Other items in today’s column include:
*Political bytes
*Recommended reading
SAN DIEGO — Recently our music reviewer Eileen Wingard was able to report on the successful gala concert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring the actress Helen Mirren along with a host of well-known musicians performing from private venues. However, not everyone was able to witness the concert live because anti-Israel hackers took it upon themselves to disrupt the program which some 13,000 people from around the world had signed up to watch.
Tali Gottlieb, executive director of the IPO Foundation, said the gala was intended to “raise emergency funds to support the members of the Israel Philharmonic in the face of this unprecedented financial crisis” and, notwithstanding the disruption, “we are determined to spread the Israel Philharmonic’s message of hope, peace and beauty around the world.”
What the hackers didn’t know was that the IPO and its partner, Medici TV, had other ways to transmit the recorded concert which has since been viewed more than 300,000 times on Facebook and Medici’s TV website.
“Hackers were determine to silence our message and stamp out our voice, but they will not succeed,” declared Danielle Ames Spivak, executive director of American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Here is the Facebook link to the full hour-long gala. The IPO invites you to watch it, share it with friends and family, “and consider making a contribution here to help the orchestra navigate unprecedented financial hardship.”
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Political bytes
*Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) is continuing her fight to make the families of military personnel in the lower enlisted ranks eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), even if the financial assistance they receive for housing puts them over the maximum income they may receive to still be eligible for the food program. She explained: ““Military families go where they are ordered and sometimes that means moving to areas with a higher cost of living. Add to these situations where a spouse might have trouble finding new employment and this becomes a recipe for food insecurity.” In San Diego County, military families regularly line up at food distributions sponsored by non-profit institutions at such venues as Camp Pendleton and Murphy Canyon Naval Housing. While the Democratic-majority in the House of Representatives has been supportive of Davis’ legislation, it did not make it into a version of the military appropriations bill under consideration by the Senate. Liza Lieberman, a spokeswoman for Mazon: The Jewish Response to Hunger told San Diego Jewish World that she is hopeful Davis’s amendment can be placed into the legislation at the time when the House and Senate send their separate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act to a conference committee for reconciliation.
*Joe Leventhal, a candidate for San Diego City Council in District 5, had created a Veterans Advisory Committee headed by Patrick Batten, a Marine Corps veteran who was his opponent before the March 3 primary. “Particularly with the high number of veterans in District 5, my job as a City Councilman will be to listen to the needs of this community and respond with action,” Leventhal said. “There can be no better time than when we celebrate Independence Day to start a conversation with these brave men and women to ensure their voices are heard in our city.”
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Recommended reading and viewing
*Bea Goldberg of San Diego passes this video from Jerusalem documenting Jews, Muslims, and Christians singing together in mutual yearning for peace and love.
*Devorah Shore of La Jolla spotted a video by Israeli filmmaker Shahak Shapira shaming irreverent visitors to the Holocaust memorial in Berlin by juxtaposing their images with photos from the Holocaust. We share the video with you above.
*Scott Silverman tells his story of alcohol and drug use, suicidal thoughts, recovery and helping others in a video urging others to find help too.
*Moshe Dann, in The Jerusalem Post, describes the tangled battle over land ownership rights in Judea and Samaria.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com