I have just added a new page to this blog called “Leave Links.” Feel free to leave interesting links there. I see all of the comments to all pages in my blog app in the order they appear, with the most recent comment on top, so I will see the links for sure.
I hope this helps us avoid situations where people want to leave links but don’t know where to post them.
Clarissa's Blog 
Trying whether comment here will appear (hasn’t when I left at “Leave Links”). Loved the quote:
“The powerful worry far less about us seeing how bad things are than us speaking up about how good things could get. Cynicism is obedience.”
— Alex Steffan
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Wow, this is brilliant. My father will love the part about cynicism.
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That’s really nice. Cynicism is a state of always looking inwardly, licking one’s internal wounds. Watch out if people look outward.
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Now reading something less optimist:
What’s gone wrong with democracy
http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleno=24503#.U2lOosR_tPm
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Intelligence officials to Congress: Israel ‘crossed red lines’ in spying on U.S.
Newsweek quotes confidential briefings to Congress and says Israel’s massive spying is behind the failure to provide visa waiver to Israelis entering U.S.
[…]
The Newsweek article included very strong statements against Israel, verging on anti-Semitism. The writer, Jeff Stein, stated that “since Israel is as likely to stop spying here as it is to give up matzo for Passover, the visa barriers are likely to stay up.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.589194
May be, some USA officials simply don’t want to provide visa waiver, and use spying as an excuse? After all, USA does not do less spying than Israel.
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Thank you, you have inspired a post. 🙂
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Links for Baltic States.
http://jpohl.blogspot.com/2012/04/soviet-colonialism-in-baltic-again.html
http://jpohl.blogspot.com/2012/10/soviet-citizens-in-german-military.html
http://jpohl.blogspot.com/2009/12/mortality-rates-among-soviet-deportees.html
http://jpohl.blogspot.com/2006/06/descent-of-terror-upon-baltics-14-june.html
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Interesting new survey about Israeli society done by Achva Academic college AND International Fellowship of Christians and Jews:
Reflecting for the 1st time the “alienation index ” in Israeli society – the general, haredi and Arab.
70 % of seculars (do they mean secular Jews?) don’t know the Haredi society and don’t want to know. 66 % of Israeli Jews prefer not to know the way of life in Arab society in Israel : over 50 % of the Jewish public in Israel feel fear or discomfort when passing a Haredi neighborhood . 61 % believe that the value of their home will fall If they Arab family comes to live by.
43% of the general Jewish public in Israel believe that Israeli Arabs are not loyal to the state, of which 64 % of the Orthodox believe that. 38 % of the Arabs agree to the saying that the Jews see them as disloyal to the state. 90 % of the secular and the religious believe that the national anthem represents them. Only 22 % of haredim and 24 % of the Arabs agree with that. 16 % of haredim take an active part in the Independence Day celebrations , and only 33 % of them describe themselves as Zionists .
37 % of Arabs identify more with the Israeli flag than with the flag of the State of Palestine . However, 41 % of them believe that they are living under occupation. However, 89 % of Arabs believe there is a chance of the successful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Israel.
Not familiar with the different sectors in society and don’t want to know
According to the poll, about half of the Israeli public ( secular and religious ) claims that he does not know the way of life of Haredi society in Israel. Only 34 % of the Jewish public claims to know the way of life of Arab society. To 38 % of the Israeli public ( secular and religious ) there are Haradi friends. 27 % of the Jewish public in Israel has Arab friends . However, the Arabs claim that 69 % of them have Jewish friends .
When asked if interested to become more familiar with the way of life of different sectors in Israel and change the situation – 69 % of respondents claimed not wanting to know better Haredi society , and nearly respectively – 70 % of haredim said they do not want to know the secular better.
More than 70 % of the Jewish public is afraid to go through an Arab village or neighborhood. 52 % feel it is also about the Orthodox neighborhood. 52 % of the public ( secular and religious ) have negative feelings such as uneasiness , fear of verbal or physical violence and foreigness, when going through a Haredi neighborhood .
The same negative feelings feel 73 % of the Jewish public when going in an Arab village. 26 % of Jews said that feel relaxed or curious when going through a Haredi neighborhood , only 17 % said that feel that way when moving in an Arab community .
41 % of the Jewish population are afraid to come shopping to Arab community , of which 63 % of the religious feel these feelings . In contrast, the Arabs do not get the fear of the Jews – only 18 % said that Jews are afraid to come and buy from them. According to the poll , 75 % of haredim believe that secular society is trying to force them to live a lifestyle similar to theirs . However, 61 % of the secular and the religious claim that is not true at all.
Haredim : accepting secular as neighbors but not as part of the family
81 % of haredim agree to secular family living near them . However, 81 % were opposed if one of their children would marry a secular : 56 % were actively opposed , and 25 % were opposed but complementary with the situation.
