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Archive for the ‘Israel’ Category

Some truths about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Sunday, November 18th, 2012

I know there’s probably no point, but I finally snapped and dished some truth to some Israel haters in my Facebook feed. What finally set me off was this comment: “I find it inescapable that the Israelis took Palestine from the folks who were living there in 1946. Out of that injustice springs the current strife. I think the Israelis need to (1) apologize and (2) foot the bill for building a viable Palestinian state (a la the Rand plan), and (3) pay reparations. That would be a solid start to ending the conflict.”

Here’s what I wrote: (more…)

Posted in Israel, Politics | 8 Comments »

Computershare is WAY better than BNY Mellon

Saturday, February 26th, 2011

Recently, I wrote about BNY Mellon’s inept handling of 2010 1099-OIDs for Israel bonds, my relief that the State of Israel had decided to replace BNY Mellon with Computershare as the fiscal agent for Israel Bonds purchased in the U.S., and my hope that Computershare would be better than BNY Mellon.

Less than 12 hours after I posted that blog entry, I received email from someone at Computershare:

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Tags: BNY Mellon, Computershare, Israel Bonds
Posted in Consumer activism, Israel | 2 Comments »

Thank God Israel Bonds kicked BNY Mellon to the curb

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

My wife and I own a number of Israeli Bonds purchased over the course of many years (typically after annual High Holiday appeals). Many of these bonds are Original Issue Discount (OID) bonds. Dispensing with all the technical details, the general idea of an OID bond is that you get a 1099-OID statement every year showing how much you have to report to the IRS and pay taxes on as income, but you don’t actually get the money you’ve thus reported until the bond matures and you redeem it.

Until very recently, Israeli Bonds sold in the United States were administered by BNY Mellon. They’ve been the agents for some other stock I’ve owned, and they have been consistently difficult and unpleasant to deal with.

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Tags: 1099-OID, BNY Mellon, Computershare, Israeli Bonds
Posted in Consumer activism, Israel | 1 Comment »

IsraelSims.com update

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Today’s update (maybe the last?) in the IsraelSims.com saga…

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Tags: Cellcom, Israeli SIM card, IsraelSims.com
Posted in Consumer activism, Fraud, Israel | 1 Comment »

Outrageous “Fresh Air” interview with Lawrence Wright

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Dear Terry Gross,

I am a huge fan of Fresh Air. I listen to every episode. I greatly admire your interviewing skill and your obvious in-depth preparation for every interview.

Having said that, I was extremely disappointed by your interview with Lawrence Wright. (more…)