Reggae Festival Demands Loyalty Oath To Palestine From Jewish Performer

Matisyahu performing in 2006
Matisyahu performing in 2006

A Spanish reggae festival has cancelled a performance by American Jewish singer Matisyahu, after his refusal to meet their demand that he issue a statement endorsing a Palestinian state.

According to this report via Google translate, the groups and individuals that specifically targeted Matisyahu were “Pallasos Rebellion, María Carrión, director of the Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara), the Saharawi activist Hassanna Aalia and audiovisual producer Fernando Garcia . . . the Saharan Desert Son Yslem rapper . . . [and] the Valencian group The Gossa Deaf.”

María Carrión is a director of FiSahara, a Spanish NGO that organizes a film festival to highlight the far-less well-known plight of the people of Western Sahara. Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco since 1975, and Morocco has built “a lengthy, fortified wall” to keep the former residents out. Unlike the Palestinian Arabs, however, the people of Western Sahara have renounced violence, and have been waiting since 1991 for a resolution from the UN. While most of the information on the festival is in Spanish, as far as I can tell, no similar loyalty oaths in favor of the Sahwari people have been required of any performers.

Nor have any similar demands been made that any participants in the music festival endorse the movement of the Basque or Catalonian people for independence from Spain. This past June the four-decade old Basque separatist movement demonstrated in favor of independence. In a non-binding Catalonian referendum in November, 81% of 2.25 million voters voted for independence from Spain.

Indeed, Matisyahu was the only performer asked to make this declaration about “Palestine.”

At least one of the other performers that called for Matisyahu to be banned from the Spanish festival appears to have been angered by Matisyahu’s participation in the Tulane University pro-Israel festival this past April. According to festival organizer Chloe Valdary, one of the festival’s goals was to “tak[e] the narrative back that was stolen from us and celebrat[e] the beautiful story of the liberation movement of the Jewish people.” Sadly, the anti-Israel activists proved unable to hear the message of the Tulane event.

What a shame that reggae music, which arose in protest of racism and discrimination, is the now the new frontier for institutionalized racism against Jews.

Also see: Norwegian Film Fest Hates Israel More Than It Cares About Disabled Children

36 thoughts on “Reggae Festival Demands Loyalty Oath To Palestine From Jewish Performer”

      1. Canary Islands, Formentera, Cabrera, Alboran, Balearic Islands, Gymnesian Islands, Pine Islands, Columbretes Islands, Islas Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, Tabarca, and Medes

        1. WHAT??? Are they colonies?

          Gee, I like your comments, here and on EoZ. But this comment is utterly ridiculous. They are not colonies but sovereign Spanish territory.

          You should inform yourself better about Spain’s history.

          1. The Spanish government whines about our “occupation” of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, yet these islands are located fairly distant from Spain.

            The Canary Islands over 2,000km from Spain. How is that not a colony?

            Am fully aware of Spain’s colonial history

            1. The colony status is a juridic matter, not a distancematter. Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands are not colonies, but sovereign territory. Spain doesn’t have any colony.

              Is Hawaii a colony, too?

              1. As for Hawaii – heck yes it is another American colony.

                As a proud Spanish citizen I understand your attitude. But how can a set of islands over 2,000km from Spain be sovereign territory yet the heartland 2 km from our capital not be?

                I hope that you see the irony

                1. My friend, the status of colony is not a matter of distance, but a legal issue. It’s all about the legal relationship between the overseas territory and the mainland.

                  The Canary Islands, just like Hawaii, are Spanish sovereign territory and not colonies. But Puerto Rico may be considered a colony, as its legal status is not one of sovereignty.

                  Spain had colonies in Africa in the past, but not anymore.

      1. how would you define areas located in a different continent concurred a few centuries ago and still are controlled by a former European colonial power? same goes for the UK and their overseas territories

        1. Ceuta has more than 420 years of Spanish history plus other 84 previous years of Portuguese sovereignty, while Melilla has more than 500 years of Spanishness. Morocco, however, gained independence from France in 1956. It was not even a country or a sovereign territory.

          As stated by international law, an occupation is not a ground for acquisition of sovereignty; it is due to this reason that we should take look at the history of the territory.

          Historically, Ceuta and Melilla have always been united with the Peninsula. Even during the time of Al-Andalus, the North African autonomous cities remained under peninsular jurisdiction, mainly linked to the Caliphate of Cordoba. Even with the fall of the Almohads and the victory of the Reconquista, Ceuta and Melilla remained under peninsular jurisdiction.

