Lana Del Ray postpones Israel show amid row
Los Angeles, Sep 2 : Singer Lana Del Rey has postponed her upcoming performance in Israel after struggling to set up another show in Palestine to appease fans on both sides of the political conflict.
The singer recently sparked a backlash after joining the line-up for the inaugural Meteor Festival in Tel Aviv next week as activists supportive of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which calls for a cultural boycott of Israel, urged her to reconsider the booking, reports aceshowbiz.com.
She initially tried to defend her decision by saying it had nothing to do with politics or picking sides in the long-running conflict between the two nations, but days later, she returned to social media and promised to make amends by visiting Palestine too, before the scheduled Israeli show on September 7.
However, on August 31, she announced her hopes of making stops in both countries have been dashed as she has been unable to make the schedule work.
As a result, Ray has chosen to pull out of the Meteor Festival headlining set, and delay her first gig in Israel until a later date.
She tweeted: "It's important to me to perform in both Palestine and Israel and treat all my fans equally.
"Unfortunately it has not been possible to line up both visits with such short notice and therefore I am postponing my appearance at the Meteor Festival until a time when I can schedule visits for both my Israeli and Palestinian fans, as well as hopefully other countries in the region."
The Meteor Festival is still scheduled to go ahead as planned, with acts including Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus, Pusha T, and Soulwax on the bill, but organisers have made it clear they do not appreciate the late change of heart, accusing Ray of using the event to increase her media profile.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
