Elvis cancels shows in Israel , June/July '10

[Ypsilanti]

Freedom--OK--glad to have you here--but please stay around to talk about the music. You'll love it!

[johnfoyle]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... lenews_wsj

MAY 23, 2010

Transcript: Shimon Peres

In an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Peres said Israel's survival as a Jewish state depended on its ability to conclude a two-state peace deal with the Palestinians. Below is an edited transcript.

(extract)


WSJ: Elvis Costello just cancelled his visit here. What's your explanation for this growing campaign to isolate, and delegitimize and boycott Israel?

Mr. Peres: I have talked to many of these people who criticize Israel…

WSJ: Did you speak with Elvis Costello?

Mr. Peres: No, but I spoke with the people who criticize Israel who say aren't you concerned about the attempt to delegitimize Israel. I said I am concerned but more about you than about us. Because when you delegitimize us, who are you legitimating? Who? Hamas? Ships are going to Hamas, because Hamas doesn't want peace? Because Hamas wants terror? What are you doing? All the dark forces of the world, that's the alternative to Israel. Can you stop terror without using military arms? Please tell us. Don't keep a secret. You didn't go through seven wars in 60 years. We did. Many of the people who criticized us when they were in crisis they asked for American soldiers. Let me remind you that Israel was wise enough never to ask American mothers to send their boys to fight instead of us. My god, we have it enough and we gave back enough. We gave back for peace for everything. So I am asking what is their legitimacy. What are you for? I want to understand. You think the system in Iran is better than the system in Israel? You think Hamas is better than Fattah? What are you doing? Do you have a way to stop terror? Please tell us, we will gladly do it.

[A rope leash]

Yes, I know how to stop terror. Stop screwing with other cultures. Stop stealing their lands and livelihoods, and stop killing the innocent.

Hamas is a legitimately elected government. You believe in democracy, don't you? Deal with it without killing, without destroying, without stealing, and without imprisoning. If all men are equal, then all cultures are equal. Learn to accept this, and live in peace for a change. Maybe it isn't all the fault of the other, fool.

Israel hasn't even signed on to the NPT. Israel has nuclear weapons, but acts like it doesn't have to admit to it. Iran can't have nukes because...? They're "crazy"?

Look in the mirror.

[A rope leash]

A private message from renegav (sent three times)...

Listen to me scumbag!
There are many right wingers and idiots in Israel but Shimon Peres has done more for peach with the Palestinians than anyone. He was responsible for the Oslo peace accords. He was responsible for pushing this country, in some respects against it's will towards compromise and giving back land and he built this country with his own blood and sweat.
You are an ignorant person.
Take out your frustration on me not on GREAT man like Peres who spent his life building bridges.
You idiot.
Get a life!!


What's the matter ren? Scared to post this personal bile publically?

I bet you got a megaphone icon on your desktop. Right?

O! The great Peres! I think my post pretty much says it all about why some people hate Israel, and why Elvis is boycotting.

[Ypsilanti]

From The Jerusalem Post Online 5/25/10...

From a whisper to a scream
By DAVID BRINN
05/25/2010 05:38

In an interview with the ‘Post’ prior to canceling his two scheduled shows here, Elvis Costello was singing a much different tune.

Even though Elvis Costello had decided to boycott Israel, he was still happy to talk to Israelis. The day after the news broke about the iconic British rocker’s cancellation of his two shows slated for the Caesarea Amphitheater on June 30 and July 1, I called Costello on a cell-phone number, which I had inadvertently obtained while interviewing him two weeks earlier and saved for kicks under “Elvis.”

I called the US number, expecting to get a hotel receptionist or office manager who would laugh when I asked if Elvis was there. Instead, Costello himself answered the phone. Instead of angrily hanging up, he patiently said he was at the doctor with his twin sons, and asked if he could call me back in a few minutes. He did, and said he had read the story of his decision to cancel his shows on the Post’s Web site and, because it had accurately reflected what he had said two weeks earlier, he felt he owed it to me to talk to me again.

However, he said he didn’t want to say anything about his decision beyond what he had written in his statement, other than admitting that it had been “part of a 30-year conundrum” regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that, no, he had not been threatened or coerced by anyone to cancel the shows.

Then, off the record, he proceeded to basically reiterate – with a little elaboration – what he had already written. Stepping out of my journalist’s hat, I told him that he was actually strengthening the Palestinian rejectionists and hurting the moderates by canceling and that he was just plain wrong.

“That’s great, we should be able to disagree and talk about it,” he responded. “That’s the way it should be.”

As bull-headed, opinionated and passionate as his songs, Costello made his decision for intensely personal reasons, based on what he thought he knew to be right. In his heart and mind, it seems clear, his aim is true, no matter how off the mark it may be according to Israeli fans, who were shocked, hurt, betrayed and confused by his announcement canceling the show.

