Greek Gods Celebrate on the Olympus

 

The French hosted the Olympic games and presented an original tableau vivant of Greek Gods celebrating at their mountaintop abide. Dyonisius (the blue person) and the participants danced. The world was scandalized, which was what they wanted to provoke. Knowing Paris, I am unsurprised, but I always thought the Immortals were beautiful. These were not.

Back (or Forward?) into the Stone Age

 

In the 2010s, ANERA (an Islamic American Charity) worked in the Shoka area in the eastern part of the Rafah Governorate. Shoka residents were suffering from severe domestic water shortages. Anera constructed a 53,000-gallon (2,000m3) reservoir and pumping station and installed almost two miles (3,050 meters) of pipes that connected the tank to people’s homes. The 15,000 residents of Shoka now enjoy a steady water supply in their houses. (*)

(*) I saw a short video of our soldiers flowing up a Rafa reservoir and a 3-unit pumping station. HAMAS places weapons deposits and tunnels always near or in "sanctuary" points, like hospitals, schools... and water infrastructure, calculating that we will not dare to touch them. They are wrong. 

Yoram Ettinger's Numbers

 The number of annual Jewish births in Israel surged by 69% from 1995 (80,400) to 2023 (135,639), compared to a 17% increase of annual Arab births in Israel during the same period, as reported by the February 2024 Monthly Bulletin of Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS).

The 2023 Jewish births (135,639) were 76% of total births (178,454), compared to 69% in 1995.

In 2024 (based on the 2022 data), the Jewish fertility rate (3.03 births per woman) is higher than the Arab fertility rate (2.75), as it has been since 2016. It is higher than the fertility rates in all Muslim countries other than Iraq and the sub-Sahara Muslim countries.

In 1969, Israel’s and Judea and Samaria’s ('West Bank’) Arab fertility rate was 6 births higher than the Jewish fertility rate. In 2015, both fertility rates were at 3.13 births per woman.

This reflects the dramatic Westernization of Arab demography in Judea and Samaria and pre-1967 Israel, triggered by Arab modernity, urbanization, the enhanced social status of Arab women, older wedding age (24), expanded participation of Arab women in higher-education and the job market, a shorter reproductive time (25-45 rather than 16-55) and the increased use of contraceptives.

From

Hot summer

 

The World as Simulation

 

From the Wiki: Schrödinger had a deep interest in philosophy, and was influenced by the works of Arthur Schopenhauer and Baruch Spinoza. In his 1956 lecture "Mind and Matter", he said that "The world extended in space and time is but our representation."^[66] This is a repetition of the first words of Schopenhauer's main work. Schopenhauer's works also introduced him to Indian philosophy, more specifically to the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta’s interpretation. He once took on a particular line of thought: "If the world is indeed created by our act of observation, there should be billions of such worlds, one for each of us. How come your world and my world are the same? If something happens in my world, does it happen in your world, too? What causes all these worlds to synchronize with each other?".

There is obviously only one alternative, namely the unification of minds or consciousnesses. Their multiplicity is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind. This is the doctrine of the Upanishads.

How to stay cool

* Drink water regularly. 

Do NOT wait until you’re thirsty to start drinking water.

• Avoid using your oven or stove to prepare meals.
• Wear loose-fitting clothes.
• Take showers to cool down.
• Maintain your home's air conditioning system, so your home cools properly.
• Don’t overwork yourself, and make sure you rest

P.D.: I am taking that too seriously. I am doing no work now for 24 hs, Bad.

Widening Ring of Fire

 

Israel bombed the port of Hodeida in Yemen, creating a phenomenal fire. It is in response to some 220 Iranian explosive drones launched by the Houthis against Israel. The distance is over 1700 kilometers. Their refinery is Kaputt. Finished. 

Imminent Dollar devaluation

 

From Zero Hedge. The sequel strengthened lately to 3/6 sh/$ and may strengthen even more. 

Attack on Tel Aviv

 

This morning, at 03.00 AM an unmanned plane penetrated Israel's air space and exploded in Tel Aviv center. The pic shows its engine, apparently after exploding. It appears to be a single-stroke motorcycle engine. It must have been noisy.

Tut Anakh Hamon

 

A ceremonial shield of Tutankhamun represents the king as a human-headed sphinx wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, trampling upon African (southern) foes of Egypt.

