One Israeli creation for the weekend
This week, I would like to urge you to watch the best Israeli film of the year – Zero Motivation!
It is a dark comedy by director Talya Lavie, which exposes the viewer to the everyday life of young women serving in an IDF unit at a remote desert base. They serve in a human resources office, at the most insignificant positions. While trying to find their place in the world (and in the military system,) they spend their military service playing computer games, shredding paper, and counting down the minutes until they can return to civilian life.
Amidst their boredom and clashing personalities, issues of commitment – to friendship, love and country – are handled with humor and sharp-edged wit. This hilarious yet profound film has become a major success,being titled as “the movie of the year” in 2014, winning big at the Israeli Academy Awards, and at the Tribeca Film Festival. It stars Dana Ivgy, Nelly Tagar and Tamara Klingon.
Chanuka Dish #3: Gelty Pleasures
Ok, chocolate Chanuka gelt isn’t exactly a dish, but it is delish. Although these coins are the highlight of many children’s (and some adults, not that I would know anything about that) Chanuka experience, the tradition of Chanuka gelt originally involved the giving of real coins, or “gelt,” in Yiddish.
According to the“>Leah Koenig of the Jewish Forward writes that, according to professor Eliezer Segal, the custom most likely began in the 18th century in Eastern Europe when parents gave gifts of money to their children’s teachers every year around Chanuka time. Professor Segal posits that the connection of these payments with Chanuka was largely etymological, since the Hebrew words Channukah (dedication) and Chinnukh (education) share lingual roots.
Ms Koenig writes that by the 19th century, the practice of giving gelt had shifted from teachers to children, for reasons unknown. A tradition of giving charity to the poor on chanuka, however, remains even today. (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and Magen Avraham).
According to Ms. Koenig, it was not until the 1920’s that American candy makers first introduced the gold and silver-wrapped chocolate coins so prevalent today. However, Ms. Koenig notes that, according to journalist Amy Klein in “The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles,” most of the chocolate gelt eaten in the United States today is now imported from Israel.
But in my view, wherever those chocolate coins come from, the important thing is where they end up – with me. For the sake of the children, of course.
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Israel conquered “Palestine” in 1967? Time for a rewrite
The LDS Church-owned Deseret News is published in Utah and is one of the two largest newspapers in the state. Every week it features a column written by Daniel Peterson, a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU, and LDS author William Hamblin. They address religious issues from a historical perspective, and their column is usually one of the most interesting articles in the paper.
In a recent essay they briefly outlined the history of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem over the past 3,000 years. I was interested to see how a professor of Islamic Studies would approach this sensitive subject, and was especially curious to see whether current political controversies would slant the authors’ presentation of historical facts. Unfortunately, they did.
I’m sure that many informed readers were quite surprised to read about the “Israeli conquest of Palestine [sic] and east Jerusalem in 1967.” I have no doubt that the authors are fully aware of the following points, but they bear repeating in this space:
1) “Palestine” is not a country. Never has been and – God willing – never will be. I could support the current efforts at the UN and elsewhere to have Palestine declared a country if I believed that it would be a force for good in the region and be willing to live in peace with its neighbors. However, nothing in the history of the Palestinian liberation movement (e.g., Black September, terrorism, the Nazi mufti Amin al-Husseini, arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, Palestinian occupation of southern Lebanon, Hamas rule in Gaza) offers the slightest hope that this would happen.
2) If we define Palestine as the ancient Roman province and/or the area subsequently administered by the Ottomans and the British, then the modern state of Israel already occupied a large part of Palestine before the war in 1967.
3) In 1967 Israel did not conquer “Palestine,” but it did seize the following territories: Judea and Samaria (renamed the “West Bank” by the new country of Jordan in 1948), the Gaza Strip (ruled by Egypt), east Jerusalem (which was not the capital of any country, let alone Palestine), and most of the Golan Heights (which had been a part of the new country of Syria for a whopping 23 years).
4) Since the Jordanians and Egyptians obviously didn’t consider the pre-1967 West Bank and Gaza Strip to be a single entity called “Palestine” while they were ruling those territories, there is no reason for contemporary historians to try to lump them together.
