Hatikva Quarter

Ofra Haza. (YouTube screenshot)

Riches to rags to virtual riches: When Mizrahi artists said ‘no’ to Israel’s pioneer culture

Upon their arrival in Israel, Mizrahi Jews found themselves under a regime that demanded obedience, even in cultural matters. All were required to conform to an idealized pioneer figure who sang classical, militaristic ‘Hebrew’ songs. That is, before the ‘Kasetot’ era propelled Mizrahi artists into the spotlight, paving the way for today’s musical stars. Part two of…

By Haokets December 14, 2013

Ofra Haza at a ceremony in Jerusalem, April 30, 1998 (Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

The Ofra Haza enigma: How Israel’s greatest pop star is remembered

What does it say about Israeli society when 13 years after her death, Ofra Haza is best remembered for succumbing to AIDS and for a Mizrahi accent that Israelis just can’t help but mock? By Adi Keissar Some time in the 1980s, the world became divided into two camps. Either you loved Yardena Arazi or…

By Cafe Gibraltar March 23, 2013

(photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Photos: African mother and daughter arrested at Tel Aviv kindergarten

On Sunday morning, inspectors from the Oz immigration unit arrested a mother moments after she brought her daughter to the kindergarten in the Hatikva neighborhood in Tel Aviv. The inspectors then arrested the daughter in the kindergarten. Neither of them had the option of going home to fetch their belongings or to say goodbye to…

By Activestills October 28, 2012

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Stop excusing the ‘have-nots’ for racism and violence

The riots in South Tel Aviv are further evidence of the violent racism among Israel’s Sephardi underclass. It’s part of a worldwide, historic phenomenon among poor people that the left doesn’t want to face up to. As a matter of principle, I think Israel has to relocate the great majority of African refugees from South Tel Aviv’s poor…

By Larry Derfner June 1, 2012

Last night in south Tel Aviv, the ‘time bomb’ went off

What’s going on between Israelis (including Israeli Arabs) and African refugees, and the prospects for more vigilante violence. Here’s my suggestion for preventing more vigilante riots like last night’s in South Tel Aviv’s Hatikva Quarter. One, put lots and lots of older, cooler-headed cops and soldiers on the southside, and in Eilat, Arad and every other place where there are large concentrations of African…

By Larry Derfner May 24, 2012

The comfortable distance between liberals and refugees

From our all-Jewish, middle-class neighborhoods, we tell Israel to welcome refugees, but only poor, conservative areas are obliged to absorb them. I’m glad the deportation of the South Sudanese refugees, which was supposed to start today, has been delayed. (A court order put it off for at least two weeks, while the Foreign Ministry recommends delaying it for six months, mainly because of the fighting, famine…

By Larry Derfner April 1, 2012