Israel's ambassador seeks meeting with Lorde over cancelled Tel Aviv concert

Israel's ambassador to New Zealand has asked pop star Lorde to meet with him after she cancelled a show in Tel Aviv.

Key points:

• Campaigners urged Lorde to scrap the show in Tel Aviv in an open letter on December 21
• They said the show will be seen as giving support to Israeli government policies
• Lorde has said she is "considering all options"

Her decision came amid calls from pro-Palestinian activists to shun Israel as a protest against its treatment of Palestinians.

Itzhak Gerberg, Israel's ambassador to New Zealand, said in a public letter it was "regrettable" that the concert had been called off and the boycott of his country represented "hostility and intolerance".

"I invite you to meet me in person to discuss Israel, its achievements and its role as the only democracy in the Middle East," Mr Gerberg said on the Embassy of Israel's Facebook page.

Lorde's representatives did not immediately respond to request for comment on her response or whether she planned to meet the ambassador.

The 21-year-old New Zealand singer had been slated to perform in Tel Aviv in June as part of a global tour to promote her chart-topping second album Melodrama.

Campaigners have been urging her to scrap the show, asking in an open letter on December 21 that she pull out as part of a boycott to oppose Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

"Playing in Tel Aviv will be seen as giving support to the policies of the Israeli Government, even if you make no comment on the political situation," Justine Sachs and Nadia Abu-Shanab wrote on news website The Spinoff.

"We believe that an economic, intellectual and artistic boycott is an effective way of speaking out," the campaigners said.

Lorde said on Twitter at the time that she was speaking with "many people about this and considering all options".

Eran Arielli, one of the promoters of the concert, said on Facebook on Sunday that the show was off.

"The truth is I was naive to think that an artist of her age would be able to absorb the pressure involved in coming to Israel," he wrote in Hebrew.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was launched in 2005 as a non-violent campaign to press Israel to end its occupation of the territory Palestinians seek for a state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Government has long campaigned against the BDS movement, describing it as anti-Semitic and an attempt to erase Israel's legitimacy.

Artists who have boycotted Israel include Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and Elvis Costello.

Other major stars, such as Elton John, Aerosmith, Guns and Roses, the Rolling Stones, Justin Bieber and Rihanna have performed in recent years in Israel.

Reuters

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