Dubai: British singer Elton John’s Israeli concert organiser Shuki Weiss said on Monday that the regime’s interior ministry had demanded that the singer declare loyalty to Israel as a condition for getting a visa to perform in an upcoming concert.
“Only two weeks ago Elton John was asked to sign a declaration of loyalty. That insane idea has been dropped,” he said, according to Israeli media reports.
His office pointed to a supposedly problematic clause in the visa form which reads: “I declare that I have never acted against the Jewish people or the security of the state of Israel,” the Haaretz newspaper reported.
The regime has rejected the claim as “delusional”. Its interior ministry denied that was anything unusual, and said it would consider suing Weiss for defamation.
“We are talking about a blatant lie which is meant to provide headlines for the promoter at the expense of a government ministry,” spokeswoman Sabin Hadad said.
“No artist has ever been asked to sign such a declaration and to think such a thing is delusional.”
John is scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv on May 26.
Artists performing in Israeli-held territory have in the past few years come under extreme pressure from activists belonging to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Palestine and the West.
— With inputs from AFP
