Rock singer Aviv Geffen has been noted for his radical leftist views for a long time, but in a Tel Aviv concert on Thursday night he took things a bit farther with crass language and imagery, inciting against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
On the large screen behind Geffen appeared an image of Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman, with a large red “X” crossing them all out.
“Netanyahu wrecked the relations with America,” screamed Geffen to the audience. “We are in complete isolation, he put half of Israel under the poverty line, he didn’t leave hope for you, for students, to create a normal life here in Israel.”
Making his message crude, Geffen shouted “on behalf of me and all of you I hope that in a democratic process – we need to send Bibi (Netanyahu) to hell!” His usage of the coarse curse word was met by cheers.
The statements from the concert, in Hebrew, can be seen here:
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The call elicited a response from MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home), who said “the incitement is penetrating into the arts and music too. The incitement that started with leftist activists breaking into election meetings of Jewish Home continues in Israeli culture. We have to stop the incitement before it’s too late.”
Not all Israeli musicians are in agreement with Geffen, however, to put it mildly.
On Thursday Israeli rap superstar Yoav Eliasi, better known as Hatzel, announced he is backing Otzma Yehudit‘s Baruch Marzel in the Yachad – Ha’am Itanu party list. Labor party head Yitzhak Herzog rushed to put up an image less than six hours later warning that with Netanyahu comes “them,” along with an image of several right-wing politicians – and Hatzel.
Hatzel posed that if Netanyahu had posted a picture of leftist and Arab MKs with left-wing music stars, including Geffen who he listed by name, “what would the headlines be the next day?! That Bibi (Netanyahu) is fighting leftist artists and silencing people?”
“But for Buji (Herzog) and the left it passes because everything’s permitted to them as long as it’s against someone from the right, doesn’t matter if they’re an artist or MK,” he added.
