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My Israeli flag, love it or not

The blue and white of the Israeli flag has never been more closely analyzed and inspected than in the documentary film My Flag by Toronto filmmaker Igal Hecht.

The 30-year-old, Israeli-born Hecht has made about 40 documentaries over the last decade, with most of them in recent years focusing on Israel, which he calls his “obsession.”

My Flag , which is having its Israeli debut on Thursday night at the Sixth Jewish Eye Film Festival in Ashkelon, finds Hecht traveling around the country during its 60th birthday year and asking those he encounters one question – ‘what does the Israeli flag mean to you?’

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=36087766

The answers range from humorous to biting to reflective, accurately mirroring the fractures of Israeli society and the attempts by its citizens to understand the nature of their country amid their first identity crisis.

Hecht traveled to Sderot where a man whose wife was seriously injured in a Kassam attack angrily says, “This flag is nothing to me – if you weren’t here, I would burn it like the Arabs do.”

In Mea She’arim, he walked around with flag wrapped around him, like a more thoughtful Bruno, evoking residents to respond, “It’s a rag, I wouldn’t even wash the floors with it.”

“We don’t need a flag, we have Hashem,” another says.

But for every negative connotation, there’s patriotic responses, from singer Saraleh Sharon who says, “The flag of Israel is our home.” Or from a Druze Israeli in the North who says “I am proud to be a son of this nation.”

In a process similar to that in the US, where in recent years, the symbol of the flag has been coopted by a decidedly right-wing, nationalist viewpoint, the Israeli flag has also inadvertently become a symbol of the Right. My Flag is an attempt to return the flag, representing both the achievements and blemishes of an imperfect country, to the Center.

“I learned that there’s frustration in Israel,” Hecht told me. “I end the film with a speech Ezer Weizman gave in 1996 in Germany. He talked about the country standing at a crossroad and unsure of where it was going. Unfortunately, that’s the thesis of the film ultimately. There’s a lot of uncertainty and lack of vision for many Israelis. That can be still translated into love and appreciation of the flag, but it also provokes hesitancy and grasping at trying to understand what’s going on in the country. Is it Zionism, or post-Zionism? What is the new Israel?”

That’s the question we’re all trying to grapple with.

Sderot solidarity on display

Thank the good Lord, the rockets haven’t been falling much in the southern part of the country lately. Sure, not all the news coming out of the Gaza border area is positive, but at least the rate of Qassam fire into Israel has slowed dramatically in recent months.

Several grassroots, cultural initiatives have aimed at making the situation on Israel’s southern front as comfortable as possible, and at expressing or fostering solidarity with those effected (on these pages, we’ve written in the past about a lot of them, including one initiated by musicians looking to bring aid into Gaza, a community of local young bloggers sharing their experiences under fire with the world, and even one rock and rocket-themed film project).

A year ago, the Connections Israel non-profit, which has been in operation for 11 years and aims to strengthen ties between Jewish communities in the Diaspora and those here, raised the question, “To what extent do Jews around the world feel responsible to one another in the context of the situation in Sderot?” The organization mobilized its network of young people the world over to submit answers to this question that were expressed via original works of art. The solidarity-themed exhibit that resulted from the campaign opened in a Sderot community center last month (a slide show from the opening can be seen here), with plans for the exhibit to travel the world in the works.

Mordechai David Cohen, Connections Israel’s director, is proud of the work the organization had done. From his statement in the exhibit’s catalogue:

“We believe in the power of energy conservation. The energy that a young artist expends, even in a place as far away as the United States, is transferred to the person viewing his creation here in Israel!”

Connections Israel received hundreds of submissions from Europe, the former Soviet Union, South and North America, with works including sculptures, photos, paintings, poems, multimedia and even large installations. 25 of the best submissions were included in the exhibit, curated by Noa Lea Cohen, with the top three receiving prizes.

Pictured is Jerusalemite Yedidyah Ish Shalom’s “From You to You I Shall Flee,” its title taken from a poem by Rabbi Yehuda Helevi as an expression of the duality of our interconnectedness, its subject matter taken from a newspaper photograph depicting a Qassam landing area.

British rapper raps Israeli security

Any visitor to Israel who’s entered or left the country via Ben-Gurion airport can tell you stories about the security there. Especially, if you don’t fall into the ‘Jewish visitor’ category.

