Thank God for J14 and that I no longer work for Issac Tshuva

Thank god for J14

Been feeling a bit under the weather lately, which is why I haven’t posted yet about Saturday’s rally.

Not even sure I can really find the words to express how I felt that night. It was the first J14 demonstration we took the kids to (except for the “baby carriage” demos in Tel Aviv). The missus and I knew all along we were going to come out in full force for this one.

We pushed the gals in their strollers down part of the marching route. After sweating it in the other demos, we couldn’t say “no” to an offer from a friend to watch the event from above, in one of the apartments looking over the square. It also gave the kids a chance to fall asleep when it got too late.

I remember, as I walked through the door and suddenly saw the huge crowd from above, my heart skipped a beat. “This is it,” I said to myself. “We’re really doing this. All of us, together, are really doing this.” Six-and-a-half  percent of Israelis were on the streets that night. Amazing is an understatement.

For me, September 3 2011 was Israel’s true Independence Day. Sixty-three years ago a state was founded. Now begins the long haul for equality and justice.

Thank God for the fish, the snakes and Regev Contes

I know what you’re saying: “There goes Kaufman again on another one of his ‘HaDag Nachash’ (translates to The Fish Snake) rants. OK, we get it, you like ‘em. Enough.”

But when Hadag came up on Saturday to perform, after an emotional intro from protest leader Regev Contes, it actually brought a lump to my throat. How excited they must have been. They’ve literally been the only protest band ever to exist in Israel (some may disagree with that, but I don’t think Shalom Hanoch ever went as far as Hadag did). For over a decade they’ve stayed true to their message. About inequality, about the occupation, about sexual harrassment, about violence, about war – and they never gave up.

And there they were, in what was the biggest concert they’ll ever play to – a crowd of 300,000 people, tearing the stage apart.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUV4QqMlTYU [/youtube]

“Suits”

In all the home the sets are on
and all the people watch the same channels
that broadcast during the same hours
all the much too large suits
that are promising promises about the problems
of all those people in the houses
where all the sets are on
if it’s not new it’s not news

They were singing it with a rage I never heard. They’re my Israeli version of Rage. Who also used to sing about the brainwash from the set.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_-QGNUYL5g [/youtube]

They load the clip in omnicolour
Said they pack the 9, they fire it at prime time
Sleeping gas, every home was like Alcatraz
And mutha fuckas lost their minds

Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high
Just victims of the in-house drive-by
They say jump, you say how high.

We’re not jumping for anyone. Anymore.

Thank God for Dror Feuer

Dror Feuer, a columnist for Globes, has been getting a little heat for being a speechwriter for Daphne Leef, the leader and symbol of J14. They’re saying a journalist shouldn’t be writing for something he also writes about.

That’s a load of bull. Dror Feuer is first and foremost a citizen of Israel. A worried citizen. And Daphne Leef is not a politician, and probably never will be. She isn’t that kind of person.

So thank God for people like Feuer, who helped Leef put our anger into words. And boy, she was angry. And that’s what we needed. We need people to get angry, to get emotional. To get off their asses.

And when Channel 2 and 10 decided to go back to the studios in the middle of her speech, that was the epitome of what’s rotten about this system. They complained her speech was too long. Too long? Too long????  Four hundred thousand people in the streets, millions watching on TV the rebirth of their nation, and you’re worried about how Leef’s speech wasn’t going to work into the timing of the friggin’ commercial breaks?!?!

Well, it didn’t work. I listened to the end. And hundreds of thousands in the square did, too. And later everyone saw it on the Web.

So, thank you Daphne. And thank you Dror, for an amazing speech.

Thank God I don’t work for Tshuva

As I walked home with my family back to the car, I suddenly thanked God I was no longer working for Israel’s most famous tycoon Isaac Tshuva.

Just up to two months ago I was working for a PR company, whose clients were Tshuva, Tzadik Bino and some other big shots. I left just before J14 started.

The offices were on Rothschild, right above the J14 headquarters tent.

I used to call news editors and tell them to “improve” a headline about my clients, or maybe put it up higher on the webpage. Everything for the client.

All this for a guy, who like other tycoons recently, is showing unwillingness to dig into his pockets as he lost billions of dollars. Billions of our pension funds invested in his companies through major Israeli investment firms.

One of his companies, Delek Real Estate, has lost close to 3 billion dollars in the past few years.

And now, what does he want? He wants a debt agreement with his bondholders, who aren’t going to get their money back.

That’s how the tycoons work here. It’s a win-win situation for them. When they win, they win. When they lose, the public pays.

And to think that every morning, I would have had to pass by all those tents. With my nice shoes and ironed shirt.

I don’t think I could have even looked myself in the mirror.

Thank God I I’m no longer on Tshuva’s payroll.

Thank God.

(I’m an agnostic. Just in case you were wondering…)