Israeli police plan to question an extreme right- wing activist on suspicion of threatening Irish pop star Sinead O’Connor.
O’Connor canceled her scheduled appearance at a concert Saturday night in Jerusalem after receiving death threats. The concert was sponsored by Israeli and Palestinian women’s groups.
No one claimed responsibility for the threats.
However, Itamar Ben-Gvir said in an Israel Radio interview that he “understood” those who sent the threats.
While not claiming to have issued the threats, Ben-Gvir said that he and his supporters had succeeded in getting the concert called off.
He referred to O’Connor as a “singer who preaches and calls for the division of Jerusalem and who spreads gentile culture,” adding that she “has no place in Israel.”
Ben-Gvir is affiliated with an offshoot of the outlawed Kach movement, which is militantly anti-Arab.
After the interview, O’Connor sent an open letter to Ben-Gvir.
“God does not reward those who bring terror to the children of the world,” she wrote. “So you have succeeded in nothing but your soul’s failure.”
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