Environment Israel

Israel's Supreme Court on Monday delayed the building of a powerful Voice of America transmitter until an environmental impact study is completed. The Israeli Society for the Protection of Nature asked the Supreme Court last year to block construction of the VOA's 43-antennae transmitter in the Negev desert until thorough environmental research is carried out.

One of Israel's most venerated state-building agencies has come under attack from environmentalists, who say the organization's massive tree-planting efforts have actually harmed the very land it meant to reclaim. The Zionist Congress created the Jewish National Fund in 1901 with a mandate to buy land in what was then Palestine as the first step toward creating the Jewish state. Few organizations played a greater role in building Israel or hold a more powerful appeal for Jews around the world.

The report was shocking, even to Israelis inured to bad news: Three athletes who perished after a bridge collapsed July 14 during the opening of an international sports festival did not die of injuries suffered in their 48-foot plunge into a river. Nor did they die solely due to the rush of water into their lungs. The two women and one man, all Australians, were killed by toxins they swallowed in the evil-smelling waters of the Yarkon River, according to preliminary autopsy reports.

The report was shocking, even to Israelis inured to bad news: Three athletes who perished after a bridge collapsed July 14 during the opening of an international sports festival did not die of injuries suffered in their 48-foot plunge into a river. Nor did they die solely due to the rush of water into their lungs. The two women and one man, all Australians, were killed by toxins they swallowed in the evil-smelling waters of the Yarkon River, according to preliminary autopsy reports.

One of Israel's most venerated state-building agencies has come under attack from environmentalists, who say the organization's massive tree-planting efforts have actually harmed the very land it meant to reclaim. The Zionist Congress created the Jewish National Fund in 1901 with a mandate to buy land in what was then Palestine as the first step toward creating the Jewish state. Few organizations played a greater role in building Israel or hold a more powerful appeal for Jews around the world.

As a young boy, Shai Ashkenazi used to swim in the clear waters of Haifa Bay and play on its beach of golden sand. That was 45 years ago, when Israel was a brand-new nation and its leaders were still fired with the vision of redeeming the land they believed was the patrimony of the Jewish people. These days, the only Israelis bold enough--some say crazy enough--to jump into Haifa Bay are activists desperate to call attention to the damage inflicted on the water and the land since then.

In August 2009, an Israeli academic and political activist by the name of Neve Gordon published an Op-Ed article in the Los Angeles Times in which he reluctantly called for a gradual international boycott against his own nation. Gordon felt that such dramatic action was required to overcome the deep structural inequities between Jews and Arabs in Israeli society and the occupied territories, and to force the government back toward the goal of a two-state solution. Three years later, Gordon's academic home, the Department of Politics and Government of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, is on the verge of being closed down by the Israeli Council for Higher Education, a highly unusual act in Israel.

The recent encounter between King Hassan II of Morocco and Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and the future meeting in Helsinki between Israelis and Soviet negotiators on the resumption of consular relations have much in common. Both events, though spectacular, are not surprising, and are the result of a long, steady and laborious process. But these two encounters may also prove to be illusory.

Your editorial (Dec. 21), "Care Package Too Big," has focused on the need for Israel to make further budget cuts before the United States considers increased aid to Israel. Superficially appealing, but let us add some perspective. First, the area for Israeli budget-cutting is more limited than supposed. With a total national budget of $21 billion, $10 billion goes to servicing the national debt, and $5.5 billion goes to defense expenditures--in an environment where Israel's neighbors (aside from Egypt)

The defeat of Richard Sybert for Congress seems to be a repudiation of the in-vogue campaign strategy of disguising one's background in a cloak of popular images and hiding one's views in a mishmash of moderate platitudes.

As a young boy, Shai Ashkenazi used to swim in the clear waters of Haifa Bay and play on its beach of golden sand. That was 45 years ago, when Israel was a brand-new nation and its leaders were still fired with the vision of redeeming the land they believed was the patrimony of the Jewish people. These days, the only Israelis bold enough--some say crazy enough--to jump into Haifa Bay are activists desperate to call attention to the damage inflicted on the water and the land since then.

Israel's Supreme Court on Monday delayed the building of a powerful Voice of America transmitter until an environmental impact study is completed. The Israeli Society for the Protection of Nature asked the Supreme Court last year to block construction of the VOA's 43-antennae transmitter in the Negev desert until thorough environmental research is carried out.

President Clinton, embraced by Hollywood as one of its own, cast a long shadow over Al Gore during a convention week filled with fond farewells and fund-raising galas for the president and his wife. But Gore, the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee, left Los Angeles early today with a strong base of financial support from the entertainment industry--surpassing even Clinton's take of four years ago.

Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, raised more money in Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson's Los Angeles district in the 1989-90 congressional term than Beilenson himself. Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica) took in more campaign funds in Rep. Howard L. Berman's district during the same period than Berman did. And, incredibly, conservative Sens. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) each raised more in Rep. Henry A. Waxman's district than the liberal Los Angeles Democrat. Finally, Sen.