In the face of a campaign by supports of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel in protest against its apartheid policies, New Zealand superstar singer Lorde cancelled a planned Tel Aviv concert in December. The BDS call was first issued in 2005 by dozens of Palestinian civil society organisations, and has been heeded by many cultural figures, including musicians.
Now an Israeli law firm has declared it is suing two Palestinian solidarity activists who wrote an open letter urging Lorde to heed the BDS call. The two activists, Nadia Abu-Shanab and Justine Sachs, respond below.
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Yesterday we heard rumours we were allegedly being sued by Israeli law firm Shurat HaDin. We believed this was a hoax, after receiving the news secondhand from a journalist. We have not received any summons or other formal notice. On this basis, as far as we are concerned, this “case” has no legitimacy. Our New Zealand friends and colleagues at work today were incredulous at news of our rumoured legal predicament. Still, Shurat HaDin has gone to the media alleging to be suing us on behalf of three ticket holders who are seeking $13,000 in damages, some of which is for the “moral and emotional injury” they suffered from being denied Lorde’s concert. We all loved Melodrama, but really?
Read the article in Green Left Weekly.