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Elder of Ziyon
50 Jerusalem Facts for the 50th Anniversary of Its Reunification
Israelis will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jerusalem’s reunification on May 23-24 of this year. Leading up to the holy city’s semi-centennial milestone, here are 50 facts highlighting the rich tapestry of Israel’s capital:Rabbi Sacks on Jerusalem: The 50th Anniversary of Reunification (h/t Elder of Lobby)
Reunification
1. Jerusalem Day is an Israeli national holiday that commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War.
2. During the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem, Jews were not allowed to access their holy sites, including the Western Wall.
History
3. Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times and destroyed twice during the past 3,000 years.
4. Israel is the only country to enter the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees; you can enjoy some of them during a picnic or barbecue in the Jerusalem Forest.
5. The name “Jerusalem” most likely comes from “Urusalim,” a word of Semitic origin meaning “Foundation of Shalem (wholeness)” — or “Foundation of God.”
As we approach Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) on the 23rd / 24th May, and the 50th anniversary of the reunification of our beloved city, here are a few thoughts about what Jerusalem means to me. (This video includes captions in Hebrew. If you wish to receive an MP4 version of this video for use in your community, school or organisation on Yom Yerushalayim, please email info@rabbisacks.org and put 'Jerusalem 50 video' in the subject line.)
Thousands of Six Day War documents declassified
Israel on Thursday released thousands of previously classified official documents charting political decisions during the 1967 Six-Day War when it reclaimed Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem..
Made public by the Israel State Archives ahead of the 50th anniversary of the June 5-10 conflict, the 150,000 pages contain minutes of the wartime security cabinet and transcripts of other ministerial meetings, a government statement said.
At the end of the fighting with Egypt, Jordan and Syria the Jewish state was left in control of Judea and Samaria, the Gaza Strip, eastern Jerusalem, part of the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula.
The publication gives access to unpublished information on the war, long the object of research and historical writing.
"For the first time in 50 years it will be possible to closely follow the dynamic within the government regarding the Six-Day War," chief archivist Yaakov Lazovik said in the statement.
‘Tis The Season Of Anti-Semitism
It’s been a good season for anti-Semites. Jewish students graduating CUNY will have as their last memory of the school some inspiring words from professional anti-Semite Linda Sarsour, who believes a Jewish homeland has no place in the community of nations, Sharia should be law, and Zionist women cannot be feminists.Justice for Malki: Put killer in jail
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who has been involved in a long string of anti-Semitic controversies, finally did something even the British Labour Party could not ignore. He called Hitler a Zionist.
But Livingstone was merely suspended from party membership, not expelled. And why should he have been? After all, he was merely echoing sentiments that many in his party seem to hold.
In the Middle East, as the Palestine Authority seeks to loosen Hamas’ grip on Gaza by refusing to pay its electricity bills, the UN has stepped in to tell Israel that it is its obligation, as the occupying party, to intervene and supply its sworn existential enemy with power for free. Israel, of course, has not occupied Gaza since 2005.
In the Alice in Wonderland world of the UN, Israel is still occupying Gaza, but its presence in a united Jerusalem does not legally exist. Israel’s excavations in Jerusalem that underscore the Jewish presence there for millennia and contradict Islamic make-believe history are ordered to cease. Israel will not comply.
Whatever the anti-Semitic UN does in its pandering to Islamic nonsense, generated by the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish people and has been so for over three thousand years. As one Israeli official put it, our history is embedded in every stone. (h/t vwVwwVwv)
PRESSURE is mounting on Jordan to extradite convicted terrorist Ahlam Tamimi, who killed 15-year-old Australian Malki Roth and 14 others.Trump refuses to visit Ramallah
Tamimi orchestrated a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2001 and should have spent the rest of her life in an Israeli prison.
But in 2011 she was released as part of the Hamas prisoner-exchange deal that saw the release of Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit.
Roth’s father Arnold however was not willing to accept that his daughter’s killer was free and demanded justice for Malki and the other victims. He contacted the FBI because Malki was an American citizen and, last month, Tamimi was the 29th person added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list.
The United States immediately sought Tamimi’s extradition from Jordan, where she now lives, for charges of “conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside of the US against US nationals”.
It took Jordan less than a week to block the extradition process.
