Expategghead

Israeli legislation raises issue of loyalty - Los Angeles Times

2009-05-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

This won't pass the Knesset. At least I hope it won't. The recent smoke screen currently being bellowed out by the Government is another twist in the play to avoid hard decisions by confusing everybody. Bibi seems to have Iran firmly in mind right now and doesn't want distractions from anyone. Beside, outlawing the acknowledgment of the Nakba would mean building very big jails.

Sir Winston Peres - Gush Shalom - Israeli Peace Bloc

2009-05-10T01:21:00.000-07:00

I normally don;t feature or quote Uri Avnery who I met once. You can read the original any time you like. Here I go though.
Like a traveling salesman offering a counterfeit product, Peres is now peddling the merchandise called Binyamin Netanyahu. He presents to the world a Netanyahu we have never known: a peacemaker, the epitome of truthfulness, a man with no other ambition than to go down in history as the founder of the State of Palestine. A Righteous Jew to outshine all Righteous Gentiles.

The use of the Shoah to describe current events is anathema to anyone who has read history. Unpleasant. History does not repeat itself but historians do. I you try and fit a model of the past into the present, save it for personal relationships, not world wide global changes. Iran was a good friend to Israel once and might be in the future. Germany has already toggled between both mind sets in the past and may well do in the future. Israel must be firmly fixed on the ISraeli-Palestinian problem and Iran can wait... at least for a while.

UK publishes 'persona non grata' list - Israel News, Ynetnews

2009-05-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

I am so intrigued. Britain has published a list of persona non grata individuals for the first time. Just sniff the quality, savour the richness of humanity's weird bits, taste the rather smelly sock odour that hangs around it all. Lots of people have been prevented from entering the UK at various times in our long and distant past and even more have been given food and lodging under some restrictions. I note that a USA talk show host called Michael Savage is not welcome on the right side of the pond or Samir Kuntar or Mike Guzovsky who I have never heard of. On the plus side, Karl Marx was allowed to stay as long as he liked as were various other people over the ages that some sections of society might think objectionable. Stupid idea and whilst countries should retain the right to quietly refuse entry to some individuals it should be done very quietly. Like my now wife for example.

Independence Day

2009-04-30T05:10:00.000-07:00

The Eggheads were in Bet Oren for Independence day. No fireworks, no flags and no bloody barbecues thankfully. The link above explains the event.

Israel

2009-04-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

The flags are coming out again. The kids are selling ate the crossroads and people are decorating their houses. I resist as much as I can. I object to the large number of car flags that are supposed to represent patriotism which only end up in a landfill. I never flew the flag in England and I only did it here at the last World Cup when England was predictably beaten by Argentina. Both my flags were gently confiscated by admiring friends which has given me an idea for the next World Cup. Watch this space.

Man arrested for having sex while driving drunk down Petah Tikvah highway - Haaretz - Israel News

2009-04-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm impressed. I managed to all those three things but never all at once. My old teachers report comes to mind. 'Must try harder'. No... I'll pass thanks.

Birds and Israel

2009-04-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

One of the wonderful advantages of living where we do in the North are birds. The Eggheads spent an energetic morning making Chesek liqueur and planting out several flowers and plants. Mrs E. has gone off to one of her many meetings and I was relaxing considering cleaning the hubcaps of my now beloved Mr Egg, the Ford Orion I now have.
From my viewpoint in the garden I could see a woodpecker doing it's best to drill a nest in the telegraph pole holding up our telecoms connection. It seems a bit puzzled but works hard at the job. The doves are busy , mainly defecating on the workbench and pattering on the tin roof on shed number 1. We have an unidentified bird setting up in the Bougainvillea which makes sense as the thorns keep the local cat population away. I refer to it as the 'weed' and when Mrs E. is away for a suitable time will receive my full concentration together with all the herbicides I can muster and a flamethrower if all else fails.
The smaller birds are pigging out on the now ever ripening Cheseks and one crested warbler visits the Egghead bird table every day complaining about the quality of the food provided.
Every day is good if you learn something. My lesson learnt is don't sample Chesek liqueur while it's simmering. It needs to be bottled and kept for those special occasions when you want your guests to stagger away feeling happy but unwell.

Ha'Aretz

2009-04-24T23:45:00.000-07:00

For those who were confused by the headline on page 3 of the Thursday dead tree edition of Ha'Aretz, the word 'docent' means curator to right pondians. The article is interesting in itself of course. This is the first time in many a year I had to resort to a dictionary.

Upper Nazareth city councillor: May the Arabs disappear - Haaretz - Israel News

2009-04-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

This is only one person. For the majority view, read this.

Being helpful

2009-04-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

The Eggheads did their latest bit for Israeli-Palestinian relations by picking up a young mother and her baby from the Jenin crossing point last week and dropping them off back today. The baby is poorly, only 10 months and 5 kilos but much better. I was amazed at Mrs E's ability to blag them past the crossing point , ignoring such trivialities such as paperwork, security check and the like. No, we drove straight up to the main gate, explained and 90 seconds later the gate opened.
Anyway, we now have a standing invite to Jenin which we will take up. Might be interesting.