Category Archives: Falafel and more

Anything related to Israel or being Jewish.

Falafel and more

Israel vs starving photoshopped models

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A man walks past an advertisement displayed on a main street in Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 19, 2012.

Readers may remember (more likely not) my posture towards the use of Photoshop to alter the look of models.

Now Israel has passed a law that:

  1. Bans models with a BMI of 18.5 or less.
  2. Requires that agencies tell their audience if they’ve digitally altered pictures to make models look thinner.

Thankfully my current BMI leaves the door open for me to work as a model in Israel, shall the need arise (my current face and body are a different story).

I’m also glad this gives me an excuse to post an image of a bunch of Israeli models in bikini on my blog.

Around the world, Falafel and more

Eating in Israel

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I recently came back from a two week trip to Israel. People are asking me what I did over there. In one word: eat.

I even made a list of the things I wanted to eat, and got to all of them except for one. Highlights of what I ate in pictorial form follow. It’s long so read more to see all. No explanation of what each thing is, so feel free to use Google.

For those who don’t care about what I eat and instead want to see what I do, you can also check the trip album in The MKX® Photo Central at no additional cost.

Shakshuka at... who else: Dr. Shakshuka (Jaffa)
Only once in the two weeks I was there I was able to eat schwarma, and only a few hours before flying.

Continue reading Eating in Israel →

Falafel and more

Is the third time the charm?

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2011 was not a good year for me as far as respect for my private property is concerned.

First, in April, my house got broken into (in Texas). This was a rough one.
Then, in November, my car got broken into (in California).
Now, with only a few hours left in the year, my iPad got stolen (in Israel near Jerusalem).

On this undated photo taken earlier today, I am shown telling two Israeli police officers about the wonders of "Find my iPhone"

Hopefully this is the end of my streak. Shall the iPad popup on a WiFi network, I will get its location courtesy of iCloud’s Find my iPhone feature. Not that it will matter…

Falafel and more

The logic of the terrorist

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A few days ago:

The group claimed responsibility for the rocket salvos, which came in response to the killing of five of its operatives who were gunned down by the IAF earlier on Saturday as they prepared to launch a Grad rocket at Israel. (link)

Which can also be read as:

We are shooting at you because you shot at us in order to prevent us from shooting at you.

Hit the link if the video embedded below does not work for you.

Falafel and more

Paul Martin

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Last Thursday I went to what was the most interesting talk I’ve heard in a long time.

Paul Martin is a British journalist who has the “honor” of being the first (and still only) foreign journalist ever arrested by Hamas.

He narrated his story:

He had been working on a documentary about Mohammed Abu Muaileq, a Palestinian man who used to be part of the Abu Rish Brigades and would launch rockets against Israeli civilian populations, and later changed his mind about these tactics after befriending an Israeli over the Internet.

Abu Muaileq was accused of collaborating with Israel (death sentence) and asked Martin to testify. Martin flew to Gaza and was arrested on the spot. Obviously he made it out, but this was all but uncertain to him at the time.

He tried to show footage of his in-work documentary but there were several techinalc glitches (the ancient Windows XP laptop playing the clips ran out of battery). In spite of this, the talk was fascinating. I’m really looking forward to seeing a full documentary or reading a book once it is finished.

Falafel and more

See Hamas for what it is

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The ADL, the nation’s premier civil rights organization is running ads in The New York Times, The Washington Post and the International Herald Tribune calling attention to what Hamas is.

This is in light of the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. The PA has declared that they will unilaterally seek statehood recognition at the UN on September. Hamas, who rejects Israel’s right to exist and is openly Anti-semitic (among many other things) would become part of the government of such state.

Check out the ads by clicking on the image below and feel free to spread them.

Falafel and more, Film Critic, Keep Austin Weird

Austin Jewish Film Festival

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Two movies I saw at the recent Austin Jewish Film Festival, both of them I recommend.

First, “Cohen On The Bridge”. Director Andrew Weinrib had unprecedented access to surviving hostages and commandos from Operation Entebbe. He assembled a fast paced 20 minute animated short with interviews in the background about the operation. The visuals are stunning and the story riveting. You can’t even blink. It was followed by a Q&A with the director that was equally interesting.

Director of Cohen on the Bridge Andrew Weinrib at a Q&A during the Austin Jewish Film Festival.

You can see the trailer here, but you may need Facebook access. This movie you must see. And a full length film is in the works.

Second, I saw “This is Sodom”, a movie by  the guys from Eretz Nehederet. This dumb comedy was a surprise record breaker in Israel and is actually really funny. Trailer below:

Austin nights, Falafel and more

Momentum

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I attended the Momentum dinner a week ago. Hosted by Ken Herman, columnist for the Austin-American Statesman and with featured speaker Dan Senor, co-author of Start-up Nation: The History of Israel’s Economic Miracle. Oh, and kosher BBQ by Kogan.

Mr. Senor’s talk was not about the book. It was about the recent developments in the Middle East – the toppling of the Tunisian and Egyptian governments, the uprisings in Syria, Yemen, Lybia etc.

Ken Herman at Momentum

This guy knows what he’s talking about and it was an extremely interesting and engaging talk. If you attended, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Dan Senor at Momentum
Falafel and more

Reconsidering the Goldstone report

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Richard Goldstone wrote an op-ed on the Washington Post called Reconsidering the Goldstone Resport on Israel and War Crimes. On it, there is no news: Israel is investing considerable resources investigating 400 or so allegations of misconduct from the report, while Hamas has done nothing of the sort – unsurprising since it was always clear that Hamas targeted civilians purposefully.

The sad part is that this editorial will not even get a fraction of the press that the original report received., but at least it’s being mentioned, even on Al-Jazeera. A lot of damage was done to Israel’s image because of the conclusions reached in the report and this retraction will not undo that. But you owe it to yourself to read the article on the Washington Post.