After Lorde’s courage, why has WOMAD invited Israeli singer to New Zealand?

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Lorde’s decision to pull out of her planned concert in Israel next year is having a profound impact on public discussion here and overseas about Palestine/Israel.

Overall the public reaction reflects the huge shift in opinion from earlier times when New Zealanders stood behind Israel which they saw as a plucky little country surrounded by hostile Arab hordes. A mixture of anti-Arab racism and European guilt regarding the Holocaust sustained strong support for Israel. Backing this up was the Zionist tactic of crying “anti-Semitism” to any criticism of Israel.

Israel promoted itself as the “victim” (and was widely seen as such in the West) and had a free hand to brutalise the people of Palestine with at best muted criticism. Abuses of human rights, blatant violations of international law and thumbing its nose at UN resolutions (including Security Council resolutions) became the norm for Israel.

This “older view” of Israel was neatly summed in Brian Edwards’s facebook post – see Martyn Bradbury’s column. It’s hard to believe an otherwise intelligent person could make such dumb comments.

New Zealanders, and most people around the western world, have moved on. Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, its attacks, invasions and medieval siege of Gaza along with its brutal military occupation of the West Bank have begun to change perceptions.

Israel can only sustain its enormous injustice through brute force and this is politically unsustainable.

There are three main arguments used to oppose BDS:

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  • Selective morality – why boycott Israel when so many other countries abuse human rights?
  • Politics should be kept out of sport – ooops – entertainment.
  • Israel is the only democracy in the middle east and therefore deserves our support.

All these arguments fall over. Not since the campaign to end apartheid in South Africa has an oppressed people so comprehensively called for an international boycott campaign in support of their rights. Palestinians reached this consensus in 2005 when BDS was launched by 170 civil society organisations and we should support it with the vigour we supported the international campaign to isolate apartheid South Africa.

Politics are embedded in sport and entertainment. Just a few years back the Israeli state used their international tennis player Shahar Peer as a poster girl for the Israeli Defence Force. Two years of protests here at the Women’s Open and Peer has not reappeared.

Israel is only a democracy if one regarded apartheid South Africa as a democracy. Setting aside the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza for a moment, in Israel there are two classes of citizen – Palestinian Israelis and Jewish Israelis. Palestinian Israelis are citizens and may vote alongside Jewish Israelis. However, they are denied nationality of Israel (because they are not Jewish) and this means structural discrimination against them across all aspects of Israeli society – structural racism which mirrors that of apartheid South Africa. They are second-class citizens.

This is not democracy.

What next for BDS activism?

Israeli singer Victoria Hanna is due to perform at the New Plymouth WOMAD festival (17-19 March 2018). She should never have been invited to come. Hanna is currently based at the University of California as part of the Visiting Israeli Artist Programme of The Israel Institute who describe their role in these terms –

“By presenting Israeli art, music, film, dance and literature to an international audience, the Israel Institute showcases an important aspect of modern Israel that few people get to see firsthand, and fosters the deeper understanding of Israel that the Institute is committed to inspiring”.

The “deeper understanding of Israel” is code for Zionist propaganda. Hanna is on a propaganda tour for the Israeli state.

Supporting the international boycott of Israel means opposing Hanna’s presence here.

Email WOMAD at info@womad.co.nz and request they cancel the invitation to Victoria Hanna.

32 COMMENTS

  1. Zionist claimed the land of Palestine because of their political ideology. They (Zionist) whom were mostly European Jews (white) were not religious and saw Middle eastern Jews as inferior and discriminated against them because they were too Arab looking in their ways!

    Now we are lead to believe that being a Jew is an ethnic race??? When there are all kinds of Jews globally from different nationalities of different ethnic groups Chinese,Ethiopians,Yemen,Iraq,Egypt,Morocco etc… And to believe that Jews around the world are somehow connected to the ancient Hebrew race is just foolish wishful thinking.