When we spoke two weeks earlier, the specter of playing in Israel for the first time in his 33-year career was already weighing heavily on Elvis Costello’s mind.

“Let me ask you something,” he interrupted a few minutes into our half-hour interview, one of three he gave to members of the Israeli media to promote the June 30 show, which proved to be such a big seller that a second show was added the next night.

“What is the feeling over there? Are there differences of opinion and opposition to the government? How do people look at artists who come over there, as condoning the actions of the government?” the 56-year old Rock & Roll Hall of Fame performer and songwriter asked with the all the urgency you can hear in his songs.

For Costello, long steeped in liberal causes and Western progressive thinking evident from his very first album, 1977’s My Aim Is True and its anti-fascist anthem “Less Than Zero,” it was a no-brainer that the Israeli government’s policies were wrong, that they were causing the Palestinian people undue suffering and the “Israeli occupation” had to end. The overriding thought that prompted him to accept the invitation to appear here, despite refusing many times in the past, was the notion that the government is not the people.

“I know people in Israel are working at their jobs day to day and answering to their own conscience. I think it’s naïve to presume that they all have the same opinions, just as I reject their presumptions about me,” he said.

“The people who call for a boycott of Israel own the narrow view that thinks performing there must be about profit and endorsing the hawkish policy of the government. It’s like never appearing in the US because you didn’t like [George W.] Bush’s policies or boycotting England because of Margaret Thatcher.”

Costello must have repeated that mantra to himself many times since the contracts were first drawn in March. But as he wrote in the letter posted on his Web site last week announcing the cancellation of the shows, ultimately his “instinct and conscience” did not allow him to go against his liberal grain.

It’s ironic that media reports about the decision spoke of Costello “joining” the Israel boycott along with other musicians – as if there was an office somewhere in London or New York that was checking off his name and sending him the official “Boycott Israel” T-shirt as a gift. In reality, Costello’s distaste for movements and going along would likely never allow him to join a movement and align himself with, say Gil Scott-Heron and Santana, two artists who have also canceled Israel appearances this year after they were already booked.

“I’m largely nonaligned – in the sense that I have opinions and express them in songs, but I don’t tend to appear at every event or get on a soapbox. If I did that, I would go to work for a newspaper, wouldn’t I?” he said during our first phone conversation. We talked about issues ranging from his musical upbringing, going to hear his father, musician Ross McManus, perform with the Joe Loss band, to hosting his own TV interview show Spectacle on the Sundance network, to raising two young sons with his wife, singer Diana Krall. Throughout, Costello was generous in his recollections, illuminating and extremely well-spoken, and he seemed genuinely excited to be finally performing here. What a difference two weeks makes.

Following are excerpts from that earlier interview, before Elvis changed his mind.

Do you remember at one point in your childhood when you were with your father that you thought that being a musician would be a good thing?
No, and I don’t remember my father ever proposing to me to become a musician, but he filled the house with music and as a child, he provoked my curiosity in different kinds of music. There was a constant flow of music to my head.

On the contrary of pushing me toward music, there were a few people after hearing me who suggested that I don’t become a musician.

I didn’t travel with him, but I did go with him frequently to the Hammersmith Odeon dance hall – not in the evening, but on the weekends when they played afternoon sessions. I would sit in the balcony of a relatively deserted dance hall, and I have quite a profound memory of watching ballroom dancers rehearse and mothers taking their young daughters to learn to dance and little old ladies out dancing. It was quite a poignant scene, I could recognize that even then.

The Joe Loss Orchestra was predominantly a Jewish band – how did an Irishman fit in, and did you get much exposure in your youth to Jewish culture?
Joe Loss was an affectionate man for me. He thought a lot of my dad and I thought a lot of him. He always had a big greeting for me. I can’t say that I was exposed to any Jewish culture by Joe; my dad may have been. I know that Joe questioned my dad about his background, he didn’t want to accept that he was Irish [laughs].

I appeared on Joe’s This Is Your Life TV episode in the early 1980s near the end of his career. It was a bit of a tenuous connection: “Do you remember this little boy who used to come watch you rehearse? Well, here he is now.” But I always had a special place for him. The only time I sang in public with my father was at a tribute to Joe. It was very emotional for me.

I have a photo on my wall of the three of us together. It was a rather defining aspect of my childhood. The band was very successful on the radio, and I’d go on school holidays with him to see the broadcast and I got to meet the guest groups. I got to see The Hollies and meet Graham Nash when I was 10. I got to see them up close and carrying their own gear in. I think it helped develop the idea of making music being like an ordinary job – instead of going off to the factory, my father went off to the dance hall.

The London Jewish community apparently rallied around you when you were starting out in the late 1970s, because of songs like “Less than Zero.” Were you aware of that and did you feel any affinity to the community?
I didn’t really know about any support specifically from the Jewish community. I tend to think of individual people.

