In the late 1960s, well after the Six Day War, a whiney "peace song" named Shir Hashalom (Song of Peace; http://www.radiohazak.com/Shir.html) became popular among Israel's teeny-boppers. At the time, it was not played on the state-run radio because Golda Meir disapproved of its message, which included the following stanza:
"Nobody will return us / from the dead dark pit. / Here, neither the joy of victory / nor songs of praise will help. / So sing only for peace, / don't whisper a prayer. / It's better to sing a song for peace / with a giant shout!"
It was basically a song insisting that peace was there on the shelf for Israel to pull out, and if there were no peace yet it was basically because Israel did not want it enough. Back in those days, the Israeli Labor Party under Golda was still a Zionist party, although not particularly democratic. Israel was still a one-party state under the near-totalitarian rule of the Labor Party-MAPAI.
Anyway, the song quickly became a cliche and largely forgotten by most people. But then, in the early 1990s, the Labor Party made a sharp turn to the extreme Left and abandoned all pretense of being a Zionist party. Meanwhile, the distinction between the Meretz (nee MAPAM) party and the anti-Israel Hadash Arab communist party all but disappeared. And the Shir Hashalom underwent a rebirth.
When Yitzchak Rabin started implementing the Beilin-Peres ideas about Israel appeasing its way to peace with the PLO, the song became almost a second national anthem; especially because Labor Leftists were increasingly uncomfortable with the words of the actual national anthem Hatikva, with its mentioning the yearnings of the Jewish soul and all. Anyway, at that last "peace" rally, where Rabin spoke before he was assassinated by Yigal Amir, it was sung and played. Right after the murder, the song became associated in people's minds with Rabin himself and became a sort of semi-official musical representation of the Oslo zeitgeist.
There is one interesting twist about the song. Namely, its writer. Shir Hashalom was written by one Yaakov Rotblit. I am not sure what his political ideas were back 35 years ago when the song was written and while I was studying sociology (wince, grunt, gulp), but it turns out that the very same Rotblit is today decidedly un-Left. Indeed, he is one of the important figures fighting against the plan to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip of Jews by expelling the "settlers".
And as part of his current ideology, the very same Yaakov Rotblit has now composed and released a new song. It is a song that mercilessly attacks the Israeli Left, so you will not be surprised to hear that the same state-run radio stations do not play it. It is called a Song of the Land of Israel. Rotblit released it just before the Likud referendum in which 60% of the Likud members rejected Sharon's plan for new appeasements. Right after the referendum, Sharon morphed into the Israeli Mugabe and insisted that Likud voters can go to hell and what the heck do the voters know about anything anyway.
So, if you read Hebrew and your computer has the fonts, you can see the words to the Song of the Land of Israel at http://www.fresh.co.il/dcforum/Politics/8278.html. Here is a translation of parts of the song (it is considerably longer):
"My life have I given for you, Eretz Yisrael [Land of Israel].
The mists of purity filled my head.
I had believed they were the will of God,
the Jewish nation, the return to Zion.
"Every single kibbutznik,
sitting in his kibbutz atop the ruins of an abandoned Arab village,
is suddenly a bleeding heart liberal,
while declaring that I am Public Enemy Number One,
building on 'occupied' land a new colonial empire.
They want to see me walking bare headed,
in a mourning sack after my home is destroyed,
while the poet from Sheikh Munis, which is today Ramat Aviv,
will write poems for the New York Times about 'justice.'
"Don't call it 'transfer' or expulsion,
your spin doctor will find a new name for it.
And the Court will declare that human rights and civil rights
just have no bearing on this,
because the New Left and the Old one despise me
as do the media moguls and the industrialists,
the ones preach to the impoverished that they are poor because of some
settlers in Hebron.
"So when Jews hate other Jews,
get the bulldozer running Arik.
Let's start the destruction."
Gosh, you think Aviv Gefen will sing that song at the next Rabin Square super-rally?
"Nobody will return us / from the dead dark pit. / Here, neither the joy of victory / nor songs of praise will help. / So sing only for peace, / don't whisper a prayer. / It's better to sing a song for peace / with a giant shout!"
It was basically a song insisting that peace was there on the shelf for Israel to pull out, and if there were no peace yet it was basically because Israel did not want it enough. Back in those days, the Israeli Labor Party under Golda was still a Zionist party, although not particularly democratic. Israel was still a one-party state under the near-totalitarian rule of the Labor Party-MAPAI.
Anyway, the song quickly became a cliche and largely forgotten by most people. But then, in the early 1990s, the Labor Party made a sharp turn to the extreme Left and abandoned all pretense of being a Zionist party. Meanwhile, the distinction between the Meretz (nee MAPAM) party and the anti-Israel Hadash Arab communist party all but disappeared. And the Shir Hashalom underwent a rebirth.
When Yitzchak Rabin started implementing the Beilin-Peres ideas about Israel appeasing its way to peace with the PLO, the song became almost a second national anthem; especially because Labor Leftists were increasingly uncomfortable with the words of the actual national anthem Hatikva, with its mentioning the yearnings of the Jewish soul and all. Anyway, at that last "peace" rally, where Rabin spoke before he was assassinated by Yigal Amir, it was sung and played. Right after the murder, the song became associated in people's minds with Rabin himself and became a sort of semi-official musical representation of the Oslo zeitgeist.
There is one interesting twist about the song. Namely, its writer. Shir Hashalom was written by one Yaakov Rotblit. I am not sure what his political ideas were back 35 years ago when the song was written and while I was studying sociology (wince, grunt, gulp), but it turns out that the very same Rotblit is today decidedly un-Left. Indeed, he is one of the important figures fighting against the plan to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip of Jews by expelling the "settlers".
And as part of his current ideology, the very same Yaakov Rotblit has now composed and released a new song. It is a song that mercilessly attacks the Israeli Left, so you will not be surprised to hear that the same state-run radio stations do not play it. It is called a Song of the Land of Israel. Rotblit released it just before the Likud referendum in which 60% of the Likud members rejected Sharon's plan for new appeasements. Right after the referendum, Sharon morphed into the Israeli Mugabe and insisted that Likud voters can go to hell and what the heck do the voters know about anything anyway.
So, if you read Hebrew and your computer has the fonts, you can see the words to the Song of the Land of Israel at http://www.fresh.co.il/dcforum/Politics/8278.html. Here is a translation of parts of the song (it is considerably longer):
"My life have I given for you, Eretz Yisrael [Land of Israel].
The mists of purity filled my head.
I had believed they were the will of God,
the Jewish nation, the return to Zion.
"Every single kibbutznik,
sitting in his kibbutz atop the ruins of an abandoned Arab village,
is suddenly a bleeding heart liberal,
while declaring that I am Public Enemy Number One,
building on 'occupied' land a new colonial empire.
They want to see me walking bare headed,
in a mourning sack after my home is destroyed,
while the poet from Sheikh Munis, which is today Ramat Aviv,
will write poems for the New York Times about 'justice.'
"Don't call it 'transfer' or expulsion,
your spin doctor will find a new name for it.
And the Court will declare that human rights and civil rights
just have no bearing on this,
because the New Left and the Old one despise me
as do the media moguls and the industrialists,
the ones preach to the impoverished that they are poor because of some
settlers in Hebron.
"So when Jews hate other Jews,
get the bulldozer running Arik.
Let's start the destruction."
Gosh, you think Aviv Gefen will sing that song at the next Rabin Square super-rally?