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Jewish Journal

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February 26, 2019

LA Mayor’s Office: Downtown Mural ‘Shameful Act of Anti-Semitism’

Leave a Comment / Los Angeles, Online /

A mural in downtown Los Angeles is a “shameful act of anti-Semitism,” according to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office.

The Journal’s Ryan Torok previously reported, that the mural on Vortex, the multi-use community center, depicts a grim reaper adorned in an American flag with Jewish Stars of David holding a dead baby and cradling a missile.

The image went viral on social media on Feb. 25.

https://www.facebook.com/ProgressiveZionistsCDP/photos/a.244540719420265/437324023475266/?type=3&theater

In a statement to the Journal, Alex Comisar, the press secretary for Garcetti’s office, said, “This mural is a shameful act of anti-Semitism. Imagery like this should have no place in our city.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s Los Angeles chapter called for the mural to be taken down. “For a venue that purports to welcome the community, the Vortex should join us in condemning hateful imagery that invokes anti-Semitic canards conflating Jews with death, snakes, bombs and killing babies,” ADL LA tweeted.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper told the Journal the mural is “straight out of Der Sturmer,” (the anti-Semitic tabloid that published Nazi propaganda from the 1920s to the end of World War II).

“It depicts Israel as a devil taking in a vortex of babies, obviously meaning attacking innocents,” Cooper said.  “You think about what the message is, it’s real simple: if Zionists, Israel, are the devil, and they’re killing innocent babies and spreading war and terror, what do you against such people? You take them out.”

Cooper called for the mural to be taken down. “How dare [the Vortex] allow this kind of activity on a public street in the city that’s home to the second largest Jewish community in the world?” Cooper said. “It’s an absolute outrage.”

Roz Rothstein, CEO and co-founder of StandWithUs, said in a statement, “There must be no place for imagery promoting blood libels and racist conspiracy theories about Jews or any other group for that matter.”

Jeff Norman, a representative for The Vortex, told Torok in an email that the mural was painted as part of the “the LA vs. WAR show to acknowledge 9/11 about 5-6 years ago.” Norman added that the mural was an example of “free expression” and the artist “did not intend to express an anti-Semitic message.”

“We believe his intent deserves considerable weight. We invite those who feel otherwise to paint another mural next to it,” Norman said. “We are also open to hosting a public discussion about this controversy at The Vortex.”

Cooper said in a statement, “Spare us the artistic freedom mantra – Vortex would never allow the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) or Nazis access to their facility.”

A Los Angeles artist known as Vyal Reyes appeared to take credit for the mural on his Instagram account in January 2018, when he wrote, “Same as it ever was….. #tbt A piece influenced by my trip to Palestine some years back, still running … #tbt#whocontrolsamerica #peopleoverprofit”

Screenshot from Instagram.

He also set the mural as his Facebook profile picture in July 2014:

Screenshot from Facebook.

Reyes told the Journal in an email that he isn’t anti-Semitic and that he intended the mural to be “critical of the US and it’s increasing focus on war.”

“That particular neighborhood that the mural was painted in was in worse shape at the time and homeless people lived all around there,” Reyes said. “It seemed to me at the time that the US was more into funding war than helping its homeless…. yes even at that time the US was funding massive amounts of money to Israel as they still are. That’s not anti-Semitic that’s just a fact.”

Reyes added, “It’s unfortunate that I can’t see through everyone’s eyes and some were offended by the piece.”

UPDATE: City Councilman Paul Koretz said in a statement to the Journal, “I strongly condemn the despicable anti-Semitic mural located at The Vortex.  Its symbolism clearly promotes hate and could be intended to incite violence.  Such artwork promoting clear hate and racism belongs in the same category as hate speech and has no place in the City of Los Angeles. If there is any way to have this abomination removed, I will work to see that done as soon as possible.”

LA Mayor’s Office: Downtown Mural ‘Shameful Act of Anti-Semitism’ Read More »

Abbas: We Will Continue Terror Payments

Leave a Comment / Israel, Online /

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas said the PA will continue to pay Palestinians that attack Israelis.

Abbas made his statement in a televised address on Feb. 19, two days after the Israeli Security Cabinet approved a law passed in July 2018. Under the new law Israel will deduct $138 million in tax payments to the PA. The decision is a direct response to the PA’s policy of providing payments to terrorists and their families.

Abbas doubled down on his announcement, stating, “Who are these ‘terrorists? The martyrs, the prisoners and the wounded.”