Regarding being identified with causes, there are times you feel that there are things that you put into a song that are different than how a documentary or a newspaper report would cover something – like pointing to several different perspectives at the same time. In a politician, that’s flawed, but in a song, it’s a virtue. It’s like several dimensions of an object on one surface of a painting.

As a listener, or a writer, it’s not very attractive to hear simplistic sloganeering songs of course. There’s no doubt that the anti-fascist rallies in the late 1970s in England were specifically addressing the rise of the Right in a tangible way and making a clear statement. When people no longer have the ability to see themselves as human, the appeal for desperate means is much greater.

It’s interesting when you talk about music as a rallying point and a focus of comment, as to how you feel about people who believe the opposite should occur. And I’m talking about Israel here.
[Costello then asks some questions about Israel and after listening to the answers continues to talk about reasons why he wouldn’t boycott performing in Israel.]
Most countries tend to cast singers and other artists as mere jesters whose job it is to distract from the woes. The moment they deem to make a statement that might be multifaceted and open to interpretation, it’s demeaned and people say that they’re just naïve. It’s not true. There are paintings and songs I know that are much more complex in their argument than a polemic.

I know from the experience of a friend who is from Israel and from people who have worked there that there is a difference of opinion there. It seems to me that dialogue is essential. I don’t presume to think that my performance is going to be part of the process. The people who call for a boycott of Israel own the narrow view that thinks performing there must be about profit and endorsing the hawkish policy of the government. It’s like never appearing in the US because you didn’t like Bush’s policies or boycotting England because of Margaret Thatcher.

When you look at any democracy, no matter how flawed in the worst time when a government is in power acting in an irresponsible, violent and despicable way, the only answer is dialogue and reconciliation. I know people in Israel are working at their jobs day to day and answering to their own conscience. I think it’s naïve to presume that they all have the same opinions, just as I reject their presumptions about me.

People who say it was naïve of Leonard Cohen to perform in Israel and start his reconciliation fund are in the business of saying it’s naïve. That’s no different to the dismissive argument that performers should abuse their privilege of having an audience. It’s not a privilege, it something we work toward. It’s like a doctor getting a qualification to earn that audience, and it makes us distinct from another performer.

The idea that we’re not qualified to express the opinion on matters of the heart is total nonsense. What would be arrogant, though, is to think is that anything you say or sing has to resonate with importance.

What’s been the biggest revelation for you hosting Spectacle and interviewing some of the musicians you admire?
The curious thing is that people are really surprised about the way musicians speak among themselves. I don’t think the conversations are so startling, but one thing we do is allow the conversations to go their natural course. The bulk of talk-show interviews are set up to arrive at a punch line. They’re hosted by comedians.

But we’re not without humor – Lou Reed told a joke, it kind of shocked me. And I remember we talked about his father’s passing and his friendship with him – an hour-long conversation with those two moments is to my mind what makes the program different.

There’s no particular skill on my part as an interviewer. I’ve learned to remember not to scratch my head, and I’m getting more at ease with the technical aspects.

I’m more than compensated by the generosity of the guests. Someone like Bruce Springsteen giving four hours of their life to me and having conversations lead to impromptu songs, you can’t ask for more than that.

Now that you’ve been on the other side of the Q & A session, do you regret that you might not have been as nice and forthcoming in your interviews as you could have been in the early part of you career? I remember seeing some interviews with you in which you were quite surly. Was that real, or were you playing the angry young man part?
I think it was a little bit of both – my first memory of a proper English journalist wearing a trench coat with a cigar and leering at us, trying to get us to tell lurid tales, the same way as other people who had made assumptions about us. He didn’t care about us and what we had to say, and when you’re younger, you turn on them.

But I wasn’t usually angry – I just have an unfortunate face. I still get into trouble crossing borders and get questioned about my attitude by passport officials. I tell them I don’t have an attitude, I’m just answering their questions.

But I discovered that confrontation sometimes had an impact, and it was a way to get interviewers off my back a bit and enable me to get the words out of my mouth before they changed them. And that worked for a while, but there comes a time when the music became more multidimensional, that you end up giving people a little more credit. So it hasn’t all been confrontational.

But once in a while, I’ll still get someone who didn’t do their homework, and there’s nothing I can do to help them. I have to remind myself when I interview people now that I have to put away my theories and preconceived notions about someone.

How do you and your wife juggle your careers and your children? I know Diana is coming here in August [August 4 in Ra’anana] – will you be accompanying her?
I miss Diana and the boys terribly when I’m away. We share responsibility from keeping them from traveling too many miles. At this stage, they usually travel with one of us. Diana’s been to Australia and Mexico, so they’ve been on the road with their dad in California.

For the next few weeks we’re together. Every moment together is precious. Unfortunately a lot of the our job requires us to travel – there’s no great fortunes to be made from records anymore. I haven’t held to that theory in a long time. I try to make records as joyous and positive as possible in order to announce the existence of new repertoire that can be played within the fabric of a concert.

