Jaron Report

Doc Review: Chasing Ice

2012-02-20T16:23:00.000-05:00

Courtesy: Chasing Ice

National Geographic photographer James Balog feels that climate change is the defining issue of our time. He says that every era has its illusions. The illusion now is that climate change is not real, and not a threat to our planet. He predicts a day when the next generation will accuse this generation of a transgression far worse than war crimes. Yet so many people are in denial or sitting idly by as the first world jeopardizes the future of this planet through carbon emissions. In Balog's view, nothing anyone is doing right now matters unless we solve the climate problem. There will be a sixth extinction, global flooding, and your grandkids will need their Ipads to be waterproof with an app for magically creating food and resources in order to survive.

Courtesy: Chasing Ice

Balog makes it his life mission to spread awareness of climate change, before it is too late. The trouble is how to tell the story of climate change in a visual way. Nobody's done it effectively. Al Gore uses charts in his film which we all know now has very little effect on people who can't read or don't believe charts. Balog realized the key to telling the story of climate change is to tell it visually. And the main character in this narrative? Well, it's the ice, of course. And how does he do it? He creates an organization called the Extreme Ice Survey, hires a team of young assistants, and together they set up time lapse cameras focused in on glaciers all over the world. Balog's determination is inspiring. He battles a failing body, technical problems, and all kinds of trials and tribulations along the way. Yet he persists. And what he and filmmaker Jeff Orlowski show us is remarkable. The most beautiful shots of the arctic region that i've ever seen. Hues of blues and greens that will change how you understand those colors. Years of ice melting compressed into seconds. Glaciers disappearing before your eyes. Finally, epically, his crew captures the largest ever recorded ice calving event as a glacier larger than Manhattan breaks off in a creepy symphony of cracking noises until it finally crashes into the sea in thunderous ovation.

If you're still doubting that climate change is real, make sure you see this film. Anyone who sees the film and trusts its authenticity will be beyond convinced that climate change is real. To see a prehistoric glacier ice receding faster than a man's hairline in a Rogaine commercial is scary. National Geogrpahic channel bought the TV rights, but im hoping you can see it how i saw it. Watching glaciers the size of cities fall into the see is definitely big screen material.

Documentary Film Review - Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry

2012-02-17T13:14:00.001-05:00

This documentary takes us inside the life of Chinese artist and dissident Ai Wei Wei. We first meet him in his Beijing compound, talking about a cat. He lives with more than 50 cats, but has a special affinity towards one of them. "Only one cat has the ability to open doors," recounts Ai Wei Wei (Cut to a broll shot of the special cat jumping 5 feet off the ground and on the way clipping the doorknob, landing on four paws, and sleekly sliding through the open door). "If I didn't have this cat, I would never have known that cats could open doors."

That cat, of course, symbolizes Ai Wei Wei. There are many Chinese people, but not many who dare to challenge the regime the way he has. There is definitely only one Chinese person with the courage to create an internet meme called, "Fuck You Motherland."

In his gigantic, fortress like art/living compound with surveillance cameras honed in on him and government agents lurking constantly, Ai Wei Wei seems as happy as can be. He mocks the authorities by making fake surveillance cameras as pieces of art. He drops ancient and priceless pieces of pottery or spray paints the Coca Cola symbol on them. He makes documentaries that travel beyond the "Great Firewall of China" to report what is actually happening there. He is a rebel after my own heart.

His mother worries about his safety and in one candid scene she breaks down and weeps for her son, imploring him to subdue his antics. Yet, Wei Wei possesses the same quality that all freedom fighters and truth tellers seem to possess. A sublime calmness and confidence in what he does and how he lives. He is well aware that he could lose his life and/or freedom at a moment's notice. But why would that get in the way of pursuing a righteous cause?

Ai Wei Wei is a superhero among men, one of the greatest human rights heroes of our generation, and a brilliant communications professional. His rabble-rousing and rebellious artworks are broadcast to his loyal legion of social media followers on Twitter and elsewhere. He knows just how and when to use the medium to promote his cause, get messages out, or just to say "Fuck You" to the Chinese government.

Filmmaker Alison Klayman brilliantly uses his Twitter feed @aiww as a storytelling device. We see him typing and then the film progresses, showing us the real-life drama that ensues before, during, and after typing those 140 characters. The film ends with a brilliant piece Wei Wei made for the Tate Art Gallery in London, importing tens of millions of sunflower seeds and filling up the gallery showroom with them. He said the piece was inspired by Twitter itself, and the tens of millions of free voices that can not be suppressed.

Check out the official film trailer here and make sure you follow @aiww on Twitter.

艾未未: Never Sorry 纪录片预告片（中文字幕） from Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry on Vimeo.

Film Swag included Chinese take out boxes with fortune cookies inside.
My fortune read, "Once you've tasted freedom, it stays in your heart and nobody can take it from you.
Then you can be more powerful than a whole country." -Ai Wei Wei

The film's PR people even stamped our hands

Me doing my best Ai Wei Wei impression

DIY Grand Jury Prizes

2012-02-06T13:13:00.000-05:00

It is now time to present my favorite documentary films at Sundance this year. I didn't see all of them, so please accept my sincere apologies if you're not on the list because I didn't see your film. I'm sure all the Sundance docs were superb, but these are the ones that made me the most pissed off, most inspired, and just made me glad to be alive.

Drumroll please.....

My top 3 in no particular order were: Chasing Ice (Directed by Jeff Orlowski), Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry (Directed by Alison Klayman), and How to Survive a Plague (Directed by David France).

Read my Full Reviews of these films on subsequent blog posts.

The Jaron Prize for Best Music Doc goes to: Under African Skies: Joe Berlinger's new doc about Paul Simon's return to South Africa 25 years after recording Graceland. I got the feeling that Joe needed to make a film like this after being so immersed in the grisly Paradise Lost saga for such a long time. The film eloquently tells the story of the creation, legacy and controversy of one of my favorite albums of all time, Graceland. Oh, and a little birdie told me there might just be a reunion tour.

Treat yourself to this clip from what looked like an epic concert in Harare, Zimbabawe, 1987.

The Jaron Prize for Best Short Subject Doc goes to: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom: Director Lucy Walker deservedly got another Oscar nomination for this poetic short film. The film juxtaposes the larger than life, horrific destruction of the tsunami with the "metronome" of Japanese life, the Cherry Blossom. With an imaginative score by Moby underlying melancholic tsunami stories, the film asks viewers to do what is not possible, to put ourselves in the shoes of these subjects who had their lives swept away by an instant act of nature at its most cruel. Yet, just as we can no longer bear it, the film saves us from this arduous emotional burden by focusing on an act of nature far less savage but no less stunning, the blossoming of this amazing flower. We learn that the cherry blossom is the symbol of the Samurai warrior because it is equally graceful in life and in death. As we see the flowers dying and getting blown away by the wind, the metaphor comes full circle, the music becomes more hopeful, more grandiose, and we get put into our proper place as humans, mere specks of life in a universe where there are many more questions than answers.

Official Trailer:

Two Amazing People, Organizations, and Films

2012-02-05T15:34:00.000-05:00

At Sundance, I attended an event sponsored by the Skoll Foundation and Sundance Institute called "Skoll Stories of Change." The Egyptian Theater was jam packed for the panel moderated by Skoll Foundation President and CEO Sally Osberg. It featured two incredible social entrepreneurs who told us their stories. We also got to see pre-release screeners of the two films highlighting their efforts. The teasers left me feeling emotionally agitated and inspired, exactly what a good doc should do.

So what did these two great social entrepreneurs, Bunker Roy and Joia Mukherjee, have in common? Well, many things, but one thing stood out in particular to me. They both came from upper class backgrounds and drastically changed the course of their lives after visiting slums in India.

Just some food for thought. Now, onto these amazing social entrepreneurs and their causes:

Dr. Joia Mukherjee (Partners in Health Medical Director) - I have been following PIH since reading the book about Dr. Paul Farmer's health project in Haiti, Mountains Beyond Mountains (Highly, highly recommended). This organization provides free health care to 1.5 million Haitians, with similar projects all over the world now. I love PIH's core philosophy represented by their motto, "Whatever it takes." Development organizations, and regular organizations, can all learn from this approach. Having Joia, a senior leader in the organization in the room was a special treat. She said one of her fears in working in the developing world is appearing as the "Great White Hope." She made sure to selflessly direct any praise for her efforts towards the people she calls the "real heroes," the local doctors and nurses who they partner with on the ground in these health care deficient countries. They become the first line of defense when diseases break out.

Kief Davidson (Director, The Devil's Miner) is directing the film. His cut looked amazing, with great access to Dr. Farmer and PIH employees. The grisly scenes in Haiti post earthquake were hard to watch. And the teaser ends with Dr. Farmer speaking in Creole Haitians crammed into a sweaty, desperate church that "We are here. We are standing beside our people." The scene sent chills down my spine. I can't wait for the film.

Dr. Joia Mukherjee

Bunker Roy (Director, Barefoot College) is the pioneer of a brilliantly simple program. 30 grandmothers from 4 continents will get selected to go to India to become solar engineers at the Barefoot College. Why grandmothers? According to Bunker, a man will give up too quickly and leave the village to find a job. A grandmother has no need to go find a job and leave the village behind. Over the last 6 years, the Barefoot College has trained over 230 grandmothers from 27 countries. Many of them become the first female solar engineers in their country. As Bunker puts it, "They come as grandmothers and leave as tigers."An Afghan grandmother went on to power 100 villages with the skills she learned from Bunker. What is the value of that? Huge. It is a boon for both economics and education. For the first time ever, people can be productive at night.

Jehane Noujaim (Control Room) will be directing the film. The teaser has a great scene of Bunker showing up to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere in Jordan, trying to recruit a woman into his program. The film will surely produce some comical, cross-cultural moments, and will tell an inspiring tale of how one man (and many grandmothers) can change the world.

Bunker Roy

Slice of Heaven

2012-02-03T16:16:00.000-05:00

I came to Sundance Film Festival this year for the first time and fell in love with the festival and Park City. When there were no great documentaries to see, I went snowboarding. (Sadly this scenario never really occurred so I convinced myself the doc slate wasn't so great the two days I went snowboarding when in the back of my head I knew I was lying to myself). When the snow wasn't so great, I watched documentaries. (This scenario did occur). For a doc film addict and competitive sports junkie and agnostic nature lover rolled into one, this is as close to heaven as it gets.

Yes, that is Hipstamatic and yes I am happy

As far as docs go, I went hunting for my usual fare: a hearty mouthful of gut wrenching, fever inducing, life altering, political, environmental, and social documentaries to send me on another drugless acid trip through a dimension of reality I never thought existed.

Disclaimer: If you've come here to learn about the celebs who made it out to Sundance this year, you're on the wrong blog.

Here you will read about the films I believe make Sundance truly special, the independent docs that first introduce the most important, untold stories to the world.

I was really glad to see no red carpets, publicists, or paparazzi at my first Sundance event, a panel sponsored by the Skoll Foundation called Stories of Social Change. As I made my way into the Egyptian Theater and saw the etchings of the Pharaohs, I realized that I had come full circle: Exactly a year ago I was in the state of Egypt witnessing and documenting the beginning of a revolution in Tahrir Square.

As a human it is only natural that I look for the connection between these two seemingly disparate life experiences, separated by a continent of space and a year of time. Tahrir Square 2011 and Sundance 2012. What's the connection?

In my view, the best docs do more than just tell a story that's never been told before. A well made doc, like a revolution, has the ability to lift masses of people from a state of inertia. Once you see it and experience it you are forever changed. You are, internally, a different person. Just as a nation in revolt is forever a different nation.

Unlike dramatic films, which have its roots in theater, documentary's roots lie in journalism. But with 90 minutes of running time on one issue, docs can get deeper than any news piece. They can explore issues conventional news bureaus wouldn't dare cover. Long, complicated stories are not conducive to a 24 hour news cycle, and often these stories are the most captivating. Docs appeal not just to the lizard brain, but to the limbic brain. Moving pictures and sound are the keys to unlocking a deeper, more emotional truth than black and white print on a page.

Think of Bowling for Columbine, Paradise Lost, The Cove, Food Inc. All of these films not only entertained and educated, they MOVED people. They inspired a new way of thinking about guns, revoked a Death Sentence, pressured the whaling industry, and made people more conscious about the food they ate. It's not far fetched to imagine a well made and poignant documentary one day causing a Revolution. A great doc screams out to the world something that people desperately need to hear but were previously deaf to. Often the result is "people power." And just like a Revolution, that call for change can fall onto deaf ears, lose steam, or, profoundly triumph.

My next few blog posts will talk about the docs I saw at Sundance that I believe are stories worth spreading.

Gasland Director Arrested on Capitol Hill

2012-02-02T10:56:00.000-05:00

I'm reposting the letter Josh Fox wrote after getting arrested for filming a hearing related to "fracking" on Capitol Hill. He's trying to make a sequel to his Academy Award nominated documentary, Gasland. If you haven't seen Gasland yet, make sure you do.

Here's the trailer:

Here is the letter in its entirety.

I was arrested today for exercising my First Amendment rights to freedom of the press on Capitol Hill. I was not expecting to be arrested for practicing journalism. Today's hearing in the House Energy and Environment subcommittee was called to examine EPAs findings that hydraulic fracturing fluids had contaminated groundwater in the town of Pavillion, Wyoming. I have a long history with the town of Pavillion and its residents who have maintained since 2008 that fracking has contaminated their water supply. I featured the stories of residents John Fenton, Louis Meeks and Jeff Locker in GASLAND and I have continued to document the catastrophic water contamination in Pavillion for the upcoming sequel GASLAND 2. It would seem that the Republican leadership was using this hearing to attack the three year Region 8 EPA investigation involving hundreds of samples and extensive water testing which ruled that Pavillion's groundwater was a health hazard, contaminated by benzene at 50x the safe level and numerous other contaminants associated with gas drilling. Most importantly, EPA stated in this case that fracking was the likely cause.

As a filmmaker and journalist I have covered hundreds of public hearings, including Congressional hearings. It is my understanding that public speech is allowed to be filmed. Congress should be no exception. No one on Capitol Hill should regard themselves exempt from the Constitution. The First Amendment to the Constitution states explicitly "Congress shall make no law...that infringes on the Freedom of the Press". Which means that no subcommittee rule or regulation should prohibit a respectful journalist or citizen from recording a public hearing.

This was an act of civil disobedience, yes done in an impromptu fashion, but at the moment when they told me to turn off the cameras, I could not. I know my rights and I felt it was imperative to exercise them.

When I was led out of the hearing room in handcuffs, John Boehner's pledge of transparency in congress was taken out with me.

The people of Pavillion deserve better. The thousands across the US who have documented cases of water contamination in fracking areas deserve their own hearing on Capitol hill. They deserve the chance to testify in before Congress. The truth that fracking contaminates groundwater is out, and no amount of intimidation tactics --either outright challenges to science or the arrest of journalists --will put the genie back in the bottle. Such a brazen attempt to discredit and silence the EPA, the citizens of Pavillion and documentary filmmaking will ultimately fail and it is an affront to the health and integrity of Americans.

Lastly, in defense of my profession, I will state that many many Americans get their news from independent documentaries. The hill should immediately move to make hearings and meetings accessible to independent journalists and not further obstruct the truth from being reported in the vivid and in depth manner that is only achievable through long form documentary filmmaking.

I will be thinking on this event further and will post further thoughts and developments.

I have been charged with "unlawful entry" and my court date is February 15.

