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I’m an Israeli artist of Moroccan descent. Is the Holocaust my story to tell?
(JTA) — Every artist embarks on a path of self-discovery. Any time I find inspiration to create and to paint, I find myself on a journey of trying to comprehend what aspects of life define and characterize my identity. When I paint, I grapple with the question of “Who Am I?”
Roughly a year ago, I was approached with the opportunity to participate in a new cultural program at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. The residency program enabled me to, for the first time in many years, spend time at Yad Vashem, connect with the stories of Holocaust survivors and victims, gain inspiration from the massive collections housed on the Mount of Remembrance and meet dedicated scholars and experts in Holocaust remembrance and education.
At first, my journey of introspection led me to question how I connect to the Holocaust. Is it bigger than me? Is it my story? As a sabra and child born in Israel to Moroccan parents of Sephardic descent, I felt disconnected from the Holocaust and apprehensive about taking on this daunting task.
I also began to wonder how my aesthetic and artistic expression could adequately portray the Holocaust and our collective responsibility to never forget it. The deeper I waded into the stories and exhibits at Yad Vashem, I began to realize that the Holocaust affected me not only as a Jew and a human being, but as an Israeli.
The Holocaust is a significant part of our collective Jewish history, regardless of our ethnicity. While Hitler’s tyranny did not reach Morocco, the suffering and pain of the Jewish nation both past and present affected all areas of the world. Many Israelis grow up hearing firsthand accounts of the atrocities of the Holocaust from their parents and grandparents. In my childhood home, Holocaust culture wasn’t in our food, in our clothes, or in our conversations, but it was palpable on a national level. It was a visceral feeling that the Holocaust is a tragedy forever etched inside every Jew and every Israeli for the simple reason that we are a united people committed to unwavering faith and fortitude in times of terror and destruction.
Simply put, I’m the Jew that suffered in Egypt at the hand of Pharaoh, I’m the Jew that persevered during the destruction of both Temples, I am the Jew who survived the ghetto and the nightmare of Auschwitz. I am a part of a powerful collective glued together in overcoming adversity and never giving up.
That notion is especially on my mind during these four terrible months since Hamas killed 1,200 people in their attack on southern Israel. The trauma that we are living through has hit all parts of Israeli society, and to an extent has connected us all to the memory of the Holocaust. In the days following the harrowing events of Oct. 7, I felt numb and incapable of creating any form of art. That numbness and incapacitation is still creeping inside of me.
And yet, after my greatly meaningful visit at Yad Vashem, only days after the massacre, and in the dark shadow of these difficult months, a myriad of emotions came together for me, expressed in my current exhibition displayed in the Museum of Holocaust Art at Yad Vashem.
In this exhibit my works portray this debilitating feeling, this abyss, a wrestling match with faith, but also a sense of purpose and meaning in portraying this struggle and our desire to soldier on. That to me is also the lesson of the Holocaust.
A detail from Shai Azoulay’s painting “Third Generation.” (Courtesy Yad Vashem)
My residency gave me a jolt of newfound purpose to paint and brought me back to life. And within a short period of time I found that the artworks in this exhibition poured out of me, and the works were finished rather quickly. I’ve titled my exhibit “Bigger Than Me” in that I still find the task of portraying the concept of Holocaust memory greatly unnerving and intimidating. I chose to express this feeling metaphorically in two paintings in the exhibit, “Bigger Than Me” and “Simchat Torah,” both of which depict shoes that are enormously big.
Most importantly, I portrayed myself in several of the artworks to emphasize the personal and emotional journey I took in understanding how I fit into the story of Holocaust remembrance.
I was immensely inspired by some of the most iconic spaces in Yad Vashem, in particular the Hall of Names. In the painting “Above the Shtetl” I chose to depict the intimate encounter I had with the faces displayed in the cone-shaped installation featuring some 600 portraits of Holocaust victims. I found myself in search of something or more accurately someone: someone I might connect to, through their faces, their eyes. I looked to see myself, or maybe someone who looked familiar even though I knew I had no familial connection to the victims.
