Add Category
Updated
A pro-Israel organisation has used a full-page newspaper ad in the Washington Post to call singer-songwriter Lorde a "bigot" and accuse her home country New Zealand of "growing prejudice" against the Jewish people.
- Ad criticises Lorde for cancelling her Tel Aviv concert
- New Zealand slammed for voting in favour of UN resolution
- Ad published by US-based organisation that defends Israel in media
The ad in the December 31 edition, headlined "Lorde and New Zealand ignore Syria to attack Israel", slams the Green Light singer for cancelling a scheduled performance in Tel Aviv.
It also criticises New Zealand for voting in favour of a United Nations (UN) resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
"Tragically, New Zealand's growing prejudice against the Jewish State seems to be trickling down to its youth," it said.
"Let's boycott the boycotters and tell Lorde and her fellow bigots that Jew-hatred has no place in the twenty-first century."
The organisation behind the ad is the World Values Network, a US-based group that promotes Judaism and defends Israel in American media.
Last week, Lorde announced her plans to cancel an upcoming concert in Tel Aviv, Israel's second-largest city, after appeals by pro-Palestinian activists.
The 21-year-old Grammy winner said she had been having "lots of discussions" on the matter and said cancelling the concert was the "right decision".
The World Values Network started a GoFundMe page on December 26, a few days after Lorde's announcement, and has raised more than US$26,000 since.
It was unclear whether this fundraiser funded the newspaper ad, although it features the same graphic that was used in the Washington Post.
Lorde's decision to cancel her Tel Aviv concert has been met with support from pro-Palestinian activists, but criticism from Jewish organisations.
The World Values Network ad said by cancelling the concert the singer has joined a movement that "seeks the economic annihilation of the Jewish State".
"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," the ad said.
New Zealand was one of more than 120 countries that voted in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution on Israel.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, music, world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, print-media, israel, united-states
First posted