Josh Fox
Washington D.C.
2/1/12

The Missionary Position

2012-01-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Now that I've got your attention, I want to share an idea about Mormons. We've seen them at airports, in third world countries, and have rejected them at our doorstep countless times. But maybe there is something to be learned from these missionaries that has nothing to do with Joseph Smith or polygamy.

I read a very interesting feature article in Bloomberg's Business Week magazine. It describes the two-year missionary program that male Mormons complete after high school. In God's MBA's: Why Mormon Missions Produce Leaders, writer Caroline Winter takes us inside the Provo Missionary Training Center, which dispatches 20,000 young Mormons to the farthest corners of the planet. The author suggests that this experience might be the reason there are a disproportionately high number of Mormons who have leadership positions in business and politics. With two Mormons currently running for President, I wonder if there might just be some truth to that. Romney did his mission in France (Winter recounts some juicy anecdotes about his time there) and Huntsman served in China. And if so, is it the fact that these pre-adults are going abroad that gives them an advantage, or is it the regimented, disciplined lifestyle? Or is it the fact that they have one of the toughest sales jobs on the planet?

To me, this logic makes perfect sense. Sell something really, really difficult. Then sell something a little more marketable. Suddenly, selling the more marketable thing must seem like a breeze. I mean, once you've converted someone to another religion, selling software products or apple pie or yourself as the Republican nominee must seem much easier in comparison. Perhaps we should model a national program after the Mormon missions. Instead of pushing a new set of religious beliefs, we push a new set of American products, creating jobs, reducing the deficit, and maybe just producing a new generation of leaders in the process.

Sorry guys, I'm not interested, but perhaps you'd like to run my company one day.

How Images of War Become Weapons for Peace

2012-01-13T23:01:00.001-05:00

The most powerful weapon in the world has been, and can be, a photograph. Military weapons can only destroy. Cameras in the hands of photographers with hearts can capture love-hope-passion- change lives and make the world a better place....and it only takes 1/500th of a second. Life goes on - we photograph it. But it's much better with love.

-Eddie Adams

I just finished watching the documentary An Unlikely Weapon, directed by Susan Morgan Cooper and narrated by Kiefer Sutherland. The film's subject was war photographer Eddie Adams, most famous for a photo he didn't particularly care for. "Two people's lives were destroyed that day. This photo destroyed the General's life as well," Eddie said, referring to the South Vietnamese General and American ally who pulled the trigger. Interestingly, Eddie visited the General years later in what must have been a surreal second encounter, after the General emigrated to the US and opened a pizza restaurant in Virginia. This became an iconic image of the Vietnam War, and some would argue, helped turn public opinion against it.

General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong prisoner in Saigon (Eddie Adams/AP)

Subjects describe how Eddie Adams would walk in front of the troops with a gun, but carried no bullets. Eddie photographed 13 wars and then "hit a wall" and became a celebrity/Penthouse photographer. I can certainly understand why.

The film delves into some deeper issues that I believe continue to plagued the American male psyche. Since the Vietnam era, and maybe earlier, there is this notion that the real men in our society are the ones who fight in the wars. It is even more acute during an election season when the jingoistic rhetoric borders on a pissing contest. Maybe its the games we let kids play in this country. It has gone from GI Joe action figures to virtual reality video games like Counter Strike. Perhaps we should come up with an Eddie Adams-inspired war photography video game? Sorry kids, no bullets, but you do get black and white, slow speed film!

The most touching moment in the movie for me was not really related to Eddie Adams. The filmmakers interviewed the screaming, Napalm covered little girl in this other famous Vietnam era photograph, Kim Phuc.

Phan Thị Kim Phúc running down a road near Trảng Bàng, Vietnam, after a napalm bomb was dropped on the village of Trảng Bàng by a plane of theVietnam Air Force. The village was suspected by United States Army forces of being a Viet Cong stronghold. Kim Phúc survived by tearing off her burning clothes. (Nick Ut/AP)

Now a middle aged woman with burns still covering her body, Phuc incredibly has turned into a peace activist. She says, "I still suffer, but people get to know the picture and get involved in my life and help me. The picture is a powerful gift for me to work for peace, and how beautiful if we can learn to live with love, with hope, and forgiveness and if everyone can learn that we dont need war at all. And if that little girl can do it, everyone can do it too."

Respect

2011-12-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, people.
تهانينا، والشعب.

Felicidades, gente.

恭喜你，人民。

Συγχαρητήρια, άνθρωποι.

מזל טוב, אנשים.

Поздравляю вас, люди.

تبریک می گویم ، مردم است.

बधाई हो, लोग.

Félicitations, People.

ขอแสดงความยินดีผู้คน,

અભિનંદન, લોકો.

Reflections

2011-10-31T16:04:00.001-04:00

This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in my life.

You’ve probably noticed I’m now in New York.

Jaron from the future will soon be announcing his next step.

But first, Jaron from the present feels the need to properly bid farewell to Jaron of the past, and to thank him for getting me to the place I’m at right now.

At the tender age of 31, I feel so fortunate to have had such an abundance of experience, and to still be alive to tell my tales. Over the past decade, I’ve travelled to more than 60 countries and every world continent. I have witnessed four Middle East wars, one Intifadah, three revolutions, five elections, two unilateral withdrawals, countless skirmishes, protests, violent incidents, and one Arab Spring. I have snuck across two borders, been detained by secret police and regular police, survived close brushes with gun fire, Qassam rockets, Katyusha rockets, bombs, tear gas, smoke grenades, rocks, stones, bricks, and angry mobs. I survived one kidnapping attempt, a bad case of Delhi belly, and a sinking boat in Lesotho.

I kissed the ground three times.

First, the grimy black and white checkerboard tile in a Beijing KFC after a semi-legal reporting trip to North Korea.

Then, a jagged asphalt road outside Kirkuk after a horrific car accident in Kurdistan.

Finally, I smooched the soft sands on a Jaffa beach after a close encounter with a Katyusha rocket in Northern Israel.

People often ask me why I go to such places, and I can honestly say that I don't really know. But if I had to guess, I'd say that I'm on a constant search for the standard deviation from the norm. I am inspired by people who think differently, break cycles, and act with kindness towards strange Western journalists who show up in their war zones.

I will never forget the old Kurdish man who bought me a piping hot chicken spinach stew when I was hungry, wounded and broke. Or the young Egyptian teenager who screamed and defended me until he was hoarse when the police tried to detain me. Or the gentle, sweet natured Nepali lady who had never seen a Westerner before, but still let me sleep on her porch when I knocked in the middle of a starry Himalayan night.

None of these people owed me a thing, or stood to benefit, yet they extended a hand.

This happened over and over again in Israel and Palestine, which was my home for much of the past decade. The amazing thing for a nomad like me, is that it actually felt like home. It was a difficult choice to leave, but I felt that I had unturned all the stones that I needed to uncover there. The conflict continues, unfortunately, but I hope my stories there helped people see the conflict with greater depth and understanding.

I will really miss wiping warm, freshly baked pita into a bowl of hummus, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, all sprinkled with zaatar.

I will also miss the pioneering spirit, the complete lack of social space, and the phenomenal array of colorful curse words.

But it is the wonderful people I met that I will miss the most.

Yes, there is no shortage of bigots and extremists in that tiny area of the world. But there are also some of the most amazing, intelligent, and cool people I've ever met. I always thought to myself what a shame it was that my Israeli and Palestinian friends would probably never get a chance to meet each other. Besides the loss of life, it is the loss of human potential for synergy that is the greatest tragedy of the conflict.

Despite it all, I have not lost hope that one day Israelis and Palestinians will rise up and change the course of their tumultuous histories.

To my friends and loved ones in the Middle East and all over the world, I will miss you all !

Please give me a shout when you’re in the Big Apple !

As for my new chapter, I promise to fill you in real soon.

What I can tell you is that I will be reconnecting to my original mission when I got into this business:

To find and tell previously untold stories that will provoke change.

Stay tuned.

Voices from Occupy Wall Street II

2011-10-28T13:56:00.001-04:00

Here are the next 6, and the Official Occupy Wall Street Bluegrass Band.

Voices from Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-28T13:49:00.001-04:00

I thought it would be interesting to hear the voices of the Occupy Wall Street Protesters, without any editorializing. So I went to Zuccotti Park without any story in mind, and basically recorded my first 12 random interactions, interviews, and scenes. For the most part, I left the interviews as they were, raw and unedited. Here are the first 6:

5 Steps to Revolution

2011-10-27T16:44:00.002-04:00

My Aug.18th blog post seems pretty prescient in light of what's happening now. Read what I wrote one month before the Wall Street was occupied. While I'm certainly no Nostradamus, I have been wondering "where the outrage is" for a long, long time. Actually, it's been almost exactly 11 years. My political conscience woke up in the year 2000 when a presidential election was likely stolen in my hometown. The funny thing is that I actually voted for Bush that year. Now, a decade into two horrific wars, I'm glad to see people on Wall Street, and on Main Street, America, fighting to eradicate our political system of corporate cronies.

Having witnessed a semi-successful revolution in Egypt, there are 5 things that must happen here for any real change to happen.

1. We need to define a singular, simple, and common cause. In Egypt, it was getting rid of a corrupt Mubarak regime. What is that common cause here?

2. We need to reach critical mass. The message must be broad enough to appeal to a larger section of society. This can't just be a hippy thing.

3. We need to risk life, limb, and freedom for the cause. Self explanatory. We must believe wholeheartedly in the cause. The police must eventually switch sides and join the people.

4. We need the military to support the cause. Soldiers are simultaneously our greatest heroes and the greatest victims of the last decade's flawed policies. They need to get behind the protests.

5. We need to figure out concrete positive steps for how to implement that change on the day after. (This was not done in Egypt, and is the final, necessary step of successful Revolution)

A Virtual Peace?

2011-09-27T12:19:00.006-04:00

I just read about the latest new Israeli startup, Shaker, which won top honors at TechCrunch Disrupt.

Ever wanted to go to a bar where you can control the music levels, you don't have to pay a cover charge, and there's no need to worry about getting into a brawl with steroid pumping bouncers?

Well then this is for you.

Check out their demo video below:

The premise of Shaker is to make social networking more like real life socializing.

And of course, since it's an Israeli startup, I could not help but think of the moribund peace process.

I began to wonder, what if they can create a virtual room for Middle East peacemakers?

Perhaps this would be a cool way to get Netanyahu and Abbas to flirt with each other virtually before committing to meeting in real life.

Bibi: So you come here often?

Abu Mazen: Yeah, once in a while.

Baddabing. Baddabang.

Maybe it's technology that will save us after all.

Climate Reality

2011-09-15T13:58:00.003-04:00

There are just a few hours left to check out Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, an amazing interactive website about Climate Change. The site brings viewers to 24 places in the world in a 24 hour period, and has already surpassed 4 million viewers.

Here's the blurb:

24 Presenters. 24 Time Zones. 13 Languages. 1 Message. 24 Hours of Reality is a worldwide event to broadcast the reality of the climate crisis. It will consist of a new multimedia presentation created by Al Gore and delivered once per hour for 24 hours, representing every time zone around the globe. Each hour people living with the reality of climate change will connect the dots between recent extreme weather events — including floods, droughts and storms — and the manmade pollution that is changing our climate. We will offer a round-the-clock, round-the-globe snapshot of the climate crisis in real time. The deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality.

The promotional videos were made by the uber-talented team at Brooklyn-based Missing Pieces.

Check them out here:

Video streaming by Ustream

I really love this one below. Shit hitting the fan might just be a perfect metaphor for what will happen to our planet if we don't address the serious problem of climate change.

American Revolution Part Deux

2011-08-18T15:28:00.005-04:00

Americans have every reason to be pissed off.

The economy, to put it frankly, has gone to shit.

The political system is completely broken.

In light of recent developments in the Middle East, I'm wondering why and how Americans have become so docile?

Are car and shampoo commercials really that mind numbing?

At the risk of this blog getting the FBI's attention, I want to know what would it take for people to start protesting here.

And once we're on the streets, what central idea can all Americans realistically get behind?

Top 5 Reasons to Join Protest in Israel

2011-08-12T10:42:00.006-04:00

1. Save money on air conditioning
2. Sleeping in tent is the only way I can afford to live in Tel Aviv!
3. Subconscious national effort to prove belonging in rebellious Middle East
4. Misplaced Frustrations about the Peace Process
5. Lots of attractive people and cheaper than admission to nightclub

Did i miss anything?

Here's my take on the protests

This, on the other hand, is something worth protesting.

How is it possible that in this day and age we can allow 600,000 people (mostly children) to die of hunger in Somalia?

Tel Aviv Housing Protest Satirical?

2011-08-09T08:59:00.005-04:00

This video seem to capture the vibe from the Tel Aviv July 14th Housing Protests.

I know it's summer and it's nice to be outside in tents, but does anyone else get a sense of satire with all this?

I mean, nobody forced anyone to pay high rent in Tel Aviv.

What are your views?

The Pura Vida Model for the Middle East

2011-08-03T16:37:00.010-04:00

On my first trip to Costa Rica, while looking down on the verdant, hilly terrain from the airplane, I couldn’t help but give it the nickname, “Broccoli Land.” It is simply the greenest place I have ever seen.

I have been to this magical places 5 times now, and with good reason. Upon arrival, an ethereal spirit takes over my being and instead of answering questions in the affirmative or negative, I simply answer, Pura Vida.

“Pura Vida” is a phrase unique to Costa Rica. It literally translates from Spanish to mean “Pure Life,” in Costa Rica, but can be used as a general greeting, or to say “your welcome.” Saying it instantly relaxes you. Go on. Try it.

My plan in Costa Rica generally doesn’t vary much. I leave the built-up capital San Jose as quickly as possible, making my way to an unspoiled beach on the Pacific where I explore tide pools, eat fresh ceviche and surf until it’s time to go home.

This trip was a bit different because I came straight from Israel and Palestine, where I have been living for the past 8 years. To sojourn from a land cramped with soldiers, checkpoints, and restrictions to a tropical paradise with no army, few rules, and plenty of open space, is a surreal juxtaposition.

One day, while waiting for the tides to come in and deliver another session of perfect head high surf, an armed man approached me. He brandished a two-foot long, razor sharp machete that could easily lop off a human head. My entire body stiffened, but the man walked right by me, making a beeline for a palm tree.

“I look for the big, green ones, with a little brown on the edges. Those are the sweet ones,” he said after offering me my very own coconut with a perfectly sliced, round hole on top for drinking.

Clearly, I had some adjusting to do.

Costa Rica's One Man Army (Or Coconut Hunter)

Despite having WiFi access in my beachside house, I decided to cut myself off from all forms of social media and especially Middle East news, reading only the Tico Times, Central America’s leading English language daily paper. This week’s headline: “New Large Crab Species Found in Costa Rica. What a refreshing change.

It’s no wonder that, if you buy into all the studies conducted to measure that abstract notion we call “happiness,” Costa Ricans are generally ranked the happiest people on earth.

While close, Costa Rica is no Garden of Eden. There are drug lords, shantytowns, human traffickers, pesticide-laden produce, and gringos run amok in unsustainable development.

But these are minor problems compared to those faced by the Middle Eastern countries, where fascism, terrorism, nuclear war, lack of human rights, and inter-tribal conflicts pose much more sinister threats. Middle Easterners tend to live each day as if it may be their last. Costa Ricans, on the other hand, seem to live as if they will never die. I believe the latter approach is better, and more sustainable.

I’m not sure what will come out of the Arab Spring. Hopefully, the protesters who sparked the Revolutions will shape their societies into democratic, pluralistic societies.

