Outpost’s tribute to Shmuel Katz: The last great Zionist

From the “How did I miss this one?” dept.

Outpost, the monthly publication of Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), dedicated its June 2008 issue to the memory of the late Shmuel Katz, characterized by Herbert Zweibon (chairman of AFSI) as “the last great Zionist of Israel’s founding generation” (Katz passed away on May 9 at the age of 93).

The Outpost website has a rather strange structure, with no links from the Table of Contents page for the June 2008 issue to the individual tributes and extracts from his writings. Please use the links below to access the articles:

Mideast Outpost: JUNE 2008 OUTPOST

THE LAST GREAT ZIONIST: HERBERT ZWEIBON

SHMUEL KATZ: STEADFAST ZIONISM, HUMOROUS CHARM: DOUGLAS FEITH

HANDS OFF THE GOLAN!!!: SHMUEL KATZ

DAYS OF FIRE: SHMUEL KATZ

BATTLEGROUND: SHMUEL KATZ

SHMUEL KATZ: A ZIONIST ICON: WILLIAM VAN CLEAVE

SHMUEL: HIS VERY SELF AND VOICE: EDWARD ALEXANDER

MY FRIENDSHIP WITH SHMUEL KATZ: YISRAEL MEDAD

THE ESSENTIAL SHMUEL KATZ: WILLIAM MEHLMAN

SHMUEL KATZ: ISRAEL'S WINSTON CHURCHILL: JOEL GILBERT

SHMUEL KATZ: JABOTINSKY'S HEIR: RUTH KING

The July issue also carries a tribute to Katz from Rael Jean Isaac.

A TRIBUTE TO SHMUEL KATZ: Rael Jean Isaac

I was pleased to find that many of his books are still available (if not still in print) from sites such as Amazon, albeit remaindered or second-hand copies in some cases. (The article Shmuel Katz's Legacy by Moshe Phillips was extremely useful in identifying the body of his work available in English.)

Days of Fire - Google Book Search

Battleground: Fact & Fantasy in Palestine

The hollow peace

Battletruth: The world and Israel

Lone Wolf: A Biography of Vladimir (Ze'Ev) Jabotinsky Two Volume Set

The Aaronsohn Saga

Katz was also responsible for translating an edition of Menachem Begin’s The Revolt into English from the original Hebrew.

Revolt

Everyone who considers him or herself an advocate for Israel should at least have a copy of Battleground: Fact & Fantasy in Palestine on his or her bookshelf. Although first published 35 years ago, it remains the unsurpassed and uncontested “handbook” of the Jewish claim to establish a nation-state in Palestine.

The use of terrorism to achieve political aims has attained political respectability for various national groups (notably the Palestinians). Zionism’s relatively brief use of terror against the British following their betrayal of the mandate for Palestine (and in the wake of the Holocaust) remains non-PC to this day, however. Days of Fire tells the story of that struggle from the point of view of an objective participant (Katz was a member of the Irgun high command). It still makes for spellbinding reading.

Shmuel Katz may seem anachronistic and politically incorrect to many today (even assuming they know of his life and contribution to Zionism). Some things (hopefully) never go out of fashion, however; common sense, conviction, integrity, honesty, consistency. Shmuel Katz embodied such qualities and more, and has earned an honoured place in the Zionist pantheon, as both someone who shaped events and chronicled and interpreted them, as an activist and a scholar.

Although Katz was also South African-born, he was of a much earlier generation to mine, so I know of him only through his writings. I hope this post will serve as my own tribute to one of the heroes of my youth, even although I strayed far from my early convictions.

Technorati Tags: Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI), Irgun, Menachem Begin, Outpost, Palestine, Shmuel Katz, Terrorism

Israel’s citizen army should be untouchable

The Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (JIMS) has just published initial results from the Israel Panel Study of Opinion Dynamics (IPSOD) survey. According to their website:

IPSOD reveals that the majority of the Jewish population in Israel supports the idea of a smaller and smarter army, but is not yet willing to let go of the "people's army."

