Stevie Wonder cancels concert for Israeli group

LAS VEGAS, NV - NOVEMBER 08: Singer Stevie Wonder performs during the Soul Train Awards 2012 at PH Live at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on November 8, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. . / Isaac Brekken/Getty Images for Centric

WASHINGTON Stevie Wonder is calling off a concert for a group that raises money for the Israeli military.

Wonder had been scheduled to perform Dec. 6 for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, which raises money for Israeli soldiers and their families.

Wonder said the United Nations recommended canceling his performance because he is an official "Messenger of Peace" for the organization. The United Nations overwhelmingly voted to recognize a Palestinian state on Thursday over vehement U.S. and Israeli objections as hopes for Mideast peace talks stalled.

Wonder said in a statement he was canceling with a heavy heart but that "I am and have always been against war, any war, anywhere."

Several petitions had called on Wonder to cancel the performance.

[Larinthian]

Mr. Wonder's heart is in the right place, but his head is not. The sad reality is that the U.N. has become a harbinger of bigotry and anti Semitism. The U.N. allowed Richard Faulk, an anti Israel and unsavory fellow who was being paid millions of dollars to slander and levy phony sanctions and human rights violations against Israel for years . Faulk recently lost his job after pressure was brought upon the U.N. by U.N. Watch an organization who checks on the activities of the U.N. do to their less than stellar track record. The U.N. falsely levied all human rights violations except for four in the entire world against Israel. The original charter of the U.N. was a noble one. But, the U.N. has lost it's way and has become part of the problem instead of the solution. Mr. Wonder needs to turn away from sinister characters like the U.N. and Roger Waters and turn towards the truth.

[Freepress1111]

Stevie realized that being a true peacemaker makes it impossible for him to be on either 'side'. When will there be peace in the Middle East? When both sides get tired of burying their children and have the guts to elect leaders who will stand up to hate. World peace is possible, and the United States of America proves it everyday. We're a nation of all religions, nationalities, and races that do live and work together in peace. That is American exceptionalism.

[Sangorita]

"We're a nation of all religions, nationalities, and races that do live and work together in peace."
Really? What America do you live in? Tell that to Trayvon Martin's parents and thousands of African Americans. We live a totally different experience than what you describe. You are living a fantasy.

[bobbychuckles]

Another artist who can join Pink Floyd in the list of records from my collection that I'm putting on ebay in disgust.
Utter cowardice.

[mnollette]

Israel was not a state in 1945. The land was called Palestine at that time and was populated by around 1 million Arab Christians and Muslims and a small minority of Jews (about 1% of the population).

The British occupied Palestine until Jewish immigrants came in overwhelming numbers after WWII (mostly from Europe) and forced the British to leave so that the Jews could rule the land instead.

600,000 Jews under British marshal law.
Germans were on a break into Egypt and on to Israel.
Great concern.
The British won.
Many Jew escaped Europe because of the holocaust . Came to leave and developed the country.

[mnollette]

Slownews, In 1945 the desert that now represents Israel had a permanent population of .01 persons per 500 square acres hardly comperable to any modern state in the US except where I live in Az and there is enough desert here to accomodate all those dogs.

[mnollette]

Who is the UN. Of all the members who voted in favour of Palestine match the dollars spent by the US to the UN. I say the US should bail from the UN and then lets see if any voting goes on out of the shambles.

[mnollette]

further, who are the Palestianans. Rogue tribes, nomadic parasites feeding on the scraps left by passing Islamic Armies that have trampled the ares since the dawn of time. At the end of WW2 a tiny nich of these prehistoric lands was ceded to make Israel and ever since any numbnuts that has a voice crys out in self rightious anger over Israels presense. Its only 40 miles wide, if you want some space move over a little bit.

[Meezermom1951]

Mnollette, the "so called Palestinians" were nomadic Arabs and criminal Jordanians who were thrown out of Jordan. They were the bottom of the barrel in their own country and the desert was a great place to dump them in the hopes they would die there. Jordan would and will not allow them back in! That is their country and where they do belong. The desert that became Israel was land that no one could get anything out of so it was worthless to any of the Arab nations. They assumed anyone there would die. Of course when the UN voted to give it to the refugees from the Holocaust, that just really fried the Arabs and they went to war not thinking they would get their butts handed to them. Because Israel made the desert bloom, now the Arabs want it back. In spite of the millions and millions of acres of land the Arabs have there, they refuse to welcome their "brothers" from "Palestine"! It is so much easier for everyone to hate the Jews and demand they give up everything to the Arabs and have no place to go. That land, including Judea and Sumaria, the West Bank, was a land historically promised to the Jews for all time if you believe in the bible. If you don't, how does it hurt you for the Jews to have a home? The Arabs have so very much and cannot and will not show any good faith at all. In their world, it is all for them and death to the Jews.

[omnibus66]

Do you have to be blind to see? Maybe blindness should be a requirement to hold public office. For years Israel and the US have been giving lip service to a two state solution to the Palestinian "problem". Well, now that the UN has legitimized two states, that seems to have gone by the wayside. The next time Israel illegally invades Gaza or the West Bank, Palestine can ask for UN help. Won't that be a hoot?

[cheapster512]

maybe the UN moved to fast on Israel membership? Now they are acting like
someother group We don't get our way? we 'll just take it And Big bad Brother has become old senile and dependant on others for help so ncan't count on "HIM too long See the writing on the wall yet?

[lillyhorton]

I can't tell who supports terrorist. Wonder didn't have to say where the proceeds go.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

The irony is Stevie Wonder has more vision than those whith sight. Kudos to Stevie Wonder a man with vision and true to his principles.