Place names have meaning, especially in the Middle East. It is very important for Mormons and other Christians to strive for accuracy when presenting the history of a place that is sacred to several religions. Advocates of peace and security can be grateful that mention of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and a country called “Palestine” can only properly occur in a sentence speculating on the future, not the past.
Hag sameach to my Jewish readers.
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North Korea denies hacking Sony, U.S. stands by its assertion
North Korea said on Saturday U.S. accusations that it was involved in a cyberattack on Sony Pictures were “groundless slander” and that it wanted a joint investigation into the incident with the United States.
An unnamed spokesman of the North's foreign ministry said there would be serious consequences if Washington refused to agree to the probe and continued to accuse Pyongyang, according to North Korea's U.N. mission and the official KCNA news agency.
The United States stands by its assertion that Pyongyang was to blame, a White House National Security Council spokesman said on Saturday, in response to the remarks.
On Friday, President Barack Obama blamed North Korea for the devastating cyberattack, which had led to the Hollywood studio cancelling the imminent release of “The Interview”, a comedy on the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
In its first substantive response, the isolated North Korea said it could prove it had nothing to do with the hacking attack.
“We propose to conduct a joint investigation with the U.S. in response to groundless slander being perpetrated by the U.S. by mobilizing public opinion,” the North Korean spokesman was cited as saying by KCNA.
“If the U.S. refuses to accept our proposal for a joint investigation and continues to talk about some kind of response by dragging us into the case, it must remember there will be grave consequences,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman was quoted as making similar remarks in a statement issued later by North Korea's U.N. mission.
NSC spokesman Mark Stroh dismissed this, saying: “We are confident the North Korean government is responsible for this destructive attack. We stand by this conclusion.”
“The Government of North Korea has a long history of denying responsibility for destructive and provocative actions.”
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday it had determined that North Koreawas behind the hacking of Sony, saying Pyongyang's actions fell “outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior”.
Obama said North Korea appeared to have acted alone. Washington began consultations with Japan, China, South Korea and Russia seeking their assistance in reining in North Korea. {ID:nL1N0U32BR]
Japan and South Korea said they would cooperate. China, North Korea's only major ally, has yet to respond, but a Beijing-run newspaper said “The Interview” was not a movie for Hollywood and U.S. society to be proud of.
It was the first time the United States had directly accused another country of a cyberattack of such magnitude on American soil and set up a possible new confrontation between longtime foes Washington and Pyongyang.
Obama said he wished that Sony had spoken to him first before yanking the movie, suggesting it could set a bad precedent. “I think they made a mistake,” he said.
“NOT CAVED IN”
Sony Pictures Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton insisted the company did not capitulate to hackers and said it was still looking for alternative platforms to release “The Interview.” This week, a spokeswoman for Sony had said the company did not have further release plans for the $44 million film starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.
Despite Obama's stern warning to North Korea, his options for responding to the attack by the impoverished state appeared limited. The president declined to be specific about any actions under consideration.
North Korea has been subject to U.S. sanctions for more than 50 years, but they have had little effect on its human rights policies or its development of nuclear weapons. It has become expert in hiding its often criminal money-raising activities, largely avoiding traditional banks.
In a separate statement on Saturday in response to criticism of its rights record, North Korea vowed to boost its “nuclear power” to counter Washington's hostile policy, saying it had become apparent the United States aimed to invade the North under the guise of human rights abuses.
The FBI said technical analysis of malicious software used in the Sony attack found links to malware that “North Korean actors” had developed and found a “significant overlap” with “other malicious cyber activity” previously tied to Pyongyang.
But it otherwise gave scant details on how it concluded that North Korea was behind the attack.
U.S. experts say Obama's options could include cyber retaliation, financial sanctions, criminal indictments against individuals implicated in the attack or even a boost in U.S. military support to South Korea, still technically at war with the North.
But the effect of any response would be limited given North Korea's isolation and the fact that it is already heavily sanctioned for its nuclear program.
There is also the risk that an overly harsh U.S. response could provoke Pyongyang to escalate any cyber warfare.
Non-conventional capabilities such as cyber warfare and nuclear technology are the weapons of choice for the impoverished North, defectors said in Seoul.
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