Something Good: "Media" Sure Changing in Israel

Dancing to Jewish music during a morning talk show

Here in Israel it wasn't all that long ago, when the only time you'd see an obviously religious Jew on Israeli television news was when  one was being interviewed. Those holding the microphone were uniformly bareheaded.

In the days when I was a young mother, we'd advise each other to encourage our children to "go into the media" as careers. It was a very sturdy "double-glazed glass ceiling" in terms of both religious observance and politics. Until not all that long ago, the Israeli media was strictly secular-Left. If anyone didn't "fit in," he or she'd be relegated to technical staff at best.

The Israeli media, first radio and later on television, shaped opinion and had a lot of influence. So when we talked of encouraging our children to break in and make careers in the media, it seemed rather revolutionary, more Don Quixote, than a practical profession like teaching, nursing, engineering and computers.

A few years ago, Bibi Netanyahu's Likud Government disbanded the old Leftist government Israel Broadcasting Authority and established a few "private," though government backed television/radio companies. Even though some of the old veteran media stars are still featured, there are many new ones. This new media revolution broke the hold the Histadrut, Israel's powerful labor union, had on the media.

Today, Channel 11 seems to be dominated by men who wear kippot, and many of those kippot are cloth, usually black, not the crocheted favored by the religiously moderate Bnai Akiva, NRP.

True change is always slow, and of course nothing will ever be perfect. But I think that we're going in the right direction. Religious women, married with hair covered in various styles, are also now seen on television even giving opinions. Gd willing I'll try to take photos and write about them, too.

Yes, I see wonderful changes and improvement here in Israel. This isn't the way things were half a century or even twenty years ago, Baruch Hashem, Thank Gd.

The Normalization and Acceptance of The Datiim, Torah Observant

Not all that long ago, you didn't see Datiim, religious guys in kippot holding the microphone, being part of the news team on Israeli television. Datiim were allocated an hour or two a week, for the pre and post Shabbat programs. As far as I know, there were media men who kept traditional Jewish Homes, Kashrut and Shabbat, but their kippot stayed in their pocket when on camera.

After a long break, since IBA Israel Broadcasting Authority closed, we can now watch the  Kan Israeli television stations and the newscasts at home. I'm noticing kippot, and I can't help but to smile.

For me, this is a new Israel.

And since we're in Elections mode, I'll explain the connection. Today's young datiim, aka the "national religious," see themselves as full participants in the State of Israel in a way that their grandparents and even parents couldn't have imagined.

Sociologically speaking, of course, in the early days of the State of Israel, the datiim, were usually educated in the State Religious, mamlachti dati schools. It was believed that without the NRP National Religious Party, today the name has been changed to Jewish Home Party, in the coalition their school systems' survival would be in danger. That's why the NRP had to be in every coalition, and the parents of the students and the system's graduates had to vote for it.

Post 1967 Six Days War, two things happened. One was that the NRP voters became more ideological; they were the most enthusiastic Israelis for settling all the the Land liberated in the war. Two was that the State Religious school system had become strongly part of the Ministry of Education establishment, and the NRP could no longer campaign that they were needed to preserve it. That's one of the reasons the NRP is having such an identity and leadership crisis.

Today's young datiim don't like to be restricted. More and more girls are doing army service, and not as teachers. Their brothers are also taking on more challenges in the IDF.

Israel is the only Jewish country in the world. Our people are an ancient people, whose historic peers no longer exist. At the same time, Israel is a new country and always changing, innovating, growing. Even after close to half a century here in Israel, I find it all very exciting.

War, Surreal

Occasionally, we get a series of phone messages to tell us that there's a security drill going on here in Shiloh. Sometimes it's just to warn us not to panic when a siren goes off. They describe the drill siren versus a Gd forbid real one. Other times we have to lock up, turn off inside lights, get off the streets and even call in to a certain number to say we're fine. It's important that our security crew practices, and we all pray that they never have to deal with the real thing, an attack by Arab terrorists, dangerous rockets or finding our pastoral community a war zone.

Israel, even if you ignore that pesky "green line" and consider the June, 1967 ceasefire lines, is a very tiny country. At some point, I think it was post-Nixon, an American general suggested serious security buffer zones between Israel and the Arabs. In theory, maybe, he had a good idea, but his so-called buffer zones to go north-south were wider than  pre-1967 Israel.

