Plia Kettner loves Kfar Saba and Cats

Finding Favorites with Leah Jones

While host Leah Jones was visiting Israel, she met with long-time Facebook friend Plia Kettner to talk about Plia's lobbying to open the skies of Israel during Corona, her love of Kfar Saba, and her love of cats.

Plia collaborated with other citizens with partners or family abroad who were stuck abroad during Corona and is now part of an international team who shares information on how to organize around the theme "Love is not Tourism."

• Plia Chetner on Facebook
• Burial Alternatives in Kfar Saba
• Qalqilya
• Kfar Saba
• Supreme Court case
• We Want to Meet Each Other
• Love Is Not Tourism
• Feral cats in Israel
• Lion in the Living Room
• Kfar Saba and Ranana love animals

transcript follows

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SPEAKERS

Announcer, Plia Kettner, Leah Jones

Plia Kettner 00:00

My name is Plia Kettner, and I love cats.

Announcer 00:04

Welcome to the Finding Favorites Podcast where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.

Leah Jones 00:16

Hello, and welcome to Finding Favorites. I'm your host, Leah Jones. And this is the podcast where we learn about people's favorite things without using an algorithm. Once again, not sitting in my apartment in Chicago, not sitting on Zoom. But instead, I'm high above the city of Tel Aviv and Israel with Plia Kettner. Plia How are you today?

Plia Kettner 00:38

I'm fine. It's great to meet you.

Leah Jones 00:41

Good to meet you. I think technically we know each other from ROI. What year did you go?

Plia Kettner 00:51

Oh 2011.

Leah Jones 00:53

Okay, that makes sense. So, ROI, which people who listen to the podcast have heard of because Yvonne Marzouk was ROI, Esther Kustanowtiz, with Shai Korman, a lot of my Jewish friends around the world.

Plia Kettner 01:08

Great people.

Leah Jones 01:09

Great people are in the ROI community. So, you were asking, why do I come to Israel? It's to see friends from ROI and friends who have become like family. I'm just here on vacation back for the first time since COVID, since Corona and seeing friends recording podcasts and drinking coffee when I can find it.

Plia Kettner 01:40

When there is room service.

Leah Jones 01:42

They also at the front desk here have bottles and bottles of liquor. Last night I went and I said could I have a whiskey? And they're like, oh, no, that's only for looks. For the beauty and I'm like, but there's actual fluids inside, put them in my body. They're like, you can have, there was Kava, which is nice, but it's not whiskey.

Plia Kettner 02:11

I think you should complain about it to the management of.

Leah Jones 02:16

Of Brown Hotels. Most of the Brown Hotels have like a bar or have room service.

Plia Kettner 02:26

Rooms service. They say they will have room service. Start on 12.

Leah Jones 02:32

Oh, okay. So, the day I leave.

Plia Kettner 02:36

12 - the noon.

Leah Jones 02:39

Oh, at noon?

Plia Kettner 02:40

Yeah.

Leah Jones 02:41

All right. Great. What is it? That we talked a little bit about how you are in your municipal government? Of K’far Saba.

Plia Kettner 02:55

K'far Sab. For the listeners? The meaning is Grandpa's village.

Leah Jones 03:04

So, K'far is village and Saba?

Plia Kettner 03:06

Saba, it's grandpa. But actually, it has come from Arabic name of a village. Well, there before so it's not really the main name. But today when you say the name of the city, this is the meaning.

Leah Jones 03:22

That's so funny. It's a suburb of Tel Aviv that I feel like all of my friends are moving to with children.

Plia Kettner 03:34

To K'far Saba?

Leah Jones 03:35

I think so.

Plia Kettner 03:37

It is considered to be like, more quiet cities of Tel Aviv and also Saba is considered to be one of the best cities with education system. So, a lot of young parents, they think about the education system for the children. So, they come to K’far Saba. When we don't have traffic, it's like 20 minutes from K'far Saba to Tel Aviv. So, you are still very close to the center. You can visit Tel Aviv anytime you want. A lot of people when they start to have families, I think this is the area they go to.

