Biden is the one

I am totally stoked that Obama’s Vice President is Senator Joseph Biden.  I have known Biden and his wonderful aides, Dennis Toner and Ted Kauffman for years. Biden is considered the third senator from Pennsylvania, my home state. I worked on his 1988 campaign for president.

Dennis, in fact, gave me a heads up on the selection.  Dennis, unlike many politicians, never shunned me during the terrible periods of my life. Both he and Ted even wrote to the Judge on my behalf.  Biden does not attract politically expedient staffers. He hires real people. His wife, Jill, has always been gracious to me even though I am just a lowly campaign volumteer. 

 Biden commuted by train from Wilmington to Washington. He does have a Washington townhouse.

Biden has been a good friend to Israel and the Soviet Jewry movement. That should quell the Jewish critics of Obama. He is not perfect on abortion but okay. He did establish the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. It did not help me but it was a huge step forward for women.

The first Ever All Jewish Swimsuit calender

With a name like the Naked Israeli, how could I not mention the first ever all Jewish swimsuit calender published by Heeb Magazine? Jewish men of my generation including my brother were always saying that Jewish women were not attractive. This calender features 5 Israeli and one Jewish american women that are so beautiful it should put that comlaint to rest. Who can resist a bikin clad Jewish beauty reading Phillip Roth’s ‘Portnoy’s Complaint’?

The guest editor of the issue was director Brett Ratner. He wrote, “All this Jewish stuff is really important to me. Maybe that’s why I forced [comedian] Chris Tucker to order gefilte fish in Rush Hour 2.”

Tel Aviv = Synagogue + sushi bar

The New York Times travel section featured a delicious review of my city. They declared that the people, food, buildings, the beach and weather were all beautiful. It made me want to visit. Oops, I already live here.

I paraphrased the words of author Etgar Keret ( author of the Nimrod Flipout) for my headine. He said, “Tel Aviv is where the synagogue meets the Sushi Bar. He also described Israel as” half Iran, half California.” Check out his work. He is considered the voice of Young Israel.

 He is right about the sushi bars. For some odd reason, Tel Aviv has alot of sushi bars; the third most per capita in the world.

Israeli owns 1% of Swiss banking giant

Israeli is this tiny little country only born 60 years ago. Now we are becoming an international force in the business world. Israeli Yitzhak Tshuva owns the landmark Plaza Hotel in New York and Lev Leviev owns the old New York Times building.

Now Nochi Dankner owns 1% of Credit Suisse. I wrote about it for Globes.  Next stop the world.

Hilary Clinton & the Rapist

This will be a departure from my normal Israel blogging. So those looking for info on Israel can skip this.

I just can not keep quiet any more. I can not stand one more minute of Hilary and her supporters blathering. Hilary is not only not a feminist. She betrayed every feminist principle there is.

 No one was happier than me that  the Clinton were elected in 1992. I worked hard for his election by chairing a fundraiser and went to the Democratic Convention in New York in 1992.  I knew the whold gang – thrice married Beth Dozoretz, Betsy Myers, Melann Vermeer, Mandy Grunwald, Danny Wexler, Debbie Both,  Don Fowler etc. I helped organize a luncheon for minority women at the White House where the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown spoke.

 I thought finally a feminist in the White House.  As it turned out, the Clintons were the worst thing to ever happen to feminism. Feminism is not just the right to have an abortion. It is also the right to work in a harassment free environment.

Ask working girls ( the kind that work in an office), the water cooler conversation dramatically changed in tone after Monica Lewinsky. Friends of Evelyn Liebermann told me who worried she was for taking a tough stand against Monica in the White House. After all, you do not tell the President what to do.

Even Patricia Ireland admitted to me that NOW was powerless to combat sexual harassment that occurred then because they were too busy defending the Clintons.

Monica is only one example. The Clintons, their justice department & their supporters proved that they do not care about rape victims. Not only did the Clinton Justice Department viciously prosecute a rape victim for harassing her rapist, the Clintons spent all their free time socializing with the rapist.

Please do not defend the Clintons by saying that they do not know. They absolutely knew that he was a rapist. I told Hilary and the entire gang myself. They showed as much empathy as Ann Coulter.

The Clinton Justice Department went on record saying that a rape is not a rape if it is not reported to the police. They ignored their own statistics which stated that most rapes go unreported.

Maybe it was Karma. But the media and the Clinton gang treated the rape victim just like the media later treated Hilary. She got what she deserved.

Kabbalah: ARod and Me.

I am agnostic but my curiousity has always been piqued by Kabblah. What do Madonna, Demi, Ashton etc see in it? My interest went off the charts when the papers were dishing about nice Catholic boy A Rod’s interest in Kabblah.

I decided to go to a free lecture at the Kabbalah center around the corner fron my house. Lecture is a misnomer. No secrets of Kabblah were revealed. After twenty minutes, they were hitting us up for momey for the first course.  The Naked Israeli was shocked by the naked greed.

Mazda’s strong frame saves family in terror attack

I try not to talk about terror on the Naked Israeli blog for 2 reasons. The mainstream press covers it ad nausuem. Living in Tel Aviv aka the bubble, I do not often experience terror.  I did more when I lived in Jerusalem.

 But this picture was too good for Israeli Hasbara to pass up. ( A picture is worth 1000 words.)

A family of 5 (2 parents and three daughters) was sitting in this car while the Arab driving the bulldozer in last week’s terror attack was rolling over it  In a miracle, all members of the family survived.  Maybe we really are the chosen people.

I do not know if Mazda wants to brag about this but they sure make strong cars.

Thanks to Rochelle, the driver of this car, for sending me the picture.  I wish her and her family a speedy recovery.

Miracle:NYT praises Israel

When I see an editorial in the New York Times on Israel, I usually cringe.  The New York Times traditionally pitches a curve ball to Israel. So imagine my surprise when today’s editorial praised Israel.

The New York Times said, “Israel is increasingly willing to explore conversations with states and groups Washington would prefer to ignore and isolate.” Further down…”Israel is still right to try.”

I never thought that I would see the day when the New York Times used right and Israel in the same sentence.

Shark in the desert

 The NewYorker profiles Las Vegas casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his activities in israel this week. The NakedIsraeli generally does not focus on Jews in the Diaspora but I will make an exception for the “Richest Jew in the world” as Mr. Adelson likes to call himself.

 Sheldon Adelson is a maelstrom of activity in Israel partially because he wants to bring casino gambling here over the objections of many.  He is the publisher of the right wing rag Israel Ha Yom which is unofficially the house organ for former PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. During Peres’ Presidential conference, it was Sheldon Adelson not an Israeli that sat in the front row with President Bush, Olmert, and Peres.  To be fair, Adelson has made outsized donations to the Birthright program and Yad Vashem.

 I do not like that Adelson press his right wing views on the populace without paying taxes. No taxation without representation was the rallying cry for the Boston Tea party. I say, ” No representation without taxation”.

iPhone, phone Israel

Steve Jobs has almost mythic reputation as a CEO. Here’s why. The Israel Iphone Facebook group wrote Jobs to convince him to bring the iPhone to Israel. He took the time to personally write back.

He’s still cool even though his answer is wrong. He wrote, “The iPhone does not currently support right to left text. Don’t you think that will severely limit its success in Israel?”

Steve, our Arab neighbors also write right to left. Apple has signed selling agreements for the iPhone in Egypt. Jordan, and Qatar among others.