It was during a midnight repast of shrimp couscous at a gay bar in Tel Aviv that I discovered Israel’s Foreign Ministry does not reimburse diplomatic staff for non-kosher, work-related meals in Israel. But that was just the beginning of my problems.
A spokesman for the ministry informed me of the non-reimbursement policy as we were enjoying our meal, served by a gay Arab waiter wearing a muscle shirt. But the chain of events leading to my discovery began when a Swedish journalist asked the Foreign Ministry to set up a tour of Tel Aviv’s legendary nightlife. A ministry staff member called me because I write frequently about Tel Aviv for various media outlets.
“I don’t think so,” I told the woman from the press department. “I already have dinner plans tonight, and I don’t do volunteer hasbara [Israel advocacy work].”
“Please,” she pleaded. “You have to do this. She’s the only pro-Israel Scandinavian journalist we have. And we’ll pay you.”
Oh well, if they’ll pay me…
“I won’t sugarcoat anything,” I warned her. “I’ll take her to gay bars and I’ll criticize Israel’s policies and…”
“Fine,” she said. “Say whatever you want. Just show her Tel Aviv’s nightlife.”
And that’s how I ended up on a Thursday night, the beginning of the Israeli weekend, in a taxi with a very blonde Swedish journalist and a rather charming minder from the foreign ministry. I directed the driver to one of Tel Aviv’s better-known lounge bars. As it turned out, the Swedish journalist was funny, intelligent and charmingly cynical. She told me that she was considered right-wing in her native country, but the political opinions she expressed were far more Obama than Bush. “Pro-Israel” seemed to mean that she was willing to condemn both Hamas’s Qassams and the IDF bombardment of Gaza in equal measure.
The minder paid for our drinks at the various bars. But when the bill for the shrimp couscous arrived, he flinched and muttered to me in Hebrew, “I don’t get reimbursed for this.” I immediately translated this for the Swedish journalist, who was looking at me inquiringly. She laughed, blew a stream of cigarette smoke at the ceiling, and assured us that she would put the meal on her own expense account. She ended up writing a very positive article about Tel Aviv for a major Swedish newspaper. The foreign ministry was delighted with the piece; they even translated it into English for their media kit.
But the incident at the gay restaurant stayed with me. My Israeli friends were disbelieving when I told them about the kosher-only policy. But there aren’t any good kosher restaurants in Israel, they exclaimed. The fact is, you can count the number of gourmet kosher restaurants in the Jewish state on the fingers of your two hands. The majority of Israelis do not keep kosher.
Surely, the policy was a case of religious coercion, said one lawyer friend. I wondered if Ali Yahya, an Israeli Arab who had served as ambassador to Helsinki and Athens, had been required to take his non-Jewish colleagues to kosher restaurants.
Finding myself at the foreign ministry on an unrelated matter, I stopped by the press department for a chat with the spokesman, Yigal Palmor, to ask what he thought of this kosher dining policy.
“It’s a totally irrational policy that creates an impossible situation,” Palmor said, without missing a beat. “There’s not a single decent kosher restaurant in the entire Galilee region – only kebab and hummus joints. Same goes for the Negev. So I’m supposed to take a delegation of Swedish diplomats on a tour of the north and stop for lunch at a hummus joint? It’s undignified and it creates a bad impression. And it’s hypocritical. Why would a secular Jew take a non-Jew to a kosher restaurant?”
Palmor added that “obviously,” Israeli diplomacy would not fail because of the kosher-only policy. “But it’s provincial and pointless,” he said, recounting that one European diplomat criticized Israeli hospitality to her own press corps, after a tasteless “official” meal at a kosher dairy restaurant. Palmor seemed quite happy to hear that I planned to write a story about the policy. So did a lot of other people at the Foreign Ministry, although none were willing to speak on the record. Apparently, there is rebellion in the ranks.
Yitzhak Eldan, the chef de protocol, decided upon the ministry’s kosher-only policy several years ago. “Some people resisted it,” he said. “They made their opposition clear. But I never doubted this was the way a Jew should behave. By the way, I heard that you live in Tel Aviv, whereabouts?”
“On Sheinkin Street,” I said, naming Tel Aviv’s equivalent to Manhattan’s West Broadway.
