re: #228 Killgore Trout

And his diametric opposite:

Leonard Cohen

A scheduled concert in Ramallah was cancelled after Palestinian human-rights activists objected to the fact that Cohen had also scheduled a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, contrary to a proposed cultural boycott of Israel… It was announced that proceeds from the sale of the 47,000 tickets would go into a charitable fund in partnership with Amnesty International and would be used by Israeli and Palestinian peace groups for projects providing health services to children and bringing together Israeli veterans and former Palestinian fighters and the families of those killed in the conflict.

However on August 17, 2009, Amnesty International released a statement saying they were withdrawing from any involvement with the concert or its proceeds… The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) led the call for the boycott, claiming that Cohen “is intent on whitewashing Israel’s colonial apartheid regime by performing in Israel.”

…

On September 24 at the Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel, Cohen was highly emotional about the Israeli-Palestinian NGO Bereaved Families for Peace. He mentioned the organization twice, saying “It was a while ago that I first heard of the work of the ‘Bereaved Parents for Peace’. That there was this coalition of Palestinian and Israeli families who had lost so much in the conflict and whose depth of suffering had compelled them to reach across the border into the houses of the enemy. Into the houses of those, to locate them who had suffered as much as they had, and then to stand with them in aching confraternity, a witness to an understanding that is beyond peace and that is beyond confrontation. So, this is not about forgiving and forgetting, this is not about laying down one’s arms in a time of war, this is not even about peace, although, God willing, it could be a beginning. This is about a response to human grief. A radical, unique and holy, holy, holy response to human suffering. Baruch Hashem, thank God, I bow my head in respect to the nobility of this enterprise.” At the end of the show he blessed the crowd by the Priestly Blessing, a Jewish blessing offered by Kohanim, Cohen being of the Priestly caste.