I remember a quote from you akin to “I won’t be around to witness my artistic decline.” Do you think you’ve kept true to that aim in all the different musical projects and directions you’ve attempted over the years?
My answer to that is this is my family business. Did you really think I was going to stop?

The one thing I have no sense and concern abut is posterity. I just keep going on my instincts. I have no proper education of any kind, and I’m self-taught musically. I’ve learned technical things that have allowed me to collaborate with musicians of higher caliber than myself. I’m not in competition with myself to try and better something that I did 30 years ago – that would be idiotic, why would someone want to do that?

That would be like looking for cheap applause like a seal in a circus. I’ve turned to do different things out of curiosity, not out of affectation. It’s out of a love for all characters of music, and how to work within different forms. And it’s been about building friendships for life – with people like Burt Bacharach and Paul McCartney.

Why would you walk away from those challenges? Maybe you can’t see them as challenges or lessons, but they are, and they’re joyful. And the results are that some songs endure and others don’t. When you first start touring, you have those 12 songs to make your name. If your plane goes down, that’s all you’ll ever have.

I’ve been fortunate enough to find new ways to interest me. I can’t imagine someone buying all 30 of my albums, they won’t appeal to everyone. But there’s always new songs to sing and, as we’re proving by coming to Israel, new places to play.

[JOYWOL]

I was saddened to hear about the cancellations as it would have been better to go and use the opportunity to spread a peace message
Clearly the anti Israel boycotters have only told Elvis half a story.
I was pleased to read online today that an education organisation called StandWithUs that promotes the truth and reality of Israel, and highlights the futility of boycotts as a tactic has issued an invitation to Elvis to have an all expenses paid VIP trip Israel so he can see for himself what makes that tiny little country tick, set as it is in the centre of hostil neighbours and under constant terror attack
He can meet Israeli Arabs, Palestinians Jews, Christians Druse and Bedouin, hear first hand that most Israeli Arabs would not want to live anywhere other than Israel and see for himself the amazing Israeli technology and medical research that is shared with the whole world And he could hear Israel;s peace message and see first hand how it is constantly rejected.
Here is a copy of the invitation in case it has not go to him yet. Hope he has the guts to accept.
CONTACT: Roz Rothstein, StandWithUs co-founder and CEO
May 24, 2010 cell: 310.245.4109
Michael Dickson, Director StandWithUs Israel
From the US: 011+972- 02-636-0200 (office), 011- +972-52-409-9957 (cell)
Within Israel/Elsewhere: +972 (0) 2 636 0200 (office), +972 (0) 52 409 9957 (cell)


STANDWITHUS INVITES ELVIS COSTELLO ON FREE, VIP TRIP TO ISRAEL

AFTER HE CANCELS HIS JUNE 30 AND JULY 1 CONCERTS

(Los Angeles and Jerusalem) -- StandWithUs, the international Israel education organization is extending an invitation for a five-star VIP tour of Israel to Elvis Costello to coincide with his wife Diana Krall’s performance on August 4 at Israel’s Ra’anana Amphitheater. StandWithUs is also offering to work around Costello’s schedule if that date is inconvenient. http://www.standwithus.com

The offer is made after Costello suddenly cancelled his June 30 and July 1 performances in Israel, citing “political reasons.” http://www.elviscostello.com/news/it-is ... plation/44

“Misinformation about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is rife, particularly in Costello’s England where the press often misrepresents history and current facts on the ground," explains Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs. "Our mission is to correct this misinformation and educate the public so they can make informed decisions. We would like to do this for Costello whose decision undermines instead of promotes peaceful coexistence. As a celebrity, he has a special responsibility to make sure his public positions are based on accurate information and are fair-minded.”

StandWithUs urges Costello to consult with fellow Brit Paul McCartney who rejected Palestinian and Arab pressure to cancel his 2008 tour, and with Madonna, who called Israel “the energy center of the world” before a crowd of 50,000 Israelis during her performance in 2009.

The StandWithUs tour highlights the challenges Israel faces, the nature of Israeli society, and the efforts it has made to promote peace. “Visitors are often stunned by Israel’s small size and by the short distance between the West Bank heights and Israel’s population centers and Ben Gurion Airport. They suddenly understand Israel’s security concerns and the serious strategic dangers Israel would face if extremists like Hamas took over the West Bank,” observes Michael Dickson, director of the StandWithUs Jerusalem office. “They are also amazed at how multicultural, free, and vibrant Israeli society is, which contrasts with many media images.”

The tour also includes background about the extremist and violent goals of the terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad that Israel faces, and about the incitement to hate Jews and Israelis that saturates Palestinian society. “After the tour, many people realize that Palestinian leaders and extremist groups who are backed by Iran are harming the Palestinian people and are the real obstacles to peace, not Israelis who desperately want peace and have been willing to give up parts of their ancient homeland for a better future for Israeli and Palestinian children,” states Rothstein.

