LONDON EVENING STANDARD
January 25, 1999
Matthew Kalman
ISRAELI defence minister Yitzhak Mordechai, dismissed from the cabinet at the weekend by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has emerged as the new leader of a fledgling centre party.
Mr Mordechai pledged to "leave no stone unturned" in his determination to remove Mr Netanyahu from power. He will join former military chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former finance minister Dan Meridor and former Interior Minister Roni Milo at a Press conference today to formally announce the founding of the party, which does not yet have a name. Israelis …
Monday, 25 January 1999
Monday, 18 January 1999
Midnight at the Oasis
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
January 18, 1999
MATTHEW KALMAN samples the Holy Land's most incongruous new attraction: the Oasis casino, Jericho's answer to Sun City
GAMBLING is not an activity traditionally associated with a trip to the Holy Land. The pursuit is illegal in Israel and throughout much of the Muslim Middle East.
Not so in Jericho, now governed by the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. Thousands of years after the biblical prostitute Rahab helped Joshua tear down the walls of the most ancient city on earth, the streets of Jeri-cho are ringing with the cries of religious leaders warning against lewd behaviour and whoring.
The object of their concern is the Oasis, a $50 million complex which opened …
January 18, 1999
MATTHEW KALMAN samples the Holy Land's most incongruous new attraction: the Oasis casino, Jericho's answer to Sun City
GAMBLING is not an activity traditionally associated with a trip to the Holy Land. The pursuit is illegal in Israel and throughout much of the Muslim Middle East.
Not so in Jericho, now governed by the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. Thousands of years after the biblical prostitute Rahab helped Joshua tear down the walls of the most ancient city on earth, the streets of Jeri-cho are ringing with the cries of religious leaders warning against lewd behaviour and whoring.
The object of their concern is the Oasis, a $50 million complex which opened …
Thursday, 14 January 1999
Man charged over Miss World 'rape, torture and murder bid'
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
January 14, 1999
Matthew Kalman; Theodore Levite
A MAN has been arrested and charged with the rape and attempted murder of Miss World, Linor Abergil.
The alleged attack took place in Italy before Miss Abergil, 19, was crowned and while she was on a modelling assignment in Milan.
Shaul Nur, a Jewish convert from Islam who has joint Egyptian- Israeli citizenship and lives in Israel, was arrested on Sunday as he flew into Tel Aviv to visit his family. Nur, 43, claims to be a former agent for the Shin Bet Israeli secret service. He now runs a travel business in Milan. A reporting ban on the case was lifted today at Miss Abergil's request by judge Uri Goren, president of the Tel Aviv District Court, allowing the details to be …
January 14, 1999
Matthew Kalman; Theodore Levite
A MAN has been arrested and charged with the rape and attempted murder of Miss World, Linor Abergil.
The alleged attack took place in Italy before Miss Abergil, 19, was crowned and while she was on a modelling assignment in Milan.
Shaul Nur, a Jewish convert from Islam who has joint Egyptian- Israeli citizenship and lives in Israel, was arrested on Sunday as he flew into Tel Aviv to visit his family. Nur, 43, claims to be a former agent for the Shin Bet Israeli secret service. He now runs a travel business in Milan. A reporting ban on the case was lifted today at Miss Abergil's request by judge Uri Goren, president of the Tel Aviv District Court, allowing the details to be …
Tuesday, 12 January 1999
Mideast 'Wonder Boy' has leaders' ears
USA TODAY, Jan 12, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- On the final day of the Middle East peace talks in October outside Washington, a teen-ager from Jericho received an urgent call on his mobile phone.
"He was calling to tell me my prophecy had come true. The Israelis and Americans were at loggerheads, and Netanyahu was threatening to walk out." Prophecy? Meet Moussa el-Moghrabi, fortuneteller, faith healer and unofficial spiritual adviser to Palestinian leaders.
"Moussa is a phenomenon. I don't hesitate to consult him whenever I can," the minister says. He consulted with Moussa regularly before the peace talks in Washington, and the faith healer gave him a good-luck charm.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- On the final day of the Middle East peace talks in October outside Washington, a teen-ager from Jericho received an urgent call on his mobile phone.
