Israel At Level Ground

The Golan Heights In Shades Of Grey

2012-01-15T14:40:00.001+02:00

Mt. Hermon on the Golan Heights. I shot the original in color, and tried for a faux HDR effect. Punched up the contrast a bit, as well. I welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement.

Western Wall: 'That Was Then, This Is Now' (exclusive photography)

2011-12-19T12:53:00.000+02:00

"That Was The, This Is Now"
(Photo: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Cool - More Israeli Stuff to Boycott!

2011-12-19T10:06:00.002+02:00

Remember the swallowable, diagnostic "PillCam?" Well, now Tel Aviv University's developing a similar, remotely-guided device that can perform surgery. From the inside of your body. Yes, like in 1969's Fantastic Voyage.

But without a tiny Donald Pleasance swimming through your guts. Ewwwww.

"We have completed building a prototype of a tiny and very sophisticated endoscopic capsule," according to Dr. Gabor Kosa, of TAU's School of Biomedical Engineering, who said the device precludes invasive surgery or a lengthy recovery period after the procedure.
The pill might also be able to be used in delicate brain surgery.

“The idea is that, during brain surgery, the tiny device could be inserted via a cannula (a narrow tube), and released. It would then make its way to the chosen lobe in the brain – something that was previously impossible,” Kosa told the Ma'ariv daily on Sunday.

Run the page through Google Translate for the rest.

B.D.S.* this, bitches: http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/317/633.html?hp=1&cat=402&loc=4

(*Boycott. Divest. Sanction. = a malevolent international movement to demonize and destroy Israel)

Sunset Serenade

2011-12-13T06:14:00.001+02:00

Sunset Serenade, a photo by Dave Bender on Flickr.

'Jerusalem Sunset Serenade'
Dave Bender (all rights reserved)

Winter sunset falls over Jerusalem, bracketed by the International Convention Center and the supporting spar of the "Bridge of Chords" for the light rail system.

Jerusalem Police: The Real Story

2011-11-18T09:31:00.001+02:00

I took a “ride-along” with Israel Police patrolman Hadi Hassan out on the beat on an average day in Jerusalem, which included a possible terrorist bombing at the central bus station, an attempted suicide in a downtown park, car theft, not to mention maneuvering through all of the above in midday traffic snarls…

Here's The IAEA Report on Iran's Nuke Program

2011-11-08T21:22:00.001+02:00

The IAEA's report on Iran's nuke program: http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/IAEA_Iran_8Nov2011.pdf

In the .pdf doc, hit Cntrl + F, and then enter "G Possible Military Dimensions," for the money quotes.

Awaiting Shalit's Arrival at Israeli Airbase

2011-10-18T10:42:00.000+02:00

Standing by at Tel Nof airbase for Shalit's arrival.

The press tent erupted in applause as soon as Shalit was seen on tv. Some reporters are tearing up from the emotional moment.

Immense tension in the air, and among the media and officials here. But there's hot coffee, good sandwiches, and a working Wifi and PA system, so things are good so far... ;-).

An IDF spokesman told me they backed off a premature report that he was already being checked within Israel at an army base. HOWEVER, Bibi, officials and Shalit family are now at Tel Nof: "I'm glad we've reached this day. You will soon get Gilad back," Netanyahu told Gilad's parents Noam and Aviva.

Bereaved Father of Palestinian Terror Bombing Victim on Shalit Prisoner Swap

2011-10-16T23:38:00.000+02:00

Audio: http://soundcloud.com/dave-bender/bereaved-father-of-palestinian

Arnold Roth, the father of 15-year-old Malki, who was killed in a terrorist bombing at a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem in August, 2001, talks with Dave Bender about the controversial and unprecedented prisoner swap with Hamas. In return for freeing IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was abducted in the summer of 2006 near Gaza, Israel is releasing Ahlam Tamimi, who was serving 16 life sentences in prison for planning and helping to execute the attack which killed 15 diners and wounded 130. 1,026 other prisoners are also to be freed to return to Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, and abroad, as part of the deal.

Bereaved Father of Palestinian Terror Bombing Victim on Shalit Prisoner Swap by Dave Bender

This Just In: Israel Dismantles: World's Problems End

2011-09-23T10:16:00.000+03:00

Reposting the link to a classic satire (...at least I think it is), since it seems to be even more timely now than when it first came out.

"My cabinet and I had long discussions about world troubles, and we concluded that our critics are right - all the troubles can be traced back to us. So, in order to resolve "We are dismantling the Nation of Israel. I'm leaving for Poland next week."these issues, we felt it would be best to extend our withdrawal beyond Gaza to include the West Bank and Israel proper."

"We are dismantling the Nation of Israel. I'm leaving for Poland next week."

Read the rest: http://betbender.blogspot.com/2006/07/this-just-in-israel-dismantles-worlds_11.html

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: IDF Tactics Aboard the Mavi Marmara

2011-09-04T17:53:00.004+03:00

In the wake of the just-released UN's Palmer report on the Mavi Marmara and rapid deterioration in bilateral relations between Israel and Turkey, you might be interested in hearing an interview I held with an American/Israeli maritime security expert right after the flotilla takeover, in order to get a professional assessment of the Israeli SEAL tactics.

The audio report also includes the voices of the IHH wannabe' martyrs, the IDF warnings, and more. Give it a listen:

Maritime Security Expert on Gaza Flotillas
http://davebrianbender.com/reporting.html

'As-the-Grad-Flies' Distances From Gaza to Israeli Cities

2011-08-21T13:41:00.004+03:00

Click to embiggen the the map.

(H-T: Jameel at The Muqata)

Israeli Pols 6 Years Ago: 'There is No Threat of Rockets from the Disengagement'

2011-08-21T11:29:00.002+03:00

Just saying. Or better yet, let them say it themselves...

What Israeli Reserve Duty Maneuvers Are Really Like

2011-08-15T21:00:00.003+03:00

Author's view from the driver's seat... (Photo: Dave Bender. All Rights Reserved)

I wrote this almost a decade ago, and still think it resonates. Comments (constructive, mind you...) welcome.
"Soaked to the skin despite a two-piece rain slicker, I try to pilot my open, windshield-less jeep through the downpour, stiff winds, and lowering clouds. With helmet and oversized driving goggles, I feel like Snoopy taking on the Red Baron - minus the doghouse.

"A recent call-up notice from my army unit once again invited me to join up with brothers - in - arms for exercises somewhere among the dramatic wadis in the sprawling southern Negev Desert.

"I was asked to drop everything I was doing at the moment, pick up an oily rifle and a heavy tan duffle bag, and spend some quality time practicing for the big one."

Read the rest.

My Kinda' Bloodthirsty Israeli Killing Machine!

2011-08-15T20:26:00.003+03:00

At the :25 mark: "No More War. No More Bloodshed" (Quoting late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin)

"His name is Dror Gomel, he’s 36 years old, has three children, lives in Kibbutz Beit Kama in the Negev, has a degree in special education, and has been drumming since he can remember.

"'I play on anything. Everywhere I go, I immediately start drumming,' says Gomel, and his fellow infantry reservists can testify."

Read the rest here.

Israeli Police Deport Two 'Flightilla' Activists to Greece (exclusive photos)

2011-07-08T10:29:00.003+03:00

Two Israeli police officers confer at the arrivals hall of Ben-Gurion International Airport early Friday morning, July 8, 2011. (Photo: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

The Israel Police ratcheted down visible security at Ben-Gurion International Airport a notch overnight Thursday, after Israel gave foreign carriers a blacklist of more than 300 suspected hostile, pro-Palestinian activists headed here on flights.

See the photos and article here:http://www.demotix.com/news/748787/israeli-police-deport-two-flightilla-activists-greece

'Dental Tourism to Israel? Ok, I'll Bite...' (exclusive video)

2011-06-19T12:22:00.006+03:00

...in which I report on Tour and Smile, for a CNC Video News feature on sectoral tourism - here, "dental tourism," to Israel:

Come See My Own Lunar Eclipse Shots!

2011-06-17T15:58:00.004+03:00

Photos: http://www.davebrianbender.com All Rights Reserved

Photos: http://www.davebrianbender.com All Rights Reserved

Photos: http://www.davebrianbender.com All Rights Reserved

Photos: http://www.davebrianbender.com All Rights Reserved

Israeli FM: Atlanta Student Not Israeli Spy

2011-06-14T21:54:00.003+03:00

By Dave Bender

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday brushed off Egyptian claims that an American-Israeli dual national arrested over the weekend on charges of espionage against Egypt was a spy, or connected to any Israeli intelligence service.

"Grapel has no connection to intelligence apparatus, not in Israel, the U.S., or Mars," Lieberman said in an interview with Army Radio's morning news program, “It's All Talk.”

Speaking with host Razi Barkai, the Foreign Minister said that Ilan Grapel, 27, “had no connection whatsoever with any intelligence service; this is a student who may be a bit odd or irresponsible.”

New York-born Grapel holds Israeli citizenship, and – according to Cairo officials – was visiting Egypt in February during the demonstrations to overthrow the Mubarak government. Grapel's family, however, hotly disputed the contention, saying that he only arrived at the beginning of May.

Read the rest here.

