Jon Bon Jovi’s first-ever concert in Israel Saturday evening began minutes after a terrorist attack in Jerusalem 60 kilometers (some 40 miles) away.
A Palestinian man stabbed two Israelis to death in the Old City, and injured two others.
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The 53 years old rock star showed his empathy with Israel by introducing his latest song “We Don’t Run.”
“This should be the fight song for Tel Aviv, ” he told 50, 000 cheering Israelis “I’ve waited a long time for this!”
In an 18-song Bon Jovi was energetic having his fans sing solo at the start of “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
The scheduled concert in Tel Aviv drew the wrath of anti-Israel activist, Pink Floyd co-founder and bassist Roger Waters.
The 72-year-old musician published an open letter to the group — bandleader Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan and Tico Torres — obtained by the online magazine Salon, Friday. Roger Waters wrote that Jon Bon Jovi, “stands shoulder to shoulder with the settler who burned the [Palestinian] baby.” in the West Bank village of Duma last month.
He continued, “Often in the past I have written detailed, and sometimes even persuasive, letters to colleagues in the music business, encouraging them not to give succor to the Israeli government’s apartheid policies by performing in Israel. Having read Jon’s comments last week…I won’t waste my time drawing parallels with Apartheid South Africa and the moral stand that so many artists took then and that thousands are taking now in the face of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.”
In a four-page magazine spread in the Hebrew weekend edition of Yediot Aharonot, Bon Jovi, the veteran singer said he “always heard what a wonderful place Israel is – the birthplace of all religions. I have been everywhere and Israel was a place that I’ve always wanted to visit, but it never worked out. This time I insisted that Israel must be on our list and it happened!” (Israel21C)
In the article, it says the singer asked Raz Shechnik, the reporter, whether Tel Aviv really is all it’s made out to be. “I heard that it’s an amazing city, vibrant and dynamic, and full of great restaurants. There’s talk that it’s one of the best culinary cities in the world. I’m going to have to check that out, ” he says.(Israel21C)
Bon Jovi said he isn’t interested in Rogers’ boycott campaign.
“Yes, I heard about that but it doesn’t interest me, ” he told Yedioth Ahronoth. “I told my managers to give one simple answer: That I’m coming to Israel and I’m excited to come.”
“It doesn’t interest me.” I like that.