"He was calling to tell me my prophecy had come true. The Israelis and Americans were at loggerheads, and Netanyahu was threatening to walk out." Prophecy? Meet Moussa el-Moghrabi, fortuneteller, faith healer and unofficial spiritual adviser to Palestinian leaders.
"Moussa is a phenomenon. I don't hesitate to consult him whenever I can," the minister says. He consulted with Moussa regularly before the peace talks in Washington, and the faith healer gave him a good-luck charm.
(...)
Friday, 8 January 1999
Novices enticed to seek office in Israeli election
USA TODAY, Jan 8, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Widespread voter disenchantment with the main parties on the left and right is drawing novice politicians into the electoral arena and driving many veterans toward the center before the May 17 Israeli election.
This was underscored this week when Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, a popular general with no political experience and no party organization, announced he will run for prime minister
At the same time, Dan Meridor, widely regarded as the spiritual heir to Israel's first right-wing prime minister, Menachem Begin, announced last month he was quitting Likud, the governing party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a new centrist party and run for the top job.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Widespread voter disenchantment with the main parties on the left and right is drawing novice politicians into the electoral arena and driving many veterans toward the center before the May 17 Israeli election.
This was underscored this week when Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, a popular general with no political experience and no party organization, announced he will run for prime minister
At the same time, Dan Meridor, widely regarded as the spiritual heir to Israel's first right-wing prime minister, Menachem Begin, announced last month he was quitting Likud, the governing party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a new centrist party and run for the top job.
(...)
Tuesday, 5 January 1999
Israeli task force tries to avert millennial madness
USA TODAY, Jan 5, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- The month-long surveillance and arrest of members of a Denver-based Christian cult was the first public operation of an Israeli task force set up to deal with the expected influx of extreme Christian groups for the turn of the millennium.
Israeli officials fear that extreme Christian groups, like the Concerned Christians who were arrested Sunday, will perform acts that they believe will hasten the second coming of Jesus as the year 2000 approaches.
"Better late than never, the security and intelligence authorities have woken up and dealt with this group," said Rabbi David Rosen, director of the Jerusalem office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and an expert on Jewish-Christian relations. "Had there been good intelligence, they would never have got into the country in the first place."
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- The month-long surveillance and arrest of members of a Denver-based Christian cult was the first public operation of an Israeli task force set up to deal with the expected influx of extreme Christian groups for the turn of the millennium.
Israeli officials fear that extreme Christian groups, like the Concerned Christians who were arrested Sunday, will perform acts that they believe will hasten the second coming of Jesus as the year 2000 approaches.
"Better late than never, the security and intelligence authorities have woken up and dealt with this group," said Rabbi David Rosen, director of the Jerusalem office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and an expert on Jewish-Christian relations. "Had there been good intelligence, they would never have got into the country in the first place."
(...)
Israel deports 11 cults members
USA TODAY, Jan 5, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Eleven suspected cult members who call themselves the Concerned Christians were ordered to leave Israel Monday.
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Eleven suspected cult members who call themselves the Concerned Christians were ordered to leave Israel Monday.
A statement by the Israeli Interior Ministry released Monday said the cult members believe their deaths will hasten the second coming of Christ.
The ministry said cult members arrived in separate groups in September 1998. They lived in two houses in Mevasseret Zion and Motza, two affluent suburbs on the western approach to Jerusalem.
(...)
Sunday, 29 November 1998
Corruption in the Palestinian Authority
British aid used to house Arafat elite
Aid scandal: the misuse of housing cash will embarrass Tony Blair and Yasser Arafat
Aid scandal: the misuse of housing cash will embarrass Tony Blair and Yasser Arafat
The Sunday Times, London
November 29 1998
by Stephen Grey
November 29 1998
by Stephen Grey
Additional reporting: Chris White and Matthew Kalman
BRITISH aid earmarked for poor Palestinians has been used by the
European Union to finance luxury flats - with Italian granite-fitted
designer kitchens - for rich supporters of Yasser Arafat.
