Dynamic duo Ahinoam Nini and Mira Awad

January 12, 2009 - 5:55 PM by David · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Music, Pop Culture, coexistence 

Mira Awad

Mira Awad

[caption id="attachment_7472" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Ahinoam Nini"]Ahinoam Nini[/caption]Even as we’re fighting for the lives of residents of the South, we Israelis are also keeping a close eye on how we’re being perceived by the rest of the world. I don’t mean the anti-Israel protests that have plagued European and Asian cities the last two weeks, but where it really counts – the entertainment world.

Perhaps that’s why the Israel Broadcasting Authority committee which choses Israel’s performer to represent the country at the annual pop schlock fest Eurovision Song Contest, has selected a Yemenite Jew and a Christian Arab – Ahinoam Nini and Mira Awad - to perform at the May 16th show in Moscow.

Although purported to have no political influences, the much derided song contest has always blown hot and cold with Israel – depending on whether we were the good little children of the Oslo era or the big bad guys who invaded Lebanon, the West Bank, Gaza, take your pick…

So what better antidote to the anti-Israel blues than to package a beautiful liberal singer with a beyond Israel’s borders reputation like Nini (known in the rest of the world as Noa) and a well regarded Israeli Arab singer and actress like Awad.

At least the two are highly regarded professionals, and a few notches above the Israel Idol caliber of our recent reps.

YouTube Preview ImageThe two have collaborated previously on a Middle-Easternized version of the The Beatles’ “We Can Work it Out”. Whatever song they end up choosing, the coexistence message that Nini and Awad will likely offer is bound to captivate the spangle and glitter polyanna crowd at Eurovision and the millions of bored Europeans and Asians who gather around the continent to view and vote.

Count this bored boy in.

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Talking heads

January 8, 2009 - 10:16 AM by David · 4 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Politics, Pop Culture, War, coexistence 

Roseanne Barr - knows a Nazi when she sees one

Roseanne Barr - knows a Nazi when she sees one

One offshoot of the war that’s endlessly fascinating is when celebrities chime in with opinions and appeals. Just because you’re funny or can sing doesn’t neccessarily mean you have any idea what’s going on.

Case one is comic Roseanne Barr, who on her personal blog, denounced Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, labeling Israel a “Nazi state.”

Stating that “The Jewish Soul is being tortured in Israel,” Barr likened Hamas to “street gangs” in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, saying that Israel’s military campaign is the “equivalent to Los Angeles attacking and launching war on the people of Watts to kill ‘the Bloods’ and ‘the Crips.’”

Annie Lennox - Some of my best friends and ex-husbands are Israeli.

Annie Lennox - Some of my best friends and ex-husbands are Israeli.

Case two is veteran pop singer and liberal activist Annie Lennox. After attending an anti-Gaza campaign rally last week along with Bianca Jagger, the ex-Eurythmics singer who used to be married to an Israeli wrote a post on her MySpace page on Tuesday in which she attempted to clarify her views which she was mistakenly construed as anti-Israel.

I have made my position very clear. I do not believe that there is a military solution to the situation in Gaza. I support peaceful conflict resolution, and dialogue, which HAS to take place inevitably in order to resolve the situation in any case. I do not believe that the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians will solve anything. It will only make things worse for everyone, on BOTH sides. I am posting a video from the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, who is saying EXACTLY what I have said consistently.
There has to be an absolute cease fire as soon as possible. The reason why I spoke out when I did was because at that point in time there was a tiny window of opportunity to prevent a blood bath on both sides BEFORE the ground troops went in. I have NEVER condoned suicide bombings, or the firing of missiles into Israel. I repeat…The slaughter of innocent lives on BOTH sides is abhorrent.
I am not “anti Israeli”, nor have I EVER been, and for anyone to say that I am is profoundly offensive and completely wrong.

Noa's weapon - smother them with understanding

Noa's weapon - smother them with understanding

Case three is Israeli-based singer Noa (Ahinoam Nini) who wrote an open letter to Palestinians in Gaza that was published on published on the Israel-based iPeace website and reprinted on Ynet. She wrote that the common enemy of both the Israeli and Palestinian people was fanaticism.

Since that fateful day in 1994 when Rabin was murdered a few feet from me, since that awful moment, I have dedicated much of my public life to singing and speaking for peace.

I have seen the peace process rise and fall and rise like the breast of a woman breathing in the night. I have seen opportunities missed, so many missed, so many chances, so much ignorance and stubbornness and bullheadedness, so much beauty trampled under the heavy boot of pride…

And today, today I say this; we have one joint enemy, one awful joint enemy and we must all work together to eradicate it! That enemy is fanaticism my friends. That enemy is extremism in all its ugly reincarnations and manifestations.

That enemy is all men who put “god” above life, who claim “god” as their sword and shield, who claim “god” is on THEIR side. Jews, Muslims, Christians, all share this black streak. All have fallen to this destructive, horrible fanaticism at some point in their histories and the results have been devastating.

I know you are SICK of being held hostage by this demon, this ugly beast, not in Gaza, not in Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan, not anywhere!!! You are a people destined to flourish in peace! Your majestic history is overflowing with creativity, literature science and music, endless contributions to humanity, not crippling, torturing fanaticism, yelling Jihad and Shahid!

I see you sometimes, out in the streets, demonstrating with the monsters, yelling ‘death to the Jews, death to Israel!! But I don’t believe you! I know where your heart is! It is just where mine is, with my children, with the earth, with the heavens, with music, with HOPE!! You want nothing of this but you have no choice! I see through your veil of fear my brothers, through your burka! I embrace your hopes for they are mine!

And if we didn’t already have enough trouble on our hands, the Associated Press reported that 15-minute-of-famer Joe the Plumber is headed our way “to let average Joes tell their story’ about fight against Hamas.”

Joe the Plumber is taking on a new job. The Ohio man, who became famous during the US presidential campaign after asking Barack Obama about his tax plan, is heading to Israel as a war correspondent for a conservative Web site called pjtv.com.

Dubbed “Joe the Plumber” by McCain’s campaign, Samuel “Joe” Wurzelbacher was held up as an example of an American worker who would be hurt economically by Obama’s election.
Wurzelbacher says he’ll spend 10 days covering the fighting and explaining why Israeli forces are mounting attacks against Hamas.

He tells WNWO-TV in Toledo that he wants “go over there and let their ‘Average Joes’ share their story.”

Wurzelbacher later joined Republican John McCain on the campaign trail. At one stop, Wurzelbacher agreed with a McCain supporter who asked if he believed a vote for Obama was a vote for the death of Israel.

I won’t even get into the smarmy, infantile segment that Jon Stewart ran on the Daily Show about Israel, proving that you can be a satirical genius, but still be a complete idiot.

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