Two items about the lobby that dare not speak its name. Ynet reports that Stevie Wonder will perform at the annual Friends of the IDF gala in Los Angeles. Note that media mogul Haim Saban, who is also a giant donor of the Democratic Party, is hosting:
The event will be hosted by Cheryl and Haim Saban and is expected to be attended by more than 1,000 members of the Los Angeles Jewish community. The gala is considered one of the organization’s flagship events and is known to raise millions of dollars.
Oh and don’t forget that name Saban/Democratic Party. From Florida, McClatchy reports on a bipartisan gather in support of Israel:
Local and national power-brokers joined hundreds of Israel’s supporters Sunday night in North Miami Beach at a rally sponsored by the Greater Miami Jewish Federation in the wake of last week’s Gaza cease-fire and the ongoing turmoil in Egypt.
It was a bipartisan collection of dignitaries at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami; U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston and chair of the Democratic National Committee; and U.S. Reps. Frederica Wilson and Joe Garcia, both Miami-Dade Democrats.
It’s very disheartening to me to see Stevie Wonder involved in something like this, more than it would be for lots of other performers, since I feel some sort of emotional bond to peak era Stevie. Friends of the IDF? This seems worse in a way than performing in Tel Aviv.
I wonder what his religious views are. I accidentally saw him performing at the end of some sort of gospel show on TV several years back (and he sounded great, incidentally). Has he perhaps gotten in with a hard core evangelical/pentecostal Zionist crowd? Or is this mostly a political favor to DNC friends?
I assume Stevie W. is being well paid, and may just–as an aging and no longer prime time star–need the money.
Sure makes one examine Stevie’s Happy Birthday song to Martin Luther King a man who stood up for the rights of all who are oppressed. Stevie’s awareness of oppression is certainly not very well developed. Pathetic. And always keep in mind that Saban was one of the individuals caught on tape asking Jane Harman to interfere in the Aipac espionage investigation and trial.
Isn’t it lovely? Isn’t it wonderful ?
Isn’t Saban the guy that created those horrible Power Rangers? While most organizations are raising money for aids awareness, victims of gender violence, kids whose parents were obliterated in war, puppies that might be euthanized….its refreshing to see that the Power Rangers are calling upon the Intergalactic powers of Stevie Wonder to raise money for….one of the most well equipped military forces in the milky way galaxy….whose job is to basically kill arabs and prevent them from living like human beings. Such a great cause!*
*please don’t drink the koolaide; I’m being sarcastic.
Well Gaza has this guy – a world famous footballer that even I (who avoids all things footie) can’t fail to know -
link to stopwar.org.uk
A 1.5 million euro donation from one individual!
Fair play to Cristiano Ronaldo.
and that isn’t the first time that Ronaldo has given money to Gazan children either.
I used to hate Christiano Ronaldo for helping to get Wayne Rooney sent off during the 2006 world cup.
That said, back in 2006, I was ignorant, pro British and pro Israel.
Ronaldo is a new hero of mine! God bless him.
Phil/All Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett have a must read up at Race for Iran about the direction and selections of the Obama foreign policy team. Also about who is in the running for replacing Petraeus. How the hell is Harman even in the running? Clearly she is working for and only for Israel.
Harmon is running for the “Israel seat” at CIA (which is the director’s chair). Wasn’t Petraeus also a neocon creation, a phony warrior (or perhaps merely a decent warrior in a phony and unwinnable war pretending that it was not phony and actually winnable)? The same CIA that lied us into the war with Iraq?
Stevie Wonder wrote “Isn’t She Lovely” as a result of being inspired by his daughter Aisha. There are certainly a lot of Aishas in Gaza.
And Aisha means life in Arabic.
and bread in colloquial Egyptian, bread and life one word
…and “bread” in Cairo
well, al-Khubz al-Hafi,
“I cannot write about the milk of birds, the gentle strangehold of the angelic beauty, grasps of dew, the cascade of lions, the heavy breast of females. I cannot write with a crystal’s paintbrush. For me, writing is a protest, not a parade.”
link to readkutub.wordpress.com
or
Banipals writers from Palestine
link to banipal.co.uk
in Cairo there is no bread, only rumours of a white Cargill flour simulcram, last time i ate at Abu Shaqra, or Abu Sha’ra as my cousins called it despite the spelling, and the tahini was nothing like the ambrosial stuff i remembered from the ’70′s a mere greasy smear on the plate, in Cairo they have murdered “bread” and much else, the city stars mall is a gulf funded nightmare. So i would have to say Thawra is word the for today, for bread. life and dignity. obviously have no idea what you mean. Perhaps it should be Tharwa.
Not surprised. Stevie was on the “happy birthday to Israel” TV extravaganza in 1998.
Stevie Wonder arrested for protesting apartheid.
link to nytimes.com
Just not this apartheid.
great dig
The lyrics of Stevie Wonder’s “It’s Wrong (Apartheid)”:
Isn’t it ironic?
A little too ironic, and, yeah, I really do think.
It’s like rain on your wedding day. It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid.
>> A little too ironic, and, yeah, I really do think.
>> It’s like rain on your wedding day. It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid.
Alanis was not aware that rain on your wedding day – or 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife – is not actually ironic. ;-)
“Alanis was not aware that rain on your wedding day – or 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife – is not actually ironic. ;-)”
She was using “ironic” ironically.
>> She was using “ironic” ironically.
That’s a generous interpretation. :-)
The US Campaign is working on a campaign regarding this. Please contact me at organizer@endtheoccupation.org if you are interested.
There has been a new development in the African American community on the issue of the apartheid state of Israel. Finally connecting the dots. Been great to watch evolve. Clearly Stevie Wonder is incapable of doing so. Such a shame
Well, in any event it looks like Stevie still hasn’t reached higher ground. In light of this new occurrence, please allow me to submit the following edits:
People keep on learnin’…..unless you live in Gaza where the IDF leveled all of your educational institutions
Soldiers keep on warrin’…..especially the Israeli defense force, the “most moral army in the world” whom Stevie fully supports.”
World keep on turnin’….and don’t worry about the “occupation” which is technically just a minor “dispute.”
Cause it won’t be too long…..Well actually 60+ years but who’s counting?
Powers keep on lyin’…..especially the Israeli government. They couldn’t keep an agreement if they tried. Ceasfire? Broke it. Prisoner swap? Most have been re-arrested. No settlement building? Nah, they just expand them…and retroactively legalize them.
While your people keep on dyin’…..Who’s counting 1500 dead in Cast Lead, and 150 in Pillar of Defense? There was 1 Israeli soldier killed by rocket fire.
Until very recently I was a great fan of Leonard Cohen. Then I did a little research and discovered that his celebration of resistance to oppression does not extend to the Palestinians. The Israeli reviews of a concert he gave to a crowd of 50,000 in Ramat Gan were sickening, glorifying him as a sort of high priest blessing and uniting the nation.
Oh brother. That depresses me too, actually. I was never much for Stevie Wonder, but Leonard Cohen was definitely part of my repertoire. Stopped listening to him a few years ago when I grew out of my teens, but I still remember his tracks being regulars to my stereo back when I first became politically interested.
And hey, if Don Van Vliet happens to have supported Israel, I’d kindly appreciate if you didn’t mention it, it would almost certainly unmake my day.