An official in the Trump administration told Arutz Sheva today that US President Donald Trump is not interested in visiting Ramallah during his upcoming visit to Israel.PMW: Special Report: PA schools named after terrorists and Nazi collaborators
According to the official, a meeting in Ramallah would be making a statement, and the President’s advisers have recommended against any statement that could be interpreted in undesirable ways.
Trump’s staff responsible for coordinating his trip agreed with the PA that the President would instead meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem. Once a predominantly Christian city, Bethlehem has seen a dramatic decline in its Christian population, now down to about 20%, as a result of PA persecution.
The official refused to relate to the claims that Trump’s advisers had recommended that he visit the Western Wall without an Israeli official for the same reason.
28 PA schools named after terroristsFatah rally honors murderers
3 PA schools named after Nazi collaborators
When PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met with President Donald Trump at the White House, Abbas said that the Palestinians teach their children and grandchildren "a culture of peace."
But Abbas' embracing a "culture of peace" in Washington is meaningless when his schools in Ramallah embrace a culture of terror. As Palestinian Media Watch has already exposed, the PA systematically teaches Palestinian children to hate Israelis and perpetrate violence against them. This special report shows that even the names that the Palestinian Authority has chosen for its schools encourage children to see terrorists as personal role models.
The Palestinian Authority has named at least 28 schools after terrorists and at least 3 schools after Nazi collaborators.
PMW: Girl's poem repeats PA libel that Israel murdered Arafat
The Palestinian Authority frequently publishes libels that demonize Israel and the Jews in its ongoing attempts to train the Palestinian population to reject peace with Israel. One such libel claims that Israel poisoned Arafat to death.
The spreading of this libel has become so successful that even children reiterate it. In an episode of official PA TV's children's program The Best Home, a girl repeated the libel in a poem she had written, while the show's guest PA Minister of Education Sabri Saidam listened:
Palestinian girl: "On the occasion of Arafat's death, I wrote a poem and I would like to read it:
Where are you, Arafat?
The treacherous occupier killed you
In order to destroy and take over this land
They poisoned you and thought they had killed you
They did not know that all [our] people love you and follow your path
So that we will liberate Palestine
We will always stand firm until all of Palestine is liberated
Millions of Martyrs are marching towards Jerusalem"
PA TV host:"Bravo!" [Official PA TV, The Best Home, March 17, 2017]
Fatah official: “Jesus was a Palestinian”
Danish FM to give 30 million shekels to anti-Israel groups
Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen is scheduled to hold a series of meetings in Ramallah on Thursday, where, according to official documents issued by the Danish government, he will announce an additional 30 million shekels ($8.3 million) in Danish funding for an organization that in turn funds a string of anti-Israel groups.Netanyahu asks Denmark to stop funding BDS
The money will go to the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, an organization funded by Denmark along with Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands, which operates from Birzeit University, near Ramallah.
According to watchdog group NGO Monitor, a hefty portion of the Secretariat's budget is appropriated to anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian organizations that incite to violence, glorify terror, champion the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel across the globe, seek to indict Israeli officials at the International Criminal Court and make spurious charges of Israeli "apartheid" and "war crimes."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening met with Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen.Swedish parties show solidarity with Palestinian Arab terrorists
The two discussed bilateral cooperation in the field of innovation, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu also told Samuelsen that the true reason for the absence of a solution to the Israel-Palestinian Authority conflict is incitement and asked that Denmark halt assistance to Palestinian Arab organizations that support BDS activity.
Netanyahu’s request came the NGO Monitor organization revealed that Samuelsen will hold a series of meetings in Ramallah on Thursday, where according to documents published by the Danish government, he will announce an additional $8.3 million in Danish funding to the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (the Secretariat), which distributes funds to numerous anti-Israel organizations.
The Secretariat is a joint funding mechanism of the Danish, Dutch, Swedish, and Swiss governments, operating out of Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, noted NGO Monitor.
A photo on Facebook showing Swedish Social Democratic MEP Marita Ulvskog holding up a poster of arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti has stirred up feelings in Sweden. Barghouti is convicted of three terror attacks in which five Israelis were murdered.Macron unveils diverse cabinet featuring critics, advocates of Israel
Many Swedes are now disgusted and see Ulvskog’s action as a proof that the Swedish MEP and her party are supporting terrorism. But little do they know that support for terror is common in the Left and Social Democratic parties in Sweden and that many Palestinian associations in Sweden support terror organisations and terrorists of such organisations.
