A prominent Israeli rock band that lost one crew member in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack learned that the group’s name means “Jews,” and a New York City live venue recently canceled a scheduled concert. announced that it had been cancelled.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the band HaYehudim, which means “Jewish” in Hebrew, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that management of a venue called Brooklyn Monarch “informed a local booking agent that ‘Due to the current political nature of the event, “It will be cancelled,” he said. The club’s owners hope to refrain from hosting “political events or actions.” ”
“Naturally, we were very surprised, because we are not a political band and we do not have a political agenda or controversy. Our message is tolerance and acceptance of peace. ” said the band. “Regarding a personal tragedy that befell our band members on October 7th, our sound staff member Guy Iles was kidnapped in Gaza and subsequently murdered. Guy is a talented engineer and musician. He was a great friend and member of the Hai Ehudim Band family. We will miss him very much. We have since rescheduled our New York show to a different venue.”
Fox News Digital reached out to The Brooklyn Monarch for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication.
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Sam Bethens of K’s Choice and Orit Shahaf of Hai Yehudim perform at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 16, 2019. (Guy Prives/Getty Images)
The Anti-Defamation League of New York and New Jersey also responded to the cancellation of “X.”
“The Brooklyn Monarch Music Venue’s cancellation of the Israeli band Hayevdim (lit. ‘Jews’) is a deeply offensive and anti-Semitic act. Jews are not political. We take a wide range of positions. ” ADL wrote last week. “We urge the Brooklyn Monarchs to reverse their disturbing decision.”
Hayevdim performs at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 16, 2019. (Guy Prives/Getty Images)
Hayevdim, formed in the 1990s by couple Tom Petrová and Orit Shahaf, have sold more than 200,000 albums in Israel and are performing in Brooklyn as part of an upcoming U.S. tour that includes visits to New York and Los Angeles.・They were scheduled to perform at Monarch. Times of Israel.
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The media reported that Brooklyn Monarch spoke to a representative for Hayevdim, saying, “As a New York entertainment space, we want to avoid political events and actions.” It cited an unverified social media post that posted the message it allegedly quoted. ”
Sam Bettens of K’s Choice, Orit Shahaf and Tom Petrover of Hai Yehudim, and Gert Bettens of K’s Choice perform in Tel Aviv, Israel on December 16, 2019. (Guy Prives/Getty Images)
In a separate statement obtained by The Times of Israel, the band said: “Hayehhudim proudly bears its name and has always been an advocate of cultural freedom and humanity. That is why we will not give up and will perform the concert with pride.” Tour the United States against all anti-Semites. ”
“In recent weeks, we have experienced serious signs of anti-Semitism in New York City, the epicenter of American progress. A show by a band that has been making Israeli-Jewish rock for nearly 30 years. “It’s horrifying and painful to hear of the cancellation of the band,” the band added, “and that’s entirely due to the fact that they are Jewish.”
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This isn’t the first time the band has faced adversity over its name. The band told The Jerusalem Post at the time that a similar problem occurred in 2015 when they were scheduled to perform at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.
“We were told we couldn’t call ourselves ‘Jews’ and that would just get us in big trouble,” guitarist and singer Tom Petrová told the Post. The best we came up with was something that sounded like our real names. ”
