Orphaned Land forced to back out of the June 25 Istanbul metal music festival Sonisphere deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey following the Gaza flotilla incident.
By DAVID BRINN
Middle Eastern metal band Orphaned Land has been forced to back out of the June 25 Istanbul metal music festival Sonisphere, after the company responsible for the festival’s security announced that it couldn’t guarantee the band’s safety because of the deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey following the Gaza flotilla incident.The veteran Israeli band, which combines Jewish and Arab musical motifs amid their musical onslaught, has many fans in the Arab world according to its Web site. It opened for Metallica at Ramat Gan Stadium last month, and was going to do the same at Sonisphere, which is also featuring Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.Calling Turkey its second home, the band said in a statement on its Web site on Monday that while it didn’t agree with the decision to pull it from the lineup, it understood and respected the situation of not wanting to put other bands at risk.“You have to know that we feel safe and we 100 percent wanted to come despite all, to play for the purpose of peace, friendship and brotherhood of our nations... We promise you all that we will make the maximum efforts to schedule new dates in Turkey very soon. We personally feel safe; we don’t need any kind of security, surrounded by all of you makes us safe,” the band wrote.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store