STATEMENT

Strains of Jew-hatred were creeping back into universities in the West in the form of anti-Zionism. A coalition of individuals and organizations called the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign was seeking to isolate Israel-the only true haven for millions of Jews across the globe - economically, academically, and culturally - as a path to its ultimate dissolution. 

And most dangerous of all, BDS was using the celebrity of artists to spread destructive lies about the Jewish homeland and poison hearts and minds across the world.

In 2004/2005, BDS formed the cultural boycott facet of the campaign, which continues to pressure international artists to cancel their upcoming concerts and visits to Israel and international venues to rescind invitations to Israeli artists. 

BDS uses both social and mainstream media to charge Israel with false crimes against humanity and accuse international artists of being complicit in these crimes if they perform in or visit the Jewish homeland.

In 2011, I joined the fledgling entertainment-based nonprofit Creative Community for Peace, where I served as its first director and took up arms against the cultural boycott campaign.

First and foremost, I felt I had to keep concerts in Israel on track.  Artists were surprised at the assaults on their reputations and threats to their careers.  They felt alone and overwhelmed by the petitions, phone calls to their agents, protests outside their concerts, vicious social media posts, and often negative news stories. 

During my tenure, I spoke to the representatives of almost a thousand artists under BDS fire. I told them the truth about Israel and encouraged them to see it for themselves. 

I collaborated closely with Scarlett Johansson's representative when she faced attacks for her affiliation with the Israeli company SodaStream. I worked with other like-minded members of the entertainment industry, and together, we were instrumental in preventing dozens of concert cancellations by artists such as Alanis Morrisette, Alicia Keys, and Pitbull. 

As time went on, two things happened. One, the surprise was gone. Artists' representatives knew what would happen and could take steps to prepare their clients. Two, very few artists were canceling. Yes, the campaign had a chilling effect, and some artists decided not to perform to avoid headaches, but there was no actual boycott. Hundreds of artists were performing in Israel each year.

However, while the campaign failed to create a boycott, it was a success as an anti-Israel, antisemitic propaganda machine.

Why? Because celebrities make news. These campaigns against the famous are clickbait, and hundreds of millions of people were seeing the posts, reading the stories, and believing the BDS messaging.

In 2015, I broke off and created Liberate Art to share what I had learned with the public. I began my career as a public speaker and commentator to explain how the cultural boycott works, which artists support it, why it is so dangerous, and how to talk about it.

In 2022, I published my book, Artists Under Fire: The BDS War against Celebrities, Jews, and Israel. It exposes the antisemitic messaging in BDS rhetoric and puts BDS, not Israel, on trial.