A16 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, AUGUST 2 , 2020
was called to serve in the U.S.
Army also when he was at the
peak of his success in 1958.
For Kirel, who had to inform
Atlantic Records during the con-
tract negotiations that she would
be going into the army for two
years, fulfilling her military ser-
vice was never a question —
though she could have received
an exemption on health grounds
because she has only one kidney.
“I felt that because I was
famous I had to serve to set an
example to others,” Kirel said. “I
know people abroad will proba-
bly not understand this, not
understand why I have put every-
thing on hold, but it was clear to
me that I had to do this.”
Roberto Ben Shoshan, Noa’s
manager, said splitting time be-
tween her work and army duties
is having an impact on her
career, “but she is doing some-
thing that is very important to
her.”
Dan Arav, dean of media stud-
ies at the College of Management
Academic Studies in Rishon
L eZion, said it is mutually benefi-
cial when a huge star enlists in
the military.
“ The army is always trying to
project a positive image. It is part
of their marketing tactics, and
for those who are joining the
army, they want to tell them-
selves they are doing something
of significance,” he said.
During Israel’s early years, the
army was “the main platform to
boost the careers of young, rising
stars,” said Raz Shechnik, who
writes about culture and media
for the Israeli newspaper Yedioth
Ahronoth. He said nearly all of
Israel’s iconic musicians got their
start in one of the army bands.
But by the end of the 1970s, the
army had deemed musical en-
sembles unnecessary and all but
the orchestra was disbanded.
Some young Israeli celebrities
started looking for ways out of
the army because it interfered
with their careers, most notably
supermodel Bar Refaeli, and
many faced sharp public criti-
cism for shirking a duty most
Israelis see as an important re-
sponsibility.
More recently, the army has
sought ways to accommodate
celebrities, Shechnik said, for
instance by offering Kirel and her
pop star boyfriend Yonatan Mar-
gi a way to maintain their fame,
keep their privacy and serve like
others their age.
The army has yet to find a
solution, however, for the grow-
ing number of teenagers who
have become stars on social me-
dia platforms such as Instagram
and TikTok. Anna Zak, a model
with more than 1 million follow-
ers on Instagram, and Gal
Gvaram, with more than 350,00 0
followers on Instagram and
60,000 fans on TikTok, are good
examples.
Both are serving but not on the
talent track. Instead, Zak was
deemed an “active artist” and put
to work in the army’s induction
center, her famous face regularly
used for public service messages,
and Gvaram was placed in an
administrative position in army
headquarters, allowing her time
to post to her followers.
“People aren’t accepted to the
talent track just because they are
popular on social media,” said
the senior army manpower offi-
cer. “But we are sensitive to their
careers while they’re in the
army.”
For Kirel, even with the chal-
lenges, she welcomes her new
role.
“Obviously, I am performing at
much smaller venues and in
front of a much smaller audience
than I am used to, but I am there
with the soldiers, and we are all
wearing the same uniform. It is
very meaningful for me,” she
said.
[email protected]BY RUTH EGLASHraanana, israel — As one of
Israel’s biggest pop stars, Noa
Kirel’s shining face adorns bill-
boards, and she appears daily in
an array of commercials, reality
television shows and teen dra-
mas. Famous since 14, her You-
Tube videos have garnered mil-
lions of viewers, and last month
she signed a multimillion-dollar
music deal with Atlantic Re-
cords, reportedly the largest by
any Israeli artist with a U.S. label.
But for the foreseeable future,
every media interview, every
public appearance, every televi-
sion taping and photo shoot
must be strictly coordinated with
the Israeli army.
Kirel, 19, was drafted into the
army six months ago under Isra-
el’s mandatory conscription law.
As teen pop superstardom en-
counters military conformity, it
is proving to be a challenge for
the wildly popular singer — who
cannot walk down the street
without being mobbed by fans —
as well as for the army brass.
“It’s not easy, but there is
something very authentic about
it,” Kirel said during an interview
at her family home.
When she’d breezed into the
room, with long sleek hair, bright
blue eyes and a flawless complex-
ion, she was instantly charismat-
ic and immediately fussed over
by her manager, publicist and
mother. Two soldiers were also
present, assigned to monitor and
clarify her comments.
In the short time she has
served, Noa, as she is affection-
ately known by her fans, has
already stirred a handful of con-
troversies. In February, on the
day of her draft, a nerve-racking
affair at which recruits part from
their parents, the paparazzi were
there in full force vying for a first
photo of her in uniform.
After a month of basic train-
ing, which Kirel said she enjoyed
because she was ordered around
like every other recruit and
forced to do “normal” chores
such as cleaning toilets, she was
placed on the “talent track,” al-
lowed to form her own music act
and dispatched to perform for
the troops.
I n no time, however, a short
video clip of her singing with two
male backup dancers clad in
military fatigues and heavy com-
bat boots went viral, drawing
ridicule and criticism on social
media. The backlash caused the
army to cancel all military dance
roles.
