August Burns Red Skip Tel Aviv Please

I was unhappy with the news when I heard the Lancaster based American band August Burns Red is headed to Israel. The country that brought so much pain on my family and thousands of families in our little town Beit Lahia (a town very similar to Lancaster) My girl cousin and three of my best buddies seen the worst of Israel so have hundred of my little town's residence. This happened and no one in the city of Tel Aviv cared to protest the savages and brutal ways of their beloved army that fires at anyone who looks like me.

I am sure that the fans of this incredibly unique and awesome band are smart and embrace life. But not many of the fans in Tel Aviv, while they embrace life, they rob life away form Palestinians. I am saddened to see August Burns Red go out of their way to entertain Tel Aviv while my family struggles in Gaza to make ends meet. Since the day the band was formed in 2003, I have news for them, read the number of Palestinian casualties in that year alone (Link). The Israeli army has the people of Palestine "Up Against the Ropes"


August Burns Red is scheduled to perform at Barby (Tel Aviv) on 9 Jun 2011. We are asking August Burns Red to stand for the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions on Israel until it abides by international law and stops its brutal occupation of the Palestinian people. Following the lead of other artists such as Roger Waters, Pete Seeger, Massive Attack, The Klaxons and Gorillaz Sound System, Carlos Santana, Elvis Costello, Devendra Banhart, Faithless, Gil Scott-Heron, The Pixies, Snoop Dogg (Snoop was quoted as telling Palestinian-American hip hop producer Fredwreck “Why they building a wall around y’alls people’s shit. That’s fucked up, cuz.’)

So I am asking JB, Brent, Matt, Jake, and Dustin to reconsider their Til Aviv visit. From one thrill seeker, I ask you to be the messengers of peace. Otherwise, I am calling your Tel Aviv gig "A Shot Below the Belt", your decision is about our "Existence". not about politics, but about people and doing the right thing.

Join this call here on Facebook