He can play wherever he wants. He's a singer, not a politician.

A singer. But you cannot deny the fact that artists have an effect on politics. Artists speak to the people and the people choose to listen or do not. What about Morrissey declaring his disgust with Bush? Or showing his leanings towards Obama? It's ok whatever he says. He's the artist. He can say what he or any other artist wishes to say whether his fans agree or they do not.

As long as he doesn't get assassinated. I don't think any of his idiot cholo security guards would leap in front of a flying bullet for him.

No but not because of how it treats others necessarily - more because I dont want Moz to die. Please dont do it Morrissey.

Morrissey should ask Bono what to do.

Bono is very wise.

he can play wherever, but it seems the amount of fans he going to make happy is outnumbered by the amount of fans he's going to alienate.

doesn't really matter, cuz he'll probably cancel anyways. sore throat?

Of course he shouldn't play.

And to all those saying "he's just a singer", presumably you're too young to remember the impact of the cultural boycott of South Africa? Those money-grabbing bands that played Sun City despite the calls of the ANC - and the international community - for a cultural boycott, were rightly ostracised.

Morrissey has been political from the very beginning of his career. From personal and sexual politics (often with insight and humour), to engaging with bigger international issues (often clumsily).

And besides, just because you're the Spice Girls or whoever, does that mean it's not a political statement, whether you like it or not, if you choose to play in Zimbabwe or Darfur? Get real and grow up.

How depressing that it should be Morrissey to break a boycott that even St Bono of Hypocrisy supports.

This isn't about parity - play Palestine as well and it's all OK.

Get off land that doesn't belong to you (and that the international community has been demanding you leave for forty years), stop encircling towns with walls built on land that isn't yours, and then maybe we can all have a lovely party and pretend it never happened.

Perhaps those who aren't concerned with Morrissey's craven fawning toward Israel might like an insight into the Zionist mentality, provided here by Menachim Begin one of the architects of the Jewish state who in time would become its Primeminister.....

"Our race (the Jews) is the Master Race. We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves."

While Morrissey obviously isn't one of the world's great thinkers, surely even he can't have viewd the last sentence of Begin's speech as an instruction. Can he?

Anyway Moz, what's the life of a few thousand Palastinian "wogs" worth, if it opens up a new market for you?

How depressing that the religious devotees on this site are posting that he ought not to go because of the remote (to say the least) possibility Morrissey might come to some harm.

People are dying every day in Palestine because of the actions of the Israeli state, and that's the reason he ought not to go. He should be ashamed of himself.
  http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles6/DeRooij_Am bient-Death.htm

Of course the Hamas leadership are a bunch of murderous thugs too, but thankfully he's not yet planning a day trip to Gaza just yet.

"Only if he plays in Palestinian areas too".

Is this satire?

Before the tickets go on sale we'd find the venue was now part of Israel, bulldozed to make way for another illegal settlement.

I see the majority are voting for the "He can play wherever" option.

Well of course he can. The question is should he.

He could play in Zimbabwe. He could play in Myanmar. He could have played in South Africa against the pleas of Mandela and the world.

But should he?

Oh, I forgot, "he's just a singer". So no responsibility whatsoever then. According to your arguments, he could have entertained the troops at Belsen (on the basis of the political naivety of some of the postings, you may need to Google that reference).

It's a nauseating view.

I have never seen so much anti-semitism in my life - first off - the whole problem in the middle east can be contributed to one county - mighty old england after wwi - england went in there and screwed everythin gup - now we have the problems we have today I never knew there were so many anti-semitic britons - wow, remember guys - you helped beat hitler too

It is terribly wrong to attack all people of Israel for the horrible treatment of Palestinian people. It is well known that, despite the fact that there is a huge core of extreme right wing nationalists, orthodox Jews, who view other ethnicities as "lesser beings", there are many young Jews who fight for peace and for friendship between Jews and Arabs. Of course, the main problem is Israel's state policy and it's not a humanistic one. It really puzzles me that Israelis, one of the most turtured nations of the world, especially by the fascist regime of Adolf Hitler, when nearly 7 million Jews were executed in terrble ways, seem to treat another nation in the same way. Antisemitism is fascism, but the extermination of a nation (the Palestine nation) by the Israelis is equally despicable. Therefore, I would love Morrissey to hold a responsible position in this matter and to cancel his concert in Israel. I understand that this is unfair for his Israeli fans and I feel their anticipation for the event (after all, we Greeks had to wait for 19 years to see Moz live), but some decisions matter in life. Some say that Morrissey is not a politician and he should play wherever he likes. I strongly disagree with this. Artists, especially the ones who derive from the alternative scene have almost always a political view and, as most of us know, art, real art, is a social, if not a political statement. So, if Morrissey is sensitive for seal hunting in Canada, he should be equally sensitive for the massacre of Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers.

