Quote:
Originally Posted by Roguette
Thank you Sergiy! The thing is I usually don't think of 'Israel' and 'sand' because there is much to like in the Israeli landscapes that I have seen.... I think because the people are proud and respectful of who they are and the 'sand' that they (rightfully) claim as their own.
My comment to Sergiy is meant for you too and I expect you can tell us all a lot more about the landscape of modern Israel. I actually envy you in a small way, that you can see Israel with your own eyes and even feel it. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much Israel means to a great many Americans, I want to say the vast majority of 'Americans' including Canadians, native or immigrant. Thank you for posting that song.
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I would say the opinions are divided... In Montreal it's always been a huge issue, very divisive. The more established Jewish community and the Anglo protestant establishment are very pro-Israel, whereas immigrants from places like Morocco and Lebanon have different views. Plus there are four universities so there are thousands of 20-year-olds who love wrapping themselves up in the Palestinian flag and shouting slogans about colonialism, whatever their heritage may be. A certain type of French-Canadians, or Quebecois, are very suspicious of Israel but not for any cool Fanon-quoting reasons, just plain old Catholic antisemitism. But then there are some supporting it for weird religious reasons. Many different projections...
Israel has lots of sand though, the entire south is just the Negev desert, then there are all the beaches and stuff
The Gainsbourg song... It's a real rarity, I'm a big fan of his and I only learned of it now. It was written and recorded at the request of the Israeli ambassador to France before the Six Day war, when it was clear Israel is going to be attacked and the diplomat wanted to somehow support the troops, like through a new song from France's greatest songwriter written just for them. It was never released in France, it was played one time on the Israeli radio and then lay in the archives forgotten for decades.
I think it's a great song that doesn't sound like anything else he's written. Like many French Jews of his generation, he was very proud of his Jewishness but also of his Frenchness, so he supported Israel from afar. His view of it was rather colored by the Bible it seems.