How do we know Cohen's really pro Israel?
Jenny | 06.29.09 - 10:17 am | #

Jenny - we've had a few posts on Leonard Cohen since the news broke that he's intending to play Tel Aviv. It turned out that he volunteered for the Israeli army in October 1973 and he is believed to have been a member of a zionist youth group. I wrote to his manager, as did others, and his responses seem to indicate that they like to promote the "violence on both sides" school of thought re zionism's war on Palestine.

The discussion below this post will hopefully be informative.
levi9909 | Homepage | 06.29.09 - 11:06 am | #

Free Gaza! ship intercepted in International waters by Zionist Navy!
Gert | Homepage | 06.30.09 - 8:58 pm | #

around the time susan sontag decided to go to receive an award in jerusalem,i remember reading the south african (and jewish) novelist, nobel laureate, nadine gormider turned down offer by saying she had no desire to go from one apartheid country to another apartheid country. I guess the tremendous change that has occurred is that the mask has fallen off the face of american writers, poets and artists who support(ed) the apartheid state of israel by previously faking they didn't know the reality/facts about occupation and its racist paradigm. now bigots like leonard cohen have to support somewhat openly. shame on him.
- moazzam
moazzam sheikh | Homepage | 07.01.09 - 8:59 am | #

We should try and get Neil Young to gig in Ramallah and Gaza City. Keep on Rockin' in the Free World!
Gert | Homepage | 07.01.09 - 7:02 pm | #

Moazzam: I dont know anything about the earlier incident you cite, but Gordimer eventually went to Jerusalem: http://jewssansfrontieres.blogsp...ger- moment.html
hulkagaard | 07.02.09 - 7:41 am | #

Hm, some of the things in the post seem a tad hersay. I have a great respect for Leonard Cohen for he inspired Lou Reed, but I believe a demonstration for wherever he is playing in Tel aviv should be called for.
Jenny | 07.02.09 - 9:03 am | #

somone ask leonard what he thinks of the act of piracy against the free gaza boat?
brian | 07.02.09 - 12:11 pm | #

Partial list of international entertainers and celebrities who have come or will come to Israel in 2009: Madonna, Leonard Cohen, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Julio Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Susanne Vega, Macy Gray, Joe Jackson, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Branford Marsalis, The Roy Hanes Trio, Stefano Bollani, Kenny Garrett, Al Di Meola, Jamie Lidell, Paradise Lost, Dream Theater, David Helfgott, Murray Perahia, Yo Yo Ma, Jason Alexander, Naomi Watts, David LaChapelle...

List of entertainers who have decided to "boycott": The Yes Men.

Epic fail. Solutions will not be found by boycotting one side of the conflict.
taxsyn | 07.02.09 - 5:20 pm | #

"No I, I, ain't gonna play Sun City..."
Artists United Against Apartheid


Fancy that,
Spanish singing sensation, hearthrob and all-round smootho-de-croon, Juglio Iglesias seems to have made a career out of warbling in front of racist regimes -
Sun City (song)
wikipedia


Epic fail. Solutions will not be found by boycotting one side of the conflict.
- I quite agree.
The racist Israeli state and its pals should stop boycotting Palestinians just because they're the wrong skin colour.
Let occupied Palestinians drive on the same roads as white Israelis, I say.
joe90 kane | Homepage | 07.02.09 - 7:48 pm | #

But I see that Cohen is performing in the explicitly racist country of Britain. The British Apartheid wall in Belfast is still standing and the BBC reports a rise in sectarianism. British imperialist troops are murdering innocent civilians in Afghanistan (compensation paid to over 100 this year alone ,according to the MoD). Meanwhile, the white racist London regime promotes this occupation as a 'good war'! Why is nobody trying to stop Cohen (and others) from appearing in racist Britain?
Barry | 07.13.09 - 12:49 pm | #

But is the UK's existence predicated on discrimination against the native population of Ireland? Also the sectarianism in Northern Ireland is the fault of how the statelet was constructed on a sectarian headcount but there are no explicitly sectarian laws as there are in the case of the State of Israel. There is nowhere in the UK or Ireland from where natives are barred whilst people from all around the world are invited to settle. That's the main issue with Israel.

Further, the whole of Ireland voted in favour of the current framework of governance for the whole island of Ireland. It's woefully inadequate but it's resemblance to Israel is largely historical now. Sectarianism is officially illegally in Ireland and the UK. It's compulsory in the State of Israel.

Anyway, if you find racism and sectarianism so repugnant how come you don't condemn Israel given that its core existence is predicated on racist practices and laws? Apologies if you do condemn Israel and I have missed it but you come across as a rather typically dishonest apologist for those racist war criminals.
levi9909 | Homepage | 07.14.09 - 8:30 am | #

halkagaard,

I am quite saddened by the fact that gordimer, whom i respected, did in fact go to israel in the position of a state guest or to entertain. it diminishes her in my eyes as an intellectual. i will have to write about it. just to clarify, i am against going to israel. but not as a guest of the state or in a position to prop up the apartheid state in any artistic/cultural way. i think one of the pink floyd guy said he won't perform in israel either till they tear down the wall.
moazzam sheikh | Homepage | 07.20.09 - 7:26 am | #