In November, a 17 year old Israeli wowed the judges and audience at the Israeli version of X-Factor.
The video of Eden Helena’s singlng has been going around, but what is interesting is what gets the biggest audience reaction when she talks about herself.
First, when Eden says that she is Ethiopian, the audience roars.
Then, when she shows off her bracelet collection, and mentions that her favorite one has symbols of all religions on it, from when she sang at a joint Jewish-Arab singing tour in America. One judge asks her if the bracelet shows coexistence, she says yes, and the audience goes wild.
So many people try to paint Israeli Jews as bigots against both Ethiopians and Arabs. It is a recurring theme for the writers at Mondoweiss and Electronic Intifada. But the instinctive positive reaction to an Ethiopian girl who sings with people of all religions and who preaches coexistence shows that Israel is as liberal a country as there is.
And one cannot even imagine the same thing happening at a similar Arab talent show.
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