By Daphne Anson
“America’s Rabbi” (as he describes himself) Shmuley Boteach has never, to put it mildly, shied away from publicity, and if you look at his Facebook page you’ll see that he’s been getting very excited each time a news outlet reports on this ad, which he’s taken out in the Washington Post.
The ad does make excellent points regarding Lorde’s decision to cancel her June gig in Tel Aviv (about which the great David Collier posted so very eloquently here).
The antisemites are, of course, out in force, attacking the rabbi and da Joos Khazars in intemperate terms. But many supporters of Israel are questioning whether taking out this ad was wise, arguing, inter alia, that it has given inordinate publicity to a Kiwi performer who’s not been exactly a household name and that Boteach’s stunt will backfire, being interpreted as bullying, and making as many converts to the odious BDS cause as it would hope to allay.
As the antipodean J-Wire service reports:
‘…. A spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council said: “The advertisement funded by The World Values Network does not promote understanding or engagement. The New Zealand Jewish Council is committed to dialogue and tolerance and distances itself from the inflammatory and aggressive material that stoops to the level of BDS rather than rising above it ….’
The huge kerfuffle over Lorde has, incidentally, tended to obscure a victory for the BDS movement in November that has been the subject of this triumphalist video featuring the plummy-voiced London-based Sandra Watfa from Inminds.
It concerns hip hop artist Rag’n’Bone Man’s (Rory Charles Graham’s) decision to cancel his gig in Tel Aviv scheduled for next May, and we see the decision played out in real time, as it were, with his manager liaising with anti-Israel protesters outside his concert in Brixton, South London demanding that he do so, and telling them that their demo has convinced Rag’n’Bone man not to go ahead.
All very well thought out, huh?
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