A Joyous Sound: Hava Nagila, Texas Style

A Canadian friend, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, married to a New Zealander, who now lives in the United States, sent me this video. She describes it as “a hoot, hootenanny style.” The email she forwarded to me with the link included this anonymous comment: WE CAN CELEBRATE EACH OTHER’S CULTURE, EACH OTHER’S ACHIEVEMENT, NO [...]

Sulkin, Soccer & Cyrus: Let the Games Begin

British actor Gregg Sulkin, 17, is not only the teen-dream boyfriend of superstar Miley Cyrus, aka Hannah Montana; he is also a terrific soccer player. He is in Israel competing in the 2009 Maccabiah Games as a member of the British soccer team. This is Gregg Sulkin’s second trip to Israel. His first trip to [...]

Madonna’s Second Date in Israel

Madonna will resume her international Sweet & Sticky Tour in London on the 4th of July. The tour will end in Israel. After the September 1, 2009, concert in Tel Aviv quickly sold out, a second performance date was added for September 2, 2009. It has been 16 years since the pop diva last performed [...]

Israeli or Palestinian?

Do you know the difference between an Israeli and a Palestinian? That’s not a joke and there is no punch line. It’s a question raised by Swiss photographer Olivier Suter in his project Enemies. Last March while on a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Mr. Suter asked Palestinians for photographs that he could [...]

Stupid Cellphone Tricks

TrixCell, established in 2007, is the first company to introduce the concept of mobile magic. The company was founded by its Chief Executive Officer, Shlomi Grandes, who is a lawyer and media producer, and Menny Lindenfeld, TrixCell’s Chief Creative Officer, who is an artist, graphic designer and magician. The company develops magic trick applications for [...]

I Am A Jerusalemite

Stanley Goldfoot, the founder and editor of The Times of Israel, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. At age 18, he packed a bag and moved to Palestine. The British police sent him back to South Africa, where he was drafted into the army. Mr. Goldfoot returned to Tel Aviv. He worked as a journalist [...]

Cannes Snubs Ken Loach

The headline of a May 25, 2009, BBC News report about the Cannes Film Festival is: Violence dominates at Cannes. The article makes note that the award-winning films this year graphically portray rape, torture and gore. In fact Charlotte Gainsbourg won the prize for best actress for her role in Danish director Lars von Trier’s [...]

Edinburgh Film Festival Snubs Israeli Grant

A £300 grant from the Israeli embassy was returned by the Endinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) in response to pressure from prominent anti-Israel British film director Ken Loach, who urged “all who might consider visiting the festival to show their support for the Palestinian nation and stay away.” The grant was to be used to [...]

After AIPAC: Rep. Wally Herger’s Floor Speech on Iran’s Nukes

The 2009 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC was an amazing event. The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial, the White House, the Smithsonian Museums, Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, and the National Archives are all minutes away from the convention center. But most of the excitement was within the hall, as we [...]

Israel Recognizes the Righteous: Wilm Hosenfeld

The 2002 film The Pianist was nominated for seven Academy Awards and earned three, the Oscar for Best Direct (Roman Polanski), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Adrien Brody) and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood). The movie tells the true story of the survival of pianist and composer Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew, beginning [...]