My fear is that while the revolutionaries know exactly what they're up against, they don't exactly what they're fighting for. They need a model, a vision, a dream. So why not the “Pura Vida Model”?

Costa Rica has Blacks, Whites, Indians and everything in between, but little racial strife. The literacy rate hovers above 95%. There is freedom of religion. Journalists can write freely. There are no serious international disputes with its neighbors.

Costa Rica disproves all the central tenets of international relations, the ones taught to Western politicians in their formative years, grounded in the most cynical interpretations of human nature.
The concepts of "realpolitik" and the "tragedy of the commons" don't hold water in Costa Rica like they do in the Middle East.

So here’s my brief, idealistic, coconut-milk inspired vision for the Middle East of the future: First the people will democratically elect responsible leaders. Then, these leaders will build robust, diverse economies, leveraged by the greatest resource of all; the Generation X'ers who powered the revolutions in the first place.

I'm talking about the 60% of the Middle East below the age of 30. Instead of arming them, we will educate them!

They will invent things, create internet companies, and shape industries that have nothing to to with defense.

They clearly understand the the inner workings of Twitter and Facebook better than M-16's and scud missiles.

We all know natural resources are more scarce in the Middle East, but there is an abundance of great historical sites and unique natural treasures in the region, like the Dead Sea and Nile River. There is world-class surfing in Morocco, snow skiing in Iran, kite-surfing in the Gulf, and the most amazing scuba diving I’ve ever done in my life in the Red Sea in Egypt. Let's re-brand the Middle East as the eco-tourism capital of the world!

Ok, I'm getting carried away. But in order to get from point a to point b, one must have a vision of what point b will look like, so why not dream big?

Getting there will be complicated, time consuming, and dangerous.

Godspeed, revolutionaries.

You will know victory is yours when your tweets resemble those from the Tico Times.

Here's the latest: Destructive beetle intercepted in pineapple shipment from Costa Rica to U.S. http://ow.ly/5TtJv

Pura Vida!

-Jaron Gilinsky, July, 2011

Testing the Go Pro in Costa Rica

2011-07-31T22:05:00.016-04:00

I went on a trip with some good friends to one of my favorite countries in the world, Costa Rica.

And of course we brought the Go Pro everywhere.

I bought the Go Pro headstrap accessory so I could be hands free.

I also connected it to my wrist using a boogie board leash, which ensured that we didn't lose it during activities, which includes the high risk activity of photographing ourselves looking at Go Pro pics.

I used it at the supermarket, buying fresh fish, and when the German bakery truck rolled by Playa Grande. Yummy!

We used it for white water rafting in the Tenorio river and got some videos from the calm beginning of the trip.

Here's our guide Colon help us get unstuck from a giant boulder.

Unfortunately I used it too much and the battery died right before the huge 10 foot drop. Damn!

In case you don't believe me, here are the stills taken by a local photographer who somehow emerged out of the jungle to sell us these photos.

Me showing no fear

We used the Go Pro for ATVing in and around Brasilito. We went through jungles, muddy paths, beaches, and small towns. Here's a little clip.

And then of course we used it for surfing in Playa Grande.

Unfortunately by the time we figured out how to get the camera on the board properly, the swell had subsided a bit.

On the day I went out with the camera, Playa Grande wasn't too Grande. Here’s me on a small wave.

I thought duck diving looked pretty cool.

For the surfing, we used their special kit which allows you to fasten the Go Pro to the board. Then you can aim it either at the surfer or at the wave in front of the board.

Here’s a nice video of Monkey on a wave.

And for the shot of the trip, here's Vinny out in front of a perfect chest high glassy face. No photoshop necessary.

It turns out this pic was taken just hours before a surfer in that same beach was killed by a shark in Playa Grande for the first time ever.

In life, as in surfing, timing is everything.

The Go Pro Trials

2011-07-15T13:50:00.010-04:00

This summer, I will be testing out a new toy.

It's a video and stills camera known as the Go Pro.

I have always wanted a durable, compact, inexpensive underwater action camera and am so happy to finally have one.

As you can see in the photo below, the point and shoot can often deliver a great close up but produces a fish eyed wide angle effect on the background.

This is from my first test at home in South Florida. I took out our chocolate lab, Nala, and the object of her affection, a tennis ball, into the lake.

Check out the video below.

I love the quality of the underwater shots too and the watery sound you hear.

But of course when you have the underwater housing on, the audio is muffled.

This is also supposed to be full HD, but I uploaded it into Youtube as SD, which compressed it.

Here are a few more shots with her and our shepherd/golden supermodel mutt, Rudy.

I really like the stop-motion photography option with the Go Pro. You can set it to snap a photo every 2, 5, 10, or 30 seconds. I bought a huge memory card (32gb) so I don't mind taking 500 terrible photos to get 3 or 4 good ones.

Rudy and Nala posing

Another problem is that water drops often get stuck on the housing in front of the lens and distort the pics, sometimes artfully

Nala about to get airborne

Underwater Kick Cam

Leaving Middle East

2011-05-18T03:31:00.002-04:00

I feel so terrible for neglecting my loving blog for so long. The excuse is a good one. I'm leaving the Middle East in a few weeks and am sorting out my personal life. I will be living in the US, most likely NYC, working on a very exciting (Middle East related, of course) new media project that I will be announcing really soon. Stay tuned !

Mohamed Radwan Interview

2011-04-02T18:39:00.002-04:00

I was watching CNN the other day and saw a familiar face. It was Mohamed Radwan, a young Egyptian-American I had the good fortune of meeting in Tahrir Square. He was one of the smartest, nicest people I got to speak to during my reporting trip in Egypt. I was shocked and angry to see that he was being held by the Syrian government against his will under false allegations of espionage. Thankfully, the Syrians came to their senses and he was released a week later. This is an exclusive, uncut interview I did with Mohamed in Cairo on February 7th, 2011.

Israeli and Palestinian Reactions to Uprisings

2011-02-25T04:12:00.002-05:00

I just produced this video for the NYT. The video features Yuval Ben Ami in Tel Aviv, and Fadi Quran in Ramallah. They are both extremely impressive individuals who I enjoyed hanging out with. Besides both being eloquent and smart, I got a sense that their values are also quite similar. I think that is something the media here often tries to cover up because it doesn't fit their tidy narrative. I'm glad the NYT gave me the opportunity to depict two real characters from both sides; separated by politics but with similar aspirations.

Latest Dispatch from Cairo for PBS Mediashift

2011-02-22T03:20:00.002-05:00

Video: How Social Media Makes Life Hard for Dictators

One Journalist's Survival Guide to the Egyptian Revolution

2011-02-21T03:40:00.001-05:00

CAIRO- During the uprising that eventually ended the 30-year reign of President Hosni Mubarak, I became convinced that the most important journalistic work being done today is in those countries where journalists are not wanted. Mubarak and his agents were determined to silence the protesters and their message.

But, thanks to the valiant efforts of journalists and the resilience of the protesters they were there to cover, the revolution was not only televised, it was also streamed, blogged, and tweeted. During 18 days of sustained resistance by the Egyptian people, the world was able to see what real bravery is -- in real time. This is one reporter's eyewitness recollection of the revolution and the coverage of it.
Dangerous Driving

I flew into Cairo on the night of February 1st. I counted 35 checkpoints from the airport to my hotel on the island of Zamalek, where many journalists and diplomats reside and work.

The drive, which normally takes 30 minutes, took nearly three hours. After dark there was a curfew in Cairo, and every block in the city seemingly had its own distinct checkpoint. Most of them were manned by civilians armed with all manner of improvised weapons: sticks, poles, machetes, and even a samurai sword. These men primarily wanted to prevent looting in their neighborhoods.

The Mukhabarat, Egypt's secret police, had also set up their own checkpoints. These were the most frightening, especially for a foreign journalist. Last year, I was detained by the Mukhabarat. I was in Rafah doing a story on the tunnels into the Gaza Strip. While shooting street scenes in broad daylight, they snatched me off the street. I was held captive for 12 hours and it was not pleasant.

I was luckier this time and made it to the hotel without incident. After checking into my hotel, I tried to check Twitter for the latest information from Tahrir Square, but the Internet was still shut down across the country. Fortunately, cell phones were working so I was still able to communicate with my editors and colleagues.

I watched Mubarak's second speech since the "Day of Rage" from my hotel room. It was broadcast on virtually every channel. CNN and BBC both offered a live English translation. He was defiant, stating that he would stay in power for another six months to oversee Egypt's transition.
A Wave of Thugs

Twenty minutes later I was on the streets of Cairo, producing a video for the New York Times with Nicholas Kristof. We didn't know yet that someone close to the regime was orchestrating a concerted, systematic effort to harass, arrest, and assault journalists.

As Kristof and I crossed the October 6th bridge on our way to Tahrir, we saw a mob of about 150 Mubarak supporters rushing towards us. It was nighttime and they were some 100 feet away, so initially I couldn't tell if they were friendly or not. They had already seen me filming and probably suspected I was a journalist, so I just kept the camera rolling.

Generally in these situations, I like to keep the camera out for two reasons: Evidence and self-defense. If I get beat up (or worse), I want it to be documented. I am also a trained martial artist and know how to use my Canon XHA1 to ward off attacks. (Don't bother looking in the manual for this.) My camera isn't one of those flimsy Flip cameras that are popular these days. It is hard and heavy and fully insured. It can be used for blocking punches, keeping a distance between me and a threat, or as my own kind of improvised weapon.

I stood my ground filming the mob as they swarmed me. They were chanting "Mu-bar-ak! Mu-ba-rak! Mu-bar-ak!" (I must say, the anti-Mubarak protesters had much more creative chants.) I breathed a huge sigh of relief when they went past me.

We filmed some interviews at the square, then left when an Egyptian colleague warned us that some dangerous elements had moved in.
Targeting the Media

I went home, slept, and woke up early the next morning to edit the material. I had to get to the New York Times bureau in order to upload it, since the Internet was still down. The Times and other news organizations used a satellite BGAN communications system to get around the web shutdown. After filing, I met up with Kristof and headed back to the square.

Reports of journalists being targeted by pro-Mubarak thugs had begun coming in. Our driver dropped us off as close as possible to Tahrir Square, but the area on its periphery was where journalists were the most vulnerable. I felt a bit like a seal swimming in Mosselbai, South Africa, a favored feeding ground for great white sharks.

With my camera in a student-like backpack, we walked up to an army checkpoint outside of Tahrir. They didn't let us in. We went to another and were again denied entry. At a third, the soldiers finally allowed us in. Past the army checkpoints, civilians were also stopping people in an effort to prevent armed thugs from entering the square.

The protesters' checkpoint was security with a smile. A man in Levis jeans took my passport, frisked me, opened up my camera bag, and said with the utmost sincerity, "I am so sorry. Welcome to Egypt."
In Tahrir Square

Inside, it was like a parallel universe. I walked past a Hardees restaurant that was being used as a station for processing medical equipment. The travel agency next door was a prison for captured Mukhabarat.

Tahrir Square was the one place in Cairo where I actually felt safe working as a journalist. I knew that every single one of these protesters would take a bullet to defend me and my right to film.

As is the case in many revolutions in history, journalists become part of the story. The protesters knew that we were not affiliated with Egyptian state media, and thus were likely to depict the strength and righteousness of their movement accurately. They did everything in their power to help us (which in turn would help them). They fed us, offered us cigarettes and tea, and then posed for our cameras.

Western journalists knew we were being manipulated. But most of us didn't care because we believed in their cause. I didn't meet a single Western reporter who was not in favor of the revolution. Journalists cherish the same democratic ideals that these protesters were fighting and dying for. We were all touched in a very profound way and this resonated in all the reports coming out of Egypt.

I spotted Nawal Saddawi in Tahrir Square and we quickly darted over to interview her. Saddawi is an acclaimed writer and one of the leading women's rights advocates in the Arab world. In the middle of the interview, the frail, old lady nearly got knocked over by a group of protesters dragging in one of Mubarak's goons for interrogation.

But Saddawi is tough as nails. She recalled how she first protested against Nasser, then was arrested for opposing Sadat. Now here she was protesting against Mubarak with nearly a million Egyptians by her side. She claimed that this was the first time she could speak freely to a reporter in public. My spine still tingles just thinking about it.

I was in one of the many makeshift clinics in the square, filming a guy with deep lacerations all over his head and face from rocks, when I got a phone call from the Times' Cairo bureau. Two of their journalists had been detained by police. Anderson Cooper was beaten up by thugs. Reports of violence against journalists were now coming in by the minute.

The U.S. embassy warned the Times to get all their journalists off the streets. They were planning on evacuating the bureau in Zamalek. The situation seemed to be rapidly deteriorating. I passed on the information to Kristof and we immediately met up with Stephen Farrel, another Times journalist in Tahrir.

The three of us decided that Kristof and I should try and get all the video footage out so he and I could start feeding it to New York from our hotel rooms. The problem was, our Egyptian driver refused to come pick us up from the square, saying that it was too dangerous. We didn't have another exit plan.
Saved by Public Transit

Fortunately, two young Egyptian students overheard our conversation, and offered to help. They said the best way to get past the thugs on the streets was actually to go underground. I was amazed that throughout this revolution -- with the Internet and phones and the entire country basically shut down -- the Cairo subway system never stopped running!

I took my tapes and stuffed them deep inside of my socks. I always wear hiking boots and long socks in these situations. I did the same when leaving North Korea. My precious material always stays on my person, either in my socks or underwear. I put a blank tape in my camera and labeled it "Giza Pyramids 1."

Kristof and I followed these two guardian angels down a staircase and got on the train. We made one transfer at Mubarak Station and then reached our final destination, Opera Station, where our driver was waiting for us.

We went to Kristof's hotel, where we bumped into CNN's Anderson Cooper and Hala Gorani. They both looked visibly shaken from the day's events.

As a precautionary measure, we switched Kristof's hotel room to another one checked in under my name. At this point, he'd already penned three strongly anti-Mubarak op-eds. I could understand why Kristof didn't feel safe staying in a hotel with the president's mug staring down from a golden frame in the lobby.

An employee of the now-evacuated Times bureau in Cairo brought me my laptop so I could edit from the hotel. Unbelievably, after all the difficulties that day, my computer died on me when I tried to compress video. I was so frustrated that when we were told to evacuate, I just stayed in my bed. "If Mubarak's thugs find me here, then it was meant to be," I thought to myself.
Back to the square

Sleep didn't come, but neither did the Mukhabarat. The next day, I edited my footage on a friend's computer and went back to the square alone.

I walked briskly past several pro-Mubarak gangs. When eye contact was unavoidable, I flashed a fake, friendly smile. I find that in these situations smiling is the best way to alleviate anxiety. More importantly, it projects positive vibes to the people who otherwise may want to harm you. Smiling and maintaining positive, relaxed body language is often the best deterrent.

But that doesn't mean you should ever let your guard down. My eyes were always scanning 180 degrees for signs of danger. My ears were sensitive to increases in pitch or noises that would indicate violence. Probably due to the adrenaline, I could actually feel that my brain was processing data at a faster rate than normal.

I tried filming one of the pro-Mubarak groups, but within seconds was being threatened. One guy made a throat-slitting gesture and aggressively came towards me. I immediately assumed an apologetic posture, and said how sorry I was for filming.

He asked me in Arabic if I was from Al Jazeera. Omar Suleman, Mubarak's newly appointed vice president, accused the network of being foreign agents who were sowing the seeds of this revolution.

While I do speak rudimentary Arabic, I replied in English, "I'm American." My goal was to limit the conversation as much as possible.
Mass Bloodshed

As I got closer to the square, I witnessed scenes of horrible violence. Molotov cocktails lit up the night sky. I saw lacerated, bloody faces. The air smelled of smoke; sour, rotten tear gas; burning flesh.