You Say 'Nakba,' I Say 'Naksa;' Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

2011-06-07T12:26:00.009+03:00

To all my media colleagues who take issue with my constant critique of our profession, it's because of abysmal coverage of events like "Nakba" and "Naksa" Day. You know, there's good reasons why the public largely thinks we're a bunch of media whores. Here are a few:

Simon Plosker over at Honest Reporting gives a good overview of bad news coverage of the so-called "Naksa Day" events along the frontier between Israel and Syria.
"Once again a flood of headlines present Israel as an aggressor responsible for the deaths of dozens of unarmed civilians. Was this really a peaceful protest or another Syrian-engineered attempt to breach Israel’s border? Where did the media get it right and where did it go wrong?"
Make sure to read the rest:

The following video is a warning issued by an IDF soldier to rioters approaching the Syrian-Israeli border near Majdal Shams, one which I heard broadcast live on the day in question:

Translation to English: "Stop! You are breaching an international border. We warn you not to damage security infrastructure. Whosoever attempts to violate Israel's sovereignty or security infrastructure puts himself in jeopardy. Please return to Syria."

Got that. Good, Now, here's a map of the area in question, courtesy of EoZ, who wonders, "So where was UNDOF on Sunday?":

UNDOF is the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in Syria. This is its mandate:
Maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Syria;
Supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces; and
Supervise the areas of separation and limitation, as provided in the May 1974 Agreement on Disengagement.
Here is a map showing its area of operations. I have highlighted Majdal Shams, where the riots were yesterday and on May 15th.

(Click on map to embiggen)

The map shows that the Arab rioters passed through miles of UNDOF areas patrolled by the Austrian contingent of UNDOF.

The entire UNDOF forces consist of around 1200 lightly armed peacekeepers.

So what did they do on Sunday to defuse tensions on the border?

Be sure to read the rest, and maybe you can provide an answer to his questions.

'The Big Lebowski' - live event in Jerusalem

2011-05-27T15:00:00.006+03:00

The dude abides, and now, in the holyland:

Movie buffs around the world love the anti-hero of Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 cult hit The Big Lebowski. The misadventures of the middle-aged early-1990s Los Angeles-based deadbeat, portrayed brilliantly by Jeff Bridges, and a supporting cast of companions and adversaries, has been celebrated around the world via a fan community tradition called the "Lebowski Fest," which has been hosted regularly since 2002 in locales from Kentucky to California.

Now Israel is getting its first Lebowski-styled party to celebrate the cult phenomenon, with the event's entertainment including bowling, white Russians, plenty of Credence tunes over the speakers, a costume contest and yes, a screening of the beloved movie. The party is the brainchild of Jerusalem's Eliyahu Sidikman, who says the Holy City's concentration of Lebowski fans makes holding Israel's first Lebowski Fest here a no-brainer. "There's a large Anglo population - and a lot of Israelis who are very up on it and can even quote you from the movie," he tells GoJerusalem.com.
---

"Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not Mr. Lebowski. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing."

Why, Even Norman Rockwell Drew Mohammed (photo)

2011-05-22T01:14:00.003+03:00

The satirical image below is a take on iconic American illustrator Norman Rockwell's self-portrait The issues it raises, however are deadly serious.

May 20 is the first anniversary of Everybody Draw Mohammed Day, which was conceived by Seattle illustrator Molly Norris to champion free speech but became yet another symbol of its curtailment. Professor and commentator Karen Lugo has urged Americans to remember Norris as "inspiration in our cause to never accommodate threats of retaliation for exercising our fundamental liberties."

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day serves as a critical case study of the forces that imperil Americans' ability to speak openly about Islam. Indeed, examination of its full context reveals almost all of the elements that contribute to this anti-freedom trend. In order of their appearance:

Bloodthirsty Islamism. After the April 14, 2010, episode of South Park parodied self-censorship by depicting Islam's prophet dressed in a bear costume, a radical group known as Revolution Muslim responded with thinly veiled threats cautioning the show's creators that they would "probably wind up like Theo van Gogh," the slain Dutch filmmaker.

Groveling capitulation. Comedy Central, the network that carries South Park, quickly proved the show's point. It censored the follow-up episode by placing black boxes over images of Muhammad and bleeping utterances of his name.

Islamist obfuscation. Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR played the conspiracy-to-defame-Islam card with respect to Revolution Muslim, opining that "most Muslims suspect they were set up only to make Muslims look bad." (So "phony" are these Islamists that the author of the aforementioned threats later pleaded guilty to attempting to join the jihad in Somalia.)

Fear and hesitancy. Dismayed by Comedy Central's actions, Norris created a poster, with anthropomorphic household items claiming to be true likenesses of Muhammad, to advertise a fictional event in which everyone would sketch him on May 20 to "water down the pool of targets." When the idea went viral, Norris got spooked and distanced herself from her own art, but countless websites followed through on the concept.

Government and media fecklessness. Soon after cleric Anwar al-Awlaki placed Norris on an assassination list, Seattle Weekly reported in September that "there is no more Molly" because an FBI warning had prompted her to leave her job and go into hiding — "without the government picking up the tab" for her protection. So much for defending free speech. Equally alarming, most mainstream media organs expressed little outrage over the plight of Norris, preferring instead to drop the issue down the memory hole.

In short, the events surrounding Everybody Draw Mohammed Day are a microcosm of how freedom slowly dies. Only by familiarizing ourselves with this process and comprehending its impact on real human beings can we gather the intellectual and moral resources necessary to keep others — and ultimately Western civilization itself — from sharing this cartoonist's unhappy fate. That is precisely why we must remember Molly Norris, today and every day.

Netanyahu, Obama at the White House: talking the 'talk'

2011-05-21T23:41:00.004+03:00

Tel Aviv: 'Tower of Power' (photo)

2011-05-17T10:54:00.001+03:00

Breaking: 'Jew-On-Jew' Violence Rampant at Israel's 63rd Independence Day Events (photos series)

2011-05-10T11:37:00.009+03:00

Tomorrow's NYT Headline: ' Uncontrolled Jewish Mobs go Wilding in the Streets of Jerusalem'

Oh, the humanity!

Even the elderly are not immune to the Zionist Hammers of Justice.

And yeah, well, payback's a bitch, ain't it?

Two young toughs out looking for a rumble.

Beating some Zionist sense into each other.

Snow far - snow good...

A late winter's frost. (I know - I totally slay with the funny, don't I?)

Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut!

63 Utterly Boring, Stupid, Absurd and Ugly Things About Israel

2011-05-09T23:36:00.005+03:00

Ok, I lied: Benji Lovitt rips both humor and aliya a new one for Israel's 63 Independence Day:

Soon after making aliya 5 years ago, American immigrant Benji Lovitt began compiling slightly warped, but endearing aspects of what he loves about his adopted country. Here is his fourth annual list.

7 I love that you can talk to a complete stranger for five minutes, ask if his sister is single, and not get punched in the face.

8 I love how you can talk on a first date about how many kids you want to send to the army.

9 I love that during the summer, you could hike 40 kilometers underground and somehow still end up at an ice cream truck.

10 I love that I contacted Pelephone via Twitter, and within 24 hours, they had arranged for Ori, the customer service guy, to come to my house to pitch me their deal. (By the way, if you’re ever entering a hotel for a Twitter event and security asks you what you’re there for, just lie. Nothing sounds dorkier than “Tweet-up.”)

Do read the rest.

Original nature photos from Israel: 'Dawn of the Dead (Sea)'

2011-04-22T18:08:00.001+03:00

Dawn of the Dead (Sea), a photo by Dave Bender on Flickr.

The sun peeks over the hills of Jordan, as seen from atop a rescue raft across the Dead Sea in Israel. Click the link to see the rest of the original nature series (and other) photos on my Flickr page.

Comments and critique are welcome.

Life On Mars (Israel nature photography)

2011-04-21T19:52:00.001+03:00

Life On Mars, a photo by Dave Bender on Flickr.

Hotels along the edge of the the Dead Sea on the Israel - Jordanian border - the lowest point on Earth.

The water, sky and stark mountain backdrop prompted me to try for an alien, otherworldly mood on P'shop post-editing. All Rights Reserved.

'Flying Through A Dream' (original Israel nature photography)

2011-04-21T19:50:00.003+03:00

Remnants of a salt-encrusted art installation along the edge of the the Dead Sea on the Israeli-Jordanian border, the lowest point on Earth. The water, sky and stark mountain backdrop prompted me to try for an alien, otherworldly mood in P'shop post-editing. Click the image or link for more photos.

Flying Through A Dream, a photo by Dave Bender on Flickr. All Rights Reserved.

The underwater salt reminded me of a cirrus-like cloudy sky, and the art installation object itself looked like a raft or a bed in a dream, rising off utterly still waters. So, flipping the photo helped give it a dreamlike unreality.

Click the image or link for more photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davebender/5641066504/

Jerusalem: Old City (Photo)

2011-04-13T11:16:00.002+03:00

Jerusalem Alleyway: Old City
(Dave Bender: All Rights Reserved)

Hamas Now Using Dead 'Human Shields'

2011-04-10T10:02:00.008+03:00

An Israeli Air Force drone filmed Hamas rocket crews firing missiles at Israeli territory from a graveyard somewhere in Gaza over the weekend.

Israeli Air Force pilots may actually appreciate this helpful gesture, which, a) simplifies heat-signature targeting (since the terrorists and rocket launcher are the only things there that are above ambient temperature - temporarily), and, b) greatly expedites the burial procedure of said rocketeers.

A tad militant of me, I know. Deal.

Exodus: The Social Network Version (video)

2011-04-04T13:44:00.006+03:00

Aish.com brings the funny with a spoof on The Biblical Exodus from Egypt by the Children of Israel:

''A View With A Room' Along The Ancient 'Spice Trail' (photo)

2011-03-31T07:39:00.004+02:00

'A View With A Room' (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

I shot this recently at the ancient Avdat archaeology site, south of Beersheba, Israel where archaeologists believe thousands of Nabateans operated and lived in a thriving community that served as a winery for nearby vinyards, and a "caravanseri" waystation for traders along the ancient "Spice Trail," route from Saudi Arabia and Yemen to ports along the Mediterranean coastline, among them Gaza. I tweaked the image with a Photoshop action called "Pop Ice." (Google it)

'More Koreans Than Israelis Own a Talmud'

2011-03-27T09:31:00.004+02:00

A fascinating, almost unbelievable story.

