Grammy-award winner Lorde has canceled a planned concert in Israel following backlash over the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians.
The concert was scheduled for June, but pro-Palestinian activists reached out to the 21-year-old New Zealand pop star to complain, and urged her to join a growing boycott movement against Israel.
Two activists from New Zealand, one Palestinian and one Jewish, wrote an open letter to Lorde decrying the treatment of Palestinians. They noted that it’s a particularly difficult time for Palestinians now “after the Trump administration’s decision to move” the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in an apparent bid to shut down debate about who has rights to the city.
“A performance in Israel sends the wrong message,” writer Justine Sachs and teacher Nadia Abu-Shanab wrote in the letter. “Playing in Tel Aviv will be seen as giving support to the policies of the Israeli government, even if you make no comment on the political situation.”
The pleas were effective with Lorde.
The Jewish activist, Justine Sachs, made her Twitter account private when people started looking at her extremist positions on - well, everything. I grabbed this screenshot of two of her recent tweets showing that she is against all nation-states and she would love for everyone to boycott the US as well:
Hey @lorde , the person who you thought made such great points about Israel also would love everyone to boycott the United States. Will you listen to her?— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) December 25, 2017
Or is your newfound morality (based on info from someone filled with hate) limited to the Jewish state? pic.twitter.com/ELy9yc7qr8
Of course, no answer on Lorde's side.
But Lorde did claim a mantle of bravery for succumbing to BDS pressure (which, as we've seen in the past, usually includes naked threats:
“Hey guys, so about this Israel show,” she said in a statement reported by The Jerusalem Post. “I’ve received an overwhelming number of messages and letters ... and I think the right decision at this time is to cancel the show. I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one. I’m truly sorry to reverse my commitment to come play for you. I hope one day we can all dance.”
Here's what Lorde's calculus really is. The fear of death threats for playing Israel against no fear at all for listening to the haters. (I tweeted this earlier):
Bravery is doing the right thing, not to submit to threats (and breaking agreements) while pretending to take the moral high ground. An appeal to not hurt Palestinians' feelings, as if they really care about another concert in Israel, means more to her than hurting the feelings of her Jewish (former) fans, because the Palestinians might decide to send a few letter bombs her way and the Jews - won't.
And you can be sure that this ignorant singer who finds arguments from anarchist haters to be convincing is way too proud to admit that she did make the wrong call on this one.
(I was pleased, though, to see that one of Israel's supporters used a poster of mine on Lorde's Facebook page as people argued about this.)
