“People back in America say that Jewish life in Ukraine is finished, that there used to be a lot of Jews here, and now there aren’t, after all that happened. I don’t look at it this way. Ukraine was always a Jewish place, with a Jewish history and a Jewish identity, and will always be.”
Tel Aviv, Israel – 26th of March, 2014: The Iron Dome (Kippat Barzel) anti-missile system is displayed in the city’s central Rabin Square, as part of the national Science Day held to celebrate Israel’s technological advancements and inspire its youth to study science and contribute to the country’s growing hi-tech industry.
Jerusalem, Israel – 29th of March, 2014: Singer songwriter Amy McKnight gave a goodbye concert at the 4:20 bar, in what could have been her last performance in the city for a while. Aya Gavriel, Shaul Zofef and Ayala Shamir played with her in an evening of “mellow, painful rock” which marked what is a bit of a constant of life in Israel – watching people leave the country and go somewhere else.
When hundreds of thousands of Jews from North-Africa and the Middle East were forced to flee their homes because of conflict between their countries and Israel, many found shelter in the empty houses of the Musrara quarter of Jerusalem, an Arab neighbourhood which became a no man’s land after the fighting of 1948 that divided the city. An exhibition currently on display at the quarter’s community centre tells theirs stories and those of their children through a collection of group portraits from the ’50s and ’60s.