I am not so sure it was as harmonious as he suggests, but we'll let that slide as it is beside the point...the gesture is nice

Here is this week's partial article from the current edition of [English] Mishpacha:



To purchase the issue, click on Mishpacha.com..

So the Chief of Police of Dubai issued a statement to the head of the Mossad, Meier Dagan, to "Be a Man" and admit that Israel is behind the assassination.

As if assassinating a world class terrorist under this police chief's nose without leaving any evidence behind isn't manly enough...

Time to be a better neighbor.

One of the guys whose name and photo was released as being in the group of Mossad agents that put out the hit in Dubai last week is a resident of Bet Shemesh. He claims it is a mistake and he had no involvement in the hit and is not a hitman or Mossad agent. (source: Haaretz)

Mossad agents always deny these things, so we don't really have any way of knowing one way or the other just by his statement.

In one of the weekend newspapers, Ha'Shavua B'Yerushalayim, there was an interesting exclusive article.

The article described how the mayor of Bnei Brak, Yaakov Asher, recently went to Japan to testify as a character witness on behalf of the boys in jail for unwittingly smuggling drugs into the country. While in Dubai, he was approached, the article describes, for a meeting with Shiekh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai. The shiekh had seen him in the hotel, was curious who it was that was dressed so strangely (haredi dress), and inquired about him. When the emir found out this was the mayor of an Orthodox Israeli city, he requested a meeting.

During the meeting, Asher described the lifestyle of the inhabitants of his city. During the discussion, they agreed to work on a city twinning plan (sister cities) between Bnei Brak and Dubai. The shiekh promised 250 million dollars to Bnei Brak, along with the development of a "Dubai Park" that would cost no less than 5 billion dollars (!), along with a promise that next time he goes to visit Gaza he will also visit Bnei Brak and gave Asher a gift of an expensive Patrimony Swiss watch. The shiekh said they are opposed to the policy of occupation of Israel, but have nothing against the Jews. Al Maktoum recommended forging ties int he form of sister cities.

This plan has been kept hush hush, as Asher requested from the Foreign Ministry they check the possibility of the twinning program, and asked the media to not mention it until approval is granted. Now it has been approved, at least some of the details, for general release (I am not sure why the general press had not picked up such a story).




My questions on this story are:

1. Is there any truth to it? I have not found any info on this anywhere else doing searches...

2. City Twinning programs are meant to develop the sharing of cultures betwene cities, with each side "donating" something to the other. Clearly, Dubai will be giving Bnei Brak a lot of money if this goes through, but what can Bnei Brak offer to Dubai? Money is out of the question, and what culture can orthodox jews offer to one of the wealthy Arab emirates in the world? the article described what the shiekh was offering to Bnei Brak, yet said not a word about what Bnei Brak had to offer to Dubai.
It is possible that this is simply charity. The shiekh seems to be a very charitable person, but this was described as city twinning, and not as charity.

3. It seems strange that Bnei Brak would go for their first city twinning plan with an Arab country that has no relations with Israel. Perhaps it is even appropriate considering the hostility to the state a reasonable percentage of the residents of BB have....

4. Dubai has been in the news a lot recently rejecting any connection to Israel - the tennis squads had problems getting visas. There is some financial conference hosted by Dubai and they would not let the Israeli representatives in. etc. Suddenly they are willing to have a city twinning project with an Israeli city? and even if it is just charity - they are giving money to an Israeli city?

Shahar Peer is the top Israeli tennis player. Numero Uno. She is ranked #48 in the world.

I am no tennis maven, but I was never overly impressed with Peer as a tennis player. She must be good to make it to 48 in the world, but I never liked her style of play. I always thought she had a weak serve and not enough strength to ever make it into the really top level. I had a friend who was a big fan of hers, and he used to tell me how great she is, which led me to watch her play a bit and take the other side. I began by "tcheppering" him how she will never really be great, and I guess that formed my opinion.

Anyways, Peer is being left out of a tournament now. The ay before she was meant to leave for Dubai for a tournament, they told her she cannot come because they are rejecting her visa.

Dubai has an official policy of not allowing Israelis in to the country. It is a load of crock, because I know plenty of Israelis who go there all the time for business, and they tell me that the place is crawling with Israelis. As long as it is quiet and not public, Dubai turns a blind eye. I guess an international tennis tournament is too public, so they have to reject her visa.

I think the other tennis players, and the tournament organizers, should cancel the whole thing and leave Dubai with an embarrassing situation and a hefty fine. I don't think it is right that they are letting Peer be left out while they continue to play.

Yes, a few players and officials spoke up about how wrong it is, but that is purely lip service. They should all ban the tourney until Dubai allows her in.

That being said, I think that if they do let her in, she will probably lose her first match and that will be the end of it. Aside from her not being all that good (as "not all that good" as #48 could be), she is having a lousy year, losing match after match and not seriously contending in anything yet. Dubai would even possibly be smart letting her in and letting her play poor performance, thus embarrassing Israel in the process...