"What’s alarming is not simply how far Ben Gvir is willing to go to block events that promote peace, it is that, despite all this, he has risen to one of Israel’s highest posts."
August 1, 2023
Sinead O’Connor’s death on July 26 was a bitter pill to swallow. Apart from her remarkable life, she is remembered fondly by Palestinians. Not only for cancelling a concert in Israel in 2014, but also because of a 1997 incident involving a young Itamar Ben Gvir, now Israel’s national security minister.
O’Connor cancelled her 1997 peace-themed concert in Jerusalem following death threats from the Zionist Ideological Front, an extremist group of which Ben Gvir was a leading member. Ben Gvir publicly boasted of the cancellation. O’Connor responded in an open letter, writing “God does not reward those who bring terror to the children of the world. So you have succeeded in nothing but your soul’s failure.” What’s alarming is not simply how far Ben Gvir is willing to go to block events that promote peace, it is that, despite all this, he has risen to one of Israel’s highest posts.
Mohamed Khalaf
Director of Special Operations
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
Address: 580 Sainte-Croix, Suite 060, Montreal, QC H4l 3X5
T: 438-380-5410
C: 438-530-6567