Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on February 2, 2020

By: David Ben Hooren

As the maddening world around seems to have us fixated in historic impeachment hearings, potential military engagement with Iran, and the third Israeli Knesset election in less than a year, most American Jews are now in for yet another shocking revelation on the political landscape.

For those not in the know, the time has arrived once again for a conglomeration of Jewish organizations to compete against one another in the frenetic voting for the 38th World Zionist Congress.

The Jewish Agency of Israel building in Jerusalem. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

Hmm as you sit there and scratch your heads and wonder what why you may never have even heard of a World Zionist Congress election or precisely what the WZC does or stands for, allow us to allay your concerns by informing you that you are in very good company.

Yes, the lions share of those who identify as Jewish in the United States and Canada have absolutely no clue whatsoever that a World Zionist Congress was on the horizon for 2020, let alone the fact that they could actually cast a vote in this enigmatic election. All that is necessary to meet the eligibility criteria is to be at least 18 years old on June 30, 2020, self-identify as Jewish, reside in the U.S., not vote in the March 2020 Knesset election, and check a box that you agree with the Jerusalem Program. The Jerusalem Program states that Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, brought about the establishment of the State of Israel, and views a Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people for its continuity and future.

For starters, a background on the World Zionist Congress is necessary to put this upcoming election in the proper context.

The first World Zionist Congress was held in 1897 in Basel, Switzerland and was the brainchild of the founder of modern Zionism; the legendary Theodore Herzl. The Congress met each year until the early years of the new century. Thereafter the Congress convened every five years. The original Congress formulated a Zionist platform, known as the Basel program, and founded the Zionist Organization, which in 1960 was renamed the World Zionist Organization.

One of the functions of the World Zionist Congress is to set not only policy for the bedrock of Zionist organizations such as the World Zionist Organization but that of the powerful Jewish Agency of Israel, the Jewish National Fund, the Keren Kayemet in Israel, among others.

Currently, there are 15 slates competing for representation at the World Zionist Congress which is scheduled to take place in October 2020. These slates are comprised of people and organizations who emanate from the across the political spectrum. Leftist progressive groups, right-wing religious organizations, middle-of-the-road types, etc., to name just a few.

It appears that the driving force that incentivizes many of these slates in their feverish race to the elections finishing line is the sizable amount of money that the WZO controls. According to an article in the Forward, voting for slates will determine the American delegation152 of the 500 total participantsto the WJC in Jerusalem in October, which will in turn determine $5 billion in spending on Jewish causes over the next five years. Any United States permanent resident who is Jewish and signs a statement supporting Zionism is eligible to votethough much of that is on the honor system.

Moreover, some experienced voices opine that slate members who are elected also wield a significant amount of influence in the policy making department of the Israeli government while others suggest that this assumption of power is the furthest thing from the truth.

Currently the World Zionist Congress sets not only policy for the bedrock of Zionist organizations such as the World Zionist Organization but that of the powerful Jewish Agency of Israel, the Jewish National Fund, the Keren Kayemet in Israel, among others.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a now-retired chief executive officer of a major American Jewish organization with over 40 years on the job told the Jewish Voice in an exclusive interview: I can tell you that the WZC is no longer considered a formidable or relevant organization. He remarked in a rueful tone: The reality is that during the pre-state days of Israel; when the nascent Jewish state was coming into its own as well as in the first 50 years of Israels existence as a modern state, the official Zionist movement played a major role in policy decision, education, and Aliyah efforts, among other things.

He added: There was definitely a well-defined role for a World Zionist Congress as the representative body of the Jewish nation, but now that has been replaced by Israel. The WZC is now electing leaders that no one has any clue about. Essentially, the Jewish people are no longer beholden to the Zionist movement, yet the WZC continues to be a political entity that has no purpose anymore. They have become archaic, obsolete and somewhat of an anachronism that desperately wants to cling to the past.

When queried as to whether the WZC can ever serve a pragmatic function again in the Jewish arena, the well-informed source said, They (the WZC) must reconfigure themselves so that they may maintain even a modicum of relevance to the contemporary reality in which we live.

Pertaining to the issue of why only 57,000 American Jews cast their votes in the WZC election as compared to a population of millions of Jews in the United States and Canada who support Israel and would fulfill the eligibility criteria, the retired CEO said, The powers that be at the WZC do not want the masses to be aware of such an election. They want to keep the voting body limited to essentially the leaders of the slates and their diminutive minions as well as assorted acolytes.

Another source speaking on the condition of anonymity who is keenly familiar with the voting process during the elections for the World Zionist Congress said, Another problem has been kind of a power grab by the old guard and by that I mean parties and slates that have been around since the formal inception of modern Israel in 1948 and even some who were around before then. The source added, many of these slates have been grandfathered in and are automatically placed on the ballot without having to garner delegates or signatures. One example of this is the Hadassah Organization, which is the womens division of the World Zionist Organization.

Addressing the issue of why the World Zionist Congress elections committee did not make efforts to publicize, promote or advertise the voting process that began on January 21st and concludes on March 11th, Herbert Block, the executive director of the American Zionist Movement, told the Jewish Voice in a telephone interview that while advertising is a good idea, the movement does not have adequate financing for that but that everyone who supports the Zionist enterprise is welcome to vote so that all views can be represented in the Israeli government policy committees.

Concerning the requisite voting fees to participate in the WZC elections, Mr. Block said that the fees charged for adults ($7.50) and discounted rates for those under the age of 25 ($5.00) will generate enough funding to cover the cost of operating the election. Mr. Block said that paying to cast a vote hearkens back to the father of Zionism himself, Theodore Herzl, who instituted a system where voting privileges could be secured by purchasing a Zionist shekel.

Rabbi Dr. Eli Abadie, longtime congregational leader and senior rabbi at the Sephardic synagogue in Manhattan told the Jewish Voice that many Jews do not take part in the WZC because the elections are every five years and many people forget about them. In addition, there is not enough advertising of the elections and it is mostly advertised in Jewish media outlets, synagogue and some JCCs. However, the majority of Jews are not affiliated to any of those, so they are not aware of the elections and their importance.

Speaking from personal experience, Rabbi Abadie offered an explanation as to precisely how the voting process for the WZC is conducted and where the monies are being directed to. He said, every election cycle, established lists of members of AZM and also new lists can be enlisted to run, as long as they follow the rules and regulations of the Area Election Committee (AEC) of the American Zionist Movement (AZM). The control of monies is given to every party in Israel that has affiliated organizations or lists in the US based on the amount of mandates they receive. The more the mandates; the more the funding.

In March of this year, Israelis will head to the polls for the third time in one year to elect a new prime minister or to reconfirm their confidence in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo Credit: VIN

Rabbi Abadie added: Most of the money stays on Israel, even though it should be disbursed here in the US. If most or all of the money is kept in Israel, then there is not much power for the American groups to do anything. Anyhow, even politically, most of the Zionist Congress resolutions are useless and non-binding. It is a Congress of the Jewish People that has no territory, no enforcing capabilities or authority. Therefore, most of their power is imaginary with no real effect.

Rabbi Abadie, (who is also a renowned gastroenterologist), founded the Ohavei Zion World Sephardic Zionist Organization (WSZO) Inc along with Rabbi David Bibi in the US in 2015, and is a member of the American Zionist Movement (AZM).

Rabbi Abadie said, with a group of people who supported us in the United States, we formed a board of directors and officially incorporated Ohavei Zion WSZO, as an independent Zionist organization in 2016, bot affiliated with any party or faction; free to associate with any Israeli party during any Zionist Congress.

He added, Ohavei Zion ran for the 37th Zionist Congress of 2016 and we received votes that gave us seven mandates/seats. Ohavei Zion participated in the World Zionist Congress, in all is committees and votes.

Ohavei Zion was established so that the traditional Sephardic community will have a voice and an influence on the direction of Jewish education within their communities and throughout the world, said Rabbi Abadie. He added, This will enable us to provide funding for programs in support of Jewish Education and Identity, Zionism and the support of the State of Israel as the Jewish Homeland.

We, as Sephardim must chart our future within the Jewish People in our unique way based on our Torah Tradition, values and inclusiveness. For too long we have been silent. The time has come to take responsibility to share the beauty of our Sephardic Heritage with our Jewish brethren and to allow our voice to be heard, declared Rabbi Abadie.