New Kingdom, late 18th Dynasty, ca. 1332-1323 BC.

Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), Valley of the Kings, Thebes.

Grand Egyptian Museum. 341 – JE 61577

Tut The Great and Massive. Those Ancient Egyptians spoke a language similar to Hebrew. Apparently, they were large-tailed and proud of trampling on Blacks.

Magda Kertesz

My aunt Magda, my father's beloved little sister, died in Auschwitz. A fellow prisoner I met in Jaszbereny, told me that they were moving a wagon when she fell and the wagon couldn't be stopped and she was trapped under the wheels and killed. She was pregnant. I had never seen a pic like this below, and having seen it, I can now visualize how she died. What a horror. 

  

Lazy Summer

 

Shabbat midday. 40 C and the streets are deserted. One full week has passed and I did little to no work. How did I pass the time? Entertained by the internet.  Sleeping all morning. 

I stop here so I can start working. 

Ill.: A sloth. Note the vegetation growing on him. In Hebrew it is called  עצלנים = Lazy Ones.

Guided Bullets

 

JDAM  bomb was used this Shabbat morning to eliminate Muhmad Deif, the commander of the HAMAS militia. The thingie consists of the bomb and a direction kit with GPS and inertial control and is very accurate. We seem to be winning, and everybody loves a winner.

ICL compared

 My main share during these years is ICL, the Israeli Fertilizer company. It has been losing height all the time, but I had it in my heart from the times of the cartel. Lately, I suspected that the Houti pirates were handicapping maritime transport to India, which was the reason for its recent decline. Analyzing the comparative table below I see that the fall is shared by the whole sector, so it is not the Houthis draining my portfolio. So what is it? Currently, prices are normal for the market, and I have been enamored of ICL for too long. Time to discharge it. 

s of 11 Jul 2024	MOS Mosaic Company (The)	NTR Nutrien Ltd.	ICL.TA ICL GROUP LTD	--
1 Week				--
3 Months				--
YTD				--
1 Year

Funeral in Town

Hundreds with flags in the Military Cemetery of this town. Many paratroopers with dusty boots. Some were sitting changing footwear. The Maglan Commando soldier's name was Tal Lahat. 21, Beit Sefer Gordon, Rabin High School. Like my daughters. 

Hurting. 

Carmen de Laura del Sol

 

The last film of the festival was Carmen, directed by Carlos Saura, with Antonio Gades and Laura del Sol (pic). The story is about flamenco dancers preparing the real show Carmen based on Merrimee. This was my first time seeing real flamenco, the opposite of formal and prudish Spanish folk dances. 

Formerly I knew flamenco as ridiculous poses and guttural incomprehensible"singing", but here it made sense and is beautiful. A memorable experience.  

Every day I learn something new. 

Thanking Pakistan

Meir Javedanfar is an Iranian-born Israeli Middle East commentator and academic. He left Iran in 1987, and now lives in Israel. He wrote about his personal experiences in Iran and how the Sochnut smuggled thousands of Iranian Jews to Pakistan. 

"In terms of ties with Iranian smugglers, it is possible that the Mossad had established connections with them during the 1970s, when Israel and Iran had diplomatic relations. This could have been to set up escape routes for Mossad agents and other Israelis in Iran in case other avenues out of the country were closed in the event of unforeseen circumstances.

At the time Pakistan was vehemently anti-Israel, antisemitic views were widespread among the population, and Israel had nothing to offer it. So why, from the early 1980s until the end of the operation in 1997, would the Pakistani government agree to host thousands of Iranian Jews, who were smuggled out over a decade and a half as part of a Mossad operation?

The likely answer is U.S. support: In all likelihood, once the Iranian Jews arrived on the Pakistani side of the border, U.S.-sponsored Jewish and other refugee charities were responsible for housing and helping them, until their cases were processed.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s actions did not impact its relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). When it came to Pakistan-IRI relations, their security-oriented priorities were far more important than Pakistan hosting Iranian Jews.

Pakistan returned none of the Jews who escaped across the border. Iran's Jews, including many members of my family and my synagogue in Tehran, will forever be indebted to its government and its people for hosting them."

