Not Anonymous

Just to show you I'm not totally cut off from my part of the world

Sun, 11 May 2008 19:48:09 GMT

So Lebanon.

Talk about a big fucking mess.

No doubt that as soon as something stabilizes there, somebody will invade it... just to make sure that the "right" man is in power.

Am I right?

Mean time, I'm not sure the Lebanese knew what hit them. You can just hear a parody of SNL going "Good Morning, Beirut... I love the AK-47 you're sporting!"

Quick Update

Sun, 11 May 2008 12:52:09 GMT

Today was the birthday tea for my Granny's 90th Birthday.

It was really a great success without much family drama.

Daddy, being the oldest son present, read a speech as did I being the representative of the Israeli family and my cousin (Daddy's brother's son) also read a speech representing the family in Cape Town.

The amount of old people was phenomenal. I was actually concerned that no one would be able to hear me when I spoke because you know, old people, they get hard of hearing. But the acoustics of the Mount Nelson (a very posh hotel, a vestige of the peak of British Colonialism) tea room was surprisingly good. I was very nervous and unsurprisingly began to cry in the middle of my speech, which is irritating for me, but adds something for the audience as many of the old ladies and gents came to me and complimented me on a very nice speech.

Hi everyone.
Hi Granny, Happy Birthday.
I've come, along with Daddy, to represent the Israeli contingent of this far flung family.
I remember coming to South Africa as a little girl, I'd swim in Granny's pool, play with Milo the dog, drink tea with milk and sugar and eat teigalach as I watched Granny knit something.
Granny you taught to me to knit. I still do.
Granny came to Israel a lot and I would always be the one to give my room for her, gladly, because for me and the rest of us in Israel, seeing Granny was the most special kind of treat.
No, it's more than that.
It was a privilege.
It was a privilege because I couldn't just hop on bus and see Granny whenever I liked, I couldn't just go shopping or see a movie with her whenever I felt like it.
I live half a world away from her but that doesn't change the way I feel.
Leigh, Jade and Robbie, and of course my Mother sent many instructions on what I should say to Granny on their behalf. However, in a nutshell, it is actually their best and dearest love that they send with me.
Every time I hug and kiss Granny I am doing it for all of us and so the hugs are the strongest and the kisses are the sweetest in all the world.
The great grandchildren; Amos, Shaul, Shvo and even Libby already know and love Granny Avis from photos and stories.
I must end with Shvo's words, as they are very apt: Granny Avis, I can't believe you're 90 – you don't look so old!

Yesterday wasn't a very busy day. Daddy and I had a bit of a lie in and picked up Granny after breakfast. We then went to my uncle's house and had some tea there and then went to the Irma Stern museum - Irma Stern is a famous South African artist, she painted and sculpted with themes ranging from portraits of her friends, various tribe people (mainly women) and sculpting busts of African people (again, mainly women). Apparently she was a shy person and never painted a self-portrait.

I also went to the Waterfront, which is Cape Town's shopping center with my "auntie's" (she's actually just a old friend of the family) daughter where I bought a couple of books while everyone went to watch rugby (boooooring!) and had a late supper.

So far, so good I'll say.

Waves from the Peninsula

Fri, 09 May 2008 17:20:28 GMT

Traveling is hard!
But fun when you're being taken care of by dear Papa.

Arrived, finally, at half-past eight (local time) in Cape Town. My memories of the place are very vague and everyone seems so much shorter and older.
Seeing as the last time I was here I was nine, this makes sense.

I slept like a rock. I don't think I moved the whole night.

Nobody can believe how big I am and some of the people keep referring to me with my older sister's name, Leigh. I suppose their sharpest memories of Leigh are of her with short hair, like I now have.

Today we went to wine country near Cape Town called Franchhoek (pronounced Fraan-tzuk... don't ask me how, I do not know how Afrikaans is built) and went around the very sweet and picturesque town. It was founded by the Huguenots (French Protestants who escaped France in the 17th century after the Nantes edict proclaiming France a Catholic Kingdom) who built the whole wine industry in the valleys in the area of the Western Cape which include Franchhoek, Paarl, Stellenbosch and another one which I can't remember, because there weren't any road signs to that one.
We decided to go because of the weather. The fog and most is blinding, you can barely see 100 meters ahead of you. We're hoping it won't get worse, but you can never know. It is weird going from the beginning of summer into what amounts to the middle of winter for me, even if they only started with winter now.
I'm chilly.

Daddy and I called Mummy while we were there and it appears that two people she and Daddy knew from their History live there, we only found one and Daddy said it was amazing how much time passed.

We went wine tasting too, which was fun, it's something I'd been wanting to do since I saw the movie "Sideways" but it was more the idiosyncratic characters than the setting in Napa Valley California that made it such a great movie.

We have since returned to our home base and will soon be going to sup with my Granny (who I saw last night) and the uncles, aunts and cousins I hadn't seen in years.

Yom Asal, Yom Basal - יום אסל, יום בצל

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:03:08 GMT

A day of honey, a day of onions (euphemism for tears, of course).

I went to the fireworks and watched Machina play for 45 minutes.
It was fun.
I had a great time listening to the music and seeing the fireworks with my family and singing along with the hundreds (maybe thousands) of my towns people to the songs which have become a part of the soundtrack of our lives.
Kind of like U2.

Elsewhere there are "alternative" ceremonies in which Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs are participating together talking about what this day means to each.
There are also ceremonies commemorating a calamity. Period.

Last year I went to a demo about a homophobic musician.
This year I'm going to South Africa and actually missing the brouhaha that will now doubt erupt while I'm gone at least by the 15th of May.

In any event, no matter what you are celebrating, commemorating or just having a weekly Wednesday night (or morning and day depending on the time zones) make it a good one and make it count.

יום עצמאות שמח!

Happy Yom Azmaut!

זיכרו את הנכבה!

Remember the Nakba!

Remembering The Dead

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:27:48 GMT

Another day of memorial, this one is present and thus, to me, much less poignant than Yom Ha'Shoah was last week, for some reason.
Dead soldiers and dead civilian victims, killed in War and Terror.

