A Postcard from ‘Postcards From The Unholy Land’

Like many involved British Jews, I spend a lot of time talking about Israel. Like many involved British Jews, I spend a lot of time getting worked up talking about Israel. The last few weeks have been particularly intense in this regard. The debate over the Independent Jewish Voices declaration has given me many sleepless nights. As a lefty Jew, these are not easy times.

So it was a real breath of fresh air to chair Thursday’s book week session ‘Postcards From The Unholy Land’. The aim of the session was to talk about recent developments in the Israeli cultural scene, particularly in the field of ‘popular’ culture. The session featured three highly articulate Israeli culture-makers. Etgar Keret is a well-known short story writer and film maker. Idit Eshel is an up and coming singer-songwriter. Avi Pitchon is an artist/journalist/musician.

I am writing this the morning after the session and I have to admit my memories of exactly what was said are a little hazy – at the time I concentrated more on chairing the session than remembering it. However, what I came away with was a strong sense of how this encounter with Israeli cultural practititioners made the debates we have about Israel in the UK seem rather irrelevant.

At various points, all three panellists emphasised that Israel is much more complex than non-Israelis think and that cultural production has the ability to render Israelis as humans rather than as stereotypes. It is the impossibly complex, impossibly vibrant Israel that is often forgotten when we talk about Israel rather than with Israel. This is a failing that is prevalent across the political spectrum. Solidarity rallies and other ‘Israel we are with you’ activities by mainstream Zionists in the UK rarely really engage with Israeli reality – too often Israel is treated an inert slab of heroism and myth. Critics of Israel, particularly the anti-Zionist kind, all too frequently construct Israel as a similarly monolithic space.

There was little in ‘Postcards From The Unholy Land’ to fuel easy steroetypes about Israel. Avi’s discussion of the complexities of contemporary Israeli identity was light years beyond the easy platitutudes of some British Zionists. In a memorable quote he said that ‘I am a European Jew. Israel is a utopian experiment initiated by European Jews that I participated in’. Conversely, Idit and Etgar’s warm humanity also pricked the pomposity of those who see Israel as an entirely evil phenomenon.

On returning home from the session, I happened to find a video of Israel’s 2007 Eurovision song contest entry. Tea Packs’s ‘Push The Button’ is a delicious hybrid of pseudo-klezmer, rock, rap and drum and bass. The tongue-in-cheek lyrics may or may not refer to the President of Iran and it’s possible that the song will be banned from the contest as ‘political’. Perhaps Israel’s biggest strength is that Israelis can play with the situation they find themselves in. It’s certainly a preferable option to the endless earnestness which many of us British Jews react to the Israel question.

Keith Kahn-Harris is a British Jewish sociologist. His website can be found here and he writes a blog called Metal Jew.