Annie Lennox to fans: I'm not anti-Israel

Scottish singer-songwriter says she spoke out against IDF op "because there was a tiny window of opportunity to prevent a blood bath."

Annie lennox 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
Annie lennox 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
Scottish singer-songwriter and Eurythmics star Annie Lennox, who starred in an anti-Israeli rally in London on Saturday slamming Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip, posted a message on her facebook site Wednesday denying she was anti-Israeli. Lennox's comment, entitled "Annie's Second Official Statement regarding the Situation in Gaza," said, "I am not anti-Israeli nor have I ever been, and for anyone to say that I am is profoundly offensive and completely wrong. "The reason why I spoke out when I did was because at that point in time there was a tiny window of opportunity to prevent a blood bath on both sides before the ground troops went in," she wrote. "I have never condoned suicide bombings, or the firing of missiles into Israel. I repeat... The slaughter of innocent lives on both sides is abhorrent." Lennox's second comment came in the wake of a number of angry postings on her facebook site, one saying she picked a fine way to make a "fading career relevant." Lennox's first greatest hits compilation, The Annie Lennox Collection, is scheduled to be released in March. Another posting on Lennox's facebook site read, "Where were you all this time as Israel has been bombarded by missiles over and over again. A continuous rain of attacks, we have lived in a constant state of alert, living in fear. We waited and waited and did nothing and now when we finally - finally - take a stand to defend ourselves are we treated like a terrorist nation. Unfortunately you were clearly oblivious to these events all this time. You have proven your ignorance and are standing on your soapbox without your facts."