AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/19/2002 12:41:00 PM
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Who said Yiddish is dead?
Israeli blog written in Yiddish, must be the world’s first and maybe last (via Ynet). The blog is 10 days old and only one post till now. I don’t know how to speak Yiddish, but I do know a few words.
Here is a rough translation courtesy of my father and mother:
The Blogger calls himself: ÷èìà ÷ðéà – In Hebrew: ÷åèì ÷ðéí (kotel kanim) which is a “simple man”.
His opening: “I don’t want tel too much about me except saying that I’m an educated Hasid, no those are not opposing things. I write better than I speak, so I write in a Blog… Go out and learn…”
His first post: “I don’t have too much time today because I need to go out to look for a job. I don’t write anymore.”
If you are interested in Yiddish and know Hebrew you can check out this Yiddish discussion group.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/18/2002 11:47:00 PM
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Making new friends
A summit of French-speaking nations opened today in Lebanon. The sumit is made up of leaders and delegates from the 55 governments of La Francophonie, the loose confederation of former French colonies, states and regions where French is spoken.
The most important man in this summit of caurse is no other than French President Jacques Chirac the _______ (add your own derogatory name for him). I’m sure this summit gives a huge boost to French ego making them think they are still a mighty empire. Never mind if they enjoy it who are we to disturb them.
What I find very interesting is one of the guest appearing in the summit: “ As leaders gathered ahead of the opening speeches, Hezbollah guerrilla chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah took a front-row seat alongside Lebanese religious leaders” (Ha’aretz).
The president of France participating and speaking infront of one of the most dangearos terrorists in the world. If it was just an Israeli claim that Hizballah is a terror organization, I wouldn’t have been surprised that Chirac chose to socialize with its leader. But Hizballah is recognized as a terror organization by the U.S.
Prior to September 11, Hizballah was responsible for the deaths of more Americans around the world than any other terrorist organization. The organization pioneered the use of suicide bombings, including 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 and the truck bombing of a Marines headquarters that killed 241 American servicemen. Hizballah also kidnapped Western hostages in Beirut in the mid-1980s. Two U.S. hostages, William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, and Lt. Col. William Higgins, a Marine officer serving with U.N. forces in Lebanon, were killed.
And here 2 excerpts from documents I found on the CIA website:
“Radical Islamist terrorism manifests itself partly in the form of several large, well-organized and generally well-known groups. These include Lebanese Hizballah, which was active before most other such groups, was responsible for the bombings of the Marine barracks and US Embassy in Lebanon in the 1980s, and still holds the dark distinction of being the group that has killed more US citizens through terrorism than has any other.” - The International Terrorist Threat to US Interests, 7 October 1996.
“Lebanese Hizballah is the leading example of a group using criminal activity to raise funds. A significant portion of its estimated $200 million annual budget for political, social, military, and terrorist-related activities comes from smuggling, commercial fraud, passport fraud, narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting, alien smuggling, and money laundering” - The Terrorist Challenge to US National Security, March 23, 2002.
And a little reminder for Chirac of one of the earliest attacks by Hizballah:
Beirut, October 23, 1983: Simultaneous suicide truck-bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon. A 12,000-pound bomb destroyed the U.S. compound, killing 242 Americans, while 58 French troops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base.
This short memory and appeasement are amazing. There is no way Chirac’s French secret service didn’t know that Nasrallah is going to attend the opening of the summit. Chirac being the number one persona could have made sure that Nasrallah won’t be aloud to be in the same room with him. On the other hand there are bigger idiots that even meet in shake the blood dripping hands of Nasrallah.
Update: It appears that the U.S ambassador to Lebanon Vincent Battle also attended the summit opening.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/18/2002 12:51:00 AM
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Palestinian fashion
Check out this Palestinian television news presenter’s shirt. Pretty funny. I have to admit that I have a T-shirt with Arafat’s ugly face on it. I bought it in East Jerusalem in happy Oslo days of 1999. I was walking with friends in the old city and I saw this amusing shirt with Arafat portrait and a praise (in Arabic) of the Palestinian state. It was so funny I had to buy it though I worn it. So the T-shirt is in buried somewhere in my messy closet, Maybe I’ll where it the days Arafat will die or departure to Sudan or some other god-forsaken country. It will be a happy day.