Support for conscription, the concept of a “people’s army” and punishment for draft dodging is still strong, but by no means universal. Likewise, opposition to a “voluntary professional army like in the USA” is also strong, but also by no means universal.

At a time when Israel faces massive existential threats, after the professional leader group of the IDF led Israel to an inconclusive draw with Hezbollah, and when that same conflict demonstrated the absolute need for “boots on the ground” in order to win an asymmetrical conflict, should we even actually be debating this? A debate is usually healthy, but the problem with debating an issue such as this is that the issue never goes away. Irrespective of the strengths of the argument, someone fighting for his or her political survival will use this issue as a crutch, and push through some ill-advised measure to further it. The genie simply never returns to the bottle.

To get back to the debate, however, here is a piece I drafted some time back in response to the article “The Call of the Hour: A Revolution in the IDF” published on the now sadly defunct Omedia website. The Omedia article promoted the idea of the professionalization of the IDF. With the passage of time, I have had to edit my response slightly.

Israel’s citizen army

While I support much of what is being proposed here, I must take issue with the idea of abolishing the draft and establishing a purely professional army and “professionalising” the reserves.

I’m sure that most would agree that the IDF is in need of a drastic overhaul, but I don’t believe that this necessarily invalidates the idea of a citizen army. If only half of those drafted actually serve, we need to look at the issue of how deferments and exemptions are granted (in particular blanket exemptions, such as in the case of supposed Haredi Yeshiva students). Instead of discarding the principle of universal conscription, we should instead apply it scrupulously and without fear or favour. The issue of those not reporting for reserve duty also needs to be addressed, by means of a culture shift or stricter penalties in need.

As regards the professionalism of the existing professional arm of the IDF, in the last couple of years, I have seen the following and other (even more serious) accusations being levelled against them in the mainstream Israeli press:

• Most of the IDF’s budget goes towards the remuneration of career soldiers
• They are overweight and unfit
• Officers are under trained and unqualified, particularly in the higher ranks
• They are simply time serving

For these reasons, I do not believe that the solution lies in replacing the citizen army with a professional army. The problem is not the model being followed, but how it is being applied.

The bottom line is, once this last national treasure (the citizen army) is destroyed, it can never be brought back again, except in the most extreme circumstances.

It’s difficult to accept that a country in Israel’s situation has a manpower surplus. Assuming this is the case, however, perhaps some of the glut could be redirected to other uniformed or security services, e.g. the Police and Prisons services, the Green Police and the emergency, medical and rescue services?

Please see the following link for another perspective on this debate:

Save the Citizens’ Army (Michael B. Oren and Benjamin Balint)

Lastly, I would also like to point out that Switzerland, for example, has not fought a war in recent history, yet the principle of universal conscription and military service is widely accepted and practiced.

From what I understand, the national consensus around conscription has been eroded by the IDF’s role in the so-called Palestinian territories. If this is the case, perhaps service in the disputed territories (except in a genuine counter-insurgency or anti-terrorism role) could be on a voluntary basis?

Omedia : Security and Defense - Opinions- The Call of the Hour: A Revolution in the IDF

Israel’s citizen army is irreplaceable. With all the other cracks and fissures in Israeli society, it would be simply impossible to reintroduce it in the event that the IDF is “professionalised”. Let’s get this debate over quickly, and agree that in this time and place, doing away with the citizen army would be tantamount to national suicide.

JIMS - Data Analysis> Survey

Technorati Tags: IDF, Israel Panel Study of Opinion Dynamics (IPSOD), Israel’s citizen army, Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (JIMS), Omedia website, Universal conscription

Anti-Semitism 2.0: Just hit Enter

I received this link to the ADL site from our friends over at GIYUS (Give Israel Your United Support), and thought it was worthwhile sharing. Here’s the weighty part of what they’re saying:

Help ADL fight the next generation of online extremism

Anti-Semitism 2.0, a new explosion of online hate, is extremely dangerous to Jews and to Israel, with anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propagandists attracting tens of thousands of viewers.

