I was wondering if I should do a recap of 2009.

It is soon to end and thank god for that.

It would appear that 2009 was, collectively, a crap year all around the world. I suppose I should have realised it wasn't going to be good when it started with a war.

I don't know about you, but my 2009 included cancer, a war, homophobia and a death in the family. It also included a wedding and my first long-term relationship.
Not all was bad.
Just compounded with the bad stuff.

Maybe there will be more of this to come, in which case I don't know if I want to be involved in 2010.
Maybe it's the decade giving us a jolly fare-well and our Teens will see a better world.

It's been a hard year friends.
A decade I'm glad to see over.

Just before the end, The Arbeit Macht Frei sign was found. I didn't write about when it was stolen, because I had no doubt that it either never be found or would be found quickly.
Symbols are often deemed more important to find than actual perpetrators of crime.

There was outrage in Israel when the sign was stolen.
The shooter at the gay youth club hasn't been found yet, nor will he ever, I despair.
The POW/Hostage (depending who you talk to) Gilad Shalit has yet to be released along with the other Palestinian Political/Security (again, depends who you're referring to) which are used as a bargaining chip.
A piece of scrap metal bearing words in German was found and returned over the weekend.

The world fucking sucks.

Good morning.

Talk to y'all later.

*Sigh* via synechdochic:

* Gender will be a mandatory field at account creation, and it will be able to appear public on one's profile. (I can't tell if people with existing gender specification will be defaulted to "nobody can see it" or "everybody can see it".) (Subsequent changelog reading indicates that the public specificity has since been removed. It is unknown whether this is to require public specificity in the future or if it will remain private.)

* LiveJournal is removing the Unspecified option for the gender field. That's right: you get to be male or female. Period. That's it. (Source)

If this pisses you off as much as it pisses me off, go to Edit Profile and select Unspecified for your gender option. Then, go to http://www.livejournal.com/contact/?dept=feedback and politely register your displeasure. (The people who read and process Feedback are not the people who make the decisions. They are often the people who are yelling internally about the decisions.)

(This will likely take place at the next code push, which given LJ's history will be either this Thursday or next, so spread the word fast, especially to the genderqueer community. After that point, you will no longer be able to pick "Unspecified" as your gender.)

This is the letter synecdochic wrote for the feedback:
( Hi there )

Livejournal has done some bad coding shit over the past four years that I've been using - I was here for strikthrough, boldthrough, the breast feeding icon fiasco and probably more but I don't recall.
In all those instances I've seen LJ users come together and fight and WIN.
I have a Dreamwidth account, if this gender crap passes I'll not be renewing any payments to Livejournal and making it my business to monetarily support Dreamwidth.

This is being done for advertising purposes (most likely) and it keeps on confirming that ads, advertising and the whole copy-writing industry is evil.
Just my opinion of course.

This is my letter, written in my own words and inspired by the the letter posted above:
( Hello )

Sometimes I wonder if we're too frightened to see the bushfire.

Recently I watched V for Vendetta for what is possibly the 10th time and I couldn't help but think that the movie wasn't actually US-Centric, but was actually telling the story of the future of my own country.

Very allegorical, perhaps taking it a bit too far, but I read the News and I follow the trends and I know that the danger isn't the fact that Iran wants us dead (I'm quite sure that just as we scapegoat them, they scapegoat us - they have far bigger problems and so do we), it's that we are in great danger of becoming Iran.

It scares the shit out of me, because the Occupation will eventually end - it's a question of how much more blood shed it's going to take - but it will end, because it just is not sustainable and no matter how much we economically rely on keeping the Palestinian people subjugated, it's only a matter of time when that economic power will collapse.

Theocracy scares me a whole lot more than a bi-national democracy.

I mentioned the pro-natalist ideology that dominates my country; this shows itself not only as free fertility treatment for all women (single and not), but also in rewarding large families - giving automatic child benefits to large families.
Ostensibly, this is a good thing, I think poor people should get as much help as they can from the government that doesn't actually do much to make sure the economy to keep a quarter of population out of poverty.

The government, the representatives of the poorer sections of society - the Haredim (themselves a vilified and discriminated minority) - seem keen on keeping them poor and breeding and in separate education systems; the Haredi children do not study for matriculation; they study the Holy Scriptures.
Thus, the cycle of poverty, no sex-ed and breeding for G-d and Country.

In 10, 15 or 20 years there will be a Revolutionary Guard made up of these people and the National-Religious people who believe that it is their Duty under G-d to conquer the Land for the Kingdom of Israel.

I am so not kidding.

