Jewish comedian cancels Lebanon shows following Hezbollah bullying

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:04:16 +0200

Moroccan-French comedian Gad Elmaleh has been forced to cancel his performances at the Lebanese Beiteddine festival following a fierce propaganda campaign against him driven by Hezbollah.

The photomontage above, which includes a picture of the artist, a photo of an Israeli soldier, and an image of Lebanon under attack, is how the Shiite TV channel al Manar portrayed Gad Elmaleh. The channel claimed that the photograph of the Israeli soldier, which does bear something of a resemblance, was that of the artist at hand, leading viewers to believe that the Moroccan-born French citizen at some point served in the IDF. The photograph, along with several others, had been originally published on a pro-Israel website some 12 years ago. FRANCE 24 contacted the website, which explained that as an organisation which supports ASBI-Keren soldiers, the photographs, each accompanied by a comment from a celebrity, were sold in order to raise funds for social work projects. The picture in question however, was certainly not that of Gad Elmaleh.

Despite being hugely popular in Lebanon (tickets for the shows sold like hot cakes and he was even solicited into performing an extra show), Elmaleh announced on Saturday that he would not be able to perform at July's Beiteddine festival "in light of various protests and calls for boycott". The announcement has raised concerns with some ministers and ire from the public. An online movement based on Facebook vows to fight what they call "the terrorism of culture" by Hezbollah.