For example, on the extremely popular Facebook social networking site there is a group called "Israel" is not a country!... Delist it from Facebook as a country! This group has more than 40,000 members and includes more than 100,000 comments posted by readers. Much of the content posted (and other online forums like it) is strongly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.

I have to admit that – because I’m reluctant to see every bruising encounter between Gentile and Jew as anti-Semitism - I’ve never been a big fan of the ADL. If someone dislikes some or all the Jews he or she has personally encountered, that is not anti-Semitism. As soon as he or she forms or adopts and promotes theories to explain this dislike, and applies it to all the Jews who have ever lived, that’s anti-Semitism.

Having said that, the last decades of the 20th Century and the first decade of this one have seen a massive explosion in anti-Semitic words and – to a lesser extent – deeds; what I’ve referred to elsewhere as a latter day War Against the Jews.

The main thrust of what the ADL refers to as “Anti-Semitism 2.0” has been the de-legitimisation of Israel. Principled criticism of certain Israeli government policies gradually or quickly degenerate into an anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist bias. From there, the slide into the anti-Semitic camp is almost inevitable. The existence of a multitude of self-publishing tools on the Web (blogs, comments, forums, talkbacks, and websites) has given this hatred a voice and a reach unheard of before.

It doesn’t help that Israeli government policy in the disputed territories (mainly Judea and Samaria, i.e. the West Bank) has given the haters a respectable stick with which to beat us. Perhaps this should be referred at the Israeli government lack of policy, because Israel’s activities and foreign and defence policy here have been dictated by the minority settler enterprise rather than the government of the day or the beliefs of the majority.

As a consequence, many Jews who are uncomfortable with the situation in the disputed territories (especially given how it’s portrayed in the media) are gravitating towards the Down with Israel camp and – justifiably in some cases – meeting with accusations of self-hatred.

By now, it’s probably too late for a change in policy in the disputed territories to make a difference to the hate campaign; it has attained a mass and momentum independent of the original motives. That doesn’t mean that such a policy change should not be made, however.

If you believe petitions can change things, this would be a good one to sign. Be aware of anti-Semitism on the Web. Don’t take it lightly. Respond to it, report it, don’t simply ignore it. The word precedes the deed, and this campaign to delegitimize Israel is not an end in itself. It is merely laying the groundwork for the next step, whatever it may be and for whomever cares to take it.

In the information age, Anti-Semitism 2.0 is the equivalent of pamphlets, Protocols and book burnings, all happening at the speed of light.

End of rant.

ADL IN ACTION:

GIYUS.ORG - Give Israel Your United Support

Holocaust benefits, claims and survivors

Earlier this year, the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Yisrael Perry to 12 years' imprisonment and another five and a half years suspended sentence. He also was fined $6 million.

Perry was found guilty of defrauding dozens of Holocaust survivors of $240 million worth of benefits. He had represented them in filing post-war government insurance claims in Germany.

In the latest scandal, it is claimed that Holocaust survivors in Israel have received less than two-thirds of the German reparations allotted to them.

The Dorner Commission concluded that each survivor was underpaid by an aggregate $400,000 to $700,000.

At the time the original story made the news, I posted the following blog entry on another blog. I think it bears repeating:

I know it’s a little off-topic, but what I’d really like to see is a complete moratorium on all spending on Holocaust education, memorials and museums. Those funds should instead be utilized to provide a decent living to all genuine Holocaust survivors for the rest of their time with us. That pool of survivors and their time on earth are both shrinking inexorably, so there’s little time left to act.

In the longer term, yes, there’s a need for Holocaust education, memorials and museums. And yes, there’s also a universal dimension to the Holocaust. Ultimately, however, it’s our own private tragedy, and we’re going to start encountering a lot more Holocaust fatigue out there. Let’s spend that money where it will do some good.

I’d also like to see all claims of a “class action” nature centralized and managed properly and in the interests of survivors and the Jewish people as a whole. I mean managed in such a way that people like this can’t get their snouts in the trough, with a board of directors of impeccable integrity and acumen, and all the necessary checks and balances.