My feelings are mixed.
Last year I was depressed and the whole thing washed over me and was dimmed into the background of my own personal self pity and pain, to do with the war I participated in.
Now everything feels sharp, not the pain, but the facade of the (necessary and important) ceremonies in which the names of the dead will be spoken and candles will be lit, is so much more clear to me.
The ceremonies seem like theatrics to me. But I'll go to my elementary school where every year, younger and younger (because every year I get older) children stand on the grass slope where they will sing the same songs as last year, recite the same poems and maybe the choreography of the dance will be different, though I doubt it.
I'll go because dead men and women need to be remembered and at this point this is what we have.

Tomorrow is Independence Day, always after Memorial Day, so that we know what those dead men and women fought, lived and died for.

Korin Alal (though Ehud Manor wrote it) puts into words the way I feel best on these days... even if they are mixed:

אין לי ארץ אחרת
גם אם אדמתי בוערת
רק מילה בעברית חודרת
אל עורקי אל נשמתי
בגוף כואב
בלב רעב
כאן הוא ביתי.

לא אשתוק כי ארצי
שינתה את פניה
לא אוותר לה אזכיר לה
ואשיר כאן באוזניה
עד שתפקח את עיניה.

I have no other land
Even if the ground is burning
Only a word in Hebrew, penetrating
Into my veins, my soul
In an aching body,
In a hungering heart.
Here is my home

I will not be silent, for my land
Changed her face
I will not concede to her
I will sing in her ear
Until she opens her eyes

TAU Students Present: Open Course about Neo-Liberalism and Privatisation

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:01:23 GMT

My peeps :D

קואליצית הסטודנטים באוניברסיטת תל-אביב מזמינה אותך לקורס חוץ-קוריקולרי (אבל לא חוץ תקציבי) שלישי, מבית היוצר של "בצל הכיבוש" (2004) ו-"גדרות ללא גבולות" (2006).

השנה יעסוק הקורס בניאו-ליברליזם ובהפרטה. כיצד תהליכים אלו משפיעים על ספירות החיים השונות בישראל/פלסטין, וכיצד הם נוגעים לחייהן של קבוצות חברתיות שונות? נעסוק גם במאבקים ואלטרנטיבות ונחקור דרכים חדשות למאבק אנטי-קפיטליסטי. את/ה לא רוצה לפספס את זה.

ימי שני, 18:00, חדר 326, בניין גילמן (מדעי הרוח).

The Student Coalition at Tel Aviv University presents its 3rd extra-curricular, extra-political and extravagant course, Hurray!

This year, we will be discussing neo-liberalism and privatisation. How do these rather abstract concepts relate to different spheres of life in Israel/Palestine and what kind of influences do they have on various social groups?

We will also look into struggles and alternatives and investigate new forms of anti-capitalist action. You don't want to miss it.

Mondays, 18:00, Room 326, Gilman (Humanities) Building.

Translation of the courses on the flyer:

12.05 - The Neo-Liberal Logic: between science and ideology.

19.05 - What is University? The privatisation of higher education.

26.05 - The privatisation of check points and the "Later Occupation".

02.06 - A short history of Neo-Liberalism.

16.06 - Let Us Live in This City: Privatisation in Tel-Aviv-Yaffo.

23.06 - Pink Collar: Women and privataisation.

30.06 - [something will be here]

07.07 - "Srtike! Srike!": New workers unions.

14.07 - Anti-Capitalist action in the Knesset, NGO's and the strees.

Effing Rabbi SOBs!

Sun, 04 May 2008 19:22:05 GMT

I'm tired.
I'm never taking a course that requires me to wake up at six AM.
Or alternately I could start going to sleep at reasonable hours...
But fuck that right?

But the fact that I'm tired won't stop me from reporting this shit, that went down in the beginning of last weekend and which may or may not be resolved.
It pissed me off royally.
Beyond the tragic and cruel nature of these invalidated conversions, it spotlights a grave and important matter about the relationship of religion and state in Israel.
That it is rotten.

I got into an argument about what is acceptable involvement of religious establishment in the state.
Personally, I think they can fuck off, since these establishments are chauvinistic, sexist and racist.

There is no civil marriage in Israel, the closest we have is common-law unions which were established so that "un-marriageable" couples could have legal standing.
Who are the "un-marriageable" you ask - they are members of the population that cannot get married through the Rabbanut. The system was initially built for couples who according to Halakha couldn't marry each other: Cohens and divorces mainly. But this also includes Mamzerim (bastards) who cannot marry through the Rabbanut, Jews cannot marry Muslims or Christians, nor can Muslims and Christians marry each other, there is no same-sex marriage either.
This, is of course easily solved by marrying elsewhere; Cyprus, Canada, the USA, Anywhere that allows foreign nationals to marry.

And after marriage (which brings great civil benefits) comes divorce (more and more these days and don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
It's a great invention, Jews are practical that way.
Of course it is the Husband that must grant the Wife the Get (divorce), she can "choose" whether to accept it or not. Not that the man would give a shit, all he needs in order to have a Halachikly legal family (while not divorced to his first wife) is something like a 100 signatures from 100 Rabbis and he can marry and have (halachicly)legal children - bigamy and polygamy are illegal in Israel - so he can ignore with impunity the pleas his Wife makes so that they can be rid of each other. There are sanctions, monetary usually, but go beg a Yeshivah Bochur to pay alimony when he can't sustain himself without a wife, or just a run of the mill asshole who doesn't want to pay alimony and that putting him in jail only postpones the writ of execution of whatever he owes his wife, his lawer and his children should he have any. The wife, due to all this, is now an Aguna - another side effect of the Rabbis revocation of the conversions - there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Agunot women in Israel.

My side of the argument was that we either take the anti-patriarchy hammer and bash the Rabbanut until nothing is left of that racist, sexist establishment, or have the state acknowledge the fact that there is more to Judaism than Orthodoxy so that that the pluralism we pretend to have in Israel have some basis in reality.

A mixture of reform and revolution - I'm more keen on rebuilding from the grassroots, but others kind of like the way things are... or at the very least don't mind the way things are; seeing as the privilege of being born Jewish has the added bonus that no one will be nosing around our private life and checking to see if we're actually being Jewish.

It makes me sick.

I've heard people say it takes time for these things to change, after all blacks in the USA only got civil rights in the 60's of the 20th century and the women only got the vote less than a hundred years ago.
Change is slow but it happens.

Yes, change is slow... when those in power have no incentive to change, when the atrocities that these establishments perpetrate don't touch their lives, then change can be slow.
When the status quo is just fine and dandy to The Man, then change can be slow.

Classical liberal* bullshit.

*No offense to any liberals who may be reading this.

