Germany: Anti-Semitism In Rap, A Loaded Question

Via World Crunch:

Artists are now using anti-Semitism and Islamism to shock, and that’s not surprising. But if both listeners and rappers started to finally take music seriously, this could change.

Since Germany's top music prize, the Echo awards, honored the rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang, there has been a misunderstanding that both sides of the debate have somehow agreed upon: that anti-Semitism is part of hip-hop culture. Some intend it as criticism; others want to defend the two rappers. But no matter how you mean it, it’s bullshit. Too many who are now talking and writing about the issue have no idea what rap is, to begin with.

In German rap, anti-Semitic content became visible only with the rise of rappers such as Bushido and Haftbefehl, around ten years ago. Kool Savaş, who started in the 1990s and is a pioneer of battle-rap in Germany, raps transphobic, homophobic and misogynist lyrics, but has never used anti-Semitic words. One might ask why so few have been upset about his words. But one thing is certain: The claim that anti-Semitism is part of rap is simply not true. This trend is relatively new.

It was born and grew because rap was a relatively unnoticed genre for a long time. In Germany, it was also considered to be the music of the lower classes and adolescents. This lack of interest from the public allowed the formation of a semi-criminal parallel community with its own "code of honor" — or at least one that pretends to be criminal, because that belongs to the bad boy image and offers street credibility. Much of it was and is only for show.

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The neo-gangsters from Frankfurt and North Rhine-Westphalia have managed in recent years to again make woman the object of their degrading lyrics. The arguments that one hears defending misogynist rappers are now used to brush aside allegations of anti-Semitism: First, rap only depicts society; secondly, only the musical ego is speaking here, not the private person. Both arguments fail to take rap seriously enough and underestimate its influence.

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Germany: Rappers who call for “another Holocaust” win top music award

Via Jewish News:

A German-Jewish leader condemned a music award given to two popular rappers as a “devastating” example of the normalcy of anti-Semitism in today’s society.

Kollegah and Bang won the top Echo Music Award in the hip-hop category for an album whose lyrics boast of physiques “more defined that those of Auschwitz inmates” and call for “another Holocaust; let’s grab the Molotov” cocktails.

Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Jewish community of Munich and Bavaria, was one of numerous public figures in Germany who criticised the award. The ceremony took place in Berlin on 12 April, which also was the annual Holocaust and Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Day.

The album, whose title in English is  “Young, Brutal, Good Looking 3,” won the best of Hip-Hop/Urban, National award.

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When Focus magazine asked the artists how they viewed the criticism, they responded by joking about their failure to work out before the ceremony.

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Dutch rapper: ‘Jews like money’ song is a compliment

Antisemitism is perfectly acceptable among the 'anti-racism' crowd.  

Via Times of Israel:

A Dutch rapper who sang that he “sits on money like a Jew” and “deports” greedy women defended the text as a “compliment,” devoid of any anti-Semitic undertones.

Ali Bouali, a best-selling performer of Moroccan descent, who is also known in the Netherlands as an activist against discrimination, defended these lines from his new single “That Is Money,” in an interview published Tuesday in the Het Parool daily.

Bouali, who is better known as Ali B., was responding to criticism over his single that appeared in an op-ed earlier that day in Jonet, the Dutch Jewish news website.

“Instead of speaking out against the virulent anti-Semitism of Islamist youths, this pet Moroccan clearly chooses to spread a classic anti-Semitic preconception about Jews,” the Jonet op-ed read.

“I’m just calling them good businesspeople,” Ali B. told Het Parool. As for the use of the word “deportation,” he said it is just “wordplay” meant that he “sends gold diggers packing.”

“They want to take every word that a Moroccan ever says and turn it into something anti-Semitic,” he added, citing negative feedback he received on Twitter and on his website.

Since its December 23 release on YouTube, the video clip of “That is Money” has been viewed more than 1 million times.

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France: Anti-Zionist clip accuses Jews of buying politicians and waging war on immigrants and Muslims

Below is an anti-Israel clip prepared by French anti-Zionists.  The group calls itself "Karmel Japha", and pretends to be the Israeli entry for the Eurovision contest.

Despite being the co-called Israeli entry, the clip mostly attacks French Jews.

The clip accuses Jews of buying French politicians, of thinking they're better than everybody, of supporting murder, torture and colonization, of crying wolf about antisemitism, of encouraging Islamophobia and anti-immigrant sentiments, of being too wealthy. The list goes on and on.  

Lyrics over at Memri and explanation by clip organizers here.

Via Times of Israel:

French-language parody song posted to an online video sharing site accuses French Jews and politicians of waging “war” on the poor and being “paid in shekels.”

The music video, posted on February 28 on YouTube, is performed in a mocking chanson style, with an arrangement of piano, guitar, tambourine and accordion by four performers wearing black leather clothes.

