Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Okay, is this a brawl? Is it a protest?
[00:00:10] No, this is how we do Easter in Jerusalem. And by the way, this is inside the church of the Holy Sepulcher.
[00:00:44] Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the inside scoop, Jerusalem. And yes, I'm back now. We were actually out of the country for Passover break and the kids head off from school. So we thought, let's go. Let's go somewhere else for a little while. And so we went to Croatia, Montenegro, we drove through. Bosnia was very cool, very different.
[00:01:13] Each country was different in its own right, all of it different from the Middle east. And it was just amazing to see. And it's so interesting because they're mostly, well, not Croatia, but the other two are more orthodox christian countries, like they're eastern orthodox. And so they too were getting ready for Easter. So here we are. You know, I always talk about this crazy convergence of time and holidays here in Jerusalem, that it's really cool concentrated here in Jerusalem, even though you would have the same holidays for any orthodox church elsewhere. But here in Jerusalem, very tiny little city, everybody's celebrating and, you know, everything going on at the same time. So Passover was going on, the big jewish holiday, one of the three big jewish holidays of the year. Tons of people in Jerusalem, in the Old City coming to prey at the western wall, of course, and the entire country, the supermarkets, devoid of bread and other products, leavened products.
[00:02:26] So it's such an odd day, an odd holiday for the whole country to actually be abiding by this lack of bread, you know, following the Israelites exodus out of Egypt.
[00:02:45] And when God said, okay, make bread without leaven so you can be reminded of your, of the day that you left Egypt. And so they, to this day, continue with that tradition. I mean, that is the integral part of what makes Passover. So that was going on. And then, of course, the Orthodox Easter, I may have mentioned this in the past, but why the Orthodox Easter is so far away this year from the western Easter celebrated the Catholics and the evangelicals, the Protestants. Their Easter was five weeks ago. And so why? Why does this happen and why was it so far apart? So the orthodox churches have three specific, three specific standards that they use to determine the date for Easter. Now, first of all, let me mention the calendars, because there is the gregorian calendar and there is the julian calendar and most of the western world, the western world is on the gregorian calendar, which is named for Pope Gregory. And I think it was in the 15 hundreds that he determined a calendar that would be the one we have today, 365 days a year, and, you know, with leap years as well. So the julian calendar was the previous one, also named for a pope, and stayed from the.
[00:04:27] It stayed on their date. So actually, I think it does change a little bit from year to year, but I'm not a calendar expert. In any case, the eastern orthodox churches abide by the julian calendar for their dates, so there's a difference of about twelve to 13 days between the calendars.
[00:04:47] But there are more things that go into Easter. So, for instance, you got the twelve to 13 days for, you know, for Christmas. Yeah, twelve to 13 days.
[00:05:00] So that's why you have, like, December 25, but then you have January 7, and then the Armenians on a calendar of calendars on January 19. So only in Jerusalem, by the way, only the Armenians in Jerusalem. But then for Easter, the Orthodox have a few more things that go into determining the date for Easter. And that would be that it happens after the spring equinox, which is March 21. So check.
[00:05:31] That also would be after the full moon. Check. But also that it would be after the jewish Passover, because ultimately, Passover was celebrated by Jesus before he was crucified. And it was like during the week, I think it was during the week of Passover that he was crucified, buried, and then rose again.
[00:06:01] So it must be after Passover that the Orthodox celebrate according to these three rules, which really makes. It is actually biblical. But in that case, it made it very late this year, the jewish calendar. And we're gonna actually talk about something.
[00:06:20] The calendar that is used in Israel, the jewish calendar, it's used for. To set the holidays. It's not used for the dates, and like the school year and stuff like that. In that case, it's like September 1, June 30. But for holidays, they still use the jewish calendar. So Passover was later this year, later than usual, and then, of course, the Orthodox Easter. So I was in the old city yesterday on, well, yesterday, that would be, let's say, Saturday, May 4, 2024.