Leah Jones 04:21

That's what I've been seeing because I stay in Tel Aviv. I usually stay a little bit in Jerusalem, a little bit in Tel Aviv and nobody's left in Jerusalem that I know. Three people are left. And in Tel Aviv everybody's moving North.

Plia Kettner 04:42

Tel Aviv became very expensive. So, when you consider what you can get for the same amount between K’far Saba and Tel Aviv, of course in K’far Saba you will get more and it will be more comfortable.

Leah Jones 05:04

I guess on my next trip I’ll have to stay.

Plia Kettner 05:07

In K'far Saba!

Plia Kettner 05:09

Just to see people more.

Plia Kettner 05:12

We have a lot of nice culinary places and when I have friends who come from abroad, I take them to see the settlements. Because K’far Saba is a border city. Actually, we have a border with Qalqilya, which is the closest city in Palestine authority. And there are areas, I think that, in K’far Saba, you can see a lot of special things in the city, although it considered to be a suburb of Tel Aviv, because it deals with a lot of questions that the Israeli society has to deal with. For example, in Israel, you can be buried when you die only in the orthodox Jewish way. And if you want to be buried in a secular way, you have graveyards in Kibbutz that give this option and the only city that give this option is K’far Saba. So, residents who live in K’far Saba, they get it for free. If you come from out of K’far Saba, you will have to pay. But there is this option and the nice thing, and it's kind of funny to say that I'm taking my friends from abroad to see graveyards, but I show them the differences, those two graveyards are next to each other, the secular one and the orthodox one. And they can see because it looks different. So, they see the secular one and the orthodox one, and then they learn about the way of Israel. How we do things in Israel in this case. The fact that K’far Saba is considered to be a rich city. If we ate and we ever border with Qalqilya, and you can see from K’far Saba how I live in Qalqilya to understand the conflict and to understand how it affects the people in a lot of ways. I'm talking about the simple people not the politician. And to talk with Palestinians, then sometimes they go [Not Audible [00:07:51]] K’far Saba, from Palestine authority to walk inside Israel and they need a special visa to walk like for them, it's like going abroad when they come to walk in Israel. Sometimes, if you don't have a walk here, you can get a visa for look for a job. By the way, it's the same as in the EU, between countries, if you live in the UAE, if you are a citizen, you can move from one country to another, but still, you have to get the permission. It's easier, but you have to get the permission. So, you can say I want to come to, I don't know, to Spain to Italy, to look for a job and then you get like a permission to look for the job.

Leah Jones 08:38

90 days or whatever.

Plia Kettner 08:43

For what they give. I don't remember the number of days, but it has a limit. So, staying in K’far Saba, you can see a lot of questions the Israeli society deal with and also K’far Saba is surrounded by Kibbutz and Moshav I mean Hebrew, Kibbutz in plural and Moshav in plural. We are a city so again, Israeli society has to deal with different ways of living. To live in a city and to live in a Moshav and to live in a Kibbutz. Moshav and Kibbutz are ideological ways to live. It’s not just a village.

Leah Jones 09:37

Kibbutz was ideological. I thought Moshav was just regular village but it's not.

Plia Kettner 09:48

No, it's not. This is the thing that gives you chance to think about ways to live, what you prefer and, in the Kibbutz, at least in the past, they shared more things. When I'm talking about sharing more things, the children didn't live with the parents, they lived in the children house, they slept together and every adult used to walk in something inside the Kibbutz. So, one of the adults was keeper for the children, kind of a God and another one, he walked in the fields and another one walked with the cows etc. You didn't have anything that belongs to you - personal things. Of course, you didn't have your property. If you died, your children didn't get your house, that house went back to the Kibbutz and they decided what to do with this. In the Moshav, they have things they share together, but they don’t share children house and not everybody walked inside the Moshav. You can have your own business, you can walk outside of the Moshav, you can have your own property, but there were things that still shared. So, it's actually ideological way to live. You had to decide what you prefer or to live in the city where you have your own property. Let's just say it's of a capitalistic way of living.

Leah Jones 11:38

So from K’far Saba, you can really see all of the choices and opportunities and challenges of being in Israel.

Plia Kettner 11:51

Between religious and secular, between social way of living and capitalist way of living, between Jewish and Arabs, Palestinian people. Really all the other questions.

