Noted French philosopher and political theorist Jacques Rancière has canceled a visit to Israel after an appeal by PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Rancière, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Paris VIII and Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, had been scheduled to give a talk at Tel Aviv University on 25 January. In a letter in French posted on the website of Tel Aviv’s Shpilman Photography Collectionand translated by The Electronic Intifada, Rancière wrote that although he did not personally endorse a boycott of “all citizens of a State and against its researchers, without taking into account their own attitude towards the policy of this State,” he would not be able to violate the boycott call and provide “a politically and intellectually satisfying answer” to the dual choice he found himself in. PACBI’s 9 January letter to Rancière asserted:

Your decision to speak at Tel Aviv University will violate the Palestinian call for boycott and will constitute a blunt rejection of the appeal from over 170 civil society organizations that comprise thePalestinian BDS movement. Israel subjects Palestinians to a cruel system of dispossession and racial discrimination Your lecture would function as a whitewash of Israel’s practices, making it appear as though business with Israel should go on as usual.

Translated: Jacques Rancière’s letter

I accepted the invitation to contribute to the debate on the image, of a research group whose work on photography is closely related to the exposure of violations of the rights of the Palestinian people since the birth of the State of Israel. The intervention of a group dedicated to uphold the boycott of Israeli academic institutions by foreign researchers has changed the meaning of this visit by making a breach of the boycott a public demonstration, namely support to the State that is responsible for these violations and the situation of oppression of the Palestinian people. I am personally opposed to collective sanctions against all citizens of a State and against its researchers, without taking into account their own attitude towards the policy of this State. I have therefore neither respected nor violated a decision that I did not personally endorse. But it appears that in the present situation, the content of what I might say in response to the invitation that was sent to me has become completely secondary to this simple alternative, and due to my fatigue – I am not able to respond satisfactorily today to the dual demands of the situation that came into being. I must therefore – thanking the people who invited me and whose invitation I accepted – offer to postpone the visit until thinking (reflecting on) about these issues has advanced and when I feel myself more able to give a politically and intellectually satisfying answer.

Cornell and The Technion of Israel To Build Campus On Governor’s Island

As many listeners may know, Cornell University is joining with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in a plan to build a campus in New York City.  Critics however, point out Technion’s involvement with the Israeli Defense Force in the development of repressive technology that would further perpetuate crimes against Palestinians. Through cooperative research with Israeli defense companies such as Elbit, Rafael, McGill and Concordia, Technion is involved in asymmetrical robotic warfare with faceless human targets who can be killed by remote control.

To talk more about this, we’re joined today by David Klein,  a professor at California State University in Northridge and a member of the Organizing Committee of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

Professor David Klein:

• It is a collaboration between Cornell University and Technion which is like Israel’s MIT.
• There’s a 350 million dollar grant from a philanthropist, which has been supplemented with 100 million dollars in public money.
• I’m a member of the Organizing Committee of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. 
• The demands that we have are ending the occupation and colonization all Arab lands and dismantling the apartheid wall.
• Recognizing the fundamental rights of Arab / Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality.
• Respecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and property as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
• Technion is deeply complicit with Israel’s military and provides the military with technology to carry out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
• Participants in a joint military and university program for science students, who will later be integrated into the Army’s research and development units, wear uniforms throughout their years of study.
• It’s particularly strong in developing robotic weapons systems, which include aerial drones, and unmanned combat vehicle technology.
• I think Bloomberg is supportive of the apartheid system in Israel. He wouldn’t view this as a problem like much of the rest of the world does.
• The crime of apartheid is an international crime against humanity.
• In addition to aerial drones, Technion makes the Black D9 Bulldozer, it makes the Stealth UVA Drone, which is a drone that can fly almost 3000km without refueling.
• It’s making something called the Dragonfly UVA mini-drone, which is a tiny drone with a 9 inch wingspan. It can fly into people’s bedroom windows and kill em.
• Technion is involved in asymmetrical robotic warfare with faceless human targets who can be killed by remote control.
• Israel is arguably the most racist country at this time, due to the apartheid system that it has.

Guest – David Klein, member of the Organizing Committee of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (www.usacbi.org), and is a professor of mathematics at California State University, Northridge (CSUN).  He received  his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Cornell University. His professional interests include mathematical physics, climate science, and mathematics education in the public schools.  He is the faculty advisor for the campus student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and the CSUN Green Party.  David Klein’s website

2011 was a year full of many successes in the campaign for the cultural boycott of Israel.  This summary will focus on the cultural boycott with emphasis on musical artists and groups.