He added that the PA doesn’t want Israel’s money. “We don’t want the tax funds,” he said. “Let them keep it. If we had only 20-30 million shekels, which is the [monthly] sum paid for the families of martyrs, we would still pay it to them.”

Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a Feb. 17 statement that the Israeli law is “piracy of the Palestinian people’s money” and is “a one-sided blow to the signed agreements, including the Paris Protocols.”

Abbas: We Will Continue Terror Payments Read More »

Beresheet Experiences Computer Malfunction While Traveling to Moon

Leave a Comment / Online /

Beresheet (Genesis in Hebrew), Israel’s first spacecraft headed to the moon, experienced technical difficulty Feb. 25 when it failed to execute a scheduled maneuver imperative for a trajectory to the moon.

Engineers in the control center realized that the computer reset, and automatically canceled the maneuver during the pre-maneuver phase SpaceIL said in a statement Feb. 25.

“The engineering teams of SpaceIL and IAI are examining the data and analyzing the situation. At this time, the spacecraft’s systems are working well, except for the known problem in the star tracker.”

Star trackers, according to space.com are used by the spacecraft to help align itself in space with respect to target stars.

The moon lander privately built by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), launched into space Feb. 21 abroad a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. On Feb. 24, Beresheet successfully completed its first engine burn moving it farther from the Earth. 

SpaceIL says the spacecraft will stay in its current orbit until the next scheduled maneuver and remains on schedule. The lunar lander is expected to land on the moon around April 11. If it successfully does so Israel will be the fourth country — along with the United States, Russia and China — to land on the moon.

Beresheet Experiences Computer Malfunction While Traveling to Moon Read More »

The Khojaly Massacre: 27 Years Later is Change on the Horizon?

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

This year we face the 27th anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre, a horrific tragedy for many, and which for me personally, involved being captured by the Armenian invaders, tortured, and left for dead.

It took me a long time, with much support from my beloved family and my community in my homeland of Azerbaijan, to even begin to speak of what happened, and many years later into today I have emerged as an outspoken advocate for survivors and as a voice for the many who did not make it through.  

I can still remember my childhood, and growing up in the idyllic Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, as a schoolgirl and later when I began my first job as a telephone operator. That 20-year old girl could never have imagined that one day she would be a survivor of criminal warfare, that she would have to endure spinal surgeries to repair the damage inflicted upon her by torture, or that she would go through so many things and yet still come out of it strong.

For so many years since the Khojaly Genocide, which occured on February 26 of 1992 when Armenian troops attacked Khojaly murdering 613 Azerbaijani civilians, I along with hundreds of thousands of my countrymen have waited for justice, for the international community to push Armenia, condemned by the United Nations, to vacate the occupied Karabakh territory and return it to the survivors and refugees, who still long to go home. And we still wait. Yet this year there is a much different light on the horizon, and we stand with hope and anticipation of one day returning to the land we grew up in.

After so many years it seems nearly impossible, but an actual, tangible change is underway. The cruel Armenian leaders that oversaw the massacre of hundreds of innocent Azerbaijanis, as well as the illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing of around 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory, have been replaced, since the 2018 Velvet Revolution in Armenia. Even those so far at the top who thought themselves untouchable have been imprisoned or are being investigated and more accountability is hopefully soon to manifest. No, they are not being imprisoned or investigated for Khojaly or other crimes against Azerbaijan, but for the crimes they committed against Armenian people. Nevertheless, this is a start and hopefully one day we will see finally all the perpetrators of Khojaly brought to justice. My hope is also that the new leadership is aware of the dire position of Armenia, economically devastated and diplomatically isolated, in need of friends. The opportunity now for Armenia to relinquish the occupied Azerbaijani lands of Karabakh stands as a powerful threshold for Armenia’s next steps into the future. By doing the only right thing and making peace with Azerbaijan, Armenia can experience a brand new world of opportunity and can stop wasting its extremely limited funds on a criminal war.

It is time for us all to do better. I for one, a survivor of the worst massacre in the entire Nagorno-Karabakh war and a passionate advocate, look forward to this year and the next to be a time of great and transformative change, a time when I and so many other Azerbaijanis can finally return home, to honor the dead we have yet to be able to even visit, to rebuild our homes and communities, our mosques and our schools.

I have recently been honored to be elected to the Steering Committee of the reorganized Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh, serving as a representative of over 80,000 fellow refugees from the region. As my heart and soul longs to return and reclaim my homeland and to see justice served in my lifetime, I now have the profound privilege to fight for that same dream for the sake of thousands of my Azerbaijani brothers and sisters, so many who would and have done the same for me. Although this, like every Khojaly Massacre anniversary, is a sad affair, this year brings along with it a new and truly inspiring light, and a call to change that actually has a chance at succeeding. May we honor the victims and survivors in the most powerful of ways, by creating a future that repairs the cruelty and damage that has been done, that recognizes the lives that have been lost and restores the lives and homes of those that made it through.