TORAH AURA Map of Israel

Even though the State of Israel is very small by international standards, I only hear about the Arab attacks from Gaza on southern Israel from the internet news and Israeli media. They don't directly affect us. We in Shiloh aren't awakened by sirens, alarms, rockets, jets or raging fires the way my friends in the south of Israel are. It's surreal, and the dangers are just too easy to ignore.

Rocket barrage on southern Israel, IDF attacks in Gaza
Series of sirens heard in Gaza Belt region. IDF says 12 rockets fired, three of them intercepted by Iron Dome

I have friends who, like me, live far from the south, but they have signed up to get real time alerts on their phones, as if they lived in Ashkelon or one of the small communities that are constantly suffering from Gaza launched rockets, fire bombs etc. They wake up in a panic just like our friends in Netivot. The only difference is that they don't have to run within seconds to a shelter, and they can stay safely in bed in pajamas.

Israeli news media tries to "comfort" readers/listeners by relating the successes of the Iron Dome in intercepting dangerous rockets which had been launched at Israeli civilians. Instead of using military might to destroy our enemies, we just try to render their attacks harmless. That just encourages to increase the violence against us. The State of Israel must take off the kid gloves and defend us by destroying our enemies, not just deflecting the rockets.

Also, in the long run we here in the center of the country, far from Gaza, are also in danger, since local terrorists are encouraged by those in the south. Gd willing we will get a government that isn't afraid to truly defend us by destroying our enemies!

Israeli Politics, Deja Vu

There's a very simple reason I haven't been blogging much about Israeli politics. It is getting boring and tedious. Jeremy has posted two recent polls, which show rather predictable trends. Both polls use the same basic number of respondents, just under six hundred 600. I'd consider the margin of error rather large, and since no new "savior" has appeared on the scene... Also, even though the media and police are doing all they can to find something corrupt/jailable about Prime Minister Netanyahu, he still comes out #1 in the question:

"Who is the most suited to be Prime Minister?"

So, I will copy/paste the two polls and follow it with a bit of my commentary:

Poll #1: Walla

Panels conducted a poll of 589 people that was broadcast by Walla News on March 1 2018.

Current Knesset seats in [brackets]

29 [30] Likud
23 [11] Yesh Atid
13 [24] Zionist Union
11 [08] Bayit Yehudi
10 [13] The Joint (Arab) List
08 [10] Kulanu
08 [06] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ
08 [05] Meretz
06 [06] Yisrael Beitenu
04 [07] Shas (under threshold)
00 [–-] Yachad, Yaalon, Zehut (as other) under threshold

66 [67] Current Right-Religious Coalition
54 [53] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition

Who is the most suited to be Prime Minister?

37% Netanyahu, 20% Lapid, 19% None, 9% Gabbai, 8% Bennett, 5% Kahlon, 2% Liberman

Poll #2: Yisrael Hayom

Geocartography conducted a poll of 587 people that was published by Yisrael Hayom on March 2 2018.

Current Knesset seats in [brackets]

36 [30] Likud
23 [11] Yesh Atid
11 [08] Bayit Yehudi
10 [24] Zionist Union
10 [13] The Joint (Arab) List
10 [06] Yahadut Hatorah/UTJ
06 [05] Meretz
05 [10] Kulanu
05 [06] Yisrael Beitenu
04 [07] Shas (under threshold)
00 [–-] Yachad, Yaalon, Zehut (as other) under threshold

71 [67] Current Right-Religious Coalition
49 [53] Current Center-Left-Arab Opposition

One thing for sure is that the Likud will end up getting some of the Bayit Yehudi votes. It happens every time. In the final day before elections, Bibi will send out urgent announcements/warnings claiming falsely that "the Likud must have more MKs to form a coalition. If people vote for Bayit Yehudi, then X will be able to form a coalition instead." Of course, he omits the simple fact that it's the sum total needed to form a government, and that the smaller he can make Bayit Yehudi the more power he'll have over it. If Bayit Yehudi is larger, then Bibi will have to give in to its coalition demands.

If you look at the first poll, you'll see that Lapid and "none of the above" are almost tied for 2nd 3rd place. But all they have is really just over half the support and trust that Bibi has. And Bibi is constantly the butt/target of police and media accusations of corruption. After all the efforts the police have made to find something to charge Netanyahu with, they're looking rather desperate and even corrupt, if you follow. I suggest reading Caroline Glick's recent article, Defending the rule of law.

