Tel Aviv Rooftop

Palestinians surveying the wreckage It's been a while since I posted a blog, part of the reason being a very welcome family visit. During this time, the bits of news that filtered through the family fun focussed on the growing debate over the necessity of a military operation against Hamas in Gaza. This reached a new peak on Wednesday about 80 rockets were fired into Israel . By Friday, the media were reporting that the decision had been taken to undertake a limited military operation with "defined goals". Yesterday at about 11 a.m. we started to hear 100 planes bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in a "shock and awe" opeation that came earlier than everyone expected. You can get an idea of what Gaza looks like here . This morning there was a second air strike and the the death toll in Gaza is approaching the 300 mark. Unclear how many were civilians and how many were armed. The reports that I've heard talk of overflowing hospitals, a complete breakdown

On my Sunday morning bike through Yaffo this morning I heard (on the radio/phone) that the government had decided to block a ship carrying humanitarian supplies for Gaza from sailing from Yaffo port. The ship was sponsored by the Israeli Arab community (the Islamic Movement according to Ha'aretz) and nearly all Arab members of Knesset were supposed to have been on board. Since I was nearby, I decided to take a look. It wasn't hard to pick out the knot of cameramen around the grounded MKs. On the sidelines, I heard one worried man saying that the police had confiscated his ship last night. The man in the middle with the grey beard (click pic to enlarge) and the scarf is Sheikh Riyad Saleh, formerly the mayor of Um el Fahem and today the leader of the main wing of Islamic Movement in Israel. To his right, in a sweater, is Knesset member Mohamad Barakeh, who leads the secular/communist mainly Arab Hadash party. Since the ship had been whisked away by the authorities, this was obv

Saw Rufus Wainright at the Mann Auditorium (heychal hatarbut) which is the home of the Israel Philharmonic. Rufus, who gave us a terrific show - his songs an amalgum of campy pop, classical, Broadway and folk - seemed (strangely) a bit overawed by the respectable surroundings. Hasn't he ever played in a concert hall before? Anyway, he did a lot of rapping with the audience, and seemed to be having a good time in Tel Aviv. He was open and friendly and the crowd, which included a large contingent from the local gay community, lapped him up. He also brought out his mum, Kate McGarrigle - the Kate half of Kate and Anna McGarrigle - who has a great voice and seemed like a feisty lady. I used to be a fan of Rufus' dad, Loudon Wainwright III, who by the looks of his website is still going strong. I remember, through the mists of time, seeing him in concert, circa 1969, at Manchester University where he sang his big hit 'Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road". I heard him say o