Following “requests” to ban Lara Fabian from coming to Lebanon because she sang in Israel, the Belgian-Italian singer has canceled her two concerts, originally scheduled for February 14th and 15th, and issued the following statement:

A vous mes Amis Libanais une lettre d’Amour…

A L’amour …
Seule source de paix et de réconciliation…
A L’amour …
Seule véritable intelligence, profonde et infinie…
A L’amour…
Seule arme contre son ennemie jurée la haine…

A nous qui vivons tous sous le même ciel,
Je nous souhaite l’amour…et toute la guérison qu’il procure…
A nous qui ne faisons qu’un, puisse l’amour nous donner la force d’ETRE TOUS HUMAINS
A nous qui souffrons, souvent battus d’avance par la bêtise et l’absurdité, puisse l’amour éclairer l’unique chemin sur lequel nous voyageons tous ensemble : la Vie.

Seule la musique peut gommer les différences et briser les barrières mentales, religieuses et culturelles…
Ceux qui créent cette différence sont une minorité de gens qui ont peur….
Ils vivent dans la haine,car ils n’ont pas été suffisamment aimés.

Je ne chanterai pas sous les menaces que l’on me fait…
Je ne marche pas avec la haine……
Je marche avec la tolérance, la générosité et la vérité.
Je VIS et J’AIME.

Ceux qui n’ont pas compris ça et qui ne souhaitent pas ma venue dans votre beau pays où j’ai déjà eu la chance de venir chanter ne seront pas inquiétés…
Je ne viendrai pas perturber votre quiétude par ma présence physique,…
Mais sachez que je serai là à ma manière.

Un soir de St-Valentin, quelques chansons d’amour feront du bien au coeur et à l’âme.
Je donnerai un concert unique, crée pour l’occasion, ce sera mon geste pour la paix..
Il sera diffusé le soir où mon concert aurait dû avoir lieu à Beyrouth.

De cette façon Je continuerai sur le chemin qui est le mien, celui de l’être et de la lumière…
Puisse-t-elle éclairer ces consciences jusqu’au bout, afin d’apaiser leur peine et dissoudre leur haine…

En mon âme et conscience je sais que L’amour est immuable.
Et qu’il ne connait pas les restrictions du temps et de l’espace…
Je vous écris cette lettre d’amour, car même contrainte de le faire à distance, je chanterai pour VOUS, mes amis Libanais…

Lara.

I won’t go into the litteral English translation but she goes on, in typical French manner, about the power of love. Most importantly, however, she says she won’t let her physical presence in Lebanon trouble the peace we have and that those who asked for her concerts to be canceled do not understand the message of love she was trying to get across. She will be having a concert, however, which will air on the days her concerts should have taken place.

So after all this brouhaha, I guess we can draw a few conclusions:

1) If Israelis watch a movie, then we CANNOT watch this movie.

2) If Israelis listen to a song, then we CANNOT have this song play on our airways.

3) If Israelis attend a concert, then we CANNOT have the artist who played at that concert come to Lebanon.

Apparently, for many, singing on an Israeli stadium has become equated with the artist in question chanting: “Death to Lebanon.”

Now let me ask the people of BDS to ponder on this. Is Israel the only country that did Lebanon wrong? Or is Israel the only non-Arab country that did Lebanon wrong, therefore, the only one we get angry about their transgressions? (This post might put things in perspective for you). I don’t see “activists” asking for artists (some of whom are Lebanese) who sang for the Assad regime or in Syria get asked not to sing in Lebanon. Or is the blood of the Lebanese who got killed by the Syrian regime much less “precious” than the blood of the most “honorable” of people?

Or is the fight for freedom in Lebanon become also subjective to where you come from, the country you fight and the cause you die for?

I’m not asking to ban artists who sang in Syria and for Syria to be able to hold concerts in Lebanon. Likewise, you have no right to ask for artists who sang in Israel (they didn’t even sing praise to their government, which is the entity killing Lebanese, Palestinians, etc…) not to hold concerts just because you believe it damages your pride and dignity and nationalism.

You can stand against an artist’s political views. If you don’t like Fabian’s, then simply don’t attend her concerts. If it had been against the law for an artist who sang in Israel to sing in Lebanon, the authorities would have been very clear regarding that. The fact that bands like Placebo and artists like David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, etc… have already held concerts in Israel and Lebanon is enough testament to that.

But I guess if I speak more about the issue people will start to call me a blinded ignorant who cannot appreciate the struggles of the Lebanese who fought against Israel. Call me ignorant all you want but in my head attending a concert doesn’t lead to me killing Palestinians or Lebanese. The ticket price I would pay isn’t going to buy a warhead to attack the Palestinians or the Lebanese. And at this rate, if every time an artist wants to come to Lebanon, we’ll have so much drama associated with them, they will stop coming altogether.

And you know what, amid all the chaos, no one noticed the fact that the prices for tickets to her concerts were simply outrageous. With a range of $200-$500, most Lebanese wouldn’t have been able to afford such a ticket, making the concert for a very select crowd. I’m just saying.