Point of View. Sister Act: San Francisco and Haifa

Check out this striking piece of interactive public art down by the San Francisco Cruise ship terminal.  There is an identical piece in Haifa.

San Francisco and Haifa,  two "Cities by the Bay" have been sister cities since 1973.  Today's installation of "Point of View" is just one in a series of cultural and sporting events that have tied the 2 communities together.

Matthew Passmore from Oakland's MoreLab  and Israeli artist Saron Paz collaborated on the design and execution of the project.

The installations feature panoramic cameras, atop identical towers, allowing visitors in each country a glimpse into the other.

Check it out.

Sister Act

For 41 years, San Francisco has enjoyed a "sister city" relationship with that other "City by the Bay", Haifa.  Both cities have a diverse population, are centers for high tech innovation and are located astride an earthquake fault.  Both cities are "sanctuary cities ' as well, with Haifa providing sanctuary for the beleaguered people of the Bahia faith.

The sisters are about to get closer. Within the next year or so, San Francisco's mayor, Ed Lee will visit Haifa to continue to build a foundation of cultural collaboration and innovation between the two cities.

Via the J Weekly, the Northern California Jewish Bulletin

"I am excited to announce that I plan to take a sister-city visit to Haifa very soon," Lee said. "But we're not going to wait until 2016 to deepen our ties with Israel. I am also excited to announce that, after conversations with Consul General Andy David, I have directed my arts commission to move forward with a cultural exchange right away....

"We are going to build around the theme of arts and innovation, seeking out the most cutting-edge and interesting artists in Israel and developing a strong exchange program with San Francisco-based artists," Lee said. "I am excited to see what these creative minds come up with."

The San Francisco Arts Commission and the S.F.-based Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest will spearhead the cultural exchange, and the JCRC, the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation, the San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee and Israeli officials will collaborate on the initiative, according to Arthur Wachtel, chairman of the sister city committee.

The sister city relationship has the potential to open up new venues of innovation, cooperation and creative exchanges between our "Cities by the Bay", brightening the future for all of our people.

San Francisco and Haifa: Celebrating 40 years as sister cities

In 1973, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a resolution establishing “the creation of a sister city affiliation between San Francisco and the City of Haifa, State of Israel" designed to promote travel, trade, cultural exchanges, and international understanding.  

Both San Francisco and Haifa are located on a bay,  both have a diverse population, both are centers of high-tech, and both sit on an earthquake fault. Just as San Francisco functions as a "sanctuary" city,  Haifa too provided a sanctuary for people of the Bahai faith, and today is the home of the Bahai World center.

This week  the two "cities by the bay " marked the 40th anniversary of their sister city relationship.

From the website of  the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest 

 Mayor Edwin M. Lee, Consul General Andy David, Charlotte Mailliard Schultz (Chief of Protocol), Senator Mark Leno, City Supervisor Scott Weiner, Arthur Wachtel, Chair of the San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee,  and many others joined in celebrating the 40th year of Sister City relations between the two cities by the bay.

Guests included heads of Jewish organizations and members of the Sister City Committee, including Deputy Consul General Eyal Naor, Tracy Harding, Regional Director of the U.S. Department of State and Fuad Sweiss, City Engineer.

 

Established in 1973, the Sister City agreement has gained increased momentum in recent years, generating the visit of Haifa Mayor Yahav to San Francisco in 2010, a game between the Maccabi Haifa basketball team and the Golden State Warriors in 2012, and an official delegation visit from San Francisco to Haifa in May this year, including emergency management personnel, health officials and military staff.

 

Mayor Lee affirmed the vital role of the Sister City relationship in promoting deeper mutual understanding and cooperation, sharing the vision of Mayor Yahav, who spoke during his 2010 visit of the role of Haifa as a model for coexistence in the Middle East: "What is outstanding about the fabric of the people is that all parts, all sectors within the Haifa society are living in full peace more than 100 years."

Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin didn't know his city was a den of apartheid policies until the good people of Sacramento told him so.

From an article in the Jewish press by Lori Lowenthal Marcus

While the Israeli city of Ashkelon has been physically assaulted by rockets and bombs hurled by Israel’s haters in Gaza, haters abroad are doing their best to assault Ashkelon in other ways.

There is a battle now taking place to prevent the city of Sacramento, California, from becoming a sister-city to Ashkelon, Israel. The battle is being waged on the internet and phone lines, in the lead-up to a Sacramento City Council meeting on the topic which will take place on August 14.

Radical anti-Israel activists are distributing hate literature portraying Arabs who live in Ashkelon as second-class citizens “without the same rights, benefits or access to land as Jewish Israelis.”

Barry Broad was the chair of the Sacramento Jewish Community Relations Council in 2009 when Bethlehem became a sister City to Sacramento, in an initiative supported by the Jewish Community in hopes of creating broader outreach and multi-cultural understanding. When the Sacramento City council approved the Bethlehem initiative, they also made a commitment that they would establish a sister-city relationship with a town in Israel. The meeting on Tuesday August 14 will determine if the Sacramento intends on honoring this earlier commitment.

The article continues:

Broad says he isn’t trying to have a battle over the Arab-Israeli conflict, “they have enough of that over there.” The concept of establishing sister-cities is to “reach out to other people, to create people to people contact,” and Broad believes that will happen between people in Sacramento and the people in Ashkelon. He is far less hopeful that the pro-Palestinian activists want anything like that with the pro-Israel groups even within Sacramento.

“I was in the room when leaders of the Bethlehem Initiative, some of whom are also in the vanguard of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions groups, pledged in front of several City Council members that they would engage in dialogue and open communications with the Sacramento Jewish community,” recalled Broad. “They have refused.”

What can you do to help? Start by signing this petition
And please consider coming to the City Council meeting, Tuesday Aug 14, in Sacramento.

This is more than a local issue- this is about the continued demonization of Israel in the public sphere. Its incumbent upon all of us to fight back.

San Francisco and Haifa: Sister Cities

Haifa and San Francisco are sister cities- the reasons seem obvious. Both are cities on a hill, both have a diverse population, both are centers of high-tech, and both sit on an earthquake fault. Just as San Francisco functions as a "sanctuary" city, Haifa too provided a sanctuary for people of the Bahai faith, and today is the home of the Bahai World center. Last week, Haifa mayor Yona Yahav came to San Francisco, to celebrate and promote Haifa's 35 year old relationship with the "City by the bay".

While here, Yahav attended a screening at the Kabuki Sundance Theater of the Israeli film “The Matchmaker,” which was filmed in Haifa. He also spoke at the World Affairs Council discussing Haifa as a model of coexistence in the Middle East. Haifa, with a population of almost 600,000 is third-largest city in Israel. Haifa’s residents consist of Jews, Arabs, Christians, Bahai, and other communities living side-by-side. His theory as to why his city seems to be an island of Arab-Jewish cooperation. “In our city,” he said, “nothing is holy.”

Stronger relations are being promoted between San Francisco and Haifa, sister cities with much in common. How's that BDS movement going, btw?