The Khojaly Massacre: 27 Years Later is Change on the Horizon? Read More »

Iranian President Refuses Foreign Minister’s Resignation

Leave a Comment / Online, Worldwide /

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is reportedly not accepting Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s Feb. 25 resignation.

The Times of Israel reports that both Bahram Qasseini, the spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry, and Mahmoud Vaezi, Rouhani’s chief of staff, said that Zarif’s resignation has not been accepted.

“Dr. Rouhani is of the opinion that the Islamic Republic of Iran has just one foreign policy and one foreign minister,” Vaezi tweeted.

Additionally, more than 150 members of the Iranian parliament signed a petition calling for Zarif to rescind his resignation.

Zarif announced his resignation on Instagram shortly after he was left out of a Feb. 25 meeting between Rouhani, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Zarif told the foreign ministry staff on Feb. 26 he resigned because he hoped doing so would result in the ministry regaining “its proper statutory role in the conduct of foreign affairs.”

Upon hearing of Zarif’s resignation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “good riddance.”

Iranian President Refuses Foreign Minister’s Resignation Read More »

Two Nice Jewish Boys: Episode 128 – Master Chef of Israeli Food

Leave a Comment / Podcasts, Two Nice Jewish Boys /

In recent years, Israeli cuisine has been on the rise, becoming extremely popular throughout Europe and the United States. This has many people asking themselves, perhaps rightfully so, “what the hell is Israeli cuisine?” Some critical voices even claim that many of the wonderful dishes Israel is claiming as its “own” are actually stolen – which, of course, echoes a longer, deeper controversy that has plagued the Middle East for about a century. In a way, you might say Israeli food is the Arab-Israeli conflict in a plate.

But regardless, Israeli restaurants keep opening their doors on street corner in almost every big American city. 

Lines of clientele stretch around the block and lines of praise stretch across the food critics’ reviews.

Michael Solomonov is an Israeli-American chef, renowned for his critically-acclaimed Israeli Restaurant, Zahav, in Philadelphia. He’s the winner of several James Beard awards including Best Chef Mid-Atlantic in 2011, Cookbook of the Year in 2016, and Outstanding Chef in 2017. His cookbook “Zahav: A World of Israeli Cuisine” is a huge bestseller. Fortunately for us Mike is now touring Israel and was gracious enough to let us interview him here in Tel Aviv. We are honored, we’re extremely thrilled and we can’t wait to get started. So, let’s get to it!

Zahav Restaurant and Michael’s Instagram

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Two Nice Jewish Boys: Episode 128 – Master Chef of Israeli Food Read More »

Luther Russell Talks New Album ‘Medium Cool,’ Big Star’s Jody Stephens, Not Having Bar Mitzvah

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

In his three decades of making music, Luther Russell has been all sorts of places with all sorts of artists. As a teenager, he was part of The Bootheels alongside a then-teenaged (and future Wallflowers frontman) Jakob Dylan. Russell’s 1990s band The Freewheelers was signed to both DGC Records and American Recordings. Since then, Russell has co-written songs for Weezer, toured in Robyn Hitchcock’s backing band, and been one-half of Those Pretty Wrongs alongside Big Star drummer Jody Stephens.

For those new to the Luther Russell scene, last year brought the U.S. release of “Selective Memories,” a 41-song compilation — including 25 previously-unreleased songs — including tracks done with the aforementioned Dylan and former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford. 2019 has already brought the release of “Medium Cool,” Russell’s latest solo album, as produced by Jason Hiller and featuring appearances by Danny De La Matyr and the Eel’s Derek Brown.

I had the pleasure of doing Q-and-A with Luther Russell himself about “Medium Cool” and more. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.

Jewish Journal: “Medium Cool” is your new solo album. How long did you spend making it?

Luther Russell: All in all, it wasn’t too long in pure studio time, but I was terribly busy during the period of trying to finish it. The basics of the rock stuff and most of the vocals were done in two days, but overdubs and mixing took a while indeed. 

JJ: What was the first song you wrote for “Medium Cool?”

LR: I don’t really recall, but probably “Deep Feelings.” It set the tone, I think.

Do you have a favorite song on “Medium Cool?”

