Lebanon’s Mashrou’ Leila Take a Stand

 Pierre Abisaaab 
(This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.)

Making a difficult choice, the Lebanese band backed out of opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers after it emerged that the American band will soon be playing in Israel.

Beirut - Fans of Mashrou’ Leila breathed a sigh of relief after the news was announced yesterday.

The celebrated local band declared that they will not be opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the WaterFront in Downtown Beirut on Thursday.

The concert represented a big break for the local group, a chance to perform in front of a huge local, regional and international audience assembled to watch the famous US rock band in its first appearance in an Arab country. It would have been an invaluable opportunity for the Lebanese alternative rock band, which is gaining in maturity, widespread popularity and international recognition.

The members of Mashrou’ Leila chose to forego this opportunity rather than have their name associated in any way with indirect normalization with Israel, which is incompatible with their humanitarian views.

The Chili Pepper’s third stop after Beirut (September 6) and Istanbul (September 8) will be Tel Aviv (September 10).

Mashrou’ Leila chose to forego this opportunity rather than have their name associated in any way with indirect normalization with Israel.The members of Mashrou’ Leila – Hamed Sinno, Haig Papazian, Firas Abu-Fakhr, Andre Chedid, Omaya Malaeb, Ibrahim Badr and Carl Gerges – were unaware of the celebrated band’s tour schedule when they were offered the gig.

Before the band had enough time to grasp what was happening, social networking sites were ablaze with calls for boycotting the band, angry criticism, and unfair accusations.

Following a long discussion, they made the difficult decision to bow out of the much publicized concert.

To perform in Israel today is tantamount to entertaining a mass murderer, to contribute to erasing his guilt, to whitewash his ugly image, and encourage him to carry on with an unjust occupation policy.

It also means paying taxes that will go to the coffers of this Apartheid state and improving its war machine.

The organizations calling for the boycott of Israel do not want to demonize the American band, which is free to make its choices.

Rather, they are interested in conveying the Arab voice and just cause “in the hope that the Chili Peppers will follow the example of bands like the Gorillaz and other respected artists from around the world that have boycotted Israel,” as BDS campaigner Samah Idriss said on Tuesday.

Idriss along with his colleagues in the Campaign to Boycott Israel Supporters in Lebanon thought long and hard before sending an appeal to Mashrou’ Leila asking them to withdraw from the concert.

The band’s manager Karim Ghattas said in a grim voice over the phone, “No comment,” adding: “Mashrou’ Leila will not sing on Thursday at the Beirut WaterFront. That is all.”

 Al-Akhbar 
September 5, 2012