“Ah, Sheinkin. I moved to Tel Aviv recently, after I divorced my wife. I live alone, and I’ve never been to Sheinkin Street. Can you believe that? Perhaps I can take you out for coffee?”
Rather than respond to his invitation, I asked if he kept kosher.
“That is a private matter,” Eldan exclaimed. “I am not religious, but I believe that the policy of the ministry must reflect the sensitivities of all the people in the state of Israel, including the religious minority.”
And what about the Arab minority, I asked. Surely we must respect their rights, too.
“They must respect the majority,” said Eldan, in an increasingly agitated tone. “This is a Jewish state.”
“A Jewish state with about two million non-Jewish citizens,” I pointed out. “And besides, the best restaurants in Israel are all non-kosher.”
“Look,” Eldan responded. “First of all, Muslims keep kosher too. Yes, yes, their dietary laws are the same as ours.” Brushing aside my comment about the difference between Muslim and Jewish dietary laws, not to mention Christian Arabs, he barreled on, “But besides that, food is not that important. You don’t need to take diplomats to the most expensive restaurants. People can eat healthy salads and fish instead of a rich meal. And kosher food can be tasty, too. Once we took a delegation of foreign diplomats to a restaurant in Herzliya called Tzimmes. They were charmed when we ordered matzo balls for them.”
“The thing is,” I said, “The press department asked me to show a Swedish journalist around Tel Aviv’s nightlife, so I took her to a lesbian bar and a non-kosher restaurant and…”
“Why did you take her to those kinds of places?” he asked in a scandalized tone. “You couldn’t show her the nice side of Tel Aviv? What’s wrong with you? I am amazed that a Jewish girl represented the Jewish state with these views.”
“But I don’t work for the state,” I said, laughing. “And the foreign ministry is always boasting about Tel Aviv being so liberal and tolerant. It’s a secular city. I can’t get a kosher meal at a lesbian restaurant at 2 a.m.”
Eldan was sputtering with rage. “I don’t want to give you an interview,” he said. “I don’t like your attitude.”
“You already gave the interview,” I said.
“No,” he shouted. “I refuse. Everything I said is off the record.”
“It doesn’t work that way in a democracy,” I answered. “You can’t decide retroactively to declare an interview off the record, and you can’t stop me from writing about our conversation.”
“We’ll see about that,” screamed the chef de protocol of Israel’s Foreign Ministry. “I am going to file a complaint against you. There will be consequences.”
The question is for whom, and will they be kosher?
Contact Lisa Goldman at feedback@forward.com
The Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, the Forward requires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, the Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.
Copyright © 2013, Forward Association, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
When Hank Greenberg Met Jackie Robinson
Columbia Seeks To End 'Whites Only' Fellowship
Reconsider Decision on Rabbis and Intermarriage
Ultra-Orthodox Men Ditch All-Black Attire as Fashion Trumps Tradition
Israel's Shas, Right-Wing Kingmaker Party, Takes Sharp Turn to Left
You've successfully signed up!
So are you still going for coffee with him ? :)
I so love this country. "You MUST keep kosher. Because we respect the minority. Jewish minority. Non-Jewish minorities must respect the majority. Because it is a Jewish state. And a democracy. Minority... Democracy... Rights...Geneva Convention...2000 years...Holocaust...Arabs...Terrorists..." That is about how every argument goes around here.
What's next? will they tell Israeli diplomats to avoid eating out at other countries? or to avoid those nice shrimps at cocktail parties in the embassies here in Israel (been there, done that, those gentiles do not keep kosher, can you believe it???)
Four years ago, when Ban Ki-moon arrived to Israel on an official visit as Korea's Foreign Affairs minister, Yitzhak Eldan decided that he will not get the official V.I.P treatment by Israel's Foreign Affairs office because he landed on Sabbath, and a private company was hired for his 2 day visit in order to accompany him and provide his needs. On another occasion, condoleezza rice didn't get the red carpet ceremony when she arrived to Israel on a Sabbath. Looks like we're trying to make a good Jews out of all of them.