For better or worse, we invented profiling – if you stray outside of their accepted categories of low risk visitor – for instance if you’re black, or Muslim – or if you’re a radical British rapper with ‘Long Live Palestine’ splashed across your Myspace page – you better be prepared for some grilling and some uncomfortable moments.

Justified? Well, yeah. The ultimate goal is to prevent people dying in a terror attack. Could we do it in a friendlier, gentler way that doesn’t create long-standing bitter feelings? Well, yeah.

But it’s still hard to swallow the sour grapes spewed by minor talent British rapper Lowkey, of the hip-hop/indie left-wing collective Mongrel who claimeed he was recently detained at the airport for nine hours.

According to the British New Musical Express, the rapper had been travelling to Tel Aviv to take part in a series of charity shows in the country, and in the Palestinian Authority to raise funds to help rebuild the Gaza Strip.

“As soon as I stepped off the plane with my AA guide to Israel tucked under my arm, I was pulled away to the side and interrogated as to why I was in Israel, by a man who wore no uniform identifying himself as any type of security but was clearly heavily armed,” Lowkey explained.

“After this I carried on through to passport control. After giving over my British passport it was confiscated. I was then detained for nine hours. During this time I was interrogated about many aspects of my life, what the purpose of my trip was, where my parents are from and where I planned to go in Israel.

“Eventually I was told my story was a lie and was subjected to a bout of the Israeli polices paranoid mind games. I was eventually released, knowing that no matter how frustrating what I just went through was, I knew that it was not even a miniscule fraction of the degradation Palestinian people are subjected to on a daily basis.”

Well, thanks for the soap box, Lowkey. I haven’t received an answer yet from the airport authority regarding the validity of the events as Lowkey related them. But as one commenter to the NME story responded:

Maybe it had something to do with the fact you have – LONG LIVE PALESTINE TOUR IN PALESTINE!!!!. across your MYSPACE page you d***… of course they are gonna watch your arse when you step foot off the plane…

It’s unclear whether Lowkey actually performed in Israel or raised any money to rebuild Gaza. But I would bet money that he didn’t visit Sderot or Ashkelon during his stay here.

Fred Teng Gets It

Given the avalanche of hate against Israel on the internet, at anti-Israel protests around the world, and in the media (of course!), it’s easy to believe that “nobody” likes us. By “nobody,” I mean, of course, folks from the wide world. And even if they are willing to overlook our “crimes” in Gaza (no, of course I don’t mean that), they still don’t “get it” – they just can’t understand what we’re up against.

So I wanted to share with you a message I got from a friend who’s in New York right now. There was a big pro-Israel rally this past Sunday, featuring speakers from the Jewish and general community. According to the message I got,

“The most powerful speaker at Sunday’s massive rally for Israel was Fred Teng, president of the Chinese Community Relations Council of NY. His words would have been exceptional even coming from an Israeli — and how much more striking for having come from the heart of a New Yorker and a member of the Chinese community.”

Suffice to say Mr. Teng “gets it.” He’s got Hamas’ number – comparing them to the gangs of big American cities who get their jollies running drive by shootings against innocent people. In the words of Mr. Teng,

“Enough is enough”

“These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like Drive-by Shootings. We have to put every gang member away for good, not just the ones that did the shooting. These Qassam Rockets and the people behind them are like a Fire in the Forest, You can’t STOP only half of the fire in the forest, and thinking you will be safe. If your house is next to the fire, you won’t think so. It is not the Qassam Rockets; it is the people behind the Qassam Rockets that we need to go after. This is an epidemic threat to the entire world.

“In the last 60 years, every gesture of peace by Israel only met with escalated violence. Every peace proposal, whether it is multi-lateral, bi-lateral, or uni-lateral was never honored by the terrorists. However, in this time of extreme difficulties, we shall not lose hope. We shall say yes to Peace. We shall say yes to Life. And we shall forever say yes to an eternal Israel Am Yisrael Chai.

Maybe someone should tell this guy we have an election coming up? Sounds like he’d make a good prime minister!

Rocket rockumentary

35-year-old filmmaker Laura Bialis moved from Los Angeles to Sderot just over a year ago. Her latest documentary, Sderot: Rock in the Red Zone, set for distribution in 2009, is currently in post-production, but given the latest developments in the south, we wouldn’t be surprised if some newer footage crept in to the final cut as well. As Bialis puts it on the movie’s website, “This is a story about what its like to live through a never-ending war. Not just to survive, but to keep living.”

