Jerusalem, D.C.?

In a post last Sunday, I suggested that – in view of the likely outcome of Jerusalem’s municipal election - the Israeli central government may eventually be obliged to take over some or all aspects of Jerusalem’s administration.

My reasons for suggesting this somewhat drastic step had to do with the deterioration of the city’s composition, standing and infrastructure under the relatively benign rule of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Mayor Uri Lupolianski, and the expected further deterioration under the most likely mayoral candidate, MK Meir Porush. Porush is widely expected to end all pretence of running an administration for the benefit of all Jerusalem’s inhabitants, and simply focus on the narrow sectional interests of the Haredim.

It seems I’m not alone in this view. In an article in Haaretz (Yeruham in Jerusalem) published a couple of days later, Anshel Pfeffer appears to have independently arrived at the same conclusion. Judging by the relatively few comments on the article, the article seems to have largely flown under the radar. The conclusion read as follows:

The only long-term solution for Jerusalem's ills is legislation that would expropriate substantial portions of the municipality's authority and transfer it to a special ministry or government department established for this purpose. Various detailed proposals along these lines already exist, such as one to establish a super-municipality that would manage the capital's entire urban expanse, including the satellite cities of Mevasseret Zion, Tzur Hadassah and Ma'aleh Adumim, while splitting Jerusalem into several quarters that would run their own municipal affairs autonomously.

Opponents of such a move will charge that it is anti-democratic. Yet far older democracies treat their capitals in similar ways. The American constitution gives Washington, D.C., special status, and some of its affairs are managed by the federal government. In 1985, the British parliament voted to abolish the Greater London Council, on the grounds that it had become wasteful and inefficient.

Israel's government has every justification for assuming responsibility for its capital city.

This may or may not be the answer, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that radical steps do need to be taken to address the urban decay, demographic imbalance and the flight of capital and jobs from the city.

Jerusalem, D.C. or Haredistan? As with most other things in life, not choosing also ends up being a choice.

(Hat tip to Joel Katz (Religion and State in Israel) for bringing the Haaretz article to my notice.)

Links/Reading/Resources:

Yeruham in Jerusalem - Haaretz - Israel News

Related posts:

Altneuland: The real demographic threat?

Altneuland: Exorcising the Haredi Golem

Altneuland: Jerusalem of Gold or Jerusalem of Black?

Technorati Tags: Anshel Pfeffer, Haredi, Jerusalem, Ultra-Orthodox

Is commenting on JTA worth the frustration?

Is anyone else out there finding commenting on items on the JTA website to be almost more hassle that it’s worth?

This morning I attempted to submit a comment, only to have the “Post rejected” message displayed, with no further explanation given. I then switched from the Firefox 3.x browser to IE7. This time, after clicking on Submit Post, the article was simply refreshed and the comment vanished, without any rejection or confirmation message. I tried again using Flock (Eco-Edition), and the comment was finally accepted.

I don’t have the coComment extension installed on Flock though, so I had to go back to Firefox in order to manually paste the text into coComment.

It’s just as well I always compose my comments using a word processor, then copy and paste to the web, or the exercise would have been even more frustrating.

The JTA website’s support for coComment (or vice-versa) is at best a little uneven. coComment works fine on JTA blogs such as The Telegraph, but tends to be unreliable when used along with the main JTA website.

You can access my coComment comments here.

By the way, although the comments footer for an article usually displays the message “Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically”, if you do enter a URL in your comment, it will almost certainly be rejected. How about some consistency here?

One more thing: Why is the count of comments on JTA items always out by one? An article with 1 comment shows 0, while an article with 2 comments shows as 1, etc.

With the exception of the coComment issue (which is not really the JTA’s problem), I have reported all these irritating bugs to the JTA - most on more than one occasion - without any response or resolution.

coComment, Flock (Eco-Edition), JTA

Jerusalem of Gold or Jerusalem of Black?

The traditional distinction between the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalem is reflected in the gap between the Ideal Jerusalem - the eternal, undivided capital of Israel and the Jewish people - and the Real Jerusalem as it is today.

Unlike the Ideal Jerusalem, the Real Jerusalem (or at least its unity) looks more and more up for grabs in any deal with the PA. Also unlike the Ideal Jerusalem, the Real Jerusalem is becoming ever more unwelcoming and divorced from the rest of Israel in its demographic composition and political make-up.

What are the likely scenarios for the future of Jerusalem within the internal Israeli context (i.e. leaving aside the conflict with the PA)? Can it still be saved for Israel and remain connected to the (non-Haredi) Jewish people, or do we need to start nominating “candidate cities” for a new capital? There are only really two scenarios, with everything else being something somewhere in between. They are:

Jerusalem of Gold. Some form of non-Haredi coalition manages to take back the city on behalf of its inhabitants (as well as the rest of the country and the Jewish people at large). Industry and a more diverse population balance are gradually restored. This is the option that should be favoured by any one who cares about both the Ideal and the Real Jerusalem.