[00:06:52] And that is actually the big day. Despite the fact that yesterday is Easter, there is something about Saturday that makes the. That is the day for the celebration of Easter. It is like the big show is Saturday, not Sunday. And it is all based on this ceremony called sapt il Noor, which is the Saturday of Light. And it's about the holy fire, the holy fire ceremony that takes place at the Holy Sepulchre Church, which is the church that most christian denominations hold to be, contain both Golgotha and the tomb of Jesus. So that is where everybody converges now, when the Easters converge on the same date, that is a very crowded church.
[00:07:52] It is very crowded. Anyway, even without the Catholics who celebrating Easter on that day. It is. I mean, there are several denominations. There's the Greek Orthodox, there's the Armenian Orthodox, the Assyrians, the Coptics. I mean, everybody is gathering in the church and pilgrims from all over the world, orthodox countries. So I mentioned before that we were in Montenegro and Bosnia, which are orthodox countries, and they would normally, like, some of the pilgrims would be coming here, but also from Moldova, Romania, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, from Poland and from Greece. Like, they're all coming. This is the place to be for Easter. And then the holy light ceremony, let me tell you, that was probably, I mean, for a westerner, for somebody who grew up in the west, grew up in the US, and then came here, I have to say that this was one of the most fascinating cultural and religious experiences I've ever had. Because first of all, as it is, the Holy Sepulcher is this ancient church that is like just this stone structure etched in time with different segments. And it's just cavernous hallways, not much lighting, so many different pockets of altars, and just like, things like, to see whether it's like crosses etched in the wall or mosaics or. I don't know, it's just an overwhelming experience. And it's visited by hundreds of thousands, millions of people. Not many millions, but hundreds of thousands of people a year. And the. But the holy fire is, because it attracts so many people, it's always under some sort of lockdown by the police where they. They have to limit the number of people who can get in, otherwise the place would be overrun. And by the way, there's only one entry and exit. It's the same door. There's no other way out. So it would just be like a mass stampede.
[00:10:16] But, I mean, it would be. It would be crazy if anything happened. Of course, since it's the holy fire ceremony, one of the concerns is fire. So anyway, every Saturday before Easter, and this dates back hundreds.
[00:10:35] Hundreds of years.
[00:10:37] Thousand. Like, what? At, like, you know, I don't have the exact date. Is it the. In the 400s or. Anyway, it's, you know, this ceremony has taken place and it was, let's say, a miraculous occurrence that the flame, that a flame leapt from the tomb of Jesus, like, sparked out on the Easter, the Saturday before Easter. And. And then somebody, you know, got it on a candle and it was shared. And anyway, this has gone on and on for centuries now. I mean, it was at least going on in 1000. And so it was definitely, it predates that, but it's gone on for centuries. And it happens at the same time every year that at 02:00 on the Saturday before Easter, the greek patriarch and an armenian priest will enter the tomb. The tomb is sealed. It's actually a process of sealing it. Oh, and by the way, they're checked beforehand to make sure they don't have lighters and anything that could, you know, cause a flame, because it's a miracle that the flame occurs. But they go, they check them first. There's like actually israeli police controlling the, you know, crowds and them going in and, you know, I got to show you some videos. I'm going to play some too. I'm going to play like, what it sounds like there. But they go into the tomb and then they will wait until the flame miraculously appears at 02:00 p.m. On the Saturday before Easter every single year. And then that flame on their huge bundle of candles, they have these, like, you know, imagine all these thin candles, but they're bundled together though. They pass the flame to the people that are waiting outside. And within seconds, the entire church is lit up with flames throughout. It's amazing. Like, it's one of the most amazing things that you've ever seen. And I will tell you, the biggest miracle of all is not the light. The biggest miracle is that nobody's hair catches on fire. Honestly. That is what, that's what I think. Now, if you want to go, you've got to, first of all, to get a band that is issued by the police to all the churches. And then the churches distribute the bands to their people who are going to go. And you have to show that at every checkpoint along the way to get in. And then you usually have to get there like 10:00 in the morning sometimes. It had been earlier, it had been the night before, even in years past. But lately, with COVID or war and no tourists here, it's a lot easier to get in. But then you've got to go and wait hours and you just stand there for hours, literally stand there for hours. So anyway, so that's what happened yesterday. Today is actually orthodox Easter, Easter.