“I won’t do the boycott anymore, Israel is my mascot. I will buy all the products, especially from the settlements,” the lyrics read.

The singer continues, saying she will listen to French-Jewish singer Patrick Bruel and advertise French-Jewish philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy, whose acronym, BHL, rhymes in French with the name Bruel.

“I will not speak of bombings anymore, or of the torture of children,” she sings, alluding to Israel’s wars against Hamas in Gaza.

“I will call all anti-Zionists anti-Semites,” she continues, moving on to lines that insist that French President Francois Hollande is “paid in shekels,” as is “Goldnadel,” French-Israeli lawyer, columnist and publicist Gilles-William Goldnadel.

The song goes on to name French Jewish umbrella body CRIF and accuse Jews of being rich and waging “war on the riffraff.”

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The song is by a band called Karmel Japha – a parody of two famous Israeli products, Carmel wines and Jaffa oranges. It has garnered some 55,000 views on Facebook.

Some online viewers hailed the band for “making this pill [of Israel’s alleged grip on France] easy to swallow with humor.”

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Germany unmoved by Israel's effort to prevent conductor Barenboim from playing in Iran

Daniel Barenboim, who obviously enjoys all the attention and celebrity-status,  is a hero in Europe - he is constantly being interviewed by the media, praised by the establishment and many European Jews.  There is no other conductor who receives as much attention in Europe as Barenboim.  One wonders why!

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Daniel Barenboim

Germany is supporting Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim’s efforts to bring the Berlin State Opera (Staatskapelle) to Iran for a special performance.

Responding to a query from The Jerusalem Post, the Staatskapelle released a statement indicating that talks are indeed continuing between cultural officials in Germany and their counterparts in Iran about a possible performance.

“German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has taken on the patronage of this concert and supports Daniel Barenboim’s commitment to make music accessible to people beyond any national, religious or ethnic boundaries,” the Staatskapelle said.

Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev demanded on Wednesday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel cancel the discussions about a performance.  [...]  When word of the possible event reached the local press, Regev reacted angrily on her Facebook page.

“The conductor, Daniel Barenboim, a citizen of Israel, will perform in Iran together with the Berlin Philharmonic,” Regev wrote. “Barenboim has taken an anti-Israel stance and he slanders Israel while using culture as leverage in order to state his political opinions against the State of Israel. This is a mistake by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.”

Regev said she intends to write a letter to the German government, urging it to intervene in the matter.

“Daniel Barenboim’s concert in Iran hurts Israel’s efforts to prevent the nuclear agreement and boosts the delegitimization efforts against Israel,” Regev wrote.

“Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism,” she continued. “It supports Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas, and its leaders have blood on their hands. I believe that Germany would do the right thing if it would cancel the performance.”

Spain: Jews may not be welcome at Rototom, but homophobes are

Hopefully someone will ask Filippo Giunta, the Italian in charge of the festival and who has a very high opinion of himself, about his double standards and his position on gay rights.  Does he ask Jamaican rappers to sign a declaration indicating that they uphold LGBT's rights and militate for them.  According to Wikipedia: "Jamaica has been described by some human rights groups as the most homophobic place on Earth because of the high level of violent crime directed at LGBT people. The United States Department of State said that in 2012, "homophobia was widespread in the country".  And by the way,  Matisyahu was replaced by Jamaican musician Etana.  Was she asked by Filippo Giunta where she stands on LGBT rights in her country?  Or is this type of coertion only reserved and applied to Jews?

Mirabelle @ Israelly Cool writes:
 

Libellés

As I’ve been discussing, Jewish singer Matisyahu was banned from the Rototom Sunsplash reggae music festival in Spain after the organizers demanded that he issue a declaration in favor of Palestinian statehood. The festival organizers, however, appear to be hosting an artist called Capleton, who has been cited by Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand, GLAAD, and the Southern Poverty Law Center for his lyrics espousing violence against gays and lesbians.

Last month, two Canadian radio stations pulled their sponsorship of an upcoming Edmonton reggae festival over the participation of Capleton and two other artists, due to lyrics that “encourage violence against the LGBTQ community,” according to CBC News. In May of 2014, the group Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand (JAHS) in New York City protested Capleton’s performance at the BB King Blues Club & Grill, stating:

Jamaican reggae performer Capleton is known for his songs that call for LGBT people to be killed and makes comments from the stage calling for LGBT people to be killed. Capleton signed the Reggae Compasionate Act agreement (an agreement to not promote hatred and violence) in the middle of 2007 and broke the agreement on 12/24/07.

In 2010, several of his performances in the US were cancelled after GLAAD, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, called on promoters to take action. GLAAD wrote that “Capleton continues to perform songs with virulently anti-gay lyrics that promote committing violent acts against the LGBT people, including murder.”  Read more.

