All bets off for Eurovision

May 26, 2010 - 8:59 AM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, Music, Pop Culture 

Eurovision time is almost upon us again, and as usual, Israeli hopes are running high. The on-line betting sites are listing our entry into the massively popular but unbearably kitschy song contest – Harel Skaat’s “Milim” as one one of the favorites to win the competition taking place on Saturday night in Oslo.

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The boyishly good-looking 29-year-old Skaat was the runner-up of the second season of Israel’s version of American Idol, Kohav Nolad (A Star is Born) in 2004. A native of Kfar Sava, Skaat emerged from the competition with a built-in fan base which has helped his two albums, a self-titled 2006 debut and last year’s Figures, released and sold exclusively through the Aroma coffee shop chain, go gold (in Israel, that means, more than 20,000 copies sold).

While most entries in Eurovision – which launched the career of Abba back in the 1970s – are full of buffoon-like dancing, outlandish costumes, and garish music, Skaat’s approach is sophisticated and subdued. Featuring just a piano player and two background singers, he told interviewers in Oslo he wanted the song to be focus of his performance.

“This song touches me deeply. My grandfather died just days before the selections in Israel, and this gives me a very deep feeling, I feel that I’m really singing this song for him. He wanted me to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for five years, and then he got to hear that I was going to take part in the national selection before he passed away,” Skaat said, referring to the televised contest in March in which Skaat was chosen by Israeli TV viewers.

Whatever way the results turn out, just like last year’s pairing of Ahinoam Nini and Miri Awad, Israel’s entry to Eurovision is a class act.

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Jerusalem Election Diary: Haaretz gets it so wrong

November 7, 2008 - 1:23 PM by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Israeliness, Politics 

Anata

I don’t usually write about the same topic two weeks in a row, but, with less than a week to go, the upcoming Jerusalem mayoral elections is so important that I feel compelled to post again.

Last Friday, Haaretz published an editorial slamming mayoral candidate Nir Barkat and endorsing “a responsible haredi” (a code word for Meir Porush, the only ultra Orthodox candidate running for the position). Many Jerusalemites like me were outraged.

The reason for Haaretz’s position is that Barkat has come out in support of building a Jewish neighborhood near the Arab village of Anata, at the foot of the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill. The area has long been a thorn in the Palestinian’s side: building there would help connect Jerusalem to the satellite city of Ma’aleh Adumim in the West Bank, but it would also have the effect of preventing territorial contiguity for a new Palestinian state.

Barkat says that building this new Jewish neighborhood will help solve the city’s “shortage of housing for students and young people.” But it’s also a clear ploy to help win over Jerusalem’s “swing vote” – the Modern Orthodox residents who, according to recent polls, are split between Barkat and rival Porush. Given that most of the city’s voters, whether religious or secular, tend to be right wing, it’s not a bad campaign tactic.

Whether you agree or disagree with Barkat’s position, Haaretz – by coming out against the current front-runner in the race – is saying something far more disturbing about Israel’s attitude towards Jerusalem.

Haaretz is, in effect, giving up on Jerusalem. Or perhaps they already have. In the eyes of the Tel Aviv-based newspaper, Jerusalem is already all religious; there’s nothing to do here; no nightlife; it’s too far away; too dangerous; too tense; and ultimately not even worth a visit. The Western Wall, the Old City, the quaint alleyways and gourmet restaurants, the cool summer air, the unique architecture, the spirituality, the Knesset and center of government – all of these are unimportant to the enlightened readers of Haaretz where the heaviness and tension that are part and parcel of Israel’s capital might, God forbid, impede the never ending pursuit of next party.

Indeed, to Haaretz, Jerusalem is not a city at all. It’s a metaphor, a bargaining chip on the geo-political stage to be divided in an eventual peace. Anything getting in the way of that end must be resisted, fought, denigrated. Haaretz couldn’t care less about the problems the city faces, from transportation gridlock to cleanliness and jobs, reverse emigration, religiously-mandated unemployment, and a rapidly deteriorating education system, all areas for which Barkat – in contrast to the other mayoral hopefuls – has clear, step-by-step plans for rapid execution. The quality of life in Jerusalem can go to hell, Haaretz is saying, as long as the next mayor doesn’t stoop to interfere with the inevitable outcome of Oslo and Annapolis.

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