The scandal has benefited a general, a police chief and other acolytes
of the Palestinian leader. The millions of pounds involved have been
written off by Brussels.
"In effect, $20m [12m pounds] has been spent without any economic
controls and is not recoverable," admit the EU's own auditors. At least
2m pounds of this sum was contributed by Britain.
The money had been targeted for cheap housing in the desperately poor
and overcrowded Gaza Strip and the West Bank areas controlled by the
Palestinians. Instead, according to a secret EU internal financial
control report, it was used for flats designed with "elegance and
luxury".
Ten of the apartment blocks were built opposite a refugee camp at
Nussairat, eight miles south of Gaza city. Each apartment is more than
100 square metres in size, with three bedrooms, a kitchen fitted with
polished wooden cupboards and granite work-surfaces, and a bathroom
complete with a large bath and shower area, decorated with either pink
or blue ceramic tiles. Satellite television dishes sprout from the
walls. The car parks are tightly packed with military vehicles and
expensive civilian cars bearing red number plates, which are issued only
to officials.
Palestinian sources said 90% of the EU flats had been given to
"returnees" - loyalists who had been in exile with Arafat and now served
in his administration. Three have been taken over by a Palestinian
brigadier-general, Mazan Iss Did. Another was taken by a police chief,
Tala Abo Zaidi. The Palestinian ministry of industry also controls two
flats.
The housing project was part of a 60m pound aid package for the
Palestinians announced after the Oslo peace accords with Israel. It has
been administered by the Palestinian housing authority, which has
refused to meet the EU auditors, according to their secret report.
The original plan was for a self-sustaining building programme: cheap
housing association mortgages would be available for Palestinians on
modest incomes, whose payments would then finance further construction.
Instead, building costs rose to 33,000 pounds for each apartment, 80%
more than planned, due to split-level construction, entry phone systems
and expensive lifts. This made them "inaccessible to the layer of
population for which they were planned and has instead allowed
well-to-do people, who were not targeted, to benefit from EU aid", said
the auditors.
Compounding the scandal, some of these affluent beneficiaries made low
down payments - as little as 1,000 pounds, instead of the 20% required -
and many are not keeping up their mortgage payments. "The degree of
repayment of the loans on the part of the buyers in the Gaza Strip is
zero," said the auditors.
The aid programme is under the control of Manuel Marin, the Spanish
commissioner for EU relations with the Middle East, who is already
facing widespread criticism over his handling of fraud allegations in
the EU's humanitarian aid budget when he was aid commissioner.
The scandal has emerged as Britain prepares to announce in Washington
tomorrow a doubling of aid to the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Derek
Fatchett, the Foreign Office minister, will announce that more than 105m
pounds will be spent over the next three years, half through EU
programmes. More than 1.2 billion pounds has been given by all
international donors to the Palestinians in the past five years.
Fatchett said Britain had already voiced concerns to Arafat about
corruption involving aid and planned to use tomorrow's announcement to
demand much greater accountability and openness from the Palestinians.
"Anyone going to Gaza is struck by its poverty and disadvantage. It is
very important to ensure that the aid reaches those in the greatest
need," he said.
The Palestinian Authority's own auditors have already embarrassed Arafat
with an inquiry which showed that nearly 40% of his administration's
budget was misused or stolen through "kickbacks." The EU auditors warn
the same corruption could apply to money in its projects and demanded
"extreme vigilance".
They are also critical of EU funding for a new hospital in Gaza, which
was "not conceived correctly or run according to the principles of
efficiency". More than 14m pounds was handed over to build a "luxurious"
clinic which was far too lavish for local needs. "The cost of
maintaining and using this hospital will be well over the financial
means of this country," said the report.
BRITISH aid earmarked for poor Palestinians has been used by the
European Union to finance luxury flats - with Italian granite-fitted
designer kitchens - for rich supporters of Yasser Arafat.
The scandal has benefited a general, a police chief and other acolytes
of the Palestinian leader. The millions of pounds involved have been
written off by Brussels.