The fall of South African apartheid was preceded by many musical artists who joined to create a movement. That movement became known popularly as “I’m not gonna play Sun City.”  Israel has not yet seen its Sun City moment fully, but as you’ll see, significant rumblings are beginning.

January, 2011: Jon Bon Jovi was asked not play in Israel.  Thus far, boycott efforts have been successful.  The singer had announced on Larry King Live he would perform in Israel.  After boycott efforts to ask him to refrain, no concert ever happened. [1]

French pop star Vanessa Paradis refuses to perform in Israel.[2] Her partner, American film icon Johnny Depp also cancels his visit to Israel.

February, 2011: Roger Waters (founder of Pink Floyd) comes out in strong support of the cultural boycott when he writes “Artists were right to refuse to play in South Africa’s Sun City resort until apartheid fell and whites and blacks enjoyed equal rights.  And we are right to refuse to play in Israel until the day comes — and it surely will come — when The Wall of occupation falls and Palestinians live alongside Israelis in the peace, freedom, justice and dignity that they all deserve.” [3]

German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, scheduled to sing five classical concerts in Israel, withdraws shortly beforehand.   He’d been asked to cancel his concerts by BRICUP, Boycott from Within and others.  He said his withdrawal was on grounds of illness.

Pete Seeger unequivocally supports the cultural boycott, stating “I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn’t realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can.” [4]

May, 2011: August Burns Red refrained from playing at Tel Aviv’s Barby.  Just over one week prior to their gig sources said “they have no plans to reschedule, they cancelled because they do not want to play in Israel.”  A three month long effort had been launched to ask the band to refrain. [5]

Marc Almond’s cancellation was welcomed by the BDS Movement. [6] Letters, as well as a Facebook page were created to let the “Tainted Love” singer know about the real Israel.  His fans passed out leaflets before a UK concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London.  His welcome response came four days later when he refused to play in Israel.

June, 2011: Although Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not a musician, the cancellation of his film promotion at the Jerusalem Film Festival brought a whirlwind of attention to the cultural boycott of Israel.  101 organizations signed a letter praising the basketball legend. [7]

Also, in late June, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine announced that they would refuse to perform in Tel Aviv. [8]  The voice of the Palestinian people was ultimately respected by the vintage punk rocker Jello Biafra.

Punk rock fans unite with punk bands and artists to launch Punks Against Apartheid.

July, 2011: Musicians Dave Randall, Maxi Jazz, and Jamie Catto release the single “Freedom For Palestine”  with the Durban Gospel Choir.  As the video went viral it gained momentum from endorsements by Coldplay, LUSH Cosmetics, Lowkey,  Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, and many more. [9]

August, 2011: Tuba Skinny, while in Rome en-route to Israel , received information about the cultural boycott.  Tuba Skinny refused to perform at the Israel Government-sponsored Red Sea Jazz Festival, cancelling their concert only a few days prior to their scheduled gig. [10]  Latin jazz great Eddie Palmieri of Puerto Rico [11]and jazz musician Jason Moran of Houston [12] followed Tuba Skinny, and also cancelled their appearances at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.

September, 2011: Natacha Atlas stuns her Israeli booking agents when she refuses to play her scheduled concert in Israel.  She bravely states on her facebook page:

“…after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all. Therefore I publicly retract my well-intentioned decision to go and perform in Israel and so sincerely hope that this decision represents an effective statement against this regime.”[13]

The cultural boycott came closer to home as the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra went on tour.  Creative protests were seen in many cities in the USA and Europe.  A protest in London during  the BBC’s Prom Live Broadcast of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra resulted in worldwide press coverage when the BBC decided to halt its live broadcast of the concert.

Denise Jannah, was written to just prior to her tour in Israel.  She did perform in Israel, but her experience in Israel caused her to regret her choice, and she came out in support of the cultural boycott.  She stated: “Please let me start by telling you this: of a cultural BDS boycott Ramon and I had NO knowledge, none at all. This is where the problem started, for had I known I would have done things differently: the reasons for this boycott are valid.” [14]

Riverdance set designer Robert Ballagh, in bold support for BDS, called for the cancellation of Riverdance’s tour in Israel, but he was unable to stop it because he does not possess the copyright. However he donated all his royalties from the performance of Riverdance in Israel to the Irish Ship to Gaza campaign.[15]

October, 2011: The Yardbirds were scheduled to play in Israel, and a letter [16] signed by professors in the UK was written to them from BRICUP. They subsequently cancelled their performance.  Humanitarians are asking them not to reschedule in 2012.