In other news, can you imagine those despicable Hamasniks that make Gaza women wear headscarves in public???? Or the horrible Iranians that make all women, EVEN NON-MUSLIM TOURISTS, cover their heads in public. Or not hold hands ?!
Kinda makes you feel lucky we live in the Middle East's only democracy.
I recall a certain hip Tel Aviv based journalist describing with disgust how a certain now former Israeli PM and mayor of a major city dined in a fancy shmancy New York restaurant with his son. Père et fils dined on shrimp and the bill was presumably paid using cash perhaps illegally provided by a Modern Orthodox Jewish Long Island businessman. Emphasis was placed on the fact that they were eating shrimp. Why? Because on top of the fact that the former PM was engaged in allegedly sleazy financial practices, and that his son was a yored, they were eating treyf! However you slice it, it doesn't look good.
Yitzhak Eldan, who is actually a pretty chill guy, may be the public face of a policy that when applied strictly, seems ridiculous, but the overall theme of the policy I think is sound. As an Israeli taxpayer, and not a particularly Orthodox one either, I don't want my tax money to pay for scenes in which my ostensible representatives are publicly chowing down on pork or shellfish while conducting business in my name.
And what's this bullshit Yigal Palmor is spouting? Hummus joints are undignified? That sounds a bit uh... classist? Some of the best meals I've ever had were in hummus joints. What is undignified to one person can be charming and authentic to another. Besides, that's how a large chunk of Israel's population eats on a regular basis. If you're going to show people around the country, shouldn't you show them an accurate view of it and not just a rosy perspective of a Tel Aviv bubble?
Finally where is the citation for the assertion that most of Israel does not eat kosher? And kosher by what standard? Anyhow. I think it's a good policy though obviously a bit rigidly applied. I don't want to live in a Jewish state where the only remaining manifestation of our Jewishness is a proclivity for infighting.
Have an easy fast today! If you're fasting that is.
For the record, I didn't mean to imply any hypocrisy on the part of our hip Tel Aviv journalist who I respect and admire very much. I don't think she was offended by the now former PM and his yored son eating shrimp. I think she just found it ironic that the very treyf meal may very well have been paid for by an Orthodox Jew. I on the other hand found the entire scene distasteful. But that's just me. Clearly I am longing for the day when Israel becomes a complete theocracy - sex segregated beaches in Tel Aviv, women covered head to toe, Jews force fed geffilte fish on Shabbos, lashes for the consumption of kitniyot on Passover etc. One can always dream!
"As an Israeli taxpayer, and not a particularly Orthodox one either, I don't want my tax money to pay for scenes in which my ostensible representatives are publicly chowing down on pork or shellfish while conducting business in my name."
As an Israeli taxpayer, I am paying for FM to entertain our foreign guests in the best possible way. That means taking them to the best restaurants. If the best restaurants are non-kosher or if that guest wants shrimp, what do my culinary preferences have to do with him ?
Lets reverse the situation, shall we ? An Israeli diplomat is being entertained in a foreign country. Croatia lets say. Famous for its sea food, especially sea shells. Should the local foreign ministry take the guy to a sea food restaurant and thus force local customs upon him or should they make sure they take him to a kosher restaurant ?
It is not enough that the government is interfering with the way Israeli citizens are leading their life (marriage, diet, death, etc.), now they are extending their laws to foreign visitors ?
The theocracies were brought as an example of practices that we frown upon here in Israel, giving them as examples of backward countries that oppress their citizens, while here we find examples of the very same behavior and not only are we blind to them, we are, apparently proud of them...
". If you're going to show people around the country, shouldn't you show them an accurate view of it and not just a rosy perspective of a Tel Aviv bubble?"
But that is what the journalist asked for!!! She was writing a column about a Tel Aviv nightlife! Are you suggesting that Lisa should have taken her to a hummus joint anyway ?
"Hi I am here to write a report on Tel Aviv nightlife" "No prob, lets stand in front of the Abu Shukri in Abu Gosh, it is closed at this hour, but this is where all the Israelis eat"
I find so much that is absurd and hypocritical in this Foreign Ministry policy I don't even know where to begin.
