Allison Kaplan Sommer is a journalist at Haaretz, host of Haaretz Weekend podcast and co-host of The Promised Podcast.
Allison Kaplan Sommer
By Allison Kaplan Sommer
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Life In Israel, Lesbians in Prime Time Are Having Their Moment
Tune into what is now the highest-rated program on Israeli television, “Big Brother,” and you will encounter a female character never been featured before on local screens. Her name is Frida Hecht — a heavy-set, outspoken, recovering heroin addict with a crew cut. She’s a lesbian, and about as far out of the closet as…
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The Schmooze Tel Aviv School No ‘Stranger’ to the Oscars
The crowded hallways of the Bialik-Rogozin school in gritty South Tel Aviv are about as far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood as one can imagine. But on the evening of the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27, the school’s principal, Keren Tal, will make the transition from those hallways to the red carpet,…
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Life How Long Should Israel’s Former President (and a Convicted Rapist) Spend Behind Bars?
Imagine for a moment that Monica Lewinsky had not been so enthusiastic about pursuing a sexual relationship with President Clinton, that he had pursued her against her will, and had imposed himself on her physically. Now imagine that the Lewinsky affair had opened a Pandora’s Box of women from various stages of Clinton’s career coming…
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Life The Attack on Lara Logan
In what can only be described as a case of terrible timing, I wrote my previous post reporting on how joyous and safe women were feeling in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the Egyptian protests. The post appeared only hours before CBS News made public the brutal attack on journalist Lara Logan in the square. The…
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Food Farmers’ Markets Take Hold in the Holy Land
Three years ago, the idea of a farmers’ market was completely alien to Israel. Certainly, most Israelis understand the idea of buying produce in an open-air stall, Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda turns 100 this year and Tel Aviv’s Shuk HaCarmel is only ten years younger. But buying in the shuk instead of the supermarket is no…
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Life The Women of Tahir Square
Any woman who has spent time in Arab countries was likely to have been particularly impressed by the strong presence of women in the Egypt’s Tahrir Square protests. Whether it is Cairo or any other Arab city, walking around unaccompanied in public is not always a comfortable experience. But the spirit of fellowship and common…
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The Schmooze Move Over Hillary Clinton, Here Comes Lindsay Lohan
You’d think Lindsay Lohan would have enough problems of her own to sort out. But no. La Lohan took a short a break from swiping jewelry, getting intoxicated, making scenes at nightclubs, rehab visits, and court appearances, to make a statement on the Egyptian revolution and Middle East peace via Twitter. These were two of…
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The Schmooze Israeli Sitcom ‘Traffic Light’ Stops TV Critics in Their Tracks
Male midlife crisis is apparently a cross-cultural phenomenon. The television comedy “Traffic Light,” an Israeli import, is enjoying critical acclaim on the eve of its February 8 debut on the Fox network. Sitcom humor just may be able to cross the Israel-U.S. divide. The show centers around three 30-something buddies, each of whom is at…
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