In the Press

While Israel gets a lot of press coverage, we don’t often get to glimpse ordinary life beyond the headlines. Sometimes, however, the media does expose some of the hidden aspects of Israeli culture. We’ve collected some of these articles below for your edification and enjoyment.

Travel

• Best City Nominees: Tel Aviv (Wallpaper – January 2009)
  “The world’s first modern Jewish city, Tel Aviv celebrates its centenary next year.”
• The New Buzz: Tel Aviv (Ynet News – December 2008)
  “It is somewhat out of the ordinary for the New York Times Travel section to devote three feature articles to a single city within a three-month span. It would be even more surprising if the pieces focused on a city other than the world’s established tourist capitals. Yet, it has happened – to Tel Aviv.”
• Breaking Barriers Through Tourism (New York Times Travel – November 2008)
• Eclectic Avenues: Tel Aviv (Financial Times – November 2008)
  “South Tel Aviv’s Yehuda Halevi Street is an exercise in urban ­aesthetic contrasts.”
• Readers’ Choice Awards (Condé Nast Traveler – November 2008)
  Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel gets awarded top hotel in Africa and the Middle East.
• Israel From Cliff Top to Desert Bottom (New York Times Travel – September 2008)
• My Tel Aviv (Nextbook – September 2008)
  A stroll through the city.
• Oasis in the Desert (American Way – September 2008)
  Beyond the headlines, a surprisingly eclectic Israel awaits.
• Electric Tel Aviv (Financial Times – August 2008)
  “Just as in Manhattan, where the Meatpacking District rose from derelict industrial landscape to chic shopping centre, so, too, in Tel Aviv the Gan HaHashmal (“Electric Garden” in Hebrew) area, a former red-light district, has become the city’s most compelling destination.”
• Evening in Jerusalem (New York Times Magazine – August 2008)
  “I was her eldest grandson and her first grandchild to marry, but when I went to Jerusalem in August 2001, it had been 14 years since I last saw my grandmother. We almost didn’t go.”
• Go Out With the Old in Tel Aviv (New York Magazine – August 2008)
  “Since the White City was named a UNESCO World Heritage site, gorgeous historic buildings from the Ottoman and Bauhaus era have been repurposed as fabulous hotels, eateries, boutiques, and design museums.”
• Seizing the Day in Tel Aviv (New York Times Travel – July 2008)
  “There’s room for everyone in Tel Aviv… Tel Aviv is a home at the end of the world. Celebrating its 100th year in 2009, the capital of Mediterranean cool has been getting more and more practice at being a host over the years, and it’s starting to show.”
• Living History (Continental Magazine – June 2008)
  “Like many visitors to Israel these days, I’m here as a would-be adventurer rather than a pilgrim or student. Think Walter Mitty meets Indiana Jones.”
• Tel Aviv Modern (Travel + Leisure – Juy 2008)
  “An influx of wealth, progressive culture, and world-class cuisine is reshaping this resilient Mediterranean metropolis.”
• Massage, Not Work, on the Kibbutz in Israel (New York Times – June 2008)
  “My partner, Ian, and I were looking for someplace more authentic to stay, someplace more Israel and less Hilton. We certainly didn’t want to spend a small fortune…And so, at our friend’s suggestion, we found ourselves in a two-room cottage with a small porch, a tiny blue cotton couch, an old-school television set and a large functional bathroom at Kibbutz Haon, steps from the Sea of Galilee.
• Amid the Turmoil of Israel, Guesthouses Offer Hospitality (Washington Post – June 2008)
  “Ever since a friend and I had arrived in Israel three days before, we’d been looking for something this land of flashpoints and falafel isn’t exactly known for: down-home hospitality. But as Israel turns 60 this summer, something unexpected has happened: The country has quietly been shedding its image of yore — think “sabra,” the prickly desert pear after which native-born Israeli Jews are nicknamed — and brushing up on hospitality. Israel is now home to a booming cottage industry of zimmers — part bed-and-breakfast, part home stay — run by everyday Israelis.”
• Mizpe Hayamim (Travel + Leisure – June 2008)
  “For a tiny country like Israel, it’s a long, dusty way by car (nearly four hours) from Jerusalem to the eastern slopes of Mount Canaan, and, having gotten lost on the road as my sister, who lives in Jerusalem, squabbled over directions with her daughter, we were all a bit grumpy. That mood wore off almost the minute we stepped through Mizpe Hayamim’s doors and inhaled the smell of jasmine and honeysuckle.”
• Tel Aviv’s Upscale Revolution (Town & Country Travel – February 2008)
  “[Tel Aviv] continues to become more upscale, a trend that won’t halt anytime soon.”
• What’s New in Tel Aviv (Travel + Leisure – March 2008)
  “Tel Aviv is more accessible than ever. And stylish hotels, restaurants, and shops are helping put the city in the international spotlight.”