Pro-Mubarak mobs ran into Tahrir making male guttural noises and screaming. Armed with broken glass bottles, poles, and anything that they could find, it felt like a scene from a cheap, Middle Eastern remake of "Braveheart."

I was too afraid to take out my camera, and it was too dark to film with my iPhone, so I just watched.

Feeling insecure, I used another important defense tactic, which I call "meet and greet." I found a group of pro-Mubarak guys around my age and asked them for a cigarette. I don't normally smoke, but I wanted to create a feeling of camaraderie with them in case the situation got much worse. For once, I really enjoyed a cigarette.
Change Over Night

By next day, the violence had waned considerably. It reminded me of how South Florida feels the day after a hurricane. The Internet was back on, the thugs were mostly off the streets, and a sense of tense normalcy returned to Cairo: I once again smelled the stench of Cairo pollution; drivers went back to using loud, obnoxious honking to communicate; street vendors hawked tissue boxes and Egyptian flags.

As days went by without mass violence, more and more people came to Tahrir Square, sensing that the protesters were on the right side of history. I even ran into many employees of the government controlled Al-Ahram newspaper. They told me that a similar mutiny was occurring inside their newsroom.

At this point, I was stringing for Time Magazine and PBS MediaShift. I bumped into some Times reporters I'd previously worked with and they told me that their bureau had reopened. I joked that it had been "a premature evacuation."

The mood had shifted from anxious to festive. Celebrations peaked on Friday night, when Mubarak finally stepped down.

After his resignation, foreign journalists seemed as confused as the Egyptian protesters about what to do next. The common refrain among reporters was, "Where should I fly to now?" Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Iran, Bahrain, Morocco, China, and even the West Bank have felt tremors from the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings. Protesters and journalists changed Egypt and have inspired other uprisings across the world.

The Middle East today feels kind of like a seventh grade classroom: It's a rapidly changing place with young countries at various stages of awkward transition. These transformations are happening faster than reporters, politicians, and intelligence services can process them. As Egypt steps into a very uncertain future with the world watching, I get the sense that the Middle East's coming of age story may have just begun.

But wherever the plot leads next, it's likely that journalists, bloggers, and social networkers will be there to share it with the world.

This piece was published in it's entirety on PBS MediaShift.

Video for PBS Need to Know

2011-02-20T09:40:00.006-05:00

While the Egyptian riot police were clamping down on tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square, killing and wounding hundreds of Egyptians, making front page headlines all over the world, the state newspaper of Egypt ran a headline that read, “Major disturbances in Lebanon.”

The Egyptian revolution brought together people of all stripes — religious, secular, men and women, educated and illiterate, young and old. But there was one woman among the crowds you would not expect to be there.

Mona Anis is the deputy editor at Al Ahram, the government controlled paper that has served as a mouthpiece for the Hosni Mubarak regime for the past 30 years. Click here to watch her revolution story.

Egyptian 'Sandmonkey' Blogger Unmasks Himself in Cairo

2011-02-16T05:04:00.002-05:00

This is my latest story for PBS MediaShift:

by Jaron Gilinsky, February 14, 2011

CAIRO, EGYPT -- I have been following the Egyptian pro-democracy blog, Rantings of a Sandmonkey, for years now. I have long wondered about the identity of its author, who describes himself as "a micro-celebrity, blogger, activist, new media douchebag, pain in the ass!" on his blog. I contacted him several times on previous trips to Egypt, requesting an interview, and getting no reply. In pre-revolution Egypt, he was rightfully too scared to talk to a journalist. I suspected that amidst the revolution, while all of pro-democracy Egypt was in Tahrir Square, that he might have the confidence to reveal his identity. It turns out I was right.

I received an email from a man calling himself Sam Adam, claiming to be the author of the blog. He had been beaten up by Egyptian State police on February 3 while delivering medical supplies to Tahrir Square. He said that he got beat up pretty badly, and was in hiding with his family in Heliopolis, a Cairo neighborhood. I got the impression that he was summoning up the courage to go back to Tahrir Square.

I would end up meeting him there three days later, on February 6. He felt emboldened by the bravery of his fellow pro-democracy activists and wanted to come out to the media in order to seek justice for his assailants. He revealed his identity for the first time to Eliot Spitzer on CNN in an audio-only interview. My interview with Sam Adam, a.k.a. the Sandmonkey was his first on-camera interview. It turns out his real name is Mahmoud Salem.

The Freedom Motel in Tahrir Square

2011-02-11T07:57:00.002-05:00

Check out my latest piece for Time, on the Freedom Motel in Tahrir Square

Tarek Shalaby and Waleed Fateen show us the lighter side of the protest movement, with a tour of their Tent City.

Enjoy!

El Baradie Interview

2011-02-06T17:31:00.004-05:00

I produced this piece with another NYT journalist whose writing I have admired for many years, Roger Cohen.

We interviewed Nobel Laureate and opposition leader Mohammed El Baradie in his villa on the outskirts of Cairo.

The tea was really good Earl Gray, with milk and sugar, just the way I like it. And here's an ironic little piece of Mohammed El Baradie trivia: His Siamese cat's name is Che, after the famous Latin American revolutionary leader. (He was snuggling up to my leg during most of the interview).

The real question is whether the cat's owner will start acting more like the real Che or remain a mere media "talking head" hiding out in his luxury estate?

Undaunted in Tahrir Square

2011-02-06T16:57:00.003-05:00

I produced this with Nick Kristof. It was such an honor to work with one of my favorite journalists. Our interview with Nawal El Saadawi was one of the most inspirational interviews I've ever done. My spine is tingling right now just thinking about it.

Here's a little extra piece we made from the makeshift clinics in Tahrir Square.

Reporting from Tahrir Square in Cairo

2011-02-04T09:56:00.006-05:00

I made my wish come true and impulsively got on a flight to Cairo. Believe it or not, my flight from Amman to Cairo was actually full. Most were Egyptians going home, and the rest were journalists. More on the backstory when I get some time.

I am just glad to be on the ground here witnessing history unfold before my eyes.

And I have been lucky enough to produce some videos from Cairo with New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof.

Here is the first one. The others are on the Nytimes.com in the Opinion section.

Will blog about them when I get a chance.

This was my first encounter with a mob of Mubarak supporters the night after his speech. Had I known the way they would behave the next day, I probably wouldn't have let them swarm around me.

More to come, inshallah.

Wish I Was in Egypt Right Now

2011-01-27T09:42:00.002-05:00

Anyone know the story behind this amazing photo ?

Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan

2011-01-06T14:42:00.003-05:00

God I love documentaries.

Anyone who gives a damn about what the US is doing in Afghanistan should go see the film Restrepo.

It's wartime cinema verite at its finest.

Check out trailer here:

Haaretz Op-Ed

2010-12-25T09:11:00.004-05:00

Here's an op-ed I recently wrote for Haaretz newspaper.

It's about WikiLeaks and the notorious Julian Assange.

Ghost from Christmas Past

2010-12-25T09:05:00.002-05:00

I would like to show this old story I made from the most memorable Christmas of my life.

Since this story makes world headlines every year and the politics round these parts never really changes, I figure it's appropriate to recycle.

Enjoy!

Great Ted Talk About Solving Conflicts

2010-12-15T15:49:00.002-05:00

This talk is a must see.

William Ury speaks about a possible first step (pun intended) to solving the Israeli - Palestinian Conflict?

What if Netanyahu and Abbas could just go for a stroll together?

The Sad Epilogue to the Happy Story

2010-12-14T08:37:00.001-05:00

Israel refuses entry to Palestinian firefighters being honored for helping Carmel Forest Fire

Israel refuses entry to Palestinian firefighters being honored for Carmel fire assistance - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

The latest development on this story, according to Haaretz.

If it's true, well, I can't say I'm surprised.

Fighting Fire vs. Firefights

2010-12-07T06:50:00.006-05:00

Palestinian Firefighters on their way to Israel

There have been lots of things happening in the news lately.

The big story in Israel this week, besides Wikileaks of course, was the tragic and devastating fire that consumed much of the Carmel forest.

What I thought was particularly telling was a really nice story that made the Israeli and Palestinian News, but was not reported by most international news agencies.

The tale is of the team of 21 Palestinian firefighters from the West Bank who came to Israel's aid to fight the fires alongside their Israeli and international colleagues.

Here is the Israeli account in The Jerusalem Post:

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=198113

And now the Palestinian account from Ma'an News Agency:

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338524

Some international agencies did find this to be newsworthy, but most ignored it.

We all know that if this was an Israeli vs. Palestinian firefight, it would have made headlines around the world.

But when the Israelis and Palestinians fight fires together, it's barely even a blip on the radar.

Perhaps I'm pointing out something obvious here, but what is the value of a news organization that ignores positive stories, but would never miss a negative one?

Since when did news become a collection of cookie cut stories that follow along a predetermined narrative?

I know that that the news is in a Wiki craze right now, but how is this story not fit to print?

Viva Mexico !

2010-11-17T03:20:00.018-05:00

I just got back from one of the most dangerous places in the world, Mexico!

But it didn't feel so dangerous drinking la bandera (tequila, lime, and spicy tomato juice whose white, green, and red colors symbolize the colors of the Mexican flag) in the pool's swim-up bar.

I went for a dear friend's wedding in Acapulco.

It felt great to shed my reporter's hat for a sombrero.

The wedding was beautiful. Fireworks lit up the night sky and fell onto the secluded patch of beach on the Pacific Ocean. Throw in an Arabic inspired villa, an open Tequila Bar, an energetic happy couple and 200 of their closest friends, a great DJ spinning Latin and other beats, and you really can't go wrong.

I ate breakfast at the wedding and stumbled out at 7AM. My buddy's grandmother was still on the dance floor. Need I say more.

We stayed in this resort far away from the real Acapulco.

Among the highlights was a great surf with stingrays, touch football on volcanic black sand, and a weird Mexican game of machismo where you pay a guy on the beach to run an electric current through you and an opponent and the first one to let go loses.

I let go after about 30 seconds when the electric shock collided with reason (the nemesis of all games of machismo), "Why am I paying someone to shock me to the point of discomfort?"

I did spend some time in the giant sprawl that is Mexico City.

With 25 million people trying to get around, the traffic is the worst I've ever experienced.

The Swanky Polanco District

People don't see a rise in violence in Mexico City. Locals claim that it has always been violent in D.F.

The change, they note, is in the border areas. I asked nearly everyone I met, what was the tipping point in the levels of crime and most people said that violence levels spiked because the government is actually fighting against the drug cartels, rather than turning a blind eye to the drug business as was done in the past.

It sounded like a plausible theory, and I of course got the urge to visit the border area to learn more, but I resisted it and decided to just relax this time.

Among the highlights in Mexico City:

Eating cactus
(It's kind of bland but the peppery sauces that come on every Mexican dish make it yummy)

Visiting the Chapultepec (Grasshopper) Castle

It is the only castle in North America that was used to house sovereigns – the reigning Mexican Emperor Maximilian I, and his consort Empress Carlota, during the Second Mexican Empire.

I really dug the murals by Diego Rivera

Harry Potter-esque

I went to the The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de María), the largest and oldest cathedral in the Americas and seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico.

They celebrate Halloween in Mexico, but its a little different and its called "Dia de los Muertos" or Day of the Dead. And they don't say "trick or treat" when they knock on doors but refer to "dead people's skulls." Which probably makes it less marketable for Hallmark.

Frozen Pizza

2010-10-17T04:49:00.004-04:00

Often I will ask my Palestinian friends about the state of the negotiations, and they will talk to me about pizza.

"You see, Jerry, imagine we are negotiating over a pizza, and the other side (Israel) is constantly eating it. Every day we wake up and there are less and less slices."

And it's true. The settlement project is consuming much of the resources in the West Bank. But while the argument does work particularly well for resources which can be depleted (ie.ingested), the settlers view it differently when it comes to land.

"Listen Yaron, If we're negotiating over a pizza, and at the end the Arabs (Palestinians) get the pizza, then our settlement construction is like some nice (kosher) toppings for their pizza. Why are they complaining?"

This is also true. So here's the measly truth about this so called "freeze."

For Israel, extending the freeze for another 60 days has ZERO effect on the ground, since the typical West Bank building cycle is 10 months. For any building freeze to actually have an effect on the rate of construction, it must be at least a year. So why not give the Palestinians the 60 days they're asking for to keep this moving forward?

Remember that the last freeze allowed for building on existing foundations, so Israel can just do what they did last time: Approve all the tenders they want before the freeze goes into effect and give their "West Bank tender approval dept. a 60 day vacation in Acapulco."

For the Palestinians, you're already knee deep in Israeli settlements. Building in the West Bank has been going on since 1967. What difference does another 60 days make?

The so-called freeze actually applies much better to the hearts of the so-called leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Bibi Netanyahu.

Thus far, they are both too cowardly to take any bold steps to peace.

Bibi will never give up Jerusalem.

Abbas will never give up the right of return.

That's what this is about.

The "freeze" is just a convenient excuse for both sides to back out of the negotiations before the real negotiations begin, and blame it all on the other side.

The State of Documentaries

2010-10-17T04:38:00.003-04:00

Here is a particularly good assessment of the chaotic state of the documentary film genre by AO Scott of the New York Times.

It re-confirmed this paradoxical truism about contemporary documentary film, that documentary is impossible to define because it's very definition is in a state of expansion.

It's a great time to be a doc filmmaker!

Mr. (Anti) Freeze

2010-10-14T04:29:00.005-04:00

My latest video piece is up on Time.com

I think the point of the story is quite clear.

Because of a legal loophole, the freeze did not really achieve its goal of reducing construction in the West Bank. (See this Peace Now report for exactly how many homes were built during the so-called "freeze."

I may be writing an op-ed piece related to this subject in the coming days.

No Education for Peace=No Peace

2010-10-12T09:22:00.004-04:00

I believe the above formula to be a truism.

Yet, sadly, neither Israelis nor Palestinians do a good enough job educating their children for peace, which I define as learning and accepting the painful narrative of the "other."

This is probably true of their proxies as well, the knee-jerk American (Jewish and Evangelical) Zionist Camp and the hyper-liberal European (pan Arab and pan Berkeley) Flotilla Camp. Sorry if you or your loved ones were left out of these generalized categories.

We should all read the most important (perhaps fallacious) story to (not) make headlines this week, regarding Israeli and Palestinian textbooks.

This Haaretz report in the Israeli daily claims that there is at least one Palestinian school teaching the Israeli narrative.

And of course it gets refuted by this story in the Palestinian publication, Ma'an.

Which leaves us at square one.

Forget settlements, the two sides can't agree on what they had for breakfast.

I may soon visit the West Bank to see which account is true.

Didn't Oslo force both sides to alter their textbooks?

Is there even one Israeli or Palestinian high school teaching the narrative of the other side?

Forget this already doomed attempt.

For the sake of a future peace, please tell me there is one.

The Textbook in Question

What about Hamas?

2010-09-26T05:42:00.003-04:00

Even if the direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians (which resumed in Washington on September 2nd) succeed in achieving an acceptable peace settlement that includes setting up an independent Palestinian state, serious questions will remain about the durability of any American sponsored, Arab-supported agreement as long as Hamas remains outside it, writes Jordanian political commentator and former minister Saleh Qallab in the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

I am re-publishing here an important viewpoint that has been overlooked by the puppeteers in Washington. While I support the idea of peace talks with all my heart, I believe, like Mr. Qallab, that the talks are absolutely futile without a comprehensive Fatah-Hamas agreement first.