StandWithUs will continue to extend the invitation so that Costello can become a voice for peace and understanding instead of a voice for continuing misinformation, divisiveness, and hate.

StandWithUs is a nine-year old, international, non-profit Israel education organization that ensures that Israel's side of the story is told in communities, campuses, libraries, the media and schools through brochures, speakers, conferences, missions to and from Israel, and thousands of pages of Internet resources that are distributed globally.

Based in Los Angeles, the organization has offices across the U.S., in Israel and the UK. SWU was founded in 2001 in response to the public’s need and desire for more information about the Arab-Israeli conflict. StandWithUsCampus helps college students challenge anti-Israel bias. http://www.standwithus.com and http://www.standwithuscampus.com
http://www.twitter.com/StandWithUs and http://www.facebook.com/StandWithUs

[freedom]

“Misinformation about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is rife, particularly in Costello’s England where the press often misrepresents history and current facts on the ground," explains Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs. "Our mission is to correct this misinformation and educate the public so they can make informed decisions. We would like to do this for Costello whose decision undermines instead of promotes peaceful coexistence. As a celebrity, he has a special responsibility to make sure his public positions are based on accurate information and are fair-minded.”

Wow, the Israel propaganda machine is in full swing once again. It is unhappy that people are waking up to the truth about the nature of the Israeli racist state, its ethnic cleansing and apartheid policies. Once again the Israeli propaganda machine finds it necessary to re-educate us on the truth as they want us to see it. Unfortunately for them people are waking up to their lies and their twisted and contrived version of history.

[freedom]

The tour also includes background about the extremist and violent goals of the terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad that Israel faces, and about the incitement to hate Jews and Israelis that saturates Palestinian society. “After the tour, many people realize that Palestinian leaders and extremist groups who are backed by Iran are harming the Palestinian people and are the real obstacles to peace, not Israelis who desperately want peace and have been willing to give up parts of their ancient homeland for a better future for Israeli and Palestinian children,” states Rothstein.

Wow, they even have a tour to re-educate us. I wonder if the tour includes the background of Zionist terror groups such as the Stern and Irgun who were around long before Hamas, Hezbollah, ect ever existed. I wonder if they will explain how the Stern and Irgun went about eliminating the non-Jewish population in order to make room for the Jewish State. I wonder if the tour explains that 90% of the inhabitants of Gaza are refugees from Jaffa and Haifa and many other cities in today's Israel and what these people want is to go back to their homes. Will the tour tell us that the only reason they are not allowed back home is because they are not Jews? What the tour cannot escape is the fact that Israel is a State created exclusively for Jews out of a land where the great majority were non-Jews. It is a a racist State and it must be isolated through boycott, disinvestment and sanctions.

Again, sorry to Elvis's fans for the politics. But its just makes me ill when I see these posts that are designed to continue the misinformation that is spewed by the powerful Israel propaganda machine that dominates most western media outlets.

[A rope leash]

That's just how it is. Empire makes it's own reality, and sticks with it. Anyone who doubts the "facts" is a traitor or terrorist. It's been that way for a long long time.

Quoted from above:

“Misinformation about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is rife, particularly in Costello’s England where the press often misrepresents history and current facts on the ground,"

As if Elvis gets his information from British newspapers or television. For one thing, I'm pretty sure he lives in Canada, and for another, he's hated and distrusted the corporate press and media for decades. Elvis is very much a man of the world, and is not likely to take popular media's word for anything.

Israel is caught with it's pants down. They can no longer hide behind the media curtain. For the most part, it seems that it is only Israelis that care about performers boycotting Israel. That, and corporate media talking heads who have always loved hating Elvis.

Yes, there are many so-called terrorist groups that would like to see Israel fall. But, they are relatively harmless in the face of Israel's military. The Muslim and Arab nations that surround Israel could easily bind together and knock them off. Why don't they? American money and influence, for one, and Israeli nuclear bombs for another. In fact, many people suspect that Israel gets away with it's disregard of UN resolutions and it's violent overkills because everyone understands that Israel is crazy enough to actually use their nukes for offensive purposes. Some even think they blackmail the US and others with such a threat.

Now, why exactly does a tiny "religious" nation like Israel need nuclear bombs? Hasn't the entire Western "international community" pledged it's defense of Israel? So, they are worried about Iran getting a bomb. Afraid of being nuked? Why does anyone think Iran wants a nuke? It's simple...when you have a nuke, no one fucks with you. So, if Iran gets a nuke, what does Israel have to worry about? If Iran nukes Israel, then the world will nuke Iran, and it will all be very awful. O yes, I forgot, Iran is "crazy", and Israel "is not", so an Iranian nuke automatically means a nuked Israel.

