Man of the Year

With the year winding down, and Rosh Hashana imminently approaching, we've decided to spend one of the remaining posts of the year to announce our choices for the "Man of the Year" award. As opposed to limiting it to one winner, we've chosen to announce our choices for these awards in a few different categories.

Men of the Year
There was no question as to who should be awarded the man of the year. Though with these candidates, we couldn't choose just one. Each candidate selflessly risked his life to save other Jews, ignoring the possible repercussions of being thrown in jail or killed for their actions.

These 5 are the heroes who lived up to the adage in Pirkei Avot "where there is no (police)men, strive to be a man.". They are Yitzhak Dadon, David Shapira, Yakki Asa-El, Moshe Plesser, and Elad Amar.

[Double Tapper raised a valid point. What about Rabbi Erez Bar-On, who killed the terrorist near Shiloh in April 08? And if we are including him, what about the school counselors who killed the 2 terrorists that tried to infiltrate the Makor Haim (Steinzaltz) High School in January 08?

I think we need to include them all.]


Legal Affairs:
One would hope that is a modern democratic state one can't be arrested and detained indefinitely for one's political views, but we unfortunately know that not to be the case.

This year a group of young girls (all minors in fact) had the temerity and will to stand up against a politicized judicial, legal, and prison system. They successfully fought back by simply not disclosing their names (even though, those in charge knew them already), and in return suffered weeks (and months) of physical abuse at the hands of the police and prison authorities, along with legal abuse and attempts of "reeducation" at the hand the judges. They withstood it all, and prevailed.

Human Rights:
There's a sector of society that is constantly under attack, whose basic civil and human rights are constantly ignored and dismissed, a sector that while suffering terrorist attacks is vilified.

There is a person who has consistently fought for their rights, and created an organization called "The Organization for Human Rights in Yesha" specifically for that purpose. While it was a close race with Nitzana Darsha-Leitner, In the human rights category this award goes to none other than Orit Struck.

Culture:
There's no question that the most revolutionary cultural event this year which has taken this country by storm is the show Srugim. Probably no other show has so many sectors of society watching and discussing it, and perhaps even influencing them, not to mention the number of comments each post gets on this blog. This award obviously goes to "Laizy" Shapiro for Srugim.

Criminal of the Year
With so many politicians and public figures to choose from, it was a tough choice. Between the Minister of Finance, the Vice-Prime Minister and former Minister of Justice, the Commissioner of the Police, the Director of the Prime Minister's Office, the Prime Minister, the Abutbul crime family, Boaz Yona, this list could go on for pages.In the end we've decided to award this one to "Peace Now", because unlike everyone else mentioned above, they've gotten away with it.

Peace Now has managed to implement a tax fraud scheme on an international level - and get away with it, Peace Now has managed to create standing in the courts, when it doesn't even exist as a legal entity - and get away with it, Peace Now is openly funded by foreign (and not necessarily friendly) governments looking to influence and manipulate Israeli society and policy - and get away with it, and Peace Now has managed to infiltrate into the highest levels of the government - and get with it. Clearly the winner.

Pollster of the Year
While all the media pollsters where giving completely wrong numbers regarding the Kadima primary, only one lone voice gave an accurate number. Despite being off by a mere few hundred votes (which can be explained by ballot stuffing and fraud) this award goes to Shaul Mofaz.

Event of the Year
None other than the First International Jewish Bloggers Convention, Hosted by Nefesh B'Nefesh and Powered by WebAds. No further explanation needed, it was simply awesome.

Blogger of the Year
This is a tough one. I'm biased, but as it's not nice to vote for myself, I'm awarding it to the Muqata.

Jameel adds: Joe, even if you nominate me as blogger of the year, its still not nice to bump down my posts...

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד