War on Hamas – Israeli blogs in English
If I had the time and patience I would sit down and write an extensive analysis or comment on all that is going on in and around Gaza, but sorry, I have neither time nor patience for any of that. I really have to work, and the little spare time that I have I try to spend with my wife and kids. Our two eldest children definitely have a clue about what is going on, we do not watch the news when they are around but they know that there is a war being fought in Gaza and southern Israel; right now that war does not affect our daily lives very much, but they are old enough to remember how the last Lebanon war started ( they were seven and three years old then ). Our ‘bunker’ ( ‘Mamad’, a protective room inside the house ) is ready, just in case. The chances of Hezbollah trying to join the party are very small, but you never know.
Anyway, I sit at home, follow the news online and by radio and television, and do my work, taking in account that there might be a very slight chance that I will have to take a break from work, like I did in the summer of 2006. The four of us – my wife was pregnant then, now there are five of us – spent five weeks in Holland that summer. That break was one of the reasons why only now I am in the very final stages of writing my PhD thesis. If you want to read what Israelis who blog in English have to say about the current situation, I would recommend – besides, obviously, my own blog, Dutchblog Israel, where I post some unedited, less balanced than usual observations whenever I feel the need and find the time – the following four weblogs. None of their authors is fanatic or extremist, all of them are Zionists, some of them are left of center ( just like me ). There are many other Israeli bloggers who write in English, but these four I visit on a more or less regular basis, I like their writing and know that they post regularly. I am not familiar enough with Palestinian or other Arab blogs in English to recommend any of them.
- Letters from Rungholt ( you are right, this one is not in English but in German, the author is a friend of mine who lives in a kibbutz about half an hour’s drive from my home )
- Not a Fish
- Step by Step
- Something Something
Unfortunately one of the best Israeli-bloggers-in-English, On the Face’s Lisa, hardly blogs anymore, probably because she is too busy doing something else that she is very good at, being a journalist.
Thanks for the plug, Bert. It’s been interesting to observe how quickly Israelis have slipped into a war mode mentality, obsessively following the news (everyone in the train stations is crowded around the plasma TV screens as they wait for their trains) and talking about where the latest rockets have fallen – an all too familiar scenario, unfortunately.
The first thing that I noticed last night was that the Hop! children’s channel continues its broadcasts during the night, instead of ’sleeping’ from 8PM until 5PM.
I saw that too. War mode.
Thank you. This is what “English-writing Israeli bloggers” turned in google. I was looking all over the place for that kind of stuff!
Please consider joining the very large blog called Newsvine.com, which is owned by MSNBC. There are probably 500K members of Newsvine.com, and you will meet some very capable Pro-Jewish posters there. Unfortunately, there is a very well-entrenched, seemingly officially tolerated larger group of anti-semitic members who seem to have the run of the place. Please help fellow Jews there! Oh, tell them OSA sent you, and please tell Calvin (Newsvine's Co-Founder) that OSA is happy to recommend Newsvine.com to Pro-Jewish organizations everywhere!