"In effect, $20m [12m pounds] has been spent without any economic
controls and is not recoverable," admit the EU's own auditors. At least
2m pounds of this sum was contributed by Britain.
The money had been targeted for cheap housing in the desperately poor
and overcrowded Gaza Strip and the West Bank areas controlled by the
Palestinians. Instead, according to a secret EU internal financial
control report, it was used for flats designed with "elegance and
luxury".
Ten of the apartment blocks were built opposite a refugee camp at
Nussairat, eight miles south of Gaza city. Each apartment is more than
100 square metres in size, with three bedrooms, a kitchen fitted with
polished wooden cupboards and granite work-surfaces, and a bathroom
complete with a large bath and shower area, decorated with either pink
or blue ceramic tiles. Satellite television dishes sprout from the
walls. The car parks are tightly packed with military vehicles and
expensive civilian cars bearing red number plates, which are issued only
to officials.
Palestinian sources said 90% of the EU flats had been given to
"returnees" - loyalists who had been in exile with Arafat and now served
in his administration. Three have been taken over by a Palestinian
brigadier-general, Mazan Iss Did. Another was taken by a police chief,
Tala Abo Zaidi. The Palestinian ministry of industry also controls two
flats.
The housing project was part of a 60m pound aid package for the
Palestinians announced after the Oslo peace accords with Israel. It has
been administered by the Palestinian housing authority, which has
refused to meet the EU auditors, according to their secret report.
The original plan was for a self-sustaining building programme: cheap
housing association mortgages would be available for Palestinians on
modest incomes, whose payments would then finance further construction.
Instead, building costs rose to 33,000 pounds for each apartment, 80%
more than planned, due to split-level construction, entry phone systems
and expensive lifts. This made them "inaccessible to the layer of
population for which they were planned and has instead allowed
well-to-do people, who were not targeted, to benefit from EU aid", said
the auditors.
Compounding the scandal, some of these affluent beneficiaries made low
down payments - as little as 1,000 pounds, instead of the 20% required -
and many are not keeping up their mortgage payments. "The degree of
repayment of the loans on the part of the buyers in the Gaza Strip is
zero," said the auditors.
The aid programme is under the control of Manuel Marin, the Spanish
commissioner for EU relations with the Middle East, who is already
facing widespread criticism over his handling of fraud allegations in
the EU's humanitarian aid budget when he was aid commissioner.
The scandal has emerged as Britain prepares to announce in Washington
tomorrow a doubling of aid to the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Derek
Fatchett, the Foreign Office minister, will announce that more than 105m
pounds will be spent over the next three years, half through EU
programmes. More than 1.2 billion pounds has been given by all
international donors to the Palestinians in the past five years.
Fatchett said Britain had already voiced concerns to Arafat about
corruption involving aid and planned to use tomorrow's announcement to
demand much greater accountability and openness from the Palestinians.
"Anyone going to Gaza is struck by its poverty and disadvantage. It is
very important to ensure that the aid reaches those in the greatest
need," he said.
The Palestinian Authority's own auditors have already embarrassed Arafat
with an inquiry which showed that nearly 40% of his administration's
budget was misused or stolen through "kickbacks." The EU auditors warn
the same corruption could apply to money in its projects and demanded
"extreme vigilance".
They are also critical of EU funding for a new hospital in Gaza, which
was "not conceived correctly or run according to the principles of
efficiency". More than 14m pounds was handed over to build a "luxurious"
clinic which was far too lavish for local needs. "The cost of
maintaining and using this hospital will be well over the financial
means of this country," said the report.
Thursday, 5 November 1998
British support for Palestine
Foulkes finds room at Gaza inn
GLASGOW HERALD November 5th, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
GEORGE Foulkes gave a significant boost to the growing momentum for a Palestinian state last night when he became the first British Government Minister to stay overnight in the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Foulkes, MP for Carrick, Cumnock, and Doon, was on a three-day visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in his capacity as Under- Secretary in the Department for International Development.
Speaking during a whirlwind tour of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, Mr Foulkes announced £9m in grants for projects designed to help the Palestinian Authority and ease the lives of under-privileged Palestinians.