[00:13:52] But Passover is over and the rest of the country is getting back to routine just as Easter is ending.
[00:14:03] So interestingly enough, I saw pictures this year of the bishop from Australia, Marie Emanuel.
[00:14:14] He's an assyrian bishop from the Assyrian Church and he's iraqi born, but lives in Australia. He was just stabbed in April during a live stream sermon. A muslim teenager came up to, like, broke into onto the altar and stabbed him. Excuse me, stabbed him. And it was caught on camera, was during the live stream. Now, the doctor said he's lucky to be alive, but he did lose an eye. But that bishop was here this weekend. He was. Everybody saw him in the old city going to the church and praying, and it was amazing. He is such an interesting character. I would encourage you to look him up.
[00:15:06] His name is Marie Emmanuel, bishop from the Assyrian Church. And so, like, very controversial, very strong statements. And he is such an interesting character and so seemingly so humble and so down to earth, and also has been in the Holy Land before, in fact, led a tour. I listened to one of his sermons where he said he led a tour group to Gaza to go see a holy site, but also just took up a collection on the spot for. For people that were there, for the residents that were there and that were telling him about their challenges and issues, and he just raised money for them right there. So it was amazing. But anyway, very interesting. And I'm really hoping to run into him on the streets of the old city one of these days. If he's still here. That would be great. Pray for me. Okay. Anyway, I mean, then I will do an interview and you will hear it, so, you know, that's why you should pray. Anyway, thank you. Thank you. Okay, so anyway, speaking of the dates, the calendars. And I said that Israel goes by the hebrew calendar. And that brings us to the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day here in Israel. Now, Holocaust Remembrance Day, if you are overseas and you're thinking, wait, wait, didn't we mark that earlier this year? And yes, in the rest of the world, it's, I think, January 20 27th, but Israel chose a different day. Now, January 27 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp, but Israel marks Holocaust day as the beginning of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. And that happens on the hebrew calendar in the month of Nisan, which is what we're in right now. And so this is the date that it falls out on the hebrew calendar. So again, it changes every year depending on the. What do you call it? Depending on the gregorian calendar, going back to that. But so here in Israel, it's a very somber commemoration. And starting even, like this afternoon and this evening, things are just going to shut down. Like, there won't be malls and restaurants and gyms. Everything will close. There's gonna be a siren, and it's meant for people to, like, stand and remember, like, during that minute that the siren goes on. And actually, I can't remember if it's a minute or two minutes and if it's at night and in the morning or because also we have Memorial Day coming up. And then they do the same thing with the sirens and the moment of silence. Like, people even stop driving their cars and stand outside their car during that time of the siren. Also, I'm wondering how the siren's gonna affect people who have PTSD from the war, the sirens that went on from October 7 and even till today in the north, by the way, and in the south. But anyway, that's news for another day. So, so anyway, so Holocaust Remembrance Day this year is actually really poignant considering the surge of antisemitism that you see around the world. I mean, just like the college campuses, for instance. I'm sure you've heard about that. And I heard a briefing this week by a man named Charles Asher Small. And he is from an organization called ISGAP, ISCAP. ISCAP, it's an organization that studies antisemitism.
[00:19:05] And particularly they are looking at the college campuses. And he noted in a briefing he did with the Jerusalem Press Club, he noted that the nation of Qatar, which is like 350,000 people, small country, has given more money to us and european universities than any other country in the world. And that is fascinating. Little detail like why little Qatar is helping to fund or making donations to american universities. Now, he said that the royal family of Qatar has a spiritual oath to the Muslim Brotherhood, and that means that they are their representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout the world in what they do. So one of the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood is to isolate Israel from the west and to complete the work of Hitler in destroying, eradicating the Jews. And by the way, Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar supports Hamas and actually hosts Hamas's leaders in Doha in the capital there.