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has published it's annual Human Rights Status Report.
The report in Hebrew and in English.
Big surprise, we are not doing well.
As these rights are in fact considered privileges, more to the point they are "conditional" as Ha'aretz writes.

Some highlights from the report:

Delegitimisation of Human Rights Defenders and Activists: Decision-makers and senior officials within the Israeli government have worked to silence activists and members of social change organizations, whose messages do not correspond to their own. This included aggressive media campaigns, demonization, the diffusion of false information, and attempts to sabotage their funding. Earlier this year, for example, the IDF Spokesperson savagely attacked “Breaking the Silence,” a group which collects testimonies from soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories. In another instance among many, Interior Ministry Eli Yishai called organizations defending migrant workers’ rights a “threat to the Zionist enterprise.”

How, exactly, are we better than all the other countries in the Levant. We fit right in! I dunno what the problem is, for realz.

Increased Racism among Different Groups: A survey in the daily Haaretz reported a high level of intolerance of, and among, virtually all sub-groups in Israeli society. These include: Arabs, Israelis of Russian and Ethiopian origin, Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) and settlers. The horrifying attack on the “Barnoar” gay and lesbian youth club in Tel Aviv elicited widespread condemnation by public officials, but Web forums and talkbacks revealed deep-rooted hatred and disgust for the homosexual community among the general public.

Well, all those disenfranchised people do is complain! They're not beneficial to the society at large, of course.

Other highlights include; Freedom of Expression - "If they like what you say", Arab Citizens of Israel - "Rights, if you are loyal", The Right to Adequate Housing - If you are "one of us", The Right to Health Care - "If you can pay", Occupied Territories - "Rights, if you are Israeli" and finally, "The Deterioration of Democracy".

It's a running joke among certain factions of the Left that Israel was a Democracy for seven months. From November 1966 when the Martial Law placed on the Arab population in Israel and until the Six-Day in June 1967 in which Israel annexed Jerusalem, Sinai and Golan Heights.

I think I can say without a doubt that 2009 has been the year of utter Fail. This year has been the proof to me that the Personal is Political and just wow.
Wow.

How has your year been?

If you are an Israeli gay guy; Independence Park in Tel Aviv will resonate in you in a way that doesn't for other people.
It is a large patch of greenery on near the beach, it's benches, trees and bushes.

The first time I ever went there, I was about 15 and scared out of my mind, there are barely any street lamps and I was pretty much thought I was going to be assaulted.
Luckily I was with a bunch of friends who told me, with a bit of humour, that I would not be approached by any man in this park.

The penny dropped.

Independence Park has a huge amount of baggage when it comes to queer culture - so much that a book has been written about it.

Now the #1 "unofficial" cruising spot is being yoinked from our hands:

T.A. gay community says city trying to evict them from cruising site
[...]
Now, community members say, the Tel Aviv municipality is trying to evict them from the park - installing stronger lighting, getting rid of bushes and trees, and increasing harassment by municipal patrols.

Visitors say that for the last two months, city inspectors have been blocking them from entering areas with shrubbery.

Harassment, by the way, is nothing new.
Obviously, this is not a place for queer women to go cruising, but I know from my gay men friends who have been harassed more often than not by police, that they've often been caught "with their pants down" though they're usually just been shoved around and not arrested for indecency or something like that.
The uprooting of trees and bushes is not something I'd heard of before and I find this worrying. I've always been comforted by the fact the the majority if litter found in the park (and the University parking lot) are used condoms - safe sex is awesome you guys!

The article continues:

The new policy is divisive even within the LGBT community itself, as some of its leaders sided with city hall. Yaniv Weizmann, founder of the Proud Youth organization and a city council member, told Haaretz that the park's historic role was over.

"The community has matured," he said. "We can walk around in broad daylight in Tel Aviv. Something that was relevant when we were a persecuted and oppressed community is no longer relevant today."

Emphasis mine.

What utter, utter bullshit.
I love it how cis gay men in positions of power presume to tell other queers what it means to persecuted and oppressed now.
Especially when we've just had Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Maybe you can walk in broad daylight mister city council member - a bunch of kids who part of your Proud Youth org cannot.

Others see establishment leaders like Weizmann as traitors to the cause.

"There's a coalition of homophobic straights and lush, fat, bourgeois gays who forget where they come from," said Lior Kay, who heads Hadash's Red-Pink forum. "They forgot how they, as petrified teenagers, would sneak off to Independence Park.

"If Weizmann wants to be a representative, he should be representing all of us, not just people who stepped out of the closet and into a penthouse," he said.