It’s not a wonder anti-Semites and self-haters now refer to a “Holocaust industry”…

Do we have a chance of getting this right? Who can we trust to faithfully and prudently manage the benefits due (long overdue) to our dwindling band of Holocaust survivors? Who can we trust to ensure that that those who came back from hell can at least live out their days with some dignity and comfort?

Lawyer gets jail time for bilking Holocaust survivors

Audit: Israel's Holocaust survivors cheated

Lawyer gets jail time for bilking Holocaust survivors

Technorati Tags: German reparations, Holocaust, Holocaust benefits, Holocaust claims, Holocaust survivors, Shoah

MedUAV concept project: when can we have it?

The Fisher Institute for Air & Space Strategic Studies website carried an item regarding their MedUAV concept project, which “was selected as one of 60 best technology projects presenting at the "Facing Tomorrow" exhibition, part of the Israel Presidential Conference 2008.”

The specifications for MedUAV concept project are enough to make devotees of gadgets, military and rescue and recovery hardware drool:

• Hybrid medical re-supply and casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) vehicle
• Vertical take off and landing (VTOL) capabilities
• Unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV), for civilian or military, urban, (rural?) or sea scenarios
• Recover incapacitated, wounded or deceased military personnel or civilians, including those exposed to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or explosive (CBRNE) hazards
• Hover lift at zero airspeed
• Cruise at up to 150 knots, with a ceiling of 10,000 feet
• Convey up to 4 patients with full gear for a duration of 3 hours
• Both active and passive defence measures

According to the article, two alternative streams of technology approaches are being considered:

The first one is a Medical Rotary UAV option – to convert a current operational military MedEvac Helicopter, tested and registered … for dual use. It will maintain the ability [to] fly by wire with flight crew on board and on the same vehicle an option to fly safely autonomously as a VTOL UAV, [led] by the IAI (www.iai.co.il).

The second technology option is to design an [innovative] aerial vehicle concept for a Med VTOL UAV. The proposed design is a turbine powered VTOL vehicle, based on two ducted lift fans, contained inside the vehicle's fuselage, [led] by Urban Aeronautics (www.urbanaero.com).

No indication is given as to when the MedUAV concept project will see the light of day, nor whether there is any interest or commitment from the IDF in the revolutionary concept.

The article points out the difference having such a capability could have made during the 1st Hezbollah War of 2006.

The Fisher Institute For Air And Space Strategic Studies

IAF Center Foundation: Highlights of Activities and Developments in 2008

Technorati Tags: CASEVAC, CBRNE, Fisher Institute, Hezbollah, IDF, Med VTOL UAV, MedEvac Helicopter, Medical Rotary UAV, MedUAV, UAV, VTOL

High urban density is good for cities

An excellent piece on the TreeHugger website regarding the Movement for Israeli Urbanism's conference with the theme “The Quality of Density”. To quote from the article:

According to Irit Solzi, Chairwoman of the Movement for Israeli Urbanism, densifying Israel’s cities is a great opportunity, and not a curse, as some have portrayed it:

Every city can become a pearl! The idea that density is bad is a leftover from the Industrial Revolution era. Today, Israel is building cities with very low densities, which destroys their functioning. Transit, culture, creativity – none of these can survive in low density cities, and this means lower quality of life. Population growth is an opportunity. Mixed uses, varied buildings, small blocks, public transport – all of these will make our cities succeed. Otherwise, our cities will decline, and our open spaces will disappear.

Our love affair with the automobile in the 20th and 21st centuries has probably been responsible for most of the damage to urban fabric worldwide, and also for the poor planning models for new communities and extensions to existing ones. Initiatives such as this will go a long way towards creating environments that respect the differences between town and country. The struggle will probably only be won, however, when we have replaced our emotional attachment to the automobile with a rational embrace of a multi-faceted public transport grid.

The other side of our love affair with the car is the suburb, and the aspiration for a detached suburban home. While the first has taken firm root in Israel, the second (fortunately) still remains largely an aspiration.

