Friday, August 24, 2007
Too Arab-looking for Israel
I've written two previous posts about European/Ashkenazi Jewish racism against Mizrahi Jews here and here. The photo at right is of Israeli pop singer, Liel Kolet. Kolet is a Mizrahi Jew who was a contender for representing the Jewish apartheid state in the Eurovision song contest this spring. However, Israeli broadcaster Anastasia Michaeli Samuelson reportedly told fellow contest judges, apparently referring to Kolet, that "Israel should avoid choosing a performer with an 'Arab look' " (Nathan Burstein, "Teapacks fails to push button in Eurovision semifinals", Jerusalem Post, 13 May 2007). And that they did. Kolet was not selected and a group with a rather lower average melanin endowment went to Helsinki instead. Of course, none of them should be there in any case as their appearance violates the growing cultural boycott of Israel.Update: The following paragraphs are from a 2009 profile of Samuelson (Netty C. Gross, "Israel's Politician as Super Woman", Jewish Daily Forward, 15 July 2009):
In 2007, while serving as a panelist on the committee to select Israel's representative to the Eurovision Song Contest, she was quoted by the news Web site Ynet as referring in seemingly negative racial terms to contestant Liel Kolet, a Jewish pop singer then contending for a Eurovision spot. Israel, Michaeli said, according to Ynet, shouldn’t be represented by a singer who "looks Arab."Last revised: 22 April 2012 (expanded reference and content re: remark of Samuelson and found working hyperlink; added info from 2009 Forward article)
"We should select people who can represent us on more than the artistic level. ... We should also consider how they would represent the country," Ynet quoted her as saying. "I am looking at this competition from a Zionist point of view."
Labels: identity, Israel, Mizrahim, race
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Because Liel Kolet is an Arab Jew, she looks gorgeous like an Arab queen. Shame on the racist Zionists who have no commitment to humanity. Israel is not what it portrays itself to be. The world is finding out what Israel is, and soon Israel will have to pay the price for bigotry, racism, and apartheid.
WTF is this BS? Fucking ridiculous, she looks like your average Israeli. Secondly she's not even Mizrahi, she's an Indian Jew. Finally, there's no such thing as "Arab Jews". Mizrahi Jews are genetically distinct from Arabs, they're however close to Druze and Assyrians. Genetics shows most Jewish groups are closely related and descended from the Israelites. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7303/full/nature09103.html
# posted by 
: Saturday, April 21, 2012 6:57:00 PM
: Saturday, April 21, 2012 6:57:00 PM
The Jerusalem Post article identifies Kolet as a Mizrahi Jew. What makes you think that Indian Jews aren't Mizrahi Jews? See e.g. "Jews of the Middle East" by Loolwa Khazoom: "Over the next millennia, some Jews remained in today's Iraq and Iran, and some migrated to neighboring lands in the region (including today's Syria, Yemen, and Egypt), or emigrated to lands in Central and East Asia (including India, China, and Afghanistan)."
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