It is good to be home after 3 1/2 weeks in Israel and on an Israeli cruise vessel that went from Haifa to the Greek Isles and Italy.
Despite having been to Israel so many times,the most overiding cultural phenomonon that perhaps I never fully appreciated ,and that is the huge number of people smoking cigarettes.
Young and old, religious and secular not only do people smoke,including next to young children, but think nothing is wrong.
I do not recall seeing any posters in the public arena warning about the dangers of cigarettes.Nor did restaurants etc have non-smokong areas.
The response so far of the Obama administration to the UN report on Iran ( as well as their own intelligence) has been tepid and will not solve the problem-unless they go for the oil jugular.Yes it might cause oil prices to rise ,but that is a lesser price than a nuclear Iran.
The "closed-mic" comments of Obama-and Sarkozy should not be a suuprise.Obama can never fogive Bibi for standing tall and for putting him in his place in the Oval office meeting-on air.