A serious issue trivialised as a vacuously-worded poll ("Show Israel the love!"), punctuated by copious exclamation points which only serve to highlight the depressingly soundbite-like, comically 'balanced', nature of the whole sorry thing. Topical, but worryingly frivolous in its presentation.

What IS David T smoking? This editor needs an editor.

Please no more posts randomly accusing anyone disagreeing with Israel's human rights abuses of anti semitism.

Many of us oppose the terrible actions of the Israeli state only as vigorously as we despise anti semitic comments and racism.

Just calling those who disagree with you antisemites undermines the very real racism that Jews have faced.

Most posts so far seem quite rational.

Many liberal Israelis hate the actions of their Government. They are not antisemites.

There is plenty of evidence of human rights abuses, from respected organisations such as Amnesty.

It's no more racist to stand up to it than it was anti-white racism to stand up to apartheid.

(BTW the points made on the complicity of the British in creating the problem may be valid. But so what? I'm no more responsible for the actions of the British government half a century or more ago than Israeli opponents of the treatment of the Palestinians are for today's human rights abuses)

Drop Jesse off in Gaza...and leave him there.

i had a blief Morrissey realy did care about suffering !
he is getting very bad advice or he is not the man i thought he was?!!
i respect his stand against the canadian seal cull but with getting involved with o2 and now playing Israel !
i do feel a bit disillu`sioned but it is his right to do as he feels
oh well` still have the music

Since Morrissey has decided to make political statements throughout his career and, has refused to play recent Canadian dates due to the barbaric and inhumane seal hunt, I can't see why his reasons for playing/not playing anywhere adverse wouldn't have politcal undertones . If he believes and empathizes with Isreal in this matter, he should play there. If he doesn't or has no opinion in the matter, he should either play all areas, showing no bias or, play nowhere.

It's a good job all you Americans are waking up and voting against the boycott.

You will be making your government very pleased.

It's illegal for US companies to back the boycott. The penalty is up to ten years jail and $50,000.

And apparently that's freedom.

http://tinyurl.com/4yulog

It always seemed to me that Smiths fans recognised the underdog. How did such a radical group of people become so reactionary (looking at the voting figures against supporting the boycott)?

Is it age, or is it the fact that the fanbase widened to include a lot of people for whom the gut-punch of The Queen is Dead (for example) meant very little? For whom Hold on to Your Friends means more than Nowhere Fast? Perhaps with no connection to the class and gender politics of 80s Britain.

Or is it a lot of sheep following Our Glorious Leader into the kind of dubious political terrain occuplied by our parents? And George W Bush.

Morrissey has rightly highlighted in song and interviews the appalling abuses committed by the agents of the British state in Ireland during the 1970s.

But even during the worst of the Troubles, and when Britain was facing IRA bombing campaigns, I don't recall them ever carpet-bombing the innocent people of Dublin in a revenge attack, building a wall around Limerick, or controlling entry into Waterford.

What is it going to take to make him take a stand? This is a disgusting decision and I'm glad there are some people on here prepared to condemn it.

got a clue about the background to the Middle East crisis. It really is a simple as that.

The problem is not simply Moz going there. It's the neauseating video he made in which he states 'God Bless Israel'.

What an amazingly clueless, uninformed, politically-naive buffoon.

I have no problem with Morrissey playing wherever he chooses, irrespective of the political situation. Incidentally, I have no in-depth knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian problem, but whenever I've seen recent reports, my gut feeling is that Israel seem to behave in a rather cavalier fashion towards the palestinians, and nothing much seems to be said by the rest of the world. It must be frustrating for the palestinians. Yamaha

I think he should play Palestine (in a safe place) as well. I think it woud shed some light on what entertainment the "free world" can offer to everybody. Open your minds people. And BTW: this has more to do about religion than politics. If it were up to me, a couple of megatons on Iran would solve the whole problem, (and turn it into a BIG oil slick!).