In South Korea there are close to 49 million residents, and they all learnGemara in school (www.ynet.co.il). “We tried to understand why the Jews are such geniuses and we concluded that (it is because) they study Talmud,” explained South Korea’s ambassador to Israel.
Korean Talmud (Photo courtesy of the Embassy of South Korea to Israel)
In a week of renewed terror including a bomb in Jerusalem (with 1 dead, 39 wounded, some still in critical condition) and the returning shelling to the south of Israel (with rockets now reaching the outskirts of Be’er Sheva and Ashdod), as well as a joyous announcement about the Elitzur Ramle basketball team taking the women’s EuroCup final, what’s the big deal about learning Talmud in South Korea?
“We were curious how come the Jews are so successful academically and have a much higher percentage of Nobel Prize winners in all fields… what is their secret?… one of your secrets is studying Talmud,” continued ambassador Young-Sam-Ma. There might be now more (translated) Talmud volumes in South Korean homes than in Israel! In his appearance on Israeli TV he spoke about shared values between the Jewish people and the Koreans such as the place of the family, respect for elders, education and culture. He was impressed with the fact that even in a small kibbutz there is a cultural center with on-going cultural activities.
Read the rest.

American - Israeli Blooz-Rocker Rocks Israeli Army Radio

2011-03-24T14:27:00.004+02:00

Lazer Lloyd, a veteran blues-rock guitarist and American immigrant to Israel was recently featured in a live segment aired in Israel Army Radio, "Galatz" (Army Waves).

He and the midday live music show host, Yoav Kutner (himself a veteran local radio host and music maven), are chatting in Hebrew about Lloyd's background, musical influences and the fact that he's a devout Jew, succeeding in what secular Israelis often view that their own "cultural turf."

A bit ragged and out of tune, but what. ever. In any case, good stuff. (Thanks Sandy)

Here's Lloyd from a show at a local venue:

Added bonus: the commercial for a local bank's online services is fun, too...

Israel First to Set Up Field Hospital in Japan

2011-03-21T13:27:00.004+02:00

Israeli Defense Forces performing Haiti II? Well, let's hope that whatever they can do will succeed in providing a measure of aid and relief to the Japanese people, enduring such horrible, cataclysmic disasters.

“I don’t know how or why it is that our field hospital is the first,” the ambassador said. “Maybe we moved faster. Maybe it’s because of our experience.”

Read the rest.

Interest Free Loan Funds: A Tale Of Two Families, Two Countries

2011-03-18T07:54:00.005+02:00

"While, on the face of it, Atlanta, Ga. and Jerusalem, Israel may not seem to have much in common, one thing both cities unfortunately do share is the growing burden of a tough economy since the onset of the international monetary free-fall in 2007.

"In both countries, hundreds of thousands of people have lost jobs and businesses, with many falling through the cracks in a daily struggle to pay for food, rent, bills, and then the interest on credit cards and bank overdrafts.

“'I had a company, and I grew and grew and grew, but eventually the economy slapped me in the face,'" one Jewish Atlanta-area businesswoman, who requested anonymity, told AJN.

"After seeing her firm lose client after client as the hospitality industry her business served laid off thousands of employees, she finally had no choice but to close down more than a year ago."

Read the rest.

Israeli Newspaper Halts Online Presence for Abducted Soldier

2011-03-15T12:21:00.004+02:00

Screenshot of Ma'ariv Hebrew-language daily: "We're halting operations for the sake of Gilad Shalit."

Hamas terrorists abducted Israeli Defense Forces Cpl. Gilad Shalit from an army lookout along the Israeli side of the border with Gaza Israel five years ago, and have not allowed any visits by the International Red Cross or any other humanitarian organization, in contravention of The Geneva Accords on treatment of military prisoners.

From The Jerusalem Post:

At 11:00 AM on Tuesday morning, people throughout the country stopped, observing five minutes of silence in honor of Gilad Schalit.

Rather than the customary one minute of silence, Ofer Ben Tal, one of the organizers for the campaign to free Gilad Schalit, asked the public to stop for five full minutes, one minute for the nearly five years Schalit has been held in captivity by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

RELATED:
MKs at prison: Big disparity in Schalit, Hamas conditions
PM: I hope Schalit will be released while I'm in office

"Traffic jams were observed throughout Tel Aviv, as cars stopped in the streets in Schalit's honor.

"'For the past five years, the entire nation has been united in its hearts in the hope that Gilad Schalit will be here with us, healthy and whole,' President Shimon Peres said at Tuesday's Negev Conference in Eilat."

More, including video, is here.

Jerusalem: Night Flight (Photo)

2011-03-11T08:42:00.004+02:00

'Jerusalem: Night Flight'
(Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Pillar and supporting cables of Jerusalem's Calatrava-designed "Bridge of Chords," that supports a bridge for the city's light rail trams, glow orange against a darkening sunset by dramatic lighting from below.

Israeli Firm to Give Bionic Vision to the Blind

2011-03-08T10:25:00.002+02:00

Nano-Retina, founded in 2009, aims to make a science-fiction staple, bionic vision, a la Geordi La Forge in Star Trek, a reality within the next few years.

But they want to go further by building a simpler, smaller, lighter and less invasive device.

They Cry 'Apartheid,' While Israel Fast-tracks Arabs Into High-tech

2011-03-07T14:03:00.009+02:00

"Bridge of Size" at Tel Aviv's Azrieli office towers. (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Israel's prowess as the “startup nation” is in no small part due to a relatively small, but well-trained, workforce of engineers and technicians.

However, good intentions and a development plan will get a small company only so far if it does not have sufficient personnel to design and produce the product. Israeli technology employers need substantially more people online and on the cleanroom floor.

Turns out that the call for more, and better-trained high tech personnel dovetails well with an oft-stated, long-term goal of Israeli President Shimon Peres: to better integrate Israel's Arab sector (which makes up over 20 percent of the population) into Israeli society and the Israeli job market.

Read the rest.

Libyan Rebels 'Rock the Casbah' to an Israeli Beat

2011-02-27T12:38:00.002+02:00

From The Jerusalem Post:

"Zenga Zenga," a YouTube clip, has gone viral amongst Libyan rebels in the past few days. What many of those opposing Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi don't realize is that the video, a mash-up of Gaddafi's speech and the hip-hop song "Hey Baby," is from Israel.

"The clip shows Gaddafi's speech on a balcony in Tripoli, and uses autotune to turn his words into a song. In the chorus, the Libyan dictator "sings" that he will clean Libya "inch by inch, house by house, room by room, alley by alley." It also features bikin-clad women shaking their hips in time to the music."

Name That Flower, Win Valuable Prizes!

2011-02-19T22:28:00.002+02:00

Not too shabby for a cellphoned, P'shopped and chopped foto, eh?

Egypt: Tahrir Sq., democracy, Twitter, Facebook, and Slaughter the Jews

2011-02-18T13:06:00.004+02:00

Wait, what? But I thought Tahrir Sq. was all about democracy, Twitter and Facebook, bread and jobs...

...and why is this obscene child abuse lauded throughout the Arab world?

IBM's Watson Computer Explains The Israel-Arab Dispute

2011-02-18T08:51:00.003+02:00

(HatTip: EoZ)

Mt. Hermon (photo)

2011-02-16T12:37:00.003+02:00

Click on the image for a larger version.

Finally: An Anthem For Israel & Palestine - together (musical video)

2011-02-11T09:42:00.004+02:00

It swings, it's got a hook, and by golly, it might just have peace breaking out all over.

Egyptian Revolution Blues (Musical Video)

2011-02-09T10:57:00.002+02:00

"Political satire - written while riots were still raging in Cairo, 2011." Sandy Cash

Squeeze Play

2011-02-08T20:50:00.001+02:00

Squeeze Play
Originally uploaded by Dave Bender

High school football, now in the Holy Land... (did I mention that my son's the coach of the winning team?)

Walk Like an Egyptian

2011-02-03T09:32:00.004+02:00

"Note to Egyptians from present-day Israelites: Don't damage the pyramids, we won't rebuild them for you this time - there are new subcontractors."

UFO Over Temple Mount / Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem? (update)

2011-02-01T14:26:00.009+02:00

Ok. Now I'm less stumped according to these guys, who say they've got it figured out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDWfTDn7sI4&feature=related
Comments?

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Ok, I'm stumped; anybody got any ideas (or explanations) about these three videos, all shot apparently at the same time from different angles, that purportedly show a glowing white orb over the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock?

"Two witnesses who happened to be at the Armon Hanatziv panoramic lookout over Mount Zion and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israel at 1am [Jan. 28] managed to film what might be one of the most interesting UFO clips ever captured.

"The men notice the large ball shaped UFO suspended in the night sky and begin to film. At a little after one minute into the clip the UFO descends almost to ground level directly over the Temple Mount. The craft hovers there for a short while and then flickers and shoots upwards at an incredible speed, to the shock of the witnesses."

Source: Eli Gael
www.youtube.com/eligael
Jerusalem

Here are two more versions - all shot from different angles at the same time.

What. Is. This?

(H-T: Elder of Ziyon)

Elegy For Columbia (A Meditation)

2011-02-01T08:54:00.004+02:00

(A meditation on the eighth anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster)

By Dave Bender

“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings...”

"I took it all for granted, that those giant, incredibly complex machines and their crews would always reach their goal, always safely return.

