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Today, like millions of people in the world, I walked to defend our democracies' values. I took the streets in Périgueux having decorated my bag with the words "Je Suis Charlie" especially for the occasion. This walk meant so many different things to me. People walked to honour the memory of the 17 victims of different terrorist attacks, to show the world they care, to defend freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of cult, people stood together as one in Paris and several other cities in France and the world. Today millions of people were Charlie. As well as regular citizens, 50 country representatives joined the French president, François Hollande, in Paris to show their support to France. Among them were representatives of Greece, Israel, Algeria, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, the Emirates, all of which walked arm in arm in the name of Freedom of speech. All day in the press I heard no mention of the 12 Palestinian journalists who died in the last 4 weeks in ...

Le journaliste israélien et ancien diplomate Gil Kessary a aujourd'hui publié un article sur le Huffington Post en français, qui essaye de savoir ce qui se passerait si la Belgique attaquait le Nord de la France comme Gaza attaque le Sud d'Israël : "Essayons d'imaginer un instant un scénario utopique: le nord de la France est attaqué par des dizaines de roquettes en provenance de Belgique, forçant les habitants à se réfugier dans des abris; des avions français ripostent en bombardant des sites des responsables, à savoir une organisation terroriste flamande; les Pays Bas condamnent la France tout comme le fait la communauté internationale." Il explique alors que ce scénario n'est pas spécialement utopique et que cette situation est bien réelle en Israël : "Utopique? Pas forcément si l'on tire des parallèles: remplaçons la France par Israël, la Belgique par Gaza, l'organisation flamande par le Djihad Islamiste, les Pays-Bas par l'...

I currently live in the German Colony of Jerusalem, it's south-east of the city. Right now the numerous muezzins are calling for prayer "Allaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah w'Akbar!", it feels very unreal sometimes. Sometimes it feels like thousands of people are crying at the same time, desperate. Sometimes it feels serene, calm, hopeful and peaceful. In the part of the neighbourhood I am in, most people find it invasive. They believe Arabs do it on purpose to bother them. That's what people have told me how they feel about it anyway. Down the streets begin the Arab part of the city, all the way to the wall. That famous separation wall I can see from my bedroom window. I stare at it. My bedroom window view. When the weather allows it you can see the mountains in the background. It's not rare to hear gunshots. And on Fridays, there are usually weddings, fireworks, it makes me want to go party with them. I think I might go crash a wedding in the next three mo...

Je suis peine. Combien de personnes auront partagé ce texte de Florian Henin sur les réseaux sociaux ? Combien de personnes se sont dit « bien dit ! » ? Florian Henin qui fait des amalgames et qui n’a sûrement pas entendu parler de cet Anversois (blanc) qui a tué une jeune nounou (noire) et ce bébé de deux ans à peine dans la rue. Il n’est sûrement jamais allé à Jérusalem dans le quartier Orthodoxe o ù les enfants jettent des pierres sur les passant seraient-ils un tant soit peu découverts et s’en donnent à cœur joie et à Hébron ce ne sont pas les touristes qui sont visés mais les Palestiniens (Arabes et sans doute Musulmans). Tu te souviens l’été passé, il y a eu des émeutes en Grande-Bretagne. Sur les vidéos, on pouvait voir des blancs (athées ?)voler un noir, blessé, gisant au sol, en prétendant l’aider. Dans mon quartier de Preston, il y a des Pakistanais (Musulmans) et des blancs (athées). Quand les blancs arrivent, je te promets, tu...

I am probably getting boring going on about Jerusalem in every single post... I shall change the subject soon. This shall be my last post about Jerusalem before I go on to other places such as Masada, Ein Gedi, Yam HaMelakh (The Sea of Salt aka the Dead Sea), Haifa, etc. somewhere near the tomb of King David. Near King David's tomb, I met an old guide, and again, I told him I had no money but he still wanted to show me around eventhough he was a real guide. It was a little late and I already had plans so he told me to meet him at Sha'ar Zion at 10am the next morning. So I went back the next morning and he was late so I sat waiting. Some people obviously working there started asking me who I was waiting for so I described the man. They got all worried when they identified him. "Are you sure?", "did he bother you?" "did he do anything to you?" and so on... I got a little worried when I finally saw him arrive but I made sure we stayed in cro...

