector and decreasing protectionist taxes on agricultural goods.

Stav Shafir, one of the leaders of the #j14 protests, tweeted:

אז מתי בפעם האחרונה הפגנתם בכיכר? הערב, 8, נראה להם שאנחנו לא מתכוונים ללכת לשומקום #j14

@Stivvo: So when was the last time you protested in [Rabin] Square? Tonight at 8pm, we'll show them that we don't plan on going anywhere. #J14

Other Israeli bloggers and tweeps also explained their reasons for returning to protest:

כי אם הדבר הזה לא יצליח וסדרת הפגנות של מאות אלפים יוכנעו בכמה ספינים אוטומטים, אני לא באמת יודע מה עוד אפשר לעשות. וזין שאתן לזה לקרות #J14

@ItamarS: Because if this thing doesn't succeed and a series of protests of hundreds of thousands is defeated by a few automatic spins, then I don't know what else we can do [to change the country]. And **** [explicit] if I let that happen. #J14

צאו לרח׳ בשבילי- כי המתמחה שטיפל בסבא שלי בבי״ח צרח עליי שאין לו זמן לטפל בו וככה זה ברפואה הציבורית אז זב״שי. עכשיו אני בשבעה

@Karenlip: Go out into the streets [to protest] for me - because the medical resident who took care of my grandfather in the hospital yelled at me that he has no time to treat him, and this is how public health care works, so that's my problem. Now I'm sitting Shiv'a.

אני יוצא לרחוב כי אם אני לא אצא לרחוב אף אחד לא יצא לרחוב. ואז נחייה בדיקטטורה, שבה אסור לצאת לרחוב #j14

@odaskal: I'm going out into the streets [to protest] because if I don't go out, then no one will, and then we'll live in a dictatorship, where you're not allowed to protest.

לפני כחודשיים הרעדנו את ככר המדינה, וזה הלחיץ את ביבי מספיק בשביל לגרום לו להחזיר את גלעד שליט. שווה לבדוק מה עוד אפשר לגרום לו לעשות. #j14

@ymishory: About two months ago we shook Kikar HaMedina [location of the Tel Aviv protest in early September], and this made Bibi [Netanyahu] nervous enough to return Gilad Shalit. It's worth seeing what else we can make him do. #j14

ראש הממשלה והשרים, החברות הגדולות, המפרסמים הגדולים, בעלי ההון- כל אלה נגדנו. יש עדיין למישהו איזשהו ספק שאנחנו לגמרי בצד הנכון?! מהפכה #J14

@HaimHz: The Prime Minister and the ministers, the big companies, the big advertisers, the rich - all of them are against us. Is anyone still in doubt that we're totally on the right side?! Revolution #J14

Activists in Beer Sheva prepating signs for the rally, September 29. Photo source: The official Facebook page for the local #j14 movement in the Negev

Blogger Ido Teshner shared his personal story of hardship in a country whose social safety net has been cut over the years. He wrote:

במוצאי שבת אני אצא להפגין אתכם, לא כי חזרתי לרחובות – אני ברחובות כבר 15 שנה. עבדתי לראשונה בחיי בכיתה ח' ולמעשה מאז כמעט שלא הפסקתי, הכל לשם אותה מטרה וצורך שפירטתי למעלה. 15 שנה אני מחפש את הצדק החברתי ולא מוצא אותו. עכשיו, אתכם, אני לפחות לא לבד.

On Saturday night I'll go out to protest with no, not because I returned to the streets - I've been in the streets for 15 years by now. I've been working since the eighth grade and since then, I almost didn't stop, all for the same goal and need I elaborated on above [taking care of his handicapped single mother]. And now, with you, at least I'm not alone.

Blogger Ori Ben Dov wrote about the upcoming protest

אם אתם לא בעניין של המחאה, המצב הכלכלי נראה לכם מעולה, הממשלה מנווטת את העניינים האלה לשביעות רצונכם והעבודה של חברי הכנסת למענכם נראית לכם ראויה – תשארו בבית.

If you're not into protesting, the economic situation seems excellent to you, the government is running things according to your will and the performance of your elected members of Knesset seems fine to you - stay at home.

Update: The Beer Sheva rally has been canceled by police due to rocket fire from Gaza.

