Uri Avnery and The Basque Lullaby

I thought it was over, but seems like the whole thing about Naomi Shemer lifting the tune for "Jerusalem of Gold" from and old Basque lullaby has been creating havoc in Israel.

Here is what Uri Avnery, member of Gush Shalom, has to say about the issue:

The song touched the souls of all who heard it. But it would have remained just a beautiful song if the Six-Day War had not broken out a few weeks later. The Israeli Army conquered East Jerusalem, reaching the Western Wall, a remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple. Israel was swept by the intoxication of victory, spiced with a semi-religious mysticism.

Overnight, "Jerusalem of Gold" became the supreme expression of a victory that was seen as a redemption.

At the time, I was a member of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, and saw an opportunity. I do not like our national anthem. Written more than 100 years ago, it expressed the longing of the Jewish Diaspora for the Land of Israel. It is a hymn of a dispersed religious-ethnic community rather than the anthem of a sovereign state.

In addition, more than 20 percent of Israeli citizens are not Jews, and it is not healthy that so many citizens cannot identify with the anthem and the flag of their state.

I proposed Naomi Shemer's song as a national anthem, introducing a bill in the Knesset to this effect. Its speaker insisted I obtain Shemer's agreement, so I met her in a Tel Aviv café. I detected a certain hesitation on her part, which I understand only now. But in the end she was not opposed to the idea.

The bill was never put to a vote, but "Jerusalem of Gold" has since enjoyed the unofficial status of a second national anthem, and especially as the anthem of the Six-Day War. This is what makes the present uproar more than a scandal about a song and its author. "Jerusalem of Gold" has suffered the same fate as the Six-Day War.

If you read the whole article, you will realize Mr. Avnery is to date the harshest but most objective critic of the motives that pushed Mrs. Shemer to lie about plagiarizing the song.

The note appeared today at The Herald Tribune, the name there is "Meanwhile: A Song and a Victory that Ring Hollow", but it has been around in a few Muslim media outlets for a couple of days. It seems like there is not too much love for Mr. Avnery among some sectors in Israel due to his position in regards of a peace process with the Palestinians.

You can also read the Printer Friendly Version and a copy I have at Artxiboak under the name Death of a Myth.

.... ... .