Ohavei Zion is comprised of a list of delegates from all segments of the Jewish People representing our various and unique communities across the United States with the support of our Sages, Rabbis and leaders, he added. The platform of Ohavei Zion includes the following:

1Ensuring the future of the Jewish people by furthering Jewish and Zionist education, and promoting spiritual and cultural Sephardic values and heritage.

2Fostering the centrality of Israel as the Home of the Jewish People by facilitating Aliyah and populating the Land of Israel.

3Partaking in the dissemination of substantial funds allocated by Israel and the WZO for Jewish Education and Identity, and securing its distribution to our Sephardic educational institutions.

4Instilling a love of Torah values and the appreciation of Missvot

5Pursuing Jewish unity and respect for each other

6Defending the rights of Jews anywhere in the world against all manifestations of anti-Semitism/anti-Zionism

7Combating assimilation through Jewish pride and identity

Sarah Manning, a spokesperson for the Shas Olami slate, said that the organization that she represents is a cohesive group of Sephardic synagogues and community centers representing congregations from across the globe who have united for the purpose of preserving and actively maintaining cherished Sephardic traditions, values and ethics.

Speaking to the Jewish Voice about the fact that the progressive or left-wing slates seem to have made formidable inroads in the policy making department in the last WZC elections, Ms. Manning said that the religious parties werent keeping their eye on the ball in the last election. Somehow, the progressive camp which includes such groups as J Street, New Israel Fund, Truah, Hashomer Hatzair, Habonim Dror were able to garner enough votes to be funded accordingly and were given a voice that they never had before in government decision making.

The implications of the progressive Lefts determination to influence the very definition of the whole Zionist enterprise is something that cannot be overlooked. Rather, it sends a message that these groups with opinions vis-a-vis Israel which are more than occasionally hostile do not consider such elections to be pass.

On January 20th, Ms. Manning issued a press release from Shas Olami which said, The leadership of Shas in Israel, headed by Chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri, has announced the participation of Shas Olami in the 2020 elections for the World Zionist Congress. Confirmation of their participation was delayed by a legal dispute and attempts by members of the Zionist Federation to stop Shas from fielding a slate in the elections. After a legal battle, the matter was referred for adjudication by the WZO governing organization, and it was agreed that Shas Olami would put together a slate of candidates.

Established at the request of the founder of Shas, Maran HaRav Ovadya Yosef ztl, Shas Olami works with Sephardic communities from all over the world under the banner of the World Union of Sephardic Communities. Over the past 3 years, they have hosted conferences in Israel for rabbis and community leaders from the United States and worldwide. They gather to discuss issues of shared concern, such as strengthening Jewish and Sephardic identity, the integration of Zionism into education, the management of communities, and the strengthening of Torah study and mitzvah observance in Sephardic communities around the world.

Elizabeth Berney, the director of Special Projects at the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) said part of the reason people dont know about the WZC election is that the election happens only once every five years. Five years is a very long time to not hear or think about an election. There are no primaries, etc. before the election to evoke interest, as occurs in governmental elections in the U.S. The timing is also bad. The 2020 election is in the dead of winter, when people are not particularly tuned into elections. I think that if the election more closely followed the American election calendar, the turnout and interest would be better. I tried to change the timing, but other slates supported the winter voting period (January 21 to March 11).

Ms. Berney added that, The key substantive reason why turnout is so low is that people dont realize what is at stake. Left-leaning groups have been using the WZC elections to try to impose their agenda on Israel. Left-leaning groups are actually openly stating now that they are running to divert funding away from the entrenchment of the occupation and to end funding of the settlements. That is really a form of boycott against 750,000 Jews living over the green line.

Ms. Berney also related that a WZO department that is now under the control of a left-leaning slate has produced and presently distributes educational film materials condemning Israels vital security measures such as checkpoints; and praising an anti-Israel NGO that harasses Israeli soldiers at checkpoints and tells Europeans to divest from Israel.

On a more sanguine note, Ms. Berney said that the ZOA Coalition is working to change this dangerous situation, and to alert people to the necessity to vote for our ZOA Coalition of 27 strongest pro-Israel groups. The ZOA Coalition is fighting to end harmful WZO programs that criticize Israels vital security measures. The ZOA Coalition has a strong record of accomplishment, including initiating and obtaining passage of a resolution to establish a program teaching about legal rights of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel.

She added that the ZOA Coalition promotes positive Zionist and Jewish education, showing Israeli societys beauty, defending Israels and the Jewish peoples rights and security, and respecting religious Jews, tradition and all Jews.

Another problem is the lack of transparent voting at WZC and AZM sessions, Ms. Berney said. The ZOA Coalition believes that every delegates vote at World Zionist Congress and AZM meetings should be recorded, and made available to the public. This would help the public understand what they are really voting for and create both an informed electorate and interest in the WZC, added Ms. Berney.

She said, people might be very upset if they knew how their representatives voted.

For instance, at a large AZM board meeting on June 3, 2019, when we voted on AZMs anti-Semitism policy, ZOA Coalition was the ONLY slate that voted to retain a clause saying that anti-Semitism is manifested in activities such as anti-Zionism. EVERY other slate present voted to REMOVE this important clause, she said most emphatically.

Referencing the current uptick of anti-Semitic attacks on Jews in the greater New York City area, Ms. Berney said, the ZOA Coalition believes that in this era of increasing anti-Semitism and danger to the Jewish people, WZO funds must be used for the good and safety of the entire Jewish people and not to fund particular slates. ZOA Coalition has never sought funds for itself. Rather, ZOA Coalition is leading a battle to require that WZO funds must be used to combat anti-Semitism and BDS, strengthen Zionist and Jewish education, and prioritize Aliyah and rescuing Jews who are in danger due to rising global antisemitism.

Meir Jolovitz, a former ZOA national executive director, and more recently the director of Brooklyns Sephardic Community Center, offered his views to the Jewish Voice as to why more Jews do not participate in WZC elections.

Now residing in Arizona, Mr. Jolovitz said, I conduct a weekly lecture series about Israel, with a twin focus on Israeli affairs geostrategic and internal as well as its symbiotic connection to the American Jewish community. The deep interest in the Zionist experience of those who attend regularly is unfortunately not representative of American Jewry in general. With Israel longer seen as facing an existential threat from its enemies, the commitment to Israel has dissipated. There exists an undeniable fact: todays generation of American Jews suffers in comparison to those of the previous in its engagement to Israels needs. Make no mistake, it is cause for concern.

Jolovitz cited the 2012 Pew Poll, done in conjunction with the AJC, which was quite telling: American Jews are, by and large, disinterested in the Zionist enterprise. Subsequent polls have supported that reality. Therefore, he suggested, we need to pay careful attention to the present WZC elections, because the anti-Israel progressive voices are doing exactly that.

There seems that an obvious conclusion ought to be drawn from an examination of the coming elections. One might argue that that the generations-old Zionist elections no longer carry the influence nor the significance that they enjoyed yesteryear but to ignore its importance today is to quietly cede control to elements that are found wanting by the traditional definition of Zionism. We turn a blind eye to some of these stealth votes and voices at our own peril. Israel, and world Jewry deserve better.

David Ben Hooren is a veteran journalist and is currently the publisher of the Jewish Voice

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Is the World Zionist Congress a Sham Election?? - The Jewish Voice

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Posted By admin on February 2, 2020

Senator Bernie Sanders and his wife Jane appear on stage with their grandchildren after a campaign rally in San Francisco, California. (Stephen Lam / Getty Images)

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This week, the Democratic Majority for Israel (DFMI), a new pro-Israel organization founded by AIPAC-affiliated politicos, launched its first major ad buy just ahead of the Iowa caucuses: a nearly $700,000 salvo against Senator Bernie Sanders.Ad Policy

Part of whats notable about the ad by the pro-Israel group is that it doesnt mention Israel, Palestine, or foreign policy at all. Instead, the ad casts doubt on an issue very important to all Democrats: the possibility that Zayde Bernie (Grandpa Bernie) might beat Donald Trump in the general election.

