After Lorde nixes Israel gig, envoy to N. Zealand asks to meet with her

"By succumbing to the hateful agenda of the few who support BDS you encourage animosity in the region," Israeli ambassador writes on Facebook.

DECEMBER 26, 2017 12:14

Updated: DECEMBER 26, 2017 23:44

NEW ZEALAND singer Lorde performs at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards in California in August. (photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS) — NEW ZEALAND singer Lorde performs at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards in California in August.

(photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)

After the firestorm of controversy over Lorde canceling a show in Tel Aviv, the ambassador to New Zealand has asked to meet with the singer.

According to Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, ambassador Yitzhak Gerberg has invited Lorde to a “friendly meeting” to discuss the issue.

“By succumbing to the hateful agenda of the few who support BDS you encourage animosity in the region,” Gerberg wrote on Facebook on Tuesday morning. “Music should unite not divide. Reactions driven by hatred lead to continued conflict. But solutions come from engagement and lead to compromise, cooperation, and peace.”

Lorde announced on Sunday that she would be canceling her upcoming show in Tel Aviv, which was slated for June. The decision came just a week after she first publicized the concert, during which she was bombarded with a barrage of protests and calls for her to pull out of the show.

Speculation that she would do so first arose last week, after she replied to a fan asking about the issue that she was “considering all options.”

Then on Sunday, in a statement released by the Israeli PR for the show, the 21-yearold singer said after holding many discussions, “The right decision at this time is to cancel the show.” She added that despite the research and reading she had done on the issue before initially booking, “I’m not too proud to admit I didn’t make the right call on this one.”

On Sunday, Culture Minister Miri Regev also called on Lorde to reverse her decision, and make a choice “free of foreign political considerations.”

When the Israeli concert producer first announced the cancellation, it said that Lorde was expected to elaborate on her decision on Twitter soon. But more than 48 hours later, the singer has yet to speak out on any social media. It’s not much of a surprise, since both before and after the decision she has been the subject of vocal and often vicious criticism on and off-line.

On Monday, actress Roseanne Barr posted on Twitter a link to The Jerusalem Post article about the concert cancellation, writing “Boycott this bigot.” Later, she wrote, “don’t excuse jew hating bigots, bc that makes you one,” then adding: “they will never understand that their own antisemitism prevents them from transcending or connecting or knowing.”

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Boycott this bigot: Lorde caves to BDS pressure, cancels Israel concert https://t.co/eugOCJPRBu
— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) December 24, 2017

The Simon Wiesenthal Center also slammed Lorde’s decision, calling it a “classic example of the world’s singular obsession with one country, the State of Israel.” Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said the artist’s intent to keep her tour dates in Russia “is a clear example of the hypocrisy the international community applies to the Middle East’s only democracy.”

That sentiment was echoed by Vic Alhadeff, the CEO of the Jewish Board of Deputies in New South Wales, Australia.

In an interview with Sky News, Alhadeff said Lorde has been “caught up in this BDS campaign against Israel without giving due thought to the inconsistency, perhaps even hypocrisy, in boycotting one and quite happily performing in Russia days later.”