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continued from page 12

“My concerts are not political manifestos;
they are a celebration of the diversity
and beauty of modern Israeli culture.”
— Noa

Noa sings “There
Must Be Another
Way” with Arab
Israeli performer
Mira Awad.

For 40 years as an attorney, your clients
and family have recognized your integrity,
compassion, competence, and diligence,
holding you in the highest esteem.

You are now being honored by your
colleagues and peers with your induction
to the Workers Compensation Section of
the State Bar of Michigan
HALL OF FAME.

Murray R. Feldman, Esq.

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Congratulations! We are so very proud of you!

With much love and admiration,

Linda, Julie, Ron, Rachel, Stacey, Melanie,
Marc, Lara, Jordyn, Ethan, and all of
your extended family and friends.

14

May 11 • 2017

jn

core value of ‘love your brother as
you love yourself,’ and help shed light
on an ailing world, as they have done
throughout history.”
Still, Noa has faced opposition
before for her political views.
In 2009, she was asked to represent
Israel in the annual Eurovision Song
Contest. She performed with Israeli
Arab Mira Awad, singing “There Must
Be Another Way.” Some objected to
the pairing. The women also per-
formed together in East Lansing
(2010) and Detroit (2012), the latter at
a JCC event in West Bloomfield honor-
ing Douglas Bloom, then JCC presi-
dent, and his wife, Barbara.
In 2012, a Facebook petition headed
by Israelis called for a boycott of her
for participating in an alternative Yom
HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day) cer-
emony organized by Combatants for
Peace, which brought together both
Israelis and Palestinians who have lost
family members in the conflict. Noa
participated in this year’s ceremony in
late April.
In 2016, the Jewish National Fund
of Canada withdrew sponsorship
of a Noa concert scheduled by the
Jewish Federation of Vancouver for
Yom Ha’Atzmaut reportedly because
of concerns she supported the BDS
movement that advocates boycott,
divestment and sanctions against
Israel. The Federation stuck with the
concert, saying they were convinced
Noa did not support BDS. Israel’s
embassy in Ottawa and consulate in
Toronto helped with funding after JNF
dropped out.
At the time, Noa released a state-
ment on Facebook, writing, “I am
absolutely and completely against the
BDS. I see it as a hypocritical move-

ment full of contradictions who will
not bring peace to Israel nor help the
Palestinians achieve their goals; very
much on the contrary.”
In January 2017, Noa posted a
Facebook message blasting President
Trump, Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu and Jewish-American sup-
porters of both. Writing “Trump is a
modern-day Hitler” and a “racist mad-
man,” she also wrote that Netanyahu
is “just as racist, narcisitic (sic) para-
noid and vulgar as Trump” and a “hol-
low, racist, corrupt little nothing …”
Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief of The
Forward, wrote in a 2016 opinion
piece that Noa’s “political awakening
occurred Nov. 4, 1995, when moments
after she performed at a massive
peace rally in Tel Aviv, a Jewish radi-
cal pointed a gun on that very stage
and assassinated Yitzhak Rabin. She
decided that night to speak out as
fearlessly as she could to promote the
late prime minister’s policies.”
Last Saturday, on her Facebook
page, Noa posted a Shabbat message
“as a gentle reminder to all our friends
in Detroit and elsewhere” that features
a 2016 video greeting from the late
Israeli President Shimon Peres to Noa
on the 25th anniversary of her career.
He praises her music as “the best
music in the land.”

MOVED TO ACTION

What sparked action to shut down
the concert from the self-described
“large group of Israelis and American
Jews, both liberals and conservatives
who support both sides of the politi-
cal map in Israel,” was that many of
them learned of the upcoming concert
while at the communitywide Yom
HaZikaron program April 30 that

continued on page 16