Food/Wine

• Everyday Food of Israel: On the Hummus Hunt (Food & Wine – May 2008)
  “A Philadelphia chef explores the everyday, everyman’s food of Israel—kebabs, eggplant salads, hummus—searching for the best versions to bring back to America”
• Passover’s Modern Muse (Washington Post – April 2008)
  “My influences are representative of the Israeli melting pot,” Guttman, 39, says with understatement. “My father is from Baghdad, my mother was born in Israel, my grandmother’s Polish. And I like to cook regional foods from the Middle East that have bold flavors and fresh ingredients. That is what’s happening in the Tel Aviv food scene, too.”
• Heavenly Wines from the Holy Land (BusinessWeek – March 2008)
  “Wine has been made in the Holy Land for millennia, but Israel’s wineries are getting better all the time, and some are superb.”
• Israel’s Winemaking Revolution (BusinessWeek – January 2008)
  “International consumers used to shun Israeli wines, but Golan Heights Winery managed to create a market for world-class wines—and retool an industry.”

Culture

• On the Big Screen, Where All the Arabs Are Israeli (Newsweek – December 2008)
  “Anyone watching HBO’s ongoing miniseries “House of Saddam” surely must be struck by the lead actor’s resemblance to the late Iraqi dictator. Me? I was struck by something else: his Israeli accent.”
• The Top Ten Films (New York Magazine – December 2008)
  Waltz With Bashir makes the cut!
• Drawing it Out: Waltz with Bashir (TIME – November 2008)
  “Film director Ari Folman is probably the only man in Israel whose cartoon image is better known than his real face.”
• ‘Scrubs’ star Zach Braff falls in love with Tel Aviv (Haaretz, November 2008)
• The Hebrew School (New York Times Travel Magazine – Winter 2008)
  In Tel Aviv, a new movement in contemporary art takes off.
• Is Tel Aviv Ready to Crash the Global Art Party? (New York Times Travel – November 2008)
• “The Murder of the Terminal Patient” (New York Times – Ongoing)
  “Cartoons by Rutu Modan”
• Meet Meital Dohan (Playboy – July 2008)
  “You know Meital Dohan best as the seductive rabbinical Yael Hoffman in the hit Showtime series Weeds, but the Israeli actress has a long history in her native country playing complex characters in award-winning roles.”
• Who Exports the Most TV to the U.S.? (Newsweek – July 2008)
• To This Day (New Yorker – July 2008)
  “Published in 1952 and now translated into English for the first time, Agnon’s final novel presents an eccentric tour through First World War Berlin.”
• Summer Evening by the Window with Psalms (New Yorker – July 2008)
  “A poem by Yehuda Amichai”
• Ethiopian Exodus, Told on a Human Scale (New York Times – May 2008)
  “Israel has no shortage of immigration stories, but many Americans are unaware of the Ethiopian Jews who in the late 1970s and 1980s braved a trek through the Sudanese desert to reach it. Yossi Vassa, an actor-playwright who survived that journey, has written, with Shai Ben Attar (who directs), a semiautobiographical account, “One of a Kind,” now at the New Victory Theater. The 65-minute production, for audiences 10 and older, manages to infuse its potentially harrowing tale with a childlike vigor, wonder and sense of humor, spiced with exuberant African music and dance.”
• Waltz with Bashir (Time Out New York – May 2008)
  “With the release earlier this year of The Band’s Visit and Jellyfish, there’s been talk about the renaissance of Israeli cinema. Ari Folman’s animated doc, about uncovering his own repressed traumatic memories from fighting in the Lebanon wars of the early ’80s, confirms that hopeful assessment.”
• Israel is the New Britain for TV Show Ideas (New York Post – May 2008)
  “Israel is emerging as the Promised Land for TV show ideas.”
• Bitter Young Things (New York Times – May 2008)
  “The Israeli writer Etgar Keret is a genius, although it’s not entirely apparent in “The Girl on the Fridge,” his new story collection.”
• Hollywood Salutes the Jews (Gawker – May 2008)
  “Hollywood stars gathered (electronically) in Times Square Tuesday to celebrate the 60th birthday of one of their dearest friends—the nation of Israel!”
• Israel on Broadway (Heeb – May 2008)
  “Word on the street (Broadway, that is) is that a host of Hollywood heavies will be appearing on video in Times Square offering their birthday wishes to the greatest national comeback story of all time.”
• Art of News- Tel Aviv (Monocle – February 2008)
  “Schocken’s constantly rotating array of more than 2,000 works is the most significant private collection of contemporary Israeli art in the world.”
• Julian Schnabel to Bring Peace to the Middle East (New York Magazine – February 2008)
  “Add selfless and noble to the list of things we love about Julian Schnabel. The Schnab is going to Israel in June, partly to scout locations for a movie based on a book by Israeli-Palestinian author Rula Jebreal, but also to be an envoy of peace.”