"Until February 1, 2003, when urgent news reports ripped aside the serenity, candles and prayer that marked the close of another peaceful Sabbath in Jerusalem. STS -107, Space Shuttle Columbia was lost, the radio blared, its crew killed upon reentry."

Read more.

Slow Learners to Set Sail on 'Freedom Flotilla II' to Gaza (audio)

2011-01-28T12:04:00.011+02:00

(You can listen to a radio feature of this report here)

The title of this article refers to pro-Palestinian groups that organized last May’s six-ship bid to breach Israel’s anti-armament maritime blockade of Gaza. The so-called humanitarian mission ended with nine passengers dead and dozens of other injured. Seven Israeli naval commandos were shot, stabbed, and beaten by peaceful terror-enablers on board the lead craft, the Mavi Marmara.

Now, slow learners who survived the first encounter say they plan to send more, and larger such convoys towards the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave on the upcoming first anniversary of the event.

The Hamas-affiliated Turkish IHH and the Free Gaza movement said they would send another two sea convoys in April and May, Israeli media reported on Monday.

Flotilla supporters say Israel’s blockade causes privation and starvation, is inhumane and violates international law.

However, Hamas often responds to Israel’s allowing in humanitarian aid via several monitored crossing points by issuing counter-offers promising Israel's annihilation:

...and then bombing said crossing points, cutting off the aid along with their noses.

So, after the Islamist group’s violent coup wresting power from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, and deadly shrapnel showers visited on Israeli cities by close to 10,000 Kassam rockets for more than seven years, Israel cordoned off the Strip until further notice, meaning either Hamas’ leadership learns to dance the hora, or, failing that, that their jig is up.

For those who may not remember, that six ship flotilla ferried – along with guns, knives, chains, clubs, slingshots and other humanitarian weapons – some 40 martyrdom-seeking Turkish Islamists aboard the Mavi Marmara.

Israeli intelligence officials have proven direct links between the IHH, Hamas, and al-Qaida, and video and audio clips by those aboard the last slow boat to hell showed many preparing for martyrdom when the Israelis showed up.

In the pre-dawn hours of May 31, nine of them got their wish when Israel Navy SEAL teams fast-roped from helicopters down to the decks intending to seize the craft and turn it towards Ashkelon Port.

There, Israeli officials made clear that the paltry aid aboard the other five craft, which included expired medicines, non-functioning wheelchairs, and third-hand clothes, would be transshipped to nearby Gaza by truck, after being inspected. The goods eventually reached Gaza, where even Hamas turned them down.

Poor intel by Israel’s intelligence services, however, meant that the Shayetet 13 commandos, who were packing little more than paintball guns and sidearms in expectation of peaceful protesters, rappelled down the ropes...

and straight into the waiting arms of a howling mob itching to display their humanity.

Coping with the ensuing melee and the international diplomatic, political, legal, and public-relations fallout from the raid-gone-arwy has proven to be one of Israel’s most daunting challenges in recent years, with the next chapter developing just as soon as the next ship of fools decides to anchors aweigh.

“Freedom Flotilla II,” as the organizers dubbed the tubs, is set to shovel like-minded acolytes from almost a dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada, once again into the breech. One of the leaders is Dror Feiler, a 60-year-old Sabra artist and musician who emigrated to Sweden in 1973.

Feiler is a vehement critic of the Jewish State and the entire Zionist idea.

But when not “spitting in the well he drank from,” Feiler – apparently a musician and artist – still finds time to answers to the muses: In 2004, he erected a protest art exhibit at the National Antiquities Museum in Stockholm, cleverly entitled, “My Heart Swims With Blood.” The display featured “a boat floating in a pool of red liquid with a photo of the Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat attached to the mast as if ‘forming the sail of a little toy boat on a pool of blood.’”

(Charming, no?)

Hanadi, if you may recall, murdered 21 diners and wounded 51 others at a jointly Jewish-Arab owned restaurant in Haifa that year when – after first having a sumptuous meal herself (she reportedly didn’t pay) – detonated a bomb vest she was wearing.

“Art for art’s sake,” Hanadi for Allah’s sake and all that, but, let’s go back to the flotilla.

The Turkel Commission report, released on Sunday, said Israel acted properly in its anti-weapons blockade policy against the terrorist-led enclave and in its counter-terror operation to gain control of the flotilla.

“The naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip – in view of the security circumstances and Israel’s efforts to comply with its humanitarian obligations – was legal pursuant to the rules of international law,”

former Israeli Supreme court justice Jacob Turkel, who headed the five-member panel, said of the unanimous conclusions. The blue-ribbon panel, which included two esteemed international observers, said the naval commandos acted in self-defense in using deadly force to take over the ship.

In an interview held shortly after the raid took place, I spoke with an Israeli-American maritime security and counter-terrorism expert, who shared his take on the tactics and events on and below-decks aboard the Mavi Marmara. His thoughtful conclusions in June, 2010, presaged those reached by the commission seven months later.

Ariel Siegelman, 30, heads The Draco Group, an international security firm experienced in guarding freighters and passenger ships making their way through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden, the south China Sea, and elsewhere.

Siegelman grew up in Atlanta, Ga., and, when not staving off Somali pirates, lives in Jerusalem with his wife and baby.

At first glance, Siegelman doesn’t strike you as someone who’s used to facing off against pirates and gunmen, until the soft-spoken, observant Jew shares hair-raising experiences as a professional Israeli security chief guarding passenger vessels and freighters plying treacherous waters far from his hearth and home.

You can listen to the radio feature I produced of that conversation here.

In addition to the interview itself, the report includes clips of statements from a passenger on the Mavi Marmara hoping for martyrdom (on his third try, no less; “inshallah,” as he hopefully puts it), audio of the Israeli Navy warning off one of the flotilla craft, and responses including, “shut up – go back to Auschwitz!” and, “We’re helping Arabs going against the U.S. — don’t forget 9/11, guys.”

Going by off-the-record remarks by senior Israeli officials I’ve spoken with, and testimony by senior Army officers before the Turkel Commission, when and if the next such group shows up off Gaza’s shoreline, Israel will not only not have forgotten either of those responses – having learned painful lessons from the last flotilla – it will be readying a fitting response of its own.

(A previous version of this article appears here:
http://bigjournalism.com/dbender/2011/01/26/slow-learners-to-set-sail-on-freedom-flotilla-2-to-gaza-2/)

Probe Clears Israel in Flotilla Raid (Exclusive audio report)

2011-01-23T14:49:00.008+02:00

In an exclusive interview and report from June, 2010, an American-Israeli maritime security expert told Dave Bender what an international probe proved seven months later: the naval commandos acted correctly and in self-defense aboard the Mavi Marmara, in a battle between Israel and its sworn enemies.

Listen in here: http://www.davebrianbender.com

"The naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip – in view of the security circumstances and Israel's efforts to comply with its humanitarian obligations – was legal pursuant to the rules of international law. The actions carried out by Israel on May 31, 2010, to enforce the naval blockade had the regrettable consequences of the loss of human life and physical injuries. Nonetheless, and despite the limited number of uses of force for which we could not reach a conclusion, the actions taken were found to be legal pursuant to the rules of international law."

Excerpt from the Turkel Committee report (see below video)

The Turkel Commitee Report (.pdf format):http://www.turkel-committee.gov.il/files/wordocs/8808report-eng.pdf

The Foreign Observers report (.pdf format):
http://www.turkel-committee.gov.il/files/wordocs/4229observers-eng.pdf

Stuxnet: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

2011-01-16T17:14:00.006+02:00

(Image: Trendmicro)

According to sources who spoke with the New York Times, the Stuxnet worm was tested at Israel's nuclear research facility in Dimona:

"Experts who analyzed the computer worm describe it as far more complex and ingenious than anything they had imagined."

...which about tallies with cyberterrorism experts I spoke with at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), at the Herzliya-based Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), for a feature I wrote in Nov. 2010, where I noted:
"Many scientists and online security analysts who have pored over Stuxnet's code, including industry leader Symantec, are convinced that the attack "a never-before-seen ability to take over and run complex industrial processes from afar" was the first shot in a new age of cyber-hacking and warfare."

Read more.

'The Israeli Way of War' via Michael Totten

2011-01-10T21:33:00.007+02:00

Michael Totten is such an impressive reporter and writer, and he gets to lots of places in the Middle East and writes so well and convincingly about events in the region without rhetoric or (any obvious) political slant.

Personally, I envy his talent, gumption, and, well geez', how the hell does he write so fast, and get all the quotes bang on, anyway?

In this post, he writes about the possible buildup towards a coming Israeli clash with Hizbullah in Lebanon, and about what the Israeli Defense Forces is doing to prepare:

"I’ve never been to a Hezbollah training camp, although I did ask Hezbollah officials if I could see one before they blacklisted me for “writing against the party.” They refused. Still, I’m certain they don’t have dummies representing civilians who aren’t to be touched.

"The Israelis do, though. They place mannequins on the grounds dressed in the clothes of civilians and peacekeepers as well as enemy soldiers and terrorists.
“'The other side includes both hostiles and civilians,' Lapson said, 'and the hostiles will often embed themselves among the civilians. We go over a large number of what-if scenarios. We imbue an ethical and moral backbone in all our soldiers from the very beginning, and we have humanitarian officers with our infantry troops. We take extra precautions, even when it puts our own troops in danger.'
You could argue, I suppose, that the Israelis pulled a con job on me, that they planted these civilian-clothed mannequins as part of some Soviet-style propaganda campaign, but there’s no evidence that’s what happened. Totalitarian regimes sometimes use Potemkin stage pieces and actors to fool foreign journalists. Anthony Daniels (aka Theodore Dalrymple) had just such an experience when he visited North Korea. Israel, though, is the sort of place that only behaves this way in the feverish minds of conspiracy theorists."

