Two words from Billie show antisemites are out of tune

Jewish Telegraph. August 2021

IT took Billie Eilish just two words to prove that anti-Zionism really is antisemitism.
The 19-year-old pop star recorded a number of promo videos for her new album, Happier Than Ever, to promote it in different countries around the world.
But starting the video aimed at fans in the Jewish state by saying “Hi Israel” prompted an outpouring of antisemitism.
Some Twitter users accused Eilish of outing herself as a Zionist, while others said she supported the murder of babies. The words ‘apartheid’ and ‘Israhell’ were also bandied about.
This treatment does not happen to any other country. As an example, take America during the Trump presidency.
To say Donald Trump was an unpopular president is an understatement. There were the usual suspects, like Roger Waters, calling him out and slagging him off. But they never threatened a boycott of America because they know that it’s not the fault of the people of that country.
Yet, with Israel, people like Waters see whatever is happening in the country as a collective thing and don’t just blame the government, but the people too.
Then again, there is no way they would boycott America because they make millions from touring the country, whereas performing in Israel is more likely to see them lose money as they can only do one or two shows.
What people don’t realise is that Eilish has an album to promote. Israelis buy music so why shouldn’t she send a message to them saying how excited she is to be releasing Happier Than Ever.
She knows the teen girls and boys who rush out to buy her album or download it aren’t the ones making the policies in the country so why punish them?
I accept that Israel has made bad mistakes in the situation with Palestinians, but it takes two to tango.
Most of the pro-Palestinian propaganda is so one-sided, yet the keyboard warriors believe it without doing any research.
There are still many people who believe that Israel occupies Gaza and these same people don’t give a monkeys about Palestinians being persecuted in other countries in the Middle East. As they say, ‘no Jews, no news’.
I would hope that Eilish is a Zionist because, in simplistic terms, that means she rightly believes Jews have the right to their own country. Anyone who disagrees is an antisemite.
Punk legend Toyah better hope these antisemites don’t notice that the new reissue of her 1979 debut album, Sheep Farming in Barnet, includes a demo version of the song Israel.
So criticise the Israeli government all you want, but don’t punish the citizens.