Where was I? On my way to Jerusalem. Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, one hour by bus. I was never so happy to take a bus. During my trip I kept coming back to this magnificent, so unique city. After just two days, I knew my way around the old city which still had plenty of secrets for me to discover, but at least I knew where to go. This city... it just made me feel like no other city never had. The history behind it, the legends, the atmosphere, everything just attracted me like a very strong magnet. The view from my hostel rooftop. It felt so great. I won't tell you about what there is to see in Jerusalem because that is what travel guides are for and they probably have a better idea, I'm just going to talk about my experience of Jerusalem. A hello here, a hello there as I walked the hundreds of year old steps of the Old City, as sellers were trying to get my attention and eventually my money. I never stopped. I was not there to buy made in china souvenirs, I was t...

This new year 5772 starts beautifully as Gilad Shalit is to be freed in the next few days, announced the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu,  just a few hours ago. After years of negotiations, Israel and Hamas have finally found an accord to release Gilad. "@IsraeliPM (The PM of Israel)  We have concluded ardeous negotiations with #Hamas to release #Gilad #Shalit. He will be coming home in the next few days" the PM tweeted. In July, we celebrated the fifth anniversary of Gilad's abduction by the Hamas on Israeli grounds, now, he will be coming back home to his mother. "@IsraeliPM (The PM of Israel)   the agreement to release #Shalit was signed in initials last Thursday and today was signed formally by the two parties"

Erev tove le'kulam! I got to Massada in the evening of the third day of the week (I adapted to the hebrew week, it's better) and went to bed very early as I woke up at 4am to ascent Massada and be in time for the sunrise! Man, that was painful! I thought I wasn't in shape anymore, it was only a little hike, at some point I nearly fainted because of the heat and my blood pressure getting higher from the exercising... I didn't. I got to the top, saw the sunrise, visited for a bit and went down again. I think I deserve a medal! The receptionist is staring at me and there is a fly attacking me. Great. Then the same morning I left to stop at Ein Gedi where I went to the beach and floated in the Dead Sea next to a few tourists left for about 5 minutes and then decided it wasn't for me. This morning afer a big hummus breakfast I left and went hiking in the Judean desert. I lsted 6 hours with a liter and cream. I have a shoulder burnt but let me tell you it was wor...

This morning I am leaving Jerusalem to go Rishon Lezion. After I shall go to Masada and Ein Gedi to see what the nature has to offer there. I heard the hostel in Masada have a couple of camping spots on top of the cliff and I hope they have tents to go with them because sleeping there should be awesome! There is a 4-5 hour long hike to do in Ein Gedi in which you have to be very careful and listen for rushes of water. If you hear water, you should start climbing. That definitely on my list of things to even above swimming in the Iam HaMelach (the sea of salt aka the Dead Sea) in which, I've heard, I shouldn't bathe more than 20 minutes otherwise I will dry up. So that is my program for the next few days. On Friday I will be back in Jerusalem, I will have Shabbat dinner with an orthodox family, it is more or less arranged, and then on Saturday I should go to Palestine as my first attempt didn't go as planned or should I say, was an epic fail. On Sunday, I am hesitati...

Saba el'kheir! Boker tov! I was going to go to Palestine this morning but my friend Zayd's car broke down so I will come back to Jerusalem after my Rishon LeZion/Dead Sea/Masada/Ein Gedi tour so we can go. So today I have no idea what I will do, I will have to pull my travel guide out and look for a thing to do, it'll probably be the Temple Mount. I am really looking forward to see Palestine, I think you pass by it if you're in Jerusalem. Many tourists don't go and miss out on a lot of things, be them the awesomely nice and generous people, the beautiful wonders of Palestine, or just facing the reality. My camera is ready! Aight, I've got a long day ahead of me. Farewell!