While inside the hall, I envisioned this gravitational force pushing me up, as though I was drawn into a vortex that pulled me into the air, in order to see the faces of those who were murdered. Like Yad Vashem itself, it enabled me to connect with the history of the past by way of bearing witness to the stories, identities and belongings of those who were lost during the Holocaust. My flight, hand in hand with my wife, is similar to that felt by many visitors to the museum.
My encounter with Yad Vashem uncovered a deeper level within myself. The beauty in that is that I am unsure where it will lead me. I am grateful to Yad Vashem for giving me this gift: a new layer of my Jewish, Israeli and artistic identity. As an artist always continuing his journey of self-discovery, and looking for newfound sparks of inspiration, to me, this is the greatest gift I could ever receive.
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The post I’m an Israeli artist of Moroccan descent. Is the Holocaust my story to tell? appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War
The S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reported on Sunday quoting Mahmoud Mousavi, the regular army’s deputy for operations.
During the conflict in June, Israel’s air force dominated Iran’s airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.
“Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure,” Mousavi said.
Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defense system Bavar-373 in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defah Press did not mention any import of foreign-made air defense systems to Iran in past weeks.
Following limited Israeli strikes against Iranian missile factories last October, Iran later displayed Russian-made air defenses in a military exercise to show it recovered from the attack.
The post Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding
Members of Internal Security Forces stand guard at an Internal Security Forces’ checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Residents reported calm in Syria’s Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a US envoy signaled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented.
With hundreds reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed is a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to launch airstrikes against government forces last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said on Sunday that internal security forces had managed to calm the situation and enforce the ceasefire, “paving the way for a prisoner exchange and the gradual return of stability throughout the governorate.”
Reuters images showed interior ministry forces near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. The Interior Ministry said late on Saturday that Bedouin fighters had left the city.
US envoy Tom Barrack said the sides had “navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities”. “The next foundation stone on a path to inclusion, and lasting de-escalation, is a complete exchange of hostages and detainees, the logistics of which are in process,” he wrote on X.
Kenan Azzam, a dentist, said there was an uneasy calm but the city’s residents were struggling with a lack of water and electricity. “The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said by phone.
Another resident, Raed Khazaal, said aid was urgently needed. “Houses are destroyed … The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital,” he said in a voice message to Reuters from Sweida.
The Syrian state news agency said an aid convoy sent to the city by the government was refused entry while aid organized by the Syrian Red Crescent was let in. A source familiar with the situation said local factions in Sweida had turned back the government convoy.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Israel sent urgent medical aid to the Druze in Sweida and the step was coordinated with Washington and Syria. Spokespeople for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Druze are a small but influential minority in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi’ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations against the Druze.
Residents of the predominantly Druze city said friends and neighbours were shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and insignia.
Sharaa on Thursday promised to protect the rights of Druze and to hold to account those who committed violations against “our Druze people.”
He has blamed the violence on “outlaw groups.”
While Sharaa has won US backing since meeting President Donald Trump in May, the violence has underscored the challenge he faces stitching back together a country shattered by 14 years of conflict, and added to pressures on its mosaic of sectarian and ethnic groups.
COASTAL VIOLENCE
After Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and hit the defense ministry in Damascus last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarization of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.
He also said Israel would protect the Druze.
The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days.
A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered.
On Sunday, Sharaa received the report of an inquiry into violence in Syria’s coastal region in March, where Reuters reported in June that Syrian forces killed 1,500 members of the Alawite minority following attacks on security forces.
The presidency said it would review the inquiry’s conclusions and ensure steps to “bring about justice” and prevent the recurrence of “such violations.” It called on the inquiry to hold a news conference on its findings – if appropriate – as soon as possible.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said on July 18 it had documented the deaths of at least 321 people in Sweida province since July 13. The preliminary toll included civilians, women, children, Bedouin fighters, members of local groups and members of the security forces, it said, and the dead included people killed in field executions by both sides.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another monitoring group, has reported a death toll of at least 940 people.
Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
The post Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Pope Leo called for an end to the “barbarity of war” on Sunday as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza.
Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.
Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed in the incident.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he said.
The post Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church first appeared on Algemeiner.com.