[00:20:37] Another connection to Qatar and to Doha is something that actually just happened today, which is that Israel has, the israeli government actually voted to close down the Al Jazeera channel. Now Al Jazeera is a channel based in Doha in the capital of Qatar. And it is definitely, you know, anti Israel for sure. But I have to say, like Al Jazeera's news, they cover the world. They really covered. They, it's not just about Israel and what's happening here, but there's definitely antagonism, you know, when it comes to Gaza. And they will be the ones to use the words genocide for sure. And they say occupied West bank and occupied Jerusalem. So they definitely have the anti Israel band.
[00:21:43] One of their reporters was killed by the israeli military a couple years ago. Shereen Abu Akleh. She was also an american Palestinian. She had american citizenship as well as. She is a Christian born in Jerusalem, a Christian from Jerusalem, and she was killed while covering military action in Jenin, in the West bank. And that was just, you know, almost caused riots at the time.
[00:22:17] And it was, you know, Israel said it was a mistake, but the Palestinians said, no, it was. Had to be intentional. She was clearly labeled with. She had a press, a vest that said press, and she had a helmet.
[00:22:31] But her funeral was held in Jerusalem and it gathered. Thousands of people actually came to that. So, anyway, there's a longstanding antagonism between al Jazeera and Israel. But the cabinet. The israeli cabinet voted unanimously today to close Al Jazeera's operations in the country. So nobody knows exactly what that means at the moment. I mean, I know that they have reporters in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, in Gaza, in the West bank. And I'm not really sure if that means they can't broadcast from here or the journalists will be deported or. I mean, some of them are citizens and live here. Some of them are live in Gaza or, you know, live here in Jerusalem. So I'm not really sure what that means. And, you know, even Al Jazeera, I went to their website to find out. They don't know exactly what that means at the moment. But as they say, Israel has. This is from Al Jazeera's website, from one of their articles. Israel has long had iraqi relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against. Against it and collaborating with Hamas. The Qatar based network has repeatedly rejected the accusations. Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war. That is very true. Broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres.
[00:24:03] So there you go. There's another connection to Qatar, which is, I mean, just very interesting. The small country and which is not just funding us universities, not just hosting Hamas, and not just the home base for Al Jazeera, but also is brokering the deal for the hostages, which is still going on. And, you know, every time I think, oh, I should report that, I should report that, the news changes immediately. So had I reported a couple days ago what I intended to report, which is say that this is the deal, a deal is imminent. Well, we're still waiting for an answer. So days later. So it's just harrowing for the family members of the hostages and what they would be getting in return. Hamas wants to release the prisoners, but they want an immediate and full cessation of the war. Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, that is not happening.
[00:25:11] We are not ready to accept a situation in which Hamas units emerge from their hideouts, regain control over Gaza, and strengthen its military and returns to threatening israeli citizens in the Gaza area, the north, and in the entire country. In a situation like this, another 7 October is just a matter of time.
[00:25:30] But the families are saying that the priority is to get the hostages released, and then you deal with it. Deal with this later. So, by the way, since Passover, in the week of Passover, from right before and then during Passover, Hamas released three videos of three different hostages who are still alive. So one of them was Hirsch Goldberg Polin, who is a 23 year old american Israeli whose mother, Rachel, was just named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of the year. And that was released right before Passover started. And then the video of her son was released right after that by Hamas. And Hirsch lost an arm on October 7 by a grenade, a grenade that killed his friend. But then right after that, he was taken hostage into Gaza. And actually, you could. You know, the.
[00:26:40] He was seeing. The videos were seen later, and that's how the family recognized him and said, okay, yeah, that. That's our son. And then. Anyway, up till now, they hadn't had a sign of life, and now they got that. And then right after that, two more hostages in one video were released, and one of them is also an american Israeli. And Keith Siegel and his daughter was at one of the protests, gave a speech and very much blaming the government. And she said, here's a quote from her. She said, toppling Hamas. Now, where have you been for 20 years? Where were you when entire generation grew up in fear of the next barrage to come?
