BEIRUT: A Lebanese pressure group has called for the country’s authorities to take action against a Lebanese belly-dancer who performed on stage in France with an Israeli band.
"The Lebanese authorities and especially the judicial bodies should take action and hold Joanna Fakhri accountable and punish her,” the Association to Support the Law to Boycott Israel said in a statement Monday.
Last month a video emerged of Fakhri, who reportedly lives in France and holds French citizenship, performing onstage with Israeli heavy metal band Orphaned Land at Hellfest festival in southern France on June 19.
In the video, which prompted outcry on some corners of the Internet, Fakhri and the band’s lead singer, Kobi Farhi, join the Lebanese and Israeli flags. Farhi can be heard saying “This song is about peace.”
Several negative comments were left under a YouTube video of the performance. One user criticized Fakhri for “supporting a country stealing her countries resources [sic].” Several other commenters, however, praised her move. “What a nice scene for a change,” said one.
Tayyar.org, a news website affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement, in July reported that the performance had sparked anger among the French-Lebanese community.
Lebanon is technically in a state of war with Israel and under Lebanese law it is a crime to have any dealings with the Jewish state.
In a blogpost purportedly quoting Fakhri last month, the 22-year-old dancer, who, according to NOW Lebanon, lived as a child in south Lebanon in the 1990s, defended her decision.
“I wanted to take this opportunity so rare in history – witnessing on stage an Israeli group and a Lebanese dancer – to say that beyond the artistic exchange and our collaboration for the love of art, we were willing to make it a symbol of peace. And these two flags that we held as high as the fist can rise, transcends all these years of war and suffering.”
In their statement, the association called for the Lebanese public and the Arabic world to take action. "It is important not to ignore what Fakhri did because it is considered a clear and frank attempt to normalize relations between the enemy and Lebanon, and remaining silent toward this case is a crime that is considered complicity.”
"We urge the Lebanese public opinion and the Arab world to take action to counter this aggression on the values of the nation in order not to turn this phenomenon into a precedent that can be repeated,” it added.