That a Democratic pro-Israel group is attacking the only serious Jewish presidential contender is already outrageous. Sanders himself is essentially a progressive Zionist. But Sanders is also unquestionably the presidential candidate furthest to the left on Israel/Palestine. That a conservative pro-Israel group is pushing ads against himeven ads that seem relatively off-topicisnt really so surprising. However, underneath this particular ad campaign, and indeed behind the misleading claim that the group speaks for the Democratic majority for Israel, can be seen an age-old right wing strategy: weaponizing genuine Jewish communal fears to divide and attack the left.

This strategy was front and center at AIPACs conference last year. Amid the usual battery of panels and speeches reaffirming the America/Israel special relationshipand much breath spent vilifying Muslim Representative Ilhan Omarthe conference took aim at a new old adversary: socialism. American Democratic Socialism, popularized by Bernie Sanders during his campaign for president in 2016, has exploded in growth since the subsequent election of Donald Trump. Despite repeated and shrill claims to bipartisanship, the AIPAC conferences focus mirrored closely the Republican Partys objectives in attacking Democratic politicians for socialism and anti-Semitism.

That AIPAC considers attacking a Muslim representative, lambasting Palestinians, protecting Israel, and fighting socialism all part of the same fight says much about the emerging formation of the new pro-Israel politics. It underlines the fact that support for the Israeli government can no longer be considered in isolation from other right-wing causes. In a way, this is the right-wing version of what is sometimes called intersectionality. In a progressive context, intersectionality is the ligature of solidarityreferring to the essential interconnectedness of the many struggles for liberation. But the right has always had its own form of intersectionality: common cause among the conservative and moneyed interests that are its bedrock. It is these interests, not Jewish ones, that give life to groups like DMFI. And it is these interests that Sanders lambasts in almost every speech. Given that the attack ads resulted in an additional $1.3 million raised by the Sanders campaign in a single day, the entire episode only illuminated the threat posed by Sanderss broad-based, working-class movement.

The irony is that a pro-Israel organization releasing attack ads that have nothing to do with Israel actually reveals much about the way Israel has been used to suppress the broader left. Non-Jewish support for Israel and Zionism has always been a long-term marriage based on short-term common interests. This fact is thrown sharply into relief by the growing power of Christian Zionismsome Christian Zionists openly credit the Book of Revelation for inspiring their support. It also explains the Israeli governments cozy relationship with far-right leaders the world over. Of course, the pro-Israel movement could have gone another way; from Israels earliest days, many well-known Israeli writers and thinkers argued that embracing the left is critical to the survival of the Jewish state, rather than a threat to it. But the ongoing annexation of Palestine, given a bright green light by Trumps peace plan, serves only to cement the crushing reality of right-wing dominance in their countryand ours.

Maintaining that dominanceand stifling the emergent leftis the common interest of non-Jewish but Israel-focused groups like AIPAC and DMFI. These groups and their work dangerously contort our collective Jewish interest into a weapon for use against their political opponents. Anyone genuinely concerned about Jewish life in the United States should recognize that groups and interests hindering the fights for free health care, college, and morechanges that would benefit Jewish Americans as much as everyone elsedoes not have concern for Jewish people, or anyone but themselves, at heart.

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Hands Off 'Zayde' Bernie! - The Nation

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Posted By admin on February 2, 2020

Gilad Atzmon writes:

They destroyed the Labour Party and now they have launched a campaign against the British arts scene. Will they successfully abuse the moniker of anti-Semitism to destroy any place,person or organisation where they sense opposition?

The 606 Jazz Club and its owner, Steve Rubie, have been subjected to a constant barrage of pressure and threats for hosting my concert. In a familiar first act, a Jewish member of the public asked the 606 Jazz Club to explain why the club gives a music platform to me, whom he duplicitously calls an anti-Semite and a holocaust denier. The UKs Jewish press avidly repeated the lies about me. Ludicrous accusations were made. The club was told that I advocate the burning of synagogues. I was accused of suggesting that Hitler was right after all. The accusations are false and, of course, unsourced as they cannot be found anywhere in my work. If I were a Hitler supporter who urged burning synagogues, certainly these campaigners would have used Britains strict hate speech laws to have me spend some time behind bars.

I have played at the 606 club for many years and Steve and I have spent many hours discussing Israel and its politics. Steve has no doubts that the accusations against me are unfounded. On 30 January he wrote a moving statement explaining why I am invited to play at his club on a regular basis despite the constant pressure he endures. Amazingly, Steve had to point out that the 606 is a music venue first and foremost. We are here to promote the best in UK music and Gilad falls in that category This is without regard to Steves disagreement with most of my political views.

Steve explained the basic core Western value that political disagreement is no reason to stop the music. Are we to live in a land where Tories and Labour block each others arts events? Ridiculous. But this is apparently kosher in the case of supporters of Israel and its critics. The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) was not persuaded by the simple truth of Steves letter. Last night, 30 January, the CAA launched its new strategy of threatening and then harassing the jazz community, the club, the artists and the jazz audience whenever it so decides. A few hours ago the CAA posted the this Tweet:

Campaign Against Antisemitism will be selecting a number of future dates on which to picket the @606Club over its decision to provide notorious antisemite Gilad Atzmon with a platform.

This should horrify every Briton, Jew and gentile, as it horrifies me. In 2017 a similar CAA campaign ended in a vicious attack on an audience member who suffereda serious eye injury.

This morning I decided that in the light of the CAAs threats, I am withdrawing from the gig. I do not want to see the art scene obliterated by an insane Zionistpressure group. I certainly dont want British artists and audiences subjected to violence. I did this despite my concerns about the consequences of bowing to anti-cultural bullies and my obligation to the British artists who have played with me for decades and whose livelihoods depends on such gigs.

Of far larger concern isthat a pressure group that tweets its call for volunteers to destroy our art sceneenjoys such impunity in Britain. How is it that British tax benefits granted charitable status to the benefit of the CAA that openly threatens to harass the jazz community, its audience, venues and artists?

Ideeply believe that Britain must reinstate its liberal and universal values of tolerance and diversity and, as a first step, I intend to file a complaint against the CAA with the Charity Commission. I ask you to examine the commissions rules and decide if you want to do the same.

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Zionist terror in London: Why I have withdrawn from my commitment to play at the great 606 Jazz Club on 1 February - Redress Information &...

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Posted By admin on February 2, 2020

In this week where the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz is remembered, it seems that memory and taking lessons from history are sometimes, at odds. The efforts to stifle free expression, a foundational threat to any free society, are waxing. The good news is that there is a growing ability to push back against such expected and well-funded efforts.

Although a relatively small-bore example, after the noxious op-ed penned by those responsible for her being fired at the Fieldston school, JB Brager published a letter responding in the NY Times , although not an Op-Ed, it was a relatively long letter and quickly got to gist of the matter:

I am a practicing Jew and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, in addition to being a scholar of the Holocaust and settler colonialism. On Jan. 9, I was removed from my position at the Fieldston School amid allegations, driven by conservative media outlets, that my criticism of Zionism and my trans identity made me unfit to teach.

Teachers should not have to appear neutral when teaching about grave injustices and violence. Young people must learn to contend with challenging discourse in the classroom, and devastating events in our world, including in Israel/Palestine and the United States.

I do not believe that it is the right of any denomination or faction of the Jewish community to declare itself the mainstream. There isnotonly one way to be Jewish, and Zionism is increasingly recognized as de facto racist politics. I am a proud Jewish anti-Zionist teacher, and I belong in the classroom.

This will not be the end of the good response as Palestine Legal, along with co-counsel Jethro Eisenstein, are working with JB Brager. Stay tuned for updates.

In another small (procedural) victory, Professor Rima Najjar, a retired professor at Al -Quds University has filed a suit against the Quora website for unlawfully banning her from posting and moderating a forum involving Palestinians and Zionism. The lawsuit claims that Quora ignored its own policies on objectivity and targeted Professor Najjar based on her nationality and opinions. Its clear that she has been overly surveilled and hassled for problematizing Zionism and, effectively, providing a counternarrative to typical conversations found in mainstream settings. Before permanently banning her, Quora temporally banned her for, among other things, using the term Palestinian and suspected (erroneously) of fabricating her family history. Although Quora rescinded these bans due to errors, Quora finally permanently banned her for using terms such as Palestine and Zionist claiming it as hate speech. The purpose of the suit is relatively mild, as Professor Najjar explains to make it easier for Palestinians .to speak freely on social media. The suit was filed at the end of 2019, well update this story as it develops.