[00:27:29] Where were you when we couldn't sleep at night? Where were you when we saw and heard and felt the tunnels being dug? Where have you been? You had 20 years to collapse Hamas. There are currently 133 civilians in Gaza that you abandoned for decades, and you will now do everything to bring them back. Don't you dare talk to me about security for the country, and don't you dare talk to me about terrorists being released. And don't you dare talk to me about the collapse of the organization you fed all these years. Not when my dad is there, not when my dad is begging for help. Not when my father, who didn't agree to leave the envelope because he thought he had the envelope is the Gaza. The Gaza envelope, they call it the part of Israel that borders Gaza because he had thought he had someone to trust, is there in the tunnels and is already going crazy from the madness of this crazy country here. This is a bad translator. I'm boiling and I'm angry and fear. I have anger, fear and so much sadness.
[00:28:31] So that's her quote from one of the many, many, many protests taking place throughout Israel. It is really like on a daily basis, the families are out there. There is. They're now down to, she said, 133. But since then, they're the Israeli. Israel has determined that some, two more have been killed.
[00:29:03] One, well, they still have the body, but the other one, no. So they're down to 132 because one who was thought to be kidnapped was actually now determined to have been killed on October 7. And the body never identified. But they just did identify the body because they exhumed a grave from one of the people killed on October 7. And they found his remains also in that grave. So that was how it's down to 132. But one of the hostages who was thought to be alive, whose wife had been killed on October 7 and whose kids had been kidnapped, he has now been terminate been.
[00:29:51] His death has been determined by Israel. And they said they found evidence that, yes, he had been killed that day. So now the kids, two of whom were kidnapped that day and since released, have found out that they're orphans.
[00:30:07] So that's an update on the hostage situation.
[00:30:13] Now, there's also talk last week, again, the talk was Rafa going into Rafa or not going into Rafa? Rafa being the southernmost city in Gaza and bordering the bordering with Egypt.
[00:30:32] And that's where Israel says is Hamas last holdout. Like, that's where they are. That's where the hostages are. That's probably where Yahi Sinwar is, who's the leader of Hamas, and that's where they have to go to complete the job.
[00:30:52] So that is the basic line of the government. Now, I did hear somebody in the opposition, Matan Kahana, he said today that, he said, it's not about Rafa, it's that Rafa. We're holding this up as a symbol of ending the war or completion of the war. And he said, rafa, like, yeah, we need to deal with it. He said, but this is not necessarily the determination of the end of the war and to not get hung up on the name of the city, more or less.
[00:31:29] So whether or not they go into Rafa now, of course, the US is still opposed to that. The secretary of state, Antony Blinken was here yet again last week and he said that there should not be an entry into Rafa because of the massive amounts of civilians that are there. There's an extra million civilians that were displaced from other parts of Gaza that went there. They were told, go south, you know, because we're gonna bomb the north. So go south. So they went south. And so now there's over a million people. Now there's also talk right now of whether or not there is famine officially in Gaza. And Israel keeps saying, no, we're, you know, increasing the humanitarian aid. And meanwhile, by the way, the US is building up here, that's actually mostly done, I think, to get a humanitarian aid. But that would be the only aid that would not have to go through Israel in order to get there, which is interesting. It would be totally, like between the US and then contractors and then into Gaza and it would bypass Israel. Like right now, Israel actually controls the flow of aid. They controlled it before October 7. They controlled what gets in what, you know, they inspected everything and, you know, like this. Could this be used to build a rocket then? No, it's not going to go in and, you know, whatever. So this, so that. That's always been controlled by them. And now the question is whether. What the US plans to do and if Israel will agree to that. But they haven't oppose the building of this pier. So the Americans are building a pier from the Mediterranean that will get into. Straight into Gaza. So anyway, with. I think we're. It's about 35,000 dead. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 35,000 Palestinians killed, including people who are like one family.
[00:33:51] Former colleague of mine, his sister was trying to get to Egypt. She finally had the permit to get to Egypt, but on her way died of dehydration.
