Australian rock star Nick Cave to boycotters: ‘I love Israel’
Australian rock star Nick Cave is facing backlash from BDS supporters following a performance in Tel Aviv, where he accused the anti-Israel movement of trying to bully and censor him.
Nick Cave. Credit: Bleddyn Butcher via Wikimedia Commons
In a statement on Tuesday, former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, a leader of the boycott of Israel by performing artists, said he “read Nick Cave’s press conference statements with a mixture of sorrow, rage and disbelief.”
“What if it was your demolished home? Your invaded country? Your villages razed to the ground to build stadiums for the invaders to promote pop concerts on?” Waters said. “Nick thinks this is about censorship of his music? What? Nick, with all due respect, your music is irrelevant to this issue, so is mine, so is Brian Eno’s, so is Beethoven’s….This isn’t about music, it’s about human rights.”
During a press conference prior to his performance on Sunday in Tel Aviv, Cave said he had faced pressure from the BDS movement to cancel his shows in Israel, and that he had been approached by record producer Brian Eno to sign a boycott list. But Cave said he wanted to take a “principled stand against anyone who wants to censor and silence musicians.”
“On a very intuitive level I did not want to sign that [boycott], there was something that stunk to me about that list,” Cave said.
“So at the end of the day, there are two reasons why I’m here. One is that I love Israel and I love Israeli people, and two is to make a principled stand against anyone who wants to censor and silence musicians. So really, you could say in a way that the BDS made me play Israel,” he said.
JNS.org
Love you Nick, always have, and even more so by standing up to Roger Waters. He also tried to bully Radiohead, my favourite band, and they too told Waters to p–s off. Never mind how the Palestinian people are suffering at the hands of their own regimes: It’s all the Jews fault,
you creep. (Apologies Radiohead)
PS Haven’t listener to a Pink Floyd album for ages.
Henry,
I have been admiring your “posts” in the AJN. Including this post.
Good Job!
Joe
Many thanks for your kind words Joe. At least someone appreciates me.
Cheers and Shabbat Shalom
So Roger Waters is now trying to politicise Beethoven also… and all for the unfounded reasons of BDS. I wonder whether he ever heard the 9th Symphony?
Marta,
As long as Nick Cave stood up FOR ISRAEL and is against BDS movement/ Supporters; He is a Friend; and He is a “Kosher Duck” able to Swim against the wild Currents of the World.
The “World Symphony” (BDS) is very much against Israel and their Lies must be opposed.
Joe W