Unlike the author, I don't believe their differences are irreconcilable. I just think that we are still, unfortunately, many years and a few great leaders away.

The Hamas Factor

UNBRIDGEABLE DIFFERENCES: The first factor that could affect the outcome of the current talks is whether the anticipated settlement would include the Syrian and Lebanese tracks or not. Damascus might well decide to encourage Hamas to adopt whichever position would help it (Syria) avoid being isolated if it discovered that the proposed settlement is limited to the Palestinian track. The Iranians meanwhile are expected to continue opposing the talks on principle.

It is no longer possible – after the long experience of hostility between them – for Fateh and Hamas to reconcile their differences. Neither the Egyptian [reconciliation] document nor any other initiative can succeed in bridging the differences between the two sides, unless a major region-wide political earthquake succeeds in reconciling the Egyptians with the Iranians.

The respective positions of Fateh and Hamas are not only at odds with each other, but irreconcilable. The confrontation between them – which kicked off in earnest when Hamas mounted its armed coup in Gaza in 2007 – has become an existential struggle that cannot be settled by compromises, or even by holding new elections.

Even when hopes for the success of the Egyptian reconciliation initiative were at their height, Hamas never concealed its intention to mimic its Gaza putsch in the West Bank. The killing of four Israeli settlers near al-Khalil [Hebron] just hours before direct talks were due to kick off in Washington earlier this month was a message from Hamas to the Israelis and Americans saying that the movement was able – if it succeeds in replacing the Palestinian Authority (PA) by force – to implement all security arrangements that the peace talks could come up with.

Those who believe that Hamas could be persuaded to join the peace process and become Fateh's (and the PLO's) partner in the results of the negotiations are completely wrong. Hamas was set up by the international Muslim Brotherhood movement after the PLO and its various factions were evicted from Beirut by the Israelis in 1982 to replace rather than augment the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

There is no doubt that the Israelis played a role in (or at least turned a blind eye to) Hamas's establishment in order to rid themselves of the headache of the entire 'sole legitimate representative' [of the Palestinians] question, and to evade mounting international pressures to negotiate with that representative (the PLO) in order to bring the festering Middle East conflict to an end.

It was thanks to this confluence of interests (no suggestion here of any collusion) between the Muslim Brotherhood and Israel in the 1980s after the PLO was evicted from Lebanon that Hamas was conceived. While the Israelis wanted an excuse for avoiding peace by claiming that they had no Palestinian negotiating partner, the Muslim Brotherhood's objective was ultimately to control all the Arab countries in the Middle East after taking the first step of imposing their will on the Palestinian people.

The late Yasser Arafat was well aware of the Muslim Brotherhood's intentions ever since the international Muslim Brotherhood movement decided to set up Hamas. In order to contain this emerging threat, and knowing that he could not possibly prevent its creation with his forces out of Lebanon, Arafat sought to open up to Hamas. Negotiations between the two Palestinian sides took place throughout the late eighties, but no agreement was reached. Then, in 2004, Arafat died.

Arafat's demise signaled the beginning of a dramatic series of developments, which culminated in Hamas' armed takeover of the Gaza Strip and the eviction of Fateh from the enclave. The Israelis thus got what they wished for all along: Another Palestinian player pretending to be a 'sole legitimate representative.'

In his negotiations with Hamas, Arafat, who was determined to co-opt the new movement before it spread and developed regional extensions, was excessively generous to its representatives. He offered Hamas 40 percent of the seats in the Palestinian parliament.

But Hamas, which was as determined then as it is today to replace the PLO, procrastinated. The stalemate continued throughout the second intifada until Hamas was able to seize control of Gaza in 2006 and build its own Islamist administration on the ruins of the PLO.

That said, it would be unwise to ignore the Iranian factor. Iranian interference in Palestinian affairs, which began immediately after the Oslo agreements were signed, encouraged Hamas to carry out the task it was created to achieve: Destroy the PLO and bury the issue of the 'sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people' once and for all.

What must be clearly understood from now is that unless the desired settlement includes the Syrian and Lebanese tracks – and satisfies Iran – Hamas will continue to exclude itself from it, maintain its grip on Gaza – and pursue its efforts to mount a coup in the West Bank similar to the bloody one it led in the Gaza Strip.

The Piss Broke Recommendation Series #2

2010-09-19T12:12:00.005-04:00

Watch the movie Food, Inc.

It's a stunningly well made documentary about an important topic.

If you eat food, then this film is a must-see.

Seven Natural Wonders

2010-09-13T05:26:00.003-04:00

Check out this website, where you can vote for the Seven New Wonders of Nature.

I have been fortunate enough to have seen 6 out of the 28, and have put the remaining 22 on my bucket list.

My personal favortie, The Dead Sea, is in the running, and may benefit from the awareness this distinction might generate.

Go Vote!

The Piss Broke Recommendation Series #1

2010-09-12T10:49:00.000-04:00

Since my working hours have been increasingly spent on my new media startup, my budget for entertainment has been slashed from $100 a month to about $0 a month.

So I've been borrowing lots of books and movies from friends for entertainment.

Here's the latest book I read, which I highly recommend.

"The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" by Deepak Chopra might just change your life.

The Dwindling Dead Sea

2010-09-05T03:44:00.003-04:00

This is the second chapter of the water stories I produced for Time.com

Due to time constraints, my interview with Eli Raz, a leading sinkhole expert, had to be cut out.

And due to taste constraints, a time lapse of me and my cameramen, (AKA Elad Gefen), covering ourselves in Dead Sea mud, also had to be cut out.

If there is demand for me to post these on the blog, I may consider it.

Enjoy the video, and please do share it, to raise awareness for this ecological tragedy in the making.

The Latest "Argument"

2010-09-04T23:39:00.000-04:00

I was just forwarded this op-ed by Daniel Gordis which was published by the Jerusalem Post.

Here is my response:

This "argument" to me is not entirely clear, and seems to jump all over the place.

The author seems to use cliched, paranoid, right wing catch phrases without ever delivering a logical argument as to why the mosque should or should not be built.

I assume he's against it, but he relies on an anecdote about the Israeli army needing to work on the Jewish sabbath to support his claim. I'm sorry, but it's a bit ridiculous.

It's like he's trying to say that the people building the "Ground Zero Mosque" are the enemy, but he doesn't have the proof to make that claim (since its totally erroneous) so he uses confusing, heart tugging stories that make a certain audience feel a certain way, much like the FOX news pundits who invented this story in the first place.

Yes there is something to fear. Yes some of that which we should fear emanates from some form of Islam. What exactly do we have to fear from this particular "mosque" being built? Probably, nothing.

But Fox News ratings, and I imagine the Jerusalem Post's as well, go up when non-stories like these get distorted and propagated in the media.

In summary, the op-ed pretends like it is going to connect all these disparate dots, but it never does.

Also, there are 3 factual errors:

1. They are building a community center, not a mosque (although there will be a prayer hall)
2. It is not at Ground Zero, but several city blocks away
3. To my knowledge, President Obama never said he was pulling out all the troops from Afghanistan in July

I feel that this op-ed by Nicholas Kristof rings with much more truth.

The Ground Zero (Not Ground Zero) Mosque (Not a Mosque) Debate (Not a Debate)

2010-09-01T23:27:00.001-04:00

After being bombarded with emails/op-ed's from friends about this "Ground Zero Mosque," I have decided not to take the bait.

Let's end this ridiculous conversation right now.

This is a non-issue.

The US should make Ground Zero a public memorial.

Private property near Ground Zero should be sold, rented, leased to anyone on God's (Allah's) Green Earth who has legally acquired the rights to said property.

Stop watching Fox News (Punditry). Good night.

Bedouin Backstory

2010-08-26T11:26:00.005-04:00

It was 10:30 PM in the Al Araqib cemetery. I had just finished my filming for the day. A sliver of moon rose over the the rolling desert hills. The air that made me feel like I was inside a hair dryer most of the day had finally cooled down. I was excited to get into my car with a broken A/C, roll down the windows, put on my classic rock playlist on my Iphone, and cruise back to Tel Aviv, huddling over my last functioning car speaker.

But after a quick pat of my pockets, I realized my mistake. I left my keys in the ignition switch while using my car headlights to get a nicely lit shot of the tombstones hours earlier. I was locked out of my car. I called my Israeli insurance provider to see if I could get assistance. When I mentioned that I was in the unrecognized Arab village of Al Araqib in the Negev desert, I heard 10 seconds of silence. Then finally, "Ehh, we won't go there."

I was stuck and could only laugh at my predicament. But as I have known since my high school psychology class, due to diffusion of responsibility, I had a much better chance of getting help in a tiny village than in New York City. And in the friendly hospitable environs of a Bedouin village, my odds were even better. The first 3 guys I went up to and asked for help in rudimentary Arabic were willing to devote the next hour to the cause of prying open my car.

I have broken into my car once before with a wire coat hanger, but searching through the rubble of Al Araqib's former homes, we couldn't find one. We did find some scrap metal which we bended into a loop, stuck into the doorframe, and tried over and over to catch the lock. Everytime we tried, the man dressed in the white garabiyah would utter a prayer, "Bismilla ir-Rahman ir-Rahim" "In the Name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate."

But the merciful and compassionate God must not have been paying attention. We tried in vein for over an hour, until finally, as a last resort, I gave the go ahead for one of the guys to smash my rear window with a hammer. After I cleared away the shards of glass, opened the rear door, and found my keys in the ignition, the same Muslim man who had helped me since the beginning of my ordeal, stuffed a 100 Shekel note (about 30 USD) in my shirt pocket. He said it was to help pay for a new window. I told him I didn't need it, but it was too late. He vanished into the darkness. Somewhere in the desert, this pious Muslim man in white was happy that he got to perform an act of charity on Ramadan. I figured there's no point chasing after him, and that I had in some way also helped him. I drove home with a shattered rear window, but enjoyed the extra ventilation.

Water Woes

2010-08-17T02:24:00.001-04:00

This is the first in a two-part series I produced for Time.com on the water woes in Israel/Palestinian territories.

The second one will focus specifically on the Dead Sea.

This first installment provides a general overview of the problem.

Gaza Surf

2010-07-02T06:28:00.003-04:00

I just watched a piece on the New York Times by Michael Slackman and Shawn Baldwin on the Gaza Surf community. It stirred up a sense of nostalgia for one of the greatest summers of my life; the one I spent in Gaza in 2005.

I was making my doc on the Disengagement and rented a place right on the beach near the former settlement Hof Dekalim (Palm Beach). I would go into Gaza City to interview Hamas leaders, and then cross back into the settlements to interview settler leaders. I made sure each and every day ended up in the pristine waters of the Gaza beaches.

I rented a cheap suite at a mostly abandoned run down hotel right on the beach. Prices were cheap because of the impending evacuation. Most of the predominantly secular Jewish surfers had already taken the government compensation and left Gaza.

The last remaining die hard surfers hooked us up with some old boards. I remember one of them claiming that 2005 was one of the best surfing summers in recent history. (Generally winter storms churn up the best Mediterranean waves). He thought it was a cruel joke from God (or Murphy and his damn law) that the last summer they could surf there would turn out to be the best one ever.

I remember thinking what a shame it was that the Arab surfers and Jewish surfers couldn't even meet each other in the water, since each tribe was relegated to surfing in their respective beaches.

I also remember how surreal it felt to be surfing in Gaza. Surfing is always an escape, but in Gaza the warm waters felt like returning to the womb. With the constant threat of Qassam rockets looming overhead, I knew the water was the safest place to be. The rocket probably wouldn't detonate in the sea, sparing both myself and the fish from the deadly shrapnel.

Straddling my surfboard in the warm Mediterranean waters, I looked East and saw armed teenage Israeli soldiers trapped in the camouflage netting of a soon to be evacuated army base. Due North, Israeli F-15's swooped over the densely populated Gaza City, frightening a million people at once with a sonic boom. To the South, I saw the smoke clouds rising over the Rafah weapons smuggling tunnels.

But squinting to the West, I saw something different. I saw a perfectly round orange ball flatten and lose its shape as it sunk behind the horizon. Before it retired for the day, the sun decided to put on one last show, spraying fluorescent light on the water, illuminating the faces of the surfers. As energy crashed into the sandy seafloor, hot pink, liquidy bumps rose out of the sea. I heard joyous shrieks from stoked surfers and seagulls serenading one another. Mostly, I heard the quiet. Surfing is so much more than a sport. It is a meditation. On an epic day, whether you live in Hawaii, Israel, or Gaza, the hardest thing to do is leave the water.

The view from my suite in the Palm Beach hotel in Gaza

Devendra, Come Back!

2010-06-18T12:59:00.004-04:00

Here is an oped I wrote for Haaretz on Devendra Banhart's decision to cancel his shows in Israel.

Not Too Late to Reschedule

Another Soccer Story

2010-06-08T08:57:00.001-04:00

Clearly I have World Cup fever. Here is another story of Israelis and Palestinians learning to coexist through the beautiful game.

Israeli-Arab Soccer Film

2010-05-27T08:34:00.000-04:00

This film is right up my alley!

New Story on Time.com

2010-05-25T03:46:00.003-04:00

Don't read this if you're squeamish.

I have become largely desensitized to gore for many reasons. First, I have seen my share of Hollywood films. Second, I worked as a medic during the second Intifadah. Third, I have seen the devastation of war and natural disaster firsthand . Fourth, I once saw Al Gore in person. (ok, terrible joke, sorry). I thought I was a pretty composed dude until I flipped through the photo album of Gazan Doctor Tada Medhat Taha. There I saw images so grisly I wish I could erase them from my memory, but I know I never will. Every once in a while, when I least expect it, they will flash in my mind's eye, sending chills up my spine.

He showed me what human brains look like when they're oozing out of the skull. I nearly vomited. He showed me a human eye socket with an eyeball dangling by a thread. I did vomit a little bit into my mouth. He showed me a blue, lifeless human leg that had just been amputated. I got up and left the room in the middle of the interview. I walked down a corridor full of fake limbs and teenagers banished to wheelchairs for life, went into the bathroom, and didn't know if I should cry or vomit or both. I ended up splashing cold water on my face, and told him not to show me those images ever again.

This is one of the hardest stories I ever had to do for many reasons. Access was difficult. Building trust was especially difficult. It took many trips without the camera just to make friends with guys that are mostly my age or younger. Had I been born about 50 kilometers south of where I'm typing now, I could have easily been one of them.

I ended up interviewing between 10 and 12 Fatah policemen, activists, and bodyguards about their lives in Gaza before, during, and after the Hamas takeover. I never had the heart to turn off the camera and just let them talk for hours on end. In the more than 2 years I've been going back and forth to Ramallah to meet up with these men, deprived of their limbs and their families, I've learned more about life, love, and war than in my 28 years prior. I understand now that legs a man can do without. But to be cut off from your family, and your roots, is too painful for most men to bare.

I've also been privileged to amass many hours of interviews, from which I've amalgamated a fascinating oral history of the Hamas takeover. I reckon this probably could have been a pretty good feature film, too. Here's a glimpse:

Nice Stories for a change from Israel, Gaza

2010-05-19T06:46:00.003-04:00

I savored these stories on Israel and Gaza on CNN. Soccer and comedy is infinitely better than bombs and bullets. Thought I'd share em.

This one is on the World Cup in Gaza.

and this one is on the most popular comedy show in Israel,

a satirical program called "Eretz Nehederet," meaning "a wonderful country."

Enjoy!

