After Initially Rebuffing BDS Pressure, Singer Lana Del Rey Backtracks, Won’t Appear at Music Festival in Israel
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by Algemeiner Staff
Lana Del Rey. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey announced on Friday she was postponing a performance in Israel that had been scheduled for next week.
In a statement posted on her Twitter account, the 33-year-old Del Rey said she would hold off on appearing in Israel “until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestinian fans, as well as hopefully other countries in the region.”
— Lana Del Rey (@LanaDelRey) August 31, 2018
Del Rey had initially rebuffed intense pressure from BDS activists, who were urging her to nix her participation in the Meteor Festival in Kibbutz Lehavot HaBashan in northern Israel. A number of pro-Israel groups had hailed Del Rey for taking this stand.
But on Friday, Del Rey backtracked, telling her Twitter followers she would not be travelling to Israel for the festival.
“It’s important for me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally,” she said.
Responding to Del Rey’s decision, organizers of the Meteor Festival told the music news website Pitchfork, “Just got the word that Lana will be a no-show at Meteor. We do appreciate her for choosing meteor to help her score some press attention.”
“With that,” they continued, “Meteor will take place with the same badass mix of local and international talent that we’ve been working with this past year. The mission that we’ve all been on together is reaching the finish line in just a matter of days as planned: A pioneering, independent festival in the Upper Galilee of a magnitude and quality that has yet to be seen in the Middle East.”
