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| Dafni Leef |
There was an array of speakers: a Sephardi single mother from Jerusalem, an articulate Tel Aviv U. Arab student from Nazareth, one of the leaders of the parents “stroller protest”, briefly Stav Shaffir and a primary speech by Dafni Leef. Paraphrasing her words: This is not a protest of parties, but of the people — we’re in it for the long hall. And there were the artists: Carolina, Mizrachi singer Eli Luzon, the historic reunion of the Cameri 5 satirical troupe doing a sketch by Etgar Keret, and an appearance by Shalom Chanoch singing his popular 1985 song “Waiting for Messiah” (Michakim L’Mashiach), with the punch line: “Counting the money I don’t have/ Messiah hasn’t come/ He hasn’t even phoned”.
Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy is right that there was less spark than the “Million Man March” of Sept. 3, but the feared failure that people wouldn’t come out did not happen, and all of this despite the firing of missiles in the south.
Thanks Hillel for being the eyes and ears for those of us chutz la’aretz.
The protests in Israel are part of this great world wide outrage. I usually don’t quote Eli Weisel but in this case he is correct, when he writes, that it is indifference and apathy that destroys our soul.
I am passing along info regarding two excellent interviews that you can listen to and read. The first is on Al Jazeera with the Slovenian philosophy Slavoj Zisek. At the very end he discusses Israel. As always, he doesn’t let anything go by without dissection. The second is Amy Goodman’s interview with Dthe DemocracNow’s reporter who accompanied the recent flotilla. She gives an articulate account of Israeli police intimidation, brutality and scare tactics used against unarmed civilians. As always, Obama speaks progressive and acts regressive, having the State Dept. issue a warning to American citizens not to get involved with the Freedom Flotilla movement.
Please continue to keep us informed as the America media does not.
Sara