Howard Lovy

Tag: Israel

  • Israeli Actress Takes On Hollywood

    Israeli Actress Takes On Hollywood

    In my recent interview with Israeli actress Swell Ariel Or, she shared how being Israeli in Hollywood has become a political statement, especially in the wake of the October 7 attacks. Casting decisions are increasingly based not just on talent, but on her stance regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Despite these challenges, Swell remains committed to her craft, believing that building connections with Jews and allies in the industry is key to overcoming bias.

    Israeli ActressSwell also discussed her latest project, Kissufim, a film set on a kibbutz near Gaza, now streaming on Netflix. Tragically, many of the real-life residents of Kibbutz Kissufim, where much of the movie was filmed, were victims of the October 7 terrorist attacks. Swell emphasized how the film highlights the idealistic and peaceful nature of kibbutzim, countering misconceptions that portray them as extremist settlements.

    Despite the difficult climate, Swell continues to use her platform to raise awareness about Israel and combat antisemitism. While progress has been slow, she is hopeful that things will improve. Swell remains determined to fight against the bias in Hollywood, believing that the current trends will pass, and that her perseverance will pay off.

    Read the full interview in The Algemeiner: Israeli Actors Face a New Bias in Hollywood; But They Are Determined to Keep Fighting.

    For more insight into Swell Ariel Or’s journey as an Israeli actress in Hollywood, you can read my previous interview with her from November 2023 in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, where she discusses her role in educating the public about Israel and fighting antisemitism during challenging times. Swell had just moved to Los Angeles when both the actors’ strike and the violence in Israel disrupted her plans, but she quickly pivoted to using her platform for activism.

    If you’d like to listen to the full audio interview with Swell, where we cover her thoughts on Hollywood bias, her acting career, and her activism, you can find it on my Substack here.

  • I am Weeping and Enraged

    I am Weeping and Enraged

    In my hometown of Traverse City, Michigan, where Jews are few and far between, a local Chabad chapter recently held a prayer vigil for the victims of the October 7 massacre. The setting was a tranquil park off the shores of Lake Michigan. The conservative Christian mayor of Traverse City was one of the speakers. Tone-deaf to his audience, he read from the New Testament and began lecturing the local Jews about the need for peace, love for one’s neighbor, and other teachings of Jesus. Polite applause followed, but I had to restrain myself from voicing my thoughts on the whole turning-the-other-cheek philosophy.

    We Jews are not Christians. Our traditions and teachings on forgiveness and peace differ significantly. In Judaism, forgiveness is not freely granted; it must be sought. We don’t turn the other cheek; we believe in justice. Many well-meaning Jews are posting wishes for peace right now, perhaps to placate their non-Jewish friends. I’m not among them. I don’t wish for peace. Now is not the time.

    I am weeping and enraged for the murdered, the raped, the kidnapped, the tortured.

    Read the rest of my commentary on my Substack newsletter, Emet-Truth

  • Ethiopian Israeli Pnina Agenyahu Celebrates Diversity

    Ethiopian Israeli Pnina Agenyahu Celebrates Diversity

    As director of Partnership2Gether of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Pnina Agenyahu brings together disparate Jewish communities from around the world and celebrate their diversity. It’s a role for which Agenyahu has spent a lifetime preparing — ever since she made aliyah at the age of 3 on the back of her mother, who had walked for two weeks from Ethiopia. Agenyahu was among the early wave of Ethiopian immigrants to Israel back in 1984 and, from a young age, found that she had a gift for being a leader and spokesperson for her community.

    In this interview, she discusses the challenges and promises that come with a diverse Israel and wider Jewish community.

    And it’s fascinating to see individuals that come in from different countries — from Nigeria, South Africa, New York, India, Canada, U.K., and they’re all not Ashkenazi. And I think that’s what makes me proud, when you see how colorful we are and that each of us can bring his own voice to the table. — Pnina Agenyahu

    Read my interview with Pnina Agenyahu in The Jerusalem Post.

  • Israeli Rapper Shaanan Streett mixes music with activism

    Israeli Rapper Shaanan Streett mixes music with activism

    Shaanan Streett, one-sixth of the Israeli hip-hop/funk group Hadag Nahash, says that it’s all well and good for musicians to advocate for social-justice causes, but that doesn’t mean the music can’t also be fun. Streett seems to have accomplished both goals, as his band’s songs are featured in protests for various causes while remaining catchy and danceable. As long as you “keep it real,” Streett says, audiences will pick up on your authenticity.

    In our interview, Streett talks about what music can do to bring people together and about his hometown of Jerusalem.

    Even if you’re saying important stuff, but it’s not fun, who wants to join? Right? There’s a saying that is something like, “If you can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.” — Shaanan Streett

    Read my entire interview with Shaanan Streett here.

     

  • Matan Kahana Tried to Loosen Ultra-Orthodox Grip

    Matan Kahana Tried to Loosen Ultra-Orthodox Grip

    Matan Kahana was an F-16 fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force, so he’s not one to back down from a difficult mission. When he entered politics and served as Israel’s minister of religious services in Naftali Bennett’s coalition government, Kahana gave himself a politically perilous assignment: to loosen the grip of ultra-Orthodox rabbis on Israeli religious life. He pushed for significant reforms within Israel’s religious institutions and kashrut certifications and appointed women to religious councils. The Israeli press called his actions “revolutionary.” Now a Knesset member for Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, Kahana said he will fight to temper the far right and keep his reforms intact.

    In our interview, Kahana talks about his own religious background, why he chose to take on a mission of reform, and how Israelis and the diaspora can find common ground.