Arafat once went to fortuneteller. She told him that he would die on a Jewish holiday. “Which one”? Asked Arafat. The fortuneteller replied: “ It doesn’t matter in which day you’ll die, it will become a Jewish holiday”.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/18/2002 12:21:00 AM
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BODY:
Bizarre item of the day
“New Zealand premier to hold talks on Mid East conflicts in Egypt” – I don’t think I need to elaborate.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/17/2002 11:50:00 PM
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Palestinian civilian casualties
If you read my blog long enough you probably noticed that I usually don’t tend to apologize. 8 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed today from an IDF tank shelling. I want apologize this time as well. I’m sorry that Palestinian civilians got killed during exchange of fire with armed Palestinians.
War is an ugly business. When Palestinians attack IDF forces what are they supposed to do? Of course the’yll shoot back. And if they are shot at with missiles and automatic weapons are they obliged to return fire in the same means? Of course not. If the Army has better arms, and obviously it has, it will use it.
Israel keeps a small (about 100m width) strip of patrol road and a few outposts along the Egyptian border and the southern end of the Gaza strip. The Palestinians dig tunnels underneath and smuggle weapons and explosives into Gaza. The army tries to stop it by it’s presence in this small strip. The Palestinians attack the this narrow strip constantly from Palestinian houses along the road wishing a harsh retaliatory from the attacked IDF soldiers that will lead to Palestinian casualties.
The Army should try and avoid hitting civilians but it’s an impoible mission. Human life has such little value in the eyes of Arabs. Of course they don’t all want to die and when they lose a close one they hurt like any human being. But in general it doesn't’t hurt them to much. Palestinian officials warned Israel before they began this terror attack that they can bear thousands of dead Palestinians but the Israelis will not be able to bear a few dozens Israelis dead. believing in that, knowing that thousands of Palestinians might die they walked their people into the fire.
The higher the number of Palestinian casualties is the more pressure the Palestinians through the UN, EU and US can apply on Israel. Arafat rejoices when he hears his blind followers are being killed by Israel.
It’s very difficult to avoid hitting civilians, the Palestinians knows it and uses it. The only way Palestinian civilians won’t get hurt is if the Palestinian will stop the violence. They started it it’s their job to end it.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/17/2002 01:01:00 PM
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BODY:
Yitzhak Rabin
Today Israel marks the seventh anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/16/2002 12:58:00 PM
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BODY:
Australia
Aussie blogger Alan Anderson wrote the next piece:
"With the loss of our citizens in Bali, many Australians are finally waking up to the stupidity of suggestions that we can compromise with or appease terrorists. Those of us who have long understood the threat of Islamic terrorism will do our utmost to translate that painful realisation into wider community support for the difficult but necessary steps which Israel is forced to take in its defence. It is not pleasant to have joined the club of countries whose citizens have been targetted, but I am confident that in the campaign ahead, Australia will continue to prove itself a worthy member of the coalition of free states fighting against militant Islam."
I wanted to say that I'm deeply sorry for the lost of so many lives in Bali, especially for the lost of Australian lives. I have only good things to say about Australia after traveling there for 3 month a year and a half ago.
Australia being isolated geographically could have stayed out of the business of fighting Islamic terror, but it didn't. Australia chose to stick to its values.
The attack in Bali didn't surprise me. I wasn't surprised because terror is the only way Islam carry its message today. Like the Europeans try to talk themselves out of any problem the Fanatic Islam tries to blow out who ever disagree with it.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/15/2002 12:07:00 PM
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I find it hard to believe
Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv is reporting today that ad Israeli woman claims that she saw Bin Laden at Bali’s airport on August 22, less than two month ago. According to the woman, Tami Lilos, Bin Laden cut his beard short and wore western clothes. He had a small suitcase handcuffed to one of his wrists and was accompanied by two man who seemed to Lilos like they were the man’s bodyguards. Taking the advise of an Aussie friend she didn’t report this to anyone, being in a Muslim country. When Lilos returned to Israel at the beginning of October she called to the local US embassy and gave them the details.
Sounds bizarre to me. Even if it was Al Qaeda Job in Bali there is no reason for Bin Laden to be there. Bin Laden’s face is probably by now one of the most familiar faces on earth. I find it hard to believe that Bin Laden will hang around public places full of westerners like Bali’s airport.
When I come to think about it I’m not sure why I wrote this post. I hope at least conspiracy and DEBKAfile fans found this post interesting.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/15/2002 12:19:00 AM
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Back to Uni
Some 227,500 students, me being one of them, began their academic year this week. I have to admit that I’m not too “thrilled” from getting back to long boring classes and homework. I study at the Eitan Berglas School of Economics in Tel Aviv University (TAU). The TA University is the biggest in Israel, around 27,000 students. How much does students are there in American or other universities? According to the counter At least 3 percent of my visitors come from US educational institutes.
