Monday, September 15, 2014
Ben-Dror Yemini: Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism
We have yet to witness a military campaign devoid of anomalies, and Operation Protective Edge was no different. Rule of law presides in Israel, and as such, even if Israel's anomalies are far smaller than those of other countries in similar situations, state has a duty to investigate them all.Uncovered: U.K. intel encouraged Arab armies to invade Israel in 1948
For two left-wing groups, B'Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories and Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, the probes to be conducted by the Israel Defense Forces will not do.
And they are already preparing excuses to cooperate with the commission of inquiry set up by UN Human Rights Council, with its findings already a foregone conclusion, and with William Schabas appointed to deliver the goods. According to Yesh Din attorney Michael Sfard, the IDF investigations do not meet the necessary international standards.
I asked the spokeswoman for Yesh Din for information about investigations conducted by countries such as the United States and Britain, which Israel would do well to follow. After all, there have been an endless number of reports pertaining to war crimes on the part of both countries.
I received a vague response to the effect that Sfard was not referring to Britain and the US. Then who was he referring to? After all, these are the two Western countries that over the past decade have been more involved in wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, than any others.
September 11, 1947. On the eve of the Arab League’s political committee meeting to decide on the Arab response to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) report [supporting the end of the British mandate and partitioning the land between Jews and Arabs], the Lebanese newspaper L’Orient published an article. “Bloc Oriental et extension de la Ligue” argued that, like the Greater Syria plan [that aimed to unite Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine], the Oriental Bloc – a French term for Britain’s planned regional defense pact – hung over the independence of Arab countries and the Arab League like the Sword of Damocles, and that its authors were one and the same: [Iraqi Prime Minister] Nuri al-Sa’id and [Jordanian] King Abdullah.In Germany a gap between 'Never Again-Jew-Hatred' and real action?
On September 20, the Lebanese newspaper Le Jour reported that after the Arab League meeting in Saoufar, Lebanon, Brig. Iltyd Clayton – whom it defined as “head of the British intelligence in the Middle East” – had left for Damascus. It quoted a Syrian newspaper speculating on whether his visit was connected to the Greater Syria scheme and the tense relations between the Syrian and Lebanese presidents (Shukri al-Quwatli and Bishara al-Khuri) and Jordan’s King Abdullah, or to events in Palestine.
On February 19, 1948, the Lebanese newspaper Le Soir published an article titled “Claytonmade.” Based on “Zionist sources,” it reported that Brig. Clayton – “architect” of the Greater Syria plan, the Oriental Bloc and the bilateral defense treaties with the Arab states – was now advocating a new scheme for the partition of Palestine. The plan proposed that : “Imperialist Lebanon will annex the Western Galilee up to Shavei Zion; Syria the northeastern part of the Galilee and part of its southern region; Egypt will have part of the cake; and Transjordan will swallow up the rest.”
In fact, these and other reports in the Lebanese press on the activities of British secret agents were part of a secret war being waged by French intelligence against the British.
[copy and paste link if you get paywalled]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a characteristically excellent speech against anti-Semitism on Sunday in the heart of the country’s government district.
She lambasted “pretend criticism of Israel” as an “expression of Jew-hatred at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.”
Her contempt for anti-Jewish activists and sentiments was crystal-clear. “It’s our national and civic duty to fight anti-Semitism,” she declared.
During Israel’s Operation Protective Edge to stop Hamas rocket fire, Germany was engulfed with anti-Semitic violence, including the firebombing of a synagogue in the city of Wuppertal and attacks on Jews wearing kippot.
Given the vanishing line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism in Europe, some German Jews questioned why the rally was not called “Stand up: Israel Hatred – Never Again!” instead of “Stand Up: Jew Hatred – Never Again!” Nathan Gelbart, a prominent Berlin lawyer and chairman of the German branch of Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal, told The Jerusalem Post a banner stressing “No denial of Israel’s right to self-defense” would have carried more weight.
Merkel rallies against ‘monstrous’ anti-Semitism in Germany
Merkel said it is “verging on a miracle that well above 100,000 Jews live in Germany today,” seven decades after the Nazi Holocaust. After the end of World War II, only around 15,000 remained in Germany.Non-Jewish minorities drawn to Berlin anti-racism rally
“It is a monstrous scandal that people in Germany today are being abused if they are somehow recognizable as Jews or if they stand up for the state of Israel,” she said. “I will not accept that and we will not accept that.”
