Reggae singer Ziggy Marley honored for Israel support in face of BDS pressure

“I’ve been going to Israel since I was a teenager…Israel was a storybook place for us,” said Marley.

By Shiryn Ghermezian, The Algemeiner

Jamaican singer Ziggy Marley, the son of late reggae icon Bob Marley, reaffirmed his support for Israel at a recent event in Los Angeles.

Marley was presented with the inaugural special artist’s award for peace at the Creative Community for Peace’s 2nd annual “Celebrating Ambassadors of Peace” gathering. The non-profit, entertainment industry organization is dedicated to promoting music and the arts “as a bridge to peace, while supporting artistic freedom, and countering the cultural boycott of Israel,” according to its website.

While accepting his award on stage, Marley said his bond with Israel started in his teens through the help of his mother and father, whose own father was Jewish. He also addressed efforts by BDS supporters to have artists cancel their concerts in Israel.

“I’ve been going to Israel since I was a teenager…Israel was a storybook place for us. We felt a connection to it through our father, through our beliefs,” he said. “I’ve been going back ever since. We don’t play in Israel for political reasons, we play for the people [to] spread our message of justice, love, and peace for all people… Going to Israel for me is no problem because we go for the people, not the politics.”

Marley has received pressure from anti-Israel activists in the past to boycott the Jewish State, but said in 2015 that he would never stop supporting the country, “[n]o matter what anybody says or does.”