Greek singer Martha Frintzila bows out of her performance at the Israel Government-sponsored Jerusalem Oud Festival with a the statement that she: “…will not participate in Oud Festival in Jerusalem for conscientious and political reasons.” [17]

Hosam Hayak, a regular performer at the Jerusalem Oud Festival, chose this year to cancel, making a press release in Arabic on his facebook notes.[18]

In another boost to the cultural boycott,  John Michael McDonagh, director of Golden Globe nominated (director and main actor) film The Guard, announces that, “due to the conflict, [he] declined to attend the Haifa Film Festival 2011.”

November, 2011:  The Jerusalem String Quartet was met with creative protests in both the UK and North America.  Parody programs were received by concert attendees in at least four North American cities.[19]

Macy Gray tweets regarding her February Tel Aviv gig @MacyGraysLife “i had a reality check and I stated that I definitely would not have played there if I had known even the little that I know now.”

Punkers Zdob si Zdub of Moldavia were also asked to refrain playing in Israel.  They cancelled their 5 November concert, and the BDS movement is asking them to refrain from playing in 2012, as they are being pressured to “reschedule.”[20]

Mireille Mathieu was asked by BDS France [21] to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv.  The French singer was also the recipient of a letter [22] signed by seventy people in the artistic community in Gaza asking her to respect the boycott.  Mireille Mathieu’s courageous announcement [23] on her website that she has postponed playing in Tel Aviv is a welcome one.  The BDS movement encourages her to stand strong against pressure from both French and Israeli booking agents to “reschedule” her concert in the apartheid state.

Rapper MF Doom was called on by numerous groups and individuals not to “rap in the apartheid state.”  Press reports indicated he cancelled his 26 Nov concert due to illness.  As of this publication, Doom has not rescheduled his concert in Tel Aviv.

In Switzerland, over 150 artists pledge to boycott apartheid Israel.[24]

December, 2011:  Oumou Sangaré becomes the third French artist in 2011 to cancel her planned performance with the Israeli Opera, as BDS makes inroads into the classical music world.  An informative letter from BDS France was followed by letters from DPAI and BDS Italy. [25]
Joe Lynn Turner’s 16 December concert in Tel Aviv is cancelled.[26]

Joker (UK) refuses to bring his dubstep-bass sounds to Tel Aviv. It appears that his decision might have been influenced by other musicians in the London music scene who asked him to reconsider.

Looking Ahead to 2012:
UK and Irish musicians are taking the lead under the “Freedom for Palestine” banner.  In the USA, expect Lupe Fiasco to continue to vocalize his support for Palestinians.

Current campaigns for cultural boycott are underway for Bruce Springsteen, Arch Enemy and Red Hot Chili Peppers to alert  them about the reasons to join fellow musicians in refusing to play in the apartheid state. Cultural BDS is growing and volunteers remain busy working in countless creative ways.

Also see: 2011 Summary of the Cultural Boycott of Israel

Please sign and share the petition at change.org to support Dr. Klein!

These attacks have falsely labeled Dr. Klein “anti-Semitic” and demanded that his website be removed. It is important to let Chancellor Charles Reed of the California State University know that Dr. Klein’s academic freedom and freedom of expression are very important and must be protected.

The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel urges all supporters of Palestinian rights, the BDS movement, and academic freedom not only to sign this petition, but also to build upon David’s work, by starting campaigns to educate about the reality of Study Abroad in Israel  and holding events and activities on academic and cultural boycott on March 30, 2012 at their own colleges and universities. We also encourage academics and cultural workers to sign the USACBI statement: http://www.usacbi.org/about/

Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/petitions/defend-dr-david-kleins-academic-freedom

For more information about Dr. David Klein: http://www.usacbi.org/2012/01/usacbi-resisting-attacks-on-supporters-of-boycott-defend-dr-david-klein/

For more information on the March 30, 2012 day of action: http://www.usacbi.org/2011/12/action-alert-national-day-of-action-for-academic-and-cultural-boycott-march-30-2012/

Dr. Klein hosts an informative website (http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/boycott.html) that provides extensive resources concerning the global movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, and material of particular information to the CSU community. BDS was initiated by Palestinian civil society organizations in 2005 “to call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.” (for the full BDS call, please see www.bdsmovement.net).