Since when is social justice passé?

Fri, 02 May 2008 09:49:43 GMT

I'm not going to make it to the May Day march happening in Tel Aviv today and I mentioned it to Mummy, because I share things with Mummy and generally she likes it when I share things her.

She said that May Day is passé. That it doesn't mean anythings anymore. That only old pensioners still want to march and that only the crazy Left factions still choose to march, that they're on the fringe of the political map.
And now that the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore it's a meaningless communist holiday.
She said that when she lived in South Africa and communism was illegal and she marched in Anti-Apartheid demos on that day it meant something.

Well, it does still mean something.
It's not a "communist" holiday.
The official title for May Day is International Workers Day, or International Workers Rights Day.

In this era; in which temp workers have almost no rights in their work place.

In which the minimum wage in most countries doesn't correlate with the standard of living.

In which the welfare system discriminates against single parent families (usually singe mothers as we know).

In which there are one day strikes where bosses make promises and get the workers back on track but in fact nothing changes.

In which my friend who works as a Barista in a chain doesn't see the point of a union because she isn't going to stay long enough at the job for it to do any good.

In which strikes demanding better pay, better terms, better education are ignored by the government and completely miss the opportunity to show a united front, in Solidarity, for education, higher learning and a future for those who will get a mediocre education.

In which globalisation enables the movement of cheap labour from a "Third World" country to a "Western" country and these workers are used, abused and can barely sustain themselves because they send the majority of their wages back to their families;

In which the lining of ones pocket is more important than the fact that the majority of the peoples pockets are empty.

In which a burgeoning food crisis is immanent and those who grow the food will have nothing left because it will all be taken and distributed all over the world just so "we" won't be without our precious rice.

In which small business, like my Father's pharmacy, have to compete with giant chains and he works so hard to make sure his children want for nothing and works from eight AM to eight PM, being the boss, the worker and the professional.

In which 19(!) families control 34% (maybe more) of the income of Israel's 500 leading companies - Ynet Article.

In this era of exploitation, by-any-means-necessary-profit, "voluntary" over-time, Life Style and unsustainable economics, it is imperative to mark a day, be it a traditional one or a new one, so long as it's international, where those who are exploited, used and have their rights/see their comrades rights being abused move together in solidarity for a better future for everyone.

And to those who say; there has always been exploitation, there has always been inequality, there have always been those who have and those who don't.
I (and I'm sure many others) say: if there is no change, there is only stagnation and the only "always" that comes from that is death.
...
Um, yeah.
I'm done.

Happy (after)May Day Everyone!

Eugenics is a Jew invention dontcha' know!

Thu, 01 May 2008 14:37:42 GMT

The Israeli papers are rife with Holocaust related News and most of it is very boring, but this, this takes the cake and I just have to share.
I'm really interested to know what you all think of it.

The authors of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion would have gotten a kick out of this.

Hamas TV claims 'Satanic Jews' planned, perpetrated Holocaust
By Anat Rosenberg

Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV aired a documentary on April 18 claiming that Jews planned and perpetrated the Holocaust in order to rid the nation of the "burden" of the weak and disabled.

Palestinian Media Watch, a group that monitors Palestinian Arabic language media and schoolbooks, uploaded part of the program onto YouTube in a segment called "Hamas Holocaust Perversion: Jews Planned Holocaust to Kill Handicapped Jews."

The Al-Aqsa TV clip edits together footage from the World War II Nazi Genocide, showing Jews being rounded up and taken to a train as well as emaciated corpses lying in a pile, alongside images of Israeli leaders David Ben Gurion and Golda Meir.

The accompanying commentary claims that Ben Gurion said "the disabled and handicapped are a heavy burden on the state." To rid them of that scourge, the video claims, Ben Gurion and "the Satanic Jews thought up an evil plot to be rid of the burden of disable and handicapped in twisted criminal ways."

The video also claims that Jews made up the Holocaust and blamed the Nazis for it in order to "benefit from international sympathy."

The Holocaust "was a joke, and part of the perfect show that Ben Gurion put on," said Amin Dabur, head of the Palestinian Center for Strategic Research organization, in the video.

Dabur added that the "Jewish plan" focused on developing "strong and energetic youth [for Israel]," and that the figure of six million Jewish victims is mere propaganda.

Remember - יזכור

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:41:58 GMT

Sometimes I think about the Holocaust, and especially today I do because it is Holocaust Remembrance Day; the public television networks are showing documentaries, the radio is playing dirges and at ten AM a siren, the siren used for air raids and times of emergency and war, was heard, stopping everything – traffic, exams, fights, classes, shopping – creating an ear piercing moment of silence that continued to ring in my ears for a few more moments.
It is surreal, to see the stillness while your brain is screaming that the noise is painful. It forces you to remember what today means and why we must never forget it.

In Israel, we use the word "Shoah" (שואה, eng. Holocaust) lightly, at least in my circle of cynical friends; "This exam is going to be a holocaust" – "המבחן הזה הולך להיות שואתי". We make jokes about German Sheppard's (Alsatian dogs, ya know) in Jewish ghettos and ask how many Jews you can get into one car – one in the boot, two in the front, three in the back and the rest in the ashtray.
Morbid, which is putting it lightly.
I don't know how other nations that have gone through genocide handle the memory.
Do they also make jokes?
Do they go on school trips to Poland to see where our families were murdered, where their hair was shorn and used to make water proof socks and their fat was used to make soap (everything you saw/read in "Fight Club" is true).

I don't think it's the magnitude of death that makes the Holocaust unique as genocides go.
I think it was the industrial-ness of it, the careful methodical planning of it all. The loss not only of life but of an entire culture that had been cultivated over centuries. The pornographically photographed naked women, children and men; dying, dead and piled up in heaps, each body indistinguishable from the next.
Nudity takes away individuality.
The numbering of the people, which took away a little bit more of their humanity in the eyes of the perpetrators; the lies that hid the material reality: "You'll be getting your luggage back soon" a smiling Nazi clerk would say and everything was catalogued in that meticulous bureaucracy the Germans would pride themselves in.

My own opinion on the genocide that massacred the branches of my family on both sides has changed over the years - Those that went on to create what is now my quite large family, who live around the world, left Latvia and Lithuania before Operation Barbarossa, indeed before WWII even began.

