At a certain stage, Daniel Oren went abroad to perfect his musical studies, away from an hostile environment that called people like him "stinking arab" and "dirty Jew". He developed an international brilliant career as a musical conductor, with Italy being the country that opened all possible doors for him.
As for his identity, it appeared he didn't have any dilemma about that. He chose his mother's orthodox jewish one (he wears a skullcap, as all jewish male observants do).
At the other end, is the story of Juliano (name sounds italian , but he's not) . Juliano Mer Hamis, a gifted, charismatic actor was born in Nazareth, Israel ,also to an arab father and a jewish mother. He grew up in a heavy political atmosphere, his parents being prominent members of the arab-israeli communist party.
Music has beneficial influence: it conveys messages of peace and tolerance, it calms , soothes and unites the spirits. Politics, on the other hand, stirs up negative emotions, feeds conflicts and frustrations. arouses violence.
From the newspapers I learnt that Juliano, the actor, gave his employers a hard time. Once , he slapped the face of a young actress, on another occasion he peed in the office of his boss, the director of the theater where he performed. At a certain point, he started to give interviews in which he claimed openly he feels alien in the jewish society. His parallel /next step was to join his mother in her political and human rights activity for palestinians . He directed some films on these issues . fully identifying himself with his palestinian movie heroes.
Daniel, and Juliano - two people with one similar complex background - that of parents belonging to a different religion and ethnicity, in a region of interminable wars and conflicts. Their talents and their dominant jewish mothers helped shape the thorny path into something that ,more or less, suited their personal character and vocation.
