Celebrities for Israel: Gene Simmons, Bob Dylan & more…

Celebrities for Israel: Gene Simmons, Bob Dylan & More…

While there’s a lot of noise about anti-Israel musicians and celebrities, there’s not as much about those who are right on. Recently came across video of lead Kiss’ Israeli-born singer-musician Gene Simmons’ viewpoints on Israel, and wow does he have some gems.

He says musicians who wont perform in Israel are “fools”, and says “The countries they should be boycotting are the same countries that the populations are rebelling.” In a separate interview, he condemns President Obama’s viewpoints on Israel, saying “If you have never been to the moon, you can’t issue policy about the moon. For the president to be sitting in Washington D.C. and saying, ‘Go back to your ‘67 borders in Israel’ – how abut you live there and try to defend an indefensible border – nine miles wide?” On one side, you got hundreds of millions of people who hate your guts. On the other side you got the Mediterranean. Unless you control the Golan Heights, it is an indefensible position. it is a nice idea, [but] when you grow up, you find out that life is not the way you imagine it.”

Simmons – despite the public shtick he portrays is a good Jew – in a statement which resonates for many of us, he says his mother, who survived the Holocaust taught him that “every day above ground is a good day.”

Of course, the legendary Bob Dylan wrote a song in 1983 called “Neighborhood Bully,” where he says of our people: “He’s criticized and condemned for being alive. We are supposed to turn a blind eye while millions of Israeli citizens are in danger. He’s not supposed to fight back, he’s supposed to have thick skin, he’s supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in. The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land—he’s wandered the earth an exiled man. Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn. He’s always on trial for just being born. He’s the neighborhood bully.”

For all the noise about artists against Israel, let’s celebrate Gene Simmons, Bob Dylan and the many others who recognize the truth about Israel.

Ronn Torossian is a New York based Public Relations Executive.