Leah Jones 12:12

Have you always lived in K’far Saba?

Plia Kettner 12:14

I was born and raised in K’far Saba. I had two years in Tel Aviv. When I was a student, I used to study in Tel Aviv University. I lived in Florentine neighborhood. It's the neighborhood for students and artists.

Plia Kettner 12:42

I kind of had my one year in Stockholm, Sweden because of COVID. I had a partner there. I went back and forth between Israel and Sweden because it was COVID. We didn't know every time when we will meet. Every time I went there, for a long time, not just for a couple days, like it was before and then I found myself stuck there.

Leah Jones 13:23

You said though, before we turned on the microphone, that you were the person, the reason that your lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court was the reason the skies reopened in Israel for citizens.

Plia Kettner 13:45

We had four appeals for the Supreme Court, I will explain because not every appealing is the same as the other one. The first one was, actually because they closed the sky, actually they closed the sky all over the world. The EU closed the sky for people who are not citizens and Israel closed the sky for people who are not citizens. Because I had a partner who is not a citizen, an Israeli citizen, and I didn't have EU passport, we couldn't meet each other. Therefore, I filed the complaint - we want to meet each other in English, in Hebrew it's [Not Understandable [00:14:39]]. You can look for this campaign on the web – wewanttomeet.com because I explained what I did and all the steps, and I started with the media. It was a complaint in the media and social media, I gathered with me a huge number of Israelis who all have partners or family members abroad and sometimes, it's not just partners because family members, it's big word. Sometimes there are cases, you move abroad as an Israeli and you give birth there and your children are not considered to be citizens and if you wanted we had cases like that. To come with your children to meet your parents. The children could meet the grandparents but the children couldn't enter Israel. I also gathered with me, three wonderful women, actually four because the fourth one came later, but three of them had personal story. One of them Illa Armani moved to Belgium because of her partner who is Belgian, her husband. And she gave birth for the first time before COVID. So, her daughter, she became an Israeli citizen. But then she gave birth right before we met. By the way, I never met her in person. It was only during the webinar and she gave birth right before we met. So, it was during COVID. All the embassies and consulates around the world were closed too, so her son couldn't be an Israeli citizen. She breast fed him. He became very ill and she had to come here to be with her father. But Israel told her, the state told her no, you cannot come with your son. Even though he's a really small baby, and you're breast feeding. She told me Hi, I have to choose between my sick father and my very small baby. I had a lot of crazy stories like that. After we made the campaign in the media, I talked with a Member of the Parliament, now she's environment minister Tamar Zandberg and she took care that we will have two meetings that do discussions in the Corona committee in the parliament and we got some possibilities. For example, if you have a partner and he wants to move here in Israel and you already signed as partners here, so he could enter to Israel. But for cases like me and my partner, we didn't register here as a couple, because we never thought he will move to EU to live as well. For him, this job, in Sweden was after 50-55 and in this age, to move to another country that the language is not known, it's not like moving from Sweden to Italy. Between Sweden and Germany, you know, that Swedish is very similar to German. So in his age to move here, to learn Hebrew to find a job and also he was divorced with two children. One of them was a minor in child custody. There are cases where you cannot match the criteria of Israel. I told them, there is a problem. You give us some options but a lot of couples aren't like us, like think automatically that everybody wants to move to Israel, but it's not right to everybody. Then I understood that the is no choice I must go to the Supreme Court. To go to the Supreme Court cost a lot of money. I did two things. One was to speak with somebody who is now a member of the parliament, but she wasn't a mother, she was a lawyer - Gaby Lasky. She said, I will do it for really low price. She was really great with us and because she understood the situation and I really liked this woman very much. She understood the emotions and she's very sensitive to human rights and things like this. So, I raised money from people at the same situation, or people who just want to support the idea and we went to the Supreme Court, we won. Now, it wasn't like winning, the judge said “Yes” and then he used his hammer. It wasn't like this.

Leah Jones 20:57

It wasn't like and go to Sweden, bring him here.

Plia Kettner 21:01

It wasn’t like this. Because when we entered to the court, they are not attorneys, the lawyers of the state.

