anti-Semitism – Page 6 – The Real Jerusalem Streets

Israel Booming: From Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to Beer Sheva

June 24, 2015rjstreets

Impossible.

It is impossible to compress all that has happened

this past week into a 30-second blog post.

Complexity has to be cut to a sound bite, while

we keep trying to share what the mainstream media misses.

The President of Cyprus was visiting,

and his country’s flag hung on Jerusalem, Israel streets.

I wonder what dignitaries see of what is really happening.

Did the President meet regular Israelis?

Did you know he was here?

Or that the German Bundestag President is speaking at the Knesset?

Most people just read of “conflict” and troubles,

but construction is booming.

Huge cranes fill the skylines.

The Museum of Tolerance is above ground,

the construction site is busy with dozens of Arab workers.

In Tel Aviv, more towers are under construction,

two are going up near the Google office.

The flatland of the Negev is such a contrast

to the Judean Hills of Jerusalem.

For the shmita year, some farmers are taking

the sabbatical year literally, leaving the land untended.

But in the Negev,

the Bedouin town of Rahat is booming,

and Soda Stream’s new plant stretches out in the sand nearby.

A few kilometers down the road

there is a new sign welcoming visitors to the new Beersheva.

The once sleepy desert town is the largest city in the Negev.

Beersheva is booming with new neighborhoods,

new business and new cultural life.

After the hundreds of rockets from Gaza last summer,

Beersheva homes are getting new safe rooms.

There were so many sleepless nights due to red alert sirens

announcing the oncoming missiles that

home bomb shelters are being installed.

Will running to a safe spot be the summer activity again?

There was another rocket last night in the south,

and it was not the first of the season.

The UNHRC has released its report.

Did they take into account the millions of Israelis

living under terrible conditions last summer?

“I believe in PEACE” says this sticker on a Jerusalem crossing.

Everyone hopes those rockets from Gaza,

and the explosions on the Golan border will stop.

Big plans for this summer.

The start-up nation is booming.

Weddings and end-of-year school performances fill the evenings.

No bombs and rockets are welcome.

Nothing is simple,

but like this Jerusalem bus sign,

here’s wishing all a good and safe trip.

Jerusalem Day Celebrations

May 19, 2015rjstreets

The date has passed.

Most flags are removed.

Commentators have spun stories with their biases.

The main stream media focused on a small group.

However,

Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day,

celebrations in Jerusalem, Israel,

are always like no where else in the world.

Today Jerusalem has a flag,

and an official pin.

The ancient Tower of David,

is always impressive.

In the morning of Yom Yerushalayim,

Mayor Nir Barkat and his wife Beverly

greeted the public inside the gardens.

While a live orchestra played music

and visitors sat and enjoyed their program.

Hundreds of families took tours of Yemin Moshe.

Thousands of young people gathered in Gan Sacher,

Sacher Park to march with Israeli flags to the Old City,

to the Kotel, the Western Wall.

Tens of thousands of people, singing, dancing, and

celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967.

This year other events were planned,

as this one for families at the new First Station.

There were prayer services,

and official invitation only ceremonies.

A free concert was held at Kikar Safra, Government Square.

Once again the annual “White Night” celebration

blasted until 4 am from Gan Sacher.

I do not appreciate that one!

In schools and kindergartens there were special programs,

with art projects songs, and even bubbles.

The main stream media missed hundreds of thousands

of people who were not news worthy.

For those who find Jerusalem Day objectionable,

please remember,

in 1965,

no Jews were in the Old City.

Under control of Jordan from 1948 – 1967,

no Jews could enter ANY of the gates.

In 1965,

this was as close to the Kotel, the Western Wall,

American Jewish tourists could get.

Photos were taken from across No Man’s Land,

safe from Jordanian sniper shots.

Yom Yerushalayim should be appreciated every day.

Our friends have posted on a bench by their home,

a short passage from the Prophet Zechariah,

on his vision for the future,

Jerusalem will be full of boys and girls

celebrating in her streets.

And that is what was really happening

on Yom Yerushalayim,

on the real Jerusalem streets.

Jerusalem: Roses, Riots, Politics and What Next

May 6, 2015rjstreets

I am always concerned about what to share

on the weeks between holidays and special events.

The Jerusalem roses are in bloom.

Construction on the new main road to Jerusalem, Israel,

is a massive on-going project.

Would anyone outside of Jerusalem care

that the regular mailboxes are no longer going to be used?

Tourists trying to mail a letter tried these

British Mandate post boxes in Yemin Moshe.

They gave up and went to find a Post Office.

Old and new, progress?

Restaurants open and close so often

I could fill a book with those photos.

But Cofizz, the 5 shekel coffee and food place on Ben Yehuda,

has changed the center of town.

Cofizz is always busy, while the place next door has empty seats.

Copy cat places have mushroomed,

from King George Street to Yaffo Street.

It is easy to get a 5 shekel ice coffee now.

There were riots and plenty of press on that.

But, did you hear that there were thousands out Friday morning

for a biking event that went around the Walls of the Old City,

up to and through the Zoo in Malcha

and back to First Station?

Israelis are far away in Nepal.

But at home did you hear about

the 12 teenagers who met with President Reuven Rivlin in

Beit Hanasi, the Israeli President’s residence?

5 high school students are to go to US to an Intel Science Competition,

and another 6 are to represent Israel in an EU science program,

and 1 is to attend a special science camp in Germany over the summer.

Israel ranked 11th for the happiest nation.

It seems hard to imagine if all you see are media reports of “the conflict.”

Karen Bass and Alcee Hastings are two of many US Congressmen on tour

in Israel this week to see for themselves

what is happening.

Everyday is not a picnic in the park,

A Muslim woman driving a man is unusual,

but a Muslim man praying on the streets is not.

For the past few weeks,

all pieces of wood on the streets, large or small,

have been collected for

Lag B’Omer bonfires.

Meanwhile,

we wait to hear if there is a new government.

Old and new, always something on these streets.