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Ofra Haza - Im Nin'alu
There is an immense tragedy in how Zionism ended good relations between Arabs and local, indigenous, often darker-skinned Jews, living together for centuries, these peoples often not distinguishable except by clothing
A notable Yemeni Jewess was beautiful singer Ofra Haza (1957-2000), a great talent who faced discrimination in Israel for her darker-skin Arab looks.
This second clip of her is from 1970s Israeli television - note the sort of 'hippie' setting - Ofra Haza just turning 18, and singing 'Im Nin'Alu', a 1600s poem by Rabbi Shalom Shabazi set to music
Quite lovely, 2min34
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFtIhKQILnM
I love that song, I always thought it was made by a Muslim, the lyrics are an old Jewish poem. I don't know what they say.
ReplyDeleteIt was sampled in one of the versions of "Paid in full" a classic New York rap song from the 1980s by Eric B and Rakim.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7t8eoA_1jQ
I think the commenter made a good point about Zionism having poisoned relations between previously peacefully co-existing groups.
One small encouraging part of the Gaza tragedy is that Jewish opposition to Israel is far more widespread than ever before.
This makes the routine "anti-semitism" claim as a response to criticism of Israel obviously ridiculous.
Yemeni Jews are Arabic !! And pretty much all Arabic Jews were 2nd class citizens in Israel in the 70's and 80's , the song was also a massive hit all over the Middle East
ReplyDelete