‘Stop Playing Israel-Hater’s Music,’ Listeners Tell Radio Station

Following an anti-Israel Instagram post by popular singer Dua Lipa, Israelis petitioned Army Radio to stop playing her songs.

By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel

Israelis by the thousands have reacted angrily after the popular British singer Dua Lipa posted a vicious anti-Israel lie on Instagram blaming IDF soldiers for shooting Palestinian children.

Thousands have already signed a petition calling for the IDF’s two radio stations – Galei Tzahal and Galgalatz – to stop playing her songs.

The Im Tirtzu movement, which fights delegitimization of the State of Israel, called on Minister of Culture Hili Tropper and Defense Minister Benny Gantz to take action.

“It is not appropriate for a radio station belonging to the IDF to continue broadcasting her songs,” the group said.

Lipa has more than 46 million followers on her Instagram page and she posted a message from her friend that featured violent images of a Palestinian confrontation with Israel troops with the caption: ”The big bad tough guys of the #IDF thoroughly enjoy beating and shooting children. They even have shirts that depict a pregnant Palestinian woman with a sniper scope on her stomach that reads ‘1 shot two kills.’”

The post was originally written by her friend, American photographer and director Vin Arpuso, and alongside it Lipa published posts about the murder of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by police who detained him in Minneapolis.

Many Instagram users responded to the singer in protest with icons of the Israeli flag.

The letter sent to Gantz and Tropper emphasized that “in light of the incitement against IDF soldiers, anti-Semitism, blood libel, conspiracy theories, and the obvious lies in the post shared by the singer, it is not appropriate that a radio station belonging to the Israel Defense Forces continue to broadcast her songs. Certainly not on the backs of those soldiers she incites against.”

“It’s time for the defense minister and culture minister to put an end to this absurd theater where anti-Semites like [Lipa] continue to be broadcast over Army Radio airwaves,” said Dov Trachtman of Im Tirtzu.

Israel Army Radio responded to Im Tirtzu saying, “Army Radio does not boycott any artists. The songs are selected at the discretion of the editors.”