Bialis has been blogging since the current Gaza war has begun, with her words lending a personal face to her project’s subject matter, as well as the way the movie is shaping up:

I used to have a crew, but my two usual shooters are afraid to come to Sderot right now. So I’m on my own, except for my husband, who has become my assistant cameraperson because he won’t let me out of his sight. We’ve made a pact to try to stay together as much as possible so we don’t worry about each other….

When I first came to Sderot I didn’t run to the shelter. The threat seemed so random. It seemed almost impossible that you were going to be hurt. The fear of Qassams is something that takes a while. It grows on you. Because now, I know too many people with near misses.

A lover of history, Bialis founded and heads the Foundation for Documentary Projects, which serves as an umbrella for her various projects, which have in the past focused on the Holocaust and Soviet Refusenik culture. Along the way, she has garnered awards from the Vermont International Film Festival and the Anti-Defamation League.

Sderot: Rock in the Red Zone (check out the heart-wrenchingly poignant trailer here) does what it can to convey what life is like in a sleepy development town which has absorbed thousands of terrorist rocket attacks over the past several years, but the movie accomplishes this feat in an unconventional manner, by focusing on Sderot’s status as a musical hotbed.

Acts like Sfatayim, Teapacks and Knessiat Hasechel, all huge Israeli pop bands, all hail from the town, where loads of up-and-comers are enjoying an artistic renaissance, largely through the hub of Sderock, an incubator/rehearsal space that’s also a performance stage – and also an underground bomb shelter. Sderot: Rock in the Red Zone tells the story of life in Sderot through the eyes of the town’s vibrant music scene and that scene’s key players.

For more details on Sderot’s rock scene and full profile of Bialis please read this story at ISRAEL21c.

The reality of teenage life in the south

Last week I wrote about Eye 2 Israel, blogs authored by students of Ort which offered a rare glimpse into the real life of young people who are experiencing the onslaught of missile attacks in the south. Eye 2 Israel is not alone. There are several other initiatives as well, one of the most high profile being, Join My Life, an initiative started by Nir Kouris, founder of Ecamp.

In his own words:

The blog entries were initially in Hebrew only but several are being translated into English. Join My Life will also be donating free webcams to youth in the south to make it easier for them to tell their stories. Living in the center of the country, it’s hard to imagine what it is like down south right now – or what’s it’s been like for the past several years. Blog posts like one authored by a thirteen year old girl in Ashdod give perspective. When I was thirteen all I care about was ninjas.

Yesterday, around nine o’clock in the evening, imagine you’re having a quiet night. After a day without alarms and sirens, thinking you’re going for a long tiring day at school.

And then…you hear a siren, one that recently we hear once a day, not very frequently and usually a false alarm. You get in the shelter with mom, god knows where dad is now… waiting for the siren to end so that you can find out it fell in north Ashkelon… but then you hear a boom.

The first thing you think is- where’s dad, maybe one of my friends was hurt…was someone killed? You go on the internet and validate your suspicions and worries- someone was killed and as a mater of fact a Grad missile did fall in Ashdod…pretty much in the center, on a bus station.

The lines were down, we can’t locate dad.

Relatives barely managed to call…because the lines were down. Then we hear dad get home, he’s fine. But the fact that dad is fine doesn’t mean someone else is fine. Seven injured, one dead and many that are in shock. Just as you think it’s over, about half an hour after, when you’re on your seventh dream about winning the lottery, the siren goes off…while you’re sleeping.

That’s basically what a non-typical day in Ashdod sounds like.

You can read more entries here.

Far and Away

It’s not hard to feel somewhat detached from the reality of what is going on in the south. For several years now the citizens of Sderot have been forced to run to their bomb shelters numerous times a day in the wake of Hamas missile volleys while us who live further north just go about our normal lives. I’ve had to force myself to really think about what life must be like down there. It’s certainly intolerable and I support the government’s military action (though I wish it came earlier) though what’s happening down there seems like it is happening in another world. I felt the same way during the first days of last Lebanon war. Though as the days went on things changed very quickly. The tipping point was first receiving a hysterical call from a friend who was just a hundred meters away from the ketyusha missile that killed 13 soldiers in Kfar Giladi. The second was receiving a chilling text message from one of my best friends in the reserves right now that read Anachnu Olim L’Gvul – We are heading to the border. Out of some stroke of luck I wasn’t called up in the last war and I hope my luck doesn’t change though I would

It’s been announced that the IDF is calling up of almost 7000 reservists. The only person I know who has been called up thus far is a friend of a friend but nearly everyone I know is anxiously waiting for their phones to ring. We are praying they don’t, but if they do, we are ready.

