A publicly funded Spanish music festival that banned Matisyahu after he refused to comply with a demand from the festival to issue a public statement in support of a Palestinian state has recanted and re-invited the Jewish reggae singer to perform, the Jerusalem Post reported today.
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“Rototom publicly apologizes for canceling Matisyahu’s concert and announces that he has been invited to perform on Saturday, August 22 at the festival, as originally scheduled”, it says.
Lauder, who had raised the matter in letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and urged Spanish politicians to speak out, said: “The organizers have done the honorable thing and apologized”.
The decision by the Rototom SunSplash festival to pull Matisyahu, who fuses reggae and hip-hop with Jewish influences, from its line-up was criticised by Jewish groups, the Spanish government and the US and Israeli embassies in Spain.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Matisyahu will accept the new invitation.
The World Jewish Congress and Spain’s Federation of Jewish Communities – which had decried the decision to cancel Matisyahu’s concert as “antisemitic cowardice” – welcomed the reversal.
“This affair leaves us with a sour taste in our mouths”. It was yet another example of how anti-Jewish attitudes, dressed up as vicious and unfair criticism of Israel, are still widespread, and are especially prevalent in a number of far-left global political parties.
The Rototom Sunsplash reggae festival said it rejects any form of discrimination and anti-Semitism, and said it was sorry for canceling Matisyahu’s August 22 show.
“Imposing a public declaration [from Matisyahu] puts into question the principles of non-discrimination on which all plural and diverse societies are based”, Spanish foreign ministry officials said in a statement Tuesday, adding that Rototom’s actions on behalf on the BDS movement were “anti-Semitic”. The statement cited a “campaign of pressure, coercion and threats” against it that stoked fears the festival would be disrupted and “prevented the organization from reasoning clearly”.
The statement reversing that decision, said the Festival “reaffirms its commitment to a Culture of Peace and respect between cultures, including the freedom of belief as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Spanish Constitution”. He has repeatedly said he wants his music to be non-political and accessible to all.
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On his Facebook page, Matisyahu said Monday that the festival organizers were pressured by the pro-Palestinian group and wanted him “to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people”.