Read the rest, and do tip his jar so he can keep up the most excellent work, in a very tough, and sometimes terrifying region:

I can’t make a living without your support, so please consider helping me out, especially if you haven’t already.
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"Roman Wars Against Cleopatra Instigated By The Jews"

2011-01-10T11:58:00.003+02:00

Forget all you've read about Jewish/Israeli plots against the Arab world using vultures, sharks, and spiders and snakes and all the rest of the animal kingdom for that matter. That's all so "old skool." Well, new skool, actually, since it turns out that, according to Egyptian TV, we're ALSO behind this:

"Roman Wars Against Cleopatra Instigated By The Jews"

Day-um! I mean, are we good at this world control stuff, or what?

Me? I prefer this version. It got 100's of percent more truthiness per gram of matza:

Efrat: Misty Morn'

2011-01-05T12:52:00.002+02:00

Click the photo to see the larger version (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

A panoramic, chilly morning in the Judean hills at the community of Efrat, 20 minutes south of Jerusalem.

More photos here.

Israel Life: Jerusalem Cranes (photo)

2011-01-04T07:25:00.006+02:00

Jerusalem construction cranes at sunset. (Photo: Pria Bender)

Israel Life: Why Tykes Shouldn't Drink Coffee

2011-01-04T07:14:00.005+02:00

I mean, just look at those glassy eyes: forget the afternoon nap - this kid's wired for the week.

Hebrew banner: Z"HV = "Careful at crossings" (Photo: Dave Bender)

Iran: 'Harry Potter a Zionist Plot to Promote Devil Worship'

2011-01-03T21:50:00.005+02:00

"If you thought the Harry Potter series was an innocent children's fantasy story, you're wrong, Iran says; it's actually part of a 'Zionist plot.'"

But of course. (Aww geez', we are, like, just so utterly outed now... that image itself is from "Diary of an Elder of Zion.")

Read the rest.

Jerusalem Holds Day-Long War Drill

2010-11-30T16:57:00.002+02:00

By Dave Bender

Israel's National Emergency Authority (NEA) on Tuesday held a comprehensive eight-hour war drill in Jerusalem to prepare the city's residents for an all-out war with the Jewish state's adversaries.
Read the rest: http://www.davebrianbender.com

Israel: Hitchhiking Home

2010-11-21T20:54:00.018+02:00

'Efrat: Misty Morn' Dave Bender, all rights reserved (Click the photo for a panoramic version )

Not long ago, I hitchhiked my usual ride home from Jerusalem with an Efrat neighbor who was passing by the Gilo junction where everyone either catches a hitch, called a "tremp" in Hebrew, or an intercity bus - which comes by every 20 minutes or so.

It's usually much faster and often more interesting to hitch - and every time's a chance to meet someone new, learn something, often hear great music (speaking as a past radio programmer and DJ, folks in Gush Etzion and points south have awfully good musical taste) - and give someone a chance to rack up the mitzva points en route.

Dozens of riders, from teens to the elderly, regularly crowd together under the streetlamp alongside the bus bay, holding plastic shopping bags, backpacks and whatever else you'd lug along home after a day in town, at work or school.

They wait for rides to their communities, and - from firsthand experience - commonly not more that 10-15 minutes until a car or van going their way slows and shouts out the destination. The potential rider closest to the vehicle usually shouts out the destination for others who are going the same way.

Most evenings, there are two, three and sometimes even four vehicles pulling up at a time offering rides home. Amazingly, I haven't seen anyone hurt or a collision (yet...) as they clumsily merge back into the traffic lane alongside.

Guess that's just the way we roll in the Holy Land, so to speak...

After getting off a bus from in town, I stroll up to the junction and a car soon pulls up alongside.

The woman driver calls out, "Efrat;" I recognize her as a neighbor.

I get in, and a moment later a young woman walks up, carrying a infant, a car seat for the baby and a back pack.

Read that last sentence again, I'll wait...

...a slight young woman with a 1.5-mo.-old babe in arms, and baby gear, hitchhiked a ride with total strangers on a ride through the wild "West Bank," aka here, the hills of Judea.

Stop - hold that image.

She was headed to her village, Elazar, a short distance before Efrat along Rt. 60.

Our driver pulls out and we make small talk about visiting home towns overseas and family as we head off for the 14-km/9-mi drive along the two-lane road.

Our 15-min. southbound route under a brilliant full moon takes us into the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, past Bethlehem, Beit Jala and several other Palestinian Arab villages.

There have been numerous horrific shooting attacks against Jewish residents of our communities in the last several months, years, decades and more, but, on an evening like this, it somehow struck me as though we were somewhere in a would've, could've should've been small town, maybe somewhere in the rural U.S. dozens of years ago, before the idea of even a burly tough guy hitchhiking was an assumption of dangerous lunacy for either the driver or the ride.

Now think about that; hold that thought for a second.

Again, imagine the bond of trust, elemental "derech eretz" (innate decency, here), and healthy shared societal assumptions that brought together that vignette of the four of us, what it implies, and what it says about the hesed (grace), resilience and plain old decency and gumption of this society - as opposed to everything you read on the news about life here in Israel.

Now, could you envision such a scene like this anywhere else - really?

Shabbat Shalom.

'It's like a religious Pac-Man!' Totally hysterical. Made. My. Morning.

2010-11-18T07:29:00.005+02:00

"A clip from the British show "An Idiot Abroad." On this episode Karl Pilkington visits Israel."

No British boycott here... (oh, the stupid - it burns!)

Jerusalem Sunset

2010-10-08T16:51:00.001+02:00

Jerusalem Sunset
Originally uploaded by Dave Bender

On the right is the cantilever "Bridge of Chords," pillar towering over the entrance to the city. The Calatrava-designed tower is a striking architectural centerpiece of the municipality's soon-to-be-completed light rail system.

More photos embossed on calendars, posters, mugs and such, for sale (via Paypal) are here: http://cafepress.com/davebender

Western Wall at Night ( Exclusive Panorama Photo)

2010-10-05T21:24:00.004+02:00

Western Wall Plaza. Dave Bender (All Rights Reserved)
Click on photo for larger panorama.

"Folded notes of prayers, blessings and personal requests to the Almighty, pressed into the crevices of the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City. What happens when all the cracks between the Herodian -era stones are filled?

The answer is here: www.davebrianbender.com"

Exclusive Israel Photography For Sale

2010-10-05T21:16:00.000+02:00

Just a reminder for those who appreciate my photography: it's for sale here: http://www.cafepress.com/davebender

Jeff Beck Rocks Tel Aviv

2010-10-05T20:57:00.005+02:00

"Higher"

"A Day in the Life"

From Ha'aretz (which - of course - must politicize everything, ideally, to Israel's detriment):

"Beck is one of a few high-profile foreign stars who have ignored calls to boycott Israel as part of a campaign that has seen a series of acts pull the plug on plans to tour the country.

Several pro-Palestinian groups had urged Beck, who first found fame with The Yardbirds in the 1960s, to scrap the show.

“We’ve chosen to rehearse in Israel and settle there for a few days, rather than rehearse in England and get off the plane – we want to acclimatize ourselves,” Beck was quoted as saying by website Israel 21C ahead of the tour, apparently unaware of the significance of the term 'settle' in regional politics."

Hamas Releases Shalit Death-Threat Video

2010-09-20T17:48:00.013+02:00

Link: http://www.mako.co.il/news-military/security/Article-13483a90f3f2b21004.htm

The military wing of Hamas in Gaza on Monday published an online video clip purporting to show how Israeli Army captive Cpl. Gilad Shalit would be put to death if Israel does not agree to its demands for a Palestinian prisoner release.

In the video, which appear with running Hebrew commentary on Israel's Channel Two tv news site, Shalit is shown sitting at a table in a darkened room.

He is flanked by two captors. One unpacks a bag with what appear to be his belongings, including a letter to his family released earlier, and apparently orders him to write a "farewell letter." The second captor loads and cocks a Kalashnikov rifle.

The screen goes black and shots ring out, and the screen shows the words: "Is the mission over!"

The video is one in a series of psy-ops clips, intended to put pressure on Israel.

Shalit was abducted from an outpost within Israel alongside the Gaza border on June 25, 2006.

Hamas has refused to allow the Red Cross to visit Shalit.

'From Jerusalem to God - by Kotelevator'

2010-08-17T16:46:00.005+03:00

Click here for the full-sized image.

By Dave Bender JERUSALEM, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Worshipers and tourists at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest site, will soon have a new way of approaching the Lord above: an elevator.
Read more: http://www.davebrianbender.com

‎(Video) Knicks' Amar'e Stroudemire in Israel

2010-08-01T00:52:00.002+03:00

Amazing who you run into at Jerusalem's Mahane Yehuda open-air market: the Knicks' Amar'e Stroudemire: http://www.davebrianbender.com/

Israel Unwraps Major Museum Facelift (photo series)

2010-07-25T00:49:00.006+03:00

After three years and 100 million U.S. dollars, the Israel Museum, founded in 1965, is about to pull the wraps off a near-total renovation.

The project, which covered every segment of the 20-acre (some 80,937 square meters) campus, "is the largest collective philanthropic effort ever undertaken for a single cultural institution in Israel," museum officials said in a statement.

(Exclusive Audio) Gaza Flotilla: Catching the Next Wave

2010-06-24T22:54:00.003+03:00

So-called activists from Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Germany and several other countries are planning on sending waves of blockade-busting sea craft towards Gaza in coming days and weeks.

In an exclusive interview, Dave Bender speaks with an American-Israeli maritime security expert who says Israel must take a harder, clearer tack in averting a humanitarian disaster in the Hamas-led Palestinian enclave - and a possible military one on the high seas between Israel and its sworn enemies.

