Little orphans in the snow
With nowhere to call a home
Start their singing
Waiting through the summertime
To thaw your hearts in wintertime
That’s why they’re singing…
Waiting for a sign to turn blood into wine
The sweet taste in your mouth–turned bitter in its glass
Israel…in Israel
Israel…in Israel
Shattered fragments of the past
Meet in veins on the stained glass
Like the lifeline in your palm
Red and green reflects the scene
Of a long forgotten dream
There were princes and there were kings
Now hidden in disguise–cheap wrappings of lies
Keep your heart alive with a song from inside
Even though we’re all alone
We are never on our own when we’re singing
There’s a man who’s looking in
And he smiles a toothless grin
Because he’s singing…
See some people shine with glee
But their song is jealousy
Their hate is clanging–maddening
In Israel…will they sing Happy Noel
Israel…in Israel
Israel…in Israel
In Israel will they sing Happy Noel

Given the preponderance of pro palestinian bands, my initial inclination was to write off the song as anti-Israel. But then I saw it was released in 1980, before it became well and truly popular to trash the Jewish state.

Then I read this:

In early September 1976, the Bromley Contingent followed the Pistols to France, where Siouxsie was beaten up for wearing a black armband with a swastika on it. She claimed her intent was to shock the bourgeoisie, not to make a political statement. She would later write the songs “Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)” (in memory of the anti-Nazi artist John Heartfield) and the single “Israel”.

But the more I read about this band, the more I saw it was hard to get a read on them.

What about the accusation of anti-Semitism? Come on, there was that original lyric in “Love In A Void”: “Too many Jews for my liking”…

“That was a Severin lyric.”

You sang it.

“Yeah, I sang it, but I took it as it was meant, as ‘skinflints’. Obviously a lot of people didn’t get it that way, so it was changed.”

Sadly, not in time to prevent the Far Right from claiming Siouxsie as one of their own. Dismayed by the NF’s attendance at gigs, she resorted to wearing a Star of David T-shirt as a middle finger to the BNP.

The sad postscript to all of this is that Siouxsie Sioux seems to have succumbed to the anti-Israel disease in recent times.

Nevertheless, Israel is this Saturday night’s music clip, partly because of its haunting lyrics, and partly because of the interesting story behind it.

Getty Images

Katy Perry insists that her parents don’t speak for her after the fundamental Christians delivered a shocking sermon putting down Jews and praising their daughter’s recent divorce for bringing more followers to their church.

After news broke of her parents’ harsh words in church on Sunday, Katy tweeted, “NO ONE speaks for me. Not a blog, magazine, ‘close source’ or my family.”

According to The Sun newspaper, Katy’s father Keith Hudson told his congregation at the Church on the Rise in Ohio:

“You know how to make the Jew jealous? Have some money, honey. You go to LA and they own all the Rolex and diamond places. Walk down a part of LA where we live and it is so rich it smells. You ever smell rich? They are all Jews, hallelujah. Amen.”

I’m guessing daddy would have also disapproved of Katy’s prayer for Israel.

UPDATE by Brian of London:

The Blaze actually rang her parents up and, not surprising really, it seems he was taken out of context and probably slandered.

Why the press is so desperate to hunt down Christian Jew hatred when Muslims pray 17 times a day for the death of all Jews, I’m not so sure.

Rather than a “sick blast” or a “rant,” he explained that the comments were said in jest and that there was certainly no harm meant by them. “I was joking. I have said this for years – I’ve said it in other churches before,” he continued.

Just before the comments were made, Keith said that he was talking about and praying for small business owners — mainly individuals who were self-employed. “I was talking about how God wants people to prosper and to be a blessing,” he explains. “God wants to bless you so you can be a blessing.”

The worst thing I can find in the piece is some minor mention of talking to Messianic Jews, but then I’ve also “talked” to Jews for Jesus though admittedly the conversation was one sided, short and fairly rude.

No sirree. Judging by the buzz, it has apparently been Chassidic Reggae Superstar Matisyhau’s decision to shave off his beard!

In the wake of his hair-raising yet-somewhat-cryptic announcement, speculation mounted. Had the artist formerly known as Matt done an REM and lost his religion? Or was this a close encounter with his shaver of a more superficial kind?

Matisyahu first alluded to the fact that he had not turned away from Judaism the day after his initial announcement, tweeting:

For all those who are confused:today I went to the Mikva and Shul just like yesterday

But in a subsequent tweet, he wrote:

Thought of an analogy on the way home from Shul this morning. Everyone was walking with plastic bags picking up there dog’s shit.

Apparently, he had not only shaved off his beard, but also developed a bit of a potty mouth (plus bad grammar, although that may have always been there).

This, however, did not mean he was no longer an Orthodox Jew. After all, I am one, and I tend to swear like a banshee (I like to blame it on my Australian upbringing).

Anyway, if there was still any doubt where Matisyahu stood in terms of his religious observance, I present you the following: 

Ok, now that we have cleared that up, can we get back to worrying about Iran’s march towards a nuclear weapon?

I found out about them after receiving the following message via Israellycool’s contact form:

I wanted to reach out because the drummer from this pro-American band is Jewish and asked me to get in touch with your website.  I thought you would be interested in a story of a pro-American / pro-Conservative rock band in New York that just got denied permit to play Zuccotti Park because of the message the band is sending mean time a OWS band gets to perform with out having any permits…  I guess having a band play songs that show appreciation for our troops and country is not allowed??????? 

More on the band here.

Update: He’s Israeli!