    If anything the Palestinian or if it suits people the Arabs whom lived in that region of Palestine for centuries and are Semites are more likely to be connected to the ancient Hebrew race then an Ashkenazi Jew from Poland
    https://www.livescience.com/40247-ashkenazi-jews-have-european-genes.html

    • Apparently some “Palestinians” think they are descended from Canaanites based on some random names and references in the Bible

      However, the Jewish history in the Bible is extinguished by the Jew hating historical revisionists that are common amongst the White Supremacist setters in New Zealand who think that they have some kind of connection to the land they colonised about 150 years ago, whilst completely denying the 3000+ years of Jewish history in Isreal

      Of course, Jew Hared is a natural instinct, captured by all the Jewish holidays that commemorate attempts to exterminate them ((Purim, Passover, Hannukah etc) and NZ have proudly been Jew Haters for many years. NZ is the only English speaking country in the world to allow Nazi war criminals to immigrate after WW2 without prosecution

      NZ salutes John Minto and his fellow Jew haters in their mission to make the world “Jew Free”. The Holy Qur’an refers to Jews as “Pigs and Apes”, and our glorious leaders in the UN fund Gazan textbooks entitled “How to stab a Jew”

      January 1st 2018. Most “normal” people are having fun with family and friends, but there is no rest for Jew Hatred, until that glorious day when the world is truly “Judenrein”

      • Andy, the only “jew hating” is what seems to be going on in your own mind. You are not convincing in the slightest with your hyperbole.

      • So to criticise Israel equals anti-Semitism/anti-Judaism? I think I’ve heard that one before LOL. I’m Pro-Palestine, anti-Israel. Palestinians are Arabs & Arabs are Semites. I’m of Jewish heritage and considered seriously considered returning to Judaism. (My great-grandfather converted to Anglican christianity in order to marry my Anglican grandmother and I was a pro-Gurionite Left Zionist in my teen years fully supporting Israel but my views have changed. Israel like northern Ireland, Zimbabwe (former Rhodesia), South Africa is the legacy of imperialist/colonialist ventures.

  2. Thank you, John. I’ve sent a letter to WOMAAD this afternoon;

    from: Frank Macskasy
    to: info@womad.co.nz
    date: 31 December 2017 at 12:17
    subject: A Question of Legitimacy

    Kia ora

    I understand that WOMAAD has invited Israeli singer, Victoria Hanna, to perform at the 2018 New Plymouth WOMAD festival.

    New Zealand singer, Lorde, recently announced her courageous decision to abandon her tour of Israel. She made her decision after the issue was brought to her attention, and after a deeper consideration of Israel’s brutal treatment of the Palestinian people. Amongst Israel’s current abuses are;

    * Palestinians denied Israel nationality (because of their religion),

    * the blockade of Gaza, denying Palestinians much needed building supplies, medicines, etc,

    * the building of a massive Wall – much of it on Palestinian land,

    * Israel’s illegal annexation of the Golan Heights – land which rightfully belongs to Syria,

    * and the building of thousands of illegal “settlements” by Israeli colonisers on the West Bank – ignoring several UN resolutions on the issue.

    Israel continues to expand it’s border; occupy Palestinian land; illegally detain Palestinian activists without charge; and commit acts of war against the civilian population in Gaza.

    Ms Hanna is also associated with the Visiting Israeli Artist Programme of The Israel Institute, an organisation tasked with presenting Israel in a favourable public light. In other words, a propaganda arm of the Israeli government.

    In making her decision to abandon her tour of Israel, Lorde has made herself the target of Israel’s “Minister of Culture”, the Israeli ambassador to New Zealand, countless right-wing bloggers and trolls, and many supporters of the Israeli regime.

    She continues to stand in the face of heavy pressure and vitriol.

    It therefore strikes me as incongruous that WOMAAD has extended an invitation to Ms Hanna. It is unfair on Lorde. It is an insult to the people of Palestine who continue to suffer on-going violence from the Israeli “Defence” Force and lose their land to Israeli settlers.

    I respectfully request that you reconsider your invitation of Ms Hanna and consider the background of her visit.

    New Zealand chose to be on the correct side of history over sporting contacts with Apartheid-era South Africa.

    I hope you decide accordingly.

    Please consider this matter with urgency.

    Regards,
    -Frank Macskasy

    I will spread the message via Facebook and Twitter.

    We should all be doing the same.

    • Kia kaha Frank

      Great letter.

      I look forward to reading WOMAAD’s letter of reply.

      By what date do you think it could reasonably be expected for them to get back to you?

      (It hardly needs saying; That no response, will be an answer in itself.)

      Keep us updated.