Business/Economy

• Rating the Best European Young Entrepreneurs (BusinessWeek – November 2008)
  “Nominees come from all corners of the region, including Sweden, Denmark, Britain, the Netherlands, and Israel.”
• Electronics Giants to Create Wireless HD Standard (Associated Press – August 2008)
  “In the new consortium, Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., along with Motorola Inc., Sharp Corp. and Hitachi Ltd., will develop an industry standard around technology from Amimon Ltd. of Israel called WHDI, for Wireless Home Digital Interface.”
• Teva Buys Drug Rival, Barr, for $7.46 Billion (New York Times – July 2008)
  Teva Pharmaceutical Industries said Friday that it would buy a rival generic drug maker, Barr Pharmaceuticals, for $7.46 billion to expand in both the United States and Europe.
• Best Countries for Business – #16 Israel (Forbes.com – June 2008)
  ” Israel has a technologically advanced market economy… Israel’s GDP has grown by about 5% per year since 2003. The economy grew an estimated 5.4% in 2007, the fastest pace since 2000. The government’s prudent fiscal policy and structural reforms over the past few years have helped to induce strong foreign investment, tax revenues, and private consumption, setting the economy on a solid growth path.”
• Israel’s 60th Anniversary (CNBC – May 2008)
  “Discussing Tel Aviv stocks and Israeli stocks trading in the U.S.”
• A Conversation with Yossi Vardi (BusinessWeek – January 2008)
  “Yossi Vardi is known as Israel’s startup guru. For nearly 40 years he has helped to found and nurture over 60 companies in industries that include software, Internet, telecommunications, and energy.”
• Best Face Forward (AdWeek – March 2008)
  “How Israel, approaching 60, is rebranding itself to attract more visitors”