The campus is pretty big and all fenced with security guards in every gate. After the recent terror attack at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University it’s clear that universities are legitimate targets for The Palestinian terrorists. I noticed that the some of the guards at TAU gates have small metal detectors now. It’s ridicules, if some one would want to sneak in a bomb he won’t do it through a gate, he’ll just throw it over the fence like they did in Jerusalem. Any way there’s no way to seal of the campus, the risk there is like the risk anywhere, but it doesn’t bother me.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/14/2002 11:10:00 PM
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BODY:
Six month
I’ve been blogging for 6 month now, that’s not a short period in Blogosphere terms. Will the blog still exist 6 month from now? Who knows?
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/14/2002 12:25:00 AM
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BODY:
Unbelievable hatred and bullshit
Haggai Elitzur, who left some very interesting well written comments in my blog, started his own one. He brings a first hand fascinating report about a loony Israel haters’ conference held at the University of Michigan.
The arguments of the speakers in that conference are such a load of crap. Haggai you emphasize they stated that they do not want a Palestinian state, they want a bi-national state even though they hate Jews, so what’s the deal here? What they really want is to demographically wipe out any Jewish presence in Israel. Go read Haggai’s report and make sure to check regularly, I do.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/13/2002 02:06:00 PM
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Israeli Slang
I found this funny site that translates and explains Israeli slang. Those are essential phrases to know when in Israel but I bet they don’t teach them in Hebrew lessons abroad.
Try to figure out this sentence: Don't fuck my mind! What is it, a whore house? Transparent that you're not in the interests. Go find who will shake you. Why what? Come here, fly away!
Here some of the wards and phrases listed in the site. In bold is the hebrew pronounciation, in italics is the literal translation, and the rest is in regular font. Examples of how to use the slang are indented.
ôéöåõ – pitzutz - explosion - great, fantastic. (Used as a noun).
1) "Did you go to the party last night?" "There was explosion" ("haya pitzutz") - means "It rocked!"
2) "An explosion of a party" ("pitzutz shel mesiba") - means "Kick ass party".
As you can probably guess, due to current events, many jokes such as "Did you take the bus yesterday?" "There was an explosion" are common. Incidentally, it can also be used as a "serious blow", as in "I got an explosion to the head", meaning "I got a serious blow to the head."
ôööåú ìâáåú - ptzatzot lagabot - bombs to the eyebrows - yes, it sounds just as silly in Hebrew. It means really pitzutz. Used as a standalone sentence (or with the following entry).
"How was the weekend with Ruhama?" "Ptzaztot lagabot, achi" (bombs to the eyebrows, brother).
úåúç - totach - cannon - exteremly competent / extremely manly / stud. Used to describe men who do something really well. Said with respect.
"That football player is such a cannon" (means - he da man!).
ðùáø ìé äæéï - nishbar li hazayin - my dick has broken - I've had it. It can also be used by women.
1) "Enough, my dick has broken from all of this." ("dai, nishbar li hazayin mikol ze") - I've had it with all of this.
2) "What's wrong?" "My dick's broken from this professor / work / relationship / television."
ìæøå÷ æéï - lizrok zayin - to throw (a) dick - to slack off, not do what you're suppose to, because you're too lazy / don't give a shit. It also implies disrespect for the person you'er supposed to do the job for, if one exists.
1) "æåø÷ æéï?" - "Zorek zayin?" - translates as "throwing a dick, eh?" - means "slacking off, eh?"
2) "You're throwing dick on me, and on all your friends" - means "your behaviour is pathetic - you're not trying, and this shows you don't give a shit about what I'm saying or about your friends." Often used in the army, especially by a commander who is really going to let you have it.
3) "How are you doing in Biology 101?" "I'm throwing dick".
ìæééï àú äùëì - lezayen et hasechel - to fuck the mind - to bullshit.
àì úæééï ìé àú äùëì; "al tezayen li et hasechel" - don't fuck my mind - means: "don't give me that bullshit."
áéú æåðåú - beit zonot - whore house - when there is an atmosphere of slacking off, or not doing much, especially when it feels like more should be done, this is referred to as a whore house.
1) A drill sergeant enters a tent when everyone is resting when they should be cleaning their guns (oh, yes, we all know this one). "Whore house, eh? 10 seconds everyone outside in threes". This can be translated to English as "think this is a massage parlour? I'm going to show you the meaning of pain!"
2) "You have to take this course - I tell you, it's a crazy whore house" (beit zonot metoraf) - means "you don't do shit in this course; you get a grade for doing practically nothing".