Israel: Joy and Anger Continue Over Shalit Deal

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:34:08 +0000

Gilad Shalit's return has been one of the biggest events in recent Israeli history. IDF soldier Gilad Shalit was released from Hamas captivity after being held for 1,941 days, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

The deal was supported by the majority of Israelis, as Shalom Boguslavsky explained in his blog Put Down the Scissors and Let's Talk About It [he]:

אני עם בני בגין, שאמר על עסקת שליט שאין בה שום היגיון, אבל הוא לא יכול להתנגד לה. אני מניח שהתמיכה שלי, ואולי של רוב הציבור, בעסקה הרעה והמבישה הזאת קשורה בעיקר לצורך קולקטיבי ברגע משחרר, חגיגה. אם היינו חיים במדינה שמתנהלת באופן סביר לטובת אזרחיה ולא בבית משוגעים רדוף רוחות, לא היינו חווים את התנודות המאניות-דפרסיביות האלו בהלך הרוח הציבורי והיינו יכולים להתייחס לעניין בפיכחון גדול מעט יותר

I'm with Benny Begin [Likud Minister] on this, who said that the Shalit deal makes no sense, but he still cannot oppose it. I think my support for this bad and shameful deal, and maybe the support of the majority of the public stems mostly from our need for a collective moment of catharsis, a celebration. If we lived in a country that operates somewhat efficiently for the good of its citizens and not in this haunted madhouse, we wouldn't experience these manic-depressive swings in the public mood, and we could have treated this matter [the deal] with greater sobriety.

The news of Shalit's release was almost the only thing discussed in the Israeli twittersphere and blogosphere since the deal was announced. Supermodel Bar Refaeli reflected the popular mood with her tweet [he]:

גלעד שליט בבית. יום היסטורי. מרגש. גאווה להיות ישראלי http://yfrog.com/nz982gfj

@BarRefaeli: Gilad Shalit is home. A historic day. Exciting. I'm proud to be an Israeli http://yfrog.com/nz982gfj

Liron Teeny described the mood in the streets [he]:

ברחוב תל אביבי.צרחות שמחה מדירות.מכשירי טלוויזיה ורדיו צועקים את הבשורה.היסטוריה

@liront: In the streets in Tel Aviv: cries of joy from apartments. TV and radio sets screaming out the news. History.

Before returning to Israel, Shalit was forced to undergo an interview on Egyptian state television (Nile TV). Israelis on Twitter were furious about the interview, which was conducted in the presence of Hamas operatives and Egyptian intelligence. The translation of the interview from Hebrew misrepresented Shalit's words in Hebrew when he said he was not feeling well, and that he would only support the release of Palestinian prisoners if they do not return to terrorist activity. Some Israelis even opened a Facebook page about the Egyptian journalist who interviewed Shalit, titled Shahira Amin is a shame to journalism in response.

טוב, עד עכשיו הייתי צינית. עכשיו אני כועסת. הראיון הכפוי הזה לטלוויזיה המצרית, כשהוא חיוור, מפוחד, בקושי נושם, זו אכזריות לשמה

@vandersister: Okay, until now I was cynical. Now I'm angry. This forced interview to the Egyptian television, when he's pale, scared and barely breathing is outright cruelty.

Musician Noy Alooshe (who was behind the “Zenga Zenga” remix) reflected the Israeli mood about the interview when he created this poster about Shahira Amin.

Following the interview, Shalit was flown to the Tel Nof military base where he finally met his parents. Prime Minister Netanyahu made sure to exploit the opportunity for a photo-op and a self-congratulatory speech and was harshly and humorously criticized for it by Israelis online.

מאיפה התמונה הזו של ביבי עם גלעד ונועם מוכרת לי? אה, מכרזת הבחירות של 2013

@TzlilAvraham: Why does this photo of Bibi [Netanyahu's nickname] with Gilad and Noam [Shalit's father] seems familiar? Oh right, from [Netanyahu's] election campaign poster of 2013

סנט בנימין, הקדוש הפטרון של השבויים הפדויים

@roee_r: Saint Benjamin, the holy patron of the redeemed captives

אם היו מחזירים את גלעד שליט תמורת ביבי נתניהו, אני בספק אם היו מתנגדים לעסקה.

@adigi: If they would have returned Gilad Shalit in exchange for Bibi Netanyahu, I'm sure no one would've objected to it.

Tamar described the mixed feelings about the way Shalit's return was handled [he]:

בוכה מהדיסוננס שבין המתיקות של הבחור הזה לבין כל מה שקורה מסביבו. הוא מובלעת של תום בתוך ערימה גדולה מאד של כל מה שדפוק במין האנושי

@tamar_tamar: I'm crying because of the dissonance between the sweetness of this guy [Shalit] and everything that happens around him. He's an enclave of innocence in a big pile of what is wrong with the human species.

Others criticized the heavy price of the deal [he]:

הרטוריקה שלכם מוזרה לי קצת. החמאס שחרר את שליט, לא ביבי. ביבי הוא זה ששיחרר טרוריסטים רצחניים עם דם ילדים על הידיים

@dkapuchino: The rhetoric is a little strange. Hamas released Shalit, not Bibi. Bibi is the one who let out murderous terrorists with the blood of children on their hands.

