#CancelTelAviv: Twitter users call on Jennifer Lopez to cancel reported Israel show

"So many #Gaza children never made it to class the next day and you are entertaining their killers."

By RO YEGER
Updated: FEBRUARY 8, 2016 13:31
Jennifer Lopez at Mawazine festival (photo credit: FADEL SENNA/ AFP)
Jennifer Lopez at Mawazine festival
(photo credit: FADEL SENNA/ AFP)
American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez is facing boycott backlash on Twitter after a report surfaced last week claiming the star will perform in Israel for the first time this summer.
The hashtag #CancelTelAviv was gaining steam on Monday on Twitter as Palestinian and BDS activists posted bloodied photos of purported Gazan children and destroyed buildings to encourage Lopez to cancel her unconfirmed show.
Israeli advocacy group StandWithUs called the #CancelTelAviv campaign an effort by BDS activists "to flood social media with purposeful misinformation."
"In one example I saw, an activist was spamming Jennifer Lopez with pictures from conflicts in Africa, while claiming the horrific pictures were from Gaza," Emily Schrader, the social media director for StandWithUs told The Jerusalem Post.
"Their aim is to bombard celebrities and shock them into cancelling their concert," explained Schrader.
"So many #Gaza children never made it to class the next day and you are entertaining their killers," tweeted one user.

"Tiny bodies in ice cream freezers when morgues ran out of room," wrote another Twitter user. "Enjoy singing to their murderers."

The post was accompanied by a photograph of the contorted bodies of four children in a large white freezer. The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the veracity of the claims that the photographs in question indeed depicted events in Gaza.
Instead of using the power and reach of social media for good, "these activists are so blinded by hatred they don't care about making the world a better place, they care about dividing people and sowing hate through information they know to be false," explained Schrader. "This is the epitome of incitement."

"Thankfully, artists largely ignore this bully tactic and continue to perform in Israel, and get an amazing reception from their audiences in the most free and diverse democracy in the Middle East," Schrader added.
According to reports published last week by Ynet news, Lopez agreed to hold a concert this summer in Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv.
She is among several high-profile artists and bands who are scheduled to perform in Israel this summer. They include Elton John, Deep Purple, Megadeath and Julio Iglesias.
Lopez, who stars with Ray Liotta in the new television show “Shades of Blue,” will serve as a judge for the 15th and final season of “American Idol.” She has been on the show for several seasons.
JTA contributed to this report.