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
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