I'm glad they put both "sides" in this teeny-tiny article that no one but us queers are going to read about and actually give a damn.
Most straight people will not even realise what this means.
I'll tell you what it means, it means more persecution of gay people, restricting the movement and historical accessibility of gay people and basically policing gay people's behaviour into what is believed to be for the benefit of the "general public".
'Cause gays, obviously, are NOT a part of the general public and why should they (we) even think of retaining some kind of cultural history, am I right?

Director Zohar Kaniel, who frequents the park, believes the municipality's measures will not deter people.

"I don't want to go and pay money to meet people in some club or sauna. As a cruising spot, this place predates the state itself. You have parks like this one even in the most retrograde of countries. When I see a straight couple making out I don't bother them, so why should anyone bother me?"

Emphasis mine.

Israel has been showing a great regression when it comes to tolerating sexual minorities - not that I think we've ever been that great, but really this is plain ridiculous.
Especially in Tel-Aviv which has had a bad few months when it comes to its queer citizens.

Tel Aviv municipality said, "Over the last week, we witnessed activity in the park that appears to be illegal. Law enforcement authorities were instructed to take care of that activity, to allow the entire public to enjoy the park. We should stress there's no policy of driving away the gay community, but merely maintaining the park, just like all other parks in the city."

It just so happens that, de facto, the Tel-Aviv municipality is enacting homophobic legislation.
God, why is the city I plan to live in one day - at least for a bit - deciding to suck so hard?

I'm so glad I don't need to go out and do things today.
It is miserable out there; thunder and lighting, all very very frightening.

Two things happened on yesterday's Israeli News circuit and I think it show cases the different treatment given to Jews and Palestinians.

The first thing I heard about is that Member of Knesset Mohammed Barakeh was going to be indited for assaulting a police officer during a demonstration in Bil'in.
I've been hearing about this possibility for three years now and I knew it would be just a matter of time.
I'm not keen on calling out unfair treatment, but the fact remains that witnesses have said that if Barakeh touched a police officer it was in defence, because friends... you do not want to get into it with Israeli police officers, especially not the Special Patrol Unit - basically the riot police - who have no qualms about picking people up and throwing them into a crowd - I speak as someone who cushioned someone's landing.

Point being, I've been trying to find more info about the story, because Dudes, inditing an MK for assault is no small thing.

The other News story is the arrest of one Yaakov "Jack" Teitel (an American Jew who immigrated to Israel and has been living in Shvut Rachel - a West Bank settelment - since 2000) who has been titled as The Jewish Terrorist, under his belt are, allegedly: the murder of two Palestinians (a Shepard and a taxi driver), rigging a package bomb that was aimed at and wounded a family of Messianic Jews, the attempted murder of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell (prominent Left-Wing thinker) and for committing a series of warning attacks against the police at the times of the LGBTQ Pride Parades.

He has confessed to almost all the charges and said he came to Israel in 1997 to carry out attacks on Palestinians as revenge for the terrorist attacks and suicide bombings.

Yeah. ( Click for more )

I think Antisemitism is an issue that should not be taken lightly. I feel very strongly about the fact that the history of my people is that of persecution, internment, exile and extermination.
Growing up in a home in which Jewish identity is very connected to Zionism has made it very difficult for me to unpack the baggage of post-Holocaust trauma and the privilege of being a Jewish person, born and raised in Israel.
I have no choice but to be a Zionist¹, it's what brought my family here and it's what keeps them here and I wouldn't be who I am if it weren't for it.

Israel is an idea and an ideal and like most things which are idea and ideals they do not live up to the hype.
I've been over the hype for a while now and I'm not shy about busting people's happy shiny bubbles about the disaster that is Israeli policy both inside and outside it's ill-defined borders.

The Goldstone Report, the UN fact finding mission headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, a South-African Jewish man with a history of being good at what he does, has faced a barrage of undisguised Antisemitism for writing down, black on white, that Israel (and Hamas, as people conveniently forget) committed war crimes.

The mere fact that this accusation was brought about is enough for the reactionary monstrosity that is Israeli foreign propaganda known as Hasbara - literally meaning "explanation".

When I see stories like this: Finance Minister [Yuval Steinitz]: UN backing of Goldstone report is "anti-Semitic" it drives me 'round the fucking bend.
Because in the same paper you will see a story like this: Hungarian MP: Jews want to take over the world; and I have to wonder, have us Israeli Jews in fact forgotten what Antisemitism actually is and conflate with Zionism which is a National Ideology comparable to any other in it's myth building and telling of itself?
( Read Moar! )

This is long, but also important and I'm wondering if I should cross post this in some other blog or anti-oppression website.

