Five Minutes for Israel

Bloodymindedness

Posted on April 22, 2014 by David Guy

Passover bloodymindedness

Five Minutes for Israel has been floundering around for the last week or so, trying to find a suitable subject for a last day of Pessach article. The choices either turned out to be preachy (can anyone outside a Yeshiva actually remember a rabbi’s sermon?); impossibly general or unrelated. Then I realised that most of the things that annoyed/interested me enough to write about were related, however tenuously, by blood! Hows this for a list? Australian travel advice; Pessach and the Arabs; Israel Haters see red; Obama’s Seder and genetics. Read on and I will explain. Continue reading →

Posted in 5MFI Blog | Tagged Australia, DNA, Gaza, Hate, Palestine Authority, Passover, Pessach, Smart Traveller, Smartraveller, travel advice | Leave a comment

I’m gonna sue!!! Part too

Posted on April 3, 2014 by David Guy

Turkey hunting

Most comments I have heard about Ahmad Al-Gamal’s call for legal suits against Israel, Turkey, Britain and France focus on the ridiculousness of Egypt suing Israel for the Exodus and to be fair I spent much time on it I’m gonna sue Part 1 However the rest of Al-Gamal’s article should not be lost to criticism. In many ways it is more interesting, more revealing and may even have a shot at success. Continue reading →

Posted in 5MFI Blog | Tagged Ahmad Al-Gamal, Colonialism, Egypt, Turkey | Leave a comment

Building and rebuilding

Posted on April 2, 2014 by David Guy

Reverse the Royal Institute of British Architects Boycott of Israel

To accuse Israel of a human rights crime by building is like accusing the little piggy who built a house from bricks of cruelty to wolves.

As with so many BDS resolutions the British Architect’s boycott resolution was conducted by a tiny minority of the organisation’s members with no prior notice. Continue reading →

Posted in Action Items | Tagged Boycott, RIBA, Royal Institute of British Architects | Comments Off

I’m gonna sue!!!!

Posted on March 31, 2014 by David Guy

All’s fare in love and law

To predictable merriment an Egyptian journalist, Ahmad Al-Gamal, has announced that Egypt should sue Israel for the Ten Plagues; Turkey for damaging the Egyptian psyche during the Ottoman occupation and Britain for forcing the Egyptian upper class to be mean to the Egyptian lower class (I’m a former Aussie so I can relate to that one. Screw the Pommie Bastards!)

The whole idea reminded me so much of the wonderful Australian film, The Man Who Sued God, that at first I thought Al-Gamal was hiding behind an Israel bash to make some satirical points about Egypt. Now I think he might even be serious and perhaps unconsciously in the process allowed some deep-seated Egyptian insecurities to emerge. Continue reading →

Posted in 5MFI Blog | Tagged Egypt, Exodus, lawfare | Comments Off

BDS damp squib

Posted on March 22, 2014 by David Guy

A dripping tap is a form of torture

More BDS BS. Every time an Israeli company loses a tender bid BDS claims that victory is inevitable. It is unfortunate that an Israeli consortium, led by Mekerot, failed to win an Argentinian contract but not a cause for the crowing.

Rejoin the real world. Companies make failing bids all the time.

What part of ‘The critical objections were the price tag ($170 million in 2012 when the bid was presented), and the inappropriately close relationship between Mekorot’s local partners – 5 de Septiembre, Mako and Eleprint – and the provincial government and water company. In addition, the project failed to guarantee potability because it ignored the deteriorated condition of La Plata’s distribution pipes, according to Adolfo Ruiz, an engineer in the regional government’s water department and representative of the trade union ATE Hidraúlica’ don’t they understand?

BDS was at most a secondary consideration.

Continue reading →

Posted in 5MFI Blog | Tagged Argentina, Boycott, Mekerot, water | Comments Off

Recognised!

Posted on March 22, 2014 by David Guy

Recognising Israel as the Jewish State

Two recent events inspired me to write about Israel as the Jewish State, something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, perhaps as long as I can remember. The first was the recently uncovered video clip of Yassar Arafat acknowledging Israel as the Jewish State, which you can view in this post (Thank you YouTube). The second was U.S. Sec. of State John Kerry’s statement to Congress that Israel was making a great mistake by asking/ demanding it. Continue reading →

Posted in 5MFI Blog | Tagged Arab League, Hanan Ashrawi, Jewish State, John Kerry, Mahmud Abbas, Saeb Erekat, Yasser Arafat | Comments Off

PuRim SaMeAcH

Posted on March 15, 2014 by David Guy

Happy Purim

The cynics say that seizing the Klos-C was timed to coincide with the AIPAC conference but those really in-the-know see it was timed for Purim! The festival celebrates the defeat of an ancient enemy in Persia, known today as the Islamic Republic of Iran. If there’s one thing the Jews know how do, it’s read a calendar.

Purim involves heavy drinking, barracking for the good guys, booing the bad and pretending to be someone you are not. Something like Carnival or Mardi Gras or Premier League football or every other day. Continue reading →

Posted in 5MFI Blog | Tagged Purim | Comments Off

Klos-C Press Conference – Eilat, Part 2

Posted on March 13, 2014 by David Guy

The main event

The journalist’s plane with several Government people arrived after midday.

It’s quite a change to be allowed to photograph in a military base. Usually that’s forbidden, even when they are open to hundreds of thousands of visitors on Independence Day.

I wandered around photographing neatly ordered rockets, mortars, bullets, ships, small boats, bags of cement, other media people and foreign guests in uniform until even for a shutterbug like me I had enough. Continue reading →

Posted in 5MFI Blog | Tagged arms smuggling, IDF, Iran, Klos C, Netanyahu | Comments Off

Klos-C Press Conference – Eilat, Part 1

Posted on March 12, 2014 by David Guy

Unpacking the Klos-C

What do you do when someone invites you to a party? In Hebrew a press conference is a mesibat intonayim (מסיבת עיתונאים) literally a journalist party. Late yesterday I was invited to fly down to Eilat to see the pile of munitions that hadn’t reached Gaza. Cost me a lot more than I expected but I was already there so I shrugged my shoulders and this blog post is the result. Party on! Continue reading →