TEL AVIV (CelebrityAccess) — A controversial new Israeli law is being used to sue to organizers who claim they persuaded Grammy-winning singer Lorde to cancel a planned concert in Tel Aviv.
According to Newsweek, the lawsuit targeted two women, Justine Sachs, who is Jewish, and Nadia Abu-Shanab, who is of Palestinian heritage, after they wrote an open letter to Lorde last year calling on the singer to “take a stand” and join the artistic boycott of Israel.
Lorde responded to the letter via social media, writing: “Noted! Been speaking [with] many people about this and considering all options. Thank u for educating me i am learning all the time too.” She later canceled her concert, which had been planned for Tel Aviv in June 2018.
After the cancellation, Israeli rights group Shurat HaDin employed for the first time, a law passed in 2011 to sue the two women on behalf of three ticket holders for the canceled show and seeking about $13,000 in damages.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, a lawyer representing Shurat HaDin, told the Middle East Monitor that while the law had not been tested in court, said she believes the connection between the call for a boycott and Lorde’s decision to cancel the show was clear.
“This lawsuit is an effort to give real consequences to those who selectively target Israel and seek to impose an unjust and illegal boycott against the Jewish state,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the group’s head and a lawyer representing the plaintiffs. “They must be held to compensate Israeli citizens for the moral and emotional injury and the indignity caused by their discriminatory actions.”