Footnotes
(1)Ideologically speaking, I'm not a Zionist. At all. But I have to acknowledge the fact that Zionism has privileged me and my family and I wouldn't be who I am without that ideological push and existence.
Back to text.

When some one links to an article titled The War on Science Fiction and Marvin Minsky on a website called The Spearhead and the Author's nick is Pro-male/Anti-feminist Tech; you know you're in for some fun sci-fi critique!

My first thought after reading that diatribe of misogyny, homophobia and exclusionary nostalgia, was pretty uncharitable, petty and mean.
Not even the most "one of the boys/I'm not a feminist" female-geek wouldn be able to consider this person particularly tasteful.
Seeing as he's laying out misogyny and homophobia pretty fucking thick. Without any shame and certainly without any self-reflection.
But That's what cowards do.

I'm reminded of my entry into the comic book world, there are women there (readers that is) and I gravitated to the classics (Batman, Superman, Catwoman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League - yeah, I'm a DC grrl) and to horror-fantasy (DC's Vertigo line; Sandman, Hellblazer, Fables, Lucifer etc).
This is not an odd thing, most people like more than one kind of genre in they chosen form of medium, but I definitely felt the overwhelmed by the amount of boys in this medium and how my reading of the stories being feminist (even before I could articulate why it was feminist - I was 15 when I got into comics) made me iffy about getting into discussion with other Batman fans - many of them, somehow, ignoring the fetish gear he dons in order to fight crime and the only women he's ever been interested in sexually (he doesn't do romance) have been other criminals who wear costumes.
I digress.
( This is cut for length )

Times they are a changing, and guess what, they've been "changing" and "changed" since the mid-60's, you, Pro-Male/Anti-Feminist Tech failed to get on that boat and complaining about us women and queers taking over your genre and taking your jobs in science...
This is not a tree-house club and there are no more Wendy houses.
This is a sandbox - please stop peeing in it.

ETA: I couldn't stop myself. I commented, sans a link to this blog. I don't need to make easier for them to find me.

The links are NSFW!
I repeat, the links (and possibly this entire entry) are Not Safe For Work!

Via the Ha'aretz article: Can gay porn save Israel's image? which was originally featured in The Forward: Pornographic Stimulus Plan about about Michael Lucas' project called Men of Israel, featuring... well you can guess.

I read about this project back when Michael Lucas was here in Israel and both the queer and mainstream media were hounding him a bit (for different reasons).

I have a problem with this project.
Not the pornography; honestly, so long as the people get paid and aren't coerced to do something against their will... there's not much I'm going to complain about in this context.

My problem is with Lucas' attitude regarding his project.
Allow me a quote from the article:

Lucas claims that his motivation behind “Men of Israel” was not just titillation, but also a counterbalance to lopsided portrayals of Israel in mainstream media. “It’s free PR for Israel, and it’s much better than the PR they’re getting on the news,” he said during a tour of the company’s expansive second-floor offices, with views of the New York Times building across the street. “The reality is that Israel has only one face to people on the street, and that’s the West Bank and Gaza. All people see in the media is a country of disaster. They get images of a blown-up bus.”

Is he fucking kidding?
Promoting Israel as a gay tourist spot is not the way to "counter portray" the Occupation, nor is fetishising Israeli bodies, which honestly, are already grossly fetishised.
Also, can he be more shallow regarding Israel's portrayal in the media,which yeah, is pretty shallow regardless. However, Israel does its best to present itself (unsuccessfully) as a monolith of culture and opinion.

Not to mention this gem:

“I’m not sure the vast majority of his audience know or care about his political views,” [Aaron Hicklin, editor in chief of the gay magazine Out] said.
[...]
That may change with a letter that Lucas sent on August 31 to GoGay[link added by eumelia], Israel’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Web site, excoriating gay Israelis for staying closeted. “Excusing these pitiful cowards for not coming out of the closet and accepting their façade is only hurting Israel,” he wrote. “By hiding from your reality, you are empowering intolerant disillusioned fanatics.” The idea for the letter came, he said, after Israeli men “started hitting me up on the Web site, inviting me to hook up, then said they’re not out. They’re delusional. They’re cruising this Web site, benefiting from the fights of other people. They think the gay movement has nothing to do with them, that the shooting of gay youths in Tel Aviv has nothing to do with them. What reason is there to be in the closet in Israel in 2009? It’s embarrassing.”

Emphasis Mine.

Is he fucking kidding?
Really, did he just say that in conjunction with the gay youth centre?
I have a lot of respect for sex workers and people who work towards sex-positivity, but honestly.
I'm sorta speechless here.
Israel is not some kind of Queer Paradise.
It's not.
The Tel-Aviv bubble is very much burst when it comes to that.

