Kobi Oz
Yedioth Ahronoth
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Adopting the traditional two-day weekend would bring Israel into sync with the rest of the world, improving our stance in international business. Sports, too, would profit, as kids could play games on Sundays. But the main benefit would be religious. Shabbat could become a “quiet, family oriented” day, as it was intended to be. Even those of us who are not Orthodox would surely enjoy “an ecological Shabbat, where cars take a voluntary day off and our citizens go back to gracing the city with their feet and bicycles.”
The prime minister has finally formed a committee to study the two-day weekend. “I pray” that the committee will not focus solely on money issues, on the income that would be lost by an extra day off. How, after all, can we put a price on something that is “good for our soul”?
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Malaysia: Hiding something or just incompetent?feature It is “painful to watch” how Malaysia has embarrassed itself before the world with its bungled response to the missing plane.
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Tunisia: The only bloom of the Arab Spring
feature After years of “stormy discussions and intellectual tug-of-war,” Tunisia has emerged as a secular democracy.
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Australia: It takes two to reconcile
feature To move beyond Australia’s colonialist past, we Aborigines must forgive.
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Israel: Ariel Sharon’s ambiguous legacy
feature Ariel Sharon played a key role at every major crossroads Israel faced in his adult life.
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South Africa: Trying to live up to Mandela
feature That South Africa was prepared for the death of Nelson Mandela is one of his greatest legacies.
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China: Staking a claim to the air and the sea
feature China has declared an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that includes a set of islands claimed by Japan.
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China: Is our aid to the Philippines too meager?
feature China donated $100,000 to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan, but later increased the amount to $1.6 million.
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Philippines: A calamitous response to calamity
feature “Where is the food, where is the water? Where are the military collecting the dead?”