Fans of “South Park” may be surprised that Lorde, the famous Pop Singer, is not, in fact, a middle-aged man from Colorado, but really is a 21-year-old girl from New Zealand. Recently Lorde announced a series of concert dates that included St. Petersburg and Moscow in Russia and Tel Aviv in Israel. At that point, the infamous BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction) movement went to work on the young lady and applied pressure to force her to cancel the Tel Aviv concert. Lorde eventually caved in and complied with the demand. Now she is facing a social media firestorm that includes, oddly, Roseanne Barr.

What is the BDS movement?

David Gerstman at Legal Insurrection notes that the BDS movement, whose goal is to isolate Israel both economically and culturally, is a direct descendant of Arab anti-Jewish boycotts that began in the 1920s and 1930s and has now been gussied up with social justice rhetoric. One might even go further by comparing BDS to the “do not buy from Jews” campaign initiated by the Nazi regime in Germany in 1933. The boycott was the beginning of the systematic campaign that culminated in the Holocaust. In effect, Lorde has aligned herself with anti-Semites and terrorist enablers who are no better morally than the people who goose-stepped under the swastika. One can only conclude that she is not aware of these associations, otherwise she would not have allowed herself to be co-opted.

Exploring the depths of Lorde’s hypocrisy.

Former fans of the New Zealand pop singer have noted that hypocrisy of canceling a tour stop in Tel Aviv while performing in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Legal Insurrection notes that while the Russians bomb Syrian children while the Israelis airlift the injured to hospitals for medical treatment.

Israel is a functioning democracy (the only one in the Middle East) whereas Russia is run by corrupt oligarchs aided and abetted by Putin, whose method of campaigning for president is to have his opposition murdered.

What happens now?

Roseanne Barr has proposed a boycott of Lorde in an angry tweet. One wonders how much traction the proposal will garner among fans of the New Zealand pop singer.

Lorde is relatively famous and many may either support her action, no matter how much it is associated with bigotry, or will forgive her for it because they like her music.

On the other hand, Lorde seems to have permanently tarnished her brand, especially among the well informed about the Middle East. It is a pity that a wiser, more mature manager or mentor could not have stepped in and cautioned her about doing what she did.
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