Elvis Costello has canceled two upcoming concerts in Israel in protest of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.
On his Web site, Costello cited the “intimidation, humiliation or much worse” inflicted by Israel on the Palestinians as his reason for canceling the performances. What about the mass murder committed by Palestinians on innocent Israelis? How soon we forget the sickening images of Palestinians celebrating in the streets after the attacks of 9/11 (and yes, those were real images, not old footage put together as anti-Palestinian propaganda as some radical Muslim sympathizers would like to believe).
I do not know why I am still shocked when these Hollywood loonies show their support for anything that goes against democracy and American values. Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, and Oliver Stone have traveled to Cuba and smoked stogies with Fidel Castro. Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover treated Hugo Chavez like royalty when he visited New York. Even Tom Hanks, who we thought was our modern day Jimmy Stewart, couldn’t help to show his ignorance when he recently compared America’s treatment of Muslims to our treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
By siding with the Palestinians, Costello shows contempt for those who value peace, freedom, and safety. The old cliché is that Jews run Hollywood, and whether or not that is true, the fact remains that Hollywood has never been a friend of Israel or Jewish causes. As I have said before, Jews remain the one group that does not look out for their own interests, and in Hollywood that is especially true.
Elton John is scheduled to perform in Israel in June. John has an admirable record of lending his name to worthy charitable and humanitarian causes. I hope he is smart enough to realize the significance of performing in Israel and goes on as planned.
Costello is from England but owes much of his success to the United States. There are Brits like Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, and the late Lynn Redgrave who so loved this country and so appreciated the role the U.S. played in making them stars that they not only moved here, they became American citizens.
I doubt Costello will follow suit, which is fine with me. He would have lots of company here, though, with homegrown stars such as Sarandon, Glover, Harry Belafonte, and Jane Fonda who have nothing but disdain for the country that gave them their success and still allows them the cherished freedom to spew about how our enemies are being unfairly treated.
