Israeli song-star Liel will perform in Berlin on Thursday as a highlight of the 40th anniversary of the Berlin working group of the German-Israel Society.

The German-Israel Society (DIG – Deutsch Israelitische Gesellschaft) and its Berlin branch were founded in 1966, only one year after Germany and Israel formalised their diplomatic relationship.

“We were founded as a non-partisan meeting point for citizens to show their solidarity with Israel and the Israeli people. It gave the diplomatic bi-lateral relationship between Germany and Israel a face that the public could identify with,” Jochen Feilcke, the DIG president in Berlin told EJP.

Even the DIG’s yearly charity concert is celebrating a jubilee - its 30th year. Ten years after the DIG took up its work, the concerts were established to act as a medium for making a wider public aware of the many facets of Israeli society. It was also begun so that monies could be raised to help finance special causes in Israel.

The concerts have consistently attracted top performers from the tiny Middle East country. Ten years ago, on the first anniversary of his assassination, the charity concert was renamed in honour of Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. “In honouring Rabin, we are also able to remind Germans of the efforts he invested in building bridges towards reconciliation between Arabs and Jews – a process that was stopped in its tracks by a single bullet,” Feilcke said.

“Today, Israel is more than ever in need of our solidarity. Through the funds that we have been able to raise, we will continue to do our best to promote projects that will further the cause of peaceful coexistence between the peoples of the Middle East,” Feilcke, a former member of parliament said.

Charitable cause

The profits from this year’s charity concert will go to support the village of Kfar Tikwa, a community of 200 mentally and emotionally challenged people who through special projects and therapy are trying to live out their lives as full citizens.

Feilcke, who is married to an Israeli, was the first politician to propose moving Germany’s capital from Bonn to Berlin. During the recent Israeli-Lebanese crisis, he led six members of the DIG through northern Israel in a sign of solidarity with the people there. During this summer’s missile attacks, Liel did not hesitate to go into the bunkers of northern Israel and sing for the children there. She also raised over 1 million dollars for children that were physically and psychologically injured during the war.

Liel Kolet was born in Tel Aviv 17 years ago. Five years ago, she successfully beat over 15,000 competitors to win a song competition, in Italy. Overnight she became a star. Her name spread through the internet like wildfire, when she was accompanied by former president Bill Clinton in singing John Lennon’s “Imagine”, at a gala marking Shimon Peres’ 80th birthday.

Her road to fame brought her onto the stages with the likes of U2’s Bono, Elton John, Brian Adams, the Scorpions, and Pink. Most Israelis know her for her pop and dance hits. “However, I have been concentrating on music which spreads the message of peace and freedom. The ballads I sing are supposed to communicate this message via the ethnic sounds that can be found within the instruments that I have brought along with me from Israel,” Liel said in an interview for the DIG magazine.

For further information: Tel.: +49 (30) 28395215, www.digberlin.de, schalom@digberlin.de