September 9 , 2012-Rockets on the South, Economic Turmoil in the West Bank, Maariv Sold

Two missiles from Gaza fell on Southern Israeli last night. Its not clear which Palestinian organization fired the missiles. The immediate reason for the attack appears to be a retaliation for the Palestinians that were killed while preparing to fire a missile at Israel two days ago.The missile caused damage, but no injuries in S'derot. It's not clear how and if Israel will respond. The key from the government's standpoint is to show that all attacks will receive a response. However, they to contain the response, so as not to start a new round of firing that might make matters worse, just as Rosh Hashannah approaches. Today, there were no Iron Domes in place, since we do not have enough or these defensive systems to keep them available everywhere they could be needed at the same time.

There were a series of demonstrations in the West Bank yesterday and today, protesting the state of the economy there. Unemployment there seems to have reached 30%- with the only serious jobs being available are positions working for the Palestinian authority. An increasing number of Palestinians have slowly been allowed into Israel to work as well. What happened to the supposed great state of the Palestinian economy? If we do not find way of helping their economy we will face a very difficult future.

The Israeli newspaper "Maariv" has been losing money for a decade. This is no different than the state of many of the world's newspapers- and for many of the same reasons. Israelis continue to read newspapers in larger numbers than Americans. However, Maariv has had some unique competition in the past few years (as have all the Israeli papers) from a free newspaperfunded by Sheldon Adelson, whose express purpose was to build support for Prime Minister Netanyahu. The current owner of Maariv is one of Israel's "ycoons". His empire is suddenly on the verge of collapse. Therefore he agreed to sell Maariv to Shlomo Ben Tzvi (the owner of "Makor Rishon", a right of center publication). Ben Tzvi is a supporter of the right wing of the Likud. Ron Lauder, who is also a supporter of Netanyahu, is part owner of Israel Channel 10. In the near future, Lauder is expected to increase his ownership to help the embattled channel. Where are the liberal Jews who want to invest in Israel's media? It's probably not a good financial investment, but it would be an important investment for the future.

There was another attack on an Arab in West Jerusalem this weekend. Something has clearly gone wrong. Despite all of the talk, no one is really dealing with a very fundamental problem.

I came across a very interesting new series on Hulu called The Promise. Its centers around an English girl whose grandfather served in Palestine and decides to spend her Gap year with her half Israeli best friend who is going into the Israeli army. At firsts it seemed like a modern remake of Exodus, but by the end of the first episode it is way more complicated.