Looking at another section of both the polls is very interesting. Both polls show Shas as just under the minimum threshold to be represented in the Knesset, and both show an increase in the Yahadut Hatorah (UTJ.) My guess is that as the chareidi-style sephardim mature into second generation, they are more comfortable in chareidi society and now look at and vote as in the "big picture," as chareidim, rather than sephardim.

One last thing. If you're ever invited to the Prime Minister's Residence, don't bring a consumable "house gift," such as cake, candy, wine or cigars. You may be charged with bribery...

Is Bibi Guilty of Corruption?

The Israeli media has been unsuccessfully trying to prove that Prime Minister Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu and his wife Sarah are corrupt for years. As a general rule "where there's smoke there's fire," but the unabashedly Leftist Israeli media is untrustworthy and highly subjective. They believe in making news, rather than just reporting it.

On Israeli newscasts, journalists interrogate and argue with rather than interview when the interviewees aren't of their political ilk. It takes a lot of guts and confidence to be in their "hot seat." But, in contrast, they excessively fawn over Leftists and Arabs.

Honestly, I don't have any "inside information" about the Netanyahus. They may not be the most pleasant people to work with, but few top politicians, no matter what the country, are. To get high up in politics it takes single-minded, self-centered ambition and backers.

The Israeli media has blamed Bibi for everything including the weather, water-shortage and seasonal high prices of tomatoes. So, I just don't trust them. Yes, I trust the media less than I trust Bibi.

Good News for Israel from Trump Transition Team

Extremely pro-Israel David Friedman has been named as Trump's United States Ambassador to Israel.

David Friedman with Donald Trump in Manhattan. (photo credit:Courtesy) (Jerusalem Post)

Many of us can now breathe a sigh of relief, since Friedman is the sort of American we trust as a friend of the State of Israel and Jewish rights to live here.

“I am deeply honored and humbled by the confidence placed in me by President-elect Trump to represent the United States as its ambassador to Israel,” Friedman said in statement on Thursday. “I intend to work tirelessly to strengthen the unbreakable bond between our two countries and advance the cause of peace within the region, and look forward to doing this from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”
Friedman — a founding partner of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP — was referring to Trump’s campaign promise to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (Algemeiner)

Friedman, who had also been a longtime Arutz Sheva contributor, spoke out in favor of Israel numerous times during the campaign and highlighted Trump’s pro-Israel stance.
In May, Friedman told Arutz Sheva in an exclusive interview that Trump believes “that Israel should continue to build settlements. This is land that Israel has held for almost 50 years. The population of Judea and Samaria is 400,000 people. You add in East Jerusalem you have almost a million people. These people aren’t going anywhere and Israel’s not going to make the same mistake that it made in connection with the evacuation of Gaza.” (Arutz 7)

No surprise that the Jerusalem Post's article included criticism of the appointment:

"J Street is vehemently opposed to the nomination of David Friedman to be ambassador to Israel," the organization said in a statement.
At a policy forum on Israel this month hosted by the Brookings Institution, Friedman offered choice words for J Street, an organization primarily focused on promoting a two-state solution. He questioned their commitment to Israel and their representation of Jewish causes, according to several attendees of the summit.

The National Jewish Democratic council took it a step further. "There has never been a less experienced pick for US ambassador to Israel," they tweeted on Thursday night, and added that Donald Trump "is not taking the US-Israel relationship seriously. Friedman not experienced enough to be" ambassador.  (Jerusalem Post)

This decision by President-Elect Donald Trump further strengthens our relief that the Democrats won't be in power the next few years.

Is The Israeli Media Hyping for Early Elections Yet Again?

Should we all be preparing yet again for new elections here in Israel?

The reality here in Israel that no matter which party is "ruling" in the Knesset, the real movers and shakers are the media. The Israeli media has always been the spokesperson of the self-appointed elite. Evenhanded objective interviewing skills are neither seen nor heard nor written in Israeli media, whether television, radio or the press.