Come on! All of the anti-Israeli sentiment is pure anti-semitism, that's all. Do you really have ANY love for Palestinians? Of course not. In fact, the rest of the Arab world doesn't care about them either, or else they would have had much more support in their conflict against Israel.
But the fact of the matter is this: Israel is a peace-loving democracy, that is in tune with the western world, and advocates the basic liberties and human rights that we in the U.S. and England enjoy. (and if you have any sort of complaint about the policies of the free world, consider that it has afforded YOU, the priviledge of sitting at a computer and posting opinions about whether or not a singer should play a concert; therefore you should not complain)
I am sure that Palestinans and any other middle easterners would love such liberties as well. However, their own governments do not allow it and it has NOTHING to do with whether or not Israel is right or wrong. Israel is basically right in everything. At the very least it wishes to exist without threat but is surrounded by a group of nations that wish to obliterate it, the Jewsih people, and do not even support its own people in a humane way.
So, why is Morrissey playing Israel, and not some other place in the Middle East? Because Israel deserves it and the others do not. Try living amongst sworn enemies and see if you would act as Israel has. Yoiu surely would. The fact that Israel even still exists is a marvel in and of itself and the other nations surrounding it are so jealous of that fact that they cannot even stand it. Wake up and join the modern world! Stop hating Jews, Americans, British, your own DAMN PEOPLE, treat them with dignity and humility, then we'll see if you get a concert.
I know that many people who sympathize with Northern Ireland look at Israel as another Britain, and therefore take Palestine's side. It is a completely different matter because Israel has a historical, political, and religious right to the land in which they occupy.
If you do not support Israel, you are nothing but a jealous, angry, hate filled anti-semite.
Cheers to Morrissey for playing there. It was a good choice and it will be a great show!

Viva Israel!!! God bless Israel!

It might not help Moz in his defense against allegations of racism by whole-heartedly playing in a nation whose policies are actually and openly founded upon race-based discrimination.

I'll admit there's some inconsistency in saying that you won't play in Canada due to a moral objection towards the government's initiation of a senseless program of butchery but will play in countries where the governments in charge are also engaged in horrible acts of purposeful killing of innocents (and indeed you might even argue that compared to other governments the Canadian one is probably the most docile and least composed of cold-hearted suits).

But this inconsistency is only troublesome when you refuse to accept something that it took me a long time to accept: Morrissey is a brilliant lyricist and a great singer and an awesome iconic figure, but that doesn't make him insightful, informed, and above-the-pack when it comes to issues like politics, international affairs, etc. Like your average person, he has opinions about such issues, but those opinions are largely driven by general impressions of what the issue is about. Most people don't really have the type of in-depth knowledge and hightened philosophical insight needed to see the fullness of complicated issues. They just feel one way about things, and that's usually where the analysis ends.

So, is it inconsistent to include moral reasons into your business decisions but betray them in other areas you don't feel as strongly about (despite a logical connection between the two things)? Yeah. But should we expect Morrissey to be wise in everything? Not after you've grown up a bit and started exploring more than just music...like leading scholars who suddenly make you realize how little people actually know about things they have opinions on.

I don't blame all Americans for there crimes in the past. I don't blame all English people for there brutal treatment of my Irish brothers and sisters. So although i don't agree with the Israeli government and the action of her troops don't mean good decent Israeli people don't deserve to see Morrissey live in concert.

i'm getting sóóóó fucking dissapointed in the man... damn!!

not playing Canada for fur reasons... (which i agree but he should play Canada and donate his tour-incoms to organisations who fight against hunts for fur)...and now considering playing Israel....??? That fascist state???

for fucks sake... is the man really losing it.. or what????

it is so maddening to hear people speaking about your country as "facist" and "racist". the most you can say is that SOMETIMES the GOVERNMENT (not the country or it's people) make DECISIONS that mean the continuation of a status quo which means the obstruction of human rights in the palestinian territories.
israeli politicians, their majority, acknowledge now that the israeli colonisation of the west bank and gaza was a mistake. some don't dare admit that because of the fear of their primitive public.
the colonization wasn't itself a government decision but an enterprise of the extreme religious right wing in israel. now it has grown in numbers and supporters on the one hand, but has alienated himself from growing numbers of israelis.
isreal is not facist. israel is a fairly democratic country, remembering the fact that israel has to protect it's jewishness AND the jews of the world in case the a 1939 world setting reoccurs.
that is within the borders of israel. i have the feeling the most of you had no idea that israel has never annexed ramallah, nablus, bethlehem or jericho. israel has never claimed to make the palestinians israelis. israel has thrived for a peacefull solution to all conflicts with palestinian leaderships, alas those leaders could not stop militant groups from endangering israeli lives including thousands of rockets on innocent civilians. maybe the israeli military is not using a hard hand on jewish settlers, because the soldiers themselves can't bring themselves to be violent against their brothers when they believe all palestinians are malevolent - when they catch so many armed ones of them at the blockades.
israel is not commiting genocide anywhere. is not "exterminating".
whenever innocent people ger killed in the palestinian territories is because the IDF was looking for armed fighters which shamelessly hide in civilian areas.
and it may be strange that moz is boycotting Canada - but then again, i would defened moz much less then i would defend israel...

Israel is God's chosen people. Go play your arse off, Moz.

That is the holy land... I believe he should of been there years ago. I wish him luck and I hope it transends to bootleg fast as ever!

