{"id":18787,"date":"2016-05-20T00:32:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T07:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=18787"},"modified":"2016-05-18T17:38:07","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T00:38:07","slug":"noa-concert-sells-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/05\/20\/noa-concert-sells-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Noa concert sells out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Achinoam Nini performs for a full house at the Chan Centre on Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut, May 11. (photo from cjnews.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the controversy in the months leading up to her Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut performance at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on May 11, Noa\u2019s concert attracted a full house and every one of the 1,185 seats was sold.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all the harrowing events leading up to this concert, I am so thrilled to be here and truly grateful to the Jewish Federation [of Greater Vancouver] for not folding and the Israeli ambassador for supporting!\u201d the Israeli singer, whose full name is Achinoam Nini, posted on her Facebook page soon after she touched down in the city.<\/p>\n

Performing barefoot throughout, the singer thanked the audience, Federation staff and the Vancouver Jewish community repeatedly during her show \u201cfor sticking up for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February, the Jewish National Fund of Canada, an annual sponsor of Vancouver\u2019s community Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut concerts, withdrew its support, saying it would take a one-year hiatus \u201cdue to the views of the entertainment booked for this year\u2019s celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization\u2019s chief executive officer, Josh Cooper, said \u201cthe entertainer that has been hired does not reflect nor correspond to the mandate and values of JNF of Canada.\u201d Its decision followed an article in the Jerusalem Post<\/em>, later retracted, that claimed Vancouver Jews were \u201coutraged\u201d over Nini\u2019s performance and alleged that she supports the boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. She has repeatedly denied the allegation.<\/p>\n

After JNF Canada withdrew, the Israeli embassy and the Consulate General of Israel in Toronto stepped in as sponsors. Irit Stopper, deputy consul general in Toronto, represented the state of Israel at the event. It was also attended by Linda Kislowicz, president and CEO of Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA, Vancouver City Councilor Geoff Meggs and Burnaby-Lougheed NDP MLA Jane Shin.<\/p>\n

Outside the Chan Centre, Michael Brosgart, president of the Jewish Defence League in British Columbia, stood with a handful of supporters and a few placards declaring \u201cTerrorists are obstacles to peace; Biblical Zionists are not.\u201d<\/p>\n

A folding table held pictures of an Israeli couple murdered by Palestinian terrorists, and Brosgart distributed material to bystanders. The pages contained excerpts from letters expressing objections to Nini\u2019s performance from community member Frances Belzberg and Israel Defence Forces Lt.-Col. Eyal Platek, as well as links to articles about the singer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNoa is supporting the most divisive groups in Israel \u2013 B\u2019tselem, Breaking the Silence, BDS and JStreet,\u201d Brosgart said. \u201cUnfortunately, Jewish Federation and the Israeli embassy, because they\u2019re funding this, are supporting her. We think this is rotting the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

On JDL\u2019s Facebook page Brosgart elaborated. \u201cThis performance will be extremely divisive, distasteful, disrespectful and does not represent the views and interests of the community. Especially at the time we need unity the most. This is not about free speech. Nini can sing her sh\u2014y songs anywhere she wants. However, this is Israel\u2019s Independence Day. To bring an anti-Israel, terror-sympathizing, enemy-strengthening performer on this day is to spit in the face of all who have lost loved ones defending the nation of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

One Israeli who attended the concert but asked not to be named said she disliked that Nini \u201cdoes not separate her political views from her artistry. I\u2019m sorry the selection committee didn\u2019t do more research before they chose her, but I think they learned a lesson,\u201d the woman said.<\/p>\n

After seeing the Facebook responses of Israelis in Vancouver opposed to the performance, she decided to attend nevertheless. She added that, once Nini was invited to Vancouver, \u201cI think it was the best thing to keep her here instead of canceling the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The kosher restaurant Shuk Eat & Play hosted an alternative Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut celebration dinner for 110 attendees the same night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard Noa\u2019s political sayings and I didn\u2019t appreciate it,\u201d said Shuk owner Alon Volodarsky. \u201cSo, some people who didn\u2019t like her suggested we hold this dinner for those community members who still wanted to celebrate Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut but didn\u2019t want to attend the concert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauren Kramer<\/em><\/strong>, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond. To read her work online, visit laurenkramer.net. This article was originally published in the <\/em>Canadian Jewish News.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Achinoam Nini performs for a full house at the Chan Centre on Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut, May 11. (photo from cjnews.com) Despite the controversy in the months leading up to her Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut performance at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on May 11, Noa\u2019s concert attracted a full house and every one of the 1,185 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5844,2265,4330,1540,1538,5843,5362,5235,762],"class_list":["post-18787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-brosgart","tag-federation","tag-israel","tag-jdl","tag-jewish-defence-league","tag-nini","tag-noa","tag-shuk","tag-yom-haatzmaut"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}