South Jerusalem Blog Archive Why Israel is Losing Its Green Spaces: The Pointed-Roof Hypothesis

Simply put, higher density cities are far more efficient machines for living than those with a lower population density.

Israeli New Urbanists: Density Will Make Our Cities Better Places to Live : TreeHugger

The link to the Movement for Israeli Urbanism website (English and Hebrew) can be found here:

MIU Home

Technorati Tags: Movement for Israeli Urbanism, Town and country planning, Urban and regional planning, Urban density

KKL-JNF Carbon Footprint Calculator launched

Patriotism (in this case Zionism) plus carbon offsetting: an unbeatable combination. The KKL-JNF (Israel) have just launched their Carbon Footprint Calculator. Unlike the Jewish National Fund (JNF.ORG) equivalent, which I reviewed in September last year, the KKL-JNF Carbon Footprint Calculator does not calculate a personal carbon footprint, but instead utilises an average for your country of residence. The result is therefore somewhat less accurate or useful, but also much less onerous to calculate.

By the way, the Sviva Israel website offers an even more comprehensive calculator, but there the emphasis appears to be mainly educational.

Once you’ve selected your country of residence, the carbon calculator displays your total carbon footprint (tons of CO2 emitted per annum) and the number of trees you need to plant each year to offset the carbon emitted. Results include:

Country	Tons of CO2 P/A	Trees P/A
Israel	10.45	15
South Africa	7.44	11
UK	9.47	14
US	20.12	29

Once your tree deficit has been calculated, you can click through to donate to KKL-JNF for tree planting to offset your carbon emission (partial or full). As the donation form points out, planting trees is one of the most effective, proactive ways of stopping the greenhouse effect that is responsible for global warming. The standard JNF rate of $18 (one “Chai”) per tree prevails. A certificate can be requested if the trees are to be dedicated.

Given that the name of the game is carbon offsetting, I’m surprised that no e-certificate option is offered in addition to (or instead of) the paper certificate. The equivalent scheme offered by JNF.ORG uses a figure of $10 per tree, and dispenses with paper tree planting certificates in favour of e-certificates.

There are more cost-effective options for carbon offsetting through tree planting, e.g. one reputable organisation (which shall remain anonymous) will plant 450 trees in the developing world for your $45 donation. I imagine that KKL-JNF is not relying purely on the carbon offsetting motive, but rather on a combination of that and Zionist sentiments. Over time, however, KKL-JNF may need to look at whether it should be competing in that market.

When clicking on the button to plant trees, a separate browser tab or window is opened. This will irritate those who prefer new tabs/windows to open only when specified by the user. Unlike the primary KKL-JNF site’s tree planting function, you are not given a choice of which forest to plant in. I would have also liked to see an unequivocal statement regarding the KKL-JNF’s current position on its traditional and much criticised Pine nurse crops, and whether they have a role to play in afforestation in Israel.

The calculator also contains a link to the KKL-JNF resource page for Global Warming, much of which makes for interesting reading, e.g. the article on whether Israeli flora can survive Global Warming.

The donation form mentions that “as part of the United Nations (UNEP) "Plant the Planet" program, whose goal is to plant a billion trees, KKL-JNF committed itself to planting six million trees in Israel over the next decade”. Given that the JNF planted in the order of 250 million trees during the course of the 20th Century, that seems like something of a soft target. I’ll return to that issue in a future post.

My evaluation was done using the Mozilla Firefox 2.x browser. The site appears to render and faction best when used with the Internet Explorer browser, however.