      Cheers Pat

      P.S. In the meantime, those of us thinking of buying tickets for WOMAD, might be better waiting to see what the organisers’ response to your letter is.

      • Cheers, Pat. I’ll definitely keep everyone posted on any response I get. I’m thinking that, what with the New Year break, that one or two weeks should be sufficient for Organisors to get back to me.

        If I haven’t heard by Friday next week, I’ll send another email querying any response they intend to make.

        In the meantime, I’ve shared this on Twitter and FB.

    • Copied and pasted your letter to womad.

      Be interesting if this entertainment boycott starts a full on boycott similar to the rugby union in 1981.

      Thanks for this Frank.

    • [Comment declined for publication. Unacceptable ad hominem. Posting privileges suspended for one week, until 1pm 8 Jan. – Scarletmod]

  3. Here is a link to the international Palestinian led BDS movement’s PACBI guidelines–
    https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/cultural-boycott-guidelines
    and this link clarifies that, regarding boycott of individual artists, just because they happen to be of a certain nationality, it is not part of BDS. Doing so is NOT considered part of BDS and we have been asked not to boycott individual artists in the name of BDS. It might still be something people might do, but it’s not part of BDS. If the artists are particularly involved in supporting the occupation or the Israeli state, then they could still be subject to a boycott, however it depends on a lot of things. John Minto please read the PACBI guidelines carefully.

    PACBI guidelines states: “Being that part of the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) tasked with overseeing the academic and cultural boycott aspects of BDS, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has advocated, since 2004, for a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions. This is based on the fact that these institutions are complicit in the Israeli system of oppression that has denied Palestinians their basic rights guaranteed by international law, or has hampered their exercise of these rights, including freedom of movement and freedom of expression.

    Cultural institutions are part and parcel of the ideological and institutional scaffolding of Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people. Israeli cultural institutions (including performing art companies, music groups, film organizations, writers’ unions and festivals) have cast their lot with the hegemonic Zionist establishment in Israel, and notwithstanding the efforts of a handful of principled individual artists, writers and filmmakers, these institutions are clearly implicated in supporting, justifying and whitewashing Israel’s occupation and systematic denial of Palestinian rights.

    The cultural boycott campaign against apartheid South Africa has been a major source of inspiration in formulating the Palestinian boycott calls and their criteria, despite some crucial differences. In particular, the Palestinian boycott, unlike the South African cultural boycott, is institutional and does not target individuals as such.

    Freedom of Expression

    Given that the BNC, through the PACBI guidelines presented below, rejects censorship and upholds the universal right to freedom of expression, the institutional boycott called for by Palestinian civil society does not conflict with such freedom. PACBI subscribes to the internationally-accepted definition of freedom of expression as stipulated in the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

    Anchored in precepts of international law and universal human rights, the BDS movement, including PACBI, rejects on principle boycotts of individuals based on their identity (such as citizenship, race, gender, or religion) or opinion. Mere affiliation of Israeli cultural workers to an Israeli cultural institution is therefore not grounds for applying the boycott. If, however, an individual is representing the state of Israel or a complicit Israeli institution, or is commissioned/recruited to participate in Israel’s efforts to “rebrand” itself, then her/his activities are subject to the institutional boycott the BDS movement is calling for.

    While an individual’s freedom of expression should be fully and consistently respected in the context of cultural boycotts, an individual artist/writer, Israeli or otherwise, cannot be exempt from being subject to “common sense” boycotts (beyond the scope of the PACBI institutional boycott criteria) that conscientious citizens around the world may call for in response to what they widely perceive as egregious individual complicity in, responsibility for, or advocacy of violations of international law (such as war crimes or other grave human rights violations), racial violence, or racial slurs. At this level, Israeli cultural workers should not be exempted from due criticism or any lawful form of protest, including boycott; they should be treated like all other offenders in the same category, not better or worse. This is in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on which the BDS movement’s principles are based, and which states:

    In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order, and the general welfare in a democratic society.