Leah Jones 21:14

Prosecutor?

Plia Kettner 21:18

They were defenders actually I don’t know the exact. They say, their first sentence was, we admit the state did something awful to those people. So, we agree to walk with your side, that is our lawyer and to discuss about new cases, new options for other cases we didn't think about and after that, Gabby worked with them. Together we decided about other options. So that was the first time of four. The second time was, as I told you, I went to visit my partner and Israel closed the sky also for citizens. So, I couldn't come back. The thing is that I had the flight less than 24 hours after they closed the sky. It was the closest flight to Israel. So, I couldn't find another flight to come before they closed the sky. So, I found myself there in Sweden and Israelis can be in the EU 90 days every year. My 90 days was over after a week after they closed the sky. So, I was not legal in Sweden. It was very scary. I was afraid from every cop in the street. I was afraid that something will happen to me with insurance, all that stuff. Then I appealed to the Supreme Court from Sweden. During this time, I met this lawyer, I think during, I don't remember how I met actually when I thing of time.

Leah Jones 23:24

The time of Corona is so mushy. It's so hard to remember.

Plia Kettner 23:32

[Not Understandable [00:23:33]] – Name of Lawyer. She was the lawyer who made this appealing and with another lawyer Talit was like two opinions, but we did it on the same thing so they put it together. The lawyers, the judges were very direct in their decision. They said that the State of Israel held the agreement between a citizen and a state. So now they learn it in the law faculty in the Hebrew University.

Leah Jones 24:26

It's a big statement.

Plia Kettner 24:28

Yeah, It’s a big statement.

Leah Jones 24:29

Then can future cases, I don't know how it works here. But can if in the if the US Supreme Court said there are tacit agreements between citizens and their country and the country cannot violate those agreements. Then it would be case of people saying this hurts citizens and this hurts citizens.

Plia Kettner 24:58

In the US I can see how it's possible for something like this to happen. Closing the sky for citizens, it's not something and I don't think it will happen again in Israel after this appealing but the nice thing was that

Leah Jones 25:14

There are two international airports here, right? There's just Tel Aviv and Ilan, right?

Plia Kettner 25:21

There is also a small one in the North.

Leah Jones 25:26

So, there's the theory of closing the skies and then there's actually only three airports. So, it is easier logistically.

Plia Kettner 25:34

Logistically, yes. But we have a border with Egypt and with Jordan. They also closed down the borders because people go to Sinai and people go to visit Jordan. So, they closed also the borders.

Leah Jones 25:51

The land borders, too.

Plia Kettner 25:53

The funny / nice thing during this appealing was that I met so many nice people and we started to work together. Together, we found the lobby for The Open Sky of Israel. Like the other appealings, I wasn't signed for them. But every one of us had other position in the group. We thought we want to open as well for tourists now. Also, I had my personal interest in this because my Swedish partner, he has children and I wanted them to come. They couldn't come as family members because we are not married. They could only come as tourists. I had an interest in that. So, each one of us has like something he did. We decided the right thing is to find business people to sign on this appealing and to show that this is what decision had them heads of business. One found the people, one made the money, one made the lobby. Each one of us and we appealed twice. The funny thing was that those two appealing didn't get to the court because after we sent the appeal the state said, okay, we opened. Because I think the reason was that they didn't want to announce a statement of the judges again.

Leah Jones 27:37

Oh, okay. So, one of the reasons I’m here today is because of you.

Plia Kettner 27:44

Yeah, kinda. Not, just me, a big group of the lobby.

Leah Jones 27:49

I watched so many friends with first degree family and they would go to the consulate and they will get an apostille and the proof and every week, the proof changed and everybody was like, will it happen? Won't it happen? Friends kept asking me when are you coming? I'm like, you are like family to me, you are dear friends. But there's no legal way for me to visit.

Plia Kettner 28:23

You had to have the sky to be open.

Leah Jones 28:28

It's good. It is very nice to be back.

Plia Kettner 28:33

You're welcome.

Leah Jones 28:46

I don't just bring people on to grill them about their Supreme Court appeals. But it's so interesting. I mean, it is fascinating.