When will we know the last terrorist is dead? Never, so long as Western aggressiveness and overkill continues to create more people who have something to hate the West for...but this is the scheme...for as long as there are "terrorists", there will be an excuse for indiscriminate bombing and advancing occupation.

The whole world does not care about Israel or Iran. Most of the world just wants the bickering to stop before something terrible comes. If Elvis wants to boycott Israel for their treatment of Palestinians, it is and should be no big deal. Maybe he should follow through and boycott China, Russia, NK and the USA. In fact, maybe he should just buy an island and let people come to see HIM!

[invisible Pole]

Is your real name Noam Chomsky by any means?

[The imposter]

I preferred it when he was posting pictures of women's breasts

[A rope leash]

Chomsky is a gatekeeper. I'm inside the gate, and he doesn't know it.

If you liked the photos, bump the thread!

[A rope leash]

This is probably the sort of thing Elvis objects to...

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middl ... 95359.html

[pjc1031]

The state of Israel has lost all of its (moral) rights to exist in it's current form. Perhaps they should return all of their stolen land to the Palestinians and and be made to live in camps. They do not have any respect for international law or common decency. The state of israel is but a disgusting smirch on the globe and has no place among civilized nations.

[Ypsilanti]

PJC--I have to say, as a fellow resident of Nassau County, I'm a little surprised to hear opinions like yours coming from Oceanside. Not saying I disagree with you--I just imagine you're not too popular with your neighbors...

[cwr]

It is interesting to note that, if EC had waited until today to cancel his shows, the uproar would've likely been somewhat quieter...

[rachelhasen]

Doubtful, cwr. I'm one of those who signed up for this blog when Elvis made his announcement to cancel the concerts in Israel that he originally promised in contract.

I've sat here quietly, reading such fallacies as all "men" are created equal, therefore all cultures are equal, by a person who, apparently, objectifies women into body parts? Tell the women of the Muslim world that all cultures are created equal. Tell anyone who lives in totalitarian theocracies or dictatorships that all cultures are created equal. Tell Noam Chomsky that he still got to talk to Bir Zeit University by satellite, something that would have never happened in the Islamic world.

The map of Israel, shown as proof of Israeli expansionism, looks to me like the original territory of Judah, from which Jews have suffered pogroms from every group in history, many centuries before the thuggish and pathological religiopolitical ideology of Islam was even a thought in a murderous pedophile's mind.

In my mind, Israel has the right of defense against an enemy, Hamas, who arrogantly and unashamedly calls for the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jewish peoples along with other Islamic proxies who also make these threats daily. Is Elvis not aware of Hamas' explicit political goal?

Israel has imposed a blockade of Gaza to keep weapons from reaching the area in an effort to protect all Israeli citizens: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, *ALL* citizens of Israel, from the barrage of missile attacks that is Hamas' terror tactics, that even Elvis, in denouncing Israel's right to defend itself, had to acknowledge! Elvis, the King of Contradiction!

If anyone here believes for a second that Turkey is not the provocateur in the flotilla deaths, if anyone here, after viewing the tapes of the Israeli soldiers being attacked, upon entering the ship for a weapons inspection, think that Israel was the aggressor, then you have simply chosen your side, as I have mine. Those were no peace activists.

Turkey has seen a resurgence, under Erdogan and Gul, of a militaristic, Islamic revival that encourages its populace to disrespect the legacy of the great Ataturk and the secular government that he instituted for his people and fosters, instead, a nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire, going as far as to issue statements to Turks living in foreign countries not to assimilate to those countries' cultures!

How can Elvis play in Turkey, whose human rights abuses always secures it the top of human right's groups' list of criminal nations, much less ignore the genocide it carried out against a million Armenians with impunity, yet judge Israel? How about Turkey's violent suppression of the Kurds, a population three times as large as the Palestinians, who have suffered immense discrimination and criminal atrocities not only by Turkey, but by all of the countries of Islamic Asia who deny Kurds a homeland? Where was Elvis' "conscience" and "instinct" when he played in Istanbul?

Really Turkey, you really want to call the flotilla deaths a "bloody massacre?" Seems to me a huge display of hyperbole and exploitation of an event it provoked from a country that really knows the definition of "bloody massacres" better than most.

What moral footing does any Islamic country have to point fingers at Israel? Where is the outrage over the state execution of thousands of homosexuals throughout the Islamic world? Where is the outrage for the "apartied" world in which Muslim women are forced to live? Where is the outrage over Islam's bloody theocracies and dictatorships? Where is the outrage for religious laws that would chop off the hand of a thief or kill an adulterer or punish a woman for being raped? Where is the moral outrage over all the murderous crimes of Islam?

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/TheList.htm

It has been very sad for me to see Elvis stand against Israel. So, for what it's worth, I would like those Israeli readers of this site to know that there are those, and I would wager we are majority, who stand with Israel and our Western heritage that has been, and hopefully will continue to be, the beacon of freedom, equality and justice in the world.

