A Follow Up on Macy Gray ...

It appears that Macy Gray will be coming to Israel after all. Challah Hu Akbar and Israellycool are both reporting that she has decided to come after receiving both pro and anti-Israel messages on her Facebook and Twitter pages.

This is a big step for Israel supporters but I think there are some important lessons to be learned.

As I was looking through some of the comments people were posting to her Facebook page I noticed that some Israelis has posted comments similar to the following.

"Fine. Don't come. We don't want you anyway."

This is a really poor and unhelpful way to react. It won't convince her to come and it hurts the cause of people trying to promote Israel.

Additionally, Israellcool pointed out that we shouldn't forget the things Gray said.

But I’m not getting carried away. Gray still did the wrong thing by characterizing Israel’s treatment of the palestinians as disgusting, as I posted yesterday. And for that, I am boycotting her performance.

He's right that we shouldn't forget, but I don't think we should be too aggressive with performers like Gray. She has probably received a ton of aggressive and angry messages from Israel haters. We should all be fully aware of the lies, misinformation, and hate that these people can spread.


We can't fault every person who is suckered in by their rhetoric and lies. We need to respond with the truth, but in a helpful and compassionate manner.

No one likes to be lectured or yelled at. But if we gently point out to people where they have made a mistake without getting angry, it will be much more effective to persuade them to agree with us.