It's easy to succumb to the idea that Jews are eternal victims and that the Holocaust was the largest and latest of Pogroms. At the same time, there is the fact that from this incident of violence a new kind of Jew arose, one that is strong, stronger than ever before, with a country of his own and an army that is the strongest in the Middle East. It is with this new strength and army, the Jews will never fear for our existence again.

I'm pretty sure Israeli Jews are the only majority population in the world that fears for its continued existence, not "way of life", but actual life. It is for good reason; Jews are surrounded by nations who don't want us here (when are we ever "wanted" any where).
I always think it's ironic that we went from one ghetto to another, only this time we built the walls, the snipers are ours and we pushed those we didn't want out.
The Holocaust brought about the existence of Israel, it probably would have happened at some point, but the genocide of the Jews made the process that much more urgent, that much faster.

Israel was built to be a home for those who became homeless.
*sigh*

The conclusion Jews and Israelis in particular, must take from our tragedy, is that we must strive to be better than we were.
Than we are.
We must strive to create a country, a world, in which persecution, racism, antisemitism, orientalism, genocide, auto-genocide are History and not reality.

That's my conclusion as an Israeli Jewish girl and that's what I derive from the Holocaust and that's why I make sure to remember, remember and never ever forget.

.לזכור, לזכור ולא לשכוח לעולם

Remember - יזכור:
The Jews
The Palestinians
The Bosnians
The Darfurians
The Rwandans
The Aborigines of Australia and Tasmania
The Cambodians
The Tibetans
The Armenians
The West African Slaves
The Original/First/Native Nations of the Americas
The "Witches"
The Inquisition
There are more, many more, too many. Who else must we remember?

Forget-Me-Nots* are not the colour of blood

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:48:09 GMT

כתוב בעפרון בקרון החתום/ דן פגיס
כאן במשלוח הזה
אני חוה
עם הבל בני
אם תראו את בני הגדול
קין בן אדם
תגידו לו שאני

Written in Pencil in the Sealed Railway-Car/ Dan Pagis
here in this carload
i am eve
with abel my son
if you see my other son
cain son of man
tell him that i

Another year goes by and one of the two most solemn days have arrived again.
Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day - יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה
The date chosen to mark this day is the date of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which all things considered is a good thing to commemorate.
The Hebrew date is 27th of Nissan (unless it falls on Shabbat) and so it turns around throughout April and May over the 19 year cycle of lunar and solar calendars.

I keep thinking that something profound and important should be said about this incident in History, but there really isn't.
One thing I keep hearing and thinking is that the Holocaust, the Shoah, the Calamity, was unique.
In its magnitude (though that was surpassed by others), in its industrial method, in its ideology.
The reason my home exists was because the world felt sorry for those who were homeless.

One of the things I always felt was a kind mission of Jews as a people who has historically been persecuted is to commemorate the persecution and genocides of other people.
In Israel we could do a better job at (which it putting it lightly).
I could go on and give a list of genocides committed in the 20th century alone, but anyone who is interested can just Google genocide and holocaust, you'll get more information than you know what to do with.
Read with a critical eye and reach the conclusions you see fit about human beings and humanity as a whole.

*In Hebrew the Forget-Me-Not is called Remember-Me - זיכריני

War, death, destruction, same old News

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:01:35 GMT

Despite (or maybe because of) yesterday's raid which resulted in the death of a mother and her four children in Beit Hanoun; it seems the infighting between the different Palestinian factions has been put on hold in order to secure a truce with Israel - even with conditions which I doubt Israel will accept.

Pity the reps didn't tell their people to lay off on the Qassam rockets which were being fired into the Negev at approximately the same time.
I doubt the Security Cabinet will accept any kind of agreement from the groups, because they will demand an end to the rockets before they lift the siege.

When I read the headlines I was really pleased, seriously, it seemed as though things are/were moving in the right direction, until I read the headline about the Qassams being fired during the meeting in Cairo and the continuous raids by the IAF.

Is it so hard to just Shut the Fuck Up! Put down your Guns! And listen to what The Other is saying!?

Sometimes when I read the News and manage to not be connected to what I'm reading I feel like I'm reading a running commentary between two Gangs of adolescent children where one comes from the Slums and the other comes from the High Rises that surround said Slums.
It's so frustrating I can even explain this.

The "R" Word - this entry may be triggering

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:22:09 GMT

"The head of the criminal affairs bureau in Lower Austria, Franz Polzer, said Mr Fritzl had admitted sexually abusing his daughter repeatedly during the time he imprisoned her".

May I please ask; why is no one calling what this disgusting excuse for a human being did, rape?
Why is it sexual abuse, when it happens between family members?
Why are "incest" and "molestation" used instead of calling it what it is?
Is there any doubt that this so-called father forced his daughter into becoming a sex-slave and having seven children of his children?

That... man... should be castrated, thrown into a jail cell (solitary confinement at that) for the rest his natural life and never see the light of day again.
Of course, that kind of justice isn't what's given out to sex offenders these days.

If I weren't so angered by this, my mind would be boggled.

Back Home!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 15:29:08 GMT

Mummy and Daddy are back home from the States.

Very happy about that, because suddenly the house doesn't seem so empty like it did when they were gone, add to that the fact that many nights of the past week were spent alone (I'm glad Wish deigned to sleep with me) I'm extra delighted.

I got prezzies of course:
Three books; Yentl's Revenge, She Who Dwells Within and Exist Wounds - I meant to write "Exit Wounds" - (my next books are this and this); a reusable shopping bag (we're fast becoming a plastic shopping bag free home); an NYC M&M Snowglobe and a M&M key ring, both of which have joined my other knick-knacks which beckon to be dusted after the Weeks of Sandy Heat Waves brought about by the Encroaching Desert.

But the best is having them home.
I really missed them.

Silence is Violence

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:03:03 GMT

Consider this the sequel entry to my previous one.

It was brought to my attention that my previous post was lacking.
Lacking in what?
Lacking in actual testimony. I hadn't thought of putting any of the things I'd read here, because I trusted in people's curiosity to go a read the testimonies soldiers.
Kind of silly of me, because I know very well that's it's easy to ignore the links offered and then you need to open the .PDF files and scroll down and actually be really interested in what these boys (and some girls) have to say.

So I give a few and like before, I urge you to go and read the rest in Hebrew if you can, and in English, which is available.