Listen in: http://www.davebrianbender.com

'A Terrorist's Guide to Improving Israel's Media Coverage'

2010-06-24T10:00:00.003+03:00

A wickedly delicious, satirical, Machiavellian romp through the media looking glass in A Terrorist's Guide to Improving Israel's Media Coverage:

"If Israel wants the same supportive coverage that Fatah and Hamas get, it needs to play by their rules. Press credentials would then go to those who provide positive coverage. Those reporters who want to take pictures of wall graffiti and stage photos of Muslim children throwing stones at Israeli tanks need not apply. If the New York Times or NBC News can't find anyone willing to play by those rules, the way they do in Gaza and Ramallah, then they can stay home and they won't be able to do their jobs.

"The mainstream media will be outraged, you say. There will be even more negative coverage. As if there isn't heaps of it now. And what will the negative media coverage be of? Reporters forced to stay home. Foreign correspondents who have to cover an election in Hungary, instead of eating caviar in a Jerusalem hotel and writing vicious articles about Jewish Middle Eastern refugees living in East Jerusalem.

Ha'aretz reporters will have to move to London to write biting columns in the Guardian about how racist the country they used to live in, is. Before they move on to the inevitable theater reviews and finally begin writing ad copy for insurance agencies. Oh the pathos, the pity. No one will care."

Read the rest.

'Israel Okays Plan to Raze Palestinian Squatters' Homes'

2010-06-22T15:05:00.003+03:00

By Dave Bender
The Jerusalem Municipality says it wants to move the residents temporarily during construction, and then relocate them at the same location, but in better housing. The master plan includes replacing roads, water and sewer infrastructure, adding municipal services, hotels, and an archaeological park. Palestinians are skeptical of Israel's promises and intentions. Read more.

Israel: Chillin' on a Blisterin' Day

2010-06-22T14:03:00.002+03:00

'Novartis, Israeli Startup Ink Pharma Deal'

2010-06-22T13:58:00.001+03:00

By Dave Bender
Biopharmaceutical firm NasVax has signed a deal with Swiss pharma giant Norvartis to develop new vaccines together, including influenza-fighting strains. "What's significant is that Novartis is one of the five largest vaccine companies in the world," Dr. Ronald Ellis, NasVax senior vice president and chief technical officer, tells ISRAEL21c, "and they found it attractive to work with us." Read the rest.

'Israel Eases Gaza Aid Blockade, Naval Siege Continues'

2010-06-22T13:39:00.004+03:00

By Dave Bender, Geng Xuepeng

JERUSALEM, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Monday began allowing more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, while promising continued enforcement of its naval blockade on the enclave, a spokesman with Israeli Prime Minister's office said. Read more.

Tel Aviv: Extreme Sports Are Hoppin'

2010-06-08T13:18:00.010+03:00

'Jumping for Joy' on the Tel Aviv beach (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Athletic jumpers, using stilt-like springs (so, does this qualify as an 'extreme sport?') wow the crowd, on a late afternoon alongside the Tel Aviv beach.

BREAKING: Helen Thomas Quits WH, Retires

2010-06-07T19:22:00.006+03:00

From the Huffington Post:

"Helen Thomas announced Monday that she is retiring, effective immediately," a Hearst Newspapers statement said. "Her decision came after her controversial comments about Israel and the Palestinians were captured on videotape and widely disseminated on the Internet."

Oddly enough, "doyen" (as in, 'The doyen' of the Washington press corps.") is pure Biblical Hebrew for "judge." Wonder what Helen would think of that ("Oh - cackle - the irony! It burns!").

So burn, baby, burn (in the Florida sun, in retirement, with all those Jewish bubbies and zaydies all around).

Bridge of Size: Jerusalem's Light Rail

2010-06-07T16:13:00.006+03:00

'Bridge of Size' (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

This dramatic Calatrava-designed cantilever bridge post buoys a curving cable matrix over Jerusalem's long-delayed light rail project.

This means, as long as you just look up, and it's at this sort of abstract B&W image, it's ok - otherwise it's a frikin' uglificious, soul-killing mess for residents, businesses, and private and public transportation along the route):

(Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

(Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

...and from the driver's POV:

(Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Israeli Apartheid: Proof!!!

2010-06-03T19:29:00.003+03:00

Give it up for 34-year-old Nikia Brown, an American singer on the Israeli version of American Idol:

She and her husband converted, and up and moved to Israel, and say they are very happy here.

(Geez' peeps, we have just GOT to work harder on that haterz' stuff, huh? And yeah, and that was a bait and switch headline... so sue me)

Gaza flotilla: both sides vow new confrontations

2010-06-02T10:12:00.003+03:00

By Dave Bender, Gur Salomon, Yuan Zhenyu

JERUSALEM, June 1 (Xinhua) -- A day after the Israeli commando' s deadly raid on the Gaza aid convoy, there is no sign of an end to the hype. Both Israeli officials and international activists are standing their ground and say they're preparing for the next round.

Israeli government on Tuesday began dealing with repercussions of the incident. While most of the pro-Gaza activists are still under detention, Israeli military, after strict security check, delivered several trucks of aid unloaded from the flotilla to the coastal enclave.

One-on-One with Israeli Dep. FM on Gaza Flotilla Debacle

2010-05-31T19:55:00.003+03:00

Read my one-on-one int'v with Israeli Dep. FM, Danny Ayalon on the Gaza flotilla debacle at http://www.davebrianbender.com. Video on the way...

Single Chinese Woman 'Be-moms' Orphaned Toddler for Israeli Heart Surgery

2010-05-14T17:26:00.002+03:00

By Dave Bender, Hao Fangjia
Quan Shiyi, a volunteer of Beijing, China, is caring for a one-year-and-half-old orphan suffering from a life-threatening congenital heart defect.

Gretel, her English name, is 26 years old and unmarried, and had never looked after a baby, even not changed a diaper. But all that changed in 2009 when she met Qian Baoxin at an orphanage in Beijing, where Gretel volunteered as a translator.

There, she learned the meaning of motherhood. Read the rest.

Israel Finds 2000-year-old Bridge, Aqueduct in Jerusalem

2010-05-12T13:36:00.006+03:00

Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist, Yehiel Zelinger, stands alongside a Mameluke-era bridge and aqueduct outside Jerusalem's Old City walls. Construction workers uncovered the site two-weeks ago, while laying pipe for new water lines. The structure was built on the ruins of similar water courses that brought water from springs in Bethlehem to Jerusalem's residents since antiquity. (May 11, 2010) (Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved)

By Dave Bender
JERUSALEM, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) on Tuesday announced the discovery of segments of an arched bridge and aqueduct at an excavation site outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Yehiel Zelinger, the IAA archaeologist responsible for the dig, termed the find "spectacular."

He said the bridge was originally part of an ancient aqueduct that brought water to the Temple Mount during the Second Temple period (between 536 BC and 70 AD), when an estimated number of 50,000 Jews returned from the Babylonian exile to build the Second Temple on the site of the destroyed First Temple.

Read the rest.

Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist, Yehiel Zelinger, examines an 1898 topographic map by German archaeologist Konrad Schick of the area outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Water company construction workers there uncovered a Mameluke-era bridge and aqueduct two-weeks ago. The structure was built on the ruins of similar water courses that brought water from springs in Bethlehem to Jerusalem's residents since antiquity. (May 11, 2010) (Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved)

(Video) Comedy Central: So, Can We Call it Cowardly Antisemitism now?

2010-05-11T17:46:00.017+03:00

This is beyond appalling:

Comedy Central website has published an anti-semitic game called "I.S.R.A.E.L. Attacks," in which a murderous robot called Israel is called upon to wipe out every cartoon character on the show. The short animated movie that introduces the premise of the game portrays a "Jew Producer" being "busted" for stealing cartoon characters. "I.S.R.A.E.L" is then sent out to destroy them all. (H-T: Israelinsider)

And that includes consecutively blowing up small kids as part of the action (viewable on the video clip on my site). Y'know, it's just what Jews do.

This slick, Hamas-level toxic Jew-hatred is aimed straight at small children who do not know better, while their parents ignore it, likely assuming it's just another silly online Flash video game. And what's even more galling is that it's from the same major media outlet, Comedy Central, that censored out any visual or verbal reference to Mohammed in a recent South Park episode, after receiving threats from Muslims.

But my post here isn't about or against Muslims or Islam. It's about virulent, poisonous Jew-hatred slowly welling upward into mainstream corporate American media (...and I just wonder how many Jews worked on this production, thinking it was cool and edgy, indie comedy).

Folks, keep your eyes on the ball, here: this isn't an overreaction to a silly animated cartoon for jaded kids. Cultural references like this - bizarre as they are - are also a reasonable barometer of what Jew-haters and their ilk can "get away with" injecting into the public discourse of an increasingly distracted, media-saturated populace under the rubric of "entertainment."

Little kids watch and play this game, imbibe saccharine Jew-hatred between jokes and bad animation, and then Jews and others wonder where the hate's coming from far down the road.
[screen grab appears here]

http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/game_player/index.jhtml?game=271497

Wait - I know! Howzabout' we just change the series name to "J.I.H.A.D. Attack" and let's see what happens - just for sh*ts and giggles, you know; let's see who gets death threats first.

Nahhh. On second thought, let's run with it as is, and see who screams first that we're all paranoid and obsessive Yids shutting down valid debate about Israel via important illustrative cartoon metaphors, or some such drivel.

So, again I ask: can we call it cowardly antisemitism now - and do something to stop it?

