"I just finished writing an angry rant about the conference"

Yeah, it was pretty awful. Did you see who was among the guest list... David Duke? The conference, Iran and Ahmadenijad are being called out from all angles... he is also loosing support in the polls, in Iran.

Tariq Nelson had an interesting clip where CAIR makes an official statement.

Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't realize we weren't talking about the same conference. I thought you meant these idiots in Iran.

"Yeah, it was pretty awful. Did you see who was among the guest list... David Duke?"

Heh.... wrong conference, Hakim.....

where are you moving to.. funny coincidence - i just moved to allenby ona temporary basis..

off to yaffo in january when i come back from an icelandic adventure..

looking forward to a new address..

we should have a joint house warming party in the middle some where hehehehe

Hi Lisa,

I hope we'll get to shmooze a bit before I go back home. I am in Jerusalem thru Shabbat, and not sure what after that.

I found the conference very frustrating, because it didn't tell us anything we don't already know, and because no one had any suggestions that weren't already being tried. clearly the blogosphere is carrying the Israeli govt's water for them. Ok, I'm glad someone's doing it.

Your panel with Charles was a high point, also hanging out with him and Totten and Kerstein and friends. I wish you could have joined us.

I'm not sure what to make of the reactions of the bloggers you linked to. Do they really think there isn't deepseated institutional bias against Israel in the news media? Do they really think there isn't deliberate coordinated effort by Arab nations to systematically delegitimize Israel? Do they not want to see how this propaganda is disseminated through media and academia?

Do they think it would stop if Israel was more perfect or apologized more?

You mean media bias like this?

FOXNews was even more strongly tilted toward Israel, though I can't remember specifics. I also got tired of all the annoying adds telling me all Christians should dial a certain number abd pledge financial support to Israel in its hour of need. The only coverage I saw that seemed undeinably anti-Israeli was on BBC, when I was in London for a week.

i find your CNN cite odd, because CNN was also criticized for repeatedly showing Lebanese casualties while ignoring Israeli ones. Then there was the execreble interview with Miri Eisen by that Brit CNN reporter, who got all her facts wrong, and acted more like the Lord High Inquisitor than a journalist trying to get info (talk about naked bias!) but Miri let her get away with it. (If anybody has a video of Palestinian spokespeople saying I'm sorry the PA is doing all it can to minimize casualties I'm sorry the PA is doing all it can to minimize casualties I'm sorry the PA is doing all it can to minimize casualties, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry...
I'd love to see it.)

BBC is bad. CNN, NYTimes etc are more subtle but also bad. Plenty of data on this.

"I also got tired of all the annoying adds telling me all Christians should dial a certain number abd pledge financial support to Israel in its hour of need."

pledge ads are annoying in general. Most Christian support of Israel is based on appreciation of Jesus as a Jew, and of understanding that the terrorism and delegitimization of Jewish roots in Israel threatens Christians as well. So good for them, but hold the annoying pledge ads.

There might be a difference between CNN in the U.S. and CNN International. I have trouble believing that a network that relies on people like Lou Dobbs to report on important developments would have a hidden pro-Palestinian agenda. Both sides of the conflict seem to have equal grievances agains the NY Times, indicating they must be doing something right.

I'm going to assume my previous reply wasn't posted because Lisa is busy moving. But looking for something else I found this old post quoting an article on current Christian attitudes toward Jews, by Yossi Klein Halevi.

If my other comment gets approved you can see what else I wrote. If not, I'll have to put it all on my blog, including wondering why I wasn't approved. But since I am busy being a tourist I won't get around to that for a few days.

Good luck with the move, Lisa! Thinking of you xx

OK. Don't say you have a great, passionate post hot off the presses, and then not post it.

Please do not hold back or censor yourself. I very much want to hear exactly how you felt about this event.

Good luck on the move!

Lisa,

You know what I find interesting.

Liza, Yael and Allison who seem to share your viewpoint about the conference , well I am not sure about Liza but the rest of those bloggers as well as yourself originally came from North America. Also, unless I am mistaken all of you come from in or around Tel Aviv which for at least now is out of reach of your enemies missiles and isn't really on the front line of the conflict.

My point is I feel that all of you are seeing things from a North American perspective – viewing events and attitudes as if they were occurring in North America instead of Israel.

And living where you are living you can for the most part maintain an illusion of normalcy. You can easily maintain the perspective that Israel is just like any Western County and therefore can behave the same way as say Canada or the United States

Well, that is simply not the case. Israel is a small country surrounded by people who want to exterminate you. You are at constant war. Therefore you must start thinking of someone who is in that situation. In the Middle East Israel is an abnormality . It is a modern state surrounded by societies who haven't changed in thousands of years and who have a very savage view on the value of life.

I know on one level you know you aren't in Toronto anymore, but have you really fully taken that into your being? One of the responders to this post mentioned David Duke who is an American living in America who in the past had very offensive things to say about other people in the United States. Viewing it from an American perspective where the people he is trying to denigrate aren't for the most part hostile, aren't trying to annihilate him and his family it is understandable why he should be viewed with disdain.

