There were even some reports of Soviet-Israeli skirmishes on the seas, and rumours of Soviet pilots in the skies. The great game of international spheres of influence would not allow Russia to accept an American client state [Israel] vanquishing its clients Anwar Sadat and Hafez Assad.

Now, in 2013, as Hafez Assad’s son Bashar seems to be gaining the upper hand in his war against his own people, largely thanks to massive Russian diplomatic, Iranian financial and Hezbollah military aid. Within this context, Russia’s Vladimir Putin does not want any outside power to come in and set Assad back, not America, Europe, NATO, Turkey or Israel. Russia will make a Libyan-style international intervention in Syria all but impossible by supplying Assad with the most advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles in the world, and by positioning its own warships off Syria’s coast and moored in Tartus. Russia’s announcement this week that it was sending destroyers to the region for the first time since the end of the Cold War, and will set up a Mediterranean Fleet serves several purposes:

Firstly, no outside intervention to topple Assad;

Second, if peace talks are launched, Assad will enter them in a strong position, whilst being entirely reliant on Moscow’s support;

Third, Russia has become the main power broker in the Middle East’s most pressing conflict. The long line of foreign dignitaries making a pilgrimage to Moscow over the past two weeks [Kerry, Netanyahu, Cameron, Ban] is impressive. Putin must be pleased. The fact that peace in Damascus runs through Moscow is a huge coup for him and Iran, and a loss of leverage for America, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey.

But above all, Putin’s pivot to the Middle East can be seen as a countermove to US President Barack Obama’s intention to pivot to Asia. If Obama wants to move into my backyard, I’ll move into the Levant, Putin is saying with his new Mediterranean fleet and his support for Assad and Iran. With the American plan to lessen its footprint in the region after two wars and a bunch of worsening headaches [Egypt is Islamising, Israel and the Palestinians will continue their dance macabre, Iran taking over Iraq, and no good options in Syria], Russia’s Putin senses an opportunity to fill the vacuum. Putin’s strategy could be to bog the US down in the Middle East, thus delaying or downgrading its pivot to Asia; as well as gaining new influence and resources in the Levant. Putin, a KGB man through-and-through, is playing the old great game as if the Cold War never ended. But now, America is weak at home, and weak abroad. The US financial crisis, and the rise of China, India, Brazil and others are levelling the playing field. Putin could have pulled off a brilliant strategic move here, or he could have committed a terrible blunder and one day find himself bogged down in the sectarian sands of Arabia, much like the Americans have been for over a decade. Time will tell.

For Israel, the emerging picture of Russian ascendance and waning American power in the region is not a good sign. Russia’s delivery of game-changing weapons to Assad [who already said he will give everything he has to Nasrallah] will pose an immediate question to Israeli leaders: Can they afford to strike these arms before they are delivered to their recipients [re still in Russian hands] or does the IDF wait for the weapons to be deployed before attempting to get at them? In other words, [in the famous words of Dr. Strangelove] Can Israel “go toe to toe with the Ruskies?” More generally, what does Russia’s new presence in the Mediterranean mean for the balance of power in the region, which is currently in Israel’s favor? If Putin has Assad’s back [and Khamenei's], just how much will Obama have Israel’s back?

Without a doubt Jerusalem would like to see a more determined American response to the Kremlin’s recent moves. Right now, all America has offered in response to Russia’s delivery of advanced weapons to Assad is a chide. America has a massive deficit at home, and its appetite for foreign adventures is understandably diminished. But can Obama afford to leave the field to Putin?

You can hear the reactions on the streets; people are seething.

I don’t think anyone’s head is going to be sliced on a guillotine, but there is palpable anger now at the flagrant abuse of public money by public officials; as well as the concessions granted to the tycoon class by the banks and the regulatory system.

As for the tycoons, the fact that the banks – who loaned hundreds of millions of shekels to tycoon Nochi Dankner’s failing businesses without proper guarantees – are now offering to shave off large chunks of his loans, is generating a lot of anger by people who are in perpetual debt to the banks. Over two-thirds of Israelis live in overdraft – it’s the national religion really, more cohesive and representative than Judaism. Everyone’s in the same boat. So when a tycoon has his loans forgiven, but still collects a hefty paycheque, it doesn’t go over well.