עדות מס‘ 7, חברון
יש מעט משימות הגנתיות באופיין, כמו שמירות ודברים כאלה. יש משימות התקפיות
באופיין, שבדרך כלל היחידות המיוחדות יותר עושות את זה או הפלוגות הוותיקות של
הגדוד, שזה מעצרים ודברים כאלה.
?במעצרים השתתפת
כן, הרבה. והמסה העיקרית של המשימות, האופי שלה המבצעי הוא התקפי, כלומר
– לא משנה, לא ניכנס לזה – אבל המהות שלהן, המהות של המשימות האלה היא לגרום
לאנשים לדעת כל הזמן שאתה שם. כלומר, שלא ירגישו נוח אף פעם, שיבינו שהצבא
תמיד נמצא שם. שיתרגלו לזה שהצבא שם, שאין להם כזה דבר שיגרה בלי שהצבא שם,
שבכל מקום שהם מגיעים אז בודקים אותם.

***
Testimony 5, Hebron
I remember the first time I was really screwed up in Hebron, opening some street corner
or house on one of my first patrols, you know you really are in shock. I was sure that
any moment now I’d be shot. So you stare at every window, turn every corner really
stressed out. Then you become indifferent. Yes. But in the beginning… I remember I
took a corner and my rifle was pointing at this little child. I had a really hard time with this
one. He burst out crying and ran away. Things like that. Or say I remember once, you
know the patrol moves in two lines, so these two children passed along in between, an
older and a younger brother. The older brother held the younger close and they hurried
along. This picture won’t leave me. Later, after becoming indifferent, I remember I took
a corner once and saw some Arab looking at me through the window. Then just like
that, I have no idea why I did this – I pointed my gun at him, and he closed the door
and ran. And I went – “Wow, I’m really losing it. Really.” That’s how we all felt, it was like
- feels like talking to a shrink now – but you just say, “man, I’ve really been screwed.”
You keep talking about burnout all the time, all this shit and stuff. But it’s a real horror.
You keep getting under their skin. At first you’re really scared, then you allow yourself
some humane feelings, and then you just don’t give a damn. It’s like that everywhere in
the Occupied Territories, but particularly so in Hebron.
After how long?
Next to nothing. Two weeks maybe.
***

עדות מס‘ 10 , חברון
מה האינטרקציה בין פלסטינים למתנחלים?
טוב, זה אינטרקציה מאוד־מאוד לא פשוטה.
זכורים לך מקרים?
כן, כן. גם, שוב, לא הייתי, דווקא הייתי במוצב, אבל המון חבר‘ה היו מעורבים בזה, כי זה
שוב כוננות מתפללים. המון־המון חבר‘ה הגיעו מבחוץ, תמיד באים חבר‘ה לבקר ביישוב,
בחברון, לעשות שבת בחברון. ושוב, הלכו לתפילה, הלכו יום שישי להתפלל. ובדרך, מאחורי
ג‘ילבר, מאחורי העמדה, יש מכולת כזאת והחבר‘ה בדרך נכנסו למכולת, התחילו לעשות
שם קצת בלגן. אני לא יודע בדיוק מה זה אומר קצת בלגן, חבר שלי ששמר שם אז הוא אמר
שהם נכנסו, התחילו לצעוק, נראה לי להפיל קצת מוצרים, אני לא יודע בדיוק מה.
מכולת פלסטינית?
כן.
זאת שליד ג‘ילבר?
ממש מאחורי העמדה יש שם מכולת. והם נכנסו שם, שני החבר‘ה ששמרו שם בעמדה,
הם נכנסו וממש התחילו להתווכח עם היהודים, ניסו להעיף אותם משם. הם הלכו ובדרך
ישבה איזשהי זקנה. הם המשיכו ללכת פשוט לבית כנסת, זה היה בדרך לבית כנסת. ישבה
שם איזשהי זקנה בצד והם שם צעקו עליה, לא יודע, בעטו בה או משהו כזה. שוב, זה רק
מסיפורים של החבר‘ה. אני זוכר שזה היה פשוט עניין, כי זה לא היה סתם עוד זה. החבר‘ה
ממש סיפרו את זה.
מה אמרו לכם בתדריך, מה המטרה של השהות בחברון...?
להגן על היישוב היהודי.
זו המטרה?
...להגן על התושבים, על כלל התושבים, ועל היישוב היהודי בחברון. זה בגדול. בעיקר הצבא
שם בשביל להגן על היישוב היהודי. אם לא היה שם יישוב יהודי, אז לא היה שם צבא. זה
בגדול נראה לי המטרה. בתוך זה, אז אתה גם מגן על הפלסטינים, בין אם זה כתוב ובין אם
זה לא כתוב.
איך הגנתם על הפלסטינים? מה עשיתם לאלה שהתפרעו במכולת?
אז העפנו אותם מהמכולת.

***
Testimony 17, Hebron
Being a TIPH (Temporary International Presence at Hebron) observer is really a bad
scene. Here’s another classic example of having a shitty time in Hebron. TIPH regularly
get a ‘warm reception’. Whenever they come down from Abu Sneina (neighborhood),
they are target for a stone or two at their car. Extra-special.
By the settlers?
Sure. Simply for being TIPH.
And what do you do about it?
I can just repeat what I told one of them. I’ll do it in Hebrew. He goes: “Stones have
just now been thrown at me.”
Where do you meet him?
He shows up. Comes back to Gross (outpost). I go, “Yes, I know. That’s why I was
summoned here.” Then I tell him, “Listen, you know that these are kids under the
age of 14 so there’s nothing I can do.” And the, in these very words: “I know, I just
wanted you to realize that.” Like, he already knows and there’s nothing to do about
it, absolutely nothing.
So what are the procedures you’re given, genearlly, regarding the settlers?
Nothing. Ask my deputy company commander, who’s really dying to do something
about them, what the procedures really are…
… Any time TIPH or CPT (Christian Peacemaking Teams) activists approach me
– before we absolutely prohibited any leftist or such activists enter Avraham Avinu
settlers, once they went in there and I told them: “Do me a favor, don’t. I can’t be
responsible for what could happen to you in there.” The funniest incident was when
this group, I mean all of the CPT activists came through, twenty of them, and I was
commander at Gross and I go: “What are you doing here?” You can’t mistake them,
with their CPT and those awful red caps they have, so “What are you doing here?” and
they go, “Why, is there a problem?” I ask them, “Did you coordinate this with anyone?
Did you inform anyone you were walking around here?” A huge group, I mean you
can’t really hide such a thing.
I was really concerned about their safety.
Where were they walking, at the wholesale market?
No, just plainly no the ‘David Route’ which you know as Shuhada Street.
Are there any special instructions regarding the Bnei Avraham tour groups?
Bnei Avraham (a group of activists that conducts guided tours in Hebron) arrive, and
they are not supposed to enter anywhere in Avraham Avinu neighborhood settlement.
I’m dying to know how we got to the point where a Jew is not allowed to walk around
Jewish public space. For leftists…
There’s an instruction forbidding them to enter Avraham Avinu?
Yes. There’s an explicit instruction forbidding leftist activists and international
organizations from entering Beit Hadassah, Avraham Avinu and other such
settlements.
***

Liberty and Tragedy

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:38:55 GMT

This year marks 60 years of Independence for the State of Israel and 60 years to the Palestinian Expulsion from what is now Israel proper, commonly known as al-Nakba (the Catastrophe).