Plia Kettner 29:01

But also after that, I gathered with Israeli people with the same interest, partners abroad. And some of the people, who came to partners themselves from abroad during the net. And then one of them from Belgium, she told me, we want to make the same in Europe. We want to open the EU borders. Can you explain us, what to do? Then they founded the campaign - Love is not tourism. If you heard about, I don't know. It was like in Europe. It was like a big thing. They were several people from different countries inside the EU also. I don't think, they met each other for real. I think, that all the work together were like during the net or something. And also, they have a website, Loveisnottourism.com. And they may like wonderful campaign, it's something to learn about, when you study how to manage campaign in different countries at the same time. So that's the same goal.

Leah Jones 30:12

Wow. I'll link to it in the show notes. Love is not tourism.

Plia Kettner 30:19

Yeah, there are wonderful people. And all the people from all around the world, who made campaigns like this. Even from Indonesia, even from Australia, we were in touch, we found each other. And we had our own group of the managers of the campaign. So that to me was like a big thing.

Leah Jones 30:44

All I did was, sit at home and start a podcast.

Plia Kettner 30:48

Well, I think to start a podcast, it's another great idea to use your time in doing COVID.

Leah Jones 30:55

There was so much time. There was a lot. It was 10 hours a week of the commute, plus nights out. Like no social life.

Plia Kettner 31:07

It was awful. It was really awful.

Leah Jones 31:11

And it was really after six weeks of TV, I was like, this is not ending. It’s not ending. So then, I started a podcast, where I asked people,

Plia Kettner 31:21

But could you could you go outside?

Leah Jones 31:25

You could go outside. It wasn't like here. But my work was closed. We worked from home. But they turned off our badges, like no go into the office, no access, restaurants takeaway only, so restaurants and bars were closed.

Plia Kettner 31:46

But could you sit in a park?

Leah Jones 31:50

You can sit in a park. Chicago has 20 miles of beaches. The beaches were closed. They closed the beach. You couldn't go to the beach. Which now we know that's dumb. The beach was safe. The outside was safe. They didn't do baseball. Like baseball was closed for the summer for little kids. Playgrounds were closed. Greens were open, parks were open. But playgrounds were closed because of touching.

Plia Kettner 32:28

Because I saw that if you start touch something.

Leah Jones 32:34

So I live across the street from a park with a baseball field. And the baseball field has, it's called a dugout, which is where the team sits waiting for their turn. So I met my friends in the dugout. Just come and meet me in the baseball field, because there was a bench. And so we would bring our food, would bring our drinks and we'd sit in a baseball field.

Plia Kettner 33:01

That did so much better than what we had in Israel.

Leah Jones 33:05

What you could go outside for? You could go like 100 meters or something from your house.

Plia Kettner 33:11

100 Meters, yeah. I can say that, I was alone. I was with animals, my cat. But he will be very angry, if he will know that, I said, I was alone, while being with him. He has opinions. He speaks a lot. So actually, I just had conversations with Ananis.

Leah Jones 33:34

Yeah.

Plia Kettner 33:37

Between four walls.

Leah Jones 33:40

My building, there’re six apartments. And we had a fire pit. We did have a yard. So we would make a fire in the yard, sit outside, all winter in the snow outside with a fire. But no inside friends. It wasn't safe.

Plia Kettner 34:03

So you didn't invite friends to your home, for example?

Leah Jones 34:08

No.

Plia Kettner 34:09

Just outside?

Leah Jones 34:10

Just Outside.

Plia Kettner 34:11

In the winter. It's hard.

Leah Jones 34:12

But we would. We made it work.

Plia Kettner 34:18

Could you do like ice skating go?

Leah Jones 34:22

You could. I didn't. People did.

Plia Kettner 34:29

I love. I'm kind of jealous, you have snow.

Leah Jones 34:32

No, we have snow, we had for my Hanukkah party in 2021. So December 21, was right in between like delta and Omicron, maybe.

Plia Kettner 34:52

Okay, I don't remember versions yet.

Leah Jones 34:56

It was a law. It was kind of we all had vaccines. But there was this new thing coming.