Iceland: Artist uses Down's Syndrome, trans women as 'moral shield' for antisemitic clip

h/t Scandinavian Anti-semitism Watch

Snorri Ásmundsson is an Icelandic artist who "works with social taboos of politics, sex and religion".   Antisemitism, however, isn't taboo in Iceland, it's a cultural norm.

In any case, this past July Snorri posted a clip of 'Hatikva', the Israeli national anthem.   The clip is full of antisemitic imagery, but as we will see below, Snorri is not stupid, and he has found a way to protect himself from accusations of antisemitism: Throw in a couple of Down's Syndrome actors and dress up as Israel's most famous trans woman singer, Dana International.

Haukur Már Helgason reviewed the clip and noted its antisemitic undertones:

The video starts with a close-up of a woman wearing a hijab or a burqa, a black veil covering half her face. She is then grabbed and pulled out of the frame by a man wearing the Jewish star of David over his upper arm.

Snorri showing evil Zionist attacking defenseless Muslim woman

 Consequently, the artist, Snorri, appears in drag: red lipstick, eye shadow, tight shiny dress, black feathers extending from its back, over the artist’s head. Snorri has explained the outfit as a reference to Dana International, the drag queen who, as Israel’s representative, won the Eurovision song contest in 1998.

Snorri's gotcha - If you claim it's antisemitism,

you're insulting trans women

 The artist is surrounded by characters, each of which is defined by an apparently obvious reference to nationality: two men with downs-syndrome are dressed up in what seems to be the traditional black-and-white clothing of Hasidic Jews, including hats and the traditional locks of hair.

Snorri's gotcha - If you claim it's antisemitism,
you're insulting Down's Syndrome people

He then spoke with Snorri about it:

It felt as if Snorri had dodged the question of anti-Semitism, rather than answer it. But I couldn’t get rid of it. Looking at the video, it is just about all I see.  

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Q: [T]wo of the actors have Downs-syndrome, don’t they? 

A :‘Yes.’ 

Q: And both of them are dressed as Hasidic Jews? 

A: ‘Yes.’ 

Q: And now, if I understand correctly your method in this piece, you put me up against a wall, where I want to ask if you, by this, intend to belittle Jews —but if I ask you that, it will sound as if I am belittling people with Downs-syndrome. 

A: ‘That’s exactly it. That’s precisely the point,’ said Snorri and laughed. 

Q: So you consider that to be a fair description of the trick you play there? 

A: ‘I partly work with, yes, I am disrupting something there. I expected this question. Saw it coming. But you sort of answered the question for me as well. Then you would be belittling them, you see. I knew in advance that this was what I’m putting on the table, you know.’

(...) 

After going here and there through the first part of the interview, Snorri finally confirmed to have, in his video to the song Hatikvah, aimed at belittling Jews in a way that would make it as hard as possible for others to put their fingers on; and that he had, for that sake, employed actors with Downs-syndrome, as a sort of moral human shield, teflon-coating against possible criticism.

In his interview Snorri also says that his friends were concerned for his life when he started making this clip.  Why?  Where they afraid of the evil Israelis or the evil Jews?

Germany: Neo-Nazi music next to Holocaust Memorial

More from Nadav Eyal's report on stories of everyday European antisemitism.

Next to the Berlin Holocaust Memorial he met a guy driving around with the windows open, playing neo-Nazi music at full volume.

More: Nana10

Sweden: Investigation into White Power music shops

Swedish authorities are investigating two online White supremacist music shops: Midgård (Gothenburg) and Sniper Records (Gävle).  Both sell music albums with racist, Nazi and anti-Jewish images.

More: GP

Netherlands: Catholic broadcaster teaches kids Jews plotted against Jesus

Ruben Vis, secretary of the Dutch-Jewish Community (NIK) complained about a children's program broadcast by the Catholic RKK broadcaster.  The program, about the life of Jesus, included a song relating how Jewish leaders conspired against Jesus.  Vis said that the Church has depicted Jews negatively for 2000 years, and by repeating such stories they encourage children to continue to see Jews negatively.

Ron Eisenmann, the former head of the Jewish Community in Amsterdam, also complained about the show on Twitter. Translation: "RKK is broadcasting antisemitic stories about Jews, and on the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht.  #Kristallnacht #TimingIsEvertthing #fail"

More: KatholiekNieuwsblad

Germany: Neo-Nazi politician in court over 'racist' CDs

A top neo-Nazi politician appeared in a Berlin court on Wednesday facing incitement charges after police found CDs with racist music on, in his military shop. He claimed he never knew they were there. 

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The CDs include lyrics directed against Jews, homosexuals, asylum seekers and foreigners.

More: The Local