Ariel Zilber's "Acceptance Speech"

At last night's ACUM awards ceremony, Ariel Zilber took the stage as Mosh Ben Ari started to perform a cover of Zilber's song "V'Eich Shelo" and apologized to Ben Ari for interrupting, but said that he had some things he really wanted to say. Zilber addressed the controversy around his Lifetime Achievement Award being rescinded due to pressure initiated and promoted by left-wing singer Ahinoam Nini, without mentioning her by name.

"I apologize for interrupting the song, but I have something to say. . . . I would like to thank the members of ACUM for awarding me the Lifetime Achievement Award--thank you very much.

"I am the grandson of Aryeh and Sara Zilber, of blessed memory, who were among the founders of Tel Aviv, in the distant past. I am the son of Bracha Tzifra, of blessed memory, who was influential in defining Israeli music, and Ben Ami Zilber, a violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. I am from here, from this land, and am thankful for that fact every day. I am like a lone pine tree [a reference to one of his most popular songs--ed.], standing against fire and water, expressing my feelings through notes.

"All of this divisiveness is not easy for me. I am against boycotts and in favor of allowing a person to express their opinion. I am a proud Jew and Israeli. Let's remain connected to one another through [the prism of] our childhood memories.(Those are not my words, but the words of Yuval Nissenboim, my producer.)

". . . Alongside the feelings of happiness and love--'Love thy neighbor as thy love thyself'--I feel that I have been made the punching bag for groups with agendas and frustrated artists who are constantly trying to reinvent my 'extremism.'

"Now, in my own words, I'd like to say--the members of the ACUM directorate have trampled the right of the artist to express their own opinion, they have divorced the songs from the artist. . . . They told me (they were rewarding me for) songs from a long time ago. But don't the songs I have written recently count? Songs born of all sorts of thoughts I have, (for example) a song about a shark and sardines [a reference to a protest song he released in 2008], does that count, or just those songs that are meaningless? I'd like to know if that was their intent. . . . What can you do? There is a person behind the songs. You missed a golden opportunity to be an example of unity in the nation and the freedom of opinion that we so need.

"I would return the prize, but I cannot turn my back on the outpouring of love and support I have received over the last few days. . . .

"At first I thought it was only the directorate, but then I found out that Yurik Ben David said that he doesn't see anything wrong with disqualifying someone because of his political views.

I would (like to) shut down ACUM (as it is today) and build a new ACUM, one that said there is room for every opinion in this nation; like in the Talmud, where every person has at least 10 different opinions, and everyone (freely) expresses all those opinions. And ACUM (today) is not fulfilling its mission. . . .

"That's what I have to say. I am an Israeli and a Jew, one of you. I stand here as a strong pine tree in the eye of the storm. (ACUM,) Get down off the tree. . . ."

 After the ceremony, Zilber told reporters, "I will not let these leftists destroy my life."