Merkel said it pains her to hear of young Jewish parents asking whether they can raise their children in Germany or older people asking whether it was right to stay.
“We are making unmistakably clear with this rally that Jewish life belongs to us — it is part of our identity and culture,” she said.
“We want Jews to feel safe in Germany,” Merkel said. “They should feel that this country is our common home, in which they like all people who live here have a good future.”
A Jewish community-organized rally protesting the recent surge of anti-Semitism throughout Germany saw an eclectic 8,000-strong crowd at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate Sunday.How Israel Protects 'Europe's Achilles Heel'
Among the heterogeneous protesters at the rally, organized by the Central Council of Jews in Germany, were non-German minorities including Syrian Christians, Muslims, and Africans seeking recognition of their own struggles at home and abroad.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel headlined the event and unequivocally condemned the anti-Semitism that came to characterize this summer’s demonstrations against Israel and its offensive in Gaza. She said those who have used criticism of Israel to veil their anti-Semitism have “abused our dear fundamental right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.”
The theme of lurking anti-Semitism in anti-Israelism was echoed by current Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit. He also called on the government to ban the far right nationalist party NPD (National Democratic Party of Germany).
Mark Langfan, Chairman of Americans for a Safe Israel and Arutz Sheva strategy analyst, delivered the keynote lecture to a packed-house crowd of over 500 attendees at the UN last week at the historic counter-anti-Semitism conference there. Langfan's presentation demonstrated graphically how Israel is protecting Cyprus, “the Achilles Heel of Europe,” and how Islamic terrorists will fire easily concealed and transported 122mm katyushas from any Palestinian ‘West Bank’ State.Mark Langfan, UN anti-Semitism Talk, Sept. 8, 2014
The unprecedented counter-anti-Semitism conference, co-sponsored by the Mission of Palau and the Eng Aja Eze Foundation, was entitled "Global Anti-Semitism: A Threat to International Peace and Security."
Langfan illustrated numerous points with his trademark specially designed maps, graphics, and diagrams. The most important issue explained is that the modern anti-Semitism of anti-Zionism will bring irreversible military catastrophe to the non-Jewish worlds of Europe and moderate Islam. Specifically, he showed Israel’s strategic value to Europe and to moderate Muslims in protecting Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, and Africa from being overwhelmed by Islamic extremists.
The Mizrahi story can end the colonialist myth
This summer’s Gaza war has highlighted the role of the media and opinion formers in shaping a hostile view of Israel and a more favourable understanding of Hamas. Two journalists, formerly staffers with mainstream media, Matti Friedman and Tom Gross, have called the biased reporting on the Arab-Israeli conflict a ‘political weapon – with which they arm one side in the conflict.’Mavi Marmara Appeal Could Set Legal History
There are many reasons why journalists have become accessories to Hamas’s propaganda war, behaving as activists rather than reporters. They relay a picture of Palestinian victimhood and Israeli extremism and intransigeance, suppressing any facts that make a nonsense of this narrative. Tom Gross identifies one reason:
” …Many have a kind of guilt about being white and Western, and the history of their own colonization. Israel is perceived as a white country and the Palestinians are perceived as non-white, even though in fact many Palestinians have lighter skin than some Israelis. Many Western journalists abroad have barely heard of the fact that there are Sephardi or Mizrahi Jews.”
This is a key reason why organisations like mine, Harif, have been trying to raise awareness that Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews constitue over 50 percent of Israel’s population.
In what may establish a groundbreaking legal precedence, the United States Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the case of American biologist Alan Bauer, who filed suit in 2011 in the Federal court in Manhattan seeking to impound 14 vessels which were outfitted to be used in the 2010 Mavi Marmara Flotilla - which set off from Turkey in order to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip - on the grounds that the funding for the ships was raised illegally in the United States.PreOccupied Territory: Ray Rice: I Expected Y’all To Blame Israel, Not Me By Ray Rice, Baltimore Ravens Running Back (satire)
Dr. Bauer, who was seriously wounded with his son in a 2002 Palestinian suicide bombing attack in Jerusalem, explained that "when the US Chief Prosecutor refused to pursue the matter on his own, I decided to invoke my right as an American citizen to seize the flotilla."