But within a country like Israel, where Arabs as a culture have made it the focus of their lives to kill Jews, surely it isn't racism to acknowledge what these people are and hate them for it.

No, you are still in an North American paradigm. You must realize at your core that Israel isn't Toronto, understand what that means, and adjust your mindset to meet the realities of living in a country at constant war surrounded by enemies whose focus in life is to exterminate you from this planet.

For the record, I am also from North America (I've been in Israel for over 15 years), and I live in the southernmost tip of the "Katyusha zone". I found your comments terribly condescending and offensive, not to mention way, way off the mark. How dare you patronize us with your assumptions that we are "viewing events and attitudes as if they were occurring in North America instead of Israel", simply because we choose to believe that there has to be another way?

Our lives are normal. I go to work everyday, stopping for latte on the way. I meet up with friends, go shopping, spend time with my family, go sightseeing in the north and in the south, etc. We do not hide in fear, waiting for the next terror or missile attack, and I daresay that Israelis throughout the country live their lives in much the same way. I do not dodge bullets or missiles on my way to work, and it greatly pains me that people living in Sderot are not so fortunate in that department. During the war last summer, we were hosting family from the north, and I spent my days wondering when Nasrallah was going to aim for our town (and he came close on a number of occasions). While out walking my dog, I would plan every step of the way where I would run to take shelter if the sirens started (and we did have a few sirens). I heard how my son's nursery school teacher and her assistants carefully yet quickly shepherded all of the children (all under age 3) into the reinforced room when the sirens went off, and I wondered what I would do if Katyusha rockets hit my train during my daily commute.

I have had too many close calls with terror attacks, including one that I missed by mere minutes at a train station, as well as missing one at a mall in Tel Aviv many years ago, when the bomber blew himself up exactly 24 hours after I had been standing on the exact same spot.

If you are a faithful reader of Lisa's blog, you will surely know the following:

Lisa is about as Tel Avivi as they come. Not only is she fluent in Hebrew, she has many Israeli friends and acquaintances, and is one of the most well-informed (not to mention well-connected) individuals I know with regard to Israeli culture.

As a journalist, Lisa has spent a great deal of time in both the West Bank and Gaza, and has a number of Palestinian friends and colleagues. She also extensively covered the war this summer, spending time on the northern border, and can even distinguish between incoming and outgoing fire (can you?). Having spoken to her on the phone one night for two hours after she returned from the border, you can trust me when I tell you that she was incredibly aware of the situation, and was not just living in some bubble of normalcy in Tel Aviv. Lisa has also covered terror attacks, seeing the horrific, bloody scenes in a way that no one ever should.

And, yet, despite all of this, like me, she believes that there has to be another way, believes that there are people on the other side with whom to talk.

It is views such as yours (offered, perhaps, from the comfort of an armchair somewhere in North America?) that keep us running in place with no room for change, with no possibility to improve the region in which we live. Obviously, neither side in this conflict is perfect - far from it (and that would be both parties). We are not blind to that. However, if no one ever attempts to break the deadlock, if no one will be brave enough and smart enough to make and implement difficult decisions, and if no one will be bold enough to publicly think outside the box, that perhaps what has been done until now hasn't worked, and that something else must be tried, we will be stuck until the end of time. And that would be the biggest tragedy of all.

Henry...

Your description of Israel and the region as whole, shows exactly how under-informed and naiive your perspective is as an outsider.

The region as a whole reminds me of the old American West.

So, you must have moved by now, Noorster's posted the photos. How are you settling in?

A b.onde walked into the local UPS- store and inquired as to the cost to send a package one inch by one inch by hundred feet to Lincoln Nebraska.
"What do you need a package like that for?" asked the clerk.
"I was planning to send my dad an extension cord for Christmas."
Even people who do not live in a metropolis like Tel Aviv or Toronto know where this is all about, inhabitants of Lincoln of course excluded.

You continue to have an interesting and enjoyable blog, Lisa,. I, too, am interested in your comments from the Herzliya conference, especially with regard to communications. My presumption is that neither the blogger-side nor the newscaster-side are composed of idiots, and that each is acting honestly based upon experiences and knowledge.

Thus I am hoping that your blog focusses on the communication (i.e., exchange of knowledge, information, and ideas) aspects. In particular,

1. What are two or three of the most important new pieces of knowledge, information, experience, etc. that you believe the "other side of the media" should learn from you and other bloggers.
2. What are two or three important new ideas, knowledge, information, experience, etc. that you learned from "other side"?

Thank you again. May your move go well. Did it last year---ugh.

I hope your move went well. I can't wait to see your reaction.

Liza,

I believe most of the conference speakers were North American. As you note, origins don't matter as much as content.

Interestingly, most Americans who come to Lebanon like to criticize Lebanese who lived abroad as not being "truly" Lebanese. These critics contend that Lebanese who've lived abroad cannot be real voices for Lebanon.

The irony is that the majority of members of the Lebanese parliament and the cabinet of ministers lived abroad and carry foreign passports. Leaders of the major political parties spent their formative years in countries as diverse as France, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United States, Sierra Leone, and Brazil.