Rabbi takes out ad calling Lorde ‘bigot’ for cancelling Tel Aviv concert

New Zealand songstress Lorde has been called a bigot by an American rabbi for cancelling her concert in Tel Aviv. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post Sunday to attack the pop star and her native country.

Boteach had the 21-year-old photo superimposed on a scene in Syria, using the headline, “Lorde and New Zealand Ignore Syria to Attack Israel.” The ad was published in the Dec. 31 edition of the paper and was paid for by Boteach’s This World: The Values Network, an organisation that defends Israel in media. The organisation also criticised New Zealand for voting for the United Nations resolution calling for the US to stop recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“In choosing to align herself with those committed to Israel’s fiscal destruction, Lorde broke with some of the greatest names in modern music, including Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Radiohead, Alicia Keyes, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. In her 2014 Tel Aviv concert, Lady Gaga summed up what so many artists feel: ‘You are strong, you are brave, you are confident, and I f—king love you, Israel!’

“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,” the ad reads.

“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 no place in the twenty-first century.”

Last week, Lorde announced that she was cancelling her concert scheduled in Israel for 2018 after receiving “overwhelming number” of messages urging her to do the same. She said she sought a lot of opinions before booking a show in Tel Aviv, but she admitted she “didn’t make the right call on this one.” She has not responded to the ad yet.

New Zealand was one of the 128 UN members that voted against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Australia abstained.