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18-year-old pianist opens Carnegie Hall performance with Israeli national anthem
(New York Jewish Week) – A rising star in the world of piano opened a performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall on Thursday evening with Israel’s national anthem as the country wages war against Hamas in Gaza.
Footage circulating on social media showed Kevin Chen, 18, sitting at the piano bench and, without introduction, beginning to play the melody. After the first few notes, members of the audience joined in singing the anthem, called “Hatikvah,” Hebrew for “the hope.”
Chen, who is Canadian, won first prize in the prestigious Arthur Rubinstein Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv earlier this year, which is geared toward young pianists.
He has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Camerata, according to Canada’s National Arts Centre. Chen is also a composer, has performed with a range of other orchestras and won numerous awards.
Watch: Kevin Chen opens his concert at @carnegiehall with Hatikva, Israel’s anthem, paying tribute to the Israeli victims murdered and those who are being held hostage by Hamas.
Thank you. pic.twitter.com/kQzfagaqK0
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) October 20, 2023
Since Hamas attacked the south of Israel earlier this month, killing 1,400 and wounding thousands, and in the midst of the ensuing war Israel is fighting against the terror group in Gaza, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra has held free concerts for refugees from southern Israel and the capital’s residents. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which performs in Tel Aviv, has canceled all upcoming events.
The announced program for Chen’s Thursday performance at Carnegie Hall included numbers by Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt.
Israel’s official account on X shared footage of the performance, thanking Chen and saying he was “paying tribute to the Israeli victims murdered and those who are being held hostage by Hamas.”
“New York stands with Israel, from rallies and vigils to the stage of Carnegie Hall,” the UJA-Federation of New York said.
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The post 18-year-old pianist opens Carnegie Hall performance with Israeli national anthem appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Benjamin Netanyahu was burned in effigy on the streets of Montreal during a Friday night riot
Justin Trudeau condemned for subsequently attending a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto.
The post Benjamin Netanyahu was burned in effigy on the streets of Montreal during a Friday night riot appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
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Report: IDF targets Hezbollah chief in Beirut
Illustrative. Smoke billows over Beirut’s southern suburbs after an Israeli strike, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Hadath, Lebanon October 19, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
JNS.org – A massive explosion in a building in Beirut on Saturday killed 11 people and wounded dozens in what Arab media said was a failed Israeli attempt to kill Hezbollah’s head of operations, Muhammad Haydar.
Israel did not immediately claim responsibility specifically for the explosion early on Saturday in the eight-story building in the Lebanese capital’s Basta neighborhood. The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said only that Israel struck an unspecified target in Beirut, the fourth strike in the city in a week.
Basta is situated in the city’s center. The bulk of Israel’s strikes in Beirut have been in the Dahiyeh neighborhood, a Hezbollah stronghold in the city’s south.
Lebanese media reported that at least 63 people were wounded in the strike.
Avihai Edraei, the head of the Arabic-language department of the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, posted a tweet on X on Saturday calling on residents of Dahiyeh to evacuate their homes. They are living near Hezbollah installations, he said, against which “the IDF will act in the near future.”
The targets of Saturday’s strikes “were located by Hezbollah in the heart of the civilian population. Prior to the attack, many steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians,” the IDF wrote in a statement. A headquarters, a weapons depot, “and additional Hezbollah terror infrastructures” were attacked, the statement said.
According to Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, Israel has killed 2,450 terrorists in Lebanon and Syria. Lebanese health authorities said that 3,365 people have died in strikes by Israel. Those data do not distinguish between terrorists and civilians. On the Israeli side, terrorists have killed 121 people, with 76 of them being soldiers.
The post Report: IDF targets Hezbollah chief in Beirut first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Troubling Details Emerge About Disappearance of Chabad Rabbi, Inaction of UAE Authorities
Zvi Kogan. Photo: LinkedIn via i24 News
i24 News – i24NEWS learned chilling details about the disappearance of Chabad emissary Zvi Kogan, who went missing last week in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Kogan did not show up for scheduled meetings he had during the day. After he failed to make contact, his wife contacted the security officer of the Chabad house, who alerted the local authorities. Information about the incident was also shared with the Israeli authorities.
Kogan disappeared from a location about an hour and a half from Dubai. i24NEWS can report that complaints were made to both the Dubai Police and the Abu Dhabi Police on Thursday, yet no actions were taken by either.
i24NEWS also became privy to the information that although Kogan’s car got a speeding ticket on its way to Oman, in this case too the authorities in the Emirates and Oman did nothing.
i24NEWS can also confirm that there is tremendous anger in Israel at the Emiratis, who did not respond to the suspicious signs and did not act in time. In fact, actions were only taken after the intervention of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
The story has troubling echoes of the abduction by Iranians of German-Iranian dissident Jamshid Sharmahd; he was kidnapped from Dubai to Iran via Oman and was eventually executed.
The post Troubling Details Emerge About Disappearance of Chabad Rabbi, Inaction of UAE Authorities first appeared on Algemeiner.com.