hebrew poetry

Dareen Tatour at the Nazareth Magistrates Court. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Political poetry as a crime: Inside the surreal trial of Dareen Tatour

Arresting someone for publishing a political poem is extraordinary. Having to prove at trial that police mistranslated your poem is nothing short of surreal. By Yoav Haifawi It has been nearly a year and a half since Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was arrested in her home for writing a poem. She spent three months in various prisons, including half a…

By +972 Magazine March 26, 2017

Footprints in the sand in the Sinai desert. (Dudarev Mikhail / Shutterstock.com)

What we left behind in Egypt: Mizrahi thoughts on Israel

Even when they had reached the borders of the Promised Land, after 40 years in the desert, all the Children of Israel wanted was to go back to Egypt. In Erez Biton’s poem, the immigrant from Algeria and his son fail to build a home in Israel. Independence Day is also the tale of the…

By +972 Magazine May 24, 2016

Khaju Bridge in Isfahan, Iran (Photo: Hamed Saber/CC)

Yearning for Iran: An elegy for my other homeland

A homeland is not a piece of cultivated land, nor the object of a war for pride. Homeland is not nationalism. Love has no place where land is a tool for control. Homeland is an idea through which we mold our hopes and our most secret fears. It is an unconditional love. By Avraham H.…

By Cafe Gibraltar May 24, 2013

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How Youtube became Hebrew poetry’s last resort

This is a story about poetry, but like many Israeli stories, it too begins with Netanyahu. When Netanyahu was minister of the treasury, in the mid aughts, Israel’s anti-monopoly laws became less than tightly enforced. One sector to suffer the implications was the publishing business. Israel’s two major retail book chains merged at the time…

By Yuval Ben-Ami September 24, 2012