tonight the people of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba cannot say “Shevua Tov” (have a good week) at the end of Shabbat. They are under a blitz of rockets from Gaza. Hamas has taken responsibility claiming the rockets are because Israel dared to seek the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks in the South whereby 7 Israelis…

19th August 2011 Shabbat shalom dear friends. Shabbat shalom from Israel, still reeling from the horror of what happened yesterday, last night and this morning. The facts are easy, detailed extremely well in this article from Ynetnews http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4110938,00.html , but it isn’t about facts. There is nothing even remotely logical about our situation, nothing that our Western…

Two buses were attacked today on the road near Eilat. The first bus attacked was full of young soldiers on their way back to base. There were also officers on board who got everyone ot lie down and the Egged bus driver saved lives because he simply kept driving despite the shootings. Another bus was…

110812 12th August 2011 Shabbat shalom dear friends. I hope this letter finds you well and that you had a good week. Britain is a wonderful country. It is the home of true democracy which then disseminated throughout the Western World. It was in Britain that the anti-slavery campaign began by act of Parliament in…

110804 4th August 2011 Shabbat shalom dear friends. I hope you are well. Israel’s social demonstrations are taking a very different turn to those of the Arab Spring. Our demonstrations are an expression of our democratic right to complain! Students for whom accommodation is too expensive, young couple who cannot find affordable housing and families…

110729 29th August 2011 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Shabbat shalom to you and yours from Jerusalem. Jerusalem has been sweltering this week, from many aspects that do not include the weather! The tent cities, protesting the immense cost of both buying or renting apartments, have been growing. Their basic cause is a good one but…

110722 22nd July 2011 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. Isn’t is amazing how we are constantly surprised by life? Sometimes it is less pleasant and sometimes more but life is an adventure! As an Ex-Pat Brit, and a Jewish one at that, I learned that Lawrence of Arabia was just that – an out and out…

110715 15th July 2011 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope you are well and that you had a good week. So much has happened since our last conversation but I chose to talk about the beautiful things we did this week rather than world news. One event which warmed my heart however was the declaration…

110708 8th July 2011 Shabbat Shalom to you all and a special big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my son Gideon. Only one year til the Gideon Saul book. This week Israeli news broadcasts are all about the ‘mashat’ – the flotilla from morning to night. Turkey and Greece decided that they would not allow the flotilla…

110701 1st July 2011 Shabbat Shalom dear friends. I hope this weeks letter finds you well and happy. Two days ago I did something I have never done before; I took the face of a grown man in my hands and simply said “Thank you”. The grown man in question was retiring Chairman of the…