The plaintiff had alleged that the ‘Free Gaza’ Movement', along with other US-based anti-Israel organizations, had raised the funds in the US to outfit the ships, contending that this action, in being used for hostilities against a US ally, constituted a violation of American law. Bauer rested his claim on the rarely used 18th century “informant statute” (18 USC, Section 962), which allows that a plaintiff (referred to as an “informer”) is entitled to privately seize vessels outfitted in the US for use against a US ally.
I’m as shocked as the next guy over the video of me beating up my wife: since when do the media blame anyone but Israel when dark-skinned people suffer?Bishop says Christian Zionists obstacle to peace. Not Islamic terror
We just went through a month-and-a-half war between Israel and Hamas, and one of the recurring themes was that no matter how depraved and callous Hamas was with Palestinian lives, the media rushed to accuse Israel of a “disproportionate” response, of “collective punishment,” or of “targeting civilians.” To read and see the coverage on the major networks and print media, Hamas’s use of human shields, of its placing military positions in and around civilian facilities, was basically an irrelevant detail. Its use of rockets aimed at targets within the Gaza Strip was basically a non-event. As far as the media were concerned, if brown people are getting hurt or killed, there’s only one party at fault. Now y’all turn around and force me to face consequences for my brown-skinned wife getting punched out? I call BS.
The Church of Norway never stops to amaze me. We now have the Bishop of Hamas (also known as the Bishop of Hamar, Solveig Fiske).Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Israeli show in Netherlands
In their upside-down world anything related to Israel, Judaism can be construed to suggest that Israel is at fault for the ever evasive peace here in the Middle East.
Not, for instance, Western meddling in Afghanistan, or shall we mention Iraq, where Western politicians thought they would usher in peace and stability but use of gun power. Nor are we going to hear about the massive power vacuum left by Western leaders, who faced with the consequences of their mad policies, now look the other way as Islamists slaughter anybody who is not to their liking. Nor, for that matter, the delicate affair of Shia-Sunni hatred, that has claimed MILLIONS of lives.
Christian Zionists however are easy prey to jump on. As well as Jewish Zionism. And some pretty horrific suggestions that the Torah, the Old Testament in Christian terms, has been replaced by the New Testament so therefore any Jewish claim to the Land is nil and void. This ignorant interpretation also happens to imply that the presence of Jews throughout the historic Land of Israel - in particular in the areas of Shomron and Jehudah – during millennia is of no consequence whatsoever. You can only be a very bigoted Lutheran bishopric to utter such hate speech in public. And to receive applause from your peers.
Protesters waving Palestinian and Islamic State group flags interrupted a performance by Israeli actress Lea Koenig at the Spot On Israeli Theater festival in Amsterdam on Sunday.NIF’s Ben Murane Tells Us How He Really Feels (And It Ain’t Pretty)
The festival was taking place in the Netherlands for the first time. It showcases Israeli theater in general, and Koenig's acting in particular. The Israel Prize-wining actress was joined by director Roy Horowitz and musician Danny Donner -- but it was the protesters who stole the show.
"I was not afraid," Koenig said after the show.
"Personally, I am not the kind of person who is easily frightened. Even before they came, we knew there would be groups opposing [the festival]. They prepared us for it. We heard that the venue's manager was threatened and I was warned that my performance might be disrupted.
After graduating Murane gained employment with a series of left leaning nonprofits before beginning his relationship with New Israel Fund in April of 2008. One of Murane’s prior employers was Breaking the Silence , a traveling international road show of disgruntled former IDF soldiers who accuse Israel of having committed war crimes and atrocities.Richard Silverstein Back To Making Racist Slurs
Murane has been associated with J Street since 2006 and currently serves on J Street‘s National Advisory Board. He is the Co-Publisher and Treasurer of the progressive online magazine Jewschoool which he joined in 2005. Murane describes Jewschool as “the voice of critical progressive and pluralistic thought, where once-unpopular views got their first soapbox.” Says Murane. In essence, “Jewschool [provides] critical dialogue for disenfranchised Jews alienated—and bored to death—by the Jewish mainstream.”