Leah Jones 35:07

So we did two fires in the yard and cider, hot drinks, latkes in the yard. So we cooked inside, we brought it outside. And that was like 50 people. That's a yard with fire. So that was one of that was super nice. So then there was another wave and…blah….

Plia Kettner 35:35

It was really awful, I agree.

Leah Jones 35:38

But Plia, what is one of your favorite things, that's not Corona?

Plia Kettner 35:45

No, Corona was awful. And as much as I am really proud of what I did during COVID. I think, it was an awful time. I have no love for Corona. And believe me, I would be very happy, if I didn't have to do what I did. But I thought about, what I love, before we met, because you explained me, what is the podcast about? And I love cats.

Leah Jones 36:21

Cats? Wonderful. Do you have?

Plia Kettner 36:26

Yes, I have my Ananis. And Ananis, he's a cat. He's a redhead cat, very spicy cat. And he's very talkable cat. He has a lot of opinions. And he will tell you, all of them. And I met him because when I was young, right after my army service, I still lived with my parents, and there were some cats under the buildings. There was a cat there, who gave birth. And then her daughter gave birth. And it was for Ananis and the other tastes, because the mother, we named her Pizza. And those cats, there was the chairman of the board of the building and his wife, she loved them. So she used to cook for them. I mean, they will kind of street cats or community cats. But they ate believe me, you don't eat well like that. Because I had like [Not Understandable [00:37:51]]

Leah Jones 37:53

Amazing.

Plia Kettner 37:57

I remember, when Pizza, she was pregnant. It was a lot of years ago, Ananis, he's now over 15. But I don't think, we had the knowledge like today, to take care that cats, will not keep giving birth. And I actually as a very young woman, I just waited for her to give birth because I wanted to see the kittens. And she gave birth in the shelter of the building. But then she took the kittens. And she moved them to a yard of a private house, I couldn't enter. And one day, I went out and I saw her. I saw pizza and she's kind of called me, like she yelled.

Leah Jones 38:55

Meow.

Plia Kettner 38:57

Yes. Meow. And I wasn't sure, if I understand it. I started to walk after her. And all the time, she looked back like to see to be sure that I'm coming. And then she meow again. And then I went after her and she took me to a bush. And she stood in front of the bush and she meowed. And then sweet kittens came out. And then I saw, I don't know, how to say, sometimes we give animals human emotion. So I cannot say for sure, but it looks like she's angry. And she entered inside the bush and she took with her mouth another Kittten, who did not want to come out and she put him in front of me and It was Ananis. He did not want to come out. But in that moment, we became just best friends, me and Ananis. And when I left my parents’ home, I took them with me, Pizza and Ananis. And Ananis, he was such a naughty cat. I always say about Ananis that he wants to destroy the world and he start with home. Like he does all the training. So he ruined everything, he could ruin at home, like the toilet paper. I couldn't leave toilet paper in places that they can reach, and he could reach everywhere. And back then I was a student. And, I used to study in the university, but then I had to go to walk. So my study started off on eight in the morning and I finished at about two or three. And then I went to work till midnight. So you know, it was a long day. So I had to make food for this long day, because you cannot buy every time, when you are students. So I made food. And I used to wake up really early, before six in the morning to make the food, put it in the bag, and then, to advance to brush my teeth and etc, etc. And then I wanted to take my bag with me and I discovered that somebody was too smart. And let's say that my food kind of disappeared. So really, he tried to ruin everything. And one day, I was with my ex partner, we like in flaunting this apartment. And one day, I looked to the window and I told him, you should see that, there is a cat outside. And he looks exactly like Ananis. He's like his twin. And then I thought another moment and I'm like, oh my God, it is Ananis. I don't know how he found a way to go out? I wanted really to shout on him and yell and I was really angry on him because he always ruined things and he ruined my clothes and even ruined my shoes. And I remember that day, I was really angry. And I wanted to shout on him. And then our eyes match. And I understood that I just can't be angry. I'm too in love with this cat. And since then we are like twins. And we have our routine at home and he hates every man, I date with. He doesn't want other men at home. He accepts my father. You accept my brother. Two friends. And that's all. All the other human males, they are not allowed. He doesn't like them. He is the only man.

