Israeli musician cancels his show in Jordan following anti-Israel outcry

The musician, Nadav Dagon, was scheduled to perform at Wadi Rum Desert, east of the Jordanian city of Aqaba, on Thursday, during a special three-day music festival.

By MAAYAN GROISMAN
Updated: APRIL 4, 2016 19:47
The invitation to Dagon's show in Jordan (photo credit: SOCIAL MEDIA)
The invitation to Dagon's show in Jordan
(photo credit: SOCIAL MEDIA)
An Israeli musician who was set to perform in Jordan this week canceled his show following a popular outcry against his visit to Jordan, where it was regarded as a step toward the normalization of the Kingdom’s relations with Israel.
The musician, Nadav Dagon, was scheduled to perform at Wadi Rum Desert, east of the Jordanian city of Aqaba, on Thursday, during a special three-day music festival.
Dagon created an “event” on his Facebook page for the occasion, with a relevant post in Arabic, Hebrew and English. However, Dagon soon came under fire from many anti-Israeli activists on Jordanian social media networks, who protested against the “Zionist” musician.
The popular outcry against Dagon’s show reached the Jordanian Parliament as well, with a petition signed by a group of parliament members urging the Israeli not to perform in Jordan.
“You are not welcomed in Jordan and your show is nothing but a dance over the corpses of the children in Gaza and the Palestinian steadfastness,” the petition read.
MP Yahya Saud, the head of the parliamentary committee on Palestine, released a press statement on Sunday, poignantly criticizing the government for allowing Dagon to perform in Jordan.
“By allowing this show to take place, amid the continued infringements by the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian people, the government and Prime Minister Abdullah Nasur show disrespect toward the feelings of the Jordanian people,” Saud’s statement read.
“We understand why Jordan has economic relations with Israel, although we strongly oppose them. However, we will never understand or accept the need to have cultural relations with Israel as well, “Saud said.
Following the protests against his planned show, the Israeli musician announced on his Facebook page that the event was “postponed” and wrote a post relating to his decision.
“The last 48 hours of my life were very thrilling. A couple of months ago, a dear group of Jordanian producers invited me to perform at their party in Wadi Rum. Of course I agreed. To my surprise, I found that 90% of the people with whom I spoke told me they would come to the show,” Dagon stated.
“When I told this to the Jordanian producer, we understood we can leverage the event into something unusual and we started widening the circles of people invited to the show”, he added.
“Unfortunately, two days ago I noticed that with the great exposure, wide opposition to the event started arising on social media, accompanied by threats. Hence we received a recommendation from the Jordanian police not to hold the event, “Dagon said.
“I am a musician who performs in the world, spreading my art and communicating with people from all colors and genders. In the end, I reached the conclusion that it is probably not the time to hold such an event, but I really hope that soon, I will have the opportunity to preform there, “Dagon added.