Blogger Yossi Gurevitz expounded on his blog, Orwell's Friends [he]:

בין המחבלים שמשחרר נתניהו, כותב הבוקר אלכס פישמן במוסף לשבת של ידיעות אחרונות, יש 279 אסירי עולם. הם רצחו 599 ישראלים. משוחררי עסקת ג'יבריל רצחו, לשם השוואה, 178 ישראלים “בלבד”. השב”כ מעריך, שוב אליבא דפישמן, שכ-60% מהמחבלים המשוחררים יחזרו לבצע פיגועים. בהנחה שהם יהיו יעילים כמו בעבר, מחיר העסקה צפוי להיות 359 ישראלים הרוגים. אם השב”כ יהיה יעיל באופן קיצוני וימנע את פעילותם של 99% מהם – שיעור בלתי סביר, במיוחד אם היחסים עם הרשות הפלסטינית יקרסו – אז מספר ההרוגים צפוי להיות ארבעה. שהם, בספירה המקובלת, שלושה יותר מאשר אחד. הסתברותית, אנחנו מעלים ארבעה ישראלים לפחות למולך שליט. החמאס, נודע הבוקר, אפילו לא היה מוכן להתחייב להמנע מחטיפת חיילים בעתיד; עד כדי כך היה נתניהו נחוש, תקיף ומנהיגותי.

Among the terrorists Netanyahu is letting out, Alex Fishman writes in Yediot Aharonot's weekend supplement, there are 279 prisoners who've received life sentences. They've murdered 599 Israelis. Those released in the Jibril deal, murdered “only” 178 Israelis by comparison. The Shin Bet assesses, again according to Fishman, that about 60% of the released terrorists will return to terrorist activity. Assuming they'll be as efficient as before, the price of this deal would be 359 dead Israelis. If Shin Bet will be incredibly efficient and stops the activity of 99% of those released - an unlikely ratio, especially if relations with the Palestinian Authority collapse - then the number of killed is expected to be four, which by the traditional count and three more than one [Shalit]. Statistically, we are sacrificing four Israelis for the idol Shalit. Hamas, it was reported this morning, isn't even willing to commit to not kidnapping soldiers in the future; this is how determined, resolute and leader-like Netanyahu has been.

Blogger Haim Har Zahav, who served in the platoon with Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the soldiers whose kidnapping sparked the 2006 war with Hizbollah, wrote in his blog [he]:

הגיע הזמן שראש הממשלה יתייצב בפני אזרחי ישראל - לא בפני אויבי המדינה אלא בפני הישראלים! - ויודיע להם שגלעד שליט היה האחרון שלגביו יתקיים משא ומתן. שתדע כל אם עבריה שאם בנה או בתה נחטפים לצורכי מיקוח, ממשלת ישראל לא תשחרר יותר מקומץ מחבלים עבורם.

It's time that the Prime Minister stands before the citizens of Israel - not before the enemies of the state but before Israelis! - and announce that Gilad Shalit will be the last [captive] whose release will be negotiated for. Let every Hebrew mother know that if her son or daughter are kidnapped for bargaining, the Israeli government will not release more than a handful of terrorists for their release.

It wouldn't be the Israeli Twittersphere without some sarcastic comments. Rotem Biton described the scene where Shalit, who was kidnapped before the launch of the iPhone, is introduced to Angry Birds on the chopper ride from Egypt:

אתה רואה, אתה צריך למשוך את הציפור ואז לשחרר ולהרוג כמה שיותר חזירים #שיחות.מהמסוק

@rotemism: You see, you need to pull the bird and the release it and kill as many pigs as possible. #talksFromTheChooper

סביב שולחן ארוחת החג, נושא השיחה: מה אם גלעד נדרס מחר.

@Elle_Yav: Around the holiday [Sukkoth] dinner table, topic of conversation: what if Gilad Shalit is killed in a car accident tomorrow.

Thumbnail image shows Israeli men watching a television broadcast of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit being freed. Image by Pixsmedia Images, copyright Demotix (18/10/11).

Israel: News of Gilad Shalit's Release Welcomed

Elizabeth Tsurkov — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:34:04 +0000

On October 11, 2011, the Israeli government and top Hamas officials confirmed that a deal has been struck between Israel and Hamas that would lead to the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.

Since Shalit's kidnapping in 2006, his parents, Israeli media outlets and celebrities have campaigned for his release. The news about the deal were welcomed by most Israelis, but not all. As Noam Sheizaf and Noa Yachot described on +972 Mag:

Spontaneous celebrations took place at the Shalit family’s protest tent in Jerusalem. Counter-protesters demonstrated outside the tent against the release of Palestinian prisoners “with blood on their hands” – a term denoting those charged with deaths of Israelis.

Thousands have marched in the streets of Jerusalem calling for the release of the soldier Gilad Shalit. Image by Yitzy Russek, copyright Demotix (08/07/2010).