GLASGOW HERALD November 5th, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
GEORGE Foulkes gave a significant boost to the growing momentum for a Palestinian state last night when he became the first British Government Minister to stay overnight in the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Foulkes, MP for Carrick, Cumnock, and Doon, was on a three-day visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in his capacity as Under- Secretary in the Department for International Development.
Speaking during a whirlwind tour of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, Mr Foulkes announced £9m in grants for projects designed to help the Palestinian Authority and ease the lives of under-privileged Palestinians.
Read full story HERE
Friday, 31 July 1998
Millennium kosher blues
A party is just not kosher
By Matthew Kalman
In Jerusalem Israeli officials and frustrated hoteliers are struggling with a cruel twist of calendrical fate: New Year's Eve 1999 falls on Friday evening, the Jewish Sabbath, when no music or entertainment is allowed. As the rest of the world, including mainly Muslim and Christian East Jerusalem, marks the countdown to the millennium in what promises to be the greatest party on earth, the Israeli rabbinate have decreed that predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem will be an island of tranquillity in the mad sea of celebration.
"They are talking about the possibility of millions of tourists coming here for the year 2000 but, because they will not be able to celebrate the most exciting holiday of the millennium in a public hall or a hotel in Jerusalem, where will they go to celebrate?" asks Mr Dvir. ''Bethlehem? Amman?"
Only in Jerusalem do the orthodox rabbinical authorities exercise such an iron grip on the observance of the Sabbath. Outside the Holy City, the rabbinate are content to monitor the kosher food served in hotels and restaurants while turning a blind eye to desecrations of the Sabbath such as discotheques. Elsewhere in Israel, Jews and non- Jews alike are expected to join the millennium madness. But in Jerusalem, any eaterie or public venue wishing to retain its kosher licence must adhere to strict Sabbath observance and agree not to mark any non-Jewish holidays, including New Year's Eve. The coincidence of December 31, 1999, with Friday night has left kosher hoteliers with little choice.
Full story HERE
Friday, 1 May 1998
ISRAEL AT 50
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalism.
A NEW ERA OF OPENNESS
When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the founding fathers envisaged a centralized economy based on agriculture and inspired by socialist Zionism. Today, however, many trademarks of the early economy have been swept away. Israel's high-tech sector is now driving economic growth, while privatization and reforms are transforming Israel into a free market economy. "We will continue to break down monopolies and deregulate," says Finance Minister Yaakov Neeman. "This will encourage growth, attract foreign investment, and benefit the Israeli public."
In the early 1990s, Israel enjoyed rapid growth, fueled by a wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union and by the Oslo peace process, which began in 1993. GDP climbed by an average of 6 percent between 1990 and 1995. The rate slowed to 4.5 percent analysts expect sluggish growth in 1996, 1.9 percent last year, and analysts expect sluggish growth in 1998.
Even though the peace process has been stalled for more than a year, foreign investment increased from $2.8 billion in 1996 to $3.7 billion in 1997. Recent terrorist attacks, however, have severely damaged Israel's tourism industry, which accounts for 3 percent of GDP, and sonic analysts warn that if diplomacy collapses, investors may disappear. Still, Israel's government remains upbeat. "Foreign investment will continue to flow," Neeman declares.
Foreign interest has focused on the financial services and technology sectors. According to the Bank of Israel, of total direct foreign investment of more than 100,000, some 46 percent was invested in financial services and another 36 percent in technology.
Investors did not seem deterred by last year's slowdown. The government blames the by downturn on the high budget deficit left its predecessors, which compelled it to rein in spending and the Batik of Israel to …
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalism.
A NEW ERA OF OPENNESS
When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the founding fathers envisaged a centralized economy based on agriculture and inspired by socialist Zionism. Today, however, many trademarks of the early economy have been swept away. Israel's high-tech sector is now driving economic growth, while privatization and reforms are transforming Israel into a free market economy. "We will continue to break down monopolies and deregulate," says Finance Minister Yaakov Neeman. "This will encourage growth, attract foreign investment, and benefit the Israeli public."
