Dear all,

I am happy to report that within less than a week we have passed the 50 pre-ordered books' mark. I am therefore tempted to start sending you teasers about the upcoming book. The one below was written last week on Substack (see link below). It shows how Hebrew sayings apply to and are significant in present-day situations.

They ate my food and drank my drink

אכלו לי שתו לי

The meaning of this Israeli saying is - someone or something else is responsible for my underperformance.

This is blame shifting: I am not at fault; I am not failing; rather, external factors prevented me from accomplishing what I needed. The closest proverb I can think of is to 'throw someone under a bus'. But it has a much broader meaning; the excuse could be anything including 'the dog ate my homework'.

This is a derogatory statement to make about someone as Israelis do not appreciate lazy people or free riders. They also do not like people who complain all the time or talk too much. It's a dynamic society with no time for drivel.

Therefore, as an Anglo Israeli living in London, I am struggling with 'Mr They Ate my Food and Drank my Drink' who is no other than the UK Prime Minster Sir Keir Starmer. It is not only because of his ridiculous and irresponsible decision to support a Palestinian state without even demanding for the hostages to be released first or defining the borders to exclude modern day Israel.

This guy always seems to be in a state of bewilderment. He is always surprised and disappointed about unfolding events and developments even when they are a direct result of his government's resolutions. Nothing that happens ever relates to him.

It's the fault of the previous government, the American President, Brexit, his party, his ministers, his administration, Putin whatever...

I cannot think of even one good decision that he has made since becoming the PM more than a year ago. Well, I correct myself, the positive decisions are the result of the numerous U-turns he and his government have taken to reverse their earlier poor decisions that they had made.

Struggling is an understatement, but I believe I made my point. Even many people in his party now think that the sooner he goes the better.

Blame shifting is very common in politics but it is happening everywhere these days. Another good example that dominated the news last week is no other than Mr Brooklyn Beckham. His long Instagram statement is nothing more than one long 'they ate my food and drank my drink' whine. My parents are the reason for all my failings and misery. Furthermore, my mother even had the audacity to humiliate me by dancing strangely at my wedding.

My personal advice is to avoid such people at any cost. Nothing good will ever come out of working or socialising with professional victims or complainers until they grow up and learn to take responsibility for themselves.

I cover the issue of personal responsibility and its importance in the Israeli society in my upcoming book called 'Revealing Israeli secrets'. Subtitled 'The wisdom behind Hebrew proverbs' also the name of my Substack commentary. While the book is focused on eternal truths and wisdom, on Substack I focus on more current events.

Taking personal responsibility is a reoccurring theme in the book but I write about it directly in the narrative relating to the proverb 'if I am not for myself who will be for me', which appears in the first chapter, True Grit.

You can get some more of the book’s flavour on Substack.

To pre-order more books or forward to potential buyers, please click here.