Another example: On Saturday night, hundreds of people demonstrated outside the home of Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom. They were there to protest the fact that the government has not made public its formulation regarding the distribution of royalties of Israel’s newfound gas reserves. The gas belongs to the people, and the people should be consulted regarding the value of the gas, the protesters demanded [actually the gas belongs to the tycoon whose exploratory company discovered the gas - Yitzhak Tshuva]. But instead of adressing the protestors, Shalom’s wife, Judy Nir Mozes Shalom, an outspoken media celebrity in her own right, tweeted that she recommended the protestors postpone their efforts at least until after watching the latest “rush to the million” reality TV show. In other words: let them eat cake; in other words: go fuck yourselves.

The Prime Minister is also doing his bit to irritate the “common man.” A few months ago it was discovered that he buys a ton of high-end pistacchio ice cream with taxpayer money. Now it’s the fact that he ordered a bed installed on an El Al plane for his 5 hour flight to Thatcher’s funeral in London. The sleeping quarters cost 500,000 shekels to install. You wouldn’t believe some of the things people are saying about that….or maybe you would. In any case, it’s not good.  That his office put out a statement saying the PM had no idea how much the bed would have cost is strange as this exact sort of thing came up before, some three years ago, and even then Netanyahu got stick for that. He even took his driver with on his latest trip to China, for some strange reason. But at least Netanyahu has ordered that only long, transatlantic flights have beds installed and not the shorter hops to the continent.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon commandeered an IDF helicopter to travel to a private wedding in the south. That also didn’t go down well.

Obviously senior ministers need to get around in style, and obviously the prime minister needs to sleep on long flights.

But there is a way of doing things, especially in a climate of increasing austerity and belt tightening. The politicians cannot on the one hand tell us that we need to make sacrifices from our own pockets, while at the same time make inappropriate use of public funds for their own comfort.

Sometimes when I’m on my bike or Kooper, and I’m about to collide with someone who is walking in the bike lane, and this person is texting and not looking at me, I feel like colliding into them. To hurt them into awareness. But I always swerve at the last moment.

I can’t recall the exact moment in time when I became aware, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve been spatially aware. Not superhero spatially aware, just normally spatially aware. I don’t have special spatial powers; like I can’t see myself from other angels outside of “me,” nor can I predict who is going to come into my space, from which direction, at which speed, and when, before my eyes actually see them.

I can’t predict the future of my space. I’m just plain old spatially aware, meaning, I take care not to collide into someone else and I do my best  not to invade someone’s space.

I make sure I look straight ahead when I’m riding straight ahead, left or right when I cross a road or a path, and so on and so forth.

But this is not so for the many, many Israelis I almost collide into every day.

For instance, why do some parents walk with their little children in bike lanes, and not on the walking/ running lane right next to the bike lanes? The lanes are clearly marked with a riding or walking symbol every few dozen meters. As I ride past these families in the bike lanes I shout out to the parents: “This is a bike lane. It’s dangerous to be here, dangerous for the children,” I say, pointing at their children.

You’d think that would work, in a country so obsessed with children like Israel. But you know what I get instead? Indignation. They’re angered by my admonition. As if “who are you to tell us how to protect our children?”

Why do people here walk across bike lanes without looking to see if anyone is coming, from either direction? I look. I look because it’s the obvious thing to do. I’m not stupid, I know that I can’t just walk across a road without looking at oncoming traffic, or walk across a bike lane without looking to see if there are oncoming cyclists. These days I’m like an American Football referee: I act out the fouls that people make, showing them with my arms that they are walking on the wrong path, showing the cyclists that they’re not looking straight ahead by pointing at my eyes with two fingers, and then giving them one finger. Quite often I almost collide into cyclists who are not looking straight ahead. They’re either looking at the sea, or at a girl, or at a boy, or they’re texting on their phone. Whatever it is they’re doing, they’re doing it while not taking care not to collide with others.

And they never see me coming. If it weren’t for me warning them, we’d collide, like that particle collider in Switzerland, again and again and again, until we all explode. If I wasn’t so on the ball, if I didn’t care so much about myself and them, we’d smash into each other. There would be blood, tears and lawsuits.

It’s usually the same thing: distracted pedestrians, distracted cyclists, idiots, egotistical and spoiled brats. Am I a magnet for distracted Israelis, or are they just everywhere?

It happens on elevators too, or, to be precise, at the elevator doors. Israelis: it’s simple: before you get into an elevator, wait for the people already inside to get out. Wait, let them out, then get in. It’s that simple. Don’t walk in as the doors open, because what ends up happening is that the people trying to get out collide into you – you who are trying to get in – at the doors to the elevator. So they can’t get out and you can’t get in. You’re stuck. This also happens at the doors to the trains and buses. It really is simple: first let the people out, then you can get in. It just means you have to wait for a few moments – no big deal. You can always hold the elevator button; the bus won’t leave without you.