Israel is plenty fetishised when it comes to militarism and the use of Jewish Israeli bodies is nothing new when promoting Israeli Hasbarah.

Michael Lucas, I don't care that you're a Zionist, or that you use your ideology to fetishise Israeli Jewish men. Seriously, I do not care.
But how dare you criticise and chastise other Queer folk, not actually knowing what it is they have to do in order to cruise in a place where they feel safe, and even consider the possibility that perhaps, due to an overt act of violence against the youth in our community... they might be a bit iffy about being Loud and Proud.

Michael Lucas, you suck and not in the good way.
Get the fuck off my lawn and stop trying to present it as though the manure smells like Axa Deodorant!

N.B. This post is getting flagged isn't it?

This post discusses the prevalence of sexual assault, rape-culture and why I get annoyed about Bills that create different "standards" of rape.

Because the subject matter can be a traumatic trigger, it is ( behind a cut )

Thoughts?

*Claps Enthusiastically*

Look! See here!

There's a New US Plan calling for a Palestinian State.

A demilitarised state.

Oh, bravo! Well done! That's the ticket, because nothing says autonomy like a double standard (no, Israel will not be giving up it's planes, tanks, M-16's, cluster bombs or any other bomb).

I'm feeling the fair play here. The impression of justice and political self-actualisation.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss on Tuesday a new initiative which would see a demilitarized Palestinian state set within amended 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its shared capital with Israel, according to the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi.

The initiative, which was reportedly raised by past U.S. president Jimmy Carter, former secretary of state James Baker and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, would also have Palestinians concede on their demand for the right of return, in exchange for compensation.

Oh, did I not mention that this was the Egyptian government presuming to speak for the Palestinian Authority.
Ostensibly reiterating Israeli policy.

Yeah.

This is going to end well.

I still can't stop thinking about Saturday night.

I didn't know the people who were murdered, nor any of the wounded.

It was a youth group meeting, just a bunch of teenagers playing cards while one of the few adults they could trust was there to just... be there for them.

A friend I spoke to today feared this will just be the first of many incidences and I find that so heart breaking and it pisses me off, because I honestly thought that while things were crappy, it wasn't all full of shit.

I wasn't too keen on the anti-religious rhetoric that came out, mainly because I fear it will backfire and I honestly don't believe that all religious people are evil.

Reading this article though, makes me hope that something might actually be done to curb the power of religion in this country.
( Long quote, includes links )
I suggest you read the whole thing, that isn't even the worst.

But the more I read up on the language several Rabbis used, that religious Members of Knesset used over the years to denigrate and demean LBGT people:
Comparing us to bird flu.
That we're sick.
That we aren't legible to adopt and actually went so far as to push for legislation.
Saying that our "lifestyle" causes natural disasters - the famous earthquake comment.
That we undermine the entire Jewish religion.
That we are AIDS ridden.
That we are we are worse than beasts unfit for consumption.
That we have no souls.
That we corrupt children.
That we are the agents of autogenocide in Israeli society.

Bigotry, upon lies, based upon the twisted mindedness of religious people who have too much power and too much air-time.

Now it's our turn and fuck if we're going to be quiet.

I think I may be able to write coherently about what happened.

First of all, thanks you everyone who commented on my previous post, sent me an sms, an email, a phone call, all that.

I was safe and snug at home away from Tel-Aviv.

I didn't go to the impromptu Pride March that took place in the vicinity, nor will I be able to go to any vigil today (possibly tomorrow). I am going to go to the big demo that's going to happen in Rabin Square on Tuesday.

The number of injured rose to 15, at least 7 of them went into surgery during the night. Almost all the injured are minors (i.e. under the age of 18).
The death toll remains two, though over the night there were reports that a third had died but that turned out to be a mistake.
The murder victims are a 16 year old woman/girl and a 26 year old boy/man.

The girl (and all the other minors) went to this little underground floor which for nearly 20 years has acted as the headquarters of the LGBT Rights Association, colloquially known as The Aguda. The place has acted as a place of gathering for various queer groups, including this youth support group. There was no security guard, because this place for more than a decade, has been considered a "safe space" smack in the middle of Midtown Tel Aviv.
Talk about Queer central.

That dead man/boy acted as a councillor to these kids, many of them (if not most) closeted. This was where they came to be themselves, to vent, to get support, to be with others who are like them.
Like us.

During the months leading up to Pride (Fuck, just a month ago!) and during June Pride month, I wrote a bit about various homophobic incidences that happened over the country and one of them was a "random" would-be gay bashing in Tel Aviv, simply because two guys were kissing in the street.

