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Lana Del Rey has again canceled a concert in Israel, this time choosing to stand with Israel haters.
By: United with Israel Staff
Singer Lana Del Rey has canceled her planned performance at an Israeli music festival following weeks of relentless pressure from anti-Israel Palestinian boycott activists.
“It’s important for me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally,” Del Rey wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Unfortunately, it hasn’t been possible to line up both visits with such a short notice and therefore I’m postponing my appearance at the Meteor Festival until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestinian fans, as well as hopefully other countries in the region.”
She was scheduled to perform at the Meteor Festival, a three-day Woodstock-like party at kibbutz Lehavot Habashan in northern Israel. Several other performers canceled their concerts following Del Ray’s announcement.
Del Rey’s decision was a reversal of statements she made earlier this month in which she defended her performance and said it was not political.
“Music is universal and should be used to bring us together,” she initially wrote in response to call to boycott Israel.
“I would like to remind you that performing in Tel Aviv is not a political statement or a commitment to the politics there just as singing here in California doesn’t mean my views are in alignment w[ith] my current governments opinions or sometimes inhuman actions,” she wrote.
‘An insult, a Disappointment’
Boy George, who did perform in Israel this year, panned Del Rey for her decision.
“Hmm. Gemini’s like Lana Del Rey don’t normally respond well to being told what to do. We don’t follow. We go forth with the message of love. She was wrong to cancel,” he tweeted Saturday.
“Let me know how @LanaDelRey not turning up to play in Israel made a real difference?” he added.
Israeli fans expressed disgust and disappointment with her move.
“It’s just a disgrace, she does not deserve any more sympathy,” one fan wrote.
Another fan wrote that her decision was “an insult, a disappointment. I am shocked that she caved to the pressure and did not stay the queen I held her to be.”
The producers of the Meteor Festival reacted with their own sting. “We want to thank her for choosing us to be part of her periodic public relations campaign,” they stated, according to Ynet news.
Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), which initially lent support to Del Rey following her decision to perform in Israel, tweeted that “we are saddened to hear Lana Del Rey has decided to postpone her performance in Israel next week.”
This is not the first time she has canceled a gig in Israel. In 2014, she was set to play the Holy Land in 2014 but canceled the show due to security concerns related to Operation Protective Edge, during which Israel was forced to address the security threat posed by the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip.
Adam Shai, an Israeli specialist in combating anti-Israel boycott movements, dismissed the incident as a minor setback and stressed the importance of maintaining perspective.
The festival “is an unprecedented event. Out of 140 performers, only one has canceled,” he told IDF Radio on Saturday night.
“The show must go on,” he declared, noting that Del Rey did leave the door open for a future performance in Israel.
While a few performers have joined the anti-Israel lines, hundreds of artists have performed in Israel in recent years, such as the Rolling Stones, Jon Bon Jovi, Radiohead, Ziggy Marley, Nick Cave, Carlos Vives, and many others.
Many performers coming to Israel face pressure from the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. In the past, BDS mouthpiece Roger Waters has aggressively targeted musicians scheduled to play in Israel with public shaming and less than honest rhetoric.
Artists such as Radiohead, Ringo Starr, and Morrissey, among others, all ignored Waters’ tactics and rejected the BDS movement.
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