Sinéad O’Connor to Ben Gvir in 1997: ‘You bring terror to the children of the world’
Irish singer who died Wednesday wrote to the far-right activist, who was 21 at the time, after he took credit for canceling her concert in Jerusalem
“God does not reward those who bring terror to the children of the world,” so wrote Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish pop icon who died Wednesday, to Itamar Ben Gvir after the future police minister gloated that he forced the cancellation of her concert in Jerusalem in 1997.
The Grammy-award winner was scheduled to perform in the capital as part of a festival titled “Sharing Jerusalem: Two Capitals for Two States” that aimed to promote peace in the city, but canceled her performance after receiving death threats.
In a radio interview following the cancellation, the 21-year-old Ben Gvir, who at the time was part of a group calling itself “The Zionist Ideological Front,” said that his organization was responsible for the cancellation.
Ben Gvir, who is now national security minister, did not deny that a member of his organization was responsible for the threats.
“A singer that preaches and calls for dividing Jerusalem and propagates gentile culture has no place in Israel,” he said.
Former prime minister Ehud Olmert, the then-mayor of Jerusalem, also opposed the performance, saying that it was intended as a “provocation” to “spread anti-Israel propaganda.”
O’Connor’s letter, published publicly in The Associated Press, Reuters and The Jerusalem Post, came in response to Ben Gvir’s interview. In the letter, O’Connor asked Ben Gvir, “How can there be peace anywhere on Earth if there is not peace in Jerusalem?”
She ended the letter by warning Ben Gvir that “God does not reward those who bring terror to the children of the world. So you have succeeded in nothing but your soul’s failure.”
O’Connor died on Wednesday at the age of 56, her family announced. Her son Shane died by suicide last year.
The gifted Irish singer-songwriter became a superstar in her mid-20s and was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music.
A critic of the Roman Catholic Church well before allegations of sexual abuse were widely reported, O’Connor made headlines in October 1992 when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II while appearing on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and denounced the church as the enemy.
In 1995, she reportedly attacked two photographers by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
She announced in 2018 that she had converted to Islam and would be adopting the name Shuhada’ Davitt, later Shuhada Sadaqat — although she continued to use Sinéad O’Connor professionally.
Ben Gvir is a self-described disciple of the late racist Rabbi Meir Kahane, a former MK whose Kach party was banned and declared a terror group in the 1980s in both Israel and the US. Like the late Kahane, Ben Gvir was convicted in the past of supporting a terror organization, though he insists he has moderated in recent years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
