Category: Social
Tourism in Israel is growing fast with big plans for even bigger numbers
Posted on May 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Not only is Israel breaking Guiness World Records for largest amount of people saying Hatikvah simultaneously, largest national flag, and the World’s largest Humus plate, we also keep breaking previous tourist records. According to the Ministry of Tourism, in April of 2008 alone, there were 290,000 tourists, a 41% increase over April 2007 and 26% over April 2006.
But the Ministry of Tourism has set its goals much, much higher, hoping to bring 5 million tourists in 2012. The Director of Tourism Shaul Tzemach is already nervous about a room shortage. As they say, that should be our worst problem! Anyone want to rent out their apartment for a few days? I volunteer. Tourists usually mean m-o-n-e-y. I say, bring it.
You know what this major increase in tourism will mean for Israel, don’t you? More hotels which means more construction! And Israelis just love construction and detours. There are 90 million shekels going towards encouraging tourism and millions more for the construction of more hotels in Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee area, Acre, Ashdod, Kiryat Shmona and the Upper Galilee. That brings the total cost to 1 billion shekels. The number feels too big to comprehend and reminds me of Austin Powers’ Dr. Evil suggesting the largest amount he could fathom “1 milllliion dollars”.
What will you be driving in 2010? A Sneak Peek
Posted on May 13, 2008 | 2 Comments
If you answered “One of the two yellow Hummers in Israel”, you may not really be interested in the rest of this post. For the rest of us, we could end up driving electric cars within the next 2 years, thanks to Shai Agassi and Renault. The latest model has been spotted circling around parking lots in Tel Aviv. I wonder who the lucky guy/gal is that gets to test it and is forced to drive around in circles all day. Weee!
While I admit that this is no flying car, the electric car will create cleaner air and lower our dependency on fossil fuels, a good thing considering the only oil Israel has is olive oil and it’s too tasty to be wasted on transportation.
Newsweek explains that 150 recharging stations aka ’swaps’ will be built around Israel and will take the same amount of time to fill up as a traditional gas pump. You’ll also be able to recharge at home or the office for shorter distances. Drivers can pay for the recharging with monthly subscriptions, similar to a cellphone plan, and it should end up being cheaper than gas.
When these guilt-free and cheaper fueling electric cars become available to the public, I will definitely want one. But I ain’t getting on the roads until the national aggression level in Israeli drivers is lowered significantly. Where is Project Better Drivers? That is the real question here.
Shai Agassi, of Project Better Place, is speaking at the President’s Conference in Jerusalem this week, so hopefully we’ll learn of the latest status of the project and report it here on israelplug.
Disappearance of Bishop Tutu
Posted on March 24, 2008 | 2 Comments
The following is an open letter to Bishop Desmond Tutu from Simon Deng, a native of the Shiluk Kingdom in southern Sudan, and an escaped jihad slave and a leading human rights activist. In this article, Deng asks Bishop Tutu why he is so intent on criticizing Israel as an apartheid state, when Israel is so obviously not the same as South African was, and while so many people around the world truly in need of help are being ignored.
Deng is an activist who fights to stop slavery, and has spoken on the topic around the world. More links on the topic are at the end of this article. Read more»
Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma helps 10 percent of Israelis who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder
Posted on October 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Over ten percent of Israel’s population suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, three times the number in America. They include the policemen who are the first to arrive at terror scenes and cannot erase the pictures from their heads. They are the battle-hard reservists who went through hell in Lebanon. They are Gush Katif evacuees. They are the school children in Sderot (a full 50 percent desperately needing psychological intervention) and children in the North, who experienced the Lebanese War. They are Ethiopian Jews who watched their children starve to death, their mothers and father die on the long trek to come home to Israel. They are people like me who, with the proper help, can get their lives back. Read more»
Good news from Israel vs. bad news from…the Netherlands?
Posted on October 18, 2007 | 3 Comments
israelplug was born as an effort to produce a news site with the type of news about Israel you won’t find on mainstream publications - good news! Sometimes I watch the news and I think “Are they talking about me and everyone I know?” It makes me wonder if I actually am oppressing poor minority children in my free time…
Anyways, there are those who claim that the media repeatedly adopts a negative slant when reporting on Israel, thus promoting a bias rather than reality, and that we’re not necessarily worse than other countries. For example, The Netherlands is a particularly sinister place.