In dozens of articles and thousands of tweets, Murane is very public in sharing his views on Israel, Jewish communal service and his Jewish faith. Let’s take a look.
In case you missed the meaning, the racist part is mentioning coffee and cream, which he seems to use as a metaphor for the “white” Brett Stephens and the “black” Chloe Valdary. Then there’s the clearly sexist connotation that she would be making him coffee. Heck, you could even argue he’s again implying Chloe is the servant/slave!Funny How Ha’aretz English Mistranslation Never Makes Israel Look Good
No doubt Silverstein would deny any racist intention or meaning. But then again, he’s never been a good liar.
Yesterday Matti Friedman posted his displeasure at the way a Hebrew article had been translated in Ha’aretz’s English edition. The one that then gets picked up and spread around the world by the international media. The self same international media whose misdeeds and biases Matti is writing saliently about. Are we all seeing the problem here?Examining an alleged quote by Golda Meir about the Holocaust cited by Gideon Levy
"It feels strange as a reporter to be in this position, but I have to say that the translation in Haaretz.com of Dafna Maor’s good Hebrew piece from 10 days ago not only condensed things so that nuance and context were lost but also invented things attributed to me. Like this paragraph:
‘Friedman says that the reason for this is not any great affection for the Palestinians. “It’s not because they like the Palestinians or because the Arabs are paying them. They’re simply not comfortable with Jews,” he says, though he adds that he does not think they are all anti-Semites.’
I never said anything of the kind, and that “quote” is not in the long Hebrew article published in print by The Marker. I have no idea where it came from. Anyone interested in the subject should either read the original (link below) or skip it. I’ll be publishing more on this topic this week."
Again, let’s remember that this is the quote Levy used when speaking to Lara Marlow of The Irish Times last week.More BBC promotion and amplification of lawfare NGO
"[Meir said]…after what the Nazis did to us, we can do whatever we want"
Note that in the original 2002 telling, the emphasis is on the Eichmann Trial and not, as Levy presents it, as “The Holocaust.” Additionally, it is Begin (and not Meir) who is attributed as saying “no one has the right to tell us what to do.” Also, Begin was likely referring to how the allies attacked the German city of Dresden during WWII, and was not referencing the Holocaust. In other words, even Begin wasn’t justifying Israeli actions by virtue of what happened to Jews during the Holocaust, but was merely comparing how the Western Allies and Israel conducted their respective wars.
As we’ve demonstrated, Aloni would later, in 2009, meld the two quotes into one, and attribute them both to Meir, while delicately changing the emphasis.
Finally, we have no way to verify if Aloni is accurately quoting Meir in either version, as she has never, as far as we can tell, provided details regarding when and where Meir uttered these words. We also can’t determine (again, assuming that some variation of the alleged quote is accurate) if the former prime minster was taken out of context. Of course, Levy and the Irish Times columnist love the alleged quote because it fits nicely with their belief in immutable Israeli villainy – a state so immoral that it cynically exploits the Holocaust to justify cruelty and wanton violence against Palestinians.
But beyond the fact that the BBC provides promotion and amplification for HRW’s ‘report’, what is noticeable is that once again it does so without informing BBC audiences that HRW is not a neutral human rights organization but one of several political NGOs currently engaged in lawfare against Israel.BBC News report on 8200 tells a partial story
Until the BBC begins to adhere to its own editorial guidelines on impartiality by ceasing the now commonplace practice of avoiding informing audiences of the political agenda of its preferred NGOs, it can only be considered as a self-conscripted party to that political warfare.
Likewise, BBC audiences have not been informed of other reactions to the letter, including from the leader of the Labour party and chair of the opposition.British store apologizes after Jews refused entry
“Also on Saturday, Israeli opposition leader and Labor Party chairman Isaac Herzog came out against the reservists’ letter. Herzog, who served in the unit during his time in the military, said on his Facebook page that he strongly opposes the refusal of military orders, and warned that at the end of the day the Israeli public will pay the price. “This unit and its operations are vital not just for wartime but also, and in particular, during times of peace,” he wrote.”