    International Cultural Boycott Guidelines

    During years of intensive work with partners in several countries to promote the cultural boycott of Israel, which is supported by an overwhelming majority of Palestinian artists, writers, filmmakers and cultural institutions, PACBI has thoroughly scrutinized many cultural projects and events, assessing the applicability of the boycott criteria to them and, accordingly, has issued open letters, statements or advisory opinions on them. The three most important conclusions reached in this respect were: (a) many of these events and projects fall into an uncertain, grey area that is challenging to appraise, (b) it is important to emphasize that the boycott must target not only the complicit institutions but also the inherent and organic links between them which reproduce the machinery of colonial subjugation and apartheid, and (c) strategically, not every boycottable project must be met with an active boycott campaign, as activists need to invest their energies in the highest priority campaigns in any given time.

    Based on this experience and in response to the burgeoning demand for specific BDS guidelines for applying the international cultural boycott of Israel to diverse projects, from film and literary festivals to art exhibits to musical and dance performances to conferences, PACBI lays out below unambiguous, consistent and coherent criteria and guidelines that specifically address the nuances and particularities in the field of culture. These guidelines are mainly intended to assist international conscientious artists, writers and cultural workers, as well as cultural organizations and associations to be in harmony with the Palestinian call for boycott, as a contribution towards upholding international law and furthering the struggle for freedom, justice and equality. Similar guidelines for the academic boycott have been issued by PACBI.

    International cultural workers who fail to heed the call for boycott, crossing the BDS “picket line,” and then attempting to visit Palestinian institutions or groups in a “balancing” gesture, contribute to the false perception of symmetry between the colonial oppressor and the colonized. Although visits to the occupied Palestinian territory by international supporters and advocates of Palestinian rights have always been welcomed as a source of encouragement and support, Palestinians believe that solidarity entails respecting the boycott call, which is an authoritative call of the oppressed, and not combining a visit to Palestinian institutions or groups with activities with boycottable Israeli institutions. International visitors who insist on including Israeli cultural institutions in their itinerary, as a form of “fig-leafing”, should not expect to be welcomed by Palestinian cultural institutions.

    In general, PACBI urges international cultural workers (e.g. artists, writers, filmmakers) and cultural organizations, including unions and associations, where possible and as relevant, to boycott and/or work towards the cancellation of events, activities, agreements, or projects involving Israel, its lobby groups or its cultural institutions, or that otherwise promote the normalization of Israel in the global cultural sphere, whitewash Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights, or violate the BDS guidelines.

    In all the following, “product” refers to cultural products such as films, artworks, plays, among other art forms; “event” refers to film festivals, conferences, art exhibits, art performances (including music and dance), tours by artists and writers, among other activities.

    Specifically, these are the BDS guidelines for assessing whether events or products are in violation of the Palestinian cultural boycott of Israel:

    (1) As a general overriding rule, Israeli cultural institutions, unless proven otherwise, are complicit in maintaining the Israeli occupation and denial of basic Palestinian rights, whether through their silence or actual involvement in justifying, whitewashing or otherwise deliberately diverting attention from Israel’s violations of international law and human rights.

    Accordingly, these institutions, all their products, and all the activities they sponsor or support must be boycotted by cultural organizations and cultural workers worldwide. As in the cultural boycott of South African apartheid, international artists and cultural workers are urged not to extend recognition in any way to Israeli cultural organizations by exhibiting, presenting, and showcasing their work (e.g. films, installations, literary works); lecturing or performing at or in cooperation with complicit Israeli cultural institutions or events, and granting permission for the publication, exhibition or screening of such work by such institutions. Likewise, activities and projects involving individuals explicitly representing these complicit institutions should be boycotted. It must be emphasized that a cultural product’s content or artistic merit is not relevant in determining whether or not it is boycottable.

    (2) A cultural PRODUCT is boycottable if it is commissioned by an official Israeli body or non-Israeli institution that serves Brand Israel or similar propaganda purposes [1]

    Israeli cultural products (as opposed to public events) that are funded by official Israeli bodies but not commissioned or otherwise attached to any political strings are not per se subject to boycott. “Political strings” here specifically refer to conditions that obligate a fund recipient to directly or indirectly serve the Israeli government’s or a complicit institution’s rebranding or propaganda efforts. Israeli cultural products that receive state funding as part of the individual cultural worker’s entitlement as a tax-paying citizen, without her/him being bound to serve the state’s political and propaganda interests, are not boycottable. Accepting such political strings, on the other hand, would clearly turn the cultural product into a form of complicity, by contributing to Israel’s efforts to whitewash or obscure its colonial and apartheid reality, and would render it boycottable as a result. Using this logic, we consider all non-Israeli (e.g., international, Palestinian) cultural products that are funded by official Israeli bodies or international “brand Israel” organizations to be commissioned and to be politically motivated, therefore being subject to boycott.

