FB page urges Stones to skip Israel

A new Facebook page called on the Rolling Stones to boycott Israel. The “Rolling Stones: Boycott Israel” page established Wednesday had 159 likes by Thursday evening.

Earlier this week, reports in the Israeli media said the Rolling Stones were near a deal to play in Israel for the first time, on June 10 at the Ramat Gan Stadium near Tel Aviv.

The Facebook page cited Israel’s “crimes against humanity” in calling for the famed British band to boycott the country.

“Comrades! There has been no official announcement from The Rolling Stones about playing in the Zionist Apartheid Region,” the first status on the page reads. “We are in touch with the management and sending them material that they have never examined before. They were surprised to see how many millions of people will boycott them if they side with the Zionazis.”

BDS supporters were urged to contact the Rolling Stones and ask them to boycott Israel, as well as to like the Facebook page “and share it with everyone that is fed up with Israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing, baby-murder and violent settlement of our ancestral homeland.”

The official Rolling Stones website and the band’s Facebook page does not mention a concert date in Israel or the BDS controversy.

Stones bassist Darryl Jones performed in Israel in December.

Artists playing Israel are now routinely inundated with pleas to stay away. Evidently undeterred several other high-profile rock acts are scheduled to play in Israel this year, including Deep Purple (February 22 and 33), Foreigner (March 25 and 25), Steve Vai (March 26), the Pixies (June 17), Soundgarden (June 18) and Neil Young & Crazy Horse (July 17). Rihanna played Tel Aviv in October.