The fact that 43 reservists of a particular political stripe were able to publish such a letter (just as similar ones have been published in the past), and that some 200 others were able to publish their counter-statement, is of course testimony to Israel’s free and vibrant democracy. BBC audiences, however, have missed out on that important aspect of this story because – after having published the part which conforms to the narrative it wishes to promote – the corporation then dropped the story.
A British sporting goods chain has apologized for a security guard preventing identifiably Jewish preteens from entering one of its stores.300000 Counts of Accessory to Murder Against Auschwitz Guard
The seventh-graders were wearing the uniforms of the Yavneh Academy, a Jewish secondary school, when they attempted to enter the Sports Direct store in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, on Friday, the Jewish Chronicle reported. The guard stopped them at the door and said “no Jews, no Jews.”
Other Yavneh students who wore coats over their uniforms were permitted to enter.
The company apologized and removed the guard, who was also fired from the security company for which he worked.
Oskar Groening, a 93-year-old former guard at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, was charged by German prosecutors with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder over his role in the genocidal Nazi war machine.Holocaust experts work to preserve WWII-era items
Groening has acknowledged that he witnessed atrocities in his role as a death camp guard, but claims he didn't actively commit any of the atrocities himself, reports Associated Press (AP).
However, German prosecutors said Monday that during his service in Auschwitz in 1944 Groening transferred the possessions and money of the murdered prisoners from the camp to his SS superiors in Berlin.
In this way, Groening "helped the Nazi regime benefit economically, and supported the systematic killings," they reasoned.
With survivors dying in growing numbers and their live testimonies soon to be a thing of the past, Holocaust commemoration efforts are increasingly focused around preserving the belongings that contain their stories.What happened to Anne Frank after the Secret Annex?
This week, Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial held a first-of-its-kind workshop devoted to the physical and digital preservation of documents. Over three days, visiting international experts discussed the ethical and technical challenges of both conserving originals for history’s sake, while creating a vast digital archive to make them more accessible and user-friendly.
“The two approaches are not mutually exclusive,” said Doris A. Hamburg, director of preservation projects at the US National Archives and Records Administration. “Accessibility is a major goal for so many institutions and conservation helps to facilitate that.”
Though documented by many witnesses, Anne Frank’s last months are rarely probed by teachers, filmmakers or others seeking to make the diarist’s voice relevant.10 Things I Learned From My Play About Holocaust Denial
For starters, the details of Frank’s post-capture incarceration are not exactly uplifting: The seven month-long demise of a 15-year old girl through starvation, scabies and typhus is a poor postscript to the “people are really good at heart” message, the one most lifted from her diary.
Seventy years ago this month, Frank and her Secret Annex co-fugitives arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau in a sealed cattle car. Theirs had been the last deportation train from the Netherlands’ Westerbork transit camp, after two years of weekly “transports” brought 100,000 Dutch Jews to the death factories.
For decades, the public knew almost nothing about Frank’s post-capture experience, except that she died with her sister Margot at a place called Bergen-Belsen.
Finally, in 1988, a Dutch television documentary – aptly named “The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank” – fleshed out what happened to Frank after her deportation from Amsterdam.
Last month, my one-man show Hoaxocaust! Written and performed by Barry Levey with the generous assistance of the Institute for Political and International Studies, Tehran ran in the New York International Fringe Festival, where it won an Overall Excellence Award. The play has now been selected to run in the Fringe Encores Series at Baruch College’s Performing Arts Center, for four performances which started on Thursday, September 11.Israel is 4th most educated country in the world
Getting the play to the stage was not easy, however.
Here are 10 things I learned while writing a satire of Holocaust deniers.
1. Putting Deniers’ actual theories on stage, verbatim, without comment can be hysterical. When tenured Northwestern University professor Arthur Butz claims that most of the Jews who vanished after the war secretly moved to Brooklyn to escape their arranged-marriage spouses, you do not editorialize. Letting crazy speak for itself is comic gold.
Israel ranked the fourth most educated country in the world in a new study by the Organization for Co-operation and Development (OECD). The annual report on education in richer nations shows that 46 percent of Israeli adults had attained tertiary qualification in 2012.Tony Bennett to Give First Israeli Concert
The Russian Federation ranked the highest on the survey with 53.5%, Canada was second with 52.6% and Japan ranked third with 46.6%.
