Cafe Gibraltar

Recent Articles

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at an 'emergency' Likud rally in Tel Aviv, November 17, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

By labeling Arabs an ‘existential threat,’ Bibi invokes a terrifying history of ethnic violence

The prime minister organized an emergency Likud gathering Sunday night, in which he accused Israel’s Arab citizens of supporting terror and wanting to destroy the State of Israel. We know how this kind of thing can end. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a bitter struggle to prevent his challenger from establishing a government with support from the Arab-led Joint List party, has…

By Amjad Iraqi, Cafe Gibraltar and Dimi Reider November 18, 2019

Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) speaks at the 2019 J Street National Conference, October 28, 2019. (Photo courtesy of J Street)

For J Street, holding Israel accountable is still a step too far

J Street’s 2019 conference heralded a new willingness to tie military aid to Israel to its human rights record. But the organization was quick to reaffirm a status quo of unconditional aid — despite ongoing abuses. What at first looked like a sea change on the horizon has turned out to be much less. One week…

By Joshua Leifer and Cafe Gibraltar November 7, 2019

The Mimouna Festival, marking the end of Passover, is celebrated in a special tent in Jerusalem, April 16, 1990. (photo: Alpert Nathan/GPO)

Ten things you didn’t know about Mimouna

Mimouna, the traditional festival celebrated by North African Jews on the last day of Passover, is often overlooked when discussing the Jewish holiday of liberation. Here are 10 things you might not know about the celebration that once brought Jews and Muslims together. By Ophir Toubul 1. The name of the holiday, “Mimouna,” has several…

By Cafe Gibraltar April 10, 2015

LISTEN: The rarest records, from India to Palestine

The members of Tel Aviv’s Fortuna Records have spent the last several years collecting some of the rarest records from the Middle East. The music runs the gamut from classical Egyptian to Palestinian folk to Greek-Israeli music. Check out a mixtape of their favorite rarities, accompanied by their stunning (and often strange) album covers. By…

By Cafe Gibraltar November 23, 2014

A still from Dotan Moreno's film "Shuk."

To my Ashkenazi girlfriend, and the one who is yet to come

It’s fairly common these days to hear people in Israel claim that there can’t be racism because everyone is marrying everyone else, regardless of ethnicity. Except that’s not really true. By Adi Sadaka Part 1: A certain kind of truth When I began studying film five years ago, one of the first movies they showed…

By Cafe Gibraltar October 28, 2014

Still from the play "Frekha Shem Yafe" (Frekha is a Beautiful Name), directed by Hana Vezana Grunwald. (photo: Annie Atedgi)

Can a Mizrahi girl fit into Israel’s national story?

I grew up in a place where my first name was nothing more than a word on my identification card. Where the Holocaust was something that didn’t belong to me. Where my story had no place. All because of my ethnicity. By Adi Sadaka Ever since I was a young girl and through my years growing…

By Cafe Gibraltar October 19, 2014

Re-learning history: A tribute to North Africa’s Jewish artists

Though often forgotten in Israel today, some of North Africa’s biggest cultural assets were in fact Jewish. Meet the stars who shaped Maghrebi music, from the classical to the contemporary. By Ophir Toubul ‘There arose the idea of taking people who have nothing in common. The one lot comes from the highest culture there is…

By Cafe Gibraltar October 9, 2014

Mass grave of victims of the Farhud, 1941. (photo: Ministry of Education and the Ben - Zvi, Jerusalem)

Farhud, 1941: Iraqi Jews remember a massacre

On the holiday of Shavuot in 1941, Iraq’s Jews experienced a pogrom that claimed over 180 lives and ended in mass looting. But there’s another story from the Farhud that often goes undiscussed: the bravery of Muslims during the crisis. “The Farhud” / Foreword By Orit Bashkin (translated by Asaf Shalev) Silently but not without some…

By Cafe Gibraltar June 10, 2014

Baby Oriental (YouTube screenshot)

Now trending: Orientalism for babies

Most of the world is not familiar with post-colonial theory, and this album’s success is due to the audience’s naiveté. But forget politics; let me hug a baby and sing songs of nostalgia, anew. By Ilana Shazur Whoever chose the name “Baby Oriental 2” likely never heard of the term Orientalism. Had they heard of it,…

By Cafe Gibraltar June 4, 2014

Fairuz. (YouTube screenshot)

LISTEN: Classic Lebanese sounds, from jazz to Fairouz

Jeries Murkus Ballan is a 25-year-old musician and performer who lives between Nazareth and Haifa. Ballan, who teaches music, plays the bouzouki and works in dance and theater, brings us a mixtape of classic Lebanese songs, including everything from classical to jazz. By Khen Elmaleh Tell us a bit about the mixtape The mixtape is…

By Cafe Gibraltar March 22, 2014