Ryan Ashley is like a long cold drink on a hot summer day. Cool, confident and extraordinarily talented, she made history as the first woman to win Ink Master after eight seasons of the tattooing reality tv show competition. That led to her participation in the spin-off show Ink Master: Angels – and despite her prominence … More Art over hate: Ryan Ashley Malarkey
October 1973, Ramat Gan, Israel. Mother and daughter had not seen each other for over two decades. It was before the internet, skype or any form of easy communication. Even calling overseas was a big deal then. It’s hard for me to imagine how they felt. My grandmother was a non-effusive, very practical person. I’m … More Yom Kippur Snapshot
Sometimes, in Israel, the conversations you overhear are extraordinary. Sometimes, they break your heart. I was standing in a beautiful overview, looking out on to the northern border of Israel. The hills of Lebanon look the same as the hills of Israel – the Hezbollah flag visible in the village nearest the border the only … More Conversations you overhear in Israel
It was Saturday morning. I woke up to the sound of the Red Alert siren app ringing, announcing in-coming missiles somewhere in Israel. Where? I knew it wasn’t in Haifa (yet) because the municipal siren wasn’t screaming outside but elsewhere in Israel, people were running to their bomb shelters. In the north or in the … More The BOOM I heard from Haifa
My article in The Counter Terrorist magazine – April / May 2017 PTSD in Israel’s Defense Forces is among the lowest in militaries worldwide In 2013 the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps Mental Health Department released a study on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the study, reported cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among … More Why do American Combat Soldiers Suffer From PTSD More Than Their Counterparts?
Why is it that, although terrorism and war are not infrequent in Israel, the number of IDF soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is actually amongst the lowest in militaries around the world? In 2013 the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps Mental Health Department released a study on PTSD with staggering statistics. For … More 5 reasons IDF soldiers suffer less from PTSD
Ten years ago, on July 12th, 2006 the Second Lebanon War began with a coordinated Hezbollah attack on Israeli civilians and soldiers. They rained missiles down on towns in northern Israel causing injury, destruction and most of all distraction which they used to attack IDF soldiers. Hezbollah fighters crossed the border from Lebanon in to … More 10 years after the war
Again we are hearing news of negotiations for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. The world media seems jubilant. I am not. I don’t want a ceasefire. I want peace. Real peace. A ceasefire means ceasing to fire. It makes no mention of putting down weapons, or taking a step further and “beating swords into … More I don’t want a ceasefire.
This video is from http://www.honestreporting.com/a/films.asp June 2007 It portrays what continues to be the daily reality of Sderot and the surrounding towns in Israel.
FACT SHEET FOR “THE WAR IN THE SOUTH” From ICAN Director, Stuart Palmer http://www.haifadiarist.blogspot.com a) There is a major humanitarian problem in Israel. Sderot has borne over 50% of all missiles launched and 20% of the town’s 20,000 population has left. Industry has lost millions of shekels, some have closed increasing unemployment. b) With the … More WAR IN THE SOUTH
Inspiration from Zion: This is a Love Story 