When Jefferson wrote those words that all men are created equal, its reality was almost literal, but its promise was timeless and inclusive! It would take two more centuries for women even to gain suffrage, much less economic and social parity, still an elusive goal. But what they did was make a statement to the world that empowered ALL peoples with the realization that all human beings have the right to live freely. I think it was the greatest contribution ever to the human race and a greater document than any "supposed" holy book could ever be. No god is above human laws. Israel, a country whose very identity is based on religion, knows this well, and continually overrules Orthodox Jews who would have Israel be a theocracy.

There is a much larger war going on now than the right of the Jews to live in peace in Israel, their historical/ancestral homeland. Although our current US administration will not admit it, the free world is at war with Islam, a religiopolitical, fascist ideology that seeks supremacy of its regressive, religious worldview through terror, deception and manipulation of the free institutions of Western democracies by stealth invasion and a birthrate alone that will/has secure/d its future domination of Europe. Those that deny it, are either deluded or in collusion with, as Renagav stated it perfectly, ... the forces of darkness and evil in the world.

Five days ago, Muslim extremists in Pakistan brutally murdered over 70 fellow Muslims in the city of Lahore. Where is the outrage? There is none because this type of terror and disrespect for human life is Islam du jour. Where is the outrage when Egypt refuses to allow Elton John to play there because of his sexual orientation or over its continued practice of the genital mutilation of half its population? Where is the outrage at the continued practice of slavery in the Islamic world? When Obama bowed to King Abdullah was he condoning the Saudi Arabian practice of sex harems, their Islamic practice of polygamy and male supremacy?

Renagav, I and many others, I assure you, know what a great man Shimon Peres is, and Israel is not alone. Hopefully, in a couple more years, we'll get a leader who defends the West as one should, as is a president's mandate? I, like you, prefer to believe that goodness and light will prevail in the world.

How ironic that Elvis will play, tomorrow night, for a man who has escalated wars and arguably caused more turmoil in the Middle East than any of his predecessors by condoning and bowing to Islam's irrational and brutal, religious dictates and dogma when Elvis took every chance he could to denegrate Bush? I guess morality is, like everything, subjective?

[cwr]

I'd say it's far from "doubtful," rachelhasen, that the uproar would have been diminished if Costello had made his announcement this week.

I wasn't suggesting that, for instance, YOUR sense of personal outrage would have been in any way diminished. I'm sure you'd still be angry and disappointed at Costello's decision, as so many are. And the people who are happy or proud of his decision would feel the same way, too. People are pretty dug-in w/r/t their feelings on this issue, one way or the other, and a lot of people on both sides have their barrage of facts at their fingertips, and I tend to find that people are pretty determined that they have the monopoly on righteous outrage in a pretty complicated situation.

I was merely suggesting that Costello's concert cancellation wouldn't have been quite as big a headline-grabber if he'd waited two weeks, that it would have been relegated to a sidebar by bigger and more significant news events. Two weeks ago, "Costello Cancels Concerts" was a BIG news story, sending people by the dozens to register new accounts on Costello fan boards to post their feelings about it-- and I think if he had made his announcement in the wake of Monday's headlines, it would have been a smaller uproar, simply because it's a smaller news story.

The rest of your post doesn't really address the very small observation I was making. You simply said it was "doubtful" that the events of this week would have overshadowed a cult singer's concert cancellation, and you cited as your evidence that, when he made his cancellation, two weeks ago, you immediately signed up for this "blog."

Of course, you signed up for this "blog" after reading the Very Big News Story that made headlines two weeks ago, when Costello Canceled his Concerts. Which only proves that it was a big news story two weeks ago, and doesn't really do much to establish that it would have been a bigger or equal uproar if he had canceled in the wake of the flotilla deaths...

Again, I'm not even wading in to the truly contentious bigger picture questions of Israel, Gaza, who's right, who's wrong... I'm just pointing out that, on this very simple and small observation I was making, your direct response was to say "doubtful" and then change the subject without REALLY providing an argument as to why my observation was so doubtful. (If you had said that the flotilla incident would have amplified the meaning of Costello's decision, or drawn attention to it, THAT might have been a valid counter-argument, for instance. But instead, you basically made no real argument as to why this week's events wouldn't have overshadowed Costello's decision. I realize that you had a lot of larger points you wanted to express, but it feels kind of shitty to make an observation and have it dismissed with a "doubtful" and then have the subject changed. "Doubtful" sounds vaguely like something a surly teenager might say, like posting "LAME" in the comments section of a YouTube video...)

[rachelhasen]

Exactly, I agree, it is doubtful that the personal outrage felt by many of us would have been diminished by the event of the flotilla. Perhaps, you mean that his decision wouldn't have gotten as much press this week as it did two weeks ago? You might be right there?