We can ask if such close scrutiny is placed on language and arguments supporting a pro-Israeli position.

Unfortunately, this is also the week, in lock step with Netanyahu being indicted and the Trump impeachment being tried in the US senate, that the expected unilateral peace plan was trotted out, surprising no one save for the sheer chutzpah of the terms. As expected, there will be no right of return, no control of water, no air rights, no contiguous land, nor control of borders (at least the five nos). The Jordan Valley will be annexed and the PA will still be responsible for policing the occupation for the Israelis.

Concomitantly, US press coverage, particularly the paper of record, the New York Times, also surprising no one, has been, as we have reported in Mondoweiss typically biased/mendacious/obtuse. Virtually no mention of the illegal occupation, currently running at about 700,000 settlers, nor the possibility that Israel may de-nationalize Palestinian citizens of Israel to explicit apartheid Bantustans. In another, up close and personal piece the Times excels at, avoiding implicating the settle colonial project or the US support for this project. The Times interviewed many Palestinians, treating the US supported Israeli occupation as something distantly menacing but on equal footing with Mahmoud Abbass incompetence or Hamas/PA infighting. Thus, we get seemingly straightforward reportage, So far, though the Israeli military sent reinforcements into the West Bank and along the Gaza border on Wednesday, Palestinians were not taking to the streets in large numbers. In a less upside down world, we would be asking why the IDF can send any forces into the West Bank given that its supposedly not, at least by international law, anyway, Israeli territory. The New York Times, not only accepts this upside down world, it helps create it.

Whether consciously or not, however, (Im going for little wins here) this piece got to a foundational truth concerning Palestinian sumud (steadfastness, particularly in staying on the land) again, quoting someone, this time Nour Odeh, a Palestinian writer who said that:

We are not going anywhere . Their mere presence, poses a long-term challenge to Israels right wing, not to mention Zionism itself.

An important point that the Times reporters dont want to be responsible for writing vitiating the impact by citing this point as an opinion.

Even worse, when the true terror and violence of the Israeli occupation is cited, in small paragraphs at the end of the article, its not stated as fact but, again, in the voice of an interviewee

Ms. Hawari added that the hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers at demonstrations along the Gaza fence set a really gruesome precedent for how Israel might respond to a mass mobilization.

If thousands of us went down to the streets in the West Bank, do you think that would be met lightly? she asked.

You would think that this gruesome precedent would be the lead and not buried near the end of the article. This routinization of violence and the occupation is a seeming specialty of mainstream media, particularly the Times.

In Haaretz, (the paper of record in Israel), the headlines tell a different tale Democratic senators slam Trump, Top minister contradicts Netanyahu on annexation, Trumps unreal deal: No peace, no plan, no Palestinians, no point, Trumps plan calls for sensitivity in Jerusalem. Then takes a hammer to it. Even a top level Palestinian negotiator and former PLO advisor is given prominent op-ed space Trumps peace plan endorses the Netanyahu doctrine that, for Israel, might is always right. Palestinians must refuse to engage with these fictional negotiations, with this U.S. administration and with a bullying Israel Diana Buttu

In other media news, as the Iowa caucuses are almost upon us its important to note that attacks on Bernie Sanders are, also, as expected, heating up and surprise, surprise, some of this Israel related. NPR is reporting that a pro-Israel democratic group (the Democratic Majority for Israel) is placing attack ads against Sanders concerned that Sanders had the temerity to say he was interested in a policy that addresses Israeli security, (so far so good) AND a pro-Palestinian perspective..darn! so close. As you can imagine, this doesnt sit well with this group nor the Democratic Party establishment. It turns out that this ostensibly liberal/progressive group, while claiming itself as independent from AIPAC, had, as of its forming last January, 11 of its 15 board members involved with AIPAC in some capacity, working, volunteering, as a donor or speaker at AIPAC events. This is AIPAC, unsubtly, attempting to create, using vast funds at its disposal, an Astroturf campaign within the Democratic party. A kind of fake progressive beachhead to fight what it sees as threats such as Sanders, Omar, Tlaib and AOC.

Well be seeing far more of this throughout the year with attacks, ironies and absurdities multiplying Sanders, a Jewish American will be attacked (and/or his supporters and allies) as being antisemitic as well as being antisemitically slurred as documented by FAIR (more on this in future columns).

See here for the MuzzleWatch archive. Have tips or feedback? Let us know [emailprotected].

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MuzzleWatch: Pushing back on the threat to free expression - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on February 2, 2020

President Trump has hardly attempted to hide his contempt for the Palestinian people. His unveiling of the Deal of the Century on Tuesday revealed in the clearest way possible what he thinks of the millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories, inside Israel, and in the diaspora who would be affected by his peace deal.

Trumps remarks dripped with classic racist imagery. For one, he used the words terrorism and terror nine times when referring to Palestinians in his speech. This is in contrast to the praise he showered upon Israel, which the president described as an island of democracy and prosperity. In the presidents eyes, Palestinians are trapped in a cycle of terrorism, poverty, and violence, and must renounce terrorism as a condition for establishing their own state.

The presidents caricature of Palestinians as terrorists is also familiar. From Israels very founding, Palestinians were portrayed as violent revolutionaries whose sole purpose in life was to annihilate the Jewish state and Jews writ large. That view was fostered at the very top of the Israeli political establishment including Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, who ordered Israeli soldiers to implement a free fire policy along the countrys borders. That mean they could shoot and kill Palestinian infiltrators, many of whom were refugees trying to return to their land.

What is peculiar about these mantras of Arabs as violent savages is that they elide Zionisms own history of terrorism, which played a central role in Israels establishment. This amnesia, particularly among the Israeli public, is what cultural studies scholar Marita Sturken terms strategic forgetting, in which nations choose what histories to overlook while favoring more positive national or cultural memories.

Menachem Begin seen during a meeting of the Likud predecessor Herut party in Tel Aviv, August 14, 1948. (Hann Pinn/GPO)

For example, Israelis prefer to forget that before they were prime ministers, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir were zealous militants who orchestrated brutal acts of terror against Palestinian civilians, attacked British soldiers and high-ranking officials, and even assassinated foreign dignitaries.

Begins 1951 book The Revolt which not only became canonical among the Israeli right but also inspired the likes of Nelson Mandela lays out in detail, and with great bravado, the ways in which Zionist militants from the Etzel and Lehi paramilitary groups blew up Arab markets and fought a bloody guerrilla war against British forces, which Begin referred to as The Occupation Army.

The celebration of Zionist terrorism goes beyond these memoirs. All around Tel Aviv, one can find metallic bronze plaques celebrating the victories and defeats of the pre-state Zionist militias. A plaque in the south of the city commemorates a tunnel dug by Etzel militants leading to a British military installation, which they intended to blow up. Another nearby plaque marks the spot in which two Lehi fighters, posing as telephone repairmen, drove a car bomb into a British communications center, killing several policemen.

There are dozens of these markers scattered across the city. Some commemorate Etzel weapons factories, some where Lehi printed its leaflets, and some where the Haganah the largest and most prominent Zionist paramilitary group, which carried out the majority of the expulsions during the 1948 war and formed the backbone of the nascent Israeli army ran secret induction and training centers. All these plaques not only carry the insignias of the Zionist militias, but also feature the official seal of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality.

A plaque in south Tel Aviv commemorating an attack by the pre-state Lehi militia on British police officers.

The city is also home to four museums dedicated to the memory of the paramilitary groups. Walking south along the Tel Aviv promenade, you will come upon an old Palestinian building. This the last remnant of the neighborhood once known as Manshiyyeh, which today serves as the Etzel Museum in honor of the group that liberated Jaffa during the 1948 war. A stone sign near the buildings entrance lists the names of the Etzel members killed in the operation.

That liberation entailed the expulsion of some 95,000 Palestinians from the Greater Jaffa area, many of whom were forced into in refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza. Thousands of other Palestinians, many of them fleeing from neighboring villages to Jaffa, were concentrated into a small section of the city surrounded by barbed wires, which the Israeli authorities casually referred to as The Ghetto.