Scene from the Gaza World Cup

NYT Lens Blog Covers Rina Castelnuovo

2010-05-17T08:42:00.004-04:00

The NYT Lens Blog has written up a story on my colleague, New York Times photographer Rina Castelnuovo. Rina has been photographing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for 30 years. I have had the good fortune of working with her for the past several. Her professionalism, passion, and stunning pictures never cease to amaze and inspire me. I actually had no idea she started off as a painter, but if you look at the texture, colors, and the incorporation of landscapes in her shots, they are all true works of art. They also powerfully tell the story of a conflict replete with horror, fanaticism, and tragedy. Check out 20 of her photos here , and make sure you go full screen to really appreciate them.

From Confrontation in Nilin, West Bank
Courtesy of Lens Blog, Rina Castelnuovo

UK Elections and New Media Story

2010-05-15T13:49:00.005-04:00

Check out the story and video reports I made in London last week, on the effects of new media on the UK elections, currently on PBS MediaShift.

The Vandalised Conservative Billboards Facebook group proved popular during the election; this is one image from that group.

Insightful Haaretz Article

2010-05-14T05:00:00.003-04:00

I just got around to catching up with the news from Isratine, after a week I spent in the UK covering the elections there. It was refreshing being in a country where the most important item to discuss, in this order, are the weather, football, and the weather.

I want to highlight an interesting story I read in Haaretz.

In an article by Amira Hass, it shows some of the devious tactics the Shin Bet (Israeli intelligence services) to get Palestinians to work as snitches for Israel. They essentially give two Palestinian medical students an ultimatum, to become an informant for Israel or lose out on a chance to fulfill your dream of becoming a doctor. I have heard of many cases like this firsthand, where desperate kids are bribed or blackmailed. Work for Israel, or give up what you love most.
Read it here.

The Hamas Media Machine Strikes Again

2010-04-30T11:16:00.002-04:00

Much attention has been given to the recently released, Hamas-made animated video, which has been reposted on Youtube by scores of different users. Many journalists have opined and called it part psychological warfare, part PR tool, but mostly a thinly veiled attempt to threaten the Israeli public with the killing of Gilad Shalit.

But to me the video showed a kind of lonely desperation on the part of Hamas to make a deal. Perhaps they can identify with the sad, frail Noam Shalit of the future walking the streets alone. One of the main reasons Israel is refusing the deal is because they are aware that the deal would empower Hamas politically in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as increase their international legitimacy. But I think this video should be interpreted by Israel as a sign of weakness on the part of Hamas, and now might actually be a good time for Israel to re-negotiate.

The video actually reminded me of the animated cartoons I used to watch as a kid. When an older version of Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, is walking alone in the streets of some generic Israeli city from the future, he finds a newspaper (Daily Globe?) with his son next to Ron Arad, the presumed dead Israeli airman. Then he goes to Erez crossing, the main checkpoint between Israel and Gaza, and his son, predictably, comes back in a coffin.

When the Qassam Martyrs Brigade logo came down with a thud sound effect, I was expecting to hear the sardonic laughter of some bearded Hamas operative (Green Lantern?).

I'm not trying to make a value judgment on who the real villain is in all this, since no side has a monopoly on good or evil in this conflict. (Let’s not get into political banter, please). If the video wasn’t about such a sad topic, it would be funny. I really think the Hamas filmmakers should apply to DC Comics to make the next Superman live action short.

"Dear Superman (IDF Air Force), I have Lois Lane (Gilad Shalit) in my possession and this is how she will end up if you don't give me what I want." (Insert sardonic villain laugh here).
Sincerely, Qassam Martyrs Brigade (Lex Luthor)

Of course, I am not insensitive to the horrible agony these families must be going through. This is not some comic book, but real life. As I type these words a free man, a young man is languishing away his formative years, most likely in an underground cell in Gaza without basic human rights.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom should be presumed innocent, are being held in Israeli prison without a fair trial.

Isn’t the holy land grand?

In a very different video, the real Noam Shalit makes a plea to the world on Israel's Independence Day on behalf of his son.

This is an extremely low budget production compared to Hamas' video. The video is way too long, in choppy English, and is missing a clear message. It is also not directed at Israelis, as it probably should be, but at the entire world. Shouldn't Noam's goal be to pressure Israelis into making Gilad Shalit a campaign issue in the next election? Or is this evidence that Noam has given up on the Israeli public that voted in a right leaning government?

Not sure whether any of these media antics will have any real influence on the decision makers who get to pull the strings controlling real human lives.

My Reverse Exodus

2010-04-16T05:45:00.014-04:00

My week in Sinai reminded me how much I love traveling for the sake of traveling. I had the purest of intentions. To relax, experience, think, write, and scuba dive in the Red Sea. My only photographic equipment was an Iphone. My only writing tool was a pen and random scraps of paper. This is my brief travelogue. I could write forever but work beckons...(If only I could get paid to do this type of "work," hmmm)

My crossing from Eilat to Taba was as graceful as could be. At the end of the Passover holiday, I was literally the only soul person traveling FROM Israel TO the Sinai Peninsula. I relish these moments, where all evidence seems to suggest that I am going the totally wrong way. I watched taxi after taxi roll in, delivering to the border hordes of the most relaxed Israelis you’ll ever see. With long and unruly masses of hair, bloodshot eyes, and rosy shoulders, they silently and reluctantly drag their bodies towards their respective realities. The air of tranquility is suddenly pierced by the angry screams of an Egyptian driver running frantically towards one Israeli, accusing a member of the group of leaving the taxi without paying. Yes, this was as close to the real-life exodus as I would get in my lifetime. The modern day Hebrews entered the “Promised Land,” with little holiness, but maybe with a profound sense of the sublime.

I flashed my US passport to the Egyptian border officer and was greeted with an “Ahlan Wahsalan.” (welcome). I walked through a metal detector with my iphone, keys, and wallet, and for the first time in my life I went through without a beep. He stamped a funny little automobile insignia from the 1950s on the last page of my passport reserved for amendments, not visas. I then exchanged my Israeli shekels for Egyptian pounds (when I asked the Egyptian clerk for a receipt, it provoked laughter), and was across the border in less than 5 minutes.

Possibly to emphasize the modernity gap between Israel and Egypt, you literally go back in time 1 hour when you cross the border. (Egypt doesn’t do daylight savings). This is good for the perpetually late traveler. I got to the dusty Taba bus depot at 9:15, but it was actually 8:15, which meant that I was still on time for the 9:00 bus. Awesome. But there wasn’t a soul in sight and the wind was blowing trash into my face. Finally after 30 minutes I saw a Bedouin looking man walk by. In my rudimentary Palestinian Arabic, I asked about the 9 am bus, and finally understood that it was not going to come. The next bus was at 3. TIA, I thought to myself. This is Africa. I felt a surge of power and liberation.

This was the third unlucky thing that happened to me since the trip began just 15 hours earlier. I was kind to two French tourists who were dazed and confused in the seedy labyrinth that is the Tel Aviv bus station. I gave them travel advice and let them cut in front of me in line. They bought the last two tickets for the bus to Eilat. When I got to the ticket counter, I was told that there were no more tickets. I had to sit on the floor of the bus or wait for the next one. I took option 1, and those French dickheads didn’t even say “bonjour” to me as they nearly tripped over me sprawled out like raw chicken in the center aisle of the bus, as they went to their comfortable seats. Using some soldier’s m16 as a pillow, I imagined myself underwater in a fluorescent coral garden.

The night before that a dog peed on my face. I was in a makeshift campground (read: parking lot) in the shadow of the Herod’s Palace Hotel. The wind was howling so I fastened my tent to a palm tree, hammered 8 stakes into the hard sand, and secured then with red sea rocks. At 1 am, the arsim (see here for definition) had finished their arak (anise liquor) and their music was off, so I unfurled my sleeping bag, and completed my reverse metamorphosis by crawling into it the tent I call the Larvae. I zipped up the one opening, leaving the screen open for oxygen. Despite the light pollution caused by Eilat’s monumental ugliness, I could see my favorite constellations. Just as I closed my eyes and was drifting off to sleep to the folk melodies of Mumford and Sons, I felt a warm spray of liquid on my forehead. The pungent smell of dehydrated rank urine filled my nostrils. I looked up to see the lipstick-like penis of some mutt aimed right at my face.

The Larvae Tent

But I must say my luck turned around, kind of. Once I realized I was going to be stuck in Taba for 7 hours, I went to the Taba Hilton to spend the day on the beach. This was the hotel that had been devastated in 2004 when a truck drove into the lobby and detonated a powerful bomb, killing 31 people and wounding 160. I had to get past 3 security perimeters and a metal detector just to get in. I lounged around there, had lunch, and got on the 3pm bus to Sharm al Sheikh.

Taba Hilton Vantage Point

A good idea when traveling in the Sinai is to staple your passport to your forehead, or at least permanently keep it out. I have never seen so many checkpoints in my life. About every 15 miles and before entering any village, the bus stopped, some security goon came in, and checked every person’s id.

Dahab Checkpoint

Eventually I got to Sharm, checked into my spartan bungalow on a cliff overlooking the red sea, and felt like I was finally getting closer to my paradise below the waves.

My Bungalow

But the next morning, just as I was getting excited to go scuba diving, I saw something I had never seen in my life. A checkpoint, complete with a metal detector and several guards, checked everyone's bag before they get on a dive boat. I suppose it makes sense, given the creativity of terrorists these days, but come on, these people are armed with snorkels and sunscreen. As I got on the vessel, ironically named “Freedom,” I reassured myself: There wont be checkpoints underwater, right?

Dive Boat Checkpoint

The Freedom Dive Boat

The diving was spectacularly, otherworldly. Clownfish, parrotfish, barracuda, groupers, giant brain corals, eel gardens, stingrays.
I met some amazing human beings also, both Egyptians and foreigners.
I even got to experience the Sharma al Sheikh nightlife scene, which is quite fun and alcohol friendly, possibly catering to the hundreds of Russian package tourists who fly in every day to Sharm’s international airport.

The way back was uneventful. Just the routine checkpoints and then the usual harassment I always get when coming back to Israel, despite my residency status.

Female Israeli Officer: Why did you try and go to Gaza in 2008?

Me: For work, I’m a journalist.

Female Israeli Officer: What were you doing in Iraq in 2005?

Me: Reporting, would you like to see my Press ID?

Female Israeli Officer: We must stamp your passport.

Me: No, I need to travel in the Arab world. You may not stamp it.

Female Israeli Officer: You know, you are not special. The only difference between you and me is I can vote, and you can’t.

Me: Voting in Israel is an exercise in futility.

Female Israeli Officer: (smirking) You’re aware it is against the law to go to Suria (Syria) and Lebanon.

Me: But what about my summer home in Beirut? Come on, I was in Egypt for god’s sake. There’s a peace treaty, right?

Female Israeli Officer: Just know that next time we will have to stamp your passport.

Me: Can I go now?

Female Israeli Officer: Yes.

On the Israeli side, I jumped into a taxicab of an Israeli-Arab driver who turned on the meter and then decided to pull over and chat with some friends on my dime. Little did he know, my sharp elbows had already been deployed at the border. I let him have it. He admitted his “chutzpah” and we drove off with him jabbing me in jest.

Sharm Nightlife

More Package Tourists Descend on Sharm

Sinai Desert Rocks

Jerusalem Passion Play

2010-04-02T01:11:00.003-04:00

Check out my latest story on Time.com

It is a bloody one, but don't worry, the blood is fake.

And if you happen to be in the Old City of Jerusalem today, you don't want to miss Joanne Petronella and the Christ in You Ministry of Brea California performing the Passion Play.

Happy Easter and Passover to all.

Sayed Goes to the Swamp

2010-03-28T06:25:00.004-04:00

I was very excited to read that one of my favorite columnists for Israel's daily Haaretz, the often lonely, fragmented voice of Israel's Arab minority, Sayed Kashua, visited my alma mater, the University of Florida. He was hosted by the Jewish Studies department to talk about his show, Arab Labor, and his books. Meron Benvenisti and the awesomely named Sammy Smooha also attended. Sayed's latest column about his trip made me long for the quaintness and Southern charm of Gainesville. But he got the title wrong. It's not "How About Those Gators." It's "How Bout Them Gators!"

Next time I'll teach Sayed the lyrics from my favorite UF Fight Song, played after the 3rd quarter of every football game.

"We are the boys from old Florida, F-L-O-R-I-D-A. Where the girls are the fairest, the boys are the squarest of any old state down our way!"

The Cove

2010-03-15T06:51:00.006-04:00

I saw the doc film "The Cove" last night and was deeply affected by it. Not just because dolphins are my favorite animal and the animal I would most like to be reincarnated into (mainly cause they are the best surfers on the planet), but because it reaffirmed my faith in the power of the individual or a small group of individuals to affect change. In exposing a secret prison beneath the sea, the Oscar winning doc also exposed a great universal truth. I understood "The Cove" to be a metaphor for many places in the world; dark, hidden lairs where crimes and atrocities are being committed regularly with impunity. Places where photography is banned, where screams go unheard, where justice is reserved for the afterlife. Like seedy discotheques, the various "coves" on our planet cannot sustain themselves once a light shines on them.

It took a group of about 10 individuals to expose one of the biggest animal-rights violations in the world today. They shone the light on "the Cove" in the stunningly beautiful coastal town of Taiji, Japan.

Every year, 20,000 dolphins are butchered in Japan to make toxic, mercury poisoned school lunches for Japanese children. The final, grisly scene shows a beautiful blue cove turn blood red as hundreds of dolphins squeal and squirm to avoid being speared to death. Of course they are trapped by nets and cannot escape. One desperate dolphin even tries jumping onto land to avoid the spear. Hundreds more of the "prettier" bottle-nose "Flipper"-like dolphins are shipped all over the world to live in captivity (a fate worse than death for an animal that swims 40 miles a day for exercise and fun). A dead dolphin is worth about 600 dollars. A live one is worth 150,000 dollars.

I learned in the film that the real-life "Flipper" committed suicide in the arms of her trainer and caretaker, Ric O' Barry, who then had a life-changing revelation: It is wrong for dolphins to live in captivity. Dolphins are highly intelligent mammals, like us. They are self-aware. If you put a dolphin in front of a mirror, it knows it's looking at itself and will inspect its body for wounds and scratches. They also have a wide range of emotions. They can experience joy and depression. They know what love is, and like us, have sex way past the age of procreation. They are super creative, often inventing cool dolphin games, which means they have imagination.

O' Barry is a modern day hero for realizing the error in his ways and having the courage to not only change himself, but change the world. He is the main protagonist in the film and has been arrested many times for freeing captive dolphins.
He decided that it was unethical for dolphins to be kept in these tiny pools with noisy crowds affecting their highly sensitive ears. He knew better than anyone that the perpetual dolphin smile is an illusion.

I urge everyone to see this film and then do four things:

1. No matter how much they beg you, refuse to take your kids to Sea World or Seaquarium or any Swim with the Dolphins facility.

2. Ask your Japanese friends to raise awareness in their own country against whaling and dolphin killing (Most Japanese aren't even aware this is going on).

3. Support or make a donation to:

Save Japan Dolphins

4. There are many more "Coves" in the world. Find one and expose it.

The Yes Men Fix the World

2010-02-28T05:53:00.003-05:00

I just saw the most brilliant documentary. I won't ruin it for you. Just go see it. The Yes Men Fix the World. Their title is bit ambitious, but sometimes the Yes Men suspend disbelief long enough to actually do so.
Please let me know if anyone has a connection to them.
I would like to make a sequel in the Middle East.