Israeli tweeps also commented about the identities of some of the Palestinian prisoners set to be released who were convicted of carrying out terror attacks that resulted in the death of Israelis:

@Arspoeti:
מזכירים פה כבר שמות של משוחררים. אין שום ספק שמדובר באוסף נאה של חארות. האלטרנטיבה של להפוך אותו לרון ארד רעה יותר

Names of those who will be released are being mentioned. Undoubtedly, this is a nice collection of assholes. [But] the alternative of making him [Gilad Shalit] into Ron Arad [an Israeli soldier who was kidnapped in the 1980s in Lebanon and is now presumed dead] is even worse

Other tweeps discussed the results of this release of prisoners:

@Dubikan: שמח עבור גלעד שליט, חושש עבור החייל הבא שיחטף כדי לשחרר עוד אלף אסירים, ועבור האנשים שיפגעו בפיגועים אחרי ששוב הוכחנו שרק כח אנחנו מבינים

I'm happy for Gilad Shalit, worried about the next soldier who will be kidnapped to release a thousand other prisoners, and about the people who will be hurt in terror attacks after we once again have proven that we only understand force.

@YGurvitz: מה יקרה למצב הרוח הציבורי, אחרי הרצח הראשון שיבצעו משוחררי עסקת שליט?

What will happen to the public's mood after the first murder committed by those who were released in the Shalit deal?

The deal passed the vote in the Israeli government, with only three ministers voting against it. Dahlia Scheindlin explained on +972 Mag the results of the vote:

In my assessment, the government vote is a pretty good indicator of how the public feels at this moment: 10% against the deal, and the rest – 90% for it.

The public mobilization for Shalit has been massive. There has hardly been a single major public forum that has not been leveraged to call for Shalit’s release.

Due to the public support for the deal, it is seen in Israel as a victory for Prime Minister Netanyahu, who used the opportunity to send a celebratory tweet:

@IsraeliPM: I am bringing #Gilad #Shalit home !

The Israeli twittersphere, however, was not impressed.

@adigi: נתניהו: הספין הזה לא יעזור לך. כולם יזכרו שיכולת לאשר את אותה העסקה לשחרור שליט גם לפני שנתיים, ולחסוך לו מאות ימים בשבי

Netanyahu: this spin won't help you. Everyone will remember that you could have approved the same deal to release Shalit two years ago too, and save him hundreds of days in captivity.

Many tweeps saw the Gilat Shalit deal as a ploy to increase Netanyahu's popularity, after it had suffered a significant hit as a result of the #j14 social justice protest movement during the summer.

@nitayp: איזה רגע ישראלי מזוקק: התפטרות המתמחים והמחאה החברתית שנוגעות ישירות למיליונים יורדות מסדר היום בגלל חייל אחד שאנחנו בעצם לא מכירים.

What a typical Israeli moment: the quitting of medial residents [in protest of low wages and long working hours] and the social protest that affect millions lose public attention because of one soldier we don't actually know.

@Zivpug: מה שחשוב עכשיו זה לא לתת לשקרניהו להפוך את שליט לנצחון שלו. כי זה לא. המסיבה צריכה להיות ברוטשילד, לא בקריה #J14 #shalit

What's important now is to not let Shekernyahu [a combination of the words liar and the Prime Minister's last name, a common critical nickname for the PM] make Shalit his victory. Because it is not. The celebration should be in Rothschild [where the tent cities of the social justice movement started], not in the Kirya [government and military complex in Tel Aviv]. #j14 #Shalit

@Arspoeti: מקווה שגלעד יחזור בריא, כי אין רופאים

I hope Gilad returns home healthy, since there are no doctors [due to the mass-quitting by medical residents]

In a twittersphere known for its cynicism and dark sense of humor, a few Israelis used the news as an opportunity to crack jokes:

@tsooff: גלעד שליט בראיון ראשון: החלום על האייפד 2 החזיק אותי

Gilad Shalit in his first interview: dreaming about the iPad 2 kept me going.

@davidohayon: אביבה שליט: “גלעד לא יחזור אותו ילד ששלחנו” , מגדירה מחדש את המושג Buyer's remorse

Aviva Shalit [Gilad's mother]: “Gilad won't return as the same kid we sent”, redefining the term Buyer's remorse.

Others used the prisoner swap deal to criticize the Israeli government's policies with regards to the Palestinians:

@vandersister: רק מזכירה לכולם שלא רק שחרור מחבלים הוא הסכנה לפיגועים, אלא גם העובדה שאין שום הידברות מדינית וכאלה. ג'אסט סיינג

I'm just reminding everyone that releasing terrorists isn't the only thing that increases the chances for terror attacks, but also the lack of any negotiations and such. Just saying.