Jerusalem of Black. More of the same. The ultra-Orthodox hegemony over the city continues and deepens. The secular, traditional and Modern Orthodox continue to flee, along with initiative, enterprise and jobs. The city becomes poorer, more corrupt, disheveled, nepotistic, and more of a burden on the Israeli taxpayer. This looks to be the most likely scenario.

How should Israel – Everyman’s Israel – respond if the 2nd scenario – Jerusalem of Black - prevails? Simply accepting it as a fait accompli is an option, but it pretty much amounts to calling the whole Zionist enterprise a failure. I would suggest instead a more radical response, one that tackles the issue head-on instead of allowing it to fester:

Option 1. Unilaterally declare Jerusalem to now be the capital and territory of a separate state, to be known as Haredistan. In this way, Israel will rid itself of its most insidious demographic problem, while the Haredim will achieve their cherished ambition of a theocracy. The inhabitants of Bnei Brak could be given the option of migrating to Haredistan, in exchange for any remaining secular inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Option 2. Declare Greater Jerusalem to be Israel’s Capital District, administered by a Governor and some form of council appointed by and responsible to central government. The mayor (or Ayatollah in this case) would have only ceremonial functions. This is the option I favour.

The Capital District Governor and his or her council would be responsible for putting in place a regime with the following mandate:

• Redefine and tighten up the boundaries of Jerusalem to exclude those areas that should rather be considered territory designated for the PA.
• Draw up plans to attract commerce, industry and a more diverse and representative population back to Jerusalem.
• Dissolve and reconstitute the administration of Jerusalem to eliminate corruption, nepotism, inefficiency and bias towards any particular sector of the population.
• Put in place spatial planning that will protect what remains of the natural environment and built heritage, identify and backfill development in the core areas of the city (rather than expanding ever outwards) and create diverse and mixed usage neighbourhoods.
• With the assistance of the appropriate central government bodies, restore the rule of law. This would include preventing illegal construction by all parties, eliminating no-go areas (by force, if necessary) and breaking up the activities of Sabbath enforcers, modesty patrols and other sundry Taliban tendencies.
• Attract tourism that does not misguidedly see run-down ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods and their natives as “quaint” or “picturesque”.
• Prepare the city and its population and institutions for an eventual return to democracy at the local level.
• Simply put, transform Jerusalem into an appropriate capital city for the revived Jewish people, a capital we can all be proud of.

Is this proposal undemocratic? Perhaps. Remember, though, that the Haredi sector has no commitment to democracy, but simply see it as a vehicle to take them to their particular destination. They have thoroughly abused democracy in order to promote their own narrow sectional interests, at the expense of the city and the rest of its bewildered inhabitants. Democratic local government can be restored once there is a culture and an understanding that the city does not belong exclusively to a fraction (however large) of those who live there.

None of the above will be possible under the present government (or any government we can envisage right now). I realize this all also sounds a little unrealistic (even to me), but that simply highlights how far from normal or acceptable the situation in Jerusalem (in truth, Israel as a whole) has become.

If we – not just the Israelis, but the Jewish people as a whole – are prepared to live with the intolerable then we may as well all pack up and go “home”, wherever home may turn out to be. We certainly don’t deserve the privilege of being able to call Jerusalem of Gold our eternal, undivided capital.

If we can’t achieve this, then we need to admit our failure, go back to the original UN partition plan and allow Jerusalem to become an “International City”.

Links/Reading/Resources:

1. Haredi MK tapped as candidate for Jerusalem mayor poses 'real test' for secular – Haaretz
2. Make national elections more local - Jerusalem Post
3. A remote ultra-Orthodox city - Haaretz
4. sustainable Jerusalem
5. The New Jerusalem: Planning and Politics

Technorati Tags: Earthly and Heavenly Jerusalem, Greater Jerusalem, Haredim, Haredistan, Ideal and Real Jerusalem, International City, Town and country planning, Ultra-Orthodox, Urban and regional planning

Last Post for South Africa's Machal 800?

This post will probably be of interest mainly to my readers in South Africa (or those with a South African connection), less so to my readers in other countries.

The South African Zionist Federation in Israel published the item below on its Telfed Online website under the heading “South Africa's 800”. I haven’t seen it published in the SA Jewish press (I may have overlooked it), so I’ve reproduced it here on the off-chance that a visitor to this site may be able to assist.

