Stevie Wonder cancels show at IDF fundraiser

[azurnoir]

Veteran singer and United Nations Messenger of Peace Stevie Wonder has canceled a planned performance for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces after several organizations asked him not to perform.

The soul singer, 62, was scheduled to sing at a December 6 fundraising gala in Los Angeles hosted by the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), an organization set up to help those serving in the Israel Defense Forces and families of fallen soldiers.

"Given the current and very delicate situation in the Middle East, and with a heart that has always cried out for world unity, I will not be performing at the FIDF Gala," Wonder said in a statement sent to Reuters by his spokeswoman.

Wonder said he would make contributions to organizations that support Israeli and Palestinian children with disabilities.

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=294155

[kayecy]

1. Slowly, slowly the message is getting through...........................n/t

[shira]

11. With some bullying & intimidation. n/t

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

19. And some common sense...

but let's not talk about that. Let's just have a national tantrum and build some more illegal settlements.

[shira]

22. No common sense whatsoever when you side with ultra-rightwing conservative...

...fascist, theocratic, misogynist, anti-gay, racist regimes and their useful idiot supporters.

I'll side with the only liberal democracy in that region.

Every time, against that shit.

No bullying and intimidation by totalitarian anti-democratic assholes. It's common sense.

========

Now here's the kicker. The losers who intimidated and bullied Mr. Wonder wouldn't object one bit to him doing the same in any one of Israel's neighboring countries (fascist, ultra-rightwing, theocratic, anti-gay, anti-women, racist).

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

34. I have to honestly say that I don't buy, or care about, any of your whiny crap at all.

Have a nice day.

[pam4water]

2. K&R

[oberliner]

3. That's a shame

Seems like an organization that helps the families of fallen soldiers is worth fundraising for.

I wonder if similar pressure would be put on an international artist who wanted to perform at a fundraiser for the families of fallen US soldiers, or who wanted to perform at a USO or veterans event.

[kayecy]

4. "Their job is to look after Israel. Ours is to look after them.".........

Seems like an organization that helps the families of fallen soldiers is worth fundraising for.

Fallen soldiers?..................Yes and families too, but according to the FIDF Mission Statement, they exist primarily to support IDF soldiers.


"FIDF initiates and helps support educational, social, cultural and recreational programs and facilities for the young men and women soldiers of Israel who defend the Jewish homeland. FIDF also supports the families of fallen soldiers."


Then there is the small matter of the sound-bite:

"Their job is to look after Israel. Ours is to look after them."


If Wonder does as he says he will, and makes contributions to organizations that support Israeli and Palestinian children with disabilities ........isn't that likely to do more good and be a more appropriate good cause for a UN "Messenger of Peace"?

[michigandem58]

5. Their mission is immoral

There has been suffering for the families, but people are hesitant about this because of the mission. It's not a simple issue, for sure.

[oberliner]

6. Do you feel the same way about the US Army?

Have our recent military adventures been more moral?

[michigandem58]

7. No, they haven't n/t

[Scurrilous]

8. Good move on his part.

[oberliner]

9. How so?

What makes it a good move?

[shaayecanaan]

12. Its probably got something to do with the Palestinians...

a forty year old occupation, an illegal settlement enterprise and the daily subjugation of the largest group of stateless people on the planet.

Some of us are not a "friend" to such things.

[oberliner]

13. The IDF has removed settlers, in some cases by force

I would also point out (as I have implied already) that the US Armed Forces, for instance, is responsible for a good deal of misery and pain around the world, yet there are scores of entertainers (including some very progressive ones) who have seen fit to perform in support of the soldiers and their families without being castigated for doing so.

[Recursion]

14. I don't know of anywhere that the US military absolutely refuses to protect one population...

...from attacks by another. There are places we've certainly failed to do that, but not out of a deliberate policy.

IMO this was Abbas's strongest argument: the IDF's refusal to protect Palestinians against settler terrorism means Israel has abdicated its governance of the West Bank.

[shaayecanaan]

15. Occasionally, the US Armed forces do something worth supporting...

I supported, for instance, the assistance that NATO provided to the Libyan rebels, as did many other progressive people (Professor Juan Cole, for instance).

