■ TEL AVIV mayor Ron Huldai showed up uninvited last Saturday night at the plaza of the Tel Aviv Museum, where demonstrators for social justice were conducting one of 40 round-table discussions being held in cities and towns across the country. This one was the largest, and attracted many people from out of town.Participants sat at numbered tables, and in addition to hearing from speakers on stage, were able to conduct discussions among themselves.When Huldai appeared he was told he was not welcome.Small wonder; after ordering the dismantling of the tent cities that had cropped up in various parts of Tel Aviv, his presence at the round-table meeting was akin to Daniel in the lion’s den – it’s a miracle he wasn’t eaten alive.■ WHILE VARIOUS organizations and institutions have been busy organizing speculative lectures and conferences about whether the United Nations will or will not declare a Palestinian state at the meeting of the General Assembly next week, the British Zionist Federation and Europeans for Israel are looking beyond that possibility, realizing full well that it’s the day after that counts. Thus at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 21, the two organizations will host a briefing at the Carlton Hotel in Tel Aviv at which former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post David Horovitz along with several other well-known personalities will give their assessments of possible scenarios that could play out depending on what happens at the UN. Though to judge from the title of the event, “The Palestinian Unilateral Declaration of Independence,” organizers expect the vote to go through.■ POLITICS HAS yet again intruded into the art world. Last November, certain members of the Habimah and Cameri theaters declared that they would not appear at the new cultural center in Ariel, but there was a change of heart among some of them when the government threatened to withdraw financial support from any theater group that refused to appear in any part of the country that is under Israeli administration. Eventually things settled in Ariel, and all the negative publicity actually proved to be helpful in that it sparked interest in the Ariel Cultural Center from quarters that might otherwise have been indifferent.Now it’s the turn of Kiryat Arba, with an announcement by Rami Baruch, the star of the one-man Cameri production Pollard’s Trial, that he will not appear on stage in the soon-to-be-opened Kiryat Arba Cultural Center.Cameri Theater director general Noam Semel told Israel Radio that the Cameri appears everywhere, and if any member of the company has a problem about appearing behind the Green Line, a solution is found.He couldn’t understand why Baruch was suddenly raising objections when the production had already played in Ofra, Ariel and Kedumim. But Baruch’s argument is that he cannot appear in a cultural center that is adjacent to a monument erected in memory of Baruch Goldstein, the American-born physician who in 1994 massacred Muslim worshipers in the Cave of the Patriarchs, killing 29 of the people at prayer and wounding 125.■ THE STAFF of the Sheraton Tel Aviv Hotel and Towers were particularly happy last week at the cocktail reception hosted by general manager Jean Louis Ripoche, because the hotel had been chosen 18th in the World Travel Awards, in addition to which it had been named the best business hotel in Israel. The award is regarded as the highest accolade in the business. World Travel Award ballots are cast by 183,000 travel professionals including representatives of travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organizations in more than 160 countries.Votes are cast globally by fellow industry professionals in more than 1,000 categories.Ripoche, in expressing his pride at the hotel’s achievement, thanked his staff for their exemplary commitment and dedication. Coming in at 18th place might not seem to be any great achievement, but let’s not forget that this is a global contest.■ GOVERNOR OF the Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer will be the guest of honor at a special benefit night at Heichal Mordechai, Herzliya Pituah, on October 5 in memory of fallen lone soldier St.-Sgt. Michael Levin from Philadelphia, who fell in battle at Aita al-Shaab in South Lebanon in August 2006, and was buried in the military section of Mount Herzl. Levin, who had no relatives in Israel, but who made a lot of friends, had cherished the dream of being a paratrooper in an IDF combat unit. He realized the dream, but it cost him his life. His courage and determination have been a source of inspiration for other lone soldiers.