Approximately 800 Southern Africans (see exact numbers below) took part in Israel’s War of Independence as members of Machal (Mitnadvei Chutz L'Aretz). According to the item on Telfed Online (posted on Thu 2008/07/03):

The book, South Africa's 800 by Henry Katzew, (the story of South African volunteers in Israel’s war of birth), shows that 836 South Africans had participated. The editing team has successfully classified 799 of them, concerning their activities at the time, military units or Kibbutzim.

The following 37 names, with their 1948 home town or 1968 place of residence are still unclassified. Anyone who might have information concerning these person's activities in 1948 are invited to contact of these emails:

doreen (at) sw.co.il, or lanesman (at) 013.net

• Aftergood, Fred - Sderot Wingate, Haifa
• Benatar, Samuel - Elizabethville, Congo
• Bernstein, Elana - Berea, Johannesburg
• Braudo, Muriel - Gwelo, Rhodesia
• Brener, Lily - Riviera, Johannesburg
• Burman, Philip - Wynberg, Cape
• Capelluto, Yacov - Elizabethville, Congo
• Dawson, Edwin - Wakefield, Rhodesia
• Durner, Alfred - Lancashire, UK
• Herman, Robert Albert - Kroonstad, OFS
• Herzfeld, Lazlo - Nairobi, Kenya
• Hershowitz, Thelma - Berea, Johannesburg
• Horwitch, Lydia - c/o Pioneer Press, Cape Town
• Israel, Albert - Chilonga, Rhodesia
• Israel, Itzhak - Wakefield, Rhodesia
• Jackson, Joe - Doornfontein, Johannesburg
• Jacobson, Monty - Yeoville, Johannesburg
• Karanowitch, Baruch - Wandel Street, Cape Town
• Katz, Joseph - Salisbury, Rhodesia
• Kerbel, George - Sokolow Street, Tel Aviv
• Kimmel, Joe,- Bloemfontein OFS
• Lawrence,Rina- Birmingham, UK
• Lipman, Robert -Wolmarans Street, Johannesburg
• Matheson, Isaac - Berea, Johannesburg
• Miller, Leslie - Hillbrow, Johannesburg
• Potel, Joseph - Salisbury, Rhodesia
• Rabinowitch, Percy Mark - Wakefield, Rhodesia
• Sacks, Zvi - Obervatory Ext. Johannesburg
• Shelley, George Thomas - Que Que, Rhodesia
• Sher, Percy - Vredehoek Cape Town
• Stark, Gerald - Glenwood, Durban
• Stern Maurice - P.O.Box 203, Tel Aviv
• Van Harn, Ferdinand - HaCarmel, Haifa
• Wallace, David - Sunnyside, Pretoria
• Weigert, Hans - Melbourne, Australia
• Weinberg, Arthur - P.O.Box 3924, Johannesburg
• Wilkes, Bernard - Salisbury, Rhodesia

The book “South Africa's 800” referred to above was (perhaps unfortunately) self-published by Col. (Res.) David (Migdal) Teperson on behalf of the Machal Museum, and is therefore not available through the usual sources. I would be happy to publish details should there be any interest.

(On a personal note, my late Uncle Ron, late Aunt Sylvie and Aunt Doreen all served in Machal.)

South Africa's 800 | Telfed Online

Machal

Machal - Volunteers In The War Of Independence

Technorati Tags: David (Migdal) Teperson, Israel’s War of Independence, Machal, Mitnadvei Chutz L'Aretz, South African Zionist Federation, South Africa's 800, Telfed Online

Google Knol: The Next Big Thing for anti-Semitism 2.0?

In a couple of earlier posts, I added my voice to the concerns at the abuse of the Wikipedia project to disseminate anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias in the guise of objective, consensus scholarship, and at the use of the electronic self-publishing media in general to propagate anti-Semitic slurs, stereotypes and falsehoods.

The launch of Google’s Knol (“unit of knowledge”) project potentially provides another channel for the haters to exploit. I thought it would be useful to look at reasons why this may or may not happen, and what measures those working to counter this “Electronic Intifada” (in the generic sense) could take to prevent a worst-case scenario.

Factors that may promote abuse

As with its other user content services (e.g. Blogger, YouTube), Google has already announced that it will not play a role in editing or vetting content on Knol.

While procedures will no doubt be put in place to remove content flagged as inappropriate, our experience with YouTube tells us that the process may lengthy, ineffective, or both.

Given Google’s aim to provide user-friendly content creation and editing tools, it would be relatively simple to create new hate content as quickly as the old article is taken down. This may be as simple as copying and pasting the deleted material into a new Knol, perhaps with a few cosmetic changes.

Factors that may discourage abuse

Knols are attributed to named authors or contributors, unlike the anonymous model used for Wikipedia. Each contributor has an author profile (apparently linked to a Gmail address), and unverified profiles can immediately be considered suspect.

