Yariv Oppenheimer Gefen and Shaked (photo by Tomer Newberg and Miriam Elsher Flash 90)
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From a young age I regularly go to Aviv Gefen’s concerts, at least three times a year, I know all the words, the rhythms, even the changes and adaptations of the songs to the concert version. Over the years, the performances became for me a kind of “public singing” evening, for me and my contemporaries who grew up on the tunes, as well as the texts.
They come, sing together, absorb the dose of subversive leftist ideology, the feeling that artists can express positions against the occupation and in favor of human rights and still fill halls, and return home in peace.
One of the performances I particularly remember took place at the Tel Aviv port in 2018, on the eve of the elections (round one), on the screens appeared a black and white photo of Netanyahu and Aviv began a monologue in which he said “Bibi set off the most evil bomb, he set off the hatred in the people of Israel, he did not Guilty – whoever chose him is guilty.’ You can guess how disappointed I was that not long after, Aviv Gefen was photographed exchanging smiles with Netanyahu, during the Corona crisis, this was the sign of the new direction Gefen has been racing in the last year.
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I have no problem with performing in front of settlers, I also appear in the settlements at various events, I have a problem with renouncing the ideology and aligning with the ideology of the occupation. When I appear in front of settlers, I explain why the settlements are an immoral, un-Zionist act that turns Israel into a bi-national state, without a Jewish majority and without democratic principles. I say, even when it’s unpleasant, that beyond the green line there is no democracy, there are different legal systems for the settlers and the Palestinians, and that Israel pays an economic, security and moral price for the need to secure and finance the multitude of settlements and outposts in the territories. I refer to the settlers as Israelis, but those who make a mistake and make the State of Israel pay a huge price for their decision to live beyond the green line.
Aviv Gefen was, until recently, one of the clear speakers of this very message, in De Wis he said to the candidate from the settlements “Messianic people live in the settlements and block the chance for peace… I think you are the best chance that Eyal’s, Miri’s, and my children will not live in Israel for a while A few years… Messianic people, living in settlements, you are blocking the chance for peace.” But in the last two years there has been a change, instead of telling the truth, Gefen apologizes to the settlers, strikes for sin and becomes their loved one.
And when Gefen speaks admiringly of his new girlfriend, Ayelet Shaked, who does everything to abuse refugees and the underprivileged in Israel, and refuses even to allow them health insurance, one cannot help but wonder how Gefen got so lost.
In the last few weeks, Gefen appears in the financing of the regional councils in the territories, responsible for seizing land, establishing outposts and protecting illegal settlers, in their rosy dreams they did not expect such an embrace. He did not sing the phrase “we will conquer the peace and not the territories” there. The peace symbol adorning the stage above the hills of the territories has never looked so shabby.
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Maybe it’s ignorance and misunderstanding of the destructive significance of the settlements on the day-to-day life of the Palestinians in the territories, maybe it’s a desire for the embrace and love of the crowd, maybe it’s the addiction to the sympathy of the masses, whatever its tastes, a vine that has done great and irreversible damage to the struggle for peace. Gefen is an icon of peace, an icon of a generation, one of the symbols of Israel after the assassination of Rabin, an artist who sings about the need to “walk for peace without race and nationality”, and that he embraces the idea of settlements, the damage to the values of peace and democracy is enormous.
Because what do the settlers really want, what do the settlements really need? To recognize, normalize and blur the green line. Because on the day when the unilateral transfer of a population from the sovereign borders of a state to an occupied territory where the local population has no civil rights, will be seen as a normal and proper act of a democratic and moral state, the fight for the two states will be decided in their favor.
But there are also other artists, with a backbone and a willingness to absorb fire and pay a price. These days, 150 artists and creators signed a letter in which they are aware that they will not cooperate with the “Shomron Cinema Fund”, those brave creators (and much less durable than a vine) are ready to give up funding and suffer curses, insults and confiscations, just to not cooperate with the idea of settlements , because art is not entertainment, and without ideology and values - it has no soul. Ask Gefen, Shira Gefen, one of the signatories on the petition.
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