There can really be no doubt that this was anything other than a homophobia motivated attack. Anyone trying to think of alternative scenarios is fooling themselves, or trying to. That little corner in the middle of the alley streets of central Tel Aviv was a known venue. Even if the little piece of shit didn't know it was going to be Teens and Young Adults there last night, the shooter knew damn well that there were going to be queer people there.

The recent entry written at the Israel Left blogging website begins like this:

Something happened in Tel-Aviv tonight, a milestone in the delicate relationship between minority and majority, left and right, and whatever other classifications you may wish to use here.

Honestly, I do not think so.
This is perhaps that most violent incident in scale, and it is overwhelming when an incident like this happens in the supposed cosmopolitan metropolis of "the only Democracy in the Middle East", however, we do not know how many queers do not report incidences of violence against them all year 'round. The statistics of this are very, very iffy. Queer people exist in every single intersecting demography. A large portion of them are closeted.
Just like these kids.

I think it is incredibly naive to believe that this is a milestone in anything. This is a flare of a disease, an acute symptom of a social disfigurement. The violence in which it was committed is alarming and may indicate that the pressure in the melting pot is reaching critical, but homophobia has been and is alive and kicking and only the incredibly clueless would thing otherwise, yes, even in liberal Tel Aviv.

Just last week [Southern!Girl] and I went to a Butch/Femme event, she was the Butch and I was the Femme and it was such a clear dyke event, that just walking in the street we both felt exposed but at the event itself in the Rogatka bar it felt so incredibly safe and good and fucking fun.
I did mention that if we were a little bit more on the South end of Tel Aviv I don't know how safe I would have felt walking down the street in my fancy dress and her in a fancy suit.

That centre is just a few kilometres South-West of where were.

I'm feeling kind of queasy.

The police's response to this was to close down the other LGBT clubs and meeting spaces because the gunman is still at large.
Seriously?
That's your immediate answer? To try and police our movements even more, especially when Queers are fucking everywhere in Tel Aviv and the majority are really not going to be "hanging out" at the community gathering centres unless there is an event.
And that's the point.
We go to the same cafe's as straight people, the same movie theatres, the same bloody streets okay!
This attack was deliberate and for our safety you're telling us you're closing down our other (what we believed) were safe spaces.

Last night I was in shock. Today I'm fucking pissed.
You can follow my Twitter which I used last night to disseminate information.

As some of you know, Israeli cell phone company Cellcom released if not one of the most offensive ads I've had the misfortune of viewing, then at the very least, one of the most cynical portrayals of the Occupation in media for a long time.

You can watch right here, via YouTube:

If you have to ask why this ad is offensive, do not be afraid to ask (I'm not being sarcastic), really do.
It may not be overly apparent for some.

The West Bank village on Bil'in, which has been demonstrating and protesting against the wall for over four years now, put together a brilliant response for this fucked up add.
This is what really happens, which the IDF returns the ball:

If you need to ask why what is portrayed in this video is fucked up, please, go read an Occupation 101 manual or something and educate yourself please.

Questions will be answered seriously, should you actually have any.

I'm no expert, I just say it as I see it and think it.

On the 15th of May, Israeli News networks got this message:
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's party wants to ban Israeli Arabs from marking the anniversary of what they term "the Catastrophe" or Nakba, when in 1948 some 700,000 Arabs lost their homes in the war that led to the establishment of the state of Israel.

The ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party said it would propose legislation next week for a ban on the practice and a jail term of up to three years for violators.

"The draft law is intended to strengthen unity in the state of Israel and to ban marking Independence Day as a day of mourning," said party spokesman Tal Nahum.

Some, a tad, a bit, of sanity remains in the Knesset - Maybe.

Yeah...

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Clinton said:
"[President Obama] wants to see a stop to settlements _ not some settlements, not outposts, not 'natural growth' exceptions," Clinton said, referring in the last case to population growth on existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank from births and from allowances for adult offspring of settlers to buy homes near their parents.

"We think it is in the best interests (of the peace process) that settlement expansion cease," Clinton added

Israel's reply, you ask?
No! Screw You!

Since the 15th there have been many a demos against the anti-Nakba bill, though I find it distressing the mainstream is saying that the Palestinian-Israelis should shut up already.
It was of course a deliberate provocation to announce the bill of the 15th of May, which is the international Nakba commemoration day.
Just like the raid on New Profile activists happened on the eve Memorial Day.

I'm feeling the Democracy.

No doubt it will come knocking on our door before long.