But yes, my personal disappointment in Elvis has only been enhanced by the flotilla deaths, because as I say, I am clearly on the side of the Jews having the right not only to a Jewish state, but to a peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbors, which is probably futile given that Islam's whole religiopolitical ideology is motivated by hatred of the Jews, and by anyone who is not Muslim, or not of the "right" Muslim sect or of the female gender.

My outrage only grew in reading some of the anti-semitic responses here, and in Elvis' past decision to play for an Islamic country with dubious human rights credentials, that is responsible for more cold blooded murder against Armenians and Kurds than Israel could ever be accused of exacting against its Arab neighbors who have always been the aggressors to the existence of an Israeli state, IMO.

[freedom]

I am clearly on the side of the Jews having the right not only to a Jewish state, but to a peaceful co-existence with its Arab neighbors, which is probably futile given that Islam's whole religiopolitical ideology is motivated by hatred of the Jews, and by anyone who is not Muslim, or not of the "right" Muslim sect or of the female gender.

My outrage only grew in reading some of the anti-semitic responses here

Rachel,

What utter nonsense. I am a Palestinian Christian. Moslems are our brothers and sisters. The Jews were also our brothers and sisters and most still are. My fathers uncle was married to a Jewish woman prior to 1948. Another cousin of mine is married to Jewish man. Many other relatives of mine are married to Moslems. Stop using these tired old lies about hatred of Jews to try to Justify Israel's racist and oppressive tendencies. No one here has made any anti semitic remarks as far as I read. Enough of the bull shit.

If you believe that Israel should be "Jewish State" then you are the one who is full of hate for non-Jews. I do not disagree that there should be a Jewish State, but not if it means I have no right to my home in Palestine. Why don't Americans who talk so loudly about supporting a Jewish State give the Jews a one of the 50 US States? How About New York or Florida. How about giving them part of Germany that tried to eradicate them as a people? Isn't it Ironic that the west and Christian countries who so strongly support a Jewish State on someone else land are the very people that repeatedly tried to annihilate the Jews? Isn't that why the Jews needed a state of there own in the first place???

Israel is a racist and terrorist state. This is not an anti-semitic statement. Most Jews, like most moslems and Christians, are wonderful people. May God have mercy on us all.

[rachelhasen]

If you can deny that there is a lot of very virulent ant-semitism here, then as I've said before, you have your opinion, and I have mine. I love Jews! I love the Jews! I love Freud, I love Einstein, and I especially love Don Rickles!

God bless the Jews! God bless Israel! Yeah Jews!

A little prayer for Jews:

May you be protected in your homeland, from where you've been chased since the beginning of time, long before the thuggish and pathological religiopolitical ideology of Islam was even a thought in a murderous pedophile's mind,
May you be protected in Florida,
May you be New York,
May you be protected in Afghanistan, ... yes I'm praying for you, the one Jew who remains in Afghanistan!
May all Jews be protected everywhere, shield of protection around each and every Jew!
Peace for the Israeli people, so that they may continue to bring enlightenment and progress to the world!
Peace and love for every Jew, for everything Jewish!
I send you my love!
Hava Nagila!
Uru achim, uru achim!
B'lev sameach

[Judge Holden]

Board, she's bonkers, can we not get rid of this? Or is she allowed to spew these vile allegations about anti-semitism?

[freedom]

I love Jews! I love the Jews! I love Freud, I love Einstein, and I especially love Don Rickles!

God bless the Jews! God bless Israel! Yeah Jews!

I am assuming Rachel isn't Jewish, so she must be one of those nutty Christian Zionists who want all the Jews to be gathered to the Holy land so that that Jesus will come back ASAP.

Oh yeah, those same Christian Zionists believe that Jews who don't convert to Christianity before the rapture will burn in hell for eternity. Lovely. What nice friends.

[rachelhasen]

Judge Holden,

Did somebody here not call the Jews the scourge of the earth and wish that they would be wiped from the planet? I think they did.

Not pretty. Not nice. Especially cause I LOVE JEWS! Mostly cause they're the only ones who throughout my life have not tried to convert me to their religion or tried to tell me how to live. Also, if it weren't for the Jews, science, in particular, would be lacking. I LOVE JEWS!

So I'll stand with the Jews! I just want someone here to stand with the Jews, so let it be me!

[Judge Holden]

Rachel,
EC is coming to Gateshead the night he was due to play his first night in Israel. I'm going with friends but wish it wasn't in these circumstances. There have been lots of heartfelt comments on this thread (yaniv etc) expressing doubt, hurt or disappointment around this decision - they've made me question my own initial reaction to the news and hope that fans there will see him sometime in the future. I'd like to give my ticket money to some organisation over there which works for mutual progress and understanding (there are many, I know) and would welcome suggestions as to where I could make a small token gesture.
On a more personal note, your ignorant, drunken, racist, hate-filled poison needs to move on and find a new home.
You don't know the meaning of the word 'love', love.