Eyal Niv wrote a critical post on his Blog, Truth from the Land of Israel [he] about Israel's policy with regards to Gaza:

רק דבר אחד לא ניסו. לעצור לרגע ולחשוב, למה בכלל מחזיקים אלפי אסירים פלסטינים בישראל, אם רובם אינם טרוריסטים, וכמה זה עולה למשלם המיסים, והאם זה לא מזמין אלימות בתביעה לצדק. …

ועכשיו שישוחרר, בשעה טובה, יש להוסיף ולשאול עוד – מה הלאה: האם עכשיו יוסרו ההגבלות? יפסיקו את הפגיעה בכלואים הפלסטינים בישראל? המצור? הבידוד מהגדה? הגבלות השיט? החקלאות? הייצוא והייבוא? היתרים לנסוע לחו”ל? לטיפול רפואי? ללימודים? הלוא שליט היה העילה כביכול. אולי צריך לחשוב מחדש: את מי משרת המצור – אותנו או את חמאס?

Only one thing they didn't try. To stop for a minute and think, why are we holding thousands of Palestinians prisoners in Israel, if most of them aren't terrorists, and how much this costs the taxpayers, and does it invite violence [kidnappings] in a demand for justice [release of prisoners]. …

And now that he'll be released, finally, we must also ask - what's next? Will now the restrictions [on Gaza] be lifted? Will now they stop punishing the Palestinians incarcerated in Israel? The siege [of Gaza]? The isolation [of Gaza] from the West Bank? The fishing limitations? The agriculture? The export and import? The permission to travel abroad? [The permission] to get medical treatment? [The permission] to study [abroad]? Shalit, after, was the excuse for this. Maybe we need to rethink, whom does the siege serve -us or Hamas?

Israel: Beyond ‘us' and ‘them,' Lihi Yona is an Arab Jew

Carmel L. Vaisman — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:39:43 +0000

Israeli woman Lihi Yona, a Moroccan Jew descendent, reclaims her Arab roots and complicates local identity politics on a bus ride to Jordan to attend a Lebanese band performance. The Hebrew version is followed by an English one: I am an Arab Jew.

Israel: J14hackers build SMS-Twitter Gateway for Protests

Gilad Lotan — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:06:10 +0000

The hacker collective J14hackers put together an SMS-Twitter gateway which enables easy content publishing from a local phone to Twitter. Users in Israel can send an SMS from their phones to 052-5635053, and the content of their message will be posted on the @J14Mobile Twitter account.

Israel: Protests for Social Justice Sweep the Country

Gilad Lotan — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:28:02 +0000

What started as a local protest against the skyrocketing housing market in Tel-Aviv has escalated into the largest public uprising that the state of Israel has ever witnessed. The movement for social justice spurred tent cities in major metropolitan hubs across the country, mobilizing over 4 per cent of Israel's total population (one out of every 20 Israelis took to the streets in last week's massive protest).

While the Israeli economy is strong, unemployment is low, the shekel is powerful, foreign investment high and economic growth steady, Israelis from across the board have come together in protest against a higher ideal - not political and not necessarily demanding for a change in government.

This is a protest against what Israel has become, in the name of what it once was. It is an effort by the young Israelis to recapture an older, more egalitarian, more idealistic country that their parents lost. - Michael Walzer

Social justice protest, Tel Aviv, Israel. Image by tamirsher, copyright Demotix (06/08/11).

The J14 movement was initiated by a young Israeli woman named Daphni Leef who pitched a tent in the center of Tel Aviv three weeks ago (July 14th) in protest of the unaffordable cost of housing. It is one of the first prominent movements in recent times, that manages to bridge across political gaps within Israeli society. Ran cohen explains in a Tweet:

#j14 is a collective process of examining, discussing and challenging power structures within Israeli society.

In the following video Dafni is seen preaching to an enthusiastic crowd, at the early days of the protest. (translation from Hebrew below)

You (directed at Bibi/Israeli gov't) made this Facebook generation who sits on its ass all day, come out to the sizzling streets. We will make sure that this summer you will also feel the heat like in Spain, in Madrid. And if you won't be careful, we promise to protest like in Cairo. You can still fix. If you will not fix and continue to ruin, as far as I am concerned, you are fired. Friends, let's be strong, united and full of hope. We came to take our country back!

Israelis from all walks of life took to the streets too. Main narratives focus on restraining capitalism, and shifting the country back to a welfare state. Many claim that they give so much to the country without seeing returns.

Israelis chant: "Bring back the welfare state."