How come the minder was able to pay for your drinks in what I assume had been non-kosher bars? How come he didn't inform you at the beginning of the evening, or at least when you ordered your meal, that the cost wouldn't be reimbursed? Was it only the shrimp that was unacceptable? If you'd had a dairy meal at the lesbian bar would that have passed? If you want someone to take a visiting non-Jewish journalist to the kosher restaurants in 5 star hotels in Tel Aviv, you don't get the author of CityGuide Tel Aviv for that job. Is there actually a person who sits in the FM and goes over food tabs with a fine tooth comb to check the pesky shrimp hadn't slipped passed anyone? If so then that probably helps to explain the state of Israeli 'hasbara." Finally, don't I remember Pres. Clinton being taken to "Boya" that famous bastion of secular Tel Aviv at the Namal (Port)on one of his visits?
Just so we're clear, Lisa doesn't represent me so her meal should have been paid for. As an outside consultant I think that's acceptable. Also, non-Jewish employees of the Foreign Ministry ought to be able to eat whatever they like. I'll even go one step further! Any member of the Foreign Ministry who has a stated ideological opposition to Kashrut should be able to eat where she likes. But I remain offended by the imagery of Jewish representatives chowing down on blatantly unkosher food in the course of their employment. This opposition is based on the role forced consumption of treyf has played in Jewish history and on the sensibilities of a large chunk of Israel's population that keep kosher to at least some degree. There are plenty of excellent kosher options available and Israel's culinary world does not begin and end in some poncy, pretentious and overpriced Tel Aviv resto.
Again, they ought to have paid for Lisa's meal and if guests of the Foreign Ministry MUST eat treyf then by all means send them off to dine with a suitable non-FM employee who does not represent me, or a non-Jewish or avowedly secular employee. I think that would be a good compromise.
The foreign ministry must be pretty desperate to hire Lisa Goldman to represent Israel. She doesnt even particularly like Israel. If the best she can do with Israel is make it seem like Beirut, why not migrate to the real Beirut than settle for a pale imitation (Tel Aviv)? Better yet, she can move to Paris, and have a gay waiter forcefeed her shrimp until she resembles a goose pate
Re Jewlicious' last points:
1. Thank goodness the days when Jews were forced to eat anything are over. Sorry to read you are still suffering from that particular trauma.
2. Have you now set yourself up as an authority on the ambience of restaurants, implying we are fans of "poncy, pretentious and overpriced" ones? Those prejoratives apply to any number of places in any big city anywhere, including Jerusalem.
3. "...if guests of the Foreign Ministry MUST eat treyf then by all means send them off to dine with a suitable non-FM employee..." Is that the culinary equivalent of a "shabbas goy"? ;)
4 To end on more a constructive note: I think the image of FM diplomats in formal official situations chowing down on buckets of seafood or roast pork *is* inappropriate. The business of diplomacy is the subtle art of appropriateness. I'm sure there is a varied enough range of staff at the ministry to select the proper companions and dining protocol per individual instance rather than trying to come out with a blanket policy that is insensitive, confusing and doesn't serve Israel's best diplomatic interests, as we see in Lisa's example.
Wow Nimrod. I know Lisa. I am fairly certain she loves Israel despite the many frustrations she faces here. Despite the many frustrations we all face living here. So she's a little garrulous sometimes. So what? That just means she's integrated well!
As for Fay's measured response
1: It's our history, what can I say? It's not trauma either. It's based on a respect for the memories of those who suffered great privations rather than violate what they considered to be a fundamental tenet of their beliefs. It is thanks to that sort of steadfast and zealous defense of our values that we even have any sort of Jewish identity today. 2: I find that Tel Aviv seems to have a glut of said poncy pretentious establishments as well as similar clientele to keep them busy. That's just an observation. 3: No comment. 4: A blanket ban is wrong but whatever the policy is, it should be based on the premise that Jewish Foreign Ministry employees ought not be seen stuffing their faces with blatantly trayf food in the furtherance of their jobs. Exceptions should be made only for those who are non-Jews, not FM employees or those ideologically opposed to kashrut.
No good Kosher restaurants in Israel? You've got to be kidding! I volunteer (for the price of airfare) to serve as an official host to visitors to Israel and trust me, we'll dine 5 star kosher, professionally operted establishments, night after night. The notion that good Kosher food is not available is more Jewish character assassination by left wing self hating Jews. Shabbat Shalom!
