Salman Rushdie at breakfast with David Saranga in 2008.

David Saranga was a fixture in New York City’s social and media circles when he was Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel. We first met when I was invited on a press junket to Israel in 2007, and we have remained friends. I credit him for so much valuable first-hand knowledge into the region and some extraordinary experiences.

The other day I read his piece on Huffington Post about traveling to Morocco–one of the few Arab countries that Israelis can visit–and I was moved:

For the first time in 15 years, I arrived in a country without the Diplomatic passport I carry and without the sense of demonstrative pride which says “I am Israeli”. Since I wanted to have as many interactions with locals as possible I had an internal debate regarding the way I should behave: to identify myself as an Israeli or to identify myself as a New Yorker.

From this trip, Saranga had several epiphanies:

In retrospect, we Israelis ask ourselves repeatedly what the reason is for the failure of the peace process with the Palestinians. “We agreed to withdraw from 97% of the territories, divide Jerusalem and find a solution agreeable to both sides on the refugee issue – and still, that was not enough for the Palestinians,” we often say. The answer might be simple: we do not understand our neighbors, their culture and their language. Their tradition of negotiation, for instance, the fact that when they say yes, they mean maybe, when they say maybe, they mean no, and when they say no, they don’t always mean no – depending on whether it was said publicly or behind closed doors.

We need to internalize the understanding that the culture and language of the other starts at home. It starts with the Israeli school system, which unwisely didn’t teach Israelis the Arab language. It continues through dialogue with the Arab Israeli minority, which, as opposed to its vocal leaders — who represent 10% of the Israeli parliament — can provide a bridge to understanding our neighbors. We have not yet learned to build this bridge with the Arab Israeli minority, and with each passing day we are more distant from our neighbors and from segments of Israeli society.

Part travel essay, part personal journey, Saranga’s essay is insight into our common humanity.  Click here to read it.

This week’s Economist has an interesting story about a new Jewish lobby that focuses on Israel.  The magazine points out that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has an almost folkloric reputation in Washington D.C., and has been accused of heavily skewing America’s foreign policy interests.

Enter J Street, a lobby group comprised mostly of American Jews who describe themselves as “pro-Israel,  pro-peace”.

Israel’s Likud government is not pleased (although Shimon Peres and Tzipi Livni have expressed support), and its ambassador declined to attend J Street’s first annual conference.  In addition to pushing aggressively for a two-state solution with Israel returning to its pre-1967 borders, the Economist–which has followed J Street closely–writes how that is not all that has upset the Israeli lobby’s applecart:

In print and in the blogosphere, in America and Israel, foes have excoriated J Street for having called for an immediate ceasefire during last year’s Gaza war, paying excessive heed to Richard Goldstone’s report accusing Israel of war crimes, making room at its conference for people who do not support the Zionist idea of a Jewish state, and other alleged heresies against the orthodox line of Israel’s traditional supporters in America.

Compared to AIPAC’s $60M annual budget, 275 employees, $130M endowment and new $80M capitol hill headquarters; J Street has an annual budget of $3M and 8 staff (that includes former Senator Lincoln Chafee, one of my favorite politicians).

The blog Isreality, which previously spotlighted some of my Jerusalem photos, recently showcased “Sexy Tel Aviv” as seen through my eyes for Wikipedia and the Creative Commons.  Click the image to read Rachel Neiman’s post.

This  image of dancers at TLV nightclub is found on Wikipedia articles Pheromone, Erogenous zone and Axilla.

Israeli Air Force F-16A Netz 243, aircraft flown by Colonel Ilan Ramon in Operation Opera, which destroyed Iraq's nuclear facilities in 1981

Iran has a nuclear program, and if Pakistan has taught us anything, it is that the world should be hyper vigilant to ensure unstable countries and/or unstable regimes do not come to possess nuclear weapons.

Iran is one of those.  The Iranian government has a history of funding terrorist groups and supporting their goals.  Iran’s hardline government is represented in the media by the zealot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; however, real power in this theocratic oligarchy rests with  the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

What is often lost in analysis and debate over Iran is that its government is not stable.

Despite anti-American sentiment that is whipped-up by the Iranian government, the Iranian people want change in the form of a more open society that is not so hostile with the west.  They passionately want their country to adopt democratic institutions like free elections and a free press, neither of which they currently have (most candidates for election are disqualified by the hardliners, leaving few options for the voters). Ever since the 1979 revolution, Iranian women have been particularly unhappy with their social standing.

The problem is that there is a disconnect between the more liberal-minded people and the hardline government.   The government wants nuclear weapons.  They say they don’t, but you can’t un-ring the nuclear bell once it has been rung.

