French Arab Singer Banned: Freedom to Speak? Freedom to Lie?
By Michael Springmann/Arab America Contributing Writer
Mennel Ibtissem, a contestant-singer on the popular French television show “The Voice”, appears to be undone for her comments about “terrorism” and Palestine. She seems to be the latest victim of what appears to be a concerted Zionist attack on anyone who questions support for Israel and the need to control extremism, other than that perpetrated by the Jewish “state”.
Expressing doubts about the peculiar nature of terrorist attacks in France, “Ibtissem’s posts also included support for Palestine and, during the 2014 assault on Gaza, she condemned Israel for ‘terrorizing innocent civilians’...The National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism took issue with Ibstissem’s comments about Israel, and demanded she be removed from the show, JPost reported. “Mennel cannot serve as a role model for uninformed fans. She is not a good role model, she is not a good choice, she is dangerous,” it said. The group pointed to a song she sang in 2015 called, Smile Palestine, which references the “slaughter of mothers, fathers, little sisters and little brothers.”
Ibtissem is not the only person outside Israel to question terror attacks in France. In Global Research Canada, this author stated: “On Friday, November 13, 2015, allegedly unknown people, allegedly out of nowhere, attacked a concert hall, a sports stadium, a restaurant, and other locations, killing 130 and wounding an unspecified number. French government officials identified the attackers as Arabs, some from Europe, some from the Migration of Peoples.”
“But, the officials never clarified some really essential and very basic information. In tightly-controlled France, how did the terrorists get their AK-47 rifles? In tightly-controlled France, how did the terrorists get their explosives?”
Before there was Ibtissem, there was Lorde.
When the New Zealand singer canceled a Tel Aviv concert, she came under fire from the Zio-Nazis. “First, Miri Regev, Israel culture minister, said to the Associated Press ‘Lorde, I expect you to be a pure heroine, like the title of your first album. Then Roseanne Barr bared her bias on Twitter: ‘Boycott this bigot.”
Then there was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach who blasted Lorde in a full-page ad in the Washington Post: The text notes that Lorde “joined a global anti-Semitic boycott of Israel but will perform in Russia, despite Putin’s support for Assad’s genocide in Syria.”
When popular artists condemn Israel its reach is far when it chooses to strike back. Germany, a supposedly democratic state guaranteeing freedom of speech, allowed its TV and radio to censor some of Israel’s opponents. “German public broadcasters have dropped plans to air concerts next year [2018] by ex-Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters, citing what they call ‘accusations of antisemitism against him’… RBB [Radio Berlin Brandenburg], part of the ARD network [First German Public Television Channel], said it wanted to send a message to other artists who, heeding the BDS, refused to perform in Israel. Waters joined the movement in 2011.”
“Taking a clear position here is an important signal for RBB to the Jewish communities in Berlin and Brandenburg,” RBB director Patricia Schlesinger said in a statement.
“The quick and decisive reaction by the broadcasters … is an important signal that rampant antisemitism against Israel has no place in Germany,” said Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany
COMMENT: Is there Freedom of Speech in Israel? Its Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index rank dropped in 2009 to 93rd and then to 112 out of 179 by 2013.
Michael Springmann is an attorney, author, and political commentator. He has written Visas for Al Qaeda: CIA Handouts That Rocked The World and a second book Goodbye, Europe? Hello, Chaos? Merkel’s Migrant Bomb. Both are available on Amazon. The books’ website is: www.michaelspringmann.com