From Shanghai to Jerusalem: A Jewish Refugee Looks Back

2010-05-09T10:21:00.002+03:00

Ninety-four-year-old Sarah Ross of Jerusalem is eyewitness to the birth of two modern nations, both led by ancient peoples: China and Israel. She grew up as a Jewish refugee in Shanghai during World War II, and has lived in Israel since 1948.

Text version.

'Ani Yehudi - I Am a Jew' (music video)

2010-05-07T18:18:00.001+03:00

Single Chinese Woman Becomes Orphan's "Mom" in Israel

2010-05-07T07:44:00.004+03:00

"Gretel" (Quan Shiyi), comforts one-and-a-half-year-old Xin Bao at the pediatric ICU at Wolfson Hospital in Holon, Israel, 05/04/2010. Xin Bao is recovering from successful open-heart surgery, via the Save A Child's Heart organization. (Photo: Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved).

Single Chinese Woman Becomes Orphan's "Mom" in Israel

By Dave Bender, Hao Fangjia

Quan Shiyi, a volunteer of Beijing, China, is caring for a one-year-and-half-old orphan suffering from a life-threatening congenital heart defect.

Gretel, her English name, is 26 years old and unmarried, and had never looked after a baby, even not changed a diaper.

But all that changed in 2009 when she met Qian Baoxin at an orphanage in Beijing, where Gretel volunteered as a translator. There, she learned the meaning of motherhood.

'Fire Extinguisher Judaism'

2010-05-06T17:16:00.005+03:00

David Hazony pree-ty much nails it:

"Of course, there is nothing wrong with combating anti-Semitism or fighting the Iranian bomb ... But just as an individual’s life cannot be defined solely through his struggle for survival, isn’t there something disturbing about a Jewish identity defined principally by the constant effort to put a halt to terrible things? Welcome to fire extinguisher Judaism."

Read the rest.

One From the Heart: Israeli Docs Save a Chinese Orphan's Life

2010-05-04T15:55:00.008+03:00

"Gretel" (Quan Shiyi), the caretaker of one-and-a-half-year-old Xin Bao, comforts him at the pediatric ICU at Wolfson Hospital in Holon, Israel, 05/04/2010. Xin Bao is recovering from successful open-heart surgery, via the Save A Child's Heart organization. (Photo: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Wow. Really moving experience video interviewing a Chinese young woman and the orphaned infant she's brought to Israel for emergency congenital heart-surgery via "Save a Child's Heart" org, at Wolfson Hospital in Holon.

Gretel, as she calls herself here, is Xin Bao's court-ordered caretaker for the duration of the operation, until they both return to their home city of Beijing, hopefully soon.

"Gretel" (Quan Shiyi), cheers up one-and-a-half-year-old Xin Bao with a "chamsa," good luck charm at the pediatric ICU at Wolfson Hospital in Holon, Israel, 05/04/2010. Xin Bao is recovering from successful open-heart surgery, via the Save A Child's Heart organization. (Photo: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Also on hand in the ward and at the hospital were Palestinians patients from Gaza, Israeli Arab volunteers, an Ethiopians doc, and kids from Zanzibar and many others.

Will post moving clips, photos and story in coming days at www.davebrianbender.com

Israel and Palestinians Grapple Over Restarting Talks

2010-05-03T06:56:00.004+03:00

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu ponders his government's initiatives during its first year in office, at a press conference in Jerusalem , April 7, 2010. (Photo: Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved).

by Dave Bender

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are set in Cairo on Monday, Israelis and Palestinians are grappling over what restarting talks actually means.

"We're talking about a complex decision," Netanyahu said on Saturday night of the Arab League foreign ministers' call that day in the Egyptian capital suggesting the Palestinians renew negotiations.

However, Netanyahu cautioned, "Israel still awaits the official Palestinian announcement of their willingness to begin talks.”

Read the rest: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-05/03/c_13276185.htm

Al-Jazeera Rips Lid Off Latest Zionist Plot!

2010-04-29T08:09:00.017+03:00

Breathtakingly, head-smackingly malicious stupidity by my media "colleagues" over at al-Jazeera.

This morning's imbicilitude is all about the nefarious Zionist plot to hurt Palestinians by long red traffic lights during morning rush-hour at Jerusalem's northern French Hill junction:

View Larger Map

No, no really - they're seriously claiming this. Either that, or poor Brit brat reporter Jacky Rowland is miffed over getting to their plushy offices late at the far southern end of town (I've been at those offices - they're in the shiny office tower at Malcha mall) - so, I mean obviously the Israeli occupation's at fault.

So let's fisk (see below), shall we? Oh golly, where to begin...

The so-called "Israeli settler road" shown in the story is used by West Bank Palestinians coming into town from their cities, towns and villages, and Israelis, alike.
It has to be wider at the intersection, since it carries much more traffic throughout the day, into, and around the city center: the traffic artery links up with the two main western and northern exits from the city.
The rail line is part of the Jerusalem rail system which all Jerusalemites are "suffering" from, including traffic delays across much of the city, years-long delays, cost overuns, and gridlock - for Israeli Jew and Palestinian Muslim alike.
Oh, and the rail line workers? Palestinians. Willing to bet. Good jobs with a major construction company, bringing home the, umm, bacon, as it were to their families.
The Jerusalem Municipality, at a cost to taxpayers (note: mostly not the Palestinians embroiled in the am traffic jams) of tens of millions of dollars to improve traffic flow around town, including Palestinian towns of Beit Hanina, and Shuafat, noted in the story.
The same Palestinians in Beit Hanina and Shuafat will also have use of the rail system - whenever it's completed.
No Jerusalem traffic official is quoted about the computerized monitoring system that changes to timing to reflect the varying traffic loads throughout the day.
I used to live in the immediate area, and am familiar with the issues of traffic on and around this junction, and I say: the woman's talking unmitigated rubbish.
I could fisk more, but why bother - since this is what passes for "hard news" from here.
Sigh.

* Fisking: A point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form.^[2]

Israel, and getting ObamaCare 'Right'

2010-04-28T18:56:00.002+03:00

ObamaCare supporters and detractors please take notes; there will be a test (...or maybe several. "Oh, it's probably nothing to worry about - but let's schedule to run some tests just to be on the safe side, ok?"):

"Physicians, health-policy analysts and insurers from the US are learning from the Israeli example about how to provide universal coverage and excellent healthcare at low cost."

Photo courtesy of Chen Leopold/Flash90.

In Israel healthcare begins at birth.

Read the rest.

Jerusalem's 'Un-Holyland'

2010-04-27T18:38:00.004+03:00

"Sickness Land" (Photo: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Jerusalem's Holyland Park luxury apartment complex is under harsh legal and media scrutiny over alleged bribes paid to a string of senior Israeli figures to allow its construction.

The Hebrew letters to the left of the streetlamp had originally spelled out "Holyland." But a protester added a segment to the first letter on the right - "hay," changing it to, "chet." Now the sign says "Cholyland" - a most excellent pun, meaning "Sickness Land" - in this case, of the political and moral variety:

Those under investigation include former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky and a series of other government and business officials.

The Jerusalem Post has a great article and graphic by opponents of the project.

My Interview on the Previous 'Mohammed Cartoon Scandal'

2010-04-26T18:51:00.005+03:00

My interview with an expert in the previous "Mohammed cartoon scandal" (one in a developing series, sadly, apparently...):

Israel at 62: Fireworks!

2010-04-20T09:54:00.007+03:00

Israel at 62: Fireworks
Originally uploaded by Dave Bender

I shot these from a party held at the home of some new friends', overlooking Kfar Saba's central square.

Shot with my Samsung Omnia i910, using the "fireworks" setting, and lightly p'shopped for crop, color correction.

(Photos: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

(Photos: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

(Photos: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

(Photos: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

(Photos: Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Holocaust Remembrance Day: The 'Virtues of Memory'

2010-04-09T09:17:00.020+03:00

Detail from a sculpture at the exhibit. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Holocaust Remembrance Day: The 'Virtues of Memory'

By Dave Bender

On April 12, Holocaust Remembrance Day, a new exhibition, “Virtues of Memory: Six Decades of Holocaust Survivors’ Creativity” will open at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem.

The exhibition, “tries to explore for the first time how survivors actually remember a place we too-often said was indescribable,” according to Yehudit Shendar, who directs the center's art department and is senior art curator of Yad Vashem's Museums Division.

Virtues of Memory, “is an opportunity for all of us to try and understand what the survivors have experienced – this time, not with our ears, or with our word capacity, but rather with our eyes,” Shendar told reporters at a pre-opening exhibition.

“In my opinion, the Holocaust is one of the major characteristics of Jewishness today,” said Raul-Israel Teitelbaum, 80, a former Israeli journalist and painter. One of his paintings, a dark oil-on-canvas, “Boy at Bergen-Belsen,” is hosted at the exhibition.

“Other elements are sometimes disputed, but the Holocaust is one thing that actually crystallized the identity of Jews today. It's a part of the history, and a very hard history of the Jewish people,” Teitelbaum told reporters, standing alongside the painting.

Shen-Dar and Teitelbaum, stand beneath his painting, "Boy at Bergen-Belsen (Photo: Dave Bender)

“When I was very young, I was very busy with my daily life … with age, the memories come back,” Teitelbaum said, describing a pattern familiar to survivors, of painful memories they often tried to suppress over the intervening decades of rebuilding lives and families.

One of his horrific experiences is captured in the 67.2 x 42 cm. portrait of a gaunt young man, clad in torn blue rags and sitting on a stone in a muddy, stockaded courtyard in the camp. In the agonizing scene, his back is turned away from the viewer and his face is unseen.

“I think about an intimate moment in Bergen-Belsen. It was when we got our daily ration of bread, and all of us would try to hide it from the others there, and I was trying to show this moment,” said Teitelbaum, who now lives as a retiree in Jerusalem.