LR: I think “Talkin’ To Myself” because it sort of turned out how I wanted and conveys the emotion intended.

JJ: “Medium Cool” promotion aside, what’s coming up for you otherwise? More activity with Those Pretty Wrongs?

LR: Yes, we [Those Pretty Wrongs] just released a 7” on Burger Records, which is two new songs from our new record, and is our second 45 with that label. It’s called “Time To Fly” b/w “A Day In The Park” and it’s a step forward for us. The full-length should be available in the next few months!

 

JJ: Speaking of Those Pretty Wrongs, how did you and Jody first meet?

LR: We met in 1992, introduced by The Freewheelers’ A&R man when we were signed to Geffen [Records]. Heady days of the music biz. I was already a massive Big Star fan, so that was really cool to become friends with Jody. We have remained friends since and never entertained playing music together until about six years ago.

JJ: Speaking of Jody, you’ve worked with a lot of musical icons over the years. Who’s left on your “must work with” list?

LR: I’d sincerely like to work with Don Everly. That would be a dream.

JJ: What do you remember about your bar mitzvah?

LR: I did not have one. My family was not very religious, though of course, I’m Jewish by ethnicity on both sides. And by [my] sense of humor…

JJ: When not busy with your career, how do you like to spend your free time?

LR: Honestly I just like to hang out with my dogs and read books. Or listen to a favorite podcast.

JJ: Finally, Luther, any last words for the kids?

LR: If I were giving advice to those that are young, I would say just try not to be petty, see the big picture. Look for the good in folks and don’t be afraid to say “yes” and just try things, otherwise, you’ll never find out if it was meant to be. Don’t succumb to irrational fears.

More on Luther Russell is online.

Luther Russell Talks New Album ‘Medium Cool,’ Big Star’s Jody Stephens, Not Having Bar Mitzvah Read More »

Downtown Mural Prompts Concern of Anti-Semitism

Leave a Comment / Online /

UPDATE: 3:54 p.m. on Feb. 26:

Jeff Norman, a representative of the Vortex, where a mural featuring Stars of David has caused consternation in the Jewish community, has defended the artist’s right to free expression and has invited anybody with a different message to paint a mural alongside the current one on the warehouse building in downtown Los Angeles.

“The Vortex stands for free expression,” Norman said in an email. “The artist whose mural includes the Star of David (created for the LA vs. WAR show to acknowledge 9/11 about 5-6 years ago) did not intend to express an anti-Semitic message. We believe his intent deserves considerable weight. We invite those who feel otherwise to paint another mural next to it. We are also open to hosting a public discussion about this controversy at The Vortex.”

Reported earlier on Feb. 26:

The mural depicting anti-Semitic imagery appears to have been defaced since a photograph of it was shared on Feb. 25 on social media. Artists 4 Israel shared the following photograph of the mural, showing that someone spray-painted the words, “No Place for Hate,” over the mural:

Defaced mural. Courtesy of Artists 4 Israel

Asked who was responsible for defacing the mural, Craig Dershowitz, CEO of Artists for Israel, said he did not have any comment.

The mural appears to have been painted in 2011 for an art show called “vsWar.” The Journal obtained the following image through social media:

The painting of the mural in 2011. Courtesy of endlesscanvas.com

The downtown mural is causing concern among Los Angeles organizations and leaders for its depiction of a grim reaper wrapped inside an American flag emblazoned with Jewish stars. The figure appears to be dangling a dead baby from its grip. Other imagery includes a war rocket, snakes and what looks like a pile of money.

The Los Angeles artist Vyal painted the mural. He said on his Instagram page in 2018 that it was inspired by a trip he had taken “to Palestine some years back.”

The mural appears on the exterior wall of the Vortex, a performance space in an industrial neighborhood downtown.

Organizations that have expressed concern about the mural’s imagery include Progressive Zionists of the California Democratic Party, which shared a post on Facebook about it on Feb. 25.

“Hey The Vortex, Is this a real thing on your building? If yes, why? It’s wildly anti-Semitic. If not, you should probably clear up the confusion,” the organization said in the post, while tagging the Vortex’s Facebook page. “Signed, Some confused and concerned community members.”

Information about how long the mural has been up was not immediately available.

On Feb. 25, a Facebook user shared a photograph of the mural on his page. He said someone he knew had taken a photograph of the mural on Saturday, two days earlier.

The Vortex, meanwhile, describes itself as an independent community center that gives nonprofits access to an affordable performance space, according to its website.

This story is developing.

Downtown Mural Prompts Concern of Anti-Semitism Read More »