Knol provides for comments, ratings and reviews for each article, as well as the “Flag inappropriate content” indicator. (I’m not sure whether any of these can be turned off by the contributor, but it seems unlikely.)

Unlike Wikipedia, there is no one single authoritative article for a particular subject, e.g. a biased Knol with the subject of Intifada or Nakba would have to fight for readership with more scholarly or objective contributions.

Without the difficult to penetrate Wikipedia editing model, Knol provides a far more level playing field.

The credentials of authors or joint contributors can be examined and potential users of the content alerted in need, e.g. by means of commenting and rating.

(The fact that the Google executive responsible for Knol (Udi Manber) is an Israeli expatriate is unlikely to influence matters either way.)

Conclusions

So, will Google’s Knol prove to be the Next Big Thing for promoting anti-Semitism 2.0? In my opinion, not, unless we allow it to happen. It provides far less fertile ground for promoting hatred of Israel and Zionism and anti-Semitism in general. It will need to be closely monitored, however, and the various players in the Hasbara space will need to gear up to identify and counter bias.

Knol appears to provide a far more democratic and transparent medium for subject matter experts to self-publish. To my mind, that immediately favours those fighting against anti-Semitism, bias and hate.

Knol cannot be allowed to degenerate into the same murky state as Wikipedia in the anti-Israel space. Gearing up at an early stage may be the best way to prevent this from happening.

Where to from here?

Media monitoring and Hasbara groups such as CAMERA, GIYUS.ORG, HonestReporting, Israel Hasbara Committee, Israel News Agency, Jewish Virtual Library (Myths & Facts) and The Israel Project (apologies to those I haven’t mentioned) as well as the J-Blogosphere as a whole should begin taking an interest in Knol, including the following activities:

Conduct regular searches of Knol content for articles of concern.

Encourage volunteers to register on the site and begin becoming familiar with the functionality provided to comment, flag, rate or review articles.

Become familiar with the profiles of those submitting articles of Jewish interest and identify any with a consistent bias against Israel.

Encourage the subject matter experts in our midst to begin contributing Knols in their field/s of expertise. An article concerning refugees (both Jewish and Arab) from Israel’s War of Independence, for instance, may be a good place to start. The Knol model does allow for articles to be monetized through Google AdSense, so there may even be a financial incentive for this (this cuts both ways, of course).

Knol and Wikipedia

Whether intentional or not, there is little doubt that Knol will eventually compete head-on with Wikipedia for mind-share and mouse clicks. Given Google’s financial and technical muscle and Knol’s more open and transparent editing model, there is little doubt who will win in the long run.

We cannot simply write off Wikipedia, however. It remains the repository for some 10 million (!) articles (about a quarter of those in English) of varying trustworthiness, and users will continue to rely on it until such time as a tipping point has been reached. My own blog posts (including this one) are peppered with references to Wikipedia articles, and to date I’ve found nothing to take its place as an online research tool.

While those dealing with Hasbara cannot afford to abandon Wikipedia to the “Electronic Intifada”, I believe Knol can and should become the preferred address for new and updated content in the “Internet Haganah” space (once again in the generic sense, rather than that specific website).

Links/Reading/Resources:

1. Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. Knol: a unit of knowledge
3. Blogger: Create your Blog Now -- FREE
4. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
5. Knol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
6. Gmail: Email from Google
7. The Intifada
8. Palestine Nakba 1948
9. Udi Manber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
10. Anti-Semitism 2.0 Going Largely Unchallenged
11. Hasbara - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
12. CAMERA: Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
13. GIYUS.ORG - Give Israel Your United Support
14. HonestReporting: monitoring mideast media anti-Israel bias.
15. Israel Hasbara Committee
16. Israel News Agency Terrorism IDF Internet
17. Myths & Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict
18. The Israel Project
19. Israel Advocacy Resource Guide
20. J-Blogosphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21. The Palestinian Refugees
22. INTERNET HAGANAH
23. Internet Haganah - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
24. Israel News : Google Knol Encyclopedia To Replace Wikipedia

Related posts:

1. Altneuland: Is CAMERA trying to warp Wikipedia?
2. Altneuland: Anti-Semitism 2.0: Just hit Enter

Technorati Tags: Anti-Israel, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Semitism 2.0, Anti-Zionism, CAMERA, Electronic Intifada, GIYUS.ORG, Google Knol, Hasbara, HonestReporting, Internet Haganah, Intifada, Israel Hasbara Committee, Israel News Agency, J-Blogosphere, Jewish Virtual Library (Myths & Facts), Media monitoring, Nakba, The Israel Project, Udi Manber, Wikipedia