I won't be here to do anything about those dates, as I am leaving for SA in early May and will likely be missing the brouhaha that will no doubt commence.

I've spoken about this organisation before, but I'll mention them again.

Just before Pesach Breaking the Silence published, online, IDF soldiers testimonies of serving in Hebron in the years 2005-2007.

I'm really not sure what to say other than to urge you all to read them. All of them. Take your time, but read them.
These brave boys (and that really is what they are at this age) are doing something which, if I'm not mistaken, no other country even acknowledges and that is talking about the fact that what goes on in the Occupied Territories is... Well... there ain't no place like Hebron.

The Testimonies - in Hebrew.
The Testimonies - in English.

She's writing feminist fangrrl things! Quick, before you miss it!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:23:47 GMT

It's been a while since I wrote a real fangrrl commentary on something fannish. Real life has somewhat taken over, though I'm sure I haven't lost my touch.
I'm sure some of you are aware of this poster going around the Internet, not to mention New York Comic Con:

From left to right Selina Kyle (Catwoman), Barbara gordon (Oracle), Zatanna Zatara (Zatanna), Dinah Lance (Black Canary), Karen Starr (Power Girl), Diana (Wonder Woman), Kara Zor-El (Supergirl), Kate Kane (Batwoman), Mari Jiwe McCabe (Vixen), Pamela Isely (Poison Ivy) and Harleen Quinzel (Harley Quinn).

So what is it that we have here, other than a bunch of attractive women in formal wear?

Personally, there were a few there I couldn't tell the difference between until I really looked for the fine differential details between them all, like the two blonds; one standing next to Wonder Woman and the other standing next to Power Girl.
I mean, from the stance I recognized who Supergirl and who Black Canary were, that and Supergirl is wearing a mini-dress which I suppose alludes to her itty-bitty-titti costume, but I digress.
What is Black Canary's trademark look?

Someone? Anyone?

Friends, where are Ms. Lance's fishnets?
Zatanna, for example, has the hat and gloves, Posion Ivy has, well, ivy in her hair and on her dress and Harley has a Harlequin masque and small pom-poms on the edges of her dress (plus the gigantic smile, which appears diminished in the poster).
So the difference between two of the blonds who aren't really wearing formal wear which either alludes or is recognizable as their suits (mini skirt notwithstanding) is that the other woman in the poster are recognizable with one other exception which I will get to, not to worry.

I like that fact that the villainous/morally ambiguous women were put on the margins, also they are turned away from the other, it's as though Selina is saying "you don't think I'm a superhero, do you?" and she's in black, as though she'd be caught dead in white. Poison Ivy and Harley seem to be reminiscing the old days when they had their own little worrisome two-some that gave Batman a pain in the neck.

Diana is exactly where she should be, dead center looking straight ahead and looking like the goddess she is (while off duty and having cocktails at some UN event being all ambassadory). Diana looks how I would imagine her on Themyscera if she ever got the crown, contemporary and and Grecian style.
Who could mistake Power Girl for anyone else, the in/famous Boob Window... adds character it does.

Oddly, Vixen seems incongruous with the rest of the characters there, there's nothing distinct about her (like Supergirl and Black Canary, but they're standing next to two leading ladies), except her colour, which is an important distinction to make seeing as not too long ago there was a mighty big faux pas with her colour (certain artists made her look Caucasian... yeah), but surely there should be something more. Is that her talisman around her neck? Why not make it bigger an obvious (like the boob window, or the ivy, or the masque, etc.)
What? Did Adam Hughes not want to make Vixen look "Ethnic"? She's from an African Nation, her power is based on the power that a local god bequeathed, why is she so... not there in the poster?
I'm not looking to start a huge brouhaha, but women of colour, marginalised, I don't think I need to say more.

Now, I'm no artist, but I understand composition, when you have a character sitting, it's no good for them to be the only one sitting, especially when they are on the side and not in the middle. Barbara, being who she is, is sitting, in a mighty fine dress I might add, and though she looks like she's about to leap out, it's just a pose. The other elegant lady sitting is Kate Kane, Gotham Socialite, Batwoman and, c'mon you know it, that's right, Lesbian.
No, never would have guessed; the pant suit, the spread legs, it just screams Lezzie.
*sigh*
Pity that in canon she's in the closet (last I checked) and wears dresses to formal affairs.
Give the pant suit to Babs, it's so much more her style.
But then, then people would think she's a Lesbian!

There are two kinds of people who would buy this poster; those who know everything I've mentioned and those who don't care and just like pretty women.

Good poster, some things missing and a few aggravating details that should be fixed, but all in all, a very aesthetically pleasing poster of DC's most powerful women, I wouldn't mind seeing that hanging on my wall.
*HINT-HINT*

"In Every Generation..."

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:21:32 GMT

Chag Sameach to those who Celebrate and a Good Weekend to those who don't!

I wrote briefly about what the meaning of Pesach is earlier this week, but I thought it was worth reiterating on the actual day of the Holiday.

The meaning of Passover is that of freedom and self-determination. It's probably the reason it's my favourite holiday, as the actual Hagaddah (the small book of the Telling of Pesach over the years and generations) tells us that every generation must behave as though it had been released from bondage.
To me that also means we must remember those still in bondage and suffering under oppression - Like the Palestinians who due to security for the holiday have had whatever was left of their freedom movement completely revoked in the West Bank, it's same old, same old in Gaza - and persecution - like the Darfurain refugees which have come into Israel escaping genocide and have been treated like infiltrating spies by virtue of them being Muslims.