The KKL-JNF Carbon Footprint Calculator is a useful addition to the armoury in the fight to green Israel and reverse Global Warming. In time, however, KKL-JNF may need to wrestle with more fundamental issues, rather than simply creating a link between carbon offsetting and its standard tree planting practice

Links/Reading/Resources:

1. KKL-JNF-home
2. KKL-JNF Carbon Calculator
3. Jewish National Fund | Go Neutral
4. Measure Your Ecological Footprint Survey
5. Fight Global Warming - Plant a Tree
6. Click to Plant
7. Global Warming

Related:

1. JNF Hechsher for carbon offsetting
2. Sviva Israel: Innovative Jewish social environmental organization
3. The JNF's pine forests: Pine deserts or nurse crops?
4. HAS Search for Israel Community Toolbar

Technorati Tags: Carbon Footprint Calculator, Carbon offsetting, Global Warming, Greenhouse effect, JNF, Jewish National Fund, KKL-JNF, Pine nurse crops, Plant the Planet, Sviva Israel, Tree planting, afforestation in Israel

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Hebrew Charter Schools: Sit up and pay attention

Michael Steinhardt (“Jewish philanthropy's chief provocateur”) is once again showing the way when it comes to Jewish continuity and identity efforts, by backing the establishment of a Hebrew-language charter school in NYC. If the pending application is successful, the school could become the flagship of a national network of publicly funded Hebrew schools.

The school’s curriculum will cover all core academic subjects, but will also offer Hebrew-language instruction, as well as Jewish culture, history and modern Israeli society. In order to respect constitutional limits to do with the separation between religion and state, it will avoid teaching religious doctrine.

To conform to the charter school model, it will be required to outline in great detail its curriculum, location and marketing plan, will have to adopt an open admissions policy and won’t keep Kosher or observe the Jewish religious holidays. (The open admissions policy will be good news for all the “hyphenated Jews” those variously referred to as half-Jews, non-Halachic Jews or even non-Jews; anyone who happens to have been born with the "wrong" Jewish parent.)

All in all, it will be required to walk a fine line between celebrating Jewish culture and particularism on the one hand, and the common American heritage and Western civilization on the other.

So, with all these stipulations, exactly what does the whole concept give us? What gives it a good chance of success?

Firstly, the initiative is backed by Michael Steinhardt (and presumably a handful of other like-minded mega-donors, with the Jewish establishment eventually trailing far in the rear). While, by his own admission, he has backed some losing horses (e.g. the current Jewish days schools setup), expect to see this become another of his hand-picked “vehicles” for promoting Jewish identity and continuity. Think Taglit-Birthright Israel.

It envisages a public funded Hebrew schools network. Given that the cost of a Jewish day school education is one of the biggest reasons for its not being more universally adopted, the potential impact of this factor is huge.

Separation between religion and culture. The appeal of this should also not be underestimated. There will be issues in attempting to teach Hebrew, Jewish and Israeli culture and history without religious dogma, but doing so will address one of the other major reasons why the non-Orthodox for the most part continue to avoid Jewish day schools. Personally, I see nothing wrong with religion being the domain of the home and the synagogue rather than the school.

Because of the separation between religion and culture on the hand, and embracing both Jewish culture and American/Western legacy on the other, the Hebrew charter schools model has appeal for the vast majority of Jewish families in the market for education. There will be exceptions at either end of the spectrum (assimilated and Orthodox), but the appeal is broad and will grow once showcase schools are operating.

The emphasis on Hebrew as the keystone of the charter school will also prove to be highly significant over time. Hebrew remains the key to unlocking almost all the treasures of Jewish civilization, and is now also the key to interacting with (and perhaps integrating into) Israeli society.

The Hebrew charter schools model has the potential to become the new entry-level or highest common factor in Jewish education, displacing both the afternoon school model and (to some extent) fully-fledged Jewish days schools. The last, in any event accounts for only some 3% of the non-Orthodox school-going population.

Lessons learned from the pilot venture in Brooklyn can thereafter be applied to the proposed national network, with a body of documentation (applications, curricula, etc.) and best practices quickly being assembled. (While the model is particular to the US, I am hopeful that the example and experience will lead to the existence of a global network or trend.)

Jewish communities need to address or put aside their concerns and grab this model for Jewish cultural survival with both hands. We can no longer afford to rely on DNA or osmosis to transmit our culture, history and values to the next generation. We pride ourselves for having invented universal education in the Western sense. It’s now time to reclaim our invention and our children’s education with it. Simply put, Hebrew charter schools have the potential to completely transform Jewish education - and by extension Jewish life - in the Diaspora over the next one or two generations.