[00:34:02] So anyway, so that's. It's just an all out disaster no matter how you slice it, for both, all the. For both people groups here, both the Israelis, the Palestinians, everybody is dealing, dealing with something. So now here's another interesting thing that's going on. At the same time, you've got the International Criminal Court that might be issuing arrest warrants for all of Israel's leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the IDF chief of staff. I mean, this is actually on the cards right now for the court to start issuing arrest warrants for israeli leaders.
[00:34:56] One of the charges is that they're deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza. And what this would do, even though Israel doesn't recognize the ICC, that actually, if a country, like if Netanyahu, for instance, travels to a country that does recognize the ICC, they could actually arrest him. It would be unprecedented arresting a head of state in another country. And, yeah, so Netanyahu had said in a statement that Israel will never accept any attempt by international criminal court in the Hague to undermine its basic right to defend itself. While decisions made by the court in the Hague will not affect Israel's actions, they will set a dangerous precedent that threatens soldiers and public figures. So soldiers in Israel are pretty much anybody who lived here between the ages of 18 and 21, men and women, like any former soldier. So, I mean, most, there's mandatory military service. So. So soldiers, maybe. I mean, depending how stringent they want to make it, whether it's soldiers that were in this particular war or people that were any time considered a soldier could face arrest.
[00:36:17] Actually, I have friends that wonder if they will face arrest if they go to South Africa.
[00:36:23] South Africa has another case going against Israel, but that's in a different court, and that it's the international court of justice. It's also based in the Hague. But this is this case, and the arrest warrants are separate from the genocide case that was filed by South Africa at the ICJ.
[00:36:45] In the meantime, you've got a lot of repercussions internationally. You've got Colombia cut off diplomatic ties with Israel, and then you've got Turkey that's cutting off all sorts of trade with Israel, like all imports and exports. Now, Turkey is funny because they had an issue with Israel several years ago during the Mari. Was it the Mavimara incident, the flotilla that was trying to get aid into Gaza, it was raided by the israeli navy, and some of the activists on board were killed. And I think it had set sail from Turkey. And at that point, Turkey cut off ties with Israel, and that lasted for several years. But lately there's been like this thawing of ties, if not outright warming. And even there were state visits back and forth. So things have been on the right track. So this is obviously setting that back.
[00:37:50] But Turkey has been one of the strongest or most outspoken nations against Israel. I mean, even other countries, even Saudi Arabia, even the UAE, nobody has criticized Israel as much as Turkey. And also Azerbaijan has remained quite quiet during this time. But that's a podcast episode for another day. So, last but not least, I want to talk about the most inane thing that could possibly be going on, but also involves controversy. Controversy, danger warnings, death threats, et cetera.
[00:38:30] Have you guys heard of the Eurovision? I mean, if you're in America, there is a good chance that you've been spared hearing of this. But if you're from anywhere else, you probably heard of it. Now, Eurovision Song Contest, it's something I never heard. It was kind of like the holy fire. I love how this comes full circle this episode, but the holy fire is something I never heard of. And then I experienced only when I got to Israel, like within the first two years that I was here and I went to the ceremony. Same with the Eurovision. Now the Eurovision, at first I thought, oh, maybe it's like Europe's version of American Idol. I quickly realized that was false.
[00:39:19] Eurovision is its own animal. It is its own creation from its own universe. It is the most eccentric, flamboyant show that I have. Reality slash contest. I mean, not a reality show, it's a song contest. But I was in shock when I first saw this and it's like a train wreck. Like, you can't turn away. You've got to see it as you're passing by, even though you know you shouldn't look. So that's my experience with Eurovision.
[00:39:54] But Israelis love Eurovision just like anybody else in Europe, even though they're not in Europe. In Israel and also Australia. Not in Europe, but in Eurovision. Israel's got a pretty good history. They wanted a few times. I don't, of course, know everything because I try not to be an expert on Eurovision.