The same goes for escalators. There’s no reason for you to stand at the top of the escalator to figure out which way you need to go. You can do that figuring out just as well if you step to the side. That way, the people coming up the escalator behind you don’t have to bump into you, or push you out of the way.

Much better than to keep on bumping into each other, raising everyone’s  stress. It’s stressful enough here, no?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVoOLdLgWaU

Many of the Jewish settlers and their supporters don’t want the status quo to change. They do not want to be removed from their homes, God forbid, and they do not want a Palestinian state to rise in the West Bank, God forbid.

They don’t see why so many disillusioned people are still talking about the Two State Solution. That solution is long gone, they say. In fact, many of them believe that there is no real solution to the physics problem of Jews and Palestinians inhabiting the same space at the same time. Many Jewish settlers don’t understand why the Palestinians just won’t move to Jordan [it's 80% Palestinian anyway]. The Jordanians, and the Palestinians, what can you do, will have none of that. They’re stubborn that way.

So the Jews won’t budge, the Palestinians won’t budge, and don’t even talk to me about the Jordanians.

So we’re left with the status quo. No peace talks, no territorial withdrawals, more conflict over land, more arrests, rocks, shootings and death.

We go on as before. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, according to many Jews living in Judea and Samaria.

What’s wrong with the way things are now, they ask? There is real coexistence in the West Bank now between Jews and Arabs.  There are all the industrial zones and all the trade that goes on.

Jews are living proudly in their ancient land, they say.

The problem with these people though is that they don’t see the Palestinians, and they don’t care about their national aspirations.

The problem with the Palestinians is that they don’t see the settlers’ point of view: that they truly believe that they have returned to their ancient homeland.

The Palestinians will probably never, ever, come to terms with that point of view – the return to Zion. As far as the Palestinians are concerned, there is no Zion and there never was. 

So there is no solution.

But there has to be a solution, because Israel cannot remain the only sort-of democracy in the Middle East [democracy on the western side of the security fence, military rule on the eastern side of the security fence].

So I have an idea: since over 65% of Israelis want Israel to be a real democracy and they want to end the conflict with the Palestinians, but neither the Palestinians nor the Jewish settlers want to give an inch of territory to the other, I propose that Israel draws its national border along the security fence – and let the settlers and the Palestinians decide what to do with their mixed state, which we could call, until they decide what to name it, the State of Judea and Samaria and Palestine. 

The settlers and the Palestinians could each have their state – Judea and Samaria for the Jews, Palestine for the Palestinians – and they can work out the details amongst themselves. They don’t need us for that. They certainly don’t need America for that.

If they can’t agree on two states for two people in Judea and Samaria and Palestine, they could have one state for both populations – the status quo if you will – and call it whatever they want to call it.

Sovereignty, representation, nationality, taxes – would be up to them to decide. Perhaps they can even form a national unity government, a real democracy : Arabs and Jews represented in parliament in the Muqata in Ramallah.

They could have their own elections, their own flag, their own Olympic teams, even their own mixed anthem, just like the new South Africa has – in three languages and representing the aspirations of each sector [it's quite a beautiful song actually].

The Israelis on the western side of the security fence will live in the State of Israel, and the Jews and Palestinians living on the eastern side of the fence will live in the state of Judea and Samaria and Palestine.

Of course, there could be negotiations between the State of Israel and the State of Judea and Samaria and Palestine over territorial swaps here and there; as well as border arrangements, visa waivers, family reunifications, economic agreements etc etc.

The truth is that this kind of thing already has a precedent in Jewish history.

After the death of King Solomon, the Jews of old were divided into two kingdoms: Israel, and Judea.

These kingdoms remained separate states for over two hundred years.

Until they both disappeared.

One of my earliest ever memories is of my father coming into my room during the siren and standing me up in my bed – I must have been about 3 or 4 years old.

I still remember it now; the solemn, grievous look on my father’s face. I think it scared me.

Tonight, as I scanned over every inch of my sleeping son’s face, I feel that time is circular, that history repeats itself, only this time I am the one above the cot.

My beautiful boy, what have I gotten you into?

In this country, we’re either at war, or in between wars.

And even when we’re in between wars, there’s war.

And it’s always the same war. We fight for our right to belong here. There is no question we belong here.

We fight for our lives.

We fight because there is no other way.

And sometimes we fight because we’re too tired, too paranoid, or too stupid to look for another way.

Sometimes we make war because it’s easier than making peace.

Maybe there isn’t another way and maybe there is. I’m sad to think that it will always be like this.

