Saturday, July 04, 2009
Gad El Maleh and the Beiteddine Festival
Gad El Maleh is a manic, wickedly funny French comedian born and raised in Morocco to a Moroccan Jewish family. I first learned of him from my younger brother when I visited him in Morocco. After seeing a couple of his one-man acts on DVD, I was hooked. We went the Rabat mdina (old town) to buy pirated El Maleh DVDs to take home with me. It is clear from his skits that he considers himself culturally Moroccan who happens to be Jewish. He speaks Arabic and his website has the French and Morocaan flags and is in three languages: French, English and Arabic.
I was therefore taken aback by the recent row over his scheduled appearance at this year's Beiteddine festival. Apparently, Al Manar TV aired a peice that suggested that El Maleh served in the Israeli Army and he was a stauch supported of Israel. The story rsulted in threatening calls to the Festival's organizers and ultimately El Maleh decided to cancel his three sold out shows at Beitiddine. The response, as everything else in Lebanon, was as polarized and politicized as it was predictable. The organizers said that there was no basis for the accusations and that Hizbullah was mounting a smear campaign and that the campaign amounted to "cultural terrorism". Wanting to go past the usual histrionics of Lebanese politics, I went on an internet search to see if I could find anything incriminating enough about El Maleh that would disqualify him from appearing at the festival. The bottom line is, I did not.
Al Maleh went on tour in Israel and was recieved by enthusiatic audiences. In interviews during the tour, he said that he was glad that he came (he is Jewish after all) and praised the Israeli people. There was nothing remotely political about his statements. Now, some would argue that no statement involving Israel could really be apolitical. Perhaps, but one must consider the context. Gad El Maleh is a talented comedian, he was not invited to Lebanon for his political views but to entertain.
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2 comments:
Away from the obvious condemnation of the method of Death threats (in any context that it is), I think the lebanese who called for the boycott do have a case.
He is very funny, and he is very talented, but in a place so overcharged with politics, you can't let any remark or gesture without a political meaning. Have I been there, I wouldn't have gone to his concert. I wouldn't want to support someone who in the aftermath of two terrible bloodshed by the israelis (to mention the last two), would come out to promote that state and say that it is a "Healthy, Balanced" society. Simply put, I can't see myself there.
Yazan,
Perhaps I have missed something but what I saw of his statements were fairly bland. The accusation of him serving in the Israeli army does not seem to be true or even plausible. That he paraded around in an IDF uniform was denied by his agent. Obviously if either of these last two were true, then I fully agree with you.
However, if the boycott is based on non-political statements about Israeli society as a whole, then I disagree. Being Jewish he clearly will have some attachment with the Jews of Israel. One cannot ask him to deny his Jewish heritage and he has certainly does not disavow his Moroccan heritage.
Besides, why single him out? There many entertainers who have performed in Arab countries that have made much bolder statements in support of Israel who have not been boycotted.
Besides, I think that Hizbullah should not be wasting its time on inconsequential trivial pursuits. If they want to boycott Israeli supporters in way that has a real impact, let them boycott the Starbucks cafes that have mushroom all over Beirut. The CEO of Starbucks is a dyed in the wool zionist who donates millions to Israeli causes.
Come to think if it, this must be the first time we disagree :-).
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