Elizabeth Tsurkov:

“Bring back the welfare state”. Many of the chants tonight called for a return to Israel's socialist days http://yfrog.com/z/h83w8kaj #j14

Although started by a group of politically left-leaning youth, its leaders are making an effort that the protests maintain a non-political character. Michael Waltzer offers a different perspective:

The uprising is a collective effort to escape the constraints and divisions of the Israeli debate about security, the nonexistent “peace process,” and the occupation. When the emerging leaders of the uprising insist that their protest is “non-political,” they mean that it's not about war and peace. They know, of course, that everything is connected, and that the difficulties they are experiencing are partly caused by massive state investment in the occupied territories. But they have their own dream of Zionist normality: they want to focus on their own lives and on the quality of domestic society…

The movement prides itself in its peaceful nature. We've seen little to no violence, which in the leader's opinion, highlights the power of the public involved. @ASoldiersMother posts:

I glory in the protests in Israel because they prove our democracy. Hundreds of thousands - no violence; police there to protect

There's been growing criticism against the movement for not having concrete demands. Social justice represents a multitude of issues, and one of their biggest struggles has been to come out with a clear, united voice. The following snippet is taken from a video interview where Dafni describes the movement's initial motivation:

We are left without homes. The goal is to bring prices back to the right proportions so that people can afford to rent or buy. This is not only an issue in Tel Aviv.
This is an optimistic protest. We want to be here. Don't want to leave the country. But its become impossible. At this rate, only the wealthy can stay here.

With the exponential growth in support across Israeli public, the J14 movement has utilized the social web as a means to host a public discussions. The main J14 website has updates and media from protests across the country, while its sister site, ohel.org.il is an interactive platform that encourages people to submit and vote up proposals and solutions. A variety of Facebook event pages send updates on current events, as well as a number of Twitter handles: @TLV_Revolution in Hebrew, @j14ar in Arabic, and @J14eng in English.

As a dual US-Israeli citizen, Idan Gazit shares his perspective:

Next time a Republican tells you about how the free market sorts everything out, next time they try to sell you on the evils of governmental “interference” in ensuring that no part of society ends up impoverished, tell them to look at Israel: it is their crystal ball.

There is nothing unpatriotic about thinking that our government should make sure that the lowest standard of living in our country is a standard that people can live with. There is nothing that says we must choose between what we have now and the 50+ percent tax rate of true socialist countries like Sweden.

Israel was born a socialist country, and to this day, we still enjoy vestiges of socialism in the form of universal healthcare which costs less every month than what I pay for my internet. The past decade has seen Israel's leaders discarding that legacy and importing the worst of America: materialism, unchecked capitalism, power as a function of money. I remember when cable TV first brought the outside world to Israel. I am old enough to have seen the changes wrought by Israeli's thirst for “America.”

This is the result. A government which is peopled with the worst criminals and liars our society has to offer, one of the fastest-growing, largest gaps between the wealthy and poor in history, and a population burnt out on the adrenaline jitters of a steady parade of security crises.

Sound familiar, right-wing America? Your crystal ball. We are it.

The following video montage includes scenes of the tent cities and protests sweeping throughout Israel, overlayed with the crowd chanting: “the people demand social justice”:

Finally, two Tweets worth highlighting:

David Harris-Gershon:

The question everyone on Twitter seems to be asking: how long can the #j14 protests go without explicitly addressing settlements/occupation?

Elizabeth Tsurkov:

Signs from Jaffa. Other chants: “Arabs & Jews refuse to be enemies” & “Arabs & Jews oppose house demolitions” http://yfrog.com/z/h8k2zwdj #j14

Israel: Goldstone Op-Ed Taken on a Media Spin

Gilad Lotan — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:52:36 +0000

The Washington Post published a highly controversial op-ed by Richard Goldstone, who led the UNHRC fact-finding mission to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations related to the Gaza war (Dec ‘08-Jan ‘09). In the article, Goldstone retracts from some of the UNHRC's earlier findings, writing that Israel did not have a policy of targeting civilians. Additionally he accuses the UNHRC of conducting itself with a bias towards Israel. Goldstone adds that Israel has “undertaken credible internal processes to assess its own conduct of hostilities” while Hamas has “not conducted any investigations into the launching of rocket and mortar attacks against Israel. That the crimes allegedly committed by Hamas were intentional goes without saying — its rockets were purposefully and indiscriminately aimed at civilian targets.”

While Israeli media and politicians have jumped on the bandwagon, inviting Goldstone to Israel and amplifying certain aspects of the op-ed, there have been a plethora of interpretations disagreeing with the interpretation of Goldstone's intentions, and overall, the op-ed's implications on the validity of the UNHRC report.

Idan Landau questions the hypocricy in Israeli society, and the media “spin” the story has been receiving across Israeli mainstream media:

Whatever Goldstone writes, Israelis do not understand him. When he discussed witnesses of Israeli war crimes in his report, he was called an antisemite. Now, when he takes specific claims back, he is embraced as if a long lost son coming back to the motherland.

