yonkeltron

In about 15 minutes, I’m leaving for Israel. I’ll be back in two weeks once I’ve thoroughly gotten my Zionist on.

In a proud moment for me, as a Zionist and a Computer Science student, Israeli CS folks have announced that they have uncovered a critical flaw in the Linux pseudo-random number generator. Yasher Koakh and thank you to them.

Paper here and Digg here.

In looking over the official website of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, I have come to a conclusion: This organization is misleading.

This may seem harsh at first. Let’s break it down.

1. A Google search for the word “Israel” on the BTVS website yields “about 15,100” results.
2. A Google search for the word “Palestinian” yields “about 12,700” results.
3. A Google search for the word “Terrorism” yields “about 351” results.
4. Google searches for the words “Zion“, “Zionism” and “Zionist” yield about 389 results combined.

How can I be so harsh as to judge by the numbers like that? The answer is simple. In an age and climate where even the term “Palestinian Territories” has become loaded, the very act of making mention matters. For an organization that translates it’s own name as “The Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace”, they seem to have forgotten that one crucial part of being Jewish, Zionism.

Instead of dealing with the issues, such as why the American Jews they seek to mobilize are still calling Israel after bombing to make sure none of their friends or family are hurt, BTVS has chosen to skirt the issue and pay more attention to the pieces of Israeli governmental policy that make them non-neutral than the murder of Jews in the holy land. The page which supposedly contains the political positions of BTVS, entitled “Where We Stand”, doesn’t even go so far as to mention terrorism, let alone condemn it.

If BTVS is about peace, then why would one of their action alerts instruct members to thank their senators for voting against a foreign aid bill that contained the following text:

I lift my eyes to mountains and sky,
Hashem is there in the rocks and in the clouds.
I find your animating force in things all around me,
and I feel holiness in the cosmos I cannot see.
Each atom rejoices in the glory of existance,
The sould of Yerushalayim smiles with love for you.
I sing aloud my love, exalting in your magnificence.
My arms reach toward the stars at night,
to discover that you were beside me all along.
My resolve is strengthened by your presence,
Zion is strong and strengthens powers deep inside.
With khesed in my heart I am driven away from evil.
Your love is a moist breeze in a parched desert,
I bind myself to your oasis of knowledge and beauty.
Israel holds us together like mortar between bricks,
Life is your sacred temple and my holy fortress.

Lord raise me up, raise my soul up
Lift my spirits and restore me to Zion
Far too long have I spent my days away from study
Far too long have I spent away from you
I can never know you from where I sit
The sunshine of your glory is out of reach
The raindrops hit my face and I stare upwards
My love for you defends me from evil
Love for Zion protects and shields me
Your love for me keeps my hardships in check
I long to be reunited with your city of gold
My heart cries out for you and burns for peace
Are my songs loud enough? Do I warrant your mercy?
I give myself to you in love and devotion
You fill me with all flavours of emotion
Water rises all around me but I do not fear

Ok, so in a quick survey of some interesting news posts, please peruse the following:

• Iranian president says that Israel is a “disgraceful blot” that should be “wiped off the map.” only to be scolded by Condi earlier today. (ABC NEWS)
• The U.S. CIA is using what is being called a “stolen laptop” filled with documents that attest to the alleged development of a nuclear warhead by Iran. (The New Zealand Herald)
• Public unrest in France continues as the city of Lyon sees more violence. (The NY Times)
• In the ongoing investigation regarding the recent bombings, it becomes apparent that the New Delhi bombers intentionally stayed away from the heart of the city. (Delhi Newsline)
• All the recent hubbub regarding the Sony DRM rootkit it appears that it may actually be in a serious breach of the LGPL. (De Winter Information Solutions)

Interesting stuff if you ask me. It always amazes me how good the internet is at getting us new information. Like news. News is good stuff.

Even when it was happening a great deal of the community sort of bounced around the idea that former Palestinian terror leader Yasser Arafat was dying of something other than old age. I has long been theorized in a ha ha only serious sort of way that he was a homosexual because he was never very into women and hardly ever spent time with his wife. Such a guess is not so far fetched in the Arab world given the many stories about arab leaders being given young boys as a normal piece of hospitality when visiting someone of power. Cultural artifacts aside however, few were ready to seriously ready to consider the idea that Arafat might have been suffering from the AIDS virus.

That is at least until the recent release of Arafat’s medical records from his death. Since then almost every news source one can find has at least mentioned the possibility. Sify news picked it up along with the New York Times (which says a stroke but mentions AIDS), the Scotsman (says a “MASSIVE brain haemorrhage”), SignOnSandiego is saying that his death is still a mystery, the Australian follows suit and goes with the mystery defense.

Almost all of the articles conflict eachother as to the details and several of them even say that his records prove that he couldn’t have died of AIDS. So if the records shed so much light on the whole thing, why can’t anyone agree on the facts?

As I sit here with my old buddy Eran Markose, I remember the many good times I used to have with our wonderful family friends. With Noam off in the army now, it is nice to see the parts of the family that could make it during their all too short stay in the states.

We ate grilled food, watched Aladdin, looked through old photographs and even took some new ones.

Although I heard it in the news already, I wasn’t prepared to believe that the disengagement was over until I heard it from my friend Benjy who is serving his term in the Israeli Army right now. He informed me, in a phone call earlier today, that the whole affair was over close to four times faster than everyone had originially expected.

This event is being covered by many different media organizations worldwide. Some of my favourites are:

• Jewsweek: Is featuring an excellent report entitled “Settler Agony, Secular Agony” complete with fantastic photos.
• Unsuprisingly, The Jerusalem Post is featuring a fascinating, if not short, piece on the completion of the five steps of the pullout.
• The International Herald Tribune is carrying a piece by Stephen Erlanger of the New York Times focusing specifically on the end of the pullout and “evictions”.
• The Belfast Telegraph of UK fame, has a lovely article about the burden now resting on the PA.
• All the way from India, the Deccan Herald is featuring a fascinating report on the evacuation of Sanur and Homesh in the West Bank.
• While over at the Daily Times of Pakistan check out the photo entitled Homesh| Leaving Looms and the article about Pakistani President Musharraf’s plans to address the Jewish Congress of New York.

All in all, coverage has been really good and fairly balanced. This is wonderfuly news when considering the poor track record typically sported by overseas reporters and thier parent news bureaus.

So after camp, my friend Matan came home with me to chill at my house for a little bit. We had alot of fun and hung out a great deal. Friday morning we went down to the city with Rona and met Yoni, Yaniv, Ainat, and the Richmans. It was a great deal of fun to run around downtown seeing the historic sites and checking out the cute shops and such.

So as the day went on, Lital and Karinne came back with Matan and I to spend Shabbos at my house. We spent time eating, remembering, and playing games. Such a wonderful first shabbos away from camp really. Being with friends is as good as it gets.

Matan left for Costa Rica motzei Shabbos and Karrine left the next morning. Sunday night, we went out to meet the Richmans for chinese food and water ice in Philly. Lital left this morning along with my parents rendering me home alone. I of course took plenty of photos to act as a chronicle of the whole weekend.

I did go over to Dov’s house this evening where I discovered an interesting site called jtsfuture.org which details the plans for a new chancellor of JTS. Not only does that site deserve some attention, it runs wordpress!