Meet The Arab Singer Performing For Israeli Memorial Day
Nasreen Qadri Image by Wikimedia Commons
By Naomi Zeveloff April 30, 2017
On Sundown on Sunday, Israel will pause to mourn the nation’s fallen soldiers on Yom HaZikaron, or Memorial Day. This year, an Arab pop singer is helping to usher in the somber mood.
Most Arabs don’t serve in Israel’s military, and oppose Israel’s military policy in the West Bank and Gaza.
That’s what makes Qadri’s participation in the Sunday night memorial day ceremony at Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem, one of several across Israel, so unusual.
When a reporter with Israeli news site Ynet suggested that it would be difficult to perform on Israel’s most nationalist holiday, Qadri brushed away the question.
“Don’t take me into these corners,” she said. “We were born into a difficult, abnormal and crazy reality. I come from a place of making it simpler, more positive. Music can bring people together, and that’s what I’m doing.”
Qadri believes her planned performance at the national torch lighting ceremony on Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl for Israel’s 69th Independence Day will make the event more inclusive could help make the event feel inclusive for Arabs.
“They will say: ‘Look, our Nasreen in singing.’”
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at [email protected] or on Twitter @naomizeveloff
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