Idan urges his audience to read the actual op-ed and not second hand media “spins”. He continues:

Goldstone regrets one thing and favors another. He regrets blaming Israel for intentionally attacking civilians in Gaza, and supports the internal investigations conducted by the IDF…
The joyous calls this report aroused within Israels critics, will turn into victory cries by its supporters. All this media noise is missing the key point: the crimes themselves. The television studios will continue to discuss if there were intentions to harm citizens, or not. At the same time, Israel will continue to kill civilians in Gaza, without intent of course, kill fishermen in front of the Gaza shore, without intent of course, kill farmers in their fields, without intent of course, kill sick by delaying them, without intent of course, kill elderly in their bed while under arrest, without intent of course, and continue the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, with no one making any effort to come against it.

The common Israeli and American Jewish reaction was extremely supportive of judge Goldstone's retraction, though many claim that the “damage is already done”. Rick Moran writes:

If the Judge wants to do some good, he can start an international tour to make the points he does in his new article in venues around the world where the hatred of Israel only intensified as a result of his initial one sided report. That report created a moral equivalence between a civilized nation state defending its civilian population, and a murderous death cult fueled by Islamic extremism and anti-Semitism, whose rocket firing supported a long time goal of indiscriminate killing of Jews.

On a similar note, David Merhave writes:

Goldstone crossed the line. He gave international legitimacy to the fascist regime in Gaza. Although in Jewish spirit, giving respect for those with an answer not necessarily those who are righteous, we can forgive him. Question is if he takes one more step forward and declares his regret for “grazing in the enemy's fields”. Whats clear, is that this evil initiative - the Goldstone Report - has collapsed and disappeared.

David's post spawned a series of reactions.
Dan responds:

Maybe we should begin with the endless, repetitive stupidity of the Israeli government. Lack of strategic thought; reactionist instead of being pro-active. Lack of cooperation yields a heavy price in international relations. And then self-righteousness. One cannot run a country this way!

Meriap adds:

Goldstone is only one of the committee members. After it was published, Goldstone's opinion is a personal one. After you hear witnesses from Shovrim Shtika, you have no need for an int'l report. The operation's policy was to kill many Palestinians so that the rest will be deterred from shooting missiles… Its enough that a soldier thinks that a child in front of him can kill him, that he can shoot, justifying his fear at a later investigation. In the beginning of the operation, Israeli forces waited for Palestinian police to gather in order to kill as many as possible with one explosion.

Jerry Haber composes an insightful post on the +972 blog describing the Goldstone op-ed as misrepresented and misleading:

It is the unfortunate fate of Judge Richard Goldstone to be condemned and praised for what he doesn’t write. The responses to his op-ed in Washington Post from the Israel advocates are laughable. Even a superficial reading of the op-ed shows that he has not retracted a single comma in the Goldstone Report, nor does he express any regret for having written the report the way it was written. He simply says that had he known then what he knows now, the report would have been different.

A highly retweeted post by @NaomiAKlein engaged over 100 Twitter users to repost the same text:

About #Goldstone backtrack: the reason bullies bully is because it often works. Entire operation was collective punishment. #Gaza

The organization Im Tirtzu published a post titled “throwing the Goldstone Report into History's trash” - a call to action, for people to gather in front of Naomi Chazan's home (President of the New Israel Fund) in Jerusalem and demand Naomi Chazan and the Keren to publically apologize for taking part in Goldstone's fraudulent tales.

Dahlia Scheindlin asks if Israelis are missing the point? That even the best of “hasbara” (a.k.a “PR”) won't end their international woes. It's the policy:

The fetishization of the Goldstone episode won’t help a single soldier who saw combat in Gaza erase what he did or saw.
Nor will Israel’s Goldstone obsession make the world any more sympathetic to its failed policies. Just as the report did not cause Hamas to become suddenly circumspect about its terrible civilian attacks, the reservations about the report will not suddenly whitewash Israel’s behavior.
But maybe this latest development will finally prove something Israelis keep missing: even the most vindicating “hasbara” in the world won’t end Israel’s international trouble. It’s the policy, stupid.

Perhaps Goldstone will offer his explanation, and help the world understand his intent in publishing this op-ed. But until then, we'll be trying to makes sense of the discussions happening on blogs and in social media spaces.

Israel: A Music Video Celebrating Egypt's New Freedom

Carmel L. Vaisman — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:29:31 +0000

A group of Israeli indie musicians have gathered to create a song, entitled Children of Liberty, expressing their support of the Egyptian people's newly acquired freedom, and have a “toast” to new neighbors, human rights and equality in both countries.

Israel: Social Media Offers Alternative Egypt Commentary

Carmel L. Vaisman — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:53:24 +0000

For the last 48 hours, “revolution in Egypt” is set as the “hot” topic on the front page of Israblog, the largest Israeli blogger community; however, as little as 12 bloggers posted on this topic to date. Along with the conversations on Twitter and Facebook, Israelis express mixed feelings: intuitive support of the demand for freedom, alongside echoing of Western media fears of Islamic fundamentalism under the guise of democracy.

