July « 2008 « Forecast Highs

Archive for July, 2008

Mrs. Clean is from Mars, Mr. Security is from Venus

Posted in Annapolis, Ehud Olmert, Israel, Mossad, tagged Ariel Sharon, Eyal Arad, Kadima, Likud, Mr. Security, Mrs. Clean, Reuven Adler, Shaul Mofaz, Tzipi Livni on July 29, 2008 | 2 Comments »

While the real battle between Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz to replace Ehud Olmert as Kadima chairperson and prime minister is taking place amongst the 30,000 Kadima members and not the wider public, the two frontrunners have retained the services of skilled campaign consultants to convince both the party membership and the general public that [...]

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Tell me no leaks

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Ehud Olmert, Haaretz, Maariv, media leaks, Morris Talansky, Shula Zaken, The Jerusalem Post, Uri Messer, Yediot Aharonot on July 25, 2008 | 2 Comments »

As the news editor of the only paper of the big four newspapers in Israel that did not publish any leaks of the Olmert – Talansky affair this week I feel that I am in the unique position to offer my assessment of what has turned out to be an extremely bizarre story.
The Jerusalem Post [...]

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Schalit: Big picture or family photograph

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Gaza, Gilad Schalit, Hamas, Hizbullah, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, prisoner exchange on July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

Since the conclusion last week of the Goldwasser-Regev-Kuntar deal, several leading commentators have argued that the Israeli families’ campaigns to free their sons hampered the deal, setting a higher price for the Israeli side. They accuse the media of playing up the personal tragedy that has befallen the families over the strategic interests of the [...]

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Hostage News Network

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Betancourt, Colombia, FARC, German hostages, Gordon Brown, hostages, Kidnappings, Mossad, Pakistan, Red Cross, Taliban on July 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »

My head is swimming with hostage news. Last week we closed the final chapter of the Goldwasser and Regev saga, and our attention is focused squarely now on the Gilad Schalit case. Lately, Hamas has been making sounds to the effect that they want to replace the Egyptian mediators in the Schalit deal, with Germans [...]

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A bad deal, but is it good for Israel?

Posted in Ehud Olmert, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Jewish issues, Mossad, tagged Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev, Gilad Schalit, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah, Hizbullah, Israel, Lebanon, prisoner swap, Samir Kuntar on July 15, 2008 | 5 Comments »

While on a recent trip abroad, a senior Israeli defense official was asked by a foreign diplomat why Israelis were making such a fuss about the Schalit, Goldwasser and Regev kidnappings.
“I mean, aren’t you the ones who invented kidnappings in the Middle East?” the diplomat asked the Israeli.
True, Israeli commandos have, in the past, kidnapped [...]

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Rhodes: Israelis would make great cricketers

Posted in cricket, tagged Adam Bacher, cricket, cricket in Israel, Jonty Rhodes, South Africa on July 11, 2008 | 4 Comments »

It isn’t every day you get to meet your hero, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have met and interviewed mine today. Throughout my childhood, Jonty Rhodes was my inspiration, not just as a cricketer but as a role model. He was never really selected as a batsman or bowler [although later on [...]

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Inside Israel’s greatest treasure

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Banyas, Israel, Israel water, water on July 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

I took these photos this week in the Banyas waterfall and Tel Dan spring in northern Israel. I think water is a huge issue in these parts, and always was. I’m not the first person to think that one day the price of water will exceed that of crude oil. Thousands of years ago [...]

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