As you can see in this video, Awad gave the concert in front of a large crowd filling up Mary's Well Square (crowd shots start around 0:47)Mira Anwar Awad, an Arab-Israeli, will be singing at a festival in Nazareth, a predominantly Arab-Israeli city on Saturday. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), based in Ramallah, demanded the mayor cancel her appearance. Why? Because Awad represented Israel in the 2009 Eurovision song contest.
PACBI accused Awad of “participating in Israeli and Zionist propaganda… revealing her intentional choice to turn her back on her people’s difficulties.” But Awad will sing on Saturday night anyway and the isolationist attitude of PACBI is not doing Arab-Israelis any favors. As they have not removed Awad from the festival, the Nazareth city leadership seems to agree.
Awad wrote on her Facebook page:
Nazareth concert last night was one of the best concerts I had in my life!! Thank you to all the audience that came, despite all the attempts for disturbance the concert went smoothly and the energy was amazing! I got a huge hug from you people of Nazareth yesterday, also from the people of my village Rameh who came, thank you:-)And also:
Today's word in Arabic is Jadal (جدل) and it means Controversy. I know I evoke controversy, my complex identity, my nonconformism, it's all too complex of a message to be conveyed in one or two or three statuses. One must have the patience to follow me on the long run in order to get a clear picture of what I believe and what I do. However, the controversy exists around me and not inside me, and there came a time when I got tired of everyone wanting a piece of me, or the WHOLE of me to themselves or to their "side", and when I was asked for the one time too many to show where my loyalty lies, I came to the conclusion that I don't need to prove anything to anyone. It is clear to me that I have headed my own way, with the hope that "my way" would speak to some people out there. I never did anything in the purpose of being liked or accepted by others and am sure not going to start at the age of 37!!:-) This is who I am, woman, musician, humanitarian, animal lover, daughter and sister, funny girl who likes sushi, who knows how to live and let live, who happens to be half Palestinian half Bulgarian living in Israel. Not easy, but not impossible, life being just as complicated as we make it.Obviously, Arab Israelis didn't boycott her concert and it was a smashing success.
This shows yet again that the boycotters don't represent how Arabs really think, but are instead an attempt to impose their own skewed viewpoints on the world. The people who claim that BDS represents what Palestinian Arabs want are, as always, lying.
(h/t Elias)