In the early 1990s, Israel enjoyed rapid growth, fueled by a wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union and by the Oslo peace process, which began in 1993. GDP climbed by an average of 6 percent between 1990 and 1995. The rate slowed to 4.5 percent analysts expect sluggish growth in 1996, 1.9 percent last year, and analysts expect sluggish growth in 1998.
Even though the peace process has been stalled for more than a year, foreign investment increased from $2.8 billion in 1996 to $3.7 billion in 1997. Recent terrorist attacks, however, have severely damaged Israel's tourism industry, which accounts for 3 percent of GDP, and sonic analysts warn that if diplomacy collapses, investors may disappear. Still, Israel's government remains upbeat. "Foreign investment will continue to flow," Neeman declares.
Foreign interest has focused on the financial services and technology sectors. According to the Bank of Israel, of total direct foreign investment of more than 100,000, some 46 percent was invested in financial services and another 36 percent in technology.
Investors did not seem deterred by last year's slowdown. The government blames the by downturn on the high budget deficit left its predecessors, which compelled it to rein in spending and the Batik of Israel to …
BANK HAPOALIM
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalim.
ISRAEL'S LEADING PROVIDER OF FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR Investors
Bank Hapoalim -- Israel's largest banking group, with 10 commercial banks, 364 branches and offices worldwide, and more than 50 subsidiaries active in all aspects of financial services -- is the country's leading supplier of services to foreign and domestic institutional investors, financial intermediaries, private investors, and issuers. In 1997 the Bank reported the largest …
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalim.
ISRAEL'S LEADING PROVIDER OF FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR Investors
Bank Hapoalim -- Israel's largest banking group, with 10 commercial banks, 364 branches and offices worldwide, and more than 50 subsidiaries active in all aspects of financial services -- is the country's leading supplier of services to foreign and domestic institutional investors, financial intermediaries, private investors, and issuers. In 1997 the Bank reported the largest …
Sunday, 15 March 1998
Blonde ready for fun in Knesset
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
THE face of Israeli politics may never look the same again. After 50 years of leadership by battle-scarred generals and stony-faced ex- underground fighters, the latest person to declare the formation of a new political party is Pnina Rosenblum, a platinum blonde ex- model, who will probably have to be taken a lot more seriously than her credentials suggest.
She was Israel's most famous fashion model, painted by Salvador Dali and popularly known as the "breasts of the nation". Despite a miserable birthright she is one of the most determined and successful women the country has ever seen. Now 43, with two children, Rosenblum is proprietor and chief executive of a huge …
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
THE face of Israeli politics may never look the same again. After 50 years of leadership by battle-scarred generals and stony-faced ex- underground fighters, the latest person to declare the formation of a new political party is Pnina Rosenblum, a platinum blonde ex- model, who will probably have to be taken a lot more seriously than her credentials suggest.
She was Israel's most famous fashion model, painted by Salvador Dali and popularly known as the "breasts of the nation". Despite a miserable birthright she is one of the most determined and successful women the country has ever seen. Now 43, with two children, Rosenblum is proprietor and chief executive of a huge …
Peace, love and knitwear
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER nuns kissing, horses copulating and Aids victims dying, you might think there was no subject under the sun left to faze the average Benetton shopper. Well then, think again. Oliviero Toscani, the image-making mastermind behind the Italian clothing giant, has turned his attention to one of the most intractable problems of the 20th century: the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In Israel - a country well used to passionate debate and violent confrontation - Toscani revealed his latest work to an enthusiastic audience last week, and casually compared himself to Picasso and the Renaissance painters. But Picasso never had Toscani's gift for publicity. Within a week, his new oeuvre will be …
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER nuns kissing, horses copulating and Aids victims dying, you might think there was no subject under the sun left to faze the average Benetton shopper. Well then, think again. Oliviero Toscani, the image-making mastermind behind the Italian clothing giant, has turned his attention to one of the most intractable problems of the 20th century: the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In Israel - a country well used to passionate debate and violent confrontation - Toscani revealed his latest work to an enthusiastic audience last week, and casually compared himself to Picasso and the Renaissance painters. But Picasso never had Toscani's gift for publicity. Within a week, his new oeuvre will be …
Monday, 9 March 1998
Bennetton pays lip service to conflict
THE INDEPENDENT
March 9, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER snogging nuns, copulating horses and dying Aids victims, the latest Benetton catalogue is expected to arouse its usual level of controversy.