Ofri Ilani, Haaretz technology correspondent, offers one of the best descriptions of these mixed feelings on his personal blog:

What is happening in Egypt is so exciting and seminal that it is even hard to judge if it's good or bad in familiar terms. We can say the revolution is good news and it should be happening, for better or worse. But we should also remember that Camp David agreements or the possibility to go to Cairo and have coffee in Zamalek, is part of Mubarak's rule too…. if you think you and your very existence here aren't part of the American empire in the Middle East, raise your hand.

One could say that the fall of Mubarak's government is vital and joyful and at the same time, admit its possible outcome could mean war that might result in our defeat and the fall of Zionism in its current form. In short, we can jump like flees on the back of a sneezing elephant. Personally, I sum up my feelings towards the images from Egypt: fear and trembling. Meanwhile, congratulations and respect to the Egyptian people.

Blogger and artist Roy Arad wrote a personal column on Haaretz in which he confessed being glued to Twitter during the last few days. Arad explains what hypnotized him about the revolution while criticizing Israeli youth and media commentators:

I quarreled like a fool on Twitter with people who listened to Middle East commentators' fear of Muslim Brothers' rise, should Egypt become truly democratic. Islam is indeed a powerful factor, but I thought of my personal friends in Egypt: the shy translator, the provocative film artist with the nose ring, the girl from Mansura who asked me to send her socialist poetry and uses images of Hollywood stars as her facebook profile pictures…. I look at the faces of the youth dancing on top of the police cars and these are not the people who will let Egypt become an Islamic dictatorship. But who knows.

Israelis like myself, who were born into a democracy where everything can be said, can never experience courage like the Egyptians who risk their lives for it. If they lose they will be jailed and tortured. Revolution in Tel Aviv? Students in the cafes here are busier with pitiful critical theories… we who think twice before going to a demonstration cannot comprehend this kind of courage. While Egyptians risk their necks for the right to demonstrate, we prefer to stare at the dwarf from the Big Brother reality TV show and wait for something to happen.

Solidarity demonstrations with the Egyptian people took place both in front of the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv and in Jaffa over the weekend. @osnatita tweets:

The policeman at the entrance to the demonstration in Jaffa suggested we wait and not go into the city right now. When we said we came to join the demonstration he was shocked. Are you sure? He asked, surprised.

Many tweeps wondered about the ramifications of the revolution for Israel. @glachs writes:

Meanwhile, philadelphi route is neglected. Hamas will arm itself marvelously, IDF will enter Gaza to guard Rafah crossing, and now we will see the true effect of the Palestine papers.

@Itamars tweets:

Israel is like the weak kid in class who stuck with the bully for protection, and one day, the bully is kicked out of school.

@dubikan replies to the worries expressed on Israeli and American media that Egyptians may not be ready for democracy:

If a nation organizes a successful grassroots upraising against a dictator, demanding democracy, than the people are ready for democracy

In another tweet he adds:

Robespierre and the French people weren't exactly ready for democracy or knew what it is either, when performing the French revolution.

A large portion of the tweets and blogs criticized the Middle East experts and commentators on Israeli media. @yuval_v tweets:

Let's agree on a rule: if you didn't predict the intensity of the demonstrations and the revolution in Egypt, please do not predict with “high probability” the type of government they will have after the revolution.

@aradaki targets channel 2's veteran Expert of the Arab world:

Ehud Yaari, you're dumb. If you take your head out of your butt you'll find a world you're not familiar with.

Such harsh words reflect the tension between media analysis and the live Twitter feed from Egypt. In the course of the Twitter conversation @aradaki adds:

These experts better read Twitter rather than analyze on the basis of their old connections that narrow their perspective. People who've been in the field all their lives cannot see the world has changed.

Israeli bloggers are offering alternative commentaries and asking the truly harsh questions based on social media attentiveness and personal connections with Egyptian bloggers. As the rumors on Twitter arrived this morning of an Egyptian army entrance into Sinai peninsula, blogger Lisa Goldman seemed to have surprised the ministry of foreign affairs' spokesman with the news, on which he apologized that he cannot comment since “they have strict orders to refrain from any comment on Egypt till the outcome of the uprising is clear.” Yossi Gurevich reports this story in Hebrew and comments:

It's hard to believe IDF isn't aware of this act, which technically is an invasion that defers the peace agreement. If this was indeed uncoordinated, it is very troubling security-wise, after all, that's how the 1969 war started. If it was coordinated then someone in the government should be able to explain on whose authority it was done, since such a change in the peace agreement requires the parliament's consent. Furthermore, the question arises if Israel is aiding Mubarak against his people.

In the same post Gurevich also criticizes Israeli chief intelligence officer who said on January 25 that there is no threat to Egypt's stability at this time:

now that we've seen the real value of army intelligence, it's time to dismantle this institution and replace it with a national evaluation unit that's free of army generals and is able to consider the civil society as well.