Israeli and Iranian Singers Perform Together in Tel Aviv

March 6, 2017

Monday, 06 March 2017 | An Israeli rock star and his Iranian counterpart performed together in Tel Aviv on Thursday, sharing a message of unity with some 6,000 spectators.

Israel’s Aviv Geffen and Iran’s Shahin Najaf sang two songs to the cheering crowd, alternating between Hebrew and Farsi, NBC News reported.

The audience at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds also responded enthusiastically to a letter Najaf read on stage addressed to President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which asked the leaders to “stop the violence between people before it’s too late. Let’s stop dividing people.”

“For me it’s a miracle to bring Shahin to Tel Aviv because of the history between Israel and Iran,” said Geffen who met Najaf while touring Europe. “I think Shahin is one of the bravest artists I have ever met.”

Najaf moved to Germany from Iran in 2005. A fatwa [Islamic  legal pronouncement] was issued against him following the release of a 2012 song that mentioned a revered 10th century Shiite religious leader in a controversial way. An Iranian website soon offered a $100,000 reward to whoever killed him.

In an interview with NBC prior to the concert, Najaf said that he is fighting for a peaceful future. “Israel is considered a taboo in Iran and I’m very pleased to break this taboo,” he said. “I do this in the name of art, freedom and democracy.”

Geffen added that the concert was “a great opportunity to show the world that Iran and Israel can stand together on the same stage and respect each other.”

Posted on March 6, 2017

Source: (Excerpt of an article originally published in The Israel Project, in its publication The Tower on 03 March 2017. Time related language has been modified to reflect our republication today. See the original article at this link.) 

Photo Credit: Don Becker/ Wikipedia

Photo License: Wikimedia