‘Don’t make me come down there’

Clouds in the sky

Remember when you were on the way to the store on a hot day with no air conditioning in the car and three squabbling urchins in the back seat? Having reached the end of all that good advice from parenting books?

“Don’t make me stop this car and come back there!”

Or “Would you like me to stop this car and have you walk to [hockey practice, Billy’s house, Amy’s party]?

That is the sense I get about the recent flap over Vancouver’s invitation to Achinoam Nini (Noa) to appear at this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut gala. It’s kid stuff.

READ: JNF CANADA PULLS EVENT SUPPORT OVER NOA PERFORMANCE

First off: not every Yom Ha’atzmaut act in the past has rung the bell for me. Once we left the event after our eardrums had been assaulted by the latest Israeli band, whose name I mercifully forget. Obviously, they were a big hit with some, but I found their performance execrable.

But never mind. It was Israel Independence Day – for about 2,000 years, it was a day we thought would never come. That was the miracle, not the badass band.

Now we have a situation of a different kind. The left-leaning Noa has been called out as, well, an enemy of the people. At least our people. Falsely accused of support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, she was vilified not only in the press but also on social media – surely the latest twisted use of that otherwise important tool of modern communication, since neither press account nor social media frenzy was true.

While some leaped on the anti-Noa bandwagon, others came to her rescue. She went on singing and holding views about the dysfunction and flaws of the current Israeli government and various parties of that country. This can surely be no news to anyone inside or outside of Israel: that is, that there is a deep, deep divide in Israel over many issues of national identity and policy.

And why not? Surely the sign of a democracy is the extent to which alternate political views are tolerated.

As if to pile on irony after irony, no sooner had the Jewish National Fund  pulled out its support for the Vancouver event than the Israeli Embassy and the Consulate of Israel (Toronto) affirmed their support for the celebration.

Hmmmm.

READ: ISRAELI EMBASSY TO SPONSOR CONTROVERSIAL NOA CONCERT

In this paper, Natan Sharansky, chair of the Jewish Agency, is quoted as writing: “In these turbulent days, when enemies on the outside strive to delegitimize Israel, there must be a place within for a broad range of views…” And he “often had the pleasure of enjoying Noa’s outstanding voice and spectacular talent.”

Playwright Tony Kushner, too, has raised organizational ire, given his extreme left-wing associations. Of course, I can’t agree with everything he says about Israel and his association with an organization that supports the BDS movement.

But!

Kushner will talk about his art, not his politics. Noa is not going to speak, but to sing. Can’t we just enjoy her talent and leave the gritting of teeth at home? Can’t we acknowledge the vital issues – racism, AIDS – that Kushner raises with his art? Is this a sandbox or a community?

So, as my favourite professor (a.k.a. my husband) says, “What can we learn from this?”

READ: JEWISH GROUPS, ARTISTS QUESTION KUSHNER BOOKING

We can learn that our little internal arguments are, after cold reflection, a bit silly. Why do children in a sandbox end up throwing sand at each other? When parted by anxious and apologetic parents, kids usually admit to having no idea how the fight started.

There is a wonderful magnet on our refrigerator. It says: “Don’t make me come down there.” And it’s signed, God.

Well, hopefully this time, She or He will not have to intervene. Don’t you think the Creator of our universe has better things to do than watch esteemed Jewish organizations snark at each other? I do.