          Ceuta was conquered by Portugal in 1415 from the small Berber kingdom of Merinides, that also controlled the area of ??Ronda and Granada in Al-Andalus. Melilla, meanwhile, remained in no man’s land until the Spanish conquest in 1497, fending off constant raids by the Kingdoms of Fez and Tremecen. That is, both cities were always linked to the Iberian peninsula.

          Also, both Ceuta and Melilla were always organized outside the Spanish protectorate of Morocco, which is why these enclaves are and were never considered as colonies, being under Spanish sovereignty just like any other territory in the Spanish peninsula.

          It should also be noted that Ceuta and Melilla are not on the UN list of territories that should be decolonized.

          Ceuta and Melilla are not colonies, but sovereign Spanish territory.

          1. Thanks you for the historical review but it does not contradict the notion that both cities are Spanish colonies:

            The fact that they have over 500 years of Spanish history is not different from any other territory Europeans concurred during the 15-16 centuries, settled
            and exploited.
            The fact that those cities were under different political
            definitions (by Spain) then other Africa controlled by the Spanish empire areas, does not change the nature of how and why the Spanish empire got to the control of a land in a separate continent on the first place.

            Ethnical Spanish people are obviously not indigenous to the north coast of Africa.

            Though defining European colonialism is problematic and has various political agendas attached to it inherently, by any historical perspective both cities are remaining parts of the north Africa land the Spanish empire concurred
            and controlled and thus considered colonies.

            The UN is joke and since its decisions are a reflection of political power rather than any objective truth, I wouldn’t use UN lists as an argument.

          2. Judea, Samaria and Gaza have been our homeland for over 3,500 years. So our claim is many time yours. Why does your government deny our sovereignty?

            1. Just like every other government in the world denies it: political interests.

              Don’t expect moral values or even common sense to lead the foreign relations of any country, but political interests.

              The West wants cheap oil and make the Arabs happy in order to protect Western economic interests.

  1. Norman_In_New_York

    Matisyahu can return home with his head held high. Meanwhile, Europe is withering under an invasion of “refugees” and “asylum seekers” that has the EU at a loss. The EU’s ideology of unconditional humanitarianism is turning into a continental suicide pact, while the Muslims it has welcomed are running off to ISIS territory to learn the arts of atrocities before returning. I hope all European Jews see fit to follow Matisyahu’s example and evacuate this dying continent before the invaders wipe out what was once a great civilization with their jihad.

      1. I am a Left/ish non-Spanish Zionist, and I think you deserve.. a round of APPLAUSE!

        Hi Sergio ;-).

        PS. the organizers of this event and their BDS fellows, can most certainly “go to hell”.

        1. Thank you, Alexi!! 😉

          As we say, they can be thrown to to a pool full of diarrhea.

          Spanish MEP Juan Carlos Girauta (from Ciutadans, a Catalan centrist and biggest anti-separatist party) will bring the case to the European Parliament, and pro-Israel lobby ACOM has announced they will sue the festival and BDS.

          These scumbags will not get away with this.

    1. It’s in Spanish. I think you know that when I said “go to hell” I didn’t mean supporters of Israel. Your support of Spain is touching, but a bit like a person who has drunk the Kool-aid. Europe is back to its bad old ways and Jews need to pay attention.

      1. I know you didn’t mean that, but your post generalized, saying “the Spaniards can go to hell” and “deserve sharia”. I think you should be more careful with the wording in order to avoid misunderstandings.

        Spain is my country. It’s normal I support my country. This country is not perfect and sometimes I am angry at this country and Spanish society, but I can’t forget this country has treated me well.

        For example, it’s common to read about anti-Semitism in US, French and British campuses. This doesn’t happen in Spain (with some exceptions in Madrid and Barcelona). In my university I can be Jewish and support Israel openly, and I have never had any problem. Well, just once with an idiot no one takes seriosuly. This is not perfect, but among young people there is much less anti-Semitism than in most European countries (mostly because young people are stupid who don’t even think about Jews).

        BDS is marginal here, and there is no support for this movement even among leftists and pro-“Palestinians”. Their support comes mainly from the far-left. When you say “Europe”, you’re implying that Europe is a monolithic bloc. Each European country is very different.

        Maybe Spain is going to a new way of deep stupidity, but not to the the bad old ways of anti-Semitism.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top