To be honest I was not really surprised to see the MEP Ulvskog with a poster of Barghouti. A year ago she took part in an art project in support of Palestinian prisoners. In this art project she and other European politicians were photographed behind bars, in solidarity with the Palestinian ”political prisoners”. Her new photo with the poster of Barghouti just proves what kind of ”political prisoners” the European MEPs were supporting last year: Terrorists, nothing more or less.
But Ulvskog was not the only one from her party supporting Palestinian terror convicted prisoners recently. Last Saturday Palestinians in the Swedish city of Uppsala held a manifestation for the currently hunger striking Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails. A local branch of Ulvskog’s party sent a letter of solidarity with the terrorists, which were read out loud in this pro terror event. And on Labour Day this year Palestinian associations marched in several cities in support of Palestinian prisoners.
In 2014, Le Drian wrote in a statement that France “condemns” the firing of rockets into Israel “but requests that Israel” minimize any harm to civilians in its attacks on Hamas.All 50 American governors sign anti-BDS statement
Macron appointed Edouard Philippe, a lawmaker from the moderate wing of the main center-right The Republicans party, as prime minister.
Macron appointed to health minister Agnes Buzyn, a physician born to a Polish Jewish couple. Her father survived the Holocaust and her mother was born in France shortly after the war to Jewish immigrants from Poland. She is one of 11 women whom Macron made ministers – exactly half of his cabinet.
Francois Bayrou, a billionaire-turned-politician who has in the past criticized what he has called Israel’s “arbitrary and unjust arrests of Palestinians,” among other alleged actions by the Jewish state, was named minister of state – a position equivalent to minister without portfolio which nonetheless suggests seniority.
Bruno le Maire of The Republicans party was made minister of the economy. Pro-Israel activists in France regard him as a staunch ally and defender of the Jewish state, according to the right-leaning news site Alyaexpress.
Governors of all 50 states have signed a pledge to reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.Hebrew U under fire for refusal to play national anthem at graduation
Organized by the American Jewish Committee, the Governors United Against BDS statement declares that “the goals of the BDS movement are antithetical to our values and the values of our respective states, our support for Israel as a vital US ally, important economic partner and champion of freedom.”
The statement does not commit the governors to specific actions, although signers “reaffirm our support for Israel as a vital US ally, important economic partner and champion of freedom.” At least 16 states have passed legislation targeting BDS, usually by banning state entities from investing in businesses that boycott Israel or its settlements.
“[O]ur nation’s 50 governors, as well as the District of Columbia mayor, recognize the pernicious goals of the BDS movement, which singles out Israel from among all the nations of the world for relentless and undue criticism, and whose efforts undermine the prospects for advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace,” AJC CEO David Harris said in a statement Wednesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called the decision by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem not to play the national anthem at a departmental graduation ceremony "shameful."ADL Rips City College of New York President for ‘Dismissive, Inappropriate, Misleading’ Response to Shout-Down of Israeli Diplomat
The Dean of the School of Humanities at the university has decided not to play the "Hatikva" at the end of the school’s graduation ceremony set to take place Thursday evening out of consideration for Arab and Muslim students.
"This is the peak of subservience, the opposite of national pride," Netanyahu said of the decision. "We are proud of our country, our flag, our national anthem, and this only reinforces my opinion to pass the national law that we are leading in order to anchor into law the national symbols that are so dear to us."
Education Minister and head of the Council for Higher Education Naftali Bennett called Hebrew University President Menahem Ben Sasson on Thursday seeking explanation over the controversy.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released an open letter on Wednesday expressing concern over the “dismissive and inappropriate manner” in which the president of City College of New York (CCNY) responded to a student disruption of a talk by an Israeli diplomat last week.Gerald Steinberg: Swan song for Schabas
The heads of the ADL’s New York chapter wrote that they were “troubled” by CCNY Interim President Vincent Boudreau’s statement on the protests that erupted during Israeli Consul General to New York Dani Dayan’s on-campus Q&A session last Thursday. In his comments, Boudreau referred to Dayan as “a well-known advocate of expanding Israeli settlements in the contested territories, a position that generates great opposition and anger among some in our community.”
