Online pressure to boycott Israel did not prevent reggae star Ziggy Marley from performing in Tel-Aviv this past week at the Return to Zion festival at Sacher Park in Jerusalem.
In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Ziggy said Rastafarianism has a lot in common with Judaism.
“Rastafarianism has a lot to do with the Old Testament and Solomon and David and Moses, so we have a strong connection from many years back.”
However, many of his fans feel differently.
But the reggae artiste was not fazed.
“People say, don’t disgrace your father’s name by going to Israel and all these type of things,” the eldest son of the late musical icon Bob Marley said at a press conference Tuesday at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv, referring to the negative responses he saw on Facebook and other sites regarding his Israel tour dates.
“What I tell them is that, listen, I follow nature, I follow the universe, I follow God. I’m not a part of the segregation that people put on each other … I’m a part of nature and God, and God made the sun shine for everybody.”
Ziggy has performed in Israel in the past, and he is also married to a Jewish Israeli woman. His children also speak Hebrew. Asked whether he or his family practice Judaism at home, Marley replied, “I practice love.”
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