American celebrity rabbi Shmuley Boteach accused pop singer Lorde of being a bigot and a hypocrite in a full-page Washington Post ad that he took out to criticize her for canceling an upcoming show in Tel Aviv.
The singer called off the concert, scheduled for June, last month amid pressure from the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The ad, which was published Monday, was titled "Lorde and New Zealand ignore Syria to attack Israel."
In it, Boteach called Lorde a hypocrite for not canceling two upcoming shows in Russia, and also criticized her native New Zealand for voting in favor of a U.N. resolution urging the United States to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
"21 is young to become a bigot," the ad reads. "Sadly, New Zealand's growing prejudice against the Jewish State seems to be trickling down to its youth."
Boteach, the New York Daily News reported, defended his decision to run the ad.
"Israel's not perfect, of course, but compared to any country facing a similar threat, it is arguably the most just and most humanitarian country in the world," he said in a Facebook video.
"Boycott and hate … represents hostility and intolerance and I was sorry to see that you have succumbed to the supporters of a small fanatic group of BDS movement that denies the right of the State of Israel to exist and spreads hatred and animosity," Boteach wrote in the ad.
Announcing her cancellation on Dec. 24, Lorde said she had been ill-informed when she set the tour dates several weeks ago.
According to a statement provided by her booking agency, she wrote: "Hey guys, so about this Israel show – I've received an overwhelming number of messages and letters and have had a lot of discussions with people holding many views, and I think the right decision at this time is to cancel the show. I pride myself on being an informed young citizen, and I had done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in Tel Aviv, but I'm not too proud to admit I didn't make the right call on this one. Tel Aviv, it's been a dream of mine to visit this beautiful part of the world for many years, and I'm truly sorry to reverse my commitment to come play for you. I hope one day we can all dance."
Lorde follows artists such as Roger Waters and Elvis Costello in boycotting Israel.