“While it is true that in his previous capacity Ambassador Dayan represented the Israeli settlement movement, he currently serves as the official diplomat in New York for Israel, and not as a settler advocate,” wrote ADL leaders Evan Bernstein and Andrew Frackman. “Your statement’s failure to mention this important detail, and portrayal of Ambassador Dayan as a nameless, provocative ideologue, is not only misleading and dismissive of the ambassador, but may be seen as justifying the lack of civility demonstrated by some students to the Consul General during the question and answer portion of his presentation.”
Dayan, who has a residence in the West Bank town of Ma’ale Shomron, previously served on the executive committee and as chairman of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of municipal councils representing Israeli settlements. He has dismissed the notion that settlements are the main obstacle to achieving peace with the Palestinians as “nonsense.”
In August 2014, William Schabas was appointed to head the latest UN Human Rights Council “investigation” into alleged Israeli war crimes. This was supposed to be the culmination of his career – for many years, the Canadian academic and legal consultant had been obsessing over Israel. In October 2012, he told the audience at the pseudo-legal event known as the “Russell Tribunal on Palestine” in New York of his goal of putting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “in the dock” of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over war crimes in Gaza. The context was the January 2009 conflict, when Ehud Olmert, and not Netanyahu, was prime minister, but for Schabas, the details were irrelevant.St. Olaf Students Demand 'Christian Zionist' Adviser Arne Christenson Be Removed
However, Schabas has now suddenly resigned after the exposure of his consulting job with the PLO. The failure to disclose this obvious conflict of interest violates one of the basic principles that lawyers are supposed to follow, and highlights the lack of due diligence by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which selected Schabas. As in many similar cases, the revelation also raises the question of other skeletons that might be hiding in his closet.
For example, there is the relationship between Schabas and Shawan Jabarin – an alleged senior PFLP activist and director of Al Haq, an NGO centrally involved in the lawfare strategy of attacking Israel by exploiting international judicial frameworks.
A coalition of students at St. Olaf, a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has demanded the removal of Arne Christenson, head of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, from an advisory board at the school due to his association with the pro-Israel organization.The Independent Embeds Tweet Calling for Israel’s Destruction
Former Minnesota Congressman Vin Weber, who was Christenson's boss from 1990-1992, told the College Fix that the demand from a coalition of "marginalized students of color, multicultural and international students" is "insane."
The demand, the College Fix reports, comes in the wake of racial protests that shut down classes at St. Olaf on May 1. The protests were sparked after a student found a racist note on her car which was later confirmed as a hoax.
The group of students who call themselves "A Collective Change on the Hill" has since sent a list of demands to St. Olaf leaders aimed at curbing "institutionalized racism." Among the demands is a call for the ouster of Christenson who currently sits on the advisory board of The Institute for Freedom & Community.
The Independent has published a story on senior South African politicians and public figures showing solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike. The article is seriously imbalanced and amounts to nothing more than a means of highlighting a publicity stunt and promoting the Israeli apartheid libel.France 24 Arabic Headline Fail on Jerusalem Attack
The text and the chanting in the video: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” is commonly regarded as a blatant call for Israel’s destruction as it refers to all of the territory from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, which includes not only the West Bank and Gaza but Israel as well.
Is this message an appropriate one to include in an article in a mainstream media outlet with no explanation?
As for the article itself, The Independent gives significant space for a South African minister to compare Israel to apartheid South Africa and even to “note the growing number of South African Jews who have joined this 24-hour fast and are in protest against Israel’s discriminatory policies.” The article fails to follow up on this unverified claim.
France 24 Arabic has taken a page out of the book of the Jordanian government: blaming Israeli police for killing a Jordanian tourist, while ignoring the fact that the tourist repeatedly stabbed the Israeli officer in the head and neck. The wounded officer managed to fatally shoot his assailant.WaPo Posts Op-Ed by Anti-Semitic Islamic Preacher
France 24's article was drawn from AFP, whose solid headline in English was: "Jordanian stabs Israeli officer in Jerusalem, shot dead: police." In addition, the accompanying Arabic article notes that, according to police, the Jordanian attacked the officer with a knife. (Video of the Jordanian's attack on the officer substantiates the police's information.)
France 24's shoddy Arabic headline earned the media outlet an entry on CAMERA's popular document "Wave of Palestinian attacks accompanied by spate of bad writing." CAMERA has contacted Arabic France 24 editors to request a correction.