The Netherlands?! The Netherlands is a place full of windmills, tulips and free pot! A bad day there must be when someone smoking pot fears that the windmills are blowing the tulips over.
Well, The Netherlands ain’t as rosy as it seems Read more»
MTV launching Israel site, picks Israel-based TVinci platform
Posted on October 16, 2007 | 1 Comment
According to Go2web2, MTV is launching a MTV site for Israel on December 1. And their music video platform of choice will be none other than Israel-based TVinci. The site promises to entertain us for hours with both English and Hebrew (Yiddish, too?) music videos, CD reviews, interviews, and the ever popular shows like Jackass and Punk’d. MTV Israel also promises to let users promote themselves by uploading songs, videos, pictures and whatever else you can think of. But, just in case the music videos and The Real World don’t keep you addicted enough, MTV will be using TVinci powered TVBox (the music player) to serve as a social network, letting people share the hottest albums, clips, or gossip with each other.
The homework machine a reality with Israel start-up Shvoong
Posted on October 10, 2007 | Leave a Comment
As a kid, I read Shel Silverstein’s famous poem, “The Homework Machine” which, as you can guess, is about a machine that does your homework for you, just doesn’t promise the best results. Today, this homework machine seems to have taken shape in the form of Israeli start-up, Shvoong. I’m not claiming that it will do your homework for you, but it does come pretty close. Shvoong’s website boasts free essays, term papers, articles, summaries, and abstracts - any student’s fantasy site.
On a social level, Roi Carthy writes that Shvoong Homework lets kids “use Shvoong Homework to type-up their schoolwork, keep it organized, and then share it with individual or groups of classmates, the entire class, students from other schools entirely, or no one at all. ” Does education need to be another social networking site? What happened to the days of paying attention in class, writing things down in a notebook, and doing well all on your own.
Polite Israelis: a possibility in our lifetime, thanks to new contest
Posted on October 10, 2007 | 1 Comment
The contest seems easy enough, you propose an idea to civilize Israelis and you could win $60,000 cash. Unlike another recent, somewhat similar contest, there is no teaching commitment for the winner, nor do you have to leave your house to write about or implement your idea. It seems almost too good to be true. But, in a country with no lines, no driving rules, and strikes every other day, can it be done? Can Israelis change for the better? This is an unbelievable contest, and one that’s long overdue. Thank you, Ronny Maman, wealthy Israeli businessman, for creating this contest and I truly hope to see results in my lifetime. The website for submitting ideas seems to be only in Hebrew. Here’s what you need to know:
Deadline: January 22, 2008, Tu B’shvat
Email ideas to: info@derech-eretz.org
Send to: Rehov Achuza 96, POBox 26, Ranaana
Fax to: 09-7409592
Winners will be announced: June 6, 2008
(Hat tip: The New Jew: Blogging Jewish Philanthropy)
Unusual prize to reignite Jewishness involves Brandeis, teaching, and money
Posted on October 9, 2007 | 2 Comments
Too bad Charles Bronfman already thought of birthright israel, or I would’ve entered it in Bronfman’s competition to “find a new idea which can transform the way the Jewish community thinks about itself“. Let’s say I enter a great new idea and win. Would I want to leave Israel and move to Boston to write about my idea and teach at Brandeis for 2 years? Well, that’s exactly the prize that Mr. Bronfman is offering the winner.Even with a six-digit salary thrown in to make things interesting, I’m not sure the incentive has been properly thought out, leaving many people hesitant about submitting their thoughts.
The prize reminds me of meetings I’ve attended where I’m eager to suggest a good idea only to avoid saying anything so I don’t have to take on extra responsibility since I know how it works - whoever suggests it, does it. Maybe there could be a second prize like 1000 bucks, a mention of your name on the Brandeis campus, and explain your idea in further detail over the phone. I’d submit 20 ideas right now.
Taglit-birthright will never be the same - Jewlicious/Heeb trip now available
Posted on September 23, 2007 | 2 Comments
Taglit-birthright brings young Jewish adults to Israel who have never been there before, and for free. The trips usually involve intense tours of the country, where history, culture and spirituality are all explored.
Taglit allows other organizations to run their own trips in conjunction with Taglit. Generally, these groups are serious Jewish organizations with conventional agendas, like strengthening Jewish identity and community.
Well, now you can join Jewlicious and Heeb, two extraordinarily unconventional Jewish publications, on their Taglit-birthright trip to Israel. birthright will never be the same. Read more»
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