The first Pakistani I met was a doctor working in Northern Nigeria, in Bauchi. He spoke Urdu (which is like Hindi) and had clear blue eyes. He also spoke excellent English. Later I met Pakistani and Afgan Jews in Israel, they are a branch of the Irani community.   

Cowards never reach the top

 

I attended the Water Authority meeting where it was accorded to grant one of the five contracts for building and operating desalinization plants to Mekorot, the State Water Company. The Vice manager of the Authority, Zvicky said that Mekorot was offering a higher price than private companies and that it was his opinion that they are unable to build it. But he had a certain feeling for the old State company. The Manager, a former chief engineer of Mekorot, said nothing. 

The proposition was approved without opposition. Zwicky was right, Mekorot was unable to build the plant which caused a 100 million dollar loss to the State budget. I am still blaming myself for cowardice, why I did not say my opinion that it was wrong and unethical to give preference to a State-owned dinosaur when we know that it will cost the taxpayer. I was unable to open my mouth. Many of the presents were former Mekorot employees and working as freelancer consultants for the company. I was also offered the possibility to do some side work for Mekorot.

The plant never produced drinking water and was sold to the GES consortium, comprising Shapir Engineering and Industry (TASE: SPEN), controlled by the Shapira family, and Generation Capital consortium for NIS 909 million, which is much more than Mekorot estimated. All five of Israel's main desalination plants are now privately owned. 

 Ultimately I was moved to a lower job in the Authority.  For cowardice. 

We never give up

 

Netzarim synagogue as it was fifty years ago. 

Netzarim (Hebrew: נְצָרִים) was/is an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip about 5 kilometers southwest of Gaza City. It was established in 1972. In August 2005, the inhabitants of Netzarim were evicted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan. 

That was a Big Mistake. 

A research article in yesterday's HaAretz fishwrap shows that the Netzarim area has been razed and prepared for re-settlement. The menorah displayed in the pic above has been retrieved from a museum and returned to the site. 

He walked through the fields (an Israeli film)

 

Following the EPOS film festival, we went to an Israeli movie about a kibbutz pre-Independence, the Palmach, and a love story. Very good, very sentimental. The girl, Iris Yotvat, was beautiful (now 72 - left acting to have a family, teaches Tantra Yoga in Karkur). She plays a Yeldey Teheran orphan, so I had to learn the story of those 800 Jewish orphans who arrived in British Palestine through Iran. Assi Dayan plays Uri, the rude and heroic tzabar (Israeli native).

 Recommended. 

Bad Neigborhood

There is a terrible article in ZERO HEDGE about the situation Egypt.  Its foreign debt reaches 100 billion, and the interest payments consume 65% of its budget. The problem is more hopeless than Argentina ever. 

The logic is simple: increased spending on mega-projects, financed by high-interest debt, has allowed the military to rapidly expand its wealth  while the repayment of debt is financed through the appropriation of public resources, which is in turn financed by a regressive taxation system. This creates a diabolical cycle of structural poverty impossible to escape.

The mechanism is well known in Argentina where ten percent (or more) of every public infrastructure project was delivered in cash to the governing clique, while the projects were financed partly by foreign debt. More projects - more money into the pockets of the military rulers. Who cares about what the projects are or pretend to be?  It is irrelevant if it is the purchase of expensive weapons, an irrigation scheme, or building a new capital in the desert. The bigger and the stupider, the better. 

The increased influence of Gulf capital in the Egyptian economy comes with grave economic consequences. Last September, an Emirati firm acquired a 30 percent stake in the government-owned Eastern Company, which controls 70 percent of the country’s tobacco market. The deal was valued $625m.  

The article warns of increasing pauperization of the Egyptian people. This neighborhood never was good and is fast getting worse. 

 

New Project in the Shomron

 

I started a new project in the Shomron, in the Industrial Park of Ariel. The Park has developed since I worked there at its foundation, and today is huge and impressive. The trees on the streets had grown and there was much shade (It was a very hot midday). To my surprise, there was a lot of parking space as the Palestinians leave their cars outside. Currently, there is a big problem with the water and sewage infrastructure, that was not developed to follow the success of the Park. 

The pic was taken from the site. Opposite the wadi, one can see the Industrial Area of Barkan. I planned some of those big hangars, and they are all occupied. I spoke to friendly Palestinian workers, they were interested in what I was doing, and they helped me to get around.