Meanwhile, France 24 in English has failed to correct its headline which erroneously identifies the Jordanian attacker as Palestinian. That error originated with an early AFP report, which was long ago corrected.
Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen penned an op-ed Tuesday titled "The Turkey I No Longer Know" in The Washington Post, complaining about the country's "downward authoritarian drift." He is described respectfully by WaPo as "an Islamic scholar, preacher, and social advocate," but in fact Gulen, who has been living in exile in the United States since 1999, leads the Gulen movement, also referred to by Turkish security services as the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).Burger King taken to court for delivering flyers at Dachau
Mainstream media in the U.S. have ignored the facts revealed in an op-ed from The Jerusalem Post last year which noted that Gulen – who has a worldwide Islamic political agenda – was “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” whose schools are influential in the worldwide private-school education network.
The Jerusalem Post noted that he is “virulently anti-Semitic and [his] belief system is irreconcilable with and deeply opposed to Christianity, the West and the US. An article published by Commentary in September 2013 reported a number of anti-Semitic writings by Gülen, uncovered by Harvard professors Dani Rodrik and Pina Dogan. These writings, copies of sermons Gülen gave in Turkey before escaping to the US in 1998 to avoid prosecution by the Turkish government for anti-secular activities, are in direct contrast to what he wants Jewish leaders to believe."
Burger King has been taken to court in Germany for handing out flyers at Dachau concentration camp when the stolen 'Work will set you free' gate was being returned.Ukraine urged to act against general who threatened to 'destroy Jews'
More than 800,000 people a year visit the remains of the first Nazi concentration camp in which more than 33,000 died between 1933 and 1945.
The foundation which operates Dachau as a memorial to its victims has been battling the fast food chain for years, claiming its staff has been handing out flyers to guests.
But the final straw appears to be when workers in Burger King uniform continued to do so when the gate reading 'Arbeit Macht Frei' was being delivered back to the site having been stolen.
The foundation has accused the burger chain of impiety and is facing off with it in court.
Dr Gabriele Hammermann, head of the memorial site, said: 'It's about keeping the dignity of the place.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center on Wednesday joined calls on the Ukrainian government to take action against retired Security Service General Vasily Vovk in the wake of a recent Facebook post in which he threatened to "destroy" the country's Jews.Bulgarian deputy minister quits over Nazi salute
Vovk, who still holds a senior reserve rank with the Security Service of Ukraine, posted on Facebook: “I am completely against Jews,” and “You are not Ukrainians and I will destroy you along with Rabinovich” – an apparent reference to Vadim Rabinovich, a Ukrainian Jewish businessman and politician.
He also wrote that "Ukraine must be governed by Ukrainians.”
A Bulgarian deputy minister whose ultra-nationalist party recently joined a coalition with the center-right resigned on Wednesday after a photo emerged of him doing a Nazi salute.Tillerson urged to deport Nazi guard living in Queens
The image, taken in 2008, shows Pavel Tenev raising his right arm in front of a soldier in a wax museum in Paris.
The scandal broke after Bulgarian media discovered the picture on Tenev’s Facebook account.
“I don’t share the (Nazi) ideology,” Tenev said at a press conference in Sofia, adding that his gesture had been meant in a “mocking” way.
“The tension this has created is not helpful for the government, so I’ve asked to be released from my duties,” he said.
A New York congressman has written to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, demanding he take action to deport a former Nazi death camp guard still living in Queens, The New York Daily News reports.How Israeli startups are driving the car technology revolution
Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens) wrote in the letter that time is running out to deport the man, 92-year-old Jakiw Palij.
"The United States has long acknowledged that Nazi crimes were beyond heinous, and I urge you to proceed quickly on this matter," Crowley wrote Tillerson on Tuesday, according to The New York Daily News.
He had previously sent similar letters to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
"If action isn't taken, it could mean that this individual may never face any form of justice," warned Crowley.
Palij, who lives in Jackson Heights, was a guard at the Trawniki concentration camp in occupied Poland, which was a training facility for death camp guards, and Jews were killed there as part of the exercises.
He was recruited in 1943 at age 18 to help operate the Treblinka concentration camp, working as a guard.
Israeli startups are revving their engines ahead of the country’s largest-ever “smart transportation” event.Israeli Researchers Use Cannabis to Reverse Aging Process in Mice
Over 200 local companies working in transportation technology will be at the EcoMotion Conference on Thursday at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa. The plan is to give auto industry giants a look under the hood of “Startup Nation.”