The inauguration of the Etzel Museum on the Tel Aviv Promenade, May 15, 1983. (Nati Harnik)

The Zionist militias expulsions, massacres, weapons caches, and tunnels extended far beyond the confines of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area. They were part of a nationwide war effort, without which the State of Israel may not have come into being. As I wrote several years ago when the Israeli army uncovered Hamas tunnels from Gaza into Israels territory: Had the State of Israel of today faced off with the pre-state Zionist movements, it surely would have condemned their human rights violations and bombed them into oblivion.

Such a violent history is by no means unique to Israel, but it does serve a profound lesson for the conflict. Given their history, Israelis should be the first to understand why some who struggle against a foreign occupier for liberation and self-determination will turn to violence. Trump, of course, will not be the one waking Israel up to their past, or even daring to make comparisons between Palestinian and Jewish political violence. But somewhere down the line there may come a U.S. president who will.

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Trump vilifies Palestinians for using the same violence that birthed Israel - +972 Magazine

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Posted By admin on February 2, 2020

In a detailed study of the origins, activities, successes, and failures of the movement to boycott, sanction, and divest from the Jewish state (BDS), David May shows that economic warfare against Zionism dates back nearly 100 years:

During the Fifth Palestine Arab Congress in 1922, Arab leaders encouraged an official boycott of Jewish businesses, as they would at subsequent conferences. . . . On December 2, 1945, three years before Israels founding, the newly formed League of Arab States sought to address the Zionist danger by enacting a general boycott of the Jewish presence in Palestine.

After the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Arab League intensified its efforts, launching a . . . boycott [that] forbade Arab states, including their businesses and citizens, from trading with Israel. This campaign expanded in 1950, adding a secondary boycott that banned Arab countries from engaging with companies that did business with Israel.

But BDS in its modern iteration took shape at the beginning of the current century, culminating in the official BDS call issued in 2005 which, contrary to the claims of its propagandists, did not emerge out of Palestinian civil society:

The first organization listed as signatory of the BDS call was the Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine, [which] includes several U.S.-designated terrorist groups, including Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The BDS National Committee established in 2007 to help steer and promote the campaign names the Council first in its list of member organizations.

May concludes by urging Washington to take several steps to curtail BDS, among them:

The United States should shield U.S. entities from requirements to report to international organizations on their business activities with Israel or Israeli entities. The BDS campaign seeks to use spurious reporting requirements to deter legitimate trade and commercial activity with the state of Israel.

All executive-branch agencies, [moreover], especially the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Departments of Defense, State, and Education, should determine whether nonprofit organizations that receive U.S. government grants are engaging in politically motivated boycotts of Israel or Israeli companies.

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The Long History of the Boycott-Israel Movement and Its Terrorist Roots - Mosaic

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Posted By admin on February 2, 2020

SUPER SUPER BOWL PARTIES: The Super Bowl is one of the worlds most viewed sports events and watching the game has taken root in Israel as well. This Sunday night, there will be several options in Tel Aviv where you can see the showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. Besides classic hangouts like Mikes Place and Dancing Camel, Kerem House and Israel BBQ will also be hosting events. Kerem House is a community event space focused on new immigrants and the international community. To register, visit keremhouse.com. Israel BBQ, meanwhile, hosts meat-filled celebrations of Zionism. To register, visit TLVSuperBowl.eventbrite.com. Mikes Place in Jerusalem will also be hosting a Super Bowl party. In Petah Tikva, GSC Givat Shmuel Community, will be hosting a Super Bowl party as well. For more info, visit The GSCs Facebook page. All doors will be opening at 11 P.M., save for Israel BBQ and GSC, whose events kick off around midnight.

FIGHTING THE WILDFIRES: The ongoing wildfires in Australia horrified people worldwide, and groups in Israel with ties to Australia have put together a musical fundraising event in Tel Avivs Hangar 11 this Monday to help restore the damaged wildlife and nature. Everyone is performing free of charge, Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce head Paul Israel told Haaretz. He added that the venues Australian-born owner, Zev Eizik, donated his space for the event. Guest performances include Koolulam. Israel, who hails from Melbourne, said Koolulam was in Australia two months ago, and he got their number through a woman they befriended there. I just rang them, and they said yes on the spot. Hagit Yaso, the 2011 Star is Born winner who was a guest of the Australian community a year ago, will also perform, along with Australian-Israeli singer-songwriter Savannah Zwi and trumpeter Arik Davidov. The co-sponsors are JNF-KKL, JNF Australia, Zionist Federation of Australia and Tel Aviv University. To register, visit Hangar11.co.il/events/

A BIG HANDICRAFT EXHIBITION: A new art exhibition opened at the AACI (Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel) this month, The Work of Our Hands. It includes a whole variety of handwork and fabric work, the AACIs Donna Grushka told Haaretz. She noted that the Jerusalem exhibition comes in the wake of its quilts exhibition in 2018, which she said was a huge success. This years slate of artists includes quilts by Ruth Lenk and Maxine Forman; weaving by Jael Batyah Hatch; needlepoint by Chana Weiss, May Schulz and Sheila Bauman; knitting by Sara Levene; fabric design by Ruchie Glattstein; and crochet mostly by Gale Phaff. There are also a few anonymous pieces, like one purchased in Sinai. The exhibition will be on display through March. For more info, call 02-566-1181.

Rank and File was compiled by Steven Klein.

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Plymouth, Massachusetts, is gearing up for a big anniversary this year: It was in December 1620 that a group of English Puritans, who came to be known as the Pilgrims, landed on the shore of eastern Massachusetts and began to build a settlement that would eventually help shape some of the basic principles, traditions, and social and legal systems of the future American nation.

At least thats how whitewashed history has painted the story.

Along the way, some of the events and people of the settlement would become part of American folklore, from the tradition of Thanksgiving and the legend of Plymouth Rock. And in recognition of how much the world was eventually changed by the 1620 landing, programs in The Netherlands and in England this year will also recognize the historic voyage of the Mayflower and the Pilgrims roots in both those countries.

In Massachusetts, an organization called Plymouth 400 is staging a broad series of events that officials say could bring 5 million visitors to the state this year.

But Native Americans in the Valley and elsewhere in New England are looking at the 400th anniversary through a different lens. For them, Plymouth Colony was the opening chapter of a far grimmer story, one in which regional tribes would be stricken by European diseases such as smallpox, forced from their land, and finally decimated by the violence of King Philips War in 1675-1676. Its a fraught memorial, much like 2019, which marked 400 years since the introduction of African slaves to North America.

What might be worse, Native Americans say, is the perception that the Indigenous history of the Northeast is just that history and that Indians have long since vanished from this region. Thats simply not true, they say, which is why a number of tribes and a nonprofit group in Franklin County have planned a series of events this year to celebrate and recognize regional Native culture and history.

River Stories 2020: Recovering Indigenous Voices of the Connecticut River Valley will kick off this Saturday, Feb. 1, at Greenfield Community College with a traditional Native American Social and Stomp, a series of dances and talks led by members of the Abenaki and Wampanoag (the latter tribe was the first to make contact with the English settlers in 1620). This is just the first of about a dozen planned events that will be held up and down the Connecticut River Valley this year at least one every month through November mostly in Massachusetts but also in Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut.

From music and crafts, to storytelling and talks on Native agriculture and trading methods, to the launching in the Connecticut River of mishoons traditional wooden dugout canoes made by burning out the center of a big log the festivals and gatherings will offer a community spirit and a chance for Native people to celebrate what David Brule calls a huge reemergence of these (Native American) stories.

Brule, who lives in Montague, is the president of The Nolumbeka Project, a Greenfield-based nonprofit that has been involved for several years in a study, done in conjunction with the U.S. National Park Service and other groups, of the area around Turners Falls, site of the massacre of many Natives in May 1676 during King Philips War. Nolumbeka is an Abenaki word which means a stretch of quiet water between the two rapids. Project members have also been working to uncover other stories about regional tribes, says Brule, a writer and a former French teacher at Amherst Regional High School who discovered some years back that he has Native American and African American ancestry.