Titled "Enemies", its cover features 24-year-old Israeli student Enyar Lazarus passionately kissing her Bedouin boyfriend, Musa Mazareb, 22. Inside are pictures of Arabs and Jews playing, loving and working together. It will be distributed by Newsweek and a network of publications around the globe in six million copies and 14 different languages.
"If journalists would be artists, and if politicians would be artists, probably the world would be different," said Benetton creative director Olivero Toscani, launching the catalogue …
March 9, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER snogging nuns, copulating horses and dying Aids victims, the latest Benetton catalogue is expected to arouse its usual level of controversy.
Titled "Enemies", its cover features 24-year-old Israeli student Enyar Lazarus passionately kissing her Bedouin boyfriend, Musa Mazareb, 22. Inside are pictures of Arabs and Jews playing, loving and working together. It will be distributed by Newsweek and a network of publications around the globe in six million copies and 14 different languages.
"If journalists would be artists, and if politicians would be artists, probably the world would be different," said Benetton creative director Olivero Toscani, launching the catalogue …
Sunday, 1 March 1998
Israeli outsider in the hunt for top job
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
March 1, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
SHAUL Amor, a 57-year-old former social worker, will make history in Israel on Wednesday when he becomes the first person to challenge a serving president seeking a second term. The presidency, bestowed by a secret ballot of the 120 members of the Israeli Knesset, is largely a ceremonial position, but there is considerable excitement because the outcome is too close to call.
Amor has a good chance of beating the unpredictable, somewhat eccentric and massively popular president Ezer Weizman to become the first Israeli leader drawn from what he calls "the second Israel", of oriental Jews from North Africa and the Arab countries.
Two months ago, Weizman expected automatic …
March 1, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
SHAUL Amor, a 57-year-old former social worker, will make history in Israel on Wednesday when he becomes the first person to challenge a serving president seeking a second term. The presidency, bestowed by a secret ballot of the 120 members of the Israeli Knesset, is largely a ceremonial position, but there is considerable excitement because the outcome is too close to call.
Amor has a good chance of beating the unpredictable, somewhat eccentric and massively popular president Ezer Weizman to become the first Israeli leader drawn from what he calls "the second Israel", of oriental Jews from North Africa and the Arab countries.
Two months ago, Weizman expected automatic …
Friday, 11 November 1994
Be my bagel tonight
THE INDEPENDENT
November 11, 1994
By Matthew Kalman
Late night Saturday on the Golders Green Road. The pavement is packed with gossiping teenagers, Carmelli's bakery is doing a brisk trade in smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels. Inside Bloom's restaurant there is hardly an empty seat. Every few minutes, a police car cruises by encouraging the most persistent double-parkers to move on.
We are present at a vital weekly social ritual for Jewish teenagers. No drugs, no alcohol; nothing more intoxicating than catching up on the week's news with friends.
Before 11pm, the street was empty. Then the first wave arrives on their way home from the cinema, parties or clubs, staying as late as buses or their parents will …
November 11, 1994
By Matthew Kalman
Late night Saturday on the Golders Green Road. The pavement is packed with gossiping teenagers, Carmelli's bakery is doing a brisk trade in smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels. Inside Bloom's restaurant there is hardly an empty seat. Every few minutes, a police car cruises by encouraging the most persistent double-parkers to move on.
We are present at a vital weekly social ritual for Jewish teenagers. No drugs, no alcohol; nothing more intoxicating than catching up on the week's news with friends.
Before 11pm, the street was empty. Then the first wave arrives on their way home from the cinema, parties or clubs, staying as late as buses or their parents will …
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