    The clearest example is the well-documented fact that many Israeli artists, writers and other cultural workers applying for state funding to cover the cost of their — or their cultural products’ — participation in international events are obligated to contribute to Israel’s official propaganda efforts. To that end, the cultural worker must sign a contract with the Israeli Foreign Ministry binding her/him to “undertake to act faithfully, responsibly and tirelessly to provide the Ministry with the highest professional services.” The contract also states that, “The service provider is aware that the purpose of ordering services from him is to promote the policy interests of the State of Israel via culture and art, including contributing to creating a positive image for Israel.” All cultural products, whether Israeli or international, that are commissioned by an official Israeli body (e.g., government ministry, municipality, embassy, consulate, state or other public film fund), or by an Israeli rebranding project or organization, deserve to be boycotted on institutional grounds. Such products are commissioned by the Israeli state or by colluding institutions specifically to help the state’s propaganda or “rebranding” efforts

    (3) A cultural EVENT/ACTIVITY is boycottable if it is partially or fully sponsored by an official Israeli body or a complicit institution.

    As in the previous guideline, the general principle is that a public event/activity carried out under the sponsorship/aegis of or in affiliation with an official Israeli body or a complicit institution constitutes complicity and therefore is deserving of boycott. The same may apply to support or sponsorship from non-Israeli institutions that serve Israel’s branding/propaganda purposes.

    (4) Normalization Projects are boycottable.

    Cultural activities, projects, events and products involving Palestinians and/or other Arabs on one side and Israelis on the other (whether bi- or multi- lateral) that are based on the false premise of symmetry/parity between the oppressors and the oppressed or that assume that both colonizers and colonized are equally responsible for the “conflict” are intellectually dishonest and morally reprehensible forms of normalization that ought to be boycotted. Far from challenging the unjust status quo, such projects contribute to its endurance. Examples include events, projects, publications, films, or exhibitions that are designed to bring together Palestinians/Arabs and Israelis so they can present their respective narratives or perspectives, or to work toward reconciliation, “overcoming barriers,” etc., without addressing the root causes of injustice and the requirements of justice. Other factors that PACBI takes into consideration in evaluating such products and events are the sources of funding, the design of the product or event, the objectives of the sponsoring organization(s), the participants, and similar relevant factors.

    Given that the only normal – and indeed welcome — relationship between those from the oppressor community and those from the oppressed community is one that recognizes the basic rights of the oppressed under international law and involves a common struggle against oppression, joint projects that meet the following two conditions are not considered forms of normalization and are therefore exempt from boycott:
    (a) the Israeli party in the project recognizes the comprehensive Palestinian rights under international law (corresponding to the 3 rights in the BDS call); and
    (b) the product or event is one of “co-resistance” rather than co-existence.

    Public debates between Palestinians/Arabs and Israelis are also excluded from the boycott if organized without any cooperation with Israel, its lobby groups, or its complicit institutions.

    (5) Fact-finding missions and study tours that receive funding from Israel, its complicit institutions, or its international lobby groups are subject to the boycott.

    On the other hand, balanced, independent fact-finding missions or study groups, even those that include meetings with complicit Israeli academic institutions, are not boycottable, provided that no institutional link (e.g., seminars, workshops, exhibits, etc.) of any sort is established with complicit Israeli institutions.

    The cultural boycott of Israel should continue until Israel is in compliance with the three basic demands outlined in the 2005 BDS Call.

    To end their collusion in Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid and become non-boycottable, Israeli cultural institutions must fulfill two basic conditions: a. Publicly recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law (including the three basic rights in the 2005 BDS Call) and
    b. End all forms of complicity in violating Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law,including discriminatory policies and practices as well as diverse roles in whitewashing or justifying Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian human rights.

    — Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

    [1] One such organization is the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, whose mission includes depicting the State of Israel “as a thriving cultural environment that stimulates creativity and artistic life.” Seehttp://www.aicf.org/about/mission. The organization takes credit for having supported and promoted all major cultural institutions in Israel, such as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israel Museum. See:http://www.aicf.org/about/impact/institutions

  4. Done!

    =================

    from: O. Manheim
    to: info@womad.co.nz
    date: Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 3:39 PM
    subject: Please reconsider your invitation for Victoria Hanna!

