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Israeli Lawyer Fights Palestinian ‘Lawfare’
Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:07:22 +0000

Activist attorney, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, of the Shurat Hadin Law Center talks with Dave Bender about what is increasingly being used as a courtroom cudgel against the Jewish State: “Lawfare,” and how she’s taking the legal battle against Israel to it’s foes.

“Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle” co-author, Saul Singer talks with Dave Bender about the recent Jerusalem Conference, and what America can learn from Israeli hi-tech business prowess.

Chad Harley, Founder and CEO of YouTube, presented Israeli President Shimon Peres with a plaque featuring original coding for the YouTube site, and the two discussed opportunities for using YouTube as a tool to foster free expression towards achieving peace. Peres talked about the potential for peace talks with Syria and related Middle East issues. The [...]

Now that Atlanta candidates Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed are in a runoff to see who will be the city’s next mayor, the challenge for the candidates will be to sustain voter interest in the race.

It’s been a bright, clear day for voters in the area. Officials at two Atlanta polling stations say turnout was moderate; but those who came to cast a ballot knew exactly why they were there. Dave Bender reports for WABE 90.1 FM. Officials at Dekalb County’s Briar Vista and Fulton County’s Morningside Elementary schools say voters [...]

A week of events celebrating Gay Pride 2009 culminated in a festive parade and concert in Atlanta’s Piedmont park on Sunday. Dave Bender was there for WABE 90.1 FM.

Against a background of water wars, drought, and flooding, Georgia state agencies and companies are meeting with water experts from Israel, who offer some solutions. (For WABE 90.1 FM).

Fervent supporters and opponents of a controversial immigration law faced off on a stormy Monday in Cobb County. (For WABE 90.1 FM) The competing groups are huddled against the pounding rain in two gazebos on opposite ends of Marietta Square. They’re here about Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement law, 287(g). The rule says police and sheriff’s departments [...]

Israel’s expertise in greening the desert with little water is legendary. Last year, Dave Bender spoke with officials at the 2008 Georgia Association of Water Professionals‘ annual confab. Keynote speaker, and water industry expert Avraham Israeli says if Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians can sit down and solve water issues - so can Georgia, Alabama and [...]

Solar power advocates want Georgians to use the sun to help meet the state’s growing energy needs. On Saturday, they’re showing off gear and on-site installations in Atlanta and statewide. Dave Bender reports for WABE 90.1 FM.

Four Atlanta mayoral candidates on Tuesday focused on the city’s proposed Beltline rail plan, in the latest of a series of public forums and debates. Dave Bender reports for WABE 90.1 FM.

Dekalb County officials held an emergency meeting Wednesday night to help flood-stricken residents: After the heavens poured out for five days, local residents responded in kind… Dave Bender was there. (For WABE 90.1 FM).

Candidates in Atlanta’s mayoralty race square off in a debate focusing on police and public safety. Much of the hour-long give-and-take among the four candidates hones in on the shootings and stickups, break-ins and rapes afflicting metro Atlanta. Dave Bender was there.

Atlanta supporters of President Barack Obama’s Congressional health care address, talk with Dave Bender at an open-air tv-rally.

Scott Shelar, head of the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia tells Dave Bender that good jobs and solid career choices abound in architecture and design, project management and construction in Georgia.

Georgia’s Center of Innovation for Manufacturing aims to foster growth and development among a wealth of Georgia businesses and service-providers. Dave Bender speak with two firms that are using that assistance to bring innovative products and services to the state. (For The Georgia Centers of Innovation)

[Georgia] Fourth District Democratic Congressman Hank Johnson chaired a standing-room-only health care townhall meeting Monday evening. Dave Bender reports. “I think we should stop thinking about what some politician wants or needs, and start thinking about what the majority of Americans need,” said Atlanta resident Minnie Ruffin, and well over a thousand others, who got their [...]

ACLU KOSHER WABE AIRDATE: 070709 DAVE BENDER TRT: 1:06 OUTRO: “….” The American Civil Liberties Union is filing suit over a state law they say infringes on a Marietta rabbi’s First Amendment rights. Dave Bender reports… Conservative rabbi Shalom Lewis of Congregation Etz Haim says the Kosher Food Labeling Act of 1980 keeps him [...]

Nick Fuhrman, director of the Georgia Center of Innovation in Aerospace contends that the hotly-debated, and far-reaching “Cap and Trade” legislation making it’s way through Congress will ground a lucrative state – and national – industry. Fuhrman tells Dave Bender that the complex program – aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and bolstering the development [...]

Lt.-Col. Shane Kimbrough, a mission specialist aboard shuttle mission STS -126 in 2008, recently spoke with elementary school students at Atlanta’s Fernbank Science Center and Planetarium about space exploration as a part of their future. Kimbrough tells Nick Fuhrman, director of the Aerospace Center of Innovation, and Dave Bender about his experiences, and how to motivate [...]

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9/11/01 in Jerusalem's Old City: Jewish students
Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:24:00 -0700

One of a series of reports I prepared for Jerusalem Post Radio in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US. This is an interview with several Jewish seminary students in the Jewish Quarter. They are in a pizza parlor, watching a tv showing images of the burning WTC towers.

