A senior Israeli politician has reached out to American singer Lana Del Rey, after she announced on Monday the decision to postpone an upcoming performance in the Jewish State, after she faced intense pressure from the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, The Algemeiner reported.
“You’re sitting in New York after cancelling your performance in Israel because of pressure from Roger Waters and other vocal BDS activists,” Yair Lapid — head of the centrist Yesh Atid Party — wrote in a letter to Del Rey. “It’s a shame, because you were lied to. You became another one in a series of people being used by Palestinian terrorist organizations without knowing the facts. Seeing as you’ve got some free time now maybe you should use it to learn about what’s really happening here in Israel.”
It was the second time Del Rey canceled a scheduled show in Israel due to pressure from the boycotts movement, which calls for the total destruction of the Jewish State. The singer blamed the fact that she couldn’t book a venue in “Palestine” for the cancellation.
“Lana, isn’t it a shame to let the lies of others decide for you? You gave up on the opportunity to see the reality for yourself and to use music as a tool to connect and spread love,” Lapid said. “Israel is a country under threat. Although we are strong and can protect our citizens from our enemies, the boycott movement spreads an incomprehensible amount of lies to disparage Israel in the world.”
Lapid concluded: “They are trying to isolate us, to turn Israel into an illegitimate state. They don’t seek peace, and despite what they might have told you, they don’t support a two-state solution. Their aim is the destruction of the State of Israel. The naivety of people like you amuses them. They are using you to harm Israel but do their best to hide behind the language of peace and love. The only way to fight their lies is to learn the truth.”
Del Rey was set to headline the inaugural music festival held at Kibbutz Lehavot Habashan, outside of Tiberias in the upper region of Israel, from Sept. 6 through 8. The Meteor Festival organizers denounced her decision, releasing a statement in Hebrew which said: “music heals, politics kills.”
“Our agenda is and has always been peace, coexistence, equality and our only aim is to bring people of all kinds together through the common love for music and art and our mindset from the very start has been to emphasize pluralism and cultural diversity,” the organizers stressed.
In November of last year, Nick Cave of the Bad Seeds, acknowledged that he had not performed in Israel for 20 years due to the pressure coming from the boycotts movement, but that he decided to perform in Israel to take a “principled stand” against those boycotting Israel.
[Photo: The Israel Project / YouTube ]