I used to think Martin Niemoller poem was dated, too ominous to convey the reality that I live in.
Now, I don't think it's ever been more true:
In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then... they came for me... And by that time there was no one left to speak up.

I make no apologies for quoting this over used poem.

*rubs hands*
So, what do we have here on this fair morning, after yesterday's stormy and election day!

Here's the breakdown according to the latest exist polls according to Politico.co.il with yours truly interesting notes:
Kadima - 28 mandates (23% of the vote) - Meaning Livni, at this point is to be PM. On the one hand, hooray...? Woman PM. On the other hand... woman PM with a Right wing agenda who has a history of voting against woman and minority right bills. And is likely to only turn Left-ish because Bibi will be taking all the Right wing seats under his Wing.

Likud - 27 mandated (21%) - Meaning Netanyahu is not going to let Livni get a clear victory. That fucking ass.

Yisrael Beitenu - 15 mandates (12%) - Oh my holy fuck, we're doomed, whoever ends up being PM is going to have to give Lieberman, that maniac, an actual position!

Avodah - 13 mandates (10%) - this, the party of Ben-Gurion, Golda and Rabin... how the mighty have fallen. Well, seeing as those who were mighty in it no longer had any say, I can't say I'm too surprised.

Shas - 11 mandates (9%) - the reason we went into *cough*early*cough* elections. They wedged Livni's attempt at creating a coalition and I doubt they'll be making things easy this time around as well. But at least they lost a seat this! I'm claiming a small victory over that.

Yahadut Ha'Torah - 5 mandates (4%) - another Right Wing religion party... I'm feeling the representation here.

National Union - 4 mandates (3%) - a party of former Likud and National Religious members. The other parties just didn't seem to cut it... oy.

National Religious - 3 mandates (3%) - these are the ones who ostensibly represent the Settlers interests. Though seeing as the Right bloc is fucking huge... they have a much smaller count than before.

United Arab List - Ta'al - 4 mandates (3%) - same as in the 17th Knesset. Not much to say about them. Like most of the Arab MK's they made a lot of noise, but were mostly ignored.

The Party I voted for: Hadash - 4 mandates (3%) - Yeah Baby! Extra seat in the Knesset! I'm very glad that their word got out and actually got them in! This is the only joint Jewish-Arab Party, it doesn't do tokenism and actually passed laws that were of benefit to everyone, while trying to fight discrimination and (unofficial) segregation.

Meretz - 3 mandates (3%) - what a blow. Their inconsistent message really put a stick in their wheels. Not to mention that with only three mandates, the best feminist and woman MK won't be getting back in because some upshot from the New Movement (which I mentioned not too long ago) got her seat, which is third on the list.

Balad - 3 mandates (3%) - again, no change. This Arab nationalist party is also a big noise maker and is also ignored. Israeli Arabs really have very little say in Israeli politics.

That's all folks. There are still the Soldiers, Diplomats and other Double Sealed (ballots put into double envelopes because the voters couldn't get to their registered ballot box - not the same as absentee) votes that need to counted.
Hopefully the Left gets a little more leverage. But I doubt it.
I hope this was an interesting to you as it was to me.
Probably not.

Any questions pertaining to this little Middle Eastern Banana Republic Theocracy Ethnocracy Mockery okay, okay!
Middle Eastern Democracy.

Did the title make you double-take?

Before I return to my studies I wanted to write about the fact that January has been a crappy month for my part of the world.
And for the world in general.
More precisely, the people.

I don't think I need to recount the War Frenzy that took over Israel.

I think it's important to emphasise the Antisemitic backlash that went on during that month around the world.
Demonstrating in front of Israel embassies and consulates is legitimate, necessary and if I weren't already in Israel protesting against the policies of my government, I'd be in front of an embassy myself were I not here.

Spray painting Synagogues and cemeteries with anti-Zionist messages is not legitimate. Attacking and harassing Jews and Israelis and excusing it because of a military operation that is happening, with these people not actually being a part of any of it, is not legitimate.


It's fucking racist!

This is not anti-Zionist critique. This is flat out Antisemitism. Using Israel's actions to promote an Antisemitic agenda is low, base and sickening.
And I won't have my critical agenda of my country co-opted, silenced and de-legitimised because racist assholes are using it in in order to promote hatred of me, my family, culture and history.

Fuck. That.

This is even without mentioning that the Catholic Church is not winning any friends by not at the very least admonishing the words of a Holocaust denying priest: Priest: Gas chambers were for disinfection - yes, indeed the gas chambers were indeed used for disinfection... to disinfect the Aryan race from the disease carrying, filthy, human shaped microbes... am I right?

