Lead singer for the hard-rock band Disturbed David Draiman announced Wednesday that he would visit Israel next week and light a candle at the site where Eliyahu Kay was murdered by a Hamas terrorist on Sunday, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Draiman told the Post that he was disgusted by the mainstream media's coverage of the attack, noting that many headlines focused on the shooting of the terrorist rather than the attack or the victims.
Draiman said that his visit would send a message that "we will not be intimidated, we’re not going anywhere. People need to learn to live with us."
Draiman is a longtime supporter of Israel. In 2019 he criticized Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and other supporters of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, comparing them to Nazis.
Speaking in an online interview with the Facebook group “Bring Disturbed to Israel”, lead singer David Draiman described his work to combat efforts to pressure recording artists to boycott Israel.
“I sit on the advisory board for the Creative Community for Peace,” said Draiman.
“Every time that a rock band is about to visit Israel, I’m one of the first people to contact them to try and reassure them, to make sure that BDS doesn’t end up getting in their heads, and that they don’t end up listening to the ridiculous words of Mr. Roger Waters and the rest of his gang of morons.”
"To elaborate a little bit on it, besides just my aggressive stance against” BDS, Draiman continued, “I don't think anybody in any country always agrees with everything their country does — I don't, okay? But I'm a very, very strong supporter of Israel forever and for our people. And regardless of whether it's Israel or anywhere else, boycotting an entire society and an entire people based on the actions of its government is absolutely ridiculous. And it doesn't accomplish anything."