Submitted Stories by Alison Klayman RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Alison Klayman
China launches tours to Israel
Forty Chinese tourists departed for Israel in the first officially sanctioned tour group from the republic. Read more »
Zubari takes the wind out of China-Israel relations
Israel’s biggest source of pride at the Beijing 2008 Olympics became its biggest blight this past week, after bronze medal-winning windsurfer Shahar Zubari called Chinese people “sh*ts” in an interview published September 5th in Israel’s Yediot Aharanot. That was his answer when the reporter asked him to describe his hosts in one word. Zubari also said he didn’t feel very comfortable during the month and a half he spent in China, and was happy he wouldn’t have to see any more Chinese people. “They are difficult,” he said. “They don’t speak the language, their rituals are strange and even their pronunciation is weird.” He added he didn’t like Chinese food and missed his usual food. “I can live off hummus.” His comments could be especially damaging considering China is about to send its first tour groups to Israel later this month. As evidence of how quickly this kind of comment can spread online to an increasingly tech-savvy Chinese population, I first heard about Zubari’s comments from a Chinese friend here in Beijing. When I said Israel was doing better in the Paralympic Gamess than its one bronze won during the Olympics, my friend immediately knew who Zubari was. “That sailor who cursed us when he got home?” This is also not the first incident concerning Israel’s media and the Beijing Olympics. Read these comments from a Chinese citizen living in Israel who takes issue with comments by Israeli telecasters during the Games. Since Zubari’s story broke in the Chinese online press, articles and posts on the web in Mandarin are numerous. They range from outrage to observations that Zubari is just an ignorant youth. The Shanghaiist in an English site frequented by Chinese webusers, as well as expats living in China, that can help you get an idea of the posted responses. This ”Talkback” section on the Ha’aertz website also has international comments including some Chinese readers. Zubari clearly offended beyond the online message boards, however, as the Chinese embassy in Tel Aviv canceled a reception for Israeli Olympians set to be held last Wednesday. President Shimon Peres even apologized to the Chinese ambassador on Wednesday, and Ghaleb Majadle, Israeli Minister of Sport, Science and Culture made an official apology call as well. Zubari published an apology in Yediot on Tuesday. Jeremy Last of the Jerusalem Post wrote an op-ed suggesting that better PR training for athletes (especially young ones like 22-year-old Zubari) could have prevented the gaffe. Read more »
How Israel wins
Not surprisingly, Israel’s first medal of the Beijing Olympics was not won in Beijing, but rather in Qingdao, where the Sailing competition is being held. In recent days, many Israelis in China have flocked to Qingdao in hopes of seeing better results than they had in Beijing. Shahar Zubari was able to clinch the bronze after finishing second in the the RS:X (Windsurfer) medal race on Wednesday, August 20. China was so excited for Israel, the official Xinhua news service even wrote a story about Olmert calling to congratulate Zubari. After Uriel Heilman posted a list about Top Ten excuses from Israeli Olympians for not winning, I thought it was appropriate to see the way that Israeli Olympians talk after they win. Quotes from bronze medalist Shahar Zubari from the Olympic News Service: “"I feel so happy. I’m only 20 and I feel like a superstar, with all the media paying attention to me. I even painted my nails especially for this event.” (At least his parents are trying to keep his feet on the ground, according to this Haaretz profile, where his mother Vered says, “It has always been and continues to be important to us to not let success get to his head.") As for his Wednesday night celebration plans: “I’m going to get drunk.” Read more »
A ‘shalom’ from Chinese schoolchildren
Israeli Olympic swimmers visiting a Beijing elementary school were greeted with cries of "shalom" from young Chinese students clutching Israeli flags. Read more »
Munich victims remembered in Beijing
The Israelis hosted a ceremony honoring the 11 Israeli athletes murdered in Munich, but the pervasive question was, why won't the International Olympic Committee get involved? Read more »
A bar mitzvah amid the medals
After attending a night of competition at the Bird's Nest, and before seeing American NBA stars crush the opposition, Isaac Shapiro of Illinois was called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah. Read more »
Israeli Olympians visit Beijing school
Four Israeli Olympic swimmers (Itai Chammah, Guy Barnea, Tom Beera and Gal Nevo), the Israeli Ambassador to China, the President of Israel’s National Swimming Association and a slew of Chinese and Israeli reporters visited the Shi Jia Primary School on Monday, Aug. 18. This school was assigned Israel as part of a Beijing-wide program of partnerships between schools and Olympic countries. The Shi Jia school put on events over the last two years to teach the students about Israel, how to say “Shalom,” even had its students Skype with a school in Jerusalem. Of course, the school was following the progress of Israeli athletes along with China’s. Hidden inside a neighborhood maze of alleyways, this 2000-student school is anything but small. The school was founded in 1939, but this site (which used to be a single-story temple style house) was newly constructed in 2004 and only serves the third through sixth grade. And what service indeed. There was a room filled with rows of electric pianos, next to the hallway of individual music practice rooms that were nicer than the ones at my university. Of course, these were all on the bottom floor right next to the underground parking lot entrance, which reminded me of a United States mall. We also saw a beautiful theater with a superior tech booth, a whole science area that looked more like a kid’s playtime museum exhibit, plus a row of small table-saws that looked rusty and dangerous in comparison, for over 20 students at a time to make wood carvings. The highlight of the tour for the Israeli Olympians was clearly the visit to the school’s unbelievable sports facilities. An outdoor track was surrounded by green landscaping, windmills and a dormitory with solar panels on the roof. Descending into the gymnasium, which had more equipment than a Bally’s Fitness Club, the fencing lesson seemed to be teaching the well-outfitted youngsters as much about shouting as technique. Finally, the Israeli men were in their element at the pool, which was pumping various Beijing Olympic theme songs over the loudspeaker. An assorted crowd of boys and girls shivered outside the pool for the athletes’ millionth photo-op of the day, underneath towering photos with the Speedo logo printed on them of swimmers like Michael Phelps. The kids looked a little lackluster as they posed in their swimsuits, but two of them perked up when someone told them the Chinese names of the Israeli athletes that were standing by their side. The kids’ faces lit up- “We heard of them!” they cried. Read more »