Fine neighbors to us ? Not if they are not in the same sector
61 % of the Jewish public in Israel believe that the value of their flat will fall If Arab family comes to live by. However, the Arabs believe that if a Jewish family moves in close proximity, it will not change the value of the apartment ( 74 %). 19 % of them believe that the value of the apartment will rise. 74 % of seculars agree that their children will learn in a mixed class of Jews and Arabs . Only 29 % of the religious agree to that.
Prof. Alian Elkarinawi , president of Achva College: ” index of alienation displays most clearly the ‘culture of fear ‘ which characterizes the conduct of Israeli society. What keeps the fire of fear are stereotypes and prejudices, derived from a lack of familiarity which strengthens the psychological barriers. The change must be both at the institutional level and at the level of consciousness and be reflected in public discourse. I hope that the index results in future years will reflect a better reality. ”
President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein : ” deep ruptures in Israeli society stem from a public atmosphere that enables and fuels a discourse of delegitimization among groups. While there is tolerance in society to the style of aggressive statements, which many of our leaders and public figures adopt, various groups in Israel will continue to withdraw into themselves and we’ll still be a society where might makes right . To produce a strong and egalitarian Israel, we must remember that we are all created in the image of God and to ensure the existence of a continuous dialogue and empathy with others. ”
In Hebrew:
http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4521406,00.html
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My input:
Haredi = Orthodox (black clothes, usually don’t serve in IDF, many don’t work)
Religious = I suppose it’s a wide range from observing something to closer to Haredi than to secular life style
// More than 70 % of the Jewish public is afraid to go through an Arab village or neighborhood.
I am not alone. The article talks only about prejudice, but it’s more complex. I would be fine with going through a mixed Arab-Jewish city, even though I heard there are tensions there as well. However, a purely Arab area imo is objectively more dangerous (from light harassment to attack – more likely than in a Jewish area). Some Arab places may be fine to go into, but others – truly aren’t, so one has to know whether this particular villiage is OK.
// 52 % feel it is also about the Orthodox neighborhood… uneasiness , fear of verbal or physical violence and foreigness
If in secular, “unmodest” clothes, than yes.
// 75 % of haredim believe that secular society is trying to force them to live a lifestyle similar to theirs
Like serving in army and working to support one’s family. And teaching one’s children math and English.
// Only 29 % of the religious agree to that.
But, imo, many religious would be against their children studying with secular Jews too. Pity that it wasn’t asked in the poll.
// 61 % of the Jewish public in Israel believe that the value of their flat will fall If Arab family comes to live by.
It may fall if the neighborhood turns Haredi too.
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“90 % of the secular and the religious believe that the national anthem represents them.”
– What does it even mean? How can an anthem (or any song) “represent” anybody? Patriotism is the weirdest emotion of all.
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It means they think it expresses the idea of/behind our country, which they support.
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I heard about this book recently (haven’t read yet) and want to recommend it to you:
Futurity: CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE AND THE QUEST FOR THE PAST by AMIR ESHEL
When looking at how trauma is represented in literature and the arts, we tend to focus on the weight of the past. In this book, Amir Eshel suggests that this retrospective gaze has trapped us in a search for reason in the madness of the twentieth century’s catastrophes at the expense of literature’s prospective vision. Considering several key literary works, Eshel argues in Futurity that by grappling with watershed events of modernity, these works display a future-centric engagement with the past that opens up the present to new political, cultural, and ethical possibilities—what he calls futurity.
Bringing together postwar German, Israeli, and Anglo-American literature, Eshel traces a shared trajectory of futurity in world literature. He begins by examining German works of fiction and the debates they spurred over the future character of Germany’s public sphere. Turning to literary works by Jewish-Israeli writers as they revisit Israel’s political birth, he shows how these stories inspired a powerful reconsideration of Israel’s identity. Eshel then discusses post-1989 literature—from Ian McEwan’s Black Dogs to J. M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year—revealing how these books turn to events like World War II and the Iraq War not simply to make sense of the past but to contemplate the political and intellectual horizon that emerged after 1989. Bringing to light how reflections on the past create tools for the future, Futurity reminds us of the numerous possibilities literature holds for grappling with the challenges of both today and tomorrow.
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Oh! Good! This sounds super useful for my research.
While I’m overseeing my house repairs, my research is practically conducting itself. 🙂
Thank you!
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I want a prize now! A post about your take on the book, if possible. 🙂
Glad if it helps. May be, his other work will be of use too. Also, it’s nice to see Israelis contributing to humanity and teaching courses about German Jewish literature and the modern Hebrew novel at Stanford University. 🙂
Remember, you wanted to read “A Tale of Love and Darkness” by Amos Oz? (I gave a quote about Jews being in love with Europe once.) If you read, I would love to see a post too. Probably those two books would also deepen your understanding of Israeli society, if you’re interested in that. 🙂
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