Sports

• Swimsuit Issue 2009 Cover Model is Israel’s Bar Rafaeli (Sports Illustrated – February 2009)
  Also featured in TIME and Vanity Fair.
• Arroyo Signs Three-Year Contract to Play for Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv (ESPN.com – August 2008)
  Another established NBA free agent is heading overseas. Veteran point guard Carlos Arroyo, whose future with the Orlando Magic appeared to vanish after limited minutes in the playoffs and the Magic’s recent signing of Anthony Johnson, has accepted an offer from Israeli giants Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
• Israel’s Finest Reveling in their Role as Country’s Athletic Ambassadors (ESPN.com – March 2008)
  “For the three Israeli athletes — recent Australian Open doubles champions Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, and top 20-ranked Shahar Peer — fulfilling their naturally appointed role as Israeli world ambassadors is all pleasure and never a burden.”
• Surfing the Middle East (Outside – February 2008)
  “With Kelly Slater as his chief ambassador, SoCal surf legend Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz had a plan to teach the kids of Israel and Palestine how to get barreled—and bring peaceful vibes to the Middle East along the way. ‘If you can surf together, you can live together,’ he says. ‘Making this happen has become one of the most important moments in my life.’”

Science

• Israeli archaeologists find rare gold coins (CNN.com – December 2008)
• A Stitch Whose Time Has Come (Economist – December 2008)
  Israelis discover that a protein extracted from cows’ blood could provide the best answer yet to the age-old question of how to sew up wounds.
• Heroes of the Environment 2008 (TIME – November 2008)
  “Shai Agassi is part scientist, part visionary, with a lot of salesman thrown in. And he thinks big. By 2011, the Israeli-born entrepreneur wants to have 5,000 electric cars on the nation’s roads.”
• Study Fuels Low-Fat vs. Low-Carb Debate (Wall Street Journal – August 2008)
  “Overweight people on low-carbohydrate and Mediterranean diets lost more weight and got greater cardiovascular benefits than people on a conventional low-fat diet, according to a study [conducted in Israel] that endorses alternative diets published in a major medical journal.”
• Tummy’s Taste For Red Wine With Red Meat (Science Daily – July 2008)
  “What happens when red wine meets red meat? If the rendezvous happens in the stomach, scientists in Israel are reporting, wine’s bounty of healthful chemical compounds may thwart formation of harmful substances released during digestion of fat in the meat.”
• Israel’s LabPixies Offers Highly Awesome Widgets (Washington Post – June 2008)
  “Tel Aviv, Israel based LabPixies, which was founded in March 2006, was one of the early players in the exploding widget space. They’ve stayed small and focused on building really useful or really entertaining widgets, and have mostly kept a low profile. And while you may not have heard of the company, you’ll probably have heard of at least one of the widgets they’ve built, such as the official New York Times crossword widget. “
• Researchers Confirm Age of “Methuselah” Tree (Reuters – June 2008)
  “Israeli researchers who grew a sapling from a date seed found at the ancient fortress Masada said on Thursday the seed was about 2,000 years old and may help restore a species of biblical trees.”
• Solar Balloons to Power Remote Areas? (Reuters – April 2008)
  “Giant solar energy balloons floating high in the air may be a cheap way to provide electricity to areas lacking the land and infrastructure needed for traditional power systems, researchers in Israel say.”

Equality

• Israel Ranks Highest in Middle East for Gender Equality (TIME – November 2008)
• Destinations: When in Tel Aviv… (OUT – April 2008)
  “Considering that it’s barely 60 years old, Israel has become quite gay quite quickly, and nowhere more so than in Tel Aviv, its boy- and Bauhaus-filled commercial, cultural and culinary capital.”
• Gay Adoption Rights Expanded in Israel (About.com – February 2008)
  “Gay adoption rights have been expanded in Israel. We must adapt to the spirit of the times and the changes that are afoot.”

A Light Among the Nations

• A Million Olive Trees to Make Indian Desert Bloom for Farmers (Times of London – May 2008)
  The desert of Rajasthan in the north of India is to be planted with a million olive trees grown in Israel in an effort to transform the landscape and the fortunes of its struggling farmers.
• An Unlikely Refuge (Guardian – March 2008)
  Hundreds of Muslims who have fled Darfur are rebuilding their lives in Israel.