Is this the ballgame? Vanessa Paradis has cancelled a February concert in Israel, JPost reports. And Johnny Depp is her partner, he was going over there with her. For professional, not political reasons, quoth the songbird. Well I wonder. Haaretz is in on the speculation.
Isn’t that just like people saying that the Canadian megastore Bay has stopped handling Ahava products, made from minerals taken from the occupied Palestinian territories, because of sales #s, not boycott? Amounts to the same thing. Says Nancy Kricorian of Code Pink’s Stolen Beauty campaign: “It seems that everyone is dropping Ahava because sales are down, not because of the boycott — when is someone going to make the connection between plummeting sales & the boycott?”
Oh and here, from Omar Barghouti, is the letter of appeal to Paradis and Depp, from Call for Boycott from Within [read full letter at link]…
Dear Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp,
We are Israeli citizens. It has come to our attention that Ms. Paradis is planning on performing in Israel in March 2011 [Weiss: I cant explain factual conflict here], and that you are both expected to meet Israeli President Shimon Peres. You may not be aware, but there is an ongoing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, due to its policies of apartheid and occupation. We, as Israeli citizens endorse this boycott, and we are urging you to take this opportunity to take a stand on an issue crucial to human rights and as such, to human lives as well.
You may be asking yourself what all this means and what it has to do with you. Indeed, you may feel you are being thrust into a situation which you had no interest in entering in the first place. However, we hope that we can help the both of you overcome your feelings of disconnect, outline the realities of the grim world you have entered, and give you the opportunity to choose to make a difference. Make no mistake; Because of your celebrity status, the choice you make will have an instant effect on the lives of millions of children, women and men.
Palestinians are living under a brutal military regime which practices policies of apartheid in what is known as Israel and the Occupied Territories.
