A Daily Analysis
By Marc Schulman

October 28 , 2007 Teacher Strike Enters 4h Week, Sanctions on Iran May be Having an Effect

The high school teachers' strike continued into its fourth week today. The head of the Histadrut (union) tried today to increase the heat on the government to agree to the demands of the teachers by threatening a nationwide strike. The government on the other hand has done a very good job of limiting the damage that the strikers can do. Earlier they reached an agreement on an increase in pay in return for an increase in hours from the teachers in the elementary grades. If the elementary grades had been on strike, the pressure on the government by parents without a place to send their children would have been too great. The high school students are taking care of themselves. The government is not going to agree to an agreement without the reforms, so the strike continues. There has been some sign of movement in the last day or two, but in the meantime the kids continue to stay home.

Israeli television Channel 10's Arab affair correspondent, Tzi Yechezkeli, reported that that the sanctions on Iran are beginning to create a major backlash in Iran. Both the reformers and the more conservative elements seem to be turning on Ahmadinejad. They are claiming that they have the right to develop nuclear weapons, but it is not worth it any price, and the economic price is growing. The shortage of gas is getting worse and Iran is said to have only a 45 day supply of gasoline on hand.

Israel began cutting back the supply of gasoline to Gaza. The hope is to make life more difficult and thus to turn the people against Hamas. There is no evidence that this is or is going to work in any way, but I guess there is little to be lost either.

There was piece on Israeli television tonight about the dangers of a new Google product that allows you to see in real time the status of any flight headed to NY. Thus, you can see on a map the arrival of any El Al plane as it approaches JFK and its path, which includes height and speed superimposed on a map. The fear is that any terrorist could follow the flight plan of an EL Al plane and thus attack it. I looked at the web site, and although it is not a Google product, it is what is called a "Mash-up" - where Google information is mixed with other information to form a Flight Tracker. It is relatively frightening. The info is refreshed every 40 seconds, and although it does not show where the flight will be going it does not require a rocket scientist to figure out where the flight will be in a minute or two.