... Let's turn this around.
Can ANYONE imagine an American diplomat landing in an Arab country on a religious holiday, and expecting "red carpet treatment" that violates the host country's religious sensibilities?
Can ANYONE imagine Indonesian businessmen hosting someone from Intel or IBM - and scrambling to find them a restaurant that serves pork, while apologizing about the "primitive locals"?
This article and many of the comments give an inadvertent glimpse into the self-effacing nature of so many "progressive" Jews. The fanciest restaurant in Tel Aviv - on top of the Azrieli tower - is a kosher steakhouse.
60-70 percent of Israelis keep kosher.
Can our liberal/progressive brethren curb their embarrassment at their "lesser brethren" and our "backwards customs"?
Nimrod: Dude. Seriously. Lisa's foray into Beirut was awesome. She went in with a Canadian passport and had she been kidnapped or otherwise detained, it would have been a Canadian diplomatic issue. Your assertion that the only reason she lives in Jerusalem is because of its proximity to Beirut is quasi-retarded. Haifa is much closer to Beirut. Seriously. Go look at a map. I'll wait.
Lisa is a bright, intelligent and wonderful person and despite the fact that we often disagree, she's one of my posse because she's reasonable and motivated by a desire to pursue truth and justice. Did you even read Lisa's article? She didn't take a diplomat to the lesbian cous cous restaurant. She took a Swedish journalist. Given that the Foreign Ministry is actively trying to court gay travelers and influence the gay political agenda, as well as present Israel as a viable travel destination for European fun and sun seekers, the choices they made in selecting Lisa as a guide were wise. Lisa is like the unofficial ambassador of Tel Aviv. She yells at me every time, Jerusalem lover that I am, call it Hell Aviv. Man we even sell a line of Hell Aviv t-shirts on Jewlicious.com. But don't tell Lisa ok?
STDs? WTF dude. Seriously man. You think the world hates us because you can get shrimp cous cous or some kind of savory fish dish at a lesbian resto in Tel Aviv at 2 am? You think that prior to the advent of lesbian sea food in Der Judenstaat's most modern city there was no anti-Semitism?
Why am I even responding to your nonsense. Please rethink your statements. Write them down ahead of time even, that might help. Now try and present a coherent argument, one that doesn't seem, you know, so neanderthal. Then we can talk! In the mean time, Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem, the eternal undivided capital of the Jewish people. By the way, even here one can find shrimp cous cous. Oy!
In the first paragraph I meant to say "Your assertion that the only reason she lives in TEL AVIV..." and not Jerusalem. Sorry. Mea Culpa and all that.
Ben David, great points. Also, don't forget the great Bruno restaurant on the podium level of Azrieli. Spectacular food and service!
I wanted to write something in response but Hymie here responded and made my case better than anyone else could.
On one side there are Lisas of the world and on the other there are Hymies, Talibans, the Revolutionary Guards in Iran and the teleavngelists.
I know what side I am on.
@nimrod dude. Reality check.
@ben david not embarrased over your backward ways. You are entitled to be as backward as you wish. Am furious when being backward becomes some kind of patriotic requirement according to which I am being measured.
And all those things you claim about the arab countries and indonesia? Isn't that the reason why we place ourselves above these opressive countries? I think you better decide, do you want to be like them or condemn them, cause you can't eat your shrimp and have it
A great piece. Strange the comments have turned into a conversation of whether or not Lisa Goldman is nice.
This piece touches on a unique drawback of being a journalist in Israel: the infuriating habit of officials to give full interviews, and afterward insist that everything said is off the record. My heart went out to Lisa and other reporters when I read that ridiculous exchange.
Now, I also would like to draw everyone's attention to the fact that although shrimp couscous is not available in Israel's 4th metropolis, Beer Sheva, even here you can sausage topped pizza at the run-down pizza joints and the Spaghettim restaurant branch. The genie is out of the bottle all around the country.
There are numerous delicious and outstanding KOSHER restaurants in Israel.
HOWEVER, even if there were NO five star Glatt Kosher restaurants in Israel, IS THAT SUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION to eat SHELLFISH/trayfe....especially in a gay club? Why shrimp??? Did the club run out of pork chops?