In most Traditional Haggadot the verse: "שפוך חמתך על הגויים" appears, it translates as "Pour thy wrath upon the nations" - that is GD punish those who aren't Jews that don't recognise us, which is, ummm, a "teeny" bit racist and will, ahem, be replaced with a more progressive supplement I will devise by next year. We spoke a bit about what I mention above, but no enough and not at any length, so I felt it was a bit of a miss, but there is always the rest of the year to raise awareness of the goings on this little stretch of desert scape, mountain and shore.

I think this is the first year where the meaning of the holiday to me went beyond just what the holiday represented to me and my family.
A good thing by all accounts methinks.

This is probably it regarding meta-holiday musings.

Next Year

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:57:32 GMT

Just got back from the Seder at sister's in laws in the south (near Be'er Shevah).
Traffic at one a.m!
Only on Pesach and Independence day.

Didn't get to add any of the nifty thing I spoke about, but there was very interesting talk none the less.
Well, we did add Miriam's cup, but it was half-arsed so I don't really count it.
Drank a Margarita and at least five glasses of wine.
More sleepy than intoxicated now.
Today is a new day.

In every generation we must see ourselves as though we had been enslaved and are now free.
Next year in a conflict free Jerusalem.

Queen Rania Al Abdullah on Women in Arab Counties

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:47:34 GMT

Queen Rania of Jordan opened a YouTube Channel in which she wishes to open a dialouge about the stereotypes of the Arab and Muslim world.
She's a great speaker and as Queen she's a natural representative.
I recommend keeping track of this project.

It's amazing what precocious eight year old girls can do

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:47:04 GMT

When they've been forced into marriage.

Sometimes I fail to understand the logic of the world that I live in.

You know, the kind of bravery it takes for a little girl to run away from a house where she has was forced to "consummate the marriage" by her twenty-something "husband" is extraordinary.
The girl is eight.
EIGHT!
The whole idea of child brides, never mind teen brides, but Child Brides is beyond me. Isn't that institutionalized pedophilia?

The good news is the marriage was annulled, and the girl has gone to live with her family and will be returning to primary school.

Child brides make as much sense to me as "honour killings" - it's a "cultural thing" so it's okay. That's the way "they" treat women and children.
Who are we in the "West" to judge?

But see it's not the way "they" treat women and children. Women and children, in every culture, whether it's in this monolith we call the West or in "Ethnic" (I hate this word) cultures, will suffer for being women and children - especially female children.
I'll tell you how I feel the West has changed, instead of "honour killings" we have women and girls who are raped and murdered by their boyfriends, husbands or colleagues.
The majority of women who have been murdered, were murdered by their exes.
Instead of child brides we have child prostitutes.
The trafficking of women and children into sexual slavery is a pan-global phenomena.

So in the "West" there women can work, own property, choose to not marry, choose not to have children, wear pants and sneakers, not wear make-up etc.
In the "West" women can love who they want, speak out against gender based crimes, they can be doctors, lawyers, engineers, factory workers, writers, editors, actors, performers, leaders... they can go into any profession if they so choose.
I get to have more choices.
Which is a great consolation prize no doubt - this is said seriously.

My point is Relativism, as my Ethics professor said in the first lecture is "Moral Bankruptcy". If you're (editorial you) going to say "well, it's their culture, who are we to judge" - please make sure you understand the what makes a "culture", a culture and how it relates to the culture you're living in.

Here is the text to the article about the amazing little girl who got me ranting about the stupidness of moral and cultural Relativism:

Yemeni child bride gets divorce
By Rachid Sekkai
BBC Arabic.com

A Yemeni court has annulled an eight-year-old girl's marriage to a man in his 20s, after she filed for divorce.

The girl, Nojoud Mohammed Ali, took a taxi to a judge’s office on her own, after running away from her husband.

Lawyer Shatha Nasser told the BBC she heard about Nojoud by chance and instantly decided to represent her.

"Child brides are common in parts of Yemen, but this case received wider attention because it reached court," she said.

Yemen is one of the world's poorest countries.

Although it has no legal minimum age for marriage, the wife is only allowed to live with her husband once she has reached puberty.

Nojoud's unemployed father and husband were also present at the hearing.

The courtroom was packed with members of the press and human rights activists, who are using the case to highlight the need for more child protection in Yemen.

Nojoud told the court she had signed the marriage contract two-and-a-half months ago on the understanding she would stay in her parents' house until she was 18.

"But a week after signing, my mother and father forced me to go and live with him."

Marriage consummated

Her former husband, Faez Ali Thameur, told the court the marriage was consummated, but he denied Nojoud's claims that he beat her.

It is understood that one person attending the hearing has decided to repay Faez the dowry he gave the Nojoud's father before marriage.

Her father, Mohammad Ali Al-Ahdal told the court he felt obliged to marry off his daughter after receiving repeated threats from the would-be husband and his entourage.

He said was frightened because his oldest daughter had been kidnapped several years earlier and had been forced to marry her abductor.

Shatha Nasser says the judge annulled the marriage instead of granting a divorce, to stop the husband trying to reinstate the wedlock.

"We are grateful to the judge" she explains. "Had it been someone with strong traditional views, Nojoud could have been sent back home."

Instead, Nojoud is now living with her maternal uncle, Shu'ee Salem Attabi'ee.

Shu’ee told the BBC that his brother-in-law had had no control over the events.

"He is too frail to defend himself or his family" he explained.

"Nojoud is living happily with me and my eight other children. She is looking forward to going back to primary school as soon as possible."

"We're all Mad here"

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:28:33 GMT

Cognitive dissonance can easily be described as the opposite of doublethink.
It can also easily describe what is happening today in this lovely blood soaked land o'mine.

A quick news recap to ease your jonseing for Israel-Palestinian updates.
Let us begin:

In case someone missed it, a few days ago there was a skirmish on the Gaza-Israel border at the fuel station of Nahal Oz. Gaza, as we know, is low on fuel for their basic needs and having gotten nowhere with Egypt concerning shifting the economic dependency from Israel to Egypt, like Hamas hinted at after the border breech in January Israel had planned on renewing fuel supply on Sunday, but got round to doing it today.
All hell broke loose and so far there are three dead soldiers and approx. nine dead Palestinians, though some have reported twelve.