In addition, Dr. Klein is one of the initiators of a faculty, student and staff letter at California State University calling for a Study Abroad program in Israel to not be resumed (http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/studyabroad.html), noting that it places Palestinian and Arab CSU students at a risk of discrimination based on race and ethnicity, and that to resume the program at this time “would not reflect well on the CSU’s commitment to the universal right to education. Israel has consistently violated its obligation under Article 50 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires the Occupying Power to facilitate the proper functioning of educational institutions in occupied territories. Israel remains the Occupying Power because it retains effective control in all these areas, and exercises this control by making education difficult or impossible for Palestinians in a variety of ways: blockading, besieging and bombing schools and universities; suspending delivery of books and educational supplies; restricting or barring the movement of students, teachers and researchers to their institutions of learning, as well as to travel abroad for educational purposes…”

For his commitment to Palestinian human rights and international justice, Dr. Klein has been the subject of threats, harassment, and disinformation campaigns labeling him and his website as “anti-Semitic” and demanding his voice be silenced and his website removed. Such demands seek to impose fundamental violations of academic freedom upon Dr. Klein and upon all university faculty and students who use the Internet at their universities to communicate and support Palestinian human rights and global justice.

While Dr. Klein is accused of ‘anti-Semitism’ by organizations such as “Never Again Canada” and “AMCHA” who seek to impose their pro-Israel, pro-Zionist politics upon the California State University, there is no content on his website that could even arguably be labeled ‘anti-Semitic’ without the offensive conflation of Jews and Jewishness with the State of Israel, its government, and its motivating ideology, Zionism. Dr. Klein is, like USACBI, an opponent of all forms of racism and discrimination.

Those who oppose racism, discrimination and injustice, have a responsibility to oppose it everywhere. Dr. Klein performs admirable and deeply anti-racist work in his advocacy of justice in Palestine.

This is far from the first occasion of organized pro-Israel lobbies and groups targeting faculty and students for their advocacy for Palestine. From battles over tenure faced by extraordinarily qualified Palestinian professors to unjust firings or demotions of faculty who have spoken in support of Palestine, efforts to intimidate professors are increasing.

As Students for Justice in Palestine noted of their own experiences across the country, “University administrators find themselves under intense pressure from the Israel Lobby when pro-Palestine events occur on campus. It comes in the form of public smearing, alumni pressure, and frivolous lawsuits, as well as U.S. Department of Education investigations that seek to classify criticism of Israel as a violation of students’ civil rights.” (http://sjpnational.org/2011/09/25/stand-irvine-11/) Furthermore, administrators have become complicit in the silencing of student groups who dare to express solidarity with Palestine, including the notorious case of the Irvine 11, in which 10 Muslim Student Union protesters at the University of California – Irvine were criminally charged and prosecuted for their non-violent disruption of a speech given by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.

We stand in firm solidarity and support of our colleague and valued member of our Organizing Committee, Dr. David Klein. We urge all supporters of academic freedom and Palestinian human rights to stand with him as well, and to contact CSU Chancellor Charles Reed at creed@calstate.edu to support Dr. Klein and his academic freedom and right to freedom of expression.

US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel

2011 was a year of hope and revolution. At the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), we began the year with a message of solidarity with the people behind the revolutions in the region. By mid-year, the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee (BNC) expressed a similar sentiment of solidarity with movements around the world that seized on this revolutionary moment. [1]

[11] http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/article675369.ece/Israeli-ties–a-chance-to-do-the-right-thing

Israeli academic institutions provide the technological foundation for Israel’s military occupation and colonization of Palestine, Syria’s Golan Heights, and of southern Lebanon. They provide the knowledge that undergirds Israel’s ongoing colonial project. Technion, like all Israeli academic institutions, is deeply complicit with Israel’s military, providing it with the technological infrastructure to maintain and expand its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land.

Technion’s role in ethnic cleansing is extensive. One of their most notorious projects led to the creation of “a remote-controlled ‘D9′ bulldozer used by the Israeli army to demolish Palestinian houses and the development of a method for detecting underground tunnels, specifically developed in order to assist the Israeli army in its continued siege on the Gaza Strip.”^[2]

Technion’s partnership with Elbit Systems, one of Israel’s largest private weapons manufacturers, has played a leading role in the construction and surveillance of the Apartheid Wall in Palestine as well as along the U.S.-Mexico border with its subsidiary Kollsman. Technion trains its engineering students to work for companies like Elbit dealing “directly in the development of complex weapons in the process of researching their academic theses.”^[3] As a reward, Elbit has been funding research grants in upwards of half a million dollars to Technion’s students conducting research.^[4]

Technion’s deep relationship with the Israeli military also includes work with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of Israel’s largest government-sponsored weapons manufacturers famous for its “advanced hybrid armor protection system” used in Israel’s Merkava tanks.^[5] Technion developed an “MBA program tailored specifically for Rafael managers” in order to solidify its relationship between academia and Israel’s military-industrial complex.^[6]