After younger Israelis got their “treat” Saturday night, with the appearance of pop star Lady Gaga before thousands in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park, it's the older generation's turn for some entertainment – and that will come in the form of a concert on Sunday night by crooner Tony Bennett, who will sing his heart out in Tel Aviv's Heichal Hatarbut concert venue.Paul Anka scheduled for October gig
Bennett, 88, has never performed in Israel. Born Anthony Dominick "Tony" Benedetto in 1926, Bennett is known for his renditions of American pop songs, show tunes, and easy listening standards, as well as for more experimental jazz compositions. His best known song is probably "I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” still a popular song 52 years after it was first released in 1962. Bennett has won 17 Grammy Awards - including a Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received in 2001 as well as Emmy Awards. Bennett has sold over 50 million records worldwide.
Although not Jewish, Bennett has close ties to the Jewish people – in the form of his daughter Antonia, who converted to Judaism several years ago. Antonia Bennett considers Rabbi Yosef Langer of San Francisco one of her “primary teachers,” saying that he was “instrumental” in her conversion process.
Canadian crooner Paul Anka has confirmed his two rescheduled summer concerts for October 17 and 18 at Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium.Israeli Music Producer Racks Up Over 535,000 YouTube Hits – in Two Days
The concerts, part of Anka’s current “Love Never Felt So Good” tour, celebrating his recently published autobiography, “My Way,” and “Duets,” his new album, were supposed to take place on July 24 and 26.
The shows were postponed due to Operation Protective Edge.
Phenomenon: Tel Aviv-based musician and “sampler” extraordinaire, Kutiman (aka Ophir Kutiel) has hit another one out of the park with “Give It Up,” a fully-functioning song in its own right, assembled from hundreds of ameteur and instructional music videos.Oldest siddur headed to Israel
The Jerusalem-born musical prodigy is best know for his diverse online musical projects.
In the latest video, uploaded to YouTube on Sept. 12th, Kutiel thanked most of the musicians and individuals he chose to include in the meticulously-edited clip, which opens with a female vocalist telling her audience, “…maybe it’ll be called, ‘Give it Up,’ because that’s like … the chorus.”
The oldest book of Jewish liturgy, dating back to the ninth century, was en route to Israel Sunday, and will be on display at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem until late October.Israeli-American director wins prize at Toronto film festival
The 50-page text is written on parchment in archaic Hebrew, and includes portions of the Sabbath morning prayers, liturgical hymns, and the Passover Haggadah.
The 1,200-year-old book was traced back to the Geonic period in Babylon, and is on loan from the Green Collection, a vast collection of biblical artifacts owned by the founders of Hobby Lobby.
Israeli-American director Oren Moverman won the coveted International Federation of Film Critics Award for Special Presentations for his film "Time Out of Mind" at the Toronto International Film Festival, which ended on Sunday.Sabra TV making gains abroad
The film stars Richard Gere as an eccentric homeless man in New York who tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Jena Malone). Gere has received widespread praise for his role.
Gere first brought the screenplay to Moverman a year and a half ago and asked him to direct it, after the two worked together on the Bob Dylan biographical musical film "I'm Not There" in 2007.
Keshet International’s “Boom!” the cheeky Israeli game show in which teams must answer trivia questions by snipping colored wires on a fake “bomb,” will have its debut on Kazakhstani television this fall. The program, in which teams run the risk of accidentally setting off the bombs and thus sending the entire set shaking, has been sold to Kazakhstan’s Channel SEVEN and will be produced by Arai Production.
The Kazakhstani acquisition of “Boom!” follows successful sales of the format to channels in the United States, Hungary, Belgium and France, where it will air soon, as well as Spain, where it debuted in September. Keshet International says an additional five international deals have been secured and will be announced soon.
Meanwhile, “Rising Star,” the interactive singing competition that smashes the fourth wall between the audience and performers and allows at-home viewers to participate live in the action via an integrated app, has been sold to Enlight Media China and will be broadcast on state television channel CCTV. Keshet earlier this week announced a two-season deal with the Chinese, which will put 30 episodes of the program on the air for a viewing audience of up to 1.2 billion people.