Israel should strike Iran

Here is a possible-and-not-far-fetched scenario:  Iran obtains the capability to develop nuclear weapons, convincing the world that the oil-rich country’s nuclear program is simply designed to generate electricity.  Either the government or a faction within the government develops nuclear weapons.   Perhaps just a “dirty bomb”.   Around the same time, the people revolt against a government that does not listen to their demands, and that continues to impose upon them a social structure that they do not like.

As the people revolt, and the 1979 theocratic system begins to crumble, a hardliner in the government seeing the end of their rule decides to give what they think is a gift to the world: they nuke Israel.

There would be nothing to lose, and everything to gain, for the hardliners in such a scenario.  They would already be on their way out of power; the people who would initiate the assault against Israel would be seen as a heroes by a particular faction of Muslim extremists; and they would not have to contend with the aftermath.

The United States can’t bomb Iran while it is engaged in two wars in the region.  Israel would have a rightful claim to its defense in destroying the nuclear facilities.  To not do so would leave way too much uncertainty and instability in the region.

Israel is prepared to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.  They should proceed after Friday’s Iranian Presidential election.  Iran’s neighbors, though they would publicly condemn Israel (as they always do) would privately rejoice at having Iran’s ambitions curtailed.

Israeli rock star Ivri Lider invited me backstage at Webster Hall tonight when he swung through New York City on a North American tour that hits D.C., Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  We made some images for the creative commons; click on them to download higher resolution sizes.

Rock on, Ivri, shalom and welcome back to New York.

Hillel Mintz posted a quick interview with me about my perspective on Israel after having traveled there twice for the creative commons and Wikimedia projects.  Go here to read it.

Speaking of Israel, tonight I will be photographing Israeli rock star Ivri Lider at Webster Hall.

Earlier today I met with a couple of local New York literary scenesters to discuss the formation of a new website.  We began its design.

Last week one of the most influential Israeli websites, Israelity.com, profiled some of my 2007 images of Jerusalem that are found on Wikipedia.  Many of these images are reproduced in numerous places around the Internet and published in books, free of copyright restrictions for their use.

This image of the Israeli countryside is used by both Wikipedia and Encyclopædia Britannica, amongst others

It was particularly exciting to have this website profile my images because the Israel you see in the media bears no resemblance to the reality of the country.  Israelity.com is an attempt to show the nuances and life of a culturally rich and diverse nation, which most people know little about outside of conflict.

I have taken two trips to the country as part of my public art project that explores information as art.  The information the public receives about Israel is incomplete, distorted and myopic.  My photography was an attempt to show a bigger picture of the country, its people and its landscape.

Check out Rachel Neiman’s piece about some of my work from the 2007 trip.

I don’t know why I find graffiti interesting.  I don’t like it ninety percent of the time I see it, but occasionally I come across a phrase or image that makes me pause, and sticks with me.  The ones that are templated are some of my favorites because of the design involved in an ornate template conducive to spray paint.  When graffiti is political, it is extreme and succinct. Always.

I once photographed an act of graffiti I committed and put the image on Wikipedia.   In 2006 I was out for a long night with friends in the East Village, and we stopped at the bar Nowhere.  I used their bathroom, and someone had written on the wall “SAMO Shit”:

In my inebriated state and trying to keep my urine stream straight, I immediately recognized it as the tag of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who used to write it on walls in the East Village.  So somebody had homaged Basquiat on the bathroom wall, in the East Village and I boozily beamed at the moment.  I had a Sharpie, and wrote “Jean Michel Basquiat did it first” with arrows for emphasis.  Basquiat just used to write “SAMO” but that’s what it stood for: same old shit.

I put the photo above on the Jean-Michel Basquiat Wikipedia article, and it was there for perhaps a year or two before someone removed it.  Rightfully so; it was a youthful indiscretion in my early days on Wikipedia.

Below are some Israeli graffiti shots I recently uploaded to Wikimedia Commons:

The campus of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, where some of the world’s foremost academic study of solar energy and water research is conducted, is in the heart of the stunning Negev desert.  The design that went into the campus is modern yet it still melts into the landscape.  It is also ecologically sound.  Below are a few photos from Jacob Blaustein Institutes that are now found on Wikipedia:

New photos of the Negev desert for Wikipedia:

The Zin valley, where Moses supposedly drew water from a rock, as seen from Midreshet Ben Gurion, at the location of the tomb of David Ben-Gurion.

Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in Israel, and the only Bedouin community to have city status.

Campus of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, which is the epicenter of Israeli solar research.

People lounging on the grounds of Midreshet Ben Gurion.

A community comprised of Blueprint Negev mobile homes.

The above photo of a heart on a rock, and the one below of an Easter Island-esque stone head statue, were a couple of random pieces of art that were out in the desert.