fbpx

Lionel Richie Blocks Pro-BDS Group Following Pressure to Cancel Tel Aviv Concert

[additional-authors]
August 2, 2019
Photo from Flickr.

World-renowned musician Lionel Richie blocked a pro-boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) group on Twitter after it urged him to cancel his Sept. 12 concert in Tel Aviv.

The anti-war NGO Code Pink tweeted on July 31, “BREAKING: Simply because we started a campaign urging him to stand up for Palestinian human rights and cancel his upcoming show in Apartheid Israel, @LionelRichie blocked us!#LionelDontGo.”

Code Pink then tweeted a link to its petition calling on Richie to cancel the show.

“Palestinian citizens of Israel — 20% of the Israeli population — face over 50 laws that systematically discriminate against them because of their religion and ethnicity. From Gaza to Israel, to the West Bank, it is apartheid,” the petition states. “If you choose to follow through with your performance in Tel Aviv, it will act as an endorsement of Israel’s brutal systems of military occupation and apartheid.”

Various pro-Israel Twitter accounts praised Richie:

BDS activists also attempted to pressure Bon Jovi and Jennifer Lopez to cancel their Tel Aviv concerts on July 25 and August 1 respectively, to no avail.

Richie’s Tel Aviv concert is part of his 2019 “Hello” world tour.

H/T: Jewish News Syndicate

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Bombing Auschwitz—in Iran

The Allies faced similar dilemmas during World War II, yet that never stopped them from bombing necessary targets.

Print Issue: Hate VS. Love | July 11, 2025

The more noise we make about Jew-hatred, the more Jew-hatred seems to increase. Is all that noise spreading the very poison it is fighting? Is it time to introduce a radically new idea that will associate Jews not with hate but with love?

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.