When a reporter does not agree with the person he is interviewing sic, he/she interrogates him like a TV district attorney trying to force a mass murderer to confess his/her dastardly crimes. But when the reporter agrees with the ideology of the interviewee, the oversweet fawning can put the viewer/reader in diabetic shock. Outright lies and illogic will go unchallenged when Left talks to Left.

Please don't forget that there isn't a Hebrew word for "objective." When I was a high school English teacher I would ask what it meant in Hebrew, and they would answer:

"אוביקטיבי" "obyectivi"

And they could not explain at all what it meant in Hebrew words. For some peculiar reason the concept just doesn't exist in Israeli culture.

That's why all the publicity given to political polls must have an ulterior motive. So when I hear that Lapid's and Lieberman's parties are doing better than the Likud in the polls, I know that it's a reminder to the Israeli public to get on the bandwagon.

Poll: Lapid, Liberman continue to gain strengthNew poll finds that Yesh Atid and Yisrael Beytenu are making gains at the expense of Likud and the Zionist Union.
The Likud and the Zionist Union parties are continuing to lose seats, while Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid and Avigdor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu are making gains, a Kol Yisrael radio poll released Friday found.
The poll suggests that if elections were held today, Likud would win 26 seats, compared to 30 in the elections a year ago...

But of course all these news articles  leave out the fact that the Likud has pretty much always done much better in elections than polls.

And I don't think that this time Netanyahu will make the mistake he did last time and call for early elections based on good polls for Likud, if there are any. I'm pretty sure that he will work hard to keep his bare minimum 61 out of 120 Knesset seats live for as long as possible. And I also think that the coalition members feel the same. They know that although opposition parties look good in today's polls, according to their present numbers, none of the opposition leaders are favored more than Bibi by the public. Yes, no matter how much Israelis don't like Bibi as Prime Minister, still more prefer him over Lieberman, Lapid, Herzog etc. And if the coalition MKs try stabbing Bibi in the back by deserting to the opposition and Bibi gets back in, he won't forget the traitors.

What do you think? Comment and share, please.

"Suspected," "Allegedly," Media Idiocy Against Israel!

Here are a few of recent headlines in the Jerusalem Post:

Yahoo news

Border Police officer critically wounded in suspected car ramming attack near Hebron
Israeli man allegedly attacked by Sudanese Muslim on flight to Ethiopia
Masked assailant reportedly stabs off-duty Hatzolah worker in New York

The emphasis (bold and italics) is mine.

Honestly, I don't understand these wishy-washy adverbs used to cast doubt on simple to prove facts.

French Hill, Givat Hamivtar, Jerusalem
location of "my" Arab terror attack.
I was injured along with about twenty others,
and a woman was murdered.

• For close to twenty years, Arab terrorists have used their cars/vehicles as weapons to kill, maim, injure and terrorize innocent Israelis. I know this too well, since I was injured in the very first one just under twenty years ago. After being attacked, David Bar Illan, who was then Editor-in-Chief of the Jerusalem Post, had me interviewed, posted an op-ed I wrote about it and used my information in a double-long editorial supporting my claim, later verified by the police, that it was a terror attack. Recently this method has become very popular  for Arab terrorists attacking Jews. It offers them protection they won't get as suicide bombers, and is much less intimate than stabbing.
• There were many witnesses of the attack on Arik Zanuda, an Israeli on the flight from Chad to Addis Ababa, so why cast doubt on the story by using the word "allegedly?"



photo credit:HAREDIM 10

• With pictures of the stabbed Hatzolah worker David Katz, and the simple fact that the article even says that Katz is hospitalized for stab wounds, why is the Jerusalem Post using the phrase "reportedly stabbed?" He was stabbed.

The Jerusalem Post is editorializing to cast doubt on the attacks on Jews, whether terror attacks here in Israel or attacks on Jews abroad. The vocabulary it uses gives the impression that there is a reasonable uncertainty as to whether or not the attacks actually took place.

It's very hard to get accurate unbiased news!

Israeli Media Promotes Arab Lies

I listen/watch Israeli television and radio news to hear the Israeli side. I certainly don't expect CNN or the BBC to be fair and tell the truth about what is going on here in Israel, especially when Arab terrorists are attacking innocent Israelis. It really gets on my nerves to have broadcasters/news announcers present us with reports from the PA-Palestinian Authority. If I had wanted to hear them I'd be listening/watching a different channel.