Photo from flickr user paul-simpson.org under a creative commons license.

The Quiet Within the Storm

You have to give Israelis credit; when the chips are down, even the ones who aren’t necessarily suspected of idealism come shining through.

As Israel went to war against Hamas over the weekend, the leaders of the major political parties all decided to suspend their political campaigns for the duration of the operation – which, both Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Barak said could be lengthy. Barak, who leades the Labor Party, said that he had to concentrate on the operation and had no time for politics.

The Likud, too, suspended its campaign, and has put on hold a radio campaign featuring ads attacking Kadima chief and Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni. Posters that bear the campaign’s tagline – “Tsipi, the job is too big for you” – that have already been put up will be taken down. In a statement Saturday night, Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said that “there is a time for debate and a time for unity, and today is a time for unity,” he said. “If our enemies thought we would not be united under rocket fire, they were wrong. The cannons roar, but we are united.”

With the elections coming just about a month from now – and the gap between the Likud and Kadima narrowing, according to the latest polls – the suspension of campaigning is really extraordinary. It wouldn’t be surprising for opposition politicians, for example, to accuse the government of timing its operation to cynically improve its standing in the polls, giving it a “January surprise” type of bounce that could sustain it until the elections. But no – politicians on the left and the right spontaneously announced (without any coordination, as far as I could tell) that they were holding off on the negative noise we are set to be subject to. Not that any Israeli, given the choice, wouldn’t opt for the noise if it meant that the south was secure. But it does show that our political leaders and would-be leaders are a better caliber than we usually give them credit for being.

(Photo courtesy One Family Fund)

Kids in distress

With Hannuka in full swing, there are some kids here who aren’t having any fun – the thousands of children who live in Sderot.

With the inappropriately named ‘cease-fire’ dissolved, and dozens of Kassam and Grad missiles fired toward the southern city and other Gaza area communities (not to mention Ashkelon) in the last couple days, the situation for families and their kids on Hannuka vacation is pretty intolerable.

Most of them are stuck at home day and night, a scenario which has become commonplace over the last seven years of regular attacks from Gaza. That’s why the work being done by the REUT-Sderot Association is so important.

They organize trips for Sderot children to enable them to get out of their stressful situation for a couple days and enjoy ‘normal’ life in other parts of the country. This non-political, non-partisan organization estimates that it costs about NIS 6,000 ($1700) to pay for a group of 100 children and accompanying staff.

Helping them out isn’t negating the terrible conditions that the children of Gaza are living under, but it is focusing on the fact that the children of Sderot haven’t been living in a bed of roses either. And it doesn’t look like the situation is going to be improving any time soon.

If you’re outside of Israel and want to contribute, you can do so at The Mitzvah Heroes Fund.

In israel, you can do a bank transfer directly to their account, or send them a check.

Reut Sderot Association, P.O.Box 339, Sderot
Banking details for “Reut Association”: Bank Leumi L’Israel
Branch Number 941, Kikar Hanasi, Sderot
Account No. 10390098

Teapacks retires…

Referencing the once flourishing music scene they once called Sderot the “Seattle” of Israel due to the influential bands coming out of the area. The most popular of these bands was Teapacks who went on to be one of the top selling bands in the country and even represented Israel at the Eurovision song competition. Now before I moved to Israel back in 1997 my taste in Israeli music… was…uh…misguided. I’ll save myself the embarrassment and hold off on the listening habits of a previous life. I have my army buddies to thank for getting me in line.

When I was enrolled in Ulpan (intensive Hebrew course) I listened to Teapack’s earlier albums endlessly. They were an amalgamation of ethnic music and rock with somewhat witty lyrics. I learned a tremendous amount of Hebrew transcribing their lyrics. Their live show was always better than their records and I had the opportunity to see them probably about ten times.

As is the case with bands that have integrity, their sound evolved. My music tastes evolved as well and I no longer connected to their more disco pop oriented sound (though their lyrics remained filled with humor and wit). They are widely known for their song “Push the Button” which they performed at Eurovision in 2007 which was all about the threat of Nuclear destruction. I didn’t get it and certainly couldn’t connect with lyrics such as “I wanna see the flowers bloom/Don’t wanna go kaput kaboom.”

After over 18 years as a band, ten albums and numerous hits Teapacks is calling it quits. And not a moment too soon.

 

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