Elvis (yellow) Costello boycotts Israel, becomes “a silent partner in someone else’s mistake”

Robin Shepherd
robinshepherdonline.com
21 May '10

A very nice piece today from David Horovitz, editor of the Jerusalem Post, on rock legend Elvis Costello’s decision to boycott Israel.

Horovitz writes the article in the form of an open letter, and pretty much hits every right note on this the latest indictment of Europe’s long and inexorable slide into barbarism over Israel and the Jews. Costello’s decision to cancel a series of concerts in Israel was announced on his website thus:

“It is a matter of instinct and conscience. It has been necessary to dial out the falsehoods of propaganda, the double game and hysterical language of politics, the vanity and self-righteousness of public communiqués from cranks in order to eventually sift through my own conflicted thoughts.” [Meaning?]

“I have come to the following conclusions,” he says. ” One must at least consider any rational argument that comes before the appeal of more desperate means. Sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static and so an end to it. [Meaning?]

“I cannot imagine receiving another invitation to perform in Israel, which is a matter of regret but I can imagine a better time when I would not be writing this. With the hope for peace and understanding. Elvis Costello.”

Oh dear, oh dear. All of this can be summarised in a single paragraph: “I’m a coward who fears to stand up to the braying crowds calling for Israel’s isolation. I am incapable of independent thinking. I simply cannot deal with the moral and civilisational issues that the Israel-Palestine conflict throws up. I do not understand democracy. I do not understand terrorism. I have decided to take the easy and painless path of conformity rather than to stand up for what is right”.

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