I also don't see why our newscasts should include interviews with relatives of Arab terrorists who lie and cry about the terrible injustices done to their children, husbands etc.

The father of these young Arab terrorists was given a microphone and screen time to claim that his children hadn't done anything wrong. Duh!? Is that what should be on the news? The Arabs get more screen time than the innocent Jewish victims and their families and friends.

It's clear that those Arabs and their entire clan should be fired from any job that puts them in contact with Jews. If that had been done to Abu Jamal, the cousin of the Arab terrorists who massacred innocent Jews and the policeman who tried to rescue them in the Har Nof Synagogue, then he wouldn't have been able to use an innocent-looking Bezeq car as a weapon to attack and kill Jews in Jerusalem.

The Bezeq vehicle an east Jerusalem man used to ram a bus stop on Malchei Yisrael Street in Jerusalem. Photo: Hillel Maier, TPS

What could have driven Abu Jamal to do such a beastly thing? Surely, it couldn’t have been desperation born of poverty and unemployment (the media’s favorite justification for Palestinian terrorism). Abu Jamal, it so happens, worked for Bezeq, the Israeli telecommunications company whose uniform he wore during the attack.
A clue about the Arab man’s true motivation emerged soon enough. Abu Jamal was a cousin of the two terrorists, Uday Abu Jamal and Ghassan Abu Jamal, who murdered four ultra-Orthodox Jewish men and a Druze police officer who came to their rescue at a synagogue in Jerusalem last year. (Algemeiner)

For the past few years, most of the Arab terrorists have been Israeli or held permits to live and work in Israel. The hotbed of Arab terrorism is in East Jerusalem, not in the Arab villages near my home in Shiloh. The children go to Israeli-funded schools, and the adults have jobs, frequently working with Jews. 

This is the truth, not what you hear in the news and from politicians. Integration, education and equal employment are not reducing Arab terrorism!

Israeli newscasts are trying to humanize, make the Arab terrorists seem sympathetic rather than dangerous and psychopathic. There should be a total ban of featuring family and friends of Arab terrorists on the news. Sympathy and understanding should only go to the Jewish victims!

Too Many Terror Victims-Need Scorecard

This recent "wave" of Arab terror here all over Israel has become too massive to keep track of. As usual, the media is trying to play it down and only reporting the big damaging attacks. Way back when, almost twenty 20 years ago when I was injured by an Arab terrorist, the police and politicians tried really hard to prove that the Arab terrorist had run over us, including murdering one woman, as accidentally. So, unfortunately, nothing's new at all.

Jewish victims of Arab terror of the last week. My guess is that it is already out of date.

The only thing "new" is that the percentage of Arab terror attacks that have not been in Judea/Samaria is high. This proves two things:

1. Arab terrorism is not a reaction to Israel's 1967 victory. The terrorists are not killing to get back Shiloh, Beit El or Susiya. They want Jaffa, Beersheva and Haifa, all of Israel. Their aim is to destroy the State of Israel. 
2. Israeli Arabs are loyal, seditious citizens of the State of Israel. All those who attack Jews or promote attacking Jews, sympathize with the terrorists, even the MKs must be legally prosecuted and jailed or executed according to the crime.

MK Haneen Zoabi,
photo credit:REUTERS

Last night when I came back from a lovely wedding in dangerous Jaffa, the site of one of the recent terror attacks, I turned on the Israeli television news. Yes, I'm becoming a masochistic news junkie.  I was totally horrified to see that they interviewed the extreme Left anti-Israel Arab terror sympathizer pro-Hamas MK Haneen Zoabi, giving her lots of screen time to spout her outrageous and seditious views. Instead of being allowed on our state supported television programs she should be jailed in solitary confinement, completely forbidden visits, telephone, internet and social media.

On the ride back home I heard from family members who had visited some of the mourning families, those who are sitting shiva (weeklong Jewish mourning) for those who were murdered by those who Zoabi sympathizes.

• How could Israeli television allow such lies as Zoabi told about Jewish History and the Temple Mount? 
• How is it that she isn't in jail?

Why don't we have politicians willing to be true leaders willing to do all for our country and our security?

There will not be peace until we have a strong confident government which won't kowtow to foreign leaders and dangerous ideas!!