Like its peer institutions in Israel, Technion rewards its students who perform their compulsory military service. Technion, however, also grants Israeli army reservists who participated in the Israeli massacre of Gaza in 2008-2009 “academic benefits in addition to the usual benefits for reservists.”^[7] This is in addition to a number of benefits that Technion and other Israeli academic institutions grant to those who serve in the Israeli army. Thus, not only does Technion participate in the development of weapons used to massacre and oppress Palestinians, it also rewards those students most actively involved inside and outside the classroom. Moreover,  while rewarding Jewish students who serve in the Israeli army, Technion participates in the Atidim program while actively discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel.^[8]

We call on our colleagues–students and faculty alike–at Cornell University to join our peers at McGill and Concordia Universities in Canada to refuse complicity in Israel’s military-industrial complex.^[9] Cornell’s project means the active participation in an apartheid regime that oppresses Palestinian, Syrian, and Lebanese people through its military apparatus, bolstered by its academic institutions. We call on our colleagues to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions until Israel meets its obligations to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by: 1) ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; 2) recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and 3) respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.^[10]

^[1] Max Bluemnthal, “New York to Host Israel’s Top Drone Lab.” Al Akhbar. (24 December 2011). http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/new-york-host-israels-top-drone-lab.

² Uri Yacobi Keller, The Economy of the Occupation: A Socioeconomic Bulletin. (Jerusalem: Alternative Information Center, 2009), 9. http://usacbi.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/economy_of_the_occupation_23-24.pdf.

³Ibid., 10

⁴ Ibid., 10-11

⁵  “Structures of Oppression: Why McGill and Concordia Universities Must Sever their Links with the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology,” 4. http://www.tadamon.ca/wp-content/uploads/Technion-English.pdf

⁶ Ibid., 3-4

⁷ Keller, 12-13

⁸ Keller, 40.

⁹ “McGill and Concordia Must Boycott Technion.” http://www.bdsmovement.net/2011/mcgill-concordia-technion-7102#.Tvrv9COomRw.

¹⁰ http://www.usacbi.org/about/.

After the Boycott Divestment Sanctions campaign opened his eyes to the harsh reality of the occupation, British dubstep artist Joker cancelled his Tel Aviv show. The small but significant victory for BDS shows the inroads the movement is making around the globe.

Let’s start with the bottom line: the British dubstep performer Joker canceled his show in Israel. And it’s possible to say that he did so because of a campaign by Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) activists, who created a Facebook group and contacted Joker.

Compared to other artists who have cancelled appearances in Israel or have supported BDS – such as Devendra Banhart, Elvis Costello or Roger Waters – Joker is not a “big name.” But his cancellation is highly significant for a number of reasons.

A young English dubstep producer who hails from Bristol, Joker has become one of the genre’s biggest international stars and performed in Tel Aviv several years. But this time around, a cultural boycott campaign was waged in the UK, indicateing that the BDS movement has expanded and is now taking on lesser known artists and not just those who in the mainstream.

Joker’s cancellation exemplifies the power of new social networks. At a certain point, there seemed to be a “war of words” between those who support the boycott and those who are opposed to it, with Joker in the middle. In such a “battle,” which is a debate between activists, right and left, it is possible that boycott supporters have an advantage over officials or diplomats representing states or organizations.

The Israeli responses to the call for boycott have been almost solely based on the claim that “there’s no connection between music and politics.” Joker emphasized that he is, indeed, only a musician and that all that interests him – other than dubstep – is riding bikes and nothing else. His reasoning for the cancellation, as published on his Twitter account, was that the cultural boycott campaign opened his eyes to certain things. He said that while he had indeed appeared in Tel Aviv in the past, he didn’t have the information about racism that he does now, after the campaign.

Joker’s reaction is consistent with his non-political position. It should be a lesson to Israelis: Joker, as opposed to many Israelis, did not know about the reality which takes place in the Occupied Territories, just a short distance from Tel Aviv. The new information, however, led him to act in a non-political manner. Joker did not proclaim support for the BDS movement, but he also did not arrive in Israel. He apparently understood, unlike the Israeli clubbers who tried to fight the boycott with the “separation between politics and music” argument, that once the question of boycott was raised, a performance in Israel would become a deeply political act.

In the wake of the cancellation, the Israeli event organizers claimed that Joker had received threats on his and his girlfriend’s life. Since the Israeli organizers are the only source of this claim—Joker’s Twitter feed, the BDS campaign, and no news source hinted at this–it can be assumed that this is a lie intended to excuse the artist’s cancellation. The fact that someone – and an appreciated international artist at that – objectively chose to boycott Israel is apparently still a taboo that most Israelis cannot accept.

Translated by the Alternative Information Center. The author is an editor in the Alternative Information Center and also a DJ who takes an active part in the Jerusalem nightlife and had participated in the organization, amongst other things, of political nightlife even