Beijing Bar Mitzvah
His voice had the slightest rasp to it, but that was probably from cheering on Team USA during the athletics competition at the Bird’s Nest the previous night. Isaac Shapiro did a remarkable job with his maftir and haftarah portion during his “American bar mitzvah in Beijing” on Saturday, Aug. 16. His family also sponsored the lunch afterwards at Dini’s Kosher Restaurant, complete with groups of five Olympic ring-colored cupcakes (arranged just so, three on top of two) and a Bird’s Nest miniature cake. Saturday night, after conquering the bimah, Isaac went to what was for him the highlight sporting event of his trip: back-to-back basketball. First China beat Germany in a heart-poundingly close match led by Yao Ming, and then the United States trounced Spain in what was supposed to be a fairly close match. Isaac even learned the ubiquitous Chinese cheer “Let’s Go!” “JIA YOU!” [caption id="attachment_1377" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="From the bimah to the basketball game."][/caption] His family says despite attending team and individual gymnastics competitions, tennis, handball and basketball events among others, this was surely the highlight of their trip to China. “Everyone has their bar mitzvah photos taken by the Wall,” dad Sam said, referring to the Kotel in Jerusalem. “But instead we took photos by the Great Wall.” Isaac’s mom, Marjie, who arranged the whole trip, added that “Israel certainly has a big role in our life, and I go there at least once a year. But this trip can show our kids the rising superpower of the future, and show them that there is community everywhere.” Read more »
Beijing blues skies to cheer up Israeli athletes
With sailing competitions in Qingdao up and running today after being postponed due to insufficient wind, Israel’s Olympic delegation has something to be happy about again. Already at the time of this blogging, Israeli sailing duo Nike Kornecky and Vered Bouskila had moved up to third place in the rankings for the Women’s 470 event, and Shahar Zubari is still ranked first in the Men’s Windsurfer competition. By comparison, Israeli athletes in Beijing (aside from Alex Shatilov who just barely qualified for the Men’s Floor event in Gymnastics) have been continually eliminated from their competitions, including medal hopefuls like Men’s Tennis Doubles pair Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich. At least today in Beijing there are clear skies to pick up their spirits. Yes, that’s right. Look at this picture of my office taken Friday, August 15 around 1pm. [caption id="attachment_1354" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="See, there are beautiful Beijing days."][/caption] This is where I work for the official Beijing Olympic website (en.beijing2008.com). Not only are the skies blue and clouds distinguishable, but this is one of those rare days where you can see all the way to the hills that surround the city, hills that are normally veiled with smog. [caption id="attachment_1355" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Most days I don\’t know these hills are there."][/caption] The reason for this beautiful weather is three nights and one day of pouring rain in the Chinese capital. The older Chinese translator who sits at the computer next to mine, Mr. Bai, says this year saw an abnormal amount of rainfall for the normally dry city. I asked if it was because of the government’s cloud-seeding program, and he replied that it is sometimes, but the authorities also exaggerate their abilities. He thinks it’s a shame that that every time it rains, Beijingers now wonder whether it’s natural or manufactured. Either way, the rain worked to clean the skies, and air, for tourists and competitors alike. How convenient that this improvement comes on the first day of the Athletics events… Read more »
Israeli Shooting
This post’s title might be alarmist considering I am blogging about Olympic competition, not an act of violence. Still, I find myself just a bit alarmed that Israeli shooters are not the sharpest in the world. I think Jews, outside of Israel at least, like to mythologize the IDF and Israeli military prowess. Yet off the battlefield today, the Ukraine (gold), United States (silver) and Norway (bronze) showed they can wield a rifle better. Then again, does the IDF even use rifles? Israelis Guy Starik and Gil Simkovich both competed in the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone qualification round, but neither finished in the top eight to reach the final. Starik came in 12th with a score of 594, while Simkovich came in 22nd at 592 (many competitors tied with the same scores). Starik improved upon his Athens finish of 16th, and is one of two Israelis to be competing in his fourth Olympics. Simkovich will also participate in the Men’s 50m Rifle 50m 3 Positions event on August 17, joined by fellow Israeli Doron Egozi, who already competed in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle Qualification and finished 41st in the qualification round. Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 02/09/12 @ 05:54PM EST
- A poll showed that nearly half of likely voters believed the United States should use military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
- Rabbi Gunther Plaut, a major figure in Reform Judaism, died in Toronto.
- The application for a proposed Hebrew-language charter school was accepted by the District of Columbia Public Charter School board.
- A truck driving calves from Eilat to the Golan Heights was hijacked into the West Bank.
- U.S. Rep. Howard Berman introduced legislation that would allow eligible Israeli nationals to receive non-immigrant investor visas in the United States.
- Poll: Half of U.S. voters back strike on nuclear Iran
- Reform leader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies
- D.C. Hebrew-language charter school accepted for review
- Op-Ed: Kick the reaction addiction on campus
- Berman moves to grant investor visas to Israelis
- Holy cow! Calves hijacked into Palestinian territory
- Report: Israeli journalist also works for prime minister
- Larry Greenfield tapped to lead JINSA