Leah Jones 43:31

My cat Spidey was the same. He hated any man that would come over, very few got attention. And I was a waitress and there was mama cat, who nobody could ever catch. And her kittens born on the patio, every year. So this is 21 year or so. And so every waitress, every waiter, everybody in the kitchen, had one of mama Cat’s, kittens. So I had Spidey, who his litter was Orangey, Peachy and Blackie. And he was Peachy. He because he was the light orange. So I caught him and he stole bread. He would steal Holla, Rolls, lots of bread. I moved out of an apartment once and I moved my bed and I found rolls and slices of bread. Like everything, I wondered where it had gone to.

Plia Kettner 44:37

So he and then Ananis went to the same school.

Leah Jones 44:41

They went to the same school. This summer, I wish I say, goodbye, but till his last day, stealing chicken bones, chicken, everything.

Plia Kettner 44:58

He lived like the real “Cat life”. That's wonderful. Because cats are the real loyalty of the world. And we are actually just slaves. We should pet them. We should feed them.

Leah Jones 45:16

Pet them when they want.

Plia Kettner 45:19

Pet them when they want. I forgot this. But if we are talking for seriously, I think, it's a very special animal. Because on one hand, they are very independent and on the other hand they really, I do believe, love the humans. There is this Netflix movie now.

Leah Jones 45:48

The Secret Lives of cats? Or the Lion in the house?

Plia Kettner 45:52

Their mind. And really, it's a special animal. They're really smart. They know how to manipulate. And when I say manipulate, usually people use this word to talk about bad things. But we manipulate people during our life all the time. Like when you want to get something and not have an argument. You do it in a nice way. When you smile to somebody, it's also a manipulation. And they know how to manipulate to get what they want without having argument. So they're cute and they come to you and they make you melt. So they do it in a very smart way. And the fact that they meow into us because between themselves, they meow because they understood that it's like a baby sound and people cannot ignore it.

Leah Jones 47:09

I have another cat, Cowboy. So cowboy came to me when he was two from a co worker, who was not a cat person.

Plia Kettner 47:21

How did she get?

Leah Jones 47:23

He never eats human food like no interest because he was raised with people who want to, which is fine, like it's okay to eat a pizza and not have a cat.

Plia Kettner 47:40

Yeah, that's nice.

Leah Jones 47:42

But he also didn't Meow. He's quiet. But now that in the last two years of Spidey’s life Cowboy was like, oh, I have to learn, how to talk. Because he won't be here forever. Like, he can't talk for me forever. And since Spidey has passed away, Cowboy is meowing and has a whole new personality. Because…

Plia Kettner 48:11

But you see, he learned. I mean, they have the ability to learn. And they can understand, if I want to connect with this woman, I am asked to make some noises, like a baby. So she will give me some

Leah Jones 48:31

Extra treat. Scritches and Cuddles. I thought, he was just stand-offish and quiet. And he's like, nope, he’s a lover. But he also like, Spidey was number one. So now he’s number one.

Plia Kettner 48:52

Maybe he enjoys it a little bit, to be number one

Leah Jones 48:57

Because, I considered getting kittens, getting two babies.

Plia Kettner 49:04

Do you think he will accept them?

Leah Jones 49:07

I don't know. But then he's just so nice as a solo cat that I want him to as child cat.

Plia Kettner 49:13

This is why, I didn't get like new kittens. Because Pizza she passed away in 2019. Ananis took it really hard. He actually cried for three months. And he knew that when Pizza she goes out from the door, she also come back from the same door; when I took her to the vet or something, he just sat in front of the door and cried for three months. It was awful. Like I have videos, it's awful. And this is another thing that it shows you that they get attached with other animals and like Pizza, she was very important for him. And now Ananis, he's over 15. So, I don't want him to fight about territory. Now and he's like the king of the house. So as you say, number one. Although in his mind, he was always number one. Once I bought a kitten, I didn't think to keep him, but I saved him from after he had a car accident. So I thought after he will get better, I will find him a family. And then, for a long time, no one asked for him. And I thought, maybe I will keep him. But then Ananis actually tried to kill him. He [Not Understandable [00:51:11]] him to the water ball. Then I said, okay, maybe it's not a good idea may be Ananis is not a cat who likes to have small brothers. And then I found him a great family for this kitten. Now his name is Oliver. I understood that maybe Ananis is better to be alone. And he's a great friend. They always show love and they understand when you have a shitty day. And when you're sick and when they are [Not Understandable [00:51:53]], it's kind of a level that make you very calm. So I think now, it's okay, the way we are.