The Halliburton Survivaball

Na'vis in the West Bank

2010-02-19T03:54:00.011-05:00

I wrote an op ed in Haaretz about the subjectivity of the Avatar Na'vi narrative and how both Israelis and Palestinians have seen it as their own story.

For those interested in the surreal photos and video from the Avatar themed Bilin protest connected to the here they are. Photos courtesy of Hamde Abu Rahme. Video courtesy of Haitam al Katib.

Apparently even Na'vis are susceptible to tear gas

Israel to Re-Route Barrier

2010-02-14T04:21:00.002-05:00

Interesting timing...more than two years since the Supreme Court in Israel ruled the route of the security barrier/separation wall near Bil'in to be illegal, the construction of the new route is finally underway, according to Israeli officials and activists. Perhaps it is the recent media attention given to the protests, but is probably just a coincidence. The two-year lag is most likely connected to the lethargic and hyper-bureaucratic nature of non-wartime Israeli government decisions, especially when dealing with sub-contractors, especially when dealing with a so-called security issue, and especially when it involves giving land to the Palestinians. Despite being as slow as molasses, it's refreshing to see that there is some semblance of "rule of law" in the Wild West Bank.

Archaeology as a Political Weapon

2010-02-01T04:40:00.005-05:00

Archaeology and the competing Middle East Narratives are both sort of like an onion. You peel away layer after layer, thinking you are going to find something tangible, a seed maybe, or a grain of truth. And at the end of the peeling, with empty hands and tears in your eyes, you realize that there is no such truth to be found.

Check out my latest piece on Time.com on the intersection of archaeology, land politics, and historical narratives in the most ancient part of Jerusalem, a place known as the City of David or, if you prefer, Silwan.

West Bank Spectacle

2010-01-31T03:29:00.004-05:00

This is my latest video on the New York Times website. Have a look and let me know your thoughts. Warning: it is a tad violent.

I have always been very interested in the concept of non-violent struggle, and there is one thing that is not mentioned in the video that I think clarifies how the Palestinian popular struggle leaders define non-violence. This is a direct quote from an interview Zaid Murat, who is on the Palestinian Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.

He said, "By non-violence we mean that we are using every form of pressure possible to resist the occupation, except for killing. We will not kill. We will not decide to kill."

And so far this has happened. The worst injury inflicted on an Israeli soldier was losing an eye to a rock. But it begs the questions, Is anything short of killing truly a non-violent struggle?

Dusting off a Film

2010-01-21T11:17:00.002-05:00

I began filming my first feature film, Grassroots, at the age of 24. Today I am 30, and I am proud to say that it was just released on Amazon.com. I can't believe that this project, six years in the making is actually finished, and that I am now holding a shrink-wrapped DVD in my hands.

The timing is actually quite bizarre. The film’s goals were to raise awareness for three chronic injustices plaguing Miami. One of these injustices was the fact that Haitian nationals in Miami are not granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS). We interviewed Jean Robert la Fortune from the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition and Irwin Stotsky, a human rights attorney and Haiti expert from the University of Miami, to explain why Haitians had never been granted TPS. It’s bittersweet and coincidental, that on the heels of this horrific earthquake, Haitians finally have TPS, and that’s when Grassroots gets released on Amazon.

The film, I believe, will now serve as an interesting educational tool for sociologists, political scientists, Cuban-Americans, Haitian-Americans, African-Americans, and anyone interested in a snapshot of how culture and politics came to affect the 2004 US Presidential election in Miami. In a nerdy way, I think it’s also pretty entertaining.

Grassroots was my first film, and a graduation of sorts, since my later projects were more professional productions. Besides the plethora of technical things I learned, I gained a valuable life lesson. I learned that life is full of obstacles and challenges, but nothing is more of an obstacle than your own mind. Working on the film off an on over the course of 6 years, I ripped up 3 or 4 different scripts before I wrote the right one. There was no funding. At many moments, I found myself in the darkness staring at my computer screen wondering why I was still editing this film. At many points I wanted to give up, but something inside didn’t allow me to do so.

I didn’t give up because of all the wonderful, sad, and ultimately sacred human experiences I had while making the film.

I didn’t give up because of Chris Goldberg dashing from house to house in Little Haiti just before the polls closed, Ari’s speech while eating soul food in Liberty City, the tears of the canvassers after Bush’s victory was announced, the lady screaming “Kerry Communista” at the top of her lungs in Hialeah, the flat tires on a dark Costa Rican highway on New Years Eve.

I didn’t give up because of the tens of thousands of Haitians living in the shadows, or the tens of thousands of African-Americans who have been disenfranchised.

I didn’t give up because I had hundreds of voices and images in my head screaming at me to be freed.

The film probably won’t win any awards, and so I would like to deliver my faux Oscar speech, on my personal blog, right where it should be:

Firstly, the person who always believed in this project, my co-collaborator from the very beginning, a skilled producer, cameraman, and friend, Alex Ragir.

Secondly, a person who didn’t work on the film but served as an incredible mentor throughout. In the darkest hours of this project, Rhonda Mitrani was there to shine a light.

Then there’s my Miami brother Elad Gefen, the supremely talented editor who expertly crafted this picture from the first frame to the last. Ladi’s technical and artistic wizardry are all over this production.

This film is worth buying alone for the musical genius of Adam Weinberg. His Cuban-Caribbean rhythms are a listening pleasure and the best score I could have ever asked for.

Then there’s Gerald Jones and Adrian Baschuk, two of the best doco shooters around, who helped fill in when we needed some extra help in Miami.

Finally, I want to give a special thanks to Chris Goldberg and the rest of the Grassroots canvassers, who graciously allowed us to document their experiences that fateful November, and beyond. We are truly grateful.

In light of the election of an African-American president in 2008 and the granting of TPS to Haitians in 2010, MLK’s words never seemed so true.

“The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.”

Memories of an Earthquake

2010-01-20T03:59:00.003-05:00

Watching the horrific scenes that have emerged from Haiti has triggered flashbacks to the time I spent in Pakistan following the disastrous earthquake there in 2005. I keep thinking that had I stayed in Miami a few more days, I probably would have gone over to Haiti to cover it. But in a way I'm glad that I was able to avoid making that decision, because going to the scene of a devastating earthquake is one of the hardest things a journalist can do. While I'm not sure how much my reporting actually led to tangible results for the victims of the Kashmir quake, it strangely did turn into a positive experience for me. No, I'm not into death and destruction. Quite the opposite. I am so affected by it, that I can't even gather the strength to film it sometimes. Yet, while journalists get to pop in, document the misery, and then return to their comfortable lives, these people are living in the midst of a real-life horror film. People lost their limbs, homes, and entire families in one quick rumble of the earth. Yet they press on and, somehow, smile. I didn't know this at the time, but now looking back through the prism of my memory, I think that it was one of the most uplifting spiritual experiences I've ever had. It also shaped how I view human nature. When a stranger helps a stranger for absolutely no reward, it is a living proof that mankind is not essentially evil. I wish the people of Haiti strength and resilience in the face of this horrific tragedy.

The long-haired version of me, about to board a UN chopper to Muzzafarbad (2005)

TPS Granted to Haitians

2010-01-16T12:38:00.002-05:00

Very pleased to see that the Obama administration has decided to grant TPS to Haitian Nationals who arrived in the US before the earthquake. At least they won't be deported back to the sinking ship that is Haiti.

For more info, go to this link from the Miami Herald

Call to Action: TPS for Haitians Now

2010-01-14T04:00:00.006-05:00

I have long advocated that Haitian Nationals receive temporary protected status (TPS) from the US government. The injustices and double standards applied against Haitian immigrants in the US is simply appalling. My question for the Obama administration on the heels of this horrific earthquake is: If not now, when?

I made a film about the double standards when it comes to not granting TPS to Haitians. I filmed it in 2004 and I actually just completed it. More information on its release in the coming weeks, but I just want to point out the two main reasons given by several of our subjects as to why Haitians don't get TPS status.

Reason 1: Racism
Reason 2: They would actually come to the US in large numbers

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and over the last decade has been devastated by both natural and political disasters. (In fact, this is the very definition of TPS eligibility) Its proximity to the US means that a wave of Haitian boat people would end up on the shores of the US should TPS be granted to Haitian nationals.

But there must be some middle ground between letting in every Haitian who wants a better life, and totally ignoring the plight of thousands of human beings who may be left to die in the coming weeks. There must be some system which would allow the most desperate Haitians a safe haven in the US.

To ignore the suffering of this cursed island will be a curse on all of us who stood by idly and did nothing.

If you are a US citizen, contact your State Representatives to pressure Obama to grant Haitians TPS.

Back in M.E.

2010-01-13T12:52:00.003-05:00

I am now back in the Middle East and eager to find new and interesting stories from this fascinating and troubled land. I celebrated the New Year at my old dojo in South Florida, the Bushido Knights Ryu. Sensei Gerry Knapton started a cool tradition of breaking boards to mark the beginning and end of each year in the Gregorian calendar. I like it. It is a symbolic way to break from whatever was holding you back in the past, and to charge forward into the New Year with vigor.

The three years I spent training at this dojo was a truly valuable life experience. Not only did I learn how to defend myself against guns, knives, and unruly mobs, I gained confidence, wisdom, and a better understanding of self. The lessons of the Martial Arts are much greater than kicking and punching. That being said, it is by far the best martial arts center in that area if you are looking for practical self-defense.

Sometimes we also do impractical things such as breaking boards on fire.
Check out this link to see me breaking 2 boards with a palm hand at 3:00, and my brother Adam breaking 2 boards on fire with a hammer punch at 8:12.

Vegging out in God's Waiting Room

2009-12-22T17:01:00.007-05:00

Yes, it's that time of year again. It's the time of year when Hallmark stock soars through the roof and concurrently thousands of trees are destroyed somewhere in the world to manufacture greeting cards that are read once and may or may not be recycled. I landed in Miami for the holidays, and landed is a term I use loosely, to find half my city underwater. Weird winter storms lent credence to the predictions that Miami will be totally submerged in about a hundred years. I wonder if the combined weight of all the Canadian tourists who fly in for the winter is making Miami sink faster. But I can't say I blame them. Miami is beautiful this time of year and the perfect remedy for anyone fleeing something. Whether its the cold weather, a Communist island 90 miles away, or in my case, the ethnic tension, intolerance, and religious fanaticism of the Middle East, Miami is a perfect refuge. So as I turn 30 in the city where the average age is 72.8, I have decided to spend the next for the next couple weeks practicing to be a good senior citizen. I will be reading novels, playing some combination of golf/tennis/raquetball/shuffleboard, and wondering what SPF sunscreen I need to apply on my nose that always seems to redden before anything else. The over-under on how long it will be before I go insane is approximately two weeks, at which point I will quite rationally fly back to the Middle East. But until then I will be in my Panama Hat, enjoying this little dress rehearsal for the golden years.

Wherever you are and whatever holiday you like to celebrate, I send you my fondest impersonal electronic seasons greetings and wish you a happy and healthy new year.

Prisons R Us

2009-11-23T05:07:00.004-05:00

Israel's Supreme Court should be commended for their recent decision outlawing the privatization of prisons.

The Court concluded, and I concur, that outsourcing your prisoners to private companies is a fundamental violation of human rights and the social contract between man and government.

The US Supreme Court and other countries where punishment of your citizens is a "for-profit" business should take heed.

I challenge readers (anyone out there?) to make a good argument for the privatization of prisons.

I'm interested in how you would address the ethical questions of whose responsibility it is to punish members of society when they violate the law, and who is accountable when corporations violate the very laws they are meant to be enforcing.

Of course, state prisons are also susceptible to violating prisoners rights, but at least there is some semblance of accountability, government oversight, and an ideal that seeks to maximize justice rather than profit.

Prisons are big business in the US, and not surprisingly, there are more people incarcerated there than anywhere else in the world. This shouldn't be a source of pride for Americans.

King’s College London International Centre for Prison Studies, found that in the U.S. 756 out of every 100,000 is incarcerated. Here are the numbers:

The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, 756 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Russia (629), Rwanda (604), St Kitts & Nevis (588), Cuba (c.531), U.S. Virgin Is. (512), British Virgin Is. (488), Palau (478), Belarus (468), Belize (455), Bahamas (422), Georgia (415), American Samoa (410), Grenada (408) and Anguilla (401).

Anyone want to go into the prison business?

Zen and Palestinian Women's Soccer

2009-10-29T04:35:00.006-04:00

Yes, this was a zen moment for me.

I am surrounded by 10,000 screaming Palestinian soccer fans, waving their red, green, and white flags. The same old Arabic song is blaring from nearby speakers. My salivary glands ooze at the faint smell of kabob on the grill. My camera is rolling as two women in hijabs go up for a header.

Yes, I had achieved the managed to combine the things I hold close to my heart, the Jaron Gilinsky Trifecta.

1. Soccer
2. Middle Eastern Street Food
3. Stories of Just, Non-Violent, Political and/or Social Struggle

For 90 minutes on Monday, there was no Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Along with the other 10,000-plus spectators at Faisal Husseiny Stadium in Alram, we had unwittingly entered a holy sanctuary of sport. Sir, Ma'am, please check your harsh social and political realities at the door.

But don't forget them on the way out.

It took me 3 and a half hours to get out of the West Bank that night.

There was bumper to bumper traffic all the way to the Kalandia checkpoint. As I got to the front of the line, the Israeli soldiers simply vacated their posts without saying a word to anyone. Kids began hurling rocks at the empty concrete shells.

I was pissed off and frustrated. The Palestinians seemed to be used to this chaos. The jumble of cars packed like sardines all tried to reverse at once. It felt like a game of high stakes bumper cars.

Nearly four hours after the final whistle, I travelled less than 5 kilometers to reach the other checkpoint at Hizme, said "Mah Nishma?" to the female Israeli soldier, and I was back in Jerusalem.

See the Video Here

Jackline Jazrawi, 23
Left Defender from Bethlehem during Palestinian National Anthem

Obama- the New Norse God

2009-10-13T05:10:00.002-04:00

Norway, in particular, and Scandinavia in general, are known to be doggedly secular places. So, unlike most people on the planet, Scandinavians are not waiting for a messiah from the heavens to come save the world, but for something else.

Sociologist Phil Zuckerman, who researched religion, or lack thereof, in Scandinavia, was surprised to find that a godless society can be extremely moral, and even more surprised to find Scandinavians to be utterly apathetic to all matters theological.

Could it be that President Obama’s flowing, hopeful, scrupulous rhetoric so mesmerized Scandinavia that the Nobel Prize Committee decided to take a blind leap of faith towards Obam-ism?

I would argue that there is a fundamental need for man to believe in something, anything. Perhaps apathy to religion correlates with a greater need for human heroes. Wannabe demagogues worldwide should pay attention: Where belief in Allah, Shiva, Jesus, or Jah is scant, it may be easier to get people to believe in you. Go find some godless place and start your very own cult of personality. And if there are some preexisting religious institutions there, just follow the Stalin formula and shut them down.

Every journalist and pundit in the world has his or her theory as to how Obama could win the Nobel Peace Prize before ever making peace. Some have called this a down payment on deeds to come, an endorsement of an ideology, lighting a hot flame under the presidential buttocks, but I have another theory.

I posit that Scandinavia has finally found God in the form of an African-American man with an angelic smile and elf-like ears.

Yes, we have witnessed the stunning transformation of an ordinary state Senator from Illinois to a Nordic God in less than 5 years.

Who knew that deification is a quicker process than puberty?

Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr. Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".

Come on Thorbjoern, Nordic Gods don’t need your support, your prize, a silly certificate, and some 10 million Swedish Kronors.

