It’s ironic how liberal celebrities preach tolerance and acceptance but apparently possess neither.
After singer Lorde announced her decision to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and World Values Network took out an ad in The Washington Post to criticize her for her decision. While the ad went after Lorde, it also targeted the media in New Zealand, which influenced Lorde to make her decision. The ad stated: “Last week, the 21-year-old pop star Lorde, the nation’s leading cultural expert, joined the anti-Semitic BDS movement which seeks the economic annihilation of the Jewish State, by cancelling her scheduled concert in Tel Aviv.”
The ad also stated: “It’s time that we send a clear message that there will be no tolerance for intolerance. Let’s boycott the boycotters and tell Lorde and her fellow bigots that Jew hatred has not place in the twenty first century.”
In a decision that garnered a great deal of criticism, Lorde announced the cancellation of her Tel Aviv concert in late December. Her excuse was, “I pride myself on being an informed young citizen, and i had done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in tel aviv, but I’m not too proud to admit i didn’t make the right call on this one.”
The ad also called out the singer’s hypocrisy in keeping her Russia concerts. It stated: “While Lorde claims to be concerned with human rights, she hypocritically chose to proceed with her two concerts in Putin’s Russia, despite his support for Assad’s genocidal regime which has already claimed the lives of over 500,000 innocents, and Russia’s own endless litany of human rights abuses.”
In a tweet, Rabbi Shmuley added his own opinion, saying: “I love New Zealand. Gorgeous and inspiring. But what’s NZ beef with Israel? The Jews, persecuted for 2000 years, have a tiny country that is a democracy with 1.5 million Muslim citizens. Will you seriously defend @Lorde attacking Israel but singing in Putin’s Russia? Come on.”
In another tweet, Shmuley stated, “We want Jews and our Muslim brothers living together in harmony. #Hamas #Hezbollah and #BDS seek the destruction of Israel.”