Leah Jones 52:04

I think so with Cowboy too. It's just, it's nice. I miss him. You know, being here.

Plia Kettner 52:13

Of course, who's taking care of?

Leah Jones 52:17

I've three friends. Because it was a holiday this weekend. Normally, I'll have someone stay the whole time. Because they want someone in the house. Not just doing meals, but like company.

Plia Kettner 53:32

Like a cat sitting.

Leah Jones 52:33

So my friend Jasmine, I'll get there on. I guess today. She'll get there today and stay with him for the rest of the week. But before it was my upstairs neighbor, Ezra. He was in charge of food. And my friend Jocelyn was in charge of company. So she would just come and just like watch TV and be with him. Because I don't like, he's not super social, but just becoming more other people cat. I didn't want to leave him alone.

Plia Kettner 53:10

[Not Understandable [00:53:10]] somebody that they can he can have interaction with somebody.

Leah Jones 53:19

I mean, when the cats were younger, and you could just be like, here's all your food. See you in a week. But that's only if cats, don't eat all the food on day one.

Plia Kettner 53:31

Yeah, with Ananis it was not possible. He will just finish everything on the first moment it’s on his plate.

Leah Jones 53:40

Is there a cat rescue and K’far Saba?

Plia Kettner 53:49

Yes, there is a NGO. Actually it's like a shared with the Ra'anana. They named it K’far Saba and Ra'anana love animals. They have a big place actually for cats. And the city, Municipal counsel try to help them. I must say that in Israel, we have a big problem with cats. We have a lot of cats in the street. And on one hand, I understand that it's very not comfortable for people but on the other hand, there are a lot of people who try to hurt them. And one of the things, we are trying to do now like the people who love cats is to change the way people see those cats. In the past, we used to call them street cats. And now we change it to community cats. And there are some laws about, you cannot transfer cats from one place to another because cats are very territorial animals. And actually it's like to send them to the death if you can transfer them to another place. And about like people who feed cats, there are also some laws like you can it's legal, it's important that people will know it's legal to feed cats in Israel. But there are some rules like it's supposed to be dry food, not wet one. It's supposed to be in some distance from like building. And don't give them bones or this and this. So there is a lot of walk around the subject, with cats. And also people must understand that to keep cats from giving birth, they are not humans. It's not like they have the wish, to become parents. For their safety actually, it's better to take care that they will not breed. And this is the best way to have less cats.

Leah Jones 56:43

There is programs in Chicago like Trap–Neuter-Catch or Catch and Release. So they catch them, take care of them and then they'll like notch their ear. So you don't catch them again.

Plia Kettner 57:01

Also in Israel as well, we have it.

Leah Jones 57:02

And then they do feral cat communities, where they teach people how to build outdoor shelters for the winter, especially in Chicago where there is snow.

Plia Kettner 57:18

Yes, of course. Here we have it and people build kind of shelters from they take cartoons and make it and then they put nylon on it. The rain will not ruin it. But there are some mean people who come and ruin this things.

Leah Jones 57:36

Yeah.

Plia Kettner 57:39

And they should think if it would happen to him to live outside in the rain, in the cold winter.

Leah Jones 57:50

Well, thank you for coming to talk about cats with me this morning.

Plia Kettner 57:54

Thank you for inviting.

Leah Jones 57:56

Do you want is there anything you want to promote? Or do you want people to follow you online?

Plia Kettner 58:03

You can find me on Facebook. Plia Kettner . And you can look for my campaign on Facebook. It's “We Want to Meet Each Other” [Not Understandable [00:58:16]], and the website is wewanttomeet.com

Leah Jones 58:21

Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming today.

Plia Kettner 58:25

Thank you for inviting me.

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