[00:40:12] But there was a really interesting story, actually that the Shalva band, you know, Shalva Shalva. I don't talk about Shalva. Shalva is an amazing center for children with special needs based in Jerusalem. Serves 2000 kids a week and keeps opening programs for kids as they get older. So, like now they have an adult, young adult program, actually. And they have housing for them, vocational training. So it's just amazing. Anyway, they have a band. As part of their many programs, they actually have a band and it was comprised of mostly kids with special needs, like young people. They're not kids anymore, sorry. But like, to the two lead singers who are blind, they're amazing singers. And the percussionists, you know, one with down syndrome, one, I believe, with Edwards syndrome, just amazing. And so they competed and in Israel to be on the contest. So Israel has its own. Every country has its own way of choosing their representative. And in Israel they have this star is born contest and whoever wins that will go represent in Eurovision. And this band would have won. But they decided because some of them are religious Jews and observe Shabbat, they would not be able to compete because the final dress rehearsal is on a Saturday, and so because only part of the team would be able to compete or they would. They just decided as a group to not go forward with it. And they did get to perform, though, and it. At Eurovision. And it was amazing. I think their clip had over a million views the last time I checked, which was months ago, so it could be even more. And I should link to that, maybe check the description. I will. I will link to that because it's amazing. And that was the redeeming part of Eurovision. But this year, Israel is sending a dynamic singer, Eden Golan. She is a russian Israeli. She's dual citizenship and she is.
[00:42:28] She's a great artist. She's been. I mean, she's so professional and looks like she's been at this for a while. Her voice is stunning and the song is really beautiful and catchy, but it's a ballad and, you know, who knows if ballads don't usually take. Take the victory in Eurovision. But why is this in the news this year?
[00:42:52] For one, because there's a war going on and because of the sentiment about Israel, like, on fire around the globe right now. But also it's taking place this year in Malmo, Sweden. Now, Malmo is a city that has many immigrants from the arab world and it's also the site of regular anti Israel protests. So Israel has issued a travel warning for any Israelis, Jews in general, that want to go to Sweden for. For the. For the Eurovision this year. They wrote about the protests and the warning. They said these protests occur on a weekly basis and sometimes include shouting calls to harm Jews, Israelis burning israeli flags and more. It should be noted that on October 7, anti Israel elements in Malmo expressed joy at the events of the massacre that Hamas carried out in Israel. So apparently the israeli army is going to add to their alerts, that they send out the alert system that you get, like, warnings on your phone, like if there's rockets or sirens or anything. So they're going to add alerts to that for any Israelis that are overseas that are traveling, like, to include if there are any credible threats at. In real time in Malmo for the Eurovision. So, of course, yet another thing that should be inane, surrounded by complete, utter controversy, if not outright danger.
[00:44:31] So we will be watching that. Now, I want you to know I've recorded a very special two episodes. And I say, and this is why it's special, because I recorded it with two of my kids. We did a review of all of the songs that are going out in Eurovision this year. Because, by the way, the songs are like chosen in advance and they're already. Everybody already knows what they are. It's not like this concert, you show up and it's a surprise. No, everybody knows the songs in advance and they just push them and market them and they're out there and everybody's voting already and it's like a real cult like atmosphere with these, with the fans of Eurovision. So anyway, recorded this with two of my kids. We listened to the snippets of all the songs and what we thought of them. And if you want a good laugh or cry, depending on how you look at these songs, I'm going to be releasing them in the next few days. So the contest itself, Eurovision, is from May 7 to 11th. So stay tuned. First of all, you can get a glimpse of the songs if you really want beforehand on these episodes, but stay tuned to find out that what happens actually at this event.
[00:45:57] I love bringing you the inside scoop from Jerusalem. If you want to stay tuned and get my updates, you can sign up for my newsletter, subscribe whether to this podcast, also to the YouTube channel because frequently I will pop up in the old city with a live of whatever's happening on the ground here in Jerusalem. Thank you so much for being a part of this. I really appreciate you and I just love to share my experiences with you guys. So thank you so much. So stay tuned and until next time, this is the inside scoop, Jerusalem.
