Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Netta Barzilai’s Hanukkah performance lights up NBA game in Los Angeles

The Israeli star sang at the L.A. Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors game at the Staples Center on the first night of the Jewish Festival of Lights.

Israeli singer Netta Barzilai performs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles during a Hanukkah celebration on the second night of the holiday, Nov. 29, 2021. Credit: Courtesy of the Consulate General of Israel.
Israeli singer Netta Barzilai performs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles during a Hanukkah celebration on the second night of the holiday, Nov. 29, 2021. Credit: Courtesy of the Consulate General of Israel.

Israeli singer Netta Barzilai gave a Hanukkah performance on Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Barzilai, famous for winning the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with “Toy,” performed at the L.A. Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors basketball game on the first night of the eight-day holiday.

She took to the stage and sang “Bassa-Sababa,” the first single that she released after her victory in the international competition.

The candle-lighting ceremony took place prior to her performance. Hosted by the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, it was attended by more than 100 students and local community representatives.

“Tonight, we celebrate Hanukkah,” said Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest Hillel Newman, who led the ceremony. “The Jewish community lights candles against religious oppression—communities coming together to mark freedom and equality.”

“Israel will do everything in our power to disarm Hamas,” Danny Danon said during a U.N. Security Council debate. “The question is, when will you?”
Han Tran, whose term on the Washington State Human Rights Commission expired at the end of June, wrote that “antisemitism was being instrumentalized to justify the slaughter of Palestinians.”
The 65th Israel Festival opened with a breathtaking aerial performance over the Hinnom Valley, recreating an iconic 1987 crossing between east and west Jerusalem.
The meeting comes amid questions about the direction of the war in Iran, with Trump continuing to pursue negotiations with the Islamic Republic after suggesting last week that he was prepared to carry out a “higher level” of strikes.
“There are very sad, bad actors who go about their frustrations in the wrong ways, but we can’t let that keep us down,” Melissa Levy of Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center told JNS.
Oleksiy Tsyapalo’s lawyer told the court that his client wasn’t dangerous and that “as a Jewish man, standing right next to him, I do not feel any threat from my client.”