We were keeping an eye on 2020 because we knew through the grapevine that Plymouth was doing something big, he said during a recent interview. But I remember thinking, Thats going to be on the coast what about us here in the Valley? What are we going to be doing here? Native populations in inland Massachusetts and other parts of New England, Brule adds, eventually suffered a lot in the aftermath of the Plymouth landing especially during King Philips War, when perhaps as many as 5,000 Natives and over 2,000 colonists died.

And given the attention Plymouth 400 will be devoting to the Pilgrims landing, the growth of the settlement and the eventual establishment of colonial New England there will also be events that examine the history of the Wampanoag in eastern Massachusetts Brule and other organizers of River Stories 2020 thought any anniversary focus here should be on Native people, especially members of tribes theyve worked with most closely over the years: the Abenaki, Nipmuck, Narragansett, and Wampanoag.

The idea was to reach out to people in their own homelands and say Well find you the money and the venue, and you guys do what you want with it, said Brule. The underlying theme is the impact that colonization had on (Native) people of the Valley, the interrelationships of people and the river.

Jennifer Lee, a key organizer of River Stories, notes that The Nolumbeka Project has hosted a number of regular events for several years, including a Day of Remembrance in Turners Falls in May to honor those who died in the 1676 battle; theres also the Pocumtuck Homelands Festival, in Turners Falls as well, an August gathering that she and Brule say typically draws thousands of attendees, including members of well over a dozen tribes. River Stories is an effort to build on that by pegging additional events to the anniversary of the fateful landing in Plymouth.

Lee, who lives in Plainfield, has Pequot and Narragansett ancestry (as well as Anglo and African American links). For her, River Stories and other educational events she has helped bring Native American storytellers to schools and community centers in the Hilltowns, for instance are all about combating the concept of erasure. Its a way to help non-Native people understand that Native people are still here, she says.

Theres also the trivialization of the culture, where anything Native was only taught in second grade or kindergarten, that its not as important as Catholicism or Judaism or other things, adds Lee. A lot of Native culture has been lost, but a lot has survived, and theres a lot to be learned from it.

She points to things such as respect for elders and for the environment, two longstanding traditions of Native American people, as well as the idea that its better to give than to receive status (in tribal culture) is defined not by how much you have, but how much you gave away, and that no one is more important than anyone else.

Brule says he and some other Nolumbeka Project members were actually approached by a member of the Plymouth 400 planning committee a couple years ago about the idea of hosting Native American events in the Valley, which could then be linked to the Plymouth 400 website. But, he notes, the offer was basically, If you join with us, youll have to use our logo, and that just didnt feel right, so me and Diane [Dix, another Nolumbeka member] and a few others said Lets do this ourselves.

Still, Brule says Plymouth 400 is at least making the Wampanoag history part of the events in the celebration this year. It was the Wampanoag, after all, who helped the Pilgrims survive their first difficult years in America by teaching the colonists how to grow corn, squash, beans, and other crops and how to catch fish and process seafood.

In 1970, by contrast, a Wampanoag leader and Native activist, Wamsutta Frank James, was invited to give a speech at a Massachusetts state dinner as part of several events recognizing Plymouths 350th anniversary. But James was then denied a chance to speak when he refused to rewrite a draft of his address, which talked of his tribe being decimated by racism, disease, and violence in the wake of the Pilgrims landing.

Lee and another Nolumbeka activist, Kate Albrecht (she also lives in Plainfield), note that the events of River Stories 2020 are designed not to condemn white culture the Pocumtuck Homelands Festival attracts a good number of non-Native visitors, they say but to rediscover Native history and culture, and to find links between the two groups.

For instance, one specific goal of the series is to reconnect Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples with the rich diversity of the (Connecticut) River. But another consideration is to help people who have Native roots but dont know the details find more information about their ancestry.

I know a lot of people in Western Mass who have some Native American heritage, but many of them dont know what tribe they are, says Lee. Theres no connection. If youre Jewish, you can find a synagogue. If youre Christian, you can find a church. If youre Native American, where do you go? DNA testing wont bring you into a community. Its not going to inform you about the culture.

Even Natives who know their identity may not know the whole history of their people. Liz Santana Kaiser, a member of the Nipmuck Nation who grew up in Worcester, says she was always aware of her roots but did not learn until very recently that members of her tribe were among those killed at the Battle of Turners Falls in 1676. I want to be a part of getting those kinds of stories out there, says Kaiser, who will be part of a River Stories presentation in September at the Hitchcock Center in Amherst.

At pow-wows and other Native gatherings, Lee says, Natives can find community and learn more about their roots. A pow-wow is always about teaching. Its way to be a part of something bigger when you dance together; its not always about showcasing your best dancing.

At Saturdays Greenfield Community College event, which runs from 1-4 p.m., Chief Roger Longtoe Sheehan, of the Elnu Abenaki, will read an opening prayer, and then Annawon Weeden, of the Mashpee Wampanoag, and James Moreis, of the Aquinnah Wampanoag, will teach and lead Northeastern Woodlands Native social dances. Lee says these stomp dances, with rattles providing percussion and beat, can be very simple, almost meditative, where you follow the dancer in front of you, and if theyre having trouble, you look at the lead dancer. Some dances are a little more complicated, she adds, but theyre all about community, too.

Brule says he also feels River Stories is a kind of a culmination of an effort to recover and preserve local Native culture and history that really began back in the first decade of the new millennium. Thats when activists rallied to stop a proposed expansion of a runway at the Montague airport, where developers wanted to bulldoze a hill that Natives considered sacred because of the placement of prayer stones there. Brule says the plan was eventually quashed by a federal advisory board in Washington, D.C., under the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act.

According to the tribal people we work with, that was the beginning of a change in the balance (of life), when good things started flowing after that, and we said We gotta keep this going, says Brule. The idea for the battlefield study came around, then our outreach to schools, then the 2020 events and (officials with) Turners Falls really worked with us to recognize the history of the (1676) battle, making peace between Natives and non-Natives.

Now we want to keep the ball rolling and keep getting more of that history out there, he adds. Theres so much to tell.

Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@valleyadvocate.com.

The kickoff event for River Stories 2020 takes place Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Cohn Dining Room at Greenfield Community College beginning at 1 p.m. Snow date is Sunday, Feb. 2. For more information about the full schedule of events for River Stories and the work of The Nolumbeka Project, visit nolumbekaproject.org and/or facebook.com/nolumbekaproject.

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The Recorder - The other side of Plymouth Rock - The Recorder

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All weekThe Real Thing at Fashion Space Gallery

WORK IN PROGRESS: As comedians start looking ahead to Edinburgh, Pleasance Theatre's Work In Progress season goes on. The shows are a fiver each, or three for 12, and options this week include Tez Ilyas: Rough Draft, Jane Pasty's Apology Tour, Dane Baptiste's The Chocolate Chip, plus shows by Sarah Keyworth, Adam Hess and Mark, Miles and Camilla. Pleasance Theatre (Islington), 5/12 for three shows, book ahead, ongoing

THE REAL THING: New exhibition The Real Thing showcases photos which explore aspiration, ownership, and authenticity in the fashion industry. The artists featured look at issues of globalisation, capitalist consumption, identity and sustainability in the way we relate to brands today. Fashion Space Gallery (Oxford Street), free, just turn up, 7 February-2 May

EINSTEIN: What has Einstein ever done for you? Astrophysics professor Roberto Trotta discusses how Einsteins work and mind-boggling ideas have shaped our everyday lives. Museum of London, free, just turn up, 1pm-2pm

COUNCIL HOUSING: Britain built more council housing in the 20th century than any other country, but over 100bn of it has been sold off. Hear from Professor Steve Schifferes, about what caused this change in attitude, and how it has affected politics, society and the economy. Barnard's Inn Hall (Holborn), free, just turn up, 6pm-7pm

SKEPTICS IN THE PUB: Comedian Robin Ince is the special guest at this months Skeptics in the Pub. Hear him talk about some of the topics covered in his book, Im A Joke And So Are You. Where does anxiety come from? How do we overcome imposter syndrome? What is the key to creativity? How can we deal with grief? The Roadtrip & Workshop (Old Street), 3, just turn up, 7.30pm

WEBB VS HUBBLE: To mark the upcoming 30th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, Gresham College looks back at what we've learned from it so far, and looks forward to the future. Space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock discusses the insights it has given us into the universe, as well as the James Webb Space Telescope, a successor due for launch next year. Museum of London, free, just turn up, 1pm-2pm