3) "It's a whore house compared to what I had to do" - means it's nothing compared to what I had to do.
ëåñéú - kusit - not translateable directly - kus is pussy (as in cunt, not cat), and so it's directly from there - babe, sexy woman. Usually refers to the body, not the face. (Hey, don't blame me - men are pigs.)
"Shioaw, eize kusit." - "fuck, what a babe".
ëåñ àî÷ - kus emek - your mother's cunt - borrowed from Arabic. Just a generic swear word. If you wish to insult, "kus ima shelcha", which is hebrew for "your mother's cunt" is an insult, like "fuck you". "Kus emek", which is Arabic for "your mother's cunt", is more like the English "fuck".
"Kus emek, my car broke down".
When this is just not enough, use:
ëåñ àîàîàîàîàî÷ - kus ememememek - your mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's cunt - sort of like "fuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkkk."
çáì òì äæîï - chaval al hazman - a waste of time - this is relatively new. It means extremely good.
"Have you tasted Josh's chocloate cake? It is a waste of time. It is the best cake you ever tasted."
ñåó äãøê - sof haderech - end of the road - really good.
True stroy - my dad's girflriend was told she looked "sof haderech" (end of the road), and she was depressed for a whole day, as she thought it meant she looked like she's at the end of the road. It really means she looks fantastic.
ñááä - sababa - no translation possible, as it doesn't come from any word I know - cool, but not as in "cool car, dude". More like "it'll be cool".
1) "The party was sababa" - the party was cool - not "oh my god, the greatest thing since sliced bread", but cool.
2) "What's his girlfriend like?" "Sababa, achi" - she's alright, bro.
ñøèéí - sratim - movies - really bad things (things you wish weren't reality).
1) "I got into such movies" - roughly means: I was depressed, and kept seeing the worst of everything, and kept fucking with my own brain.
2) "She made such movies for me yesterday" - roughly means: she gave me a really hard time, and it lasted forever.
îöá - matzav - situation - "there is a situation" means "it is forseeable", or "it is possible that". Used in two ways: yesh matzav and ein matzav. See following entries.
éù îöá - yesh matzav - there is a situation - either as a question, when it means "is there a situation", i.e. could (or will) it happen, or as an answer / statement: "there is a situation", i.e. it will (probably) happen.
1) "Is there a situation that we go to a movie today?" ("Yesh matzav shenilech leseret?") - basically means "can we go out to a movie today?"
2) "Of course there is a situation" - means sure.
àéï îöá - ein matzav - there is no situation.
"Is there a situation you'll get some hash for me too?" "Forget it, there isn't a situation, brother." ("Shkach mize, achi, ein matzav").
?ìîä îé îú - lama mi met? - why who died? - means "what? what happened that I should do this?" Used like "who died and made you king?", usually as a standalone sentence. "Hey, go clean the toilets." "Why who died?"
÷àñí ùðééí ìùéðééí - Kasem Shnaim LaShinaim - Kasem two to the teeth. The Kasem two is a short-range rocket that the Palestinians use to bombard Israeli territories. This is often used with the Ptzatzot LaGabot, Resisim LaRisim. It simply means something that is cool.
òøñ - Arse - Doesn't quite translate to English. The meaning of the slang word is much like the English word arse. A person, usually male, who wears clothing in bright colors, listens to arabic and trance music and behaves generally like a jerk.
ôøçä - Fre'Ha - A bimbo, ditzy. A woman that wears skimpy clothes with bright colors, high platform shoes and has many piercings. She also usually gives the impression of low intelligence and often speaks bad Hebrew. Promiscuity is often associated with them. It's male counterpart is usually the Arse rather then the Freh.
I guess that sounds funny to non- Israelis. ;-)
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:10/13/2002 01:12:00 PM
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Oded Volk
It was only yesterday that I learned that Oded Volk, who was murdered last Tuesday in a shoot out near Hebron, was the father of my former boss Dvir. Oded’s organs were donated and his liver was transplanted to an Arab Israeli from Wadi Ara.
Oded was a tour guide that loved Israel. He was interviewed by CNN four years ago in Israel’s jubilee. “Many Israelis, like 25-year-old Orit Shapir and 46-year-old Oded Volk, believe the nation's greatest achievement of the last 50 years is its sheer existence, reflected by its economic growth. Volk, citing the development of agricultural settlements such as kibbutzim and moshavim, points to the building of a society by people from many countries.
In the interview Volk wished that Jerusalem would become the Peace capital of the world. Click here to hear Oded Volk’s interview.
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