I don't know that you can put the US occupation of Iraq in the same moral category as the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The Americans were not interested in stealing the Iraqis' land or resettling Iraq with their own civilians. The Americans were truly motivated to set up a functioning government in Iraq and were genuinely happy to pass the reins over to that government when the time came. The occupation of Iraq lasted for nine years and has largely ended. The occupation of Palestine has lasted forty years and looks on track to last another forty more.

[oberliner]

16. Americans also don't have Iraqis shooting rockets at US cities

Last edited Mon Dec 3, 2012, 12:12 PM - Edit history (1)

If they did, one could only imagine the response.

[geek tragedy]

18. When we begin to occupy Canada and deny them the universal right

to self-determination, then the comparison will be appropriate.

Israel wants the land, and it wants peace too. The price it's willing to pay is anything that separates it from apartheid South Africa or the Jim Crow south.

[oberliner]

20. Complete ignorance of historical reality and context

Rendering these comparisons ridiculous.

[geek tragedy]

21. What coalition of Israeli political parties would be willing to allow:

an independent Palestinian state that

controlled its own borders
controlled its own air space
controlled its own subterranean water
was free to enter into defense treaties with other states
controlled its own immigration policy
was based in contiguous land areas and not wholly surrounded by areas under Israeli control
included the Jordan valley

Because there are currrently 65 Knesset seats held by political parties vehemently opposed to any of the above.

[oberliner]

23. Now that is a good question

At this point, probably none that has a realistic chance of being elected.

[geek tragedy]

26. Then there is no partner for peace on the Israeli side.

Because if Israel is not capable of offering the above, it is not interested in a two-state solution.

So, we wind up again at either Zionism becoming apartheid, or disappearing.

[oberliner]

28. Either side could take bold steps

The Palestinian leadership could take action that might make it more likely for a left-leaning coalition to be elected in Israel.

[geek tragedy]

33. Which would serve as a validation and reward for Likud's hardline approach.

The lesson would be: just squeeze the Palestinians hard enough, and we can bend them to our will.

Hard to imagine that the Palestinians caving to key negotiating points would result in Likud losing elections.

Moreover, the main reason Israel is descending into wingnuttia is demographic--for the similar reason the US is getting more liberal, but in the opposite direction.

[Shaktimaan]

35. Those are somewhat arbitrary demands.

Why is it that such a specific series of demands must be met before we can consider someone to support peace? Peace is usually its own reward, it doesn't have to be purchased in most cases.

The points you raised are by and large minor ones that would obviously come with time. To argue that barring full water rights over the aquifer means you oppose peace is just silly. Not to mention you avoided all of the really critical issues at hand.

[geek tragedy]

36. Those are requisites for having your own state.

The idea that Israel would give Palestinians a state of their own but steal the water underneath the Palestinian land is a joke.

Conquest and dominion, not peace, is the agenda.

[shaayecanaan]

30. Well, you were the one to start making those comparisons...

so your objection now seems rather misplaced.

[oberliner]

31. Yes indeed

Should have never gone down that road.

[geek tragedy]

17. Endorsing the iron fist of an illegal occupation is probably not something

liberals with a conscience do.

[oberliner]

24. Lots of liberals with a conscience raise money for US military and families

Not really a big problem for too many.

[geek tragedy]

25. We're not occupying a sovereign people and denying them the right

to representation at the UN and other aspects of sovereignty.

[oberliner]

29. How many civilians have we killed in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Is that not similarly condemnable?

[geek tragedy]

32. We don't expect foreigners to kiss our military's ass and raise money for it.

Our military is funded by our own taxpayers, and private relief efforts come from our own citizens.

We don't need to mooch off others.

[LeftishBrit]

37. American leaders never do? What about the so-called Coalition of the Willing?

Tony Blair and John Howard et al were not required to send troops and taxpayers' money into that Bushie black hole; they chose to. (As the USA chooses to have Israel as an ally). Nevertheless, they most certainly did; and in Blair's case at least, it was very much against the will of most of the people.

[geek tragedy]

39. Sure, but they didn't hand the Pentagon a check.

There's a difference between being an ally and being a sponsor.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

10. Good on you, Stevie!

[bunnies]

27. "Veteran singer and United Nations Messenger of Peace"

enough said.

[LeftishBrit]

38. Good - I don't support boycotts of Israel, but this is different

it's a fundraiser for the IDF and if you don't support current Israeli military policies, it's appropriate not to participate. Glad to see that he is instead contributing to organizations that support Israeli and Palestinian children with disabilities; that is really a constructive approach!