ABRAM GAMES: 20th century graphic designer Abram Games is celebrated in a free talk about his life and work. Hear about his 60-year career, during which he created posters and stamps, and was appointed Official War Poster Designer. Guildhall Library, free, book ahead, 2pm-3pm

A MONSTER CALLS: The final Science On Screen film at the Francis Crick Institute is A Monster Calls. Timed to mark World Cancer Day, it's the story of a boy who seeks help from a tree monster to cope with his mother's terminal illness. Following the film, there is themed entertainment and discussions, and a free drink. Francis Crick Institute (King's Cross), free, book ahead, 6.30pm-9.30pm

VIDEO SOCIAL: Interested in becoming a YouTuber? Head to The Video Social, where panellists such as filmmaker Ben Maclean, cinematographer Stephan Knight and editor Marta Strauss talk about their careers and offer tips on growing your following and developing your channel. The Old Street Gallery, 2.40, book ahead, 6.30pm-10.30pm

LGBT+ HISTORY: As part of LGBT+ History Month in Newham, Birkbeck's Big Ideas holds a free lecture about the early years of London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. Hear from doctoral researcher Ralph Day about methods used to research queer sexualities since the 1960s, and how this has changed. Stratford Library, free, book ahead, 6pm-7.30pm

APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR: New cinema Catford Mews hosts a screening of Appropriate Behaviour, to kick off its Valentine's Find Your Muse series of films. The 2014 drama/romance follows Shirin, who is attempting to hold onto many identities, including ideal Persian daughter and politically correct bisexual. Catford Mews, 5, book ahead, 7pm

ROGUES WITH RIFLES: Hear from author Robert Griffith about the first rifle battalion in the British Army, the 5/60th Rifles. He talks particularly about the battalion's actions during the Peninsular War between 1808 and 1814, and some of the particular people he found out about while researching for his book. National Army Museum (Chelsea), free, book ahead, 6pm

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM: Environmental racism is on the rise in the United States, but what does this mean? Hear from experts Dr Lucy Bond and Dr Jessica Rapson about their research in the American Gulf States (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas), which showed that minority and impoverished communities are much more likely to live near polluters and breathe polluted air, and that the tourist industry is helping to conceal this. The British Academy, 5, book ahead, 6.30pm-7.45pm

CUNNING FILM CLUB: Cunning Folk Film Club kicks off 2020 with a screening of 1975 film Requiem for a Village. The idyllic, rural past of a Suffolk village comes to life through the memories of an old man who tends a country graveyard. Balham Bowls Club, 5, book ahead, 8pm

JEWISH WOMEN: Kathrin Pieren and Susan Gordon from the Jewish Museum discuss the important contributions of Jewish women in both world wars. Hear stories of individuals, such as a Jewish secretary from Ealing who went behind enemy lines to work as a wireless operator with the French Resistance, as well as the wider roles that Jewish women took on. National Army Museum (Chelsea), free, book ahead, 11.30am

CHOLERA: The National Archives holds a talk and document display about the 1848-49 cholera outbreak in England and Wales. Christopher Day, Head of Modern Domestic Records, talks about how the country dealt with this public health issue, and there's a chance to see documents relating to the Public Health Act of 1848, which was passed to deal with the epidemic. National Archives (Kew), 5/4, book ahead, 2pm-3.30pm

LIVE MUSIC: Kickstart your weekend with a free performance by Ego Ella May. The south London songwriter and vocalist's work focuses on contemporary compositions, and this show is presented in partnership with BBC Music Introducing. Southbank Centre, free, just turn up, 6pm

HACKNEY FLEA MARKET: Have a rummage through stock belonging to more than 30 traders at Hackney Flea Market, and see what bargains you can find. The specialist vintage traders sell a wide range of bric-a-brac, furniture, homeware, and retro collectibles. Abney Public Hall, free, just turn up, 8-9 February

ELEPHANT AND CASTLE: As plans abound for a new Walworth Library and Southwark Heritage Centre, Southwark Council hosts a free weekend of painting. The family-friendly workshop focuses on items from the Cuming Collection, resulting in some giant group paintings on the theme of mythology. 145-147 Walworth Road, free, just turn up, 8-9 February

CRAFT FAIR: Solo Craft Fair holds its first event in Catford, launching a new monthly craft market. Browse 40 craft stalls across three rooms, selling beauty products, jewellery, accessories, artworks and more. Ninth Life (Catford), free entry, just turn up, 12pm-5pm

PRINCE HARRY: In a somewhat timely manner, One Of A Kind Comedy presents a new comedy musical, looking at where Prince Harry might be in 2084. The show casts him as the leader of a rebel faction of redheaded outcasts, while Meghan Markle's been kidnapped. Round Table (Leicester Square), 5, book ahead, 9pm-10pm

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Free And Cheap Events In London This Week: 3-9 February 2020 - Londonist