Series of interviews prepared for Jerusalem Post Radio in the wake of the terror attacks against the US. This is a Muslim Palestinian shopkeeper, near the Damascus Gate, in the Old City.

Series of interviews I prepared for Jerusalem Post Radio, in the wake of the terror attacks against the United States.

Inspirational speaker Sara Yocheved Rigler, speaking at Congregation Ariel, Atlanta on Sunday, June 10th. This is the first segment of a series, that will be posted online for listeners. Photos of the event are viewable here: http://flickr.com/photos/davebender/

Yahoo News is featuring the second Lebanon War, The Iraq War and the US-Mexico immigration debate in a three-part audio slideshow on their “You Witness” News year-end review. A Yahoo editor separately interviewed a Lebanese college student, Rami Cheleb and myself about photographs we shot during the fighting and posted to our respective Flickr sites. I spoke of scenes of wanton destruction and loss of life across the north and along the border during the conflict, of Israelis, civilian and soldiers, and locations affected by the some 4,000 Hizbullah Katyusha rocket barrages. Considering the time constraints, I felt our half-hour interview was professionally conducted and fair, and was boiled down to about 33-seconds and six photos for my segment. As for the final product, well, you listen in and watch and let me know. For comparison, here are a few segments from our discussion, wrapped into a longer podcast. Leave a comment below with your impressions: Fair/unfair, slanted/balanced ...

Israeli Arkia Airlines pilot Rafi Marek safely flew 260 passengers through a shoulder-fired missile attack by n Islamic terrorism on his jet at takeoff from Mombasa, Kenya.

15 people were killed, including 7 children, and about 130 were injured in a suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizzeria at the corner of King George Street and Jaffa Road in downtown Jerusalem. Concealing the explosives in a guitar case which he had carried with him into Jerusalem, the terrorist entered the restaurant just before 2 PM and detonated the bomb. The 5 kg.-10 kg. bomb, which was packed with nails, screws, and bolts to ensure maximum damage, completely gutted the restaurant, which was full of lunchtime diners. The terrorist was killed in the blast. His controller was on the list of wanted terrorists submitted by Israel to the Palestinians Authority this week. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/10/Suicide%20bombing%20at%20the%20Sbarro%20pizzeria%20in%20Jerusale

Hot backstage interview and music segment with visiting blues and boogie-woogie pianist and composer Dave Maxwell, for Jerusalem Post Radio.

While media coverage of Israel’s evacuation of 9,000 Jewish residents from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005 focused on the political and physical struggle between the government and its citizens, filmmakers Yaron Shane and producer Avi Abelow chose to focus on the human aspect. The massive police operation which garnered the world�s attention and brought emotions to a fevered pitch within the country, played out on very same day as the final game of the annual high-school basketball championship between the 22 Jewish communities in Gaza. That�s the backdrop for Home Game, their recently-released film. A movingly edited amalgam of hundreds of amateur film clips, recorded by the residents themselves, along with one-on-one interviews with residents Home Game chronicles daily life before and during the evacuation of the 30-year-old farming community of Netzer Hazani, in the southern Gush Katif settlement bloc. Shane and Abelow carefully pieced together the myriad personal and ...

If you think viewing fuzzy, slow-downloading news clips on your cellphone, or watching over-pixillated YouTube Internet posts are the last word in high tech streaming video, don’t touch that dial: you – literally – “ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.” ”...we are working to create a new paradigm for viewing video content,” says Benny Einhorn, the Chairman of NeGeV (Next Generation Video), a consortium of seven of Israel’s best and brightest companies involved in developing video infrastructure and applications delivery. “Using a home TV, mobile phone, PC or portable video player, individuals will be able to view video content of their preference, any time, anywhere, on their device of choice,” boasts Einhorn, Chief Marketing Officer of Comverse.

Shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks took place, I and a cameraman hurried over to Jerusalem’s Old City to get a sense of personal reactions to the unprecedented events. Some Palestinians celebrated upon hearing about the attack, calling it a fit and proper response to US support for Israel. Others were saddened by the scope of the horror.

Listen to what immigrant and former Montrealer Rivka Malka, confined to a bomb shelter for over a month straight due to unrelenting Hizbullah Katyusha rocket bombardment, has to say about what what she calls slanted media coverage of the situation of Israelis under the bombardment.

Listen to this exclusive Podcast report from an overcrowded bomb shelter in Nahariya, protecting distressed adults, the elderly and young as Katyushas hammer into the vicinity.

