Every time an artist or culture figure of any sort announces plans to perform or even visit Israel , the BDS launches a campaign to bully the artist to cancel the appearance and denounce Israel.
The tactic is effective because it generates undeserved media attention for the BDS movement due to the celebrity of the artist being bullied, even if the artist completely ignores the campaign. And when the tactic succeeds, as it did with Elvis Costello and others, a whole cadre of the artist’s fans is influenced to believe that Israel is beyond the pale and unworthy of a place among the nations.
Cultural figures have immeasurable influence in society because their fans often adopt their views on political matters uncritically. So it’s possible that the cultural boycott against Israel is more effective than the economic, political, and academic boycotts combined, at least for now.
But we can counter the BDS movement by helping artists and musicians stand up to the BDS bullying. We can show them that they have enormous support from the pro-Israel community. That’s exactly what Liran Kapoano did after Scarlett Johansson withstood the pressure from BDS and sided with SodaStream , a favorite BDS target. KEEP READING
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