More recently, a commercial
for a cable television company
featuring Kirel in U.S. military
fatigues singing “Let the Sun-
shine In,” from the musical
“Hair,” left some in the army’s top
echelon uncomfortable at the
sight of an active-duty soldier in
a foreign uniform performing in
a video inspired by the 1960s
antiwar movement.
“The Israeli army has always
enlisted soldiers from all differ-
ent backgrounds and with all
sorts of needs and talents, in-
cluding famous ones,” said a
senior officer in the army’s man-
power directorate, who spoke on
the condition of anonymity a c-
cording to military protocol. “It’s
a challenge having Noa, but the
army’s goal is to draft everyone
and find them a place where they
can serve Israel in their own
way.”
Most Israelis are drafted into
the military at 18 with the excep-
tion of most Arab and ultra-Or-
thodox Jewish citizens, and while
the army has absorbed celebri-
ties into ranks before — think
“Wonder Woman” actress Gal
Gadot, who was already crowned
Miss Israel before her service — it
has not dealt with anyone quite
on this scale.
A recent article in Billboard
magazine likened Kirel’s situa-
tion to that of Elvis Presley, who
The World
IRAN
Calif. man accused of
leading mosque attack
Iran on Saturday said it had
detained Jamshid Sharmahd, an
Iranian American leader of a
little-known California-based
militant opposition group, for
allegedly planning a 2008 attack
on a mosque that left 14 people
dead and wounded more than
200.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry
also alleged that the Tondar
militant wing of the monarchist
Kingdom Assembly of Iran
planned other attacks around the
Islamic Republic.
It was unclear how Sharmahd,
65, was detained by intelligence
officials. The Intelligence
Ministry called it a “complex
operation,” without elaborating.
It published a picture,
purportedly of a blindfolded
Sharmahd, on its website.
Iranian Intelligence Minister
Mahmoud Alavi later said on
state TV that Sharmahd had been
arrested in Iran.
Requests for comment to the
Glendora-based Kingdom
Assembly of Iran were not
immediately answered.
The U.S. State Department,
which mentioned that Sharmahd
earlier had been targeted for
assassination in a 2018 report
called “Outlaw Regime: A
Chronicle of Iran’s Destructive
Activities,” did not immediately
respond to a request for
comment.
— Associated PressCrane collapse in India leaves 11
dead: A huge crane collapsed
during load testing at a
government-run shipyard in
southern India, killing at least 11
workers, a district administrator
said. Television footage showed
the crane hitting the ground with
full force and breaking into pieces
at the Hindustan Shipyard in
Vishakhapatnam, a port city in
Andhra Pradesh state. Vinay
Chand, a district government
administrator, said most of the 11
victims were contract laborers
and that five others were in the
hospital.25 arrested in deaths due to
tainted alcohol in Punjab:
Indian police arrested 25 people
on suspicion of selling tainted
alcohol that killed at least 69people this past week in northern
Punjab state, a police officer said
Saturday. A state government
statement said six police officers
and seven other government
officials have been suspended for
failure to prevent the sale of
tainted liquor as a magistrate
began a probe into the deaths
reported from three state districts
of Tarn Taran, Amritsar and
Batala.Protests continue for third week
in Russia: T housands of
demonstrators rallied for a third
Saturday in a row in the Russian
Far East city of Khabarovsk to
protest the arrest of their
governor, keeping up a wave of
opposition that has challenged
the Kremlin. Sergei Furgal has
been in a Moscow jail since hisJuly 9 arrest on charges of
involvement in murders that
occurred before his political
career started. He has denied the
charges. Protesters in
Khabarovsk see the charges
against Furgal as unsubstantiated
and are demanding that his trial
take place in his home city.UAE starts up nuclear power
plant: A nuclear power plant in
the United Arab Emirates
successfully started up its first
reactor, authorities said. The
Barakah nuclear power plant in
the Emirates’ far western desert
near the border with Saudi Arabia
reached what scientists called its
“first criticality” on Friday. That’s
when the nuclear chain reaction
within the reactor is self-
sustaining. The $20 billionBarakah nuclear power plant is
the first nuclear power plant on
the Arabian Peninsula.Facebook complies with
Brazilian judge’s order:
Facebook announced it has
obeyed a Brazilian judge’s order
for a worldwide block on the
accounts of 12 of President Jair
Bolsonaro’s supporters who are
under investigation for allegedly
running a fake news network.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre
de Moraes said Friday that the
company had failed to fully
comply with a previous ruling
ordering the accounts to be shut
down, saying they were still
online and publishing by
changing their registration to
locations outside Brazil.
— From news servicesDIGESTA pop artist w ith a multimillion-dollar deal
i s required to surrender some control
of her image to the militaryIsraeli army
copes with
teen stardom
ERAN LEVYCOURTESY OF ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCESN oa Kirel, 19, above in her stage clothes and at right in her
Israeli army u niform, w as d rafted as part of the country's
universal conscription law. “I felt that because I was famous I
had to serve to set an example to others,” s he said.