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Yonnie Dror specializes in playing wind instruments: duduk, nay, shofar, clarinet, saxophone and diverse flutes. He performs and records with numerous popular Israeli artists and bands: Rita, Knesiyat Hasekhel, Idan Raichel, Shiri Maimon, Evyatar Banai, Dudu Tassa and many more. Dror plays concerts all over United States and Europe and he is one of the key members of the Yamma Ensemble, whose third record is to be released soon. Sitting down with the Magazine, he tells us about his passion for exploring and teaching music, especially that rooted in the Middle East. This extremely modest, versatile instrumentalist shares the turning points in his career, claiming that failures can often bring luck.Are wind instruments your life?It happens to be so. They became my definition. Thats what I do.You play various music genres: classical, jazz, world music, Israeli rock How would you define yourself now? What kind of a musician are you? Multi-wind artist. I still dont have my own album, but other musicians invite me because of my ability to bring extra colors, many different styles into the music that is defined today, especially in Israel, when music is such a mixture. There are no rules. Every mixture is legitimate as long as it sounds good. Musicians who are eclectic, influenced by a lot of cultures and musical environments can talk to me in the same language because I can be flexible in what they want.You are about to release the third album with Yamma Ensemble. Yes, it is a very nice process. I dont take it for granted, to record a third album with people I have been working with already for over 10 years. Personally, I am also excited because after a long time I wrote a composition. It is based on the Book of Psalms, Psalm 125. I am really thrilled about the arrangements we did together. There will be a lot of new songs and different styles.Different styles, but around the Mediterranean traditions?Mediterranean music has a lot of variations. Geographically, it is close to Europe, Asia and Africa. So there are a lot of influences from all of those places. Gypsy, Iranian, Turkish, Ladino music all are integrated naturally in Mediterranean music.Growing up in Jerusalem, were you familiar with this music as a child? Your mother is American Ashkenazi, your father Iraqi. Did you listen to different styles of Jewish music at home?My parents used to play records of Tchaikovsky, John Denver, musicals and karaoke. My father was not attached to the Arabic music. But when I was a child, I used to go with him to the synagogue that his grandfather built in Katamon [a neighborhood in Jerusalem]. It was a synagogue for Jews who came from Babylon. So every few Shabbats, or on Holy Days I was there. My grandparents were there; an uncle was a hazzan.In a very natural way, you were surrounded with traditional Iraqi tunes. Yes, I was introduced to the Middle Eastern and Iraqi music there. Also, when we celebrated Holy Days my family was masorti (traditional) we read the Haggadah for Passover or celebrated Rosh Hashanah, Iraqi style.How did your adventure with music begin? Your parents sent you to music school, or was it your desire?I was sent to one those after-school activities by my parents. It could have been any other activity: electronics or a nature class. I was six or seven years old. I played a recorder. My very vivid memory is that I was the worst. After a year or two, I played the alto recorder (kids usually play a soprano recorder). I still have that specific instrument and actually, I played on it recently. Liora Itzhak and Dudu Tassa invited me to record a song with the sound of the recorder, and suddenly I used the instrument I used maybe 40 years ago. So it was quite exciting. But going back to your musical struggles as a child: If it was hard, what kept you playing?When I was about 10 years old, I started to play flute, a more serious instrument. After only a few months, I performed for my class. They liked it and it was the first time I noticed that it gave me a pleasure to play. Soon, my teacher called my father and said: I cannot keep up with him, he needs a professional teacher. I did not realize I was learning really fast. I tried for, and got accepted to, the conservatory. When was the moment you realized you would be a musician? The first time I performed a serious classical piece. On the concert of flute students, at my teachers home.What was the piece? It was a Sonata by Handel, G minor. I started to play the first chapter, and something happened to me. Something hard to understand, the feeling of thrill, the pleasure of playing music. The kind of sensation that is beyond you, like a start of addiction. I could feel how the audience reacted to it. Then, there was the second chapter, where I messed up, but I remember that first moment of instant connection. I thought this was out of the ordinary. I was 12 years old. It took me maybe 30 years to understand what it was. What music does, what the energy isHaving that start in mind, have you ever wanted to play in an orchestra, to play classical music?Yes, of course. Later, when I was a student of the Music Academy, it was one of my goals. Unfortunately, or maybe it was my biggest piece of luck, I failed in becoming a professional classical flute player that a good orchestra would hire. I had one experience playing in an orchestra, I do not want to say the name of the orchestra, but it was a horrible experience. Sometimes you gain a lot from your failures. I feel very lucky that I failed, because that enabled me to explore different kinds of music. I think I would not be fulfilled if I were playing only flute in a classical orchestra. You play about 50 wind instruments. By education, I am a professional flute and saxophone player. But I play many instruments from all over the word, including duduk, ney and shofar. I have 50 to 70 instruments in my home. For example, in Arabic music, in each scale you need a different flute. Similarly, with flutes from India. If you dont mind, I will share with our readers what I see: your entire apartment is filled with instruments; there are instruments in your bedroom, inside your closet with clothesYes [laughs]... and each instrument is going to work one day. I often record a studio session and suddenly there is a song with a very specific scale and from 70 instruments that I havent used for a year and a half, suddenly one is perfect. You collect instruments and you bring them back from your journeys. Would you ever pay a fortune for an instrument?I have instruments from Japan, Armenia, India, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt and Iran, Slovakia, Australia, and many more. Luckily, a lot of world music instruments, even if made by masters, are simple. This is also their charm. They do not have crazy prices. Western instruments, like flutes, saxophones and clarinets, they can cost an insane amount of money because they are based on technology. I always bring something from my trips.You often play many instruments during one concert. I remember your show at Hoodna Bar in Tel Aviv, it was like a music lesson. Educational tours in United States and Europe became your brand. How did it start?Around 10 years ago I received a phone call from Talya [Talya G.A. Solan the leading singer of Yamma Ensemble], who was looking for someone who could talk and demonstrate instruments from Mediterranean, to join a concert and educational tour in America. This is how Yamma started. And I found myself standing in a gymnastic hall in front of 600 kids in a small town of South Dakota explaining them about the shofar, ney Arabic flute, and music in Mediterranean. And suddenly I felt the connection, I felt thrilled to deliver this experience to them, explaining them about music from my region. I did this program for nine years with three bands: Yamma, Baladino (which I created with two other musicians; for four years we performed all over the world, participated at big festivals and concerts); and with Sofi Tsedaka. That opportunity helped me to develop myself a lot, and now I give lectures also in Israel. Your classes are based on music developed out of the Hebrew language and various Jewish traditions. When you read the Bible, do you hear instruments?No. I do not have a clear musical image, rather a feeling. You can never know how instruments sounded. There were two things for sure that were used: shofar a rams horn and drums. And singing. Also maybe there were types of flutes.When you teach music, do you also introduce biblical sources?When I was doing those workshops in the United States, I would associate instruments with the environment and traditions they came from. For example, when I introduced the shofar, I said it is used in Judaism during Holy Days. The tradition is that when the shofar is sounded, the gates of heaven open and God can hear our prayers. This is a beautiful tradition, people could relate to it.Have you ever played shofar in a synagogue?Unfortunately not. I played shofar so many times, but the only place I did not play it was in a synagogue. I hope one day I will. But even when you play it elsewhere, there is a strong effect. I think there is something transcendental about its sound. As a kid, I remember when I heard the blowing of the shofar at the end of the prayers, it was doing something to me. Even if a player of the shofar is not so good, the struggle he puts in it taking out the sound, gives an effect. I am very fortunate, I found a way to play shofar in regular concerts.How different is the experience of playing shofar from any other instrument? Is it more spiritual?Every instrument that I play has a different feeling to it. The sound and the energy. When I play shofar, I feel some kind of freedom. I cannot explain it; its something beyond understanding. Sometimes you play a shofar for only one minute during a concert, you should not play it longer, because the impact of its sound is so great. It is also a crying spirit.Can you also feel the spirit of thousands of years of Jewish tradition?There are variations of horn instruments in many cultures. Thousands years ago, people used the sound of horns to communicate. But the Jewish religion is very dramatic in a way, so this kind of instrument really reflects it.What is your connection with religion today?I live a secular life, I am not a religious person. But I would not say I am an atheist, because it would be arrogant of me. I know there is something much bigger. It doesnt matter whether you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim or Hindu, you are small compared to the great universe that was created by something. And one must be humble and thankful toward it. There were horrible things that came out of religions, because of the way people manipulated it. But there are also great cultures that came out because of religions, and so many beautiful tunes. I connect on the spiritual level. Between the 12-year-old Yonnie playing his first Handels sonata, and you joining Yamma 10 years ago and teaching about shofar, there is a big time gap. What were you doing during those years? After high school, I did my army duty. But after three years of army and four at the Tel Aviv Music Academy, I needed a break. I stopped it all. I flew to New York where I was exploring the city for a month and then I found myself in Australia.So like most of young Israelis do after the army service you did the tiyul hagadol (the great vacation)?Yes, I did things I had not done as a teen, working physically in agriculture the backpackers job. For half a year, I was all by myself, just driving around Australia, meeting people on the way. Those were times with no GPS, just maps. I remember those endless roads... It was it was very cleansing experience. I imagine you also must have come across the Aborigine culture. Is this when you first played didgeridoo, the Australian instrument?Yes, I got my first didgeridoo and talked to Aborigines about it, then I started to practice playing it. Can we say that this was the moment that opened your door to world music?In a way, yes. I could not make a sound on didgeridoo, but it was clear to me for the first time in my life, I had the vision that I will master this instrument, that I will play it all over the world and will teach it. And I taught myself circular breathing. It took me about two years to develop a method to teach it to kids third and fourth graders, in Israel.So this is ethno, world music. But when we met few years ago, you told me that you used to play jazz. I love jazz, I listen a lot to jazz, I go to jazz concerts. My biggest jazz influence was John Coltrane. His spirituality, curiosity about music. Because I play saxophone, I had a time when I was practicing bebop. As a young musician, I used to play saxophone in jazz clubs and jazz standards at kabbalot panim (the pre-hupah ceremony) greeting a Jewish couple entering the wedding canopy. But in my late 20s, I realized that although I love it and it is part of me, being a jazz musician is not who I am. As you mentioned wedding music, you used to play klezmer music as well... That was actually the biggest influence on me! At the beginning of my career for about five years, I played at weddings and big international folk festivals, with a religious band Tizmoret Amamit. Some of the tunes played at Jewish weddings are very powerful. It was a mixture of Carlebach melodies. That experience opened for me a window to origins of religious music here. It was fascinating to me! I did not even consider it work, but a learning process. And this is my goal in every project, I want to learn something new. This year, I started working with a flamenco band because I really want to learn how to play flamenco. I can add my influences from other sources to their music. I can express myself in that, too.This is really fascinating, how open you are for different artistic encounters! Classical, jazz, world music, now flamenco! Last summer I listened to you playing with Dudu Tassa; an Israeli rock concert, with your acoustic touch. The concert was in Tel Aviv Port, with a very young audience. There was a huge crowd, the police were closing gates, not letting more people in. Did it feel different than playing in a concert hall?Dudu Tassa combines Middle Eastern influences with rock. The way he integrates both is genius and simply fantastic. This is unique Israeli rock. I am very humbled to bring my wooden stick and play it to this massive crowd. This is a very energetic challenge to transcend in this kind of audience, and if it works, you get a massive energetic feedback from the crowd. But when I play, I just play. It doesnt matter if it is for two people or 2,000 people. I just play.

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