And what if it is always like this? Will we always carry on fighting, killing and dying? Winning and losing, winning and losing, until we can’t even tell the difference between winning and losing.

How do we carry on, day after day, year after year, war after war, sacrifice after sacrifice?

It’s like those stories of bystanders lifting cars to rescue people trapped underneath. The strength just comes from somewhere within when it needs to.

Or like someone running into a burning building to save a complete stranger. You’d have to be totally insane to do that.

Superhuman strength, insane courage. That’s how we carry on.

I let you sleep tonight son; you’re too young to stand for the siren.

Who knows, maybe when the circle comes round again, please God, your son won’t need to.

Strength and Courage.

Well, here’s Israel for you.

Jewish men of the Cohen priestly class are wrapping themselves up in plastic bags on planes to avoid “contaminating” themselves when flying over cemeteries.

If you want to understand what’s going on here, read this

Some years ago, it was discovered that the flight paths of many international routes to and from Eretz Yisroel go over a large Jewish cemetery, and the question as to whether it was permitted for kohanim to travel on such flights was widely discussed by the leading poskim

 

If you’re interested in some of my writing on haredim, then look here and here

 

Some of us are tired of trying to make peace.

Some of us are tired of trying to make war.

There is no solution here. Over and over again, no solution. It’s like a long day that never ends.

And we get used to everything and we accept no hope.

Sometimes I think we’re winning, and other times I know we’re losing.

If we keep on winning like this, in the end there will be nothing left to win.

Sometimes I know we’re getting stronger, but strength is meaningless without hope.

If we’re heading toward the end of whatever they told us the Zionist dream was supposed to be, then let’s go out with a bang.

This slow death is killing me.

Give me a spectacular failure over a long, drawn-out phyrric victory.

Give me a knock-out, not a victory on points that no one’s counting anymore.

There’s no more referee and nobody cares about us anymore.

It’s just us and them. For God’s sake. We’re all clowns.

I’ve got breath in me for one more round:

Either all-out peace or all-out war.

One last round and let’s finish this.

But it has to be all-out. Enough of this no-war, no-peace, no-thing.

The quality and frequency of the journalism and opinion its writers are producing in English is very high, with writers like Chemi Shalev making serious inroads into everything Israeli, Jewish and middle east foreign policy coming out of America. The Times of Israel comes in second, in sheer terms of quantity of content produced and their social media reach. While not breaking anywhere near the same amount of hard news as Haaretz does [a good amount of TOI content is curated], TOI nevertheless is increasingly reporting original material of a wider appeal, and is experimenting successfully with a super flexible site which allows their editorial to play around with positioning of stories, something they do with great skill. As far as I can see, TOI and Haaretz are the most widely referenced Israeli news sources [English and Hebrew] apart from Yediot Aharonot, which still breaks many big stories, but whose Ynetnews English version has not been elevated to anywhere near its full potential [it is still a player though and has a steady readership].

The Jerusalem Post, while having consistently lost altitude and attitude over the past several years is bouncing back nicely with a combination of smart, assertive reporting by the likes of Gil Hoffman, Lahav Harkov and others, content partnerships with its parent company’s Hebrew assets, and successful conferences in New York. Jpost still lags behind on mobile applications, and its homepage is still, yes still, horrendous. Haaretz is also planning a conference in America, and TOI has had several smaller meet-ups. Maariv and Makor Rishon’s UK-born publisher may not have launched English versions yet, but word has it that these outlets are planning specific English projects with a Diaspora Jewish target in mind.

After the main players in terms of traffic and clout, there are increasingly good moves by the always-steady Israel National News, which reports strongly from Judea and Samaria, has a great video presence, as well as strong editorials, and interacts effectively with its core readership. While the media outlet I’m in charge of, Israel Hayom English, is nominally still a daily newsletter, we are expanding our content and readership base at a steady clip and our visibility amongst international media and policy circles is growing. We are bringing new voices into the crucible and exposing an international audience to Israel’s most widely-read daily. On the left wing side of the political spectrum, +972 is doing strong on-the-ground reporting and expansive opinion, and is doing specifically well in long-form journalism, design, video and info graphics.

The Israel Project’s TowerDotOrg news blog is making a good entrance with some original reporting and insight as well as a growing social media presence. A strong new player on the field is Al-Monitor, which has original and translated material from some very heavy hitters. While very niched, Israel Defense is nevertheless a quality product with high-end reporting and analysis on security issues as well as a good focus on the business side of the military industries. Talking about the business side, while Globes in English at times looks like it’s getting its act together, there is still a very big gap in the market for a serious English business news site that can be of interest and value to a wider global audience.