WHY do these seculars want to be in Israel, but live a TWISTED and TRAYFE DEATHSTYLE? Why do they seek to PUBLICLY REJECT/DISGRACE JUDAISM AND TORAH? Amsterdam should be more to their liking....gay clubs, drugs, sex shows, bums, WH*RE HOUSES, venereal disease/AIDS.
The disgraceful behavior of these seculars only further encourages the muslim enemy to hate us, and seek our destruction.
What is wrong with Israel being a respectable, clean, Kosher Jewish nation, where people act with respect to themselves and to their G-d?
Obviously, these secular Jews have so much freedom, that they don't know what to do with it.
The correct web site IS NOT www.jonah.org, IT IS www.jonahweb.org Sorry for the bad URL.
As a "Masorti" tax-paying Israel (olah from America) I agree, for the main part, with the policy that the Foreign Ministry should not pay for treif meals. I do, however, beilive that there should be occasional exceptions - and that this should have been one of them. The writer was asked to take a journalist on a tour of Tel Aviv's night life. She was asked to do so as hasbara. Therefore, the meal should have been reimbursed. I do believe, however, that the journalist should have been taken to a variety of establishments, where she could partake of the panalopy of Israeli food. PS for any who live in (or visit) Jerusalem, there is an excellent kosher sushi bar called Sushi-Ya. It's right off Betzalel St. They don't have all the fancy-shmancy rolls, but I personally think they're quality is better than any other (OK, all kosher) sushi place I've tried in the city. Great prices, too. B'ta'avon.
Note to self - spell check.
One point that nobody seemed to comment on (yet): I am assuming that the owners of the treif restaurants dutifully pay their taxes, just as the owners of the kosher restaurants would (I hope). However, the state in this case is essentially discriminating against one group of taxpayers in favor of another.
In other words, this discussion isn't just about whether or not Jews (or at least, those on the government payroll, or even while conducting official business) should be expected to keep kosher. It's also about the relationship between legal business entities (i.e. the non-kosher restaurants) and the state they contribute to.
While Israel is "spiritually" a Jewish state, in practical matters it should essentially act as an "impartial" state on behalf of all of its citizens. Personally, I feel that holding members of the large non-profits (such as the World Zionist Organization / Jewish Agency, JNF/KKL, etc.) to a kashrut standard (especially while conducting official business) makes good sense. The Israeli goverment, however, is another matter. It also should certainly make accommodation for kashrut within all government facilities (i.e. schools, army, etc.). On the other hand, I don't see how (in secular terms) it can officially favor one group of taxpaying businesses over another group, by excluding the latter group from any government business.
One more thought on my previous point: I wonder if the owners of the non-kosher restaurants (do they have their own lobby or trade associations?) have ever considered filing a BaGaTZ petition to the Supreme Court, forcing the government to rescind any policies and regulations that prohit official business with non-kosher restaurants. This would be an interesting case to follow...
I am a journalist (retired due to a disability) who covered tourism to Israel for 12 years for “Travel Weekly, the newspaper of the travel industry.”
I attended dinners with representatives of the Israel Ministry of Tourism and El Al Airlines when they visited New York and was escorted around Israel during many press trips there.
My own kashrut issues are irrelevant. More to the point was the pride I felt that official business by the Jewish state was in line with the longstanding traditions of the Jewish people no matter where they were.
I would expect nothing less from a visit to a locale steeped in traditions. In Japan, although I could get French or Italian cuisine, I would expect to sample sushi or a bowl of noodles or I would have felt deprived of a genuine experience – local flavor, if you will.
Furthermore, there are many fine kosher dining experiences throughout Israel that reflect the many cultures that have been welcome there. It’s a shame you aren’t familiar with them.
In addition, there are lots of places to go to see Tel Aviv nightlife that do not kowtow to the trendy ideas of how to have a good time. Try choosing more wisely and thinking more broadly when showing off what Israel has to offer.
If you and the “minder” were ignorant of such assets that make the Jewish state competitive with other nations of the world while being true to itself, you are showing your own ignorance.
