Lorde facing calls to pull out of Israel gig

Lorde fans who back a cultural boycott of Israel are calling on the star to pull out of a concert in Tel Aviv.

On Monday (18Dec17) the Green Light musician, real name Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, announced she would be performing in the Israeli city in June next year.

However, fans who support the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, calling for artists and companies to cut ties with Israel due to its government's treatment of the Palestinian people, reacted angrily to her decision to perform in the Jewish state.

One Twitter user with the handle @Newjersey1987 wrote, "Don't play in Tel Aviv while they have the Palestinians under a brutal occupation! Very disappointed in you! Boycott Israel!"

Other BDS backers called on the 21-year-old singer to scrap the gig and "research" the issue, although some fans hit back at those criticizing their idol over politics.

Janfrie Wakim, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Solidarity Network in Lorde's native New Zealand told the website stuff.co.nz, "We as a Palestinian support group feel it's entirely inappropriate for Lorde to be supporting the breaking of the boycott."

The BDS movement is backed by a number of famous musicians, including ex-Pink Floyd rocker Roger Waters and former Roxy Music star Brian Eno.

Waters has hit out at several artists who have booked gigs in Israel, including Radiohead and Nick Cave, who both responded angrily to the BDS movement's demands they refuse to play in Israel.

"You have to go through public humiliation from Roger Waters and his partners and no one wants to embarrass themselves publicly," Cave said at a press conference in Israel. "It suddenly became very important to make a stand, to me, against those people who are trying to shut down musicians, to bully musicians, to censor musicians and to silence musicians."

Waters responded to Cave's comments by writing that they filled him with "sorrow, rage and disbelief".