Day 2 - Pictures and Lectures

Finally, I have pictures. We had dinner the other night in Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv. Here is a picture from the roof of the restaurant looking toward Tel Aviv.

Here is a group of Fellows walking to our class at Tel Aviv University.

Speaking of class, we had 4 more lectures yesterday followed by an evening of Tel Aviv nightlife at a seaside shopping and dining center.

Our classes again started early with another lecture from Dr. Ely Karmon who spoke about Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (Radiological) Terrorism. This lecture was very interesting because it is such a relevant concern. Do you remember the anthrax mail attacks shortly after 9/11? How likely is it that it could happen again? Or worse, how plausible is it that a terrorist organization could acquire sarin gas to use against the US? Or small pox? Or a nuclear weapon?

Our second lecture was from IDF Col. Dr. Shaul Shay (Ret.) about Global Jihad with a particular focus on radical Islam in Southeast Asia. While the Middle East is the heartland of Islam, the largest concentration of Muslims in the world is in Southeast Asia with the majority living in Indonesia. There are several terrorist groups ranging from local to regional size which espouse the radical Islamic ideology and which have ties to al-Qaeda. Our focus may be on the Middle East, but Southeast Asia should not be overlooked when we think about terrorism.

Again, the lecture after lunch was tough. With our bellies full of food and the effects of jet lag still lingering, Dr. Eyal Zisser, department head for Middle Eastern Studies at Tel Aviv University, had a tough job. He spoke to us about his expertise: Hezbollah and Lebanon. With everything that is happening on Israel’s northern border, we have heard about this topic in nearly every lecture to one degree or other, but one thing that is interesting to note is that, despite being in the country where this crisis is taking place, I have heard very little about it in the Israeli media. I would like to think of this as being a result of the greater responsibility of media in Israel as compared to the US. Someone said it might be because I don’t understand Hebrew. Who knows?

Finally, the FDD staff instructed us on media relations. As Fellows, we are pro-democracy, anti-terror activists. With that, we will need to deal with the media to get the word out. We focused on writing a bio for ourselves promoting our expertise on the topic so as to appear credible with the media.

As I said, last night we enjoyed the nightlife of Tel Aviv. This picture is of a group of students at dinner. I had a fresh seafood dish that included shrimp, clams, mussels, crab and calamari preceeded by the appetizer of bread with various dishes in which to dip it. To say it was pretty good would be somewhat of an understatement.

Finally, here is a picture of the beach that is about 200 yards from my hotel. The sea is like bath water, and there are good bodysurfing waves.

Well, that about wraps things up. I hope all is well, and keep checking on the blog. As I said, please feel free to ask questions about what I write and what I am learning.