Another pashkevil of interest that went up during the holiday period was the following pashkevil calling for people to prepare to leave Israel for foreign lands because of the government of kofrim and the decrees they enact against the religious community (specifically the IDF draft). They announce the formation of a fund to help families relocate - they will pay for plane tickets to Europe and the USA and moving costs as well. No mention is made of whether or not they will fund the $150,000-$20,000 tuitions per kid, plus health insurance, after the move or if the families will be on their own after the initial move.

Anyways, I say good riddance. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I wonder which communities they think will embrace them and welcome their extremism, but I hope they find such a community somewhere outside of Israel, and specifically outside of Bet Shemesh.

very interesting to hear some of his personal background..

Reportedly, PM Netanyahu and Minister Deri are once again trying to shut down the new broadcasting authority (Kaan). I did not understand the fight over this the first time around and I doubt I will understand it this time. The excuse is something about wasting public monies.

It seems to me that establishing the authority at the cost of tens of millions of shekels and then canceling it within a few short months, and then obviously creating a new broadcasting entity is a bigger waste of money and it would make sense to establish some protocol for spending and appoint a comptroller to oversee proper usage of funds.

I don't get it.

We will not sit with them, unequivocally. I do not see anything that connects us to them or allows us to be in the same government with them

  -- Labor (Hamachane Hatzioni) Chairman Avi Gabbay about the possibility of forming a government in the future with the Arab party

Gabbay is under fire for rejecting the Arabs outright, but the truth is no government-forming party has ever invited the Arab parties to join a coalition, so Gabbay is only expressing what every government, Labor-led included, has always done...

According to a post on Facebook (source: Haredim10) by her husband, Haredi model/actress/presenter Batya Schiff has now become a stewardess, flight attendant, with El Al.

It does not say she is the first Haredi flight attendant, female or not, and I have no idea if she is or is not. I don't find this newsworthy in any way and the announcement is probably just the work of her publicist/agent/public relations person just keeping her name in the news...

However, there is a way this could become slightly interesting.. that would be if she works a flight with the first, and for now only, Haredi pilot, female in this case. And especially if a couple more Haredi flight attendants join and turn it into a full Haredi flight crew. I wonder how that would look or change the nature of any given flight....

this is one of a couple interesting pashkevilim that were posted/pasted on the walls of Jerusalem over the holiday period...

while they definitely have a good point and valid concern about foreigners buying up property while not living there and causing prices to increase, making it difficult for locals to afford housing in Jerusalem, I am not quite sure what can be done about it. The local government increased taxes for "ghost" houses, and that seems to not have helped. The wealthy will continue to buy the real estate as much as they can and want to. Just this Shabbos someone in Jerusalem told me how they had lived in a specific rental apartment for 17 years, and the owner decided a few years ago to sell, but he was asking a very high price and no buyers were biting. Recently, a wealthy person bought it without even looking at it as he has bought a number of apartments around Jerusalem for his children and grandchildren and paying a little too much does not bother him. This will continue to happen, as will people buying apartments for investments and people buying apartments so they can have a home in Jerusalem for when they want to visit.