The “minder” needs an education, too, as do many of those who think they can represent the Jewish state but miss the main point of its existence – that it is the homeland of a people who became defined as Jews by their dietary and behavioral regulations.
I think we're all missing something here. It's not religious coercion to have a policy that tries to avoid offending a large population one serves. And yes, a large population of Israelis do keep kosher, while many others may not personally, but respect the fact that it's an important tradition. And while there are certainly many who neither keep kosher nor respect it in any way, I don't think most of them are overly offended by the sight of other people eating something kosher. They do not believe their human rights are violated if every meal ever eaten by every person is not shrimp. So why not support a policy that limits conflict? Paying for a kosher meal offends almost no one. Paying for a non-kosher one offends many. The Foreign Ministry is in the business of being diplomatic. This policy sounds exactly that.
If Lisa is a Canadian citizen and she had been kidnapped by Hezbollah, Canada would have put pressure on Israel to make concessions to have her released. So, it would almost be as bad as if she were an Israeli citizen.
What was awesome about Lisa's foray into Lebanon? What was awesome about Elhanan Tennenbaums foray into Lebanon in search of drugs?
STDs? WTF dude. Seriously man. You think the world hates us because you can get shrimp cous cous or some kind of savory fish dish at a lesbian resto in Tel Aviv at 2 am? You think that prior to the advent of lesbian sea food in Der Judenstaat's most modern city there was no anti-Semitism?...No, I think the world hates us because people like Lisa who represent the public face of Israel cannot articulate why we are in Eretz Yisrael. The best they can come up with is, yes, we stole the land from the Palestinians, but we deserve to be here because we have gay waiters and shrimp couscous
Points not noted:
1. Government money is the People's money. Observers of Halacha would by the agency of their government be paying for a Jew to eat traif. That is illegal. So this ruling exists to prevent Jewish taxpaid money from paying for traif for a Jew. If you want to change that, then watch the collapse of any government trying do that. 2. I've heard the snobbish argument that 'kosher wines are inferior'. It is made by people who make ignorant assumptions with no facts. Same with the restaurants: All major hotels are kosher. There is a chef school producing top kosher chefs in Jerusalem. It would have been more honest for Lisa to say 'I don't know of good kosher restaurants', rather than to blanket state that there are few. 3. A visiting reporter should be awed by how our ancient Judean culture lives along side the contemporary version of Western culture, by eating at a kosher place after visiting its opposite. Try getting pork in any Arab country! 4. A full visit might have included a stop into a shul at Maariv, or a mosque at mugrabi. Israel is totally eclectic and to limit a tour to locations with cheap rip offs of Western pop culture is a disservice to the depth and breadth of Israeli culture. "See, we copy the same culture as Europe". 5. It is much more professional for a reporter to get out of her 'skin' to see the whole forest, rather than to only present the comfortable and familiar world of her own grove.
We should all have problems like yours Lisa.
Jewish prisoners under the British mandate would only eat kosher food as a matter of national pride regardless of their personal religious inclinations. Israel is a Jewish state, not a state of all its citizens, and as such it is completely appropriate for its official representation to maintain standards of kashrut and shabbat. Furthermore, there is no offence to Muslim and Christian minorities as there is no restriction on them eating kosher food.
Your sweeping statements of there being next to no good kosher restaurants in Israel, and that the majority of Israelis don't keep kosher are completely unfounded. It sounds like you've been spending too much time in Tel Aviv.
Why is it in many other countries, Thailand for example, the locals respect their religion and their culture and are proud of it, whilst a certain type of Israeli is always looking to strike hershis down.
As the Arabs say, who brought pork to the Middle East? Too sad.
Non-kosher chefs want equality - December 16, 2009
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3820062,00.html
A number of Israel's leading chefs have signed a petition calling on Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to cancel a protocol which bans the ministry from taking official guests to non-kosher restaurants.
Joel Katz http://religionandstateinisrael.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/religion_state
Non-kosher chefs want equality - December 16, 2009
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3820062,00.html
A number of Israel's leading chefs have signed a petition calling on Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to cancel a protocol which bans the ministry from taking official guests to non-kosher restaurants.
Joel Katz http://religionandstateinisrael.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/religion_state