Only one other question now remains to be answered. Why is it taking one maverick mega-donor to do what our whole ecosystem of (presumably) highly paid Jewish professionals, federations and fund-raising bodies were seemingly incapable of doing?

Links/Reading/Resources:

1. Michael Steinhardt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. No Bull: My Life In and Out of Markets
3. Birthright Israel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
4. NJ Jewish News on-line | Megadonor offers harsh words on state of Jewish community
5. FailedMessiah.com: Are Jewish Charter Schools A Good Idea?
6. Steinhardt Seeks Hebrew Charter School Here
7. Mega-Donor Throws Clout Behind Hebrew Charter School - Forward.com
8. HEBREW BROUHAHA - New York Post

Related:

1. Israeli expatriates leading the way with day schools?
2. The best investment in Jewish continuity
3. The Haredisation of Jewish Education in SA
4. A Big Tent approach to worldwide Jewish education

Technorati Tags: Hebrew charter school, Hyphenated Jews, Israeli society, Jewish continuity, Jewish culture, Jewish day school, Jewish education, Jewish history, Jewish identity, Jewish philanthropy, Michael Steinhardt, Taglit-Birthright Israel

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Altneuland.info featured on SustainabiliTank

The SustainabiliTank (Sustainable Development Media Think Tank) website has featured a number of posts from Altneuland over the last few months. Posts featured have included the following:

• Is there something Israeli agriculture can learn from Africa? The Kenyan move to organic farming, motivated by both European markets and local demand.
• Building the wrong canal: An alternative to the Red-Dead Canal My proposal for a Med-Kinneret Aqueduct as an alternative to the Red-Dead Canal.
• Mount Arbel: Greenwashing golfing greens I’m still surprised at how little opposition there’s been to the development of a golf resort on the ecologically sensitive Mount Arbel, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
• Replacing felled trees: necessary but insufficient The replacement of felled mature trees on a one for one basis is insufficient. Authorities need to consider a ratio of six (saplings) to one felled mature tree.
• Save all the beaches? Starting with Palmachim beach? A roundup of local initiatives to save particular natural sites in Israel.
• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for Israel? My January 2008 piece concerning the burgeoning Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) movement in Israel.

You can search for all Altneuland’s featured articles by clicking on the following search link:

http://www.sustainabilitank.info/?s=Altneuland

The SustainabiliTank website includes substantial coverage of sustainable development and other green issues concerning Israel, which you can find here:

SustainabiliTank: Israel

According to Pincas Jawetz, the publisher of SustainabiliTank ,

Israel is the country that stands most to gain from the world's decreased dependence on oil. We always looked upon the Israelis as the potential natural leaders in developing alternate fuels. Israel has the manpower, scientific institutions, and the private enterprise needed for such an endeavor. In effect, going back to the 1950's, it had people aware of the problems that come from being dependent on oil when living in an unfriendly neighborhood. Israelis worked on oil shales first, then on solar, biomass, and geothermal technologies; the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) has even created a "Commission for Future Generations" when it became obvious that for environmental reasons, as well as for sustainable development reasons, the world will have to switch to non-fossil fuels. Nevertheless, Israel itself did not implement these technologies, it also did not give away for free the technologies it did develop, perhaps because of political reasons resulting from the government's close relation to the US. In effect the Environment Ministry became a repository for politicians with other aspirations. In its own interest, as journalist Thomas Friedman said - "petrolism" is the main reason for lack of peace in the Middle East - the Israeli government should have taken a more aggressive position on this subject, one seriously wonders why this did not happen.

We launched this Israel section on SustainabiliTank.info because we realized that above may change, if not through the leadership of the government, then at least through the push of NGOs and perhaps with the help of aggregates of local government.

Technorati Tags: Altneuland.info, Arboriculture, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Green Zionism, Israeli agriculture, Maskil, Med-Kinneret Aqueduct, Mount Arbel, Palmachim Beach, Red-Dead Canal, SustainabiliTank, Sustainable Development Media Think Tank

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