A good article published at the weekend

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/20/israel andthepalestinians

There is no doubt that, whilst Morrissey should be allowed to make up his own mind about where he plays and make his own moral choices, there exists a responsibility within art to speak out against brutality and oppression, to condemn violence and hatred and to be sensitive to situations that may upset whole countries or people. The best example of this over the last few weeks has been the agonising of celebrities and politicians over the tour of the Olympic torch.

Reading about the Israeli / Palestinian conflict it becomes abundantly clear that it is no longer viable to call Israel an illegal occupation. After the horrors of WWII and the anti-semitic feeling in the countries from which they'd been driven, it was necessary to designate a Jewish homeland. Now there are many Israeli's who have been born and brought up there and to displace them would be to do to them exactly what past governments did to the Palestinians all those years ago; you cannot blame an entire people for the actions of their country's past, or indeed for the actions of the present. What we are able to say though is that the government should return the land that was captured illegally from the Palestinian people in clear violation of Israel's UN agreement. In short, the borders weren't adhered to and land is still being stolen, which is legally wrong and morally abhorent.

Also, it is fair to say that Zionist extremism should be tackled in the same way any other religious extremism. I don't think everyone is aware of this, but if a person in the public eye, or a media organisation appears to condemn the Israeli state or the actions of it's government (for example calling the region 'The Occupied Territories') then they are hounded by Zionist groups; thousands of emails to block their accounts, letters to their homes or workplaces, and sometimes threats. Such behaviour is reported in a book called 'Flat Earth News' by Nick Davies. It's not anti-semitic to be aware that some factions of the Jewish people are just as fundamentalist as the Islamic hardliners in Hamas. Also, because a race of people were persecuted last century and still receive some despicable abuse referring to that persecution today does not mean that succesive governments representing those people have the divine right to do whatever they choose and persecute another people in turn. Unfortunately, I think it's a terrible flaw in human nature that what haapens to our ancestors becomes meaningless in light of our own experiences, and we will continue to visit the same atrocities on others. It's happened in South Africa with white people, now the target of a reverse kind of apartheid and it's happening in Israel with the Palestinian refugee camps and the talk of forced removal of Israeli Arabs; in other words, ethnic cleansing.

Unfortunately until someone steps in to speak for the citizens of both countries (and there are vast numbers of both Israeli's and Palestinians that hate what their governments and troops do, but see no other way to vote) there will be continued violence. Suicide bombers who see no other course of action than the horrific path of martyrdom and the taking of innocent lives and the retaliation of Israel's security forces, dropping bombs indiscriminately and oppressing Palestinians further in the hope that they'll give up their fight for their homeland.

Dialogue is what's needed and if Morrissey does play this festival, perhaps there may be something, however small, that he could say to acknowledge the suffering on both sides.

Here is a good translation of the discussion so far (a breather not meant to trivialise; remove any space in URL to view) ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE&feature =related

Fuck 'em all. Moz can play wherever he wants. And fuck this website for not questioning his right to play in other countries. This site probably supports Holocaust denial as well.

"Yes!! Show Israel the love" Gimme a fucking break!! Eventually he can of course play wherever he wants to, but blaming Canade for the seal hunt, while playing in Israel is nothing but ridiculous!!

Why shouldn't he perform here?
All those who say that Israel treat the Palestinians bad - You don't really know the truth. You only know what the press tells you.
I'm not saying we're angels or something, but it has two ways.
And even if (and not) Israel treat the Palestians awful, why should I be punished for that?
I Love Morrissey, and I'm dying to see him, and why should my goverment's actions should affect??

Canadian seal hunting was a bit too much for him.
Warsaw ghetto like palestine obviously not.
Animals are adorable, right.

...he should be fully aware that he is playing in a country which dumps there shit in palastinian drinking water purposely and punishes them for not voting for the "right people" in a democratic election by blocking much needed supplies going through the checkpoints at the gaza border.

Morrissey might be less anthropocentric than the rest of us e.g. his call to boycott Edinburgh Zoo for building a £6m chimpanzee enclosure but he must be fully aware of the humanitarian crisis which Israel is inflicting upon the Palestinians.

This action is in conflict with his moral decision to boycott any live shows in Canada due to their culling of seals for the sole purpose of monetary profit. I agree that this is also an inexcusable offence but it doesn't make sense him not to play in one country for political reasons and then go on to play in a country which has obviously been repressing the people of Palestine.

Some would see both of these equally as bad.

if he reads this topic and the comments to it.
the issues in this sight are getting worse every day - someone must do something about it.
all this stupid antisemitism states and political issues makes me sick especially those who use this sight to promote their racial and political views - where are the real interesting issues about the music that saved people's life.

Burying your head on this or any issue means you'll only get shot in the arse.

I bloody hope so!