At the same time Mr Blair, Former British PM and Current Quartet Ambassador has said: "It is true that the weight of the occupation is very heavy" (understatement of the effing century!) he urges foreign investment in Palestinian economy - because like everyone knows, there's no labour like cheap labour, especially cheap labour that has no freedom of movement, no other viable economy and no other prospects.
Can't wait to see the kind of investors that come to the West Bank.

And last but not least, let us hope that the Dove does indeed overcome the Hawk, or even makes a chirp in the background.
Yep J Street has finally been launched as a counter point to AIPAC. Though obviously it doesn't say that anywhere, but everybody knows it.

Check their nifty campaign video

And in with all this going Israel is preparing to celebrate 60 years of independance with a budget so enormous 100 million NIS which is approx. 28 million US$.
Yeah.
For some reason I thought it was less despite having signed the petition against the hugeness of the budget.
It is also the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe in Arabic) which is commemorated on the 15th of May (Israel's Independence Day is celebrated according to the Hebrew Calendar on 5th of Iyar and changes over the 19 year cycle, the Gregorian date is the 14th of May).
Like me, not many are in the "Celebratory" mood.
I thankfully will be in South Africa over a portion of the month of May, hopefully I'll bypass the riots, violence and sheer insanity that will consume the country.

And thus I conclude this recap, hope your jones has lessened and that your head is not bleeding from it's repetitive meetings with the desk.

An Engineers Guide to Cats/ Yodeling Cats

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:27:24 GMT

Via warlordkittens

If it weren't 2 a.m I'd have been screaming!

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:05:16 GMT

Last night.

Half-past one in the morning.

I'm turned Frida off and walked the short distance from our lounge to my bedroom when I heared the distinct sounds of an insect knocking against things in my room.

Methinks: Oh a large moth has entered my room. I shall switch on a light in a different room so that it may leave.

As I formulate this plan in my head I enter my room and see that this moth is in fact not even related to Heterocera.

It was in fact a flying Blattaria - in English - a Cockroach.

Methinks: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THERE'S A HUGE FUCKING ROACH FLYING AROUND MY FUCKING ROOM!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

It being quite late at night I kept these thoughts to myself.

Wish was bloody useless, staring at the monstrosity as it flew around my room in order to find a good vantage point so that it could kill me in my sleep. I'm certain that was it's satanic plan as it flew in my window at a time I would have been asleep.

It took me about fifteen minutes to even return to my room - for some reason I grabbed my hand bag and was clutching it, I then discarded that for a rolled up piece of Newspaper which is a marginally better weapon against roaches.

I opened my door every few minutes to see if it flew out.
It didn't.
And me, I'm all alone, I really can't go waking up any one of the masculine gender in my house at the moment because it was two fucking a.m. in the morning.

When I next opened the door I saw that it had gone to the floor and was no longer flying around - thank GD *shudders* - so armed with a Newspaper, I grabbed one of my Dr. Martens and stood ready for the huge fucker to leave my room, which it did because it obviously smelled me *shudders again* and as it approached I pounced!

I killed the bastard, fucking smashed the life out of it.
The first roach I've killed in about four years - for some reason during my stint of boot camp, when I was 18 and wet behind the ears, I was designated critter killer with the rest of my platoon. Despite the fact that every time an insect came into our room I shrieked along with the rest of them... it's just that I could kill it while I was shrieking.

I generally don't like taking the lives of things, but roaches (and incidentally mosquitoes and flies) are fair game.
They're the ones who will inherit the Earth anyway, but as long as I'm here they can have an eco-system that doesn't include my house!

I'm still shaken up and everything that moves in my peripheral vision looks like a huge Gregor Samsa to me.

It's at these times when I hate the fear that has been culturally imprinted onto me, this fear of insects which intellectually I know can't hurt me, but scare the shit out of me! I can barely look at them, with their brownness and in the words of Cordelia Chase "their antlers".
Gah!
But I can kill them alone and that's what counts.
Right?

Pretty Neat

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:46:00 GMT

Three tests down, four to go.
Though technically two, seeing as I'm retaking two tests in the second semester, but who cares right?! I just want to get it over with.
I now have a chance to catch up on all the reading I didn't do for Uni during the semster, that is the novels and essays which are probably crucial for the second semester, which I, in a bout of uncontrollable procrastination... procrastinated upon.

Not a good idea.

On the other hand, I spent most of yesterday watching various Eddie Izzard sketches and Achmed the Dead Terrorist, who is much, funnier than Walter by the way. He also inspired me to create an icon, which shall be used at times I find things to be very, very silly (or stupid, or just plain infuriating) indeed.
To much Izzard I must say, he's rubbing of on me.

So Pesach, yeah.
End of Hebrew Slavery, freedom, eating constipation inducing food.
Lovely time of year, innit?

We'll be doing the Seder at my sister's in-laws this year, seeing as both parental units will be away. Wine and veggie kneydlach soup.
There will also be the reading of stories, singing, interpretations of said stories and song, hopefully Robbie and I can hijack the singing and get it over with as quickly as possible and that we can skip over all the songs that talk about how GD is great. I'd rather hear about how with shrewd planning and cunning three siblings managed to create such a panic on the Nile that Pharaoh thought to himself - Dude, these Jews are just not worth the effort.
'Course who else are going to be the Plebs in Egypt if not those crazy Hebrew Fuckers (who until Moses came along, were actually Henotheists) who believe in this One True GD nonsense, I mean really.

One of the things found on the Seder table is a plate on which is placed food items symbolic of the Holiday like a chicken leg or neck which symbolises the sacrifice at the Temple (of which remains only the Western Wall and a bunch of silly religious edicts which mark a Cohen as different from the rest of the Jewish people) and bitter herbs for, you know, the bitterness of our existence and all the bitching.

I'm being glib, but all these are fascinating symbols and they can all mean different things to different families, not just the Tribal meaning.
What I like about Pesach is how it's a Holiday that it's meaning is also very modern. I mean I can't think of other Holidays which is basically says "Oppression is Bad, Freedom is Good and it must be Universal".

Pretty neat.

One of the things that have yet to trickle into Israel from the Diaspora (or if it has it's hasn't even registered on the mainstream) is the presence of new Traditions, like Miriam's cup or the adding of an orange and/or olive to the Seder plate.
I'm thinking of suggesting it, maybe update Pesach a bit, make it a bit more actual.
Tradition is meant to symbolise the meanings of Holidays and if Holidays lack meaning, what are they good for then - eating and drinking into a stupor?