Artillery to the left, Katyushas to the right – here I am, stuck in the middle of war (Exclusive Podcast) Whew. Got back from the north a few days ago, and haven’t had time to post a thing since last week – but – got tons of audio and video material now… and getting it up as fast as possible: First up a brief chat troops with a tank extrication unit smack up against the Lebanese border, as they performed maintenance work on the tread of a Merkava IV tank. The volume is a bit choppy, since IDF artillery shelling at Hizbullah targets was pounding throughout the interview, and that kept redlining the automatic volume comtrol. And then the Katyushas and mortars started firing back…

I filed this report from a bomb shelter in Israel’s coastal town of Nahariya, near Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon. After visiting the home of a couple whose apartment next door had been damaged in a previous Katyusha rocket strike, I then interviewed a local Chabad rabbi who was deeply involved in aiding all the community’s beleagured residents with food, entertainment and spiritual relief. Then the Katyusha air-raid siren began to wail…

Had an interesting two-way audio update report with TalkSPORT London radio presenter James Wales, on what Britons are viewing as horrific scenes of the aftermath of IDF strikes against Hizbullah tagets throughout much of Lebanon, and the mood on the street in Israel as some 700 Katyusha rockets hammer Israel’s north.

Suzanne Bar-Tal, originally from Los-Angeles and a veteran resident of Kibbutz Misgav Am in Israel’s Galilee “panhandle,” has a ringside seat overlooking the dramatic firefight between the IDF and Hizbullah. She speaks with Israel At Level Ground, up close and personal about a normally pastoral life, now smack up against Israel’s bleeding edge of a hot war.

Dr. Eran Lerman (IDF Col. – res.), former deputy chief of IDF strategic intelligence planning, talks with Israel At Level Ground in an exclusive interview: Is Israel on the brink of a multi-pronged war with Lebanon, Hizbullah, Syria and the Palestinians? Does the IDF have the logistical abilities to fully implement such a wide-ranging policy? Is Syria, with their support of both Hizbullah, and Hamas and solid Iranian backing a valid target for the IDF response? How do you see the next 48 to 72 hours playing out? Do you think that Defense Minister Amir Peretz – with no military experience – is up to the job ahead of him, or will he be a victim of circumstances, and in way over his head?

I had the honor of interviewing Esther Wachsman soon after IDF troops killed Salah Darwazi, the Hamas mastermind behind the abduction and murder of her son, Nachson in 1994. It was a deeply moving, and thoughtful discussion. It is my fervent hope, with just six hours left as this is posted before the Hamas ultimatum runs out on the threat against the life of Gilad Shalit, that her words are heeded. May Shalit return safely to his family and home in Mitzpe Hila. From The Jerusalem Post: “Esther Wachsman, mother of Nachshon who was kidnapped and killed by Hamas terrorists in October 1994, has told The Jerusalem Post that the army and the establishment have learned nothing from her son’s ordeal. “No one is so blind as those who will not see,” said Wachsman poetically, during an interview late Wednesday night.” Read it all. From Haaretz: “I don’t know if we’re living in George Orwell’s “1984” – where good was bad, bad was good, peace was war and war was peace – in Chelm, the city fabled...

Hear Israeli defense affairs and territories commentator, and former Jerusalem Post territories reporter Margot Dudkevitch as she takes look at this difficult week in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

IDF ground troops entered the Gaza Strip Fro From The Jerusalem Post: “Sunday morning after Palestinian operatives infiltrated southern Israel through the coastal strip, attacking a military post and two vehicles in an operation that touched off a gunbattle with soldiers that left at least six IDF troops hurt and four gunmen dead. “Two Apache helicopters were flying low over the area as the troops entered.”

The world-acclaimed Israeli-American author Naomi Ragen has plain words about terrorism and how it affects her writing, and our world.

London’s talkSPORT Radio 1089/1053 am and digital radio has an overnight radio show similar to Israel Radio’s Nightbirds, or Conversations with Listeners Overseas, with the ahh, accent on – you guessed it – sports. Umm, not exactly my strong point. In this case, however, talkSPORT presenter Ian Collins’ informal program chats with journalists worldwide, covering their beats, as well as the lighter side of news and events from a local perspective. So, no goals and sports stats (thankfully) on this, our premier two-way (at the ongodly hour of 0200 – got to do something about that…), but light, easy conversation with Ian & Co. at their London studio. Great fun, all in all, and we hit on a few current topics, as well as why a visit to Eilat can actually be a spiritual experience… Looking forward to talking with them again soon; maybe we can trade notes on London-based Israeli Orthodox supermodel Havi Mond. Over to you, Ian.

Israeli Government Press Office Director-General Danny Seaman charges that the Palestinians are in violation of the Geneva Conventions, in their Kassam and Katyusha missile barrages into southern Israel, and asserts that any other country, “under such attack as the residents in Sderot are would do everything – everything to prevent hostile firing at their homes, their children, their schools.”

On a recent visit to the Karni goods and cargo crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip, I asked Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev for his response to an Israeli Air Force strike that killed a busload of Islamic Jihad terrorists, foiling the firing of a barrage of 20-plus kilometer range Katyusha missiles into Israel, but that also killed and wounded several dozen Palestinians gathered around the smoking wreckage of the first vehicle.

Israeli National Service student Avital Morer tell about Kassam rockets and traumatized children in Sderot, where a lethal steel rain from Gaza keeps falling, and kids are terrified.

Israel’s Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal compare US President Bush’s military reaction to the 9/11 attacks to possible Israeli responses to the non-stop terrorism and rocket attacks emanating from the nearby Gaza Strip.