Look what happened after you gave the prize to that demigod, the Dalai Lama. It didn’t help him make peace with China, did it?

Not to diminish the reincarnation of the Buddha, but maybe Obama’s full-blown God powers will prove to be even greater. Maybe He really is the change we can believe in. Maybe, somewhere up in the starry Scandinavian sky, Obama and the Dalai Lama are making great plans for peace on earth.

Lets just hope their not being influenced by all the other members of the Norse Pantheon, who all seemed to have something of a violent streak. Especially that former crowd favorite Thor, a barbaric warrior God who refused to put down his deadly hammer.

Thor probably was not the ideal candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, so this year they gave it to the new guy.

Turning Rockets into Roses

2009-10-09T09:38:00.003-04:00

Check out this report by my colleagues, Reem Makhoul and Isabel Kershner, about a guy who turns Qassam rockets into roses.

Oktoberfest in Palestine

2009-10-08T04:34:00.006-04:00

Yes, it exists.
Yes, it is awesome.

Here is the video on Time.com

PS. Taybeh also means delicious in Arabic, and the beer is really quite good. I had the regular golden, the dark, and the amber at Oktoberfest. I didn't bother with the non-alchoholic one, marketed towards Muslims, which explains the unsteady camera work that didn't make it in the cut.

Photo Courtesy of David Silverman, Getty Images

Ahmedinejhad a Jew?

2009-10-03T19:46:00.003-04:00

Read this story from the Telegraph, but don't necessarily believe it:

This article has inadequate evidence for proving that Ahmedinejhad is Jewish. The only piece of evidence provided by the reporters is this picture.

Assuming the name Sabourjian means he is unequivocally Jewish, how do we know his name used to be Sabourjian?

The reporters Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat write, "The Iranian leader has not denied his name was changed when his family moved to Tehran in the 1950s. But he has never revealed what it was change from or directly addressed the reason for the switch. "

Not denying it is a far cry from admitting it.

I also haven't denied that I'm Elvis Presley, which doesn't prove that I am Elvis Presley.

This is manipulative journalism in the sense that they are trying to get readers to make faulty assumptions. First, prove the switch of names, then try to address the reasons and subsequent psychological fallout.

I am also curious as to what the context was behind him allegedly holding up his own ID. And then, how do we know the document in his hand is his actual ID card? Where's the closeup of said document that the entire case rests on?

Editor should also note: There is a small and insignificant typo (missing a d the second time using the word "changed" in the previously cited paragraph)

While I am definitely not Elvis Presley, Ahmedinejhad may in fact turn out to be of Jewish descent.

If this story does ring true, it certainly would explain
Ahmedinejhad's Holocaust, Jew, and Israel obsession.

But the evidence is scant and this story is as sensational and full of holes as Swiss Cheese.

Shalit Video Raises the Stakes

2009-10-02T18:26:00.003-04:00

I was happy to learn that a breakthrough has been achieved in this Gilad Shalit saga.

Prisoners have been handed back, and Shalit's video has been released in exchange.

As Isabel Kershner of the NYT writes, he is "thin and wan, but lucid and very much alive."

Through the medium of a television screen, this is the closest the Shalit family have been to him since he was taken away. They will probably sleep better tonight than they have in 3 years.

It was unequivocally Gilad. To make sure, he stated his Israeli ID number and recounted a story that only he would know about a day trip when his Dad came to visit him in his army base and photographed him in an old Merkava tank.

Here is the video:

I just watched it for the fifth time and haven't been able to really glean any extra insight other than the obvious information Hamas wanted to convey. I noticed that the most nervous smiling came at around 2:22 when he is forced to say, "The mujahideen of the Izzeddine al-Qassam Brigades are treating me fine."

It could mean that he is trying to communicate that this is not entirely true. It could also mean that it is mostly true, and he has a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome to the extent that he is bonding with someone behind the camera. Are there any psychologists reading this blog? Is it likely that he has developed some bond or attachment with his captors over his 1000 plus days in Gaza?

If there was such a thing as Vegas odds of Gilad coming back to his home in one piece, then they just went up dramatically. But then again, the Middle East is a place where probabilities turn into improbabilities.

But, this is the necessary first step in securing Shalit's release. Israel needed to verify that he was alive and healthy, while Hamas wanted to prove the same thing.

Gilad's value is higher today than he was yesterday. The problem is that both sides are aware of this.

Pic from the Homesh Trip

2009-09-15T12:52:00.002-04:00

Here I am next to David Haivri, Rabbi Elishama Cohen, and the Torah.

Settlers Part Deux

2009-09-14T05:46:00.003-04:00

Out came the second installment of the New York Times series on Israeli settlers, an important body of research that is showing the settlers for who they really are, not a monolithic entity but a rather eclectic bunch. This second story portrays the settler most often portrayed in the media, the ideological, religious, Zionist who believes that redemption is connected to Jews settling in Greater Israel. The story is a prophetic one whose central thesis is that the ideological settlers in the West Bank will not turn to organized violence to thwart off Israeli army withdrawals. The report's insight comes not from mathematically gauging the likelihood of an event, but rather by using this hypothetical scenario as a launching pad for diving into the consciousness of its subjects.

The truth is that in the event of withdrawal, the vast majority of settlers will be happy to relocate to other parts of Israel, or live close enough to the Green Line that they will inadvertently be swallowed by Israel. That leaves about 50,000 ideological settlers living deep in the West Bank who would put up a fight. The logistical nightmare of a withdrawal from these areas is not really so scary. Israelis, Palestinians, and the world should know that, if the political planets ever align, Israel could probably pull off such an operation, creating the space for a Palestinian state.

I once learned in my 6th grade sex education class, which, traumatically enough, was taught by my father, that the "pull out method," is an ineffective and messy form of birth control. It seems that Israel has finally absorbed this lesson, after the unilateral pull out method resulted in the rebirth of Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon and Gaza, respectively. After rearing two ugly babies, Israel won't conduct a comprehensive West Bank pullout without a negotiated agreement with a Palestinian leader, democratically elected and with power over all of the West Bank and Gaza. And even if this miracle does comes to fruition over the next few years, who knows if the then-commander of the Zion Train will have the marbles to make a move?

In spending much of the past month in the West Bank researching and filming the story, I found the settlers to be almost exactly as they were in 2005 leading up to the Disengagement. Ever possessed by ideology, self righteousness, and their religious destiny, they still view the IDF as their own army. Their bullets are reserved for Palestinians, not the soldiers who they still feel are their misguided brothers. It is safe to say that in the coming years, there probably won't be a civil war in Israel. But there probably won't be peace either, just more of the same.

Rabbi Elishama Cohen taking his Torah to Homesh

Amazing Video

2009-09-11T05:03:00.003-04:00

Warning: The video has nothing to do with politics, which creates a space for inspiration

The Clubhouses of the West Bank

2009-08-28T04:15:00.002-04:00

I've been spending much of my time lately in two opposite, parallel universes: apartment hunting in Tel Aviv while searching for outpost stories in the West Bank. They require totally different mindsets, and given the freakishly competitive state of the apartment market in Tel Aviv, I considered seriously at one point throwing in the towel and building a little log cabin somewhere in the future state of Palestine.

The monthly rental price of a studio apartment in Tel Aviv: 1000 dollars

The monthly rental of a wooden shack in the West Bank (subject to sudden evacuation): Free, but must build it yourself

Thank Jah I found an apartment, an overpriced pad 4 blocks from the trash-infested, fish-depleted waters of the Mediterranean. But for a habitual beach prowler like myself, close enough to heaven. My surfboards will be dusted off and I will soon be riding the petite slow rollers next to the Jaffa Port.

The world's attention is once again fixated on those pesky settlers, camped out illegally on the barren hills of the West Bank. What the world doesn't know is that many of these so called "illegal outposts" are not even really even inhabited, but are the temporary hideouts of a handful of quixotic teenagers.

Take Ramat Migron for example. It consists of 3 wooden huts on a hill in the West Bank. The place has been destroyed several times by the army and is maintained by a group of no more than 10 young adults between the ages of 18 and 22. They don't live there, since the place has no electricity and/or water, but they hang out there as much as possible. They have a gas stove to cook, prayer books, and mattresses. It is sort of like a glorified camping trip, where you not only get to be one with nature, but also get to piss off the most powerful man in the world. Who knew that being a setter could be so much fun!

The place reminds me of a clubhouse I once had as a kid. It is a place of fantasy, where you make the rules. The adults, or international law, has no say in the matter. In the clubhouse, you decide right and wrong. You can call yourself king or president or whatever. It is an imaginary world with no boundaries, or borders. The entire world, or the greater land of Israel, is yours for the taking, until you hear a familiar voice in the distance. It's Bibi Netanyahu, or your parents, calling you for dinner.

Ramat Migron Story

2009-08-27T05:05:00.001-04:00

I shot and edited this piece for the UK's Channel 4. It's on a British settler in an illegal outpost called Ramat Migron in the West Bank. Have a look!

Huckabee Tour

2009-08-25T16:13:00.003-04:00

I was on the Mike Huckabee (2012 Campaign?) Bus Tour last week. Politics aside, I found Mr. Huckabee to be a nice Southern gentleman who brought me right back to the good ol' days in Gainesville, Florida. We talked mainly about SEC football, and of course his Razorbacks are no match for the mighty Gators, who are expected to repeat as national champions. I mean, seriously, can anyone really stop Tim Tebow?

We visited countless settlements and lookouts in Samaria or Northern West Bank. Even went to a settler's goat farm and drank a real tasty cabernet sauvignon made in a little settlement called Har Bracha. Mr. Huckabee didn't drink, which meant more for the journalists. Shameless plug for the video I produced for time.com

I also promised a person on the tour bus that I would publish this political cartoon from the late 1970's, which is suddenly relevant again, so here it is:

Laura, Euna, and Ibrahim

2009-08-06T03:07:00.004-04:00

Totally and utterly thrilled about the safe return of Laura and Euna.
Very proud of the US for sending in its top sweet-talker, Bill Clinton, to secure their release.

The one silver lining in this whole episode, I hope, is the raising of awareness for the hundreds of journalists still in captivity in various countries all over the world.

These cases don't make it onto the front page of the New York Times. They are low profile non-stories that few people, if any, know about. These journalists, instead of shining the light of truth, spend their days rotting away in dingy, dark, 3rd world prison cells that Bill Clinton will never visit.

The sad truth is that journalism is not such a sagacious career choice for people who live in repressive countries, and cherish their own personal freedom. By simply putting their pens to paper, digitally recording reality, and publicizing a truth, they can lose their lives. Outside these despicable bubbles of repression, we are aware that their "criminal" acts of journalism are actually the ultimate acts of patriotism.

The world's leaders should take this opportunity to condemn Iran, Burma, China, Cuba, and Zimbabwe's criminal record in arresting innocent journalists, and, when pertinent, acknowledge and correct their own shortcomings in this arena.

In particular, the US should take an introspective look at the case of Ibrahim Jassan. While the US doesn't have the same underlying reasons as North Korea for incarcerating journalists, the two countries may in fact be guilty of the same crime.

Read this article about the Reuters cameraman from Iraq held by the US for nearly a year without a trial.

While there have been no new cases of foreign journalists being arrested under the Obama administration, the fact that even one is still in custody since September of 2008 is unacceptable. Americans should pressure their representatives to provide Jassan a fair and swift trial. If there is no evidence to convict him, he should be released immediately. Holding him for one year without trial is criminal. Just like Laura and Euna, Ibrahim has a family anxiously waiting for him in Baghdad. It's time Americans also know him on a first-name basis.

Ultra-Orthodox Settler Video

2009-07-27T03:32:00.003-04:00

The Israeli Army just announced that there are now more than 300,000 settlers living in the West Bank. Most of them are what I label "incidental settlers," who are not there for ideological, but rather for practical reasons. I spent a couple weeks documenting life in Beitar Illit, a settlement that is barely over the Green Line, and full of ultra-orthodox or Haredi Jews who would prefer not to be settlers at all.

Check out the video and the interesting written piece with photos in the NYT:

The First Casualties of Global Warming

2009-07-09T14:37:00.002-04:00

This is one of the most beautifully shot and provocative trailers I have seen in a long time. The Carteret Islanders are one of the first cultures to be threatened by climate change. They probably won't be the last. That's why raising awareness about these issues is so critical.

I studied in an intensive documentary program with the film's director, Jennifer Redfearn, and know personally her dedication to the documentary genre and to the environment. This seems like one of those rare film projects that promises to entertain, educate, and inspire. I urge you all to watch this trailer and to then visit the film's website to learn how you can help this film get made.

Watch the Latest "Settlers Gone Wild" Video

2009-07-08T15:38:00.007-04:00

I think this video is fairly representative of how the media generally portrays Israeli settlers; as a monolithic, territorial, and violent entity. Even the Israeli media tends to portray them in this way, as they do in this piece by Israel's Channel 2:

While this fanatic strain of settler does exist, the whole truth is more complicated. Stay tuned to this blog as I will post a series of vids and articles about who the settlers over the next few weeks.

Tribute to Michael Jackson

2009-07-07T05:46:00.002-04:00

I have always really liked Michael Jackson's work. His Thriller music video was a truly great theatrical short. He was one of the best dancers and performers of all time, and he will be missed by millions of fans worldwide. One of the things that most impressed me about MJ was his universal appeal. He was one of the rare figures that could transcend boundaries and politics.

His passing reminded me of a funny moment I had filming one of the Elvis impersonators who follow around the US Mens Soccer Team all over the world. Elvis recalled that when he went to South Korea for the 2002 World Cup, the South Koreans assumed he was Michael Jackson. The way he says Michael Jackson with a Korean accent always cracks me up.

Here it is at 1:48:

Interesting Story on Iranian Culture Police

2009-07-02T02:54:00.002-04:00

This is a really interesting look at the Basijis, the paramilitary force that is the lynchpin of the Iranian police state. They are the ones responsible for quelling street protests, often violently. This piece shows us how they influenced everyday life in Iran before the recent fracas. One can only imagine how much more power they have now.

This is brought to us by American-Iranian Current TV Producer Kouross Esmaeli.

Iran and Citizen Journalism

2009-07-01T03:14:00.003-04:00

Hey Y'all

I just wrote an op-ed that can be read on PBS's awesome MediaShift blog. Please have a read and let me know your thoughts. Here is the link!

Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem

2009-06-30T03:45:00.003-04:00

I recently covered the annual Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem for Time.com. We ended up profiling Nitzan Horowitz, the first openly gay politician to be elected to the Israeli Knesset. There was another openly gay MP before him, named Uzi Even, but he wasn't elected.

This was by far the tamest parade in recent history. The Haredi, or ultra-orthodox sect, which generally stirs up the most vitriolic protests, were commanded by their rabbis not to go near the parade. They did this for two main reasons: 1. The rabbis realized that the more they protest, the more media attention the parade gets. 2. The rabbis are embroiled in another fight over a public parking lot, therefore they wanted to direct the anger of their legions towards that instead.

What was surprising was to see a face from another sector of Jewish fundamentalism leading the protest. Baruch Marzel, who organized the controversial march through Umm al Fahm earlier this year, received permission for 50 guys to protest against the Gay Parade in France Square. The religious Zionist settler from Hebron was responsible for bringing in the signs that said "Holyland, not Homoland."

Thankfully, there wasn't much violence this year. Only one incident of an egg being thrown was reported.

Here's the vid:

The Tunnels of Gaza

2009-06-17T03:35:00.002-04:00

Well, at long last, the piece on the Gaza tunnels is up on the New York Times website. Check it out and let me know your thoughts on this controversial story.