From being boycotted, canceled, and outright attacked, many Israeli and Jewish artists have been the victims of antisemitic and anti-Israel abuse since October 7. Yet, for many of these singers, actors, comedians, and other performers, they have no choice but to keep working in their chosen fields. Suffering the attacks but soldiering on.
In this edition of The Jerusalem Report, we turn the spotlight on some inspiring Israeli artists and entertainers who remain proud of their identities despite the tension.
For the cover story, I interviewed the hilarious Yohay Sponder, an Israeli comedian who has been drawing huge crowds around the world with his stand-up, often off-the-cuff, comedy routine, which pokes fun at Israel, Jews, and those who hate both.
The Report’s staff writer, Chani Kaplan, talks to DJ Rafi, a formerly shy Israeli kid who has become an icon for millions of children around the world through his YouTube videos.
Hannah Brown, The Jerusalem Post’s culture writer, explores how Israel’s television industry appears to be booming but is still suffering from shrinking budgets, political battles, and fewer commissions.
The Jerusalem Post’s podcast studio manager, Shifra Jacobs, writes about efforts to preserve and even revive Yiddish music, and in a separate article, Jacobs shares her personal experiences singing in a mixed Israeli-Palestinian choir in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Lara Sukster Mosheyof, who also works in the Post’s studio, features the latest incarnation of the favorite children’s tale, Peter Pan, and how it is aiming to soothe a country dealing with collective trauma since October 7.
Feature writer Rachel Fink profiles musician Neta Elkayam, who brings her North African heritage to the world of jazz with a new band, creating a fresh and unique musical fusion. Tania Shalom Michaelian takes readers on a journey to an old Ottoman train station that has been converted into a creative space for artists to express themselves after October 7.
Moving away from the arts, we also look at the looming elections in Israel, with Prof. Amichai Cohen, vice president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute, weighing in on what’s at stake in the vote and the mammoth tasks facing Israel’s next government.
Maurice Hirsch, the director of the Palestinian Authority Accountability Initiative at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, looks at the lessons that need to be drawn from October 7 and calls for a new approach to the growing security threat posed by the Palestinian Authority.
Meanwhile, Andrew Fox, a former British Army officer and senior fellow at the UK’s Henry Jackson Society, examines the faults of President Donald Trump’s peace push in Gaza; and Prof. Kobi Michael, a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, profiles Hamas’s newly elected leader, Khalil al-Hayya.
Feature writer Dana Ben Shimon talks to analysts from Syria about the new opportunities for their country since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Ahmed al-Sharaa. And Dr. Eric R. Mandel warns that Israel’s easternmost border with Jordan could one day become the next front in its regional wars.
Shiri Fein Grossman, CEO of the Israel-Africa Relations Institute, reflects on the legacy of the heroic Entebbe operation and what can be learned 50 years on.
And, as part of our special arrangement with the “Art of Journalism” workshop at the School of Communication, Reichman University, we are proud to feature an important story by Arielle Zabek about the conservation of thousands of vulnerable sea turtle hatchlings along Israel’s coast.
It’s another packed edition with a broad range of stories, and we hope you enjoy it.
– Ruth Marks Eglash