leonardcohenforum.com

After the concert in Israel, I believe the profits were donated to a charity which helped the families of those Palestinians/Israelis who had lost family members in the conflict. Does anyone know the name of this charity or its website, please? I have a colleague who is interested in Palestinian affairs, and is currently involved with another charity to help them.

Vince,

I believe this was The Fund for Reconciliation, Tolerance, and Peace.

Best regards,
Mary

I wonder if Leonard would play a concert actually in Palestine? In my head, I see Israelis having to go to Palestine to see the show, being moved, and leaving with some measure of peace on their minds. In reality, I suppose it's the other side of impossible.

Hi turnedintogold,

When the Palestinians were protesting the fact that Leonard was going to give a concert in Israel (they wanted to punish the Israelis by depriving them of Leonard's presence!), Leonard very graciously offered to give a concert in Palestine too. At first, they said okay, but in the end, the Palestinian leaders turned him down, saying that if he was going to perform in Israel, they didn't want him in Palestine (their loss, for sure!!). Fortunately, some Palestinians were able to make it to the concert in Israel (there was a photo in the N.Y. Times that revealed their presence, & it was mentioned in the article that a number of them were there - good for them!!). I'm sure that Leonard's presence in that part of the world had an uplifting & healing effect for anyone whose heart was open enough to receive the wondrous energy that Leonard Cohen emanates through his profound, sacred, beautiful Art!! It is sad that the Palestinian leaders would not allow their people the opportunity to have a more direct experience of The Brilliant Master's amazing & transformative presence!!

I live in Tel Aviv and I can make you feel quite assured that any Palestinian that comes anyway from outside of Israel to attend any concert will not be harmed at all.

On a differant tone, if I would go to see a concert (perhaps even a Leonard Cohen concert) in Ramallah for example, I may not come back home alive.

See the differance here?

You people are good people and have good, wishful hearts, but you have no idea at all about what you think regarding the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

The other day I read something in the papers about a Palestinian whom, in the past was a school janiter in one of the Kibbutz in the north. His wife got ill and needed a heart surgery which costed about USD 15,000 to do and he of course has no insurance. He asked for help amongst the teachers in the school and they collected money for him and gave his wife the opportunity to have that operation. She is now well, I hear.

Most Pals know that we are good to them. We can make their lives 10 times better than any other Arab living in any other Arab country. Already the Pals who live within Israel enjoy so much freedom and high living standards it's a shame that they waste so much time in just hating us instead of trying to apply for all the good things we can offer them.

seadove wrote:I live in Tel Aviv and I can make you feel quite assured that any Palestinian that comes anyway from outside of Israel to attend any concert will not be harmed at all.

On a differant tone, if I would go to see a concert (perhaps even a Leonard Cohen concert) in Ramallah for example, I may not come back home alive.

Seadove, then I think we have to give a BIG thank you to whatever forces of protection prevented Leonard Cohen from giving a concert there!! I remember that I was actually very concerned about him going even to Israel, because of all the controversy around it; & I was very relieved when I read that, when Leonard got off the plane, he was not only surrounded by body guards, but he also had a decoy (I also wondered who had the interesting & rather bizarre job of being Leonard Cohen's decoy!!). And that surely tells us something about the risk involved with Leonard going to either Israel or Palestine, & it also highlights the generosity, courage, & love that Leonard manifested, in showing up for his devotees in that part of the world, regardless of the controversy!!

holydove wrote:

seadove wrote:I live in Tel Aviv and I can make you feel quite assured that any Palestinian that comes anyway from outside of Israel to attend any concert will not be harmed at all.

On a differant tone, if I would go to see a concert (perhaps even a Leonard Cohen concert) in Ramallah for example, I may not come back home alive.

Seadove, then I think we have to give a BIG thank you to whatever forces of protection prevented Leonard Cohen from giving a concert there!! I remember that I was actually very concerned about him going even to Israel, because of all the controversy around it; & I was very relieved when I read that, when Leonard got off the plane, he was not only surrounded by body guards, but he also had a decoy (I also wondered who had the interesting & rather bizarre job of being Leonard Cohen's decoy!!). And that surely tells us something about the risk involved with Leonard going to either Israel or Palestine, & it also highlights the generosity, courage, & love that Leonard manifested, in showing up for his devotees in that part of the world, regardless of the controversy!!

Holydove, do you know how much Leonard is loved over here in Israel? Honey, we don't think that Leonard is a Canadian, or an American or whatever, for us he is an Israeli. He is one of our heritage. He is one of our biggest VIP person that we have. He is ours. He is one of us. He is so important to us you cannot imagine. Do you think that we will ever make a possibility of harm coming to his door? For us he is not just a singer or songwriter. He is Leonard Cohen, do you know what that is? There is only one Leonard Cohen in the world and he is a national treasure. We don't have resources here in Israel. Not so much, anyway. But we have people like Leonard Cohen and that in itself is one of the most important Jewish heritage we ever have. He can live in any place he wants in the world. He can also live in Timbuktu for hell we care, but he will always be considered ours for life.

I want to say one more thing. Do you remember when he was here for the last concert and he blessed the crowds? We took that in the utmost of seriousness. He is a Cohen, a very important Cohen and he blessed us. Also, I want to remind you that tickets were sold out within 18 hours (!!!!!). This had never happened before with any other artist. The pressure to get tickets was so large that they had to sqweeze in more seating accomodations to ease the pressure. And you know what? Today he is even more famous and more loved. If he would come again to give a concert I think that some 100000 Israelis would attend, I'm not shitting you.