The assault on Gaza has been used to excuse actual Antisemitic rhetoric.
To trivialise the Holocaust AND deny the unique position of the Palestinians by comparing the assault and the Occupation as being perpetrated "Jewish Nazis".
An insult to both our Houses.
This silences actual and real critique on Israel's policies.

Way back when in 2007, former Member of Knesset and former speaker of the Knesset Avrum Burg published a book under the Hebrew title Defeating Hitler, he was interviewed about it in Ha'aretz.
The book has been translated into English under the title The Holocaust is Over, We Must Rise From its Ashes.
You can read a fantastic review and analysis by Julia Glassman over at Feministe called “What is bad for the Jews is better for Zionism”.

Antisemitism is as real as any other from of racism, only Jews of certain heritage can "pass" and maybe not be directly affected by it their entire lives. It still doesn't mean that there is no "Othering" going on and that history doesn't affect how the rest of the world treats Israel as a nation of Jews.
Because we're still Jewish and there's something just not right about us.

I was going to end this with something light hearted, but I think I'll leave that for another day when I'm feeling less pissed off!

Last night Israel declared a unilateral cease fire.
Today Hamas declared a unilateral cease fire (for a week so that the IDF can withdraw).
Which, I'm surprised to say, they are.

I doubt, though, that something will last more than a week.

The last three weeks have been hellish.

Understatement, I know.

As stated, I'm not optimistic.
This has happened before.
I don't think Israel or Hamas will be ceasing fire for long.

One thing that really hasn't been spoken about at all, either in the Israeli media or International is the actual political aspect of this all.
As I'm sure some of you are aware, Israel is entering general elections next month. Just so you know, Kadimah and Avodah, according to the poles, are doing very, very well.
Yeah.
Conclusion may be drawn without much trouble.
But let me not speak treason.

The Palestinian doctor who lost three of his daughters in the the fighting - video of the interview on Israeli television - has been just one of many such stories out of Gaza, only it is one of the few that has seen full coverage in Israeli media.

In Israel three civilians were killed and 10 soldiers died in combat.

All personal tragedies are terrible and unthinkable and traumatic.

But 1,300 dead people in Gaza, over 400 of them children, most of them civilians.
Even if more Hamas combatants died in the fighting, was it really worth it?

Are we even able to comprehend the fact that each and every one of dead has a name? A family that will miss them... maybe even an entire family that dies with them (in Gaza only at this point, seeing as no Israeli family has been wiped out by rockets)?

Hoy... I'm tired.
Tomorrow is another day.

That's all folks.
At least for now.

I'm quite speechless.
Really I am.
I'm quite sure there are rules about this sort of thing!

Okay, so there is a cease-fire.
And yes, okay, It's unilateral, for all the new kids that means it is one sided. Which means that one party made a decision which does not include the opposition.
Israel, has a history of this these kinds of moves.
Suffice to say, Hamas has not signed any cease fire agreement.

At two am (my local time) the cease fire should come into effect.

But if Hamas chooses to continues to fight and fire rockets... the IDF will respond only if they are fired upon and maybe even broaden the operation.

The fighting will continue until peace is restored.

Good night folks.
For News coverage that actually makes sense and logic I leave you with:

As I sit here and finish off an assignment for tomorrow, Olmert and most likely Livni and Barak will be coming onto teevee to tell us if there will be a cease fire and what will be happening with Gaza (regarding "Security" of course) over the next week.

I dunno if I've mentioned, or if it was just so obvious... but I'm really not optimistic.

Especially when Israel is talking about a unilateral cease fire.
'Cause those worked so fucking well in the past.
Not!
No, really.
They haven't.

History not learned.
We are doomed.

I've always considered the UN to be one of those international bodies created for when the Aliens come and humanity pretends to have unified global government.

Right now, the UN Security Council is really... redundant.

The answer to the UN Gaza cease fire resolution have been:

#1 Israel says This? This is what you want us to do... screw you!. The shelling, bombing and fighting will continue until all objectives are achieved.
What these objectives are is a mystery; because so far Hamas hasn't stopped firing rockets and Gilad Shalit hasn't been liberated.

#2 Hamas says What? That's all?! screw you!. Rockets will continue to be fired, the tunnels that are destroyed will be re-dug and Hamas will continue to dis-acknowledge Israel's right to exist.
What exactly Hamas hopes to gain in this in unknown, since right now Hamas are just throwing everything they've got at the soldiers and across the borders.

What we have here... is a blood tinted pissing contest:
One of the contestants is pissing on the other.
The other meanwhile is trying mightily to keep a steady stream.
I leave to you to decide which is which.