    You can’t force anyone to believe in God. And you can’t force anyone to be a religious Jew. And I believe that if we do as much as we can to reduce forcing people, they will come by themselves. This is what I tried to do, to reduce religious laws, and hopefully, they will try to be more and more close to Judaism. — Matan Kahana

    You can read my entire interview with Matan Kahana here.

  • Palestinian Activist Huwaida Arraf Wants Seat in Congress

    Palestinian Activist Huwaida Arraf Wants Seat in Congress

    The Jewish Telegraphic Agency ran a feature I wrote about Huwaida Arraf, a longtime anti-Israel activist.

    Now running for Congress in Michigan: a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian Christian who is married to a Jew and spent time living on an Israeli kibbutz before rejecting coexistence efforts in favor of advocating for Palestinian resistance.

    The onetime organizer of the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group that recognizes the right to “legitimate armed struggle” against the Israeli occupation, Huwaida Arraf has alarmed Detroit-area Jewish and pro-Israel groups with her plans to enter a crowded Democratic field ahead in the August 2022 primary in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District.

    Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Michigan-based Jewish Community Relations Council of the American Jewish Committee, called Arraf’s past statements about Israel “hateful, destructive and antisemitic.”

    For her part, Arraf has condemned antisemitism in pro-Palestinian advocacy and says she encourages Jews to approach her with any questions and not to believe everything they read about her.

    “Know that I will always stand for people’s rights,” she said. “And when we come together to defend the rights of all people — not really based on ethnicity or religion — we will find ourselves on the same side.”

    Read the rest of my feature on Huwaida Arraf at JTA, the Jerusalem Post, or the Times of Israel.

    Also, on my Substack Newsletter Emet-Truth: Shooting the Messenger on Huwaida Arraf.

    Read more of my Jewish News and Commentary here.

     

  • Ben-Dror Yemini On How To Fight Media Bias

    Ben-Dror Yemini On How To Fight Media Bias

    Ben-Dror Yemini is a journalist on a mission to report the facts. You’d think that would be a basic job description for any journalist, but when it comes to reporting on Israel, the search for the truth can often be a rare exception. Media bias against Israel, including the false claims of “apartheid” and other crimes against Palestinians, is deeply woven into the narrative consumed by most Americans—most glaringly in the New York Times, Yemini says.

    Yemini is the first to admit that he has no magic formula to undo the damage caused by media bias—except to print the truth. No, he says, that does not necessarily mean printing only positive things about Israel. It means helping people formulate their opinions about what kind of society Israel is, faults and all, based on facts. If the facts were as well-known as the falsehoods, he says, then that would go a long way toward dispelling some misunderstandings that Israeli and diaspora Jews may have toward one another.

    I recently spoke with Yemeni in advance of something called the Z3 Project on Israel-Diaspora relations. The California-based group asked me to interview him about the media landscape and how it impacts Israel-Diaspora relations. The first question I asked was whether he believes that information gap is so wide, right now that American Jews are starting to internalize some of the false claims about Israel.

    Click here to listen to the entire interview with Ben-Dror Yemini

    Read more of my Jewish News and Commentary here.

  • Abraham Accords Could Meet Same Fate as Oslo

    Abraham Accords Could Meet Same Fate as Oslo

    Abraham Accords

    I don’t want to fall into a familiar trap of unwarranted optimism, then sudden dejection, in light of the so-called “Abraham Accords” between Israel and some of her Arab neighbors.

    What did it for me was the killing of Muhammad al-Durrah on the Gaza Strip in September 2000. He was a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who hid behind his father as they were caught in the crossfire between Palestinian security forces and the IDF.

    The world watched as the boy cried in terror, then was struck by a bullet. I was managing editor for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time. Shortly after this incident, which was the beginning of the larger Palestinian uprising that became known as the Second Intifada, I resigned my job at JTA, moved from New York City back to my old home in Metro Detroit, and quit writing about Jewish issues for the next 16 years.

    This was not what I had signed up for.

    I was among the Oslo Peace Process hopefuls. I was convinced that at JTA, I was going to help lead coverage of a new era in Israeli-Palestinian relations, a time when I could write about, and think about, what it means to be a Jew without a constant reminder of Mideast conflict. I never wanted antisemitism, or the Middle East, to define the way I write about Judaism. Today, this is unavoidable and now that I am writing again about Jewish issues, I am faced with the same frustration.

    Read the rest of my commentary on the Abraham Accords in the Detroit Jewish News.

     

  • Rep. Rashida Tlaib Should Be Building Bridges

    Rep. Rashida Tlaib Should Be Building Bridges

    I enjoyed writing this piece for The Forward, largely because I think (or, hope) that it went beyond the usual knee-jerk Jewish criticism of two freshman congresswomen, particularly Rep. Rashida Tlaib of my home state of Michigan.

    I’ll have more to say in a future article in Publishers Weekly about the progressive Jewish dilemma when it comes to criticizing Muslim politicians. We’re often misunderstood as, God forbid, Trump supporters or Islamophobes. But we need to call out anti-Semitism wherever it’s found, including Rashida Tlaib, whom I really want to support, but cannot because she has not risen to the occasion.

    You can read the whole thing at the link below, but I’ll give you a spoiler alert, and quote from the ending:

    But, OK. I’ll say it: “As a Jew, I am pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian.”

    What does that mean? It means understanding the nuances of the conflict, of retaining historical memory of lost chances for peace. It means recognizing the pain of the other, and acknowledging that there are voices lost.

    Rep. Tlaib could be building bridges between the Muslim and Jewish communities of Metro Detroit, and she’s failing. I urge her to reconsider her approach.

    Read my opinion piece in The Forward: Tokenism Is Racism – Except For Jews