Israeli Extreme Left Media Pushing for Elections

From the talk on the Israeli news media, you'd think that the 3rd Netanyahu coalition had long ago collapsed and new elections had been officially scheduled. They've been talking "elections" for quite awhile. Every time Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog speaks, he prefaces his statements with "if I was Prime Minister, I'd..." and they lap it up like hungry wolves.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to seek assurances from his coalition partners that they will be loyal and work better together in the coming year in order to prevent elections, sources close to him said on Monday. (Jerusalem Post)

The extreme Left Israeli media has always been unabashedly political. Their concept of "objective" is "in my opinion," and they make sure that only the opinions they agree with can be given an uninterrupted microphone.

Arab terrorist families and supporters are given more media time than Jewish victims, especially when the Jews are religious or live in Judea-Samaria.

I don't think that Bibi is doing such a great job as Prime Minister, but I also don't think that the Left will be any better. I have no doubt they would be worse, but in all honesty, I'd love to see the Likud in the opposition. That's the only way they will go Right. But the chances are that election results will put the Likud back in power with a much stronger Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home aka NRP.

I planned a more detailed post, but the Arab terror attack on the Jerusalem synagogue killing many has changed today's priorities. Baruch Dayan Ha'emet.

Yeshiva World News

"Teflon" Lapid and Other Israeli Coalition Thoughts

Flash 90

Will Yair Lapid, Finance Minister pay a price for his Shabbat-breaking faux pas?

Will Lapid's Sabbath Desecration Bring Down the Coalition?
A coalition has already broken apart in a similar gaffe to Lapid's Shabbat press conference; MKs warning action may be taken.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid's (Yesh Atid) decision to hold a press conference in his Tel Aviv home on Saturday in open violation of the Sabbath has religious and non-religious MKs alike furious, with many waiting to see if the move may spell the end of the rocky coalition government.

Arutz 7, which observes the Shabbat, had the above article in a prominent position, but besides the also Sabbath observing Jewish Press, I couldn't find any other site that stressed the significance or possible ramifications of  such a breach of Israeli political protocol.

Sabbath observance, no matter how one defines Shabbat, is an integral part of Israeli life. Considering that Lapid is still campaigning for public bus service on Shabbat and supports stores being open seven days a week, it's pretty clear that he is against a public day of rest. Lapid wants shopkeepers, bus drivers and the media to work 24/7. His concept, if he has one, of human rights is rather cruel and old-fashioned.

It seems like Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu doesn't care, nor does the media, nor his coalition partners including the religious Naftali Bennett of the NRP aka Jewish Home. There should have been a major public hullabaloo protesting Lapid's Shabbat press conference.

Silence is acquiescence to this break in protocol. I think that Bibi is perfectly comfortable with Lapid's anti-Jewish policies. If Bennett wants to show his leadership potential he must break out of the coalition. I doubt if he or his MK's will do it. Their campaign promise was to be in the coalition, which is the main reason I refused to vote from him.

And about Gidon Sa'ar's resignation from Likud politics. Once I read that his wife Geula Even had been suspended just before the resignation for breaking her "don't interview Likud MK restriction," it was perfectly clear that their careers conflicted. One had to change jobs, and they decided that he would be the one.

Even and Sa'ar with
baby David, credit

Since Even is married to outgoing Interior Minister and Likud MK Gideon Sa’ar, she was instructed that interviews with Likud politicians are taboo on her nightly current affairs program The Supplement.
Despite the warning, Even interviewed Likud MK Gila Gamliel, which resulted in an argument between her and Hasson. (Jerusalem Post)

IMHO, it's pretty obvious that is the reason.

Another interesting political couple, Likud minister and media personality, are MK Sylvan Shalom, Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water, Minister of the Development of the Negev and Galil, Minister of Regional Cooperation (a hodge-podge of minor ministries because he is in competition with PM Bibi,) and Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes scion of Israel's main (Leftist) media dynasty. Last week Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes spoke at the Tefillat Chana, Shiloh Hakeduma-Tel Shiloh event, playing up herself as just like the religious women in the audience. For many of the attendees it was quite a surprise to see her in Shiloh. I heard from a friend that she spoke about her visit to Shiloh very positively on her radio show. She and her husband have been positioning themselves more and more on the religiously Traditional and Right of Israeli politics and life/society. I would keep that in mind when trying to predict what's next.

Israeli politics is never dull, and no doubt I'll have lots more to write about in the near future.