“Companies from around the world want to see what’s happening in Israel,” said Lior Zeno-Zamasky, the executive director of EcoMotion, a networking group for transportation technology companies in Israel that is organizing the conference. “The idea is ultimately to make deals, and I can tell you we’ve had a lot of success stories in the past.”
Israel in recent years has become an unlikely center for automotive innovation – it has no car manufacturing to speak of, and the country is notorious for its bad drivers.
As our brain ages, our cognitive abilities naturally decrease and it becomes more difficult to learn new things or devote attention to several things at the same time.Senator Ben Sasse Applauds Israeli Culture, Says Teens in Jewish State Understand ‘Actual Meaning of Life’
Researchers have long been looking for ways to slow down or even reverse this process.
Scientists at the University of Bonn in Germany and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem report in Nature Medicine that they have now achieved this goal in mice by administering a small quantity of THC, the active ingredient in the hemp plant (cannabis).
Mice have a short lifespan and begin displaying pronounced cognitive deficits even at one year old. So the researchers gave doses of THC to lab mice at the ages of 12 and 18 months over a period of four weeks.
A low dose was chosen to avoid any intoxicating effect in the mice.
After the regimen of treatment, the scientists tested learning capacity and memory performance in the animals – including, for instance, orientation skills and their ability to recognize other mice.
A rising star Republican senator commented positively on the wisdom of Israel’s teenagers, as opposed to the immaturity of their American counterparts, in a recent episode of a popular podcast hosted by a conservative political thinker.Talk this way: Aerosmith rocks out in Tel Aviv despite mic issues
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska — appearing on the May 8 episode of Conversations with Bill Kristol, a series of “in-depth, thought provoking discussions with some of America’s leading thinkers and figures in public life,” according to its website — was speaking about the US culture of “perpetual adolescence,” the subject he covers in his new book, The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis — and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance.
Halfway through the interview, Sasse brought up his experiences in the Jewish state some two-and-a-half years ago when during a dinner in a private home in Tel Aviv, he spoke with a couple of Israeli teenage boys preparing to be drafted into military service.
“Along the way, I asked them some question about what [they] think about American high school kids,” said Sasse. “[They told me], ‘We have a bunch of cousins…on Long Island and so we spend time in the US, and it’s great…But, frankly, what’s weird to me,’ [said] one of these kids, ‘is that I play an online video game with a lot of my cousins and their buddies…and it’s great…But I realize that next year, I’m going to put down the video game and I’m going to be at real war — and they’re still going to be playing a video game.”
Aging rockers Aerosmith showed they still have what it takes in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 50,000 at Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park Wednesday night, but technical issues during the group’s first Israel gig in 23 years left some fans cryin’.Will Steven Tyler move to Israel
Dressed in a sleeveless red ruffled shirt, a silver lamé cape and red shoes, lead singer Steven Tyler greeted the crowd with a short “Tel Aviv!” followed a little later by a well-rehearsed “Erev tov!”
Later on he would tell the cheering masses, “Tel Aviv! I’m making aliyah!” using the Hebrew term for immigrating to Israel. Dude, it turns out, looks like an Israeli.
The Israel stop was the first on the rock band’s world tour, which will take it throughout Europe and the US, so it’s unlikely the iconic singer will be standing in line at the Interior Ministry for his Israeli ID card anytime soon.
Walk this way – to a Jewish Agency Shaliach [envoy]," said Chairmain of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky. The Jewish Agency for Israel invited Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler to apply for immigration to Israel on Thursday morning, according to an agency press release.
The invitation follows the band's concert in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night, which drew around 50,000 fans to the opening of their farewell tour.
"While some believe the Israeli experience entails living on the edge, life in Israel puts one back in the saddle of Jewish history, and we know Mr. Tyler doesn't want to miss a thing," Sharanksy said, in a bevy of lyrical references. "Theodor Herzl said that if you will it, it is no dream. Mr. Tyler no longer has to dream on."
Ahead of their concert, Tyler visited the Western Wall on Monday, and also met US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. Tyler's chatter between songs at their show was peppered with Hebrew, and at one point he even joked that after spending five days in the country touring before the show, he was "making aliya."
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