Teitelbaum was born in Kosovo, Yugoslavia in 1931, and was an only child. He was imprisoned in the hellish death camp when he was 13-years-old, along with his mother and father.

He and his mother managed to survive there until the Nazi surrendered to Allied forces. Their father did not.

Teitelbaum remained in Yugoslavia after the war, in order to finish his schooling. He then made his way to pre-state Israel, where he settled and worked as a journalist for the next 30 years at the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

“...and now I am very active to tell my story to my granddaughter and her friends,” the now silver-haired and robust Teitelbaum said, in recognition of a sobering, unavoidable fact: When he and his generation are gone, there will no longer be anyone left alive to pass the memory of the horror, and the vision of the hope, on to the next generation.

Teitelbaum's memories and artistic vision are an integral theme of this year’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day events in Israel.

The artwork of 300 survivors, including paintings, wood and metal sculpture and mixed-media are the first time such a show has ever been attempted.

(Photo: Dave Bender)

“We are so accustomed to think about the Holocaust in black-and-white,” Shen-Dar told reporters viewing the vivid images and sculpture arrayed throughout the expansive hall, “but the 'black-and-white' was the camera of the perpetrator – not what the victims have seen.”

But, “colors don't mean that something is happy,” Shen-Dar cautions.

“It just means that it was real. It was not on another planet, it was right here on our planet with greens and reds and blues, that we all know well.” That awful reality is something Shen-Dar and her colleagues at Yad Vashem are struggling hard to memorialize, and tell the world. They are in a race against age, and in the face of Holocaust denial, and renewed outbreaks of antisemitism worldwide.

Shen-Dar and her team assembled the hundreds of artifacts out of the collection of thousands of object d' art stored at Yad Vashem in the six decades since World War II.

“No, no. They were certainly human beings. Uniforms, boots,” writes Israeli poet, Dan Pagis, in one of many vivid quotes about the Holocaust experience inscribed over the sections of the exhibition.

Shen-Dar says that quote is prophetic, since many of the images feature the same Nazi uniform elements again and again.

“That is to tell us that the perpetrators were not some outside creatures. They were real people,” Shen-Dar reminds the reporters.

“Unfortunately, too many times we say that they don't belong to the human race,” she says of the Nazis. That the death and labor camp tormentors, “are not part of what we call, 'humanity.' But they were.”

“They were human beings, some of them very well educated,” Shen-Dar said. “And they did what they did with a clear mind and an ideology, and thus, we should not spare them by saying 'they were beasts.'”

Finally, according to Shen-Dar, the exhibit does not detract from the visceral experience the survivors went through, or allow an gauzy artistic aesthetic to lessen the elemental impact of the images:

“I would say the reality of these works of art is quite blunt, and they spare nothing” she says of the works of art. “This tells you that they believed that the reality needs to be seen as is. Not beautified, not adorned, and not spared from us.”

“I believe that part of the power of this exhibition,” Shen-Dar concludes, “is to allow this voice to take the stage.”

Since Israel officially follows the Hebrew lunar-based calendar, the opening ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day begins Sunday evening, and concludes Monday evening.

Israel's President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are scheduled to address the ceremony, and Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council and himself a survivor will kindle the Memorial Torch.

The exhibition will be on display for a year.

(An edited version of this story appears in China's People's Daily Online)

Netanyahu Touts 1st Year in Office

2010-04-07T22:42:00.007+03:00

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu points to a PowerPoint presentation at a press conference held at the Prime Minister's Office, Apr, 7, 2010. Netanyahu touted his government's initiatives during its first year in office, during the 32nd Knesset session. All Rights Reserved, Dave Bender, 2010.

By Dave Bender

"'The whole world is not against us,' Israel's embattled prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday at a press conference touting a list of accomplishments in his government's first year in office.

"This, despite a bloody deadlock with Palestinians, nuclear trouble brewing with Teheran, and a gnawing diplomatic spat with Washington."

The rest of this article is posted here: http://www.davebrianbender.com

Video: 'Jerusalem Blues' guitarist: Just Riff It

2010-03-11T23:17:00.007+02:00

Natan Zohar is about the best electric street busker, riffing over hip backup, through Hendrixy blues changes and freeform jazz on a blonde Strat, on a windy, freezing afternoon in Jerusalem, well, that I've ever come across... And the tiny dancer at 2:24 - pure delight. Enjoy! (Shot on my Omnia cameraphone - apologies for the audio)

Israel At Level Ground

The Golan Heights In Shades Of Grey

Western Wall: 'That Was Then, This Is Now' (exclusive photography)

Cool - More Israeli Stuff to Boycott!

Sunset Serenade

Jerusalem Police: The Real Story

Here's The IAEA Report on Iran's Nuke Program

Awaiting Shalit's Arrival at Israeli Airbase

Bereaved Father of Palestinian Terror Bombing Victim on Shalit Prisoner Swap

This Just In: Israel Dismantles: World's Problems End

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: IDF Tactics Aboard the Mavi Marmara

'As-the-Grad-Flies' Distances From Gaza to Israeli Cities

Israeli Pols 6 Years Ago: 'There is No Threat of Rockets from the Disengagement'

What Israeli Reserve Duty Maneuvers Are Really Like

My Kinda' Bloodthirsty Israeli Killing Machine!

Israeli Police Deport Two 'Flightilla' Activists to Greece (exclusive photos)

'Dental Tourism to Israel? Ok, I'll Bite...' (exclusive video)

Come See My Own Lunar Eclipse Shots!

Israeli FM: Atlanta Student Not Israeli Spy

You Say 'Nakba,' I Say 'Naksa;' Let's Call The Whole Thing Off

'The Big Lebowski' - live event in Jerusalem

Why, Even Norman Rockwell Drew Mohammed (photo)

Netanyahu, Obama at the White House: talking the 'talk'

Tel Aviv: 'Tower of Power' (photo)

Breaking: 'Jew-On-Jew' Violence Rampant at Israel's 63rd Independence Day Events (photos series)

63 Utterly Boring, Stupid, Absurd and Ugly Things About Israel

Soon after making aliya 5 years ago, American immigrant Benji Lovitt began compiling slightly warped, but endearing aspects of what he loves about his adopted country. Here is his fourth annual list.

Original nature photos from Israel: 'Dawn of the Dead (Sea)'

Life On Mars (Israel nature photography)

'Flying Through A Dream' (original Israel nature photography)

Jerusalem: Old City (Photo)

Hamas Now Using Dead 'Human Shields'

Exodus: The Social Network Version (video)

''A View With A Room' Along The Ancient 'Spice Trail' (photo)

'More Koreans Than Israelis Own a Talmud'

American - Israeli Blooz-Rocker Rocks Israeli Army Radio

Israel First to Set Up Field Hospital in Japan

Interest Free Loan Funds: A Tale Of Two Families, Two Countries

Israeli Newspaper Halts Online Presence for Abducted Soldier

Jerusalem: Night Flight (Photo)

Israeli Firm to Give Bionic Vision to the Blind

They Cry 'Apartheid,' While Israel Fast-tracks Arabs Into High-tech

"Bridge of Size" at Tel Aviv's Azrieli office towers. (Dave Bender, All Rights Reserved)

Libyan Rebels 'Rock the Casbah' to an Israeli Beat

Name That Flower, Win Valuable Prizes!

Egypt: Tahrir Sq., democracy, Twitter, Facebook, and Slaughter the Jews

IBM's Watson Computer Explains The Israel-Arab Dispute

Mt. Hermon (photo)

Finally: An Anthem For Israel & Palestine - together (musical video)

Egyptian Revolution Blues (Musical Video)

Squeeze Play

Walk Like an Egyptian

UFO Over Temple Mount / Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem? (update)

Elegy For Columbia (A Meditation)

Slow Learners to Set Sail on 'Freedom Flotilla II' to Gaza (audio)

Probe Clears Israel in Flotilla Raid (Exclusive audio report)

Stuxnet: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

'The Israeli Way of War' via Michael Totten

"Roman Wars Against Cleopatra Instigated By The Jews"

Efrat: Misty Morn'

Israel Life: Jerusalem Cranes (photo)

Israel Life: Why Tykes Shouldn't Drink Coffee

Iran: 'Harry Potter a Zionist Plot to Promote Devil Worship'

Jerusalem Holds Day-Long War Drill

By Dave BenderIsrael's National Emergency Authority (NEA) on Tuesday held a comprehensive eight-hour war drill in Jerusalem to prepare the city's residents for an all-out war with the Jewish state's adversaries.Read the rest: http://www.davebrianbender.com

Israel: Hitchhiking Home

'It's like a religious Pac-Man!' Totally hysterical. Made. My. Morning.

Jerusalem Sunset

Western Wall at Night ( Exclusive Panorama Photo)

Exclusive Israel Photography For Sale

Jeff Beck Rocks Tel Aviv

Hamas Releases Shalit Death-Threat Video

'From Jerusalem to God - by Kotelevator'

‎(Video) Knicks' Amar'e Stroudemire in Israel

Israel Unwraps Major Museum Facelift (photo series)

(Exclusive Audio) Gaza Flotilla: Catching the Next Wave

'A Terrorist's Guide to Improving Israel's Media Coverage'

'Israel Okays Plan to Raze Palestinian Squatters' Homes'

Israel: Chillin' on a Blisterin' Day

'Novartis, Israeli Startup Ink Pharma Deal'

By Dave Bender

Israel's National Emergency Authority (NEA) on Tuesday held a comprehensive eight-hour war drill in Jerusalem to prepare the city's residents for an all-out war with the Jewish state's adversaries.
Read the rest: http://www.davebrianbender.com