"Spineless": Big Thief, Max Olarchik's band, canceled their show in Israel after pressure from the BDS

After heavy pressure from BDS operators on the American band Big Thief, of which Max Olarchik, son of Alon Olarchik, is a member, she canceled her performances at Barbie in July.

Club owners: "The intimidation and insults on Instagram made you fold. A bunch of poor musicians without a backbone. I wish you all the evil in the world."

Sagi Ben Nun

09/06/2022

Thursday, 09 June 2022, 11:28 Updated: 11:52

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After the BDS pressure, they said it was important for them to perform in Israel, but in the end they canceled.

Big Thief Band (Photo: PR)

After heavy pressure from BDS activists on the American indie band Big Thief - whose bassist is Max Olarchik, son of Alon Olarchik - in attempts to persuade her not to attend performances at the Barbie Club in Tel Aviv on July 6 and 7, the club said this morning that The band canceled their performance in Israel.

A source close to the production told Walla!

Culture that an official cancellation notice has not yet arrived - but he says it appears that the band is indeed canceling against the background of the BDS pressures.

The Barbie's Facebook read: "The boycotts, intimidations, insults on Instagram, just made you fold / scared. Some paid protesters outside the hall in Europe made your managers pick knees, 'and the solution' - let's skip Israel, let's give up our audience, where he is less "Important (...) a bunch of poor musicians without a backbone who are afraid of their own shadow. I wish you all the evil in the world."

BDS activists put heavy pressure on the band members, including calling them Palestinian activists: "Cancel the complex Tel Aviv apartheid shows."

The band responded earlier this week on Instagram: "We are well aware of the cultural aspects of the BDS movement and the depressing reality of the Palestinians," adding that it is important for us to share our home, families and friends in order to gain a deeper understanding of each other and the people "Who we are. It's important for us to get to a place where we have a family and play for them."

An acquaintance of the production told Walla!

Culture: "We understood that they would probably cancel. We have not yet received an official cancellation notice but that seems to be what will happen, for example because they do not pass on technical specifications. This is a crazy disappointment. If they probably canceled because of BDS atomic pressure on them. I know they are scared for their lives. "At one point the production made it clear to them that they were not going to be murdered. We knew it was hard for them and that they had problems, they had a hard time with the pressures and threats against them on Instagram and the articles.

More on Walla!

Bibi, Sarah and Quentin Tarantino: Andrea Bocelli's show has become the most surprising of the year

To the full article

Barbie's Facebook page read today (Thursday): "Big Thief canceled their show in Israel !!! We did not call, we did not ask, there was no producer who contacted and bought the show. It came from them, a request to perform in Israel, and that after canceling following the corona. BDS has been with us for 20 years, it has not changed since the last time they were in the country. The insults on Instagram, just made you fold / scared. Some paid protesters outside the hall in Europe made your managers kneel, 'and the solution' - let's skip Israel, let's give up our audience, where it's less important.

"I do not ask you to lie on the fence for us or fight our wars, a simple little and legitimate thing I demand: Hales with the hypocrisy !!! And there is much! The world is far from perfect, and in Israel the injustices exist for centuries, Threats, intimidation or boycotts. In fact, your cancellation only made me sad for you, a bunch of poor, spineless musicians who are afraid of their own shadow. Like everyone else.Wish you all the evil in the world just as you did to your fan base in the country, and hope that just as you rose like this you will go down, and become another passing episode.I learned that I have nothing but my family, my country and my people, and no son of a bitch will break it With the blessing of the people of Israel alive, strong, and no weakness will break it.And to you, dear audience, you will find the bands to love who know how to respect and appreciate the person and not despise him as the band Big Thief did.Cancellations will be made automatically within 14 days to your credit card. "

In addition to a post on Facebook, ticket buyers received a message from Barbie updating that "Big Thief's show has been canceled because they are cowards."

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Tags

• Big Thief

• Max Olearchick

• Alon Olarchik

• BDS

• Shaul Mizrahi

• Barbie