    It is my understanding that you have invited Victoria Hanna to perform at your 2018 WOMAD festival.

    Are you aware that as a representative of Israel’s propaganda machine, her participation will bolster the apartheid regime in Israel and be complicit in the continuation of the oppression of the Palestinian people.

    Israel has bombed innocent civilians in Gaza. These are Paslestinians who are utterly defenceless in the face of a ruthless military. They have beedn shot, bombed, their homes destroyed, murdered, maimed, and thousands locked up without trial.

    That is the system that Victoria Hanna represents through her connections to the Visiting Israeli Artist Programme of The Israel Institute, an arm of the Israeli propaganda machine.

    Lorde has done the brave thing by refusing to be complicit in Israel’s attacks on the Palerstinian people.

    I ask that you withdraw your invitation to Victoria Hanna.

    Regards,
    O. Manheim

    =====================

  5. Sorry, but pushing this far, it seems counter productive, in my honest view. She is a person who suffered a disability (stuttering) and managed to overcome it by singing and music.

    She is hardly your usual Zionist type, even though Israel may exploit her for its advantage, that is the government and state organisations.

    I would rather recommend people confront her at the WOMAD concert re Palestine and Palestinians, and see where she stands on it.

    Lorde is another calibre altogether, she has agreed to review her ‘stand’ and chose not to go to Tel Aviv. We know the reaons why. This singer comes to NZ, a different sort of country, shall we go as far as boycotting ALL Israelis, just for being Israelis? Let us first see and hear what she thinks and says about Palestine and the occupation, and WOMAD visitors are welcome to carry banners, challenging her, or is this forbidden by the organisers?

    Not a good thought to have her boycotted here, I think.

    • Thanks for the link. So she was raised in an ultra-orthodox Jewish community and has found more secular avenues for her art.

      And you want to ban her. Awesome, Kiwis

  6. And here is the letter I sent…

    Dear WOMAD,

    Palestinians, and some Israelis including the journalist Gideon Levy who was in the country recently, have pleaded for outside pressure on Israel to encourage it to reform into a liberal Western state with equal rights for all. The plea was made in 2005. Yet year after year, month after month, day after day, the suffering of the Palestinians worsens: more farmland is confiscated, more water resources are stolen, more Palestinians are killed, more, including women and children, are locked up under ‘administrative detention’..ie no lawyers, no charge. The West continues to look the other way.

    Palestinians love music too. Traditional music as well as Western music including classical music. Yet so many obstacles are deliberately imposed to deny Palestinians the opportunities to learn and enjoy and share music-making, opportunities that we take for granted.
    Israel is not a normal country.

    Please withdraw the invitation to Victoria Hanna.
    Let’s hope the day will come when the Palestinians are free to live a normal life. And then WOMAD can invite both Israeli Jews and Israeli-Palestinians and the Palestinians of the Occupied Territories . Musicians to come and share the wonderful experience of making, listening , loving music..of all peoples and all cultures.

    Kind regards,

    Lois Griffiths

    ps I have been to Israel and the West Bank (not Gaza) and seen things that don’t get covered in our media. It’s hard to put into words the reality of the situation .

  7. Yup this boycott is totally counter-productive, not covered by the BDS and sends the wrong message. We should be directed by the Palestinians not John Minto.

      • Natalie Imbruglia cancelled her tour of Israel last year after campaigning by BDS, Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), activists, and other citizens.

        Australian pop star Natalie Imbruglia has cancelled a concert in Israel after a campaign by pro-Palestinian activists.

        The Torn singer, 42, was scheduled to perform in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on 1 March (17), but it is now listed as “cancelled” on Facebook and sales have been frozen on ticketing websites.

        She had been the subject of sustained campaigning from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, whose activists aim to convince the public and celebrities to avoid buying products or economically engaging with Israel due to its government’s alleged mistreatment of the Palestinian people.

        ref: http://www.hollywood.com/general/natalie-imbruglia-cancels-israeli-gig-after-activist-pressure-60675105/

        No wonder Tel Aviv is so touchy on Lorde.

        It appears boycotts are gathering pace.

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